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Bladder cancer (BCa) has a high incidence and recurrence rate worldwide. So far, there is no noninvasive detection of BCa therapy and prognosis based on urine multi-omics. Therefore, it is necessary to explore noninvasive predictive models and novel treatment modalities for BCa.First, we performed protein analysis of urine from five BCa patients and five healthy individuals using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Combining multi-omics data to mine particular and sensitive molecules to predict BCa prognosis. Second, urine proteomics data were combined with TCGA transcriptome data to select differential genes that were specifically highly expressed in urine and tissues. Further, the Lasso equation was used to screen specific molecules to construct a noninvasive prediction model of BCa. Finally, natural compounds of specific molecules were selected by combined network pharmacology and molecular docking to complete molecular structure docking.A noninvasive predictive model was constructed using PSMB5, P4HB, S100A16, GET3, CNP, TFRC, DCXR, and MPZL1, specific molecules screened by multi-omics, and clinical features, which had good predictive value at 1, 3, and 5 years of prediction. High expression of these target genes suggests a poor prognosis in patients with BCa, and they were mainly involved in cell adhesion molecules and the IGF pathway. In addition, the corresponding drugs and natural compounds were selected by network pharmacology, and the molecular structure 7NHT of PSMB5 was found to be well docked to Ellagic acid, a natural compound in Hetaoren that we found. The 3D structure 6I7S of P4HB was able to bind to Stigmasterol in Shanzha stably, and the structure 6WRV of TFRC as an iron transport carrier was also able to bind to Stigmasterol in Shanzha stably. The structures 1WOJ, 3D3W, and 6IGW of CNP, DCXR, and MPZL1 can also play an important role in combination with the natural compounds (S)-Stylopine, Kryptoxanthin, and Sitosterol in Maqianzi, Yumixu, and Laoguancao.The noninvasive prediction model based on urinomics had excellent potential in predicting the prognosis of patients with BCa. The multi-omics screening of specific molecules combined with pharmacology and compound molecular docking can promote the research and development of novel drugs.

Annexin-A6 (ANXA6), a Ca2+-dependent membrane binding protein, is the largest of all conserved annexin families and highly expressed in the plasma membrane and endosomal compartments. As a multifunctional scaffold protein, ANXA6 can interact with phospholipid membranes and various signaling proteins. These properties enable ANXA6 to participate in signal transduction, cholesterol homeostasis, intracellular/extracellular membrane transport, and repair of membrane domains, etc. Many studies have demonstrated that the expression of ANXA6 is consistently altered during tumor formation and progression. ANXA6 is currently known to mediate different patterns of tumor progression in different cancer types through multiple cancer-type specific mechanisms. ANXA6 is a potentially valuable marker in the diagnosis, progression, and treatment strategy of various cancers. This review mainly summarizes recent findings on the mechanism of tumor formation, development, and drug resistance of ANXA6. The contents reviewed herein may expand researchers’ understanding of ANXA6 and contribute to developing ANXA6-based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

The TaAs family (NbAs, TaAs, NbP, TaP) are kinds of Weyl semimetals with lots of novel properties, thus attracting considerable attention in recent years. Here, we systematically studied the Weyl semimetal NbP up to 72 GPa through the resistivity, Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction measurements, and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A pressure-induced semimetal-metal transition was observed at ∼36 GPa, which was further confirmed by the DFT calculations. With further compression up to 52 GPa, a superconducting state was observed. Interestingly, the

In this article, a fully integrated dual-band gallium nitride (GaN) Doherty power amplifier (DPA) based on multi-resonant circuits (MRCs) is presented. A lumped T-type network in combination with the output capacitances of the main and auxiliary transistors is able to realize the quarter-wavelength transformer (QWT) in DPA, and its component values are totally decided by the operating frequency, given a certain characteristic impedance. MRCs are proposed to exhibit the required component values at two different frequencies. By replacing each component in the T-type network with an MRC, a dual-band QWT can be achieved. An integrated dual-band DPA is implemented in a commercial 0.25-μm GaN-HEMT process to validate the proposed method. The fabricated DPA shows a saturated output power of 43.8-44.7/44.4-44.8 dBm, a 6-dB back-off drain efficiency (DE) of 41%-46%/41.5%-47%, and a saturated DE of 49%-52%/56%-59% in 3.35-3.6/4.8-5.2 GHz, with a compact size of 2.8 x 3.5 mm². Applying a 100-MHz OFDM signal with a 7.8-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), an average efficiency of 37%/40% and an average power of 37/37 dBm are measured at 3.5/5.0 GHz, and the adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) is better than -49 dBc after digital predistortion (DPD). To the best of our knowledge, the proposed DPA is the first demonstration of fully integrated dual-band GaN DPAs.

Two Pt(ii) complexes 1 and 2 reveal similar supramolecular dimer structure, in which two [Pt(dfppy/ppy)(pbdtmi)]+ cations connect each other through the π⋯π stacking interaction. Thus these complexes show reversible phosphorescence switching by grinding and crystallization with toluene.

This work develops an efficient, environmentally friendly and cost-effective thermoelectric module for mid-temperature waste heat recovery by using n-type Se-doped Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 and p-type CoSb3-based skutterudite.

Background: Pyroptosis is a form of programmed cell death accompanied by specific inflammatory and immune responses, and it is closely related to the occurrence and progression of various cancers. However, the roles of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in the prognosis, treatment response, and tumor microenvironment (TME) of prostate cancer (PCa) remain to be investigated.Methods: The mRNA expression data and clinical information of PCa patients were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas database (TCGA) and the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics website, and the 52 PRGs were obtained from the published papers. The univariate, multivariate, and LASSO Cox regression algorithms were used to obtain prognostic hub PRGs. Meanwhile, qRT-PCR was used to validate the expression of hub genes between PCa lines and normal prostate epithelial cell lines. We then constructed and validated a risk model associated with the patient’s disease-free survival (DFS). Finally, the relationships between risk score and clinicopathological characteristics, tumor immune microenvironment, and drug treatment response of PCa were systematically analyzed.Results: A prognostic risk model was constructed with 6 hub PRGs (CHMP4C, GSDMB, NOD2, PLCG1, CYCS, GPX4), and patients were divided into high and low-risk groups by median risk score. The risk score was confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor for PCa in both the training and external validation sets. Patients in the high-risk group had a worse prognosis than those in the low-risk group, and they had more increased somatic mutations, higher immune cell infiltration and higher expression of immune checkpoint-related genes. Moreover, they were more sensitive to cell cycle-related chemotherapeutic drugs and might be more responsive to immunotherapy.Conclusion: In our study, pyroptosis played a significant role in the management of the prognosis and tumor microenvironment of PCa. Meanwhile, the established model might help to develop more effective individual treatment strategies.

Postsynthetic modification (PSM) of the metal-organic framework (MOF) has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy to enhance performance. In this particular work, the anion framework

Ultrahigh-Q chiroptical resonance metasurfaces based on merging bound states in the continuum (BICs) are investigated and numerically demonstrated. The destruction of C2 symmetry results in the leakage of BICs into quasi-BICs, and a chiral quasi-BIC is obtained by oblique incidence or continuous destruction of the mirror symmetry of the structure. Due to the significant topological properties of merging BICs, the Q factor (over 2 × 105) of the chiral resonance peak obtained is much higher than that of the previous work. Moreover, the proposed structure is easy to fabricate because no additional out-of-plane asymmetry is introduced. The proposed scheme is of importance in chiral biosensing applications.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted wide attention due to their quasi-two-dimensional layered structure and exotic properties. Plenty of efforts have been done to modulate the interlayer stacking manner for novel states. However, as an equally important element in shaping the unique properties of TMDs, the effect of intralayer interaction is rarely revealed. Here, we report a particular case of pressure-tuned re-arrangement of intralayer atoms in distorted 1T-NbTe2, which was demonstrated to be a new type of structural phase transition in TMDs. The structural transition occurs in the pressure range of 16-20 GPa, resulting in a transformation of Nb atomic arrangement from the trimeric to dimeric structure, accompanied by a dramatic collapse of unit cell volume and lattice parameters. Simultaneously, a charge density wave (CDW) was also found to collapse during the phase transition. The strong increase in the critical fluctuations of CDW induces a significant decline in the electronic correlation and a change of charge carrier type from hole to electron in NbTe2. Our finding reveals a new mechanism of structure evolution and expands the field of pressure-induced phase transition.

We report a novel method to synthesize bulk grain-size gradient polycrystalline Ni by AGG. By periodical sintering in the large volume press (LVP), AGG repeatedly occurs, resulting in exceptionally large grains on the sample surface, but the inner grains are still small. The formation of grain-size gradient profile is attributed to the uneven plastic deformation caused by compression in the LVP. Besides, the gradient structure can be achievable with uniformity by employing tungsten with a high shear modulus into the sample assembly. This work would guide us to design bulk heterogeneous gradient nanostructured materials with both excellent strength and ductility. The uniform grained gradient structure obtained with the improved LVP assembly. (a) The improved LVP assembly with W tablet used between Ni sample and outer Mo-capsule; (b) Inverse pole figure mapping characterization of uniform grain-size gradient structure comprised of smaller grains.

Thinning the buffer layer thickness between the GaN epilayer and Si substrate without introducing large residual stress is persistently desired for GaN-on-Si devices to promote their thermal budgets and low-cost, multifunctional applications. In this work, the GaN-on-Si heterostructures were directly bonded at room temperature by surface activated bonding (SAB) and the therein residual stress states were investigated by confocal micro-Raman. The effects of thermal annealing process on the residual stress and interfacial microstructure in SAB fabricated GaN-on-Si heterostructures were also systematically investigated by in situ micro-Raman and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that a significant relaxation and a more uniform stress distribution was obtained in SAB bonded GaN-on-Si heterostructure in comparison with that of MOCVD grown sample; however, with increasing annealing temperature, the residual stresses at the SAB bonded GaN layer and Si layer evolute monotonically in different trends. The main reason can be ascribed to the amorphous layer formed at the bonding interface, which played a critical stress relaxation role and transformed into a much thinner crystallized interlayer without any observable structural defects after 1000 °C annealing.

A series of covalent organic frameworks substituted with azo groups (AzoCOFs) have been synthesized via imine condensation. The obtained frameworks show crystallinity and high stability. More importantly, the AzoCOFs exhibit exceptionally high ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST) selectivity in adsorption of C2H2 (35-2891) over CH4 at 273 K and 1 bar, owing to the favorable interactions between azo groups and acetylene molecules. The dependence of the gas adsorption property on pore size and polarity of the frameworks was also studied. The triethylene glycol substituted Tg-AzoCOF shows the highest C2H2/CH4 selectivity (IAST selectivity of 2891), which represents the highest reported for all porous materials. The AzoCOFs also exhibit high IAST adsorption selectivity of C2H4/CH4 (11-20), C2H6/CH4 (15-22), and CO2/CH4 (12-37), which is comparable with most porous materials, thus showing their great potential in gas separation applications.

Indium telluride (In

Dense and submicron-sized polycrystalline β-Si3N4 bulk samples with average grain size of 263 ± 68 nm have been synthesized using micron-sized α-Si3N4 powder (2 μm) as the starting material by simultaneously tuning the pressure and temperature conditions. The measured Vickers hardness HV of the submicron-sized polycrystalline β-Si3N4 could reach up to about 20 GPa, approaching the upper limit of the single crystal β-Si3N4. The measured fracture toughness KIC of the polycrystalline β-Si3N4 has been enhanced from 3.0 to 4.1 MPa m1/2, as much as 36%, while without sacrificing the hardness. This study demonstrates that using micron-sized powder as the starting material to synthesize submicron-sized polycrystalline bulks by phase transformation under extreme pressure conditions is an efficient pathway to break through the old paradigm—the higher the fracture toughness of a material, the lower the hardness.

Both the air quality index (AQI) and indicatory air pollutants of Anqing, Hefei, and Suzhou near central China from 2017 to 2019, and the impact of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control actions on air quality were investigated. The combined data for the three cities from 2017 to 2019 indicated that the lowest AQI (averaged 78.1) occurred in the summer season, for which the AQI proportions for classes I, II, III, IV, V, and VI were 25.6%, 49.9%, 21.9%, 2.7%, 0%, and 0%, respectively. The highest (AQI average of 112.6) was in winter, for which the proportions were 7.4%, 39.5%, 33.3%, 12.5%, 7.2%, and 0.1%, respectively. PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 in order were the most important indicatory air pollutants for AQI classes IV, V, and VI, which all prevailed in winter and spring, while O3 was the indicatory air pollutant that occurred most in summer. The COVID-19 event, which triggered global attention, broke out at the end of 2019. This study also investigated and compared the air quality levels in the three cities from January to March 2017–2019 with those in 2020. The results showed that during February 2020, in the three cities, the average ambient air concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, and NO2 were 41.9 µg m–3, 50.1 µg m–3, 2.18 ppb, 0.48 ppm, and 8.97 ppb, and were 46.5%, 48.9%, 52.5%, 36.2%, and 52.8%, respectively, lower than those in the same month in 2017–2019, respectively. However, the O3 average concentration (80.6 ppb) did not show significant fluctuations and even slightly increased by 3.6%. This is because a lower concentration of NO2 resulted in constraints on the reaction of NO + O3, so the O3 level could not be effectively further reduced. In addition, this study also analyzed and compared the five highest daily AQIs from February 2017–2019 with those of 2020 for the three cities. The mean AQI for the 5 days with the highest daily AQI (averaged 122.6) in February 2020 was 45.1% lower than that for February 2017–2019 (averaging 223.2), and the indicatory air pollutant was always PM2.5, which decreased by 46.7% (from 173.6 to 92.6 µg m–3). It is clear that during the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control action periods, the air quality near central China improved significantly.

The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is one of the most effective and sustainable ways to produce hydrogen gas as an alternative clean fuel. The rate of this electrocatalytic reaction is highly dependent on the properties (dispersity and stability) of electrocatalysts. Herein, we developed well-dispersed and highly stable platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) supported on a covalent organic framework (COF-bpyTPP), which exhibit excellent catalytic activities toward HER as well as the hydride reduction reaction. The nanoparticles have an average size of 2.95 nm and show superior catalytic performance compared to the commercially available Pt/C under the same alkaline conditions, producing 13 times more hydrogen with a far more positive onset potential (−0.13 V vs. −0.63 V) and ca. 100% faradaic efficiency. The reaction rate of the hydride reduction of 4-nitrophenol was also 10 times faster in the case of PtNPs@COF compared to the commercial Pt/C under the same loading and conditions. More importantly, the PtNPs@COF are highly stable under the aqueous reactions conditions and can be reused without showing noticeable aggregation and activity degradation.

In early 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic spread globally. This study investigated the air quality of three cities in Hubei Province, Wuhan, Jingmen, and Enshi, central China, from January to March 2017–2020 to analyze the impact of the epidemic prevention and control actions on air quality. The results indicated that in the three cities, during February 2020, when the epidemic prevention and control actions were taken, the average concentrations of atmospheric PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, and NO2 in the three cities were 46.1 µg m–3, 50.8 µg m–3, 2.56 ppb, 0.60 ppm, and 6.70 ppb, and were 30.1%, 40.5%, 33.4%, 27.9%, and 61.4% lower than the levels in February 2017–2019, respectively. However, the average O3 concentration (23.1, 32.4, and 40.2 ppb) in 2020 did not show a significant decrease, and even increased by 12.7%, 14.3%, and 11.6% in January, February, and March, respectively. This is because a lower concentration of NO2 resulted in constraints on the NO + O3 reaction, and the O3 could not be effectively further depleted. In addition, the average air quality index (AQI) for the three cities in January, February, and March 2020 were 32.2%, 27.7%, and 14.9% lower than the levels in 2017–2019, respectively. Based on the AQIs for the three cities, the combined proportions of Class I and Class Ⅱ in January, February, and March 2020 increased by 27.9%, 24.8%, and 4.3%, respectively, while the combined proportion of AQI Classes III, IV, V, and VI was reduced from 34.8% to 15.8%. In addition, in the first three months of 2020, the indicatory air pollutants in the three cities for the AQIs were predominant in the following order: PM2.5 (72.0%), O3 (16.4%), PM10 (8.3%), NO2 (2.9%), and CO (0.4%). This study provides useful information for establishing a scientific air pollution control strategy and is a valuable reference for future research on improving urban air quality.

This study investigated the AQI (air quality index) and atmospheric pollutants including PM2.5, PM10, CO, SO2, NO2 and O3 in Chongqing, Luzhou and Chengdu from 2017 to 2019. In addition, the impacts of the COVID-19 event on the air quality in the three cities in 2020 were compared and discussed. For the combined AQIs for the three cities, in spring, the daily AQIs ranged between 25 and 182 and averaged 72.1. In summer, the daily AQIs ranged between 24 and 206 and averaged 77.5. In autumn, the daily AQIs ranged between 22 and 170 and averaged 61.1, and in winter, the daily AQIs ranged between 28 and 375 and averaged 99.6. The distributions of the six AQI classes in spring were 3%, 94%, 3%, 0%, 0%, and 0%; in summer, they were 11%, 74%, 15%, 0%, 0% and 0%; in autumn, they were 29%, 70%, 1%, 0%, 0%, and 0%, and in winter, they were 1%, 52%, 44%, 3%, 0%, and 0%, respectively. The average AQIs, in order, were Chengdu (85.4) > Chongqing (73.8) > Luzhou (73.2). Both the highest AQIs and PM2.5 (as the major indicatory air pollutant) occurred mainly in the low temperature season (January, December, and February), while O3 was the main air pollutant in June and August when the weather was hot. In February 2020, during the epidemic prevention and control actions taken in response to COVID-19 for the three cities, the combined AQIs for the top five days with the highest AQIs in February 2020 was 79.4, which was 23.6% lower than that from 2017–2019 (AQI = 100.7), and the average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, and NO2 were 89.4 µg m–3, 106 µg m–3, 2.31 ppb, 0.72 ppm, and 12.3 ppb, respectively, and were 17.9%, 30.8%, 83.8%, 19.8%, and 62.1%, lower than those in February 2017–2019. However, the average O3 concentration (31.8 ppb) in February 2020 rather than decreasing, increased by 6.2%. This is because a lower NO2 concentration hindered the NO + O3 reaction and led to increase O3 concentration in the ambient air.

The COVID-19 epidemic discovered and reported at the end of December 2019 and began spreading rapidly around the world. The impact of the COVID-19 event on the trip intensity, AQI (air quality index), and air pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3 in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Foshan (the so-called ‘three cities’) from January 12 to March 27, in 2019 and 2020, are compared and discussed. In 2020, the combined trip intensity in the three cities ranged between 0.73 and 5.54 and averaged 2.57, which was 28.4% lower than that in 2019. In terms of the combined AQIs for the three cities, from January 12 to March 26, 2020, the daily AQIs ranged between 21.0 and 121.3 and averaged 56.4, which was 16.0% lower than that in 2019. The average AQIs in order were Guangzhou (57.5) > Foshan (54.1) > Shenzhen (44.1). In 2019, the distribution proportions of the six AQI classes were 45.2%, 50.4%, 4.40%, 0%, 0%, and 0%, respectively, while those in 2020 were 62.7%, 37.3%, 0%, 0%, 0% and 0%, respectively. For the combined data for the three cities, on the top five days with the highest AQIs during the epidemic period, the average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3 were 76.4 μg m–3, 113.4 μg m–3, 5.14 ppb, 0.88 ppm, 36.5 ppb and 55.5 ppb, which were 55.2%, 49.4%, 55.1%, 30.0%, 45.1% and 15.5% lower than those during the non-epidemic period (from January 12 to March 27, 2017–2019). The above results revealed that the comprehensive strict epidemic prevention and control actions reduced trip intensity and improved the air quality significantly.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the leading causes of chronic liver disease. HCV is not only related to hepatic malignancies but may also promote lymphoid neoplasms. Currently, research has confirmed HCV-related lymphoma, including marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL), follicular lymphoma (FL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and Burkitt lymphoma (BL). Many types of research have shown that antiviral therapy can improve or even remission several HCV-related lymphomas. The direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) (such as NS5A protease inhibitors, NS4/4A protease inhibitors and viral polymerase inhibitors) have shown clinical advantages of high efficacy and low side effects for both virus elimination and tumor regression in several HCV-related lymphomas, which may make the selected HCV-related lymphoma patients treated without chemotherapy. In this review the research progress and development direction of antiviral therapy in treating HCV-related lymphoma has summarized briefly.抗病毒治疗在HCV相关淋巴瘤中的治疗现状及研究进展.丙型肝炎病毒（hepatitis C virus，HCV）是全球慢性肝病的主要病因之一，它不仅与肝脏恶性肿瘤相关，而且可能促进淋巴增殖性疾病的发生和发展。目前已证实与HCV有关的淋巴系统增殖性疾病包括边缘区淋巴瘤、淋巴浆细胞性淋巴瘤、滤泡淋巴瘤、弥漫性大B细胞淋巴瘤和Burkits淋巴瘤。许多研究表明，抗病毒治疗后，这些HCV相关的淋巴瘤会随着HCV的消除而减轻甚至缓解。随着NS5A蛋白酶抑制剂、NS4/4A蛋白酶抑制剂和病毒聚合酶抑制剂的出现，它们在HCV相关淋巴瘤中表现出高疗效、低副作用的临床优势，可能使特定的丙肝相关淋巴瘤患者免于免疫化疗。本文对抗病毒治疗在HCV相关淋巴瘤治疗中的研究进展和发展方向作一综述.

Objective To study the correlation between peripheral blood lymphocytes, f/t PSA and LUTS symptoms, and prostatic inflammation in BPH patients.Materials and Methods From May 2020 to October 2020, 120 patients (aged 56-85 years) with BPH undergoing elective transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) were selected. Peripheral blood lymphocyte counts and f/t PSA values were measured preoperatively, and IPSS scores were assessed. Postoperative prostate tissues were sent for pathological examination, and the relationship between peripheral blood lymphocyte count, TPSA, f/t PSA values, relevant clinical laboratory parameters, and relevant LUTS symptoms and the distribution of prostate tissue inflammation was analyzed.Results with the aggravation of prostatic inflammation, IPSS score and TPSA value were lower, while f/t PSA value and lymphocyte count were lower. Multivariate logistic regression analysis of 120 BPH patients showed that age (> = 60) [odds ratio (OR) = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.31-2.10; P = 0.02], IPSS score [OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.13-1.37; P < 0.01], TPSA [OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.02-1.19; P = 0.02], f/t PSA [OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.01-0.15; P = 0.02], and lymphocytes [OR = 1.70, 95% CI = 0.78-3.77; P = 0.04] were related to the formation of prostatic inflammation in BPH patients. Conclusion Peripheral blood lymphocyte count, TPSA, LUTS severity, and f/t PSA ratio can predict the severity of prostatic inflammation, which may be used as diagnostic markers for BPH patients with LUTS symptoms who have prostatitis and promote the development of drug treatment for LUTS symptoms in BPH patients with prostatitis.

In this paper, a high-efficiency Doherty power amplifier (DPA) using an InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) process is presented. The DPA aims for the application of 2.4 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN) systems with a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). The traditional bulky quarter-wavelength line is realized using a low-pass n-type network for miniaturization and low loss. A thermally compensated dynamic bias circuit is applied to increase thermal stability. Under the excitation of a 40-MHz 64-quadratic-amplitude modu-lation(QAM) signal, the proposed DPA achieves a gain of 29 dB gain, an average power of 26 dBm, and an average power added efficiency (PAE) up to 21%. Good error vector magnitude (EVM) and adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) performance are also measured, which demonstrates EVM and ACLR after digital pre-distortion (DPD) are −42 dB and −50.7 dBc. respectively.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted wide attention due to their quasi-two-dimensional layered structure and exotic properties. Plenty of efforts have been done to modulate the interlayer stacking manner for novel states. However, as an equally important element in shaping the unique properties of TMDs, the effect of intralayer interaction is rarely revealed. Here, we report a particular case of pressure-tuned re-arrangement of intralayer atoms in distorted 1T-NbTe

Ionic covalent organic frameworks (ICOFs) have recently emerged as promising candidates for solid-state electrolytes. Herein, we report the first example of a series of crystalline imidazolate-containing ICOFs as single-ion conducting COF solid electrolyte materials, where lithium cations freely travel through the intrinsic channels with outstanding ion conductivity (up to 7.2 × 10-3 S cm-1) and impressively low activation energy (as low as 0.10 eV). These properties are attributed to the weak Li ion-imidazolate binding interactions and well-defined porous 2D framework structures of such ICOFs. We also investigated the structure-property relationship by varying the electronic properties of substituents (electron donating/withdrawing) that covalently attached to the imidazolate groups. We found electron-withdrawing substituents significantly improve the ion-conducting ability of imidazolate-ICOF by weakening ion-pair interactions. Our study provides a convenient bottom-up approach toward a novel class of highly efficient single-ion conducting ICOFs which could be used in all solid-state electrolytic devices.

Ultra-high-quality perfect optical absorption structures based on quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) are investigated and numerically demonstrated. When the radiation rate of the magnetic dipole quasi-BICs resonance is equal to the dissipate loss rate of the system, the critical coupling condition is satisfied and the perfect absorption (nearly 100%) is obtained. The ultra-high-quality factor (1.7 × 105) perfect absorption in the proposed design is mainly attributed to the extremely low external leakage loss rate of quasi-BIC and relatively small intrinsic absorption loss rate in the constituent materials. The structure exhibits excellent sensing properties with a sensitivity of 108 nm/RIU and ultra-high FOM of ∼12013. The proposed scheme is of importance in potential biosensing applications.

We report the preparation of a highly fluoro-substituted crystalline covalent organic framework (COF) and its application as a cathode material in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) upon sulfur confinement. A sulfur-functionalized COF with high sulfur content (60 wt %) was obtained through physisorption of elemental sulfur and subsequent SNAr reaction of sulfur with aromatic fluorides on the COF backbone. After such physical and chemical confinement of sulfur through a postfunctionalization approach, the COF material still shows some structural order, allowing us to investigate the structure-property relationship of such COF materials in LSB application. We compared the electrochemical performances of the two cathode materials prepared from a crystalline COF and its amorphous counterpart and studied the important factors that affect battery capacity, reaction kinetics, and cycling stability.

Abnormal grain growth (AGG) has been commonly observed but the mechanism still remains unclear. In this study, the formation of abnormally large grains was investigated in compressed nickel powders. By periodical sintering in the large volume press, AGG occurred and resulted in a gradient coarse-grained structure. Through the improvement of the cell assembly by introducing tungsten tablets with a higher shear modulus, the optimized grained gradient structure can be obtained, which arises from tuning the AGG associated with the suppress of deformation. This work would be a potential way to design heterogeneous gradient nanostructured materials with excellent strength and ductility.

Phthalates are commonly used in plastic products in daily life. The endocrine-disrupting effects of phthalates have been widely reported. Accumulating evidence from human cohorts and lab animals indicate exposure to phthalates might impair neurodevelopment. However, the direct causal relationship and mechanism between phthalates with neurodevelopment and neurotoxicity have not been firmly established. We found that phthalates (i.e. DBP, DINP, BBP) disrupted the expression of estrogen receptors (esr1, esr2a, esr2b), and impaired neurogenesis in the brain of zebrafish during embryonic development. Moreover, the abnormal expression of estrogen receptors, especially esr2a, was partly rescued in zebrafish which exposed to phthalates, with the estrogen receptor antagonist tamoxifen. Hence, impaired neurogenesis of zebrafish exposed to phthalates was partly reversed by tamoxifen treatment. Moreover, our results show that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)-derived human neurons exposed to phthalates triggered double-strand DNA breaks in vitro. Overall, this study demonstrates that exposure to phthalates affects neurodevelopment in zebrafish embryos and induces neurotoxicity in human neurons partly through disrupting the expression of estrogen receptors.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the common cause of diabetic vascular complications. The NOD-like receptor (NLR) family, pyrin domain containing 1 (NLRP1), also known as NALP1, inflammasome is the first member of the NLR family to be discovered, playing an important role in inflammatory response. However, its effect on DR development has not been reported. In the study, the wild type (WT) and NLRP1−/− mice were injected with streptozotocin (STZ) to induce DR. The results indicated that NLRP1−/− significantly increased bodyweight reduction and decreased blood glucose levels induced by STZ. WT/DR mice exhibited higher levels of NLRP1 in retinas. NLRP1−/− ameliorated retinal abnormalities in DR mice using H&E staining. In addition, attenuated avascular areas and neovascular tufts were also observed in NLRP1−/−/DR mice. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in serum and retinas were highly induced in WT/DR mice, whereas being markedly reduced by NLRP1−/−. In addition, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Iba1 expressions induced by STZ in serum or retinas were significantly down-regulated in NLRP1−/−/DR mice. Consistently, NLRP1−/− attenuated ASC and Caspase-1 expressions in retinas of DR mice. Compared to WT/DR group, NLRP1−/− markedly decreased retina p-nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18 levels. And similar results were confirmed in vitro that suppressing NLRP1/ASC inflammasome ameliorated inflammatory response in fructose-treated retinal ganglion cells. The results above indicated that the modulation of NLRP1 inflammasome might be a promising strategy for DR therapy.

A simple and versatile strategy, borrowing ideas from the chemistry of MOFs and COFs, is developed for the synthesis of coordination-supported organic polymers (COPs) via coordination between Al3+ and 5-amino-8-hydroxyquinoline together with organic imine- or imide-based polycondensation. The COPs with high surface areas (up to 1123 m2 g−1) and abundant mesopores (2.5 nm or 14 nm) possess good crystalline and porous structure after being soaked in boiling water.

Recently, the electronegative elements (e.g., S, Se, Cl, and Br) filled skutterudites have attracted great attention in thermoelectric community. Via doping of some electron donors at the Sb sites, these electronegative elements can be filled into the voids of CoSb3 forming thermodynamically stable compounds, which greatly extends the scope of filled skutterudites. In this study, we show that doping appropriate elements at the Co sites can also stabilize the electronegative elements in the voids of CoSb3. A series of SyPdxCo4-xSb12 compounds were successfully fabricated by a traditional solid state reaction method combined with a spark plasma sintering technique. The phase composition and electrical and thermal transport properties were systematically characterized, and the related mechanisms were deeply discussed. It is found that the charge compensation between Pd doping and S filling is the main reason for the formation of thermodynamically stable SyPdxCo4-xSb12 compounds. Filling S element in the voids of CoSb3 provides additional holes to reduce the carrier concentration while scarcely affecting the carrier mobility. However, doping Pd at the Co sites not only changes the carrier scattering mechanism but also deteriorates the carrier mobility. Low lattice thermal conductivities are observed in these SyPdxCo4-xSb12 compounds, which are attributed to the low resonant frequency of the S element. Finally, a maximal figure of merit of 0.85 is obtained for S0.05Pd0.25Co3.75Sb12 at 700 K.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with well-defined and customizable pore structures are promising templates for the synthesis of nanomaterials with controllable sizes and dispersity. Herein, a thioether-containing COF has been rationally designed and used for the confined growth of ultrafine metal nanoparticles (NPs). Pt or Pd nanoparticles (Pt NPs and Pd NPs) immobilized inside the cavity of the COF material have been successfully prepared at a high loading with a narrow size distribution (1.7 ± 0.2 nm). We found the crystallinity of the COF support and the presence of thioether groups inside the cavities are critical for the size-controlled synthesis of ultrafine NPs. The as-prepared COF-supported ultrafine Pt NPs and Pd NPs show excellent catalytic activity respectively in nitrophenol reduction and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction under mild conditions and low catalyst loading. More importantly, they are highly stable and easily recycled and reused without loss of their catalytic activities. Such COF-supported size-controlled synthesis of nanoparticles will open a new frontier on design and preparation of metal NP@COF composite materials for various potential applications, such as catalysis and development of optical and electronic materials.

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a prevalent malignancy of the digestive tract. miR-410-3p is involved in oncogenesis and development of CRC, but the specific regulation mechanism is still not known clearly. Methods The expression of miR-410-3p and zinc finger CCHC-type containing 10 (ZCCHC10) in CRC cells was detected by qRT-PCR and western blot method, respectively. The dual-luciferase reporter gene detection was applied for determination of interaction between miR-410-3p and ZCCHC10. The wound healing assay and transwell assay were carried out to measure cell migration and invasive ability, respectively. Results The miR-410-3p expression levels were markedly increased, but ZCCHC10 levels were reduced in CRC cells and tissues. Dual-luciferase reporter gene detection indicated that miR-410-3p targeted ZCCHC10 directly. Functionally knockdown of ZCCHC10 or overexpression of miR-410-3p activated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway, promoted epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, as well as cell migration and invasion of CRC cells. After adding NF-κB inhibitor BAY 11-708 to inhibit NF-κB pathway, the promoting effects of si-ZCCHC10 on cell migration, invasion and EMT of HT29 and SW480 cells were suppressed. Meanwhile, overexpression of ZCCHC10 inhibited the effects of miR-410-3p on cell migration, invasion and EMT of HT29 and SW480. Conclusion miR-410-3p-mediated ZCCHC10 suppression regulates NF-κB activation, thereby promoting EMT process, cell migration and invasion of CRC cells. This study provides a new insight into the specific mechanism by which miR-410-3p mediates CRC progression.