Formation of Arbitrary Patterns in Ultraviolet Cured Polymer Film via Electrohydrodynamic Patterning

Electrohydrodynamic patterning of arbitrary patterns is achieved by optimizing the critical parameters (applied voltage and spacer height). The applied voltage has a great influence on the fidelity of L-shaped line structures with different sizes. The L-shaped line structures with high fidelity are obtained by using the moderate applied voltage. The spacer height has a great influence on the fidelity of square structures with different sizes. The square structures with high fidelity are obtained by using the low height spacer. The multi-field coupling transient finite element simulation demonstrates that the lack of polymer owing to the high height spacer leads to the formation of defects

Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of single and multiple doses of aficamten in healthy Chinese participants: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1 study

Objectives: Aficamten is a selective, small-molecule allosteric inhibitor of cardiac sarcomere being developed as a chronic oral treatment for patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This was the first-in-Chinese study aiming to investigate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of aficamten in healthy adults.Methods: This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 1 study was conducted in 28 healthy male and female Chinese participants after single ascending dose (SAD) and multi-dose (MD) administrations of aficamten. In the SAD cohort, 16 participants were randomized to receive a single oral dose of aficamten: 10 mg, 20 mg, or placebo. In the MD cohort, 12 participants were randomized to receive multiple doses of aficamten: 5 mg or placebo once daily for 14 days. Safety was monitored throughout the study with electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, clinical laboratory tests, and reporting of adverse events (AEs). Pharmacokinetic profiles of aficamten and metabolites, as well as CYP2D6 genetic impact, were evaluated.Results: A total of 35 treatment-emergent AEs were reported by 14 (50%) participants with mild severity. There were no serious AEs or adverse decreases in left ventricular ejection fraction below 50% during the study. Aficamten was dose-proportional over the dose range of 5–20 mg and accumulated in the MD cohort.Conclusion: Aficamten was safe and well-tolerated in the healthy Chinese adult participants. The pharmacokinetics of aficamten in the Chinese population was comparable to those previously found in Western participants. These phase 1 data support the progression of aficamten into future clinical studies in Chinese patients.Clinical Trial registration:https://clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT04783766

Superior triethylamine detection at room temperature by {-112} faceted WO3 gas sensor

Effective detection of triethylamine (TEA) is important for the human health and environment, while challenging. In this study, a novel hierarchical flower-like WO3 nanomaterial was synthesized using a microwave-assisted gas-liquid interface method. The morphology and exposed facets of WO3 nanomaterials can be manipulated through the control of the volume ratio between the water and ethylene glycol (EG) during the synthesis. Our results demonstrate that the samples prepared with water/EG ratio of 8:32 are mainly exposed {-112} facets, which have the best gas sensing response of 180.7 to 100 ppm TEA at room temperature (RT). Its superior gas sensing performance and stability are also evidenced by the short recovery speed of 72 s to 100 ppm TEA at RT. More importantly, our experiments revealed an excellent selectivity in terms to other volatile organic compounds and further confirmed by the first-principles theoretical results. The outcomes of this study suggest that the surface engineering technique is a promising approach to improve the gas sensing performance of metal oxides gas sensor and show great potential for TEA practical detection and monitoring.</p

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

A novel particulately fluidized bed (PFB) reactor was successfully applied to synthesize inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulfide (IF-WS2) nanoparticles. The results reveal that H2S concentration is the crucial kinetic factor in regulating the structure of WS2. The H2S concentration beyond a critical value (ca. 4.3%) leads to pure IF-WS2 where the sulfurization reaction prevails over the reduction reaction, whereas H2S concentrations less than the critical value lead to bulk nanorods where the reduction reaction dominates with rapid diffusion of suboxides toward the growing surface. These two distinctly different growth modes of WS2 are attributted to the compromise in competition between the reduction and sulfidization. An IF-WS2 growth kinetics model was also proposed based on the experimental results, which provided basic data and guidance for the design of an industrial fluidized bed for synthesizing IF-WS2.A novel particulately fluidized bed (PFB) reactor was successfully applied to synthesize inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulfide (IF-WS2) nanoparticles. The results reveal that H2S concentration is the crucial kinetic factor in regulating the structure of WS2. The H2S concentration beyond a critical value (ca. 4.3%) leads to pure IF-WS2 where the sulfurization reaction prevails over the reduction reaction, whereas H2S concentrations less than the critical value lead to bulk nanorods where the reduction reaction dominates with rapid diffusion of suboxides toward the growing surface. These two distinctly different growth modes of WS2 are attributted to the compromise in competition between the reduction and sulfidization. An IF-WS2 growth kinetics model was also proposed based on the experimental results, which provided basic data and guidance for the design of an industrial fluidized bed for synthesizing IF-WS2

Abnormal expression of TBX4 during anorectal development in rat embryos with ethylenethiourea-induced anorectal malformations

Abstract Background To assess the expression of T-box transcription factor 4 (TBX4) during the anorectal development in normal and ethylenethiourea (ETU)-induced anorectal malformations (ARM) rat embryos. Methods Anorectal malformations was induced by ETU on the 10th gestational day (E10) in rat embryos. Spatio-temporal expression of TBX4 was evaluated in normal (n = 490) and ETU-induced ARM rat embryos (n = 455) from E13 to E16 by immunohistochemical staining, Western blot analysis and real-time RT-PCR. Results In the normal embryos, immunohistochemical staining revealed that TBX4 expression was detected in the epithelium of hindgut and urorectal septum (URS) on E13. TBX4-immunopositive cells were increased significantly in the epithelium of hindgut and URS, the future anal orifice part of cloacal membrane on E14. On E15, abundant stained cells were observed in the rectum, URS and dorsal cloacal membrane and the expression of positive cells reached its peak. On E16, only sporadic positive cells were distributed in the epithelium of the distal rectum. In the ARM embryos, the hindgut/rectum, URS and dorsal cloacal membrane were faint for TBX4 immunohistochemical staining. In the normal group, TBX4 protein and mRNA expression showed time-dependent changes in the hindgut/rectum from E13 to E16 on Western blot and real-time RT-PCR. On E13 and E15, the expression level of TBX4 mRNA in the ARM group was significantly lower than that in the normal group (P < 0.05). On E15, the expression level of TBX4 protein in the ARM group was significantly lower than that in the normal group (P < 0.05). Conclusions The expression of TBX4 was downregulated in ETU-induced ARM embryos, which may play important roles in the pathogenesis of anorectal development

Electrically Modulated Microtransfer Molding for Fabrication of Micropillar Arrays with Spatially Varying Heights

The ability to generate a large area micropillar array with spatially varying heights allows for exploring numerous new interesting applications in biotechnology, surface engineering, microfluidics, and so forth. This Letter presents a clever and straightforward method, called electrically modulated microtransfer molding (EM3), for generating such unique microstructures from a silicon mold arrayed with microholes. The key to the process is an application of electrically tunable wettability caused by a spatially modulated voltage, which electrohydrodynamically drives a photocurable and dielectric prepolymer to fill the microholes to a depth depending on the voltage amplitude. Using EM3, micropillar arrays with stepwise or continuously varying heights are successfully fabricated, with the diameter scalable to 1.5 μm and with the maximum height being equal to the depth of the high-aspect-ratio (more than 10:1) microholes