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Biomedical subjects

Xiaoyi Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Xiaoyi Wu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Parenting styles and fertility intention: Mediating effects of childbearing beliefs and psychological resilience.

China's declining fertility rate is partly due to low fertility intention among childbearing population. To understand family influence on young people's fertility intention and its underlying mechanisms, this study examines how parenting styles (authoritarian vs. permissive) affect Chinese college students' fertility intention, with traditional childbearing beliefs and resilience as mediators. Data were collected from 839 participants (Age: M = 21.1, SD = 1.7 years) using structured questionnaires. Logistic regression found that a positive correlation between permissive parenting style and fertility intention, with authoritarian parenting having no impact. Mediation analysis showed the association between permissive parenting style and fertility intention was fully mediated through resilience ( = 0.0, 95%CI = [0.0,0.1]) and greater childbearing beliefs ( = 0.0, 95%CI = [0.0,0.1]). The findings indicate that permissive parenting is related to higher fertility intention in youth via resilience and childbearing beliefs. Promoting positive family environments and permissive parenting may enhance childbearing intention.

Humans↗

A constitutive model for protein-based materials.

Protein-based materials are critical to the construction of tissue substitutes that exhibit precisely defined mechanical properties. Under physiologically relevant conditions, materials derived from natural or synthetic structural proteins are characterized by nonlinear elastic responses at medium and large deformations, time-dependent or viscoelastic behavior, and display the effects of strain-induced structural changes. Although a constitutive model that accurately describes mechanical behavior is essential for the rational design of tissue constructs, few models account for all of these characteristics. In this report, we present a new constitutive model for protein based materials, in which nonlinear elasticity is captured by the Arruda-Boyce eight-chain model, time dependant viscoelasticity is described by a generalized Maxwell model, and the effect of strain-induced structural change is incorporated using a network alteration theory originally proposed by Tobolsky. The model was applied to a number of protein-based materials and cell containing constructs, including recombinant elastin-mimetic protein polymers and fibroblast populated collagen gel matrices. Significantly, numerical implementation of this model is straightforward and mechanical behavior accurately described under a variety of loading conditions. Moreover, when calibrated using stress relaxation data alone, the model accurately predicted cyclic loading responses. Although limitations exist, this model provides a convenient tool to correlate viscoelastic data obtained by different testing modes and may assist in reducing the number of experimental tests required to fully capture the range of viscoelastic responses of protein-based materials.

Animals↗

Photomediated crosslinking of C6-cinnamate derivatized type I collagen.

Synthesis and characterization of cinnamated Type I collagen and its related mechanical properties after photomediated crosslinking were investigated in detail. Using an EDC/NHS conjugation method, collagen was chemically modified to incorporate a photosensitive cinnamate moiety. The cinnamated collagen was fully characterized by 1H NMR, UV-vis, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, as well as by rheological and mechanical analyses. Cinnamated collagens with varying degrees of derivatization retained collagen triple helical structure. The rheological spectra of collagen solutions demonstrate that the storage modulus decreases with increasing cinnamate content, owing to a decrease in physical crosslinking. The kinetics of the crosslinking process in both hydrated gels and dry films were monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy and confirmed that crosslinking was complete within 60 min of irradiation. The uniaxial stress-strain behavior of crosslinked collagen films, including Young's modulus and ultimate tensile strength, was comparable to values reported for glutaraldehyde-crosslinked monomeric collagen films. These data demonstrate that derivatization of collagen with photosensitive cinnamate moieties provides a facile route for solid-state crosslinking, thereby improving the mechanical properties of collagen and enhancing the potential applicability of collagen-based materials in tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Biocompatible Materials↗

Proteomic fingerprints for potential application to early diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Definitive early-stage diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is important despite the number of laboratory tests that have been developed to complement clinical features and epidemiologic data in case definition. Pathologic changes in response to viral infection might be reflected in proteomic patterns in sera of SARS patients. METHODS: We developed a mass spectrometric decision tree classification algorithm using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Serum samples were grouped into acute SARS (n = 74; <7 days after onset of fever) and non-SARS [n = 1067; fever and influenza A (n = 203), pneumonia (n = 176); lung cancer (n = 29); and healthy controls (n = 659)] cohorts. Diluted samples were applied to WCX-2 ProteinChip arrays (Ciphergen), and the bound proteins were assessed on a ProteinChip Reader (Model PBS II). Bioinformatic calculations were performed with Biomarker Wizard software 3.1.1 (Ciphergen). RESULTS: The discriminatory classifier with a panel of four biomarkers determined in the training set could precisely detect 36 of 37 (sensitivity, 97.3%) acute SARS and 987 of 993 (specificity, 99.4%) non-SARS samples. More importantly, this classifier accurately distinguished acute SARS from fever and influenza with 100% specificity (187 of 187). CONCLUSIONS: This method is suitable for preliminary assessment of SARS and could potentially serve as a useful tool for early diagnosis.

Adolescent↗

Alterations in physical cross-linking modulate mechanical properties of two-phase protein polymer networks.

Physically cross-linked protein-based materials possess a number of advantages over their chemically cross-linked counterparts, including ease of processing and the ability to avoid the addition or removal of chemical reagents or unreacted intermediates. The investigations reported herein sought to examine the nature of physical cross-links within two-phase elastin-mimetic protein triblock copolymer networks through an analysis of macroscopic viscoelastic properties. Given the capacity of solution processing conditions, including solvent type and temperature to modulate the microstructure of two-phase protein polymer networks, viscoelastic properties were examined under conditions in which interphase block mixing had been either accentuated or diminished during network formation. Protein networks exhibited strikingly different properties in terms of elastic modulus, hysteresis, residual deformability, and viscosity in response to interdomain mixing. Thus, two-phase protein polymer networks exhibit tunable responses that extend the range of application of these materials to a variety of tissue engineering applications.

Biocompatible Materials↗