Artificial intelligence-assisted echocardiographic monitoring in pediatric patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Background: Percutaneous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is administered to pediatric patients with cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest. The traditional method uses focal echocardiography to complete the left ventricular measurement. However, echocardiographic determination of the ejection fraction (EF) by manual tracing of the endocardial borders is time consuming and operator dependent.

Dissolution Manufacturing Strategy for the Facile Synthesis of Nanoporous Metallic Glass Multifunctional Catalyst.

The quest for heightened energy efficiency is inextricably linked to advancements in energy storage and conversion technologies, wherein multifunctional catalysts play a pivotal role by mitigating the slow kinetics endemic to many catalytic reactions. The intricate synthesis and bespoke design of such catalysts, however, present notable challenges. Addressing this, the present study capitalizes on a novel dissolution manufacturing strategy to engineer self-supporting, nanoporous multifunctional electrocatalysts, circumventing the prevalent issue of customizing catalytic functionalities upon demand.

Effects of surface hydrophobization on the phase evolution behavior of iron-based catalyst during Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

Iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalyst is widely used for syngas conversion, but its iron carbide active phase is easily oxidized into FeO by the water produced during reaction, leading to the deterioration of catalytic performance. Here, we show an efficient strategy for protecting the iron carbide active phase of FTS catalyst by surface hydrophobization. The hydrophobic surface can reduce the water concentration in the core vicinity of catalyst during syngas conversion, and thus inhibit the oxidation of iron species by water, which enhances the C - C coupling ability of catalyst and promotes the formation of long-chain olefins.

Embedding Tasks Into the Latent Space: Cross-Space Consistency for Multi-Dimensional Analysis in Echocardiography.

Multi-dimensional analysis in echocardiography has attracted attention due to its potential for clinical indices quantification and computer-aided diagnosis. It can utilize various information to provide the estimation of multiple cardiac indices. However, it still has the challenge of inter-task conflict.

Insights into the Diffusion Behaviors of Water over Hydrophilic/Hydrophobic Catalysts During the Conversion of Syngas to High-Quality Gasoline.

Although considerable efforts towards directly converting syngas to liquid fuels through Fischer-Tropsch synthesis have been made, developing catalysts with low CO selectivity for the synthesis of high-quality gasoline remains a big challenge. Herein, we designed a bifunctional catalyst composed of hydrophobic FeNa@Si-c and HZSM-5 zeolite, which exhibited a low CO selectivity of 14.3 % at 49.

Dissolvable templates to prepare Pt-based porous metallic glass for the oxygen reduction reaction.

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) plays a crucial role in electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices such as metal-air batteries and water electrolyzers. Herein, a hierarchical nanoporous platinum-based metallic glass (NPMG) was developed by a facile fabrication method by dissolving in a liquid. The surface topography of the sample can be easily modulated by controlling the particle size of sodium chloride.

Molecular interactions between bovine serum albumin (BSA) and trihalophenol: Insights from spectroscopic, calorimetric and molecular modeling studies.

The issue of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in the water has received critical attention due to the health effects on humans. In the water environment, interactions between bovine serum albumins (BSA), the most abundant water-soluble protein, and DBPs unavoidably occur. In this study, comparative binding interactions of two aromatic DBPs - 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP) with BSA were investigated systematically utilizing fluorescence spectrometry, UV absorption spectrometry, isothermal titration calorimetry and molecular docking approach.

Investigation on detoxication effects of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin over two halogenated aromatic DBPs 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 2,4,6-tribromophenol binding with human serum albumin.

The health effects of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water drew great attention recently. Herein, by using in vitro (fluorescence quenching, UV absorbance, circular dichroism) and in silico (molecular docking) method, binding interactions of two halophenolic DBPs (2,4,6-trichlorophenol [TCP] and 2,4,6-tribromophenol [TBP]) with human serum albumin (HSA) and the influence of hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPCD) on the interactions were investigated. TCP/TBP could form complexes with HSA mainly by hydrogen bonding, while changing its secondary structure, among which TBP showed more influential effect.

Metallic glue for designing composite materials with tailorable properties.

Developing materials with tailorable properties has been the long-sought goal of humankind. Forming composite materials with superior properties by combining two or more materials has emerged as a competitive means in the search and design of new materials. However, it is still a grand challenge to use metallic materials as a binder for composites because of their lack of adhesion.

Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Tongue-Operated Exoskeleton System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation.

Stroke is a devastating condition that may cause upper limb paralysis. Robotic rehabilitation with self-initiated and assisted movements is a promising technology that could help restore upper limb function. Previous studies have established that the tongue motion can be used to communicate human intent and control a rehabilitation robot/assistive device.

Investigating toxicity of urban road deposited sediments using Chinese hamster ovary cells and Chlorella Pyrenoidosa.

Road deposited sediments (RDS) is the key carrier of pollutants in the urban road stormwater processes and hence has been seen as an important pollutant source of urban road stormwater. Although many research studies have focused on RDS and pollutants attached to RDS, the investigation on RDS toxicity is very limited. Toxicity test can permit an overall assessment on whether the RDS polluted stormwater can be safely reused.

Comparative cytotoxicity of halogenated aromatic DBPs and implications of the corresponding developed QSAR model to toxicity mechanisms of those DBPs: Binding interactions between aromatic DBPs and catalase play an important role.

Halogenated aromatic disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are a new group of emerging DBPs identified recently. They have been detected in disinfected drinking water, wastewater effluents, recreational water and oil/gas produced water, at concentrations of ng/L to μg/L in general. Previously studies have demonstrated that most of them can induce developmental toxicity and growth inhibition in aquatic organisms based on in vivo bioassays.

Comparative toxicity of organic mixture attached to road deposited sediments: Inadequacy of conventionally using individual pollutants to assess comprehensive hazard effects.

Organic pollutants attached on road deposited sediments (RDS) during dry days can be washed-off into stormwater runoff during rainfall events, undermining stormwater reuse safety. Previous research studies commonly utilized individual pollutant groups and their quantity to evaluate the hazard effect of pollutants attached to RDS in terms of stormwater reuse. Since many types of organic pollutants are present together rather than individually, conventional approaches might not permit a comprehensive understanding of how appropriately the RDS polluted stormwater can be reused.

The Helping Hand: An Assistive Manipulation Framework Using Augmented Reality and Tongue-Drive Interfaces.

A human-in-the-loop system is proposed to enable collaborative manipulation tasks for person with physical disabilities. Studies show that the cognitive burden of subject reduces with increased autonomy of assistive system. Our framework obtains high-level intent from the user to specify manipulation tasks.

A facile and green pretreatment method for nonionic total organic halogen (NTOX) analysis in water - Step II. Using photolysis to convert NTOX completely into halides.

Adsorbable organic halogen (AOX) is a parameter conventionally used to indicate the sum of organic halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs), which are formed from the reactions of disinfectants with dissolved organic matter, bromide and iodide in water. To overcome the issues of the AOX analytical method, we proposed a new facile and green pretreatment method to enable the analysis of nonionic total organic halogen (NTOX) via the following three steps: 1) separation of NTOX and halides with electrodialysis, 2) conversion of NTOX with ultraviolet (UV) photolysis, and 3) analysis of halides with ion chromatography. To verify this proposal, we mainly evaluated the efficiency of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) coupled with UV photolysis (VUV-UV) in converting NTOX into halides.

Tongue-controlled robotic rehabilitation: A feasibility study in people with stroke.

Stroke survivors with severe upper limb (UL) impairment face years of therapy to recover function. Robot-assisted therapy (RT) is increasingly used in the field for goal-oriented rehabilitation as a means to improve function in ULs. To be used effectively for wrist and hand therapy, the current RT systems require the patient to have a minimal active range of movement in the UL, and those that do not have active voluntary movement cannot use these systems.

Effects of Dechlorane Plus exposure on axonal growth, musculature and motor behavior in embryo-larval zebrafish.

Developmental neurobehavioral toxicity of Dechlorane Plus (DP) was investigated using the embryo-larval stages of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Normal fertilized embryos were waterborne exposed to DP at 15, 30, 60 μg/L beginning from 6 h post-fertilization (hpf). Larval teratology, motor activity, motoneuron axonal growth and muscle morphology were assessed at different developmental stages.

Simultaneous determination of 9-ethylphenanthrene, pyrene and 1-hydroxypyrene in an aqueous solution by synchronous fluorimetry using the double scans method and hydroxyl-propyl beta-cyclodextrin as a sensitizer.

A novel method for the simultaneous determination of 9-ethylphenanthrene (9-EP), pyrene (Pyr) and 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH-Pyr) in an aqueous solution using hydroxyl-propyl β-cyclodextrin (HPCD) as a sensitizer has been established. The overlap of the conventional fluorescence spectra of these molecules is resolved using synchronous fluorescence spectrometry with the double scans method. The simultaneous quantitative determination of three compounds was carried out with Δλ=36 nm and Δλ=55 nm.

Investigation into the causes for the changed biodegradation process of dissolved pyrene after addition of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPCD).

Bioremediation of surface waters contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is a serious problem, often limited by the low bioavailability of contaminants as a result of their low aqueous solubility. In this study, we studied the influence of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPCD) addition on the biodegradation of dissolved pyrene in aqueous solution. Five types of unidentified bacterial strains were used with a concentration of pyrene under its solubility limit.

Spectrophotometric determination of boron based on charge transfer reaction.

Boron determination by a charge transfer spectrophotometric method is described. Accompanied the reaction, a charge transfer complex can be formed by lysine with sodium 1, 2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonate and boron in alkaline solution (pH 12.00).