Effects of surfactants on spinning carbon nanotube fibers by an electrophoretic method

Thin fibers were spun from a colloidal solution of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using an electrophoretic method. Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (NaDDBS) was chosen as a surfactant and showed good performance owing to its special chemical structure. The highest spinning velocity reached 0.5 mm s−1. The resulting SWNT fibers had a tensile strength of 400 MPa and a conductivity of 355 S cm−1. Their mechanical and electrical properties were markedly improved after adding NaDDBS as the dispersant in water

Carbon-Dot-Sensitized, Nitrogen-Doped TiO2in Mesoporous Silica for Water Decontamination through Nonhydrophobic Enrichment-Degradation Mode

Mesoporous silica synthesized from the co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane and silylated carbon dot containing amide group has been adopted as the carrier for the in-situ growth of TiO2 through an impregnation-hydrothermal crystallization process. Benefitted from the initial complexing between the titania precursor and carbon dot, highly dispersed anatase TiO2 nanoparticles can be formed inside the mesoporous channel. The hybrid material possesses ordered hexagonal mesostructure with a p6mm symmetry, high specific surface area (446.27 m2g-1), large pore volume (0.57 cm3g-1), uniform pore size (5.11 nm) and a wide absorption band between 300-550 nm. TiO2 nanocrystals are anchored to carbon dot through bonds of Ti-O-N and Ti-O-C as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Moreover, the nitrogen doping of TiO2 is also verified by the formation of Ti-N bond. This composite shows excellent adsorption capability to organic 2, 4-dichlorophenol and acid orange 7 with electron-deficient aromatic ring through the electron donor-acceptor interaction between carbon dot and organics instead of hydrophobic effect as analyzed by the contact angle analysis, which can be photocatalytically recycled through visible light irradiation after the adsorption. The narrowed bandgap by nitrogen doping and the photosensitization effect of carbon dot are revealed to be co-responsible for the visible-light activity of TiO2. The adsorption capacity does not suffer obvious loss after being recycled 3 times

Some properties of the newly observed X(1835) state at BES

Recently the BES collaboration has announced observation of a resonant state in the $\pi^+\pi^- \eta'$ spectrum in $J/\psi \to \gamma \pi^+\pi^-\eta'$ decay. Fitting the data with a $0^{-+}$ state, the mass is determined to be 1833.7 MeV with $7.7\sigma$ statistic significance. This state is consistent with the one extracted from previously reported $p \bar p$ threshold enhancement data in $J/\psi \to \gamma p \bar p$. We study the properties of this state using QCD anomaly and QCD sum rules assuming X(1835) to be a pseudoscalar and show that it is consistent with data. We find that this state has a sizeable matrix element $$ leading to branching ratios of $(2.61\sim 7.37)\times 10^{-3}$ and $(2.21\sim 10.61)\times 10^{-2}$ for $J/\psi \to \gamma G_p$ and for $G_p \to \pi^+\pi^- \eta'$, respectively. Combining the calculated branching ratio of $J/\psi \to \gamma G_p$ and data on threshold enhancement in $J/\psi \to \gamma p \bar p$, we determine the coupling for $G_p- p-\bar p$ interaction. We finally study branching ratios of other $J/\psi \to \gamma + {three mesons}$ decay modes. We find that $J/\psi \to \gamma G_p \to \gamma (\pi^+\pi^- \eta, K K \pi^0)$ can provide useful tests for the mechanism proposed.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. The final version to appear at EPJ

Deep learning models for preoperative T-stage assessment in rectal cancer using MRI: exploring the impact of rectal filling

BackgroundThe objective of this study was twofold: firstly, to develop a convolutional neural network (CNN) for automatic segmentation of rectal cancer (RC) lesions, and secondly, to construct classification models to differentiate between different T-stages of RC. Additionally, it was attempted to investigate the potential benefits of rectal filling in improving the performance of deep learning (DL) models.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted, including 317 consecutive patients with RC who underwent MRI scans. The datasets were randomly divided into a training set (n = 265) and a test set (n = 52). Initially, an automatic segmentation model based on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) was constructed using nn-UNet. The performance of the model was evaluated using the dice similarity coefficient (DSC), the 95th percentile Hausdorff distance (HD95), and the average surface distance (ASD). Subsequently, three types of DL-models were constructed: Model 1 trained on the total training dataset, Model 2 trained on the rectal-filling dataset, and Model 3 trained on the non-filling dataset. The diagnostic values were evaluated and compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, confusion matrix, net reclassification index (NRI), and decision curve analysis (DCA).ResultsThe automatic segmentation showed excellent performance. The rectal-filling dataset exhibited superior results in terms of DSC and ASD (p = 0.006 and 0.017). The DL-models demonstrated significantly superior classification performance to the subjective evaluation in predicting T-stages for all test datasets (all p < 0.05). Among the models, Model 1 showcased the highest overall performance, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.958 and an accuracy of 0.962 in the filling test dataset.ConclusionThis study highlighted the utility of DL-based automatic segmentation and classification models for preoperative T-stage assessment of RC on T2WI, particularly in the rectal-filling dataset. Compared with subjective evaluation, the models exhibited superior performance, suggesting their noticeable potential for enhancing clinical diagnosis and treatment practices

Comparison of the Effects of Ticagrelor and Clopidogrel on Inflammatory Factors, Vascular Endothelium Functions and Short-Term Prognosis in Patients with Acute ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Emergency Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: a Pilot Study

Background/Aims: Acute ST-segment elevation of myocardial infarction (STEMI) is the most severe type of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Particular attention has been focused on studying the pathogenesis of STEMI, and how to prevent thrombosis, reduce inflammatory reaction, stabilize plaques and improve vascular endothelial functions to preserve the survived myocardium. This study aimed to compare the anti-inflammatory endothelium-protective effects, clinical prognosis, and relevant bleeding risks of ticagrelor versus clopidogrel in patients with STEMI who underwent urgent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and provide certain experimental evidence and a theoretical basis for the selection of safe and effective drugs and their proper dosage, thereby further guiding clinical medication. Methods: We sequentially enrolled 193 patients (104 males and 89 females) admitted to hospital due to acute STEMI. These patients underwent urgent PCI between December 2013 and May 2015 and met the inclusion criteria. They were assigned (1: 1) into two groups according to different treatments, 97 patients in the ticagrelor group (treatment group), and 96 patients in the clopidogrel group (control group). Levels of hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (ESM-1) taken at admission and 24 h, 4 days, and 7 days after administration, as well as the correlation between the levels of IL-6, hs-CRP, and ESM-1, were determined in the two groups. At the same time, the effects of treatment with ticagrelor and clopidogrel on the efficacy endpoint events (ischemic and safety) were explored. Results: No statistically significant difference was found in the levels of hs-CRP, IL-6, or ESM-1 at admission between the two groups (P> 0.05); Their levels were significantly elevated 24 h after administration, with statistical differences between two groups (P< 0.05). Furthermore, a downward trend with statistically significant differences was found on Day 4 and Day 7 (P< 0.05); ESM-1 levels increased along with increases of hs-CRP and IL-6 levels, indicating ESM-1 was positively correlated with hs-CRP (r=0.523, P< 0.001) and IL-6 (r=0.431, P< 0.001); and the occurrence rates of ischemic endpoint events at 30 days were lower in the treatment group than in the control group. The occurrence of safety endpoint events was higher than in the control group; however, no statistically significant difference was found (P> 0.05). Conclusions: Compared with clopidogrel, ticagrelor appears to rapidly reduce the prevalence of inflammatory reactions and stabilize the functions of vascular endothelium to improve the stability of atherosclerotic plaque and decrease the occurrence rate of thrombosis as well as ischemic outcome events without any obvious increase in the risk of bleeding in patients with acute STEMI receiving urgent PCI. This renders it a potential drug for clinical practice. At the same time, measurement of ESM-1, a new biological marker for vascular endothelial function disorder, could possibly become a simple, effective, and practical new method for clinical evaluation of risk stratification of patients with acute STEMI at admission

L-DOPA Neurotoxicity Is Mediated by Up-Regulation of DMT1−IRE Expression

2008-2009 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalpublished_fina