Face mask integrated with flexible and wearable manganite oxide respiration sensor

Face masks are key personal protective equipment for reducing exposure to viruses and other environmental hazards such as air pollution. Integrating flexible and wearable sensors into face masks can provide valuable insights into personal and public health. The advantages that a breath-monitoring face mask requires, including multi-functional sensing ability and continuous, long-term dynamic breathing process monitoring, have been underdeveloped to date. Here, we design an effective human breath monitoring face mask based on a flexible La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO)/Mica respiration sensor. The sensor’s capabilities and systematic measurements are investigated under two application scenes, namely clinical monitoring mode and daily monitoring mode, to monitor, recognise, and analyse different human breath status, i.e., cough, normal breath, and deep breath. This sensing system exhibits super-stability and multi-modal capabilities in continuous and long-time monitoring of the human breath. We determine that during monitoring human breath, thermal diffusion in LSMO is responsible for the change of resistance in flexible LSMO/Mica sensor. Both simulated and experimental results demonstrate good discernibility of the flexible LSMO/Mica sensor operating at different breath status. Our work opens a route for the design of novel flexible and wearable electronic devices

Geological modeling of excellent fracture-vug carbonate reservoirs: A case study of the Ordovician in the northern slope of Tazhong palaeouplift and the southern area of Tabei slope, Tarim Basin, NW China

Based on the reservoir characteristics of individual wells, the combined main controlling factor of fracture-vug reservoir and reservoir space synthesized modeling was adopted to establish geological models for the Ordovician reservoirs in the northern slope of the Tazhong palaeouplift and the southern area of the Tabei slope. Geological models for six types of wells were established: (1) cavity + fracture-vug controlled by sequence boundary; (2) cavity + fracture-vug on the top of cavity controlled by fractures; (3) cavity in the surface layer + fracture-vug under the cavity controlled by the sequence boundary and faults; (4) single fracture-vug controlled by the sequence boundary and faults; (5) single vug controlled by deep hydrothermal fluids along faults and fractures; (6) single fracture controlled by faults and fractures. Two types of synthesized geological models were established under the tectonic background of cuesta, namely, platform type slope of the Tazhong area and the gentle slope of the Tabei area. Type 1 and 2 reservoirs are common in the Yijianfang-Yingshan Formation of the HA6-Xinken Region, and type 3 and 5 reservoirs are common in the Yingshan Formation of the ZG8-ZG43 Region. A comprehensive evaluation shows that the reservoir of cavity + fracture-vug on the top of cavity controlled by the sequence boundary is the best, followed by cavity + fracture-vug on the top of cavity controlled by faults. So the areas that meet configuration of cavities and fracture-vugs and single vug controlled by deep hydrothermal fluids along faults and fractures are important targets for exploration and development. Key words: carbonates, fracture-vug reservoir, geological model, main controlling factors, Ordovician, Tazhong-Tabei are

Determinants of self-rated health among shanghai elders: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background As the most populous nation in the world, China has now becoming an emerging ageing society. Shanghai is the first city facing the challenge of ageing demographics. Against this background, a study that employs self-rated health (SRH) assessment system was designed to explore the health status of Shanghai elders, and learn their attitudes toward health issues; as well as to investigate the determinants of SRH among Shanghai elders. Understanding SRH is crucial for finding appropriate solutions that could effectively tackle the increasing eldercare demand. Methods This study adopted a quantitative research strategy. Using a multistage stratified cluster sampling method, we conducted a questionnaire survey in August 2011 in Shanghai, which collected 2001 valid survey responses. SRH assessments were categorized by five levels: very good, fairly good, average, fairly poor, or poor. The respondents’ functional status was evaluated using the Barthel index of activities for daily living. In the data analysis, we used chi-squared test to determine differences in socio-demographic characteristics among various groups. Along with statistics, several logistic regression models were designed to determine the associations between internal influence factors and SRH. Results Younger age (χ2 = 27.5, p < 0.05), male sex (χ2 = 11.5, p < 0.1), and living in the suburbs (χ2 = 55.1, p < 0.05) were associated with better SRH scores. Higher SRH scores were also linked with health behaviour of the respondents; namely, do not smoke (χ2 = 18.0, p < 0.1), do not drink (χ2 = 18.6, p < 0.1), or engage in regular outdoor activities (χ2 = 69.3, p < 0.05). The respondents with better social support report higher SRH scores than those without. Respondents’ ability to hear (χ2 = 38.7, p < 0.05), speak (χ2 = 16.1, p < 0.05) and see (χ2 = 78.3, p < 0.05) impacted their SRH scores as well. Meanwhile, chronic illness except asthma was a major influence factor in low SRH score. Applying multiple regression models, a series of determinants were analysed to establish the extent to which they contribute to SRH. The impact of these variables on SRH scores were 6.6% from socio-demographic and health risk behaviours, 2.4% from social support, 8.5% from mental health, 20% from physical conditions, and13% from chronic diseases. Conclusions This is the first study that examines the determinants of SRH among Shanghai elders. Nearly 40% of our study’s respondents reported their health status as “good”. The main determinants of SRH among elders include living condition, health risk behaviour, social support, health status, and the economic status of the neighbourhood

<i>Bombyx mori</i> histone methyltransferase <i>BmAsh2</i> is essential for silkworm piRNA-mediated sex determination

<div><p>Sex determination is a hierarchically-regulated process with high diversity in different organisms including insects. The W chromosome-derived <i>Fem</i> piRNA has been identified as the primary sex determination factor in the lepidopteran insect, <i>Bombyx mori</i>, revealing a distinctive piRNA-mediated sex determination pathway. However, the comprehensive mechanism of silkworm sex determination is still poorly understood. We show here that the silkworm PIWI protein BmSiwi, but not BmAgo3, is essential for silkworm sex determination. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated depletion of <i>BmSiwi</i> results in developmental arrest in oogenesis and partial female sexual reversal, while <i>BmAgo3</i> depletion only affects oogenesis. We identify three histone methyltransferases (HMTs) that are significantly down-regulated in <i>BmSiwi</i> mutant moths. Disruption one of these, <i>BmAsh2</i>, causes dysregulation of piRNAs and transposable elements (<i>TEs</i>), supporting a role for it in the piRNA signaling pathway. More importantly, we find that <i>BmAsh2</i> mutagenesis results in oogenesis arrest and partial female-to-male sexual reversal as well as dysregulation of the sex determination genes, <i>Bmdsx</i> and <i>BmMasc</i>. Mutagenesis of other two HMTs, <i>BmSETD2</i> and <i>BmEggless</i>, does not affect piRNA-mediated sex determination. Histological analysis and immunoprecipitation results support a functional interaction between the BmAsh2 and BmSiwi proteins. Our data provide the first evidence that the HMT, BmAsh2, plays key roles in silkworm piRNA-mediated sex determination.</p></div

Localization of BmVasa, BmPIWIs (BmSiwi and BmAgo3) and BmAsh2 in silkworm gonads.

<p>(A) Proteins localization at larval wandering stag (W) indicated by protein-specific antibodies in silkworm ovaries under immunofluorescence light microscopy. FITC-conjugated Goat-anti-Rabbit secondary antibody was used for fluorescence detection and Hoechst was used to stain nuclei. A BmVasa primary antibody was used to indicate the germline lineage cells. White arrowheads indicate germline lineage cells, and the brown arrowheads indicate somatic supporting cells. Scale bars represent 50 μm. (B) Model for the structure of the silkworm larval ovariole.</p

Alternative splicing pattern of <i>Bmdsx</i> and relative expression amount of <i>BmMasc</i> in WT and mutants.

<p>(A) Splicing patterns of the <i>Bmdsx</i> gene in mutants. Disruption of <i>BmSiwi</i> and <i>BmAsh2</i> produced <i>Bmdsx</i>^<i>M</i> (the male-specific transcriptional product of <i>Bmdsx</i>) in female animals. (B) Up-regulation of <i>BmMasc</i> in <i>Δsiwi</i> and <i>Δash2</i> females. Silkworm <i>ribosome protein 49</i> (<i>Bmrp49</i>) was used as the internal reference gene. Three individual replicates were used for qRT-PCR. The error bars represent the mean ± S.E.M and asterisks stand for significance with <i>p<0</i>.<i>05</i>.</p

Partial sexual reversal in <i>Δsiwi</i> and <i>Δash2</i> female animals.

<p>Abdominal segments (left column) and female externalias (right column) in <i>WT</i>, <i>Δsiwi</i>, <i>Δago3</i>, <i>Δash2</i>, <i>Δsetd2</i> and <i>Δeggless</i> females were showed. A male-specific 8^th abdominal segment in <i>Δsiwi</i> and <i>Δash2</i> female animals was observed from the lateral view. The WT female animals contain two symmetrical genital papillas as the yellow arrowheads indicated. Both BmSiwi and BmAsh2 female mutants developed clasper-like structures (green arrowheads indicated) and asymmetric differentiated genital papilla (white arrowheads indicated). Scale bars in left and right columns stand for 0.5 cm and 0.5 mm respectively.</p

Involvement of HMT <i>BmAsh2</i> in piRNA-mediated sex determination.

<p>(A) Immunostaining of BmAsh2 and H3K4me3 in WT and <i>Δash2</i> ovaries. (B) Immunostaining of BmAsh2 and BmSiwi in <i>WT</i>, <i>Δsiwi</i> and <i>Δash2</i> ovaries. Hoechst was used to stain nuclei in (A) and (B). (C) Western blotting of BmAsh2 and BmSiwi in each mutant detected by anti-BmAsh2 and anti-BmSiwi primary antibody respectively. Actin was used as the internal control. (D) Immunoprecipitation of His-tagged BmSiwi by Flag-tagged BmAsh2 in the silkworm BmN cell line using an anti-Flag primary antibody. Scale bars in (A) and (B) stand for 50 μm.</p