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RNA methylation, the most prevalent type of RNA modification, encompasses more than 60 % of all known RNA modifications. With the advancement of methylation sequencing technologies, a diverse range of biological functions associated with RNA methylation in eukaryotes has been revealed. Specifically, 5-methylcytosine (m5C) modifications have been extensively observed in various RNA molecules, including messenger RNAs (mRNAs), ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and non-coding RNAs. These m5C modifications have been shown to impact critical RNA processes, such as mRNA translation, rRNA assembly, and tRNA stability. Notably, emerging evidence suggests that m5C modifications play significant roles in the initiation and progression of human cancers. However, a comprehensive understanding of the intricate m5C networks involved in human cancers is yet to be fully realized. In this comprehensive review, we provide an up-to-date summary of the roles and potential mechanisms underlying m5C modification in human cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-performance and aberration-free broadband acoustic lens holds promise for extensive applications, yet remains challenged. In this work, a scheme is proposed, and the experimental demonstration of a planar acoustic Luneburg lens capable of focusing broadband sound ranging from 1 to 3 kHz (relative bandwidth approaching to 100%) in an aberration-free manner is presented. Concretely, plane sound within the frequency range incident from one side can be concentrated on a same point on the opposite edge of the Luneburg lens. The demanded refractive indexes of the lens are obtained from the component space coil acoustic metamaterials, which can easily manipulate the refractive index by adjusting a structural parameter. The prototype of the proposed Luneburg lens is fabricated by three-dimensional printing technology and experimentally characterized in a two-dimensional acoustic measuring platform. The measured results are consistently in good agreement with those from the numerical simulations. Finally, the proposed Luneburg lens is employed to construct a wide-angle acoustic reflector, which can produce a strong echo propagating in the direction exactly opposite to the incident wave. These results facilitate potential possibilities for developing more acoustic functional devices capable of manipulating broadband sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ground glass nodule (GGN) segmentation is one of the important and challenging tasks in diagnosing early‐stage lung adenocarcinomas. Manually delineating of 3D GGN in a computed tomography (CT) image is a subjective, laborious, and tedious task, which presents poor repeatability. Purpose: To reduce the annotation burden and improve the segmentation performance, this study proposes a 3D deep learning‐based volumetric segmentation model to segment the GGN in CT images. Methods: A total of 379 GGNs were retrospectively collected from the public database, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SHPH), and Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC). First, a series of image preprocessing techniques involving image resampling, intensity normalization, 3D nodule patch cropping, and data augmentation, were adopted to generate the input images for the deep learning model by using CT scans. Then, a 3D attentional cascaded residual network (ACRU‐Net) was proposed to develop the deep learning‐based segmentation model by using the residual network and the atrous spatial pyramid pooling module. To improve the model performance, a voxel‐based conditional random field (CRF) method was used to optimize the segmentation results. Finally, a balanced cross‐entropy and Dice combined loss function was applied to train and build the segmentation model. Results: Testing on SHPH and FUSCC datasets, the proposed method generates the Dice coefficients of 0.721 ± 0.167 and 0.733 ± 0.100, respectively, which are higher than those of 3D residual U‐Net and ACRU‐Net without CRF optimization. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that combining 3D ACRU‐Net and CRF effectively improved the GGN segmentation performance. The proposed segmentation model may provide a potential tool to help the radiologist in the segmentation and diagnosis of 3D GGN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A new type of oxygen mixing cold plasma jet is developed to modify metal materials. • The plasma jet can treat various metal materials to be superhydrophilic within 20 s. • The high-efficiency plasma treatment does not cause serious structural damages. • Mechanisms leading to the high-efficiency treatment are systematically studied. Engineering metal materials have been widely developed and applied in aviation, aerospace and biomedicine fields. Wettability improvement of these materials can alleviate problems caused by low adhesion and poor bioactivity, thereby facilitating their practical applications. Compared with other methods, atmospheric pressure cold plasma treatment has better versatility and can efficiently improve wettability without causing serious damages, and has therefore been widely used in polymer hydrophilization. However, when treating metal materials, the cold plasma may induce surface breakdown or have low efficiency. In this paper, we developed a new cold plasma jet by mixing oxygen into working gas to achieve high-efficiency and low-damage modification. When oxygen mixing ratio was 0.4 %, the cold plasma jet could modify TC4 titanium alloy surface to be superhydrophilic within 20 s, which was much more efficient than traditional plasma jet (120 s). We then further investigated the mechanism contributing to higher efficiency, and found that the oxygen-mixing plasma jet did not cause serious damages, while generating more polar groups by higher-concentration active particles, as confirmed by surface energy calculation and optical emission spectra. Besides titanium alloy, the oxygen-mixing plasma jet could also achieve rapid hydrophilization of various engineering metal materials, showing promising application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H5N6 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) clade 2.3.4.4 not only exhibits unprecedented intercontinental spread in poultry, but can also cause serious infection in humans, posing a public health threat. Phylogenetic analyses show that 40% (8/20) of H5N6 viruses that infected humans carried H9N2 virus-derived internal genes. However, the precise contribution of H9N2 virus-derived internal genes to H5N6 virus infection in humans is unclear. Here, we report on the functional contribution of the H9N2 virus-derived matrix protein 1 (M1) to enhanced H5N6 virus replication capacity in mammalian cells. Unlike H5N1 virus-derived M1 protein, H9N2 virus-derived M1 protein showed high binding affinity for H5N6 hemagglutinin (HA) protein and increased viral progeny particle release in different mammalian cell lines. Human host factor, G protein subunit beta 1 (GNB1), exhibited strong binding to H9N2 virus-derived M1 protein to facilitate M1 transport to budding sites at the cell membrane. GNB1 knockdown inhibited the interaction between H9N2 virus-derived M1 and HA protein, and reduced influenza virus-like particles (VLPs) release. Our findings indicate that H9N2 virus-derived M1 protein promotes avian H5N6 influenza virus release from mammalian, in particular human cells, which could be a major viral factor for H5N6 virus cross-species infection. Author summary: H9N2 avian influenza viruses (AIVs), through reassortment of their internal genes with other circulating AIVs subtypes (H5N6, H7N9, H10N8 and H10N3 viruses), are known to enable the resulting novel reassortants to infect humans. However, the precise roles of H9N2 virus-derived internal genes in human infection remain unknown. Here, we found that H9N2 virus-derived (but not H5N1 virus-derived) M1 protein showed strong interaction with host GNB1 protein to enhance M1 protein transport to budding sites at the cell membrane to promote progeny virus release, hence facilitating H5N6 reassortants to infect human cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus, possessing 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) and triple-reassortant (TR)-derived internal genes, namely G4 genotype, has replaced the G1 genotype EA H1N1 virus (all the genes were of EA origin) and become predominant in swine populations in China. Understanding the pathogenicity of G4 viruses in pigs is of great importance for disease control. Here, we conducted comprehensive analyses of replication and pathogenicity of G4 and G1 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs. G4 virus exhibited enhanced replication, increased duration of virus shedding, and caused more severe respiratory lesions in pigs compared with G1 virus. G4 virus, with viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) complex genes of pdm/09 origin, exhibited higher levels of nuclear accumulation and higher polymerase activity, which is essential for improved replication of G4 virus. These findings indicate that G4 virus poses a great threat to both swine industry and public health, and control measures should be urgently implemented. • G4 reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus exhibited enhanced replication in pigs. • G4 reassortant EA H1N1 virus caused more severe respiratory lesions in pigs. • vRNPs of G4 reassortant EA H1N1 virus exhibited higher levels of polymerase activity. • G4 reassortant EA H1N1 virus showed higher levels of nuclear accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-milling is a low-cost, efficient, and high-precision machining method for manufacturing tiny parts, and has significant application value in various fields. In order to meet the high-accuracy requirements, several composite micro-milling methods have been proposed. However, these methods cannot change surface characteristics of materials, and poor permeability of cooling medium on the tool-workpiece interface remains unsolved. Atmospheric pressure plasma jet can efficiently improve surface wettability without obviously changing surface microstructures and may have promising application potential in machining of difficult-to-cut materials. Here, we propose to induce atmospheric pressure plasma jet to the micro-milling area to improve machinability and surface quality of TC4 titanium alloy. The influences of plasma jet on material wettability and mechanical property are firstly investigated by conducting plasma modification and tensile experiments. Then, micro-milling experiments of TC4 titanium alloy are performed under different atmospheres (dry, nitrogen jet, plasma jet, minimum quantity lubrication, and plasma jet + minimum quantity lubrication). The experimental results indicate that plasma jet can promote material fracture of TC4 titanium alloy, as well as reduce cutting force and cutting temperature, thereby obtaining better surface quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of low efficiency and high cost in designing inserts with groove, finite element simulation (FEM) method has been employed to directly simulate the chip breaking condition. However, the current methods tend to involve a large number of cutting experiments and a user subroutine program used for secondary development, causing inconveniency in engineering application. Here, we propose a high-efficient three-dimensional (3D) FEM method to analyze the chip breakage properties of complicate-grooved insert. For the simulation, a three-dimensional cutting simulation model is established by Deform 3D FE package, and the Johnson-Cook (J-C) material constitutive model and Cockcroft-Latham (C-L) ductile fracture criterion are adopted. To verify the validity of the model, the simulations and corresponding turning experiments of AISI 1045 steel are performed with complicate-grooved insert at several combination groups of cutting depth and feed rate. The estimated chip morphology, chip breaking process, and cutting force from the simulation are in good consistency with those from the experiments. Additionally, the comparisons between the simulations and corresponding turning experiments with complicate-grooved insert and flat rake insert are conducted. The results show that the chip breaking groove can significantly change the chip flow angle and the chip geometry and that the complicate-grooved insert can more efficiently promote chip breakage than the flat rake insert. Therefore, the 3D FEM method proposed can be used to effectively investigate the chip formation mechanism and chip breakage properties and has promising application prospects in complicate-grooved insert design and cutting parameter optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop a deep learning-based artificial intelligence (AI) scheme for predicting the likelihood of the ground-glass nodule (GGN) detected on CT images being invasive adenocarcinoma (IA) and also compare the accuracy of this AI scheme with that of two radiologists.Methods: First, we retrospectively collected 828 histopathologically confirmed GGNs of 644 patients from two centers. Among them, 209 GGNs are confirmed IA and 619 are non-IA, including 409 adenocarcinomas in situ and 210 minimally invasive adenocarcinomas. Second, we applied a series of pre-preprocessing techniques, such as image resampling, rescaling and cropping, and data augmentation, to process original CT images and generate new training and testing images. Third, we built an AI scheme based on a deep convolutional neural network by using a residual learning architecture and batch normalization technique. Finally, we conducted an observer study and compared the prediction performance of the AI scheme with that of two radiologists using an independent dataset with 102 GGNs.Results: The new AI scheme yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.92 ± 0.03 in classifying between IA and non-IA GGNs, which is equivalent to the senior radiologist's performance (AUC 0.92 ± 0.03) and higher than the score of the junior radiologist (AUC 0.90 ± 0.03). The Kappa value of two sets of subjective prediction scores generated by two radiologists is 0.6.Conclusions: The study result demonstrates using an AI scheme to improve the performance in predicting IA, which can help improve the development of a more effective personalized cancer treatment paradigm.Key Points: • The feasibility of using a deep learning method to predict the likelihood of the ground-glass nodule being invasive adenocarcinoma. • Residual learning-based CNN model improves the performance in classifying between IA and non-IA nodules. • Artificial intelligence (AI) scheme yields higher performance than radiologists in predicting invasive adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-strength alloys have significant application values in aerospace industry due to their excellent mechanical properties. However, grinding of these alloys, which is generally used for precision machining, suffers from problems like high grinding temperature and poor surface quality. Having relatively lower grinding temperature and smaller grinding force, micro-grinding is a high-efficient manufacturing method for precision machining of difficult-to-cut materials. Nevertheless, the side effects induced by current composite grinding methods, such as temperature gradient and chatter marks, tend to be more obvious in the micro-machining process. Atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) can effectively improve metal surface wettability without changing surface structures. On the other hand, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) can more efficiently cool and lubricate the grinding area. Here, we propose to induce APPJ and MQL cooling media into the micro-grinding area, and adjust the cooling and lubricating characteristics. Quenched GCr15 workpieces are machined under five different conditions (dry micro-grinding, nitrogen jet assisted micro-grinding, APPJ assisted micro-grinding, MQL assisted micro-grinding, and APPJ+MQL assisted micro-grinding), and grinding temperature, grinding force, surface roughness, and surface morphology of workpieces in each group are investigated and analyzed. The results indicate that APPJ can reduce grinding force and that APPJ+MQL micro-grinding can obtain surfaces with much better surface quality. Tensile experiments demonstrate that APPJ can reduce material elongation rate and promote material fracture, which contributes to its positive effect on the micro-grinding process. The environmentally-friendly method is expected to have promising application potentials in machining of difficult-to-cut materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wettability patterns have significant application potential in liquid transportation and water collection. Plasma hydrophilization is high-efficient and less-destructive, and has been widely used for preparing wettability patterns. However, the plasma-treated surfaces tend to recover to its original wettability, causing invalidation of the patterns. As a green treatment method, boiled water treatment could construct nanostructures, which is favorable for hydrophilicity-retaining; while the hydrophilization effect of plasma treatment would promote the reaction. Therefore, it should be possible to combine plasma and boiled water treatments to prepare long-lasting wettability patterns. In this paper, superhydrophobic aluminum surfaces were modified by plasma jet followed by boiled water treatment. The time stability, microstructures and chemical compositions of the treated surfaces were investigated by testing contact angles, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The surfaces treated by plasma jet and boiled water could retain superhydrophilicity for a long time under various storage conditions, including normal ambient, high temperature or high humidity. On the basis of this technique, long-lasting patterns could be prepared on different metal substrates. The green method proposed is expected to have promising application potential in fabricating wettability patterns and lab-on-chip devices, especially for those used in severe conditions. Unlabelled Image • Long-lasting water/oil wettability patterns are prepared on metal substrates. • The patterns show good time stability under high temperature/humidity. • The patterns are obtained by using plasma and boiled water to modify substrates. • The modification method is reversible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil/water separation has attracted more attention with the dramatic increasing of oil spill accidents and arbitrarily discharged oily industrial water. However, many reported materials with controllable wettability for on-demand oil/water separation of both heavy and light oil/water mixtures involve complicated devices and dangerous fabrication processes. Herein, we propose a simple, environmentally friendly and high-efficient method to fabricate Al mesh with controllable wettability. Heavy oil can be separated with a high efficiency of 99% in oil-removing mode. For light oil, the separation efficiency can also reach up to 99% in water-removing mode. Additionally, surface wettability of the mesh can be conversed from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity by atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and heating, thereby realizing continuous bidirectional separation. Therefore, this work provides a facile, green, and efficient way for on-demand oil/water separation and finds a promising solution for oil pollution problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel-based superalloy Inconel 718 is one of the hardest materials owing to its high hardness and additional physical properties. It is the most commonly used superalloy in gas turbine, aerospace, and automobile sectors. Micro-milling is generally employed for precision manufacturing of tiny structures, but it is difficult to obtain good surface quality with micro-milling Inconel 718 because of its excellent mechanical properties like high strength and hardness. Atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet can effectively improve surface wettability without changing surface micromorphology, which is expected to have positive lubricating effects in micro-machining of difficult-to-cut materials. In addition, minimum quantity lubrication can induce coolants into the machining area more efficiently, and is especially appropriate for micro-machining. In this paper, we propose a composite micro-milling method combining plasma jet and minimum quantity lubrication to machine Inconel 718. The effect of plasma jet on machinability is investigated by performing micro-milling experiments under different atmospheres (dry, nitrogen jet, plasma jet, minimum quantity lubrication, and plasma + minimum quantity lubrication). Surface roughness, cutting forces, and residual stress are the measures using corresponding techniques. The results indicate that the atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet can efficiently improve surface quality and reduce cutting forces of Inconel 718. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic flexible strain sensors have great application value in the fields of personal health monitoring, human motion detection, and soft robotics due to their good flexibility and high sensitivity. However, complicated preparation processes and costly processing procedures have limited their development. To overcome these limitations, in this work we develop a facile and low-cost method for fabricating superhydrophobic flexible strain sensor via spraying carbon black (CB) nanoparticles dispersed in a thermoplastic elastomer (SEBS) solution on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) flexible substrate. The prepared strain sensor had a large water contact angle of 153 ± 2.83° and a small rolling angle of 8.5 ± 1.04°, and exhibited excellent self-cleaning property. Due to the excellent superhydrophobicity, aqueous acid, salt, and alkali could quickly roll off the flexible strain sensor. In addition, the sensor showed excellent sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) of 5.4–7.35), wide sensing ranges (stretching: over 70%), good linearity (three linear regions), low hysteresis (hysteresis error of 4.8%), and a stable response over 100 stretching-releasing cycles. Moreover, the sensor was also capable of effectively detecting human motion signals like finger bending and wrist bending, showing promising application prospects in wearable electronic devices, personalized health monitoring, etc.Article Highlights: The process of preparing of the CB-SEBS/PDMS superhydrophobic flexible strain sensor is proposed. The relationship between the superhydrophobicity of the conductive coating and the mass percentage of the SEBS is analyzed. The properties and promising applications of the CB-SEBS/PDMS sensor are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Superhydrophobic 304 SS surface were fabricated by electrochemical etching. • Wire cathode generates larger local current density than plate cathode. • Large current density can fabricate rough structure on 304 SS. • Superhydrophobic 304 SS exhibits excellent anti-icing and self-cleaning. Possessing special wetting properties, superhydrophobic surfaces on 304 SS substrates have great application prospects in various fields. However, due to the excellent corrosion resistance of 304 SS, currently, only strong oxidants can directly process stainless steel to obtain desired structures, which poses great threats to human health and the environment. In addition, other methods, such as electrical discharge machining and coating, are relatively expensive, and the prepared surfaces tend to be fragile. Therefore, it is of great significance to find an environmentally friendly and highly efficient method to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces on 304 SS substrates. Electrochemical etching can generate microstructures on metals with neutral electrolytes; nevertheless, there has been no report on fabricating superhydrophobic 304 SS surfaces by electrochemical etching with neutral electrolytes owing to the excellent corrosion resistance of 304 SS. In this paper, wire electrochemical etching with neutral sodium nitrate is adopted for the first time to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces on 304 SS substrates. Based on theoretical analysis, superhydrophobic 304 SS surfaces with contact angles of ∼ 166° and roll-off angles of ∼ 10° are successfully fabricated. The prepared superhydrophobic 304 SS surfaces show excellent anti-icing performance and self-cleaning properties, which may greatly facilitate the application of 304 SS in extreme conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Prediction of the malignancy and invasiveness of ground glass nodules (GGNs) from computed tomography images is a crucial task for radiologists in risk stratification of early-stage lung adenocarcinoma. In order to solve this challenge, a two-stage deep neural network (DNN) was developed based on the images collected from four centers. A multi-reader multi-case observer study was conducted to evaluate the model capability. The performance of our model was comparable or even more accurate than that of senior radiologists, with average area under the curve values of 0.76 and 0.95 for two tasks, respectively. Findings suggest (1) a positive trend between the diagnostic performance and radiologist's experience, (2) DNN yielded equivalent or even higher performance in comparison with senior radiologists, and (3) low image resolution reduced the model performance in predicting the risks of GGNs. This study aims to develop a deep neural network (DNN)-based two-stage risk stratification model for early lung adenocarcinomas in CT images, and investigate the performance compared with practicing radiologists. A total of 2393 GGNs were retrospectively collected from 2105 patients in four centers. All the pathologic results of GGNs were obtained from surgically resected specimens. A two-stage deep neural network was developed based on the 3D residual network and atrous convolution module to diagnose benign and malignant GGNs (Task1) and classify between invasive adenocarcinoma (IA) and non-IA for these malignant GGNs (Task2). A multi-reader multi-case observer study with six board-certified radiologists' (average experience 11 years, range 2–28 years) participation was conducted to evaluate the model capability. DNN yielded area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values of 0.76 ± 0.03 (95% confidence interval (CI): (0.69, 0.82)) and 0.96 ± 0.02 (95% CI: (0.92, 0.98)) for Task1 and Task2, which were equivalent to or higher than radiologists in the senior group with average AUC values of 0.76 and 0.95, respectively (p > 0.05). With the CT image slice thickness increasing from 1.15 mm ± 0.36 to 1.73 mm ± 0.64, DNN performance decreased 0.08 and 0.22 for the two tasks. The results demonstrated (1) a positive trend between the diagnostic performance and radiologist's experience, (2) the DNN yielded equivalent or even higher performance in comparison with senior radiologists, and (3) low image resolution decreased model performance in predicting the risks of GGNs. Once tested prospectively in clinical practice, the DNN could have the potential to assist doctors in precision diagnosis and treatment of early lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs), which can be roughly classified as parallel-field APPJ and cross-field APPJ based on the direction of gas flow and electrical field, have been widely used for surface modification of polymers, but the modification difference between the two kinds of APPJ remains unknown. In this paper, the surface modification of polyethylene (PE) sheet by the two types of APPJ is comparatively studied. Results show that the two types of APPJ can improve the surface wettability of the PE sheet obviously through the comprehensive effect including plasma etching and inducing of hydrophilic groups. However, some differences are also observed. Compared with the cross-field APPJ, the etching effect induced by the parallel-field APPJ is more obvious under the same treatment condition. Additionally, the concentration of active species induced by the cross-field APPJ is higher than that of the parallel-field APPJ at the upstream region. By contrast, at the downstream region, the concentration of active substances induced by the parallel-field APPJ is higher. Finally, the bonding experiment shows that both plasma treatments can improve the bonding properties of PE surfaces, but the adhesion force improved by the parallel-field APPJ is always higher than that of the cross-field APPJ under the same parameters, which is attributed to the more remarkable etching effect that produces a large number of nano-grooves, thus increasing the contact area between UV glue and PE surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites, prized for their exceptional properties, often encounter surface quality issues during slotting due to their inherent heterogeneity. This paper tackles CFRP slotting challenges by employing multi-tooth mills in experiments with various fibre orientations and tool feed rates. In-plane scratching tests are performed under linearly varying loads; then, slotting experiments are conducted at different parameters. The scratching test results indicate that the fibre orientation and cutting angles have significant influences on forces and fracture process. The slotting experiments demonstrate that cutting forces and surface roughness Sa of the bottom slotting surface are notably affected by the fibre orientation, with disparities between up-milling and down-milling sides. Reorganising Sa data by local fibre cutting angle θ highlights consistent Sa variations between up-milling and down-milling sides for 0° ≤ θ ≤ 90°, with lower Sa on the up-milling side. However, for 90° < θ ≤ 150°, Sa variations diverge, with lower Sa on the down-milling side. Unexpectedly, Sa on the down-milling side decreases with increasing θ in this range. Additionally, the tool feed rate exerts a more pronounced influence on Sa on the up-milling side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique microstructures of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) provide them with excellent mechanical, physical, and chemical properties, having important applications in the fields of medical devices, military equipment, aerospace, etc. However, the superb mechanical properties also contribute to poor machinability of the BMGs. Currently, researchers have proposed to improve the machinability by single-point diamond turning, laser-assisted machining and ultrasonic vibration-assisted machining, but their plasticity and viscous flow remain unchanged, thus restraining further enhancement of surface quality. Atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet (APCPJ), which is rich in active particles, can effectively ameliorate material machinability by modulating material properties. In this paper, we propose to use the APCPJ to regulate the properties of BMGs, and carry out nanoindentation, nanoscratching, and micro-milling experiments to investigate the influence mechanisms of APCPJ on the material properties and cutting process. The results demonstrate that after modified by APCPJ, plastic deformability of the BMGs is improved due to the increase of free volume content; meanwhile, the viscous flow is inhibited. The micro-milling experiments indicate that under the conditions of feed rate V f = 500 μm/s, spindle speed n = 30,000 rpm, and cutting depth a p = 5 μm, the improvement effect of APCPJ on the cutting process is relatively optimum. The surface roughness Ra of the Zr-based BMG and Ti-based BMG obtained by APCPJ are respectively 0.076 μm and 0.081 μm, which can be reduced by 37.7 % and 38.2 % compared with dry micro-milling. The cutting forces F z in the direction of cutting depth are also reduced by 30.9 % and 23.3 %, respectively. The APCPJ-assisted micro-milling method proposed in this work may ameliorate the machining quality of BMGs and promote the application of BMGs and APCPJ-assisted machining technology in aerospace and precision machining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patterned surfaces that show different wettabilities on same substrates have important application value in fields like fog collection and liquid transportation. However, superhydrophilic regions on the patterned surfaces prepared tend to become superhydrophobic, which restrains their further applications. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore wettability change of the superhydrophilic regions. In this paper, we prepare patterned aluminum (Al) surfaces by nanosceond laser texturing and fluorosilane modification, and investigate the wettability change of the patterned surfaces (laser parameters: a pulse repetition rate of 20 kHz, a scanning speed of 300 mm/s, a power of 6 W, a pulse width of 100 ns, a beam waist diameter of 46 μm, an optical wavelength of 1064 ± 5 nm, a pulse energy of 0.3 mJ and a laser fluence of 18 J/cm2). Contact angles, surface morphologies and surface chemical compositions are measured and analyzed by an optical angle meter, a scanning electron microscope, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Compared with a uniform superhydrophilic surface, the superhydrophilic area on a patterned surface becomes superhydrophobic more rapidly, indicating that cross contamination of low surface energy functional groups from the superhydrophobic region promotes wettability change of the superhydrophilic region. In addition, the wettability change rate gradually accelerates when storing under a higher temperature of 100 °C; we perform fog collection experiments on patterned surfaces storing under different temperatures, and find that low temperature can hinder wettability change of functional patterned surfaces, thereby improving service life. Unlabelled Image • Wettability change of patterned surfaces is studied. • The wettability change was slower under low temperature in contaminated air. • Cross contamination from superhydrophobic area causes faster wettability change. • Temperature of 100 °C results in faster wettability transition in contaminated air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) 1 is a critical mediator for neuronal cell death in cerebral ischemia, but its role in blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption is incompletely understood. Here, we found that endothelial-specific deletion of Dapk1 using Tie2 Cre protected the brain of Dapk1 fl/fl mice against middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), characterized by mitigated Evans blue dye (EBD) extravasation, reduced infarct size and improved behavior. In vitro experiments also indicated that DAPK1 deletion inhibited oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced tight junction alteration between cerebral endothelial cells (CECs). Mechanistically, we revealed that DAPK1-DAPK3 interaction activated cytosolic phospholipase A 2 (cPLA 2) in OGD-stimulated CECs. Our results thus suggest that inhibition of endothelial DAPK1 specifically prevents BBB damage after stroke. • Endothelial DAPK1 deletion protected blood-brain barrier against tMCAO. • Endothelial DAPK1 deletion protected tight junction after OGD. • Endothelial DAPK1-DAPK3 interaction activated cPLA 2 after OGD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the attitude and height tracking control problem is studied for unmanned helicopters with disturbances. To solve the problem, a composite control scheme is proposed based on the combination of dynamic surface control and disturbance observer-based control techniques. The control design includes two parts. In the first part, some nonlinear disturbance observers are designed to accurately estimate the helicopter's disturbances in different channels. In the second part, based on the disturbance estimates and dynamic surface control technique, a composite dynamic surface tracking controller is designed. Under the proposed composite controller, the attitude and height tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded and they can be regulated to be very small by selecting proper controller parameters. For one thing, the proposed control scheme avoids "explosion of terms", which generally exists in conventional backstepping control and provides a simpler control design. For another thing, without sacrificing the nominal control performances, the anti-disturbance ability of the closed-loop helicopter system is enhanced by using disturbance observers and feedforward compensations. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed composite tracking controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To identify mRNA expression-based stemness index- (mRNAsi-) related genes and build an mRNAsi-related risk signature for endometrial cancer. Methods. We collected mRNAsi data of endometrial cancer samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and analyzed their relationship with the main clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of endometrial cancer patients. We screened the top 50% of the genes in TCGA for weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) to explore mRNAsi-related gene sets. Among these mRNAsi-related genes, we further screened for those related to the prognosis of endometrial cancer patients via univariate Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis. Using stepwise multivariate Cox regression analysis, a stemness index-related risk signature was constructed. Finally, we identified potential prognostic biomarkers for endometrial cancer by combining the GEO database and immunohistochemical staining. Results. The mRNAsi of endometrial cancer samples was significantly higher than that of normal samples and was related to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, pathological grade, postoperative tumor status, and overall survival of endometrial cancer patients. We identified 21 mRNAsi-related gene modules, and 1,324 genes were obtained from the most relevant module. TCGA samples were divided into training and validation cohorts, and the training cohort was used to construct a nine-mRNAsi-related gene signature (B3GAT2, CD3EAP, DMC1, FRMPD3, LINC01224, LINC02068, LY6H, NR6A1, and TLE2). High-risk and low-risk patients had significant prognostic differences, and the risk signature could accurately predict their 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival. The nomogram composed of risk score and multiple clinicopathological features could accurately predict 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival. Finally, CD3EAP was found to be a novel prognostic biomarker for endometrial cancer. Conclusion. Endometrial cancer cell stemness is related to patient prognosis. The nine-gene risk signature is an independent prognostic factor and can accurately predict endometrial cancer patient prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe plastic deformation and lateral flow during machining of pure iron surface resulted in relatively serious tool wear and poor surface quality. Although several methods proposed could improve machinability of pure iron to some extent, poor wettability and high plasticity of pure iron cannot be changed, and further improvement of surface quality may be therefore restrained. In this paper, we propose a new machining method using atmospheric pressure plasma jet to adjust material properties of pure iron during precision turning process. The influence mechanism of plasma jet on surface wettability of pure iron is investigated by plasma modification experiment, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. On the basis of the influence mechanism, precision turning experiments are performed under different lubricating conditions. The experimental results indicate that plasma jet can effectively improve pure iron surface wettability by changing surface composition while not influencing surface microstructures. Under plasma atmosphere, surface roughness and cutting force are obviously reduced, and tool wear is effectively alleviated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic surfaces on mold steel substrates were fabricated via simple and environment-friendly electrochemical technology followed by fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) modification. The microstructure, crystal structure, chemical composition, and wettability of the sample surfaces were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and optical contact angle measuring instrument. The influences of current density and electrochemical machining time on wettability were also studied. The results show that, after the electrochemical processing, the mold steel substrates were covered with a layer of passive films, which have micro/nano binary rough structures composed of rugged plateau structures and rupture-like shapes. Before fluorination, the obtained sample surfaces showed superhydrophilicity (the water contact angles were almost 0°), while the sample surfaces became superhydrophobic (the water contact angles were 167.2° and the water rolling angles were 4.3°) after fluorination. The proposed method is simple, economical and environmental-friendly, and has great potential for large-scale industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple, precise, and controllable method to fabricate wettability-gradient surfaces. Combining electrochemical etching and lithography, different micro/nanostructures can be obtained by adjusting the etching time. After being modified by low energy substances, low adhesive superhydrophobic and sticky hydrophobic regions can be obtained on one surface. Based on the obtained adhesion gradient, droplets of different volumes can be controlled to roll off at dissimilar tilted angles via designing sticky hydrophobic tracks with different widths. Directional transportation of water droplets on curve tracks is also realized based on the anisotropic sliding angles parallel and perpendicular to the tracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Ce(III)-catalyzed, visible-light-induced aerobic oxidative dehydrogenative coupling/aromatization reaction between glycine derivatives and alkenes has been developed, which provides an efficient approach for the synthesis of quinoline derivatives and post-modification of oligopeptides containing glycine residues under mild conditions without the need for external photosensitizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective fabrication of superhydrophilic (S-philic) region on a superhydrophobic (S-phobic) surface requires complex technology and high cost, which has limited applications of extreme wettability patterns. In this paper, a twice-chemical-etching approach without special modification is used to prepare the extreme wettability patterns. Superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity can be successfully achieved after twice chemical etching for 20 seconds. The obtained patterns can maintain their extreme wettability for at least 30 days. Functional platforms with single-S-philic and multi-S-philic regions are fabricated to manipulate water and various organic liquids with water-film protection in an air environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tubes are indispensable in our daily life, mechanical engineering and biomedical fields. However, the practical applications of tubes are sometimes limited by their poor wettability. Reported herein is hydrophilization of the tube inner wall by transferred atmospheric pressure plasma (TAPP). An Ar atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) is used to induce He TAPP inside polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube to perform inner wall surface modification. Optical emission spectrum (OES) is used to investigate the distribution of active species, which are known as enablers for surface modification, along the TAPP. Tubes’ surface properties demonstrate that after TAPP treatment, the wettability of the tube inner wall is well improved due to the decrease of surface roughness, the removal of surface fluorine and introduction of oxygen. Notably, a deep surface modification can significantly retard the aging of the obtained hydrophilicity. The results presented here clearly demonstrate the great potential of TAPP for surface modification of the inner wall of tube or other hollow bodies, and thus a uniform, effective and long-lasting surface modification of tube with any length can be easily realized by moving the tube along its axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Interleukin (IL)-37 is a natural suppressor of inflammation. Macrophages play an important role in acute gout flare by dominating the inflammation and spontaneous relief. We have reported that IL-37 could limit runaway inflammation in gout. Here we focus on whether IL-37 inhibits gouty inflammation by altering macrophage functions, and how it does so. Methods Macrophage functions were evaluated in terms of phagocytosis, pyroptosis, polarization and metabolism. Phagocytosis and polarization of macrophages were detected by side scattering and double-labelling induced nitrogen monoxide synthase (iNOS)/arginase-1 (Arg-1) using flow cytometry, respectively. Transcription of pyroptosis-related molecules was detected by qPCR. Metabolomics was performed by liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer. Human IL-37 knock-in mice and a model with point mutation (S9A) at mouse Gsk3b locus were created by CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome engineering. MSU was injected into the paws and peritoneal cavity to model acute gout. Vernier calliper was used to measure the thickness of the paws. The mice paws and human synovium tissues or tophi were collected for pathological staining. Peritoneal fluid of mice was used to enrich macrophages to detect polarization. Results IL-37 promoted non-inflammatory phagocytic activity of macrophages by enhancing phagocytosis of MSU, reducing transcription of pyroptosis-related proteins and release of inflammatory cytokines, protecting mitochondrial function, and mediating metabolic reprogramming in MSU-treated THP-1 cells. These multifaceted roles of IL-37 were partly depended on the mediation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β). Conclusions Our study revealed that IL-37 could shape macrophages into a 'silent' non-inflammatory phagocytic fashion. IL-37 may become a potentially valuable treatment option for patients of chronic gout, especially for those with tophi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-Li alloy has excellent overall performance and great development potential, which has been considered as a very ideal structural material for aerospace applications. However, the high ductility causes material adhesion to the tool surface, giving rise to severe tool wear, tool breakage, and other machining problems, which restrict the machining quality and practical application of Al-Li alloy structural parts. The multi-filed coupling of cold plasma and nano-lubricant minimum quantity lubrication (CPNMQL) may provide new enlightenment to break this bottleneck. Effects of the multi-field on the micro-milling process were characterized by tool wear, micro-milling force, three-dimensional surface roughness (Sa), and micromorphology. The research results demonstrated that cold plasma (CP) could not only increase the permeability of nano-lubricant on the Al-Li alloy surface but also enhance the material removal efficiency. When the micro-milling distance was 2 m, the average V B value (3.7 µm) of the three tool teeth under CPNMQL condition was reduced by 80.7 %, 54.9 %, and 51.3 %, while micro-milling edge radius (4.4 µm) decreased by 73.2 %, 24.1 %, and 44.3 % compared to dry, nano-lubricant minimum quantity lubrication (NMQL), and CP conditions, respectively. [Display omitted] • The cold plasma and bio-oil-based nano-lubricant coupling-assisted micro-milling Al-Li alloy. • The mechanism of CPNMQL on material machinability was systematically analyzed. • It is proven the CP could promote permeation of NMQL and fracture of Al-Li alloy. • It is proven the CPNMQL could restrain tool wear and improve surface quality. • The optimum Sa of 17 nm was obtained under CPNMQL condition with 6 mL/h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meniscus-confined electrochemical three-dimensional (3D) printing is an effective method for fabricating metal pillars, which have huge application prospects in the fields of anti-icing, oil/water separation, and oil-repellence. However, this method is only applicable for fabricating cylindrical pillars with uniform diameters, and there is still no universal method for fabricating conical, cylindrical and inverted conical pillars. Here, a universal method based on meniscus-confined electrochemical 3D printing was proposed to prepare conical, cylindrical, and inverted conical pillars. First, the meniscus-shaped liquid/air interface was divided into three parts: conical, cylindrical, and inverted conical parts. Then, numerical simulation was conducted to investigate growth processes of the deposition layer. The results indicated that the deposition layer consistently grew at the conical, cylindrical, or inverted conical part, thus forming conical, cylindrical, or inverted conical pillar, respectively. Finally, pillars with conical, cylindrical, and inverted conical shapes were successfully fabricated by electrochemical 3D printing technology, and three types of pillar arrays were also constructed on Cu substrates. After low energy modification, surfaces with the pillar arrays exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity. This work is expected to enrich the theory and technology for preparing superhydrophobic pillars with variable diameters. [Display omitted] • A universal method for fabricating superhydrophobic pillars with variable diameter. • The meniscus-shaped liquid/air interface was divided into three parts. • The surfaces of the pillars were covered with fish-scale-shaped microstructures. • The developed method was suitable for various metal substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyze the role of six human epididymis protein 4 (HE4)‐related mitochondrial ribosomal proteins (MRPs) in ovarian cancer and selected MRPL15, which is most closely related to the tumorigenesis and prognosis of ovarian cancer, for further analyses. Methods: Using STRING database and MCODE plugin in Cytoscape, six MRPs were identified among genes that are upregulated in response to HE4 overexpression in epithelial ovarian cancer cells. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) ovarian cancer, GTEX, Oncomine, and TISIDB were used to analyze the expression of the six MRPs. The prognostic impact and genetic variation of these six MRPs in ovarian cancer were evaluated using Kaplan‐Meier Plotter and cBioPortal, respectively. MRPL15 was selected for immunohistochemistry and GEO verification. TCGA ovarian cancer data, gene set enrichment analysis, and Enrichr were used to explore the mechanism of MRPL15 in ovarian cancer. Finally, the relationship between MRPL15 expression and immune subtype, tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes, and immune regulatory factors was analyzed using TCGA ovarian cancer data and TISIDB. Results: Six MRPs (MRPL10, MRPL15, MRPL36, MRPL39, MRPS16, and MRPS31) related to HE4 in ovarian cancer were selected. MRPL15 was highly expressed and amplified in ovarian cancer and was related to the poor prognosis of patients. Mechanism analysis indicated that MRPL15 plays a role in ovarian cancer through pathways such as the cell cycle, DNA repair, and mTOR 1 signaling. High expression of MRPL15 in ovarian cancer may be associated with its amplification and hypomethylation. Additionally, MRPL15 showed the lowest expression in C3 ovarian cancer and was correlated with proliferation of CD8+ T cells and dendritic cells as well as TGFβR1 and IDO1 expression. Conclusion: MRPL15 may be a prognostic indicator and therapeutic target for ovarian cancer. Because of its close correlation with HE4, this study provides insights into the mechanism of HE4 in ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete is often used in building, bridges, dams, roads and other infrastructures. However, the porosities and natural hydrophilicity of concrete often induce the damage of the concrete architecture or other disasters. Endowing the concrete with superhydrophobicity can effectively improve the antifreeze–thaw, anti-corrosion and anti-icing properties and expand the application prospect of concrete in the modern construction industry. Despite all this, the compressive strength of superhydrophobic concrete is not high enough, limiting its application. Here, we maintained superhydrophobic concrete for 28 days and improved the compressive strength for 3.5 times from 10 MPa to 34.48 MPa. The main mechanism is that calcium silicate hydrate structures grow with the increase in maintenance time and make the inside microstructures connected more closely. In addition, XPS spectra were also collected to investigate the chemical compositions of the superhydrophobic concrete. A series of tests were carried out on superhydrophobic concrete and indicated that the superhydrophobic concrete after maintenance had high surface robustness, anti-corrosion property and high anti-icing and deicing capacity, showing the application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• SS-concrete is easily prepared by immersing superhydrophobic concrete into oil. • The SS-concrete shows high impedance and good anti-corrosion ability. • The SS-concrete has excellent slippery property with a water sliding angle of ∼3°. • The SS-concrete shows good resistance against various liquid foulings. • The SS-concrete has good anti-bacterial adhesion ability. Due to superhydrophilicity and porosity, the concrete structure of buildings in marine engineering is easily corroded and polluted. Superhydrophobic concrete has been studied and applied to alleviate this problem; however, the poor stability under high pressure and in contact with foulings hampers its wide application. To overcome the above challenges, we develop an environment-friendly and inexpensive super-slippery concrete (SS-concrete) by injecting oil into the interior and outer surface of the superhydrophobic concrete (SH-concrete). The impendence of SS-concrete is 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of ordinary concrete (O-concrete), indicating that the corrosion resistance of concrete has been significantly improved. Moreover, the stable protective oil layer of the SS-concrete prevents the infiltration and adhesion of water, ice, oils, ink, milk and even bacteria, showing excellent anti-fouling ability. Therefore, the SS-concrete may have great potential application in the concrete-based buildings in marine engineering field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strain localization is a common deformation induced instability in many nanograined metals. Gradient nanograined metals are known to suppress the strain localization by inner coarse grains (CGs) coordinating plastic deformation. However, in this study, we found that using micropillar compression, heterostructure nanograins (NGs) with gradient grain size could suppress the strain localization and thus provide extra strain hardening without the CGs coordinating the plastic deformation. The gradient distribution of the grain size in Ti–6Al–4V alloy with heterostructure NGs plays a significant role in suppressing the strain localization. First, the gradient grain size distribution in NGs causes shear band delocalization by activating the stress-driven grain boundary migration and dislocation slip, which largely suppresses shear band localization at the low strain level. Second, when the gradient grain size distribution disappears, gradient nanograins (GNGs) change to homogeneous ultrafine grains (UFGs) stored with a large number of dislocations at the high strain level. This can refine the UFGs to NGs by dislocation-induced dynamic recrystallization and coordinate the plastic deformation in the shear bands, thereby suppressing the shear band localization at the high strain level. Hence, heterostructure NGs with gradient grain size contribute to the extra strain hardening by suppressing the strain localization. This study not only provides new insights into how GNGs suppress the strain localization, but also offers a new strategy for designing heterostructure NGs using grain boundary engineering (gradient distribution of the grain size) to improve the ductility of nanograined metals. • Mechanical property of heterostructure nanograins with gradient grain size was studied by micropillar compressions. • Heterostructure nanograins display significant strain delocalization without the CGs coordinating the plastic deformation. • Strain delocalization is realized by forming dispersed shear bands at low strain levels. • Strain delocalization is achieved by grain refinement in shear bands at high strain levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme wettability materials, which can enable high-efficiency oil/water separation, has become a widely discussed topic due to increasingly severe oil pollutions including frequent offshore oil-spills accidents and industrial oily wastewater emission. However, most of existing methods to prepare these materials involved complicated machining processes or dangerous operations, especially the use of corrosive or toxic chemicals. Herein, a novel and environment friendly method including mark electrochemical machining (MECM) and subsequent chemical immersion, was proposed to acquire micropore arrays on Al foil for efficient oil collection from oil/water mixtures. Micro-dimple arrays were generally fabricated by MECM process followed by CuCl2 immersion to make it through. Both simulation and experimental verification were conducted to elucidate how dimple structures varied with machining parameters. The micro-scale rectangular-shaped step-like structures on micropore arrays endowed as-prepared samples with excellent superhydrophibic and underwater superoleophobic properties. Moreover, oils with kinematic viscosities ranging from 0.41 to 74.4 cSt could be separated from water with separation efficiencies above 95%. The superhydrophilic Al foil still showed good durability through repeated oil/water separation tests, and retained its superhydrophilicity even after the storage in water for 120 hours. Therefore, this novel and green method gives researchers new insights into functional materials preparation for practical oil/water separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyurethane (PU) sponge with extreme wettability have been studied widely for oil/water separation. However, existing techniques to fabricate the PU sponge with extreme wettability often involve using the harmful and toxic chemicals with the complex fabrication processes. Here, a facile, environmentally friendly and cost-effective method is proposed to fabricate superhydrophobic-superoleophilic cement-coated PU sponge for oil/water separation. Due to rich porous structures and good elasticity, superhydrophobic sponge exhibited high adsorption capacity for various oils/organic solvents. The separation ability was less affected by complex conditions, including UV lamp irradiation, turbulent environment and continuous separation with vacuum pump assistance. Separation efficiency of oils/corrosive aqueous solutions mixtures could reach up to 99%, which suggested that this superhydrophobic cement-coated PU sponge could be a promising candidate for oil spill cleanup on the sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The proposed laser processing method is green and maskless. • This method is applicable for various metal substrates. • Some applications were achieved on the prepared patterned surfaces with grooves. • The patterned superhydrophobic surface has higher fog collection efficiency. Superhydrophobic surfaces with hydrophilic patterns are widely used in liquid transport, water collection, and cell screening. However, the preparation process of these patterned surfaces tends to be time-consuming and complicated. Here, we apply a simple, efficient and versatile laser processing method. Superhydrophobic substrates are firstly constructed by laser treatment and fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) solution; then superhydrophilic patterns such as dot-shaped or linear grooves are processed by secondary laser treatment. The dot-shaped grooves have strong adhesive force to droplets, and the linear grooves show obvious anisotropic adhesion behavior. On the basis of these features, applications like liquid transport, droplets grabbing and mixing, and fog collection are successfully achieved. The proposed laser processing method is applicable for various metal substrates including aluminum, copper, steel and titanium, and is expected to have promising application prospects in lab-on-a-chip system and chemical analysis domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directional water harvesting is a special ability of flora and fauna in nature. Wettability-patterned surfaces inspired by natural structures have been extensively researched and could be a great potential avenue for easing water shortage. However, preparation strategies for these nature-inspired cases, including UV irradiation with mask technology, femtosecond laser direct writing and chemical treatment, are time-consuming, cost-ineffective and environmentally unfriendly. In this paper, robust and durable superhydrophobic (SHB) glass substrate was prepared by using laser-induced backward transfer technique and fluoroalkylsilane modification. Then wedge-shaped superhydrophilic (SHL) patterns on the SHB surfaces were rapidly constructed by inexpensive and commercially available fibre laser ablation for fog harvesting. This facile, cost-effective and non-corrosive preparation method described herein could be an alternative way to construct SHL–SHB patterns on glass substrate, which could be used for microfluidic devices, droplet manipulation and cell screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeronautic steel is widely used as the structural material in aircrafts. The inherent hydrophilicity of aeronautic steel will result in water clinging and ice adhesion in humid environment, which seriously affect the stability of aircrafts. Therefore, fabrication of superhydrophobic surface on aeronautic steel substrate has considerable industrial significance in improving its service life in humid environment. However, how to introduce superhydrophobicity on the aeronautic steel surface has been rarely focused. Herein, a facile electrochemical etching method was applied for forming passive films on 30Cr2Ni2WVA aeronautic steel surface, and the reduction of surface energy was achieved by fluoroalkylsilane modification. Experimental studies were implemented to investigate the influences of electrochemical process parameters on the wettability of prepared surfaces, and the relatively optimum technical parameters were obtained through comparative analysis of experimental results. The robustness of the superhydrophobic surface covered with passive films was carefully investigated by carrying out different tests including linear abrasion, solid particle impact, ultrasonic cleaning, ultraviolet exposure and thermal cycling. Additionally, we also studied the anti-icing property of the superhydrophobic surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H3N8 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in China caused two confirmed human infections in 2022, followed by a fatal case reported in 2023. H3N8 viruses are widespread in chicken flocks; however, the zoonotic features of H3N8 viruses are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that H3N8 viruses were able to infect and replicate efficiently in organotypic normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells and lung epithelial (Calu-3) cells. Human isolates of H3N8 virus were more virulent and caused severe pathology in mice and ferrets, relative to chicken isolates. Importantly, H3N8 virus isolated from a patient with severe pneumonia was transmissible between ferrets through respiratory droplets; it had acquired human-receptor-binding preference and amino acid substitution PB2-E627K necessary for airborne transmission. Human populations, even when vaccinated against human H3N2 virus, appear immunologically naive to emerging mammalian-adapted H3N8 AIVs and could be vulnerable to infection at epidemic or pandemic proportion. [Display omitted] • Human-derived H3N8 viruses replicated efficiently in human respiratory epithelial cells • Human-derived H3N8 viruses caused severe pathology in mice and ferrets • One human H3N8 isolate acquired efficient respiratory droplet transmission in ferrets • The PB2-E627K mutation is critical for H3N8 virus airborne transmission in ferrets Avian H3N8 influenza virus infection has caused acute respiratory distress syndrome and deaths in humans. An H3N8 virus isolated from a patient with severe pneumonia replicates efficiently in human airway epithelial cells, is highly virulent in mammalian hosts, and is aerosol-transmissible in ferrets, demonstrating its epidemic/pandemic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, the position and yaw angle trajectory tracking control problem is studied for unmanned helicopters subject to both matched and mismatched disturbances. To achieve the trajectory tracking goal, a feedforward-feedback composite control scheme is proposed based on the combination of the generalized proportional integral observer and the block backstepping control techniques. The controller design process mainly consists of two stages. In the first stage, some generalized proportional integral observers are developed for the helicopter system to estimate the mismatched, matched disturbances and their (higher-order) derivatives. In the second stage, the composite controller is designed by integrating the block backstepping control method and the disturbance estimates together. The proposed composite scheme guarantees asymptotic tracking performances for the position and yaw angle of the helicopter to the desired trajectories even in the presence of fast time-varying disturbances. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed composite control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract Extreme wettability surfaces have attracted more and more attention due to their practical applications, however, few reports have shown a universal method to create surface patterns with extreme wettability on a variety of metals. In this paper, a mask-assisted dual-chemical-processing approach without special modification is used to prepare the extreme wettability patterns on various metal substrates. Fabrication of superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic patterns on five kinds of metal substrates of Al, Ti, steel, Zn and Mg alloy proved the versatility of this method. The extreme wettability patterns prepared by this method were applied to fog harvest and we found the big differences in the collection efficiency of various metal surface patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquatic microrobots, which can walk freely on water mimicking water striders, have attracted considerable interest among scientists in biomimetic area. Most of previous water strider robots adopted gear pairs as their driving mechanism, which called for high assembly precision and thereby increased the processing difficulty. Here, a novel and simple method using servos as the driving module to prepare water walking robot was proposed. We fabricated this robot by using supporting and actuating legs with excellent superhydrophobicity. Our robot weighted 27.9 g, but could float and run quickly driven by mini-type servos under remote Bluetooth control in mobile terminal. The legs were obtained on Al substrates by chemical etching, boiling-water immersion and low surface energy modification. Then, surface morphology and chemical compositions were subsequently investigated by SEM, EDS and XRD. In order to better illustrate the floating and rowing mechanism of this robot on the water surface, mechanics analysis models were proposed to analyze the lifting force and resistance force, respectively. Due to its excellent floating capacity and rowing ability, the biomimetic robot has promising application potential in water quality monitoring, aquatic exploration, and other surveillance missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the contact time while water droplets impact on solid surface has become a vital object concerned by many researchers in recent years. However, previous methods of preparing superhydrophobic surfaces for shortening the contact time, with low efficiency and high expense, are not suitable for large-area fabrication and some obtained surfaces cannot work unless droplets just impact on the specific textures which limits their application in the field of anti-icing from freezing rain. Moreover, the contact time reduction has been mostly observed on metals, but rarely on nonmetals. Here, a facile method of fabricating superhydrophobic cotton was first conducted to largely reduce the contact time between droplet and substrate surface, which obviously eliminated the previous weakness. The treated cotton showed an excellent self-cleaning property and water droplet could also easily roll off the surface. The subsequent impact experiments show that the contact time was shortened by ~ 36% compared with that on the regular hard superhydrophobic surface. Moreover, the influence of the impact velocity and droplet radius on the overall contact time or spreading time and recoiling time had been also observed. And the elasticity of soft elastic superhydrophobic material plays a significant role in making the droplet early bounce off the surface causing a large contact time reduction, which leads to a new way to understand the dynamics of bouncing droplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploration of functional materials for use in water treatment is one global requirement for protecting life and the environment. However, the state-of-the-art the materials used in oil/water separation and water harvesting still face challenges such as complicated processing steps, poor microstructure controllability and small-scale preparation. Here, a novel wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) strategy is introduced to fabricate a functional copper mesh by cross machining both sides of the substrate, followed by a one-step low surface energy modification. The WEDM process makes the three-dimensional micro-nano structures can be well protected, and the low energy modification renders the surfaces superhydrophobic. The surfaces with micro-nano structures exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity (WCA≈158.8° and RA≈2°) and high durability towards mechanical abrasion (>100 cycles) and ultraviolet irradiation (>152° for 24 h). For various light/heavy oil/water mixtures, the separation efficiency of the meshes reached 98.1%, and the oil flux could reach 128.5 kL /(mm2·h). The superhydrophobic mesh could realize a highly efficient fog collection [12.0 L/(m2·h)], which was 390% and 830% higher than those treated by WEDM and the untreated copper plates, respectively. Therefore, we expect that the multifunctional superhydrophobic meshes may serve as a promising candidate for alleviating the water pollution and shortage. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic wedge-shaped patterned surface (SSWPS) has promising application prospects in water transportation, fog harvesting, etc., and has therefore been widely prepared and studied. However, influences of micro-morphologies of the SSWPS on water transportation and fog harvesting, which may be of great significance, have rarely been reported. Here, we firstly investigated the influences of the micro-morphologies on the water transportation and fog harvesting processes. SSWPSs with different microgrooves were prepared by laser processing, and the influence mechanisms of the micro-morphologies on droplet motion behaviors were then investigated. The different micro-morphologies contributed to dissimilar capillary forces and fluid resistances during the transportation process, thus resulting in the different transport speeds and fog harvesting efficiencies. For regular microgrooves with 0° direction and larger depths, the capillary forces were relatively larger while the fluid resistances were smaller, which led to the faster water transport speeds of the SSWPS. Fog harvesting experiments on different surfaces demonstrated that the SSWPS with faster water transport speed exhibited much higher fog harvesting efficiency, and could achieve long-time continuous harvesting, which was expected to facilitate application of the SSWPS. [Display omitted] • Influences of micro-morphologies on water transport of SSWPS are firstly studied. • Different microgroove direction, spacing and depth are tailored by laser texturing. • Water transport speed is higher on SSWPS with 0°, deeper and regular microgrooves. • The SSWPS with faster water transport speed has higher fog harvesting efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]