Dielectric Gels with Microphase Separation for Wide-Range and Self-Damping Pressure Sensing.

Omnipresent vibrations pose a significant challenge to flexible pressure sensors by inducing unstable output signals and curtailing their operational lifespan. Conventional soft sensing materials possess adequate elasticity but prove inadequate in countering vibrations. Moreover, the utilization of conventional highly-damping materials for sensing is challenging due to their substantial hysteresis. To tackle this dilemma, dielectric gels with controlled in situ microphase separation have been developed, leveraging the miscibility disparity between copolymers and solvents. The resulting gels exhibit exceptional compression stress, remarkable dielectric constant, and exceptional damping capabilities. Furthermore, flexible pressure sensors based on these microphase-separated gels show a wide detection range and low detection limit, more importantly, excellent sensing performance on vibrating surfaces. This work offers high potentials for applying flexible pressure sensors in complex practical scenarios and opens up new avenues for applications in soft electronics, biomimetic robots, and intelligent sensing.

Harmonic and DC Bias Hysteresis Characteristics Simulation Based on an Improved Preisach Model.

Transformers, reactors and other electrical equipment often work under harmonics and DC-bias working conditions. It is necessary to quickly and accurately simulate the hysteresis characteristics of soft magnetic materials under various excitation conditions in order to achieve accurate calculations of core loss and the optimal design of electrical equipment. Based on Preisach hysteresis model, a parameter identification method for asymmetric hysteresis loop simulation is designed and applied to the simulation of hysteresis characteristics under bias conditions of oriented silicon steel sheets. In this paper, the limiting hysteresis loops of oriented silicon steel sheets are obtained through experiments under different working conditions. The first-order reversal curves(FORCs) with asymmetric characteristics is generated numerically, and then the Everett function is established under different DC bias conditions. The hysteresis characteristics of the oriented silicon steel sheets under harmonics and DC bias are simulated by improving FORCs identification method of the Preisach model. By comparing the results of simulation and experiment, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified, so as to provide an important reference for material production and application.

Measurement and Simulation of Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystalline Alloys under High-Frequency Pulse Excitation.

In order to broaden the application of nanocrystalline soft magnetic materials in electrical engineering under extreme conditions, nanocrystalline alloys must also have good characteristics under high-frequency and nonsinusoidal excitation. In this paper, the magnetic properties of Fe-based nanocrystalline alloys excited by high repetition frequency pulses were measured. Excitation frequency and duty cycles are two important factors in the study of magnetic properties under pulse excitation. With the amplitude of the pulse remaining constant, different local hysteresis curves were obtained by changing the frequency and duty cycle. The experimental results proved that the higher the frequency is and the smaller the duty cycle is, the narrower the local hysteresis loop is. Finally, the finite element method (FEM) was used to model the magnetic core coupling with an impulse circuit based on the measured magnetic properties. Compared with the experimental results, the simulation results showed that the field-circuit coupling analysis model can effectively reflect the influence law of the frequency and duty cycle on magnetic properties.

Study on the predictive value of serum hypersensitive C-reactive protein, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and omentin-1 levels with gestational diabetes mellitus.

Objective: To investigate whether hypersensitive C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP), homocysteine, fibrinogen, and omentin-1 could predict gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk. Methods: Case-control study was conducted at Hengshui People's Hospital. The GDM group included data about 150 patients aged between 22 and 35 years in 24-28 weeks. An equivalent comparative control group without GDM was composed of the same pool of patients. Body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) 0-2h, hs-CRP, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and omentin-1 levels were studied in the serum samples of research groups. Univariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors of GDM. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated by the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) to analyze the predictive values. Results: Hs-CRP, homocysteine, and fibrinogen in GDM group were significantly higher than those in non-GDM group. Omentin-1 were significantly lower than those in non-GDM group. Logistic regression showed that hs-CRP, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and omentin-1 were risk factors for GDM. The AUC of the established GDM risk prediction model was 0.977, and the sensitivity and specificity were 92.10% and 98.70%, respectively; which were greater than that of hs-CRP, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and omentin-1 alone. Conclusions: Hs-CRP, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and omentin-1 in pregnancy have important clinical value for the prediction of GDM. We used these laboratory indications to establish a GDM risk prediction model that allows for early detection and treatment of GDM, lowering the morbidity of maternal and infant complications.

Versatile Copolymer for Stretchable and Self-healable Liquid-free Ionic Conductive Elastomers.

To facilitate the practical use of ionic conductive materials for flexible electronics, the issues existing in hydrogels and ionogels, such as low thermostability and possible solvent leakage, need to be resolved but are inevitable. Liquid-free ionic elastomers (ICEs) as an alternative option are free of such concerns but have been facing the drawbacks of low conductivity and less satisfying mechanical properties. Here, a versatile copolymer with π-π stacking and cation-π interactions for high-performance ICE is proposed. The ICEs presented tunable mechanical and electrical properties by varying the feed ratio of the ternary monomers. The optimized ICE possessed high stretchability and strength, fast shape-recovery, self-healing, decent conductivity, and desirable stability against heat and under ambient conditions. The use of virgin and self-healed ICEs as the conductors for dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) is demonstrated and exhibits comparable actuating performance to the reported DEA employing organogels and ionogels. The work provides a facile approach for fabricating ICEs with versatile properties that can be used for flexible electronics.

Bioinspired Semicrystalline Dynamic Ionogels with Adaptive Mechanics and Tactile Sensing.

A biological system shows dynamical shapes and tunable mechanical states while working as an actuator and/or sensor. To simulate this, we prepared semicrystalline dynamic ionogels (SDIGs) via a facile process by introducing crystallized polymer domains for phase change and amorphous domains for ionic liquid loading into ionogels. The obtained SDIGs offered tunable mechanical properties upon temperature switching with a change in modulus up to 2 orders of magnitude. It also showed an excellent shape memory effect, shape programmability, and melting accelerated conductivity increase. Enabled by ionic Joule heating technique, the ionogel provided an electrical triggered actuating process to mimic flower blossoming. Moreover, it was demonstrated as a touch sensor with various working shape states, indicating cyclic and green utilization. This work provides insights into the design of semicrystalline electronics and is believed to promote the development of biomimetic actuators and sensors.

All-Solid-State Self-Healing Ionic Conductors Enabled by Ion-Dipole Interactions within Fluorinated Poly(Ionic Liquid) Copolymers.

Self-healing ionic conductors in all solid state without evaporation or leakage offers great potential for the next-generation soft ionotronics. However, it remains challenging to endow ionic conductors with all solid state while keeping their essential features. In this study, an intrinsically conducting polymer is developed as all-solid-state self-healing ionic conductors based on ion-dipole interactions within a fluorinated poly(ionic liquid) copolymer. This unique material possesses good self-healing ability at room temperature (96% of healing efficiency in 24 h), large strain (1800%), optical transparency (96%), and ionic conductivity (1.62 × 10-6 S/cm). The self-healing polymer itself is intrinsically conductive without any additives or fillers, thus it is almost free of evaporation or leaking issues of traditional conducting gels. An alternating-current electroluminescent device with self-healing performance is demonstrated. It is anticipated that this strategy would provide new opportunities for the development of novel self-healing ionotronics.

Highly Transparent, Stretchable, and Conducting Ionoelastomers Based on Poly(ionic liquid)s.

The rapid development of soft electronics has revitalized the research of conducting elastomers. However, the design of conducting elastomers having high stretchability and good transparency still remains a considerable challenge. In this study, we develop a highly transparent, stretchable, and conducting ionoelastomer based on a poly(ionic liquid) in which cations are fixed to a stretchable elastomeric network and counter anions are mobile. The ionoelastomer solves the dilemma of simultaneous transparency and stretchability in the design of traditional conducting elastomers, possessing good transparency (96%) with an extraordinarily high stretchability, up to a limiting strain of 1460%. Moreover, this novel material is completely nonvolatile and nonhygroscopic, endowing the ionoelastomer with highly stable thermal, environmental, electrochemical, and mechanoelectrical properties. An underwater sensor based on the ionoelastomer is developed with good performance in an aqueous environment. Also, a transparent dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) is demonstrated using the ionoelastomer. It is believed that the ionoelastomer would pave the way to develop exceptional conducting elastomers toward next-generation soft electronics.

Colorimetric Ionic Organohydrogels Mimicking Human Skin for Mechanical Stimuli Sensing and Injury Visualization.

Artificial skins with sensing ability have great potential in applications of wearable devices and soft robotics. Inspired by the functions of human skins including sensing stimuli via electrical signal and bruising for injury indication, an ionic conductive and mechanochromic organohydrogel is synthesized and demonstrated as ionic skin (I-skin). The gel consisting of mechanochromophore cross-linked micelles is mechanically robust, stretchable, and deformation durable with minor hysteresis, and it also displays good solvent retention. The change of relative resistance during elongation and compression suggests a high sensitivity. An optical change from pale yellow to bruise-like blue-purple color is observed under a large deformation. The ionic conductive organohydrogel as I-skin is attached to different parts of the human body with movements mimicking various body-bruising scenarios, demonstrating successful perception and visualization of mechanical stimuli. The work vividly presents a strain sensor with the functions of injury visualization and damage warning for mechanical impacts. The I-skin can be potentially used in the applications including prosthetic devices, wearable electronics, and intelligent robots.

Retraction: Yang, B. et al. Nitrogen Doped Intercalation TiO2/TiN/Ti3C2Tx Nanocomposite Electrodes with Enhanced Pseudocapacitance. Nanomaterials 2020, 10, 345.

This article [1] has been retracted at the request of the authors due to data errors [...].

DeepSketchHair: Deep Sketch-Based 3D Hair Modeling.

We present DeepSketchHair, a deep learning based tool for modeling of 3D hair from 2D sketches. Given a 3D bust model as reference, our sketching system takes as input a user-drawn sketch (consisting of hair contour and a few strokes indicating the hair growing direction within a hair region), and automatically generates a 3D hair model, matching the input sketch. The key enablers of our system are three carefully designed neural networks, namely, S2ONet, which converts an input sketch to a dense 2D hair orientation field; O2VNet, which maps the 2D orientation field to a 3D vector field; and V2VNet, which updates the 3D vector field with respect to the new sketches, enabling hair editing with additional sketches in new views. All the three networks are trained with synthetic data generated from a 3D hairstyle database. We demonstrate the effectiveness and expressiveness of our tool using a variety of hairstyles and also compare our method with prior art.

Nitrogen Doped Intercalation TiO2/TiN/Ti3C2Tx Nanocomposite Electrodes with Enhanced Pseudocapacitance.

Layered two-dimensional titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx), as an outstanding MXene member, has captured increasing attention in supercapacitor applications due to its excellent chemical and physical properties. However, the low gravimetric capacitance of Ti3C2Tx restricts its rapid development in such applications. Herein, this work demonstrates an effective and facile hydrothermal approach to synthesize nitrogen doped intercalation TiO2/TiN/Ti3C2Tx with greatly improved gravimetric capacitance and excellent cycling stability. The hexamethylenetetramine (C6H12N4) in hydrothermal environment acted as the nitrogen source and intercalants, while the Ti3C2Tx itself was the titanium source of TiO2 and TiN. We tested the optimized nitrogen doped intercalation TiO2/TiN/Ti3C2Tx electrodes in H2SO4, Li2SO4, Na2SO4, LiOH and KOH electrolytes, respectively. The electrode in H2SO4 electrolyte delivered the best electrochemical performance with high gravimetric capacitance of 361 F g-1 at 1 A g-1 and excellent cycling stability of 85.8% after 10,000 charge/discharge cycles. A systematic study of material characterization combined with the electrochemical performances disclosed that TiO2/TiN nanoparticles, the introduction of nitrogen and the NH4+ intercalation efficaciously increased the specific surface areas, which is beneficial for facilitating electrolyte ions transportation. Given the excellent performance, nitrogen doped intercalation TiO2/TiN/Ti3C2Tx bodes well as a promising pseudocapacitor electrode for energy storage applications.

[Significance of Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio and Platelet/Lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with Multiple Myeloma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the significance of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio(NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio(PLR) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). METHODS: Eighty patients with multiple myeloma admitted in our hospital from August 2007 to August 2010 were selected. The clinical data of the patients, including hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red blood cell distribution width (RDW), white blood cell(WBC) count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), platelet count (PC), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), calcium, albumin, ß2 microglobulin and so on were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: The optimal threshold of NLR was 2.78 (sensitivity: 83.3%, specificity: 43.1%). The optimal threshold of PLR was 155.58 (sensitivity: 67.7%, specificity: 36.9%). All patients were grouped according to NLR and PLR values, patients with high NLR and PLR had lower albumin levels and higher clinical stages. High NLR patients were mainly men, hemoglobin, GFR values, albumin levels were lower, and the white blood cells count and ß2 microglobulin level were higher. High PLR patients showed low albumin level and higher clinical stage. Multivariate analysis showed that ß2 microglobulin and NLR were prognostic factors in patients with multiple myeloma (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the median survival time was 37 months (95% CI: 21.80-52.19) for patients with high NLR and 66 months (95% CI: 53.19-78.80) for patients with low NLR. The median survival time was 45 months (95% CI: 0.00 to 91.18) in patients with high PLR and 62 months (95% CI: 45.67-78.33) in patients with low PLR. CONCLUSION: High NLR (>2.78) associates with poor prognosis in patients with MM, and it may be considered as an independent prognostic factor for MM patients.

Potential diagnostic and prognostic value of plasma long noncoding RNA LINC00086 and miR-214 expression in gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Plasma carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4) are common markers which are useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of GC. However, their sensitivity and specificity in GC remain unsatisfactory. Identification of cancer diagnosed-biomarkers would be of great value. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of LINC00086 and miR-214 in GC. METHODS: In this study, we determined the expression of LINC00086 and miR-214 in GC by qRT-PCR. Additionally, we investigated the relationship between various clinicopathological features of GC patients and LINC00086 or miR-214 expression, and evaluated the diagnostic and prognostic value of LINC00086 and miR-214 in GC. RESULTS: In this study, we found that plasma LINC00086 expression was significantly lower, whereas plasma miR-214 expression was significantly higher in GC patients than in normal individuals. LINC00086 and miR-214 exhibited high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing GC. Additionally, GC patients with low LINC00086 or high miR-214 expression were likely to have larger tumors, lymphatic metastasis, larger TNM stage, and higher CEA and CA19-9 levels. Moreover, GC patients with low LINC00086 or high miR-214 expression showed lower survival rates. Lymphatic metastasis, LINC00086, and miR-214 are independent factors affecting patient diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: LINC00086 and miR-214 are potentially diagnostic and prognostic markers for GC.

Effects of miR-221 on cell proliferation and apoptosis of chronic myeloid leukemia K562 cells and its mechanism / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@# Objective: To investigate the effect of down-regulation of miR-221 on cell proliferation and apoptosis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) K562 cells and its related regulatory mechanism. Methods: K562 cells were divided into control group, miRNAnegative control (miR-NC) group, miR-221 inhibitor group, miR-221 inhibitor+ negative control siRNA(NC siRNA) group and miR-221 inhibitor+SOCS3 siRNA group. The cells in the control group received no additional treatment. Cells in miR-NC group and miR-221 inhibitor group were transfected with miR-NC and miR-221 inhibitor, respectively. Cells in miR-221 inhibitor+NC siRNA group and miR-221 inhibitor+SOCS3 siRNA group were transfected with NC siRNA and SOCS3 siRNA, respectively, on the basis of successful transfection with miR-221 inhibitor. The transfection efficiency of miR-221 inhibitor was identified by qPCR. Cell viability in each group was measured by CCK-8 assay. Apoptosis in each group was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI staining using a flow cytometry. The protein expressions of SOCS3, p-JAK1, p-JAK2, p-STAT3 and survivin in each group were detected by WB. Results: Compared with the control group, miR-221 expression was significantly down-regulated in miR-221 inhibitor group (P<0.01), cell viability was significantly reduced at 48 and 72 h after transfection (P<0.05 or P<0.01), the number of apoptotic cells was significantly increased (P< 0.01), the expression of SOCS3 was significantly increased (P<0.01) and the expression levels of p-JAK1, p-JAK2, p-STAT3 and survivin were significantly reduced (all P<0.01). Compared with miR-221 inhibitor group, cell viability was significantly increased at 24, 48 and 72 h after transfection (P<0.05 or P<0.01), the number of apoptotic cells was significantly decreased (P<0.01) and the expression levels of p-JAK1, p-JAK2, p-STAT3 and survivin were significantly increased in miR-221 inhibitor+SOCS3 siRNA group (all P< 0.01). Conclusion: Down-regulation of miR-221 inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of K562 cells, the mechanism of which may be related with up-regulating SOCS3 expression to suppress JAK-STAT3 signaling pathway.

[Expression and Significance of PTEN and BCL-2 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) and B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 (BCL-2) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its significance. METHODS: The expression levels of PTEN and BCL-2 mRNA and protein in bone marrow samples from 80 AML patients including 56 de novo patients, 16 patients in remission, 8 relapsed patients and 30 cases of non-hematologic diseases (as control) were detected by real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively, and the relationship between PTEN and BCL-2 expression and clinical pathological parameter was analyzed. RESULTS: The expression levels of both mRNA and protein of PTEN in newly diagnosed AML group and relapse group were significantly lower than those in the control and remission group (P<0.01). The expression levels of both mRNA and protein of BCL-2 in newly diagnosed group and relapse group were significantly higher than those in the control and remission group (P<0.01). The mRNA expression of PTEN and BCL-2 was did not related with the age, sex and white blood count in AML patients. The expression levels of PTEN negatively correlated with expression BCL-2 with AML(r=-0.432, r=-0.569). CONCLUSION: PTEN and BCL-2 participate in the occurrence and development of AML, and may be used as indicators for the evaluation of chemotheraeutic efficacy.

[Histological changes of the prostate and acute urinary retention in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the roles of prostatic infarction, prostatic inflammation and the type of prostatic hyperplasia in acute urinary retention (AUR) in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 102 cases of BPH, 49 complicated by AUR and the other 53 without AUR. We compared the incidences of prostatic infarction and prostatic inflammation, the types of prostatic hyperplasia, the patients' age, the level of prostate specific antigen (PSA), the prostate volume, and international prostate symptom score (IPSS) between the AUR and non-AUR groups. RESULTS: The PSA level was significantly increased in the AUR group as compared with the non-AUR group (P < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in the mean age, prostate volume and IPSS (P > 0.05). The type of prostatic hyperplasia showed no correlation with AUR. The incidence rate of AUR was 5.620 and 2.326 times higher in the BPH patients with prostatic infarction and prostatic inflammation respectively than in those without (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Prostatic infarction and prostatic inflammation are important risk factors of AUR in BPH patients.

[Relationship between polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor gene and familial aggregation of HBsAg carriers].

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether -Taq I T/C and -Fok I C/T polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene are associated with the familial aggregation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. METHODS: Based on a population-based case-control family design, 288 family members from 27 case families and 230 family members from 27 control families were recruited. VDR gene polymorphisms were analyzed. VDR-Taq I T/C and VDR-Fok I C/T polymorphisms were examined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: The frequency of VDR-Taq I TT genotype in the case families was significantly higher than that in the control families (P < 0.05) , however, the frequency of VDR-Fok I CC genotype in the case families was significantly higher than that in the control families (P < 0.05). The frequency of family members carriying Taq I T-Fok I C haplotype in the case families was significantly higher than that in the control families (OR = 1.67, P < 0.05), however, the frequency of family members carrying Taq I C-Fok I T haplotype in the case families was significantly lower than that in the control families (OR = 0. 24, P < 0.05). The similar results were found in the familial biological kinship relatives with any HBV-infected makers. CONCLUSION: VDR-Taq I and -Fok I gene polymorphisms are likely to play a substantial role in HBsAg familial aggregation.