Geometric bionics: Lotus effect helps polystyrene nanotube films get good blood compatibility

Various biomaterials have been widely used for manufacturing biomedical applications including artificial organs, medical devices and disposable clinical apparatus, such as vascular prostheses, blood pumps, artificial kidney, artificial hearts, dialyzers and plasma separators, which could be used in contact with blood^1^. However, the research tasks of improving hemocompatibility of biomaterials have been carrying out with the development of biomedical requirements^2^. Since the interactions that lead to surface-induced thrombosis occurring at the blood-biomaterial interface become a reason of familiar current complications with grafts therapy, improvement of the blood compatibility of artificial polymer surfaces is, therefore a major issue in biomaterials science^3^. After decades of focused research, various approaches of modifying biomaterial surfaces through chemical or biochemical methods to improve their hemocompatibility were obtained^1^. In this article, we report that polystyrene nanotube films with morphology similar to the papilla on lotus leaf can be used as blood-contacted biomaterials by virtue of Lotus effect^4^. Clearly, this idea, resulting from geometric bionics that mimicking the structure design of lotus leaf, is very novel technique for preparation of hemocompatible biomaterials

Anti-obesity effect of an isoflavone fatty acid ester on obese mice induced by high fat diet and its potential mechanism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The novel compound <b>1a </b>is one of the isoflavone fatty acid esters. In order to investigate the anti-obesity effect of compound <b>1a </b>and its potential mechanism of influence in adipocyte differentiation, Obese male C57BL/6J mice induced by high-fat diet (HFD) and rat preadipocytes (3T3-L1 cell) were used.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>After 4-week HFD induction, the obese model was made successfully. After treatment with compound <b>1a</b>, mice plasma biochemistry parameters were analyzed. In addition, mice hepatic tissue slice was observed. In <it>in vitro </it>research, 3T3-L1 cell differentiation by Oil-Red-O staining and adipocyte apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The <it>in vivo </it>results implied that compound <b>1a </b>significantly decreased the body weight, white adipose tissue weight of obesity mice(p < 0.05), reduced leptin and TG in plasma(p < 0.05), elevated HDL-C in serum(p < 0.05). The <it>in vitro </it>results suggested that compound <b>1a </b>could significantly suppress the adipocyte viability and lipid accumulation in the differentiation of preadipocyte, and induce apoptosis in both preadipocytes and mature adipocytes(p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Compound <b>1a </b>regulates serum lipid profiles, decreases adipose tissue mass and body weight gain by inducing adipocyte apoptosis in high fat diet induced mice. Thus, it may be used to treat obese patients with hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia.</p

Efficacy of Ultrasound-guided Radiofrequency Ablation of Parathyroid Hyperplasia: Single Session vs. Two-Session for Effect on Hypocalcemia

To evaluate safety and efficacy of one- vs. two-session radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of parathyroid hyperplasia for patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) and to compare the outcome of both methods on hypocalcemia. Patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism underwent ultrasound guided RFA of parathyroid hyperplasia. Patients were alternately assigned to either group 1 (n = 28) with RFA of all 4 glands in one session or group 2 (n = 28) with RFA of 2 glands in a first session and other 2 glands in a second session. Serum parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium, phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) values were measured at a series of time points after RFA. RFA parameters, including operation duration and ablation time and hospitalization length and cost, were compared between the two groups. Mean PTH decreased in group 1 from 1865.18 ± 828.93 pg/ml to 145.72 ± 119.27 pg/ml at 1 day after RFA and in group 2 from 2256.64 ± 1021.72 pg/ml to 1388.13 ± 890.15 pg/ml at 1 day after first RFA and to 137.26 ± 107.12 pg/ml at 1 day after second RFA. Group 1\u27s calcium level decreased to 1.79 ± 0.31 mmol/L at day 1 after RFA and group 2 decreased to 1.89 ± 0.26 mmol/L at day 1 after second session RFA (P \u3c 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that hypocalcemia was related to serum ALP. Patients with ALP ≥ 566 U/L had lower calcium compared to patients with ALP \u3c 566 U/L up to a month after RFA (P \u3c 0.05). Group 1\u27s RFA time and hospitalization were shorter and had lower cost compared with Group 2. US-guided RFA of parathyroid hyperplasia is a safe and effective method for treating secondary hyperparathyroidism. Single-session RFA was more cost-effective and resulted in a shorter hospital stay compared to two sessions. However, patients with two-session RFA had less hypocalcemia, especially those with high ALP

An FBG staged monitoring method for carbon fiber reinforced plastics composite fracture status based on modulus/strain wave coupling property

From the sensitivity of the FBG center wavelength changing with the macro-elastic modulus and the instantaneous fracture strain wave on the surface of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) composite, we investigate the correlation between the macro-elastic modulus (the changing rate of the FBG center wavelength during the stretching process) and the fracture status of CFRP specimen. An FBG staged monitoring method based on modulus/strain wave coupling properties designed to monitor tensile fracture state of composite has been proposed. By monitoring the change of macro-elastic modulus during the stretching process, the damage state of composite in a macro perspective is obtained; when the internal damage reaches a critical state, the fracture distribution status of CFRP specimen is captured by monitoring the strain wave response induced by stress relaxation in different locations. Simulated analysis and experimental results in this paper show that the proposed FBG staged monitoring method can achieve the identification of the damage state and the breakage position of CFRP composite effectively, with a good prospect

Modulating Linker Composition of Haptens Resulted in Improved Immunoassay for Histamine.

Histamine (HA) is an important food contaminant generated during food fermentation or spoilage. However, an immunoassay for direct (derivatization free) determination of HA has rarely been reported due to its small size to induce the desired antibodies by its current hapten-protein conjugates. In this work, despite violating the classical hapten design criteria which recommend introducing a linear aliphatic (phenyl free) linker into the immunizing hapten, a novel haptens, HA-245 designed and synthesized with a phenyl-contained linker, exhibited significantly enhanced immunological properties. Thus, a quality-improved monoclonal antibody (Mab) against HA was elicited by its hapten-carrier conjugates. Then, as the linear aliphatic linker contained haptens, Hapten B was used as linker-heterologous coating haptens to eliminate the recognition of linker antibodies. Indirect competitive ELISA (ic-ELISA) was developed with a 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) of 0.21 mg/L and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.06 mg/L in buffer solution. The average recoveries of HA from spiked food samples for this ic-ELISA ranged from 84.1% and 108.5%, and the analysis results agreed well with those of referenced LC-MS/MS. This investigation not only realized derivatization-free immunoassay for HA, but also provided a valuable guidance for hapten design and development of immunoassay for small molecules

Spontaneously induced general relativity with holographic interior and general exterior

We study the spontaneously induced general relativity (GR) from the scalar-tensor gravity. We demonstrate by numerical methods that a novel inner core can be connected to the Schwarzschild exterior with cosmological constants and any sectional curvature. Deriving an analytic core metric for a general exterior, we show that all the nontrivial features of the core, including the locally holographic entropy packing, are universal for the general exterior in static spacetimes. We also investigate whether the f(R) gravity can accommodate the nontrivial core.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; v3: clarification improved, revised version accepted by PL