scholarly journals Nanopillar templating of biopolymer hydrogels augments stiffness and strength

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Heedy ◽  
Juviarelli Pineda ◽  
Albert Yee
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Optimal Combination ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
Assembly Process ◽  
Fiber Assembly ◽  
Living Entity ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Vast Range ◽  
Strength And Toughness

Abstract In nature, structural biopolymers are highly organized to allow for the development of complex tissues within a living entity, including the human body. To match the properties found in these fibrous structural tissues, synthetic biomimetic hydrogels must have an optimal combination of stiffness, strength, and toughness; though an ideal combination remains challenging to achieve. Here, we report a general strategy to design stiff, strong, and tough hydrogels by confining biopolymers with a balance of rigid and weak domains into nanopillar topography. The confinement within nanopillars templates the fiber assembly process throughout the bulk of the film. Compared to a flat control, the application of the nanopillar topography increases the bulk stiffness ~ 160% to 20 MPa, strength ~ 350% to 36 MPa, and toughness ~ 450% to 8,500 kJ m− 3. This simple templating strategy is suitable for a vast range of hydrogels, opening up the potential applications for a diverse array of materials.

Opening up a New Field of Modern Medical Research 1

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoguang Li
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Acupuncture Point ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Body Structure ◽  
Special Effect ◽  
Special Knowledge ◽  
Opening Up

Modern medicine tells us that the human body is an organism composed of heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen, stomach, brain, nerves, muscles, bones, blood vessels, blood and so on, while traditional Chinese medicine believes that besides these tissues and organs, the human body still has another part of the structure, traditional Chinese medicine calls them Jing Luo and Shu Xue. Jing Luo means the longitudinal line of the human body and the accompanying net, translated into English Meridians and Collaterals. Shu Xue means holes distributed on Jing Luo and outside Jing Luo, because stimulating Shu Xue's position by acupuncture, massage and other methods can cure diseases, so Shu Xue is translated into English acupuncture point, abbreviated as acupoint or point. Meridians and acupoints are the special knowledge of human body structure in traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine not only draws the distribution map of the meridians and acupoints in the human body, but also has been using them to treat diseases for thousands of years. There are hundreds of these acupoints, stimulating each one by acupuncture, massage or other methods will have a special effect on the human body and can treat various diseases. But what effect does stimulating every acupoint have on the human body so that it can treat various diseases? The discussion of traditional Chinese medicine is vague and incomprehensible, and can not be proved by experiments. According to the author's research for more than 30 years, this paper makes a clear and accurate exposition of the effects on the human body and diseases that can be treated with acupoint massage. These statements can be proved by experiments, so they are believed to be reliable. It is hoped that meridians, acupoints and massage therapy can be incorporated into modern medicine and become a part of modern medicine after being proved by others through experiments. Massaging acupoints can not only treat many diseases that are difficult to be treated with drugs, but also have simple methods and low cost.

scholarly journals A Nanoscale Structure Based on an MIM Waveguide Coupled with a Q Resonator for Monitoring Trace Element Concentration in the Human Body

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1384
Author(s):  
Tingsong Li ◽  
Shubin Yan ◽  
Pengwei Liu ◽  
Xiaoyu Zhang ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Figure Of Merit ◽  
Refractive Index Sensor ◽  
The Finite Element Method ◽  
Transmission Characteristics ◽  
Metal Insulator Metal ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Internal Mechanism ◽  
Nanoscale Structure ◽  
Mim Waveguide

In this study, a nano-refractive index sensor is designed that consists of a metal–insulator–metal (MIM) waveguide with a stub-1 and an orthogon ring resonator (ORR) with a stub-2. The finite element method (FEM) was used to analyze the transmission characteristics of the system. We studied the cause and internal mechanism of Fano resonance, and optimized the transmission characteristics by changing various parameters of the structure. In our experimental data, the suitable sensitivity could reach 2260 nm/RIU with a figure of merit of 211.42. Furthermore, we studied the detection of the concentration of trace elements (such as Na+) of the structure in the human body, and its sensitivity reached 0.505 nm/mgdL−1. The structure may have other potential applications in sensors.

scholarly journals Rapid and inefficient kinetics of sickle hemoglobin fiber growth

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. eaau1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian T. Castle ◽  
David J. Odde ◽  
David K. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Sickle Cell Disease ◽  
Sickle Cell ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Assembly Process ◽  
Cell Disease ◽  
Spatiotemporal Resolution ◽  
Fiber Assembly ◽  
Sickle Hemoglobin ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Blood Cell Morphology

In sickle cell disease, the aberrant assembly of hemoglobin fibers induces changes in red blood cell morphology and stiffness, which leads to downstream symptoms of the disease. Therefore, understanding of this assembly process will be important for the treatment of sickle cell disease. By performing the highest spatiotemporal resolution measurements (55 nm at 1 Hz) of single sickle hemoglobin fiber assembly to date and combining them with a model that accounts for the multistranded structure of the fibers, we show that the rates of sickle hemoglobin addition and loss have been underestimated in the literature by at least an order of magnitude. These results reveal that the sickle hemoglobin self-assembly process is very rapid and inefficient (4% efficient versus 96% efficient based on previous analyses), where net growth is the small difference between over a million addition-loss events occurring every second.

scholarly journals A facile preparation method for new two-component supramolecular hydrogels and their performances in adsorption, catalysis, and stimuli-response

RSC Advances ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (39) ◽  
pp. 22551-22558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junlin Zhu ◽  
Ran Wang ◽  
Rui Geng ◽  
Xuan Zhang ◽  
Fan Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Preparation Method ◽  
Assembly Process ◽  
Two Component ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Stimuli Response ◽  
Facile Preparation ◽  
Sensor Materials

New two-component supramolecular hydrogels were prepared via a self-assembly process, demonstrating potential applications in adsorption and catalysis as well as sensor materials.

scholarly journals Free-standing supramolecular hydrogel objects by reaction-diffusion

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matija Lovrak ◽  
Wouter E. J. Hendriksen ◽  
Chandan Maity ◽  
Serhii Mytnyk ◽  
Volkert van Steijn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structure Formation ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Reaction Diffusion ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Assembly Process ◽  
Supramolecular Hydrogel ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Spatial Control ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Vast Range

Abstract Self-assembly provides access to a variety of molecular materials, yet spatial control over structure formation remains difficult to achieve. Here we show how reaction–diffusion (RD) can be coupled to a molecular self-assembly process to generate macroscopic free-standing objects with control over shape, size, and functionality. In RD, two or more reactants diffuse from different positions to give rise to spatially defined structures on reaction. We demonstrate that RD can be used to locally control formation and self-assembly of hydrazone molecular gelators from their non-assembling precursors, leading to soft, free-standing hydrogel objects with sizes ranging from several hundred micrometres up to centimeters. Different chemical functionalities and gradients can easily be integrated in the hydrogel objects by using different reactants. Our methodology, together with the vast range of organic reactions and self-assembling building blocks, provides a general approach towards the programmed fabrication of soft microscale objects with controlled functionality and shape.

An understanding of ‘China English’ and the learning and use of the English language in China

English Today ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 40-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cui Xiaoxia
Keyword(s):  
World Trade ◽  
English Language ◽  
Information Age ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
International Language ◽  
Living Entity ◽  
China English ◽  
The World ◽  
Reform And Opening Up ◽  
Opening Up

Some perspectives from an English educator. Since the implementation of the policy of reform and opening up, and China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has been gaining strength quickly in the international, political, and economic arena. Globalization has led to China taking part in varous kinds of international cooperation and exchange. At the same time, globalization and the Internet have been providing a novel context in which to use English as an international language. Under such circumstances, the Chinese are using more English than ever before, and China English is being simultaneously localized and globalized. Like any other language, China English is a living entity or organism that is not only growing and progressing in the ‘Information Age’, but is also making a contribution that is enriching and developing world Englishes at large. Indeed, China English now plays a significant role in increasing international understanding and cooperation within the WTO and in the whole world.

Social geography(ies) III

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent J. Del Casino
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Geography ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Bug Management

This report examines how social geography engages with nonhuman subjects; in this case, bugs. The report focuses on how social geography is rethinking its core concepts of difference and inequality through scholarship that examines the relations between bugs and human inequality, bug management and molecular intervention on/in bugs, and the biosocial relations bugs help forge. It does so while opening up what bugs – not just insects, but also a wider range of bugs, such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites operating within and beyond the human body – offer to our theorization and examination of everyday social life.

scholarly journals Recent Trends on Biosurfactants With Antimicrobial Activity Produced by Bacteria Associated With Human Health: Different Perspectives on Their Properties, Challenges, and Potential Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra De Giani ◽  
Jessica Zampolli ◽  
Patrizia Di Gennaro
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Activity ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Fungal Pathogens ◽  
Bioactive Molecules ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Hydrophilic Nature ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Low Toxicity

The attention towards the bacteria associated with human health is growing more and more, above all regarding the bacteria that inhabit the niches offered by the human body, i.e., the gastrointestinal tract, skin, vaginal environment, and lungs. Among the secondary metabolites released by microorganisms associated with human health, little consideration is given to the biosurfactants, molecules with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic nature. Their role in the complex human environment is not only the mere biosurfactant function, but they could also control the microbiota through the quorum sensing system and the antimicrobial activity. These functions protect them and, accordingly, the human body principally from microbial and fungal pathogens. Consequently, nowadays, biosurfactants are emerging as promising bioactive molecules due to their very different structures, biological functions, low toxicity, higher biodegradability, and versatility. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive perspective of biosurfactants with antimicrobial activity produced by bacteria associated with the human body and related to everything human beings are in contact with, e.g., food, beverages, and food-waste dumping sites. For the first time, the role of an “-omic” approach is highlighted to predict gene products for biosurfactant production, and an overview of the available gene sequences is reported. Besides, antimicrobial biosurfactants’ features, challenges, and potential applications in the biomedical, food, and nutraceutical industries are discussed.

scholarly journals Cubic 3D Chern photonic insulators with orientable large Chern vectors

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Devescovi ◽  
Mikel García-Díez ◽  
Iñigo Robredo ◽  
María Blanco de Paz ◽  
Jon Lasa-Alonso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Reversal ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Surface States ◽  
Magnetic Response ◽  
Time Reversal Symmetry ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
Topological Phases ◽  
Magnetization Axis ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Internal Symmetries

AbstractTime Reversal Symmetry (TRS) broken topological phases provide gapless surface states protected by topology, regardless of additional internal symmetries, spin or valley degrees of freedom. Despite the numerous demonstrations of 2D topological phases, few examples of 3D topological systems with TRS breaking exist. In this article, we devise a general strategy to design 3D Chern insulating (3D CI) cubic photonic crystals in a weakly TRS broken environment with orientable and arbitrarily large Chern vectors. The designs display topologically protected chiral and unidirectional surface states with disjoint equifrequency loops. The resulting crystals present the following characteristics: First, by increasing the Chern number, multiple surface states channels can be supported. Second, the Chern vector can be oriented along any direction simply changing the magnetization axis, opening up larger 3D CI/3D CI interfacing possibilities as compared to 2D. Third, by lowering the TRS breaking requirements, the system is ideal for realistic photonic applications where the magnetic response is weak.

scholarly journals Fabrication of CS/GA/RGO/Pd composite hydrogels for highly efficient catalytic reduction of organic pollutants

RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (26) ◽  
pp. 15091-15097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Ge ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
Ran Wang ◽  
Na Li ◽  
Lexin Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Composite Materials ◽  
Organic Pollutants ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Catalytic Reduction ◽  
Assembly Process ◽  
Composite Hydrogels ◽  
Highly Efficient ◽  
Potential Applications

New functional CS/GA/RGO/Pd composite hydrogels are prepared via a self-assembly process, demonstrating potential applications in catalysis as well as composite materials.

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