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The three-dimensional hierarchical morphology of surfaces greatly affects the wettability, absorption and microfabrication properties of their hybrid materials, however few scalable methods exist that controls simultaneously complex geometric shape and spatial scattered location and their physical properties tuned. Consequently, this report describes a synthetic strategy that enables the position of well-ordered biomorph nano-microstructures on hydrophobic surfaces to be precisely controlled. The hierarchical architecture can be accurately positioned on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces in an unprecedented level by leveraging a solid/liquid/gas triphase dynamic reaction diffusion system strategy. The effect of salt concentrations, pH, CO2 levels, temperature and substrate patterning on this self-assembly process has been investigated, enabling protocols to be devised that enables the hydrophobic properties of the hierarchically assembled multiscale microstructures to be tuned as required. This combined top-down/bottom-up approach can be used to produce composites with outstanding hydrophobicity properties, affording superhydrophobic materials that are capable of retaining water droplets on their surfaces, even when the material is inverted by 180°, with a wide range of potential applications in oil/water separation technology and for selective cell recognition in biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeletal muscle atrophy is prevalent and remarkably increases the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events and mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, whether diaphragm dysfunction predicts clinical outcomes in HD patients is unknown. This was a prospective cohort study of 103 HD patients. After assessment of diaphragm function by ultrasonography and collection of other baseline data, a 36-month follow-up was then initiated. Participants were divided into diaphragm dysfunction (DD+) group and normal diaphragm function (DD−) group, according to cutoff value of thickening ratio (i.e. the change ratio of diaphragm thickness) at force respiration. The primary endpoint was the first nonfatal CV event or all-cause mortality. A secondary endpoint was less serious CV events (LSCEs, a composite of heart failure readmission, cardiac arrhythmia or myocardial ischemia needed pharmacological intervention in hospital). 98 patients were eligible to analysis and 57 (58.16%) were men. 28 of 44 patients(63.64%) in DD+ group and 23 of 54 patients (42.59%) in DD− group had at least one nonfatal CV event or death (p = 0.038). Compared to DD− group, DD+ group had significantly higher incidence of LSCEs (21 vs.14, p = 0.025) and shorter survival time (22.02 ± 12.98 months vs. 26.74 ± 12.59 months, p = 0.046). Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed significantly higher risks of primary endpoint (p = 0.039), and LSCEs (p = 0.040) in DD+ group. Multivariate hazard analysis showed that DD+ group had significantly higher risk of primary endpoint [hazard ratio (HR) 1.59; 95% confident interval (CI) 1.54–1.63], and LSCEs (HR 1.47; 95%CI 1.40–1.55). Ultrasound-assessed diaphragm dysfunction predicts clinical outcomes in HD patients. Trial registration: This study was registered with Chinese Clinical Trials Registry (www.chictr.org.cn) as ChiCTR1800016500 on Jun 05, 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muscle wasting is associated with increased mortality and morbidity in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, especially in the haemodialysis (HD) population. Nevertheless, little is known regarding diaphragm dysfunction in HD patients. We conducted a cross-sectional study at the Institute of Nephrology, Southeast University, involving 103 HD patients and 103 healthy volunteers as normal control. Ultrasonography was used to evaluate diaphragmatic function, including diaphragm thickness and excursion during quiet and deep breathing. HD patients showed lower end-inspiration thickness of the diaphragm at total lung capacity (0.386 ± 0.144 cm vs. 0.439 ± 0.134 cm, p < 0.01) and thickening fraction (TF) (0.838 ± 0.618 vs. 1.127 ± 0.757; p < 0.01) compared to controls. The velocity and excursion of the diaphragm were significantly lower in the HD patients during deep breathing (3.686 ± 1.567 cm/s vs. 4.410 ± 1.720 cm/s, p < 0.01; 5.290 ± 2.048 cm vs. 7.232 ± 2.365 cm; p < 0.05). Changes in diaphragm displacement from quiet breathing to deep breathing (△m) were lower in HD patients than in controls (2.608 ± 1.630 vs. 4.628 ± 2.110 cm; p < 0.01). After multivariate adjustment, diaphragmatic excursion during deep breathing was associated with haemoglobin level (regression coefficient = 0.022; p < 0.01). We also found that the incidence of dyspnoea and hiccup and the fatigue scores, all of which were related to diaphragmatic dysfunction, were significantly higher in HD patients than in controls (all p < 0.01). Improving diaphragm function through targeted therapies may positively impact clinical outcomes in HD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uncertainty principle, which gives the constraints on obtaining precise outcomes for incompatible measurements, provides a new vision of the real world that we are not able to realize from the classical knowledge. In recent years, numerous theoretical and experimental developments about the new forms of the uncertainty principle have been achieved. Among these efforts, one attractive goal is to find tighter bounds of the uncertainty relation. Here, using an all optical setup, we experimentally investigate a most recently proposed form of uncertainty principle—the fine-grained uncertainty relation assisted by a quantum memory. The experimental results on the case of two-qubit state with maximally mixed marginal demonstrate that the fine-graining method can help to get a tighter bound of the uncertainty relation. Our results might contribute to further understanding and utilizing of the uncertainty principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzyme immobilization is widely applied in biocatalysis to improve stability and facilitate recovery and reuse of enzymes. However, high cost of supporting materials and laborious immobilization procedures has limited its industrial application and commercialization. In this study, we report a novel self-assembly immobilization system using bacteriophage T4 capsid as a nanocarrier. The system utilizes the binding sites of the small outer capsid protein, Soc, on the T4 capsid. Enzymes as Soc fusions constructed with regular molecular cloning technology expressed at the appropriate time during phage assembly and self-assembled onto the capsids. The proof of principle experiment was carried out by immobilizing β-galactosidase, and the system was successfully applied to the immobilization of an important glycomics enzyme, Peptide-N-Glycosidase F. Production of Peptide-N-Glycosidase F and simultaneous immobilization was finished within seven hours. Characterizations of the immobilized Peptide-N-Glycosidase F indicated high retention of activity and well reserved deglycosylation capacity. The immobilized Peptide-N-Glycosidase F was easily recycled by centrifugation and exhibited good stability that sustained five repeated uses. This novel system uses the self-amplified T4 capsid as the nanoparticle-type of supporting material, and operates with a self-assembly procedure, making it a simple and low-cost enzyme immobilization technology with promising application potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal fibrosis is a common pathological pathway of progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, kidney function parameters are suboptimal for detecting early fibrosis, and therefore, novel biomarkers are urgently needed. We designed a 2-stage study and constructed a targeted microarray to detect urinary mRNAs of CKD patients with renal biopsy and healthy participants. We analysed the microarray data by an iterative random forest method to select candidate biomarkers and produce a more accurate classifier of renal fibrosis. Seventy-six and 49 participants were enrolled into stage I and stage II studies, respectively. By the iterative random forest method, we identified a four-mRNA signature in urinary sediment, including TGFβ1, MMP9, TIMP2, and vimentin, as important features of tubulointerstitial fibrosis (TIF). All four mRNAs significantly correlated with TIF scores and discriminated TIF with high sensitivity, which was further validated in the stage-II study. The combined classifiers showed excellent sensitivity and outperformed serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate measurements in diagnosing TIF. Another four mRNAs significantly correlated with glomerulosclerosis. These findings showed that urinary mRNAs can serve as sensitive biomarkers of renal fibrosis, and the random forest classifier containing urinary mRNAs showed favourable performance in diagnosing early renal fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genuine multipartite nonlocality (GMN) has been recognized as the strongest form of multipartite quantum correlation. However, there exist states that cannot violate the Svetlichny inequality derived from the standard definition of GMN, even though they possess GMN properties. The reason is that the standard definition of GMN allows correlations that permit signalling among parties, which is inconsistent with an operational definition. Here, for the first time, we present an experimental test of GMN in the no-signalling scenario, with a three-photon pure state |ψs〉 and a noisy W state. The experimental results show that these states cannot violate the Svetlichny inequality. However, our results also demonstrate that they do violate a new inequality derived from the definition of GMN based on the no-signalling principle, i.e., these states can exhibit GMN under the requirement of no-signalling. Our results will be useful for the study and applications of GMN in quantum communications and quantum computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]