Protective effects of Zhuifeng tougu on collagen-induced arthritis in DBA/1 mice

Purpose: To investigate the protective effects of Zhuifengtougu (ZFTG) on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse modelMethods: DBA/1 mice were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups (n = 8): normal, positive control (CIA mice), CIA mice + total glucosides of peony (TGP), CIA mice + cyclophosphamide (CPA), CIA mice + 100 mg/kg ZFTG, CIA mice + 200 mg/kg ZFTG, and CIA mice + 400 mg/kg ZFTG. The serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-αwere measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Western blot was used to determine the protein expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2), p53 and first apoptosis signal receptor (Fas).Results: Following drug administration, the arthritic index in CIA mice administered low-dose, mediumdose, or high-dose ZFTG (1.53 – 1.87), TGP (1.75 ± 0.42), or CPA (1.52 ± 0.36) was reduced significantly (p < 0.05), compared with positive control group (5.66 ± 0.73; p < 0.01). Levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in serum and expression of Bcl-2, p53, and Fas were also significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in CIA mice administered ZFTG, TGP, or CPA, whereas IL-10 levels increased.Conclusion: These results suggest that ZFTG exhibit anti-rheumatic activity in CIA mice via modulation of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17 and TNF-α) and downregulation of the expressions of Bcl-2, p53, and Fas. Thus, ZFTG is a potential candidate drug for the treatment of RA.Keywords: Zhuifengtougu pill, Rheumatoid arthritis, Cytokines, Bcl-2, Fas, p5

Experimental Research on the Influence of Innovative After-Class Activities on Primary Students’ Attention

Nowadays, due to factors such as long teaching time of the teacher, students often show problems of inattention. The purpose of this article is to explore whether innovative after-class activities can significantly improve the attention level of third-grade primary students. Through teaching experiment intervention, the attention levels of boys and girls in the experimental group and the control group were compared. According to the principle of no significant difference in the previous test, four classes of the third grade of Xiangtan Road Primary School in Qingdao, Shandong Province were selected, two as experimental classes (60 students, including 30 boys and 30 girls) and two as control classes (60students , including 30 boys and 30 girls).Students in the experimental class conducted half-hour innovative after-class activities, including youth boxing competitions, and football、basketball and volleyball competitions etc.; the control class only conducted regular 800-meter running exercises. The D2 attention test tool was used to test the students\u27 attention level before and after the experiment. The intervention lasted 8 months, and in the present study, the appropriate IRB approval has been obtained from East China Normal University. Using SPSS23.0 data analysis software, the independent sample T test was used to analyze the difference in attention levels between the experimental group and the control group before and after the experiment. This article only presents results with significant differences. The experimental group was significantly higher in processing speed (TN) and anti-interference ability (E1 \ E2) than the control group [(TN) T = -1.851 P = 0.003 \u3c 0.01] [(E1 \ E2) T = 2.842 P= 0.005 \u3c 0.01]; the processing speed (TN) of the boys in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (T = -2.490 P = 0.016 \u3c 0.05); the girls in the experimental group were able to resist interference with the distractions (E1 \ E2) higher than the control group (T = 2.842 P = 008 \u3c 0.01). Innovative after-class activities include a wide range of sports events, especially based on competitions can significantly improve the attention level of third-grade students. Boys are more focused on quick tasks, and girls are more focused on noisy tasks. Schools should carry out more innovative after-class activities to enrich the student\u27s learning life and improve students\u27 level of attention

Maximum Entropy Heterogeneous-Agent Mirror Learning

Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) has been shown effective for cooperative games in recent years. However, existing state-of-the-art methods face challenges related to sample inefficiency, brittleness regarding hyperparameters, and the risk of converging to a suboptimal Nash Equilibrium. To resolve these issues, in this paper, we propose a novel theoretical framework, named Maximum Entropy Heterogeneous-Agent Mirror Learning (MEHAML), that leverages the maximum entropy principle to design maximum entropy MARL actor-critic algorithms. We prove that algorithms derived from the MEHAML framework enjoy the desired properties of the monotonic improvement of the joint maximum entropy objective and the convergence to quantal response equilibrium (QRE). The practicality of MEHAML is demonstrated by developing a MEHAML extension of the widely used RL algorithm, HASAC (for soft actor-critic), which shows significant improvements in exploration and robustness on three challenging benchmarks: Multi-Agent MuJoCo, StarCraftII, and Google Research Football. Our results show that HASAC outperforms strong baseline methods such as HATD3, HAPPO, QMIX, and MAPPO, thereby establishing the new state of the art. See our project page at https://sites.google.com/view/mehaml

Gaussian Boson Sampling with Pseudo-Photon-Number Resolving Detectors and Quantum Computational Advantage

We report new Gaussian boson sampling experiments with pseudo-photon-number-resolving detection, which register up to 255 photon-click events. We consider partial photon distinguishability and develop a more complete model for characterization of the noisy Gaussian boson sampling. In the quantum computational advantage regime, we use Bayesian tests and correlation function analysis to validate the samples against all current classical mockups. Estimating with the best classical algorithms to date, generating a single ideal sample from the same distribution on the supercomputer Frontier would take ~ 600 years using exact methods, whereas our quantum computer, Jiuzhang 3.0, takes only 1.27 us to produce a sample. Generating the hardest sample from the experiment using an exact algorithm would take Frontier ~ 3.1*10^10 years.Comment: submitted on 10 Apri

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Better cycle stability and rate capability of high-voltage LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode using water soluble binder

5 V LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) cathodes are prepared using carboxymethyl chitosan (CCTS) as a water soluble binder and carbon coated aluminum foils (CAI) as current collector in Li-ion batteries (LIBs). CCTS exhibits an electrochemical oxidation potential as high as 5.0 V. The electrochemical performance of LNMO cathode with CCTS binder is investigated and compared with the commercial non-aqueous polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF). CCTS-CAl-LNMO electrode shows higher capacity retention (95.8%) than that of PVDF-CAI-LNMO (92.9%) and PVDF-Al-LNMO (88.52%) after 100 cycles. And, CCTS-CAl-LNMO electrode exhibits better rate capability than PVDF-CAI-LNMO, and PVDF-Al-LNMO, retaining specific capacity of 95.8 mAhg(-1) at IOC rate, only 87.6 mAhg(-1) and 1 mAhg(-1) for PVDF-CAI-LNMO, and PVDF-Al-LNMO, respectively. This approach can also be extended its use to other cathode materials such as LiNiii 3Co(1/3)Mn(1/3)O(2) (NCM). (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Crosslinkable aqueous binders containing Arabic gum-grafted-poly (acrylic acid) and branched polyols for Si anode of lithium-ion batteries

Arabic gum grafted poly (acrylic acid) (GA-g-PAA) is prepared through a free radical graft polymerization of acrylic acid onto Arabic gum. Crosslinkable aqueous binder is developed by combining GA-g-PAA and branched polyols (pentaerythrotol, PER; triethanolamine, TEOA) as crosslinking agent for Si anodes of lithium-ion batteries. The aqueous composite binder undergoes crosslinking at about 110 degrees C to form robust crosslinked networks, matching well with the processing temperature of the electrode sheet in industry. GA-g-PAA/PER binder displays higher adhesion strength than GA-g-PAA and GA-g-PAA/TEOA. The Si electrode with GA-g-PAA/PER exhibits a slightly better cycling stability at 0.2C for 100 cycles, better rate capability than GA-g-PAA and GA-g-PAA/TEOA. At a high rate of 1C, Si electrode with GA-g-PAA/P delivers a higher specific capacity of 1968.1 mAhg(-1) with a better capacity retention of 57.5% when compared with those with GA-g-PAA and GA-g-PAA/T binder

Enhanced adhesion and electrochemical performance of Si anodes with gum arabic grafted poly(acrylic acid) as a water-soluble binder

Gum arabic grafted poly(acrylic acid) (GA-g-PAA) is synthesized as a mechanically robust water-soluble binder for silicon (Si) anodes in lithium-ion batteries by graft polymerization of acrylic acid onto GA backbone via a free radical reaction. H-1 NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies and thermogravimetric analysis are systematically conducted to confirm the grafting polymerization process. GA-g-PAA with different grafting length of PAA shows enhanced adhesion strength and excellent flexibility after grafting. Optimal Si-GA-g-8PAA electrode displays better cyclic stability, higher Coulombic efficiency and superior rate properties compared with a Si electrode with linear PAA binder. The Si-GA-g-8PAA electrode exhibits a high electrical conductivity, low interfacial/charge transfer resistance and high lithium-ion diffusion coefficient. GA-g-8PAA binder with grafted structure not only can maintain the mechanical and electrical integrity of the electrode, facilitating favorable electrochemical kinetics, but also assists in preserving a stable solid electrolyte interphase on Si surface upon long-term cycling. Such a facile strategy for designing a novel grafted binder shows potential for practical application on high-capacity anode materials with large volume change. (c) 2021 Society of Industrial Chemistry

Investigation on xanthan gum as novel water soluble binder for LiFePO4 cathode in lithium-ion batteries

Xanthan Gum (XG) is systematically investigated and employed as water soluble binder for LiFePO4 (LFP) cathode in Li-ion batteries. XG binder exhibits good thermal stability and processes abundant functional groups such as carboxyl and hydroxyl, displaying a better adhesion strength of 0.085 N cm(-1) than sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC, 0.050 N cm(-1)), but inferior to polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF, 0.170 N cm(-1)). The Rheology test reveals that the viscosity of LFP slurry prepared with XG binder is higher than that of PVDF, resulting in a better dispersion of LFP and carbon black particles. The electrochemical performances of LFP-XG electrode are investigated and compared with those of aqueous CMC and conventional PVDF binder. LFP-XG displays better cycle stability and rate performance than PVDF, comparable to CMC, which retains 55.3% capacity of C/5 at 5 C as compared to PVDF (34.8%) and CMC (57.8%). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) shows that LFP-XG has smaller redox polarization and faster lithium diffusion rate than PVDF while electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement at specified intervals reveals its more favorable electrochemical kinetics than that with PVDF, similar to CMC, thus better rate capability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) displays that LFP-XG has a more homogenous distribution of LFP and conductive carbon black particles with XG before cycling and better maintains its structure integrity after 100 cycles than that of PVDF. Furthermore, LFP-XG is observed to process a high ionic conductivity supported by dQ/dV profiles. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved