Comparation of effectiveness of silicone hydrogel contact lens and hydrogel contact lens in patients after LASEK

AIM

To conduct a comparative study of effectiveness of silicone hydrogel contact lens and hydrogel contact lens, which are used in patients after laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis (LASEK).

METHODS

Sixty-three patients (121 eyes) with a spherical equivalent ≤-5.0 D were chosen after undergoing LASEK in 2012 at Guangdong General Hospital. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. The silicone hydrogel group included 32 cases (61 eyes) that wore silicone hydrogel contact lenses for 4-6d after the operation, while the hydrogel group included 31 cases (60 eyes) who wore hydrogel contact lenses for 4-6d after the operation. Patients' self-reported postoperative symptoms (including pain, photophobia, tears, and foreign body sensation) were evaluated. The healing time of the corneal epithelium, the visual acuity of patients without contact lens after epithelial healing, and the incidence of delayed corneal epithelial shedding were also assessed. The follow-up time was 1mo.

RESULTS

Postoperative symptoms were milder in the silicone hydrogel group than in the hydrogel group. There were significant differences in pain, foreign body sensation, and photophobia between the 2 groups (P<0.05), although there was no significant difference in postoperative tearing (P>0.05). The healing time of the corneal epithelium in the silicone hydrogel lens group was markedly shorter than that in the hydrogel group (4.07±0.25 vs 4.33±0.82d, t=2.43, P=0.02). Visual acuity without contact lenses after healing of the corneal epithelium was better in the silicone hydrogel group compared with the hydrogel group (χ (2)=7.76, P=0.02). There was no significant difference in the occurrence of delayed corneal epithelial shedding between the 2 groups (P>0.05).

CONCLUSION

Patients with LASEK using silicon hydrogel contact lenses had less discomfort and shorter corneal epithelial healing time compared with those using hydrogel contact lenses, suggesting that silicon hydrogel contact lenses may be considered to be a better choice of bandage contact lens after LASEK.

Observation of Transverse Spin-Dependent Azimuthal Correlations of Charged Pion Pairs in p^{↑}+p at sqrt[s]=200 GeV

We report the observation of transverse polarization-dependent azimuthal correlations in charged pion pair production with the STAR experiment in p^{↑}+p collisions at RHIC. These correlations directly probe quark transversity distributions. We measure signals in excess of 5 standard deviations at high transverse momenta, at high pseudorapidities η>0.5, and for pair masses around the mass of the ρ meson. This is the first direct transversity measurement in p+p collisions.

Azimuthal Anisotropy in U+U and Au+Au Collisions at RHIC

Collisions between prolate uranium nuclei are used to study how particle production and azimuthal anisotropies depend on initial geometry in heavy-ion collisions. We report the two- and four-particle cumulants, v_{2}{2} and v_{2}{4}, for charged hadrons from U+U collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV and Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV. Nearly fully overlapping collisions are selected based on the energy deposited by spectators in zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs). Within this sample, the observed dependence of v_{2}{2} on multiplicity demonstrates that ZDC information combined with multiplicity can preferentially select different overlap configurations in U+U collisions. We also show that v_{2} vs multiplicity can be better described by models, such as gluon saturation or quark participant models, that eliminate the dependence of the multiplicity on the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions.

Precision Measurement of the Longitudinal Double-Spin Asymmetry for Inclusive Jet Production in Polarized Proton Collisions at sqrt[s]=200 GeV

We report a new measurement of the midrapidity inclusive jet longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, A_{LL}, in polarized pp collisions at center-of-mass energy sqrt[s]=200  GeV. The STAR data place stringent constraints on polarized parton distribution functions extracted at next-to-leading order from global analyses of inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (DIS), semi-inclusive DIS, and RHIC pp data. The measured asymmetries provide evidence at the 3σ level for positive gluon polarization in the Bjorken-x region x>0.05.

In silico analysis of gene content in tomato genomic regions mapped to the Ty-2 resistance gene

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus is one of the main diseases affecting tomato production worldwide. Previous studies have shown that Ty-2 is an important resistance gene located between molecular markers C2_At2g28250 (82.3 cM) and T0302 (89.0 cM), and exhibits strong resistance to tomato yellow leaf curl virus in Asia. In this study, Ty-2 candidate genes were subjected to bioinformatic analysis for the sequenced tomato genome. We identified 69 genes between molecular markers C2_At2g28250 and T0302, 22 of which were disease-related resistant genes, including nucleotide binding site-leucine-rich repeat disease resistance genes, protease genes (protein kinase, kinase receptor, and protein isomerase), cytochromes, and transcription factors. Expressed sequence tag analysis revealed that 77.3% (17/22) of candidate disease-resistance genes were expressed, involving 143 expressed sequence tags. Based on full-length cDNA sequence analysis, 7 candidate genes were found, 4 of which were involved in tomato responses to pathogens. Microarray expression analysis also showed that most candidate genes were involved in the tomato responses to multiple pathogens, including fungi, viruses, and bacteria. RNA-seq expression analysis revealed that all candidate genes participated in tomato growth and development.

From Nanofibrillar to Nanolaminar Poly(butylene succinate): Paving the Way to Robust Barrier and Mechanical Properties for Full-Biodegradable Poly(lactic acid) Films

The traditional approach toward barrier property enhancement of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is the incorporation of sheet-like fillers such as nanoclay and graphene, unfortunately leading to the sacrificed biocompatibility and degradability. Here we unveil the first application of a confined flaking technique to establish the degradable nanolaminar poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) in PLA films based on PLA/PBS in situ nanofibrillar composites. The combination of high pressure (10 MPa) and appropriate temperature (160 °C) during the flaking process desirably enabled sufficient deformation of PBS nanofibrils and retention of ordered PLA channels. Particularly, interlinked and individual nanosheets were created in composite films containing 10 and 20 wt % PBS, respectively, both of which presented desirable alignment and large width/thickness ratio (nanoscale thickness with a width of 428±13.1 and 76.9±8.2 μm, respectively). With the creation of compact polymer "nano-barrier walls", a dramatic decrease of 86% and 67% in the oxygen permeability coefficient was observed for the film incorporated with well-organized 20 wt % PBS nanosheets compared to pure PLA and pure PBS (1.4 and 0.6×10(-14) cm3·cm·cm(-2)·s(-1)·Pa(-1)), respectively. Unexpectedly, prominent increases of 21% and 28% were achieved in the tensile strength and modulus of composite films loaded 20 wt % PBS nanosheets compared to pure PLA films, although PBS intrinsically presents poor strength and stiffness. The unusual combination of barrier and mechanical performances established in the fully degradable system represent specific properties required in packaging beverages, food and medicine.

Nucleation ability of thermally reduced graphene oxide for polylactide: role of size and structural integrity

Following our previous work on graphene oxide-induced polylactide (PLA) crystallization [Macromolecules 2010, 43, 5000-5008], in the current work, we further revealed the role of size and structural integrity of thermally reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in PLA crystallization. RGO nanoplatelets with different architectures were obtained via bath and probe ultrasound (RGOw and RGOp). The average size of RGO decreased substantially with ultrasound intensity and time, where the generation of RGO edges constituted the translocation of functional group sites from in-plane to edges. The formation of sp(3)-configuration dominated in RGOw, whereas the partial recovery of sp(2)-configuration occurred in RGOp, giving rise to either the escalation of sp(3)/sp(2) ratio for RGOw or retrogradation of that for RGOp. Isothermal crystallization kinetics of PLA nanocomposites containing RGOw and RGOp was determined by in situ synchrotron wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The induction period and overall crystallization rate of PLA/RGOw nanocomposites were strengthened with diminishing platelet size because of more nucleation sites encouraged by redistribution of functional groups. However, the adverse situation was found in PLA/RGOp nanocomposites. The observed phenomenon was ascribed to the disruption of the internal structure, i.e., the C═C sp(2) π-bond network, which deteriorated the CH-π interaction between PLA and RGO. These results conclusively suggested that the size and structural integrity of RGO had a concerted effort to determine the final nucleation ability of RGO dispersed by ultrasound.

Assessment of the genetic diversity of tomato yellow leaf curl virus

The objective of the present study was to analyze the genetic diversity of tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). Representative TYLCV sequences were searched in the National Center for Biotechnology Information database. Comprehensive analysis of TYLCV was performed using bioinformatics by examining gene structure, sequence alignments, phylogeny, GC content, and homology. Forty-eight representative TYLCV sequences were selected from 48 regions in 29 countries. The results showed that all TYLCV sequences were 2752-2794 nucleotides in length, which encoded 6 open reading frames (AV1, AV2, AC1, AC2, AC3, and AC4). GC content ranged from 0.41-0.42. Sequence alignment showed a number of insertions and deletions within these TYLCV sequences. Phylogenetic tree results revealed that the sequences were divided into 10 classes; homology of the sequences ranged from 72.8 to 98.6%. All 48 sequences contained the typical structure of TYLCV, including open reading frames and intergenic regions. These results provide a theoretical basis for the identification and evolution of the virus in the future.

ΛΛ Correlation function in Au+Au collisions at √[S(NN)]=200 GeV

We present ΛΛ correlation measurements in heavy-ion collisions for Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV using the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider. The Lednický-Lyuboshitz analytical model has been used to fit the data to obtain a source size, a scattering length and an effective range. Implications of the measurement of the ΛΛ correlation function and interaction parameters for dihyperon searches are discussed.

Unexpected shear dependence of pressure-induced γ-crystals in isotactic polypropylene

Flow and pressure frequently coexist in practical polymer processing operations, but their combined influence on the microstructure of polymer parts has received very limited attention in the academic community.

Morphology and film performance of phthalate-free plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) composite particles via the graft copolymerization of acrylate swelling flower-like latex particles

Polyacrylate plasticized PVC composite particles without toxicity and migration were synthesized via a multistage seeded emulsion polymerization of BA swelling nonspherical PBA/PVC latex particles with a flower-like shell.

Effect of different morphologies on slow crack growth of high-density polyethylene

We made different morphologies of HDPE using OSIM to increase the resistance to SCG.

Annealing regulates the performance of an electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) membrane to accommodate tissue engineering

The profound effect of annealing on the electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) scaffold is comprehensively investigated for the first time.

Injection-molded hydroxyapatite/polyethylene bone-analogue biocomposites via structure manipulation

By means of an OSIM technique, anisotropic biomimetic, high-performance HA/HDPE biocomposites were obtained.

Facile, green and affordable strategy for structuring natural graphite/polymer composite with efficient electromagnetic interference shielding

The mechanical mixing and hot compaction method was firstly used to fabricate graphite/polymer segregated composite for efficient electromagnetic interference shielding.