Reinforcing Health Data Sharing through Data Democratization

In this paper, we propose a health data sharing infrastructure which aims to empower a democratic health data sharing ecosystem. Our project, named Health Democratization (HD), aims at enabling seamless mobility of health data across trust boundaries through addressing structural and functional challenges of its underlying infrastructure with the core concept of data democratization. A programmatic design of an HD platform was elaborated, followed by an introduction of one of our critical designs—a “reverse onus” mechanism that aims to incentivize creditable data accessing behaviors. This scheme shows a promising prospect of enabling a democratic health data-sharing platform

The impact of sufferers’ wealth status on pain perceptions: Its development and relation to allocation of healthcare resources

Wealth-based disparities in health care wherein the poor receive undertreatment in painful conditions are a prominent issue that requires immediate attention. Research with adults suggests that these disparities are partly rooted in stereotypes associating poor individuals with pain insentivity. However, whether and how children consider a sufferer’s wealth status in their pain perceptions remains unknown. The present work addressed this question by testing 4- to 9-year-olds from the US and China. In Study 1 (N = 108, 56 girls, 79% White), US participants saw rich and poor White children experiencing identical injuries and indicated who they thought felt more pain. Although 4- to 6-year-olds responded at chance, children aged seven and above attributed more pain to the poor than to the rich. Study 2 with a new sample of US children (N = 111, 56 girls, 69% White) extended this effect to judgments of White adults’ pain. Pain judgments also informed children’s prosocial behaviors, leading them to provide medical resources to the poor. Studies 3 (N = 118, 59 girls, 100% Asian) and 4 (N = 80, 40 girls, 100% Asian) found that, when evaluating White and Asian people’s suffering, Chinese children began to attribute more pain to the poor than to the rich earlier than US children. Thus, unlike US adults, US children and Chinese children recognize the poor’s pain from early on. These findings add to our knowledge of group-based beliefs about pain sensitivity and have broad implications on ways to promote equitable health care

The impact of sufferers’ wealth status on pain perceptions: Its development and relation to allocation of healthcare resources

Wealth-based disparities in health care wherein the poor receive undertreatment in painful conditions are a prominent issue that requires immediate attention. Research with adults suggests that these disparities are partly rooted in stereotypes associating poor individuals with pain insensitivity. However, whether and how children consider a sufferer's wealth status in their pain perceptions remains unknown. The present work addressed this question by testing 4- to 9-year-olds from the US and China. In Study 1 (N = 108, 56 girls, 79% White), US participants saw rich and poor White children experiencing identical injuries and indicated who they thought felt more pain. Although 4- to 6-year-olds responded at chance, children aged seven and above attributed more pain to the poor than to the rich. Study 2 with a new sample of US children (N = 111, 56 girls, 69% White) extended this effect to judgments of White adults’ pain. Pain judgments also informed children's prosocial behaviors, leading them to provide medical resources to the poor. Studies 3 (N = 118, 59 girls, 100% Asian) and 4 (N = 80, 40 girls, 100% Asian) found that, when evaluating White and Asian people's suffering, Chinese children began to attribute more pain to the poor than to the rich earlier than US children. Thus, unlike US adults, US children and Chinese children recognize the poor's pain from early on. These findings add to our knowledge of group-based beliefs about pain sensitivity and have broad implications on ways to promote equitable health care. Research Highlights Four studies examined whether 4- to 9-year-old children's pain perceptions were influenced by sufferers’ wealth status. US children attributed more pain to White individuals of low wealth status than those of high wealth status by age seven. Chinese children demonstrated an earlier tendency to attribute more pain to the poor (versus the rich) compared to US children. Children's wealth-based pain judgments underlied their tendency to provide healthcare resources to people of low wealth status. </p

Synthesis of Polyionic Liquid by Phenolic Condensation and Its Application in Esterification

A novel polyionic liquid for esterification was synthesized by phenolic condensation. Different characterization techniques were applied, and the result showed that the catalyst had high acidity amount (4.5 mmol/g) and good thermal stability. The decomposition temperature of the polyionic liquid catalyst (PIL-S) was 240 degrees C, which was fitted to the product of ester. Owing to these good properties, the PIL-S exhibited excellent catalytic activity in esterification. The optimized condition was the 6 wt % catalyst amount, and the ratio of acetic acid to n-butanol was 0.8:1 at 95 degrees C for 3 h. In the optimized condition, the yield of ester was 97.1%. The PIL-S also has a good catalytic effect in other esterification systems. Compared with commercial resins (Amberlyst 15) and other catalysts, PIL-S showed better catalytic activity. After eight times use, the yield of ester did not decrease obviously (over 94%). The structure of PIL-S remained stable after eight times use

Aldol Condensation of Methyl Propionate and Formaldehyde: Thermodynamics, Reaction Process, and Network

The aldol condensation of methyl propionate (MP) and formaldehyde (FA) is an environmentally friendly and sustainable route to produce methyl methacrylate (MMA). However, the side reaction is a huge barrier to achieving high selectivity to the target product. To strengthen the regulation of selectivity for the main reaction, a reaction network was established based on the validation and analysis of side reactions in the system through a combination of experimental and computational methods. The thermodynamics was analyzed through the Gibbs free energy (Delta rGT theta) of reactions. On the basis of a rigorous material balance of all components, the sources and reaction equations of 15 products were identified. The multivariate nonlinear model between the yield of different products and reaction conditions was established to predict the yield of each product. The mean relative error of the actual yield and predicted yield was less than 5%. The key influencing condition for the synthesis of MMA was the liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV)

Aldol Condensation of Methyl Propionate and Formaldehyde: Thermodynamics, Reaction Process, and Network

The aldol condensation of methyl propionate (MP) and formaldehyde (FA) is an environmentally friendly and sustainable route to produce methyl methacrylate (MMA). However, the side reaction is a huge barrier to achieving high selectivity to the target product. To strengthen the regulation of selectivity for the main reaction, a reaction network was established based on the validation and analysis of side reactions in the system through a combination of experimental and computational methods. The thermodynamics was analyzed through the Gibbs free energy (Delta rGT theta) of reactions. On the basis of a rigorous material balance of all components, the sources and reaction equations of 15 products were identified. The multivariate nonlinear model between the yield of different products and reaction conditions was established to predict the yield of each product. The mean relative error of the actual yield and predicted yield was less than 5%. The key influencing condition for the synthesis of MMA was the liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV)

Development of Bionic Semicircular Canals and the Sensation of Angular Acceleration

To study the sensing process of the human semicircular canals (HSCs) during head rotation, which is difficult to directly measure due to physiological reasons. A 1-BSC (one-dimensional bionic semicircular canal) and 3-BSC were prepared with soft SMPFs (symmetric electrode metal core polyvinylidene difluoride fibers), which could sense deformations similar to human sensory cells. Based on these models, experiments were carried out to study the principle of the HSCs. Deformations of the bionic ampulla (BA) depended on the angular acceleration. Gravity had a strong influence on the deformation of the BA in the vertical plane. When the 3-BSC was subjected to angular acceleration around one of its centerlines, the three BAs all deformed. The deformation of the BAs was linearly related to the angular acceleration. The deformation of the BA in the main semicircular canal was exactly three times that of the other two BAs

Exosome‐mediated delivery of miR‐204‐5p inhibits tumor growth and chemoresistance

Abstract Background Nano‐sized extracellular vesicles secreted by cells play key roles in intercellular crosstalk, and appear to be an excellent biocompatible material as therapeutic cargoes in vivo. Previously, we have demonstrated that miR‐204‐5p is a key tumor suppressor that could inhibit tumor growth, metastasis and chemoresistance. Methods A HEK293T cell line stably expressing miR‐204‐5p (293T‐miR‐204) was constructed by lentivirus transduction. Fluorescence real‐time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was applied to measure the expression of miR‐204‐5p. CCK‐8 and colony formation assays were used to evaluate the in vitro anticancer effects, and the flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis. The in vivo therapeutic effects of exosomal miR‐204‐5p were evaluated using a xenograft mouse model. Western blots were used to detect the protein levels of CD63, Flotillin‐2, RAB22A and Bcl2. The protein levels of RAB22A and Bcl2 in tumor tissues were measured by immunohistochemistry staining. Results MiR‐204‐5p was clearly upregulated in CRC cells after coculturing with 293T‐miR‐204 cell‐derived conditioned medium (CM) or exosomes. CCK‐8 and colony formation assays showed that the cell proliferation ability of CRC cells was clearly inhibited by 293T‐miR‐204 cell‐derived CM or exosomes. The inhibitory effects of exosomal miR‐204‐5p on cell proliferation were further confirmed in other types of cancers. Exosomal miR‐204‐5p could induce apoptosis and increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to the chemotherapeutic drug—5‐fluorourcil. In addition, exosomal miR‐204‐5p inhibited the tumor growth in mice. Western blot assay and IHC staining showed that the protein levels of miR‐204‐5p targets were clearly decreased in cancer cells or xenograft tissues treated with exosomal miR‐204‐5p. Conclusions In this study, we confirmed that exosomal miR‐204‐5p could efficiently inhibit cancer cell proliferation, induce apoptosis and increase chemosensitivity by specifically suppressing the target genes of miR‐204‐5p in human cancer cells