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Thermoelectric (TE) materials can convert waste heat into electrical energy, which has attracted great interest in recent years. In this paper, the effect of biaxial-tensile strain on the electronic properties, lattice thermal conductivity, and thermoelectric performance of α-phase Se2Te and SeTe2 monolayers are calculated based on density-functional theory and the semiclassical Boltzmann theory. The calculated results show that the tensile strain reduces the bandgap because the bond length between atoms enlarges. Moreover, the tensile strain strengthens the scatting rate while it weakens the group velocity and softens the phonon model, leading to lower lattice thermal conductivity kl. Simultaneously, combined with the weakened kl, the tensile strain can also effectively modulate the electronic transport coefficients, such as the electronic conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and electronic thermal conductivity, to greatly enhance the ZT value. In particular, the maximum n-type doping ZT under 1% and 3% strain increases up to six and five times higher than the corresponding ZT without strain for the Se2Te and SeTe2 monolayers, respectively. Our calculations indicated that the tensile strain can effectively enhance the thermoelectric efficiency of Se2Te and SeTe2 monolayers and they have great potential as TE materials.

Abstract Background Remimazolam is a benzodiazepine sedative that is indicated for induction and maintenance during general anaesthesia. Remimazolam is also used for sedation in outpatient surgery; however, most reports have focused on nonelderly patients, whereas only a few studies have reported the use of remimazolam for elderly patients when receiving regional nerve block anaesthesia. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different doses of remimazolam in elderly patients when specifically related to regional nerve block anaesthesia. Methods This study was conducted at a university hospital between February 2022 and March 2023. We included 80 patients aged 65 years or older under regional nerve block anaesthesia. After the effects of anaesthesia were determined, patients were intravenously administered different doses of the test drug, i.e. 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, or 6 mg, which were named the R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 groups, respectively. The primary outcome was the loss of consciousness time. The secondary outcomes included the maintenance time and the number of assisted ventilators needed. The exceptional response of patients in terms of loss of consciousness maintenance time, the mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), SpO2, and modified observers assessment of alertness/sedation (MOAA/S) scores were recorded at baseline (T0), 3 min after the injection of the test drug (T1), 6 min after the injection of the test drug (T2), 9 min after the injection of the test drug (T3), 12 min after the injection of the test drug (T4), 15 min after the injection of the test drug (T5), 18 min after the injection of the test drug (T6), 21 min after the injection of the test drug (T7), and 24 min after the injection of the test drug (T8). Results We included 80 patients according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, with 16 patients in each group. There were no significant differences in sex, age, and BMI amongst the 5 groups. The loss of consciousness time was significantly greater in the R2 group than in the R3, R4, and R5 groups (p

This study evaluated the quality potential of seven synthetic hexaploid wheats (2n=6x=42, AABBDD) expressing only allelic variation at Glu-D1 of Aegilops tauschii (SHWSD). Major quality parameters related to dough strength, gluten proteins (including high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) and low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS), gliadins), and their ratios between SHWSD and the weak gluten wheat control Chuannong 16 (CN16) were measured in at least three environments (except STD7). The zeleny sedimentation value (ZSV), dough development time (DDT), dough stability time (DST), and farinograph quality number (FQN) of SHWSD were considered stable under different environments, with their respective ranges being 8.00–17.67 mL, 0.57–1.50 min, 0.73–1.80 min, and 9.50–27.00. The ZSV, DDT, DST, and FQN of SHWSD were smaller than those of CN16, suggesting that SHWSD had a weaker dough strength than CN16. Although SHWSD had a lower gluten index than CN16, its wet and dry gluten contents were similar to or even higher than those of CN16 in all environments tested. The protein content of grains (12.81–18.21%) and flours (14.20–20.31%) in SHWSD was higher than that in CN16. The amount of HMW-GS in SHWSD sharply decreased under the expression of fewer HMW-GS genes, and the LMW-GS, gliadins, and total glutenins were simultaneously increased in SHWSD in comparison with CN16. Moreover, SHWSD had higher ratios of LMW-GS/glutenin and gliadin/glutenin but a lower ratio of HMW-GS/glutenin than CN16. These results provide necessary information for the utilization of SHWSD in weak-gluten wheat breeding.

Abstract Background Early diagnosis and treatment of chronic pancreatitis (CP) are limited. In this study, St13, a co-chaperone protein, was investigated whether it constituted a novel regulatory target in CP. Meanwhile, we evaluated the value of micro-PET/CT in the early diagnosis of CP. Methods Data from healthy control individuals and patients with alcoholic CP (ACP) or non-ACP (nACP) were analysed. PRSS1 transgenic mice (PRSS1 Tg ) were treated with ethanol or caerulein to mimic the development of ACP or nACP, respectively. Pancreatic lipid metabolite profiling was performed in human and PRSS1 Tg model mice. The potential functions of St13 were investigated by crossing PRSS1 Tg mice with St13−/− mice via immunoprecipitation and lipid metabolomics. Micro-PET/CT was performed to evaluate pancreatic morphology and fibrosis in CP model. Results The arachidonic acid (AA) pathway ranked the most commonly dysregulated lipid pathway in ACP and nACP in human and mice. Knockout of St13 exacerbated fatty replacement and fibrosis in CP model. Sdf2l1 was identified as a binding partner of St13 as it stabilizes the IRE1α-XBP1s signalling pathway, which regulates COX-2, an important component in AA metabolism. Micro-PET/CT with 68Ga-FAPI-04 was useful for evaluating pancreatic morphology and fibrosis in CP model mice 2 weeks after modelling. Conclusion St13 is functionally activated in acinar cells and protects against the cellular characteristics of CP by binding Sdf2l1, regulating AA pathway. 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT may be a very valuable approach for the early diagnosis of CP. These findings thus provide novel insights into both diagnosis and treatment of CP.

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is prevalent among malignant tumors with poor prognosis and lacks efficient therapeutic strategies. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis are associated with chronic inflammation and cancer progression. However, the prognostic value of ER stress-related, and apoptosis-related genes in PC remains to be further elucidated. Our study aimed at confirming the prognostic values of the ER stress-related genes, ATF6, EMC6, XBP1, and CHOP, and the apoptosis-related gene, APAF1, in PC patients.Methods: Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2) was used to evaluate prognosis value of ATF6, EMC6, XBP1, CHOP, and APAF1 in PC. Clinical data from 69 PC patients were retrospectively analyzed. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and qRT-PCR were used for the assessment of gene or protein expression. The cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and the Transwell invasion assays were, respectively, used for the assessment of the proliferative and invasive abilities of PC cells. The prognostic values of ATF6, XBP1, CHOP, EMC6, and APAF1 in PC patients were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses.Results: XBP1 and CHOP expressions were not associated with PC recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). ATF6 upregulation and EMC6 and APAF1 downregulations significantly correlated with the poor RFS, OS, and DSS of PC patients. ATF6 promoted PC cell proliferation and invasion, while EMC6 and APAF1 inhibited these events.Conclusion: ATF6 upregulation and EMC6 and APAF1 downregulations may be valid indicators of poor prognosis of PC patients. Moreover, ATF6, EMC6, and APAF1 may constitute potential therapeutic targets in PC patients.

Background: Exposure to multiple metals is recognized as a common and real scenario in daily life. However, limited prospective studies have assessed associations between multiple metals exposure and hypertension. Methods: In total, 2625 adults in a local area on the Yangtze River were investigated at baseline from 2014 to 2015 and followed up in 2019. We measured baseline urine levels of 22 metals and used multivariate logistic analysis and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to explore associations between multiple metals exposure and the risk of hypertension. Results: A total of 385 individuals (29.6%) were diagnosed with hypertension. Five metals (cadmium, copper, magnesium, molybdenum and zinc) were positively associated with hypertension in single-metal models. Cadmium and zinc remained significantly positive associations after adjusting for these five metals, with the odds ratio (OR) in the highest quartiles of 1.49 (95% CI: 1.01, 2.21; p-trend = 0.05) and 1.60 (95% CI: 1.08, 2.38; p-trend = 0.02), respectively. BKMR analysis showed a significant joint effect of multiple metals on hypertension when the concentrations of five metals were at or above their 55th percentile compared with their median values. A potential interaction between cadmium and zinc in increasing the risk of hypertension was observed with the ORint of 1.41 (95%CI: 1.05, 1.89). Conclusions: We identified the joint effect of multiple metals on hypertension and observed a significant interaction between cadmium and zinc. Further cohort studies are needed to clarify the health effects of multiple metals exposure in a larger population.

Elastic constants, ferromagnetism and electronic structures of Fe11MoSi4, Fe11TiSi4, and Fe11NbSi4 are studied by first-principles calculations with density functional theory (DFT). It is found that the ductility of Fe3Si could be obviously improved with the addition of Ti. The G/B0 of Fe11TiSi4 is 0.483, which means that it is ductile. The strong interaction of Fe 3d–Ti 3d intensifies the metallic character. However, Fe11NbSi4 has the optimal ferromagnetism. The total magnetic moments of the Fe11NbSi4 is 20.42μB. The difference between spin-up electrons and spin-down electrons at the Fermi level markedly varies with different alloying elements; furthermore, the difference at EF in the Nb case is the highest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]