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According to the problem of the sensor nonlinear changes occur at high temperatures, extreme learning machine model, is presented in this thesis the pressure sensitive grating and removing the temperature of the grating experiment data for training, establish a nonlinear model of wavelength, temperature, predict the experimental temperature, then the temperature data of pressure-sensitive grating the training set of training samples, the nonlinear model, temperature - wavelength prediction test set sample output wavelength, achieve the goal of improved temperature compensation method. The experimental results show that the algorithm can achieve a more ideal temperature compensation effect.

Background and aims Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is associated with bacterial infection and poor outcome. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is used to assess bacterial infection and immune dysfunction in numerous diseases. We aimed to evaluate NLR as a prognostic biomarker and to explore its combination with accepted prognostic models in ACLF patients. Methods This retrospective study included patients with ACLF or severe liver injury from chronic HBV infection admitted to three tertiary academic hospitals in China from 2013 to 2019. Baseline NLR was correlated with ACLF grade, bacterial infection, survival and accepted ACLF scores. Results NLR values were significantly increased in nonsurvivors and patients with bacterial infection at or after admission and were unaffected by cirrhotic status in 412 transplant-free patients included in three cohorts. Compared with accepted scores, NLR showed moderate accuracy in predicting 28-day mortality and high accuracy in predicting 90-day mortality. Three levels of mortality risk were graded on the basis of NLR values ( 4.79), and NLR >4.79 was associated with 53.2-60.0% 28-day and 75.0-80.0% 90-day mortality in these cohorts. Multivariate analyses indicated that NLR retained statistical significance independently of CLIF consortium organ failure score (CLIF-C OFs). NLR-based CLIF-C ACLF score was primarily developed and showed excellent performance in predicting 28/90-day mortality. Conclusions NLR is a dependable biomarker for bacterial infection assessment and short-term mortality prediction in ACLF patients and can be used jointly with CLIF-C OFs to improve the accuracy of mortality prediction in patients with the disease. NLR-based CLIF-C ACLF model needs further validation.

OBJECTIVE: We analyzed clinical parameters and risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related liver damage. RESULTS: Of the 332 COVID-19 patients, 306 and 26 were included in the non-critical and critical groups, respectively. The median time from onset to admission was 4.0 (2.0-8.0) days. Of the 332 COVID-19 patients, 98 (29.5%) were admitted with liver injury. The rates of aspartate transaminase, I³-glutamyl transpeptidase, and total bilirubin abnormalities were higher in the critical group than in the non-critical group. The patient's sex, COVID-19 severity, and a low liver CT density strongly correlated with liver injury (ORs: 2.936, 6.543, and 3.387, respectively). Statistical analysis on drug administration after admission showed that the usage rates of lopinavir/ritonavir, glucocorticoids, and thymopeptides were significantly higher in the abnormal group than the normal groups (p

Background Although the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) research consortium (AARC) ACLF score is easy to use in patients with hepatitis b virus-related ACLF (HBV-ACLF), serum lactate is not routinely tested in primary hospitals, and its value may be affected by some interference factors. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is used to assess the status of bacterial infection (BI) or outcomes in patients with various diseases. We developed an NLR-based AARC ACLF score and compared it with the existing model. Methods A total of 494 HBV-ACLF patients, enrolled in four tertiary academic hospitals in China with 90-day follow-up, were analysed. Prognostic performance of baseline NLR and lactate were compared between cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic subgroups via the receiver operating curve and Kaplan–Meier analyses. A modified AARC ACLF (mAARC ACLF) score using NLR as a replacement for lactate was developed (n = 290) and validated (n = 204). Results There were significantly higher baseline values of NLR in non-survivors, patients with admission BI, and those with higher grades of ACLF compared with the control groups. Compared with lactate, NLR better reflected BI status in the cirrhotic subgroup, and was more significantly correlated with CTP, MELD, MELD-Na, and the AARC score. NLR was an independent predictor of 90-day mortality, and was categorized into three risk grades ( 4.78) with 90-day cumulative mortalities of 8%, 21.2%, and 77.5% in the derivation cohort, respectively. The mAARC ACLF score, using the three grades of NLR instead of corresponding levels of lactate, was superior to the other four scores in predicting 90-day mortality in the derivation (AUROC 0.906, 95% CI 0.872–0.940, average P P Conclusions The prognostic value of NLR is superior to that of lactate in predicting short-term mortality risk in cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients with HBV-ACLF. NLR can be incorporated into the AARC ACLF scoring system for improving its prognostic accuracy and facilitating the management guidance in patients with HBV-ACLF in primary hospitals.

Simple Summary Immunotherapy, including adaptive and innate immunotherapy, exhibits promising future for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. As a common tool for immunotherapy, the safe and efficient gene delivery turns to be especially important. Biocompatible polymers are a category of promising materials used in gene delivery, while there still lacks a comprehensive review article to discuss the updates on multiple disciplines covering biocompatible polymers, gene therapy, tumor immune microenvironment, and immunotherapy. This review is well-integrated with biocompatible polymers, nonviral gene therapy, and cancer immunotherapy. Our investigation will provide different perspective for the scientists focusing on the domains of biomaterials, gene therapy, and oncologists to move their research work forward. Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third-largest cause of cancer death worldwide, while immunotherapy is rapidly being developed to fight HCC with great potential. Nucleic acid drugs are the most important modulators in HCC immunotherapy. To boost the efficacy of therapeutics and amplify the efficiency of genetic materials, biocompatible polymers are commonly used. However, under the strong need of a summary for current developments of biocompatible polymeric nucleic acid carriers for immunotherapy of HCC, there is rare review article specific to this topic to our best knowledge. In this article, we will discuss the current progress of immunotherapy for HCC, biocompatible cationic polymers (BCPs) as nucleic acid carriers used (or potential) to fight HCC, the roles of biocompatible polymeric carriers for nucleic acid delivery, and nucleic acid delivery by biocompatible polymers for immunotherapy. At the end, we will conclude the review and discuss future perspectives. This article discusses biocompatible polymeric nucleic acid carriers for immunotherapy of HCC from multidiscipline perspectives and provides a new insight in this domain. We believe this review will be interesting to polymer chemists, pharmacists, clinic doctors, and PhD students in related disciplines.

Objective Myocardial injury leads to higher mortality in COVID‐19, but the causes and risk factors are variable. We evaluated the potential risk factors for myocardial injury in COVID‐19 patients to improve treatment strategies and reduce mortality. Methods This retrospective analysis enrolled 325 COVID‐19 patients in Shanghai, China. Results The median age in our cohort was 51 [range 15‐88] years, 26 (8%) were critically ill, and 177 patients (19.7%) had myocardial injury. The myocardial injury group comprised older, more critically ill patients with hypertension, other comorbidities, history of angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker use, lower peripheral blood lymphocyte count and higher D‐dimer levels. Binary logistic regression analysis identified only age was an independent risk factor for myocardial injury (odds ratio 1.019; 95% confidence interval 1.003‐1.036; age increase by 1 year = myocardial injury risk increase by 1.9%). Conclusion Older age was associated with a higher incidence of myocardial injury for COVID‐19 patients.

It is an important challenge to effectively extract and determine pesticides in complex samples. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are burgeoning porous crystalline organic materials with good environmental resistance, thus demonstrating great potential as adsorbents in contaminants detection. In this work, we design and synthesize a novel COF-TpDB via 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (Tp) and 4,4'-diaminobenzoylanilide (DB) as well as its packed cartridge for solid phase extraction (SPE) of carbamate pesticides. Simulation calculations showed H-bonding facilitates the adsorption interactions between the carbamate pesticides and TpDB. A method was developed by coupling TpDB as SPE sorbents with high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) detection to determine trace carbamate pesticides in vegetables. The established method showed a wide linear range of 0.1-200 ng mL

The effective adsorption and sensitive determination of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) are crucial for the environment and human health. In this work, a highly fluorinated magnetic covalent organic framework (denoted as Fe

A mild chemistry route was developed to prepare carbonaceous nanofibers-titanium dioxide (CNF-TiO2) nanocomposites for removal of dye pollutants. In the process of the template-directed hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), ultrathin Te nanowires were adopted as templates and glucose as the carbon source, and TiO2 was decorated on CNF via the hydrolysis of tetrabutyltitanate in the presence of CNF in ethanol. The as-prepared materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM and TEM observations displayed that TiO2 nanoparticles were anchored on the CNF. EDX and XRD data confirmed that the assynthesized samples were CNF-TiO2, and TiO2 belonged to anatase titania. Taking advantage of combined benefits of carbonaceous nanofibers and titanium dioxide, these CNF-TiO2 nanocomposites exhibited higher removal efficiency in a short time and showed good reusability. It was showed that over 97% of Rhodamine B could be removed in 15 min without generating the solid and liquid wastes. The removal efficiency of dyes was still over 80% after reuse in five cycles. All the results demonstrate that the as-prepared CNF-TiO2 composites are effective materials for fast and effective removal of dye pollutants and thus can provide a new platform for dye decontamination.

It is still vague for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with normal or mildly increasing alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level to undergo antiviral treatment or not. The purpose of our study was to establish a noninvasive model based on routine blood test to predict liver histopathology for antiviral therapy. This retrospective study enrolled 258 CHB patients with liver biopsy from the First Hospital of Quanzhou (training cohort, n=126) and Huashan Hospital (validation cohort, n=132). Histologic grading of necroinflammation (G) and liver fibrosis (S) was performed according to the Scheuer scoring system. A novel model, ATPI, including aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil), and platelets (PLT), was developed in training cohort. The area under ROC curves (AUC) of ATPI for predicting antiviral therapy indication was 0.83 in training cohort and was 0.88 in the validation cohort, respectively. Similarly, ATPI also displayed the highest AUC in predicting antiviral therapy indication in CHB patients with normal or mildly increasing ALT level. In conclusion, ATPI is a novel independent model to predict liver histopathology for antiviral therapy in CHB patients with normal and mildly increased ALT levels.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) small (S) envelope protein has the intrinsic ability to direct the formation of small spherical subviral particles (SVPs) in eukaryotic cells. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the morphogenesis of SVPs from the monomeric S protein initially synthesized at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane remains largely elusive. Structure prediction and extensive mutagenesis analysis suggested that the amino acid residues spanning W156 to R169 of S protein form an amphipathic alpha helix and play essential roles in SVP production and S protein metabolic stability. Further biochemical analyses showed that the putative amphipathic alpha helix was not required for the disulfide-linked S protein oligomerization, but was essential for SVP morphogenesis. Pharmacological disruption of vesicle trafficking between the ER and Golgi complex in SVP producing cells supported the hypothesis that S protein-directed SVP morphogenesis takes place at the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC). Moreover, it was demonstrated that S protein is degraded in hepatocytes via a 20S proteasome-dependent, but ubiquitination-independent non-classic ER-associated degradation (ERAD) pathway. Taken together, the results reported herein favor a model in which the amphipathic alpha helix at the antigenic loop of S protein attaches to the lumen leaflet to facilitate SVP budding from the ERGIC compartment, whereas the failure of budding process may result in S protein degradation by 20S proteasome in an ubiquitination-independent manner.Importance Subviral particles are the predominant viral product produced by HBV-infected hepatocytes. Their levels exceed the virion particles by 10,000 to 100,000-fold in the blood of HBV infected individuals. The high levels of SVPs, or HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), in the circulation induces immune tolerance and contributes to the establishment of persistent HBV infection. The loss of HBsAg, often accompanied by appearance of anti-HBs antibodies, is the hallmark of durable immune control of HBV infection. Therapeutic induction of HBsAg loss is, therefore, considered to be essential for the restoration of host antiviral immune response and functional cure of chronic hepatitis B. Our findings on the mechanism of SVP morphogenesis and S protein metabolism will facilitate the rational discovery and development of antiviral drugs to achieve this therapeutic goal.

In this work, the electrospun polyacrylonitrile/covalent organic frameworks Tp-BD nanofibers (PAN/Tp-BD) were synthesized and applied as an adsorbent for thin film microextraction (TFME) of seven sulfonamides in animal derived food samples. The morphology, structure, porosity, and stability of the prepared nanofibers were investigated. The PAN/Tp-BD nanofibers exhibited good chemical stability, high flexibility, porous fibrous structure, and excellent extraction efficiency. Based on the PAN/Tp-BD nanofibers as the adsorbent, a thin film microextraction-high performance liquid chromatography (TFME-HPLC) method for the determination of seven sulfonamides (SAs) in food samples was developed. Under the optimal conditions, the TFME-HPLC exhibited the low limit of detection (0.10-0.18 ng·mL

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to provide supporting evidence for prevention and prognostic evaluation of bleeding complications in the early stage by exploring the risk and predicting factors in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 101 hospitalized patients with ACLF were retrospectively included from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015. The patients were divided into bleeding (n=38) and nonbleeding groups (n=63). Demographic data and laboratory tests were recorded and compared between the two groups. The incidence, risk factors, and prognosis of bleeding complications among patients with ACLF were investigated. RESULTS: A total of 38 cases (37.62%) had bleeding complications: 26 (25.74%) were spontaneous and 12 (11.88%) were postprocedural. Patients with bleeding complications had lower platelet (p=0.008), fibrinogen (p

Highlight 1 COVID-19 symptoms, which are mostly of the upper respiratory tract, are more severe in males and elderly patients compared with younger patients, who tend to display mild symptoms. 2 The main symptoms of imported cases in Shanghai were reported in the upper respiratory tract symptoms, namely, nasal congestion, sore pharyngeal, headache, and abnormal olfactory and gustatory. 3 Asymptomatic infections are more common in younger and imported cases, but their overall frequency is not high. 4 In one-third of patients with COVID-19, the pharyngeal swab nucleic acid test can continue to be positive after the symptoms disappear. 5 The number of days before the COVID-19 patient's symptoms disappeared was positively correlated with the number of days it took for the pharyngeal swab nucleic acid test to turn negative and the days of hospitalization, but negatively correlated with the white blood cell(WBC) and lymphocyte(LYM) count levels., Background Humans are generally susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, which has caused a global pandemic of COVID-19. The screening of infected people in the population still mainly depends on clinical symptoms. However, there is limited research on the characteristics of clinical symptoms in different populations, especially in imported cases. Methods To retrospectively analyze the clinical data of 494 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to a designated hospital in Shanghai from January 20, 2020, to March 31, 2020, we compared the clinical manifestations in different populations and their influencing factors in COVID-19 patients. Results (1) Of the 494 patients, 453 (91.7%) had different symptoms at admission, and 39 (7.89%) patients were asymptomatic. (2) We compared the symptoms of patients according to different stratifications and found the following results: a. The proportion of dyspnea was significantly higher in male patients than in female patients (P < 0.05). b. The proportions of a stuffy nose, sore throat, and olfactory and gustatory dysfunction were significantly higher in children than in adult patients (P < 0.05). c. The proportions of fever, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and fatigue were significantly higher in local cases than in imported cases. In comparison, the proportions of nasal congestion, stuffy nose, sore throat, headache, and olfactory and gustatory dysfunction were significantly lower in imported cases than in imported cases (P < 0.05). d. The proportions of chest tightness, shortness of breath, and dyspnea were significantly higher in severely ill patients than in those with mild symptoms (P < 0.05). (3) Thirty-one asymptomatic patients were significantly younger than symptomatic patients, and they had a higher proportion of imported cases, white blood cell (WBC) and lymphocyte (LYM) count levels, and fewer abnormal CT cases than the group of symptomatic patients (P < 0.05). (4) The number of days since the onset of the disease needed for the symptoms to disappear was associated with the epidemiological history (imported cases), the number of days until the pharyngeal swab nucleic acid test turned negative, the days of hospitalization, the days of onset, and the WBC and LYM count levels (P < 0.05). Conclusion The majority of COVID-19 patients (91.7%) had early symptoms. whereas 7.89% of COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic. Younger patients had fewer symptoms, mainly the upper respiratory symptoms, and the illness condition was milder, which was more common in imported cases. Elderly male patients had severe symptoms when admitted. The number of days needed for the patient's symptoms to disappear was closely related to the number of days necessary for the pharyngeal swab nucleic acid test to turn negative.

To investigate the characteristic of coagulation function in 303 patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we evaluated the correlation between coagulation function and disease status. We retrospectively analyzed 303 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and evaluated the clinical data of 240 patients who were discharged. The coagulation function of the two groups (mild and severe) was compared. Compared with the mild group, majority of patients in the severe group were male (76.9% vs. 49.8%) and elderly (median age 65 vs. 50), and the proportion with chronic underlying diseases was higher (73.1% vs. 36.1%). There were 209 abnormalities (69.0%) of coagulation parameters in 303 patients admitted to hospital. Comparison of various indexes of coagulation function between the two groups in admission, the proportion of abnormal coagulation indicators in the severe group was higher than that in the mild group (100% vs. 66.1%). The median coagulation parameters in the severe group were higher than those in the mild group: international normalized ratio (1.04 vs. 1.01), prothrombin time (13.8 vs. 13.4) seconds, activated partial thromboplastin time (43.2 vs. 39.2) seconds, fibrinogen (4.74 vs. 4.33) g/L, fibrinogen degradation products (2.61 vs. 0.99) µg/mL, and D-dimer (1.04 vs. 0.43) µg/mL, the differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Coagulation dysfunction is common in patients with COVID-19, especially fibrinogen and D-dimer elevation, and the degree of elevation is related to the severity of the disease. As the disease recovers, fibrinogen and activated partial thromboplastin time also return to normal.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is demonstrated to cause "two-hit" injury to liver. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) plays an important role in LPS clearance. Hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 alpha (HNF-1α) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2) were reported to be responsible for PCSK9 gene transcription and regulation. We aim to clarify the expression status of PCSK9 during the process of liver fibrosis and to verify the effect on liver fibrosis via PCSK9 inhibition. In this study, we found that PCSK9 increased significantly in human and BDL mouse injured liver tissues, so did HNF-1α and SREBP2. No significant difference of plasma PCSK9 was observed. Inhibited PCSK9 using CRISPR-PCSK9 adeno-associated virus in BDL mice ameliorated liver inflammation and fibrosis, with LPS decrease in serum, without any change in intestinal wall integrity. PCSK9 expression of L02 hepatocytes can be induced by LPS; however, they lose the ability at high content of LPS. L02 cells increased LPS uptake after PCSK9 knockout. Taken together, these results suggest that, with PCSK9 increasing during liver fibrosis advancement, its inhibition can ameliorate liver injury by enhancing LPS uptake in hepatocytes; however, the enhancement is limited for destruction to hepatocytes by high LPS.

A safe, efficient and inexpensive multifunctional nanoplatform is urgently needed for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Herein, we report the first example of fabrication of gadolinium-functionalized Fe3O4@polydopamine nanocomposites and evaluate their potential application in T1/T2 dual-modal magnetic resonance imaging-guided photothermal therapy in vitro. This was achieved by encapsulating iron oxide nanoparticles with polydopamine, and then grafting gadolinium chelates onto the surface of Fe3O4@polydopamine nanocomposites. The as-prepared nanocomposites, composed of low cost Fe3O4, polydopamine and gadolinium complexes, showed high stability and good biocompatibility. More importantly, these nanocomposites exhibited high photothermal conversion efficiency, with the temperature reaching 43.0 °C at a concentration of 0.35 mg mL−1 under near-infrared irradiation for a few minutes. Furthermore, according to the magnetic resonance imaging results, these nanocomposites could induce an efficient contrast enhancement for both T1 and T2 imaging at low concentrations of Gd and Fe. This provides a new platform for the development of new diagnosis and therapeutic agents.

For the requirement of pressure detection in high temperature environments, this paper presents a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based pressure sensor with a simple structure. The structural model of the sensor has been established with the consideration of a sensing principle and a small deflection effect of the circular membrane. The finite element analysis has been employed to validate the rationality of the sensor structure design and realize the digital simulation of the theoretical model. Through the analysis, the selection of packaging materials, the design of structural parameters and the pressure and temperature calibration of the developed sensor has been performed. The encapsulation of the sensor at high temperatures has been improved based on the theoretical analysis, simulation and testing, which proves the effectiveness of the sensor for pressure measurement at high temperatures of 100 °C~250 °C. The study provides a feasible sensing device for high-temperature pressure detection.

Development of a safe, efficient and inexpensive multifunctional nanoplatform using a facile approach for multimodal imaging and therapeutic functions becomes more and more practically relevant but challenging. In this work, we demonstrated a novel nanocomposites (Bi

Double disks shaped ZnO microstructures have been synthesized by one-step CTAB assisted hydrothermal methods at 90 degrees C with different growth time. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results disclosed the double disks shaped morphology and hexagonal wurtzite structures. With the increase of growth time, the strain along a axis becomes relaxed while that along c axis becomes more compressed. This made the increase of defect-related visible emissions and the decrease of UV near-band-gap emissions. Based on the experimental results, surfactant (CTAB) and growth temperature are suggested as the key factors for the formation of the double disks shaped ZnO. A possible growth mechanism to form the double disks shaped ZnO have been provided. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

Variants of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) influenced its antigenicity and immunogenicity. In our study, we aim to investigate biological significance of amino acid (aa) substitutions in HBsAg, Q129 N and T131 N/M133 T, for glycosylation, antigenicity and immunogenicity of variant HBsAg (vtHBsAg) and viral replication. Expression plasmids of vtHBsAg with aa substitutions Q129 L, T123 N, Q129 N and T131 N/M133 T were constructed. Immunofluorescence (IF) staining and Western blot were simultaneously utilized to examine expression of vtHBsAg proteins in Huh7 cells transfected with vtHBsAg constructs. vtHBsAg of Q129 N and T131 N/M133 T created new N-glycosylation and displayed perinuclear distribution by IF staining with the anti-HA. Antigenicity of vtHBsAg of Q129 N and T131 N/M133 T was reduced compared with wild type (wt) HBsAg. In addition, we discovered impaired ability to induce anti-HBs responses against wtHBsAg in mice immunized with plasmids pHBsAg- Q129 N and T131 N/M133 T. Even so, efficient protective response toward wild type HBV can be primed by the two vtHBsAgs in mice. Further, we discovered that vtHBsAg with Q129 N distinctly impaired HBV replication capacity, but vtHBsAg with T131 N/M133 T had no impact on viral replication. Thus, we conclude that vtHBsAg with Q129 N or T131 N/M133 T creates new N-glycosylation and interferes with both the antigenicity and immunogenicity of vtHBsAg. And vtHBsAg with Q129 N impaired HBV replication ability.

Hexagonal ZnO particles have been synthesized by using the hydrothermal method with different sulfur concentrations in the reaction solutions. Structural and optical characterizations have been conducted to study the effects of the sulfur in the reaction solutions on the properties of the synthesized ZnO in the ultraviolet (UV) and the visible (VIS) bands. The existance of sulfur in the solutions can help to introduce compression strain along the a axis and an opposite trend for the parameter c with strain inside the formed ZnO particles, which means the total strain in the samples is presented along the c axis. The average size of the ZnO particles, as calculated from SEM images, shows the same trend as the strain in the samples. The increasing incorporation of sulfur causes an increase in the VIS luminescence band, which can be attributed to an increase in the number of sulfur-induced defects.

High indium content InGaN sandwiched structure with bright green light emission was grown on GaN nanorods by MOCVD. The main emission peak is found at ˜580 nm when photoluminescence (PL) measurement was conducted at 300 K. A very stable emission energy at about 2.155 eV was found in temperature-dependent PL with a temperature range from 110 K to 275 K, which may be attributed to the strong localization of carriers in phase-separated InGaN structures. Spatial-resolved cathodoluminescence measurements were conducted to resolve the indium distributions in InGaN layer. A clear evolution of indium phase separation is found, which attributes the high emission efficiency of green InGaN sandwiched structure.

Not only alcoholic cirrhosis related to cardiac dysfunction, cirrhosis caused by nonalcoholic etiology including hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection also related to impaired cardiac health. The aims of present study were to perform a noninvasive evaluation of cardiac function and to evaluate exercise performance in HBV related cirrhotic patients without typical symptoms of cardiac disease. Seventy-nine HBV related cirrhotic patients and 103 matched subjects without a previous history of cardiac involvement were recruited. Clinical examination and cardiac health evaluation were performed. The incidence, risk factors of cardiac dysfunction and exercise tolerance were investigated. A correlation between QTc interval and model for end-stage liver disease score (R = 0.239, P = .018) was detected, however, the connection between QTc prolongation and the severity of liver disease was uncertain. Patients with HBV related cirrhosis had a tendency toward left ventricular wall thickening (P = .007). Forty-one patients (51.90%) were in accordance with the definition of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy, and a significant increase in the incidence of cardiac diastolic dysfunction (CDD) could be found with increasing Child-Pugh grade (P = .004). HBV related cirrhotic patients with CDD had a higher level of pro-brain natriuretic peptide (P = .025), international normalized ratio (P = .010) Child-Pugh score (P = .020), and a higher proportion of ascites (P

Development of a safe, efficient and inexpensive multifunctional nanoplatform using a facile approach for multimodal imaging and therapeutic functions becomes more and more practically relevant but challenging. In this work, we demonstrated a novel nanocomposites (Bi2S3-Gd) for computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) for cancer in vitro. It was achieved by modification of hydrophobic Bi2S3 with a smart amphiphilic gadolinium-chelated ligand. The as-prepared nanocomposites composed of low-cost Bi2S3 and gadolinium complexes, showed high stability, excellent biocompatibility and good photostability. It was observed that Bi2S3-Gd nanocomposites can efficiently convert the NIR light into heat, and then suppressed the growth of tumor cells under NIR laser irradiation. Apart from serving as an effective photothermal agent, the as-prepared nanomaterials could induce an efficient contrast enhancement for both CT and MR imaging at low concentrations of Bi and Gd, rendering more accurate diagnosis. This work suggests the potential of Bi2S3-Gd nanomaterials as a novel multifunctional nanoplatform for CT/MR imaging-guided PTT for cancer.

The hexagonal bi-pillar structures of undoped and sulfur-doped ZnO particles have been synthesized by hydrothermal method to study the relationship between UV and long wavelength emissions, green emission (GE) and orange emission (OE) bands. A room temperature photoluminescence comparison between undoped and sulfur-doped ZnO shows an increase of long wavelength emission, that is presumably due to an increase of defects in doped ZnO. Spatial cathode luminescence (CL) analysis on a single ZnO particle shows a competitive behavior between GE and OE bands. The long wavelength emissions in ZnO are all related to Zn vacancies. GE will dominate if the Zn vacancy-related oxygen stays at lattice point; otherwise OE will dominate if this oxygen atom leaves lattice point to form a interstitial atom.

Efficiency droop is generally observed in electroluminescence under high current injection. Optical characterization on efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN multiple-quantum-well structures has been conducted at 12 K. Clear droop behaviors were observed for the sample excited by above-bandgap excitation of GaN with pulse laser. The results show that dislocation is not the crucial factor to droop under high carrier density injection, and Auger recombination just slightly affects the efficiency. The radiative recombination may be mainly affected by a multi-carrier-related process (diffusion and drift with a factor of n3.5 and n5.5) at the interface between GaN barrier and InGaN well.