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Integrating metasurfaces on‐chip provides a promising approach to modulating and extracting the in‐plane waves, which bridges the conversion between guided and free‐space waves and suggests tremendous applications, including guided‐wave‐driven holography, photonic integrated lasers, and on‐chip routers. However, despite these efforts, it remains challenging to achieve multicolor 3D holographic projections via on‐chip meta‐optics, along with switchability. Here, the multicolor 3D holography free from zero‐order diffraction and the immersion switchable display enabled by the on‐chip integrated metasurface is proposed and demonstrated. By leveraging the propagation‐accumulated phase of the guided waves and exploiting an optimization algorithm, an on‐chip meta‐hologram driven by guided waves is developed to project both multicolor and multiplane images with independent encoding freedom. Moreover, the switch between two colorful holographic images is also demonstrated via an easily accessible immersion tuning scheme. Such an on‐chip‐driven meta‐hologram exhibits low background noise or crosstalk with high information quality and is also free from sophisticated nanostructure searching or elaborate target‐image predesigning. The proposed on‐chip‐driven metasurface for multicolor 3D holography promises future applications in dynamic display, virtual/augmented reality, and liquid sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a life‐threatening acute complication of diabetes characterized by the accumulation of ketone bodies in the blood. Breath acetone, a ketone, directly correlates with blood ketones. Therefore, monitoring breath acetone can significantly enhance the safety and efficacy of diabetes care. In this work, the design and fabrication of an InP/Pt/chitosan nanowire array‐based chemiresistive acetone sensor is reported. By incorporation of chitosan as a surface‐functional layer and a Pt Schottky contact for efficient charge transfer processes and photovoltaic effect, self‐powered, highly selective acetone sensing is achieved. The sensor has exhibited an ultra‐wide acetone detection range from sub‐ppb to >100 000 ppm level at room temperature, covering those in the exhaled breath from healthy individuals (300–800 ppb) to people at high risk of DKA (>75 ppm). The nanowire sensor has also been successfully integrated into a handheld breath testing prototype, the Ketowhistle, which can successfully detect different ranges of acetone concentrations in simulated breath samples. The Ketowhistle demonstrates the immediate potential for non‐invasive ketone monitoring for people living with diabetes, in particular for DKA prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzoquinone (BQ) electrode is regarded as next generation energy storage material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) because of its advantages of high theoretical specific capacity, abundant source, environmental friendliness. However, the two key challenges, the dissolution of BQ in organic electrolyte and the low discharge plateaus, impede practical application of BQ as cathode. Here, triphenylamine (TPA) with high working voltage and BQ with high theoretical capacity are used to synthesize triphenylamine‐benzoquinone monomer (TPA‐BQ) and its polymer (poly triphenylamine‐benzoquinone (PTPA‐BQ)) as cathodes for LIBs. The charge/discharge results reveal that the discharge plateaus of TPA‐BQ and PTPA‐BQ increase from ~2.5 V to ~3.5 V, and PTPA‐BQ exhibits high discharge capacity and remarkable cyclic stability compared with TPA‐BQ. The electrochemical mechanism shows that the redox peak potential of ~2.3 V/~2.2 V are assigned to the insertion/extraction of lithium ion in C=O groups of BQ, while at high potential of ~3.6 V/~3.5 V corresponds to the de‐dope/dope of the PF6− anion in TPA unit. The results demonstrate TPA was introduced BQ into small molecule to form PTPA‐BQ polymer that can improve discharge plateaus and charge/discharge performance of BQ small molecule, which provide guides for solving the dissolution and discharge platforms of the other organic electrode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metasurfaces are recently incorporated with waveguides for in‐plane wave manipulation and extraction, enhancing the capability and design flexibility of integrated photonic devices. However, the unique guided‐wave‐driven scheme poses challenges in achieving multiplexed functionality for on‐chip integrated metasurfaces. Here, an on‐chip direction‐multiplexing strategy is proposed and demonstrated for high‐capacity 3D multiplane projection in free space. By exploring and utilizing the direction‐dependence of the guided‐wave‐driven detour phase manipulation, a 16‐channel on‐chip holography is realized with different images independently encoded at distinct z planes for all four illumination directions. Moreover, the on‐chip full‐space 3D holography is demonstrated by exploiting the conjugated relation of the optical responses driven by the opposite on‐chip illuminations, enabling observation of a total of 16 holographic images in full‐space. The demonstrated on‐chip direction‐multiplexed holography exhibits low background noise or crosstalk and offers high information density and quality, which shows promise for practical applications in data storage, 3D display, and virtual/augmented reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a novel event‐triggered subspace predictive control (ET‐SPC) method for discrete‐time linear parameter‐varying (LPV) systems with partially unknown system parameters. An event‐triggered law is developed to alleviate the heavy load of data transmission and computation in the conventional subspace predictive control methods for the LPV systems. The design of the event‐triggered law relies on the input‐to‐state stability (ISS) theory and applies the robust stability condition based on linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which guarantees the stability of the proposed method. Consequently, the input component can be directly transmitted to the system without receding horizon optimization when the event‐triggered law evaluates that the system satisfies the stability condition. The simulation results illustrate its satisfactory performance, which indicates its potential application involving a considerable amount of data transmission and computation such as the network control systems (NCSs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Folic acid and vitamin B12 (FV), being B vitamins, not only facilitate the remethylation of homocysteine (Hcy) but also contribute to embryonic development. This study aimed to assess the impact of FV supplementation during late pregnancy on sows' reproductive performance, amino acid metabolism, placental angiogenesis, and related parameters. Twenty primiparous sows at day 60 of gestation were randomly allocated to two groups: a basal diet (CON) group and a group receiving a basal diet supplemented with folic acid at 20 ppm and vitamin B12 at 125 ppb. RESULTS: The findings revealed that dietary FV supplementation significantly reduced the incidence of intrauterine growth retardation compared to the CON group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, it led to a decrease in the Hcy levels in umbilical cord serum (P < 0.05) and activation of the placental mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling pathway (P < 0.05). Additionally, FV supplementation lowered placental malondialdehyde levels (P < 0.05) and increased the expression of placental thioredoxin (P = 0.05). Moreover, maternal FV supplementation notably elevated placental vascular density (P < 0.05) and the expression of sodium-coupled neutral amino acid transporter 2 (SNAT2) (P < 0.05), as well as amino acid concentrations in umbilical cord blood (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Maternal FV supplementation during medium to late gestation reduced Hcy levels in umbilical cord blood and positively impacted fetal development. This improvement was closely associated with increased placental antioxidant capacity and vascular density, as well as activation of the placental mTORC1-SNAT2 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental enrichment has the potential to improve the welfare and post‐release survival of hatchery fish stocked for conservation purposes. However, the effectiveness of environmental enrichment is partly dependent on the fish species, life stage, and specific enrichment structure used. To enhance the effectiveness of environmental enrichment, it is crucial to focus on characteristic differences in enrichment structures, such as type and level. This study investigated how differences in enrichment type and level affected physiological and behavioral aspects of the welfare of pre‐release juvenile rock bream Oplegnathus fasciatus by evaluating growth performance, basal and stressed cortisol levels, antioxidant enzyme activities, and exploratory behaviors regarding anxiety and flexibility. Fish were reared for 4 weeks in different enrichment treatments: barren, low‐level cover structure, high‐level cover structure, low‐level interference structure (LI), and high‐level interference structure (HI). The results revealed that fish reared with the LI treatment showed less anxiety and greater flexibility with respect to exploratory behaviors, without oxidative damage being detected. Despite exhibiting less anxiety as well, fish reared in the HI treatment had oxidative damage, indicated by lower superoxide dismutase activity, compared to those in the barren treatment. In addition, none of these enrichment structures enhanced growth performance or mitigate chronic and acute stress responses. Overall, the low‐level interference structure may be more favorable in promoting the behavioral welfare of the fish. Application of this type and level of enrichment may increase the survival of the hatchery fish after release, which is critical to stocking success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the possibility of flexible textile composites as space deployable devices, carbon fiber triaxial woven fabric and thermoplastic polyurethane were compounded by hot‐pressing. The section shape of the carbon fiber triaxial woven fabric flexible textile composites was observed by scanning electron microscopy. After hot‐pressing at 120°C for 45 min, the thermoplastic polyurethane is best combined with carbon fiber bundle, and fully melted to form a protective layer, which also ensured the deformability of carbon fiber triaxial woven fabric/thermoplastic polyurethane flexible textile composites. The tensile strains of flexible textile composites in the directions of 0°, 15° and 30° were analyzed by digital image correlation. The analysis was carried out from the macroscopic scale, the single cell scale, and the fiber bundle scale, combined with the strain distribution of digital image correlation in the tensile process. From the axial and radial deformation of the bundle and the force analysis of single cell, the phenomena such as strain change, trellising phenomenon, and fabric deformation during tensile were explained. When carbon fiber triaxial woven fabric is added to glass‐fiber composite, the electromagnetic reflection efficiency can be increased by 9%. The research on strain and electromagnetic reflection provided the possibility for the flexible textile composites as a space deployment device. Highlights: Through the use of SEM and hot‐pressing, carbon fiber triaxial woven fabric/TPU flexible textile composites with high coverage were produced.The differences in strain distribution and deformation process throughout the CTFC tensile process at 0°, 15°, and 30° are investigated by DIC and stress analysis.Carbon fiber triaxial woven fabric (TWF) can reflect electromagnetic radiation. TWF can increase the efficacy of reflection in composites. Space deployment is a possible application of TWF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescence imaging utilizing traditional organic fluorophores is extensively applied in both cellular and in vivo studies. However, it faces significant obstacles, such as low signal‐to‐background ratio (SBR) and spurious positive/negative signals, primarily due to the facile diffusion of these fluorophores. To cope with this challenge, orderly self‐assembled functionalized organic fluorophores have gained significant attention in the past decades. These fluorophores can create nanoaggregates via a well‐ordered self‐assembly process, thus prolonging their residency time within cells and in vivo settings. The development of self‐assembled‐based fluorophores is an emerging field, and as such, in this review, we present a summary of the progress and challenges of self‐assembly fluorophores, focusing on their development history, self‐assembly mechanisms, and biomedical applications. We hope that the insights provided herein will assist scientists in further developing functionalized organic fluorophores for in situ imaging, sensing, and therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescence imaging utilizing traditional organic fluorophores is extensively applied in both cellular and in vivo studies. However, it faces significant obstacles, such as low signal‐to‐background ratio (SBR) and spurious positive/negative signals, primarily due to the facile diffusion of these fluorophores. To cope with this challenge, orderly self‐assembled functionalized organic fluorophores have gained significant attention in the past decades. These fluorophores can create nanoaggregates via a well‐ordered self‐assembly process, thus prolonging their residency time within cells and in vivo settings. The development of self‐assembled‐based fluorophores is an emerging field, and as such, in this review, we present a summary of the progress and challenges of self‐assembly fluorophores, focusing on their development history, self‐assembly mechanisms, and biomedical applications. We hope that the insights provided herein will assist scientists in further developing functionalized organic fluorophores for in situ imaging, sensing, and therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of incorporating a triaxial woven fabric (TWF) into a unidirectional ply structure on the bending performance of the structure. The failure processes of the different ply structures were recorded using video analysis and acoustic emission. The experimental results indicated that incorporating a layer of carbon fiber TWF between the second and third layers (GGTGG) or between the third and fourth layers (GGGTG) of the four‐layer unidirectional fabric significantly improved the flexural strengths by 79.5% and 213.7%, respectively, and the flexural toughness by 480.3% and 324.8%, respectively. In addition, the incorporation of TWF in the structure resulted in a shift in the overall failure mode from brittle to ductile. When the TWF was closer to the lower surface of the sample, the crack was more uniform and the distribution range was wider. In contrast when the TWF was in the middle, the range of cracks generated by the sample was narrower. However, some of these cracks affected the stability of the material structure. Furthermore, the damage process was confirmed using images of crack growth and acoustic emission during the destruction process. This study provides valuable insights into enhancing the bending performance of unidirectional fiber layup in the non‐load direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various clean energy storage and conversion systems highly depend on rational design of efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reactions. Increasing both gas molecular diffusion and intrinsic activity is critical to boosting its efficiency for bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis. However, controllable synthesis of catalysts that combines gas molecular diffusion and intrinsic activity remains a fundamental challenge. Herein, a two‐step synthetic strategy is adopted to fabricate a composite oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)/oxygen evolution reaction (OER) bifunctional catalyst (P‐Ag‐Co(OH)2), of which, atomic Ag is anchored in reactive oxygen atoms around nanopores of Co(OH)2 nanosheets. Abundant nanopores provide enough gas molecular diffusion channels, and the special Ag‐O‐Co‐OH catalytic groups around nanopores display high intrinsic catalytic activity, which jointly result in an excellent ORR/OER performance. In alkaline electrolyte, P‐Ag‐Co(OH)2 displays a high half‐wave potential (0.902 V versus RHE) for ORR, and a low overpotential (235 mV at 10 mA cm−2) for OER, which is superior to non‐noble catalysts in previous studies and Pt/C (Ir/C) catalyst. At the same time, the single‐cell zinc‐air battery is prepared with an extremely high discharge peak power density of 435 mW cm−2 and excellent discharge–charge cycle stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive Aquatic Listeners (PALs) have been increasingly deployed to collect minute‐scale surface oceanic rainfall and wind information, with a sampling area similar to the spaceborne sensor footprints. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to validate satellite precipitation products over oceans. This study evaluates the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) daily products, including the widely used GPCP v1.3 and the newly released GPCP v3.2, over oceans using 58 PALs as references. The study shows that the GPCP performance depends on time scale, region, and rainfall intensity. The two versions of GPCP perform similarly at multi‐year and monthly scales, while GPCP v3.2 shows substantial improvements in representing rain occurrence and rain intensity at daily scale. The results also highlight the challenge of precipitation measurement over certain regions such as the tropical Southeastern Pacific and extratropical North Pacific, where both versions of the GPCP products perform similarly but exhibit noticeable differences compared to PAL observations. Plain Language Summary: Satellites are the main instruments to quantify precipitation over the ocean, but it is difficult to check their accuracy because we do not have many rain gauges over oceans to compare with satellites. The Passive Aquatic Listener (PAL) is "the underwater phone" to listen to the sound generated when raindrops hit the sea surface. The PAL estimates rain rates based on the loudness of the sound at each frequency. This is similar to listening to the rain under a tin roof. PAL can drift with ocean currents for years, so it can collect rainfall data over a large ocean area. The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) product is a popular long‐term satellite‐based precipitation data record to study climate, water cycle, and the ocean. This study uses PAL observations to evaluate the performance of GPCP's latest two versions: v1.3, and the newly released GPCP v3.2. The results show that the new product is better than the old product in estimating daily rainfall, while they are similar when estimating monthly and multi‐year rainfall. We also notice that they provide similar estimates, which are both quite different from PAL observations, over the tropical Southeastern Pacific and extratropical North Pacific. Key Points: Passive Aquatic Listeners are used to validate the newly released Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Version 3.2 and the previous Version 1.3 daily products over oceansThe performance of GPCP products depends on time scale, location, and rainfall intensityUsers are highly recommended to upgrade to GPCP Version 3.2 due to its improved performance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both bisphenol A (BPA) and selenium (Se) deficiency can affect the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), which can specifically regulate its target mRNA and induce apoptosis, and play a significant role in cardiovascular injury diseases. To explore the mechanism of apoptosis induced by BPA and Se deficiency in chicken arterial endothelial tissue and the role of miRNAs in this process, the model of BPA exposure/Se deficiency in chicken and PAEC cells have been employed. The targeting relationship between miR‐215‐3p and iodothyronine deiodinase 1 (Dio1) in PAEC was verified by double luciferase gene report. The level of miR‐215‐3p was detected by qRT‐PCR. The oxidative stress level of arterial endothelial cells was detected by oxidative stress kit and DCFH‐DA probe method. The PI3K/AKT pathway, mitochondrial dynamics, and apoptosis‐related genes were detected by qRT‐PCR and western blot. The mitochondrial ATP level and nitric oxide synthases (NOSs) level were detected with the kit. TUNEL, acridine orange/ethidium bromide, and flow cytometry were used to detect the level of apoptosis. The results showed that BPA exposure and Se deficiency led to overexpression of miR‐215‐3p, aggravated oxidative stress, inhibited activation of PI3K/AKT pathway, promoted mitochondrial division, increased expression of apoptosis related genes, and finally led to apoptosis of chicken arterial endothelial cells. We also established knockdown/overexpression models of miR‐215‐3p and Dio1 in vitro, and found that overexpression of miR‐215‐3p and knockout of Dio1 can induce apoptosis. Interestingly, miR‐215‐3p‐Inhibitor and N‐acetyl‐ l‐cysteine (NAC) partially prevented apoptosis caused by BPA exposure and Se deficiency, and LY294002 aggravated apoptosis. These results suggest that BPA exposure aggravates the apoptosis of Se deficient arterial endothelial cells in chickens by regulating the ROS/PI3K/AKT pathway activated by miR‐215‐3p/Dio1. The miR‐215‐3p/Dio1 axis provides a new way to understand the toxic mechanism of BPA exposure and Se deficiency, and reveals a new regulatory model of apoptosis damage in vascular diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examines the differential association between sex and depression, and the possible mediating pathways. Methods: We analysed survey data from 296 (age 7–17.1 years) cancer survivors from three centres affiliated with Beijing Children's Hospital. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the association between sex and depression. Quantile regression analysis was used to estimate the regression coefficients (β) and 95% confidence intervals for sex in depression at different quantiles. Mediation analysis with multiple mediators was used to explore the effects of sex on depression. Results: Using linear regression, we found that the age ranged from 8.7 to 10.4 years and the regression coefficient of sex on depression was significant (β = −2.75, p = 0.03). Quantile regression results showed a significant negative association between sex and depression in the 0.30–0.75 quantiles. Mediation analysis revealed that boys were 1.545 times more depressed than girls, with family resilience, self‐perceived burden, and behavioural problems explaining approximately 16.79%, 21.57%, and 43.94% of the sex difference, respectively. The combined effect of family functioning, resilience, social support, self‐perceived burden, and behavioural problems might explain the 89.17% sex difference. Conclusion: Clinicians should consider sex effects when assessing depression in childhood cancer survivors and target sex‐specific interventions for further treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Recent advances have highlighted the relationships between gut dysbiosis and Parkinson's disease (PD). Microbiota transplantation from PD patients to mice can induce increased alpha‐synuclein‐mediated motor deficits. Human studies have identified differences in the gut microbiota of PD patients compared to healthy controls. We undertook a systematic review to evaluate the available evidence for the involvement of gut bacteria in the etiology of PD. Methods: The PubMed databank, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure databank, and Wanfang Data were searched from inception until June 2021 to identify human case–control studies that investigated relationships between PD and microbiota quantified from feces. We evaluated the resulting studies focusing on bacterial taxa that were different between PD patients and healthy controls. Results: Twenty‐six studies were found in which 53 microbial families and 98 genera exhibited differences between patients with PD and healthy controls. The genera identified by more than two studies as increased in PD were Bifidobacterium, Alistipes, Christensenella, Enterococcus, Oscillospira, Bilophila, Desulfovibrio, Escherichia/Shigella, and Akkermansia, while Prevotella, Blautia, Faecalibacterium, Fusicatenibacter, and Haemophilus had three or more reports of being lower in PD patients. More than one report demonstrated that Bacteroides, Odoribacter, Parabacteroides, Butyricicoccus, Butyrivibrio, Clostridium, Coprococcus, Lachnospira, Lactobacillus, Megasphaera, Phascolarctobacterium, Roseburia, Ruminococcus, Streptococcus, and Klebsiella were altered in both directions. Conclusion: Our review shows that the involvement of the gut microbiome in the etiology of PD may involve alterations of short‐chain fatty acids (SCFAs)‐producing bacteria and an increase in putative gut pathobionts. SCFAs‐producing bacteria may vary above or below an "optimal range," causing imbalances. Considering that Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Akkermansia are beneficial for human health, increased Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in the PD gut microbiome may be associated with PD medications, especially COMT inhibitors, while a high level of Akkermansia may be associated with aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominance of cyanobacteria and their adaptability to changing climates might be attributed to their morphological plasticity related to external layers. The content of exopolysaccharides in cyanobacterial external layers has been shown to increase at elevated temperatures. However, the answers to the questions of why and how cyanobacteria adapt to varying temperatures by adjusting the physiological and biophysical properties of their external layers are still not clear.We cultivated three cyanobacterial strains, Nostoc sp. FACHB‐2009, Dolichospermum sp. FACHB‐82 and Microcystis sp. FACHB‐3296, which are embedded in three typical types of external layers—sheath, capsule and slime, respectively––and each grown at three different temperatures (10°C, 25°C and 35°C).The results showed that varying the temperature significantly changed the physicochemical properties of the external layers. High temperature conditions promoted increases in colony sizes compared to the control, with the external layers becoming thicker, looser and more adhesive, whereas cell sizes did not significantly change. Additionally, the expression patterns of related genes varied with temperature; it represents several temp dependent genes related to synthesis of nucleotide sugars were upregulated at high temperature but downregulated at low temperature.As the external layers are wrapped outside cells, we assumed a "spherical shell heat conduction model". Through that, we inferred that the presence of external layers influenced heat transfer in the cyanobacteria, thereby playing a role in stabilising cell activity at various temperatures.Transcriptome tests showed that the use of intracellularly stored nucleotide sugars for external layer synthesis was the preferred process for cyanobacteria at low temperature, whereas de novo external layer synthesis was the preferred process for cyanobacteria at high temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Canada and Climate Change" is a book by William Leiss that aims to persuade non-expert readers to trust the consensus position on climate change articulated by global climate scientists. The book takes a sociological and historical approach to analyze climate change, focusing on the evolution of climate science and government responses to it. It also explores the implications of greenhouse gas emissions projections for 2030 and suggests that China can take on a global leadership role in addressing climate change. The book encourages Canadians and people worldwide to engage in climate action and emphasizes the urgent need for swift governance measures. [Extracted from the article]

Heading towards to intelligent photonic technology, meta‐optics is in the revolutionary process of changing from passive to active controllable devices. Despite various emerging tuning mechanisms exploration and demonstration, they mainly focus on spectral amplitude alternation or near‐field imaging switch. Most tuning schemes inevitably demand quite complicated nanofabrication to incorporate nanotextured active materials, thus limiting its applicable scenarios outside the laboratory. Hence, a practically accessible solution in real life to simultaneously realize multi‐field (both near‐ and far‐field) dynamic displays remains a critical challenge. Here, a practical electric‐driven liquid‐crystal‐integrated metasurface (ELIM) is proposed and demonstrated toward advanced intelligent dynamic display. Through elaborately screening building block (α‐Si nanopillar) geometry to build up a systematic architectural dictionary, conventional spatial‐multiplexing is successfully achieved and the degeneracy for amplitude/phase selections is created and thus any arbitrary multi‐field encryptions are allowed. By leveraging ELIM anisotropic characteristics for orthogonal polarizations, an electric‐driven dynamic tuning is practically realized for the first time to enable quad‐fold dynamic exhibitions, including switchable dual‐nanoprinting (near‐field) and simultaneous dual‐holography (far‐field) images with independent‐encryption freedom. Overall, it is envisioned that meta‐optics integrated with the liquid‐crystal platform can easily find practical applications in real life for intelligent dynamic display, imaging multiplexing, information encryption/security, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed‐halide perovskites can undergo a photoinduced phase segregation. Even though many reports have claimed that such a phase segregation process is reversible, what happens after phase segregation and its impact on the performance of perovskite‐based devices are still open questions. Here, the phase transformation of MAPb(I1−xBrx)3 after phase segregation and probe an irreversible phase reconstruction of MAPbBr3 is investigated. The photoluminescence imaging microscopy technique is introduced to in situ record the whole process. It is proposed that the type‐I band alignment of segregated I‐rich and Br‐rich domains can enhance the emission of the I‐rich domains by suppressing the nonradiative recombination channels. At the same time, the charge injection from Br‐rich to I‐rich domains drives the expulsion of iodide from the lattice, and thus triggers the reconstruction of MAPbBr3. The work highlights the significance of ion movements in mixed‐halide perovskites and provides new perspectives to understand the property evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed‐halide perovskites can undergo a photoinduced phase segregation. Even though many reports have claimed that such a phase segregation process is reversible, what happens after phase segregation and its impact on the performance of perovskite‐based devices are still open questions. Here, the phase transformation of MAPb(I1−xBrx)3 after phase segregation and probe an irreversible phase reconstruction of MAPbBr3 is investigated. The photoluminescence imaging microscopy technique is introduced to in situ record the whole process. It is proposed that the type‐I band alignment of segregated I‐rich and Br‐rich domains can enhance the emission of the I‐rich domains by suppressing the nonradiative recombination channels. At the same time, the charge injection from Br‐rich to I‐rich domains drives the expulsion of iodide from the lattice, and thus triggers the reconstruction of MAPbBr3. The work highlights the significance of ion movements in mixed‐halide perovskites and provides new perspectives to understand the property evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemiresistive sensing is one of the most promising technologies for portable and miniaturized chemical sensing, with applications ranging from air quality monitoring to explosive detection and medical diagnostics. Recently, there have been growing efforts in developing microchip based chemical sensors operating at room temperature with high sensitivity, selectivity, spatial and temporal resolution, long‐term stability, and cost‐effectiveness. Here, the engineering of highly performing miniaturized gas sensors consisting of chemiresistive vertical indium phosphide nanowire (NW) arrays is reported for the first time, and their potential for the selective detection of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a major air pollutant, is demonstrated. By carefully engineering the NW geometry (i.e., diameter and pitch), a superior sensing performance than those previously reported semiconductor‐based NO2 sensors is achieved, obtaining a limit of detection of 3.1 ppb at room temperature, with outstanding selectivity, and long‐term stability. Kinetic analysis and electrical simulation further reveal the array geometry correlated sensing mechanism, providing insights for the design of future NW array‐based devices. These findings indicate that, owing to their unique nanoscale structures, material properties, and CMOS compatible manufacture processes, III‐V compound semiconductor NW arrays present a new and promising chemical sensing platform for development of future high performance, miniaturized on‐chip sensing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrochemical performance of carbon based supercapacitors not only depends on the specific surface area and conductivity, but also the structure of materials. In order to construct the carbon materials with effective structure, the long fibrous plant‐saussurea involucrata stalk was chosen as the new style carbon source. Highly ordered micropores activated carbon (HOMAC) materials have been successfully obtained via KOH chemical activation method. The synthesized HOMAC exhibits high specific surface area of 2692 m2 g−1 and pore volume of 1.14 cm3 g−1. The assembled HOMAC‐based electrode can deliver a high specific capacitance of 379 F g−1 at 2 mV s−1 in 1 M H2SO4 aqueous electrolyte, and show excellent cyclic stability (the capacitance retention ∼95 %) over 10000 cycles at a current density of 1 A g−1, which authenticates excellent charge storage capacity of electrode material. Moreover, the operation voltage window can be expanded to 0–1.8 V in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte for the 2‐electrode system. The symmetric supercapacitor can deliver a high energy density of 33.91 Wh kg−1 at power density of 180.03 W kg−1. These high performances can be ascribed to the high surface area and ordered microporous structures obtained using KOH as activator. We further discussed the relationship between fibrous plants and electrochemical performances of the final activated carbon materials. This present work can provide beneficial guidance for the preparation of high performance activated carbon electrodes from a biomass‐based carbon source. Comparing with two different biomass materials, it can be found that the ionic diffusion coefficient of saussurea involucrata is 5.074×10−13 m2 s−1, which is 2.5 times of cotton stalk (1.547×10−13 m2 s−1). This phenomenon indicates the different ion transmission rate in different pore structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate the efficacy and safety of apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel versus paclitaxel/docetaxel in the treatment of advanced non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through pooling of open published data. Methods: The electronic databases of Medline (1960–2021.5), Cochrane central register of controlled trials (CENTRAL), EMBASE(1980–2021.5) and Wan fang (1986–2021.5) were systematically searched by two reviewers to identify the relevant clinical trials related to the above subject. The objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) and drug relevant adverse reactions were pooled and demonstrated by risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The statistical heterogeneity across studies was assessed by I‐square test. The publication bias was evaluated by Egger's line regression test and demonstrated by Begg's funnel plot. Results: Eleven prospective studies were included in the meta‐analysis. The pooled results indicated that the ORR (RR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.32–2.00, p < 0.05) and DCR (RR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.18–1.41, p < 0.05) of apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel was significantly higher than that of the paclitaxel/docetaxel group for advanced NSCLC, respectively. The drug‐related adverse reaction was not statistically different between apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel with regard to the hand‐foot syndrome, gastrointestinal reaction, thrombocytopenia, anemia and leukocytopenia (pall > 0.05) except for hypertension (RR = 3.60, 95% CI: 1.26–10.31, p < 0.05). Subgroup analysis also indicated that the hypertension and hand‐foot syndrome in apatinib + paclitaxel/docetaxel were higher than that of the paclitaxel/docetaxel group with a statistical difference (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel was superior to paclitaxel/docetaxel for ORR and DCR. However, combined treatment with apatinib appears to increase the risk of a patient developing an adverse reaction, especially hypertension and hand‐foot syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid immersion on metasurface was earlier demonstrated to realize spectral control. However, it remains a great challenge to achieve tunable phase modulation and versatile beam‐steering performance, which are critical for practical optoelectronic devices. Here, a new liquid‐immersive mechanism with metasurfaces for active beam‐steering is proposed and experimentally realized. Based on the dielectric‐on‐metal nanostructure with selective hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties, the switchable beam‐steering is initiated and successfully presented in the broadband visible regime with a large reflection angle of ≈±30°. Specifically, the beam diffraction direction is tuned between two opposite‐directional channels by water immersion or drying in a repeatable and controllable manner. The proposed straightforward tuning strategy enjoys great convenience in structural patterning and large‐area implementation, instead of requiring any complicated contact patterning or external modulation. This study provides an alternative optical platform for switchable beam‐steering functionality, which is promising for potential applications in tunable display, directional emission, sensing technologies, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of flow shear stress (SS) on the differentiation of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) has been demonstrated in various studies. Cholesterol retention and microRNA regulation have been also proposed as relevant factors involved in this process, though evidence regarding their regulatory roles in the differentiation of EPCs is currently lacking. In the present study on high shear stress (HSS)‐induced differentiation of EPCs, we investigated the importance of ATP‐binding cassette transporter 1 (ABCA1), an important regulator in cholesterol efflux, and miR‐25‐5p, a potential regulator of endothelial reconstruction. We first revealed an inverse correlation between miR‐25‐5p and ABCA1 expression levels in EPCs under HSS treatment; their direct interaction was subsequently validated by a dual‐luciferase reporter assay. Further studies using flow cytometry and quantitative polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that both miR‐25‐5p overexpression and ABCA1 inhibition led to elevated levels of specific markers of endothelial cells, with concomitant downregulation of smooth muscle cell markers. Finally, knockdown of ABCA1 in EPCs significantly promoted tube formation, which confirmed our conjecture. Our current results suggest that miR‐25‐5p might regulate the differentiation of EPCs partially through targeting ABCA1, and such a mechanism might account for HSS‐induced differentiation of EPCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report a deep‐red TADF emitter pCNQ–TPA, composed of quinoxaline‐5,8‐dicarbonitrile (pCNQ) acceptor and triphenylamine (TPA) donor. pCNQ–TPA supported its OLED with desired CIE coordinates of (0.69, 0.31) and the record maximum external quantum efficiency of 30.3 %, which is the best red TADF diode with Rec.2020 gamut for UHDTV. It is showed that through tuning pCNQ–TPA doping concentration, intra‐ and inter‐molecular charge transfer are balanced to synchronously improve emission color saturation and TADF radiation, and remedy aggregation‐induced quenching, rendering photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) reaching 90 % for deep‐red emission peaked at ≈690 nm. Quasi‐planar structure further endows pCNQ–TPA with an improved horizontal ratio of emitting dipole orientation, which increases light out‐coupling ratio to 0.34 for achieving the state‐of‐the‐art device efficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report a deep‐red TADF emitter pCNQ–TPA, composed of quinoxaline‐5,8‐dicarbonitrile (pCNQ) acceptor and triphenylamine (TPA) donor. pCNQ–TPA supported its OLED with desired CIE coordinates of (0.69, 0.31) and the record maximum external quantum efficiency of 30.3 %, which is the best red TADF diode with Rec.2020 gamut for UHDTV. It is showed that through tuning pCNQ–TPA doping concentration, intra‐ and inter‐molecular charge transfer are balanced to synchronously improve emission color saturation and TADF radiation, and remedy aggregation‐induced quenching, rendering photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) reaching 90 % for deep‐red emission peaked at ≈690 nm. Quasi‐planar structure further endows pCNQ–TPA with an improved horizontal ratio of emitting dipole orientation, which increases light out‐coupling ratio to 0.34 for achieving the state‐of‐the‐art device efficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neutropenia is the most common dose‐limiting side effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy in cancer‐bearing dogs. Biodynamic imaging (BDI) is a functional imaging technology that measures dynamic light scattering from living, three‐dimensional tissues to characterize intracellular motion within those tissues. Previous studies have associated BDI biomarkers with tumour sensitivity to chemotherapy agents in dogs with naturally occurring cancer. We hypothesized that BDI, performed ex vivo on bone marrow aspirate samples, would identify dynamic biomarkers associated with the occurrence of specific degrees of neutropenia in tumour‐bearing dogs receiving doxorubicin chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Bone marrow aspirates were collected from 10 dogs with naturally occurring cancers prior to initiation of doxorubicin treatment. BDI was performed on bone marrow samples treated ex vivo with doxorubicin at 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 μM along with 0.1% DMSO as a control. Dogs then were treated with doxorubicin (30 mg/m2, intravenously). Peripheral blood neutrophil counts were obtained on the day of treatment and again 7 days later. Receiver operating characteristic curves identified provisional breakpoints for BDI biomarkers that correlated with specific changes in neutrophil counts between the two time points. Results: Provisional breakpoints for several BDI biomarkers were identified, specifying dogs with the largest proportionate change in neutrophils and with neutropenia that was grade 2 or higher following doxorubicin treatment. Conclusions: Biodynamic imaging of bone marrow aspirates may identify those dogs at greater risk for neutropenia following doxorubicin chemotherapy. This approach may be useful for pre‐emptively modifying chemotherapy dosing in dogs to avoid unacceptable side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different to fluorescent and phosphorescent counterparts, white thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) involves in multiple reverse intersystem crossing (RISC), leading to the correlation but competition between blue and other color components in both singlet and triplet allocations. Herein, three blue TADF emitters SSFAPO, DSFAPO, and TSFAPO, collectively named xSFAPO are developed, featuring a moderately electron‐withdrawing phosphine oxide (PO) acceptor respectively linked 1‐3 donors. Despite nearly identical blue emissions, photoluminescence quantum yields of xSFAPO are proportional to donor number. But, their RISC efficiencies are below 70%, markedly less than 85% of a conventional yellow TADF emitter 2,3,5,6‐tetrakis(3,6‐di‐(tert‐butyl)carbazol‐9‐yl)‐1,4‐dicyanobenzene (4CzTPNBu). Furthermore, sp3 hybrid configuration of PO enlarges steric hindrance of peripheral donor groups. So, Dexter energy transfer is impeded by increasing donor numbers. Among xSFAPO and 4CzTPNBu dually doped white‐emitting films, yellow emission from SSFAPO‐based film is the strongest, reflecting the predominance of fast Dexter energy transfer in triplet allocation. Therefore, SSFAPO endowed its warm‐white organic light‐emitting diodes (WOLEDs) with an external quantum efficiency of 25.1%, corresponding to 100% internal quantum efficiency, which are 1.25 and 1.60 folds of those of DSFAPO and TSFAPO‐based WOLEDs. These results suggest advantage complementarity of different components is crucial for developing white‐emitting systems with 100% exciton utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Dietary strategies that contribute to reducing incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection without negative side effects are highly desirable owing to worldwide bacterial prevalence and carcinogenesis potential. The aim of this study was to determine dosage effect of daily cranberry consumption on H. pylori suppression over time in infected adults to assess the potential of this complementary management strategy in a region with high gastric cancer risk and high prevalence of H. pylori infection. Methods: This double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled trial on 522 H. pylori‐positive adults evaluated dose–response effects of proanthocyanidin‐standardized cranberry juice, cranberry powder, or their placebos on suppression of H. pylori at 2 and 8 weeks by 13C‐urea breath testing and eradication at 45 days post‐intervention. Results: H. pylori‐negative rates in placebo, low‐proanthocyanidin, medium‐proanthocyanidin, and high‐proanthocyanidin cranberry juice groups at week 2 were 13.24%, 7.58%, 1.49%, and 13.85% and at week 8 were 7.35%, 7.58%, 4.48%, and 20.00%, respectively. Consumption of high‐proanthocyanidin juice twice daily (44 mg proanthocyanidin/240‐mL serving) for 8 weeks resulted in decreased H. pylori infection rate by 20% as compared with other dosages and placebo (P < 0.05). Percentage of H. pylori‐negative participants increased from 2 to 8 weeks in subjects who consumed 44 mg proanthocyanidin/day juice once or twice daily, showing a statistically significant positive trend over time. Encapsulated cranberry powder doses were not significantly effective at either time point. Overall trial compliance was 94.25%. Cranberry juice and powder were well‐tolerated. Conclusions: Twice‐daily consumption of proanthocyanidin‐standardized cranberry juice may help potentiate suppression of H. pylori infection. Trial registration: ChiCTR1800017522, per WHO ICTRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a macroeconomic analysis of loan sales driven by bank competition in lending and entrepreneur directed search for funding opportunities. We show how these two features of our macrofinance model can interact to reduce interest rates on loans financed via on‐balance‐sheet activities, and how this can motivate loan sales as a strategy of financing via off‐balance‐sheet activities. The results shed some light on the shift over the years preceding the global financial crisis in the practice of U.S. and European banks, from the traditional "originate‐to‐hold" model of credit provision, toward the "originate‐to‐distribute" approach for credit extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate the effect of probiotic supplementation on the vaginal microbiome and provide the effective evidences for clinical management of pregnant women. Methods: A total of 28 healthy pregnant women at 32 weeks of gestation were enrolled. The women were divided randomly to the probiotic group where they were prescribed with 2 g combined probiotics daily (13 cases) during the third trimester of pregnancy or to the control group (15 cases) on a voluntary basis. Their vaginal samples were taken for analyzing microbiome with the 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing of V4 region. Results: There was no significant difference on the clinical characteristics between the probiotic and control groups. The complexity of vaginal microbial network increased from 32 weeks of gestation to antepartum. Lactobacillus was the dominant microbiota. The probiotic supplementation had no obvious influence on the structure of the vaginal microbiome, whereas the relationships of some pivotal vaginal microbiota at the genus level changed in the probiotic group. Conclusion: The vaginal microbiome varied during the third trimester of pregnancy. The features of the vaginal microbiota after probiotic supplementation had shifted and the interaction network had the tendency to be loose. The probiotic supplementation may be useful in regulating the interaction network of vaginal microbiome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Polysomnographic studies have been performed to investigate the first‐night effect in insomnia disorder. However, these studies have revealed discrepant findings. This meta‐analysis aimed to summarise and quantify the characteristics of the first‐night effect in insomnia disorder. We performed a systematic search of the PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science and PsycINFO databases to identify studies published through October 2019. A total of 11,862 articles were identified, and seven studies with eight independent populations were included in the meta‐analysis. A total of 639 patients with insomnia disorder and 171 healthy controls underwent more than 2 consecutive nights of in‐laboratory polysomnography. Pooled results demonstrated that both variables of sleep continuity and sleep architecture, other than slow‐wave sleep were significantly altered in the first‐night effect in insomnia disorder. Furthermore, the results indicated that patients with insomnia disorder had a disruption of sleep continuity in the first‐night effect, including increased sleep onset latency and reduced total sleep time, compared to healthy controls. Overall, the findings show that patients with insomnia disorder experience the first‐night effect, rather than reverse first‐night effect, and the profiles of the first‐night effect in patients with insomnia are different from healthy controls. These indicate that an adaptation night is necessary when sleep continuity and sleep architecture is to be studied in patients with insomnia disorder. More well‐designed studies with large samples are needed to confirm the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a data‐driven approach from point cloud upsampling network (PU‐Net) has been used to upsample point set, making it from sparse to dense. However, PU‐Net first needs to downsample the point set before upsampling, and extract the point features of fixed‐level in the sampling area. The local features are not enough to extract, and then restoring its global representation will lead to point cloud coordinates to be inaccurate. In view of the insufficient local feature extraction, EdgeConv module is utilised to merge the points and the information in the local neighbourhood. In addition, a dense connection is proposed to maintain the effective transmission of information across the entire network. In this letter, EdgeConv and dense connection are combined into DenseConv that are nested for recursive use on PU‐Net to ensure the accuracy of the generation of point cloud. The experimental results show that the average error of the proposed method is reduced by about 5% on the PU‐Net dataset and about 10% on the ModelNet10 dataset, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Shockley‐type in‐grown stacking faults (IGSFs) in 4H‐SiC epilayers are studied. Most of the IGSFs are observed to be of triangular shape in the samples. Detailed optical features of two types of IGSFs are revealed by room temperature cathodoluminescence (RTCL) and low‐temperature photoluminescence (LTPL). Energy gaps (Egx) of the two types of IGSFs are deduced to be 2.511 and 2.764 eV from their emission wavelengths. They are identified to be of (6, 2) and (4, 4) types, respectively. The nucleation sites and propagation of the IGSFs are tracked by back etching and defect‐selective‐etching (DSE), and threading screw dislocations (TSDs) are frequently observed at the nucleation sites of the Shockley‐type IGSFs. The nucleation mechanism of these IGSFs is discussed, and the TSDs are suggested to be the major sources of the IGSFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The spin state, specifically antibonding orbital (e g) occupancy, of transition‐metal ions is recognized as a descriptor for oxygen electrocatalysts with perovskite or spinel structures, and can be facilely adjusted by varying the valence states of transition metals. However, both perovskites and spinels show unsatisfactory performance even at the optimal spin states. In comparison, some oxides with a rock salt structure (e.g., NiIICoIIO2) exhibit higher activity than perovskites and spinels, nevertheless, the rock salt structure excludes valence changes of the transition metals, obstructing further e g optimization and performance enhancement. Herein, an innovative strategy is demonstrated to regulate the spin states of CoII in NiCoO2 via crystallinity manipulation, thus providing a new strategy for eg optimization. Remarkably, the catalyst (CNO‐8) with a moderate eg occupancy (≈1.2) achieves the best electrocatalytic activity, which is among the highest achieved by the state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalysts, namely, an overpotential of ≈269 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for oxygen evolution reaction and an onset potential of 935 mV for oxygen reduction reaction. As an efficient bifunctional catalyst for rechargeable Zn‐air batteries, CNO‐8 even outperforms the noble metal catalyst (Pt/C + RuO2), demonstrating high potential for practical applications in electrochemical energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: By applying radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) voltages to corresponding ring electrodes, ion funnel (IF) can efficiently focus and transmit ions. However, IF has an inherent mass discrimination problem that will greatly limit low mass‐to‐charge (m/z) ion focusing and transmission. To improve the transmission efficiency (TE) of the IF, this paper explores three new profile quadrupole ion funnels (QIF). Methods: Computer simulations of the potential field distributions of QIFs and conventional IFs were performed to assess their focusing characteristics. To compare the TE, ion optics simulation programs SIMION and AXSIM were used to perform a series of simulations. Three QIF types (toroidal, cylindrical, and hyperbolic configurations) were used to improve ion TE, and their transmission and focus performance were also compared with conventional IF. Results: By simulating the trajectories of ions in the IF, the optimum electrical parameters for three new QIFs were obtained and compared with conventional IFs, with TE improvements recorded for m/z < 100 of 16%, 20%, and 13%. Conclusions: The results indicate that studying these three new IF configurations has great research significance for improving sensitivity to low m/z ions in mass spectrometer instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging meta‐optics unfold unprecedented capabilities in optical display, information storage, and encryption applications. Particularly, the recent advances in vectorial holography based on the multi‐parameter manipulation of the Jones matrix have increased the modulation space and information capacity. However, the fundamental degree of freedom (DoF) extreme limit in the optical encoding space of the Jones matrix bottlenecks the information capacity for high‐demand practical applications. To further expand the high‐volume encryption with enhanced security, here, a vectorial‐manipulating encryption strategy is proposed to originally demonstrate multi‐channel encryption and display. By ingeniously utilizing multi‐beam overlapping and precisely controlling their phase differences in the overlapping area, the capacity expansion of up to 12‐channel near‐/far‐field optical images is enabled. Such vectorial‐manipulating strategy is also applied to near‐field nanoprinting and realizes additional encrypted nanoprinting information. More intriguingly, the optical encryption will not be decrypted unless setting with a particular combination of input/output polarization keys, thus enhancing its concealment security beyond the conventional encryption. Overall, the proposed vectorial‐manipulating strategy expands the state‐of‐the‐art storage capacity with enhanced decipher security and potentially suggests a new path for the next‐generation optical storage and encryption security applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel Sn4P3/graphite composite anode material with superior capacity and cycling performance (651 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles) is investigated by in situ X‐ray absorption spectroscopy. Extended X‐ray absorption fine structure modeling and detailed analysis of local environment changes are correlated to the cell capacity and reveal the mechanism of lithiation/delithiation process. Results show that in the first two lithiation/delithiation cycles crystalline Sn4P3 is fully converted to an amorphous SnPx phase, which in further cycles participates in reversible conversion and alloying reactions. The superior reversibility of this material is attributed to the highly dispersed SnPx in the graphite matrix, which provides enhanced electrical conductivity and prevents aggregation of Sn clusters during the lithiation/delithiation process. The gradual capacity fading in long‐term cycling is attributed to the observed increase in the size and the amount of metallic Sn clusters in the delithiated state, correlated to the reduced recovery of the SnPx phase. This paper reveals the mechanism responsible for the highly reversible tin phosphides and provides insights for improving the capacity and cycle life of conversion and alloying materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inorganic fillers were added to epoxy resin for preparing micro and nano filler/epoxy composite, and then the breakdown strengths, depths of erosion caused by partial discharge, and electrical tree experiments of composites were investigated. It was found that the loading of micro fillers usually decreases the short-time breakdown strength (breakdown under a continuously rising voltage) of the composites. On the contrary, it increases the ability to withstand long-time electrical aging (erosion or breakdown caused by electrical tree under a discontinuously rising voltage or constant voltage) of the composites. The effect of inorganic fillers in suppressing the electrical tree or erosion channel propagation in the composite is different during the process of withstanding short-time breakdown and long-time electrical aging. Defects are introduced during the mixing of fillers and epoxy resin, which play a role to decrease the short-time breakdown strength and accelerate long-time electrical aging. It is concluded that micro and nano inorganic fillers can suppress the electrical tree channel propagation and erosion caused by partial discharge, whereas defects play the opposite role in composites. Two opposite effects of inorganic fillers and defects exist simultaneously during the process of electrical aging and breakdown; whereas inorganic fillers play a primary role in long-time electrical aging, defects play a primary role in short-time breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a data‐driven adaptive fault‐tolerant control (FTC) scheme is proposed for a class of linear discrete‐time multiple‐input and multiple‐output systems. With the unknown system model, the nominal controller with an observer‐based residual generator is first developed based on the system input and output (I/O) data in the fault‐free case; in the faulty case, the fault tolerant compensation mechanism is designed based on the model‐free adaptive control method. Compared to the existing data‐driven FTC methods, the number of the fault‐tolerant tuning parameters in this study is determined by the system I/O dimensions instead of arbitrarily defined, which may lead to fewer tuning parameters with satisfactory performance. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is illustrated by two simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two series of furo[3,2- f]quinoline-2-carboxylate were obtained via a three-component reaction of aldehydes, 5-aminobenzofuran-2-carboxylate, and 4-hydroxy-2 H-chromen-2-one or cyclopentane-1,3-dione in DMF under catalyst-free condition in high yields. This one-pot three-component reaction provided an efficient method for the synthesis of fused polycyclic heterocycles for bioactive screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic afterglow nanoparticles are unique optical materials that emit light long after cessation of excitation. Due to their advantages of no need for real‐time light excitation, avoiding autofluorescence, low imaging background, high signal‐to‐background ratio, deep tissue penetration, and high sensitivity, afterglow imaging technology has been widely used in cell tracking, biosensing, cancer diagnosis, and cancer therapy, which provides an effective technical method for the acquisition of molecular information with high sensitivity, specificity and real‐time at the cellular and living level. In this review, we summarize and illustrate the recent progress of organic afterglow imaging, focusing on the mechanism of organic afterglow materials and their biological application. Furthermore, we also discuss the potential challenges and the further directions of this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal activation of the extrasynaptic N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate receptor (NMDAR) contributes to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Ceftriaxone (Cef) can improve cognitive impairment by upregulating glutamate transporter‐1 and promoting the glutamate–glutamine cycle in an AD mouse model. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Cef on synaptic plasticity and cognitive‐behavioral impairment and to unravel the associated underlying mechanisms. We used an APPswe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) mouse model of AD in this study. Extrasynaptic components from hippocampal tissue homogenates were isolated using density gradient centrifugation. Western blot was performed to evaluate the expressions of extrasynaptic NMDAR and its downstream elements. Intracerebroventricular injections of adeno‐associated virus (AAV)‐striatal enriched tyrosine phosphatase 61 (STEP61) and AAV‐STEP61‐shRNA were used to modulate the expressions of STEP61 and extrasynaptic NMDAR. Long‐term potentiation (LTP) and Morris water maze (MWM) tests were performed to evaluate the synaptic plasticity and cognitive function. The results showed that the expressions of GluN2B and GluN2BTyr1472 in the extrasynaptic fraction were upregulated in AD mice. Cef treatment effectively prevented the upregulation of GluN2B and GluN2BTyr1472 expressions. It also prevented changes in the downstream signals of extrasynaptic NMDAR, including increased expressions of m‐calpain and phosphorylated p38 MAPK in AD mice. Furthermore, STEP61 upregulation enhanced, whereas STEP61 downregulation reduced the Cef‐induced inhibition of the expressions of GluN2B, GluN2BTyr1472, and p38 MAPK in the AD mice. Similarly, STEP61 modulation affected Cef‐induced improvements in induction of LTP and performance in MWM tests. In conclusion, Cef improved synaptic plasticity and cognitive behavioral impairment in APP/PS1 AD mice by inhibiting the overactivation of extrasynaptic NMDAR and STEP61 cleavage due to extrasynaptic NMDAR activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Using the hourly precipitation observations from 118 gauge stations and a weather radar in the Greater Beijing Region ( GBR) during 2008-2012, we investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of precipitation and discuss the appropriate observational approach for capturing variability of precipitation over this region. In general, the south central and northeastern GBR receives more intense precipitation than other parts. The diurnal cycle of precipitation amount ( PA) peaks in the evening and decreases till noon, whereas precipitation intensity ( PI) and precipitation frequency ( PF) both have two peaks. The stronger peaks of PI and PF occur in the evening whereas the weaker ones appear in the early nighttime and in the afternoon. Remarkable spatial heterogeneity also exists in the diurnal patterns of PA, PI and PF over the GBR. Rainstorms extracted from radar data feature in short duration (11.4 h in average) and highly localized patterns (4.31-20.58/1.85-9.10 km in major/minor radius direction). The estimated diurnal cycles of PA, PI and PF are found to depend on the gauge density in a sensitivity analysis, where a gauge density ratio of 0.6 (corresponding to 30 gauges in total with a representative area of 239.5 km2 per gauge) is identified as adequate to capture the temporal characteristics of precipitation in the plain area of GBR. However, such a gauge density ratio (i.e. 0.6) is incapable for resolving the spatial characteristics of precipitation in GBR. As such, different instruments (e.g. gauge network, weather radar, etc.) and multiple data sources are suggested to be jointly utilized to better capture the characteristics of rainstorms in GBR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The efficacy of lapatinib is limited by the development of acquired resistance. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of estrogen receptor ( ER) signaling compensatory activation in acquired resistance to lapatinib in breast cancer cells BT474 and the related mechanism. Methods Acquired resistant cell model resistant (r) BT474 was generated with an increasing concentration of lapatinib. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to determine the changes of human epidermal growth factor receptor ( HER)2 and ER pathways in breast cancer cell BT474 after treatment with lapatinib and the distinction between BT474 and rBT474. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium and colony formation assays were employed to detect the proliferation of r BT474 and BT474 cells treated with lapatinib and/or an ER inhibitor, fulvestrant, respectively. Results Lapatinib could inhibit phosphorylation of HER2 and induce expression of forkhead-box protein O3a and progesterone receptor. Acquired resistant cell model rBT474 could grow in the presence of 5 μM lapatinib, with an apoptosis rate of only 5%. Significant inhibition of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase ( PI3K)/protein kinase B ( AKT) pathway and the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinases ( MAPK) and ER pathways were detected in rBT474, compared with BT474. Furthermore, the expressions of Src phosphorylation and caveolin-1 were also upregulated. The viability of rBT474 was markedly suppressed by the lapatinib/fulvestrant combination in vitro, confirmed by the BT474 xenograft model. Conclusion ER signaling compensatory activation may partly contribute to lapatinib acquired resistance in HER2-overexpressing/ ERα-positive breast cancer cells, which might be related to PI3K/ AKT inhibition and MAPK pathway activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mallory-type photocyclization involves a series of photoreactions of stilbenes, o-terphenyls and related derivatives, which undergo intramolecular cyclization via dihydrophenanthrene intermediates. In typical Mallory photocyclizations, oxidants are usually needed to produce the final phenanthrene-containing product. In the research described here, appropriately fluorinated stilbenes and o-terphenyls undergo ring closure and HF is eliminated. This photocyclodehydrofluorination (PCDHF) reaction is very useful to produce a wide range of selectively fluorinated polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons that possess a phenanthrene (or heterocyclic analogue of phenanthrene) substructure. These fluorinated products are of great interest in various aspects of the materials science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although BCS patients often have thrombophilia and are more prone to hypercoagulability,5 it is necessary for those with more advanced liver dysfunction to timely and closely monitor coagulation indicators and bleeding episodes after DOACs. We read with great interest the study by Semmler et al, which demonstrated that spontaneous bleeding episodes occurred in 28.6% of patients with advanced chronic liver disease and vascular live disease after direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), and that Child-Pugh class B/C patients experienced more spontaneous bleeding episodes than Child-Pugh class A patients (36.9% vs 15.9%).1 Notably, the authors emphasized the significance of collecting more data regarding safety of DOACs in such patients.1 Herein, we would like to further discuss this issue by reporting a Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) patient who developed gingival bleeding immediately after rivaroxaban. Rapid development of gingival bleeding after rivaroxaban in a patient with Budd-Chiari syndrome. [Extracted from the article]

Cost-effective, solution-processable organic photovoltaics (OPV) present an interesting alternative to inorganic silicon-based solar cells. However, one of the major remaining challenges of OPV devices is their lack of long-term operational stability, especially at elevated temperatures. The synthesis of a fullerene dumbbell and its use as an additive in the active layer of a PCDTBT:PCBM-based OPV device is reported. The addition of only 20 % of this novel fullerene not only leads to improved device efficiencies, but more importantly also to a dramatic increase in morphological stability under simulated operating conditions. Dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (DSIMS) and TEM are used, amongst other techniques, to elucidate the origins of the improved morphological stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]