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Given the high abundance of aluminum in the Earth’s crust, the development of aluminum-ion batteries can provide a cost-effective solution for large-scale energy storage. However, the key challenge in this field is to identify high-quality cathode materials that enable effective insertion/extraction of aluminum complex ions. In this regard, we present a strategy to prepare high-capacity, long-cycling aluminum-ion batteries aluminum–ion batteries (ALBs) cathode materials. High capacity was achieved by introducing multiple active sites into a 1,1′-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL) polymer of intrinsic microporosity cathode material to realize dual aluminum complex ion adsorption. The cathode had adjustable mesoporous structure that enabled its activation, wherein the pore size gradually increased during the insertion/extraction of aluminum complex ions, effectively enhancing battery capacity and cycling stability. The aluminum-ion battery cathode material achieved a high capacity of up to 110 mAh/g at a current density of 200 mA/g and could withstand over 3000 cycles at a high current density of 1 A/g. These findings provide a design approach for aluminum-battery cathode materials intended for low-cost, large-scale energy storage.

NIR-II imaging-guided phototherapy is an attractive, yet challenging, tumor treatment strategy. By monitoring the accumulation of phototherapy reagents at the tumor site through imaging and determining the appropriate therapy window, the therapeutic effect could be significantly improved. Probes with NIR-II (1000–1700 nm) fluorescence emission and a large Stokes shift hold great promise for fluorescence imaging with deep penetration, minimized self-quenching, and high spatiotemporal resolution. However, due to the lack of a suitable molecular framework, the design of a simple small-molecule dye with a large Stokes shift and NIR-II fluorescence emission has rarely been reported. Herein, we prepare an asymmetric D−π–A type NIR-II fluorescence probe (TBy). The probe is incapsulated in an amphiphilic polymer and modified with a fibronectin targeting peptide CREKA, which could recognize the fibrin–fibronectin complex overexpressed in multiple malignant tumors. The nanoparticles thus constructed (TByC-NPs) have maximum fluorescence emission at 1037 nm with a large Stokes shift of 426 nm, which is the largest Stokes shift among organic NIR-II fluorescent dyes reported in the literature. The TByC-NPs exhibit a good NIR-II imaging performance, active tumor targeting, and good photothermal and photodynamic capabilities. In vitroand in vivostudies verify that the TByC nanoplatform shows outstanding biocompatibility for NIR-II imaging-guided phototherapy and provides an excellent antitumor effect.

Imparting procedural skills is challenging. Peyton’s approach is an effective face-to-face teaching technique increasingly used in complex skills training. Institutions are beginning to incorporate online training as part of their procedural curriculum. We developed E-Peyton’s to employ Peyton’s approach through an electronic learning platform. The efficacy of E-Peyton’s approach in teaching the interpretation of facial computed tomography (CT) scans is evaluated in this study. Naïve learners (n=41) were randomized into 2 groups based on teaching techniques employed: E-Peyton’s (n=20) and Peyton’s (n=21) approaches. The distance between the infraorbital margin and the posterior ledge was measured using a 3-part standardized measuring protocol on OsiriX. Twenty measurements were assessed for accuracy against the benchmark (±2 mm) at week 0 and week 1. Training durations were compared. Questionnaires were administered before and after the study to identify learners’ acceptance of teaching techniques and their confidence in interpreting facial CT scans. Learners in both teaching techniques had comparable skills retention. Gap scores indicate significant improvement in learner’s confidence levels regardless of teaching technique (P<0.05). Both teaching techniques were well-accepted by learners. E-Peyton’s and Peyton’s approaches required a similar training duration. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of effective remote learning platforms. E-Peyton’s approach is comparable to that of Peyton’s in all areas of assessment. E-Peyton’s approach effectively automates Peyton’s approach, allowing for standardized, high-quality procedural skills training while reducing manpower burden.

Labeling the genome and envelope of a virus with multicolor quantum dots (QDs) simultaneously enables real-time monitoring of viral uncoating and genome release, contributing to our understanding of virus infection mechanisms. However, current labeling techniques require genetic modification, which alters the virus’s composition and infectivity. To address this, we utilized the CRISPR/Cas13 system and a bioorthogonal metabolic method to label the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genome and envelopes with different-colored QDs in situ. This technique allows one-step two-color labeling of the viral envelope and intraviral genome with QDs harnessing virus infection. In combination with single-virus tracking, we visualized JEV uncoating and genome release in real time near the endoplasmic reticulum of live cells. This labeling strategy allows for real-time visualization of uncoating and genome release at the single-virus level, and it is expected to advance the study of other viral infection mechanisms.

Exosomes play an important role in the spread of viral infections and immune escape. However, the exact ability and mechanisms by which exosomes produced during viral infections (vExos) infect host cells are still not fully understood. In this study, we developed a dual-color exosome labeling strategy that simultaneously labels the external and internal structures of exosomes with quantum dots to enable in situ monitoring of the transport process of vExos in live cells using the single-particle tracking technique. Our finding revealed that vExos contains the complete influenza A virus (IAV) genome and viral ribonucleoprotein complexes (vRNPs) proteins but lacks viral envelope proteins. Notably, these vExos have the ability to infect cells and produce progeny viruses. We also found that vExos are transported in three stages, slow–fast–slow, and move to the perinuclear region via microfilaments and microtubules. About 30% of internalized vExos shed the external membrane and release the internal vRNPs into the cytoplasm by fusion with endolysosomes. This study suggested that vExos plays a supporting role in IAV infection by assisting with IAV propagation in a virus-independent manner. It emphasizes the need to consider the infectious potential of vExos and draws attention to the potential risk of exosomes produced by viral infections.

We study the problem of group recommendation. Recommendation is an important information exploration paradigm that retrieves interesting items for users based on their profiles and past activities. Single user recommendation has received significant attention in the past due to its extensive use in Amazon and Netflix. How to recommend to a group of users who may or may not share similar tastes, however, is still an open problem. The need for group recommendation arises in many scenarios: a movie for friends to watch together, a travel destination for a family to spend a holiday break, and a good restaurant for colleagues to have a working lunch. Intuitively, items that are ideal for recommendation to a group may be quite different from those for individual members. In this paper, we analyze the desiderata of group recommendation and propose a formal semantics that accounts for both item relevance to a group and disagreements among group members. We design and implement algorithms for efficiently computing group recommendations. We evaluate our group recommendation method through a comprehensive user study conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk and demonstrate that incorporating disagreements is critical to the effectiveness of group recommendation. We further evaluate the efficiency and scalability of our algorithms on the MovieLens data set with 10M ratings.

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Advanced human sensing technologies based on radio frequency (RF) signals have gained widespread attention in recent years. However, due to the sparsity and incompleteness of RF signals, fine-grained RF-based multi-person 3D pose estimation has progressed more slowly. In this paper, we present RF-based Pose Machine (RPM 2.0) for multi-person 3D pose estimation using RF signals. Specifically, we first develop a lightweight anchor-free detector module to locate and crop regions of interest from horizontal and vertical RF signals. Afterward, we treat the horizontal and vertical millimeter-wave radars as “RF cameras” with different viewing angles and propose a Multi-view Fusion Network to unproject the RF signals into a unified latent feature space, and then calculate the correlation for weighted fusion. Finally, a Spatio-Temporal Attention Network is designed to reconstruct the multi-person 3D skeleton sequences, in which the spatial attention module is proposed to recover invisible body parts using non-local correlations among joints and the temporal attention module refines the 3D pose sequences using temporal coherency learned from frame queries. We evaluate the performance of the proposed RPM 2.0 and state-of-the-art methods on a large-scale dataset with multi-person 3D pose labels and corresponding radar signals. The experimental results show that RPM 2.0 outperforms all of the baseline methods, which locates multi-person 3D key points with an average error of $73 mm$ and generalizes well in new data such as occlusion, low illumination.

ABSTRACTThe LMNAgene encoding lamin A/C is amplified in some clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) samples. Our data showed that depletion of the tumor suppressor PBRM1 can upregulate lamin A/C levels, and lamin A/C could interact with PBRM1. However, the role of lamin A/C in ccRCC is not yet fully understood. Our functional assays showed that although the proliferation ability was slightly impaired after LMNAdepletion, the migration and invasion of ccRCC cells were significantly inhibited. This suppression was accompanied by a reduction in MMP2, MMP9, AKT/p-AKT, and Wnt/β-catenin protein levels. Our data therefore suggest that lamin A/C, as an interaction partner of the tumor suppressor PBRM1, plays a crucial role in tumor invasion and metastasis in ccRCC.

The development of efficient membranes for ethylene/ethane (C2H4/C2H6) separation is highly important. Here, we report the development of a series of new mixed matrix membranes (ZnAtzPO4/6FDA-DAM MMMs) based on a microporous material with phosphate anion pillar ZnAtzPO4(Atz = 3-amino-1, 2, 4-triazole) and 6FDA-DAM polymer matrix. Compared with the pure 6FDA-DAM membranes, the C2H4permeability and the C2H4/C2H6selectivity of 10 wt % ZnAtzPO4/6FDA-DAM MMMs were simultaneously increased by 46 and 6%, breaking the trade-off between permeability and selectivity. Interestingly, the separation performance of ZnAtzPO4/6FDA-DAM MMMs at 10 wt % for the equimolar C2H4/C2H6gas mixture was 105.0 Barrer and 3.90, which surpassed the 2013 upper bound of C2H4/C2H6. For ZnAtzPO4/6FDA-DAM MMMs with 10 wt % filler loading, both the solubility selectivity and the diffusion selectivity continued to rise concurrently, enhancing the C2H4/C2H6separation performance of ZnAtzPO4/6FDA-DAM MMMs. This work generates a useful concept for the design and fabrication of high-performance MMMs.

Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) can catalyze the asymmetric oxidation of sulfides to valuable chiral sulfoxides, but the overoxidation of sulfoxides to undesired sulfones limits the synthetic application of BVMOs. This overoxidation is caused by insufficient substrate selectivity of BVMOs, where the desired product sulfoxide can be further oxidized. In this study, a mathematical model was constructed to quantitatively define the substrate selectivity based on the ratio of the specificity constant (kcat/Km) between sulfide and sulfoxide. The substrate selectivity of a pyrmetazole monooxygenase (AcPSMO) was precisely regulated using a structure-guided substrate tunnel engineering approach, which successfully minimized sulfoxide overoxidation. The sulfone content of variant F277L was less than 1% (mol/mol), compared with 65% for the wild-type, in the pyrmetazole oxidation reaction after 24 h. Molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics studies showed that the altered H-bonding networks surrounding the flavin hydroperoxide (FADH-OOH) can modulate the mechanism and activity for sulfoxide oxidation. Furthermore, the redesigned mutants of AcPSMO were successfully applied for the controllable synthesis of other chiral prazole sulfoxides.

Responsive drug release and low toxicity of drug carriers are important for designing controlled release systems. Here, a double functional diffractive o-nitrobenzyl, containing multiple electron-donating groups as a crosslinker and methacrylic acid (MAA) as a monomer, was used to decorate upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) to produce robust poly o-nitrobenzyl@UCNP nanocapsules using the distillation-precipitation polymerization and templating method. Poly o-nitrobenzyl@UCNP nanocapsules with a robust yolk–shell structure exhibited near-infrared (NIR) light-/pH-responsive properties. When the nanocapsules were exposed to 980 nm NIR irradiation, the loaded drug was efficiently released by altering the shell of the nanocapsules. The photodegradation kinetics of the poly o-nitrobenzyl@UCNP nanocapsules were studied. The anticancer drug, doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), was loaded at pH 8.0 with a loading efficiency of 13.2 wt %. The Baker–Lonsdale model was used to determine the diffusion coefficients under different release conditions to facilitate the design of dual-responsive drug release devices or systems. Additionally, cytotoxicity studies showed that the drug release of DOX could be efficiently triggered by NIR to kill cancer cells in a controlled manner.

Abnormal osteoclast and osteoblast differentiation is an essential pathological process in osteoporosis. As an important deubiquitinase enzyme, ubiquitin-specific peptidase 7 (USP7) participates in various disease processes through posttranslational modification. However, the mechanism by which USP7 regulates osteoporosis remains unknown. Herein, we aimed to investigate whether USP7 regulates abnormal osteoclast differentiation in osteoporosis.

Ginsenosides are the main bioactive ingredients in plants of the genus Panax. Vina-ginsenoside R7 (VG-R7) is one of the rare high-value ginsenosides with health benefits. The only reported method for preparing VG-R7 involves inefficient and low-yield isolation from highly valuable natural resources. Notoginsenoside Fc (NG-Fc) isolated in the leaves and stems of Panax notoginsengis a suitable substrate for the preparation of VG-R7 via specific hydrolysis of the outside xylose at the C-20 position. Here, we first screened putative enzymes belonging to the glycoside hydrolase (GH) families 1, 3, and 43 and found that KfGH01 can specifically hydrolyze the β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranoside linkage of NG-Fc to form VG-R7. The I248F/Y410R variant of KfGH01 obtained by protein engineering displayed a kcat/KMvalue (305.3 min–1mM–1) for the reaction enhanced by approximately 270-fold compared with wild-type KfGH01. A change in the shape of the substrate binding pockets in the mutant allows the substrate to sit closer to the catalytic residues which may explain the enhanced catalytic efficiency of the engineered enzyme. This study identifies the first glycosidase for bioconversion of a ginsenoside with more than four sugar units, and it will inspire efforts to investigate other promising enzymes to obtain valuable natural products.

Repression of gene expression by protein complexes of the Polycomb group is a fundamental mechanism that governs embryonic development and cell-type specification1–3. The Polycomb repressive deubiquitinase (PR-DUB) complex removes the ubiquitin moiety from monoubiquitinated histone H2A K119 (H2AK119ub1) on the nucleosome4, counteracting the ubiquitin E3 ligase activity of Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1)5to facilitate the correct silencing of genes by Polycomb proteins and safeguard active genes from inadvertent silencing by PRC1 (refs. 6–9). The intricate biological function of PR-DUB requires accurate targeting of H2AK119ub1, but PR-DUB can deubiquitinate monoubiquitinated free histones and peptide substrates indiscriminately; the basis for its exquisite nucleosome-dependent substrate specificity therefore remains unclear. Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy structure of human PR-DUB, composed of BAP1 and ASXL1, in complex with the chromatosome. We find that ASXL1 directs the binding of the positively charged C-terminal extension of BAP1 to nucleosomal DNA and histones H3–H4 near the dyad, an addition to its role in forming the ubiquitin-binding cleft. Furthermore, a conserved loop segment of the catalytic domain of BAP1 is situated near the H2A–H2B acidic patch. This distinct nucleosome-binding mode displaces the C-terminal tail of H2A from the nucleosome surface, and endows PR-DUB with the specificity for H2AK119ub1.

Human alpha-2-macroglobulin is a well-known inhibitor of a broad spectrum of proteases and plays important roles in immunity, inflammation, and infections. Here, we report the cryo-EM structures of human alpha-2-macroglobulin in its native state, induced state transformed by its authentic substrate, human trypsin, and serial intermediate states between the native and fully induced states. These structures exhibit distinct conformations, which reveal the dynamic transformation of alpha-2-macro-globulin that acts as a protease inhibitor. The results shed light on the molecular mechanism of alpha-2-macroglobulin in entrapping substrates.

The foregut is the main site of lipid absorption in fish, but the effect of different lipid sources on the foregut lipid absorption and metabolism in adult female spotted scat is still unclear. In this experiment, adult female spotted scat (length = 19.48 ± 1.13 cm, weight = 242.83 ± 50.90 g) were fed two iso-nitrogenous (45 % crude protein) and iso-lipidic (12.5 % crude lipid) diets configured with either 8 % fish oil (FO) or 8 % soybean oil (SO) for 60 days. Histological observations, serum measurements and transcriptome sequencing were used to investigate the effects of the oil sources on the foregut. Histological observation showed that the foregut folds of the SO group were shorter and narrower than those of the FO group, and nuclear vacuolation and villous atrophy were observed in the intestinal cells of fish in the SO group, indicating an inflammatory reaction. Both serum triglyceride and total cholesterol levels were significantly higher in the FO group than in the SO group. Transcriptome analysis revealed 1355 differentially expressed genes between the FO and SO groups. Genes related to lipid metabolism (adipor2and creb3l3) and cholesterol absorption and efflux (npc1l1and sphk2) were up-regulated, whereas genes related to fatty acid synthesis and transport (fad1and mfsd2ab) were down-regulated in the FO group. Circadian rhythm related genes ciartand nfil3,which are also involved in lipid metabolism, were up- and down-regulated, respectively in the FO group. The immune-related genes steap4, ddit4and cldn6which can inhibit inflammation, were up-regulated in the FO group, whereas pro-inflammation gene rnf225was up-regulated in the SO group. In conclusion, compared with SO, FO may enhance the lipid absorption and reduce the inflammatory response in the foregut of the spotted scat. The results of this study provide a reference for the selection of dietary oil sources for adult female spotted scat.

Nuclear trafficking of viral genome is an essential cellular process in the life cycles of viruses. Despite substantial progress in uncovering a wide variety of complicated mechanisms of virus entry, intracellular transport of viral components, virus assembly, and egress, the temporal and spatial dynamics of viral genes trafficking within the nucleus remains poorly understood. Herein, using single-particle tracking, we explored the real-time dynamic nuclear trafficking of influenza A virus (IAV) genes packaged as the viral ribonucleoprotein complexes (vRNPs) by combining a four-plasmid DNA transfection system for the reconstruction of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled vRNPs and a spinning disk super-resolution fluorescence microscope. We found that IAV infection significantly induced the formation of actin microfilaments (F-actin) in the nucleus. In combination with the fluorescent protein-tagged nuclear F-actin probe, we visualized the directed movement of GFP-labeled vRNPs foci along the nuclear F-actin with a speed of 0.18 μm/s, which is similar to the microfilaments-dependent slow directed motion of IAVs in the cytoplasm. The disruption of nuclear F-actin after treatment with microfilament inhibitors caused a considerable decrease in vRNPs motility and suppressed the nuclear export of newly produced vRNPs, indicating that the slow, directed movement plays a crucial role in facilitating the nuclear egress of vRNPs. Our findings identified a nuclear F-actin-dependent pathway for IAV vRNPs transporting from the nucleus into the cytoplasm, which may in turn uncover a novel target for antiviral treatment.

Conspicuous coloration in animals serves many functions such as anti-predation. Anti-predation strategies include motion dazzle and flash behavior. Motion dazzle markings can reduce the probability of being preyed on because the predators misjudge their movement. In flash behavior, prey demonstrate conspicuous cue while fleeing; the predators follow them; however, the prey hide their markings and the predators assume that the prey has vanished. To investigate whether bovids use conspicuous hindquarter markings as an anti-predatory behavior, we undertook phylogenetically controlled analyses to explore under what physiological characteristics and environmental factors bovids might have this color pattern. The results suggested that rump patches and tail markings were more prevalent in bovids living in larger-sized groups, which supports the hypothesis of intraspecific communication. Moreover, we observed the occurrence of conspicuous white hindquarter markings in bovids having smaller body size and living in larger groups, suggesting a motion dazzle function. However, the feature of facultative exposing color patterns (flash markings) was not associated with body size, which was inconsistent with predictions and implied that bovids may not adopt this as an anti-predator strategy. It was concluded that species in bovids with conspicuous white hindquarter markings adopt motion dazzle as an anti-predation strategy while fleeing and escaping from being prey on.

Pseudo-bulk heterojunction (BHJ) fabricated by sequential casting of donor and acceptor layers has been recently demonstrated a superior structure to prepare organic solar cells (OSCs) with enhanced efficiency compared to the conventional BHJ OSCs cast from a common solution of donor and acceptor. However, molecular diffusion and aggregation within the pseudo-BHJ layer bring great challenges to fully realize the advantage of pseudo-BHJ structure. Herein, a solution-incubated pre-aggregation strategy is employed to tune the nanoscale aggregates of non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) BTP-eC11 and N3 to substantially enhance device power-conversion efficiency (PCE). NFA pre-aggregates are incubated in solutions viaaging or adding anti-solvent, and then sequentially cast onto D18 fibrillar network, which then penetrate to form a pseudo-BHJ structure with appropriate domain sizes to ensure superior charge mobilities. While the conventional pseudo-BHJ OSCs obtain inferior PCEs below 17% compared with normal BHJ OSCs, NFA pre-aggregates help to achieve remarkable PCEs of 17.7% and 17.5% for D18/BTP-eC11 and D18/N3 pseudo-BHJ OSCs. This work demonstrates that the solution-incubated nanoscale pre-aggregation is an efficient approach to regulate molecular diffusion and aggregation to guarantee high performance pseudo-BHJ OSCs.

Let ℓ>r⩾3. Given a 2-graph F, the expansion F(r)of Fis an r-graph obtained from Fby adding r-2new vertices into each edge. When Fis a clique of order ℓ, the Turán number ex(n,F(r))was first asymptotically determined by Mubayi (J Comb Theory Ser B 96:122–134, 2006) and exactly computed by Pikhurko (J Comb Theory Ser B 103:220–225, 2013). Let Fk,ℓbe the 2-graph on (ℓ-1)k+1vertices consisting of kcliques of order ℓintersecting at exactly one vertex. We determine the exact Turán number ex(n,Fk,ℓ(3))for all ℓ>3, k⩾1and sufficiently large n, as well as the corresponding extremal graphs.

Straw incorporation is a widespread practice to promote agricultural sustainability. However, the potential effects of straw incorporation with the prolonged time on nitrogen (N) runoff loss from paddy fields are not well studied. The current study addresses the knowledge gap by assessing the effects of straw incorporation on the processes influencing N runoff patterns and its impacts on crop yield, N uptake, total N (TN), and soil organic matter (SOM). We conducted field experiments with rice (OryzasativaL.)–wheat (TriticumaestivumL.) rotation, rice–tobacco (NicotianatabacumL.) rotation, and double-rice cropping in subtropical China from 2008 to 2012. Each rotation had three N treatments: zero N fertilization (CK), chemical N fertilization (CF), and chemical N fertilization combined with straw incorporation (CFS). The treatment effects were assessed on TN runoff loss, crop yield, N uptake, soil TN stock, and SOM. Results showed that TN runoff was reduced by substituting part of the chemical N fertilizer with straw N in the double rice rotation, while crop N uptake was significantly (P<0.05) decreased due to the lower bioavailability of straw N. In contrast, in both rice–wheat and rice–tobacco rotations, TN runoff in CFS was increased by 0.9–20.2% in the short term when straw N was applied in addition to chemical N, compared to CF. However, TN runoff was reduced by 2.3–19.3% after three years of straw incorporation, suggesting the long-term benefits of straw incorporation on TN loss reduction. Meanwhile, crop N uptake was increased by 0.8–37.3% in the CFS of both rotations. This study demonstrates the challenges in reducing N runoff loss while improving soil fertility by straw incorporation over the short term but highlights the potential of long-term straw incorporation to reduce N loss and improve soil productivity.

The fabrication of a high-performance second near-infrared (NIR-II) biological window fluorophore is in urgent need for precise diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Nevertheless, the construction of phototherapeutic agents in the NIR-II region with excellent imaging performance and minimal side effects remains a big challenge due to the limited availability of core fluorophore candidates. In this study, a new NIR-II fluorescent probe, CB1, which is an aza-BODIPY core conjugated with bulky donors, was designed and synthesized. CB1 was further encapsulated in DSPE-PEG2000 to impart water solubility, which shows brighter NIR-II fluorescence and higher photostability than the clinically used indocyanine green (ICG). CB1 nanoparticles show deep tissue penetration and high imaging contrast in vivo. In addition, molecular conformation enables CB1 nanoparticles to exhibit good photothermal properties. Both in vitroand in vivoassessments confirm that CB1 nanoparticles could be utilized as distinguished theranostic agents for NIR-II fluorescence imaging and tumor growth inhibition with negligible side effects. Collectively, this work provides a promising approach for constructing a new platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Polymers with intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) have recently received increasing interest in the fields of gas separation, sensors, catalysts, and so on, due to their high microporosity and good solution processability. However, PIMs with chiral backbones are quite limited, which undoubtedly hinders their applications in many areas such as chiral separation and optoelectronics. Herein, the catalytic enantioselective synthesis of a novel cyclohexyl-fused spirobiindane-based chiral PIM is described. This novel polymer exhibits high intrinsic microporosity (SBET= 796 m2g–1), solubility, and good film formability. Its macroscopic chirality of the twist-bend structure was confirmed by circular dichroism. More interestingly, circular polarized luminescence (CPL) was observed for the first time in PIMs; also, to our best knowledge, this is the first nonconjugated porous CPL polymer, opening the door to explore new research fields of PIM materials, as well as providing new guidance for CPL polymer design.

A simultaneously HPLC detection method for cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), Δ9- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), tetrahydro-cannabinolic acid (THCA) in 3 kinds of cosmetics matrix containing hemp leaf extract was developed. The extraction and HPLC conditions were optimized, and a methodological verification was also carried out. The results showed that this method had a good linear relationship in the range of 0.25–50 μg/mL with LOD values for 5 cannabinoids all between 0.10–0.25 μg/g. The recovery rates of 5 cannabinoids in 3 different cosmetics matrixes were between 90.1–108.5%, and the RSD values were all below 4.4%. These results indicated that this method had the advantages of simple operation, high sensitivity, and good accuracy. Through the testing of 6 kinds of hemp cosmetics, it was found that such cosmetics had uneven quality. The establishment of this method can lay a methodological foundation for establishing relevant testing method standards.

IMPORTANCE: Many patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy experience chronic pain and inadequate relief despite best available medical treatments. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether 10-kHz spinal cord stimulation (SCS) improves outcomes for patients with refractory painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The prospective, multicenter, open-label SENZA-PDN randomized clinical trial compared conventional medical management (CMM) with 10-kHz SCS plus CMM. Participants with PDN for 1 year or more refractory to gabapentinoids and at least 1 other analgesic class, lower limb pain intensity of 5 cm or more on a 10-cm visual analogue scale (VAS), body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of 45 or less, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of 10% or less, daily morphine equivalents of 120 mg or less, and medically appropriate for the procedure were recruited from clinic patient populations and digital advertising. Participants were enrolled from multiple sites across the US, including academic centers and community pain clinics, between August 2017 and August 2019 with 6-month follow-up and optional crossover at 6 months. Screening 430 patients resulted in 214 who were excluded or declined participation and 216 who were randomized. At 6-month follow-up, 187 patients were evaluated. INTERVENTIONS: Implanted medical device delivering 10-kHz SCS. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The prespecified primary end point was percentage of participants with 50% pain relief or more on VAS without worsening of baseline neurological deficits at 3 months. Secondary end points were tested hierarchically, as prespecified in the analysis plan. Measures included pain VAS, neurological examination, health-related quality of life (EuroQol Five-Dimension questionnaire), and HbA1c over 6 months. RESULTS: Of 216 randomized patients, 136 (63.0%) were male, and the mean (SD) age was 60.8 (10.7) years. Additionally, the median (interquartile range) duration of diabetes and peripheral neuropathy were 10.9 (6.3-16.4) years and 5.6 (3.0-10.1) years, respectively. The primary end point assessed in the intention-to-treat population was met by 5 of 94 patients in the CMM group (5%) and 75 of 95 patients in the 10-kHz SCS plus CMM group (79%; difference, 73.6%; 95% CI, 64.2-83.0; P &lt; .001). Infections requiring device explant occurred in 2 patients in the 10-kHz SCS plus CMM group (2%). For the CMM group, the mean pain VAS score was 7.0 cm (95% CI, 6.7-7.3) at baseline and 6.9 cm (95% CI, 6.5-7.3) at 6 months. For the 10-kHz SCS plus CMM group, the mean pain VAS score was 7.6 cm (95% CI, 7.3-7.9) at baseline and 1.7 cm (95% CI, 1.3-2.1) at 6 months. Investigators observed neurological examination improvements for 3 of 92 patients in the CMM group (3%) and 52 of 84 in the 10-kHz SCS plus CMM group (62%) at 6 months (difference, 58.6%; 95% CI, 47.6-69.6; P &lt; .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Substantial pain relief and improved health-related quality of life sustained over 6 months demonstrates 10-kHz SCS can safely and effectively treat patients with refractory PDN. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClincalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03228420

C15H15N1O3, triclinic, P1‾$P\overline{1}$ (no. 2), a= 7.1053(11) Å, b= 8.3014(12) Å, c= 11.0297(16) Å, α= 85.810(2)°, β= 79.896(2)°, γ= 87.055(2)°, V= 638.28(16) Å3, Z= 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0371, wRref(F2) = 0.1062, T= 296(2) K.

Psoriasis is one of the most common chronic inflammatory skin diseases that affects approximately 3% of the world's population. Hyper proliferation, infiltration of inflammatory cells and aberrant differentiation of keratinocytes are the three most important characteristics of psoriasis. Previous reports showed that NF‐κBis the crucial mediator linking psoriatic keratinocytes and immune cell states through its effects on chemokine and cytokine production. To identify the role of NF‐κB in psoriasis, we conducted ELISA assay to detect the activity of NF‐κB in lesional skin and nonlesional skin of patients with psoriasis. Mounting evidence suggests that the interaction between long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs plays important role in the regulation of the initiation and development of various diseases. In this article, we identified that lncRNA UCA1 was down‐regulated in lesional skin of patients with psoriasis. Further studies showed that lncRNA UCA1 could promote the expression of A20 by inhibitingmiR125a, and up‐regulated A20 decreased the activity of NF‐κB through its ubiquitin editing function. Taken together, we identified and demonstrated that lncRNA UCA1 negatively regulated NF‐κB activity in psoriasis through the miR125a‐A20 axis.

Vigilance behavior is considered as an effective strategy for prey species to detect predators. An individual benefits from living in a group by reducing the time spent being vigilant without affecting the probability of detecting a predator. However, the mechanism producing a decrease in vigilance with increasing group size is unclear. Many models of vigilance assume that group members scan independently of one another. Yet in recent studies, the other 2 patterns of vigilance, coordination and synchronization, were reported in some species. In 2 summers (2018 and 2019), we studied the group-size effect on vigilance and foraging of Tibetan wild ass in Chang Tang Nature Reserve of Tibet. We also tested whether individuals scan the environment independently, tend to coordinate their scans, or tend to synchronize their vigilance. The results showed that individuals decreased the time spent on vigilance with increasing group size, while increased the time spent foraging. Group members scanned the environment at the same time more frequently and there was a positive correlation between group members’ behaviors, indicating that Tibetan wild asses tend to synchronize their vigilance.

AbstractThis paper investigates the disc cutter behaviors in full-scale linear cutting tests. The experimental results obtained from different rocks varying from relatively soft rock (σc=27.6 MPa) to extremely hard rock (σc=355.54 MPa) are compared to the results of the semi-theoretical prediction model (Rostami & Ozdemir, 1993; Rostami, Ozdemir, & Nilsen, 1996). Compared to the semi-theoretical results, higher experimental normal and rolling forces and lower experimental cutting coefficients and normalized resultant forces are obtained when cutting low strength rocks. Opposite results are found when cutting extremely hard rocks. An empirical disc cutter cutting force prediction model is suggested in which the input parameters are cutter diameter, cutter spacing, cutter penetration depth and rock uniaxial compressive strength. Furthermore, based on the semi-theoretical model and the new empirical model, reverse estimation of rock strengths from disc cutter cutting forces are undertaken. The results show that rock uniaxial compressive strength can be reliably evaluated from disc cutter cutting forces, but the estimation results for rock Brazilian tensile strength are not so good. This study is pertinent to the better understanding of the disc cutter behaviors in cutting rocks of different strengths and can improve the geological information acquisition and operation control during TBM tunneling.

A simple and sensitive fluorometric method is developed utilizing aggregation-induced emission probe based silica nanoparticles for the detection of nitroaromatic explosives. A positively charged tetraphenylethene based probe (TPE-C2-2+) is doped into silica nanoparticles exploiting electrostatic interactions to produce TPE–SiO2nanoparticles with a uniform particle size. The TPE–SiO2nanoparticles exhibit strong fluorescence emission due to the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect of the doped TPE probe. The fluorescence emission of TPE–SiO2offers quantitative and sensitive response to picric acid (PA), 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) which are used as model examples of nitroaromatic compounds. The fluorescence spectroscopy results show that the fluorescence emission of TPE–SiO2was greatly quenched in the presence of the electron-poor nitroaromatic compounds due to the inner filter effect (IFE) and possibly the contact quenching mechanism. TPE–SiO2nanoparticles show better sensitivity towards PA and could detect PA down to 0.01 μM with a linear detection range of 0.1–50 μM. The increased chemical stability, efficient high sensitivity and simple synthesis of the TPE–SiO2nanoparticles demonstrate that they can be used as an excellent fluorescent probe for a wide range of electron-poor compounds, i.e.nitroaromatic compounds. Interference studies show that common interfering species with nitroexplosives such as acids, bases, volatile organic compounds, and salt solutions have a negligible effect during the sensing process.

To investigate the correlation between high-risk human papillomavirus (HR HPV)-negative cervical lesions and cervical microenvironment in Inner Mongolia, China, and to find the pathogenic factors of HR HPV-negative cervical lesions.

As an important noninvasive tumor treatment method, phototherapy has drawn extensive research interest. However, the requirements of separate excitation wavelengths, high degree of electron–hole recombination, and low reactive oxygen species (ROS) production capability are still the major barriers. This work reports the construction of a novel nanoplatform: design and synthesis of an aza-BODIPY (AB) probe-decorated mesoporous black titanium dioxide (TiO2) (MT) nanoparticles (NPs) for enhanced photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy under single-wavelength near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation for the first time. AB probe-decorated MT NPs (abbreviated as MTAB) were synthesized through the Al reduction of mesoporous anatase TiO2NPs and subsequent adsorption of the AB probe. The mesoporous structure of MT ensured AB loading capacity and avoided the complicated modification and synthesis processes. Heterogeneous MTAB, which possessed staggered energy levels, were assessed for their capability for effective separation of photogenerated electrons and holes for the first time. Upon NIR laser light irradiation, MTAB exhibited sufficient ROS generation, resulting in distinct tumor cell killing and tumor tissue elimination. This unique heterogeneous nanoplatform with staggered energy levels provides a new strategy to enhance ROS generation and improve the therapeutic efficacy.

Highly effective sensing of nitro explosives plays an extremely important role in homeland security and counter-terrorism. In this work, a BN-doped aggregation induced emission (AIE) probe SN-1 was synthesized and subsequently characterized. The probe was then exposed to DNT and TNT, which resulted in formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the probe and the two nitro explosives, and thus fluorescence quenching response was achieved. In addition, an electron rich phenothiazine probe SN-2 was also prepared to probe the response to the nitro explosives via photo-induced electron transfer. The two probes were combined to construct a fluorescence sensor array for the successful distinction of five nitro explosives. This reliable and sensitive fluorescence sensor array held a good potential for homeland security and environmental management.

The interaction of human activity, climate change, and urbanization gives rise to more frequent urban stormwater disasters, which causes great economic loss in cities. This article presents a prototype of an interactive WebGIS system for urban stormwater risk analysis. The system has a Browse/Server(B/S) structure and uses WebGIS techniques for prototype development. It is based on the theory of disaster system and Cloud matter-element model for risk assessment. The risk results are immediately generated and visualized interactively by rendering risk maps. Finally, two urban stormwater events in Nanjing in 2015 and 2016 were selected to verify the accuracy of the risk assessment. The results show that the intelligence system can effectively assess the risk level and identify the spatial-temporal distribution of urban stormwater risk in Nanjing, China.

Educational informatization has become the inevitable trend of modern education development. This study puts forward a virtual simulation system teaching method for a numerically controlled machining course which is based on constructivism leaning theory and the system teaching method. This is to promote the students' theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the course of engineering training. The findings of a study designed to measure the benefits and effectiveness of the virtual simulation system teaching method for the development of numerically controlled machining course, compared with traditional teaching methods. And the subsequent questionnaire survey indicates that the proposed teaching method enables to provide the concrete experience of interaction between the students and the simulation environment. The study revealed that the students who engaged in the use of the virtual simulation system teaching method in their teaching and learning methods, obtained significantly greater achievement in the study than the students who solely received traditional instruction.

More than half of the total natural ionizing radiation dose received by the human population is caused by radon and thoron (Rn and Tn) and their progeny. To estimate the level of radiation due to radon and thoron and their progeny, an investigation was conducted in a residential area near the world’s largest open-pit mine of Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, China. The concentration of Rn, Tn, and their decay products in air and soil were studied by using AlphaGUARD, RAD7, and ERS-RDM-2S for a discrete period of time in three different locations. The average indoor concentration of radon and thoron was 62.6 ± 44.6 Bq/m3and 108.3 ± 94.5 Bq/m3 respectively, and the outdoor concentration was 12.9 ± 6.3 Bq/m3and 55.8 ± 18.5 Bq/m3, respectively. Relatively high concentrations were recorded in the area near to the mine, with a significant increasing trend observed in indoor thoron concentration. A prominent hotspot in thoron concentration was found in a single-story house with values 747 ± 150 Bq/m3. The equilibrium equivalent thoron concentration (EECTn) varies from 0.48 Bq/m3to 2.36 Bq/m3with an arithmetic mean of 1.37 ± 0.64 Bq/m3, and comparatively higher than EECRn. Concluding that the mining activity at Bayan Obo mine is significantly increasing the level of indoor thoron and its progeny in surroundings. It is suggested to further systematically investigate the indoor Rn and Tn progeny concentrations in the residential dwellings of the Bayan Obo mining area, and 232Th content of the building materials, to provide a basis for calculating the radiation dose.

A hydroxyl functionalized perylene monoimide probe (PMI-OH) was prepared and self-assembled with the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 (TX100) to fabricate a fluorescent micelle sensor for the selective and sensitive detection of picric acid (PA), a common explosive and environmental pollutant. The synthesized PMI-OHprobe exhibited excimer fluorescence emission, and the intensity of the excimer fluorescence emission was significantly enhanced after the PMI-OHprobe formed micelles with TX100. The obtained PMI-OH@TX100micelles presented excellent photoluminescence properties and had a maximum fluorescence emission at 630 nm. The red fluorescence of the PMI-OH@TX100micelles was quenched upon introduction of the nitro explosive PAdue to electron transfer from the donor (PMI-OH) to the acceptor (PA). The fluorescence quenching of the fluorescent micelle sensor was proportional to the concentration of PAin the range of 2 to 10 μM. The limit of detection was 500 nM using 3σ/k. Thus, the developed PMI-OH@TX100micelle sensor has great potential to detect PAin ordinary samples.

The WHISPER randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluates safety and clinical effectiveness of subperception spinal cord stimulation (SCS) at ≤1.2 kHz in subjects previously implanted with an SCS system for treatment of chronic, neuropathic pain. WHISPER is a prospective, multicenter RCT with a crossover design sponsored by Boston Scientific, Marlborough, MA (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02314000). Eligible subjects were randomized (N= 140) to receive subperception or supraperception for three months and then crossed over to receive the alternative. Upon completion of crossover period, subjects who preferred subperception were followed up to one year. Overall pain, quality‐of‐life, and other outcomes were collected in the study. The primary endpoint was the overall pain responder rate (≥50% improvement from baseline) with no increase in medications. Secondary endpoints consisted of pain scores, physical disability, quality of life, and treatment preference. The study met its primary endpoint and demonstrated noninferiority between supraperception and subperception in a prespecified cohort of 70 randomized subjects (Interim Analysis). Thirty‐nine percent of subjects with subperception settings and 29% with supraperception settings had a greater than or equal to 50% reduction in their overall pain scores with no increase in average daily medication at three‐months post‐activation as compared with baseline. Further assessment of all participating study subjects (N= 140) revealed similar results. Subjects were previously implanted 3.8 ± 2 years and had a disability score (Oswestry Disability Index) of 70.2 ± 11.4 at study start. Of the randomized subjects that completed the End of Period 2 Visit, 93 (66%) preferred subperception SCS and their mean overall pain reduced from 7.3 ± 1.1 (N= 89) at baseline to 4.0 ± 2.1 (N= 80) at 12‐months post‐activation. Post hoc analysis also demonstrated that multiple options provide superior outcomes, as supported by a 74% increase in the responder rate when subjects could choose their most effective option (47%) compared with supraperception alone (27%). Subperception SCS at ≤1.2 kHz is safe and effective in subjects with extreme physical disability and previously implanted for chronic pain. Further, by providing study participants with different waveform options, increased pain relief was achieved.

Let Bs(H)be the real linear space of all self-adjoint operators on a complex Hilbert space Hwith dimH=3. It is proved that a continuous surjective map fon Bs(H)preserves nonzero projections of Jordan products of two operators in both directions if and only if there exist a unitary or an anti-unitary operator Uon Hand a constant ?with ?2=1such that f(A)=?U*AUfor all A?Bs(H).

We introduce the problem of anti-knowledge mining. Our goal is to create an "anti-knowledge base" that contains factual mistakes. The resulting data can be used for analysis, training, and benchmarking in the research domain of automated fact checking. Prior data sets feature manually generated fact checks of famous misclaims. Instead, we focus on the long tail of factual mistakes made by Web authors, ranging from erroneous sports results to incorrect capitals.We mine mistakes automatically, by an unsupervised approach, from Wikipedia updates that correct factual mistakes. Identifying such updates (only a small fraction of the total number of updates) is one of the primary challenges. We mine anti-knowledge by a multi-step pipeline. First, we filter out candidate updates via several simple heuristics. Next, we correlate Wikipedia updates with other statements made on the Web. Using claim occurrence frequencies as input to a probabilistic model, we infer the likelihood of corrections via an iterative expectation-maximization approach. Finally, we extract mistakes in the form of subject-predicate-object triples and rank them according to several criteria. Our end result is a data set containing over 110,000 ranked mistakes with a precision of 85% in the top 1% and a precision of over 60% in the top 25%. We demonstrate that baselines achieve significantly lower precision. Also, we exploit our data to verify several hypothesis on why users make mistakes. We finally show that the AKB can be used to find mistakes on the entire Web.