Highly Selective and Scalable Molecular Fluoride Sensor for Naked-Eye Detection.

Fluoride is widely present in nature, and human exposure to it is generally regarded as inevitable. High levels of fluoride intake induce acute and chronic illnesses. To reduce potential harm to the general public, it is essential to create selective fluoride detectors capable of providing a colorimetric response for naked-eye detection without the need for sophisticated equipment. Here, we report a one-pot synthesis of four different diaminomaleonitrile-derived Schiff base sensors. The terephthalaldehyde adduct provided a strong color change visible to the naked eye at a F- concentration level as low as 2 ppm. From the evaluation against other anions, such as CN-, I-, Br-, Cl-, NO3-, PO43-, OAc-, and HSO4-, the molecular sensor displayed a visible color change exclusively upon exposure to fluoride, underscoring exceptional selectivity. As a key intermediate for understanding the mechanism, HF2- was confirmed by 19F nuclear magnetic resonance. Theoretical calculations suggested a deprotonation-triggered bathochromic shift brought about by the unique electronic structure of the sensor. Furthermore, the simple synthetic protocol from economically accessible materials allowed for the preparation of the compound on a large scale, rendering it a highly practical visual fluoride sensor.

Amine Chemistry of Porous CO2 Adsorbents.

ConspectusAs renewable energy and CO2 utilization technologies progress to make a more significant contribution to global emissions reduction, carbon capture remains a critical component of the mission. Current CO2 capture technologies involve operations at point sources such as fossil fuel-based power plants or source-agnostic like in direct air capture. Each strategy has its own advantages and limitations, but in common, they all employ sorption-based methods with the use of sorbents strongly adhering to CO2. Amine solutions are the most widely used absorbents for industrial operations due to the robust chemical bonds formed between amines and CO2 under both dry and humid conditions, rendering excellent selectivity. Such strong binding, however, causes problematic regeneration. In contrast, purely physisorptive porous materials with high surface areas allow for the confinement of CO2 inside narrow pores/channels and have a lower regeneration energy demand but with decreased selectivity and capacity. The most promising solution would then be the unification of both types of sorbents in one system, which could bring about a practical adsorption-desorption process. In other words, the development of porous solid materials with tunable amine content is necessary to leverage the high contact surface of porous sorbents with the added ability to manipulate amine incorporation toward lower CO2 binding strength.To answer the call to uncover the most feasible amine chemistry in carbon capture, our group has devoted intense effort to the study of amine-based CO2 adsorbents for the past decade. Oriented along practicality, we put forth a principle for the design of our materials to be produced in no more than three synthetic steps with economically viable starting materials. Porous organic polymers with amine functionalities of various substitutions, meaning primary, secondary, and tertiary amines, were synthesized and studied for CO2 adsorption. Direct synthesis proved to be feasibly applicable for secondary and tertiary amine-incorporated porous polymers whereas primary-amine-based sorbents would be conveniently obtained via postsynthetic modifications. Sorbents based on tertiary amines exhibit purely physical adsorption behavior if the nitrogen atoms are placed adjacent to aromatic cores due to the conjugation effect that reduces the electron density of the amine. However, when such conjugation is inhibited, chemisorptive activity is observed. Secondary amine adsorbents, in turn, express a higher binding strength than tertiary amine counterparts, but both types can merit a strengthened binding by the physical impregnation of small-molecule amines. Sorbents with primary-amine tethers can be obtained via postsynthetic transformation of precursor functionalities, and for them, chemical adsorption is mainly at work. We conclude that mixed-amine systems could exhibit unprecedented binding mechanisms, resulting in exceptionally specific interactions that would be useful for the development of highly selective sorbents for CO2.

Is Kinesio Taping Effective for Knee Osteoarthritis? Randomised, Controlled, Double-blind Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of Kinesio taping on pain, functional performance, range of motion, and postural stability in patients with knee osteoarthritis. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised double-blind controlled trial. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Health Sciences, Izmir Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital, Turkey, from November 2019 to October 2021. METHODOLOGY: Fifty-seven patients with knee osteoarthritis (grade II or higher) according to the Kellgren-Lawrence classification received Kinesio tape or sham-Kinesio tape on the rectus femoris muscle three times a week. Patients were evaluated using the visual analogue scale (VAS), Western ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), 50-meter walk time, range of motion (ROM), and postural stability index at baseline, 1st hour, 3rd week, 7th week. A mixed model analysis of repeated measures was used to test the effect of KT on outcome measures. Calculations were based on an intention-to-treat analysis. RESULTS: The only significant difference between groups was in the dynamic medio-lateral stability index [F (2.6,144.1)=3.83, p=0.015], indicating the inferiority of KT at week 3. There were differences within groups in 50-meter walking time and VAS at rest, which showed improvements over time in both groups. No significant difference was found between or within groups for other outcomes. CONCLUSION: The KT intervention for three consecutive weeks showed no superiority over sham-KT in terms of pain intensity, knee-related health status, knee ROM, functional performance, and postural stability. KEY WORDS: Kinesio taping, Knee osteoarthritis, Pain, Gait, Functions.

Rapid Access to Ordered Mesoporous Carbons for Chemical Hydrogen Storage.

Ordered mesoporous carbon materials offer robust network of organized pores for energy storage and catalysis applications, but suffer from time-consuming and intricate preparations hindering their widespread use. Here we report a new and rapid synthetic route for a N-doped ordered mesoporous carbon structure through a preferential heating of iron oxide nanoparticles by microwaves. A nanoporous covalent organic polymer is first formed in situ covering the hard templates of assembled nanoparticles, paving the way for a long-range order in a carbonaceous nanocomposite precursor. Upon removal of the template, a well-defined cubic mesoporous carbon structure was revealed. The ordered mesoporous carbon was used in solid state hydrogen storage as a host scaffold for NaAlH4 , where remarkable improvement in hydrogen desorption kinetics was observed. The state-of-the-art lowest activation energy of dehydrogenation as a single step was attributed to their ordered pore structure and N-doping effect.

Covalent Amine Tethering on Ketone Modified Porous Organic Polymers for Enhanced CO2 Capture.

Effective removal of excess greenhouse gas CO2 necessitates new adsorbents that can overcome the shortcomings of the current capture methods. To achieve that, porous materials are often modified post-synthetically with reactive amine functionalities but suffer from significant surface area losses. Herein, we report a successful amine post-functionalization of a highly porous covalent organic polymer, COP-130, without losing much porosity. By varying the amine substituents, we recorded a remarkable increase in CO2 uptake and selectivity. Ketone functionality, a rarely accessible functional group for porous polymers, was inserted prior to amination and led to covalent tethering of amines. Interestingly, aminated polymers demonstrated relatively low heats of adsorption, which is useful for the rapid recyclability of materials, due to the formation of suspected intramolecular hydrogen bonding.

Dextrose Prolotherapy Versus Normal Saline Injection for the Treatment of Lateral Epicondylopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To compare the effect of dextrose prolotherapy (DPT) with saline in the treatment of chronic lateral epicondylopathy (LE). Design: Triple-blinded randomized controlled trial. Setting: Physical medicine and rehabilitation outpatient clinic. Subjects: Sixty cases of chronic LE participants were included in the study. Methods: Participants were randomly divided into two groups as DPT and normal saline. Saline or hypertonic dextrose (15%) was injected at the baseline, and at the end of the 4th and 8th week. Assessments were performed at baseline, and at the end of the 4th, 8th, and 12th week. Outcome measures: Primary outcome measures were Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain, Patient Rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation (PRTEE-Total [PRTEE-T], PRTEE-Pain, PRTEE-Function); secondary outcome measures were Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand Score (DASH) and pain-free handgrip strength. Results: Intragroup analysis demonstrated that both groups significantly improved in VAS, PRTEE, DASH scores, and handgrip strength during the study period (p < 0.001, for all outcome measurements in both groups). Intergroup analysis showed that PRTEE-T score changes between baseline-4th and -12th week; VASrest change between baseline and 4th week in the DPT group were significantly higher than the saline group (p = 0.041, p = 0.038, p = 0.013 respectively). There was no significant difference between groups in VAS, DASH scores, and handgrip strength between any time points, in terms of improvement (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Our study results showed that DPT outperformed saline in PRTEE-T score. Although saline seems to be a comparable clinical effect with DPT, further studies comparing the effects of saline injection and DPT are necessary, in chronic LE.

Inversion of Dispersion: Colloidal Stability of Calixarene-Modified Metal-Organic Framework Nanoparticles in Nonpolar Media.

Making metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that are stabilized in nonpolar media is not as straightforward as making their inorganic nanoparticle counterparts, since surfactants penetrate through the porous structures or dissolve the secondary building units (SBUs) through ligand-exchange linker modulator mechanisms. Herein, we report that calixarenes stabilize UIO-66 nanoparticles effectively by remaining outside the grains through size exclusion, without pores becoming blocked, all the while providing amphiphilicity that permits the formation of stable colloidal dispersions with much narrower size distributions. Using the UIO-66 dispersed solutions, we show that smooth films from an otherwise immiscible polystyrene can be made feasibly.

Kinesio taping versus dry needling in the treatment of myofascial pain of the upper trapezius muscle: A randomized, single blind (evaluator), prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Although a number of therapeutic interventions for trigger-point inactivation have been studied, it remains controversial which intervention is better. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of the kinesio taping and dry needling methods in patients with trigger-point related myofascial pain syndrome of the upper trapezius muscle. METHODS: A total of 42 patients were randomly allocated to the kinesio taping group (n= 23) and dry needling group (n= 19). The patients were assessed for pain, pressure pain threshold (PPT), cervical range of motion (CROM), and function at baseline, at short- and medium-term stages after treatment. To investigate the effects of the interventions over time, two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in pain intensity at rest and cervical motion, in the PPT readings (p< 0.05), in CROM (p< 0.05), and in function (p< 0.05) in both groups, with no superiority either (p> 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Kinesio taping may be a choice of trigger point inactivation in patients who do not want to be needled or who show contraindication(s) to treatments other than kinesio taping.

Direct Access to Primary Amines and Particle Morphology Control in Nanoporous CO2 Sorbents.

Chemical tuning of nanoporous, solid sorbents for ideal CO2 binding requires unhindered amine functional groups on the pore walls. Although common for soluble organics, post-synthetic reduction of nitriles in porous networks often fails due to insufficient and irreversible metal hydride penetration. In this study, a nanoporous network with pendant nitrile groups, microsphere morphology was synthesized in large scale. The hollow microspheres were easily decorated with primary amines through in situ reduction by widely available boranes. The CO2 capture capacity of the modified sorbent was increased to up to four times that of the starting nanoporous network with a high heat of adsorption (98 kJ mol-1 ). The surface area can be easily tuned between 1 and 354 m2 g-1 . The average particle size (ca. 50 µm) is also quite suitable for CO2 capture applications, such as those with fluidized beds requiring spheres of micron sizes.