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Background: Erythrina variegata has been widely used as a traditional medicine. Objective: The study was designed to evaluate the anxiolytic and anti-depressant effects of an extract from Erythrina variegata. Methods: The extract was evaluated for anxiolytic and anti-depressant action using the elevated plus maze, light/dark box, open field, forced swimming and tail suspension tests in mice. The mechanism of action was further elucidated using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection methods to assay the levels of five neurotransmitters in brain. Results: The extract exhibited significant increase in the percentage of the open arms entries and the time spent in the open arms in the elevated plus maze test. The results of the light/dark box test revealed a significant increase in the amount of time spent in the light chamber. Extract- treated mice also produced significant increase in the number of crossings and rearings in the open field test.In the forced swimming and tail suspension tests, the extract was able to promote significant decrease in the immobility time. In addition, the extract significantly altered the levels of five neurotransmitters in the brain tissue. Conclusion: These findings suggest that Erythrina variegata presents potential anxiolytic and anti-depressant activity, and the mechanism may be related to the alteration of neurotransmitter levels. Keywords: Anxiolytic; anti-depressant; Erythrina variegata; elevated plus maze; forced swimming; neurotransmitters.

We demonstrated a full visible spectrum emission from a 3D multifacet microrod light-emitting diode (LED). The microrods were fabricated by top-down patterned etched and regrowth. Hexagonal {11-20} and {11-22} facets were first formed on the microrods, then gradually transformed to {10-10} and {10-11} facets. This facet evolution was attributed to the growth competition among different crystal planes. The multiple quantum wells grown on the microrods also followed this facet evolution and resulted in broad emission spectrum. The device can have direct white light emission covering full visible spectral range from 460 to 660 nm under electrical injection.

Purpose Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by a significant increase in pulmonary vascular resistance, which results in ventricular failure and death. Ambrisentan appears to be an effective treatment in the pathogenesis and progression of ambrisentan, but some researchers disagree. Therefore, this meta-analysis aims to examine the clinical efficacy of ambrisentan in the treatment of PH. Methods A search of the scientific literature using the Embase, Cochrane, and CHINAHL databases retrieved published studies related to our topic of interest. Eight cohort studies related to ambrisentan and PH treatment were selected on the basis of our strict inclusion and exclusion criteria for a systematic meta-analysis. Statistical analyses were conducted using STATA version 12.0 statistical software (StataCorp LP, College Station, Texas). Findings Our meta-analysis retrieved 124 studies using our search criteria (90 studies in English and 34 studies in Chinese), and 8 studies (4 studies in English and 4 studies in Chinese) were eventually selected for this meta-analysis. The 8 studies contained data on a total of 172 PH patients. Pooled data in our meta-analysis revealed that 6-minute walking distance in PH patients significantly improved after ambrisentan treatment compared with before treatment. The mean pulmonary arterial pressure, brain natriuretic peptide level, and systolic pulmonary artery pressure in PH patients decreased measurably after ambrisentan treatment compared with before treatment. Sensitivity analysis results confirmed that the included studies had no publication bias (all P > 0.05). Implications Our meta-analysis results demonstrated that ambrisentan is highly effective in improving exercise tolerance and cardiac function in PH patients, and the mean pulmonary arterial pressure, systolic pulmonary artery pressure, and brain natriuretic peptide level levels in PH patients significantly decreased. However, with the limitations of small sample size, insufficient data, and ethnic difference in the study, further studies with larger sample sizes and sufficient information are essential to validate our findings of the high safety profile and efficacy of ambrisentan in treatment of PH.

In addition to the functionality, wearing ease is also an important element for joint protective garment design. Besides, clothing fit is one of the important factors controlling the wearing ease. However, previous research in this area has been neither sufficient nor systematic. As elbow joint is one of the most strained joint of the body, the skin surface around it also has significant length change. Therefore, in this research an attempt has been made to analyze and quantify the length variations of skin surface around the elbow joint, and arrange a stretchable mesostucture on the base of these variations. 3D printing with its advantages of rapid manufacturing and design complexity than traditional textile industry, it is the method used for making the prototype in this study. Finally, an application for elbow brace design of the research results is suggested.

We report the fabrication and study of coreshell InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) nanorod photovoltaic device. The nanorods were fabricated from a GaN substrate by top-down etch, followed by InGaN/GaN MQW growth. The 3D geometry allows higher Indium incorporation and extends the solar absorption spectral range as compared with a planar reference sample. The proof-of-concept coreshell nanorod photovoltaic device has a fill factor of about 54.2%, the short current density of 1.16 mA/cm2, the open circuit voltage of 0.68 V, and the power conversion efficiency of 0.38%, respectively.

Background An essential medicine (EM) system has been implemented in China to reduce patients’ financial burden and to make the use of drugs more rational. This study aims to evaluate the current state of the EM system in Guangdong Province. Methods We conducted surveys in 21 cities in 2012, covering 98 medical institutions, 1,509 doctors, 17 medicine manufacturers, and 17 distribution companies. We also reviewed outpatient prescriptions (n = 9,941) for treating hypertension, diabetes, bacterial infections and gout to measure the rational use of drugs in secondary and tertiary (upper-level) hospitals. Results The percentage of non-priority EM use ranged from 8.1% to 10.7% in upper-level hospitals, and this non-priority use significantly increased prescription drug costs. Other types of inappropriate medicine use were found more frequently in treating bacterial infections (7.4%) than in treating hypertension (1.6%), diabetes (1.3%) and gout (1.7%). Tertiary hospitals prescribed fewer EMs than secondary hospitals; moreover, tertiary hospitals had higher prescription drug costs. The zero mark-up policy decreased prescription drug costs in secondary hospitals. The survey revealed that forced full-prescription EM use might lead to fewer patient visits to primary hospitals. Manufacturers had halted the production of four (1, 23) types of EMs at the time of the survey. Conclusions Encouraging the priority use of EMs and implementation of the zero mark-up policy were effective in curtailing prescription medicine costs in upper-level hospitals. Further work should focus on the following: creating guidelines to enhance rational prescription behavior, establishing policies to support EM use in upper-level hospitals and improving the bidding system to ensure a steady supply of the lowest-priced generic drugs.

We report the study of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on multi-facet microrods. The multi-facet MQWs have broad emission spectrum. Electrical injection was demonstrated with emission color ranged from red to blue.

The radiative and non-radiative lifetime of high In content nanopyramid GaN LEDs are investigated by time resolved and temperature dependent photoluminescent measurement. The radiative recombination efficiency is much improved compared with the conventional c-plane LED.

We report the growth temperature effect on the crystalline and optical properties of (1122) semipolar GaN and InGaN/GaN MQWs. It shows that a lower growth temperature at 1020 °C produces better crystalline and optical properties.

We report that the high crystalline and high efficiency green emission semipolar {101̅1} InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on the {101̅1} facets of GaN nanopyramid arrays by selective area epitaxy. Clear and sharp interfaces of the semipolar {101̅1} InGaN/GaN MQWs was observed by transmission electron microscopy images. As comparing with (0001) MQWs, the internal electric field of {101̅1} MQWs was remarkably reduced from 1.7 MV/cm to 0.5 MV/cm, and the room temperature (RT) internal quantum efficiency (IQE) at green emission was enhanced by about 80%. This greatly enhancement of IQE is due to suppress the polarization effect in the {101̅1} MQWs which shorten the radiative recombination to compete with nonradiative recombination at RT. These results evince that the {101̅1} planes are promising for solving the efficiency green gap of III-nitride light emitters.

We report the study of an electrically driven nanopyramid-on-pillar green light-emitting diode (LED). The pyramid-on-pillar nanostructure was fabricated by top-down etching from a GaN template, followed by epitaxial regrowth. High-In-content InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) were grown on semipolar pyramid and nonpolar pillar surfaces. The measured radiative lifetimes of MQWs on these two surfaces were 2 orders of magnitude shorter than that of a conventional c-plane (0001) MQW owing to their lower polarization field. Electrical injection performance was also demonstrated and discussed.

This work investigates the resonant modes of a 12-fold symmetric defect free photonic quasicrystal (PQC) nanorod array using finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation. Localized modes can exist in PQC without introducing defects due to the lack of translational symmetry. The resonant modes of the unit cell PQC and the one time expanded PQC from unit cell are systematically examined. The resonant spectrum is that of a single rod modified by the interaction among PQC nanorods. The mode confinement is contributed by guided resonance and destructive interference scattering. The self-scaling similarity of resonant spectrum and mode profile are also investigated.

Fiber-to-the-antenna (FTTA) system can be a cost-effective technique for distributing high frequency signals from the head-end office to a number of remote antenna units via passive optical splitter and propagating through low-loss and low-cost optical fibers. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an optical ultra-wideband (UWB) - impulse radio (IR) FTTA system for in-building and in-home applications. The optical UWB-IR wireless link is operated in the W-band (75 GHz - 110 GHz) using our developed near-ballistic unitraveling-carrier photodiode based photonic transmitter (PT) and a 10 GHz mode-locked laser. 2.5 Gb/s UWB-IR FTTA systems with 1,024 high split-ratio and transmission over 300 m optical fiber are demonstrated using direct PT modulation.