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Magneto‐optical activity is a significant way to achieve asymmetric transmission for spin photons. However, it is severely limited by the weak light‐matter interaction in the terahertz (THz) region. In this work, a magnetic Moiré grating (MMG) is constructed by sandwiching an Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) single crystal in a pair of twisted 2D subwavelength gratings. The twisted angle between two gratings introduces a strong geometric Moiré chirality related to the Moiré pattern. When an external magnetic field is applied to the YIG layer, three different symmetries of spacial mirror image, time reversal, and spin conjugation are broken simultaneously under the chiral coupling between magneto‐optical activity and Moiré chirality, leading to both the enhanced magneto‐optical chiral transmission and the nonreciprocal spin isolation. Under the magnetic field varying from −0.26 to +0.26 T in the experiment, the MMG achieves an active modulation of circular dichroism from 39 to −37.5 dB and optical activity from −35° to 30°. Moreover, the maximum spin isolation over 32.6 dB is also obtained near 0.5 THz. This mechanism provide a new way to realize independent manipulation and active modulation of THz spin photons more flexibly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vortex‐vector beam generators can effectively improve the channel capacity and communication accuracy, but they face the problems of narrow operating frequency band, low efficiency, and fixed function. Here, a terahertz liquid crystal cascaded metadevice is demonstrated, including a liquid crystal layer, an asymmetric metasurface layer, and a helical phase metasurface layer. The combination of liquid crystal's anisotropy and structural anisotropy from the asymmetric metasurface realizes the dynamic chirality construction. Then, the tunable chiral fields are effectively coupled with the helical geometric phase of the last metasurface layer to realize an active control between symmetric and asymmetric spin‐orbit angular momentum coupling, leading to the two types of beam generation and conversion: 1) spin‐dependent conversion and energy distribution between the vortex beams with ±2 topological charges; 2) the conversions between the 2‐order vortex beam and the cylindrical vector beam. The experimental results show that the excitation efficiency of vortex beams can reach over 92.1%, and the intensity modulation depth between different types of beams is more than 72.4%. This THz beam dynamic conversion mechanism and device scheme increase the degree of freedom of the device and have potential applications in terahertz multi‐channel wireless communication, polarization multiplexing imaging, and chiral spectrum detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate full‐parameter construction of the Jones matrix is of great significance for encoding multiple functions in a single metasurface. Supercells composed of several elements are used for this purpose through coherent superposition. But all the elements in the reported studies should be lossless with near‐unity transmission, which limits the material system and restricts the Jones matrix construction in a unitary manner. Here a non‐unitary matrix decomposition method is proposed to build the supercell using a pair of 0°‐oriented rods and a pair of 45°‐oriented rods for on‐demand design of arbitrary symmetric Jones matrices. This method is applicable for lossy metasurfaces and offers straightforward physical guidance for structure design without optimization. The accuracy of the on‐demand Jones matrix generation is demonstrated by several 3D‐printed alumina metalenses with 3‐, 4‐, and 6‐channel polarization‐multiplexed focusing. The study opens a new pathway for non‐silicon meta‐optics and holds great potential for dynamic or switchable applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proteoglycans (PGs), consisting of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) linked with the core protein through a tetrasaccharide linkage region, play roles in many important biological events. The chemical synthesis of PG glycopeptides is extremely challenging. In this work, the enzymes required for synthesis of chondroitin sulfate (CS) PG (CSPG) have been expressed and the suitable sequence of enzymatic reactions has been established. To expedite CSPG synthesis, the peptide acceptor was immobilized on solid phase and the glycan units were directly installed enzymatically onto the peptide. Subsequent enzymatic chain elongation and sulfation led to the successful synthesis of CSPG glycopeptides. The CS dodecasaccharide glycopeptide was the longest homogeneous CS glycopeptide synthesized to date. The enzymatic synthesis was much more efficient than the chemical synthesis of the corresponding CS glycopeptides, which could reduce the total number of synthetic steps by 80 %. The structures of the CS glycopeptides were confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis and NMR studies. In addition, the interactions between the CS glycopeptides and cathepsin G were studied. The sulfation of glycan chain was found to be important for binding with cathepsin G. This efficient chemoenzymatic strategy opens new avenues to investigate the structures and functions of PGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity and practicability of terahertz metamaterials have experienced rapid development in the past decade due to the increasing demand for various devices. This topic has attracted significant interest from researchers. Among the key functional devices in terahertz metamaterial systems, the active control ability of terahertz metamaterials is highly valuable and captivating. This implies that the electromagnetic properties of metamaterials can be modulated over a wide dynamic range by external stimuli. This review categorizes the different types of tunable terahertz metamaterials based on the external stimuli to which they respond, namely, mechanical modulation, electrical modulation, magnetic modulation, and optical modulation. Mechanically modulated devices offer simple yet efficient modulation, while electrical and magnetic modulation provide effective active modulation through electrical mechanisms. Optical modulation, in contrast, focuses on incorporating various materials to achieve active modulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manipulating terahertz (THz) polarization in an efficient and broadband manner is of great significance to facilitating THz applications, including communications, imaging, defense, and homeland security. In this work, a dispersion compensation scheme is proposed for high‐efficiency and ultra‐broadband THz polarization manipulation using an anisotropic dielectric‐metal hybrid metadevice. The operating bandwidth is broadened by dispersion compensation, where the dielectric grating provides an artificial birefringence with a phase dispersion of positive slope and the metallic grating provides a phase dispersion of negative slope. Experimental results show that the device achieves two ultra‐broadband dispersion compensation, corresponding to the achromatic quarter‐wave plate in the lower frequency band (QWP: 0.5–2.0 THz, PCR >0.95) and the achromatic half‐wave plate in the higher frequency band (HWP: 1.0–2.1 THz, PCR >0.9), respectively. Theoretically, the bandwidth of QWP can be further improved to 2.6 THz by optimizing the grating dispersion, which brings huge application space to cover most of the THz radiation. This hybrid metadevice configuration offers a versatile platform for engineering electromagnetic waves, and the strategy of phase compensation can be generalized to extend the bandwidth of the metadevice in imaging and communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer memristors represent a highly promising avenue for the advancement of next‐generation computing systems. However, the intrinsic structural heterogeneity characteristic of most polymers often results in organic polymer memristors displaying erratic resistive switching phenomena, which in turn lead to diminished production yields and compromised reliability. In this study, a 2D conjugated polymer, named PBDTT‐BPQTPA, is synthesized by integrating the coplanar bis(thiophene)‐4,8‐dihydrobenzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b]dithiophene (BDTT) as an electron‐donating unit with a quinoxaline derivative serving as an electron‐accepting unit. The incorporation of triphenylamine groups at the quinoxaline termini significantly enhances the polymer's conjugation and planarity, thereby facilitating more efficient charge transport. The fabricated polymer memristor with the structure of Al/PBDTT‐BPQTPA/ITO exhibits typical non‐volatile resistive switching behavior under high voltage conditions, along with history‐dependent memristive properties at lower voltages. The unique memristive behavior of the device enables the simulation of synaptic enhancement/inhibition, learning algorithms, and memory operations. Additionally, the memristor demonstrates its capability for executing logical operations and handling decimal calculations. This study offers a promising and innovative approach for the development of artificial neuromorphic computing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of KIAA0040 role in glioma development is not yet understood despite its connection to nervous system diseases. In this study, KIAA0040 expression levels were evaluated using qRT‐PCR, WB and IHC, and functional assays were conducted to assess its impact on glioma progression, along with animal experiments. Moreover, WB was used to examine the impact of KIAA0040 on the JAK2/STAT3 signalling pathway. Our study found that KIAA0040 was increased in glioma and linked to tumour grade and poor clinical outcomes, serving as an independent prognostic factor. Functional assays showed that KIAA0040 enhances glioma growth, migration and invasion by activating the JAK2/STAT3 pathway. Of course, KIAA0040 enhances glioma growth by preventing tumour cell death and promoting cell cycle advancement. Our findings suggest that targeting KIAA0040 could be an effective treatment for glioma due to its role in promoting aggressive tumour behaviour and poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A kind of all‐dielectric circularly polarised (CP) loop antenna made of high‐permittivity material is proposed. The leaky‐wave radiation from a high‐permittivity dielectric waveguide is utilised here to support the operation of the proposed antenna. A non‐closed dielectric loop covering a three‐quarter circle is adopted to generate CP radiation and it is connected with the dielectric ground via one of bending ends to form an all‐in‐one structure of the antenna. The other end is also bent and vertical to the ground, but hanging in the air for probe feed. As two kinds of typical high‐permittivity dielectric materials, zirconia ceramic and pure water are used to implement the proposed design respectively. On one hand, an all‐ceramic CP loop antenna made of zirconia is proposed. And benefiting from the low loss and high melting point of zirconia, the proposed ceramic antenna has superiority in radiation efficiency and could adapt to a harsh environment. On the other hand, by using pure water and transparent container, a fully‐transparent CP water loop antenna can be obtained. Finally, a 3‐D printing technology is adopted in the manufacturing of ceramic structure and resin container. Measured results of both antennas demonstrate the validity of the proposed design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic Weyl semimetal shows intriguing properties in both fundamental physics and potential applications. However, the complex relationship between nonreciprocal transmission and magnetic field manipulation in magnetic Weyl semimetal systems has not been generally clarified and fully utilized. Here, a universal Chirality–Wavevector–Magnetic field (C‐K‐B) relation is established in the magnetic Weyl semimetal system, which completely describes the spin topological band and its intrinsic polarization output in full space orientation under an arbitrary magnetic vector. This relation can provide complete guidance for the device design of nonreciprocal spin manipulation. Coupling this nonreciprocal mechanism with the photonic spin Hall effect of the geometric phased metasurface, a magnetic Weyl semimetal metasurface is constructed in the terahertz (THz) range, The experiments demonstrate the flexible THz beam steerings in a broad spatial dispersion range of ±25–±55° with four different working modes by only altering the biased magnetic vectors. Moreover, all these beam steering processes are accompanied by nonreciprocal isolating transmission with the isolation ratio reaching 27 dB. This C‐K‐B relation and active nonreciprocal beam steering devices are expected to prompt magneto‐optical devices and systems combined with echo isolation function in beam scanning, wavelength division multiplexing, and spin multiplexing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical trials of new drugs for tic disorders (TD) often fail to yield positive results. Placebo and nocebo responses play a vital role in interpreting the outcomes of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), yet these responses in RCTs of TD remain unexplored. Objective: The aim was to assess the magnitude of placebo and nocebo responses in RCTs of pharmacological interventions for TD and identify influencing factors. Methods: A systematic search of the Embase, Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and PsycINFO databases was conducted. Eligible studies were RCTs that compared active pharmacological agents with placebos. Placebo response was defined as the change from baseline in TD symptom severity in the placebo group, and nocebo response as the proportion experiencing adverse events (AEs) in this group. Subgroup analysis and meta‐regression were performed to explore modifying factors. Results: Twenty‐four trials involving 2222 participants were included in this study. A substantial placebo response in TD symptom severity was identified, with a pooled effect size of −0.79 (95% confidence interval [CI] −0.99 to −0.59; I2 = 67%). Forty‐four percent (95% CI 27% to 63%; I2 = 92%) of patients experienced AEs while taking inert pills. Sample size, study design, and randomization ratio were correlated with changes in placebo and nocebo responses. Conclusion: There were considerable placebo and nocebo responses in TD clinical trials. These results are of great relevance for the design of future trials and for clinical practice in TD. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration ID CRD42023388397. © 2024 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonreciprocal materials and devices play an irreplaceable role in isolating, routing, and multiplexing. However, in the terahertz (THz) band, their active control mechanisms are still limited. Herein, a THz nonreciprocal photonic spin transmission is demonstrated in the undoped InSb actively manipulated by a light‐magneto‐joint modulation method, in which THz cyclotron resonance of the photoinduced carriers is conjunctively excited by both pump laser and external magnetic field. Moreover, a diffusion model of photoinduced non‐equilibrium carriers and its nonreciprocal dispersion model of magnetized plasma are established to interpret the experimental observation. The results indicate that the light‐magneto‐joint modulation achieves a broadband amplitude‐phase modulation with a higher modulation depth (>2π rad phase shift), as well as an active nonreciprocal spin transmission with magnetic circular dichroism (>20dB) and the Faraday rotation effect (>90°) in InSb, which is more efficient and faster than the traditional thermal excitation. Furthermore, the demonstration in a single‐frequency THz transmission system shows that this light‐magneto‐joint modulation mechanism in InSb can be multifunctionally applied in active control, isolation, and polarization conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To compare the demographic and clinical features, laboratory and imaging findings in mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) children with non‐MPP (NMPP) children and general MPP (GMPP) children with refractory MPP (RMPP) children and analysis the relationship with the severity of disease. Methods: The study included 265 children with MPP and 230 children with NMPP in the Affiliated Changzhou No. 2 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from 2020 to 2021. The children with MPP included RMPP (n = 85) and GMPP (n = 180). Demographic and clinical characteristics, laboratory and imaging findings of all children were measured as baseline data within 24 h after admission and the differences between MPP and NMPP, RMPP and GMPP patients were compared. ROC curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic and predictive value of different indicators for RMPP. Results: Fever duration and hospital stay in children with MPP were longer than those with NMPP. The number of patients with imaging features of pleural effusion, lung consolidation and bronchopneumonia in MPP group was significantly higher than that in NMPP group. Compared with NMPP group, the levels of C‐reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), serum amyloid A (SAA), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), prothrombin time (PT), fibrinogen (FIB) and D‐dimer and inflammatory cytokines (interleukin [IL]‐6, IL‐8, IL‐10 and IL‐1β) in MPP group were significantly higher (P < 0.05). The clinical symptoms and pulmonary imaging findings were more severe in RMPP group. The levels of white blood cell (WBC), CRP, PCT, SAA, ESR, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), LDH, ferritin, PT, FIB, D‐dimer and inflammatory cytokines in RMPP group were higher than those in GMPP group. There was no significant difference in the level of lymphocyte subsets between the RMPP and GMPP group. IL‐6, IL‐10, LDH, PT, D‐dimer and lung consolidation were independent risk factors for RMPP. IL‐6 levels and LDH activity were good predictors of RMPP. Conclusion: In conclusion, there were differences in clinical characteristics and serum inflammatory markers between MPP group and NMPP group, RMPP group and GMPP group. IL‐6, IL‐10, LDH, PT and D‐dimer can be used as predictive indicators for RMPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active beam manipulation has significant potential in terahertz (THz) applications such as radar, wireless communication, and imaging, but they are still suffering from low efficiency and tunability. Here, by combining the gyroelectric semiconductor InSb with the anisotropic phase‐gradient metasurface, a nonreciprocal beam manipulation device actively controlled by the magnetic field is demonstrated experimentally. Due to the diffractive angle‐frequency dependence, the deflection waves are dispersed ranging from 35° to 22.5° in space corresponding to the frequencies of 0.7–1.1 THz. Importantly, two main functions of this device are developed for different polarization conversion and nonreciprocal transmission mechanisms. For the linear polarization (LP) to circular polarization output, this device modulates the diffraction efficiency from 2% to 70% by tuning the magnetic fields. For the LP to LP output, this device can separate the two orthogonal LPs in space, i.e., x‐ and y‐LP, and switch them between 25° and 35° with different magnetic fields. Moreover, the metadevice achieves the nonreciprocal one‐way transmission. This nonreciprocal beam manipulation mechanism and the related magneto‐optical metadevice provide a new scheme for multifunctions combining beam steering, one‐way transmission, polarization conversion, and magneto‐optical modulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband terahertz (THz) chirality and wavefront manipulation play important roles in wireless communication, imaging, and radar systems. In this work, by integrating liquid crystal (LC) into a dielectric metasurface, the gradient phase distribution from the Si metasurface and the tunable birefringent phase shift from LC are engineered to perform an active spin‐decoupled beam steering with the strong spin asymmetric transmission. By using geometric symmetry analysis, the relationships between the symmetry breaking and the optical chirality of the metadevice are revealed under different LC orientations, and both the simulations and experiments further verify the dependence of this chirality on spin‐decoupled beam steering with different spin states. The results show that with the orientation changes of the LC by driving the different magnetic fields, the circular dichroism of the device at the 0° deflection angle is ≈100% dynamically modulated and even flipped in the broadband range of 0.8–1.3 THz. With these changes in THz chirality, a tunable spin‐decoupled beam steering occurs in the range of 25°‐45°. This work shows that tunable LC anisotropy leads to more complex symmetry breaking in this structure, and results in more functions than conventional spin‐decoupled wavefront manipulations, which expands the scope of THz chiral metadevice and its applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the gyrotropic semiconductor InSb into the twisted bilayer metasurface to form a magneto‐optical moiré metasurface is introduced. Through the theoretical analysis, the "moiré angle" is developed in which case the nonreciprocity and chirality with the spin‐conjugate asymmetric transmission are obtained due to the simultaneous breaking of both time‐reversal symmetry and spatial mirror symmetry. The experiments confirm that the chirality can be actively manipulated by rotating the twisted angle and the external magnetic field, realizing spin‐conjugate asymmetric transmission. Meanwhile, the two spin states also realize the nonreciprocal one‐way transmission, and their isolation spectra are also spin‐conjugate asymmetric: one is enhanced up to 48 dB, and the other's bandwidth is widened to over 730 GHz. This spin‐conjugate symmetry‐breaking effect in the MOMM brings a combination of time‐space asymmetric transmission, and it also provides a new scheme for the implementation of high‐performance THz chirality controllers and isolators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terahertz (THz) isolators are crucial to one‐way transmission in THz application systems. However, it is still challenging to implement THz isolators with integrated structure and tunable characteristics. Herein, a THz isolator based on a magneto‐plasmonic waveguide (MPWG) has been demonstrated. In this InSb‐air‐metal asymmetric waveguide, the plasmonic band gap is excited and thermally tuned by surface plasmons. Moreover, under weak external magnetic fields (EMFs), magneto‐plasmons excite nonreciprocal transverse edge spin states, which break the time‐reversal symmetry of the MPWG and lead to a pair of isolation bandgaps that only allow one‐way transmission. The experimental results of both broadband time‐domain spectrum system and single‐frequency system confirm this isolator can achieve more than 20 dB isolation and only 4 dB insertion loss. More importantly, its isolation can be actively modulated by EMFs from 0 to 0.23 T, and also realize broadband tuning of over 1 THz frequency range by controlling the temperature from 80 to 280 K. This topological edge band structure of transverse spin states and its active manipulation mechanism are helpful to deepen the understanding of nonreciprocal plasmon propagation, and this broadband tunable THz on‐chip isolator is significant to urgently apply in strong THz sources and ultra‐sensitive detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Chlorsulfuron, metsulfuron‐methyl and ethametsulfuron can damage sensitive crops in rotation pattern as a result of their long persistence in soil. To explore novel sulfonylurea (SU) herbicides with favorable soil degradation rates, four series of SUs were synthesized through a structure‐based drug design (SBDD) strategy. RESULTS: The target compounds, especially Ia, Id and Ie, exhibited prospective herbicidal activity against dicotyledon oil seed rape (Brassica campestris), amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus), monocotyledon barnyard grass (Echinochloa crusgalli) and crab grass (Digitaria sanguinalis) at a concentration of 15 a.i. g ha−1. Additionally, Ia, Id and Ig displayed excellent inhibitory effects against AtAHAS, with Kapp i values of 59.1, 34.5 and 71.8 μm, respectively, which were much lower than that of chlorsulfuron at 149.4 μm. The π‐π stack and H‐bonds between the Ia conformation and AtAHAS in the molecular docking results confirmed the series of compounds to be conventional AHAS inhibitors. In alkaline soil (pH = 8.46), compounds Ia–Ig revealed various degrees of acceleration in the degradation rate compared with chlorsulfuron. Besides, compound Ia showed considerable wheat and corn safety under postemergence at the concentration of 30, 60 and even 120 a.i. g ha−1. CONCLUSION: Overall, based on the synthetic procedure, herbicidal activity, soil degradation and crop safety, the Ia sulfonylureas series were chosen to be investigated as prospective AHAS inhibitors. The 5‐dimethylamino group on SUs accelerated the degradation rate at different levels in alkaline soils which seems to be controllable in conventional cropping systems in their further application. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no such study in the area of extensive calcified costal cartilage rhinoplasty. The study evaluated patients' satisfaction with extensive calcified costal cartilage compared with no calcified costal cartilage. Method: Thirty‐five patients with extensive calcified costal cartilage underwent rhinoplasty at our institution between January 2018 and May 2020. We also used a control group of 35 patients with absent rib cartilage calcification to compare the outcomes. Satisfaction was evaluated by the photogrammetric measurements and Rhinoplasty Outcomes Evaluation (ROE) scale. Results: We found no significant difference in the nose measurement between the two groups before and after the operation. Besides, both groups had a significant difference in comparison with preoperative after surgery except for the nasofrontal angle. The difference between preoperative and postoperative ROE scores was statistically significant in both groups. We also compared the satisfaction of preoperative and postoperative outcomes between the two groups, where no difference was found between them. Each group had a patient who occurred an infection after surgery. Conclusion: Autologous costal cartilage provides the most abundant source for graft fabrication. Patients with extensive calcified cartilage could undergo rhinoplasty and have satisfactory results instead of choosing an artificial implant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The prognostic value of tumor size in neuroblastoma (NB) patients has not been fully evaluated. Our purpose is to elucidate the prognostic significance of tumor size in surgery performed on neuroblastoma patients. Methods: Neuroblastoma patients diagnosed from 2004 to 2015 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) for the study. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to identify risk factors and the independent prognostic influences of tumor size on NB patients. Overall survival (OS) was analyzed through univariate Cox regression analysis. To determine the optimal cutoff value of tumor size, we first divided the cohort into three groups (≤5 cm, 5–10 cm, >10 cm). Subsequently, the patients were divided into two groups repeatedly, with tumor size at 1 cm intervals. The cutoff value that maximized prognostic outcome difference was selected. Furthermore, we performed the Kaplan–Meier methods to visually present differences in prognosis between the optimal tumor size cutoff value in different subgroups. Results: A total of 591 NB patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected from the SEER database in this study. Cox analysis showed that age >1 year (HR = 2.42, p < 0.0001), originate from adrenal site (HR = 1.7, p = 0.014), distant stage (HR = 6.4, p < 0.0001), undifferentiated grade (HR = 1.94, p = 0.002), and large tumor size (HR = 1.5, p < 0.0001) independently predicted poor prognosis. For tumor size, there were significant differences in tumor size distribution in different ages, tumor grade, disease stage, and primary site subgroup but not in sex, race, and histology subgroup. Furthermore, both univariate (HR = 4.96, 95% CI 2.31–10.63, p < 0.0001) and multivariable analysis (HR = 2.8, 95% CI 1.29–6.08, p < 0.0001) indicated the optimal cutoff value of tumor size was 4 cm for overall survival of NB patients. Using a 4 cm of tumor size cutoff in subgroups, we found that it can identify poor prognosis patients whatever their age or primary site. Interestingly, tumor size of 4 cm cutoff can only identify unfavorable NB patients with diagnosis at distant‐stage disease, or differentiated grade tumor, but not with regional and local or undifferentiated tumor. Conclusions: Tumor size is first to be recognized as a key prognostic factor of neuroblastoma patients and a cutoff value >4 cm might predict poor prognosis, which should be included in the evaluation of prognostic factors for NB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition‐metal sulfides have gained considerable attention for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in rechargeable Zn‐air batteries owing to their natural abundance, chemical stability, and efficient activity. Here, cobalt sulfide nanocrystalline supported on the 3D hierarchically flower‐like porous nanocarbon (mC‐CoSx‐50) electrocatalysts have been synthesized through a combination of metal‐organic complexation and porous silica templates for efficient bifunctional oxygen catalysis. With the high specific surface area, high nitrogen content and heteroatom doping, the as‐synthesized mC‐CoSx‐50 exhibits an excellent bifunctional oxygen catalytic performance. Remarkably, the rechargeable Zn‐air batteries assembled with the cobalt sulfide‐based hierarchically porous electrocatalysts reveal a high peak power density and excellent cycling stability in comparison with Pt/C+RuO2 owing to the synergistic effects between cobalt sulfide nanocrystallines and hierarchically porous carbon. We envision that this work not only offers high‐performance metal sulfide for future clean energy conversion but also provides a facial strategy for constructing hierarchically porous carbon‐supported catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an ordinary alteration mineral in the process of fluid–rock interaction, chlorite (most especially its chemical composition) has the potential to become an effective tool to reveal the physicochemical conditions during alteration and help exploration. However, its elemental characteristics during the chloritization process are yet to be clearly understood. The Dehua‐Youxi‐Yongtai (DYY) ore district in south‐east China is one of the potential areas of gold and polymetallic deposits. Lying in the north‐west section of the DYY ore district, the Donghua area is notable for its remarkable metallogenic potential, and porphyry‐epithermal systems might have developed in the area. This study focuses on the elemental characteristics of chlorite in the Donghua area as footprints of the alteration process and mineralization vectoring. According to the geological features and occurrences, the chlorite from Donghua can be divided into two generations: (a) Chlorite I is closely related to chloritization developed in intrusive and volcanic rocks (Permian quartz monzobiorite and Jurassic volcanic rocks of Changlin Formation), and (b) chlorite II is accompanied by superimposed hydrothermal overprinting. The alteration process suggested by overprinting chlorite II can be regarded as almost coeval with the ca. 154–153 Ma magmatic event, and chlorite II is later than chlorite I generation. According to the geothermometry of the chlorite in Donghua, chlorite I might have crystallized on the temperature of 180–240°C with a peak of ~200°C, and the overprinting chlorite II might have experienced two episodes of hydrothermal/epithermal fluid pulsing. The mineral geochemistry of the trace elements in the two generations of the chlorite in Donghua shows different characteristics. The replacement of Mg2+ by Fe2+ plays an important role for ionic substitution in the octahedral position, especially for chlorite II. The other occasion might be Mg and Fe jointly entering the octahedral position as well as Mg‐ and Fe‐AlVI substitution mechanisms. The enrichment of Mg especially in chlorite II suggests low‐grade oxidation and acid conditions, which might be beneficial for the transportation of metallogenic substances. The obvious differences of Co and Ni are remarkable aspects of the trace elements of chlorite in Donghua, resulted by the ion substitution and function of different octahedral site preference energy. The mineral chemistry of chlorite II from Donghua can be helpful for targeting and exploration vectoring in the DYY ore district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active manipulation of photonic spin state and optical chirality leads to some key applications, such as in multichannel communication, polarization‐sensitive imaging, chiral spectroscopy, and chiral sensing. Magneto‐optical materials have unique advantages in the intrinsic transmission and magnetic control of photonic chiral spin states. Here, a scheme for dynamic terahertz (THz) anisotropy and chirality manipulations in the transversely magnetized InSb and its hybrid magneto‐optical metasurface structure is presented. A special transverse photonic spin state in the InSb and a transverse−longitudinal spin coupling effect in the hybrid magneto‐optical metasurface are revealed by the eigenmode analysis and numerical simulations. The strong magnetic birefringence effect induced by this spin mode is demonstrated in the experiment. Moreover, the symmetry‐breaking mechanism in this magneto‐optical structure leads to strong intrinsic chirality and polarization conversion. The experimental results confirm the magnetically active manipulation of spin states and their asymmetric transmission in this hybrid magneto‐optical metasurface, which achieve a polarization conversion rate of near 100% and an induced intrinsic chirality of over 15 dB. This work opens a new development for active THz polarization control and chiral manipulation in the magneto‐optical microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the exponential growth of data digital communications and the advent of artificial intelligence, there is an urgent need for information technologies with huge storage capacity and efficient computing processing. However, the traditional von Neumann architecture and silicon‐based storage and computing technology will reach their limits and cannot meet the storage requirements of ultrasmall size, ultrahigh density, and memory computing. Considering these issues, organic material resistance switching memory and memristor devices have become promising candidates for high‐density storage, logic computing, and neuromorphic computing because of their advantages of fast speed, high energy efficiency, nonvolatile storage, and low cost. In this article, the working mechanism, material design strategy, and device performance of organic memory and memristors are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city is both a carrier and a subject of innovation. Based on the triple helix theory of industry–university research and the theory of spatial correlation, this study constructs a collaborative innovation framework both within the cities and between cities, and uses a network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and spatial econometric model to measure and analyze the collaborative innovation efficiency in 75 innovative cities in China. The results show that collaborative innovation efficiency within cities is on the rise, and the efficiency of "research to production" is significantly higher than that of "learning to research." Industrial structure and foreign factors have inhibited the efficiency improvements, and infrastructure and living standards have different promoting effects on different stages of efficiency. Between cities, capital flows have obvious spillover effects, which promote the efficiency of innovation networks, while the long‐term characteristics of institutional learning have a near‐term negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of low‐loss and high‐efficiency nonreciprocal isolators has become one of the limitations in the development of terahertz (THz) application systems. This work demonstrates that the longitudinally magnetized InSb can achieve one‐way transmission for one photonic spin state but not for linear polarization (LP) state due to the chiral mirror‐symmetry of the two spin states. To solve this issue, a silicon microstructure is fabricated on the InSb substrate to form a magnetoplasmon/dielectric metasurface, where both the time‐reversal and mirror‐reversal symmetric transmission of the two spin states can be broken. In this device, the forward LP state is efficiently transformed into one of the spin states and output with low loss, but the backward wave is forbidden, which achieves the one‐way transmission for the LP incidence with over 30 dB isolation and only 1.7 dB insertion loss. When a THz polarizer is added behind the device to obtain the LP output, the isolation can reach 40 dB, significantly better than the previous reports. This study is significant to understand the nonreciprocal transmission and manipulation mechanism of THz spin states in the magnetized semiconductor and promotes the development of high‐performance THz isolators under the weak magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Peach scab, caused by Venturia carpophila, can significantly reduce both the yield and quality of peach fruit. It is difficult to distinguish peach scab from other peach diseases such as black spot and bacterial spot. An efficient assay is needed to identify V. carpophila in order to develop scientific management strategies. RESULTS: A set of loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) primers was designed based on the internal transcribed spacer (rDNA‐ITS) sequence to detect V. carpophila. Compared with the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, the LAMP method not only exhibited higher sensitivity and specificity in the detection of V. carpophila, but also required simpler equipment and less operational time. The minimum detectable concentration of V. carpophila genomic DNA with the LAMP method was 56.6 fg μl–1, which was 100 times lower than with the conventional PCR method. When eight fungal species including V. carpophila (23 isolates from 14 provinces) and one bacterial species were used with LAMP detection, only V. carpophila showed a color change, from brown to yellowish green, and ladder‐like bands in electrophoresis, indicating successful amplification. Moreover, when crude DNAs of peach fruit samples were used in LAMP detection, amplification was observed only from diseased fruits, and not from healthy fruits and the negative control. CONCLUSION: The LAMP assay shows simplicity, rapidity, high sensitivity and specificity, and will be useful in distinguishing scab caused by Venturia carpophila from other diseases with similar symptoms. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death‐associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1) is upregulated in the brains of human Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients compared with normal subjects, and aberrant DAPK1 regulation is implicated in the development of AD. However, little is known about whether and how DAPK1 function is regulated in AD. Here, we identified melatonin as a critical regulator of DAPK1 levels and function. Melatonin significantly decreases DAPK1 expression in a post‐transcriptional manner in neuronal cell lines and mouse primary cortical neurons. Moreover, melatonin directly binds to DAPK1 and promotes its ubiquitination, resulting in increased DAPK1 protein degradation through a proteasome‐dependent pathway. Furthermore, in tau‐overexpressing mouse brain slices, melatonin treatment and the inhibition of DAPK1 kinase activity synergistically decrease tau phosphorylation at multiple sites related to AD. In addition, melatonin and DAPK1 inhibitor dramatically accelerate neurite outgrowth and increase the assembly of microtubules. Mechanistically, melatonin‐mediated DAPK1 degradation increases the activity of Pin1, a prolyl isomerase known to play a protective role against tau hyperphosphorylation and tau‐related pathologies. Finally, elevated DAPK1 expression shows a strong correlation with the decrease in melatonin levels in human AD brains. Combined, these results suggest that DAPK1 regulation by melatonin is a novel mechanism that controls tau phosphorylation and function and offers new therapeutic options for treating human AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This work presents a generalized substructuring‐based topology optimization method for the design hierarchical lattice structures to maximize the first eigenvalue. In this method, the macrostructure is assumed to be composed of substructures with a common artificial lattice geometry pattern. And two different yet connected scales are considered through a lattice geometry feature parameter. The feature parameter, which can control the material distribution of the substructure, determines the relative density of corresponding substructure. Each substructure is condensed into a super‐element to obtain the associated density‐related matrices. A surrogate model using cubic spline interpolation has been particularly built to map the density to stiffness and mass matrices of condensed super‐elements. The derivatives of super‐element matrices to the associated densities can be evaluated efficiently and accurately. Here, an augmented penalized density for this surrogate model is introduced. And the conventional optimality criteria method is selected as updating method of the density design variables. Numerical examples under two lattice patterns of substructures are shown to validate the correctness and superiority of this substructure‐based topology optimization method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: CD100 is an immune semaphorin constitutively expressed on T‐cells. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) is an important mediator of membrane‐bound CD100 (mCD100) cleavage to generate soluble CD100 (sCD100), which has immunoregulatory activity in immune cell responses. The aim of the study was to investigate the level and role of sCD100 and mCD100 in modulating CD8+ T‐cell function in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). sCD100 and MMP‐14 levels in the serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and mCD100 expression on peripheral and lung‐resident CD8+ T‐cells were analysed in NSCLC patients. The ability to induce sCD100 and the effect of MMP‐14 on mCD100 shedding for the regulation of non‐cytolytic and cytolytic functions of CD8+ T‐cells were also analysed in direct and indirect contact co‐culture systems. NSCLC patients had lower serum sCD100 and higher mCD100 levels on CD8+ T‐cells compared with healthy controls. BALF from the tumour site also had decreased sCD100 and increased mCD100 on CD8+ T‐cells compared with the non‐tumour site. Recombinant CD100 stimulation enhanced non‐cytolytic and cytolytic functions of CD8+ T‐cells from NSCLC patients, whereas blockade of CD100 receptor CD72 attenuated CD8+ T‐cell activity. NSCLC patients had lower MMP‐14 in the serum and in BALF from the tumour site. Recombinant MMP‐14 mediated mCD100 shedding from CD8+ T‐cell membrane, and led to promotion of CD8+ T‐cell response in NSCLC patients. Overall, decreased MMP‐14 resulted in insufficient CD100 shedding, leading to suppression of peripheral and lung‐resident CD8+ T‐cell activity in NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional disease characterized by chronic abdominal pain and changes in bowel movements. Effective therapy for visceral hypersensitivity in IBS patients remains challenging. This study investigated the roles of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB) and the effect of ANA-12 (a selective antagonist of TrkB) on chronic visceral hypersensitivity in an IBS-like rat model.Methods: An IBS-like rat model was established through neonatal maternal separation (NMS), and visceral hypersensitivity was assessed by electromyographic (EMG) responses of the abdominal external oblique muscles to colorectal distention (CRD). Different doses of ANA-12 were injected intrathecally to investigate the effect of that drug on visceral hypersensitivity, and the open field test was performed to determine whether ANA-12 had side effects on movement. Thoracolumbar spinal BDNF, TrkB receptor and Protein kinase Mζ (PKMζ) expression were measured to investigate their roles in chronic visceral hypersensitivity. Whole-cell recordings were made from thoracolumbar superficial dorsal horn (SDH) neurons of lamina II.Results: The expression of BDNF and TrkB was enhanced in the thoracolumbar spinal cord of the NMS animals. ANA-12 attenuated visceral hypersensitivity without side effects on motricity in NMS rats. PKMζ expression significantly decreased after the administration of ANA-12. The frequency of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs) increased in the thoracolumbar SDH neurons of lamina II in NMS rats. The amplitude and frequency of sEPSCs were reduced after perfusion with ANA-12 in NMS rats.Conclusions: Neonatal maternal separation caused visceral hypersensitivity and increased synaptic activity by activating BDNF-TrkB-PKMζ signalling in the thoracolumbar spinal cord of adult rats. PKMζ was able to potentiate AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated sEPSCs in NMS rats. ANA-12 attenuated visceral hypersensitivity and synaptic activity by blocking BDNF/TrkB signalling in NMS rats.Significance: ANA-12 attenuates visceral hypersensitivity via BDNF-TrkB-PKMζ signalling and reduces synaptic activity through AMPARs in NMS rats. This knowledge suggests that ANA-12 could represent an interesting novel therapeutic medicine for chronic visceral hypersensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between collaborative innovation and innovation efficiency has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years. However, few studies have integrated intra‐regional and inter‐regional collaborative innovations (IRCI) into a unified framework to analyze the overall impact of regional innovation efficiency. To fill this gap, this paper uses an improved Data Envelopment Analysis Model to measure the innovation efficiency of Chinese cities from 2003 to 2016 based on the regional innovation capability. Using the Coupling Coordination Degree Model to measure the degree of intra‐regional collaborative innovation, we constructed a Capability Structure Model to measure the degree of IRCI, then used the Spatial Durbin Model to empirically analyze the influence of intra‐regional and IRCI on regional innovation efficiency. The results show that: (a) both intra‐regional and IRCI promote regional innovation efficiency, but the internal factors are the primary influences on regional innovation efficiency; (b) intra‐regional collaborative innovation not only promotes local regional innovation efficiency but also promotes innovation efficiency in other regions effectively, although its driving effect on the local region is higher than on other regions; (c) there is a time lag in promoting regional innovation efficiency through the cooperation and interaction among innovation in knowledge, technological, industrial, and service, and environment capabilities. The regional innovation capacities can result in good collaborative innovation effects only after a certain period of cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to explore whether computed tomography (CT) images of cranial sutures can contribute to adult age estimation in Chinese Han individuals. Materials and methods: This study was based on cranial CT scans of 230 Chinese Han males aged 23.33–76.93 years. A total of 160 images from 16 suture segments were scored after volume reformation and multiplanar reconstruction in each individual. Decision tree regression, linear support vector regression, Bayesian ridge regression, and gradient boosting regression were developed for adult age estimation by a training set using leave‐one‐out cross‐validation and further evaluated by the test set. The inaccuracy and bias were calculated to evaluate the four models and the previously used models from the literature. Results: The degree of suture closure was associated with adult age. The minimum inaccuracy of the test set was 7.73 years obtained by linear support vector regression, while the inaccuracy of previous simple linear regression models was 13.09 and 10.97 years. The accuracy was higher in the age group from 40.00 to 59.99 years compared to the other age groups. Discussion: The accuracy of our models for adult age estimation was superior to those in previous studies based on cranial sutures. Hence, the application of novel statistical data mining tools helps to improve aging issues. Nevertheless, age estimation of adults should be combined with other methods, since the accuracy level is still not satisfactory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A preliminary study on diet of the Yangtze finless porpoise using next-generation sequencing techniques These facts together suggest that Yangtze finless porpoises experience food shortages in Yangtze River, and that they are forced to forage in unfavorable environments (Wang I et al i . Forestomach content samples were collected from 17 stranded Yangtze finless porpoises, including four from the main stream of the Yangtze River, seven from Dongting Lake, and six from Poyang Lake, between 2010 and 2017 (Fig., Table). Though we have not done a statistical analysis, Figure suggests the relative frequency of Yangtze finless porpoise prey species is similar to their relative abundance in the wild in the Poyang Lake region, implying the porpoises may be opportunistic feeders. [Extracted from the article]

Nylon 6 was treated with a dielectric barrier discharge, i.e. atmospheric plasma at ordinary air pressure. Factors influencing the dyeing process of nylon 6 using indigo blue powder were studied. The mechanism and effect of this dyeing technology were compared with those of conventional technology. Dyeing after plasma treatment at 30–50 °C can produce high dye uptake in a short time. Notably, dyeing after plasma treatment is beneficial for energy conservation. However, at 60–70 °C, the K/S values of plasma‐treatment dyeing sharply increased over a short time, after which they remained largely unchanged. This finding indicated that the dyeing mechanism changed. The speed constant of dyeing after plasma treatment is 2.8 times that of conventional dyeing. The K/S values of dyeing samples after plasma treatment approached the dyeing saturation K/S value in a short time; therefore, this method of dyeing after plasma treatment achieves energy conservation and efficiency in a brief period of time. Conversely, conventional dyeing is more effective at high temperatures but consumes more energy. The adaptive electro‐discharge condition is achieved under the treatment conditions of 375 W for 2 min. The chromatic aberration of the dyed samples after plasma treatment is smaller than that of conventional dyeing at 50 °C for 75 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, novel Cu-Co bimetal/reduce graphene oxide nanostructures with excellent catalytic activity were prepared by embedding Cu-Co bimetallic nanospheres into the interlayer of graphene. The composite materials were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) etc. The characterisation results indicated that the diameters of the bimetallic nanospheres were controlled within ~60 nm, which embedded uniformly in graphene. A series of electrochemical tests were carried out and the composites were found to exhibit excellent oxygen evolution properties under alkaline conditions. The excellent catalytic activity and stability make the composite have great potential for wide application and provide a basis for its industrial application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study that characterizes the composition of milk protein in Yangtze finless porpoise. Topics include the classification of the Yangtze finless porpoise as critically endangered due to its low population viability and its small population size, the important role of milk on the physiological processes of offspring and the use of a proteomic approach on the characterization of the milk proteins.

Major disadvantages of black phosphorus (BP) are its poor air‐stability and poor solubility in common organic solvents. The best way to solve this problem is to incorporate BP into a polymer backbone or a polymer matrix to form novel functional materials that can provide both challenges and opportunities for new innovation in optoelectronic and photonic applications. As a proof‐of concept application, we synthesized in situ the first highly soluble conjugated polymer‐covalently functionalized BP derivative (PDDF‐g‐BP) which was used to fabricate a resistive random access memory (RRAM) device with a configuration of Au/PDDF‐g‐BP/ITO. In contrast to PDDF without memory effect, PDDF‐g‐BP‐based device exhibits a nonvolatile rewritable memory performance, with a turn‐on and turn‐off voltages of +1.95 V and −2.34 V, and an ON/OFF current ratio of 104. The current through the device in both the ON and OFF states is still kept unchanged even at 200th switching cycle. The PDDF/BP blends show a very unstable memory performance with a very small ON/OFF current ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The electrical conductivity of laterally ordered polyacrylonitrile (PAN) can be improved by pyrolytic modification. Newly synthesized MoS2 nanosheets covalently grafted with PAN (MoS2‐PAN) do not exhibit any electrical switching and memory effect in an indium tin oxide (ITO)/MoS2‐PAN/Au device under applied bias voltages. After annealing at 220 °C for 4 h, the resultant pyrolytically modified product “pyro‐MoS2‐PAN” shows good nonvolatile rewritable memory performance, with a large ON/OFF current ratio of 4 × 104 and lower switching on and off voltages of −1.09 and 1.24 V. Highly reproducible memory I–V loops of more than 60 consecutive cycles are achieved without clear degradation of the ON and OFF states. The first oxidation potential of pyro‐MoS2‐PAN is cathodically shifted to over 530 mV lower than that of MoS2‐PAN, indicating the higher hole injection of pyro‐MoS2‐PAN when compared to MoS2‐PAN. As expected, the nonannealed MoS2/PAN blend‐based device does not show any memory effect under the same experimental condition. After annealing at 220 °C for 4 h, the blends exhibit unstable electrical switching and rewritable memory performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coupled dielectric-metal gratings are investigated for broadband terahertz (THz) wave polarization conversion and asymmetric transmission by the experiments and numerical simulations, which are composed of the subwavelength Si grating and metallic wire grating layers. The dielectric grating layer with a large artificial birefringence and low dispersion is employed as a phase engineered waveplate, and the metal wire grating arranged with a 45° angle to the dielectric grating is utilized as a high-efficiency polarizer. Due to the subwavelength integration, this coupled grating presents a local resonance coupling mechanism between dielectric and metal gratings, which greatly enhances the polarization rotation and expands the bandwidth, not a simple combination with dielectric and metallic gratings. The results demonstrate that a broadband asymmetric transmission with an extinction ratio of 30dB from 0.2 to 1.2 THz is achieved and the highest transmission of 90% can be obtained. It provides a simple way towards practical applications for THz artificial dispersion materials, polarization control and asymmetric transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this research, we aimed to apply color-matching, double-shelled microcapsules to deal with outdoor-clothing sunscreen-indicator identifications on cotton fabrics with a covalent-bonding coating method; this method allows one to display both the UV intensity and a warning. The color-property characteristics of color-matching-double-shelled-photochromic-microcapsule-treated patterns on cotton fabrics under various sunshine irradiation intensities are very close to those of inkjet-printing color-gradation patterns, which indicate sunshine irradiation intensities. Color-matching, double-shelled microcapsules were obtained by the addition of red double-shelled microcapsules into yellow double-shelled microcapsules. We increased the weight ratio of the red microcapsules and added blue double-shelled microcapsules into the red double-shelled microcapsules when the weight ratio of blue microcapsules was increased. Color-matching, double-shelled photochromic microcapsules, whose yellow/red/blue weight ratios were 5.6/0/0, 4.8/0.8/0, 2.4/3.2/0, and 0.8/4.8/0-0/0/5.6, presented distinct color-property characteristic changes under various irradiation intensities and presented a good color identification; a rather dark, bright color; and good laundering durability of covalent bonding on cotton fabrics. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44698. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helicobacter pylori, a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen prevalent in the human population, is the causative agent of severe gastric diseases. An H. pylori type IV secretion (T4S) system encoded by the cytotoxin-associated gene pathogenicity island ( cagPAI) is responsible for communication with host cells. As a component of the cagPAI T4S system core complex, CagX plays an important role in virulence-protein translocation into the host cells. In this work, the crystal structure of the C-terminal domain of CagX (CagXct), which is a homologue of the VirB9 protein from the VirB/D4 T4S system, is presented. CagXct is only the second three-dimensional structure to be elucidated of a VirB9-like protein. Another homologue, TraO, which is encoded on the Escherichia coli conjugative plasmid pKM101, shares only 19% sequence identity with CagXct; however, there is a remarkable similarity in tertiary structure between these two β-sandwich protein domains. Most of the residues that are conserved between CagXct and TraO are located within the protein core and appear to be responsible for the preservation of this domain fold. The studies presented here will contribute to our understanding of different bacterial T4S systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of high-performance materials for carbon dioxide separation and capture will significantly contribute to a solution for climate change. Herein, (bicycloheptenyl)ethyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMSPNB) membranes with varied cross-link densities were synthesized via ring-opening metathesis polymerization. The developed polymer membranes show higher permeability and better selectivity than those of conventional cross-linked PDMS membrane. The achieved performance (CO2 permeability≈6800 Barrer; CO2/N2 selectivity≈14) is very promising for practical applications. The key to achieving this high performance is the use of an in situ cross-linking method for difunctional PDMS macromonomers, which provides lightly cross-linked membranes. By combining positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, and gas solubility measurements, key parameters necessary for achieving excellent performance have been elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Double shell photochromic microcapsules were prepared by in situ polymerization with polyurethane and chitosan as inner and outer shell respectively. FT-IR indicated that chitosan-glutaraldehyde copolymer formed by imine and combined with polyurethane photochromic nanocapsules. The polyurethane-chitosan microcapsules exhibited a near-spherical shape, and the average particle size of nanocapsules was around 1.2 μm. The half-life of azo compound increased from 135 to 340 min after encapsulated in polyurethane-chitosan microcapsules. The polyurethane-chitosan shell delayed the coloration process for 14 s compared with azo compound in ethanol, however, the absorbance of azo compound increased by 17.15% in polyurethane-chitosan microcapsules. It decreased from 0.3486 to 0.1738 in ethanol during 20 s, however, it decreased from 0.4084 to 0.2625 in polyurethane-chitosan microcapsules in 55 s when it reached steady state during decoloration process. Polyurethane-chitosan double shell encapsulation is an effective route for improving the fatigue resistance, increasing the absorbance of azo compound. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40895. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructures: A new air‐stable π‐extended condensed benzothiophene was prepared by starting from 4,8‐dioctyl‐oxybenzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithiophene in about 54 % overall yield. Highly ordered 1D organic nanoribbons of the resultant compound were formed by molecular self‐assembly. An individual nanoribbon‐based organic field‐effect transistor (see figure) exhibited an average mobility of 0.05 cm2 V−1 s−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocrystalline Ni1− x Zn x Fe2 O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) powder with grain size of 30 nm was prepared using the spraying-coprecipitation method. The obtained nanocrystalline Ni1− x Zn x Fe2 O4 powder was sintered using conventional and microwave sintering techniques. The results show that the microstructure and magnetic properties of the sintered samples are obviously improved by microwave sintering of nanocrystalline Ni1− x Zn x Fe2 O4 ferrite powder. The initial permeability of Ni1− x Zn x Fe2 O4 ferrite increases with the increase in zinc concentration, although its resonance frequencies shift from high frequency to low frequency. The maximum initial permeability for microwave-sintered Ni0.4 Zn0.6 Fe2 O4 ceramic obtained at the temperature of 1170°C for 30 min reaches up to 360.9, and its resonance frequency is ~10 MHz. It may be attributed to the nanocrystalline Ni1− x Zn x Fe2 O4 raw powder as well as the microwave sintering process, which results in a synergistic effect on improvement of the microstructure and magnetic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To gain more insights into the epidemiology of hantaviruses in the coastal region of Zhejiang Province, China, the morbidity and mortality of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) were analyzed in two coastal areas: Cixi (hilly terrain) and Wenzhou (mountainous terrain). More HFRS cases have been reported in Cixi than in Wenzhou. Annual incidence rate of HFRS in Cixi had been on the level of approximately 1.5/100,000 from 1968 (when the first HFRS case was reported) to 2007, with the highest incidence rate of 8.54/100,000 in 1999. The annual incidence rate in Wenzhou has been relatively low, less than 0.5/100,000 since the first HFRS case was reported in 1981. A total of 461 rodents and 199 shrews were captured in these two areas. Hantavirus antibodies were detected in 16 of 241 (6.64%) Rattus norvegicus and 13 of 122 (10.66%) R. flavipectus. Interestingly, hantavirus antigens were identified in 6 of 196 (3.06%) Suncus murinus. Genetic analysis showed that partial M and S segment sequences recovered from rats in the two regions belong to Seoul virus (SEOV) and can be assigned into two genetic lineages. SEOV variants that belong to these two lineages of viruses are distributed widely in China and have been found outside China. As most trapped rodents were rats and SEOV was the only hantavirus detected, these results suggested that SEOV plays an important role in human hantavirus infections. They also reinforce the need for vigilance in preventing HFRS caused by hantaviruses in the coastal region. J. Med. Virol. 82:987-995, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]