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El proyecto surge a partir del interés por la cultura y el arte de la cultura china: las joyas son piezas que han presenciado el largo flujo del tiempo, y a través de ellas se puede observar el transcurso de la moda y las tendencias, e incluso reflejan las tradiciones del momento. La inspiración surge en proponer una creación que pueda encapsular esa idea, una unión entre el pasado y el presente: mediante la impresión 3D, la fusión de la tradición y la tecnología puede llegar a crear diseños alternativos, ideal ante la saturación de homogeneidad del mercado. Se propone explorar diferentes viabilidades de diseño, dando provecho alguna de sus cualidades más enriquecedoras: el grado de adaptabilidad y personalización; la flexibilidad creativa sin precedentes gracias a las posibles formas complejas y detalles intrincados, difíciles de lograr con métodos de fabricación tradicionales; la eficiencia en el proceso de producción, la sostenibilidad ambiental que promete y la agilidad de iteración en los diseños. A través de un estudio exhaustivo de la metodología y del mercado, de los métodos convencionales y de las tecnologías modernas, se procederá a diseñar una línea de productos de joyería, a través del modelado digital y experimentando el proceso de impresión 3D, posteriormente el proceso de fundición, para crear un producto viable y único en el mercado, que ofrezca unos valores propios irremplazables a sus usuarios. Este proyecto no solo representa una fusión innovadora entre la tradición y la tecnología, sino que también busca promover la apreciación y el entendimiento intercultural a través del arte y la moda

Recently entanglement suppression was proposed to be one possible origin of emergent symmetries. Here we test this conjecture in the context of heavy meson scatterings. The low-energy interactions of $D^{(*)}\bar D^{(*)}$ and $D^{(*)} D^{(*)}$ are closely related to the hadronic molecular candidates $X(3872)$ and $T_{cc}(3875)^+$, respectively, and can be described by a nonrelativistic effective Lagrangian manifesting heavy-quark spin symmetry, which includes only constant contact potentials at leading order. We explore entanglement suppression in a tensor-product framework to treat both the isospin and spin degrees of freedom. Using the $X(3872)$ and $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ as inputs, we find that entanglement suppression indeed leads to an emergent symmetry, namely, a light-quark spin symmetry, and as such the $D^{(*)}\bar D^{(*)}$ or $D^{(*)} D^{(*)}$ interaction strengths for a given total isospin do not depend on the total angular momentum of light (anti)quarks. The $X(3872)$ and $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ are predicted to have five and one isoscalar partner, respectively, while the corresponding partner numbers derived solely from heavy-quark spin symmetry are three and one, respectively. The predictions need to be confronted with experimental data and lattice quantum chromodynamics results to further test the entanglement suppression conjecture., Comment: 28 pages, 3 figures; Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

In the underdoped n-type cuprate Nd2-xCexCuO4, long-range antiferromagnetic order reconstructs the Fermi surface, resulting in a putative antiferromagnetic metal with small Fermi pockets. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we observe an anomalous energy gap, an order of magnitude smaller than the antiferromagnetic gap, in a wide portion of the underdoped regime and smoothly connecting to the superconducting gap at optimal doping. After considering all the known ordering tendencies in tandem with the phase diagram, we hypothesize that the normal-state gap in the underdoped n-type cuprates originates from Cooper pairing. The high temperature scale of the normal-state gap raises the prospect of engineering higher transition temperatures in the n-type cuprates comparable to those of the p-type cuprates., QC 20240917

This report presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary schools in the United States and the territories in the 2009-10 school year, using data from the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The CCD is an annual collection of data that are reported by state education agencies (SEA) to the National Center for Education Statistics through the U.S. Department of Education's ED"Facts" collection system. The purpose of this report is to introduce new data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information; therefore, the selected findings chosen for this report demonstrate the range of information available when using the CCD. The Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey can be used to report the numbers and types of schools. The information includes a school's status (new, continuing, closed, etc.), and whether it is a charter school, magnet school, and/or Title I school. The survey can also be used to report the numbers of students and the school's "locale type," that is, whether it is in a city, suburban, town, or rural area. Two appendixes present: (1) Methodology and Technical Notes; and (2) Common Core of Data Glossary. (Contains 7 tables and 3 endnotes.) [For "Numbers and Types of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2008-09. First Look. NCES 2010-345," see ED510766.]

This report presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary schools in the United States and other jurisdictions in the 2008-09 school year, using data from the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The CCD is an annual collection of data that are reported by state education agencies to the National Center for Education Statistics through the U.S. Department of Education's ED"Facts" collection system. Because the purpose of this report is to introduce new data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information, only selected findings are presented. These findings have been chosen to demonstrate the range of information available when using the CCD rather than to discuss all of the observed differences. The Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey reports the numbers and types of schools. Information about schools includes the type of school, its status (new, continuing, closed, etc.), and whether it is a charter school, magnet school, and/or Title I school. The survey also reports the numbers of students and the school's "locale type," that is, whether it is in a city, suburban, town, or rural area. Appended are: (1) Methodology and Technical Notes; and (2) Common Core of Data Glossary. (Contains 7 tables and 3 footnotes.)

This presentation shares why and how a group of Chinese/East Asian studies librarians started a multi-institutional project to undertake a Chinese Studies Scholars Oral History Project and describes the current status of the project and plans for its future development.

This report presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary local education agencies (LEAs) in the United States and other jurisdictions in the 2007-08 school year, using data from the Local Education Agency Universe Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The CCD is an annual collection of data that are reported by state education agencies to the National Center for Education Statistics through the U.S. Department of Education's EDFacts data collection system. Because the purpose of this report is to introduce new data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information, only selected findings are presented. These findings have been chosen to demonstrate the range of information available when using the CCD rather than to discuss all of the observed differences, and they are not meant to emphasize any particular issue. Among the findings were that there were 17,775 operating local education agencies (LEAs) in 2007-08. In the 2007-08 school year, 149 LEAs were closed and 183 were newly opened. Most of these operating agencies were regular school districts (13,924) that were responsible for educating students residing within their jurisdiction. A total of 1,399 were administrative or service agencies that typically provide services to school districts. A total of 2,012 were independent charter agencies in which all the associated schools are charter schools. An additional 440 agencies were operated by the state or some other entity. Of the approximately 49.2 million students served by LEAs, 48.2 million attended schools in regular school districts. Nearly 1 million students were enrolled in LEAs other than regular school districts, including approximately 212,000 students enrolled in administrative and service agencies, approximately 699,000 students enrolled in independent charter agencies, and approximately 89,000 enrolled in state- and federally operated and other types of agencies. Appended to this report are: (1) Methodology and Technical Notes; and (2) Common Core of Data Glossary. (Contains 6 tables.)

Electron-doped cuprates consistently exhibit strong antiferromagnetic correlations, leading to the prevalent belief that antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations mediate Cooper pairing in these unconventional superconductors. However, early investigations showed that although antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations create the largest pseudogap at hot spots in momentum space, the superconducting gap is also maximized at these locations. This presented a paradox for spin-fluctuation-mediated pairing: Cooper pairing is strongest at momenta where the normal-state low-energy spectral weight is most suppressed. Here we investigate this paradox and find evidence that a gossamer—meaning very faint—Fermi surface can provide an explanation for these observations. We study Nd2–xCexCuO4 using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and directly observe the Bogoliubov quasiparticles. First, we resolve the previously observed reconstructed main band and the states gapped by the antiferromagnetic pseudogap around the hot spots. Within the antiferromagnetic pseudogap, we also observe gossamer states with distinct dispersion, from which coherence peaks of Bogoliubov quasiparticles emerge below the superconducting critical temperature. Moreover, the direct observation of a Bogoliubov quasiparticle permits an accurate determination of the superconducting gap, yielding a maximum value an order of magnitude smaller than the pseudogap, establishing the distinct nature of these two gaps. We propose that orientation fluctuations in the antiferromagnetic order parameter are responsible for the gossamer states., QC 20240619

Yuan-Yuan Wei,1,2,* Rui-Rui Wang,3,* Da-Wei Zhang,1,2,* Su-Hong Chen,2,4 Yuan-Yuan Tan,2,5 Wen-Ting Zhang,1,2 Ming-Feng Han,3 Guang-He Fei1,2 1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230022, People’s Republic of China; 2Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases Research and Medical Transformation of Anhui Province, Hefei, Anhui, 230022, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the Second People’s Hospital of Fuyang City, Fuyang, Anhui, 236015, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230022, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Emergency Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230022, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Guang-He Fei, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230022, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8655162922013, Fax +8655163635578, Email gh.fei@ahmu.edu.cn Ming-Feng Han, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the Second People’s Hospital of Fuyang City, Fuyang, Anhui, 236015, People’s Republic of China, Email fyhmf@163.comBackground: As multiple mutations of SARS-Cov-2 exist, there are now many viral variants with regional differences in distribution. The clinical characteristics of patients hospitalized with the virus also vary significantly, with those of the Omicron variants being strikingly different from those of the earliest wild-type variant. However, comprehensive data on this subject is lacking. It is therefore crucial to explore these differences to develop better clinical strategies for the management of COVID-19.Methods: A total of 554 confirmed COVID-19 cases in China were clinically

Shao-Yu Tsai,1,2 Han-Yi Tsai,3 Ying-Ying Lin,1 Su-Ru Chen,4 Shu-Yu Kuo,4 Meei-Fang Lou1 1School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; 2Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Department of Nursing, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 4School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, TaiwanCorrespondence: Shao-Yu Tsai, School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec 1, Jen-Ai Road, Taipei, 10051, Taiwan, Tel +886-2-2351-7770, Fax +886-2- 2321-9913, Email stsai@ntu.edu.twAbstract: Sleep disturbances are commonly reported by parents of children and adolescents with epilepsy. However, evidence synthesis including quality and quantity of sleep in parents of children and adolescents with epilepsy is lacking. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to quantify pooled mean estimates of parental sleep variables and to determine the prevalence of sleep disturbances in parents of children and adolescents with epilepsy. Five electronic databases, PubMed, Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, and CINAHL, were systematically searched from inception to September 2021. Eleven observational studies examining parents of pediatric patients aged < 18 years with epilepsy using a quantitative measure of sleep duration, sleep quality, or sleep disturbance were reviewed. Our results showed that the pooled nocturnal sleep duration was 5.93 hours (95% CI: 4.64 to 7.21 hours). Overall sleep quality as estimated by the bias-adjusted pooled Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index total score was 6.65 (95% CI: 5.98 to 7.33). Parents of children with epilepsy had significantly higher Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index total scores compared to parents of healthy children (differences in means 1.84, 95% CI: 1.29 to 2.39). The pooled estimated prevalence of parental sleep disturbances was 58.1% (95% CI: 45.7% to 69.6%). Our findings demonstrate a high prevalenc

Background: The renal risk score (RRS) is a useful tool to predict end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). The current study aimed to validate the predictive performance of RRS and to further modify this model in Chinese AAV patients. Methods: Two hundred and seventy-two patients diagnosed with AAV confirmed by renal biopsies were retrospectively enrolled from a single center. The RRS was calculated based on 3 categorical variables, i.e., the proportion of normal glomeruli, the proportion of interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA), and eGFR at biopsy, classifying these patients into low-, medium-, and high-risk groups. In addition, a modified model was developed based on the RRS and was further validated in another independent cohort of 117 AAV patients. The predictive performance of each model was evaluated according to discrimination and calibration. Results: Patients were classified by the RRS into low- (26.5%), medium- (46.7%), and high-risk (26.8%) groups, with 120-month renal survival rates of 93.3%, 57.2%, and 18.4%, respectively (P < 0.001). The RRS showed good discrimination but less satisfactory calibration. Therefore, a modified model with improved discrimination and calibration was developed in Chinese AAV patients, with eGFR, proportion of normal glomeruli (both as continuous variables), and IF/TA (< 25%, 25–50%, > 50%) included. Internal and external validation of the modified model were performed. Finally, an online risk prediction tool was developed based on the modified model. Conclusions: The RRS was an independent predictor of ESRD of AAV patients. The modified model could predict the probability of ESRD for AAV patients with improved performance in Chinese AAV patients. © 2023, The Author(s).

Ground-motion model (GMM) is the basis of many earthquake engineering studies. In this study, a novel physics-informed symbolic learner (PISL) method based on the Nest Generation Attenuation-West2 database is proposed to automatically discover mathematical equation operators as symbols. The sequential threshold ridge regression algorithm is utilized to distill a concise and interpretable explicit characterization of complex systems of ground motions. In addition to the basic variables retrieved from previous GMMs, the current PISL incorporates two a priori physical conditions, namely, distance and amplitude saturation. GMMs developed using the PISL, an empirical regression method (ERM), and an artificial neural network (ANN) are compared in terms of residuals and extrapolation based on obtained data of peak ground acceleration and velocity. The results show that the inter- and intra-event standard deviations of the three methods are similar. The functional form of the PISL is more concise than that of the ERM and ANN. The extrapolation capability of the PISL is more accurate than that of the ANN. The PISL-GMM used in this study provide a new paradigm of regression that considers both physical and data-driven machine learning and can be used to identify the implied physical relationships and prediction equations of ground motion variables in different regions.

Deep learning is commonly used to reconstruct HDR images from LDR images. LDR stack-based methods are used for single-image HDR reconstruction, generating an HDR image from a deep learning-generated LDR stack. However, current methods generate the stack with predetermined exposure values (EVs), which may limit the quality of HDR reconstruction. To address this, we propose the continuous exposure value representation (CEVR), which uses an implicit function to generate LDR images with arbitrary EVs, including those unseen during training. Our approach generates a continuous stack with more images containing diverse EVs, significantly improving HDR reconstruction. We use a cycle training strategy to supervise the model in generating continuous EV LDR images without corresponding ground truths. Our CEVR model outperforms existing methods, as demonstrated by experimental results., Comment: ICCV 2023. Project page: https://skchen1993.github.io/CEVR_web

Hysteresis underlies a large number of phase transitions in solids, giving rise to exotic metastable states that are otherwise inaccessible. Here, we report an unconventional hysteretic transition in a quasi-2D material, EuTe4. By combining transport, photoemission, diffraction, and x-ray absorption measurements, we observe that the hysteresis loop has a temperature width of more than 400 K, setting a record among crystalline solids. The transition has an origin distinct from known mechanisms, lying entirely within the incommensurate charge density wave (CDW) phase of EuTe4 with no change in the CDW modulation periodicity. We interpret the hysteresis as an unusual switching of the relative CDW phases in different layers, a phenomenon unique to quasi-2D compounds that is not present in either purely 2D or strongly coupled 3D systems. Our findings challenge the established theories on metastable states in density wave systems, pushing the boundary of understanding hysteretic transitions in a broken-symmetry state. © 2022 American Physical Society.

Liu W, Su P, Gonzales III A, et al. Int J Nanomedicine. 2015;10(1):1997–2019. The Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the duplication of figures and results with those from an earlier publication, Liu et al, 2014 (https://doi.org/10.1039/C4NR01531B), by the authors. Specifically: Figures 1B and 1b appear to have been published previously as Figures 1B and 1b from Liu et al, 2014. Results from Table 2 had previously been published in Table 2 from Liu et al, 2014. Parts of Figure 2A appear to have been previously published in Figure 4 from Liu et al, 2014. Figures 2B and 2C appear to have been previously published as Figures 5a and 5b in Liu et al, 2014, respectively. Figure S1B appears to have been duplicated with Figure 3b from Liu et al, 2014, albeit with some adjustment to the image’s orientation. It was acknowledged the earlier Liu et al, 2014 publication had been referenced, however the authors failed to properly cite this article as the source of the figures and results described above. In addition, the authors were unable to provide a satisfactory justification to the Editor for the need to republish these same figures and results. The Editor requested for the article to be retracted. The authors do not agree with the decision to retract the article. Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”. This retraction relates to this paper

Soft actuators that respond to external stimuli like moisture, magnetism, light, and temperature have received tremendous attention owing to their promising potential in many frontier applications, including smart switches, soft robots, sensors, and artificial muscles. However, most of the conventional actuators can only be triggered by a solo stimulus and demand advanced manufacturing techniques that utilize expensive, hazardous, and synthetic raw materials. Herein, we design and fabricate a multiple stimuli-responsive actuator using graphene oxide, Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and tapioca starch via a water evaporation-induced self-assembly method. The resultant hybrid actuator exhibits a bending speed of ∼72° s–1 upon moisture exposure. Moreover, it can perform clockwise and counterclockwise rotations, linear motion, and magnetic object capture by regulating a magnetic field. As representative examples, the actuator is used to fabricate various smart devices such as smart curtains, biomimetic structures, and a smart gripper that undergo complex and consecutive motion under the influence of multiple stimuli.

The effect of Lifshitz transition on thermodynamics and superconductivity in hole-doped cuprates has been heavily debated but remains an open question. In particular, an observed peak of electronic specific heat is proposed to originate from fluctuations of a putative quantum critical point p* (e.g., the termination of pseudogap at zero temperature), which is close to but distinguishable from the Lifshitz transition in overdoped La-based cuprates where the Fermi surface transforms from hole-like to electron-like. Here we report an in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of three-dimensional Fermi surfaces in La2-xSrxCuO4 thin films (x = 0.06 to 0.35). With accurate kz dispersion quantification, the said Lifshitz transition is determined to happen within a finite range around x = 0.21. Normal state electronic specific heat, calculated from spectroscopy-derived band parameters, reveals a doping-dependent profile with a maximum at x = 0.21 that agrees with previous thermodynamic microcalorimetry measurements. The account of the specific heat maximum by underlying band structures excludes the need for additionally dominant contribution from the quantum fluctuations at p*. A d-wave superconducting gap smoothly across the Lifshitz transition demonstrates the insensitivity of superconductivity to the dramatic density of states enhancement.

We extend the $SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$ standard model by a $U(1)_{Y'}$ gauge symmetry. Three right-handed neutrinos are introduced to cancel the gauge anomaly. One Higgs singlet is responsible for spontaneously breaking the $U(1)_{Y'}$ symmetry while the standard model Higgs doublet does not carry any $U(1)_{Y'}$ charges. The down-type quarks, up-type quarks, charged leptons and neutral neutrinos obtain their Dirac masses through four types of dimension-5 operators constructed by the fermion doublets and singlets with the Higgs doublet and singlet. This effective theory is realized in three renormalizable contexts with heavy fermion singlets, scalar doublets and fermion doublets. The heavy fermion singlets and doublets for generating the neutrino masses also accommodate a successful Dirac leptogenesis to explain the baryon asymmetry in the universe., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

The standard model left-handed neutrinos and several right-handed neutrinos can obtain a tiny Dirac mass matrix through their mixings with relatively heavy Dirac fermions. In this Dirac seesaw scenario, the mixings involving the left-handed neutrinos can be allowed much larger than those involving the right-handed neutrinos. This undemocratic parameter choice is attractive to phenomenology. We show that the small mixings between the heavy Dirac fermions and the right-handed neutrinos can have a common origin with the observed baryon asymmetry in the universe. We also connect the introduction of right-handed neutrinos to the existence and stability of dark matter by a new $U(1)$ gauge symmetry for dark photon or baryon-minus-lepton number. We then specify how to embed our scenario into a left-right symmetric theory or a grand unification theory., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures

There has been an increasing interest in integrating physics knowledge and machine learning for modeling dynamical systems. However, very limited studies have been conducted on seismic wave modeling tasks. A critical challenge is that these geophysical problems are typically defined in large domains (i.e., semi-infinite), which leads to high computational cost. In this paper, we present a novel physics-informed neural network (PINN) model for seismic wave modeling in semi-infinite domain without the nedd of labeled data. In specific, the absorbing boundary condition is introduced into the network as a soft regularizer for handling truncated boundaries. In terms of computational efficiency, we consider a sequential training strategy via temporal domain decomposition to improve the scalability of the network and solution accuracy. Moreover, we design a novel surrogate modeling strategy for parametric loading, which estimates the wave propagation in semin-infinite domain given the seismic loading at different locations. Various numerical experiments have been implemented to evaluate the performance of the proposed PINN model in the context of forward modeling of seismic wave propagation. In particular, we define diverse material distributions to test the versatility of this approach. The results demonstrate excellent solution accuracy under distinctive scenarios., Comment: 22 pages

Vibrational strong coupling (VSC) promises ultrasensitive IR spectroscopy and modification of material properties. Here, nanoscale mapping of VSC between organic molecules and individual IR nanoresonators is achieved by remote near-field spectroscopy. Phonon polariton (PhP) nanoresonators can dramatically enhance the coupling of molecular vibrations and infrared light, enabling ultrasensitive spectroscopies and strong coupling with minute amounts of matter. So far, this coupling and the resulting localized hybrid polariton modes have been studied only by far-field spectroscopy, preventing access to modal near-field patterns and dark modes, which could further our fundamental understanding of nanoscale vibrational strong coupling (VSC). Here we use infrared near-field spectroscopy to study the coupling between the localized modes of PhP nanoresonators made of h-BN and molecular vibrations. For a most direct probing of the resonator-molecule coupling, we avoid the direct near-field interaction between tip and molecules by probing the molecule-free part of partially molecule-covered nanoresonators, which we refer to as remote near-field probing. We obtain spatially and spectrally resolved maps of the hybrid polariton modes, as well as the corresponding coupling strengths, demonstrating VSC on a single PhP nanoresonator level. Our work paves the way for near-field spectroscopy of VSC phenomena not accessible by conventional techniques.

Hysteresis underlies a large number of phase transitions in solids, giving rise to exotic metastable states that are otherwise inaccessible. Here, we report an unconventional hysteretic transition in a quasi-2D material, EuTe_{4}. By combining transport, photoemission, diffraction, and x-ray absorption measurements, we observe that the hysteresis loop has a temperature width of more than 400 K, setting a record among crystalline solids. The transition has an origin distinct from known mechanisms, lying entirely within the incommensurate charge density wave (CDW) phase of EuTe_{4} with no change in the CDW modulation periodicity. We interpret the hysteresis as an unusual switching of the relative CDW phases in different layers, a phenomenon unique to quasi-2D compounds that is not present in either purely 2D or strongly coupled 3D systems. Our findings challenge the established theories on metastable states in density wave systems, pushing the boundary of understanding hysteretic transitions in a broken-symmetry state.

Xin-Ying Cai,1 Shao-Yan Zheng,2 Zhen-Su Lin,2 Su-Zhi Chen,2 Wei-Yi Zhu,2 Jia-Jia Huang,2 Ze-Li Zheng,2 Yu-Hua Zhou2 1Clinical Research Center, Shantou Central Hospital, Shantou City, People’s Republic of China; 2Nursing Department, Shantou Central Hospital, Shantou City, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yu-Hua Zhou, Nursing Department, Shantou Central Hospital, Wai-ma Road 114, Shantou City, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 0754-88903584, Fax +86 0754-88548117, Email zhouyuhua1023@163.comBackground: Medical workers have been increasingly involved in emergent public health events, which can lead to severe stress. However, no standardized, officially recognized, unified tool exists for mental distress measurement in medical workers who experienced the public health events.Purpose: In the present study, we propose the Global Health Events-Mental Stress Scale (GHE-MSS), as a revised version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revision (IES-R), for assessment of medical workers’ acute mental stress responses within one month and their chronic mental stress responses within six months after major health events.Patients and methods: The IES-R was slightly modified, developed, and its reliability and validity were tested using the Delphi survey, primary survey with 115 participants, formal survey with 300 participants, and clinical evaluation with 566 participants.Results: Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a promising validity of the scale. The values of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, the Spearman-Brown coefficient, and the retested Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale applied for the clinical evaluation were 0.88, 0.87, and 0.98, respectively, which confirmed a good internal consistency and stability. The results of the goodness-of-fit test indicated a good adaptation of the model. A correlation analysis was conducted to assess the correlation between the GHE-MSS and the PCL-C, which had a correlation coefficient of

Ming-Chuan Lee,1 Yu-Tsang Wang,2 Yu-Ju Li,1 Ching-Yi Tsai,1 Su-Te Chen,1 Wun-Jyun Jhuang,1,3 Meng-Chi Chang,1 Mei-Yu Chien,1 Hsiang-Chun Lee1,3– 5 1Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan; 2Division of Medical Statistics and Bioinformatics, Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan; 3Lipid Science and Aging Research Center, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan; 4Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan; 5Institute/Center of Medical Science and Technology, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, 804, TaiwanCorrespondence: Hsiang-Chun Lee, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, 100 Tzyou 1st Road, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan, Tel +886-7-3121101#2293, Fax +886-7-3234845, Email hclee@kmu.edu.twPurpose: Manifestations of metabolic syndrome (MetS) carry risks for atrial fibrillation (AF). The study determined whether any electrocardiographic parameter can reflect increased AF risk in individuals with MetS.Patients and Methods: From our University Hospital database, we examined the presence of AF and its correlation with MetS manifestations, renal function, lipid profiles, and electrocardiographic parameters (P wave duration, PR interval, QRS width, and QTc intervals). Between January 2008 and December 2015, data from 4479 adults (women 41.6% vs men 58.4%) were identified.Results: The overall prevalence of AF was 12.4%, without sex differences (women, 12.8% vs men, 12.1%). Patients with AF were older (age 73.9 ± 11.8 vs non-AF 67 ± 13.5 years), with lower lipid levels (TG, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol, all p < 0.0001), and at lower eGFR level (64.1 ± 30.9 vs non-AF 68.8 ± 41.4 mL/min/1.73m2, p < 0.000

To develop high-capacity Li-ion batteries, volume expansion and material degradation of Si anodes have been attracting increasing attention. However, the effects of phase structures and geometrical constraints on the failure mechanism of lithiated Si have not been well understood. Considering phase boundaries formed during electrochemical cycles, we conducted molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the failure behaviour and microstructural evolution of single-phase and dual-phase (core–shell) lithiated Si structures when subjected to biaxial tensile stress. During lithiation, lithiated Si structures show a brittle-to-ductile transition. The brittle fracture is associated with nanoscale cavitation and void propagation. The ductility of lithiated Si structures increases with Li content due to the rearrangement of Li atoms. Compared with single-phase lithiated Si, dual-phase structures tend to fracture owing to inhomogeneous deformation and nanoscale cavitation. On the other hand, the ductility of lithiated Si decreases during delithiation, especially in dual-phase structures. This work provides a better understanding of the structure–property relationship of lithiated Si in charging-discharging cycles and strategies to improve the electrochemical performance of Si-based electrodes.

Next-generation electronics will be driven by miniaturized components tuned for wearable options, which will have the capability to provide humans and their environment with state-of-the-art connectivity and monitoring in the so-called internet of things (IoT) environment. These wearable and textile-based electronic devices (including sensors, controllers, displays, and many others) will need to be powered like other traditional electronics. And, one of the most innovative ways to do so is by designing textile and yarn-based batteries. To this date, lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) power the highest percentage of consumer electronics as a proven source of energy, albeit with some shortcomings like a limited lifetime, safety, and cost concerns. The high-performance LiBs can be realized using diverse inorganic nanomaterials as active materials in their electrodes. In this work, we have dedicated our efforts to describing, reviewing, and proposing the possible methods that can be employed to translate the complex existing inorganic materials for LiB electrodes into textile electrodes and their further assembly into compatible all-textile wearable LiBs. Extra efforts have been taken to describe most of the involved textile-related technologies in terms of their merits and demerits across the report. Finally, a broader perspective and conclusion have been drawn for this particular space of research.

A mechanically strong binder with polar functional groups could overcome the dilemma of the large volume change during charge/discharge processes and poor cyclability of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). In this work, for the first time, we report the use of poly(thiourea triethylene glycol) (PTTG) as a multifunctional binder for sulfur cathodes to enhance the performance of LSBs. As expected, the PTTG binder facilitates the high performance and stability delivered by the Sulfur-PTTG cathode, including a higher reversible capacity of 825 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C after 80 cycles, a lower capacity fading (0.123% per cycle) over 350 cycles at 0.5 C, a higher areal capacity of 2.5 mAh cm−2 at 0.25 mA cm−2, and better rate capability of 587 mAh g−1 at 2 C. Such superior electrochemical performances could be attributed to PTTG's strong chemical adsorption towards polysulfides which may avoid the lithium polysulfide shuttle effect and excellent mechanical characteristics which prevents electrode collapse during cycling and allows the Sulfur-PTTG electrode to maintain robust electron and ion migration pathways for accelerated redox reaction kinetics.

Binders could play crucial or even decisive roles in the fabrication of low-cost, stable and high-capacity electrodes. This is especially the case for the silicon (Si) anodes and sulfur (S) cathodes that undergo large volume change and active material loss in lithium-ion batteries during prolonged cycles. Herein, a hydrophilic polymer poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) (PMVEMA) was explored as a dual-functional aqueous binder for the preparation of high-performance silicon anode and sulfur cathode. Benefiting from the dual functions of PMVEMA, i.e., the excellent dispersion ability and strong binding forces, the as-prepared electrodes exhibit improved capacity, rate capability and long-term cycling performance. In particular, the as-prepared Si electrode delivers a high initial discharge capacity of 1346.5 mAh g−1 at a high rate of 8.4 A/g and maintains 834.5 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles at 4.2 A/g, while the as-prepared S cathode exhibits enhanced cycling performance with high remaining discharge capacities of 663.4 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C and 487.07 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles at 1 C, respectively. These encouraging results suggest that PMVEMA could be a universal binder to facilitate the green manufacture of both anode and cathode for high-capacity energy storage systems.

Silicon (Si), due to its wide availability and highest theoretical capacity (4200 mAh·g−1) amongst other anode candidates, has drawn tremendous attention as a promising alternative of the existing graphitic anode in current-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the greatest challenge associated with using Si anodes is the huge volume changes which occur during the lithiation-delithiation process and result in pulverization of the electrode which shortens battery life. In this work, the thick and slimy mucilage from commonly cultivated okra pods is extracted, precipitated, and used as the binder to solve the challenges of silicon anodes. The extracted okra gum (OG) consisting of abundant branched polysaccharides, a non-toxic, bio-friendly, and water-soluble polymer offers excellent penetrating binding network and interfacial chemical binding forces. As a result, the as-prepared Si-OG electrode displays a discharge capacity of 1434 mAh·g−1 at a rate of 0.1C after 50 cycles which is about 1.5 times greater than that of the Si- carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) electrode. This improvement could be attributed to the greater Si-anchoring and viscoelastic properties of the OG binder than that of the CMC binder. The success of this work suggests that this sustainable, green, and low-cost okra gum binder is promising in constructing reliable silicon anodes for next-generation large energy capacity LIBs.

Both industrious and academic research societies have considered silicon (Si) as the most promising anode for next-generation lithium ion batteries (LIBs) because silicon offers more than one order of magnitude higher capacity than conventional anode materials. However, huge volume changes and pulverization of the silicon particles during the charge/discharge processes damage the longevity of Si-based LIBs. Self-healing binders could tackle this problem by in-situ repairing the damage to the silicon anode. Herein, we synthesized a novel self-healing poly(ether-thioureas) (SHPET) polymer with balanced rigidity and softness for the silicon anode. The as-prepared silicon anode with the self-healing binder exhibits excellent structural stability and superior electrochemical performance, delivering a high discharge capacity of 3744 mAh g−1 at a current density of 420 mA g−1, and achieving a stable cycle life with a high capacity retention of 85.6% after 250 cycles at a high current rate of 4200 mA g−1. The success of this work suggests that the proposed SHPET binder facilitates fast self-healing, buffers the drastic volume changes and overcomes the mechanical strain in the course of the charge/discharge process, and could subsequently accelerate the commercialization of the silicon anode.

Silicon (Si) has been investigated as a promising anode material because of its high theoretical capacity (4200 mAh g-1). However, silicon anode suffers from huge volume changes during repeated charge–discharge cycles. In this work, inspired by a remarkable success of the glutinous rice mortar in the Great Wall with ca. 2000-year history, amylopectin (AP), the key ingredient responsible for the strong bonding force, is extracted from glutinous rice and utilized as a flexible, aqueous, and resilient binder to address the most challenging drastic volume-expansion and pulverization issues of silicon anode. Additionally, the removal of toxic N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) organic solvent makes the electrode fabrication process environmentally friendly and healthy. The as-prepared Si-AP electrode with 60 wt% of Si can uphold a high discharge capacity of 1517.9 mAh g−1 at a rate of 0.1 C after 100 cycles. The cycling stability of the Si-AP has been remarkably improved in comparison with both traditional polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and aqueous carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) binders. Moreover, when the content of silicon in the Si-AP electrode increases to 70 wt%, a high discharge capacity of 1463.1 mAh g−1 can still be obtained after 50 cycles at 0.1° C. These preliminary results suggest that the sustainably available and environmentally benign amylopectin binders could be a promising choice for the construction of highly stable silicon anodes.

To evaluate the inhibition of progression of structural joint damage through week 48 in patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving upadacitinib as monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate. Radiographic progression was assessed in two phase 3 randomized-controlled trials. Methotrexate-naïve patients were randomized to upadacitinib 15 or 30 mg once daily (QD) or methotrexate monotherapy (SELECT-EARLY, n = 945), while methotrexate inadequate responders (IR) were randomized to upadacitinib 15 mg QD or adalimumab 40 mg every other week or placebo added to background methotrexate (SELECT-COMPARE, n = 1629). Mean changes from baseline in modified Total Sharp Score (mTSS), joint space narrowing (JSN), and erosion scores (ES) were determined. Data were analysed both by linear extrapolation for missing data imputation and treatment switching and as-observed. In patients naïve or with limited exposure to methotrexate (SELECT-EARLY), mean changes from baseline to week 48 in mTSS were 0.03 for upadacitinib 15 mg, 0.14 for upadacitinib 30 mg, and 1.00 for methotrexate based on linear extrapolation (p < 0.001 for both upadacitinib doses vs methotrexate). Among patients with an inadequate response to methotrexate (SELECT-COMPARE), the mean change from baseline in mTSS was significantly reduced in the upadacitinib 15 mg plus methotrexate group vs placebo plus methotrexate (0.28 vs 1.73; p < 0.001); mean change from baseline in the adalimumab plus methotrexate group was 0.39. Upadacitinib monotherapy or in combination with background methotrexate was effective in inhibiting the progression of structural joint damage through week 48 in methotrexate-naïve and methotrexate-IR patients with RA. ClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02706873 and NCT02629159.

The resistance of a conventional insulator diverges as temperature approaches zero. The peculiar low-temperature resistivity saturation in the 4f Kondo insulator (KI) SmB6 has spurred proposals of a correlation-driven topological Kondo insulator (TKI) with exotic ground states. However, the scarcity of model TKI material families leaves difficulties in disentangling key ingredients from irrelevant details. Here we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to study FeSb2, a correlated d-electron KI candidate that also exhibits a low-temperature resistivity saturation. On the (010) surface, we find a rich assemblage of metallic states with two-dimensional dispersion. Measurements of the bulk band structure reveal band renormalization, a large temperature-dependent band shift, and flat spectral features along certain high-symmetry directions, providing spectroscopic evidence for strong correlations. Our observations suggest that exotic insulating states resembling those in SmB6 and YbB12 may also exist in systems with d instead of f electrons.

Stable and seamless interfaces among solid components in all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) are crucial for high ionic conductivity and high rate performance. This can be achieved by the combination of functional inorganic material and flexible polymer solid electrolyte. In this work, a flexible all-solid-state composite electrolyte is synthesized based on oxygen-vacancy-rich Ca-doped CeO2 (Ca–CeO2) nanotube, lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), namely Ca–CeO2/LiTFSI/PEO. Ca–CeO2 nanotubes play a key role in enhancing the ionic conductivity and mechanical strength while the PEO offers flexibility and assures the stable seamless contact between the solid electrolyte and the electrodes in ASSBs. The as-prepared electrolyte exhibits high ionic conductivity of 1.3 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 60 °C, a high lithium ion transference number of 0.453, and high-voltage stability. More importantly, various electrochemical characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Ca–CeO2 helps dissociate LiTFSI, produce free Li ions, and therefore enhance ionic conductivity. The ASSBs based on the as-prepared Ca–CeO2/LiTFSI/PEO composite electrolyte deliver high-rate capability and high-voltage stability.

In this work, cross-linked dextrin as a low-cost and aqueous binder has been prepared for silicon (Si) based anodes in Li-ion batteries. A 3D network is achieved by the aldolization between the hydroxyl groups in dextrin and the aldehyde groups in glutaraldehyde. This inter-waving structure demonstrates good mechanical property and can mitigate the volume variation of Si anodes during cycling, resulting in a better electrochemical performance than that with PVDF, CMC and pristine dextrin binders. The initial capacity is 3276 mAh g−1 with Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 88.79% and only drops to above 1000 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles under 0.1C. Adding 20 wt% FEC in the electrolyte, the cycling performance is further improved to about 1700 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles under 0.1C, and over 1000 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles under 0.5C. Therefore, the cross-linked dextrin is considered to be a promising binder for Si based electrodes, with potential for other anodes as well.

“In Pursuit of A Double-Edged Sword: The Politics of Racial Liberalism and Racial Triangulation in Seattle, 1940-1975” examines the historical constructions of racial liberalism in Seattle and analyzes their impact on the sociopolitical standing of the city’s Asian Americans and African Americans, its two largest nonwhite communities. Between 1940 and 1975, programs and accomplishments in the area of racial politics reinforced a widespread notion that Seattle, a city amenable to liberal policies and social experimentation, had few racial problems. While many major cities experienced outbreaks of racial violence and witnessed development of expansive ghettoes during this period, Seattle was never site to any race riots, nor did it have any ghettoes comparable in size or deterioration to those that would capture the national spotlight in the 1960s. Bolstering perceptions of Seattle as a paragon of race relations were a series of prominent undertaking by city officials and residents that sought to promote core tenets of racial liberalism--such as racial integration, multiculturalism, and cosmopolitanism—as well as allocate unprecedented levels of civic resources and government assistance funds to nonwhite populations. Using four such projects as case studies, I explore the implications that Seattle’s brand of racial liberalism bore for national constructions of racial hierarchies and white privilege during the height of U.S. liberal politics. Throughout my analyses, I will demonstrate that racial liberalism was a double-edged sword for Seattle’s nonwhite populations. Even though Asian Americans and African Americans gained unprecedented access to socioeconomic mobility and governmental resources, a critical examination of Seattle’s racial liberalist projects reveals that socioeconomic gains were very limited and were frequently circumscribed by political devices that served to reinforce white privilege and racial triangulation of the city’s Asian Americans and African

Previous reports link differential DNA methylation (DNAme) to environmental exposures that are associated with lung function. Direct evidence on lung function DNAme is, however, limited. We undertook an agnostic epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) on pre-bronchodilation lung function and its change in adults.In a discovery-replication EWAS design, DNAme in blood and spirometry were measured twice, 6-15 years apart, in the same participants of three adult population-based discovery cohorts (n=2043). Associated DNAme markers (p<5×10-7) were tested in seven replication cohorts (adult: n=3327; childhood: n=420). Technical bias-adjusted residuals of a regression of the normalised absolute β-values on control probe-derived principle components were regressed on level and change of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and their ratio (FEV1/FVC) in the covariate-adjusted discovery EWAS. Inverse-variance-weighted meta-analyses were performed on results from discovery and replication samples in all participants and never-smokers.EWAS signals were enriched for smoking-related DNAme. We replicated 57 lung function DNAme markers in adult, but not childhood samples, all previously associated with smoking. Markers not previously associated with smoking failed replication. cg05575921 (AHRR (aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor)) showed the statistically most significant association with cross-sectional lung function (FEV1/FVC: pdiscovery=3.96×10-21 and pcombined=7.22×10-50). A score combining 10 DNAme markers previously reported to mediate the effect of smoking on lung function was associated with lung function (FEV1/FVC: p=2.65×10-20).Our results reveal that lung function-associated methylation signals in adults are predominantly smoking related, and possibly of clinical utility in identifying poor lung function and accelerated decline. Larger studies with more repeat time-points are needed to identify lung function DNAme in never-smokers and i

Objective. To assess the longitudinal reliability of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Thumb base Osteoarthritis Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Scoring system (TOMS). Methods. Paired MRI of patients with hand osteoarthritis were scored in 2 exercises (6-mo and 2-yr followup) for synovitis, subchondral bone defects (SBD), osteophytes, cartilage assessment, bone marrow lesions (BML), and subluxation. Interreader reliability of delta scores was assessed. Results. Little change occurred. Average-measure intraclass correlation coefficients were good-excellent (≥ 0.71), except synovitis (0.55-0.83) and carpometacarpal-1 osteophytes/cartilage assessment (0.47/0.39). Percentage exact/close agreement was 52-92%/68-100%, except BML in 2 years (28%/64-76%). Smallest detectable change was below the scoring increment, except in SBD and BML. Conclusion. TOMS longitudinal reliability was moderate-good. Limited change hampered assessment.

Dextrin with glutaraldehyde was used as an efficient aqueous binder for Si based electrodes. Its 3D network structure improves the mechanical property of the binder and restrains the volume variation of Si nanoparticles during cycling, leading to higher capacity retention. About 3300 mAh/g for the first discharge capacity with 90% Coulombic efficiency was achieved. Above 1000 mAh/g after 150 cycles under 0.1C was maintained without additives in the electrolyte. With 20 wt% FEC in the electrolyte, the cycling performance is above 2000 mAh/g after 100 cycles under 0.1C, and more than 1000 mAh/g after 120 cycles under 0.5C. Therefore, dextrin has demonstrated a great potential for use in high capacity silicon anodes, which may also be applied to other metal oxide-based electrodes where large volume change is expected.

The number and area of new landslide, according to the interpreted SPOT images, caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009 is estimated as 30,223 and 43,996 ha, respectively. The new landslide area in 2009 increased by about 16,392 ha in comparison with the landslide area in 2008. The heavy rainfall with a return period well over 200 years during Typhoon Morakot centralized in southwestern and southeastern Taiwan, and that also resulted in serious landslide disasters in national forest. Four forest working circles, including Chishan, Laonong, Pintung, and Dawu, are the most serious landslide zones with the landslide ratio over 8.0%. The Forestry Bureau assesses and ranks the seriousness of the disasters by using slope, the number of protected objects, the distance from the disaster to the protected objects to execute the restoration of sediment disasters and landslide in national forest. Due to the most torrential rain in the past 50 years caused by Typhoon Morakot, a large number of trees in the mountain area were destroyed. They became the driftwood, with a total weight of about 1.52 million tons, which ended up at the farmlands and ports. In order to recover agricultural products and livelihoods, Forestry Bureau made strategy for disaster prevention and reduction. Based on the strategy, Forestry Bureau sweeps away the driftwood by estimating its distribution, overcomes the issues caused by the heavy rainfall disaster, and helps the victims to recover their life.

Discriminative dictionary learning (DDL) has recently gained significant attention due to its impressive performance in various pattern classification tasks. However, the locality of atoms is not fully explored in conventional DDL approaches which hampers their classification performance. In this paper, we propose a locality constraint dictionary learning with support vector discriminative term (LCDL-SV), in which the locality information is preserved by employing the graph Laplacian matrix of the learned dictionary. To jointly learn a classifier during the training phase, a support vector discriminative term is incorporated into the proposed objective function. Moreover, in the classification stage, the identity of test data is jointly determined by the regularized residual and the learned multi-class support vector machine. Finally, the resulting optimization problem is solved by utilizing the alternative strategy. Experimental results on benchmark databases demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method over previous dictionary learning approaches on both hand-crafted and deep features. The source code of our proposed LCDL-SV is accessible at https://github.com/yinhefeng/LCDL-SV, Comment: submitted to IEEE Access

Background There are an over 14.5% of elderly population (2.8 million) in Taiwan who have do not like to exercise and found only 17.9% elderly aged 65 to exercise regularly each week, due to their past falls experience, and another reason is that social support system is established incompletely. The practice reflects the phenomenon of elderly in Taiwan's society (Ministry of Education, 2016). Research reports that studied on the policy of the elderly in Taiwan from the leisure experiences also pointed out that exercise training is beneficial for mental, physical health simultaneously (Mou, 2005). Despite these data, it is uncertain how the policy maker and social work profession are responding to their needs. There is a paucity of research regarding social work with elderly's health and physical Exercise (PE). What little literature exists suggests that a PE intervention improves health outcomes including functional fitness, emotional wellbeing, psychosocial wellbeing, and motivation to change behavior in a Taiwanese elderly population.Methods This study used true experimental design, pretest-posttest design and hoped to make new contributions to the understanding of this important topic. This study used a specific PE intervention program designed by the Sports Administration of the Ministry of Education (SAMOE) of Taiwan to assist the elderly and examine the efficiency of health outcomes. The sample was assign randomly to participate in the PE programs at the beginning of the winter semester last year (2018) in Taiwan, those who are over 65 years old and healthy enough to exercise in this study, and no barrier in language, hearing, seeing, walking or cognitive function, and which requires purposive sampling to recruit and out of their intention, random assigned to treatment and control group respectively. The overall sample (n = 79) was divided into the treatment group (n=40, 27 females and 13 males) and the control group were (39 older adults (n=39, 24 females an

In early 2017, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Library joined 11 other institutions in the United States to participate in a qualitative study, led by Ithaka S+R, of the research and publication practices of Asian Studies faculty. This report summarizes the findings from the interviews of 34 ladder faculty in Asian Studies at UCLA and focuses on common and critical themes that emerged from the responses. It culminates with recommendations for the UCLA Library to implement in order to support the needs of these scholars and mitigate some of the challenges they face during the research and publication cycle.

Ran Lu,1–3,* Caiyun Wang,1–3,* Xin Wang,1 Yuji Wang,3 Na Wang,1 Joshua Chou,4 Tao Li,1,2 Zhenting Zhang,1 Yunhan Ling,2 Su Chen1 1Laboratory of Biomaterials and Biomechanics, Beijing Key Laboratory of Tooth Regeneration and Function Reconstruction, School of Stomatology, Capital Medical University, 2Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, 3School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 4Advanced Tissue Regeneration and Drug Delivery Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Modified titanium (Ti) substrates with titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes have broad usage as implant surface treatments and as drug delivery systems. Methods: To improve drug-loading capacity and accelerate bone integration with titanium, in this study, we hydrogenated anodized titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNTs) by a thermal treatment. Three groups were examined, namely: hydrogenated TNTs (H2-TNTs, test), unmodified TNTs (air-TNTs, control), and Ti substrates (Ti, control). Results: Our results showed that oxygen vacancies were present in all the nanotubes. The quantity of -OH groups greatly increased after hydrogenation. Furthermore, the protein adsorption and loading capacity of the H2-TNTs were considerably enhanced as compared with the properties of the air-TNTs (P<0.05). Additionally, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) was used to investigate the interactions of TNTs with proteins. During the protein-loading process, the H2-TNTs not only enabled rapid protein adsorption, but also decreased the rate of protein elution compared with that of the air-TNTs. We found that the H2-TNTs exhibited better biocompatibility than the air-TNT and Ti groups. Both cell adhesion activity and alkaline phosphatase activity

Qi Zhang,1 Jing Nie,2 Su-Juan Chen,2 Qiang Li2 1Department of Natural Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350122, China; 2School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the bioactive constituents of Qingwen Baidu Decoction (QBD) in a rat model of acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Our previous studies showed that ethyl gallate (EG) and pentagalloylglucose (PGG) were the active components of QBD for the treatment of ALI. Materials and methods: We isolated two compounds and identified the structures of them by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometer. Lung injury was induced by intratracheal instillation with LPS (5 mg/kg). Rats were randomly divided into six groups: Control group; LPS group; 5 mL/kg DEX + LPS group; 6.6 g/kg QBD extract + LPS group; 17.16 mg/kg PGG + LPS group; 7.26 mg/kg EG + LPS group. The effects of compounds on LPS-induced the number of total cells, neutrophils influx, protein leakage, W/D weight ratio and pulmonary histological changes were examined. Results: The results demonstrated that pretreatment with EG and PGG could notably inhibit lung edema and attenuate the pulmonary histological changes (P<0.05). The pretreatment also decreased the number of total cells and polymorphonuclear leukocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) (P<0.05). Conclusion: Ethyl gallate and pentagalloylglucose of QBD played a protective role in preventing LPS-induced ALI. The results supported further study of EG and PGG as potential candidates for preventing ALI. Keywords: ethyl gallate, pentagalloylglucose, acute lung injury, Qingwen Baidu Decoction

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (ERC grant agreement n° 338133), Since the first report of electroformed micrometersized liposomes in the 1980s, giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) have generated a lot of interest in the biophysical and biochemical communities. However, their penetration rate in high school or at the undergraduate level is still limited because of the requirement of specialized materials for their fabrication. The main objective of this article is to translate the manufacture of these interesting microsystems from highly specialized research laboratories to general chemistry or biology laboratories with the help of everyday objects. Vesicles are made of lipids, which can easily be extracted from chicken eggs. Once obtained, the lipids can be reassembled to form giant vesicular structures in a sugar/ aqueous medium by using a do-it-yourself electroformation device. For that, the homemade electroformation chamber is plugged into the audio output of a smartphone or a tablet, which generates audio signals with variable amplitude and frequency. These GUVs prepared with a smart device (iGUVs) are then resuspended into a salt solution for their visualization under a simple microscope. iGUVs bring the opportunity to teachers to stimulate scientific discussion from a wide variety of scientific disciplines such as colloidal chemistry, biophysical chemistry, statistics and cell biology., Unión Europea. FP7, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Depto. de Química Física, Fac. de Ciencias Químicas, TRUE, pub

Tao Li,1,2 Na Wang,1 Su Chen,1 Ran Lu,1 Hongyi Li,2 Zhenting Zhang1 1Department of Prosthodontics, School of Stomatology, Capital Medical University, 2Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, School of Materials and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology. Beijing, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Prevention of implant-associated infections at an early stage of surgery is highly desirable for the long-term efficacy of implants in dentistry and orthopedics. Infection prophylaxis using conventional antibiotics is becoming less effective due to the development of bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. An ideal strategy to conquer bacterial infections is the local delivery of antibacterial agents. Therefore, antimicrobial peptide (AMP) eluting coatings on implant surfaces is a promising alternative. In this study, the feasibility of utilizing TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs), processed using anodization, as carriers to deliver a candidate AMP on titanium surfaces for the prevention of implant-associated infections is assessed. The broad-spectrum GL13K (GKIIKLKASLKLL-CONH2) AMP derived from human parotid secretory protein was selected and immobilized to TNTs using a simple soaking technique. Field emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses confirmed the successful immobilization of GL13K to anatase TNTs. The drug-loaded coatings demonstrated a sustained and slow drug release profile in vitro and eradicated the growth of Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis within 5 days of culture, as assessed by disk-diffusion assay. The GL13K-immobilized TNT (GL13K-TNT) coating demonstrated greater biocompatibility, compared with a coating produced by incubating TNTs with equimolar concentrations of metronidazole. GL13K-TNTs produced no observable cytotoxicity to preosteoblastic cells (MC3T3-E1). The coating may also have an immune

The mechanisms by which hypoxic tumours evade immunological pressure and anti-tumour immunity remain elusive. Here, we report that two hypoxia-responsive microRNAs, miR-25 and miR-93, are important for establishing an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment by downregulating expression of the DNA sensor cGAS. Mechanistically, miR-25/93 targets NCOA3, an epigenetic factor that maintains basal levels of cGAS expression, leading to repression of cGAS during hypoxia. This allows hypoxic tumour cells to escape immunological responses induced by damage-associated molecular pattern molecules, specifically the release of mitochondrial DNA. Moreover, restoring cGAS expression results in an anti-tumour immune response. Clinically, decreased levels of cGAS are associated with poor prognosis for patients with breast cancer harbouring high levels of miR-25/93. Together, these data suggest that inactivation of the cGAS pathway plays a critical role in tumour progression, and reveal a direct link between hypoxia-responsive miRNAs and adaptive immune responses to the hypoxic tumour microenvironment, thus unveiling potential new therapeutic strategies.

History in the Making: The Construction of Community Memory and Racial Subjects in the Boyle Heights Exhibition, examines a 2002 exhibition titled Boyle Heights : The Power of Place. Organized and hosted by the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, Boyle Heights delineated what it was like to live in a multiethnic East Los Angeles community during the early and mid twentieth century. The thesis examines why Boyle Heights was so successful in garnering enthusiasm from the Boyle Heights community. I posit that the exhibit's success was largely due to its compelling narrative depicting Boyle Heights as a unique and ethnically diverse community whose residents built a tight -knit neighborhood while embodying the hallmarks of law- abiding, all-American model citizenship. I argue that this depiction of Boyle Heights helped counteract popular stereotypes of East Los Angeles as a vice-ridden and impoverished zone. While Boyle Heights made many positive contributions to its subject community, I also assert that the exhibition had to leave out important stories in its effort to present a certain image of Boyle Heights. Stories left out include episodes of interethnic conflicts, intraethnic tensions, and subjects suggesting non-model, criminal behaviors. Amidst the effort to delineate Boyle Heights as a harmonious and model example of interethnic community, these silences became a necessary device to convincingly bolster the neighborhood's worthiness of being celebrated and remembered in the context of today's society and public perceptions. More importantly, what do these silences reveal about the workings of racial socioeconomic positioning in American society