In the present study, silk fibroin was employed to regulate the mineralization of hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocrystals. The calcium phosphate crystals precipitated in the aqueous solution of silk fibroin ...at pH 8 and room temperature. The depositions collected at different reaction time were detected by X-ray diffraction analysis to investigate the mineralization process of calcium phosphate. The results indicated that fibroin protein could significantly promote the crystal growth of HA. The formed HA crystals were also studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The FTIR results revealed that the HA crystals are carbonate-substituted HA and compounded with fibroin. There are strong chemical interactions between HA and fibroin protein, which can be derived from the blue shift of amide II peak (from the position of 1517–1539cm−1). TEM images showed that the mineralized nanofibrils in the composites are rod like in shape with the diameter of about 2–3nm. Selected area electron diffraction patterns from the composites exhibit polycrystalline rings, which were well indexed as the HA phase with 002 preferential orientations.
One of the most promising approaches to reach a high gain in inertial confinement fusion is the fast ignition scheme. In this scheme, a relativistic electron beam is generated; this passes through ...the imploded plasma and deposits parts of its energy in the core. However, the large angular spread of the relativistic electron beam and the poorly controlled compression of the target affect realization of the fast ignition technique. Here, we demonstrate that indirectly driven (that is, driven by X-rays generated inside a gold hohlraum) implosions with a ‘high-foot’ and a short-coast time of less than 200 ps allow us to tightly compress the shell. Furthermore, we show the ability to optimize the symmetry of the imploding shell by changing the hohlraum length, successfully tuning a suitable tube-shaped shell to compensate for the large angular spread of the relativistic electron beam and to enhance the electron-to-core coupling efficiency via resistive magnetic fields. Benefiting from those experimental techniques, a significant enhancement in neutron yield was achieved in our indirectly driven fast ignition experiments. These results pave the way towards high-coupling fast ignition experiments with indirectly driven targets similar to those at the National Ignition Facility.Experiments realizing the indirect-drive fast ignition scheme for inertial confinement fusion are reported. Enabled by a tightly compressed target, an increase of neutron yield is observed.
A microbial community with the stable ability of effectively decomposing wheat stalks was constructed at room temperature under aerobic conditions by the method of restricted cultivation. The ...degradation ability of the microbial community shows that when performed in 100 mL improved CMC liquid medium, the depth and diamerer of the fluid level were 2 cm and 9 cm, it kept higher degradation efficiency with capability of decomposing straws of 66.1% during the initial six days. By the tenth day of decomposition, the degradation ratio was slowly up to 77.0%. Analysis of the components of wheat stalk (1.86 g) showed that the cellulose lost 0.78 g, hemicellulose lost 0.16 g and lignin lost 0.24 g. The composition diversity of the microbial community shows that 13 genera of microorganisms were identified by the technologies of clone library and isolation of pure strain. The results indicated that the dominate genera were Hydrogenophaga, Pseudomonas, Bacteroides and Clostridium taking up 78% in one hundred of positive
Objectives
This study aimed to determine the changing prevalence of five chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs)- hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary ...disease (COPD), and asthma— and its multimorbidity (refers to the co-existence of two or more chronic diseases in an individual) across socioeconomic spectra in rural southwest China.
Measurements
Two cross-sectional health interviews and examination surveys were conducted among individuals aged ≥35 years in rural China. An individual socioeconomic position (SEP) index was constructed using principal component analysis. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and post-bronchodilator spirometry tests were recorded for each participant.
Results
The mean age and proportion of men was 56.1 years and 48.4% in 2011, while was 56.6 years and 49.4% in 2021. From 2011 to 2021, the overall prevalence of hypertension, stroke and COPD increased from 26.1%, 1.1%, and 8.7% to 40.4%, 2.4%, and 12.8%, respectively (P < 0.01), while prevalence of CHD (2.1% vs. 2.2%) and asthma (1.4% vs. 1.5%) did not differ between the two study years (P > 0.05). The prevalence of NCDs multimorbidity increased from 2.3% to 9.7%, and was also observed among subgroups categorized by sex, age, ethnicity, level of education, income, and SEP (P < 0.01). In addition, the relative increases in the prevalence of multimorbidity were greater among men, old individuals, ethnic minorities, and those with low level of education and low SEP. Both in 2011 and 2021, ethnic minorities and individuals with lower level of education and low SEP had a higher prevalence of multimorbidity of the five studied chronic NCDs than their counterparts (P <0.01).
Conclusions
The prevalence of NCDs multimorbidity increased substantially across all socioeconomic gradients in rural southwest China. Future interventions to further manage NCDs and their multimorbidity must be tailored to address socioeconomic factors.
To investigate the effect of Xinxin Capsule on the scopolamine or ethanol induced impairment of learning and memory retention in mice.
Step-through and Morris Water-maze methods, wer used to the ...protective effect of Xinxin Capsule(0.4, 0.8, 1.6 g.kg-1, ig, 16 d) on the scopolamine or ethanol induced impairment of learning and memory retention in mice.
The Capsule(0.8, 1.6 g.kg-1, ig,) can turn over the Scope so as to induce the impairment of learning, and the Capsule((0.4, 0.8, 1.6 g.kg-1, ig) can improve the ethanol induced impairment of memory retention in mice.
Xinxin Capsule helps regain as well as impair the learning and memory retention in mice.
In 2013, China's government published the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) with a specific target for Beijing, which aims to reduce annual mean PM2.5 concentrations in ...Beijing to 60 µg m-3 in 2017. During 2013–2017, the air quality in Beijing was significantly improved following the implementation of various emission control measures locally and regionally, with the annual mean PM2.5 concentration decreasing from 89.5 µg m-3 in 2013 to 58 µg m-3 in 2017. As meteorological conditions were more favourable to the reduction of air pollution in 2017 than in 2013 and 2016, the real effectiveness of emission control measures on the improvement of air quality in Beijing has frequently been questioned.In this work, by combining a detailed bottom-up emission inventory over Beijing, the MEIC regional emission inventory and the WRF-CMAQ (Weather Research and Forecasting Model and Community Multiscale Air Quality) model, we attribute the improvement in Beijing's PM2.5 air quality in 2017 (compared to 2013 and 2016) to the following factors: changes in meteorological conditions, reduction of emissions from surrounding regions, and seven specific categories of local emission control measures in Beijing. We collect and summarize data related to 32 detailed control measures implemented during 2013–2017, quantify the emission reductions associated with each measure using the bottom-up local emission inventory in 2013, aggregate the measures into seven categories, and conduct a series of CMAQ simulations to quantify the contribution of different factors to the PM2.5 changes.We found that, although changes in meteorological conditions partly explain the improved PM2.5 air quality in Beijing in 2017 compared to 2013 (3.8 µg m-3, 12.1 % of total), the rapid decrease in PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing during 2013–2017 was dominated by local (20.6 µg m-3, 65.4 %) and regional (7.1 µg m-3, 22.5 %) emission reductions. The seven categories of emission control measures, i.e. coal-fired boiler control,clean fuels in the residential sector, optimize industrial structure,fugitive dust control, vehicle emission control,improved end-of-pipe control, and integrated treatment of VOCs, reduced the PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing by 5.9, 5.3, 3.2, 2.3, 1.9, 1.8, and 0.2 µg m-3, respectively, during 2013–2017. We also found that changes in meteorological conditions could explain roughly 30 % of total reduction in PM2.5 concentration during 2016–2017 with more prominent contribution in winter months (November and December). If the meteorological conditions in 2017 had remained the same as those in 2016, the annual mean PM2.5 concentrations would have increased from 58 to 63 µg m-3, exceeding the target established in the APPCAP. Despite the remarkable impacts from meteorological condition changes, local and regional emission reductions still played major roles in the PM2.5 decrease in Beijing during 2016–2017, and clean fuels in the residential sector, coal-fired boiler control, and optimize industrial structure were the three most effective local measures (contributing reductions of 2.1, 1.9, and 1.5 µg m-3, respectively). Our study confirms the effectiveness of clean air actions in Beijing and its surrounding regions and reveals that a new generation of control measures and strengthened regional joint emission control measures should be implemented for continued air quality improvement in Beijing because the major emitting sources have changed since the implementation of the clean air actions.
Current designs for microelectrodes used for interfacing with the nervous system elicit a characteristic inflammatory response that leads to scar tissue encapsulation, electrical insulation of the ...electrode from the tissue and ultimately failure. Traditionally, relatively stiff materials like tungsten and silicon are employed which have mechanical properties several orders of magnitude different from neural tissue. This mechanical mismatch is thought to be a major cause of chronic inflammation and degeneration around the device. In an effort to minimize the disparity between neural interface devices and the brain, novel soft electrodes consisting of elastomers and intrinsically conducting polymers were fabricated. The physical, mechanical and electrochemical properties of these materials were extensively characterized to identify the formulations with the optimal combination of parameters including Young's modulus, elongation at break, ultimate tensile strength, conductivity, impedance and surface charge injection. Our final electrode has a Young's modulus of 974 kPa which is five orders of magnitude lower than tungsten and significantly lower than other polymer-based neural electrode materials. In vitro cell culture experiments demonstrated the favorable interaction between these soft materials and neurons, astrocytes and microglia, with higher neuronal attachment and a two-fold reduction in inflammatory microglia attachment on soft devices compared to stiff controls. Surface immobilization of neuronal adhesion proteins on these microwires further improved the cellular response. Finally, in vivo electrophysiology demonstrated the functionality of the elastomeric electrodes in recording single unit activity in the rodent visual cortex. The results presented provide initial evidence in support of the use of soft materials in neural interface applications.
The moiré-pattern with slightly interlayer-twisted bilayer two-dimensional (2D) materials has recently been receiving substantial attention. One of the major characters for these intriguing ...structures is the appearance of low-energy ultra-flat bands and thus a package of new physics associated with strong electron correlation emerges. However, such new physics may become vague unless the twist-angle θ is sufficiently small such as θ ∼ 1°, making practical applications and control-flexibility hard to handle. In this work, we explore the possible flat-band moiré physics in recently concerned 2D bilayer α-In2Se3 which is antiferroelectric with sublayer out-of-plane (OP) polarizations, addressing the potential role of polarization-bound charges in modulation of electron–electron correlation and interlayer hybridization, based on the extensive first-principles calculations. On one hand, it is found that the low energy band becomes extremely flat in the bilayer α-In2Se3 moiré-pattern with relatively large twist-angle, e.g. θ = 13.17°, which is more easily accessible experimentally. On the other hand, the impact of the sublayer OP polarizations on the band structure is asymmetric, and the flattening effect is much more remarkable for the end-to-end polarization alignment but weaker for the head-to-head alignment. This work thus opens a broad roadmap for technological access to artificial fabrication of novel moiré-patterned 2D materials by means of low-dimensional ferroelectricity.
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