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Abstract Background and objective Loneliness is detrimental to mental health, with university students at higher risk of feeling lonely than other population groups. The mental health of college students is a hot topic at present. Despite numerous studies exploring interventions for loneliness among university students. However, little research has explored early psychological manifestations of university students with different levels of loneliness. Despite numerous studies exploring interventions for loneliness among university students, little research has explored early psychological manifestations of university students with different levels of loneliness. Initial sandplay is a good tool to reveal psychological activity. Therefore, our study aims to explore the characteristics of initial sandplay application among university students with different levels of loneliness. Methods We recruited 60 volunteers from a university to perform a sandplay experiment from January to April 2021. The UCLA Loneliness Scale measured the levels of loneliness. These 60 participants were divided into the experimental group (n = 30) and control group (n = 30) according to their levels of loneliness. The experimental group included participants with a scale score of more than 44. Other participants with a scale score of less than 44 belong to the control group. We recorded their sandplay artwork and statistically analyzed it by the Sandplay Process Record Form. Group comparisons were performed using the t-test or Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables, and the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. The logistic regression analysis by forward stepwise method was conducted to analyze the sandplay theme features for loneliness. Results Regarding the sandplay tools, the experimental group used fewer transportation tools (t=-3.608, p

Predictive maintenance is a proactive approach to maintenance in which equipment and machinery are monitored and analyzed to predict when maintenance is needed. Instead of relying on fixed schedules or reacting to breakdowns, predictive maintenance uses data and analytics to determine the appropriate time to perform maintenance activities. In industrial applications, machine boxes can be used to collect and transmit the feature information of manufacturing machines. The collected data are essential to identify the status of working machines. This paper investigates the design and implementation of a machine box based on the ROS framework. Several types of communication interfaces are included that can be adopted to different sensor modules for data sensing. The collected data are used for the application on predictive maintenance. The key concepts of predictive maintenance include data collection, a feature analysis, and predictive models. A correlation analysis is crucial in a feature analysis, where the dominant features can be determined. In this work, linear regression, a neural network, and a decision tree are adopted for model learning. Experimental results illustrate the feasibility of the proposed smart machine box. Also, the remaining useful life can be effectively predicted according to the trained models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Nowadays, cracked tooth syndrome is the third main cause of tooth extraction, following caries and periodontal diseases, done in almost all the dental clinics. Nevertheless, the diagnosis and treatment of this condition remain controversial. All candidate therapeutics, such as occlusal adjustment, preventive filling, root canal therapy (RCT), and crown restoration, provide unpredictable outcomes. As such, methods to prevent further crack development and to induce crack self-healing must be developed. The Hypothesis: Mussels secreting adhesive foot protein (Mafp) can attach to various surfaces under aqueous conditions. In nature, mussels adhere to stones and deposit layer by layer through mineralization, thereby forming mussel-stone composites with excellent mechanical property. Given the natural process of mussel-stone complex formation, we hypothesize that application of Mafp coating at the crack interface may mineralize the cracks by capturing calcium and phosphate ions from the saliva. This process consequently leads to crack self-healing and complete restoration of the tooth structure. Evaluation of the Hypothesis: To test our hypothesis, we need to develop a model in vivo. Cracked teeth disks are adhered together using Mafp solution. Then, the tooth disks are sutured on the interior side of the cheeks. After regular intervals, the disks are removed and characterized. Scanning electron microscopy is performed to evaluate the morphology of the crack interface. Microhardness and shear bond strength are used to evaluate the mechanical property of the healing cracked zone. Transmission electron microscopy is also conducted to evaluate the crystallinity of the crack interface.

Mode interactions have recently become the focus of intense research in micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS) due to their ability to improve device performance and explore the frontiers of fundamental physics. Understanding and controlling coupling between vibrational modes are critical for the development of advanced M/NEMS devices. This review summarizes the recent advances in studies of coupling between multiple modes in M/NEMS resonators, focusing especially on experimental developments and practical applications. First, depending on spatial distribution of interacting modes, this review divides the coupled mechanism in three types: intermode, near‐neighbor, and long‐range coupling. Then, several fundamental physics approaches based on mechanical‐mode coupling, including linear and nonlinear coupling, modal localization, synchronization, and phonon manipulation are reviewed. This review also introduces sensing applications by using coupled mechanical modes. Finally, the state‐of‐the‐art open questions and challenges are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying tensile strain on an intrinsic lattice always results in the reduction in thermal conductivity due to the red-shift of phonon frequency and enhanced phonon anharmonicity. However, in this work, we explored an unexpected strain-enhanced thermal conductivity of a planar biphenylene network (BPN) in the frame of a Boltzmann transport equation combined with the machine learning interatomic potential. Under 5% biaxial tensile strain, the room temperature thermal conductivity of BPN reaches to about 4–5 times of that in an intrinsic sample. This phenomenon can be understood by considering a mirror symmetry induced phonon selection rule. This work highlights the significant effect of the selection rule on thermal transport and enriches the understanding of the thermal conductivity regulation in strained two-dimensional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of hybrid stars are studied via the hybrid EOSs that are compatible with astrophysical observables. These hybrid EOSs are constructed by interpolating between hadronic EOS at lower densities and the quark EOS at higher densities. The BSR6 EOS derived from the RMF model is adopted as the hadronic EOS, while the quark EOS is calculated via a quasiparticle model. The maximum masses obtained from the hybrid EOSs are larger than 2 M ⊙ , and the tidal deformabilities for 1. 4 M ⊙ hybrid stars are smaller than 800. The combined tidal deformability Λ ̃ is a monotonically increasing function of mass ratio η for both hybrid EOSs and hadronic EOS, and it depends weakly on η. The results of all hybrid EOSs can strictly satisfy the constraint of 7 0 < Λ ̃ < 7 2 0 and the mass and radius constraints from the newest joint analysis of NICER, XMM-Newton and GW170817 data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Chronological age (CA) is not a perfect proxy for the true biological aging status of the body. A new biological aging measure, phenotypic age (PhenoAge), has been shown to capture morbidity and mortality risk in the general US population and diverse subpopulations. This study was aimed at evaluating the association between PhenoAge and long-term outcome of patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods. A total of 609 multivessel CAD patients who received PCI attempt and with follow-up were enrolled. The clinical outcome was all-cause mortality on follow-up. PhenoAge was calculated using an equation constructed from CA and 9 clinical biomarkers. Cox proportional hazards regression models and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to evaluate the association between PhenoAge and mortality. Results. Overall, patients with more diseases had older PhenoAge and phenotypic age acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel). After a median follow-up of 33.5 months, those with positive PhenoAgeAccel had a significantly higher incidence of all-cause mortality (P = 0.001). After adjusting for CA, Cox proportional hazards models showed that both PhenoAge and PhenoAgeAccel were significantly associated with all-cause mortality. Even after further adjusting for confounding factors, each 10-year increase in PhenoAge was also associated with a 51% increased mortality risk. ROC curves revealed that PhenoAge, with an area under the curve of 0.705, significantly outperformed CA, the individual clinical chemistry measure, and other risk factors. When reexamining the ROC curves using various combinations of variables, we found that PhenoAge provides additional predictive power to all models. Conclusions. In conclusion, PhenoAge was strongly associated with all-cause mortality even after adjusting for CA. Our findings suggest that PhenoAge measure may be complementary in predicting mortality risk for patients with multivessel CAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited data are available on long-term outcomes and health status in the treatment of in-stent coronary chronic total occlusion (IS-CTO) and de novo coronary chronic total occlusion (de novo CTO). This study compared the long-term clinical outcomes and health status of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for patients with IS-CTO versus patients with de novo CTO in the drug-eluting stent era. We screened 483 consecutive patients with 1 CTO lesion, including 81 patients with IS-CTO and 402 patients with de novo CTO. Propensity score matching was used to balance baseline characteristics between the 2 groups. The clinical end point was major adverse cardiac events (MACE). The success rates of CTO lesion revascularization were similar in both groups. In the propensity score-matched patients, after a median follow-up of 36 months, MACE was observed in 32.8% of patients with IS-CTO versus 13.5% of the patients with de novo CTO (P <.001), mainly driven by target-vessel revascularization (21.9% vs 6.7%; P <.01). Moreover, patients with IS-CTO had significantly worse Seattle Angina Questionnaire anginal stability scores than the patients with de novo CTO. In conclusion, patients with IS-CTO after PCI had a worse clinical outcome, mainly MACE, and a poorer anginal stability in the long term than patients with de novo CTO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to control the degree of spin in molecular junctions (MJs) is attractive for their applications in spintronics. Here, it is demonstrated that spin‐resolved quantum interference (SQI) can effectively improve spin‐filtering behavior of MJs. By first‐principle calculations in combination with nonequilibrium Green's function investigations, spin‐resolved charge transport in graphene/Cr‐porphyrin/graphene MJs shows that, due to the SQI, the tunable spin filtering behaviors can be achieved by changing the length of molecule. The SQI related phase coherence/decoherence in these MJs is revealed by considering the effects of temperature and electron–phonon interactions. Furthermore, a higher spin filtering efficiency in low bias region can be obtained by Cr‐doped in single‐porphyrin junction, due to the Cr‐enhanced SQI. These results show great potential for the application of MJs with SQI in the molecular intergrated circuit and provide a promising way for designing spin molecular devices by using quantum interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Within the framework of Dyson–Schwinger equations of QCD, we study the finite volume effects on the chiral phase transition, especially the influence on the position of the possible pseudo-critical end point (pCEP). The results show that in the chiral limit case (the current quark mass m = 0), the absolute value of quark condensate decreases for smaller volumes, and more interestingly, so does the pseudo-critical temperature T c (μ = 0) , which is in agreement with the Polyakov Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model result and opposite to the Polyakov linear sigma model prediction. These conclusions hold for m > 0 case in our calculations. Moreover, the results of pCEP as a function of different volumes show that T of pCEP also decreases for smaller volumes, but μ of pCEP will increase, which are qualitatively more close to Polyakov linear sigma model results. For our model setup, results for systems with a size larger than (5 fm)3 closely approximate those from infinite volume, but if the volume is smaller, the corrections are non-negligible, even significantly affect signatures of the results from an infinite system. There also exists some possibility that, if the system size is too small, the whole phase transition would be crossover, which means no pCEP exists at all. It is no doubt that, finite volume effects deserve further researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroacupuncture (EA) has been widely applied for illness prevention, treatment or rehabilitation in the clinic, especially for pain management. However, the molecular events that induce these changes remain largely uncharacterized. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) and the spinal dorsal horn (DH) have been verified as two critical regions in the response to EA stimulation in EA analgesia. In this study, a genetic screen was conducted to delineate the gene expression profile in the PAG-DH regions of rats to explore the molecular events of the analgesic effect induced by low-frequency (2-Hz) and high-frequency (100-Hz) EAs. Microarray analysis at two different time points after EA stimulation revealed time-, region- and frequency-specific gene expression changes. These expression differences suggested that modulation of neural-immune interaction in the central nervous system played an important role during EA analgesia. Furthermore, low-frequency EA could regulate gene expression to a greater degree than high-frequency EA. Altogether, the present study offers, for the first time, a characterized transcriptional response pattern in the PAG-DH regions followed by EA stimulation and, thus, provides a solid experimental framework for future in-depth analysis of the mechanisms underlying EA-induced effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been known to be secreted from cardiac myocytes and activate its receptor, natriuretic peptide receptor-A (NPR-A), to reduce ventricular fibrosis. However, the function of BNP/NPR-A pathway in the somatic sensory system has been unknown. In the present study, we report a novel function of BNP in pain modulation. Using microarray and immunoblot analyses, we found that BNP and NPR-A were expressed in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of rats and upregulated after intraplantar injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Immunohistochemistry showed that BNP was expressed in calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-containing small neurons and IB4 (isolectin B4)-positive neurons, whereas NPR-A was present in CGRP-containing neurons. Application of BNP reduced the firing frequency of small DRG neurons in the presence of glutamate through opening large-conductance Ca2+- activated K+ channels (BKCa channels). Furthermore, intrathecal injection of BNP yielded inhibitory effects on formalin-induced flinching behavior and CFA-induced thermal hyperalgesia in rats. Blockade of BNP signaling by BNP antibodies or cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) inhibitor KT5823 [(9S,10R,12R)-2,3,9,10,11,12-hexahydro-10-methoxy-2,9-dimethyl-1-oxo-9,12-epoxy-1H-diindolo[1,2,3-fg:3′,2′,1′-kl]pyrrolo[3,4-i][1,6]benzodiazocine-10-carboxylic acid methyl ester] impaired the recovery from CFA-induced thermal hyperalgesia. Thus, BNP negatively regulates nociceptive transmission through presynaptic receptor NPR-A, and activation of the BNP/NPR-A/PKG/BKCa channel pathway in nociceptive afferent neurons could be a potential strategy for inflammatory pain therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. Neurochem. (2010) 113, 1436–1446. It is generally believed that temporary moderate stress to a living organism has protective and adaptive effects, but little is known about the responses of CNS to the moderate stresses at molecular level. This study aims to investigate the gene expression changes induced by moderate stress in CNS stress- and nociception-related regions of rats. Moderate restraint was applied to rats for 50 min and cDNA microarrays were used to detect the differential gene expression in different CNS regions. Transcriptome profiling analysis showed that at acute stage stress-related genes were up-regulated in arcuate nucleus; fight-or-flight behavior-related genes were up-regulated in periaqueductal gray, while nitric oxide and GABA signal transmission-related genes were up-regulated in spinal dorsal horn. In addition, immune-related genes were broadly regulated, especially at the late stage. These results suggested that specific genes of certain gene ontology categories were spatiotemporally regulated in specific CNS regions related to relevant functions under moderate external stimuli at acute stage, while immune response was broadly regulated at the late stage. The co-regulated genes among the three different CNS regions may play general roles in CNS when exposed to moderate stress. Furthermore, these results will help to elucidate the physiological processes involved in moderate stress in CNS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAim:To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the cholesterol-lowering effect of a Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE).Methods:Enzyme activity, cholesterol flux and changes in gene expression levels were assessed in cultured hepatocytes treated with GBE or lovastatin.Results:GBE decreased the total cholesterol content in cultured hepatocytes and inhibited the activity of HMG-CoA reductase, as determined by an in vitro enzyme activity assay. In addition, GBE decreased cholesterol influx, whereas lovastatin increased cholesterol influx. GBE treatment induced significant increases in the expression of cholesterogenic genes and genes involved in cholesterol metabolism, such as SREBF2, as determined by cDNA microarray and real-time RT-PCR. Furthermore, INSIG2, LDLR, LRP1, and LRP10 were differentially regulated by GBE and lovastatin. The data imply that the two compounds modulate cholesterol metabolism through distinct mechanisms.Conclusion:By using a gene expression profiling approach, we were able to broaden the understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which GBE lowers cellular cholesterol levels. Specifically, we demonstrated that GBE exhibited dual effects on the cellular cholesterol pool by modulating both HMG-CoA reductase activity and inhibiting cholesterol influx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of divacancy, including isolated defects and extended line defects (ELD), on the thermal transport properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are investigated using the Nonequilibrium Green's function method. Different divacancy defects can effectively tune the thermal transport of GNRs and the thermal conductance is significantly reduced. The phonon scattering of a single divacancy is mostly at high frequencies while the phonon scattering at low frequencies is also strong for randomly distributed multiple divacancies. The collective effect of impurity scattering and boundary scattering is discussed, which makes the defect scattering vary with the boundary condition. The effect on thermal transport properties of a divacancy is also shown to be closely related to the cross section of the defect, the internal structure and the bonding strength inside the defect. Both low frequency and high frequency phonons are scattered by 48, d5d7 and t5t7 ELD. However, the 585 ELD has almost no influence on phonon scattering at low frequency region, resulting in the thermal conductance of GNRs with 585 ELD being 50% higher than that of randomly distributed 585 defects. All these results are valuable for the design and manufacture of graphene nanodevices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the integral expression of inelastic transport, which combined with nonequilibrium Green's function and density functional theory, is extended to investigate the inelastic electrical transport properties of single-molecule device. Results show that the height of the current plateau will increase along with the temperature. It is found that this increase in the height of the current plateau is caused by inelastic resonant tunneling rather than the decoherence mechanism of the quantum interference effect. And we find that some small steps and the tilt in the main current plateau are also responsible by the inelastic processes. These results help us to understand the electrical transport mechanisms in single-molecule devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flat hexagonal borophene oxide (B 2 O) has the highest Li storage capacity among existing two-dimensional materials. Thermal conductivity is an important parameter for the safety of Li-ion batteries. We investigate the lattice thermal conductivity of B 2 O by solving phonon Boltzmann transport equation combined with the first-principles calculations. We found that the relaxation time approximation remarkably underestimate the thermal conductivity (κ) of monolayer B 2 O, revealing phonon hydrodynamics characteristic. The κ of B 2 O from the exact solution of Boltzmann transport equation is 53 W m−1 K−1 and 130 W m−1 K−1 along armchair-direction and zigzag-direction at 300 K, respectively. B 2 O exhibits strong thermal transport anisotropy due to anisotropic phonon group velocity, obviously larger than that of other borophene allotropes. At room temperature, the phonon mean free path of B 2 O is about 231 nm and 49 nm along armchair-direction and zigzag-direction, respectively. The highly anisotropic thermal conductivity of B 2 O offers new possibilities for its applications in thermal management. • Thermal conductivity is an important parameter for the safety of B 2 O-based Li-ion batteries. • Strong thermal transport anisotropy due to anisotropic phonon group velocity. • The lattice thermal conductivity of B 2 O sheet has phonon hydrodynamics characteristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) antiferromagnetic semiconductor chromium thiophosphate (CrPS 4 ) has gradually become a major candidate material for low-dimensional nanoelectromechanical devices due to its remarkable structural, photoelectric characteristics and potentially magnetic properties. Here, we report the experimental study of a new few-layer CrPS 4 nanomechanical resonator demonstrating excellent vibration characteristics through the laser interferometry system, including the uniqueness of resonant mode, the ability to work at the very high frequency, and gate tuning. In addition, we demonstrate that the magnetic phase transition of CrPS 4 strips can be effectively detected by temperature-regulated resonant frequencies, which proves the coupling between magnetic phase and mechanical vibration. We believe that our findings will promote the further research and applications of the resonator for 2D magnetic materials in the field of optical/mechanical signal sensing and precision measurement.

Bolometers based on graphene have demonstrated outstanding performance with high sensitivity and short response time. In situ adjustment of bolometers is very important in various applications, but it is still difficult to implement in many systems. Here we propose a gate-tunable bolometer based on two strongly coupled graphene nanomechanical resonators. Both resonators are exposed to the same light field, and we can measure the properties of one bolometer by directly tracking the resonance frequency shifts, and indirectly measure the other bolometer through mechanical coupling. We find that the sensitivity and the response bandwidth of both bolometers can be independently adjusted by tuning the corresponding gate voltages. Moreover, the properties of the indirectly measured bolometer show a dependence on the coupling between the two resonators, with other parameters being fixed. Our method has the potential to optimize the design of large-scale bolometer arrays, and open new horizons in infrared/terahertz astronomy and communication systems.

The nonequilibrium Green's function and the generalized lowest-order expansion method with consideration of electron-phonon interactions (EPIs) are used to investigate the spin-dependent electronic transport properties of ferromagnetic zigzag graphene nanoribbons. Results show that the consideration of EPIs will lead to a 4-5 orders of magnitude increase of the current in some bias regions when the spin polarizations of two electrodes are antiparallel. This results in the vanishing of the dual spin filtration effect and a narrowing of the effective bias region of giant magnetoresistance. The increases of the current mainly from the first Born scattering process, and can be described by the Fermi's golden rule, and may be a result of the breaking of the structural symmetry by the introduction of phonons.