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The stability of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) is a key issue before their selection for industrial applications. In this study, in-situ high-pressure and high-temperature synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction experiments have been performed on three typical HEAs Ni20Co20Fe20Mn20Cr20, Hf25Nb25Zr25Ti25, and Re25Ru25Co25Fe25 (at. %), having face-centered cubic (fcc), body-centered cubic (bcc), and hexagonal close-packed (hcp) crystal structures, respectively, up to the pressure of ~80 GPa and temperature of ~1262 K. Under the extreme conditions of the pressure and temperature, all three studied HEAs remain stable up to the maximum pressure and temperatures achieved. For these three types of studied HEAs, the pressure-dependence of the volume can be well described with the third order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. The bulk modulus and its pressure derivative are found to be 88.3 GPa and 4 for bcc-Hf25Nb25Zr25Ti25, 193.9 GPa and 5.9 for fcc-Ni20Co20Fe20Mn20Cr20, and 304.6 GPa and 3.8 for hcp-Re25Ru25Co25Fe25 HEAs, respectively. The thermal expansion coefficient for the three studied HEAs is found to be in the order as follows: fcc-Ni20Co20Fe20Mn20Cr20>bcc-Hf25Nb25Zr25Ti25 ≈hcp-Re25Ru25Co25Fe25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) is a critical negative regulator for nucleus pulposus (NP) cell metabolism contributing to intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) has the ability to mediate cell proliferation and is affected by p38MAPK. It is unclear whether the p38 MAPK inhibitor SD0006 (SD) can regulate IDD. Our study aims to explore the effect of SD in the progression of IDD, as well as its potential mechanism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: NP cells isolating from mild degenerated NP tissues were cultured, and IL-1β or Asiatic acid (AA) was used to activate p38MAPK and accelerate the NP cell degradation. Then, SD was used to reject the p38MAPK activation. After that, the levels of phosphorylated p38MAPK (p-p38), HDAC4, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), inflammatory factor, proliferative cell rate, and cell cycle were determined by Western blot, RT-PCR, flow cytometry, and immunofluorescence, respectively. RESULTS: The results showed that the activation of p38MAPK by IL-1β and AA decreased the HDAC4 expression, affected the collagen-Ⅱ expression, upregulated the TNF-α, IL-6, MMP-3, and ADAMTS mRNA levels, and prevent the NP cell proliferation by mediating cell cycles. However, the application of SD alleviated the negative effect of p-p38 by upregulating HDAC4, anti-inflammation, and promoting cell proliferation, while the blocking of HDAC4 expression partly abolished the effect of SD. CONCLUSIONS: SD can prevent NP cell degeneration by promoting cell proliferation and suppressing inflammation via p38MAPK/HDAC4 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfacial electronic structure of Ga2O3(Gd2O3) (GGO) on n-Ge(001) is determined using high-resolution synchrotron radiation photoemission. The excitation photon energy was specifically chosen to observe the interaction at the GGO/Ge interface (hv = 463 eV) as well as the possible diffusion of Ge up to the GGO surface (hν = 120 eV). The Ge 3d core-level spectra were fit to extract the contributing components. Photoemission measurements were done for four samples, as deposited, N2 annealed, CF4 plasma treated, and the combined CF4 plasma treated and N2 annealed. No surface passivation was employed prior to the dielectric deposition. SRPES data clearly showed that the elemental Ge in the as-deposited sample was effectively kept in the wafer. Prevention of Ge diffusion was attributed to formation of a thin germanatelike oxide layer. Other than contributions from bulk Ge, an analytical fit to the Ge 3d cores gives two components that are associated with bonding to Gd2O3 (GdGe*) and to Ga2O3 (GaGe*), which had chemical shifts of 3.46 and 1.80 eV, respectively. We hereby label them as MGe*, where M stands for either Gd2O3 or Ga2O3. Area occupations of the GdGe* and GaGe* oxides are ∼87% and ∼10%, respectively. A CF4 plasma treatment disturbs the film itself as well as the interfacial oxide so that the GGO surface begins to show both elemental Ge and Ga. Nevertheless, the follow-up N2 annealing produces the GdGe*+GaGe* layer with characteristics similar to those at the GGO/Ge interface. Both GdGe* and GaGe* states in the CN-treated sample show simultaneously a smaller chemical shift by 0.31 ± 0.02 eV than those in the as-deposited sample. The treatments also induce upward band bending on both the high κ and the Ge sides, which causes the valence band offset at the GGO/Ge interface to be 2.95 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Click here for the corresponding questions to this CME article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P-glycoprotein [P-gp or the ATP-binding cassette transporter B1 (ABCB1)] is an important participant in multidrug resistance of cancer cells, yet the precise function of this arthropod transporter is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the importance of P-gp for susceptibility to insecticides in the beet armyworm ( Spodoptera exigua) using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) gene-editing technology. We cloned an open reading frame (ORF) encoding the S. exigua P-gp protein (SeP-gp) predicted to display structural characteristics common to P-gp and other insect ABCB1 transporters. A knockout line with a frame shift deletion of four nucleotides in the SeP-gp ORF was established using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system to test its potential role in determining susceptibility to chemical insecticides or insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Results from comparative bioassays demonstrate that knockout of SeP-gp significantly increases susceptibility of S. exigua by around threefold to abamectin and emamectin benzoate (EB), but not to spinosad, chlorfenapyr, beta-cypermethrin, carbosulfan indoxacarb, chlorpyrifos, phoxim, diafenthiuron, chlorfluazuron, chlorantraniliprole or two Bt toxins (Cry1Ca and Cry1Fa). Our data support an important role for SeP-gp in susceptibility of S. exigua to abamectin and EB and imply that overexpression of SeP-gp may contribute to abamectin and EB resistance in S. exigua. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel V2AlC electrode material for supercapacitors was investigated in this study. The structure and surface morphology were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The formation of irregularly shaped V2AlC with different particle size distribution was confirmed by XRD and FESEM. The electrochemical measurements were performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). V2AlC electrode exhibited 27.6 F g-1 of specific capacitance at the current density of 0.5 A g-1.The specific capacitance of V2AlC electrode remained 93.8% of the first cycle after 2000 cycles. V2AlC has great potential for application in supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality ferrovanadium nitride was prepared successfully by carbothermal reduction nitridation process by using V2O5 and Fe as the raw materials. The effects of reaction temperature and C/O molar ratio (content of O is defined as the oxygen in V2O5) on the quality of ferrovanadium nitride were investigated in detail. It was demonstrated that C/O molar ratio had a great influence on the residue carbon, as well as the nitrogen content in the final products. It was found that the nitrogen content of the final product achieved 11.52% when the C/O molar ratio was 90% of the stoichiometric value. However, the nitrogen contents of the final products decreased with the further increase of C/O molar ratio. For the temperature higher than 1773 K, Fe became liquid phase and surrounded the solid V(C, N, O) particles tightly. The formation of liquid Fe was beneficial for the further removal of oxygen atoms left in the V(C, N, O) lattice, since it provided a liquid tunnel for carbon diffusion which greatly enhanced the reaction kinetics. From the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermodynamic calculations, phase evolution sequence of V2O5 can be obtained as: V2O5→VO2→V2O3→V(C, N, O). Moreover, the kinetic process from V2O3 to VN was studied and the results shown that the reaction rate can be described by Jander diffusion model with the extracted activation energy of 188.173 kJ/mol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of ErAlO3 single crystal were investigated. Magnetization of ErAlO3 shows obvious anisotropy when magnetic field is applied along the a, b and c axes, which leads to large anisotropic magnetic entropy change. In particular, large rotating field entropy change from the b to c axis within the bc plane is obtained and reaches 9.7 J/kg K at 14 K in a field of 5 T. This suggests the possibility of using ErAlO3 single crystal for magnetic refrigerators by rotating its magnetization vector rather than moving it in and out of the magnet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Diels-Alder cycloaddition of dienes with alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes was studied. The reaction was carried out at low temperatures under the catalysis of BF3.OEt2 or BBr3 and showed good agreement with ab initio calculations in demonstrating the effect of the beta-alkyl substituents in the dienophiles on the reactivity and mode of cycloaddition. The latter was attributed to the steric interactions in the asynchronous transition structure.