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Background The occurrence and development of osteoporosis experience a long process, therefore, attention should be paid to bone health throughout the whole life cycle of human, early prevention and treatment of osteoporosis is of positive significance. There is a relative lack or insufficiency of research on TCM symptom assessment in the high risk population of osteoporosis in Ling-nan region.Objective To conduct expert questionnaire analysis on the assessment of TCM symptoms in high risk population of osteoporosis in Ling-nan region and form expert consensus opinions.Methods Based on the previous literature review and the first round of "Questionnaire for TCM symptom assessment in high risk population of osteoporosis in Ling-nan region", the Delphi method was adopted to optimize the second round of expert questionnaire from October 2021 to September 2022, in combination with the expert opinions of the first academic conference of Ling-nan bone and joint disease in December 2021 and the expert group of Guangdong Provincial Association of Chinese Medicine concerned Specialist Committee on Bone and Joint Degeneration and Injury. The experts in the department of orthopedics in Ling-nan region were consulted for their opinions, and the data of the investigation results were statistically analyzed.Results 192 experts with solid theoretical knowledge and clinical diagnosis and treatment skills in TCM or Chinese and western integrative medicine were selected from various provinces and cities in the Ling-nan region. The research fields of the surveyed experts included orthopedics and traumatology of Chinese medicine, orthopedics and traumatology of Chinese and western integrative medicine and clinical rehabilitation, etc. involving TCM clinical practice, Chinese and western integrative medicine clinical practice and scientific research, etc. Among them, there were 115 male experts, 77 female experts, 31 experts with senior professional titles, 76 experts with associate senior professional titles and 85 experts with intermediate professional titles, with the duration of carrying out specialty not less than 6 years. The expert positive coefficient was 100%, and the average authority coefficient was (0.81±0.04) . The concentration and coordination degree of the surveyed experts' opinions were relatively higher, that is, the sample mean±coefficient variation of the TCM symptom items of high risk population of osteoporosis in Ling-nan region included " humpback deformity" (88.93±13.46, 15.14%) , "generalized bone pain" (89.45±14.56, 16.28%) , "fracture occurred in recent 5 years" (85.68±17.44, 20.36%) , "low back pain" (84.51±15.27, 18.07%) , "shortened height" (82.94±16.14, 19.46%) , "heavy joints unable to bend or extend" (80.21±14.43, 17.99%) , "heavy body trapped" (76.17±17.22, 22.60%) , "tiredness" (75.26±14.69, 19.52%) , "tooth shaking and hair loss" (74.87±15.87, 21.20%) , etc.Conclusion The motivation and professionalism of experts surveyed by "Questionnaire for TCM symptom assessment in high risk population of osteoporosis in Ling-nan region" are good with a wide distribution region and good representation. The preferred items of TCM symptoms of high risk population of osteoporosis in Ling-nan region were "humpback deformity" , "generalized bone pain" , "fracture occurred in recent 5 years" , "low back pain" , "shortened height" , "heavy joints unable to bend or extend" , "heavy body trapped" , "tiredness" , "tooth shaking and hair loss" , etc. The recommendations of experts in this field on the TCM symptoms assessment in high risk population of osteoporosis in Lingnan region can be better summarized based on Delphi method, which can provide references for the subsequent early diagnosis of osteoporosis and the development of the assessment scale.

Carbon–semiconductor hybrid quantum dots are classical carbon dots with core carbon nanoparticles doped with a selected nanoscale semiconductor. Specifically, on those with the nanoscale TiO2 doping, denoted as CTiO2-Dots, their synthesis and thorough characterization were reported previously. In this work, the CTiO2-Dots were evaluated for their visible light-activated antibacterial function, with the results showing the effective killing of not only Gram-positive but also the generally more resistant Gram-negative bacteria. The hybrid dots are clearly more potent antibacterial agents than their neat carbon dot counterparts. Mechanistically, the higher antibacterial performance of the CTiO2-Dots is attributed to their superior photoexcited state properties, which are reflected by the observed much brighter fluorescence emissions. Also considered and discussed is the possibility of additional contributions to the antibacterial activities due to the photosensitization of the nanoscale TiO2 by its doped core carbon nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum dots (QDs), generally referring to semiconductor nanocrystals that display the quantum confinement effect, have been widely pursued for many energy conversion applications. More recently, carbon dots (CDots), which are small carbon nanoparticles with various surface passivation schemes, have been found to possess optical properties and photoinduced redox characteristics resembling those of conventional semiconductor QDs and thus are amenable to some of the same uses in energy conversions. Among the various carbon nanomaterials, fullerenes have been extensively investigated for their use as critical components in optoelectronic devices and systems. Carbon nanoparticles, representing a largely ignored nanoscale carbon allotrope, are in fact more effective in some of the same functions, which are materialized and much enhanced upon the surface passivation of the nanoparticles in CDots. In this perspective article on CDots for energy conversion applications, the optical properties and redox characteristics of CDots, including the related mechanistic framework and its relationship to the use of CDots as potent photocatalysts for the conversion of CO2 into small organic molecules, are highlighted. Also highlighted are results from representative studies using CDots in light-emitting diodes and various solar cells to demonstrate their excellent potential for a wide range of roles in optoelectronic devices and systems. Issues and opportunities in the further development of the CDots platform and related technologies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dots (CDots) are small carbon nanoparticles with effective surface passivation by organic functionalization. In the reported work, the surface functionalization of preexisting small carbon nanoparticles with N-ethylcarbazole (NEC) was achieved by the NEC radical addition. Due to the major difference in microwave absorption between the carbon nanoparticles and organic species such as NEC, the nanoparticles could be selectively heated via microwave irradiation to enable the hydrogen abstraction in NEC to generate NEC radicals, followed by in situ additions of the radicals to the nanoparticles. The resulting NEC-CDots were characterized by microscopy and spectroscopy techniques including quantitative proton and 13C NMR methods. The optical spectroscopic properties of the dot sample were found to be largely the same as those of CDots from other organic functionalization schemes. The high structural stability of NEC-CDots benefiting from the radical addition functionalization is highlighted and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon/TiO2 hybrid dots (C/TiO2-Dots) are structurally TiO2 nanoparticles (in the order of 25 nm in diameter from commercially available colloidal TiO2 samples) surface-attached by nanoscale carbon domains with organic moieties, thus equivalent to hybrids of individual TiO2 nanoparticles each decorated with many carbon dots. These hybrid dots with exposure to visible light exhibit potent antibacterial properties, similar to those found in neat carbon dots with the same light activation. The results from the use of established scavengers for reactive oxygen species (ROS) to "quench" the antibacterial activities, an indication for shared mechanistic origins, are also similar. The findings in experiments on probing biological consequences of the antibacterial action suggest that the visible light-activated C/TiO2-Dots cause significant damage to the bacterial cell membrane, resulting in higher permeability, with the associated oxidative stress leading to lipid peroxidation, inhibiting bacterial growth. The induced bacterial cell damage could be observed more directly in the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging. Opportunities for the further development of the hybrid dots platform for a variety of antibacterial applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Few health measurement scales are based on Chinese medicine theory. The Health Scale of Traditional Chinese Medicine (HSTCM) was developed to fill this gap. The aim of this study is to validate the HSTCM. Methods A convenience sample of 630 participants was recruited in 11 settings. All participants were asked to complete the HSTCM and World Health Organization Quality of Life Measure-Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF). Results Properties of the HSTCM were tested. Intra-class correlation coefficient representing the inter-interviewer reliability was 0.99 (95%CI) for the overall instrument. Spearman-Brown correlation coefficient and Cronbach's coefficient alpha were 0.81 and 0.94 respectively, indicating satisfactory internal reliability and inter-interviewer reliability. Spearman's rho correlation coefficient between the HSTCM and WHOQOL-BREFF was -0.67. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to test the discriminate validation. Areas under the ROC curve analysis for the HSTCM and its domains ranged 0.71–0.87 and all the lower levels of 95%CI were greater than 0.50. Conclusion The HSTCM was validated as a generic health scale and may complement existing health measurement scales in Chinese medicine health care.

The article presents insights on the importance of protecting the rights, health and safety of research participants in human drug trials. Topics discussed include the vital elements for genuine compliance of clinical trials, the need for papers with sensitive data to be approved by the regional ethical committee (REC), and a research which provides effective approaches that can be utilized in compliance with the policy of protecting the rights, health and safety of research participants.