•Non-acceptance of HWDs presents as an obstacle for their wide application.•A theoretical HWD acceptance model was proposed by integrating UTAUT and TTF.•Consumer acceptance was affected by both user ...perceptions and the task-technology fit.•User perception factors included performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions.
Healthcare wearable devices (HWDs) enable continuous monitoring of consumers’ health signals and have great potential to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare. However, factors influencing consumer acceptance of HWDs are not well understood. Moreover, extant studies seem to fail to consider whether an HWD has appropriate functions to fit the requirements of consumers’ healthcare activities.
The objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a model by integrating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage of Technology (UTAUT) and Task-Technology Fit (TTF) models to understand how consumers accept HWDs.
A self-administered questionnaire was designed based on validated measurement scales. Data from 406 valid samples were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
The results indicated that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, and task-technology fit positively affected consumers’ behavioral intention to use HWDs, and together accounted for 68.0 % of its variance. Both task and technology characteristics were significant determinants of task-technology fit and exerted impacts on behavioral intention through the mediating roles of task-technology fit and effort expectancy.
The key findings showed that consumer acceptance of HWDs was affected by both users’ perceptions (i.e., performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions) and the task-technology fit. The theoretical and practical implications and contributions were provided for future researchers and practitioners to increase consumers’ use of HWDs in their healthcare activities.
Metrics commonly used to describe antibiotic efficacy rely on measurements performed on bacterial populations. However, certain cells in a bacterial population can continue to grow and divide, even ...at antibiotic concentrations that kill the majority of cells, in a phenomenon known as antibiotic tolerance. Here, we describe a form of semi-heritable tolerance to the key anti-mycobacterial agent rifampicin, which is known to inhibit transcription by targeting the β subunit of the RNA polymerase (RpoB). We show that rifampicin exposure results in rpoB upregulation in a sub-population of cells, followed by growth. More specifically, rifampicin preferentially inhibits one of the two rpoB promoters (promoter I), allowing increased rpoB expression from a second promoter (promoter II), and thus triggering growth. Disruption of promoter architecture leads to differences in rifampicin susceptibility of the population, confirming the contribution of rifampicin-induced rpoB expression to tolerance.
The variation of the vertical component distribution can significantly influence the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells (OSCs), mainly due to its impact on exciton dissociation and ...charge‐carrier transport and recombination. Herein, binary devices are fabricated via sequential deposition (SD) of D18 and L8‐BO materials in a two‐step process. Upon independently regulating the spin‐coating speeds of each layer deposition, the optimal SD device shows a record power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.05% for binary single‐junction OSCs, much higher than that of the corresponding blend casting (BC) device (18.14%). Impressively, this strategy presents excellent universality in boosting the photovoltaic performance of SD devices, exemplified by several nonfullerene acceptor systems. The mechanism studies reveal that the SD device with preferred vertical components distribution possesses high crystallinity, efficient exciton splitting, low energy loss, and balanced charge transport, resulting in all‐around enhancement of photovoltaic performances. This work provides a valuable approach for high‐efficiency OSCs, shedding light on understanding the relationship between photovoltaic performance and vertical component distribution.
High‐performance binary photovoltaic devices based on D18 and L8‐BO are constructed via manipulating the vertical component distribution in a sequential deposition (SD) process. After tuning the spin‐coating speeds of film deposition, the optimal SD device affords a record power conversion efficiency of 19.05% (certified, 18.9%) for binary single‐junction organic solar cells, much higher than that of the corresponding blend casting device (18.14%).
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the severest complications in the development of diabetes with a characteristic of intraretinal new vessel formation. Our present study attempts to probe into the ...involvement of Yes‐associated protein 1 (YAP1) in retinal microvascular endothelial cells (RMECs) and the underlying mechanism. The DR mouse model was induced by streptozotocin injection and a high‐glucose/high‐fat diet. After that, with the utilization of the Pearson's correlation analysis, the correlation between YAP1 and metastasis‐associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) was analyzed. The relationship between microRNA‐200b‐3p (miR‐200b‐3p) and MALAT1 or vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) was then validated. Finally, the cellular processes including the abilities of proliferation, migration, as well as tube formation, were evaluated after the alteration of YAP1, MALAT1, and miR‐200b‐3p expression. YAP1 was observed to be highly expressed in retinas from DR mice, which promoted the cellular processes of RMECs through upregulating the MALAT1 expression. It was further confirmed that MALAT1 could sponge miR‐200b‐3p, and miR‐200b‐3p directly targeted VEGFA. When YAP1 was silenced, the RMEC proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis in the retina of DR mice were reduced. From these data, we conclude that YAP1 may exert some promotive effects on the development of DR through its regulation of the MALAT1/miR‐200b‐3p/VEGFA axis, highlighting that YAP1 silencing may be instrumental for the therapeutic targeting of DR.
Yes‐associated protein 1 (YAP1) may exert some promotive effects on the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR) through its regulation of the metastasis‐associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1/microRNA‐200b‐3p/vascular endothelial growth factor A axis, highlighting that YAP1 silencing may be instrumental for the therapeutic targeting of DR.
Obesity-related insulin resistance is closely associated with macrophage accumulation and subsequent cytokine release in local tissues. Sirtuin 6 (Sirt6) is known to exert an anti-inflammatory ...function, but its role in macrophages in the context of obesity has not been investigated. We generated myeloid-specific Sirt6 knockout (mS6KO) mice and investigated the metabolic characteristics after high-fat diet (HFD) feeding for 16 weeks. Compared with their wild-type littermates, HFD-fed mS6KO mice exhibited greater increases in body weight, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, hepatic steatosis, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance. Gene expression, histology, and flow cytometric analyses demonstrated that liver and adipose tissue inflammation were elevated in HFD-fed mS6KO mice relative to wild type, with a greater accumulation of F4/80
CD11b
CD11c
adipose tissue macrophages. Myeloid Sirt6 deletion facilitated proinflammatory M1 polarization of bone marrow macrophages and augmented the migration potential of macrophages toward adipose-derived chemoattractants. Mechanistically, Sirt6 deletion in macrophages promoted the activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and endogenous production of interleukin-6, which led to STAT3 activation and the positive feedback circuits for NF-κB stimulation; this cross talk expedited an M1 polarization. We conclude that Sirt6 in macrophages is required for the prevention of obesity-associated tissue inflammation and insulin resistance.
I investigate whether a rural household's aversion to commodity price volatility drives out‐migration. Adapting the standard agricultural household framework, I model a rural household's migration ...decision making under uncertainty in commodity prices and migrant wages. Empirical results indicate that a greater household‐level aversion to price risk is significantly related to a higher likelihood of out‐migration. Moreover, the significant relationship between aversion to price risk and migration is more pronounced in villages that lack daily markets and food aid, implying that the negative welfare effects of food price volatility may be amplified by underdeveloped market mechanisms and poor local infrastructure. A battery of robustness checks and falsification tests provide strong suggestive evidence to conclude that migration is a household strategy to manage price risk. This article is among the first to highlight the link between price risk and migration, and complements the literature on income risk and migration.
This work reports the refinement of nanoporous copper (NPC) ligaments by introducing the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant in the dealloying process. The Al
80
Cu
20
(at%) alloy precursor is ...chemically dealloyed in a mixed solution of NaOH and SDS surfactant, producing NPC with a hierarchical microstructure. Micron-scaled skeletons that build up higher level networks consist of geometrically similar nano-scaled bi-continuous ligament-pore networks at the lower level. It has been found that the size of the ligaments in the lower level networks reduces from ∼32 nm to ∼24 nm with increasing SDS concentration to 1 mM. Further increasing the SDS concentration to 5 mM only leads to a slight ligament size decrease to ∼21 nm. Remarkably, nano-sized cones are formed on the lower level network surface in the dealloying solution containing 1 mM SDS, and the cone number greatly rises when the SDS concentration increases to 5 mM. The surface diffusivity of Cu adatoms is evaluated based on the experimental data, and the refinement of the ligament as well as the formation of cones are associated with the decreased surface diffusivity and the retarded Cu adatom motions with the addition of SDS. Quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations are performed to model the adsorption behavior of SDS. It has been found that the SDS-substrate interaction increases with the number of SDS molecules before SDS reaches saturation.
Nanoporous copper (NPC) is fabricated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-mediated dealloying. SDS adsorbs on alloy surfaces and suppresses adatom diffusivity and thus refines the ligaments. SDS-alloy interactions are modeled by MD simulations.
Current influenza vaccines do not provide broad cross-protection. Here, we report that intranasal vaccination with virus-like particles containing the highly conserved multiple ectodomains of matrix ...protein 2 (M2e5x VLP) of influenza virus induces broad cross-protection by M2-specific humoral and cellular immune responses. M2e5x VLP intranasal vaccination prevented severe weight loss, attenuated inflammatory cytokines and cellular infiltrates, and lowered viral loads, and induced germinal center phenotypic B and plasma cells. In addition, depletion studies demonstrate the protective roles of CD4 and CD8 T cells induced by M2e5x VLP intranasal vaccination. Thus, this study provides evidence that mucosal delivery of M2e5x VLP vaccine provides cross-protection by inducing humoral and cellular immune responses.
Flexible sensor technologies have gained extensive interest in recent years owing to the increasing demands of wearable electronics. Here, the authors propose a flexible strain sensor with enhanced ...sensitivity by designing a new sensing approach for strain detection. The sensing approach uses an over‐balanced planar elastomer (OBPE) inspired by Kirigami‐like auxetic structure for stretchable sensing. The OBPE substrate is designed and fabricated with four polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) supporting beam embedded into Ecoflex elastomer to realize auxetic characteristics. The auxetic characteristics induce the sensing region of the sensor to expand in directions both along and orthogonally to the stretch loading. Consequently, the local disconnections of the electrically linked paths composed of multi‐wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in the sensing region are enhanced. Gauge factor of the OBPE strain sensor is improved up to 6 times higher than the typical strain sensor without OBPE architecture. Therefore, the enhanced sensor outputs the stronger electrical signals than the typical sensor in perceiving human motions. Moreover, the two‐step casting fabrication is a low‐cost process and suitable for large volume manufacturing. In addition, as this sensing method is independent of the constituent conductive materials, it has the potential to be further employed for developing other stretchable strain sensors.
The authors propose a flexible strain sensor with enhanced sensitivity by designing a new sensing approach for strain detection. The sensing approach uses an over‐balanced planar elastomer (OBPE) inspired by auxetic structure for stretchable sensing. Gauge factor of the OBPE strain sensor is improved up to 6 times higher than the typical strain sensor without OBPE architecture.
Lactobacillus plantarum DK119 (DK119) isolated from the fermented Korean cabbage food was used as a probiotic to determine its antiviral effects on influenza virus. DK119 intranasal or oral ...administration conferred 100% protection against subsequent lethal infection with influenza A viruses, prevented significant weight loss, and lowered lung viral loads in a mouse model. The antiviral protective efficacy was observed in a dose and route dependent manner of DK119 administration. Mice that were treated with DK119 showed high levels of cytokines IL-12 and IFN-γ in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, and a low degree of inflammation upon infection with influenza virus. Depletion of alveolar macrophage cells in lungs and bronchoalveolar lavages completely abrogated the DK119-mediated protection. Modulating host innate immunity of dendritic and macrophage cells, and cytokine production pattern appeared to be possible mechanisms by which DK119 exhibited antiviral effects on influenza virus infection. These results indicate that DK119 can be developed as a beneficial antiviral probiotic microorganism.
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