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We here disclose a new type of two-photon-excited fluorescent triarylborane, tetrabranched triphenylborane 1, which contains four electron-donating [4-(N,N-diphenylamino)phenyl]ethynyl branches at 2,6-positions of two phenyl rings. The cross section of 1reaches 275 GM (1 GM = 10−50cm4s photon−1) in tetrahydrofuran. Compared with dibranched triphenylborane 2, the 2-fold increase in the number of electron-donating branches induces a 3.6-fold increase in the two-photon absorption cross section, suggesting the great cooperative effect of branching in the enhancement of two-photon absorption.

Background: Hypokalemia has been associated with an increased risk of peritoneal dialysis (PD)-associated peritonitis. However, hypokalemia is commonly associated with malnutrition, inflammation, and severe coexisting comorbidities, which thus are suspected of being potential confounders. This study was aimed at testing whether hypokalemia was independently associated with the occurrence and prognosis of PD-associated peritonitis. Methods: A national-level dataset from the Peritoneal Dialysis Telemedicine-assisted Platform Cohort (PDTAP) Study was used to explore the independent association of serum potassium with PD-associated peritonitis. Unmatched and propensity score-adjusted multivariate competing risk models, as well as univariate competing risk models following 1:1 propensity score matching, were conducted to balance potential biases between patients with and without hypokalemia. The association between potassium levels prior to peritonitis and treatment failure due to peritonitis was also investigated. Results: During a median follow-up of 25.7 months in 7220 PD patients, there was a higher incidence of peritonitis in patients with serum potassium below 4.0 mmol/L compared to those with higher serum levels (677 [0.114/patient-year] vs. 914 [0.096/patient-year], P= 0.001). After adjusting for demographics, laboratory tests, residual renal function, and medication use, baseline potassium levels below 4.0 mmol/L were not linked to an increased risk of peritonitis, with a hazard ratio of 0.983 (95% CI 0.855–1.130, P= 0.810). This result remained consistent in both the propensity score adjusted multivariate competing risk regression (HR = 0.974, 95% CI 0.829–1.145, P= 0.750) and the univariate competing risk regression after 1:1 propensity score matching (Fine-Gray test, P= 0.218). The results were similar when analyzing patients with serum potassium level above or below 3.5 mmol/L. Lastly, hypokalemia before the occurrence of peritonitis was not independently associated with treatment failure. Conclusion: Hypokalemia was not found to be an independent risk factor for PD-associated peritonitis or treatment failure of peritonitis in China. Graphical abstract:

RFID shows great potentials to build useful sensing applications. However, current RFID sensing can obtain mainly a single-dimensional sensing measurement from each reader-to-tag query, such as phase, RSS, etc. This is sufficient to fulfill the designs that are bound to the tag’s movement, e.g., the localization of tags. However, it imposes inevitable uncertainty on many sensing tasks relying on the features extracted from the RFID signals. These traditional sensing measurements limit the fidelity of RFID sensing fundamentally and prevent its broader usage in more sophisticated sensing scenarios. This paper presents RF-Wise to push the limit of RFID-based sensing, motivated by an insightful observation to customize RFID signals. RF-Wise can enrich the existing single-dimensional feature measure to a channel state information (CSI)-like measure with up to 150-dimensional samples across different frequencies concurrently. More importantly, RF-Wise is a software solution atop the standard EPC Gen2 protocol without using any extra hardware. It requires only one tag for sensing and works within the ISM band. RF-Wise, so far as we know, is the first system of such a kind. Extensive experiments show that RF-Wise does not impact underlying RFID communications, while by using the features extracted by RF-Wise, applications’ sensing performance can be improved remarkably. The source codes of RF-Wise are available at https://cui-zhao.github.io/RF-WISE/.

A new species of Moniliformis , M. tupaia n. sp. is described using integrated morphological methods (light and scanning electron microscopy) and molecular techniques (sequencing and analysing the nuclear 18S, ITS, 28S regions and mitochondrial cox 1 and cox 2 genes), based on specimens collected from the intestine of the northern tree shrew Tupaia belangeri chinensis Anderson (Scandentia: Tupaiidae) in China. Phylogenetic analyses show that M. tupaia n. sp. is a sister to M. moniliformis in the genus Moniliformis , and also challenge the systematic status of Nephridiacanthus major. Moniliformis tupaia n. sp. represents the third Moniliformis species reported from China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a pioneering framework for music representation learning, which harnesses knowledge graph embeddings to enrich genre classification. Leveraging metadata from publicly available datasets like FMA and OpenMIC-2018, the constructed knowledge graph delineates intricate relationships among genres, artists, and instruments, offering valuable insights for genre representation. Within this framework, we propose two models tailored for distinct genre classification scenarios: fixed-set genre classification and open-set genre classification. These models exploit the knowledge graph to unveil correlations among different genres and integrate this knowledge into the audio representation. Notably, our approach is the first to merge audio data with high-level knowledge for music genre classification. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed methods outperform state-of-the-art approaches, achieving an average genre classification accuracy of 68.07% on the FMA-medium dataset and 42.4% for open-set classification on the FMA-large dataset.

Tumor cells establish a robust self-defense system characterized by hypoxia, antioxidant overexpression, DNA damage repair, and so forth to resist radiotherapy. Targeting one of these features is insufficient to overcome radioresistance due to the feedback mechanisms initiated by tumor cells under radiotherapy. Therefore, we herein developed an engineering biomimetic nanosystem (M@HHPt) masked with tumor cell membranes and loaded with a hybridized protein-based nanoparticle carrying oxygens (O2) and cisplatin prodrugs (Pt(IV)) to target multiple tumor radioresistance hallmarks for enhanced radiotherapy. After administration, M@HHPt actively targeted and smoothly accumulated in tumor cells by virtue of its innate homing abilities to realize efficient co-delivery of O2and Pt(IV). O2introduction induced hypoxia alleviation cooperated with Pt(IV) reduction caused glutathione consumption greatly amplified radiotherapy-ignited cellular oxidative stress. Moreover, the released cisplatin effectively hindered DNA damage repair by crosslinking with radiotherapy-produced DNA fragments. Consequently, M@HHPt-sensitized radiotherapy significantly suppressed the proliferation of lung cancer H1975 cells with an extremely high sensitizer enhancement ratio of 1.91 and the progression of H1975 tumor models with an excellent tumor inhibition rate of 94.7%. Overall, this work provided a feasible strategy for tumor radiosensitization by overcoming multiple radioresistance mechanisms.

Obvious resonance peak will be generated when parallel photovoltaic grid-connected inverters are connected to the weak grid with high grid impedance, which seriously affects the stability of grid-connected operation of the photovoltaic system. To overcome the problems mentioned above, the mathematical model of the parallel photovoltaic inverters is established. Several factors including the impact of the reference current of the grid-connected inverter, the grid voltage interference and the current disturbance between the photovoltaic inverters in parallel with the grid-connected inverters are analyzed. The grid impedance and the LCL filter of the photovoltaic inverter system are found to be the key elements which lead to existence of resonance peak. This paper presents the branch voltage and current double feedback suppression method under the premise of not changing the topological structure of the photovoltaic inverter, which effectively handles the resonance peak, weakens the harmonic content of the grid current of the photovoltaic grid-connected inverter and the voltage at the point of common coupling, and improves the stability of the parallel operation of the photovoltaic grid-connected inverters in weak grid. At last, the simulation model is established to verify the reliability of this suppression method.

Caffeic acid is a phenolic acid compound widely applied in the food and pharmaceutical fields. Currently, one of the reasons for the low yield of caffeic acid biosynthesis is that the carbon flow enters mainly into the TCA cycle via pyruvate, which leads to low concentrations of erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), the precursors of caffeic acid synthesis. Here, we developed a growth-coupled dual-layered dynamic regulation system. This system controls intracellular pyruvate supply in real time by responding to intracellular pyruvate and p-coumaric acid concentrations, autonomously coordinates pathway gene expression, and redirects carbon metabolism to balance cell growth and caffeic acid synthesis. Finally, our constructed engineered strain based on the dual-layered dynamic regulation system achieved a caffeic acid titer of 559.7 mg/L in a 5 L bioreactor. Thus, this study demonstrated the efficiency and potential of this system in boosting the yield of aromatic compounds.

•Network meta-analysis comparing efficacy and safety of fluoroquinolone monotherapy, β-lactam monotherapy and β-lactam/macrolide combination therapy.•Mortality, clinical success rate, microbiological success rate and adverse events were similar in the three treatment strategies.•Making a definitive recommendation is difficult before more large-scale and high-quality randomized controlled trials are conducted.

Microorganism was an important part of water quality safety, which was related to the health of residents. To determine the microbial community structure of rural water supply projects using ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, the structures of the microbial communities were illustrated through 16S rRNA sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The results showed that, when the abundance of genus level was more than 1%, there were 52 genera. UV disinfection can reduce the bio-diversity, the number of species and the abundance of species, but the effect was not so good, and microorganisms further breed in the pipe network. The order of biodiversity was Fe2+and Mn2+exceeding standard project > Fe2+and Mn2+containing project > Fe2+and Mn2+free project. The similarity of microbial population between the source water, the produces factory water and the terminal tap water after UV disinfection was low. The influence order of environmental factors on water samples was COD > WT > pH > DO > TN > Mn2+> Fe2+. After UV disinfection, the microbial community of produces factory water and the terminal tap water samples were positively correlated with WT, pH, Fe2+and Mn2+.

The aim is to establish a model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) caused by feeding with high-fat, high-fructose, and high-cholesterol diet (HFFCD) in golden hamsters, and to investigate the characteristics of the NAFLD model and metabolite changes of liver tissue. Golden hamsters were fed HFFCD or control diets for six weeks. Body weight, abdominal fat index, and liver index was assessed, serum parameters, hepatic histology, and liver metabolites were examined. The results showed that body weight, abdominal fat, and liver index of hamsters were significantly increased in the model group, the level of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly increased in model group as well, and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly decreased. In addition, lipid deposition in liver tissue formed fat vacuoles of different sizes. Metabonomics analysis of the liver showed that the metabolic pathways of sphingolipid, glycerophospholipids, and arginine biosynthesis were disordered in the NAFLD model. The modeling method is simple, short time, and uniform. It can simulate the early fatty liver caused by common dietary factors, and provides an ideal model for the study of the initial pathogenesis and therapeutic drugs for NAFLD.

Microorganism was an important part of groundwater pollution, which was related to the safety of drinking water. In rural water supply project, to identify the microbial community structure of groundwater source water and manganese sand filtered water, the structures of the microbial communities were illustrated through 16S rRNA sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The results showed that, the biodiversity of groundwater samples containing Fe2+and Mn2+was higher than those without Fe2+and Mn2+. In the same water supply project, the biodiversity of source water was higher than that of manganese sand filtered water. When the abundance of genus level was more than 1%, the six water samples have high biodiversity at the genus level, which were composed of 66 genera. Bacteria phylum that may contain pathogenic microorganisms were detected in water source and manganese sand filtered water samples. Although no coliform was detected, disinfection was also necessary. The influence order of water quality factors on microbial community was DO > COD > TN > Mn2+> Fe2+(DO – Dissolved oxygen; COD – Chemical oxygen demand; TN – Total nitrogen). In the same water supply project, the correlation between water source and filtered water sample was consistent with water quality factors, that is, DO, Mn2+and Fe2+were positively correlated.

Objectives: The primary objective of the Peritoneal Dialysis Telemedicine-assisted Platform Cohort (PDTAP) Study is to explore potential predictors and their effects on patient survival, technique survival, and the occurrence of infectious and noninfectious complications.Design: The PDTAP study is a national-level cohort study in China. A newly developed PD telemedicine application provided a unique and convenient way to collect multicenter, structured data across units.Setting: The PDTAP study was underway in 27 hospitals from 14 provinces located at 7 geographical regions (northwest, northeast, north, central, southwest, southeast, and south) in China.Participants: Our study aims to enroll at least 7000 adult patients with end-stage renal disease receiving PD.Methods: Approval has been obtained through the ethics committees of all hospitals. All participants signed the informed consent form after the center had received ethics board approval in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.Main outcome measures: Patient survival, technique survival, hospitalization, and the occurrence of infectious and noninfectious complications.Conclusions: The PDTAP study aims to explore potential predictors and their effects on patient survival, technique survival, and infectious and noninfectious complications using a newly developed PD telemedicine system to collect multicenter, structured data in real-world practice. Substantial and transformable findings in relation to PD practices were expected. This study also developed a national-level infrastructure for further collaboration and ancillary investigation.

Objective: To investigate the genetic causes of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) patients in China. This study focused on analyzing variations of coding sequence of common genes related to deafness, revealing the molecular pathogenesis of sudden deafness from a genomics perspective, discovering molecular markers associated with the onset of deafness, and then supplying prevention to high-risk populations, classifying disease according to accurate etiology, and choosing a much more precision therapy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics of 51 patients diagnosed as SSNHL with vertigo treated in the Chinese PLA General Hospital. In this study, mutation screening of 307 nuclear genes and mitochondrial genome responsible for human or mouse deafness was performed on the 51 cases of unilateral sudden deafness patients with vertigo. Results: We identified 51 cases of unilateral sudden deafness, including 2 cases of low-mid frequency hearing impairment, 18 cases of mid-high frequency hearing loss, 11 cases of flat-type hearing loss, and 20 cases of all frequency hearing loss. Among the 51 cases, 8 (15.69%) cases of GJB2heterozygous variations, 1 (1.96%) case of GJB3heterozygous variations, 5 (9.8%) cases of SLC26A4heterozygous variations, 2 (3.92%) cases of COCHheterozygous variations, 14 (27.45%) cases of CDH23heterozygous variations, 14 (27.45%) cases of OTOFheterozygous variations, 1 (1.96%) case of SLC17A8heterozygous variations and 2 (3.92%) cases of KCNE1heterozygous variations. No mtDNA gene variations were identified. Conclusion: SSNHL has some relationship with hereditary in Chinese population, but its complex genetic pathogenic mechanisms need further study.

Acute febrile illness is one of the main reasons for outpatient hospital visits worldwide. However, differential diagnosis between bacterial and viral causes is challenging and misdiagnosis can result in antimicrobial overuse and hinder prompt treatment. We aimed to build and validate a diagnostic model to discriminate bacterial from viral infection in acute febrile illness by evaluating the expression of potential classifier host genes.

We here disclose two triarylborane-based [7]helicenes, which contain a dimesitylboryl or a 2-(dimesitylboryl)phenyl at position 9 of the [7]helicene skeleton. The change in the peripheral substituent from dimesitylboryl to 2-(dimesitylboryl)phenyl induced doubling of |glum| and sign inversion of the circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). The substituent dependence of the CPL sign is reasonably explained by the propeller configuration flipping of boron, which has a significant influence on the chiroptical properties.

We propose an effective and practical decoding method of different mental states for potential applications for the design of brain-computer interfaces, prediction of cognitive behaviour, and investigation of cognitive mechanism. Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals that interrogated the prefrontal and parietal cortices and were evaluated by generalized linear model were recorded when nineteen healthy adults performed the operation span (OSPAN) task. The oxygenated hemoglobin changes during OSPAN, response, and rest periods were classified with a support vector machine (SVM). The relevance vector regression algorithm was utilized for prediction of cognitive performance based on multidomain features of fNIRS signals from the OSPAN task. We acquired decent classification accuracies for OSPAN vs. response (above 91.2%) and for OSPAN vs. rest (above 94.7%). Eight of the ten cognitive testing scores could be predicted from the combination of OSPAN and response features, which indicated the brain hemodynamic responses contain meaningful information suitable for predicting cognitive performance.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impacts of uncertain online reviews on product prices and profits of two competitive retailers. Design/methodology/approach: First, the authors develop a game-theoretical model to determine the optimal product prices and profits considering uncertain online reviews. Afterwards, to examine the effects of the uncertain online reviews, they compare the equilibrium solutions with those of the game-theoretical models of deterministic online reviews and no online reviews, respectively. Findings: Uncertain online reviews play a significant role in product price optimization and profit maximization. In the quality-dominates-fit case, both retailers will lower their product prices in response to the uncertain online reviews. And the uncertain online reviews would hurt the two retailers. Conversely, in the fit-dominates-quality case, the presence of uncertain online reviews will encourage both retailers to raise their product prices. And the two retailers can still benefit from the online reviews. With the increase in consumer uncertainty about online reviews, both retailers might raise their product prices, thus generating higher profits. Practical implications: Managerially, the results indicate that in the quality-dominates-fit case, when consumers are uncertain about online reviews, it might be better for retailers to abandon the online review system; however, in the fit-dominates-quality case, both retailers could still benefit from the uncertain online reviews through product price optimization. Therefore, the presence of an online review system could be beneficial. Originality/value: This paper develops a game-theoretical model to help competitive retailers optimize their price strategies and achieve profit maximization considering uncertain online reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have disclosed a new type of [2.2]paracyclophanes that contain a 2-(dimesitylboryl)phenyl and a N,N-disubstituted amino groups at two different phenyl rings. They show intense circularly polarized luminescence combining high fluorescence efficiency (ΦF) and luminescence dissymmetry factor (|glum|), which are up to 0.93 and 1.73 × 10–2, respectively. In addition, the pseudo-metaderivatives display solvent-induced CPL sign inversion owing to the solvent-dependent excited-state dynamics.

In this paper, we have disclosed efficient room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) in the amorphous state from a triarylborane-based biphenyl derivative, 4,4′-dibromo-2-dimesitylboryl-2′-(N,N-dimethylamino)biphenyl (Br2-BN-BPh). The phosphorescence quantum yields of vigorously ground powder and drop-cast film are 0.36 and 0.22, respectively. Owing to the presence of two bulky substituents at the lateral positions, the existence of the intramolecular π–π interaction and the B···N electronic interaction, this compound is intramolecularly rigid, which is helpful to retard the vibrational motions and thus suppress the nonradiative decay in the solid state. In addition, this compound has a very small ΔES-Tdue to the well separation of HOMO and LUMO as a result of the significant twisting of the biphenyl skeleton. The combination of the small ΔES-Tand heavy atom effect of the bromo substituent is expected to enhance the spin–orbital coupling and thus increase intersystem crossing. Consequently, both the steric and electronic effects of the dimesitylboryl group are important for the efficient RTP property of Br2-BN-BPh, especially in the amorphous state.

Salmonellaspp. are one of the most important foodborne bacterial pathogens in human beings and animals. This study aimed to analyze the prevalence and characterization of Salmonellafrom broilers in Shandong, China. A total of 67 Salmonellawere recovered from 600 rectal swabs collected from 3 large-scale intensive broiler farms (67/600, 11.2%) between May and October 2018. Among Salmonellaisolates, the most common serovars were S. enteritidisand S. typhimurium. The highest occurrence of resistance observed was for polymyxin (100%), followed by ampicillin (68.7%). The multidrug-resistant Salmonellaisolation rate was observed to be 53.7%. Four β-lactamase genes were detected among the isolates, and all the isolates carried blaTEM(67/67, 100%), followed by blaOXA(19/67, 28.4%), blaCTX-M(17/67, 25.4%), and blaPSE(7/67, 10.4%). Four plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance gene were detected among the isolates; the prevalent resistance genes was aac(6′)-Ib-cr(18/67, 26.9%), followed by oqxB(9/67, 13.4%), qnrB(6/67, 9.0%), and qnrD(1/67, 1.5%). The prevalent rate of mcr-1 was 6.0% (4/67). Class 1 integrons were detected in 26.9% of these isolates and contained 7 groups of resistance gene cassettes. Multilocus sequence typing analysis revealed 7 sequence types, and ST11 was the most frequent sequence types. This study indicated that reduction of Salmonellaand strict control on the use of antibiotics in more than 5,000 million broilers in Shandong are the vitally important measures to keep public health.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive dementia. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been widely used to show structural integrity and delineate white matter (WM) degeneration in AD. The automated fiber quantification (AFQ) method is a fully automated approach that can rapidly and reliably identify major WM fiber tracts and evaluate WM properties. The main aim of this study was to assess WM integrity and abnormities in a cohort of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and AD as well as normal controls (NCs). For this purpose, we first used AFQ to identify 20 major WM tracts and assessed WM integrity and abnormalities in a cohort of 120 subjects (39 NCs, 34 aMCI patients and 47 AD patients) in a discovery dataset and 122 subjects (43 NCs, 37 aMCI patients and 42 AD patients) in a replicated dataset. Pointwise differences along WM tracts were identified in the discovery dataset and simultaneously confirmed in the replicated dataset. Next, we investigated the utility of DTI measures along WM tracts as features to distinguish patients with AD from NCs via multilevel cross validation using a support vector machine. Correlation analysis revealed the identified microstructural WM alterations and classification output to be highly associated with cognitive ability in the patient groups, suggesting that they may be a robust biomarker of AD. This systematic study provides a pipeline to examine WM integrity and its potential clinical application in AD and may be useful for studying other neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Potentilla anserinaL. is not only a medicinal plant, but also a traditional cuisine. Hence, an acute toxicity study was performed to confirm its safety profile. Forty Kunming mice were randomly divided into two groups: control group and P. anserinaL. extract group. Using the maximum dosage method, the P. anserinaL. extract group was given the maximum dose within 12 h, equivalent to 345.6 g/kg crude drug. The control group was given distilled water. After administration, toxicity symptoms of mice were observed, body weight and food intake were recorded. After 14 days, blood was collected to measure biochemical parameters, autopsy was carried out to observe the changes of organs, and the vital organs were separated, weighed, and preserved for histopathological examination. The results showed that P. anserinaL. extract group had no toxic symptoms. The activity, weight, and diet of mice were normal, and no abnormality was found in organ index, renal function, liver function, anatomical observation, and histopathological examination. Therefore, the maximum oral dosage (345.6 g/kg) of P. anserinaL. was good safety. This study indicated that P. anserinaL. had a large safety range and the clinical application was safe.

The efficient synthetic route was disclosed to prepare optically active triarylborane-based [5]helicenes, 7B-PhHCand 7B5N-PhHC. Their emission wavelengths are tunable by both the chemical structure modification and the tuning of excited state charge transfer dynamics via selection of appropriate solvents or addition of external F–, enabling the full-color circularly polarized luminescence with moderate to good quantum yields (0.07–0.51) and high luminescence dissymmetry factors (glum> 5 × 10–3).

The presence of right ventricular failure (RVF) following a myocardial infarction significantly exacerbates short-term mortality(1). Successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) benefits patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) complicating acute myocardial infarction(AMI) (2).

The separation of aromatic/aliphatic hydrocarbon mixtures is a significant process in chemical industry, but challenged in some cases. Compared with conventional separation technologies, pervaporation is quite promising in terms of its economical, energy-saving, and eco-friendly advantages. However, this technique has not been used in industry for separating aromatic/aliphatic mixtures yet. One of the main reasons is that the separation performance of existed pervaporation membranes is unsatisfactory. Membrane material is an important factor that affects the separation performance. This review provides an overview on the advances in studying membrane materials for the pervaporation separation of aromatic/aliphatic mixtures over the past decade. Explored pristine polymers and their hybrid materials (as hybrid membranes) are summarized to highlight their nature and separation performance. We anticipate that this review could provide some guidance in the development of new materials for the aromatic/aliphatic pervaporation separation.

Introducing another chromophore into a luminescent MOF is a potential way to assembling novel dual-emissive luminescent materials. Putting the chromophore, for which luminescence can be enhanced by Zn2+ion, into MOF-5 by the “bottle around ship” strategy is a simple but efficient synthesis method to realize such dual-emissive materials. According to this strategy, a novel dual-emissive luminescent composite material [Zn2(HL)3]+@MOF-5 was constructed by loading the [La3(HL)2L2(NO3)3H2O] (1) (H2L = 7,7′-(ethane-1,1′-diyl)8-hydro-quinoline) into MOF-5, in which the [Zn2(HL)3]+anions were transformed from 1with the existence of Zn2+. The dual-emissive composite materials show excellent luminescence with two emissions of MOF-5 at 410 nm and [Zn2(HL)3]+at 524 nm. Furthermore, by combining characteristics of MOF-5 and the guest chromophore, the composite material is highly selectively sensitive toward Al3+and monoethanolamine, which makes [Zn2(HL)3]+@MOF-5 a potential self-calibrated fluorescence sensor.

The slow dynamics of the cathode electrode of the air is the core scientific problem faced by Li–O2and Li–CO2batteries. It will limit the reversibility of the charge and discharge reaction and bring about a large polarization voltage. This will not only lead to low energy efficiency of the battery, but also too high charging voltage will bring a large number of side reactions to the cathode electrode (including the destruction of the cathode electrode structure, catalyst failure, electrolyte decomposition), which greatly limits the ratio and cycle performance of the battery. So the development and design of air cathode electrode is of great significance for the development of Li–O2and Li–CO2batteries. Therefore, a new strategy for field-assisted Li–air batteries is proposed. In this paper, the method of external field-assisted strategy and the research progress of cathode catalyst selection, design and control of discharge products for Li–air batteries are introduced.

Geraniol is an attractive natural monoterpene with significant industrial and commercial value in the fields of pharmaceuticals, condiments, cosmetics, and bioenergy. The biosynthesis of monoterpenes suffers from the availability of key intermediates and enzyme-to-substrate accessibility. Here, we addressed these challenges in Candida glycerinogenesby a plasma membrane-anchoring strategy and achieved sustainable biosynthesis of geraniol using bagasse hydrolysate as substrate. On this basis, a remarkable 2.4-fold improvement in geraniol titer was achieved by combining spatial and temporal modulation strategies. In addition, enhanced geraniol transport and modulation of membrane lipid-associated metabolism effectively promoted the exocytosis of toxic monoterpenes, significantly improved the resistance of the engineered strain to monoterpenes and improved the growth of the strains, resulting in geraniol yield up to 1207.4 mg L–1at shake flask level. Finally, 1835.2 mg L–1geraniol was obtained in a 5 L bioreactor using undetoxified bagasse hydrolysate. Overall, our study has provided valuable insights into the plasma membrane engineering of C. glycerinogenesfor the sustainable and green production of valuable compounds.

Introduction: Ultrasound-guided venipuncture and tip location by intracavitary electrocardiogram have many advantages during the insertion of peripherally inserted central catheters, both in terms of safety and cost-effectiveness. Recently, a new tip-conductive peripherally inserted central catheters and new Doppler ultrasound device integrated with intracavitary electrocardiogram have been introduced into clinical practice in China. A randomized multicenter study (clinical trial no. NCT03230357) was performed to verify the feasibility and accuracy of intracavitary electrocardiogram, as performed with this new peripherally inserted central catheters and device.Methods: Our study enrolled a total of 2250 adult patients in 10 different Chinese hospitals. The patients were randomly assigned to either the study group (intracavitary electrocardiogram) or the control group (anatomical landmark guidance) in a 2:1 allocation. Ultrasound was used in both groups for venipuncture and tip navigation. All patients underwent chest X-ray after the procedure to verify the position of the catheter tip.Results: No insertion-related complications were reported in either group. In the study group, first-attempt successful tip location was 91.7% (95% confidence interval: 90.3%–93.1%), significantly higher than 78.9% (95% confidence interval: 76.0%–81.9%) observed in the control group (p < 0.001). As evaluated by post-procedural chest X-ray, tip location in the study group had a sensitivity of 99.3% (95% confidence interval: 98.8%–99.7%), significantly higher than 86.8% (95% confidence interval: 84.4%–89.2%) observed in the anatomical landmark group (p < 0.001).Conclusion: These results indicated that during peripherally inserted central catheters insertion in adult patients, tip location with intracavitary electrocardiogram guidance, as carried out by a new tip-conductive peripherally inserted central catheters and intracavitary electrocardiogram integrated ultrasound device, was more effective and more accurate than tip location using anatomical landmarks.

A facile asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-aspidospermidine has been developed, which is accomplished in 11 steps in an overall yield of 9.6%. Key steps involve a palladium-catalyzed enantioselective decarboxylative allylation to install the quaternary carbon stereocenter and a highly efficient reductive amination–carbonyl reduction–dehydration–intramolecular conjugate addition cascade to build the cisD-ring.

The efficient synthetic route was disclosed to prepare structurally asymmetric [5]helicenes, which are substituted with either BMes2(7B-HC) or both BMes2and NMe2(8B5NMe2-HC, 7B5NMe2-HC). Compared with the parent [5]helicene, these compounds show greatly enhanced fluorescence. In addition, they still retain fairly strong fluorescence in the solid state. Moreover, the complexation of 8B5NMe2-HCand 7B5NMe2-HCwith fluoride can induce significant blue shift in fluorescence and the formed complexes are also highly fluorescent.

New types of [2.2]paracyclophane derivatives, g-BNMe2-Cpand m-BNMe2-Cp, in which electron-donating NMe2and the electron-accepting BMes2are introduced at the pseudo-gemand pseudo-metapositions, were designed and synthesized. The efficient through-space charge transfer enables the intense fluorescence with thermally activated delayed fluorescence characteristics. The quantum yields are up to 0.72 and 0.39 in cyclohexane. In addition, no significant fluorescence quenching was observed in the solid state with fluorescence quantum yields of powder up to 0.53 and 0.33. Moreover, the enantiomerically pure forms of g-BNMe2-Cpexhibit strong CPL signals with glumup to 4.24 × 10–3.

•Polaron effect in the asymmetrical Gaussian potential quantum well (AGPQW).•The ground state energy of strong-coupling polaron in AGPQW was studied.•The ground state binding energy of polaron in AGPQW was studied.•The temperature effect of the ground state binding energy was investigated.•The temperature effect of the ground state energy was investigated.

Triarylboranes have attracted significantly increasing research interest as a remarkable class of photoelectronic π-electron materials. Because of the presence of vacant p orbital on the B center, the boryl group is a very unique electron acceptor that exhibits not only electron-accepting ability through p−π* conjugation but also high Lewis acidity to coordinate with Lewis bases and steric bulk arising from the aryl substituent on the B center to get enough kinetic stability. Thus, the incorporation of a trivalent B element into π-conjugated systems is an efficient strategy to tune the electronic and stereo structures and thus the photoelectronic properties of π-electron systems. When an electron-donating group, such as amino, is present, triarylboranes would likely display intramolecular charge-transfer transitions. These kinds of molecules are often highly emissive. In addition, the geometry of the molecules has a great impact on the emission properties. In this Forum Article, we herein describe our recent progress on the charge-transfer emitting triarylborane π-electron systems with novel geometries, which include the lateral boryl-substituted π-system with amino groups at the terminal positions, the o,o′-substituted biaryl π-system with boryl and amino groups at the o,o′-positions, a triarylborane-based BODIPY system, and a B,N/S-bridged ladder-type π-system. We mainly put the emphasis on the molecular design concept, structure–property relationships, intriguing emission properties and great applications of the corresponding triarylborane π-systems.

The incorporation of the electron-accepting B element with a vacant p orbital and the electron-donating N element with a lone pair into the π-conjugated system is an efficient strategy to construct organic optoelectronic materials with intense intramolecular charge-transfer transitions and thus intriguing properties. This short review summarizes the recent progress in this field according to the structural features of π-systems.

Promoting the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) relies heavily on the structure design and composition tailoring of electrode materials. In this work, three-dimensional (3D) macroporous graphene foams incorporated with intercalated spacer of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and bacterial anchor of Fe3O4nanospheres (named as G/MWCNTs/Fe3O4foams) were first synthesized and used as anodes for Shewanella-inoculated microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Thanks to the macroporous structure of 3D graphene foams, the expanded electrode surface by MWCNTs spacing, as well as the high affinity of Fe3O4nanospheres toward Shewanella oneidensisMR-1, the anode exhibited high bacterial loading capability. In addition to spacing graphene nanosheets for accommodating bacterial cells, MWCNTs paved a smoother way for electron transport in the electrode substrate of MFCs. Meanwhile, the embedded bioaffinity Fe3O4nanospheres capable of preserving the bacterial metabolic activity provided guarantee for the long-term durability of the MFCs. With these merits, the constructed MFC possessed significantly higher power output and stronger stability than that with conventional graphite rod anode.

The interaction of O2with pyrite, marcasite and pyrrhotite surfaces was studied using first-principle calculations to obtain the oxidization mechanisms of these minerals. The results show that the adsorption energy of O2on pyrrhotite surface is the largest, followed by that on marcasite surface and then pyrite surface. O2molecules adsorbed on pyrite, marcasite and pyrrhotite surfaces are all dissociated. The oxygen atoms and surface atoms of pyrite, marcasite and pyrrhotite surfaces have different bonding structures. Due to more atoms on pyrrhotite and marcasite surfaces interaction with oxygen atoms, the adsorption energies of O2on pyrrhotite and marcasite surfaces are larger than that on pyrite surface. Larger values of Mulliken populations for O–Fe bond of pyrrhotite surface result in relative larger adsorption energy compared with that on marcasite surface.

A couple with a proband child of GJB2(encoding the gap junction protein connexin 26)-associated hearing impairment and a previous pregnancy miscarriage sought for a reproductive solution to bear a healthy child. Our study aimed to develop a customized preconception-to-neonate care trajectory to fulfill this clinical demand by integrating preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), and noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) into the strategy. Auditory and genetic diagnosis of the proband child was carried out to identify the disease causative mutations. The couple then received in-vitro-fertilization treatment, and eight embryos were obtained for day 5 biopsy. PGD was performed by short-tandem-repeat linkage analysis and Sanger sequencing of GJB2gene. Transfer of a GJB2c.235delC heterozygous embryo resulted in a singleton pregnancy. At the 13th week of gestation, genomic DNA (gDNA) from the trio family and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from maternal plasma were obtained for assessment of fetal chromosomal aneuploidy and GJB2mutations. NIPT and NIPD showed the absence of chromosomal aneuploidy and GJB2-associated disease in the fetus, which was later confirmed by invasive procedures and postnatal genetic/auditory diagnosis. This strategy successfully prevented the transmission of hearing impairment in the newborn, thus providing a valuable experience in reproductive management of similar cases and potentially other monogenic disorders.

Water-soluble conjugated oligoelectrolyte nanoparticles (COE NPs), consisting of a cage-like polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) core equipped at each end with pendant groups (oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) electrolyte, OPVE), have been designed and demonstrated as an efficient strategy in increasing the current generation in Escherichia colimicrobial fuel cells (MFCs). The as-prepared COE NPs take advantage of the structure of POSS and the optical properties of the pendant groups, OPVE. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed strong photoluminescence of the stained cells, indicating spontaneous accumulation of COE NPs within cell membranes. Moreover, the electrochemical performance of the COE NPs is superior to that of an established membrane intercommunicating COE, DSSN+ in increasing current generation, suggesting that these COE NPs thus hold great potential to boost the performance of MFCs.

Perovskite ZnTiO3was prepared through a new method which contained a hydrothermal process for the preparation of titanate nanotubes and an ion-exchange process. The titanate nanotubes were inferred to be H2Ti3O7·3H2O. X-ray diffraction (XRD) result revealed the presence of cubic perovskite phase of ZnTiO3. The unique chain-like morphology of ZnTiO3was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). UV–Vis diffusive reflection spectra of ZnTiO3indicated that the absorbance obviously increased in the visible light region. The degradation rate of methyl orange solution (15 mg/L) reached 95.3% over ZnTiO3(0.3 g/L) after 20 min xenon light irradiation, which was higher than that using the commercial catalyst P25 under the same reaction condition. The degradation kinetic results follow the first-order equation and the rate constant is 0.1020.

Electronic structures of complex mineral jamesonite were studied using density functional theory method together with their flotation behavior. The flotation behavior of jamesonite is similar to that of stibnite, indicating good floatability at pH below 6 and easy depression with NaOH, especially with lime. In weak alkaline condition, the flotation behavior of jamesonite is close to that of galena. The coordination structure of Pb for jamesonite is more complex than that for galena. Sb in jamesonite possesses two coordinated modes, whereas Sb of stibnite is only 3-coordinated. Pb in galena is more active than that in jamesonite. Sb (3-coordination) in jamesonite is inactive, in contrast with that in stibnite. However, 4-coordination Sb in jamesonite is more active than 3-coordination Sb. HOMO orbitals of jamesonite and stibnite contain metal atoms, which contribute to the formation of adsorption configuration of CaOH+when there is lime; therefore, jamesonite and stibnite are easily depressed by lime.

Microarc oxidation (MAO) surface modification course on high-purity Mg at constant DC and the resultant ceramic coatings were investigated. MAO was the course in which the pre-existing film/coating was modified or substituted and strengthened repeatedly. SEM disclosed the inhomogeneous formation rate of ceramic coating in different micro-regions at anode surface during MAO. Three-stage behavior of MAO including pre-microarc discharge stage, transitional stage and then further modifying stage was put forward. The latter two stages proceeded under continuous discharge conditions, accompanied by intensive evolution of gas. EDS analyses indicated that the resultants of MAO consisted mainly of Mg, O and Si elements. XRD analyses revealed the dependence of phase composition on treatment time and coating layer depth.

Electricity generation in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) greatly depends on anode materials, which directly affect bacterial attachment on the anode surface and extracellular electron transfer (ETT) between microorganisms and the electrode. Herein, graphene/Au (G/Au) composites were used as a novel anode material for Shewanella-inoculated MFCs. The current generation and power density of the MFCs with a G/Au modified carbon paper (CP/G/Au) anode were significantly improved compared with a conventional carbon paper (CP) anode. This could be attributed to its large surface area, excellent conductivity and good biocompatibility for enhanced bacterial loading on the anode surface and improved EET efficiency between the microbe and the electrode.