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Exploring materials with multiple properties who can endow a simple device with integrated functionalities has attracted enormous attention in the microelectronic field. One reason is the imperious demand for processors with continuously higher performance and totally new architecture. Combining ferroelectric with semiconducting properties is a promising solution. Here, we show that logic, in-memory computing, and optoelectrical logic and non-volatile computing functionalities can be integrated into a single transistor with ferroelectric semiconducting α-In2Se3 as the channel. Two-input AND, OR, and non-volatile NOR and NAND logic operations with current on/off ratios reaching up to five orders, good endurance (1000 operation cycles), and fast operating speed (10 μs) are realized. In addition, optoelectrical OR logic and non-volatile implication (IMP) operations, as well as ternary-input optoelectrical logic and in-memory computing functions are achieved by introducing light as an additional input signal. Our work highlights the potential of integrating complex logic functions and new-type computing into a simple device based on emerging ferroelectric semiconductors.

1AbstractVagus nerve stimulation is an emerging therapy that seeks to offset pathological conditions by electrically stimulating the vagus nerve through cuff electrodes, where an electrical pulse is defined by several parameters such as pulse amplitude, pulse width, and pulse frequency. This electroceutical therapy has been approved for epilepsy, and treatment resistant depression. Currently, vagus nerve stimulation is under investigation for the treatment of heart failure, heart arrhythmia, hypertension, and gastric motility disorders. Through several clinical trials that sought to assess vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of heart failure, stimulation parameters were determined heuristically and the results were left inconclusive, which has led to the suggestion of using a closed-loop approach to optimize the stimulation parameters. A recent investigation has demonstrated highly specific control of cardiac physiology by selectively activating different fibers in the vagus nerve. When multiple locations and multiple stimulation parameters are considered for optimization, the design of closed-loop control becomes considerably more challenging. To address this challenge, we investigated a data-driven control scheme for both modeling and controlling the rat cardiac system. Using an existing in silico physiological model of a rat heart to generate synthetic input-output data, we trained a long short-term memory network (LSTM) to map the effect of stimulation on the heart rate and the blood pressure. The trained LSTM was utilized in a model predictive control framework to optimize the vagus nerve stimulation parameters for set point tracking of the heart rate and the blood pressure in closed-loop simulations. Additionally, we altered the underlying in silico physiological model to consider intra-patient variability, and diseased dynamics from increased sympathetic tone in designing closed-loop VNS strategies. Throughout the different simulation scenarios, we leveraged the design of the controller to demonstrate alternative clinical objectives. Our results show the controller can optimize stimulation parameters to achieve set-point tracking with nominal offset while remaining computationally efficient. Furthermore, we show a controller formulation that compensates for mismatch due to intra-patient variabilty, and diseased dynamics. This study demonstrates the first application and a proof-of-concept for using a purely data-driven approach for the optimization of vagus nerve stimulation parameters in closed-loop control of the cardiac system.

The role of tripartite motif (TRIM) 38, a ubiquitin E3 ligase regulating various pathophysiological processes, in cardiac fibrosis remains unclear. Here, a model of angiotensin II and myocardial infarction (MI)-induced fibrosis was established to explore its role in cardiac fibrosis and its underlying mechanisms. Cardiac fibrosis in the mouse MI model was mitigated by TRIM38 overexpression, but aggravated by its depletion. Consistently

Dyslipidemia plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This study aims to investigate the value of two indices associated with lipid metabolism, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to apolipoprotein B ratio (LBR) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to apolipoprotein A-1 ratio (HAR), to predict in-hospital death in patients with ACS.This single-center, retrospective, observational study included 3,366 consecutive ACS patients in Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University from July 2013 to January 2018. The clinical and laboratory data were extracted, and the in-hospital death and hospitalization days were also recorded.All patients were equally divided into four groups according to quartiles of HAR: Q1 (HAR1.0283), Q2 (1.0283 ≤ HAR1.0860), Q3 (1.0860 ≤ HAR1.1798), and Q4 (HAR ≥ 1.1798). Overall, HAR was positively associated with the counts of neutrophils and monocytes, whereas negatively correlated to lymphocyte counts. HAR was negatively correlated to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Compared to other three groups, in-hospital mortality (vs. Q1, Q2, and Q3, p0.001) and hospitalization length (vs. Q1, Q2, and Q3, p0.001) were significantly higher in the Q4 group. When grouped by LBR, however, there was no significant difference in LVEF, in-hospital mortality, and hospitalization length among groups. After adjusting potential impact from age, systolic blood pressure, creatine, lactate dehydrogenase, albumin, glucose, and uric acid, multivariate analysis indicated that HAR was an independent factor predicting in-hospital death among ACS patients.HAR had good predictive value for patients' in-hospital death after the occurrence of acute coronary events, but LBR was not related to in-hospital adverse events.

The Serpin protein family plays an important role in regulating the functioning of the adipose tissue. This study aimed to study the underlying mechanisms of Serpina3c in regulating adipogenesis.We developed a Serpina3c knockout (Serpina3cSerpina3cSerpina3c promotes adipogenesis and maintains normal fat function by inhibiting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an emerging therapeutic strategy for pathological conditions in a variety of diseases; however, several challenges arise for applying this stimulation paradigm in automated closed-loop control. In this work, we propose a data driven approach for predicting the impact of VNS on physiological variables. We apply this approach on a synthetic dataset created with a physiological model of a rat heart. Through training several neural network models, we found that a long short term memory (LSTM) architecture gave the best performance on a test set. Further, we found the neural network model was capable of mapping a set of VNS parameters to the correct response in the heart rate and the mean arterial blood pressure. In closed-loop control of biological systems, a model of the physiological system is often required and we demonstrate using a data driven approach to meet this requirement in the cardiac system.

Introduction Previous studies have shown that fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is involved in the ventricular remodeling process in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We hypothesized that high levels of FGF21 correlated with the ventricular remodeling of heart failure patients with mildly reduced (HFmrEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Methods A total of 203 participants with HFmrEF or HFrEF were enrolled and followed up from June 2018 to June 2021. 68 subjects without heart failure (HF) underwent physical examinations during the same time were selected as the control group. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), which were defined as all-cause or cardiac mortality and rehospitalization for decompensation. Serum FGF21 levels were measured early the next morning after admission using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results The FGF21 levels were significantly higher in patients with HFmrEF or HFrEF than that in the control group (213.57 ± 42.65 pg/mL, 222.93 ± 34.36 pg/mL vs 171.00 ± 12.86 pg/mL, p < .001). The serum levels of FGF21 and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were both higher in the endpoint event group than those of non-endpoint event group regardless of the HFmrEF or HFrEF group ( p < .001). Spearman’s correlation revealed that FGF21 was positively correlated with left ventricular end-systolic diameter left ventricular end-diastolic diameter left ventricular mass index ( p < .01). Moreover, there was a negative correlation between FGF21 and left ventricular ejection fraction in addition to relative wall thickness ( p < .001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of FGF21 was 0.874. The optimal cut-off value of FGF21 determined by ROC curve was 210.11 pg/mL. The Kaplan–Meier analysis demonstrated that the low FGF21 levels group had an increased MACE-free survival rate compared with the high FGF21 levels group. On univariate and multivariate Cox analysis, it was seen that both serum FGF21 and NT-proBNP were independent predictors of a poor prognosis in HF patients. Conclusion Baseline levels of FGF21 and NT-proBNP were related to the ventricular remodeling of patients with a mildly reduced or reduced ejection fraction. FGF21 and NT-proBNP both had good prognostic value for MACEs in heart failure patients with a mildly reduced and reduced ejection fraction.

Ultraviolet photodetectors (UV PDs) based on 2D layered materials have attracted much attention because of the great applications in the fields of biology, healthcare, and space science, as well as the unique optical and electrical properties of 2D layered materials. Many UV PDs have been reported. However, high performance UV PDs with high responsivity and ultrafast light response time still need to be explored further. Here, we synthesized layered In4/3P2Se6 nanoflakes via the chemical vapor conversion (CVC) method. The UV PDs based on as-grown In4/3P2Se6 nanoflakes exhibit a very high light switching ratio of up to 6 × 105 at room temperature, which is ascribed to the large photocurrent and an ultralow dark current of ∼80 fA. Meanwhile, an ultrafast rise and a decay time of ∼ 470 μs/440 μs are achieved. The according responsivity, external quantum efficiency, and special detectivity are 4.31 A W−1, 1485.2%, and 6.3 × 1012 Jones, respectively, which are excellent performance among the UV PDs based 2D layered materials. Notably, it has both high responsivity and fast light response time, better than other 2D layered semiconductor photodetectors. Our finding demonstrates In4/3P2Se6 nanoflakes are promising materials for high performance UV PDs in the future.

An atomic potential should be assigned to several slices in the multislice method owing to its three-dimensional (3D) distribution. Based on a formula including several Gaussian functions to fit electron atomic scattering factors, a simple analytical expression is proposed to calculate the potential of atoms projected onto multiple slices. The potential in 3D distribution is properly projected onto slices that do not contain the atomic centroid. Thus, the fluctuations in atomic altitude influence the assigning of atomic potentials is considered correctly. The projected potential is calculated in a reciprocal space and involves an accurate 3D atomic position. Tests conducted with a plausible Ag chain verify the good performance of this new approach. The simulated exit wave leaving a complex crystal of Ba6Nd2Ti4O17 demonstrates that the proposed simulation approach is better than the traditional multislice method.