Processing parameters effects on the morphology such as fiber diameter and its uniformity of electrospun polymer nanofibers was investigated. A processing map summarized effects of solutions ...properties and processing conditions on the electrospun nanofiber morphology was obtained. Polymer concentration, its molecular weight, electrical conductivity of solvents were found as dominant parameters to control the morphology. Based on the systematic parameter study, electrospun PLLA fibers as small as 9
nm were successfully produced.
Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) has emerged as a novel, non-invasive imaging modality that allows the detailed study of flow within the vascular structures of the eye. Compared to ...conventional dye angiography, OCTA can produce more detailed, higher resolution images of the vasculature without the added risk of dye injection. In our review, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this new technology in comparison to conventional dye angiography. We provide an overview of the current OCTA technology available, compare the various commercial OCTA machines technical specifications and discuss some future software improvements. An approach to the interpretation of OCTA images by correlating images to other multimodal imaging with attention to identifying potential artefacts will be outlined and may be useful to ophthalmologists, particularly those who are currently still unfamiliar with this new technology. This review is based on a search of peer-reviewed published papers relevant to OCTA according to our current knowledge, up to January 2017, available on the PubMed database. Currently, many of the published studies have focused on OCTA imaging of the retina, in particular, the use of OCTA in the diagnosis and management of common retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinal vascular diseases. In addition, we describe clinical applications for OCTA imaging in inflammatory diseases, optic nerve diseases and anterior segment diseases. This review is based on both the current literature and the clinical experience of our individual authors, with an emphasis on the clinical applications of this imaging technology.
The recent discovery of highly conductive solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) has led to tremendous progress in the development of all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs). Though promising, they still face ...barriers that limit their practical application, such as poor interfacial stability, scalability challenges and production safety. Additionally, efforts to develop sustainable manufacturing of lithium ion batteries are still lacking, with no prevailing strategy developed yet to handle recyclability of ASSBs. To date, most SSE research has been largely focused on the discovery of novel electrolytes. Recent review articles have extensively examined a broad spectrum of these SSEs using evaluation factors such as conductivity and chemical stability. Recognizing this, in this Review we seek to evaluate SSEs beyond conventional factors and offer a perspective on various bulk, interface and nanoscale phenomena that require urgent attention within the scientific community. We provide a realistic assessment of the current state-of-the-art characterization techniques and evaluate future full cell ASSB prototyping strategies. We hope to offer rational solutions to overcome some major fundamental obstacles faced by the ASSB community, as well as potential strategies toward a sustainable ASSB recycling model.
Summary Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare but often fatal brain disease caused by reactivation of the polyomavirus JC. Knowledge of the characteristics of PML has ...substantially expanded since the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy during the HIV epidemic and the development of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in patients with PML. Recently, the monoclonal antibodies natalizumab, efalizumab, and rituximab—used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, haematological malignancies, Crohn's disease, and rheumatic diseases—have been associated with PML. Additionally, the JC virus can also lead to novel neurological disorders such as JC virus granule cell neuronopathy and JC virus encephalopathy, and might also cause meningitis. The increasingly diverse populations at risk and the recent discovery of the presence of the JC virus in the grey matter invite us to reappraise the pathogenesis of this virus in the CNS.
Malignant ascites presents a considerable clinical challenge to the management of ovarian cancer, but also provides a wealth of opportunities for translational research. The accessibility of ascitic ...fluid and its cellular components make it an excellent source of tumour tissue for the investigation of prognostic and predictive biomarkers, pharmacodynamic markers and for molecular profiling analysis. In this Opinion article, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of its pathophysiology, the development of new methods to characterize its molecular features and how these findings can be used to improve the treatment of malignant ascites, particularly in the context of ovarian cancer.
Summary Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, and is classically divided into two major histological subtypes: non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung ...cancer (SCLC). Although NSCLC and SCLC are considered distinct entities with different genomic landscapes, emerging evidence highlights a convergence in therapeutically relevant targets for both histologies. In adenocarcinomas with defined alterations such as EGFR mutations and ALK translocations, targeted therapies are now first-line standard of care. By contrast, many experimental and targeted agents remain largely unsuccessful for SCLC. Intense preclinical research and clinical trials are underway to exploit unique traits of lung cancer, such as oncogene dependency, DNA damage response, angiogenesis, and cellular plasticity arising from presence of cancer stem cell lineages. In addition, the promising clinical activity observed in NSCLC in response to immune checkpoint blockade has spurred great interest in the field of immunooncology, with the scope to develop a diverse repertoire of synergistic and personalised immunotherapeutics. In this Review, we discuss novel therapeutic agents for lung cancer that are in early-stage development, and how prospective clinical trials and drug development may be shaped by a deeper understanding of this heterogeneous disease.
•Neuroscience and education have been argued to be two very separate fields.•This systematic review summarises the hyperscanning literature that investigated learning.•Inter-brain synchrony is ...associated with learning performance and other behavioral measures.•The second-person approach in neuroscience provides an additional and valuable dimension to understand learning in the classroom.
Whether education research can be informed by findings from neuroscience studies has been hotly debated since Bruer's (1997) famous claim that neuroscience and education are “a bridge too far”. However, this claim came before recent advancements in portable electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technologies, and second-person neuroscience techniques that brought about significant headway in understanding instructor-learner interactions in the classroom. To explore whether neuroscience and education are still two very separate fields, we systematically review 15 hyperscanning studies that were conducted in real-world classrooms or that implemented a teaching-learning task to investigate instructor-learner dynamics. Findings from this investigation illustrate that inter-brain synchrony between instructor and learner is an additional and valuable dimension to understand the complex web of instructor- and learner-related variables that influence learning. Importantly, these findings demonstrate the possibility of conducting real-world classroom studies with portable neuroimaging techniques and highlight the potential of such studies in providing translatable real-world implications. Once thought of as incompatible, a successful coupling between neuroscience and education is now within sight.
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