Responsive photonic hydrogel for colorimetric detection of formaldehyde.

Formaldehyde (FA) can damage DNA, cause liver and kidney dysfunction, and ultimately lead to malignant tumors. Therefore, it is essential to develop a method that can conveniently detect FA with high detection sensitivity. Here, a responsive photonic hydrogel was prepared by embedding three-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) into amino-functionalized hydrogel to construct a colorimetric sensing film for FA. The amino groups on the polymer chains of the photonic hydrogel reacts with FA to increase the crosslinking density of the hydrogel, resulting in its volume shrinkage and a decrease in microsphere spacing of the PC. That causes the reflectance spectra blue-shift of more than 160 nm and color change from red to cyan for the optimized photonic hydrogel, achieving the sensitive, selective and colorimetric detection of FA. The constructed photonic hydrogel shows good accuracy and reliability for practical determination of FA in air and aquatic products, providing a new strategy for designing other target analytes responsive photonic hydrogels.

Arterial blood gas and acid-base balance in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome.

This study aimed to investigate the expression of arterial blood gas and acid-base balance in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome and their influence on newborns. A total of 348 patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome (research group) admitted and treated in the First People's Hospital of Jining from March 2013 to March 2016 were retrospectively analyzed, and another 156 cases of healthy pregnant women who were physically examined were selected as the control group. Blood gas analysis was performed on pregnant women, and pH value, partial pressure of oxygen (PO2), partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2), bicarbonate radical (HCO3-) and base excess (BE) were included as test indexes. Apgar score was made for newborns for neonatal asphyxia. The evaluation was performed at 1, 5, and 10 min after birth to analyze the correlation between the maternal arterial blood pH and the neonatal Apgar score. The pH value, and PO2 and HCO3- levels in the research group were lower than those in the control group (p<0.05). PCO2 and BE levels in the research group were higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). The incidence of neonatal mild asphyxia (Apgar score, 4-6 points) and neonatal severe asphyxia (Apgar score, <4 points) in the research group were higher than that in the control group (p<0.05). The Apgar score of newborns was positively correlated with the pH value of the arterial blood of pregnant women. Blood gas analysis in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome is useful to a certain extent to evaluate the condition of the patient. The combination of the pH value of the patient and the Apgar score of the newborns may help improve the judgement rate of neonatal asphyxia so as to improve the quality of childbirth by early monitoring and intervention of the newborns.

Triiodothyronine alleviates alcoholic liver disease injury through the negative regulation of the NLRP3 signaling pathway.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect and mechanism of triiodothyronine (T3) on alcoholic liver disease (ALD)-induced injuries in mice. A total of 40 male C57/BL6 mice were randomly divided into the Control, ALD, ALD+T3 and ALD+T3+AMP-activated protein kinase inhibitor (CC) groups. Mice were administered alcohol (4 g/kg/day) intragastrically for 4 weeks except for Control group. Mice in the ALD+T3 group were given T3 (0.1 mg/kg/day) while mice in ALD+T3+CC group were given T3 (0.1 mg/kg/day) and CC (10 mg/kg/day) for 1 week. Control and ALD groups were treated with saline. Liver tissue and blood samples were obtained for testing. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total bilirubin (TBIL) levels were determined and morphological changes in the liver tissues were observed under the optical microscope. Inflammatory factors, including IL-1ß and transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß/1, α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) and protein levels of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine rich repeat containing family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), caspase-1 and pro-IL-1ß were measured. Serum ALT, AST and TBIL levels in the ALD+T3 group were significantly reduced compared with the ALD group, while they were significantly increased in the ALD+T3+CC group (P<0.05). The number of hepatic lobules in the ALD+T3 group was significantly reduced compared with the ALD group, whereas the number in the ALD+T3+CC group was significantly increased (P<0.05). IL-1ß and TGF-ß1 levels in the ALD+T3 group were significantly decreased compared with the ALD group; however, levels in the ALD+T3+CC group were significantly increased compared with the ALD+T3 group (P<0.05). In addition, it was revealed that the expression of α-SMA mRNA and protein in the ALD+T3 group was significantly decreased compared with the ALD group, whereas it was significantly increased in the ALD+T3+CC group compared with the ALD+T3 group. Expression of NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-1ß and TGF-ß1 in the ALD+T3 group was significantly decreased compared with the ALD group, while expression was significantly increased in the ALD+T3+CC group. Conversely, compared with the ALD group, expression of pro-IL-1ß was significantly increased in the ALD+T3 group and decreased in the ALD+T3+CC group. In conclusion, T3 may reduce the inflammatory response and severity of liver cirrhosis in mice with ALD by negatively regulating the NLRP3 signaling pathway.

Fiber Laser Welding of Fuel Cladding and End Plug Made of La2O3 Dispersion-Strengthened Molybdenum Alloy.

The study investigated the laser lap welding of fuel cladding and end plug made of molybdenum (Mo) alloy. The research results showed that the tensile strength of the welded joint when a weld was located at the Mo tube was significantly larger than that at the fit-up gap between the fuel cladding and end plug. Moreover, preheating can also greatly increase the tensile strength of the lap joint. The weld zone was filled with bulky coarse columnar crystal structures while there were numerous coarse recrystallized structures in the heat affected zone (HAZ). The weld zone and HAZ were both subjected to a significant softening. The tensile strength and elongation rate of fuel cladding made of Mo alloy were about 750 MPa and 36.7%, respectively. The welded joint did not undergo any plastic deformation during the tensile process and presented a brittle fracture. Under the optimum processing conditions, the tensile strength of the welded joint reached 617 MPa, taking up 82.3% that of the base metal. The results of composition analysis indicated that there was only Mo inside the columnar crystals in weld zone while significant oxygen segregation was observed at the grain boundary. This was the main reason causing that the strength of welded joint was lower than that of the base metal. Additionally, under the optimum processing conditions, there were numerous slender columnar crystals on the cross section of the joint entering the weld zone in fuel cladding side from that in end plug side where the crystals were nucleated and grew upwards. The analysis results suggested that the presence of these slender columnar crystals crossing the interface between fuel cladding and end plug was favorable for improving the capacity of the joint for bearing the shear loads.