Search

Background Although the association between inadequate or excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) and adverse pregnancy outcomes has been investigated in China, most studies use the Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines, which might not be suitable for Chinese women characteristics. Besides, studies exploring association between GWG in the second trimester and pregnancy outcomes are relatively few. Methods A total of 976 cases of live-birth singleton pregnancies at the Shanghai General Hospital were included in this retrospective observational study. Patients were classified into three groups including GWG during 24 gestational weeks (G24WG) within, below and above the Standard of Recommendation for Weight Gain during Pregnancy Period published by Maternal and Child Health Standards Professional Committee of National Health Commission (NHC), China PR in 2022 (2022 Chinese GWG guidelines), which specifies the recommended value of weight gain of natural singleton pregnancy in China. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of adverse pregnancy outcomes among three G24WG groups. Results Of the 976 women analyzed, 12.6% had G24WG below the 2022 Chinese GWG guidelines, while 37.2% had G24WG above the 2022 Chinese GWG guidelines. Women with G24WG below the 2022 Chinese GWG guidelines had a higher risk of Small for Gestational Age (SGA, Adjusted OR = 2.690, 95% CI: 1.334–5.427, P = 0.006) and a lower risk of Large for Gestational Age (LGA, Adjusted OR = 0.435, 95% CI: 0.228–0.829, P = 0.011) than women who had G24WG within the 2022 Chinese GWG guidelines. Conclusions G24WG is a strong predictor of newborn anthropometric outcomes and help doctors provide appropriate nutritional counseling for pregnant women in China.

Strong similarities for relativistic electrons stimulated from electron beams and electron clouds are merging the boundary of wave-particle duality of electrons, one of which being superposition is Cherenkov radiations. Recent quantum Cherenkov effects for non-point particles predict electron-spin flip transitions in bound- and free-electron systems like bulk dielectrics and graphene, which, however, haven’t been experimentally exemplified to date. Here, we report an analogous polariton-version quantum Cherenkov radiation, where double-cone emission processes of Cherenkov-type phonon polaritons (PhPs) and derivatives in ultrashort-pulse-stimulated ferroelectric crystals and graphene are originated from transient non-point electron wave packets, and material-specific low-frequency cutoffs are due to electron-spin flipping. Component analysis of double-cone polariton emissions is achieved by a unified quantum dynamics model, and initial polariton dynamics including abnormal backward cones in graphene are restored. The resulting quantum wave packets of PhPs are further correlated with femtosecond-laser-induced modifications inside ferroelectric lithium niobates, which realize a PhP threshold criterion for ultrasmooth femtosecond laser nanofabrication.

Decidualization of uterine stromal cells plays an important role in the establishment of normal pregnancy. Previous studies have demonstrated that Acyl-CoA binding protein (Acbp) is critical to cellular proliferation, differentiation, mitochondrial functions, and autophagy. The characterization and physiological function of Acbp during decidualization remain largely unknown. In the present study, we conducted the expression profile of Acbp in the endometrium of early pregnant mice. With the occurrence of decidualization, the expression of Acbp gradually increased. Similarly, Acbp expression was also strongly expressed in decidualized cells following artificial decidualization, both in vivo and in vitro. We applied the mice pseudopregnancy model to reveal that the expression of Acbp in the endometrium of early pregnant mice was not induced by embryonic signaling. Moreover, P4 significantly upregulated the expression of Acbp, whereas E2 appeared to have no regulating effect on Acbp expression in uterine stromal cells. Concurrently, we found that interfering with Acbp attenuated decidualization, and that might due to mitochondrial dysfunctions and the inhibition of fatty acid oxidation. The level of autophagy was increased after knocking down Acbp. During induced decidualization, the expression of ACBP was decreased with the treatment of rapamycin (an autophagy inducer), while increased with the addition of Chloroquine (an autophagy inhibitor). Our work suggests that Acbp plays an essential role in the proliferation and differentiation of stromal cells during decidualization through regulating mitochondrial functions, fatty acid oxidation, and autophagy.

Blazed gratings are widely used in optical detection devices with the unique property of concentration of light energy to a desired diffraction order. However, traditional substrates for fabricating blazed gratings are easily damaged with the wear and tear in long-term usage under harsh conditions. Here, we propose the fabrication of blazed gratings on sapphire with high mechanical stability by femtosecond laser lithography combined with subsequent reactive ion etching (RIE). Various sapphire blazed gratings with periods from 2 μm to 10 μm and heights from 260 nm to 2 μm were realized to concentrate light energy (wavelengths of 405 nm, 532 nm and 633 nm) to different diffraction orders (1st, 2nd, and 3rd). The results provide great insights for the construction of micro-optical devices that have potential applications under harsh conditions.

Preeclampsia is a gestational hypertensive disease; however, preeclampsia remains poorly understood. Bioinformatics analysis was applied to find novel genes involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia and identified CLDN1 as one of the most differentially expressed genes when comparing patients with preeclampsia and healthy controls. The results of the qRT-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry experiments demonstrated that CLDN1 was significantly downregulated in the chorionic villi in samples from patients with preeclampsia. Furthermore, knockdown of CLDN1 in HTR-8/SVneo cells resulted in the inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis, and overexpression of CLDN1 reversed these effects. In addition, RNA-seq assays demonstrated that the gene BIRC3 is potentially downstream of CLDN1 and is involved in the regulation of apoptosis. Knockdown of CLDN1 confirmed that the expression level of BIRC3 was obviously decreased and was associated with a significant increase in cleaved PARP. Interestingly, the apoptotic effect in CLDN1 knockdown cells was rescued after BIRC3 overexpression. Overall, these results indicate that a decrease in CLDN1 inhibits BIRC3 expression and increases cleaved PARP levels thus participating in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

Integrated cross-scale milli/microlenses offer irreplaceable functions in modern integrated optics with the advantage of reducing the size of the optical system to millimeters or microns. However, the technologies for fabricating millimeter-scale lenses and microlenses are always incompatible, which makes the successful fabrication of cross-scale milli/microlenses with a controlled morphology challenging. Here, ion beam etching is proposed as a means to fabricate smooth millimeter-scale lenses on various hard materials. In addition, by combining femtosecond laser modification and ion beam etching, an integrated cross-scale concave milli/microlens (27,000 microlenses on a lens with a diameter of 2.5 mm) is demonstrated on fused silica, and can be used as the template for a compound eye. The results provide a new, to the best of our knowledge, route for the flexible fabrication of cross-scale optical components for modern integrated optical systems.

The shape memory effect is the capability of a structure or a material that can be deformed into a certain temporary shape under external stimulus, and the shape will be fixed without the stimulus. The recovery process can be triggered by the same stimulus. The intelligent tunable device based on the shape memory effect has a wide range of applications in many fields. In the optical field, smart diffraction gratings can accomplish in situ optical diffractions according to requirements, meeting the high demand in the next generation of smart optical systems. However, it is essential to construct high-precision grating structures based on shape memory materials. Here, a smart diffraction grating based on UV-curable shape memory polymers (SMPs) via two-beam interference is reported, with nano-scale precision, excellent deformability and recovery ability, and adjustable spectroscopic performance. More importantly, based on the shape memory effect, grating structures that surpass the precision of the fabrication system can be obtained. The smart grating exhibits rapid deformation and recovery upon heating and long-term storage capability, which facilitates them to be applied in optics, electronics, and integrated sensing.

Background Castleman disease, also known as giant lymph node hyperplasia, was first reported in 1956. It is a rare benign proliferative pathological change of the lymph nodes. Case summary The patient, a 33-year-old woman, had epigastric distension for half a year. Examinations were performed in a local hospital. Computed tomography scan showed round soft tissue nodules, about 5.45 cm in diameter, in the hepatic-gastric space. Endoscopic ultrasound and endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration was performed on the patient. Rapid on-site evaluation, hematoxylin eosin staining and histopathology of the puncture smear was performed. According to the Diff-Quik staining and hematoxylin eosin staining results of preoperative endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration puncture smears as well as the immunohistochemistry results, Castleman disease was highly suspected. A sufficient preoperative evaluation was made, and a precise surgical plan was developed. Postoperative pathology confirmed Castleman disease. Conclusion Endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration can extract internal tissues of the tumor for histological and cytological examinations and provide accurate diagnosis as much as possible. Therefore, a sufficient preoperative evaluation can be made, and a precise surgical plan can be developed.

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a multifactorial condition with no explanation of miscarriage in approximately half of the RPL patients, consequently leaving deep physical and emotional sequels. Transcription factor 3 (TCF3 or E2A), is a unique member of the LEF/TCF family and plays an important role in embryogenesis. However, its function in RPL is poorly understood. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting, and immunohistochemistry, we demonstrated that TCF3 was downregulated in decidual tissues from RPL patients compared with healthy control (HC). Further, TCF3 knockdown inhibited proliferation, induced G0/G1 phase arrest, and promoted migration in human endometrial stromal cells (HESCs), while overexpression of TCF3 exhibited the opposite effects. RNA-sequencing analysis combined with gene-set enrichment analysis results showed that the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway is potentially downstream of TCF3. Knockdown of TCF3 confirmed increased p38 phosphorylation, while overexpression of TCF3 inhibited p38 phosphorylation. Furthermore, we found that TCF3 protein level was decreased in HESCs under hypoxic incubation, while hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF1A) knockdown increased the expression of TCF3. TCF3 overexpression recovered the proliferation ability of HESCs inhibited by hypoxia and reversed hypoxia-induced migration. Consistently, we found that RPL patients had a significantly higher level of HIF1A in the decidual tissue than HC. Overall, this study clarifies that increased HIF1A in the decidua contributes to the occurrence of RPL through the TCF3/p38 signaling pathway.

Beta-cypermethrin (β-CYP) is a highly effective broad-spectrum insecticide that can potentially affect female reproduction. However, little is known about the effect of β-CYP on uterine decidualisation, which is a vital process by which the uterus provides a suitable microenvironment for pregnancy maintenance. Therefore, we focused on the effect and mechanism of β-CYP on endometrial decidualisation during early pregnancy in mice. The results indicated that the expression levels of HOXA10, BMP2, and IGFBP1 was significantly downregulated in the decidual tissue and primary endometrial stromal cells of pregnant and pseudopregnant mice following β-CYP treatment. Serum E

We explored the sample collection and DNA extraction method of environmental DNA (eDNA) technique. Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) was used to detect the eDNA concentration of the four major Chinese carps in different water layers and different cross-sections of Yichang section of Yangtze River trunk stream. We analyzed the relationship between eDNA concentration and density of egg and fry, and explored the feasibility of using eDNA technique to monitor the natural reproduction of the four major Chinese carps. Compared with the results from traditional survey methods, the eDNA concentration of the four major Chinese carps was extremely significantly correlated with egg and fry density. The maximum concentration was consistent with the peak occurrence time of egg and fry, suggesting that eDNA technique could predict the fishcrowd behavior for spawning. The investigation of cross-section eDNA concentration during two consecutive years suggested that the range of fish spawning ground was 4.5 km upstream to 1 km downstream of Yuyangxi. The predicted spawning ground was located within the range estimated by traditional methods from the lower part of Carmine Dam to Honghua Tuo. Our results indicate that eDNA technique, as a new ecological investigation method, could more accurately determine the distribution of fish with a certain population size, and thus with a good application prospect.本研究通过环境DNA(eDNA)技术的样品采集及DNA提取方法,采用微滴式数字PCR(ddPCR)技术检测了长江干流宜昌江段不同水层、不同断面四大家鱼的eDNA浓度,分析了eDNA浓度变化与卵苗密度的关系,探讨了利用eDNA技术监测四大家鱼自然繁殖情况的可行性。结果表明: 与传统调查结果相比,四大家鱼的eDNA浓度与卵苗密度呈极显著相关,浓度最大值与卵苗峰值的出现时间较为一致,利用eDNA技术可以预判家鱼集群产卵行为的发生。连续两年的断面eDNA浓度检测认为,渔洋溪上游4.5 km和下游1 km为家鱼产卵场。该范围位于传统方法预估的胭脂坝下至红花套的产卵场范围内。这说明eDNA技术作为一种新兴的生态调查方法,可更为准确地判定有一定种群规模的鱼种的分布情况,因此具有很好的应用前景。.

Microlens array has been demonstrated to be an effective method for laser beam homogenization. However, the homogenization of high-fluence laser beam is still a great challenge due to the serious damage to the microlens-array-based homogenizer. Here, an ultra-smooth sapphire concave microlens-array-based homogenizer, which is fabricated by dry-etching-assisted femtosecond laser machining, is proposed for shaping high-fluence pulsed laser beam to a flat-top profile intensity distribution. By taking advantages of high transmittance (>70%) and low surface roughness (1.1 nm), high-fluence (5 J/cm2) and wide-band (266 nm, 532 nm and 808 nm) laser beams homogenization is successfully realized by the sapphire concave microlens arrays.

Here, we report embedded spiral zone plates (SZPs) processed by tightly focused femtosecond pulses, inducing a refractive index change in a sapphire crystal. The change in the index is investigated both experimentally and theoretically and found to be 0.93% lower than that before the laser irradiation. Benefiting from the investigation of the photorefraction, a high diffractive efficiency of up to 78% is achieved for the SZPs. In addition, the SZPs are embedded under the surface of the sapphire, which ensures that the components possess stable optical properties in the case of external refractive index changes. The high-performance elements having a high diffractive efficiency and stable optical performance will have tremendous applications in optical communication and optical manipulation.

Multiwave seismic technology promotes the application of joint PP-PS amplitude versus offset (AVO) inversion; however conventional joint PP-PS AVO inversioan is linear based on approximations of the Zoeppritz equations for multiple iterations. Therefore the inversion results of P-wave, S-wave velocity and density exhibit low precision in the faroffset; thus, the joint PP-PS AVO inversion is nonlinear. Herein, we propose a nonlinear joint inversion method based on exact Zoeppritz equations that combines improved Bayesian inference and a least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) to solve the nonlinear inversion problem. The initial parameters of Bayesian inference are optimized via particle swarm optimization (PSO). In improved Bayesian inference, the optimal parameter of the LSSVM is obtained by maximizing the posterior probability of the hyperparameters, thus improving the learning and generalization abilities of LSSVM. Then, an optimal nonlinear LSSVM model that defines the relationship between seismic reflection amplitude and elastic parameters is established to improve the precision of the joint PP-PS AVO inversion. Further, the nonlinear problem of joint inversion can be solved through a single training of the nonlinear inversion model. The results of the synthetic data suggest that the precision of the estimated parameters is higher than that obtained via Bayesian linear inversion with PP-wave data and via approximations of the Zoeppritz equations. In addition, results using synthetic data with added noise show that the proposed method has superior anti-noising properties. Real-world application shows the feasibility and superiority of the proposed method, as compared with Bayesian linear inversion.

Sapphire nanostructures with a high aspect-ratio have broad applications in photoelectronic devices, which are difficult to be fabricated due to the properties of high transparency and hardness, remarkable thermal and chemical stability. Although the phenomenon of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) provides an extraordinary idea for surface nanotexturing, it suffers from the limitation of the small depth of the nanostructures. Here, a high-efficiency self-modulated femtosecond laser hybrid technology was proposed to fabricate nanostructures with high aspect-ratios on the sapphire surface, which was combined backside laser modification and subsequent wet etching. Due to the refractive index mismatch, the focal length of the laser could be elongated when focused inside sapphire. Thus, periodic nanostructures with high-quality aspect ratios of more than 55 were prepared on the sapphire surface by using this hybrid fabrication method. As a proof-of-concept, wafer-scale (∼2 inches) periodic nanostripes with a high aspect-ratio were realized on a sapphire surface, which possesses unique diffractive properties compared to typical shallow gratings. The results indicate that the self-modulated femtosecond laser hybrid technology is an efficient and versatile technique for producing high aspect-ratio nanostructures on hard and transparent materials, which would propel the potential applications in optics and surface engineering, sensing, etc.

Gas-responsive nanochannels have great relevance for applications in many fields. Inspired by CO

Herein, a vector scanning subtractive manufacturing technology is proposed to rapidly fabricate smooth micro-optical components, which is based on the vector scanning method and wet etching. Compared with the raster scanning method, the vector scanning method increases processing efficiency by nearly two orders and mitigates a buildup of stress around the laser processed region, avoiding the generation of cracks. The Letter demonstrates the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) micro-structures with various sizes and morphologies. For example, micro-concave lenses with diameters of 20 µm to 140 µm, heights of 10 µm to 70 µm, and surface roughness of 29 nm are flexibly fabricated on sapphire by vector scanning subtractive manufacturing technology. The results indicate that the technology has broad prospects in the field of monolithic integrated 3D all-solid-state micro-optics.

Using femtosecond laser technique, ‘long type’ kinoform lenses designed with single foci are made for both soft X-ray range(around 800ev) and hard x-ray range(12kev). The soft x-ray lenses are made of SU8 photoresist by two-photon polymerization(TPP) technique while the hard x-ray lens is made of sapphire using femtosecond laser ablation. Physical aperture of the soft X-ray SU8 lenses reaches 90 microns with one centimeter focal length. The hard X-ray sapphire lens has aperture size at around 210 microns but much larger focal length of 5 meters. These lenses show promising usage of ultrafast femtosecond laser in making complicated x-ray lenses though much works are still needed to improve the fabrication process.

In this study, a hybrid method for high-quality rapid drilling of transparent hard materials which combines femtosecond laser (fs-laser) Bessel beam modifying materials and selective wet etching is presented. Using this method, micro-holes with no taper of different sizes (from 10 to 35 μm) and shapes (square, triangle, circular, and pentagram) are fabricated. Bessel beams of different lengths can be generated flexibly by loading different computer-generated holograms (CGHs) into the spatial light modulator (SLM) and the maximum length of light interacting with materials can reach 320 μm, leading to a reduction of the laser scanning time by two orders of magnitude. Moreover, a set of three-dimensional multi-layer submicron through-holes in crystal materials is also realized, with an aspect ratio of more than 1000 for each hole. These results indicate that this method has broad application potential in chip packaging, aviation manufacturing, single particle catalysis, and other fields.

Most current prestack AVA joint inversion methods are based on the exact Zoeppritz equation and its various approximations. However, these equations only reflect the relation between reflection coefficients, incidence angles, and elastic parameters on either side of the interface, which means that wave-propagation effects, such as spherical spreading, attenuation, transmission loss, multiples, and event mismatching of P- and S-waves, are not considered and cannot accurately describe the true propagation characteristics of seismic waves. Conventional AVA inversion methods require that these wave-propagation effects have been fully corrected or attenuated before inversion but these requirements can hardly be satisfied in practice. Using a one-dimensional (1D) earth model, the reflectivity method can simulate the full wavefield response of seismic waves. Therefore, we propose a nonlinear multicomponent prestack AVA joint inversion method based on the vectorized reflectivity method, which uses a fast nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA II) to optimize the nonlinear multiobjective function to estimate multiple parameters, such as P- wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density. This approach is robust because it can simultaneously cope with more than one objective function without introducing weight coefficients. Model tests prove the effectiveness of the proposed inversion method. Based on the inversion results, we find that the nonlinear prestack AVA joint inversion using the reflectivity method yields more accurate inversion results than the inversion by using the exact Zoeppritz equation when the wave-propagation effects of transmission loss and internal multiples are not completely corrected.

An in-depth understanding of the source of pollutants and the evolution of water quality is a prerequisite for water pollution control in source water reservoirs. Lijiahe Reservoir is an important water source for Xi'an. To strengthen the protection of Lijiahe Reservoir, water quality monitoring was carried out monthly from December 2016 to December 2017. The results showed that the main pollutant source was upstream water, and its percentage contribution to the bulk pollutants was 99.52% for permanganate index, 99.41% for TN, and 99.23% for TP. The main source of pollution in the upstream Dongcaiyu was the upper reach with Gepai Primary School and the turf service area. The main source of pollution in Xicaiyu was the upper reach with a chicken farm and fishery. In summer and autumn, Lijiahe Reservoir exhibited thermal stratification. During the stable stratification period, the maximum concentrations of TN, TP, permanganate index, TOC, Fe, and Mn in the water body were as high as 3.32, 0.177, 5.21, 3.01, 0.21, 0.235 mg·L

1200V SiC power MOSFETs of various cell geometries are modeled in Synopsis Inc. Sentaurus TCAD. The impact of cell geometry on switching loss is studied by comparing the turn-on and turn-off losses using refined calculation methods. Under optimum circuit conditions, two different novel unit cell designs each achieve lower switching losses than conventional designs. For all the designs, lossless turn-on is impossible but lossless turn-off is achievable under circuit and biasing conditions that produce sufficiently rapid gate slew.

The Ag 2 S-TiO 2 composites with good photocathodic protection performance for 304 stainless steel have been investigated here. The effects of different kinds of sulfur sources on this photocathodic protection property were also examined. TiO 2 nanotubes were prepared by two-step electrochemical anodization. And Ag 2 S was loaded on the TiO 2 nanotubes through a hydrothermal method. The morphology, crystal structure, elemental composition and light absorption capability of the samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS) analyses. The performances of cathodic protection were evaluated by the electro-chemical methods including open-circuit potential, photocurrent density and Tafel polarization curves. Results indicated that the Ag 2 S-TiO 2 composites exhibited great enhancement of the light absorption and photo-electrochemical property under visible light illumination. The morphology and distribution of the samples have some effects on photocathodic protection properties of 304 stainless steel and the Ag 2 S-TiO 2 composite with sodium sulfide as sulfur source showed the optimal performance.

Under investigation in this paper is an extended forced Korteweg-de Vries equation with variable coefficients in the fluid or plasma. Lax pair, bilinear forms, and bilinear Backlund transformations are derived. Based on the bilinear forms, the first-, second-, and third-order nonautonomous soliton solutions are derived. Propagation and interaction of the nonautonomous solitons are investigated and influence of the variable coefficients is also discussed: Amplitude of the first-order nonautonomous soliton is determined by the spectral parameter and perturbed factor; there exist two kinds of the solitons, namely the elevation and depression solitons, depending on the sign of the spectral parameter; the background where the nonautonomous soliton exists is influenced by the perturbed factor and external force coefficient; breather solutions can be constructed under the conjugate condition, and period of the breather is related to the dispersive and nonuniform coefficients.

Under investigation in this paper is an integrable equation which can describe the localized magnetization with spin torque under the long-wavelength approximation. In order to obtain the rogue wave solutions, a new Lax pair is derived. Infinitely-many conservation laws are also constructed. Based on the generalized Darboux transformation, the first-, second- and third-order rogue wave solutions are derived. Property of the rogue waves are analyzed and influence of parameters α, β and separating function f (ϵ) on the rogue waves and spatial-temporal structures are also discussed (the meaning of α and β can be found in the paper). For the case of f ( ϵ ) = 0 , the modulus of the k th-order rogue wave ( k = 1 , 2 , 3 ) is irrelevant to parameter α . Parameter β influences the spatial-temporal range where the rogue wave appears. Spatial-temporal range enlarges with the increase of β . In addition, β also produces a skew angle and the skew angle rotates in the counter clockwise direction with the increase of β. f (ϵ) influences the spatial-temporal structures of the second- and third-order rouge waves. If f (ϵ) ≠ 0, the second-order rogue wave will split into three single first-order rouge waves and the triangular pattern can be formed, while the third-order rogue wave will split into six ones and the triangular pattern and pentagon pattern can be formed. The linear stability analysis is carried out, which shows that the modulation instability process is influenced by the amplitude of the harmonic wave and the wave number.

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and microaspiration of duodenogastric refluxate have been recognized as a risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis. Recent evidence suggests that bile acid microaspiration may contribute to the development of lung fibrosis. However, the molecular evidence is scarce and the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. We have recently demonstrated that bile acids induce activation of alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) and lung fibroblasts in vitro . In the present study, a rat model of bile acid microaspiration was established by weekly intratracheal instillation of three major bile acids including chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), deoxycholic acid (DCA), and lithocholic acid (LCA). Repeated microaspiration of CDCA, DCA, and LCA caused fibrotic changes, including alveolar wall thickening and extensive collagen deposition, in rat lungs. Bile acid microaspiration also induced alveolar epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), as indicated by up-regulation of mesenchymal markers α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and vimentin, as well as down-regulaton of epithelial markers E-cadherin and cytokeratin in alveolar epithelium of rat lungs. The expression of fibrogenic mediators, including transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and periostin, was significantly elevated in rat lungs exposed to microaspiration of bile acids. Furthermore, microaspiration of bile acids also induced p-Smad3 and farnesoid X receptor (FXR) expression in rat lungs. Our findings suggest that microaspiration of bile acids could promote the development of pulmonary fibrosis in vivo , possibly via stimulating fibrogenic mediator expression and activating TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling and FXR. * α-SMA, : α-smooth muscle actin; AEC, : alveolar epithelial cell; BALF, : bronchoalveolar lavage fluid; bFGF, : basic fibroblast growth factor; BOS, : bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome; CDCA, : chenodeoxycholic acid; CTGF, : connective tissue growth factor; DCA, : deoxycholic acid; ECM, : excessive extracellular matrix; EMT, : epithelial–mesenchymal transition; FXR, : farnesoid X receptor; GER, : gastroesophageal reflux; H&E, : hematoxylin and eosin; HRP, : horseradish peroxidase; IHC, : immunohistochemical; IOD, : integrated optical density; IPF, : idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; LCA, : lithocholic acid; OB, : obliterative bronchiolitis; TGF-β1, : transforming growth factor-β1; VEGF, : vascular endothelial growth factor

Frequency attenuation occurs when seismic waves propagate through the porous reservoirs containing hydrocarbons. Current researches on the seismic frequency attenuation mainly focus on the post-stack domain instead of the prestack domain. Here we propose the frequency attenuation gradient vs. offset (FAGVO) based on the amplitude variation with offset and frequency attenuation integral equations. We derive the FAGVO equation that equals to zero in a full-elastic medium and is negative in a viscoelastic medium. FAGVO is affected by the viscosity of the medium, the coefficients of reflection, the frequency variation, and high-frequency attenuation. FAGVO uses the differences of partially stacked data to decrease the interference caused by subsurface strata affecting the frequency attenuation, highlights the frequency attenuation gradient anomalies in hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir pores, and finally realizes the hydrocarbon fluid identification. The method was verified using a two-dimensional wave equation forward model and was found to be cost effective. Furthermore, the method does not require well information, which can be applied in the stage of seismic exploration, especially, in the exploration of a none-well project.

A dry-etching-assisted femtosecond laser lithography technology is proposed to in-site fabricate micro-optical components with an ultra-smooth three-dimensional continuous profile on a non-planar substrate. Owing to the nanometric resolution of femtosecond laser multi-photon polymerization and dry etching, smooth micro-optical components can be realized on hard materials with surface roughness of approximately 1.5 nm. With flexible and arbitrary designability of femtosecond laser lithography, various high-quality micro-optical components are realized on sapphire. These results indicate that dry-etching-assisted femtosecond laser lithography has promising potential for versatile fabrication of arbitrary ultra-smooth micro/nanostructures on hard materials.

The present study was completed at the Lijiahe Reservoir in Xi'an, northwest China. Based on persistent monitoring of the physical and chemical indexes, in addition to phytoplankton activity, the correlation between phytoplankton distribution and dissolved oxygen depletion in metalimnion were analyzed during the thermal stratification periods. The results showed that:①During the summer stratification (from June to September), an obviously steady structure of dissolved oxygen, pH, as well as conductivity, was formed in a water column with RWCS/H indexes between 2 and 10 m

Nitrogen pollution in reservoirs has received increasing attention in recent years. Although a number of aerobic denitrifying strains have been isolated to remove nitrogen from eutrophic waters, the situation in oligotrophic water environments has not received significant attention. In this study, a mixed aerobic denitrifying consortium screened from reservoir samples was used to remove nitrogen in an oligotrophic denitrification medium and actual oligotrophic source water. The results showed that the consortium removed 75.32% of nitrate (NO3&minus, N) and 63.11% of the total nitrogen (TN) in oligotrophic reservoir water during a 24-h aerobic cultivation. More initial carbon source was helpful for simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen in the reservoir source water. NO3&minus, N and TN were still reduced by 60.93% and 46.56% at a lower temperature (10 &deg, C), respectively, though the rates were reduced. Moreover, adding phosphorus promoted bacterial growth and increased TN removal efficiency by around 20%. The performance of the immobilized consortium in source water was also explored. After 6 days of immobilization, approximately 25% of TN in the source water could be removed by the carriers, and the effects could last for at least 9 cycles of reuse. These results provide a good reference for the use of aerobic denitrifiers in oligotrophic reservoirs.