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Few studies have reported the associations of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) with cytokine release syndrome (CRS), neurotoxic events (NEs) and efficacy after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for relapsed or refractory (R/R) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). We present a retrospective study of 67 patients with R/R B-ALL who received anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy, 41 (61.2%) patients received G-CSF (G-CSF group), while 26 (38.8%) did not (non-G-CSF group). Patients had similar duration of grade 3–4 neutropenia between the two groups. The incidences of CRS and NEs were higher in G-CSF group, while no differences in severity were found. Further stratified analysis showed that the incidence and severity of CRS were not associated with G-CSF administration in patients with low bone marrow (BM) tumor burden. None of the patients with low BM tumor burden developed NEs. However, there was a significant increase in the incidence of CRS after G-CSF administration in patients with high BM tumor burden. The duration of CRS in patients who used G-CSF was longer. There were no significant differences in response rates at 1 and 3 months after CAR T-cell infusion, as well as overall survival (OS) between the two groups. In conclusion, our results showed that G-CSF administration was not associated with the incidence or severity of CRS in patients with low BM tumor burden, but the incidence of CRS was higher after G-CSF administration in patients with high BM tumor burden. The duration of CRS was prolonged in G-CSF group. G-CSF administration was not associated with the efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for nickel for batteries is increasing rapidly with the rapid development of new energy vehicles. Currently, many companies are glad to produce ferronickel alloys from laterite nickel ore due to the gradual exhaustion of sulfide ore. However, there is still little research on the thermodynamical analysis of sulfurization from ferronickel into nickel matte to produce nickel sulfate. Therefore, the thermodynamic analysis on the sulfurization of ferronickel using FactSage was investigated in this study. The results indicate that the overall sulfurization path of iron is Fe2O3 → Fe3O4 → FeO → Fe → FeS and that of nickel is NiO → Ni → Ni3S2 under oxygen-containing smelting conditions. Nickel has a stronger affinity for S than Fe but has a weaker affinity for O than Fe. Nickel and iron can be separated by controlling the smelting conditions with about 1.0 × 10−2.5 atm < PO2 < 1.0 × 10−2.5 atm and 1.0 × 10−2.5 atm < PSO2 < 1.0 × 100.3 atm. Sulfurizing reagents FeS2, NiS, NiS2, and S2 can sulfurize ferronickel under specific condition. Nickel-rich matte can fuse ferronickel, but it can only be a transition process of sulfurizing ferronickel. This study reveals the phase transition paths of ferronickel during smelting sulfurization. It illustrates the sulfurizing behavior of different sulfurizing reagents. The results provide useful reference methods for consolidating the connection between laterite ore and the new energy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sunlight is widely seen as one of the most abundant forms of renewable energy, with photovoltaic cells based on pn junctions being the most commonly used platform attempting to harness it. Unlike in conventional photovoltaic cells, the bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE) allows for the generation of photocurrent and photovoltage in a single material without the need to engineer a pn junction and create a built-in electric field, thus offering a solution that can potentially exceed the Shockley–Queisser efficiency limit. However, it requires a material with no inversion symmetry and is therefore absent in centrosymmetric materials. Here, we demonstrate that breaking the inversion symmetry by structural disorder can induce BPVE in ultrathin PtSe2, a centrosymmetric semiconducting van der Waals material. Homogenous illumination of defective PtSe2 by linearly and circularly polarized light results in a photoresponse termed as linear photogalvanic effect (LPGE) and circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE), which is mostly absent in the pristine crystal. First-principles calculations reveal that LPGE originates from Se vacancies that act as asymmetric scattering centers for the photo-generated electron-hole pairs. Our work emphasizes the importance of defects to induce photovoltaic functionality in centrosymmetric materials and shows how the range of materials suitable for light sensing and energy-harvesting applications can be extended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have witnessed rapid development of autonomous driving. Model-based and model-free reinforcement learning are two popular learning methods for autonomous driving. However, these two kinds of methods have their own advantages in achieving excellent driving experience. In order to improve their efficiency and performance, Dyna framework is an promising way to combine their advantages. Unfortunately, the classical Dyna framework can not deal with the continuous actions in reinforcement learning. In addition, the interaction between the world model and the model-free reinforcement learning agent remains at the unidirectional data level. To further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of driving policy learning, we propose a novel Gaussian Process based Dyna-PPO approach in this paper. The Gaussian Process model, which is analytically tractable and fits for small-sample problems, is introduced to build the world model. In addition, we design a mechanism to realize bidirectional interaction between the world model and the policy model. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed approach. According to our simulation result, the driving distance of the vehicle could be improved by approximately 0.2× times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prepare high-performance microwave absorbing materials, Co3O4/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite materials were prepared from graphite powder and cobalt acetate by a simplified hydrothermal method. It is demonstrated that the reflection loss (RL) and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of Co3O4/rGO composites can be adjusted in accord of demands. By changing the thickness and the compositional ratio of the material, the electromagnetic parameters, attenuation constant and eddy current effect of the material can be adjusted to obtain desired outcomes. The EAB of Co3O4/rGO composites can cover 97.5% of 4–18 GHz band when thickness is 2–5 mm. The maximum RL of the obtained composite reached -64.8 dB when the thickness was 2.8 mm, and the maximum EAB was 9.63 GHz when the thickness was 3.0 mm. Because of its lamellar micromorphology, Co3O4 /rGO prepared in this study has made a breakthrough in its microwave absorption properties such as the highest reflection loss and effective absorption bandwidth. The result of this study provided a new approach for designing microwave absorption capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restitution coefficient is one of the microphysical properties that must be specified for a discrete element model simulation. The more accurate the input, the more accurate the simulation results are. Due to the differences in shape and surface roughness between the corn stalk particle model built-in EDEM software and the actual corn stalk, the simulation will be distorted if the measured recovery coefficients are directly introduced into the EDEM software for simulation. To address this issue, this paper presents experimental measurements of the collision behavior between the intermodal tissue, pith, and nodal tissue particles and the horizontal substrate based on kinematic principles and with the aid of high-speed camera technology to reconstruct the trajectory of the particles during free fall and bounce. Utilizing EDEM software to simulate the free fall and bounce processes, a quadratic polynomial prediction model of the recovery coefficient input values and calculated values was established. Combined with the simulation and physical tests, the coefficients of restitution between the pith and the iron plate and pith surface are 0.559, 0.767. The collision restitution coefficients were determined to be 0.767, 0.616, and 0.784 for the collision between the rind and the iron plate, rind surface, and pith surface, respectively. 0.549, 0.705, 0.687, and 0.723 for the collision restitution coefficients between the node and the rind surface, pith surface, and node surface, respectively. The calibration restitution coefficient was input to EDEM software for the simulation test, and the relative error between the simulation results and the physical examination was within 4.15%. The particle model created and the restitution coefficients calibrated can be used as a reference for designing a corn stalk processing machine and the discrete-element study on the motion of corn stalk particles inside such devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in treating B cell malignancies comes at the price of eradicating normal B cells. Even though T cell malignancies are aggressive and treatment options are limited, similar strategies for T cell malignancies are constrained by the severe immune suppression arising from bystander T cell aplasia. Here, we show the selective killing of malignant T cells without affecting normal T cell-mediated immune responses in vitro and in a mouse model of disseminated leukemia. Further, we develop a CAR construct that carries the single chain variable fragment of a subtype-specific antibody against the variable TCR β-chain region. We demonstrate that these anti-Vβ8 CAR-T cells are able to recognize and kill all Vβ8+ malignant T cells that arise from clonal expansion while sparing malignant or healthy Vβ8− T cells, allowing sufficient T cell-mediated cellular immunity. In summary, we present a proof of concept for a selective CAR-T cell therapy to eradicate T cell malignancies while maintaining functional adaptive immunity, which opens the possibility for clinical development. Healthy T cells are polyclonal, while malignant T cells are developing via clonal expansion. Here authors show that T cell tumours could be eradicated by chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting the T cell receptor (TCR) β-chain that is specific to malignant T cells, while healthy T cells using diverse TCR β-chains are spared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interactions between electrons and phonons play the key role in determining the carrier transport properties in semiconductors. In this work, comprehensive investigations on full electron–phonon (el–ph) couplings and their influences on carrier mobility and thermoelectric (TE) performances of 2D group IV and V elemental monolayers are performed, and we also analyze the selection rules on el–ph couplings using group theory. For shallow n/p-dopings in Si, Ge, and Sn, ZA/TA/LO phonon modes dominate the intervalley scatterings. Similarly strong intervalley scatterings via ZA/TO phonon modes can be identified for CBM electrons in P, As, and Sb, and for VBM holes, ZA/TA phonon modes dominate intervalley scatterings in P while LA phonons dominate intravalley scatterings in As and Sb. By considering full el–ph couplings, the TE performance for these two series of monolayers are predicted, which seriously downgrades the thermoelectric figures of merits compared with those predicted by the constant relaxation time approximation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are promising channel materials for next-generation field-effect transistors (FETs) thanks to their unique mechanical properties and enhanced electrostatic control. However, the performance of these devices can be strongly limited by the scattering processes between carriers and phonons, usually occurring at high rates in 2D materials. Here, we use quantum transport simulations calibrated on first-principle computations to report on dissipative transport in antimonene and arsenene n-type FETs at the scaling limit. We show that the widely-used approximations of either ballistic transport or simple acoustic deformation potential scattering result in large overestimation of the ON current, due to neglecting the dominant intervalley and optical phonon scattering processes. We additionally investigate a recently proposed valley engineering strategy to improve the device performance by removing the valley degeneracy and suppressing most of the intervalley scattering channels via an uniaxial strain along the zigzag direction. The method is applicable to other similar 2D semiconductors characterized by multivalley transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocardiographic and electrophysiological characteristics of VAs originating from the vicinity of the TA are not fully understood. Hence, 104 patients (mean age 52.6 ± 17.9 years; 62 male) with VAs originating from the vicinity of the TA were enrolled. After electrophysiological evaluation and ablation, data were compared among those patients. The ECGs and the correction of the ECGs based on the long axis of the heart calculated from the chest X-Ray were also analyzed. VAs originating from the vicinity of TA had distinctive ECG characteristics that were useful for identifying the precise origin. Our localization algorithm adjusted by the angle between the cardiac long axis and the horizon was found to be accurate in predicting the exact ablation site in 92.3% (n = 96) cases. Logistic regression analysis showed fractionated electrograms, the magnitudes of the local atrial electrograms and a/V ratio were critical factors for successful ablation. Among the 104 patients with VAs, complete elimination could be achieved by RFCA in 96 patients (success rate 92.3%) during a follow-up period of 35.2 ± 19.6 months. This study suggests that the ablation site could be localized by ECG analysis adjusted by the angle between the cardiac long axis and the horizon. Fractionated electrograms, the magnitudes of the local atrial electrograms and a/V ratio were demonstrated to be critical factors for successful ablation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article, we first give an essential characterization of Toeplitz operators with quasihomogeneous symbols on the weighted pluriharmonic Bergman space of the unit polydisk. Then we completely characterize when the product of two Toeplitz operators with monomial-type symbols is a Toeplitz operator. As a result, some interesting higher-dimensional phenomena appear on the unit polydisk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinitis pigmentosa is a group of genetically transmitted disorders affecting 1 in 3000-8000 individual people worldwide ultimately affecting the quality of life. Retinitis pigmentosa is characterized as a heterogeneous genetic disorder which leads by progressive devolution of the retina leading to a progressive visual loss. It can occur in syndromic (with Usher syndrome and Bardet-Biedl syndrome) as well as non-syndromic nature. The mode of inheritance can be X-linked, autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive manner. To date 58 genes have been reported to associate with retinitis pigmentosa most of them are either expressed in photoreceptors or the retinal pigment epithelium. This review focuses on the disease mechanisms and genetics of retinitis pigmentosa. As retinitis pigmentosa is tremendously heterogeneous disorder expressing a multiplicity of mutations; different variations in the same gene might induce different disorders. In recent years, latest technologies including whole-exome sequencing contributing effectively to uncover the hidden genesis of retinitis pigmentosa by reporting new genetic mutations. In future, these advancements will help in better understanding the genotype-phenotype correlations of disease and likely to develop new therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the impact of electron-phonon interaction on the subthreshold operation region of Tunnel-FETs by means of full-quantum simulations. Our approach is based on the nonequilibrium Green's function method, where acoustic and optical phonon scatterings are taken into account through the self-consistent Born approximation. Two device architectures are analyzed: InAs nanowire longitudinal Tunnel-FETs, and 2D vertical Tunnel-FETs based on either an GaSb/AlSb/InAs heterostructure or a MoS $$_2$$ /WTe $$_2$$ van der Waals heterojunction. In InAs nanowire Tunnel-FETs with interface traps, electron-phonon interaction deteriorates the subthreshold swing by allowing trap-assisted tunneling at energies higher than the valence-band edge in the source. In vertical heterojunction Tunnel-FETs, optical phonon scattering increases the OFF current by inducing inelastic transition in the overlap region even in the absence of traps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental-friendly hematite iron oxide (α-FeO) has important application prospects in the photocatalysis field owing to its narrow indirect band gap. Here, we report a band gap engineering of α-FeO by incorporation of electrochemically-generated atomic hydrogen at moderate conditions. The ultraviolet-visible spectra show the reduction of the α-FeO band gap after hydrogenation and the absorption region from 200-800 nm is enhanced, especially in the visible light region. First principles calculation reveals the mixing of the new hybrid energy level with the valence band top resulting in a decrease in the band gap of α-FeO. Further photocatalytic degradation experiments of dyes demonstrate that the photocatalytic efficiency of α-FeO can be greatly enhanced by the atomic hydrogen incorporation. The hydrogenated α-FeO can be easily recycled by magnets and has good photocatalytic stability. These findings offer possibilities for utilizing this inexpensive and earth-abundant oxide materials in the pollution controlling areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fault diagnosis plays an important role in complicated industrial process. It is a challenging task to detect, identify and locate faults quickly and accurately for large-scale process system. To solve the problem, a novel MultiBoost-based integrated ENN (extension neural network) fault diagnosis method is proposed. Fault data of complicated chemical process have some difficult-to-handle characteristics, such as high-dimension, non-linear and non-Gaussian distribution, so we use margin discriminant projection(MDP) algorithm to reduce dimensions and extract main features. Then, the affinity propagation (AP) clustering method is used to select core data and boundary data as training samples to reduce memory consumption and shorten learning time. Afterwards, an integrated ENN classifier based on MultiBoost strategy is constructed to identify fault types. The artificial data sets are tested to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method and make a detailed sensitivity analysis for the key parameters. Finally, a real industrial system-Tennessee Eastman (TE) process is employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. And the results show that the proposed method is efficient and capable to diagnose various types of faults in complicated chemical process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The control of gas fractionation unit (GFU) in petroleum industry is very difficult due to multivariable characteristics and a large time delay. PID controllers are still applied in most industry processes. However, the traditional PID control has been proven not sufficient and capable for this particular petro-chemical process. In this work, an incremental multivariable predictive functional control (IMPFC) algorithm was proposed with less online computation, great precision and fast response. An incremental transfer function matrix model was set up through the step-response data, and predictive outputs were deduced with the theory of single-value optimization. The results show that the method can optimize the incremental control variable and reject the constraint of the incremental control variable with the positional predictive functional control algorithm, and thereby making the control variable smoother. The predictive output error and future set-point were approximated by a polynomial, which can overcome the problem under the model mismatch and make the predictive outputs track the reference trajectory. Then, the design of incremental multivariable predictive functional control was studied. Simulation and application results show that the proposed control strategy is effective and feasible to improve control performance and robustness of process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To study whether Tongxinluo (TXL) can induce angiogenesis in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and to investigate the underlying mechanism. Methods: Bone marrow MSCs were obtained from male Sprague-Dawley rats. We established an angiogenesis model in vitro via matrigel experiment. MSCs were seeded on matrigel coated 24-well plates, and treated by TXL 50 and 100 mg/L. After 24 h, we observed the tube formations of MSCs in the matrigel. Cell migration ability was examined by wound scratch test and transwell assay. Expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fetal liver kinase-1 (Flk-1), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-9, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) were analyzed at the protein level by Western blot. Gelatin zymography assay was applied to investigating the MSC paracrine abilities of pro-MMP-2 and activated MMP-2. Results: TXL promoted MSC tube formation in matrigel. The ratio of TXL 100 mg/L treated-MSC tubular length was increased 3.04-fold compared to the control group ( P<0.05). Scratch test and transwell assay showed that TXL could improve the cell migration ability of MSCs. Western blot experiments showed that TXL promoted MSC synthesis of MMP-2, but it had no influence on the expressions of MMP-9 and TIMP-2. This effect was confirmed by gelatin zymography assay, which showed that TXL increased MSC secretion of pro-MMP-2 and activated MMP-2. VEGF expression of TXL treated-MSCs was increased compared to the control group. The expression of Flk-1 was not different among the groups. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that TXL can promote the tube formation of MSCs, and the underlying mechanisms are associated with increased migration ability of MSCs and the up-regulation of MMP-2 and VEGF expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel estrogen receptor-α (ER-α) variant ER-α36 is reported to be functional in the estrogen signaling pathway and is related to tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer. However, ER-α36 tends to be a favorable factor for survival in patients without tamoxifen therapy. To investigate the mechanisms behind this paradox, we determined the differences between the transcriptional profiles of ER-α36 and full-length ER-α (ER-α66) in breast cancers and matched normal tissues. We analyzed ER-α36 and ER-α66 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in 74 pairs of breast cancers and matched normal tissues using a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, and correlated the results with their clinicopathological characteristics. Breast cancers expressed lower ER-α36 mRNA levels than matched normal tissues regardless of their ER-α66 expression status. Down-regulation of ER-α36 mRNA was correlated with local progression, lymph node metastasis, and advanced cancer stage. The level of ER-α66 mRNA was lower in ER-α negative breast cancers compared with matched normal tissues. No differences in ER-α66 mRNA levels were observed during cancer progression. Down-regulation of ER-ga36 is associated with carcinogenesis and progression of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrothermal experiments with ketones and formic acid showed that the hydrogen transfer reduction of ketones can be conducted using formic acid as a hydride donor in the presence of NaOH at 300 °C. The yield of alcohols was considerably higher at a much lower ratio of hydrogen source to ketones than the traditional Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley (MPV) reduction, reaching 60% for isopropanol from acetone and 70% for lactic acid from pyruvic acid. Water molecules may act as a catalyst in the hydrogen transfer reduction of ketones under hydrothermal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of MnO2 doping on the microstructure, densification, dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of (Na0.5K0.5)0.935Li0.065NbO3 (NKLN) lead-free piezoelectric ceramics were investigated. On the one hand, the addition of a small amount of MnO2 has little effect on the crystalline structure, however, slightly promotes sintering and grain growth, and improves the uniformity of microstructure to a certain degree. On the other hand, MnO2 doped NKLN ceramics show hard properties in piezoelectric activities, possessing decreased room-temperature dielectric constant, loss tangent and piezoelectric constants d 33, and increased mechanical quality factors Q m. The 1.2 mol% MnO2 doped NKLN ceramics have a loss tangent of approximately 1%, a Q m of ∼170 and a d 33 of 150 pC/N. These effects were considered to come from the formation of oxygen vacancies and the multi-valence states of Mn ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing our overwhelming dependence on fossil fuels requires groundbreaking innovations in increasing our efficiency in energy consumption for current technologies and moving towards renewable energy sources. Thermoelectric materials can help in achieving both goals. Moreover, because of recent advances in high-performance computing, researchers more increasingly rely on computational methods in discovering new thermoelectric materials with economically feasible performance. In this article, significant thermoelectric materials discovered through these computational methods are systematically reviewed. Furthermore, the primary computational tools that aid the design of the next-generation thermoelectric materials are introduced and discussed. These techniques include various levels of density functional theory, electronic transport simulations, and phonon calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High permeability and high permittivity are hard to be achieved simultaneously, either in single-phased materials or in composite materials, such as ferrite-ferroelectric ceramic composites and ferrite-metal percolative composites. In this work, ultra-low percolation threshold is achieved in NiZnCu ferrite-Ag cofired ceramics, which endows the composite with both high permeability and high permittivity by minimizing the negative effect of nonmagnetic conductive fillers on magnetic properties. The percolation threshold is controlled by the temperature matching between ferrite densification and Ag melting. A thin and long percolative net forms between large ferrite grains under a proper cofiring process, which brings a low percolation threshold of 1.21vol%, more than one order of magnitude lower than the theoretical value of 16vol%. Near the ultra-low threshold, the composite exhibits a high permeability of 585 and a high permittivity of 78. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]