Search

The contradiction between the migration rate of molecular chains and mechanical strength has always been a key factor affecting the practical application of self‐healing anticorrosion coatings. In this paper, a series of supramolecular self‐healing elastomers (SPU‐MP) were prepared by the reaction of diphenylmethane diisocyanate and polyether amine. The results shown that the proportion of polyetheramine D230 (D230) in molecular segments affects the hydrogen bond density between molecular chains, thereby affecting the self‐healing efficiency and mechanical strength of SPU‐MP. When the ratio of D230 and polyetheramine D400 (D400) is 2:8, the tensile fracture strength of SPU‐MP8 is 5.08 MPa, and the self‐healing efficiency reaches 82.1% after 10 h of repair at room temperature. Further increasing the ratio of D230 increases the relaxation time of the molecular chain due to the increase in hydrogen bond density, resulting in a decrease in the self‐healing efficiency of SPU‐MP. The results of electrochemical experiments and neutral salt spray experiments indicate that the anticorrosion coating prepared by SPU‐MP8 exhibits good self‐healing performance. After immersing in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution for 35 days, the low‐frequency impedance modulus of the intact coating and the scratch coating were both higher than 107 Ω cm2, still shown good anticorrosion ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meat intake, particularly from oily fish, has been associated with various chronic diseases. However, its relationship with acne has always been controversial. Therefore, we have adopted Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal relationship between different types of meat intake and acne. The exposure and outcome datasets for this study were obtained from the Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) Open GWAS project. Seven datasets on meat intake were included, which consisted of non‐oily fish, oily fish, lamb/mutton, poultry, pork, beef, and processed meat. The main methods used for MR analysis were inverse variance weighted, weighted median, and MR‐egger. To ensure the accuracy of the results, heterogeneity, pleiotropy, and Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR‐PRESSO) analyses were conducted. Additionally, an analysis of four risk factors (fasting insulin, insulin resistance, total testosterone level, and estradiol level) was performed to investigate the underlying mechanisms linking statistically significant meat intake to acne. Oily fish intake was found to be a protective factor for acne (OR: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.10–0.49, p <.001), and it was also observed that oily fish intake can reduce the level of fasting insulin by the IVW method (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.81–0.98, p =.02). No causal relationship was identified between other types of meat intake and acne. The intake of oily fish reduces the risk of acne by lowering fasting insulin levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides (HOMHs) offer an ideal platform for the advancement of second‐order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials owing to their inherent noncentrosymmetric structures. The enhancement of optical nonlinearity of chiral HOMHs could be achieved by matching the free exciton and/or self‐trapped exciton energy levels with desired NLO frequencies. However, the current scarcity of resonance modes and low resonance ratio hamper the further improvements of NLO performance. Herein, we propose a new resonant channel of charge transfer (CT) excited states from metal halide polyhedra to organic ligand to boost the second‐order optical nonlinearity of chiral HOMHs. The model lead halide (C7H10N)PbBr3 (C7H10N=1‐ethylpyridinium) exhibits a drastically enhanced second harmonic generation in resonance to the deep CT exciton energy, with intensity of up to 111.0 times that of KDP and 10.9 times that of urea. The effective NLO coefficient has been determined to be as high as ~40.2 pm V−1, balanced with a large polarization ratio and high laser damage threshold. This work highlights the contribution of organic ligands in the construction of a resonant channel for enhancing second‐order NLO coefficients of metal halides, and thus provides guidelines for designing new chiral HOMHs materials for advanced nonlinear photonic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bipolar membranes (BPMs) have emerged as a promising solution for mitigating CO2 losses, salt precipitation and high maintenance costs associated with the commonly used anion‐exchange membrane electrode assembly for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). However, the industrial implementation of BPM‐based zero‐gap electrolyzer is hampered by the poor CO2RR performance, largely attributed to the local acidic environment. Here, we report a backbone engineering strategy to improve the CO2RR performance of molecular catalysts in BPM‐based zero‐gap electrolyzers by covalently grafting cobalt tetraaminophthalocyanine onto a positively charged polyfluorene backbone (PF‐CoTAPc). PF‐CoTAPc shows a high acid tolerance in BPM electrode assembly (BPMEA), achieving a high FE of 82.6 % for CO at 100 mA/cm2 and a high CO2 utilization efficiency of 87.8 %. Notably, the CO2RR selectivity, carbon utilization efficiency and long‐term stability of PF‐CoTAPc in BPMEA outperform reported BPM systems. We attribute the enhancement to the stable cationic shield in the double layer and suppression of proton migration, ultimately inhibiting the undesired hydrogen evolution and improving the CO2RR selectivity. Techno‐economic analysis shows the least energy consumption (957 kJ/mol) for the PF‐CoTAPc catalyst in BPMEA. Our findings provide a viable strategy for designing efficient CO2RR catalysts in acidic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to synthesize results from studies that assessed symptom relief after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment for post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and investigate the long‐term effectiveness of rTMS for treating PTSD. We searched multiple databases for relevant randomized controlled trials of rTMS for PTSD treatment up to 1 January 2023. Two researchers evaluated the studies and focused on the CAPS and PCL as outcome indicators. We used STATA17 SE software for the data analysis. Eight articles involving 309 PTSD patients were analysed in a meta‐analysis, which found that rTMS had a significant and large effect on reducing core post‐traumatic symptoms [Hedges'g = 1.75, 95% CI (1.18, 2.33)]. Both low and high‐frequency rTMS also significantly reduced symptoms, with the latter having a greater effect. rTMS was shown to have a long‐term effect on PTSD, with all three subgroup analyses demonstrating significant results. Interestingly, no significant difference in symptom relief was found between the follow‐up and completion of treatments [Hedges'g = 0.01, 95% CI (−0.30, 0.33)], suggesting that the treatment effect of rTMS is stable. The meta‐analysis provides strong evidence that rTMS is effective in reducing the severity and symptoms of PTSD in patients, and follow‐up studies confirm its long‐term stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the imaging features, lymph node metastasis, and genetic mutations in micropapillary lung adenocarcinoma (imaging with mixed ground‐glass nodules) ≤2 cm, to provide a more precise and refined basis for the selection of lung segment resection. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 162 patients with surgically resected pathologically confirmed cancers ≤2.0 cm in diameter (50 cases of micropapillary mixed ground‐glass nodules [mGGNs], 50 cases of nonmicropapillary mGGNs, and 62 cases of micropapillary SNs [solid nodules]) was performed. mGGNs were classified into five categories according to imaging features. The distribution of these five morphologies in micropapillary with mGGN and nonmicropapillary with mGGN was analyzed. The postoperative pathology and prognosis of lymph node metastasis were also compared between micropapillary mGGNs and micropapillary with SNs. After searching the TCGA database, we demonstrated heterogeneity, high malignancy and high risk of microcapillary lung cancer cancers. Results: Different pathological subtypes of mGGN differed in morphological features (p < 0.05). The rate of lymph node metastasis was significantly higher in micropapillary mGGNs than in nonmicropapillary mGGNs. In the TCGA database samples, lactate transmembrane protein activity, collagen transcription score, and fibroblast EMT score were remarkably higher in micropapillary adenocarcinoma. Other pathological subtypes had a better survival prognosis and longer disease‐free survival compared with micropapillary adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: mGGNs ≤2 cm with a micropapillary pattern have a higher risk of lymph node metastasis compared with SNs, and computed tomography (CT) imaging features can assist in their diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical application of solid‐state lithium‐metal batteries (SSLMBs) based on polymer solid electrolytes has been hampered by their low ion conductivity and lithium‐dendrite‐induced short circuits. This study innovatively introduces 1D ferroelectric ceramic‐based Bi4Ti3O12‐BiOBr heterojunction nanofibers (BIT‐BOB HNFs) into poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) matrix, constructing lithium‐ion conduction highways with "dissociators" and "accelerating regions." BIT‐BOB HNFs, as 1D ceramic fillers, not only can construct long‐range organic/inorganic interfaces as ion transport pathways, but also install "dissociators" and "accelerating regions" for these pathways through the electric dipole layer and built‐in electric field of BIT‐BOB HNFs, promoting the dissociation of lithium salts and the transfer of lithium ions. The working mechanisms of BIT‐BOB HNFs in the polymer matrix are verified by experimental tests and density functional theory calculations. The obtained composite solid electrolytes exhibit excellent lithium‐ion conductivity and migration number (6.67 × 10−4 S cm−1 and 0.54 at 50 °C, respectively). The assembled lithium symmetric battery achieves good cycling stability of over 4500 h. The LiFePO4||Li full battery delivers a high Coulombic efficiency (>99.9%) and discharge capacity retention rate (>87%) after 2200 cycles. In addition, the prepared composite polymer solid electrolyte demonstrates good practical application potential in flexible pouch batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River turbulence is spatially variable due to interactions between morphology of rivers and physical mechanics of flowing water. Understanding the variation of turbulence in rivers is important for characterizing transport processes of soluble and particulate materials in these systems. We present an exploratory effort to understand ecologically relevant flow patterns using measurements of mean flow and turbulence in a highly engineered river channel around an island in the lower Missouri River. Specifically, the profiles of mean river velocities were investigated to examine the logarithmic relation and associated parameters, including shear velocity and bed roughness. Turbulence intensity and Reynolds shear stress were compared with classic open‐channel profiles and previously reported river data in the hydraulics literature. With the capability of pulse‐to‐pulse coherent Doppler velocity profiling in high spatial resolution, we estimated the profiles of turbulence dissipation rate using resolved one‐dimensional velocity spectra. These measurement data allow us to examine the validity of turbulence production‐dissipation balance and the classic open‐channel profiles of turbulence statistics, including turbulence intensity, Reynolds shear stress, dissipation rate, and eddy viscosity. The field data show a strong variation of turbulence profiles in close vicinity of the river island. In shallow water depths close to the island, turbulence is substantially enhanced in comparison with classic open‐channel profiles. Such turbulence enhancement is likely attributed to non‐uniformity of the flow structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nature, plants are exposed to a dynamic light environment. Fluctuations in light decreased the photosynthetic light utilization efficiency (PLUE) of leaves, and much more severely in C4 species than in C3 species. However, little is known about the plasticity of PLUE under dynamic light in C4 species. Present study focused on the influence of planting density to the photosynthesis under dynamic light in maize (Zea mays L.), a most important C4 crop. In addition, the molecular mechanism behind photosynthetic adaptation to planting density were also explored by quantitative proteomics analysis. Results revealed that as planting density increases, maize leaves receive less light that fluctuates more. The maize planted at high density (HD) improved the PLUE under dynamic light, especially in the middle and later growth stages. Quantitative proteomics analysis showed that the transfer of nitrogen from Rubisco to RuBP regeneration and C4 pathway related enzymes contributes to the photosynthetic adaptation to lower and more fluctuating light environment in HD maize. This study provides potential ways to further improve the light energy utilization efficiency of maize in HD. Summary statement: 1.As planting density increases, maize leaves receive less light that fluctuates more.2.The maize grown at high density improved the light utilization efficiency under dynamic light, especially in the middle and later growth stages.3.The transfer of nitrogen from Rubisco to RuBP regeneration and C4 pathway related enzymes contributes to the photosynthetic adaptation to lower and more fluctuating light environment in maize grown at high density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrosation of pyridine alkaloids in tobacco generates tobacco‐specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), which are notable toxicants in tobacco products and smoke. Burley tobacco, a chloroplast‐ and nitrogen (N)‐deficient phenotype that accumulates high levels of nitrate‐nitrogen (NO3‐N) in its leaves, is particularly susceptible to TSNAs formation. In this study, reciprocal pot and field grafting experiments were conducted using burley tobacco Eyan No.1 and flue‐cured tobacco K326 to investigate whether grafting burley tobacco scions on flue‐cured tobacco rootstocks could enhance pigment biosynthesis and photosynthesis, while reducing the NO3‐N level in burley tobacco leaves. Grafting burley tobacco scions on flue‐cured tobacco rootstocks significantly increased the total pigment content, photosynthetic rate, biomass, nitrate reductase and glutamine synthetase activities, as well as ammonium‐nitrogen (NH4‐N), total soluble and reducing sugar, and soluble protein levels in burley tobacco leaves compared with burley tobacco self‐rooting, while decreasing the NO3‐N level and nitrate‐N to total N ratio. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that grafting resulted in upregulated expression of genes involved in starch, sucrose, porphyrin, chlorophyll, and N metabolism, as well as carbon fixation and carotenoid biosynthesis. The findings suggest that grafting on high N use efficiency rootstock is an exceptionally promising means of decreasing NO3‐N accumulation by improving photosynthesis and N metabolism in the scion, thereby reducing the levels of harmful TSNAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In household applications, the power router is a cost‐effective device for AC/DC power conversion. To make it compatible with various types of DC loads without introducing extra power conversion stages, it is important that the power router can work in an extremely wide DC voltage range. However, this poses great challenges for the controller design. To address this concern, a double mode control scheme is proposed. The high frequency resonant DC/DC converter is employed together with a DC/AC converter to form the power router. Its circuit features on voltage gain and active power ratio are presented to guide the accurate controller design. Mode I is designed to ensure the high efficiency DC/DC conversion while the desired output DC voltage of power router is tracked by a DC/AC converter. For mode II, the phase shift scheme is triggered to eliminate the loss induced by the reactive power, and the desired output DC voltage is adjusted by DC/DC converter. Mode I and II cooperate to guarantee the wide DC voltage range to satisfy different load requirements. The experimental validation in a lab‐scale power router prototype shows that the proposed scheme not only provides extremely wide voltage range, but also guarantees high efficiency by effectively tracking the resonant frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection poses a significant threat to global public health and is associated with microcephaly. There are no approved ZIKV‐specific vaccines or drugs for the clinical treatment of the infection. Currently, there are no approved ZIKV‐specific vaccines or drugs for the clinical treatment of the infection. In this study, we investigated the antiviral potential of aloperine, a quinolizidine alkaloid, against ZIKV infection in vivo and in vitro. Our results demonstrate that aloperine effectively inhibits ZIKV infection in vitro, with a low nanomolar half maximal effective concentration (EC50). Specifically, aloperine strongly protected cells from ZIKV multiplication, as indicated by decreased expression of viral proteins and virus titer. Our further investigations using the time‐of‐drug‐addition assay, binding, entry, and replication assays, detection of ZIKV strand‐specific RNA, the cellular thermal shift assay, and molecular docking revealed that aloperine significantly inhibits the replication stage of the ZIKV life cycle by targeting the domain RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP) of ZIKV NS5 protein. Additionally, aloperine reduced viremia in mice and effectively lowered the mortality rate in infected mice. These findings highlight the potency of aloperine and its ability to target ZIKV infection, suggesting its potential as a promising antiviral drug against ZIKV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing a reliable solid‐electrolyte interphase (SEI) is imperative for enabling highly reversible zinc metal (Zn0) electrodes. Contrary to conventional "bulk solvation" mechanism, we found the SEI structure is dominated by electric double layer (EDL) adsorption. We manipulate the EDL adsorption and Zn2+ solvation with ether additives (i.e. 15‐crown‐5, 12‐crown‐4, and triglyme). The 12‐crown‐4 with medium adsorption on EDL leads to a layer‐structured SEI with inner inorganic ZnFx/ZnSx and outer organic C−O−C components. This structure endows SEI with high rigidness and strong toughness enabling the 100 cm2 Zn||Zn pouch cell to exhibit a cumulative capacity of 4250 mAh cm−2 at areal‐capacity of 10 mAh cm−2. More importantly, a 2.3 Ah Zn||Zn0.25V2O5⋅n H2O pouch cell delivers a recorded energy density of 104 Wh Lcell−1 and runs for >70 days under the harsh conditions of low negative/positive electrode ratio (2.2 : 1), lean electrolyte (8 g Ah−1), and high‐areal‐capacity (≈13 mAh cm−2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium‐based hydrogen storage material (MgH2) has attracted much attention due to its high hydrogen storage density (7.6 wt%). However, the high hydrogen dissociation enthalpy and slow hydrogen dissociation rate in bulk Mg hinder its wide application in the efficient hydrogen storage. In the present work, we study the hydrogen adsorption and desorption reactions of MgmHn (m = 1–6) nanoclusters using density functional theory. From the global search for the configurations of MgmHn nanoclusters, we found not only stable saturated MgmHn (n = 2m) nanoclusters, but four hydrogen‐enriched MgmHn (n:m > 2:1) nanoclusters, Mg3H7, Mg4H9, Mg5H11, Mg6H13, with the hydrogen storage density higher than 8.3 wt%. The electronic‐structure calculations indicate that the stability of the hydrogen‐enriched cluster gets relatively higher for larger nanocluster. The ab initio dynamics simulations shows that all hydrogen‐enriched clusters have very fast hydrogen dissociation rates, which is promising for the hydrogen dissociation at ambient temperature and pressure. This work provides valuable insights into the hydrogen storage mechanism of nano‐magnesium materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a neurotropic flavivirus. The outbreak of ZIKV in 2016 created a global health emergency. However, the underlying pathogenic mechanisms remain elusive. We investigated the host response features of in vivo replication in a mouse model of ZIKV infection, by performing a series of transcriptomic and bioinformatic analyses of ZIKV and mock‐infected brain tissue. Tissue damage, inflammatory cells infiltration and high viral replication were observed in the brain tissue of ZIKV infected mice. RNA‐Seq of the brain indicated the activation of ferroptosis pathways. Enrichment analysis of ferroptosis regulators revealed their involvement in pathways such as mineral absorption, fatty acid biosynthesis, fatty acid degradation, PPAR signaling pathway, peroxidase, and adipokinesine signalling pathway. We then identified 12 interacted hub ferroptosis regulators (CYBB, HMOX1, CP, SAT1, TF, SLC39A14, FTL, LPCAT3, FTH1, SLC3A2, TP53, and SLC40A1) that were related to the differential expression of CD8+ T cells, microglia and monocytes. CYBB, HMOX1, SALT, and SLAC40A1 were selected as potential biomarkers of ZIKV infection. Finally, we validated our results using RT‐qPCR and outside available datasets. For the first time, we proposed a possible mechanism of ferroptosis in brain tissue infected by ZIKV in mice and identified the four key ferroptosis regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pathogenic variants in KCNQ4 cause DFNA2 nonsyndromic hearing loss. However, the understanding of genotype–phenotype correlations between KCNQ4 and hearing is limited. Here, we identified a novel KCNQ4 mutation p.G228D from a Chinese family, including heterozygotes characterized by high‐frequency hearing loss that is progressive across all frequencies and homozygotes with more severe hearing loss. We constructed a novel murine model with humanized homologous Kcnq4 mutation. The heterozygotes had mid‐frequency and high‐frequency hearing loss at 4 weeks, and moved toward all frequencies hearing loss at 12 weeks, while the homozygotes had severe‐to‐profound hearing loss at 8 weeks. The degeneration of outer hair cells (OHCs) was observed from basal to apical turn of cochlea. The reduced K+ currents and depolarized resting potentials were revealed in OHCs. Remarkably, we observed the loss of inner hair cells (IHCs) in the region corresponding to the frequency above 32 kHz at 8–12 weeks. The results suggest the degeneration of OHCs and IHCs may contribute to high‐frequency hearing loss in DFNA2 over time. Our findings broaden the variants of KCNQ4 and provide a novel mouse model of progressive hearing loss, which contributes to an understanding of pathogenic mechanism and eventually treatment of DFNA2 progressive hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides (HOMHs) with intrinsic noncentrosymmetry have shown great promise for applications in second‐order nonlinear optics (NLO). However, established chiral HOMHs often suffer from their relatively small band gaps, which lead to negative impacts on transparent window and laser‐induced damage thresholds (LDT). Here, we have synthesized two chiral HOMHs based on CuI halides, namely (R‐/S‐MBA)CuBr2, which feature well‐balanced NLO performances with a highly efficient SHG response, outstanding optical transparency, and high LDT. The effective second‐order NLO coefficient of (R‐MBA)CuBr2 has been determined to be ≈24.7 pm V−1, which is two orders of magnitude higher than that of their CuII counterparts. This work shows the promising potential of CuI‐based chiral HOMHs for nonlinear photonic applications in wide wavelength regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to produce value‐added products has received tremendous research attention in recent years. With research efforts across the globe, remarkable advancement has been achieved, including the improvement of selectivity for the reduction products, the realization of efficient reduction beyond two electrons, and the delivery of industrially relevant current densities. In this review, we introduce the recent development of nanomaterials for CO2RR, including the zero‐dimensional graphene quantum dots, two‐dimensional materials such as metal chalcogenides and metal/covalent organic framework, single‐atom catalysts, and nanostructured metal catalysts. The engineering of materials into three‐dimensional structure will also be discussed. Finally, we will provide a summary of the catalytic performance and perspectives on future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Applied Ecology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Optimization problems widely exist in different real‐world applications. Ant lion optimizer (ALO) is an effective optimization algorithm that simulates the hunting behavior of antlions, but it will easily fall into local optima. To address this issue, this paper proposes a modified version of ALO called spatial ant lion optimizer (SALO). SALO makes full use of spatial informations of solutions to promote its searchability. It utilizes a distance‐based indicator instead of objective fitness to choose ant lions for updating solutions. Besides, it maintains a candidate enhanced archive by a distance‐based updating approach and implements a hybrid‐enhanced strategy in the archive to search for better solutions. Exhaust experiments are carried out through six classic benchmark functions and seven state‐of‐the‐art compared algorithms, and the results validate the superior performance of SALO. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]