Fabrication of Loose Nanofiltration Membrane by Crosslinking TEMPO-Oxidized Cellulose Nanofibers for Effective Dye/Salt Separation.

Dye/salt separation has gained increasing attention in recent years, prompting the quest to find cost-effective and environmentally friendly raw materials for synthesizing high performance nanofiltration (NF) membrane for effective dye/salt separation. Herein, a high-performance loose-structured NF membrane was fabricated via a simple vacuum filtration method using a green nanomaterial, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxide radical (TEMPO)-oxidized cellulose nanofiber (TOCNF), by sequentially filtrating larger-sized and finer-sized TOCNFs on a microporous substrate, followed by crosslinking with trimesoyl chloride. The resulting TCM membrane possessed a separating layer composed entirely of pure TOCNF, eliminating the need for other polymer or nanomaterial additives. TCM membranes exhibit high performance and effective dye/salt selectivity. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis shows that the TCM membrane with the Fine-TOCNF layer has a tight layered structure. Further characterizations via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the presence of functional groups and chemical bonds of the crosslinked membrane. Notably, the optimized TCM-5 membrane exhibits a rejection rate of over 99% for various dyes (Congo red and orange yellow) and 14.2% for NaCl, showcasing a potential candidate for efficient dye wastewater treatment.

Bio-Inspired Ultrathin Perfect Absorber for High-Performance Photothermal Conversion.

Ultrathin perfect absorber (UPA) enables efficient photothermal conversion (PC) in renewable chemical and energy systems. However, it is challenging so far to obtain efficient absorption with thickness significantly less than the wavelength, especially considering the common view that an ultrathin film can absorb at most 50% of incident light. Here, a highly light-absorbing and mechanically stable UPA is reported by learning from the honeycomb mirror design of the crab compound eyes. With the hollow apertures enclosed by the self-supporting ultrathin film of reduced graphene oxide and gold nanoparticles, the absorber achieves spoof-plasmon enhanced broadband absorption in solar spectrum and low radiative decay in infrared. Specifically, a strong absorption (87%) is realized by the apertures with cross-section thickness of 1/20 of the wavelength, which is 7.3 times stronger than a planar counterpart with the identical material. Its high PC efficiency up to 64%, with hot-electron temperature as high as 2344 K, is also experimentally demonstrated. Utilizing its low thermal mass nature, a high-speed visible-to-infrared converter is constructed. The absorber can enable high-performance PC processes for future interfacial catalysis and photon-detection.

Abnormal gray matter volume and functional connectivity patterns in social cognition-related brain regions of young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with abnormal brain imaging findings, but descriptions thereof are inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to investigate brain abnormalities in young children with ASD using a combination of structural and functional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Structural and resting-state functional MRI was performed in 67 children with ASD (aged 2-7 years) and 39 age-matched typically developing (TD) controls. Voxel-based morphometry was used to evaluate differences in brain structure between groups. Topologic parameters of the functional brain network were compared by graph theoretic analysis and network connectomes were compared with network-based statistics. A support vector machine (SVM) was used to discriminate between ASD and TD groups. Results demonstrated young children with ASD had increased gray matter volumes (GMVs) in the right medial superior frontal gyrus and left fusiform gyrus compared with the TD group. The ASD group had altered subnetwork connectivity in frontal and temporal lobes and other social cognition-related brain regions. Functional connectivity in the left superior temporal gyrus and left temporal pole of the middle temporal gyrus was positively correlated with adaptability and language developmental quotient (DQ) in children with ASD. The combination of the brain structural and functional features had 86.2% accuracy in discriminating between ASD and TD. The present study shows that young children with ASD have altered GMVs and functional networks in social cognition-related brain regions, which are potential neuroimaging biomarkers for ASD.

Low-Grade Waste Heat Enables Over 80 L m- 2 h-1 Interfacial Steam Generation Based on 3D Superhydrophilic Foam.

Clean water scarcity and energy shortage have become urgent global problems due to population growth and human industrial development. Low-grade waste heat (LGWH) is a widely available and ubiquitous byproduct of human activities worldwide, which can provide effective power to address the fresh water crisis without additional energy consumption and carbon emissions. In this regard, 3D superhydrophilic polyurethane/sodium alginate (PU/SA) foam and LGWH-driven interfacial water evaporation systems are developed, which can precipitate over 80 L m-2  h-1 steam generation from seawater and has favorable durability for purification of high salinity wastewater. The excellent water absorption ability, unobstructed water transport, and uniform thin water layer formed on 3D skeletons of PU/SA foam ensure the strong heat exchange between LGWH and fluidic water. As a result, the heat-localized PU/SA foam enables the efficient energy utilization and ultrafast water evaporation once LGWH is introduced into PU/SA foam as heat flow. In addition, the precipitated salt on PU/SA foam can be easily removed by mechanical compression, and almost no decrease in water evaporation rate after salt precipitation and removal for many times. Meanwhile, the collected clean water has high rejection of ions of 99.6%, which meets the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of drinking water. Above all, this LGWH-driven interfacial water evaporation system presents a promising and easily accessible solution for clean water production and water-salt separation without additional energy burden for the society.

Chitosan-based dual network composite hydrogel for efficient adsorption of methylene blue dye.

With the rapid development of the textile industry, a large amount of dyeing wastewater discharge has caused great harm to the ecological environment. In this work, a dual-network, composite hydrogel adsorbent with excellent mechanical properties, good reusability, and large adsorption capacity was prepared by introducing chitosan cross-linked polyvinylamine into the N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide cross-linked polyacrylic acid network. The dual cross-linking network gave the hydrogel excellent mechanical properties with maximum tensile stress and strain up to 1.9 MPa and 920 %. The adsorption capacity of methylene blue on hydrogel was up to 596.14 mg/g. In addition, the prepared hydrogel exhibited good reusability, and their adsorption efficiency remained above 85 % in five consecutive cycles. The adsorption behavior was well fitted by Pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir equation, indicating that the hydrogel was chemisorbed to the dye as a monolayer. The adsorption mechanism analysis showed that the electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding between the functional groups of the hydrogels and methylene blue molecules contributed to the good adsorption capacity. Overall, the synthesized composite hydrogels could be used as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue dye, particularly from textile industry wastewater.

Responses of Combined Non-starch Polysaccharide Enzymes and Protease on Growth Performance, Meat Quality, and Nutrient Digestibility of Yellow-Feathered Broilers Fed With Diets With Different Crude Protein Levels.

The aim of this study was to investigate the responses of non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) enzymes and protease combination on growth performance, meat quality, and nutrients digestibility of yellow-feathered broilers fed with corn-soybean meal basal diets with normal and subnormal crude protein (CP) levels. The experimental design was completely randomized with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments, including six replicates of 20 birds per pen. Two basal diets were formulated with normal CP level as positive control (PC) and subnormal CP level without extra essential amino acid (AA) supplementation as negative control (NC). The basal diets were supplemented without or with NSP enzymes and protease. Broilers fed with the NC diet had lower (P < 0.05) final body weight (BW), average daily weight gain (ADG) on days 1-21, 22-56 and 1-56 and higher (P < 0.05) feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) on day 22-56 than those fed with PC diet. The broilers fed with the NC diet had higher (P < 0.05) L* and b* values in thigh muscle, crypt depth in the duodenum, and dry matter (DM) digestibility as well as lower (P < 0.05) villus height, musculature thicknesses, and villus height: crypt depth in the duodenum than those fed with the PC diet. Dietary NSP enzymes and protease combination increased (P < 0.05) the ADG and F/G of the broilers on days 1-56, and pH values in breast and thigh muscles as well as the digestibility of DM, gross energy (GE), CP and most AAs of the broilers on day 56. Compared with the PC diet, the combination of NSP enzymes and protease exhibited greater (P < 0.05) improvements in the digestibility of DM, CP, and some AAs (Asp, Ile, and Leu) in the broilers fed with the NC diet. In conclusion, reducing CP diet without essential AA supplementation impaired the growth performance and meat color of the thigh muscles of the broilers. The combination of NSP enzymes and protease effectively improved the growth performance, meat quality, and nutritional values of the broilers. In terms of the digestibility of DM, CP, and some AAs, the magnitude of response to the addition of NSP enzymes and protease was greater in the low nutritional-quality diet with a subnormal CP level.

A secondary jejunal malignant melanoma from nasal mucosal melanoma: Case report.

Melanomas most commonly localized in the skin can arise anywhere in the body, and approximately 5% of all melanomas appear in other sites of mucosal surfaces out of skin. Primary melanoma from nasal mucosa is quite rare. We present this case: a 46-year-old man had complained a pain in the left upper abdomen for 2 months when he was admitted to the Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital. The pain was paroxysmal and enhanced when eating. There was no nausea, vomiting, or anorexia. There had been no change in weight in previous months. This patient had a past history of surgery for nasal mucosal malignant melanoma 2 years ago. Abdominal enhanced computed tomography (CT) indicated that a mass originated from small bowel and occupied the left upper abdomen. The patient underwent a laparotomy during which a black lesion measuring about 5 cm × 5 cm × 4 cm was found at the jejunum and resected totally together with partial jejunum. The patient was eventually diagnosed as secondary jejunal malignant melanoma from nasal mucosal melanoma. For patients with a history of melanoma, gastrointestinal metastasis should be considered when patients develop gastrointestinal symptoms. In addition, we recommend positive anti-tumor therapy after surgery.

Advances of droplet-based microfluidics in drug discovery.

INTRODUCTION: Drug discovery through a large number of candidates with nearly unlimited possibilities is laborious, time-consuming, and incurs massive costs. It thus calls for fast and robust methods that allow for handling small amounts of reagents, automation, and high-throughput analysis. In this regard, droplet-based microfluidic platforms provide several unique advantages. Highly monodispersed droplets can be generated in a high frequency and serve as microcontainers with just a few femtoliter to nanoliter volume. Furthermore, each of them can be manipulated to initiate specific reactions in parallel. Consequently, droplet microfluidics is emerging as a useful tool for drug discovery and development. AREAS COVERED: The authors provide a brief overview of the latest developments of droplet-based microfluidic techniques for drug discovery and emphasize their applications at different stages, covering target selection, drug candidate identification, and preclinical research. EXPERT OPINION: Droplet-based microfluidics holds great potential in drug discovery due to its capability of reaction miniaturization and high-throughput analysis. However, its commercial applications are still at an early stage as the experiments are mostly implemented utilizing custom-built instruments in laboratory environments. Thus, joint efforts from scientists and engineers with multidisciplinary backgrounds are required to optimize the standardization and stability of droplet-based microfluidic platforms.

Huge mesenteric fibromatosis presenting with intestinal perforation and acute diffuse peritonitis: a case report.

Mesenteric fibromatosis is a locally invasive myofibroblastic proliferation and rarely metastasize to other organs. Hollow organ perforation and acute diffuse peritonitis caused by mesenteric fibromatosis rarely occurred. Here we report a case of huge mesenteric fibromatosis who complained a paroxysmal epigastric pain, and CT scan showed a huge mass, pneumoperitoneum and ascites. An urgent laparotomy showed an intro-abdominal mass and perforation locating at the jejunum. Postoperative histology confirmed it to be mesenteric fibromatosis. With one-year follow-up, the patient had no recurrence. We wish to share our treating experience of this interesting case because it did not belong to a typical type but presenting with acute diffuse peritonitis, and total resection and R0 margin is a key to treat acute case. This atypical one has not been reported in the literature till now.

All-Aqueous-Phase Microfluidics for Cell Encapsulation.

Cell-laden hydrogel microcarriers are widely used in diverse biomedical applications like three-dimensional (3D) cell culture, cellular therapy, and tissue engineering, where microcarriers were generally produced by oil, which is the common but not optimal choice, as oil may cause cytotoxicity or protein denaturation. Here, an all-aqueous-phase microfluidics is presented to achieve oil-free emulsification of cell-laden microcapsules and 3D cell culture. Aqueous solutions with different concentration gradients are used as an immiscible continuous phase and a dispersed phase, and oscillation from a solenoid valve facilitates the formation of microcapsules at the water-water interface. By adjusting aqueous-phase flow rates and oscillating frequencies, core-shell microcapsules with controllable structures can be stably and continuously generated. In further 3D cell culture, encapsulated cells maintained good viabilities and aggregated together. These features show that the oil-free microfluidic method may have broad prospects in many biomedical applications.

Proximal Gastrectomy versus Total Gastrectomy for Siewert Type II Adenocarcinoma of the Esophagogastric Junction: A Comprehensive Analysis of Data from the SEER Registry.

BACKGROUND: To determine the ideal surgical approach (total gastrectomy (TG) vs. proximal gastrectomy (PG)) for Siewert type II adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG), we searched and analyzed the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data. METHODS: Patients with Siewert type II AEG treated by TG or PG were identified from the 2004-2014 SEER dataset. We obtained the patients' overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) and stratified the patients by surgical approach. We performed a propensity score 1 : 1 matching (PSM) analysis and a univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: A total of 2,217 patients with 6th AJCC stage IA-IIIB Siewert type II AEG was examined: 1,584 patients (71.4%) underwent PG, and 633 patients (28.6%) underwent TG. The follow-up time was 1-131 months. OS favored total gastrectomy before the PSM analysis (χ 2 = 3.952, p = 0.047), but after this analysis, there was no significant difference between TG and PG (χ 2 = 2.227, p = 0.136). The univariate and multivariate analyses identified age as an independent factor, and an X-tail analysis revealed 70 years as a cut-off point. The patients aged ≥ 70 years obtained a significant long-term OS benefit from PG compared to TG (χ 2 = 8.245, p = 0.004), and those aged < 70 years showed no difference between TG and PG (χ 2 = 0.167, p = 0.682). CONCLUSIONS: PG showed an equivalent survival benefit to TG in both the early and locally advanced stages of Siewert type II AEG. For elderly patients, PG is strongly recommended because of its clearer OS benefit compared to TG.

Hydrogel Encapsulation Facilitates Rapid-Cooling Cryopreservation of Stem Cell-Laden Core-Shell Microcapsules as Cell-Biomaterial Constructs.

Core-shell structured stem cell microencapsulation in hydrogel has wide applications in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and cell-based therapies because it offers an ideal immunoisolative microenvironment for cell delivery and 3D culture. Long-term storage of such microcapsules as cell-biomaterial constructs by cryopreservation is an enabling technology for their wide distribution and ready availability for clinical transplantation. However, most of the existing studies focus on cryopreservation of single cells or cells in microcapsules without a core-shell structure (i.e., hydrogel beads). The goal of this study is to achieve cryopreservation of stem cells encapsulated in core-shell microcapsules as cell-biomaterial constructs or biocomposites. To this end, a capillary microfluidics-based core-shell alginate hydrogel encapsulation technology is developed to produce porcine adipose-derived stem cell-laden microcapsules for vitreous cryopreservation with very low concentration (2 mol L-1 ) of cell membrane penetrating cryoprotective agents (CPAs) by suppressing ice formation. This may provide a low-CPA and cost-effective approach for vitreous cryopreservation of "ready-to-use" stem cell-biomaterial constructs, facilitating their off-the-shelf availability and widespread applications.

Effects of vitrification cryopreservation on follicular morphology and stress relaxation behaviors of human ovarian tissues: sucrose versus trehalose as the non-permeable protective agent.

STUDY QUESTION: Is sucrose more effective than trehalose in human ovarian tissue cryopreservation? SUMMARY ANSWER: The effect of sucrose as a cryoprotective agent (CPA) was not significantly different from that of trehalose in human ovarian tissue cryopreservation. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Sugars have the ability to keep the cell membrane intact and can decrease the toxicity of CPAs. Sucrose is the most commonly used non-permeable CPA, while trehalose is rarely used in human ovarian tissue cryopreservation. Although various methods are utilized to evaluate the efficiency of human ovarian tissue cryopreservation, few studies have evaluated the effect of cryopreservation from the viewpoint of biomechanics. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: A total of 15 ovarian tissue samples were collected from 15 patients (20-41 years old) with benign ovarian tumors or malignancies, and each was dissected into six slices. Two slices were taken as the fresh control group. The remaining four slices were vitrified using different vitrification protocols. After warming, samples in each group were either fixed for histological evaluation or destined for stress relaxation test. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: The CPA solutions for the control and vitrified groups were composed of EDS and EDT (E, ethylene glycol; D, dimethylsulphoxide; S, sucrose; T, trehalose). The stress relaxation experiments were carried out at room temperature using a dynamic mechanical analyzer. Ovarian tissue samples were assessed for both their morphology and viscoelasticity. Stress relaxation data (SRD) were calculated as a percentage, representing the ability to maintain the initial stress after stretching. The percentage of morphologically normal follicles was compared between groups, which was represented by morphologic preservation ratio. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: The morphologic preservation ratio of the primordial follicles in the fresh control group (87.58%) was higher than that in group S (72.33%) (P = 0.000) and group T (79.56%) (P = 0.002). Although not statistically significant, compared with the S group, vitrification with T suggested a trend toward a higher morphologic preservation ratio of the primordial follicles. The SRD in the fresh control group (0.6433 ± 0.7233) was significantly different from that in group S (0.5200 ± 0.8331, P = 0.000) or in group T (0.5667 ± 0.6415, P = 0.000). However, no significant difference was found between groups S and T. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Experimental samples were directly exposed to the air, which will result in a discrepancy in the viscoelastic properties between experimental tissues and in vivo tissues. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Our study suggested a trend toward a higher morphologic preservation ratio of the primordial follicles after vitrification in trehalose compared with sucrose, which may provide a basis for further optimizing human ovarian tissue vitrification. In addition, it was possible to evaluate the effect of ovarian tissue cryopreservation from a biomechanics perspective. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: This study was supported by the grants from the Medical Scientific Research Subject, Health Ministry of Anhui Province (2010B014) and National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2012CB944704), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51276179 and 51476160). The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this original paper.

Dual dependence of cryobiogical properties of Sf21 cell membrane on the temperature and the concentration of the cryoprotectant.

The Sf21 cell line is extensively used for virus research and producing heterologous recombinant proteins. To develop optimal strategies for minimizing cell injury due to intracellular ice formation and excessive volume shrinkage during cryopreservation, the fundamental transport properties including the osmotic inactive volume (Vb ), the hydraulic conductivity (Lp ), and the glycerol permeability (Ps ) of Sf21 cell membrane at 25, 15, 5 and -2°C were characterized using a micro-perfusion chamber. The effects of temperature on the hydraulic conductivity and the glycerol permeability of Sf21 cell membrane, reflected by the activation energies, were quantitatively investigated. It was found that the hydraulic conductivity decreases along with the increase of the final CPA concentration at a given temperature, and quantitative analysis indicates that the hydraulic conductivity has a significant linear attenuation along with the increase of the concentration of glycerol. Therefore, we incorporate the concentration dependence of the hydraulic conductivity into the classic Arrhenius relationship by replacing the constant reference value of the hydraulic conductivity at the reference temperature with a function that is linearly dependent on the CPA concentration. Consequently, the prediction of the Arrhenius relationship is improved, and the novel Arrhenius relationship could be very important to the development of optimal strategies for cell cryopreservation.

Weakening interaction suppresses spontaneous symmetry breaking in two-channel asymmetric exclusion processes.

This paper has studied spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) phenomenon in two types of two-channel asymmetric simple exclusion processes (ASEPs). One common feature of the two systems is that interactions for each species of particle happen at only one site, and the system reduces to two independent ASEPs when interaction vanishes. It is shown that with the weakening of interaction, the SSB is suppressed. More interestingly, the SSB disappears before the interaction is eliminated. Our work thus indicates that local interaction has to be strong enough to produce SSB. The mean-field analysis has been carried out, and the results are consistent with the simulation ones.