Bioartificial liver and hepatocyte transplantation is anticipated to supply a temporary metabolic support for candidates of liver transplantation or for patients with fulminant liver failure. An ...essential restriction of this form is the inability to acquire an enough amount of hepatocytes. Enhancement of the proliferation and differentiated function of hepatocytes is becoming a pursued target. Here, porcine hepatocytes were successfully immobilized on nano-sized gold colloid particles to construct a ‘‘hepatocyte/gold colloid” interface at which hepatocytes can be quickly proliferated. The properties of this resulting interface were characterized and confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The proliferative mechanism of hepatocytes was also discussed. The poliferated hepatocytes could be applied to the clinic based on their excellent functions for the synthesis of protein, glucose and urea as well as lower lactate dehydrogenase release.
We designed a THz matematerial absorber using metallic wires (MWs) and split resonant rings (SRRs). This matematerial absorber exhibits perfect absorption which up to 96% at 4.03 THz and is capable ...of wrapped around objects because of flexible polyimide dielectric substrate.
The role of statin therapy in the development of kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) remains uncertain. We aimed to determine the relationships between statin initiation and ...kidney outcomes in patients with type 2 DM.
Through a new-user design, we conducted a multicentre retrospective cohort study using the China Renal Data System database (which includes inpatient and outpatient data from 19 urban academic centres across China). We included patients with type 2 DM who were aged 40 years or older and admitted to hospital between Jan. 1, 2000, and May 26, 2021, and excluded those with pre-existing chronic kidney disease and those who were already on statins or without follow-up at an affiliated outpatient clinic within 90 days after discharge. The primary exposure was initiation of a statin. The primary outcome was the development of diabetic kidney disease (DKD), defined as a composite of the occurrence of kidney dysfunction (estimated glomerular filtration rate eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m
and > 25% decline from baseline) and proteinuria (a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio ≥ 30 mg/g and > 50% increase from baseline), sustained for at least 90 days; secondary outcomes included development of kidney function decline (a sustained > 40% decline in eGFR). We used Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate the relationships between statin initiation and kidney outcomes, as well as to conduct subgroup analyses according to patient characteristics, presence or absence of dyslipidemia, and pattern of dyslipidemia. For statin initiators, we explored the association between different levels of lipid control and outcomes. We conducted analyses using propensity overlap weighting to balance the participant characteristics.
Among 7272 statin initiators and 12 586 noninitiators in the weighted cohort, statin initiation was associated with lower risks of incident DKD (hazard ratio HR 0.72, 95% confidence interval CI 0.62-0.83) and kidney function decline (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.44-0.81). We obtained similar results to the primary analyses for participants with differing patterns of dyslipidemia, those prescribed different statins, and after stratification according to participant characteristics. Among statin initiators, those with intensive control of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (< 1.8 mmol/L) had a lower risk of incident DKD (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.32-0.81) than those with inadequate lipid control (LDL-C ≥ 3.4 mmol/L).
For patients with type 2 DM admitted to and followed up in academic centres, statin initiation was associated with a lower risk of kidney disease development, particularly in those with intensive control of LDL-C. These findings suggest that statin initiation may be an effective and reasonable approach for preventing kidney disease in patients with type 2 DM.
In the outer radiation belt, localized ultralow frequency (ULF) waves can interact with energetic electrons by drift resonance, leading to quasiperiodic oscillations. The oscillations in the pitch ...angle spectrum can be characterized by either boomerang‐shaped or straight stripes. Previous studies have shown that boomerang‐shaped stripes evolve from straight ones when electrons drift away from the localized wave interaction region. Based on the time‐of‐flight technique on the pitch angle‐dependent drift velocity, the origin can be remotely identified from the pitch angle dispersion. We report 27 straight stripe events and 86 boomerang‐shaped events observed by Van Allen Probes from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2017. Statistical study shows a good coincidence between the locations of straight ones and traceback regions from boomerang‐shaped ones. These locations, mainly located in noon‐to‐dusk region, coincide well with the plasmaspheric plumes. Thus, localized ULF waves trapped in the plume may result in the preference of localized ULF wave‐electron interactions at noon‐to‐dusk region.
Plain Language Summary
In the outer radiation belt, energetic electrons drift eastward with periods from minutes to hours, which coincide with ultralow frequency (ULF) waves. Thus, drift resonance can efficiently exchange energy between ULF waves and energetic electrons. Previous studies present that drift resonances can result in either straight or curved quasiperiodic stripes on the electron pitch angle (the angle between electron velocity and magnetic field) distributions. Curved stripes are thought to evolve from vertical ones due to the pitch angle‐dependence of drift velocities. Based on the time‐of‐flight technique, one can trace back from the curved stripes to the time and location of the expected straight ones, at which the drift‐resonant interaction takes place. In this study, we find 27 straight stripes and 86 curved stripes events observed by Van Allen Probes from 2013 to 2017. The traceback regions from these curved stripes events are mainly located at the noon to the duskside, coinciding with the locations of straight stripe events. These results suggest that the drift resonance between the localized ULF waves and energetic electrons occurs more frequently from the noon to the duskside. Most source regions coincide with the plasmaspheric plume, suggesting localized ULF waves are trapped in the plume.
Key Points
From 2013 to 2017, 86 “boomerang‐shaped” and 27 straight stripe events on electron PADs have been found from Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer observations
Traceback regions from “boomerang‐shaped” events coincide with the locations of straight ones, suggesting the evolution due to drift motion
Origins of both kinds of events are mainly located at noon‐to‐dusk region, suggesting preferential ultralow frequency wave‐electron drift resonance therein
Tritrichomonas suis, a tritrichomonad of pigs, and the related species
Tritrichomonas foetus, a tritrichomonad of cattle, are morphologically identical. The taxonomic relationship between these two ...tritrichomonads has been questioned ever since they were established as distinct species in 1843 and 1928, respectively. Here, we compare the similarities of morphology, ultrastructure, distribution, host specificity, characteristics of
in vitro cultivation, immunology, biochemistry and analysis of molecular data from published sources between these two species. All data indicate that these two tritrichomonad species are identical. Thus, we propose that
T. foetus and
T. suis are synonyms.
High-βp scenario addresses needs for an attractive tokamak fusion reactor design, where βp is the normalized plasma poloidal beta. High-βp experiments have been performed during recent years in the ...HL-2A tokamak. The high-performance region is realized by the integration of internal and external transport barriers which are dubbed as ITBs and ETBs, namely, double transport barriers (DTBs), with the high-power NBI heating. Generally, the ITB forms and becomes strong after the NBI injection on HL-2A. Subsequently, the edge ion temperature and toroidal rotation increase, as a result that the ETB or pedestal creates and L-H transition occurs. A high-βp (βp∼3) scenario is obtained with Ip∼110 kA and q95∼5, and another high-βp (βp∼2.7) scenario is also realized with Ip∼160 kA and q95∼4.2. The two high-βp scenarios are both characterized by a large-radius ITB and an ETB. However, the two scenarios are different. For the former there are strong large-radius ITB and weak ETB on radial ion temperature profiles, but for the later there are weak large-radius ITB and strong ETB. Although two high-βp scenarios on HL-2A have been accessed, however they are both transient. In addition, MHD instabilities in high-βp scenarios are also present for a high fusion gain and reactor relevant high fusion-density plasma.
•The high-performance region has been realized by the integration of ITB and ETB in the HL-2A tokamak.•High-βp scenarios are characterized by a large-radius ITB and an ETB.•There are many abundant MHD instabilities in high-βp high confinement plasmas.•Experiments to enhance βp will contribute to future plasma operation, such as ITER and CFETR.
The simultaneous entrapment of biological macromolecules and nanostructured silica-coated magnetite in sol−gel materials using a reverse-micelle technique leads to a bioactive, mechanically stable, ...nanometer-sized, and magnetically separable particles. These spherical particles have a typical diameter of 53 ± 4 nm, a large surface area of 330 m2/g, an average pore diameter of 1.5 nm, a total pore volume of 1.427 cm3/g and a saturated magnetization (M S) of 3.2 emu/g. Peroxidase entrapped in these particles shows Michaelis−Mentan kinetics and high activity. The catalytic reaction will take place immediately after adding these particles to the reaction solution. These enzyme entrapping particles catalysts can be easily separated from the reaction mixture by simply using an external magnetic field. Experiments have proved that these catalysts have a long-term stability toward temperature and pH change, as compared to free enzyme molecules. To further prove the application of this novel magnetic biomaterial in analytical chemistry, a magnetic-separation immunoassay system was also developed for the quantitative determination of gentamicin. The calibration for gentamicin has a working range of 200−4000 ng/mL, with a detection limit of 160 ng/mL, which is close to that of the fluorescent polarization immunoassay (FPIA) using the same reactants.
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