Dysphagia is a condition that happens when a person cannot smoothly swallow food from the mouth to the stomach. It causes malnourishment in patients, or can even cause death due to aspiration ...pneumonia. Recently, more and more researchers have focused their attention on the importance of swallowing and respiration coordination, and the use of non-invasive assessment systems has become a hot research trend. In this study, we aimed to integrate the timing and pattern monitoring of respiration and swallowing by using a portable and non-invasive approach which can be applied at the bedside in hospitals or institutions, or in a home environment. In this approach, we use a force sensing resistor (FSR) to detect the motions of the thyroid cartilage in the pharyngeal phase. We also use the surface electromyography (sEMG) to detect the contraction of the submental muscle in the oral phase, and a nasal cannula to detect nasal airflow for respiration monitoring during the swallowing process. All signals are received and processed for swallowing event recognition. A total of 19 volunteers participated in the testing and over 57 measurements were made. The results show that the proposed approach can effectively distinguish the swallowing function in people of different ages and genders.
Abstract
Background
China is one of the world’s fastest-aging countries. Population aging and social-economic development show close relations. This study aims to illustrate the spatial-temporal ...distribution and movement of gravity centers of population aging and social-economic factors and thier spatial interaction across the provinces in China.
Methods
Factors of elderly population rate (EPR), elderly dependency ratio (EDR), per capita gross regional product (GRP
pc
), and urban population rate (UPR) were collected. Distribution patterns were detected by using global spatial autocorrelation, Kernel density estimation, and coefficient of variation. Further, Arc GIS software was used to find the gravity centers and their movement trends yearly from 2002 to 2018. The spatial interaction between the variables was investigated based on bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis.
Results
The results showed a larger variety of global spatial autocorrelation indexed by Moran’s
I
and stable trends of dispersion degree without obvious convergence in EPR and EDR. Furthermore, the gravity centers of the proportion of EPR and EDR moved northeastward. In contrast, the economic and urbanization factors showed a southwestward movement, which exhibited an reverse trend compared to population aging indicators. Moreover, the movement rates of EPR and EDR (15.12 and 18.75 km/year, respectively) were higher than that of GRP
pc
(13.79 km/year) and UPR (6.89 km/year) annually during the study period. Further, the bivariate spatial autocorrelation variation is in line with the movement trends of gravity centers which showed a polarization trend of population aging and social-economic factors that the difference between southwest and northeast directions and exhibited a tendency to expand in China.
Conclusions
In sum, our findings revealed the difference in spatio-temporal distribution and variation between population aging and social-economic factors in China. It further indicates that the opposite movements of gravity centers and the change of the BiLISA in space which may result in the increase of the economic burden of the elderly care in northern China. Hence, future development policy should focus on the social-economic growth and distribution of old-aged supporting resources, especially in northern China.
Sensitivity and pressure range are two significant parameters of pressure sensors. Existing pressure sensors have difficulty achieving both high sensitivity and a wide pressure range. Therefore, we ...propose a new pressure sensor with a ternary nanocomposite Fe
O
/C@SnO
. The sea urchin-like Fe
O
structure promotes signal transduction and protects Fe
O
needles from mechanical breaking, while the acetylene carbon black improves the conductivity of Fe
O
. Moreover, one part of the SnO
nanoparticles adheres to the surfaces of Fe
O
needles and forms Fe
O
/SnO
heterostructures, while its other part disperses into the carbon layer to form SnO
@C structure. Collectively, the synergistic effects of the three structures (Fe
O
/C, Fe
O
/SnO
and SnO
@C) improves on the limited pressure response range of a single structure. The experimental results demonstrate that the Fe
O
/C@SnO
pressure sensor exhibits high sensitivity (680 kPa
), fast response (10 ms), broad range (up to 150 kPa), and good reproducibility (over 3500 cycles under a pressure of 110 kPa), implying that the new pressure sensor has wide application prospects especially in wearable electronic devices and health monitoring.
Achieving the activation of drugs within cellular systems may provide targeted therapies. Here we construct a tumour-selective cascade activatable self-detained system (TCASS) and incorporate imaging ...probes and therapeutics. We show in different mouse models that the TCASS system accumulates in solid tumours. The molecules show enhanced accumulation in tumour regions via the effect of recognition induced self-assembly. Analysis of the molecular penetration in tumour tissue shows that in vivo self-assembly increases the penetration capability compared to typical soft or hard nanomaterials. Importantly, the in vivo self-assembled molecules exhibit a comparable clearance pathway to that of small molecules, which are excreted from organs of the reticuloendothelial system (liver and kidney), while are relatively slowly eliminated from tumour tissues. Finally, this system, combined with the NIR probe, shows high specificity and sensitivity for detecting bladder cancer in isolated intact patient bladders.
Intravesical administration of first‐line drugs has shown failure in the treatment of bladder cancer owing to the poor tumor retention time of chemotherapeutics. Herein, we report an intracellular ...hydrolytic condensation (IHC) system to construct long‐term retentive nano‐drug depots in situ, wherein sustained drug release results in highly efficient suppression of bladder cancer. Briefly, the designed doxorubicin (Dox)‐silane conjugates self‐assemble into silane‐based prodrug nanoparticles, which condense into silicon particle‐based nano‐drug depots inside tumor cells. Significantly, we demonstrate that the IHC system possesses highly potent antitumor efficacy, which leads to the regression and eradication of large established tumors and simultaneously extends the overall survival of air pouch bladder cancer mice compared with that of mice treated with Dox. The concept of intracellular hydrolytic condensation can be extended via conjugating other chemotherapeutic drugs, which may facilitate rational design of novel nanomedicines for augmentation of chemotherapy.
An intracellular hydrolytic condensation (IHC) system to construct long‐term retentive nano‐drug depots in situ is presented. Based on silicon particles, the nano‐drug depots are capable of sustained drug release, which results in highly efficient suppression of bladder cancer.
Environmental problems have always received immense attention from scientists. Toxicants pollution is a critical environmental concern that has posed serious threats to human health and agricultural ...production. Heavy metals and pesticides are top of the list of environmental toxicants endangering nature. This review focuses on the toxic effect of heavy metals (cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn)) and pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides) adversely influencing the agricultural ecosystem (plant and soil) and human health. Furthermore, heavy metals accumulation and pesticide residues in soils and plants have been discussed in detail. In addition, the characteristics of contaminated soil and plant physiological parameters have been reviewed. Moreover, human diseases caused by exposure to heavy metals and pesticides were also reported. The bioaccumulation, mechanism of action, and transmission pathways of both heavy metals and pesticides are emphasized. In addition, the bioavailability in soil and plant uptake of these contaminants has also been considered. Meanwhile, the synergistic and antagonistic interactions between heavy metals and pesticides and their combined toxic effects have been discussed. Previous relevant studies are included to cover all aspects of this review. The information in this review provides deep insights into the understanding of environmental toxicants and their hazardous effects.
The past decades have witnessed hyperthermia therapy (HTT) as an emerging strategy against malignant tumors. Nanomaterial‐based photothermal therapy (PTT) and magnetic hyperthermia (MHT), as highly ...effective and noninvasive treatment models, offer advantages over other strategies in the treatment of different types of tumors. However, both PTT and MHT cannot completely cure cancer due to recurrence and distal metastasis. In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has attracted widespread attention owing to its capability to activate the body's own natural defense to identify, attack, and eradicate cancer cells. Significant efforts have been devoted to studying the activated immune responses caused by hyperthermia‐ablated tumors. In this article, the synergistic mechanism of HTT in immunotherapy, including immunogenic cell death and reversal of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment is discussed. The reports of the combination of HTT or HTT‐based multimodal therapy with immunotherapy, including immunoadjuvant exploitation, immune checkpoint blockade therapy, and adoptive cellular immunotherapy are summarized. As highlighted, these strategies could achieve synergistically enhanced therapeutic outcomes against both primary tumors and metastatic lesions, prevent cancer recurrence, and prolong the survival period. Finally, current challenges and prospective developments in HTT‐synergized immunotherapy are also reviewed.
Nanomaterial‐based hyperthermia therapy (HTT) including photothermal therapy and magnetic hyperthermia can not only ablate different types of primary tumors, but also sensitize tumors to create a highly immunogenic tumor microenvironment for immunotherapy to further fight against cancer metastasis and recurrence. Hence, such an HTT‐synergized immunotherapy approach offers a powerful method for curing cancer completely.
Here, we report that boric acid is used to tune the optical properties of lanthanide metal–organic frameworks (LMOFs) for dual-fluorescence emission and improves the selectivity of LMOFs for the ...determination of F– ions. The LMOFs are prepared with 5-boronoisophthalic acid (5-bop) and Eu3+ ions as the precursors. Emission mechanism study indicates that 5-bop is excited with UV photons to produce its triplet state, which then excites Eu3+ ions for their red emission. This is the general story of the antenna effect, but electron-deficient boric acid decreases the energy transfer efficiency from the triplet state of 5-bop to Eu3+ ions, so dual emission from both 5-bop and Eu3+ ions is efficiently excited at the single excitation of 275 nm. Moreover, boric acid is used to identify fluoride specifically as a free accessible site. The ratiometric fluorescent detection of F– ions is validated with the dual emission at single excitation. The LMOFs are very monodisperse, so the determination of aqueous F– ions is easily achieved with high selectivity and a low detection limit (2 μM). For the first time, we reveal that rational selection of functional ligands can improve the sensing efficiency of LMOFs through tuning their optical property and enhancing the selectivity toward targets.
Precise and effective manipulation of protein functions still faces tremendous challenges. Herein we report a programmable peptide molecule, consisted of targeting and self‐assembly modules, that ...enables specific and highly efficient assembly governed by targeting receptor proteins. Upon binding to the cell membrane receptor, peptide conformation is somewhat stabilized along with decreased self‐assembly activation energy, promoting peptide‐protein complex oligomerization. We first design a GNNQQNY‐RGD peptide (G7‐RGD) to recognize integrin αVβ3 receptor for proof‐of‐concept study. In the presence of αVβ3 protein, the critical assembly concentration of free G7‐RGD decreases from 525 to 33 μM and the resultant G7‐RGD cluster drives integrin receptor oligomerization. Finally, a bispecific assembling peptide antiCD3‐G7‐RGD is rationally designed for cancer immunotherapy, which validates CD3 oligomerization and concomitant T cell activation, leading to T cell‐mediated cancer cell cytolysis.
The construction of a bispecific T‐cell engager (BiTE)‐like molecule is proposed. The peptide consists of dual CD3 and integrin αvβ3 targeting sequence, conjugated by a self‐assembling peptide. The molecule is designed to target the CD3 receptor on T cells and induce T cell‐mediated cytolysis against tumor cells overexpressing integrin αvβ3.
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