Southwest University

About: Southwest University is a education organization based out in Chongqing, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Gene & Population. The organization has 29772 authors who have published 27755 publications receiving 409441 citations. The organization is also known as: Southwest University in Chongqing & SWU.

A wearable, cotton thread/paper-based microfluidic device coupled with smartphone for sweat glucose sensing

Abstract: Development of wearable devices for in situ monitoring biological analytes in sweat has been fueled up in the past few years. Although microfluidic thread/paper-based analytical device (μTPAD) fulfills the requirements of wearable systems on flexibility and biocompatibility, it has not been employed as a sensing system for the in situ sweat analysis. In this work, we developed a wearable μTPAD containing a cotton thread and a functionalized filter paper for non-invasive, quantitative and in situ monitoring of human sweat glucose with the assistance of a smartphone. The oxygen plasma was applied to tailor the wicking property of the cotton thread. Amounts of enzymes and reagents on the filter papers were optimized to achieve the high-performance colorimetric sensing of glucose. The as-prepared device possesses a dynamic range of 50–250 μΜ and a detection limit of ~ 35 μΜ. Because of its great wearability and compatibility with conventional textile industry, the μTPAD was integrated with an arm guard to sensitively detect glucose in human sweat. This work may provide a low-cost, easy to use wearable device based on the cotton thread and filter paper for human sweat analysis.

Hemodynamic response function (HRF) variability confounds resting‐state fMRI functional connectivity

Abstract: Purpose fMRI is the convolution of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) and unmeasured neural activity. HRF variability (HRFv) across the brain could, in principle, alter functional connectivity (FC) estimates from resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI). Given that HRFv is driven by both neural and non-neural factors, it is problematic when it confounds FC. However, this aspect has remained largely unexplored even though FC studies have grown exponentially. We hypothesized that HRFv confounds FC estimates in the brain's default-mode-network. Methods We tested this hypothesis using both simulations (where the ground truth is known and modulated) as well as rs-fMRI data obtained in a 7T MRI scanner (N = 47, healthy). FC was obtained using 2 pipelines: data with hemodynamic deconvolution (DC) to estimate the HRF and minimize HRFv, and data with no deconvolution (NDC, HRFv-ignored). DC and NDC FC networks were compared, along with regional HRF differences, revealing potential false connectivities that resulted from HRFv. Results We found evidence supporting our hypothesis using both simulations and experimental data. With simulations, we found that HRFv could cause a change of up to 50% in FC. With rs-fMRI, several potential false connectivities attributable to HRFv, with majority connections being between different lobes, were identified. We found a double exponential relationship between the magnitude of HRFv and its impact on FC, with a mean/median error of 30.5/11.5% caused in FC by HRF confounds. Conclusion HRFv, if ignored, could cause identification of false FC. FC findings from HRFv-ignored data should be interpreted cautiously. We suggest deconvolution to minimize HRFv.

Highly anticorrosion, self-cleaning superhydrophobic Ni–Co surface fabricated on AZ91D magnesium alloy

Abstract: A highly anticorrosion and self-cleaning superhydrophobic surface with hierarchical flowerlike structures fabricated on AZ91D magnesium alloy is reported in this work. The hierarchical micro/nanostructures were created through electrodeposition of Ni–Co alloy coating. Followed by modification of stearic acid, a superhydrophobic surface with a water contact angle as high as 167.3 ± 1.3° and an ultra-low sliding angle of about 1° was achieved. The anticorrosion performance of the superhydrophobic surface was studied by using a combination of potentiodynamic polarization and EIS in neutral 3.5 wt.% NaCl solutions. The superhydrophobic surface can present an excellent anticorrosion effect with the inhibition efficiency of 99.99% to the bare magnesium alloy and its corrosion rate being 0.06% of that of bare magnesium alloy. The resulting superhydrophobic surface showed excellent superhydrophobicity in a wide range of pH values from 1 to 14. Besides, the as-prepared superhydrophobic surface possessed good chemical stability and self-cleaning effect. It's believed that the highly anticorrosion and self-cleaning superhydrophobic surface can efficiently protect magnesium alloy from corrosion and expand its application scope.