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High‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hsCRP) to high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) ratio (CHR) is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), but its predictive value for long‐term adverse outcomes in patients with CAD following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains unexplored and is the subject of this study. Patients with CAD who underwent PCI at the Korea University Guro Hospital‐Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (KUGH‐PCI) Registry since 2004 were included. Patients were categorized into tertiles according to their CHR. The end points were all‐cause mortality (ACM), cardiac mortality (CM) and major adverse cardiac events (MACEs). Kaplan–Meier analysis, multivariate Cox regression, restricted cubic spline (RCS) and sensitivity analyses were performed. A total of 3260 patients were included and divided into Group 1 (CHR <0.830, N = 1089), Group 2 (CHR = 0.830–3.782, N = 1085) and Group 3 (CHR >3.782, N = 1086). Higher CHR tertiles were associated with progressively greater risks of ACM, CM and MACEs (log‐rank, p < 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression showed that patients in the highest tertile had greater risks of ACM (HR: 2.127 [1.452–3.117]), CM (HR: 3.575 [1.938–6.593]) and MACEs (HR: 1.337 [1.089–1.641]) than those in the lowest tertile. RCS analyses did not reveal a significant non‐linear relationship between CHR and ACM, CM or MACEs. The significant associations remained significant in the sensitivity analyses, RCS analyses with or without extreme values, subgroup analyses and multiple imputations for missing data. Elevated CHR is a novel, independent risk factor for long‐term ACM, CM and MACEs in CAD patients following PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) has been widely applied in fluorescence imaging, sensing and so on, while developing useful strategy of boosting FRET efficiency becomes a key issue that limits the application. Except optimizing spectral properties, promoting orientation factor (κ2) has been well discussed but rarely utilized for boosting FRET. Herein, we constructed binary nano‐assembling of two thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters (2CzPN and DMAC‐DPS) with J‐type aggregate of cyanine dye (C8S4) as doping films by taking advantage of their electrostatic interactions. Time‐resolved spectroscopic measurements indicated that 2CzPN/Cy‐J films exhibit an order of magnitude higher kFRET than DMAC‐DPS/Cy‐J films. Further quantitative analysing on kFRET and kDET indicated higher orientation factor (κ2) in 2CzPN/Cy‐J films play a key role for achieving fast kFRET, which was subsequently confirmed by anisotropic measurements. Corresponding DFT/TDDFT calculation revealed strong "two‐point" electrostatic anchoring in 2CzPN/Cy‐J films that is responsible for highly orientated transitions. We provide a new strategy for boosting FRET in nano‐assemblies, which might be inspired for designing FRET‐based devices of sensing, imaging and information encryption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One‐fourth of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients suffer from cognitive impairment. However, few neuroimaging markers have been identified regarding cognitive impairment in PD. Objective: This study aimed to explore the association between third ventricular width by transcranial sonography (TCS) and cognitive decline in PD. Method: Participants with PD were recruited from one medical center in China. Third ventricular width was assessed by TCS, and cognitive function was analyzed by the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and Cox model analysis were utilized to determine the diagnostic and predictive accuracy of third ventricular width by TCS for cognitive decline in PD patients. Result: A total of 174 PD patients were recruited. Third ventricular width was negatively correlated with MMSE scores. ROC analysis suggested that the optimal cutoff point for third ventricular width in screening for cognitive impairment in PD was 4.75 mm (sensitivity 62.7%; specificity 75.6%). After 21.5 (18.0, 26.0) months of follow‐up in PD patients without cognitive impairment, it was found that those with a third ventricular width greater than 4.75 mm exhibited a 7.975 times higher risk of developing cognitive impairment [hazard ratio = 7.975, 95% CI 1.609, 39.532, p = 0.011] compared with patients with a third ventricular width less than 4.75 mm. Conclusion: Third ventricular width based on TCS emerged as an independent predictor of developing cognitive impairment in PD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geometric phases are robust to local noises and the nonadiabatic ones can reduce the evolution time, thus nonadiabatic geometric gates have strong robustness and can approach high fidelity. However, the advantage of geometric phase has not been fully explored in previous investigations. Here,a scheme is proposed for universal quantum gates with pure nonadiabatic and noncyclic geometric phases from smooth evolution paths. In the scheme, only geometric phase can be accumulated in a fast way, and thus it not only fully utilizes the local noise resistant property of geometric phase but also reduces the difficulty in experimental realization. Numerical results show that the implemented geometric gates have stronger robustness than dynamical gates and the geometric scheme with cyclic path. Furthermore, it proposes to construct universal quantum gate on superconducting circuits, with the fidelities of single‐qubit gate and nontrivial two‐qubit gate can achieve 99.97% and 99.87%, respectively. Therefore, these high‐fidelity quantum gates are promising for large‐scale fault‐tolerant quantum computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polder is usually used for flood control in the river delta area. With the rapid development of urbanization, the dikes or pumps cut the original stream network system, and the stream network connectivity (SNC) and the river system pattern have changed. The dikes or pumps generally force up the river's water level, and regional flood formation mechanisms and processes have changed. In order to quantitatively describe the characteristics of polder‐type flood control measure (PFCM) and the change law of SNC, firstly, the streams inside polders were generalized as virtual streams, a hydrological‐hydrodynamic model was constructed by connecting Hydrologic Engineering Center‐Hydrologic Modeling System and MIKE11 model. Secondly, an SNC evaluation model was constructed based on flow resistance and hydrological process. Finally, the SNC under different scenarios was simulated and evaluated to reveal the influence of the PFCM on SNC. And the dominance analysis method obtained the main control factors of SNC changes. The results showed that the pumps as the main drainage facility under the PFCM, SNC after the opening of the pumps were increased by 0.060, 0.103, and 0.311 for 50%, 30%, and 3% frequency flood scales compared with the pumps closed, respectively. However, compared with the natural stream (without the PFCM), the SNC decreased by 0.391, 0.456, and 0.487, respectively, at the same time of the same flood scale. The PFCM negatively impacted the SNC, and the number of pumps was the main control factor of the SNC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop the first molecular dynamics model of airway mucus based on the detailed physical properties and chemical structure of the predominant gel‐forming mucin MUC5B. Our airway mucus model leverages the LAMMPS open‐source code [https://lammps.sandia.gov], based on the statistical physics of polymers, from single molecules to networks. On top of the LAMMPS platform, the chemical structure of MUC5B is used to superimpose proximity‐based, noncovalent, transient interactions within and between the specific domains of MUC5B polymers. We explore feasible ranges of hydrophobic and electrostatic interaction strengths between MUC5B domains with 9 nm spatial and 1 ns temporal resolution. Our goal here is to propose and test a mechanistic hypothesis for a striking clinical observation with respect to airway mucus: a 10‐fold increase in nonswellable, dense structures called flakes during progression of cystic fibrosis disease. Among the myriad possible effects that might promote self‐organization of MUC5B networks into flake structures, we hypothesize and confirm that the clinically confirmed increase in mucin concentration, from 1.5 to 5 mg/ml, alone is sufficient to drive the structure changes observed with scanning electron microscopy images from experimental samples. We postprocess the LAMMPS simulated data sets at 1.5 and 5 mg/ml, both to image the structure transition and compare with scanning electron micrographs and to show that the 3.33‐fold increase in concentration induces closer proximity of interacting electrostatic and hydrophobic domains, thereby amplifying the proximity‐based strength of the interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological phases of matter are an exotic phenomenon in modern condensed matter physics, which has attracted much attention due to the unique boundary states and transport properties. Recently, this topological concept in electronic materials has been exploited in many other fields of physics. Motivated by designing and controlling the behavior of electromagnetic waves in optical, microwave, and sound frequencies, topological photonics emerges as a rapid growing research field. Due to the flexibility and diversity of superconducting quantum circuits system, it is a promising platform to realize exotic topological phases of matter and to probe and explore topologically‐protected effects in new ways. Here, theoretical and experimental advances of topological photonics on superconducting quantum circuits—via the experimentally demonstrated parametric tunable coupling techniques, including using of the superconducting transmission line resonator, superconducting qubits, and their coupled system—are reviewed. On superconducting circuits, the flexible interactions and intrinsic nonlinearity make topological photonics in this system not only a simple photonic analog of topological effects for novel devices, but also a realm of exotic but less‐explored fundamental physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A semiconductor‐based charge qubit, confined in double quantum dots, can be a platform to implement quantum computing. However, it suffers severely from charge noises. Here, a theoretical framework to implement universal geometric quantum gates in this system is provided. It is found that, while the detuning noise can be suppressed by operating near its corresponding sweet spot, the tunneling noise, on the other hand, is amplified and becomes the dominant source of error for single‐qubit gates, a fact previously insufficiently appreciated. It is demonstrated, through numerical simulation, that the geometric gates outperform the dynamical gates across a wide range of tunneling noise levels, making them particularly suitable to be implemented in conjunction with microwave driving. To obtain a nontrivial two‐qubit gate, a hybrid system is introduced with charge qubits coupled by a superconducting resonator. When each charge qubit is in resonance with the resonator, it is possible to construct an entangling geometric gate with fidelity higher than that of the dynamical gate for experimentally relevant noise levels. Therefore, the results suggest that geometric quantum gates are powerful tools to achieve high‐fidelity manipulation for the charge qubit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study was performed to compare the efficacy and safety during radiofrequency ablation (RFA) using ThermoCool SmartTouch (ST) and ThermoCool SmartTouch‐SF (STSF) catheters in the porcine heart. Methods and Results: RFA was performed on the porcine myocardium by using two irrigated ablation catheters. Three groups were divided based on the different contact forces (CFs): low contact force (LCF) (1–3 g), medium contact force (MCF) (5–10 g), and high contact force (HCF) (15–20 g). In each group, RFA was delivered at four power settings of 30, 40, 50, 60 W. At each power, RFA was applied to reach the target ablation index (AI) of 350, 450, and 500. Altogether, 360 RF lesions were created by using 72 ablation conditions. AI value was positively correlated with lesion size using ST and STSF catheters. At a fixed power, lesion dimensions significantly smaller in the LCF group, whereas did not differ between MCF and HCF groups. Furthermore, at a fixed CF, lesion dimensions increased with power set at 40 W compared with 30 W but decreased with high‐power RF energy (50 and 60 W). Although the average lesion surface diameter and the maximum diameter was increased using the STSF catheter, there were no significant differences in LV between the two catheters. The steam pop provoked more frequently using ST catheter and showed a negative correlation with CF and positive correlation with high‐power energy. Conclusion: The STSF catheter is safer and equally effective in lesion formation compared with the ST catheter. LV was increased along with the early increase of CF and power, whereas a further increase of CF and power significantly reduces the lesion size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key to realizing fault‐tolerant quantum computation for singlet‐triplet (ST) qubits in semiconductor double quantum dot (DQD) is to operate both the single‐ and two‐qubit gates with high fidelity. The feasible way includes operating the qubit near the transverse sweet spot (TSS) to reduce the leading order of the noise, as well as adopting the proper pulse sequences which are immune to noise. The single‐qubit gates can be achieved by introducing an AC drive on the detuning near the TSS. The large dipole moment of the DQDs at the TSS has enabled strong coupling between the qubits and the cavity resonator, which leads to two‐qubit entangling gates. When operating in the proper region and applying modest pulse sequences, both single‐ and two‐qubit gates have fidelity higher than 99%. The results in this paper suggest that taking advantage of the appropriate pulse sequences near the TSS can be effective to obtain high‐fidelity ST qubits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthesis of Artepillin C, a natural product with diverse biological activities, as well as Drupanin were accomplished. A two‐step continuous CuCN‐meditated prenylation of protected 3,5‐dibromo‐4‐hydroxybenzaldehyde, followed by HWE reaction efficiently provided desired diprenylated p‐cinnamic acid backbone structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonadiabatic geometric quantum computation is dedicated to the realization of high‐fidelity and robust quantum gates, which are necessary for fault‐tolerant quantum computation. However, it is limited by cyclic and mutative evolution path, which usually requires longer gate‐time and abrupt pulse control, weakening the gate performance. Here, a scheme to realize geometric quantum gates with noncyclic and nonadiabatic evolution via invariant‐based shortcuts is proposed, where universal quantum gates can be induced in one step without path mutation and the gate time is also effectively shortened. Our numerical simulations show that, comparing with the conventional dynamical gates, the constructed geometric gates have stronger resistance not only to systematic errors, induced by both qubit‐frequency drift and the deviation of the amplitude of the driving fields, but also to environment‐induced decoherence effect. In addition, this scheme can also be implemented on a superconducting circuit platform, with the fidelities of single‐qubit and two‐qubit gates higher than 99.97% and 99.84%, respectively. Therefore, this scheme provides a promising way to realize high‐fidelity fault‐tolerant quantum gates for scalable quantum computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geometric phases are robust against certain types of local noises, and thus provide a promising way toward high‐fidelity quantum gates. However, comparing with the dynamical ones, previous implementations of nonadiabatic geometric quantum gates usually require longer evolution time, due to the needed longer evolution path. Here, a scheme is proposed to realize nonadiabatic geometric quantum gates with short paths based on simple pulse control techniques, instead of deliberated pulse control in previous investigations, which can thus further suppress the influence from the environment induced noises. Specifically, the idea is illustrated on a superconducting quantum circuit, which is one of the most promising platforms for realizing practical quantum computer. As the current scheme shortens the geometric evolution path, ultra‐high gate fidelity can be obtained, especially for the two‐qubit gate case, as verified by the numerical simulation. Therefore, the protocol suggests a promising way toward high‐fidelity and robust quantum computation on a solid‐state quantum system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relaxation spectra of the components in polymer blends determine the dynamic mechanical properties of the corresponding composite materials, which, in thermo‐rheological studies, show a delicate dependence on their chemical and physical properties as well as its bulk composition. A molecular dynamics simulation based Rouse mode analysis is performed to detect the relaxation spectra of the component chains on all length scales ranging from one monomer to the whole chain size, indicating that the bulk composition dominates the relaxation dynamics of the components in miscible polymer blends. The relaxation of component chains accelerates on all length scales as increasing the free volume available to monomers to move, with the dependence of mobility shift on composition being quantified by a Williams–Landel–Ferry like function governing the time‐composition superposition. Role of the chain connectivity induced self‐concentration effect on chain relaxation in polymer blends is discussed and proved to be limited, which leads to a visible but subtle length‐scale dependent rheological complexity as the composition is varied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological states of quantum matter have inspired both fascinating physics findings and exciting opportunities for applications. Due to the overcomplicated structure of, as well as interactions between, real materials, a faithful quantum simulation of topological matter is very important in deepening our understanding of these states. This requirement puts the quantum superconducting circuits system as a good option for mimicking topological materials, owing to their flexible tunability and fine controllability. As a typical example herein, we realize a ℤ2‐type topological insulator featuring the quantum spin Hall effect state, using a coupled system of transmission‐line resonators and transmons. The single‐excitation eigenstates of each unit cell are used as a pseudo‐spin 1/2 system. The boundary of the topological phase transition is fixed in the phase diagram. Topological edge states are shown, which can be experimentally verified by detecting the population at the boundary of the plane. Compared with the previous simulations, this compositional system is fairly controllable, stable, and less limited. Therefore, our scheme provides a reliable platform for faithful quantum simulations of topological matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pingchuan formula (PCF) was created by Professor Yu Jianer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of PCF on dendritic cells (DCs) and toll-like receptors (TLRs) in initiating immunity. A bronchial asthma BALB/c mouse model was established using an OVA excitation method. PCF was immediately administered by gavage after the first excitation. After 7 d, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the pathological changes in the asthma model. Eosinophil infiltration and concentrations of IL-4, IFN-r, IL-12, and IFN-α in BALF were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Real-time PCR was used to determine mRNA levels of IL-12 and IFN-α. Protein expression levels of ERK, Toll-2, IDO, and Toll-9 were measured by immunoblot. HE and ELISA showed that PCF could improve lung pathological changes and significantly decrease the concentration of IL-4 in BALF. Moreover, PCF could increase IL-12, IFN-α, and IFN-r in BALF. Real-time PCR and western blot showed that PCF restored the DCs and TLRs in initiating immunity. In summary, this study found that PCF can improve the pathological changes and reduce the symptoms of asthma in a BALB/c mouse model. It can facilitate the initiation of immunity by restoring the DCs and TLRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel cyclotriphosphazene polymer (PDP) was synthesized by one‐step method with hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HCCP) and 4,4′‐biphenol (DOD) as raw materials. The effects of different reaction time and molar ratio of reactants on PDP yield and molecular weight were investigated. The results showed that when the reaction time reached 60 min, the yield and the molecular weight of PDP was the highest. The yield of PDP decreased with the increase of the molar ratio of HCCP to DOD, when the ratio of HCCP to DOD was 3 : 3, the molecular weight of PDP reached the maximum. The characterization results of FTIR and XPS showed that the method can effectively prepared PDP. XRD result showed that the PDP was non‐crystalline polymer. The synthesized PDP was applied to the polyolefin cable materials by electron beam radiation cross‐linking method. The results of aging experiments showed that the limiting oxygen index (LOI) of the samples increased from 20% to 21.6% with the addition of 5phr PDP. As for the sample without PDP, the elongation at break was reduced to almost 0 in 12 h and tensile strength to 0 in 25 h. However, the elongation of the sample with 5phr PDP still kept 30% in 100 h, and the tensile strength kept 90% in 100 h. It shows that PDP has good flame retardancy and excellent anti‐aging properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geometric phases induced in quantum evolutions have built‐in noise‐resilient characters, and thus can find applications in many robust quantum manipulation tasks. Here, a feasible and fast scheme for universal quantum computation on superconducting circuits with nonadiabatic non‐Abelian geometric phases is proposed, using resonant interaction of three‐level quantum system. In this scheme, arbitrary single‐qubit quantum gates can be implemented in a single‐loop scenario by shaping both the amplitudes and phases of the two driving microwave fields resonantly coupled to a transmon device. Moreover, nontrivial two‐qubit gates can also be realized with an auxiliary transmon simultaneously coupled to the two target transmons in an effective resonant way. In particular, this proposal can be compatible to various optimal control techniques, which further enhances the robustness of the quantum operations. Therefore, this proposal represents a promising way toward fault‐tolerant quantum computation on solid‐state quantum circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Atherosclerosis (AS) is recognized as a chronic inflammatory disease. It is caused by the interaction between inflammatory cells such as macrophages, dendritic cells, and lipoproteins. Evidence has revealed that macrophage pyroptosis in lesion contributes to the formation of the necrotic core and thinning of the fibrous cap, which plays crucial roles in the onset of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). IFN regulatory factor 1 (IRF-1) is a pleiotropic transcription factor involved in various immune processes and cell death. We propose that IRF-1 may be implicated in macrophage pyroptosis in the pathogenesis of AS and ACS. Methods. Patients with stable angina, unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction, and clinical presentation of chest pain were enrolled. The expression of IRF-1 in human PBMC-derived macrophages was analyzed. Then, overexpression and inhibition of IRF-1 was performed in macrophages from patients with ACS to explore the possible role and mechanism of IRF-1 involvement in macrophage pyroptosis. Results. The expression of IRF-1 in macrophages was upregulated in ACS patients. The overexpression or inhibition of IRF-1 effectively modulated caspase-1 activation, as well as macrophage lysis, expression of gasdermin D-N (GSDMD-N), production of IL-1β and IL-18, and activation of NLRP3-ASC inflammasome, which were all inhibited by caspase-1 inhibitor. Further experiments revealed that pyroptosis and the downstream inflammatory response in AS induced by IRF-1 is a process that is dependent on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Conclusion. Our observations suggest that IRF-1 potently activates ox-LDL-induced macrophage pyroptosis and may play an important role in AS and ACS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of Ti–Mg and Ti on the impact toughness of the heat affected zone in steel has been studied comparatively. The changes of microstructure and grain size in the heat affected zone are analyzed. It has been found that the content of acicular ferrite in the steel treated by Ti–Mg is more than that in the steel treated by Ti. The size of the primary austenite grain in Ti–Mg treated steel is smaller than that in the steel treated by Ti. During the welding thermal cycle, the second phase particles in steel can be re‐dissolved and coarsened. After welding, the second phase particles in Ti–Mg treated steel are smaller than those in Ti treated steel, and the number of the second phase particles in Ti–Mg treated steel is more than that in Ti treated steel. The pinning effect of the second phase particles in Ti–Mg treated steel is obvious stronger than that in Ti treated steel. The impact toughness of the heat affected zone has a significant improvement after the addition of Ti–Mg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Layering crystallization of polymers has extensive interests for achieving multifunctional materials with tailored applications. However, it is difficult to form polymer crystal on athermal substrate due to the conformational entropy loss of polymer chains if they are flattened against the substrate surface. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, it is confirmed that layering crystallization of polymers can be intrigued after blending the polymers with nonconnected monomers in between two athermal parallel substrates. The layering crystal area of polymers extends as increasing the bulk volume fraction of nonconnected monomers. It is proposed that the conformational entropy loss of the crystallized polymers is compensated by an increase of the translational entropy of nonconnected monomers. The thickness of the layering crystal of polymers is verified to be targetedly controllable through tuning the bulk volume fraction of nonconnected monomers. This study leads to a simulation and theory basis for the experimental design of thickness‐desired layering crystal of polymers without incorporating an enthalpical contribution of polymer‐substrate attraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The largest phthalocyanine-porphyrin-fused pentameric molecular arrays have been synthesized and spectroscopically characterized. The saddled molecular conformation revealed for the pentamer by DFT-D3 calculation in combination with the bulky peripheral substituents precludes effective face-to-face π-π intermolecular interaction. As a consequence, intermolecular C−H⋅⋅⋅π interactions together with the ubiquitous dispersion force arrays help to self-assemble the representative metal-free pentameric molecules into the three-dimensional supramolecular structures with nanorod morphology in CHCl3 and n-butanol. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) disclose the gradually increased long range of molecular ordering in the nanorods along with the increase in the substrate temperature from 30, 40, 50, to 60 °C. This in turn results in an increase in the semiconductivity of the single nanorod in the same order from 9.4×10−9 to 3.8×10−8, 7.6×10−7, and 6.3×10−5 S m−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-cyclization strategy rather than the conventional ante-cyclotetramerization method was employed for the synthesis of multinuclear phthalocyanine-fused molecular nanoarrays. Reaction of 2,3,9,10,16,17-hexakis(2,6-dimethylphenoxy)-23,24-diaminophthalocyaninato zinc(II) with 2,7-di- tert-butylpyrene-4,5-dione, 2,7-di- tert-butylpyrene-4,5,9,10-tetraone, and hexaketocyclohexane in refluxing acetic acid afforded the corresponding mono-, bi-, and trinuclear phthalocyanine-fused zinc complexes (Pz-pyrene){Zn[Pc(OC8H9)6]} ( 1), (Pz2-pyrene){Zn[Pc(OC8H9)6]}2 ( 2), {(HAT){Zn[Pc(OC8H9)6]}3} ( 3) in 46, 13, and 25 % yield, respectively, which extend the scope of multinuclear phthalocyanine-fused nanoarrays with different molecular skeletons. The self-assembly behavior of trinuclear phthalocyanine 3 in THF/CH3CN was investigated by electronic absorption spectroscopy and SEM, and the fabricated nanorods showed interesting semiconducting properties, which suggest good application potential of these multinuclear phthalocyanine-fused molecular nanoarrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a new method of in situ vapor-solid phase reaction for fabricating a kind of novel hybrid nanostructures of two-dimension (2D) porous conjugated polymers (PCPs) and charge-transfer complexes (CuTCNQ-TEPPM and CuTCNQF4-TEPPM). These novel hybrid nanostructures have displayed excellent field emission properties and high stability. Due to the junction formed at the interface between the 2D porous conjugated polymers (PCPs) and charge-transfer complexes, the device exhibits quantitative detection and typical visible-light-dependent field emission property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, UV-curing was investigated as an alternative method to provide fast production of composite cathodes and significantly reduce the time and energy required for solvent removal in lithium-ion battery fabrication. To serve our purpose, low-molecular-weight polysiloxane acrylate (PSA) was designed and synthesized from a polysiloxane epoxide precursor. In the presence of the acrylic acid additive LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC), electrode laminates containing 10 wt % PSA binder were successfully fabricated by UV-curing. The cured electrode exhibited good mechanical and electrochemical properties. At current rates up to C/3, the cell performance of the UV-cured NMC electrode was comparable to that of conventional polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-bound NMC electrode. Our initial success in applying high-speed UV-curing in composite electrode fabrication has proved that it is a promising route to substantially reducing the capital and operation costs of lithium-ion battery electrode manufacturing and additionally bringing about important environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of dimethoxybenzene‐based catholyte molecules, which are electrochemically reversible at high potential (4.0 V vs Li/Li+) and in the form of liquid, is developed. The liquid nature offers the molecules the possibility of being a solo or co‐solvent for nonaqueous redox flow batteries. This could dramatically improve the energy density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the association of chemical weak forces and solvent effects, zero- to two-dimensional nanostructures of thiophene-substituted perylene bisimide such as spheres and blocky structures were obtained. Light-controlled intramolecular charge transfer from the trithiophene unit to the perylene bisimide in the solid state can induce a hypochromatic shift and enhanced fluorescent emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are important for embryo development, wound healing, hematopoiesis, and angiogenesis. FGF-1, a member of FGF family, is involved in both receptor-dependent pathways and an intracrine pathway. Studies have recently shown that FGF-1 is overexpressed in the early stages of several kinds of cancer. Thus, FGF-1 is a candidate for cancer immunotargeting. To study the potential use of therapeutic antibodies against FGF-1, a monoclonal hybridoma 1C9 secreting monoclonal antibody specific for FGF-1 was developed. Then, a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody was genetically engineered from hybridama 1C9. The binding of the scFv1C9 to the antigen FGF-1 was demonstrated by ELISA and immunoprecipitation assays. Functional analysis showed that the overexpressed scFv1C9 in MCF-7 cells targeted endogenous FGF-1 and prevented the translocation of FGF-1 into the nucleus, resulting in the blockade of the intracrine pathway of FGF-1, which caused the G1 arrest by p21 up-regulation. These results suggest that the generated scFv1C9 is an effective inhibitor of the intracrine pathway of FGF-1 and has a potential application as anti-tumoral agent in breast cancer. © 2011 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 63(2): 129-137, 2011 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic carbon storage in agricultural soils plays a key role in the terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle. Paddy soils support important croplands in many parts of the world, especially in Asia. A thorough understanding of organic carbon storage in Chinese paddy soils would be helpful to both greenhouse gases emission and carbon sequestration studies. This paper examines soil organic carbon density (SOCD) and storage (SOCS) of paddy soils in China using the newly compiled 1:1,000,000 digital soil map of China as well as data from 1490 paddy soil profiles. Results show that paddy soils in China cover about 45.7 M ha, nearly 1.5 times more than the results of other studies. In China, the mean SOCD of paddy soils at a depth of 0-100 cm is 111.4 t C ha-1, with a SOCS of 5.1 Pg. These results are 66-75% higher than studies from other scientists. However, the mean SOCD of paddy soils from 0 to 20 cm is 37.6 t C ha-1, with a SOCS of 1.7 Pg, which is 89% higher than studies from other scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum information processing requires information or entanglement that can be transferred or distributed from one location to another with high fidelity. Here, a scheme for faithful quantum state transfer and entanglement generation based on the hybrid opto‐electro‐mechanical (OEM) systems in a fast and deterministic way is proposed. By applying invariant‐based inverse engineering to the interaction Hamiltonian, the couplings in the OEM system can be controlled by asynchronized driving fields, which is convenient to be realized in practice. Taking the systematic decoherence into consideration, the numerical simulation shows that the scheme can be implemented with less time and high fidelity. Therefore, the scheme provides a promising way for robust on‐chip converting of low‐frequency electrical signal into much higher‐frequency optical signal, and thus enabling large‐scale quantum information networks to grow in size and complexity. A faithful and high‐fidelity scheme for quantum state transfer and entanglement generation based on a hybrid opto‐electro‐mechanical system in a fast and deterministic way via invariant‐based inverse engineering of its Hamiltonian is proposed. Therefore, the scheme provides a promising way for robust on‐chip conversion of signal between different frequencies, and thus enabling large‐scale quantum information networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UV Radiation is the Cure: A high‐speed UV‐curing process to fabricate composite cathode laminates for lithium‐ion batteries is presented in the Communication on page 469 by Zhengcheng Zhang and colleagues at Argonne National Laboratory. A UV‐curable, multifunctional polysiloxane acrylate (PSA) is synthesized and demonstrated to be suitable as binder precursor for the fabrication of LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC) cathodes. In the presence of 10 wt% PSA binder, the mechanically robust NMC electrode laminate fabricated by UV‐curing exhibits very good mechanical properties and electrochemical performance in cell testing. This initial success in applying high‐speed UV‐curing in composite electrode fabrication proves that it is a promising route to substantially reducing the capital and operation costs of lithium‐ion battery electrode manufacturing and additionally bringing about important environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title complex, bis[3,3'-(pyridine-4-imino-kappaN(1))dipropanenitrile]silver(I) perchlorate, [Ag(CEAP)(2)]ClO(4) (CEAP is 4-[N,N-bis(2-cyanoethyl)amino]pyridine, C(11)H(12)N(4)), has been prepared and characterized. The unit cell consists of two crystallographically non-equivalent molecules. Cation cavities are constructed by [Ag(CEAP)(2)](+) cations through hydrogen bonds, and the ClO(4)(-) anions are incorporated into the cavities in mu(4)- and mu(2)-ClO(4)(-) bridging modes through C-H.O hydrogen bonds.