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Carrier velocity modulation by asymmetrical concave quantum barriers to improve the performance of AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light emitting diodes has been investigated. The concave structure is realized by inserting a low Al composition AlGaN layer in the barrier, and thus forming a concave region on energy band. The measured device performance shows a significant improvement under 0–250 mA operation current, with the maximum external quantum efficiency and light output power of 1.02% and 8.0 mW, which are more than double (2.32 and 2.35 times) of that for the conventional one, respectively. Simulation confirms that the concave quantum barriers make it possible for electrons to be scattered, which reduce the electron energy before being injected into quantum wells, and thus the capability of quantum wells to capture electrons is enhanced. Meanwhile, the vertical transport of holes within the active region is also enhanced because the asymmetrical setting of the concave layer in the quantum barriers helps holes accelerate under the polarization field, and then get more energy to overcome the barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted using a total of 540 one-day-old Yangzhou geese to study the effect of rearing system on growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality of male and female Yangzhou geese. The birds were divided into homogeneous groups according to initial BW and sex. The male and female geese were raised in separate pens under 5 different treatments, with 3 replicate pens of 18 male or 18 female geese per pen for each treatment. This experiment included 2 stages, with geese at 1 to 28 d of age (the first stage) and 29 to 70 d of age (the second stage). The 5 different treatments were 1) system A (geese raised on a wire floor), 2) system B (geese raised on the floor), 3) system C (geese raised on the floor and transferred to to a wire floor), 4) system D (geese raised on a wire floor and transferred to the floor), and 5) system E (gees raised on the floor and transferred to a free range). Results showed that feed conversion rate, BW, and BW gain were significantly affected by rearing system and sex (P < 0.05). For carcass yield, results suggested that eviscerated carcass yield and heart yield were affected by rearing system (P < 0.05) but not by sex (P > 0.05). Differences between sexes, but not rearing systems, were observed for only breast yield, thigh yield, and liver yield (P < 0.05). Rearing system and sex had a remarkable effect (P < 0.05) on subcutaneous fat thickness, abdominal fat yield, and gizzard yield. The nutrient composition (water, protein, and fat), water-holding capacity, shear force, and pH of the pectoralis major muscle were not affected (P > 0.05) by the rearing system, and only water, protein, and pH of the meat were affected by sex (P < 0.05). This study indicates that rearing system A, in which Yangzhou geese were raised on a wire floor, improved growth performance but had little effect on meat quality, implying that the use of rearing system A, using a wire floor, might be feasible and effective for Yangzhou geese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new ferrite-ceramic composite material with inductive, capacitive, and impedance properties was fabricated by a solid-state reaction. The composite materials were prepared with ferromagnetic NiCuZn ferrites and ferroelectric BaTiO3 perovskite. Co2+, Bi3+, Y3+, Dy3+, and Ca2+ ions are selected to improve the electromagnetic properties. We found that this new material has excellent frequency dependence of magnetic and dielectric properties, which can be used not only as inductor and resistor materials but also as capacitor materials in the wide range of 1 KHz to 4 GHz. At 1 MHz, the dielectric constant ϵ' of the composite material is 60-120, and the initial permeability μ' is 5.6-13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Gleeble-3800 thermal simulation testing machine, the TC4 titanium alloy was subjected to hot compression experiments under the conditions of deformation temperature of 810 – 950 °C, strain rate of 0.001 - 1s-1. The research shows that the flow stress of TC4 titanium alloy is more sensitive to the deformation temperature and strain rate during thermal deformation, and it increases with the decrease of the deformation temperature and the increase of the strain rate. Based on BP neural network, a constitutive model of TC4 titanium alloy α+β two-phase region is established. The correlation coefficient reaches 0,996, which proves that the model can predict the high temperature flow stress of TC4 titanium alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP A2B1) is a key component of the hnRNP complex involving RNA modulation in eukaryotic cells and it has also been reported to be involved in the replication of the hepatitis E virus, influenza A virus, and hepatitis B virus. However, it is not clear whether the role of the hnRNP A2B1 in viral replication is conserved among RNA viruses and what is the mechanism of hnRNP A2B1 in RNA virus replication. In this study, we first used severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), a tick-borne RNA virus that causes a severe viral hemorrhagic fever as well as other RNA viruses including VSV-GFP, SeV, EV71, and ZIKV to demonstrate that knockout hnRNPA2B1 gene inhibited viral RNA replication and overexpression of hnRNP A2B1 could restore the RNA levels of all tested RNA viruses. These results suggest that hnRNPA2B1 upregulation of viral replication is conserved among RNA viruses. Next, we demonstrated that hnRNP A2B1 was translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm under RNA virus infection including SFTSV, VSV-GFP, SeV, EV71, and ZIKV, suggesting translocation of hnRNP A2B1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm is crucial for RNA virus replication. We then used SFTSV as a model to demonstrate the mechanism of hnRNP A2B1 in the promotion of RNA virus replication. We found that overexpression of SFTSV nucleoprotein can also cause hnRNP A2B1 translocation from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and that the SFTSV NP interacted with the RNA recognition motif 1 domain of hnRNP A2B1. We further demonstrated that the hnRNP A2B1 interacted with the 5' UTR of SFTSV RNA. In conclusion, we revealed that the hnRNP A2B1 upregulation of viral RNA replication is conserved among RNA viruses; the mechanism of hnRNP A2B1 in promotion of SFTSV viral RNA replication is that SFTSV NP interacted with the hnRNPA2B1 to retain it in the cytoplasm where the hnRNP A2B1 interacted with the 5' UTR of SFTSV RNA to promote the viral RNA replication.IMPORTANCESevere fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a tick-borne RNA virus with a high mortality rate of up to 30%. In this study, we first used SFTSV as a model to demonstrate that the role of hnRNPA2B1 in viral replication is conserved in SFTSV. Then we used other RNA viruses, including VSV-GFP, SeV, EV71, and ZIKV, to repeat the experiment and demonstrated the same results as SFTSV in all tested RNA viruses. By knocking out the hnRNPA2B1 gene, SFTSV RNA replication was inhibited, and overexpression of hnRNPA2B1 restored RNA levels of SFTSV and other tested RNA viruses. We revealed a novel mechanism where the SFTSV nucleoprotein interacts with hnRNPA2B1, retaining it in the cytoplasm. This interaction promotes viral RNA replication by binding to the 5' UTR of SFTSV RNA. The findings suggest that targeting hnRNPA2B1 could be a potential strategy for developing broad-spectrum antiviral therapies, given its conserved role across different RNA viruses. This research provides significant insights into the replication mechanisms of RNA viruses and highlights potential targets for antiviral interventions., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objectives: To clarify the evaluation effect of COMPERA 2.0 risk assessment model on prognosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in China. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed PAH admitted in Fuwai hospital between April 2019 and March 2022 were enrolled retrospectively and divided in low, intermediate-low, intermediate-high and high strata by scores of COMPERA 2.0 risk assessment model. All the patients were followed up by clinic or telephone. The primary endpoint was defined as a composite of all-cause mortality, exacerbated heart failure and aggravated symptoms. Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank trend test were used to determine the risk of endpoints among the 4 groups. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression were used to analyze the association between COMPERA 2.0 scores and prognosis in patients with PAH. Results: A total of 951 patients with PAH were enrolled in this study. The age [ M ( Q 1 , Q 3 )] of the patients was 35 (28, 47) years, of which 706 cases (74.2%) were females. A total of 328 cases (34.5%) were assigned in low strata, 264 cases (27.8%) in intermediate-low strata, 193 cases (20.3%) in intermediate-high strata, and 166 cases (17.5%) in high strata. During the duration [ M ( Q 1 , Q 3 )] of follow-up after discharge of 1.8 (1.0, 2.8) years, the primary endpoint was occurred in 12.8% (42/328), 21.2% (56/264), 28.5% (55/193) and 42.8% (71/166) of low, intermediate-low, intermediate-high and high strata, respectively. The rates of primary endpoint were significantly increased with strata rising ( P <0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression showed that COMPERA 2.0 risk scores were associated with the primary endpoints in PAH patients ( HR =1.801, 95% CI : 1.254-2.588, P =0.001) after adjusting confounders. Conclusion: COMPERA 2.0 risk assessment model is a simple and effective tool for evaluating the prognosis of newly diagnosed PAH patients in China.

Temozolomide (TMZ) resistance is an important cause of clinical treatment failure and poor prognosis in gliomas. Increasing evidence indicates that cancer-derived exosomes contribute to chemoresistance; however, the specific contribution of glioma-derived exosomes remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the role and underlying mechanisms of exosomal macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) on TMZ resistance in gliomas. We first demonstrated that MIF was upregulated in the exosomes of TMZ-resistant cells, engendering the transfer of TMZ resistance to sensitive cells. Our results indicated that exosomal MIF conferred TMZ resistance to sensitive cells through the enhancement of cell proliferation and the repression of cell apoptosis upon TMZ exposure. MIF knockdown enhanced TMZ sensitivity in resistant glioma cells by upregulating Metalloproteinase Inhibitor 3 (TIMP3) and subsequently suppressing the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Additionally, exosomal MIF promoted tumor growth and TMZ resistance of glioma cells in vivo , while IOS-1 (MIF inhibitor) promotes glioma TMZ sensitive in vivo . Taken together, our study demonstrated that exosome-mediated transfer of MIF enhanced TMZ resistance in glioma through downregulating TIMP3 and further activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, highlighting a prognostic biomarker and promising therapeutic target for TMZ treatment in gliomas., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Objective: LASS2/TMSG1 gene is a novel tumor metastasis suppressor gene cloned from human prostate cancer cell line PC-3M in 1999 by Department of Pathology,Peking University of Basic Medical Sciences. It was found out that protein encoded by LASS2/TMSG1 could interact with the c subunit of vacuolar-ATPase (ATP6V0C). In this study, we explored the effect of LASS2/TMSG1 and its mutants on proliferation, migration and invasion of human prostate cancer cells and its molecular mechanism., Methods: We constructed four LASS2/TMSG1 mutants and stably transfected the variants to human prostate cancer cell line PC-3M-1E8 cell with high metastatic potential. The stable transfectants were identified by qPCR and Western blot through analyzing the expression of LASS2/TMSG1 and ATP6V0C, the cell biology functions of LASS2/TMSG1 and its four mutants were studied using growth curve,MTT assay, soft agar colony formation assay, wound migration assay, Matrigel invasion study and flow cytometry. Furthermore, immunofluorescence was used to analysis the interaction of LASS2/ TMSG1 mutants and ATP6V0C., Results: LASS2/TMSG1 mRNA and protein in LASS2/TMSG1 group and Mut1-Mut4 groups were higher than that in Vector group; Western blot showed that ATP6V0C protein in LASS2/TMSG1 wild group was lower than that in Vector group, but ATP6V0C protein in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was obviously higher than that in Vector group. MTT test and growth curve assay showed growth ability in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was increasing compared with other groups from day 5. Soft Agar colony formation experiment showed anchor independent growth ability in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was higher than those in the other groups (P<0.05), Cell migrations (from 35.3%±3.2% to 70.3%±3%) in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was increasing compared with LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (P<0.01), and more cells passed through Matrigel in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group compared with LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (from 50±3.2 to 203±6.5, P<0.01), the apoptosis rate in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was obviously higher than that in LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (from 7% to 15.1%, P<0.05), and the G0/G1 ratio in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group was obviously higher than that in LASS2/TMSG1 wild group (from 51.0% to 85.4%). Furthermore, double immunofluorescent staining observed the colocalization between ATP6V0C and LASS2/TMSG1 protein and its mutations, the expression of ATP6V0C in LASS2/TMSG1 S248A group increased significantly compared with the other groups., Conclusion: LASS2/TMSG1 S248A promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of prostate cancer cells through increasing ATP6V0C expression, suggesting that aa248-250 is an important function site for LASS2/TMSG1 in invasion suppression of prostate cancer cells.

Objective: To evaluated the outcome of prevention and treatment for glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head with anticoagulant and vasodilator drugs. Methods: A prospective, randomized, double-blind study was performed. From August 2003 to August 2006, 58 patients with large amounts of hormone therapy in the Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated Dalian University were enrolled and randomly assigned to the control group (placebo) or preventive group (anticoagulant and vasodilator drugs). And we prospectively analyzed the clinical outcomes of 24 patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head early stage (treatment group)treated by anticoagulant and vasodilator drugsat the same time. Disease incidence rate and progression were evaluated by radiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Follow-up of patients with femoral head survival curve was drawn. The Harris Hip Score and the Short Form 36 health survey were used to rate hip function and quality of life, respectively. Results: Thus, a total of 80 patients were assessed in this study, 24 cases in control group[follow up from 7.5 to 13.0(10.7±1.6)years], 22 cases in preventive group and 24 cases in treatment group. There was significant difference in theincidence rate of Osteonecrosis of femoral head, survive rate of femoral head and HHS score between the control groupand preventive group(41.7% vs 13.6%, 66.7% vs 70.8% , P <0.01). Conclusion: Anticoagulant and vasodilator drugs could effect on preventing theglucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head, reducing disease progression, or improving life quality.