Activity waves in condensed excitable phases of Quincke rollers.

Traveling waves are universal in excitable systems; yet, the microscopic dynamics of wave propagation is inaccessible in conventional excitable systems. Here, we show that active colloids of Quincke rollers driven by a periodic electric field can form condensed excitable phases. Distinct from existing excitable media, condensed excitable colloids can be tuned reversibly between active liquids and active crystals in which two distinct waves can be excited, respectively.

Deformation-induced phase separation of active vesicles.

Many active materials, such as bacteria and cells, are deformable. Deformability significantly affects their collective behaviors and movements in complex environments. Here, we introduce a two-dimensional deformable active vesicle (DAV) model to emulate cell-like deformable active matter, wherein the deformability can be continuously adjusted.

Constrained motion of self-propelling eccentric disks linked by a spring.

It has been supposed that the interplay of elasticity and activity plays a key role in triggering the non-equilibrium behaviors in biological systems. However, the experimental model system is missing to investigate the spatiotemporally dynamical phenomena. Here, a model system of an active chain, where active eccentric-disks are linked by a spring, is designed to study the interplay of activity, elasticity, and friction.

Pre-operative enhanced magnetic resonance imaging combined with clinical features predict early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after radical resection.

Background: Indentifying predictive factors for postoperative recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has great significance for patient prognosis.

Aim: To explore the value of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with clinical features in predicting early recurrence of HCC after resection.

Methods: A total of 161 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC were enrolled.

Tunable collective dynamics of ellipsoidal Quincke particles.

Collective behaviors in active systems become dramatically complicated in the presence of chirality. In this study, we show that ellipsoidal Quincke particles driven by an electric field exhibit flexible and tunable chirality because of the tilting of the spinning axis. As the tilting torque decreases with the increase of angular speed, the motion of individual particles transforms from localized circle motion to global rolling.

Activity waves and freestanding vortices in populations of subcritical Quincke rollers.

Virtually all of the many active matter systems studied so far are made of units (biofilaments, cells, colloidal particles, robots, animals, etc.) that move even when they are alone or isolated. Their collective properties continue to fascinate, and we now understand better how they are unique to the bulk transduction of energy into work.

Synchronized fractionation and phase separation in binary colloids.

Fractionation is necessary for self-assembly in multicomponent mixtures. Here, reversible fractionation and crystallization are realized and studied in two-dimensional binary colloids which are supersaturated by enhancing the attraction between colloidal particles. As a deep and fast supersaturation results in gels with a uniform distribution of binary particles, a gradual quasistatic supersaturation process leads to a two-step crystallization in which small particles and large particles are fractionated as coexisting crystal and liquid phases respectively.

Pair aligning improved motility of Quincke rollers.

Density-dependent speed is studied in a two-dimensional active colloid in which the colloidal particles are propelled by an external electric field via a Quincke rotation. Above the critcal electric field, dense dynamic clusters form spotaneously, in which the particles are highly aligned in velocity and move much faster than isolated units. Detailed observations on pair collision reveal that the alignment of velocity is induced by the long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions and the improvement of speed in the clusters arises from pair aligning in which two particles are closely paired and rotate synchronically.

Analysis of Cytokine Levers in Pleural Effusions of Tuberculous Pleurisy and Tuberculous Empyema.

The aim is to examine whether the interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-2, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) levels were different in pleural effusions of tuberculous pleurisy and tuberculous empyema. IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, PAI-1, and t-PA levels in pleural fluids of 40 patients with tuberculous pleurisy and 38 patients with tuberculous empyema were measured. The levels of IL-1β, PAI-1, and t-PA in the pleural effusions were different between tuberculous pleurisy and tuberculous empyema; it could be helpful to differentiate the two diseases.

Analysis of Pneumonectomy for Benign Disease: A Single Institution Retrospective Study on 59 Patients.

Introduction: Pneumonectomy is the only curative treatment for some benign diseases but the operation is a challenging procedure. Herein, we present our experiences of pneumonectomy for 59 patients.

Methods: The medical records of 59 patients who undergone pneumonectomy for benign lung diseases from 2008 to 2013 at the Division of Thoracic Surgery in Beijing Chest Hospital were retrospectively reviewed.

Polydispersity and gelation in concentrated colloids with competing interactions.

In colloids with competing short-range attractions and long-range repulsions, microcrystalline gels are experimentally formed under conditions where computer simulations point to a lamellar phase as the ground state. Here, upon applying a low-frequency alternating electric field, we bring the system from an initial gel state to a columnar-like state. While molecular dynamics simulations on monodisperse colloids reveal that a columnar structure spontaneously evolves towards a lamellar phase, the columnar-like state in experiments relaxes back to the initial disordered gel state once the electric field is switched off.

Analysis of the surgical treatment of endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB).

Purpose: Endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB) is defined as tuberculosis infection of the tracheobronchial tree. EBTB may require aggressive treatment, including lung resection, because of severe bronchostenosis and its complications, despite formal anti-TB chemotherapy. We present our experience of treating 25 patients with EBTB.

Experimental modelling of single-particle dynamic processes in crystallization by controlled colloidal assembly.

In the last few decades, the controlled colloidal assembly was adopted as a new modelling technology for the study of the crystallization mechanism. In colloidal systems, the movement of particles is slow enough to follow and the particle dynamics can be monitored at the single-particle level using normal optical microscopes. So far, the studies of colloidal crystallization have produced a number of insights, which have significantly improved our understanding of crystallization.

[Surgical treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis complicated with aspergilloma].

Objective: To investigate the surgical indications of pulmonary tuberculosis complicated with aspergilloma , and to reduce postoperative complications.

Methods: From 1993 to 2010, a total of 51 surgically treated patients in pulmonary tuberculosis complicated with aspergilloma were analyzed retrospectively. The common surgical procedure performed was lobectomy(60.

Fabrication of large two-dimensional colloidal crystals via self-assembly in an attractive force gradient.

Colloidal particles in a water-lutidine (WL) binary liquid mixture experience temperature-dependent attraction close to the mixture's demixing temperature. This temperature-tunable interaction can be potentially harnessed to assemble colloids and grow colloidal crystals. In this article, for the first time a novel attractive force gradient method is presented to fabricate high-quality, single-domain colloidal crystals.

[Bulk heterojunction solar cell based on porphyrin compounds].

Three kinds of porphyrins which can abbreviate as TPP, TPPCu and TMPPFeCl were synthesized by one-step method with mixed solvents. Then these porphyrin materials were used as donors to fabricate organic solar cells with PCBM as accepter by the solution processing of spin-coating method. The structure is ITO/porphyrin : PCBM/Al.

[Effects of hole-injection layers on the performance of blue organic light-emitting diodes].

The present work investigates the effects of different buffer layers on the performance of blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and compares them with the device with no buffer layer. Two kinds of blue OLEDs with 4,4'-bis(2,2'-diphenyl vinyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (DPVBi) as the emitting layer, N, N'-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N, N'-1-diphenyl-1,1 '-biphenyl-4, 4'-diamine (NPB) as the hole transporting layer, and copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : poly (styrenesulphonate) PEDOT : PSS as the hole injection layer respectively were fabricated with the structures of ITO/CuPc/NPB/DPVBi/BCP/Alq3 /Al and ITO/PEDOT : PSS/NPB/DPVBi/BCP/Alq3/Al. Moreover, the effects of different preparation technology of CuPc on the performance of OLEDs were also investigated.

Observation of a microcrystalline gel in colloids with competing interactions.

A stable short-range crystalline structure is observed in colloidal systems with competing short-range attractions and long-range repulsions. We term these structures "microcrystalline gels" as the microcrystals are embedded in a dense disordered network.

Nucleation: what happens at the initial stage?

Crystallizing growth: The initial structure of crystal nuclei is supersaturation-dependent. At low degrees of supersaturation, liquid-like nuclei are formed initially, which undergo a continuous structure transition from liquid-like to crystal-like as the size N increases. This gradual structure evolution substantially lowers the nucleation barrier DeltaG* and facilitates the nucleation relative to the formation of crystal-like clusters from the beginning.

Multistep crystal nucleation: a kinetic study based on colloidal crystallization.

Crystallization via an amorphous precursor, the so-called multistep crystallization (MSC), plays a key role in biomineralization and protein crystallization. MSC has attracted much attention in the past decade, but a quantitative understanding of it has so far not been available. The major challenge is that the kinetics governing the nucleation of crystals occurring in the metastable amorphous precursor remains unclear.

How does a transient amorphous precursor template crystallization.

Crystallization through metastable phases, such as polymorphism, plays an important role in chemical manufacture, biomineralization, and protein crystallization. However, the kinetics creating the final stable crystalline phase from metastable phases has so far remained unclear. In this study, crystallization via an amorphous precursor, the so-called multistep crystallization (MSC), is studied quantitatively in a colloidal model system.