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Abstract The genus Flavivirus comprises numerous emerging and re‐emerging arboviruses causing human illness. Vaccines are the best approach to prevent flavivirus diseases. But pathogen diversities are always one of the major hindrances for timely development of new vaccines when confronting unpredicted flavivirus outbreaks. We used West Nile virus (WNV) as a model to develop a new live‐attenuated vaccine (LAV), WNV‐poly(A), by replacing 5ʹ portion (corresponding to SL and DB domains in WNV) of 3ʹ‐UTR with internal poly(A) tract. WNV‐poly(A) not only propagated efficiently in Vero cells, but also was highly attenuated in mouse model. A single‐dose vaccination elicited robust and long‐lasting immune responses, conferring full protection against WNV challenge. Such “poly(A)” vaccine strategy may be promising for wide application in the development of flavivirus LAVs because of its general target regions in flaviviruses.

Purpose Vesicovaginal fstulae (VVF) have a signifcant negative impact on quality of life, with failed surgical repair resulting in ongoing morbidity. Our aim was to characterize the rate of VVF repair and repair failures over time, and to identify predictors of repair failure. Methods We completed a population-based, retrospective cohort study of all women who underwent VVF repair in Ontario, Canada, aged 18 and older between 2005 and 2018. Risk factors for repair failure were identifed using multivariable cox proportional hazard analysis; interrupted time series analysis was used to determine change in VVF repair rate over time. Results 814 patients underwent VVF repair. Of these, 117 required a second repair (14%). Mean age at surgery was 52 years (SD 15). Most patients had undergone prior gynecological surgery (68%), and 76% were due to iatrogenic injury. Most repairs were performed by urologists (60%). Predictors of VVF re-repair included iatrogenic injury etiology (HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.3–3.45, p=0.009), and endoscopic repair (HR 6.1, 95% CI 3.1–11.1, p<0.05,); protective factors included combined intra-abdominal/trans-vaginal repair (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.3–0.8, p=0.009), and surgeon years in practice (21+years—HR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3–0.9, p=0.005). Age adjusted annual rate of VVF repair (ranging from 0.8 to 1.58 per 100,000 women) and re-repair did not change over time. Conclusions VVF repair and re-repair rates remained constant between 2005 and 2018. Iatrogenic injury and endoscopic repair predicted repair failure; combined intra-abdominal/trans-vaginal repair, and surgeon years in practice were protective. This suggests surgeon experience may protect against VVF repair failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the signal transmission mechanism of the arbuscular mycorrhizal network against root rot of Salvia miltiorrhiza. In this experiment, the arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphal network was established among Salvia miltiorrhiza plants, and a two plant three-compartment culture model was established. The root of the donor Salvia miltiorrhiza was inoculated with the pathogenic fungi Fusarium solani. The changes of hormone signals such as jasmonic acid and salicylic acid and the expression of related defense genes in the recipient Salvia miltiorrhiza plants in different periods were measured, to study the underground disease resistance signal transmission mechanism among medicinal plants. Salvia miltiorrhiza can transmit the signal of resistance to root rot through the jasmonic acid pathway; When plants suffer from disease stress, the content of JA increases significantly, and the increase of JA content will inhibit the content of SA in plants; The gene expression of PR-10 gene in the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza with arbuscular mycorrhizal network infected by pathogenic fungi was 17.56 times higher than that inoculated only with pathogenic fungi; Changes in hormone content will also cause changes in the expression of related defense genes, such as SnRK2 is inhibited by ABA in the signal transduction pathway, while JA and ABA show antagonistic changes after inoculation of pathogenic fungi in Salvia miltiorrhiza, so JA may positively regulate the expression of SnRK2 gene. Plants can transmit signals through AM hyphal network after being stressed by the pathogen Fusarium solani. In the arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphal network, JA has important significance for the signal transmission of resistance to root rot and disease resistance of Salvia miltiorrhiza, which can make Salvia miltiorrhiza ready for stress resistance and improve the stress resistance of Salvia miltiorrhiza. This experiment is of great significance to further analyze the signal transmission mechanism of the arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphal network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To overcome the disadvantages of inhomogeneous microstructures and poor mechanical properties of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloys, a novel technique of hybrid deposition and synchronous micro-rolling is proposed. The micro-rolling leads to equiaxed prior β grains, thin discontinuous intergranular a, and equiaxed primary α, in contrast to the coarse columnar prior β grains without the application of micro-rolling. The recrystallization by micro-rolling results in discontinuous intergranular α via the mechanism of strain and interface-induced grain boundary migration. The evolution of α globularization, driven by a solute concentration gradient, starts from the sub-boundary until the formation of equiaxed primary α. Simultaneous strengthening and toughening are achieved, which means an increase in yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, fracture elongation, and work hardening rate. The formation of α recrystallization leads to more fine grain boundaries to strengthen the yield strength, and the improvement of ductility is due to the better-coordinated deformation ability of discontinuous intergranular α and equiaxed primary α. As a result, the fracture mode in micro-rolling changes from intergranular type to transgranular type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanolubricants are dispersed nano-scales solid particles in a base fluid. Due to high demand for higher efficiency in thermal application systems, nanolubricants is an ideal option to meet the particular demand. As the result a numerous scientist have been investigating to replace the base fluid in the vapor compression refrigeration (VCR) system with nanolubricants. This paper elaborates the major factors that influence the VCR system performance mechanism through thermal conductivity enhancement, solubility and homogenous solution, stability, viscosity and tribological improvement of nanolubricants, respectively. The two common methods in preparing nanolubricants are one-step and two-step method which have been discussed in this paper. The current development of nanolubricants and hybrid nanolubricants have been elaborated. The findings show that the viscosity and thermal conductivity escalated with the improved of nanolubricants volume concentration. The studies revealed that introducing nanoparticles into lubricant has a major effect in improving viscosity, thermal conductivity and tribological improvement that led to the improvement of heat transfer enhancement mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitellogenin (Vg) is an important factor that impacts oocyte maturation, egg formation and embryonic development in Arthropoda. Two orthologs of Vg gene were obtained from the genome of Phytoseiulus persimilis and termed as PpVg1 and PpVg2. Both orthologs belong to the large lipid transfer protein superfamily. The expression of PpVg1 and PpVg2 was low in immatures and male adults, and increased rapidly in female adults after mating, and reached a peak before the first egg was laid (168× and 20.5× the level in virgin females, respectively). When PpVg1 and PpVg2 were interfered with dsRNA, the relative expression decreased by 81.0 and 30.9%, respectively, and 7.8 and 31.4% interfered individuals died within 24 h. Among surviving individuals, ca. 51.1 and 44.8% are infertile. Factors that might be related to expression of Vg genes are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The effect of paraspinal muscles atrophy and fat infiltration (FI) on the complications of spinal surgery has not been established. Methods: A review of the literature was conducted from a search of the PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases from inception through January 2021. The literature was searched and assessed by independent reviewers based on criteria that included an assessment of preoperative paraspinal muscle morphology in addition to measuring its relationship to surgical complications. All relevant papers were assessed for risk of bias according to the modified Newcastle Ottawa Scale and the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools. A narrative synthesis was conducted. Results: The initial search yielded 5632 studies, of which 16 studies were included in the analysis. All included studies were at a low risk of bias. There existed strong evidence that the atrophy and FI of paraspinal muscles had an association with the development of bone nonunion (two high quality studies), pedicle screw loosening (two high quality studies), adjacent segment degeneration (three high quality studies) and proximal junctional kyphosis (five high quality studies) after lumbar surgery. Besides, there is also limited evidence for association between atrophy and FI of paraspinal extensor muscles and less local and global curve improvement. Conclusions: Strong evidence was found for an association between preoperative paraspinal muscle degeneration and multiple postoperative complications after lumbar surgery. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the small quantity of the available literature and high heterogeneity among studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study combined theoretical analysis, numerical simulation via FLAC3D software, innovative design, and field measurements for establishing the mechanical model of the stressed coal rock and deriving the deformation and failure characteristics of the roadway in a steep coal seam. The No. 49# steep-seam working face of the Xintie Coal Mine, China, was used as a case study with asymmetrical force characteristics of the mining roadway. The roof and the right side of the roadway under study were identified as the main deformation and failure zones in the roadway of the steep working face. Next, a rigid/flexible support method that fully enclosed two sides and the roof was designed and substantiated. It comprised three pre-stressed resin anchor cables combined with anchor rods, iron net, and steel bands for the roadway roof support; besides, three anchor rods were combined with iron net and steel bands for supporting the right side of the roadway. A novel self-mobile forepoling hydraulic support group with side and roof support functions was developed. A grouting reinforcement was applied to the crushed coal rock in the geologic anomaly zone to enhance the overall performance. Finally, the measured displacements of the roof and the floor were found to exceed those of the roadway sides. The whole advancing process of the steep-seam working face was conditionally split into three segments, namely, Segment I with no mining effect (at a distance over 50 m from the working face), Segment II with a mining effect (at 20 ~ 50 m from the working face), and Segment III with a strong mining effect (20 m in front of the working face). The displacement at the deepest point on the roof was the maximal, followed by that in the range of 0 ~ 1.5 m, which made it possible to reduce the number of anchors on the left side of the roadway required by the conventional symmetric support mode. The performed field measurements proved that the proposed asymmetric support mode ensured the mining safety requirements of the working face under normal mining operations, being more cost-effective and efficient than the conventional symmetric one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) forward modeling algorithm of surface-to-borehole transient electromagnetic (SBTEM) fields based on an unstructured vector finite-element method to analyze the characteristics of SBTEM responses for complex geoelectrical models. To solve the double-curl diffusion equation for the electric field, we use an unstructured tetrahedral mesh to discretize the model domain and select the unconditionally stable backward Euler scheme to discretize the time derivative. In our numerical experiments, we use a grounded wire as a transmitting source. After validating the algorithm's effectiveness, we first analyze the diffusion characteristics and detectability of the electromagnetic field. After that, we focus our attention on the distribution and the cause of zero bands for Ex and dBy/dt components with the hope of guiding future field surveys. Finally, by simulating different models, we analyze the capability of the SBTEM method in detecting typical mineral veins so that we can provide a reference for mineral resource exploration in the deep earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the optimal methods for the protoplast preparation and regeneration of Hirsutella sinensis by optimizing the limiting factors. Results: During the treatment of enzymatic protoplast preparation, mycelium cultured for 7 days was the optimal start material. The maximum protoplast preparation rate of 4.3 × 107 protoplasts/g fresh weight (FW) was obtained after 0.5 h treatment of 1 mg/ml mixed lytic enzymes in KH2PO4-K2HPO4 buffer (pH 5.5) with 0.6 M KCl at 18 °C. As for the protoplast regeneration, the maximum protoplast regeneration rate reached 12.32% through 5 × 103 protoplasts mL−1 cultivated for 20 days in the regeneration medium with 0.6 M mannitol and 1.5% agar. Conclusions: The preparation and regeneration of H. sinensis protoplasts was firstly established based on process optimization and it provided a foundation for the study of H. sinensis mutagenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active fluids comprised of autonomous spinning units injecting energy and angular momentum at the microscopic level represent a promising platform for active materials design. The complexity of the accessible dynamic states is expected to dramatically increase in the case of chiral active units. Here, we use shape anisotropy of colloidal particles to introduce chiral rollers with activity-controlled curvatures of their trajectories and spontaneous handedness of their motion. By controlling activity through variations of the energizing electric field, we reveal emergent dynamic phases, ranging from a gas of spinners to aster-like vortices and rotating flocks, with either polar or nematic alignment of the particles. We demonstrate control and reversibility of these dynamic states by activity. Our findings provide insights into the onset of spatial and temporal coherence in a broad class of active chiral systems, both living and synthetic, and hint at design pathways for active materials based on self-organization and reconfigurability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first report on the coating of diamond dicing blades with metallic glass (MG) coating to reduce chipping when used to cut Si, SiC, sapphire, and patterned sapphire substrates (PSS). The low coefficient-of-friction (CoF) of Zr-based MG-coated dicing blades was shown to reduce the number and size of chips, regardless of the target substrate. Overall, SiC, sapphire and PSS were most affected by chipping, due to the fact that higher cutting forces were needed for the higher hardness of SiC, sapphire and PSS. Compared to the bare blade, the MG coating provided the following reductions in chipping area: Si (~ 23%), SiC (~ 36%), sapphire (~ 45%), and PSS (~ 33%). The proposed coating proved particularly effective in reducing chips of larger size (> 41 µm in chipping width), as indicated by an ~ 80% reduction when cutting sapphire. Small variations in kerf angle and depth demonstrate the durability of the coated blades, which would no doubt enhance consistency in dicing performance and extend the blade lifespan. Finite-element modeling revealed significant reductions in tensile stress and elastic–plastic deformation during dicing, thanks to a lower CoF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigated the effect of thermal-treatment under an Ar atmosphere on the structural evolution of silicon oxycarbide-derived carbons (SiOC-DCs) by adjusting the temperature from 1200 to 2100°C , which will be characterized by means of N2 adsorption, X-ray diffraction, Raman and transmission electron microscopy techniques, and studied their CO2 capture performances. The results show that the structure of SiOC-DCs varied regularly with treatment temperature. The porosity and crystallinity of the as-received sample are almost stable when the thermal-treatment temperature is < 1500°C . Subsequently, increasing the temperature (especially up to 1800°C ) will lead to an obvious improvement in the carbon crystallinity at the cost of pore structure breakage, which can be characterized by a quick decrease in the surface area and total pore volume of SiOC-DCs. Interestingly, the as-received SiOC-DC sample exhibits good CO2 capture performance at 0°C under ambient pressure, up to 3.16 mmol g–1. The thermal-treatment process under an Ar atmosphere in the range of 1200–1500°C could further help in increasing the CO2 adsorption ability by increasing the ultra-micropore ( d < 0.6 nm ) volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most relevant tasks of modern agriculture is developing and implementing fundamentally new, available, environmentally safe "nature-like" technologies, providing a "sink" of carbon or a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in all the agricultural landscapes, including those engaged in rice cultivation. In field trials conducted in Hunan province (China), the influence of silicon fertilizers on CO2 sequestration by rice plant roots was estimated. Its value depends on the content of available silicon in agrochemicals, on frequency and duration of their use, and on soil texture. The data obtained indicate the important role of silicon fertilizers in the processes of carbon sequestration and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in rice cultivation. Their application results in increased crop yields by 12.1–71.2% and increased CO2 sequestration by plant roots by 0.95–14.9 t ha–1 in one season. Soil carbon recovery and soil fertility reproduction can be ensured by intensive development of the plant root system and by an increase in root residues' mass after harvest. Agrochemicals containing silicon available for plants should be included in the 4R-strategy for mineral nutrition of agricultural crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Myxobolus species and a Thelohanellus species infecting Carassius auratus gibelio (Bloch, 1782) were redescribed by their morphological, histological and molecular characterization. In the present study, the Myxobolus species infecting the muscle was identified as Myxobolus kingchowensis Chen et Ma, 1998 by the morphological and molecular data. Histologically, mature spores of M. kingchowensis were observed in the intercellular and connective tissue of muscle, though the plasmodia were not found. In addition, scattered spores also occurred in the intercellular of haematopoietic cells, intraepithelial of the renal tubules and interior of the melano-macrophage centres. Phylogenetic analysis showed that M. kingchowensis clustered in the clade of muscle-infecting Myxobolus species, further supporting muscle as the infection site of M. kingchowensis. The present Thelohanellus species infecting the gills was identified conspecific as Thelohanellus sinensis reported in Sun (2006) (mark it as T. sinensis-Sun) based on spore morphology, biological traits (host specificity and organ specificity), and molecular data. However, compared with the original description of T. sinensis Chen et Hsieh, 1960, the present Thelohanellus species and T. sinensis-Sun both infecting the gills of gibel carp are distinguishable from the original description in the host and infection site, which made the validity of T. sinensis-Sun dubious. Due to the absence of molecular data in the original description of T. sinensis, we suggest marking the present species and T. sinensis-Sun as T. cf. sinensis to avoid the confusion until T. sinensis is obtained from the type host and type infection site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Hi-C technology is one of the most popular tools for studying 3D genome organization, due to sequencing cost, the resolution of most Hi-C datasets are coarse and cannot be used to link distal regulatory elements to their target genes. Here we develop HiCPlus, a computational approach based on deep convolutional neural network, to infer high-resolution Hi-C interaction matrices from low-resolution Hi-C data. We demonstrate that HiCPlus can impute interaction matrices highly similar to the original ones, while only using 1/16 of the original sequencing reads. We show that the models learned from one cell type can be applied to make predictions in other cell or tissue types. Our work not only provides a computational framework to enhance Hi-C data resolution but also reveals features underlying the formation of 3D chromatin interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical methods for category (yes/no) forecasts, such as the Threat Score, are typically used in the verification of precipitation forecasts. However, these standard methods are affected by the so-called "double-penalty" problem caused by slight displacements in either space or time with respect to the observations. Spatial techniques have recently been developed to help solve this problem. The fractions skill score (FSS), a neighborhood spatial verification method, directly compares the fractional coverage of events in windows surrounding the observations and forecasts. We applied the FSS to hourly precipitation verification by taking hourly forecast products from the GRAPES (Global/Regional Assimilation Prediction System) regional model and quantitative precipitation estimation products from the National Meteorological Information Center of China during July and August 2016, and investigated the difference between these results and those obtained with the traditional category score. We found that the model spin-up period affected the assessment of stability. Systematic errors had an insignificant role in the fraction Brier score and could be ignored. The dispersion of observations followed a diurnal cycle and the standard deviation of the forecast had a similar pattern to the reference maximum of the fraction Brier score. The coefficient of the forecasts and the observations is similar to the FSS; that is, the FSS may be a useful index that can be used to indicate correlation. Compared with the traditional skill score, the FSS has obvious advantages in distinguishing differences in precipitation time series, especially in the assessment of heavy rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The understanding of relationships between the plants and environmental variables is important for ecological restoration. The objective of this research was to investigate the controlling soil factor in plant growth and salt tolerance of leguminous plant Alhagi sparsifolia Shap. (A. sparsifolia) in a saline desert ecosystem of western China. Results showed that coverage of A. sparsifolia was positively linked to soil total K. A. sparsifolia accumulated the toxic Na+ in either roots or stems and thus reduced their allocation in the leaves to adapt the salt stress. The most important factor that determined Na+ uptake of A. sparsifolia was soil total K content, which suggests that total K can alleviate toxic Na+ accumulation in A. sparsifolia. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation among toxic Cl- concentration in A. sparsifolia, soil total K and pH. Overall, soil total K accounted for 18.2% of plant growth and salt tolerance of A. sparsifolia, followed by soil pH 13.1%, and soil total P 11.6%. In order to restore A. sparsifolia in the degraded desert ecosystems on salinized soil, first we need to consider the effects of soil total K, and then synergistically consider the soil pH and total P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean sprouts, a traditional vegetable in Asia, are gaining popularity in the United States. Soybean sprout demand has been supplied by natto (a Japanese soyfood) cultivars that share some seed characteristics with sprout cultivars. However, natto seeds do not meet all requirements of sprouts and are rejected by sprout manufacturers. The objectives of this study were to evaluate important seed and sprout traits as potential selection criteria in breeding sprout soybeans and to study the storage effect on soybean sprout quality. Almost all genotypes produced thicker and longer hypocotyls and higher fresh-sprouts than ‘MFS-561’, a commercial soybean sprout variety. Hypocotyl length ranged from 13.8 to 16.2 cm. Four fungi genera Bipolarissp., Cercospora sp., Botrytissp. and Caethomium sp. were isolated from seeds. Cracked cotyledons and abnormal seedlings were the two main constraints affecting soybean sprout quality. Correlation coefficients among all traits indicated that percentage and weight of high- and average-quality sprouts would determine sprout yield. Acceptable yield and several traits were recommended to be used simultaneously while breeding superior sprout soybean cultivars. Good sprout varieties should produce high-quality sprouts [48%, average-quality sprouts\38%, low-quality sprouts\14%, sprout yield [5.7 g/g seed, hypocotyl thickness [1.6 cm and hypocotyl length [13 cm. One-year seed storage at room temperature reduced sprout quality. V09-3876 and V12-1939 had superior seed and sprout traits and are promising lines for further evaluation for sprout production. Seed storage over time affects seed germination and seedling vigor, and fungi on seed can cause reduced seed quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solid-liquid method was used to prepare the continuous casting of copper cladding aluminium by liquid aluminum alloy and solid copper, and the interfacial phase formation of Al-Cu bimetal at different pouring temperatures (700, 750, 800 °C) was investigated by means of metallograph, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) methods. The results showed that the pouring temperature of aluminum melt had an important influence on the element diffusion of Cu from the solid Cu to Al alloy melt and the reactions between Al and Cu, as well as the morphology of the Al-Cu interface. When the pouring temperature was 800 °C, there were abundant Al-Cu intermetallic compounds (IMCs) near the interface. However, a lower pouring temperature (700 °C) resulted in the formation of cavities which was detrimental to the bonding and mechanical properties. Under the conditions in this study, the good metallurgical bonding of Al-Cu was achieved at a pouring temperature of 750 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron is generally regarded as an unavoidable impurity in Al-Si casting alloys. The acicular Al3Fe and β-Al5FeSi (or Al9Si2Fe2) are common iron-containing intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in conventional structure which have a detrimental impact on the mechanical properties. In this paper, ultrasonic field (USF) was applied to modify acicular iron phases in Al-12%Si-2%Fe and Al-2%Fe alloys. The results show that the USF applied to Al-Fe alloys caused the morphological transformation of both primary and eutectic Al3Fe from acicular to blocky and granular without changes in their composition. In the case of Al-Si-Fe alloys, ultrasonic treatment led to both morphological and compositional conversion of the ternary iron IMCs. When the USF was applied, the acicular β-Al9Si2Fe2 was substituted by star-like α-Al12Si2Fe3. The modification rate of both binary and ternary iron IMCs relates to the USF treatment duration. The undercooling induced by the ultrasonic vibration contributes to the nucleation of intermetallics and can explain the transformation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Currently, the available treatments for long bone nonunion (LBN) are removing of focus of infection, bone marrow transplantation as well as Ilizarov methods etc. Due to a high percentage of failures, the treatments are complex and debated. To develop an effective method for the treatment of LBN, we explored the use of human autologous bone mesenchymal stems cells (hBMSCs) along with extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT). Materials and Methods: Sixty three patients of LBN were subjected to ESWT treatment and were divided into hBMSCs transplantation group (Group A, 32 cases) and simple ESWT treatment group (Group B, 31 cases). Results: The patients were evaluated for 12 months after treatment. In Group A, 14 patients were healed and 13 showed an improvement, with fracture healing rate 84.4%. In Group B, eight patients were healed and 13 showed an improvement, with fracture healing rate 67.7%. The healing rates of the two groups exhibited a significant difference (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference for the callus formation after 3 months treatment (P > 0.05). However, the callus formation in Group>0.05). A was significantly higher than that in the Group B after treatment for 6, 9, and 12 months (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Autologous bone mesenchymal stems cell transplantation with ESWT can effectively promote the healing of long bone nonunions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike existing pulse-width modulation (PWM) techniques, such as sinusoidal PWM and random PWM, the wavelet PWM (WPWM) technique based on a Harr wavelet function can achieve a high fundamental component for the output voltage, low total harmonic distortion, and simple digital implementation. However, the original WPWM method lacks output voltage control. Thus, the practical application of the WPWM technique is limited. This study proposes an improved WPWM technique that can regulate output voltage amplitude with the addition of a parameter. The relationship between the additional parameter and the output voltage amplitude is analyzed in detail. Experimental results verify that the improved WPWM exhibits output voltage control in addition to all the merits of the WPWM technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wavelet PWM (WPWM) technique has been applied in two-level inverters successfully, but directly applying the WPWM technique to three-level inverters is impossible. This paper proposes a WPWM technique suitable for a single-phase three-level inverter. The work analyzes the control strategy with the WPWM and obtains the design of its parameters. Compared with the SPWM technique for a single-phase three-level inverter under the same conditions, the WPWM can obtain high magnitudes of the output fundamental frequency component, low total harmonic distortion, and simpler digital implementation. The feasibility experiment is given to verify of the proposed WPWM technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether atrial overexpression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) by homogeneous transmural atrial gene transfer can reverse atrial remodeling and its mechanisms in a canine atrial-pacing model. Twenty-eight mongrel dogs were randomly divided into four groups: Sham-operated, AF-control, gene therapy with adenovirus-enhanced green fluorescent protein (Ad-EGFP) and gene therapy with Ad-ACE2 (Ad-ACE2) (n = 7 per subgroup). AF was induced in all dogs except the Sham-operated group by rapid atrial pacing at 450 beats/min for 2 weeks. Ad-EGFP and Ad-ACE2 group then received epicardial gene painting. Three weeks after gene transfer, all animals except the Sham group underwent rapid atrial pacing for another 3 weeks and then invasive electrophysiological, histological and molecular studies. The Ad-ACE2 group showed an increased ACE2 and Angiotensin-(1–7) expression, and decreased Angiotensin II expression in comparison with Ad-EGFP and AF-control group. ACE2 overexpression attenuated rapid atrial pacing-induced increase in activated extracellular signal-regulated kinases and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) levels, and decrease in MAPK phosphatase 1(MKP-1) level, resulting in attenuation of atrial fibrosis collagen protein markers and transforming growth factor-b1. Additionally, ACE2 overexpression also modulated the tachypacing-induced up-regulation of connexin 40, down-regulation of connexin 43 and Kv4.2, and significantly decreased the inducibility and duration of AF. ACE2 overexpression could shift the renin–angiotensin system balance towards the protective axis, attenuate cardiac fibrosis remodeling associated with up-regulation of MKP-1 and reduction of MAPKs activities, modulate tachypacing-induced ion channels and connexin remodeling, and subsequently reduce the inducibility and duration of AF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural, vibrational, and electronic properties of GaAs nanowires have been studied in the metastable wurtzite phase via Resonant Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements in diamond anvil cells under hydrostatic conditions between 0 and 23 GPa. The direct band gap E0 and the crystal field split-off gap E0 + Δ of wurtzite GaAs increase with pressure and their values become close to those of zinc-blende GaAs at 5 GPa, while being reported slightly larger at lower pressures. Above 21 GPa, a complete structural transition from the wurtzite to an orthorhombic phase is observed in both Raman and X-ray diffraction experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by Taichi, we proposed rigid-flexible coupling concept and herein developed a highly promising solid polymer electrolyte comprised of poly (ethylene oxide), poly (cyano acrylate), lithium bis(oxalate)borate and robust cellulose nonwoven. Our investigation revealed that this new class solid polymer electrolyte possessed comprehensive properties in high mechanical integrity strength, sufficient ionic conductivity (3 × 10-4 S cm-1) at 60°C and improved dimensional thermostability (up to 160°C). In addition, the lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4)/lithium (Li) cell using such solid polymer electrolyte displayed superior rate capacity (up to 6 C) and stable cycle performance at 80°C. Furthermore, the LiFePO4/Li battery could also operate very well even at an elevated temperature of 160°C, thus improving enhanced safety performance of lithium batteries. The use of this solid polymer electrolyte mitigates the safety risk and widens the operation temperature range of lithium batteries. Thus, this fascinating study demonstrates a proof of concept of the use of rigid-flexible coupling solid polymer electrolyte toward practical lithium battery applications with improved reliability and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the Han nationality is China's main ethnic group and also the most populous nation in the world. This is a great resource to study microsatellite mutations and for the study of ethnogeny. The aim of this study is to investigate the genetic polymorphisms and mutations of 22 autosomal STR loci in 2475 individuals from Henan province, China. DNA is amplified and genotyped using PowerPlex™24 system. The gene frequencies, forensic parameters, and the mutation rate of the 22 STR loci are analyzed. A total of 295 alleles are observed in this Henan Han population, and the allelic frequencies ranged from 0.0003 to 0.5036. In order to investigate the genetic relationships between the Henan Han and the other 14 different populations, our present data were compared with previously published data for the same 15 STR loci. The results indicated that the Henan Han had closer genetic relationships the groups including Minnan Han, Maonan, Yi and Guangdong Han groups while the South morocco population, the Moroccan population, the Malay group, and the Uigur stand away from Henan Han. Except of D2S441, D13S317, PentaE, D2S1338, D5S818, TPOX and D19S433, the mutation events are found in the other 15 STR loci. A total of 40 mutation events are observed in the 15 STR loci. The mutation rates are ranged from 0 to 4.85 × 10. In this study, 39 mutations are single-step mutations, and only one at FGA comprised two steps. STR mutation is commonly existed in paternity testing, while there are no STR mutation studies of the 22 STR loci in the Henan Han population. It is of great importance in forensic individual discrimination and paternal testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of magnetite from slags plays an important role in many metallurgical operations. It has been found that the losses of copper metals generally increase with the increasing magnetite content in the slag. The main objective of the current article was to study the reduction process of iron oxides by mixed CO-CH-Ar gas from commercial copper slags. The magnetite content decreased gradually, while fayalite phase increased during the reduction process. The reduction rates of the oxides were found to be of the first-order kinetics. The rate-limiting step was the interfacial mass transfer between the gas and liquid phase which fitted the penetration model. The effects of reduction temperature and injection gas flow on the deoxidation rate are also mentioned in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supercapacitors, as one of alternative energy devices, have been characterized by the rapid rate of charging and discharging, and high power density. But they are now challenged to achieve their potential energy density that is related to specific capacitance. Thus it is extremely important to make such materials with high specific capacitances. In this report, we have gained homogenous Ni(OH)2 on graphene by efficiently using of a facile and effective electrostatic induced stretch growth method. The electrostatic interaction triggers advantageous change in morphology and the ordered stacking of Ni(OH)2 nanosheets on graphene also enhances the crystallization of Ni(OH)2. When the as-prepared Ni(OH)2/graphene composite is applied to supercapacitors, they show superior electrochemical properties including high specific capacitance (1503 F g-1 at 2 mV s-1) and excellent cycling stability up to 6000 cycles even at a high scan rate of 50 mV s-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]