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In this paper, hierarchical composites of TiO2 nanoparticles supported on flower-like spherical Bi2O2CO3 structures were synthesized by a two-step hydrothermal method. The prepared samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectrometry (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) and photocurrent measurement. The photocatalytic activity of the composites was investigated as a function of the amount of TiO2 in the degradation of RhB under UV-Vis light irradiation. The Bi2O2CO3/TiO2 composites exhibited significantly enhanced performance compared with pure Bi2O2CO3 or TiO2. For instance, the Bi2O2CO3/TiO2 composite with 0.44 mL tetrabutyl titanate addition (i.e. BT-2) showed the best photocatalytic activity, which is about 3.7 times and 4.3 times as high as that of pure TiO2 or Bi2O2CO3, respectively. The improved performance of the Bi2O2CO3/TiO2 composites can be attributed to the formation of binary heterojunctions, which facilitate separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Furthermore, the composites showed high stability and long-term reusability. To better understand the photocatalytic mechanism, experiments involving active species trapping were conducted, revealing that the holes and hydroxyl radicals played key roles in the photocatalytic reaction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Delayed xenograft rejection (DXR) is an insurmountable barrier for xenotransplantation. Previous studies reported that hamster hearts transplanted into rats undergo DXR and stop functioning after the cessation of immunosuppression. Herein, we investigated the effects of resveratrol on preventing DXR in a hamster-to-rat vascularized cardiac xenograft model. Methods Hamster hearts were engrafted into Lewis rat recipients. Recipient rats received a graft acceptance-inducing treatment of leflunomide and FK506 for 2 weeks to prevent acute xenograft rejection (AXR). Then, all recipient rats were randomly divided into two groups: one group was treated with 1% carboxymethyl cellulose vehicle (control group) and one group was treated with resveratrol (RES group). Results After cessation of FK506 and Lef in recipient rats, treatment with resveratrol prolonged the mean survival time from 8.5 days in the control group to 23.5 days. Compared with the control group, neutrophil infiltration in both cardiac muscle and blood vessel tissues of the grafts after resveratrol treatment was significantly reduced. Meanwhile, resveratrol treatment also significantly inhibited T-cell response along with increased production of cytokines including interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, and decreased interferon (IFN)-gamma of recipients. Furthermore, in the RES group, immunoglobulin (Ig)M antibody production was markedly inhibited, while the production of IgG antibody and the frequency of B cells did not vary. Conclusion Administration of resveratrol can markedly delay the emergence of DXR by inhibiting IgM secretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acids in FCC diesel is harmful to production equipments, storage, and transportation facilities. The complex deacidification process was adopted to remove acid from diesel using 2-methylimidazole and ammonia. The effect of all process parameters on removing acid from diesel was discussed, which included reaction temperature, mass ratio of complex deacidification agents, reaction time, and volume ratio of complex deacidification agents to diesel. Orthogonal experiments were done to optimize deacidification process on the basis of single factor experiments. The results showed that the optimum deacidification process was that volume ratio of complex deacidification agents to diesel was 0.20:1, reaction time was 12 min, mass ratio of 2-methylimidazole to ammonia was 0.4:1 and reaction temperature was 343 K. Under this condition, the deacidification rate reached 96.5%. This deacidification process had little effect on other physical and chemical properties of diesel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The simplified lateral dynamic models of front and rear tires are proposed with lateral tire force information in this paper. The regression models of the recursive least squares (RLS) with forgetting factors and constraints are constructed based on simplified lateral dynamic models for estimating tire cornering stiffness. In addition, a nonlinear observer of sideslip angle is designed for four-in-wheel-motor-driven electric vehicles (FIWMD-EVs) with the estimated information on tire cornering stiffness. Sideslip angle can be estimated through a first-order Stirling's interpolation filter (DD1-filter) and a firstorder low-pass filter. The reliability, feasibility, effectiveness, and practicality of simplified lateral dynamic models are verified by contrast simulation experiments. The simplified lateral dynamic models of front and rear tires are not influenced on the change of sideslip angle, nor influenced by each other. Moreover, it can result in improving computation speed that computational burden is reduced after simplifying lateral dynamic models. With the estimated information above mentioned, sideslip angle is also estimated well. The estimated information on tire cornering stiffness and sideslip angle is benefit to the design of lateral stability control system, which can make vehicle adapt to different road conditions and control the steering motion attitude of vehicle in future works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soot containing carbon nano-onions was synthesized by traditional electric arc-discharge method with nickel powder as catalyst. After heating at 400°C for 2 h, the arc discharged soot was soaked in hydrochloric acid solution 8 h, and then ultrasonically dispersed into sodium cholate solution. Such obtained dispersion was filtrated with a medium-speed filter paper, and the filtrate was further filtered with a 0.2 μm polytetrafluoroethylene membrane to collect the purified carbon nano-onions. SEM (scanning electron microscope) and TEM (transmission electron microscope) observation showed that carbon nano-onions with hollow or nickel-encapsulated cavities were observed and they had a wide size distribution with an averaged diameter of 24.4 nm. XRD (X-ray diffraction) and Raman scattering investigations evidenced a high degree graphitization of such obtained carbon nano-onions. The XPS (X-ray photoemission spectroscopy) analysis, survey to surface chemistry, demonstrated that oxygen-containing and nitrogen-containing functional groups and the metal catalyst were removed from the surface of carbon nano-onions after purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel electrocardiogram (ECG) processing technique for joint data compression and QRS detection in a wireless wearable sensor. The proposed algorithm is aimed at lowering the average complexity per task by sharing the computational load among multiple essential signal-processing tasks needed for wearable devices. The compression algorithm, which is based on an adaptive linear data prediction scheme, achieves a lossless bit compression ratio of 2.286x. The QRS detection algorithm achieves a sensitivity (Se) of 99.64% and positive prediction (+P) of 99.81% when tested with the MIT/BIH Arrhythmia database. Lower overall complexity and good performance renders the proposed technique suitable for wearable/ambulatory ECG devices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on the interaction of Pb (II) ions with nucleic acid via phosphate groups and nucleic bases of the deoxyribonucleic acid structure, an electrochemical sensor with DNA wrapped metallic single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) has been fabricated for sensitive and selective detection of lead ion (Pb2+). The sensor shows a rapid differential pulse voltammetry signal response to the content of Pb2+, and a quantitative detection of Pb2+has been established with an expanded linear responsive range from 1 × 10−9to 1.0 × 10−8mol L−1(R = 0.9979) and a detection limit of 4.1 × 10−10mol L−1in buffer solution (pH 5.0). Furthermore, the sensor displayed a negligible differential pulse voltammetry signal response for other metal ions, indicating its high selectivity for Pb2+. The investigation of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry in buffer solution demonstrated that metallic SWNTs played an important role in enlarging current response and increasing sensitivity of the sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroacoustic surveys were performed in an oxbow lake (Lake Laojianghe, China) along the Yangtze River. The study took place during the day and night in October 2012 using the Simrad EY60 split beam echo sounder. A clear day-night difference in fish densities was observed in selected transect areas. The mean density estimate at night was three times higher than during the day, while at night densities were similar in the two adjacent areas. Significantly positive relationships were found between fish density and average depth for the night and daytime transects, however, the regression slope for the daytime density estimates was much smaller than for the surveys at night. Small fish dominated the acoustic size structure during both day and night, but were more accessible at night. The average biomass estimate from the daytime transects was nearly 60% lower than those from the corresponding night transects. These results indicate that an entire lake estimate of a fish population may be severely biased if fish tend to aggregate temporarily in the bottom or littoral zone or display diurnal behaviour. The conclusion is that acoustic sampling in Lake Laojianghe is best done at night. Diel differences in the lake should be further investigated by carrying out additional day-night comparison experiments and also by using control catches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two-stage tapered gyrotron traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) amplifier has achieved wide bandwidth in the millimeter wave range. However, possible oscillations in each stage limit this amplifier's operating beam current and thus its output power. To further enhance the amplifier's stability, distributed losses are applied to the interaction circuit of the two-stage tapered gyro-TWT. A self-consistent particle-tracing code is used for analyzing the beam-wave interactions. The stability analysis includes the effects of the wall losses and the length of each stage on the possible oscillations. Simulation results reveal that the distributed-loss method effectively stabilizes all the oscillations in the two stages. Under stable operating conditions, the device is predicted to produce a peak power of 60 kW with an efficiency of 29% and a saturated gain of 52 dB in the Ka-band. The 3-dB bandwidth is 5.7 GHz, which is approximately 16% of the center frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Current knowledge of factors that increase or decrease the risk of cognitive impairment in elderly people is limited. Recently adverse life events appeared to be associated with the increased risk of cognitive impairment in elderly people. However, this is less studied. We conducted a 5-year prospective study to evaluate the association between adverse life events and the risk of cognitive impairment in Chinese elderly people. Methods: Of 9167 community residents aged 55 years and over, 5262 were enrolled into the study and followed up annually for 5 years. At baseline demographic data, smoking and drinking status, medical history, adverse life events, clinical, functional and cognitive status, depressive symptom, and complementary data were collected. The cognitive status was assessed using a structured battery of neuropsychological tests. Subjects were followed-up annually to assess the cognitive function during follow-up. Results: Over the follow-up period of 5 years, cognitive impairment developed in 569 subjects. Among the adverse life events, the death of the spouse and a financial crisis were associated with the increased risk of cognitive impairment. These associations persisted after adjusting for the subjects with possible baseline pre-clinical cognitive impairment, depressive symptom, stroke and vascular risk factors respectively. Conclusions: Adverse life events, such as the death of a spouse and a financial crisis, are associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment. Further in-depth longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to confirm the causal relationship between adverse life events and risk of cognitive impairment in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arc-discharged single-walled carbon nanotubes were oxidized by ammonium persulfate, which led carboxyl to the surface of the tubes. The oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes were further modified with ammonium sulfamate through a condensation reaction taken place between the carboxyl on tubes and the amido of ammonium sulfamate. The infrared spectrum confirms the formation of amide bond between ammonium sulfamate and carbon nanotubes; Raman spectrum and UV-vis-NIR absorption spectrum show that the above procedure does not change the electronic structures of single-walled carbon nanotubes. The ammonium sulfamate modified single-walled carbon nanotubes are highly water-soluble and stable, which might be applicable in nanoelectronics, biochemistry and biomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following analysis of typical age hardenable martensitic stainless steels, a new kind of maragingstainless was developed. The new maraging stainless steel showed high strength, ultimate tensilestrength (UTS) 5 1670 MPa, high toughness, KIC 5 83·9 MPa m1/2 and hardness as high as 478 HVin the age hardened condition. Microstructural study with an optical and transmission electron microscope revealed the typical microstructure of age hardenable stainless steel containing lathmartensite and precipitates. TixNi precipitates were identified by transmission electron microscopy, which were responsible for the increase in mechanical properties after age hardening. The results of natural salt spray test showed that the corrosion resistance of new maraging stainless steel approached to the corrosion resistance of 304L stainless steel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An efficient and accurate parallel coupled DSMC–NS method using three-dimensional unstructured grid topology is proposed and verified for the simulation of high-speed gas flows involving continuum and rarefied regimes. A domain overlapping strategy, taking advantage of unstructured data format, with Dirichlet–Dirichlet type boundary conditions based on two breakdown parameters is used iteratively to determine the choice of solvers in the spatial domain. The selected breakdown parameters for this study include: (1) a local maximum Knudsen number defined as the ratio of the local mean free path and local characteristic length based on property gradient and (2) a thermal non-equilibrium indicator defined as the ratio of the difference between translational and rotational temperatures to the translational temperature. A supersonic flow (M ∞ =4) over a quasi-2-D 25° wedge is employed as the first step in verifying the present coupled method. The results of simulation using the coupled method are in excellent agreement with those of the pure DSMC method, which is taken as the benchmark solution. Effects of the size of overlapping regions and the choice of breakdown parameters on the convergence history are discussed. Results show that the proposed iteratively coupled method predicts the results more accurately as compared to the “one-shot” coupled method, which has been often used in practice. Further, a realistic 3-D nitrogen flow, which two near-continuum parallel orifice jets underexpand into a near-vacuum environment, is simulated using the present coupled method to demonstrate its capability. Finally, developments in extending the present method are also outlined in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Introduction: Bone xenografts from pig to human appear to be an alternative to resolve the shortage of bone autologous and allografts. However, the major obstacle of pig-to-human xenotransplantation is the interaction between human natural anti-Gal antibody and the alpha-Gal epitope abundantly expressed on pig endothelium. It was important to investigate the expression of alpha-Gal epitopes in porcine bone tissue to look for an ideal method to remove the alpha-Gal epitopes. Methods: The cortical and trabecular bone were retrieved from five pigs. After the soft tissues and periosteum were removed, the blood and marrow cavity were cleaned with phosphate-buffered solution. All 5 mm × 5 mm × 5 mm samples were imbedded in paraffin and methyl methacrylate resin for histological sections. The mouse IgM M86 monoclonal antibody, which was highly specific for alpha-Gal epitopes, was used to document alpha-Gal epitope expression by immunostaining of tissues and immunofluorescence. Results: Gal-positive immunostaining and immunofluorescence were observed on the surface of osteocytes and Haversian canals. There was a significant difference in Gal expression between cortical and trabecular bone tissues. There was no Gal expression in the extracellular matrix of bone. Conclusions: Major alpha-Gal epitopes were on the surface of osteocytes of porcine bone tissues. A method should be used to damage the osteocytes and eliminate the alpha-Gal epitopes to avoid the xenogenic rejection in xenotransplantation of porcine bone tissues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There are only few clinical studies on complement in well-defined (or characterized) paediatric HIV patients. Aim of this study was to evaluate the complement system and immunoglobulins in HIV-infected children and to correlate data to stage of disease. Blood samples of 127 HIV-infected children (11–134 months; 62 male : 65 female) were collected in order to evaluate humoral immunity. The patients were classified according to CDC clinical (N-asymptomatic; A-mild symptoms such as common recurrent infections; B-moderate symptoms such as Candidiasis and herpes infections, meningitis, sepsis and anaemia; C-severe symptoms such as opportunistic infections and neoplasia) and with respect to immunological criteria (T CD4+ cell count). Analysis of complement system included the classical (CH50), alternative (APH50) pathway activities and plasma concentrations of mannan-binding lectin (MBL), of the C4 allotypic variants C4A and C4B. (ELISA), and of the C3 split product C3d (rocket immunoeletrophoresis). Immunodiagnosis also included CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocyte count and immunoglobulin concentrations. Complement activation and consumption was observed in all patients correlating with disease activity. Activated classical and alternative pathways and elevated C3d were significantly correlated with immunologic category 3. C3d levels were also significantly correlated with immunologic category 1. Undetectable CH50 and APH50 were found in two (group C) and 10 patients (n = 2, A = 2, B = 2, C = 4), respectively. Low MBL values were found in 13/127 but without correlation to disease severity. Undetectable C4B levels were observed in three patients, favouring the diagnosis of a complete deficiency. Although not related to clinical symptomatology, a strong ongoing complement activation can be observed in all stages of HIV infection. In contrast to earlier reports MBL could not be considered as a risk factor for HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/objective(s): To explore the influence of WBRT on cognitive function and activities of daily life of patients with brain metastasis of lung cancer.Materials/methods: 102 lung cancer patients with brain metastases (BM) group and 41 lung cancer patients with non-brain metastases (NBM) group were selected as the objects from January 2014 to December 2016. MoCA and MMSE were used to assess the cognitive function of the patients; ADCS-ADL was used to assess the activities of daily living of the patients; CT and/or MRI were used to determine the characteristics of the patients with intracranial tumors. A statistical software was used to analyze the correlation between the characteristics of intracranial lesions and the level of cognitive function in patients with brain metastasis of lung cancer.Results: The proportion of patients with cognitive impairment in BM group was higher than that in NBM group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05); the MoCA scores and MMSE scores in BM group were lower than that in NMB group and the difference was statistically significant (all P < 0.05). The pathological classification of lung cancer could affect the cognitive function of patients assessed by MoCA (P = 0.010) but not by MMSE (P = 0.123). There was no significant correlation between the volume of brain metastases, the volume of total edema zone, the number of involved lobes and the level of cognitive function in patients with brain metastases from lung cancer before WBRT (P > 0.05), but there was a positive correlation between the number of brain metastases and the level of cognitive function in patients with brain metastases from lung cancer before WBRT (all P < 0.05), negatively correlated with MoCA and MMSE scores (all P < 0.05). There were significant differences in cognitive function (MoCA scores and MMSE scores) among the groups with brain metastasis involving different hemispheres (all P < 0.05). The cognitive function level of patients with more than 3 brain metastases was significantly lower than that of patients with less than 3 brain metastases (both P < 0.05). After WBRT, the cognitive function of patients with brain metastases from lung cancer was improved by MoCA (P = 0.003) but not by MMSE (P = 0.370). There was significant difference in the total scores of MOCA and MMSE in the cognitive function scores of the patients assessed three months after radiotherapy compared with that before radiotherapy. The scores of 6 months after radiotherapy were significantly improved. The ADCS-ADL scores of the two groups before and after WBRT were statistically significant (P = 0.028).Conclusion: Before WBRT, most of the patients with brain metastasis of lung cancer have different degrees of cognitive impairment, among which MCI was the main one. The overall cognitive function and activities of daily living of patients with brain metastasis from lung cancer can be improved after 6 months of WBRT. MoCA is more sensitive than MMSE in the screening of cognitive impairment in patients with brain metastasis of lung cancer.Author Disclosure: Y. Lian: None. Y. Tian: None. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catalytic center of the RNA from the negative strand of the satellite RNA of chicory yellow mottle virus type 1 (sCYMV1) is in the hairpin ribozyme family, has catalytic activity, and cleaves substrates before a preferred GUA sequence. This is different from that of the satellite RNA from the negative strand of tobacco ringspot virus (sTRSV) which prefers a GUC sequence at the site of cleavage. The sCYMV1 hairpin ribozyme has now been developed for cleaving heterologous RNA substrates. When helix 1 was extended from the native 5 bp to 6 bp with a newly added A:U base pair, catalytic activity increased three-fold. The preferred sequence for the substrate loop was the native A*GUA sequence where * is the site of cleavage. When each nucleotide in this sequence was changed to each of the other three nucleotides, catalytic activity decreased 66–100%. RNA targets, containing this A*GUA sequence, were located in both human papillomavirus and HIV-1. Ribozymes were developed which efficiently cleaved these targets in vitro. These results identify a new class of hairpin ribozymes capable of cleaving substrates before a preferred GUA sequence rather than the GUC preferred by the sTRSV hairpin ribozyme. This expands the repertoire of target sites available for gene therapy using the hairpin ribozyme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China National Healthcare Security Administration (former MoHRSS, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security) has conducted two rounds of price negotiation of high-price innovative drugs for National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) admission (Short for NRDL negotiation). This study analyzed the policy implications from previous NRDL negotiations and identified the different determinants for PD-(L)1s negotiation in 2019. We identified four determinants for PD-(L)1s NRDL negotiation in 2019: 1) Price cut is compulsory as previous oncology products have cut 53% on average to win NRDL admission (46% in 2017 and 56% in 2018). [Extracted from the article]

To study the effectiveness and safety of targeted therapy in combination with immunotherapy for neoadjuvant treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. 65 advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent hepatectomy in our hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 45 patients in the control group underwent conventional surgery and 20 patients in the study group got neoadjuvant therapy. The short-term curative effect of the patients in the study group was assessed. The intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative blood transfusion volume, postoperative hospital stays, postoperative blood transfusion volume and operation time were collected from the two groups of patients and the postoperative complications were correlated between the two groups. The overall survival and postoperative recurrence of the patients were obtained through followup. The 3 mo overall response rate of patients in the study group who underwent apatinib combined with camrelizumab was 35.00 % and the disease control rate was 75.00 %. There were no notable variations between the two groups in operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative blood transfusion volume, intraoperative blood transfusion volume and postoperative hospital stays (all p>0.05). The rate of postoperative complications did not significantly differ between the two groups (p>0.05). The follow-up results showed that the recurrence time was remarkably later than that of the control group (p=0.023) and the survival time of the control group (p=0.041) was remarkably shorter than that of the study group. Immune checkpoint inhibitors expressed by programmed cell death 1/programmed cell death ligand 1 monoclonal antibody and anti-antigenic targeted drugs combined with neoadjuvant therapy have good safety for patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma, can improve the prognosis of patients, prolong the patient's survival time, toxic and side effects are acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a robust model predictive control method is investigated for settling the trajectory tracking problem of a bionic ankle–foot aided by a tensegrity mechanism. In order to achieve adaptive movement of the ankle–foot mechanism, a three-degrees-of-freedom spatial ankle–foot mechanism is designed by tensegrity, which is a spatial grid structure composed of springs and struts. Dynamic analysis is the basis of control algorithm research, and the dynamic model of the mechanism can be established by a Lagrangian equation. Then, a controller is proposed for tracking the trajectory of the ankle–foot mechanism under external disturbances. Combining rolling optimization and feedback correction, the controller can be defined as an optimization problem, by solving which the ankle–foot mechanism can be controlled to track the desired trajectory quickly. Furthermore, stability analysis is an essential part of predictive controller design, which can help to understand the operational mechanism of the control strategy. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed approach improves trajectory tracking accuracy and avoids mechanism movement problems caused by disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial MnSi1.7 was grown locally on both (111) and (001)Si. The orientation relationships were found to be [110]MnSi1.7//[111]Si, (220)MnSi1.7//(220)Si and [001]MnSi1.7//[001]Si, (100)MnSi1.7//(400)Si for epitaxy grown on (111) and (001)Si samples, respectively. Three variants of epitaxy, required by the symmetry consideration, were also observed to form on (111)Si. Interfacial dislocations were identified to be of edge type with (1)/(6) <112> and 1/2 <110> Burgers vectors for epitaxial MnSi1.7 grown on (111) and (001)Si, respectively. The presence of different forms of MnSi1.7 is suggested in view of the important difference in details of diffraction patterns of MnSi1.7 along the [001] direction. The growth of epitaxial MnSi1.7 on silicon has filled the ‘‘gap’’ of the growth of stable phases of silicides of the fourth period transition elements in the periodic table epitaxially on silicon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macrophages may be important in chronic rejection after organ transplantation. This study aimed to investigate the possibility of depleting macrophages for a certain amount of time to alleviate chronic rejection in a heart transplant model of Fischer to Lewis rats. Clodronate liposome was injected abdominally to deplete macrophages for 2 time frames. The expression levels of ectodysplasin 1, arginase 1 (Arg1), chitinase-like lectin (Ym1), interferon gamma, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), smooth muscle α-actin (α-SMA), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), and interleukin 10 (IL-10) were detected. 1. The expression levels of α-SMA, interferon gamma, TNF-α, and MCP-1 and the transformation of peripheral T cells were lower after macrophage depletion for 2 or 4 weeks. 2. The expression levels of α-SMA, TNF-α, and MCP-1 and the transformation of peripheral T cells were even lower after 4 weeks compared with 2 weeks, except for interferon gamma. 3. A higher level of expression of Arg1 and Ym1 after macrophage depletion for 2 weeks was observed. 4. A higher level of expression of IL-10 after macrophage depletion for 2 weeks, but not 4 weeks, was also observed. Macrophage clearance after heart transplantation alleviated chronic rejection probably via M2 polarization of regenerated macrophages, reduced T-lymphocyte proliferation, and changed the expression levels of interferon gamma, TNF-α, MCP-1, and IL-10. • We injected clodronate-liposome abdominally over 2 time frames to investigate the effects of depletion of macrophages on the alleviation of chronic rejection in a heart transplant model of Fischer and Lewis rats. • Macrophage clearance after heart transplantation alleviated chronic rejection probably via M2 polarization of regenerated macrophages, reduced T-lymphocyte proliferation, and changed the expression levels of interferon gamma, tumor necrosis factor α, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, and interleukin 10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The identification of structural variants and single‐nucleotide variants is essential in finding molecular etiologies of monogenic genetic disorders. Whole‐genome sequencing (WGS) is becoming more widespread in genetic disease diagnosis. However, data on its clinical utility remain limited in prenatal practice. We aimed to expand our understanding of implementing WGS in the genetic diagnosis of fetal structural anomalies. Methods: We employed trio WGS with a minimum coverage of 40× on the MGI DNBSEQ‐T7 platform in a cohort of 17 fetuses presenting with aberrations detected by ultrasound, but uninformative findings of standard chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) and exome sequencing (ES). Results: Causative genetic variants were identified in two families, with an increased diagnostic yield of 11.8% (2/17). Both were exon‐level copy‐number variants of small size (3.03 kb and 5.16 kb) and beyond the detection thresholds of CMA and ES. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, we have described the first prenatal instance of the association of FGF8 with holoprosencephaly and facial deformities. Conclusions: Our analysis demonstrates the clinical value of WGS in the diagnosis of the underlying etiology of fetuses with structural abnormalities, when routine genetic tests have failed to provide a diagnosis. Additionally, the novel variants and new fetal manifestations have expanded the mutational and phenotypic spectrums of BBS9 and FGF8. © 2023 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved split-capacitive-array digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) with an optimised segmentation degree (i.e. the number of bits in the most significant bit (MSB) sub-array) is proposed to reduce the area, the switching power consumption and improve the linearity compared to a conventional binary-weighted (CBW) capacitive-array DAC and a conventional binary-weighted split-capacitive-array with an attenuation capacitor (BWA) DAC. The presented analysis considers the area and the power dissipation from the DAC as well as the analogue-to-digital converter's (ADC's) dynamic performance to determine the optimum segmentation degree for the proposed split-capacitive-array DAC and the BWA DAC. Using the minimum matching requirement for the unit capacitor in a 12-bit CBW DAC, the proposed split-capacitive-array DAC with an MSB:LSB = 8:4 segmentation reduces the input capacitance by 2× and reduces the switching power by 15× compared to the 12-bit CBW DAC. It also improves the ADC's dynamic performance and reduces the switching power by 3.75× compared to the conventional 12-bit BWA DAC with an MSB: LSB = 10:2 segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved split‐capacitive‐array digital‐to‐analogue converter (DAC) with an optimised segmentation degree (i.e. the number of bits in the most significant bit (MSB) sub‐array) is proposed to reduce the area, the switching power consumption and improve the linearity compared to a conventional binary‐weighted (CBW) capacitive‐array DAC and a conventional binary‐weighted split‐capacitive‐array with an attenuation capacitor (BWA) DAC. The presented analysis considers the area and the power dissipation from the DAC as well as the analogue‐to‐digital converter's (ADC's) dynamic performance to determine the optimum segmentation degree for the proposed split‐capacitive‐array DAC and the BWA DAC. Using the minimum matching requirement for the unit capacitor in a 12‐bit CBW DAC, the proposed split‐capacitive‐array DAC with an MSB:LSB = 8:4 segmentation reduces the input capacitance by 2× and reduces the switching power by 15× compared to the 12‐bit CBW DAC. It also improves the ADC's dynamic performance and reduces the switching power by 3.75× compared to the conventional 12‐bit BWA DAC with an MSB:LSB = 10:2 segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore different Skyrmion types in the lowest Landau level of graphene at a filling factor ν=±1. In addition to the formation of spin and valley pseudospin Skyrmions, we show that another type of spin-valley entangled Skyrmions can be stabilized in graphene due to an approximate SU(4) spin-valley symmetry that is affected by sublattice symmetry-breaking terms. These Skyrmions have a clear signature in spin-resolved density measurements on the lattice scale, and we discuss the expected patterns for the different Skyrmion types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new design for a droplet generator capable of producing single droplets is presented. The design relies on thermoelectric heating to vaporize water at the interface between a droplet and a blunt syringe tip. While other designs require careful tuning to produce drops of varying size, this technique enables the simple creation of droplets of any size within a range. The design is of simple construction and can be completed with off-the-shelf components, and relies on resistive heating to vaporize water at or near the droplet-nozzle interface and release the droplets. We demonstrated that the design can be used to produce droplets as small as 110 μm or as large as 2 mm. Drop size is limited by the geometry of the nozzle since water must wet the tip of the nozzle and hang under gravity. Our experiments showed that released droplets have relatively small disturbances introduced by the release mechanism when compared to competing techniques. These disturbances were intermittently observed as the voltage, pulse width, and drop size were changed, and optimal settings were determined for the smallest drop sizes produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CdxZn1-xS (x=0~1) solid solution photocatalyst with different morphologies was synthesized by solvothermal method using ethylenediamine as solvent. The light absorption of the photocatalyst was varied by changing the morphology and electronic band structure to allow strong visible light response for hydrogen generation. The results showed that the optimum sample Cd0.5Zn0.5S showed a high hydrogen production rate of 2531.3 µmol·g-1 ·h-1 with lactic acid as sacrificial agent. Loading with NiS by solvothermal method further improves the hydrogen production performance. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of NiS/Cd0.5Zn0.5S is 4547.5 µmol·g-1 ·h-1, which is 1.80 times that of pure Cd0.5Zn0.5S. The mechanism of hydrogen production by NiS/Cd0.5Zn0.5S is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This was a longitudinal study examining the effects of insulin use on bone mineral density loss. Insulin use was found to be associated with greater bone mineral density loss at the femoral neck among women with diabetes mellitus.Introduction: Women with diabetes mellitus (DM) have higher bone mineral density (BMD) and experience slower BMD loss but have an increased risk of fracture. The data regarding the effect of insulin treatment on BMD remains conflicted. We examined the impact of insulin initiation on BMD.Methods: We investigated the annual changes in BMD associated with the new use of insulin among women with DM in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Propensity score (PS) matching, which is a statistical method that helps balance the baseline characteristics of women who did and did not initiate insulin, was used. Covariates with a potential impact on bone health were included in all models. Mixed model regression was used to test the change in BMD between the two groups. Median follow-up time was 5.4 years.Results: The cohort consisted of 110 women, mean age, 53.6 years; 49% white and 51% black. Women using insulin (n = 55) were similar on most relevant characteristics to the 55 not using insulin. Median diabetes duration for the user group was 10 vs. 5.0 years for the non-user group. There was a greater loss of BMD at the femoral neck among insulin users (− 1.1%) vs non-users (− 0.77%) (p = 0.04). There were no differences in BMD loss at the spine − 0.30% vs − 0.32% (p = 0.85) or at the total hip − 0.31% vs − 0.25 (p = 0.71), respectively.Conclusions: Women with T2DM who initiated insulin experienced a more rapid BMD loss at the femoral neck as compared to women who did use insulin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element–binding protein (CREB) is a member of the CREB/activation transcription factor 1 family that binds to an octanucleotide cAMP response element consensus sequence in promoters of target genes. Methods CREB has been shown to regulate a variety of cellular functions, including cell proliferation, survival, apoptosis, differentiation, metabolism, hematopoiesis, immune response, and neuronal activity. CREB was also identified as a proto-oncogene involving in transformation by promoting abnormal proliferation and survival of myeloid cells. To understand the mechanism of CREB functions in leukemogenesis, the transcriptional profiles from a K562 cell line in which CREB was knocked down were analyzed with the use of bioinformatics methods. Results DAVID Bioinformatics Resources and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) were performed to identify the targets that are regulated by CREB. A total of 692 genes were up-regulated and 364 genes down-regulated. The up-regulated genes were significantly enriched in pathways of cancer and chronic myeloid leukemia. GSEA analysis showed expression of Notch1 pathway to be decreased and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway to be activated. Conclusions Our results identified candidate gene sets that could be used to guide research on discovering the mechanism of CREB during leukemogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synovial inflammation contributes to cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis (OA) development. Targeting the inflammation process may provide a promising strategy for OA treatment. It has been demonstrated that C1q/tumour necrosis factor-related protein-9 (CTRP9) has immunosuppression capabilities. Thus, we conducted this study to investigate the role of CTRP9 in OA and its therapeutic potential. The expression level of CTRP9 was quantified in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), serum, and synovial cells (SCs) isolated from OA patients by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The relationship between the expression level of CTRP9 and the disease activity of OA was determined. The inflammation-suppressing effects of CTRP9 were assessed in vitro. The expression level of CTRP9 was increased in the PBMCs and serum of OA compared to healthy controls. The serum level of CTRP9 was found to be positively correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and visual analogue scale score. In addition, CTRP9 protein suppressed the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1β, in PBMCs and SCs in vitro. CTRP9 was increased in OA patients and positively correlated with the disease activity. The recombinant CTRP9 had inflammation-suppressing activities in vitro. CTRP9 may have therapeutic potential for treating OA. Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized as cartilage destruction resulting from synovial inflammation (1–6). According to the clinical symptoms and levels of inflammation, OA has been divided into primary generalized osteoarthritis (PGOA) and erosive inflammatory osteoarthritis (EIOA) (7). The only available treatment for OA is joint replacement. Thus, it is necessary to develop novel and effective therapeutic strategies to treat OA. Because synovial inflammation contributes to OA development, targeting the inflammation process may provide a promising strategy for OA treatment. Previous investigations showed that pro-inflammatory factors promoted OA development (8–10), while anti-inflammatory factors suppressed it (11–14). Thus, we conducted the present study to investigate the role of C1q/tumour necrosis factor-related protein-9 (CTRP9), an anti-inflammatory factor (15), in OA, and its therapeutic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary CdS/Ag/LPTNSs heterojunctions were prepared by a two-step method. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area analyzer (BET), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurement. The results showed that the prepared LPTNSs had lamellar multilayer structure and uniformly distributed silver particles and CdS on their surface. The PEC and PL results show that the formation of ternary heterojunction structure can improve the efficiency of photogenerated electron and hole separation. Under visible light irradiation, the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) in the presence of various photocatalysts showed that photocatalytic performance of CdS/Ag/LPTNSs was better than that of P25, LPTNSs, CdS, Ag/LPTNSs and CdS/LPTNSs. A maximum removal efficiency of MB reached 84% within 90 min over CdS/Ag/LPTNSs. Moreover, the kinetic constant of CdS/Ag/LPTNSs is 11.8, 10.4, 4.3, 2.4 and 1.7 times as much as that of P25, LPTNSs, CdS, Ag/LPTNSs and CdS/LPTNSs, respectively. In addition, the repeated photodegradation study showed that CdS/Ag/LPTNSs exhibited good stability, and the removal rate still reached 83% after 4 cycles. This work provides a simple and low-cost method for the synthesis of ternary CdS/Ag/LPTNSs nanocomposite to photocatalytic degradation of organic pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Mitochondrial fission is increased in Aβ-treated microglia. [•] Mdivi-1 attenuates Aβ-induced apoptosis in BV-2 and primary microglial cells. [•] The mechanisms involve MOMP, CytC release and caspase-3 activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]