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Experimental intranasal infection of marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) with calpox virus results in fatal disease. Route and dose used for viral inoculation of the test animals mimics the natural transmission of smallpox, thus representing a suitable model to study pathogenesis and to evaluate new vaccines against orthopoxvirus infection. However, the pathogenic mechanisms leading to death are still unclear. Therefore, our study aimed at investigating the kinetics of pathological alterations to clarify the pathogenesis in calpox virus infection. Following intranasal inoculation with two different viral doses, common marmosets were sacrificed on days 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 post inoculation. Collected tissue was screened using histopathology, immunohistochemistry, transmission electron microscopy, and virological assays. Our data suggest that primary replication took place in nasal and bronchial epithelia followed by secondary replication in submandibular lymph nodes and spleen. Parallel to viremia at day 7, virus was detectable in many organs, mainly located in epithelial cells and macrophages, as well as in endothelial cells. Based on the onset of clinical signs, the histological and ultrastructural lesions and the immunohistochemical distribution pattern of the virus, the incubation period was defined to last 11 days, which resembles human smallpox. In conclusion, the data indicate that the calpox model is highly suitable for studying orthopoxvirus-induced disease.

Experimental intranasal infection of marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) with calpox virus results in fatal disease. Route and dose used for viral inoculation of the test animals mimics the natural transmission of smallpox, thus representing a suitable model to study pathogenesis and to evaluate new vaccines against orthopoxvirus infection. However, the pathogenic mechanisms leading to death are still unclear. Therefore, our study aimed at investigating the kinetics of pathological alterations to clarify the pathogenesis in calpox virus infection. Following intranasal inoculation with two different viral doses, common marmosets were sacrificed on days 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 post inoculation. Collected tissue was screened using histopathology, immunohistochemistry, transmission electron microscopy, and virological assays. Our data suggest that primary replication took place in nasal and bronchial epithelia followed by secondary replication in submandibular lymph nodes and spleen. Parallel to viremia at day 7, virus was detectable in many organs, mainly located in epithelial cells and macrophages, as well as in endothelial cells. Based on the onset of clinical signs, the histological and ultrastructural lesions and the immunohistochemical distribution pattern of the virus, the incubation period was defined to last 11 days, which resembles human smallpox. In conclusion, the data indicate that the calpox model is highly suitable for studying orthopoxvirus-induced disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postoperative pain intensity is influenced by various factors, including genetic variations. The SCN10A gene encodes the Nav1.8 sodium channel protein, which is crucial for pain signal transmission in peripheral sensory neurons. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the relationship between genetic mutations in the SCN10A gene (rs6795970) and postoperative analgesic effects following gynecological laparoscopic surgery. Methods: Two hundred female patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery under general anesthesia were included. pain sensitivity was evaluated using the catastrophizing scale and pain sensitivity questionnaire (PSQ). Patients received patient-controlled intravenous analgesia with sufentanil and dexmedetomidine for 48 h post-surgery. Postoperative pain indicators, such as visual analog scale (VAS) scores, Ramsay scores, and side effects were recorded. SCN10A rs6795970 mutations were identified using MassARRAY SNP typing technology, and patients were categoried into homozygous mutant (AA), wild type (GG), and heterozygous mutation (GA) groups for analysis. Results: Patients in the AA group had higher scores on the pain Catastrophizing Scale, PSQ-total, PSQ-minor, and PSQ-moderate compared to GA and GG groups (P < 0.05). VAS scores at 4, 6, and 12 h post-operation were higher in the AA group than the GG group (P < 0.05). Ramsay scores were lower in AA patients at 2 and 4 h post-operation compared to GA and GG groups (P < 0.05). The AA group exhibited more self-control analgesic pump compressions within the first 24 h post-surgery, quicker depletion of analgesics in the pump, and lower patient satisfaction with pain relief compared to GA and GG groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Female patients with homozygous SCN10A mutations may experience higher preoperative pain scores and increased sensitivity to postoperative pain following gynecological laparoscopic surgery with intravenous patient-controlled analgesia. Trial registration: www.chictr.org.cn, registration number: ChiCTR2200062425. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-scale light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) have received widespread attention in recent years for applications in display and optical communication. Compared with conventional quantum well active regions, quantum dots (QDs) can increase the carrier concentration at the same current density, which is beneficial for improving the efficiency and bandwidth of LEDs at low current densities. This is exactly what micro-LEDs need for display and communication applications. In this Perspective, we give a general introduction to InGaN QDs and provide an overview of the growth of InGaN QDs by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. We then discuss the advances in green and red micro-LEDs based on InGaN QDs for display applications. This is followed by recent progress on high-speed blue micro-LEDs, which have great potential for use in chip-to-chip optical interconnections. Finally, we address the remaining challenges for a further improvement in InGaN QD-based micro-LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and proteinuria is undetermined, with few studies on hypertension, a high-risk group for renal impairment. Therefore, we aimed to explore whether OSA is an independent risk factor for proteinuria in patients with hypertension. We investigated the cross-sectional association between OSA and proteinuria. Participants were divided into groups by apnea hypopnea index (AHI) category. Multivariable Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between OSA severity, objectively measured sleep dimensions, and proteinuria which is mainly defined by 24-h urine protein quantification > 300 mg/24 h. Sensitivity analyses were performed by excluding those with comorbidities (primary aldosteronism and homocysteine ≥ 15 μmol/L). Of the 2106 participants, the mean age was 47.57 ± 10.50 years, 67.2% were men, and 75.9% were OSA patients. In total participants, compared with those without OSA, patients with mild OSA, moderate OSA, and severe OSA showed 1.09 (95% CI 0.80–1.40), 1.24 (95% CI 0.89–1.74) and 1.47 (95% CI 1.04–2.08) fold risk for proteinuria with a trend test P trend < 0.05. Each 10-unit increase in the AHI, oxygen desaturation index (ODI), and time spent with oxygen saturation < 90% (T90) was found to be associated with 13%, 10%, and 2% higher likelihood of proteinuria in the crude model, significant in adjusted models. The more severe the OSA is, the higher the risk of proteinuria. AHI and T90 are independently associated with a higher risk of structural renal damage in the population with hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe-N-C Catalysts: Direct Growth of Carbon Nanotubes Doped with Single Atomic Fe-N4 Active Sites and Neighboring Graphitic Nitrogen for Efficient and Stable Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysis (Adv. Funct. In article number 1906174, Jia Li, Lin Gan, Feiyu Kang, and co-workers report the direct growth of carbon nanotubes doped with Fe-N SB 4 sb moieties for improved electrocatalytic stability in the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells. By increasing the neighboring graphitic nitrogen, the Fe-N SB 4 sb moieties also show enhanced activity due to the modified spin state of the Fe center and thereby optimized binding energy with ORR intermediates. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Aldosterone plays important parts in development of cardio-metabolic diseases as end product of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. However, factors elevating circulating aldosterone are not clear, and lifestyle-related factors are suggested to be involved, whereas less studied. Therefore, we aimed to explore the association of lifestyle factors with plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) in community population. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited participants using multistage random sampling from Emin China in 2019, and collected data and fasting blood samples. The considered lifestyle factors included obesity parameters (neck circumference, abdominal circumference), alcohol consumption, blood pressure (BP), physical activity, sleep duration, sleep quality, mental state (depression and anxiety), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and lipid profiles (total cholesterol and triglyceride). PAC was measured using radioimmunoassay. We performed sex-stratified linear and logistic regressions to explore associated factors of PAC. Component analysis was further performed to identify the main factors affecting PAC. Results: Twenty-seven thousand four hundred thirty-six participants with 47.1% men were included. Obesity parameters (neck circumference, abdominal circumference), glucose metabolism (FBG), psychological status (anxiety status in men and women, depression status in men), BP, liver function (in men), lipid metabolism (TC and TG in men), sleep parameters (sleep quality in women), and renal function (in women) are the main factors associated with elevated PAC. Conclusion: lower physical activity, alcohol consumption, higher BP, fat accumulation, dyslipidemia, higher fasting blood glucose, and presence of depression and anxiety were the main factors associated with eleveated PAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been suggested in several observational studies that migraines are associated with the gut microbiota. It remains unclear, however, how the gut microbiota and migraines are causally related. Methods: We performed a bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for the gut microbiota were obtained from the MiBioGen consortium (n = 18,340) and the Dutch Microbiota Project (n = 7,738). Pooled GWAS data for plasma metabolites were obtained from four different human metabolomics studies. GWAS summary data for migraine (cases = 48,975; controls = 450,381) were sourced from the International Headache Genetics Consortium. We used inverse-variance weighting as the primary analysis. Multiple sensitivity analyses were performed to ensure the robustness of the estimated results. We also conducted reverse mendelian randomization when a causal relationship between exposure and migraine was found. Results: LachnospiraceaeUCG001 (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.05-1.20) was a risk factor for migraine. Blautia (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88-0.99), Eubacterium (nodatum group; OR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.90-0.98), and Bacteroides fragilis (OR = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.94-1.00) may have a suggestive association with a lower migraine risk. Functional pathways of methionine synthesis (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.83-0.95) associated with microbiota abundance and plasma hydrocinnamate (OR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.73-1.00), which are downstream metabolites of Blautia and Bacteroides fragilis, respectively, may also be associated with lower migraine risk. No causal association between migraine and the gut microbiota or metabolites was found in reverse mendelian randomization analysis. Both significant horizontal pleiotropy and significant heterogeneity were not clearly identified. Conclusion: This Mendelian randomization analysis showed that LachnospiraceaeUCG001 was associated with an increased risk of migraine, while some bacteria in the gut microbiota may reduce migraine risk. These findings provide a reference for a deeper comprehension of the role of the gut-brain axis in migraine as well as possible targets for treatment interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultra-small size InGaN red micro-LED has attracted a lot of research interest for AR micro-display applications. However, it still faces the challenge of maintaining the emission wavelength and efficiency that meet the needs of micro-display in small size and high current density. Here, we demonstrate 1–20 μm InGaN red micro-LEDs based on freestanding GaN substrates, showing enhanced indium incorporation compared with those grown on traditional sapphire substrates. For the 1 μm devices, an external quantum efficiency (on-wafer) of 0.86% and a wavelength of 613.6 nm are achieved at a current density of 50 A/cm2. In addition, the emission uniformity of 1 μm array grown on GaN substrates is significantly superior to that grown on sapphire substrates. These results indicate that freestanding GaN substrates are benefits for improving performance of red InGaN micro-LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technology (ICT) plays an important role in rural livelihoods and household well‐being. Therefore, this study examines the impact of ICT adoption on farmers' decisions to access credit and the joint effects of ICT adoption and access to credit on household income using 2016 China Labour‐force Dynamics Survey data. Both recursive bivariate probit model and a selectivity‐corrected ordinary least square regression model are employed for the analysis. The results show that ICT adoption increases the probability of access to credit by 12.8% in rural China and empowers rural women and farm households in relatively less‐developed regions to access credit. ICT adoption and access to credit affect household income differently. ICT adoption significantly increases household income, while access to credit significantly reduces it, primarily because farmers do not use the acquired credit to invest in income‐generating farm and off‐farm business activities. ICT adoption has the largest positive impact on household income at the highest 90th quantile. Our findings suggest that improving rural ICT infrastructure to enhance farmers' ICT adoption and developing ICT‐based financial products to enable households to access sufficient funds can improve rural household welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huia cavitympanum is a frog endemic to the island of Borneo. In their paper, Gan et al. reveal the muscular architecture of the tadploes of this species that supports and operates the abdominal sucker and they show that cranial muscles involved. The computer 3D visualization of the slarval kull shows the mostly cartilaginous structures (blue), but also of beginning ossifications (magenta). The anatomy and structural connectivity of the abdominal sucker in the tadpoles of Huia cavitympanum, with comparisons to Meristogenys jerboa (Lissamphibia: Anura: Ranidae) Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, Volume 54, Issue 1, February 2016, Pages: 46–59, Li Lin Gan, Stefan T. Hertwig, Indraneil Das and Alexander Haas DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12113 Copyright of picture: ©Haas/Gan 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huia cavitympanum is a frog endemic to the island of Borneo. In their paper, Gan et al. reveal the muscular architecture of the tadploes of this species that supports and operates the abdominal sucker and they show that cranial muscles involved. The computer 3D visualization of the slarval kull shows the mostly cartilaginous structures (blue), but also of beginning ossifications (magenta). The anatomy and structural connectivity of the abdominal sucker in the tadpoles of Huia cavitympanum, with comparisons to Meristogenys jerboa (Lissamphibia: Anura: Ranidae) Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, Volume 54, Issue 1, February 2016, Pages: 46–59, Li Lin Gan, Stefan T. Hertwig, Indraneil Das and Alexander Haas DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12113 Copyright of picture: ©Haas/Gan 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huia cavitympanum is a frog endemic to the island of Borneo. In their paper, Gan et al. reveal the muscular architecture of the tadploes of this species that supports and operates the abdominal sucker and they show that cranial muscles involved. The computer 3D visualization of the slarval kull shows the mostly cartilaginous structures (blue), but also of beginning ossifications (magenta). The anatomy and structural connectivity of the abdominal sucker in the tadpoles of Huia cavitympanum, with comparisons to Meristogenys jerboa (Lissamphibia: Anura: Ranidae) Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, Volume 54, Issue 1, February 2016, Pages: 46–59, Li Lin Gan, Stefan T. Hertwig, Indraneil Das and Alexander Haas DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12113 Copyright of picture: ©Haas/Gan 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaking the thermoelectric figure of merit zT barrier of SnTe enables it to become a promising alternative to PbTe; however, the inferior and strongly coupled physicochemical properties of pristine SnTe severely restrict the efficient optimization. Herein, we doped trivalent Sb in SnTe and incorporated SnS particles to achieve high quality factor B through a two-step optimization strategy of tuning the valence band structure and intercalating heterostructural precipitates, and well predicted the potential prospects. The high solubility limit of Sb not only reduced the carrier concentration nH but also significantly optimized the valence band structure and improved the Seebeck coefficient, thereby enhancing the weight mobility μw in the all-temperature region. Furthermore, the additional SnS, which tends to exist as precipitates with different micrometer-scale sizes, enhanced low-medium-frequency phonon scattering in a wider frequency range except for point defects scattering, suppressing the lattice thermal conductivity to 0.55 W m−1 K−1. As a result of this synergistic effect, a high B-factor of ∼0.82 greater than triple pure SnTe was obtained in Sn0.91Sb0.09Te-10%SnS, with an enhanced zT of ∼1.15 at 850 K. More importantly, the high B-factor accurately predicted an excellent zT value of ∼1.65 at the optimal Fermi level, which highlights the great potential of Sn1-xSbxTe-y%SnS-based materials. This work provides an effective route for stepwise optimization of electrical and thermal performance from the B-factor perspective and has guiding significance for other thermoelectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity has been suggested in aldosterone elevation in resistant hypertension, whereas it is undetermined in the rest population. We explored the association of OSA parameters with plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) in participants with and without hypertension. Methods: We enrolled clinically hypertensive patients with polysomnography and PAC data under no interfering agents, compared (log) PAC, and assessed the linearity of log PAC by tertiles (T1/2/3) of sleep parameters and their association using linear regression by gender and age. We enrolled participants with and without hypertension who had No-SAS scale and PAC data from the community and duplicated the observations from clinical setting considering age, gender, and presence of hypertension. Results: Of the 2,066 clinical patients with hypertension (1,546 with OSA), men participants (n=1,412), log apnea–hypopnea index (p=0.043), apnea index (AI, p=0.010), and lowest oxygen saturation (LSaO2, p=0.013) showed significant linearity with log PAC. Log AI (B=0.04, 95%CI: 0.01,0.07, p=0.022) and log LSaO2 (B=−0.39, 95%CI: −0.78,−0.01, p=0.044) showed significant positive and negative linear associations with log PAC in regression. In community dwellers, 6,417 participants with untreated hypertension (2,642 with OSA) and 18,951 normotensive participants (3,000 with OSA) were included. Of the men participants with and without hypertension, the OSA group showed significantly higher (log) PAC than did their counterparts, and log No-SAS score showed positive association with log PAC (hypertension: B=0.072, 95%CI: 0.002,0.142, p=0.043; normotension: B=0.103, 95%CI: 0.067,0.139, p<0.001) in linear regression analysis, which were consistent in all age groups. Conclusions: OSA parameters were positively associated with PAC in normotensive and hypertensive participants, indicating that OSA may increase circulating aldosterone, especially in men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sporisorium scitamineum, a biotrophic basidiomycete fungus, causes the ravaging sugarcane smut disease globally in almost all sugarcane growing countries. The fungus spans around three distinct developmental stages, viz., diploid teliospores, haploid sporidia and dikaryotic mycelia, during its life cycle. The yeast-like and non-pathogenic haploid sporidia represent two opposite mating types: MAT-1 and MAT-2. Discrimination of these mating type haploids is essential for long-term preservation and maintenance of true-to-type isolate/pathotype, genetic investigations and to understand how the fusion of non-pathogenic, compatible mating type haploids turn into virulent dikaryotic mycelia. Hitherto, only the mating-based phenotyping assay is used for discrimination of opposite mating type haploids. In the present study, a quick and reliable PCR-based assay was developed for the first time for discriminating the distinct mating types (MAT-1 and MAT-2) of the S. scitamineum by targeting the unique regions of bE/bW mating type genes. Among the different primer sets evaluated, two sets, viz., bE1F1/bE1-2R1 and bE2F2/bE1-2R1 that target bE mating type genes, precisely differentiated the MAT-1 and MAT-2 mating type haploids of two S. scitamineum isolates, Ss97009 (high virulent) and SsV89101 (less virulent). The pathogenicity of distinct developmental stages, viz., haploid sporidia, dikaryotic mycelia and teliospores, and the life cycle transitions of these two S. scitamineum isolates in planta were analyzed by phenotyping and microscopy, respectively. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to estimate the pathogen biomass of plants inoculated with individual haploid sporidia (MAT-1 and MAT-2), mixture of haploid sporidia and teliospores of Ss97009 and SsV89101. These results altogether have substantiated the virulence nature of these two isolates and established the significance of fusion of opposite mating type haploids in causing smut disease in sugarcane. Overall, this simple and efficient PCR-based discrimination assay of haploids would serve as a valuable tool for genomic and functional studies of S. scitamineum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are aggressive, and they develop metastasis at earlier stages, relapse more frequently, and exhibits poorer prognosis than other subtypes of breast cancer. Due to the lack of estrogen receptor for endocrine therapy and HER2 for targeted therapy, new targeted therapies for TNBCs are urgently needed. Enzalutamide is a second-generation androgen receptor (AR) inhibitor, and HC-1119 is a new synthetic deuterated enzalutamide. Owing to the isotope effect, HC-1119 has many advantages over enzalutamide, including slow metabolism, high plasma concentration and low brain exposure. However, the efficacy of HC-1119 in inhibition of AR function in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has not been studied. In this study, we found high-level AR expression in both Hs578T and SUM159PT TNBC cell lines. Activation of AR by dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in both cell lines increased AR protein, induced AR-nuclear localization, enhanced cell migration and invasion in culture, and promoted liver metastasis in mice. Importantly, cotreatment with HC-1119 of these cells efficiently abolished all of these effects of DHT on both Hs578T and SUM159PT cells. These results indicate that HC-1119 is a very effective new second-generation AR antagonist that can inhibit the migration, invasion and metastasis of the AR-positive TNBC cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Elektrotechniczny is the property of Przeglad Elektrotechniczny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) has been ported, redesigned, and scaled to the full system of the Sunway TaihuLight, and provides peta-scale climate modeling performance. Based on a novel domain decomposition method, we have fully optimized the complete model code by using both OpenACC refactoring and more aggressive and finer-grained Athread approaches. The Athread approach enables us to achieve exceptional memory control and usage, efficient vectorization, and sophisticated utilization of the thread-level communication mechanism. We have also further refined the load-balance behaviors towards ultra-large-scale numerical simulation. By combining all these novelties, we achieved a simulation speed of 7.2 and 25.6 simulation-year-per-day (SYPD) for global 25-km and 100-km resolution, respectively (1.2- to 2.2-fold improvements over previous efforts), and a sustainable double-precision performance of 3.3 PFlops for a 750-m global simulation when using 10075000 cores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Credit has been identified as an essential tool to improve poor households' livelihood. Therefore, for rural farm households to improve their welfare and invest in productive agriculture activity, access to credit must be promoted. This paper examines how credit accessibility influences rural farm households' farmland abandonment reduction in Ghana. Using survey data collected from four regions in Ghana, the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model, and the problem confronting index (PCI) model were employed in the estimation. The findings revealed that households with access to credit are more likely to not abandon their farmland than a random farmer from the sample. Also, different household groups showed a heterogeneous impact of credit on farmland abandonment. Our findings provide policy implications to reduce farmland abandonment. For example, the negative credit accessibility impact on farmland abandonment implies that government and policymakers should target policies (e.g., improving the rural financial market) that will motivate farmers to reduce farmland abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with conventional comprehensive rehabilitation on dysphagia after brainstem stroke. Materials and methods: Forty brainstem stroke patients were randomly divided into tDCS group and conventional comprehensive treatment group, including 20 patients in each group. Both groups were given routine swallowing function training, and tDCS group added transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale (DOSS) and Functional Dysphagia Scale (FDS) were evaluated respectively before and after 8 weeks of continuous treatment with VFSS. The white blood cell (WBC), c-reactive protein, prealbumin (PAB), albumin (Alb), and hemoglobin (Hb) were also compared between the two groups before and after 8 weeks of continuous treatment. Results: After 8 consecutive weeks of treatment, the score of DOSS scale and FDS scale in both groups was improved (P < 0.05), WBC and CRP were decreased (P < 0.05), and Alb and Hb were improved (P < 0.05), and PAB had no differences (P=0.474). The tDCS group was superior to conventional comprehensive group in improving the swallowing function and nutritional indexes (P < 0.05). Conclusions: tDCS therapy combined with routine training can improve the swallowing function and nutritional status of patients, and reduce infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a kind of sustainable nanoparticle from biomass, which are widely used as reinforcing filler and assembly building block for high‐performance composites and function materials including biomaterial, optics, and so forth. Here, their unique advantages in material applications were reviewed based on their rod‐like morphology, crystalline structure, dimension‐related effects, and multi‐level order structure. Then, we focused on the molecular engineering of CNCs, including the structure and physicochemical properties of their surface, along with surface modification methods and steric effects. We further discussed the performance‐improvement and functionalization methods based on multi‐component complex systems, together with the effects of surface molecular engineering on the performance and functions. Meanwhile, methods of optimizing orientation in uniaxial arrays were discussed along with those of enhancing photoluminescence efficiency via surface chemical modification and substance coordination. In the end, we prospected the design, development, and construction methods of new CNCs materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public health workers at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and primary health care institutes (PHIs) were among the main workers who implemented prevention, control, and containment measures. However, their efforts and health status have not been well documented. We aimed to investigate the working conditions and health status of front line public health workers in China during the COVID-19 epidemic.Methods: Between 18 February and 1 March 2020, we conducted an online cross-sectional survey of 2,313 CDC workers and 4,004 PHI workers in five provinces across China experiencing different scales of COVID-19 epidemic. We surveyed all participants about their work conditions, roles, burdens, perceptions, mental health, and self-rated health using a self-constructed questionnaire and standardised measurements (i.e., Patient Health Questionnaire and General Anxiety Disorder scale). To examine the independent associations between working conditions and health outcomes, we used multivariate regression models controlling for potential confounders.Results: The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and poor self-rated health was 21.3, 19.0, and 9.8%, respectively, among public health workers (27.1, 20.6, and 15.0% among CDC workers and 17.5, 17.9, and 6.8% among PHI workers). The majority (71.6%) made immense efforts in both field and non-field work. Nearly 20.0% have worked all night for more than 3 days, and 45.3% had worked throughout the Chinese New Year holiday. Three risk factors and two protective factors were found to be independently associated with all three health outcomes in our final multivariate models: working all night for >3 days (multivariate odds ratio [ORm]=1.67~1.75, p<0.001), concerns about infection at work (ORm=1.46~1.89, p<0.001), perceived troubles at work (ORm=1.10~1.28, p<0.001), initiating COVID-19 prevention work after January 23 (ORm=0.78~0.82, p=0.002~0.008), and ability to persist for > 1 month at the current work intensity (ORm=0.44~0.55, p<0.001).Conclusions: Chinese public health workers made immense efforts and personal sacrifices to control the COVID-19 epidemic and faced the risk of mental health problems. Efforts are needed to improve the working conditions and health status of public health workers and thus maintain their morale and effectiveness during the fight against COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient thermal dissipation is one of the most critical factors constraining the development of modern microelectronic devices. Placing vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) with anisotropic thermal conductive between high-power devices and heat sink such as copper plate can improve the interfacial thermal conductance. Due to the limited contact area between CNTs and the surface of the devices, direct use of ACNTs as thermal interface material fails to meet people's expectations. Here, we employ reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as the substrate for the growth of CNT arrays. VACNTs grown on rGO (rGO-ACNT) by chemical vapor deposition are then used as thermal conducting filler in epoxy resin. Compared with direct contact between CNT and the interface, using CNT and reduced graphene oxide junction to form contact with the surface can improve heat transfer efficiency. The resultant composite film exhibited excellent thermal conductivity at 9.62 W m−1 K−1 along the thickness direction. The obtained rGO-ACNT and its composite present higher thermal conductivity and heat transfer ability than ACNT. This strategy offers an insight into the easy preparation of flexible and highly thermal conductive composite materials, which may enable potential applications in advanced electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D all‐inorganic halide perovskites (2D AIHP) have attracted huge attention for their excellent optoelectronic properties and superior atmospheric stability for organic–inorganic halide perovskites. 2D AIHP has been fabricated by varied strategies, whereas a satisfied way to simultaneously reach good quality, dimensions, and uniformity is still far from achieved yet. Here, a direct thermal deposition method to synthesize 2D AIHP of lateral length up to ≈30 µm and uniform thickness down to ≈10 nm, which shows excellent optoelectronic performance comparable to the reported top‐level 2D AIHP, is proposed. A vertical mass transport instead of conventional horizontal mode is adopted, significantly enhancing the deposition stability. Furthermore, the morphologies of AIHP are switchable between nanowires and nanoflakes under the control of deposition temperature. This method may pave the way for uniform fabrication of 2D AIHP or AIHP‐based 2D heterostructures for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pathogenicity of Curvularia sp. causing leaf disease blight of sorghum in Southwest Nigeria and efficacy of aqueous extracts of ten plants was evaluated for its management. Healthy sorghum plants were inoculated with an inoculum concentration adjusted to 1.25 ×105 conidia/ml using an hemacytometer and applied as foliar spray with hand sprayer at four weeks after sowing. The in vitro experiment was a 12 ×6 factorial in a completely randomized design with twelve treatments that were evaluated at six levels with three replications, while the screenhouse consisted of twelve treatments and three replications in a completely randomized design using a susceptible sorghum variety SORG 302. Data were collected on effect of treatments on disease incidence, severity, growth and yield parameters. Curvularia sp. was pathogenic among Aspergillus spp., Rhizopus spp., and Penicillum spp that were associated with sorghum leaf blight disease. Plants that were inoculated and treated with S. aromaticum extract had the lowest incidence of 10.31% relative to control (66.72%), while disease severity was also significantly (p<0.05) lower among plants that were inoculated with Curvularia sp. and treated. Sorghum plants that were inoculated with the pathogen and treated with S. aromaticum extract produced the highest grain yield of 3576.7kg/ha-1 which was significantly higher than other treatments. The simplicity and effectiveness of the extracts used in this study will succour to poor resource farmers who depends mostly on the use of hazardous fungicides in the control of this diseases on their farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: An effective strategy toward low‐driving voltage and high‐efficiency fluorescent organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) by long‐range radiative coupling of spatially separated electron–hole pairs is proposed. Charge transfer excited states between p‐type hole‐transport layer and n‐type electron‐transport layer can be achieved although they are separated by an interlayer, giving significantly reduced efficiency roll‐off and higher luminance compared with the devices based on interface exciplex. Remarkable external quantum efficiency near 15% is also achieved by employing conventional red fluorescent dyes doped into the hole‐transport layer adjacent to the interlayer due to the avoidance of the direct carrier trapping and thus the generation of unwanted nonradiative triplet excitons. Different from the conventional devices with a host–guest structure for both exciton generation and energy releasing, such unique device concept provides a bright avenue toward structure‐simplified and high‐performance fluorescent OLEDs, where the long‐range coupled radiative excitons and the following energy releasing are separated in their own channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning PEO solution with a mixed solvent of ethanol and deionized water. The results show that the mixed solvent system has noteworthy influences on structures and properties of electrospun PEO nanofibers, including molecular chain orientation, crystallinity degree, surface morphology, fiber diameter, diameter distribution, spinnability, and productivity. With increasing ethanol content in the mixed solvent, wrinkly morphologies appear on the surface of PEO nanofibers due to a high evaporation rate of ethanol during electrospinning process. The dielectric constant, dipole moment, conductivity, density, boiling point, and solubility parameter of the mixed solvent become lower with the ethanol content increasing. Besides, the hydrogen-bonding interactions between PEO and solvents become weaker. As a result, PEO nanofibers with larger diameters, lower molecular chain orientation, and crystallinity degree are obtained. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 45787. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroluminescence originating from layer-to-layer charge transfer (LLCT) in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) was early observed, whereas, the inferior performances limit their practical applications. In this work, we demonstrated an efficient approach to improve the overall performances of LLCT-based planar heterojunction OLEDs by simply diluting an n-type electron transport material into a carbazole-based matrix material to suppress excited-state quenching. As a result, an optimized device with a peak current efficiency of 41 cd A−1 (corresponding to a maximum external quantum efficiency of 12.6%) exhibited significantly enhanced efficiencies and much higher brightness at high current densities in contrast to the control devices without a mixture layer. We illustrated that even with a similar narrow recombination region, it is feasible to achieve excellent fluorescent OLEDs with light emission originating from LLCT. We believe that this work should pave the way for developing high-performance LLCT-based OLEDs with a high efficiency, reduced efficiency roll-off and sufficiently large maximum brightness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary oxide nanocrystals (TONs) have received growing attention for their great potential applications in optoelectronics and electrochemistry despite the current scarcity of universal, facile, and green synthesis methods. Here, we introduce a universal laser-hydrothermal approach for various TONs and demonstrate their potential for high-performance photodetectors (PDs) and pseudocapacitors. The obtained clean surface is derived by laser ablation in liquid (LAL) and subsequent hydrothermal growth. The LAL-generated precursors contain many kinds of highly reactive species, including H+, OH−, metal ions, and clusters, which facilitate the fast and facile formation of various TONs in the subsequent hydrothermal process. The universality of the method is systematically proven by the synthesis of a series of TONs, including Zn2GeO4, NiCo2O4, Zn2SnO4, ZnFe2O4, ZnMnO3, and Fe2GeO4. Significantly, the absence of chemical additives, such as surfactants, guarantees highly clean surfaces, which further benefits the electron transport through the nanocrystals, and thus in the resultant devices. This is also exemplified by a Zn2GeO4-nanorod-based, deep-ultraviolet PD and NiCo2O4 nanocrystal supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Common marmosets are extensively used in immunological and pharmacological research, and the usage of methods such as flow cytometry gain increasing importance. Methods Using multicolor flow cytometry cross-reactivity of monoclonal antibodies with cells of common marmosets was analyzed. Furthermore, frequencies of immune cells and immunological parameters were assessed in healthy common marmosets. Results A total of 97 clones of monoclonal antibodies raised against CD markers, chemokine receptors, and miscellaneous markers were tested. Additionally, baseline frequencies of different innate and adaptive immune cells as well as certain parameters, such as activation and memory T-cell and B-cell distribution, are provided. Conclusion Our study gives an extended overview of cross-reactive antibodies for flow cytometric analysis of immune cells as well as baseline values for different immune parameters in healthy common marmosets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The table of contents for Volume 45, Number 9, May 7, 2016 issue of the journal "Chemical Society Reviews" is presented.

Recent studies suggest that paired box 5 (PAX5) is down-regulated in multiple tumours through its promoter methylation. However, the role of PAX5 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) pathogenesis remains unclear. The aim of this study is to examine PAX5 expression, its methylation status, biological functions and related molecular mechanism in NSCLC. We found that PAX5 was widely expressed in normal adult tissues but silenced or down-regulated in 88% (7/8) of NSCLC cell lines. PAX5 expression level was significantly lower in NSCLC than that in adjacent non-cancerous tissues (P = 0.0201). PAX5 down-regulation was closely associated with its promoter hypermethylation status and PAX5 expression could be restored by demethylation treatment. Frequent PAX5 promoter methylation in primary tumours (70%) was correlated with lung tumour histological types (P = 0.006). Ectopic expression of PAX5 in silenced lung cancer cell lines (A549 and H1975) inhibited their colony formation and cell viability, arrested cell cycle at G2 phase and suppressed cell migration/invasion as well as tumorigenicity in nude mice. Restoration of PAX5 expression resulted in the down-regulation of β-catenin and up-regulation of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 2, GADD45G in lung tumour cells. In summary, PAX5 was found to be an epigenetically inactivated tumour suppressor that inhibits NSCLC cell proliferation and metastasis, through down-regulating the b-catenin pathway and up-regulating GADD45G expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a propagation model for the weakly coupled multicore fiber (MCF), taking into account crosstalk random behavior with respect to both frequency and spatial distribution. Based on the analytical model, the effect of crosstalk on the MCF transmission can be treated as a Gaussian-like noise source, independent of amplified spontaneous emission noise and nonlinear interference (NLI) noise. Consequently, we link the modified GN model with the waveguide design of weakly coupled MCF, in order to evaluate the transmission performance in terms of received optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR). Especially, we investigate the role of MCF effective area on the transmission performance with balanced mitigation of both NLI noise and crosstalk. Based on the reported MCF parameters, we are able to improve the OSNR by 1 dB, only through increasing the trench width by 1.6\,\mu m. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The tadpoles of many anuran amphibians inhabit lotic habitats and evolved oral devices to adhere to the substratum. Although published anatomical descriptions of rheophilous tadpoles exist, little is known about the modifications in gastromyzophorous tadpoles that possess abdominal suckers and live in torrential sections of streams. We describe the gastromyzophorous tadpoles of Huia cavitympanum and Meristogenys jerboa from torrential streams of Borneo, with special attention to the anatomy of their abdominal suckers and their relations to cranial structures and musculature. One cranium of H. cavitympanum and its associated muscles were computer-reconstructed in three dimensions from serial histological sections. The abdominal sucker and oral sucker comprise a set of muscles and ligaments that attach to internal skeletal structures. Some muscles could be identified to attach directly to soft tissue of the abdominal sucker and most likely contribute to suction. Comparing tadpoles of H. cavitympanum to the closely related gastromyzophorous M. jerboa reveals differences in external and internal features, such as cornu trabeculae fusion and jaw details. Because of phylogenetic uncertainties, it is unclear whether or not this structural complex evolved once or several times convergently in ranids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]