Presentation1_Environmental collaboration and blockchain technology adoption in green medical supply chain management during the COVID-19 pandemic.pdf

In recent years, the resource shortage and environmental degradation have made enterprises and governments increasingly aware of the importance of sustainable development. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has also increased the shortage of medical materials. Based on this, we investigate the tradeoff of the critical medical devices refurbishing strategies when blockchain is used in three different structures: manufacturer refurbishing, retailer refurbishing, and third-party refurbishing in the two-period refurbishing strategies. We find that the manufacturer always benefits from the adoption of blockchain technology strategy in the manufacturer refurbishing scenario. However, for the retailer in the second period, the retailer references the adoption of blockchain only if the willingness to pay is extremely high. Additionally, when the medical supply chain channel member chooses retailer refurbishing or third-party strategy, the manufacturer always likes to use blockchain technology. That’s because it will help the information value spillover from the retailer to the manufacturer, which leads the manufacturer to get more profits and a lower profit for the retailer. However, in the retailer refurbishing or third-part strategy, the whole channel profits are higher than not adopting blockchain technology. Therefore, business managers can be based on our research to achieve profits Pareto-improving.</p

Poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) hydrogels containing hyper-branched poly(amidoamine) for sustained drug release

<p>Hydrogels containing hyper-branched poly(amidoamine) (hb-PAMAM) microenvironments were suggested for the sustained release of ionizable drugs. For this purpose, a series of poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) hydrogels containing hb-PAMAM (PHEA-hb-PAMAM) were prepared by copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate with acryl-terminated hb-PAMAM. The hb-PAMAM was synthesized by the Michael addition reaction of triacryloylhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine (TT) and piperzaine (PZ). By using nonionic Tegafur and ionizable salicylic acid (SA) as model drugs, the release mechanisms of drugs from PHEA-hb-PAMAM hydrogels were investigated. Compared with the release kinetic of Tegafur, the release rate of SA from the hydrogels was evidently slowed down. Moreover, the release rate of SA can be modulated by the addition of salt. This can be attributed to the ionic interaction of SA with hb-PAMAM microenvironments. By analyzing the release kinetics of SA from the hydrogels, it was found that the release of SA followed non-Fickian diffusion.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Radial Growth of Trees Rather Than Shrubs in Boreal Forests Is Inhibited by Drought.PDF

Of all forest biomes, boreal forests are experiencing the most significant warming. Drought caused by warming has a dramatic impact on species in boreal forests. However, little is known about whether the growth of trees and shrubs in boreal forests responds consistently to warming and drought. We obtained the tree-ring width data of 308 trees (Larix gmelinii and Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) and 133 shrubs (Pinus pumila) from 26 sites in northeastern China. According to the climate data from 1950 to 2014, we determined three extreme drought years (1954, 1967, and 2008). The response difference of radial growth of trees and shrubs in boreal forests to drought was compared using resilience index, moving correlation and response analysis. The results showed that high temperature (mean and maximum temperature) in previous and current growing seasons promoted the growth of P. pumila, but inhibited the growth of trees. On the contrary, wetter conditions (higher PDSI) promoted tree growth but were not conducive to P. pumila growth in high latitudes. Moving correlation analysis showed similar results. In addition, water deficit was more likely to inhibit P. pumila growth in low latitudes. The drought resistance of P. pumila was stronger than that of L. gmelinii and P. sylvestris var. mongolica. Therefore, the growth loss and recovery time of P. pumila during drought was less than those of trees. We concluded that L. gmelinii and P. sylvestris var. mongolica are more prone to growth decline than P. pumila after the drought caused by climate warming. In the future climate warming, shrub growth may benefit more than trees. Our findings are of great significance in predicting the future changes in ecosystem composition and species distribution dynamics in extreme climate susceptible areas.</p

Image_1_Methylmalonic acid levels in serum, exosomes, and urine and its association with cblC type methylmalonic acidemia-induced cognitive impairment.JPEG

BackgroundThe cblC type methylmalonic acidemia is the most common methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) in China. The biochemical characteristics of this disease include elevated methylmalonic acid and homocysteine (HCY), increased propionylcarnitine (C3), decreased free carnitine (C0). In this study, we aimed to clarify the roles of these biomarkers in cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment and evaluate the capacity of methylmalonic acid in different fluids or exosomes to distinguish cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment.Methods15 non-inherited hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) patients, 42 cblC-MMA patients and 57 age- and sex-matched healthy children were recruited in this study. The levels of HCY were detected by an automatic immune analyzer. The levels of acylcarnitines and methylmalonic acid were detected by tandem mass spectrometer.ResultsThe main findings were all biomarkers as HCY, acylcarnitines and methylmalonic acid had capacities for distinguishing patients with cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment from healthy children. The methylmalonic acid in different fluids or exosomes had good performances for distinguishing patients with cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment from HHcy patients. The methylmalonic acid in serum exosomes and neuronal-derived exosomes were able to distinguishing cblC-MMA patients with cognitive impairment from patients without cognitive impairment. The methylmalonic acid in neuronal-derived exosomes might be helpful to evaluate the severity of cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment.DiscussionMethylmalonic acid levels in serum exosomes, especially in serum neuronal-derived exosomes, serve as potential biomarkers for distinguishing cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment.</p

Image_2_Methylmalonic acid levels in serum, exosomes, and urine and its association with cblC type methylmalonic acidemia-induced cognitive impairment.JPEG

BackgroundThe cblC type methylmalonic acidemia is the most common methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) in China. The biochemical characteristics of this disease include elevated methylmalonic acid and homocysteine (HCY), increased propionylcarnitine (C3), decreased free carnitine (C0). In this study, we aimed to clarify the roles of these biomarkers in cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment and evaluate the capacity of methylmalonic acid in different fluids or exosomes to distinguish cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment.Methods15 non-inherited hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) patients, 42 cblC-MMA patients and 57 age- and sex-matched healthy children were recruited in this study. The levels of HCY were detected by an automatic immune analyzer. The levels of acylcarnitines and methylmalonic acid were detected by tandem mass spectrometer.ResultsThe main findings were all biomarkers as HCY, acylcarnitines and methylmalonic acid had capacities for distinguishing patients with cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment from healthy children. The methylmalonic acid in different fluids or exosomes had good performances for distinguishing patients with cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment from HHcy patients. The methylmalonic acid in serum exosomes and neuronal-derived exosomes were able to distinguishing cblC-MMA patients with cognitive impairment from patients without cognitive impairment. The methylmalonic acid in neuronal-derived exosomes might be helpful to evaluate the severity of cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment.DiscussionMethylmalonic acid levels in serum exosomes, especially in serum neuronal-derived exosomes, serve as potential biomarkers for distinguishing cblC-MMA induced cognitive impairment.</p

Comparison of the IL-1 concentrations in the three groups.

<p>* denotes statistically significant difference compared with HA group or the control group(p<0.01); $ denotes statistically significant difference compared with the control group(p<0.05).</p

Constructing High-Recognition Protein-Imprinted Materials Using “Specially Designed” Block Macromolecular Chains as Functional Monomers and Crosslinkers

The use of a macromolecularly functional monomer and crosslinker (MFM) to stabilize and imprint a template protein is a new method to construct high-recognition protein-imprinted materials. In this study, for the first time, a “specially designed” block MFM with both “functional capability” and “crosslinking capability” segments was synthesized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization and used to fabricate bovine serum albumin (BSA)-imprinted microspheres (SiO2@MPS@MIPs-MFM) by the surface imprinting strategy. Results from circular dichroic spectrum experiments reflected that the block MFM could maintain the natural form of BSA, whereas its corresponding and equivalent micromolecularly functional monomer (MIM) seriously destroyed the secondary structure of proteins. Batch rebinding experiments showed that the maximum adsorption capacity and imprinting factor of SiO2@MPS@MIPs-MFM reached 314.9 mg g–1 and 4.02, which were significantly superior to that of MIM-based imprinted materials. In addition, since the crosslinking capability segments in block MFM involved zwitterionic functional groups with a protein-repelling effect, SiO2@MPS@MIPs-MFM showed better specific rebinding ability than the imprinted material prepared by MFM without this component. Besides, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images showed that the shell thickness of SiO2@MPS@MIPs-MFM was approximately 15 nm, and such a thin imprinted layer ensured its rapid adsorption equilibrium (120 min). As a result, SiO2@MPS@MIPs-MFM revealed fantastic selectivity and recognition ability in a mixed protein solution and could efficiently extract BSA from biological samples of bovine calf serum. The proposal of block MFM enriched the options and designability of monomers in protein imprinting technology, thereby laying a foundation for developing high-performance protein-imprinted materials

The results of micro-CT test.

<p>(A).Assessment of subchondral bone restoration in PRP group. Bright yellow represents regenerated bone and blue for tissue with lower density, such as fibrous tissue. (B).Comparison of bone mineral density(BMD) and BV/TV between the three groups and normal bone tissue(positive). <b>*</b>denotes statistically significant difference compared with positive group(p<0.01) and PRP group(p<0.01); #denotes none statistically significant difference compared with the positive group(p>0.05).</p

Mankin's scoring for the cartilage degradation.

<p>Mankin's scoring for the cartilage degradation.</p

Histological assessment of cartilage restoring effects of the three groups.

<p>The left two columns were H&E stained and the right two columns with Safranin-O. For each staining, the images of the right column are magnified from the left column. The capillary infiltration areas were indicated with black arrows. All scale bars represent 200 µm.</p