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The integration of 2D ferroelectric materials with 2D photoelectric materials presents a promising avenue for addressing issues related to controlled doping and device integration in layered semiconductors. The reversible and non‐volatile residual polarization inherent to ferroelectrics can provide stable n‐ or p‐type doping for 2D semiconductors. Despite advances in doping strategies for 2D materials, existing techniques, and post‐doping characterization methodologies exhibit limitations, including the challenge of achieving high‐resolution graphical depictions of doped structures. Here, a WS2/CuInP2S6 heterostructure is demonstarted whereby the residual polarization of ferroelectric CuInP2S6 regions with anti‐parallel directions supplies screening charges of opposite signs to WS2 monolayers. This notably alters the ratio of neutral excitons and negatively charged trions within the recombination luminescence of the direct‐gap semiconductor, thereby offering a viable approach for controllable, non‐volatile modulation in 2D systems. Beyond proposing a feasible strategy for patterned doping and effective regulation in 2D semiconductors through interface engineering, this work enhances the understanding of the interplay between ferroelectrics and semiconductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Anthracyclines have a central role in anti-cancer therapy, but their side effects of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity (AIC) during systemic administration have always been a problem for both patients and clinicians. The application of anthracycline agents leads to arrhythmias, causing nonspecific ECG changes. And the incidence rates of abnormal QT changes could be early markers of AIC. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review, meta-analysis, and network meta-analysis to evaluate the arrhythmic risk of anthracyclines and the comparative risk for each agent. We included 4 cohort studies, 8 RCTs, and 18 single-arm studies, and the result shows anthracyclines were associated with a statistically significant 90% increase in the risk of arrhythmia and a 114% increase in the risk of supraventricular arrhythmia. Among them, epirubicin ranked the most likely to have the highest risk of arrhythmia compared with non-anthracycline antineoplastic drugs in the analysis. The purpose of this research is to improve the monitoring of ECGs by clinicians while applying anthracyclines and to try to use molecular imaging technology to study the mechanism of drug action on cardiac electrophysiology in the future. The effects of anthracycline agents on the electrophysiological properties of cardiac cells can be better understood with the help of imaging molecular targets in cardiac cells, which may result in safer and more effective clinical use of the drugs. Background: Chemotherapy is the main first-line treatment, but there is a problem of adverse reactions to systemic drugs. Chemotherapeutic agents may cause adverse effects on the body, influencing the prognosis. Whether the clinical application of anthracyclines is associated with an increased arrhythmic risk remains controversial. To evaluate the arrhythmic risk of anthracyclines as a class, and the comparative risk for each drug, we conducted a systematic review, meta-analysis, and network meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched, up to March 2022, for randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and case–control studies that investigated the association between anthracyclines treatment and the risk of arrhythmia. We followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines for data selection and extraction. Outcomes were pooled using fixed effects models in cohort studies and randomized controlled studies, and random models in single-arm studies. Direct and indirect comparisons in network meta-analysis were performed using frequentist methods. Results: In total, 4 cohort studies, 8 RCTs, and 18 single-arm studies were included in our analysis. Anthracyclines' use was associated with a statistically significant 90% increase in the risk of arrhythmia (odds ratio [OR] 1.90; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.62–2.24) and a 114% increase in the risk of supraventricular arrhythmia (OR 2.14; 95% CI 1.18–3.89). And the single-arm studies also indicated that the incidence of arrhythmia rate is 20% and the 95% CI is 15/100–25/100. Epirubicin ranked most likely to have the highest risk of arrhythmia compared with non-anthracycline antineoplastic drugs in the analysis (OR 43.07 [95% CI 2.80–2105.83]) by network meta-analysis. Conclusions: Our findings show a significant association between anthracyclines' use and an increased risk of arrhythmia, especially supraventricular arrhythmia. Epirubicin ranked with the highest probability of arrhythmia. These results indicated that cardiac rhythm should be strictly monitored during the application of anthracyclines in clinical practice, and a possible therapy for anthracycline-associated arrhythmia should be explored. Molecular imaging technology is an important means to study the mechanism of drug action on cardiac electrophysiology in the future. By imaging molecular targets in cardiac cells, the effects of drugs on the electrophysiological properties of cardiac cells can be understood, which provides information for the development of safer and more effective drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the static mechanical characteristics of coral aggregate seawater shotcrete (CASS) using an appropriate mix proportion. The orthogonal experiments consisting of four-factor and three-level were conducted to explore an optimal mix proportion of CASS. On a macro-scale, quasi-static compression and splitting tests of CASS with optimal mix proportion at various curing ages employed a combination of acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) techniques were carried out using an electro-hydraulic servo-controlled test machine. A comparative analysis of static mechanical properties at different curing ages was conducted between the CASS and ordinary aggregate seawater shotcrete (OASS). On a micro-scale, the numerical specimens based on particle flow code (PFC) were subjected to multi-level microcracks division for quantitive analysis of the failure mechanism of specimens. The results show that the optimal mix proportion of CASS consists of 700 kg/m3 of cementitious materials content, a water–binder ratio of 0.45, a sand ratio of 60%, and a dosage of 8% for the accelerator amount. The tensile failure is the primary failure mechanism under uniaxial compression and Brazilian splitting, and the specimens will be closer to the brittle material with increased curing age. The Brazilian splitting failure caused by the arc-shaped main crack initiates from the loading points and propagates along the loading line to the center. Compared with OASS, the CASS has an approximately equal early and low later strength mainly because of the minerals' filling or unfilling effect on coral pores. The rate of increase in CASS is swifter during the initial strength phase and decelerates during the subsequent stages of strength development. The failure in CASS is experienced primarily within the cement mortar and bonding surface between the cement mortar and aggregate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: After myocardial infarction (MI), myocardial tissue undergoes a series of complex biological reactions, among which fibrosis is particularly critical. This process leads to troublesome collagen deposition, which not only affects the normal function of the myocardium but also poses a serious challenge to conventional myocardial injury imaging techniques. Especially in the metabolism of contrast media, the uneven distribution caused by fibrosis greatly reduces the accuracy of imaging. To address this problem, we propose an imaging method for myocardial fibrosis processing after myocardial infarction, aiming to improve the accuracy of myocardial injury imaging. Firstly, a combination of collagenase I and human serum albumin (HSA-C) was used to perform deep clearance of myocardial fibrotic collagen. Collagenase I is an enzyme that specifically acts on collagen fibers and can effectively degrade collagen fibers in the myocardium. However, human serum albumin serves as a carrier to help collagenase better distribute in myocardial tissue. After the successful clearance of fibrotic collagen from the myocardium, optical contrast agents targeting the transferrin receptor were used to precisely localize the damaged myocardium. The expression of the transferrin receptor significantly increased after myocardial injury, so this contrast agent can specifically identify the injured myocardium. This precise localization capability provides an important basis for subsequent imaging techniques. With the use of near-infrared fluorescence imaging, we can precisely track the location of myocardial injury. In the area of myocardial damage, the fluorescence signal is significantly enhanced due to the specific binding of the contrast agent, to achieve accurate tracking of the location of myocardial injury. This pretreatment strategy not only effectively eliminates the background interference caused by contrast agent deposition in fibrotic tissue, but also improves the targeting efficiency of contrast agents in cardiac lesions. The fibrosis process after myocardial infarction (MI) results in a decline in cardiac function due to fibrotic collagen deposition and contrast agents' metabolic disorders, posing a significant challenge to conventional imaging strategies in making heart damage clear in the fibrosis microenvironment. To address this issue, we developed an imaging strategy. Specifically, we pretreated myocardial fibrotic collagen with collagenase I combined with human serum albumin (HSA-C) and subsequently visualized the site of cardiac injury by near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging using an optical contrast agent (CI, CRT-indocyanine green) targeting transferrin receptor 1 peptides (CRT). The key point of this strategy is that pretreatment with HSA-C can reduce background signal interference in the fibrotic tissue while enhancing CI uptake at the heart lesion site, making the boundary between the injured heart tissue and the normal myocardium clearer. Our results showed that compared to that in the untargeted group, the normalized fluorescence intensity of cardiac damage detected by NIR in the targeted group increased 1.28-fold. The normalized fluorescence intensity increased 1.21-fold in the pretreatment group of the targeted groups. These data demonstrate the feasibility of applying pretreated fibrotic collagen and NIR contrast agents targeting TfR1 to identify ferroptosis at sites of cardiac injury, and its clinical value in the management of patients with MI needs further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undersized fraction from aged municipal solid waste (UFAMSW), as a kind of soil-like material, has been proved effective in providing a large amount of organic matter and nutrients for soil and plants. The characteristics and effectiveness of heavy metal pollution removal in UFAMSW attracted tremendous research interest from scientists recently. In this study, the heavy metal removal efficiencies and bioavailability of washing on contaminated UFAMSW were evaluated with three washing reagents including ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA), citric acid (CA), and humic acid (HA). The effects of chelating agent concentration, pH, and washing time on metal removal were investigated and response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the washing conditions. The results indicated that the removal efficiencies of Cu, Zn, and Mn could be 53.68%, 52.12%, and 30.63% by EDTA/HA washing and 42.36%, 39.67% and 28.49% by CA/HA washing, respectively. The European Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) sequential extraction was applied to analyze the fraction change of heavy metals in UFAMSW before and after washing, and it was found that chelating agent combined with HA could contribute to the removal of the exchangeable fraction. Physical and chemical properties of UFAMSW were improved to some extent after washing with mixed HA and chelating agent and could achieve the quality standard of landscape gardening soil. Accordingly, the mixture of HA and other chelating agents could be a promising washing process for preparation of landscape gardening soil using UFAMSW. Implications: Our manuscript studies the removal of heavy metals from the contaminated undersized fraction from aged municipal solid waste (UFAMSW). UFAMSW, as a kind of soil-like material, has been proved effective in providing a large amount of organic matter and nutrients for soil and plants however often limited by heavy metal pollution. The UFAMSW used in this experiment was collected after the excavation and screening-sorting of aged refuse from Changshankou Domestic Waste Sanitary Landfill in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, Southern China. This study investigated the effects of EDTA, CA, HA, mixed EDTA/HA, and mixed CA/HA washing on heavy metal removal (Cu, Zn, and Mn), bioavailability of residual heavy metal and properties. The effects of chelating agent concentration, pH, and washing time on metal removal were investigated and then response surface methodology was employed to optimize the washing conditions. The results showed that washing by CA/HA and EDTA/HA, had a higher removal efficiency of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, and Mn) in UFAMSW compared to single HA. Meanwhile, HA has a higher removal for exchangeable fraction of heavy metals, the exchangeable concentration of Cu, Zn, and Mn in CA/HA and EDTA/HA washed UFAMSW were lower compared with UFAMSW washed by single CA and EDTA. Thus, mixing HA with EDTA or CA makes a less risk to environmental and the removal efficiency is acceptable. Additionally, CA/HA and EDTA/HA washing tend to improve soil physicochemical properties and soil fertility. Thus, mixing HA with different washing agent are potential methods for preparation of landscape gardening soil using UFAMSW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ratoon rice cropping system (RR) is developing rapidly in China due to its comparable annual yield and lower agricultural and labor inputs than the double rice cropping system (DR). Here, to further compare the greenhouse effects of RR and DR, a two-year field experiment was carried out in Hubei Province, central China. The ratoon season showed significantly lower cumulative CH4 emissions than the main season of RR, the early season and late season of DR. RR led to significantly lower annual cumulative CH4 emissions, but no significant difference in cumulative annual N2O emissions compared with DR. In RR, the main and ratoon seasons had significantly higher and lower grain yields than the early and late seasons of DR, respectively, resulting in comparable annual grain yields between the two systems. In addition, the ratoon season had significantly lower global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity-based grain yield (GHGI) than the main and late seasons. The annual GWP and GHGI of RR were significantly lower than those of DR. In general, the differences in annual CH4 emissions, GWP, and GHGI could be primarily attributed to the differences between the ratoon season and the late season. Moreover, GWP and GHGI exhibited significant positive correlations with cumulative emissions of CH4 rather than N2O. The leaf area index (LAI) and biomass accumulation in the ratoon season were significantly lower than those in the main season and late season, and CH4 emissions, GWP, and GHGI showed significant positive correlations with LAI, biomass accumulation and grain yield in the ratoon and late season. Finally, RR had significantly higher net ecosystem economic benefits (NEEB) than DR. Overall, this study indicates that RR is a green cropping system with lower annual CH4 emissions, GWP, and GHGI as well as higher NEEB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]