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The boom in ultra-thin electronic devices and the growing need for humanization greatly facilitated the development of wearable flexible micro-devices. But the technology to deposit electrode material on flexible substrate is still in its infancy. Herein, the flexible symmetric micro-supercapacitors made of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on commercial printing paper as electrode materials were fabricated by combining tetrahedral preparator auxiliary coating method and laser-cutting interdigital configuration technique on a large scale. The electrochemical performance of the obtained micro-supercapacitors can be controlled and tuned by simple choosing different models of tetrahedral preparatory to obtain CNTs film of different thicknesses. As expected, the micro-supercapacitor based on CNTs film can deliver an areal capacitance up to 4.56 mF/cm2 at current of 0.02 mA. Even if, micro-supercapacitor undergoes continuous 10000 cycles, the performance of device can still remain nearly 100%. The as-demonstrated tetrahedral preparator auxiliary coating method and laser-cutting interdigital configuration technique provide new perspective for preparing microelectronics in an economical way. The paper electrode appended by CNTs achieves steerable areal capacitance, showing broad application prospect in fabricating asymmetric micro-supercapacitor with flexible planar configurations in the future.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have gained widespread commercial use, yet there is a continuous need to identify innovative emitters that offer higher efficiency and broader color gamut. To effectively screen out promising OLED molecules that are yet to be synthesized, we perform a representation learning aided high throughput virtual screening (HTVS) over millions of Ir(III) complexes, a prototypical type of phosphorescent OLED material, constructed via a random combination of 278 reported ligands. We successfully screen out a decent amount of promising candidates for both display and lighting purposes, which are worth further experimental investigation. The high efficiency and accuracy of our model are largely attributed to the pioneering attempt of using representation learning to organic luminescent molecules, which is initiated by a pre-training procedure with over 1.6 million 3D molecular structures and frontier orbital energies predicted via semi-empirical methods, followed by a fine-tune scheme via the quantum mechanical computed properties over around 1500 candidates. Such workflow enables an effective model construction process that is otherwise hindered by the scarcity of labeled data, and can be straightforwardly extended to the discovery of other novel materials.

The generation of terahertz (THz) waves by focusing a femtosecond pulsed laser beam at a distance is able to overcome the strong absorption properties of air and has rapidly attracted the attention of the industry. However, the poor directionality of the THz wave radiation generated by this method is not conducive to THz wave applications. By controlling the morphology of the ultrafast laser-excited plasma filament and its electron density distribution through coherent beam combining (CBC) technology, we achieve direct THz beam shaping and are able to obtain THz wave radiation of Gaussian or arbitrary transverse distribution. The novel experimental approach proposed in this paper opens up the research field of direct THz wave shaping using plasma. Moreover, it innovates multi-parameter convergence algorithms and, by doing so, has the potential to find beam patterns with higher energy conversion efficiency and break the energy limit of THz waves emitted by lasers at high power.

Macroautophagy/autophagy is a finely-regulated process in which cytoplasm encapsulated within transient organelles termed autophagosomes is delivered to lysosomes or vacuoles for degradation. Phospholipids, particularly phosphatidic acid (PA) that functions as a second messenger, play crucial and differential roles in autophagosome formation; however, the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrated that PA inhibits autophagy through competitive inhibition of the formation of ATG3 (autophagy-related)-ATG8e and ATG6-VPS34 (vacuolar protein sorting 34) complexes. PA bound to GAPC (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) or PGK (phosphoglycerate kinase) and promoted their interaction with ATG3 or ATG6, which further attenuated the interactions of ATG3-ATG8e or ATG6-VPS34, respectively. Structural and mutational analyses revealed the mechanism of PA binding with GAPCs and PGK3, and that GAPCs or ATG8e competitively interacted with ATG3, and PGK3 or VPS34 competitively interacted with ATG6, at the same binding interface. These results elucidate the molecular mechanism of how PA inhibits autophagy through binding GAPC or PGK3 proteins and expand the understanding of the functional mode of PA, demonstrating the importance of phospholipids in plant autophagy and providing a new perspective for autophagy regulation by phospholipids.

Ovule initiation is a key step that strongly influences ovule number and seed yield. Notably, mutants with enhanced brassinosteroid (BR) and cytokinin (CK) signaling produce more ovules and have a higher seed number per silique (SNS) than wild-type plants. Here, we crossed BR- and CK-related mutants to test whether these phytohormones function together in ovule initiation. We determined that simultaneously enhancing BR and CK contents led to higher ovule and seed numbers than enhancing BR or CK separately, and BR and CK enhanced each other. Further, the BR-response transcription factor BZR1 directly interacted with the CK-response transcription factor ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATOR1 (ARR1). Treatments with BR or BR plus CK strengthened this interaction and subsequent ARR1 targeting and induction of downstream genes to promote ovule initiation. Enhanced CK signaling partially rescued the reduced SNS phenotype of BR-deficient/insensitive mutants whereas enhanced BR signaling failed to rescue the low SNS of CK-deficient mutants, suggesting that BR regulates ovule initiation and SNS through CK-mediated and CK-independent pathways. Our study thus reveals that interaction between BR and CK promotes ovule initiation and increases seed number, providing important clues for increasing the seed yield of dicot crops. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Yi Zhu,1,2 Chunhui Lin,1,2 Huaming Xu,3 Zhaoxin Xia,1,2 Wensu Yang,1,2 Hao Tang,4 Xinyi Hu,1,2 Tong Jiang,1,2 Zhen Liu,1,2 Jilu Shen1,2 1The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China; 2Anhui Public Health Clinical Center, Hefei, People’s Republic of China; 3The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, People’s Republic of China; 4The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jilu Shen, Tel +86 151 5515 2963, Email shenjilu@ahmu.edu.cn; 1464675852@qq.comIntroduction: More than half of the world’s people are infected or have been infected with Helicobacter pylori. This infection is related to many diseases, with its pathogenicity related to virulence factors. Therefore, the rapid diagnosis of H. pylori and genotyping of virulence genes play an extremely important role in the clinical treatment and control of transmission.Methods: To this end, we developed a molecular detection method based on RPA- CRISPR-Cas12a technology for the specific genes 16S rDNA gene, cytotoxin associated gene A(cagA), and vacuolating cytotoxin A (vacA) of H. pylori.Results: The results of which were displayed by lateral flow strips. Macroscopic observation takes only about 25 minutes and the sensitivity is 2ng/microliter.Discussion: The method is simple, convenient to operate and has low costs, and can therefore be applied widely to the detection and typing of H. pylori in various environments such as primary hospitals, community clinics, outdoors, and large medical institutions.Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, virulence genes, recombinase polymerase amplification, CRISPR-Cas12a, lateral flow immunochromatographic strip

Candida albicans, the primary etiology of human mycoses, is well-adapted to catabolize proline to obtain energy to initiate morphological switching (yeast to hyphal) and for growth. We report thatput1-/-andput2-/- strains, carrying defectiveProlineUTilization genes, display remarkable proline sensitivity withput2-/- mutants being hypersensitive due to the accumulation of the toxic intermediate P5C, which inhibits mitochondrial respiration. Theput1-/- andput2-/-mutations attenuate virulence inDrosophilaand murine candidemia models. Using intravital 2-photon microscopy and label-free non-linear imaging, we visualized the initial stages ofC. albicanscells colonizing a kidney in real-time, directly deep in the tissue of a living mouse, and observed morphological switching of wildtype but not ofput2-/-cells. Multiple members of theCandidaspecies complex, includingC. auris, are capable of using proline as a sole energy source. Our results indicate that a tailored proline metabolic network tuned to the mammalian host environment is a key feature of opportunistic fungal pathogens.

Objective To identify the research on “hot spots” and frontiers of self-management in patients with breast cancer. Methods We searched the Web of Science database for articles associated with keywords, and used CiteSpaceIII to analyze the data. Results A total of 958 documents were included. High-frequency keywords covered “quality of life (QOL),” “randomized controlled trial,” “depression,” “fatigue,” and “meta-analysis.” Research on self-management by patients with breast cancer has mainly been conducted in the United States of American (USA) and other western countries, whereas the Asian country, China ranked eighth among the top 10 countries. Conclusions The analysis revealed research on “hot spots” particularly research on psychological health and QOL. Promoting clinical research, encouraging evidence-based practice, and developing nursing specialization may improve research on self-management interventions for patients with breast cancer.

Abstract. Although offering gifts to encourage prosocial behaviors is a popular daily strategy, its underlying mechanism remains unknown. This study investigated the effect of thank-you gifts on charitable giving in laypeople’s beliefs ( N = 1,293). Study 1 showed that laypeople believe thank-you gifts increase charitable giving. Study 2 found that laypeople believe thank-you gifts increase both charitable giving and positive emotions of donors. Study 3 further showed that laypeople’s anticipation of donors’ emotional gain might play a mediating role in the effect of thank-you gifts on charitable giving. Study S1 found that participants’ donated amounts in the benefit-to-others thank-you gifts condition exceeded other conditions on actual donation behavior. These findings emphasize the emotional value of the gift in laypeople’s beliefs.

In this study, through simple ammonia impregnation, more amine functional groups could be introduced into the zeolite 4A synthesized using fly ash, which efficiently improved the mercury ion removal capacity of modified zeolites. The impregnation-modification mechanism of NH3·H2O, ammonium chloride, and silane coupling agent (KH792) for zeolite 4A, and the Hg2+ ion removal-efficiency by aminated zeolites, were studied and compared. Through ion exchange and hydroxyl reactions, NH3·H2O impregnation introduced the same kinds of nitrogen-containing groups into zeolite as KH792 grafting, which was more than the NH4Cl modification. The Hg2+ ion adsorption capacity of NH3·H2O-zeolite was higher than those of KH792-zeolite and NH4Cl-zeolite through ion exchange and the complexation of nitrogen-containing groups. When coexisting with Pb2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ ions, the Hg2+ ion removal rate of NH3·H2O-zeolite was still higher than 99%. After five adsorption and desorption cycles, the Hg2+ ion removal rate of NH3·H2O-zeolite was 72.03%. When NH3·H2O-zeolite was added to the leaching of mercury-contaminated soil, the content of soluble mercury significantly decreased. Therefore, we synthesized a potential cheap and safe adsorbent using fly ash as the main raw material through the simple NH3·H2O impregnation modification for the treatment of mercury-contaminated water and soil.

Object detection algorithms based on deep learning are widely used in industrial detection.The RetinaNet algorithm has attracted much attention because of its advantages in both speed and accuracy.However,for small objects smaller than 32*32 pixels,the detection accuracy of this algorithm cannot meet the requirements of industrial detection.To this end,this article takes the enhancement of small object training as the basic idea,and makes the following improvements to the RetinaNet algorithm:in the sampling phase,the low-level feature map P2 is added to the FPN to ensure that the small object can be fully sampled,and adaptive training sample selection(ATSS) strategy is introduced to ensure that the detection speed is still fast enough after the feature layer is increased;the loss weight adjustment strategy is adopted in the later training stage to improve the fit of difficult samples in small objects.For the public data set MS COCO 2017 and the LED dispensing industrial data set in practical applications,the detection accuracy of this method for objects smaller than 32*32 increases by 4.1% and 10.7%,respectively,indicating that this method can significantly improve the detection ability of small objects.

We propose a method for calculating the non-radiative decay rates for polyatomic molecules including anharmonic effects of the potential energy surface (PES) in the Franck-Condon region. The method combines the n-mode representation method to construct the ab initio PES and the nearly exact time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method (TD-DMRG) to simulate quantum dynamics. In addition, in the framework of TD-DMRG, we further develop an algorithm to calculate the final-state-resolved rate coefficient which is very useful to analyze the contribution from each vibrational mode to the transition process. We use this method to study the internal conversion (IC) process of azulene after taking into account the anharmonicity of the ground state PES. The results show that even for this semi-rigid molecule, the intramode anharmonicity enhances the IC rate significantly, and after considering the two-mode coupling effect, the rate increases even further. The reason is that the anharmonicity enables the C–H vibrations to receive electronic energy while C–H vibrations do not contribute on the harmonic PES as the Huang-Rhys factor is close to 0.

1) Background Hollow nanostructures have gained great attention due to their excellent performance and wide range of applications. In this paper, a hollow nanoreactant is fabricated for investigating the chemisorption of antimony in water. 2) Methods We constructed the hierarchical LDH grown on hollow carbon spheres via the in-situ etching-growth from MOF precursor. The synthesized nanoreactant was evaluated with the adsorption of Sb, which shows ultra-smooth kinetics curves at various conditions, including five different initial concentrations and three different temperatures. Combining the characterizations of XPS, FT-IR and the results of adsorption, the chemisorption of antimony was illustrated that the inner-sphere complexation, hydrogen bonding and dehydration, as well as redox reaction may play important roles in the immobilization process of antimony. 3) Significant Findings This material exhibits a steady interaction between the adsorbent and antimony species, which suggests the dominant chemisorption procedure. In addition, the as prepared HCSs@Mn/Co-LDH has high adsorption capacities, especially at low antimony concentrations. The excellent performance is benefited by the construction of the hollow structure and the synergistic interaction between the components of the composite.

The norm N(G) of a group G is the intersection of the normalizer of every subgroup of G. In this paper, we generalize Ito’s theorem and prove that the p-length of a p-soluble group is not greater t...

Disturbed blood flow induces endothelial pro-inflammatory responses that promote atherogenesis. Nanoparticle-based therapeutics aimed at treating endothelial inflammation in vasculature where disturbed flow occurs may provide a promising avenue to prevent atherosclerosis. By using a vertical-step flow apparatus and a microfluidic chip of vascular stenosis, herein, it is found that the disk-shaped versus the spherical nanoparticles exhibit preferential margination (localization and adhesion) to the regions with the pro-atherogenic disturbed flow. By employing a mouse model of carotid partial ligation, superior targeting and higher accumulation of the disk-shaped particles are also demonstrated within disturbed flow areas than that of the spherical particles. In hyperlipidemia mice, administration of disk-shaped particles loaded with hypomethylating agent decitabine (DAC) displays greater anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic effects compared with that of the spherical counterparts and exhibits reduced toxicity than "naked" DAC. The findings suggest that shaping nanoparticles to disk is an effective strategy for promoting their delivery to atheroprone endothelia.

Asprosin is a newly discovered adipokine that is involved in regulating metabolism. Sympathetic overactivity contributes to the pathogenesis of several cardiovascular diseases. The paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus plays a crucial role in the regulation of sympathetic outflow and blood pressure. This study was designed to determine the roles and underlying mechanisms of asprosin in the PVN in regulating sympathetic outflow and blood pressure. Experiments were carried out in male adult SD rats under anesthesia. Renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and heart rate (HR) were recorded, and PVN microinjections were performed bilaterally. Asprosin mRNA and protein expressions were high in the PVN. The high asprosin expression in the PVN was involved in both the parvocellular and magnocellular regions according to immunohistochemical analysis. Microinjection of asprosin into the PVN produced dose-related increases in RSNA, MAP, and HR, which were abolished by superoxide scavenger tempol, antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and NADPH oxidase inhibitor apocynin. The asprosin promoted superoxide production and increased NADPH oxidase activity in the PVN. Furthermore, it increased the cAMP level, adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity, and protein kinase A (PKA) activity in the PVN. The roles of asprosin in increasing RSNA, MAP, and HR were prevented by pretreatment with AC inhibitor SQ22536 or PKA inhibitor H89 in the PVN. Microinjection of cAMP analog db-cAMP into the PVN played similar roles with asprosin in increasing the RSNA, MAP, and HR, but failed to further augment the effects of asprosin. Pretreatment with PVN microinjection of SQ22536 or H89 abolished the roles of asprosin in increasing superoxide production and NADPH oxidase activity in the PVN. These results indicated that asprosin in the PVN increased the sympathetic outflow, blood pressure, and heart rate via cAMP–PKA signaling-mediated NADPH oxidase activation and the subsequent superoxide production.

Despite massive flood protection efforts, undertaken in China for millennia, disastrous floods continue to plague the country. We discuss flood hazard and flood risk in China, starting from observed changes and variability and then dealing with flood risk management and projections. We also refer to recognized unsolved problems in hydrology.Observed changes and variabilityFirst, we review results of change detection in observed records of variables related to water abundance, such as intense precipitation, high river flow, and flood damage in China. There is a strong inter-annual and inter-decadal variability, part of which may be due to climate variability, i.e. oscillation in the ocean-atmosphere system (ENSO - El Niño-Southern Oscillation and PDO – Pacific Decadal Oscillation). Particular large flood events (e.g. in 1998 and 2016) coincide with high values of ENSO indices.Flood risk managementIn its efforts to reduce flood risk, China has undertaken both structural and non-structural measures. An emergency manager's nightmare is when several serious emergencies (e.g., covid pandemic and flooding) happen at once, as in the unprecedented covid year 2020, when also record-breaking precipitation occurred in China. Yet, emergency management made it possible to constrain the flood loss.Flood risk projectionsIn the warming climate, flood risk is likely to increase over much of China. Projections of flood loss changes for global warming scenarios from 1.5° to 4.0°C above the preindustrial temperature are presented. Projections are based on runoff simulations by a hydrological model driven by multiple downscaled general circulation models, the national GDP projected at shared socio­economic pathways, and the “intensity–loss rate” function. Flood losses in China are projected to soar in the future, particularly in lowland regions subject to rapid economic growth. There is a considerable difference between flood losses corresponding to two global climate policy target thresholds, 1.5° and 2.0°C, amounting to over US$60 billion.Available flood projections for China are not consistent. Since the spread is large, projections have to be interpreted with caution, because of the impact on decisions related to climate change adaptation and flood risk reduction.

The vacuole is an important organelle with multiple functions in plants, and the tonoplast that wraps the vacuole also plays essential roles in intracellular trafficking and ion homeostasis. Previous studies found that tonoplast proton pumps regulate embryo development and morphogenesis through their effects on vacuole biogenesis and distribution, as well as polar auxin transport and concomitant auxin gradient. However, the precise roles of the tonoplast proton pumps in gametophyte development remain unclear. Here we demonstrated that the lack of two types of tonoplast proton pumps or the absence of V-ATPase alone leads to abnormal development and nuclear localization of female gametophyte (FG), and slowed endosperm nuclei division after fertilization of the central cell. We further revealed that V-ATPase regulates auxin levels in ovules through coordinating the content and localization of PIN-FORMED 1 (PIN1) protein, hence influencing nuclear spacing between centra cell and egg cell, and subsequent endosperm development. Collectively, our findings revealed a crucial role of V-ATPase in auxin-mediated FG development in Arabidopsis and expanded our understanding of the functions of tonoplast proton pumps in seed plants reproductive development.

Locked segment of rock-like material specimens with different brittleness index were prepared by combining materials in different ratios. Compression-shear tests of rock-like material specimens with different brittleness degree were carried out by acoustic emission and Laser Doppler Vibrometer measurement. The fracture evolution process of the specimen was divided into three stages through the displacement-time curve: compaction stage and elastic deformation stage, constant deformation stage and accelerated deformation stage. The natural frequency responded obviously at the boundary point of the constant deformation stage and accelerated deformation stage, the point of natural frequency steeply dropped corresponds to the starting point of constant deformation stage, which is defined as the damage point. The point of substantial increase in the natural frequency corresponds to the starting point of accelerated deformation stage, which is defined as expansion point. There were obvious critical instability information before the failure of specimens: The natural frequency showed rise, steep drop and stable jitter; The ringing count rate and energy rate increased near the critical instability point; The b-value continued to decrease at a low level before the peak strength. Tensile failure was the main failure mode of the three specimens with different brittleness degree, the tensile failure degree increased with the increase of brittleness degree. The energy released by the specimen at failure moment increased with the increase of brittleness degree, and the b-value decreased with the increase of brittleness degree. The degree of brittleness is one of the important indexes to study the locked segment.

Epilepsy is a brain condition characterized by the recurrence of unprovoked seizures. Recent studies have shown that complement component 3 (C3) aggravate the neuronal injury in epilepsy. And our previous studies revealed that TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1) is involved in epilepsy. Whether complement C3 regulation of neuronal injury is related to the activation of TRPV1 during epilepsy is not fully understood. We found that in a mouse model of status epilepticus (SE), complement C3 derived from astrocytes was increased and aggravated neuronal injury, and that TRPV1-knockout rescued neurons from the injury induced by complement C3. Circular RNAs are abundant in the brain, and the reduction of circRad52 caused by complement C3 promoted the expression of TRPV1 and exacerbated neuronal injury. Mechanistically, disorders of neuron–glia interaction mediated by the C3–TRPV1 signaling pathway may be important for the induction of neuronal injury. This study provides support for the hypothesis that the C3–TRPV1 pathway is involved in the prevention and treatment of neuronal injury and cognitive disorders. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12264-021-00750-4.

Stemonae Radix (dried roots of Stemona japonica (Bl.) Miq., Stemona sessilifolia (Miq.) Miq., and Stemona tuberosa Lour.), a widely used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is also known as “Baibu” (Chinese: 百部). Stemonae Radix has a wide range of pharmacological effects, mainly used to treat respiratory diseases and as an insecticide. In this review, with the help of both published materials (such as ancient and modern books, monographs on medicinal plants, and the pharmacopoeia of different countries) and electronic databases (such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar), we have summarized the up-to-date research progress in botany, traditional application, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity, and quality control, and discussed the research prospects and development direction of Stemonae Radix and its origin plants. Up to now, more than 170 compounds were isolated and identified from the three official species of Stemonae Radix, mainly including Stemona alkaloids, Stemona stilbenoids and other components. This medicine has also exhibited pharmacological activities, including antitussive, antiviral, insecticidal, antitumor, antioxidant, and therapeutic effects on lung diseases. However, pharmacological reports most often attribute activities to various extracts, rather than specific compounds. This hampers the establishment of a connection between chemical constituents and pharmacological activities, resulting in a difficulty to identify the major active compounds. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to design experiments to deeply understand the development and clinical use of Stemonae Radix.