Molecular layer-by-layer (mLbL) assembled thin-film composite membranes fabricated by alternating deposition of reactive monomers on porous supports exhibit both improved salt rejection and enhanced water flux compared to traditional reverse osmosis membranes prepared by interfacial polymerization. Additionally, the well-controlled structures achieved by mLbL deposition further lead to improved antifouling performance.

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Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is the third most common cause of hospital-acquired renal failure, with an incidence of 11%. However, the disease mechanism remains unclear, and no effective treatment is available. Paricalcitol has been reported to be effective in animal models of kidney injury. We hypothesized that paricalcitol could play a renoprotective role against CI-AKI. Rats were divided into control, paricalcitol, contrast, and paricalcitol-plus-contrast groups. We used a previously published protocol to produce CI-AKI. Paricalcitol (0.3 μg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally before 24 h and 30 min before indomethacin. We used HK-2 cells to evaluate the effects of paricalcitol on mitophagy and senescence. Ioversol triggered renal dysfunction, increasing blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine. Significant tubular damage, increased 8-OHdG expression, and apoptosis were apparent. Ioversol injection induced high expression levels of the mitophagy markers Pink1, Parkin, and LC3 and the senescence markers β-galactosidase and p16INK4A. Paricalcitol pretreatment prevented renal dysfunction and reduced tissue damage by reducing both mitophagy and senescence. Cellular morphological changes were found, and expression of LC3B and HMGB1 was increased by ioversol in HK-2 cells. Paricalcitol countered these effects. This study showed that mitochondria might drive injury phenotypes in CI-AKI, and that paricalcitol protects against CI-AKI by decreasing mitochondrial damage.

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In this study, an efficient polygonal finite element method (PFEM) in combination with quadratic serendipity shape functions is proposed to study nonlinear static and dynamic responses of functionally graded (FG) plates with porosities. Two different porosity types including even and uneven distributions through the plate thickness are considered. The quadratic serendipity shape functions over arbitrary polygonal elements including triangular and quadrilateral ones, which are constructed based on a pairwise product of linear shape functions, are employed to interpolate the bending strains. Meanwhile, the shear strains are defined according to the Wachspress coordinates. By using the Timoshenko's beam to interpolate the assumption of the strain field along the edges of polygonal element, the shear locking phenomenon can be naturally eliminated. Furthermore, the C 0-type higher-order shear deformation theory (C 0-HSDT), in which two additional variables are included in the displacement field, significantly improves the accuracy of numerical results. The nonlinear equations of static and dynamic problems are solved by Newton-Raphson iterative procedure and by Newmark's integration scheme in association with the Picard methods, respectively. Through various numerical examples in which complex geometries and different boundary conditions are involved, the proposed approach yields more stable and accurate results than those generated using other existing approaches.

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