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The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-ageing effect of Yisui moxibustion on regulating the klotho protein and insulin (INS)/IGF-1 signalling cascade in d-galactose mice. Sixty male Kunming mice were randomly divided into five groups after the Morries test: the normal sodium, model, moxa cone moxibustion 1 and 2, and sham groups. The treatment and model were given d-galactose injection for 70 days, while mice in the normal sodium group were injected the same dosage of normal sodium. From day 13 after the first injection, the three treatment groups were treated every day for 58 days. The INS and klotho in the cerebral tissues were measured. p-Akt, p-FoxO3a, Klotho, SOD2 expression were observed immunohistochemically. The escape latency of mice in the model and sham were significantly prolonged, and the spanning original platform times were significantly decreased compared with the normal sodium and moxa cone moxibustion 1 and 2 (p < 0.01). The content of INS and klotho in the model was significantly lower than the normal sodium, moxa cone moxibustion 1 and 2 (p < 0.01). Compared with the model and sham, p-Akt and p-FoxO3a expression in moxa cone moxibustion 1 and 2 were markedly decreased (p < 0.05), and the expressions of klotho and SOD2 were significantly increased (p < 0.05) in hippocampal CA1. Yisui moxibustion could exert the antioxidative effect on klotho protein, which negatively regulated the insulin signalling pathway and its downstream elements in cerebral tissue and hippocampal CA1, so as to enhance learning and memory capacities, delay brain ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber supercapacitors (FSCs) have attracted great interest recently as promising energy storage devices for wearable electronics. As an important factor for wearable electronics, FSCs require high flexibility and energy density. The current encapsulation methods would dramatically increase the overall diameter of FSCs, reduce the flexibility and knittability/weavability. Herein, a new encapsulating strategy that gives rise to fine FSCs with an overall diameter of ≈1mm is proposed. In particular, the ultra-thin, soft and sufficient mechanical strength of the silk composite membranes are used as an encapsulating material for the first time. This endows FSCs with significant flexibility. Meanwhile, FSCs with higher electrochemical performance have been obtained through a tight spiral-winding encapsulating strategy. This gives rise to the 28% enhancement of electrochemical performance of the FSCs encapsulated using silk composite membranes than that FSCs encapsulated using the traditional plastic tube. Specifically, the corresponding asymmetric FSCs encapsulated with silk composite membranes exhibit excellent performances with respect to a high energy density (12.9 mWh cm−3 at 80 mW cm−3), remarkable bending stability (≈97.1% capacitance retention for 1000 bending cycles), superior to most state-of-the-art supercapacitors. Moreover, the energy storage device woven with 12 FSCs can easily drive a watch and 65 light-emitting diodes. This work demonstrates a new encapsulating design strategy in which the encapsulated FSCs can improve their electrochemical performance without sacrificing flexibility and weavability. In addition, the transparent and skin-friendly silk composite membranes expand the advantages of FSCs in wearable energy storage applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interface issues urgently need to be addressed in high-performance fiber reinforced composites. In this study, different periods of O2 plasma treatment are proposed to modify twist-free polyimide (PI) filaments to improve hydrophilicity and mechanical and interfacial properties. Feeding O2 produces chemically active particles to modify the filament surface via chemical reactions and physical etching. According to the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results, the PI filaments exhibit an 87.16% increase in O/C atomic ratio and a 135.71% increase in the C–O functional group after 180 s O2 plasma treatment. The atomic force microscope (AFM) results show that the root mean square roughness (Rq) of the treated PI filaments increases by 105.34%, from 38.41 to 78.87 nm. Owing to the increased surface oxygenic functional groups and roughness after O2 plasma treatment, the contact angle between treated PI filaments and water reduces drastically from the pristine state of 105.08° to 56.15°. The O2 plasma treated PI filaments also demonstrate better mechanical properties than the pristine PI filaments. Moreover, after O2 plasma treatment, the adhesion between PI filaments and poly(amic acid) (PAA) is enhanced, and the tensile strength of the polyimide/poly(amic acid) (PI/PAA) self-reinforced composites increases from 136 to 234 MPa, even causing the failure mode of the composite changes from adhesive failure to partly cohesive failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]