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Recently, a novel design scheme of low-earth-orbit spaceborne mini-synthetic aperture radar (MiniSAR) system is proposed to exploit the integrated transceiver to collect the azimuth periodic block sampling data by using alternated transmitting and receiving operations. Because such collected data are downsampled, the images recovered by the typical matched filtering (MF)-based methods have the problems of obvious azimuth ambiguities, ghosts, and energy dispersion. To find a suitable method for such data, with the help of sparse signal processing technique, we first introduce sparse synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging with l₁-norm regularization-based approximated observation method to recover the large-scale considered scene. To further improve the imaging performance, a novel approximated observation unambiguous sparse SAR imaging method via l $_{2,1}$ -norm is proposed. Compared with l₁-norm-based method, the recovered image by the proposed one achieves better imaging quality with reduced azimuth ambiguities and ghosts. Experimental results on simulated and real data validate the proposed method.

Pu‐erh tea is very popular in Southwestern China and South Asian countries and is now becoming increasingly popular in Europe due to its well‐documented beneficial effects on human health. Pu‐erh tea aqueous extracts can maintain intestinal homeostasis. However, the mechanism of its beneficial effects on intestinal flora disorder is not clear. In this study, we focused on the effects of ripe Pu‐erh tea aqueous extracts on the intestinal microbiota in an intestinal flora disorder mouse model. Physiological indexes and the tissue section staining results showed that feeding Pu‐erh tea extract could help mice regain weight and alleviate intestinal inflammation. Further assessment of the intestinal microflora found that Pu‐erh tea extract could promote the growth of intestinal probiotics and inhibit pathogenic bacteria, thereby achieving a treatment effect for enteritis. This study provides new evidence for the therapeutic effect of Pu‐erh tea., Pu‐erh tea is very popular in Southwestern China and South Asian countries, and now is becoming more and more popular in Europe because of its well‐documented beneficial effects on human health. This study explored the mechanism of Pu‐erh tea extract in promoting human health and improving intestinal flora disorder and found that Pu‐erh tea extract can alleviate the intestinal inflammation caused by antibiotics, reduce the degree of intestinal lesions, promote the growth of intestinal probiotics and inhibit pathogenic bacteria.

Aiming at the periodically missing data of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in azimuth, a reconstruction and imaging algorithm based on L p -alternating direction method with compressed sensing theory is proposed. The algorithm can effectively suppress ghosting and aliasing caused by azimuth missing data, and improve the imaging quality. To reduce memory consumption and lower computational complexity, approximate observation model based on SAR raw data simulator is utilised to rapid reconstruction imaging. Compared to the traditional iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm, the proposed algorithm has better reconstruction image quality. Simulation and raw SAR echo data processing demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in solving the problem of imaging with periodically missing data in SAR azimuth.

As a global phenomenon, the theme of math anxiety has received increasing attention. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between math anxiety and performance and determine the role of arithmetic skill in two different tasks. Fifty-seven college freshmen were recruited to perform a comparison task and a calculation task. Only main effect of arithmetic skill was found on the behavioral level. In the comparison task, participants with high math anxiety (HMA) showed faster latencies and greater amplitudes of N1 and longer P3b latency relative to their counterparts with low math anxiety (LMA). Number, as a negative stimulus, occupied attentional resources and delayed the speed of cognitive processing for individuals with HMA. Furthermore, among those with HMA, individuals with high arithmetic skill showed larger amplitudes and shorter latencies of P2 compared with those with low airthmetic skill in the calculation task. Thus, arithmetic skill could refine the performance efficiency of individuals with HMA, especially in the calculation task. These results suggest that educational interventions emphasizing control of negative emotional responses to math stimuli will be more effective when considering different populations of mathematically competent individuals.

A series of metal 1, 8, 15, 22-tetraaminophthalocyanines [1, 8, 15, 22-TAPcM, M = Mn(II), Fe(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II)] are synthesized and used to chemically modify fluorinated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (F-MWCNTs) with the formation of certain chemical bonds on the surface of carbon nanotubes, and the corresponding composites 1, 8, 15, 22-TAPcM/MWCNTs are obtained. The electrocatalytic activities of the samples are studied by adding them into lithium/thionyl chloride (Li/SOCl2) batteries. The results indicate that the composites 1, 8, 15, 22-TAPcM/MWCNTs can improve the discharge voltage and lengthen the discharge time of the batteries much more than 1, 8, 15, 22-TAPcM, and the order of the electrocatalytic activities of 1, 8, 15, 22-TAPcM/MWCNTs and 1, 8, 15, 22-TAPcM with different metal ions in center is both Mn(II) > Ni(II) > Zn(II) > Fe(II) > Cu(II). It is also found that the discharge time and maximal discharge voltage and capacity for the battery contains 1, 8, 15, 22-TAPcMn/MWCNTs can be improved by 68.19%, 9.41%, and 82.6%, respectively.

Study design Retrospective study.Objective: To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of patients hospitalized with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI). Setting: The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow UniversityMethods: This retrospective epidemiological study included 459 patients hospitalized with TSCI. Results: Mean age in this patient cohort was 50.7 ± 14.2 years, and 50–59 year olds were the most vulnerable age group (27.0%). Main cause of injury was fall from height in the 10-49 year-old group, traffic accident in the 50-79 year-old group, and low fall in ≥80 year-old group. Traffic accident accounted for the largest proportion of injuries (37.0%). The male-to-female ratio was 3.1:1, with more males than females accounting for all causes of injury. The difference in proportion of males to females was the greatest for fall from height and lowest for low fall. The anatomical site most vulnerable to fracture was the cervical segment (68.2%). Thoracolumbar segment (15.0%) was the anatomical site most frequently injured in fall from height, and the cervical segment was the most commonly injured site for all the remaining causes of injury. Most patients were classified with Grade D injuries using the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment scale. The most common complication of injuries was urinary tract infection (48.3%). Patients with bedsores had the longest hospital stay, with an average of 105 days. Patients with complications had significantly longer hospital stays than those without complications. Patients with multiple complications had longer hospital stays than those with a single complication. Patients receiving surgery accounted for 82.4%, and those receiving conservative treatment accounted for 17.6%, of our patient population. Average length of hospital stay for all patients was 51.1 ± 79.3 days. Patients that received surgery, those with ASIA Grade A, and those with injured thoracolumbar segment had prolonged hospital stays.Conclusion: Patients with TSCI were generally of advanced age. Traffic accident was the main cause of TSCI, but causes of TSCI were different in different age groups. Elderly patients showed a high rate of low fall. The majority of TSCI occurred in male patients, and males and females had different causes of TSCI. Neck injuries were relatively common. Injury sites varied according to the different causes of injury. The prolonged hospital stays of patients with TSCI were related to numerous factors. Our study highlights the need to focus on the prevention and treatment of various complications, and selection of appropriate treatment, in patients with TSCI. TSCI should be comprehensively prevented according to its epidemiological characteristics.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a widely used remote sensing observation technique. However, SAR raw echo data may be lost during the process of data acquisition by radar platform. In this paper, the imaging problem of SAR echo signal with periodically missing data along the azimuth is analyzed and a novel imaging method is proposed. Firstly, the problem of artificial artifact targets caused by periodically missing data is explained in detail, and the corresponding mathematical model is established. Then, the recovery method based on the RELAX algorithm with periodic notches data is proposed. In addition, when the size of two-dimensional (2D) echo data are large, block restoration along the azimuth is proposed to reduce the amount of calculation. Finally, the advantages of the algorithm proposed in this paper is demonstrated by the points target simulated SAR echo data processing and the real raw SAR echo data processing. When the azimuth periodically missing data rate is 50%, the SAR echo data can be recovered and the well-focused image can be obtained. Comparing the image entropy value and structural similarity index (SSIM) of the focused image, it proves the superiority of the proposed algorithm in solving the imaging problem of SAR azimuth periodically missing data.

Aunque se han realizado muchos estudios sobre el cambio cog- nitivo, se sabe poco acerca de si el cambio cognitivo afecta el uso de las es- trategias aritméticas por parte de las personas y cómo lo hace. Utilizamos las tareas de estimación y comparación numérica dentro del paradigma de reconocimiento de operandos y el paradigma de elección / no elección para explorar los efectos del cambio cognitivo en el proceso de selección de es- trategia aritmética. Los resultados mostraron que el rendimiento de los in- dividuos en la tarea de referencia fue superior al de la tarea de cambio. El modo de presentación y la conmutación cognitiva influyeron claramente en los patrones de la mirada durante la selección de estrategia, con duraciones de fijación más largas en el modo de presentación numérica que en el modo de presentación de reloj. Además, el número de fijaciones fue mayor en la tarea de conmutación que en la tarea de línea de base. Estos resultados in- dican que los efectos del cambio cognitivo en la selección de la estrategia aritmética están claramente limitados por la forma en que se presentan los números. Although many studies of cognitive switching have been con- ducted, little is known about whether and how cognitive switching affects individuals’ use of arithmetic strategies. We used estimation and numerical comparison tasks within the operand recognition paradigm and the choice/no-choice paradigm to explore the effects of cognitive switching on the process of arithmetic strategy selection. Results showed that individu- als’ performance in the baseline task was superior to that in the switching task. Presentation mode and cognitive switching clearly influenced eye-gaze patterns during strategy selection, with longer fixation duration in the number presentation mode than in the clock presentation mode. Further- more, the number of fixation was greater in the switching task than it was in the baseline task. These results indicate that the effects of cognitive switching on arithmetic strategy selection are clearly constrained by the manner in which numbers are presented.

Graphene films receive tremendous attention due to their ultrahigh electrical and thermal conductivities, which show great application prospects in modern electronic devices. However, the brittleness and low strength of graphene films largely limit their use in advanced applications. And the preparation processes of graphene films reported so far are also not completely green. In this work, a novel strong and green graphene composite film with outstanding electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE), electrical and thermal conductivities was successfully fabricated by using nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) as dispersing agent and mechanical compression. In this way, graphene nanosheets (GNs) were not only efficiently dispersed in the aqueous solution but also linked together by NFC to enhance mechanical strength of the prepared films. Simultaneously, mechanical compression could powerfully induce strong alignment and increase the contact area of the GNs. As a result, the optimum electrical...

Optically transparent poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-based blends with significantly enhanced mechanical and shape memory properties have been successfully prepared via in-situ formation of micro-scale polylactide stereocomplex crystallites (sc-PLA) in the PMMA matrix in this work. To achieve this goal, a certain content of poly( l -lactide) (PLLA) was firstly melt-blended with PMMA to obtain completely miscible PMMA/PLLA blends, and then an equimolar poly( d -lactide) (PDLA) was incorporated into the blends, giving rise to the in-situ formation of sc-PLA between PLLA and PDLA. In this way, the micro-scale sc-PLA particles were successfully fabricated and homogeneously dispersed in the PMMA matrix. Consequently, these resultant PMMA/sc-PLA blends possess extremely superior optical transparency, even when the content of sc-PLA reaches up to 12 wt%. A further increase in the content of sc-PLA would lead to the formation of sc-PLA network and aggregation, resulting in the deterioration of optical transparency. Moreover, the incorporation of sc-PLA micro-particles significantly enhances the mechanical property of PMMA and the maximum (≈103 MPa) of these blends demonstrates 50% increase than that (≈70 MPa) of PMMA. More importantly, it has been found that the shape recovery performance of PMMA could be effectively improved by the incorporation of sc-PLA. The optimal shape recovery ratio (86%) and high shape fixing ratio (almost 100%) can be obtained for the PMMA/sc12 blend which exhibits excellent optical transparency. It is reasonable to believe that these optically transparent blends with largely enhanced mechanical and shape memory properties possess great application potential in advanced shape memory fields.

It is still a challenge to fabricate polymer-based composites with excellent thermal conductive property because of the well-known difficulties such as insufficient conductive pathways and inefficient filler-filler contact. To address this issue, a synergistic segregated double network by using two fillers with different dimensions has been designed and prepared by taking graphene nanoplates (GNPs) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in polystyrene for example. In this structure, GNPs form the segregated network to largely increase the filler-filler contact areas while MWCNT are embedded within the network to improve the network-density. The segregated network and the randomly dispersed hybrid network by using GNPs and MWCNT together were also prepared for comparison. It was found that the thermal conductivity of segregated double network can achieve almost 1.8-fold as high as that of the randomly dispersed hybrid network, and 2.2-fold as that of the segregated network. Meanwhile, much higher synergistic efficiency (f) of 2 can be obtained, even greater than that of other synergistic systems reported previously. The excellent thermal conductive property and higher f are ascribed to the unique effect of segregated double network: (1) extensive GNPs-GNPs contact areas via overlapped interconnections within segregated GNPs network; (2) efficient synergistic effect between MWCNT network and GNPs network based on bridge effect as well as increasing the network-density.

In order to avoid reservoir damage and productivity impact caused by shut-in, some offshore low-permeability oil wells have a short shut-in test time and slow pressure recovery, which leads to unapparent or missing pressure characteristics in well test interpretation. In order to improve the accuracy of well test interpretation results, obtain more reservoir information, and solve the problem of missing radial flow characteristics and boundary features on conventional well test pressure and pressure derivative curves, one convolution and deconvolution well test model is established based on the dynamic variation law of oil wells’ bottom-hole flow pressure with variable production. Duhamel principle is used to obtain the equivalent constant flow pressure response for the entire production period, and the error caused by incomplete production or pressure history is reduced, which is verified by oil field examples. The result shows that the deconvolution well test interpretation model has the advantages that the conventional interpretation method does not have. By integrating the production and pressure information in the whole test process, it can eliminate the interference of wellbore storage effects on radial flow, enlarge the detection range of pressure fluctuation, update interpretation results of conventional well test and ensure consistent geological understanding with real reservoir information. The deconvolution model can also explain the distance between oil well and edge-bottom water invasion position. This study can interpret reservoir information that cannot be reflected by conventional well test, providing a new theoretical interpretation method for offshore well test interpretation with large production changes and short shut-in time. It is of great significance to provide important reservoir parameters and test well boundary types for reservoir development.

Curvilinear Synthetic Aperture Radar (CLSAR) has very high research value owing to realizing three-dimensional imaging through radar curvilinear flight in azimuth-altitude plane. In this paper, the principle of three-dimensional (3D) imaging based on curvilinear SAR is analyzed, and the signal model of curvilinear SAR imaging is established. Due to the sparsity of imaged target in three-dimensional space, the measure equation of curvilinear SAR is established which based on the radar echo linear model for 3D scene and the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm is used to solve the measure equation and reconstruct the 3D scene. Compared with the classical fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm, the sidelobes are greatly lower, and the imaging quality is significantly improved. Simulation results show that the method is effective in CLSAR 3D imaging.

With the extensive use of portable and wearable electronic devices, ultrathin electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials with excellent thermal management are increasingly desirable. In this study, ultrathin and highly aligned reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) composite films with excellent EMI shielding performance and strong anisotropy of thermal conductivity were fabricated by vacuum-assisted filtration followed by hydroiodic acid (HI) reduction. The obtained 50 wt% RGO/CNF composite films, which are only ≈23 μm in thickness, possess the remarkable electrical conductivity of ≈4057.3 S m−1 and outstanding EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of ≈26.2 dB owning to the uniform dispersion and self-alignment into the layered structure of RGO. In addition, the RGO/CNF composite films with 50 wt% RGO loadings possess high in-plane thermal conductivity (K ≈ 7.3 W m−1 K−1) and, unexpectedly, very low cross-plane thermal conductivity (K⊥ ≈ 0.13 W m−1 K−1), resulting in strong anisotropy of the thermal conductivity (K/K⊥ ≈ 56). Thus, these ultrathin RGO/CNF composite films have great application potential as effective lightweight shielding materials against electromagnetic microwaves and heat, especially in flexible portable electronic devices and wearable devices.

Adding conductive filler is an effective way to enhance the dielectric constant while usually also increases the dielectric loss of polymer. In this study, we demonstrated that polymer composites with much improved dielectric constant while maintaining ultra-low dielectric loss could be achieved via using hybrid filler and controlling the dispersion of conductive filler in polymer matrix. To do this, the graphene oxide was designed to be immobilized on the surface of large-sized insulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) via electrostatic self-assembly, and afterwards introducing this hybrid filler into epoxy accompanied with chemical reduction. In this case, since the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets were fixed on the surface of h-BN, rGO sheets were well separated from each other even at high loading. Hence not only significantly enhanced dielectric constant was observed, but also a very low dielectric loss comparable to that of neat epoxy was achieved. This low dielectric loss was believed to be ascribed to both embedded insulating network of h-BN to inhibit the mobility of charge carrier and well-separated rGO sheets via immobilization. In addition to obviously improved dielectric properties, the nanocomposites also exhibited good thermal conductivity. We believe that this special structure will provide a new thought for fabricating dielectric materials with much enhanced dielectric constant as well as well-suppressed dielectric loss.

In this study, we report a sharp increase of both thermal and electrical conductivity in polypropylene (PP) via formation of double percolated filler network with dense small-sized multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) network located within loosened large-sized expanded graphite (EG) network. The electrical conductivity of PP/EG composites which levels off after the percolation threshold can be further enhanced by adding MWCNT and is increased two orders of magnitude as the content of MWCNT reaches to its threshold. Besides, the thermal conductivity of PP/EG-MWCNT increases by 38.5% compared to PP/EG and is much higher than PP/MWCNT. Furthermore, an excellent electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of ∼60 dB is obtained at the sample thickness of only 1.3 mm. Then, effective medium theory model is applied to analyze the mechanism for the largely enhanced thermal and electrical conductivity. It is suggested that formation of double percolated filler network, in which three types of connections exist between EG and EG, EG and MWCNT as well as MWCNT and MWCNT, could effectively reduce the interface thermal resistance. Our work is important and provides some new idea for the preparation of polymer composites with excellent thermal and electrical conductivity via constructing double percolated filler network.

The distribution of functional filler is known to have significant influence on various functionalities, yet, not been systematically investigated. Herein, we use a blends system based on PA12/PA6 containing SiC and low-temperature expandable graphite (LTEG) to study it. The effect of filler distribution in such blends on various functionalities including: thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding ability, has been systematically studied. Further study on altering filler distribution with polished PA6-LTEG and PA6-LTEG in different sizes reveals that, polished particle surface results in reduced electrical and thermal conductivity; and smaller particle size leads to enhanced electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and EMI shielding ability. Finally, theoretical approach on thermal conductivity demonstrates that the system illustrates very effective contribution in thermal conductivity from large PA6-LTEG “filler” comparing to much smaller traditional fillers. Such study could provide a guideline for the processing of functional polymer composites.

In this work, super strong all-cellulose multifilaments were obtained from cellulose dissolved in LiOH/urea system by inducing nanofiber formation, and were simultaneously reinforced by the introduction of TEMPO-oxidized nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) with mean diameter of 20 nm. The all-cellulose composite filaments (CF) containing only 3 wt % NFC exhibits a high orientation that Herman's parameter is 0.89. Importantly, the NFC can simultaneously reinforce and toughen the CF, with a tensile strength and elongation at break of 3.92 cN/dT and 14.6%, respectively, which make the obtained CF to become super strong. The strengthened mechanism of CF is considered as the nanofibril-induced crystallization and orientation, which makes up for the deficits and constructs a flawless structure in the regenerated cellulose filaments. Of note, the stability of spinning dope was also effectively improved by adding small amount of NFC, which is very important for fiber spinning on industry. This finding contributes to the preparation of high performance regenerated cellulose multifilaments by a simple, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly route.

Herein, a small amount of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) was introduced in graphene oxide (GO) spinning dope to improve the property of graphene fiber. It was found that the one-dimensional CNF could absorb on the GO sheets, and enhance the inter-layer interaction as well as the connection between GO sheets, resulting in an easy formation of lyotropic liquid crystalline structure and a better orientation of the resultant fiber. A large enhancement of tensile strength, modulus, and elongation of GO/CNF hybrid fiber has been achieved. After chemical reduction of GO, the fiber still maintains its original mechanical properties but with high conductivity and improved hydrophilicity. Our work further demonstrates the importance of a stable lyotropic liquid crystalline structure of GO dope in the spinning of graphene fiber and provides a facile way to produce graphene fiber with good performance.

It has been demonstrated that introducing another non-conductive particle into conductive filler filled composites could result in a better conductivity due to a volume exclusion effect. It was also reported that combining electrically conductive fillers with different geometric shapes and aspect ratio together could enhance the electrical conductivity due to the synergistic effect. To further explore these two effects on the electrical property enhancement, we firstly encapsulated neat silica (SiO2) with graphene oxide (GO) through electrostatic self-assembly to render SiO2 with surface conductivity. Then neat SiO2 or SiO2@GO together with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were mixed with polystyrene (PS) to prepare conductive composites. In this way, the volume exclusion effect in the PS/MWCNT/SiO2 system and combined effect of volume exclusion and synergy in the PS/MWCNT/SiO2@rGO system could be investigated and compared. An obvious increased conductivity was observed only in the transition composition region for the PS/MWCNT/SiO2 system compared with the PS/MWCNT system. However, a largely enhanced conductivity was achieved through the composition region for the PS/MWCNT/SiO2@rGO system compared with the PS/MWCNT/SiO2 system and PS/MWCNT, accompanied by great enhancement of the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness. Given the SEM characterization and rheological properties, we attributed this obvious enhanced electrical property to both a volume exclusion effect and a synergistic effect.

A series of metal 2,9,16,23-tetraaminophthalocyanines [TAPcM, M = Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), Fe(II), Mn(II)] have been prepared and used to chemically modify fluorinated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (F-MWCNTs). The generated composites TAPcM/MWCNTs were characterized by IR, UV-Vis and XRD. The electrocatalytic activity of all the composites was evaluated by adding them into the electrolyte of the Li/SOCl2 battery and taking cyclic voltammograms in simulated circumstances. The results show that the composites can dramatically improve the capacity of the battery, and their electrocatalytic performance strongly depends on the metal phthalocyanine species. The order of the electrocatalytic activity of 2,9,16,23-TAPcM and 2,9,16,23-TAPcM/MWCNTs with different metal ions in the center is Mn(II) > Ni(II) > Zn(II) > Fe(II) > Cu(II). The excellent electrocatalytic performance of the modified F-MWCNTs may be due to the fine synergistic effect between the metal phthalocyanines and the MWCNTs.

Autonomously self-healing hydrogels have received considerable attentions due to their capacity for repairing themselves spontaneously after suffering damage, which can provide a better stability and a longer life span. In this work, a robust and mechanically and electrically self-healing hydrogel with an efficient electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance was successfully fabricated via the incorporation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into the hydrophobically associated polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogels by using cellulose nanofiber (CNF) as the dispersant. It was been found that CNF could not only assist the homogeneous dispersion of MWCNTs but also effectively enhance the mechanical property of the resultant hydrogels. As a result, the optimal tensile strength (≈0.24 MPa), electrical conductivity (≈0.85 S m–1), and EMI shielding effectiveness (≈28.5 dB) were achieved for the PAM/CNF/MWCNT composite hydrogels with 1 wt % MWCNTs and 0.3 wt % CNF, which showed 458, 844, and 90% increa...

Hydrophobically associated (HA) hydrogels have attracted great concerns with their admirable properties, such as self-healing and shape memory. However, a few works have been devoted to apply HA hydrogels in practice, especially in wastewater treatment. This may be because of the non-ionic monomer composition and the poor mechanical properties after swelling. In this work, in order to improve the mechanical properties and absorption behavior of HA polyacrylamide (HPAM) hydrogel, hydrophobically associated polyacrylamide/cellulose nanofiber (HPAMF) composite hydrogels were prepared. It was found that by incorporating CNF (2 wt%), the tensile strength (≈0.276 MPa) was largely increased by 632% compared to HPAM hydrogels. The maximum Cu ion adsorption capacity of the HPAMF hydrogel (containing 2 wt% CNF) was 2.33 mmol g−1, about 86% over the HPAM hydrogel. The HPAMF hydrogels with self-healing, excellent mechanical and adsorption properties can be promisingly served as reliable absorbents, consequently satisfying the needs of practical application of heavy metal treatment.

Tyro3, a member of the Tyro3/Axl/Mer (TAM) family of receptor tyrosine kinases, has emerged as a potential oncogene in melanoma. Here, we confirm that Tyro3 is specifically overexpressed in primary melanoma samples and show that Tyro3 is expressed at varying levels in numerous melanoma cell lines. Short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of Tyro3 led to significant cell death via apoptotic mechanisms in nearly all melanoma cell lines tested, regardless of the BRAF or NRAS mutation status or co-expression of Axl and/or Mer. We generated soluble and monomeric versions of the human Tyro3 extracellular domain and human Gas6 for affinity measurements and correlated these values with the level of Gas6 required to induce Tyro3 signaling in cellular assays. Calcium was critical for the correct folding of Gas6 and its binding to Tyro3. In melanoma cell lines, Gas6 induced Tyro3 phosphorylation and downstream Akt phosphorylation without apparent effects on Erk. We generated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Tyro3 to examine their effect on survival signaling in melanoma cell lines. The mAbs generated against Tyro3 included nonligand blockers, partial blockers, and competitive ligand blockers. A number of weak and partial ligand blockers (all recognizing the Tyro3 Ig domains) were the most effective at blocking ligand-mediated downstream signaling of Tyro3. Overall, these data indicate that Tyro3 may confer increased survival signals in melanoma cells and can be stymied using inhibitory mAbs. These mAbs may be useful for further investigations of the role of Tyro3 in melanoma.

There is no effective treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a devastating motor neuron disease. However, discovery of a G(4)C(2) repeat expansion in the C9ORF72 gene as the most common genetic cause of ALS has opened up new avenues for therapeutic intervention for this form of ALS. G(4)C(2) repeat expansion RNAs and proteins of repeating dipeptides synthesized from these transcripts are believed to play a key role in C9ORF72-associated ALS (c9ALS). Therapeutics that target G(4)C(2) RNA, such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and small molecules, are thus being actively investigated. A limitation in moving such treatments from bench to bedside is a lack of pharmacodynamic markers for use in clinical trials. We explored whether poly(GP) proteins translated from G(4)C(2) RNA could serve such a purpose. Poly(GP) proteins were detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from c9ALS patients and, notably, from asymptomatic C9ORF72 mutation carriers. Moreover, CSF poly(GP) proteins remained relatively constant over time, boding well for their use in gauging biochemical responses to potential treatments. Treating c9ALS patient cells or a mouse model of c9ALS with ASOs that target G(4)C(2) RNA resulted in decreased intracellular and extracellular poly(GP) proteins. This decrease paralleled reductions in G(4)C(2) RNA and downstream G(4)C(2) RNA-mediated events. These findings indicate that tracking poly(GP) proteins in CSF could provide a means to assess target engagement of G(4)C(2) RNA-based therapies in symptomatic C9ORF72 repeat expansion carriers and presymptomatic individuals who are expected to benefit from early therapeutic intervention.

Interleukin-8 modulation is implicated in many inflammatory and cancer diseases. Starting from a mass-screening hit, the synthesis and structure-activity relationship of 2-amino-3-heteroarylquinoxalines as non-peptide, small molecule interleukine-8 receptor antagonists have been developed. The optimized derivatives, PD 0210293 (13y) and PD 0220245 (13r), show inhibition of both IL-8 receptor binding and IL-8-mediated neutrophil chemotaxis.

A series of zinc–flavonolate complexes of the general formula [(L)Zn(R)]ClO4 (L = TPA (tris-2-(pyridylmethyl)amine)), 6-MeTPA (N,N-(6-methyl-2-pyridyl)methyl)bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine)), 6-Me2TPA (N,N-bis(6-methyl-2-pyridyl)methyl)(2-pyridylmethyl) amine), BPQA (bis(2-pyridylmethyl)(2-quinolinemethyl)amine), and BQPA (bis(2-quinolinemethyl)(2-pyridylmethyl)amine), R = FLH (flavonol), 4-MeOFLH (4-methoxyflavonol), and 4-MeOFLTH (4-methoxyflavothione)) have been prepared and characterised by X-ray crystallography, elemental analysis, FT-IR, ESI-MS, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. All the complexes can be induced to release CO by visible light (λmax ranges from 414 to 503 nm). The maximum absorption wavelength of the complexes followed the order 4-MeOFLTH > 4-MeOFLH > FLH. Exposure of the complexes to visible light under aerobic conditions results in oxidative C–C bond cleavage and almost quantitative CO release. Cytotoxicity tests showed that the complexes had a low toxicity to HeLa cells in the concentration range of 1 to 50 μM. These advantages indicate that the series of complexes are likely to be applied to biological systems.

To overcome the complex calculation and the interference vulnerability of traditional fault-diagnosis methods, this paper presents a fault diagnosis method for open-circuit faults of single converter device of the direct-driven permanent magnet wind power system on the basis of variable features of faulty current. The open-circuit fault of converters will seriously affect the operation of the direct-drive permanent magnet wind power system For improving the reliability of the converter system, this method which takes the current as diagnostic parameters, detects the fault occurrence based on the slope variation of the current Park vector phase, positions the motorside fault according to the range located by the Park's vector phase of the motor-side average current and determines the grid-side fault position in line with the current polarity of each grid-side phase. Hereafter, simulation models verify the accuracy and the reliability of the proposed scheme, and the robustness against the disturbance such as load mutation, grid voltage drop, etc.

Survival and differentiation of oligodendrocytes are important for the myelination of central nervous system (CNS) axons during development and crucial for myelin repair in CNS demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Here we show that death receptor 6 (DR6) is a negative regulator of oligodendrocyte maturation. DR6 is expressed strongly in immature oligodendrocytes and weakly in mature myelin basic protein (MBP)-positive oligodendrocytes. Overexpression of DR6 in oligodendrocytes leads to caspase 3 (casp3) activation and cell death. Attenuation of DR6 function leads to enhanced oligodendrocyte maturation, myelination and downregulation of casp3. Treatment with a DR6 antagonist antibody promotes remyelination in both lysolecithin-induced demyelination and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) models. Consistent with the DR6 antagoinst antibody studies, DR6-null mice show enhanced remyelination in both demyelination models. These studies reveal a pivotal role for DR6 signaling in immature oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination that may provide new therapeutic avenues for the treatment of demyelination disorders such as multiple sclerosis.

A strain of highly pathogenic duck hepatitis virus was isolated in south China from a Pekin duck flock in 1999. No cross reaction with type 1 and 3 duck hepatitis virus was found by serum neutralization. We suggested the strain should be classified as a new serotype of duck hepatitis virus and named it as DHV-N G strain in our previous study. We wanted to reveal the evolution of this virus in molecular level and gene sequence differences between it and DHV-1 strains.We used RT-PCR and 5'-/3'-RACE to amplify the complete genome sequence of DHV-N G strain and compared it with other picornaviruses.The genome of DHV-N G consists of 7774 nucleotides excluding a poly (A) tail of 12 nucleotides. It contains a single large open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 2251 amino acid residues. The length of 3' UTR of DHV-N G is 366 nucleotides, which is 52 nucleotides longer than that of DHV-1 C80 strain. Significant amino acid variation was found in the protein VP1, especially at the position of 140 - 221 comparing with DHV-1. The DHV-N G genome shares 72.8% - 73.4%, 96.3% - 96.5% and 78.3% similarity with DHV-1 strains, Korea's and Taiwanese DHV-N strains, respectively.The genome structure of DHV-N G strain is obviously different with that of DHV-1 strains. The homologies of genome among the DHV-N group are variable, therein DHV-N G strain is more homologous with Korea's strains than with Taiwanese.