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The integrity of the plasma membrane is critical to cell function and survival. Cells have developed multiple mechanisms to repair damaged plasma membranes. A key process during plasma membrane repair is to limit the size of the damage, which is facilitated by the presence of tetraspanin-enriched rings surrounding damage sites. Here, we identify phosphatidylserineenriched rings surrounding damaged sites of the plasma membrane, resembling tetraspanin-enriched rings. Importantly, the formation of both the phosphatidylserine- and tetraspanin-enriched rings requires phosphatidylserine and its transfer proteins ORP5 and ORP9. Interestingly, ORP9, but not ORP5, is recruited to the damage sites, suggesting cells acquire phosphatidylserine from multiple sources upon plasma membrane damage. We further demonstrate that ORP9 contributes to efficient plasma membrane repair. Our results thus unveil a role for phosphatidylserine and its transfer proteins in facilitating the formation of tetraspanin-enriched macrodomains and plasma membrane repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: SPRY1 is associated with the invasiveness and prognosis of various tumors, and TET3 affects aging by regulating gene expression. Aims: We investigated the roles of SPRY1 and TET3 in natural skin aging, replicative aging, and photoaging, along with the effect of UVA on genome‐wide DNA methylation in HaCaT cells. Methods: TET3 and SPRY1 expression were measured in the skin of patients of different age groups, as well as in vitro human skin, HaCaT cell replicative senescence, and HaCaT and HaCaT‐siTET3 cell photoaging models. Senescence was verified using β‐galactosidase staining, and DNA damage was detected using immunofluorescence staining for γ‐H2A.X. 5‐Methyl cytosine (5‐mC) content in the genome was determined using ELISA. Results: SPRY1 expression increased with age, whereas TET3 expression decreased. Similarly, SPRY1 was upregulated and TET3 was downregulated with increasing cell passages. TET3‐siRNA upregulated SPRY1 expression in HaCaT cells. UVA irradiation promoted HaCaT cell senescence and induced cellular DNA damage. SPRY1 was upregulated and TET3 was downregulated upon UVA irradiation. Genome‐wide 5‐mC content increased upon TET3 silencing and UVA irradiation, indicating a surge in overall methylation. Conclusions: SPRY1 and TET3 are natural skin aging‐related genes that counteract to regulate replicative aging and UVA‐induced photoaging in HaCaT cells. The cell photoaging model may limit experimental bias caused by different exposure times of skin model samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: The deepening of the nasolabial fold (NLF) is a common occurrence during the aging process, necessitating the development of an objective method to evaluate changes in NLFs. The objective of our study was to introduce a method of depth deviation based on three‐dimensional (3D) image for evaluating the efficacy of hyaluronic acid (HA) injection in correcting NLFs. Methods: Between May 2019 and November 2019, we recruited 56 Chinese volunteers with moderate to severe NLFs for this study. The participants received HA injections and were followed up for a period of 12 months. Pre and posttreatment, we collected the Wrinkle Severity Rating Scale (WSRS) scores and 3D images. To assess the efficacy of NLF correction, we used the maximum value of depth deviation (MVD) based on 3D images and the Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS) score. Additionally, we compared the relationship between MVD and other clinical parameters. Results: Fifty‐four female participants completed the study and were included in the analysis. The HA injection resulted in a significant decrease in NLF severity (p < 0.05). One month after the injection, the average GAIS score was 4.72 ± 0.45, and the average MVD was 2.10 ± 0.56 mm. Both the GAIS score and the average MVD exhibited a decline over time during the follow‐up period, with the average MVD showing a significant correlation with the GAIS score at all time points (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Using 3D technology, we demonstrated that the quantitative data provided by MVD can serve as an objective method for evaluating the correction of NLFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterovirus consists of a variety of viruses that could cause a wide range of illness in human. The pathogenesis of these viruses remains incompletely understood and no specific treatment is available. Better methods to study enterovirus infection in live cells will help us better understand the pathogenesis of these viruses and might contribute to antiviral development. Here in this study, we developed fluorescent cell-based reporter systems that allow sensitive distinction of individual cells infected with enterovirus 71 (EV71). More importantly, these systems could be easily used for live-cell imaging by monitoring viral-induced fluorescence translocation after EV71 infection. We further demonstrated that these reporter systems could be used to study other enterovirus-mediated MAVS cleavage and they are sensitive for antiviral activity testing. Therefore, integration of these reporters with modern image-based analysis has the potential to generate new insights into enterovirus infection and facilitate antiviral development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under DFT calculations, a systematic investigation is carried out to explore the structures and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic activities of a series of 2D single-atom catalyst (SAC) systems, which are constructed by doping the transition metal (TM) atoms in group VIII into the cavities of rigid phthalocyanine carbide (pc-C3N2). We can find that when Co, Rh, Ir and Ru atoms are doped in the small or large cavities of a pc-C3N2 monolayer, they can be used as high-activity centers of OER. All these four new TM@C3N2 nanostructures can exhibit very low overpotential values in the range of 0.33~0.48 V, even smaller than the state-of-the-art IrO2 (0.56 V), which indicates considerably high OER catalytic activity. In particular, the Rh@C3N2 system can show the best OER performance, given that doped Rh atoms can uniformly serve as high-OER-active centers, regardless of the size of cavity. In addition, a detailed mechanism analysis was carried out. It is found that in these doped pc-C3N2 systems, the number of outer electrons, the periodic number of doped TM atoms and the size of the embedded cavity can be considered the key factors affecting the OER catalytic activity, and excellent OER catalytic performance can be achieved through their effective cooperation. These fascinating findings can be advantageous for realizing low-cost and high-performance SAC catalysts for OER in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural antioxidants, especially those used in edible oil, are safer compared to chemically synthesized antioxidants. Therefore, research on natural antioxidants has become prevelant. Antioxidant peptides derived from food protein can effectively prevent oil oxidation. Protein hydrolyzation is widely applied for the production of antioxidant peptides in industry, and bioinformatics is employed nowadays to generate the desired peptide sequence. Furthermore, the mechanism of antioxidant peptides in the oil system is still controversial, which limits the further development of antioxidant peptides as food antioxidants. This review introduces the preparation method of antioxidant peptides and their mechanisms as well as applications in the oil. It will help to comprehensively understand the function of antioxidant peptides and promote their development in the oil field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standard completeness, completeness on the real unit interval [0, 1], is one of important research areas in mathematical fuzzy logic. Recently, standard completeness for semilinear logics with knotted axioms has been investigated prooftheoretically by introducing and eliminating density rule. This paper introduces model-theoretic completeness for such logics. To this end, it is first shown that knotted axioms can be divided into left and right ones and then proved that mianorm-based logic systems with left and right knotted axioms are standard complete. This completeness is provided by embedding linearly ordered algebras into densely ordered ones and these algebras again into [0, 1]. More exactly, mianorm-based systems with left and right knotted axioms and their algebraic structures are first discussed. After some examples of mianorms satisfying left and right knotted properties are introduced, standard completeness for those logics is established model-theoretically using the above construction. Finally, this investigation is extended to their corresponding involutive fixpointed systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the relationship between methylated binding protein 2 (MeCP2) and mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 7 (Smad7) in the pathogenesis and development of pathological scars. Immunohistochemistry, Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to detect the expression of MeCP2 in different types of human scars and hypertrophic scars at different growth times. The methylation status of Smad7 gene promoter in different scar tissues was determined by methylation-specific PCR. After transfection with MeCP2-siRNA (small interfering RNA) in human keloid fibroblasts, MTT assay was used to assess the proliferation activity of keloid fibroblasts, while RT-PCR and Western blot assays were used to detect the expression levels of MeCP2, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), phospho-Smad2 (p-Smad2) and Smad7. MeCP2 was mainly expressed in the nucleus of fibroblasts. The mRNA and protein levels of MeCP2 were significantly higher in keloids than in hypertrophic scars, normal scars and normal skin (p<.05). The expression level of MeCP2 in hypertrophic scars during the growth period of <6 months was markedly higher than that of >6 months (p<.05). The methylation level of Smad7 was significantly higher in keloids compared to normal skin. After MeCP2 silencing, the proliferation rate of human keloid fibroblasts was decreased, the mRNA and protein levels of Smad7 were increased, and the expression levels of TGF-β1, α-SMA and p-Smad2 were decreased (p<.05). MeCP2 and Smad7 play an important role in formation of pathological scars. During keloid formation, MeCP2 weakens the inhibitory effect of Smad7 on p-Smad2/3 by downregulating the expression of Smad7, which in turn promotes fibrosis and scar hyperplasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Off-flavor is one of the limiting factors in the quality and commercial acceptability of evening primrose oil (EPO). The results of this study demonstrated that ultraviolet light irradiated with titanium dioxide (UV/TiO2) was able to effectively reduce odorous aldehyde concentrations, which would produce undesired flavors. Specifically, reductions in the E-2-Decenal, 1-octen-3-ol and hexanoic acid in EPO reached 50, 75.2 and 61.4% after a UV/TiO2 process of 5 min, respectively. The odor active values (OAV) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) showed that the result of the 5 min group was similar to that of the original oil. In addition, the physicochemical characteristics of EPO after processing did not change significantly. The result of the aroma profile analysis was consistent with the OAV and HCA results. Therefore, it has been concluded that 5 min UV/TiO2 treatment could degrade some volatile compounds and provide a potential deodorization method for industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By screening a series of 3d/4d/5d transition metal (TM) atoms, a total of twelve graphene-based single atom catalysts (SAC) with TMO 3 and TMO 4 units can exhibit the excellent OER performance with extremely low overpotential (0.33 ∼ 0.59 V), in which the V/Nb/Ta atoms in VB group and Ru/Co/Rh/Ir atoms in VIII group can serve as the active sites. The self-optimization process of TM-sites can be responsible for the high OER catalytic activity for most of these SAC systems. [Display omitted] High-throughput DFT calculations are performed to explore the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic activity of a series of 2D graphene-based systems with TMO 3 or TMO 4 functional units. By screening the 3d/4d/5d transition metal (TM) atoms, a total of twelve TMO 3 @G or TMO 4 @G systems had extremely low overpotential of 0.33 ∼ 0.59 V, in which the V/Nb/Ta atom in VB group and Ru/Co/Rh/Ir atom in VIII group served as the active sites. The mechanism analysis reveals that the filling of outer electrons of TM atom can play an important role in determining the overpotential value by affecting the ΔG O* value as an effective descriptor. Especially, in addition to the general situation of OER on the clean surface of the systems containing the Rh/Ir metal centers, the self-optimization process of TM-sites was carried out, and it made most of these single-atom catalysts (SAC) systems to have high OER catalytic activity. All these fascinating findings can contribute to an in-depth understanding of the OER catalytic activity and mechanism of the excellent graphene-based SAC systems. This work will facilitate the design and implementation of non-precious and highly efficient OER catalysts in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Methods Results Conclusion To investigate the effect of retaining the vessels around the orbicularis oculi muscle on reducing local swelling after blepharoplasty.A total of 309 patients undergoing blepharoplasty (total incision) were observed and randomly assigned to three groups; (A) conventional operation; (B) preservation of deep vessels; (C) preservation of anterior vessels of orbicularis oculi muscle. The groups were compared based on intraoperative blood loss, operation time, swelling, satisfaction, and complications.Among the 309 patients, 39 were lost to follow‐up. c Additionally, A had the shortest operation time, followed by C with slightly longer duration. On the 7th day, 15th day, and 1 month after surgery, both B and C demonstrated significantly lower levels of swelling compared to A. Moreover, patient satisfaction was higher in B and C than in A.Retaining either superficial or deep veins of the orbicularis oculi muscle can effectively reduce short‐term postoperative swelling. However, when retaining the superficial central group of this muscle during surgery, it is crucial to strictly control the amount of surrounding tissue around vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We report numerical results for light reflection from the top of a Rayleigh scattering spherical atmosphere over a dark surface. • We account for polarization of light and height-dependent single scattering albedo. • We report single and multiple scattering data separately to support validation and development of RT codes for spherical atmospheres. We report numerical results for polarized light reflection from the top of a Rayleigh scattering spherical atmosphere with height-dependent single scattering albedo over a dark surface. Michael Mishchenko considered this scenario back in the 1990's, for a plane-parallel atmosphere of unit optical thickness (OT = 1), for which radiance errors arising from neglecting polarization reaches their highest values. To further extend Mishchenko's results, we consider a value of OT = 0.25, for which the effect of atmospheric curvature is pronounced. New results are generated using three state-of-the art radiative transfer (RT) codes. These are: the MYSTIC and MCSSA models, which simulate light scattering in a true-spherical atmosphere using Monte Carlo methods; and the discrete ordinate code VLIDORT, operating with a new multiple-scatter spherical correction designed to deliver reasonable approximations to spherical-medium scattering. In this work, we report results for both single and multiple scattering; this will help to support the validation of existing and future polarized spherical RT codes, especially those using approximative methods to deal with sphericity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetable oil phospholipids can be divided into hydratable phospholipids (HP) and non-hydratable phospholipids (NHP). The general process of alkali refining or hydration degumming can remove most of the phospholipids, and the rest is mainly non-hydratable phospholipids. A non-hydratable phospholipid has obvious hydrophobicity, which cannot be completely removed even after 16 times of washing, so the non-hydratable phospholipid is the main research target of vegetable oil degumming. In order to better understand and study the non-hydratable phospholipids, the chemical composition and origin of non-hydratable phospholipids in vegetable oil are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of these various detection and removal methods are analyzed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective is to propose a new methodology of modulus backcalculation and analyse its rationality and feasibility. Firstly, the features and advantages of the proposed are summarised. Secondly, a total of 130 sets of deflection basinswere collected and the modulus was backcalculated. Meanwhile, the temperatures of different asphalt layers were monitored. Subsequently, the simple performance test (SPT) was used to establish the master curve model. The dynamic modulus of different asphalt mixtures of falling weight deflector's load frequency and real test temperature was predicted. Following, the backcalculated modulus was compared with the SPT modulus for verifying its ability of reflecting the material properties. Furthermore, the rationality of the backcalculated modulus is verified, as well as its ability to distinguish between different sections. Lastly, the efficiency, success rate and stability of the proposed method are statistically analysed. Results show that the ratios of the backcalculated modulus to the SPT modulus range from 0.9 to 1.2. The proposed method can process about 100 measured deflection basins per minute and its success rate exceeds 80%. The coefficient of variation of the effective modulus does not exceed 15%. The proposed method has high rationality and feasibility meeting the requirements of engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The milling parameters have an important influence on machining performance and surface quality of metal materials. In this paper, the differences in machining and corrosion resistance properties of ZK61M plates under different processing parameters were analyzed by side milling. The milling process was simulated to explore the change laws of milling temperature and milling force. The hardness of machined surface was examined by Vikers hardness tester. The surface quality and the corrosion performances under different spindle speeds were observed by 3D ultra-depth of field microscope. The results showed that the milling temperature was increased as spindle speed and feed speed increased. The influence of spindle speed and feed speed on milling force along the milling direction and the tool direction was significant different. The milled surface had better quality when the spindle speed increased or the feed speed decreased. The hardness standard deviation of machined surface was decreased as the surface quality became better. Besides, it was summarized how spindle speed played a role in corrosion resistance performance by affecting residual stress and metal oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the risk of cervical cancer. Methods: We conducted a case–control study including 838 cervical cancer cases and 838 benign disease controls matched for age, ethnicity, and place of birth. Venous blood was tested for HBV and HCV serological markers. Multiple odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for cervical cancer were estimated using logistic regression. HBV antigens were examined using immunohistochemical staining. Results: Anti-HCV was positive in 10 cases (1.2%) and 0 controls (0%). Cases had higher percentage of chronic HBV infection (HBsAg-positive/anti-HBc-positive) and prior HBV infection (HBsAg-negative/anti-HBc-positive) than controls (6.3% vs 4.4%; 11.6% vs 7.3%). Both chronic HBV infection (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.0–2.4) and prior HBV infection (OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.2–2.4) were associated with cervical cancer in univariate logistic regression analyses. In subgroup analysis among HPV-positive patients, the association between chronic HBV infection and cervical cancer disappeared (OR 1.2; 95% CI 0.4–3.4); while in subgroup among patients younger than 50 years, the association remained significant with adjustment for HPV infection and parity (adjusted OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.0–4.4). HBsAg and HBcAg were detected in 8% and 12% of cervical cancer cases who had seropositive HBsAg, respectively. Compared with the benign controls, individuals with both HBsAg and HPV positive had an increased risk of cervical cancer (adjusted OR 67.1; 95% CI 23.4–192.7). Conclusions: HBV infection was associated with cervical cancer in patients with age younger than 50 years. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inbreeding more likely occurs in small, isolated and endangered populations, and may influence the sustainable survival of a population. As the Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica population in China experienced a severe decline in the 1990s, the recovering population may be prone to inbreeding and its potential impacts on population health. However, the inbreeding status has not been evaluated and relationships with health remain poorly understood in wild animals. Based on the genetic samples collected from the main Amur tiger habitats in China, this study analyzed the population inbreeding level, major histocompatibility complex polymorphism, parasitic infections and gut microbial structures and functions, and then explored the influence of inbreeding on these traits. Our results indicated that more than 50% of individual relationships were in cousin or half sibs, and 22.73% of individuals had moderate or high inbreeding coefficients. There was a significant positive correlation between the inbreeding level of an individual and the Toxocara cati parasitic load. Gut microbiota community structure and function were also impacted by inbreeding intensity. In conclusion, results indicate that the Amur tiger population in China has reached a moderate level of inbreeding and that there are direct interactions between inbreeding intensity and parasitic load and gut microbiota. This study thus provides an early warning on the Amur tiger population health and should prompt the construction of national and international ecological corridors and/or the re‐introduction of new individuals to relieve the evident inbreeding pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the tensile properties and microstructure of Al-Cu alloy casting with a dimension of ∅500 mm × 700 mm and a 5mm-thick wall at room temperature and 200°C. The results indicated that the strength and elongation of Al-Cu alloy casting at room temperature were excellent, exceeding 425 MPa and 8%, respectively. Such a good performance was attributed to the tiny equiaxed grains. However, the occurrence of acicular θ phase distributed around the α-Al matrix grains was disadvantageous to strength and especially to elongation. Moreover, no dynamic recrystallization was observed in the tensile tests at 200°C. Besides, numerous dimples were found in the fracture morphology, which were beneficial to the elongation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysregulation of cardiac transcription programs has been identified in patients and families with heart failure, as well as those with morphological and functional forms of congenital heart defects. Mediator is a multi-subunit complex that plays a central role in transcription initiation by integrating regulatory signals from gene-specific transcriptional activators to RNA polymerase II (Pol II). Recently, Mediator subunit 30 (MED30), a metazoan specific Mediator subunit, has been associated with Langer-Giedion syndrome (LGS) Type II and Cornelia de Lange syndrome-4 (CDLS4), characterized by several abnormalities including congenital heart defects. A point mutation in MED30 has been identified in mouse and is associated with mitochondrial cardiomyopathy. Very recent structural analyses of Mediator revealed that MED30 localizes to the proximal Tail, anchoring Head and Tail modules, thus potentially influencing stability of the Mediator core. However, in vivo cellular and physiological roles of MED30 in maintaining Mediator core integrity remain to be tested. Here, we report that deletion of MED30 in embryonic or adult cardiomyocytes caused rapid development of cardiac defects and lethality. Importantly, cardiomyocyte specific ablation of MED30 destabilized Mediator core subunits, while the kinase module was preserved, demonstrating an essential role of MED30 in stability of the overall Mediator complex. RNAseq analyses of constitutive cardiomyocyte specific Med30 knockout (cKO) embryonic hearts and inducible cardiomyocyte specific Med30 knockout (icKO) adult cardiomyocytes further revealed critical transcription networks in cardiomyocytes controlled by Mediator. Taken together, our results demonstrated that MED30 is essential for Mediator stability and transcriptional networks in both developing and adult cardiomyocytes. Our results affirm the key role of proximal Tail modular subunits in maintaining core Mediator stability in vivo. Author summary: MED30 has been associated with congenital heart defects. A point mutation in MED30 has been identified in mouse and is associated with mitochondrial cardiomyopathy. However, the specific role of MED30 in cardiomyocytes remains largely unknown. We found that loss of MED30 resulted in destabilization of the MED core. Our constitutive (cKO) and inducible (icKO) cardiomyocyte specific Med30 knockout mouse models provided us with a unique opportunity to study the role of the intact MED complex in developing heart and adult heart, respectively. We further demonstrated the essential role of MED30 in maintaining specific components of the cardiac gene regulatory network and normal cardiac development and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-stated smart polymers responsive to external stimuli have attracted much attention for potential application in the field of photoelectron devices, logic gates, sensor, data storage and security. However, it is a bigger challenge for polymers than that for small molecules in solid state to acquire stimuli-responsive properties, because polymers with high molecular weight are not as easy to change the packing structure as small molecules under external stimulation. Here, a D-A type alternating copolymer PTMF-o containing 3,4-bisthienylmaleimide (A unit) and fluorene (D unit) is designed and synthesized. Upon irradiation of sunlight, PTMF-o film exhibits a photo-response with the color altering from purple to colorless. It is attributed to the structure of copolymer transformed from ring-opening form (PTMF-o) to ring-closure form (PTMF-c), resulting from the oxidative photocyclization of 3,4-bisthienylmaleimide unit. Consequently, the ability of charge transfer (CT) from fluorene to 3,4-bisthienylmaleimide unit in PTMF-o can be easily weakened by light stimuli. PTMF-o film displays a WORM-type resistive storage performance for the strong CT. Interestingly, after exposure, the electrical memory behavior in situ transfers into FLASH type, due to weak CT in PTMF-c. PTMF-o film can also be employed as smart material to construct NAND and NOR logic gates by using light as input condition. The work provides a simple way to modify the electronic properties of polymers and realize stimuli-response in solid states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Tailorable thiophenes are introduced into polymers symmetrically or asymmetrically. • The polymers bearing asymmetric π bridges overperform their symmetric counterparts. • Asymmetric π bridges engineering is confirmed to be a promising strategy for donors. In comparison with the common-used electron donor (D)-electron acceptor (A) type symmetric polymers with regular structures, their asymmetric counterparts have received much less attention and seldom been applied in polymer solar cells. Since the precise modulation of π bridge can significantly influence the photoelectric properties of D-A type polymers, π bridges of tailorable thiophenes are introduced into benzodithiophene (BDT)-benzodithiophene-4,8-dione (BDD) copolymers in both symmetric and asymmetric patterns. Together with the halogen substituent of fluorine or chlorine on BDT, four polymer donors are designed and synthesized. As expected, PTB2T-F and PTB2T-Cl with the asymmetric π bridges of thiophene and hexyl-bithiophene exhibit better planarity, stronger intermolecular interaction and higher hole mobility than P2TB2T-F and P2TB2T-Cl with the symmetric π bridges of hexyl-bithiophene. The more suitable phase separation and optimized nanomorphology is determined by the reasonable miscibility between asymmetric polymer and acceptor, which is evaluated by Flory-Huggins interaction, contributing to the extremely higher performance than that of symmetric counterpart. Moreover, paired with IT-4F as the acceptor, PTB2T-F affords better device performances than the reference BDT-BDD polymer PM6 with the symmetry π bridge of thiophene. These results demonstrate that the precise modulation of asymmetric π bridges is a promising strategy to construct high-efficiency D-A type polymer donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on single-cell DNA methylation and 3D genome architecture in the human brain. The research provides a comprehensive atlas of epigenomic characteristics, revealing cell-type specificity, chromatin structures, and DNA methylation patterns, which will be valuable for understanding brain cell diversity, gene regulation mechanisms, and the development of genetic tools.

With the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the sources of COVID-19 infection is crucial for developing effective public health strategies to control the spread of the disease. Chinese immigrants in Canada represent a population for which no study had previously been conducted to investigate the sources of COVID-19 infection. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining the prevalence of various sources of COVID-19 within the Chinese immigrant community and identifying potential risk factors associated with each source. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in early 2023, which included questions on five possible sources of COVID-19 infection: family, social gatherings, workplace, public places, or unknown. A total of 591 responses were received, of which 488 eligible responses were included in the analysis. 56.4% of the survey respondents were female, 45.0% had a university degree (or higher), and 19.4% of the participants were 65 years of age or older. Among the 226 individuals who contracted COVID-19, the most commonly reported source of infection was family members (29.2%), followed by public places (27.4%), and social gatherings (16.4%). Additionally, 16.4% of the respondents were uncertain where they had contracted the virus, and 10.6% of the respondents contracted COVID-19 from their workplace. A large majority of participants were able to identify the source of their COVID-19 infection, with results suggesting that individuals are at the highest risk for contraction of COVID-19 from infected family members. Our findings can inform public health efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recommended that enhanced efficiency nitrogen fertilizers (EENFs; urease inhibitors, nitrification inhibitors, urease and nitrification inhibitors combined, coated controlled-release urea) be applied to croplands to improve N use efficiency and crop yield via regulating N transformations. However, EENFs may inevitably affect soil C dynamics for the coupled relationship between soil carbon (C) and N biogeochemical cycles. Yet, a comprehensive assessment of the effects of EENFs on soil C dynamics is lacking. Here, we conducted a global meta-analysis using 67 publications to assess the overall effects of EENFs on soil CH 4 production, CO 2 emission, organic C (SOC) content, dissolved organic C (DOC) content, microbial biomass C (MBC) content under different environmental and management conditions (climate conditions, soil properties and fertilizer management practices). Our results showed that on average, compared to conventional N fertilizer, EENFs with the same amount of N fertilizer have a non-significant impact on CH 4 emission, which further depended on environmental and management conditions. Best scenarios for CH 4 reduction included: paddy field (25.8%), urease inhibitor (26.9%) and medium N application rate (150–300 kgN ha−1; 23.6%), mainly due to the decreased stimulation of NH 4 + on CH 4 production; acid soil (33.7%), which was attributed to the enhanced methanotrophic communities' activities. The positive effect was also amplified by the increased mean annual precipitation and soil clay content that facilitated CH 4 production. Contrarily, EENFs significantly reduced CO 2 emission by 9.3%. The greater reduction was observed for the conditions producing more CO 2 after fertilization, i.e. field experiment, alkaline soils, low soil inorganic N content and high N application rate (≥300 kgN ha−1). Nitrification inhibitors and coated N fertilizer were the best available options as they can reduce inorganic C dissolution in calcareous soil and SOC mineralization, respectively. Besides, EENFs application did not significantly alter SOC, DOC and MBC contents. Our findings highlighted the role of EENFs played in decreasing soil C emission in agroecosystems. [Display omitted] • Global use of EENFs did not significantly affect SOC, DOC, MBC contents. • EENFs succeed in reducing CO 2 emission (9.3%) rather than CH 4 emission. • EENFs provide a viable solution for decreasing soil C emissions in global agroecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dopant-free, electron donor (D)–acceptor (A) type, polymeric hole-transporting materials (HTMs) possess excellent film formability and hole transport properties, which ensure high efficiency, stability, and reproducibility to the PVSCs. Compared with benzothiadiazole (BT), benzotriazole (BTA) was less incorporated into polymeric HTMs. Herein, two indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene (IDTT)-BTA copolymers BT-T and BT-TT containing different π-bridge of thiophene and thienothiophene, are synthesized and studied. BT-T bearing thiophene π-bridge presents decent coplanarity, higher hole mobility, and better interface morphology than its sister polymer BT-TT. The PVSC with dopant-free BT-T displayed a peak power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1% and remained above 85% of its initial PCE for more than 30 days at ambient conditions. In view of the rare report on the BTA-based polymeric HTMs, this work will cast lights on further exploration of high-efficiency D-A polymeric HTMs. Two indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene-benzotriazole copolymers BT-T and BT-TT containing π-bridge of thiophene and thienothiophene, respectively, are developed as dopant-free hole-transporting materials. [Display omitted] • Two polymers containing benzotriazole are developed as hole-transporting materials. • π-bridge of thiophene endows BT-T higher coplanarity and hole mobility. • BT-T shows superior hole transport properties to BT-TT with thienothiophene π-bridge. • The perovskite solar cells based on dopant-free BT-T display an efficiency of 17.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an indirect flow pattern recognition method based on time-frequency analysis and neural networks is proposed to investigate the flow patterns in the narrow rectangular channel under heating and non-inertial conditions. Firstly, the adaptive optimal kernel algorithm is utilized to analyze on the typical pressure signal and convert it into time-frequency spectrograms. Then based on the concept of transfer learning strategy, convolutional neural networks are applied as feature extractors to classify flow patterns by the spectrogram images. The proposed method is verified by the visualized flow boiling experiment data. The results show that the adaptive time-frequency algorithm can effectively reflect the characteristics of different flow pattern signals, and several chosen neural network models show high recognition accuracy after training. Among them, VGG-16 network with small convolution kernels and strong transferability has the highest recognition rate. In addition, the network based on data of static conditions remains identifying more than 75% spectrograms of rolling conditions, exhibiting the generalization ability of the method under different flow conditions. • Combining traditional time-frequency signal processing method with latest deep learning strategy. • Flow pattern recognition in the narrow channel under heating and non-inertial conditions. • Verified by the visualized flow boiling experiment data and shows high recognition accuracy. • Network has generalization ability under different flow conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Granulation of PD granular sludge was achieved with the glycerol as carbon source. • The glycerol-fed PDGS showed superior settleability with efficient nitrite yield. • The proteins in T-EPS played key roles in the formation of PDGS. • The PN, PS and living cells distributed uniformly in PDGS to maintain bioactivity. • Saccharibacteria was speculated to be mainly responsible for the granulation. Granular sludge is considered as a promising technology for wastewater treatment owing to the high biomass retention and excellent settleability. In this study, the formation and underlying mechanisms of granular sludge for stable and efficient nitrite accumulation in glycerol-driven partial denitrification (PD) reactors were investigated. The PD granular sludge (PDGS) was successfully formed with developing and mature stages. The mature PDGS exhibited superior settleability (mean particle size: 468.1 μm, and SVI 5 :16.4 mL/g SS), and high microbial activity (VSS/SS: 0.80–0.92). The nitrite was stably and efficiently accumulated with an average nitrate-to nitrite transformation ratio of 87.3%. Morphological analysis showed that the mature granules were dominated by cocci and exhibited compact structure with few inorganic components. The proteins (i.e. tyrosine, tryptophan and aromatic protein-like substances) in tightly-bound extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were expected to play critical roles in the granulation process in view of their good correlation with particle size variation. The EPS contents (mainly polysaccharides and proteins) and living cells were distributed throughout the granule, suggesting the overall high stability and bioactivity of formed PDGS. Moreover, the glycerol-driven PD reactor caused the evident evolution of microbial structure, and the significant enrichment of Saccharibacteria was expected to be responsible for the granulation process, which was increased to 66.6% in the matured sludge. This study confirmed the feasibility and superior performance of PDGS fed with glycerol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WarpX is a general purpose electromagnetic particle-in-cell code that was originally designed to run on many-core CPU architectures. We describe the strategy, based on the AMReX library, followed to allow WarpX to use the GPU-accelerated nodes on OLCF's Summit supercomputer, a strategy we believe will extend to the upcoming machines Frontier and Aurora. We summarize the challenges encountered, lessons learned, and give current performance results on a series of relevant benchmark problems. • Optimization of memory usage can be as important as optimization of run time. • Memory Arenas aid in getting performance on GPU hardware with common programming patterns. • Fusing kernels in communication routines is key to work around kernel launch latency. • Exploiting the cache hierarchy on V100 GPUs leads to large performance increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current catalogs of regulatory sequences in the human genome are still incomplete and lack cell type resolution. To profile the activity of gene regulatory elements in diverse cell types and tissues in the human body, we applied single-cell chromatin accessibility assays to 30 adult human tissue types from multiple donors. We integrated these datasets with previous single-cell chromatin accessibility data from 15 fetal tissue types to reveal the status of open chromatin for ∼1.2 million candidate cis- regulatory elements (cCREs) in 222 distinct cell types comprised of >1.3 million nuclei. We used these chromatin accessibility maps to delineate cell-type-specificity of fetal and adult human cCREs and to systematically interpret the noncoding variants associated with complex human traits and diseases. This rich resource provides a foundation for the analysis of gene regulatory programs in human cell types across tissues, life stages, and organ systems. [Display omitted] • Integrating > 1.3 million single-cell chromatin profiles from adult/fetal human tissues • An atlas of ∼1.2 million candidate cis -regulatory elements across 222 cell types • Cell-type specificity of fetal and adult candidate cis -regulatory elements • Interpretation of noncoding variants associated with complex traits and diseases A cell-type-resolved map of human cis -regulatory elements, derived from single cell analysis of diverse tissue types, facilitates functional interpretation of the noncoding variants associated with complex human traits and diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]