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2D ferroelectric materials with out‐of‐plane polarization are crucial for future nanoscale logic devices due to the increasing demand for energy‐efficient architectures in artificial intelligence. However, only a few 2D out‐of‐plane ferroelectrics are confirmed experimentally. As an important branch of ferroelectrics, organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite ferroelectrics show flexible structures, making them eligible for constructing multifunctional materials. Here, a 2D organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite ferroelectric (6‐BHA)2CdBr4 (6‐BHA is 6‐bromohexylamine) is designed, which crystallizes in polar point group Cc. It experiences the reversal phase transition at 317.8 K and possesses multiaxial ferroelectric properties. More interestingly, it exhibits a large spontaneous polarization value of 3.26 µC cm−2 in out‐of‐plane direction of the film compared with typical 2D ferroelectrics. Moreover, an inverter based on (6‐BHA)2CdBr4 is fabricated, which serves as a proof of concept for the feasibility for logic‐in‐memory devices. This work not only enriches the family of molecular ferroelectrics but also shows the potential to create the next generation of in‐memory computing devices, nanoelectronics devices, and ultra‐high‐density memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Century eggs (also known as pídàn) are a widely used preserved food product in Taiwanese cuisine. Due to their peculiar appearance, pungent odor, and unusual texture, several consumers have raised concerns. Actually, some metallic additives are employed to control the quality of gelation of protein during the production of century eggs. Therefore, a method involving microwave plasma-atomic emission spectrometer and microwave-assisted digestion was proposed in this study. In addition, to clarify distribution information of metallic additives in century eggs, detailed analyses based on the egg structure were adopted. The linearities for Fe and Zn were obtained in the range of 0.1-5, and 0.02-1 mg L-1 for Cu and Pb. The method detection limits for test metals were 0.06-0.036 mg L-1. The measured values for the RM EGGS-1 sample agreed reasonably well with the reference values, demonstrating that the developed method is practical for routine analysis with lower instrument procurement/running cost. The analytical results for century eggs collected from local markets revealed diverse distributions of metal ions in different parts. Remarkably, this method can readily identify the metallic additives used during the production processes even in the presence of complicated matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With outstanding advantages of chemical synthesis, structural diversity, and mechanical flexibility, molecular ferroelectrics have attracted increasing attention, demonstrating themselves as promising candidates for next‐generation wearable electronics and flexible devices in the film form. However, it remains a challenge to grow high‐quality thin films of molecular ferroelectrics. To address the above issue, a volume‐confined method is utilized to achieve ultrasmooth single‐crystal molecular ferroelectric thin films at the sub‐centimeter scale, with the thickness controlled in the range of 100–1000 nm. More importantly, the preparation method is applicable to most molecular ferroelectrics and has no dependency on substrates, showing excellent reproducibility and universality. To demonstrate the application potential, two‐dimensional (2D) transitional metal dichalcogenide semiconductor/molecular ferroelectric heterostructures are prepared and investigated by optical spectroscopic method, proving the possibility of integrating molecular ferroelectrics with 2D layered materials. These results may unlock the potential for preparing and developing high‐performance devices based on molecular ferroelectric thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a fatal hematological malignancy and does not have adequate prognostic indicators. Previous studies indicate that CEP72 is closely related to tumorigenesis and tumor progression. However, the expression and function of CEP72 in multiple myeloma have yet to be elucidated. Methods: In this study, we explored the correlation between CEP72 expression and clinicopathological characteristics as well as the impacts of CEP72 expression on the survival of MM patients. In addition, PPI, GSEA and Chemotherapy drug resistance analysis identified the possible mechanism. Results: CEP72 is overexpressed in both MM patients and MM cell lines. Clinically, patients in the CEP72high subgroup were significantly older than those in the CEP72low subgroup (p = 0.003). Up‐regulation of CEP72 was related to poor overall survival and event‐free survival. PPI network showed that CEP72 was related to PCM1, KIZ, OFD1, etc. GSEA analysis showed that CEP72 was enriched in cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, protein export, lysosome and N‐glycan biosynthesis pathways. Drug resistance analysis indicated that there was a positive correlation between the CEP72 expression and the IC50 values of 6‐mercaptopurine, 8‐chloro‐adenosine, clofarabine, fludarabine and allopurinol. Conclusion: High CEP72 expression was a poor prognostic factor in patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low‐dimensional material field‐effect transistor (FET)‐based biosensors have the advantages of high sensitivity, high detection speed, small size, low cost, and excellent compatibility with integrated circuits. The sensing mechanism is extremely important in the design and fabrication of high‐performance FET biosensors in practical applications. Herein, an InSe‐FET biosensor is designed and its dominant sensing mechanism during detection and (mi)RNA detection performance are investigated. Finite element analysis reveals the electrostatic potential distribution in the InSe channel with DNA probe assembly showing that Coulomb scattering is the dominant sensing mechanism for carrier scattering‐sensitive InSe. The simulation and experimental results indicate that carriers in InSe are extremely sensitive to the scattering of surface impurities because of their small electron mass. The firstly reported back‐gate bias working mode of an InSe‐FET biosensor has a linear relationship with an extra‐large detectable range of 1 fM–10 nM, high specificity for identifying 1‐nucleotide polymorphisms, and excellent repeatability and reusability. The detection of biomarker miRNAs in clinical serum samples and specific RNA in SARS‐CoV‐2 pseudovirus samples indicate promising applications of InSe‐FET biosensors in critical disease screening and the fast diagnoses of infectious diseases. This study can be useful for the design and fabrication of high‐performance FET biosensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the existence of tumor molecular heterogeneity, even patients having similar clinicopathological features could have vastly different survival rates. Hence, we aimed to explore novel metabolism‐associated genes (MAGs) related molecular subtypes for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and their immune landscapes for predicting prognosis and immune responses. Gene matrices and clinical information were downloaded from TCGA and ICGC datasets. Consensus clustering was conducted by the R "ConsensusClusterPlus" package. ccRCC patients were successfully divided into three clusters (MC1, MC2, and MC3) based on MAGs in both TCGA and ICGC datasets. Our established three MAGs were significantly associated with chemokine/chemokine receptor, IFN, CYT, angiogenesis, immune checkpoint molecules, tumor‐infiltrating immune cells, oncogenic pathways, pan‐cancer immune subtypes, and tumor microenvironment (TME) scores or expressions. Moreover, these three metabolic ccRCC subtypes could predict immunotherapeutic responses. We further constructed a characteristic index (LDAscore) in three metabolic ccRCC subtypes and identified LDAscore‐related modules by WGCNA. After deep data mining, 10 hub genes were obtained and seven genes (ATRX, BPTF, DHX9, EP300, POLR2B, SIN3A, UBE3A) were finally validated by qRT‐PCR. Our results successfully established a novel ccRCC subtype based on MAGs, providing novel insights into metabolism‐related ccRCC tumor heterogeneity and facilitating individualized therapy for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate COVID‐19 vaccine coverage in immunosuppressed children, assess guardians' intention to vaccinate children, and determine reasons and associated factors. In addition, we attempted to capture the characteristics of them with Omicron. We obtained the vaccination coverage and guardian vaccine acceptance among pediatric transplant recipients through a web‐based questionnaire conducted from April 12 to 28, 2022, and performed the statistical analysis. Seven organ transplant recipient children with Omicron were also clinically analyzed. The three‐dose vaccine coverage for liver transplant (n = 563) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (n = 122) recipient children was 0.9% and 4.9%, and guardian vaccine acceptance was 63.8%. Independent risk factors for vaccine acceptance were the child's age, geographic location, type of transplant, guardian's vaccination status, guardian's level of distress about epidemic events, guardian's risk perception ability, anxiety, and knowledge of epidemic control. The main reasons for vaccine hesitancy were fear of vaccine‐induced adverse events and doubts about efficacy. Ultimately, most children infected with Omicron have mild or no symptoms and are infected by intra‐family. Since vaccine coverage and guardian acceptance are lowest among liver transplant children, and the infected are mainly intra‐family, we should devise more targeted education and vaccination instructions for their guardians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization is critical to the growth of cultural industry today. However, existing research has not explained the mechanism by which the external environment affects the digitalization of cultural enterprises. Based on structural equation modeling, we tested the model empirically using data from 295 cultural enterprises in Beijing. The results show that two external environmental variables, the market pressure and the government's supportive policies, have a positive impact on the adoption of digitalization in cultural enterprises through technical and organizational factors. The research conclusion explains how the external environment influences digitalization in cultural enterprises. Technological factors of digitalization capability and digitalization compatibility and organizational factors of perceived benefits play a mediating role between the external environment and the digitalization of cultural enterprises. Based on these conclusions, we finally put forward a series of countermeasures to enhance the digitalization of cultural enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical interconnects exhibit superior potential in the precise regulation of photon transmission for organic photonic circuits. However, the rational design of well‐defined organic heterostructures toward active optoelectronics remains challenging. Herein, we designed organic branched heterostructures (OBHs) with accurate spatial organization for optical interconnection. Notably, the precise regulation of OBHs has been controllably achieved including the trunk morphologies and the branched microwire number. Significantly, these as‐prepared OBHs inherently exhibit the multichannel coupling outputs and the excitation position‐dependent waveguide characteristics, leading to various outcoupling signals with tunable intensity and emission colors. The optical interconnects are realized due to the occurrence of exciton conversion and photon propagation between branch and trunk at the heterojunction, benefiting the application possibilities of two‐dimensional (2D) optical barcodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND This study focused on the development of a self‐nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) to improve, potentially, the solubility and oral bioavailability of liquiritin (LQ). METHODS: The solubility of LQ in different types of excipient, namely oils (OLs), emulsifiers (EMs), and co‐emulsifiers (CO‐EMs), was evaluated, and a pseudo‐ternary phase diagram (PTPD) and the formulation optimization were established. The prepared self‐nanoemulsifying drug delivery system of liquiritin (LQ‐SNEDDS) was assessed using droplet size (DS), zeta potential (ZP), polydispersity index (PDI), droplet morphology, drug release in vitro, and oral bioavailability. RESULTS: After the dilution of the LQ‐SNEDDS, a transparent nanoemulsion was obtained with an acceptable DS (24.70 ± 0.73 nm), ZP (−18.69 ± 1.44 mV), and PDI (0.122 ± 0.006). The LQ‐SNEDDS that was developed had a better release rate in vitro than the free LQ suspension. Pharmacokinetic evaluation showed that the relative oral bioavailability of LQ‐SNEDDS was increased by 5.53 times, and LQ‐SNEDDS exhibited a delayed half life and longer retention time in comparison with those of free LQ. Similarly, LQ‐SNEDDS had a better urate lowering effect and provided better organ protection than free LQ at the same dose (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The incorporation of LQ into SNEDDS could serve as a promising approach to improve the solubility, oral bioavailability, and anti‐hyperuricemic effect of LQ. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxaliplatin resistance inevitably occurs in almost all cases of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), and it is important to study the roles of lncRNAs and their specific regulatory mechanisms in oxaliplatin resistance. Exosomes are increasingly designed for drug or functional nucleic acid delivery due to their properties, thereby improving the effectiveness of cancer therapy. The results of this study show that the low expression of PGM5 antisense RNA 1 (PGM5‐AS1) in colon cancer is induced by transcription inhibitor, GFI1B. PGM5‐AS1 prevents proliferation, migration, and acquired oxaliplatin tolerance of colon cancer cells. Exosomes encapsulating oxaliplatin and PGM5‐AS1 can reverse drug resistance. For identifying differentially expressed target genes regarding PGM5‐AS1, RNA transcriptome sequencing was performed. The mechanism by which PGM5‐AS1 regulates its target genes was explored by performing experiments such as fluorescent in situ hybridization assay, dual‐luciferase reporter gene assay, and RNA immunoprecipitation. The results show that by recruiting SRSF3, PGM5‐AS1 activates alternate splicing to downregulate PAEP expression. For hsa‐miR‐423‐5p, PGM5‐AS1 can also act as a sponge to upregulate the NME1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A liposome of Licochalcone A (LCA‐Liposomes) was purposively prepared to ameliorate the low in vivo availability and efficacy of LCA. Physical characterization of LCA‐Liposomes was carried out mainly by determining particle size, morphology, zeta potential (Z‐potential), and efficiency of LCA encapsulation (EE) via appropriate techniques. Also, the rate of LCA release in vitro and distribution in vivo (plasma and tissues) was evaluated. Evaluation of the antirenal activity of LCA‐liposomes was carried out by establishing chronic renal failure (CRF) model in mice through intragastric administration of adenine (200 mg/kg) and subsequent determination of biochemical parameters and examination of tissue sections. Respectively, the mean size of liposomal particles, Z‐potential and EE of LCA‐Liposomes were 71.78 ± 0.99 nm, −38.49 ± 0.06 mV, and 97.67 ± 1.72%. Pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution studies showed that LCA‐Liposomes could improve the availability of LCA in the blood and tissues, whereas during pharmacodynamics studies, the liposome effectively improved the therapeutic effect of LCA on CRF mice by potentially protecting the renal tissues while exhibiting antioxidant activity. In conclusion, LCA‐Liposomes could effectively improve the bioavailability of LCA and provide platform for the development of LCA‐related functional products. Practical applications: As a traditional Chinese medicine, licorice is widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries. LCA is a small molecule flavonoid extracted from the root of licorice. In this study, LCA was loaded on liposome carriers, which significantly improved the water solubility and oral bioavailability, and proved that LCA‐Liposomes have certain therapeutic effects on chronic renal failure, thereby providing a basis for the development of LCA into drugs or functional food in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate predictions of the air quality index (AQI) is critical for pollution control and air quality warning. However, this is challenging because of the nonlinearity of data and the uncertainty between data relationships. This paper proposes a combinatorial model based on an improved adaptive dynamic particle swarm optimization (ADPSO) algorithm to optimize a bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) neural network to predict AQI time series and capture data dependence. The ADPSO method incorporates a dynamic spatial search strategy into the standard particle swarm optimization method, allowing the parameters to be dynamically adjusted to balance global and local search capabilities, thus improving the performance and effectiveness of this optimization process. Compared to the BiGRU model, the PSO‐BiGRU model, and the radial basis neural,the results of the improved algorithm reveal that the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the ADPSO‐BiGRU predicted air pollution index are smaller than the errors of the other three models. The accuracy of the ADPSO‐BiGRU prediction model is higher than that of the other models, and it aids in the development of effective regional air quality management policies to reduce the negative impacts of pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The charge‐transfer (CT) complexes with significant electron delocalization demonstrate abundant appealing physicochemical features and unique orbital hybridization, creating great promise as artificial light‐harvesting antennas for advanced optoelectronics, such as high‐performance organic room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP). Herein, originally, a localized CT complex is proposed in organic microcrystals for exceptional orange‐emissive RTP with photoluminescence peaks at 575 and 625 nm based on the light‐harvesting antennas of CT states in organic microcrystals with donor doping. The localized CT state antennas can capture more singlet excitons, and transition them into triplet excitons, efficiently promoting intersystem crossing (ISC). Owing to the dense packing structure and strong CT interaction, the generation and stabilization of triplet excitons under ambient conditions are facilitated, imparting effective RTP with a lasting afterglow of up to 3 s. The controlled intensity ratio of fluorescence and phosphorescence is successfully achieved via finely adjusting the donor doping ratio, presenting a tunable CIE evolution from (0.42, 0.30) to (0.25, 0.12). The potential applications of these light‐harvesting microcrystals in information encryption and flexographic printing are illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A built‐in electric field in electrocatalyst can significantly accumulate higher concentration of NO3− ions near electrocatalyst surface region, thus facilitating mass transfer for efficient nitrate removal at ultra‐low concentration and electroreduction reaction (NO3RR). A model electrocatalyst is created by stacking CuCl (111) and rutile TiO2 (110) layers together, in which a built‐in electric field induced from the electron transfer from TiO2 to CuCl (CuCl_BEF) is successfully formed. This built‐in electric field effectively triggers interfacial accumulation of NO3− ions around the electrocatalyst. The electric field also raises the energy of key reaction intermediate *NO to lower the energy barrier of the rate determining step. A NH3 product selectivity of 98.6 %, a low NO2− production of <0.6 %, and mass‐specific ammonia production rate of 64.4 h−1 is achieved, which are all the best among studies reported at 100 mg L−1 of nitrate concentration to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CsPbBr3, as an all‐inorganic perovskite, has attracted considerable research interest due to its excellent optoelectronic properties. However, because the electronic properties of CsPbBr3 are not satisfactory, the relatively low on/off ratio and long photoresponse time of CsPbBr3 devices limit further applications. In this work, a CsPbBr3 device with high performance is successfully fabricated through a simple process using a CsPbBr3 colloid, and the photoresponse performance of the device is investigated under different external factors. By inserting a thin HfO2 layer, CsPbBr3‐based heterostructure devices exhibit much better performances, including an enhanced photocurrent of ≈10 µA, a responsivity of 45.05 A W−1, a detectivity of 9.12 × 1010 Jones, an external quantum efficiency of 12445%, and rise/fall times of 600 µs/300 µs, respectively. A physical mechanism is proposed to explain the photoresponse property promotion in CsPbBr3 devices, which can be attributed to the tunneling effect between CsPbBr3 and Si through the thin HfO2 layer. More importantly, the optoelectrical properties of the proposed CsPbBr3/HfO2/Si heterostructure device can be modulated through both Vds and Vgs. This work offers a valuable strategy and a practical scheme that can be generalized to other perovskite and heterostructure devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted much attention in the field of new energy. However, due to the flammability of its electrolyte, the batteries may have fire or even explosion accidents in unconventional environment. We have synthesized a new electrolyte additive, 1‐diphenylphosphoryloxy‐4‐methylbenzene (DPMB), in the hope of improving the safety performance of LIBs by combining flame‐retardant and overcharge protection. According to the results of the self‐extinguishing time test and the differential scanning calorimetry test, it can see that the addition of DPMB can improve the flame retardancy of original electrolytes. Unfortunately, the electrochemical test results show that the oxidation potential of DPMB is 3.8 V, which indicate that DPMB cannot achieve the role of overcharge protection. But it is interesting that the addition of DPMB not only has no side effects on the LIBs performance, but also improves the cycle performance and rate capability of the LIBs to a certain extent, especially when the DPMB content is 2wt%. Our results provide a new choice of additives for improving the safety of LIBs electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoemulsion has been shown to extend the postharvest life of horticultural produce. In this study, "Fuji" apple were treated with the combination of nanoemulsion coating‐1 (NC‐1) and 1‐methylcyclopropene (1‐MCP). Biochemical and nutritional values were assessed every 35 days during 280 days storage at 4°C and 90% RH. Results show that apples treated with the combination of NC‐1 and 1‐MCP has significantly reduced mass loss and decay, suppressed malondialdehyde (MDA) content. The combination treatment of NC‐1 and 1‐MCP also retained significantly higher ascorbic acid (ASC), titratable acid (TA), and total soluble solid (TSS) content. NC‐1 and 1‐MCP treatments alone or in combination produced higher peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activities but lower phenylalanine ammonia‐lyase (PAL) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities than control. Therefore, the combination of NC‐1 and 1‐MCP preserved better "Fuji" apple quality, which could be used to extend the postharvest life of "Fuji" apple during long‐term storage. Practical applications: This research work shows that the combined treatment of NC‐1 and 1‐MCP on "Fuji" apple reduced mass loss, decay and MDA level, retained higher ASC, TA, and TSS content, promoted POD and CAT activities but suppressed PAL and PPO activities, by which preserved better "Fuji" apple qualities during long‐term storage. Moreover, the combination of NC‐1 and 1‐MCP could provide a potential alternative to extend the storage life, which helps in reducing postharvest losses in the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact engineering, especially at the interface between metal and 2D semiconductors, to enable high‐performance devices remains a formidable challenge due to the inevitable chemical disorder and Fermi‐level pinning at the interface. Here, the authors report the InSe–Se vertical van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures to achieve high field‐effect mobility and electrical stability in 30 nm InSe field‐effect transistor (FET), which has a low lattice mismatch of 1.1% and form 2D/2D low‐resistance contacts, creating an InSe contact interface that substantially limits chemical disorder and Fermi‐level pinning. The Se layer forms a vdW contact to prevent the damage induced by direct metallization and acts as a tunneling layer as well as a protective encapsulation layer. Using this approach, heterojunction devices with a high field‐effect mobility of ≈2500 cm2 (V s)−1 and an excellent on‐state current of ≈10−3 A at room temperature is achieved. Furthermore, the device field‐effect mobility degrades by only 3.46% following two months of storage time in open air, which represents the best electrical stability reported to date. In particular, the heterojunction devices exhibit a better photoresponsivity compared with InSe devices in practical application. This study provides a highly valuable strategy to improve the contact condition of metal/2D semiconductors for high‐performance, 2D‐based electronics and optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The state of health (SOH) is a crucial indicator of lithium‐ion batteries. A battery cycle and calendar life are critical for electric vehicle batteries. Complex interactions occur between the SOH and internal resistance of a battery. In this study, several ternary lithium‐ion battery charge discharge experiments were performed to investigate the effects of the ambient temperature, discharge rate, and depth of discharge on a battery's internal resistance. An SOH prediction model was then constructed and used to evaluate the remaining capacity of the electric vehicle battery. The model was verified through various experiments, and a comparison of experimental and model‐derived data revealed a favorable agreement. Thus, the model accurately predicted the SOH of a ternary lithium‐ion battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetric de novo synthesis of benzocyclobutenes (BCBs) via catalytic intermolecular reaction is highly desired for efficient access to this important class of compounds, yet such a strategy remains unmet challenge. Here, we report a Pd/Pyrox‐catalyzed asymmetric [2+2] annulation between arylboronic acids and functionalized alkenes, providing an unprecedented efficient protocol to access various enantio‐enriched BCBs in a modular and versatile manner under mild conditions. A broad substrate scope with excellent enantioselectivity has been achieved under the current protocol. The isolation and characterization of the key chiral palladacycle intermediate, together with DFT calculations, provides strong evidence for the catalytic pathway including an enantiodetermining arylpalladation step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis (AS), a typical chronic inflammatory vascular disease, is the main pathological basis of ischemic cardio/cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Long-term administration was characterized with low efficacy and serious side effects, while the macrophages with attractive intrinsic homing target have great potential in the efficient and safe management of AS. In this review, we focused on the systematical summary of the macrophage-based therapies in AS management, including macrophage autophagy, polarization, targeted delivery, microenvironment-triggered drug release, and macrophage- or macrophage membrane-based drug carrier. In conclusion, macrophage-based therapies have great promise to effectively manage AS in future research and clinic translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene therapy has attracted much attention in vascular tissue engineering. However, it is still challenging to develop a novel gene carrier with multifunction to overcome the barriers in gene delivery. Herein, the multitargeting gene complexes were developed based on methoxy‐poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐poly‐(D,L‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) (mPEG‐b‐PLGA), poly(d,l‐lactide‐co‐glycolide)‐g‐polyethylenimine‐g‐CAGW (PLGA‐g‐PEI‐g‐CAGW), cell‐penetrating peptide YGRKKRRQRRR (TAT), nuclear localization signals (NLS), and pEGFP‐ZNF580 (pDNA) with the purpose of enhancing the transfection of endothelial cells (ECs). The low cytotoxic multitargeting gene complexes could be easily prepared by adjusting the weight ratio of mPEG‐b‐PLGA and PLGA‐g‐PEI‐g‐CAGW. Meanwhile, CAGW peptide with selectively ECs‐targeting ability and TAT‐NLS peptide sequence with both cell‐penetrating ability and nuclear targeting capacity were simultaneously introduced into gene complexes in order to enable them with the multitargeting function so as to improve their gene delivery capacity. The pDNA loading capacity of these gene complexes was confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis assay. MTT results demonstrated that the relatively cell viability of the multitargeting gene complexes was higher than those of other groups. These multitargeting gene complexes showed higher internalization and transfection efficiencies than other groups. These results revealed that CAGW and TAT‐NLS peptide sequences benefited for efficient gene delivery. Furthermore, the wound healing assay demonstrated that the multitargeting gene complexes could promote the proliferation and migration of ECs. These results collectively demonstrated that CAGW and TAT‐NLS peptides functionalized gene delivery system could effectively enhance the transfection of ECs, which has great potential in vascular tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant tumor originating from bile duct epithelium and its incidence is increasing year by year. In recent years, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to play an important role in the occurrence and progression of malignant tumors. In the present study, for the first time, abnormal expression of lnc‐RNA component of mitochondrial RNA processing endoribonuclease (RMRP) and its possible role in CCA were found. We explored the effects of RMRP on various behaviors of CCA cells in vitro and in vivo. In addition, by second‐generation sequencing, we explored the microRNA expression profiles that RMRP may affect in the HCCC‐9810 cell line. We also validated and explored the role of microRNA‐217 (miR‐217) with high differential expression by in vitro experiments. Our findings indicated that RMRP can play a part in promoting cancer by regulating the expression of miR‐217. RMRP is involved in the progression of CCA and can be a novel indicator of poor prognosis in patients with CCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy in the world, and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) plays a critical role in carcinogenesis. Here, we report a novel lncRNA, MAPKAPK5‐AS1, that acts as a critical oncogene in CRC. In addition, we attempted to explore the functions of MAPKAPK5‐AS1 on tumor progression in vitro and in vivo. Quantitative RT‐PCR was used to examine the expression of MAPKAPK5‐AS1 in CRC tissues and cells. Expression of MAPKAPK5‐AS1 was significantly upregulated in 50 CRC tissues, and increased expression of MAPKAPK5‐AS1 was found to be associated with greater tumor size and advanced pathological stage in CRC patients. Knockdown of MAPKAPK5‐AS1 significantly inhibited proliferation and caused apoptosis in CRC cells. We also found that p21 is a target of MAPKAPK5‐AS1. In addition, we are the first to report that MAPKAPK5‐AS1 plays a carcinogenic role in CRC. MAPKAPK5‐AS1 is a novel prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic candidate for CRC cancer. Expression of MAPKAPK5‐AS1 was significantly upregulated in 50 colorectal cancer tissues. MAPKAPK5‐AS1 is a novel prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic candidate for colorectal cancer. We showed for the first time that MAPKAPK5‐AS1 plays a carcinogenic role in colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a diversified portfolio construction method based on the tail dependence between the financial assets and adopting both market prior information and the exports’ subject views. In this paper, tail‐dependence clustering was applied to divide candidate assets into different groups according to their tail dependence during the crisis period and the ARMA‐GARCH vine copula‐opinion pooling approach was applied to select the minimum Conditional Value‐at‐Risk portfolio according to the clustering results. The daily closed prices of the components of DAX 20 from 3 January 2006 to 20 December 2014 were studied to illustrate the methodology. The results reveal that more than 90% of 450 possible portfolios are modelled by D‐vine structure and Student's t‐copula dominates almost all the cases for pair copula selection. As Student's t‐copula captures the symmetric tail dependence, the 450 possible portfolios do not show stronger lower tail dependence than upper tail dependence. This study contributes by combining cluster analysis with portfolios selection. It uses vine copula to capture the dependence structure among assets. Finally, it offers a flexible method to describe market and offers a strategy to construct diversified portfolios by adding the investors’ information into portfolio selection procedure at the 1‐day forecast horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Extragastric manifestations of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection have been reported in many diseases. However, there are still controversies about whether H. pylori infection is associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). This study was aimed at answering the question. Methods. A systematic search of the literature from January 1996 to January 2016 was conducted in PubMed, Embase databases, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Wanfang Data, China national knowledge database, and SinoMed. Published studies reporting H. pylori infection in both DM and non-DM individuals were recruited. Results. 79 studies with 57,397 individuals were included in this meta-analysis. The prevalence of H. pylori infection in DM group (54.9%) was significantly higher than that (47.5%) in non-DM group (OR = 1.69, P<0.001). The difference was significant in comparison between type 2 DM group and non-DM group (OR = 2.05), but not in that between type 1 DM group and non-DM group (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 0.77–1.96, P=0.38). Conclusion. Our meta-analysis suggested that there is significantly higher prevalence of H. pylori infection in DM patients as compared to non-DM individuals. And the difference is associated with type 2 DM but not type 1 DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two dimensional coordination polymer with pseudo-Kagomé net [Cu3(btc)2(NH3)8(H2O)] was prepared from Cu(NO3)2 ·3H2O and 1, 3, 5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (btc) in ammonia aqua solution and was structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction. The magnetic susceptibility measurements, measured from 2 to 300 K, revealed a weak anti-ferromagnetic interaction between the CuII ions via the btc ligands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous treatment methods have been applied for use in cartilage repair, including abrasion, drilling, and microfracture. Although chondrocyte transplantation is the preferred treatment, it has some shortcomings, such as difficulty of application (large and posterior condylar regions), poor chondrocyte distribution, and potential cell leakage from the defect region. The cell delivery system of the tissue engineering technique can be used to overcome these shortcomings. We chose fibrin/hyaluronan (HA) composite gel as an effective cell delivery system to resolve these issues. Both components are derived from natural extracellular matrix. In the first trial, fortified fibrin/HA composite gels with rabbit chondrocytes were tested by implantation in nude mice. At 4 weeks, glycosaminoglycan contents in the fibrin/HA composite (0.186 ± 0.006 mg/mg) were significantly higher than those in the presence of fibrin alone (0.153 ± 0.017 mg/mg). As a next step, we applied the fibrin/HA composite gel to animal cartilage defects using full thickness cartilage defect rabbit models. The fibrin/HA composite gel with rabbit chondrocytes (allogenic) was implanted into the experimental group, and the control group was implanted with the fibrin/HA composite gel alone. Implanted chondrocytes with the fibrin/HA composite showed improved cartilage formation. In conclusion, the key to successful regeneration of cartilage is to provide the repair site with a sufficient supply of chondrogenic cells with a suitable delivery vehicle to ensure maximal differentiation and deposition of the proper extracellular matrix. This study suggests the feasibility of tissue-engineered cartilage formation using fibrin/HA composite gel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, effects of Al and Y contents on microstructural evolutions and mechanical properties of the as‐cast Mg–14Li alloy are investigated. The results show that Mg–14Li–xAl (x = 1, 2, 3 wt%) alloys are characterized by predominantly single β–Li and MgLiAl2 phases. Slight refinement of β–Li grains is obtained with the increasing of Al content. The increased Al addition greatly improves the hardness, ultimate tensile strength, and yield strength of the Mg‐14 base alloy, accompanied by a significant reduction in ductility. Meanwhile, with addition of minor Y (0.5 wt%) addition leads to the introduction of homogeneous distribution of Al2Y particles in the Mg–14Li–3Al alloy, which plays a positive role in the strength enhancement. However, the uneven distribution of apparently coarsed Al2Y particles contributes to a significant reduction in tensile strength as the Y content is increased up to 1 wt%. In the alloy of Mg–14Li–3Al–0.5Y, β–Li phases are dramatically spheroidized after addition of surface‐active element Y. Round‐like Al2Y phases locate along grain boundaries. And considerable secondary crack sources initiate both at grain interiors and along grain boundaries and propagate with a combination of inter‐granular and trans‐granular way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(13)H(8)ClI(2)NO, contains half of the mol-ecule situated on a mirror plane. The hy-droxy group is involved in the formation of an intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bond. π-π inter-actions between the benzene rings of neighbouring mol-ecules [centroid-centroid distance = 3.629 (3) Å] form stacks along the b axis. In the crystal, weak C-H⋯O and C-H⋯Cl inter-actions are observed.

The title compound, C(13)H(8)BrI(2)NO, was prepared by the reaction of 3,5-diiodo-salicyl-aldehyde with 4-bromo-phenyl-amine in ethanol. There is an intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bond in the mol-ecule, which generates an S(6) ring. The dihedral angle between the benzene rings is 2.6 (3)°.

In the title compound, C(15)H(12)ClN(3)O(2)S, the central oxadiazole ring forms dihedral angles of 7.72 (14) and 69.86 (12)° with the benzene and pyridine rings, respectively. The crystal packing is governed only by van der Waals inter-actions.