Exploration and Practice of Online and Offline Hybrid Teaching Reform in Pharmacology Course

The course of Pharmacology has implemented several rounds of online and offline hybrid teaching mode reform. By implementing the “three-step-six-step learning method”, students’ interest in learning has been effectively mobilized, and their autonomous learning ability has been enhanced. The teaching of pharmacological knowledge, the cultivation of pharmaceutical service ability and the cultivation of professional pharmacists’ quality have been closely combined, which has cultivated students’ professional self-confidence, cast students’ benevolence as  pharmacists, improved their professional competence and professional identity, and achieved professional education and moral education

Generation of novel high quality HMW-GS genes in two introgression lines of Triticum aestivum/Agropyron elongatum

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) have been proved to be mostly correlated with the processing quality of common wheat (<it>Triticum aestivum</it>). But wheat cultivars have limited number of high quality HMW-GS. However, novel HMW-GS were found to be present in many wheat asymmetric somatic hybrid introgression lines of common wheat/<it>Agropyron elongatum</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To exploit how these new subunits were generated, we isolated HMW-GS genes from two sib hybrid lines (II-12 and 11-4-6) and compared them with those from their parents. The result shows that two genes of hybrid (<it>H11-3-3 </it>and <it>H11-4-3</it>) are directly introgressed from the donor parent <it>Agropyron elongatum</it>; one hybrid gene (<it>H1Dx5</it>) comes from point mutation of a parental wheat gene (<it>1Dx2.1</it>); two other hybrid genes (<it>H1By8 </it>and <it>H1By16</it>) are likely resulting from unequal crossover or slippage of a parental wheat gene (<it>1By9.1</it>); and the sixth novel hybrid gene (<it>H1Dy12</it>) may come from recombination between two parental genes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Therefore, we demonstrate that novel HMW-GS genes can be rapidly created through asymmetric somatic hybridization in a manner similar with the evolution mechanism of these genes supposed before. We also described gene shuffling as a new mechanism of novel HMW-GS gene formation in hybrids. The results suggest that asymmetric somatic hybridization is an important approach for widening HMW-GS genebank of wheat quality improvement.</p

The Feasibility of Waterproof Microcapsule System for Bacteria-Based Self-Healing Cementitious Material

In this study, a waterproof material was used to fabricate microcapsule by interfacial curing reaction to encapsulate an alkaliphilic spore-forming bacterium. The technical feasibility of encapsulated spores and the influence of three kinds of curing agent on the calcium precipitation activity (CPA) of the bacterium were studied. Furthermore, micromorphology of microcapsules was observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Afterwards, the thermal stability and thermolysis temperature were determined by TGA thermal analyzer. Moreover, the CPA of broken/ unbroken microcapsules was evaluated. In addition, water resistance was evaluated by adding microcapsules in the water for 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, and 56 days. Finally, light microscope was applied to trace the self-healing behavior of encapsulated mineralization bacterium in cement paste specimens. The results showed that compared with unbroken microcapsules, higher CPA was achieved by breaking the microcapsule to release the bacterium, suggesting good protection for the encapsulated spores. Three curing agents showed nearly similar influence on the spores, while KH792 performed relatively better, and thus was used to fabricate microcapsule with the core/shell weight ratio being 1:1. Our results also indicated that ER microcapsules could keep unbroken in the water for 2 months. Compared with the specimens without embedded bacterium, the healed crack area of specimens embedded with bacterial microcapsules was monitored, suggesting effective self-healing of concrete crack can be achieved by introducing encapsulated mineralization microorganisms into concrete structures. Therefore, we put forward that this waterproof epoxy resin microcapsules could be potential for the application of self-healing concrete

Electrotunable liquid sulfur microdroplets.

Manipulating liquids with tunable shape and optical functionalities in real time is important for electroactive flow devices and optoelectronic devices, but remains a great challenge. Here, we demonstrate electrotunable liquid sulfur microdroplets in an electrochemical cell. We observe electrowetting and merging of sulfur droplets under different potentiostatic conditions, and successfully control these processes via selective design of sulfiphilic/sulfiphobic substrates. Moreover, we employ the electrowetting phenomena to create a microlens based on the liquid sulfur microdroplets and tune its characteristics in real time through changing the shape of the liquid microdroplets in a fast, repeatable, and controlled manner. These studies demonstrate a powerful in situ optical battery platform for unraveling the complex reaction mechanism of sulfur chemistries and for exploring the rich material properties of the liquid sulfur, which shed light on the applications of liquid sulfur droplets in devices such as microlenses, and potentially other electrotunable and optoelectronic devices

Volatile Fatty Acids Production from Codigestion of Food Waste and Sewage Sludge Based on β

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are preferred valuable resources, which can be produced from anaerobic digestion process. This study presents a novel technology using β-cyclodextrins (β-CD) pretreatment integrated alkaline method to enhance VFAs production from codigestion of food waste and sewage sludge. Experiment results showed that optimized ratio of food waste to sewage sludge was 3 : 2 because it provided adequate organic substance and seed microorganisms. Based on this optimized ratio, the integrated treatment of alkaline pH 10 and β-CD addition (0.2 g/g TS) performed the best enhancement on VFAs production, and the maximum VFAs production was 8631.7 mg/L which was 6.13, 1.38, and 1.57 times higher than that of control, initial pH 10, and 0.2 g β-CD/g TS treatment, respectively. Furthermore, the hydrolysis rate of protein and polysaccharides was greatly improved in integration treatment, which was 1.18–3.45 times higher than that of other tests. Though the VFAs production and hydrolysis of polymeric organics were highly enhanced, the primary bacterial communities with different treatments did not show substantial differences

CENet: A Cabinet Environmental Sensing Network

For data center cooling and intelligent substation systems, real time cabinet environmental monitoring is a strong requirement. Monitoring data, such as temperature, humidity, and noise, is important for operators to manage the facilities in cabinets. We here propose a sensing network, called CENet, which is energy efficient and reliable for cabinet environmental monitoring. CENet achieves above 93% reliable data yield and sends fewer beacons compared to periodic beaconing. It does so through a data-aided routing protocol. In addition, based on B-MAC, we propose a scheduling scheme to increase the lifetime of the network by reducing unnecessary message snooping and channel listening, thus it is more energy efficient than B-MAC. The performance of CENet is evaluated by simulations and experiments

Predicting peritoneal carcinomatosis of gastric cancer: A simple model to exempt low-risk patients from unnecessary staging laparoscopy

BackgroundPeritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) of gastric cancer indicates a poor outcome and is mainly diagnosed by staging laparoscopy (SL). This study was designed to develop a risk stratification model based on the number of risk factors to exempt low-risk patients from unnecessary SL.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study based on a single institution between January 2015 and December 2019. SL is indicated for patients of advanced locoregional stage, and clinicopathologic characteristics of 535 consecutive patients were included. PC-associated variables were identified by logistic regression analysis. A risk stratification model based on the number of risk factors was constructed, and we defined its predictive value with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and negative predictive value.ResultsIn total, 15.9% of included patients were found to have PC during SL. Borrmann type IV, elevated CA125, and tumour diameter ≥5 cm were independent risk factors of PC. These three factors combined with cT4 were selected as predictive factors, and the number of predictive variables was significantly related to the possibility of PC (2.0%, 12.8%, 20.0%, 54.2%, and 100%, respectively). When the cutoff value is more than one predictive factor, the negative predictive value is 98.0%, with an area under the curve of 0.780. This model could exempt 29.8% of unnecessary SL compared to the indication of the current NCCN guideline.ConclusionsWe constructed a simple model to predict the probability of PC using the number of predictive factors. It is recommended that patients without any of these factors should be exempt from SL