Growth of Carbon Nanotubes on Electrospun Cellulose Fibres for High Performance Supercapacitors and Carbon Fibre Composites

The production of cellulose derived hybrid carbon nanofibre (CNF)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) electrodes for the fabrication of supercapacitors and carbon fibre composites was investigated. The CNTs were grown via a floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method on the top surface of electrospun cellulose derived CNFs. These CNF and CNF/CNTs samples were then used as electrodes to produce liquid electrolyte-based supercapacitors. The growth of CNTs leads to an improvement of electrochemical performance compared to the plain CNFs. This improvement is due to the grown CNTs enlarging the reactive sites through enhanced surface area and porosity, and thereby increasing the conductivity of the system. CNTs have been also grown onto CNFs containing ferrocene and SiC particles. Composites were fabricated by combining the fibres and CNTs grown fibres with model polymers. The stress transfer properties of these materials have been estimated using an in situ Raman spectroscopic method by observing the shift of the Raman band during the tensile deformation of model polymer composites. Using this method, the elastic modulus of CNF/SiC/CNTs fibres has been estimated to be 208 ± 26 GPa. No shifts in the peak positions of bands relating to the carbon structure were obtained for in situ Raman spectroscopic studies of the CNF/CNTs fibres made from the ferrocene embedded fibres. This was thought to be due to the low yield of CNTs on the surface of the fibres. Furthermore, CNF/CNTs electrode-based structural supercapacitors, combining a solid electrolyte with the carbonized fibres, have been produced. These CNF/CNTs electrodes have a better capacitive performance than the plain CNF electrodes. There was a decrease in this performance with increased curing time of the resin, from 2 to 24 h, due to a lack of charge carrier mobility in the latter samples. A Raman spectroscopic study of the deformation of the carbon structures showed that the G-band shift towards a lower wavenumber position for the CNF and CNF/CNTs samples processed at a carbonization temperature of 2000 °C. Moduli of these fibres were estimated to be ~145 GPa and ~271 GPa, respectively, suggesting the growth of CNTs not only enhances the capacitive performance but also the mechanical properties of the structural supercapacitors. No Raman bend shift was found for the CNFs and CNF/CNTs samples processed below a carbonization temperature of 2000 °C, e.g. 900 °C and 1500 °C. This is because the graphitic structures are not well developed at carbonization temperatures below 1500 °C

REHABILITATION OF NEUROMUSCULAR FUNCTION BY PHYSICAL EXERCISE

ABSTRACT Introduction In long-term sports, especially in explosive sports such as accelerated starting, athletes are prone to rupture the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It is the ultimate goal of ACL reconstruction for athletes to restore the stability (static and dynamic) and mechanical structure of the knee joint through reconstruction surgery. Object This article uses ACL reconstruction to repair patients’ ACL and explores the effect of athletes’ nerve recovery after sports. Methods We collected 35 ACL reconstruction athletes and randomly divided them into two groups (experimental group, 18; control group, 17). After reconstruction, the athletes in the experimental group were treated with sports rehabilitation. Results The experimental and control groups had great differences in knee joint exercise indexes and nerve function recovery. Conclusion Sports rehabilitation training can effectively improve the nerve function of the knee joint after ACL reconstruction. Level of evidence II; Therapeutic studies - investigation of treatment results.</div

Brachyericines (Erinaceidae, Eulipotyphla) from the early Miocene of central Nei Mongol, China

Brachyericinae is a subfamily of Erinaceidae (hedgehogs and moonrats) with a very short history and limited distribution. Fossil records of brachyericines, with rare materials, were confined to the Oligocene and early Miocene in Central Asia and to the Miocene in North America. Here, we report three forms of short-faced hedgehogs: Synexallerix junggarensis, Brachyericinae gen. et sp. indet. 1 and Brachyericinae gen. et sp. indet. 2 from Aoerban and Gashunyin Adege, localities of the early Miocene in Central Nei Mongol. S. junggarensis is the first discovery outside the Suosuoquan Formation in Xinjiang and detailed description of the new materials, including a nearly complete skull, clarifies its taxonomic position within the Brachyericinae. The new Nei Mongol material is important not only because they include a nearly complete skull of S. junggarensis (previously known by a rostral part of the skull) but also because of the presence of three taxa of the brachyericines from the same general area. The similarity of its morphological characteristics with the North American genera also further confirms the close affinities of brachyericines from the two continents during the early Miocene.</p

MicroRNA-200b-3p restrains gastric cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion via C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12/CXC chemokine receptor 7 axis

This study was conducted to investigate the impact of microRNA (miR)-200b-3p on viability, migration, and invasion of gastric cancer (GC) cells and its mechanism. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was conducted to measure miR-200b-3p expression in GC tissues and cells; besides, the relationship between miR-200b-3p expression and overall survival time (OS) was analyzed with OncomiR database; cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation assay, flow cytometry, scratch healing assay, and Transwell assay were performed to detect the proliferation, cell cycle progression, migration, and invasion of GC cells; a lung metastasis model in nude mice was used to examine the effect of miR-200b-3p on the metastasis of GC cells in vivo; the interplay between miR-200b-3p and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12) mRNA 3’ UTR was predicted by bioinformatics and verified with a dual-luciferase reporter gene assay; besides, the expression of CXCL12 and CXC chemokine receptor 7 (CXCR7) was probed by Western blot. It was found that miR-200b-3p expression was down-regulated in GC tissues, which was remarkably associated with the lymph node metastasis and decrease of differentiation of GC; transfection with miR-200b-3p mimics restrained the growth, migration, and invasion of GC cells in vitro, induced cell cycle arrest, and inhibited CXCL12 and CXCR7 expression levels; transfection of miR-200b-3p inhibitors worked oppositely in vitro and promoted lung metastasis in vivo. CXCL12 was confirmed as the downstream target of miR-200b-3p and was negatively modulated by miR-200b-3p. In conclusion, miR-200b-3p inhibited GC progression via regulating CXCL12/CXCR7 axis.</p

Strict consensus tree (L = 122; CI = 0.869; RI = 0.888) based on the dental character matrix in Table 3, showing the relationships of <i>Prosiphneus</i> and relevant taxa.

<p>Strict consensus tree (L = 122; CI = 0.869; RI = 0.888) based on the dental character matrix in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0144993#pone.0144993.t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>, showing the relationships of <i>Prosiphneus</i> and relevant taxa.</p

Additional file 4: of Analysis of widely targeted metabolites of the euhalophyte Suaeda salsa under saline conditions provides new insights into salt tolerance and nutritional value in halophytic species

Table S4. Differentially significant metabolite annotations classified by KEGG pathways. (XLSX 44 kb

Additional file 3: of Analysis of widely targeted metabolites of the euhalophyte Suaeda salsa under saline conditions provides new insights into salt tolerance and nutritional value in halophytic species

Table S3. Differential metabolites in the leaves of S. salsa at salinity, when compared to controls. (XLSX 30 kb

Video_1_Impact of Different Synchrotron Flattop Operation Modes on 4D Dosimetric Uncertainties for Scanned Carbon-Ion Beam Delivery.mp4

PurposeThe characteristic of pulsed beam delivery for synchrotron-based carbon-ion radiotherapy has led to the emergence of many scanning scenarios in order to improve the treatment efficiency and accuracy of moving target volume. Here, we aim to evaluate a novel breathing guidance motion mitigation performance under different synchrotron flattop operation modes in carbon-ion radiotherapy.MethodsWith the use of twelve 4DCT datasets of lung cancer patients who had been treated with respiratory-gated carbon-ion pencil beam therapy, range-adapted internal target volume (raITV) plans were optimized. Under the fixed flattop with single-energy and extended flattop with multi-energy synchrotron operation modes, the 4D treatments with breathing guidance and free breathing-based gated phase-controlled rescanning (PCR) beam delivery were simulated. Dose metrics (D95 and D5–D95 in clinical target volume (CTV)) and treatment time of the resulting 4D plans were compared.ResultsThe two synchrotron operation modes provided different scanning dynamics. For the free breathing-based PCR method delivered in the extended flattop operation mode, the averaged CTV-D95 values were 90.4% ± 3.7%, 95.4% ± 1.7%, 96.9% ± 1.5%, 97.2% ± 1.5%, and 97.3% ± 1.5% for the 1-scanning, 2-PCR, 4-PCR, 6-PCR, and 8-PCR, respectively. For the breathing guidance-based PCR method delivered in the extended flattop mode, these values were 89.1% ± 4.0%, 97.0% ± 1.4%, 98.2% ± 0.7%, 98.6% ± 0.7%, and 98.9% ± 0.7%, respectively. However, CTV-D95 significantly increased to 98.5% ± 1.0% even with just 1-scanning breathing guidance-based fixed flattop operation mode (p 0.15).ConclusionsThe combination of the breathing guidance and PCR methods should be an alternative way for motion mitigation for the fixed flattop synchrotron operation mode. The target dose coverage and homogeneity could be further improved by the combination of the breathing guidance and PCR methods than the traditional PCR-only technology for the extended flattop synchrotron operation mode.</p

Additional file 1: of Analysis of widely targeted metabolites of the euhalophyte Suaeda salsa under saline conditions provides new insights into salt tolerance and nutritional value in halophytic species

Table S1. All detected metabolites in the leaves of S. salsa treated with different concentrations of NaCl. (XLSX 109 kb

Additional file 2: of Analysis of widely targeted metabolites of the euhalophyte Suaeda salsa under saline conditions provides new insights into salt tolerance and nutritional value in halophytic species

Table S2. All differential metabolites in the leaves of S. salsa treated with different concentrations of NaCl. (XLSX 68 kb