Ultra-Sensitive Piezo-Resistive Sensors Constructed with Reduced Graphene Oxide/Polyolefin Elastomer (RGO/POE) Nanofiber Aerogels.

Flexible wearable pressure sensors have received extensive attention in recent years because of the promising application potentials in health management, humanoid robots, and human machine interfaces. Among the many sensory performances, the high sensitivity is an essential requirement for the practical use of flexible sensors. Therefore, numerous research studies are devoted to improving the sensitivity of the flexible pressure sensors. The fiber assemblies are recognized as an ideal substrate for a highly sensitive piezoresistive sensor because its three-dimensional porous structure can be easily compressed and can provide high interconnection possibilities of the conductive component. Moreover, it is expected to achieve high sensitivity by raising the porosity of the fiber assemblies. In this paper, the three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide/polyolefin elastomer (RGO/POE) nanofiber composite aerogels were prepared by chemical reducing the graphene oxide (GO)/POE nanofiber composite aerogels, which were obtained by freeze drying the mixture of the GO aqueous solution and the POE nanofiber suspension. It was found that the volumetric shrinkage of thermoplastic POE nanofibers during the reduction process enhanced the compression mechanical strength of the composite aerogel, while decreasing its sensitivity. Therefore, the composite aerogels with varying POE nanofiber usage were prepared to balance the sensitivity and working pressure range. The results indicated that the composite aerogel with POE nanofiber/RGO proportion of 3:3 was the optimal sample, which exhibits high sensitivity (ca. 223 kPa-1) and working pressure ranging from 0 to 17.7 kPa. In addition, the composite aerogel showed strong stability when it is either compressed with different frequencies or reversibly compressed and released 5000 times

Effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on cognitive impairment after aneurysm subarachnoid hemorrhage

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on cognitive impairment after aneurysm subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). Methods: The current study was carried out in a regional neurosurgical center in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province of China from January 2019 to September 2020. A total of 150 patients with persistent cognitive dysfunction at 3 months after aSAH onset were enrolled, which were randomly classified into group A (HBOT) and group B (control) via the random number table method. The outcome was evaluated by Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA). Results: There were no significant differences between group A and group B with regard to MoCA score and proportions of normal MoCA patients at 3 months after HBOT (p > 0.05). Both groups showed no significant differences in proportions of normal MoCA patients at 6 months after HBOT (p > 0.05). However, there were significant differences between group A and group B with MoCA score of patients at 6 months after HBOT (p < 0.05). There were also significant differences in MoCA score and proportions of normal MoCA patients at 9 months after HBOT. Conclusion: HBOT alleviates cognitive impairment after aSAH, and thus may be used to manage cognitive impairment in patients after aSAH. However, further clinical trials are required prior to application in clinical practice

Quantitative assessment of cerebral connectivity deficiency and cognitive impairment in children with prenatal alcohol exposure

We would like to thank the patients, their parents, and technicians for their participation in this study. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 61601361), the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province in China (Grant No. 2017JM6013), the Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Complex System Control and Intelligent Information Processing (Contract No. SKL2017CP07), the Xi’an University of Technology, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants (J. Stephen and T. Zhang—Grant Nos. P20AA017068, NCRR P20RR021938, NIGMS P20GM103472, and 1P50AA022534).Peer reviewedPostprintPostprintPublisher PD

NaoXinTong Inhibits the Development of Diabetic Retinopathy in d

Buchang NaoXinTong capsule (NXT) is a Chinese Materia Medica standardized product extracted from 16 Chinese traditional medical herbs and widely used for treatment of patients with cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in China. Formation of microaneurysms plays an important role in the development of diabetic retinopathy. In this study, we investigated if  NXT can protect diabetic mice against the development of diabetic retinopathy. The db/db mice (~6 weeks old), a diabetic animal model, were divided into two groups and fed normal chow or plus NXT for 14 weeks. During the treatment, fasting blood glucose levels were monthly determined. After treatment, retinas were collected to determine retinal thickness, accumulation of carbohydrate macromolecules, and caspase-3 (CAS-3) expression. Our results demonstrate that administration of NXT decreased fasting blood glucose levels. Associated with the decreased glucose levels, NXT blocked the diabetes-induced shrink of multiple layers, such as photoreceptor layer and outer nuclear/plexiform layers, in the retina. NXT also inhibited the diabetes-induced expression of CAS-3 protein and mRNA, MMP-2/9 and TNFα mRNA, accumulation of carbohydrate macromolecules, and formation of acellular capillaries in the retina. Taken together, our study shows that NXT can inhibit the development of diabetic retinopathy and suggests a new potential application of NXT in clinic

Direct Bypass Surgery Vs. Combined Bypass Surgery for Hemorrhagic Moyamoya Disease: A Comparison of Angiographic Outcomes

Objective: Extracranial-intracranial bypass is currently recognized as the optimal treatment for hemorrhagic-type moyamoya disease (MMD) which reduces incidence of rebleeding. Recent studies have reported the advantage of combined bypass over direct bypass for the general MMD patients. However, the effect of direct bypass and combined bypass surgery specifically for hemorrhagic-type MMD had not been investigated yet.Methods: Hemorrhagic-type MMD patients who underwent direct and combined bypass surgery with complete clinical and radiological documentation from a multicenter cohort between 2009 and 2017 were retrospectively included. Surgical methods included superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) anastomosis (direct bypass), combined STA-MCA bypass with encephalodurosynangiosis (EDS), and combined STA-MCA bypass with encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis (EDAS). Matsushima standard on follow-up catheter angiography was used to assess surgical outcome. Modified Rankin Scale, incidence of rebleeding and ischemia during follow-up were recorded. Rebleeding-free survival rates between direct and combined bypass were compared by Kaplan-Meier analysis.Results: Sixty eight hemorrhagic-onset MMD patients were included in this study, among which 71 hemispheres were treated with surgery (direct bypass: 17; bypass+EDS: 24; bypass+EDAS: 30). Forty six (64.8%) hemispheres had satisfactory revascularization (Matsushima level 2–3) and 26 (36.6%) had poor neoangiogenesis. Matsushima level was not significantly different between surgical groups (P = 0.258). Good neoangiogenesis from dural grafts was achieved in 26 (36.6%) hemispheres, and good neoangiogenesis from STA grafts was only seen in 4 (out of 30, 12.5%) hemispheres. Multivariate analysis showed bypass patency [P < 0.001, OR (95%CI): 13.41 (3.28–54.80)] and dural neoangiogenesis [P < 0.001, OR (95%CI): 13.18 (3.26–53.36)] both independently contributed to good angiographic outcome. During follow-up, incidences of rebleeding or ischemic events, and re-bleeding free survival rate were not significantly different between surgical groups (P = 0.433, P = 0.559, and P = 0.997). However, patients who underwent combined bypass surgery had significantly lower mRS at follow-up comparing to patients who underwent direct bypass (P = 0.006).Conclusion: Combined bypass surgery and direct bypass surgery offered similar revascularization for hemorrhagic MMD. Bypass patency and dural angiogenesis both contributed to revascularization independently. The potential of indirect bypass to grow new vessels in hemorrhagic-MMD patients was generally limited, but dural leaflets offered better neoangiogenesis than STA grafts and was therefore recommended for surgical revascularization of hemorrhagic MMD

3D N-doped hybrid architectures assembled from 0D T-Nb2O5 embedded in carbon microtubes toward high-rate Li-ion capacitors

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.10.048. © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Herein, a unique nitrogen-doped T-Nb2O5/tubular carbon hybrid structure in which T-Nb2O5 nanoparticles are homogeneously embedded in an in-situ formed nitrogen-doped microtubular carbon is synthesized, utilizing a facile and innovative synthesis strategy. This structure addresses the poor electron conductivity and rate capability that hinder T-Nb2O5's promise as an anode for Li-ion devices. Such a distinctive structure possesses a robust framework that has ultrasmall active nanocomponents encapsulated in highly conductive carbon scaffold with hollow interior and abundant voids, enabling fast electron/ion transport and electrolyte penetration. Moreover, nitrogen-doping not only ameliorates the electronic conductivity of the heterostructure, but also induces pseudocapacitance mechanism. When evaluated in a half-cell, the as-prepared material delivers a specific capacitance of 370 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 within 1–3 V vs. Li/Li+ and excellent cyclability over 1100 cycles. A high energy density of 86.6 W h kg−1 and high power density of 6.09 kW kg−1 are realized. Additionally, a capacitance retention as high as 81% after 3500 cycles is achieved in an Li-ion Capacitor (LIC) with activated carbon as the cathode and nitrogen-doped T-Nb2O5/tubular carbon as the anode.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council University of Waterlo

Molecular dynamics studies on the NMR and X-ray structures of rabbit prion protein wild-type and mutants

Prion diseases are invariably fatal and highly infectious neurodegenerative diseases that affect a wide variety of mammalian species such as sheep, goats, mice, humans, chimpanzees, hamsters, cattle, elks, deer, minks, cats, chicken, pigs, turtles, etc. These neurodegenerative diseases are caused by the conversion from a soluble normal cellular protein into insoluble abnormally folded infectious prions and the conversion is believed to involve conformational change from a predominantly alpha-helical protein to one rich in beta-sheet structure. Such conformational changes may be amenable to study by molecular dynamics (MD) techniques. For rabbits, classical studies show they have a low susceptibility to be infected, but in 2012 it was reported that rabbit prion can be generated (though not directly) and the rabbit prion is infectious and transmissible (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 109(13): 5080-5). This paper studies the NMR and X-ray molecular structures of rabbit prion protein wild-type and mutants by MD techniques, in order to understand the specific mechanism of rabbit prion protein and rabbit prions.Comment: (The 2nd version of arXiv1304.7633

Prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety and stress among clinical therapists in China in the context of early COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectivesTo study the socio-demographic characteristics and the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among clinical therapists in China during the early Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to identify associated factors.MethodThis cross-sectional study was part of a multicenter, nationally representative survey conducted through WeChat from January 2021 to March 2021. Data, including socio-demographics, health-related behaviors, and information on whether they participated in the frontline work of treating COVID-19, were collected anonymously. Respondents also completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21).ResultsIn total, 396 clinical therapists in the selected hospitals completed the questionnaires, with a response rate of 89.0%. Respondents were predominantly female (77.3%). About 6.6% of the participants were current tobacco users, and 20.7% had participated in the frontline work of treating COVID-19. Overall, 22.0%, 17.9%, and 8.8% of participants were classified as having clinically meaningful depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively, based on DASS-21 scores. Multiple logistic regression in Model 1 and Model 2 showed that depression, anxiety, and stress were associated with regular physical activity and frequent insomnia (all, p < 0.05). In anxiety model 2, the associated factors for anxiety during the pandemic were identified as education (master’s degree or more, OR=0.520; 95% CI=0.283-0.955), marital status (single, OR=2.064; 95% CI=1.022-4.168), tobacco use (OR=4.265; 95% CI=1.352-13.454), regular physical activity (OR=0.357; 95% CI=0.192-0.663), frequent insomnia (OR=6.298; 95% CI =2.522-15.729), and participation in the frontline work of treating COVID-19 (OR=3.179; 95% CI=1.697-5.954). The COVID-19 epidemic did not significantly increase the depression and stress levels among clinical therapists, but it did significantly increase anxiety levels.ConclusionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, depression, anxiety and stress were relatively common among clinical therapists in China. Regular physical activity and good sleep were important protective factors against emotional problems. Therefore, encouraging regular physical activity and actively addressing clinical therapists’ sleep problems is beneficial to improving the ability to cope with negative emotions. The COVID-19 epidemic significantly increased anxiety, and awareness and interventions should be recommended to reduce anxiety among clinical therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic