Search

An aerosol jet printing-enabled dual-function biosensor for the sensitive detection of pathogens using SARS-CoV-2 RNA as an example has been developed. A CRISPR-Cas13:guide-RNA complex is activated in the presence of a target RNA, leading to the collateral trans-cleavage of ssRNA probes that contain a horseradish peroxidase (HRP) tag. This, in turn, catalyzes the oxidation of 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by HRP, resulting in a color change and electrochemical signal change. The colorimetric and electrochemical sensing protocol does not require complicated target amplification and probe immobilization and exhibits a detection sensitivity in the femtomolar range. Additionally, our biosensor demonstrates a wide dynamic range of 5 orders of magnitude. This low-cost aerosol inkjet printing technique allows for an amplification-free and integrated dual-function biosensor platform, which operates at physiological temperature and is designed for simple, rapid, and accurate point-of-care (POC) diagnostics in either low-resource settings or hospitals.

Lymphocyte apoptosis is a latent factor for immunosuppression in sepsis. Forkhead box protein P3 (FOXP3) can interact with RUNX family transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) in regulatory T cells. Our research was to probe whether RUNX1/FOXP3 axis affects immunosuppression in the process of sepsis by modulating T and B lymphocyte apoptosis. We constructed sepsis model in mice and mouse CD4+ T and CD19+ B lymphocytes. RUNX1 and FOXP3 expressions and apoptosis in cells were assessed by western blot, quantitative real-time PCR, and flow cytometer. Inflammation of serum and pathological damage was assessed by ELISA and H&E staining. Relationship between RUNX1 and FOXP3 was assessed by co-immunoprecipitation. The findings showed that RUNX1 ameliorated the survival rate, pathological damage, and decreased inflammation-related factors, and inhibited apoptosis of CD4+ T and CD19+ B cells in cecal ligation and puncture mice. Furthermore, RUNX1 up-regulated the viability and down-regulated apoptotic rate with the changed expressions of apoptosis-related molecules in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated CD4+ T and CD19+ B cells. Additionally, FOXP3 interacted with RUNX1, and its silencing decreased RUNX1 expression and reversed the inhibitory effect of RUNX1 on apoptosis of LPS-mediated CD4+ T and CD19+ B cells. In summary, the RUNX1/FOXP3 axis alleviated immunosuppression in sepsis progression by weakening T and B lymphocyte apoptosis.

With the increasing penetration of distributed power sources, the stochastic and fluctuating nature of distributed power sources poses a great challenge to the reactive power optimization of the distribution network system. In this study, a dynamic reactive power optimization model with two-stage robust optimization is established, proposing whether the energy storage is charged or discharged. The number of groups of group-switching capacitors is taken as the variables in the first stage. The power of the energy storage charging and discharging and the amount of static reactive power compensator compensation are placed in the second stage. The control strategy in the first stage ensures that the control strategy in the second stage can maintain the safe and stable operation of the distribution network under the worst scenarios. The grid-storage joint optimization technology based on distributed architecture establishes an optimization planning model for the distribution network energy storage system with the goal of optimal technical and economic performance of the transmission and distribution network and considering the constraints of safe and stable operation of the transmission and distribution network, respectively. The PG&E-69 node system arithmetic example is used to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model and algorithm. The results of the arithmetic example show that the strategy obtained based on the robust optimization model can achieve voltage magnitude stability within the safety range of 1.0-1.05 p.u. in the simulation scenario that has the best economy. At the same time, the mismatches of each distribution system under cooperative planning are all 0, which indicates that the proposed optimization strategy can fully cooperate with the resources of transmission and distribution networks, promote the safe consumption of clean energy, effectively improve the economy of transmission and distribution networks, and achieve the goal of “mutual benefit and win-win”.

In order to improve the economy of microgrid construction and operation, and meet the personalized demand for reliability of various types of microgrids, an integrated flexible planning method for microgrid is proposed to adapt to multiple scenarios. Based on the judgment results of type and composition, a two-layer model including capacity planning and grid planning is established. The lower-level capacity planning takes the minimum operation cost of micro-source construction as the goal and adopts the mixed integer optimization algorithm to solve it. The upper layer grid planning takes the minimum cost of network construction and operation as the goal, and uses the particle swarm optimization algorithm to solve it. A closed-loop integrated planning system consisting of judgment, capacity planning, and grid planning is formed. The system can meet the personalized reliability requirements of different microgrids by flexibly adjusting the independent operation duration constraints and the load outage attention parameters. The example shows that the proposed method can effectively reduce the construction and operation cost of microgrid, and has a good adaptability to different types and components and different reliability requirements.

The performance of tritium-based nuclear batteries based on two different energy conversion modes, the irradiated voltaic effect and irradiated photovoltaic effect, was studied by using the Monte Carlo method. The influence of the geometrical-physical parameters of energy conversion materials on the electrical output performance of batteries wais investigated. Single-layer and stacked-layer tritium-based nuclear batteries were designed and prepared. The effects of increasing the tritium source intensity and adopting the stacked-layer configuration on the enhancement of the electrical output of the batteries were analyzed. The simulation results showed that Si, SiC, and GaAs photovoltaic modules could be used for irradiated voltaic effect tritium-based nuclear batteries and that their respective optimal thickness parameters allow the electrical output performance to be optimized; the optimal thicknesses were 3.8 μm, 2.2 μm, and 1.7 μm, respectively. For irradiated photovoltaic effect tritium-based nuclear batteries, the thickness of the ZnS:Cu fluorescent layer could be adjusted to maximize the emitted fluorescence irradiance and optimized the electrical output performance. The experimental results showed that increasing the radiation intensity of the tritium source and adopting the stacked-layer configuration could effectively enhance electrical parameters such as the maximum output power of tritium-based nuclear batteries. The maximum output power of the stacked-layer nuclear battery could reach 106.138 nW, which was an increase of more than 64% compared with that of the single-layer configuration.

BackgroundA general-purpose heat source (GPHS) is the most established heat source module for radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and a key reference for the equivalence of electrically heated analog heat sources during the development and testing of radioisotope power supplies.PurposeThe study aims to develop a highly efficient electric heating simulation heat source to meet the requirements for equivalent testing and verification of non-nuclear units of radioisotope power systems.MethodsFirstly, an electrically heated analog heat source was designed and imitated based on various actual GPHS performance parameters. Based on the simulation calculations, the thermodynamic equivalent substitutability between the simulated heat source and real GPHS in terms of material and dimensional differences was evaluated. Then, the performance of its operation in different application scenarios was analyzed, and an optimized application environment was proposed. Finally, based on the experimental test results, the uniformity of the thermal output characteristics of the imitation GPHS-simulated heat source was compared with that of a real GPHS, and the practical application characteristics of the imitation GPHS in RTGs were also evaluated.ResultsAt an input power of 250 W, the average surface temperature of the GPHS-simulated heat source reaches 515 K. The temperature variation trend with power is consistent with that of the simulation results. Experimental test results show that the energy conversion efficiency of the RTG module is increased to ~6% with a 250-W heat source power supply.ConclusionsThe proposed and constructed good equivalent simulated GPHS heat source with reference to the thermal properties of a real GPHS can be applied to RTGs and provides an effective and unified reference standard for the performance evaluation of radioisotope power sources.

We report neurodevelopmental outcomes in 216 infants followed since the time of PCR-confirmed maternal Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in pregnancy during the Rio de Janeiro epidemic of 2015-2016 (refs. 1,2). Neurodevelopment was assessed by Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, third edition (Bayley-III; cognitive, language and motor domains) in 146 children and through neurodevelopment questionnaires/neurological examinations in 70 remaining children. Complete eye exams (n = 137) and hearing assessments (n = 114) were also performed. Below-average neurodevelopment and/or abnormal eye or hearing assessments were noted in 31.5% of children between 7 and 32 months of age. Among children assessed by Bayley-III, 12% scored below -2 s.d. (score

Zika virus (ZIKV) targets neural progenitor cells in the brain, attenuates cell proliferation, and leads to cell death. Here, we describe a role for the ZIKV protease NS2B-NS3 heterodimer in mediating neurotoxicity through cleavage of a host protein required for neurogenesis. Similar to ZIKV infection, NS2B-NS3 expression led to cytokinesis defects and cell death in a protease activity-dependent fashion. Among binding partners, NS2B-NS3 cleaved Septin-2, a cytoskeletal factor involved in cytokinesis. Cleavage of Septin-2 occurred at residue 306 and forced expression of a non-cleavable Septin-2 restored cytokinesis, suggesting a direct mechanism of ZIKV-induced neural toxicity. VIDEO ABSTRACT.