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This study investigated the corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of Mg-2Zn-0.46Y-0.5Nd (wt.%) alloy plates and screws with fluorinated coatings and atomic layer deposition (ALD)-derived zirconia (ZrO2) coatings in vitro under physiological stress conditions. Synthetic polyurethane hemimandible replicas were split and fixed as the following three groups of magnesium alloy plates and screws: no additional surface coating treatment (Group A), with fluorinated coatings (Group B), and with duplex fluorinated and ALD-derived 100 nm ZrO2 coatings (Group C). A circulating stress of 1–10 N was applied to the distal bone segment, and a 4-week simulated body fluid immersion test was employed to study the remaining material volume and the mechanical properties of the different groups. Compared with Group A and Group B, the degradation rate of magnesium alloy plates and screws' head regions was significantly slowed down under the protection of duplex MgF2/ZrO2 coatings (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the degradation rate of the screw shaft region between groups (p = 0.077). In contrast to fluoride coatings, duplex MgF2/ZrO2 coatings maintained the mechanical strength of magnesium alloy plates and screws after a 14 day in vitro SBF immersion test. We conclude that duplex MgF2/ZrO2 coatings exhibited a certain protective effect on the Mg alloy plates and screws under physiological stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Brassinosteroids (BRs) play a crucial role in shaping the architecture of rice (Oryza sativa) plants. However, the regulatory mechanism of BR signalling in rice immunity remains largely unexplored. Here we identify a rice mutant dla, which exhibits decreased leaf angles and is insensitive to 24‐epiBL (a highly active synthetic BR), resembling the BR‐deficient phenotype. The dla mutation caused by a T‐DNA insertion in the OsDLA gene leads to downregulation of the causative gene. The OsDLA knockout plants display reduced leaf angles and less sensitivity to 24‐epiBL. In addition, both dla mutant and OsDLA knockout plants are more susceptible to rice blast compared to the wild type. OsDLA is a GRAS transcription factor and interacts with the BR signalling core negative regulator, GSK2. GSK2 phosphorylates OsDLA for degradation via the 26S proteasome. The GSK2 RNAi line exhibits enhanced rice blast resistance, while the overexpression lines thereof show susceptibility to rice blast. Furthermore, we show that OsDLA interacts with and stabilizes the WRKY transcription factor OsWRKY53, which has been demonstrated to positively regulate BR signalling and blast resistance. OsWRKY53 directly binds the promoter of PBZ1 and activates its expression, and this activation can be enhanced by OsDLA. Together, our findings unravel a novel mechanism whereby the GSK2‐OsDLA‐OsWRKY53 module coordinates blast resistance and plant architecture via BR signalling in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fast and efficient method is proposed in this letter to characterize the dielectric permittivity of thin‐film materials. The measuring system is based on a TE103 rectangular split‐cavity resonator operating at around 10 GHz, which has the advantage of providing nondestructive measurements while maintaining a high level of accuracy. The thin‐film materials under test can be directly inserted in the split without being processed in a specific shape. Different dielectric materials are tested using this method. And the theoretical derivations and experimental measurements have been performed to confirm the validity and effectiveness of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter presents a wideband three-dimensional (3-D)-printed circularly polarized (CP) ultrathin dielectric slab waveguide (DSW) Luneburg lens (LL) with multibeam application in X-band. The characteristic that DSW supports TE0 and TM0 waves to pass through with different phase constants is used to generate 90° phase difference to compose CP wave for the proposed structure. To prove the point, the prototype antenna is fabricated by 3-D printing and measured. The results show that the proposed LL supports multibeam application with 11 beams covering ±60° range in azimuth plane, and the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth for multibeam antenna is 23.5% with reflection coefficient lower than −10 dB and gain higher than 13.7 dBi. The measured results show good coincidence with simulated ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luneburg lens (LL) and Eaton lens (EL) are well known as optical and microwave components. This letter proposes a bifunctional Luneburg-Eaton lens (LEL) fabricated by three-dimensional (3-D)-printed anisotropic medium. The spherical LEL is designed as a LL for incident vertical polarization and as an EL for incident horizontal polarization through the use of anisotropic dielectric. In order to realize a good continuous refractive index, the proposed lens structure is divided into many cells, and the equivalent permittivity of each unit is calculated by using the equivalent media theory. The prototype of LEL is designed and excited by X-band waveguide WR-90, and the ideal results are achieved. The gain of the antenna is from 15.7 to 16.4 dBi in X-band with the LEL functioning as a LL, and the waveguide can have a beam deflection of set angle with the LEL functioning as an EL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter presents a simple method to design the wideband circularly polarized spherical multibeam Luneburg lens (LL) antenna by using three-dimensional (3-D)-printing. The conventional 3-D-printed spherical LL is divided into many cells and each cell is filled by the unit cell with different filling ratios, which breaks the circular symmetry of the LL. The proposed method divides the LL into many layers, and the profile surface equation of each layer is calculated by the ordinary least square method to keep the rotation symmetry of the LL. Then, according to the proposed circularly polarized implement method, the transformation of linear polarization to circular polarization can be realized by selecting a proper radius of LL. The simulated and measured results show that the axial ratios of the proposed multibeam LL antenna are less than 3 dB with good impedance performance and more than 13.8 dBi gain in a relative bandwidth of 31.6%, which demonstrates the validity and simplicity of the presented method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In animals, malectin is well known to play an essential role in endoplasmic reticulum quality control (ERQC) by interacting with ribophorin I, one unit of the oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) complex. However, the functions of malectin in plants remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate the rice OsMLD1 is an ER- and Golgi-associated malectin protein and physically interacts with rice homolog of ribophorin I (OsRpn1), and its disruption leads to spontaneous lesion mimic lesions, enhanced disease resistance, and prolonged ER stress. In addition, there are many more N-glycosites and N-glycoproteins identified from the mld1 mutant than wildtype. Furthermore, OsSERK1 and OsSERK2, which have more N-glycosites in mld1, were demonstrated to interact with OsMLD1. OsMLD1 can suppress OsSERK1- or OsSERK2-induced cell death. Thus, OsMLD1 may play a similar role to its mammalian homologs in glycoprotein quality control, thereby regulating cell death and immunity of rice, which uncovers the function of malectin in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binary magnesium-silver (Mg-Ag) alloys were designed as antibacterial materials for biomedical implant applications. In the present study, we focused on the effects of extrusion (extrusion ratio (ER): 1, 7.1, and 72.2) and Ag content (Ag = 0, 3, and 6 wt.%) on the degradation of Mg-Ag alloys in vitro and in vivo via microstructure characterization and corrosion/degradation measurements. The results showed that the Ag promoted a galvanic reaction with the Mg matrix to accelerate degradation or formed a protective oxide mesh texture to inhibit degradation, especially in vivo. Ag might also be beneficial for product crystallization, biomineralization, and organic matter deposition. For pure Mg, extrusion produced a more refined grain and decreased the degradation rate. For the Mg-Ag alloys, a low extrusion ratio (7.1) accelerated the degradation caused by the increase in the proportion of the precipitate. This promoted the release of Mg2+ and Ag+, which led to more deposition of organic matter and calcium phosphate, but also more H2 bubbles, which led to disturbance of product deposition in some local positions or even inflammatory reactions. Extrusion at a higher ratio (72.2) dissolved the precipitates. This resulted in moderate degradation rates and less gas production, which promoted osteogenesis without an obvious inflammation reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A design of planar dual‐polarized differentially fed multibeam patch antenna array (DFMPAA) is presented in this article. The dual‐polarized DFMPAA is composed of two circular 4 × 4 butler matrixs (BMs) and a 1 × 4 dual‐polarized patch antenna array. The two BMs are designed in the top and bottom layer as the feeding network of horizontal polarization (HP) and vertical polarization (VP), respectively. The patch is designed as the radiation element of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA, which is fed by the slot and aperture coupling to generate the HP and VP wave, respectively. To achieve high cross‐polarization discrimination (XPD), the antenna element is fed differentially. A prototype working at 5.5 GHz is fabricated and measured in order to validate the performance of the proposed dual‐polarized DFMPAA. The dimension of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA is 3.8 λ0 × 1.7 λ0. Measured results show that when the beam scan to the maximal pointing angle, the XPD of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA in HP and VP are higher than 27 and 29 dB, respectively. Additionally, the beams of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA can cover the range of ±42° in horizontal plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a design of multibeam antenna (MBA) with two-dimensional (2-D) beam steerable capability is proposed. The proposed MBA is composed of a circular 4 × 4 butler matrix (BM) and a 2 × 4 patch antenna array. And the 2 × 4 patch antenna array consists of four two-element subarrays uniformly arranged along the E-plane. By introducing the switching diodes in the subarray and controlling the switching diodes on and off, elements of the subarray are excited through the paths with different lengths, and the beam of the subarray is steered subsequently in the H-plane. The circular 4 × 4 BM is designed as the beamforming network to excite the four subarrays uniformly arranged along the E-plane and steer the beam in the E-plane. The proposed MBA can generate 12 beams by selecting the excitation port and controlling the on–off state of the switching diodes. To validate the performance of the proposed MBA, a prototype is fabricated and measured. By design, the dimension of the designed MBA has reduced to 2.9 λ0 × 1.3 λ0. The designed MBA operates at 5.7 GHz, and the results show that the beams of the MBA can cover the range of ±36° in the E-plane and ±22° in the H-plane, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the short- and long-term reproducibility of verbal and nonverbal facial expressions of normal people using dynamic 3-dimensional (3-D) imaging. Design: Prospective, cross-sectional, controlled study. Setting: Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing, China. Patients and Participants: Twenty-seven participants, 12 males and 15 females, were recruited for this study. Methods: A 3-D dynamic system was applied to capture the process of 4 nonverbal facial expressions (smile lips closed, smile lips open, lip purse, cheek puff) and 2 verbal facial expressions (/i:/, /u:/) at an initial time point, 15 minutes later, and 1 week later. Key frames were selected from each expression recording sequence. Main Outcome Measures: The root mean square (RMS) between each key frame and its corresponding frame at rest was calculated. ΔRMS reflected the difference of the same key frames between the different sessions of the same expression of the same participant. The reproducibility of different facial expressions at different time intervals were analyzed. Results: There was no significant difference in verbal and nonverbal expression repeatability during a 15-minute interval, except for cheek puff motion. Following a 1-week interval, verbal expression repeatability was superior to that of nonverbal expressions (P <.01). Compared with nonverbal expressions, the repeatability of verbal expressions did not obviously decrease with the increase in recording interval. Conclusions: Dynamic 3-D imaging is a useful technique for facial expression analysis. Verbal expressions showed greater reproducibility than nonverbal expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Lesion mimic mutants are used to elucidate mechanisms controlling plant responses to pathogen attacks and environmental stresses. Although dozens of genes had been functionally demonstrated to be involved in lesion mimic phenotype in several plant species, the molecular mechanisms underlying the hypersensitive response are largely unknown. Here, a rice (Oryza sativa) lesion mimic mutant natural blight leaf 3 (nbl3) was identified from T‐DNA insertion lines. The causative gene, OsNBL3, encodes a mitochondrion‐localized pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein. The nbl3 mutant exhibited spontaneous cell death response and H2O2 accumulation, and displayed enhanced resistance to the fungal and bacterial pathogens Magnaporthe oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. This resistance was consistent with the up‐regulation of several defence‐related genes; thus, defence responses were induced in nbl3. RNA interference lines of OsNBL3 exhibited enhanced disease resistance similar to that of nbl3, while the disease resistance in overexpression lines did not differ from that of the wild type. In addition, nbl3 displayed improved tolerance to salt, accompanied by up‐regulation of several salt‐associated marker genes. OsNBL3 was found to mainly participate in the splicing of mitochondrial gene nad5 intron 4. Disruption of OsNBL3 leads to the reduction in complex I activity, the elevation of alternative respiratory pathways and the destruction of mitochondrial morphology. Overall, the results demonstrated that the PPR protein‐coding gene OsNBL3 is essential for mitochondrial development and functions, and its disruption causes the lesion mimic phenotype and enhances disease resistance and tolerance to salt in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a broadband dual circularly polarized (CP) antenna with simple structure and high gain is designed. A metal ridge septum with the shape of the cascade of a rectangle and a triangle is embedded into the square waveguide to excite CP wave, which is presented through analysis and simulation. By feeding the antenna at the two positions with respect to the symmetrical position of the septum, it can form the right‐handed circularly polarized (RHCP) and left‐handed circularly polarized (LHCP) wave, respectively. To verify the design, a prototype of the antenna is fabricated and measured. The measured and simulated results coincide with each other. According to the simulation and measurement, the designed antenna can work well within a relative bandwidth of 64% from 8.5 to 16.5 GHz. The proposed dual CP antenna has the simple configuration and good performance, and it can be a good candidate antenna for the broadband communication system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesion mimic mutants constitute a valuable genetic resource for unraveling the signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms governing the programmed cell death and defense responses of plants. Here, we identified a lesion mimic mutant, spl-D , from T-DNA insertion rice lines. The mutant exhibited higher accumulation of H2O2, spontaneous cell death, decreased chlorophyll content, up-regulation of defense-related genes, and enhanced disease resistance. The causative gene, OsGRDP1 , encodes a cytosol- and membrane-associated glycine-rich domain protein. OsGRDP1 was expressed constitutively in all of the organs of the wild-type plant, but was up-regulated throughout plant development in the spl-D mutant. Both the overexpression and knockdown (RNAi) of OsGRDP1 resulted in the lesion mimic phenotype. Moreover, the intact-protein level of OsGRDP1 was reduced in the spotted leaves from both overexpression and RNAi plants, suggesting that the disruption of intact OsGRDP1 is responsible for lesion formation. OsGRDP1 interacted with an aspartic proteinase, OsAP25. In the spl-D and overexpression plants, proteinase activity was elevated, and lesion formation was partially suppressed by an aspartic proteinase inhibitor. Taken together, our results reveal that OsGRDP1 is a critical feedback regulator, thus contributing to the elucidation of the mechanism underlying cell death and disease resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Dynamic asymmetry has not been as rigorously evaluated as static asymmetry for patients with skeletal deformity but could well be even more important. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the dynamic facial movement of Class III patients with facial asymmetry using a 3-dimensional (3D) motion capture system.Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study recruited patients with skeletal Class III malocclusion with and without facial asymmetry. A 3D facial motion capture system was used to record the expression process of a maximal smile. Eleven orofacial landmarks were selected to analyze and calculate the cumulative distance and average speed of each landmark during smiling. The predictor variable was mandibular symmetry. The outcome variables consisted of the measurements of each soft tissue landmark and the absolute differences for the paired landmarks between 2 sides. Other variables consisted of descriptive data, including the age and gender of each patient. The data were analyzed using independent t tests and paired t tests. Bonferroni's adjustment was used to control for multiple comparisons.Results: A total of 63 patients were divided into 2 groups, an asymmetric group (n = 46) and a control group (n = 17), according to the degree of skeletal deviation. The difference in the cumulative distance of the bilateral cheilions was statistically significant between the 2 groups (P = .002). The difference for the asymmetric and control groups was 2.06 ± 1.78 mm and 1.00 ± 0.79 mm, respectively. In the asymmetric group, a comparison of the deviated side with the nondeviated side revealed statistically significant differences in the magnitude of motion for the cheilion (P < .01) and midlateral lower lip (P < .01).Conclusions: The patients with skeletal asymmetry also showed asymmetry in soft tissue functions while smiling. The magnitude of movement in the nondeviated side was greater than that in the deviated side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new class of pyridazine fused aromatics, 1,2-diazabenzo[ghi]perylenes, is conveniently synthesized from 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene via intermolecular oxidative coupling followed by a condensation reaction. These new compounds are fully characterized via X-ray crystallographic analysis, optical spectroscopy and electrochemistry, in addition to DFT calculations. They show a twisted structure and unique P-/P- and M-/M-enantiomer pairs are observed in their single crystals. They exhibit intramolecular charge transfer character and emit at a longer wavelength with a larger Stokes shift compared with their all-carbon analog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of guided tissue regeneration membranes is a significant approach for enhancing bone tissue growth in areas with bone defects. Biodegradable magnesium alloys are increasingly being used as guided tissue regeneration membranes due to their outstanding osteogenic properties. However, the degradation rates of magnesium alloy bone implants documented in the literature tend to be rapid. Moreover, many studies focus only on the initial 3-month period post-implantation, limiting their applicability and impeding clinical adoption. Furthermore, scant attention has been given to the interplay between the degradation of magnesium alloy implants and the adjacent tissues. To address these gaps, this study employs a well-studied magnesium-aluminum (Mg-Al) alloy membrane with a slow degradation rate. This membrane is implanted into rat skull bone defects and monitored over an extended period of up to 48 weeks. Observations are conducted at various intervals (2, 4, 8, 12, 24, and 48 weeks) following the implantation. Assessment of degradation behavior and tissue regeneration response is carried out using histological sections, micro-CT scans, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The findings reveal that the magnesium alloy membranes demonstrate remarkable biocompatibility and osteogenic capability over the entire observation duration. Specifically, the Mg-Al alloy membranes sustain their structural integrity for 8 weeks. Notably, their osteogenic ability is further enhanced as a corrosion product layer forms during the later stages of implantation. Additionally, our in vitro experiments employing extracts from the magnesium alloy display a significant osteogenic effect, accompanied by a notable increase in the expression of osteogenic-related genes. Collectively, these results strongly indicate the substantial potential of Mg-Al alloy membranes in the context of guided tissue regeneration.

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the short- and long-term reproducibility of verbal and nonverbal facial expressions of normal people using dynamic 3-dimensional (3-D) imaging., Design: Prospective, cross-sectional, controlled study., Setting: Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing, China., Patients and Participants: Twenty-seven participants, 12 males and 15 females, were recruited for this study., Methods: A 3-D dynamic system was applied to capture the process of 4 nonverbal facial expressions (smile lips closed, smile lips open, lip purse, cheek puff) and 2 verbal facial expressions (/i:/, /u:/) at an initial time point, 15 minutes later, and 1 week later. Key frames were selected from each expression recording sequence., Main Outcome Measures: The root mean square (RMS) between each key frame and its corresponding frame at rest was calculated. ΔRMS reflected the difference of the same key frames between the different sessions of the same expression of the same participant. The reproducibility of different facial expressions at different time intervals were analyzed., Results: There was no significant difference in verbal and nonverbal expression repeatability during a 15-minute interval, except for cheek puff motion. Following a 1-week interval, verbal expression repeatability was superior to that of nonverbal expressions ( P < .01). Compared with nonverbal expressions, the repeatability of verbal expressions did not obviously decrease with the increase in recording interval., Conclusions: Dynamic 3-D imaging is a useful technique for facial expression analysis. Verbal expressions showed greater reproducibility than nonverbal expressions.

A key intermediate compound, 2,5,8,11-tetrabromo-1,6,7,12-tetrabutoxyperylene (Per-4Br), was synthesized from 3,6-dibromo-2,7-dioxylnaphthalene via simple regioselective oxidative radical-radical coupling, followed by reduction and nucleophilic substitution. Various bay- and ortho-octasubstituted perylenes containing cyano, methoxy and aryl groups were then obtained by nucleophilic substitution or Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions. X-ray crystallographic analyses reveal that these new perylene molecules process a twisted structure due to steric congestion at the bay-regions and there is no obvious intermolecular π-π interaction. As a result, they exhibit moderate fluorescence quantum yields even in solid state. Therefore, Per-4Br can serve as a versatile building block for various functional perylene dyes with tunable optoelectronic property.