Development of a new cerebral ischemia reperfusion model of Mongolian gerbils and standardized evaluation system

Background:The Mongolian gerbil is an excellent laboratory animal for preparing the cerebral ischemia model due to its inherent deficiency in the circle of Willis.However,the low incidence and unpredictability of symptoms are caused by numerous complex variant types of the circle.Additionally,the lack of an evaluation system for the cer-ebral ischemia/reperfusion(I/R)model of gerbils has shackled the application of this model.Methods:We created a symptom-oriented principle and detailed neurobehavioral scoring criteria.At different time points of reperfusion,we analyzed the alteration in locomotion by rotarod test and grip force score,infarct volume by triphenyltetrazo-lium chloride(TTC)staining,neuron loss using Nissl staining,and histological charac-teristics using hematoxylin-eosin(H&E)straining.Results:With a successful model rate of 56%,32 of the 57 gerbils operated by our method harbored typical features of cerebral I/R injury,and the mortality rate in the male gerbils was significantly higher than that in the female gerbils.The suc-cessfully prepared I/R gerbils demonstrated a significant reduction in motility and grip strength at 1 day after reperfusion;formed obvious infarction;exhibited typi-cal pathological features,such as tissue edema,neuronal atrophy and death,and vacuolated structures;and were partially recovered with the extension of reperfu-sion time.Conclusion:This study developed a new method for the unilateral common carotid artery ligation I/R model of gerbil and established a standardized evaluation system for this model,which could provide a new cerebral I/R model of gerbils with more practical applications.

4‑Terminal Inorganic Perovskite/Organic Tandem Solar Cells Offer 22%Efficiency

After fast developing of single-junction perovskite solar cells and organic solar cells in the past 10 years,it is becoming harder and harder to improve their power conversion efficiencies.Tandem solar cells are receiving more and more attention because they have much higher theoretical efficiency than single-junction solar cells.Good device performance has been achieved for perovskite/silicon and perovskite/perovskite tandem solar cells,including 2-terminal and 4-terminal structures.However,very few studies have been done about 4-terminal inorganic perovskite/organic tandem solar cells.In this work,semi-transparent inorganic perovskite solar cells and organic solar cells are used to fabricate 4-terminal inorganic perovskite/organic tandem solar cells,achieving a power conversion efficiency of 21.25%for the tandem cells with spin-coated perovskite layer.By using drop-coating instead of spin-coating to make the inorganic perovskite films,4-terminal tandem cells with an efficiency of 22.34%are made.The efficiency is higher than the reported 2-terminal and 4-terminal inorganic perovskite/organic tandem solar cells.In addition,equivalent 2-terminal tandem solar cells were fabricated by connecting the sub-cells in series.The stability of organic solar cells under continuous illumination is improved by using semi-transparent perovskite solar cells as filter.

Development and validation of a self-management behavior questionnaire for Chinese enterostomy patients

Objectives:This study aimed to develop a self-management behavior questionnaire for Chinese enter-ostomy patients and examine its reliability and validity.Methods:Guided by the theory of self-management,an initial questionnaire was generated through literature review,group meetings,and two rounds of an expert consultation.Finally,the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were validated through a questionnaire survey of 200 enterostomy patients were selected from the Affiliated Hospital of Medical University from June 2016 to March 2017.Results:The content validity index was 0.80e1.00.The exploratory factor analysis yielded a five-factor(dietary behavior,psychosocial behavior,symptom management behavior,medical compliance behavior,information management behavior),consisting of 40 items.The cumulative variance contri-bution rate was 65.42%.The Cronbach’s a coefficient for the total questionnaire was 0.972,and for the five factors ranged from 0.797 to 0.939,indicating a good internal consistency.The test-retest reliability was 0.867(P<0.01).The self-management behavior questionnaire score was negatively related to the Ostomy Skin Tool score(r=-0.800,P<0.01).Conclusions:The self-management behavior questionnaire developed in this study showed good reli-ability and validity and can be used to assess the self-management behavior of Chinese enterostomy patients.

Effects of adaptation to handling on the circadian rhythmicity of blood solutes in Mongolian gerbils

The Mongolian gerbil has been widely used in many research fields and has been reported to be a diurnal laboratory animal. The circadian rhythmicity of these gerbils was investigated in the present study by measuring two hormones that show daily oscillations, cortisol and ACTH, in serum using ELISA kits. The levels of the two hormones were highest at 8:00 am and their rhythmic changes were similar to those in humans. In addition, the influence of stress of handling and blood collection on the physiological parameters of the gerbils was examined. After adaptation to handling for 1 week, some serum parameters in the animals changed. Handling and blood collection did not impact significantly on the following parameters: creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LD), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and albumin (ALB). However, blood glucose (GLU), total protein (TP) and globulin (GLB) significantly increased while creatinine (CRE) and albumin/globulin (A/G) significantly decreased after adaptation. This work further confirms that the Mongolian gerbil is a diurnal animal and also indicates that a suitable adaptation procedure is necessary for getting reliable results when performing experiments using these animals.

Solution-processed tandem organic solar cells

Organic solar cells(OSCs)show great potential in non-grid energy supply due to its unique properties including light-weight,flexibility,semi-transparency,design flexibility,low cost and so on.Thanks to researchers'tremendous efforts in materials development and device engineering,the power con-version efficiency(PCE)for single-junction OSCs(SJ-OSCs)has exceeded 18%[1,2].

Analysis on the Impacts of Precise Poverty Alleviation on Folk Customs and Control Measures

The promotion of precise poverty alleviation in poverty-stricken areas will inevitably lead to changes in local folk customs.The economic development may bring about greater development of folk customs,and may also lead to qualitative changes in folk customs.This paper mainly introduced the impact of the precise poverty alleviation on the folk customs.Based on the analysis,it came up with pertinent control measures,to better combine the folk customs with precise poverty alleviation measures,to promote common development of economy and culture in poverty stricken areas.

Large-area organic solar cells

Organic solar cells(OSCs)have made significant progress due to the fast advances in nonfullerene acceptors(NFAs)since 2015^([1−7]).The power conversion efficiency(PCE)for small-area single-junction OSCs is around 19%with an active area<0.1 cm^(2[8−11]).Scalability is a key factor in developing this technology.When scaling lab cells to large-area modules,the device performance might drop.Brabec et al.proposed a stage–gate process for OSCs from R&D effort to commercialization,which includes materials development,processing,prototyping,pilot process and upscaling[12].

Revealing processing stability landscape of organic solar cells with automated research platforms and machine learning

We use an automated research platform combined with machine learning to assess and understand the resilience against air and light during production of organic photovoltaic(OPV)devices from over 40 donor and acceptor combina-tions.The standardized protocol and high reproducibility of the platform results in a dataset of high variety and veracity to deploy machine learning models to encounter links between stability and chemical,energetic,and mor-phological structure.We find that the strongest predictor for air/light resilience during production is the effective gap Eg,eff which points to singlet oxygen rather than the superoxide anion being the dominant agent in degradation under processing conditions.A similarly good prediction of air/light resilience can also be achieved by considering only features from chemical structure,that is,information which is available prior to any experimentation.

有机太阳电池关键材料研究进展

有机太阳电池具有质量轻、柔性、印刷制备等优点,有巨大的应用潜力,从其诞生那一刻起便引起了学术界和工业界的广泛研究兴趣.历经25年的发展,有机太阳电池效率已突破18%,其快速进步得益于不断涌现的高性能新材料和器件制备技术,以及对电池活性层形貌、分子堆积和器件机理的深入理解.基于有机共轭结构的电子给体和电子受体材料是决定有机太阳电池性能的关键材料.本文将以给、受体材料的发展历程为主线,聚焦那些明星材料和里程碑工作,阐述高性能关键材料的分子结构演变和进化过程,最后展望其面临的挑战和未来发展方向.

Progress of the key materials for organic solar cells

Organic solar cells have attracted academic and industrial interests due to the advantages like lightweight,flexibility and roll-to-roll fabrication.Nowadays,18%power conversion efficiency has been achieved in the state-of-the-art organic solar cells.The recent rapid progress in organic solar cells relies on the continuously emerging new materials and device fabrication technologies,and the deep understanding on film morphology,molecular packing and device physics.Donor and acceptor materials are the key materials for organic solar cells since they determine the device performance.The past 25 years have witnessed an odyssey in developing high-performance donors and acceptors.In this review,we focus on those star materials and milestone work,and introduce the molecular structure evolution of key materials.These key materials include homopolymer donors,D-A copolymer donors,A-D-A small molecular donors,fullerene acceptors and nonfullerene acceptors.At last,we outlook the challenges and very important directions in key materials development.

Synthesis and characterization of bifunctional terbium complex-based nanoparticles

Novel bifunctional terbium complex-based nanoparticles were developed using a modified Stber method and a layer-by-layer assembly process. A magnetic core of Fe3O4 nanoparticles was coated with a silica shell to form the first layer. Then a ternary Tb3+ complex (TESPPA-Tb), which acted as a luminescent marker, was covalently bound to the silica surface by stable Si-O-Si bonds. The TESPPA monomer was synthesized by binding pyridine 2,6-dicarboxylic acid to 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, which was used as a ligand for coordination with the Tb3+ ions. An outer shell of silica was applied to the nanoparticles to allow for versatility with surface functionalization. The nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultravioletvisible spectroscopy, vibration sample magnetometer, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The bifunctional nanoparticles exhibited favorable superparamagnetic behavior and photoluminescence properties of Tb3+. These nanoparticles have potential applications in biolabeling, bioseparation, immunoassays, and pathogenic diagnosis.

Instability of microsatellites linked to targeted genes inCRISPR/Cas9-edited and traditional gene knockout mouse strains

The classic method for gene knockout (KO) is based on homologous recombination (HR) and embryonic stem cell technique (Gerlai,1996).Actually,the procedure of homologous replacement is complicated and time consuming,although it has been popular during the past decades.Recent years,genome editing which can cause DNA sequence-specific mutations in the genomes of cellular