Search

Gas temperature is one of the critical parameters that affects the velocity, temperature of particle and the consequent coating quality in cold spray additive manufacturing. The accurate control of the gas temperature is of great importance to the stability of the gas heating efficiency, deposition efficiency, and microstructure of coatings. Therefore, a numerical model was established using ANSYS-FLUENT to study the influence of PID strategy and traditional switch control strategy on the precise temperature of cold spraying gas. Results showed that both the stable time and the overshoot of gas temperature were significantly optimized when the PID strategy was applied. Moreover, the influences of the three factors (proportional, integral and derivative) in PID strategy on the stable time and the overshoot of gas temperature were investigated using an orthogonal experiment. The experimental results showed that the stable time and the overshoot were mainly affected by the proportional parameter and the integral parameter, respectively. With the increase of the proportional parameter and the integral parameter, the stable time and the overshoot rate reduced, and the control accuracy of the gas temperature increased.

As a new spraying method, suspension plasma spraying (SPS) can prepare biological coatings with uniform microstructures and few defects. In the paper, the principle of hydroxyapatite (HA) nano biological coatings prepared by SPS was introduced. The formation mechanisms of structure of sintering zones and densification zones were summarized, and the droplet evolution of the suspension during flight was analyzed. The effects of process parameters on HA biological coatings by SPS were discussed, and the deposition mechanisms of HA coatings were revealed. Besides, the mechanical properties, antibacterial properties, cell compatibility and in vitro bioactivity of HA coatings prepared by SPS were summarized.

Objective: Do real-time strategy (RTS) video gamers have better attentional control? To examine this issue, we tested experienced versus inexperienced RTS video gamers on multi-object tracking tasks (MOT) and dual-MOT tasks with visual or auditory secondary tasks (dMOT). We employed a street-crossing task with a visual working memory task as a secondary task in a virtual reality (VR) environment to examine any generalized attentional advantage. Background: Similar to action video games, RTS video games require players to switch attention between multiple visual objects and views. However, whether the attentional control advantage is limited by sensory modalities or generalizes to real-life tasks remains unclear. Method: In study 1, 25 RTS video game players (SVGP) and 25 non-video game players (NVGP) completed the MOT task and two dMOT tasks. In study 2, a different sample with 25 SVGP and 25 NVGP completed a simulated street-crossing task with the visual dual task in a VR environment. Results: After controlling the effects of the speed-accuracy trade-off, SVGP showed better performance than NVGP in the MOT task and the visual dMOT task, but SVGP did not perform better in either the auditory dMOT task or the street-crossing task. Conclusion: RTS video gamers had better attentional control in visual computer tasks, but not in the auditory tasks and the VR tasks. Attentional control benefits associated with RTS video game experience may be limited by sensory modalities, and may not translate to performance benefits in real-life tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luteolin can affect multiple biological functions, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and immune enhancement processes. Luteolin can inhibit inflammation of T2-high asthma, but its role in neutrophilic asthma has been insufficently studied. This study determines the effect of luteolin on IL-36γ secretion-mediated MAPK pathway signalling in neutrophilic asthma. The asthma model was established by using ovalbumin/lipopolysaccharide (OVA/LPS). Female 6–8-week-old C57BL/6 mice were divided into control, asthma, luteolin (20 mg/kg) and asthma + luteolin (20 mg/kg) groups. To explore the mechanism of anti-inflammatory effects of luteolin in neutrophilic asthma, Beas-2B cells were treated with luteolin (20 µmol/L), LPS (100 ng/mL), recombinant human IL-36γ protein (rhIL-36γ; 100 ng/mL) or IL-36γ siRNA. IL-36γ secretion and MAPK/IL-1β signalling were significantly increased in the asthma mouse model compared with the control (p < 0.05). However, the levels of IL-36γ secretion and MAPK/IL-1β signalling were reduced by luteolin (p < 0.05). In addition, luteolin inhibited IL-36γ and MAPK/IL-1β levels after LPS (100 ng/mL) stimulation of Beas-2B cells (p < 0.05). We found that in Beas-2B cells, luteolin inhibited activation of the MAPK pathway and IL-1β secretion following stimulation with rhIL-36γ (100 ng/mL; p < 0.05). Finally, IL-1β and phosphorylated MAPK levels were found to be lower in the IL-36γ siRNA + LPS (100 ng/mL) group than in the nonspecific control (NC) siRNA + LPS group (p < 0.05). Luteolin alleviated neutrophilic asthma by inhibiting IL-36γ secretion-mediated MAPK pathways. These findings provided a theoretical basis for the application of luteolin in the treatment of neutrophilic asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify the representative attributes of the five elements of a person with a qualitative methodology and provide the basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of "people with the five elements in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)." Data collected from the literature review, two sessions of brainstorming of experts with related experience in "people with the five elements in TCM" from October 2020 to December 2020, and six rounds of in-depth interviews with 30 participants who had various attributes of the five elements from March 2021 to October 2021 were analyzed. Triangulation was used in this study, and theming and synthesizing were used to analyze the data. A total of 31 experts and 30 interviewees participated in this study. The median age of the experts and interviewees were 48.0 and 38.5 years, respectively; 51.66% and 54.8% of experts and interviewees, respectively, were men. The descriptors of facial diagrams of "people with the five elements in TCM" were complexion, shape, distribution state of facial bones, convergence trend of facial muscles, and facial expression. A theoretical model of "people with the five elements in TCM" was shaped based on these findings. The study suggests a possibility for bridging the gap between personality and bodily state, identifying an avenue for personality research from the perspective of TCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social information processing is important for successful romantic relationships and protection against depression, and depends on functional connectivity (FC) within and between large-scale networks. Functional architecture evident at rest is adaptively reconfigured during a task, and there were two possible associations between brain reconfiguration and behavioral performance during neurocognitive tasks (efficiency effect and distraction-based effect). This study examined the relationships between brain reconfiguration during social information processing and relationship-specific and more general social outcomes in marriage. Resting-state FC was compared with FC during social information processing (watching relationship-specific and general emotional stimuli) of 29 heterosexual couples, and the FC similarity (reconfiguration efficiency) was examined in relation to marital quality and depression 13 months later. The results indicated that wives' reconfiguration efficiency (globally and in visual association network) during relationship-specific stimuli processing was related to their own marital quality. Higher reconfiguration efficiency (globally and in medial frontal, frontal-parietal, default mode, motor/sensory and salience networks) in wives during general emotional stimuli processing was related to their lower depression. These findings suggest efficiency effects on social outcomes during social cognition, especially among married women. The efficiency effects on relationship-specific and more general outcomes are, respectively, higher during relationship-specific stimuli or general emotional stimuli processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous studies have assessed the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as a therapy for ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the treatment processes and outcomes of these studies vary., Aim: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of FMT for treating UC by conducting a systematic meta-analysis., Methods: The inclusion criteria involved reports of adult patients with UC treated with FMT, while studies that did not report clinical outcomes or that included patients with infection were excluded. Clinical remission (CR) and endoscopic remission (ER) were the primary and secondary outcomes, respectively., Results: We included nine studies retrieved from five electronic databases. The FMT group had better CR than the control group [relative risk (RR) = 1.53; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.19-1.94; P < 0.0008]. ER was statistically significantly different between the two groups (RR = 2.80; 95%CI: 1.93-4.05; P < 0.00001). Adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups., Conclusion: FMT demonstrates favorable performance and safety; however, well-designed randomized clinical trials are still needed before the widespread use of FMT can be recommended. Furthermore, standardizing the FMT process is urgently needed for improved safety and efficacy., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)