Polymeric liposomes targeting dual transporters for highly efficient oral delivery of paclitaxel.

A novel delivery system comprising N-succinic anhydride (N-SAA) and D-fructose co-conjugated chitosan (NSCF)-modified polymeric liposomes (NSCF-PLip) were designed to enhance oral delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) by targeting monocarboxylate transporters (MCT) and glucose transporters (GLUT). The synthesized NSCF was characterised by FT-IR and 1H NMR spectra. The prepared 30.78 % (degree of substitution of N-SAA) NSCF-PTX-PLip were approximately 150 nm in size, with a regular spherical shape, the zeta potential of -25.4 ± 5.13 mv, drug loading of 2.35 % ± 0.05 %, and pH-sensitive and slow-release characteristics. Compared with PTX-Lip, 30.78 % NSCF-PTX-PLip significantly enhanced Caco-2 cellular uptake via co-mediation of MCT and GLUT, showing relatively specific binding of propionic acid and MCT. Notably, the NSCF modification of PTX-Lip had no appreciable influence on their original cellular uptake pathway. The fructose modification of 30.78 % NSC-PTX-PLip significantly increased the concentration after tmax, indicating their continuous and efficient absorption. Compared with PTX-Lip, the 30.78 % NSCF-PTX-PLip resulted in a 2.09-fold extension of MRT, and a 6.06-fold increase of oral bioavailability. It significantly increased tumour drug distribution and tumour growth inhibition rate. These findings confirm that 30.78 % NSCF-PLip offer a potential oral delivery platform for PTX and targeting the dual transporters of MCT and GLUT is an effective strategy for enhancing the intestinal absorption of drugs.

A Multi-Layer Stacked Microfluidic Tactile Display With High Spatial Resolution.

Pneumatic tactile displays dynamically customize surface morphological features with reconfigurable arrays of independently addressable actuators. However, their ability to render detailed tactile patterns or fine textures is limited by the low spatial resolution. For pneumatic tactile displays, the high-density integration of pneumatic actuators within a small space (fingertip) poses a significant challenge in terms of pneumatic circuit wiring. In contrast to the structure with a single-layer layout of pipes, we propose a multi-layered stacked microfluidic pipe structure that allows for a higher density of actuators and retains their independent actuation capabilities. Based on the proposed structure, we developed a soft microfluidic tactile display with a spatial resolution of 1.25 mm. The device consists of a 5 × 5 array of independently addressable microactuators, driven by pneumatic pressure, each of which enables independent actuation of the surface film and continuous control of the height. At a relative pressure of 1000 mbar, the actuator produced a perceptible out-of-plane deformation of 0.145 mm and a force of 17.7 mN. User studies showed that subjects can easily distinguish eight tactile patterns with 96% accuracy.

Electrochemical Radical Retro-Allylation of Homoallylic Alcohols with Sulfonyl Hydrazides.

We report herein the first examples of electrochemical radical retro-allylation of homoallylic alcohols via the cleavage of the C(sp3)-C(sp3) bond. In this reaction, a variety of sulfonyl hydrazides were employed as the environmentally friendly radical sources via an electrochemical dehydrazination with the release of N2 and H2 as the byproducts, leading to sulfonyl allylic compounds in moderate to good yields. The reaction features metal- and base-free reaction conditions, broad functional group tolerance, and a broad substrate scope.

Group Haptic Collaboration: Evaluation of Teamwork Behavior during VR Four-person Rowing Task.

The assessment of multi-person group collaboration has garnered increasing attention in recent years. However, it remains uncertain whether haptic information can be effectively utilized to measure teamwork behavior. This study seeks to evaluate teamwork competency within four-person groups and differentiate the contributions of individual members through a haptic collaborative task. To achieve this, we propose a paradigm in which four crews collaboratively manipulate a simulated boat to row along a target curve in a shared haptic-enabled virtual environment. We define eight features related to boat trajectory and synchronization among the four crews' paddling movements, which serve as indicators of teamwork competency. These features are then integrated into a comprehensive feature, and its correlation with self-reported teamwork competency is analyzed. The results demonstrate a strong positive correlation (r>0.8) between the comprehensive feature and teamwork competency. Additionally, we extract two kinesthetic features that represent the paddling movement preferences of each crew member, enabling us to distinguish their contributions within the group. These two features of the crews with the highest and the lowest contribution in each group were significantly different. This work demonstrates the feasibility of kinesthetic features in evaluating teamwork behavior during multi-person haptic collaboration tasks.

Voluntary Respiration Control: Signature Analysis by EEG.

The perception of voluntary respiratory consciousness is quite important in some situations, such as respiratory assistance and respiratory rehabilitation training, and the key signatures about voluntary respiration control may lie in the neural signals from brain manifested as electroencephalography (EEG). The present work aims to explore whether there exists correlation between voluntary respiration and scalp EEG. Evoke voluntary respiration of different intensities, while collecting EEG and respiration signal synchronously. Data from 11 participants were analyzed. Spectrum characteristics at low-frequency band were studied. Computation of EEG-respiration phase lock value (PLV) and EEG sample entropy were conducted as well. When breathing voluntarily, the 0-2 Hz band EEG power is significantly enhanced in frontal and right-parietal area. The distance between main peaks belonging to the two signals in 0-2 Hz spectrum graph tends to get smaller, while EEG-respiration PLV increases in frontal area. Besides, the sample entropy of EEG shows a trend of decreasing during voluntary respiration in both areas. There's a strong correlation between voluntary respiration and scalp EEG. Significance: The discoveries will provide guidelines for developing a voluntary respiratory consciousness identifying method and make it possible to monitor people's intention of respiration by noninvasive BCI.

A skin-integrated device for neck posture monitoring and correction.

Cervical spondylosis is a common disease that is often caused by long-term abnormal cervical curvature due to activities such as reading books and using computers or smartphones. This paper explores building an untethered and skin-integrated device in an e-skin form factor to monitor and haptically correct neck posture. The proposed design features a multilayered structure that integrates all flexible electronic circuits and components into a compact skin space while being untethered and skin conformal. An accelerometer in the e-skin attaches to the neck for posture sensing, while four vibration actuators closely touch the neck skin to provide localized vibrotactile stimuli that encode four-direction correction cues of neck flexion ±α and lateral bending ±ß. To ensure the reliability of posture sensing and vibrotactile rendering during neck movement, it is necessary to prevent the e-skin device from shifting position. Thus, a hollow structure-based method is implemented for stably attaching the e-skin to the neck skin. Experiments validated the e-skin device's sensing precision, skin-conformal compliance, stickiness, stability and effectiveness during the motion of neck postures, including its discrimination of localized four-direction vibrotactile cues. A user study verified the device's performance for sensing and correcting different abnormal neck postures during activities such as using smartphones, reading books, and processing computer files. The proposed e-skin device may create opportunities for more convenient cervical spondylosis prevention and rehabilitation.

The primary neurotoxic factor, Lansamide I, from Clausena lansium fruits and metabolic dysfunction invoked.

Wampee (Clausena lansium) is a common fruit in South Asia. The pulp is a tasty food, and the seed is a typical traditional herb in China. However, we identified a primary toxic compound, Lansamide I, by NMR and X-ray diffraction of single-crystal. The compound occurred at 4.17 ± 0.16 mg/kg of dried seed and 0.08 ± 0.01 g/kg of fresh fruit. In our phenotype-based toxicity investigation, the compound caused decreased hatchability of zebrafish eggs, increased malformations such as enlarged yolk sacs and pericardial edema, and delayed body length development. Moreover, the compound also caused nerve cell damage and decreased locomotor activity. The compound caused an increase in peroxidation levels in vivo, with increases in both malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase levels, but did not interfere with acetylcholinesterase levels. Metabolomic studies found that the compound caused significant up-regulation of 16 metabolites, mainly amino acids and peptides, which were involved in the nucleotide metabolism pathway and the betaine biosynthesis module. The qRT-PCR revealed that the substance interfered with the mRNA expression of tat and dctpp. These discoveries offer fresh perspectives on the toxicity mechanisms and metabolic response to the primary harmful molecules in wampee, which could inform the rational usage of wampee resources.

Effective removal of Cr(VI) in water by bulk-size polyaniline/polyvinyl alcohol/amyloid fibril composite beads.

With the rapid expansion of industrial activities, chromium ions are discharged into the environment and cause water and soil pollution of various extents, which seriously endangers the natural ecological environment and human health. In this study, polyaniline/polyvinyl alcohol/amyloid fibril (PANI/PVA/AFL) composite gel beads (PPA) were prepared from polyaniline and amyloid fibrils with HCl as doping acid and PVA as a cross-linking agent. The results showed that PPA was an irregular composite bead with a diameter of 6 mm. The adsorption of Cr(VI) on the PPA gel beads followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model, suggesting that chemical reactions were the controlling step in the Cr(VI) adsorption process. Though the Redlich-Peterson isotherm model had the best fit for the adsorption data, the isothermal adsorption process can be simplified using the Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacity for Cr(VI) in water was 51.5 mg g-1, comparable to or even higher than some PANI-based nanomaterials. Thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption process was a spontaneous, endothermic, and entropy-increasing process. Microscopic analysis revealed that the capture of Cr(VI) on PPA was mainly governed by electrostatic attraction, reduction, and complexation reactions. PPA can be used as a kind of effective remediation agent to remove Cr(VI) in water.

Novel efficient capture of hexavalent chromium by polyethyleneimine/amyloid fibrils/polyvinyl alcohol aerogel beads: Functional design, applicability, and mechanisms.

The harmful effects of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) on the environment and human health have aroused wide public concern. In this study, bulk spherical aerogel beads (PAP) were synthesized from polyethyleneimine (PEI), protein amyloid fibrils (AFL), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) through green technology and its removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater was comprehensively studied. The results showed that although the bulk PAP beads (∼ 5 mm) only had an average pore size of 16.88 nm and a BET surface area of 12 m2/g, its maximum adsorption capacity for Cr(VI) reached 121.44 mg/g (at 298 K). Cr(VI) adsorption onto PAP conformed to pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetics and was endothermic. The adsorption of Cr(VI) decreased stepwise with the increase of solution alkalinity (pH = 2: 91.97%; pH = 10: 0.04%). Importantly, PAP showed high selectivity towards Cr(VI) in mixed heavy metal solutions (Cr(VI) > Pb(II) > Ni(II) > Cu(II) > Cd(II)) and good reusability (removal efficiency > 88% after 5 cycles). PAP had excellent anti-interference ability against FA and HCO3- with the overall removal rate exceeding 87% in the presence of 5 - 25 mg/L of these ions. Cations such as Na+, Mg2+, and other heavy metal ions at high concentrations could promote the removal efficiency of Cr(VI). The removal rates of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) by PAP in a tannery wastewater were 34.4% and 59.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, the removal rates of Cr(VI) in a electroplating wastewater and a contaminated soil leachate reached 84.4∼89.7%, showing high practicability. Mechanism studies revealed that electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, reduction, and complexation were the main reactions for Cr(VI) removal by PAP. In general, the study of PAP provides a new insight into using bulk monolith materials for treating Cr(VI) contaminated wastewater.

Highly efficient removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater using electronegative SA/EGCG@Ti/SA/PVDF sandwich membrane.

The use of green, non-toxic raw materials is of great significance to the sustainable development of the environment, among which epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is a renewable carbon source from plants. At present, there is a lack of research on the metal-polyphenol nanomaterials their use in water decontamination. In this study, a novel SA/EGCG@Ti/SA/PVDF (SESP) sandwich membrane was prepared to effectively solve the problems of difficult recovery of nanomaterials and the leaching of metal ions. The membrane was made by scraping SA on the surface of the PVDF substrate as the bottom protective layer, depositing EGCG@Ti NPs as the functional layer, then coating SA as the surface isolation layer, and finally cross-linking with anhydrous calcium chloride. Results showed that EGCG@Ti NPs dispersed well on the surface of the SA/PVDF basement membrane. SESP sandwich membrane had good hydrothermal and acid-base stability, and it can be applied to wastewater with multiple co-existing heavy metals (e.g., Cu, Pb, Cd, and Ni). The contact angle and pure water flux of the SESP sandwich membrane with a negatively charged surface were 14.0-15.6° and 171.40 L/m2 h, respectively. The pure water flux of the regenerated membrane after BSA pollution recovered to 98.68 L/m2 h, and the interception efficiency and the interception flux of Cr(VI) were 100 % and 72.92 L/m2 h at 40 min of interception, respectively. Additionally, the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) by SESP sandwich membrane was maintained above 83 % for simulated wastewater and 100 % for actual wastewater after five adsorption-desorption cycles. Cr(VI) and Cr(III) can be removed simultaneously with the negatively charged SESP sandwich membrane. EDS and XPS analysis showed that the removal of Cr(VI) was controlled by the Donnan effect, anion exchange, chelation/complexation, and reduction mechanism. In contrast, Cr(III) was mainly influenced by electrostatic attraction and chelation/complexation mechanisms. In conclusion, the newly prepared sandwich membrane has good application potential in treating Cr(VI) wastewater.

Determining the Potential Roles of Branched-Chain Amino Acids in the Regulation of Muscle Growth in Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) Based on Transcriptome and MicroRNA Sequencing.

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) can be critically involved in skeletal muscle growth and body energy homeostasis. Skeletal muscle growth is a complex process; some muscle-specific microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the regulation of muscle thickening and muscle mass. Additionally, the regulatory network between miRNA and messenger RNA (mRNA) in the modulation of the role of BCAAs on skeletal muscle growth in fish has not been studied. In this study, common carp was starved for 14 days, followed by a 14-day gavage therapy with BCAAs, to investigate some of the miRNAs and genes that contribute to the regulation of normal growth and maintenance of skeletal muscle in response to short-term BCAA starvation stress. Subsequently, the transcriptome and small RNAome sequencing of carp skeletal muscle were performed. A total of 43,414 known and 1,112 novel genes were identified, in addition to 142 known and 654 novel miRNAs targeting 22,008 and 33,824 targets, respectively. Based on their expression profiles, 2,146 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 84 differentially expressed miRNA (DEMs) were evaluated. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome pathways, including the proteasome, phagosome, autophagy in animals, proteasome activator complex, and ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process, were enriched for these DEGs and DEMs. Our findings revealed the role of atg5, map1lc3c, ctsl, cdc53, psma6, psme2, myl9, and mylk in skeletal muscle growth, protein synthesis, and catabolic metabolism. Furthermore, miR-135c, miR-192, miR-194, and miR-203a may play key roles in maintaining the normal activities of the organism by regulating genes related to muscle growth, protein synthesis, and catabolism. This study on transcriptome and miRNA reveals the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of muscle protein deposition and provides new insights into genetic engineering techniques to improve common carp muscle development.

Global Stability for an Endogenous-Reactivated Tuberculosis Model with Beddington-DeAngelis Incidence, Distributed Delay and Relapse.

A tuberculosis (TB) epidemic model with Beddington-DeAngelis incidence and distributed delay is proposed to characterize the interaction between latent period, endogenous reactivation, treatment of latent TB infection, as well as relapse. The basic reproduction number R 0 is defined, and the globally asymptotic stability of disease-free equilibrium is shown when R 0 < 1 , while if   R 0 > 1   the globally asymptotic stability of endemic equilibrium is also acquired. Theoretical results are validated through performing numerical simulations, wherein we detect that TB dynamic behavior between models with discrete and distributed delays could be same and opposite, and TB is more persistent in the model with distributed delay. Besides, increasing the protection level of susceptible and infectious individuals is crucial for the control of TB.

Does green finance stimulate green innovation of heavy-polluting enterprises? Evidence from green finance pilot zones in China.

There is a relative dearth of empirical studies quantitatively analyzing the implementation effect of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones (GFRIs) on green innovation at the micro-enterprise level. Thus, this paper aims to construct the difference-in-difference-in-difference method to explore the influence of Chinese GFRIs on corporate green innovation of heavy-polluting enterprises based on green patent data. Results show that the pilot policy has significantly decreased green patents of heavy-polluting enterprises by approximately 42.64%, indicating that the policy has a significant innovation inhibition effect and fails to exert the Porter effect. Furthermore, establishing GFRIs has a more effective inhibition effect on the green invention patent than the green utility model patent. Moreover, although enterprises of different scales have different innovation capabilities, the negative impact of GFRIs on green innovation of heavy-polluting enterprises is widespread. Still, the negative impact is more pronounced for big-scale enterprises. The above empirical evidence is essential in formulating green finance development strategies and promoting green economic transformation.

Survey on Hand-Based Haptic Interaction for Virtual Reality.

Interacting with virtual objects with haptic feedback directly using the user's hand (hand-based haptic interaction) has attracted increasing attention. Due to the high degrees of freedom of the hand, compared with tool-based interactive simulation using a pen-like haptic proxy, hand-based haptic simulation faces greater challenges, mainly including higher motion mapping and modeling difficulty of deformable hand avatars, higher computational complexity of contact dynamics, and nontrivial multi-modal fusion feedback. In this article, we aim to review key computing components for hand-based haptic simulation, and draw out major findings in this direction while analyzing the gaps toward immersive and natural hand-based haptic interaction. To this end, we investigate existing relevant studies on hand-based interaction with kinesthetic and/or cutaneous display in terms of virtual hand modeling, hand-based haptic rendering, and visuo-haptic fusion feedback. By identifying current challenges, we finally highlight future perspectives in this field.

MateJam: Multi-Material Teeth-Clutching Layer Jamming Actuation for Soft Haptic Glove.

Most existing force feedback gloves use rigid exoskeleton with large structural dimensions, making it challenging to meet the future demand of virtual reality (VR) applications for large-scale end users. There is an urgent need to develop soft and ultrathin gloves similar to daily gloves. Different from the idea of regulating the friction between layers, here we propose a multi-material teeth-clutching layer jamming (MateJam) actuator, which can achieve distinctive bending stiffness in free and constrained space. The actuator consists of multi-material layers whose modulus span three orders of magnitude, including flexible substrate layer, limiting layer, rigid micro-teeth clutching structure layer, sliding film boundary layer, and sealed shell layer. In free space, the flexible substrate, and the rigid micro-teeth array structure form flexible hinges, ensuring low resistance. In constrained space, the engagement degree of the rigid micro-teeth array is controlled by vacuum pressure to continuously adjust the output resistance. Reliable switching between free and constrained space is ensured by introducing the sliding film boundary layer and the optimized design of the micro-teeth cross-sectional shape. The force output ratio between free and constrained space reaches over 20 times (0.45N vs. 11.95N). The thickness of the actuator is as low as 3.8mm (clutched state), and the weight of the glove is 44.03g. The ultrathin formfactor and the low cost fabrication process makes the MateJam glove a promising solution for VR applications in home entertainment and social interactions.

Perceptual Localization Performance of the Whole Hand Vibrotactile Funneling Illusion.

Funneling illusion refers to a midway perceived illusory tactile sensation between multiple distant stimulations. Since haptic illusion provides guidelines to simplify tactile interfaces, funneling illusion has been explored on different parts of human skin. This study aimed to evaluate the perceptual localization performance of vibrotactile funneling illusion on palmar side of the hand. It is based on the idea of leveraging the vibrotactile funneling illusion to produce distributed vibrotactile stimuli across the entire hand using only a few vibration actuators. By designing a glove with actuators on five fingertips and the palm heel, we measured the localization density of funneling illusion on the whole hand in two experimental conditions [one-dimensional (1D) illusion along each finger and 2D illusion on palmar plane]. The results showed that the average correct rate of location discrimination was 97%, 82%, and 71% in 3-, 4-, and 5-location densities for 1D illusion and 85%, 70%, and 58% in 11-, 16-, and 21-location densities for 2D illusion, respectively. These findings confirmed the feasibility of simulating multi-location stimuli using only a few actuators. Also, perceptual guidelines were provided for the designing of vibrotactile gloves by leveraging the entire hand funneling illusion.

Genome-wide comparative identification and analysis of membrane-FADS-like superfamily genes in freshwater economic fishes.

Membrane fatty acid desaturase (FADS)-like superfamily proteins (FADSs) are essential for the synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs). Recently, studies on FADS in fishes have mostly focused on marine species, and a comprehensive analysis of the FADS superfamily, including the FADS, stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), and sphingolipid delta 4-desaturase (DEGS) families, in freshwater economic fishes is urgently required. To this end, we conducted a thorough analysis of the number, gene/protein structure, chromosomal location, gene linkage map, phylogeny, and expression of the FADS superfamily. We identified 156 FADSs genes in the genome of 27 representative species. Notably, FADS1 and SCD5 were lost in most freshwater fish and other teleosts. All FADSs proteins contain 4 transmembrane helices and 2-3 amphipathic α-helices. FADSs in the same family are often linked on the same chromosome; moreover, FADS and SCD or DEGS are frequently collocated on the same chromosome. In addition, FADS, SCD, and DEGS family proteins share similar evolutionary patterns. Interestingly, FADS6, as a member of the FADS family, exhibits a similar gene structure and chromosome location to that of SCD family members, which may be the transitional form of FADS and SCD. This study shed light on the type, structure, and phylogenetic relationship of FADSs in freshwater fishes, offering a new perspective into the functional mechanism analysis of FADSs.

Efficient coupling of sulfadiazine removal with microalgae lipid production in a membrane photobioreactor.

This study explored the feasibility of a coupled system for antibiotic removal and biofuel production through microalgae cultivation. Initial, batch culture experiments demonstrated that sulfadiazine (SDZ) had an inhibitory effect on Chlorella sp. G-9, and 100.0 mg L-1 SDZ completely inhibited its growth. In order to improve SDZ removal efficiency by microalgae, three membrane photobioreactors (MPBRs) with different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) were established for continuous microalgae cultivation. The efficient coupling of SDZ removal and microalgal lipid production was achieved through the gradual increment of influent SDZ concentration from 0 to 100.0 mg L-1. The reduction in SDZ ranged between 57.8 and 89.7%, 54.7-91.7%, and 54.6-93.5% for the MPBRs with HRT of 4 d, 2 d, and 1 d, respectively. Chlorella sp. Was found to tolerate higher concentrations of SDZ in the MPBR system, and the resulting stress from high concentrations of SDZ effectively increased the lipid content of microalgae for potential biodiesel production. With the increase of influent SDZ concentration from 0 to 100.0 mg L-1, the lipid content of microalgae increased by 43.5%. Chlorophyll content, superoxide dismutase activity, and malondialdehyde content of microalgae were also evaluated to explore the mechanism of microalgae tolerance to SDZ stress in MPBR.

Efficient microalgal lipid production driven by salt stress and phytohormones synergistically.

In this study, a novel method of coupling phytohormones with saline wastewater was proposed to drive efficient microalgal lipid production. All the six phytohormones effectively promoted microalgae growth in saline wastewater, and further increased the microalgal lipid content based on salt stress, so as to achieve a large increase in microalgal lipid productivity. Among the phytohormones used, abscisic acid had the most significant promoting effect. Under the synergistic effect of 20 g/L salt and 20 mg/L abscisic acid, the microalgal lipid productivity reached 3.7 times that of the control. Transcriptome analysis showed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of microalgae in saline wastewater were mainly up-regulated under the effects of phytohormones except brassinolide. Common DEGs analysis showed that phytohormones all regulated the expression of genes related to DNA repair and substance synthesis. In conclusion, synergistic effect of salt stress and phytohormones can greatly improve the microalgal lipid production efficiency.