Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Biomed Phys Eng Express 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Chiba, 263-8555, JAPAN.

The spatial resolution of small animal positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can be improved by the use of crystals with fine pitch and rejection of inter-crystal scattering (ICS) events, which leads to a better quantification of radiopharmaceuticals. On the other hand, depth-of-interaction (DOI) information is essential to preserve the spatial resolution at the PET field-of-view (FOV) periphery while keeping the sensitivity. In this study we proposed a novel staggered 3-layer DOI detector using BaSO4 reflector material for an enhanced crystal identification performance as well as ICS event rejection capability over those of ESR reflector based DOI detectors. Read More

Nanotechnology 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Yanshan University, Department of Applied Chemistry, Qinhuangdao, Hebei 066004, Qinhuangdao, CHINA.

Electrochemical catalyst with efficient, stable, inexpensive and energy-storing for oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution, has raised global concerns on energgy calling for high-performance materials for effective treatments. In this paper, a novel amorphous polymetallic doped cerium oxide particles was prepared for electrochemical catalyst via homogeneous phase precipitation at room temperature. Metal ions can be easily embedded into the oxygen vacancies formed by cerium oxide, and the the electron transport capacity of the CeO2/NiFeCo electrocatalyst improved owing to the active sites increased. Read More

Biofabrication 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Harbin Institute of Technology, No. 2 Yikuang Street, Nangang District, Harbin, 150001, CHINA.

In vitro cancer models that can largely mimic the in vivo microenvironment are crucial for conducting more accurate research. Models of three-dimensional (3D) culture that can mimic some aspects of cancer microenvironment or cancer biopsies that can adequately represent tumor heterogeneity are intensely used currently. Those models still lack the dynamic stress stimuli in gastric carcinoma exposed to stomach peristalsis in vivo. Read More

J Neural Eng 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Beijing University of Technology, 100 Pingyuan, Beijing University of Technology, Chaoyang District, Beijing, Beijing, 100022, CHINA.

Objective: Motor imagery electroencephalography (MI-EEG) produces one of the most commonly used biosignals in intelligent rehabilitation systems. The newly developed 3-dimensional convolutional neural network (3DCNN) is gaining increasing attention for its ability to recognize MI tasks. The key to successful identification of movement intention is dependent on whether the data representation can faithfully reflect the cortical activity induced by MI. Read More

Bioinspir Biomim 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

National Cheng Kung University, No.1, University Road, Tainan, 70101, TAIWAN.

Birds fly with complicated wing kinematics, especially during hovering flight. The detailed aerodynamic effect of wings with higher degrees of freedom remains to be further investigated. Therefore, we designed a novel multiarticulate flapping-wing robot with five degrees of freedom on each wing. Read More

Nanotechnology 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Shandong University, Qingdao, 266700, CHINA.

The formation of biofilm is one of the causes of bacterial pathogenicity and drug resistance. Recent studies have reported a variety of anti-biofilm materials and achieved good results. However, it is still very important to develop some materials with wider application scenarios or higher biofilm resistance. Read More

Bioinspir Biomim 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Saint Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Russia, Sankt-Petersburg, 190008, RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

In order to increase the compatibility between underwater robots and the underwater environment and inspired by the coconut octopus's underwater bipedal walking, a method was proposed for bipedal walking for an underwater soft robot based on a spring-loaded inverted pendulum model. Using the characteristics of octopus tentacles rolling on the ground, a wrist arm was designed using the cable-driven method, and an underwater spring-loaded inverted pendulum bipedal walking model was established, which makes an underwater soft robot more suitable for moving on uneven ground. An underwater bipedal walking soft robot based on coconut octopus was then designed, and a machine vision algorithm was used to extract the motion information for analysis. Read More

Neuroimage Clin 2021 Mar 29;30:102651. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address:

An accurate evaluation and detection of awareness after a severe brain injury is crucial to a patient's diagnosis, therapy, and end-of-life decisions. Misdiagnosis is frequent as behavior-based assessments often overlook subtle signs of consciousness. This study aimed to identify brain MRI characteristics of patients with residual consciousness after a severe brain injury and to develop a simple MRI-based scoring system according to the findings. Read More

Bioorg Chem 2021 Mar 24;112:104859. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

EntreChem SL, Vivero Ciencias de la Salud, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, 33011 Oviedo, Spain. Electronic address:

A novel series of enantiopure naphthalimide-cycloalkanediamine conjugates were designed, synthetized and evaluated for in vitro cytotoxicity against human colon adenocarcinoma (LoVo), human lung adenocarcinoma (A549), human cervical carcinoma (Hela) and human promyelocytic leukemia cell lines (HL-60). The cytotoxicity of the compounds was highly dependent on size and relative stereochemistry of the cycloalkyl ring as well as length of the spacer. By contrast, any kind of enantioselection was observed for each pair of enantiomers. Read More

J Clin Virol 2021 Apr 1;138:104817. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany. Electronic address:

Background: Diagnostic assays for severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) that are easy to perform and produce fast results are essential for timely decision making regarding the isolation of contagious individuals.

Objective: We evaluated the CE-approved eazyplex® SARS-CoV-2, a ready-to-use real time RT-LAMP assay for identification of the SARS-CoV-2 N and ORF8 genes from swabs in less than 30 min without RNA extraction.

Study Design: Oropharyngeal and nasal swabs from 100 positive and 50 negative patients were inoculated into 0. Read More

Comput Biol Med 2021 Mar 30;133:104357. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

School of Information and Communication Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610054, China; Laboratory of Imaging Detection and Intelligent Perception, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China. Electronic address:

False positive reduction plays a key role in computer-aided detection systems for pulmonary nodule detection in computed tomography (CT) scans. However, this remains a challenge owing to the heterogeneity and similarity of anisotropic pulmonary nodules. In this study, a novel attention-embedded complementary-stream convolutional neural network (AECS-CNN) is proposed to obtain more representative features of nodules for false positive reduction. Read More

Comput Biol Med 2021 Apr 2;133:104366. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Alliance for Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Innovation, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Background: Recently, an augmented reality (AR) solution allows the physician to place the ablation catheter at the designated lesion site more accurately during cardiac electrophysiology studies. The improvement in navigation accuracy may positively affect ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation termination, however assessment of this in the clinic would be difficult. Novel personalized virtual heart technology enables non-invasive identification of optimal lesion targets for infarct-related VT. Read More

Int J Food Microbiol 2021 Mar 31;347:109193. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Center for Food Safety, University of Georgia, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223, USA.

Current consumer preferences for both clean label food ingredients and convenience-based foods has provided a unique opportunity to explore the application of novel natural food preservatives in sous vide products. The anaerobic environment and relatively low thermal processing of the sous vide process creates a favorable environment for the survival, germination, and outgrowth of spore-forming bacterium Clostridium perfringens. The aim of this study was to identify effective novel natural ingredient formulations against C. Read More

J Environ Manage 2021 Apr 6;289:112525. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

The Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plant of Jiangsu Province, School of Life Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, PR China. Electronic address:

In this study, a novel halotolerant phenol-degrading yeast strain, SDP-1, was isolated from a coastal soil in Jiangsu, China, and identified as Candida tropicalis by morphology and rRNA internal transcribed space region sequence analysis. Strain SDP-1 can efficiently remove phenol at wide ranges of pH (3.0-9. Read More

J Environ Manage 2021 Apr 6;289:112517. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Environmental Engineering Program, Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou, 515063, China. Electronic address:

Ureolytic bacteria can be a promising mediator used for the immobilization of potentially toxic elements via microbially-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) process from biodegradable ions to carbonate form. Electronic waste (E-waste) environment is very complex compared to general metal contaminated soil, however, MICP has not been studied under such an environment. In this study, three bacterial strains were successfully isolated from an E-waste area in Guiyu, China, and indicated to have positive ureolytic behavior with significant heavy metal resistance (specific to Cu and Pb), among which, a strain of Lysinibacillus sp. Read More

Biosens Bioelectron 2021 Apr 2;183:113214. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, PR China. Electronic address:

Light absorption and interfacial engineering of photoactive materials play vital roles in photoexcited electron generation and electron transport, and ultimately boost the performance of photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensing. In this work, a novel high-performance photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensing platform was fabricated based on nonmetallic plasmonic tungsten oxide hydrate nanosheets (WO•HO) coupling with nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) by a facile one-step hydrothermal approach. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties were achieved by oxygen vacancy engineered WO·HO (dWO•HO), which could greatly extend the light absorption from visible light to near-infrared light. Read More

DNA Repair (Amst) 2021 Mar 24;102:103105. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

Molecular Medicine Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Electronic address:

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone malignancy in children and adolescents which has the survival rate of 20% in its advanced stages. Osteosarcomas are mostly resistance to our common treatments. DNA damage response (DDR) is a specialized multistep process containing abundant proteins which are necessary for the survival of any cell and organism. Read More

Bioresour Technol 2021 Mar 27;332:125059. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, Shihezi University, China.

Herein, a series of novel adsorbents derived from glucose, maltose, and starch zinc oxide (ZnO) loaded carbohydrate-based carbon materials (Zn-Cs) were synthesized by a fast and efficient self-propagating combustion synthesis method (SCS). The experimental results show that Zn-Cs exhibits excellent adsorption performance (>375 mg/g) to tetracycline, and the pseudo-second-order model and Freundlich model can better describe the adsorption data. The adsorption capacities of Zn-Cs were over 300 mg/g throughout the wide pH range (6-9), while various coexisting ions in the concentration range of 0-10 mg/L and the presence of humic acid had nearly no impact on the adsorption of tetracycline. Read More

Phys Med 2021 Apr 6;84:33-40. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Department of Radiation Physics, Institute of Clinical Sciences at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Purpose: The high incidence of defective ultrasound transducers in clinical practice has been shown in several studies. Recently, a novel method using only stored images for automatic detection of defective transducers was presented. The method makes it possible to remotely monitor many transducers at the same time and send a notification when a defective transducer is found. Read More

Ultrason Sonochem 2021 Mar 15;73:105529. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90110, Thailand. Electronic address:

Two-stage continuous production process for fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from crude palm oil was performed using the rotor-stator hydrocavitation reactor. The novel ABS filament printed rotor having spherical holes on the surface of the rotor which is an efficient, fast and cost-effective procedure, was installed in the stainless steel stator of hydrosonic reactor. The 3D printed hydrosonic reactor was used to treat the FFA-rich in MCPO by esterification and followed by transesterification to produce the methyl ester. Read More

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces 2021 Mar 26;203:111729. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Department of Chemistry, Amity Institute of Applied Sciences, Amity University Kolkata, Major Arterial Road, Action Area II, Kadampukur Village, Rajarhat, Newtown, West Bengal, 700135, India. Electronic address:

Biofilm formation on medical implants and devices has been a severe concern that results in their impaired performance and life-threatening complications. Thus, development of novel functional coatings for infection prone surfaces with biofilm inhibiting characteristics is of prime significance considering the rapid emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria. Herein we present a novel nanocomposite derived from Graphene Oxide (GO) and a newly developed functional Ionic liquid (IL) obtained through a metathesis reaction between a triarylmethane dye hexamethyl pararosaniline chloride or crystal violet (CV) and sodium dodeceyl sulfate (SDS) to yield [CV][DS] (hexamethyl pararosaniline dodecyl sulfate). Read More

Food Chem 2021 Mar 29;356:129722. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

School of Chemistry, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, China.

Rutin (RT), a widely distributed natural flavonoid compound, has been generally utilized as an important active ingredient owing to its considerable biomedical and economic value. Inspired by the structure features of densely-packed bayberry and well-orientated honeycomb, a novel type of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (HB-TI-MMIPs) with abundant high-affinity and uniformly-distributed binding sites was rationally constructed for the selective enrichment of RT from Sophora japonica. The polymerization conditions, physicochemical properties, and adsorption performance of the imprinted nanomaterials were systematically investigated. Read More

Mol Immunol 2021 Apr 6;134:236-246. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

The State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Department of Prosthodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Sichuan, People's Republic of China. Electronic address:

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common inflammatory arthropathy, with evidence pointing to an immune-mediated etiology that propagates chronic inflammation. Although targeted immune therapeutics and aggressive treatment strategies have substantially improved, a complete understanding of the associated pathological mechanisms of the disease remains elusive. This study aimed at investigating whether regulator of G protein signaling 10 (RGS10) could affect rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathology by regulating the immune response. Read More

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021 Apr 6;556:9-15. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Division of Pharmaceutical Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan. Electronic address:

Lysosome-associated protein transmembrane 4α (LAPTM4α) is a four transmembrane-spanning protein primarily localized in endosomes and lysosomes and has several putative lysosomal targeting signals at its C-terminal cytoplasmic domain, including tyrosine-based motifs (YxxΦ) and PY motifs (L/PxxY). LAPTM4α has been previously shown to be ubiquitinated by the E3 ubiquitin ligase Nedd4-1 through binding to its PY motifs and sorted to lysosomes, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the localization of LAPTM4α to endosomes/lysosomes have not yet been fully elucidated. In the present study, we show that LAPTM4α binds Nedd4-1 in a manner dependent on PY motifs, while the PY motifs and Nedd4-1 are not necessarily required for LAPTM4α ubiquitination. Read More

Eur J Radiol 2021 Mar 27;139:109683. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

Depatment of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, NO.2 Fuxue Rd, Wenzhou, 325000, China. Electronic address:

Objective: We aimed to investigate the risk factors of invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma, especially to report and validate the use of our newly identified arc concave sign in predicting invasiveness of pure ground-glass nodules (pGGNs).

Methods: From January 2015 to August 2018, we retrospectively enrolled 302 patients with 306 pGGNs ≤ 20 mm pathologically confirmed (141 preinvasive lesions and 165 invasive lesions). Arc concave sign was defined as smooth and sunken part of the edge of the lesion on thin-section computed tomography (TSCT). Read More

J Reprod Immunol 2021 Mar 24;145:103314. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

Departamento de Obstetrícia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Rua Pedro de Toledo 669, 9 andar - 04939032, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:

In indicated preterm births such a Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM), little is known about the role of the amnion membranes. Investigating the role of amnion membrane inflammation in response GDM may suggest novel pathophysiologic mechanisms. We hypothesize that increased GDM inflammatory mediators may weaken the amnion membrane predisposing them to infection. Read More

Transplant Cell Ther 2021 Apr 6. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA.

Background: Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) commonly occurs after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) despite standard prophylactic immune suppression. Intensified universal prophylaxis approaches are effective but risk possible over-treatment and may interfere with the graft-vs-malignancy immune response.

Objectives: We summarize conceptual and practical considerations regarding preemptive therapy of chronic GVHD, namely interventions applied after HCT based on evidence that the risk of developing chronic GVHD is higher than previously appreciated. Read More

Transplant Cell Ther 2021 Apr 6. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA. Electronic address:

Background: Patients undergoing allogeneic HCT are at risk for high morbidity and mortality. Advance directives (AD) allow patients to express wishes regarding their care at the end of life, but these are not completed in the majority of patients undergoing HCT, with only 44% of deceased allogeneic HCT recipients at this institution completing an AD in the past decade. Increasing AD completion rate can improve quality of care for allogeneic HCT recipients. Read More

Bone 2021 Apr 6:115945. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Division of Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address:

Medication related osteonecrosis of the Jaws (MRONJ) is a severe complication of antiresorptive and anti-angiogenic medications. Osteoclast inhibition is central in MRONJ pathogenesis. Here, we investigated if local application of RANKL (a key molecule in osteoclast activation) could enhance osteoclast generation and improve extraction socket healing in the presence of bisphosphonates. Read More

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 2021 Feb 23;118:104409. Epub 2021 Feb 23.

Biomechanics Research Centre (BioMEC), Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland. Electronic address:

This study presents a systematic evaluation of the physical, thermal and mechanical performance of medical-grade semi-crystalline PLLA undergoing thermally-accelerated degradation. Samples were immersed in phosphate-buffered saline solution at 50 °C for 112 days and mass loss, molecular weight, thermal properties, degree of crystallinity, FTIR and Raman spectra, tensile elastic modulus, yield stress and failure stress/strain were evaluated at consecutive time points. Samples showed a consistent reduction in molecular weight and melting temperature, a consistent increase in percent crystallinity and limited changes in glass transition temperature and mass loss. Read More