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Abstract Launching the intermolecular through‐space charge transfer (TSCT) from a bicomponent assembly for photophysical property manipulation is of great significance in fluorescence probe design. Here, we demonstrate the elaborate control of droplet evaporation dynamics for intermolecular TSCT can facilitate the ultrasensitive detection of JWH‐018, a representative synthetic cannabinoid. Driven by diverse intermolecular interactions, the probe, and JWH‐018 assemble in a closely stacked manner to emit strong fluorescence at 477 nm, ascribing to the intermolecular TSCT at the S2 state. The strategy realizes an ultra‐low limit of detection of 11 nmol/mL and great selectivity towards JWH‐018. The practicability is further verified by constructing a sensing chip for JWH‐018 aerosol detection, which facilitates the on‐site drug abuser screening with the naked eye. Moreover, the proposed assembly‐enabled TSCT is expected to find a variety of applications for optoelectronic materials design and photophysical mechanism‐dominated molecular recognition.

In this study, caffeic acid (CA) and chlorogenic acid (CGA) were incorporated onto chitosan (CS) using free radical grafting initiated by a hydrogen peroxide/ascorbic acid (H2O2/Vc) redox system. The structural properties of the CA (CA-g-CS) and CGA (CGA-g-CS) derivatives were characterized by UV–Vis absorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and thermal stability analysis. Then, the antioxidant and antibacterial properties were evaluated, and the effect of CGA-g-CS on the postharvest quality of Saimaiti apricot was studied. It proved that phenolic acids were successfully grafted onto the CS. The grafting ratios of CA-g-CS and CGA-g-CS were 126.21 mg CAE/g and 148.94 mg CGAE/g. The antioxidation and antibacterial activities of CGA-g-CS were better than those of CA-g-CS. The MICs of CGA-g-CS against E. coli, S. aureus, and B. subtilis were 2, 1, and 2 mg/mL. The inhibitory zones of 20 mg/mL CGA-g-CS against the three bacteria were 19.16 ± 0.35, 16.33 ± 0.91, and 16.24 ± 0.05 mm. The inhibitory effects of 0.5% CGA-g-CS on the firmness, weight loss, SSC, TA, relative conductivity, and respiration rate of the apricot were superior. Our results suggest that CGA-g-CS can be potentially used as an edible coating material to preserve apricots.

Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) industrialization has been developing for many years. Commercial materials such as 8 mol% Y2O3-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 (GDC), La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ (LSCF), La0.6Sr0.4CoO3−δ (LSC), etc., have been used for many years, but the problem of mismatched thermal expansion coefficients of various materials between cells has not been fundamentally solved, which affects the lifetime of SOECs and restricts their industry development. Currently, various solutions have been reported, such as element doping, manufacturing defects, and introducing negative thermal expansion coefficient materials. To promote the development of the SOEC industry, a direct treatment method for commercial materials—quenching and doping—is reported to achieve the controllable preparation of the thermal expansion coefficient of commercial materials. The quenching process only involves the micro-treatment of raw materials and does not have any negative impact on preparation processes such as powder slurry and sintering. It is a simple, low-cost, and universal research strategy to achieve the controllable preparation of the thermal expansion coefficient of the commercial material La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ (LSCF) through a quenching process by doping elements and increasing oxygen vacancies in the material. Commercial LSCF materials are heated to 800 °C in a muffle furnace, quickly removed, and cooled and quenched in 3.4 mol/L of prepared Y(NO3)3. The thermal expansion coefficient of the treated material can be reduced to 13.6 × 10−6 K−1, and the blank sample is 14.1 × 10−6 K−1. In the future, it may be possible to use the quenching process to select appropriate doping elements in order to achieve similar thermal expansion coefficients in SOECs.

Abstract Application of polyester‐degrading microorganisms or enzymes should be considered as an eco‐friendly alternative to chemical recycling due to the huge plastic waste disposal nowadays. However, current impranil DLN‐based screening of polyester‐degrading microorganisms is time‐consuming, labour‐intensive and unable to distinguish polyesterases from other protease‐ or amidase‐like enzymes. Herein, we present an approach that combined a novel synthetic fluorescent polyurethane analogue probe (FPAP), along with the droplet‐based microfluidics to screen polyurethane‐degrading microorganisms through fluorescence‐activated droplet sorting (FADS) pipeline. The fluorescent probe FPAP exhibited a fluorescence enhancement effect once hydrolysed by polyesterases, along with a strong specificity in discriminating polyesterases from other non‐active enzymes. Application of FPAP in a microfluidic droplet system demonstrated that this probe exhibited high sensitivity and efficiency in selecting positive droplets containing leaf‐branch compost cutinase (LCC) enzymes. This novel fluorogenic probe, FPAP, combined with the droplet microfluidic system has the potential to be used in the exploitation of novel PUR‐biocatalysts for biotechnological and environmental applications.

Extrusion bioprinting can be used to produce living materials but controlling cell microenvironments is challenging. Here, the authors use a type of core-shell microgel ink that decouples cell culture from material processing to produce functional materials with a range of potential applications.

Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is a promising technology for CO2 conversion and renewable energy storage with high efficiency. It is highly desirable to develop catalytically active cathodes for CO2 electrolysis. Herein, cathode materials with different structural stabilities are designed by Nb substitution on La0.5Sr0.5Fe0.8Co0.2O3-δ (LSFC82) to obtain La0.5Sr0.5Fe0.7Co0.2Nb0.1O3-δ (LSFCN721) and La0.5Sr0.5Fe0.8Co0.1Nb0.1O3-δ (LSFCN811), respectively. LSFC82-Sm0.2Ce0.8O2-δ (SDC) cathode with inferior structural stability (ability to maintain the structure) shows desirable CO2 electrolysis performance with the generated current density of 1.80 A cm−2 at 1.6 V and stable performance during 110 h operation at 1.2 V and 800 °C. However, LSFC82 particles are collapsed into pieces after stability test with the generation of Co nanoparticles simultaneously. The frameworks of LSFCN721 and LSFCN811 particles maintain well because of the high-valent niobium, but Co exsolution, oxygen vacancy content and the corresponding CO2 electrolysis performance are restricted. This work confirms that Co nanoparticles can be exsolved from LSFC82-SDC cathode during CO2 electrolysis, providing references for constructing metallic nanoparticles decorated-perovskite cathodes for SOECs.

ObjectiveIn this study, we aimed to investigate the classification of symptomatic plaques by evaluating the models generated via two different approaches, a radiomics-based machine learning (ML) approach, and an end-to-end learning approach which utilized deep learning (DL) techniques with several representative model frameworks.MethodsWe collected high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HRMRI) data from 104 patients with carotid artery stenosis, who were diagnosed with either symptomatic plaques (SPs) or asymptomatic plaques (ASPs), in two medical centers. 74 patients were diagnosed with SPs and 30 patients were ASPs. Sampling Perfection with Application-optimized Contrasts (SPACE) by using different flip angle Evolutions was used for MRI imaging. Repeated stratified five-fold cross-validation was used to evaluate the accuracy and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of the trained classifier. The two proposed approaches were investigated to train the models separately. The difference in the model performance of the two proposed methods was quantitatively evaluated to find a better model to differentiate between SPs and ASPs.Results3D-SE-Densenet-121 model showed the best performance among all prediction models (AUC, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and F1-score of 0.9300, 0.9308, 0.9008, 0.8588, and 0.8614, respectively), which were 0.0689, 0.1119, 0.1043, 0.0805, and 0.1089 higher than the best radiomics-based ML model (MLP). Decision curve analysis showed that the 3D-SE-Densenet-121 model delivered more net benefit than the best radiomics-based ML model (MLP) with a wider threshold probability.ConclusionThe DL models were able to accurately differentiate between symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid plaques with limited data, which outperformed radiomics-based ML models in identifying symptomatic plaques.

As a novel oncogene, the role of YEATS domain-containing protein 4 (YEATS4) in the occurrence, development, and treatment of tumors is now beginning to be appreciated. YEATS4 plays an important role in regulating DNA repair during replication. The upregulation of YEAST4 promotes DNA damage repair and prevents cell death, whereas its downregulation inhibits DNA replication and induces apoptosis. Additionally, accumulating evidence indicates that the aberrant activation of YEATS4 leads to changes in drug resistance, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and also in the migration and invasion capacity of tumor cells. Therefore, specific inhibition of the expression or activity of YEATS4 protein may be an effective strategy for inhibiting the proliferation, motility, differentiation, and/or survival of tumor cells. Taken together, YEATS4 has emerged as a potential target for multiple cancers and is an attractive protein for the development of small-molecule inhibitors. However, research on YEAST4 in tumor-related fields is limited and its biological functions, metabolism, and the regulatory mechanism of YEATS4 in numerous cancers remain undetermined. This review comprehensively and extensively summarizes the functions, structure and oncogenic roles of YEATS4 in cancer progression and aims to further contribute to the study of its underlying molecular mechanism and targeted drugs.

The J-TEXT capability is enhanced compared to two years ago with several upgrades of its diagnostics and the increase of electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) power to 1 MW. With the application of electron cyclotron wave (ECW), the ECW assisted plasma startup is achieved; the tearing mode is suppressed; the toroidal injection of 300 kW ECW drives around 24 kA current; fast electrons are generated with toroidal injected ECW and the runaway current conversion efficiency increases with ECRH power. The mode coupling between 2/1 and 3/1 modes are extensively studied. The coupled 2/1 and 3/1 modes usually lead to major disruption. Their coupling can be either suppressed or avoided by external resonant magnetic perturbation fields and hence avoids the major disruption. It is also found that the 2/1 threshold of external field is significantly reduced by a pre-excited 3/1 mode, which can be either a locked island or an external kink mode. The disruption control is studied by developing prediction methods capable of cross tokamak application and by new mitigation methods, such as the biased electrode or electromagnetic pellet injector. The high-density operation and related disruptions are studied from various aspects. Approaching the density limit, the collapse of the edge shear layer is observed and such collapse can be prevented by applying edge biasing, leading to an increased density limit. The density limit is also observed to increase, if the plasma is operated in the poloidal divertor configuration or the plasma purity is increased by increasing the pre-filled gas pressure or ECRH power during the start-up phase.

The morphology and porosity of zeolites have an important effect on adsorption and catalytic performance. In the work, simple inorganic salts, i.e., Na salts were used to synthesize MWW zeolite using the organic compound 1-Butyl-2,3-dimethyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium hydroxide as a structure-directing agent and the morphology was regulated by the alkali metals. The sample synthesized without Na salts shows a dense hexagon morphology, while different morphologies like ellipsoid, wool ball, and uniform hexagon appear when using NaOH, Na2CO3, and NaHCO3, respectively. Moreover, the impact of Na salts on the induction, nucleation, and the evolution of crystal growth was studied. Different kinds of Na salts have a different impact on the crystalline induction time in the order of NaHCO3 (36 h) < Na2CO3 (72 h) = NaOH (72 h). Meanwhile, the crystalline mechanism with the cooperation of inorganic salts and the organic SDAs is proposed. NaOH- and Na2CO3-MWW zeolite crystallized with a network of hydrogel via the nonclassical pathway in the system; however, the product is synthesized via a classical route in the NaHCO3 environment. This work provides information about MWW zeolite crystallization and modulating diverse morphologies by adjusting the process.

Micro-discharges have many excellent characteristics, such as generation of high-density and non-equilibrium plasmas at atmospheric pressure. In this paper, we used an implicit particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision method for three-dimensional velocities in a one-dimensional space combined with the secondary electron emission model to study the characteristics of micro-discharges driven by dual radio frequency (RF) power. The effect on plasma parameters was observed by varying the voltage of the RF power, the frequency, and the gas pressure of the discharge. Since the electrode spacing is very small in micro-discharges, the voltage change will affect the characteristics of micro-discharges. In addition, the plasma density increases with the frequency and the discharge mode changes at different frequencies. Finally, the influence of gas pressure on the characteristics of micro-discharges cannot be ignored. When the air pressure decreases, the ion flux reaching the electrodes is significantly increased, and the energy distribution of ions increases in the high-energy portion.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the effects of positive psychological intervention on Parkinson's disease (PD) patients complicated with depression and cognitive dysfunction. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-two PD patients complicated with depression and cognitive dysfunction treated in our hospital were selected and randomly divided into two groups (n=116). The control group was treated routinely and the observation group was additionally subjected to positive psychological intervention for eight consecutive weeks. They were evaluated by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale in terms of depression and cognitive dysfunction. The numerical data between groups were compared by the χ² test, and the categorical data were compared by the t test. Changes in the depression and cognitive function scores before and after intervention were compared by analysis of variance for repeated measures. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Before intervention, the two groups had similar HAMD and cognitive function scores. After intervention, the HAMD score of the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group. Compared with the control group, the observation group had significantly higher total score of cognitive function (18.49±3.58 vs. 25.68±2.19), visuospatial executive function (2.18±1.45 vs. 4.53±0.48), attention (3.43±0.77 vs. 5.27±0.58), language ability (2.34±0.59 vs. 2.41±0.49) and orientation (5.16±0.76 vs. 5.98±0.13) scores. Conclusion: Positive psychological intervention can effectively relieve the depression and cognitive dysfunction of PD patients, which is of great significance to improvement of the survival and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC) integrating solid oxide fuel (SOFC) and a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) usually utilizes compressive seals. In this work, the vermiculite seals of various thickness and compressive load during thermal cycles and long-term operation were investigated. The leakage rates of seals were gradually increased with increasing thickness and input gas pressure. The thinner seals had good sealing performance. The compressive load was carried out at thinner seals, the possible holes were squeezed, and finally the leakage rates were lower. With a fixed input gas pressure of 1 psi, 2 psi, and 3 psi, the leakage rates of 0.50 mm vermiculite remained at around 0.009 sccm/cm, 0.017 sccm/cm and 0.028 sccm/cm during twenty thermal cycles, while the leakage rates remained at around 0.011 sccm/cm for about 240 h. Simultaneously, elemental diffusions between seals and components were limited, implying good compatibility. Furthermore, the open circuit voltage (OCV) remained at around 1.04 V during 17 thermal cycles, which is close to Nernst potentials. The stack performance confirmed that the vermiculite seals can meet the structural support and sealing requirements. Therefore, the vermiculite shows good promise for application in stacks during thermal cycles and long-term operation.

High efficiency, raw material availability, and compatibility with downstream systems will enable the Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) to play an important role in the future energy transition. However, the SOEC stack’s performance should be improved further by utilizing a novel flow-field design, and the channel shape is a key factor for enhancing gas transportation. To investigate the main effects of the novel channel design with fewer calculations, we assumed ideal gas laminar flows in the cathode channel. Furthermore, the cathode support layer thickness and electrical contact resistance are ignored. The conventional channel flow is validated first with mesh independence, and then the performance difference between the conventional and novel designs is analyzed using COMSOL Multiphysics. The process parameters such as velocity, pressure, current density, and mole concentration are compared between the conventional and novel designs, demonstrating that the novel design significantly improves electrolysis efficiency. Furthermore, it directly increased the concentration of product hydrogen in the novel channel. In addition to enhancing convection and diffusion of reaction gases in neighboring channels, the simple structure makes it easy to manufacture, which is advantageous for accelerating commercial use of the novel design.

Nanoscale perovskite oxides with enhanced electrocatalytic activities have been widely used as oxygen electrodes of reversible solid oxide cells (RSOC). Here, La0.6Sr0.4FeO3−δ (LSF) nanoscale powder is synthesized via a novel molten salt method using chlorides as the reaction medium and fired at 850 °C for 5 h after removing the additives. A direct assembly method is employed to fabricate the LSF electrode without a pre-sintering process at high temperature. The microstructure characterization ensures that the direct assembly process will not damage the porosity of LSF. When operating as a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), the LSF cell exhibits a peak power density of 1.36, 1.07 and 0.7 W/cm2 at 800, 750 and 700 °C, respectively, while in solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) mode, the electrolysis current density reaches 1.52, 0.98 and 0.53 A/cm2 under an electrolysis voltage of 1.3 V, respectively. Thus, it indicates that the molten salt routine is a promising method for the synthesis of highly active perovskite LSF powders for directly assembled oxygen electrodes of RSOC.

Fabricating lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) ceramics with certain shapes is important for the design and construction of high-temperature energy conversion and storage devices. Here, we describe a low-cost and environmentally friendly method for fabricating LSM ceramics via agar gel casting and high temperature sintering. This new approach uses temperature tuning to fabricate LSM gel bodies, not only by manufacturing in the secondary process but also by remolding and recycling during the gel casting process. The effect of the sintering temperature on the properties of LSM ceramics was investigated as well. As a result, the porosity and compressive strength of LSM ceramics sintered at 1000 °C are ~60% and 5.6 MPa, respectively. When the sintering temperature increases to 1200 °C, the porosity decreases to ~28%, whereas the compressive strength increases to 25 MPa, which is able to meet the requirement of cathode-supported SOFCs (solid oxide fuel cells).

Objective: To detect the serum levels of D-dimer and N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP) in patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS), and to explore the risk factors of AIS., Methods: A total of 246 AIS patients treated in our hospital from January 2015 to January 2017 were selected. Meanwhile, 240 healthy subjects were selected as a control group. The D-dimer and NT-pro BNP levels of the two groups were compared. Correlations of such levels with age, gender, blood lipid, Intima-Media Thickness (IMT), fibrinogen and degree of neurological deficits were analyzed., Results: The AIS group had significantly higher levels of Triglyceride (TG), Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL), D-dimer, NT-pro BNP and fibrinogen as well as IMT than those of the control group, but the High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) level of the AIS group was significantly lower (P<0.05). The patients with different genders and ages had significantly different D-dimer and NT-pro BNP levels (P<0.05). The D-dimer and NT-pro BNP levels were correlated with gender and age. Such levels of females were significantly higher than those of males (P<0.05). The D-dimer and NT-pro BNP levels of the ≥60 years old group significantly exceeded those of the <60 years old group (P<0.05). The levels of D-dimer and NT-pro BNP were negatively correlated with that of HDL (P<0.05), but positively correlated with TG, LDL and fibrinogen levels, IMT, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the OR values of D-dimer and NT-pro BNP were 3.65 and 6.96 respectively., Conclusion: Serum D-dimer and NT-pro BNP levels usually increased in AIS patients, and the levels were significantly correlated with AIS onset., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: None.