Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by high-titer serological autoantibodies, including antibodies that bind to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). The origin, specificity, and pathogenicity ...of anti-dsDNA antibodies have been studied from a wider perspective. These autoantibodies have been suggested to contribute to multiple end-organ injuries, especially to lupus nephritis, in patients with SLE. Moreover, serum levels of anti-DNA antibodies fluctuate with disease activity in patients with SLE. By directly binding to self-antigens or indirectly forming immune complexes, anti-dsDNA antibodies can accumulate in the glomerular and tubular basement membrane. These autoantibodies can also trigger the complement cascade, penetrate into living cells, modulate gene expression, and even induce profibrotic phenotypes of renal cells. In addition, the expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 is reduced by anti-DNA antibodies simultaneously with upregulation of profibrotic genes. Anti-dsDNA antibodies may even participate in the pathogenesis of SLE by catalyzing hydrolysis of certain DNA molecules or peptides in cells. Recently, anti-dsDNA antibodies have been explored in greater depth as a therapeutic target in the management of SLE. A substantial amount of data indicates that blockade of pathogenic anti-dsDNA antibodies can prevent or even reverse organ damage in murine models of SLE. This review focuses on the recent research advances regarding the origin, specificity, classification, and pathogenicity of anti-dsDNA antibodies and highlights the emerging therapies associated with them.
Low-bandwidth communication channels are used to support the information exchange between a microgrid centralized controller and local controllers in the secondary frequency control of an islanded ...microgrid. However, the impact of the inherent time delay in these communication channels on the microgrid performance has not been taken into account when the secondary frequency controller is designed. This paper investigates the effect of the communication delays on the secondary frequency control of an islanded microgrid with multiple distributed generators. A small-signal model-based method is introduced for the microgrid to find delay margins below which the microgrid can remain stable. By performing a series of trial studies, the relationships between secondary frequency control gains and delay margins are obtained. A gain scheduling approach is also proposed to compensate the effect of the communication delay on the secondary frequency control. Results from the Canadian urban distribution system have verified that communication delays can adversely affect the microgrid secondary frequency control, and the proposed gain scheduling approach can improve the robustness of the microgrid secondary frequency controller to communication delays.
In the past decades, nanotechnology has stimulated a huge amount of interest and is now used in numerous fields. Carbon nanomaterials, like graphene, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes, have attracted ...great attention for their widespread applications in diverse fields because of their excellent mechanical, optical, and thermal properties. With substantial production and use, potential human exposure to carbon nanomaterials is expected during the life cycle. To evaluate their biosafety, it is indispensable as a first step to quantify carbon nanomaterials in living organisms. In addition, it is essential to evaluate their interaction with biosystems, as the nano-bio interaction determines the nature and extent of toxic effects. This article reviews current research on techniques for quantifying carbon nanomaterials; dynamic processes including cellular uptake and exocytosis and the corresponding mechanisms; and interactions between cellular components and carbon nanomaterials. Recent biomedical applications of carbon nanomaterials are also described. To summarize, this review concludes with a comprehensive overview that summarizes the most important discoveries and progresses regarding three types of carbon nanomaterials and their derivatives.
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The in vivo detection of ascorbic acid (AA), one of the physiologically important cerebral neurochemicals, is critical to probe and understand brain functions. Electrochemical sensors are convenient ...for AA detection. However, conventional electrochemical sensors usually suffer from several challenges, such as sluggish electron transfer kinetics for AA oxidation and poor reproducibility. To address these challenges, here we report ratiometric electrochemical sensors for effective and reliable detection of AA in living brains. The sensors were constructed by immobilizing preassembled thionine/Ketjen black (KB) nanocomposites onto glassy carbon (GC) electrodes or carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMEs). The KB in the rationally functionalized nanocomposites efficiently facilitated AA oxidation at a relatively negative potential (∼-0.14 V) without particular physical or chemical pretreatment, forming the basis of selective measurement of AA. With a well-defined and reversible pair of redox wave at -0.22 V, the assembled thionine acted as an internal reference to substantially alleviate the lab-to-lab, person-to-person, and electrode-to-electrode variations. The in vitro experiments demonstrated that the sensors exhibited extremely high reproducibility and stability toward selective measurement of AA. More, with operational simplicity and robustness in analytical performance, the designed sensors were successfully applied to in vivo effectively, selectively, and reliably monitor the dynamic change of cerebral AA associated with pathological processes (i.e., salicylate-induced tinnitus as the model) in living rats' brains. This study not only offers a new strategy for construction of ratiometric electrochemical sensors but also opens a new way for selective and reliable detection of neurochemicals for probing brain functions.
Biomineralization is an important tactic by which biological organisms produce hierarchically structured minerals with marvellous functions. Biomineralization studies typically focus on the mediation ...function of organic matrices on inorganic minerals, which helps scientists to design and synthesize bioinspired functional materials. However, the presence of inorganic minerals may also alter the native behaviours of organic matrices and even biological organisms. This progress report discusses the latest achievements relating to biomineralization mechanisms, the manufacturing of biomimetic materials and relevant applications in biological and biomedical fields. In particular, biomineralized vaccines and algae with improved thermostability and photosynthesis, respectively, demonstrate that biomineralization is a strategy for organism evolution via the rational design of organism‐material complexes. The successful modification of biological systems using materials is based on the regulatory effect of inorganic materials on organic organisms, which is another aspect of biomineralization control. Unlike previous studies, this study integrates materials and biological science to achieve a more comprehensive view of the mechanisms and applications of biomineralization.
Biomineralization studies focus on the mediation function of organic matrices on inorganic minerals, which helps scientists to design and sythesize bioinspired functional materials. At the same time, the modification of biological systems using materials is based on the regulatory effect of inorganic materials on organic organisms, which is the aspect of biomineralization control.
As human consumption is one of the key contributors to environmental problems, it is increasingly urgent to promote sustainable consumption. Drawing on the agentic-communal model of power, this ...research explores how the psychological feeling of power influences consumers’ preference for green products. We show that low power increases consumers’ preference for green (vs. conventional) products compared to high power (Studies 1a and 1b). Importantly, we identify two factors moderating the main effect of power on green consumption. Specifically, we find that the effect of power on green consumption is more salient among those with high green consumption values (Study 2). In addition, the effects of power are dynamic as a function of power distance belief (PDB), such that low power (vs. high power) promotes green consumption in the low-PDB context while high power (vs. low power) promotes green consumption in the high-PDB context (Study 3). Taken together, these findings provide novel insights into understanding green consumption from the perspectives of social power, green values, and PDB. Besides contributing to the literature, the findings have significant implications for marketers and policy-makers in promoting green campaigns, bridging the attitude-behavior gap, and building a more sustainable society.
This paper investigates the problem of distributed energy management for both generation and demand sides in a smart grid by formulating the economic dispatch and demand response in a united ...framework. Our main contribution is to formulate a social welfare maximization problem for a more practical scenario by taking wind power, and temporally coupled constraints of the demands into account. The complexity lies in the nonquadratic cost function of wind power, the temporally coupled constraints of the demands, and the nonconvexity of the optimization problem. Meanwhile, a smart grid has to guarantee privacy and accommodates plug-and-play features. Aiming at these challenges, we first relax an equality constraint to obtain a new convex optimization problem. Because of the coupling in the constraint, the Lagrange duality method is then adopted to decompose the problem into subproblems for generators and demands, which are regarded as agents. As a result, each agent solves its subproblem by exchanging information with only neighbor agents, and coordinates with others using the global information discovered by a distributed finite-time consensus algorithm. We also prove the convergence and optimality of the proposed distributed energy management algorithm (DEMA). Finally, simulations are performed on the IEEE 39-bus system to illustrate the performance of our DEMA.
•The silver nanoparticles were synthesized by solid-state reduction method.•The effects of the initiators for the polymerization with silver nanoparticles and silver ions.•The mechanical property of ...the polyacrylamide improved by hydroxyethyl cellulose.•The hydrogel was both antibacterial and conductive for strain sensor.•The Gauge Factor was 4.73 at the range of 125 %–200 % strain.
As a smart wearable sensor device, the mildew of the biocompatible hydrogel limits its application. In this paper, silver nanoparticles were prepared by solid-state reduction of hydroxyethyl cellulose and compounded into a chemically cross-linked hydrogel as an antibacterial, flexible strain sensor. Because the high surface energy of silver nanoparticles can quench free radicals, we designed three initiators to synthesize hydrogels: ammonium persulfate (APS), 2,2'-Azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) (AIBN) and 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride (AIBA). Impressively, silver nanoparticles composite hydrogel could only be successfully fabricated and triggered by the AIBN. The mechanical property of the composite hydrogel (0.12 MPa at 704.33 % strain) was significantly improved because of dynamic crosslinking point by HEC. Finally, the composite hydrogels are applied to the field of antibacterial strain sensor and the highest Gauge Factor (GF) reached 4.07. This article proposes a novel, green and simple strategy for preparing silver nanoparticles and compounding them into a hydrogel system for antibacterial strain sensor.
Environmental stresses such as salinity, drought, heat, freezing, heavy metal and even pathogen infections seriously threaten the growth and yield of important cereal crops including wheat and ...barley. There is growing evidence indicating that plants employ sophisticated epigenetic mechanisms to fine-tune their responses to environmental stresses. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments in understanding the epigenetic processes and elements-such as DNA methylation, histone modification, chromatin remodeling, and non-coding RNAs-involved in plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses in wheat and barley. Potentials of exploiting epigenetic variation for the improvement of wheat and barley are discussed.
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