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Thermal photoluminescence (PL) quenching is fundamentally important for perovskite optoelectronic applications. Herein, we investigated PL characteristics of CsSnBr3 microsquares and micropyramids ...

This paper presents experimental investigations on the size-induced segregation behavior of binary granular mixtures in a rotating drum by adding a small amount of fine powders. Four different fine powder contents were selected, and three different rotation speeds were adopted. Experimental results reveal that the flowability of granular mixtures can be enhanced by a lubrication effect induced by a proper amount of fine powders. The segregation index and rate increase with the increasing fine powder content and rotation speed. The local-ensemble average velocity and granular temperature for large main particles also increase with the increase of fine powder content and rotation speed. The increase of fine powder content provides stronger lubrication effects, and the increase of rotation speed offers more energy into the granular mixtures. The dynamic properties proposed herein can characterize the size-induced granular segregation behavior. The increasing fine powder content and rotation speed facilitate size-induced granular segregation.

This study evaluated the application of the bipolar electrocoagulation catheter via a peripheral-to-central (3 + 1) technique, relative to directly pressing only at the center of the bleeding site (direct-stroke), to effect endoscopic hemostasis of acute non-varicose gastrointestinal bleeding (ANVUGIB). Patients (n = 148) with endoscopically diagnosed ANVUGIB were randomly apportioned to receive treatment by 3 + 1 (n = 78) or direct-stroke (n = 70) application of the bipolar electrocoagulation catheter. The 3 + 1 strategy required pressing at3 narrowly restricted sites equidistant peripheral and center to the site of bleeding. The rates of initial success, hemostasis time, and number of compressions were compared according to intention-to-treat (ITT) or per protocol (PP). The ITT (PP) rate of initial hemostatic success in patients receiving the 3 + 1 catheter was 91.02% (95.9%); and for the direct-stroke group was 71.42% (76.9%). For Forrest IIa lesions specifically, these rates were respectively 91.70% (97.1%) and 63.9% (67.6%). The ITT (PP) hemostasis times of the 3 + 1 and direct-stroke groups were 10.96 ± 3.28 (10.65 ± 2.90) and 14.27 ± 6.58 (14.12 ± 6.67) min; and the number of compressions numbered 5.73 ± 1.98 (5.42 ± 1.46) and 6.47 ± 2.82 (6.16 ± 2.47). During thermocoagulation treatment of ANVUGIB via bipolar electrocoagulation catheter, the 3 + 1 strategy showed a significantly higher rate of successful initial hemostasis relative to the direct-stroke technique, and shorter hemostasis time, with no increase in total procedural steps.

In 2015, the Government of China enacted Environmental Public-Interest Litigation (EPiL) as an amendment to its revised Environmental Protection Law. This policy granted civil organizations standin...

Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is a broadly expressed lncRNA involved in many aspects of cellular processes. To further delineate the underlying molecular mechanism, we employed a high-throughput strategy to characterize the interacting proteins of MALAT1 by combining RNA pull-down, quantitative proteomics, bioinformatics, and experimental validation. Our approach identified 127 potential MALAT1-interacting proteins and established a highly connected MALAT1 interactome network consisting of 788 connections. Gene ontology annotation and network analysis showed that MALAT1 was highly involved in five biological processes: RNA processing; gene transcription; ribosomal proteins; protein degradation; and metabolism regulation. The interaction between MALAT1 and depleted in breast cancer 1 (DBC1) was validated using RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation. Further mechanistic studies reveal that MALAT1 binding competes with the interaction between sirtuin1 (SIRT1) and DBC1, which then releases SIRT1 and enhances its deacetylation activity. Consequently, the deacetylation of p53 reduces the transcription of a spectrum of its downstream target genes, promotes cell proliferation and inhibits cell apoptosis. Our results uncover a novel mechanism by which MALAT1 regulates the activity of p53 through the lncRNA-protein interaction.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are one of the most common knee ligament injuries among sports injuries. Its incidence has been increasing in recent years. Although the management of ACL injuries is evolving, effectively restoring and maintaining pre-injury level knee function and remains a challenge. Several longitudinal studies have investigated the clinical course of function following an ACL injury (REF). There are many tools available to assess the function of the lower limb, some of which are specifically designed to measure function following an ACL injury, such as the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Knee Injury, and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), KT-1000. The high variability and lack of consensus on the outcomes used by individual studies make it difficult to compare and pool the results across different studies. The aim of this scoping review is to summarise the different functional outcome measures used in longitudinal studies of people who have had an ACL injury managed either surgically or conservatively.

The controlled release of nitric oxide (NO) is significantly crucial in the NO-related biomedical field. In the current work, the controlled release of NO from alginate microspheres was achieved through the direct impregnation of S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP) in the gelation of sodium alginate with calcium ions. The loading rate of SNAP in alginate microspheres was obtained in a range of 0.69 %‑27.5 %. Specifically, the longest NO release time reached up to ∼93 h. Furthermore, the structure, thermal properties, and morphology were fully characterized. During the antibacterial studies, the NO-releasing spheres can produce a great bactericidal effect on Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The alginate microspheres impregnated with 315 mg SNAP (sphere size: 2.88 mm) can effectively reduce the number of bacteria by 7 orders of magnitude with an inhibition rate up to 100 %. Therefore, we anticipated that these NO-releasing alginate microspheres would have great potential for biomedical-related applications.

Background Accumulating evidence indicates that intestinal microbiota not only influence development and behavior but also play important roles in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the relationships between gut bacteria and diseases of the nervous system remain to be fully explored. Microglial activation has been identified as an important factor affecting the progression of many degenerative diseases. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effects of Prevotella histicola on neuroinflammation and associated mechanisms in an animal model of dopaminergic neuron death caused by microglia activation. Methods We used the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to establish an animal model of dopaminergic neuron death induced by microglia activation. LPS was injected into the mouse substantia nigra, followed by gavage with P. histicola. Results P. histicola inhibited LPS-induced microglia activation by increasing the proportion of peripheral regulatory T cells (Treg), thereby increasing the secretion of interleukin (IL)-10, reducing dopaminergic neuron damage, stimulating activation of anti-inflammatory M2 type microglia, and improving exercise capacity. Interestingly, P. histicola treatment suppressed the expression of SUMO-specific protease 3 (SENP3), which plays an important role in LPS-stimulated inflammatory TLR4 signaling. P. histicola treatment also downregulated inflammatory factors including IL-1, IL-6, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα). Conclusion These results suggest that P. histicola inhibits the TLR4 inflammatory signaling pathway and release of inflammatory factors by regulating the release of IL-10 from FoxP3 + Treg cells in the spleen. Our findings may provide insight into a new therapeutic avenue for attenuating the progression of degenerative diseases involving microglial activation.

Background Esophageal cancer is associated with high incidence and mortality worldwide. Differential expression genes (DEGs) and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) are important methods to screen the core genes as bioinformatics methods. Methods The DEGs and WGCNA were combined to screen the hub genes, and pathway enrichment analyses were performed on the hub module in the WGCNA. The CCNB1 was identified as the hub gene based on the intersection between DEGs and the greenyellow module in WGCNA. Expression levels and prognostic values of CCNB1 were verified in UALCAN, GEPIA2, HCMDB, Kaplan–Meier plotter, and TIMER databases. Results We identified 1,044 DEGs from dataset GSE20347, 1,904 from GSE29001, and 2,722 from GSE111044, and 32 modules were revealed by WGCNA. The greenyellow module was identified as the hub module in the WGCNA. CCNB1 gene was identified as the hub gene, which was upregulated in tumour tissues. Moreover, esophageal cancer patients with higher expression of CCNB1 showed a worse prognosis. However, CCNB1 ‘might not play an important role in immune cell infiltration. Conclusions Based on DEGs and key modules related to esophageal cancer, CCNB1 was identified as the hub gene, which offered novel insights into the development and treatment of esophageal cancer.

In the power semiconductor industry, there is continuous development toward higher maximum current capability of devices while device dimensions shrink. This leads to an increase in current density which the devices have to handle, and raises the question if electromigration (EM) is a critical issue here. Generally, an EM failure can be described by the Black’s equation with temperature and current density as the main influencing factors. Normally, the current that the power packages need to handle lies in the range of 100 A. However, it should be noted that power devices exhibit asymmetric sizes of drain and source contacts. This may lead to higher current density at the source leads (area ratio drain/source: ~9× for PQFN 5 × 6). Nevertheless, the source lead area is still much larger than that of the flip chip bumps (i.e., 28 times larger than a 100-μm microbump). This typically enhances the safety of the power device with respect to EM. However, with regard to future development toward higher maximum current capability, we intended to investigate further on the EM of power devices. In the present work, we focused on the PQFN 5 × 6 package to study the EM behavior of a power device soldered on a printed circuit board (PCB). We employed the highest current (120 A) and temperature (150°C) that the stress test system could handle to study EM in accelerated mode. First fails occurred after ~1,200 h, which was much earlier than expected from previous flip-chip investigations. In addition, we found separation gaps in the solder joint between drain contact and PCB, which experienced the lowest current density in the whole test. Contradictorily, we observed only minor solder degradation at the source interface, regardless of the higher current density there. Nevertheless, the separating metal interfaces still correlated well with the current direction. Thermal simulations revealed that due to the self-heating of the device by the high current applied, both the drain and source leads were exposed to much higher temperatures (Tmax = 168°C) than the PCB board which was kept under temperature control at 150°C. This temperature difference resulted in a thermal gradient between the device and PCB, which, in turn, triggered thermal migration (TM) in addition to EM. As TM for the drain contact occurred in the same direction as EM, it enhanced the degradation effect and therefore led to a shorter time-to-failure at the drain. In contrast to this, such an enhanced effect did not occur at the source side. As a result, we observed higher solder degradation at the drain side, which we did confirm by switching the current direction in the test. To minimize the TM effect, a special EM test vehicle, which used a Cu plate instead of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor chip, was designed and fabricated. Thermal simulation verified that the device operated at similar temperatures as the PCB board. Using this setup, it was possible to study EM in an accelerated mode and, thus, investigate the pure EM behavior of the power device.

Removing rain streaks in videos has recently received much attention. Existing hand-crafted priors-based methods suffer from limited representation abilities, and supervised deep learning methods need high-quality training data. This paper proposes a novel video rain streaks removal method by reconciling hand-crafted and self-supervised deep priors. The hand-crafted priors include the learned gradient prior, the sparse prior, and the temporal local smooth prior. Meanwhile, a deep convolutional neural network is employed to self-supervisedly capture the deep prior of the clean video without any training data. Our method organically integrates hand-crated priors and self-supervised deep priors to achieve both high generalization abilities and representation abilities. Thus, our method can faithfully remove directional rain streaks in real world videos. To address the resulting model, we introduce an alternating direction multiplier method algorithm. Extensive experiments validate the superiority of our method over state-of-the-art methods.

Many schemes have been recently advanced for storing data on multiple clouds. Distributing data over different cloud storage providers (CSPs) automatically provides users with a certain degree of information leakage control, for no single point of attack can leak all the information. However, unplanned distribution of data chunks can lead to high information disclosure even while using multiple clouds. In this paper, we study an important information leakage problem caused by unplanned data distribution in multicloud storage services. Then, we present StoreSim , an information leakage aware storage system in multicloud. StoreSim aims to store syntactically similar data on the same cloud, thus minimizing the user's information leakage across multiple clouds. We design an approximate algorithm to efficiently generate similarity-preserving signatures for data chunks based on MinHash and Bloom filter, and also design a function to compute the information leakage based on these signatures. Next, we present an effective storage plan generation algorithm based on clustering for distributing data chunks with minimal information leakage across multiple clouds. Finally, we evaluate our scheme using two real datasets from Wikipedia and GitHub . We show that our scheme can reduce the information leakage by up to 60 percent compared to unplanned placement. Furthermore, our analysis on system attackability demonstrates that our scheme makes attacks on information more complex.

In the power semiconductor industry, there is continuous development towards higher maximum current capability of devices while device dimensions shrink. This leads to an increase in current density which the devices have to handle, and raises the question if electromigration (EM) is a critical issue here. Generally, an EM failure can be described by the Black’s equation with temperature and current density as the main influencing factors. Normally, the current that the power packages need to handle lies in the range of 100 A. However, it should be noted that power devices exhibit asymmetric sizes of drain and source contacts. This may lead to higher current density at the source leads (area ratio drain/source: ~8x for QFN 5×6). Nevertheless, the source lead area is still much larger than that of the flip chip bumps (i.e., 28 times larger compared to a 100 μm micro-bump). This typically enhances the safety of the power device with respect to EM. However, with regard to future development towards higher maximum current capability, we intended to investigate further on the EM of power devices. In the present work, we focused on the PQFN 5×6 package to study the EM behavior of a power device soldered on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). We employed the highest current (120 A) and temperature (150 °C) that the stress test system could handle to study EM in accelerated mode. First fails occurred after ~1200 h, which was much earlier than expected from previous flip-chip investigations. In addition, we found separation gaps in the solder joint between drain contact and PCB, which experienced the lowest current density in the whole test. Contradictorily, we observed only minor solder degradation at the source interface, regardless of the higher current density there. Nevertheless, the separating metal interfaces still correlated well with the current direction. Thermal simulations revealed that due to the self-heating of the device by the high current applied, both the drain and source leads were exposed to much higher temperatures (Tmax = 168 °C) than the PCB board which was kept under temperature control at 150 °C. This temperature difference resulted in a thermal gradient between the device and PCB which, in turn, triggered thermal migration (TM) in addition to EM. As TM for the drain contact occurred in the same direction as EM, it enhanced the degradation effect and therefore led to a shorter time-to-failure at the drain. In contrast to this, such an enhanced effect did not occur at the source side. As a result, we observed higher solder degradation at the drain side, which we did confirm by switching the current direction in the test. To minimize the TM effect, a special EM test vehicle, which used a Cu plate instead of the MOSFET chip, was designed and fabricated. Thermal simulation verified that the device operated at similar temperatures as the PCB board. Using this setup, it was possible to study EM in an accelerated mode and, thus, investigate the pure EM behavior of the power device.

Xia Li,1,2 Jun-Xi Wang,1 Yu-Ping Wang,1 Jia-Xin Shen,1 Yi-Xing Zheng,1 Pei-Hong Zhang,1 Jing-Jing Wei,1 Ze-Hao Zhuang1 1Endoscopy Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Endoscope Room, Changle District Hospital, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ze-Hao Zhuang, Endoscopy Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, 20, Chazhong Road, Taijiang District, Fuzhou, 350005, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China, Tel +860591-87981370, Fax +860591-87981371, Email zehaozhuang@fjmu.edu.cnObjective: To compare indications, success rates and complications of pull [P] and introducer [I] techniques for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG).Methods: In this retrospective study, inpatients who underwent primary PEG tube insertion between January 2015 and February 2020 at the Endoscopy Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University were included.Results: A total of 103 inpatients were included in this study (P group, n = 67; I group, n = 36). The rates of tube replacement within first six months in the P and I groups were 1.5% and 11.1%, respectively (P = 0.049). The most common primary indication of PEG was malignancy. The proportion of patients with esophageal cancer was significantly lower in the P group (24.4% vs 54.2%, P = 0.015). No significant difference was found in the overall, major, or minor complications between the two groups. In patients with esophageal stenosis, the pull method was a risk factor for complications (P = 0.03; odds ratio [OR] = 12, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.164– 123.684). Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for major and minor complications were the admission-to-gastrostomy interval (OR = 1.078, 95% CI: 1.016– 1.145, P = 0.014) and lack of antibiotic use (OR = 4.735, 95% CI: 1.247– 17.979, P = 0.022), respectively.Conclusion: Both PEG techniques have high clinical success rates. The introducer technique is more suitable for patients with esophageal stricture, which has lower minor complications, but higher rate of tube replacement compared to the pull technique. Use of antibiotics may reduce minor complications following PEG. Early PEG insertion may help to reduce post-PEG major complications.Keywords: endoscopy, gastrostomy, enteral nutrition, indications, complications

Developing multifunctional carrier-free nanomedicine with high efficacy attracts tremendous attention in cancer treatment. Here, we develop selenium-containing carrier-free assemblies with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) property, which achieve the combination of cancer radiotherapy with chemotherapy. Under γ-radiation, diselenide bonds in the assemblies can be cleaved to form seleninic acid, which exhibits anticancer activity by upregulating the reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in cancer cells. The incorporation of AIE groups further endows the selenium-containing assemblies with the ability of bioimaging. Their self-assembly behavior change under γ-radiation can be consequently observed in situ. The system combines cancer radiotherapy with chemotherapy, which exhibits improved anticancer activity.

Ti3C2Tx (MXene), a two-dimensional material prepared by solution etching, has abundant functional groups on its surface, which makes it have a great prospect in the field of biosensing environmental detection. In this work, a new optical fiber sensor integrated with MXene is proposed and fabricated. The sensor is constituted of a three-core fiber (TCF), a single-mode fiber (SMF), and a no-core fiber (NCF) to form a Michelson interference structure. The results indicate that MXene decorated fiber-optic sensor can detect trace lead ions (Pb2+) and has a good response to the Pb2+ solutions with the concentration of 0–100 μM. At 0.001 μM (i.e., 0.286 ppb) Pb2+, the response time is about 2 min. In addition, the fiber-optic sensor has excellent temperature, pH, and time stability. The present work provides a new idea for the detection of Pb2+ in heavy metal pollution fields.

Our previous study showed that n-3 PUFAs inhibited inflammation in rats with esophagitis. This study aimed to observe the protective effect of n-3 PUFAs against acid damage to esophageal epithelial cells (Het-1A cells) and to explore its mechanism. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was increased by acid exposure, while that of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was decreased. In groups with different ratios of n-6/n-3 PUFAs, the expression levels of nuclear factor E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) and SOD were increased with increasing proportions of n-3 PUFAs and were highest in the 1:1 group. Compared with those in the 9:1 group, the expression of NOD like receptor pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) and caspase-1 and the pyroptosis rate in the 1:1 group were decreased. Intervention with an Nrf2 agonist increased the expression of Nrf2 and decreased the expression of NLRP3 and caspase-1 and the pyroptosis rate. However, inhibiting Nrf2 expression led to the opposite result. In conclusion, n-3 PUFAs protected esophageal epithelial cells from acid damage by upregulating Nrf2 expression, which disrupted oxidative stress and NLRP3 inflammasome activation and inhibited pyroptosis.

BRCA1-associated protein (BRAP) was first identified by its ability to bind to the nuclear localization signalling motif of BRCA1 and other proteins. Subsequently, human BRAP has been found to exert multiple functions, many of which are related to cancer development. Up till now, however, the role of BRAP in glioma development has remained obscure. Here, we report a role for BRAP in mediating the proliferation and migration of glioma cells both in vitro and in vivo. The expression of BRAP in 98 glioma patient samples was determined by immunohistochemistry, after which associations between BRAP expression and patient prognosis were assessed. A short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was used to knock down BRAP and an expression vector was used to exogenously overexpress BRAP in glioma cells. The effects of BRAP expression on tumour cell behaviour in vitro and in an in vivo xenograft mouse model were examined. We found that in glioma patients BRAP expression was associated with a favourable prognosis. We also found that shRNA-mediated knockdown of BRAP facilitated the proliferation and migration of glioma cells and the self-renewal of glioma stem cells. In parallel, we found that BRAP knockdown increased tumour growth and invasion and decreased survival in an in vivo glioma xenograft mouse model. Mechanistically, we found that BRAP inhibited glioma cell proliferation and migration, as well as glioma stem cell self-renewal via the TGF-β/PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway. Together, our findings identify BRAP as a mediator of glioma cell proliferation, migration and glioma stem cell self-renewal.

BACKGROUND Venous thromboembolism (VT) is a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. Catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) is an effective and safe treatment modality for VT patients. However, the long-term outcome of CDT in pregnancy-related venous thrombosis are unclear. The aim of this study was to assess long-term results of pregnancy-related VT patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS We reviewed 41 pregnancy-related deep venous thrombosis (DVT) patients who underwent CDT from February 2008 to May 2015. Clinical data, including demographic variables, disease location, vascular risk factors, treatment regimen, interventional procedure and complications, were collected retrospectively. Clinical and color-duplex ultrasonography were performed to monitor venous patency during follow-up. Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) was assessed with the Villalta scale and quality of life (QOL) was evaluated by the VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire. RESULTS Twenty-three patients underwent spontaneous abortion or induced abortion within 3 months before DVT, and 18 patients had DVT during the first 3 months after delivery. Technical success was achieved in all patients. Grade III (complete) lysis was obtained in 15 patients and grade II (partial) lysis was obtained in 21 patients. The follow-up period was 3 years. Twenty-eight patients had venous patency at 3-year follow-up; 36.6% of patients developed mild or moderate PTS (Villalta score 5-14) and 4.8% with severe PTS (Villalta score ≥15). VEINES-QOL/Sym scores were 55.24±7.35 and 53.25±6.65, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Catheter-directed thrombolysis is a reliable and safe treatment modality for postnatal or abortion patients with DVT. CDT can reduce the incidence rate of PTS and increase the quality of life.