Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been one of the most attractive nanomaterials in biomedicine due to their unique physicochemical properties. In this paper, we review the state-of-the-art advances ...of AgNPs in the synthesis methods, medical applications and biosafety of AgNPs. The synthesis methods of AgNPs include physical, chemical and biological routes. AgNPs are mainly used for antimicrobial and anticancer therapy, and also applied in the promotion of wound repair and bone healing, or as the vaccine adjuvant, anti-diabetic agent and biosensors. This review also summarizes the biological action mechanisms of AgNPs, which mainly involve the release of silver ions (Ag+), generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), destruction of membrane structure. Despite these therapeutic benefits, their biological safety problems such as potential toxicity on cells, tissue, and organs should be paid enough attention. Besides, we briefly introduce a new type of Ag particles smaller than AgNPs, silver Ångstrom (Å, 1 Å = 0.1 nm) particles (AgÅPs), which exhibit better biological activity and lower toxicity compared with AgNPs. Finally, we conclude the current challenges and point out the future development direction of AgNPs.
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) represent an emerging technology in energy harvesting, medical treatment, and information technology. Flexible, portable, and self‐powered electronic devices ...based on TENGs are much desired, whereas the complex preparation processes and high cost of traditional flexible electrodes hinder their practical applications. Here, an MXene/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel TENG (MH‐TENG) is presented with simple fabrication, high output performance, and versatile applications. The doping of MXene nanosheets promotes the crosslinking of the PVA hydrogel and improves the stretchability of the composite hydrogel. The MXene nanosheets also form microchannels on surfaces, which not only enhances the conductivity of the hydrogel by improving the transport of ions but also generates an extra triboelectric output via a streaming vibration potential mechanism. The measured open‐circuit voltage of the MH‐TENG reaches up to 230 V even in a single‐electrode mode. The MH‐TENG can be stretched up to 200% of the original length and demonstrates a monotonical increasing relationship between the stretchable length and the short‐circuit voltage. By utilizing the MH‐TENG's outstanding stretchable property and ultrahigh sensitivity to mechanical stimuli, applications in wearable movement monitoring, high‐precision written stroke recognition, and low‐frequency mechanical energy harvesting are demonstrated.
A flexible and stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel encapsulated as electrodes is fabricated. Doping of MXene nanosheets into PVA can greatly promote the electrical properties of the TENG. Utilizing the TENG's outstanding stretchable property and ultra‐high sensitivity to mechanical stimuli, applications in wearable movement monitoring, high‐precision written recognition, and mechanical energy harvesting are demonstrated.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a prototype of lethal, chronic, progressive interstitial lung disease of unknown etiology. Over the past decade, macrophage has been recognized to play a ...significant role in IPF pathogenesis. Depending on the local microenvironments, macrophages can be polarized to either classically activated (M1) or alternatively activated (M2) phenotypes. In general, M1 macrophages are responsible for wound healing after alveolar epithelial injury, while M2 macrophages are designated to resolve wound healing processes or terminate inflammatory responses in the lung. IPF is a pathological consequence resulted from altered wound healing in response to persistent lung injury. In this review, we intend to summarize the current state of knowledge regarding the process of macrophage polarization and its mediators in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. Our goal is to update the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression of IPF, and by which, we expect to provide help for developing effective therapeutic strategies in clinical settings.
Organizational sustainability has become a critical challenge in the current era. This research purpose is to determine the impact of empowering leadership on conflict management and employees' ...performance for organizational sustainability. Furthermore, it also investigates the moderating impact of emotional stability on the relationship between empowering leadership, conflict management, and employee performance. Quantitative data for this research was collected from 512 middle-management-level employees from manufacturing firms in China. The partial least squares structural equation modelling results highlighted that empowering leadership positively impacts conflict management and employees' performance. Furthermore, the study showed that the organization's sustainability is possible with conflict management and employee performance when there is emotional stability. The theoretical grounding of this research closed a loop in the literature, and the findings are reliable for practice for organization sustainability.
Music performance action generation can be applied in multiple real-world scenarios as a research hotspot in computer vision and cross-sequence analysis. However, the current generation methods of ...music performance actions have consistently ignored the connection between music and performance actions, resulting in a strong sense of separation between visual and auditory content. This paper first analyzes the attention mechanism, Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), and long and short-term RNN. The long and short-term RNN is suitable for sequence data with a strong temporal correlation. Based on this, the current learning method is improved. A new model that combines attention mechanisms and long and short-term RNN is proposed, which can generate performance actions based on music beat sequences. In addition, image description generative models with attention mechanisms are adopted technically. Combined with the RNN abstract structure that does not consider recursion, the abstract network structure of RNN-Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) is optimized. Through music beat recognition and dance movement extraction technology, data resources are allocated and adjusted in the edge server architecture. The metric for experimental results and evaluation is the model loss function value. The superiority of the proposed model is mainly reflected in the high accuracy and low consumption rate of dance movement recognition. The experimental results show that the result of the loss function of the model is at least 0.00026, and the video effect is the best when the number of layers of the LSTM module in the model is 3, the node value is 256, and the Lookback value is 15. The new model can generate harmonious and prosperous performance action sequences based on ensuring the stability of performance action generation compared with the other three models of cross-domain sequence analysis. The new model has an excellent performance in combining music and performance actions. This paper has practical reference value for promoting the application of edge computing technology in intelligent auxiliary systems for music performance.
A long debate on the charge identity and the associated mechanisms occurring in contact‐electrification (CE) (or triboelectrification) has persisted for many decades, while a conclusive model has not ...yet been reached for explaining this phenomenon known for more than 2600 years! Here, a new method is reported to quantitatively investigate real‐time charge transfer in CE via triboelectric nanogenerator as a function of temperature, which reveals that electron transfer is the dominant process for CE between two inorganic solids. A study on the surface charge density evolution with time at various high temperatures is consistent with the electron thermionic emission theory for triboelectric pairs composed of Ti–SiO2 and Ti–Al2O3. Moreover, it is found that a potential barrier exists at the surface that prevents the charges generated by CE from flowing back to the solid where they are escaping from the surface after the contacting. This pinpoints the main reason why the charges generated in CE are readily retained by the material as electrostatic charges for hours at room temperature. Furthermore, an electron‐cloud–potential‐well model is proposed based on the electron‐emission‐dominatedcharge‐transfer mechanism, which can be generally applied to explain all types of CE in conventional materials.
Real‐time charge transfer in contact electrification (CE) is investigated quantitatively as a function of temperature via a triboelectric nanogenerator, revealing that electron transfer is the dominant process for CE between two inorganic solids. An electron‐cloud–potential‐well model is proposed for understanding all types of CE in conventional materials.
Adipocyte differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (BMSCs) instead of osteoblast formation contributes to age- and menopause-related marrow adiposity and osteoporosis. Vascular ...calcification often occurs with osteoporosis, a contradictory association called "calcification paradox". Here we show that extracellular vesicles derived from aged bone matrix (AB-EVs) during bone resorption favor BMSC adipogenesis rather than osteogenesis and augment calcification of vascular smooth muscle cells. Intravenous or intramedullary injection of AB-EVs promotes bone-fat imbalance and exacerbates Vitamin D3 (VD3)-induced vascular calcification in young or old mice. Alendronate (ALE), a bone resorption inhibitor, down-regulates AB-EVs release and attenuates aging- and ovariectomy-induced bone-fat imbalance. In the VD3-treated aged mice, ALE suppresses the ovariectomy-induced aggravation of vascular calcification. MiR-483-5p and miR-2861 are enriched in AB-EVs and essential for the AB-EVs-induced bone-fat imbalance and exacerbation of vascular calcification. Our study uncovers the role of AB-EVs as a messenger for calcification paradox by transferring miR-483-5p and miR-2861.
Background and Aims
Apolipoprotein A‐1 (ApoA‐1), the major apolipoprotein of high‐density lipoprotein, plays anti‐atherogenic role in cardiovascular diseases and exerts anti‐inflammation effect in ...various inflammatory and infectious diseases. However, the role and mechanism of ApoA‐1 in hepatic ischaemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury is unknown.
Methods
In this study, we measured ApoA‐1 expression in human liver grafts after transplantation. Mice partial hepatic I/R injury model was made in ApoA‐1 knockout mice, ApoA‐1 mimetic peptide D‐4F treatment mice and corresponding control mice to examine the effect of ApoA‐1 on liver damage, inflammation response and cell death. Primary hepatocytes and macrophages were isolated for in vitro study.
Results
The results showed that ApoA‐1 expression was down‐regulated in human liver grafts after transplantation and mice livers subjected to hepatic I/R injury. ApoA‐1 deficiency aggravated liver damage and inflammation response induced by hepatic I/R injury. Interestingly, we found that ApoA‐1 deficiency increased pyroptosis instead of apoptosis during acute phase of hepatic I/R injury, which mainly occurred in macrophages rather than hepatocytes. The inhibition of pyroptosis compensated for the adverse impact of ApoA‐1 deficiency. Furthermore, the up‐regulated pyroptosis process was testified to be mediated by ApoA‐1 through TLR4–NF‐κB pathway and TLR4 inhibition significantly improved hepatic I/R injury. In addition, we confirmed that D‐4F ameliorated hepatic I/R injury.
Conclusions
Our study has identified the protective role of ApoA‐1 in hepatic I/R injury through inhibiting pyroptosis in macrophages via TLR4–NF‐κB pathway. The effect of ApoA‐1 may provide a novel therapeutic approach for hepatic I/R injury.
Abstract
We present the fourth Open Gravitational-wave Catalog (4-OGC) of binary neutron star (BNS), binary black hole (BBH), and neutron star–black hole (NSBH) mergers. The catalog includes ...observations from 2015 to 2020 covering the first through third observing runs (O1, O2, O3a, and O3b) of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The updated catalog includes seven BBH mergers that were not previously reported with high significance during O3b for a total of 94 observations: 90 BBHs, 2 NSBHs, and 2 BNSs. The most confident new detection, GW200318_191337, has component masses
49.1
−
12.0
+
16.4
M
⊙
and
31.6
−
11.6
+
12.0
M
⊙
;
its redshift of
0.84
−
0.35
+
0.4
(90% credible interval) may make it the most distant merger so far. We estimate the merger rate of BBH sources, assuming a power-law mass distribution containing an additive Gaussian peak, to be
16.5
−
6.2
+
10.4
(
25.0
−
8.0
+
12.6
)
Gpc
−3
yr
−1
at a redshift of
z
= 0 (0.2). For BNS and NSBH sources, we estimate a merger rate of
200
−
148
+
309
Gpc
−3
yr
−1
and
19
−
14
+
30
Gpc
−3
yr
−1
, respectively, assuming the known sources are representative of the total population. We provide reference parameter estimates for each of these sources using an up-to-date model accounting for instrumental calibration uncertainty. The corresponding data release also includes our full set of subthreshold candidates.
Cellulose‐based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have gained increasing attention. In this study, a novel method is demonstrated to synthesize cellulose‐based aerogels and such aerogels are used ...to fabricate TENGs that can serve as mechanical energy harvesters and self‐powered sensors. The cellulose II aerogel is fabricated via a dissolution–regeneration process in a green inorganic molten salt hydrate solvent (lithium bromide trihydrate), where. The as‐fabricated cellulose II aerogel exhibits an interconnected open‐pore 3D network structure, higher degree of flexibility, high porosity, and a high surface area of 221.3 m2 g−1. Given its architectural merits, the cellulose II aerogel‐based TENG presents an excellent mechanical response sensitivity and high electrical output performance. By blending with other natural polysaccharides, i.e., chitosan and alginic acid, electron‐donating and electron‐withdrawing groups are introduced into the composite cellulose II aerogels, which significantly improves the triboelectric performance of the TENG. The cellulose II aerogel‐based TENG is demonstrated to light up light‐emitting diodes, charge commercial capacitors, power a calculator, and monitor human motions. This study demonstrates the facile fabrication of cellulose II aerogel and its application in TENG, which leads to a high‐performance and eco‐friendly energy harvesting and self‐powered system.
Cellulose II aerogels, with the features of high flexibility, porosity, and surface area, are integrated with triboelectric nanogenerators to yield green, sustainable energy harvesting, and sensing devices. By blending other natural polysaccharides to introduce electron‐donating and electron‐withdrawing groups, the performance of the cellulose II aerogel‐based triboelectric nanogenerators can be significantly improved and used for mechanical energy harvesting and motion monitoring.
PDF
