Aqueous Extract of Shi-Liu-Wei-Liu-Qi-Yin Induces G2/M Phase Arrest and Apoptosis in Human Bladder Carcinoma Cells via Fas and Mitochondrial Pathway

Shi-Liu-Wei-Liu-Qi-Yin (SLWLQY) was traditionally used to treat cancers. However, scientific evidence of the anticancer effects still remains undefined. In this study, we aimed to clarify the possible mechanisms of SLWLQY in treating cancer. We evaluated the effects of SLWLQY on apoptosis-related experiments inducing in TSGH-8301 cells by (i) 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-zyl)-2,5-diphenylterazolium bromide (MTT) for cytotoxicity; (ii) cell-cycle analysis and (iii) western blot analysis of the G2/M-phase and apoptosis regulatory proteins. Human bladder carcinoma TSGH-8301 cells were transplanted into BALB/c nude mice as a tumor model for evaluating the antitumor effect of SLWLQY. Treatment of SLWLQY resulted in the G2/M phase arrest and apoptotic death in a dose-dependent manner, accompanied by a decrease in cyclin-dependent kinases (cdc2) and cyclins (cyclin B1). SLWLQY stimulated increases in the protein expression of Fas and FasL, and induced the cleavage of caspase-3, caspase-9 and caspase-8. The ratio of Bax/Bcl2 was increased by SLWLQY treatment. SLWLQY markedly reduced tumor size in TSGH-8301 cells-xenografted tumor tissues. In the tissue specimen, SLWLQY up-regulated the expression of Fas, FasL and Bax proteins, and down-regulated Bcl2 as well as in in vitro assay. Our results showed that SLWLQY reduced tumor growth, caused cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in TSGH-8301 cells via the Fas and mitochondrial pathway

Curved-crease origami face shields for infection control

The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous global demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). Face shields are an important component of PPE for front-line workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing protection of the face from splashes and sprays of virus-containing fluids. Existing face shield designs and manufacturing procedures may not allow for production and distribution of face shields in sufficient volume to meet global demand, particularly in Low and Middle-Income countries. This paper presents a simple, fast, and cost-effective curved-crease origami technique for transforming flat sheets of flexible plastic material into face shields for infection control. It is further shown that the design could be produced using a variety of manufacturing methods, ranging from manual techniques to high-volume die-cutting and creasing. This demonstrates the potential for the design to be applied in a variety of contexts depending on available materials, manufacturing capabilities and labour. An easily implemented and flexible physical-digital parametric design methodology for rapidly exploring and refining variations on the design is presented, potentially allowing others to adapt the design to accommodate a wide range of ergonomic and protection requirements

Curved-crease origami face shields for infection control

The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous global demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). Face shields are an important component of PPE for front-line workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing protection of the face from splashes and sprays of virus-containing fluids. Existing face shield designs and manufacturing procedures may not allow for production and distribution of face shields in sufficient volume to meet global demand, particularly in Low and Middle-Income countries. This paper presents a simple, fast, and cost-effective curved-crease origami technique for transforming flat sheets of flexible plastic material into face shields for infection control. It is further shown that the design could be produced using a variety of manufacturing methods, ranging from manual techniques to high-volume die-cutting and creasing. This demonstrates the potential for the design to be applied in a variety of contexts depending on available materials, manufacturing capabilities and labour. An easily implemented and flexible physical-digital parametric design methodology for rapidly exploring and refining variations on the design is presented, potentially allowing others to adapt the design to accommodate a wide range of ergonomic and protection requirements

Geometric design and construction of structurally stabilized accordion shelters

Accordion patterns are widely used for deployable shelters, due to their simple construction, elegant deployment mechanism, and folded plate form with an inherent structural efficiency. This paper proposes two new accordion-type shelters that use modified geometries to improve on the structural stability and stiffness of the typical accordion form. The first shelter is termed a distributed frame accordion shelter and is generated by separating fully folded accordion frames between spacer plates aligned with the transverse direction. A transverse stiffness and increased flexural rigidity can therefore be achieved while maintaining a nonzero floor area. The second shelter is termed a diamond wall accordion shelter and is generated by inserting secondary wall elements that increase wall sectional depth and counteract the coupled rotational-transverse displacements at accordion roof–wall junctions. For both shelter types, a geometric parameterization and a full-scale prototype are presented. Good correlation is seen between the designed and constructed surfaces. A numerical investigation also shows that the new forms have substantially increased flexural rigidities compared to the typical accordion for

Elastica surface generation of curved-crease origami

Curved-crease origami are studied for many novel applications across engineering and architecture, as they are developable but possess a non-zero principal curvature and a corresponding energy storage capability when folded. However, geometric modelling techniques are limited, with most methods requiring numerical discretisation of a target curved surface to allow developability constraints to be enforced at vertices. The discretised surface can approximate a physical surface through relaxation for minimum bending energy, however such methods are cumbersome and their accuracy is largely unknown. This paper presents an analytical geometric construction method for curved-crease origami that avoids the need for surface discretisation. The new method combines a 1D elastica solution for large elastic bending deformation with a straight-crease origami projection and reflection process; it can thus concisely and accurately capture the principal surface curvature and developability characteristics of elastically-bent curved-crease origami. A surface error analysis of 3D scanned physical prototypes is used to validate the model, which is shown to be accurate to within ± 50% of the sheet thickness for a 2 mm thick model for a range of elastica surface profiles. Limitations of the model are also explored including the derivation of a maximum compressibility limit; investigation of accuracy of numerical folding motion simulation; and an investigation of a free edge distortion behaviour which occurs in certain origami forms

Extending Goldberg’s method to parametrize and control the geometry of Goldberg polyhedra

Goldberg polyhedra have been widely studied across multiple fields, as their distinctive pattern can lead to many useful applications. Their topology can be determined using Goldberg’s method through generating topologically equivalent structures, named cages. However, the geometry of Goldberg polyhedra remains underexplored. This study extends Goldberg’s framework to a new method that can systematically determine the topology and effectively control the geometry of Goldberg polyhedra based on the initial shapes of cages. In detail, we first parametrize the cage’s geometry under specified topology and polyhedral symmetry; then, we manipulate the predefined independent variables through optimization to achieve the user-defined geometric properties. The benchmark problem of finding equilateral Goldberg polyhedra is solved to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Using this method, we have successfully achieved nearly exact spherical Goldberg polyhedra, with all vertices on a sphere and all faces being planar under extremely low numerical errors. Such results serve as strong numerical evidence for the existence of this new type of Goldberg polyhedra. Furthermore, we iteratively perform k-means clustering and optimization to significantly reduce the number of different edge lengths to benefit the cost reduction for architectural and engineering applications

Compliant curved-crease origami-inspired metamaterials with a programmable force-displacement response

Origami-inspired metamaterials utilise geometric sheet transformations to generate and control novel material mechanical properties. The majority of research effort has been devoted to straight-crease origami-inspired metamaterials, however curved-crease origami, which allows compliant folding and bending behaviours, has significant potential for adoption. This study proposes a new type of compliant curved-crease origami-inspired metamaterial, constructed with an ‘elastica’ non-zero principal surface curvature. Construction parameters for the new metamaterial are shown to influence a range of non-linear force–displacement response characteristics, including response shape, response duration, and response magnitude. A concise analytical curved-crease bending translation (CCBT) method is developed for rapid response prediction from metamaterial geometric parameters. The CCBT method also then enables the direct design and specification of a metamaterial with a fully programmable compliant force–displacement response

Optimizing Support Locations in the Roof–Column Structural System

The roof–column structural system is utilized for many engineering and architectural applications due to its structural efficiency. However, it typically requires column locations to be predetermined, and involves a tedious trial-and-error adjusting process to fulfil both engineering and architectural requirements. Finding efficient column distributions with the aid of computational methods, such as structural optimization, is an ongoing challenge. Existing methods are limited, with continuum methods involving the generation of undesired complex shapes, and discrete methods involving a time-consuming process for optimizing columns’ spatial order. This paper presents a new optimization method to design the distribution of a given number of vertical supporting columns under a roof structure. A computational algorithm was developed on the basis of the optimality-criterion (OC) method to preserve and removed candidate columns pre-embedded with design requirements. Three substrategies are presented to improve optimizer performance. The effectiveness of the new method was validated with a range of roof–column structural models. Treating column locations as design variables provides opportunities to significantly improve structural performance

Elastic buckling shape control of thin-walled cylinder using pre-embedded curved-crease origami patterns

Decades of research has led to a comprehensive understanding of the buckling behaviour of thin-walled tubes. Many of these studies have attempted to control the buckling-behaviour of thin-walled tubes by utilising their imperfection sensitive characteristics to guide the deformation process to a predictable buckling mode. However, a key limitation of such techniques is an inability to predict the exact deformed shape of post-buckled tubes. This study presents a new method to control the shape of an elastically buckled medium length thin-walled cylinder by using pre-embedded curved-crease origami patterns. The failure mode is pre-determined as a stabilized high-order elastica surface, which manifests via a diamond buckling mode. A set of prototypes are tested and show that the buckling process can be guided to a range of designed failure modes. The deformed surface is measured and shown to have a near-exact correspondence to the analytical description, where the average absolute surface error is less than half of the 0.3mm sheet thickness. This study then closely explores the driving mechanics of the buckling process and shows that the controllable buckling process exhibits a bistable transition from a higher strain energy tubular state to a lower strain energy curved-crease state