Self-healing and wearable conductive hydrogels with dynamic physically crosslinked structure

Traditional hydrogels are easily frozen or evaporated under colder or hotter temperatures, resulting in their performance degradation. In this paper, polyacrylic acid, sodium alginate, carbon nanotubes, water, and glycerol are used to synthesize self-healing, wearable, freezing resistance, and dry resistance conductive hydrogels with interpenetrating crosslinking network structure. The dynamic cross-linking network structure of the hydrogel can rapidly recover and restructure after damage. In addition, the conductive hydrogels exhibit excellent adhesion to various materials (including PTFE, iron, glass, plastic, and skin). Conductive hydrogel has excellent strain-electric sensing properties, and has high sensitivity, significant stability and repeatability. The conductive hydrogel can be used to test the movement of fingers and knee joints by strain sensing, and has excellent, sensitive, and stable resistance response. Therefore, the conductive hydrogel can be used as a wearable strain sensor for real-time detection of human joint movement. The hydrogel has better environmental adaptability and broad application prospects.

     

Sanitary legislation governing Food Services in Brazil

The Technical Regulation of Good Practices for Brazilian Food Services (Regulamento Técnico de Boas Práticas para Serviços de Alimentação do Brasil) can be complemented by sanitary surveillance agencies at the state, district and municipal levels by tailoring it to location-specific requirements. The purpose of the present study was to survey sanitary legislation governing Brazilian Food Services. During the period from November 2011 to November 2012, a survey was conducted with the sanitary surveillance agencies from the various states, capitals and the Federal District. A previously prepared and tested tool was used for data collection, comprising 10 questions. Only 10 (19.2%) of the sanitary codes had been established prior to RDC Resolution n° 216/2004 and were not complementary. Of the legislation cited as complementary, only the states of Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo and the capital of the state of São Paulo truly presented additional and location-specific aspects. No legislation that was specific to hospital kitchens was found. The majority of participating coordination, including the Evaluation List for Good Practices in Food Services, was also verified; however, it had not been published. In conclusion, a gap in sanitary surveillance services exists, which was caused by the lack of location-specific food service regulations.     

Large variation in periphyton δ13C and δ15N values in the upper Great Lakes: Correlates and implications

Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) are frequently used to examine food web structure. Despite periphyton's importance to lake food webs, little is known about spatial variation of periphyton δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values in the Great Lakes. We present periphyton δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values from 28 sites the upper Great Lakes, including Lake Superior, the north shore of Lake Michigan, and Green Bay. We also examined variation in periphyton isotope values relative to several water quality parameters (TP, TN, TKN, NO₃⁻, K_d) as well as periphyton C:N. There was a large range in both periphyton δ¹³C (range = 13.5‰) and δ¹⁵N (range = 10.2‰) among sites. Periphyton in more eutrophic sites had more depleted δ¹³C and more enriched δ¹⁵N compared to more oligotrophic sites. Our finding of high variability in periphyton isotope values in the Upper Great Lakes has implications for stable isotope-based reconstructions of food web structure.     

利奈唑胺致乳酸酸中毒研究进展

利奈唑胺是噁唑烷酮类抗菌药物，用于耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌、青霉素耐药肺炎链球菌和耐万古霉素肠球菌等革兰阳性球菌引起的感染。乳酸酸中毒是利奈唑胺的不良反应之一。利奈唑胺致乳酸酸中毒的危险因素为长时间暴露、肝功能障碍、肾功能障碍、线粒体DNA A2706G多态性、合并使用影响线粒体功能的药物等。利奈唑胺引起乳酸酸中毒的症状为恶心、呕吐、嗜睡、呼吸急促、心动过速和血压下降等，可通过密切监测血乳酸、pH、血药浓度等实验室指标以早期识别。利奈唑胺引起乳酸酸中毒机制可能与线粒体毒性相关。利奈唑胺发生乳酸酸中毒可通过减少药物剂量、停药甚至体外肾脏替代治疗，必要时加强对症支持治疗。本文对此开展综述，以期为临床防治利奈唑胺致乳酸酸中毒提供思路。     

A novel intelligent approach for yaw position forecasting in wind energy systems

Yaw control systems orientate the rotor of a wind turbine into the wind direction, optimize the wind power generated by wind turbines and alleviate the mechanical stresses on a wind turbine. Regarding the advantages of yaw control systems, a k-nearest neighbor classifier (k-NN) has been developed in order to forecast the yaw position parameter at 10-min intervals in this study. Air temperature, atmosphere pressure, wind direction, wind speed, rotor speed and wind power parameters are used in 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6-dimensional input spaces. The forecasting model using Manhattan distance metric for k = 3 uncovered the most accurate performance for atmosphere pressure, wind direction, wind speed and rotor speed inputs. However, the forecasting model using Euclidean distance metric for k = 1 brought out the most inconsistent results for atmosphere pressure and wind speed inputs. As a result of multi-tupled analyses, many feasible inferences were achieved for yaw position control systems. In addition, the yaw position forecasting model developed was compared with the persistence model and it surpassed the persistence model significantly in terms of the improvement percent.     

Tuning and controlling photocatalytic performance of TiO2/kaolinite composite towards ciprofloxacin: Role of 0D/2D structural assembly

Lamellar kaolinite supported monodispersed TiO₂ was prepared through rational design and 0D/2D structural assembly, which showed significantly improved photocatalytic performance towards ciprofloxacin. After systematic evaluation, the pseudo-first-order kinetic constant rate of TiO₂/kaolinite composite can reach to 0.04549 min⁻¹, which was 6.90 and 1.81 times higher than that of pure TiO₂ and P25, respectively. The nano-TiO₂/kaolinite composite photocatalyst also displayed good reusability performance, only a slight decline occurred after four repeated experiments, which is beneficial for the large-scale application of photocatalysts. Various characterizations indicated that enhanced photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the synergistic effect between natural kaolinite and the well distributed TiO₂, which enhanced the light absorption ability, assisted the dispersion of pure TiO₂, resulted in co-catalysis effect, improved the separation facilitation of photo-induced carriers and promoted the stronger adsorption capacity, etc. These merits effectively regulated the carriers’ lifetime and migration velocity of the photogenerated charge carriers. Considering the excellent properties of natural kaolinite (low cost, abundance, stability, etc.), our study provides a promising candidate for effective degradation of trace amounts of pharmaceutical and personal care product (PPCP) or contaminants with potential high-toxic risk.     

An intelligent control of NH3 injection for optimizing the NOx/NH3 ratio in SCR system

The distribution of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) flux within the cross-section area in front of ammonia injection grid (AIG) under different operating conditions was obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Weight of NO_x flux in the sub-zone corresponding to each of the ammonia (NH₃) injection branch-pipes of AIG system was analyzed and the sensitivity of which against the plant power load was figured out. A number of “critical” ammonia injection branch-pipes were determined with regard to the weight sensitivity analysis. The selected “critical” branch-pipes were changed to be controlled by the automatic valves, and an intelligent tuning strategy was proposed. The NO_x/NH₃ mixing stoichiometry over the cross-section area in front of AIG system was significantly modified for the high utilization ratio of ammonia. A case work was launched on the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system of a 660 MW plant. As a result, the ammonia consumption rate (ACR) was found to be reduced by 6.44% compared to that under previous control system, and was 9.31% lower than that of the unapplied system. The methodology for determining the “critical” branch-pipes and intelligent tuning strategy of ammonia injection notably saved the ammonia consumption of SCR system, and the formation of ammonium bisulfate (ABS) were greatly confined.     

Transglutaminase 2 as a Marker for Inflammation and Therapeutic Target in Sepsis

Sepsis results in lethal organ malfunction due to dysregulated host response to infection, which is a condition with increasing prevalence worldwide. Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is a crosslinking enzyme that forms a covalent bond between lysine and glutamine. TG2 plays important roles in diverse cellular processes, including extracellular matrix stabilization, cytoskeletal function, cell motility, adhesion, signal transduction, apoptosis, and cell survival. We have shown that the co-culture of Candida albicans and hepatocytes activates and induces the translocation of TG2 into the nucleus. In addition, the expression and activation of TG2 in liver macrophages was dramatically induced in the lipopolysaccharide-injected and cecal ligation puncture-operated mouse models of sepsis. Based on these findings and recently published research, we have reviewed the current understanding of the relationship between TG2 and sepsis. Following the genetic and pharmacological inhibition of TG2, we also assessed the evidence regarding the use of TG2 as a potential marker and therapeutic target in inflammation and sepsis.     

Diet-derived vicilins detected in eggs laid by a double-mated female Callosobruchus maculatus originate from nuptial gifts donated by both male partners

The eggshell and the cement that attaches the eggs of the seed-beetle Callosobruchus maculatus to the seeds of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) contain vicilins, the main storage protein found in seeds. These proteins are derived from both males and females, which originally sequester them during the larval phase from their seed hosts. In this test, females received vicilin from different males during mating as a seminal nuptial gift, and transmitted this sequestered blend of proteins to the eggs. The presence of vicilin in the cement and eggshell was demonstrated by light microscopy and Western blotting. Quantification using ELISA showed that the concentration of vicilin from seminal vesicles of a virgin male is approximately double that measured following the first copula to a virgin female, suggesting that the investment of vicilin by the males is very important. This is the first demonstration showing that at least two different males can make a direct contribution of a sequestered protein which is used in oogenesis.