Search

This study delves into the interplay between learning motivation, organizational performance, and the innovative climate within Chinese firms. It is a subject of frequent discussion in literature but there is little concrete evidence supporting this viewpoint within the context of small and medium size enterprises in China. Drawing upon a comprehensive review of existing literature and empirical data gathered, this research aims to uncover the connections between employee learning motivation and its impact on the organizational dynamics in the context of Chinese firms. A cross sectional survey is used to collect the data of 115 Chinese firms and structural equation modelling (SEM) is used for empirical analysis. The results show that success of firms in terms of innovation is significantly influenced by organizational learning motivation. Moreover, innovative environment of the firms increases the overall performance of the organizations. It is also found that factors affecting the innovations have a significant impact on organizational performance. The findings of the study suggest that firms should develop organizational learning motivation to boost their innovation capability and overall performance. This study offers insights and recommendations for organizations and policymakers seeking to harness the potential of learning motivation to drive sustainable growth, competitiveness, and innovation in Chinese firms., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Using biodegradable films as a substitute for conventional polyolefin films has emerged as a crucial technology to combat agricultural white pollution. To address the shortcomings in the tensile strength, water vapor barrier properties, and degradation period of PBAT-based biodegradable films, this investigation aimed to create a composite film that could improve the diverse properties of PBAT films. To achieve this, a PBAT/PLA-PPC-PTLA ternary blend system was introduced in the study. The system effectively fused PBAT with PLA and PPC, as evidenced by electron microscopy tests showing no apparent defects on the surface and cross-section of the blended film. The developed ternary blend system resulted in a 58.62% improvement in tensile strength, a 70.33% enhancement in water vapor barrier properties, and a 30-day extension of the functional period compared to pure PBAT biodegradable films. Field experiments on corn crops demonstrated that the modified biodegradable film is more suitable for agricultural production, as it improved thermal insulation and moisture retention, leading to a 5.45% increase in corn yield, approaching the yield of traditional polyolefin films.

Bemisia tabaci is distributed globally and incurs considerable economic and ecological costs as an agricultural pest and viral vector. The entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae has been known for its insecticidal activity, but its impacts on whiteflies are understudied. We investigated how infection with the semi-persistently transmitted Cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV) affects whitefly susceptibility to M. anisopliae exposure. We discovered that viruliferous whiteflies exhibited increased mortality when fungus infection was present compared to non-viruliferous insects. High throughput 16S rRNA sequencing also revealed significant alterations of the whitefly bacterial microbiome diversity and structure due to both CCYV and fungal presence. Specifically, the obligate symbiont Portiera decreased in relative abundance in viruliferous whiteflies exposed to M. anisopliae . Facultative Hamiltonella and Rickettsia symbionts exhibited variability across groups but dominated in fungus-treated non-viruliferous whiteflies. Our results illuminate triangular interplay between pest insects, their pathogens, and symbionts-dynamics which can inform integrated management strategies leveraging biopesticides This work underscores the promise of M. anisopliae for sustainable whitefly control while laying the groundwork for elucidating mechanisms behind microbe-mediated shifts in vector competence.

Objective: Opioid-sparing anesthesia reduces intraoperative use of opioids and postoperative adverse reactions. The current study investigated the effect of esketamine-based opioid-sparing anesthesia on total laparoscopic hysterectomy patients' recovery., Methods: Ninety patients undergoing total laparoscopic hysterectomy were randomly assigned to esketamine-based group (group K) or opioid-based group (group C). The allocation to groups was unknown to patients, surgeons, and postoperative medical staff. The inability to implement blinding for anesthesiologists was due to the distinct procedures followed by the various groups while administering drugs. The QoR-40 and VAS were used to measure recovery quality. Postoperative adverse events, perioperative opioid consumption, and intraoperative hemodynamics were secondary endpoints., Results: There was an absence of notable discrepancy in the baseline data observed between the two groups. The QoR-40 scores exhibited greater values in group K when compared to group C on the first day following the surgical procedure (160.91 ± 9.11 vs 151.47 ± 8.35, respectively; mean difference 9.44 [95 %CI: 5.78-13.11]; P < 0.01). Within 24 h of surgery, the VAS score of group K was lower at rest and during movement. (P < 0.05 for each). Group K had much lower rates of nausea and vomiting within 24 h of surgery. (P < 0.05 for each). Group K received significantly lower total doses of sufentanil and remifentanil than group C. (17.28 ± 2.59 vs 43.43 ± 3.52; 0.51 ± 0.15 vs 1.24 ± 0.24). The proportion of patients who used ephedrine in surgery was higher in group C than in group K (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: Esketamine-based opioid-sparing anesthesia strategy is feasible and enhanced recuperation following surgery by decreasing adverse effects associated with opioids and pain scores compared to an opioid-based anesthetic regimen., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Typical small organic dyes exhibit excellent UV absorption capabilities and are commonly used as additives to shield plastic films from photoaging. However, their tendency to decompose easily and migrate rapidly within a polymer matrix limits their service life. Herein we prepared g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets and fabricated g-C 3 N 4 /PBAT films to investigate the effects of g-C 3 N 4 on UV shielding and plasticizing of a biodegradable PBAT film. Photophysical characterizations revealed that an improved UV light barrier performance was achieved on g-C 3 N 4 /PBAT films compared to pure PBAT. Furthermore, the photoaging results show that g-C 3 N 4 can stably exist in the PBAT matrix, enabling the aged g-C 3 N 4 /PBAT films to maintain their effective UV shielding ability, whereas the aged benzophenone (UV-0)/PBAT film shows a substantial decrease in UV light absorption due to the photodecomposition of UV-0. Additionally, g-C 3 N 4 acted as a reinforcing material for PBAT, as evidenced by the approximately 1.5-fold increase in longitudinal tear strength and 1.6-fold increase in tensile strength of g-C 3 N 4 /PBAT films compared to pure PBAT. Remarkably, even after 100 hours of photoaging, the aged g-C 3 N 4 /PBAT films retained their favorable mechanical properties. This study highlights the potential of g-C 3 N 4 as a new type of UV shield additive for future practical applications in protecting biodegradable plastic from photoaging., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Nonspecific adsorption has always been a critical challenge for sensor detection; thus, an efficient and facile approach for fabricating antifouling sensors is highly desirable. Here, we developed an antifouling coating on sensor surfaces, conveniently made with a simple drip of phase-transited BSA (PTB) followed by a modification with a peanut allergen antibody, which unexpectedly provides synergistic antifouling properties in sensors. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to evaluate the surface evenness. Optimizations in terms of PTB modification time and concentrations were performed using surface plasmon resonance by measuring protein resistance capabilities. Compared to bare Au surfaces, the PTB-modified surfaces exhibited low adsorption against BSA (<10 ng/cm 2 ) and good resistance against lysozyme (Lyz). After immobilizing antibodies, the antifouling performance of the sensor coatings had an obvious enhancement, with almost no BSA adsorption and low lysozyme adsorption. The target recognition was also analyzed to verify the good sensing performance of the antifouling sensor. This understanding of antibody synergy provides suggestions for the development of antifouling sensors.

Solar-driven electrochemical NO 3 - reduction reaction (NO 3 - RR) is a clean and sustainable strategy that can convert pollutant NO 3 - in wastewater to value-added NH 3 . In recent years, cobalt oxides-based catalysts have shown their intrinsic catalytic properties toward NO 3 - RR but still have room for improvement through catalyst design. Coupling metal oxides with noble metal has been demonstrated to improve electrochemical catalytic efficiency. Here, we use Au species to tune the surface structure of Co 3 O 4 and improve the efficiency of NO 3 - RR to NH 3 . The obtained Au nanocrystals-Co 3 O 4 catalyst exhibited an onset potential of 0.54 V vs RHE, NH 3 yield rate of 27.86 µg/h·cm 2 , and Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 83.1% at 0.437 V vs RHE in an H-cell, which is much higher than Au small species (Au clusters or single atoms)-Co 3 O 4 (15.12 µg/h·cm 2 ) and pure Co 3 O 4 (11.38 µg/h·cm 2 ), respectively. Combined experiments with theory calculations, we attributed the enhanced performance of Au nanocrystals-Co 3 O 4 to the reduced energy barrier of *NO hydrogenation to the *NHO and suppression of HER, which originated from the charge transfer from Au to Co 3 O 4 . Using an amorphous silicon triple-junction (a-Si TJ) as the solar cell and an anion exchange membrane electrolyzer (AME), an unassisted solar-driven NO 3 - RR to NH 3 prototype was realized with a yield rate of 4.65 mg/h and FE of 92.1%., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Anthocyanins (ANs) have strong antioxidant activities and can inhibit chronic diseases, but the instability of ANs limits their applications. The conservation of preheating whey protein concentrate (WPC) on the stability of purple sweet potato ANs was investigated. The retention of ANs in WPC-ANs was 85.88% after storage at 25 °C for 5 h. WPC-ANs had higher retention of ANs in heating treatment. The retention rates of ANs in WPC-ANs exposed to light and UV lamps for 6 h were 78.72% and 85.76%, respectively. When the concentration of H 2 O 2 was 0.50%, the retention rate of ANs in the complexes was 62.04%. WPC-ANs' stability and antioxidant activity were improved in simulated digestive juice. The WPC-ANs connection was static quenching, and the binding force between them was a hydrophobic interaction at one binding site, according to the fluorescence quenching spectroscopy. UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis further indicated that the secondary structure and microenvironment of amino acid residues in WPC can be impacted by the preheating temperature and preheating times of WPC. In conclusion, preheating WPC can successfully preserve the stability of purple sweet potato ANs by binding to them through a non-covalent interaction.

To optimize the bamboo heat treatment process, the corresponding evolution rules under various heat treatment conditions must be determined. When the heat treatment time and temperature remained constant, the effects of different heat treatment pressures on the equilibrium moisture content, dimensional stability, mechanical properties, and chemical composition of bamboo were systematically investigated. In this experiment, bamboo without heat treatment was used as the control group. The experimental findings demonstrate the following: (1) The equilibrium moisture content of heat-treated bamboo gradually decreases with increasing treatment pressure. When the heat treatment pressure was set at 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25 MPa, the bamboo's equilibrium water content decreased to 12.1%, 11.7%, 9.9%, and 8.6%, respectively, while that of the control group was 13.8%. (2) The dimensional stability of bamboo was enhanced with increasing heat treatment pressure. At pressures of 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25 MPa, the radial air-dry shrinkage rates of the heat-treated bamboo decreased to 3.4%, 3.4%, 2.6%, and 2.3%, respectively, while the tangential air-dry shrinkage rates reduced to 5.6%, 5.1%, 3.3%, and 3.0%. In comparison, the radial and tangential air-dry shrinkage rates of the control group were measured as 3.6% and 5.8%, respectively. Similarly, the radial and tangential full-dry shrinkage of bamboo exhibited a similar trend. (3) With the increase in heat treatment pressure, the bending strength and longitudinal compressive strength of bamboo exhibited an initial rise followed by a decline. When it was at heat treatment pressures of 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25 MPa, the corresponding bending strengths of the heat-treated bamboo were measured as 41.2, 26.7, 22.4, and 20.4 MPa, respectively; while the longitudinal compressive strengths were recorded as 42.6, 38.1, 29.1, and 25.3 MPa. In comparison, the bending and longitudinal compressive strengths of the control group were measured as 39.8 and 38.5 MPa, respectively. It is evident that the optimal heat treatment pressure for bamboo is 0.1 MPa, resulting in a significant increase of 3.5% and 10.6% in bending strength and longitudinal compressive strength, respectively, compared to the control group. (4) Based on the FTIR and XRD patterns of bamboo samples, a range of physical and chemical transformations were observed during the heat treatment process, including cellulose adsorb water evaporation, hemicellulose and cellulose degradation, as well as acetyl group hydrolysis on the molecular chain of hemicellulose. These changes collectively impacted the physical and mechanical properties of bamboo.

In this study, the effect of chickpea dietary fiber (CDF) concentration (0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.2%, 1.6%, and 2.0%) on emulsion gel properties of myofibrillar protein (MP) was investigated. It was found that the emulsifying activity index (EAI) and emulsifying stability index (ESI) of MP increased with the increasing content of CDF. Moreover, the water- and fat-binding capacity (WFB), gel strength, storage modulus (G'), and loss modulus (G") of MP emulsion gel also increased with increasing content of CDF. When the concentration of CDF was 2%, the most significant improvement was observed for EAI, breaking force, and WFB ( p < 0.05); the three-dimensional gel network structure of the MP emulsion gel was denser and the pore diameter was smaller. The T 21 relaxation time of emulsion gel decreased while the PT 21 increased significantly with the increasing content of CDF, suggesting that the emulsion gel with CDF had a better three-dimension network. The addition of CDF led to an increased content of β -sheet and reactive sulfhydryl and increased surface hydrophobicity of MP, thus improving the gel properties of the MP emulsion gel. In conclusion, the addition of CDF improved the functional properties and facilitated the gelation of the MP emulsion, indicating that CDF has the potential to improve the quality of emulsified meat products.

Objective: Bilirubin has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties, but the association between bilirubin and stroke remains contentious. A meta-analysis of extensive observational studies on the relationship was conducted., Methods: Studies published before August 2022 were searched in PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library. Cohort, cross-sectional and case-control studies that examined the association between circulating bilirubin and stroke were included. The primary outcome included the incidence of stroke and bilirubin quantitative expression level between stroke and control, and the secondary outcome was stroke severity. All pooled outcome measures were determined using random-effects models. The meta-analysis, subgroup analysis, and sensitivity analysis were performed using Stata 17., Results: A total of 17 studies were included. Patients with stroke had a lower total bilirubin level (mean difference = -1.33 μmol/L, 95% CI: -2.12 to -0.53, P < 0.001). Compared with the lowest bilirubin level, total odds ratio (OR) of the highest bilirubin for the occurrence of stroke was 0.71 (95% CI: 0.61-0.82) and ischemic stroke was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.57-0.91), especially in cohort studies with accepted heterogeneity ( I 2 = 0). Serum total and direct bilirubin levels were significantly and positively associated with stroke severity. A stratified analysis based on gender showed that the total bilirubin level in males correlated with ischemic stroke or stroke, which was not noted in females., Conclusion: While our findings suggest associations between bilirubin levels and stroke risk, existing evidence is insufficient to establish a definitive association. Better-designed prospective cohort studies should further clarify pertinent questions (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022374893)., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Zhao, Wang, Chen, Liu, Ye, Wang and Li.)

Polycaprolactone (PCL) is one of the promising linear aliphatic polyesters which can be used as mulching film. Although it has suitable glass transition temperature and good biodegradability, further practical applications are restricted by the limited temperature-increasing and moisturizing properties. The rational design of the PCL structure is a good strategy to enhance the related properties. In this study, thermally-induced phase separation (TIPS) was introduced to fabricate a PCL nanoporous thin film. The introduction of a nanoporous structure on the PCL surface (np-PCL) exhibited enhanced temperature-increasing and moisturizing properties when used as mulch film. In detail, the average soil temperature of np-PCL was increased to 17.81 °C, when compared with common PCL of 17.42 °C and PBAT of 17.50 °C, and approaches to PE of 18.02 °C. In terms of water vapor transmission rate, the value for np-PCL is 637 gm -2 day -1 , which was much less than the common PCL of 786 and PBAT of 890 gm -2 day -1 . As a result, the weed biomass under the np-PCL was suppressed to be 0.35 kg m -2 , almost half of the common PCL and PBAT. In addition, the np-PCL shows good thermal stability with an onset decomposition temperature of 295 °C. The degradation mechanism and rate of the np-PCL in different pH environments were also studied to explore the influence of nanoporous structure. This work highlights the importance of the nanoporous structure in PCL to enhance the temperature-increasing and moisturizing properties of PCL-based biodegradable mulching film.

Biodegradable mulches (BDMs) are considered promising alternative green materials to achieve the substitution of polythene (PE) films to reduce plastic pollution. However, whether the BDMs are sufficiently effective to promote cotton production as PE film is a controversial topic. In this study, laboratory determination and field experiments were conducted with one pure Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) film (BDM), two commercial PBAT-based films (BDM1 and BDM2), and one PE film to (ⅰ) compare the degradation behavior, morphology, and property changes during field application, and (ⅱ) reveal their effects on biomass accumulation and cotton yield. Degradation behavior, degradation rate, structure, thermal stability, crystallinity, and molecular weight changes of the films before and after mulching were investigated and characterized. Water vapor transmission rate and mechanical properties of the films and the effects these on soil temperature, crop growth, and cotton yield were discussed. Results show that the three PBAT-based mulch films gradually degraded during mulching. The molecular weight, thermal stability, and crystallinity of BDM1 and BDM2 decreased. Interestingly, BDM showed the opposite characteristics, but the degradation degree was greatest at harvest. PE film showed no significant changes in its microscopic appearance, thermal performance, or properties. These PBAT-based films were positively correlated with the complete coverage period of the films. In-depth studies focused on BDMs with a longer mulching period must be developed to promote the substitution of BDMs into PE to reduce the residual mulch pollution in cotton fields.

This study aimed to develop an effective technique for extracting total anthocyanins from purple sweet potato (Mianzishu 9) (PSP9) by ultrasound-assisted compound enzymatic extraction (UAEE). Single-factor experiments, Plackett-Burman experimental design, and response surface methodology were utilized for optimizing extraction conditions, and the antioxidant activities were evaluated. Anthocyanins were also measured using an ultra-performance liquid chromatograph linked to a mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS). The maximum yield of total anthocyanins was 2.27 mg/g under the following conditions: the ethanol concentration was 78%, the material-to-liquid ratio was 1:15 g/mL, the enzyme ratio (cellulase: pectinase: papain) was 2:2:1 and its hydrolysis was at 41 °C, pH = 4.5, 1.5 h, the ultrasonication was at 48 °C and conducted twice for 20 min each time. In addition to higher yield, anthocyanins extracted from purple sweet potato by UAEE showed great ability to scavenge DPPH (IC 50 of 0.089 μg/mL) and hydroxyl radicals (IC 50 of 100.229 μg/mL). Five anthocyanins were found in the purple sweet potato extract from UAEE. Taken together, the ultrasound-assisted compound enzymatic method can rapidly and effectively extract anthocyanins with greater antioxidant capacity from purple sweet potato.

Listeria monocytogenes ( L. monocytogenes ) is one of the most lethal pathogenic bacteria. Although the traditional microbial culture method has high sensitivity and selectivity for the diagnosis of L. monocytogenes , it is time-consuming and not suitable for on-site detection. A rapid, convenient and visualized on-site detection method is particularly needed. In this work, Fe 3 O 4 @UiO-66-NH 2 was prepared for both magnetic separation and lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for the detection of L. monocytogenes by taking advantage of the easy separation of the magnetic core Fe 3 O 4 and the high surface area of the outer layer UiO-66-NH 2 . Fe 3 O 4 @UiO-66-NH 2 with a high surface area and good water-dispersibility and optical properties was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal process. It could directly adsorb on the surface of target bacteria and form Fe 3 O 4 @UiO-66-NH 2 -bacteria conjugates, without the labeling of an antibody. After magnetic separation and concentration, the Fe 3 O 4 @UiO-66-NH 2 -bacteria conjugates were detected by the antibody on the test line of the LFIA strip, resulting in a visible orange band. The capture efficiency and LFIA detection of Fe 3 O 4 @UiO-66-NH 2 were optimized in this study. Under the optimal conditions, a good linear correlation between the test line intensity and the concentration of L. monocytogenes was obtained in the range of 10 5 -10 8 CFU mL -1 , and the limit of detection was 2.2 × 10 6 CFU mL -1 by the naked eye. The Fe 3 O 4 @UiO-66-NH 2 -based LFIA strip showed strong specificity for L. monocytogenes , and the detection took 45 min without culture enrichment. Therefore, the proposed Fe 3 O 4 @UiO-66-NH 2 -based strip showed the advantages of simple synthesis, being label-free, low cost, good selectivity and convenience.

Listeria monocytogenes is one of the major foodborne pathogens, which may cause serious food safety problems and illnesses in humans and animals. Consequently, sensitive, fast and reliable detection methods, as well as effective sample preparation methods are in great demand. In this study, a magnetic separation method based on a aptamer functionalized positively-charged magnetic beads (Fe 3 O 4 @aptamer) was established and a fluorescent test strip sensor was constructed for the rapid, sensitive and specific detection of Listeria monocytogenes . Benefiting from the dual recognition and signal amplification process of Fe 3 O 4 @aptamer enrichment and the polymerase chain reaction of the hly gene, the fluorescent strip sensor for the detection of Listeria monocytogenes was determined to be reliable and sensitive, with a linear curve obtained in the range of 1.0 × 10 2 to 1.9 × 10 8 CFU mL -1 , and a detection limit of 1.0 × 10 2 CFU mL -1 . The detection was achieved in 3 h without culture enrichment. Furthermore, the developed method was successfully applied for the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in pork tenderloin, with the recoveries ranging from 91.1% to 97.1%, and a coefficient of variation of less than 23.4%, revealing the feasible and reliable application of this method in practical samples. The proposed fluorescent strip sensor is rapid, sensitive and specific, giving it great application prospects for use in the field of pathogenic bacterium detection.

As new fluorescent materials, light wavelength conversion materials (light conversion agents) have attracted increasing attention from scientific researchers and agricultural materials companies due to their potential advantages in efficiently utilizing solar energy and increasing crop yield. According to the material properties, the light conversion agents can be divided into fluorescent dyes, organic rare-earth complexes, and inorganic rare-earth complexes. The current researches indicates that the fluorescent dyes have relatively high production costs, poor light stability, difficult degradation processes, and easily cause pollution to the ecological environment. The organic rare-earth complexes have short luminescence times, high production costs, and suffer from rapid decreases in luminescence intensity. Compared with fluorescent dyes and organic rare-earth complexes, although rare-earth inorganic complexes have high luminous efficiency, stable chemical properties, and better spectral matching performance, the existing inorganic light conversion agents have relatively poor dispersibility in agricultural films. According to the research on light conversion agents at home and abroad in recent years, this paper first introduces the three common light conversion agents, namely fluorescent dyes, organic rare-earth complexes, and inorganic rare-earth complexes, as well as their uses in agricultural films and their mechanisms of light conversion. At the same time, the preparation methods, advantages, disadvantages, and existing problems of various light conversion agents are classified and explained. Finally, we predict the development trends for light conversion agents in the future by considering six aspects, namely efficiency, cost, compatibility with greenhouse films, light matching, and light transmittance, in order to provide a reference for the preparation of stable and efficient light conversion agent materials.

An iatrogenic pseudoaneurysm of the radial artery and spontaneous venous malformation are associated with median nerve compression. However, the superficial brachial artery (SBA) has rarely been described as the cause of neurological deficits due to median nerve compression. A 61-year-old man was admitted to our clinic with a 1-year history of intermittent aching palsy in the left thumb that had progressed to the first three fingers. Clinical examination revealed mild sensory disturbance and hyperpathia in the first three fingers and weakness of the opponens pollicis. Ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging confirmed that the SBA was compressing the median nerve by almost one-third. When anomalies of the SBA impinge on the median nerve, pulsatile pressure is applied to the nerve trunk. This may trigger ectopic stimulation of sensory fibers, leading to severe pain, sensory neuropathy, and motor disturbance. Considering the substantial difficulties and risks of a surgical operation as well as the patient's wish to undergo conservative treatment, we performed muscle relaxation and acupuncture to relieve the pressure of the surrounding soft tissue and in turn decrease the impingement of the SBA on the median nerve. A satisfactory treatment effect was reached in this case.

Near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive nanoparticles (NPs) of organic photosensitizers (PS) hold great promise as phototherapeutic agents for precision photoinduced cancer therapy. However, highly photostable PS nanoparticles with extraordinary photoconversion capacities are urgently desired to fully realize potent phototherapy. Here, NIR nonlinear organic chromophore nanoparticles (NOC-NPs) are shown as single-component PS for dually cooperative phototherapy. Upon 785 nm irradiation, excited NOC-NPs pass through intrinsic intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) channel to generate both abundant singlet oxygen and local hyperthermia, affording synergistic photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) for tumor ablation. Furthermore, NOC-NPs exhibit dramatic photostability, enhanced cellular uptake, effective cytoplasmic translocation, as well as preferable tumor accumulation, further ensuring favorable in vivo singlet oxygen generation and hyperthermia for photoinduced tumor ablation. Thus, NOC-NPs may represent novel high-performance PS for synergistic photoinduced cancer therapy, providing new insights into the development of potent PS for clinical translation., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

A new fluorinated polycarbonate was synthesized by solution polymerization of bisphenol AF, anthracen-9-ylmethyl-4,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)pentanoate with triphosgene. This new polycarbonate was used as a host polymer. A traditional chromophore with a D-π-A structure was modified by bisphenol A acrylate affording chromophore A. The large modified group can not only effectively avoid the dipole interaction between chromophores, but also endow the chromophores with the properties of attaching and crosslinking with a host polymer through in situ Diels-Alder "click chemistry" reactions. Such properties can improve both the poling efficiency and the thermal stability of organic electro-optic (EO) polymers. The thermodynamic properties of the crosslinking system showed that the glass transition temperature rose with the increase of the chromophore content. The EO polymer showed a large EO coefficient of about 78.9 pm V -1 at a wavelength of 1310 nm and an excellent long-term stability of about 89% with respect to its initial value and it can be kept after 300 h of heating at 80 °C., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Matrix metal proteinases-12 (MMP-12) is a hot pharmaceutical target on the treatment of many human diseases. There's a crying need for designing and finding new MMP-12 inhibitors. In this work, four machine learning approaches, support vector machine, k-nearest neighbor, C4.5 decision tree, and random forest, were employed to derive statistical models from datasets with well distributed biological activities and predict a compound whether it is a MMP-12 inhibitor. The prediction accuracies of the models are in the range of 96.15-98.08% for sensitivity, 87.23-100.00% for specificity, 91.92-98.99% for the overall prediction accuracy and 0.8401-0.9800 for Matthews correlation coefficient, all producing satisfactory results. By means of diverse feature selection methods, several sets of critical descriptors with key information of inhibitory properties were selected by different models, accelerating the classification for MMP-12 inhibitors and non-inhibitors. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

A series of chromophores J1-J4 have been synthesized based on julolidine donors modified with different rigid steric hindrance groups. Compared with the chromophore (J1) without the isolation group, chromophores J2, J3 and J4 show better stability. Structural analysis and photophysical property measurements were carried out to compare the molecular mobility and steric hindrance effect of the different donor-modified chromophores. All of these chromophores with isolation groups showed superb thermal stabilities with high thermal decomposition temperatures above 250 °C. Furthermore, with rigid steric hindrance, chromophores J3 and J4 showed more enhanced thermal stabilities with thermal decomposition temperatures of 269 °C and 275 °C, respectively. Density functional theory was used to calculate the hyperpolarizability (β), and the high molecular hyperpolarizability of these chromophores can be effectively translated into large electro-optic coefficients. The electro-optic coefficients of poled films containing 20 wt% of these new chromophores doped in amorphous polycarbonate were 127, 266 and 209 pm V -1 at 1310 nm for chromophores J1-J3, respectively, while the film containing chromophore J4 showed the largest r 33 value of only 97 pm V -1 at 25 wt%. These results indicated that the introduced isolation group can reduce intermolecular electrostatic interactions, thus enhancing the macroscopic electro-optic activity, while the size of the isolation group should be suitable.

Main-chain nonlinear optical polymers based on novel chromophores with special structures presented good solubility in most of the organic solvents. Polymers PE-1 and PE-2 attained the thermal decomposition temperatures of 305 and 223 °C and glass transition temperatures of 113 and 108 °C, and exhibited only negligible decay in the SHG signal baked at 85 °C over hundreds of hours, respectively. The SHG coefficients of poled films from polymers PE-1 and PE-2 were 26.3 and 35.8 pm/V, respectively. These results indicated that this class of polymers can be used in the preparation of organic electro-optic devices.

A new chromophore HK containing the cis,cis-1,7-diethoxy-3-isopropyljulolidine group as a novel electron-donor, thiophene as a π-conjugated bridge and a tricyanofuran (TCF) acceptor has been synthesized and systematically investigated in this paper. Its corresponding chromophore FTC using 4-(diethyl amino)benzyl as the electron donor group was also prepared for comparison. This is the first time that the cis,cis-1,7-diethoxy-3-isopropyljulolidine group was introduced into NLO materials. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to calculate the HOMO-LUMO energy gap and first-order hyperpolarizability (β) of the new chromophore. The HOMO-LUMO gap was also investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Upon using the cis,cis-1,7-diethoxy-3-isopropyljulolidine group as the donor, a reduced energy gap of 1.007 eV was obtained compared with chromophore FTC (ΔE = 1.529 eV). The high molecular hyperpolarizability of the new chromophore can be effectively translated into large electro-optic (EO) coefficients (r33) in poled polymers. The doped films containing the new chromophore HK showed a value of 72 pm V(-1) at the concentration of 25 wt% at 1310 nm. This value is almost two times higher than the EO activity of the usually reported traditional (N,N-diethyl) aniline nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophore FTC. High r33 values indicated that the new julolidine donor can efficiently improve the electron-donating ability and reduce intermolecular electrostatic interactions, thus enhancing the macroscopic EO activity. These properties, together with good solubility, suggest the potential use of the new chromophore in advanced materials devices.

A new diene-conjugated chromophore WJ1 was synthesized with high yield of 36% through an H-bonding induced Vilsmeier reaction. By simple guest-host doping, a large electro-optic efficiency of 337 pm V(-1) at 1310 nm and excellent temporal stability at 75 °C have been achieved in poled films of WJ1/APC with a high loading density of 40 wt%.