A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of Combining Therapy with Traditional Chinese Medicine-Based Psychotherapy and Chinese Herbal Medicine for Menopausal Women with Moderate to Serious Mood Disorder

Objective. To comparatively examine the effectiveness and safety of the combination therapy of traditional Chinese medicine formula Bushen-Shugan granule and psychotherapy (BSSG-P) and Chinese herbal medicine Bushen-Shugan granule (BSSG) alone in the treatment of moderate to serious mood disorder in menopausal women. Methods. In our previous clinical studies, BSSG-P had been proved to be superior to BSSG, psychological treatment, and placebo in improving mild mood disorder in menopausal women. In this study, we analyzed the efficacy of BSSG-P and BSSG in the treatment of moderate to serious mood disorder. Eighty-five eligible participants, who were diagnosed as menopausal women with moderate to serious mood disorder and categorized as kidney deficiency and liver-qi stagnation pattern, were randomly assigned into two groups and treated with BSSG-P or BSSG. They were subjected to an 8-week treatment period and a 4-week follow-up study. The primary outcome instrument was the Greene Climacteric Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), respectively. Results. When comparing all time points with baseline, both BSSG-P and BSSG markedly decreased the total score of Greene, SDS, and SAS and the score of each dimension, in which BSSG-P exerted superior effect after 8-week treatment and 4-week follow-up (P0.05). No serious event occurred in both groups, and no significant difference was found between groups in adverse event proportion. Conclusions. BSSG-P was superior to BSSG in improving the physical and psychological symptoms of menopausal women with mood disorder. For patients with moderate mood disorder, BSSG-P showed obvious advantages; however, no superiority was observed for serious mood disorder

Magnetic and Highly Recyclable Macroporous Carbon Nanotubes for Spilled Oil Sorption and Separation

Development of sorbent materials with high selectivity and sorption capacity, easy collection and recyclability is demanding for spilled oil recovery. Although many sorption materials have been proposed, a systematic study on how they can be reused and possible performance degradation during regeneration remains absent. Here we report magnetic carbon nanotube sponges (Me-CNT sponge), which are porous structures consisting of interconnected CNTs with rich Fe encapsulation. The Me-CNT sponges show high mass sorption capacity for diesel oil reached 56 g/g, corresponding to a volume sorption capacity of 99%. The sponges are mechanically strong and oil can be squeezed out by compression. They can be recycled using through reclamation by magnetic force and desorption by simple heat treatment. The Me-CNT sponges maintain original structure, high capacity, and selectivity after 1000 sorption and reclamation cycles. Our results suggest that practical application of CNT macrostructures in the field of spilled oil recovery is feasible

Three-Dimensional Carbon Nanotube Sponge-Array Architectures with High Energy Dissipation

Carbon nanotube sponges and aligned arrays are seamlessly integrated into numerous possible configurations such as series, parallel, package, and sandwich complex structures, leading to significantly broadened stress plateau and enhanced energy dissipation. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Integrated random-aligned carbon nanotube layers: deformation mechanism under compression

Carbon nanotubes have the potential to construct highly compressible and elastic macroscopic structures such as films, aerogels and sponges. The structure-related deformation mechanism determines the mechanical behavior of those structures and niche applications. Here, we show a novel strategy to integrate aligned and random nanotube layers and reveal their deformation mechanism under uniaxial compression with a Large range of strain and cyclic testing. Integrated nanotube Layers deform sequentially with different mechanisms due to the distinct morphology of each Layer. While the aligned Layer forms buckles under compression, nanotubes in the random Layer tend to be parallel and form bundles, resulting in the integration of quite different properties (strength and stiffness) and correspondingly distinct plateau regions in the stress-strain curves. Our results indicate a great promise of constructing hierarchical carbon nanotube structures with tailored energy absorption properties, for applications such as cushioning and buffering Layers in microelectromechanical systems

Is it possible to enhance Raman scattering of single-walled carbon nanotubes by metal particles during chemical vapor deposition?

We explore the possibility of using metal nano-particles to enhance the Raman scattering of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) at high temperatures, with the aim of obtaining enhanced in situ Raman spectra of SWCNT during chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Particle position, metal type, film thickness, excitation wavelength are systematically optimized to meet the requirements for high temperature and in situ measurements. Au particles provide a weak but stable enhancement up to 1000 degrees C, while the enhancement factors of Ag particles decrease at elevated temperatures due to morphology change and metal evaporation. After the morphology relating effects are eliminated, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of SWCNT is confirmed to be almost temperature independent in our SWCNT-Ag/Au system. Finally, in situ enhanced spectra with identifiable RBM peaks are obtained in a realistic CVD growth of SWCNTs. The mechanism behind the relatively low enhancement factor is also discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A Pathogenic Role for FcγRI in the Immune Response against Chlamydial Respiratory Infection

FcγRI is an important cell surface receptor reported to be involved in multiple immune responses, although it has not yet been extensively studied in intracellular bacterial infections. Here, using a mouse model of C. muridarum respiratory infection, we were able to determine how FcγRI regulates the host resistance against chlamydial invasion. According to our findings, the chlamydial loads and pulmonary pathology were both reduced in FcγRI deficient (Fcgr1−/−) animals. Being infected, monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, DCs, CD4+/CD8+ T cells, and effector Th1 subsets displayed increased FcγRI expression patterns. Altered infiltration of these cells in the lungs of Fcgr1−/− mice further demonstrated the regulation of FcγRI in the immune system and identified Th1 cells and macrophages as its target cell populations. As expected, we observed that the Th1 response was augmented in Fcgr1−/− mice, while the pro-inflammatory M1 macrophage polarization was constrained. These findings might indicate FcγRI as a potential regulator for host immunity and inflammatory response during chlamydial infection

Flexible, Transparent and Conductive Metal Mesh Films with Ultra-High FoM for Stretchable Heating and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

Highlights A transparent, conductive, and flexible metal mesh film has been developed by a low-cost, uniform self-forming crackle template and electroplating strategy. The Cu mesh films show an ultra-low sheet resistance (0.18 Ω □−1), high transmittance (85.8%@550 nm), high figure of merit (> 13,000), excellent stretchability and mechanical stability. The metal mesh film can be used as a flexible heater and electromagnetic interference shielding film (40.4 dB at 2.5 μm)

Carbon Nanotube Sponge-Array Tandem Composites with Extended Energy Absorption Range

Tandem composites made by integrating random sponge and aligned array layers show wider energy absorption range than individual layers. These composites have potential applications in energy absorption and cushioning under mechanical compression. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim