Lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) formed by the self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules in a solvent (usually water) have attracted increasingly greater attention in the last few decades, especially ...the lamellar phase (L
α
), the reversed bicontinuous cubic phase (Q
2
) and the reversed hexagonal phase (H
2
). Such phases offer promising prospects for encapsulation of a wide range of target molecules with various sizes and polarities owing to the unique internal structures. Also, different structures of mesophases can give rise to different diffusion coefficients. The bicontinuous cubic phase and the hexagonal phase have been demonstrated to control and sustain the release of active molecules. Furthermore, the structures are susceptible to many factors such as water content, temperature, pH, the presence of additives
etc.
Many researchers have been studying these influencing factors in order to accurately fabricate the desired phase. In this paper, we give a review of the characteristics of different structures of liquid crystalline phases, the influencing factors on the phase transition of liquid crystals and the relationship between structures of LLC and drug diffusion. We hope our review will provide some insights into how to manipulate in a controlled manner the rate of incorporating and transferring molecules by altering the structure of lyotropic mesophases.
Factors such as amphiphilic molecules , water content, temperature, pressure, light and magnetic field on the structures of LLCs.
A severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron subvariant, BA.2.86, has emerged and spread to numerous countries worldwide, raising alarm because its spike protein contains 34 ...additional mutations compared with its BA.2 predecessor
. We examined its antigenicity using human sera and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Reassuringly, BA.2.86 was no more resistant to human sera than the currently dominant XBB.1.5 and EG.5.1, indicating that the new subvariant would not have a growth advantage in this regard. Importantly, sera from people who had XBB breakthrough infection exhibited robust neutralizing activity against all viruses tested, suggesting that upcoming XBB.1.5 monovalent vaccines could confer added protection. Although BA.2.86 showed greater resistance to mAbs to subdomain 1 (SD1) and receptor-binding domain (RBD) class 2 and 3 epitopes, it was more sensitive to mAbs to class 1 and 4/1 epitopes in the 'inner face' of the RBD that is exposed only when this domain is in the 'up' position. We also identified six new spike mutations that mediate antibody resistance, including E554K that threatens SD1 mAbs in clinical development. The BA.2.86 spike also had a remarkably high receptor affinity. The ultimate trajectory of this new SARS-CoV-2 variant will soon be revealed by continuing surveillance, but its worldwide spread is worrisome.
How intestinal microbes regulate metabolic syndrome is incompletely understood. We show that intestinal microbiota protects against development of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and pre-diabetic ...phenotypes by inducing commensal-specific Th17 cells. High-fat, high-sugar diet promoted metabolic disease by depleting Th17-inducing microbes, and recovery of commensal Th17 cells restored protection. Microbiota-induced Th17 cells afforded protection by regulating lipid absorption across intestinal epithelium in an IL-17-dependent manner. Diet-induced loss of protective Th17 cells was mediated by the presence of sugar. Eliminating sugar from high-fat diets protected mice from obesity and metabolic syndrome in a manner dependent on commensal-specific Th17 cells. Sugar and ILC3 promoted outgrowth of Faecalibaculum rodentium that displaced Th17-inducing microbiota. These results define dietary and microbiota factors posing risk for metabolic syndrome. They also define a microbiota-dependent mechanism for immuno-pathogenicity of dietary sugar and highlight an elaborate interaction between diet, microbiota, and intestinal immunity in regulation of metabolic disorders.
Display omitted
•Commensal-induced Th17 cells regulate epithelial lipid absorption•Sugar and ILC3 increase Faecalibaculum rodentium to displace Th17-inducing bacteria•Microbiota-induced Th17 cells protect from diet-induced obesity and metabolic disease•Sugar eliminates commensal Th17 cells to increase the risk for metabolic disease
Sugar in mouse diets promotes metabolic disease by upsetting the gut microbial balance and driving loss of the Th17 cells that regulate lipid absorption by the intestinal epithelium.
A novel method of fabricating Ni/WC coatings by laser deposition with a tubular cored wire was proposed and the feasibility was demonstrated in this paper. The wire transfer behaviors with different ...wire-beam distances and processing parameters were observed via a high-speed camera. A process map was developed to elucidate the dependence of wire transfer modes on the different combinations of operating parameters. The effects of process parameters including laser power, scanning speed and wire feed rate on the track characteristics were investigated separately. The wire plunging transfer could be obtained at appropriate parameters when the wire tip was front fed and positioned to the leading region of the molten pool, which producing a continuous coating with minimal dilution, low contact angle, good surface quality and high content of retained ceramic particles.
•A 2D sample entropy method is proposed for 2D time series feature extraction.•The definition of distance d and tolerance r in the method are studied.•The method is utilized for magnetically ...suspended rotor axis orbit feature analysis and fault diagnosis.•The present study is designed to expound the effect of rotor fault diagnosis using 1D, VMD and 2D sample entropy.
Traditional sample entropy algorithms are limited in their inability to analyze two-dimensional (2D) time series. Here, we describe a new feature algorithm for 2D time-series complexity and signal classification. This is a 2D sample entropy algorithm that includes the definitions of distance d and tolerance r in the 2D sample entropy algorithm on 2D signal scale and the difference between 2D and 1D sample entropies. The effectiveness of this algorithm in characterizing 2D signals was verified through simulated signal analysis. Then, by combining the 2D sample entropy algorithm with ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms, we proposed a magnetically suspended rotor axis orbit feature identification and fault diagnosis method based on 2D sample entropy. This method was used to first perform EEMD of the 2D signals of a magnetically suspended rotor axis orbit to obtain several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). We then calculated the 2D sample entropies of each IMF, and finally input the two-dimensional sample entropy as 2D feature vectors separately into the SVM, neural network, and logistic regression to identify the features of a rotor axis orbit. Finally, we compared the 1D sample entropy and variational mode decomposition (VMD) sample entropy. A comparison of experimental results showed that the 2D sample entropy algorithm can be used to characterize 2D signals, identify the features of the rotor axis orbit based on typical 2D signals, and identify and classify the rotor axis orbits under different fault conditions. The performance of this algorithm in feature identification is remarkably superior to that of 1D and VMD sample entropy algorithms. The availability of online diagnosis of this method was verified via speed testing.
Supported nanoparticles (NPs) of nonplasmonic transition metals (Pd, Pt, Rh, and Ir) are widely used as thermally activated catalysts for the synthesis of important organic compounds, but little is ...known about their photocatalytic capabilities. We discovered that irradiation with light can significantly enhance the intrinsic catalytic performance of these metal NPs at ambient temperatures for several types of reactions. These metal NPs strongly absorb the light mainly through interband electronic transitions. The excited electrons interact with the reactant molecules on the particles to accelerate these reactions. The rate of the catalyzed reaction depends on the concentration and energy of the excited electrons, which can be increased by increasing the light intensity or by reducing the irradiation wavelength. The metal NPs can also effectively couple thermal and light energy sources to more efficiently drive chemical transformations.
An effective energy boost: Electrons in nonplasmonic transition‐metal nanoparticles absorb light energy by interband absorption (see picture) and drive a wide range of well‐established organic reactions with high efficiency at ambient temperatures.
Conjugated polymers (CPs) are a series of organic semiconductor materials with large π-conjugated backbones and delocalized electronic structures. Due to their specific photophysical properties and ...photoelectric effects, plenty of CPs with varied chemical structures and functions are quickly evolving in the diverse biomedical field, such as fluorescence imaging, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy,
etc.
In addition, the functionalized side chains of CPs could contribute to the expected water-solubility, biocompatibility, biological response,
etc.
CPs can also be prepared into nanoparticles for acquiring controllable particle size and dispersion through the common synthesis procedure. In this review, we focus on the latest developments of CPs in biotherapy, biological regulation, biological response and bioprinting applications. The major challenges and outlooks of CPs for applications in the biomedical field are also discussed.
This review highlighted some latest developments of conjugated polymers (CPs) in biotherapy, biological regulation, biological response and bioprinting applications, and also discussed the referred challenges and outlooks for biomedical applications.
Multispectral imaging is valuable in many vision-related fields as it provides an additional modality to observe the world. Cameras equipped with multispectral filter arrays (MSFAs) are typically ...impractical for everyday use due to their intractable demosaicking and chromatic reproduction processes, which restrict their applicability beyond academic research. In this work, a novel MSFA design is proposed to enable dual-mode imaging for multispectral cameras. In addition to a conventional multispectral image, the camera is also able to produce a Bayer-formed RGB image from a single shot by grouping and merging adjacent pixels in the proposed MSFA, making it suitable for scenarios where display-ready RGB images are required. Furthermore, a two-stage optimization scheme is implemented to jointly optimize objective functions for both imaging modes. The evaluation results on multiple datasets suggest that the proposed MSFA design is able to simultaneously achieve competitive spectral reconstruction accuracy compared to elaborate multispectral cameras and chromatic accuracy compared to commercial RGB cameras.
The work presented in this paper focused on the effects of laser remelting with varied laser energy densities from 800 J/mm to 1400 J/mm on the phase transformation and microstructural ...characteristics in the tungsten carbide nickel-based matrix composite (Ni-WC) tracks obtained by laser hot wire cladding. The microstructures of the as-deposited tracks fabricated by laser hot-wire deposition were mainly composed of spherical residual carbons, eutectic Ni/Ni3B, retained WC/W2C particles and the granular in situ W2C particles formed in the interdendritic regions of primary (Ni,Fe) dendrites. When the low laser energy densities of 800 J/mm and 1000 J/mm were applied, the dispersive W2C particles in the as-deposited tracks were dissolved, and the WC particles were successfully in situ synthesized and uniformly distributed in the remelted tracks. When the laser energy density was increased to 1200 J/mm, the feather-like M6C(Ni2W4C) carbides homogeneously precipitated in the remelted tracks. When the laser energy density was further increased to 1400 J/mm, the dissolution degree of the ex-situ WC/W2C particles was significantly increased, resulting in a remelted track with a relative low volume fraction of retained ceramic particles and a high dilution ratio of the base metal. In addition, the dendritic M6C(Fe3W3C) carbides were precipitated around the retained particles, and the eutectic M6C(Fe3W3C) carbides in the herringbone morphology were uniformly distributed in the matrix of the track remelted by a high laser energy density of 1400 J/mm. These experimental results confirmed that the homogenization of the in situ synthesized reinforcements in the tracks could be well realized by laser hot wire cladding and the subsequent laser remelting. The coatings remelted by the low energy densities (800 J/mm and 1000 J/mm) possessed higher wear resistance than that of the as-deposited coating, but the wear performance of the remelted coatings was decreased when the laser energy densities were increased to 1200 J/mm and 1400 J/mm.
•Homogenization of in situ synthesized carbides in Ni-WC coatings was well realized by laser remelting.•Phase transformation characteristics of the coatings were investigated in detail by laser remelting.•Tailoring the stable in-situ WC from metastable in situ W2C by laser remelting with a low energy input.•Phase changes from in situ W2C to WC and to M6C carbides with increasing laser energy of remelting.•Wear resistance of the coatings remelted by low energy densities (800 J/mm, 1000 J/mm) was increased.
Acute lung injury (ALI) is a serious lung disease. The apoptosis and inflammation of pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) are the primary reasons for ALI. This study aimed to explore ...the treatment effect and regulatory mechanism of bone mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-expos) on ALI. PMVECs were stimulated by Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to imitate ALI environment. Cell viability was determined by CCK-8 assay. Cell apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL and flow cytometry. ELISA was utilized for testing the contents of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-17. Western blot was applied for testing the levels of autophagy-related proteins LC3, p62, and Beclin-1. RNA interaction was determined by luciferase reporter assay. The ALI rat model was established by intratracheal injection of LPS. Evans blue staining was utilized for detecting pulmonary vascular permeability. Our results showed that LPS stimulation notably reduced cell viability, increased cell apoptosis rate, and enhanced the contents of inflammatory factors in PMVECs. However, BMSC-exo treatment significantly abolished the promoting effects of LPS on cell injury. In addition, we discovered that BMSC-exo treatment notably activated autophagy in LPS-induced PMVECs. Furthermore, BMSC-expos upregulated miR-26a-3p expression and downregulated PTEN in PMVECs. MiR-26a-3p was directly bound to PTEN. MiR-26a-3p overexpression reduced cell apoptosis, and inflammation and promoted autophagy by silencing PTEN. Animal experiments proved that miR-26a-3p overexpression effectively improved LPS-induced lung injury in rats. The results proved that BMSC-expos promotes autophagy to attenuate LPS-induced apoptosis and inflammation in pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells via miR-26a-3p/PTEN axis.
PDF
