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Material defects and external environmental factors increase the engineering safety risks of buried PE pipelines in service. This paper mainly reviews the failure mode and the prevention and control technology of buried PE pipelines in service, as well as comparative failure characteristics between the buried PE and steel pipelines. The main failure factors of buried PE pipelines can be divided into four levels: the first level is third-party damage; the second level includes three failure factors, i.e., surface subsidence, joint failure, and aging failure; the third level consists of pipe piercing, crack development, and pipeline defect; the fourth level is a corrosion failure. Besides, steel and PE pipelines have various physical and mechanical properties, which lead to a significant difference in the service performance and degradation mechanism in practice. For instance, corrosion and welded joint leakage are the two common problems in steel pipelines during the service period, while PE pipelines have excellent corrosion resistance. Additionally, in order to ensure and maintain the long-term operations of PE pipelines, it is of great significance to develop and promote nonexcavation technologies of construction, renewal, and repair for natural gas-buried PE pipelines. Furthermore, based on the above studies, some further research studies on buried PE pipelines in service are suggested and discussed, e.g., (a) the service performance and degradation mechanism of buried PE pipelines in complicated environmental conditions, (b) the interaction mechanism among the engineering structure, PE pipelines, and geological environment, as well as PE pipeline geological soils coupled in multiple physical fields, and (c) the combinations of the traditional engineering risk assessment method and the numerical analysis method considering the interaction between the PE pipeline and geological environment. The results could be helpful for a better understanding of the operation conditions of buried PE pipelines, and it is also hoped that this study could provide guidance for the safe operation, maintenance, and integrity management of buried PE pipelines.

Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles that can be secreted by any type of cell, released into almost all biological fluids, and extracted from anybody fluid such as blood, urine, saliva, and amniotic fluid. The theranostic role of exosome in liver diseases has been widely studied in recent years. In this review, we briefly introduce the biological characteristics of exosomes and then focus on the theranostics of exosomes in liver diseases, specifically gene delivery associated with liver diseases.

To explore the natural resources as sustainable precursors offers a family of green materials. The use of bio-waste precursors especially the remaining from food processing is a scalable, highly abundant, and cost-effective strategy. Exploring waste materials is highly important especially for new materials discovery in emerging energy storage technologies such as lithium sulfur batteries (LSBs). Herein, waste milk powder is carbonized and constructed as the sulfur host with the hollow micro-/mesoporous framework, and the resulting carbonized milk powder and sulfur (CMP/S) composites are employed as cathodes for LSBs. It is revealed that the hollow micro-/mesoporous CMP/S framework can not only accommodate the volume expansion but also endow smooth pathways for the fast diffusion of electrons and Li-ions, leading to both high capacity and long cycling stability. The CMP/S composite electrode with 56 wt.% loaded sulfur exhibits a remarkable initial capacity of 1596 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C, corresponding to 95% of the theoretical capacity. Even at a rate of 1 C, it maintains a high capacity of 730 mAh g−1 with a capacity retention of 72.6% after 500 cycles, demonstrating a very low capacity fading of only 0.05% per cycle. Importantly, the Coulombic efficiency is always higher than 96% during all the cycles. The only used source material is expired waste milk powders in our proposal. We believe that this “trash to treasure” approach will open up a new way for the utilization of waste material as environmentally safe and high performance electrodes for advanced LSBs.

Aim: Hepatic fibrosis is one of the most common conditions worldwide, and yet no effective antifibrotic therapy is available. This study aimed to reverse hepatic fibrosis via exosome-mediated delivery of the CRISPR/dCas9-SAM system. Materials & methods: The authors constructed a modified-exosome delivery system targeting hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and constructed the CRISPR/dCas9-SAM system inducing HSCs convert into hepatocyte-like cells in vitro and in vivo. Results: RBP4-modified exosomes could efficiently load and deliver the CRISPR/dCas9 system to HSCs. The in vitro CRISPR/dCas9 system induced the conversion from HSCs to hepatocyte-like cells via targeted activation of HNF4α/ HGF1/ FOXA2 genes. Importantly, in vivo targeted delivery of this system significantly attenuated CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis. Conclusion: Targeted activation of HNF4α/ HGF1/ FOXA2 reverses hepatic fibrosis via exosome-mediated delivery of the CRISPR/dCas9-SAM system, which provides a feasible antifibrotic strategy.

In the design of the modern large transport aircraft, flap system has become a standard configuration, which can increase the maximum wing lift and the climb rate of the aircraft. Meanwhile, the reliability of the flap system has always been the focus point of the aviation industry. The interconnection strut between flaps is a kind of redundancy design, which mitigates the failure of flap system enhancing flap system reliability. Since 1980s, aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing have designed many kinds of ICS for the large transport aircraft like A320, B737. Meanwhile, there is some study on ICS in China, which is still in its infancy. In this paper, the design method of ICS is studied, and the important design parameters of ICS are proposed. A new kind of ICS is designed, and the validity and rationality of ICS design are verified. Firstly, the multi-body dynamic model for the flap system is established and the working principle and important design parameters of ICS between flaps are studied; and then the energy absorbing characteristics of ICS energy absorbing elements are studied; finally, a new ICS is designed, and its mechanical properties and mitigation effect on flap system failure are simulated to verify the effectiveness and rationality of the design.

Deep-sea microbes have received growing attention due to their contribution to biogeochemical cycles and climate change. However, related research lags due to the difficulty of collecting samples.

BackgroundAlthough hepatectomy plus splenectomy is not regularly recommended for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal hypertension related hypersplenism due to the high risk accompanied with surgical procedures for now. Many researchers still believe that hypersplenism is a controversial adverse prognostic factor for HCC patients. Thus, the primary objective of the study was to determine the effects of hypersplenism on the prognosis of these patients during and after hepatectomy.MethodsA total of 335 patients with HBV-related HCC who underwent surgical resection as primary intervention were included in this study and categorized into three groups. Group A consisted of 226 patients without hypersplenism, Group B included 77 patients with mild hypersplenism, and Group C contained 32 patients with severe hypersplenism. The influence of hypersplenism on the outcome during the perioperative and long-term follow-up periods was analyzed. The independent factors were identified using the Cox proportional hazards regression model.ResultsThe presence of hypersplenism is associated with longer hospital stays, more postoperative blood transfusions, and higher complication rates. The overall survival (OS, P = 0.020) and disease-free survival (DFS, P = 0.005) were significantly decreased in Group B compared to those in Group A. Additionally, the OS (P = 0.014) and DFS (P = 0.005) were reduced in Group C compared to those in Group B. Severe hypersplenism was a significant independent prognostic variable for both OS and DFS.ConclusionSevere hypersplenism prolonged the hospital stay, increased the rate of postoperative blood transfusion, and elevated the incidence of complications. Furthermore, hypersplenism predicted lower overall and disease-free survivals.

Background: Alterations in the genetic landscape of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) compared with coincidental benign thyroid nodules, especially adenomatoid nodules, remain to be demonstrated. Methods: Multi-omics profiling of whole-exome sequencing, assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq), and transcriptome sequencing were used for analysis. Results: Chromatin accessibility in the PTC was lower than that in the benign nodules around the transcription start sites (distance Conclusions: This compendium of multi-omics data provides valuable insights and a resource for understanding the landscape of open chromatin features and regulatory networks in PTC and benign nodule pathogeneses.

Determinism and stochasticity in microbial community composition decisions have attracted wide attention. However, there is no consensus on their interrelationships and relative importance, and the mechanism controlling the interaction between the two ecological processes remains to be revealed. The interaction of the two ecological processes on the continental shelf of the South China Sea was studied by performing 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing on 90 sediments at multiple depths in five sites. Three nearshore sites have higher microbial diversity than those two close to the shelf margin. Different microbial composition was observed between sites and microbial composition of nearshore sites was positively correlated with total nitrogen, total sulfur, total organic carbon, and dissolved oxygen, while that of offshore was positively correlated with total carbon, salinity, and photosynthetically active radiation. The null model test showed that the community composition among layers of the same site and between nearby sites was mainly dominated by the homogeneous selection, while that between distant sites was mainly affected by dispersal limitation, which indicates that geographic scale influences the interactivities of determinism and stochasticity. Our research indicates that the balance of these two ecological processes along the geographic scale is mainly determined by the dispersal ability of microbes and environmental heterogeneity between areas. The study provides new insights into how deterministic and stochastic processes shape microbial community composition on the continental shelf.

However, it is insufficient and oversimplified to attribute memristive performance to oxygen vacancy only.

Laparoscopic splenectomy and esophagogastric devascularization (LSED) is becoming increasingly popular in the treatment of esophageal-fundic variceal bleeding with portal hypertension (PHT) in China, and its high safety and minimal trauma have been proven. Fast-track (FT) surgery improves patient recovery and decreases postoperative complications.To determine whether LSED with fast-track principles can provide better outcomes than traditional treatment for patients with PHT.A total of 140 patients who underwent LSED with either traditional treatment or fast-track principles in our department were retrospectively analyzed. The postoperative outcomes, complications, inflammatory mediators, portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and recurrent esophagogastric variceal bleeding rate were recorded.No significant differences were found in the patients' preoperative characteristics. The FT group had better outcomes than the non-FT group with respect to gastrointestinal function recovery, resumption of oral intake, and postoperative hospitalization. The incidence of postoperative complications, including pneumonia, severe ascites, and urinary tract infection, were significantly lower in the FT than the non-FT group. The C-reactive protein and interleukin 6 concentrations and the incidence of PVT were significantly lower in the FT than the non-FT group. The overall recurrent bleeding rate is 11.5% and no significant difference was found between the two groups in the follow-up period.LSED with fast-track principles was superior to LSED with traditional treatment in terms of postoperative outcomes, complications, postoperative inflammatory reactions, and the incidence of PVT. This strategy is safe and effective for the treatment of PHT.

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are located in the space of Disse, between liver sinusoidal endothelia cells (LSECs) and hepatocytes. They have surprised and excited hepatologists for their biological characteristics. Under physiological quiescent conditions, HSCs are the major vitamin A-storing cells of the liver, playing crucial roles in the liver development, regeneration, and tissue homeostasis. Upon injury-induced activation, HSCs convert to a pro-fibrotic state, producing the excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) and promoting angiogenesis in the liver fibrogenesis. Activated HSCs significantly contribute to liver fibrosis progression and inactivated HSCs are key to liver fibrosis regression. In this review, we summarize the comprehensive understanding of HSCs features, including their roles in normal liver and liver fibrosis in hopes of advancing the development of emerging diagnosis and treatment for hepatic fibrosis.

The exploration of the hydro-thermal characteristics and deformation behaviors of cement-stabilized soils is important for the prevention and control of freeze–thaw damage in cold region engineering. This study used six groups of cement-stabilized soil samples with different cement contents (i.e., 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, 15%, and 18%) to investigate the variations in soil temperature, volumetric unfrozen water content, deformation, freezing temperature, and dry density. The results showed that the temperatures of the cement-stabilized soil samples during the freezing and thawing processes can be categorized into three stages and that the freezing temperature decreased with increasing cement content. Moreover, the cement content and ambient temperature significantly affected the volumetric unfrozen water content of the cement-stabilized soil samples during the freeze–thaw cycles, and the soil temperatures corresponding to the peak hysteresis degree were relatively consistent with the freezing temperature. The residual volumetric unfrozen water content primarily depended not only on the cement content but also on the freezing condition. Although the variations in volumetric unfrozen water contents during the freezing and thawing processes were similar, the ranges in temperature change differed significantly, particularly in the drastic phase transition zone. Additionally, adding cement into soils effectively inhibited deformation, mainly due to the dual positive effects of the liquid water reduction owing to hydration reaction and structure compaction owing to the filling of hydration products.

Teleost fish of the genusDanioare excellent models to study the genetic and cellular bases of pigment pattern variation in vertebrates. The two sister speciesDanio rerioandDanio aesculapiishow divergent patterns of horizontal stripes and vertical bars that are partly caused by the evolution of the potassium channel genekcnj13. InD. rerio, kcnj13is required in melanophores for interactions with xanthophores and iridophores, which cause location-specific pigment cell shapes and thereby influence colour pattern and contrast. Here, we show that cis-regulatory rather than protein coding changes underliekcnj13evolution between the two species.D. aesculapiiexpress lowerkcnj13levels and exhibit low-contrast patterns similar toD. reriomutants. Our results suggest that homotypic and heterotypic interactions between the pigment cells and their shapes diverged between species by quantitative changes inkcnj13expression during pigment pattern diversification.

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) can work at high temperatures, but they suffer from poor cycle life stability due to the “shuttle effect” of polysulfides. In this study, pollen‐derived porous carbon/cuprous phosphide (PC/Cu3P) hybrids were rationally synthesized using a one‐step carbonization method using pollen as the source material, acting as the sulfur host for LSBs. In the hybrid, polar Cu3P can markedly inhibit the “shuttle effect” by regulating the adsorption ability toward polysulfides, as confirmed by theoretical calculations and experimental tests. As an example, the camellia pollen porous carbon (CPC)/Cu3P/S electrode shows a high capacity of 1205.6 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C, an ultralow capacity decay rate of 0.038% per cycle after 1000 cycles at 1 C, and a rather high initial Coulombic efficiency of 98.5%. The CPC/Cu3P LSBs can work well at high temperatures, having a high capacity of 545.9 mAh g−1 at 1 C even at 150°C. The strategy of the PC/Cu3P hybrid proposed in this study is expected to be an ideal cathode for ultrastable high‐temperature LSBs. We believe that this strategy is universal and worthy of in‐depth development for the next generation energy storage devices.

The seismic liquefaction has been observed in gravelly soils, in addition to sandy soils. Despite sandy soils, there is still a shortage of an extended case history database for developing empirical, semi-empirical, and probabilistic models to predict this phenomenon in gravelly soils. This study examines the documentations of several case histories of gravelly soil liquefaction all around the world to create a database, and then to develop probabilistic models to consider uncertainties of the models as well as the parameters for evaluating gravelly soil liquefaction triggering caused by earthquakes. The logistic regression and Bayesian mapping function, both of which are based on the maximizing likelihood estimation, were applied to present classifier curves to predict the occurrence of liquefaction. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis on the bias sampling weighting factor was performed to assess its effect on the model’s prediction accuracy. The results point to the effect of extended database and sampling bias on the developed models. Meanwhile, this study highlights the importance of developing probabilistic models rather than deterministic ones to consider uncertainties.

Neuromorphic computing, which mimics brain function, can address the shortcomings of the "von Neumann" system and is one of the critical components of next-generation computing. The use of light to stimulate artificial synapses has the advantages of low power consumption, low latency, and high stability. We demonstrate amorphous InAlZnO-based light-stimulated artificial synaptic devices with a thin-film transistor structure. The devices exhibit fundamental synaptic properties, including excitatory postsynaptic current, paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), and short-term plasticity to long-term plasticity conversion under light stimulation. The PPF index stimulated by 375 nm light is 155.9% when the time interval is 0.1 s. The energy consumption of each synaptic event is 2.3 pJ, much lower than that of ordinary MOS devices and other optical-controlled synaptic devices. The relaxation time constant reaches 277 s after only 10 light spikes, which shows the great synaptic plasticity of the device. In addition, we simulated the learning-forgetting-relearning-forgetting behavior and learning efficiency of human beings under different moods by changing the gate voltage. This work is expected to promote the development of high-performance optoelectronic synaptic devices for neuromorphic computing.

Thermal conductivity of soils is a key parameter in determining the heat transfer and temperature field in thermal engineering. This paper developed a thermal conductivity model of soils with a consideration of the thermo-hydro-deformation interaction during a freezing process. The model was proposed based on the concept of normalized thermal conductivity, and integrated the temperature, volumetric unfrozen water content, porosity, mineralogy, solid particle type and frost heave. Then, the steps to calculate thermal conductivity of soils during a freezing process were illustrated. Additionally, compared with the other two widely used empirical models, i.e., model based on the apparent heat capacity method and model based on the Heaviside function, the proposed model was more effective and reasonable, while the other two models had some limitations in calculating thermal conductivity of soils during a freezing process. Moreover, the proposed model was comprehensively verified by the 32 soil samples, and the good agreements between the measured and model-calculated thermal conductivities of soils confirmed that the proposed model can be used to calculate the thermal conductivity of soils in the numerical simulations, and could also well reflect the effect of phase transition of water-ice on thermal conductivity of soils during a freezing process.

Plant growth-promoting microbial symbionts have been found in many plants, but their association with invasive plant Ipomoea cairica remains largely unknown. The present study aimed to screen such microbes from the fungal epiphyte community of I. cairica. A total of 858 culturable isolates grouped into 20 morphotypes associated with 10 genera were recovered from healthy leaves of I. cairica. According to morphological and molecular identification, morphotypes Ep2 with 51.74% and Ep19 with 39.86% relative abundance in the epiphyte community were determined as dominant and identified as Fusarium fujikuroi and Fusarium oxysporum. In vitro analysis revealed that both epiphytes were active in producing indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) but not gibberellin-3 (GA3). Compared to F. oxysporum, F. fujikuroi accumulated significantly higher IAA concentration in its culture. The belowground biomass of I. cairica cuttings was significantly increased by F. oxysporum culture extract. Besides belowground biomass, F. fujikuroi culture extract significantly increased the aboveground biomass, and the number and total length of secondary shoots. In vivo inoculation showed that the conidial suspension of F. oxysporum significantly increased endogenous IAA level, the aboveground and belowground biomass of I. cairica cuttings, while the conidial suspension of F. fujikuroi slightly elevated endogenous IAA level only resulting in a significantly improved aboveground biomass. Our results revealed both of the dominant epiphytes promoted the growth of I. cairica through hormone interactions.

Electrocatalysts play a key role in accelerating the sluggish electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) involving multi-electron and proton transfer. We now develop a proton capture strategy by accelerating the water dissociation reaction catalyzed by transition-metal nanoparticles (NPs) adjacent to atomically dispersed and nitrogen-coordinated single nickel (Ni-Nx ) active sites to accelerate proton transfer to the latter for boosting the intermediate protonation step, and thus the whole ECR process. Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and calculations reveal that the Ni NPs accelerate the adsorbed H (Had ) generation and transfer to the adjacent Ni-Nx sites for boosting the intermediate protonation and the overall ECR processes. This proton capture strategy is universal to design and prepare for various high-performance catalysts for diverse electrochemical reactions even beyond ECR.

The practical viability of Li-S battery is largely hampered by undesirable shuttling behavior and sluggish conversion kinetics of polysulfides. Considering that, a multifunctional interlayer, prepared by weaving ferrocene-based two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic framework (Zr-Fc MOF) nanosheets and carbon nanotubes (CNT) via simple vacuum filtration, is proposed to achieve high-performance Li-S battery. Using a combination of in situ Raman spectroscopy, first-principles calculations and systematic electrochemical evaluation, we unveil that the Zr-Fc MOF, as a new polysulfides confinement agent, can not only restrain polysulfides shuttling via both electrostatic attraction and chemical anchoring capability, but also provide excellent electrocatalytic effect on polysulfides redox kinetics. The intertwined CNT throughout Zr-Fc MOF nanosheets facilitates electron conductivity as well as sufficient exposure of capturing and catalyzing active sites of Zr-Fc MOF. Accordingly, attributed to the synergistic entrapping-catalysis-conversion effect, we demonstrate that Li-S cell coupling with the as-prepared Zr-Fc MOF/CNT interlayer exhibits a dramatically enhanced rate performance and outstanding cyclability (1500 cycles at 1 C with ultralow capacity decay rate of 0.027% under sulfur loading of 4.11 mg cm−2). This work will inspire more intelligent 2D MOF materials simultaneously with highly efficient trapping and catalytic conversion of polysulfides for high-energy and long-life Li-S battery.

To ensure the aerodynamic performance of the slat in aircraft when retracted, it is necessary to set rubber seals in the seam between the leading-edge slat and the fixed leading edge. However, the ...

Duplicated genes prevail in vertebrates and are important in the acquisition of new genes and novelties. Whole genome duplication (WGD) is one of the sources of duplicated genes. It can provide raw materials for natural selection by increasing the flexibility and complexity of the genome. WGDs are the driving force for the evolution of vertebrates and contribute greatly to their species diversity, especially in fish species with complicated WGD patterns. Here, we constructed the DupScan database (https://dupscan.sysumeg.com/) by integrating 106 chromosomal-level genomes, which can analyze and visualize synteny at both the gene and genome scales, visualize the Ka, Ks, and 4DTV values, and browse genomes. DupScan was used to perform functional adaptation for the intricate WGD investigation based on synteny matching. DupScan supports the analysis of five WGD rounds (R): VGD2 (vertebrate genome duplication 2), Ars3R (Acipenser-ruthenus-specific 3R), Pss3R (Polyodon-spathula-specific 3R), Ts3R (teleost-specific duplication 3R), Ss4R (salmonid-specific 4R), and Cs4R (carp-specific 4R). DupScan serves as one-stop analysis platform for synteny and WGD research in which users can analyze and predict synteny and WGD patterns across 106 species of whole genome sequences. This further aided us in elucidating genome evolutionary patterns across over 60,000 vertebrate species with synteny and WGD events.

To effectively reduce or eliminate the warping deformation of the slat trailing edge, the prebending design is widely used. However, excessive bending of the slate trailing edge may cause the struc...

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a crucial role in the progression of liver fibrosis, which can be considered as the specific therapeutic target of anti-fibrotic treatment. Targeted induction of HSCs to hepatocytes via delivery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (dCas9) system holds promise for hepatic fibrosis treatment. Our study here revealed that CRISPR/dCas9-VP64 system encapsulated in AML12 cell-derived exosomes could efficiently and successfully be delivered into the HSCs. In turn, the CRISPR/dCas9-VP64 system loaded in the exosomes can be efficiently released into the HSCs. As a proof-of-concept study, gRNA against hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) together with the delivery of CRISPR/dCas9-VP64 system induced the HSCs to hepatocyte-like phenotype. In conclusion, our study here revealed that CRISPR/dCas9-VP64 system encapsulated in AML12 cell-derived exosomes could be functional in HSCs, emerging as a gene therapy strategy for hepatic fibrosis.

Black phosphorus with a long history of ∼100 years has recently attracted extraordinary attention and has become a promising candidate for energy storage and conversion owing to its unique layered structure, impressive carrier mobility, remarkable in-plane anisotropic properties, and tunable bandgap from 0.3 eV in the bulk to 2.0 eV in the monolayer. Aiming to fully dredge its potential utilization, several investigations are being carried out, from its intrinsic properties to energy-driven charge transfer behavior. This review specifically highlights the very recent progress in the synthesis and applications of black phosphorus in the energy process, including secondary battery system, supercapacitor device, and catalysis reaction. The present critical issues, challenges, and perspectives in terms of well-harnessed scalability, quality, and stability are comprehensively covered. An in-depth understanding of these aspects is of great importance for the design of black phosphorus as a multifunctional candidate in future energy storage and conversion.

The rapid development of portable/wearable electronics proposes new demands for energy storage devices, which are flexibility, smart functions and long-time outdoor operation. Supercapacitors (SCs) show great potential in portable/wearable applications, and the recently developed flexible, smart and self-sustainable supercapacitors greatly meet the above demands. In these supercapacitors, conductive polymers (CPs) are widely applied due to their high flexibility, conductivity, pseudo-capacitance, smart characteristics and moderate preparation conditions. Herein, we'd like to introduce the CP-based flexible, smart and self-sustainable supercapacitors for portable/wearable electronics. This review first summarizes the flexible SCs based on CPs and their composites with carbon materials and metal compounds. The smart supercapacitors, i.e., electrochromic, electrochemical actuated, stretchable, self-healing and stimuli-sensitive ones, are then presented. The self-sustainable SCs which integrate SC units with energy-harvesting units in one compact configuration are also introduced. The last section highlights some current challenges and future perspectives of this thriving field.