In this work, we proposed a facile approach to fabricate a superhydrophobic surface for anti-icing performance in terms of adhesive strength and freezing time. A hierarchical structure was generated ...on as-received Al plates using a wet etching method and followed with a low energy chemical compound coating. Surfaces after treatment exhibited the great water repellent properties with a high contact angle and extremely low sliding angle. An anti-icing investigation was carried out by using a custom-built apparatus and demonstrated the expected low adhesion and freezing time for icephobic applications. In addition, we proposed a model for calculating the freezing time. The experimented results were compared with theoretical calculation and demonstrated the good agreement, illustrating the importance of theoretical contribution in design icephobic surfaces. Therefore, this study provides a guideline for the understanding of icing phenomena and designing of icephobic surfaces.
With over 1 million incidence cases and more than 780,000 deaths in 2018, gastric cancer (GC) was ranked as the 5th most common cancer and the 3rd leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Though ...several biomarkers, including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4), have been identified, their diagnostic accuracies were modest. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cells derived from tumors and present in body fluids, have recently emerged as promising biomarkers, diagnostically and prognostically, of cancers, including GC. In this review, we present the landscape of CTCs from migration, to the presence in circulation, biologic properties, and morphologic heterogeneities. We evaluated clinical implications of CTCs in GC patients, including diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic management, as well as their application in immunotherapy. On the one hand, major challenges in using CTCs in GC were analyzed, from the differences of cut-off values of CTC positivity, to techniques used for sampling, storage conditions, and CTC molecular markers, as well as the unavailability of relevant enrichment and detection techniques. On the other hand, we discussed future perspectives of using CTCs in GC management and research, including the use of circulating tumor microembolies; of CTC checkpoint blockade in immunotherapy; and of organoid models. Despite the fact that there are remaining challenges in techniques, CTCs have potential as novel biomarkers and/or a non-invasive method for diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment monitoring of GC, particularly in the era of precision medicine.
Although previous studies showed that biochar can mitigate methane emissions through microbial activities from paddy fields, little is known about its effects on salt-affected soil. The current study ...aims to examine the interactive effect of biochar and cow manure (CM) on (1) methane emissions from salt-affected soil and (2) methanogenic and methanotrophic activities to identify potential mechanisms for the emissions. A two-factor pot experiment was set up, following a randomized complete block design with four replicates. Paddy rice (Oryza sativa L.) was grown on six treatments (no CM + no biochar; no CM + rice husk biochar; no CM + rice straw biochar; CM + no biochar; CM + rice husk biochar; CM + rice straw biochar). Methane emissions from salt-affected soil were relatively low and CM addition significantly increased CH4 emissions (by 801%). For the CM treatments, biochar addition significantly reduced methane emissions (by 28 to 680%), but for the non-CM treatments, biochar addition showed no clear effect. The increase in methane emissions by CM could be involved in the improved relative abundance of methanogenic and methanotrophic genes. In contrast, the reduction of methane emissions by biochar was likely related to the reduced abundance of methanogenic and increased that of methanotrophic genes. In brief, low methane emissions from salt-affected soil were increased by CM addition and biochar addition could mitigate the CM's effect. Balancing methanogenic and methanotrophic activities could serve as a major mechanism in determining methane emissions from salt-affected soil added with cow manure and biochar.
•Cow manure addition increased methane emissions from paddy salt-affected soil.•Biochar addition mitigated methane emissions from cow manure-added soil.•Biochar reduced activities of methanogens while increased those of methanotrophs.•Balancing methanogenic and methanotrophic activities could serve as the main mechanism.
The current study was conducted to (1) examine seasonal and spatial distribution of heavy metals and metalloid in sediment from the Saigon River and (2) apportion and quantify their pollution ...sources. Ninety-six sediment samples were taken in the rainy and dry season on 13 sampling sites, distributed over the lower reaches of the River, to analyze for exchangeable concentration of 11 heavy metals and metalloid (Al, B, Cd, Co, Fe, In, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn), pH, EC, organic carbon content, and particle-size distribution. Generally, the concentration of 11 elements was ranked in the order Mn > Al > Fe > Zn > Sr > In > B > Ni > Co > Pb > Cd. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped 13 sampling sites into two parts based on the similar concentration of the 11 elements. Three-way analysis of variance showed that the total exchangeable concentration of 11 elements was significantly higher in the rainy season than in the dry season and in the upper part than in the lower part of the river. Principal component analysis/factor analysis and correlation analysis revealed that three pollution sources (PS) may contribute to enriching the 11 examined elements in the sediment. These sources included (PS1) from catchment through water erosion over natural areas, explaining 83%, (PS2) mixed sources from catchment through water erosion over agricultural fields and inside Ho Chi Minh City, accounting for 6%, and (PS3) mixed sources from lowland areas, explaining 7.8% of the total variance of the elements. In brief, the sediment concentration of 11 metals and metalloid varied with season and space and three major pollution sources from river catchment, inside Ho Chi Minh City, and lowland contributively enriched the elements in the sediment of the River.
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•Sediment can serve as a sink/source of heavy metals (HM) for aquatic ecosystems.•11-HM concentrations in sediment from the Saigon River varied with season and space.•Rainy season had significantly higher concentration of 11 HMs than the dry season.•River catchment, inside Ho Chi Minh City, and lowland were major sources of 11 HMs.
Permethrin, 3-Phenoxybenzyl (1 RS)-cis,trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)- 2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate, has a wide range of applications like insecticide, insect repellent and prevents ...mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever and malaria in tropical areas. In this work, we develop a prominent monitoring method for the detection of permethrin pesticide using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) optical fibre substrates. The novel SERS-active optical fibre substrates were grown and deposited silver (Ag) nano-dendrites on the end of multi-mode fibre core by laser-assisted photochemical method. The characteristic of the Ag-nanostructures could be controlled by the experimental conditions, namely, laser illumination time. Ag nanoparticles optical fibre substrates and Ag nano-dendrites optical fibre substrates were prepared with laser illumination time of 3 min and 8 min, respectively. The achieved SERS-activity optical fibre substrates were tested with Rhodamine 6G aqueous solutions. We demonstrate that the SERS activity coupled with Ag nano-dendrites optical fibre substrate has higher Raman enhancement factor due to the creation of many of hot-spots for amplifying Raman signals. Besides, the stability and reproducibility of the Ag nano-dendrites optical fibre substrate were also evaluated with stored time of 1000 hours and relative standard deviation of less than 3%. The Ag nano-dendrite optical fibre substrate was selected for detection of permethrin pesticide in the concentration range of 0.1 ppm-20 ppm with limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.1 ppm and calculated limit of detection (LOD) of 0.0035 ppm, proving its great potential for direct, rapid detection and monitoring of permethrin.
In this study, we examine the anti-icing performance on the flexible slippery microstructure thin film in terms of adhesion strength, freezing time, and ice-repellent efficiency. Ecoflex was mixed ...with low surface tension lubricant to achieve the slippery property. Besides, a process of combining the dry etching and spin coating was used to generate a microstructure on the elastomer thin film. The anti-icing performance on the functionalized sample was then compared with the non-slippery substrates and demonstrated the advantages of the flexible slippery microstructure elastomer in all mentioned properties. In addition, a theoretical approach was used to predict the freezing time of a static droplet. This insight offers a new facile method and design of icephobic surfaces for outdoor applications.
•New facile method for the anti-icing approach by combining the microstructure with the lubricant infusing.•The Slippery Microstructure Ecoflex indicated the advantages in adhesive strength, freezing time, and ice-repellency.•A theoretical model has been proposed to predict the freezing time.
Background and Objectives: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy and affects approximately 10% of pregnant women worldwide. Understanding the impact ...of lifestyle changes on glycemic control in GDM is important for improving maternal and fetal outcomes and reducing the risk of diabetes in both the mother and child. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness as well as the factors affecting glycemic control by lifestyle changes in pregnant women with GDM. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at three hospitals in the Thai Binh Province from June 2021 to May 2022. All pregnant women at 24–28 weeks of gestation, aged 18 years or older, were enrolled. GDM was diagnosed according to the guidelines of the International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups. Lifestyle changes including diet and physical exercise were carried out for two weeks. The main outcome measured was successful glycemic control according to the 2018 ADA Recommendations for the Management and Treatment of GDM. Results: 1035 women were included and 20.2% diagnosed with GDM. After two weeks of lifestyle change intervention, 82.6% of the pregnant women with GDM had successful glycemic control. Pregnant women aged under 35 years had a 3.2 times higher rate of gestational glycemic control than those older than 35 (aOR = 3.22, p-value = 0.004). Women with a pre-pregnancy BMI of less than 25 had a higher rate of gestational glycemic control than those with a BMI of over 25 (aOR = 10.84, p-value < 0.001). Compared to women who had all three diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes, those with two diagnostic criteria and one criterion were 3.8 times and 3 times more likely to have successful blood sugar control (aOR = 3.78, p-value = 0.01 and aOR = 3.03, p-value = 0.03, respectively). Conclusion: Lifestyle changes can be an effective measure for achieving glycemic control in women with GDM. Healthcare providers should consider individualized treatment plans based on the specific needs of each patient.
Abstract
This study proposes a facile method for superhydrophobic and slippery-infused porous surfaces for water repellency and anti-icing purposes. Both adhesion force and time delaying were ...systematically investigated, showing their strong dependence on surface parameters and slipperiness. The uniform patterns of nanoscale textures inspired by rose leaf structure have been generated on silicon wafers using the plasma etching process. We believe the lower real contact area can play a dual role in the icing mechanism including reducing heat transfer and adhesion force attributed to the projected area. On the other hand, slipperiness plays an important role in reducing adhesion strength and preventing ice nucleation. The slippery superhydrophobic surface demonstrates outstanding in reducing the adhesion strength while documenting several times lower compared to bare Si, superhydrophobic Si, and slippery Si surfaces. In addition, the rational combination facilitates the efficient function after a number of test cycles, illustrating the mechanical anti-corrosion properties. The results lead to understanding the role of the icing process and designing the anti-icing structure.
Mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSNs), a sub-class of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), have recently been a growing concern among the academic community. MWSNs can improve network coverage quality ...which reflects how well a region of interest is monitored or tracked by sensors. To evaluate the coverage quality of WSNs, we frequently use the minimal exposure path (MEP) in the sensing field as an effective measurement. MEP refers to the worst covered path along which an intruder can go through the sensor network with the lowest possibility of being detected. It is greatly valuable for network designers to recognize the vulnerabilities of WSNs and to make necessary improvements. Most prior studies focused on this problem under a static sensor network, which may suffer from several drawbacks; i.e., failure in sensor position causes coverage holes in the network. This paper investigates the problem of finding the minimal exposure paths in MWSNs (hereinafter MMEP). First, we formulate the MMEP problem. Then the MMEP problem is converted into a numerical functional extreme problem with high dimensionality, non-differentiation and non-linearity. To efficiently cope with these characteristics, we propose HPSO-MMEP algorithm, which is an integration of genetic algorithm into particle swarm optimization. Besides, we also create a variety of custom-made topologies of MWSNs for experimental simulations. The experimental results indicate that HPSO-MMEP is suitable for the converted MMEP problem and performs much better than existing algorithms.
Targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) provides survival benefits to a majority of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, resistance to TKI almost always develops ...after treatment. Although genetic and epigenetic alterations have each been shown to drive resistance to TKI in cell line models, clinical evidence for their contribution in the acquisition of resistance remains limited. Here, we employed liquid biopsy for simultaneous analysis of genetic and epigenetic changes in 122 Vietnamese NSCLC patients undergoing TKI therapy and displaying acquired resistance. We detected multiple profiles of resistance mutations in 51 patients (41.8%). Of those, genetic alterations in EGFR, particularly EGFR amplification (n = 6), showed pronounced genome instability and genome-wide hypomethylation. Interestingly, the level of hypomethylation was associated with the duration of response to TKI treatment. We also detected hypermethylation in regulatory regions of Homeobox genes which are known to be involved in tumor differentiation. In contrast, such changes were not observed in cases with MET (n = 4) and HER2 (n = 4) amplification. Thus, our study showed that liquid biopsy could provide important insights into the heterogeneity of TKI resistance mechanisms in NSCLC patients, providing essential information for prediction of resistance and selection of subsequent treatment.
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