Molecular design revitalizes the low-cost PTV-polymer for highly efficient organic solar cells

Developing photovoltaic materials with simple chemical structures and easy synthesis still remains a major challenge in the industrialization process of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, an ester substituted poly(thiophene vinylene) derivative, PTVT-T, was designed and synthesized in very few steps by adopting commercially available raw materials. The ester groups on the thiophene units enable PTVT-T to have a planar and stable conformation. Moreover, PTVT-T presents a wide absorption band and strong aggregation effect in solution, which are the key characteristics needed to realize high performance in non-fullerene-acceptor (NFA)-based OSCs. We then prepared OSCs by blending PTVT-T with three representative fullerene- and NF-based acceptors, PC₇₁BM, IT-4F and BTP-eC9. It was found that PTVT-T can work well with all the acceptors, showing great potential to match new emerging NFAs. Particularly, a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 16.20% is achieved in a PTVT-T:BTP-eC9-based device, which is the highest value among the counterparts based on PTV derivatives. This work demonstrates that PTVT-T shows great potential for the future commercialization of OSCs.     

Acute effects of different warm-up protocols on highly skilled golfers’ drive performance

Previous research has highlighted the positive effect that different warm-up protocols have on golf performance (e.g. Sorbie et al., 2016; Tilley & Macfarlane, 2012) with the design of warm-ups and programmes targeting and improving golf performance through the activation and development of specific muscle groups. This study aimed to examine the acute effects of two warm-up protocols on golf drive performance in comparison to a control condition. Using a randomised counterbalanced design over three testing sessions, twenty-three highly skilled golfers completed the control, dynamic and resistance-band warm-up conditions. Following each condition, a GC2 launch monitor was used to record ball velocity and other launch parameters of ten shots hit with the participants’ own driver. A repeated-measures ANOVA found significant increases in ball velocity (η_p² = .217) between the control and both the dynamic and resistance-band warm-up conditions but no difference between these latter two, and a reduction in launch angle between control and dynamic conditions. The use of either a dynamic stretching or resistance-band warm-up can have acute benefits on ball velocity but golfers should liaise with a PGA Professional golf coach to effectively integrate this into their golf driving performance.     

The load-velocity profile differs more between men and women than between individuals with different strength levels

This study aimed to determine the suitability of the load-velocity relationship to prescribe the relative load (%1RM) in women, as well as to compare the load-velocity profile between sexes and participants with different strength levels. The load-velocity relationship of 14 men (1RM: 1.17 ± 0.19) and 14 women (1RM: 0.66 ± 0.13) were evaluated in the bench press exercise. The main findings revealed that: (I) the load-velocity relationship was always strong and linear (R² range: 0.987–0.993), (II) a steeper load-velocity profile was observed in men compared to women (Effect size [ES]: 1.09), with men showing higher velocities for light loads (ES: ? 0.81 and ? 0.40 for the y-intercept and 30%1RM, respectively), but women reporting higher velocities for the heavy loads (ES: 1.14 and 1.50 at 90%1RM and 100%1RM, respectively); and (III) while the slope of the load-velocity profile was moderately steeper for weak men compared to their strong counterpart (ES: 1.02), small differences were observed between strong and weak women (ES: ? 0.39). While these results support the use of the individual load-velocity relationship to prescribe the %1RM in the bench press exercise for women, they also highlight the large disparities in their load-velocity profile compared to men.     

不同抗阻训练方案对T淋巴细胞亚群迁移和凋亡的影响*

研究旨在探讨一次不同抗阻训练方案对外周血CD4＋和CD8＋T淋巴细胞亚群迁移和凋亡的影响。通过实验法15名无训练经历的健康青年男性分别进行一次以促进肌肉肥大（H-RT组,方案：70%1RM,10RM,3组,组间间歇1.5 min）和以改善肌肉耐力（E-RT组,方案：60%1RM,15RM,3组,组间间歇1 min）为目的的抗阻训练方案。并于训练前、训练后即刻、训练后2 h和24 h利用流式细胞仪测定表面标志物CX3CR1和annexin V表达量检测CD4＋、CD8＋T淋巴细胞亚群迁移和凋亡（用阳性表达率表示）。得出以下数据：（1）CD4＋T细胞在H-RT组运动后即刻和运动后24 h,annexin V和CX3CR1阳性表达率显著性升高（P<0.05）。E-RT组annexin V阳性表达率在运动后即刻降低（P<0.05）,24 h显著性升高（P<0.05）;CX3CR1阳性表达率仅在运动后即刻升高（P<0.05）。（2）CD8＋T细胞在H-RT组和E-RT组运动后即刻和运动后24 h,annexin V和CX3CR1阳性表达率均显著性升高（P<0.05）。通过对以上数据的分析,研究得出以下结论：CD4＋T淋巴细胞亚群对于急性抗阻训练的免疫反应存在运动方案依赖性。     

Injectable hybrid inorganic nanoscaffold as rapid stem cell assembly template for cartilage repair

Cartilage injuries are often devastating and most cannot be cured because of the intrinsically low regenerative capacity of cartilage tissues. Although stem-cell therapy has shown enormous potential for cartilage repair, the therapeutic outcome has been restricted by low survival rates and poor chondrocyte differentiation in vivo. Here, we report an injectable hybrid inorganic (IHI) nanoscaffold that facilitates fast assembly, enhances survival and regulates chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells. IHI nanoscaffolds that strongly bind to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins assemble stem cells through synergistic 3D cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions, creating a favorable physical microenvironment for stem-cell survival and differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, chondrogenic factors can be loaded into nanoscaffolds with a high capacity, which allows deep, homogenous drug delivery into assembled 3D stem-cell-derived tissues for effective control over the soluble microenvironment of stem cells. The developed IHI nanoscaffolds that assemble with stem cells are injectable. They also scavenge reactive oxygen species and timely biodegrade for proper integration into injured cartilage tissues. Implantation of stem-cell-assembled IHI nanoscaffolds into injured cartilage results in accelerated tissue regeneration and functional recovery. By establishing our IHI nanoscaffold-templated 3D stem-cell assembly method, we provide a promising approach to better overcoming the inhibitory microenvironment associated with cartilage injuries and to advance current stem-cell-based tissue engineering.     

运动对GLUT4影响的研究进展

葡萄糖跨膜转运是机体利用葡萄糖的首要步骤。葡萄糖载体(GLUT)是细胞膜上介导葡萄糖跨膜转运的蛋白质,它们对机体的葡萄糖利用有重要意义。运动可有效增加外周组织(主要为骨骼肌和脂肪组织)细胞膜葡萄糖载体4(GLUT4)的数量,使细胞内GLUT4的囊泡数量增多,GLUT4mRNA的表达增强,有效地加快血糖的转移、吸收和利用,解除外周组织胰岛素抵抗,调节血糖平衡,对糖尿病人的治疗有积极的作用和意义。     

Physical Inactivity,Obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes: An Evolutionary Perspective

Physical inactivity (and unhealthy nutrition) has distorted body composition and, in turn, reordered the proportions of myocyte and adipocyte insulin receptors. Insulin acting on adipocyte receptors produces less glucose uptake than does comparable interaction with myocyte receptors. Accordingly, in individuals with disproportionate muscle/fat composition, any given glucose load requires greater-than-normal pancreatic insulin secretion for adequate disposal. This hyperinsulinemia then becomes the leading cause of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) as insulin-sensitive tissues become desensitized. Because T2DM is rooted in potentially reversible lifestyle factors, rather than focusing on the intricacies of glucoregulation at the molecular level and on testing new drugs to control blood sugar, this article calls for a new prevention and treatment paradigm, in which exercise and weight control are essential and for which an inexpensive and acceptably accurate measure of body muscle and fat proportions is needed.     

全身振动介入抗阻力训练对能量消耗的影响研究

探讨全身性振动介入抗阻力训练对能量消耗的影响,为体重控制及健身减肥者制定有效的运动处方提供依据。方法：以我院体育教育专业健康男性为对象,利用气体代谢分析仪及心率表对"振动介入+抗阻力训练"（实验组,Resistance exercise+Vibration,REV）及单纯"抗阻力训练"（对照组,Resistance exercise, RE）模式下的摄氧及能量消耗等指标进行监测,并运用SPSS17.0对相关指标进行统计分析。结果：1）REV组在训练中及训练后0-25分、25-50分的总每分钟能量消耗及每分钟最大摄氧显著高于RE组;2）抗阻力训练结束后相当长的时间内以脂肪消耗供能为主,表现为REV组脂肪供能比例明显高于RE组;3）抗阻力训练能显著提升训练中呼吸交换率及换气量,表现为REV组提升率高于RE组。结论：全身性振动介入抗阻力训练可比单纯抗阻力增加更多能量消耗,且在训练后恢复期能提升脂肪供能比例,故控体重运动员及健身减肥者将振动作为辅助训练手段是非常有效的。     

The power of circulation: digital technologies and the online Chinese fans of Japanese TV drama

Focusing on the online Chinese fans of Japanese TV drama, this paper explores the way in which the fan subculture, in connection with digital technologies, has carved out alternative practices in the circulation, production and consumption of Japanese TV drama. As ‘minority audiences’ who are not targeted as the objects of capitalist interests, online Chinese fans invent spaces for Chinese transnational networking with self‐help and sharing, as a way of resisting the aloofness from marketing strategies of Japanese TV distributors in Asia. This case study reveals that the online Chinese fan clubs, the websites for downloads, pirated VCD markets, digital file conversion, and private VCD burning – all of these have linked endless networks for the digitalized circulation and consumption of Japanese TV drama. The online Chinese fans are guerrilla fighters in the politics of autonomy, network and low‐cost digital technology; they are attempting to break down time–space constraints and the official distribution hierarchy. Such fan practices shed light on the new trends of audio‐visual consumption via digitalization.     

The ‘Non‐dit’ in the Zenana: representations of Muslim women in Islamic canonical texts,the neo‐colonial imagination and a feminist response from Bangladesh

Abstract

This essay recognizes that representations of the ‘Muslim woman’ as the Othered ‘object’ of the ‘Western’ gaze and the domesticated ‘object’ which the Islamic apologists strive hard to defend, are both constructions and false antitheses of each other. It seeks not the ‘truth’ regarding the Muslim women in the world of social reality but to examine how various representations of the women are constructed and to what effects and consequences these representations are mobilized. The essay proceeds in three stages. The first stage shows how the patriarchy mobilizes the Qur’an and the Hadith in order to construct the woman as the negative, the inessential and the abnormal of the man so as to exert complete subordination over her. However, the very act of attempting to mute the woman in Islam is the most strident proof that she is engaged in resistance against patriarchal control and the degree of resistance must be judged by the degree of patriarchal control. The second stage demonstrates how patriarchy operates in colonial and neo‐imperial landscape: it legitimizes the appropriation of Muslim woman ‘possessed’ by the Other (as exemplified by the orientalist seduction fantasy in William Dalrymple’s The White Mughals), but, haunted by the fear of rape and anxieties regarding the sexuality of the White woman possessed by the Self, it attempts to maintain strict control over her (as in the cases of Miss Wheeler in the ‘Mutiny’ of 1857 and Private Jessica Lynch in the Iraq War). This struggle over the feminine body is perfectly in line with Islam’s hyper‐anxiousness to hide the female body and rigorously ensure monopolic possession over her. The third stage shows how Taslima Nasreen, a late‐20th century feminist from Bangladesh, speaks the unspoken and thereby attempts to subvert the normative representation of the muted women in her autobiographical novella, entitled āmār Meyebelā. In thus examining the representations of the Muslim women, this essay seeks an alternative ‘third space of enunciation’ and takes a distinct political stand located outside of the axis of the dichotomy of the ‘Western’ gaze and the construction of the Islamic theologians.