Search

The C-doped P-gate-enhanced HEMT (PEHEMT) is simulated by using the Silvaco T-CAD tool. The interaction among the C acceptor trap, electron and hole in the buffer layer at different voltages promotes interesting electrical characteristic within the device. In off-state conditions, the peak electric field position shifts from the edge of gate to the edge of drain. During the process of peak electric field transfer, the gate electric field gradually saturates, and the increase rate of peak electric field shows a turning point at 350V (Vd < 600 V). As the voltage further increases (Vd > 600 V), the increase rate of the drain electric field gradually slows down and tends to saturation, and the corresponding saturated gate electric field begins to increase. The uniform, quasi- linear, and step distributions of three different C acceptor in the buffer layer exhibit different degrees of current collapse under 1 ms bias stress, with values of 21.8%, 12.7%, and 12.8%, respectively. In this work, we have provided appropriate explanations for the above phenomena.

Recently, the underlying mechanism of vascular calcification (VC) has been partially elucidated. However, it is still high incidence, and no effective treatment has been found. This study aims at figuring out the underlying mechanisms of microRNA-708-5p (miR-708-5p)/sodium-phosphate transporter 1 (Pit-1) axis in high phosphate (HP)-induced VC of T/G HA-VSMCs. Alizarin Red S staining was used to evaluate calcium salt deposition, and the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was determined by measuring the absorbance at 405 nm. RT-qPCR and Western blot were performed to assess the levels of miR-708-5p and Pit-1, the levels of ALP, Pit-1, β-catenin, glycogen synthesis kinase 3 β (GSK3β), and p-GSK3β proteins, respectively. The interaction between miR-708-5p and Pit-1 was validated by luciferase reporter assay. Our findings illustrated that miR-708-5p was downregulated and Pit-1was upregulated in HP-induced VC. MiR-708-5p mimics inhibited HP-induced VC. Further experiments demonstrated that miR-708-5p targets Pit-1. In addition, miR-708-5p inactivates the Wnt8b/β-catenin pathway via targeting Pit-1 to reduce HP-induced VC. MiR-708-5p has a crucial effect on VC via targeting Pit-1 and inhibiting Wnt8b/β-catenin pathway, it may serve as a new target for VC treatment.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to more than 5 million deaths worldwide to date. Due to the limited therapeutic options so far available, target-based virtual screening with LC/MS support was applied to identify the novel and high-content compounds 1–4 with inhibitory effects on SARS-CoV-2 in Vero E6 cells from the plant Dryopteris wallichiana. These compounds were also evaluated against SARS-CoV-2 in Calu-3 cells and showed unambiguous inhibitory activity. The inhibition assay of targets showed that compounds 3 and 4 mainly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro, with effective Kd values. Through docking and molecular dynamics modeling, the binding site is described, providing a comprehensive understanding of 3CLpro and interactions for 3, including hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic bonds, and the spatial occupation of the B ring. Compounds 3 and 4 represent new, potential lead compounds for the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs. This study has led to the development of a target-based virtual screening method for exploring the potency of natural products and for identifying natural bioactive compounds for possible COVID-19 treatment.

Distinct plastid types and ultrastructural changes are associated with differences in carotenoid pigment profiles in differently coloured carrots, and a variant of the OR gene, DcOR3

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the association between hematocrit (HCT) levels and all-cause mortality in geriatric hip fractures. Methods: Older adult patients with hip fractures were screened between January 2015 and September 2019. The demographic and clinical characteristics of these patients were collected. Linear and nonlinear multivariate Cox regression models were used to identify the association between HCT levels and mortality. Analyses were performed using EmpowerStats and the R software. Results: A total of 2589 patients were included in this study. The mean follow-up period was 38.94 months. Eight hundred and seventy-five (33.8%) patients died due to all-cause mortality. Linear multivariate Cox regression models showed that HCT level was associated with mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.97, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.96–0.99, p = 0.0002) after adjusting for confounding factors. However, the linear association was unstable and nonlinearity was identified. A HCT level of 28% was the inflection point for prediction. A HCT level of 28% was not a risk factor for mortality (HR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.97–1.01, p = 0.3792). We found that the nonlinear association was very stable in the propensity score-matching sensitivity analysis. Conclusions: The HCT level was nonlinearly associated with mortality in geriatric hip fracture patients and could be considered a predictor of mortality in these patients. Registration: ChiCTR2200057323.

The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in type II neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) during the regeneration process following autologous sciatic nerve transplantation in rats.A total of 40 Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into an experimental and control group. There were 20 rats in each group.Five time points were set on the 3rd, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days after surgery. In the experimental group, reversed autologous transplantation of the sciatic nerve was performed, while in the control group, the sciatic nerve was only exposed. Changes in the rat footprints were observed at different time points, the sciatic functional index(SFI) was calculated, regeneration of the myelin sheath were observed by transmission electron microscopy, type II NRG-1 protein were detected by western blotting, and type II NRG-1 mRNA were detected by real-time PCR.The SFI of the experimental group was lower than that of the control group at all time points after surgery, and the SFI of the experimental group was gradually increased. The expression of type II NRG-1 protein in the experimental group was significantly increased on the 3rd day, peaking on the 7th day, and continued until the 28th day after surgery. The area of medullated nerve fibers(um2) in the experimental group was significantly different from that in the control group on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days(P 0.01).Type II NRG-1 peaked between the 3rd day and 14th day after autologous nerve transplantation and was probably involved in the regulation of myelin sheath regeneration during this period.

Objectives The lung injury is often secondary to severe trauma. In the model of crush syndrome, there may be secondary lung injury. We hypothesize that high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), released from muscle tissue, mediates the apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells (AEC) via HMGB1/Receptor of advanced glycation end-products (RAGE)/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway. The study aimed to investigate how HMGB1 mediated the apoptosis of AEC in the rat model. Methods Seventy-five SD male rats were randomly divided into five groups: CS, CS + vehicle, CS + Ethyl pyruvate (EP), CS + FPS-ZM1 group, and CS + SP600125 groups. When the rats CS model were completed after 24 h, the rats were sacrificed. We collected the serum and the whole lung tissues. Inflammatory cytokines were measured in serum samples. Western blot and RT-qPCR were used to quantify the protein and mRNA. Lastly, apoptotic cells were detected by TUNEL. We used SPSS 25.0 for statistical analyses. Results Nine rats died during the experiments. Dead rats were excluded from further analysis. Compared to the CS group, levels of HMGB1 and inflammatory cytokines in serum were downregulated in CS + EP, CS + FPS-ZM1, and CS + SP600125 groups. Western blot and RT-qPCR analysis revealed a significant downregulation of HMGB1, RAGE, and phosphorylated-JNK in CS + EP, CS + FPS-ZM1, and CS + SP600125 groups, compared with the CS groups, excluding total-JNK mRNA. Apoptosis of AEC was used TUNEL to assess. We found the TUNEL-positive cells were downregulated in CS + EP, CS + FPS-ZM1, and CS + SP600125 groups. Conclusion The remote lung injury begins early after crush injuries. The HMGB1/RAGE/JNK signaling axis is an attractive target to abrogate the apoptosis of AEC after crush injuries.

Background. During total knee arthroplasty (TKA), surgeons mobilize the patella to facilitate clear visualization of the articular surfaces and allow better prosthesis placement. According to the manipulation, this manipulation can be divided into patellar eversion and noneversion. However, the effect of patellar eversion in TKA is controversial, with substantial variability in clinical practice. This systematic review is aimed at assessing the adverse effects of patellar eversion and patellar noneversion duration in TKA. Methods. This updated systematic literature review identified randomized controlled trials comparing patellar eversion and noneversion durations in TKA. Two investigators independently extracted data and evaluated the quality of the studies. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan version 5.3. Results. Nine studies with a total of 608 patients (730 knees) were included. Of these, 374 knees were classified in the eversion group and 356 knees in the noneversion group. The quality of the studies was high. The results showed that patellar eversion could increase the postoperative complication rate ( relative risk RR = 1.67 ; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09–2.54; P = 0.02 ) and postoperative pain before discharge ( mean deviation MD = 0.19 ; 95% CI, 0.04–0.34; P = 0.01 ), compared to noneversion. Additionally, patellar eversion could prolong the time until the patient is able to raise the leg while straightened ( MD = 0.42 ; 95% CI, 0.24–0.59; P < 0.00001 ) and increase the length of stay ( MD = 0.65 ; 95% CI, 0.05–1.25; P = 0.03 ). However, patellar eversion did not influence postoperative pain at 1 year ( MD = 0.02 ; 95% CI, -0.23–0.28; P = 0.85 ), operative time ( MD = − 2.66 ; 95% CI, -8.84–3.52; P = 0.40 ), recovery of quadriceps force throughout the follow-up period, and Insall–Salvati ratio ( MD = − 0.04 ; 95% CI, [-0.11–0.02]; P = 0.23 ). Conclusions. The patellar eversion could increase the postoperative complication rate and postoperative pain. Current evidence supports the avoidance of patellar eversion in TKA. Further large-sample and long-term trials are required to validate these results.

Objective: To observe the significance of subchondral bone microfracture in the human osteoarthritic tibial plateau on cartilage tidemark drift.Methods: Human knee tibial plateau cartilage samples with different OARSI grades were obtained, and the numbers of cartilage tidemarks and microfracture lines were determinedafter safranin O staining and compared among groups. Osteogenesis caused by microfracture in subchondral bone was observed and staged according to biological properties.Immunohistochemistry, western blotting, PCR and laser microdissection were performedto detect the biological properties of osteogenic areas caused by microfractures.The accompanying relationship between the ossification process and new tidemark formation inosteogenic areas caused by microfractures was then evaluated.Results: With the increase in OARSI grade, the numbers of cartilage tidemarks and subchondral bone microfracture lines in human knee tibial plateau cartilage tissue samples showed increasing trends.The subchondral bone microfracture line was observed toextend as far asthe basal area of hyaline cartilage and cause endochondral osteogenesis.The endochondral osteogenesis caused by subchondral microfracture was categorized into chondrocyte,calcareous sedimentary and ossification stages. A new tidemark appeared in the osteogenic region near the hyaline cartilage when the ossification process of the osteogenic region was completed.Conclusions:Endochondral osteogenesis canoccur at the base of hyaline cartilage induced by microfractures in the tibial plateau subchondral bone. A new cartilage tidemark can form on the side of the osteogenic tissue close to hyaline cartilage when the process of osteogenesis is completed.There is a positive correlation between the degree of cartilage tissue degeneration and the number of tidemarks in articular cartilage.

Objective: CA-125 is widely used as biomarker of ovarian cancer. However, CA-125 suffers low accuracy. We developed a hybrid analytical model, the Ovarian Cancer Decision Tree (OCDT), employing a two-layer decision tree, which considers genetic alteration information from cell-free DNA along with CA-125 value to distinguish malignant tumors from benign tumors. Methods: We consider major copy number alterations at whole chromosome and chromosome-arm level as the main feature of our detection model. Fifty-eight patients diagnosed with malignant tumors, 66 with borderline tumors, and 10 with benign tumors were enrolled. Results: Genetic analysis revealed significant arm-level imbalances in most malignant tumors, especially in high-grade serous cancers in which 12 chromosome arms with significant aneuploidy ( PConclusions: The results suggested that genetic variations extracted from cfDNA can be combined with CA-125, and together improved the differential diagnosis of malignant from benign ovarian tumors. The model would aid in the pre-operative assessment of women with adnexal masses. Future clinical trials need to be conducted to further evaluate the value of CScore in clinical settings and search for the optimal threshold for malignancy detection.

In a hybrid coupled wall (HCW), a steel coupling beam with a good shear performance can replace a concrete coupling beam. This is especially applicable for locations in which height restrictions do not permit the use of deep reinforced concrete beams or in which it is not possible to economically develop required capacity, stiffness, or deformation demands with concrete beams. In this study, a new type of connection design with a steel boundary element of hybrid coupled wall (SBE-HCW) was proposed, and a 23-story SBE-HCW structure was analyzed under both gravity and seismic load to examine the seismic performance using ABAQUS. The structural failure process, base shear force, vertex displacement, and damage distribution of core tube were investigated. The analysis results confirmed that the response of specimen exhibited good plastic deformation behavior under seismic, thereby satisfying the demands of seismic ductility design. The connection between the steel coupling beams and the shear walls in the specimen appeared to be intact. The analysis evidence indicated that the proposed connection detailing appeared to be effective.

Over the last few decades, transition metal-catalyzed direct C-H activation with the assistance of a coordinating directing group has emerged as an atom- and stepeconomical synthetic tools to transform C–H bonds into carbon-carbon or carbonheteroatom bonds. Although the strategies involving regioselective C–H cleavage assisted by various directing groups have been extensively reviewed in the literature, we now attempt to give an overview of the recent advances on phosphorus-containing functional group assisted C-H activation reactions catalyzed by transition-metal catalysts including mechanistic study and synthetic applications. The discussion is directed towards C-H olefination, C-H activation/cyclization, C-H arylation, C-H amination, C-H hydroxylation and acetoxylation as well as miscellaneous C-H activation.

Objective This study aims to develop an artificial intelligence-based method to screen patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 50% or lesser using electrocardiogram (ECG) data alone. Methods Convolutional neural network (CNN) is a class of deep neural networks, which has been widely used in medical image recognition. We collected standard 12-lead ECG and transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) data including the LVEF value. Then, we paired the ECG and TTE data from the same individual. For multiple ECG-TTE pairs from a single individual, only the earliest data pair was included. All the ECG-TTE pairs were randomly divided into the training, validation, or testing data set in a ratio of 9:1:1 to create or evaluate the CNN model. Finally, we assessed the screening performance by overall accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. Results We retrospectively enrolled a total of 26 786 ECG-TTE pairs and randomly divided them into training (n = 21 732), validation (n = 2 530), and testing data set (n = 2 530). In the testing set, the CNN algorithm showed an overall accuracy of 73.9%, sensitivity of 69.2%, specificity of 70.5%, positive predictive value of 70.1%, and negative predictive value of 69.9%. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that a well-trained CNN algorithm may be used as a low-cost and noninvasive method to identify patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

Background This study aimed to investigate the trend of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-specific mortality in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and identify prognostic factors for CVD-specific death in stage NSCLC patients. Methods In this study, 270,618 NSCLC patients were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. CVD- and NSCLC-specific cumulative mortality and proportion of death were calculated and graphically displayed to describe the probability of specific endpoints. Prognostic factors for CVD-specific mortality were evaluated by cause-specific hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using the competing risk model with non-cardiovascular death as competing risks. Results Among all competing causes of death, lung cancer resulted in the highest cumulative mortality, followed by CVDs and other causes. In the proportion of cause-specific death, heart diseases accounted for approximately 5.3% of the total death, only secondary to primary cancer. In all three stages, higher age, squamous cell carcinoma, and no-or-unknown chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy were associated with a higher risk of CVD-specific death, while surgery treatment seemed to be a protective factor. Female gender was statistically related to CVD-specific death in stage I and III patients with HRs of 0.84 (0.78–0.91) and 0.84 (0.77–0.93), respectively. Interestingly, right-sided laterality was correlated with lower CVD-specific mortality with HR of 0.82 (0.74–0.90) in stage III. Conclusions This study illustrated the historical trend of CVD-specific death in NSCLC patients and assesses potential prognostic risk factors, highlighting the involvement of cardio-oncology teams in cancer treatment to provide optimal comprehensive care and long-term surveillance for cancer patients.

Objectives: COVID-19 remains a global challenge. Corticosteroids are a group of anti-inflammatory and suppressive immune response drugs that are widely used in the treatment of COVID-19, especially when it presents with viral pneumonia. Comprehensive reviews investigating the comparative proportion and efficacy of corticosteroid use are scarce. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials to evaluate the proportion and efficacy of corticosteroid use for the treatment of COVID-19.Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature review of PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry, and the China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database for relevant trials on glucocorticoid therapy in COVID-19 patients. Outcome measures were the proportion of patients administered corticosteroids, viral clearance and mortality. Effect size was reported as weighted mean differences (WMDs) for continuous outcomes and odds ratios (ORs) for dichotomous outcomes with associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Forty-three trials involving 6603 patients were included. The meta-analysis demonstrated that the proportion of COVID-19 patients who received corticosteroids was significantly lower than that of patients who did not receive corticosteroids. In addition, our meta-analysis demonstrated no significant difference in the proportions of severe and nonsevere patients who were administered corticosteroids. We also performed subgroup analyses stratified by severity, indicating that the proportion of patients administered corticosteroids was significantly higher among intensive care unit (ICU) patients than among non-ICU patients. The results of our meta-analysis indicated that corticosteroid treatment significantly delayed the viral clearance time. Finally, our meta-analysis demonstrated no significant difference between the use of corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients who died and those who survived. This result indicated that mortality was not correlated with corticosteroid therapy.Conclusion: The proportion of COVID-19 patients who received corticosteroids was significantly lower than that of patients who did not receive corticosteroids. Corticosteroid use in subjects with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections delayed virus clearance and did not convincingly improve survival;therefore, corticosteroids should be used with caution in the treatment of COVID-19.

The dislocation slip behaviors in GaN bulk crystal are investigated by nanoindentation, the dislocation distribution patterns formed around an impress are observed by cathodoluminescence (CL) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscope (TEM). Dislocation loops, vacancy luminescence, and cross-slips show hexagonal symmetry around the 〈11-20〉 and 〈1-100〉 direction on c-plane. It is found that the slip planes of dislocation in GaN crystal are dominated in {0001} basal plane and {10-11} pyramid plane. According to the dislocation intersection theory, we come up with the dislocation formation process and the related mechanisms are discussed.

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials offer the potential for realization of low-cost and flexible next-generation solar cells fabricated by low-temperature solution processing. Although efficiencies of perovskite solar cells have dramatically improved up to 22.1% within the past 6 years, there is still considerable room for further improvement in device efficiency through development of smooth and large grain size perovskite films. Commonly, the smooth perovskite layers and large grains are alternative to CH3NH3PbI3-xClx. However, the previous one-step fabrication of CH3NH3PbI3-xClx using PbCl2 needs long annealing time. Herein, the active layer, a noncontinuous CH3NH3PbI3-xClx film with micrometre-level crystalline grain, was fabricated using a one-step spin-coating process followed by high-temperature annealing and exhibited an increased efficiency of 9.93%. This finding enables the formation of larger grain size perovskite films and the demonstration of efficient perovskite heterojunction solar cells.

Organic donor-π-bridge-acceptor (D-π-A) dyes with arylamines as an electron donor have been widely used as photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, titanium-oxo clusters (TOCs) functionalized with this kind of D-π-A structured dye-molecule have rarely been explored. In the present study, the 4-dimethylaminobenzoate-functionalized titanium-oxo cluster [Ti6(μ3-O)6(OiPr)6(DMABA)6]·2C6H5CH3 (DMABA = 4-dimethylaminobenzoate) was synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. For comparison, two other Ti6-oxo clusters, namely [Ti6(μ3-O)6(OiPr)6(AD)6] (AD = 1-adamantanecarboxylate) and [Ti6(μ3-O)2(μ2-O)(μ2-OiPr)4(OiPr)10(DMM)2] (DMM = dimethylmalonate), were also studied. The DMABA-functionalized cluster exhibits a remarkably reduced band gap of ∼2.5 eV and much enhanced photocurrent response in comparison with the other two clusters. The electronic structures and electronic transitions of the clusters were studied by DFT and TDDFT calculations. The computational results suggest that the low-energy transitions of the DMABA-functionalized cluster have a substantial charge-transfer character arising from the DMABA → {Ti6} cluster core ligand-to-core charge transfer (LCCT), along with the DMABA-based intra-ligand charge transfer (ILCT). These low-energy charge transfer transitions provide efficient electron injection pathways for photon-to-electron conversion.

Objectives Total hip arthroplasty is a reliable therapeutic intervention in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, in whom the aims of surgery are to reduce pain, restore hip function and improve quality of life. The current study is a retrospective analysis of the clinical and radiographic findings in a consecutive series of patients with hip ankylosis associated with severe ankylosing spondylitis who underwent bilateral primary total hip arthroplasty using non-cemented components. Methods From June 2008 to May 2012, total hip arthroplasty was performed on 34 hips in 17 patients with bilateral ankylosis caused by ankylosing spondylitis. The study patients included 13 men and 4 women with a mean age of 24.2 years. The mean duration of disease was 8.3 years and the average duration of hip involvement was 7.6 years. All patients had severe hip pain and dysfunction with bilateral bony ankylosis and no range of motion preoperatively and all underwent bilateral cementless total hip arthroplasty performed by a single surgeon. Joint pain, range of motion (ROM), and Harris hip scores were assessed to evaluate the postoperative results. Results At a mean follow-up of 31.7 months, all patients had experienced significant clinical improvement in function, ROM, posture and ambulation. At the final follow-up, the mean postoperative flexion ROM was 134.4° compared with 0° preoperatively. Similar improvements were seen in hip abduction, adduction, internal rotation and external rotation. Postoperatively, 23 hips were completely pain-free, six had only occasional discomfort, three mild to moderate pain and two severe pain. The average Harris Hip Score improved from 23.7 preoperatively to 65.8 postoperatively. No stems had loosened at the final follow-up in any patient, nor had any revision surgery been required. Conclusions Bilateral severe hip ankylosis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis can be treated with cementless bilateral synchronous total hip arthroplasty, which can greatly improve hip joint function and relieve pain without significant complications. Provided the overall physical condition of a patient and their economic situation make surgery a feasible option and the surgeon is experienced, this treatment is a worthwhile surgical intervention for bilateral hip bony ankylosis. However, the technically demanding nature of the procedure and potential pre- and post-operative problems should not be underestimated.

Acetone is a highly volatile and colorless transparent liquid which is frequently and quantitatively represented in the composition of coatings, paints, adhesives and cleaning materials[1,2]. As good solvent and raw material for organic synthesis, acetone can volatilize easily and cause damages to eyes, noses, and central nervous system when the concentration is higher than 450 mg/m3 (173 ppm). Besides, acetone in human breath is a biomarker for diagnosis of diabetes[3]. Medical investigations have shown that the acetone concentration in exhaled breath from a healthy human body is lower than 0.8 ppm, while that for a diabetic patient is higher than 1.8 ppm[4–6]. Therefore, the development of gas sensors for rapid and selective detection of acetone attracts the interest of researchers in recent years. For the current contribution, lanthanum ferrite (LaFeO3) has been selected because of its good thermostability[7], controllable structure[8] and selectivity[9-10] for acetone.

Graphene quantum dots, a kind of advanced carbon material, have become the frontier of condensed matter physics and material science. Here, we develop a plain and cheap preparation of graphene quantum dots by liquid-phase exfoliation of carbon fibers, which were prepared from absorbent cotton through an annealing process at 1000°C. The structure, micro morphology, chemical bond and optical properties of the as-prepared graphene quantum dots were characterized. Results show that the as-prepared graphene quantum dots present a green luminescence and have a narrow size distribution of 3-10 nm.

A novel gas sensor for the determination of formaldehyde was developed based on molecular imprinting technique (MIT). MIT was for the first time used to recognize small organic molecule by our group. The molecular imprinting nanoparticles (MINs) with a small dimension which possess extremely high surface-to-volume ratio were synthesized using imprinting polymerization with formaldehyde as template and Ag-LaFeO3 as substrate material. The structure of the MINs is orthogonal perovskite. And then the MINs were printed onto an alumina tube. Subsequently, a high selectivity molecular imprinting gas sensor for detection of formaldehyde was achieved. At 86°C, the response to 0.5 ppm formaldehyde based on the sensor is 16, and the response is lower than 2 for the other test gases. The response time and recovery time are 55 s and 40 s, respectively.

Background: Alendronate has been used to prevent or treat glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIO), data regarding its efficacy are inconsistent. We conducted the current systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate both efficacy and safety of alendronate in the treatment of GIO. Methods: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry, and the China Academic Journal Network Publishing Databases were searched up through March 1, 2018. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving patients which received alendronate treatment were included. Outcome measures were bone mineral density (BMD) changes, bone fractures, and adverse reactions. Data from the individual studies were pooled using random or fixed effect models based on heterogeneity. Effect size was reported as standardized mean differences (SMD) for continuous outcomes and pooled odds ratios (OR) for dichotomous outcomes, with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Overall, 10 studies involving 1002 patients were included in the present investigation. Alendronate treatment significantly increased BMD of the lumbar spine and femoral neck during 6 to 24 months. These beneficial effects were apparent at 12 months after treatment for the lumbar spine but not the femoral neck BMD. Alendronate treatment did not significantly change fracture risk nor induce significant differences in adverse gastrointestinal effects. Conclusion: Alendronate significantly increases BMD of the lumbar spine and femoral neck in patients with GIO, but does not appear to reduce the risk of fractures. As relatively insufficient data regarding the GIO fracture incidence has been reported, more RCTs need to be carried out to determine the efficacy of alendronate in the prevention of GIO fracture.

The electronic structures and optical properties of cubic ZrO 2 are investigated by means of generalized gradient approximation (GGA) + U approach. By including the Coulomb interaction of 4 d orbitals on Zr atom ( U d ), as well as of 2 p orbitals on O atom ( U p ), the experimental value of the band gap can be reproduced when U d =8.25 eV, and U p =4.6 eV. With these U values, the electronic structure and optical properties are calculated, in comparison to experiments and other theoretical results, e.g., by scissor operations. Our results are found to be in good agreement with available experimental data, and more accurate than those obtained by a scissor operation.

A di-nuclear compound, [(CoTPA)2(1,4-BQ)][AsF6]3 (1) (TPA = tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine, 1,4-BQ = deprotonated 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone), was formed by one electron oxidation of [(CoTPA)2(1,4-BQ)]2+ cations. The compound was characterized by X-ray diffraction, electrochemistry, ESR, thermal- and photo-induced magnetic measurements. Variable temperature magnetic measurements have demonstrated that valence tautomeric transition with a small hysteresis around room temperature and photo-excited phenomenon is exhibited. In addition, temperature-dependent hs–ls relaxation of the converted high-spin fraction after irradiation was also studied.

By utilizing two similar flexible quadritopic ligands, tetrakis(4-pyridyloxymethyl)methane (4-TPOM) and tetrakis(3-pyridyloxymethyl)methane (3-TPOM), four new azido-containing coordination polymers with formulas [Mn3(4-TPOM)3(N3)6(H2O)6]n (1), [Ni(4-TPOM)(N3)2]n (2), [Mn(3-TPOM)2(N3)2(H2O)3(CH3OH)4]n (3) and [Co(3-TPOM)(N3)2]n (4) have been synthesized and structurally characterized. Compound 1 shows a 1D helical chain composed of six-coordinated MnII geometries and two-connected tetra-pyridinate ligands. Compound 2 exhibits a three-dimensional framework based on 1D Ni(II) chains with alternating double end-to-end (EE) and double end-on (EO) azide bridges and tetrapyridyl ligands in a highly distorted conformation. Compound 3 shows a 2D layer composed of six-coordinated MnII geometries with mono-dentate azide ions and two types of two-connected tetra-pyridinate ligands. Compound 4 exhibits a three-dimensional framework based on 1D Co(II) chains with double end-to-end (EE) azide bridges and tetrapyridyl ligands in a cross-shaped conformation. Magnetic investigations on complexes 2 and 4 revealed antiferromagnetic interactions through the bridged azide ligands. In addition, the magnetic measurement reveals that 2 exhibits weak antiferromagnets, which might be caused by spin canting.

In this paper,the micro-arc oxidation technology were utilized to fabricated the oxidation coating in order to resolve the corrosion resistance of the Mg-Al-Y alloy. The EDTA-2Na solution was introduced into the electrolyte solution for improving the coating corrosion properties.After the micro-arc oxidation process, phase structural, surface morphology and corrosion resistance of the MAO coating of Mg-Al-Y alloy were performed by XRD, SEM and Potentiodynamic polarisation measurements. The introduce of EDTA-2Na in the electrolyte solution improve the positive potential and reduced the corrosion current, which would improve the corrosion resistance properties of the Mg-Al-Y alloy.

Inthis investigation, the rare-earth oxide Yb2O3 combined with Al2O3served as sintering additives and SiC and B4C powder were applied to fabricate SiC/B4C multiphase ceramics composites by pressureless sintering. The results proved thatcombination of Al2O3 and Yb2O3 sinter additives were effective fordensification of SiC/B4C composites. The influence of oxidation time onthe phase constitution, micro-structure and oxidation behavior of SiC/B4C composites was investigated.Theformation of eutectic phase Yb2Si2O7 phase waswrapped on the SiC surface and it reduced further oxidation of SiC particles.The oxidation kineticcurves followed a parabolic rule.

In this investigation, the rare-earth oxide La2O3 combined with Al2O3 served as sintering additives and commercial α-SiC and B4C powder were applied to fabricate SiC/B4C composites by pressureless sintering. The results proved that combination of Al2O3 and La2O3 sinter additives were effective for densification of SiC/B4C composites. The influence of sinter temperature on the phase constitution, micro-structure and densification behavior of SiC/B4C composites was investigated.

Discontinuities have an important influence on deformation and failure of rock mass in practical engineering. It is one of the key issues in modern rock mechanics to investigate geometric characteristics of joints and fractures inside the rock mass such as shape, size, location and direction etc. Based on the deep analysis of the above geometric properties, it is proposed that the stochastic fractures in the rock mass can be simulated with the random numbers generated by the Monte Carlo method. The related algorithm is designed and implemented. The correctness and effectiveness of the algorithm is verified with an example of a project. This will lay a solid foundation to further study the cutting problems of discontinuous rock block systems.

A new gas sensor with high response and selectivity was fabricated by using molecularly imprinted powders (MIPs) which provide special recognition sites to methanol. The MIPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), respectively. The gas sensing properties of MIPs to methanol were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the sensors based on the MIPs show excellent gas sensing properties to methanol vapor, and the properties of the sensor with x=6:10 (x= methyl acrylic acid: LaFeO3, molar ratio) are the best. At the optimal operating temperature of 130°C, the response of the sensor (x=6:10) to 1 ppm methanol is 21, and the response and recovery times are 57 s and 67 s, respectively.

Organic donor-π-bridge-acceptor (D-π-A) dyes with arylamines as an electron donor have been widely used as photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, titanium-oxo clusters (TOCs) functionalized with this kind of D-π-A structured dye-molecule have rarely been explored. In the present study, the 4-dimethylaminobenzoate-functionalized titanium-oxo cluster [Ti

As the crucial junction in transportation lines, more attention should pay to the safety of bridges. However, the collapse of bridges under earthquake threats the safe of lifeline engineering seriously. Unseating prevention devices are the effective structural measure to prevent collapse under unexpected earthquake. The design of unseating prevention devices need not only to meet the deformation demand of bridge during normal operations, but also to limit the oversize displacement under unexpected earthquake. Combined with relational design standards at home and abroad, unseating prevention devices have been designed for bridge to prevent collapse. The research results show that the unseating prevention devices with reasonable parameter will decrease the relative displacement between superstructure and substructure, improve the seismic performance and integrality of bridge, and make the seismic load to be well-distributed among the piers.

The anti-seismic measures is effective in reducing the seismic damage of bridge, unseating prevention device is an effective structural measure to prevent collapse under unexpected earthquake, and its parameter will affect the function of unseating prevention devices. Based on relational design standards, the damage-reduction seismic performance of unseating prevention devices with variational design parameter have been analysis. The research results show that the unseating prevention devices with rational parameters can prevent collapse of the structure; the damage-reduction seismic performance of bridge was influenced by the cable rigidity and primary clearances. The unseating prevention devices will improve the seismic performance and integrality of bridge, but higher requirements have been proposed for the substructure of bridges.

In this paper, the rare-earth oxide Al2O3 combined with La2O3 served as sintering additives and commercial α-SiC powder were applied to fabricate SiC ceramics by pressure-less sintering technology. The results proved that combination of Al2O3 and La2O3 sintering additives was effective for densification of SiC ceramics. The influence of sintered additives content on the phase constitution, microstructure and sintering behavior of the SiC ceramics was detailed. The relative density, lose weight and volume shrinkage rate of SiC ceramics had similar evolvement trend with the increase of sintered aids content. Keywords: Pressure-less Sintering, Mechanical Properties, Sintering Behavior