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Jianhua Yan,1 Qifei Wang,1,2 Junlin Yang,2 Paige Rutter,1 Malcolm Xing,3 Bingyun Li1 1Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA; 2Spine Center, Xin Hua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, R3T2N2, CanadaCorrespondence: Bingyun Li, Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, 64 Medical Center Drive, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA, Tel +1 681-285-5956 ; +1 304-293-1075, Fax +1 304-293-7070, Email bili@hsc.wvu.eduBackground: The wide use of antibiotics has created challenges related to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which have been increasingly found in recent decades. Antibiotic resistance has led to limited choices of antibiotics. Multiple old antimicrobial agents have high antimicrobial properties toward bacteria, but they unfortunately also possess high toxicity toward humans. For instance, silver (Ag) compounds were frequently used to treat tetanus and rheumatism in the 19th century and to treat colds and gonorrhea in the early 20th century. However, the high toxicity of Ag has limited its clinical use.Purpose: We aimed to reformulate Ag to reduce its toxicity toward human cells like osteoblasts and to optimize its antimicrobial properties.Results: Ag, an old antimicrobial agent, was reformulated by hybriding nanomaterials of different dimensions, and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of controllable sizes (95– 200 nm) and varying shapes (cube, snowflake, and sphere) were synthesized on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The obtained AgNP-CNT nanohybrids presented significantly higher killing efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) compared to AgNPs at the same molar concentration and showed synergism in killing S. aureus at 0.2 and 0.4 mM. AgNPs presented significant osteoblast toxicity; in contrast, AgNP-CNT nanohybrids demonstrated significantly enhanced osteoblast viability at 0.04– 0.8 mM. The killing of S. aureus by AgNP-CNT nanohybrids was fast, occurring within 15 min.Conclusion: Ag was successfully reformulated and Ag nanohybrids with various AgNP shapes on CNTs were synthesized. The nanohybrids presented significantly enhanced antimicrobial properties and significantly higher osteoblast cell viability compared to AgNPs, showing promise as an innovative antimicrobial nanomaterial for a broad range of biomedical applications.Keywords: silver nanoparticle, nanohybrid, antimicrobial, cytotoxicity, reformulation, antibiotic resistance

Energy storage systems (ESSs)-based demand response (DR) is an appealing way to save electricity bills for consumers under demand charge and time-of-use (TOU) price. In order to counteract the high investment cost of ESS, a novel operator-enabled ESS sharing scheme, namely, the ``operator-as-a-consumer (OaaC),'' is proposed and investigated in this article. In this scheme, the users and the operator form a Stackelberg game. The users send ESS orders to the operator and apply their own ESS dispatching strategies for their own purposes. Meanwhile, the operator maximizes its profit through optimal ESS sizing and scheduling, as well as pricing for the users' ESS orders. The feasibility and economic performance of OaaC are further analyzed by solving a bilevel joint optimization problem of ESS pricing, sizing, and scheduling. To make the analysis tractable, the bilevel model is first transformed into its single-level mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) formulation and is then linearized into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem using multiple linearization methods. Case studies with actual data are utilized to demonstrate the profitability for the operator and simultaneously the ability of bill saving for the users under the proposed OaaC scheme.

A unique two-Pathways process using aqueous sodium glycinate for CO2 capture from a split flue gas stream emitted from 600 MWe post-combustion coal power plant was developed in Aspen Plus v.10. The split gas flow rate used was 44.75 ton/h and contained 0.0023 mol% SO2 and 13.33 mol% CO2. The process includes a washing unit, a CO2 absorption unit, a reverse osmosis unit, and a solvent regeneration unit or an ultrafiltration unit. The washing unit uses deionized water to completely remove SO2 and the CO2 absorption unit uses SGS to capture at least 90 mol% of the CO2 in the split flue gas stream. Upon CO2 and SGS reactions, the resulting liquid products exhibit phase-separation into CO2-lean phase and CO2-rich phase, allow two distinct pathways. Pathway (i) is to regenerate mostly the CO2-rich phase, collect the released CO2, and compress it for sequestration purposes. Pathway (ii) is to send the liquid stream from the CO2 absorption unit to the ultrafiltration unit to separate the solid nanomaterials. The hydraulics and mass transfer characteristics in the washing and CO2 absorption units were obtained; and techno-economic analysis (TEA) for Pathways (i) and (ii), including Capital Expenditure (CAPEX), Operating Expenditure (OPEX), and Levelized Cost of CO2 Captured (LCOC), were calculated and compared. The simulation results revealed that the CAPEX, OPEX, and LCOC for Pathway (i) were ($12,039,251), (261 $/h), and (54.01 $/ton-CO2 captured), respectively, and those for Pathway (ii) were ($5,908,000), (237.2 $/h), and (39.90 $/ton-CO2 captured), respectively. Moreover, in Pathway (ii), 8.19 ton/h of CO2 were captured to produce 15.62 ton/h NaHCO3 nanomaterials, which were sold to offset the overall process cost. The LCOC values indicate that Pathway (ii) is more cost-effective than Pathway (i) because LCOC values for Pathway (ii) are much lower than those for Pathway (i).

Rui Wang,1– 4 Wei Zhang,1– 3 Yuanyuan Li,1– 3 Yuting Jiang,1– 3 Hongqi Feng,1– 3 Yang Du,1– 3 Zhe Jiao,1– 3 Li Lan,4 Xiaona Liu,1– 3 Bingyun Li,1– 3 Chang Liu,1– 3 Xingbo Gu,5 Fang Chu,1– 3 Yuncheng Shen,1– 3 Chenpeng Zhu,1– 3 Xinhua Shao,1– 3 Simeng Tong,1– 3 Dianjun Sun1– 3 1Center for Endemic Disease Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150081, People’s Republic of China; 2National Health Commission & Education Bureau of Heilongjiang Province, Key Laboratory of Etiology and Epidemiology, Harbin Medical University (23618504), Harbin, 150081, People’s Republic of China; 3Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and Human Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150081, People’s Republic of China; 4Harbin Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin, 150056, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dianjun Sun, Center for Endemic Disease Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin Medical University, Baojian Road 157, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, 150081, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13313685318, Fax +86 45186612695, Email hrbmusdj@163.comPurpose: To investigate the environmental, immune, and inflammatory factors associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in middle-aged and older Chinese individuals.Patients and Methods: A community-based case–control study was conducted among 471 patients with COPD and 485 controls. The information on COPD of the participants was collected through face-to-face interviews, and serum samples were measured at the laboratory. The main risk factors for COPD were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and logistic regression.Results: Nine hundred and fifty-six respondents were included in the analysis. The results of the PCA-logistic regression analysis showed significant differences in the environmental factors, medical history, and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels between patients and controls. COPD was markedly more usual in those with smoking index > 200 (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.28– 1.57); exposure to outdoor straw burning (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.47– 1.83); use of coal, wood, and straw indoors (OR, 2.31; 95% CI, 1.92– 2.78); history of respiratory disease and coronary heart disease (OR, 3.58; 95% CI, 3.12– 4.10), congestive heart failure (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.09– 1.38), and cerebrovascular disease (OR, 1.15; 95% CI,1.02– 1.31); and higher serum level of CRP (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.11– 1.30). Compared to the logistic regression analysis, PCA logistic regression analysis identified more important risk factors for COPD.Conclusion: PCA-logistic regression analysis was first utilized to explore the influencing factors among rural residents in Northeast China Environmental aged 40 years and above, it was found that environmental factors, medical history, and serum CRP levels mainly affected the prevalence of COPD.Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, collinearity, principal component, logistic regression

Human beings are now living in social media, for various social media apps or platforms are becoming more and more indispensable to their everyday livelihood and social practice. In fact, social media users are dwelling in two life-worlds and living two lives, online and offline, shuttling back and forth between them. China, with nearly one billion internet users, has formed the world’s largest digital society, contributing to several questions that can be raised concerning the essence of Chinese social media. After presenting some basic statistics and facts about Chinese social media, this introduction, inspired by Bakhtin’s (1981a, 1981b) views on carnival and Heidegger’s (1966, 1977, 2002, 2010, 2012) thought-provoking insights into technology, explores the essence of Chinese social media as carnival, as revealing and concealing, and as positionality, with a view to questioning the essence of human-technology relations and to thinking how it is possible to stay both connected and disconnected in an interconnected life-world.

Cardiac patches can help to restore the electrophysiological properties of the heart after myocardial infarction. However, scaffolds for the repair of heart muscle typically require surgical implantation or, if they are injectable, they are not electrically conductive or do not maintain their shape or function. Here, we report the performance, as demonstrated for the repair of infarcted heart muscle in rats and minipigs, of injectable and conductive scaffolds consisting of methacrylated elastin and gelatin, and carbon nanotubes that display shape-memory behaviour, a hierarchical porous structure and a negligible Poisson’s ratio. In rats, the implantation of cell-free patches or patches seeded with rat cardiomyocytes onto the myocardium after ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery led to functional repair after 4 weeks, as indicated by increases in fractional shortening and the ejection fraction, and by a decrease in the infarcted area. We also observed measures of functional recovery in minipigs with infarcted hearts after the delivery of cell-free patches or patches incorporating cardiomyocytes differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells. Injectable and electrically conductive scaffolds displaying shape-memory behaviour and a hierarchical porous structure enhance the functional repair of infarcted heart muscle in rats and minipigs.

Bioadhesive performance can be compromised due to bleeding. Bleeding increases mortality. Adhesives with hemostatic function are of great significance. A sustainable and robust hemostatic bioadhesive from okra is reported. The adhesive strength reaches around three and six-fold higher than commercial fibrin on pigskin and glass, respectively. The okra gel presents high-pressure resistance and great underwater adhesive strength. In human blood experiments, the okra gel can activate platelets, enhance the adhesion of activated platelets, and release coagulation factors XI and XII. By forming a fast gel layer and closely adhering to the wound, it can quickly stop bleeding in the liver and heart of rabbits and dogs. Meanwhile, okra gel can cause platelet activation at the wound site and further strengthen its hemostatic performance. It is biocompatible, biodegradable, and can promote wound healing and shows potential as a sustainable bioadhesive, especially in the scenario of significant hemorrhage.

A new event-triggered model predictive control (MPC) method is proposed for PWA systems with model-plant mismatch, such that, for a given asymptotically constant reference signal, exponential stability and unbiased tracking can be achieved. Firstly, for the PWA system, an observer is designed to estimate state and the model-plant mismatch. To guarantee the exponential stability, an event is introduced, and an event-triggered model predictive controller is designed as well. By introducing state error and estimate error, an augmented model is constructed. Then, using the model-dependent average dwell time (MDADT) method and Lyapunov stability theory, exponentially stable condition of the closed-loop system is derived, which is formulated by linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and zero offset is also guaranteed under some mild assumptions. Moreover, the MDADT of each sub-system is given simultaneously. Finally, simulations have been taken to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Two-dimensional network-structured carbon nanoscale building blocks, going beyond graphene, are of fundamental importance, and creating such structures and developing their applications have broad implications in environment, electronics and energy. Here, we report a facile route, based on electro-spraying/netting, to self-assemble two-dimensional carbon nanostructured networks on a large scale. Manipulation of the dynamic ejection, deformation and assembly of charged droplets by control of Taylor cone instability and micro-electric field, enables the creation of networks with characteristics combining nanoscale diameters of one-dimensional carbon nanotube and lateral infinity of two-dimensional graphene. The macro-sized (meter-level) carbon nanostructured networks show extraordinary nanostructural properties, remarkable flexibility (soft polymeric mechanics having hard inorganic matrix), nanoscale-level conductivity, and outstanding performances in distinctly different areas like filters, separators, absorbents, and wearable electrodes, supercapacitors and cells. This work should make possible the innovative design of high-performance, multi-functional carbon nanomaterials for various applications., Creating two-dimensional carbon nanoscale building blocks is of fundamental importance, but is extremely challenging. Here, the authors report a facile electro-spraying/netting technique for self-assembly of two-dimensional carbon nanostructured networks with superflexibility and multi-functionality.

Flexible and self-healable supercapacitors (SC) show great potential in developing smart energy storage devices for health care electronics, which call for the development of non-toxic, biocompatib...

A new switching control strategy is put forward for time-varying delay batch processes with actuator faults satisfying some probability. The batch process is first expressed as a 2D stochastic dela...

PurposeEnvironmental factors such as long-term exposure to cold can increase the risk of chronic diseases. However, few studies have focused on the impact of environmental factors and lifestyle changes on chronic diseases. To fully explore the association between exposure to environmental factors and the prevalent risk of various chronic diseases, we conducted a large cohort study (Environment and Chronic Disease in Rural Areas of Heilongjiang, China (ECDRAHC)). The ECDRAHC collected detailed questionnaire data covering 10 sections, physical measurements and blood and urine samples. In this study, we describe the design and implementation of the cohort study and present the findings for the first 10 000 participants.ParticipantsThe ECDRAHC study was carried out in rural areas where the annual average temperature is 2.9°C, and aimed to recruit 40 000 participants who are long-term residents aged 35–74 years. The participants will be followed up every 5 years. Currently, ECDRAHC has reached 26.7% (n=10 694) of the targeted population.Findings to dateA total of 10 694 adults aged 35–74 years were recruited, including 61.7% women. The prevalence of current smokers was 46.8% in men and 35.4% in women. The mean blood pressure was 140.2/89.9 mm Hg and 135.7/85.0 mm Hg in men and women, respectively. The mean body mass index was 24.74 kg/m2in men and 24.65 kg/m2in women, with >7.3% being obese (>30 kg/m2). The main non-communicable diseases found in phase 1 were hypertension, diabetes, hypertriglyceridaemia and metabolic syndrome, with a higher prevalence of 51.0%, 21.6%, 46.8% and 42.6%, respectively.Future plansWe plan to complete the follow-up for the first phase of the ECDRAHC in 2024. The second and third phase of the cohort will be carried out steadily, as planned. This cohort will be used to investigate the relationship between environmental factors, lifestyle, and genetic and common chronic diseases.

For illustrating how extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) affected sludge water distribution, the present work comprehensively analyzed change of viscoelasticity and sludge network structure before/after EPS extraction, together with the sludge dewaterability and water distribution after biological, chemical and physical method conditioning. The results suggested the proportion of capillary water and adsorption water carried in soluble EPS (S-EPS) was 59.17% and 40.83%, and that in tightly-bound EPS (TB-EPS) was 54.77% and 45.23%, respectively. By contrast, the capillary water in loosely-bound EPS (LB-EPS) accounted for as high as 99.99%. Relative to raw sludge, adsorption water proportion in TB-EPS and S-EPS was reduced after lysozyme (LZM) or freezing-thaw conditioning, which was ascribed to reduction of EPS viscosity and the weakness of water adsorption capacity. Additionally, the sludge yield stress (τy) value first reduced and then increased with the extraction of EPS, and the consistency coefficient (k) also decreased from 4.23 Pa·sn to 0.006 Pa·sn and then slightly increased after LZM conditioning. This observation indicated the sludge system became sensitive to shearing, and its network structural strength as well as colloid elasticity first weakened and then slightly strengthened. What’s more, after LZM or freezing-thaw conditioning, the sludge particle size significantly increased after TB-EPS extraction, while the sludge particle more easily absorbed water molecules, leading to the increase of the capillary water and adsorption water in sludge flocs. These changes reasonably explained the reason that sludge filtration performance was deteriorated after TB-EPS extraction.

Designing scaffolds with persistent elasticity and conductivity to mimic microenvironments becomes a feasible way to repair cardiac tissue. Injectable biomaterials for cardiac tissue engineering have demonstrated the ability to restore cardiac function by preventing ventricular dilation, enhancing angiogenesis, and improving conduction velocity. However, limitations are still among them, such as poor mechanical stability, low conductivity, and complicated procedure. Here, we developed thermal plastic poly(glycolic acid) surgical suture and mussel-inspired conductive particle's adhesion into a highly elastic, conductive spring-like coils. The polypyrrole (PPy)-coated biospring acted as an electrode and then was assembled into a solid-state supercapacitor. After being injected through a syringe needle (0.33 mm inner diameter), the tangled coils formed an elastically conductive three-dimensional (3-D) network to modulate cardiac function. We found that cardiomyocytes (CMs) grew along the spring coils' track with elongated morphologies and formed highly oriented sarcomeres. The biospring enhanced the CMs' maturation in synchronous contraction accompanied by high expressions of cardiac-specific proteins, α-actinin, and connexin 43 (cx43). After the elastic, conductive biosprings were injected into the myocardial infarction (MI) area, the left ventricular fractional shortening was improved by about 12.6% and the infarct size was decreased by about 34%. Interestingly, the spring can be utilized as a sensor to measure the CMs' contractile force, which was 1.57 × 10-3 ± 0.26 × 10-3 mN (∼4.1 × 106 cells). Accordingly, this study highlights an injectable biospring to form a tangled conductive 3-D network in vivo for MI repair.

Musculoskeletal disorders are a significant burden on the global economy and public health. Advanced drug delivery plays a key role in the musculoskeletal field and holds the promise of enhancing the repair of degenerated and injured musculoskeletal tissues. Ideally, drug delivery should have the ability to directly deliver therapeutic agents to the diseased/injured sites with a desirable drug level over a period of time. Here, we present a mini-review of the current state-of-the-art research associated with local drug delivery and its use for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. First, an overview of drug delivery strategies, with a focus on issues related to musculoskeletal pathology, potential therapeutic strategies, conventional and non-conventional drugs, and various delivery systems, is introduced. Then, we highlight recent advances in the emerging fields of musculoskeletal local drug delivery, involving therapeutic drugs (e.g., genes, small molecule therapeutics, and stem cells), novel delivery vehicles (e.g., 3D printing and tissue engineering techniques), and innovative delivery approaches (e.g., multi-drug delivery and smart stimuli-responsive delivery). The review concludes with future perspectives and associated challenges for developing local drug delivery for musculoskeletal applications. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Three important aspects are highlighted in this manuscript: 1) The advanced musculoskeletal drug delivery is introduced from the aspects ranging from musculoskeletal disorders, potential therapeutic solutions, and various drug delivery systems. 2) The recent advances in the emerging fields of musculoskeletal local drug delivery, involving therapeutic drugs (e.g., genes, small molecule therapeutics, and stem cells), novel delivery vehicles (e.g., 3D printing and tissue engineering technique), and innovative delivery approaches (e.g., multi-drug delivery and smart stimuli-responsive delivery), are highlighted. 3) The challenges and perspectives of future research directions in the development of musculoskeletal local drug delivery are presented.

Objectives Bone and joint infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to rising antibiotic resistance, resilient biofilms and intracellular survival of S. aureus. It has been challenging to identify and develop antimicrobial agents that can be used to kill extracellular and intracellular bacteria while having limited toxicity towards host cells. In addressing this challenge, this study investigates the antimicrobial efficacy and toxicity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Methods Intracellular bacteria were generated using a co-culture model of human osteoblast cells and S. aureus. Extracellular and intracellular S. aureus were treated with AgNPs, antibiotics and their combinations, and numbers of colonies were quantified. Toxicity of AgNPs against human osteoblast cells was determined by quantifying the number of viable cells after treatment. Results AgNPs demonstrated excellent antimicrobial activity against extracellular S. aureus with a 100% killing efficacy at concentrations as low as 56 μM, along with a high intracellular killing efficacy of 76% at 371 μM. AgNPs were non-toxic or slightly toxic towards human osteoblasts at the concentrations studied (up to 927 μM). Moreover, smaller-sized (40 nm) AgNPs were more efficacious in killing bacteria compared with their larger-sized (100 nm) counterparts and synergistic antimicrobial effects against extracellular bacteria were observed when AgNPs were combined with gentamicin. Conclusions AgNPs and their combination with antibiotics have demonstrated high extracellular and intracellular bacterial killing and presented unique aspects for potential clinical applications, especially for chronic and recurrent infections where intracellular bacteria may be the cause.

There have been extensive demands for eco-friendly, lightweight, flexible, and high performance supercapacitors for advanced applications like wearable electronics, hybrid electric vehicles, and industrial grid storage. In this work, a metalless nanocellulose-based PANI/RGO electrode with excellent flexibility, mechanical strength, and conductivity was developed and assembled into sandwich-like supercapacitors. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was mixed into aniline during the in situ polymerization of PANI to improve conductivity of the composite electrode. This eco-friendly metalless nanocellulose based electrode was fabricated via filtrations driven by a vacuum and assembled into sandwich structures. The ratios between nanocellulose, PANI, and RGO were optimized to achieve both high electrochemical performance and good mechanical properties. The composite electrode has a large active materials mass loading ratio of 16.5 mg/cm2, and the assembled supercapacitor gives small impedance at 3.90 Ω, suggesting an...

A versatile hydrogel with extraordinary mechanical strength and self-healing efficiency was developed by integrating physically crosslinked graphene oxide (GO) into a chemically crosslinked polyacrylic acid (PAA) network. The PAA–GO–Ca2+ hydrogel with dual-crosslinked networks exhibited remarkable mechanical properties, such as an outstanding stretchability to 2500% and high toughness (∼9.73 MJ m−3) along with high stiffness (Young's modulus:∼753.667 kPa). The hydrogel also showed a remarkable self-healing capability to maintain ∼87.47%, 88.02% and 86.93% of its tensile strength, tensile strain, and toughness, respectively, which was attributed to the reversible hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions of Ca2+ with PAA and GO. Reduction was further performed on 3D printed PAA–GO–Ca2+ hydrogels to reduce GO and produce conductive PAA–rGO–Ca2+ hydrogels as wearable biosensors for monitoring different human activities, ammonia detection and laser-driven actuators.

This paper proposes a new stochastic composite iterative learning control for batch processes with actuator faults that happen with a certain kind of probability. The main contribution lies in the fact that stochastic control theory is used to analyze the stability issues and consider controller designs of batch processes with actuator faults that happen under various kinds of probability, which paves the way for reliable control theory. Firstly, the batch process is represented as a system with stochastic uncertainty for iterative learning control design; and with the state and output error, it is further treated into a two dimensions (2D) Rosser system with stochastic errors. Using such transformation, the iterative learning control design is transformed into the updating control law design. Secondly, 2D Lyapunov stochastic theory is used to design the controller with actuator faults under various kinds of probability, together with the stability results of the control system in terms of LMI conditions. Finally, the proposed method is tested on the injection molding process to demonstrate the effectiveness.

Many applications using drug-carrying biomedical materials require on-demand, localized delivery of multiple therapeutic agents in precisely controlled and patient-specific time sequences, especially after assembly of the delivery vehicles; however, creating such materials has proven extremely challenging. Here, we report a novel strategy to create polypeptide multilayer films integrated with capsules as vehicles for co-delivery of multiple drugs using layer-by-layer self-assembly technology. Our approach allows the multilayered polypeptide nanofilms and preimpregnated capsules to assemble into innovative biomedical materials with high and controllable loading of multiple drugs at any time postpreparation and to achieve pH-responsive and sustained release. The resulting capsule-integrated polypeptide multilayer films effectively co-deliver various drugs with very different properties, including proteins (e.g., growth factors) and nanoparticles, achieving bovine serum albumin loading of 80 μg cm(−2) and release of 2 weeks, and histone loading of 100 μg cm(−2) and release of 6 weeks; which also enable Staphylococcus aureus killing efficacy of 83% while maintaining osteoblast viability of >85% with silver nanoparticle delivery; and >5-fold cell adhesion and proliferation capability with live cell percentage of >90% via human recombinant bone morphogenetic protein 2 delivery. The successful development of such fascinating materials can not only function as advanced nanocoatings to reduce two major complications of orthopedic bone injuries (i.e., infection and delayed bone regeneration) but also provide new insights into the design and development of multifunctional materials for various other biomedical applications.

Infection and delayed wound healing are two major serious complications related to traumatic injuries and cause a significant burden to patients and society. Most currently available drug delivery materials typically carry a single drug, lack protection from drug loading, and face challenges in on-demand and precisely controlled drug release. Here, we report a flower (Cirsium arvense)-inspired capsule-integrated multilayer nanofilm (FICIF), synthesized using a layer-by-layer self-assembly, for programmed multiple drug co-delivery for trauma (open fracture as an example) treatments. Our approach allows polypeptide multilayer nanofilms and innovative impregnated capsules to assemble hierarchical reservoirs with specific drug binding sites, shielding protection capability, and ordered packing structures. The resultant FICIF nanocarriers enable sustained and on-demand co-delivery of a unique immune-tuning cytokine (interleukin 12p70) and a growth factor (bone morphogenetic protein 2) in clinical use, resulting in extraordinary anti-infection (3 orders of magnitude improved bacterial killing) and bone regeneration (5 times enhanced bone healing) in treating infected rat femur fractures. The successful synthesis of these biomimetic high-performance delivery nanocoatings is expected to serve as a source of inspiration for the development of biomaterials for various clinical applications.

To investigate the potential association between BMP2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and brick-tea-type skeletal fluorosis risk in cross-sectional case-control study conducted in Sinkiang and Qinghai, China, a total of 598 individuals, including 308 Tibetans and 290 Kazakhs, were enrolled. Using the standard WS/192-2008 (China), 221 skeletal fluorosis cases were diagnosed, including 123 Tibetans and 98 Kazakhs. Logistic regressions 2 analysis did not find the association between SNPs (Rs235764, Rs235739 and Rs996544) and skeletal fluorosis. Genetic models, linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype analysis were not found to be associated with risk of skeletal fluorosis after adjustment by age and sex (P0.05).Our data suggested that Rs 235764, Rs 235739 and Rs 996544 were not linked susceptibility for skeletal fluorosis in our cross-sectional case-control study.