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The genus Ascopolyporus belongs Cordycipitaceae. Its members infect scale insects as necrotrophs, and produce stromata on the living stems of plants as biotrophs. In this study, we introduce a new taxon of Ascopolyporus that was collected from Tibet, China. Fresh stromata of the new taxon were located on the living stems of bamboo. The new taxon is described based on morphological characteristics and multigene phylogenetic analyses of ITS, LSU, and tef1 sequence data, and compared with closely related taxa. The new species Ascopolyporus tibetensis formed a distinct, well-supported lineage (100% MLBS, 1.00 BIPP) separated from A. galloide in the clade comprising A. griseoperitheciatus. Ascopolyporus tibetensis is diagnosed by the widest asci, globose to sub-globose stromata, yellow upper part and dark green lower part.

Phallus aureus is described as a new species from China and is characterized by an obovate, rugose, squamulose on the immature basidiomata surface, pseudostipe yellowish, grey volva, and pale yellow at the base becoming light yellow upwards. The new species is phylogenetically located in an independent lineage. A full description, colour photographs, illustrations, and a phylogenetic tree to show the position of new species are provided.

Ascopolyporus puttemansii Henn. Host: On culms of Bambusa Distribution: Rio Grande, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus gollmerianus Henn. Host: On branches of Bambusae Distribution: Brazil, Venezuela, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus purpuratus Mongkolsamrit, Thanakitpipattana, Himaman & Luangsaard Host: On scale insects (Coccidae, Hemiptera) and the living stems and midrib of dicotyledonous leaves Distribution: Thailand, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus galloides Khons., Thanakitp. & Luangsa-ard Host: On Coccidae, and the living stems of Dicotyledonae Distribution: Thailand, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus moellerianus (Henn.) Möller Host: On trunks of Araceae (e.g., Philodendron sp.) Distribution: Brazil (Blumenau, Santa Catarina), Costa Rica, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus tibetensis F.M. Yu, Q. Zhao & T. Luangharn Host: On the living stem of bamboo Distribution: China (Tibet), Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus tibetensis F.M. Yu, Q. Zhao, and T. Luangharn, sp. nov. (FIGURES 2–3) Index Fungorum number: IF900383; Faces of Fungi number: FOF14099. Etymology:—Named after Tibet Autonomous Region, China, where the type specimen was collected. Holotype:— CHINA, Tibet, Shigatse City, Nyalam County, on the stems of living bamboo, 27°59′13.313292″ N, 85°59′5.635104″ E, alt. 2291 m, 6 July 2022, Li-Heng Mu, Mu279 (HKAS 127121, holotype). Diagnosis:— Ascopolyporus tibetensis differs from all known Ascopolyporus species by its distinctive appearance of yellow to deep green stromata. Epibiotic on the living stem of bamboo. Sexual morph: Stromata solitary, bulb-shaped, subglobose to globose, smooth, lower part wrinkles, and comes into contact with the bamboo stems, yellow to olive-yellow on the upper surface, dark turquoise, green to deep green at the lower surface, varying in size, 2–5 cm diam., over 1 mm thick, hollow, containing colorless and odorless liquid, ornamented with irregular stripes on the surface when mature, tough and fleshy when fresh, and hard and unbreakable when dried. Stromatal tissue contains three layers: first, a pare yellow outermost layer nested with gregarious perithecia; second, an internal layer consisting of vertical-arranged, hyaline cells of taxtura intricata; and third, an innermost layer comprised of horizontal-oriented, hyaline cells of taxtura intricata. Perithecia 539–641 × 139–287 μm (mean 600 × 232 μm), ovoid, immersed, with papilla protruding the stroma surface, aggregated. Ostioles papillate, lined with periphyses. Asci 334–443 × 14–31 μm (mean 391 × 20 μm), hyaline, cylindrical, and thickened cap. Asci caps 7.0–10.5 × 2.5–4.0 μm with hemispheric. Ascospores (70–) 105–296 (–339) × 4.0–6.5 μm (Q = 14.36–58.55, n =30), hyaline, whole, filiform, multi-septate, guttulate. Asexual morph: undetermined. Host and habitat:—Epiphytic on the living stem of bamboo. Other specimens examined: China, Tibet, Shigatse City, Nyalam County, on the living stems of bamboo, 27°59′13.313292″ N, 85°59′5.635104″ E, alt. 2291 m, 6 July 2022, Feng-Ming Yu, FM 22-182 (HKAS 127120), Lei Lei, LEI 452 (HKAS 127119). Notes: —In phylogenetic analysis, Ascopolyporus tibetensis was closely related to A. galloides, and A. griseoperitheciatus (Figure 1). Based on macro features, such species can be identified by stomata form and color. The stromata of A. galloides and A. griseoperitheciatus are similar in pulvinate shape, while color is different. The upper surface of A. galloides is white to yellowish white, and that of A. griseoperitheciatus is extremely pale violet to light purplish gray. At the lower part of the stromata, A. galloides appears strong orange, but A. griseoperitheciatus shows a vivid yellow to strong orange. Two entomopathogenic fungi A. galloides and A. griseoperitheciatus on scale insects are both epiphytes on living stems and leaves of dicotyledonous plants (Thanakitpipattana et al. 2022). In our collections, the samples have distinctive characteristics, including the obvious green surface of stromata, which live on bamboo stems. Our sample collections share similar morphological characteristics with A. philodendrus, A. polychrous, and A. villosus in having bulbous stromata, but deeply green-colored stromata are different. The shape and size of perithecia, asci, and ascospores vary significantly among different Ascopolyporus species. The length of perithecia varies from 150 μm in A. griseoperitheciatus to 1 mm in A. polyporoides. The width of asci varies from 2–4 μm in A. purpuratus to 14–31 μm in A. tibetensis, and ascospores range from aseptate to multi-septate, and their width varies from 0.5 μm in A. galloides to 4.0–6.5 μm in A. tibetensis., Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on pages 91-92, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405, {"references":["Thanakitpipattana, D., Mongkolsamrit, S., Khonsanit, A., Himaman, W., Luangsa-Ard, J. J. & Pornputtapong, N. (2022) Is Hyperdermium Congeneric with Ascopolyporus? Phylogenetic relationships of Ascopolyporus spp. (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) and a new genus Neohyperdermium on scale insects in Thailand. Journal of Fungi 8: 516. https: // doi. org / 10.3390 / jof 8050516"]}

Ascopolyporus caulium (Berk. & M. A. Curtis) Thanakitp. & Luangsa-ard Host: On dead stems of herbaceous plants, branches of Combretaceae, leaves of Myrtaceae, and stems of tropical shrubs of Asteraceae family (Bernonia sp., Eupatorium sp., and Mikania scandens) Distribution: Cameroon, Paraguay, Rio de Janeiro, Suriname, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus albus Mongkols., Thanakitp. & Luangsa-ard Host: On scale insects (Coccidae, Hemiptera) and the living stems of bamboo (Bambusae) Distribution: Thailand, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on pages 94-95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus polychrous Möller Host: On the living and dying branches of various bamboo, especially in Guadua taguara Distribution: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, North America (Dominican Republic), Panama, South America (Ecuador, Venezuela, Trinidad, and Tobago), Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus villosus Möller Host: On unidentified scale insects, on stalks of bamboo (e.g., Chusquea sp.) Distribution: Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 96, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus khaoyaiensis Mongkols., Thanakitp. & Luangsa-ard Host: On scale insects (Coccidae, Hemiptera) and the living stems of a dicotyledonous plant Distribution: Thailand, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus griseoperitheciatus Khons., Thanakitp. & Luangsa-ard Host: On scale insects (Coccidae, Hemiptera) and the living stems of a dicotyledonous plant Distribution: Thailand, Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Ascopolyporus polyporoides Möller Host: On branches of various bamboo Distribution: Argentina, Brazil (Blumenau), Published as part of Yu, Feng-Ming, Wei, De-Ping, Zhao, Qi, Tang, Song-Ming & Luangharn, Thatsanee, 2023, Ascopolyporus tibetensis (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales): a new species from Tibet, China, pp. 88-98 in Phytotaxa 592 (2) on page 95, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.592.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7840405

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a deadly cancer, with the dominant driver mutations such as p53 yet undruggable. There is urgent demand to search for novel agents and therapeutic targets for HCC treatment. Andrographolide (Andro, a clinical-available anti-inflammation phytochemical agent) could inhibit different types of cancer including HCC, but the molecular mechanisms involved are yet unclear. The present study thus determined how Andro mechanistically cause HCC cell death in both in vitro and in vivo models. Andro dose- and time-dependently induced HCC cell death but spared normal hepatocyte HL-7702. Furthermore, Andro caused ROS-mediated DNA damage, which was critical for cell death. Since p53 could induce G2/M cell cycle arrest, the p53-present tumour cells were found to be more resistant to Andro-induced cell death, compared to the p53-deficient cells. Notably, Andro-induced p62 aggregation promoted proteasomal degradation of RAD51 and 53BP1, two essential proteins involved in DNA damage repair. As a result, either silencing or knocking-out p62 promoted DNA damage repair and consequently protected HCC cells from Andro- induced cell death. Consistently, xenograft tumour developed by p62-knockout cells were more resistant to Andro treatment. In addition, p53 and p62 were independent with each other, since disrupting any one protein did not affect expression of the other protein. Taken together, the present study may shed light on repurposing Andro in the treatment of both p53-present and p53-deficient HCC.

Table of underwater windows for various ocean waters

Fe-based metallic glasses are promising functional materials for advanced magnetism and sensor fields. Tailoring magnetic performance in amorphous materials requires a thorough knowledge of the correlation between structural disorder and magnetic order, which remains ambiguous. Two practical difficulties remain: the first is directly observing subtle magnetic structural changes on multiple scales, and the second is precisely regulating the various amorphous states. Here we propose a novel approach to tailor the amorphous structure through the liquid liquid phase transition. In-situ synchrotron diffraction has unraveled a medium-range ordering process dominated by edge-sharing cluster connectivity during the liquid-liquid phase transition. Moreover, nanodomains with topological order have been found to exist in composition with liquid-liquid phase transition, manifesting as hexagonal patterns in small-angle neutron scattering profiles. The liquid-liquid phase transition can induce the nanodomains to be more locally ordered, generating stronger exchange interactions due to the reduced Fe-Fe bond and the enhanced structural order, leading to the increment of saturation magnetization. Furthermore, the increased local heterogeneity in the medium range scale enhances the magnetic anisotropy, promoting the permeability response under applied stress and leading to a better stress-impedance effect. These experimental results pave the way to tailor the magnetic structure and performance through the liquid-liquid phase transition., Comment: number of pages is 31 and number of figures is 14, including the Supplementary Material

Phallus aureus S.M. Tang & S.H. Li, sp. nov. (FIGURE 3, 4) MycoBank: MB 844523 Etymology:—the epithet ‘ aureus ’ refers to light yellow indusium. Holotype:— CHINA, Yunnan Province, Zhaotong City, Xiaocaoba Town, 27°14.36’N, 103°52.61’E, 2000 m a.s.l., 14 October 2021, collected by Ao-cheng Ce (L7010, holotype!). Diagnosis:— Phallus aureus is distinguished from other Phullus species by an obovate, rugose, squamulose on the immature basidiomata surface, pseudostipe yellowish, grey volva, and pale yellow at the base becoming light yellow upwards. Description: Immature basidiomata globose to subglobose, 70 × 67 mm, yellowish white (2A2) to pale yellow (2A3), clear rugose on the surface, attached to the substrate by white (2A1) to yellowish grey (2B2) rhizomorphs. Exoperidium membranous; endoperidium gelatinous, hyaline. Expanded basidiomata up to 220 mm high when fresh. Receptacle 49–73 mm high, 43–72 mm broad, campanulate, pale yellow (2A3) to yellowish white (2A2), rugose. Gleba olive brown (4F5-6), mucilaginous. Pseudostipe subcylindrical, constricted at apex, enlarged downwards, 140–218 mm high when mature, 18–22/30–28/ 39–51 mm broad (apex/middle/base), pale yellow (2A3) at the base, upward becoming light yellow (3A5), spongiform, hollow. Volva globose or slightly obovate, 68–81 mm high, 50–69 mm broad, rugose, light grey (1C1) to grey (1D1). Indusium well-developed, almost touching ground, orange yellow (4B8), 113–142 mm in length, attached to the apex of pseudostipe, with polygonal to irregular meshes; meshes 2–21 mm wide, 1–4 mm thick. Rhizomorphs simple, white (2A1), 2–4 mm thick, about 35 mm long. Odour and taste unknown. Basidiospores (2.2–) 2.5–3.7 (–3.9) × (1.2–) 1.3–2.0 (–2.3) µm, Q=(1.6–) 1.8–2.0, cylindrical to long ellipsoid, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth under light microscope. Hyphae of pseudostipe and indusium thin-walled, pseudoparenchymatic, consisting of globose to subglobose or irregularly globose cells up to 21–45 µm in diam. Hyphae of volva tubular, 2–8 µm wide, thin walled, smooth. Hyphae of rhizomorphs filamentous, up to 8.0 µm in diam, thin-walled, smooth, septate, rarely branched. Habitat and distribution: Solitary or scattered on soil with decaying litter under Fargesia spathacea forest. So far known only from Yunnan Province, China. Season: July to August. Additional specimen examined: China. Yunnan Province, Zhaotong city, Xiaocaoba county, Ao Chengce 10 July (L7005); same location, Tang Songming 10 July (L7006); same location, Ao Chengce 14 August (L7011); Wang li 14 August (L7012).

Phallus aureus S.M. Tang & S.H. Li, sp. nov. (FIGURE 3, 4) MycoBank: MB 844523 Etymology:—the epithet ‘ aureus ’ refers to light yellow indusium. Holotype:— CHINA, Yunnan Province, Zhaotong City, Xiaocaoba Town, 27°14.36’N, 103°52.61’E, 2000 m a.s.l., 14 October 2021, collected by Ao-cheng Ce (L7010, holotype!). Diagnosis:— Phallus aureus is distinguished from other Phullus species by an obovate, rugose, squamulose on the immature basidiomata surface, pseudostipe yellowish, grey volva, and pale yellow at the base becoming light yellow upwards. Description: Immature basidiomata globose to subglobose, 70 × 67 mm, yellowish white (2A2) to pale yellow (2A3), clear rugose on the surface, attached to the substrate by white (2A1) to yellowish grey (2B2) rhizomorphs. Exoperidium membranous; endoperidium gelatinous, hyaline. Expanded basidiomata up to 220 mm high when fresh. Receptacle 49–73 mm high, 43–72 mm broad, campanulate, pale yellow (2A3) to yellowish white (2A2), rugose. Gleba olive brown (4F5-6), mucilaginous. Pseudostipe subcylindrical, constricted at apex, enlarged downwards, 140–218 mm high when mature, 18–22/30–28/ 39–51 mm broad (apex/middle/base), pale yellow (2A3) at the base, upward becoming light yellow (3A5), spongiform, hollow. Volva globose or slightly obovate, 68–81 mm high, 50–69 mm broad, rugose, light grey (1C1) to grey (1D1). Indusium well-developed, almost touching ground, orange yellow (4B8), 113–142 mm in length, attached to the apex of pseudostipe, with polygonal to irregular meshes; meshes 2–21 mm wide, 1–4 mm thick. Rhizomorphs simple, white (2A1), 2–4 mm thick, about 35 mm long. Odour and taste unknown. Basidiospores (2.2–) 2.5–3.7 (–3.9) × (1.2–) 1.3–2.0 (–2.3) µm, Q=(1.6–) 1.8–2.0, cylindrical to long ellipsoid, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth under light microscope. Hyphae of pseudostipe and indusium thin-walled, pseudoparenchymatic, consisting of globose to subglobose or irregularly globose cells up to 21–45 µm in diam. Hyphae of volva tubular, 2–8 µm wide, thin walled, smooth. Hyphae of rhizomorphs filamentous, up to 8.0 µm in diam, thin-walled, smooth, septate, rarely branched. Habitat and distribution: Solitary or scattered on soil with decaying litter under Fargesia spathacea forest. So far known only from Yunnan Province, China. Season: July to August. Additional specimen examined: China. Yunnan Province, Zhaotong city, Xiaocaoba county, Ao Chengce 10 July (L7005); same location, Tang Songming 10 July (L7006); same location, Ao Chengce 14 August (L7011); Wang li 14 August (L7012)., Published as part of Lv, Tong, Li, Yong-Rui, Ao, Cheng-Ce, He, Jun, Yu, Feng-Ming, Tang, Song-Ming & Li, Shu-Hong, 2022, Phallus aureus sp. nov. (Phallaceae, Basidiomycota) from Yunnan Province, China, pp. 61-70 in Phytotaxa 567 (1) on pages 65-68, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.567.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/7137996

In order to improve the efficiency of sentiment analysis of students in ideological and political classrooms, under the guidance of artificial intelligence ideas, this paper combines data mining and machine learning algorithms to improve and propose a method for quantifying the semantic ambiguity of sentiment words. Moreover, this paper designs different quantitative calculation methods of sentiment polarity intensity, and constructs video image sentiment recognition, text sentiment recognition, and speech sentiment recognition functional modules to obtain a combined sentiment recognition model. In addition, this article studies student emotions in ideological and political classrooms from the perspective of multimodal transfer learning, and optimizes the deep representation of images and texts and their corresponding deep networks through single-depth discriminative correlation analysis. Finally, this paper designs experiments to verify the model effect from two perspectives of single factor sentiment analysis and multi-factor sentiment analysis. The research results show that comprehensive analysis of multiple factors can effectively improve the effect of sentiment analysis of students in ideological and political classrooms, and enhance the effect of ideological and political classroom teaching.

Additional file 1. The search strategies and main results of epidemiologic studies reporting the association between environmentalrisk factors and age-related diseases.

Additional file 1: Table S1. The RT-qPCR primer sequences adopted in the current study.

18F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) is the most sensitive tool for studying brain metabolism in vivo. We investigated the image patterns of 18F-FDG PET during reperfusion injury and correlated changes of whole brain blood flow utilizing a rat myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI) model. The results assessed by echocardiography indicated resultant cardiac dysfunction after ischemia-reperfusion in the rat heart. It was found that the average standardized uptake value (SUVaverage) of the whole brain was significantly decreased in model rats, and the glucose uptake of different brain regions including accumbens core/shell (Acb), left caudate putamen (LCPu), hippocampus (HIP), left hypothalamus (LHYP), olfactory (OLF), superior colliculus (SC), right midbrain (RMID), ventral tegmental area (VTA), inferior colliculus (IC) and left thalamus whole (LTHA) was significantly decreased in MIRI rats whereas no significant difference was found in the SUVaverage of amygdala (AMY), right CPu, RHYP, right HYP, left MID, right THA, pons and medulla oblongata (MO). These 18F-FDG PET data provide a reliable identification method for brain metabolic changes in rats with MIRI.

In the past 20 years, the phase-change memory technology has achieved rapid development, of which alloys along the GeTe-Sb2Te3 pseudobinary line are the most extensively researched materials. In recent years, Sb2Te3-based materials start to attract the attention of researchers. A recent study has shown that the Sb2Te3 (ST) material has a face-centered cubic (Fcc) phase which contains a high concentration of vacancies at low temperature. Due to the poor amorphous thermal stability of ST, the as-deposited film obtained by physical vapor deposition is crystalline (Fcc phase). Therefore, we proposed a vacancy control mechanism, using inert gas Ar to ion implantation of as-deposited ST films, redistributing vacancies in the as-deposited ST films. Through different doses of Ar ion implantation, we obtain amorphous ST materials with different resistivity. We find that after the injection dose reached 1 × 1016 cm-2, the effect of continued increase in the implantation dose on the resistivity of the thin film is negligible. After ion implantation, the transition temperature of the metastable Fcc phase to the hexagonal phase (Hex) is increased, which is beneficial to improve the power consumption and endurance of the device. The ST which is injected with a dose of 1 × 1016 cm−2 Ar ion based phase-change memory cell can perform erasing operation in 100 ns, showing low power consumption potential. Our work provides a new idea and method for the application of future defect control in phase-change memory research.

Additional file 1. Additional Tables and figures.

Presents the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for quality assessment.

Presents subgroup analyses for case–control studies.

Presents subgroup analyses for cohort studies.

Presents funnel plots for case–control studies and cohort studies.

Yu-qing Huang,1,* Kenneth Lo,1,* Xiao-cong Liu,1 Song-tao Tang,2 Cheng Huang,1 Ying-qing Feng1 1Department of Cardiology, Guangdong Cardiovascular Center, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Internal Medicine, Community Health Center of Liaobu County, Dongguan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ying-qing Feng; Cheng HuangDepartment of Cardiology, Guangdong Cardiovascular Center, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510080, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/ Fax +86-20-83827812Email 651792209@qq.com linfeng7822@sina.comObjective: The relationship between fasting blood glucose and first ischemic stroke in older adults was unclear, so we explored this association among older patients with hypertension in China.Methods: We recruited hypertensive participants with 60 or more of age. Fasting blood glucose concentrations were categorized into quartiles. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for ischemic stroke were estimated using multivariate Cox regression analysis and subgroup analysis.Results: A total of 3310 (1474 (44.53%) male) patients with mean age of 71.41± 7.20 years were included. During the mean follow-up period of 5.5 years, 206 cases of ischemic stroke occurred. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, multivariate adjusted HRs for each standard deviation increment of fasting blood glucose, the risk of ischemic stroke increased by 11% (95% CI: 1.03, 1.21; P= 0.008). In addition, when using the lowest group (Q1) as reference, the multivariate adjusted HRs for first ischemic stroke were 1.76 (95% CI: 1.08, 2.86; P=0.023), 1.73 (95% CI: 1.06, 2.81; P=0.027) and 2.42 (95% CI: 1.49, 3.93; P< 0.001) (P for trend< 0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed that the association between fasting blood glucose and the risk of ischemic stroke was higher in male (HR: 1.22 vs 1.10), those with uncontrolled hypertension (HR: 1.22 vs 1.10), subjects with diabetes (HR: 1.19 vs 1.10), overweight (HR: 1.19 vs 1.09), smoking habits (HR: 1.33 vs 1.13) and those whose eGFR< 90 (HR: 1.16 vs 1.09).Conclusion: Fasting blood glucose was an independent risk factor for the first ischemic stroke among older adults with hypertension. Managing fasting blood glucose may be beneficial for participants with diabetes, poorly controlled blood pressure, had smoking habits, being overweight, and with reduced renal function.Keywords: fasting blood glucose, ischemic stroke, elderly, hypertension, community

Magnesium-lithium (Mg-Li) alloys are ultra-lightweight engineering alloys (density, ρ = 1.3-1.65 g/cm3) that have attracted considerable scientific and commercial interest due to their moderate specific strengths and good formability. Aluminium (Al) is the most effective strengthening element in Mg-Li alloys, such that Mg-Li-Al alloys have been widely investigated, including the recent discovery of a body-centred cubic (BCC) Mg-11Li-3Al alloy (wt.%, LA113) that exhibited high specific strength, good ductility and excellent corrosion resistance. The aims of this thesis are to investigate the effect of composition and microstructure of Mg-Li-Al alloys on their mechanical properties and oxidation behaviour, with specific focus on the benchmark LA113 alloy. The structure/mechanical property investigations include standard thermal and mechanical processing of selected alloys through to studies of localised structural and compositional effects using diffusion couples in conjunction with site-specific microanalysis techniques. In addition to the more standard structural analysis techniques, atom probe tomography, high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used for investigating these structure/property relationships. The mechanism/s of oxidation of LA113 on exposure to atmospheric air was investigated, with particular focus on the effect of changes in composition and microstructure on oxidation kinetics and film morphology. Specific analysis techniques used include secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The response of Mg-Li-Al alloys to solution treatment and water quenching and subsequent natural ageing were investigated on bulk alloys in conjunction with diffusion couple experiments. Substantial strengthening of LA113 almost immediately after quenching was associated with the formation of a uniform distribution of nano-sized, rod-shaped, semi-coherent D03-Mg3Al precipitates. Subsequent softening on natural ageing was associated with the gradual coarsening and loss in coherency of these Mg3Al precipitates. Based on detailed structural and theoretical investigations, a new methodology was proposed for producing structurally stable, high specific strength Mg-Li-Al base alloys. A Mg-15Li-6Al alloy (wt.%, LA156) was designed that quench strengthened to a hardness of ~ 128 HV and naturally aged to a stable peak hardness of ~ 148 HV. Such a high hardness and exceptionally low density (~ 1.32 g/cm3) equates to an estimated specific strength of over 300 KN∙m/Kg, which makes LA156 one of the highest specific-strength structural alloys developed so far. The surface oxidation of LA113 in the BCC β condition occurred via electrochemical reactions with the assistance of water vapour adsorption onto the alloy surface in atmospheric air; i.e., cathodic reduction of oxidants (water and dissolved oxygen) and anodic oxidation of metals (Li and Mg). Development of the oxide layer was initiated by the growth of MgO and Mg(OH)2. Subsequent formation of Li2O and LiOH was the result of rapid diffusion of Li to the free surface. Li2CO3 predominantly formed an outermost layer through the chemical reaction of LiOH with carbon dioxide in the air. After exposure to air for over 70 h, further oxidation became minimal. Such a complex, multilayered oxidation film prevented the underlying alloy from further oxidation. The diffusion couple experiments highlighted the marked effect of microstructure on the oxidation behaviour of Mg-Li-Al alloys. For HCP α + BCC β two-phase microstructures, oxidation is accelerated due to localized galvanic corrosion via attack of the more electrochemically active β phase. The significant effect of microstructure on oxidation has significant implications for commercially producing corrosion resistant Mg-Li-base alloys.

Stability is one of the most important criterions to judge the quality of products, especially for the phase-change memory (PCM), which is regarded as the most promising candidate for next-generation non-volatile memory. Due to the lack of resistance stability, read errors can occur easily and the reliability of PCM will be influenced. Using Sb2Te as a base material, the resistance stability of Sb2Te was studied, and the results indicated that in the whole cooling process, the resistance of Sb2Te crystalline film was extremely steady under different annealing temperatures and different cooling rates. To unravel the reason why the resistance of Sb2Te crystalline film has good stability, further study was carried out and the results showed that there was no new diffraction peak in the XRD pattern, and the HRTEM images showed the similar hexagonal phase for the films under different annealing temperatures. Moreover, it was observed that the resistance in Sb2Te-based PCM device was still stable for crystalline state and amorphous state. These results revealed that the stability of Sb2Te crystalline films at a micro level and the stability of microscopic structure resulted in the stability of resistance. Therefore, based on the present study, the stability of phase-change material Sb2Te can be applied to exploit more reliable PCM for near-future application.

Power consumption has long been a great obstacle in phase change memory technology. Silicon carbide was introduced to be a buffer layer between the phase change material and the metal electrode in this work. The results showed that the new structure mitigated the energy consumption and maintained the advantage of high speed. This is attributed to the thin SiC buffer layer that helps confine the generated Joule heat inside the active phase change volume and form more conducting paths by the high efficiency of the heat utilization. Additionally, another key role — inhibition of the material separation, is conducive to achieving stable and sustainable electrical operations.

Carbon-doped Sb-rich Ge-Sb-Te (Sb-CGST) is proved to be a promising candidate for phase change memory because of it high crystallization temperature (higher than 200°C) and 10-year data retention temperature (higher than 120°C). The carbon-doped Sb-rich Ge-Sb-Te (Sb-CGST) films were deposited on SiO2/Si (100) substrate by RF magnetron co-sputtering using CGST alloy target (a GST target containing 16 at. % C) and Sb targets at room temperature. The content of Sb in the films was controlled by adjusting the sputtering power ratio of CGST and Sb. The results showed that both of these two properties increase firstly and then decreases with increasing the content of Sb, which are superior to that of Ge2Sb2Te5. Furthermore, Sb-CGST based PCM cells were fabricated to investigate the property of material. 6ns pulse could realize SET operation, and 3.2 x 10-11J energy can realize RESET operation.

Semiconductor diode lasers have a wide variety of applications in optical communications, spectroscopy and imaging. This thesis reports on work to produce novel semiconductor diode lasers, and expand their application areas. Semiconductor lasers designed and fabricated in this work are based on quantum well structures operating at 1550 nm. Three main findings are reported in this thesis. The first finding is about distributed feedback semiconductor lasers and laser arrays based on novel sampled Bragg grating structures. These semiconductor lasers have enhanced effective coupling coefficients compared to distributed feedback lasers based on the conventional sampled Bragg grating structure. The effective coupling coefficient of the conventional sampled Bragg grating is only about 0.32 times of a uniform Bragg grating. However, based on novel sampled Bragg grating structures, the effective coupling coefficients can be up to 0.9 times of a uniform Bragg grating. An eight-wavelength distributed feedback semiconductor laser array is reported, which has a precise wavelength separation of 100 GHz at 1550 nm. 10 mW of output optical power was achieved by a single diode laser. The second finding regards a novel dual-mode semiconductor diode laser based on a single cavity. The dual wavelengths of this laser are lasing stably with a wavelength separation of 4.45 nm. Based on this dual-mode diode laser, a THz frequency of 560 GHz is generated based on the photomixing technique. The third finding of this thesis is about THz repetition frequency mode-locked semiconductor lasers. The mode-locked semiconductor lasers are based on novel sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector structures. Compared to the mode-locked laser based on the conventional sampled grating distributed Bragg reflector structure, the effective coupling coefficient is increased by more than a factor of three in the new mode-locked laser. Optical pulses at repetition frequencies of 620 GHz and 1 THz are generated based on the mode-locked diode laser. Design, fabrication and characterisation of these semiconductor lasers are introduced in detail in this thesis.

In this work, we present the results of a highly reliable phase change memory (PCM) based on Carbon-doped Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 - material in 40 nm node. The large Reset/Set resistance ratio of more than 2 orders of magnitude is achieved. The chip exhibits excellent data retention, endurance characteristics, and the sensing window is even larger after 260°C soldering test. It is estimated that the PCM could retain data for 10 years at 128°C. In a 128 Mb test chip over 108 cycles is achieved. PCM is suitable for applications requiring high thermal stability and cycling endurance.

By using Zr6.5(Sb2Te3)93.5 film, Te nanowires with a diameter of 5 to 30 nm were fabricated through annealing process. The results of the bright field TEM images, selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) demonstrated that the nanowire fitted well with Te hexagonal Te (P3121) structure. The EDS mapping implies that Zr element bonded with Te element and induced the formation of single crystalline Te nanowire during the annealing process.

Ni-doped Ge-Te (Ni-GT) material was proposed and investigated for phase change random access memory (PCRAM) applications. With Ni addition, the crystallization temperature, data retention ability and crystallization speed were obviously improved. The surface roughness of crystalline Ni-GT films was decreased by Ni incorporation. Moreover, temperature dependent transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was applied to investigate the phase change behavior of Ni-GT films. All the experimental results demonstrated that Ni-GT material has potential for high-speed PCRAM applications in high temperature environment.

The performance of phase change memory (PCM) cell, based on Ti0.5Sb2Te3, was significantly improved by using a tantalum dioxide buffer layer. The presence of a buffer layer reduced the reset voltage of the PCM cell. The theoretical thermal simulation and calculation for the reset process were conducted to analyze the thermal effect of the titanium dioxide heating layer. The improved performance of the PCM cell with dioxide clad layer can be attributed to the fact that the buffer layer not only acted as heating layer but also efficiently reduced the cell dissipated power.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Profiles of diversity represented by one-parametric Renyi diversity index for two hypothetical assemblages, denoted by A and B. Vertical dotted lines denote values of the scale parameter (measured along the x-axis), which provides classical diversity index statistics, such as number of species, Shannon, Simpson, and Bergerâ Parker index of diversity. Figure S2. Densities of phytoplankton taxa of seven sampling sites in Tai Lake. Figure S3. Diversities of phytoplankton communities at four different seasons in Tai Lake. Table S1. Synthesized index of trophic state (STSI), trophic state, and qualitative descriptor of water quality. Table S2. Pairwise Spearmanâ s correlations coefficients (Ď ) among environmental variables.

Substantial evidence has suggested that deep brain stimulation of the cuneiform nucleus has become a remarkable treatment option for intractable pain, but the possible mechanism is poorly understood. Using a melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R)-green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter knockin mouse, we showed that a large number of MC4R-GFP-positive neurons were expressed in the cuneiform nucleus. Immunofluorescence revealed that approximately 40%-50% of MC4R-GFP-positive neurons expressed mu opioid receptors, indicating that they were opioidergic signaling. Our findings support the hypothesis that MC4R expression in the cuneiform nucleus is involved in the modulation of opioidergic signaling.

Electron beam (EB) annealing was used to acquire a reasonable and stable component in Si-Sb-Te material. For Si2Sb2Te5phase change material, EB irradiation can induce phase separation and some regions have remained unchanged, which manifests as SixSb2Te3. The component of these steady areas was considered as reasonable in which Sb2Te3is a stable compound. The crystallized Si3.3Sb2Te3film after EB irradiation exhibited nanoscale grains with well-proportioned distribution and these grains were all with Sb2Te3structure surrounded by amorphous. This unique structure brings fast phase change speed which is at least 12 times more rapidly than Si2Sb2Te5material because it localizes atoms’ diffusion in a nanoarea during reversible phase transition process.

Additional file 1: Table S1. PBD experimental design of the AAO pretreatment. Table S2. Analysis of PBD design on optimization of each variable. Table S3. Experimental range and levels of independent variables. Table S4. Full factorial CCD matrix of three variables in coded units and the experimentally observed response. Table S5. ANOVA results for the quadratic equation for the delignification. Table S6. Model coefficient estimated by multiple linear regression for the delignification. Table S7. Crystalline of the lignocellulosic biomass before and after the two-stage pretreatment. Figure S1. Predicted values versus experimental values of CCD on the delignification. Figure S2. SEM images of material before and after the AAO and AAO-AHP pretreatment. A, B and C means the original, AAO pretreated and AAO-AHP pretreated substance, respectively. Figure S3. X-ray diffraction patterns of the substance before and after the AAO and AAO-AHP pretreatment.

An error correcting method of BCH code applicable to memory is proposed. The reliability and yield of memories can be efficiently improved by error correcting codes. Due to the limited length of data transfer bits in certain interfaces, check bits are not fully used by most BCH codes. The proposed method takes advantage of the nature of BCH codes to make full use of the check bits, so that more errors can be corrected than the original method. The algorithm can be achieved by pure logic circuits in a parallel way with only gate delay, suitable for special timing applications. The improvement of certain BCH code is evaluated by C++ and the hardware implementation is presented by FPGA.