Search

The preclinical assessment of efficacy and safety is essential for cardiovascular drug development in order to guarantee effective prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease and avoid human health endangerment and a huge waste of resources. Rhythmic mechanical beating as one of the crucial cardiomyocyte properties has been exploited to establish a drug assessment biosensing platform. However, the conventional label-free biosensing platforms are difficult to perform high-throughput and high-resolution mechanical beating detection for a single cardiomyocyte, while label-based strategies are limited by pharmacologically adverse effects and phototoxicity. Herein, we propose a biosensing platform involving the multichannel electrode array device and the universal mechanical beating detection system. The platform can determine the optimal characteristic working frequency of different devices and dynamically interrogate the viability of multisite single cardiomyocytes to establish the optimized cell-based model for sensitive drug assessment. The subtle changes of mechanical beating signals induced by cardiovascular drugs can be detected by the platform, thereby demonstrating its high performance in pharmacological assessment. The universal and sensitive drug assessment biosensing platform is believed to be widely applied in cardiology investigating and preclinical drug screening.

Background and Purpose: Whether imaging parameters would independently predict stroke recurrence in low-risk minor ischemic stroke (MIS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) according to traditional score system (such as ABCD 2 score, which was termed on the basis of the initials of the five factors: age, blood pressure, clinical features, duration, diabetes) remains unclear. We sought to evaluate the association between imaging parameters and 1-year stroke recurrence in patients with TIA or MIS in different risk stratum stratified by ABCD 2 score. Methods: We included patients with TIA and MIS (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score ≤3) with complete baseline vessel and brain imaging data from the Third China National Stroke Registry III. Patients were categorized into different risk groups based on ABCD 2 score (low risk, 0–3; moderate risk, 4–5; and high risk, 6–7). The primary outcome was stroke recurrence within 1 year. Multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression models were used to assess whether imaging parameters (large artery stenosis, infarction number) were independently associated with stroke recurrence. Results: Of the 7140 patients included, 584 patients experienced stroke recurrence within 1 year. According to the ABCD 2 score, large artery stenosis was associated with higher stroke recurrence in both low-risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.746 [95% CI, 1.200–2.540]) and moderate-risk group (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.326 [95% CI, 1.042–1.687]) but not in the high-risk group ( P >0.05). Patients with multiple acute infarctions or single acute infarction had a higher risk of recurrent stroke than those with no infarction in both low- and moderate-risk groups, but not in the high-risk group. Conclusions: Large artery stenosis and infarction number were independent predictors of 1-year stroke recurrence in low-moderate risk but not in high-risk patients with TIA or MIS stratified by ABCD 2 score. This finding emphasizes the importance of early brain and vascular imaging evaluation for risk stratification in patients with TIA or MIS.

The NixCo1−xFe2O4 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75)/CNFs composites were synthesized in situ by solvothermal method. A series of characterizations of the prepared samples includes X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning microscope (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and a vector network analyzer (VNA). XRD and SEM results indicated that the particles have good crystallinity and no other impurities. With the increase of Ni ion doping, the average particle size of the sample gradually decreased, smaller microspheres were beneficial to the bonding of CNFs and Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 particles, and CNFs formed a good encapsulation structure. Combined with the VSM analysis, the change of Ni2+ content results in an increase in the value of Ms, while the values of Mr and Hc decreased slightly, and its magnetic properties were optimized. The complex permittivity and permeability of the NixCo1−xFe2O4/CNFs composites at a frequency of 1–18 GHz were tested by VNA, and the reflection loss (RL) was calculated. The results illustrated that when the Ni2+ doping amount is 50 %, Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4/CNFs particles have considerable absorbing performance, the minimum reflection loss reached − 42.24 dB at 14.68 GHz, the effective absorbing frequency band was 4 GHz (12.39–16.40 GHz), and the corresponding matching layer thickness was only 1.5 mm. Therefore, Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4/CNFs particles could be used as a thin layer of strong absorbing material.

Accurate traffic speed prediction is necessary to promote the development of intelligent transportation systems. The construction of consummate models is challenging owing to nonlinearity, nonstationarity, and long-term dependence in traffic speed prediction. This study proposed an ensemble long short-term memory (LSTM) model that was based on adaptive weighting, in which ensemble learning was the main solution. First, a data preprocessing model based on a seasonal statistical model was introduced to reconcile the long- and short-term dependence of the data. Second, the LSTM time step was considered during training, and a classification-type loss was designed to calculate the error rate in the ensemble system. Last, an adaptive weighting strategy was constructed to integrate a series of LSTMs generated in the system to obtain an ensemble model for traffic speed prediction. The experimental results showed that the proposed method was more stable and accurate than individual methods and existing ensemble learning methods.

Monolayer-scale pyridine-2-sulfonic acid (PySA) or pyridine-2-carboxylic acid (PyCA) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was prepared for anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) analysis of Cd2+ and Pb2+. PySA or PyCA was covalently modified on GCE by electroreduction of PySA or PyCA in 0.5 M aqueous H2SO4, yielding a PySA/GCE or PyCA/GCE. The electrodes were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques. In combination with the in-situ bismuth film method, both PySA/GCE and PyCA/GCE offered very high analytical performance for ASV analysis of Cd2+ and Pb2+, including the very low values of limit of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) and high stability. The PySA/GCE gave a LOD of 4 ppt for Cd2+ or of 7 ppt for Pb2+. The PyCA/GCE gave a LOD of 7 ppt for Cd2+ or of 11 ppt for Pb2+. The Cu2+ and Ni2+ interferences, which still appear as a challenge for ASV analysis of Cd2+ and Pb2+, were found to be well inhibited by the additions of K4Fe(CN)6 and Ga(III) into the detection solution. The modified electrode was used for Cd2+ and Pb2+ analysis in real water samples with satisfactory results.

Renewable and clean energy supplies are highly critical for the reduction of greenhouse emissions and environmental pollution to realize a sustainable society. Among various techniques for using sustainable energy sources, such as solar energy, photocatalysis plays a crucial role in solving global problems, such as the energy crisis and environmental pollution. Thus, the design and development of Earth-abundant, low-cost, high-performance photocatalysts for water splitting and wastewater treatment are critical. Among these photocatalysts, Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) perovskites have attracted increasing attention in photocatalysis as a result of their unique structural, electronic, and optical characteristics. In this review, the recent advances of RP perovskites in photocatalysis are presented. The review begins with an introduction of the unique features of RP perovskites that are suitable for photocatalysis, which is followed by a discussion of the use of typical RP-type perovskite oxides as photocatalysts by highlighting several useful design strategies. Finally, the conclusions of this review, along with current challenges and future directions for the design of RP perovskites for photocatalysis, are presented and discussed. This review aims to provide helpful guidance for the future development of RP-type perovskite oxides for photocatalysis-based water splitting and wastewater treatment.

The petal-like CoO/CNFs composites was synthesized in situ by a simple hydrothermal modus. Electromagnetic parameters of the CoO/CNFs composites are further adjusted by adjusting the weight fractional number of the CoO. A rich interface of CoO is introduced into the carbon nanofibers to form a flower-like composite. This unique flower-like layered structure and appropriate electromagnetic parameters effectively enhance the impedance matching and attenuation capabilities. When the mass ratio of CoO to CNFs is 2:1, the obtained flower-like CoO/CNFs composites achieves a maximum reflection loss of − 34.62 dB with a thickness of 3 mm at 7.8 GHz. At the same time, the effective absorption area is 2.89 GHz (7.035–9.925 GHz). Therefore, taking into consideration its excellent microwave absorption properties, the petal-like CoO/CNFs composites may be deemed as a high-efficiency absorbing agent that satisfies the impedance matching and attenuation characteristics.

Alport syndrome (AS), atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome (aHUS), and fibronectin-glomerulopathy (FG) are rare forms of glomerular diseases that manifest in a combination of proteinuria, hematuria, and hypertension, referred to as nephritic syndrome. Due to phenotypic overlays, steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) and nephritic syndrome have been difficult to discern diagnostically. SRNS is more common than nephritic syndrome and is the second leading cause of childhood-onset CKD. Fourteen monogenic causes of AS, aHUS, and FG and 60 monogenic causes of SRNS have been identified. As whole exome sequencing (WES) allows for unequivocal molecular genetic diagnostics, we hypothesize to be able to identify causative mutations in genes known to cause nephritic syndrome in patient cohorts with a clinical diagnosis of SRNS. We identified patients with hematuria and steroid-resistant proteinuria in an international patient cohort that we had submitted to WES and who were unsolved for known monogenic causes of SRNS. These 70 patients from 65 individual families were subsequently analyzed for causative mutations in 14 AS, aHUS, or FG causing genes. WES data were compared to a control cohort of 76 patients from 75 families that were diagnosed with nephronophthisis-related ciliopathies (NPHP-RC) and to a control cohort of 83 individuals from 75 families with SRNS, but without hematuria. We detected likely pathogenic genetic variants in 3 of 65 families (4.6%) in 2 of the 14 genes analyzed. We confirmed that in cohorts of childhood-onset SRNS, patients with nephritic syndrome can be discerned by WES. The findings highlight the importance of clinical genetic testing for therapeutic and preventative measures in patients with proteinuria. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

The photoelectrochemistry (PEC) performance of TiO2 is somewhat limited by its wide band gap and low quantum efficiency, and the innovation of its composite materials provides a promising solution for an improved performance. Herein, a composite of a Au nanorod@TiO2 core-shell nanostructure (AuNR@TiO2) and a melanin-like l-DOPA polymer (PD) is designed and prepared, where the outer layer PD tethered by TiO2-hydroxyl complexation and the AuNR core can intensify the long-wavelength light harvesting, and the AuNR@TiO2 core-shell structure can strengthen the hot-electron transfer to TiO2. The photocurrent of PD/AuNR@TiO2 is 8.4-fold improved versus that of commercial TiO2, and the maximum incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency reaches 65% in the UV-visible-near-infrared region. In addition, the novel PD/AuNR@TiO2 photocatalyst possesses the advantages of good biocompatibility and stability, which can act as a versatile PEC biosensing platform for providing a biocompatible environment and improving detection sensitivity. Herein, a PEC enzymatic biosensor of glucose is developed on the basis of the immobilization of dual enzyme [glucose oxidase (GOx) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)] in PD and the signaling strategy of biocatalytic precipitation. In phosphate buffer containing glucose and 4-chloro-1-naphthol, the HRP-catalyzed oxidation of 4-chloro-1-naphthol by GOx-generated H2O2 can form a precipitate on the electrode, by which the decrement of photocurrent intensity is proportional to the common logarithm of glucose concentration. The linear detection range is from 0.05 μM to 10.0 mM glucose, with a limit of detection of 0.01 μM (S/N = 3). Glucose in some human serum samples is analyzed with satisfactory results.

Aim: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) diagnosed in the dialysis patients is increasingly reported which worsens the prognosis of the renal diseases. The relationship of SCD1 with MetS is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between SCD1 polymorphism and MetS in dialysis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 323 Chinese dialysis patients, and the correlation between the seven SNPs of SCD1 gene (rs10883465, rs2060792, rs1502593, rs522951, rs3071, rs3978768 and rs1393492) and MetS was analyzed. Results: One tag-SNP (rs1393492) has significantly associated with the prevalence of MetS. Dialysis patients with rs1393492 AA genotype of SCD1 are more prone to MetS (p = 0.021). Conclusion: This study shows that the rs1393492 variations of SCD1 gene are related with the development of MetS in Chinese dialysis patients.

Due to the pressing need for electromagnetic interference and radar stealth, microwave absorbers have garnered considerable attention. Through chemical co-precipitation and in-situ polymerization, we synthesize a ternary composite containing reduced graphene oxide, Fe3O4 with flower-like nanostructures, and polyaniline (PANI). To fine-tune the impedance matching and corrosion resistance of composite materials, the conductive PANI was densely coated on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/flower-like Fe3O4(f-Fe3O4). The ternary composite exhibits excellent microwave absorption performance. In comparison to rGO/f-Fe3O4(1:10), which has a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −32.81 dB at 10.61 GHz and a 5.15 GHz effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) (7.34–12.49 GHz), rGO/f-Fe3O4(1:10)@PANI has an RLmin of −46.49 dB at 9.93 GHz with a 2.5 mm thickness and an EAB of 4.25 (8.90–13.15 GHz). The results indicate that the addition of the PANI anticorrosion coating layer has no discernible effect on the final microwave absorption performance. This article also examines the effect of rGO weight ratio on microwave absorbing properties. When the rGO content is too high, the impedance will be mismatched, while the too low rGO content will affect the absorbing performance. This research work has contributed to our present understanding of the structure design and composition control of microwave absorbers.

The photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) generation relies heavily on the properties of photocatalysts, including their light absorption, charge transport, and oxygen vacancy of photocatalysts. In this work, we have successfully synthesized Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) perovskite Sr2TiO4 as photocatalysts for H2 evolution reaction (HER). Importantly, we adopted a facile and effective strategy of Ag doping and reducing pretreatment to tailor the properties of Sr2TiO4 photocatalysts. The synergistic effect of Ag doping and moderate reducing pretreatment confers Sr2TiO4 photocatalyst with improved morphological characteristics, increased specific surface area, optimized light absorption capability and band gap, suppressed charge carrier recombination as well as increased amount of surface oxygen vacancies. Benefiting from these merits, r-Ag0.05Sr1.95TiO4 with suitable amount of Ag doping and moderate reducing pretreatment displays an excellent photocatalytic performance for H2 generation, which presents average hydrogen production rates of 1695 μmol h-1 g-1 and 541 μmol h-1 g-1 under full range light irradiation (λ ≥ 250 nm) and visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 400 nm), respectively.

We report an ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for Hg2+ detection, on the basis of two Hg2+-specific oligonucleotide probes (a thiolated capture probe and a biotinated signal probe), "terminal" signal amplification of alkaline phosphatase catalyzed deposition of silver and in situ microliter-droplet anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). The thiolated capture probe is immobilized on an Au-plated glassy carbon electrode, and the biotinated signal probe is then attached to the electrode surface through the thymine-Hg2+-thymine interaction in the presence of Hg2+. A streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase (ALP) composite is then immobilized on the electrode surface via biotin-streptavidin interaction. The immobilized ALP can catalyze the hydrolyzation of ascorbic acid 2-phosphate trisodium salt to generate ascorbic acid, which can reduce AgNO3 to form silver deposit on the modified electrode. Quantitative analysis of Hg2+ is conducted through microliter-droplet ASV of silver after its simultaneous chemical dissolution and cathodic preconcentration on the modified electrode. The sensor can linearly respond to the common logarithm of Hg2+ concentration from 0.1nM to 250μM with a limit of detection of 0.01nM (2 ppt, S/N = 3) and a sensitivity as high as 227μAdec-1.

In this work, a high content of pyrrole nitrogen carbon nitride (HPCN)-SnS2 has been successfully constructed with −C═Sn− chemical bond as the interface framework. The charge state of Sn species was adjusted by β particles to obtain controllable sulfur defects onto the HPCN-SnS2 through electron beam irradiation (EBI). The composites exhibited excellent photocatalytic oxidation capacity of As(Ⅲ) and adsorption capacity of As(Ⅴ). It is confirmed that the optimized HPCN-SnS1.38 can remove the total As concentrations below 0.40 mg/L within 80 min. Additionally, the effect of various conditions (pH value and type of anions) was evaluated using degradation experiments, and HPCN-SnS1.38 could be reused at least 5 times without an obvious reduction in the photocatalysis and adsorption performances. Based on the experimental results, the photocatalytic mechanism of As(Ⅲ) by HPCN-SnS2 after electron beam irradiation was studied. Free radical quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) showed that the oxidation of As(III) under visible light is mainly controlled by •O2− and •OH, and •OH is converted from •O2− under acidic conditions.

Biochar has been widely used in the removal of heavy metals from wastewater due to its obligate adsorption properties. The reutilization of exhausted biochar has become a challenge for chemical researchers. In this study, diazotization-modified biochar adsorbing Ni2+ was used as a precursor to prepare heterogeneous NiS/NiSe/3D porous biochar (DAC-Ni/NiS/NiSe) using vulcanization followed by in situ competitive hydrogen reduction. The composites exhibited excellent performance in As(III) removal from water via both adsorption and photocatalysis processes, removing 100% of 10 mg/L As(III) within 110 min with 20 mg catalyst, and 90% removal rate was maintained even after five recyclability runs. The influencing factors of As(III) oxidation in reactive DAC-Ni/NiS/NiSe suspensions were also investigated. The photocatalytic oxidation efficiency of As(III) was susceptible to initial pH. The coexisting species of PO43− and CO32− exhibited obvious suppression on the total As removal, while the presence of Cl− and NO3− exhibited no obvious effect on the oxidation efficiency of As. This study provides a feasible and simple strategy for reclaiming waste biochar after adsorbing nickel to prepare energy-intensive materials and implies the possibility and necessity of biowaste applications for environmental remediation.

The photoelectrochemistry (PEC) performance of TiO

Software security knowledge involves heterogeneous security concepts (e.g., software weaknesses and attack patterns) and security instances (e.g., the vulnerabilities of a particular software product), which can be regarded as software security entities. Among software security entities, there are many within-type relationships as well as many across-type relationships. Predicting software security entity relationships helps to enrich software security knowledge (e.g., finding missing relationships among existing entities). Unfortunately, software security entities are currently documented in separate databases, such as Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE), Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) and Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC). This hyper-document representation cannot support effective reasoning of software entity relationships. In this paper, we propose to consolidate heterogeneous software security concepts and instances from separate databases into a coherent knowledge graph. We develop a knowledge graph embedding method which embeds the symbolic relational and descriptive information of software security entities into a continuous vector space. The resulting entity and relationship embeddings are predictive for software security entity relationships. Based on the Open World Assumption, we conduct extensive experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our knowledge graph based approach for predicting various within-type and across-type relationships of software security entities.

The activation of carbon atoms in biochar is an important approach for realizing the reuse of discarded woody biomass resources. In this work, a strategy for the construction of carbon-based catalysts was proposed with Magnoliaceae root biomass as a carbon source, doped by SnS2 and further decorated with heteropoly acid. The introduction of SnS2 can activate the carbon atom and destroy the electronic inertness of the disordered biochar with 002 planes. In addition, the synergy between the Keggin unit of phosphotungstic acid and biochar/SnS2 can suppress recombination of e--h+ carriers. The adsorption and photocatalysis experiments results showed that the efficiency of removing As(III) by biochar/SnS2/phosphotungstic acid (biochar/SnS2/PTA) systems was 1.5 times that of biochar/SnS2 systems, and the concentration of total arsenic in the biochar/SnS2/PTA composite system gradually decreased during the photocatalysis process. The formation of As-POMs can simultaneously realize As(III) photooxidation and As(V) coprecipitation. The phase transfer of arsenic by As-POMs could significantly increase the As adsorption capacity. Specifically, the composites achieved the conversion of S atoms at the interface of biochar into SO4•- radicals to enhance the As(III) photooxidation performance.

Ruthenium and carboxylated graphene (CG) were co-electrodeposited at −0.25 V vs. SCE on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) Au electrode in a stirred aqueous dispersion containing 0.6 mM RuCl3, 1 mg mL−1 CG and 0.1 M H2SO4. The Ru–CG composite was electrooxidized by cyclic voltammetry in 0.5 M aqueous H2SO4 to yield a RuO2–CG/QCM electrode for supercapacitor research. In situ QCM technique and ex situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used for process monitoring and/or film characterizations. The RuO2–CG/QCM electrode exhibited an apparent specific capacitance of 756 F g−1, an energy density of 101 W h kg−1 at a power density of 2.5 kW kg−1, and high stability. The specific capacitance is higher than those of similarly prepared RuO2/QCM, RuO2–multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/QCM, RuO2–graphene oxide/QCM electrodes and a cast-coated CG/QCM electrode, as well as many reported RuO2-based electrodes. The present method for the preparation of the RuO2–CG composite film only needs two simple electrochemical processes (solution-stirred composite electrodeposition and then a solution-quiescent anodic treatment), which is promising for the facile preparation of other similar nanocomposite films for wider applications.

We report the simple preparation of a pyridine (Py)-stabilized Au modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for high-performance anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) analysis of Hg(II). A monolayer-scale ultrathin Py film was covalently modified on a GCE by electroreduction of 4-cyanopyridine (cPy) in 0.1 M aqueous H2SO4 (Py/GCE), and then the electroreduction of a synthesized cPy-Au(III) complex generated a Py-Au nanocomposite on the Py/GCE surface (Py-Au/Py/GCE). It was found that the electrogenerated Au(0) can catalyze the electroreduction of cPy. The materials and electrodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques. The gold sites on Py-Au/Py/GCE are highly active and well protected by the Py groups, and the Au-Hg amalgamation effect and the Py-Hg2+ coordination effect can make the cathodic preconcentration of Hg highly efficient, thus the Py-Au/Py/GCE offers very high sensitivity and stability for ASV analysis of Hg(II), giving a limit of detection of 12 ppt (S/N = 3). The Py-Au/Py/GCE was used for Hg(II) analysis in real water samples with satisfactory results.

The rapid and sensitive detection of heart failure biomarker galectin-3 (Gal-3) is of great value in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis-evaluation of heart failure. Here, a high-performance dual-signal sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor for Gal-3 was constructed by the covalent immobilization of the first antibody on electroreduced carboxyl graphene and the adsorption immobilization of the second antibody in aminated mesoporous silica nanoparticles labeled with methylene blue (MB) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The relevant electrodes and materials were characterized by electrochemistry, quartz crystal microbalance, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Under optimized conditions, the MB-based in-situ microdroplet voltammetry showed a linear detection range (LDR) of Gal-3 from 50 fg mL−1 to 500 ng mL−1, with a limit of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) of 2.0 fg mL−1; and the AuNPs-based in-situ microdroplet anodic stripping voltammetry showed an LDR of Gal-3 from 0.5 fg mL−1 to 500 ng mL−1, with a LOD (S/N = 3) of 0.17 fg mL−1. The detection of clinical serum samples by our method returned satisfactory results. This research may help the high-sensitivity voltammetric detection of both noble metal nanomaterials and other electroactive biolabels for wider bioanalysis applications.