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One-dimensional molecular crystal waveguide (MCW) can transmit self-generated electrochemiluminescence (ECL), but heavy optical loss occurs because of the small difference in the refractive index between the crystal and its surroundings. Herein, we report a micropipette electrode-supported MCW (MPE/MCW) for precisely controlling the far-field transmission of ECL in air with a low optical loss. ECL is generated from one terminal of the MCW positioned inside the MPE, which is transmitted along the MCW to the other terminal in air. In comparison with conventional waveguides on solid substrates or in solutions, the MPE/MCW is propitious to the total internal reflection of light at the MCW/air interface, thus confining the ECL efficiently in MCW and improving the waveguide performance with an extremely low-loss coefficient of 4.49 × 10–3dB μm–1. Moreover, by regulation of the gas atmosphere, active and passive waveguides can be resolved simultaneously inside MPE and in air. This MPE/MCW offers a unique advantage of spatially controlling and separating ECL signal readout from its generation, thus holding great promise in biosensing without or with less electrical/chemical disturbance.

The development of biodegradable Zn alloys with comprehensive performance for biomedical applications is still challenging. Hence, the nanocrystalline Zn–Cu–Sr–Li alloys were prepared by alloying design and multi-pass high-speed hot rolling. The Zn–3Cu-0.2Sr-0.4Li alloy achieved nanoscale microstructures, resulting in high strength and an ideal corrosion rate that is more suitable for tissue repair cycles. Scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy analysis revealed the potential from high to low was ranked as: ε phase > SrZn13phase > Zn grains > β phase. The nanoscale Zn grains and β particles formed numerous microcells, enhancing the microgalvanic corrosion effect. The Sr ions could be released more efficiently during the degradation in Li-containing alloys, which endowed the alloys with outstanding biocompatibility. Besides, the synergistic release of Zn ions and Cu ions during alloy degradation endowed the alloy with excellent antimicrobial ability against Staphylococcus aureus(inhibition zone diameter ≈ 7.5 mm). The antimicrobial ability of Zn–3Cu–0.2Sr–0.4Li alloy was superior among the reported biodegradable Zn alloys. These results demonstrated nanocrystalline Zn–Cu–Sr–Li alloys have comprehensive performance and broad application prospects in biodegradable bone implants, providing the experimental and theoretical basis for future research in the biomedical field.

The crystal growth kinetics is crucial for the controllable preparation and performance modulation of metal nanocrystals (NCs). However, the study of growth mechanisms is significantly limited by characterization techniques, and it is still challenging to in situcapture the growth process. Real-time and real-space imaging techniques at the atomic scale can promote the understanding of microdynamics for NC growth. Herein, the growth of Pd NCs on monolayer MoS2under different atmospheres was in situstudied by environmental transmission electron microscopy. Introducing carbon monoxide can modulate the diffusion of Pd monomers, resulting in the epitaxial growth of Pd NCs with a uniform orientation. The electron energy loss spectroscopy and theoretical calculations showed that the CO adsorption assured the specific exposed facets and good uniformity of Pd NCs. The insight into the gas–solid interface interaction and the microscopic growth mechanism of NCs may shed light on the precise synthesis of NCs on two-dimensional (2D) materials.

Caries is considered to be the most prevalent non-communicable disease in humans, mainly deriving from acidogenic bacterial biofilm and resulting in the demineralization and decomposition of hard dental tissue. Herein, a composite responsive foam brace loaded with magnesium organic framework (MPC) is designed for caries prevention and tooth remineralization. MPC can intelligently release organic antibacterial molecules (gallic acid) and mineralized ions (Mg2+, Ca2+and PO43−) under acidic conditions (pH < 5.5) of biofilm infection, regulating pH and killing bacteria. Additionally, due to the excellent photothermal conversion efficiency, MPC can further enhance the destruction of bacterial biofilm by inhibiting virulence genes and destroying bacterial adhesion under near-infrared light irradiation (808 nm). More importantly, MPC can not only reverse the cariogenic environment at both pH and microbial levels, but also promote self-healing of demineralized teeth in terms of both the micro-structure and mechanical properties.

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease deriving from dental plaque, characterized by the excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and other substances, resulting in the destruction of periodontal tissues. At present, the main therapeutic modalities, such as local mechanical debridement and antibiotic delivery, are not only difficult to solve the intractable bacterial biofilm effectively but also tricky to ameliorate the excessive inflammatory response as well as regenerate the impaired periodontal tissues. Herein, we have proposed the TM/BHT/CuTA hydrogel system formed by the self-assembly of the copper-based nanozyme (copper tannic acid coordination nanosheets, CuTA NSs) and the triglycerol monostearate/2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (TM/BHT) hydrogel. The negatively charged TM/BHT/CuTA can retain at the inflammation sites with a positive charge through electrostatic adsorption and hydrolyze in response to the increasing MMP of periodontitis, realizing the on-demand release of the CuTA nanozyme. The released CuTA nanozyme has antibacterial and antiplaque properties. Meanwhile, as a metal-phenolic nanozyme, it can scavenge multiple ROS by simulating the cascade process of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). Further, the CuTA nanozyme can modulate the macrophage polarization from M1 phenotype to M2 phenotype through the Nrf2/NF-κB pathway, which reduces the pro-inflammatory cytokines, increases the anti-inflammatory cytokines, and promotes the expression of osteogenetic genes successively, thus relieving the inflammation and accelerating the tissue regeneration of periodontitis. Altogether, this multifunctional nanozyme on-demand release platform (TM/BHT/CuTA) provides a desirable strategy for the treatment of periodontitis.

High resolution (HR) 3D medical image segmentation is vital for an accurate diagnosis. However, in the field of medical imaging, it is still a challenging task to achieve a high segmentation performance with cost-effective and feasible computation resources. Previous methods commonly use patch-sampling to reduce the input size, but this inevitably harms the global context and decreases the model's performance. In recent years, a few patch-free strategies have been presented to deal with this issue, but either they have limited performance due to their over-simplified model structures or they follow a complicated training process. In this study, to effectively address these issues, we present Adaptive Decomposition (A-Decomp) and Shared Weight Volumetric Transformer Blocks (SW-VTB). A-Decomp can adaptively decompose features and reduce their spatial size, which greatly lowers GPU memory consumption. SW-VTB is able to capture long-range dependencies at a low cost with its lightweight design and cross-scale weight-sharing mechanism. Our proposed cross-scale weight-sharing approach enhances the network's ability to capture scale-invariant core semantic information in addition to reducing parameter numbers. By combining these two designs together, we present a novel patch-free segmentation framework named VolumeFormer. Experimental results on two datasets show that VolumeFormer outperforms existing patch-based and patch-free methods with a comparatively fast inference speed and relatively compact design.

Background: Latinx populations have experienced disproportionately high case rates of COVID-19 across the USA. Latinx communities in non-traditional migration areas may experience greater baseline day-to-day challenges such as a lack of resources for immigrants and insufficient language services. These challenges may be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: This article describes the results of an initial community health needs assessment to better understand the prevention and care of COVID-19 infection in the Cincinnati Latinx community. Methods: We used convergent mixed methods to examine barriers and facilitators to COVID-19 prevention and care for those with infection. Results: Latinx adults ≥ 18 years old completed 255 quantitative surveys and 17 qualitative interviews. Overarching mixed methods domains included knowledge, prevention, work, challenges, and treatment. Quantitative results largely reinforced qualitative results (confirmation). Certain quantitative and qualitative results, however, diverged and expanded insights related to caring for COVID-19 infection among Latinx adults (expansion). There were infrequent contradictions between quantitative and qualitative findings (discordance). Primary barriers for the Latinx community during the COVID-19 pandemic included insecurities in food, jobs, housing, and immigration. Key facilitators included having trusted messengers of health-related information. Conclusion: Public health interventions should be centered on community partnerships and the use of trusted messengers. Wraparound services (including resources for immigrants) are essential public health services. Close partnership with employers is essential as lack of sick leave and mask supplies were more frequent barriers than knowledge. These findings emerged from experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic but likely generalize to future public health crises.

Purpose To identify associations between age of onset of overweight/obesity, a child’s sociodemographic characteristics, and characteristics of a child’s home census tract.Design Retrospective electronic health record review of children with overweight/obesity.Setting Three primary care centers associated with a free-standing, tertiary-care pediatric institution in Cincinnati.Subjects Patients born between August 1, 2013 and July 31, 2014, who had a body mass index (BMI) ≥85th percentile before 5 years of age (n = 794).Measures Primary outcome was the patient’s age at the first encounter when BMI was ≥85th percentile. Patient-level predictors were sex, age, race/ethnicity, health insurance, and number of moves captured in the health record. Census tract-level predictors were density of bus stops, presence of grocery stores, and a Socioeconomic Deprivation Index.Analysis Multivariable linear regression models assessed for independent associations between age of onset of overweight/obesity and predictors.Results Patients were 55.8% female, 73.6% black, and 79.1% publicly insured. Each additional move per year was associated with onset of overweight/obesity occurring 4.05 months earlier (P< .0001). No significant associations between age of onset of overweight/obesity and census tract-level density of bus stops (P= .82), presence of grocery stores (P= .39), and socioeconomic deprivation (P= .53) were demonstrated.Conclusion Public policy efforts toward improving access to grocery stores or public transportation may not be sufficient to prevent childhood obesity. Population-level interventions related to improving housing may also reduce obesity.

Aging biomarkers are a combination of biological parameters to (i) assess age-related changes, (ii) track the physiological aging process, and (iii) predict the transition into a pathological status. Although a broad spectrum of aging biomarkers has been developed, their potential uses and limitations remain poorly characterized. An immediate goal of biomarkers is to help us answer the following three fundamental questions in aging research: How old are we? Why do we get old? And how can we age slower? This review aims to address this need. Here, we summarize our current knowledge of biomarkers developed for cellular, organ, and organismal levels of aging, comprising six pillars: physiological characteristics, medical imaging, histological features, cellular alterations, molecular changes, and secretory factors. To fulfill all these requisites, we propose that aging biomarkers should qualify for being specific, systemic, and clinically relevant.

Cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes with high electrochemiluminescence (ECL) efficiency and appropriate bioconjugation sites are urgently needed in ECL immunoassays (ECLIA). Herein, we report the synthesis, photophysics, electrochemistry, and ECL of six new Ir(III) complexes bearing naphthyl (nap) or adamantane phenyl (adap) substitutions, four of which emit cyan, green, or red light and display 1.7- to 7.5-fold increases in ECL intensity. In combination with DFT/TDDFT calculations, this enhancement is rationalized to the augmented radiative rate that arises from both the strengthened spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and the increased transition dipole moment. In addition, the adap-based Ir(III) complex shows high binding affinity with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) due to the strong hydrophobic interaction, which enables us to develop a modular strategy for the labeling of Ir(III) complexes with biomolecules and to use hydrophobic luminophores in the aqueous-phase detection. As demonstrated, a novel ECLIA is built up and exhibits a wide linear range from 1 ng/mL to 10 μg/mL and a detection limit of 72 pg/mL for the determination of C-reactive protein (CRP). These findings provide new insights into the design, synthesis, and bio-labeling of highly emissive Ir(III) complexes and pave the way for the development of novel ECLIA based on host–guest recognition motifs.

Oral mucosal ulcer is the most prevalent oral mucosal lesion, affecting the quality of life. Due to the moist and highly dynamic oral lining, the existing oral mucoadhesives are unable to serially address the challenges of residency, hemorrhage, bacterial infection and inflammatory reaction. Herein, a dual-light defined oral mucoadhesive (ZPTA-G/HMA) was proposed, with a methacrylate gelatin-methacrylate hyaluronic acid (GelMA-HAMA, G/HMA) double network hydrogel as a matrix, tannic acid (TA) as a high content anchor moiety provider for the moist oral mucosa, and polydopamine modified zinc oxide (ZnO@PDA, ZP) as a photocatalytic antibacterial substance. This platform had good adhesive and hemostatic properties both in vitroand in vivo. Under 520 nm green light (GL) irradiation, ZPTA-G/HMA would anchor to the wet mucosa surface by crosslinking and exert broad-spectrum antibacterial ability (even including Candida albicans) by in situproducing reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, under 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the increased release of TA combined with the photothermal effect of ZP endowed ZPTA-G/HMA with enhanced anti-inflammatory and pro-healing performance. Collectively, ZPTA-G/HMA could be switched by light sources to achieve the dual-mode real-time adjustment of in situanti-bacterial function and controlled anti-inflammation, combined with ideal mucosal residence, thus promising in developing personalized sequential strategies for varied oral mucosal lesions.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous breast cancer subtype and accounts for approximately 15–20% of breast cancer cases. In this study, we identified KLHL29, which is an understudied member of the Kelch-like gene family, as a crucial tumor suppressor that regulates chemosensitivity in TNBC. KLHL29 expression was significantly downregulated in breast cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and low levels of KLHL29 were associated with unfavorable prognoses. Ectopic KLHL29 suppressed, while depleting KLHL29 promoted, the growth, proliferation, migration, and invasion of TNBC. Mechanistically, KLHL29 recruited the CUL3 E3-ligase to the RNA-binding protein DDX3X, leading to the proteasomal degradation of the latter. This downregulation of DDX3X resulted in the destabilization of CCND1 mRNA and the consequent cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. Remarkably, the DDX3X inhibitor RK33 combined with platinum-based chemotherapy can synergistically suppress TNBC that usually expresses low levels of KLHL29 and high levels of DDX3X using cancer cell-derived xenograft and patient-derived organoids models. Altogether, we uncovered the potential role for the KLHL29-DDX3X signaling cascade in the regulation of TNBC progression, thus providing a promising combination strategy for overcoming TNBC chemoresistance.

AbstractUncertainty is an economically important risk factor in the banking sector. Using a sample of Chinese listed commercial banks over the period 2005 − 2018, this research conducted pooled OLS and found evidence that economic uncertainty significantly increases bank risk and lowers profitability. Furthermore, we constructed a partial equilibrium model to explain how risk governance alters the risk-increasing effect and profit-decreasing effect of economic uncertainty on bank risk and profitability. Consistent with theory, empirical results suggested the effects of economic uncertainty on bank risk and performance tend to be considerably weaker when there exists a strong risk governance mechanism. These findings stand when subjected to several endogeneity and robustness checks. Risk governance plays a key role in weakening the detrimental consequences of economic uncertainty on banks and promoting a sustainable growth of the banking sector. A financial regulator entity should require banks to establish a sound risk governance system in order to mitigate financial systemic risk and safeguard overall financial stability.

AbstractInflation expectations of firms affect their micro-decision-making behaviors and therefore impact the macro-economy. Thus, a deep understanding of how firms form inflation expectations benefits the achievement of central bank’s policy objectives on macro-economic sustainability and development. In this paper, we focus on the inflation expectations of firms from surveys. Specifically, the Naïve Expectation, Adaptive Expectation, Rational Expectation, VAR, and Heterogeneous Static Expectation formation models are adopted to test the models being used by firms to form inflation expectations. Empirically, this paper reveals the heterogeneity between the formation mechanisms of households and firms. Then, empirical results reject the rational expectation hypothesis of firms’ inflation expectations, which means that they are not perfectly rational. Finally, we find that the inflation perception is a non-negligible factor in forming firms’ inflation expectations. Therefore, central banks’ monetary policies that aiming to formulate firms’ inflation perceptions can be a useful tool in regulating their inflation expectations, which are expected to benefit the stability of the macro-economy.

AbstractThe rapid growth in defence expenditure in China raises the concern that investments in the defence sector crowd out investments in social sectors, i.e., the ‘guns for butter’ argument. This article resorts to the bubble testing method to study the trade-off between defence and utilities sectors in the Chinese capital market. Based upon the generalized sup Augmented Dickey-Fuller (GSADF) test, this paper captures and date stampings explosive behaviors in defence and utilities industries using stock indexes. Empirical results reveal bubbles for defence and utilities sectors in similar time periods, thus indicating that the factors driving explosive movements are alike for both sectors. However, bubbles in a certain sector do not necessarily crowd out investments in the other sector. Through testing bubbles in the ratio of stock indexes of two sectors, we find that the explosive episodes vanish. The results indicate that the crowding-out effect between defence and utilities sectors does not exist in the Chinese capital market. Increases in the military expenditure in China are necessary to safeguard the national security because of frequent geopolitical conflicts and terrorism. However, the defence to utilities ratio is increasing rapidly, implying the possibility that excessive growth in military expenditure may generate the ‘guns for butter’ problem, which can be detrimental to economic growth.

Tribocatalysis, as a new approach in environmental purification, has drawn increasing attention in the past few years. In this work, we successfully convert mechanical energy to chemical energy by Bi12TiO20, which was synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Under magnetic stirring, electrons transfer from the surface of Bi12TiO20to the polytetrafluoroethylene-sealed magnetic bar due to their friction. Moreover, the holes that remain on Bi12TiO20provide oxidation properties in the process for organic matter degradation. According to a series of tests, it is noticed that the shape of the stirring bar and the material of the reaction vessel have a remarkable influence on the removal efficiency of contaminants. Simultaneously, multiple tests reveal the high stability of Bi12TiO20. A great potential for Bi12TiO20to control water pollutants under dark conditions during collection of ambient mechanical energy was clearly demonstrated in this study.

Metastasis of breast cancer represents the major reason for its poor prognosis, leading to high mortality. In breast cancer, a tumor suppressor gene TP53is commonly mutated. TP53mutation leads to an altered expression of various genes, an event that is associated with aggressive tumor and is a strong independent marker for survival. In this study, we identified a novel p53 target gene, immunoglobulin superfamily 9 (IGSF9). IGSF9 is generally down-regulated in breast cancer tissues. Loss of IGSF9 is associated with frequent metastasis and poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. Wild-type p53, but not R175H mutant, trans-activates the transcription of IGSF9 via binding to its promoter (−137 to −131 bp), inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), consequently the inhibition of breast cancer cells migration and invasion. IGSF9 interacts with focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and inhibits FAK/AKT signaling activity. PND1186, FAK inhibitor, inhibits breast cancer metastasis induced by IGSF9knockdown in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, IGSF9 is trans-activated by p53 and inhibits breast cancer metastasis by modulating FAK/AKT signaling pathway. IGSF9 could serve as a prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target for breast cancer.

Precise prediction on vacant parking space (VPS) information plays a vital role in intelligent transportation systems for it helps drivers to find the parking space quickly to reduce unnecessary waste of time and excessive environmental pollution. By analyzing the historical zone-wise VPS data, we find that for the number of VPSs, there is not only a solid temporal correlation within each parking lot, but also an obvious spatial correlation among different parking lots. Given this, this paper proposes a hybrid deep learning framework, known as the dConvLSTM-DCN (dual Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory with Dense Convolutional Network), to make short-term (within 30 min) and long-term (over 30 min) predictions on the VPS availability zone-wisely. Specifically, the temporal correlations of different time scales, namely the 5-min and daily-wise temporal correlations of each parking lot, and the spatial correlations among different parking lots can be effectively captured by the two parallel ConvLSTM components, and meanwhile, the dense convolutional network is leveraged to further improve the propagation and reuse of features in the prediction process. Besides, a two-layer linear network is used to extract the meta-info features to promote the prediction accuracy. For long-term predictions, two methods, namely the direct and iterative prediction methods, are developed. The performance of the prediction model is extensively evaluated with practical data collected from nine public parking lots in Santa Monica. The results show that the dConvLSTM-DCN framework can achieve considerably high accuracy in both short-term and long-term predictions.

ABSTRACTChange detection methods include model-driven methods and data-driven methods. Model-driven methods are rigorous in theory but have difficulties in establishing accurate models for complex problems. Data-driven methods have strong learning abilities, but it is difficult to interpret their mechanism. In order to comprehensively utilize their advantages to highlight changes in multi-temporal remote sensing images. We proposed a change detection method for remote sensing images based on deep coupled sparse representation learning, in which the coupled sparse representation learning is implicitly expressed by convolutional neural networks (CNNs). A coupled sparse representation learning method is first proposed, and then it is unfolded into a CNNs network, the coupled sparse coefficient and dictionary are learned from the training data. Unlike fully data-driven CNNs, auxiliary coupled sparse representation is utilized to guide CNNs to identify the changed areas. Finally, the experiments on two datasets verified the validity of the proposed method.

Biofilm-driven caries and tooth discoloration are two major problems in oral health care. The current methods have the disadvantages of insufficient biofilm targeting and irreversible enamel damage. Herein, an injectable sodium alginate hydrogel membrane doped with bismuth oxychloride (Bi12O17Cl2) and cubic cuprous oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles was designed to simultaneously achieve local tooth whitening and biofilm removal through a photodynamic dental therapy process. This fast cross-linked hydrogel could form a biofilm removal coating on the target tooth surface precisely. Afterward, reactive oxygen species was effectively released on demand under green light, which could not only eradicate the biofilm but also whiten the tooth non-destructively in a facile manner without significant damage to both the enamel and biological cells. After the usage, the removal of this hydrogel can also enhance the effect of biofilm destruction and caries prevention.

Allopatry medical treatment is common in China. However, allopatry medical therapy can result in many problems, including a negative psychological impact on patients. Patients undergoing liver surgery often experience anxiety and depression. To understand the psychological status of older adult patients undergoing surgery better, this study was designed to investigate the incidence of anxiety and depression in older adult patients undergoing elective liver surgery and to analyze factors associated with it in allopatry medical therapy.

Oversampling is a promising preprocessing technique for imbalanced datasets which generates new minority instances to balance the dataset. However, improper generated minority instances, i.e., noise instances, may interfere the learning of the classifier and impact it negatively. Given this, in this paper, we propose a simple and effective oversampling approach known as ASN-SMOTE based on the k-nearest neighbors and the synthetic minority oversampling technology (SMOTE). ASN-SMOTE first filters noise in the minority class by determining whether the nearest neighbor of each minority instance belongs to the minority or majority class. After that, ASN-SMOTE uses the nearest majority instance of each minority instance to effectively perceive the decision boundary, inside which the qualified minority instances are selected adaptively for each minority instance by the proposed adaptive neighbor selection scheme to synthesize new minority instance. To substantiate the effectiveness, ASN-SMOTE has been applied to three different classifiers and comprehensive experiments have been conducted on 24 imbalanced benchmark datasets. ASN-SMOTE is also extensively compared with nine notable oversampling algorithms. The results show that ASN-SMOTE achieves the best results in the majority of datasets. The ASN-SMOTE implementation is available at: https://www.github.com/yixinkai123/ASN-SMOTE/.

Accessibility and mobility are positioned differently at the heart of transportation planning; whilst a transportation system with high accessibility will not necessarily be able to support high mobility. In this short article, we evaluate and visualize the accessibility and mobility of pedestrian networks around the metro station areas in a transit-oriented city – Hong Kong. By using the newly released 3D pedestrian network for the whole of Hong Kong under the Open and Big Data Plans, we have created visualizations to compare the 500-m walking coverage area and reachable area with a 10-min walking distance that reflects the accessibility and mobility around metro station areas, respectively. We find that there are significant differences between accessibility and mobility for some stations. We illustrate the potential underlying causes by comparing three representative pairs of stations as examples.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal neoplasm of the digestive system and are not sensitive to traditional chemotherapy. Therefore, historically, surgical resection was the only effective therapy. However, the emergence of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has revolutionized the treatment of GISTs, because they target c-Kit and PDGF receptor-a (PDGFRA), which are important in GIST development and progression. As research into c-Kit and PDGFRA continues, an increasing number of different TKIs are being used in the clinical setting. This review aims to discuss the current state of chemotherapy for the treatment of GISTs with different genotypes.

Geochemical interactions between shale and hydraulic fracture fluids (HFFs), principally mineral dissolution and precipitation, can result in alteration of matrix permeability and tendency of proppant embedment, ultimately impacting hydrocarbon migration through the shale formation. This study aimed to quantify changes of core permeability and micromechanical properties after shale-HFF chemical interactions. Extent of chemical alteration of the solid phase was characterized by synchrotron X-ray fluorescence mapping, micro-computed tomography, and scanning electron microscopy. Post-reaction brine was evaluated for elemental concentrations. Both low-carbonate and high-carbonate shale exhibited carbonate dissolution, an iron oxidation zone, and barite precipitates partially infilling secondary porosity. These reactions were more obvious in the high-carbonate shale but extended further into the low-carbonate shale. Pulse-decay permeability measurements generally revealed increase in permeability after reactions, whereas hardness and modulus reduction were observed only in reaction zones of high carbonate shale. Inevitable heterogeneity of natural shale samples resulted in large deviations in hydromechanical measurements both on the core scale and on the microscale.

Interface engineering is verified as an efficient strategy for enhancing the intrinsic activity of transition metal-based electrocatalysts in alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, the heterostructural MoO2/Ni3S2nanorod arrays fabricated on nickel foam (MoO2/Ni3S2/NF) are produced by a straightforward and effective hydrothermal approach. Benefiting from interfacial effect and self-supported structure, MoO2/Ni3S2/NF electrocatalyst exhibits remarkable HER catalytic properties and durability with a low overpotential of 74.0 mV for achieving a current density of 10 mA cm−2in 1.0 M KOH, as well as a long-term stability without obvious attenuation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal electron transfer at the interface domain reduces the energy barrier of the water dissociation step and optimizes H adsorption capability, thereby expediting HER kinetics in alkaline media. This work provides a viable strategy based on interfacial engineering for designing high-efficient HER electrocatalysts.

Graphical Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), an attractive oxide semiconductor material, are widely used in the biomedical field due to their good biosafety and economy. The proposal of stimuli-responsive materials provides a new way for the further application of single ZnO-based nanomaterials that cannot meet the ever-changing requirements. In this review, the emerging advances in exogenous stimuli (light, ultrasound, mechanical force, etc.) and endogenous stimuli (pH, enzymes, etc.) responsive systems of ZnO-based nanomaterials in biomedical applications are highlighted. First, the basic characteristics, response mechanisms and construction principles of single-stimulus-responsive ZnO-based nanomaterials, as well as their recent advances in tissue repair, medical devices and theranostics are summarized. Subsequently, the design method of multi-stimuli-responsive ZnO-based biomaterials is discussed, and the application advantages of multi-functional responsive systems are explained by analyzing typical cases of biomedical applications of multi-responsive strategies. Finally, we discuss the prospects for the design and development of stimuli-responsive ZnO-based biomaterials for biomedical applications and point out their advantages as well as the places that need to be further improved. The current review may provide a useful reference for researchers interested in constructing such abundant, inexpensive and widely applicable multi-stimuli-responsive materials.

•We measured urinary OPE metabolites during pregnancy and intelligence at 8 years.•Maternal OPEs were not associated with child intelligence in multivariable models.•Mixtures of OPEs were not associated with child intelligence.•PBDEs did not confound associations, and child sex was not an effect modifier.

A new strategy is developed for the synthesis of 1-aminoisoquinoline derivatives. This Rh(III)-catalyzed [4 + 2] annulation reaction employs benzamidines as efficient directing groups and the vinylene carbonate as an acetylene surrogate. Additionally, the reaction features broad substrate scopes and good yields, only producing carbonate anion as byproduct.

Quarantine and isolation measures urgently adopted to control the COVID-19 pandemic might potentially have negative psychological and social effects. We conducted this cross-sectional, nationwide study to ascertain the psychological effect of quarantine and identify factors associated with mental health outcomes among population quarantined to further inform interventions of mitigating mental health risk especially for vulnerable groups under pandemic conditions. Sociodemographic data, attitudes toward the COVID-19, and mental health measurements of 56,679 participants from 34 provinces in China were collected by an online survey from February 28 to March 11, 2020. Of the 56,679 participants included in the study (mean [SD] age, 36.0 [8.2] years), 27,149 (47.9%) were male and 16,454 (29.0%) ever experienced home confinement or centralized quarantine during COVID-19 outbreak. Compared those without quarantine and adjusted for potential confounders, quarantine measures were associated with increased risk of total psychological outcomes (prevalence, 34.1% vs 27.3%; odds ratio [OR], 1.34; 95% CI, 1.28-1.39; P< 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analyses showed that vulnerable groups of the quarantined population included those with pre-existing mental disorders or chronic physical diseases, frontline workers, those in the most severely affected areas during outbreak, infected or suspected patients, and those who are less financially well-off. Complying with quarantine, being able to take part in usual work, and having adequate understanding of information related to the outbreak were associated with less mental health issues. These results suggest that quarantine measures during COVID-19 pandemic are associated with increased risk of experiencing mental health burden, especially for vulnerable groups. Further study is needed to establish interventions to reduce mental health consequences of quarantine and empower wellbeing especially in vulnerable groups under pandemic conditions.

Osteoporosis is one of the most common diseases affecting bone metabolism. Nitric oxide (NO), an endogenous gas molecule involved in osteogenesis, can effectively promote the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts. Although exogenous NO can reverse osteoporosis to a certain extent, the transitory half-life and short diffusion radius of NO severely limit its application. In this work, a gas generation nanoplatform of NO with bone targeting property (UCPA) is developed based on the upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) that can convert 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) light into UV/blue light, and further stimulate the NO donor (BNN) to release NO. With an adjustment of the output power of the 808 nm NIR, the amount of released NO can be precisely controlled. Both in vitroand in vivoexperiments demonstrate the favorable affinity of UCPA to bone due to the modification of alendronate; thus, it can directly release NO in bone and reverse osteoporosis. In addition, the cellular uptake of nanocomposites and intracellular NO release can be observed in preosteoblasts, thereby promoting their differentiation efficiently.

AbstractAdipocytokines, which are secreted during fetal development by both mothers and fetuses, may influence fetal lung development, but little human data are available. We used data from the HOME Study to investigate the associations of cord blood adipocytokine concentrations with children’s lung forced expiratory volume (FEV1; N= 160) and their risk of wheeze (N= 281). We measured umbilical cord serum adipocytokine concentrations using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and FEV1 using a portable spirometer at ages 4 and 5 to calculate the percent predicted FEV1 (%FEV1). Parents completed standardized questionnaires of their child’s wheeze symptoms every 6 months from birth to age 5, then again at ages 6 and 8. We used multivariable linear mixed models and modified Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations to estimate associations of adipocytokine concentrations (log2-transformed) with children’s %FEV1 and the risk of wheeze, respectively, adjusting for sociodemographic, perinatal, and child factors. Cord serum leptin was not associated with children’s %FEV1. Higher cord serum adiponectin concentrations were associated with higher %FEV1 in girls (β = 3.1, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.6, 5.6), but not in boys (β = −1.3, 95% CI: −5.9, 3.3) (sex × adiponectin p-value = 0.05). Higher leptin was associated with lower risk of wheeze in girls (RR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.66, 0.84), but not boys (RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.69, 1.11) (sex × leptin p-value = 0.01). In contrast, higher adiponectin concentrations were associated with lower risk of wheeze (RR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.96) in both boys and girls. These data suggest that fetal adipocytokines may impact lung development and function in early childhood. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings and explore the mechanisms underlying these associations.

Sulfoxonium ylides as carbene precursors couple smoothly with thioureas in the presence of 5 mol% of rhodium(II) acetate dimmer viacarbenoid insertion to afford the corresponding 2-aminothiazoles with high chemoselectivity, providing a facile and efficient approach to access a variety of 2-aminothiazole derivatives with good functional groups tolerance.

Dental implant surgery has a relatively high incidence of peri-implantitis. In this research, ZnO nanorods and ZnO nanospheres were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. ZnO nanorods first covered the surface of Ti or Ti–Zr, and ZnO nanospheres were then modified as the outermost layer. By these means a dual antibacterial effect could be realized by the rapid release of ZnO nanospheres and the sustained release of ZnO nanorods. Subsequent studies implied that this ZnO nanorods–nanospheres hierarchical structure (NRS) could be stably loaded on the surface of roughened Ti and Ti–Zr slices. The modified materials not only showed excellent antibacterial activities against both Escherichia coliand Staphylococcus aureusbut also showed low cellular cytotoxicity. This ZnO NRS structure is thus expected to be used as a general antimicrobial coating on the surface of Ti (Ti–Zr) in dental implant surgery.

Fungal infection possesses the characteristics of high invasion depth and easy formation of a biofilm under the skin, which greatly hinders the treatment process. Here, traditional Chinese medicine moxa is carbonized and modified with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheets to synthesize carbonized moxa@ZnO (CMZ) with the dual response properties of yellow light (YL) and ultrasound (US) for synergistic antifungal therapy. CMZ with narrow bandgap can respond to long-wavelength YL that is highly safe and helpful for skin repair. Simultaneously, CMZ with a piezoelectric effect can further enhance the photocatalytic efficiency under the stimulation of US with high tissue penetration. Gene mechanism investigation indicates that when exposed to US and YL irradiation, CMZ-based therapy can adjust the expression of genes associated with fungal virulence, metabolic activity, mycelial growth and biofilm development, thus efficaciously eradicating planktonic Candida albicans(C. albicans) and mature biofilm. Importantly, despite the 1.00 cm thick tissue barrier, CMZ can rapidly eliminate 99.9% of C. albicanswithin 4 min, showing a satisfactory deep fungicidal efficacy. The in vivotherapeutic effect of this strategy is demonstrated in both open wound and deep cutaneous infection tests, speaking of dramatically better efficacy than the traditional fungicide ketoconazole (KTZ).

AbstractBased on the intertemporal substitution effect, the high inflation expectations can stimulate agents to consume now rather than in the future. However, under the background of global climate policy changes, how inflation expectations affect energy consumption? Using the bootstrap Granger full-sample causality test and sub-sample rolling window tests, this study examines the intertemporal substitution effect of energy consumption in the U.S. The results based on the full-sample data indicate no causality between inflation expectations and energy consumption, which suggests that the intertemporal substitution effect of energy consumption does not exist. Nevertheless, the rolling window method which estimates a time-varying causality identifies a short-lived positive effects of inflation expectations on energy consumption in a distinct sub-period before the global Paris agreement, but disappears since then. Therefore, the intertemporal substitution effect regarding energy consumption does not exist under the background of pressing carbon targets. The effects of energy consumption on inflation expectations can be positive or negative, which tells a cautionary tale about climate policies aiming at engineering lower carbon emissions.

Background: Patients with malignant tumors are more likely to have psychological problems due to their worries about their life expectancy. To understand the psychological status of elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy better, the study was designed to investigate the current situation of anxiety and depression in elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy and to analyze its related factors. Methods: A total of 126 elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy were selected as the research objects. The anxiety and depression of all subjects were evaluated by HADS (Hosptial Anxiety and Depression Scale). The correlation factors affecting the psychological state of elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy were analyzed by linear regression method. Results: The HADS-A score of elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy was 8.79 ± 2.56, among which 37 patients were asymptomatic, 60 patients with suspicious symptoms, and 29 patients with definite symptoms. The HADS-D score was 8.40 ± 2.97, among which 61 patients were asymptomatic, 39 patients with suspicious symptoms, and 26 patients with definite symptoms. Multivariate analysis using linear regression method showed that FRAIL score, residence, and complication were significantly associated with anxiety and depression of elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy. Conclusions: Anxiety and depression in elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy were obvious. FRAIL score, regional differences, and the complication were the risk factors for anxiety and depression in elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy. Improving frailty, reducing regional differences, and preventing complications is beneficial to alleviate the adverse mood of elderly patients with malignant liver tumor undergoing hepatectomy.

AbstractThe volume–volatility relationship usually ignores possible effects of stock shares. This article proposes a two-phase flow model assuming that capital and stock flows determine stock price and return volatility. Computational simulations suggest that monodirectional capital or stock flows and collective flows exert different effects on stock return volatilities. Considering the impact of stock flows, the positive relationship between capital and return volatility is no longer guaranteed. The inflow of capital and the outflow of stock increase stock price similarly; but exhibit completely different effects on stock return volatilities. A persistent stock inflow (outflow) reduces (intensifies) return volatilities, whereas a monodirectional persistent capital outflow has no such effect. When capital and stock flows’ velocities satisfy critical values determined by the initial state of the market, the market enlargement accompanied with increasing stock and capital shows no impact on market stability because of stable return volatilities. Otherwise, stock flows drive return volatilities with stronger effects than capital flows. Further experimental studies that simulate the real stock market through a trading system provide strong evidence supporting the two-phase flow model. Given similar driving forces of capital and stock flows, the interaction of them should be considered in constructing investment strategies and setting policies.

ABSTRACTChitinase-3 like-protein-1 (CHI3L1) has been found to be overexpressed in many cancers and increased CHI3L1 level in serum seems to correlate with a poor prognosis in patients with metastatic cancer. However, the expression of CHI3L1 and its potential role in esophageal cancer remains unclear. We retrieved publicly available RNA-seq datasets of esophageal cancer tissues and normal esophageal tissues. We analyzed the correlation between CHI3L1 expression with different clinical parameters (such as T stages, N stage, response to treatment and tumor residues after treatment), the relationship between CHI3L1 expression level and prognosis, and the relationship between CHI3L1 expression and different immune cell signatures in esophageal cancer tissues. A transgenic mouse model of esophageal carcinoma was used to validate CHI3L1 expression and its association with macrophage signature gene expression. The effect of recombinant CHI3L1 on macrophage polarization was assessed in cell model. We showed the upregulation of CHI3L1 in esophageal cancer tissues in comparison to normal esophageal tissues, and its upregulation was positively associated with tumor size. The analysis of immunological signatures and CHI3L1 expression indicated that CHI3L1 level was highly correlated with increased expression of macrophage signature genes in esophageal tumor tissues. CHI3L1 was also upregulated in the esophagus dysplasia tissues in a transgenic mouse model. Recombinant CHI3L1 treatment favored M2 gene expression in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line. CHI3L1 overexpression may favor macrophage recruitment in esophageal tumor tissues. Future studies are needed to delineate the mechanisms of CHI3L1-mediated macrophage recruitment and polarization in tumor tissues.

RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications are essential in plants. Here, we show that transgenic expression of the human RNA demethylase FTO in rice caused a more than threefold increase in grain yield under greenhouse conditions. In field trials, transgenic expression of FTO in rice and potato caused ~50% increases in yield and biomass. We demonstrate that the presence of FTO stimulates root meristem cell proliferation and tiller bud formation and promotes photosynthetic efficiency and drought tolerance but has no effect on mature cell size, shoot meristem cell proliferation, root diameter, plant height or ploidy. FTO mediates substantial m6A demethylation (around 7% of demethylation in poly(A) RNA and around 35% decrease of m6A in non-ribosomal nuclear RNA) in plant RNA, inducing chromatin openness and transcriptional activation. Therefore, modulation of plant RNA m6A methylation is a promising strategy to dramatically improve plant growth and crop yield.

Periodontitis is a bacterial infectious disease leading to the loss of periodontal supporting tissues and teeth. The current guided tissue regeneration (GTR) membranes for periodontitis treatments cannot effectively promote tissue regeneration for the limited antibacterial properties and the excessively fast degradation rate. Besides, they need extra tailoring according to variform defects before implantation, leading to imprecise match. This study proposed an injectable sodium alginate hydrogel composite (CTP-SA) doped with cubic cuprous oxide (Cu2O) and polydopamine-coated titanium dioxide (TiO2@PDA) nanoparticles for GTR. Inspired by the gelation process of the jelly, the phase change (liquid to solid) of CTP-SA after injection could automatch variform bone defects. Meanwhile, CTP-SA exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial capabilities under blue light (BL) irradiation, including Streptococcus mutans(one of the most abundant bacteria in oral biofilms). Moreover, the reactive oxygen species released under BL excitation could accelerate the oxidation of Cu+to Cu2+. Afterward, osteogenesis could be enhanced through two factors simultaneously: the stimulation of newly formed Cu2+and the photothermal effect of CTP-SA under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. Collectively, through this dual-light (blue and NIR) noninvasive regulation, CTP-SA could switch antibacterial and osteogenic modes to address requirements of patients at different healing stages, thereby realizing the customized GTR procedures.

ABSTRACTLong noncoding RNA GAS5 is down-regulated in cardiomyocytes in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Here, we studied the involvement of GAS5 in DCM by analyzing its expression in DCM mouse model and cardiac muscle cell line (HL-1 cells). Compared with normal mice, GAS5 was severely down-regulated in heart tissues of DCM mice. GAS5 overexpression improved cardiac function and myocardial hypertrophy in DCM mice. In addition, the expression of NLRP3, caspase-1, Pro-caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18 were increased in heart tissues of DCM mice and high glucose-treated HL-1 cells, which was repressed by GAS5 up-regulation. GAS5 overexpression suppressed caspase-1 activity, LDH release and the levels of IL-1β, IL-18 in the high glucose-treated HL-1 cells. Moreover, GAS5 regulated AHR expression by sponging miR-34b-3p. Furthermore, GAS5 overexpression suppressed NLRP3 inflammasome activation-mediated pyroptosis by regulating miR-34b-3p/AHR axis. In summary, our study demonstrates that GAS5 acts as a competing endogenous RNA to enhance AHR expression by sponging miR-34b-3p, which consequently represses NLRP3 inflammasome activation-mediated pyroptosis to improve DCM. Thus, our data provide a novel lncRNA GAS5 that could be a valuable target for DCM treatment.

Because light exhibits excellent spatiotemporal resolution, photodynamic therapy (PDT) is becoming a promising method for cancer treatment. However, in a single photosensitizer (PS), it remains a big challenge to achieve all key properties including effective singlet oxygen (1O2) production under long-wavelength laser and bright near-infrared (NIR) emission without toxicity in the dark. In addition, clinically used traditional PSs encounter quenched fluorescence and decreased 1O2production because of molecular aggregation in aqueous solution. To solve the aforementioned issues, quinoxalinone CN (QCN) with effective 1O2generation under long-wavelength (530 nm) laser irradiation and aggregation-induced NIR emission is rationally designed by precise optimization of the quinoxalinone scaffold. After being encapsulated by an amphiphilic polymer (DSPE-PEG), the yielded nanoparticles exhibit highly efficient 1O2production and stable NIR fluorescence located at 800 nm without obvious toxicity under the dark. Both in vitroand in vivoevaluation identify that QCN would be a promising PS for image-guided PDT of tumors.