The clinic applications of bioabsorbable magnesium (Mg) and its alloys have been significantly restricted owing to their poor corrosion resistance. Besides elemental alloying, surface modification ...and functionality is a major approach to increasing corrosion resistance for magnesium alloys. This article reviews the cutting-edge advances and progress of biodegradable surface coatings upon Mg alloys over the last decades, aims to build up a knowledge framework of surface modification on biodegradable Mg alloys. A considerable number of conversion, deposition, mechanical and functional coatings and their preparation methods are discussed. The emphasis has been placed on the composition of chemical conversion and deposited coatings to overcome the disadvantages of adhesion, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility of a single coating for biomedical materials. The issues have been addressed on the integration of the structural and functional factors of the composite coatings.
Biodegradable magnesium‐based scaffolds present outstanding potential to revolutionize the treatment of coronary artery diseases, in which full recovery of arteries without long‐term irritation of ...implants is anticipated for averting adverse events associated with the permanent stents. However, overfast degradation of magnesium (Mg) alloys obstructs their extensive applications in terms of early structural failure and impaired biocompatibility. Herein, a facile copper‐incorporated coating system through nonaqueous phase synthesis of polydopamine is developed to facilitate Cu(II) capture along with robust film deposited on easily corrodible Mg, which subsequently enables sustained Cu(II) elution. It remarkably enhances corrosion resistance and impedes Mg degradation, which also contributes to improved, superior cytocompatibility, and abolished hemolysis. Moreover, through simultaneous control of Cu(II) and Mg(II) release to modulate the local microenvironment, a synergistic biochemical effect on desirable vascular cell selectivity is triggered for boosted endothelial cell viability and suppressed smooth muscle cell. Stent implantation into rabbit abdominal aorta thus exhibits accelerated re‐endothelialization completed in a week, and enhanced biological outcomes, alleviated complications and prolonged structural durability in 3‐month follow‐up. Collectively, this study opens up an alternative route of deploying a multifunctional surface modification strategy tailoring active interplay with the Mg matrix for better outcomes of next‐generation bioresorbable vascular stents.
With modulation effect on vessel microenvironment, coatings capable of active interaction with biodegradable matrix make significant difference on bioresorbable vascular stent performance. Cu(II)/polydopamine coating on magnesium is constructed through nonaqueous phase polymerization and demonstrates enhanced corrosion resistance for magnesium stent. It also triggers synergistic bioeffect of released Cu(II) and Mg(II) on vascular cells selectivity, thus promoting endothelialization while alleviating restenosis.
Shape‐morphing hydrogels have emerging applications in biomedical devices, soft robotics, and so on. However, successful applications require a combination of excellent mechanical properties and fast ...responding speed, which are usually a trade‐off in hydrogel‐based devices. Here, a facile approach to fabricate 3D gel constructs by extrusion‐based printing of tough physical hydrogels, which show programmable deformations with high response speed and large output force, is described. Highly viscoelastic poly(acrylic acid‐co‐acrylamide) (P(AAc‐co‐AAm)) and poly(acrylic acid‐co‐N‐isopropyl acrylamide) (P(AAc‐co‐NIPAm)) solutions or their mixtures are printed into 3D constructs by using multiple nozzles, which are then transferred into FeCl3 solution to gel the structures by forming robust carboxyl–Fe3+ coordination complexes. The printed gel fibers containing poly(N‐isopropyl acrylamide) segment exhibit considerable volume contraction in concentrated saline solution, whereas the P(AAc‐co‐AAm) ones do not contract. The mismatch in responsiveness of the gel fibers affords the integrated 3D gel constructs the shape‐morphing ability. Because of the small diameter of gel fibers, the printed gel structures deform and recover with a fast speed. A four‐armed gripper is designed to clamp plastic balls with considerable holding force, as large as 115 times the weight of the gripper. This strategy should be applicable to other tough hydrogels and broaden their applications.
3D constructs of responsive and nonresponsive tough physical hydrogels are fabricated by extrusion‐based multi‐nozzle printing. The mismatch in responsiveness of the gel fibers and the gradient structural cues provide a shape‐morphing ability, which shows programmable deformations with high response speed and large output force. This strategy should be applicable to other hydrogels as soft actuators and biomedical devices.
The evergreen versus deciduous leaf habit is an important functional trait for adaptation of forest trees and has been hypothesized to be related to the evolutionary processes of the component ...species under paleoclimatic change, and potentially reflected in the dynamic history of evergreen broadleaved forests (EBLFs) in East Asia. However, knowledge about the shift of evergreen versus deciduous leaf with the impact of paleoclimatic change using genomic data remains rare. Here, we focus on the Litsea complex (Lauraceae), a key lineage with dominant species of EBLFs, to gain insights into how evergreen versus deciduous trait shifted, providing insights into the origin and historical dynamics of EBLFs in East Asia under Cenozoic climate change. We reconstructed a robust phylogeny of the Litsea complex using genome‐wide single‐nucleotide variants (SNVs) with eight clades resolved. Fossil‐calibrated analyses, diversification rate shifts, ancestral habit, ecological niche modelling and climate niche reconstruction were employed to estimate its origin and diversification pattern. Taking into account studies on other plant lineages dominating EBLFs of East Asia, it was revealed that the prototype of EBLFs in East Asia probably emerged in the Early Eocene (55–50 million years ago Ma), facilitated by the greenhouse warming. As a response to the cooling and drying climate in the Middle to Late Eocene (48–38 Ma), deciduous habits were evolved in the dominant lineages of the EBLFs in East Asia. Up to the Early Miocene (23 Ma), the prevailing of East Asian monsoon increased the extreme seasonal precipitation and accelerated the emergence of evergreen habits of the dominant lineages, and ultimately shaped the vegetation resembling that of today.
Close relationships have recently been established between gut microbiota and some mental disorders. Here, we performed a systematic comparative analysis of the gut microbiome in patients with ...generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and healthy controls (HCs). We first conducted a cross-sectional study of 40 patients with GAD in the active state and 36 HCs. Second, subgroup analysis consisting of 12 antidepressant-naive patients and 22 controls was performed to validate the results. Finally, a prospective study was performed in a subgroup of nine patients with GAD who underwent analysis in the active state of anxiety and in remission. Compared with the HCs, we found markedly decreased microbial richness and diversity, distinct metagenomic composition with reduced short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria (associated with a healthy status) and overgrowth of bacteria, such as Escherichia-Shigella, Fusobacterium and Ruminococcus gnavus. Unexpectedly, these changes in the genera were not reversed in remissive GAD. This study identified microbiota dysbiosis of gut microbiota in GAD patients, suggesting that targeting the microbiome may be a useful therapeutic and preventive target for GAD.
Highlights • Maternal infection during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of ASD. • The risk was more pronounced among maternal hospitalization with infection. • The risk varied ...depending on type of infectious agent, timing and site of infection.
A number of epidemiologic studies examining the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and the future occurrence of Parkinson's disease (PD) reported largely inconsistent findings. We conducted a ...dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies to clarify this association.
Eligible prospective studies were identified by a search of PubMed and by checking the references of related publications. The generalized least squares trend estimation was employed to compute study-specific relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for an increase in BMI of 5 kg/m2, and the random-effects model was used to compute summary RR and 95% CI.
A total of 10 prospective studies were included in the final analysis. An increase in BMI of 5 kg/m2 was not associated with PD risk, with a summary RR of 1.00 (95% CI = 0.89-1.12). Results of subgroup analysis found similar results except for a week positive association in studies that adjusted for alcohol consumption (RR = 1.13, 95% CI = 0.99-1.29), and a week inverse association in studies that did not (RR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.78-1.04). In a separate meta-analysis, no significant association between overweight (25 kg/m2 ≤ BMI ≤29.9 kg/m2), obesity (BMI≥30 kg/m2) or excess weight (BMI≥25 kg/m2) and PD risk was observed.
This meta-analysis does not support the notion that higher BMI materially increases PD risk. However, a week positive BMI-PD association that may be masked by confounders still cannot be excluded, and future prospective studies with a good control for potential confounding factors are needed.
To alleviate the sparsity issue, many recommender systems have been proposed to consider the review text as the auxiliary information to improve the recommendation quality. Despite success, they only ...use the ratings as the ground truth for error backpropagation. However, the rating information can only indicate the users' overall preference for the items, while the review text contains rich information about the users' preferences and the attributes of the items. In real life, reviews with the same rating may have completely opposite semantic information. If only the ratings are used for error backpropagation, the latent factors of these reviews will tend to be consistent, resulting in the loss of a large amount of review information. In this article, we propose a novel deep model termed deep rating and review neural network (DRRNN) for recommendation. Specifically, compared with the existing models that adopt the review text as the auxiliary information, DRRNN additionally considers both the target rating and target review of the given user-item pair as ground truth for error backpropagation in the training stage. Therefore, we can keep more semantic information of the reviews while making rating predictions. Extensive experiments on four publicly available datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed DRRNN model in terms of rating prediction.
Objectives
To investigate a strategy for ultra‐low volume contrast percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with the aims of preserving renal function and observing the 90‐day clinical endpoint in ...patients with non‐ST‐elevated myocardial infarction (non‐STEMI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Background
The feasibility, safety, and clinical utility of PCI with ultra‐low radio‐contrast medium in patients with non‐STEMI and CKD are unknown.
Methods
A total of 29 patients with non‐STEMI and CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate eGFR of ≤60 ml/min/1.73 m2) were included. Ultra‐low volume contrast PCI was performed after minimal contrast coronary angiography using zero contrast optical coherence tomography (OCT) guidance. Pre‐ and post‐PCI angiographic measurements were performed using quantitative flow ratio (QFR) for pre‐perfusion assessment and verifying improvement.
Results
The median creatinine level was 2.1 (inter‐quartile range 1.8–3.3), and mean eGFR was 48 ± 8 ml/min/1.73 m2 pre‐PCI. During the PCI procedure, OCT revealed 15 (52%) cases of abnormalities post‐dilation. There was no significant change in the creatinine level and eGFR in the short‐ or long‐term, and no major adverse events were observed.
Conclusion
In non‐STEMI patients with high‐risk CKD who require revascularization, QFR and no contrast OCT‐guided ultra‐low contrast PCI may be performed safely without major adverse events.
PDF
