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[Display omitted] • A 3D soft-rigid PVDF@SnO 2 nanofiber layer is electrospun on copper current collector. • The soft nanofiber layers realize uniform Li+ flux and dendrite-free Li deposition. • Rigid SnO 2 offers abundant Li+ nucleation sites and promotes highly stable SEI layer. • Nanofiber flexible skeleton can accommodate and mitigate electrode volume expansion. • Such soft-rigid nanofiber layers account for prolonged cycle life of Li metal cells. Lithium (Li) metal is regarded as the most desirable anode candidates for high-energy–density batteries by virtue of its lowest redox potential and ultrahigh theoretical specific capacity. However, uncontrollable Li dendritic growth, infinite volume variation and unstable solid electrolyte interface (SEI) ineluctably plague its commercialization process. Herein, the three-dimensional (3D) nanofiber functional layers with synergistic soft-rigid feature, consisting of tin oxide (SnO 2)-anchored polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers, are directly electrospun on copper current collector. This strategy can effectively regulate uniform Li deposition and strengthen SEI stability through the dual effect of physical accommodation and chemical ionic intervention. On the one hand, the nanofiber interlayers with excellent electrolyte affinity and well-distributed Li+ transport pathways can promote uniform Li+ flux distribution and large-size Li deposition. On the other hand, the rigid SnO 2 contributes to reducing Li nucleation overpotential and stabilizing SEI layer assisted by its spontaneous reaction with Li. As a result, the smooth and dense Li deposition is achieved by such soft-rigid nanofiber interlayers, thereby extending the cycling life and improving the safety application of Li metal batteries. This work offers a new route for efficient protection of Li metal anodes and brings a new inspiration for developing high-energy–density Li metal batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expeditious advancement and elevation of the manufacturing industry's transformation and upgrading represent pivotal strides for China in its ascent toward the upper echelons of the global manufacturing value chain. Currently, China's manufacturing-industry transformation faces the dual-lag quandary of digitalization and servitization. The notion of digital servitization elucidates the interdependent relationship between digitalization and servitization, unveiling the mechanisms underlying the formation of digital servitization. This holds significant implications for advancing the comprehension of digitalization and servitization and, crucially, facilitates the acceleration of China's manufacturing sector transitioning from production-centric to service-centric paradigms. Harnessing the technology-organization-environment (TOE) theoretical framework, we constructed a model elucidating the driving factors underpinning manufacturing digital servitization. By employing the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we explored strategic decisions and path dependencies in the transformation of manufacturing digital servitization, offering valuable insights to foster China's manufacturing sector in its digital-servitization journey. The following findings were obtained. (1) A singular condition was insufficient as a prerequisite for manufacturing digital servitization and necessitated the coordinated alignment of multiple variables. (2) Three pathways existed for achieving manufacturing digital servitization: TOE, organization-environment collaborative-oriented, and technology-organization collaborative-oriented. (3) The progression of manufacturing digital servitization resulted from the collective impact of numerous factors, exhibiting a characteristic of different paths leading to the same destination. Various manufacturing enterprises pursued distinct trajectories to achieve digital servitization, contingent upon their unique circumstances. These findings have the potential to provide valuable insights for effectively fostering manufacturing digital servitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures based on inorganic layered materials have been demonstrated as potential candidates for a variety of electronic applications due to their flexibility in energy band engineering. However, the presence of unstable charge-trapping states in atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials may limit the performance of devices. Here, we aim to conduct a systematic investigation on hybrid heterostructured memory devices that consist of 2D layered organic and inorganic materials. The objective is to explore the potential of these devices in offering efficient charge-trapping states. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is employed as a channel, while N, N′-Dimethyl-3,4,9,10-perylenedicarboximide (Me-PTCDI) serves as the charge-trapping layer to store charges from MoS2. The hysteresis window of these heterostructured devices can be effectively modified within a range of 13–70 V by manipulating both the thickness of the organic layer and the gate voltages. The largest hysteresis window is found in a combination of a few-layer Me-PTCDI (12.6 nm) and MoS2 (6 nm), showing a high on/off current ratio (>104) and a long retention time (104 s). Furthermore, the endurance test, which lasts for over 1000 cycles, demonstrates an exceptional level of stability and reliability. In addition, multilevel memory effects can be observed when gate pulses with different widths and amplitudes are applied. These 2D hybrid heterostructured devices have the capability to broaden the scope of material systems and present substantial potential for functional neuromorphic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The atomic‐scale structure of cuprous selenide room temperature phase (α‐Cu2Se), which plays an important role in understanding the mechanism of its high thermoelectric performance, is still not fully determined. Here, direct observation with atomic‐scale resolution is realized to reveal the fine structure of α‐Cu2Se via spherical‐aberration‐corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. It is observed to be an interesting self‐independent binary‐sublattice construction for Cu and Se in α‐Cu2Se, respectively, which shows a variety of ordered copper fluctuation structures are embedded in a rigid pseudo‐cubic Se sublattice. Ordering of Cu uses a variety of configurations with little energy difference, forming considerable amounts of "boundaries," which may lead to ultrastrong phonon scattering. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations indicate that the electronic structures are mainly determined by the rigid Se face‐centered cubic sublattice and not sensitive to the various copper fluctuations, which may guarantee the electron transfers with large carrier mobility. The self‐independent binary‐sublattice construction is speculated to enhance phonon scattering while still maintaining good electrical transport property. This study provides new critical information for further understanding the possible correlation between the specific structure and thermoelectric performance of α‐Cu2Se, as well as designing new thermoelectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim to reduce the influence of flammability and brittleness of epoxy resin (EP) on its applications, a phosphorus‐containing oligomer (BID) containing phosphophenanthrene group and flexible chain segment is designed and applied to methyltetrahydrophthalic anhydride (MeTHPA) curing EP systems. Compared with EP/MeTHPA, the glass transition temperature (Tg) declines after introducing BID. But the addition of BID endows EP/MeTHPA with good flame retardancy. When the dosage is only 19.2 wt.%, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) of EP/BID/MeTHPA increases by 77% to 36% (P content: 1.5 wt.%) compared with EP and reaches the vertical combustion (UL‐94) V‐0 rating. Cone calorimetry (CC) results reveal that PHRR and THR drop by 40% and 31%. The pyrolytic process and char residue data analysis show that BID plays flame‐retardant role in gas phase and condensed phase. In addition, impact and flexural and tensile strength improve by 84%, 19% and 54% individually, proving that BID holds a potential on enhancing mechanical performance of EP/MeTHPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutations in the γ‐secretase complex have been well‐described in familial hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). No gene mutations have been identified in sporadic HS, which comprises 60%–70% of all HS cases. Obesity and smoking are risk factors for HS and are closely related to DNA methylation, an essential epigenetic phenomenon. Hence, we hypothesized that epigenetic modifications might be involved in sporadic HS. To investigate genes with aberrant methylation in sporadic HS cases and assess their expression in skin lesions and blood from patients with HS. Skin lesion samples and corresponding normal skin were obtained from three patients with HS and subjected to whole‐genome DNA methylation sequencing. Blood samples were collected from 20 patients with HS and 20 healthy controls (HCs). The HS mouse model was established by applying tamoxifen to NcstnΔKC mice. Target gene expression was analysed by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, western blotting, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and semiquantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR). Among 10 807 differentially methylated genes, we filtered 2101 genes with hypermethylated promoter regions, and following bioinformatics analyses, we focused on CXC chemokine ligand 16 (CXCL16). Subsequent functional experiments confirmed the downregulation of CXCL16 and its receptor, CXC chemokine receptor (CXCR) 6, in skin tissue from HS patients and NcstnΔKC mice. Serum CXCL16 concentrations were also significantly decreased in patients with HS. Our data revealed the downregulation of CXCL16 and CXCR6 in HS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a commercially important plant. Cashew nuts are a popular food source that belong to the tree nut family. Tree nuts are one of the eight major food allergens identified by the Food and Drug Administration in the USA. Allergies to cashew nuts cause severe and systemic immune reactions. Tree nut allergies are frequently fatal and are becoming more common. Aim: We aimed to identify the key allergenic epitopes of cashew nut proteins by correlating the phage display epitope prediction results with bioinformatics analysis. Design: We predicted and experimentally confirmed cashew nut allergen antigenic peptides, which we named Ana o 2 (cupin superfamily) and Ana o 3 (prolamin superfamily). The Ana o 2 and Ana o 3 epitopes were predicted using DNAstar and PyMoL (incorporated in the Swiss-model package). The predicted weak and strong epitopes were synthesized as peptides. The related phage library was built. The peptides were also tested using phage display technology. The expressed antigens were tested and confirmed using microtiter plates coated with pooled human sera from patients with cashew nut allergies or healthy controls. Results: The Ana o 2 epitopes were represented by four linear peptides, with the epitopes corresponding to amino acids 108–111, 113–119, 181–186, and 218–224. Furthermore, the identified Ana o 3 epitopes corresponding to amino acids 10–24, 13–27, 39–49, 66–70, 101–106, 107–114, and 115–122 were also screened out and chosen as the key allergenic epitopes. Discussion: The Ana o 3 epitopes accounted for more than 40% of the total amino acid sequence of the protein; thus, Ana o 3 is potentially more allergenic than Ana o 2. Conclusions: The bioinformatic epitope prediction produced subpar results in this study. Furthermore, the phage display method was extremely effective in identifying the allergenic epitopes of cashew nut proteins. The key allergenic epitopes were chosen, providing important information for the study of cashew nut allergens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral carbon dots (CDs) are a novel luminescent zero‐dimensional carbon‐based nanomaterial with chirality. They not only have the advantages of good biocompatibility, multi‐color‐emission, easy functionalization, but also exhibits highly symmetrical chiral optical characteristics, which broadens their applicability to enantioselectivity of some chiral amino acids like cysteine and lysine, asymmetric catalysis as well as biomedicine in gene expression and antibiosis. In addition, the exploration of the excited state chirality of CDs has developed its excellent circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) properties, opening up a new application scenario like recognition of chiral light sources and anti‐counterfeit printing with information encryption. This review mainly focuses on the mature synthesis approaches of chiral CDs, including chiral ligand method and supramolecular self‐assembly method, then we consider emerging applications of chiral CDs in CPL, biosensing and biological effect. Finally, we concluded with a perspective on the potential challenges and future opportunities of such fascinating chiral CDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A dual-network structured nanofiber separator with fast ionic conductor is prepared. • This separator has well-distributed nanopore, high porosity and good heat-resistance. • LLZTO can well anchor free anions and offer fast Li+ channels to boost Li+ migration. • This separator achieves high t Li +, homogenized Li+ flux and uniform Li deposition. • Batteries with this separator show good cycle stability and high C-rate capability. Separator plays an important role in improving the long-term cycle stability and safety performance of high-energy–density lithium-metal batteries (LMBs). Herein, a robust thermotolerant separator is prepared by one-step electrospinning technique, combing fluorinated poly (m-phenylene isophthalamide) nanofibers with Li 6.4 La 3 Zr 1.4 Ta 0.6 O 12 (LLZTO), a fast ionic conductor. The synergistically incorporated poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) and LLZTO trigger off the formation of a fancy dual-network structure with high porosity and well-distributed nanopores, in which ultrafine secondary nanonets are tightly bound with three-dimensional nanofiber scaffold. LLZTO can not only provide sufficient Li+ migration channels, but also immobilize free anions to strengthen ionic transmission. Moreover, this nanofiber separator possesses high mechanical strength, excellent thermal stability and desirable electrolyte affinity. It can gel liquid electrolyte well, leading to high t Li +, homogenized Li+ flux and uniform Li deposition. Consequently, LMBs with this dual-network structured nanofiber separator deliver satisfactory cycle stability and high C-rate capability. This contribution provides new insights into the design and development of high-quality nanofiber separators for dendrite-free and high-safety LMBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the filtering problem of nonlinear networked systems with event-triggered data transmission tasks is studied. To reduce the transmission of excessive measurement data in the bandwidth-limited network, a data transmission mechanism with event trigger is introduced to analyze the error behavior of the extended Kalman filter. We prove that the real estimation error and error covariance matrices can be determined by restricting the initial conditions appropriately. Finally, the effectiveness of the filtering algorithm is verified by simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Fabricating a high-performance adsorbent as a desirable candidate for removing Pb2+ from aqueous water remains a challenge. Aramid nanofibers (ANFs) are promising building blocks that have realized multifunctional applications due to their intrinsic mechanical and chemical stability. Herein, an in situ loading strategy for preparing nanofiber composite aerogel was proposed by assembling ANFs into a 3D aerogel and applying it as host media for the in situ polymerization of pyrrole followed by facile redox reaction between the polypyrrole (PPy) and MnO 4 –1 to load manganese dioxide (MnO 2). The idea was to fully exploit the structural advantages of ultra-low bulk density, large specific surface area, and high porosity of ANFs, and the possible chemical adsorption characteristics of MnO 2 on the basis of ion exchange reaction. The adsorption capacity of 3D ANF/MnO 2 composite aerogel was as large as 554.36 mg/g for Pb2+. The adsorption mechanism based on an exchange reaction between Pb2+ and protons on the surface of MnO 2 was also investigated. The desorption results showed that the adsorption performance could remain up to 90% after five times of usage. In conclusion, this research provides promising insights into the preparation of high-performance lead adsorbent for water treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Methods Results Conclusion In this study, we investigated the safety and practicability of ultra‐fast track anesthesia (UFTA) for endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS).A total of 72 patients with palmar hyperhidrosis undergoing ETS were randomly divided into three groups: the UFTA group (group I), the group undergoing single‐lumen tracheal intubation with local infiltration anesthesia technique (group II), and the group undergoing single‐lumen tracheal intubation with routine anesthesia (group III). Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded for all three groups at the following six time points: Before anesthetics administration (T0), the time of intubating or inserting laryngeal mask airway (T1), the time of incising skin (T2), the time of disconnecting of the right sympathetic nerve (T3), the time of disconnecting of the left sympathetic nerve (T4), the time of withdrawing the tracheal tube or laryngeal mask airway (T5), and the time of transferring the patient to a post‐anesthesia care unit (PACU) (T6). The three groups were compared from the following perspectives: surgery duration; anesthesia recovery duration, that is, the duration from discontinuation of anesthesia to extubating the tracheal tube; the dose of propofol and remifentanil per kilogram body mass per unit time interval (the time at the end of the procedure, which lasted from anesthesia induction to incision suturing); and the visual analog scale (VAS) in the resting state in the PACU.Based on pairwise comparisons, the average HR and average MAP values of the three groups differed significantly from T2 to T6 (p < 0.05). As demonstrated by the correlation analysis between remifentanil and propofol with HR and MAP, the doses of the total amount of remifentanil and propofol were lower, and group I used less remifentanil and propofol than group II. No patient in group I experienced throat discomfort following surgery. Patients in groups II and III experienced a range of postoperative discomfort. The VAS scores of groups I and II were significantly lower than those of group III, with group I lower than group II.When utilized in ETS, UFTA can provide effective anesthesia for minor traumas. It is safe, effective, and consistent with the enhanced recovery philosophy of fast‐track surgery departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech emotion recognition is a challenging topic and has many important applications in our real life, especially in terms of human-computer interaction. Traditional methods are based on the pipeline of pre-processing, feature extraction, dimensionality reduction and emotion classification. Previous studies have focussed on emotion recognition based on two different models: discrete model and continuous model. Both the speaker's age and gender affect the speech emotion recognition in the two models. Moreover, investigation results shown that the dimensional attributes of emotion such as arousal, valence and dominance are related to each other. Based on these observations, we propose a new attributes recognition model using Feature Nets, aims to improve the emotion recognition performance and generalisation capabilities. The method utilises the corpus to train the age and gender classification model, which will be transferred to the main model: a hierarchical deep learning model, using age and gender as the high level attributes of the emotion. The public databases EMO-DB and IEMOCAP have been conducted to evaluate the performance both in the classification task and regression task. Experiment results show that the proposed approach based on attributes transferring can improve the recognition accuracy, no matter transferring age or gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hematopoiesis is systematically regulated by microenvironmental factors. The positive and negative factors coordinated together to yield a complicated blood system. Interferon-γ (IFNγ) has been identified as a common cause of various hematopoietic abnormalities, such as aplastic anemia. However, its impact on monolineage development, especially erythropoiesis, has not been fully elucidated from the cellular angle. In this study, we investigated the behavior of IFNγ and found that IFNγ plays dual functions on erythropoiesis; it not only blocks the erythroid lineage commitment but also accelerates the erythroid differentiation process, ultimately leading to the erythropoietic window clearance. IFNγ can even powerfully initiate early differentiation without the existence of erythropoietin (EPO). Interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) was confirmed as the essential downstream effector, and its ectopic overexpression can also have the same effect as that of IFNγ. These results reveal that the IFNγ– IRF1 axis plays a bidirectional role on erythropoiesis, impeding the access to erythroid lineage and driving the coming cells toward the differentiation endpoint. This model may place an innovative implication for IFNγ– IRF1 axis to understand its in-depth mechanism on normal hematopoiesis and abnormal blood disorders, especially aplastic anemia. • The IFNγ- IRF1 axis was identified to play dual functions in erythropoiesis. • Besides blocking the lineage commitment, the IFNγ- IRF1 axis was newly found to significantly accelerate the erythroid differentiation process, leading to the erythropoietic window clearance. • IFNγ can initiate the early erythropoietic differentiation even without the existence of EPO. • Aplastic anemia possessed higher IRF1 expression, implying the important pathogenesis of the IFNγ- IRF1 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Melasma is a benign and chronic hypermelanosis characterized by irregular light brown to dark brown patches of hyperpigmentation on the skin. Oral tranexamic acid (TA) or vitamin C (VC) supplementation has been one treatment choice. TA interferes with keratinocyte‐melanocyte interactions, and VC functions by reducing melanin production resulting in skin rejuvenation and whitening. Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy and safety of Myjet assisted transdermal injection of TA vs VC in the treatment of melasma. Methods: In this split‐face controlled trial, 17 patients were randomized to receive eight weekly transdermal injections of TA or VC via Myjet either on the right or the left side of their face. MASI was measured from each side of the face at the baseline, at the middle, and at the end of treatment. Results: A reduction in MASI was observed for TA and VC separately (P value < 0.05). The difference in efficacy between TA and VC group was not statistically significant (P value 0.05). Both treatments were well tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported. Conclusion: Weekly TA or VC transdermal injections can be an effective treatment for melasma. Further studies are required to validate these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we constructed a split-type and photocurrent polarity switching photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of Uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG, abnormal UDG activity is correlated with human immunodeficiency, cancers, bloom syndrome, neurodegenerative diseases and so on) based on SQ-COFs/BiOBr heterostructure, as the photoactive materials, methylene blue (MB) as the signal sensitizer, and catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) for signal amplification. Specifically, the photocurrent intensity generated by SQ-COFs/BiOBr was about 2 and 6.4 times of that of BiOBr and SQ-COFs alone, which could be responsible for the detection sensitivity for the proposed biosensor. In addition, it is not common to construct heterojunctions between covalent organic skeletons and inorganic nanomaterials. In UDG recognition tube, the plenty of COP probes loaded methylene blue (MB) were obtained by magnetic separation with the help of the simple chain displacement reaction of CHA. MB, as a responsive substance, can efficiently switched the photocurrent polarity of the SQ-COFs/BiOBr electrode from cathode to anode, which reduce the background signal, further improve the sensitivity of the biosensor. Based on the above, the linear detection range of our designed biosensor is 0.001–3 U mL−1, and the detection limit (LODs) is as low as 4.07 × 10−6 U mL−1. Furthermore, the biosensor can still maintain good analytical performance for UDG in real sample, which means that it has broad application prospects in the field of biomedicine. [Display omitted] • A polarity-switching-mode and split-type photoelectrochemical bioanalysis is developed for Uracil-DNA glycosylase detection. • The biosensor is based on SQ-COFs/BiOBr heterostructure and catalytic hairpin assembly. • The COP probes can induce the polarity transition of photocurrent and avoid the generation of false positive signals. • The sensor is a homogeneous biosensor, which avoids complicated assembly on the electrodes, improving the sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A novel electrospun PVDF-HFP/PMIA nanofiber membrane is successfully prepared. • The membrane can be acted as matrix for heat-resistant gel polymer electrolyte. • The separator has outstanding electrolyte uptake, thermal stability and strength. • The separator possesses high ionic conductivity and stable electrochemical window. • The assembled battery shows high safety and excellent electrochemical properties. Abstract In this work, a novel nanofiber composite membrane constituting poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) / poly-m-phenyleneiso-phthalamide (PVDF-HFP/PMIA) was successfully fabricated through one-step electrospinning technique. The PVDF-HFP/PMIA nanofibers possessed low average diameter and uniform diameter distribution, which were able to be acted as matrix for gel polymer electrolyte. Significantly, the presence of PVDF-HFP endowed PMIA membrane with considerable high electrolyte uptake and porosity, eminent mechanical strength and remarkable thermal shrinkage resistance. Compared with pure PMIA and polyethylene separators, the PVDF-HFP/PMIA separator obtained higher ionic conductivity, lower interfacial resistance and more stable electrochemical window. The Li/LiCoO 2 battery with the prepared separator reflected admirable cycle stability with outstanding first discharge capacity up to 153.8 mAh g−1 at 0.5C rate and superior capacity retention of 88.75% after 100 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A novel hybrid Octaphenyl-POSS/PMIA membrane is successfully prepared. • The separator has outstanding thermal stability and strength. • The separator shows excellent ability to absorb and store liquid electrolyte. • The separator has high ionic conductivity and stable electrochemical window. • The battery presents high safety and excellent electrochemical performance. Abstract In this study, a hybrid Poly-m-phenyleneisophthalamide/Octaphenyl-Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (PMIA/Octaphenyl-POSS) membrane (HPPS) was fabricated by electrospinning technique and its application performance as lithium-ion battery separators was discussed. The organic-inorganic feature of Octaphenyl-POSS (OPS) endowed admirable compatibility of membrane matrix for the HPPS membranes. The nanofiber membranes with OPS nanoparticles were provided with commendable thermal stability, robust mechanical strength (21.79 MPa), high porosity and electrolyte uptake, which laid a good foundation for improving the safety and cycle performance of the cells with the separator. The lithium-ion battery with the HPPS separator displayed a high ionic conductivity of 1.93 × 10−3 S·cm−1 and a stable electrochemical window of 4.98 V. More significantly, the HPPS nanofiber membrane based Li/LiCoO 2 cell exhibited excellent cycling stability with high first discharge capacity up to 157.9 mAh·g−1 and superior capacity retention of 89.04% after 100 cycles. Therefore, the HPPS separator has extraordinary potential to be used in high-performance lithium-ion battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract First principles theory calculations have been conducted to investigate the helium cluster interaction with various oxygen-enriched local atomic structures in the iron matrix. The helium atom displays strong affinity to the oxygen:vacancy pair. The helium formation energy reduces with the tensile strain and increases with the compressive strain. The iron matrix is hardened under the compressive strain and softened under the tensile strain, regardless of the local atomic structures. Under zero strain condition, the iron matrix elasticity is not sensitive to the size of embedded helium cluster, due to the dual effects of the local strain field induced by the helium cluster. On one hand, the helium cluster induces softening effect due to the stretching of the local atomic structure. On the other hand, the helium cluster induces the hardening effect due to the compression of the surrounding iron matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-sulfur battery is regarded as one of the promising next-generation energy storage to electrical and portable devices thanks to its extremely high theoretical capacity, energy density, good environmental protection and low cost. However, the practical application of lithium-sulfur battery is still greatly impeded by the low Coulombic efficiency and the short lifespan, which is mainly attributed to the polysulfide shuttle and the uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth. Suppressing the growth of the lithium dendrite and hindering the notorious reaction between soluble polysulfides and lithium are extremely critical not only to a safe and efficient lithium anode, but also to the high-capacity lithium-sulfur battery. A comprehensive review of various strategies for strengthening the anode stability of lithium-sulfur battery is presented in this paper, including modifying the electrolyte and current collector, employing artificial protection films and finding alternative anodes to replace the lithium anode. The effects of different selections and the resulting properties of the anodes on the overall lithium-sulfur battery performance are discussed. The current research challenges and future perspectives associated with lithium-sulfur battery anode are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the MnO 2 & carbon composite porous nanofibers (CPNF) were prepared via electro-blown spinning and in-situ hydrothermal synthesis. The MnO 2 nano-sheets were uniformly growing on carbon skeleton and filling in honeycomb-like carbon porous nanofibers, and the clear CPNFs were formed. The different hydrothermal parameters including the mass ratios of honeycomb-like porous carbon nanofiber and potassium permanganate, hydrothermal times and temperatures were discussed to obtain optimizing reaction conditions. The CPNFs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and low temperature nitrogen adsorption, respectively, and the supercapacitor performance of CPNF was preliminary tested. The discharge capacity was 421.5 F g −1 at 0.5 A g −1 , and it retained ∼81.2% after 3000 cycles at the current densities of 1.0 A g −1 . Moreover, this CPNF owned special structure and a great industrialization potentiality which could realize the applications in absorption and catalyst fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the first principles theory calculations, we reveal the strain, chirality and defect effects to the mechanical properties, phonon dispersion, and structural stability of monolayer MoS 2 . Phonon dispersion relation is calculated based on the lattice dynamics theory. Chirality effect is trivial to the Young's modulus at zero strain but significant to the ultimate strength and Poisson's ratio, regardless of the defects. A phonon band gap of 49 cm −1 exists in the perfect MoS 2 lattice, and reduces to 30.6 cm −1 in the MoS 2 lattice with two sulfur missing vacancy. The phonon band gap reduces with the increasing of tensile strain, regardless of chirality. The failure mode is investigated near the ultimate tensile strength of both the perfect MoS 2 lattice and the MoS 2 lattice with two sulfur missing vacancy. Regardless of the defect, elastic instability and structural instability are identified for the MoS 2 in zigzag direction tension test and armchair direction tension test, respectively. Based on the weakly linear component in the flextural acoustic mode of phonon dispersion, we evaluate the intrinsic critical compressive strain of buckling to be ϵ C = − 2.0 % ± 0.5 % for the perfect MoS 2 lattice and demonstrate it numerically from first principles theory calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present first principles theory calculations about the chirality and vacancy effects of the mechanical and electronic properties of monolayer MoS 2 . In the uni-axial tensile tests, chirality effect of the mechanical properties is negligible at zero strain and becomes significant with the increasing strain, regardless of vacancies. The existence of vacancies decreases the Young's modulus and ultimate strength of the MoS 2 structure. During the uni-axial tensile tests, the band gap decreases with the increasing strain, regardless of chirality and vacancies. The band gap is reduced with the intermediate state brought by the existence of vacancies. No chirality effect can be observed on the band gap variations of perfect MoS 2 . Chirality effect appears to the band gap variation of defected MoS 2 due to the local lattice relaxation near the vacancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Brain injury due to birth asphyxia is the major cause of death and long-term disabilities in newborns. We determined whether intranasal pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) could provide neuroprotection in neonatal rats after brain hypoxia–ischemia (HI). Seven-day old male and female Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to brain HI. They were then treated with intranasal PDTC. Neurological outcomes were evaluated 7 or 30days after the brain HI. Brain tissues were harvested 6 or 24h after the brain HI for biochemical analysis. Here, PDTC dose-dependently reduced brain HI-induced brain tissue loss with an effective dose (ED)50 at 27mg/kg. PDTC needed to be applied within 45min after the brain HI for this neuroprotection. This treatment reduced brain tissue loss and improved neurological and cognitive functions assessed 30days after the HI. PDTC attenuated brain HI-induced lipid oxidative stress, nuclear translocation of nuclear factor κ-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, and various inflammatory mediators in the brain tissues. Inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase after brain HI reduced brain tissue loss. Our results suggest that intranasal PDTC provides neuroprotection possibly via reducing inflammation and oxidative stress. Intranasal PDTC may have a potential to provide neuroprotection to human neonates after birth asphyxia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • ZIF-67 was in situ assembled onto ANF aerogel to get 3D monolith adsorbent. • ANF/ZIF-67 aerogel showed stable and competitive structural features. • ANF/ZIF-67 aerogel demonstrated high adsorption capacity for Cu2+ and Cr6+. • ANF/ZIF-67 aerogel displayed excellent adsorption capacity for CV and MO. • The adsorption capacity maintained up to 80% after five times of usage. The fabrication of a high-efficiency adsorbent, as a promising candidate for removing metal ions and organic dyes from aqueous solution, is a research hotspot but remains challenging. Aramid nanofibers (ANFs) are emerging building blocks that have realized multifunctional applications in various fields because of their intrinsic mechanical and chemical stability. In this research, three-dimensional (3D) ANF aerogel was assembled and applied in for in situ assembly of zeolitic imidazole framework-67 (ZIF-67). The aim, was to fully exploit the structural advantages of this composite's ultra-low bulk density, large specific surface area, and high porosity, as well as provide more available adsorption sites by ZIF-67 polyhedrons, to facilitate pollutant adsorption from waste water. The prepared 3D ANF/ZIF-67 composite aerogel possessed favorable adsorption performance for heavy metal ions (250.95 and 183.29 mg/g for Cu2+ and Cr6+, respectively) and organic dyes (199.36 and 65.98 mg/g for CV and MO, respectively), greatly exceeding that of the corresponding 3D ANF aerogel. Desorption experiments further demonstrated that up to 80% adsorption performance for heavy metal ions and organic dyes could be maintained after five times of usage. Hence, this research can provide new insights into the preparation of highly efficient adsorbents for water treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present first principles theory calculations on the mechanical and electronic properties of silicene and silicane structure under uniaxial tensile strain along different directions. Chirality effect is more significant in the mechanical properties of silicene than those of silicane. Different failure mechanisms are identified. A small band gap (up to 0.8 eV) is developed from zero with silicene structure under uniaxial tension and vanishes before the structure reaches its in-plane ultimate strength. However, a pre-existing band gap (2.39 eV) exists with silicane structure and decreases to zero with the increasing tensile strain without chirality effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A label-free and dual-amplified electrochemical bioanalysis is developed for sensitive detection of mucin 1. • The biosensor is based on a dual-amplification, originated from an inorganic-organic polymer hybrid mimic peroxidase (AuNPs@Cu 7 S 4 @Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP) and catalytic hairpin assembly. • The AuNPs@Cu 7 S 4 @Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP can not only serve as an label-free electrochemical probe, but also possesses significantly enhanced peroxidase-like catalytic activity. • AuNPs@Cu 7 S 4 @Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP generates a significantly enhanced CA and DPV signals towards the reduction of H 2 O 2. We constructed a label-free and dual-amplified electrochemical bioanalysis for ultrasensitive detection of mucin 1 (MUC1, a tumor biomarker for lung cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer) based on an inorganic-organic polymer hybrid mimic peroxidase (AuNPs@Cu 7 S 4 @Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP) and catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA). The organic porous polymer (Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP) has a high surface area, which can load large amounts of Cu 7 S 4 and Au nanopartibcles (AuNPs). The formed inorganic-organic nanocomposite (AuNPs@Cu 7 S 4 @Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP) can not only serve as an electrochemical probe but also possesses significantly enhanced peroxidase-like performance, compared with that of only Cu 7 S 4 and only Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP. AuNPs@Cu 7 S 4 @Cu/Mn-AzoPPOP had high sensitivity towards the reduction of H 2 O 2 by means of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and chronoamperometry (CA). Based on the specific recognition between MUC1 and aptamers and its following cyclic reuse by simple strand displacement of CHA, further electrochemical signal amplification was achieved. The fabricated biosensor displayed ultra-sensitivity and highly selectivity for MUC1 determination, ranging from 1 fg/mL to 10 pg/mL, with low detection limits of 0.72 fg/mL (DPV) and 0.82 fg/mL (CA), respectively. Additionally, the proposed biosensor could also retain good performance in spiked serum samples, which implied its great promise for application in biomedical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For molecular materials, the packing motif plays a pivotal role in determining the optoelectronic characteristics, and it can be tailored via altering not only the molecular structure but also the crystal polymorph. However, it remains a long-standing difficulty for one molecular material to achieve both herringbone packing and 1D slipped stacking, shielding the relationship between the two classic motifs and the functional properties. Herein, we demonstrate that pyridyl substitution at the 2,6-positions of anthracene opens up the possibility of crystal polymorphism from herringbone packing to 1D slipped stacking. The two crystal polymorphs show distinct crystal morphologies, emission spectra, optical anisotropy, and waveguiding properties, shedding light on the relationship between the packing arrangement and optical characteristics based on the same molecular structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand for mobile devices has generated interest in lightweight human pose estimation. Currently, lightweight estimation generally uses heatmap-based methods, which has demonstrated exceptional performance. However, their use of non-differentiable post-processing imposes considerable inference latencies. Conversely, integral-based approaches expedite the inference process by employing a soft-argmax operation but compromise in accuracy. Integrating explicit heatmap knowledge learned using the heatmap-based method into the implicit heatmap generated by the integral-based method, thereby combining the best of both worlds, offers a promising avenue. However, owing to the disparities in supervision and inference processes, the explicit and implicit heatmaps are heterogeneous. Consequently, direct transfer of knowledge presents difficulties in ensuring consistencies in heat value and location. In this paper, we propose a novel Heterogeneous Heatmap Distillation (HHD) framework that effectively tackles these challenges. The framework seamlessly integrates explicit heatmap knowledge that contains high-precision localization information into implicit heatmaps. The framework revolves around an unbiased heatmap alignment scheme encompassing two steps: heterogeneous heatmap normalization and unbiased cropping. Heterogeneous heatmap normalization separately normalizes the output feature maps of both the teacher and student models, alleviating potential heat value bias during the knowledge transfer. Unbiased cropping applies closed-form computation on the normalized teacher and student heatmap to eliminate location bias. Additionally, mirror expansion is implemented to handle potential cases wherein the cropped region extends beyond the image boundary. Extensive experiments demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our methods on the MSCOCO and MPII datasets compared to other integral-based lightweight networks. Our source codes and pre-trained models are available at https://github.com/ducongju/HHD. • We propose a heterogeneousheatmap distillation(HHD) forhuman pose estimation. • The HHDtransfers knowledge from explicit heatmaps to implicit heatmaps. • Heterogeneous heatmap normalization mitigatesthe heat value bias between heatmaps. • Unbiasedcropping and mirror expansion mitigatethe location bias between heatmaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic glasses, like many other glasses and ceramics, generally have zero tensile ductility. Distinct from common wisdom which seeks to toughen brittle glasses with ductile phases, we show that composites made from two brittle glasses can be ductile, strong and even harden under tension as a result of microstructure and stiffness contrast. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we designed and tested composites consisting of alternating wavy nanofilaments of two brittle glasses with different stiffness. The composites exhibit failure strain over 40% and strain hardening modulus over 2 GPa. The tensile ductility is determined by both the flexibility of nanofilaments and the propensity of crack deflection, with which a ductile composite design map can be constructed. The strain hardening is due to filament alignment analogous to linear polymer. The brittle-brittle composite design strategy proposed here is not material-specific and should be applicable to, for instance, ultra-hard materials as constituents in achieving new damage-resistance composites. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Camellia plants include more than 200 species of great diversity and immense economic, ornamental, and cultural values. We sequenced the transcriptomes of 116 Camellia plants from almost all sections of the genus Camellia. We constructed a pan‐transcriptome of Camellia plants with 89 394 gene families and then resolved the phylogeny of genus Camellia based on 405 high‐quality low‐copy core genes. Most of the inferred relationships are well supported by multiple nuclear gene trees and morphological traits. We provide strong evidence that Camellia plants shared a recent whole genome duplication event, followed by large expansions of transcription factor families associated with stress resistance and secondary metabolism. Secondary metabolites, particularly those associated with tea quality such as catechins and caffeine, were preferentially heavily accumulated in the Camellia plants from section Thea. We thoroughly examined the expression patterns of hundreds of genes associated with tea quality, and found that some of them exhibited significantly high expression and correlations with secondary metabolite accumulations in Thea species. We also released a web‐accessible database for efficient retrieval of Camellia transcriptomes. The reported transcriptome sequences and obtained novel findings will facilitate the efficient conservation and utilization of Camellia germplasm towards a breeding program for cultivated tea, camellia, and oil‐tea plants. Significance Statement: High‐quality transcriptomes of 116 Camellia plants from almost all sections of genus Camellia unveils their deep phylogeny and the transcriptional mechanism underlying the dynamic evolution of quality traits related secondary metabolites, which will facilitate the efficient conservation and utilization of Camellia germplasm towards a breeding program for cultivated tea, camellia, and oil‐tea plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A core-shell structured PI@F-PMIA GPE coupled hardness with softness is prepared. • The GPE has good electrolyte uptake and gelation phase to enable a stable interface. • The GPE has high wetting tensile strength and heat-resisting to ensure its stability. • The novel GPE promotes lithium ions migration and restrains lithium dendrites growth. • Lithium-metal cells with the GPE separator show excellent electrochemical properties. Lithium metal shows great promise to be the anode material of next-generation electrical energy storage, but the uncontrollable growth of dendritic and mossy lithium greatly restricts the practical application of lithium-metal batteries. Herein, we demonstrate a sustainable strategy for creating a core-shell structured polyimide@fluorinated poly-m-phenyleneisophthalamide (PI@F-PMIA) nanofiber separator coupled hardness with softness via coaxial electrospinning technique. The PI core with good heat-resistance and breaking tenacity acts as a steady and powerful skeleton support to guarantee the structural stability of the PI@F-PMIA separator, even in the wet environment of the working battery. Meanwhile, the gel F-PMIA shell can endow the PI@F-PMIA membrane with a more intimate electrolyte contact to further enhance the electrolyte affinity so as to improve the ion transport capacity. Therefore, the as-prepared PI@F-PMIA nanofiber membrane delivers the synchronous characteristics of the favorable wetting mechanical flexibility, laudable thermal stability, excellent electrolyte uptake as well as distinct gelation phase, which has the capability to overcome the obstacle of lithium dendrites growth and enable a homogeneous stable electrolyte interface. As a result, the good ionic conductivity and interfacial compatibility can be obtained by using the functionalized PI@F-PMIA separator, and the voltage of the relevant lithium symmetrical battery delivers the relatively minor change during 350 h at 2.0 mA·cm−2. More importantly, the as-assembled PI@F-PMIA-based lithium-metal cells present superior cycling stability with the capacity retention of 83.1% and Coulombic efficiency of 99.7% after 200 cycles at 0.5 C rate, accompanied by an excellent rate recovery capability. It follows that the newfangled PI@F-PMIA nanofiber membrane with softness and strength can be perceived to be a highly qualified separator for high-safety and dendrite-proof lithium-metal batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel multilevel-structured MnO 2 -assisted PVDF-HFP/PMIA-based GPE is prepared. • The GPE shows reduced aperture, increased porosity and electrolyte uptake. • The GPE has sufficient active sites and short diffusion channels for Li+ migration. • The GPE shows excellent thermal and mechanical properties to ensure battery safety. • Lithium-ion cells with the GPE show high ionic conductivity and cycle stability. Separator plays a key background role in maintaining excellent ionic flux and avoiding the subject of internal short-circuit faults, which is thought as the key-part of lithium-ion battery. Hence, the characteristics of prominent thermal stability, eminent electrolyte affinity and laudable mechanical strength are of vital importance to guarantee energy density and security for lithium-ion cells. In this study, a natty poly(vinylidene fluoridehexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP)-based gel membrane with multi-level nanofibers was resoundingly prepared for the first time through blend electrospinning of manganese dioxide (MnO 2) particles and poly-m-phenyleneisophthalamide (PMIA) solution. The organic–inorganic hybrid multi-level gel electrolyte presented relatively high porosity, small aperture, superior electrolyte uptake and outstanding heat-resistance. Moreover, the mutual overlaps between the coarse fibers and the fine fibers within the multi-level nanofiber membrane provided a strong skeleton support to suppress the lithium-dendrites growth, resulting in an appealing safety for the resulting batteries. And the existence of the multi-level nanofibers can significantly accommodate more sufficient active sites and shorter diffusion channels to accelerate lithium ions migration. Depend on these benefits, the as-assembled cells using the hybrid PMIA separator delivered superior ionic conductivity (2.27 × 10−3 S cm−1) and steady anodic stability window (~5.01 V). The most extraordinary was that the capacity retention of the resulting lithium-ion cell reached up to 90.5% after 200 cycles at 0.5 C, while the Celgard PP separator merely achieved to 70.2%. This work proved that the addition of functional inorganic particles similar with MnO 2 in gel PVDF-HFP-doped PMIA membrane with multi-level structure could enhance the lithium ions transport capability and resist the growth of lithium dendrites, which would prompt a great development of lithium-ion cells with reassuring safety and high energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A hierarchical-structure PMIA-based GPE containing PVDF-HFP and nanoclay is prepared. • The GPE shows reduced aperture, extremely high porosity and electrolyte uptake. • The GPE shows well-distributed Li+ flux, excellent thermal and mechanical properties. • The electronegative MMT-clay can boost Li+ migration while restrain "shuttle effect". • Batteries with the GPE separator exhibit excellent electrochemical performances. In this study, a novel functionalized poly-m-phenyleneisophthalamide (PMIA)-based gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) containing poly(vinylidene fluoridehexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) and montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclay is synthesized via electrospinning technology. Under the synergistic regulation of PVDF-HFP and nano-MMT, the PMIA-based membrane yields the distinctive hierarchical structure accompanied by extremely high porosity, reduced aperture and well-distributed pore structure, bringing about extraordinary electrolyte uptake. And the as-fabricated GPE renders the engineered functional separator with exceptional thermal stability, robust mechanical strength and uniform lithium-ion flux distribution, which lays a strong foundation for dendrite-proof and advanced-safety batteries. Especially, the well-dispersed MMT-filler within PMIA membrane can provide electronegative atmosphere, stimulating the convenient transmission of lithium ions across separator while preventing the diffusion of negative polysulfide to anode side. Consequently, the lithium-ion cell with the gel PMIA separator obtains a pronounced improvement in cycle stability and rate capability thanks to outstanding ionic conductivity, preferable electrochemical stability and reduced polarization. Meanwhile, the assembled lithium-sulfur battery also delivers preferable cycle performance in virtue of the forceful repulsive force or captured ability of the PMIA-based GPE to dissolved polysulfide species. Therefore, the upgraded designing of hierarchical-structure gel PMIA separator will open up an effective avenue towards high-performance and advanced-safety lithium-ion or lithium-sulfur cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel ion-selective and ultra-strong PMIA-based GPE containing OAPS is prepared. • The separator can inhibit the polysulfide transfer while promote Li+ migration. • The separator shows ultra-high tensile strength to inhibit lithium dendrite growth. • The separator shows outstanding thermal stability and excellent electrolyte uptake. • Battery with the separator exhibits excellent electrochemical performance. In this paper, a novel ion-selective and ultra-strong poly-m-phenyleneisophthalamide (PMIA)-based gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) containing fluorinated emulsion and octa(aminophenyl)silsesquioxane (OAPS) nanoparticles is rationally designed for lithium-sulfur batteries by electrospinning. Under the significant effect of OAPS, the PMIA-based GPE acts as a multi-functional separator with exceedingly high electrolyte uptake, exceptional thermal stability and robust mechanical strength. Particularly, the -NH 2 groups of OAPS provide an electronegative environment, which facilitate the lithium ions migration while inhibit the negative polysulfide anions transfer. Thus, the PMIA-based GPE exhibits an effective electrostatic shielding effect to restrain lithium polysulfide on cathode side, while vigorously stimulating the transmission of lithium ions. As a great result, the lithium ions migration, the interface impedance and the reversible rate capacity of the assembled lithium-sulfur battery obtain a marked improvement. Meantime, the cell with the PMIA-based separator, adopting conventional sulfur-carbon black as cathode materials, delivers a high initial capacity of 851.1 mAh·g−1 with capacity retention of 458.3 mAh·g−1 after 800 cycles at 0.5 C rate, accompanied by a low capacity decay of 0.057% per cycle. Therefore, the prepared PMIA separator imbedding with OAPS can be deemed as an extraordinary potential candidate for the application in high-performance lithium-sulfur cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• α-GalCer activates iNKT10 cells of adipose tissue by subcutaneous injection. • iNKT10 cells promote M2 macrophage polarization in adipose tissue. • Activation of iNKT10 and M2 macrophages improves inflammation of adipose tissue. The role of iNKT cells was investigated in chronic adipose tissue inflammation in obese mice after administration of α-GalCer in different pathways. C57BL/6J mice were fed high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks to establish the obese mouse model. The pathology of adipose tissue was observed by H&E staining. The rates of iNKT cells, macrophages and cell subsets in adipose tissue were detected by FCM. Cytokine levels in serum and adipose tissue lymphocyte-stimulated supernatants were assessed with the CBA kit. The expression levels of related transcription factor in adipose tissue were detected by Western blot. The proportions of iNKT cells, iNKT10 cells and M2 macrophages were decreased, while those of iNKT1 and M1 macrophages were increased in adipose tissue of HFD-fed mice. The expression levels of the related transcriptional proteins E4BP4 and Arg-1 were decreased while iNOS expression was increased in adipose tissue. Administration of α-GalCer by subcutaneous injection resulted in increased rates of iNKT10 cells and M2 macrophages, and decreased amounts of M1 macrophages in adipose tissue of HFD-fed mice. The expression of E4BP4 and Arg-1 were up-regulated, but iNOS was down-regulated. Meanwhile, infiltration of inflammatory cells into adipose tissue was further reduced. The imbalance between the proportions of iNKT1 and iNKT10 cells may be involved in the development of chronic inflammation in obese adipose tissue. Administration of α-GalCer by subcutaneous injection in HFD-fed mice activates adipose tissue iNKT10 cells, which promote M2 macrophage polarization and improve chronic inflammation in obese adipose tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites are limited due to poor interfacial bonding between the nonpolar/nonreactive polymer matrix and fiber surface. Recently, a concept of controlled mechanical interlocking between fiber and matrix surface was proposed to improve the interfacial bonding in fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites. Study results show promising performance of the approach under static loading conditions. In this work, we study the effect of strain rate on the interfacial bonding behavior under dynamic loading conditions. A parametric study of the strain rate effect is performed for which different surface microarchitectures of a glass/polypropylene composite system are considered. A three network model is implemented for modeling mechanical behavior of polymer, which is calibrated using a set of stress–strain curves experimentally obtained at various strain rates. The strength calculations address both polymer fracture and detachment of the polymer matrix from the anchoring sites. The results show that under the strain rates ranging from 2 × 10−4/s to 2 × 10−1/s, even without any interfacial friction or adhesion, the interfacial shear strength could achieve close to 70% of the theoretical strength of perfect matrix‐fiber bonding. It is observed that, while strain rate has appreciable effects on the fiber/matrix interfacial strength and can cause change of failure mode in some cases; its influence also depends on the geometry of the anchoring sites. Moreover, there is an optimal geometric configuration at which maximum failure strength is achieved. Graphic charts showing the dependency of interfacial strength on the strain rate and geometric configuration parameters are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the rate of adverse events (AEs) caused by intravenous administration of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles in abdominal and superficial applications retrospectively and to explore practical measures for prevention and treatment of them. Materials and methods: This study enrolled 83,778 contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) examinations using sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles intravenously performed during 11 years. Age, gender, and target organs of all CEUS patients were recorded. For cases of AEs, their medical history and laboratory results were also collected. The process of AEs was assessed and categorized. Besides, the management of AEs were recorded. Results: Twenty patients had sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles-related AEs. The AE rate was 0.024%. No significant difference was observed between patients with AEs and the whole group for age and sex distribution. All AEs happened in liver examinations. Among them, 7 (35%) were mild, 8 (40%) were moderate, and 5 (25%) were severe. They were categorized into 15 allergic-like reactions and 5 physiologic reactions. The manifestations of mild and moderate AEs mainly include urticaria, chills, and mild hypoxia, which could be eased by simple management. Severe cases had anaphylactic shock, generalized convulsions, and diffuse erythema with hypotension respectively. They need close monitoring and oxygen inhalation with anti-shock and anti-anaphylactic treatment. Most cases started within 30 min and recovered within 1 day. Conclusions: Intravenous administration of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles in abdominal and superficial applications was safe with rare AEs. AEs were more likely to happen in abdominal applications than superficial ones. A well-designed emergency plan should be available for clinical use of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles to reduce AEs and to deal with AEs properly. Critical relevance statement: Intravenous administration of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles in abdominal and superficial applications reported few AEs and could be considered safe but severe AEs are life-threatening. We analyzed the influence factors of AEs and propose some methods for prevention and treatment of them, which can further improve the safety of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles in clinical practice. Key points: • The AE rate of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles in abdominal and superficial applications was 0.024%. • Patients were more likely to have AEs in abdominal applications than superficial ones. • Severe AEs are life-threatening and need prompt identification and treatment. • We summarized some detailed suggestions for clinical prevention and treatment of AEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there have been some attempts to introduce the method of deep learning-based optical flow(DL-based OF) into PIV measurements. These attempts have made it possible to estimate the flow field with higher accuracy and higher spatial resolution. The current mainstream deep-learning optical flow estimation method often requires a training set whose data distribution is closer to the real sample when completing the target task. However, there is a certain difference between the rigid body motion dataset commonly used in the field of computer vision and the fluid motion dataset in PIV measurements. Whether networks trained with rigid-body data can be directly applied to fluids has not been fully discussed. However, in existing attempts to introduce the DL-based OF method into the field of PIV measurement, the influence of the characteristics of the PIV particle image on the calculation results of the deep learning optical flow estimation (DL-based OF) has not been fully discussed. Therefore, the boundary conditions of the learning method for PIV calculation cannot be fully demonstrated. In this study, we selected the Flownet2 network, which is a classical baseline model on rigid body datasets, as a representative deep learning optical flow estimation method for experiments. Based on the characteristics of various particle images, this study generates a dataset with a wide range of parameters, such as particle density, particle diameter, sheet thickness, and maximum displacement, which are key to the generation of PIV simulation images and discusses the sensitivity of DL-based OF methods under extreme parameter conditions. This study compares (1) the model parameters trained using rigid body datasets such as Sintel, (2) the model parameters trained using synthetic PIV images, (3) the PIV-WIDIM method, and (4) the Optical Flow-Farneback method. The results reveal that the DL-based OF methods in (1) and (2) have a higher spatial resolution and estimation accuracy than the traditional methods in (3)] and (4). Training with the synthetic fluid dataset results in a smoother flow field in method (2)] compared with training with the rigid body dataset in method (1). In the case of limited training set parameters, Flownet2 can still be suitable for extreme conditions, such as small particle concentration, small particle diameter, insufficient particle brightness, or small particle displacement. • Introduce the deep learning optical flow estimation network Flownet2 into the PIV estimation task. • The result trained on Synthetic Fluid Dataset has better performance in flow field continuity. • Applicable to a wide range of boundary conditions with limited parameters in the training dataset. • Compared with traditional methods, it is more suitable for complex flow fields such as small-scale eddies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver cytosol antibody type 1 (anti‐LC1) is reported to be a marker of type 2 autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), a type of autoimmune liver disease (AILD). However, anti‐LC1 is not entirely disease‐specific, and its clinical value in other hepatic diseases has not been well elucidated. Our study aimed to explore the associations between the diagnoses and outcome of decompensated cirrhosis or liver failure (DC/LF) in patients positive for anti‐LC1. A total of 157 patients positive for anti‐LC1 were included in our final analysis. DC/LF was defined as the outcome of patients positive for anti‐LC1. The risk of DC/LF according to diagnosis was estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, while stratified Cox regression models were used in the subgroup analyses. The diagnoses of patients positive for anti‐LC1 were found to be comprised of various liver disorders. Versus other diagnoses, viral hepatitis was associated with a 2.25‐fold increased risk of DC/LF in these patients, independent of sex, age, disease course, treatment and drinking history. Additionally, the associations were more significant by subgroup analysis in male patients, younger patients, non‐newly diagnosed patients, patients without treatment and patients without drinking history. Anti‐LC1 is not a disease‐specific antibody, as it was found in multiple types of hepatic disease. Furthermore, viral hepatitis rather than AILD was associated with an increased risk of DC/LF in patients positive for anti‐LC1. These findings emphasize the important role of viral hepatitis in the progression of DC/LF in patients positive for anti‐LC1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caloric restriction (CR) can prolong life and ameliorate age‐related diseases; thus, its molecular basis might provide new insights for finding biomarker and intervention for aging and age‐related disease. Glycosylation is an important post‐translational modification, which can timely reflect the changes of intracellular state. Serum N‐glycosylation was found changed with aging in humans and mice. CR is widely accepted as an effective anti‐aging intervention in mice and could affect mouse serum fucosylated N‐glycans. However, the effect of CR on the level of global N‐glycans remains unknown. In order to explore whether CR affect the level of global N‐glycans, we performed a comprehensive serum glycome profiling in mice of 30% calorie restriction group and ad libitum group at 7 time points across 60 weeks by MALDI‐TOF‐MS. At each time point, the majority of glycans, including galactosylated and high mannose glycans, showed a consistent low level in CR group. Interestingly, O‐acetylated sialoglycans presented an upward change different from other derived traits, which is mainly reflected in two biantennary α2,6‐linked sialoglycans (H5N4Ge2Ac1, H5N4Ge2Ac2). Liver transcriptome analysis further revealed a decreased transcriptional level of genes involved in N‐glycan biosynthesis while increased level of acetyl‐CoA production. This finding is consistent with changes in serum N‐glycans and O‐acetylated sialic acids. Therefore, we provided one possible molecular basis for the beneficial effect of CR from N‐glycosylation perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for flame retardancy in epoxy thermosetting resins (EP) has become increasingly urgent, but the mechanical properties should not be damaged while ensuring flame-retardancy efficiency. To achieve this, a heterocyclic compound (BDP) containing reactive functional groups was successfully synthesized by 2,4-Diamino-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine (DPT), paraformaldehyde and 9, 10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) in a one-pot process. From the analysis of the curing behavior, the addition of BDP facilitated the curing reaction of EP by reducing the apparent activation energy (E c). Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and flexural tests indicated an increase in the glass transition temperature (T g) and flexural strength of the flame-retardant epoxy resin (FREP) increased by 5.2% and 8.9% respectively, caused by an enhancement of intermolecular forces. As well, a V-0 classification in vertical combustion with a limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 35.2% was attained at a phosphorus content of merely 0.48 wt%. Cone calorimetric (CC) test demonstrated that total smoke production (TSP) and the peak heat release rate (PHRR) of EP-7.5/BDP were reduced by approximately 19.2% and 29.4% respectively in comparison to EP. This positive smoke inhibition and flame retardancy were caused by the blocking and dilution effect presented by the FREP during combustion. [Display omitted] • A heterocyclic compound containing P/N was synthesized as a flame retardant (BDP) for EP using a simple strategy. • The introduction of BDP improved the heat resistance of the EP/DDM system without loss of flexural properties. • The sample showed good flame retardancy at low addition levels while exhibiting smoke suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although clinical outcomes of CLL have improved with the use of BCL-2 inhibitor, ABT-199, acquired resistance eventually occurs in many cases, which leads to CLL disease progression. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that mediate this relapse is important to design improved therapies. Herein, we report that cytokine IFN-γ, secreted by dysfunctional T cells, enhanced CLL cells resistance to ABT-199. IFN-γ stimulation significantly increased the expression of BCL-2, MCL-1 and BCL-xL. Blocking JAK1/2-STAT3 signaling pathway impaired the expression of these anti-apoptotic proteins after IFN-γ stimulation. The combination of ABT-199 with JAK1/2 inhibitor Ruxolitinib or STAT3 inhibitors Stattic and C188-9 increased malignant B cell death. In summary, we show that IFN-γ enhanced CLL cells resistance to ABT-199 at least in part by up-regulating BCL-2, MCL-1 and BCL-xL expression via JAK1/2-STAT3 pathway, and thus blocking this pathway with inhibitors increased ABT-199 efficiency to induce CLL cell apoptosis, suggesting a potential therapeutically relevant combination to overcome ABT-199 resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: In this study, the optimal conditions for the extraction and purification of glycyrrhizic acid from Radix Glycyrrhizae (RG) and baicalein and wogonin from Radix Scutellariae (RS) by foam fractionation were studied on the basis of central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology. RESULTS: The results showed that herbal proportion (RG:RS), gas flow and ethanol concentration were the main factors guiding the foam fractionation of RG and RS. The optimum technological parameters were obtained as follows: herbal proportion (RG:RS), 1.86:1.14; gas flow, 109 mL min−1; and ethanol concentration, 53%. Under the optimal operating conditions, the maximal extraction yields of baicalein, glycyrrhizic acid and wogonin were 56.67, 13.25 and 9.51 mg g−1, respectively, which were 2.32‐, 1.22‐ and 1.84‐fold higher than those of ultrasonic extraction and 17.28‐, 1.15‐ and 9.91‐fold higher than those of ultrasonic extraction without hydrolysis, respectively. Investigations on the antioxidant activity showed that the foam‐fractionated extract exhibited better free radical scavenging activity (IC50 13.80 μg mL−1) than that of the ultrasonic extract (IC50 223.00 μg mL−1). Antibacterial activity showed that the minimum inhibitory concentrations of the foam fractionated extract against Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Group A Streptococcus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 1.38, 1.38, 0.69 and 5.50 mg mL−1, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the foam fractionated extract exhibited better extraction yields and free radical scavenging activity than did the ultrasonic extract. Therefore, this fast and eco‐friendly method was established and could be a basis for the extraction and separation of other active constituents from herbal medicines. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium (Li) metal is deemed as a promising anode for next-generation high-energy-density battery. However, the rebellious dendrites growth leads to the low Coulombic efficiency and safety hazards, which has been a key challenge in the application of Li metal anode. Herein, the ZnF 2 /ZnS heterostructures and N-doped carbon decorated porous carbon nanofibers (ZnF 2 /ZnS/NC/PCNFs) are fabricated through the electro-blow spinning (EBS), metal-organic framework (MOF)-assisted method, and carbonization process. And its application performances as coating functional interlayer of lithium metal batteries (LMBs) to suppress the Li dendrites growth are systematically researched. The conductive interconnected skeleton of NC/PCNFs provides convenient electrons/ions transmission channels and reduces local current density. The lithiophilic ZnF 2 and ZnS nanoparticles can trigger similar alloying reaction with Li-ions to guide the uniform Li deposition. In particular, the inbuilt electric field triggered at the interface of ZnF 2 /ZnS heterostructures improves charge transfer and surface reaction kinetics. Combining with these merits, the Li|LiFePO 4 (Li|LFP) cells with ZnF 2 /ZnS/NC/PCNFs deliver an optimal initial discharge capacity of 143.2 mAh g−1 and capacity retention rate of 93.6% after 600 cycles at 1 C. Moreover, the Li|Li symmetric cells show lower overpotential than that without the interlayer. Extraordinarily, the lithium-sulfur (Li|S) cells with ZnF 2 /ZnS/NC/PCNFs also display excellent cycle stability due to the strong captured or adsorbed ability to dissolved lithium polysulfides. All these results reveal that the utilization of the ZnF 2 /ZnS/NC/PCNFs interlayer provides new insight for protecting the Li metal anode and improving the electrochemical properties and safety of LMBs. [Display omitted] • The ZnF 2 /ZnS/NC/PCNFs interlayer was successfully prepared. • The interlayer provided convenient ions/electrons transmission channel. • ZnF 2 /ZnS heterostructures could enhance the charge transfer kinetics. • The interlayer could inhibit the Li dendrites growth for LMBs and absorb lithium polysulfides for Li.|S batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In October 2015, China's one-child policy was universally replaced by a so-called two-child policy. This study investigated the association between the enactment of the new policy and changes in the number of births, and health-related birth outcomes.Methods: We used difference-in-difference model to analyse the birth record data in Pudong New Area, Shanghai.The design is descriptive before-and-after comparative study.Results: The data covered three policy periods: the one-child policy period (January 2008 to November 2014); the partial two-child policy period (December 2014 to June 2016); the universal two-child policy period (July 2016 to December 2017). There was an estimate of 7656 additional births during the 18 months of the implementation of the universal two-child policy. The trend of monthly percentage of births to mothers aged ≥35 increased by 0.24 percentage points (95% confidence interval 0.19 to 0.28, p < 0.001) during the same period. Being a baby boy, preterm birth, low birth weight, parents with lower educational attainment, and assisted delivery were associated with a higher risk of birth defects.Conclusions: The universal two-child policy was associated with an increase in the number of births and maternal age. Preterm birth, low birth weight, and assisted delivery were associated with a higher risk of birth defects, which suggested that these infants needed additional attention in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The retina, the most crucial unit of the human visual perception system, combines sensing with wavelength selectivity and signal preprocessing. Incorporating energy conversion into these superior neurobiological features to generate core visual signals directly from incoming light under various conditions is essential for artificial optoelectronic synapses to emulate biological processing in the real retina. Herein, self‐powered optoelectronic synapses that can selectively detect and preprocess the ultraviolet (UV) light are presented, which benefit from high‐quality organic asymmetric heterojunctions with ultrathin molecular semiconducting crystalline films, intrinsic heterogeneous interfaces, and typical photovoltaic properties. These devices exhibit diverse synaptic behaviors, such as excitatory postsynaptic current, paired‐pulse facilitation, and high‐pass filtering characteristics, which successfully reproduce the unique connectivity among sensory neurons. These zero‐power optical‐sensing synaptic operations further facilitate a demonstration of image sharpening. Additionally, the charge transfer at the heterojunction interface can be modulated by tuning the gate voltage to achieve multispectral sensing ranging from the UV to near‐infrared region. Therefore, this work sheds new light on more advanced retinomorphic visual systems in the post‐Moore era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, we adopt molecular dynamics simulation and first principles theory calculation to investigate the deformation modes of graphene sheets induced by patterned hydrogenation stripes, as well as thermal conductivity variation with respect to the doping density and deformation modes. We demonstrate that the deformation modes can be controlled by the hydrogenation patterning parameters. Both the doping density and morphology contribute to the thermal conductivity variation of the graphene sheet. With the control of hydrogenation patterning parameters, desired deformation modes and thermal conductivity of graphene can be achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]