The Nest of Torquigener Albomaculosus:Fluid-Dynamic Aspects and Potential for Bio-Inspired Engineering

Torquigener albomaculosus,also known as the white-spotted pufferfish,is known for creating circular nests in the underwater sand as part of the mating ritual.The nests are built by the males to attract females through the nest’s impressive design and related ability to gather fine sand particles.As the fluid-dynamic processes associated with these unique nests are still almost completely unknown,in the present study,an analysis has been conducted to investigate how the geometric parameters related to the nest design influence the fluid velocity in its center.For this reason,a geometric model of the nest consisting of 24 channels,where each unit channel can be described by three strips of broken lines,has been introduced,and a multivariate analysis has been implemented to determine the relative weight of each considered parameter.In particular,the“optimal”combination of parameters has been obtained by means of an orthogonal design approach.We show that these bio-nest structures also display a potential for significant application in marine litter collection,or for use as a buffer against the waves in offshore areas.

Changing liver stiffness predict regression in advanced fibrosis patients with chronic hepatitis B,but not in moderate fibrosis patients

Background and objective:Liver stiffness measurement(LSM)may effectively correlate to the presence of liver fibrosis,but it is controversial to use for the prediction of clinical outcomes.Therefore,we aimed to evaluate the predictive value of liver stiffness for the regression of liver fibrosis.Methods:In this study,we collected data from a clinical cohort of patients who are received anti-virus therapies for 48 weeks.180 naive chronic hepatitis B(CHB)patients,who received paired LSM and liver biopsy with pre-and post-treatments were analyzed.Two methods(FibroScan and iLivTouch)test LSM.Result:The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve(AUROC)of changing LSM for fibrosis regression is higher in advanced fibrosis patients(F5/6)than in moderate fibrosis patients(F3/4)in both FibroScan(0.719,95%CI,0.590–0.848;P=0.003;vs 0.617,95%CI,0.379–0.856,P=0.282)and iLivTouch(0.707,95%CI,0.567–0.847;P=0.011;vs 0.583,95%CI,0.422–0.744;P=0.377).A higher kappa value was received in advanced stage than in moderate stage both in FibroScan(0.392,P=0.001 vs 0.265,P=0.053)and iLivTouch(0.326,P=0.019 vs 0.030,P=0.833).Cut-off set as 4.10 kPa(sen,69.4%;spe,73.9%)in FibroScan,as 4.25 kPa(sen,56.8%;spe,72.2%)in iLivTouch.Conclusion:The changing LSM can be used for predicting the liver fibrosis regression in advanced stage of CHB patients.

Numerical Investigation on Vibration Performance of Flexible Plates Actuated by Pneumatic Artificial Muscle

This paper theoretically introduced the feasibility of changing the vibration characteristics offlexible plates by using bio-inspired,extremely light,and powerful Pneumatic Artificial Muscle(PAM)actuators.Many structural plates or shells are typicallyflexible and show highvibration sensitivity.For this reason,this paper provides a way toachieve active vibrationcontrolfor suppressing the oscillations ofthese structuresto meet strict stability,safety,and comfort requirements.The dynamic behaviors of the designed plates are modeled by using thefinite element(FE)method.As is known,the output force vs.contraction curve of PAM is nonlinear generally.In this presentfinite element model,the maximum forces provided by PAM in different air pressure are adopted as controlling forces for applying for the plate.The non-linearity between the output force and displacement of PAM is avoided in this study.The dynamic behaviors of plates with several independent groups of controlling forces are observed and studied.The results show that the natural frequencies of the plate can be varying and the max amplitude decreases significantly if the controlling forces are applied.The present work also demonstrates the potential of the PAM actuators as valid means for damping out the vibration offlexible systems.

Some New Delay Integral Inequalities Based on Modified Riemann-Liouville Fractional Derivative and Their Applications

By using the properties of modified Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative, some new delay integral inequalities have been studied. First, we offered explicit bounds for the unknown functions, then we applied the results to the research concerning the boundness, uniqueness and continuous dependence on the initial for solutions to certain fractional differential equations.

Beneficial Effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine Fuzheng Huayu on the Occurrence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients with Compensated Chronic Hepatitis B Cirrhosis Receiving Entecavir:A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study

Background and Aims:The application of antifibrotic drugs to treat patients with chronic liver diseases who are receiving antiviral therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)has not been established.Here,we aimed to assess the impact of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Fuzheng Huayu(FZHY)on the occurrence of HCC in patients with hepatitis B virus-related compensated cirrhosis receiving the antiviral drug entecavir(ETV).Methods:A multicenter retrospective cohort study was performed.Compensated liver cirrhosis patients were divided into the ETV+FZHY group or the ETV group according to treatment.The cumulative incidence of HCC was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and log-rank tests.Propensity score matching was used for confounding factors.Stratified analysis and Cox regression were used to determine the effects of FZHY on the occurrence of HCC and liver function decompensation.Results:Out of 910 chronic hepatitis B patients,458 were in the ETV+FZHY group and 452 were in the ETV group.After propensity score matching,the 5-year cumulative incidence of HCC was 9.8%in the ETV+FZHY group and 21.8%in the ETV group(p<0.01).The adjusted hazard ratio for HCC was 0.216(0.108,0.432)when FZHY treatment was>36 months.Age,diabetes,alanine aminotransferase,γ-glutamyl transpeptidase,albumin,hepatitis B e-antigen,and fibrosis 4 score were associated with the occurrence of HCC.FZHY decreased the risk of HCC in patients aged>45 years with a hepatitis B virus DNA level of≥2,000 IU/l.Conclusion:Adjunctive FZHY treatment reduced HCC occurrence in patients with hepatitis B virus cirrhosis who were treated with ETV,possibly due to the antifibrotic properties of FZHY.

Electronic properties and photodegradation ability of Nd-TiO_(2)for phenol

In this study,the photocatalytic activity of Nd-TiO_(2)photocatalysts obtained by common hydrothermal method was evaluated by practical experiments and theoretical calculations based on density functional theory(DFT).The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD),N_(2)adsorption-desorption,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR),high resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy(DRS),and photoluminescence(PL)to study their physical/chemical prope rties.At the same time,the photoelectronic performance was also investigated.The photodegradation ability of asprepared photocatalysts and the effect of Nd doped amount and photocatalysts dosage were investigated by the photodegradation of phenol(30 mg/L)under 400 W metal halide lamp(UV-Vis).The effect of Nd on electronic properties of TiO_(2)and adsorption ability of phenol were discussed.Results show the red-shift wavelength of 0.5 mol%Nd-TiO_(2),indicating that its absorption capacity is stronger than pristine TiO_(2)in the same wavelength range.The result of DFT calculations demonstrates that the optical bandgap of Nd-TiO_(2)is profoundly reduced,thus the light absorption ability is promoted,which will be responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic performance of Nd-TiO_(2).0.5 mol%Nd is an optimum value for photodegradation phenol,and phenol can be completely degraded by 0.5 mol%Nd-TiO_(2)for 210 min,the higher catalytic performance is derived from the efficient separation of e-/h+pairs.Moreover,the adsorption energy calculations of phenol on TiO_(2)(101)and Nd-TiO_(2)(101)demonstrate that the Nd doping can significantly enhance the adsorption ability of phenol on catalyst surfaces because of the formation of Nd-O bonds.At last,the stability measurement through four recycles exhibits that 0.5 mol%Nd-TiO_(2)possesses excellent stability.