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In our work, MnTiO 3 was synthesized using the simple conventional solid-state method. We report in-situ induced Mn-defect within MnTiO 3 layered oxide through charging process. It performs good cycling stability which can obtain 115 mA h/g even at 400 mA g−1 after 450 cycles and the discharge capacity reaches up to 233.8 mAh/g at 100 mA g−1 when Mn-defect MnTiO 3 was employed as the cathode material for AZIBs. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation was used to further research the corresponding Zn2+ intercalation-deintercalation behaviors, it indicated that the presence of Mn defects enhances the conductivity of MnTiO 3. [Display omitted] Layered manganese-based cathode materials are considered as one of the promising cathodes benefit from inherent low manufacturing cost, non-toxic and high safety in aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). However, the sluggish reaction kinetics within layered cathodes is inevitable due to the poor electrical/ionic conductivity. Herein, MnTiO 3 is reported as a new cathode material for AZIBs and in-situ induced Mn-defect within MnTiO 3 during the first charging is desirable to improve the reaction kinetics to a great extent. Additionally, DFT calculations further demonstrate that MnTiO 3 with manganese defects exhibits a uniform charge distribution at the defect sites, enhancing the attraction towards H+ and Zn2+ ions. Furthermore, it performs good cycling stability which can obtain 115 mA h g−1 even at 400 mA g−1 after 450 cycles and the discharge capacity reaches up to 233.8 mAh/g at 100 mA g−1 when Mn-defect MnTiO 3 was employed as the cathode. This research could provide a new method for the development and mechanism research of cathode materials for AZIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The clinical value and molecular characteristics of tumor differentiation in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unclear. There is a lack of a related molecular classification prediction system based on pathological images for precision medicine. Methods: Integration of epidemiology, genomics, experiments, and deep learning to clarify the clinical value and molecular characteristics, and develop a novel OSCC molecular classification prediction system. Results: Large-scale epidemiology data (n = 118,817) demonstrated OSCC differentiation was a significant prognosis indicator (p < 0.001), and well-differentiated OSCC was more chemo-resistant than poorly differentiated OSCC. These results were confirmed in the TCGA database and in vitro. Furthermore, we found chemo-resistant related pathways and cell cycle-related pathways were up-regulated in well- and poorly differentiated OSCC, respectively. Based on the characteristics of OSCC differentiation, a molecular grade of OSCC was obtained and combined with pathological images to establish a novel prediction system through deep learning, named ShuffleNetV2-based Molecular Grade of OSCC (SMGO). Importantly, our independent multi-center cohort of OSCC (n = 340) confirmed the high accuracy of SMGO. Conclusions: OSCC differentiation was a significant indicator of prognosis and chemotherapy selection. Importantly, SMGO could be an indispensable reference for OSCC differentiation and assist the decision-making of chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research on the interference of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) array antennas focuses on the single interference effect and the improvement of interference hardware capability, while the multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) interference model and mechanism remain to be fully studied. Aiming at this problem, this paper analyzes the preconditions for the definition of anti-jamming degrees of freedom and the characteristics of super-DOF interference through formula derivation and simulation. First, by analyzing the influence of the number of interfering signals on the angular resolution, the prerequisite of the definition of anti-interference degrees of freedom in the airspace is proposed. Second, the definition of anti-interference degrees of freedom is used to calculate the change rule of the critical power of the interference under different numbers of interfering signals. Finally, the influence of super-DOF interference on the array antenna is analyzed. The results show that the prerequisite for the anti-interference freedom of the array antenna is that the distribution interval of the interfering signal is greater than 15°, taking a four-array element uniform circular array antenna as an example. The critical interference power of the array antenna decreases by about 15 dB when the number of interfering signals exceeds the degrees of freedom of the array antenna's interference immunity, provided that the interference resolution is satisfied. The conclusions of this paper give the critical power change rule of multi-DOF interference and the effect of super-DOF interference, as well as the prerequisites for the setting of interference signals, which can be used, for example, in the deployment of distributed interference sources and the development of anti-jamming algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospinning is a simple and effective technique for preparing carbon nanofibers. However, carbon nanofiber materials have some drawbacks, such as low specific surface area, small pore size, and low porosity, which can affect the electrochemical performance of supercapacitors. This article proposes a preparation method for a multi-level porous structure for thick electrodes. Sponge-like nanofibers are formed through electrospinning by adding a certain amount of PMMA to the polyacrylonitrile mixed spinning solution after doping with heteroatoms. After reverse hanging pre-oxidation and carbonization, a hierarchical porous, highly conductive, and flexible carbon nanofiber sponge is obtained. After testing, at a current density of 0.25 A g−1, its specific capacitance reached 207 F g−1. As the power density increased from 250 W kg−1 to 3997.89 W kg−1, the energy density changed from 28.73 W h kg−1 to 8.44 W h kg−1, demonstrating that the porous active carbon nanofiber sponge electrode has a significant energy storage advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate assessment of the clinical staging is crucial for determining the need for radical prostatectomy (RP) in prostate cancer (PCa). However, the current methods for PCa staging may yield incorrect results. This study aimed to comprehensively analyze independent predictors of postoperative upstaging of intraprostatic cancer. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from intraprostatic cancer patients who underwent radical surgery between March 2019 and December 2022. Intraprostatic cancer was defined as a lesion confined to the prostate, excluding cases where multiparameter magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) showed the lesion in contact with the prostatic capsule. We assessed independent predictors of extraprostatic extension (EPE) and analyzed their association with positive surgical margin (PSM) status. In addition, based on the distance of the lesion from the capsule on mpMRI, we divided the patients into non‐transition zone and transition zone groups for further analysis. Results: A total of 500 patients were included in our study. Logistic regression analysis revealed that biopsy Gleason grade group (GG) (odds ratio, OR: 1.370, 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.093–1.718) and perineural invasion (PNI) (OR: 2.746, 95% CI: 1.420–5.309) were predictive factors for postoperative EPE. Both biopsy GG and PNI were associated with lateral (GG: OR: 1.270, 95% CI: 1.074–1.501; PNI: OR: 2.733, 95% CI: 1.521–4.911) and basal (GG: OR: 1.491, 95% CI: 1.194–1.862; PNI: OR: 3.730, 95% CI: 1.929–7.214) PSM but not with apex PSM (GG: OR: 1.176, 95% CI: 0.989–1.399; PNI: OR: 1.204, 95% CI: 0.609–2.381) after RP. Finally, PNI was an independent predictor of EPE in the transition zone (OR: 11.235, 95% CI: 2.779–45.428) but not in the non‐transition zone (OR: 1.942, 95% CI: 0.920–4.098). Conclusion: PNI and higher GG may indicate upstaging of tumors in patients with intraprostatic carcinoma. These two factors are associated with PSM in locations other than the apex of the prostate. Importantly, cancer in the transition zone of the prostate is more likely to spread externally through nerve invasion than cancer in the non‐transition zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Threats of cyberattacks have penetrated from disclosing critical user information to destroying/manipulating industrial control systems. Study on data security during network transmission has raised increasing attention in the systems and control community, which is found very necessary and timely in the context of Industry 4.0. In most existing approaches, the protection of the transmitted data from eavesdropping attacks and the detection of malicious integrity attacks are usually carried out separately. In this study, an integrated data-driven framework applicable at the control level is proposed to deal with secure transmission and attack detection simultaneously. In the framework, a secure correlation-based encryption/decryption approach and a trustworthiness judgement approach are proposed. Comprehensive discussions are made regarding the analysis of the sensitivity to attacks, the introduced time delay, and the design degree-of-free. Executable algorithms are presented, corresponding to which hardware is modularized and can work standalone independent from the configuration of the monitoring and control systems or any third-party authentication agencies. Evaluation results on a simulated two-area frequency-load control power grid system are provided to show the effectiveness and performance of the proposed approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In China, the quantity of physical activity differs from that in Western countries. Substantial uncertainty remains about the relevance of physical activity for cancer subtypes among Chinese adults. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between total daily physical activity and the incidence of common types of cancer. Methods: A total of 53,269 participants aged 30–79 years were derived from the Wuzhong subcohort of the China Kadoorie Biobank study during 2004–2008. We included 52,938 cancer-free participants in the final analysis. Incident cancers were identified through linkage with the health insurance system and death registries. Cox proportional hazard models were introduced to assess the associations of total daily physical activity with the incidence of 6 common types of cancer. Results: During a follow-up of 10.1 years, 3,674 cases of cancer were identified, including 794 (21.6%) from stomach cancer, 722 (19.7%) from lung cancer, 458 (12.5%) from colorectal cancer, 338 (9.2%) from liver cancer, 250 (6.8%) from breast cancer, and 231 (6.3%) from oesophageal cancer. Compared to the participants in the lowest quartile of physical activity levels, those in the highest quartile had an 11% lower risk for total cancer incidence (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.81–0.99), 25% lower risk for lung cancer incidence (HR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.60–0.94), and 26% lower risk for colorectal cancer incidence (HR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.55–1.00). There were significant interactions of physical activity with sex and smoking on total cancer (both P for interaction < 0.005), showing a lower risk for females and never smokers (HR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.87–0.98 and HR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.87–0.98, respectively). Conclusions: Higher physical activity levels are associated with a reduced risk of total, lung, and colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is currently the most frequent cancer in Jiangsu Province, China, and the features of cancer distribution have changed continuously in the last decade. The aim of this study was to analyse the trend of the incidence of lung cancer in Jiangsu from 2009 to 2018 and predict the incidence from 2019 to 2030.Methods: Data on lung cancer incidence in Jiangsu from 2009 to 2018 were retrieved from the Jiangsu Cancer Registry. The average annual percentage change (AAPC) was used to quantify the trend of the lung cancer age-standardized rate (ASR) using Joinpoint software. Bayesian age-period-cohort models were used to predict lung cancer incidence up to 2030.Results: In Jiangsu, the lung cancer crude rate increased from 45.73 per 100,000 in 2009 to 69.93 per 100,000 in 2018. The lung cancer ASR increased from 29.03 per 100,000 to 34.22 per 100,000 during the same period (AAPC = 2.17%, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.54%, 2.80%). Between 2019 and 2030, the lung cancer ASR is predicted to decrease slightly to 32.14 per 100,000 (95% highest density interval [HDI], 24.99, 40.22). Meanwhile, the ASR showed a downward trend in males and rural regions while remaining stable in females and urban regions.Conclusion: We predict that the incidence of lung cancer in Jiangsu will decrease in the next 12 years, mainly due to the decrease in males and rural areas. Therefore, future lung cancer prevention and control efforts should be focused on females and urban regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is by far the deadliest type of cancer. Inflammation is one of the important risk factors in tumor development. However, it is not yet clear whether deterioration in pancreatic cancer patients is related to inflammation, as well as the underlying mechanism. In addition, JNK is abnormally activated in pancreatic cancer cells and the JNK inhibitor C66 reduces the inflammatory microenvironment in the tumor. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the role of C66 in the proliferation and migration of pancreatic cancer. Our results showed that various inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-15, were more expressed in pancreatic cancer than in the matching normal tissue. Furthermore, C66, a curcumin analogue with good anti-inflammatory activity, inhibited the proliferation and migration of pancreatic cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner, and effectively inhibited the expression of the above inflammatory factors. Our previous research demonstrated that C66 prevents the inflammatory response by targeting JNK. Therefore, in this study, JNK activity in pancreatic cancer cells was investigated, revealing that JNK was highly activated, and the treatment with C66 inhibited the phosphorylation of JNK. Next, shJNK was used to knockdown JNK expression in pancreatic cancer cells to further confirm the role of JNK in the proliferation and migration of this tumor, as well as in the inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME). The results demonstrated that JNK knockdown could significantly inhibit the proliferation and migration of pancreatic cancer. Moreover, the low JNK expression in pancreatic cancer cells significantly inhibited the expression of various inflammatory factors. These results indicated that C66 inhibited the progression of pancreatic cancer through the inhibition of JNK-mediated inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Numerical results for liquid metal Magnetohydrodynamics duct flows in a fringing magnetic field. • Analysis of recirculation flow in blanket access duct. • Construction of a pressure drop correlation. • Characterization of the effect of Hartmann number, Reynolds number and magnetic field gradient on flow characteristics. In liquid metal (LM) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows in the access ducts of a breeding blanket of a fusion power reactor, the spatially varying fringing magnetic field can be responsible for high MHD pressure drop, which is one of the blanket feasibility issues. In this study, the velocity field and the pressure drop of the LM MHD flow in a square non-conducting duct have been characterized via numerical computations with COMSOL Multiphysics for the case of a non-uniform magnetic field that decreases in the flow direction. In the computations, four configurations of the fringing magnetic field varying in magnetic field gradient and a wide range of Hartmann (1000< Ha <10,000) and Reynolds (1000< Re <10,000) numbers have been employed. A total of 80 cases were computed providing a database for construction of a pressure drop correlation. The obtained correlation relates the pressure drop coefficient k to Ha, Re and the magnetic field gradient with a high accuracy with the coefficient of determination R -squared of 0.9967. Detailed analysis has been performed on the effect of the flow parameters and the magnetic field gradient on the recirculation flow bubble, which was found to form in the flow in most of the computed cases due to strong 3D MHD effects caused by the magnetic field gradient. Strong inertia effects have been found at higher Re and lower Ha numbers by comparing computed results between full and inertialess flow models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Three-dimension (3D) porous carbon-sheet microspheres (PCSMs) are prepared through coating coal tar pitch on basic zinc carbonate microspheres followed by in situ ZnO template carbonization and KOH activation. The as-prepared PCSMs show microsphere morphology composed of petal-like carbon nanosheets, which have large specific area (1359.88–2059.43 m2 g−1) and multiscale pores (mainly micropores and mesopores). As the supercapacitor electrodes, the 3D PCSMs present a good electrochemical performance with a large specific capacitance of 313 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and high rate capability of 81.9% capacitance retention when increasing the current density up to 50 A g−1 in a three-electrode system. In addition, the energy density can reach up to 18.79 Wh kg−1 at a high power density of 878.4 W kg−1 for PCSMs-0.2a symmetrical supercapcitor in 1 M Na 2 SO 4 electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral isotretinoin is the first‐line treatment of severe nodular acne. However, patients presenting ineffective or poor effective to oral isotretinoin are still a clinical problem, and its molecular genetic mechanisms remain unclear. Aims: To compare the transcriptome profiles of isotretinoin‐effective and isotretinoin‐ineffective severe acne vulgaris patients and analyze the potential physiological roles to better understand the mechanisms of isotretinoin efficacy differences. Patients/Methods: Peripheral blood of 43 patients with severe acne was collected before treatment. After 8‐week isotretinoin, patients presented effective and ineffective to isotretinoin treatment were selected and their pretreatment peripheral blood was analyzed. High‐throughput sequencing was used to detect gene expression profiles. Gene Ontology and KEGG were used to perform functional annotation and pathway enrichment analysis. Results: Ten acne patients (3 male and 7 female, age 31 ± 9.2) presented effectiveness by oral isotretinoin and 10 acne patients (4 male and 6 female, age 28 ± 7.7) presented ineffectiveness were included. Comparison of gene profiles of isotretinoin‐effective and isotretinoin‐ineffective patients revealed 2779 differentially expressed genes: 2723 upregulated and 56 downregulated. Differentially expressed genes were enriched in RNA degradation pathway, autophagy pathway, protein ubiquitination pathway, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum pathway, T‐cell receptor signaling pathway, spliceosome pathway, mRNA surveillance pathway, cell cycle pathway, long‐term potentiation pathway, and FoxO signaling pathway. Conclusion: Transcriptome expression differences not only participated in the acne pathogenesis, but also influenced the isotretinoin therapeutic effects. These findings might provide some evidence for exploring individualized therapy for acne patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical activation of biomass with H 2 O or CO 2 is an important method for producing activated carbon (AC). Activation of biomass with CO 2 or H 2 O follows varied mechanisms and the use of mixed CO 2 /H 2 O might show potential synergistic effects for creating pores. This was investigated by activation of lignin-derived biochar with H 2 O, CO 2 and their mixture. The results demonstrated that H 2 O as an activator was much more effective than CO 2 for generation of pores (804.1 m2g−1 versus 516.1 m2g−1in CO 2), especially mesopores (40% versus 14% in CO 2). This was achieved via enhancing cracking/gasification reactions of the biochar with H 2 O. The synergistic effect of CO 2 and H 2 O for activation of the lignin-derived biochar was insignificant as cracking/gasification reactions were not enhanced, leading to remarkably lower specific surface area of the AC (674.8 m2g−1) than that with H 2 O as an activator alone. Competitive adsorption of CO 2 and H 2 O existed and preferable adsorption of CO 2 hindered deoxygenation of the biochar with H 2 O. The in-situ IR characterization indicated that CO 2 presence suppressed decarbonylation reactions, retaining more oxygen species in form of C O, while it was the opposite in H 2 O. Additionally, activation with H 2 O formed numerous round-shape dents on surface of activated carbon, while the activation with CO 2 formed the characteristic round edges. The AC activated with H 2 O showed superior capability for adsorption of phenol than that activated with CO 2 or mixed H 2 O/CO 2. [Display omitted] • H 2 O is more effective than CO 2 for cracking, forming less activated carbon (AC). • Synergistic effect of CO 2 /H 2 O is insignificant as creating pores are not enhanced via cracking. • Competitive while preferable adsorption of CO 2 hinders activation with H 2 O. • CO 2 is not as active as H 2 O for cracking of C O in intermediates and for creating pores. • AC activated with H 2 O is superior for adsorbing phenol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Qualification of the MHD flow in the inlet manifold of the liquid metal blanket. • Pressure drop correlation for 3D MHD pressure drop in the manifold. • Characterization of flow parameters on recirculation and flow development length. • Analysis of the force balance in the MHD manifold flow. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows in a manifold of a liquid metal blanket can significantly contribute to the blanket pressure drop, which is a feasibility issue for almost all liquid metal blanket concepts. Here, optimization studies for a prototypic inlet manifold that feature flow expansion are performed for three expansion angles, θ = 45°, 60° and 75°, expansion ratio of 4, and a wide range of Hartmann (H a) and Reynolds () numbers: 1000 < Ha < 10 , 000 , and 50 < Re < 10 , 000 aiming at the MHD pressure drop reduction and a more uniform flow distribution at the exit of the manifold. The 150 flow cases computed with COMSOL Multiphysics in 3D provide an extended database for the pressure drop coefficient, which was used to construct a correlation for the 3D MHD pressure drop. In addition, many data analyzes were performed to characterize the flow inside the manifold and access the most important flow characteristics, such as the recirculation flow bubble that appears when the liquid metal enters the expansion region and the flow development length as a function of H a , R e and θ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pyrolysis of biomass typically involves intensive dehydration, cracking, secondary condensation, etc. It is known that these reactions could be accelerated or suppressed with externally added acidic/basic sites presenting on surface of a biomass feedstock, which is expected to impact evolution of pyrolytic products and pyrolysis kinetics. This was investigated herein by pyrolysis of the poplar sawdust loaded with H 2 SO 4 or NaOH at 600 °C. The results indicated that H 2 SO 4 presence enhanced charring of the volatiles including sugars, sugar-derivatives and some lignin-derivatives via dehydration, polymerization, etc. This enhanced biochar production while diminished bio-oil formation and abundance of most of the organics in bio-oil including carboxylic acids, heavy tar (i.e. π-conjugated aromatics), etc. Nevertheless, H 2 SO 4 did not lead to substantial removal of hydrogen and oxygen in the biochar, but increased the activation energy (Ea) of the pyrolysis from 162.6 kJ/mol in pyrolysis of unloaded sawdust to 194.7 kJ/mol. In converse, NaOH promoted cracking/gasification of biochar and the volatiles including heavy tar, forming dominantly gases. NaOH presence also made structures of the semi-char (biochar precursor) more fragmented, reducing the Ea for pyrolysis to 135.7 kJ/mol. The in-situ IR characterization of the pyrolysis process showed that H 2 SO 4 promoted removal of -OH via dehydration or transformation to C O and the further condensation of C O, but not dehydrogenation of -C-H. NaOH promoted mainly deoxygenation and cracking of the sugary structures but not dehydration of -OH to carbonyls. [Display omitted] • H 2 SO 4 enhances charring to form more biochar, while NaOH promotes cracking to gas. • Both H 2 SO 4 and NaOH diminish tar formation via condensation to solids or cracking. • Charring-H 2 SO 4 reserves H and O in biochar, while cracking-NaOH enhances aromatization. • Activation energy in pyrolysis is enhanced with H 2 SO 4 , while decreased with NaOH. • DRIFTS shows H 2 SO 4 does not promote dehydrogenation, while NaOH suppresses dehydration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO 2 and H 2 O are two important activators in production of activated carbon (AC) via physical activation method. They could oxidize the carbonaceous species in biochar or biomass via varied mechanisms and might also impact environments as well as the pore structures and evolution of functionalities of AC in different ways. In this study, the activations of the biochar from pyrolysis of cellulose with H 2 O, CO 2 or mixed H 2 O/CO 2 were performed. The results demonstrated that H 2 O as an activator led to higher weight loss than that of CO 2 during the activation, originating from its higher efficiency for oxidation of the aliphatic structures in biochar to –OH and their further removal via deoxygenation or dehydration. Activation with CO 2 made the AC more oxygen-rich, due to the retainment of abundant oxygen-containing functionalities, which suppressed further oxidation of carbon species and led to formation of main micropores. The higher capability of H 2 O for deoxygenation made the AC more carbon-rich with much more developed pore structures as well as higher proportion of mesopores and thus the superior capability for adsorption of phenol. In addition, during the activation in either CO 2 or H 2 O, the unsaturated aldehyde/ketone and C-O-C structures was thermally more stable than lactones, saturated aliphatic acids and aliphatic aldehydes. The life cycle analysis (LCA) suggested that CO 2 activation showed lower impact on environment by reducing emissions and consumption of fossil fuel. [Display omitted] • Carbon yield is lower in activation of biochar from cellulose in H 2 O than in CO 2. • CO 2 makes activated carbon (AC) O-rich, due to lower capability for deoxygenation. • AC obtained with H 2 O has more developed pore structure of mesopores than with CO 2. • C C–C O and C–O–C on AC are more stable than saturated lactones/acids/aldehydes. • LCA indicates that CO 2 activation shows lower impact on environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resorcinol-melamine-formaldehyde (RMF) resin as a promising carbon precursor has aroused wide public concern due to its low cost, high nitrogen content, and ease of industrial production. In this work, the tank-like resorcinol–melamine-formaldehyde (RMF) resin spheres are synthesized via the hydrothermal method with the F127 assisting, and tank-like porous carbon spheres (TPCSs) are further prepared by pre‑carbonization and KOH treatment. The F127 is crucial in the formation of tank-like resin spheres and the influence of KOH dosage and activation temperature on morphology, particle size and structure-activity relationships for resin-based carbon spheres are explored in detail. The particle size of RMF resin and TPCSs-X-Y mainly locate at 1.75–2.75 μm and 1–1.8 μm, respectively. TPCSs-2-600 possesses a specific surface area of 1338 m2 g−1 and a high N content of 11.49 %. The specific surface area of resin-based carbon materials initially increases and then decreases with increasing KOH activator, which affects the specific capacitance in a similar trend. The rate performance of resin-based porous carbon materials gets better with increasing KOH dosage due to enhanced ion transport ability resulting from pore size getting larger. Increasing activation temperature enhances the specific surface area and pore size of the carbon electrode, but the specific capacitance reduces gradually in three-electrode system. The cycle stability of TPCSs-2-600 can be 87.8 % after 10,000 times charge-discharge cycles at 10 A g−1 in two-electrode system, and the symmetric supercapacitor assembled with TPCSs-2-700 electrode shows a good energy density of 6.68 Wh kg−1 with a power density of 484 W kg−1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. [Display omitted] • Tank-like resin spheres were successfully prepared via hydrothermal method. • The F127 played a key role on morphology of tank-like resin. • Tank-like porous carbon spheres with N and O co-doping were obtained by KOH activation • TPCSs-2-600 possessed an outstanding specific capacitance of 328 F g−1 at 1 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behçet's disease (BD) behaves similarly to Crohn's disease (CD) when the bowel is involved. Computed tomography enterography (CTE) can accurately show intestinal involvement and obtain body composition data. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether CTE could improve the ability to distinguish between intestinal BD and CD. This study evaluated clinical, laboratory, endoscopic, and CTE features on first admission. Body composition analysis was based on the CTE arterial phase. The middle layers of the L1–L5 vertebral body were selected. The indicators assessed included: the area ratio of visceral adipose tissue (VAT)/subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) (VSR) in each layer, the total volume ratio of VAT/SAT, the quartile of VAT attenuation in each layer and the coefficient of variation (CV) of the VAT area for each patient was also calculated. Two models were developed based on the above indicators: one was a traditional model (age, gender, ulcer distribution) and the other was a comprehensive model (age, gender, ulcer distribution, proximal ileum involvement, asymmetrical thickening of bowel wall, intestinal stenosis, VSRL4, and CV). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the traditional (sensitivity: 80.0%, specificity: 81.0%) and comprehensive (sensitivity: 95.0%, specificity: 87.2%) models were 0.862 and 0.941, respectively (p = 0.005). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving raffinate oil-water separation efficiency and simplifying the production process of coalescing material are both in great demand but remain difficult. In this study, a superhydrophobic stainless steel surface was created using a simple one-step electrodeposition process in an electrolyte solution comprising nickel chloride (NiCl 2 ·6H 2 O), stearic acid, and ethanol. The surface shape, chemical content, and superhydrophobic property were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and contact angle measurement. The cotton-like microstructure, comprised of crystals of Ni metal and Ni(CH 3 (CH 2) 16 COO) 2 , demonstrated outstanding acid and alkaline resistance with a maximum surface contact angle of 166.8°. The oil-water separation performance of raffinate was tested in a mixer-settler, and the separation efficiency ranged from 75% to 80% in a P507 + Kerosene/water system, based on Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) indicating its potential applicability in the solvent extraction process. A high-speed camera was also used to observe the coalescing behavior of oil droplets in water. [Display omitted] • The maximum contact angle of superhydrophobic SS surface reached 166.8°. • The water contact angles exceed 150° respecting to the pH level from 1 to 13. • The phase separation efficiency could reach almost 80% when the raffinate flows through a 12-layers coalescer. • The coalescing process of an oil droplet on the electroplated fiber was captured every 0.0033 s by a high-speed camera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most common diabetic complications, diabetic retinopathy (DR) can cause retinal damage, vision loss and even blindness. Automated DR grading technology has important clinical significance, which can help ophthalmologists achieve rapid and early diagnosis. With the popularity of deep learning, DR grading based on the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) has become the mainstream method. Unfortunately, although the CNN-based method can achieve satisfactory diagnostic accuracy, it lacks significant clinical information. In this paper, a lesion-attention pyramid network (LAPN) is presented. The pyramid network integrates the subnetworks with different resolutions to get multi-scale features. In order to take the lesion regions in the high-resolution image as the diagnostic evidence, the low-resolution network calculates the lesion activation map (using the weakly-supervised localization method) and guides the high-resolution network to concentrate on the lesion regions. Furthermore, a lesion attention module (LAM) is designed to capture the complementary relationship between the high-resolution features and the low-resolution features, and to fuse the lesion activation map. Experiment results show that the proposed scheme outperforms other existing approaches, and the proposed method can provide lesion activation map with lesion consistency as an additional evidence for clinical diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A convenient strategy is proposed to fabricate chiral nematic composite films by intercalating cationic poly(ethylene imine) into the swollen matrix of self-assembled cellulose nanocrystal films. The composite films exhibit an extremely high folding endurance. Moreover, the composition also leads to a fluorescence enhancement effect, endowing the films with circularly polarized luminescence and optical responsiveness. [Display omitted] • Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) CNC composite films are fabricated by matrix swelling and in-situ insertion method. • The composite CNC films exhibit extremely high folding endurance and solvent resistance. • The CPL handedness and dissymmetry factors of the composite films can be controlled. • Application in anti-counterfeiting patterns is demonstrated. Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)-based materials have gained increasing attention because of their great potential applications in optical devices, anticounterfeiting and structural coatings. However, due to the inherent brittleness of CNC, fabricating highly strong and solvent-resistant CNC derived materials is still an important and challenging task. Here, a straightforward, matrix swelling and in-situ insertion method is developed to fabricate chiral nematic composite films by intercalating poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) into the as-prepared swollen matrix of CNC films. The resulting composite CNC films exhibit a great increase in ultimate strain and toughness and especially have an extremely high folding endurance. Notably, the intercalation of PEI into CNC films also leads to a fluorescence enhancement effect, which endows the films circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) properties. The CPL handedness and dissymmetry factors (glum) of the composite films can be controlled. Furthermore, the CNC composite films display optical responsiveness (structure color, fluorescence intensity) to various stimuli, including ethanol and formaldehyde environments. We expect the current in-situ intercalation technique to be promising in manufacturing foldable encryption materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutathione S-transferase pi (GSTP1), a phase II detoxification enzyme, is known to be overexpressed and mediates chemotherapeutic resistance in lung cancer. However, whether GSTP1 supports cancer stem cells (CSCs) and the underlying mechanisms in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain largely unknown. This study unveiled that GSTP1 is upregulated in lung CSCs and supports tumor self-renewal, metastasis, and resistance to targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors of LUAD both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, CaMK2A (calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase 2 isoform A)/NRF2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2)/GSTP1 is uncovered as a regulatory axis under hypoxia. CaMK2A increased GSTP1 expression through phosphorylating the Sersine558 residue of NRF2 and promoting its nuclear translocation, a novel mechanism for NRF2 activation apart from conventional oxidization-dependent activation. Upregulation ofGSTP1 in turn suppressed reactive oxygen species levels and supported CSC phenotypes. Clinically, GSTP1 analyzed by immunohistochemistry is upregulated in a proportion of LUAD and serves as a prognostic marker for survival. Using patient-derived organoids from an ALK-translocated LUAD, the therapeutic potential of a specific GSTP1 inhibitor ezatiostat in combination treatment with the ALK inhibitor crizotinib is demonstrated. This study demonstrates GSTP1 to be a promising therapeutic target for long-term control of LUAD through targeting CSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stuttering is characterized by dysfluency and difficulty in speech production. Previous research has found abnormalities in the neural function of various brain areas during speech production tasks. However, the cognitive neural mechanism of stuttering has still not been fully determined. Method: Activation likelihood estimation analysis was performed to provide neural imaging evidence on neural bases by reanalyzing published studies. Results: Our analysis revealed overactivation in the bilateral posterior superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, and deactivation in the anterior superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus among the stutterers. The overactivated regions might indicate a greater demand in feedforward planning in speech production, while the deactivated regions might indicate dysfunction in the auditory feedback system among stutterers. Conclusions: Our findings provide updated and direct evidence on the multi-level impairment (feedforward and feedback systems) of stutterers during speech production and show that the corresponding neural bases were differentiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor‐initiating cells (TICs) resilience and an immunosuppressive microenvironment are aggressive oncogenic phenotypes that contribute to unsatisfactory long‐term outcomes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients. The molecular mechanisms mediating the interaction between TICs and immune tolerance have not been elucidated. The role of Galectin‐9 in oncogenesis and immunosuppressive microenvironment is still unknown. This study explored the potential role of galectin‐9 in TIC regulation and immune modulation in LUAD. The results show that galectin‐9 supports TIC properties in LUAD. Co‐culture of patient‐derived organoids and matched peripheral blood mononuclear cells showed that tumor‐secreted galectin‐9 suppressed T cell cytotoxicity and induced regulatory T cells (Tregs). Clinically, galectin‐9 is upregulated in human LUAD. High expression of galectin‐9 predicted poor recurrence‐free survival and correlated with high levels of Treg infiltration. LGALS9, the gene encoding galectin‐9, is found to be transcriptionally regulated by the nuclear factor of activated T cells 2 (NFATc2), a previously reported TIC regulator, via in silico prediction and luciferase reporter assays. Overall, the results suggest that the NFATc2/galectin‐9 axis plays a dual role in TIC regulation and immune suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intravascular polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (IV-PSOCT) provides depth-resolved tissue birefringence which can be used to evaluate the mechanical stability of a plaque. In our previous study, we reported a new strategy to construct polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography in a microscope platform. Here, we demonstrated that this technology can be implemented in an endoscope platform, which has many clinical applications. A conventional intravascular OCT system can be modified for IV-PSOCT by introducing a 12-m polarization-maintaining fiber-based imaging probe. Its two polarization modes separately produce OCT images of polarization detection channels spatially distinguished by an image separation of 2.7 mm. We experimentally validated our IV-PSOCT with chicken tendon, chicken breast, and coronary artery as the image samples. We found that the birefringent properties can be successfully visualized by our IV-PSOCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a process for enhancing energy content of biomass through deoxygenation reactions, effectiveness of which depends on composition of biomass. Thermal pretreatment could induce structural change of biomass and thus affects the chemical inertness/reactivity in HTC. This was investigated herein by HTC of the pine needles, thermally treated at 250 or 350 °C with/without presence of 11.5% O 2 , at 250 °C for 10 h. The results showed that pretreatment at 250 °C could increase overall yield of hydrochar in subsequent HTC, due to the enhanced aromatization and the resistance towards fragmentation in HTC. Nonetheless, the HTC worked on biochar formed at 250 °C, facilitating deoxygenation to remarkably decrease O/C ratio. In comparison, the pretreatment at 350 °C removed substantial amount of volatile fractions, significantly increasing chemical inertness of resulting char-350 during the followed HTC. Oxygen presence induced oxidation reactions in pretreatment, forming more bio-oil/gases and making resulting hydrochar more hydrophilic. Especially, oxidation at 250 °C formed more aliphatic structures that could be easier removed during followed HTC, enhancing thermal stability of resulting hydrochar. Although a portion of cellulose retained in the biochar obtained from pretreatment at 250 °C, the elimination of aliphatics suppressed formation of spheric structures of hydrochar, while retained original fibrous structures from pine needles. [Display omitted] • Pine needle pretreated at 250°C is more inert in HTC, generating more hydrochar. • HTC barely works the sample pretreated at 350°C, due to removing most of volatiles. • Pretreatment at 250°C retains cellulose crystals, which are removed at 350°C. • O2-pretreatment makes hydrochar thermally more stable via removing more aliphatics. • Pretreatment at even 250°C suppresses formation of hydrochar of spheric structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Establishment of sister chromatid cohesion N-acetyltransferase 2 (ESCO2) is involved in the mitotic S-phase adhesins acetylation and is responsible for bridging two sister chromatids. However, present ESCO2 cancer research is limited to a few cancers. No systematic pan-cancer analysis has been conducted to investigate its role in diagnosis, prognosis, and effector function. Methods: We thoroughly examined the ESCO2 carcinogenesis in pan-cancer by combining public databases such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx), UALCAN and Tumor Immune Single-cell Hub (TISCH). The analysis includes differential expression analysis, survival analysis, cellular effector function, gene mutation, single cell analysis, and tumor immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, we confirmed ESCO2's impacts on clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) cells' proliferative and invasive capacities in vitro. Results: In our study, 30 of 33 cancer types exhibited considerably greater levels of ESCO2 expression in tumor tissue using TCGA and GTEx databases, whereas acute myeloid leukemia (LAML) exhibited significantly lower levels. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), kidney chromophobe (KICH), kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), brain lower grade glioma (LGG), liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC), lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), mesothelioma (MESO), and pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) demonstrated that tumor patients with high ESCO2 expression have short survival periods. However, in thymoma (THYM), colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) and rectum adenocarcinoma (READ), ESCO2 was a favorable prognostic factor. Moreover, ESCO2 expression positively correlates with tumor stage and tumor size in several cancers, including LIHC, KIRC, KIRP and LUAD. Function analysis revealed that ESCO2 participates in mitosis, cell cycle, DNA damage repair, and other processes. CDK1 was identified as a downstream gene regulated by ESCO2. Furthermore, ESCO2 might also be implicated in immune cell infiltration. Finally, ESCO2'S knockdown significantly inhibited the A498 and T24 cells' proliferation, invasion, and migration. Conclusions: In conclusion, ESCO2 is a possible pan-cancer biomarker and oncogene that can reliably predict the prognosis of cancer patients. ESCO2 was also implicated in the cell cycle and proliferation regulation. In a nutshell, ESCO2 is a therapeutically viable and dependable target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For fast-rotating asteroids, observed light curves could be very different from real light curves due to long exposure time. We present an improved observed light-curve model that accounts for long exposure time often encountered in observations of fast-rotating asteroids. By integrating brightness over time, we derive a more accurate observed light-curve model, allowing for better shape and spin state inversion results. Our analysis demonstrates that the fast-rotating model is more suitable for spin state inversion with longer exposure time, while the Kaasalainen model suffices for shorter exposure time. For spin state and shape inversion, exposure times of approximately 0.4 P and 0.2 P represent critical thresholds, respectively, beyond which the fast-rotating model exhibits superior performance. Notably, scattering parameters have minimal impact on the shape inversion results. These findings contribute valuable insights to the determination of shape and spin states for fast-rotating asteroids, shedding light on the challenges posed by long exposure time in such investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Pre-oxidation enhances specific surface area by 54.6% in CO 2 activation and 30.0% in H 2 O activation. • O 2 breaks rigid structure of biochar, forming activated carbon of microporous with larger diameters. • O 2 promotes conversion of olefinic C = C to aromatic C = C in activation, accelerating aromatization. • Promoting pores formation of O 2 is confirmed in activation of cellulose, pine needle and spirulina. Carbonization plus activation of resulting biochar is a commonly used method for producing activated carbon (AC) from biomass. Nevertheless, carbonization produces biochar of highly aromatic nature, increasing difficulty for creating pores via activation. Herein, O 2 (7.7%) was introduced to pre-oxidize lotus root and other biomasses-derived biochar before being activated with CO 2 or H 2 O for tackling chemical inertness of biochar at 800 °C. The results indicated that O 2 could enhance mass yield of AC (by 16.5% in CO 2 activation and 50.6% in a H 2 O activation) and bio-oil. Moreover, O 2 oxidized organics on AC, forming oxygen-containing aliphatic structures. Such a transformation enhanced reactivity of biochar with CO 2 or H 2 O, facilitating generation of pores. The AC from activation with O 2 -CO 2 was significantly higher than that from CO 2 alone (533.7 m2 g−1 of AC from O 2 -CO 2 activation versus 345.2 m2 g−1 of AC from CO 2 activation). O 2 also could remarkably increase the specific surface area of AC activated with H 2 O by 30.0%. Such an enhancement in pore structures was confirmed in activation of cellulose, pine needle and spirulina with O 2 presence. The pre-oxidation activated biochar destroyed partially rigid structure, facilitating gasification with CO 2 /H 2 O, forming dominantly micropores with enlarged diameters. The characterization with in-situ IR indicated that O 2 could enhance aromatization via aiding formation of aromatic C = C from olefinic C = C, producing AC of more regular alignments of carbon crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study is to develop a novel automatic convolutional neural network (CNN) that aids in the diagnosis of meniscus injury, while enabling the visualization of lesion characteristics. This will improve the accuracy and reduce diagnosis times. Methods: We presented a cascaded-progressive convolutional neural network (C-PCNN) method for diagnosing meniscus injuries using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A total of 1396 images collected in the hospital were used for training and testing. The method used for training and testing was 5-fold cross validation. Using intraoperative arthroscopic diagnosis and MRI diagnosis as criteria, the C-PCNN was evaluated based on accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, receiver operating characteristic (ROC), and evaluation performance. At the same time, the diagnostic accuracy of doctors with the assistance of cascade- progressive convolutional neural networks was evaluated. The diagnostic accuracy of a C-PCNN assistant with an attending doctor and chief doctor was compared to evaluate the clinical significance. Results: C-PCNN showed 85.6% accuracy in diagnosing and identifying anterior horn injury, and 92% accuracy in diagnosing and identifying posterior horn injury. The average accuracy of C-PCNN was 89.8%, AUC = 0.86. The diagnosis accuracy of the attending physician with the aid of the C-PCNN was comparable to that of the chief physician. Conclusion: The C-PCNN-based MRI technique for diagnosing knee meniscus injuries has significant practical value in clinical practice. With a high rate of accuracy, clinical auxiliary physicians can increase the speed and accuracy of diagnosis and decrease the number of incorrect diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: pathological changes in hepatic Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) have been observed; however, corresponding imaging findings can appear vague to physicians and radiologists. The present study aimed to comprehensively illustrate the imaging findings of hepatic LCH and to investigate the evolution of LCH-associated lesions. (2) Methods: LCH patients with liver involvement treated at our institution were retrospectively reviewed along with prior studies in PubMed. Initial and follow-up computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were systematically reviewed, and three imaging phenotypes were created based on the lesion distribution pattern. Clinical features and prognoses were compared among the three phenotypes. Liver fibrosis was evaluated visually on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the fibrotic areas were measured. Descriptive statistics and a comparative analysis were used to analyze the data. (3) Results: based on the lesion distribution pattern on CT/MRI scans, patients with liver involvement were categorized as the disseminated lesion phenotype, scattered lesion phenotype, and central periportal lesion phenotype. Patients with scattered lesion phenotype were typically adults, and only a few of them had hepatomegaly (npresent = 1, 1/6, 16.7%) and liver biochemical abnormalities (npresent = 2, 2/6, 33.3%); patients with central periportal lesion phenotype were typically young children, and hepatomegaly and biochemical abnormalities were more apparent in these patients than those with another phenotype; and those with the disseminated lesion phenotype were found in all age groups, and the lesions evolved rapidly on medical imaging. Follow-up MRI scans show more details and can better document the evolution of lesions than CT. T2-hypointense fibrotic changes, including the periportal halo sign (npresent = 2, 2/9, 22.2%), patchy liver parenchyma changes (npresent = 6, 6/9, 66.7%), and giant hepatic nodules close to the central portal vein (npresent = 1, 1/9, 11.1%), were found, while fibrotic changes were not observed in patients with the scattered lesion phenotype. The mean ADC value for the area of liver fibrosis in each patient was lower than the optimal cutoff for significant fibrosis (METAVIR Fibrosis Stage ≥ 2) in a previous study that assessed liver fibrosis in chronic viral hepatitis. (4) Conclusions: The infiltrative lesions and liver fibrosis of hepatic LCH can be well characterized on MRI scans with DWI. The evolution of these lesions was well demonstrated on follow-up MRI scans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Compared with optimal blood pressure (BP), the prehypertension increases the risk of incident hypertension, cardiovascular (CV) events, and death. Moderate intensity of regular physical activity can reduce BP. However, aerobic exercise has some limitations. As a safe, low-impact, enjoyable, and inexpensive form of exercise that requires minimal equipment and space, Tai Chi is expected as a viable alternative to aerobic exercise. The study aimed to assess the effect of Tai Chi intervention program, compared with aerobic exercise, on the BP in prehypertension patients. Methods: This study is a 12-month, two-center, single-blind, parallel, randomized controlled trial. Three hundred forty-two patients with prehypertension [with a systolic blood pressure (SBP) in the range of 120 mmHg to 139 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in the range of 80 mmHg to 89 mmHg] are randomized to one of two intervention groups in a 1:1 ratio: Tai Chi or aerobic exercise. BP monitoring methods of office blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), and home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) are used at the same time to detect BP in multiple dimensions. The primary outcome is the comparison of SBP change from baseline to 12 months in Tai Chi group and SBP change from baseline to 12 months in aerobic exercise group. The secondary endpoints are as following: (1) the comparison of DBP of office blood pressure change from baseline to 12 months between Tai Chi group and aerobic exercise group, (2) the comparison of BP and the variability of BP assessed through ABPM change from baseline to 12 months between Tai Chi group and aerobic exercise group, (3) the comparison of BP assessed through HBPM change from baseline to 12 months between Tai Chi group and aerobic exercise group. Discussion: This will be the first randomized controlled trial to specifically study the benefits of Tai Chi on the blood pressure control in patients with prehypertension. The successful completion of this study will help to provide evidence for whether Tai Chi is more desirable than aerobic exercise. Trial registration: Trial registration number: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900024368. Registered on 7 July 2019, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastasis, the chief cause of cancer-related deaths, is associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In the tumor microenvironment, EMT can be triggered by chemokine/G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling, which is closely associated with tumor progression. However, the functional links between chemokine/GPCR signaling-mediated EMT and metastasis remain unclear. Herein, we summarized the mechanisms of chemokine/GPCR signaling-mediated EMT with an insight into facilitating metastasis and clarified the role of chemokine in the local invasion, intravasation, circulation, extravasation, and colonization, respectively. Moreover, several potential pathways that might contribute to EMT based on the latest studies on GPCR signaling were proposed, including signaling mediated by G protein, β-arrestin, intracellular, dimerization activation, and transactivation. However, there is still limited evidence to support the EMT programme functional contribution to metastasis, which keeps a key question still open whether we should target EMT programme of cancer cells. Answers to that question might help develop an anticancer strategy or guide new directions for anticancer metastasis therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Multiblock copolymer electrolyte is prepared by RAFT technique for the first time. • Self-oriented LCs construct rapid ion channels for efficient ion transport. • Analytic methods and DFT calculation reveal the interactions in electrolytes. • All-solid-state LIBs display stabilized long-cycling and rate capability. Liquid crystals (LCs) with characteristics of self-orientation have exhibited superiorities in construction of ordered ion channels for rapid Li-ion transport. Herein, reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization is employed to synthesize a unique type of boron-containing LCs based ABCBA type multiblock copolymers for the first time. The composite block copolymer electrolytes (BCPEs) are fabricated by introducing the copolymer electrolytes into glass fiber separator via solution-casting method. Noteworthily, LCs can not only provide ordered ion channels for efficient ion conduction, but also ameliorate the mechanical strength. Meanwhile, the nitrile groups with high polarity from LCs are able to further facilitate lithium salt dissociation and reinforce electrochemical stability of the system. Crucially, boron elements with electron deficiency can anchor anions and adsorb impurities to endow BCPEs with boosted ion transport capability and sufficient electrochemical stability. Consequently, the well-designed electrolyte shows high ionic conductivity of 1.13 × 10−4 S cm−1 (30 °C), and broadened electrochemical stability window of 4.85 V. Impressively, the assembled Li/LiFePO 4 cells and even Li/LiMn x Fe 1-x PO 4 high-voltage cells exhibit remarkable performances. This work provides a synthetic strategy of structure-controlled polymer electrolyte matrix and illustrates that the BCPEs are definitely a category of satisfactory electrolyte candidate for high-performance solid-state lithium-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection and accurate identification of thyroid nodules are the major challenges in controlling and treating thyroid cancer that can be difficult even for expert physicians. Currently, many computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems have been developed to assist this clinical process. However, most of these systems are unable to well capture geometrically diverse thyroid nodule representations from ultrasound images with subtle and various characteristic differences, resulting in suboptimal diagnosis and lack of clinical interpretability, which may affect their credibility in the clinic. In this context, a novel end-to-end network equipped with a deformable attention network and a distillation-driven interaction aggregation module (DIAM) is developed for thyroid nodule identification. The deformable attention network learns to identify discriminative features of nodules under the guidance of the deformable attention module (DAM) and an online class activation mapping (CAM) mechanism and suggests the location of diagnostic features to provide interpretable predictions. DIAM is designed to take advantage of the complementarities of adjacent layers, thus enhancing the representation capabilities of aggregated features; driven by an efficient self-distillation mechanism, the identification process is complemented with more multi-scale semantic information to calibrate the diagnosis results. Experimental results on a large dataset with varying nodule appearances show that the proposed network can achieve competitive performance in nodule diagnosis and provide interpretability suitable for clinical needs. • A self-distillation-driven network is designed for thyroid nodule identification. • Deformable attention captures the representations with diverse geometric variations. • Flexible inter-layer interaction and feature aggregation via interactive aggregation. • Distillation drives the combination of high-level features and multi-scale contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of oil/water mixture, especially oil/water emulsions, is of great significance in the protection of both the environment and living creatures. Herein, in this work, we reported a two-step strategy to enhance the hydrophilicity and underwater oleophobicity of PVDF microfiltration membranes using tannic acid (TA, a nature plant polyphenol) and AgNO 3 solutions. After coating by Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs)/TA (0.4 mg/ml Ag+, 0.2 mg/ml TA), the PVDF membrane exhibited high hydrophilicity for a short immersion time (10.35 s) of a water droplet (V=5 µl, initial WCA=19°), underwater superoleophobicity (UOCA=161°) and antifouling property and thus, high-efficiency oil/ water emulsions (SDS/kerosene/water emulsion) separation could be realized. Compared with Fe/TA-PVDF (0.4 mg/ml Fe2+, 0.2 mg/ml TA, initial WCA=21° and UOCA=156°) and Cu/TA-PVDF (0.4 mg/ml Cu2+, 0.2 mg/ml TA, initial WCA=31° and UOCA=147°), the AgNPs/TA-PVDF in our work possessed best hydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity. In addition, the AgNPs/TA-PVDF could maintain its hydrophilicity, underwater superoleophobicity and mechanical property after rinsing tests and scratch resistance tests. [Display omitted] • AgNPs/TA network was successfully introduced into the surface of PVDF membranes. • Superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity were achieved. • The modified membrane exhibited desirable performance in the separation of oil/water emulsions. • The modified membrane showed satisfactory stability, and mechanical ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium‑sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been hindered by the difficulty of achieving satisfactory cycling stability of high sulfur loading owing to the structural instability and exaggerated shuttle problem. Here, we design and fabricate a "reinforced concrete" structure based on the carbon fibers (CFs) supporting graphene/carbon nanotubes (GC) matrix composites, followed by a slurry-casting process to produce the final CFs-S/GC cathode with 4.5– 5.5 mg cm−2 sulfur loading. The 3D architecture of the micro/nano-hybrid materials enhances the structural strength and builds an interconnected conductive network for efficient electrolyte infiltration and the rapid electric/ionic transport. Furthermore, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are growth on the surface of CFs by chemical vapor deposition to formation of CFs@CNFs. The CFs@CNFs-S/GC cathode enables the effective confines of polysulfides on electrochemically active sites, leading to a much-improved cycling performance. The strategy reported in this paper provides a feasible way for the construction of CFs or modified CFs skeleton in nanostructured carbon materials for high energy density Li-S batteries. [Display omitted] • GC hybrid matrix was prepared by mechanical mixing and high temperature reduction. • The 3D micro/nano-structure supported by CFs improves electrode mechanical strength. • Growth of CNFs on CFs surface increases the reactive sites and utilization of sulfur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]