Novel ionic chitosan derivatives based on pyridinium sulfonate: Synthesis, characterization, and studies on antimicrobial, antioxidant, and biocompatibility properties.

To improve the solubility, antimicrobial efficacy, antioxidant capacity, and biocompatibility of chitosan for broader applications, a series of novel ionic chitosan derivatives were synthesized in this study by amidating chitosan with carboxyl pyridinium sulfonate. These derivatives were characterized through various analytical techniques, including FTIR, H NMR, UV, TGA, and XRD. Proton NMR was particularly utilized to determine the degree of substitution.

Performance of ChatGPT and Bard on the medical licensing examinations varies across different cultures: a comparison study.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of GPT-3.5, GPT-4, GPT-4o and Google Bard on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB), the Hong Kong Medical Licensing Examination (HKMLE) and the National Medical Licensing Examination (NMLE).

Methods: This study was conducted in June 2023.

Ag/ZnO microcavities with high sensitivity and self-cleaning properties for fast repetitive SERS detection.

A SERS substrate with high sensitivity and reusability was proposed. The chip consists of multiple ZnO microcavities loaded with silver particles. Based on structural characteristics, this coupling between cavity modes and localized surface plasmon modes can highly localize the electric field, where experimental results revealed a detection limit of 10 M for R6G.

Food-borne bacteria analysis using a diatomite bioinspired SERS platform.

Rapid and sensitive detection of food-borne bacteria has remained challenging over the past few decades. We propose a surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensing strategy based on a novel bioinspired surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate, which can directly detect dye molecular residues and food-borne pathogen microorganisms in the environment. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering platform consists of a natural diatomite microporous array decorated with a metal-phenolic network that enables the reduction of gold nanoparticles.

Development and validation of a risk nomogram to estimate risk of hyponatremia after spinal cord injury: A retrospective single-center study.

Objective: This study aimed to establish a nomogram-based assessment for predicting the risk of hyponatremia after spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: The study is a retrospective single-center study.

Participants: SCI patients hospitalized in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University.

Treatments and regulatory mechanisms of acoustic stimuli on mood disorders and neurological diseases.

Acoustic stimuli such as music or ambient noise can significantly affect physiological and psychological health in humans. We here summarize positive effects of music therapy in premature infant distress regulation, performance enhancement, sleep quality control, and treatment of mental disorders. Specifically, music therapy exhibits promising effects on treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD).

Rapid observation of dispersion curves in system-on-chip devices.

We have developed a rapid detection instrument to characterize the behavior of light on the surface of devices during light-matter interactions. The equipment enables the non-destructive and real-time observations of the dispersion curves for microstructures, providing the basis for a large number of new planar photonic chip applications. The method is based on the traditional prismatic reflection and makes full use of the grating dispersion capabilities, enabling simultaneous multi-wavelength and multi-angle reflectance measurements over a wide range.

Interpretable fusion methodology of health indices with an application to industrial turbine cavitation condition monitoring.

Using health indices (HIs) to characterize machine conditions is greatly helpful to prevent machine failures and their subsequent catastrophe. Fusion and interpretation of the main contributions of HIs to machine condition monitoring are still challenging. In this paper, an interpretable fusion methodology of HIs is proposed for machine condition monitoring.

"Afterglow" Photodynamic Therapy Based on Carbon Dots Embedded Silica Nanoparticles for Nondestructive Teeth Whitening.

Teeth staining is a common dental health challenge in many parts of the world. Traditional teeth whitening techniques often lead to enamel damage and soft tissue toxicity due to the use of bioincompatible whitening reagents and continuous strong light irradiation. Herein, an "afterglow" photodynamic therapy (aPDT) for teeth whitening is proposed, which is realized by energy transition pathways of intersystem crossing.

A switch in N-terminal capping of β-peptides creates novel self-assembled nanoparticles.

Small tripeptides composed entirely of β-amino acids have been shown to self-assemble into fibres following acylation of the N-terminus. Given the use of Fmoc as a strategy to initiate self-assembly in α-peptides, we hypothesized that the acyl cap can be replaced by an Fmoc without perturbation to the self-assembly and enable simpler synthetic protocols. We therefore replaced the -acyl cap for an Fmoc group and herein we show that these Fmoc-protected β-peptides produce regular spherical particles, rather than fibrous structures, that are stable and capable of encapsulating cargo.

Pathogenicity, transmissibility, and immunogenicity of recombinant H9N2 avian influenza viruses based on representative viruses of Southeast China.

H9N2 is currently the main subtype of avian influenza in China. In order to use reverse genetics to rapid preparation of seed strains for vaccine production, and intend to prevent and control the H9N2 subtype epidemic strains of avian influenza virus (AIV). In this study, we successfully rescued 2 H9N2 recombinant viruses based on the representative viruses of Southeast China and confirmed by RT-PCR and sequencing.

Dysregulation of ribosome-associated quality control elicits cognitive disorders via overaccumulation of TTC3.

Ribosome-associated quality control (RQC) pathway is responsible for degradation of nascent polypeptides in aberrantly stalled ribosomes, and its defects may lead to neurological diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of how RQC dysfunction elicits neurological disorders remains poorly understood. Here we revealed that neurons with knockout (KO) of ubiquitin ligase LTN1, a key gene in the RQC pathway, show developmental defects in neurons via upregulation of TTC3 and UFMylation signaling proteins.

To approach or to avoid: The quadripolar model of achievement motivation revisited in a Confucian-heritage context.

Academic challenges and failure are inevitable in pursuit of higher education. According to the self-worth theory, trying hard but failing implies low ability that would be a threat to personal worth, thus preventing students from approaching academic challenges. Nevertheless, previous studies have shown that students in the Confucian-heritage contexts (CHCs) tend to persist rather than quit in the face of academic failure.

Examining the normality assumption of a design-comparable effect size in single-case designs.

What Works Clearinghouse (WWC, 2022) recommends a design-comparable effect size (D-CES; i.e., g) to gauge an intervention in single-case experimental design (SCED) studies, or to synthesize findings in meta-analysis.

The impact of teacher feedback on students' decisions to stay on or change course after math failure in a Confucian cultural context.

Previous research indicated that instructors holding entity belief tended to judge students to have low ability and provided ability-comforting feedback following math failure. Students receiving such feedback tended to quit and change course, creating a potential decrease in the pool of students pursuing math related fields. In Confucian heritage cultures (CHCs), the ideal society is primarily based on fulfillment of duties.

Educational values and challenges of i-STEM project-based learning: A mixed-methods study with data-transformation design.

Integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) embedding project-based learning (i-STEM PjBL) is still faced with challenges, and its educational values have not been revealed, which is what the study aimed to explore. Participants consisted of 48 freshmen from a senior high school, including 27 male students and 21 female students. The open-ended questionnaire and the interview for the students were administrated after the i-STEM PjBL.

Dynamic moist air monitor in a micro area with extremely high figure-of-merit.

In the rapidly changing moisture air, conventional relative humidity (RH) sensors are often difficult to respond in time and accurately due to the limitation of flow rate and non-uniform airflow distribution. In this study, we numerically demonstrate that humidity changes on micro-zones can be monitored in real time using a Bloch surface wave (BSW) ubiquitous in one-dimensional photonic crystals (1DPC). This phenomenon can be observed by leakage radiation microscope (LRM).

Mapping of Spatiotemporal Auricular Electrophysiological Signals Reveals Human Biometric Clusters.

Underneath the ear skin there are rich vascular network and sensory nerve branches. Hence, the 3D mapping of auricular electrophysiological signals can provide new biomedical perspectives. However, it is still extremely challenging for current sensing techniques to cover the entire ultra-curved auricle.

Refractive index sensing based on surface plasmon-coupled emission excited by reverse Kretschmann or Tamm structure.

Surface plasmon coupled emission (SPCE) is the directional emission of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) through the reverse channels of focused surface plasmon excitation to the far field, which has shown significant possibilities in bioanalysis, medical diagnosis, and so on. We carried out a theoretical study of SPCE to analyze its mechanisms and proposed a new structure to improve the emission intensity of SPCE. We proposed a method for refractive index sensing based on SPCE, consisting of a reverse Kretschmann (RK) or a Tamm structure for the first time, to the best of our knowledge.

To mask or not to mask: Debunking the myths of mask-wearing during COVID-19 across cultures.

Mask-wearing is the simplest yet most effective preventive behavior during COVID-19. However, it has sparked great controversy, particularly in America. Little is known about what psychosocial factors predict people's decision to mask.

Temporal-spatial evolution analysis of severe traffic violations using three functional forms of models considering the diurnal variation of meteorology.

Traffic violations and crashes are inherently associated. Analysis of traffic violation frequency is a prerequisite for improvements in crash prevention and corresponding countermeasures. One of the essential works in the field of traffic violations relates to the exploration of the correlations between a certain violation type (e.

Spatiotemporal analysis of crash severity on rural highway: A case study in Anhui, China.

Traffic crashes are the result of the interaction between human activities and different socio-economic, geographical, and environmental factors, showing a temporal and spatial relationship. The temporal and spatial correlations must be characterized in crash severity studies, for which the geographically and temporally weighted ordered logistic regression (GTWOLR) model is an effective approach. However, existing studies using the GTWOLR model only subjectively selected a type of kernel function and kernel bandwidth, which cannot determine the best expression of the spatiotemporal relationship between crashes.

Controlling Chemoselectivity of Catalytic Hydroboration with Light.

The ability to selectively react one functional group in the presence of another underpins efficient reaction sequences. Despite many designer catalytic systems being reported for hydroboration reactions, which allow introduction of a functional handle for cross-coupling or act as mild method for reducing polar functionality, these platforms rarely deal with more complex systems where multiple potentially reactive sites exist. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the ability to use light to distinguish between ketones and carboxylic acids in more complex molecules.