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N-Heterocyclic nitrenium iodide salts can be used as ideal charge transfer complex catalysts for the photoreduction of cycloketone oxime esters.

An electron donor–acceptor complex strategy that enabled photoactivation of aryl chlorides has been reported with the toluene anion or tBuOK as the electron donor.

Dislocations play a critical role in metal forming processes, and accurate values of dislocation density are important in modelling these processes. However, direct determination of the dislocation density is challenging. In this study, electron backscatter diffraction is used to estimate the evolution of geometrically necessary dislocation density as a function of plastic strain, strain rate and temperature in hot compression of AA7050 alloy. The geometrically necessary dislocation density was found to increase at a higher strain rate and lower temperature; the higher dislocation density in these samples promoted continuous dynamic recrystallisation leading to grain refinement. At lower strain rates and higher temperatures, the dislocation densities were lower and dislocations formed into walls, channels and cells. These observations agree with accepted theories of dislocation evolution and demonstrate the capability of electron backscatter diffraction to provide representative dislocation density values as well as comprehensive information linking plastic flow with microstructural evolution.Keywords: electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs), hot deformation, AA7050

Background Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most fatal gynecological malignancies among elderly patients. We aim to construct two nomograms to predict the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in elderly EOC patients. Methods Elderly patients with EOC between 2000 and 2019 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Enrolled patients were randomly divided into the training and validation set at a ratio of 2:1. The OS and CSS were recognized as endpoint times. The independent prognostic factors from the multivariate analysis were used to establish nomograms for predicting the 3-, 5- and 10-year OS and CSS of elderly EOC patients. The improvement of predictive ability and clinical benefits were evaluated by consistency index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic (ROC), calibration curve, decision curve (DCA), net reclassification improvement (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). Finally, the treatment efficacy of surgery and chemotherapy in low-, medium-, and high-risk groups were displayed by Kaplan–Meier curves. Results Five thousand five hundred eighty-eight elderly EOC patients were obtained and randomly assigned to the training set (n = 3724) and validation set (n = 1864). The independent prognostic factors were utilized to construct nomograms for OS and CSS. Dynamic nomograms were also developed. The C-index of the OS nomogram and CSS nomogram were 0.713 and 0.729 in the training cohort. In the validation cohort, the C-index of the OS nomogram and CSS nomogram were 0.751 and 0.702. The calibration curve demonstrated good concordance between the predicted survival rates and actual observations. Moreover, the NRI, IDI, and DCA curves determined the outperformance of the nomogram compared with the AJCC stage system. Besides, local tumor resection had a higher benefit on the prognosis in all patients. Chemotherapy had a better prognosis in the high-risk groups, but not for the medium- risk and low-risk groups. Conclusions We developed and validated nomograms for predicting OS and CSS in elderly EOC patients to help gynecologists to develop an appropriate individualized therapeutic schedule.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency using existing fluoroscopic unit and lithotripter table of an extracorporeal lithotripter system for video urodynamic studies (VUDS) to determine anatomical abnormalities in patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD). Methods: The extracorporeal lithotripsy system was adapted to obtain optimum fluoroscopic view according to body shape and observed organs of patients. We reviewed the VUDS data of 25 patients with NLUTD. Results: “Christmas tree bladder” (CTB) was found in 5 (20%) patients. Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) and external detrusor sphincter dyssynergia (DESD) were detected in 3 (12%) and 4 (16%) patients, respectively. Four (16%) patients with normal coordination between detrusor contraction and external sphincter relaxation were proven by VUDS. CTB, VUR, or DESD was not observed in 10 (40%) patients with flaccid bladder. Hematuria, urinary tract infection, or autonomic dysreflexia did not occur in any of the patients. Conclusions: VUDS can discern anatomical abnormalities of the urinary tract, and patients in undeveloped areas of the world who have NLUTD can have easier access to VUDS because of the decreasing capital cost of VUDS.

A dendrimer amphiphilic polymer (A-D-HPAM) was synthesized by aqueous solution polymerization of acrylic acid (AA), acrylamide (AM), 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS), hydrophobic monomer of cetyl dimethyl allyl ammonium chloride (DMCAAC-16), and skeleton monomer of GA1.0, using ammonium persulfate and sodium bisulfite as initiators. The chemical structure of A-D-HPAM was, respectively, analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The tackifying property, the resistance of shear, temperature and salt, the interfacial tension, and the oil displacement performance of A-D-HPAM were determined. Compared with solutions of HPAM (hydrolyzed polyacrylamide) and HPAM-SDBS (sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate), A-D-PAM exhibits the optimal properties, especially achieving the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of 15.1%.

Background Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most fatal gynecological malignancies among elderly patients. We aim to construct two nomograms to predict the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in elderly EOC patients. Methods Elderly patients with EOC between 2000 and 2019 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Enrolled patients were randomly divided into the training and validation set at a ratio of 7:3. The OS and CSS were recognized as endpoint times. The independent prognostic factors from the multivariate analysis were used to establish nomograms for predicting the 3-, 5- and 10-year OS and CSS of elderly EOC patients. The improvement of predictive ability and clinical benefits were evaluated by consistency index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic (ROC), calibration curve, decision curve (DCA), net reclassification improvement (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). Finally, the treatment efficacy of surgery and chemotherapy in low-, medium-, and high-risk groups were displayed by Kaplan-Meier curves. Results A total of 5,588 elderly EOC patients were obtained and randomly assigned to the training set (n = 3724) and validation set (n = 1864). The independent prognostic factors were utilized to construct nomograms for OS and CSS. The C-index of the OS nomogram and CSS nomogram were 0.755 and 0.700 in the training cohort. In the validation cohort, the C-index of the OS nomogram and CSS nomogram were 0.746 and 0.696. The calibration curve demonstrated good concordance between the predicted survival rates and actual observations. Moreover, the NRI, IDI, and DCA curves determined the outperformance of the nomogram compared with the AJCC stage system. Besides, surgery had no benefit on the prognosis in the high-risk group. Chemotherapy had a better prognosis in the medium-, and high-risk groups, but not for the low-risk group. Conclusions We developed and validated nomograms for predicting OS and CSS in elderly EOC patients to help gynecologists to develop an appropriate individualized therapeutic schedule.

Our previous study showed that colored net shading treatments had comparable effects on the reduction of bitter and astringent compounds such as flavonol glycosides in tea leaves, compared with black net shading treatment, whereas the effects on the biomass and phytohormones are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the phytohormone and transcriptome profiles of tea leaves under different shading treatments, using black, blue, and red nets with the same shade percentages. The bud density, fresh weight of 100 buds, and yield under blue net shading treatments were greatly elevated by 2.00-fold, 1.24-fold, and 2.48-fold, compared with black net shading treatment, while their effects on flavonoid composition were comparable with black net shading treatment. The transcriptome profiles of different shade net-treated samples were well resolved and discriminated from control. The KEGG result indicated that the pathways of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, MAPK signaling pathways, and plant hormone signal transduction were differentially regulated by different shading treatments. The co-expression analysis showed that the contents of salicylic acid and melatonin were closely correlated with certain light signal perception and signaling genes (p < 0.05), and UVR8, PHYE, CRY1, PHYB, PHOT2, and HY5 had more close interactions with phytohormone biosynthetic genes (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that different shading treatments can mediate the growth of tea plants, which could be attributed to the regulatory effect on phytohormones levels, providing an instruction for the production of summer/autumn tea and matcha.

The single-shot readout data process is essential for the realization of high-fidelity qubits and fault-tolerant quantum algorithms in semiconductor quantum dots. However, the fidelity and visibility of the readout process is sensitive to the choice of the thresholds and limited by the experimental hardware. By demonstrating the linear dependence between the measured spin state probabilities and readout visibilities along with dark counts, we describe an alternative threshold-independent method for the single-shot readout of spin qubits in semiconductor quantum dots. We can obtain the extrapolated spin state probabilities of the prepared probabilities of the excited spin state through the threshold-independent method. Then, we analyze the corresponding errors of the method, finding that errors of the extrapolated probabilities cannot be neglected with no constraints on the readout time and threshold voltage. Therefore, by limiting the readout time and threshold voltage we ensure the accuracy of the extrapolated probability. Then, we prove that the efficiency and robustness of this method is 60 times larger than that of the most commonly used method. Moreover, we discuss the influence of the electron temperature on the effective area with a fixed external magnetic field and provide a preliminary demonstration for a single-shot readout up to 0.7 K/1.5T in the future., 18 pages, 6 figures

The innovation in highly efficient, stable, and economical bifunctional overall water-splitting electrocatalysts is critical in developing sustainable energy, but it remains challenging. In this re...

Our previous study showed that colored net shading treatments had comparable effects on the reduction of bitter and astringent compounds such as flavonol glycosides in tea leaves, compared with black net shading treatment, whereas the effects on the biomass and phytohormones are still unclear. In this study, we investigated the phytohormone and transcriptome profiles of tea leaves under different shading treatments, using black, blue, and red nets with the same shade percentages. The bud density, fresh weight of 100 buds, and yield under blue net shading treatments were greatly elevated by 2.00-fold, 1.24-fold, and 2.48-fold, compared with black net shading treatment, while their effects on flavonoid composition were comparable with black net shading treatment. The transcriptome profiles of different shade net-treated samples were well resolved and discriminated from control. The KEGG result indicated that the pathways of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, MAPK signaling pathways, and plant hormone signal transduction were differentially regulated by different shading treatments. The co-expression analysis showed that the contents of salicylic acid and melatonin were closely correlated with certain light signal perception and signaling genes (

This paper extends the quadrature method to price exotic options under jump-diffusion models. We compute the transition density of jump-extended models using convolution integrals. Furthermore, a simpler and more efficient lattice grid is introduced to implement the recursion more directly in matrix form. It can be shown that a lot of running time can be saved. At last, we apply the developed approach to the different jump-extended models to demonstrate its universality and provide a detailed comparison for the discrete path-dependent options to demonstrate its advantages in terms of speed and accuracy.

High chemical activity and unique electrochemical behaviour are responsible for the complicated corrosion mechanism of magnesium. Importantly, the anodic hydrogen evolution on Mg electrodes when applied anodic polarization is one of the greatest important characteristics for Mg corrosion. The phenomenon, referred to as negative difference effect (NDE), has always been of an interest in terms of Mg electrochemistry corrosion. In this article, the research progress of hypotheses and theories proposed to interpret this phenomenon was reviewed: assuming that univalent Mg+ existed during anodic polarization of Mg. According to this, increasing oxidation rate of magnesium by applying an anodic polarization increased the rate of hydrogen evolution since the rate of Mg+ entering into electrolyte increased at the same time. However, this theory has raised criticism since Mg+ has never been experimentally detected, despite the requirement of its finite lifetime. Film theory declared that the dark corrosion products containing bilayer of MgO and Mg(OH)2 films form on the corroded surface of magnesium were believed to exhibit enhanced catalytic activity towards hydrogen evolution as well. In addition, this declaration has been proved experimentally: hydrogen evolution rate on the dark corroded regions was faster than that on the uncorroded regions at free corrosion, especially at the boundaries of the corroded/uncorroded regions. However, the latest experiments demonstrated that the increase in cathodic activity of the corroded regions during anodic polarization provided a minor contribution to the increase in hydrogen evolution rate during anodic polarization, and rather the enhanced hydrogen evolution at anodic potentials (NDE) was dominated by the regions where the net anodic reaction occurred. Assuming that enrichment of impurities such as Fe and Mg atoms took place in corrosion products of Mg. It is believed that Fe enrichment was capable of enhancing catalytic activity towards hydrogen evolution. There were indeed evidences (microscope images) showing the enrichment of Fe atoms around the interface of metal/solution. Unfortunately, the accumulation of these atoms on the electrode only contributed to a very small part to hydrogen evolution in NDE in further studies. Further, some researchers asserted the great possibility of the existence of MgH2 which had a similar mechanism of NDE to univalent Mg+. Still, the experimental existence and stability of such intermediate agents were of great concern. Another study proposed a theory that H2O molecules were always of absorption and desorption on Mg electrode, which provided sufficient H atoms for NDE to take place. Though all these assumptions contributed to explaining the NDE phenomenon to some extent, they were still not so reasonable to be generally accepted. At last, it was pointed that the future development direction of the NDE phenomenon by using advanced in-situ electrochemistry techniques and adjusting the electrochemical parameters, to expect a reasonable NDE mechanism, further to develop the corrosion theory of metals.

Perovskite oxides based on the alkaline earth metal lanthanum for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolytes are promising catalysts, but their catalytic activity and stability remain unsatisfactory. Here, we synthesized a series of LaFe1−xMnxO3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1) perovskite oxides by doping Mn into LaFeO3 (LF). The results show that the doping amount of Mn has a significant effect on the catalytic performance. When x = 0.5, the catalyst LaFe0.5Mn0.5O3 (LFM) exhibits the best performance. The limiting current density in 0.1 mol·L−1 KOH solution is 7 mA·cm−2, much larger than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst (5.5 mA·cm−2). Meanwhile, the performance of the doped catalyst is also superior to that of commercial Pt/C in terms of the long-term durability. The excellent catalytic performance of LFM may be ascribed to its abundant O2−/O− species and low charge transfer resistance after doping the Mn element.

Bimetallic PdxFey alloy nanoparticles/carbon nanofiber (CNF) composites with different Pd/Fe mole ratios were successfully prepared by one-pot electrospinning of Pd and Fe precursors in polyacrylonitrile followed by pyrolysis. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were applied to characterize the structure of the PdxFey/CNF nanocomposite catalyst, revealing good dispersion as well as modification of the electronic properties of Pd. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry showed significantly high ethanol electrooxidation activity and stability in an alkaline environment for the PdxFey/CNF nanocomposites, compared to that of the commercial Pd/C and Pd/CNF catalysts, respectively. Thus, the prepared PdxFey/CNF catalyst can be considered as a promising anode catalyst for alkaline direct ethanol fuel cells.

Additional file 25: Figure S4. Melt and standard curve of qRT-PCR primers of LchiWRKYs.

Additional file 10: Figure S2. Multiple sequence alignment of LchiWRKYs.

Additional file 8: Figure S1. GO enrichment analysis of LchiWRKY genes.

As an attractive high-entropy alloy, AlCrCoNiCu high-entropy alloy has excellent corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and anti-bacterial capabilities, and is considered to be a potential substitute material for marine and nuclear industry materials with great potential. One key to further optimizing the performance of high entropy alloy was to prepare high entropy alloy powder materials with uniform composition, good flow-ability, and stable performance. In this work, the AlCrCoNiCu high entropy alloy powder was prepared by the gas atomization method. The results indicated that the powder was spherical in shape, homogeneous in composition, and composed of a face-center cubic (FCC) phase. After adding Fe and Mn elements, FCC and body-center cubic (BCC) phases appeared and the particle size of the powder was mainly located at 10–50 μm. Furthermore, the larger the particle size was, the more obvious the surface roughness was. With the decreasing powder size, its shape became relatively regular, and the surface roughness decreased. This work provided an experimental and theoretical reference for preparing high-performance single-phase and multi-phase high entropy alloy spherical powders.

Constipation and defecatory dysfunctions are frequent symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The pathology of Lewy bodies in colonic and rectal cholinergic neurons suggests that cholinergic pathways are involved in colorectal dysmotility in PD. However, the underlying mechanism is unclear. The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of central dopaminergic denervation in rats, induced by injection 6-hydroxydopamine into the bilateral substania nigra (6-OHDA rats), on colorectal contractive activity, content of acetylcholine (ACh), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and expression of neural nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and muscarinic receptor (MR). Strain gauge force transducers combined with electrical field stimulation (EFS), gut transit time, immunohistochemistry, ELISA, western blot and ultraperformance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry were used in this study. The 6-OHDA rats exhibited outlet obstruction constipation characterized by prolonged transit time, enhanced contractive tension and fecal retention in colorectum. Pretreatment with tetrodotoxin significantly increased the colorectal motility. EFS-induced cholinergic contractions were diminished in the colorectum. Bethanechol chloride promoted colorectal motility in a dose-dependent manner, and much stronger reactivity of bethanechol chloride was observed in 6-OHDA rats. The ACh, VIP and protein expression of nNOS was decreased, but M2R and M3R were notably upregulated in colorectal muscularis externa. Moreover, the number of cholinergic neurons was reduced in sacral parasympathetic nucleus (SPN) of 6-OHDA rats. In conclusion, central nigrostriatal dopaminergic denervation is associated with decreased cholinergic neurons in SPN, decreased ACh, VIP content, and nNOS expression and upregulated M2R and M3R in colorectum, resulting in colorectal dysmotility, which contributes to outlet obstruction constipation. The study provides new insights into the mechanism of constipation and potential therapeutic targets for constipation in PD patients.

Background Tea trees originated in southwest China 60 million or 70 million years ago. Written records show that Chinese ancestors had begun drinking tea over 3000 years ago. Nowadays, with the aging of populations worldwide and more people suffering from non-communicable diseases or poor health, tea beverages have become an inexpensive and fine complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy. At present, there are 3 billion people who like to drink tea in the world, but few of them actually understand tea, especially on its development process and the spiritual and cultural connotations. Methods We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, CNKI, and other relevant platforms with the key word “tea”, and reviewed and analyzed tea-related literatures and pictures in the past 40 years about tea’s history, culture, customs, experimental studies, and markets. Results China is the hometown of tea, tea trees, tea drinking, and tea culture. China has the oldest wild and planted tea trees in the world, fossil of a tea leaf from 35,400,000 years ago, and abundant tea-related literatures and art works. Moreover, tea may be the first Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) used by Chinese people in ancient times. Tea drinking has many benefits to our physical health via its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immuno-regulatory, anticancer, cardiovascular-protective, anti-diabetic, and anti-obesity activities. At the moment, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc across the globe and causing severe damages to people’s health and lives. Tea has anti-COVID-19 functions via the enhancement of the innate immune response and inhibition of viral growth. Besides, drinking tea can allow people to acquire a peaceful, relaxed, refreshed and cheerful enjoyment, and even longevity. According to the meridian theory of traditional Chinese medicine, different kinds of tea can activate different meridian systems in the human body. At present, black tea (fermented tea) and green tea (non-fermented tea) are the most popular in the world. Black tea accounts for over 90% of all teas sold in western countries. The world’s top-grade black teas include Qi Men black in China, Darjeeling and Assam black tea in India, and Uva black tea in Sri Lanka. However, all top ten famous green teas in the world are produced in China, and Xi Hu Long Jing tea is the most famous among all green teas. More than 700 different kinds of components and 27 mineral elements can be found in tea. Tea polyphenols and theaflavin/thearubigins are considered to be the major bioactive components of black tea and green tea, respectively. Overly strong or overheated tea liquid should be avoided when drinking tea. Conclusions Today, CAM provides an array of treatment modalities for the health promotion in both developed and developing countries all over the world. Tea drinking, a simple herb-based CAM therapy, has become a popular man-made non-alcoholic beverage widely consumed worldwide, and it can improve the growth of economy as well. Tea can improve our physical and mental health and promote the harmonious development of society through its chemical and cultural elements.

Large mode area (LMA) has been a cornerstone of high power fibre amplifiers and lasers thanks to the power scaling capability without exceeding the intensity threshold for nonlinear effects and optical damage. Many applications require single-mode operation, and conventionally, these fibres are designed to operate with the fundamental mode. Alternatively, a single higher order mode (HOM) with the intensity distribution of a zeroth order Bessel function LP0m (usually m ≥ 4) can propagate stably in a highly multimode step-index fibre. These HOMs are also reported to be more resistant to bending induced distortions and mode coupling than the fundamental mode. Fibre amplifiers for these modes may have higher mode area scaling capability and can then offer higher power threshold for nonlinearities. So far, rare-earth (RE) doped fibre amplifiers for these HOMs have been demonstrated, while fibre Raman amplifiers (FRAs) for such modes have not been reported prior to my thesis work. FRAs are unique in that they are wavelength agile. More importantly for my thesis work, they may preserve the target HOM better than a RE-doped fibre amplifier does thanks to not only better control of fibre perturbations, but also to the absence of local gain saturation. Additionally, FRAs for HOMs can be better than cladding pumped FRAs in that they fulfil the area ratio requirement for efficient first order Stokes conversion while allowing stable single mode operation. This thesis is dedicated to the demonstration of the mode preservation and brightness enhancement capability of FRAs for HOMs. I start with investigations of signal mode purity degradation via numerical simulations and compare the performance of typical Yb-doped fibre amplifiers (YDFAs) and FRAs both with the same HOM. Results show that the mode purity is preserved better in the FRA than in the YDFA for incoherent signal and pump. My experimental demonstrations are restricted to FRAs and start with pulsed Raman amplification of a single HOM in large core step index fibres with lengths of ~10 m. The signal output sees 18 dB gain and is ~14 dB brighter in terms of maximum power in a single mode than the launched multimode pump, with good mode purity preservation and weighted conversion efficiency. Then a pulsed FRA in 335 m of large core step index fibre is demonstrated with over 23 dB amplification to the signal and ~16 dB brightness enhancement from the launched pump. The purity degradation is modest and is likely to be the result of the emergence of 2nd order Stokes. The low pump brightness also points towards direct diode laser pumping, which I attempted with an 877-m large core step index fibre and spectrally combined pumping from five diode lasers. A 6 dB Raman gain of the signal is achieved with quasi-CW pump with ~170 W combined peak power, which is expected to be improved with further optimizations. These results successfully demonstrate the capability and potential of power scaling and brightness enhancement of FRAs with HOMs.The advantages of FRAs are also utilized with fibre modes carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). These OAM modes (OAMM) can be viewed as pairs of spatially coherent degenerate modes, in which the angular momentum improves the stability to some perturbations. Although in this case, the saturation of RE-doped fibre amplifiers may aid in suppressing the growth of degenerate parasitic modes, notably those of conjugate charges, FRAs are still preserving the target OAMM well, which is evident by the experimental results presented in the thesis. I first describe a pulsed FRA for a charge-2 OAMM in a 5-m multimode step index fibre with 15 dB maximum gain with an amplified signal mode purity of 83.2% dropping from 95.8% when unamplified. The purity degradation is attributed to coupling into the conjugate charge which I expect to decrease for higher charges. The subsequent experiment of Raman amplification of a charge-15 OAMM in a 30-m large core step index fibre confirms this. The signal gain reached 9.2 dB, with only modest purity degradation from 84.3% to 78.4% and negligible coupling into the conjugate charges. The results of both HOMs and OAMMs have proven the feasibility of FRAs for power scaling of these modes with great signal mode preservation, making FRAs an attractive alternative to RE-doped fibre amplifiers.

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technology is widely used in the fields of aerospace, shipbuilding, and automobile industry due to the advantages of fast forming speed, high material utilization and low production cost. WAAM is extremely sensitive to parameters, and different processes and materials produce different deposition effects and properties. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the WAAM formability of various materials. Herein, the microstructure, mechanical properties, and galvanic corrosion behavior of the low-carbon high-strength steel (10CrNi3MoV) fabricated by cold metal transfer (CMT) WAAM technology were investigated. The single-channel multilayer deposition parts were prepared by reciprocating deposition, and the forming parts were divided into six zones by observing the different positions of the structure: matrix, heat-affected zone, remelting zone, initial deposition zone, interlayer zone, and interlayer bonding zone. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis showed that the amount of recrystallization and substructure in the deposition layer had no obvious change, and the texture phenomenon was the most obvious in the initial deposition zone of the pole map reaction. The texture phenomenon gradually weakened with the increase of the deposition layers. The microhardness from the matrix to the deposition stable zone was tested. The hardness of the matrix changed smoothly, that of the heat-affected zone was the largest, and that of the deposition layer was 221–282 HV0.2. The tensile properties were tested in different directions and angles, and the yield strength and tensile strength of the deposited layer were more than 550 MPa and 760 MPa, respectively. The galvanic corrosion behavior between the deposited layer and the matrix was investigated, and the polarization curve showed that the corrosion potential of the deposited layer was lower than that of the matrix, and the corrosion current density of the deposited layer was higher than that of the matrix.

Dopamine regulates gastrointestinal mucosal barrier. Mucus plays important roles in the protection of intestinal mucosa. Here, the regulatory effect of dopamine on rat colonic mucus secretion was investigated. RT-PCR, immunofluorescence, Periodic Acid-Schiff reagent assay, Alcian blue-Periodic Acid-Schiff staining, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were used to observe the expression of dopamine receptor and the direct effect of dopamine on the colonic mucus. Mice injected intraperitoneally with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) destroying enteric dopamine (DA) neurons, rats microinjected with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the bilateral substantia nigra damaging central dopaminergic neurons, and dopamine D5receptor-downregulated transgenic mice were used to detect the effect of endogenous enteric dopamine or dopamine receptors on distal colonic mucus. Our results indicated that D5immunoreactivity was widely distributed on the colonic goblet cells. Dopamine dose-dependently increased rat distal colonic mucus secretion in vitro. D1-like receptor antagonist SCH23390 inhibited dopamine (1 μΜ)-induced distal colonic mucus secretion. D1-like receptor agonist SKF38393 promoted mucin 2 (MUC2) secretion and increased the intracellular cAMP level of colonic mucosa. D5receptor-downregulated transgenic mice showed a decreased colonic MUC2 content. MPTP-treated mice exhibited lower colonic dopamine content and decreased colonic mucus content. 6-OHDA rats had an increase in the dopamine content in colonic mucosa but decreases in the protein levels of D1and D5receptors and MUC2 content in the colonic mucosa. These findings reveal that dopamine is able to promote distal colonic mucus secretion through the D5receptor, which provides important evidence to better understand the possible role of dopamine in the colonic mucosal barrier.

Oxidative stress which can be induced by cigarette smoke (CS) is associated with an altered osteoblast differentiation, and an inhibition of the mineralization process. Therefore, treatments focusing on reducing oxidative stress in osteoblasts could be a potential therapy supporting bone formation. Maqui berry extract (MBE) is the richest natural source of delphinidins with high antioxidant activity. In the present study, we pre-/ co-/ post-incubated MBE in cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-affected human osteoblasts (hOBs), to investigate the effects of MBE as an antioxidant on hOBs. Our results clearly showed that high concentrations of MBE are toxic for hOBs, while physiological concentrations of MBE have no negative effects in vitro. Physiological concentrations of MBE can reduce oxidative stress caused by CSE in hOBs by activating the antioxidative regulator Nrf2 and its regulated antioxidative enzymes. Moreover, the physiological concentration of MBE prevents the detrimental effects of CSE-induced oxidative damage on hOBs by increasing cell viability, differentiation capability and matrix mineralization. Pre-incubation with MBE showed a positive effect on the activation of the cellular antioxidant system in hOBs. Thus, we conclude that MBE at physiological concentrations can effectively protect osteoblasts from oxidative stress-induced damage by activating the cells’ antioxidative defense system., EXCLI Journal; 20:Doc281; ISSN 1611-2156

Schisandrae Fructus (SF), the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baillon, has been used for the treatment of liver injury and metabolism-related disorders in China. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of supplementation with ethanol extract of SF seed (EtSF-S) on serum/hepatic lipid and glucose levels as well as fecal total cholesterol (TC) contents in mice fed a normal diet (ND) or high-fat/fructose diet (HFFD) containing 15% lard oil and 15% fructose. Female ICR mice (18–20 g in body weight) were fed with ND or HFFD for 3 months, and then EtSF-S was added to both chow diets at increasing concentrations of 1, 5, and 10% (w/w). Thirty days later, serum and hepatic lipids, including TC, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and glucose, were measured. Dietary supplementation with EtSF-S reduced hepatic TC (36 and 18%) and TG levels (38 and 28%) and increased serum HDL/LDL ratio (16 and 26%) in both ND- and HFFD-fed mice, respectively. Moreover, supplementation with EtSF-S elevated serum HDL (31%) in HFFD-fed mice and reduced serum LDL (27%) in ND-fed mice. EtSF-S treatment reduced fat mass (40%) in ND-fed mice and increased fecal TC contents (33%) in HFFD-fed mice. EtSF-S supplementation decreased hepatic glucose contents (29%) in both ND- and HFFD-fed mice. However, diet supplemented with EtSF-S elevated serum TG levels (up to 123%) and hepatic size (28%), but more importantly, suppressed the body weight gain (approximately 130%) in mice fed with HFFD. These findings suggested that dietary supplementation with EtSF-S as natural herbal function food may be a useful strategy for the treatment of patients with fatty liver disease or overweight without a high intake of sugar and fat.

A bio-inspired strategy has been proposed to synthesize a unique kind of 3D porous cobalt oxide and carbon nanosheet composite materials (PCN@Co3O4), as a lithium-ion battery anode material. In this work, turnip has been chosen as a two-dimensional nanobiomass carbon substrate and choosing cobalt salt as the metal precursor by using plant cell suction phenomenon of dehydration to prepare PCN@Co3O4. When PCN@Co3O4 is applied for the anode material for lithium-ion batteries, it delivers ultrahigh reversible capacity and excellent electrochemical performance. After 100 cycles, PCN@Co3O4 has a reversible specific capacity of 1004.2 mA h g−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1 and a reversible capacity of about 923.7 mA h g−1 after 400 cycles even at a high current density of 1000 mA g−1. Furthermore, it also exhibits a high rate capability, which can be stabilized at about 1151, 939.7, 771.4, and 631.5 mA h g−1 for every 10 successive cycles when increasing the current density to 100, 500, 1000, and 1500 mA g−1, respectively. And a satisfactory-specific capacity can be recovered to the original value (about 1150 mA h g−1) at a current density of 100 mA g−1 after 60 discharge/charge cycles.

Due to higher theoretical capacity and lower cost, the lithium-sulfur battery gradually replaces the traditional lithium-ion battery. Unfortunately, the shuttle effect of lithium-sulfur batteries is an important factor that hinders their marketization inputs. In this article, we propose an in-situ extrinsic metal etching strategy to activate inert single-metal nitrides through doping methods. The construction of the functional layer on the diaphragm results in an internal electric field directed to the negative electrode between the diaphragm and the negative electrode. The construction of the internal electric field is benefit for the moving of the anions and cations, thereby reducing the dissolution of the polysulfides. Moreover, it is found that the initial capacity reaches 1421 mAh g−1 and the utilization of sulfur reaches 84.83% at 0.1C. The initial capacity is 1280.8 mAh g−1, and there is 466.4 mAh g−1 specific capacity remaining after 1400 cycles and the decay rate is 0.045% at the rate of 1C. Even at the high rate of 5C, the initial capacity is 1097.2 mAh g−1 and the specific capacity of 379.4 mAh g−1 remains after 800 cycles.

A recrystallization-refined Ni-Fe-Cr-Nb-Ti-Al high-entropy alloy coating was prepared by supersonic particle deposition followed by laser irradiation. The surface-interface morphology, microstructure, grain orientation, and phase were examined by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometry, electron backscatter diffraction, and X-ray diffraction analyses, respectively. The inverse pole figure of the coating showed that a large number of ultrafine grains and even nanograins filled the entire microscopic image. In addition, the refined grains did not show obvious preferred orientations and indicated isotropic features. Further, the fatigue limit of the recrystallized coating was 252 MPa, and the ability to realize uniform plastic deformation and stable deformation was enhanced owing to the high tensile strength and elongation ratio, which were 3000 MPa and 14%, respectively. The coating had a friction coefficient of 0.189, residual stress of −14.3 ± 6 MPa, and microhardness of 720 kgf/mm2. The capacitance radius of the Nyquist plot indicated that passivation formation improved the shielding performance of the coating.

The current high entropy alloys' studies are most in block, powder, coating, film and other areas. There are few studies of high entropy alloys in other areas and they are lack of unified classification. According to the current high entropy alloys' research situation, The paper has focused on the classification on all kinds of high entropy alloys having been researched, introduced the selecting principle of elements, summarized the preparation methods, reviewed the research institutions, research methods and research contents of high entropy alloys, prospected the application prospect of high entropy alloys, put forward a series of scientific problems of high entropy alloys, including less research on mechanism, incomplete performance research, unsystematic thermal stability study, preparation process parameters to be optimized, lightweight high entropy alloys' design, the expansion on the research field, etc, and the solutions have been given. Those have certain guiding significance for the expansion of the application of high entropy alloys subjects in the future research direction.

The cracking evolution and failure mechanisms of Ti/TiN coatings on depleted uranium (DU) deposited by high power impulse magnetron sputtering were investigated by combing a compression-to-fail test and a numerical fracture modeling technique. The coating buckling and interface delamination were induced by unaxial compression tests, meanwhile the cracking pattern and the buckling characteristics were tracked and measured by an optical microscope (OM). A three dimensional (3D) cohesive fracture model considering both detailed coating cracking and interface cracking was developed to analyse the coating failure mechanism and to evaluate the interfacial adhesive properties. Our simulation results agree well with experiments. It is found that the coupled interacting of ridge crack and a pair of fringe cracks in coatings lead to a spontaneous self-replication propagation for the buckle; mode I fracture played a dominant role in the initiation and propagation of the ridge crack and fringe cracks; the top, the tails and the remained part of the curved interface crack front experienced pure mode I, pure mode II and mixed mode fracture, respectively. The interfacial adhesive strength of Ti/TiN coatings on DU was in the range of 80–100 Mpa, and the critical interfacial adhesive energy was in the range of 2–3 J/m2.

Surfacing deposition forming method was adopted to carry out remanufacturing experiment of FV520B precipitation hardening stainless steel. Then the mechanical property characteristic of the remanufacturing layer was tested and studied, contrasted with the corresponding property of substrate. The results show that the remanufacturing layer, formed with MAG surfacing of FV520B precipitation hardening stainless steel has mechanical characteristic with high strength and hardness, the tensile strength reaches 1195MPa, exceeds 1092MPa of substrate, yield strength is 776MPa and average hardness is 336HV, is close to the corresponding property of substrate which is 859MPa and 353HV respectively; however, the elongation and impact toughness of the remanufacturing layer is merely 8.92% and 61J/cm2 respectively, it has a large gap with the corresponding property 19.72% and 144J/cm2 respectively of substrate. Fracture and microstructure analysis on specimens shows that the microstructure of remanufacturing layer is fast cooling non-equilibrium crystallized lath martensite, and carbide precipitated strengthening phase such as NbC, MoC, M23C6,etc, which is the reason that remanufacturing layer has high strength and high hardness. But as lack of aging treatment and Cu strengthening phase, and the weak interface between contaminating brittle phase or large size spherical particles and substrate will deteriorate the deformability and induce stress concentration and cracking when the material is load-carrying, and is the main reason of the remanufacturing layer having lower static tensile elongation and impact toughness.

In this work, we design a novel and facile strategy to synthesize a three-dimensional (3D) cross-linked structural composite with PANI and MOF-derived N-doped porous carbon composite (3CPC). The novel and facile method realize interconnected structure composed of an ultrahigh surface area of N-doped porous carbon and conductive PANI fiber, which can offer more contact area between the electrode material and electrolyte to provide more active sites for charge storage and shorten the pathway for electron transfer. As a result, the 3CPC shows an extraordinarily efficient specific capacity of 755 F g −1 and good cycling stability at a current density of 1 A g −1 in 1 M H 2 SO 4 , which suggests its potential application as an efficient material for supercapacitor.

Objectives: Smoking has negative effects on bone integrity, and is associated with increased incidence of fractures. Following orthopedic surgeries smokers show delayed fracture healing and increased frequency of complications, resulting in prolonged hospital stays. One crucial factor responsible for[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL], Deutscher Kongress für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie (DKOU 2019)

We contribute to a growing literature on economic and financial impacts of political uncertainty by assessing whether heightened uncertainty associated with an important political event is priced into stock returns. Our particular study looks at the period surrounding the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, although we argue that our approach and findings have wider relevance to assessing impacts of other political events, including Brexit. Using company data and portfolio-level analysis we document significant variation in returns and demonstrate that uncertainty betas help predict the cross-sectional dispersion of returns. These findings are robust to inclusion of controls (standard risk factors), but no longer hold when a Scottish specific uncertainty measure is replaced with UK-wide measures of either economic policy uncertainty or stock market uncertainty, adding support to the hypothesis that our findings are driven by referendum related uncertainty. We conclude that heightened political uncertainty was priced during the period surrounding the referendum, i.e. that uncertainty averse investors succeeded in gaining compensation for holding the volatile stocks of Scottish headquartered companies

The flow field of the air-ejector of liquid ring vacuum pump is 3D simulated by applying the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique. According to the simulation results, the relationship between suction pressure and mass flow rate of suction fluid is obtained. Compare with the experimental results, it is verified that the numerical simulation method adopted in this paper is feasible. Then using the simulation method to analyze the influence of the outlet pressure and suction pressure on the performance of the air-ejector. The result show that: When the motive pressure and the suction pressure are constant, there is a critical outlet pressure Pd*, which corresponds to the optimum working point of the air-ejector, which can provide a reference for determining the outlet pressure in ejector design. When the motive pressure and outlet pressure are constant, the entrainment ratio and air-ejector efficiency increase with the suction pressure, but the vacuum capacity of the air-ejector decreases and the application range becomes smaller.

Rationale: Ventilator-associated complications comprise important fatal aetiologies during heart transplantation. Ultra-fast anesthesia might provide the most effective measure to prevent this type of complication. Immediate extubation after heart transplantation (IEAHT) has recently been reported in adult patients. However, IEAHT in children is much more challenging due to limitations in anesthesia protocols. Recently, we managed to perform an ultra-fast anesthesia protocol combined with IEAHT during a heart transplant operation in a child, who had an excellent postoperative outcome. Patient concerns: A 13-year-old girl had been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy 5 years before this case, due to intractable dyspnoea and cough. She received multiple medical treatments after diagnosis, with minimal effects. Physical examination findings included a bulge in her left chest and pitting edema over both legs. Moist rales could be heard in the lung. Echocardiography revealed very large heart chambers, with an ejection fraction of 17%. Diagnosis: The patient was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and scheduled to undergo an emergent operation for heart transplantation. Interventions: The patient underwent an ultra-fast anesthesia protocol and ultra-fast reversal during heart transplantation. General anesthesia was induced with etomidate, fentanyl, and vecuronium; it was then maintained with remifentanil-based total intravenous anesthesia. Outcomes: Immediately after the end of the operation, the patient was brought to consciousness with stable breathing and haemodynamics. The patient was successfully extubated on the operating table and transferred to the intensive care unit with spontaneous breathing, without postoperative mechanical ventilation. The recovery period was uneventful and the patient was discharged 1 month later without complications. Lessons: Our experience, in this case, revealed that IEAHT in children is achievable if the ultra-fast protocol is performed properly and carefully, in order to prevent ventilator-associated complications.

Dopamine regulates gastrointestinal mucosal barrier. Mucus plays important roles in the protection of intestinal mucosa. Here, the regulatory effect of dopamine on rat colonic mucus secretion was investigated. RT-PCR, immunofluorescence, Periodic Acid-Schiff reagent assay, Alcian blue-Periodic Acid-Schiff staining, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were used to observe the expression of dopamine receptor and the direct effect of dopamine on the colonic mucus. Mice injected intraperitoneally with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) destroying enteric dopamine (DA) neurons, rats microinjected with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the bilateral substantia nigra damaging central dopaminergic neurons, and dopamine D

Attempts were made to recover succinic acid from aqueous solution by macroporous resin adsorption. The adsorption properties of succinic acid on seven different resins (HPD-300, HPD-400, HPD-450, HPD-500, HPD-826, AB-8, and NKA-9) were compared systematically. According to the adsorption capacity, NKA-9 was chosen as the most suitable resin for succinic acid purification. The influences of solution pH, initial succinic acid concentration, and temperature were studied by the static adsorption method. The maximum adsorption capacity for succinic acid on NKA-9 was 155.9 mg·g–1 and obtained at pH 2.0, initial concentration 50 mg·mL–1 and 10 °C. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were used to describe the interactions between solutes and resins, and the equilibrium experimental data were well fitted to the two isotherms. The kinetic data were modeled using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intraparticle diffusion equations. The experimental data were well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic ...

Remelting treatment of In718 and In625 coatings deposited by supersonic particles were conducted by using laser technology. The microstructure, phase composition, microhardness, wear resistance and corrosion of the coating before and after remelting were studied. The results showed that defects such as voids and cracks of the deposited coating were eliminated by laser remelting treatment, the microstructure of the coating became compact and uniform and the bonding mode changed from mechanical bonding to metallurgical bonding. The deposited coating consisted of γ-Ni solid solution and Fe3Ni2 intermetallic compound phase, remelting to form a new phase Ni3(Al,Ti) and high hard phase carbide (Nb,Mo) C. The average microhardness of the remelted coating was 6.96 GPa, which was 1.72 times than that of the deposited coating. The wear resistance of remelting coating was significantly better than that of deposited coating and substrate, and its wear form was mainly abrasive wear. The corrosion resistance of the coating was significantly improved after remelting treatment.

In this paper, an efficient strategy for the synthesis of graphene nanobelt-titanium dioxide/graphitic carbon nitride (graphene-TiO2/g-C3N4) heterostructure photocatalyst was applied to fabricate a kind of visible-light-driven photocatalyst. The heterostructure shows higher absorption edge towards harvesting more solar energy compared with pure TiO2 and pure g-C3N4 respectively. Furthermore, the as-prepared graphene-TiO2/g-C3N4 heterostructure can show enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation. These outstanding performances of photocatalytic activities for graphene-TiO2/g-C3N4 composites can be attributed to the heterojunction interfaces which can separate the electron-hole pairs and impede the recombination of electrons and holes more efficiently. This study conclusively demonstrates a facile and environmentally friendly new strategy to design highly efficient graphene-TiO2/g-C3N4 heterostructure photocatalytic materials for potential applications under visible-light irradiation.

Bone tissue undergoes constant remodeling and healing when fracture happens, in order to ensure its structural integrity. In order to better understand open biological and clinical questions linked to various bone diseases, bone cell co-culture technology is believed to shed some light into the dark. Osteoblasts/osteocytes and osteoclasts dominate the metabolism of bone by a multitude of connections. Therefore, it is widely accepted that a constant improvement of co-culture models with both cell types cultured on a 3D scaffold, is aimed to mimic an in vivo environment as closely as possible. Although in recent years a considerable knowledge of bone co-culture models has been accumulated, there are still many open questions. We here try to summarize the actual knowledge and address open questions.

Jing-hua Pan,1 Hong Zhou,2 Sheng-bin Zhu,1 Jin-lian Huang,1 Xiao-xu Zhao,1 Hui Ding,1 Yun-long Pan1 1Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China; 2Department of Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China Abstract: RAF kinase is crucially involved in cell proliferation and survival in colorectal cancer (CRC). Patients with metastatic CRC (mCRC) harboring BRAF mutations (BRAFms) not only experience a poor prognosis but also benefit less from therapeutics targeting ERK signaling. With advances in RAF inhibitors and second-generation inhibitors including encorafenib and vemurafenib, which have been approved for treating BRAF-V600E malignancies, the combinatorial therapeutic strategies of RAF inhibitors elicit remarkable responses in patients with BRAF-V600E mCRC. However, the therapeutic efficacy is restricted by resistance, which might be due to RAF dimerization and reactivation of the MAPK pathway. In addition, the next-generation RAF inhibitors, which are characterized by varying structural and biochemical properties, have achieved preclinical and clinical advances. Herein, we summarize the existing mechanism of RAF kinases in CRC, including MAPK feedback reactivation of resistance to RAF inhibitors. We additionally summarize the development of three generations of RAF inhibitors and different therapeutic strategies including the combination of EGFR, BRAF, and PI3K inhibitors for BRAFm CRC treatment. Keywords: BRAF, inhibitor, colorectal cancer, V600E, structure, resistance

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Acute nonspecific neck pain is one of the major public health problems lacking efficient treatments. The present study was designed to observe the analgesic effect of intracutaneous injection of local anesthestics and steroids on acute nonspecific neck pain. Thirty-six newly diagnosed with acute nonspecific neck pain patients were randomized to receive ibuprofen (IPB group) or intracutaneous injection of local anesthetics (lidocaine and bupivacaine) and steroid (methylprednisolone) (MLB group). The pain intensity was the primary outcome and evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS). Neck disability index (NDI) and patient global impression of changes (PGIC) were monitored for overall outcomes. Following treatments, patients from the 2 groups have decreased VAS scores and NDI when compared with their baseline level at 3 hours, day 1, and day 3 time points. Interestingly, the MLB group patients have lower VAS scores and NDI than IPB group. MLB patients also had a greater PGIC than IPB group. This study indicates that single intracutaneous injection of local anesthetics and steroids is sufficient to alleviate acute nonspecific neck pain.

Regulatory ability of micro-ribose nucleic acid-130a (miRNA-130a) in the proliferation and invasive growth of human brain glioma cells and its mechanism were investigated. RT-qPCR was used to analyze expression of miRNA-130a in U-87MG glioma specimens; lipidosome was used to mediate miRNA-130a mimic transfecting glioma cells and the expression of miRNA-130a was detected by using RT-qPCR after transfection; methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay and flow cytometry (FCM) were adopted to evaluate the changes in biological characteristics of cell growth and proliferation; the migration and invasion abilities of tumor cells were measured through scratch assay and Transwell in vitro cell migration assay. In miRNA-130a mimic-transfected U-87MG cells, RT-qPCR showed that the expression of miRNA-130a was upregulated; MTT assay and FCM revealed that the cell growth was strengthened; scratch assay and Transwell in vitro cell migration assay verified that the migration and invasion abilities of cells were enhanced. In conclusion, the high expression of miRNA-130a can promote growth and invasion, indicating that miRNA-130a can be considered as a candidate target of gene therapy for glioma.