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No studies have investigated the influence of ethnicity in a multi-ethnic middle-income country with a long-standing history of co-habitation. Stool samples from 214 Malaysian community members (46 Malay, 65 Chinese, 49 Indian, and 54 Jakun) were collected. The gut microbiota of the participants was investigated using 16S amplicon sequencing. Ethnicity exhibited the largest effect size across participants (PERMANOVA Pseudo-F = 4.24, R2 = 0.06, p = 0.001). Notably, the influence of ethnicity on the gut microbiota was retained even after controlling for all demographic, dietary factors and other covariates which were significantly associated with the gut microbiome (PERMANOVA Pseudo-F = 1.67, R2 = 0.02, p = 0.002). Our result suggested that lifestyle, dietary, and uncharacterized differences collectively drive the gut microbiota variation across ethnicity, making ethnicity a reliable proxy for both identified and unidentified lifestyle and dietary variation across ethnic groups from the same community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible poly(p-phenylene vinylene) organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with top-emitting architecture were developed on metal-sandwiched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. Commercial aluminum-laminated PET (Al-PET) was adopted as initial substrates. Different kinds of metal layers (silver and nickel) were then deposited on Al-PET foil to form metal-sandwiched plastic substrates and also to serve as anodes for the top emitting OLEDs. Interface modification was employed to enhance carrier injection from the metal anodes to the polymeric organic stack. Semitransparent top cathodes were used for the flexible top-emitting diodes. The performance of these OLEDs was characterized and compared among different metal anodes. The flexible top-emitting OLEDs on metal-sandwiched PET foil can be bent to a substantial degree without breaking. Moreover, increased contrast ratio of OLEDs can be achieved with specific anodes due to lower reflectance of nickel material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]