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A series of organic solutions with different cellulose concentrations are prepared by dissolving natural cotton fibers in lithium chloride/dimethyl acetamide (LiCl/DMAC) solvent system after the activation of cotton fibers. Under different coagulating bath, the regenerated cellulose membranes are formed in two kinds of coagulation baths, and two coating methods including high-speed spin technique (KW-4A spin coating machine) and low-speed scraping (AFA-II Film Applicator) are selected in this paper. The macromolecular structure, mechanical properties, crystallinity, thermal stability and wetting property of the regenerated cellulose membrane are characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and contacting angle tester. The effects of mass fraction, coagulation bath type, membrane forming process on the regenerated membrane properties are investigated. Experimental results show that the performance of regenerated cellulose membrane is relatively excellent under the condition of using the KW-4A high-speed spin method, water coagulation bath, and when mass fraction of cellulose is 3.5%. The crystallinity of the regenerated cellulose membrane changes a lot compared with natural cotton fibers. The variation trend of thermal stability is similar with that of cotton fiber. But thermal stability is reduced to some degree, while the wetting ability is improved obviously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Natural clay-supported iron oxide was prepared by deposition method, and dried at 120°C. It was found that under visible light in the presence of H2O2, this catalyst was highly active for degradation of cationic (malachite and fuchsin basic) and anionic dyes (orange II and X3B) in water at pH 6.5, as compared with bare iron oxide or the clay-supported iron oxide sintered at 350°C. The excellent performance of the catalyst is correlated with its high sorption capacity toward both types of dyes, thus resulting in enhanced dye degradation via a photosensitization pathway. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, nitrogen adsorption, infrared, and UV–visible spectroscopy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The homogeneous SiO2-TiO2 composite sols were prepared by organic-inorganic synchronous polymerization with titanium isopropoxide and tetrabutyl silicate as precursor. The organic-inorganic composite hard coating with Si-O-Ti as the framework was prepared by adding compound crosslinkers (up-401) and 3-Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH-560). The structure of the coating and the hardened film were characterized by infrared spectrum, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, particle size analyzer and thermogravimetry. The refractive index, transmittance and hardness of the hardened film were measured by ellipsometry, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and hardness tester. By adjusting the ratio of Si/Ti and optimizing the reaction conditions, the hardness of the hardened film could reach 6H, and the refractive index could be adjusted from 1.55 to 1.76. At the same time, the application of hard coatings on the surface of optical lens were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Visfatin is an adipocytokine that has been demonstrated to be involved in cardiovascular diseases. This study aims at determining the role of visfatin in sepsis-induced cardiac injury and identify its possible mechanisms., Methods: Dynamic changes in visfatin expression in mice with lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced septicemia were measured. Additionally, mice were pretreated with visfatin and further administered LPS to observe the effects of visfatin on cardiac injury. Finally, septic mice were also pretreated with JSH-23 to investigate whether visfatin regulates cardiac injury via the NF- κ B p65 pathway., Results: Visfatin expression levels in both the heart and serum were increased in LPS-treated mice and peaked at 6 hours, and visfatin was derived from cardiac macrophages. In septic mice, pretreatment with visfatin reduced the survival rate, worsened cardiac dysfunction, and increased the expression of cardiac injury markers, including creatine kinase myocardial bound (CK-MB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Treatment with visfatin also increased the infiltration of CD3+ cells and F4/80+ cells, amplified the cardiac inflammatory response, and elevated myocardial cell apoptosis. Treatment with JSH-23 reversed the effects of visfatin in septic mice., Conclusions: This study showed that visfatin amplifies the cardiac inflammatory response and aggravates cardiac injury through the p65 signaling pathway. Visfatin may be a clinical target for preventing cardiac injury in sepsis., Competing Interests: The authors declare no potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Yewen Hu et al.)

Background: Clopidogrel inhibits the ADP receptor P2Y12 to keep down the platelet aggregation. The goal of our study is to investigate the contribution of P2Y12 promoter DNA methylation to the risk of clopidogrel resistance (CR)., Methods: The platelet functions were measured by the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay. Applying the bisulfite pyrosequencing technology, DNA methylation levels of two CpG dinucleotides on P2Y12 promoter were tested among 49 CR cases and 57 non-CR controls. We also investigated the association among P2Y12 DNA methylation, various biochemical characteristics, and CR., Result: Lower methylation of two CpGs indicated the poorer clopidogrel response (CpG1, P=0.009; CpG2, P=0.022) in alcohol abusing status. Meanwhile CpG1 methylation was inversely correlated with CR in smoking patients (P=0.026) and in subgroup of Albumin<35 (P=0.002). We observed that the level of DNA methylation might be affected by some clinical markers, such as TBIL, LEVF, Albumin, AST. The results also showed that the quantity of stent, fasting blood-glucose, and lower HbAC1 were the predictors of CR., Conclusions: The evidence from our study indicates that P2Y12 methylation may bring new hints to elaborate the pathogenesis of CR.