VO₂/ZnO bilayer films with enhanced thermochromic property and durability for smart windows

VO_{2} films are widely considered as one of the most suitable material to act as smart windows. Although this system is able to function, the durability of the film has been an issue as the surface of the films may oxidize by converting V^{4+} to V^{5+}. To overcome this problem, attempt is made to coat the VO_{2} film with ZnO, which can assist by creating a resistance layer to prevent further oxidation of VO_{2}. Here, VO_{2}/ZnO bilayer film was prepared by a facile method comprised of spin-coating and dip-coating process and shows excellent durability, and in particular. the solar modulation efficiency (△T_{sol}) maintaining ca 89.9% (from 17.8% to 16.0%) after 300 days in a humid environment, however, the △T_{sol} of pure VO_{2} film is decreased from 11.8% to 4.1%. Also, the VO2/ZnO bilayer exhibits an enhanced thermochromic property of visible transmittance (T_{lum} = 55.7 ± 2.1%) and △T_{sol} (17.1 ± 1.4%) which is 1.49 times higher than that of pure VO2 film (△T_{sol} = 11.5 ± 0.4%). The enhancement in the thermochromic performance and durability is probably attributed to the anti-reflection and protection of ZnO layer. Therefore, this work can provide an effective way to optimize thermochromic property for practical application of VO_{2}-based smart windows

A prediction model for short-term neurodevelopmental impairment in preterm infants with gestational age less than 32 weeks

IntroductionEarly identification and intervention of neurodevelopmental impairment in preterm infants may significantly improve their outcomes. This study aimed to build a prediction model for short-term neurodevelopmental impairment in preterm infants using machine learning method.MethodsPreterm infants with gestational age  < 32 weeks who were hospitalized in The Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and were followed-up to 18 months corrected age were included to build the prediction model. The training set and test set are divided according to 8:2 randomly by Microsoft Excel. We firstly established a logistic regression model to screen out the indicators that have a significant effect on predicting neurodevelopmental impairment. The normalized weights of each indicator were obtained by building a Support Vector Machine, in order to measure the importance of each predictor, then the dimension of the indicators was further reduced by principal component analysis methods. Both discrimination and calibration were assessed with a bootstrap of 505 resamples.ResultsIn total, 387 eligible cases were collected, 78 were randomly selected for external validation. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that gestational age(p = 0.0004), extrauterine growth restriction (p = 0.0367), vaginal delivery (p = 0.0009), and hyperbilirubinemia (0.0015) were more important to predict the occurrence of neurodevelopmental impairment in preterm infants. The Support Vector Machine had an area under the curve of 0.9800 on the training set. The results of the model were exported based on 10-fold cross-validation. In addition, the area under the curve on the test set is 0.70. The external validation proves the reliability of the prediction model.ConclusionA support vector machine based on perinatal factors was developed to predict the occurrence of neurodevelopmental impairment in preterm infants with gestational age  < 32 weeks. The prediction model provides clinicians with an accurate and effective tool for the prevention and early intervention of neurodevelopmental impairment in this population

Economic and carbon emission performance of green farming by marketing cooperatives

Investigating the economic and carbon emission performance of green production in marketing cooperatives is important in clarifying China’s green transition path and promoting green development. In this paper, we estimated the economic and carbon emission performance of green production in marketing cooperatives using survey data from 340 samples in Shandong Province, China. The results show that green farming improved the performance of marketing cooperatives, and the larger the scale, the better the performance. It is still valid after weakening the endogenous problem through endogenous transformation regression. Particularly, green farming has a more significant effect on the performance of low-performing marketing cooperatives. In addition, the carbon emission per unit area of green produces are significantly lower than that of conventional produces, and the carbon emission per unit yield of most green produces lower than that of conventional produces. Therefore, strengthening the standardized development of marketing cooperatives, promoting green technology research and development, and standardizing the market supervision of green produces are important ways to achieve the economic and carbon emission performance of green produces in China, as well as to promote China's green transformation

Weight-Reducing Effect of Lactobacillus Plantarum ZJUFT17 Isolated from Sourdough Ecosystem

Lactobacillus plantarum ZJUFT17 (T17) is a potential probiotic bacterium isolated from Chinese traditional sourdough. The purpose of this study was to investigate its weight-reducing effects in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) and further to elucidate possible mechanisms. Male C57BL/6J mice fed HFD were given T17 (2–4 × 108 cfu) intragastrically for 10 weeks. The results showed that the administration of T17 significantly suppressed HFD-induced body weight gain, alleviated HFD-induced increase in serum lipids and decreased energy intake. The serum levels of obesity-related metabolic signaling molecules, including insulin, adiponectin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, were markedly improved. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that T17 administration dramatically modulated the gut microbiota, suppressing pathogenic and pro-inflammatory microbes and stimulating the microbes favoring anti-obesity. The weight-reducing efficacy of T17 may be explained by its ability to ameliorate systemic inflammation and insulin resistance mediated by gut microbiota. This study revealed that T17 could ameliorate obesity and the concomitant metabolic syndrome in mice and that the lactic acid bacteria in the sourdough ecosystem may also possess anti-obesity/weight-reducing properties

Defining Exposure Predictors of Meropenem That Are Associated with Improved Survival for Severe Bacterial Infection: A Preclinical PK/PD Study in Sepsis Rat Model

Background: The pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) index of carbapenems that best correlates with in vivo antimicrobial activity is percent time of dosing interval in which free drug concentration remains above MIC (%fT > MIC), while the magnitudes of the PK/PD index of carbapenems remains undefined in critically ill sepsis patients. Methods: A sepsis rat model was first developed by comparing the survival outcomes after intraperitoneal injection of different inoculum size (1–10 × 107 CFU) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027 (MIC = 0.125 mg/L) in neutropenic rats. The PK characteristics of the model drug meropenem in the developed sepsis rat model was then evaluated, and PK modeling and simulation was applied to design meropenem dosing regimens attaining various PD targets (40%fT > MIC, 100%fT > MIC, and 100%fT > 4 × MIC). The microbiological response and survival outcomes for different meropenem treatment regimens were investigated in the rat sepsis model (n = 12 for each group). Results: The optimal inoculum for the rat sepsis model was 1 × 107 CFU of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027. A one-compartment model with first-order absorption best described the PK of meropenem in sepsis rats. Pronounced survival prolongation and lower hazard risk were observed in the treatment groups of 50 or 75 mg/kg/q2.4h (100%fT > MIC) and 75 mg/kg/q2h (100%fT > 4 × MIC) compared to the 75 mg/kg/q6h (40%fT > MIC) group, while meropenem groups with PD targets of 100%fT > MIC and 100%fT > 4 × MIC showed comparable survival curves. Microbiological response for different PD targets is inconclusive due to irregular bacterial counts in blood samples. Conclusions: The PD target of 40%fT > MIC is suboptimal for sepsis rats, and the aggressive 100%fT > 4 × MIC target does not provide a survival benefit against the target of 100%fT > MIC

Analysis and prediction of interactions between transmembrane and non-transmembrane proteins

Abstract Background Most of the important biological mechanisms and functions of transmembrane proteins (TMPs) are realized through their interactions with non-transmembrane proteins(nonTMPs). The interactions between TMPs and nonTMPs in cells play vital roles in intracellular signaling, energy metabolism, investigating membrane-crossing mechanisms, correlations between disease and drugs. Results Despite the importance of TMP-nonTMP interactions, the study of them remains in the wet experimental stage, lacking specific and comprehensive studies in the field of bioinformatics. To fill this gap, we performed a comprehensive statistical analysis of known TMP-nonTMP interactions and constructed a deep learning-based predictor to identify potential interactions. The statistical analysis describes known TMP-nonTMP interactions from various perspectives, such as distributions of species and protein families, enrichment of GO and KEGG pathways, as well as hub proteins and subnetwork modules in the PPI network. The predictor implemented by an end-to-end deep learning model can identify potential interactions from protein primary sequence information. The experimental results over the independent validation demonstrated considerable prediction performance with an MCC of 0.541. Conclusions To our knowledge, we were the first to focus on TMP-nonTMP interactions. We comprehensively analyzed them using bioinformatics methods and predicted them via deep learning-based solely on their sequence. This research completes a key link in the protein network, benefits the understanding of protein functions, and helps in pathogenesis studies of diseases and associated drug development

Enhanced Luminescence of Dye-Decorated ZIF-8 Composite Films via Controllable D-A Interactions for White Light Emission

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) constructed by metal ions/clusters and organic linkers are used to encapsulate fluorescent guest species with aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effects to enhance fluorescence properties due to their porous structures and high specific surface areas. However, there would be a problem of matching between MOF pores and guest molecules' sizes. In this paper, amorphous ZIF-8 was modified by carboxyl functional groups (H3BTC-ZIF-8) via introducing the 1,2,4-benzenetricarbonic acid (H3BTC) ligand into the ZIF-8 sol system. Moreover, H3BTC-ZIF-8 was used for the loading of organic fluorescent dyes rhodamine 6G (R6G) and coumarin 151 (C151) to prepare R6G/C151/H3BTC-ZIF-8 composite films. A white-light-emitting composite film (R6G/C151/H3BTC-ZIF-8) with CIE coordinates of (0.323, 0.347) was successfully prepared by compounding fluorescent dyes (R6G and C151) with H3BTC-modified ZIF-8, whose photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) can reach 64.0%. It was higher than the PLQY of the composite films prepared by crystalline ZIF-8 (40.2%) or amorphous ZIF-8 without H3BTC (48.0%) compounded with the same concentrations of dyes. The fluorescence enhancement was probably attributed to an increased amount of active sites of H3BTC-modified ZIF-8 interacting with dyes C151 and R6G. This can form hydrogen bonds between H3BTC-ZIF-8 and C151, and weak electron donor-acceptor (D-A) interactions between H3BTC-ZIF-8 and R6G molecules, respectively, thus enhancing the interactions between dyes and ZIF-8 and reducing the ACQ effect existing between dye molecules. Therefore, this strategy could provide an important guidance to develop white-light-emissive materials

The intervention effect of nicotine on cervical fibroblast-myofibroblast differentiation in lipopolysaccharide-induced preterm birth model through activating the TGF-β1/Smad3 pathway

Currently, the clinical treatment of preterm birth, mainly using uterine contraction inhibitors, does not fundamentally reduce the incidence of premature birth (PTB). Premature cervical ripening is an important factor in PTB. We previously found that nicotine-treated pregnant murine had significant cervical resistance to stretch and higher collagen cross-links compared to the control animals, and nicotine prolonged gestation and inhibited cervical ripening. However, the regulatory effects of nicotine on premature cervical ripening and its role in PTB remain unclear. To investigate the effects of nicotine on cervical TGF-β1/Smad3 pathway and fibroblast-myofibroblast differentiation regulated by this pathway in PTB-like models. Intraperitoneal injection with 15 μg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in 200 μl PBS into pregnant mice was used to induce the PTB-like model. Mice were randomly divided into four groups: control group, LPS-treated group, LPS + Nicotine co-treated group and LPS + Nicotine+α-BGT co-treated group. Pregnancy outcomes were monitored. The collagen content was assessed by Picrosirius red staining. Expressions of genes and proteins in the TGF-β/Smad3 pathway were detected by double immunofluorescence staining and quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). myofibroblast differentiation were investigated by double immunofluorescence staining and qRT-PCR. Ultrastructures were analyzed by conventional transmission electron microscopy. The rate of PTB and neonatal mortality at birth was significantly higher in the LPS-treated group than in the control group; collagen content also decreased remarkably; the expression of TGF-β1 in macrophages and p-Smad3 in fibroblasts were reduced; the expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA, markers for activated fibroblasts) was down-regulated while the expression of calponin and smoothelin (markers for fibroblasts at rest) was up-regulated. Nicotine improved pregnancy outcomes and inhibited collagen degradation, activated the TGF-β1/Smad3 pathway and promoted cervical fibroblast-myofibroblast differentiation in PTB-like mice; such effects could be reversed by α-bungarotoxin (α-BGT). Nicotine inhibited premature cervical ripening in PTB-like models in relation with up-regulating the TGF-β/Smad3 pathway and promoting fibroblast to differentiate into myofibroblasts