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Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the key mechanisms of perioperative neurocognitive dysfunction (PND) after anesthesia/surgery (A/S) by screening hub genes. Methods: Transcriptome sequencing was conducted on hippocampal samples obtained from 18‐month‐old C57BL/6 mice assigned to control (Ctrl) and A/S groups. The functionality of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was investigated using Metascape. Hub genes associated with changes between the two groups were screened by combining weighted gene coexpression network analysis within CytoHubba. Reverse transcription PCR and western blotting were used to validate changes in mRNA and protein expression, respectively. NLRP3 inflammasome activation was detected by western blotting and ELISA. Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), an inhibitor of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, was administrated preoperatively to explore its effects on the occurrence of PND. Immunofluorescence analysis was performed to evaluate the activation of astrocytes and microglia in the hippocampus, and hippocampus‐dependent learning and memory were assessed using behavioral experiments. Results: In total, 521 DEGs were detected between the control and A/S groups. These DEGs were significantly enriched in biological processes related to metabolic processes and their regulation. Four hub genes (Hspa5, Igf1r, Sfpq, and Xbp1) were identified. Animal experiments have shown that mice in the A/S group exhibited cognitive impairments accompanied by increased Hspa5 and Xbp1 expression, ER stress, and activation of NLRP3 inflammasome. Conclusions: Inhibiting ER stress alleviated cognitive impairment in A/S mice; particularly, ER stress induced by A/S results in NLRP3 inflammasome activation and neuroinflammation. Moreover, the preoperative administration of TUDCA inhibited ER stress, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and neuroinflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood presents excellent opportunities for sustainable urbanism as a renewable building material. Here, the chemical synthesis of a novel wood composites (3%PFeW) which owns flame‐retardance, water resistance, and degradability is investigated. The 3%PFeW is composed of porous wood framework impregnated with citric acid, 1,8‐octanediol, and the flame retardants (Fe3O4 and 2‐carboxyethyl phenyl hypophosphite (CEPPA)). The 3%PFeW's effective flame retardancy is realized by the introduction of Fe3O4 and CEPPA. Self‐extinguish phenomenon of 3%PFeW happens after being removed from flame. Moreover, 3%PFeW holds an LOI value of 27, reaching V0 flame retardant standard. The 3%PFeW exhibits exceptional water resistance, being proven by its water contact angle (100 °) as well as the low absorbed water content (only 6.5% after soaking 7 days). In addition, the wood composite shows degradable after immersion in NaOH for several days (71.37% degradation content after 7 days), which facilitates the recycling and reutilization of the wood framework after utilization. The modified wood with flame‐retardant, water resistant, and degradable capabilities shown here provides an appealing composite toward building area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiconductor nanowires have inspired plenty of novel nanotechnology device concepts in photonics, electronics, and sensing, owing to their unique functionalities and integrability in heterogeneous platforms. Lattice‐mismatched core/shell heterostructures, in particular, open new avenues for strain engineering and material properties modification. A notable case is the widely tunable tensile strain in the core of GaAs/InxAl1‐xAs core/shell nanowires, which can be used to tailor the GaAs bandgap for applications across near‐infrared, like optical fiber telecommunication, imaging, photovoltaics, etc. As it is shown here, though, the bandgap narrowing under high tensile strain in the GaAs core is accompanied by fast non‐radiative recombination, which is undesirable for any device application. The limiting role of the lattice‐mismatched core/shell interface is revealed, and a novel core/dual‐shell heterostructure that employs an intermediate AlyGa1‐yAs shell (spacer) is proposed. This spacer decouples the GaAs/AlyGa1‐yAs interface, which confines electrons and holes into GaAs, from the lattice‐mismatched AlyGa1‐yAs/InxAl1‐xAs one, whereas the strain in GaAs is unaffected. Choosing the optimal spacer thickness, the photoluminescence yield increases significantly, with longer emission decay lifetimes and slower carrier cooling rates. Besides unlocking the potential of GaAs for photonic applications across near‐infrared, the proposed heterostructure concept can also be adopted for other material systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next activity prediction of business processes (BPs) provides valid execution information of ongoing (i.e., unfinished) process instances, which enables process executors to rationally allocate resources and detect process deviations in advance. Current researches on next activity prediction, however, concentrate mostly on model construction without in‐depth analysis of historical event logs. In this article, we are dedicated to proposing an approach to forecast the next activity effectively in BPs. After in‐depth analysis of historical event logs, three types of candidate activity attributes are defined and calculated as additional input for the prediction based on three essential elements, that is, frequent activity patterns, trace similarity and position information. Furthermore, we construct an effective hybrid prediction model combining the popular convolutional neural network (CNN) and bidirectional long short‐term memory (Bi‐LSTM) with self‐attention mechanism. Specifically, CNN is used to extract the temporal features before importing into Bi‐LSTM for accurate prediction, and self‐attention mechanism is applied to strengthen features that have decisive effects on the prediction results. Comparison experiments on four real‐life datasets demonstrate that our hybrid model with selected attributes achieves better performance on next activity prediction than single models, and improves the prediction accuracy by 2.98%, 6.05%, 2.70% and 5.26% on Helpdesk, Sepsis, BPIC2013 Incidents and BPIC2012O datasets than the state‐of‐the‐art methods, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new software design paradigm, microservices structure an application as a collection of services that are independently deployable and loosely coupled. A key step of migrating non‐microservices‐based systems to microservices‐based systems is the identification of microservices in the target application. Traditional approaches to identify microservices, however, usually suffer from lack of full automation and low effectiveness. This paper puts forward an expert system to identify microservices automatically from legacy systems by leveraging the similarity of RESTful APIs. The system consists of three major parts. The first part calculates the candidate topic similarity and the response message similarity of APIs, and the overall similarity is obtained through their combination. Afterwards, the second part constructs a graph of API similarities with API as the node and the overall similarity as the weight. The third part employs a graph‐based clustering algorithm to identify candidate microservices from the API similarity graph. Experiments conducted on open‐source projects demonstrate the effectiveness of our system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve energy consumption economy and fuel cell life economy, this article proposes a multiobjective real‐time energy management strategy based on short‐term power smoothing prediction and distance adaptive state‐of‐charge (SOC) consumption for fuel cell/battery plug‐in hybrid electric bus. First, a distance adaptive SOC real‐time reference trajectory planning method is proposed by collecting the actual operating condition data of Dalian city buses. Second, the motor power is smoothed using the first‐order exponential smoothing approach, and the long short term memory network is adopted to predict the smoothed motor power. Finally, based on the predicted motor power and a real‐time reference SOC, a model predictive control strategy is designed in the finite prediction horizon, and dynamic programming is used to solve multiobjective cost functions to achieve optimal power allocation. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy has remarkable performance in terms of the total operating cost, SOC sustenance, and fuel cell degradation compared with the rule‐based strategy. In addition, the average time of online energy distribution in each step of the proposed strategy is 43.8 ms, which is much smaller than the simulation step length of 1s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: The merits of intrinsic electrical conductivity, high specific surface area, tunable chemical composition and tailor‐made properties enable two‐dimensional conductive metal‐organic frameworks (2D c‐MOFs) as promising next‐generation electrode materials in the field of energy storage and conversion. Herein, we have designed and synthesized a novel pyrazine‐based 2D c‐MOF (TPQG‐Cu‐MOF) bearing extended π‐conjugated structure and abundant redox active sites. Thanks to the excellent redox reversibility of pyrazine units and CuO2 units, as well as the insolubility of the rigid framework skeleton, TPQG‐Cu‐MOF as the cathode material of lithium‐ion battery exhibits a reversible specific capacity (150.2 mAh·g–1 at 20 mAh·g–1), good cycling stability (capacity retention of 82.6% after 500 cycles at 1 A·g–1) and excellent rate performance. Comprehensive ex‐situ spectroscopic studies revealed the reversible redox activity of pyrazine units and CuO2 units of TPQG‐Cu‐MOF during the Li+ insertion/extraction process. The deepening fundamental understanding of the structure‐property relationship was proposed, which might pave the way for further development of efficient MOF‐based energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: The merits of intrinsic electrical conductivity, high specific surface area, tunable chemical composition and tailor‐made properties enable two‐dimensional conductive metal‐organic frameworks (2D c‐MOFs) as promising next‐generation electrode materials in the field of energy storage and conversion. Herein, we have designed and synthesized a novel pyrazine‐based 2D c‐MOF (TPQG‐Cu‐MOF) bearing extended π‐conjugated structure and abundant redox active sites. Thanks to the excellent redox reversibility of pyrazine units and CuO2 units, as well as the insolubility of the rigid framework skeleton, TPQG‐Cu‐MOF as the cathode material of lithium‐ion battery exhibits a reversible specific capacity (150.2 mAh·g–1 at 20 mAh·g–1), good cycling stability (capacity retention of 82.6% after 500 cycles at 1 A·g–1) and excellent rate performance. Comprehensive ex‐situ spectroscopic studies revealed the reversible redox activity of pyrazine units and CuO2 units of TPQG‐Cu‐MOF during the Li+ insertion/extraction process. The deepening fundamental understanding of the structure‐property relationship was proposed, which might pave the way for further development of efficient MOF‐based energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional capacities of lead halide perovskites are strongly dependent on their morphology, crystallographic texture, and internal ultrastructure on the nano‐ and the meso‐scale. In the last decade, significant efforts are directed towards the development of novel synthesis routes that would overcome the morphological constraints provided by the physical and crystallographic properties of these materials. In contrast, various living organisms, such as unicellular algae, have the ability to mold biogenic crystals into a vast variety of intricate nano‐architectured shapes while keeping their single crystalline nature. Here, using the cell wall of the dinoflagellate L. granifera as a model, sustainably harvested biogenic calcite is successfully transformed into nano‐structured perovskites. Three variants of lead halide perovskites CH3NH3PbX3 are generated with X = Cl−, Br− and I−; exhibiting emission peak‐wavelength ranging from blue, to green, to near‐infrared, respectively. The approach can be used for the mass production of nano‐architectured perovskites with desired morphological, textural and, consequently, physical properties exploiting the numerous templates provided by calcite forming unicellular organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accuracy of warfarin dose prediction algorithms may be improved by including data from diverse populations in genetic studies of dose variability. Here, we surveyed single nucleotide polymorphisms in vitamin K‐related genetic pathways for association with warfarin dose requirements in two admixed Latino populations in standard‐principal component adjusted and contemporary‐local ancestry adjusted regression models. A total of five variants from vitamin K‐related genes/pathways were associated with warfarin dose in both cohorts (P < 0.0125) in standard models. Local ancestry‐adjusted analysis unveiled 35 associated variants with absolute effects ranging from β = 9.04 (±2.23) to 39.18 (±10.89) per ancestral allele in the discovery cohort and β = 6.47 (± 2.02) to 17.82 (± 6.83) in the replication cohort. Importantly, we demonstrate the technical validity of the Tractor model in cohorts with admixed ancestry from three founder populations and bring attention to the technical hurdles obstructing the inclusion of diverse, especially admixed, populations in pharmacogenomic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empathy is sharing and understanding others' emotions. Recently, researchers identified larger Western–Asian cultural differences in self‐report empathy with females relative to males (i.e., the culture–sex interaction theory). Neglecting this phenomenon, previous researchers focused on identifying the cultural impact on empathy per se and reported divergent results. This meta‐analysis aims to reveal the heterogeneity of the earlier publications and decode the heterogeneity as per the culture–sex interaction. The current results suggested the following: First, the cultural impact on empathy increased along with three sex stratification categories (male‐only, mixed‐sex, and female‐only, in that order). Second, the effect size statistically differed between the binary classifications of sex (female‐only > male‐only). Third, the mixed‐sex samples' effect size was positively regressed on the samples' sex ratio (i.e., percentage of females). The current results revealed the heterogeneity of previous publications and highlighted the significance of the culture–sex interaction effect on empathy for future investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interestingly, only critically ill COVID-19 and hospitalized COVID-19 were found to have a suggestive causal effect on gastric cancer, while the causal effects of COVID-19 on other digestive tract cancers disappeared (Figure 1). Previous studies have shown that patients suffering from cancer are more susceptible to COVID-19 and more severe.[[4]] Therefore, it is worth addressing whether COVID-19 has causal effects on cancer or cancer causes COVID-19. COVID-19 has causal effects on cancer risk?. [Extracted from the article]

Room temperature (RT) operation is one of the crucial requirements for the practical applications of single photon emitters. Here, RT triggered single photon emission from self‐assembled GaN quantum dots (QDs) embedded in AlN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si (111) substrate is demonstrated. Photoluminescence of GaN/AlN QDs show strong emission in the range of 3.6–4.1 eV at 4.7 K, with average full width at half maximum of ≈2.7 meV, the sharpest one reaches as narrow as 1.6 meV. The QD exhibits a fast‐radiative lifetime of ≈0.98 ns at 4.7 K due to strong quantum confinement. A clear antibunching effect is observable up to RT, with a second‐order correlation function at zero time delay g(2)(0) = 0.35 ± 0.05, confirming single photon emission at RT, manifesting strong potential for practical quantum information applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal sublimation, a specific method to fabricate semiconductor nanowires, is an effective way to understand growth behavior as well. Utilizing a high‐resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM) with in situ heating capability, the lattice‐asymmetry‐driven anisotropic sublimation behavior is demonstrated of wurtzite GaN: sublimation preferentially occurs along the [0001¯$000\bar{1}$] and [0001] directions in both GaN thin films and nanowires. Hexagonal pyramidal nanostructures consisting of six semipolar {11¯01}$\{ {1\bar{1}01} \}$ planes and one (0001¯$\bar{1}$) plane with the apex pointing to the [0001] direction are generated as a sublimation‐induced equilibrium crystal structure, which is consistent with the lattice‐asymmetry‐driven growth behaviors in wurtzite GaN. These findings offer a new insight into the thermal stability of wurtzite GaN and provide essential background for tailoring the structure of III‐nitrides for atomic‐scale manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultraviolet‐C light‐emitting diodes (UVC‐LEDs) have great application in pathogen inactivation under various kinds of situations, especially in the fight against COVID‐19. Unfortunately, its epitaxial wafers are so far limited to a size of 2 inches, which greatly increases the cost of massive production. In this work, a 4‐inch crack‐free high‐power UVC‐LED wafer is reported. This achievement relies on a proposed strain‐tailored strategy, where a 3D to 2D (3D‐2D) transition layer is introduced during the homo‐epitaxy of AlN on the high temperature annealed (HTA)‐AlN template, which successfully drives the original compressive strain into a tensile one and thus solves the challenge of realizing a high‐quality Al0.6Ga0.4N layer with a flat surface. This smooth Al0.6Ga0.4N layer is nearly pseudomorphically grown on the strain‐tailored HTA‐AlN template, leading to 4‐inch UVC‐LED wafers with outstanding performances. The strategy succeeds in compromising the bottlenecked contradictory in producing a large‐sized UVC‐LED wafer on pronounced crystalline AlN template: The compressive strain in HTA‐AlN allows for a crack‐free 4‐inch wafer, but at the same time leads to a deterioration of the AlGaN morphology and crystal quality. The launch of 4‐inch wafers makes the chip fabrication process of UVC‐LEDs match the mature blue one, and will definitely speed up the universal application of UVC‐LED in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strain evolution of AlN grown on hole‐type (HT) and pillar‐type (PT) nanopatterned sapphire substrates (NPSSs) during the epitaxial lateral overgrowth process is comparably studied. It is found that, after complete coalescence, the residual strain of AlN on HT‐NPSS is tensile, whereas AlN on PT‐NPSS is almost strain free. The different strain states are associated with different behaviors of crystal merging during the lateral overgrowth process, depending on the type of pattern. Then, ultraviolet‐C (UVC) light‐emitting diode (LED) wafers are grown on two types of AlN templates with the distinctive strain states. It is confirmed that AlN on HT‐NPSS with tensile strain offers the advantage of producing a high‐quality AlGaN layer with a fairly flat surface, which is the key point for fabricating high‐performance UVC LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare workers are at elevated risk to develop symptoms of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in response to an outbreak of a highly infectious disease. The current study set‐out to model the complex interrelations between PTSD symptoms during the peak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 outbreak in 291 Chinese healthcare workers and 291 matched control cases that were selected from the general population. For this purpose, we estimated regularized partial correlation networks. Within the network of healthcare workers, we observed a central role for avoidance of reminders of the traumatic event, physiological cue reactivity, anger/irritability, re‐experiencing, and startle. We identified three clusters of closely interconnected PTSD symptoms in healthcare workers, consisting of (a) symptoms of re‐experiencing and anxious arousal, (b) symptoms of avoidance and amnesia and (c) symptoms of emotional numbing and dysphoric arousal. Respectively, startle, avoidance of reminders and feeling detached emerged as bridging nodes in these communities. Although yielding highly similar network models, the PTSD symptom structure of healthcare workers showed several unique features compared to the matched control sample. This is informative for interventions aimed at targeting PTSD symptoms in healthcare workers in the context of a public health emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to establish a systematic screening strategy to select candidates for genetic testing among patients with maturity‐onset diabetes of the young (MODY) and to accomplish early diagnosis of MODY. Materials and methods: We enrolled 1478 sporadic patients from the outpatient department of endocrinology. Out of the1478 patients, 1279 participants were successfully screened according to the "AACM" strategy, which includes the age of onset, autoantibody to islet antigen, C‐peptide and metabolic syndrome. Another six probands and their families who fulfilled the common clinical criteria for MODY were also examined for causative gene mutations. Whole‐exome sequencing (WES) was performed to examine the mutations. Results: A total of 24 out of 1279 sporadic patients with newly diagnosed diabetes were eligible for genetic testing. Mutations were found in 4/24 participants in the cohort, as well as in 2/6 pedigrees. A likely pathogenic alteration, a likely benign alteration and three alterations with uncertain significance were identified with WES. Most of the mutant genes recognised in our trial were not the most common causative genes of MODY, and all of the mutations were specifically reported in Asian patients only, suggesting a unique genetic background of MODY in different ethnicities. Conclusions: In this systematic study of MODY in a new‐onset diabetes cohort, MODY cases were incorrectly diagnosed as type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), suggesting that an observant clinician is necessary for early and correct MODY diagnosis. This systematic approach to screening is practical and specific enough to identify patients who are most appropriate for genetic testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving high power conversion efficiencies with Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells grown at low temperature is challenging because of insufficient thermal energy for grain growth and defect annihilation, resulting in poor crystallinity, higher defect concentration, and degraded device performance. Herein, the possibilities for high‐performing devices produced at very low temperatures (≤450 °C) are explored. By alloying CIGS with Ag by the precursor layer method, (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 (ACIGS) solar cells grown at about 450 °C reach an efficiency of 20.1%. Only a small efficiency degradation (0.5% and 1.6% absolute) is observed for ACIGS absorbers deposited at 60 and 110 °C lower substrate temperature. CIGS devices exhibit a stronger efficiency degradation, driven by a decrease in the open‐circuit voltage (VOC). The root cause of the VOC difference between ACIGS and CIGS devices is investigated by advanced characterization techniques, which show improved morphology, reduced tail states, and higher doping density in ACIGS absorbers. The proposed approach offers several benefits in view of depositions on temperature‐sensitive substrates. Increased Cu diffusion promoted by Ag allows end‐point detection in the three‐stage process at the substrate temperatures below 300 °C. The modified process requires minimal modification of existing processes and equipment and shows the potential for the use of different flexible substrates and device architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fluorescent probe L‐Cu2+ based on quinoline, coumarin and Cu2+ has been synthesized and characterized for hypochlorite determination. After copper ion was added to the solution of ligand L, the fluorescence quenching at 490 nm might result from a ligand–metal charge transfer (LMCT) process and its strong coordination ability for Cu2+. In the presence of hypochlorite, the structure of ligand L was destroyed to form 7‐(diethylamino)‐coumarin‐3‐carboxylic acid, and the fluorescence was restored at 460 nm. In this case, L‐Cu2+ complex could be used as a fluorescent probe to detect hypochlorite, with the advantages of rapid, selective, wide linear range and low detection limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly sensitive and selective colorimetric analysis method based on unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to detect iodide ions (I−) in solution in the presence of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and mercury ions (Hg2+) has been successfully developed. Hg2+ could form a gold amalgam with AuNPs to protect AuNPs from CTAB‐induced aggregation caused by the electrostatic attraction between CTAB and citrate ion‐covered AuNPs. When a mixture of Hg2+ and I− was added to the solution of AuNPs, the formation of the HgI2 complex destroyed the protection of Hg2+ for AuNPs, which led to the aggregation of AuNPs accompanied with the change in colour of the solution from red to grey black and decrease in the absorbance of AuNPs at 520 nm. There was a good linear relationship between A520nm and I− concentration from 0 to 800 nM with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 4.2 nM. Furthermore, this simple and reliable colorimetric sensor has been applied successfully to the detection of I− in practical samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In large squint high-resolution cases, smearing introduced by path deviation and air turbulence in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery reconstructed via fast factorised backprojection algorithm (FFBP) will exist along space variant oblique angles. To refocus the blurred FFBP imagery, a motion phase error estimation and compensation methodology based on range bandwidth factorisation is proposed in this study. Motion phase error is estimated based on lower resolution data and then sparsity-driven combination is performed to derive the high-resolution refocused imagery. Extended point target simulation can verify the bandwidth-factorisation-based autofocus algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) has been developed significantly in the past decade on account of their important characteristics and vast application potential. On the other hand, the discovery of novel synthetic methodology is still a challenging task to further promote the preparation of COFs. Herein, an interesting protocol for the conversion of amorphous nonporous covalent organic polymers (COPs) to COFs was established, affording four COFs with high crystallinity and porosity. Specifically, imine‐linked amorphous COP‐1 was successfully converted to COF‐1–4 by replacing one type of linker with other organic building blocks. The realization of this conversion provides a facile method for constructing COFs from COPs. Transformation: A novel strategy was developed to construct highly crystalline and porous covalent organic frameworks from amorphous covalent organic polymers by simply replacing the linker with other organic building blocks. This approach shows advantages for a facile preparation of covalent organic frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Due to the intrinsic spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization effect, III‐nitride semiconductor heterostructures are promising candidates for generating 2D electron gas (2DEG) system. Among III‐nitrides, InN is predicted to be the best conductive‐channel material because its electrons have the smallest effective mass and it exhibits large band offsets at the heterointerface of GaN/InN or AlN/InN. Until now, that prediction has remained theoretical, due to a giant gap between the optimal growth windows of InN and GaN, and the difficult epitaxial growth of InN in general. The experimental realization of 2DEG at an InGaN/InN heterointerface grown by molecular beam epitaxy is reported here. The directly probed electron mobility and the sheet electron density of the InGaN/InN heterostructure are determined by Hall‐effect measurements at room temperature to be 2.29 × 103 cm2 V−1 s−1 and 2.14 × 1013 cm−2, respectively, including contribution from the InN bottom layer. The Shubnikov–de Haas results at 3 K confirm that the 2DEG has an electron density of 3.30 × 1012 cm−2 and a quantum mobility of 1.48 × 103 cm2 V−1 s−1. The experimental observations of 2DEG at the InGaN/InN heterointerface have paved the way for fabricating higher‐speed transistors based on an InN channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, a novel fluorescent sensor 1 for selective and sensitive detection of cysteine was developed based on a complex between bi‐8‐carboxamidoquinoline derivative ligand (L) and Cu2+. The interaction of Cu2+ with the ligand causes a dramatic fluorescence quenching most likely due to its high affinity towards Cu2+ and a ligand–metal charge transfer (LMCT) process. The in situ generated L–Cu2 complex was utilized as a chemosensing ensemble for cysteine. In the presence of cysteine, the fluorophore, L, was released from L–Cu2 complex because of the strong affinity of cysteine to Cu2+ via the Cu–S bond, leading to the fluorescence recovery of the ligand. The proposed displacement mechanism was confirmed by the results of mass spectrometry (MS) study. Under optimized conditions, the recovered fluorescence intensity is linear with cysteine concentrations in the range 1 × 10−6 mol/l to 8 × 10−6 mol/l. The detection limit for cysteine is 1.92 × 10−7 mol/l. Furthermore, the established method showed a highly sensitive and selective response to cysteine among the 20 fundamental α‐amino acids used as the building blocks of proteins, after Ni2+ was used as a masking agent to eliminate the interference of His. The proposed sensor is applicable in monitoring cysteine in practical samples with good recovery rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride (PHGC) has excellent antibacterial activity, a low cytotoxicity, and wide applications. However, the high water solubility, poor compatibility, and retention of PHGC have constrained its applications in materials applied in water environments. In this study, suitable tailored polymer microspheres consisting of a hydrophobic poly(styrene- co-glycidyl methacrylate) (PSGMA) block and a hydrophilic block of PHGC were prepared with the two steps of emulsifier-free copolymerization and a ring-opening reaction. The product had a mean particle size of about 182.2 nm. The grafting efficiency of PHGC on PSGMA was affected by the reaction temperature and the PSGMA concentration. The microspheres had a nonleaching, antibacterial structure because of the chemical bond between PHGC and PSGMA. The sterilizing effect of the synthesized product was slightly affected by the grafting reaction, and it was analyzed by its emulsion of the minimal inhibitory concentration, which could kill 99.8% Staphylococcus aureus in 10 min. These microspheres could be a promising antibacterial material for application in water systems, such as in coatings, polymer commodities, and medical devices. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44821. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lattice-symmetry-driven epitaxy of hierarchical GaN nanotripods is demonstrated. The nanotripods emerge on the top of hexagonal GaN nanowires, which are selectively grown on pillar-patterned GaN templates using molecular beam epitaxy. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy confirms that two kinds of lattice-symmetry, wurtzite (wz) and zinc-blende (zb), coexist in the GaN nanotripods. Periodical transformation between wz and zb drives the epitaxy of the hierarchical nanotripods with N-polarity. The zb-GaN is formed by the poor diffusion of adatoms, and it can be suppressed by improving the ability of the Ga adatoms to migrate as the growth temperature increased. This controllable epitaxy of hierarchical GaN nanotripods allows quantum dots to be located at the phase junctions of the nanotripods and nanowires, suggesting a new recipe for multichannel quantum devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acetylation of transcriptional regulators is normally dynamically regulated by nutrient status but is often persistently elevated in nutrient-excessive obesity conditions. We investigated the functional consequences of such aberrantly elevated acetylation of the nuclear receptor FXR as a model. Proteomic studies identified K217 as the FXR acetylation site in diet-induced obese mice. In vivo studies utilizing acetylation-mimic and acetylation-defective K217 mutants and gene expression profiling revealed that FXR acetylation increased proinflammatory gene expression, macrophage infiltration, and liver cytokine and triglyceride levels, impaired insulin signaling, and increased glucose intolerance. Mechanistically, acetylation of FXR blocked its interaction with the SUMO ligase PIASy and inhibited SUMO2 modification at K277, resulting in activation of inflammatory genes. SUMOylation of agonist-activated FXR increased its interaction with NF-κB but blocked that with RXRα, so that SUMO2-modified FXR was selectively recruited to and trans-repressed inflammatory genes without affecting FXR/ RXRα target genes. A dysregulated acetyl/ SUMO switch of FXR in obesity may serve as a general mechanism for diminished anti-inflammatory response of other transcriptional regulators and provide potential therapeutic and diagnostic targets for obesity-related metabolic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid advance in science and technology in the past decade brings an extraordinary amount of data, offering researchers an unprecedented opportunity to tackle complex research challenges. The opportunity, however, has not yet been fully utilized, because effective and efficient statistical tools for analyzing super-large dataset are still lacking. One major challenge is that the advance of computing resources still lags far behind the exponential growth of database. To facilitate scientific discoveries using current computing resources, one may use an emerging family of statistical methods, called leveraging. Leveraging methods are designed under a subsampling framework, in which one samples a small proportion of the data (subsample) from the full sample, and then performs intended computations for the full sample using the small subsample as a surrogate. The key of the success of the leveraging methods is to construct nonuniform sampling probabilities so that influential data points are sampled with high probabilities. These methods stand as the very unique development of their type in big data analytics and allow pervasive access to massive amounts of information without resorting to high performance computing and cloud computing. WIREs Comput Stat 2015, 7:70-76. doi: 10.1002/wics.1324 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constitutive activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 ( STAT3) or the nuclear factor-κB ( NF-κB) pathway occurs frequently in cancer cells and contributes to oncogenesis. The activation of Janus kinase 2 ( JAK2) and IκB kinase ( IKK) are key events in STAT3 and NF-κB signaling, respectively. We have identified 2-methoxystypandrone (2- MS) from a traditional Chinese medicinal herb Polygonum cuspidatum as a novel dual inhibitor of JAK2 and IKK. 2- MS inhibits both interleukin-6-induced and constitutively-activated STAT3, as well as tumor necrosis factor-α-induced NF-κB activation. 2- MS specifically inhibits JAK and IKKβ kinase activities but has little effect on activities of other kinases tested. The inhibitory effects of 2- MS on STAT3 and NF-κB signaling can be eliminated by DTT or glutathione and can last for 4 h after a pulse treatment. Furthermore, 2- MS inhibits growth and induces death of tumor cells, particularly those with constitutively-activated STAT3 or NF-κB signaling. We propose that the natural compound 2- MS, as a potent dual inhibitor of STAT3 and NF-κB pathways, is a promising anticancer drug candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of nucleolin in tumorous tissues and corresponding non-malignant tissues in gastric cancer ( GC), and the correlation of different expression sites with clinicopathologic parameters and prognosis. Immunohistochemistry was used for detecting the expression levels of nucleolin in GC tissues and corresponding non-malignant tissues from 124 gastrectomy specimens with stage I-III. Staining results were correlated with clinicopathologic features and survival. Both GC tissues and corresponding non-malignant tissues showed nucleolar staining for nucleolin. Nucleolin expression was higher in GC tissues than in non-malignant tissues. Among the 124 GCs, 85 (68.5%) were nucleolin-high. No significant correlation between nucleolin expression and other clinicopathologic parameters was found. The Cox univariate analysis indicated that both cytoplasmic staining and nucleolar staining of nucleolin expression correlated with patients' prognosis (log-rank, p < 0.0001; p = 0.0075, respectively). It was concluded in the study that nucleolin was overexpressed in GCs. A high level of nucleolar expression of nucleolin was an independent prognostic marker for better survival while high cytoplasmic staining was closely associated with worse prognosis for GC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to investigate the expression levels of ' NPM'/nucleophosmin/B23 and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 ( Her-2)/neu in gastric cancer ( GC) and corresponding non-malignant tissues, correlation with their clinicopathological parameters and the relationship of nucleophosmin/B23 and Her-2/neu in the occurrence and development of GC. A total of 131 postoperative patients were examined for nucleophosmin/B23 expression by immuno-histochemistry and for Her-2/neu expression by fluorescence in situ hybridization with the median follow-up period of 38 months. The positive expression rates of nucleophosmin (NPM) in neoplastic tissues and adjacent gastric mucosa were 65.6% and 52.7%, respectively. Nucleophosmin/B23 levels were linked to more advanced tumor stages, poor prognosis, and likelihood of recurrence (p < 0.05). The Cox multivariate analysis indicated that the nucleophosmin/B23 expression was an independent indicator for tumor recurrence (p = 0.011). Of the total GC specimens 12.21% were positive for Her-2/neu, but whose expression was of no correlation with patients' survival. Patients who were positive for Her-2/neu also had high NPM expression levels (p = 0.0303). The results suggest that nucleophosmin/B23 is a favorable prognostic indicator for GC. But Her-2/neu has no relationship with the prognosis of GC. The combined clinical significance of nucleophosmin/B23 and Her-2/neu remains to be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrathin III‐nitrides beyond BN, such as GaN and AlN, have attracted much research interest due to their potential applications in 2D optoelectronic devices. Taking advantage of the atomic thickness, the bandgap is expected to be widened in these thin films due to quantum confinement. As a promising intrinsic dielectric and tunneling layer for optoelectronic devices, ultrathin freestanding AlN structures have not been systematically studied, and the band structure still remains in the theoretical description. In this work, atomically thin hexagonal AlN nanotubes with controllable wall thickness have been fabricated via selective thermal evaporating the GaN/AlN core/shell nanowires, where the GaN cores entirely decomposed and are removed from the bottom open end while the robust AlN shells remain and form tubular structures. The bandgap energy of 9.2±0.1 eV is confirmed through spectrally resolved X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements on AlN nanotubes with the wall thickness of two monolayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]