Effect of Velocity Ratio,Viscosity Ratio,Contact Angle,and Channel Size Ratio on Droplet Formation

This study uses a T-junction to examine the effects of different parameters(velocity ratio,viscosity,contact angle,and channel size ratio)on the generation of microdroplets,related rate,and size.More specifically,numerical simulations are exploited to investigate situations with a velocity varying from 0.004 to 1.6 m/s for the continuous phase and from 0.004 to 0.8 m/s for the dispersed phase,viscosity ratios(0.668,1,6.689,10,66.899),contact angle 80°<θ<270°and four different canal size ratios(1,1.5,2 and 4).The results show that canal size influences droplet size and the generation rate.The contact angle has an impact on the form and the quality of generated droplets.Moreover,the relationship between velocity and viscosity ratios,droplet size,and generation rate is non-monotonic.

Cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking and esophageal cancer risk in Taiwan Residents women

AIM:To investigate the etiology of esophageal cancer among Taiwan Residents women.METHODS:This is a multi-center,hospital-based,case-control study.Case patients consisted of women who were newly diagnosed and pathology-proven to have esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) from three large medical centers(one from Northern and two from Southern Taiwan,respectively)between August 2000 and December 2008.Each ESCC patient was matched with 4 healthy women based on age(within 3 years)and hospital of origin,from the Department of Preventive Medicine in each hospital.A total of 51 case patients and 204 controls,all women,were studied.RESULTS:Frequencies of smokers and drinkers among ESCC patients were 19.6%and 21.6%,respectively,which were significantly higher than smokers(4.4%) and drinkers(4.4%)among controls(OR=4.07,95%CI:1.36-12.16,P=0.01;OR=3.55,95%CI:1.03-12.27,P=0.04).Women who drank an amount of alcohol more than 158 g per week had a 20.58-fold greater risk(95%CI:1.72-245.62,P=0.02)of ESCC than those who never drank alcohol after adjusting for other covariates,although the sample size was small.CONCLUSION:Cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking,especially heavy drinking,are the major risks for developing ESCC in Taiwan Residents women.

Effects of cold narcosis on memory acquisition, consolidation and retrieval in honeybees （Apis mellifera）

In learning and memory studies on honeybees （Apis mellifera）, cold-induced narcosis has been widely used to temporarily immobilize honeybees. In this study, we investigated the effects of cold narcosis on the associative memories in honeybees by using the proboscis extension response （PER） paradigm. Severe impairments in memory acquisition was found when cold narcosis was performed 30 rain, instead of 1 h before training. Locomotor activities were reduced when honeybees were tested 15 min, instead of 30 rain after cold narcosis. These results indicate that cold narcosis impairs locomotor activities, as well as memory acquisition in a time-dependent manner, but by comparison no such effects on memory retrieval have yet been observed.[0]

Nucleobase-crosslinked poly(2-oxazoline) nanoparticles as paclitaxel carriers with enhanced stability and ultra-high drug loading capacity for breast cancer therapy

Poly(2-oxazoline)(POx)has been regarded as a potential candidate for drug delivery carrier to meet the challenges of nanomedicine clinical translation,due to its excellent biocompatibility and self-assembly properties.The drug loading capacity and stability of amphiphilic POxs as drug nanocarriers,however,tend to be insufficient.Herein,we report a strategy to prepare nucleobase-crosslinked POx nanoparticles(NPs)with enhanced stability and ultra-high paclitaxel(PTX)loading capacity for breast cancer therapy.An amphiphilic amine-functionalized POx(PMBEOx-NH_(2))was firstly prepared through a click reaction between cysteamines and vinyl groups in poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline)-block-poly(2–butyl–2-oxazoline-co-2-butenyl-2-oxazoline)(PMBEOx).Complementary nucleobase-pairs adenine(A)and uracil(U)were subsequently conjugated to PMBEOx-NH2 to give functional POxs(POxA and POxU),respectively.Due to the nucleobase interactions formed between A and U,NPs formed by POxA and POxU at a molar ratio of 1:1 displayed ultrahigh PTX loading capacity(38.2%,PTX/POxA@U),excellent stability,and reduced particle size compared to the uncross-linked PTX-loaded NPs(PTX/PMBEOx).Besides the prolonged blood circulation and enhanced tumor accumulation,the smaller PTX/POxA@U NPs also have better tumor penetration ability compared with PTX/PMBEOx,thus leading to a higher tumor suppression rate in two murine breast cancer models(E0711 and 4T1).These results proved that the therapeutic effect of chemotherapeutic drugs could be improved remarkably through a reasonable optimization of nanocarriers.

Convolutional Neural Network-Based Identity Recognition Using ECG atDifferent Water Temperatures During Bathing

This study proposes a convolutional neural network(CNN)-based identity recognition scheme using electrocardiogram(ECG)at different water temperatures(WTs)during bathing,aiming to explore the impact of ECG length on the recognition rate.ECG data was collected using non-contact electrodes at five different WTs during bathing.Ten young student subjects(seven men and three women)participated in data collection.Three ECG recordings were collected at each preset bathtub WT for each subject.Each recording is 18 min long,with a sampling rate of 200 Hz.In total,150 ECG recordings and 150 WT recordings were collected.The R peaks were detected based on the processed ECG(baseline wandering eliminated,50-Hz hum removed,ECG smoothing and ECG normalization)and the QRS complex waves were segmented.These segmented waves were then transformed into binary images,which served as the datasets.For each subject,the training,validation,and test data were taken from the first,second,and third ECG recordings,respectively.The number of training and validation images was 84297 and 83734,respectively.In the test stage,the preliminary classification results were obtained using the trained CNN model,and the finer classification results were determined using the majority vote method based on the preliminary results.The validation rate was 98.71%.The recognition rates were 95.00%and 98.00%when the number of test heartbeats was 7 and 17,respectively,for each subject.

Introduction to the special iss ue on optics in elastography and cell mechanics

The mechanical properties of tissues and cells have proven to be of great importance in biology andmedicine,spawning major research efforts and commercial outcomes,The interplay bet ween mechanical andbiochemical cues and the mechanical properties of subellar and cellular constituents has come to beappreciated as key to umnderstanding many fundamental aspects of biology as well as the geneis andprogression of disease.

Spectroscopic measurements and terahertz imaging of the cornea using a rapid scanning terahertz time domain spectrometer

Spectroscopic measurements and terahertz imaging of the cornea are carried out by using a rapid scanning terahertz time domain spectroscopy（THz-TDS） system.A voice coil motor stage based optical delay line（VCM-ODL） is developed to provide a rather simple and robust structure with both the high scanning speed and the large delay length.The developed system is used for THz spectroscopic measurements and imaging of the corneal tissue with different amounts of water content,and the measurement results show the consistence with the reported results,in which the measurement time using VCM-ODL is a factor of 360 shorter than the traditional motorized optical delay line（MDL）.With reducing the water content a monotonic decrease of the complex permittivity of the cornea is observed.The two-term Debye relaxation model is employed to explain our experimental results,revealing that the fast relaxation time of a dehydrated cornea is much larger than that of a hydrated cornea and its dielectric behavior can be affected by the presence of the biological macromolecules.These results demonstrate that our THz spectrometer may be a promising candidate for tissue hydration sensing and practical application of THz technology.

Engineering natural molecule-triggered genetic control systems for tunable gene-and cell-based therapies

The ability to precisely control activities of engineered designer cells provides a novel strategy for modern precision medicine.Dynamically adjustable gene-and cell-based precision therapies are recognized as next generation medicines.However,the translation of these controllable therapeutics into clinical practice is severely hampered by the lack of safe and highly specific genetic switches controlled by triggers that are nontoxic and side-effect free.Recently,natural products derived from plants have been extensively explored as trigger molecules to control genetic switches and synthetic gene networks for multiple applications.These controlled genetic switches could be further introduced into mammalian cells to obtain synthetic designer cells for adjustable and fine tunable cell-based precision therapy.In this review,we introduce various available natural molecules that were engineered to control genetic switches for controllable transgene expression,complex logic computation,and therapeutic drug delivery to achieve precision therapy.We also discuss current challenges and prospects in translating these natural molecule-controlled genetic switches developed for biomedical applications from the laboratory to the clinic.

Progress in the Use of Molecular Hydrogen for Cancer Treatment

Molecular hydrogen is an effective antioxidant.Numerous studies have demonstrated the therapeutic effects of hydrogen in the treatment of various human diseases.The possibility of using hydrogen in the treatment of cancer was first discovered in 1975,and in recent studies,researchers have reported numerous positive effects of hydrogen in cancer therapy,including:1)the alleviation of complications caused by chemotherapy;2)a reduction of complications caused by radiotherapy;3)delays in the progression of cancer;and 4)enhanced efficacy of conventional therapy when used in combination with hydrogen.This article reviews the research progress in the use of hydrogen in the treatment of cancer,and proposes future directions for research in this field.

抗原改造联合纳米肿瘤疫苗用以克服肿瘤新抗原短缺及在多种肿瘤类型上激起强效抗肿瘤免疫反应

Neoantigen cancer vaccines have been envisioned as one of the most promising means for cancer therapies.However,identifying neoantigens for tumor types with low tumor mutation burdens continues to limit the effectiveness of neoantigen vaccines.Herein,we proposed a "hit-and-run" vaccine strategy which primes T cells to attack tumor cells decorated with exogenous "neo-antigens".This vaccine strategy utilizes a peptide nanovaccine to elicit antigen-specific T cell responses after tumor-specific decoration with a nanocarrier containing the same peptide antigens.We demonstrated that a poly(2-oxazoline)s(POx) conjugated with OVA_(257-264) peptide through a matrix metalloprotease 2(MMP-2) sensitive linker could efficiently and selectively decorate tumor cells with OVA peptides in vivo.Then,a POx-based nanovaccine containing OVA_(257-264) peptides to elicit OVA-specific T cell responses was designed.In combination with this hit-and-run vaccine system,an effective vaccine therapy was demonstrated across tumor types even without OVA antigen expression.This approach provides a promising and uniform vaccine strategy against tumors with a low tumor mutation burden.

Staying Coherent After Kent： From Optical Communications to Biomedical Optics

在这篇论文，作者研究的概述被给出，在在大卫· A ·杰克逊教授下面的肯特的大学开始。在短光脉搏和光纤的延期线的早研究数字相关因子在代码部门导致了光通讯研究多重存取联网。这研究基于宽带支离破碎的光，和这个主题继续了研究进切光谱的波长部门 multiplexing。在在 1990 年代末从 photonics 研究变到生物医学的光学和 biophotonics，利用宽带光上的强调在光连贯断层摄影术继续了研究，在另外的话题之中。除了研究结果，这些结果怎么被达到，被描述，包括我的同事的许多的非凡的贡献的提及。

Biomedical Polymers--Escort for Human Health

Biomedical polymers are a kind of engineered materials used for disease diagnosis and treatment, tissue fixation,tissue or organ repair, or organ replacement to restore or enhance the related functions in humans.[1]Biomedical polymers are the earliest developed and most widely used materials in biomedicine and continue to evolve as an essential frontier field of polymer science in the 21century.With the development of molecular biology, cell biology.

IL-2-loaded Polypeptide Nanoparticles for Enhanced Anti-cancer Immunotherapy

Interleukin 2 (IL-2) is widely used as an active immunotherapeutic agent in clinical metastatic cancers. However, its therapeutic concentrations do not last long due to its short half-life. Thus, only a transient proliferation of the anti-cancer CD8+ T cells can be achieved, resulting in poor efficacy. Therefore, the aim of this work was to create a system that promotes CD8+ T cell proliferation at the tumor site using IL-2 persistently present and activates an anti-cancer immune response. This goal was achieved by the design of the IL-2-loaded polypeptide nanoparticles (P-IL-2) where methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) block poly-[(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-aspartamide] phenylboronic acid was used to encapsulate IL-2 through boron-nitrogen coordination with poly(L-lysine). P-IL-2 significantly prolonged the circulation time of IL-2 and achieved a selective drug release at the tumor site in the presence of high levels of reactive oxygen species, thus activating an anti-cancer immune response and exerting a better anti-cancer effect. The half-life of P-IL-2 was 3.15-fold higher than that of IL-2, and the quantity of CD8+ T cells after using P-IL-2 was 1.89-fold higher than that after using IL-2. In addition, the combination of P-IL-2 and anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody resulted in an enhanced immune activation. Hence, this work provides a new approach to improve the efficacy of IL-2 in anti-cancer immunotherapy.

具有毒性醛消除功能的聚多肽用于减轻继发性脊髓损伤

脊髓损伤(SCI)后如何对中枢神经进行保护性治疗是临床面临的巨大挑战.SCI发生后,在损伤部位会产生大量高毒性的活性醛分子.这类分子会扩大氧化应激范围,加重炎症反应,进而导致严重的继发性损伤.因此,高效清除活性醛分子有望成为治疗继发性脊髓损伤的新策略.本文设计制备了一种侧链上含有酰肼基团的聚多肽(PPAH)材料,它可以通过消除活性醛分子减轻继发性脊髓损伤.实验结果表明,PPAH在体外和体内都显示了清除活性醛的能力,并且能够有效保护神经细胞免受毒性醛分子(如丙烯醛)引起的氧化损伤.在大鼠SCI模型中,PPAH能够有效抑制炎症、保护神经元和抑制脱髓鞘,最终促进SCI大鼠的后肢运动功能恢复.综上,作为一种新型的活性醛分子消除材料,PPAH在治疗SCI方面显示出良好的应用前景.

Controlled Synthesis of Polymers

Controlled synthesis is central to obtaining polymers with accurate structures and excellent performances.Recent research in the controlled synthesis of polymers has focused on optimizing monomers,initiation systems,and reaction conditions.The satisfactory sequence,topological structure,and dispersity have been achieved to satisfy the growing demand for functional polymers.This re-view summarizes the selection of monomers of various types and structures,the innovation of initiation systems,and the optimiza-tion of reaction conditions in the controlled synthesis of polymers and discusses their challenges and opportunities.

A single magnetic nanoplatform-mediated combination therapy of immune checkpoint silencing and magnetic hyperthermia for enhanced anti-cancer immunity

As a revolutionary cancer treatment strategy,immunotherapy has attracted great attention.However,the effect of immunotherapy such as immune checkpoint blockade(ICB)is usually limited by insufficient immune response in the body.Herein,a polycation-based magnetic nanocluster platform was developed to load therapeutic nucleic acids,which could achieve gene therapy-mediated ICB and efficient magnetic hyperthermia therapy(MHT).The silencing of immune checkpoints together with MHT-induced immunogenic cell death(ICD)effectively alleviated the immune escape of cancer cells and significantly enhanced the visibility of cancer cells to the immune system.This combined treatment strategy activated a strong adaptive anti-cancer immune response in vivo,greatly inhibiting tumor growth,metastasis and recurrence.

A Novel CA4P Polymeric Nanoparticle for Murine Hepatoma Therapy

Combretastatin A4 phosphate(CA4P)is a potent vascular disrupting agent with good water solubility.However,it is only effective at high doses,which decreases clinical applicability.Herein,we designed stable CA4P polymeric nanoparticles(CA4P NPs)consisting of various cholesterol derivatives,and with a drug loading efficacy of 93%.The nanoparticles released CA4P in a sustained manner and achieved a 72%inhibition rate in the murine H22 liver tumor model,which was about 2.9-fold higher than that of free CA4P(24.6%).Furthermore,the carrier components of CA4P NPs were metabolized to arginine,cholesterol,ethanol and poly(ethylene glycol)in vivo;therefore,the CA4P NPs are safe and have significant potential for clinical translation.

Neural mechanisms of top-down divided and selective spatial attention in visual and auditory perception

Top-down attention mechanisms require the selection of specificobjects or locations;however,the brain mechanism involved when attention is allocated across different modalities is not well understood.The aim of this study was to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to define the neural mechanisms underlyingdivided and selective spatial attention.A concurrent audiovisual stimulus was used,and subjects were prompted to focus on a visual,auditory and audiovisual stimulus in a Posner paradigm.Ourbehavioral results confirmed the better performance of selectiveattention compared to devided attention.We found differences in the activation level of the frontoparietal network,visual/auditorycortex,the putamen and the salience network under differentattention conditions.We further used Granger causality(GC)toexplore effective connectivity differences between tasks.Differences in GC connectivity between visual and auditory selective tasksreflected the visual dominance effect under spatial attention.In addition,our results supported the role of the putamen inredistributing attention and the functional separation of the saliencenetwork.In summary,we explored the audiovisual top-down allocation of attention and observed the differences in neuralmechanisms under endogenous attention modes,which revealedthe differences in cross-modal expression in visual and auditory attention under attentional modulation.

Targeted pH-responsive polyion complex micelle for controlled intracellular drug delivery

Cancer the rapy with nanoscale drug formulations has made significant progress in the past few decades.However,the selective accumulation and release of therapeutic agents in the lesion sites are still great challenges.To this end,we developed a cRGD-decorated pH-responsive polyion complex(PIC)micelle for intracellular targeted delivery of doxorubicin(DOX)to upregulate tumor inhibition and reduce toxicity.The PIC micelle was self-assembled via the electrostatic interaction between the positively charged cRGD-modified poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(L-lysine)and the anionic acid-sensitive 2,3-dimethylmaleic anhydride-modified doxorubicin(DAD).The decoration of cRGD enhanced the cell internalization of PIC micelle through the specific recognition ofαvβ3 integrin on the membrane of tumor cells.The active DOX was released under intracellular acidic microenvironment after endocytosis following the decomposition of DAD.Moreover,the targeted PIC micelle exhibited enhanced inhibition efficacies toward hepatoma in vitro and in vivo compared with the insensitive controls.The smart multifunctional micelle provides a promising platform for target intracellular delivery of therapeutic agent in cancer therapy.