Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Model in Rodents: Methods and Potential Pitfalls

A variety of animal models have been developed for modeling ischemic stroke. The middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model has been utilized extensively, especially in rodents. While the MCAO model provides stroke researchers with an excellent platform to investigate the disease, controversial or even paradoxical results are occasionally seen in the literature utilizing this model. Various factors exert important effects on the outcome in this stroke model, including the age and sex of the animal examined. This paper discusses emerging information on the effects of age and sex on ischemic outcomes after MCAO, with an emphasis on mouse models of stroke

The Factors Influencing the Idea Recognition of Open Innovation Platforms: Take LEGO Ideas as an Example

With the influx of users posting their ideas to Open Innovation Platforms (OIPs), there has been widespread interest in how companies screen high-quality ideas. Most of the existing literature on idea quality focuses on the adoption of ideas by companies, while ignoring the recognition among users. Based on the ideas posted by users of LEGO Ideas, this study first analyzes the influence of users’ social learning and social network on their innovation ability, and then further investigates the influence of idea authors’ innovation ability and idea content’s characteristics on idea recognition based on signal theory. The findings suggest that more challenging social learning as well as weighted indegree and betweenness centrality of social network positively affect users’ innovation ability and weighted outdegree of social network negatively affects users’ innovation ability. Meanwhile, idea authors’ innovation ability and the number of pictures, text length, richness, popularity, and emotional polarity of idea content positively affect idea recognition. Distinct from the existing literature, this paper focuses on idea recognition among users, delves into the influence of social learning and social network on users’ innovation ability, and integrates the study of factors influencing users’ innovation ability into the study of factors influencing idea recognition

Molecular Orientations Change Reaction Kinetics and Mechanism: A Review on Catalytic Alcohol Oxidation in Gas Phase and Liquid Phase on Size-Controlled Pt Nanoparticles

Catalytic oxidation of alcohols is an essential process for energy conversion, production of fine chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates. Although it has been broadly utilized in industry, the basic understanding for catalytic alcohol oxidations at a molecular level, especially under both gas and liquid phases, is still lacking. In this paper, we systematically summarized our work on catalytic alcohol oxidation over size-controlled Pt nanoparticles. The studied alcohols included methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, and 2-butanol. The turnover rates of different alcohols on Pt nanoparticles and also the apparent activation energy in gas and liquid phase reactions were compared. The Pt nanoparticle size dependence of reaction rates and product selectivity was also carefully examined. Water showed very distinct effects for gas and liquid phase alcohol oxidations, either as an inhibitor or as a promoter depending on alcohol type and reaction phase. A deep understanding of different alcohol molecular orientations on Pt surface in gas and liquid phase reactions was established using sum-frequency generation spectroscopy analysis for in situ alcohol oxidations, as well as density functional theory calculation. This approach can not only explain the entirely different behaviors of alcohol oxidations in gas and liquid phases, but can also provide guidance for future catalyst/process design

Application of natural polysaccharides and their novel dosage forms in gynecological cancers: therapeutic implications from the diversity potential of natural compounds

Cancer is one of the most lethal diseases. Globally, the number of cancers is nearly 10 million per year. Gynecological cancers (for instance, ovarian, cervical, and endometrial), relying on hidden diseases, misdiagnoses, and high recurrence rates, have seriously affected women’s health. Traditional chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy effectively improve the prognosis of gynecological cancer patients. However, with the emergence of adverse reactions and drug resistance, leading to the occurrence of complications and poor compliance of patients, we have to focus on the new treatment direction of gynecological cancers. Because of the potential effects of natural drugs in regulating immune function, protecting against oxidative damage, and improving the energy metabolism of the body, natural compounds represented by polysaccharides have also attracted extensive attention in recent years. More and more studies have shown that polysaccharides are effective in the treatment of various tumors and in reducing the burden of metastasis. In this review, we focus on the positive role of natural polysaccharides in the treatment of gynecologic cancer, the molecular mechanisms, and the available evidence, and discuss the potential use of new dosage forms derived from polysaccharides in gynecologic cancer. This study covers the most comprehensive discussion on applying natural polysaccharides and their novel preparations in gynecological cancers. By providing complete and valuable sources of information, we hope to promote more effective treatment solutions for clinical diagnosis and treatment of gynecological cancers

Alcohol Oxidation at Platinum-Gas and Platinum-Liquid Interfaces: The Effect of Platinum Nanoparticle Size, Water Coadsorption and Alcohol Concentration

Alcohol oxidation reaction over platinum nanoparticles with size ranging from 2 to 8 nm deposited on mesoporous silica MCF-17 was studied in the gas and liquid phases. Among methanol, ethanol, 2- propanol, and 2-butanol oxidations, the turnover frequency increased as the nanoparticle size became large in both reaction phases. The activation energy in the gas phase was higher than that in the liquid phase. Water coadsorption decreased the turnover rate of all the gas and liquid phase oxidations except for the gas-phase 2-butanol case, while a certain amount of water promoted 2-propanol oxidation in the liquid phase. Sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy study and DFT calculation revealed that the alcohol molecules pack horizontally on the metal surface in low concentration and stand up in high concentration, which affects the dissociation of β-hydrogen of the alcohol as the critical step in alcohol oxidation