Observation on the Curative Effect of Yiyuan Pingchuan Decoction Combined with Ultra-Low Frequency Combined with Physiological Frequency Electrical Stimulation on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Stable Stage

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of Yiyuan Pingchuan Decoction combined with ultra-low frequency combined with physiological frequency electrical stimulation on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in stable phase. Method: 89 patients were randomly divided into control group (44 cases)and observation group (45 cases). The control group was treated with conventional western medicine, while the observation group was treated with ultra-low frequency combined with physiological frequency electrical stimulation and Yiyuan Pingchuan Decoction on the basis of the control group. The 6-minute walking score (6MWT), SGRQ score, Borg fatigue score, lung function, and clinical efficacy after 30 days were observed at day 15 and day 30, respectively. Results: The 6MWT, SGRQ score, Borg fatigue score and lung function were improved more significantly in observation group than those in control group (p<0.05). The total effective rate of observation group (91.1%) was significantly higher than that of control group (79.5%) (p<0.05). Conclusion: Yiyuan Pinghuan Decoction combined with ultra-low frequency combined physiological frequency electrical stimulation can significantly improve the 6MWT, SGRQ score, Borg fatigue score and lung function of patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, improve clinical efficacy, and then improve the quality of life of patients, so as to improve the clinical prognosis of patients

Chemical Oscillation and Morphological Oscillation in Catalyst-Embedded Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Gels

Liquid crystalline gels offer promising means in generating smart materials due to programmable mechanics and reversible shape changes in response to external stimuli. We demonstrate a simple and convenient method of constructing catalyst-embedded lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) gels and achieve chemomechanical oscillator by converting chemical waves in Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. We observe the directed chemical oscillations on LLC sticks accompanied by small-scale oscillatory swellings-shrinkages that are synchronized with the chemical waves of an LLC stick. To amplify the mechanical oscillations, we further fabricate small LLC fibers and achieve macroscopically oscillatory bending-unbending transition of the LLC fiber driven by a BZ reaction

GRACE: Loss-Resilient Real-Time Video through Neural Codecs

In real-time video communication, retransmitting lost packets over high-latency networks is not viable due to strict latency requirements. To counter packet losses without retransmission, two primary strategies are employed -- encoder-based forward error correction (FEC) and decoder-based error concealment. The former encodes data with redundancy before transmission, yet determining the optimal redundancy level in advance proves challenging. The latter reconstructs video from partially received frames, but dividing a frame into independently coded partitions inherently compromises compression efficiency, and the lost information cannot be effectively recovered by the decoder without adapting the encoder. We present a loss-resilient real-time video system called GRACE, which preserves the user's quality of experience (QoE) across a wide range of packet losses through a new neural video codec. Central to GRACE's enhanced loss resilience is its joint training of the neural encoder and decoder under a spectrum of simulated packet losses. In lossless scenarios, GRACE achieves video quality on par with conventional codecs (e.g., H.265). As the loss rate escalates, GRACE exhibits a more graceful, less pronounced decline in quality, consistently outperforming other loss-resilient schemes. Through extensive evaluation on various videos and real network traces, we demonstrate that GRACE reduces undecodable frames by 95% and stall duration by 90% compared with FEC, while markedly boosting video quality over error concealment methods. In a user study with 240 crowdsourced participants and 960 subjective ratings, GRACE registers a 38% higher mean opinion score (MOS) than other baselines

Mechanoresponsive Alignment of Molecular Self-Assembled Negatively Charged Nanofibrils

Inspired by the mechanoresponsive orientation of actin filaments in cell, we introduce a design paradigm of synthetic molecular self-assembling fibrils that respond to external mechanical force by transforming from a macroscopically disorder state to a highly ordered uniaxial aligned state. The incorporation of aromatic-containing amino acids and negatively charged amino acids lead to self-assembly motifs that transform into uniform nanofibrils in acidic solution. Adjusting the pH level of aqueous solution introduces optimal negative charge to the surface of self-assembling nanofibrils inducing long-range electrostatic repulsion forming a nematic phase. Upon external mechanical force, nanofibrils align in the force direction. Via evaporation casting in capillary confinement, the solvated synthetic self-assembling nanofibrils transform into scalable lamellar domains. Adjusting capillary geometry and drying procedure offers further parameters for tuning the mesoscale alignment of nanofibrils generating a variety of interference colors. The design paradigm of mechanoresponsive alignment of self-assembled nanofibrils as an addition of nanofabrication techniques is potentially employable for realizing biomimetic optical structures

Hemoglobin to red cell distribution width ratio as a prognostic marker for ischemic stroke after mechanical thrombectomy

BackgroundThe hemoglobin to red cell distribution width ratio (HRR) has been experimentally associated with the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). However, its relationship with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for AIS remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between HRR at admission, follow-up HRR, and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing MT.MethodsAcute ischemic stroke patients undergoing MT were consecutively enrolled from January 2017 to December 2022. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory information were collected. HRR was measured by dividing hemoglobin (Hb) by red cell distribution width (RDW) at admission and after 24 h of MT. Clinical outcomes after 3 months were evaluated using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). The primary outcome was poor prognosis (mRS > 2) at 3 months, while the secondary outcome was death within 3 months.ResultsA total of 310 patients were analyzed, of whom 216 patients (69.7%) had poor prognosis, and 92 patients (29.6%) died. Patients with a poor prognosis and death had significantly lower HRR levels at admission and after 24 h. HRR at admission was not associated with clinical outcomes according to multivariable logistic regression analysis. However, HRR after 24 h was significantly associated with poor prognosis (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.646, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.520–0.803, p < 0.001) and death (adjusted OR: 0.615, 95% CI: 0.508–0.744, p < 0.001). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated the predictive ability of HRR after 24 h, with areas under the curves of 0.790 for poor prognosis and 0.771 for death.ConclusionRapidly measurable HRR levels are an independent marker of outcome after MT in AIS patients. This may provide a reliable auxiliary outcome measure for clinical routine and interventional therapy

Experimental Study on Shear Behavior and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Nonpersistent Joints

The shear behavior of rock discontinuities controls the stability of rock masses to a great extent. In this paper, laboratory shear tests were performed on rock-like materials with different cracks to study the effect of nonpersistent joints on the shear behavior of rock masses. The results show that the variation trends of the shear stress-displacement curves of specimens with different cracks are generally similar and have the same stage characteristics. When the crack length is relatively short, the elastic stage is prolonged, the peak shear strength decreases, and the shear displacement corresponding to the peak shear strength and the residual shear strength increases with the increase of the crack length. When the crack length is relatively long, the elastic stage is shortened, the peak shear strength decreases, and the shear displacement corresponding to the peak shear strength increases with the increase of the crack length. The peak shear stress gradually decreases with the increase of the crack length. The shear strength of the specimens with unilateral cracks is much higher than that of the specimens with bilateral cracks. The shear strength of the specimens is affected not only by the crack length but also by the crack distribution. The acoustic emission (AE) count peak occurs when the shear stress drops sharply and has an inverse "S"-type variation trend with the increase of the crack length. The inclination angle of the fracture decreases, the roughness of the fracture surface decreases, and the proportion of the wear area on the fracture surface increases gradually with the increase of the crack length. The AE source decreases with the increase of the crack length, and their locations are obviously asymmetric. This work can greatly contribute to the insight into the shear failure mechanism of rock discontinuities with nonpersistent joints

Graphene‐Like Conjugated Molecule as Hole‐Selective Contact for Operationally Stable Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells and Modules

Further enhancing the operational lifetime of inverted-structure perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is crucial for their commercialization, and the design of hole-selective contacts at the illumination side plays a key role in operational stability. In this work, the self-anchoring benzo[rst]pentaphene (SA-BPP) is developed as a new type of hole-selective contact toward long-term operationally stable inverted PSCs. The SA-BPP molecule with a graphene-like conjugated structure shows a higher photostability and mobility than that of the frequently-used triphenylamine and carbazole-based hole-selective molecules. Besides, the anchoring groups of SA-BPP promote the formation of a large-scale uniform hole contact on ITO substrate and efficiently passivate the perovskite absorbers. Benefiting from these merits, the champion efficiencies of 22.03% for the small-sized cells and 17.08% for 5 × 5 cm2 solar modules on an aperture area of 22.4 cm2 are achieved based on this SA-BPP contact. Also, the SA-BPP-based device exhibits promising operational stability, with an efficiency retention of 87.4% after 2000 h continuous operation at the maximum power point under simulated 1-sun illumination, which indicates an estimated T80 lifetime of 3175 h. This novel design concept of hole-selective contacts provides a promising strategy for further improving the PSC stability.journal articl

Control cell migration by engineering integrin ligand assembly

Advances in mechanistic understanding of integrin-mediated adhesion highlight the importance of precise control of ligand presentation in directing cell migration. Top-down nanopatterning limited the spatial presentation to sub-micron placing restrictions on both fundamental study and biomedical applications. To break the constraint, here we propose a bottom-up nanofabrication strategy to enhance the spatial resolution to the molecular level using simple formulation that is applicable as treatment agent. Via self-assembly and co-assembly, precise control of ligand presentation is succeeded by varying the proportions of assembling ligand and nonfunctional peptide. Assembled nanofilaments fulfill multi-functions exerting enhancement to suppression effect on cell migration with tunable amplitudes. Self-assembled nanofilaments possessing by far the highest ligand density prevent integrin/actin disassembly at cell rear, which expands the perspective of ligand-density-dependent-modulation, revealing valuable inputs to therapeutic innovations in tumor metastasis