More than one fourth of primary caregivers report clinically significant distress during the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) process. Providing early support to primary caregivers ...could reduce caregiver distress and improve the quality of life. This study examined the effects of a three-stage caregiver support intervention designed to reduce caregiver distress and improve quality of life during pediatric HSCT hospitalization. A two-group comparative study was conducted with repeated measures. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group received the support intervention 5 days before the transplant, 14 days after transplant, and 1 week before hospital discharge. The control group received standard support provided in the hospital ward. Measures were obtained at all three time points from self-report questionnaires, which were related to anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and quality of life. Findings indicated that primary caregivers in the intervention group (n = 22) reported significantly lower levels of perceived stress and higher levels of quality of life than the control group (n = 23) at 14 days after transplant. In the intervention group, caregiver distress significantly decreased from pretransplant through 14 days after transplant, while over the same period caregiver quality of life significantly increased. The intervention effectively changed the trend of distress and quality of life for caregivers of children during the process of HSCT and hospitalization. The findings of this study suggest that it is important to provide early targeted interventions at critical junctures for caregivers at risk of adverse outcomes.
This study reports the deposition of cuprous oxide Cu
2
O onto titanium dioxide TiO
2
nanowires NWs prepared on TiO
2
/glass templates. The average length and average diameter of these thermally ...oxidized and evaporated TiO
2
NWs are 0.1 to 0.4 μm and 30 to 100 nm, respectively. The deposited Cu
2
O fills gaps between the TiO
2
NWs with good step coverage to form nanoshells surrounding the TiO
2
cores. The p-Cu
2
O/n-TiO
2
NW heterostructure exhibits a rectifying behavior with a sharp turn-on at approximately 0.9 V. Furthermore, the fabricated p-Cu
2
O-shell/n-TiO
2
-nanowire-core photodiodes exhibit reasonably large photocurrent-to-dark-current contrast ratios and fast responses.
This letter presents vapor-liquid-solid growth of β-Ga 2 O 3 nanowires (NWs) on cost-effective SiO 2 /Si template and the fabrication of β-Ga 2 O 3 NW field emitters. It is found that the β-Ga 2 O 3 ...NWs grown at 950 ° C are structurally uniform, defect free, and well-oriented with pure monoclinic structure. It is also found that turnon fields are 2.0, 3.9, and 5.8 V/μm whereas field-enhancement factors β are 1890, 2760, and 4489, for the samples grown at 850 ° C, 900 ° C, and 950 ° C, respectively. For the sample prepared at 950 ° C, it is found that we could further reduce the turnon field from 2 to 1.2 V/μm whereas enhance the field-enhancement factor β from 4489 to 6926 by ultraviolet irradiation.
InGaN/GaN multiquantum-well (MQW) metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors with a beta-Ga 2 O 3 cap layer formed by the furnace oxidation of a GaN epitaxial layer are fabricated and characterized. ...The beta-Ga 2 O 3 cap layer is found to suppress the reverse leakage current by at least about two orders of magnitude with a 5-V applied bias because it creates a thicker and higher potential barrier. The reverse leakage current can be further reduced and a 90-fold larger ultraviolet-to-visible rejection ratio can be achieved by using InGaN/GaN MQW layers, which confine the electron-hole pairs generated by lower-energy photons. In addition, the noise level is reduced and detectivity is increased. With a 5-V applied bias, the noise-equivalent power and normalized detectivity are 8.4 × 10 -13 W and 7.9 × 10 12 Hz 0.5 W -1 , respectively.
► Tilapia collagen was isolated. ► Subunit α1 and α2 were isolated by carboxymethylcellulose column chromatography using different elution methods. ► Basic properties of tilapia collagen and silver ...carp parvalbumin were compared. ► The IgE-binding activities of tilapia collagen and subunit α1, α2 were compared by ELISA.
Acid-soluble collagen (ASC) was isolated from the skin of tilapia (Tilapia zillii) via acetic acid (HAc) extraction and NaCl precipitation. ASC from tilapia consists of α chains (α1 and α2), β chains and γ chains and is classified as type I collagen. A comparison of the properties of tilapia collagen and silver carp parvalbumin showed that tilapia collagen was less stable under heat treatment and more resistant to pepsin digestion. Both tilapia collagen and silver carp parvalbumin were degraded at pH 2.0 but stable at pH 3.0–11.0. Subunits α1 and α2 were further purified from tilapia collagen by carboxymethyl (CM) cellulose column chromatography with linear gradient elution and stepwise elution, respectively. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblotting results demonstrated the specific IgE activity of different fish-allergenic patients’ sera towards the α1 and α2 chains of tilapia collagen. It can be inferred that tilapia collagen and its subunits are all potential allergens.
The effect of blend ratio and pH on the physical properties of surimi-gelatin composite films was investigated. Tensile strength (TS), film water solubility and soluble proteins of composite films ...increased with the increasing proportion of gelatin, while elongation at break (EAB) decreased. The TS of neutral films with the same ratio of surimi and gelatin were lowest, while increased at acidic or alkaline conditions. Similar tendency was also found in protein solubility and surface hydrophobicity of the film-forming solutions. On the other hand, the film water solubility and soluble proteins of neutral composite films were higher than those of acidic and alkaline films. Furthermore, it was revealed that the dissolved surimi and gelatin proteins could form strong composite films, which were insoluble in water. These results suggested that dissolved proteins were mainly involved in the formation of surimi-gelatin composite films.
A gelatinolytic metalloproteinase (gMP) from red sea bream (Pagrus major) skeletal muscle was highly purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation and column chromatographies including ...(diethylamino)ethyl (DEAE)-Sephacel, phenyl-Sepharose, and gelatin-Sepharose. Purified gMP revealed two bands with molecular masses of 52 and 55 kDa as estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate−polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS−PAGE) under reducing conditions. The 55 kDa band is quite possibly a glycosylated form of the 52 kDa band. The proteinase revealed optimal activity at 40 °C and pH 8.0. Metalloproteinase inhibitors including ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), ethylene glycol bis(2-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA), and 1,10-phenanthroline specifically suppressed its activity. gMP was also significantly inhibited by cysteine and dithiothreitol. Divalent metal ion Ca2+ is essential for its gelatinolytic activity. Thus, the proteinase is regarded as a matrix metalloproteinase-like proteinase. Furthermore, gMP hydrolyzed gelatin and type-I collagen effectively even at 4 °C, suggesting the possibility of its involvement in the texture tenderization of fish muscle during the post-mortem stage.
Three pepsinogens (PG1, PG2, and PG3) were highly purified from the stomach of freshwater fish rice field eel (
Monopterus
albus
Zuiew) by ammonium sulfate fractionation and chromatographies on ...DEAE-Sephacel, Sephacryl S-200 HR. The molecular masses of the three purified PGs were all estimated as 36 kDa using SDS–PAGE. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) showed that p
I
values of the three PGs were 5.1, 4.8, and 4.6, respectively. All the PGs converted into corresponding pepsins quickly at pH 2.0, and their activities could be specifically inhibited by aspartic proteinase inhibitor pepstatin A. Optimum pH and temperature of the enzymes for hydrolyzing hemoglobin were 3.0–3.5 and 40–45°C. The
K
m
values of them were 1.2 × 10
−4
M, 8.7 × 10
−5
M, and 6.9 × 10
−5
M, respectively. The turnover numbers (
k
cat
) of them were 23.2, 24.0, and 42.6 s
−1
. Purified pepsins were effective in the degradation of fish muscular proteins, suggesting their digestive functions physiologically.
The growth of CuO nanotubes on Cu/CuO/glass templates is reported. It was found that porous structures were formed at the interface between sputtered CuO film and Cu layer after annealing. The ...average length of the nanotubes and thickness of the porous structure both increased monotonically as we increased the initial thickness of the copper film. The CuO nanotubes were used to fabricate isopropyl alcohol (IPA) sensors. With a 5-V applied bias, the current became smaller as the IPA was injected into the sealed test chamber. Furthermore, the measured response was larger for the sensors with longer CuO nanotubes.
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