Properties of Hydrogel-Wood Composite as a New Thermochromic Glazing Material

Recently, thermal-response hydrogel smart window is widely studied because of its high luminous transmittance (τlum) and high solar modulation ability (Δτsol). However, its liquid state is undesirable for window applications. Wood has strong mechanical strength and low thermal conductivity. Due to the unique features of the thermal-response hydrogel and wood, a thermochromic hydrogel wood composite (HWC) that can smartly regulate solar irradiation is proposed by impregnating a thermal-response hydrogel into delignified wood. The novel HWC demonstrates advanced optical properties (i.e. τlum = 83% and 40% at the cold transparent and hot opaque states & Δτsol = 38%) and low transition temperature (i.e. Tc = 23 oC). Moreover, the HWC is highly flexible and easily fitted into existing windows frames. Overall, the HWC with its impressive features shows great promise for energy-efficient material for smart windows in buildings.publishedVersio

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Properties of Hydrogel-Wood Composite as a New Thermochromic Glazing Material

Recently, thermal-response hydrogel smart window is widely studied because of its high luminous transmittance (τlum) and high solar modulation ability (Δτsol). However, its liquid state is undesirable for window applications. Wood has strong mechanical strength and low thermal conductivity. Due to the unique features of the thermal-response hydrogel and wood, a thermochromic hydrogel wood composite (HWC) that can smartly regulate solar irradiation is proposed by impregnating a thermal-response hydrogel into delignified wood. The novel HWC demonstrates advanced optical properties (i.e. τlum = 83% and 40% at the cold transparent and hot opaque states & Δτsol = 38%) and low transition temperature (i.e. Tc = 23 oC). Moreover, the HWC is highly flexible and easily fitted into existing windows frames. Overall, the HWC with its impressive features shows great promise for energy-efficient material for smart windows in buildings

Etablissement et caractérisation de nouvelles tumeurs xénogreffées et lignées tumorales dérivées de carcinomes nasopharyngés positifs pour EBV

International audienceThe lack of representative nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) models has seriously hampered research on EBV carcinogenesis and preclinical studies in NPC. Here we report the successful growth of five NPC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) from fifty-eight attempts of trans-plantation of NPC specimens into NOD/SCID mice. The take rates for primary and recurrent NPC are 4.9% and 17.6%, respectively. Successful establishment of a new EBV-positive NPC cell line, NPC43, is achieved directly from patient NPC tissues by including Rho-associated coiled-coil containing kinases inhibitor (Y-27632) in culture medium. Spontaneous lytic reactivation of EBV can be observed in NPC43 upon withdrawal of Y-27632. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) reveals a close similarity in mutational profiles of these NPC PDXs with their corresponding patient NPC. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) further delineates the genomic landscape and sequences of EBV genomes in these newly established NPC models, which supports their potential use in future studies of NPC