MyMedR

Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 41 in total

Abstract:

Sort:

Upregulation of miR-424 inhibit retinal endothelial cells proliferation under high glucose condition via cyclin D1

Chen Y, Chen K, Zhu W, Chen J, Huang Z

Malays J Pathol, 2024 Aug;46(2):279-286.
PMID: 39207004

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic retinopathy is characterised by retinal vascular impairment. A number of aberrant microRNAs (miRNAs) have a role in the pathophysiology of vascular dysfunction. However, the relevance of miR-424 in retinal vascular endothelial cell dysfunction during hyperglycemia stress remains unknown. The purpose of this study is to investigate this issue.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rhesus macaque choroid retinal endothelial cell line (RF/6A) cells were cultivated in normal glucose (NG) and high glucose (HG) conditions. The mRNA expression of miR-424 and Cyclin D1 (CCND1) was quantified using qPCR, and the protein quantity of CCND1 was detected using Western Blot. miR-424 mimics, miR-424 inhibitors, miR-424 inhibitor+ siRNA-CCND1 or vehicle molecules were transfected into RF/6A cells. MTT test was used to assess cell proliferation, and flow cytometric analysis was used to assess cell cycle. The interaction between miR-424 and CCND1 was predicted using bioinformatics and validated using dual luciferase reporter analysis.
RESULTS: miR-424 was up-regulated, and cell viability was reduced in HG compared to NG. By reversing the expression of miR-424 in certain situations, the phenotypes can be changed. CCND1 has been identified as a miR-424 target gene, and it may be regulated at the transcriptional and translational levels. Manipulation of silencing CCND1 can counteract the effect of transfecting miR-424 inhibitor into RF/6A cells under HG such as proliferation stimulation.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that miR-424 plays an important role in hyperglycemia induced ARPE-19 cells damage, and it could be a new therapeutic target for DR by preventing retinal vascular cells from HG-induced injury.
The Performance of Different Parametric Ultrasounds in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: Correlation with Radical Prostatectomy Specimens

Jawli A, Nabi G, Huang Z

Cancers (Basel), 2024 Apr 15;16(8).
PMID: 38672584 DOI: 10.3390/cancers16081502

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is a prevalent cancer among men. Multiparametric ultrasound [mpUS] is a diagnostic instrument that uses various types of ultrasounds to diagnose it. This systematic review aims to evaluate the performance of different parametric ultrasounds in diagnosing prostate cancer by associating with radical prostatectomy specimens.
METHODOLOGY: A review was performed on various ultrasound parameters using five databases. Systematic review tools were utilized to eliminate duplicates and identify relevant results. Reviewers used the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Results [QUADAS-2] to evaluate the bias and applicability of the study outcomes.
RESULT: Between 2012 and 2023, eleven studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of the different ultrasound parametric procedures in detecting prostate cancer using grayscale TRUS, SWE, CEUS, and mpUS. The high sensitivity of these procedures was found at 55%, 88.6%, 81%, and 74%, respectively. The specificity of these procedures was found to be 93.4%, 97%, 88%, and 59%, respectively. This high sensitivity and specificity may be associated with the large lesion size. The studies revealed that the sensitivity of these procedures in diagnosing clinically significant prostate cancer was 55%, 73%, 70%, and 74%, respectively, while the specificity was 61%, 78.2%, 62%, and 59%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: The mpUS procedure provides high sensitivity and specificity in PCa detection, especially for clinically significant prostate cancer.
Evaluation of nasal cavity by acoustic rhinometry in Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnic groups

Huang ZL, Wang DY, Zhang PC, Dong F, Yeoh KH

Acta Otolaryngol, 2001 Oct;121(7):844-8.
PMID: 11718250

Acoustic rhinometry (AR) evaluates the geometry of the nasal cavity by measuring the minimum cross-sectional area (MCA) and nasal volume (V) by means of acoustic reflection. Understanding the normal and pathologic conditions of the internal nasal cavity using AR is important in the diagnosis of structural abnormalities in patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the normal range of AR parameters in healthy volunteers from three ethnic groups in Singapore: Chinese, Malay and Indian. We also attempted to evaluate the role of these measurements in the documentation of structural abnormalities in the nose. A total of 189 Singaporeans, aged > or = 18 years, were recruited from a nationwide survey study. They comprised 83 Chinese, 35 Malays and 71 Indians. Eighty-nine subjects had a rhinoscopically normal nose (Group 1), 77 had significant septal deviation (Group 2) and 23 had inferior turbinate hypertrophy (Group 3). AR was performed to measure the MCA at the anterior 1-5 cm from the nostril and the volume (V) between points at the nostril and 5 cm into the nose. A mean MCA (mMCA; equal to (L + R)/2) and a total volume (Vt; equal to L + R) were then calculated for each subject, where L and R refer to the measurements made for the left and right nostrils, respectively. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in mMCA (p = 0.80) and Vt (p = 0.60) among the three ethnic subgroups of Group 1. Statistically significant differences were found only between Groups 1 and 3 (p < 0.001 for both mMCA and Vt) and between Groups 2 and 3 (p = 0.001 for mMCA and p = 0.013 for Vt). Although there was no significant difference between Groups 1 and 2, significant differences in MCA (p = 0.001) and V (p = 0.040) were found between the narrower sides (smaller volume) and the wider sides in Group 2, indicating volume compensation between the nasal cavities. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that there is no significant difference in the normal range of AR measurements among Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnic groups. AR is able to determine the structural abnormality of the internal nasal cavity caused by septal deviation and inferior turbinate hypertrophy.
Fulltext Assessment of fracture healing properties of lovastatin loaded nanoparticles: preclinical study in rat model

Zhu P, Huang G, Zhang B, Zhang W, Dang M, Huang Z

Acta Biochim. Pol., 2019 Mar 11;66(1):71-76.
PMID: 30856636 DOI: 10.18388/abp.2018_2719

Bone fracture, being mainly caused by mechanical stress, requires special and quick attention for a rapid healing. The study presented here aims at formulating nanoparticulate system to overcome the solubility issues of lovastatin. The lovastatin nanoparticles were successfully prepared by ionotropic gelation method using chitosan and tri-polyphosphate as polymers. Thus prepared nanoparticles were found to be smooth and spherical with average particle size of 87 nm and encapsulation efficiency of 86.5%. The in-vitro drug release was found to be almost 89.6% in the first 360 minutes. Artificial fracture was produced in female Wistar rats at right leg using fracture apparatus. After administration of lovastatin nanoparticles or saline solution, the respective groups were observed for various parameters. The X-ray imaging showed that lovastatin accelerated bone healing, compared to control. The growth of animals was not hampered by lovastatin by any means. The radiographic examination confirmed a role of lovastatin in increasing bone density. The histological study showed the broken, proliferated and discontinued trabecullae in the control, while at the same time point, the normal, thick, continuous and connected trabecullae were observed in animals administered with lovastatin nanoparticles. The biomechanical studies showed high breaking resilience and minimum bone brittleness in animals injected with lovastatin nanoparticles. Considering these observations we state that lovastatin helps in rapid bone healing after fracture via increasing the bone density.
scGGAN: single-cell RNA-seq imputation by graph-based generative adversarial network

Huang Z, Wang J, Lu X, Mohd Zain A, Yu G

Brief Bioinform, 2023 Mar 19;24(2).
PMID: 36733262 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbad040

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data are typically with a large number of missing values, which often results in the loss of critical gene signaling information and seriously limit the downstream analysis. Deep learning-based imputation methods often can better handle scRNA-seq data than shallow ones, but most of them do not consider the inherent relations between genes, and the expression of a gene is often regulated by other genes. Therefore, it is essential to impute scRNA-seq data by considering the regional gene-to-gene relations. We propose a novel model (named scGGAN) to impute scRNA-seq data that learns the gene-to-gene relations by Graph Convolutional Networks (GCN) and global scRNA-seq data distribution by Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN). scGGAN first leverages single-cell and bulk genomics data to explore inherent relations between genes and builds a more compact gene relation network to jointly capture the homogeneous and heterogeneous information. Then, it constructs a GCN-based GAN model to integrate the scRNA-seq, gene sequencing data and gene relation network for generating scRNA-seq data, and trains the model through adversarial learning. Finally, it utilizes data generated by the trained GCN-based GAN model to impute scRNA-seq data. Experiments on simulated and real scRNA-seq datasets show that scGGAN can effectively identify dropout events, recover the biologically meaningful expressions, determine subcellular states and types, improve the differential expression analysis and temporal dynamics analysis. Ablation experiments confirm that both the gene relation network and gene sequence data help the imputation of scRNA-seq data.
Variation in chemical property of asphalt immersed in varying aqueous solutions and its leachate property

Wu J, Wang H, Liu Q, Huang Z, Yusoff NIM

Sci Total Environ, 2024 Oct 01;945:174138.
PMID: 38906298 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174138

The pavement asphalt properties are susceptible to deterioration under environmental factors, and the deterioration product will affect its surrounding aqueous environment. For this reason, the idealized asphalt-aggregate mixture was treated with coupled temperature, ultraviolet and aqueous solutions based on self-made multifactorial coupled simulation device. Subsequently, the deterioration of asphalt chemical properties was analyzed by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and saturate-aromatic-resin-asphaltene tests. Meanwhile, the effect of environmental factors on leachate properties was explored based on organic matter contents and chemical elements. Based on that, the grey correlation method was adopted to correlate asphalt chemical properties and leachate properties. The results clearly showed that environmental factors increased the sulfoxide and carbonyl group content of asphalt and transformed the chemical components within it into polar substances. The asphalt chemical properties were gradually improved when coupling ultraviolet with sodium carbonate, sodium chloride and distilled water sequentially. Compared to neutral solution, alkaline solution exacerbated the effect of asphalt precipitates on leachate properties. The environmental factors increased the organic matter contents and chemical elements of leachate with time. The interaction mechanism between asphalt and aqueous environment involved the deterioration of asphalt properties caused by the presence of water, as well as the release of precipitates from aged asphalt into surrounding aqueous environment.
Fulltext Determinants of gastric cancer screening attendance in Southeastern China: a cross-sectional study

Huang Z, Hu Z, Wong LP, Lin Y

BMJ Open, 2023 Jul 20;13(7):e073925.
PMID: 37474189 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073925

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the determinants of gastric cancer screening attendance among individuals aged 40 years in a region with high gastric cancer in China.
DESIGN: An anonymous, cross-sectional survey was conducted between October 2021 and March 2022.
SETTING: A self-administered online survey was conducted in Fujian Province in Southeastern China.
PARTICIPANTS: People aged 40 years living in five selected cities in Fujian Province with no history of cancer.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Gastric cancer screening attendance was measured with the question 'Have you ever been screened for gastric cancer in the past'.
RESULTS: In total, 2547 complete responses were obtained. The mean age of respondents was 47.72±7.20 years, and 59.8% were men. A total of 42.6% of participants reported that they had undergone gastric cancer screening. The result of multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that participants with a first-degree relative affected with gastric cancer (OR=2.02, 95% CI: 1.58 to 2.59) and high perceived susceptibility of gastric cancer (OR=2.03, 95% CI: 1.58 to 2.59) were the strongest facilitators for screening attendance. Other factors positively associated with screening attendance were age 51-60 years (OR=1.69, 95% CI: 1.31 to 2.18), living in urban regions (OR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.05 to 1.55), friends/neighbours/colleagues with gastric cancer (OR=1.30, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.58), history of chronic gastric disease (OR=1.90, 95% CI: 1.57 to 2.30), perceived high cost (OR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.61) and physician recommendation (OR=1.71, 95% CI: 1.36 to 2.16). On the other hand, factors negatively associated with screening attendance included perceived barriers, namely screening is only necessary when symptoms present (OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.58 to 0.87) and perceived appointment for gastroscopy screening is difficult and time-consuming (OR=0.75, 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.94). No significant association was found between knowledge level and participation in screening.
CONCLUSION: This study highlights important individual-level factors and barriers to gastric cancer screening. Strategies targeting under-screened populations and eliminating patient-perceived barriers to gastric cancer screening are essential.
Fulltext Modulation of Crustacean Innate Immune Response by Amino Acids and Their Metabolites: Inferences From Other Species

Huang Z, Aweya JJ, Zhu C, Tran NT, Hong Y, Li S, et al.

Front Immunol, 2020;11:574721.
PMID: 33224140 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.574721

Aquaculture production of crustaceans (mainly shrimp and crabs) has expanded globally, but disease outbreaks and pathogenic infections have hampered production in the last two decades. As invertebrates, crustaceans lack an adaptive immune system and mainly defend and protect themselves using their innate immune system. The immune system derives energy and metabolites from nutrients, with amino acids constituting one such source. A growing number of studies have shown that amino acids and their metabolites are involved in the activation, synthesis, proliferation, and differentiation of immune cells, as well as in the activation of immune related signaling pathways, reduction of inflammatory response and regulation of oxidative stress. Key enzymes in amino acid metabolism have also been implicated in the regulation of the immune system. Here, we reviewed the role played by amino acids and their metabolites in immune-modulation in crustaceans. Information is inferred from mammals and fish where none exists for crustaceans. Research themes are identified and the relevant research gaps highlighted for further studies.
Fulltext Little White Lies: Pericarp Color Provides Insights into the Origins and Evolution of Southeast Asian Weedy Rice

Cui Y, Song BK, Li LF, Li YL, Huang Z, Caicedo AL, et al.

G3 (Bethesda), 2016 Dec 07;6(12):4105-4114.
PMID: 27729434 DOI: 10.1534/g3.116.035881

Weedy rice is a conspecific form of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) that infests rice fields and results in severe crop losses. Weed strains in different world regions appear to have originated multiple times from different domesticated and/or wild rice progenitors. In the case of Malaysian weedy rice, a multiple-origin model has been proposed based on neutral markers and analyses of domestication genes for hull color and seed shattering. Here, we examined variation in pericarp (bran) color and its molecular basis to address how this trait evolved in Malaysian weeds and its possible role in weed adaptation. Functional alleles of the Rc gene confer proanthocyanidin pigmentation of the pericarp, a trait found in most wild and weedy Oryzas and associated with seed dormancy; nonfunctional rc alleles were strongly favored during rice domestication, and most cultivated varieties have nonpigmented pericarps. Phenotypic characterizations of 52 Malaysian weeds revealed that most strains are characterized by the pigmented pericarp; however, some weeds have white pericarps, suggesting close relationships to cultivated rice. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the Rc haplotypes present in Malaysian weeds likely have at least three distinct origins: wild O. rufipogon, white-pericarp cultivated rice, and red-pericarp cultivated rice. These diverse origins contribute to high Rc nucleotide diversity in the Malaysian weeds. Comparison of Rc allelic distributions with other rice domestication genes suggests that functional Rc alleles may confer particular fitness benefits in weedy rice populations, for example, by conferring seed dormancy. This may promote functional Rc introgression from local wild Oryza populations.
Production of H2-rich syngas from gasification of unsorted food waste in supercritical water

Su H, Kanchanatip E, Wang D, Zheng R, Huang Z, Chen Y, et al.

Waste Manag, 2020 Feb 01;102:520-527.
PMID: 31765972 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2019.11.018

In China, waste sorting practice is not strictly followed, plastics, especially food packaging, are commonly mixed in food waste. Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of unsorted food waste was conducted in this study, using model unsorted food waste by mixture of pure food waste and plastic. Different operating parameters including reaction temperature, residence time, and feedstock concentration were investigated. Moreover, the effect of three representative food additives namely NaCl, NaHCO3 and Na2CO3 were tested in this work. Finally, comparative analysis about SCWG of unsorted food waste, pure food waste, and plastic was studied. It was found that higher reaction temperature, longer residence time and lower feedstock concentration were advantageous for SCWG of unsorted food waste. Within the range of operating parameters in this study, when the feedstock concentration was 5 wt%, the highest H2 yield (7.69 mol/kg), H2 selectivity (82.11%), total gas yield (17.05 mol/kg), and efficiencies of SCWG (cold gas efficiency, gasification efficiency, carbon gasification efficiency, and hydrogen gasification efficiency) were obtained at 480 °C for 75 min. Also, the addition of food additives with Na+ promoted the SCWG of unsorted food waste. The Na2CO3 showed the best catalytic performance on enhancement of H2 and syngas production. This research demonstrated the positive effect of waste sorting on the SCWG of food waste, and provided novel results and information that help to overcome the problems in the process of food waste treatment and accelerate the industrial application of SCWG technology in the future.
Fulltext Unlocking Access To Novel Medicines In China-A Review From A Health System Perspective

Diao Y, Li M, Huang Z, Sun J, Chee YL, Liu Y

Risk Manag Healthc Policy, 2019;12:357-367.
PMID: 31908552 DOI: 10.2147/RMHP.S226379

China's healthcare reform aims to provide affordable and equitable basic healthcare for all by 2020. Access to medicines is an essential part of the healthcare. The efforts of promoting access to medicines have been moving from meeting the needs of the basic healthcare, towards increasingly dedicated resources to offer breakthrough therapies. Looking at access to novel medicines from a health system perspective, and placing the changes China has made into that system context, this paper makes a comprehensive review of the progress of access to novel medicines in China. The review drew on two sources of information, which included desk review of published and grey literature, and key informant interview. Five hurdles were identified which create barriers of access to novel medicines, ranging from regulation and financing of medicines, intellectually property rights protection, and development of innovation capacity, to other health system components. Multiple policies have been implementing in China to remove the multiple access barriers gradually. Universal access to medicines has been moving from towards the basic common conditions to the world breakthrough technologies. We see cause for optimism, but recognize that there is a long way to go. Achieving broader and better access to modern medicines for Chinese patients will require multiple and coordinated government efforts, which would need to target the whole lifecycle regulation of novel medicines with a health system perspective, from balancing IP protection, strengthening R&D and public health, to appropriate regulatory approach and financing mechanism, and to supply chain management, as well as smart use.
Characterization of Eleusine indica with gene mutation or amplification in EPSPS to glyphosate

Chen J, Jiang C, Huang H, Wei S, Huang Z, Wang H, et al.

Pestic Biochem Physiol, 2017 Nov;143:201-206.
PMID: 29183593 DOI: 10.1016/j.pestbp.2017.09.012

The evolution of weed-resistant species threatens the sustainable use of glyphosate, which is the most important herbicide widely used in agriculture worldwide. Moreover, the high glyphosate resistance (>180-fold based on LD50) of Eleusine indica found in Malaysia, which carries a double mutation in its 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), made the control of this species more difficult. By contrast, the same species carrying the same double mutation in EPSPS (T102I+P106S) but found in China only shows a resistance level of not more than 14-fold based on GR50. The resistance level of this population is four times higher than that of the population carrying a single mutation (P106L). Although the members of this population survive under a high glyphosate dosage of 10,080gaeha-1, their growth was significantly inhibited by glyphosate under the recommend dose (840gaeha-1), where in the fresh weight was 85.4% of the control. EPSPS expression, relative copy number, and EPSPS activity in this population were similar to those of the susceptible population. In addition, the expression of two glutathione transferase (GST) genes (GST-U8 and GST-23) and the enzyme activity of the GST in this population did not significantly differ from those of the susceptible population. This finding is important in elucidating the resistance of the naturally evolved glyphosate-resistant (GR) weed species carrying a double mutation in EPSPS to glyphosate.
Fulltext Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of shrimp immune cells identifies macrophage-like phagocytes

Yang P, Chen Y, Huang Z, Xia H, Cheng L, Wu H, et al.

Elife, 2022 Oct 06;11.
PMID: 36200862 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.80127

Despite the importance of innate immunity in invertebrates, the diversity and function of innate immune cells in invertebrates are largely unknown. Using single-cell RNA-seq, we identified prohemocytes, monocytic hemocytes, and granulocytes as the three major cell-types in the white shrimp hemolymph. Our results identified a novel macrophage-like subset called monocytic hemocytes 2 (MH2) defined by the expression of certain marker genes, including Nlrp3 and Casp1. This subtype of shrimp hemocytes is phagocytic and expresses markers that indicate some conservation with mammalian macrophages. Combined, our work resolves the heterogenicity of hemocytes in a very economically important aquatic species and identifies a novel innate immune cell subset that is likely a critical player in the immune responses of shrimp to threatening infectious diseases affecting this industry.
Fulltext Multi-dimensional psychosocial factors influencing the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster: A survey among the public in Mainland China

Lin Y, Huang Z, Xu X, Du W, Alias H, Hu Z, et al.

Hum Vaccin Immunother, 2022 Nov 30;18(6):2126667.
PMID: 36165498 DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2022.2126667

This study aimed to investigate multi-dimensional psychological and social factors that influence the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster in China. A nationwide cross-sectional online survey was conducted between March and April 2022. A total of 6375 complete responses were received. The majority were of age 18 to 40 years old (80.0%) and college-educated (49.2%). In total, 79% responded extremely willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster. By demographics, younger age, females, higher education, and participants with the lowest income reported higher willingness. Having a very good health status (odds ratio [OR] 3.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.92-4.34) and a higher score of vaccine confidence (OR 3.50, 95% CI 2.98-4.11) were associated with an increased willingness to receive a booster shot. Experiencing no side effects with primary COVID-19 vaccination (OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.89-3.20) and higher perceived susceptibility of COVID-19 infection (OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.92-2.95) were also associated with an increased willingness to receive a booster shot. A variety of psychosocial factors, namely having no chronic diseases, lower perceived concern over the safety of a booster shot, higher perceived severity of COVID-19 infection, and a higher level of institutional trust, were also significantly associated with greater willingness to get a booster shot. In conclusion, the present study adds evidence to the significant role of psychosocial factors in predicting COVID-19 vaccine booster acceptance and provides insights to design interventions to increase booster uptake in certain targeted demographic groups.
Fulltext Spatial and temporal evolution of Guangdong tourism economic network structure from the perspective of social networks

Zhang L, Marzuki A, Liao Z, Zhao K, Huang Z, Chen W

Heliyon, 2023 Aug;9(8):e18570.
PMID: 37520942 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18570

This study uses social network analysis and modified gravity model methods to empirically analyse the network spatial correlation structure and spatiotemporal development trend of 21 cities in Guangdong Province from 2000 to 2020 based on tourism economic development data. The findings show that, first, Zhuhai has the greatest potential for growth as the centre of the spatial and temporal evolution trend of the network structure of the tourism economy in Guangdong Province, ahead of Shenzhen, Huizhou, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Dongguan. However, Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, is experiencing a decline in such influence and development. Second, there is a counter-trend growth in the number of tourism-related economic links among the 21 cities. Although Guangdong's tourism economic network intensity is strong, there is still room for further optimisation. Third, the results of the overall network indicators show that there is a need for further improvement in network density, grade and efficiency to help reduce the relative development gap of the cities' tourism and effectively improve the overall development of Guangdong's tourism economy. Finally, based on the core-periphery structure, this study proposes relevant suggestions for the sustainable development of Guangdong's tourism industry.
Strengthened d-p Orbital Hybridization on Metastable Cubic Mo2C for Highly Stable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Chen K, Zhu Y, Huang Z, Han B, Xu Q, Fang X, et al.

ACS Nano, 2024 Dec 13.
PMID: 39668735 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c11701

Suppressing the lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling as well as accelerating the conversion kinetics is extremely crucial yet challenging in designing sulfur hosts for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Phase engineering of nanomaterials is an intriguing approach for tuning the electronic structure toward regulating phase-dependent physicochemical properties. In this study, a metastable phase δ-Mo2C catalyst was elaborately synthesized via a boron doping strategy, which exhibited a phase transfer from hexagonal to cubic structure. The hierarchical tubular structure of the metastable cubic δ-Mo2C-decorated N-doped carbon nanotube (δ-B-Mo2C/NCNT) endows fast electron transfer and abundant polar sites for LiPSs. First-principles calculations reveal the strengthened chemical adsorption capability and hybridization between the d orbital of Mo metal and the p orbital of S atoms in LiPSs, contributing to higher electrocatalytic activity. Moreover, in situ Raman analysis manifests accelerated redox conversion kinetics. Consequently, δ-B-Mo2C/NCNT renders the Li-S battery with a high specific capacity of 1385.6 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C and a superior rate property of 606.3 mAh g-1 at 4 C. Impressively, a satisfactory areal capacity of 6.95 mAh cm-2 is achieved under the high sulfur loading of 6.8 mg cm-2. This work has gained crucial research significance for metastable catalyst design and phase engineering for Li-S batteries.
Fulltext The influence of psychological capital on employment expectations of vocational undergraduate students: The chain mediating role of active coping style and educational flow experience

Huang Z, Ismail IA, Ghazali AHA, D'Silva JL, Abdullah H, Zhang Z

PLoS One, 2025;20(3):e0319742.
PMID: 40096059 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319742

As vocational undergraduate students in China face increasing challenges in the job market, understanding the factors that shape their employment expectations is crucial. Psychological capital is considered a key factor influencing students' career outlooks. This study aims to examine the relationship between psychological capital (PC) and employment expectations (EE), while exploring the mediating roles of educational flow experience (EFE) and active coping style (ACS) in this relationship. Based on positive psychology and career development theories, a theoretical model was constructed to understand how psychological capital affects employment expectations through the chain mediation of educational flow experience and active coping style. A sample of 693 vocational undergraduate students (316 males and 377 females) from a university in Guangdong Province participated in the study. Participants completed the Psychological Capital Scale (PCS), the Career Expectation Scale (CES), the Educational Flow Experience Scale (EduFlow-2), and the Coping Style Scale (CSS). Results indicate that higher levels of psychological capital significantly predict stronger employment expectations. Moreover, educational flow experience and active coping style both serve as significant mediators in the relationship between psychological capital and employment expectations, with a chain mediation effect also observed. These findings provide valuable insights into the psychological processes that influence career expectations among vocational undergraduates, highlighting the importance of fostering psychological capital and creating supportive learning environments to improve students' employability. The results offer practical implications for educators and policymakers, suggesting that vocational institutions should integrate strategies to enhance psychological capital, promote educational flow experiences, and support active coping styles to better prepare students for the labor market.
Is Stone Composition Analysis Between 2-stage Stone Surgery Essential?

Huang Z, Zhong J, Zhang G, Chai CA, Ai G, Zeng G, et al.

Urology, 2025 Mar 06.
PMID: 40043958 DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2025.02.042

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes in the stone composition between 2 stages of stone surgery.
METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 600 patients from a single medical center between October 2015 and June 2021. The stones were analyzed using Fourier transformation infrared spectrometer (Bruker, Karlsruhe, Germany). Calculi were classified based on their primary component. Ultimately, a total of 520 patients met the criteria and entered the final analyses. The stone composition between the 2 stages of surgery was compared.
RESULTS: Of the 520 patients, 277 were male and the mean age was 52.9±12.8 years. The average time delay between 2 stone analyses was approximately 33.2 days. One hundred and eighty-six cases (35.8%) had different compositions on the second-stage analyses, with a total of 67 (36.0%) cases transitioning to a totally different type of stones. Forty-one (16.5%) cases initially identified as infection stones changed to non-infection stones and 35 (12.9%) cases transformed from non-infection stones to infected stones.
CONCLUSION: Up to 35.8% of stones underwent changes during the second stone composition analysis, and up to 36.0% of these altered stones had transformed to a totally different type. Conducting stone composition analysis between 2 stages of surgery is essential for the development of follow-up treatment and drug prevention plans.
Fulltext An Adaptive Wake-Up-Interval to Enhance Receiver-Based Ps-Mac Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Adam MS, Por LY, Hussain MR, Khan N, Ang TF, Anisi MH, et al.

Sensors (Basel), 2019 Aug 29;19(17).
PMID: 31470520 DOI: 10.3390/s19173732

Many receiver-based Preamble Sampling Medium Access Control (PS-MAC) protocols have been proposed to provide better performance for variable traffic in a wireless sensor network (WSN). However, most of these protocols cannot prevent the occurrence of incorrect traffic convergence that causes the receiver node to wake-up more frequently than the transmitter node. In this research, a new protocol is proposed to prevent the problem mentioned above. The proposed mechanism has four components, and they are Initial control frame message, traffic estimation function, control frame message, and adaptive function. The initial control frame message is used to initiate the message transmission by the receiver node. The traffic estimation function is proposed to reduce the wake-up frequency of the receiver node by using the proposed traffic status register (TSR), idle listening times (ILTn, ILTk), and "number of wake-up without receiving beacon message" (NWwbm). The control frame message aims to supply the essential information to the receiver node to get the next wake-up-interval (WUI) time for the transmitter node using the proposed adaptive function. The proposed adaptive function is used by the receiver node to calculate the next WUI time of each of the transmitter nodes. Several simulations are conducted based on the benchmark protocols. The outcome of the simulation indicates that the proposed mechanism can prevent the incorrect traffic convergence problem that causes frequent wake-up of the receiver node compared to the transmitter node. Moreover, the simulation results also indicate that the proposed mechanism could reduce energy consumption, produce minor latency, improve the throughput, and produce higher packet delivery ratio compared to other related works.
Enzymatic conversion of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass: A review on influence of structural changes of lignin

Sheng Y, Lam SS, Wu Y, Ge S, Wu J, Cai L, et al.

Bioresour Technol, 2021 Mar;324:124631.
PMID: 33454445 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124631

The demands of energy sustainability drive efforts to bio-chemical conversion of biomass into biofuels through pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and microbial fermentation. Pretreatment leads to significant structural changes of the complex lignin polymer that affect yield and productivity of the enzymatic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Structural changes of lignin after pretreatment include functional groups, inter unit linkages and compositions. These changes influence non-productive adsorption of enzyme on lignin through hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction as well as hydrogen bonding. This paper reviews the relationships between structural changes of lignin and enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass. The formation of pseudo-lignin during dilute acid pretreatment is revealed, and their negative effect on enzymatic hydrolysis is discussed.

Filters

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links