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The synergistic utilization of low‐dimensional perovskites with 3D perovskite architectures represents a pervasive approach for fabrication of high‐performance and enduring perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, four distinct ionic liquids (ILs) with distinct cations, were introduced on the surface of 3D perovskite to induce the formation of 1D perovskite.Starting with the analysis of 1D/3D heterojunction structures, the assessment foucsed on the binding energies in four ILs‐induced 1D/3D heterojunctions, comparing electron cloud density within 1D/3D structures, and calculating the formation energies associated with iodine and lead defects within these four 1D/3D perovskite structures via DFT calculations. Furthermore, the time‐resolved grazing‐incidence wide‐angle X‐ray scattering technique, as employed in this study, offers real‐time insights into the phase‐transition occurring during the process of ILs coating and the formation of 1D/3D heterojunctions. The well‐designed and optimized 1D perovskite layer significantly reduces the residual lead iodide (PbI2), modulates the work function of the perovskite, and passivates defects in the 3D perovskite, thereby reducing non‐radiative recombination and enhancing charge transport. With the assistance of 1D/3D hybrid films, we achieved an exceptional power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 24.75% in the generated PSCs with remarkable stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the varying connectivity of Zr6 cluster and unlimited carboxylic acid‐based organic linkers, zirconium‐based metal‐organic frameworks (Zr‐MOFs) exhibit the most abundant structural diversity. However, Zr‐MOFs possessing more than one kind of Zr6 clusters in a single structure have not yet been reported. Herein, four new pentacarboxylic acids are synthesized to prepare Zr‐MOFs, HIAM‐4051 to HIAM‐4054. As a result, due to the different lengths of linkers, two novel underlying nets (typ and cqh) are found in these four MOFs with coexisting 4‐ and 9‐connected Zr6 clusters. Furthermore, by changing the acceptor groups in the linker skeleton, the emission of results Zr‐MOFs can be customized from blue, yellow–green to red. The nano‐sized HIAM‐4053‐NS exhibits high sensitivity and efficient adsorption for tetracycline hydrochloride with 0.22 µm detection limit and ≈0.6 g g−1 removal capacity. To the best of the knowledge, this work is the first example of constructing Zr‐MOFs using pentacarboxylic acids as organic linkers and the first report of Zr‐MOFs with coexisted Zr6 connectivities in a single MOF matrix. This study provides a novel insight for the construction of Zr‐MOFs with unprecedented structures, which will not only enrich the structure diversity but also offer more opportunity to extend the applications of Zr‐MOFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise agriculture based on intelligent agriculture plays a significant role in sustainable development. The agricultural Internet of Things (IoTs) is a crucial foundation for intelligent agriculture. However, the development of agricultural IoTs has led to exponential growth in various sensors, posing a major challenge in achieving long‐term stable power supply for these distributed sensors. Introducing a self‐powered active biochemical sensor can help, but current sensors have poor sensitivity and specificity making this application challenging. To overcome this limitation, a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)‐based self‐powered active urea sensor which demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity is developed. This device achieves signal enhancement by introducing a volume effect to enhance the utilization of charges through a novel dual‐electrode structure, and improves the specificity of urea detection by utilizing an enzyme‐catalyzed reaction. The device is successfully used to monitor the variation of urea concentration during crop growth with concentrations as low as 4 µm, without being significantly affected by common fertilizers such as potassium chloride or ammonium dihydrogen phosphate. This is the first self‐powered active biochemical sensor capable of highly specific and highly sensitive fertilizer detection, pointing toward a new direction for developing self‐powered active biochemical sensor systems within sustainable development‐oriented agricultural IoTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A one‐pot protocol for the synthesis of amides has been developed by employing acetonitrile as nitrogen source and solvent. The reaction undergoes ring‐opening of cyclopropyl carbinols and in situ formation of homoallylic carbocation, which reacts with acetonitrile to give desired products. The substrate of this reaction is widely applicable and the desired products are obtained in moderate to good yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)‐based screening has emerged as a powerful tool for identifying new gene targets for desired cellular phenotypes. The construction of guide RNA (gRNA) pools largely determines library quality and is usually performed using Golden Gate assembly or Gibson assembly. To date, library construction methods have not been systematically compared, and the quality check of each batch has been slow. In this study, an in‐house nanopore sequencing workflow was established for assessing the current methods of gRNA pool construction. The bias of pool construction was reduced by employing the polymerase‐mediated non‐amplifying method. Then, a small gRNA pool was utilized to characterize stronger activation domains, specifically MED2 (a subunit of mediator complex) and HAP4 (a heme activator protein), as well as to identify better gRNA choices for dCas12a‐based gene activation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Furthermore, based on the better CRISPRa tool identified in this study, a custom gRNA pool, which consisted of 99 gRNAs targeting central metabolic pathways, was designed and employed to screen for gene targets that could improve ethanol utilization in S. cerevisiae. The nanopore sequencing‐based workflow demonstrated here should provide a cost‐effective approach for assessing the quality of customized gRNA library, leading to faster and more efficient genetic and metabolic engineering in S. cerevisiae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the chemical flooding process, the premature breakthrough of chemical agents in production wells results in a large waste of chemical agents and increases the volume and processing difficulty of the produced fluids. The early warning method of chemical agent channeling can predict the strength of agent channeling in advance. The practice of chemical flooding shows that the production performance can be used for early warning of chemical agent channeling. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between cumulative oil production and cumulative polymer production of production wells in polymer–surfactant flooding. Three types of curves according to the enhanced oil production characteristics of chemical flooding, including convex type, S‐type, and concave type. We use the drop speed of the water–oil ratio and the rapid‐decline speed of water cut as early warning indicators to predict the channeling coefficient. A Latin hypercube experimental design method is used to design a polymer–surfactant flooding scheme with the main control factors of the channeling coefficient and early warning indicators. Numerical simulation is used to calculate samples of the channeling coefficient and early warning indicators under various conditions. The drop speed of the water–oil ratio reference value model and the rapid‐decline speed of the water cut reference value model are determined with a multiple regression method. A prediction model for the chemical agent channeling coefficient is established using the deviation coefficient of an early warning index. The method is applied in the Ng54‐61 polymer–surfactant flooding pilot area in the west of the Gudong Seventh District, Shengli Oilfield, China, and the error between the predicted result and the actual value is less than 10%. This research is helpful in taking effective antichanneling measures and improving the oil recovery degree of chemical flooding reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs), based on hard carbon anodes and Na+‐intercalation compound cathodes, have gained significant attention. Nonetheless, hard carbon anodes involve the storage of Na+ at a low potential, typically below 0.1 V (vs Na/Na+), which increases the risk of dendritic Na growth on the anode surface during overcharging. Herein, a safe organic/inorganic composite anode containing tetrasodium 3,4,9,10‐perylenetetracarboxylate (Na4PTC) and Metallic bismuth (Bi) with a weight ratio of 7:2, which exhibits an average potential of 0.7 V (vs Na+/Na) and a capacity of 150 mAh g−1 is proposed. The electrode reaction involves a reversible coordination reaction within the organic host and alloying reactions within the metallic Bi component. Importantly, the organic component efficiently buffers the volume changes in Bi during the alloying reaction, while the metallic Bi enhances the electronic conductivity of the organic material. As a result, this composite anode shows high cycle stability and rate performance, even under high mass loadings ranging from 10 to 50 mg cm−2. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the Na‐ion full cell, consisting of the composite anode and the Na3V2O2(PO4)2F cathode, exhibits minimal capacity degradation over 100 cycles while maintaining a high areal capacity of 1.1 mA cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boosting the circularly polarized luminescence of small organic molecules has been a stubborn challenge because of weak structure rigidity and dynamic molecular motions. To investigate and eliminate these factors, here, we carried out the structure‐property relationship studies on a newly‐developed axial chiral scaffold of bidibenzo[b,d]furan. The molecular rigidity was finely tuned by gradually reducing the alkyl‐chain length. The environmental factors were considered in solution, crystal, and polymer matrix at different temperatures. As a result, a significant amplification of the dissymmetry factor glum from 10−4 to 10−1 was achieved, corresponding to the situation from (R)‐4C in solution to (R)‐1C in polymer film at room temperature. A synergistic strategy of increasing the intramolecular rigidity and enhancing the intermolecular interaction to restrict the molecular motions was thus proposed to improve circularly polarized luminescence. The though‐out demonstrated relationship will be of great importance for the development of high‐performance small organic chiroptical systems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionic liquids (ILs) are extensively utilized for the manipulation of crystallization kinetics of perovskite, morphology optimization, and defect passivation for the fabrication of highly efficient and stable devices. However, comparing ILs with different chemical structures and selecting the appropriate ILs from the many types available to enhance perovskite device performance remains a challenge. In this study, a range of ILs containing different sizes of anions are introduced as additives for assisting in film formation in perovskite photovoltaics. Specifically, ILs with various sizes significantly affects the strength of chemical interaction between ILs and perovskite composition, inducing varying degrees of conversion of lead iodide to perovskite as well as the formation of perovskite films with markedly disparate grain sizes and morphology. Theoretical calculations in conjunction with experimental measurements revealed that small‐sized anion can more effectively reduce defect density by filling halide vacancies within perovskite bulk materials, resulting in suppression of charge‐carrier recombination, an extended photoluminescence lifetime, and significantly improved device performance. Boosted by ILs with appropriate size, the champion power conversion efficiency of 24.09% for the ILs‐treated device is obtained, and the unencapsulated devices retain 89.3% of its original efficiency under ambient conditions for 2000 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To assess the prevalence trend and contributing factors of heart failure (HF) impairment with thalassemias at global, regional and national levels. Methods: Data on HF impairment with thalassemias was collected from the Global Burden of Disease study. The absolute number and prevalence of the disease were systematically collected for each year, and the estimated annual percentage changes (EAPC) in HF impairment were calculated by gender, region and country to measure temporal trends. Results: Thalassemias have caused a significant global burden since 1990, and the case number of HF related to thalassemias has been steadily increasing. The highest case number of HF impairments with thalassemias is observed in China (7739 cases) and the highest prevalence is in Pakistan (1.61 per 100,000) currently. Besides, the middle sociodemographic index (SDI) region carries the highest burden of comorbid disease yet exhibits the most evident trend for improvement across the five regions (EAPC = −.98). The burden of thalassemias and comorbid HF is generally higher in males than females with the gender gap growing chasm in the future. Besides, the hotspots of HF impairment with thalassemias have gradually shifted to low SDI regions, though middle SDI regions still hold a relatively higher prevalence (.37 per 100,000) across different regions. Conclusions: The burden of thalassemias and accompanying HF, as well as their temporal trends, vary greatly across countries and regions. These findings can improve understanding of these conditions and guide policymakers in developing appropriate policies to address disparities between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous Zn batteries are attracting extensive attentions, but their application is still hindered by H2O‐induced Zn‐corrosion and hydrogen evolution reactions. Addition of organic solvents into aqueous electrolytes to limit the H2O activity is a promising solution, but at the cost of greatly reduced Zn anode kinetics. Here we propose a simple strategy for this challenge by adding 50 mM iodine ions into an organic‐water (1,2‐dimethoxyethane (DME)+water) hybrid electrolyte, which enables the electrolyte simultaneously owns the advantages of low H2O activity and accelerated Zn kinetics. We demonstrate that the DME breaks the H2O hydrogen‐bond network and exclude H2O from Zn2+ solvation shell. And the I− is firmly adsorbed on the Zn anode, reducing the Zn2+ de‐solvation barrier from 74.33 kJ mol−1 to 32.26 kJ mol−1 and inducing homogeneous nucleation behavior. With such electrolyte, the Zn//Zn symmetric cell exhibits a record high cycling lifetime (14.5 months) and achieves high Zn anode utilization (75.5 %). In particular, the Zn//VS2@SS full cell with the optimized electrolyte stably cycles for 170 cycles at a low N : P ratio (3.64). Even with the cathode mass‐loading of 16.7 mg cm−2, the full cell maintains the areal capacity of 0.96 mAh cm−2 after 1600 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of nanoscaled luminescent metal–organic frameworks (nano‐LMOFs) with organic linker‐based emission to explore their applications in sensing, bioimaging and photocatalysis is of great interest as material size and emission wavelength both have remarkable influence on their performances. However, there is lack of platforms that can systematically tune the emission and size of nano‐LMOFs with customized linker design. Herein two series of fcu‐ and csq‐type nano‐LMOFs, with precise size control in a broad range and emission colors from blue to near‐infrared, were prepared using 2,1,3‐benzothiadiazole and its derivative based ditopic‐ and tetratopic carboxylic acids as the emission sources. The modification of tetratopic carboxylic acids using OH and NH2 as the substituent groups not only induces significant emission bathochromic shift of the resultant MOFs, but also endows interesting features for their potential applications. As one example, we show that the non‐substituted and NH2‐substituted nano‐LMOFs exhibit turn‐off and turn‐on responses for highly selective and sensitive detection of tryptophan over other nineteen natural amino acids. This work sheds light on the rational construction of nano‐LMOFs with specific emission behaviours and sizes, which will undoubtedly facilitate their applications in related areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed‐dimensional engineering of perovskite material has been demonstrated as a facile and promising strategy to improve both photovoltaic performance and long‐term stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this study, we report an in‐plane preferred orientation of 1D perovskite induced by an ionic liquid (IL) of 1‐(3‐cyanopropyl)‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride (CPMIMCl) for the first time via sequential deposition approach, leading to a mixed dimensional perovskite thin films. The generated one‐dimensional (1D) CPMIMPbI3 with in‐plane orientation resides at the grain boundaries of three‐dimensional (3D) perovskite can be appreciably observed from the morphology level, leading to creation of high‐quality films with large grain size with more efficient defect passivation. Moreover, the dispersion of IL in the bulk phase of perovskite material allows for the formation of 1D perovskite for multiple level passivation to inhibit non‐radiative recombination and optimize carrier transport. This IL engineering strategy not only yields a mixed‐dimensional perovskite heterostructure with in‐plane orientation 1D perovskite nano‐rods but also significantly improves the opto‐electronic property with suppressed trap states. As a result, the CPMIMCl‐treated PSCs show an enhanced photovoltaic performance with a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 24.13%. More importantly, benefiting from the hydrophobicity of formed 1D perovskite and defects suppression, the corresponding PSC demonstrates an excellent long‐term stability and maintain 97.1% of its pristine PCE at 25°C under 50% RH condition over 1000 h. This research provides an innovative perspective for employing the low dimensional engineering to optimize the performance and stability of photovoltaic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P‐type organic electrode materials are known for their high redox voltages and fast kinetics. However, single‐electron p‐type organic materials generally exhibit low capacity despite high operating voltage and stability, while some multi‐electron p‐type organic materials have high theoretical capacity but low stability. To address this challenge, we explore the possibility of combining single‐electron and multi‐electron units to create high‐capacity and stable p‐type organic electrodes. We demonstrate the design of a new molecule, 4,4′‐(10H‐phenothiazine‐3,7‐diyl) bis (N,N‐diphenylaniline) (PTZAN), which is created by coupling the triphenylamine molecule and the phenothiazine molecule. The resulting PTZAN||Zn battery shows excellent stability (2000 cycles), high voltage (1.3 V), high capacity (145 mAh g−1), and energy density of 187.2 Wh kg−1. Theoretical calculations and in/ex situ analysis reveal that the charge storage of the PTZAN electrode is mainly driven by the redox of phenothiazine heterocycles and triphenylamine unit, accompanied by the combination/release of anions and Zn2+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sialidases, which catalyze the hydrolysis of sialic acid from extracellular glycoconjugates, are a group of major virulence factors in various pathogenic bacteria. In Porphyromonas gingivalis, which causes human periodontal disease, sialidase contributes to bacterial pathogenesis via promoting the formation of biofilms and capsules, reducing the ability for macrophage clearance, and providing nutrients for bacterial colonization. Here, the crystal structure of the P. gingivalis sialidase SiaPG is reported at 2.1 Å resolution, revealing an N‐terminal carbohydrate‐binding domain followed by a canonical C‐terminal catalytic domain. Simulation of the product sialic acid in the active‐site pocket together with functional analysis enables clear identification of the key residues that are required for substrate binding and catalysis. Moreover, structural comparison with other sialidases reveals distinct features of the active‐site pocket which might confer substrate specificity. These findings provide the structural basis for the further design and optimization of effective inhibitors to target SiaPG to fight against P. gingivalis‐derived oral diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To elucidate the clinical characteristics of AA patients with cytogenetic abnormalities. Methods: We retrospectively screened 30 patients (30/1206, 2.5%) with cytogenetic abnormalities from 1206 patients with severe and very severe AA who received immunosuppressive therapy (IST) during the years 2012–2019. Results: The most common abnormalities were trisomy 8 (+8, 10/30, 33.3%) and loss of Y (−Y, 8/30, 26.7%). The abnormal clones disappeared 6 months after IST in 14 patients and sustained in 12 patients. Patients with sustained abnormal clones had a lower hematologic response at 6 months after IST than the disappeared (33.3% vs. 64.3%, p =.116). The hematologic response after IST, 5‐year overall survival, 5‐year event‐free survival, myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia transformation in AA patients with cytogenetic abnormalities were not statistically different from those in normal cytogenetic patients. Conclusion: For AA patients with chromosome abnormalities but ineligible for hematopoietic stem cell transplant, IST is effective and appropriate as first‐line treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of 4‐(trifluoromethyl)‐2,3‐dihydrothiazoles from α‐enolic dithioesters and imidoyl sulfoxonium ylides has been achieved under thermal conditions. This transformation is catalyst‐free, additive‐free, and operationally simple, and it proceeds via a formal insertion of alkenyl S−H generated in situ from dithioesters into ylides followed by an intramolecular annulation. This approach further expands the synthetic application of two versatile sulfur‐containing building blocks of fluorinated imidoyl sulfoxonium ylides and α‐enolic dithioesters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isoprenoids are a large family of natural products with diverse structures, which allow them to play diverse and important roles in the physiology of plants and animals. They also have important commercial uses as pharmaceuticals, flavoring agents, fragrances, and nutritional supplements. Recently, metabolic engineering has been intensively investigated and emerged as the technology of choice for the production of isoprenoids through microbial fermentation. Isoprenoid biosynthesis typically originates in plants from acetyl‐coA in central carbon metabolism, however, a recent study reported an alternative pathway, the isopentenol utilization pathway (IUP), that can provide the building blocks of isoprenoid biosynthesis from affordable C5 substrates. In this study, we expressed the IUP in Escherichia coli to efficiently convert isopentenols into geranate, a valuable isoprenoid compound. We first established a geraniol‐producing strain in E. coli that uses the IUP. Then, we extended the geraniol synthesis pathway to produce geranate through two oxidation reactions catalyzed by two alcohol/aldehyde dehydrogenases from Castellaniella defragrans. The geranate titer was further increased by optimizing the expression of the two dehydrogenases and also parameters of the fermentation process. The best strain produced 764 mg/L geranate in 24 h from 2 g/L isopentenols (a mixture of isoprenol and prenol). We also investigated if the dehydrogenases could accept other isoprenoid alcohols as substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advantages of low cost and high safety of zinc (Zn) metal have attracted much attention on its application in batteries, but H2O‐induced issues of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), Zn corrosion, and Zn dendrites formation limit the application. Here, a strategy of adjusting H2O activity was provided by adding glycerol (GL) and acetonitrile (AN) into aqueous electrolyte to form hydrogen bonds between organic solvents and H2O, which alleviated the Zn corrosion. Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation indicated that GL could exclude H2O from the Zn2+ solvation shell, thus preventing undesired HER and Zn dendrites formation. Therefore, the corresponding Zn//Zn symmetrical cell showed a ultralong lifespan (1300 h). Then, a Zn‐organic battery with 3,7‐dimorpholino‐phenothiazin‐5‐ium iodide (FD28) cathode was fabricated by using such electrolyte. Interestingly, the reduced H2O activity also ensured the stable operation of organic cathode, and thus the full cell showed superior cycle stability for over 9000 cycles (≈1100 h), which is superior to previous reports. Moreover, such electrolyte owns novel properties of nonflammability, great weatherability, and low freezing point, thus boosting the practicality of the battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the advantages of natural softness and flexibility of water, liquid–solid‐based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have aroused wide attention recently and much effort has been devoted to improving its output performance. Herein, the performance of liquid–solid‐based TENG is greatly improved through two simple steps. First, an end electrode is added into the traditional tube‐based TENG and the volume effect is successfully realized, with the output voltage improved by ≈40 times to 240 V. Then, the output voltage of the tube‐based TENG can be further improved to 461 V by replacing water with NaOH solution and an impressive peak power density of 1910 Wm−3 and an average power density of 459 Wm−3 can be achieved. Additionally, the demonstration shows that the solution‐tube‐based volume effect TENG can work well at various operation modes and generate power from multiple mechanical energy sources. In addition to wearable human motion energy recovery, wave energy recovery, and electrochemical cathodic protection systems, the device also shows its application potential in biochemical sensing based on the solute concentration‐dependent output signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fiber‐end‐face‐integrated electrically tunable optical modulator based on graphene field‐effect transistor and the fabrication technique are proposed and demonstrated. The all‐fiber device features a scheme of compactness and high integration when applied to fiber optical system, as well as a low insertion loss since spatial coupling of light is avoided. A reflecting structure is used and the electro‐optic modulator shows vivid modulation when gate voltage gets tuned, with maximum optical reflectance modulation depth over 1% in demonstration. To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first time to build an all‐solid gate‐control modulator directly on fiber facet. The fabrication methods introduce workflows of silicon‐on‐insulator processing into the optical fiber end‐face micromachining domain which can be applied to more comprehensive configurations, broadening the path of fiber‐end‐face integrated device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversification of natural products to expand biologically relevant chemical space for drug discovery can be achieved by combining complementary bioprocessing and chemical transformations. Herein, genetically engineered Escherichia coli fermentation to produce amorphadiene and valencene was combined with metal‐free photocatalysis transformations to further access nootkatone, cis‐nootkatol and two hydration derivatives. In fermentation, using a closed, anaerobic condition avoided the use of organic overlay, increased the productivity, and simplified the work‐up process. Metal‐free photocatalysis hydration and allylic C−H oxidation were designed and implemented to make the whole process greener. It was shown that the anti‐Markovnikov selectivity of photocatalyzed alkene hydration could be reversed by stereo‐electronic and steric effects existing in complex natural products. The combination of bioprocessing and photocatalysis may provide an efficient and greener way to expand the chemical space for pharmaceutical, flavor and fragrance industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the lubrication state of the meshing pair in a single‐screw compressor is analysed. The two‐phase lubrication flow field numerical calculation model and the multi‐tooth coupling circumferential torque calculation model are established. The oil film pressure and the circumferential torque of multi‐tooth at 0%–60% air volume fraction (AVF) inlet are studied. Results show that the AVF at the inlet plays an important role in the promotion of the peak and average pressures of the oil flow field for certain star‐wheel rotation angles. For other star‐wheel rotation angles, the aforementioned pressure may even be weakened. For multi‐tooth coupling, the star‐wheel circumferential torque with inlet AVF of 20%, 40% and 60% is 15.3%, 13.1% and 6.8% higher than that with inlet pure oil, respectively. This shows that the existence of bubbles at the inlet increases the unbalanced circumferential torque of the star‐wheel and increases the possibility of wear of the teeth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel accessible scaffold featuring circularly‐polarized room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) is attractive but challenging. Herein, we report a new feasibly separable bidibenzo[b,d]furan compound with strong circularly‐polarized RTP when doping into the rigid polymer matrix. The simple silica‐gel column can separate the absolute chiral R‐isomer with excellent chiroptical properties. The experimental data reveal that the treated films exhibit an RTP efficiency of 14.8 %, a largest dissymmetric factor of 0.12, and a longest lifetime of 0.56 s under ambient conditions. It is found that reducing the nonradiative decays boosts the intrinsic circularly‐polarized RTP emission. The impressive results indicate that the locked axial chirality skeleton endows the potential of achieving superior circularly‐polarized emission for the small organic optoelectronic molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Intracavernosal pressure measurement is the gold standard for evaluating erectile function in experimental animals, but it has the shortcoming of being invasive. This study aimed to explore the application of laser speckle perfusion imaging in evaluating erectile function in rats. Sixty Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into the sham operation and model groups (n = 30 each). A rat model of neuroinjury erectile dysfunction was established by surgically damaging the bilateral cavernous nerves in the model group. Simulated surgery was performed in the sham operation group; the nerves were not damaged. Erectile function was evaluated by comparing the changes in intracavernosal pressure and blood flow fluctuations when the cavernous nerve was stimulated using the same voltage parameters. Intracavernosal pressure in the model group was significantly lower than that in the other group when using 2.5 V. No significant difference was found in cavernous blood flow fluctuation between the two groups when using 0.5 V. Cavernous blood flow fluctuation in the model group after 2.5 V, 5 V and 7.5 V stimulations was significantly lower than that in the sham operation group. Evaluating erectile function in rats is feasible by measuring the cavernous blood flow using laser speckle perfusion imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While limited choice of emissive organic linkers with systematic emission tunability presents a great challenge to investigate energy transfer (ET) over the whole visible light range with designable directions, luminescent metal‐organic frameworks (LMOFs) may serve as an ideal platform for such study due to their tunable structure and composition. Herein, five Zr6 cluster‐based LMOFs, HIAM‐400X (X=0, 1, 2, 3, 4) are prepared using 2,1,3‐benzothiadiazole and its derivative‐based tetratopic carboxylic acids as organic linkers. The accessible unsaturated metal sites confer HIAM‐400X as a pristine scaffold for linker installation. Six full‐color emissive 2,1,3‐benzothiadiazole and its derivative‐based dicarboxylic acids (L) were successfully installed into HIAM‐400X matrix to form HIAM‐400X‐L, in which the ET can be facilely tuned by controlling its direction, either from the inserted linkers to pristine MOFs or from the pristine MOFs to inserted linkers, and over the whole range of visible light. The combination of the pristine MOFs and the second linkers via linker installation creates a powerful two‐dimensional space in tuning the emission via ET in LMOFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to undesired Zn corrosion and the formation of Zn dendrites in aqueous electrolytes, most of the examples of aqueous Zn batteries with reported excellent performance are achieved with low Zn‐utilization (<0.6 %) in the anode and low mass‐loading (<3 mg cm−2) in the cathode. Herein, we propose a new organic electrolyte for Zn batteries, which contains a zinc trifluoromethanesulfonate (Zn‐TFMS) salt and a mixed solvent consisting of propylene carbonate (PC) and triethyl phosphate (TEP). We demonstrate that this electrolyte with an optimized PC/TEP ratio not only exhibits high ionic conductivity and a wide stable potential window, but also facilitates dendrite‐free Zn plating/stripping. In particular, the TEP solvent makes the electrolyte nonflammable. Finally, a 2 V Zn//polytriphenylamine composite (PTPAn) battery is fabricated with the optimized electrolyte; it shows a high rate and a long lifetime (2400 cycles) even with a high mass‐loading (16 mg cm−2) of PTPAn in the cathode and with a high Zn‐utilization (3.5 %). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The type 3 adenylyl cyclase (AC3) enzyme is involved in the synthesis of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). It is primarily expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) and plays a crucial role in neurogenesis and neural dendritic arborization. However, the AC3's functional role in the gastrointestinal tract remains ambiguous. Methods: AC3 expression in enteric tissue of AC3+/+ mice was investigated using immunohistochemistry and RT‐PCR. AC3 knock‐out mice (AC3−/−) were used to examine the effect of AC3 on the enteric nervous system (ENS) function and the number of cilia and apoptotic cells. Additionally, total gastrointestinal transit time and colonic motility were compared between the AC3−/− and AC3+/+ groups of mice. Key Results: AC3 was predominately expressed in the myenteric plexus of the large intestine. Colonic‐bead expulsion analysis showed accelerated propulsion in the large intestine of the AC3−/− mice. The AC3−/− mice demonstrated reduced nerve fibers and enteric glial cells count in colonic mucosa compared to the AC3+/+ mice. Furthermore, AC3−/− mice exhibited increased cellular apoptosis and reduced ARL13B+ cilium cells in the colonic lamina propria compared to the AC3+/+ mice. Conclusions: In AC3−/− mice, innervation of the lamina propria in the colonic mucosa was reduced and colonic propulsion was accelerated. AC3 is crucial for the development and function of the adult neural network of ENS. AC3 deficiency caused atrophy in the colonic mucosal neural network of mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the efficacy and mechanisms of salidroside treatment for erectile dysfunction induced by bilateral cavernous nerve injury (BCNI). Forty male rats were divided into four groups as follows: sham (cavernous nerves exposed only) (S); BCNI (M); BCNI + rapamycin (M + rapamycin); and BCNI + salidroside (M + salidroside). Erectile function in the rats was measured by intracavernosal pressure. Penile tissue was harvested for transmission electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, Masson's trichrome staining, haematoxylin–eosin staining, TdT‐mediated dUTP Nick End Labeling and western blotting. The M group exhibited a decrease in erectile responses and increased apoptosis and fibrosis compared to these in the S group. Meanwhile, nerve content and the penile atrophy index were also decreased in the M group. Treatment with salidroside and rapamycin for 3 weeks partially restored erectile function and significantly attenuated corporal apoptosis, fibrosis, nerve content and penile atrophy in the M group. Moreover, the autophagy level was further enhanced in the M + salidroside group, which was the same as that in the positive observation group (M + rapamycin). Salidroside treatment not only improved erectile function in rats with BCNI, but also inhibited apoptosis and fibrosis and ameliorated the loss of nerve content and endothelial and corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells by promoting protective autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damping ratio is one of the most important parameters in the dynamic analysis of high‐rise buildings for structural design. As a practical damping estimation method, the random decrement technique (RDT) has been widely applied to civil structures in the past decades. The inherent limitation of the RDT is that it can only provide a single optimal damping result, while the reliability of its estimated result is unavailable. By combining the RDT with the bootstrap method, this paper presents a reliability analysis scheme for damping estimation. Based on the bootstrap‐based scheme, the reliability of damping results estimated by the RDT using four commonly used triggering conditions is systemically investigated through numerical simulations. The results show that the reliability of damping estimates can be effectively evaluated by providing the confidence interval. Moreover, based on free vibration test results and field measurements of acceleration responses of a 600‐m high skyscraper during a typhoon, the bootstrap‐based scheme is further verified to be applicable and effective for evaluating the reliability of damping results of high‐rise buildings in field measurements. This paper aims to provide useful implications for evaluating the reliability of damping estimates and thereby improve the accuracy of damping evaluation of high‐rise buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) play key roles in the production of various chemical precursors that are essential in pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries. To achieve a practical application of ADHs in industrial processes, tailoring enzyme properties through rational design or directed evolution is often required. Here, we developed a secretion‐based dual fluorescence assay (SDFA) for high‐throughput screening of ADHs. In SDFA, an ADH of interest is fused to a mutated superfolder green fluorescent protein (MsfGFP), which could result in the secretion of the fusion protein to culture broth. After a simple centrifugation step to remove the cells, the supernatant can be directly used to measure the activity of ADH based on a red fluorescence signal, whose increase is coupled to the formation of NADH (a redox cofactor of ADHs) in the reaction. SDFA allows easy quantification of ADH concentration based on the green fluorescence signal of MsfGFP. This feature is useful in determining specific activity and may improve screening accuracy. Out of five ADHs we have tested with SDFA, four ADHs can be secreted and characterized. We successfully screened a combinatorial library of an ADH from Pichia finlandica and identified a variant with a 197‐fold higher kcat/km value toward (S)‐2‐octanol compared to its wild type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual‐comb sources with equally spaced and low phase noise frequency lines are of great importance for high resolution spectroscopy and metrology. In the terahertz frequency range, electrically pumped semiconductor quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are suitable candidates for frequency comb and dual‐comb operation. Although free running terahertz QCLs can be operated as frequency combs and dual‐comb sources, the phase noise originated from the carrier frequency and repetition rate instabilities are relatively high, which hinders the high precision applications. The locking techniques that have been used for a single laser comb can be, in principle, applied to a dual‐comb laser source. However, the complete locking of dual‐comb lines considerably complicates the implementation of such a system. Here, a method is proposed to stabilize a terahertz QCL dual‐comb source by phase locking one dual‐comb line. Although only one dual‐comb line is locked, it is shown that the phase noise of other dual‐comb lines close to the phase locked line is significantly reduced. Finally, it is demonstrated that the terahertz QCL comb without a control of the repetition rate can produce pulsed‐type waveforms. The demonstrated approach provides a convenient method to actively stabilize terahertz dual‐comb laser sources, which can be further utilized for fast gas sensing and spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induction of chirality from an achiral assembly system remains a huge challenge related to the origin of life. Here, induction of chirality in a metal–organic framework (MOF) built from achiral precursors has been realized. Assembling achiral H3BTB ligands and ZnII/CdII clusters leads to a 2D coordination polymer (FJI‐H16), while introduction of achiral pyridine into such assembly system leads to a 3D chiral MOF (FJI‐H27 (M) or (P)). The driven force for chiral generation has been proved to be a pyridine participated kinetic‐control assembly process, which can be controlled by changing the amount of pyridine and temperature, from no induction to partial induction to complete induction. The chiral generation process has been identified in detail through a pyridine‐involved key intermediate (FJI‐H28). The targeted modification of pyridine can selectively lead to FJI‐H27 (M) or FJI‐H27 (P), making the chiral orientation and distribution of bulk FJI‐H27 samples can be controlled. Our work not only represents a new chiral induction process that may relate to the chiral origin in nature, but also firstly reveals how achiral external stimuli generate chirality from achiral precursors, and offers a guide for rational preparation of chiral MOFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper proposes a method to identify the time‐variant modal frequencies of high‐rise buildings and applies the method to the field measurements from a 68‐story high‐rise building during Super Typhoon Mangkhut (September 16, 2018). The analyzed results show that the fundamental natural frequencies of the monitored building first gradually decreased by about 9% and then returned to 94% of the original values over time. Moreover, the effects of time‐variant modal frequencies on damping estimation of high‐rise buildings are investigated by a comprehensive parametric study. The results indicate that the change rate of frequency has significant effects on the damping estimation by the conventional modal identification methods such as the random decrement technique and Bayesian spectral density approach. Accordingly, an error model for describing the relationship between the estimation error of damping ratio and main parameters of time‐variant modal frequencies is established. Then, an error model‐based correction method is proposed for the conventional damping identification methods to eliminate the estimation errors of damping ratios due to the time‐variant modal frequencies, which is proved to be effective through Monte Carlo simulation and is further applied to identify the time‐variant damping ratios of the monitored high‐rise building. This paper aims to further the understanding of structural dynamic properties of high‐rise buildings during typhoons and provide accurate estimation of structural modal parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production of renewable, high‐value N‐containing chemicals from lignocellulose will expand product diversity and increase the economic competitiveness of the biorefinery. Herein, we report a single‐step conversion of furfural to pyrrole in 75 % yield as a key N‐containing building block, achieved via tandem decarbonylation–amination reactions over tailor‐designed Pd@S‐1 and H‐beta zeolite catalytic system. Pyrrole was further transformed into dl‐proline in two steps following carboxylation with CO2 and hydrogenation over Rh/C catalyst. After treating with Escherichia coli, valuable d‐proline was obtained in theoretically maximum yield (50 %) bearing 99 % ee. The report here establishes a route bridging commercial commodity feedstock from biomass with high‐value organonitrogen chemicals through pyrrole as a hub molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compact substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) dual-band bandpass filter with closely spaced passbands and wide-stopband characteristics is proposed for the first time based on inline-coupled perturbed SIW triple-mode cavities. The first three resonant modes in the triple-mode cavities can be flexibly controlled so that two closely spaced passbands can be realised based on the first two resonant modes, and wide-stopband can be achieved by staggering the third and other higher-order resonant modes without resorting to extra structures. The external and internal couplings of the dual passbands can be specified and designed flexibly benefitting from the offset feeding ports and coupling windows. A prototype centred at 13 and 14 GHz is synthesised, designed, fabricated, and tested as a demonstration, extending the stopband to 1.97f1 with rejection level better than 25 dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoparticle‐hydrogel hybrid composites have a great potential for a broad range of applications, such as antibacterial materials, stimuli‐responsive materials and catalysis. A novel supramolecular hydrogel system was developed using an amino acid based amphiphile containing a terminal pyrrole moiety as a gelator. The pyrrole moiety could serve as both reducing agent and monomer, and a variety of metal precursors penetrating into the hydrogel could be reduced in situ into metal nanoparticles while the pyrrole moieties preorganized in hydrogel were oxidized into polyprroles, affording metal‐nanoparticle‐decorated covalent conductive networks. This strategy allows the facile fabrication of diverse mono‐ or multimetallic nanoparticle‐polymer networks from one hydrogel by a simple reaction‐diffusion approach. More importantly, besides homogeneous composites, unique multisegment heterogeneous systems with spatiotemporal control were also easily accessible. Furthermore, based on the same multifunctional molecule, the fabrication of hierarchically pore‐structured metal‐nanoparticles‐polymers as well as metal‐nanoparticles‐carbon structures was also realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a nonthermal tissue ablation technique that represents a promising treatment option for unresectable liver tumors, but the effectively treated zone cannot be reliably predicted. We investigate the potential benefit of transcatheter intra‐arterial perfusion (TRIP) ‐MRI for the early noninvasive differentiation of IRE zone from surrounding reversibly electroporated (RE) zone. Methods: Seventeen rabbits with VX2 liver tumors were scanned with morphological and contrast‐enhanced MRI sequences approximately 30 min after IRE tumor ablation. Quantitative TRIP‐MRI perfusion parameters were evaluated in IRE zone and RE zone, defined according to histology. MRI and histology results were compared among zones using Wilcoxon rank‐sum tests and correlations were evaluated by Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: There were significant differences in area under the curve, time to peak, maximum and late enhancement, wash‐in and wash‐out rates in the tumor IRE zones compared with the boundary tumor RE zones and untreated tumors. Histology showed significantly fewer tumor cells, microvessels and significantly more apoptosis in tumor IRE zones compared with tumor RE zones (−51%, −66% and +185%, respectively) and untreated tumors (−60%, −67%, and +228%, respectively). A strong correlation was observed between MRI and histology measurements of IRE zones (r = 0.948) and RE zones (r = 0.951). Conclusion: TRIP‐MRI demonstrated the potential to detect immediate perfusion changes following IRE liver tumor ablation and effectively differentiate the IRE zone from the surrounding tumor RE zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the outcomes of children with acquired aplastic anemia (AA) treated in China with first‐line porcine anti‐lymphocyte immunoglobulin (p‐ALG)/rabbit anti‐thymocyte immunoglobulin (r‐ATG) combined with cyclosporine A (CSA). Methods: We performed a single‐center, non‐randomized, retrospective cohort study to assess the outcomes of 189 children with AA treated in China with first‐line p‐ALG/r‐ATG combined with CSA between 2014 and 2018. Results: No significant differences were observed in the overall response rates at 3, 6, 12, or 24 months (3 months: 61.9% vs 67.4%, P =.5; 6 months: 70.9% vs 73.9%, P =.69; 12 months: 77.3% vs 73.3%, P =.58; 24 months: 81.6% vs 78.6%, P =.59) after either p‐ALG‐ or r‐ATG‐based immunosuppressive therapy. No significant differences were observed in overall survival or failure‐free survival between the p‐ALG group and the r‐ATG group. Conclusion: Our results reveal that the therapeutic efficacy and safety of p‐ALG combined with CSA did not differ significantly from those of r‐ATG combined with CSA as first‐line therapy for pediatric patients with AA. Moreover, p‐ALG has the advantage of significantly lower cost compared with r‐ATG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Plant tannins, including condensed tannins (CTs) and hydrolyzable tannins (HTs), are widely distributed in the plant kingdom. To date, tannase (TA) – is a type of tannin acyl‐hydrolase hydrolyzing HTs, CT monomer gallates and depsides – has been reported in microbes only. Whether plants express TA remains unknown.Herein, we report plant TA genes. A native Camellia sinensis TA (CsTA) is identified from leaves. Six TAs are cloned from tea, strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa, Fa) and four other crops. Biochemical analysis shows that the native CsTA and six recombinant TAs hydrolyze tannin compounds, depsides and phenolic glycosides.Transcriptional and metabolic analyses reveal that the expression of CsTA is oppositely associated with the accumulation of galloylated catechins. Moreover, the transient overexpression and RNA interference of FaTA are positively associated with the accumulation of ellagitannins in strawberry fruit. Phylogenetic analysis across different kingdoms shows that 29 plant TA homologs are clustered as a plant‐specific TA clade in class I carboxylesterases. Further analysis across the angiosperms reveals that these TA genes are dispersed in tannin‐rich plants, which share a single phylogenetic origin c. 120 million yr ago.Plant TA is discovered for the first time in the plant kingdom and is shown to be valuable to improve tannin compositions in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: One widespread problem in damping estimation of high‐rise buildings is the neglect of structural modal directions, which may induce beating in measured dynamic responses along building geometric axes and thereby induce errors in damping estimations to some extent. Based on a proposed two degrees of freedom (2‐DOF) simulation model, the effects of neglecting the modal directions on damping estimate are systematically investigated. The results show that the angular differences between the modal directions and the building geometric axes, as well as the frequency difference between the involved modes, both have significant effects on the damping estimate of high‐rise buildings. This paper proposes a spectral method to determine the modal directions of high‐rise buildings and further validate this method by an analysis of full‐scale measurements from four skyscrapers. The damping ratios estimated based on the responses along the identified modal directions are more accurate than those based on those measured along the building geometric axes. Furthermore, an empirical prediction model for damping ratio of high‐rise buildings with heights over 200 m is proposed based on the field measured damping results of several buildings with consideration of the modal directions. The objective of this study is to improve the accuracy of damping estimation of high‐rise buildings and therefore provide useful information for the structural design of future skyscrapers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halitosis with the main components of trace volatile sulfur compounds widely affects the quality of life. In this study, an adaptable active sampling system with two sample‐collection modes of direct injection and solid‐phase microextraction was developed for the rapid and precise determination of trace volatile sulfur compounds in human halitosis coupled with gas chromatography–flame photometric detection. The active sampling system was well designed and produced for efficiently sampling and precisely determining trace volatile targets in halitosis under the optimized sampling and detection conditions. The analytical method established was successfully applied for the determination of trace targets in halitosis. The limits of detection of H2S, CH3SH, and CH3SCH3 by direct injection were 0.0140–23.0 μg/L with good recoveries ranging from 82.2 to 118% and satisfactory relative standard deviations of 0.4–9.5% (n = 3), respectively. The limit of detections of CH3SH and CH3SCH3 by solid‐phase microextraction were 2.03 and 0.186 × 10−3 μg/L with good recoveries ranging from 98.3 to 108% and relative standard deviations of 5.9–9.0% (n = 3). Trace volatile targets in positive real samples could be actually found and quantified by combination of direct injection and solid‐phase microextraction. This method was reliable and efficient for the determination of trace volatile sulfur compounds in halitosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with distributed fusion estimation problem for discrete‐time nonlinear systems with asynchronous sampling data in the clustered sensor networks. A nonlinear sequential fusion method consisting of a sequential measurement fusion (SMF) method and a sequential state fusion (SSF) method is proposed. It is shown that the SMF estimator using the Unscented Kalman Filtering (UKF) method can handle the asynchronous measurement data sequentially and the SSF estimator which uses sequential matrix weighting method can get a close performance as the centralized batch matrix weighting method but has a lower computational complexity. The proposed measurement fusion method is able to deal with asynchronous measurements and has lower computational complexity as compared with the augmentation method. A simulation example shows the effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear sequential fusion method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat loss in wellbore during steam injection is considerable due to the deep burial of medium‐depth heavy oil reservoirs, leading to a low steam quality in the bottom of well. As for hot water flooding, the mobility ratio between oil and water is small, which decreases oil recovery. Flue‐gas foam assisted thermal‐chemical flooding is a new method for heavy oil reservoir. Compared to hot water flooding, flue‐gas foam assisted thermal‐chemical flooding can decrease oil viscosity, achieving higher sweep efficiency. However, the combined mechanisms of all the injected components have not been studied systematically. In this work, the role of CO2, viscosity reducer and hot water for oil viscosity reduction and distribution characteristics of residual oil were studied using the numerical simulation methods. Results show that although the percentage of viscosity reduction contribution of viscosity reducer can be as high as 60%, only wider range of this effect can help recover more remaining oil effectively. In the presence of flue‐gas foam, CO2 and viscosity reducer can decrease oil viscosity in the upper and bottom layers of the reservoir, respectively. Two parameters of the area proportion of removed‐oil (ARRO) and the average removed‐oil saturation (SDRO) are defined. It is believed that both ARRO and SDRO are quite small for the hot water flooding, which is assisted by viscosity reducer. The flue‐gas foam can obviously expand the area of removed‐oil, but the average removed‐oil saturation is slightly lower. The combination of flue‐gas foam and viscosity reducer is a promising displacement method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aortic valve interstitial cells (AVICs) have the potential to undergo calcification, which has been regarded as a critical issue during the pathology of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD). In the past decade, epigenetics, in particular, DNA methylation dysregulation, has been reported to play a vital role in the occurrence and development of CAVD. In the present study, the expression of Notch1, which can inhibit the osteogenesis differentiation of valve interstitial cells, was downregulated whereas the expression of methyltransferases was upregulated in CAVD tissues, suggesting the potential role of DNA methylation in Notch1 expression and CAVD progression. As revealed by DNA extraction and bisulfite sequencing polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the methylation level in Notch1 promoter was much higher in CAVD tissues and human AVICs on Day 14 of osteogenesis differentiation induction. The silence of Notch1 intercellular domain (NICD) promoted while the treatment of demethylation agent, 5‐Aza‐dC, inhibited the osteogenesis differentiation. Moreover, NICD overexpression significantly suppressed the transcriptional activity of β‐catenin on TCF4, and the expression of osteogenesis differentiation factors, indicating the involvement of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling in Notch1 modulating the osteogenesis differentiation in human AVICs (hAVICs). Taken together, Notch1 promoter methylation leads to a decreased Notch1 expression and subsequent decreased release of NICD in the nucleus of hAVICs, therefore promoting the activation of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling and the expression of osteogenesis differentiation factors, finally promoting the osteogenesis differentiation in hAVICs. DNA methylation might act as an important bridge to link epigenetic variation and CAVD progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]