Search

The popularity and widespread of electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) have warranted a necessity for monitoring different populations directly or indirectly exposed to particulate matter (PM) from ECIGs. To accurately estimate exposure to aerosols from ECIGs, it is important to correctly measure the concentration of aerosols. Real-time aerosol monitors are usually based on optics that provides biased measurements that are adjusted using filter correction factors. In addition, low-cost aerosol sensors have become popular that allow widespread of these sensors and can estimate ECIG aerosol exposure after calibration. Therefore, this study determined the filter correction factors for three aerosol monitors (MiniWRAS, pDR, and SidePak) based on exposure to six ECIG brands and two particle sizes (PM1 and PM2.5). In addition, the GeoAir2 low-cost monitor was evaluated compared to filter corrected MiniWRAS measurements for these exposures. The study also evaluated the real-time measurements and mass median diameter (MMD) for each ECIG brand. The correction factors varied between aerosol monitors, ECIG brands and particle sizes, with ranges for PM2.5 that span between 1.85 and 2.42 (MiniWRAS), 0.50 and 0.58 (pDR), and 0.24 and 0.28 (SidePak). The GeoAir2 underestimated the reference measurements but had a high correlation (r ¼ 0.90 0.94), showing that the monitor can be effectively calibrated to provide good estimates. The real-time average PM2.5 measurements differed between aerosol instruments with concentrations that ranged between 1398 and 3706 lg/m³ (MiniWRAS), 5479 and 16,825 lg/m³ (pDR), and 9783 and 29,808 lg/m³ (SidePak). Finally, the MMD values spanned between 0.45 and 0.80 lm based on the MiniWRAS measurements. The differences between the raw real-time measurements for the aerosol monitors show the necessity for developing filter correction factors to accurately measure ECIG exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the effect of agricultural data collection and transmission, based on the technology adopted by the mainstream agricultural environmental information monitoring system on the market, this paper uses game theory to innovatively improve the algorithm mechanism of wireless sensor nodes, optimise the clustering structure and routing method of wireless sensor networks, design a remote monitoring platform for field farm information and finally build a complete agricultural information monitoring system. Moreover, taking the temperature and humidity sensor as an example, this paper improves the parameters on the basis of testing the various performance of the sensor, and develops the software of the main chip on the basis of the improved node, and completes the driver design of the sensor. In addition, this paper constructs a wireless sensor network data transmission model based on game theory, and combines simulation experiments to conduct experimental research on the system model constructed in this paper. From the test results, it can be seen that the model constructed in this paper has a better effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the expression and significance of N-terminal molecular fragments of osteocalcin (N-MID), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and RNA-binding motif 5 (RBM5) in brain metastases of lung cancer. Totally, 156 patients with lung cancer were enrolled as the research objects, of which 120 patients without brain metastases were allocated to group A, and 36 patients with brain metastases were allocated to group B. N-MID, PAI-1, and RBM5 expressions were compared between the two groups, and their predictive value in the occurrence of brain metastasis of lung cancer was analyzed. Factors influencing the development of brain metastasis of lung cancer were explored. NMID and PAI-1 expression in group B was higher than that in group A, and RBM5 expression in group B was lower than that in group A. Following treatment, expression patterns of all three genes were significantly reversed (all P < 0.05). N-MID and PAI-1 were independent risk factors but RBM5 was an independent protective factor for brain metastasis of lung cancer (P < 0.05). N-MID and PAI-1 were highly expressed but RBM5 was poorly expressed in patients with brain metastases of lung cancer. All three could effectively predict the occurrence of brain metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved Y and Mn alternately doped Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST) films have been prepared by sol-gel method at preheating temperature of 550°C, and the structures and dielectric properties of the films have been studied. The doped concentration of Y keeps at 1% mol ratio, while that of Mn has three different doped concentrations (2%, 3% and 4%). X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals that all films show polycrystalline cubic AB03 perovskite structures with entrances into A sites of Y3+ ions and B sites of Mn2+ ions. It can be found that the substitution effect of Y3+ ions are stronger than Mn2+ ions and the average grain size of all the films is smaller than that of the pure BST film. The dielectric properties of these films are significantly optimized by this improved method, in particular the tunable capability (tunability) is significantly improved with values of larger than 35% in addition to low dielectric loss of less than 1.5% form -10V to 10V at 1MHz. These excellent tunable dielectric properties which can meet the needs in microwave application are ascribed to the improved Y and Mn alternate doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerium (Ce) doped barium strontium titanate (Ce-BST) powder was prepared by sol-gel method, and the effect of Ce doped concentration on growing modes of grains of the Ce-BST powder was studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals that all Ce-BST powders show cubic perovskite structures. It can be found that increasing Ce doped concentration corresponds to decreasing lattice parameter until the doped concentration increases to 3% mol ratio, and then the continuingly increasing doped concentration corresponds to increasing lattice parameter. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) exhibits that all powders are composed of nano-grains, but the growing modes of the grains strongly depend on the doped concentration. When doped concentration is not more than 1% mol ratio, the grains show globular growth; when the doped concentration is not less than 3% mol ratio, the grains show layered growth; when the doped concentration ranges from 1% mol ratio to 3% mol ratio, columnar grains appear in the globular powders. Also, the dielectric properties of the powders are presented and the related mechanisms are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilayer thin films with sandwich structures of BST/ST/BST and ST/BST/ST were designed and prepared by sol-gel method on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates, and their structures and dielectric properties have been studied. Pure BST and ST films were also studied for comparison. X-ray diffraction reveals that all films grow along (110) orientation and show polycrystalline cubic perovskite structures. SEM shows that the BST/ST/BST film exhibits smaller grain size and better uniformity than the pure BST film. BST/ST/BST and ST/BST/ST films almost keep significantly high tunable capabilities of 40-50% at low applied voltage of ±10 V like the pure BST film, but show lower dielectric losses, resulting in higher figure of merit (FOM). Related mechanisms on such dielectric properties are analyzed by resistor-capacitor (RC) equivalent circuit models. Such sandwich structure design is a novel route for BST films to fulfill the tunable microwave application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globus pallidus (GP) is a central component of basal ganglia whose malfunctions cause a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders as well as cognitive impairments in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Here we report that the protocadherin gene Celsr3 is regulated by the insulator CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) and the repressor neuron-restrictive silencer factor (NRSF, also known as REST) and is required for the development and connectivity of GP. Specifically, CTCF/cohesin and NRSF inhibit the expression of Celsr3 through specific binding to its promoter. In addition, we found that the Celsr3 promoter interacts with CTCF/cohesin-occupied neighboring promoters. In Celsr3 knockout mice, we found that the ventral GP is occupied by aberrant calbindin-positive cholinergic neurons ectopic from the nucleus basalis of Meynert. Furthermore, the guidepost cells for thalamocortical axonal development are missing in the caudal GP. Finally, axonal connections of GP with striatum, subthalamic nucleus, substantia nigra, and raphe are compromised. These data reveal the essential role of Celsr3 in GP development in the basal forebrain and shed light on the mechanisms of the axonal defects caused by the Celsr3 deletion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trapa bispinosa Roxb. is an annual aquatic herb with great significance of medicinal, edible and economic value. Here, we reported the complete chloroplast genome sequence of Trapa bispinosa and conducted preliminary investigation of its phylogenetic relationship with other related species. As the result showed, the whole chloroplast genome size was 155,556 bp consisting of four adjoining regions, i.e., a large/small single copy (LSC, 88,506 bp/SSC, 18,274 bp) region and two inverted repeat (IRs, 24,388 bp) regions. Among 112 identified unique genes were 78 protein coding genes, 30 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and four ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Trapa spp. were precisely clustered as a monophyly, and simultaneously, the closest relation between Trapa bispinosa and Trapa natans were strongly supported in the maximum likelihood analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is of great significance both as a fruit tree and an ornamental plant. Hereon, we sequenced and characterized the complete chloroplast genome of Punica granatum 'Nana' and performed phylogenetic analysis concerning related species. It turned out that the length of chloroplast genome sequence reached 158,639 bp and exhibited a four-conjoined structure, i.e., a large single copy region (LSC, 89,022 bp), a small single copy region (SSC, 18,685 bp) and twain inverted repeat regions (IRa and IRb, 25,466 bp). 112 unique genes were identified, consisting of 78 protein-coding genes, four ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and 30 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes. The result of phylogenetic analysis based on Neighbor-joining (NJ) method was consistent with that of Bayesian inference (BI), which strongly supported that Punica granatum 'Nana' was close to its original species Punica granatum and they together had a close relationship with Heimia myrtifolia within Lythraceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]