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Summary: Occupational stress is associated with sleep quality among workers and the human variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism of the period circadian regulator 3 (PER3) gene relates to sleep–wake regulation. The main aims of the present study were to examine the effects of PER3 VNTR genotypes, occupational stress, and their interactions on sleep quality. A cross‐sectional study was conducted and 729 workers were recruited in Sichuan. Sleep quality were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Occupational stress was measured using the Generic Job Stress Questionnaire. PER3 genotypes were determined with polymerase chain reaction. High and medium occupational stress were linked to a higher risk of poor sleep quality than low levels. Unconditional logistic regression indicated that PER3 genotype was significantly associated with sleep quality, and an increased risk of poor sleep of >1.5‐times was observed in those with the allele 5 compared to allele 4. The 5/5 genotype was associated with both sleep latency and sleep duration. Crossover analysis showed an occupational stress × PER3 interaction. Compared to subjects with both low and medium occupational stress and 4/4 + 4/5 genotype, those with both high occupational stress and 5/5 genotype had a higher risk of poor sleep quality. Stratified logistic analyses found that compared with low and medium occupational stress, high occupational stress increased the risk of poor sleep by more than five‐times in 5/5 genotype carriers. Occupational stress and PER3 genotype had both separate and combined effects on poor sleep quality of workers. The results suggest that occupational stress may increase the risk of poor sleep quality through interaction with the PER3 gene polymorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers, with their direct band gaps, have attracted wide attention from the fields of photonics and optoelectronics. However, monolayer semiconducting TMDs generally suffer from low excitation absorption and emission efficiency, limiting their further applications. Here a flip‐over plasmonic structure comprised of silver nano‐disk arrays supporting a WS2 monolayer sandwiched by hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) layers is demonstrated. The flip‐over configuration optimizes the optical process with a free excitation/emission path from the top and a strong plasmonic interaction from the bottom. As a result, the photoluminescence from the TMD monolayers can be greatly enhanced more than tenfold by optimizing the metasurface, which can be further improved nearly tenfold by optimizing the thickness of bottom h‐BN. This study shows the advantages of using the flip‐over structure, where the plasmonic interaction between the metasurface and TMDs can be tuned by introducing optimized plasmonic arrays and h‐BN layers with suitable thickness. This hybrid device configuration paves a reliable platform to study the light–matter interaction, achieving highly efficient plasmonic TMD devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layered metal monochalcogenides have attracted significant interest in the 2D family since they show different unique properties from their bulk counterparts. The comprehensive synthesis, characterization, and optoelectrical applications of 2D‐layered tin monosulfide (SnS) grown by pulsed laser deposition are reported. Few‐layer SnS‐based field‐effect transistors (FETs) and photodetectors are fabricated on Si/SiO2 substrates. The premium 2D SnS FETs yield an on/off ratio of 3.41 × 106, a subthreshold swing of 180 mV dec−1, and a field effect mobility (µFE) of 1.48 cm2 V−1 s−1 in a 14‐monolayer SnS device. The layered SnS photodetectors show a broad photoresponse from ultraviolet to near‐infrared (365–820 nm). In addition, the SnS phototransistors present an improved detectivity of 9.78 × 1010 cm2 Hz1/2 W−1 and rapid response constants of 60 ms for grow‐time constant τg and 10 ms for decay‐time constant τd under extremely weak 365 nm illumination. This study sheds light on layer‐dependent optoelectronic properties of 2D SnS that promise to be important in next‐generation 2D optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delphinidin, one of the main anthocyanidins, has potent anti‐cancer properties. In this study, we investigated the effect of delphinidin on 1‐methyl‐1‐nitrosourea (MNU)‐induced breast carcinogenesis on rats and the mechanism of delphinidin via negative regulation of the HOTAIR/microRNA‐34a axis. We found administration of delphinidin could effectively suppress MNU‐induced mammal breast carcinogenesis. Delphinidin downregulated the level of HOTAIR and upregulated miR‐34a in breast carcinogenesis. Western blot analysis confirmed that delphinidin treatment can significantly decrease the expression of β‐catenin, glycogen synthase kinase‐3β (Gsk3β), c‐Myc, cyclin‐D1, and matrix metalloproteinase‐7(MMP‐7) expression in breast cancer cells, and inhibition of miR‐34a significantly reduced the effect of delphinidin on c‐Myc, cyclin‐D1, and MMP‐7. HOTAIR overexpression also blocked the effect of delphinidin on miR‐34a and the Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathway in MDA‐MB‐231 cells. RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay results showed that delphinidin upregulated miR‐34a by inhibiting HOTAIR, coupled with enhancement of the zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and histone H3 Lys27 trimethylation (H3K27me3). This study indicated that delphinidin may potentially suppress breast carcinogenesis and exert its anti‐cancer effect through the HOTAIR/miR‐34a axis. These findings provided new evidence for the use of delphinidin in preventing breast carcinogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the feasibility of using radio frequency ( RF) heating as a method to process kiwi puree, this study compared the effects of RF heating with traditional heat pasteurisation ( TP) on various properties of kiwi puree. RF treatment completely inactivate of microbes in kiwi puree, with total aerobic bacteria counts ( TAC) decreased by 4.81 log CFU mL−1 and yeast and mould counts ( YMC) decreased by 2.62 log CFU mL−1, which are similar to TP treatment. During the 7 weeks' storage, RF-treated puree showed retarded growth of microbes. The pH, titratable acidity and °Brix values of RF-treated samples were significantly different from those of the control. The vitamin C, total phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of RF-treated samples were significantly higher than those of TP-treated samples during storage. RF-treated sample retained better colour than TP-treated sample throughout storage. The customer satisfaction analysis indicated that consumers prefer RF-treated kiwi puree than TP-treated samples. These findings suggest that RF heating has potential applications in processing of kiwi puree or similar products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control over phase stabilities during synthesis processes is of great importance for both fundamental studies and practical applications. We describe herein a facile strategy for the synthesis of Cu2Se with phase selectivity through a simple solvothermal method. In the presence and absence of SbCl3, monoclinic α-Cu2Se and cubic β-Cu2Se can be synthesized, respectively. The formation of α-Cu2Se requires optimization of the Cu/Se molar ratio in the starting reagents, the reaction temperature, as well as the timing for the addition of SbCl3. Differential scanning calorimetry of the synthesized α-Cu2Se has shown that a part of it undergoes a phase transition to β-Cu2Se at 135 °C, and that this phase transition is irreversible on cooling to ambient temperature. Kinetic studies have revealed that in the presence of Sb species the kinetically favored β-Cu2Se transforms to the thermodynamically favored α-Cu2Se. In this β-to-α phase transition process, the distribution of Cu ions in β-Cu2Se, as determined by the Cu/Se ratio and temperature, is likely to play a crucial role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D Optoelectronics: Layer-Dependent Optoelectronic Properties of 2D van der Waals SnS Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition (Adv. In article number 1901020, Xinhua Pan, Yu-Jia Zeng, Chris Van Haesendonck, and co-workers successfully grow 2D layered tin monosulfide (SnS) by pulsed laser deposition. They demonstrate how the properties of SnS depend on the number of monolayers. [Extracted from the article]

The strong spin–orbit coupling along with broken inversion symmetry in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) results in spin polarized valleys, which are the origins of many interesting properties such as Ising superconductivity, circular dichroism, valley Hall effect, etc. Herein, it is shown that encapsulating few‐layer MoS2 between hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) and gating the electrical contacts by ionic liquid pronounce Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations in magnetoresistance. Notably, the SdH oscillations remain unchanged in tilted magnetic fields, demonstrating that the spins of the Q/Q′ valleys are firmly locked to the out‐of‐plane direction; therefore, Zeeman energy is insensitive to the in‐plane magnetic field. Ionic liquid gating induces superconductivity on the surface of unencapsulated MoS2. The spins of Cooper pairs are strongly pinned to the out‐of‐plane direction by the effective Zeeman field, hence are protected from being realigned by an in‐plane magnetic field, namely, Ising protection. As a result, superconductivity persists in an in‐plane magnetic field up to 14 T, in which Tc only decreases by ≈0.3 K from Tc0 as ≈7 K. By applying back gate, the strength of Ising protection can be effectively tuned, where an increase in 70% is observed when back gate changes from +90 to −90 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strong spin–orbit coupling along with broken inversion symmetry in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) results in spin polarized valleys, which are the origins of many interesting properties such as Ising superconductivity, circular dichroism, valley Hall effect, etc. Herein, it is shown that encapsulating few‐layer MoS2 between hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) and gating the electrical contacts by ionic liquid pronounce Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations in magnetoresistance. Notably, the SdH oscillations remain unchanged in tilted magnetic fields, demonstrating that the spins of the Q/Q′ valleys are firmly locked to the out‐of‐plane direction; therefore, Zeeman energy is insensitive to the in‐plane magnetic field. Ionic liquid gating induces superconductivity on the surface of unencapsulated MoS2. The spins of Cooper pairs are strongly pinned to the out‐of‐plane direction by the effective Zeeman field, hence are protected from being realigned by an in‐plane magnetic field, namely, Ising protection. As a result, superconductivity persists in an in‐plane magnetic field up to 14 T, in which Tc only decreases by ≈0.3 K from Tc0 as ≈7 K. By applying back gate, the strength of Ising protection can be effectively tuned, where an increase in 70% is observed when back gate changes from +90 to −90 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]