Search

Purpose Presenting a chain mediation model to investigate whether mobile phone dependence results in a reduction in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Chinese college students, through the mediating effect of chronotype and sleep quality.Design and Setting A cross-sectional survey was conducted on students from a Chinese university using a validated structured questionnaire.Sample 2014 freshmen.Measures The study measured the students’ level of mobile phone dependence using the Self-rating Questionnaire for Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use. Chronotype and sleep quality were measured by the Chinese version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. HRQoL was evaluated using the five-level EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L), including a descriptive system and a visual analog scale (VAS).Analysis Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and mediation analysis.Results Mobile phone dependence had a significant negative effect on HRQoL as indicated by both the EQ-5D-5L index score and EQ-VAS score (P< .001 for both). Additionally, it was found to significantly predict chronotype (MEQ score) (β= −.546, P< .001) and sleep quality (PSQI score) (β= .163, P< .001). Chronotype negatively predict sleep quality (β= −.058, P< .001), and sleep quality was a significant negative predictor of HRQoL (EQ-5D-5L index score, β= −.008, P< .001; EQ-VAS score, β= −1.576, P< .001).Conclusion Mobile phone dependence negatively impacts students’ HRQoL through chronotype and sleep quality, and there is a chain mediating effect. Students should consider making lifestyle changes to improve their HRQoL and promote health.

In this work, Cr2O3/TiO2composite coatings were prepared on α-Al2O3insulating ceramic matrix surface by screen printing and solid phase sintering methods to yield an average film thickness of about 14.10 μm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed changes in the pore structures of the coatings at different TiO2contents. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis of the coating surface roughness suggested a TiO2content of 0.025 mol to yield the best surface roughness and pore structure of the coating. The calculation showed an increase in the energy level of the deep trap center on the surface from 1.506 eV to 1.547 eV, reaching a maximum. The surface resistivity of insulating ceramics decreased from 1016 Ω to 1012 Ω. The formation of deep surface traps and the decrease in surface resistivity promoted charge dispersion and suppressed the formation of flashover channels, effectively improving the surface flashover voltage of the ceramics.

A design scheme of a static shaft turbofan engine is proposed to meet the requirements of light weight and large thrust weight ratio of small aeroengine. As the core component of stable combustion, the thermal protection problem of the mid-mounted combustion chamber is particularly prominent. This paper designs a mid-mounted combustion chamber configuration that combines gas film cooling and central combustion. The influence of structural parameters on combustion characteristics is explored by numerical simulation, and the theoretical design and numerical simulation is verified based on combustion test results. The results show that the flame shape of the mid-mounted combustion chamber conforms to the characteristics of central combustion. The combustion effect of the nozzle with spray angle of 45° and flow rate of 1.87 kg/h meets the requirements of secondary combustion of the static shaft turbofan engine, and the air inlet of the combustion liner effectively increases the thickness of the cooling gas film. The experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical simulation results, and the temperature of the combustion liner wall can be reduced effectively. The above research provides a theoretical basis for the combustion chamber design of small static shaft turbofan engines and a reference for the thermal protection methods of small aeroengine combustion chambers.

Quantum interference is a natural consequence of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics, and is widely observed at the atomic scale. One interesting manifestation of quantum interference is coherent population trapping (CPT), first proposed in three-level driven atomic systems and observed in quantum optical experiments. Here, we demonstrate CPT in a gate-defined semiconductor double quantum dot (DQD), with some unique twists as compared to the atomic systems. Specifically, we observe CPT in both driven and nondriven situations. We further show that CPT in a driven DQD could be used to generate adiabatic state transfer. Moreover, our experiment reveals a nontrivial modulation to the CPT caused by the longitudinal driving field, yielding an odd–even effect and a tunable CPT. Our results broaden the field of CPT, and open up the possibility of quantum simulation and quantum computation based on adiabatic passage in quantum dot systems.

Simultaneous sensitive and precise determination of multibiomarkers is of great significance for improving detection efficiency, reducing diagnosis and treatment expenses, and elevating survival rates. However, the development of simple and portable biosensors for simultaneous determination of multiplexed targets in biological fluids still faces challenges. Herein, a unique and versatile immobilization-free dual-target electrochemical biosensing platform, which combines distinguishable magnetic signal reporters with buoyancy-magnetism separation, was designed and constructed for simultaneous detection of carcinoembryonic (CEA) and α-fetoprotein (AFP) in intricate biological fluids. To construct such distinguishable magnetic signal reporters with signal transduction, amplification, and output, secondary antibodies of CEA and AFP were respectively functionalized on methylene blue (MB) and 6-(ferrocenyl)hexanethiol (FeC) modified Fe3O4@Au magnetic nanocomposites. Meanwhile, a multifunctional flotation probe with dual target recognition, capture, and isolation capability was prepared by conjugating primary antibodies (Ab1-CEA, Ab1-AFP) to hollow buoyant microspheres. The target antigens of CEA and AFP can trigger a flotation-mediated sandwich-type immunoreaction and capture a certain amount of the distinguishable magnetic signal reporter, which enables the conversion of the target CEA and AFP quantities to the signal of the potential-resolved MB and FeC. Thus, the MB and FeC currents of magnetically adsorbed distinguishable magnetic reporters can be used to determine the CEA and AFP targets simultaneously and precisely. Accordingly, the proposed strategy exhibited a delightful linear response for CEA and AFP in the range of 100 fg·mL–1–100 ng·mL–1with detection limits of 33.34 and 17.02 fg·mL–1(S/N= 3), respectively. Meanwhile, no significant nonspecific adsorption and cross-talk were observed. The biosensing platform has shown satisfactory performance in the determination of real clinical samples. More importantly, the proposed approach can be conveniently extended to universal detection just by simply substituting biorecognition events. Thus, this work opens up a new promising perspective for dual and even multiple targets and offers promising potential applications in clinical diagnosis.

Excipients are important components of pharmaceutical preparations that affect their quality, safety, and efficacy. Macrocyclic receptors are a family of supramolecular excipients with several advantages, including molecular-level protection, small sizes, fast kinetics of host-guest recognition, and modular construction. With the continuous advances in the medical field, personalized and precision medicine requires the development of excipients with low dosages, integrated modifying effects, universality, and controlled release. To meet these requirements, we have developed a new family of macrocyclic excipients based on calixarenes by integrating their covalent (broad chemical design space) and noncovalent (wide range of substrates) advantages. Accordingly, azocalixarenes (AzoCAs) were designed, showing high binding affinities to a broad spectrum of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), selectivity to interferents, and responsiveness to hypoxic microenvironments. Due to their highly efficient and controllable recognition, AzoCAs serve as low-dose excipients for 30 APIs. Molecular encapsulation by AzoCAs results in the integrated modification of the physicochemical properties of APIs, including solubility, stability, bioavailability, and biocompatibility. Moreover, AzoCAs can be reduced by azoreductases overexpressed in hypoxic microenvironments, leading to the controlled release of APIs. Collectively, AzoCA excipients have broad application prospects for a series of diseases such as enteritis, arthritis, stroke, cancer, bacterial infection and kidney injury, with diverse therapeutic modalities, including chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, immunotherapy, boron neutron capture therapy, radiotherapy, fluorescence imaging, and their combinations.

Although carbonatite-alkaline complexes are the primary source of the world’s niobium (Nb) supply, the mineralization style is largely variable in these complexes and the processes behind their formation are still poorly understood. Exemplifying with our new observations on the ~430 Ma Miaoya and Shaxiongdong carbonatite-syenite complexes in the southern Qinling orogenic belt, central China, show that disseminated Nb mineralization in these two deposits is pervasive throughout the entire complexes in both syenite and carbonatite. Both magmatic and hydrothermal processes have contributed to Nb mineralization in both deposits, despite differences in the mineralization style. The Nb-bearing minerals in the mineralized Miaoya syenites include magmatic U-poor pyrochlore, rutile, and ilmenite with minor amounts of columbite, and hydrothermal columbite and rutile, whereas those in the mineralized carbonatites are mainly magmatic U-poor pyrochlore, uranpyrochlore, U-rich betafite, and rutile with minor amounts of columbite, and hydrothermal columbite and rutile. On the other hand, the Nb-bearing minerals in the mineralized Shaxiongdong syenites include magmatic U-poor pyrochlore, titanite, rutile, and ilmenite, and hydrothermal fersmite, rutile, and ilmenite, whereas those in the mineralized carbonatites are mainly magmatic U-poor pyrochlore without any hydrothermal Nb-bearing minerals. Field observations, whole-rock chemical and Sr-Nd isotopic compositions strongly constrained that assimilation of U-rich rocks (e.g., the hosting Yaolinghe and Meiziya Groups) and magma differentiation are responsible for diverse magmatic Nb mineralization in the two deposits. On the other hand, the diverse assemblages of hydrothermal Nb minerals in Miaoya and Shaxiongdong are mainly controlled by variations in the nature of the fluids, which is constrained to be genetically related to ~220 and ~420 Ma hydrothermal events, respectively. In summary, both magma evolution (e.g., differentiation, assimilation) and late hydrothermal overprinting are responsible for the diverse Nb mineralogy in carbonatite-alkaline complexes, a situation that is commonly observed worldwide.

Whole-transcriptome spatial profiling of genes at single-cell resolution remains a challenge. To address this limitation, spatial gene expression prediction methods have been developed to infer the spatial expression of unmeasured transcripts, but the quality of these predictions can vary greatly. Here we present Transcript Imputation with Spatial Single-cell Uncertainty Estimation (TISSUE) as a general framework for estimating uncertainty for spatial gene expression predictions and providing uncertainty-aware methods for downstream inference. Leveraging conformal inference, TISSUE provides well-calibrated prediction intervals for predicted expression values across 11 benchmark datasets. Moreover, it consistently reduces the false discovery rate for differential gene expression analysis, improves clustering and visualization of predicted spatial transcriptomics and improves the performance of supervised learning models trained on predicted gene expression profiles. Applying TISSUE to a MERFISH spatial transcriptomics dataset of the adult mouse subventricular zone, we identified subtypes within the neural stem cell lineage and developed subtype-specific regional classifiers.

ABSTRACTThe precise mechanisms underlying the inhibitory effects of SIRT3, a mitochondrial sirtuin protein, on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development, as well as its impact on mitochondrial respiration, remain poorly understood. We assessed sirtuins 3 (SIRT3) levels in HCC tissues and Huh7 cells cultured under hypoxic condition. We investigated the effects of SIRT3 on cell proliferation, glycolytic metabolism, mitochondrial respiration, mitophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis in Huh7 cells. Besides, we explored the potential mechanisms regulating SIRT3 expression in hypoxically cultured Huh7 cells. Gradual reduction in SIRT3 expressions were observed in both adjacent tumor tissues and tumor tissues. Similarly, SIRT3 expressions were diminished in Huh7 cells cultured under hypoxic condition. Forced expression of SIRT3 attenuated the growth of hypoxically cultured Huh7 cells. SIRT3 overexpression led to a decrease in extracellular acidification rate while increasing oxygen consumption rate. SIRT3 downregulated the levels of hexokinase 2 and pyruvate kinase M2. Moreover, SIRT3 enhanced mitophagy signaling, as indicated by mtKeima, and upregulated key proteins involved in various mitophagic pathways while reducing intracellular reactive oxygen species levels. Furthermore, SIRT3 increased proxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1α levels and the amount of mitochondrial DNA in Huh7 cells. Notably, β-catenin expressions were elevated in Huh7 cells cultured under hypoxic condition. Antagonists and agonists of β-catenin respectively upregulated and downregulated SIRT3 expressions in hypoxically cultured Huh7 cells. The modulationsof glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration represent the primary mechanism through which SIRT3, suppressed by β-catenin, inhibits HCC cell proliferation.

Detecting genetic mutations such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is necessary to prescribe effective cancer therapies, perform genetic analyses and distinguish similar viral strains. Traditionally, SNP sensing uses short oligonucleotide probes that differentially bind the SNP and wild-type targets. However, DNA hybridization-based techniques require precise tuning of the probe’s binding affinity to manage the inherent trade-off between specificity and sensitivity. As conventional hybridization offers limited control over binding affinity, here we generate heteromultivalent DNA-functionalized particles and demonstrate optimized hybridization specificity for targets containing one or two mutations. By investigating the role of oligo lengths, spacer lengths and binding orientation, we reveal that heteromultivalent hybridization enables fine-tuned specificity for a single SNP and dramatic enhancements in specificity for two non-proximal SNPs empowered by highly cooperative binding. Capitalizing on these abilities, we demonstrate straightforward discrimination between heterozygous cisand transmutations and between different strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Our findings indicate that heteromultivalent hybridization offers substantial improvements over conventional monovalent hybridization-based methods.

High-temperature stability of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) is critical to ensure its long-term reliable operation under various environmental conditions. The molecular packing of donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymers is closely related to the electrical performance stability in OFETs. Herein, we choose poly[[N,N′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)] as a modal system to reveal the relationship between the molecular stacking and electrical stability in high-temperature environment. The results demonstrate that the films with D-A moieties in alternate stacking have better electrical thermal stability compared to normal donor-donor (D-D) stacking. The D-A stacking configuration alternates donor and acceptor units along the out-of-plane direction, while the D-D stacking involves D-D and A-A stacking separately. The structural transition from D-D to D-A is captured at a treated temperature range of 225–250°C. Owing to the tighter packing arrangement along the π-πand lamellar directions, the electron mobility of the D-A stacked films reaches up to 0.23 cm2/V·s, a 50% increase as compared to the D-D stacking films. Furthermore, the D-A stacked films indicate superior electrical performance stability with mobility retaining 100% at 250°C during high-temperature cycling tests. This result highlights that the manipulation of conjugated polymer closely stacked structures can significantly enhance the thermal stability and durability of semiconductor devices.

We propose, in this paper, the preconditioned accelerated generalized successive overrelaxation (PAGSOR) iteration method for efficiently solving the large complex symmetric linear systems. To solve the nonlinear systems whose Jacobian matrices are complex and symmetric, treating the PAGSOR method as internal iteration, we construct a modified Newton-PAGSOR (MN-PAGSOR) method to provide an effective approach for solving a wide range of problems in various scientific and engineering fields. Based on the Hölder continuous condition we present the theoretical framework of the modified method, demonstrate its local convergence properties, and provide numerical experiments to validate its effectiveness in solving a class of nonlinear systems.

Background/Objectives: To determine the relationship between corneal stress-strain index (SSI) and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness. Subjects/Methods: 1645 healthy university students from a university-based study contributed to the analysis. The RNFL thickness was measured by high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT), axial length (AL) was measured by IOL Master, and corneal biomechanics including SSI, biomechanical corrected intraocular pressure (bIOP), and central corneal thickness (CCT) were measured by Corvis ST. Multivariate linear regression was performed to evaluate the relationship between the SSI and RNFL thickness after adjusting for potential covariates. Results: The mean age of the participants was 19.0$\pm$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\pm $$\end{document}0.9 years, and 1132 (68.8%) were women. Lower SSI was significantly associated with thinner RNFL thickness ($\beta$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\beta $$\end{document}=8.601, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.999–14.203, $P$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$P$$\end{document}= 0.003) after adjusting for age, CCT, bIOP, and AL. No significant association between SSI and RNFL was found in men, while the association was significant in women in the fully adjusted model. The association was significant in the nonhigh myopic group ($P$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$P$$\end{document}for trend = 0.021) but not in the highly myopic group. Eyes with greater bIOP and lower SSI had significantly thinner RNFL thickness. Conclusions: Eyes with lower SSI had thinner RNFL thickness after adjusting for potential covariates, especially those with higher bIOP. Our findings add novel evidence of the relationship between corneal biomechanics and retinal ganglion cell damage.

Recently, psychophysiological computing has received considerable attention. Due to easy acquisition at a distance and less conscious initiation, gait-based emotion recognition is considered as a valuable research branch in the field of psychophysiological computing. However, most existing methods rarely explore the spatio-temporal context of gait, which limits the ability to capture the higher-order relationship between emotion and gait. In this paper, we utilize a range of research, including psychophysiological computing and artificial intelligence, to propose an integrated emotion perception framework called EPIC, which can find novel joint topology and generate thousands of synthetic gaits by spatio-temporal interaction context. First, we analyze the joint coupling among non-adjacent joints by calculating Phase Lag Index (PLI), which can discover the latent connection among body joints. Second, to synthesize more sophisticated and accurate gait sequences, we explore the effect of spatio-temporal constraints, and propose a new loss function that utilizes the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm and pseudo-velocity curve to constrain the output of Gated Recurrent Units (GRU). Finally, Spatial Temporal Graph Convolution Networks (ST-GCN) is used to classify emotions using the generation and the real data. Experimental results demonstrate our approach achieves the accuracy of 89.66%, and outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on Emotion-Gait dataset.

Motivated by applications in single-cell biology and metagenomics, we investigate the problem of matrix reordering based on a noisy disordered monotone Toeplitz matrix model. We establish the fundamental statistical limit for this problem in a decision-theoretic framework and demonstrate that a constrained least squares estimator achieves the optimal rate. However, due to its computational complexity, we analyze a popular polynomial-time algorithm, spectral seriation, and show that it is suboptimal. To address this, we propose a novel polynomial-time adaptive sorting algorithm with guaranteed performance improvement. Simulations and analyses of two real single-cell RNA sequencing datasets demonstrate the superiority of our algorithm over existing methods.

Identifying the accurate sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water is crucial for protecting the aquatic eco-health of the Yangtze River. In this study, we investigated 16 types of PAHs in the air and water along the Yangtze River, spanning from Chongqing to Shanghai. Similar spatial distribution pattern of total PAH concentrations that higher levels in the west and lower levels in the east were found between water and air. This distribution may be influenced by factors such as water temperature, energy transformation, and the input of exogenous air masses. Further analysis using diagnostic ratios, the principal component analysis coupled with absolute principal component score (PCA-APCS) model, and air–water exchange fugacity fractions allowed us to apportion the sources of PAHs in the water and air. Interestingly, we found that the sources of PAHs in the water and air were completely different, with ship-transportation contributing to PAHs in the water and biomass combustion contributing to PAHs in the air. To assess the ecological risk to freshwater biodiversity, we employed species sensitivity distribution (SSD) and found that PAHs in the water of the Yangtze River are likely to exert chronic long-term effects on more than 5% of aquatic organisms, which may lead to changes in the ecosystem stability. Although acute lethal effects were insignificant with an msPAFTotalvalue below 5%, it is important to monitor their changes, especially in the upper and middle regions of the Yangtze River. In conclusion, our study highlights that the burden of PAHs in the water of the Yangtze River, primarily caused by shipping activities, has significant adverse effects on the aquatic ecosystem. Therefore, it is necessary to implement further control measures for ship-transportation to mitigate these impacts of PAHs in the Yangtze River.

A fast and convenient technique for Asphalt Binders was proposed in this paper, which was based on air-jet pressurized and laser to detect the transient deformation and creep recovery of asphalt. Taking five kinds of asphalt and modified asphalt commonly used in China as the research objects, the performance of asphalt were tested and analyzed by adopting the Penetration Test, Dynamic Shear Rheological (DSR) Test, Multiple Stress Creep and Recovery (MSCR) Test and the proposed test technology. The results verified the feasibility of the proposed test technology and the correlation between the traditional tests and the proposed test technology. The results demonstrated that the proposed test technology had good discrimination ability for different kinds of asphalt and could effectively reflect the performance differences. The new test protocol was similar to the Penetration Test. There was a significant correlation between the maximum deformation index and penetration index. The correlation coefficient was above 0.8, and the pvalue was much less than 0.01. It could be used as a possible alternative to the Penetration Test. The proposed new test was relatively convenient and fast compared with the dynamic shear test. There was a linear correlation between the maximum deflection index and the complex shear modulus G*, and the correlation coefficient between the recovery index and the phase angle is above 0.8, which indicated that the proposed new test and the DSR test had a significant correlation. There was also a good correlation between the creep recovery index of MSCR test and the recovery data of the proposed new test method. The research results provided a new solution for the performance test and evaluation of asphalt in China.

Many offshore marine structures are built on the seabed that are slightly or considerably sloping. To study the sloping seabed transient response during marine earthquakes, an analytical solution induced by a P-wave line source embedded in the solid is presented. During the derivation, the wave fields in the fluid layer and the semi-infinite solid are firstly constructed by using the generalized ray method and the fluid‒solid interface reflection and transmission coefficients. Then, the analytical solution in the transformed domain is obtained by superposing these wave fields, and the analytical solution in the time domain by applying the analytical inverse Laplace transform method. The the head wave generation conditions and arrival times at the fluid‒solid interface are derived through this solution. Through the use of numerical examples, the analytical solution is proved right and the impacts of the sloping angle on the hydrodynamic pressure in the sea, the seismic wave propagation in the seabed, the head wave, and the Scholte wave at the seawater-seabed interface are also addressed.

Using the advanced algorithm combining parallel computing, adaptive mesh re-griding and multigrid methods, quantitative 3D phase-field simulations of non-isothermal solidification of binary alloy were carried out. The 3D phase-field simulation results were compared with the analytical LKT (Lipton, Kurz and Trivedi) theory. For comparison, the simulation and analytical results for 2D cases were also given. The 3D phase-field simulation results support the transport portion of the LKT theory. However, the tip radius and tip velocity predicted by the simulations are not in good agreement with the LKT theory over the whole range of undercooling. The stability parameter calculated from phase-field simulations varies significantly with the Peclet number, indicating that the stability criterion, which assumes that the stability parameter is constant, is invalid.

• Plate-impact experiments were conducted on TiZrNbV under strain rate of approximately 107 s−1 by self-sacrificial samples. • Hugoniot elastic limit of TiZrNbV was 4.12–5.86 GPa. Dislocation movement was affected by fluctuating stress field and severe lattice distortion, as well as dynamic Hall–Petch effect caused by dislocation cutting. • Critical strain rate for phonon drag effect was related to relative atomic mass and lattice distortion of alloys. • Spall Strength of TiZrNbV was 1.84–2.03 GPa as shock pressure increased from 5.07 to 12.17 GPa, with intergranular, transgranular and mixed-type cracks dominating the spall failure. • Bulk modulus of HEAs was positively correlated with valence-electron concentration. In this study, the dynamic compressive response behavior of a body-centered cubic (BCC) single-phase TiZrNbV refractory high-entropy alloy (RHEA) was investigated under impact at speeds of 313–1584 m s–1 using two-stage, gas-gun-driven, high-speed plate-impact experiments; recovery sample analysis; and theoretical calculations. The strain rate and pressure were approximately 107 s−1 and 5.07–29.37 GPa, respectively. The results showed that the TiZrNbV RHEA had a Hugoniot elastic limit of 4.12–5.86 GPa and a spall strength of 1.84–2.03 GPa. The initial yield strength of the alloy showed a strong strain-rate dependence and could be described by the modified Zerilli–Armstrong model, while the phonon-damping effect was the main reason for its high strain-rate sensitivity. Microstructural analysis showed that the dynamic deformation of the TiZrNbV RHEA was controlled by the dislocation slip, dislocation proliferation, intersection of the deformation bands, and grain refinement. The analysis also showed that the intergranular, transgranular, and mixed-type cracks dominated the spall failure of the material. The dynamic Hall–Petch effect and pinning from the lattice distortion led to high dynamic yield strength. The critical strain rate for the phonon drag effect was positively related to the relative atomic mass and local strain field of the metals. Within the experimental loading range, the RHEA showed good structural stability, and simultaneously, the theoretical calculation method for the equation of state based on a cold-energy mixture could accurately predict its shock-response behavior. The valence-electron concentration (VEC) had a direct effect on the shock-compression properties of the HEAs; higher VEC implied more difficulty in compressing the HEAs. The findings of this study provide insights into understanding the mechanical response characteristics of RHEAs under extreme conditions such as high-speed impact and ultrahigh strain-rate loading. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the highly attractive research directions in the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) field is how to regulate and improve ECL efficiency. Quantum dots (QDs) are highly promising ECL materials due to their adjustable luminescence size and strong luminous efficiency. MoS2NSs@QDs, an ECL emitter, is synthesized via hydrothermal methods, and its ECL mechanism is investigated using cyclic voltammetry and ECL-potential curves. Then, a stable and vertical attachment of a triplex DNA (tsDNA) probe to the MoS2nanosheets (NSs) is applied to the electrode. Next, an innovative ECL sensor is courageously empoldered for precise and ultrasensitive detection of target miRNA-199a through the agency of ECL-resonance energy transfer (RET) strategy and a dextrous target-initiated catalytic three-arm DNA junction assembly (CTDJA) based on a toehold strand displacement reaction (TSDR) signal amplification approach. Impressively, the ingenious system not only precisely regulates the distance between energy donor–acceptor pairs leave energy less loss and more ECL-RET efficiency, but also simplifies the operational procedure and verifies the feasibility of this self-assembly process without human intervention. This study can expand MoS2NSs@QDs utilization in ECL biosensing applications, and the proposed nucleic acid amplification strategy can become a miracle cure for ultrasensitive detecting diverse biomarkers, which helps researchers to better study the tumor mechanism, thereby unambiguously increasing cancer cure rates and reducing the risk of recurrence.

This study aimed to explore the key microRNA (miRNA) playing a vital role in axonal regeneration with a hostile microenvironment after spinal cord injury. Based on the theory that sciatic nerve conditioning injury (SNCI) could promote the repair of the injured dorsal column. Differentially expressed miRNAs were screened according to the microarray, revealing that 47 known miRNAs were differentially expressed after injury and perhaps involved in nerve regeneration. Among the 47 miRNAs, the expression of miR-221-3p decreased sharply in the SNCI group compared with the simple dorsal column lesion (SDCL) group. Subsequently, it was confirmed that p27 was the target gene of miR-221-3p from luciferase reporter assay. Further, we found that inhibition of miR-221-3p expression could specifically target p27 to upregulate the expression of growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43), α-tubulin acetyltransferase (α-TAT1) together with α-tubulin, and advance the regeneration of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neuronal axons. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) are the main components of glial scar, which can hinder the extension and growth of damaged neuronal axons. After CSPGs were used in this study, the results demonstrated that restrained miR-221-3p expression also via p27 promoted the upregulation of GAP-43, α-TAT1, and α-tubulin and enhanced the axonal growth of DRG neurons. Hence, miR-221-3p could contribute significantly to the regeneration of DRG neurons by specifically regulating p27 in the p27/CDK2/GAP-43 and p27/α-TAT1/α-tubulin pathways even in the inhibitory environment with CSPGs.

Rapid and accurate detection of biomolecules is of vital importance for the diagnosis of disease and for performing timely treatments. The point-of-care analysis of cancer biomarkers in the blood with low cost and easy processing is still challenging. Herein, an advanced and robust strategy, which integrates the buoyant recognition probe with the magnetic reporter probe in one solution, was first proposed for immobilization-free electrochemical immunosensing. The tumor marker of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) can be captured immune-buoyantly, and then a multifunctional magnetic reporter probe in pseudo-homogeneous solution was further captured to fulfill a sandwich-type immunoreaction. The residual magnetic reporter probe can be firmly and efficiently attracted on a magnetic glassy carbon electrode to fulfill the conversion of the target AFP amount into the residual magnetic electrochemical signal indicator. As a result, the electrochemical signal of methylene blue can accurately reflect the original level of target antigen AFP concentration. By integrating buoyancy-driven quasi-homogenous biorecognition with magnetism-mediated amplification and signal output, the proposed immobilization-free electrochemical immunosensing strategy displayed a wide range of linear response (100 fg mL–1to 10 ng mL–1), low detection limit (14.52 fg mL–1), and good reproducibility, selectivity, and stability. The designed strategy manifests remarkable advantages including assay simplicity, rapidness, and high sensitivity owing to the in-solution instead of on-electrode biorecognition that could accelerate and improve the biorecognition efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first cooperation of buoyancy-driven biorecognition with magnetism-mediated signal output in bioanalysis, which would be attractive for rapid clinic biomedical application. Thus, this work provides a fresh perspective for convenient and favorable immobilization-free electrochemical biosensing of universal biomolecules.

Repeated use of opioids such as morphine causes changes in the shape and signal transduction pathways of various brain cells, including astrocytes and neurons, resulting in alterations in brain functioning and ultimately leading to opioid use disorder. We previously demonstrated that extracellular vesicle (EV)-induced primary ciliogenesis contributes to the development of morphine tolerance. Herein, we aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms and potential EV-mediated therapeutic approach to inhibit morphine-mediated primary ciliogenesis. We demonstrated that miRNA cargo in morphine-stimulated-astrocyte-derived EVs (morphine-ADEVs) mediated morphine-induced primary ciliogenesis in astrocytes. CEP97 is a target of miR-106b and is a negative regulator of primary ciliogenesis. Intranasal delivery of ADEVs loaded with anti-miR-106b decreased the expression of miR-106b in astrocytes, inhibited primary ciliogenesis, and prevented the development of tolerance in morphine-administered mice. Furthermore, we confirmed primary ciliogenesis in the astrocytes of opioid abusers. miR-106b-5p in morphine-ADEVs induces primary ciliogenesis via targeting CEP97. Intranasal delivery of ADEVs loaded with anti-miR-106b ameliorates morphine-mediated primary ciliogenesis and prevents morphine tolerance. Our findings bring new insights into the mechanisms underlying primary cilium-mediated morphine tolerance and pave the way for developing ADEV-mediated small RNA delivery strategies for preventing substance use disorders.

Working conditions identification of oil well relies on high-cost and slow-speed artificial inspection in past decades. Working conditions diagnosis through dynamometer cards identification based on machine learning has significant economic value and environmental meaning for oil production. In this article, we collect dynamometer cards from the famous Chinese Shengli Oil Field as research data. We first investigate properties of dynamometers under different working conditions and create a dynamometer card dataset. Furthermore, we introduce calibration/visualization preprocess methods and propose the Oil-Net 1-D/2-D identification models from the time-series and computer vision views, respectively. Experimental results indicate that compared with other machine learning and time-series classification methods, Oil-Net 1-D/2-D improves identification accuracy significantly. This study provides guidance for the design and implementation of learning-based oil well working conditions intelligent diagnosis system.

Flow cytometry is used routinely to measure single-cell gene expression by staining cells with fluorescent antibodies and nucleic acids. Here, we present tension-activated cell tagging (TaCT) to label cells fluorescently based on the magnitude of molecular force transmitted through cell adhesion receptors. As a proof-of-concept, we analyzed fibroblasts and mouse platelets after TaCT using conventional flow cytometry.

The phase transformation sequences of a quasicrystal-reinforced magnesium-zinc-yttrium-zirconium (Mg–Zn–Y–Zr, labeled as ZWK3) alloy after annealing, T4, and T6 heat treatments, respectively, were determined by using electron microscopes. Nanoscale Mg7Zn3phase and I–Mg3YZn6strengthening particles are the two primary precipitates in the annealed ZWK3 alloy. Substantial nanoscale I-phase particles formed during solidification remained stable during the T4 treatment indicating their high stability at elevated temperatures, while a large number of nanoscale MgZn2precipitates appeared during the following T6 treatment. There is a clear orientation relationship between the precipitates and the matrix; consequently, these precipitates are supposed to improve the strength of the heat-treated ZWK3 alloys significantly. T6 heat-treated ZWK3 alloy appears to contain thin and slender-like twins and long period stacking ordered (LPSO) structure. T4 and T6 heat treatment enhance the tensile strength of ZWK3 alloy, though with a minor reduction in elongation compared to the as-cast one.