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The recent trend of combining perovskite with other materials to enhance optoelectronic performance has garnered significant interest. In this paper, MAPb0.9Sn0.1I3 and ZnO–MAPb0.9Sn0.1I3 photodetector were prepared by frequency magnetron sputtering and sol–gel spin-coating method. Hybrid heterojunction photodetectors have more beneficial optoelectronic performance compared to MAPb0.9Sn0.1I3 photodetector, due to the presence of built-in electric fields, which can suppress the recombination of electrons and holes. At 7 V bias conditions, the responsivities of MAPb0.9Sn0.1I3 photodetector were 0.022 and 0.015 A/W, and the responsivities of ZnO–MAPb0.9Sn0.1I3 photodetector were 0.39 and 0.99 A/W obtained under 350 and 850 nm illumination, respectively. The maximum external quantum efficiency reaches 144.47%, the detection rate was 5.53 × 1011 Jones and the light to dark ratio was 2.95 × 103 of ZnO–MAPb0.9Sn0.1I3 photodetector. This study provides a basis for the preparation of perovskite heterojunction photodetectors with high optoelectronic performance. High performance UV–vis–NIR photodetectors based on ZnO/organic–inorganic hybrid Sn–Pb hybrid perovskite heterojunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient conversion of various low-cost substrates into lipid is pivotal for better techno-economics of the microbial lipid technology. In this study, lipid production by Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosum from glucose, glycerol, and their mixture at various mass ratios was investigated. Co-existence of glucose and glycerol rendered higher lipid productivity and yield, supporting synergetic effects of the two agents. Interestingly, the theoretical lipid yield was not improved through combination utilization of glucose and glycerol based on the prediction using a small-scale metabolic model. The synergy was probably owing to the improvement of substrate transportation efficiency through simultaneous assimilation of glucose and glycerol. When waste paper enzymatic hydrolysates and crude glycerol were co-utilized, lipid content, yield, and productivity attained 62.3%, 18.9 g/100 g, and 4.1 g/L/d, separately. The lipid samples showed fatty acid compositions comparable to that of rapeseed oil. The prediction of biodiesel properties demonstrated the feasibility for high-quality fuel production. These results showed that the co-fermentation strategy could serve as an efficient way to advance microbial lipid production, which has bright prospects expanding to low-cost substrates including cellulosic biomass and crude glycerol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Previous studies disclosed that a high thyroid stimulating hormone level is an independent risk factor for diabetes peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, whether thyroid metabolism has an effect on DPN in euthyroid T2DM patients remains unknown. The aim of this study was to identify the association between thyroid function and DPN in euthyroid T2DM patients. A set of 580 euthyroid T2DM patients was enrolled in the current study and stratified into DPN and Non-DPN groups. Mann–Whitney U test was performed to analyze the continuous variables of biochemical and thyroid metabolism indicators, and the Chi-square test was used to compare the categorical variables. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between clinical indicators and free thyroxine (FT4). By using the logistic regression analysis, the prevalence of DPN in different thyroid function indicators were evaluated. T2DM patients with DPN had obviously lower levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alpha-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase (α-HBDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), calcium (Ca), creatinine (Cr), uric acid (UA), retinol binding protein (RBP), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and FT4 than the T2DM patients without DPN (P < 0.05). FT4 was associated with TP, prealbumin (PA), ALB, SOD, anion gap (AG), Ca, chlorine (Cl), UA, RBP, apoprotein A (Apo A), apoprotein B (Apo B), apoprotein E (Apo E), and total cholesterol (TC). According to the FT4 quartile, participants were sequentially divided into four groups to compare the prevalence of DPN between each group. The data suggested that the prevalence of DPN in these four groups was 53.79%, 53.28%, 54.97%, 38.10%, respectively. Moreover, compared with quartile 4, patients in quartile 1, 2, 3 all had a significantly higher risk of DPN (P = 0.007, P = 0.011, P = 0.004). The level of FT4 was negatively correlated with the prevalence of DPN in euthyroid T2DM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction of asymmetric units into conjugated polymers is an important strategy to regulate the photophysical and electronic properties of polymers, as asymmetric units can not only regulate solubility and energy levels, but also molecular stacking and orientation, thus giving much higher optoelectronic properties. However, very few studies have been reported in this field. The semiconducting properties of conjugated polymers could be regulated through regioregularity adjustment. Here, we took the asymmetric thiophene/pyridine side group DPP as core and developed the regioregular monomer T-Py-DPP through three steps: alkyl chain introduction, tin monomer coupling and NBS double bromination. The T-Py-DPP monomer was polymerized into reg-PPyTDPP-2FBT with a head-to-head structure. The regioregularity of T-Py-DPP unit endowed reg-PPyTDPP-2FBT with backbone planarity, self-assembly orientation, network-like morphology and high crystallinity in films, thus the superior bipolar transport properties. The highest hole and electron mobilities of reg-PPyTDPP-2FBT were 0.93 and 0.57 cm2·V−1·s−1, respectively, with 40% improvement relative to the regiorandom polymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: PE is a pregnancy-specific syndrome and one of the main causes of maternal, fetal, and neonatal mortality. PRDX1 is an antioxidant that regulates cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of PRDX1 on the regulation of trophoblast function by affecting autophagy and oxidative stress in preeclampsia. Methods: Western blotting, RT-qPCR, and immunofluorescence were used to examine the expression of PRDX1 in placentas. PRDX1-siRNA was transfected to knockdown PRDX1 in HTR-8/SVneo cells. The biological function of HTR-8/SVneo cells was detected by wound healing, invasion, tube formation, CCK-8, EdU, flow cytometry, and TUNEL assays. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression of cleaved-Caspase3, Bax, LC3II, Beclin1, PTEN, and p-AKT. DCFH-DA staining was used to detect ROS levels by flow cytometry. Results: PRDX1 was significantly decreased in placental trophoblasts in PE patients. Following the exposure of HTR-8/SVneo cells to H2O2, PRDX1 expression was significantly decreased, LC3II and Beclin1 expression was notably increased, and ROS level was also markedly increased. PRDX1 knockdown impaired migration, invasion, and tube-formation abilities and promoted apoptosis, which was accompanied by an increased expression of cleaved-Caspase3 and Bax. PRDX1 knockdown induced a significant decrease in LC3II and Beclin1 expression, along with an elevated p-AKT expression and a decreased PTEN expression. PRDX1 knockdown increased intracellular ROS levels, and NAC attenuated PRDX1 knockdown-induced apoptosis. Conclusion: PRDX1 regulated trophoblast function through the PTEN/AKT signaling pathway to affect cell autophagy and ROS level, which provided a potential target for the treatment of PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the problems that existing bearing fault diagnosis methods cannot adaptively select features and are difficult to deal with noise interference, an end-to-end fault diagnosis method is proposed based on attention CNN and BiLSTM (ACNN-BiLSTM). In the proposed method, the raw vibration acceleration signal of the bearing is taken as the input, the short-term spatial features are extracted through a one-dimensional wide convolutional neural network, and the batch normalization algorithm is used to improve the stability of the data distribution. Following, a convolutional block attention module is introduced to redistribute the weights between different feature dimensions, enhancing the model's attention to important features. Finally, the attention-weighted features are sent to BiLSTM for further feature extraction, and the softmax classifier is used for fault diagnosis. The proposed method is compared with advanced algorithms such as WCNN-BiGRU on the CWRU public dataset. The experimental results show that ACNN-BiLSTM has the highest accuracy, recall, and F1-Measure. Even under the extreme noise interference condition of SNR = 10 dB, ACNN-BiLSTM can achieve a diagnostic accuracy of 96.58%. In addition, the proposed method is also used for fault diagnosis of bearing measured data of the VALENIAN-PT500 test bench. The results show that the average diagnostic accuracy of ACNN-BiLSTM is up to 99.79%, which has strong generality and is superior to other advanced comparison methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing high-activity and low-cost catalysts is the key to eliminate the limitation of sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during electrocatalytic overall water splitting. Herein, Ni–Fe/black phosphorous (BP) composites are synthesized using a simple three-electrode system, where exfoliation of bulky BP and synthesis of NiFe composites are simultaneously achieved. Under light illumination, the optimized Ni–Fe/BP composite exhibits excellent photoelectrocatalytic OER performance (e.g., the overpotential is 58 mV lower than a commercial RuO2 electrocatalyst at a current density of 10 mA·cm−2). The electron transfer on this composite is proved to follow a Ni–BP–Fe pathway. The electronic structure of this Ni–Fe/BP composite is effectively regulated, leading to optimized adsorption strength of the intermediate OH* and improved intrinsic activity for the OER. Together with active sites on the support, this Ni–Fe/BP composite possesses abundant electrochemical active sites and a bug surface area for the OER. The introduction of light further accelerates the electrocatalytic OER. This work provides a novel and facile method to synthesize high-performance metal/BP composites as well as the approaches to reveal their OER mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly active, stable, and cut-price (photo-)electrocatalysts are desired to overwhelm high energy barriers for anodic oxygen evolution reaction processes. Herein, a heterostructure of cobalt-iron oxide/black phosphorus nanosheets is in-situ synthesized via a facile and novel three-electrode electrolysis method. Bulky black phosphorus is exfoliated into its nanosheets at the cathode while the CoFe oxide is derived directly from the metal wire anode during the electrolysis process. This heterostructure exhibits excellent electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance, and the overpotential at 10 mA·cm−2 is 51 mV lower than that of the commercial RuO2 catalyst. Its superior OER performance stems from the favorable adsorption behavior and an enlarged electrochemical active surface area of the catalyst. To reveal the origin of excellent OER performance from the point of adsorption strength of OH*, methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) test is applied under the identified OER operating conditions. Further introduction of light illumination enhances the OER activity of this heterostructure. The overpotential drops down to 280 mV, benefiting from pronounced photochemical response of black phosphorus nanosheets and iron oxide inside the heterostructure. This work develops a new electrochemical method to construct high performance and light-sensitive heterostructures from black phosphorus nanosheets for the OER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct bioconversion of high concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) into microbial lipid is challenging due to the aggravated cytotoxicity of VFAs at high loadings. Herein, a robust oleaginous yeast Trichosporon cutaneum was screened for lipogenesis from high concentration of VFAs using a regular batch culture. Biomass and lipid content of 8.9 g/L and 49.1%, respectively, were attained from 50 g/L acetic acid with 90.9% of which assimilated within 10 days. The blend of VFAs (50 g/L), with mass ratio of acetic, propionic, and butyric acids of 6:3:1, was found superior to acetic acid for lipogenesis. Biomass and lipid titer increased by 16.9% and 18.2%, respectively, with the three VFAs completely consumed within 8 days. Butyric acid was assimilated simultaneously with acetic acid at the beginning of the culture. Heptadecanoic acid (C17:0) and heptadecenoic acid (C17:1) were produced when propionic acid co-existed with acetic and butyric acids. The estimation of biodiesel properties indicated that lipid prepared from VFA blend showed superiority to acetic acid for high-quality biodiesel production. This study strongly supported that T. cutaneum permitted high concentration of VFA mixture for lipid production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High performance is essential for the polyamide (PA) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes during the desalination process. Herein, RO membranes with high permselectivity and anti-biofouling properties were fabricated by nanoparticles incorporation and anti-biofouling grafting. Hydrotalcite (HT) incorporation was performed with a dual role, enhancing water flux and acting as grafting sites. The HT incorporation increased the water flux without sacrificing the salt rejection, compensating for the loss caused by the following grafting reaction. The exposed surface of HT acted as grafting sites for anti-biofouling agent dimethyloctadecyl[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ammonium chloride (DMOTPAC). The combination of HT incorporation and DMOTPAC grafting endowed RO membranes with high permselectivity and anti-biofouling properties. The water flux of the modified membrane PA-HT-0.06 was 49.8 L/m2·h, which was 16.4% higher than that of the pristine membrane. The salt rejection of PA-HT-0.06 was 99.1%, which was comparable to that of the pristine membrane. As to the fouling of negatively charged lysozyme, the modified membrane's water flux recovery was superior to that of the pristine membrane (e.g. 86.8% of PA-HT-0.06 compared to 78.2% of PA-pristine). The sterilization rates of PA-HT-0.06 for E. coli and B. subtilis were 97.3% and 98.7%, much higher than those of the pristine membrane (24.0% for E. coli and 26.7% for B. subtilis). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to reveal the effects of cadmium (Cd) on ultrastructural changes, oxidative stress, and transcriptome expression in the kidneys of laying hens. Seventy-two healthy Hy-Line brown laying hens at 41 weeks old were randomly allocated to four treatment groups with six replicates. The control group received a basal diet without additional Cd incorporation, and the other three treatment groups received diets supplemented with 15, 30, or 60 mg Cd /kg of feed. After 6 weeks of exposure, the results show that administration of 60 mg/kg Cd significantly reduced (P < 0.05) eggshell thickness. With an increase in the Cd concentration in feed, the concentrations of renal Zn and Fe also had changed. Renal histopathology and ultrastructure also showed aggravated damage to glomeruli and renal tubules and the deformation of nuclei and mitochondria in all Cd treatment groups. With an increase in Cd in feed, the activity of glutathione peroxide (GPX) and catalase (CAT) was significantly reduced (P < 0.05), while the activity of total antioxidant capacity (T –AOC) was decreased (P < 0.05) only in the 60 mg/kg Cd group. RNA-seq analysis revealed that 410 genes displayed differential expression (≥ 1.5-fold) in the 60 mg/kg supplementation group, compared to the control group. GO and KEGG pathway analysis results showed that Cd affected many genes involved in mitochondria and ion transport. In conclusion, this study elaborates the mechanisms underlying renal toxicity caused by Cd, which might provide target candidate genes for alleviating Cd poisoning in laying hens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A green modification method for effectively enhancing toughness of PLA was established. Herein, alkaline lignin (LG) was firstly alkylated with dodecane, and then grafted with lactide (LA). The alkylated lignin-lactide graft copolymer (GLG-g-LA) was obtained via ring-opening polymerization (ROP). GLG-g-LA copolymer can be utilized as a functional filler to toughen polylactic acid (PLA) packaging film. The 31P-NMR of alkylated lignin (GLG) demonstrated that the peak of phenolic hydroxyl groups disappeared completely, while the relative peak intensity of carboxyl hydroxyl groups decreased significantly. The grafting rate of GLG-g-LA copolymer was improved more than twice times compared with lignin-lactide graft copolymer (LG-g-LA). Then LG-g-LA and GLG-g-LA copolymer were mixed with PLA to prepare different PLA composite films via casting method, respectively. Particularly, the elongation at break of PLA/GLG-g-LA2 composite film increased to 41.98%, which was more than 20 times higher than PLA. In general, PLA/GLG-g-LA composite film with toughness, excellent UV barrier, water resistance and controllable gas permeation could be used as high-performance and biodegradable materials in packaging field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flexible ultraviolet (UV) photodetector (PD) has stable performance under mechanical flexibility to be applied on uneven surfaces. This provides a lot of freedom for redesigning photoelectric applications, so people highly regard it. We have studied the UV PD of Mg0.2Zn0.8O (MZO) film by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrates to improve the photoelectric performance. Through the photoelectric performance analysis and comparison of the three PDs of MZO, ZnO1h/MZO, and ZnO2h/MZO, we found that the performance of PD containing ZnO film has been dramatically improved. Under 8 V bias, their responsivity was enhanced by 51 and 210 times, and the detectivity was enhanced by 2 orders of magnitude. Under 24 V bias, their responsivity is improved by 308 times and 1130 times, and external quantum efficiency is more than 1000%. Our findings provide a simple and easy way to achieve high-performance flexible MZO UV PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic/inorganic hybrid material properties and their interfaces are essential to obtain excellent device performance. In this paper, an heterojunction ultraviolet (UV) organic photodetector (OPD) based on organic/inorganic zinc oxide (ZnO)/aurum (Au)/poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythio-phene):poly(4-styrene-sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) was manufactured and display outstanding photoelectric performance. For the fabrication of ZnO/Au/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction UV OPD, this heterojunction exhibits excellent UV optical detection performance. And further analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Compared with ZnO UV PD, the responsivity of ZnO/Au/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction UV OPD reaches 0.181 A W−1, which is about 3.69 times higher. Furthermore, ZnO/Au/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction UV OPD shows light-to-dark current ratio (Ilight/Idark) (1.19 × 103), external quantum efficiency (EQE) (59%), detectivity (D*) (1.39 × 1011 Jones) and linear dynamic range (LDR) (61.5 dB). The preparation of inorganic/organic ZnO/Au/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction UV OPD in this work exhibits small organic/inorganic stress at the heterojunction, which provides new insights for the research of organic/inorganic hybrid UV OPDs and application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Template-induced synthesis of coordination polymers (CPs) is of increasing interest. Herein, we report the synthesis of two Co(II)-complexes from 4-[(1-carboxynaphthalen-2-yl)oxy]phthalic acid (H3L) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) templates by two anions (NO3−, CH3COO−) under solvothermal conditions. The compounds were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetry measurement, respectively. Compound 1 possesses an infinite 2D layer structure with a (6, 3)-connected topology. Compound 2 exhibits 2D → 3D supermolecular frameworks by π⋯π stacking interactions among adjacent layers. Moreover, magnetization data for 2 with the {Co2} units showed the antiferromagnetic coupling in the {Co2} units. Two novel Co(II) coordination polymers have been successfully synthesized by templating two different anions (NO3−, CH3COO−) under solvothermal conditions. Due to the templating role of the anions, the compounds showed different topological structure. Compound 1 possess an infinite 2D layer structure with a (6,3)-connected topology. Compound 2 exhibit 2D → 3D supermolecular frameworks by π⋯π stacking interactions among adjacent layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To perform a comparison of the different stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) plans between the Varian EDGE and CyberKnife (CK) systems for locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer. Fifteen patients with pancreatic cancer were selected in this study. The median planning target volume (PTV) was 28.688 cm3 (5.736–49.246 cm3). The SBRT plans for the EDGE and CK were generated in the Eclipse and Multiplan systems respectively with the same contouring and dose constrains for PTV and organs at risk (OARs). Dose distributions in PTV were evaluated in terms of coverage, conformity index (CI), new conformity index (nCI), homogeneity index (HI), and gradient index (GI). OARs, including spinal cord, bowel, stomach, duodenum and kidneys were statistically evaluated by different dose-volume metrics and equivalent uniform dose (EUD). The volume covered by the different isodose lines (ISDL) ranging from 10 to 100% for normal tissue were also analyzed. All SBRT plans for EDGE and CK met the dose constraints for PTV and OARs. For the PTV, the dosimetric metrics in EDGE plans were lower than that in CK, except that D99 and GI were slightly higher. The EDGE plans with lower CI, nCI and HI were superior to generate more conformal and homogeneous dose distribution for PTV. For the normal tissue, the CK plans were better at OARs sparing. The radiobiological indices EUD of spinal cord, duodenum, stomach, and kidneys were lower for CK plans, except that liver were higher. The volumes of normal tissue covered by medium ISDLs (with range of 20–70%) were lower for CK plans while that covered by high and low ISDLs were lower for EDGE plans. This study indicated that both EDGE and CK generated equivalent plan quality, and both systems can be considered as beneficial techniques for SBRT of pancreatic cancer. EDGE plans offered more conformal and homogeneous dose distribution for PTV, while the CK plans could minimize the exposure of OARs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, novel sandwich-structured surface plasmon ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors based on ZnO thin films with engineered rear metal electrode were fabricated by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. An exhaustive study about the impact of a dissimilar metallic layer (Au and Pt) on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of the device was carried out. The carrier collection property of the sandwich structure devices has the advantages of horizontal and vertical joint collection. In theory, adding a new metal semiconductor layer introduces a contact area and increases the resistance. An ultra-low dark noise current of less than 2.0 × 10–7 A and a responsivity exceeding 1.6 A/W were achieved with the prepared ZnO-based UV-PDs in the rear metallic electrode mode. The devices based on the ZnO/Pt/ZnO and MgZnO/Pt/MgZnO sandwich structures show high responsivity and fast response. This study provides a depletion layer width method for the fabrication of high-response UV photodetectors for surface plasmon-based materials by integrating metal semiconductor nanostructures. A homogeneous two-layer UV photodetector is constructed, which changes the traditional single-layer device structure and overcomes drawbacks of the single device structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In micro-grinding, the effect of material microstructure on residual stress is significant since the depth of cut is usually smaller than the average grain size. In this paper, the effect of crystallographic orientation (CO) on the distribution of residual stress induced by micro-grinding is investigated. The COs and their volume fractions of workpiece material are quantified by Taylor factor, based on which the models of flow stress and plastic modulus of polycrystalline materials are proposed. Then, the residual stress is calculated based on the micro-grinding force and temperature derived from the flow stress, after the mechanical and thermal loading followed by relaxation process, which are analyzed with the developed plastic modulus. Thereby, the compressive analytical model of micro-grinding-induced residual stress is proposed considering the grinding parameters, wheel topography, and material microstructure. In addition, micro-grinding experiments and residual stress measurements are conducted to verify the models. The prediction of residual stress agrees well with the experimental result. Residual stresses are measured by X-ray techniques, and the results illustrate that the COs of material would influence the state of stress. Finally, the sensitivity analysis is carried out, with the result showing that the effect of CO on residual stress is significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tobacco Nicotiana rustica is widely used as a trap crop in the fields of Nicotiana tabacum in China, by attracting oviposition of Helicoverpa assulta females, thus preventing damage to N. tabacum. The mechanism underlying the differential oviposition rates of H. assulta across these two tobacco species, however, is largely unknown. We investigated the mechanism of host plant acceptance of H. assulta with respect to these two tobaccos by using a two-choice behavioral bioassay and GC–MS. Our results indicate that both the leaves and inflorescences of N. rustica attracted significantly more eggs than the corresponding parts of N. tabacum. Extracts of leaves and inflorescences of N. rustica with two different solvents elicited similar oviposition patterns to the corresponding parts of the plants. Chemical analysis by GC–MS revealed that the volatiles of N. rustica contain larger amounts of nicotine than those of N. tabacum at the flowering stage. In addition, γ-terpinolene and β-elemene are found only in extracts of N. rustica. A two-choice bioassay on the individual compounds showed that γ-terpinolene, which is specific to the vegetative stage of N. rustica, and nicotine attracted oviposition by H. assulta. The volatile β-elemene, which is present only in N. rustica, was also attractive. We conclude that the larger amount of nicotine, and the species-specific γ-terpinolene and β-elemene may mediate the different oviposition rates of H. assulta females across N. rustica and N. tabacum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small cysteine-rich peptides (CRPs) are important in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. OsDT11, encoding an 88 amino acid CRP-type protein, has been reported to enhance tolerance to drought in rice (Oryza sativa L.) without negatively affecting other agronomic traits. However, the molecular mechanisms of OsDT11-mediated drought tolerance are still unclear. Here, we performed RNA-Seq analysis to compare the transcriptome profiles between wild-type (WT) and OsDT11-overexpressing (OE) rice lines under drought stress or under control (non-drought) conditions. A total of 1570 and 1421 differentially expressed genes were identified in the OE lines and the WT under drought treatment, respectively, compared to non-drought conditions. Gene ontology analysis indicated that the 430 up-regulated genes in common to both OE and the WT lines were induced for functions related to responses to water deprivation and to abscisic acid (ABA). More than half of these genes had higher expression in the OE than in the WT under drought stress. In the OE, but not in the WT, 294 genes were specifically up-regulated under drought stress and were functionally enriched in starch and sucrose biosynthetic processes and in response to stress. This implies that OsDT11 not only triggers strongly response to drought stress, but also alters several metabolic processes to enhance drought tolerance. Gene expression profiling suggests that OsDT11 confers drought tolerance by mediating an enhanced response to drought stress in an ABA-dependent signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, but effective therapies remain the topic of many research activities. Many recent studies have thus focused on particular gut microbiota due to their important roles in treating cancers, but very few microbes of therapeutic value have been reported. In this study, we isolated four bacterial strains, BY38, BY40, BY43 and BY45, from the fecal specimens of healthy individuals and cancer patients. The treatment of cancer cells with the products of these cultured bacteria induced significant inhibitory effects on the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells and colorectal cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. A phylogenetic analysis showed that the four anticancer strains belong to the genus Bacillus, and flow cytometry assays indicated that the inhibitory effects might be achieved through the induction of cell apoptosis. These results suggest that these bacteria could be novel and promising anticancer agents against cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to investigate the adverse effects of cadmium (Cd) on the production performance, serum biochemistry, liver antioxidant status, histopathology, and egg residue in laying hens. A total of 72 healthy Hy-Line brown laying hens at 40-week-old were randomly assigned to four diets containing 0 (control diet), 15, 30, or 60 mg/kg Cd for 6 weeks. Laying hens exposed to 60 mg/kg Cd had lower egg production rate and worse feed to egg ratio (P < 0.05). Dietary Cd exposure (≥ 15 mg/kg) significantly decreased hepatic glutathione peroxide (GPX) activities, while increasing malondialdehyde (MDA) (P < 0.05). Hepatic histopathology and ultrastructure also showed damage and the symptoms were exacerbated in a dose-dependent manner. The residue of Cd in the yolk was increased with increasing dietary Cd concentration. The mRNA expression levels of mt4L, mt3, sod1, sod2, gpx1, gpx3, and gpx4 in the liver of laying hens exposed to 60 mg Cd/kg feed were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary Cd exposure at ≥ 15 mg/kg induced hepatic damage in laying hens, indicating that the content of Cd in feed must be critically controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore whether the distance of rectal neuroendocrine neoplasms from the anal margin has an impact on the prognosis of patients and evaluate lymphatic metastases risk score for colorectal neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs). Methods: Clinical pathological and follow-up data of 71 patients identified as colorectal neuroendocrine neoplasms by pathology from July 2011 to July 2019 were carefully collected. Results: Among 71 patients with colorectal NENs, most of the tumors were rectal NENs (62 cases). A total of 26 patients were in the presence of lymph node metastasis, and 44 patients had negative lymph nodes. Patients with lesions from the anal margin > 5 cm in rectum have a better prognosis (P = 0.022). Tumor stage (P = 0.034) and grade (P = 0.001) were independent risk predictors of lymphatic metastases. We developed a lymphatic metastasis risk score for rectal NENs, and patients with the score ≥ 7.5 were more likely to develop lymph node metastases (area 0.958, 95% CI 0.903–1.000, P = 0.000) with a sensitivity of 72.2% and a specificity of 97.3%. Conclusion: Patients with lesions from the anal margin > 5 cm and lymphatic metastasis risk score ≥ 7.5 should be treated actively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) ultraviolet photodetector is fabricated on ZnO films, prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique on quartz substrates. The ZnO photodetector shows low dark current and external quantum efficiency (EQE) due to the gain effect. The device also exhibits a near linear responsivity dependence on voltage, which gradually rise to the peak first, then fall sharply, and then slightly rise again. A physical mechanism primarily focused on the relationship between carrier (electron-hole pairs) transport and barrier height at Schottky metal-semiconductor contact is given to explain the above phenomena. It is demonstrated as a straightforward and convenient way to enhance the internal gain of the simple ZnO-based Schottky photodetectors for application in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dual-wavelength UV photodetector (PD) with sandwich structure of ZnO/Au/MgZnO/SiO2 was fabricated and investigated with an emphasis on the effects of the Ag nanoparticles localized surface plasmons (LSPs). The results demonstrated that the modification in Ag nanoparticle (NP) position played a remarkable influence on the performance of dual-wavelength UV photodetectors. In comparison with decorating Ag NPs on the surface of the PDs, embedding Ag NPs between the MgZnO and ZnO films could improve two peak responsivities (caused by MgZnO and ZnO layers) significantly. By calculating the responsivities enhancement ratio of double layers (MgZnO and ZnO), the results indicated that the enhancement ratio of MgZnO is higher than that of ZnO. This was ascribed to LSPs of energy match with MgZnO which was superior to ZnO. This work described a creative method for increasing the performance of dual-wavelength UV PDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The responsivity of surface plasmon (SP) modified metal–semiconductor-metal ultraviolet photodetectors (PDs) was increased from 1.15 × 10−3 to 2.5 × 10−3 A/W by varying the number of interdigitated electrode pairs. MgZnO films with Pt nanoparticles (NPs) having a grain size of 6.26 nm in a 25-pair interdigitated electrode arrangement showed improved responsivity and signal to noise ratio in comparison with the bare MgZnO PD. This improvement was attributed to both the enhanced conductivity and increased absorption resulting from the near-field enhancement of the SP. Parallel effect physical simulation results were in reasonable agreement with our experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a physical-based model to predict the temperature in the micro-grinding of maraging steel 3J33b with the consideration of material microstructure and process parameters. In micro-grinding, the effects of crystallography on the grinding machinability become significant, since the depth of cut is of the same order as the grain size. In this research, the Taylor factor model for multi-phase materials is proposed to quantify the crystallographic orientation (CO) with respect to the cutting direction by examining the number and type of activated slip systems. Then, the flow stress model is developed, in which both the athermal stress resulted from the COs and the strain induced by the phase transformation are taken into account. On the basis of the flow stress model, the grinding forces are predicted followed by the calculation of the grinding heat. In the investigation, the triangular heat flux distribution and the reported energy partition model are applied in the calculation of workpiece temperature. Furthermore, the temperature model is validated by conducting an orthogonal-designed experiment, with the predictions of the maximum temperature in good agreement with the experimental data. Moreover, the predictive data is compared with the predictions resulted from the two other previously reported models. The results indicate that the proposed temperature model with considering the effect of CO and the phase transformation improved the prediction accuracy of the micro-grinding temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcontact affects the fabrication and assembly of MEMS/NEMS system, the contact between thin film microcavity and microcantilever beam, and the motion of microstructure. In this work, in the microcontact of three-dimensional elastic-plastic Weierstrass-Mandelbrot (W-M) fractal surfaces, influence of fractal dimension was studied based on a comprehensive contact model. With increasing fractal dimension, maximum microcontact force in the plastic deformation zone shows parabolic change; comparably, the intermediate force in elastic zone parabolically varies. For both the forces, the minimum values are obtained when the fractal dimension is 2.5. Besides, in the plastic deformation zone, the real contact areas increase with the fractal dimension. Experiments were completed to compare with the numerical analysis. The results show that the simulated contact force curve is in line with the experimental load curve when Young's modulus E and hardness H are equal to the actual measured values. Nevertheless, it will greatly deviate from the experimental load curve when E and H differ from the measured values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting piezo-phototronics effect of ZnO film ultraviolet (UV) photodetector (PD) has been confirmed as a promising way to optimize the performance of flexible devices. A flexible ZnO film UV PD was fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate substrate by utilizing radio frequency sputtering technology and conventional photolithography. The responsivity of obtained device showed a threefold increase under 10.99% tensile strain. Moreover, the device maintained good reproducibility and stability after continuous bending cycles (25/50/75/100). Separation and transport of photogenerated electron–hole pairs are responsible for the enhanced performance, which is influenced by band structure change and piezoelectric polarization at the ZnO/Au interface. The attributes of high stability, reproducibility, and sensitivity of this flexible ZnO film UV photo detector indicate that the proposed method is a promising approach to optimize flexible ZnO film optoelectronic devices based on piezoelectric effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In micro-grinding, the effects of crystallography on grinding force become significant since the depth of cut is of the same order as the grain size. In this research, the Taylor factor model for multi-phase materials is proposed based on the previously reported Taylor factor model for monocrystalline material. Based on this model, the flow stress model is developed, which takes both the effect of CO on the athermal stress and the stress induced by the phase transformation into account. Based on the flow stress model, the predictive model of chip formation force is proposed by adapting parallel-sided shear zone theory. The rubbing force is modeled by applying Waldorf's worn tool theory. Furthermore, the plowing force is predicted based on previously reported model by the authors. Subsequently, a comprehensive model of the micro-grinding force is proposed by considering mechanical-thermal loading, the effects of crystallography, and phase transformation. Finally, the model is validated by conducting an orthogonal-designed experiment with the result proving that the prediction of the model is capable to capture the magnitude and trend of the experimental data. Moreover, the proposed analysis are compared with the predictions of two other previously reported models with the result, indicating that the model that considers the effect of CO and the phase transformation improves the accuracy of the micro-grinding force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall can cause serious soil loss in the Loess Plateau hilly and gully region, but little focus has been placed on the extreme rainstorm effects on unpaved loess road soil erosion. A field survey method was used to investigate the erosional effects of the "7.26" heavy rainfall event on unpaved loess roads in the Jiuyuangou watershed of the Loess Plateau, China. The results showed that the average and maximum widths of the eroded gullies that formed on the unpaved roads were 0.65–1.48 m and 1.00–3.60 m, respectively. The average and maximum depths of the eroded gullies were 0.42–1.13 m and 0.75–4.30 m, respectively. The average width-to-depth ratio was 1.31, indicating that the widening effect was greater than the downcutting effect in the eroded gullies. In addition, the gully density ranged from 0.07 to 0.29 m m−2, and the road surface dissection degree ranged from 0.03 to 0.41 km2 km−2. Eroded gullies generally developed at the slope toe of the cut bank side. The average eroded gully width and depth at turns in the road were 1.47–2.64 times and 1.30–3.47 times greater, respectively, than those in other road sections. The road erosion modulus increased from the upper section to the lower section of the roads. The average road erosion modulus of the study catchment was 235,000 t km−2. Turns in the road were associated with collapses, sinkholes and other gravitational erosion phenomena. The amount of road erosion under extreme rainfall conditions is mainly related to the interactions among road length, width, slope and soil bulk density. Our results provide a useful reference for developing further measures for preventing road erosion on the Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfacing study of biopolymer and supramolecular chemistry enables a better understanding of fundamental biochemical processes and the creating of new high-performance biomaterials. In this review, we introduced an “in vivo self-assembly” strategy which means in situ construction of functional self-assembled superstructures in specific physiological or pathological conditions in cell, tissue or animal levels that exhibit diverse biomedical effects. By using this strategy, unexpected phenomena and insights, e.g, assembly/aggregation induced retention (AIR) effect have been demonstrated where the self-assembled nanostructures showed extraordinary enhanced accumulation and retention of therapeutics in targeted sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To characterize a recombinant carbonyl reductase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SceCPR1) and explore its use in asymmetric synthesis of ( R)-pantolactone [( R)-PL]. Results: The NADPH-dependent SceCPR1 exhibited strict ( R)-enantioselectivity and high activity in the asymmetric reduction of ketopantolactone (KPL) to ( R)-PL. Escherichia coli, coexpressing SceCPR1 and glucose dehydrogenase from Exiguobacterium sibiricum (EsGDH), was constructed to fulfill efficient NADPH regeneration. During the whole-cell catalyzed asymmetric reduction of KPL, the spontaneous hydrolysis of KPL significantly affected the yield of ( R)-PL, which was effectively alleviated by the employment of the substrate constant-feeding strategy. The established whole-cell bioreduction for 6 h afforded 458 mM ( R)-PL with the enantiomeric excess value of >99.9% and the yield of 91.6%. Conclusions: Escherichia coli coexpressing SceCPR1 and EsGDH efficiently catalyzed the asymmetric synthesis of ( R)-PL through the substrate constant-feeding strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the micro-grinding process, owing to the size effect, the effects of material microstructure on the grinding force are more significant through the variation of material flow stress. Currently, the variation of material flow stress resulting from the change of crystallographic orientation during the micro-grinding has not been well examined. In this paper, a new predictive model for the variation of flow stress due to the process-induced change of crystallographic orientation is developed, which is based on the Taylor factor as determined by calculating the activated slip systems, thus quantifying the way crystallographic orientation affects both the number and the style of activated slip systems. Moreover, the predicted force is compared with previous reported experimental data on monocrystalline copper. As a result, the following findings are obtained from the comparison between the predicted result and the experimental data: (1) The predicted microgrinding force agrees well in trend with the experimental force, suggesting that the approach for predicting the grinding force based on the Taylor factor is feasible; (2) In the microgrinding of single-crystal materials, the feed rate direction relative to the crystallographic orientation has great effects on the flow stress and hence on the grinding force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inter-nanocrystal (NC) distance, necking degree, ordering level, and NC surface ligands all affect the electronic and optoelectronic properties of NC solids. Herein, we introduce a unique PbS structure of necking percolative superlattices to exclude the morphological factors and study the effect of ligands on the NC properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data indicate that 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT), oxalic acid, mercaptopropionic acid, and NHSCN (SCN) ligands were attached to the surface of NCs by substrate-supported ligand exchange. Field-effect transistors were tested and photodetector measurements were performed to compare these NC solids. An SCN-treated film had the highest mobility and responsivity under high-power intensity irradiation owing to its high carrier density, whereas an EDT-treated film had the lowest mobility, photocurrent, and dark current. These findings introduce new avenues for choosing suitable ligands for NC applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The applied value of serum hepcidin in differential diagnosis of infection fevers versus tumor fevers was explored. A total of 432 fever patients were selected according to the domestic fever of unknown origin (FUO) diagnostic criteria from our hospital between June 2010 and November 2013. Venous blood samples were taken on the day 1, 5, 10 after admission. The infection group (98 cases) and the tumor group (50 cases) were set up based on the clinical and laboratory findings. ELISA was used to determine the serum hepcidin and IL-6 levels. SPSS 13.0 was used for statistical analysis. Hepcidin showed obvious descending trend on the 10th day in both the bacterial infection group (66 cases) and the virus infection group (32 cases), and the descending trend was similar to that of inflammatory indexes such as procalcitonin (PCT), hypersensitive C-reactive protein (h-CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell (WBC), and ferritin. Serum hepcidin showed no obvious differences in the tumor group on the day 1, 5, 10 after admission. In the infection groups, serum hepcidin was positively correlated with IL-6 ( r=0.687, P=0.000) and CRP ( r=0.487, P=0.026), but had a poor correlation with blood sedimentation, ferritin, PCT and WBC ( P>0.05). Monitoring dynamic changes of hepcidin and related inflammatory factors in patients with fever is expected to be used for clinical identification of infection fever and tumor fever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis associated anti-tuberculous treatment (HATT) has been a main obstacle in managing patients co-infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and hepatitis B virus (HBV). Therefore, we evaluated the factors related to the severity of adverse effects during HATT, especially those associated with liver failure. A retrospective study was carried out at Tongji Hospital from 2007 to 2012. Increases in serum transaminase levels of >3, 5, and 10 times the upper limit of normal (ULN) were used to define liver damage as mild, moderate, and severe, respectively. Patients with elevated total bilirubin (TBil) levels that were more than 10 times the ULN (>171 μmol/L) with or without decreased (<40%) prothrombin activity (PTA) were diagnosed with liver failure. A cohort of 87 patients was analyzed. The incidence of liver damage and liver failure was 59.8% ( n=52) and 25.3% ( n=22), respectively. The following variables were correlated with the severity of hepatotoxicity: albumin (ALB) levels, PTA, platelet counts (PLT), and the use of antiretroviral therapies ( P<0.05). Hypo-proteinemia and antiretroviral therapy were significantly associated with liver failure, and high viral loads were a significant risk factor with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.066. Judicious follow-up of clinical conditions, liver function tests, and coagulation function, especially in patients with high HBV loads and hypoalbuminemia is recommended. It may be advisable to reconsider the use of antiviral drugs failure during the course of anti-tuberculous treatment of HBV infection patients to avoid the occurrence of furious liver failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) in ethylene glycol (EG) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) media were investigated by a simple ultrasonication method. Homogeneously dispersed and highly concentrated DWCNTs are in EG (95 vol%) and DMF (5 vol%) media without the addition of surfactant. Surface structure and crystallinity of DWCNTs undergo minimal change. The highly concentrated dispersion state of DWCNTs helps in Pt loading. Pt particles prepared in the homogenous dispersion system have small sizes and are uniformly distributed. The prepared Pt catalysts display a similar electrochemical activity to catalysts prepared in EG system with low concentration. The results demonstrate that homogenously dispersed and highly concentrated DWCNTs can realize mass production of Pt/DWCNT catalysts with high electrochemical activity and low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although small-scale spatial variation of soil respiration has been studied in a wide variety of ecosystems, there are few studies investigating the spatial variation of soil respiration at tree-scale. An inaccurate estimation of soil respiration would be obtained if the spatial variation of soil respiration was ignored. Soil respiration, soil temperature, soil moisture and fine roots biomass were measured in different directions (0, 120, and 240°) at different distances (0.5 and 2 m radial distance) from the trunk of three representative trees for the period 2011-2013 in a mature apple orchard established on the Loess Plateau in 2000. The mean soil respiration rate at 0.5 m-distance was 21, 35 and 42 % higher, respectively. The cumulative soil respiration at 0.5 m-distance was 20, 31, and 38 % higher; and the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration ( Q) at 0.5 m-distance was 15, 30 and 12 % higher than that at 2 m-distance in 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively. There was no significant difference in soil temperature and moisture between 0.5 m- and 2 m-distance, whereas fine root biomass at 0.5 m-distance was 64, 108, and 114 % higher than that at 2 m-distance in 2011-2013, respectively. Fine root biomass had a positive linear relationship with accumulative soil respiration and Q. Mean annual cumulative soil respiration was 0.46, 0.45, and 0.57 kg C m year in 2011-2013, respectively. Fine root biomass contributed to the spatial variation of soil respiration in apple orchard, and soil respiration at 2 m-distance could represent the C respired in orchard level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinoid X receptor (RXR) α is a member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily that mediates the biological effects on several hormones, vitamins, and regulates lipid, glucose and energy metabolism. In this study, the tissue expression profiles of the bovine RXR α gene and association analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with growth traits were carried out in 413 Chinese native cattle. The expression profile was analysed in ten Jiaxian cattle tissues by real-time PCR, and the results showed that RXR α gene was abundantly expressed in adipose tissue and spleen, moderately expressed in heart, liver, lung, kidney, muscle and testis. Meanwhile, three SNPs (T27919A, T28139C and G28142A) and five haplotypes were identified. Haplotype with TTG was dominant with frequency of 69.1%. Chi-square test showed all populations were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ( P>0.05) at the three sites except Jiaxian cattle at G28142A site and Qinchuan cattle at T27919A site. Statistical analysis of combined sites showed that the individuals with TTGA genotype had significantly higher heart girth than those with TAGG genotype ( P<0.05) and the animals with AAGA genotype had higher body weight than those with TAGG genotype ( P<0.05) in T27919A-G28142A site. Heart girth, abdominal circumference and body weight of individuals with TCAG genotype were exceedingly higher than those with TTGG ( P<0.01), TTGA and TCGG ( P<0.05) in T28139C-G28142A site. For T27919A-T28139C site, the individuals of TCTA and TCTT genotype had significantly higher heart girth and lower height at hip cross than those with TTTA ( P<0.05), and the body weight of TCAA and TCTT genotype individuals was higher than those with TTTA ( P<0.05). In conclusion, these results provided evidence that the polymorphisms of RXR α gene were associated with growth traits and might apply to Chinese indigenous yellow cattle breeding program as a possible candidate for marker-assisted selection (MAS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]