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Ga and Ga-based alloys have received significant attention for applications in the liquid state and also for their potential as a bonding material in microelectronic assemblies. This study investigates the phase stability of the CuGa2 phase as a product of the interfacial reaction between liquid Ga and Cu-10Ni substrates at room temperature. In the binary Ga-Cu system, CuGa2 is decomposed into liquid Ga and Cu9Ga4 as the temperature increases to around 260 °C, which prevents the widespread application of this alloy. In contrast to CuGa2 grown from a pure Cu substrate, CuGa2 from the Cu-10Ni substrate shows an increase in the decomposition temperature during heating from 25 to 300 °C. According to our first-principle calculations, there is only a minor difference in the total free energy between Ni solute at the Cu sublattice and the Ga sublattice in the tetragonal CuGa2 crystal structure. This result indicates that both of the sublattices can accommodate the dilute Ni solute with comparable probability. Regardless of the sublattice where the Ni impurities are located, the presence of diluted Ni in the matrix stabilizes the CuGa2 system by inducing some localized Ni 3d states at energy levels near the Fermi level. It is also shown that the formation of Cu antisite defects, which also stabilizes CuGa2, is preferable if the CuGa2 matrix is grown on a Ni-containing substrate.

Aim: Investigation of the lateral flagellar (Laf) genes transcription by the quorum sensing (QS) regulators AphA and OpaR in Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Materials & methods: Regulation mechanisms were assessed by combined utilization of swarming motility assay, qPCR, LacZ fusion, EMSA and DNase I footprinting. Results: AphA and OpaR oppositely regulate swarming motility and Laf genes. At high cell density, OpaR bound to the regulatory regions of motY-lafK-fliEFGHIJ, fliMNPQR-flhBA, fliDSTKLA-motAB and lafA to repress their transcription. At low cell density, AphA indirectly activated their transcription. Conclusion: OpaR repression of swarming motility was via its direct repression of Laf genes, while AphA exerted its regulatory effect on swarming motility through unknown regulator(s).

Objectives This study is designed to examine the mediating role of self-esteem (SE) in the relationship between perfectionism and depression among a nonclinical sample of 918 Chinese college students. Methods Participants completed a questionnaire battery that included measures of perfectionism (Almost Perfect Scale-Revised), depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression), and self-esteem (The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). Results The results showed that maladaptive perfectionism significantly and positively predicted depression, while adaptive perfectionism and self-esteem negatively predicted depression. More importantly, self-esteem partially mediated the prediction of depression from both adaptive perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism. Conclusion Self-esteem was a significant mediator on the relationship between perfectionism and depression. Elevating student self-esteem may be a way of reducing depression, particularly among maladaptive perfectionists.

For the purpose of developing Cs2TeI6 based X-ray detectors and imaging devices, Cs2TeI6 thick films were prepared using the electrospray method under ambient conditions. The effects of spraying parameters on the morphology of the films were investigated. During the electrospray process, we observed that Cs2TeI6 microdroplets changed to a steady cone jet and then to an unstable multi-jet model as the electrical bias increased from 6 kV to 12 kV, resulting in variable film morphologies. Five representative solvent systems with different evaporation rates and contact angles on the FTO/double-TiO2 substrates were studied. We find a strong correlation of the contact angle with the speed of primary nucleation, growth mode and subsequent film morphology. Moreover, the crystalline quality has been improved with the rise of substrate temperature. Finally, a dense and uniform Cs2TeI6 film was obtained with an electrical bias of 10 kV using dimethyl formamide (DMF) as the solvent at a substrate temperature of 160 °C. The resulting Cs2TeI6 films have resistivity on the order of 1010 Ω cm, which indicates potential applications in X-ray detection and imaging. The films show a strong photoresponse to visible light based on the Cs2TeI6 thick film devices, and an on–off ratio of 22 under 425 nm light (∼65 mW cm−2). The sensitivity of the assembled Cs2TeI6 perovskite-based detectors can be 2.4 nC R−1 cm−2 under illumination of 60 kVp X-rays.

Background IncR, IncFII, IncpA1763-KPC, and IncN1 plasmids have been increasingly found among Enterobacteriaceae species, but plasmids with hybrid structures derived from the above-mentioned incompatibility groups have not yet been described. Methods Plasmids p721005-KPC, p504051-KPC, and pA3295-KPC were fully sequenced and compared with previously sequenced related plasmids pHN84KPC (IncR), pKPHS2 (IncFIIK), pKOX_NDM1 (IncFIIY), pHN7A8 (IncFIIpHN7A8), and R46 (IncN1). Results The backbone of p721005-KPC/p504051-KPC was a hybrid of the entire 10-kb IncR-type backbone from pHN84KPC, the entire 64.3-kb IncFIIK-type maintenance, and conjugal transfer regions from pKPHS2, a 15.5-kb IncFIIY-type maintenance region from pKOX_NDM1 and a 5.6-kb IncpA1763-KPC-type backbone region from pA1763-KPC, and it contained a primary IncR replicon and two auxiliary IncpA1763-KPC and IncN1 replicons. The backbone of pA3295-KPC was a hybrid of a 7.2-kb IncFIIpHN7A8-type backbone region from pHN7A8, the almost entire 33.3-kb IncN1-type maintenance and conjugal transfer regions highly similar to R46, a 26.2-kb IncFIIK-type maintenance regions from pKPHS2, the above 15.5-kb IncFIIY-type maintenance region, and the above 5.6-kb IncpA1763-KPC-type backbone region, and it contained a primary Inc-FIIpHN7A8 replicon and two auxiliary IncpA1763-KPC and IncN1 replicons. Each of p721005-KPC, p504051-KPC, and pA3295-KPC acquired a wealth of accessory modules, carrying a range of intact and residue mobile elements (such as insertion sequences, unit transposons, and integrons) and resistance markers (such as bla KPC, tetA, dfrA, and qnr). Conclusion In each of p721005-KPC, p504051-KPC, and pA3295-KPC, multiple replicons in coordination with maintenance and conjugation regions of various origins would maintain a broad host range and a stable replication at a steady-state plasmid copy number.

Cow footrot in the Heilongjiang Province, northeast China is a problem resulting in lost production in agriculture. In this study, 200 swab samples from footrot lesions of naturally infected cows with odorous exudative inflammation and keratinous hoof separation at 10 farms were examined in the period from May 2016 to May 2017. Twenty cows from each farm were taken for sampling. The samples were examined for detectingthe presence of Dichelobacter nodosus (D. nodosus) and Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum). Such detection was carried out using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR primers were designed to identify the lktA gene, which encodes a leukotoxin unique to F. necrophorum, and the fimA gene of D. nodosus. Of the 200 samples, 111 (55.5%) revealed the presence of F. necrophorum and 11 (5.5%) exhibited D. nodosus. The frequent finding of F. necrophorum in cow farms of Heilongjiang province, northeast China is noteworthy. The possibility of F. necrophorum and D. nodosus infection should be an important concern when controlling cow footrot in China.

The present study has succeeded in direct determination of the location of dopant Ni atoms in η-(Cu,Ni)6Sn5 by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) including atomic-resolution imaging as well as elemental mapping by X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS). The three sublattices of Sn, Cu1 and Cu2 were distinguished in atomic-resolution images observed along the [ 2 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 0 ] direction. Atomic-resolution XEDS maps have verified for the first time that the dopant Ni atoms located at the Cu2 sites in η-(Cu,Ni)6Sn5, taking advantage of the Poisson non-local principal component analysis (NLPCA) processing and the lattice-averaging procedure.

Polychlorinated diphenyl sulfides (PCDPSs) represent an emerging group of constituents that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) substances of great concern in terms of human health and ecological integrity. However, little is known about the occurrence, environmental behaviour and ecological risks of PCDPSs in lake environments. In this study, the concentrations of 21 PCDPSs were determined in surface water, suspended particulate matter (SPM), sediments, and 8 fish species from Chaohu Lake, China. Eighteen PCDPS congeners were prevalently detected in the samples, with concentrations ranging from 0.272-1.69 ng/L (water), 0.477-2.03 ng/g d.w. (SPM), 0.719-4.07 ng/g d.w. (sediment) and 0-0.131 ng/g w.w. (fish), respectively. Medium- and high-chlorinated PCDPSs in SPM and sediment were significantly higher than those in water samples. Increased PCDPS concentrations were found in higher trophic level fishes and those with a demersal habitat preference, indicating their bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential. The logBCFs, BSSAFs, and BSAFs of PCDPS congeners in fishes were determined to be 3.91-5.18, 0.0500-2.33, and 0.0360-4.94 L/kg, respectively. The organic carbon normalized partition coefficients (logK

1066 Background: Dalpiciclib (Dalp; SHR6390) is a novel cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor which showed tolerability and preliminary clinical activity as monotherapy for pretreated advanced breast cancer (ABC). Here we conducted a multicenter, phase 1b trial to further assess the safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of Dalp in combination with endocrine therapy (ET) in HR+/HER2- ABC. Methods: 5 cohorts of patients with HR+/HER2- locally recurrent or metastatic BC and any menopausal status were enrolled (~15 patients/combination regimen). Patients without prior treatment for ABC (cohort1/2) were given Dalp (125 or 150 mg po qd, d1-21, q4w) plus letrozole (LTZ; 2.5 mg po qd) or anastrozole (ATZ; 1 mg po qd); patients who progressed after ET (cohort 3-5) were given Dalp (125, 150, or 175 mg po qd, d1-21, q4w) plus fulvestrant (Fulv; 500 mg im, cycle 1 d1, d15, then d1 q4w). The primary endpoint was safety. The data cutoff date was Sep. 20, 2021. Results: 58 patients received Dalp plus LTZ/ATZ and 46 received Dalp plus Fulv. No maximum tolerated dose of Dalp was reached with LTZ/ATZ or Fulv. Across all cohorts, 75.0%-93.8% of patients had a grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse event (TRAE), with the most common being neutropenia (grade 3, 40.0%-87.5%; grade 4, 4.2%-46.7%) and leukopenia (grade 3, 33.3%-80.0%; grade 4, 0%; Table). Treatment-related serious AEs occurred in 2 (3.4%) patients with Dalp plus LTZ/ATZ and none with Dalp plus Fulv. At the tested dose levels, steady-state areas under the concentration curve and peak concentration of Dalp increased with dose in combination with LTZ/ATZ or Fulv. Dalp 150 mg was associated with a numerically higher objective response rate in both ET-untreated (67.6%, 95% CI 49.5-82.6) and ET-pretreated (53.3%, 95% CI 26.6-78.7) patients per investigator. The median progression-free survival with Dalp 150 mg was 20.3 mo (95% CI 16.9-not reached [NR]) and 16.7 mo (95% CI 1.9-24.1) in ET-untreated and ET-pretreated patients respectively. Conclusions: Dalpiciclib plus letrozole/anastrozole or fulvestrant showed an acceptable safety profile, with hematological toxicities as the most common TRAEs. The recommended phase 3 dose of dalpiciclib was 150 mg. Together with the promising anti-tumor activity observed with the combination therapy in HR+/HER2- ABC, further trials are warranted. Clinical trial information: NCT03481998. [Table: see text]

Crystal structure determines properties of materials. With the crystal structure of a chemical substance, many physical and chemical properties can be predicted by first-principles calculations or machine learning models. Since it is relatively easy to generate a hypothetical chemically valid formula, crystal structure prediction becomes an important method for discovering new materials. In our previous work, we proposed a contact map-based crystal structure prediction method, which uses global optimization algorithms such as genetic algorithms to maximize the match between the contact map of the predicted structure and the contact map of the real crystal structure to search for the coordinates at the Wyckoff Positions(WP). However, when predicting the crystal structure with high symmetry, we found that the global optimization algorithm has difficulty to find an effective combination of WPs that satisfies the chemical formula, which is mainly caused by the inconsistency between the dimensionality of the contact map of the predicted crystal structure and the dimensionality of the contact map of the target crystal structure. This makes it challenging to predict the crystal structures of high-symmetry crystals. In order to solve this problem, here we propose to use PyXtal to generate and filter random crystal structures with given symmetry constraints based on the information such as chemical formulas and space groups. With contact map as the optimization goal, we use differential evolution algorithms to search for non-special coordinates at the Wyckoff positions to realize the structure prediction of high-symmetry crystal materials. Our experimental results show that our proposed algorithm CMCrystalHS can effectively solve the problem of inconsistent contact map dimensions and predict the crystal structures with high symmetry., 12 pages

Normal flat panel X-ray detectors are confined in imaging of curved surfaces and three-dimensional objects. Except that, their rigid panels provide uncomfortable user experience in medical diagnosis. Here, we report a flexible X-ray detector fabricated by the combination of a lead-free Cs

Vibrio parahaemolyticus produces two types of IV pili: mannose-sensitive haemagglutinin type IV pili (MSHA) and chitin-regulated pili (ChiRP). Both of them are required for biofilm formation and the pathogen persistence in hosts. However, there are few reports on the regulation of their expression. In the present study, we showed that the master quorum sensing (QS) regulators AphA and OpaR oppositely regulated the transcription of mshA1 encoding the pilin of MSHA pilus in V. parahaemolyticus. At low cell density (LCD), AphA indirectly repressed mshA1 transcription. In contrast, at high cell density (HCD), OpaR bound to the regulatory DNA region of mshA1 to activate its transcription. Oppositely regulation of mshA1 by AphA and OpaR led to a gradual increase in the expression level of mshA1 from LCD to HCD. Thus, regulation of type IV pili production was one of the mechanisms that V. parahaemolyticus adopted to control biofilm formation.

Geometric information such as the space groups and crystal systems plays an important role in the properties of crystal materials. Prediction of crystal system and space group thus has wide applications in crystal material property estimation and structure prediction. Previous works on experimental X-ray diffraction (XRD) and density functional theory (DFT) based structure determination methods achieved outstanding performance, but they are not applicable for large-scale screening of materials compositions. There are also machine learning models using Magpie descriptors for composition based material space group determination, but their prediction accuracy only ranges between 0.638 and 0.907 in different kinds of crystals. Herein, we report an improved machine learning model for predicting the crystal system and space group of materials using only the formula information. Benchmark study on a dataset downloaded from Materials Project Database shows that our random forest models based on our new descriptor set, achieve significant performance improvements compared with previous work with accuracy scores ranging between 0.712 and 0.961 in terms of space group classification. Our model also shows large performance improvement for crystal system prediction. Trained models and source code are freely available at \url{https://github.com/Yuxinya/SG_predict}, 12 pages

Protective effects of Puerariae flos extract (PFE) on ethanol (EtOH) exposure have been previously verified. This study attempts to explore the protective effects of PEF on EtOH withdrawal models. Sixty male Kunming mice were involved which were randomly divided into five groups (intact control, EtOH group (35-day EtOH exposure), EtOH withdrawal group (28-day exposure + 7-day withdrawal), EtOH withdrawal group + positive control (Deanxit) group, and EtOH withdrawal group + PFE group). The changes of neuropsychological behaviors; hippocampal BDNF expression and CA1 neuronal density; and plasma corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), ACTH, and CORT levels were observed. It was found that depression-like behaviors reduced by EtOH exposure and increased by withdrawal under the 28-day EtOH exposure and 7-day withdrawal conditions. In addition, anxiety-like behaviors worsened by EtOH exposure and unchanged by withdrawal. Deanxit and PEF ameliorated such behaviors (vs. withdrawal group). Hippocampal BDNF expression was significantly downregulated by EtOH exposure and upregulated by withdrawal. Deanxit and PEF significantly upregulated the BDNF expression. The hippocampal CA1 neuronal density significantly decreased by EtOH exposure but unchanged by withdrawal and treatments. The plasma CRH, ACTH, and CORT levels show a significant enhancement by EtOH exposure and reduced by withdrawal. They were further reduced by Deanxit and PEF. The protective effects of PEF on EtOH chronic withdrawal mouse models were verified. The results of this study also indicated a complicated scenario of neuropsychological behaviors, hippocampal BDNF expression, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis which are affected by the timing of EtOH exposure and withdrawal.

The goal of this work is to analyze the influence of the distributions and dimensions of the coil elements and to present a method for improving the performance of the matrix gradient coil.Three typical models (five structures in total) are presented, and a double-layer biplanar matrix gradient coil is used to install coil elements. Two metrics, namely, the role of coil elements and mutual inductance between coil elements, are proposed to assess the performance of coil systems. An optimization approach to design matrix gradient coils is introduced based on analyzing the distributions and dimensions of coil elements. The flexibility of the magnetic field generation of the designed coil structure is demonstrated by generating full third-order spherical harmonic fields and different oblique gradient fields.Matrix gradient coils with suitable distributions are capable of generating target magnetic fields. The role of coil elements quantitatively illustrates that the coil elements have different impacts on generating magnetic fields. Increasing the coil element dimension within a certain range can reduce the mutual inductance between coil elements and improve the performance of the coil system. The designed novel double-layer biplanar matrix gradient coil achieves an acceptable performance in generating different magnetic fields.The proposed metrics can provide theoretical support for designing matrix gradient coils and evaluating their performance. The role of coil elements contributes to analyzing the distributions of coil elements to decrease the number of coil elements and power amplifiers. The mutual inductance between coil elements can be a reference for designing the dimensions of coil elements.

Candida auris is a multidrug-resistant human fungal pathogen responsible for nosocomial outbreaks worldwide. Although considerable progress has increased our understanding of the biological and clinical aspects of C. auris, its interaction with the host immune system is only now beginning to be investigated in-depth. Here, we compare the innate immune responses induced by C. auris BJCA001 and Candida albicans SC5314 in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicate that C. auris BJCA001 appears to be less immunoinflammatory than C. albicans SC5314, and this differential response correlates with structural features of the cell wall.

Background The membrane fusion protein (mfp) gene locus of Vibrio parahaemolyticus consists of two operons, cpsQ-mfpABC and mfpABC, which are both required for biofilm formation. ToxR and CalR are required for the full virulence of V. parahaemolyticus, and their mutual regulation has been demonstrated. Moreover, cell density-dependent expression of toxR was previously observed in V. parahaemolyticus, but details about the related mechanisms remained unclear. QsvR can work with the master quorum sensing (QS) regulators AphA and OpaR to regulate virulence expression and biofilm formation. Results In the present work, we showed that QsvR bound to the promoter-proximal DNA regions of toxR and calR to repress their transcription as well as occupying the regulatory regions of cpsQ-mfpABC and mfpABC to activate their transcription. Thus, we reconstructed the QsvR-dependent promoter organization of toxR, calR, cpsQ-mfpABC, and mfpABC. Conclusion QsvR directly repressed toxR and calR transcription as well as directly activated cpsQ-mfpABC and mfpABC transcription. The data presented here promotes us to gain deeper knowledge of the regulatory network of the mfp locus in V. parahaemolyticus.

Energy dispersive X-ray emission imaging at atomic resolution is a powerful tool to solve order–disorder problems in complex metal oxide crystals, supplementing conventional X-ray or neutron diffraction. Here, we use this method, based on scanning transmission electron microscopy, to investigate cation ordering in ternary metal oxides 4Nb2O5·9WO3 and 2Nb2O5·7WO3, which have recently attracted attention as energy storage materials in lithium-ion batteries. Their crystal structures are a tetragonal tungsten bronze-type and its hybrid with a ReO3-type ‘block structure’, respectively. Our study reveals the presence of chemical ordering of metal ions in these materials, which have previously been assumed to be solid-solutions. In particular, we show that the two types of cations, Nb and W, are well ordered in their lattices, and that the Nb ions tend to occupy one third of the pentagonal channel sites. These results demonstrate that atomic resolution X-ray emission imaging is an effective alternative approach for the study of locally ordered crystal structures. Niobium-tungsten complex oxides have recently received interest for their use as energy storage materials in lithium-ion batteries. Here, atomic-resolution electron microcopy reveals their structure, including cation ordering.

With the rapid development of deep learning and wireless communication technology, emotion recognition has received more and more attention from researchers. Computers can only be truly intelligent when they have human emotions, and emotion recognition is its primary consideration. This paper proposes a multimodal emotion recognition model based on a multiobjective optimization algorithm. The model combines voice information and facial information and can optimize the accuracy and uniformity of recognition at the same time. The speech modal is based on an improved deep convolutional neural network (DCNN); the video image modal is based on an improved deep separation convolution network (DSCNN). After single mode recognition, a multiobjective optimization algorithm is used to fuse the two modalities at the decision level. The experimental results show that the proposed model has a large improvement in each evaluation index, and the accuracy of emotion recognition is 2.88% higher than that of the ISMS_ALA model. The results show that the multiobjective optimization algorithm can effectively improve the performance of the multimodal emotion recognition model.

In modern production systems, considering machine conditions is becoming essential to achieving an overall optimisation of the production schedule. This paper studies a single machine scheduling problem, where the actual processing times of jobs depend on their position in the production sequence and maintenance is considered. Moreover, the machine is subject to an uncertain condition variation. There is a trade-off between rejecting a maintenance action, resulting in longer processing times, and accepting a maintenance action, leading to higher processing efficiency for future jobs. The problem is formulated as a finite-horizon Markov Decision Process. The objective is to minimise the makespan. Optimality properties are analysed, based on which a dynamic optimisation approach is developed. Computational experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

The state acquisition system of high energy physics experimental device has very high requirements for the clock synchronization accuracy of each node. The White Rabbit (WR) distributed synchronous timing technology can realize multi node sub nanosecond clock distribution within several kilometers, and meet the requirements of clock synchronization accuracy of the system. This paper presents an implementation of WR timing system with ZYNQ 7045 as the core in the state acquisition system. This paper introduces the hardware design and implementation scheme of collector node, the implementation scheme of WR node, and the statistical data of WR-PTP time synchronization experiment results. The test results show that this method can realize the time synchronization between the nodes of the state collector, and the accuracy is better than 1 nanosecond. It can provide high-precision time synchronization function for the multi node signal acquisition system of high-energy physics experiment.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine the prognostic factors for disease-specific survival (DSS) of glioblastoma (GBM) and establish a corresponding effective nomogram for clinical prediction.Methods This study was based on Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database between 2004 and 2015. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to evaluate the effect of various prognostic factors on DSS. Lasso regression was used to determine the independent prognostic factors of DSS and multivariate cox regression analysis was performed correspondingly. Additional restricted cubic spline cox regression was used to analyze the trend of the risk effect (hazard ratio) of continuous variables on DSS. Based on the multivariate cox regression model, a nomogram was established to predict DSS. ResultsThe average age at diagnosis of all enrolled patients was 59.8±12.2 years, of which 40.5% were women and 59.5% were men. Lasso regression analysis showed that age at diagnosis, sex, marital status, race, tumor size, primary site, laterality, surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, radiotherapy sequence with surgery, and year of diagnosis were independent prognostic factors for DSS. Multivariate cox regression analysis showed that elderly, males, unmarried status, larger tumors were all risk factors for DSS. Restricted cubic spline cox regression showed that the risk of death from GBM was significantly increased for the elderly, especially older than 75 years. When the tumor was smaller than 75mm, an increasing risk linearly was associated with DSS, but the risk effect remained constant after 75mm. Constructing the nomogram to predict the DSS probability of 1-, 3- and 5-year respectively, and its good predictive performance was proved by the calibration curve.ConclusionThe advanced age was one of the significant risk factors for GBM. How the change of tumor size affected DSS needed further study and discussion. The established nomogram was robust in predicting 1-, 3-, and 5- year DSS.

In the Bitcoin system, transaction history of an address can be useful in many scenarios, such as the balance calculation and behavior analysis. However, it is non-trivial for a common user who runs a light node to fetch historical transactions, since it only stores headers without any transaction details. It usually has to request a full node who stores the complete data. Validation of these query results is critical and mainly involves two aspects: correctness and completeness. The former can be implemented via Merkle branch easily, while the latter is quite difficult in the Bitcoin protocol. To enable the completeness validation, a strawman design is proposed, which simply includes the BF (Bloom filter) in the headers. However, since the size of BF is about KB, light nodes in the strawman will suffer from the incremental storage burden. What’s worse, an integrated block must be transmitted when BF cannot work, resulting in large network overhead. In this paper, we propose LVQ, the first lightweight verifiable query approach that reduces the storage requirement and network overhead at the same time. To be specific, by only storing the hash of BF in headers, LVQ keeps data stored by light nodes being little. Besides, LVQ introduces a novel BMT (BF integrated Merkle Tree) structure for lightweight query, which can eliminate the communication costs of query results by merging the multiple successive BFs. Furthermore, when BF cannot work, a lightweight proof by SMT (Sorted Merkle Tree) is exploited to further reduce the network overhead. The security analysis confirms LVQ’s ability to enable both correctness and completeness validation. In addition, the experimental results demonstrate its lightweight.

The ternary metal halide perovskites have gradually attracted attention for application in the optoelectronic field, owing to their tunable crystal structure and appropriate bandgap. Lead free Cs

The type VI secretion system 2 (T6SS2) gene locus of Vibrio parahaemolyticus is comprised of three operons, VPA1027-1024, VPA1043-1028, and VPA1044-1046. QsvR is a virulence regulator of V. parahaemolyticus. In this study, the regulation of VPA1027, VPA1043 and VPA1044 by QsvR was investigated by primer extension, quantitative real-time PCR, LacZ fusion, electrophoretic mobility shift assay and DNase I footprinting. The results demonstrated that QsvR binds to the promoter-proximal DNA regions of each of these three operons, activating their transcription. T6SS2 was shown to predominately contribute to V. parahaemolyticus adhesion, with qsvR deletion significantly decreasing V. parahaemolyticus adhesion to HeLa cells. Thus, QsvR is not only a positive regulator of T6SS2 gene transcription but also a mediator of V. parahaemolyticus adhesion to host cells.

A fluorescent reversible regulation was studied by fluorescence spectra, ultraviolet–visible spectra in the combination of molecular docking, which based on the photoinduced electron transfer(PET) from hsDNA (herring sperm DNA) to CA (cysteamine)-capped ZnSe QDs (quantum dots) and intercalation of ethidium bromide (EB) into hsDNA. It was proven that the QDs bound with the adding hsDNA by electrostatic force and formed 1:1 hsDNA-QDs complexes, leading to the PET from hsDNA to QDs, and consequently the fluorescence quenching of the QDs; with EB being added in the complex solution, it bound with hsDNA by intercalation interaction and caused hsDNA releasing from hsDNA-QDs complex with forming 2.5:1 EB-hsDNA complex, leading to the recovery of fluorescence, based on the greater binding constant (1.74 × 106 L·mol−1) of hsDNA with the embedded EB comparing to that of QDs with the captured hsDNA (4.25 × 104 L·mol−1). A good linear relationship existed between the fluorescence recovery yield and the EB concentrations under the range of 1.0—12.0 × 10−6 mol·L−1 with bare interference of related substances. This work provided some useful insights into the study of binding mechanism between DNAs with their intercalators and fluorescence bi-direction regulation, and showed great potential for the determination of trace EB.

Objective Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an aberrant lipid metabolism disease. Hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1α) is a transcription factor which plays an important part in adapting lower oxygen condition. Here, we aimed to clarify the relationship between HIF-1α and NAFLD. Methods HepG2 cells was stimulated by oleic acid (OA) and palmitic acid (PA) to establish in vitro model of NAFLD. The expression of lipid metabolism-related genes, the binding of PPARα to HIF-1α promoter, the lipid deposition, and oxidative stress were detected by qRT-PCR, western blot, Chip assay, Oil Red O staining and ELISA assays, respectively. Results HIF-1α silence promoted lipid accumulation in NAFLD cells, accompanying by the significantly increased contents of TG (triglyceride) and ApoB (apolipoprotein B). In HepG2 cells treated with OA/PA, the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes and proteins, including APOE, A2m, TNFRSF11B, LDLr, and SREBP2, and the intracellular lipid deposition were up-regulated and further aggravated after silencing HIF-1α. In addition, the loss of HIF-1α could remarkably elevate MDA contents while inhibit the activities of beneficial antioxidant enzymes SOD and GSH-Px to activate oxidative stress, and promote the secretion of pro-inflammatory IL-6 and TNF-α to aggravate inflammation in NDFLD cells. PPARα positively bound to HIF-1α promoter. The silence of PPARα aggravated lipid deposition under normal or hypoxic environment in NAFLD cells. In addition, PPAR-α silence could decrease the expression of HIF-1α and ANGPTL4 in NAFLD cell model; moreover, the expression of APOE, A2m and TNFRSF11B and the production of TG and MDA were increased by PPAR-α suppression. Conclusion HIF-1α plays a crucial role in the regulation of lipid metabolism through activating PPAR-α/ANGPTL4 signaling pathway in NAFLD.

PURPOSE: To describe a new method for accurate T(1) measurement of cortical bone which fits the datasets of both 3D UTE Actual Flip Angle Imaging (UTE-AFI) and UTE with a Single TR (UTE-STR) simultaneously (UTE-AFI-STR). THEORY AND METHODS: To make both the constant values and longitudinal mapping functions in the signal equations for UTE-AFI and UTE-STR identical, the same RF pulses and flip angles were used. Therefore, there were three unknowns in the three equations. This was sufficient to fit the data. Numerical simulation as well as ex vivo and in vivo cortical bone studies were performed to validate the T(1) measurement accuracy with the UTE-AFI-STR method. The original UTE-AFI-VTR (i.e. combined UTE-AFI and UTE with Variable TR (UTE-VTR)) and simultaneous fitting (sf) of UTE-AFI and UTE-VTR (sf-UTE-AFI-VTR) methods were performed for comparison. RESULTS: The numerical simulation study showed that the UTE-AFI-STR method provided accurate value of T(1) when the SNR of the UTE-STR image was higher than 40. The ex vivo study showed that the UTE-AFI-STR method measured the T(1) of cortical bone accurately, with difference ratios ranging from −5.0% to 0.4%. In vivo study showed a mean T(1) of 246 ms with the UTE-AFI-STR method, and mean difference ratios of 2.4% and 5.0% respectively compared with the other two methods. CONCLUSION: The 3D UTE-AFI-STR method provides accurate mapping of the T(1) of cortical bone with improved time efficiency compared with the UTE-AFI-VTR/sf-UTE-AFI-VTR methods.

Chemical modification using only small amounts of elements such as Zn, In, Sb, or Ni has proven to be an effective means to control the desirable crystal structure of hexagonal η-Cu6Sn5 over a wide thermally operating window, typically found in Pb-free Sn-based soldering or Li-ion battery anode applications. Though appealing, the underlying mechanisms on the role of these dopants remain incomplete and their atomic arrangements within the η-Cu6Sn5 lattices have not yet been experimentally determined. In the current study, we directly reveal the atomic positions of Zn, In, and Sb at the Sn sites of η-Cu6Sn5 via atomic-scale x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS) maps utilizing advanced Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. The use of advanced statistical algorithms including Poisson non-local principal component analysis and lattice averaging enables the fine resolution of weak XEDS maps from trace dopant elements. Our first-principles calculations further identify the influence of dopants at these atomic sites on the overall energetics, electronic structures, as well as local bonding environments, leading to the most favorable situations for η-Cu6Sn5 stabilization.

Resveratrol (Res) has an anti-tumor effect. Notch signaling components from breast cancer cells treated in culture with Resveratrol was investigated. MDA-MB-231cells were divided into control group (Res-untreated) and Res-treated groups including six concentrations 0 μM, 10 μM, 20 μM, 40 μM, 80 μM and 160 μM. Cytotoxicity test were evaluated by CCK-8. The mRNA and Protein expression levels of Notch1, Jagged1, Dll4 and Hes-5 were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. The mRNA expression of Notch1, Jagged1, Hes-5 and Dll4 in the Res administration group decreased significantly (0.01 p .05), and Hes-5 and Dll4 were extremely significant (p .01). Compared with the blank control group, the protein expression of Notch1 and Dll4 decreased significantly in each concentration Res group, but the decrease of protein expression of Jagged1 and Hes-5 was not significant. In conclusion, Res regulates mRNA and protein expression of Notch1, Dll4 of MDA-MB-231 cells via Notch pathway.

Ga alloys have been attracting significant renewed attention for low-temperature bonding applications in electronic packaging. This study systematically investigates the interfacial reaction between liquid Ga and Cu-10Ni substrates at 30 °C. In addition to CuGa2 formed from binary Ga/Cu couples, a layer of nanocrystalline Ga5Ni and CuGa2 formed between the Cu-10Ni substrate and the blocklike micrometer scale CuGa2 layer. The growth of interfacial intermetallics (IMCs) on the Cu-10Ni substrate was substantially accelerated compared to the IMC growth in binary Ga/Cu couples. Reaction kinetics study shows the IMC growth from the Cu-10Ni substrate was controlled by reaction and volume diffusion, while the IMC growth from the Cu substrate was controlled by volume diffusion. It is also found that the presence of Ni within the CuGa2 phase resulted in improved thermal stability and a smaller coefficient of thermal expansion during heating from 25 to 300 °C, using synchrotron XRD analysis. There was least thermal expansion anisotropy among most of the IMCs that form in conventional Sn-based solder alloys, including Cu6Sn5 and so forth. It is concluded that using a Cu-10Ni substrate as opposed to a Cu substrate could achieve sufficient metallurgical bonding within shorter processing time. The results have implications for broadening the application temperatures when using Ga as a low-temperature joining material.

Introduction: Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a secretory protein encoded by the whey-acidic four-disulfide core domain protein 2 (WFDC2) gene. Clinically, HE4 is an important serological biomarker used to detect and monitor epithelial ovarian cancer. Although elevated in a high percentage of patients with ovarian and endometrial cancer, high serum HE4 levels may also be detected in patients with other various non-gynecologic malignant disorders such as lung adenocarcinoma and breast cancer. However, the association between high HE4 and hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (HNENs) remains unknown. Case Presentation: Herein, two patients with HNENs and elevated serum HE4 are presented. Both cases were old women who underwent pelvic examination and ultrasonography and the results were normal. Immunohistochemistry assays demonstrated high HE4 expression in neuroendocrine carcinoma, whereas no HE4 expression was observed in hepatocellular carcinoma and clear cell renal cell carcinoma liver metastases. Conclusions: This preliminary observation suggested HE4 concentrations may be elevated in neuroendocrine neoplasm patients with no ovarian cancer. Thus, HE4 results should be interpreted cautiously in female patients with HNENs. In addition, this preliminary observation suggested the need to perform further studies to assess the implications of our results in terms of the potential role of HE4 as a serum biomarker in the diagnosis and prognosis of HNEN patients.

Yangyang Xiao,1,* Jilin Qing,2,* Baoxuan Li,3 Liuyan Chen,1 Shengzhou Nong,1 Wenhui Yang,1 Xiaogang Tang,4 Zhizhong Chen1 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, People’s Republic of China; 2Center for Reproductive Medicine and Genetics, People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Ophthalmology, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong 256603, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Intensive Care Unit, People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhizhong ChenDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 6 Taoyuan Road, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 771 2186126Email tjchenzz@126.comBackground: T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing molecule-3 (TIM-3) was originally found to negatively regulate immune response and mediate immune escape in tumors. Subsequently, an increasing body of evidence has shown that TIM-3 exerts positive functions in the development and progression of several tumors. However, the role of TIM-3 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains unknown.Methods: Data from the Cancer Genome Atlas-head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and immunohistochemistry were analyzed to compare the expression of TIM-3 in NPC and non-cancerous nasopharyngitis tissues. Cell proliferation was evaluated using the Cell counting kit-8 in vitro and xenograft experiment in nude mice in vivo. Flow cytometry was used to evaluate the cell cycle. The migration and invasion of NPC cells were assessed through wound healing and Transwell assays. In addition, Western blotting was used to analyze the expression of specific proteins.Results: Higher expression of TIM-3 was detected in NPC tissues than normal nasopharyngeal tissues and positively correlated with the clinical stage and T classification; however, it was not correlated with gender, age, and N classification. Furthermore, overexpression of TIM-3 using lentiviral vectors increased the malignancy of 6-10B and CNE-2 cell lines that lowly express TIM-3, by promoting cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro and in vivo. In addition, overexpression of TIM-3 was associated with upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and MMP2, and led to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by increasing the levels of mesenchymal markers (ie, N-cadherin, Vimentin) and decreasing those of the epithelial marker E-cadherin. Further study showed that SMAD7 was downregulated in the TIM-3 overexpression group. Relatively, phosphorylated SMAD2 and downstream molecule SNAIL1 were also upregulated in this group.Conclusion: TIM-3 exerts a tumor-promoting function in NPC by mediating changes in the SMAD7/SMAD2/SNAIL1 axis. These findings provide a new idea for the study of invasion, metastasis, and treatment of NPC.Keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma, T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain containing molecule-3, invasion, metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Sn-based compounds are promising candidates for application as anodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to the favourable storage capacity of Sn at 993 mAh g

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common kind of malignant tumor, and commonly leads to death. As a subtype of gastric cancer, adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG), accounts for about 50% of all gastric cancer cases. So far, the systematic co-expression analysis of this tumor has not fully explained its pathogenesis. The purpose of this study was to construct RNAs co-expression networks to predict candidate hub genes associated with the tumorigenesis of AEG. Methods: The RNA-seq data of 22 AEG patients was processed with weighted gene co-expression network analysis strategy. Differentiate the modules with clinical tumor markers and preservation, and carry out gene ontology and pathway enrichment analysis. We identified the co-expression modules and used GO and KEGG terms to investigated the functional enrichment of co-expression genes, suggesting that blue and brown modules are related to the biological processes of tumorigenesis. Results: Twenty-five distinct co-expression gene modules were identified, and as the top hub genes of tumorigenic gene modules, CD93, TRIM28, SLC3A2, CBX4, PATL1, and ZNF473 with high intramodular connectivity were assumed as intramodular hub genes in AEG. Conclusion: The weighted gene co-expression network analysis conducted in this study screened out CD93, TRIM28, SLC3A2, CBX4, PATL1, and ZNF473 may act as candidate biomarker in GC and AEG.

Predominant health impacts from alcoholism are chronic neurologic deficits and hepatic dysfunction. Pueraria extract (PE) is a solution obtained from the dried root of Pueraria lobate and can reverse alcohol-induced hepatic damage. The present study aimed to elucidate the effects of PE on ethanol-induced injury in microglia and neurons. To confirm the reliability of the experimental approach, an in vivo demonstration of PE activity was used to verify its impact on hepatic damage in mice exposed to ethanol (ETOH). Subsequently, an in vitro assay was used to verify the effects of PE on ETOH-exposed microglia and neurons.PE reversed fibrosis and hyperplasia, adipocyte infiltration, hepatomegaly, hepatic function, lipid metabolism, indicators of oxidative stress, and morphological changes in hepatic cells, induced by ETOH exposure. The reliability of the experimental approach was thus confirmed. PE also reversed the activation of microglia and inflammatory-related cytokines and proteins induced by ETOH exposure. PE showed protective effects on neurons via inhibition of mitochondrial fission. in vivo and in vitro evidence indicated that PE might be useful in the treatment of both hepatic injury and neurologic deficits commonly observed in chronic alcoholism.

PURPOSE: To demonstrate the feasibility of a new method for measuring T(1) of short T(2) species based on an adiabatic inversion recovery-prepared three-dimensional ultrashort echo time Cones (3D IR-UTE-Cones) sequence. METHODS: T(1) values for short T(2) species were quantified using 3D IR-UTE-Cones data acquired with different repetition times (TRs) and inversion times (TIs). An inversion efficiency factor Q was introduced into the fitting model to accurately calculate T(1) values for short T(2) species. Experiments were performed on twelve MnCl(2) aqueous solution phantoms with a wide range of T(1) values and T(2)* values on a 3T clinical MR system to verify the efficacy of the proposed method. For comparison, a variable flip angle UTE (VFA-UTE) sequence, a variable TR UTE (VTR-UTE) sequence, and a conventional 2D IR fast spin echo (IR-FSE) sequence were also used to quantify T(1) values of those phantoms. T(1) values were compared between all performed sequences. RESULTS: The proposed 3D IR-UTE-Cones method provided higher contrast images of short T(2) phantoms and measured much shorter T(1) values than the 2D IR-FSE, VFA-UTE, and VTR-UTE methods. T(1) values as short as 2.95 ms could be measured by the 3D IR-UTE-Cones sequence. The 3D IR-UTE-Cones methods with different TRs were applied to different ranges of T(1) measurement, and the scan time was significantly decreased by using 5 TIs along the recovery curves to perform fitting with comparable accuracy. CONCLUSION: The 3D IR-UTE-Cones sequence could accurately measure short T(1) values while providing high contrast images of short T(2) species.

As passengers are proved to be preference heterogeneous in air travel, this paper tries to model the air ticket purchase behavior incorporating market segmentation. In the research, a latent-NL model, established on the latent class structure and the nested logit model, integrates the personal features as well as the purchase preferences into the forecast of segment-specific purchase probability. In order to calibrate the model, a stated preference survey is designed with the choice profiles using real service information, and the survey is conducted in four cities in China for data collection. The results show that the proposed model provides an effective approach for predicting the air travel demand in particular for air ticket pricing, and the estimation results outperforms the traditional-nested logit model with higher goodness-of-fit. Besides, the model is then adopted to test the efficiency of different pricing strategies, showing its advantages in improving the flight revenues.

Being a practical genre of media discourse, news discourse has attracted great attention and discussion from scholars both at home and abroad, who have devoted various definitions, arguments, and findings over news discourse. This chapter concentrates on the general review of relevant studies. The remarkable academic achievements of news discourse will be reviewed first, followed by the cognitive contrastive linguistics and cognitive semantics, then specifically on previous studies on metaphors, image schemas, and stance markers.

The empirical contrastive study on commercial news reports from the theoretical standpoints of cognitive linguistics, especially a cognitive semantic analysis based on metaphorical mapping, image schema, and a discoursal stance on the ground of cognitive semantics, offers a comprehensive and quite rewarding insight into the cross-cultural research of human cognition reflected by news reports, disclosing the profound correlation between the employment of language wording and cognitive perceptions. In this section, the author will further interpret the semantic phenomena in commercial news discourses from cognitive perspectives.

Within this chapter, the author conducts a cognitive semantic study on stance markers within a corporate statement on commodities (CSC) discourses. Initially, the author identifies the discoursal moves with lexical grammar from the perspective of genre focusing on vocabularies and their functions in sentence structures, figuring out its specific communicative purposes as well as lexico-grammatical features. Then, the analysis is followed by a lexical study on stance markers within the discoursal moves to illustrate the different linguistic forms in the cognitive frames with different communicative purposes.