Clinical value of Vitamin-D combined with budesonide/formoterol and theophylline sodium glycinate sustained-release tablets in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Objective: To explore the clinical value of Vitamin-D combined with budesonide/formoterol (BF) and theophylline sodium glycinate (TSG) sustained-release tablets in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: Medical records of 114 patients with CODP, treated in Wenzhou Geriatric Hospital from October 2020 to February 2023, were retrospectively analyzed. Of them, 59 received treatment with Vitamin-D combined with BF and TSG sustained-release tablets (Group-A), and 55 patients received treatment with BF combined with TSG sustained-release tablets (Group-B). Lung function indicators, blood gas status, inflammatory factors, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels before and after the treatment in both groups were collected. Results: After the treatment, lung function indicators, blood gas status, inflammatory factors, FeNO, and 25 (OH) D levels in both groups were significantly improved compared to pretreatment levels, and were significantly better in the Group-A compared to Group-B (P<0.05). Conclusions: The combination of Vitamin-D, BF, and TSG sustained-release tablets can effectively regulate the blood gas status of patients with COPD, improve lung function, regulate FeNO and 25 (OH) D, and effectively downregulate the levels of inflammatory factors, thus reducing the degree of inflammatory response.

Prognostic nutritional index and prognosis of patients with coronary artery disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: This review assessed if prognostic nutritional index (PNI) can predict mortality and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase were searched up to 1st November 2022 for all types of studies reporting adjusted associations between PNI and mortality or MACE in CAD patients. A random-effect meta-analysis was conducted for PNI as categorical or continuous variable. Subgroup analysis were conducted for multiple confounders. Results: Fifteen studies with 22,521 patients were included. Meta-analysis found that low PNI was a significant predictor of mortality in CAD patients as compared to those with high PNI (HR: 1.67 95% CI: 1.39, 2.00 I 2 = 95% p < 0.00001). Increasing PNI scores were also associated with lower mortality (HR: 0.94 95% CI: 0.91, 0.97 I 2 = 89% p = 0.0003). Meta-analysis demonstrated that patients with low PNI had significantly higher incidence of MACE (HR: 1.57 95% CI: 1.08, 2.28 I 2 = 94% p = 0.02) and increasing PNI was associated with lower incidence of MACE (HR: 0.84 95% CI: 0.72, 0.92 I 2 = 97% p = 0.0007). Subgroup analyses showed mixed results. Conclusion: Malnutrition assessed by PNI can independently predict mortality and MACE in CAD patients. Variable PNI cut-offs and high inter-study heterogeneity are major limitations while interpreting the results. Further research focusing on specific groups of CAD and taking into account different cut-offs of PNI are needed to provide better evidence. Systematic Review Registration: No CRD42022365913 https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/.

An Efficient Composite Modifier Prepared for Enhancing the Crystallization and Flame-Retardancy of Poly(m-xylylene adipamide).

Poly(m-xylylene adipamide) (MXD6) has good gas barrier properties and high mechanical strength. However, in nature, this resin has a low rate of crystallization. In order to overcome this obstacle in its applications, this study prepares a new, efficient modifier for MXD6 by combining the synthesized DOPO derivative (DT) and P22. It is found that the use of the binary modifier exhibits obvious effects on the crystallization of MXD6. When 11.0 wt.% DT is added together with 0.1 wt.% P22 (DT/P22), the crystallization temperature of MXD6 shifts to a higher temperature of 19.7 °C, and the crystallinity degree of MXD6 is significantly increased by 60%. Meanwhile, this modifier exhibits obviously intumescent flame-retardancy on MXD6 by increasing the limited oxygen index (LOI) from 26.4% to 33.4%. The results of the cone calorimeter test (CCT) reveal that the peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release (THR) and average effective heat release (av-EHC) are obviously suppressed due to the use of this modifier. Moreover, the influences of this modifier on the crystal structures, mechanical and rheological properties of MXD6 are analyzed in detail. This study can provide an efficient modifier for MXD6.

Synthesis, Structures, and Properties of a New Pentaerythritol-Derived Flame Retardant Used in Polyamide 66.

A melting phosphorous-based flame retardant (FR) named as diphenyl phosphoryl (DPP)-PEPA is synthesized from 2,6,7-trioxa-1-phosphabicyclo-(2.2.2)-octane-4-methanol (PEPA) and diphenyl phosphoryl chloride. The melting DPP-PEPA FR possesses high thermostability with T 5wt% at 344 °C, which can match the melt-spinning of engineering plastics at high temperatures. The structure of DPP-PEPA is defined by nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectrometry. The influences of DPP-PEPA on polyamide 6,6 (PA66) are assessed in terms of rheology parameters and crystallinity. It is observed that the flame retardancy of PA66 is greatly improved when DPP-PEPA is added to the PA66 resin. The results show that the modified PA66 has limited oxygen index as high as 29.4%, and the compact char layers are obviously formed on top of the burned samples. As compared to the pure PA66, the peak heat release rate and the average effective heat of combustion are decreased by 26.5 and 19.3%, respectively. It is obtained that the value of flame retardancy index is 1.4, indicating high efficiency of the entire flame retardancy. Moreover, pyrolysis of DPP-PEPA is carried out at different temperatures for identifying gaseous products and types of flame retardancy.

Improving the Stability of UV-Cured Materials by the Radical Scavenger Loaded into Halloysite Nanotubes.

We prepared a new size-stable UV-cured material by loading a radical scavenger, 4-methoxyphenol (MEHQ), into halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) to improve the size-stability of UV-cured products. Loading the MEHQ into halloysite nanotubes was intended to protect the curing reaction from the typical inhibitive influence of a radical scavenger. After the curing process, heating treatment was performed on the cured products to accelerate the release of MEHQ from the halloysite lumen. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller tests and transmission electron micrographs showed that MEHQ was successfully loaded into the halloysite lumen. The photopolymerization kinetic curves of composites revealed that adding the MEHQ-loaded halloysite nanotubes (HNTs-M) into UV-cured materials enabled faster photopolymerization rate than adding a simple mixture of HNTs and MEHQ. With MEHQ loaded in HNTs, the inhibition influence of MEHQ could be reduced. The results of the size-stability test showed that composites with HNTs-M underwent lower deformation during daily use than neat cured materials. In particular, the volume shrinkage of the composites with 8 wt% HNTs-M in daily use was decreased by 51.3%. The results of the release experiment showed that the release rate of MEHQ could be increased through heating treatment. This method may be used to improve the size-stability of UV-curable materials in the future.

Preparation of Graphene Oxide/Poly(1-vinylimidazole) Composites for Resistive Switching Memory.

In this study, a photochemical polymerization using graphene oxide (GO) as an initiator generated a new composite film with poly(1-vinylimidazole) (PVI) covered the GO sheets. Atomic force microscopy and infrared spectroscopy revealed the uniform layering of the PVI on the sheets. An ITO/GO-PVI/Cu device was fabricated from this synthesized film, and it exhibited a write-once-read-many-times (WORM) memory functionality with resistance switching under an applied voltage of -3.2 V. The ON/OFF current ratio of the device reached 106. An analysis of the current-voltage characteristics of the device indicated that the ON-state charge transport followed Ohmic conduction with metallic behavior, while the OFF-state charge transport was dominated by a trap-limited space charge limited conduction.

Photocatalytic decarboxylation of diacids for the initiation of free radical polymerization.

Photopolymerization, which is one of the most attractive polymerization methods, has been recently studied for the development of new photoinitiators. Herein, we use a binary mixture of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and carboxylic diacid as a novel photoinitiator to initiate the free radical polymerization of vinyl acetate (VAc). The polymerization of VAc is achieved both in aqueous medium and bulk. The initiation mechanism of TiO2/diacids is studied via nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy using 13C labeled diacids as probing molecules. Further, a universal reaction mechanism is established, where the polymerization of VAc is initiated by the HOOC-R˙ radical, which is generated from the photocatalytic decarboxylation of the diacid. The polymerization kinetics results indicate that the polymerization rate is strongly dependant on the diacid structure. Compared to the use of diacids with an odd number of carbons, it is found that using diacids with an even number of carbons results in the polymerization rate reaching the maximum value faster.

Copolymerization of EDOT with pyrrole on TiO2 semiconductor films by one-step reaction, structure-dependent electronic properties, and charge conduction models of the composite films.

We used the photoexcited TiO2 films to initiate the copolymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene with pyrrole, aiming to develop an organic/inorganic heterojunction. Specular reflection infrared spectroscopy analysis was used to monitor the process of polymerization and indicated that the copolymers directly grew on the TiO2 substrate. Dissecting the copolymers with ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the evolution of the valence-band electronic structures. Moreover, the resulting copolymer/TiO2 heterojunctions were investigated using electrochemical impedence and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The Al/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-co-pyrrole)/TiO2/ITO heterojunction device that was prepared from the hybrid film exhibited a conspicuous rectification. The heterojunction device was also explored with respect to the conduction models.

Photovoltaic hybrid films with polythiophene growing on monoclinic WO3 semiconductor substrates.

A new photovoltaic film consisting of monoclinic WO(3) semiconductor and conjugated polythiophene (PT) is prepared via an in situ polymerization which is initiated by photoexcited WO(3). It is observed that PT grows on the WO(3) substrate along with reaction time, leading to uniform and high quality PT-WO(3) composite films. Structures of the as-synthesized films are studied by using Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) with the aim of gaining an insight into the interface. The results show that the sulfur sites of PT are bound to the semiconductor through a strong linkage and an acceptor-donor complex is formed as a result of the electron transfer from PT to WO(3). The cyclic voltammetry analysis confirms the charge-transfer reaction. Film devices are fabricated by using the PT-WO(3) composite film as the active layer and measured under AM 1.5G illumination for the photocurrents and incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency.

One-step synthesis to photoelectric hybrid composite of N-vinylcarbazole-methyl acrylate copolymer and ZnO nanocrystals via nanocrystals-initiated polymerization.

This study designs a polymerization, in which ZnO colloids are used to initiate a copolymerization of N-vinylcarbazole and methyl acrylate, to synthesize functional composites for fabricating photoelectric devices. It is proved that a block copolymer is synthesized and a nanocomposite consisting of the ZnO and copolymer is obtained simultaneously. As a result, the ZnO nanocrystals are finely dispersed in the polymer matrix. A film-device is prepared from the obtained nanocomposite which has good film-forming ability and measured about photocurrents under illumination.

A novel route to photoluminescent, water-soluble Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots via photopolymerization initiated by the quantum dots.

We design a photopolymerization, in which Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots (ZnS:Mn(2+)) initiate the polymerization of acrylic acid, to convert the non-cytotoxic quantum dots to water-soluble ones for biological chromophores The prepared quantum dots are nearly monodispersed in water and the resulting solution shows long-term stability for months. The water-soluble ZnS:Mn(2+) quantum dots exhibit high quantum efficiency of fluorescence. The polymerization of acrylic acid is ruled by a free-radical mechanism and results in a polymer with a random configuration. Raman scattering shows that, in the water-soluble quantum dots, the vibration modes of surface optical phonons, transverse optical phonons and longitudinal optical phonons are changed in frequencies. Results of model calculations correlate these changes to the polymerization occurring at the surface of QDs.