Kefir peptides attenuate atherosclerotic vascular calcification and osteoporosis in atherogenic diet-fed knockout mice.

Vascular calcification (VC) and osteoporosis were previously considered two distinct diseases. However, current understanding indicates that they share common pathogenetic mechanisms. The available medicines for treating VC and osteoporosis are limited.

Design and experimental demonstration of a beam scanning lens antenna.

A beam scanning antenna based on an all-metal lens is presented for high-power microwave (HPM) application in this paper. This design includes a feed antenna and two layers of different all-metal lenses, whose prototypes operating at 14.25 GHz have been successfully designed and fabricated with an aperture radius of 300 mm.

A dielectric embedded reflectarray for high-power microwave application.

To solve the problem of the large axial size of high-power microwave (HPM) reflectarray antenna and difficulty in vacuum packaging, a dielectric is introduced in the design of the antenna element. On this basis, a dielectric embedded metasurface reflectarray antenna (DEMRA) with high power handling capacity and wide-range beam scanning capability is proposed and fabricated. Compared with traditional HPM antennas, the DEMRA does not need to be sealed and can work directly in open-air conditions.

A compact high-power microwave TM-TE mode converter.

In circular waveguides, the TE mode has the lowest transmission loss, which is very suitable for long-distance transmission of high-power microwaves (HPMs). The output mode of HPM sources is mainly the TM mode; however, there are few research studies on mode converters of TM-TE. In this paper, a high efficiency HPM TM-TE mode converter is designed; compared with the traditional TM-TE mode converters, the structure of the mode converter is compact and easier to process.

A double-layer wideband radial-line waveguide power divider/combiner for high-power microwave application.

A compact double-layer wideband 1:60 power divider/combiner based on a radial-line waveguide is designed and investigated for high-power microwave (HPM) applications. Compared with other HPM radial-line power dividers, the proposed power divider is smaller and more compact. The power divider is miniaturized by the double-layer method, and the wideband characteristic is realized by a specially designed wavy disk.

A novel high-power waveguide phase shifter with continuous linear phase adjustment.

A novel all-metal phase shifter with continuous linear phase adjustment for high-power microwave applications is presented and tested in this paper. The phase adjustment is achieved through the rotation of a phase reverser for a circularly polarized wave, and the output phase accomplishes a phase adjustment range of 360° by rotating the phase reverser for 180°. Due to the symmetrical characteristics, its position after rotating 180° is the same as the initial position, which can achieve continuous phase adjustment and avoid phase mutation.

The Prevalence of Anticholinergic Drugs and Correlation with Pneumonia in Elderly Patients: A Population-Based Study in Taiwan.

Anticholinergic drugs may increase the risk of serious respiratory infection, especially in the elderly. The study aims to investigate the prevalence of anticholinergic drugs and the correlation of incident pneumonia associated with the use of anticholinergic drugs among the elderly in Taiwan. The study population was 275,005 elderly patients aged ≥65 years old, selected from the longitudinal health insurance database (LHID) in 2016.

An aperture coupled microstrip antenna array for high power microwave application.

A three-layer aperture coupled microstrip antenna array (ACMA) is designed and fabricated for wideband high-power microwave (HPM) application, which has not been reported in the field of HPM. In this paper, the proposed antenna array overcomes the disadvantage of low power capacity of traditional microstrip antenna arrays. Moreover, based on the H-shaped aperture coupled structure, it enhances the relative bandwidth up to more than 50%.

Designs and experiments of a novel compact E-shaped wideband planar antenna array for high-power microwave application.

A novel compact E-shaped wideband planar antenna array (CEWPA) is designed and fabricated for high-power microwave (HPM) application. The CEWPA is a kind of planar antenna and it has a lot of advantages such as low profile, wideband, high efficiency, easy to manufacture, and light weight. Compared with traditional planar antenna arrays, it overcomes the disadvantage of low power capacity through special metal structure designs.

Tailoring pigment dispersants with polyisobutylene twin-tail structures for electrowetting display application.

We have designed a class of highly hydrophobic dispersants for finely dispersing carbon black and organic pigment nanoparticles in apolar mediums. The synthesis involved the use of polyisobutylene-g-succinic anhydride (PIB-SA) and judiciously selected amines by amidation and imidation. The structures were characterized by infrared spectroscopy for anhydride functionalities in the starting materials and amide/imide linkages in the products.

First fabrication of electrowetting display by using pigment-in-oil driving pixels.

We report the first fabrication of pigment particle-based electrowetting display (EWD) by using the requisite poly(isobutylene)-imide (PIB-imide) for effectively dispersing insoluble colorant in decane/water system. The series of PIB-imide dispersants were prepared from the amidation/imidation of PIB-succinic anhydride with different hydrophobic lengths and a suitable amine. The structurally tailored dispersants by adopting the highly hydrophobic PIB tails allows the formation of homogeneous dispersion of nanosized pigment particles in decane and clearly separated from water.

Effects of the transparent cathode on the performance of a relativistic magnetron with axial radiation.

Experimental investigation of the transparent cathode used in a relativistic magnetron with axial radiation is reported in this paper. The transparent cathode is composed of six separate stalks with the diameter of 6 mm. Under the working condition of 549 kV and ∼0.

Magnetically directed self-assembly of electrospun superparamagnetic fibrous bundles to form three-dimensional tissues with a highly ordered architecture.

Engineering three-dimensional (3D) cell-dense tissues with a well-organized structure remains a challenge in tissue engineering. In this study, highly oriented fibrous bundles, consisted of composite fibers of poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide)/superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, were fabricated using an electrospinning technique. The magnetic properties of the fabricated fibrous bundles were examined by a vibrating sample magnetometer and a superconducting quantum interference device; the results demonstrate that the fabricated fibrous bundles revealed superparamagnetic behavior without magnetic hysteresis.

Recent progress of the improved magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator.

The improved magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) is a gigawatt-class L-band high power microwave tube driven by a 550 kV, 57 kA, 50 ns electron beam. It has allowed us to generate 2.4 GW pulse of 22 ns duration.

Preparation and antibacterial test of chitosan/PAA/PEGDA bi-layer composite membranes.

Chitosan/poly(acrylic acid)/poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) composite membranes with a bi-layer configuration were prepared and their potential application as an antibacterial material was examined. A two-step process was adopted. A dope consisting of PEGDA, acrylic acid (AA) and a photoinitiator was cast and then UV-cured on a glass substrate to form a mechanically strong, dense membrane.