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• Mesoporous oxygen-vacancy-rich TiO 2- x /g-C 3 N 4 S-scheme heterojunction was constructed. • S-scheme electric field induced Pauling-type O 2 adsorption configuration. • Pauling-type O 2 adsorption can promote 2e− ORR selectivity. • TiO 2- x /g-C 3 N 4 exhibits efficient photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production activity. The effective adsorption of oxygen (O 2) molecules over photocatalysts is a critical step in promoting the performance of photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production. However, g-C 3 N 4 usually features a Yeager-type (side-on) adsorption configuration of O 2 molecules, which causes the breaking of O–O bonds and severely hinders the H 2 O 2 production activity. Herein, we synthesized an oxygen-vacancy-rich TiO 2– x /g-C 3 N 4 step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunction to regulate the oxygen adsorption configuration and improve the 2e– ORR selectivity of H 2 O 2 production. In-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (in-situ XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the S-scheme heterojunction is formed between TiO 2– x and g-C 3 N 4. The difference between their Fermi levels leads to the electron flow from g-C 3 N 4 to TiO 2– x , which increases the electron-deficient sites in g-C 3 N 4. As a result, the cleavage of O–O bonds on the surface of g-C 3 N 4 is avoided and the oxygen adsorption configuration is tuned from Yeager-type to Pauling-type (end-on). Consequently, the photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production rate is dramatically improved to 1780.3 μmol h–1, which is about 5 times higher than that of pristine g-C 3 N 4. This work paves a new way to tailor the oxygen adsorption configuration by rationally designing S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-stoichiometric silicon oxide (SiOx, 0

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) shows great potential in photocatalytic H2O2production. However, challenges arise from its low in-plane crystallinity and selectivity in two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e−-ORR), greatly limiting its H2O2photosynthesis efficiency. Herein, we develop an ingenious strategy to simultaneously increase the in-plane crystallinity and induce the highly-selective 2e−-ORR by rationally designing barium (Ba) atom-implanted in-plane highly ordered g-C3N4nanorods. The approach involves controllable synthesis of in-plane high crystallinity g-C3N4nanorods with Ba implantation (BI-CN) using a BaCl2-mediated in-plane polymerization strategy. The unique Ba-N interaction induces the oriented polymerization of 3-s-triazine units to form well-arranged in-plane structures. Experimental and theoretical calculations clarify that the implanted Ba atoms function as positive charge centers, resulting in a Pauling-type O2adsorption configuration. This minimizes O–O bond breaking energy, thus suppressing the four-electron oxygen reduction reaction (4e−-ORR) and facilitating a highly-selective 2e−-ORR pathway for efficient photocatalytic H2O2production. Consequently, the optimized BI-CN3 photocatalyst exhibits an outstanding H2O2production rate of as high as 353 μmol L−1h−1, surpassing the pristine g-C3N4by 6.1 times. This study concurrently optimizes the in-plane crystallinity and O2adsorption sites of g-C3N4photocatalysts for highly-selective H2O2production, providing innovative insights for designing efficient photocatalysts with diverse applications.

Aim: It is unclear whether intervention effects on school-aged children’s physical activity differ across specific periods of the week or day. This study aimed to assess the time-specific intervention effects on accelerometer-measured physical activity in primary school children. Subject and methods: This was a nested study in a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted from September 2018 to June 2019 in Beijing, China. The intervention group included four schools (119 children) and the control group included four schools (99 children). The obesity prevention intervention engaged schools and families to improve children’s physical activity. Outcome measures included accelerometer-assessed intensity and amounts of physical activity within specific periods of a week (weekday/weekend day) or a day (in-school/out-of-school periods). Linear mixed models were used to estimate intervention effects. Results: The intervention led to an increase in time engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) within in-school periods of a day (adjusted mean difference 0.54 minutes/hour; 95% confidence interval 0.13, 0.94, P= 0.012) but it did not improve physical activity within out-of-school periods (P> 0.05) compared with the control group. There was no evidence of difference across sex, body mass index, physical activity, and accelerometer compliance. No intervention effects were observed in physical activity within the whole weekday or weekend day (P> 0.05). Conclusions: The intervention effectively increased MVPA within in-school periods but did not improve out-of-school physical activity. Findings support the tailoring of intervention components to specific periods of a day to improve school-aged children’s whole pattern of physical activity.

Doppler frequency estimation is a challenging problem in integrated sensing and communication systems with clock asynchronism between transmitter and sensing receiver. Existing techniques have various limitations and are generally ineffective in multi-target sensing. In this correspondence, we propose an array-based scheme for multiple-target Doppler frequency estimation. We first develop a novel algorithm for angle-of-arrival (AoA) estimation, and then use the estimated AoA to construct orthogonal projections to separate static paths and each dynamic path for clock asynchronism compensation and Doppler frequency estimation. Simulation and experiment results are provided and demonstrate that the proposed scheme is effective in multiple-target scenarios, and its accuracy outperforms some state-of-the-art methods in single-target scenarios.

The SiC die has broad application prospects in new energy vehicles due to its excellent performances. In recent years, with the continuous development, the safety and reliability of SiC power modules have become particularly important and highly valued. In this paper, a case about the abnormal failure of SiC power modules during the High Voltage-High Humidity High Temperature Reverse Bias (HV-H3TRB) tests was addressed. According to the failure phenomena, a systematical investigation was conducted to explore the root cause by a series of methods such as failure point localization, synchrotron radiation infrared spectrum (SR-IR), time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), the ion beam method, scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Finally, the root cause of the failure was determined through comprehensive analysis, and based on the conclusions, some corresponding countermeasures were also proposed. Hopefully, the achievements obtained in this paper would be of great significance for improving the reliability of SiC power modules and avoiding similar failure in future manufacturing process.

Graph anomaly detection (GAD) has wide applications in real-world networked systems. In many scenarios, people need to identify anomalies on new (sub)graphs, but they may lack labels to train an effective detection model. Since recent semi-supervised GAD methods, which can leverage the available labels as prior knowledge, have achieved superior performance than unsupervised methods, one natural idea is to directly adopt a trained semi-supervised GAD model to the new (sub)graphs for testing. However, we find that existing semi-supervised GAD methods suffer from poor generalization issues, i.e., well-trained models could not perform well on an unseen area (i.e., not accessible in training) of the graph. Motivated by this, we formally define the problem of generalized graph anomaly detection that aims to effectively identify anomalies on both the training-domain graph(s) and the unseen test graph(s). Nevertheless, it is a challenging task since only limited labels are available, and the normal data distribution may differ between training and testing data. Accordingly, we propose a data augmentation method named AugAN (Augmentation for Anomaly and Normal distributions) to enrich training data and adopt a customized episodic training strategy for learning with the augmented data. Extensive experiments verify the effectiveness of AugAN in improving model generalizability.

In the last decade, aqueous zinc-based batteries (AZBs) have attracted significant research attention owing to their intrinsic security, low cost, and eco-friendliness. Nevertheless, the development of AZBs has been hindered by the sluggish kinetics of cathode materials. Bismuth chalcogenides were recently employed as cathode materials for AZBs, and they exhibited high electrochemical performance and practicability. However, the rate performance of bismuth chalcogenides needs to be improved further, and the corresponding charge storage mechanism needs to be elucidated. In this study, we synthesized Bi2Te3with hexagonal nanoflake morphology (BHN) as a cathode for high-performance bismuth telluride-zinc batteries. The charge storage mechanisms of BHN were investigated through electrochemical tests and ex situcharacterization. Three electrochemical processes were found to occur in the aqueous BHN–Zn battery: (1) proton insertion/extraction, (2) Zn4SO4(OH)6·0.5H2O generation/decomposition, and (3) conventional Zn2+insertion/extraction. The proton insertion/extraction process was predominant, which was responsible for the excellent rate capability, cycling durability, and low-temperature performance of the BHN cathode. This work has the potential to facilitate the development of high-performance AZBs.

The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between uterine diameters and menstrual abdominal pain intensity in patients with and without endometriosis (EM), and the independent influence of EM on the pain intensity. Uterine diameters and the diagnosis of adenomyosis were ascertained by transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS). Menstrual abdominal pain intensity was estimated by visual analog scale (VAS). Linear regression was used to figure out the impact of uterine diameters and EM on the VAS scores. Logistic regression was used to calculate the correlation between uterine diameters and the diagnosis of adenomyosis. The cutoff values of uterine anteroposterior diameter (AD) to predict dysmenorrhea (VAS ≥ 4) and the diagnosis of adenomyosis were determined by receiver operating characteristic curves. There were 220 patients with and 233 patients without EM included. Uterine AD independently correlated with the VAS scores in patients with (B= .230, P= .000) and without (B= .203, P= .000) EM. A uterine AD of 39.5 mm predicted dysmenorrhea in both groups. The presence of EM increased the VAS scores by 1.151 points when controlling for uterine diameters. Uterine AD also independently correlated with the diagnosis of adenomyosis under TVS in patients with (OR = 1.212, 95% CI = 1.130–1.301; P= .000) and without (OR = 1.192, 95% CI = 1.123–1.263; P= .000) EM. A uterine AD of 38.5 and 39.5 mm predicted the diagnosis of adenomyosis under TVS in patients with and without EM, respectively. Increased uterine AD, which is probably ascribed to adenomyosis, plays an important role in augmented menstrual abdominal pain intensity. Meanwhile, the presence of EM reinforces the pain.

In order to fight the battle for reducing total phosphorus (TP) in Dongting Lake and continuously improve the water ecological environment of the Yangtze River, this study accounts for the TP pollution load in Dongting Lake. To this end, the sources of the pollutants are analyzed and corresponding prevention and control measures are proposed by comprehensive use of field research and historical data analysis. The obtained results reveal that the annual TP input to the Dongting Lake was 23287 t in 2017, among which the input from four rivers and three lake entrances represent the main source with an annual TP input of 14033 t (including 3681 t from sediment input), accounting for 60.26%. Agricultural pollution is the second largest source of TP input, accounting for 32.69%, while domestic pollution only accounts for 5.93%. Additionally, the contributions of atmospheric deposition and industrial pollution in order are 0.69% and 0.4%. The TP input from moving sources such as birds and waterway shipping is very small, only accounting for 0.03%. Based on the achieved results, this study aims to propose corresponding prevention and control measures in four aspects: interception of river and lake pollution, control of agricultural pollution sources, enhancement of sewage treatment and industrial pollution prevention.

IMPORTANCE: Detection of molecular residual disease and risk stratification as early as possible may improve the treatment of patients with cancer. Efficient pragmatic tests are therefore required. OBJECTIVE: To measure circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) with 6 DNA methylation markers in blood samples and to evaluate the association of the presence of ctDNA with colorectal cancer (CRC) recurrence throughout the disease course. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this multicenter prospective longitudinal cohort study performed from December 12, 2019, to February 28, 2022, 350 patients with stage I to III CRC were recruited from 2 hospitals for collection of blood samples before and after surgery, during and after adjuvant chemotherapy, and every 3 months for up to 2 years. A multiplex, ctDNA methylation, quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay was used to detect ctDNA in plasma samples. RESULTS: A total of 299 patients with stage I to III CRC were evaluated. Of 296 patients with preoperative samples, 232 (78.4%) tested positive for any of the 6 ctDNA methylation markers. A total of 186 patients (62.2%) were male, and the mean (SD) age was 60.1 (10.3) years. At postoperative month 1, ctDNA-positive patients were 17.5 times more likely to relapse than were ctDNA-negative patients (hazard ratio [HR], 17.5; 95% CI, 8.9-34.4; P < .001). The integration of ctDNA and carcinoembryonic antigen tests showed risk stratification for recurrence with an HR of 19.0 (95% CI, 8.9-40.7; P < .001). Furthermore, ctDNA status at postoperative month 1 was strongly associated with prognosis in patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy of different durations and intensities. After adjuvant chemotherapy, ctDNA-positive patients had a significantly shorter recurrence-free survival than did the ctDNA-negative patients (HR, 13.8; 95% CI, 5.9-32.1; P < .001). Longitudinal ctDNA analysis after the postdefinitive treatment showed a discriminating effect in that ctDNA-positive patients had poorer recurrence-free survival than did the ctDNA-negative patients (HR, 20.6; 95% CI, 9.5-44.9; P < .001). The discriminating effect was enhanced (HR, 68.8; 95% CI, 18.4-257.7; P < .001) when ctDNA status was maintained longitudinally. Postdefinitive treatment analysis detected CRC recurrence earlier than radiologically confirmed recurrence, with a median lead time of 3.3 months (IQR, 0.5-6.5 months). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The findings of this cohort study suggest that longitudinal assessment of ctDNA methylation may enable the early detection of recurrence, potentially optimizing risk stratification and postoperative treatment of patients with CRC.

This paper presents a novel framework for generating new chaotic signals for image encryption that is based on the finite precision of computers. First, we select a system from a number of chaotic systems. Next, we obtain a trajectory of this system. Then, another trajectory is obtained by perturbing the initial values of the same chaotic system. Finally, we calculate the evolution error of two trajectories to obtain a new chaotic signal. Our method is successfully applied to simulate three new chaotic signals for image encryption. A novel image cryptography algorithm based on new chaotic signals and true random numbers is developed. These circular diffusion and local versus global scrambling methods are designed. The results show that the proposed method is effective and exhibits a higher level of security than other sophisticated methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cross-sequence magnetic resonance image (MRI) registration and segmentation are two essential steps in a variety of medical image analysis tasks. And have attracted considerable research interest. However, they remain challenging due to domain shifts between different sequences. This study is aiming at proposing a novel method via disentangled representations, latent shape image learning (LSIL), for cross-sequence image registration and segmentation. Methods: Images from different sequences were firstly decomposed into a shared domain-invariant shape space and a domain-specific appearance space via an unsupervised image-to-image translation approach. A latent shape image learning model is then built on the disentangled shape representations to generate latent shape images. A series of experiments including cross-sequence image registration and segmentation were performed to qualitatively and quantitatively verify the validity of our method. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and 95th percentile Hausdorff distance (HD95) were adopted as our evaluation metrics. Results: The performance of our method was evaluated based on 2 datasets total of 50 MRIs. The experimental results showed the superiority of the proposed framework over the state-of-the-art cross-sequence registration and segmentation approaches. The proposed method shows the mean DSCs of 0.711 and 0.867, respectively, in cross-sequence registration and segmentation. Conclusion: We proposed a novel method based on representation disentangling to solve the cross-sequence registration and segmentation problem. Experimental results prove the feasibility and generalization of the generated latent shape images. The proposed method demonstrates significant potential for use in clinical environments of missing sequences. The source code is available at https://github.com/wujiong-hub/LSIL.

ABSTRACTBackgroundApixaban is a superior direct oral anticoagulant exihibiting interindividual variability in concentration and response in the real world. The present study aimed to identify genetic biomarkers associated with pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of apixaban in healthy Chinese subjects.MethodsThis multicenter study included 181 healthy Chinese adults taking a single dose of 2.5 mg or 5 mg apixaban and assessed their PK and PD parameters. Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping was performed using the Affymetrix Axiom CBC_PMRA Array. Candidate gene association analysis and genome-wide association study were conducted to identify genes with a predictive value for PK and PD parameters of apixaban.ResultsSeveral ABCG2variants were associated with Cmaxand AUC0-tof apixaban (p < 6.12 × 10−5) and also presented significant differences of anti-Xa3hactivity and dPT3haccording to different ABCG2genotypes (p < 0.05). Besides, ABLIM2variants were found to be associated with PK characteristics and F13A1and C3 variants were associated with PD characteristics of apixaban (p < 9.46 × 10−8).ConclusionABCG2variants were found to be ideal genetic biomarkers for both PK and PD characteristics of apixaban. ABLIM2, F13A1and C3were identified as potential candidate genes associated with inter-individual variability of apixaban. This study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03259399.

Abstract: In the present work, a highly sensitive sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was developed by preparing N-doped hollow mesoporous nanocarbon spheres/gold hybrids (NHMN/Au) hybridsas sensing platformand Au/ferrocene (Au/Fc) as signal amplifiers. The large surface area and high conductivity as well as good biocompatibility of NHMN/Au can increase the loading of primary antibody (Ab1) and accelerate the electron transport rate of the electrode surface, while Au can carry immobilized secondary antibodies (Ab2) and Fc derivative (Fc–SH).By using Fc–SH as response probe, the experiments show that the peak current of probe could increase after occurring the specific recognition of Ab1-CEA-Ab2, thus a novel sandwich-type immunosensor of CEA was developed. Finally, the proposed method for CEA detection was applied in human serum and the obtained results are satisfactory, indicating the developed method has important clinical applications for CEA determination. Graphical Abstract:

Active nematics are the non-equilibrium analogue of passive liquid crystals. They consist of anisotropic units that consume free energy to drive emergent behaviour. As with liquid crystal molecules in displays, ordering and dynamics in active nematics are sensitive to boundary conditions. However, unlike passive liquid crystals, active nematics have the potential to regulate their boundaries through self-generated stresses. Here we show how a three-dimensional, living nematic can actively shape itself and its boundary to regulate its internal architecture through growth-induced stresses, using bacterial biofilms confined by a hydrogel as a model system. We show that biofilms exhibit a sharp transition in shape from domes to lenses in response to changing environmental stiffness or cell–substrate friction, which is explained by a theoretical model that considers the competition between confinement and interfacial forces. The growth mode defines the progression of the boundary, which in turn determines the trajectories and spatial distribution of cell lineages. We further demonstrate that the evolving boundary and corresponding stress anisotropy define the orientational ordering of cells and the emergence of topological defects in the biofilm interior. Our findings may provide strategies for the development of programmed microbial consortia with emergent material properties.

BackgroundIn low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), energy poverty has predominantly been studied from the unidimensional perspective of indoor air pollution. Acute respiratory infection (ARI) in children under 5 years of age is the most important disease associated with indoor air pollution attributable to solid fuel use in LMICs. This study aimed to extend the existing knowledge on the association between energy poverty and ARI among children under 5 years of age in LMICs, by adopting a multidimensional perspective.MethodsUsing Demographic and Health Surveys from 22 LMICs, data from 483 088 children were analysed (mean age 2.00 years (SD 1.41); 51.3% male). Energy poverty was measured using the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) (range 0–1), which comprises five dimensions of essential energy services. Binary logistic regression models were conducted to study the association between MEPI and ARI, adjusting for child, maternal, household and environmental characteristics.ResultsA 0.1 increase in MEPI score was associated with greater odds of ARI (aOR 1.05; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.07). Likewise, MEPI indicators using biomass for cooking (aOR 1.15; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.23) and lack of access to electricity (aOR 1.17; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.26), entertainment/education appliances (aOR 1.07; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.13) and household appliances (aOR 1.12; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.21) were associated with greater odds of ARI.ConclusionMultidimensional energy poverty was associated with greater odds of ARI in children under 5 years of age living in 22 LMICs. Hence, our findings justify the design and implementation of interventions that address energy poverty from a multidimensional perspective, integrating energy affordability and accessibility.

Iron sulfide (FeS) is a competitive anode material for Li-/Na-ion batteries (LIBs/SIBs) with high specific capacity and excellent environmental benignity. Nevertheless, its practical application is greatly hindered by the sluggish charge transfer dynamics and large volume variations upon cycling. Herein, by constructing a strain-alleviated (bubble film-like) structure in an ultrathin FeS/C composite, the sluggish transfer kinetics and huge volume variations of FeS were fundamentally solved. The bubble film-like carbon matrix serves as the protective shell to alleviate the huge volume changes of FeS and enhance its electronic conductivity, as verified by finite element simulation and ex-situtransmission electron microscopy results. Benefiting from this unique design, the as-designed electrode exhibited a significantly enhanced performance with a high discharge capacity of 469 mA h g−1at 5 A g−1for LIBs and 354 mA h g−1after 1500 cycles at 1 A g−1for SIBs. Moreover, the full cell with this electrode and LiFePO4cathode can deliver outstanding cycling stability of 558 mA h g−1even after 100 cycles. We expect that this strategy can also be applied to other anode materials plagued by poor conductivity and huge volume changes and remarkably spur the development of batteries with high rate capability and long lifespan.

Joint chance constraint (JCC) is a significant way to guarantee the spinning reserve in multi-area power systems with renewable energy (MAS-RE). This paper presents a novel p-efficient point (PEP) method to deal with the JCCs of unit commitment (UC) problems to guarantee the spinning reserve at the given confidence level. In the p-efficient point method, the p-efficient points are used to obtain the minimum spinning reserve requirement to satisfy the given confidence level. Based on p-efficient points, the intractable JCCs can be converted into tractable deterministic constraints directly, which avoids the complicated calculations and approximation errors of JCCs. Furthermore, an optimal mathematical programming is formulated to directly obtain p-efficient points, without assumptions on the probability distribution function (PDF) of wind power. Besides, in this paper, the applicability of the p-efficient point method is extended from positive space to both positive and negative space. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach has better performances in scheduling spinning reserve than the popular Sample Average Approximation (SAA), Partial Sample Average Approximation (PSAA) and the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) combined with Boole's inequality.

Flexible sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have enormous potential in portable and wearable devices due to their suitability and price advantage in particular scenarios. Among the cathode materials, phosphate electrode materials have the advantage of good structural stability, high working potential and long lifespan. However, the design of flexible phosphates electrode materials is still a challenge due to hush fabrication requirements, complex reactions and absence of flexible substrates. Herein, we report the in-situfabrication of three-dimensional sodium vanadium fluorophosphate nanorod array (PCNF@NVOPF NR) from vertically grown VO2nanosheets on flexible porous carbon nanofibers. The PCNF@NVOPF NR as a flexible high-voltage cathode possesses long-term cycling stability (87.6% capacity retention after 4500 cycles). The nanorod arrays can ensure fast sodium reaction kinetics and low interfacial resistance. Moreover, PCNF@NVOPF//PCNF@VO2NS@C full SIBs exhibit high energy and power density (220.5 W h kg−1and 9400 W kg−1). This material design strategy for flexible cathode will inspire the commercialization of practical SIBs.

In energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, the estimation of the pulse amplitude determines the accuracy of the spectrum measurement. The error generated by the amplitude estimation of the pulse output distorted by the measurement system leads to false peaks in the measured spectrum. To eliminate these false peaks and achieve an accurate estimation of the distorted pulse amplitude, a composite neural network model is proposed, which embeds long and short-term memory (LSTM) into the UNet structure. The UNet network realizes the fusion of pulse sequence features and the LSTM model realizes pulse amplitude estimation. The model is trained using simulated pulse datasets with different amplitudes and distortion times. For the pulse height estimation, the average relative error of the trained model on the test set was approximately 0.64%, which is 27.37% lower than that of the traditional trapezoidal shaping algorithm. Offline processing of a standard iron source further validated the pulse height estimation performance of the UNet-LSTM model. After estimating the amplitude of the distorted pulses using the model, the false peak area was reduced by approximately 91% over the full spectrum and was corrected to the characteristic peak region of interest (ROI). The corrected peak area accounted for approximately 1.32% of the characteristic peak ROI area. The results indicate that the model can accurately estimate the height of distorted pulses and has substantial corrective effects on false peaks.

AbstractStrawberry has high nutritional and economic value and is an important horticultural crop widely cultivated worldwide. Strawberry anthracnose is the most harmful disease in strawberry production, which causes huge production losses every year. Mining disease resistance genes and breeding high-quality strawberry varieties are the fundamental way to solve the problem of strawberry anthracnose. In this study, transcriptome analysis and disease resistance-related genes mining were targeted on strawberry anthracnose. The main results are as follows: (1) A total of 100.45 Gb clean reads were obtained, with no less than 6.26 Gb for each sample; (2) The clean reads for each sample were aligned to the reference genome efficiently at 91.30% − 92.27%; (3) 93,042 genes were annotated; (4) 16 anti-anthracnose-related genes were identified, including FaAUX1, FaARF18, FaSAUR50, FaGH3.6, FaAHP1, FaARR(3, 5 and 11), FaPYR1, FaPYL11, FaPP2C(6, 16, 24, 37 and 51) and FaPR1. The above results can provide theoretical guidance for the molecular breeding of disease resistance of strawberry.

Li3VO4(LVO) is considered as a novel alternative anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high capacity and good safety. However, the inferior electronic conductivity impedes its further application. Here, nanofibers (nLICVO/NC) with In/Ce co-doped Li3VO4strengthened by nitrogen-modified carbon are prepared. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that In/Ce co-doping can substantially reduce the LVO band gap and achieve orders of magnitude increase (from 2.79 × 10–4to 1.38 × 10–2S cm–1) in the electronic conductivity of LVO. Moreover, the carbon-based nanofibers incorporated with 5LICVO nanoparticles can not only buffer the structural strain but also form a good framework for electron transport. This 5LICVO/NC material delivers high reversible capacities of 386.3 and 277.9 mA h g–1at 0.1 and 5 A g–1, respectively. Furthermore, high discharge capacities of 335 and 259.5 mA h g–1can be retained after 1200 and 4000 cycles at 0.5 and 1.6 A g–1, respectively (with the corresponding capacity retention of 98.4 and 78.7%, respectively). When the 5LICVO/NC anode assembles with commercial LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2(NCM111) into a full cell, a high discharge capacity of 191.9 mA h g–1can be retained after 600 cycles at 1 A g–1, implying an inspiring potential for practical application in high-efficiency LIBs.

This study aimed to investigate the spectrum and characteristics of segmental aneuploidies (SAs) of <10 megabase (Mb) length in human preimplantation blastocysts.

Severe cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are expected to have a worse prognosis than mild cases. Shenhuang Granule (SHG) has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment for severe COVID-19 in a previous randomized clinical trial, but the active chemical constituents and underlying mechanisms of action remain unknown. The goal of this study is to explore the chemical basis and mechanisms of SHG in the treatment of severe COVID-19, using network pharmacology.

Chronic stress has been reported to be associated with tumor initiation and progression. But the underlying mechanism and the specific role of tumor immunity in this process are still unknown. Herein, we applied the repeated restrain stress model in C57BL/6J mice and found that the tumor growth in stressed mice was accelerated compared with that in control mice. In addition, serotonin, also called 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), in the serum of stressed mice was also elevated. Sertraline, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor used in the clinic, can restore the serum 5-HT level in stressed mice and restrain tumor growth. We further explored the distribution of major immune cells, including B lymphocytes cells, T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) and regulatory T cells (Treg). We found that the infiltration of CD8+T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) decreased significantly in stressed mice. And the extra 5-HT treatment could further decrease the infiltration of CD8+T cells in the TME. The expression of IFN-γ and Granular enzyme B (GzmB) in CD8+T cells were also dropped in the stressed mice group, whereas the expression of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) on CD8+T cells was increased. The T cell deficiency induced by stress can be reversed by sertraline, indicating its promising role in strengthening the efficacy of anti-PDL1/PD-1 immunotherapy. The present study provides new mechanistic insights into the impact of chronic stress on antitumor immunity and implicates a novel combined immunotherapy strategy for cancer patients with chronic stress.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a type of metabolic disease, and recent research indicates that it may be associated with sleep disorders. We conducted a meta-analysis of current studies to estimate the associations between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and sleep situation, including sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and sleep disorder. This study follows the checklist of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Articles in the recent 10 years were searched from five databases. Eighteen articles, which met the eligibility criteria, were included in this meta-analysis. The results show that patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease have a shorter sleep duration and higher Epworth Sleepiness Scale score. Patients with short sleep duration (≤6 hours per night) or with obstructive sleep apnea have a higher risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In conclusion, there is a significant association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and sleep disorders in the included studies. In addition, patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease may have more severe daytime sleepiness and shorter sleep duration. More attention should be paid to the sleep situation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients to potentially slow the disease progression.

Abstract Southern pine utility poles were examined at two commercial sites in the southeastern United States for the presence of fungi during the processing steps of storage, kiln-drying, and treatment [...]

To investigate the association between serum IP-10 and HBsAg levels in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients previously treated with nucleot(s)ide analogs (NAs) followed by combined treatment with an NA and pegylated interferon alpha (PEG-IFNα).

Cobalt selenide (Co0.85Se) has been regarded as the most potential anode material for both lithium/sodium ion batteries (LIBs and SIBs) due to its high specific capacity and excellent pseudocapacitive effect. However, the inevitable volume expansion during conversion reaction and grievous dissolution of Se in electrolytes seriously undermine its reversibility and cycling stability. Combining the transition-metal chalcogenides with stable porous carbon networks is considered as one of the most effective strategies to improve electrochemical stability and conductivity of transition-metal chalcogenides. Here, we proposed a multiscale structural engineering strategy to encapsulate selenide nanoparticles in N-doped porous carbon to enable high-performance Co0.85Se@porous carbon composite for highly reversible lithium/sodium storage. Specifically, the Co0.85Se nanoparticles are tightly anchored to carbon network through substantial SeC bond, which effectively buffer volume expansion and inhibit the dissolution of Se in electrolytes. Additionally, the carbon pores with multilevel size help achieving the fast ions diffusion. The unique structure enables the Co0.85Se composite anode to exhibit excellent discharge capacities of 955.1 mAh g−1at 100 mA g−1after 100 cycles, 305.6 mAh g−1at 1 A g−1of full cells after 550 cycles in LIBs and 491.3 mAh g−1at 100 mA g−1after 100 cycles in SIBs.

We consider a non-isentropic Euler-Poisson system with two small parameters arising in the modeling of unmagnetized plasmas and semiconductors. On the basis of the energy estimates and the compactness theorem, the uniform global existence of the solutions and the combined quasi-neutral and zero-electron-mass limit of the system are proved when the initial data are close to the constant equilibrium state. In particular, the limit is rigorously justified as the two parameters tend to zero independently.

Although hazelnut oil is rich in nutrients, its quality is greatly affected by how it is processed. However, no studies to date have comprehensively analyzed the lipid composition of hazelnut oil using different processing methods. Here, we conducted a lipidomics analysis using UPLC-QTOF-MS to characterize the lipid composition of cold-pressed hazelnut oil (CPO), ultrasonic-assisted hexane hazelnut oil (UHO) and enzyme-assisted aqueous hazelnut oil (EAO). A total of 10 subclasses of 98 lipids were identified, including 35 glycerolipids (GLs), 56 glycerophospholipids (GPs) and 7 sphingolipids (SPs). The total lipid and GL content were the highest in CPO, GP content was the highest in UHO and the ceramide content in SPs was most abundant in EAO. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that the lipid profiles of hazelnut oil prepared with different processing methods varied. Twelve significantly different lipids (TAG 54:3, TAG 52:2, TAG 54:4, TAG 54:2, TAG 52:3, TAG 54:5, DAG 36:2, DAG 36:4, DAG 36:3, PC 36:2, PA 36:2 and PE 36:3) were identified, and these lipids could potentially be used as biomarkers to distinguish between hazelnut oil subjected to different processing methods. Our results provide useful information for hazelnut oil applications and new insight into the effects of edible oil processing.

Constructing a step-scheme heterojunction at the interface between two semiconductors is an efficient way to optimize the redox ability and accelerate the charge carrier separation of a photocatalytic system for achieving high photocatalytic performance. In this study, we prepared a hierarchical ZnO@ZnS step-scheme photocatalyst by incorporating ZnS into the outer shell of hollow ZnO microspheres viaa simple in situsulfidation strategy. The ZnO@ZnS step-scheme photocatalysts had a large surface area, high light utilization capacity, and superior separation efficiency for photogenerated charge carriers. In addition, the material simulation revealed that the formation of the step-scheme heterojunction between ZnO and ZnS was due to the presence of the built-in electric field. Our study paves the way for design of high-performance photocatalysts for H2production.

In mice and humans, sleep quantity is governed by genetic factors and exhibits age-dependent variation1–3. However, the core molecular pathways and effector mechanisms that regulate sleep duration in mammals remain unclear. Here, we characterize a major signalling pathway for the transcriptional regulation of sleep in mice using adeno-associated virus-mediated somatic genetics analysis4. Chimeric knockout of LKB1 kinase—an activator of AMPK-related protein kinase SIK35–7—in adult mouse brain markedly reduces the amount and delta power—a measure of sleep depth—of non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS). Downstream of the LKB1–SIK3 pathway, gain or loss-of-function of the histone deacetylases HDAC4 and HDAC5 in adult brain neurons causes bidirectional changes of NREMS amount and delta power. Moreover, phosphorylation of HDAC4 and HDAC5 is associated with increased sleep need, and HDAC4 specifically regulates NREMS amount in posterior hypothalamus. Genetic and transcriptomic studies reveal that HDAC4 cooperates with CREB in both transcriptional and sleep regulation. These findings introduce the concept of signalling pathways targeting transcription modulators to regulate daily sleep amount and demonstrate the power of somatic genetics in mouse sleep research.

Photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production viawater splitting in the absence of sacrificial agents is a promising strategy for producing clean and sustainable hydrogen energy from solar energy. However, the realization of a photocatalytic pure water splitting system with desirable efficiency is still a huge challenge. Herein, visible light photocatalytic H2production from pure water splitting was successfully achieved using a g-C3N4/CoTiO3S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst in the absence of sacrificial agents. An optimum hydrogen evolution rate of 118 μmol·h−1·g−1was reached with the addition of 1.5 wt% CoTiO3. The remarkably promoted hydrogen evolution rate was attributed to the intensified light absorption coupled with the synergistic effect of visible light responsive CoTiO3, the promoted efficiency in charge separation, and the reserved strong redox capacity induced by the S-scheme charge transfer mechanism. This work provides an alternative to visible light-responding oxidation photocatalysts for the construction of S-scheme heterojunctions and high-efficiency photocatalytic systems for pure water splitting.

Off-target drug release and insufficient drug delivery are the main obstacles for effective anticancer chemotherapy. Prodrug-based self-assembled nanoparticles bioactivated under tumor-specific conditions are one of the effective strategies to achieve on-demand drug release and effective tumor accumulation. Herein, stimuli-activable prodrugs are designed yielding smart tumor delivery by combination of the triglyceride-mimic (TG-mimetic) prodrug structure and disulfide bond. Surprisingly, these prodrugs can self-assemble into uniform nanoparticles (NPs) with a high drug loading (over 40%) and accumulate in tumor sites specifically. The super hydrophobic TG structure can act as a gate that senses lipase to selectively control over NP dissociation and affect the glutathione-triggered prodrug activation. In addition, the impacts of the double bonds in the prodrug NPs on parent drug release and the following cytotoxicity, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor efficiency are further demonstrated. Our findings highlight the promising potential of TG-mimetic structure-gated prodrug nanoparticles for tumor-specific drug delivery.

The step-stitching issue occurring in digital micromirror device (DMD)-based step lithography, which refers to overlapping and misalignment, has dramatically influenced the overall accuracy of the exposed patterns. To address this technical challenge, this paper proposes a testing method to resolve the system tolerance parameters, inclination angle with 0.060^∘±0.003^∘, and magnification with 3.60399±0.00020, which induce the stitching problem. With these two parameters, a compensation strategy on motion is implemented to precisely control the step distance of the stage so that the edge-to-edge stitching error is reduced to about 0.150 µm and the corner-to-corner stitching error is less than 0.500 µm. The changes of the linewidth induced by the displacement error due to the stage control accuracy and illumination nonuniformity caused by the light source are simulated and analyzed, and the image preprocessing method based on a gradual grayscale mask is employed to improve the quality of stitching. Using this method, the linewidth difference is controlled to be within 0.150 µm. After finishing all the corrections and imaging preprocessing, the transverse error has become almost invisible, and the longitudinal error has been reduced by 97.72%. Experimental results demonstrate that the improved stitching accuracy could achieve high-fidelity devices.

Disulfide bond-bridging strategy has been extensively utilized to construct tumor specificity-responsive aliphatic prodrug nanoparticles (PNPs) for precise cancer therapy. Yet, there is no research shedding light on the impacts of the saturation and cis-trans configuration of aliphatic tails on the self-assembly capacity of disulfide bond-linked prodrugs and the in vivodelivery fate of PNPs. Herein, five disulfide bond-linked docetaxel-fatty acid prodrugs are designed and synthesized by using stearic acid, elaidic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid as the aliphatic tails, respectively. Interestingly, the cis-trans configuration of aliphatic tails significantly influences the self-assembly features of prodrugs, and elaidic acid-linked prodrug with a trans double bond show poor self-assembly capacity. Although the aliphatic tails have almost no effect on the redox-sensitive drug release and cytotoxicity, different aliphatic tails significantly influence the chemical stability of prodrugs and the colloidal stability of PNPs, thus affecting the in vivopharmacokinetics, biodistribution and antitumor efficacy of PNPs. Our findings illustrate how aliphatic tails affect the assembly characteristic of disulfide bond-linked aliphatic prodrugs and the in vivodelivery fate of PNPs, and thus provide theoretical basis for future development of disulfide bond-bridged aliphatic prodrugs.

Recently, it has been realized that in some systems internal space rotation can induce energy amplification for scattered waves, similar to rotation in real space. In particularly, it has been shown that energy extraction is possible for a Q-ball, a stationary non-topological soliton that is coherently rotating in its field space. In this paper, we generalize the analysis to the case of boson stars, and show that the same energy extraction mechanism still works for boson stars.

An optical fiber interferometer coated with PbS quantum dots (QDs) was developed for copper ion (${{\rm{Cu}}^{2 +}}$) detection. The QDs were modified by a multifunctional copolymer that enabled QD surface ligation, dispersion, and coordination with ${{\rm{Cu}}^{2 +}}$. ${{\rm{Cu}}^{2 +}}$ coordination with the polymer induced changes in the surrounding refractive index of the interferometer. The sensor was highly selective for ${{\rm{Cu}}^{2 +}}$ and showed a linear detection range of 0–1000 µM with a limit of detection of 2.20 µM in both aqueous and biological solutions.

Background:Pharmacogenetics study was added into 2 bioequivalence trials of aripiprazole. The correlation between CYP2D6polymorphisms and aripiprazole pharmacokinetics (PK) was analyzed. Materials & methods:A total of 140 subjects were included. A total of 26 CYP2D6gene alleles were detected. The plasma concentration of aripiprazole was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. SPSS Statistics 21was used to analyze the correlation between CYP2D6polymorphisms and aripiprazole PK parameters. Results:All of the four PK parameters were significantly influenced by CYP2D6rs1058164and rs28371699. t1/2and area under the concentration-time curve exhibited significant difference between CYP2D6extensive metabolizers and intermediate metabolizers. Conclusion:Aripiprazole PK was greatly influenced by CYP2D6. Attention should be paid to the possible dose adjustment for CYP2D6intermediate metabolizer population when the drug is used in Chinese patients.

To fabricate a highly biocompatible nanoplatform enabling synergistic therapy and real-time imaging, novel Au@Bi2S3core shell nanobones (NBs) (Au@Bi2S3NBs) with Au nanorods as cores were synthesized. The combination of Au nanorods with Bi2S3film made the Au@Bi2S3NBs exhibit ultrahigh photothermal (PT) conversion efficiency, remarkable photoacoustic (PA) imaging and high computed tomography (CT) performance; these Au@Bi2S3NBs thus are a promising nanotheranostic agent for PT/PA/CT imaging. Subsequently, poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-modified Au@Bi2S3NBs (Au@Bi2S3-PVP NBs) were successfully loaded with the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX), and a satisfactory pH sensitive release profile was achieved, thus revealing the great potential of Au@Bi2S3-PVP NBs in chemotherapy as a drug carrier to deliver DOX into cancer cells. Both in vitroand in vivoinvestigations demonstrated that the Au@Bi2S3-PVP NBs possessed multiple desired features for cancer therapy, including extremely low toxicity, good biocompatibility, high drug loading ability, precise tumor targeting and effective accumulation. Highly efficient ablation of the human liver cancer cell HepG2 was achieved through Au@Bi2S3-PVP NB-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT). As both a contrast enhancement probe and therapeutic agent, Au@Bi2S3-PVP NBs provided outstanding NIR-triggered multi-modal PT/PA/CT imaging-guided PTT and effectively inhibited the growth of HepG2 liver cancer cells viasynergistic chemo/PT therapy.

At present, the incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults is increasing year by year and at a younger age. Evidence-based healthcare has confirmed that NAFLD is closely related to obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and other chronic metabolic diseases. Despite the growing prevalence of NAFLD, little is known about symptoms for patients at risk of NAFLD progression, thus preventing healthcare providers from intervening at an early stage. In addition, these symptoms usually cause problems for patients to cope with other chronic metabolic diseases. Symptoms may have a biological basis; especially as the changes of gut microbes may affect the symptoms of metabolic diseases. This article aims to describe the new role of gut microbes in the development of NAFLD, focusing on the potential relationship between gut microbes and symptoms of NAFLD, as well as the mechanism of action of the “gut–liver–brain” axis. This information can be useful in developing precise nursing interventions for NAFLD patients, restoring the “health” of gut microbes, and alleviating the symptom burden of chronic metabolic disease in NAFLD.

This review summarizes the ways in which Bi2S3nanomaterials can be functionalized and discusses their applications in cancer theranostics over the last few years, focusing particularly on imaging and therapy.

The increasing use of nanoscale TiO2particles (nTiO2) and their subsequent leakage into aquatic environments poses a threat to the ecosystem. One major concern is that nTiO2may alter the environmental behaviors of arsenic (As) and disrupt the equilibrium of As accumulation and speciation in organisms. In this study, we investigated the effects of nTiO2on the bioaccumulation and biotransformation of As(V) in the mussel Perna viridis. Exposure to nTiO2significantly increased As accumulation in mussels. Our As speciation analysis demonstrated that nTiO2treatment increased the proportion of inorganic As and reduced that of organic As, displaying inhibitory effects on the methylation and detoxification of inorganic As in mussels. Analysis of enzyme systems related to As metabolism in mussels demonstrated that nTiO2might limit the methylation of inorganic As by suppressing the GST activity and GSH content. The strong adsorption capacity and weak desorption rate of As by nTiO2, which could result in the disruption of As distribution and decrease of the amount of As involved in biotransformation, might serve as another mechanism to the limition on As methylation in mussels. Moreover, exposure to nTiO2disturbed the osmotic adjustment system in mussels by reducing arsenobetaine and Na+-K+-ATPase activity, resulting in enhanced toxicity of As after coexposure. The findings indicate, for the first time, that nTiO2can block the transformation and detoxification of As in mussels, which would increase the risk of As to marine animals and even humans via the food chain, and may disrupt the biogeochemical cycle of As in natural environments.