Single-Cell Microgels for Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Cell encapsulation within hydrogel droplets is transforming what is feasible in multiple fields of biomedical science such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, in vitro modeling, and cell-based therapies. Recent advances have allowed researchers to miniaturize material encapsulation complexes down to single-cell scales, where each complex, termed a single-cell microgel, contains only one cell surrounded by a hydrogel matrix while remaining <100 μm in size. With this achievement, studies requiring single-cell resolution are now possible, similar to those done using liquid droplet encapsulation. Of particular note, applications involving long-term in vitro cultures, modular bioinks, high-throughput screenings, and formation of 3D cellular microenvironments can be tuned independently to suit the needs of individual cells and experimental goals. In this progress report, an overview of established materials and techniques used to fabricate single-cell microgels, as well as insight into potential alternatives is provided. This focused review is concluded by discussing applications that have already benefited from single-cell microgel technologies, as well as prospective applications on the cusp of achieving important new capabilities.     

妈祖文化视域下的表情符号设计研究

目的 基于妈祖文化的视角,探究妈祖文化与表情符号设计融合的可能性,打造表情文化产业链,为表情符号的设计开发提供更多的机遇,推动了妈祖文化的对外传播.方法 以妈祖文化为切入点,分析表情符号设计与妈祖文化跨界融合发展的优势.同时,借助具体的案例来阐述两者结合所产生的积极意义,表明巧妙应用妈祖文化的可行性.结论 妈祖文化的融入为表情符号的发展增添了浓墨重彩的一笔,对于增强文化气息及开拓设计思路都发挥着重要作用,易于激发受众的情绪、记忆,引起受众情感和心理的共鸣,从而创造符合受众审美情趣和思维方式的设计作品.由此可见,深入把握两者的关联性,有助于催生新的文化产业形态、传承妈祖文化、开辟表情符号设计新路径.     

石峡遗址玉琮形制与纹饰设计流变解读

通过梳理石峡遗址玉琮不同阶段形制与纹饰设计的变化,以及良渚文化和同时期其他地区玉琮的形制、纹饰和功能的分析,发现广东境内出土的玉琮与良渚文化关系极为密切,石峡遗址的多节玉琮更是直接来自于太湖地区,而那些纹饰设计出现颠倒或发生较大改变者应为本地仿制品。龙山时代,玉琮虽然传播和辐及的范围十分广泛,但是在大部分地区其功能都发生了变化,只有广东地区的玉琮仍最大程度地坚守着传统与信仰。石峡遗址玉琮形制与纹饰设计流变,所反映出的这种文化传播方式、接收程度与再创作,突出地体现了一种强势文化在对外传播和扩散的过程中,因地因时而制宜。这或许可以提示我们,利用传统文化元素进行再设计,欲意达到传统与现代的融合与契合,更理应如此。     

基于秩序与非秩序理论的文创产品卡通形象设计研究

目的 从秩序与非秩序理论出发,研究文创产品卡通形象的设计方法.方法 对秩序与非秩序理论的视觉机制和创制理论进行梳理,结合实例,阐述了其与文创产品卡通形象设计之间的联系,分析文创产品卡通形象中的秩序与非秩序的表现形式,提出基于秩序与非秩序理论文创产品卡通形象设计的主要原则,归纳出一套基于秩序与非秩序理论的文创产品卡通形象设计流程与方法,指导设计实践,并验证这些理论方法在设计实践中有效性与可行性.结论 通过对秩序与非秩序理论的研究,文创产品卡通形象设计时应注意提高辨识度、亲和力和便于衍生设计的原则.探索基于秩序与非秩序理论的设计流程与方法,按照界定主题、主体形象设计、主体形象拓展、衍生品应用四个环节开展整体方案设计,为文创产品卡通形象设计提供新的思路与方法.     

Fabrication and characterization of electrospun Plantago major seed mucilage/PVA nanofibers

Electrospinning is a well-known technique for producing nanofibers using synthetic and natural polymers like mucilage. In this study, Plantago major Mucilage (PMM) was blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a nontoxic adding agent, in order to produce electrospun nanofiber. Electrospinning parameters (voltage, tip-to-collector distance, feed rate, and PMM/PVA ratio) were optimized and solution properties were analyzed. The morphology of nanofibers was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). Mechanical strength of nanofibers was determined, and cell viability on nanofibers was discussed by MTT assay. The results of SEM indicated that the PMM/PVA (50/50) nanofibers obtained with average diameter of 250 nm. Viscosity, electrical conductivity, and surface tension of PMM/PVA solution were 550 Cp, 575 μS/cm, and 47.044 mN/m, respectively. FTIR and XRD results verified the exiting PMM in produced nanofibers and no chemical reaction between PMM and PVA. Improvement in mechanical strength and cell viability of nanofibers by adding PMM to PVA nanofibers indicated the potential application of PMM-based nanofibers for medical and food industries. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47852.     

中国传统饮食文化融入食育路径研究

为国民身体素质、探索具有中国特色的现代食育之路，必须深入分析与探索中国饮食文化中的食育理念。文章以传统饮食文化为出发点和落脚点，概括出医食同源、饮食有节、饮食有礼等先进的食育观点。分析传统饮食与现代食育的关系，认为食育是弘扬传统饮食文化的重要途径，传统饮食文化是发展现代食育的基础。但探索现代食育仍面临着西方快餐文化冲击和国民食育进程缓慢等困境，必须采取强化国民食育意识、加强食育法制建设、健全食育教育体系、推进食育试点工作等措施促进中国传统饮食文化融入食育体系建设，真正探索具有中国特色的食育之路。     

Hydroxyapatite cages with aligned pores for bone grafting – Seeding of human osteoblast-like cells in vitro and their response in dynamic culture mode

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a highly regarded synthetic bone graft material. Porous HA ceramics blocks are used to substitute harvested natural bone grafts. Being similar to bone mineral, HA material integrates with the host bone through surface osteointegration and slowly resorb along with the natural bone remodeling process. The blocks in use currently have random and tortuous pore structures. The present work explores the usefulness of cage-like HA ceramic design with end-to-end open pores, with the help of in vitro cell culture methods. Such a structure, on implantation, will take up the blood factors and cells and host the bone remodeling process inside the bulk of the cage, leading to early healing. In the study, HA samples with aligned through-pores were prepared and explored in vitro, with a focus on how the pores host the cells inside and to what level the cells maintain their activity. Human osteoblast-like cells (HOS) were used, at different seeding and culturing approaches. Cell seeding was done through (i) conventional large volume cell suspension, (ii) a confined mini chamber with a limited volume of cell suspension, and (iii) placing a concentrated drop of cell suspension directly on top of the scaffold. The third approach gave the best cell adhesion and proliferation, and hence used for further explorations. A dynamic culture system was designed in-house by bifurcating the cell culture wells using vertical inserts, holding the samples horizontally with their ends open to both sides, and making the media flow across using a rocker platform. The HOS cell adhesion, viability and proliferation were tested in the HA cages, in static and dynamic culture conditions, with conventional porous ceramics as the control. The cell infiltration was deeper and the cell viability over a period of 7 days was significantly higher in dynamic culture conditions in the test samples.     

尽善尽美——儒家思想对中国设计的启示

经过几千年的发展和接受,儒家逐步确立了在中国主流意识形态中的“正典”地位。但应该承认,我们对于儒家的接受并不是不加批判全盘照搬的。在这两千多年的时间里,社会生活和意识形态领域所发生的重大变化我们不可能视而不见,而儒家思想恰恰有很大一部分是属于社会学科范畴之内的,在今天明显已经失去积极的意义(比如一些封建宗法),对此当然不能过分坚持,否定发展。因此,对于当今海外的“新儒家”的一些做法,可以欣赏他们对于中国传统文化的热忱,但必须承认那只是一部分知识分子的精英心态,从社会学的眼光看,的确过于保守,不利于文化的创造,特别是不能适应于现代艺术和设计的发展。本文希望区分出儒家思想中具有时代性和永恒性两个方面的内容,在对其已没有价值的社会伦理思想自觉进行发展的同时,对其永恒的东西进行一种当代的阐释。     

Exploring the anticancer properties of essential oils from family Lamiaceae

Lamiaceae is among the largest families of flowering plants with about 250 genera and over 7,000 species distributed around the world. It is considered as the important source of essential oils, for example, menthol, geraniol, eucalyptol, camphor and thymol. Therefore, it is imperative to study these economically important compounds under in vitro conditions for their sustainable and enhanced production. In addition to proven biological activities, essential oils from this family have recently been evaluated for anticancer activities and considered as a source of anticancer drugs. Mechanisms involved in the essential oils-mediated antiproliferative activity include cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and DNA repair mechanisms. Essential oils also act in the reduction of tumors, inhibiting metastasis and as anti-multidrug resistance molecules. The aim of this review is to assess the anticancer properties of essential oils obtained from different members of family Lamiaceae. The available reports on active components of essential oils and their effect on cancer type and cell line have been discussed. Biotechnological studies to improve the production of essential oils have also been highlighted. Various methods have been adopted to obtain essential oils under in vitro conditions from different plant species of family Lamiaceae, and their production is affected by culture conditions, cultivation mode, utilization of nutrient media and plant growth regulators. The literature survey suggests that essential oils obtained from family Lamiaceae have perspective for the development of new alternatives for disease treatment and prevention.     

The Photomontage Activity of Postmodernism

For decades now, Douglas Crimp’s landmark 1980 essay ‘The Photographic Activity of Postmodernism’ has shaped our understanding of modernism’s aftermath, at least as it unfolded in North America and Western Europe. Less remembered, however, is the degree to which the procedures of disjunction, copying, appropriation, and outright theft that he highlighted were epitomised not just by contemporary photography, but by photomontage in particular. This article recovers the debates that led critics such as Crimp, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Christopher Phillips, Benjamin Buchloh and others to turn to photomontage as one of their principal objects of concern in what became known as the postmodern critique of photography. Why was montage tasked to perform this critical function, particularly by people around the journal October who had not otherwise devoted the balance of their writing to photography’s history? The article suggests that these men and women, along with the contemporary artists they foregrounded, manifested what Mary Anne Doane has called a ‘desire for signification’, a reaction in the late 1970s against the mute theatricality of minimalist and conceptual art. Photomontage reintroduced representation to contemporary art and to the canon of art history. But unlike the reemerging illusionism in painting that also manifested this desire, montage guarded against an uncomplicated realism by highlighting and critiquing operations of representation in a manner that painting no longer could.