Nanomaterials (Basel)
February 2023
Cellulose aerogels are the latest generation of aerogels and have also received extensive attention due to their renewable and biocompatible properties. Herein, cellulose aerogel was facilely prepared by using NaOH/urea solution as solvent, raising the temperature to control gelation and drying wet gel sequentially. With NaOH/urea solution as solvent, the cellulose concentration has an important impact on the micromorphology of cellulose aerogels, while the aging time rarely affects the micromorphology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRapid and accurate diagnostic methods are essential to interrupt outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. However, the most commonly used nucleic acid detection method, qPCR or RT-qPCR, takes several hours to complete and requires highly sophisticated equipment. Recently, an emerging nucleic acid detection method based on the CRISPR/Cas system has reduced the reliance on qPCR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe outbreaks of enterovirus 71 (EV71)-associated hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) have emerged as an emergency of global health due to its association with fatal encephalitis and subsequent neurogenic pulmonary edema; however, the molecular characteristics and pathological features underlying EV71-associated encephalitis and pulmonary edema remain largely unknown. In this study, we performed a proteomic analysis of fresh brain and lung tissues from EV71-infected mice at 7 days post infection. We detected a perturbed expression of 148 proteins in the brain and 78 proteins in the lung after EV71 expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHepatitis B remains a major global public health challenge, with particularly high prevalence in medically disadvantaged western Pacific and African regions. Although clinically available technologies for the qPCR detection of HBV are well established, research on point-of-care testing has not progressed substantially. The development of a rapid, accurate point-of-care test is essential for the prevention and control of hepatitis B in medically disadvantaged rural areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe continued global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a serious threat to global public health and social stability and it has become a serious global public health problem. Unfortunately, existing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the prevention and control of COVID-19 have many shortcomings. In recent years, the emerging CRISPR/Cas technology can complement the problems of traditional methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrowave heating technology is known as an alternative to traditional gas and electric heating sources. In this work, mesoporous methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) aerogels were prepared via a sol-gel process accompanied by microwave heating technology, and microwave heating was used in the gelation of sol and the drying of wet gels, respectively. The effects of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) as a surfactant and template, hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a catalyst, ethanol as a solvent, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as a gelation agent, and microwave power on the pore structure of as-prepared MSQ aerogels were investigated in detail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the risk of malignant sinonasal inverted papilloma (SNIP) according to the type of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection.
Methods: The databases of PubMed, EmBase, and Web of Science were searched for studies that reported the risk of malignant SNIP in patients infected by specific types of HPV. The quantitative analyses for pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was discovered as a novel pathogen in the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic. The emergence and disappearance of this pathogen have brought questions regarding its source and evolution. Within the genome sequences of 281 SARS-CoVs, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and SARS-related CoVs (SARSr-CoVs), a ~430 bp genomic region (from 27 701 bp to 28 131 bp in AY390556.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) aerogels with uniform mesopores were facilely prepared via a sol⁻gel process followed by microwave drying with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) as a precursor, hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a catalyst, water and methanol as solvents, hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) as a surfactant and template, and propylene oxide (PO) as a gelation agent. The microstructure, chemical composition, and pore structures of the resultant MSQ aerogels were investigated in detail to achieve controllable preparation of MSQ aerogels, and the thermal stability of MSQ aerogels was also analyzed. The gelation agent, catalyst, solvent, and microwave power have important roles related to the pore structures of MSQ aerogels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) aerogels synthesized by the sol-gel method as a raw material and Si-Ti sol as a binder, an alcohol-based aerogel slurry consisting of only MSQ aerogel and Si-Ti sol was prepared and coated on expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) to form an MSQ aerogel coating layer, followed by low-temperature heat treatment. The effect of Si-Ti sol content on the microstructure of the MSQ aerogel coating layer was investigated, and the properties of a typical MSQ aerogel-layer-coated ePTFE film were evaluated. The results show that Si-Ti sol has an important role in terms of film-forming capability, surface smoothness, flexibility, and powder dropping of the MSQ aerogel coating layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNew flexible methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) aerogels have been facilely prepared by a sol-gel process with methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMS) as co-precursors, followed by surface modification and ambient pressure drying. The microstructure, mechanical properties and hydrophobicity of these MSQ aerogels after surface modifications of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) and/or hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) were investigated in detail, and the applications of surface-modified MSQ aerogels in sound-absorbance, fast dye adsorption and oil/water separation were evaluated, respectively. The MSQ aerogels surface-modified by HMDS possess flexibility, elasticity and superhydrophobicity, and demonstrate good performance in the mentioned applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pressure overload and prolonged angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion elicit cardiac hypertrophy in Ang II receptor 1 (AT(1)) null mouse, whereas Ang II receptor 2 (AT(2)) gene deletion abolishes the hypertrophic response. The roles and signals of the cardiac AT(2) receptor still remain unsettled. Promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger protein (PLZF) was shown to bind to the AT(2) receptor and transmit the hypertrophic signal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSHP-1 and SHP-2 are two Src homology 2 domain-containing tyrosine phosphatases with major pathological implications in cell growth regulating signaling. They share significant overall sequence identity, but their biological functions are often opposite. SHP-1 is generally considered as a negative signal transducer and SHP-2 as a positive one.
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