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Lanthanide-ion-doped red upconversion (UC) fluorescent materials with excellent signal-to-noise ratio, stability, and red-green luminous intensity ratio have proven of tremendous research importance for biomedical, three-dimensional (3D) displays, sensors, and other sectors. In this study, xYb, 1Er: Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F (S-FAP) (x=0–5 at%) transparent ceramics with outstanding optical quality were fabricated by hot pressing the co-precipitation powder with high sintering activity. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) results showed that the trivalent lanthanide ions were evenly doped into the S-FAP ceramic lattice. Increased Yb3+ doping considerably restricted the growth of ceramic grain size, which should be attributable to a decrease in sintering activity under high Yb doping conditions. The co-doping of Yb3+ successfully resulted in a significant improvement in up/down conversion efficiency via effective energy transfer mechanisms and the optimization of the electron population at the energy level of red-green emission. Furthermore, single-band red upconversion luminescence with the greatest red-green upconversion luminescence integral intensity ratio of 125.74 was discovered under 980 nm laser pumping at room temperature. The energy transition process involved in the phenomenon of the up-conversion luminescence intensity shift of red-green emission has been thoroughly examined. Finally, the noncontact optical thermometric ability based on fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) technology showed that the maximum absolute sensitivity (Sa) of the 5Yb1Er sample in the temperature range of 320–556 K is 1.1×10−3 K−1, implying the possible use of Yb/Er-doped S-FAP transparent ceramics in the field of optical thermometers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluoride-upconversion transparent ceramic materials doped with Er ions have attracted extensive interest due to their higher stability, lower phonon energy, and higher upconversion efficiency. xEr:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F (S-FAP) (x=0.5–5 at%) transparent ceramics have been synthesized by hot pressing sintering in this work, and the maximum optical transmittance of the sample reached 74.52 and 82.45% at 500 and 1000 nm, respectively. The XRD results of the powder and ceramic samples were consistent with the diffraction characteristics of the hexagonal S-FAP crystal structure. The SEM and TEM images of powder revealed that the morphology of the sample was composed of mostly rice grains with a diameter of around 20 nm. The XPS and EDS results confirmed the presence of Er3+ and the uniform distribution of Er elements. The thermally etched surface and cross section of ceramics revealed residual pores as the most important scattering source, and the SEM images of the ceramics show that Er doping can obviously promote the growth of the average grain size of S-FAP transparent ceramics. Furthermore, the upconversion luminescence characteristics and fluorescence lifespan of S-FAP transparent ceramics with varied Er doping concentrations were examined, as well as the upconversion luminescence process. The findings in this work indicate that Er:S-FAP transparent ceramics can be employed as a potential upconversion fluorescent material in display technology, biomedicine, temperature sensing, and other applications. • The xEr:S-FAP (x=0–0.05) transparent nanostructured ceramics with highly optical quality were prepared by hot-pressed sintering for the first time. • The microstructural characteristics, upconversion luminescence property, and mechanism of as-synthesized xEr:S-FAP transparent ceramics were investigated for the first time. • The wide visible light spectrum from red light to green light was achieved by changing the doping amount of Er3+ from 0.5 to 5 at%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent hexagonal 2 at.% Yb:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F (S -FAP) ceramics were effectively fabricated by hot pressing the coprecipitated powder employing LiF as the sintering additive. The effects of LiF doping levels (0–0.5 wt%) and sintering temperature (820–940 °C) on microstructural development and optical characteristics of samples were examined. The results showed that the addition of LiF and the evaluated sintering temperature accelerated the grain development and densification process of Yb:S-FAP ceramics. Also, the full densification process of low-doped LiF ceramic samples was found to be strongly dependent on the reduced sintering temperature. For the Yb:S-FAP transparent ceramic sintered at the lowest temperature of 850 °C than previously reported with 0.1 wt% LiF, which have an optical in-line transmittance of 59.7% and 79.66% at 500 and 1100 nm respectively. The corresponding scattering sources of ceramic samples were analyzed by the surface SEM of different magnification at different LiF doping concentrations, and residual LiF, residual porosity, and grain boundary scattering were considered to be the main scattering sources. The spectral results showed that the LiF-doped Yb:S-FAP transparent ceramics had a wide absorption peak at 975 nm with the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 15 nm and possessed a fluorescence lifetime of 1.12 ms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the downsizing and high integration of laser diodes in recent decades, Yb: Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F (S-FAP) crystal materials are predicted to be employed as an all-solid laser medium to produce more energy for inertial nuclear fusion. The effects of various sintering conditions on the microstructure evolution and properties of 2 at. % Yb: S-FAP transparent ceramics by hot pressing sintering were systematically investigated in this work, which including sintering temperature, sintering pressure, heating rate, and holding time. When other sintering variables are held constant, the results reveal that a sintering temperature of up to 1050 °C results in visible grain development, substantial optical scattering, and even a significant carburizing impact at 1100 °C. Excessive sintering dwell time will result in grain development, and a high sintering holding time will result in the emergence of intergranular pores, lowering the optical quality of ceramics. The optimal heating rate range for as-synthesized ceramic is found to be 5–15 °C/min. Moreover, the grain development process of Yb: S-FAP transparent ceramics is determined to be grain boundary diffusion, with an activation energy of 239.4 kJ/mol during hot pressing sintering. Meanwhile, the as-prepared sample has excellent mechanical properties such as Vickers hardness of 7.47 ± 0.045 GPa, which are highly competitive when compared to other Yb-doped optical ceramic media such as Y 2 O 3 , YAG, Lu 2 O 3 , and so on. Finally, the transmittance was interpreted based on the microstructures of the as-synthesized ceramic samples and the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye scattering theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asymmetric hexagonal Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F (S-FAP) crystal material is considered to be the most suitable solid state laser gain medium for small laser diode pumping in the future due to its large absorption, emission interface, and long fluorescence lifetime. However, the mediocre optical transmittance of S-FAP transparent ceramics and the degradation of luminescence properties due to the doping of Yb activated ions seriously hinder its application prospects. In view of this, a series of 0.02Yb, xLu: S-FAP (x = 0–0.02) transparent ceramics with excellent optical properties were synthesized by hot pressing sintering. The powder SEM results show that Lu doping has no obvious effect on the morphology, grain size, and dispersion of powder. The linear transmissivity curves show that the ultraviolet (200 nm) and visible (500 nm) transmissivity increase by 54 % and 17 %, respectively, with Lu doping compared with the undoped ceramic samples. The surface SEM of ceramics revealed that Lu3+ promoted the increase of ceramic grain size significantly. The emission spectrum and fluorescence decay curves at room temperature also show that the emission intensity and fluorescence lifetime of ceramic samples increase significantly with Lu co-doping. • The 0.02Yb, xLu:S-FAP (x = 0–0.02) transparent ceramics with highly optical quality were prepared by hot-pressed sintering for the first time. • The microstructural characteristics of as-synthesized 0.02Yb,xLu:S-FAP transparent ceramics were investigated. • The luminescence property of as-synthesized 0.02Yb,xLu:S-FAP transparent ceramics were investigated. • The tremendous optical property of as-synthesized 0.02Yb,xLu:S-FAP transparent ceramics were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), the sequential acquisition of raw complex-valued image data in Fourier space, also known as k-space, results in extended examination times. To speed up the MRI scans, k-space data are usually undersampled and processed using numerical techniques such as compressed sensing (CS). While the majority of CS-MRI algorithms primarily focus on magnitude images due to their significant diagnostic value, the phase components of complex-valued MRI images also hold substantial importance for clinical diagnosis, including neurodegenerative diseases. In this work, complex-valued MRI reconstruction is studied with a focus on the simultaneous reconstruction of both magnitude and phase images. The proposed algorithm is based on the nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) technique, which offers shift invariance in images. Instead of directly transforming the complex-valued image into the NSCT domain, we introduce a wavelet transform within the NSCT domain, reducing the size of the sparsity of coefficients. This two-level hierarchical constraint (HC) enforces sparse representation of complex-valued images for CS-MRI implementation. The proposed HC is seamlessly integrated into a proximal algorithm simultaneously. Additionally, to effectively minimize the artifacts caused by sub-sampling, thresholds related to different sub-bands in the HC are applied through an alternating optimization process. Experimental results show that the novel method outperforms existing CS-MRI techniques in phase-regularized complex-valued image reconstructions. • Focus on speeding up MRI scanning while improving the quality of reconstructed complex-valued images; • Propose a two-level hierarchical constraint that introduces a wavelet transform within the nonsubsampled contourlet domain; • The proposed constraint enforces a sparse representation of complex-valued images; • Subband-related thresholds are applied to effectively reduce sub-samplinginduced artifacts; • Experimental results show the novel method outperforms existing techniques in reconstructing complex-valued MR images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F (S-FAP) crystal material is regarded as one of the most ideal optical materials for diode pumping owing to its huge absorption and emission cross sections and long fluorescence lifespan. In this investigation, S-FAP powders with varying Yb concentrations (0.1–5%) were produced using the coprecipitation method. Then a variety of S-FAP transparent ceramics with varying Yb content were fabricated using hot-pressing sintering. The crystalline phase structure of hexagonal Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F was verified by XRD analysis of the precursor powder and the final ceramics. According to the powder SEM, the average grain size and the long axial-radial ratio of powders are decreasing as the Yb3+ concentration increases. Thermal-etched surface SEM reveals nanostructured S-FAP transparent ceramics with an average grain size of less than 200 nm were synthesized. The highest transmittances of the 3% ceramics at 500 and 1100 nm wavelengths are 51% and 79.78%, respectively. The ceramic cross-sectional SEM demonstrated that porosity is the primary scattering source influencing the enhancement of optical characteristics. The absorption, emission, and fluorescence lifetimes of S-FAP transparent ceramics with varying Yb concentrations were tested and discussed, and the absorption and emission cross sections corresponding to the major peak were reported. Some physical parameters of this set of ceramic samples were shown, including thermal diffusivity, specific heat capacity, and thermal diffusivity data, as well as micro-hardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2 at.% Yb3+:Sr5(PO4)3F (S‐FAP) polycrystalline transparent ceramic with asymmetric hexagonal structures has been synthesized by vacuum hot‐pressing the nanoparticles prepared via coprecipitation method. X‐ray diffraction results of powder and ceramic indicate that their phase peaks are well matched to the crystal structure of S‐FAP. The average particle size of 35.5 nm has been exhibited by powder scanning electron microscopy images, and subsequent images of the ceramic cross section and surface morphology revealed a homogenous and compact microstructure with an average grain size of around 220 nm. The relationship between the optical loss caused by the scattering of anisotropic ceramic grains and the optical transmittance of ceramics was revealed in the hexagonal S‐FAP transparent ceramics with different thicknesses. The in‐line transmittance of hot‐pressed ceramics with 1.5‐mm thickness achieved 79.95% at 1100‐nm wavelength, and the room‐temperature absorption and emission spectra of Yb3+ in S‐FAP polycrystalline ceramic matrix were measured using a spectrofluorometer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a computational framework for modeling biobehavioral rhythms - the repeating cycles of physiological, psychological, social, and environmental events - from mobile and wearable data streams. The framework incorporates four main components: mobile data processing, rhythm discovery, rhythm modeling, and machine learning. We evaluate the framework with two case studies using datasets of smartphone, Fitbit, and OURA smart ring to evaluate the framework's ability to (1) detect cyclic biobehavior, (2) model commonality and differences in rhythms of human participants in the sample datasets, and (3) predict their health and readiness status using models of biobehavioral rhythms. Our evaluation demonstrates the framework's ability to generate new knowledge and findings through rigorous micro- and macro-level modeling of human rhythms from mobile and wearable data streams collected in the wild and using them to assess and predict different life and health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding metabolism is of great significance to decipher various physiological and pathogenic processes. While great progress has been made to profile gene expression, how to capture organ‐, tissue‐, and cell‐type‐specific metabolic profile (i.e., metabolic tissue atlas) in complex mammalian systems is lagging behind, largely owing to the lack of metabolic imaging tools with high resolution and high throughput. Here, the authors applied mid‐infrared imaging coupled with heavy water (D2O) metabolic labeling to a scope of mouse organs and tissues. The premise is that, as D2O participates in the biosynthesis of various macromolecules, the resulting broad C‐D vibrational spectrum should interrogate a wide range of metabolic pathways. Applying multivariate analysis to the C‐D spectrum, the authors successfully identified both inter‐organ and intra‐tissue metabolic signatures of mice. A large‐scale metabolic atlas map between different organs from the same mice is thus generated. Moreover, leveraging the power of unsupervised clustering methods, spatially‐resolved metabolic signatures of brain tissues are discovered, revealing tissue and cell‐type specific metabolic profile in situ. As a demonstration of this technique, the authors captured metabolic changes during brain development and characterized intratumoral metabolic heterogeneity of glioblastoma. Altogether, the integrated platform paves a way to map the metabolic tissue atlas for complex mammalian systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple magnetic resonance images of different contrasts are normally acquired for clinical diagnosis. Recently, research has shown that the previously acquired multi-contrast (MC) images of the same patient can be used as anatomical prior to accelerating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, current MC-MRI networks are based on the assumption that the images are perfectly registered, which is rarely the case in real-world applications. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end deep neural network to reconstruct highly accelerated images by exploiting the shareable information from potentially misaligned reference images of an arbitrary contrast. Specifically, a spatial transformation (ST) module is designed and integrated into the reconstruction network to align the pre-acquired reference images with the images to be reconstructed. The misalignment is further alleviated by maximizing the normalized cross-correlation (NCC) between the MC images. The visualization of feature maps demonstrates that the proposed method effectively reduces the misalignment between the images for shareable information extraction when applied to the publicly available brain datasets. Additionally, the experimental results on these datasets show the proposed network allows the robust exploitation of shareable information across the misaligned MC images, leading to improved reconstruction results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barium fluoride (BaF2) crystals are attracting much attention as efficient inorganic scintillator promising for high‐energy physics, industrial inspection, and other fields because of the fast component of the decay time (0.6 ns) and high radiation resistance. However, two major drawbacks limit its practical application: (i) a slow decay time of ~600 ns is derived from self‐trapping excitons; (ii) the absolute light yield from the fast luminescence component is not competitive. The introducing of rare earth ions and preparation of BaF2 polycrystalline ceramics is considered to be effective measures to solve these bottlenecks. Pr3+ is extremely suitable as the activated ion of scintillation materials, which possess emission peaks located in visible band and the faster 5d–4f transition. In this work, highly sinterable Pr3+:BaF2 precursor powder was synthesized via the coprecipitation method by adjusting the reactant concentration and temperature. The morphology and microstructure of as‐synthesized powders were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmittance electron microscopy analysis. The 5 at.% Pr3+:BaF2 transparent ceramic with a transmittance of 50.7% at the wavelength of 500 nm was fabricated by hot pressing the as‐prepared powders at 900°C for 4 h under the axial pressure of 50 MPa. The SEM images of ceramic cross‐section show that the residual pore is the main light scattering source. The absorption and emission spectrum of ceramic samples were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-contrast (MC) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the same patient usually requires long scanning times, despite the images sharing redundant information. In this work, we propose a new iterative network that utilizes the sharable information among MC images for MRI acceleration. The proposed network has reinforced data fidelity control and anatomy guidance through an iterative optimization procedure of Gradient Descent, leading to reduced uncertainties and improved reconstruction results. Through a convolutional network, the new method incorporates a learnable regularization unit that is capable of extracting, fusing, and mapping shareable information among different contrasts. Specifically, a dilated inception block is proposed to promote multi-scale feature extractions and increase the receptive field diversity for contextual information incorporation. Lastly, an optimal MC information feeding protocol is built through the design of a complementary feature extractor block. Comprehensive experiments demonstrated the superiority of the proposed network, both qualitatively and quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2 at.% Yb:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation method. By using XRD, FT-IR and FE-SEM measurements, the influence of reactive conditions, including pH value, reactive temperature and mixing mode on the phase composition and microstructure of these nanoparticles were investigated. The results showed that pure Yb:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F nanopowders were produced by adding sodium hydroxide solution into S-FAP emulsion under alkaline environment or neutral environment. Agglomeration degree of the nanoparticles decreases and then increases with the increase of pH value and the aggregation was lowest when the pH value was 12. Spherical or nearly spherical nanoparticles with mean size of 24.0 nm were obtained in the environment of 20 °C and pH = 12. TEM results showed that the powders produced by fast mixing model (fast stirring and fast mixing) have more homogenous microstructure. The Yb:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F ceramic with a transmittance of 45% at 1500 nm was fabricated by hot-pressing the synthesized nanopowders. SEM results showed that residual pores and unsintered second phase are the main scattering sources of the as-prepared Yb:S-FAP ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the mechanism of the protective effect of Panax notoginsenosides (PNS) against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicityviathe hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1)/Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa-interacting protein 3 (BNIP3) pathway of autophagy. The rats underwent intraperitoneal injection with a single dose of cisplatin and a subset of rats were also intraperitoneally injected with 31.35 mg/kg PNS once a day. After 24 h exposure to cisplatin, the concentrations of urinary N-acetyl-β-d-glucosaminidase (NAG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (Scr) were determined. The rat renal tissue was examined using H&E-staining, and the mitochondria of renal tubular epithelial cells were observed using transmission electron microscopy. The expressions of microtubule-associated protein-1 light chain (LC)3, autophagy-related gene (Atg)5, Beclin-1 and BNIP3 in rat renal tissue were detected using western blotting. The expression of HIF-1 was detected by immunohistochemistry. The results showed that PNS significantly protected against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, as evidenced by decreasing the concentration of blood BUN and Scr, the attenuation of renal histopathological changes and the mitochondrial damages of renal cells, and the increase of mitochondria autophagosome in renal tubular epithelial cells. Additionally, PNS significantly increased the expression of LC3 and the ratio of LC3II/LC3I in rat renal tissue. Moreover, PNS significantly increased the expression of HIF-1α, BNIP3, Atg5 and Beclin-1 in rat renal tissue. In conclusion, the protective effect of PNS on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity was mainly due to its ability to enhancing the mitochondrial autophagy of renal tissueviathe HIF-1α/BNIP3 pathway, and here is the first demonstration about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Synthesis of kaolin-supported bimetallic Fe/Ni (K-Fe/Ni) nanoparticles. [•] Removal of Direct Black G using K-Fe/Ni. [•] The functional K-Fe/Ni nanomaterial based on the adsorption and reduction. [•] The mechanism for the removal of Direct Black G. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The activated sludge process of wastewater results in the generation of a considerable amount of excess activated sludge. In many wastewater treatment plants, the bottleneck of the sludge handling system is the dewatering operation. This paper investigated the effect of potassium ferrate pretreatment on the physicochemical properties of the excess activated sludge at various dosages of potassium ferrate. The particle size, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content and chemical components, and sludge disintegration degree were measured to explain the observed changes of physicochemical properties. It was expected that potassium ferrate could enhance the filterability and dewaterability of the sludge. However, the results showed that potassium ferrate had a negative effect on the filterability by measuring the capillary suction time (CST), but improved the settleability and dewaterability extent by determining the water content in the dewatered cake, although the flocs size reduced slightly. Loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) content, polysaccharides (PS) and proteins (PN) contents in LB-EPS all increased with increasing the amount of potassium ferrate. However, Tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) content, PS and PN contents in TB-EPS did not changed significantly at first, and decreased slightly under higher dosage of potassium ferrate. EPS, especially LB-EPS played more important role in the observed changes of the settleability and filterability than the sludge particle size. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The xPr3+:BaF 2 (x = 0.001–0.05) transparent ceramics with highly optical quality were prepared by hot-pressed sintering for the first time. • The microstructural and luminescence characteristics of as-synthesized Pr:BaF 2 transparent ceramics were investigated. As one of the quickest inorganic scintillators, BaF 2 crystal is projected to be used in medical treatment, high energy physics, geological research, and other sectors. A series of Pr:BaF 2 polycrystalline transparent ceramics with nominal Pr3+ concentrations (0.1–5 at%) were synthesized via HP sintering in this research. XRD, FE-SEM, and TEM measurements were used to analyze the phase composition and microstructure of BaF 2 precursor powders with varying Pr-doping levels, and the results demonstrated that as concentration increases, the size of the nanopowders decreases. Furthermore, the morphology shifted from uniform square to uneven sheet. Cross-sectional SEM pictures of all samples revealed a clean grain boundary with no remaining pores or contaminants. The absorption spectra, emission spectra, and fluorescence lifetime of a group of Pr:BaF 2 transparent ceramics with excellent optical transmittance were measured and discussed after hot-pressing the precursor powders synthesized via co-precipitation method at 900 °C under an axial pressure of 50 MPa for 4 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for a series of heart or blood vessels abnormality that serves as a global leading reason for death. The earlier the abnormal heart rhythm is discovered, the less severe the sequela and the faster the recovery. Electrocardiogram (ECG), as a main way to detect the electrical activity of heart, is a very important harmless means of predicting and diagnosing CVDs. However, ECG signal has characteristics of complex and high chaos, making it time-consuming and exhausting to interpret ECG signal even for experts. Hence, computer-aided methods are required to relief human burden and reduce errors caused by tiredness, inter- and intra-difference. Deep learning shows outstanding performance on ECG classification studies recent few years. Its hierarchical architecture enables higher-level features obtained and its strong ability to feature extraction contributes to classification project. Latest studies can achieve higher accuracy and efficiency than manual classification by experts. In this paper, we review the existing studies of deep learning applied in ECG diagnosis according to four typical algorithms: stacked auto-encoders, deep belief network, convolutional neural network and recurrent neural network. We first introduced the mechanism, development and application of the algorithms. Then we review their applications in ECG diagnosis systematically, discussing their highlights and limitations. Our view about future potential development of deep learning in ECG diagnosis is stated in the final part of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging visualises soft tissue contrast in exquisite detail without harmful ionising radiation. In this work, we provide a state-of-the-art review on the use of deep learning in MR image reconstruction from different image acquisition types involving compressed sensing techniques, parallel image acquisition and multi-contrast imaging. Publications with deep learning-based image reconstruction for MR imaging were identified from the literature (PubMed and Google Scholar), and a comprehensive description of each of the works was provided. A detailed comparison that highlights the differences, the data used and the performance of each of these works were also made. A discussion of the potential use cases for each of these methods is provided. The sparse image reconstruction methods were found to be most popular in using deep learning for improved performance, accelerating acquisitions by around 4-8 times. Multi-contrast image reconstruction methods rely on at least one pre-acquired image, but can achieve 16-fold, and even up to 32- to 50-fold acceleration depending on the set-up. Parallel imaging provides frameworks to be integrated in many of these methods for additional speed-up potential. The successful use of compressed sensing techniques and multi-contrast imaging with deep learning and parallel acquisition methods could yield significant MR acquisition speed-ups within clinical routines in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a tool to help judge heart activity. In recent years, the convolutional neural network (CNN) and various deep learning algorithms have been widely used in ECG diagnosis. CNN only considers the local feature. However, the ECG signal is susceptible to noise, and the waveform is complex, making it difficult for existing methods to get a good result. This article presents a novel neural network architecture for ECG diagnosis based on deformable CNN (Deform-CNN). The architecture makes good use of the feature-learning capability of deformable convolution to learn the time-domain and lead characteristics of multilead ECG signals. The proposed end-to-end method can achieve an overall diagnostic accuracy of 86.3% in the 12-lead ECG data of CPSC-2018, with good antinoise ability, which makes the method have a more competitive performance than other deep learning algorithms. The source code is publicly available at https://github.com/HeartbeatAI/Deform-CNN . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

0.5–5 % (atom percent) Nd3+-doped SrF 2 transparent ceramics were fabricated by hot-pressed sintering and the effects of Nd3+ doping content on microstructure and spectral properties were studied. With Nd3+ content increased from 0.5 % to 5 %, in-line transmittance of Nd:SrF 2 ceramic at 1060 nm increased from 15.8 % to 85.3 %. FE-SEM micrographs showed the grain growth was inhibited and the microstructure became more compact and homogenous. Emission spectra revealed that concentration quenching was occurred at Nd3+ content of 1–2 %. Emission lifetime of 4F 3/2 energy level monotonously decreased from 1805.4 μs to 19.6 μs. Evolution profiles of emission intensity and lifetime of Nd:SrF 2 transparent ceramic with Nd3+ doping content were proposed. The appropriate Nd3+ content for spectral properties of Nd:SrF 2 transparent ceramic was found around 1 %. The results demonstrated Nd:SrF 2 transparent ceramic has large emission lifetime and mild concentration quenching effect, indicating that Nd3+-doped SrF 2 transparent ceramics could be more promising gain media for all-solid-state lasers than other Nd3+-doped alkaline-earth fluorides. • Optical quality and microstructure of Nd:SrF 2 transparent ceramic varied largely with Nd3+ content. • Concentration quenching occurred at Nd3+ content of 1–2 %. • Lifetime was more than 1 ms when Nd3+ content was below 1 %, it reached 1805.4 μs at 0.5 % Nd3+ doping. • Evolution profiles of emission intensity and lifetime against Nd3+ content was proposed. • In respect to spectral properties the optimal Nd3+ content was around 1 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited clinical studies are available on early exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation in elderly acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. To evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise on exercise capacity and quality of life (QoL) in such patients. Seventy elderly patients with ACS undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in Zhejiang Hospital during August 2016-June 2017 were randomly divided into the control (n = 35) or cardiac rehabilitation group (CR, n = 35). The control group was treated with standard medical treatments without exercise, whereas the CR group was treated with standard medical treatments and exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation. General information, cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) results, responses to QoL and mental health questionnaires, and clinical outcomes and safety were collected. The CR group safely finished CPET and the 12-week exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation. After the 12-week intervention, the CR group showed significant differences in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and greater improvements in VO2max, compared with the control group. The CR group showed statistically significant differences in QoL and mental health compared with the control group. CPET-based exercise in cardiac rehabilitation can safely increase exercise capacity and QoL in such patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Subcutaneous depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) has not been studied in the extremely obese population (BMI ≥40 kg/m2). The purpose of this 26-week prospective experimental study was to determine incidence of ovulation and follicular development among women with Class 1, 2 and 3 obesity after receiving DMPA-SC. Methods: Five normal-weight, five Class 1-2 obese, and five Class 3 obese women received subcutaneous injections of 104 mg DMPA-SC at baseline and 12 weeks later. Weekly progesterone levels, bimonthly estradiol (E2), and monthly medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) levels were measured by immunoassay methods for a total of 26 weeks in each subject. Results: Ovulation did not occur in any subject more than 1 week after the first injection. There was large intersubject and intrasubject variability in E2 levels, and fluctuating E2 levels were more frequent among obese women than normal-weight women. Median MPA levels remained above the level needed to prevent ovulation but, compared with normal-weight subjects, were lower among Class 1-2 obese and lowest among Class 3 obese subjects. Conclusion: Fluctuating E2 levels reflective of follicular development occurred more often among Class 1, 2 and 3 obese women than normal-weight women after DMPA-SC injections. Median MPA levels were consistently lowest among Class 3 obese women but remained above the level needed to inhibit ovulation. Further studies should more fully address the pharmacokinetics of DMPA-SC in extremely obese women. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

3 at.% Er3+, x at.% Ho3+: SrF 2 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2) transparent ceramics, as the potential material for the 2.7 μm solid-state laser, were fabricated by hot-pressed sintering. XRD, TEM, SEM, and EDS measurements were used to investigate the phase composition, morphology, microstructure, and distribution of the elements of the nanoparticles and transparent ceramics. Results showed that the Er3+ ions and Ho3+ ions do not alter the SrF 2 crystal structure, and they are distributed uniformly in the sample. With the increase of the Ho3+ doping concentration, the lattice parameter decreased from 5.799 Å to 5.784 Å, and the average grain size decreased gradually. The maximum transmittance of as-obtained ceramics is approximately 93 % which is close to the theoretical transmittance of SrF 2. Moreover, the absorption spectra, emission spectra, and the lifetime of Er3+ and Ho3+ were investigated. The energy transfer processes between Er3+ and Ho3+ were discussed. After co-doping Ho3+, the lifetime difference between Er3+:4I 11/2 and Er3+:4I 13/2 levels was shortened from 8.50 ms to 1.12 ms. All the results show that the incorporation of Ho3+ with proper doping concentration is beneficial for achieving 2.7 μm laser output in Er3+: SrF 2 transparent ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been one of the most fatal diseases among all types of heart diseases due to its rapid onset and high rates of fatality. Understanding accurately how multi-omics molecular features change at the early stage of AMI is crucial for its treatment. Currently, the changes involved in DNA methylation modification and gene expression of multiple genes have remained unexplored. Results: We used the RNA-seq and MeDIP-seq on heart tissues from AMI mouse models at series of time points (Sham, AMI 10-min, 1-h, 6-h, 24-h and 72-h), to comprehensively describe the transcriptome and genome-wide DNA methylation changes at above time points. We identified 18814, 18614, 23587, 26018 and 33788 differential methylation positions (DMPs) and 123, 135, 731, 1419 and 2779 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at 10-min, 1-h, 6-h, 24-h and 72-h AMI, respectively, compared with the sham group. Remarkably, the 6-h AMI with the drastic changes of DEGs and a large number of enriched functional pathways in KEGG may be the most critical stage of AMI process. The 4, 9, 40, 26, and 183 genes were further identified at each time point, based on the negative correlation (P < 0.05) between the differential mRNA expression and the differential DNA methylation. The mRNA and the promoter methylation expressions of five genes (Ptpn6, Csf1r, Col6a1, Cyba, and Map3k14) were validated by qRT-PCR and BSP methods, and the mRNA expressions were further confirmed to be regulated by DNA methylation in cardiomyocytes in vitro. Conclusions: Our findings profiled the molecular variations from the perspective of DNA methylation in the early stage of AMI and provided promising epigenetic-based biomarkers for the early clinical diagnosis and therapeutic targets of AMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

x at. % Er3+, 3 at. % Dy3+: CaF 2 transparent ceramics (x=1-5) with good transparency were fabricated by hot-pressed sintering. The phase composition of nanoparticles and transparent ceramics, microstructure, in-line transmittance, upconversion spectra and lifetime of transparent ceramics, as well as energy transfer mechanism between Er3+ and Dy3+ were investigated. The mean grain sizes of nanoparticles decreased from 33.0 nm to 26.2 nm with the Er3+ doping concentration increasing from 1 to 5 at.%. The microstructure of ceramic samples presented nearly dense microstructure and EDS analysis indicated Er3+ and Dy3+ were uniformly incorporated into CaF 2 lattice. Under 900 nm excitation, the emission intensity for 4F 9/2 →6H 15/2 transition of Dy3+ decreased and for 4S 3/2 →4I 15/2 transition of Er3+ increased, the lifetime for the 4F 9/2 level of Dy3+ decreased while the 4F 7/2 level of Er3+ increased with the raise of Er3+ doping concentration. The energy transfer mechanism was proved to be the dipole-dipole interaction. The upconversion luminescence color was tuned from orange through yellow to green by changing the Er3+/Dy3+ ratio. In addition, the Vickers hardness, fracture toughness, and the thermal conductivity of Er3+, Dy3+: CaF 2 transparent ceramics were discussed. All the results showed the Dy3+ could be used as a sensitizer for Er3+: CaF 2 transparent ceramic in the upconversion field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • 3D crescent-like SnS nanocrystals were prepared by a simple one-pot hydrothermal method. • Rarely high molecular weight of PVP (M w = 1300000) was employed as surface agent. • PVP capped 3D SnS nanocrystals exhibited superior adsorption ability to remove cationic dyes. • PVP has evidently enhanced effect on the adsorption performance of 3D SnS. With using Sn2+ as tin source, l -cysteine as sulphur source and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP, M w = 1300000) as surfactant, a novel three-dimensional and crescent-like SnS nanocrystal (NCs) was successfully synthesized in a one-pot hydrothermal method. The as-prepared SnS NCs displayed uniform crescent-like morphological structure, and demonstrated excellent efficiency for the adsorption of cationic dyes such as rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB). Kinetic analysis indicated that the adsorption process followed the pseudo second-order model, and the maximum capacity of the SnS NCs to adsorb MB was determined by Langmuir equation to be 252 mg⋅g−1 at 298 K. The pH dependence of SnS NCs on the adsorption of cationic dyes and the characterization of zeta potential jointly suggested the existence of electrostatic attraction in the process. Overall, this study showed that electrostatic field of functional groups and the capping of PVP could significantly enhance the adsorption performance of the SnS NCs, and also provides a novel insight into the development of highly efficient inorganic adsorbents for cationic dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SrF 2 transparent ceramic is a promising upconversion material due to the low phonon energy. The effect of different sintering temperatures on Er:SrF 2 transparent ceramics was investigated. The suitable sintering temperature for Er:SrF 2 transparent ceramics was 900 °C by hot-pressed sintering in this study. High quality of Er:SrF 2 transparent ceramics with different doping concentrations were obtained. The upconversion luminescence spectra and decay behavior were compared between Er:SrF 2 and Er:CaF 2 transparent ceramics with different Er3+ doping concentration. The green emission of 5 at.% Er:SrF 2 ceramic was much stronger than that of 5 at.% Er:CaF 2 ceramic, while the red emission of Er:SrF 2 ceramic was almost the same as that of Er:CaF 2 ceramic. The upconversion luminescence lifetime of Er:SrF 2 transparent ceramics was longer than that of Er:CaF 2.All the results indicated Er:SrF 2 transparent ceramics was a candidate for green fluorescent upconversion materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The method of integrating model- and data-driven for image fusion is proposed. • The new frame of synchronous adaptive multi-band image fusion is presented. • The deep gate convolution neural network is constructed to realize fusion rules. • Multi-band image adaptive fusion neural network is built and its results are better. • A construction method of tag data in deep learning is proposed. A novel synchronous adaptive framework for multi-band image fusion is proposed, based on integrated model- and data-driven (MDDR) techniques. This approach includes a deep stack convolutional neural network (DSCNN) for multi-band images, established by redefining convolutional kernels in the first layer using Gaussian and Gaussian-Laplace filters. The structure of the convolutional neural network (CNN) was improved by removing a sample CNN layer to reduce information loss, prior to decomposing and reconstructing input images in an adaptive framework. A deep gate convolution neural network (DGCNN) was then established using a gate structure principle common in long short-term memory (LSTM) techniques. As a result, the network can adaptively fuse high- and low-frequency components, similar to conventional image fusion rules in model-driven algorithms. Finally, a synchronous adaptive multi-band image fusion neural network (SAMIFNN) was constructed by embedding the DGCNN into decompose- and reconstruct-subnets in the DSCNN. Data from ImageNet IL SVRC2013 and TNO image fusion datasets were used for training (80%) and testing (20%). SAMIFNN was then compared with seven state-of-the-art methods applied to eight groups of representative images, the TRICLOBS dynamic multiband image dataset, and a series of medical CT, MR, and PET scans. The proposed network required significantly lower runtimes than conventional algorithms, producing satisfactory results across 21 different evaluation metrics (compared with a maximum of 15 achieved by conventional techniques). These experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can successfully implement synchronous adaptive multi-band image fusion with higher contrast, better visual perception, and less distortion, without requiring a priori knowledge or manual intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Peroxidase‐mimicking nanozymes offer unique advantages in terms of high stability and low cost over natural peroxidase for applications in bioanalysis, biomedicine, and the treatment of pollution. However, the design of high‐efficiency peroxidase‐mimicking nanozymes remains a great challenge. In this study, we adopted a structural‐design approach through hybridization of cube‐CeO2 and Pt nanoparticles to create a new peroxidase‐mimicking nanozyme with high efficiency and excellent stability. Relative to pure cube‐CeO2 and Pt nanoparticles, the as‐hybridized Pt/cube‐CeO2 nanocomposites display much improved activities because of the strong metal–support interaction. Meanwhile, the nanocomposites also maintain high catalytic activity after long‐term storage and multiple recycling. Based on their excellent properties, Pt/cube‐CeO2 nanocomposites were used to construct high‐performance colorimetric biosensors for the sensitive detection of metabolites, including H2O2 and glucose. Our findings highlight opportunities for the development of high‐efficiency peroxidase‐mimicking nanozymes with potential applications such as diagnostics, biomedicine, and the treatment of pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaolin supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (K-nZVI) is synthesized and applied as the Fenton-like oxidation catalyst to degrade a model azo dye, Direct Black G (DBG). The characterization of K-nZVI by the high resolution transmission electronmicroscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Diffraction Spectrum (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) show that kaolin as a support material not only reduces the aggregation of zero-valent iron (nZVI) but also facilitates the Fenton-like oxidation by increasing the local concentration of DBG in the vicinity of nZVI. Pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order kinetic models are employed to reveal the adsorption and degradation of the DBG using K-nZVI as the catalyst. A better fit with pseudo second-order model for the adsorption process and equal excellent fits with pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order models for the degradation process are observed; the adsorption process is found to be the rate limiting step for overall reactions. The adsorption, evaluated by isotherms and thermodynamic parameters is a spontaneous and endothermic process. High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis was used to test degraded products in the degradation of DGB by K-nZVI. A removal mechanism based on the adsorption and degradation is proposed, including (i) prompt adsorption of DBG onto the K-nZVI surface, and (ii) oxidation of DBG by hydroxyl radicals at the K-nZVI surface. The application of K-nZVI to treat real wastewater containing azo dyes shows excellent degradation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simultaneous quantitation of multiple steroid hormones in real time is of great importance in medical diagnosis. In this study, a portable hormone biosensor based on duplex molecular recognition coupled with a signal-amplified substrate was successfully developed for the simultaneous visualization and quantitation of multiple steroid hormones. Aptamer-functionalized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with different emission peaks are immobilized on the photonic crystal (PC) substrate as the nanoprobes, leading to the specific and simultaneous assay of multiple steroid hormones. Coupled with the luminescence-enhanced effect of the PC substrate, nanomolar quantification limits of multiple hormones are achieved. This well-designed biosensor is also promising in the quantification of multiple hormones in serum samples. The amplified luminescence signals can be visualized with the naked eye and captured by an unmodified phone camera. This hormone quantitation biosensor exhibits the advantages of multi-detection, visualization, high sensitivity, and selectivity for potential applications in clinical disease diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Use electron beam in-situ curing PDMS, simple and scalable. • An ultrafast curing PDMS method with curing time of 30 s was realized. • Silicone rubber surfaces for outdoor electrical applications achieve superhydrophobic and heat absorption. In-situ curing is a scalable industrial modification technique for composite insulators that can provide significant economic benefits by eliminating numerous curing steps. In this work, we developed an efficient, environmentally friendly, simple and substrate-free curing method, namely electron beam irradiation in-situ curing polydimethylsiloxane (e -PDMS). The fabricated e- PDMS coating has excellent adhesion and is particularly impressive because of its ultrafast cure time of only 30 s. The coating has excellent thermomechanical properties with almost no thermal weight loss at 300 °C. Two common nanoparticles were individually cured on a silicone rubber surface and successfully made the surface superhydrophobic, heat-absorbing and passive cooling, respectively. The results illustrate that the e -PDMS method developed in this study can be effectively functionalized, verified its great potential for applications in the electrical industry, which can vastly facilitate the industrial application of advanced coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel SPME-HPLC method was developed for the determination of trace amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ( PAHs). It was found that the SPME device with CH-SBA-15 ( C- SBA-15) mesoporous silica coating had high extraction efficiency, sufficient chemical and hydrothermal stability and good reversibility. The determination conditions for environmental pollutants like PAHs including extraction and desorption time, extraction temperature, ionic strength and stirring rate were optimized. Under optimized experimental conditions, results with good accuracy (with a recovery of 97.5-101.7%), precision (with a standard deviation of 0.15-1.07%) and low detection limit ( LOD, 0.05-0.25 μg/L) were obtained, suggesting the SPME devices using chemical modified SBA-15 as coating material are promising in preconcentration, separation and determination of interested analytes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The p66 Shc adaptor protein is an important regulator of lifespan in mammals, but the mechanisms responsible are still unclear. Here, we show that expression of p66 Shc, p52 Shc, and p46 Shc is regulated at the post-transcriptional level by the micro RNA let-7a. The levels of let-7a correlated inversely with the levels of Shc proteins without affecting Shc mRNA levels. We identified 'seedless' let-7a interaction elements in the coding region of Shc mRNA; mutation of the 'seedless' interaction sites abolished the regulation of Shc by let-7a. Our results further revealed that repression of Shc expression by let-7a delays senescence of human diploid fibroblasts ( HDFs). In sum, our findings link let-7a abundance to the expression of p66 Shc, which in turn controls the replicative lifespan of HDFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two-state reaction mechanism of CpCo(CH) with isocyanate on the triplet and singlet potential energy surfaces has been investigated at the B3LYP level. A study is described for the computation of spin-orbit coupling of triplet state of the minimal energy crossing point (CP) with their singlet states and of the zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters of the triplet states, including the full one- and two-electron terms of the Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian. There are two key crossing points along this two-state reaction pathway. The first crossing point-CP2 exists near B. The reacting system will change its spin multiplicity from the triplet state to the singlet state near this crossing region. Although the spin-orbit coupling interaction and ZFS D-tensor of the CP2 region are very strong, the reaction system will occur the reverse intersystem crossing from T to S. Therefore, its spin-flip efficiency may be lower. The second crossing point, CP3 will again change its spin multiplicity from the singlet state to the triplet state in the Co-C bond activation pathway, leading to a decrease in the barrier height of TS(CF) from 19.5 to 9.5 kcal/mol (1 cal = 4.182 J), and the efficiency of intersystem crossing from S to T is high because the larger spin-orbit coupling (SOC) matrix elements will result in the overpopulations of the three sublevels of T (3.30 × 10, 3.32 × 10, and 3.38 × 10, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Highly effective contraception is essential in obese women, but it should not increase their risk of developing or worsening obesity-related cardiometabolic illness. The purpose of this 18-week prospective experimental study was to compare the impact of subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) on cardiometabolic markers in obese and normal-weight women. Methods: Normal-weight [body mass index (BMI) 18.5–24.9 kg/m2] and obese (BMI≥30 kg/m2) women received injections of 104 mg DMPA-SC at baseline and 12 weeks later. Markers of cardiometabolic risk measured at baseline and 18 weeks after the first injection included body morphometry, fasting blood tests, and oral and frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance tests (FSIGT). Results: At baseline, median gravidity, BMI, abdominal circumference, and acute insulin response to intravenous glucose were higher and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and insulin sensitivity (S I from FSIGTs) were lower in the 10 obese participants than the five normal-weight women (p≤.05 for each). While there was no significant difference between median baseline and follow-up values among normal-weight women, the difference between median baseline and follow-up among the obese cohort was significantly higher for BMI and lower for HDL cholesterol and insulin sensitivity (S I) (p≤.05 for each). The absolute changes for routinely measured clinical laboratory values of metabolic decline were no different among the normal-weight vs. obese women. The difference in absolute change in β-cell compensation for insulin resistance [disposition index (DI)] was significant between the two groups at follow-up, with the normal-weight group experiencing an increase in DI while the obese group experienced a decline in DI (188.5 vs. −286, p=.04). Conclusions: Obese women have an increased baseline cardiometabolic risk when compared with normal-weight women at baseline. There was a significantly greater decline in β-cell compensation for insulin resistance in obese women on DMPA. Our data suggest potential deleterious effects of DMPA on glucose regulation in obese women. Further studies should elucidate the long-term cardiometabolic consequences of DMPA use in obese women. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

High quality of x at.% Tb:CaF 2 (x = 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) transparent ceramics prepared by hot-pressed sintering achieved an average transmittance at 1500 nm of 88%. The effect of Tb3+ concentrations on the phase composition, microstructure, emission spectra, and fluorescence decay dynamics of Tb:CaF 2 transparent ceramics were investigated. XRD and FESEM results demonstrated that the incorporation of Tb3+ did not cause significant changes in the crystal structure of CaF 2 , and the grain size gradually decreased with increasing Tb3+ doping concentration. Under the excitation of 350 nm, the strongest emission peak was located at 542 nm, which was attributed to the 5D 4 →7F 5 transition of Tb3+. The green emission intensity enhanced linearly with increasing Tb3+ concentration from 1 at.% to 9 at.%. The fluorescence lifetime of 5D 4 level was also investigated, and the values were comparable to the corresponding single crystals. All the results suggest that Tb:CaF 2 transparent ceramic is a kind of potential green luminescence material. • Tb:CaF 2 transparent ceramics were fabricated by hot-pressed sintering. • The in-line transmittance of 7 at.% Tb:CaF 2 ceramic is 94% at 1500 nm. • Luminescence intensity of Tb:CaF 2 ceramics increased with increasing Tb3+ content. • The fluorescence lifetimes of Tb:CaF 2 ceramics is equivalent to the corresponding single crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Eu3+:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F transparent ceramics were fabricated by hot-pressed sintering. • The in-line transmittance of 3 at.% Eu3+:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F transparent ceramics exceeds 80% at 2300 nm. • Eu3+:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F nanoparticles microscopic morphology changes from short rod-like to nearly spherical. • Luminescence intensity of Eu3+:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F nanoparticles increases with increasing Eu3+ concentrations. The Eu3+:Sr 5 (PO 4) 3 F (Eu3+:S-FAP) nanoparticles were prepared via the co-precipitation method. The XRD and FT-IR results demonstrated different Eu3+ concentrations doped S-FAP nanoparticles were pure phase. The TEM results demonstrated the microscopic morphology of Eu3+:S-FAP changed from short rod-like to nearly spherical when more Eu3+ were introduced. Under 465 nm excitation, the strong red and orange light emissions (579nm, 594 nm, 616 nm, 654 nm, and 712 nm) were presented in the emission spectra, which were corresponding to the transitions of the 5D 0 →7F 0 , 7F 1 , 7F 2 , 7F 3 and 7F 4 , respectively. When more Eu3+ were introduced, the emission intensity of Eu3+:S-FAP nanoparticles was greatly enhanced and the fluorescence lifetimes of Eu3+:S-FAP nanoparticles gradually reduced. The Eu3+:S-FAP transparent ceramics were fabricated by vacuum hot pressing sintering method and its transmittance exceeded 80 % in the near-infrared band. These results above indicate Eu3+:S-FAP is a kind of potentially visible luminescent material. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Post-MI HIIT ameliorated hemodynamic parameters and preserved cardiac function. • HIIT reduced the infarct size and protected the myocardium structure of MI rats. • Post-MI HIIT increased angiogenesis and decreased fibrosis and collagen synthesis. • HIIT induced the inflammation and inhibited ET-1 and RAAS activities in MI rats. Exercise training is beneficial for cardiac rehabilitation. Nevertheless, few study focused on the role of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in cardiac repair. The current study aimed to elucidate the effect of HIIT on cardiac rehabilitation and the involved mechanisms after acute myocardial infarction (MI). A total of 65 male rats underwent coronary ligation or sham operation and were randomly assigned to 4 groups: sham (n = 10), sedentary (MI-Sed, n = 12), moderate-intensity continuous training (MI-MCT, n = 12) and HIIT (MI-HIIT, n = 12). One week after MI induction, adaptive training starts follow by formal training. After the experiment, cardiac functions were determined by echocardiography and hemodynamic measurements. Changes in infarct size, collagen accumulation, myofibroblasts, angiogenesis, inflammation level, endothelin-1 (ET-1), and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activities were measured. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. After MI, cardiac structure and function were significantly deteriorated. However, post-MI HIIT for 8 weeks had significantly ameliorated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), LV systolic pressure (LVSP), and maximum peak velocities of relaxation (–dP/dtmax). Moreover, it preserved cardiac functions, reduced infarct size, protected the myocardium structure, increased angiogenesis and decreased the myofibroblasts and collagen accumulation. HIIT for 4 weeks had no effect on LVEDP, –dP/dtmax, infarct size and angiogenesis. Additionally, it induced inflammation response and repressed ET-1 and RAAS activities were found in myocardium and peripheral circulation after HIIT. Our results suggested that post-MI HIIT had a positive role in cardiac repair, which might be linked with the induction of inflammation and inhibition of ET-1 and RAAS activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]