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Background. Literature has identified differentially expressed miRNAs in congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM). However, the functional role of these miRNAs in CPAM remains unclear. Methods. We obtained diseased lung tissues as well as adjacent normal lung tissue from CPAM patients attending the centre. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Alcian blue staining were performed. Differentially expressed mRNA expression profile was CPAM tissue, and matched normal tissue specimens were examined by high-throughput RNA sequencing. CCK-8 assay, EdU staining, TUNEL staining, flow cytometry, and the Transwell assay were performed to investigate the effect of miR-548au-3p/CA12 axis on proliferation, apoptosis, and chondrogenic differentiation in rat tracheal chondrocytes. mRNA and protein expression levels were determined using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. The relationship between miR-548au-3p and CA12 was evaluated using the luciferase reporter assay. Results. The expression level of miR-548au-3p was significantly increased in diseased tissues compared with normal adjacent tissues from patients with CPAM. Our results indicate that miR-548au-3p functions as a positive regulator in rat tracheal chondrocyte proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation. At molecular level, miR-548au-3p promoted N-cadherin, MMP13, and ADAMTS4 expressions and reduced E-cadherin, aggrecan, and Col2A1 expressions. CA12 has been previously reported as a predicted target of miR-548au-3p, and here, we show that overexpression of CA12 in rat tracheal chondrocyte mimics the effects of inhibition of miR-548au-3p. On the other hand, CA12 knockdown reversed the effects of miR-548au-3p on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and chondrogenic differentiation. Conclusions. In conclusion, the miR-548au-3p/CA12 axis plays a role in the pathogenesis of CPAM and may lead to identification of new approaches for CPAM treatment.

Background Hypertension is a major contributor to cardiovascular diseases globally. Pharmacists can help patients with hypertension to reduce blood pressure (BP) with telemedicine technology. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a new pharmacist-led telemedicine disease management model based on mobile application for elderly hypertensive patients. Methods Elderly patients aged 60–85 years old, diagnosed with hypertension, and taking at least five medications were enrolled in a pharmacist-led telemedicine disease management program for six months, during which patient transmitted BP and blood glucose (BG) to pharmacist via a new telemedicine system, and pharmacists provided interventions such as monitoring indicators, medication therapy management (MTM), medication consultation, and measured HbA1c and blood lipid of patients every three months. If necessary, pharmacists also communicated with community physicians about patients’ medications adjustment plan. Results After the six-month intervention, systolic blood pressure (132.30 ± 9.88 vs 134.54 ± 15.59, p = 0.013), LDL-C (1.85 ± 0.77 vs 2.09 ± 0.85, p = 0.001), and HbA1c (6.59 ± 0.98 vs 6.91 ± 1.17, p = 0.009) showed significant reductions in all patients. Moreover, BP control rates (80% vs 63%, p

The fragile electrolyte/Li interface is responsible for the long-lasting consumption of Li resources and fast failure of Li metal batteries. The polymer artificial interface with high mechanical flexibility is a promising candidate to maintain the stability of the electrolyte/Li interface; however, sluggish Li-ion transportation of the conventional polymer interface hinders the application. In this work, Li-functionalized graphene oxide (GO-ADP-Li3), which is synthesized by covalent grafting of adenosine 5'-diphosphate lithium on GO nanosheets, is used as a functional additive to improve the Li-ion conductivity of the polymer artificial interface based on PVDF-HFP/LiTFSI. The enhanced Li-ion conductivity is contributed by accelerated Li-ion hopping at the surface between polymer chains and functionalized GO as well as the reduced crystallization degree of PVDF-HFP by this novel additive. The use of this modified polymer as an artificial interface on Li foil enables highly reversible Li stripping/plating and a high capacity retention of 78.4% after 150 cycles for a 0.2 A h Li metal pouch cell (Li/NCM811, strictly following practical conditions). This Li-grafted strategy on GO sheets provides an alternative for designing a compatible electrolyte/Li interface for practical Li metal batteries.

Using a coating layer to modify the separator in a practical Li metal battery has attracted wide attention; however, its function on Li-ion diffusion and Li plating/stripping has not been systematically investigated. Herein, in situ electrochemical Raman characterization using modified coin cell configuration is employed to directly reveal the anion adsorption mechanism of the coating layer. The adsorption ability of the MOF-based coating layer on the commercial separator is able to preserve high concentration of anions near the electrolyte/Li interface, which generates high local Li-ion concentration that delays the drain of Li+ to uniform Li plating. The feasible and large-area fabrication of GO/ZIF-8-modified separator enables the assembly of pouch cell strictly following practical parameters. 0.4 Ah pouch cell (Li/NCM811) delivers stable capacity for over 100 cycles. The deep understanding of the mechanism of how a coating layer affects Li plating behavior is helpful for the designing and preparation of high-performance separators for Li metal batteries.

The diaphragmatic plication procedure by thoracoscopy has gradually become standard treatment for diaphragmatic eventration (DE). However, thoracoscopic diaphragmatic plication is difficult to manipulate and the surgical learning curve is long. This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of same-day surgery for DE by minithoracotomy in children. From December 2017 to December 2019, we included 22 patients who underwent diaphragmatic plication of DE in the Department of Pediatric Thoracic Surgery at the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center. A total of 10 patients underwent diaphragmatic plication by minithoracotomy and 12 patients underwent thoracoscopic plication. The perioperative condition and postoperative follow-up were evaluated, respectively. The age, sex, and weight were no different in the minithoracotomy group versus the thoracoscopy group (P > 0.05). The intraoperative time, blood loss volume, and postoperative hospital stay of the minithoracotomy group were significantly less than that of the thoracoscopy group (31.10 ± 4.70 min vs. 72.08 ± 22.8 min; 1.20 ± 0.42 ml vs. 2.58 ± 1.67 ml; and 1.00 ± 0.00 days vs. 6.00 ± 2.95 days, respectively, all P

Introduction Infection is undoubtedly the most important factor in influencing the timing and surgical strategy of congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) surgery. However, there have been no studies on the optimal timing of surgery for patients based on the probability of infection. The aim of this study was performed to explore the optimal timing of surgery of CPAM in children from the risk of infection. Materials and Methods The correlation of age distribution and pulmonary infection of 237 children diagnosed by pathology from January 2012 to January 2020 in Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center were analyzed retrospectively. We defined the cases with preoperative computed tomographic findings of infection, pathological findings of large number of neutrophils, tissue cells, and abscess formation as the infection group. Results The rate of infection in patients less than 2 years old was significantly lower than in patients over 2 years old (11.4% vs. 45.7%, p Conclusion In consideration of the high risk of infection, lower minimally invasive surgery rate, an increased rate of pulmonary lobectomy, and more blood loss in patients over 2 years old, our study also supports early surgical treatment. Therefore, we suggest that for asymptomatic patients with CPAM I and CPAM II, surgical treatment should be performed when they are less than 2 years old, providing more options for surgical strategies and monitoring of CPAM patients.

To study the causes of the rapid progression of pleuropulmonary blastoma and to identify molecular markers related to its prognosis.Three pairs of fresh frozen samples of pleuropulmonary blastoma tumors and adjacent normal tissues were analyzed for proteomics, focusing on the protein molecules with significantly increased expression in tumor tissues and related to the cell cycle and DNA replication. The top five protein molecules were selected and verified by immunohistochemistry. To analyze the correlation between the expression of verified protein molecules in pleuropulmonary blastoma and early recurrence/metastasis of pleuropulmonary blastoma.Compared with the adjacent normal tissues, 1759 proteins were upregulated and 967 proteins were downregulated in pleuropulmonary blastoma. The top five proteins related to the cell cycle and DNA replication were ORC2, P75, Skp2, MCM4 and PCNA. However, only P75, MCM4 and PCNA were upregulated in pleuropulmonary blastoma as determined by immunohistochemistry. Further analysis showed that the expression of P75 in the recurrence/metastasis group was significantly higher than that in the no recurrence/metastasis group, while the expression of MCM4 and PCNA was not significantly different between the recurrence/metastasis group and the no recurrence/metastasis group.MCM4, PCNA and P75 may all play an important role in the progression of pleuropulmonary blastoma. Among them, P75 is related to the prognosis and may be used as a marker to predict the prognosis of pleuropulmonary blastoma.

Background: Specific diagnostic markers for congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAMs) have not yet been discovered. This study intends to detect differentially expressed miRNAs in type I and type II CPAMs by using a miRNA chip and clarify the feasibility of miRNAs as different CPAM typing markers.Methods: Lung tissues of type I and type II CPAMs were collected and used to assess the differentially expressed miRNAs using a miRNA chip after evaluation using hematoxylin–eosin staining and Masson staining. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and fluorescence in situ hybridization were used to verify the quality of the miRNA chip. The function and pathways of related differentially expressed miRNAs were analyzed by Gene Ontology Enrichment (GO) analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, respectively. Targets of miRNAs were predicted by targetscan7.1 and mirdbV6 and the network between miRNA and mRNA was established using Cystoscope software.Results: In total, 394/34 upregulated and 321/72 downregulated miRNAs were found in type I and type II CPAMs, respectively. GO and KEGG analysis showed that different pathways are involved in the regulation of CPAM, including platelet activation, Ras, MAPK, FoxO, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways. miRNA–mRNA network analysis confirmed four major miRNAs in CPAM, including miR-4731-5p to complexin 2, miR-3150a-3p to vesicle amine transport 1, miR-32-5p to F-box and WD repeat domain containing 7, and miR-454-3p to SLAIN motif family member 1.Conclusion: In summary, we have identified four candidate miRNAs and pathways related to different pattern CPAMs, which provide a new perspective for CPAM research and treatment.

The presence of mixed products and impurities, which always confuse researchers, are common during synthesizing nanomaterials. Even though many studies have been conducted with an objective to control the synthesis of nanomaterials, very few studies have investigated a mechanism to control the composition of nanomaterials. Various products include UO3·H2O, U3O8, UO2, and U4O9 were produced by simply adjusting the pH with ammonia. The morphology of UO2 and U3O8 are tunable. In this study, we suggest two mechanisms that can be used to control the nanomaterial composition. Various experiments have been conducted to understand the mechanism that controls the composition of nanomaterials. We indicate that a multi-monomer growth model can be used to control the uranium oxide composition. We have developed a new oxidation–reduction system using acetone, and this system is capable of controlling both the morphology and composition of uranium oxide micro/nanomaterials. Further, the presence of the self-catalysis mechanism can be used to regulate processes that control the monomer transformation. Thus, the results of this study can be applied to help in the construction of mixed-valence metal oxides.

The uranium dioxide (UO2) nanocrystals (NCs) and nanospheres (NSs) with diameters similar to those of the real high burn-up structures (HBS) are successfully obtained by using a hydrothermal method. The nanocrystals showed good oxidation resistance in water at room temperature for more than 50 days, this period is much longer than nanospheres and the previous report (approximately 2 days). The mechanism for the production of stable nanocrystals has also been discussed in detail. Hence, they could be used to develop advanced nuclear fuels.

Anti-leucine-rich glioma inactivated-1 (anti-LGI1) encephalitis is a subgroup of autoimmune encephalitis. We herein report the case of a 60-year-old man who presented with typical symptoms, including short-term memory loss, mental abnormalities, hyponatremia and seizures characterized by faciobrachial dystonic seizures and who was diagnosed with anti-LGI1 encephalitis. At the same time, he was diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia. A significant improvement was obtained by treatment with corticosteroid, immunoglobulin, mycophenolate mofetil, and hydroxyurea. Autoimmune diseases are associated with a significantly increased risk of developing myeloproliferative neoplasms, which may explain the coexistence of anti-LGI1 encephalitis and essential thrombocythema in this patient; however, but more cases and studies are needed to determine whether there is any correlation between these conditions.

>Background: Vitiligo is a disorder caused by the loss of the melanocyte activity on melanin pigment generation. Studies show that oxidative-stress induced apoptosis in melanocytes is closely related to the pathogenesis of vitiligo. Glutamine is a well known antioxidant with anti-apoptotic effects, and is used in a variety of diseases. However, it is unclear whether glutamine has an antioxidant or anti-apoptotic effect on melanocytes. >Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of glutamine on a human melanocyte oxidative stress model. Methods: The oxidative stress model was established on human melanocytes using hydrogen peroxide. The morphology and viability of melanocytes, levels of oxidants [reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde], levels of antioxidants [superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S-transferase], and apoptosis-related indicators (caspase-3, bax and bcl-2) were examined after glutamine exposure at various concentrations. Expressions of nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2, heme oxygenase-1, and heat shock protein 70 were detected using western blot technique after glutamine exposure at various concentrations. >Results: Our results demonstrate that pre-treatment and post-treatment with glutamine promoted melanocyte viability, increased levels of superoxide dismutase, glutathione-S-transferase and bcl-2, decreased levels of reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde, bax and caspase-3, and enhanced nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2, heme oxygenase-1, and heat shock protein 70 expression in a dose dependent manner. The effect of pre-treatment was more significant than post-treatment, at the same concentration. >Limitations: The mechanisms of glutamine activated nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 antioxidant responsive element signaling pathway need further investigation. >Conclusions: Glutamine enhances the antioxidant and anti-apoptotic capabilities of melanocytes and protects them against oxidative stress.

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a hypersensitivity reaction characterized by maculopapular rash, exfoliative dermatitis, lymphadenopathy, fever, eosinophilia, and involvement of internal organs. Evidence for reactivation of herpes family viruses has been observed in some DRESS patients, and activated CD8+ T lymphocytes are largely directed against Epstein-Barr virus. Here, we report two cases complicated with this infection. Both patients received antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These patients manifested clinically with high fever, facial edema, diffuse pruritic erythroderma and maculopapules over the entire body, purpuric rashes in both lower limbs and lymphadenopathy of cervical and inguinal nodes. Laboratory tests revealed abnormal liver function, blood eosinophils, and ferritin levels. The patients recovered completely; however, the female patient developed hemophagocytic syndrome on the 15th day of illness. She developed new itchy rash, and laboratory tests rapidly worsened with fibrinogen levels dramatically reduced to 0.61 g/L. Bone marrow aspiration revealed an increased number of macrophages with hemophagocytosis and a reversed CD4/CD8 ratio of 0.45. These cases suggest that human herpes virus and coagulation function evaluations are necessary in DRESS patients.

M-phase phosphoprotein 8 (MPP8) has been reported to be overexpressed in various human carcinoma cells and was associated with tumor malignant characters. However, its functional role in colon cancer (CRC) is still unclear. In the present study, lentivirus-mediated short hairpin RNAs were designed to silence the MPP8 gene in CRC cells including RKO and SW1116 cells. The fluorescence microscopy was used to determine the knockdown efficiency of MPP8 by observing lentivirus-mediated green fluorescent protein expression. MPP8 expression in infected RKO and SW1116 was evaluated by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. Cell proliferation was assessed by MTT assay and colony formation. Flow cytometry was applied to measure cell cycle and apoptosis. Transwell assay was used to determine the effect of MMP8 silencing on cell migration. Our results demonstrated that loss of MPP8 inhibited cell proliferation and migration and promoted cell apoptosis. These results indicate that MPP8 plays an important role in the proliferation and metastasis of CRC cells and suggest that silencing of MPP8 may be an effective therapeutic approach for the treatment of CRC.

In this paper, we define and study strong Kato chaos for a group action on a compact metric space. Let X be a compact metric space without isolated points, and let G be a topologically commutative group on X. If the dynamical system (X, G) is weakly mixing, then it is chaotic in the strong sense of Kato.

This note proves that an iterated function system is chain transitive (resp., chain mixing, transitive) if and only if the step skew product corresponding to the iterated function system is chain transitive (resp., chain mixing, transitive). As an application, it is obtained that an iterated function system with the (asymptotic) average shadowing property is chain mixing, improving the main results in Bahabadi (Georgian Math J 22:179–184, 2015).

The industry-education integration is the basic path for the transformation and development of local applied universities. Taking Electronic and Computer Engineering major of Southwest Petroleum University as an example, this paper explores and practices the integration of industry and education in computer majors and summarizes the education model of industry-education integration based on industrial colleges, the industry-oriented curriculum system construction, the construction of industry-education practice center and “double-qualified teacher” faculty, the governance structure and management system. It provides reference for the applied universities to implement the industry-education integration and make school-enterprise cooperation gradually achieve the goal of win-win.

Background: Severe pectus excavatum (PE) may be concomitant with congenital cystic lung lesions (CCLLs) that also require surgery. It is ideal to correct these two deformities concurrently, but the safety and efficacy of a simultaneous surgical technique remain unknown. Methods: Between 2007 and 2017, 635 patients with severe PE were admitted at our medical center. Eight patients underwent minimally invasive repair of PE and lobectomy simultaneously. The patient characteristics and operative data were analyzed and compared with another group of patients who underwent lobectomy alone for contemporaneous CCLLs. Results: The severity of PE (mean Haller index 5.70) and CCLLs were confirmed by computed tomography (CT). Simultaneous minimally invasive repair and lobectomy were performed successfully. There were no significant differences in the mean blood loss (14 mL/kg), the mean weaning time from mechanical ventilation (900 minutes) and the mean hospital stay (16 days) (P>0.05). The mean operative time (170 minutes) was extended, as expected (P=0.02). With a mean follow-up of 22 months, the overall cosmetic results were good. Conclusions: Simultaneous minimally invasive repair and lobectomy appears to be a technically safe and reliable method for the treatment of concurrent PE and CCLLs, although further studies are needed in the long-term follow-up.

Zhou and He [1] presented three levels of the orbit’s topological structure. In this paper, we shall try to investigate the orbit’s topological structure of proper quasi-weakly almost periodic point. It is stated that there exists a dynamical system having zero topological entropy such that it has a dense, invariant, extremal and transitive, uncountable distributionally scrambled set consisting of proper quasi-weakly almost periodic points.

To summarize the experience of applying gastric tube esophagoplasty for complicated diseases of esophagus in children and the short-middle-term efficacy.A retrospective and observational case series study was performed.(1) burn length of esophagus2 cm, multisegmental or extensive esophageal scar stenosis, and about 6 months after burn; (2) longitudinal diameter of esophageal tumor2 cm, or esophagus considered as impossible to reserve;(3) Severe esophageal fistula with diameter2 cm, or relapse again after ≥3 times of repair; (4) Tracheal cartilaginous esophageal heterotopia with a length of2 cm or no end to end anastomosis after removal of the esophageal lesion.patients with severe cardiopulmonary insufficiency, or poor prognosis of gastric primary disease; the gastric volume did not allow long enough gastric tube; the parents did not accept the surgery. According to above criteria, 36 children with complicated diseases of esophagus who underwent gastric tube esophagoplasty at Department of Thoracic Surgery, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center from March 2010 to June 2017 were enrolled into this study. Among 36 children, 27 were with corrosive strictures of esophagus, 5 with esophageal tumor, 3 with severe esophageal fistula, and 1 with tracheal cartilaginous esophageal heterotopia. Above-mentioned 27 cases with corrosive strictures of esophagus underwent gastric tube esophagoplasty via retrosternal route with preservation of the original esophagus. The other 9 cases underwent resection for esophageal lesion and gastric tube esophagoplasty via prevertebral route. The construction of gastric tube was as follows: the stomach was cut along the lesser curvature from pylorus to cardia and fundus of stomach with stapler, making the diameter of the gastric tube equal to pylorus. Operative time, intra-operative bleeding, time of mechanical ventilation, anastomotic leakage, anastomotic stricture were observed. The postoperative short-middle-term growth presentation of children was evaluated according to CDC 2000 children growth evaluation table(2 to 20 years).All the 36 children survived their operations successfully. Nine cases underwent esophagectomy for lesion esophagus and the other 27 cases received preservation of original esophagus. Average time of postoperative mechanical ventilation was 8 (4-20) hours. Three cases developed anastomotic leakage and were healed after one week. Eight cases developed anastomotic stricture and resumed normal diet after balloon expansion. The patients were followed up from 6 months to 7 years. Five cases were found to have esophageal cyst 4-8 months after the operation, and received resection. One children with infantile esophageal fibrosarcoma recurred 3 weeks after the operation and died 2 weeks later because the family abandoned the treatment. The quality of life of 35 cases was improved significantly. Short-middle-term body height and weight in 85.7%(30/35) children met basically the criteria of CDC 2000 children growth evaluation table.Gastric tube esophagoplasty can effectively treat the children with complicated esophagus diseases with good short-middle-term efficacy, and is a recommended esophageal replacement surgery.

The desorption behavior of helium in TiT (1.5∼1.8)−x 3 He x film samples (x = 0.0022–0.22) was investigated by thermal desorption technique in vacuum condition in this paper. The thermal helium desorption spectrometry (THDS) of aging titanium tritide films prepared by electron beam evaporation revealed that, depending on the decayed 3 He concentration in the samples, there are more than four states of helium existing in the films. The divided four zones in THDS based on helium states represent respectively: (1) the mobile single helium atoms with low activation energy in all aging samples resulted from the interstitial sites or dissociated from interstitial clusters, loops and dislocations, (2) helium bubbles inside the grain lattices, (3) helium bubbles in the grain boundaries and interconnected networks of dislocations in the helium concentration of 3 He gen /Ti > 0.0094, and (4) helium bubbles near or linked to the film surface by interconnected channel for later aging stage with 3 He gen /Ti > 0.18. The proportion of helium desorption in each zone was estimated, and dissociated energies of helium for different trapping states were given.

We present a detailed study on the bulk properties and relative stability of the ordered and disordered phases of zirconium hydrides by using first-principles calculations combined with the special quasirandom structures (SQS) method. The formation energy, density of states (DOS) and elastic constants are calculated to judge the relative stability of these phases. For the ordered phases, the relative stability of different configurations of the γ and δ phase is especially concerned. It is found that the ζ-Zr2H, “diamond-like” γ-ZrH, [111] configurations of the δ-ZrH1.5 and fcc-ZrH2 phase are not stable. For the disordered phases, the SQS method, which is a well-proven method to mimic the random alloys, is used to construct supercells of zirconium hydrides with four structures. It is found that the random alloy gradually transforms from an hcp (solid solution phase) into an fcc (δ phase) and then an fct (c/a

In studying a dynamical system, we know that there frequently exist some kinds of disturbance or false phenomenon, namely that some chaotic sets are included in the Borel sets with absolute measure zero. From the viewpoint of ergodic theory, a Borel set with absolute measure zero is negligible. In order to remove these disturbance and false phenomenon, reference Zhou (1993) introduced a concept of measure center. This paper is concerned with distributional chaos occurring on measure center. We draw three conclusions: (i) the one-sided shift has an uncountable distributionally scrambled set which is included in the set of all weakly almost periodic points but not in the set of almost periodic points; (ii) we give a sufficient condition for the compact dynamic system ( X , f ) to exhibit distributional chaos on measure center via semiconjugacy; (iii) the one-sided shift on the measure center is distributionally chaotic in sequence.

Effects of tritium content on crystal lattice, 3He retention and structure evolution during aging of Ti tritides were investigated using X-ray diffraction, together with analysis of 3He release. Phase transformation and lattice parameters of the Ti tritides varied apparently depending on tritium stoichiometry. Initial tritium content in the Ti tritides showed significant effects on 3He retention due to the existence of α + δ phase boundaries and lattice symmetry in the Ti tritide. The critical contents of 3He release in the α + δ phase region and e phase region were found to be smaller than that in the δ phase region. Variation of crystal lattice structures of α + δ, δ and e phases in the Ti tritides has been investigated, and evolution of 3He during aging is mainly governed by the finite defects of self-interstitial atoms, dislocation loops, 3He bubbles, and dislocations created by formation and growth of 3He bubbles. In the α + δ two phase region, the phase boundaries played an important role to accumulate 3He bubbles and cause inter-bubble fracture. In the e phase region, a preferred condensation of finite defects in basal plane of Ti tritide lattice and formation of a dislocation network were identified.

We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on interfacial structure and thermodynamics in internally oxidized Ag(SnO2)p composites. The orientation relation between in situ formed SnO2 particles and the silver matrix was characterized using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy techniques. First-principles energetic calculations were then performed to predict the equilibrium interface structures and corresponding adhesion properties as functions of temperature and oxygen partial pressure. All results were combined to construct the interface-level thermodynamic stability diagram, for guiding the optimal design of internal oxidation parameters.

Dehydrogenation in MgH2 was found to lead to a transition from an incubation stage controlled by nucleation to an accelerated stage controlled by the movement of the interface. Addition of carbon nanotubes destabilized Mg–H bonding and reduced the energy barrier for nucleation, which is mainly related to the electron affinity of their curved surface.

Surface energy has an important role in controlling the exposed facets and growth morphology of nanocrystals. In this study, we employed first-principle thermodynamic modeling and calculations to evaluate the substantial effects of environmental factors (temperature and oxygen partial pressure), on the surface structure, stability, and nanocrystal morphology of rutile-type ruthenium dioxide (RuO2). Both stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric surfaces with ideal bulk terminations were assessed. The relative ordering of stoichiometric surface stabilities was predicted as (110) > (101) > (100) > (001). The sensitive environment dependence of nonstoichiometric surface stabilities was evaluated by calculating the surface phase diagram, and partially validated by comparing with available experimental observations. The predicted surface stabilities were further coupled with the Gibbs–Wulff construction of equilibrium crystal shape, to predict the morphological evolutions of RuO2 nanocrystals under practical growth conditions. A morphology-controlled growth technique was finally suggested for designing and developing hierarchical nanostructures by intelligently adjusting the thermodynamic growth conditions.

Titanium films were deposited onto molybdenum substrates and then converted into titanium tritides (TiT1.5–1.8) films inside a tritiding apparatus loaded with pure tritium gas. Evolution of tritium and helium in the titanium tritide films over a period of four years was investigated using a thermal desorption technique, together with X-ray diffraction analysis. Results showed that desorption profiles of the tritium varied significantly with the evolution of He contents. Apart from the primary peak from tritium desorption located at a temperature between 610 and 840 K, another higher temperature tritium desorption peak (at ∼950 K) was observed, attributed to damages in the lattice structures induced by generation of 3He bubbles. Release of helium in the tritide film became significant after a long term aging process (i.e., after a few years). Depending on the amount of the 3He bubbles generated due to the decay of tritium, spectra of the thermal helium desorption showed five peaks in the range from room temperature to ∼1750 K, corresponding to different states of helium evolution during aging of the titanium tritide films. The amounts of helium desorption in different stages were estimated, and the dissociation energy of helium from different trap states as a function of the aging duration was obtained.

Kalman filtering is widely used in maneuvering target tracking. However, conventional Kalman filtering always fails to track the maneuvering target when there is a sudden change in the target motion state. In this paper, an improved Kalman filtering algorithm which based on the adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is proposed. The improved algorithm can update the measurement noise covariance in real-time by ANFIS through observing the covariance matrix of Kalman residual. In this way, the tracking error can be reduced. Then, the comparison and analysis of the experiment results between the original Kalman filtering algorithm and the improved one have been carried out. The experiment results show that the tracking error is obviously reduced and the accuracy is significantly boosted after the original Kalman filtering algorithm was substituted by the improved one. To explore the influence of ANFIS parameters on the tracking error, the setting rules of them were analyzed at the end of this paper.

Based on the generate mechanism of rolling bearing fault signal and its modulation model in the process of spreading, an improved method that combining Hilbert transformation and Stochastic Resonance (SR) is proposed for rolling bearing fault features extraction. Subsequently, the method is used to extract fault signal features from three kinds of typical faults, the surface damage of the inner ring, outer ring stripping injury and roller electrical erosion. First, low frequency envelope components are acquired from rolling bearing vibration signals through Hilbert transformation. Then, depending on the advantage of SR that SR is immune to noise and sensitive to periodic signal, cyclical faults signal of the low frequency envelope is highlighted by using the variable step size solution that can overcome adiabatic condition limitation of SR system. The experimental results show that the algorithm can extract the fault feature and identify the fault type effectively.

Scandium films were deposited on molybdenum (Mo) substrates, at different substrate temperatures (100–650 °C) by electron-beam evaporation. The oxidation behavior was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Hardness and elastic modulus of Sc films were measured by the nano-indentation technique. XPS depth profile results demonstrate that Sc films deposited at lower substrate temperatures are oxidized easier than those at higher temperatures. Besides the effect of thermodynamics, the easier oxidation at lower temperatures may be attributed to the smaller grain size and lower diffusibility of oxygen in the inner film. Increasing substrate temperature first decreases the hardness and elastic modulus due to the increased grain size and decreased degree of oxidation. Then, when the temperature increases from 450 °C to 550 °C, the hardness and elastic modulus are improved owing to the higher texture coefficient and densification, as well as the abnormally decreased grain size. However, when the temperature further increases to 650 °C, the hardness and elastic modulus decrease again.

The p-c-T curves of D2 and T2 absorption by Ti and Zr were measured. there are one plateau at temperature below 300 °C and two plateaus at temperature range of 500∼600 °C for Ti but one plateau below 525°C and two plateaus above 525°C for Zr. The thermodynamic parameters on different phases were determined and there are obvious thermodynamic isotope effects. The lag effect was not observed for Ti but its existent for Zr. The kinetic p-t curves of absorption were investigated at different temperature ranges and then the rate constants are calculated. The results show that the rate constants increase with raising temperature for Ti but decrease for Zr. The activation energy values are (110.2±3.0), (155.7±3.2) kJ.mol-1 respectively for Ti and (-25.9±0.7), (-6.8±0.8) kJ.mol-1 for Zr. The kinetic p-t curves of desorption were investigated too and the activation energy of desorption are (42.3±1.9), (62.1±1.6) kJ.mol-1 respectively for Ti and (40.1±0.8), (57.7±1.6) kJ.mol-1 for Zr. So there are remarkabl...

We have studied the effects of the internal bremsstrahlung of tritium β-decay, sample surface roughness and tritium content as well on the tritium β-decay induced X-ray spectroscopy (BIXS) for tritium measurements based on Monte Carlo simulations. The Knipp–Uhlenbeck–Bloch theoretical model was adopted for the internal bremsstrahlung. It is found that the contributions of internal bremsstrahlung of tritium β-decays are approximately 30%, 10%, 4% and 2% of the corresponding external bremsstrahlung for C, Ti, Mo and W materials, respectively, and the sample surface roughness may cause an error of several percent in the BIXS method if the surface roughness of a sample is in a reasonable range. Moreover, the effect of tritium content should be taken into account when a sample contains a large amount of tritium, otherwise, the tritium contents measured by the BIXS method will be underestimated, for example, by up to ∼15% for Ti metal.

Zirconium (Zr) silicide is formed at the interface between silicon (Si) substrate and Zr films. Thin Zr films are deposited on Si (100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The phase formation of Zr 2 Si is detected by the grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). It is found that the high energy of plasma plume and substrate temperature have cooperative contribution to the formation of Zr 2 Si. The surface chemical condition is analyzed by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The inter-diffusion of Si atoms and Zr atoms is well investigated by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). The resistivity of Zr silicide is greatly affected by the synthesis conditions. To our best knowledge, Zr silicides films are first synthesized using plasma plume introduced by the pulse laser.

An aldehyde oxidase gene, designated as aldehyde oxidase2 (AhAO2), was cloned from Arachis hypogaea L. The gene contained a 4,050-bp open reading frame that encoded a putative protein of 1,350 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence showed high identity with other plant AOs. The organ-specific expression pattern of AhAO2 has been examined, which indicates its dominant expression in leaves of peanut. The AhAO2 transcript level in leaves was greatly increased under exogenous ABA treatment for 1 h. Over-expression of AhAO2 in Arabidopsis led to an increase in ABA level and enhanced drought tolerance after drought treatment. These results indicated the possible involvement of AhAO2 in ABA synthesis and drought tolerance.

The attenuated live varicella vaccine had been shown to be effective in preventing varicella and reducing the disease burden in the United States. However, little work has been done on investigating vaccine effectiveness in China where 3 varicella vaccines are available. Although the vaccines contain the same strain of virus, the vaccines licensed in China were from manufacturers different from the one licensed in the United States. We conducted a matched case-control study to assess the effectiveness of the 3 varicella vaccines in use in China.In 2005, we enrolled 1000 cases from Guangzhou, China and 1000 controls matched by age and place of residence. The cases were children clinically diagnosed with acute onset of a diffuse maculopapulovesicular rash without other apparent cause. We interviewed the legal guardians of the participants for demographic information and disease history after obtaining informed consent. We collected information on vaccination status from electronic vaccination records.The 3 varicella vaccines in China (Varilrix from GlaxoSmithKline, Changchun and Shanghai from Changchun and Shanghai Institutes of Biologic Products, respectively) had similar effectiveness: Varilrix 86.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 72.6, 93.2), Changchun 79.5% (95% CI: 58.1, 90.0), and Shanghai 92.6% (95% CI: 68.9, 98.2). Vaccine effectiveness was higher during the first year after vaccination than during the subsequent 5 years, but the differences did not reach statistical significance.The varicella vaccines in China are highly effective in preventing clinical varicella. Further studies on laboratory-confirmed cases are needed to verify the change of vaccine-induced immunity over time.

In the original publication of the article, the fund name “Youth Science and Technology Innovation Team of SWPU for Nonlinear Systems (No. 2017CXTD02)” has been missed.

ABA has been found to play a significant role in post-embryonic developmental in peanut seedlings. The results from the current study indicate that in the presence of exogenous 10 μmol l−1 ABA, lateral roots (LRs) number decreased and seedling development was delayed. This effect was eliminated by 25 μmol l−1 naproxen, an inhibitor of ABA biosynthesis. The Arabidopsis mutant deficient in ABA biosynthesis, nced3, displays a phenotype with more and longer LRs. We found that ABA decreased root-branching in peanut in a dose-dependent way. ABA-treated seedlings showed higher endogenous ABA levels than the control and naproxen-treated seedlings. RT-PCR results indicated that the expression of AhNCED1, a key gene in the ABA biosynthetic pathway, was significantly up-regulated by exogenous ABA in peanut. The mRNA levels of AhNCED1 began to increase 2 days after ABA treatment. The results from the current study show that ABA inhibits peanut LR development by increasing endogenous ABA contents.