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Single-mode-no-core-single-mode (SNS) optical fiber structures have valuable potential to encapsulate as high-precision temperature sensors, due to their great sensitivity. This paper is to improve the temperature sensitivity of SNS fibers by studying the parameters of fiber length, diameter, and refractive index of the seal liquid. Transmission spectra of the fibers are given in both aspects of experiment and numerical simulation. We find that using a slim no-core fiber section sealed with liquid of high refractive index can effectively improve the sensitivity, while the choice of fiber length mainly affects the width of transmission peak. The results may contribute to the development of high-sensitivity optic temperature sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When cells are grown to confluence, cell–cell contact inhibition occurs and drives the cells to enter reversible quiescence rather than senescence. Confluent retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells exhibiting contact inhibition was used as a model in this study to examine the role of overexpression of transcription factor AP4, a highly expressed transcription factor in many types of cancer, in these cells during long-term culture. We generated stable inducible RPE cell clones expressing AP4 or AP4 without the DNA binding domain (DN-AP4) and observed that, when cultured for 24 days, RPE cells with a high level of AP4 exhibit a large, flattened morphology and even cease proliferating; these changes were not observed in DN-AP4-expressing cells or non-induced cells. In addition, AP4-expressing cells exhibited senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype. We demonstrated that the induced cellular senescence was mediated by enhanced p53 expression and that AP4 regulates the p53 gene by binding directly to two of the three E-boxes present on the promoter of the p53 gene. Moreover, we showed that serum is essential for AP4 in inducing p53-associated cellular senescence. Collectively, we showed that overexpression of AP4 mediates cellular senescence involving in activation of p53 in long-term post-confluent RPE cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To investigate whether the serum miR-221 expression correlates with clinicopathologic features and the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods: Four miRNAs (miR-221, miR-222, miR-21 and miR-224) related to HCC were selected in the present study. Serum miRNA expression was investigated in 46 HCC patients and 20 healthy normal controls by using real-time PCR technique, and then correlations between miR-221 expression and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC patients were evaluated. Results: The four miRNAs were found to be differentially overexpressed in HCC serum samples, and high level of miR-221 expression was correlated with tumor size (P <0.001), cirrhosis (P =0.003) and tumor stage (P =0.016). In addition, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that the overall survival rate of the high miR-221 expression group (27.6%) was significantly lower than that of the low miR-221 expression group (62.3%, P <0.05). Conclusions: Serum miR-221, upregulated in HCC, can provide predictive significance for prognosis of HCC patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Plastic recycling is critical for dematerializing of plastics. It has a profound implication on decoupling economic growth from environmental pressure and advancing waste plastic governance domestically and internationally while identifying drivers that might improve decoupling. In this study, plastic consumption and recycling patterns are presented, and the factors influencing the acceleration of dematerialization subsequent to the ban were investigated in the G7 countries and China. The results show that plastic consumption increases from 7.60 million metric tons (mt) to 12.60 mt between 2017 and 2019, and subsequently rapidly decreases to 6.84 mt in 2020. The plastic recycling rate drastically decreased by 21.3% in 2017, and decreased slightly from 2017 to 2020, at an annual rate of 2.9% on average. China's ban shocked the decoupling trends, which showed resilience and motivated the development of robust plastic recycling, and the global recycling transformation pattern accelerated the dematerialization of plastics. Decoupling performances of the G7 and China gradually stabilized in 2019, and all the countries were strongly decoupled in 2020, although decoupling index (DI) fluctuates from 2017 to 2020. Among the recycling-trading drivers, the improvement of waste plastic quality in recycling contributes more to decoupling, the recycling rate shows a more negative decoupling effect on China before the ban, and the population effect is weak relative to other influencing factors. The factors revealed the mechanism of decoupling of plastic consumption in the recycling-trading process, and the recyclability improvement in terms of plastic quality is important for dematerialization. [Display omitted] • G7 and China showed resilience to strong decoupling after the China's ban. • Improved IPAT method is proposed to study the factors influencing decoupling. • Decomposition of dematerialization factors quantifies the decoupling effect. • Plastics recycling quality primarily contributes to achieving decoupling. • Recycling rate adversely affects decoupling of China and population effect is weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of fiber optic tweezer manipulating cells, an adjustable and long working distance is very important for cell capture. To address this issue, a graded-index fiber (GIF) optical tweezer based on a UV glue cavity is proposed in this paper, and its ability to capture yeast cells was characterized. The initial air cavity between the single-mode fiber (SMF) and the GIF cone is filled with ultraviolet glue. By adjusting the length of the ultraviolet glue cavity and the laser power, the manipulation distance of the cells can be controlled. The light field distribution of the UV glue cavity is numerically investigated, which is compared with that of the GIF optical tweezers based on conventional air cavity. The contrastive result proved that the UV glue filled between the SMF and the GIF has a longer working distance than the original air cavity. The experimental results indicate that the fiber optical tweezer has a good capture distance controllability. The fiber optical tweezer also has the advantages of simple structure and convenient operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Characteristics of cladding index modulated fiber gratings for ambient refractive index sensing is studied in this paper. The modes propagation properties and coupling properties in cladding index modulated FBG are studied based on the classical coupling mode theory while considering interactions among multiple modes and developed on a three-layer step-index fiber geometry. Evolution of cladding mode resonance spectra of cladding index modulated FBG with the decreasing of fiber diameter is simulated and compared with the core grating. Sensing characteristics of cladding modes resonance of cladding index modulated FBG to the variation of ambient refractive index is detailed and emphasized for cladding modes resonances has a much narrower bandwidth. Results show that cladding index modulated fiber grating has better spectrum for ambient refractive index sensing applications under the same sensitivity with core index modulated fiber grating and may be applied to many field including biochemical sensing and environmental monitoring. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Advancing toilet technologies to address public health and sanitation issues are a concern of governments and organizations. This article mainly studies the assessment methods for the public toilets and some rural toilets considering from design to demolition to assist for the innovation of toilet technologies. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods were adopted to identify the assessment indicators and rank the weight. The outcome of Toilet Assessment Scheme (TAS), which includes a set of weightings and a classification system for the selected assessment indicators and sub-indicators. The weight calculation result showed that water resources, ecology, and indoor environmental quality are relatively high, which indicates that saving water, protecting the environment and optimizing the toilet environment should be given priority at the current stage. The individual questionnaire experts from the perspective of gender, profession, and generation, have different emphases on the evaluation scheme. This study can improve the comprehensiveness of toilet evaluation under the distinct background conditions, and will play a relevant role in the promotion of new toilet technology. The TAS can accelerate the toilet revolution in areas where toilets are scarce, and thus will improve the sanitary and health conditions of these populations. Considering the complex factors of the toilet comprehensively, and adopting the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to ascertain the weighting of Toilet Assessment Scheme (TAS), the scheme was provided to solve the comparison and evaluation of the different toilets. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tungsten doped stannic oxide transparent conductive thin films (W-doped SnO 2) have been prepared via a solution process. We use stannous chloride, preoxotungstic acid (PTA), hydrogen peroxide and anhydrous ethanol to prepare precursor solution which is stable and colorless. By investigating the effects of tungsten doping ratio and annealing temperature on properties of tungsten doped stannic oxide films, it is found that the amounts of pores on surface can be reduced by increasing annealing temperature. Amorphous SnO 2 begins to transform into crystalline SnO 2 when annealed at 300 °C. The resistivity of 2 at.% W-doped SnO 2 achieves 2.94 × 10−2 Ω cm annealed in air at 500 °C. The transmittance of W-doped SnO 2 films (around 87%) is better than that of pure SnO 2 films (around 83%) in visible range contrasted with blank quartz glass. The optical band gaps of both doped and pure SnO 2 films are over 3.7 eV. • The preoxotungstic acid is used as the dopant for preparing W-doped SnO 2 film. • Adding H 2 O 2 to achieve uniform dissolution of preoxotungstic acid in precursor. • Introducing W6+ into SnO 2 lattice enhances the transmittance and conductivity. • The transmittance of W-doped SnO 2 films is around 87%. • The most efficient doping ratio is 2 at.%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies found cDC1s to be protective in early stage anti-GBM disease through Tregs, but pathogenic in late stage Adriamycin nephropathy through CD8+ T cells. Flt3 ligand is a growth factor essential for cDC1 development and Flt3 inhibitors are currently used for cancer treatment. We conducted this study to clarify the role and mechanisms of effects of cDC1s at different time points in anti-GBM disease. In addition, we aimed to utilize drug repurposing of Flt3 inhibitors to target cDC1s as a treatment of anti-GBM disease. We found that in human anti-GBM disease, the number of cDC1s increased significantly, proportionally more than cDC2s. The number of CD8+ T cells also increased significantly and their number correlated with cDC1 number. In XCR1-DTR mice, late (day 12–21) but not early (day 3–12) depletion of cDC1s attenuated kidney injury in mice with anti-GBM disease. cDC1s separated from kidneys of anti-GBM disease mice were found to have a pro-inflammatory phenotype (i.e. express high level of IL-6, IL-12 and IL-23) in late but not early stage. In the late depletion model, the number of CD8+ T cells was also reduced, but not Tregs. CD8+ T cells separated from kidneys of anti-GBM disease mice expressed high levels of cytotoxic molecules (granzyme B and perforin) and inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IFN-γ), and their expression reduced significantly after cDC1 depletion with diphtheria toxin. These findings were reproduced using a Flt3 inhibitor in wild type mice. Therefore, cDC1s are pathogenic in anti-GBM disease through activation of CD8+ T cells. Flt3 inhibition successfully attenuated kidney injury through depletion of cDC1s. Repurposing Flt3 inhibitors has potential as a novel therapeutic strategy for anti-GBM disease. • cDC1s are pathogenic in anti-GBM disease through activating CD8+ T cells. • Flt3 inhibitor depleted cDC1s selectively, resulting in attenuation of kidney injury. • Flt3 inhibition is a novel therapy for anti-GBM disease, with accelerated translational potential through drug repurposing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Enterovirus A71 (EV71) is the major causative agent of severe and fatal hand, foot and mouth disease. There is plenty of evidence that EV71 has circulated widely in the Western Pacific Region for the last twenty years. Vaccines against EV71 are already available or under development. A collaborative study to establish the 1st WHO International Standard for anti-EV71 serum (Human) was conducted to ensure that methods used to measure the serum neutralizing activity or antibody levels against EV71 are accurate, sensitive and reproducible. Two candidate samples as well as a third candidate reference containing low anti-EV71 antibody titre were produced from plasma samples donated by healthy individuals. All three serum samples exhibited good levels of neutralizing antibodies against a wide range of EV71 strains of various genotypes. The study showed that between laboratory variations in neutralization titres were significantly reduced when values were expressed relative to those of either of the two candidate sera. Sample 14/140 was established as the WHO 1st International Standard for anti-EV71 serum (human), 14/138 as its potential replacement and 13/238 as a WHO Reference Reagent, with assigned unitage of 1,000, 1090 and 300 International Units (IU) of anti-EV71 neutralizing antibodies per ampoule, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing need to measure respiratory rate (RR) in a variety of applications, including in clinical and occupational settings, as well as during physical exercises. Fiber optic sensors (FOSs) is an attractive solution for wearable RR monitoring because of their small size, multiplexing capability, chemical inertness, and immunity to electromagnetic fields. Here, we review recent advances in FOSs for breath monitoring. We presented the sensing mechanisms of state-of-the-art sensors and analyze their advantages and disadvantages. We classified recently reported FOSs based on sensing principles and then critically analyze the strengths and weaknesses of representative recent works. Finally, we summarized the challenges and future prospects of breath FOSs, with the aim of applying them to real applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a newly identified heterogeneous family of innate immune cells. We conducted this study to investigate the frequency of circulating ILC subsets in various chronic kidney diseases (CKD). In DN, the proportion of total ILCs and certain ILC subgroups increased significantly. Positive correlations between proportion of total ILCs, ILC1s and body mass index, glycated hemoglobin were observed in DN. In LN, a significantly increased proportion of ILC1s was found in parallel with a reduced proportion of ILC2s. The proportions of total ILCs and ILC1s were correlated with WBC count and the level of C3. In all enrolled patients, the proportion of total ILCs and ILC1s was significantly correlated with the levels of ACR and GFR. In the present study, the proportion of circulating ILC subsets increased significantly in various types of CKD and correlated with clinico-pathological features, which suggests a possible role for ILCs in CKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is an instrumental factor in atherogenesis, however, the effects of ox-LDL on the balance of Th17/Treg in acute coronary syndrome [ACS, including unstable angina (UA) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI)] is still unclear. CD4+CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells and Th17 cells, subsets of T-helper cells, play important roles in peripheral immunity and their imbalance leads to the development of tissue inflammation and autoimmune diseases. However, few studies have explored the effect of Th17/Treg balance in plaque destabilization and the onset of ACS. To explore the shift of Th17/Treg balance in ACS patients and the effect of ox-LDL on the balance, we examined the frequencies of Th17 and Treg cells, key transcription factors and relevant cytokines in patients with AMI, UA, stable angina (SA) and controls. We analysed the correlations of serum ox-LDL to Th17/Treg frequency, and the effects of ox-LDL on Th17/Treg cells in vitro. Our study demonstrated that ACS patients have shown a significant increase of Th17 frequency, RORγt expression and serum Interleukin 17 (IL-17), and a obvious decline of Treg frequency, Foxp3 expression, suppressive function, and serum IL-10. Serum ox-LDL positively correlated with the frequency of Th17 cells and negatively correlated with the frequency of Treg cells. In vitro incubation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from controls with ox-LDL resulted in a significant reduction of Treg cells and a significant elevation of Th17 cells in a dose- and time-dependant manner. Treg and Th17 cells from ACS patients were significantly more susceptible to ox-LDL-mediated alterations. Th17/Treg numerical and functional imbalance exists in ACS patients, and ox-LDL has a direct effect on Th17/Treg imbalance which may contribute to the occurrence of ACS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: C4-dicarboxylates are the major carbon and energy sources during the symbiotic growth of rhizobia. Responses to C4-dicarboxylates depend on typical two-component systems (TCS) consisting of a transmembrane sensor histidine kinase and a cytoplasmic response regulator. The DctB–DctD system is the first identified TCS for C4-dicarboxylates sensing. Direct ligand binding to the sensor domain of DctB is believed to be the first step of the sensing events. In this report, the water-soluble periplasmic sensor domain of Sinorhizobium meliloti DctB (DctBp) was studied, and three crystal structures were solved: the apo protein, a complex with C4 succinate, and a complex with C3 malonate. Different from the two structurally known CitA family of carboxylate sensor proteins CitA and DcuS, the structure of DctBp consists of two tandem Per–Arnt–Sim (PAS) domains and one N-terminal helical region. Only the membrane-distal PAS domain was found to bind the ligands, whereas the proximal PAS domain was empty. Comparison of DctB, CitA, and DcuS suggests a detailed stereochemistry of C4-dicarboxylates ligand perception. The structures of the different ligand binding states of DctBp also revealed a series of conformational changes initiated upon ligand binding and propagated to the N-terminal domain responsible for dimerization, providing insights into understanding the detailed mechanism of the signal transduction of TCS histidine kinases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is a key enzyme involved in atherosclerosis, and has been considered as a new target for drug discovery. The major difficulty for high-throughput screening of Lp-PLA2 inhibitors and for functional studies was their fast and efficient production. Purification of native Lp-PLA2 from human plasma was complicated and produced a very low yield. We herein examined the feasibility of expressing and purifying recombinant Lp-PLA2 in different heterologous expression systems. The fusion Lp-PLA2 was expressed at high levels and exhibited strong enzyme activity in insect cell-baculovirus expression system. The functional enzyme could also be produced in Pichia pastoris. The inclusion of a Kozak sequence increased greatly the expression level of recombinant Lp-PLA2 in insect cells, but had little effect on the expression of recombinant Lp-PLA2 in P. pastoris and Escherichia coli. P. pastoris-produced Lp-PLA2 could be purified rapidly and conveniently through a one-step procedure, while baculovirus-produced Lp-PLA2 could be efficiently purified through a two-step procedure. This ability to readily produce recombinant Lp-PLA2 could provide a screening model for Lp-PLA2 inhibitors and will facilitate further studies on this enzyme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Given the poor prognosis of unresectable advanced gastric cancer (GC), novel therapeutic strategies are needed. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade, the most frequently activated pathway in GC, plays an important role in tumorigenesis and metastasis. The MAPK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway is an attractive therapeutic target for GC. In this study, trametinib, a mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitor, reduced the p-ERK level and significantly increased signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) phosphorylation in GC cells, resulting in reduced sensitivity to trametinib. Physapubescin B (PB), a steroidal compound extracted from the plant Physalis pubescens L., inhibited the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of GC cells by suppressing STAT3 phosphorylation. The combination of PB and trametinib suppressed the STAT3 phosphorylation induced by trametinib, and synergistically suppressed gastric tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Together, these results indicate that inhibition of both MEK and STAT3 may be effective for patients with MAPK/ERK pathway-addicted GC. • PB suppresses the proliferation and induces the apoptosis of GC cells. • PB inhibits the transcriptional and post-transcriptional activity of STAT3. • PB and trametinib synergistically induce the apoptosis of GC cells. • The combination of PB and trametinib suppresses both ERK and STAT3 phosphorylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, bottom-gate inverted-staggered Ga doped ZnO (GZO) thin film transistors were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at room temperature, and all of results demonstrated that the oxygen pressure has a huge effect on the electrical properties of the device during the preparation of the active layer. As the oxygen pressure increases from 0 Pa to 1.6 Pa, the performances of the TFTs increase first and then decrease. And GZO-TFTs exhibit the best properties with a μ sat of 12.32 cm2/V·s, an I on /I off of 9.17 × 106, a V th of 4.93 V, and a SS of 1.53 V/decade when oxygen pressure is 1.0 Pa. The GZO films were characterized by XPS, XRD, AFM to investigate this phenomenon. The XPS spectra of O 1s and Ga 2p indicated that moderate oxygen can improve the quality of GZO films due to the filled oxygen vacancies, but excess oxygen will bring out the receptor complexes and weaken the performance of TFTs. Furthermore, the best GZO film is amorphous and has a low roughness of 0.78 nm. GZO-TFT has a great potential in the large-area preparation. • Thin film transistors have been prepared by PLD at room temperature with Ga doped ZnO (GZO) active layer. • As the oxygen pressure increases, the performance of the TFT rises first and then decreases. • The properties of GZO films are characterized by a series of methods in order to to explore the mechanism of oxygen pressure. • The active layer is amorphous and has a low roughness of 0.78 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]