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Comprehensive Summary: Molecular ferroelastics with the natural features of mechanical flexibility and switchable spontaneous strain have attracted widespread attention in the scientific community due to their potential applications in tunable gratings, flexible memorizers, strain sensors, and intelligent actuators. However, most designs of molecular ferroelastics remain in the stage of blind exploration, posing a challenge to achieve a functional ferroelastic more effectively. Herein, we have successfully obtained a molecular ferroelastic, [Me2NH(CH2)2NH3](ReO4)2 (Me2NH(CH2)2NH3 = N,N‐dimethylethylenediammonium), under the guidance of the mono‐/double‐protonation strategy. The double‐protonated [Me2NH(CH2)2NH3](ReO4)2 undergoes a paraelastic‐ferroelastic phase transition with the Aizu notation of 2/mF1¯ at 322 K. Meanwhile, the theoretical calculation and experimental measurement simultaneously show that [Me2NH(CH2)2NH3](ReO4)2 possesses good mechanical flexibility, because its elastic modulus (E) of 8.26 GPa and hardness (H) of 0.45 GPa are smaller than the average values of organic crystals (E of 12.05 GPa and H of 0.5 GPa), which makes it promising to apply in wearable pressure sensors, implantable medical sensors, high‐precision tuners, etc. This work further enriches the molecular ferroelastic family and demonstrates that mono‐/double‐protonation is one of the effective molecular modification strategies for designing ferroelastics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gated structure of the long short‐term memory (LSTM) alleviates the defects of gradient disappearance and explosion in the recurrent neural network (RNN). It has received widespread attention in sequence learning such as text analysis. Although LSTM has good performance in handling remote dependencies, information loss often occurs in long‐distance transmission. We propose a new model called ELSTM based on the computational complexity and gradient dispersion in the traditional LSTM model. This model simplifies the input gate of LSTM, reduces some time complexity by reducing some components, and improves the output gate. By introducing the exponential linear unit activation layer, the problem of gradient dispersion is alleviated. Comparing the new model with multiple existing models, when predicting language sequences, the time used by the model has been greatly reduced, and the language confusion has been reduced, showing good performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: BRAFV600E is the most common genetic mutation in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) occurring in 60% of patients and drives malignant tumour cell phenotypes including proliferation, metastasis and immune‐escape. BRAFV600E‐mutated papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) also displays greatly reduced expression of thyroid differentiation markers, thus tendency to radioactive iodine (RAI) refractory and poor prognosis. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms and main oncogenic events underlying BRAFV600E will guide future therapy development. Methods: Bioinformatics and clinical specimen analyses, genetic manipulation of BRAFV600E‐induced PTC model, functional and mechanism exploration guided with transcriptomic screening, as well as systematic rescue experiments were applied to investigate miR‐31 function within BRAFV600E‐induced thyroid cancer development. Besides, nanoparticles carrying miR‐31 antagomirs were testified to alleviate 131I iodide therapy on PTC models. Results: We identify miR‐31 as a significantly increased onco‐miR in BRAFV600E‐associated PTC that promotes tumour progression, metastasis and RAI refractoriness via sustained Wnt/β‐catenin signalling. Mechanistically, highly activated BRAF/MAPK pathway induces miR‐31 expression via c‐Jun‐mediated transcriptional regulation across in vitro and transgenic mouse models. MiR‐31 in turn facilitates β‐catenin stabilisation via directly repressing tumour suppressors CEBPA and DACH1, which direct the expression of multiple essential Wnt/β‐catenin pathway inhibitors. Genetic functional assays showed that thyroid‐specific knockout of miR‐31 inhibited BRAFV600E‐induced PTC progression, and strikingly, enhanced expression of sodium‐iodide symporter and other thyroid differentiation markers, thus promoted 131I uptake. Nanoparticle‐mediated application of anti‐miR‐31 antagomirs markedly elevated radio‐sensitivity of BRAFV600E‐induced PTC tumours to 131I therapy, and efficiently suppressed tumour progression in the pre‐clinical mouse model. Conclusions: Our findings elucidate a novel BRAF/MAPK‐miR‐31‐Wnt/β‐catenin regulatory mechanism underlying clinically BRAFV600E‐associated DTC tumourigenesis and dedifferentiation, also highlight a potential adjuvant therapeutic strategy for advanced DTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescent ferroelectrics are holding exciting prospect for integrated photoelectronic devices due to potential light‐polarization interactions at electron scale. Integrating ferroelectricity and long‐lived afterglow emission in a single material would offer new possibilities for fundamental research and applications, however, related reports have been a blank to date. For the first time, we here achieved the combination of notable ferroelectricity and afterglow emission in an organic‐inorganic hybrid material. Remarkably, the presented (4‐methylpiperidium)CdCl3 also shows noticeable antiferroelectric behavior. The implementation of cationic customization and halogen engineering not only enables a dramatic enhancement of Curie temperature of 114.4 K but also brings a record longest emission lifetime up to 117.11 ms under ambient conditions, realizing a leapfrog improvement of at least two orders of magnitude compared to reported hybrid ferroelectrics so far. This finding would herald the emergence of novel application potential, such as multi‐level density data storage or multifunctional sensors, towards the future integrated optoelectronic devices with multitasking capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this retrospective study is to compare the efficacy and safety of the centrifugal separation therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) using citrate anticoagulant (cTPEc) with membrane separation TPE using heparin anticoagulant (mTPEh) in liver failure patients. The patients treated by cTPEc were defined as cTPEc group and those treated by mTPEh were defined as mTPEh group, respectively. Clinical characteristics were compared between the two groups. Survival analyses of two groups and subgroups classified by the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) score were performed by Kaplan–Meier method and were compared by the log‐rank test. In this study, there were 51 patients in cTPEc group and 18 patients in mTPEh group, respectively. The overall 28‐day survival rate was 76% (39/51) in cTPEc group and 61% (11/18) in mTPEh group (P >.05). The 90‐day survival rate was 69% (35/51) in cTPEc group and 50% (9/18) in mTPEh group (P >.05). MELD score = 30 was the best cut‐off value to predict the prognosis of patients with liver failure treated with TPE, in mTPEh group as well as cTPEc group. The median of total calcium/ionized calcium ratio (2.84, range from 2.20 to 3.71) after cTPEc was significantly higher than the ratio (1.97, range from 1.73 to 3.19) before cTPEc (P <.001). However, there was no significant difference between the mean concentrations of total calcium before cTPEc and at 48 h after cTPEc. Our study concludes that there was no statistically significant difference in survival rate and complications between cTPEc and mTPEh groups. The liver failure patients tolerated cTPEc treatment via peripheral vascular access with the prognosis similar to mTPEh. The prognosis in patients with MELD score < 30 was better than in patients with MELD score ≥ 30 in both groups. In this study, the patients with acute liver failure (ALF) and acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF) treated with cTPEc tolerated the TPE frequency of every other day without significant clinical adverse event of hypocalcemia with similar outcomes to the mTPEh treatment. For liver failure patients treated with cTPEc, close clinical observation and monitoring ionized calcium are necessary to ensure the patients' safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to generate and manipulate photoluminescence (PL) behavior has been of primary importance for applications in information security. Excavating novel optical effects to create more possibilities for information encoding has become a continuous challenge. Herein, we present an unprecedented PL temporary quenching that highly couples with thermodynamic phase transition in a hybrid crystal (DMML)2MnBr4 (DMML=N,N‐dimethylmorpholinium). Such unusual PL behavior originates from the anomalous variation of [MnBr4]2− tetrahedrons that leads to non‐radiation recombination near the phase transition temperature of 340 K. Remarkably, the suitable detectable temperature, narrow response window, high sensitivity, and good cyclability of this PL temporary quenching will endow encryption applications with high concealment, operational flexibility, durability, and commercial popularization. Profited from these attributes, a fire‐new optical encryption model is devised to demonstrate high confidential information security. This unprecedented optical effect would provide new insights and paradigms for the development of luminescent materials to enlighten future information encryption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tree architectural attributes demonstrate a significant association with fruit yield. Yellowhorn is the future bioenergy tree in China; however, the species suffers from high reproductive energy and exceedingly low reproductive output. To optimize yellowhorn management and pinpoint priority trees featuring optimal architecture, we employed machine learning modeling to develop high fruit yielding predictive models using five yield indicators (dependent variables: FrW, SeW, ShW, FrW, and SeN) and five tree characteristics (independent variables: CA, TH, DGL, HLC, and MBN) of yellowhorn. Results showed that trees characterized by a substantial canopy area (>1.70 m2) and a large diameter at ground level (>3.71 cm) have been found to yield a higher fruit production. However, increased tree height does not invariably correlate with an elevated yield. Effective selection of high‐yielding individuals can be accomplished by restricting tree height within the range of 192–232.4 cm. This approach emphasizes the importance of integrating considerations of tree architecture into forestry management practices. Such integration can bolster productivity, thereby contributing to both the sustainability and economic viability of yellowhorn forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeolian dust is closely related to land degradation, desertification, and sand and dust storm weather, and is a significant factor influencing the Earth's biogeochemical cycles. Here we present an investigation of the recent synoptic features of atmospheric dust in China and analyze its spatiotemporal change based upon meteorological observation data and satellite products. It shows that aeolian dust frequency in China has decreased gradually from 1984 to 2020. The outbreak frequency of dust storms declined significantly by 97.7%, followed by severe dust storm, dust in suspension, and blowing dust with 88.8%, 75%, and 64.3% reduction, respectively. The main dust sources influencing China are the Mongolian Gobi Desert, the Taklimakan Desert, the Hexi Corridor, the Alxa Plateau Desert, the Qaidam basin Desert, and the northeast‐southwest stretching semiarid farming‐pasture ecotone. Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) may play an important role in teleconnection with aeolian dust event occurrence in China. Their correlation coefficients are −0.6 and 0.37, respectively. For more than 40 years, China has made huge investments in ecological restoration projects, and enacted national policies and laws to mitigate desertification. Significant environmental improvement has consequently ensued in China in the early 21st century, and the aeolian dust events were reduced to a record minimum in 2020. In contrast to the growing nationwide greenness, China is now facing up to an incremental dust risk generated from extraterritorial source regions such as the Mongolian Gobi Desert and Central Asian desiccated salt lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between auditory pathway function and cochlear size in deaf children with a radiologically normal inner ear or Mondini malformation. Methods: Thirty‐five deaf children without inner ear malformations (IEMs) and forty cases with Mondini malformation were included in this study. The electrically evoked auditory brainstem responses (EABRs) evoked by electrical stimulation at the round window niche (RWN) and round window membrane (RWM) were recorded during cochlear implantation (CI) surgery. The anatomical parameters of the cochlea were assessed by high‐resolution computed tomography and OTOPLAN 3‐D construction software. Correlations between EABRs and cochlear sizes were analyzed. Results: The EABR thresholds and/or latencies were negatively correlated with the basal cochlear diameter, cochlear width and/or cochlear duct length in both patients without IEMs and those with Mondini malformation. Conclusion: The physiological function of the peripheral auditory system depends on the anatomical structure of the cochlea to an extent. A larger cochlear size appears to be associated with better auditory conduction function. Our findings may be beneficial to selection of the proper electrode type and prediction of postoperative auditory rehabilitation. Level of Evidence: Level 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tunable structure, abundant raw materials, and ease of preparation have made molecular dielectric crystals popular for use in device design. In spite of this, some known molecular switching materials have a low phase transition temperature and a low dielectric constant, which limit their applications. Therefore, designing and synthesizing molecular‐based phase transition compounds with high phase transition temperature and superior properties is especially important. In this work, we use 3‐chloropropan‐1‐ammonium hydrochloride and SbCl3/SbBr3 inorganic salts as building blocks to synthesize compounds (CPA)2(BPA)2Sb2Br10 (1) (CPA=3‐chloropropan‐1‐ammonium, BPA=3‐bromopropan‐1‐ammonium) and (CPA)2Sb2Cl8 (2). Compound 1 has a high phase transition temperature (407.45 K). Dielectric measurements and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirm the structural phase transition in compound 1, and no fatigue decay is observed after several dielectric cycles. In addition, compounds 1 and 2 possess semiconductor properties. The findings of this study provide new directions for the design and application of multifunctional molecular dielectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic‐inorganic Hybrid (OIH) materials for multifunctional switchable applications have attracted enormous attention in recent years due to their excellent optoelectronic properties and good structural tunability. However, it still remains challenging to fabricate one simple OIH compound with multi‐functionals properties, such as dielectric switching, thermochromic properties, semiconductor characteristics and ferroelasticity. Under this context, we successfully synthesized [2‐(2‐fluorophenyl)ethan‐1‐ ammonium]2SnBr6 (compound 1), which has a higher phase transition temperature of 427.7 K. Additionally, it exhibits a semiconducting property with an indirect band gap of 2.36 eV. Combining ferroelastic, narrow band gap, thermochromic, and dielectric properties, compound 1 can be considered as a rarely reported multi‐functional ferroelastic material, which is expected to give inspiration for broadening the applications in the smart devices field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular ferroelastics have received particular attention for potential applications in mechanical switches, shape memory, energy conversion, information processing, and solar cells, by taking advantages of their low‐cost, light‐weight, easy preparation, and mechanical flexibility. The unique structures of organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites have been considered to be a design platform for symmetry‐breaking‐associated order–disorder in lattice, thereby possessing great potential for ferroelastic phase transition. Herein, we review the research progress of organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite ferroelastics in recent years, focusing on the crystal structures, dimensions, phase transitions and ferroelastic properties. In view of the few reports on molecular‐based hybrid ferroelastics, we look forward to the structural design strategies of molecular ferroelastic materials, as well as the opportunities and challenges faced by molecular‐based hybrid ferroelastic materials in the future. This review will have positive guiding significance for the synthesis and future exploration of organic–inorganic hybrid molecular ferroelastics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To study the epidemiological correlation and drug resistance of external factors of infection caused by open injury of limbs to pathogens. Methods: This experiment is a retrospective study. We took the geographical location and climate of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China as the background, analyzed 2017 strains of pathogens from 1589 patients with limb trauma infection in a University Affiliated Hospital from 2012 to 2017. Patients were divided into three groups according to the type of incision: I, In‐hospital infection of clean limb incision, II, In‐hospital infection with open injury, III, Community infection with open injury of the limb. Groups II and Groups III were divided into six subgroups according to the causes of trauma, including: accidents from non‐motor vehicles, machinery, cutting/piercing, pedestrian injuries, struck by/against, pedal cycles, and other injuries. We found eight common pathogens of orthopedic infection, which were mainly divided into Gram‐positive bacteria (G+, mainly including Staphylococcus) and Gram‐negative bacteria (G‐, mainly Enterobacteriaceae). The relationship between main pathogens and damage mechanism, apparent temperature and relative humidity was discussed in this study. SPSS v22.0 was used for statistical analysis of the data. Friedman's two‐way ANOVA was used to analyze the difference between the injury mechanism and incidence of pathogenic bacteria. Linear regression was used to determine the trend between the incidence of major pathogens and seasonal temperature and humidity. The level of significance was set as P < 0.05. Results: There was no significant difference in the distribution of pathogens between Groups II and Groups III (P>0.05). The drug resistance of Groups III was significantly higher than that of Groups II and Groups I. G+ bacteria were resistant to cephalosporin, ceftriaxone and other cephalosporins and erythromycin and other macrolides. They were sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid. G‐ were resistant to the first‐ and the second‐generation cephalosporins, including cefotetan and cefazolin, and ampicillin and other penicillins, while they were sensitive to third‐generation cephalosporins, such as ceftazidime, as well as to levofloxacin and other quinolones, meropenem, and other beta‐lactamases. The correlation between the injury mechanism and infection of pathogenic bacteria was not significant. The monthly average apparent temperature and relative humidity were correlated with the infection rate of pathogenic bacteria. Conclusion: In open injury of extremities, apparent temperature and relative humidity is an important risk factor for infection by pathogenic bacteria and the drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria in out‐of‐hospital infection was lower than that of hospital infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silica dust particles are representative of air pollution and long‐term inhalation of silicon‐containing dust through the respiratory tract can cause pulmonary fibrosis. Epithelial‐mesenchymal transformation (EMT) plays an important role in the development of fibrosis. This process can relax cell–cell adhesion complexes and enhance cell migration and invasion properties of these cells. Dysregulation of microRNA‐34c (miR‐34c) is highly correlated with organ fibrosis including pulmonary fibrosis. In this study, we found that miR‐34c‐5p could alleviate the occurrence and development of silica‐mediated EMT. Fos‐related antigen 1 was identified as a functional target of miR‐34c‐5p by bioinformatics analysis and the dual luciferase gene reporting assay. Importantly, chemically induced up‐regulation of hsa‐miR‐34c‐5p correlated inversely with the expression of Fra‐1 and further exploration found that the miR‐34c‐5p/Fra‐1 axis inhibits the activation of the phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10/phosphatidylinositol‐4,5‐bisphosphate3‐kinase/protein kinase B (PTEN/PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway. In addition, through interaction with PTEN/p53 it inhibits the proliferation and migration of human bronchial epithelial cells stimulated by silica, and promotes cell apoptosis, thereby preventing EMT. This finding provides a promising biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of pulmonary fibrosis. Furthermore, overexpression of miR‐34c‐5p represents a potential therapeutic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid organic‐inorganic perovskite (HOIP) have received tremendous scientific attention because of the phase transition and photovoltaic properties. However, achieving the special perovskite structure with both two‐step dielectric response and luminescence characteristics is rarely reported. Herein, we report an organic‐inorganic hybrid perovskite, [(BA)2 ⋅ PbI4] (Compound 1, BA=n‐butylamine) by introducing flexible organic cations (HBA+), with direct mid‐band gap as 2.28 eV. Interestingly, this material exhibits two‐step reversible dielectric response at 350 K and 460 K (in heating process), respectively. Besides, the photoluminescence was found: it emits charming green light under 365 nm lamp (Photoluminescence quantum yield is 9.52 %). The outstanding two‐step dielectric response and luminescence characteristics of this compound might pave the way for the application of dielectric and ferroelectric functional materials in temperature sensors and mechanical switches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, an electronic copper electroplating bath with low copper ion concentration and preeminent throwing power in through hole (TH) thickening of the printed circuit board (PCB) was successfully developed. Based upon the weak alkaline bath containing the composite complexants of citrate (Cit) and ethylenediamine (En), their synergistic effects on the preeminent bath throwing power were carefully investigated and theoretically proved. The UV‐vis spectroscopy results illustrated that En exhibited a stronger coordination ability with Cu (II) ion than citrate, and the stoichiometric coordination ratio between En and Cu (II) ion was 2 : 1. The linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) results showed that the electro‐reduction peak potential of Cit−Cu coordination ion was −0.55 V (vs. Hg/HgO), whereas that of En−Cu ion was at a more negative potential of −0.82 V. The in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed that the adsorptions of the Cit−Cu and En−Cu coordination ions were potential dependent on the copper electrode. The Cit−Cu coordination ion was easily adsorbed at the interior sites of through holes with lower over‐potential to promote the growth of copper coating. Moreover, the En−Cu coordination ion adsorbed preferably on the surface and the edge of through hole for its higher electro‐reduction overpotential, to hinder the germinating of copper nuclear. The cross‐section observation of optical microscope proved that the throwing power of novel copper electroplating bath behaved surpassingly, up to 105.8 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been employed as a mild biological template in nanoscale particles. Copper sulfide (CuS) has been used for photothermal therapy (PTT) in several studies. In this study, we aimed to synthesize the 131I‐labeled BSA‐modified CuS nanoparticles (131I‐BSA@CuS), with attributes of both radiotherapy and PTT, as a therapeutic agent against anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). BSA@CuS nanoparticles were prepared using the solvothermal reaction and then labeled with Na131I by the chloramine‐T method. The products were characterized and their cytotoxicity was investigated in vitro and in vivo. The therapeutic efficacy of 131I‐BSA@CuS was evaluated in ARO cell (an ATC cell line) subcutaneous tumors. The nanoparticles showed good biocompatibility and low toxicity in vitro and in vivo. BSA@CuS rapidly and effectively converted the light energy from an 808 nm laser into thermal energy with a conversion efficiency of 28.07%. SPECT/CT imaging demonstrated that the accumulation of radioactivity peaked within 24 hr and resided in the tumors for 5 days post intratumoral injection. In vivo assays indicated that, compared to monotherapy, the synthesized nanoparticles employing both PTT and radiotherapy possess better therapeutic efficacy against tumors. The synthesized nanomaterial showed uniform dispersion, good stability and aqueous solubility, excellent photothermal properties, and long‐term retention in ATC. Hence, combined radiotherapy and PTT can significantly inhibit tumor growth compared to monotherapy, and can be applied in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of single-stranded RNAs with closed loop structures formed by covalent bonds of head and tail. Exploration of circRNAs is continually increasing; however, their functional relevance largely remains to be elucidated. In general, they are stable, abundant, conserved and expressed in tissue-specific manner. These distinct properties and their diverse cellular actions indicate that circRNAs modulate transcription and translation, and may even function as translation templates. Growing evidence reveals that circRNAs contribute to various physiological and pathological processes, including the initiation and progression of cancer. In this review, we present the current knowledge about circRNAs in cancer development, as well as their potential for use as biomarkers and even therapeutic targets. CircRNA's role in immune regulation and antitumour immunotherapy is also discussed. In addition, possible challenges in antitumour therapy are raised, and current progress and future perspectives are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The number of patients receiving anaesthesia is increasing, but the impact of general anaesthesia on the patient's immune system remains unclear. The aim of the present study is to investigate dynamics of systemic immune cell responses to anaesthesia during perioperative period at a single‐cell solution. Methods: The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and clinical phenomes were harvested and recorded 1 day before anaesthesia and operation, just after anaesthesia (0 h), and 24 and 48 h after anaesthesia. Single‐cell sequencing of PBMCs was performed with 10× genomics. Subsequently, data analysis was performed with R packages: Seurat, clusterProfiler and CellPhoneDB. Results: We found that the cluster of CD56+ NK cells changed at 0 h and the cluster of monocytes increased at 24 and 48 h after anaesthesia. The characteristic genes of CD56+ NK cells were mainly enriched in the Jak‐STAT signalling pathway and in cell adhesion molecules (24 h) and carbon metabolism (48 h). The communication between CD14+ monocytes and other cells decreased substantially 0 and 48 h after operation. The number of plasma cells enriched in protein export in men was substantially higher than that in women, although the total number in patients decreased 24 h after operation. CD14+ monocytes dominated that cell‐cell communications appeared in females, while CD8+ NKT cells dominated that cell‐cell communications appeared in male. The number of plasma cells increased substantially in patients with major surgical trauma, with enrichments of pentose phosphate pathway. The communications between plasma cells with other cells varied between surgical severities and anaesthetic forms. The intravenous anaesthesia caused major alterations of cell types, including CD14+ monocytes, plasmas cells and MAIT cells, as compared with inhalation anaesthesia. Conclusion: We initially reported the roles of perioperative anaesthesia/surgery in temporal phenomes of circulating immune cells at a single‐cell solution. Thus, the protection against immune cell changes would benefit the recovery from anaesthesia/surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum phononic systems have attracted great attention in quantum science and technology. However, it is quite difficult to realize strong phonon–phonon interactions at the few phonon level in phononic systems, since direct interactions between phonons are generally very weak. Here, the phonon transport properties and the phonon–phonon interactions in a 1D phononic waveguide with embedded silicon‐vacancy (SiV) centers are studied. The authors show that, mediated by the SiV centers, strong phonon–phonon interactions can be realized due to coherent interferences of the emitting phonon waves with the incident waves. In particular, the embedded color centers can induce an effective attractive or repulsive interaction in space for phonons, corresponding to phonon bunching or antibunching. Besides, it is found that a single SiV center can capture two resonant phonons simultaneously, forming a phononic bound state in the continuum. Comparing with photon–photon interactions in photonic systems, the phonon–phonon interactions are stronger for relatively slower phonon velocity and the strongly correlated phonon properties are promising for constructing various all‐phonon quantum devices in quantum information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are used for drug discoveries, disease modeling and show great potential for human organ regeneration. 3D culture methods have been demonstrated to be an advanced approach compared to the traditional monolayer (2D) method. Here, a self‐healing universal peptide hydrogel is reported for manufacturing physiologically formed hiPSC spheroids. With 100 000 hiPSCs encapsulated in 500 µL hydrogel, ≈50 000 spheroids mL−1 (diameter 20–50 µm) are generated in 5 d. The spheroids in the universal peptide hydrogel are viable (85–96%) and show superior pluripotency and differentiation potential based on multiple biomarkers. Cell performance is influenced by the degradability of the hydrogel but not by gel strength. Without postprinting crosslinking aided by UV or visible lights or chemicals, various patterns are easily extruded from a simple star to a kidney‐like organ shape using the universal peptide hydrogel bioink showing acceptable printability. A 20.0 × 20.0 × 0.75 mm3 sheet is finally printed with the universal peptide hydrogel bioink encapsulating hiPSCs and cultured for multiple days, and the hiPSC spheroids are physiologically formed and well maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α‐Haloboronates are useful organic synthons that can be converted to a diverse array of α‐substituted alkyl borons. Methods to α‐haloboronates are limiting and often suffer from harsh reaction conditions. Reported herein is a photochemical radical C‐H halogenation of benzyl N‐methyliminodiacetyl (MIDA) boronates. Fluorination, chlorination, and bromination reactions were effective by using this protocol. Upon reaction with different nucleophiles, the C−Br bond in the brominated product could be readily transformed to a series of C−C, C−O, C−N, C−S, C−P, and C−I bonds, some of which are difficult to forge with α‐halo sp2‐B boronate esters. An activation effect of B(MIDA) moiety was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Great advances have been made in developing Fe/N/C catalyst, which is a potential candidate for replacing the low‐platinum group metal catalysts used in proton‐exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, a highly efficient porous structure catalyst was synthesised by doping glucose into the zeolitic imidazolate framework, which obtained numerous pores after high‐temperature pyrolysis. The porous carbon structure was conducive to improving mass transport and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities. The Glc‐Fe‐ZIF catalyst exhibited an excellent ORR activity with a half‐wave potential (E1/2) of 0.874 V (RHE) and the maximum power density reached 0.72 W cm−2 in acidic medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes of horizontal mattress suture vs free‐edge suture in the all‐inside arthroscopic Broström–Gould procedure. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 68 chronic lateral ankle instability (CLAI) patients who underwent either a horizontal mattress suture or a free‐edge suture all‐inside arthroscopic Broström–Gould procedure from January 2014 to January 2017. Patients were divided into two groups based on the suture fashion during the all‐inside arthroscopic Broström–Gould procedure. In the horizontal mattress suture group (n = 31), anchor sutures were used to suture the ATFL, capsule, and inferior extensor retinaculum in horizontal mattress suture fashion. In the free‐edge suture group (n = 37), anchor sutures were used to suture the ATFL, capsule, and inferior extensor retinaculum in free‐edge suture fashion. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score, Karlsson Ankle Functional Score (KAFS), Anterior Talar Translation (ATT), the rate of return to sports, and ankle proprioceptive recovery were compared in both groups. Results: The operative times and duration of hospitalization between the two groups were comparable (all P > 0.05). The VAS, AOFAS, ATT, the rate of return to sports, and ankle proprioceptive recovery were comparable between the horizontal mattress suture and free‐edge suture groups at 1 and 2 years after surgery. Patients of the free‐edge suture group achieved better KAFS 1 and 2 years after the surgery compared with those of the horizontal mattress suture group. In both groups, incisions were healed by first intention, and complications such as infection, implant reactions, tendon injury, and nervous or vascular injuries were not observed. The ankle proprioceptive recovery in horizontal mattress suture and free‐edge suture groups showed no significant differences at 1 and 2 years after surgery. The mean time of the return to full activity for patients in the horizontal mattress suture group was 10.38 ± 2.02 (range 8 to 12) weeks vs 8.63 ± 2.31 (range 8 to 12) weeks for those in the free‐edge suture group (P = 0.001, power = 0.907). The exercise participation rates were comparable between groups (P > 0.05). At the 2‐year follow‐up, all patients regained normal activities and ankle stability, and no recurrence of CLAI or revision surgery was recorded. Conclusion: All‐inside arthroscopic Broström–Gould surgery for the treatment of CLAI ensures a better functional effect (KAFS) and better recovery time when free‐edge suture is used instead of horizontal mattress suture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High performance of Fe‐N−C electrocatalysts with excellent activity and durability are the most promising alternatives to replace the costly Pt‐based catalysts to catalyze the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics at present. Herein, a zinc gluconate engaged strategy was reported to prepare iron‐inside carbon nanotube Fe‐N−C composites (Fe‐CNTs/NC), in which the zinc could be volatile in the process of high‐temperature pyrolysis and promoted in situ grown the iron‐inside carbon nanotubes in porous carbon matrix. The Fe‐CNTs/NC catalyst, benefiting from the hierarchical porous structure and abundant active sites, exhibits superior electrocatalytic performance (half‐wave potential of 0.838 V) and stability (9.31 % decay after a 20 000 s continuous test) in alkaline media compared to commercial Pt/C (half‐wave potential of 0.824 V and 13.15 % of stability decay rate under the same conditions). This study provides novel insights into the construction of carbon materials with dispersed active sites and hierarchically porous structure for electrocatalytic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interface engineering has proven an effective strategy for designing high‐performance water‐oxidation catalysts. Interface construction combining the respective advantages of amorphous and crystalline phases, especially embedding amorphous phases in crystalline lattices, has been the focus of intensive research. This study concerns the construction of an amorphous−crystalline FeOOH phase boundary (a−c‐FeOOH) by structural evolution of iron oxyhydroxide‐isolated Fe(OH)3 precursors from one‐step hydrothermal synthesis. a−c‐FeOOH demonstrates superb electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with overpotential of 330 mV to drive a current density of 300 mA cm−2 in 1.0 m KOH, which is among the best OER catalysts and much better than the pristine amorphous or crystalline FeOOH alone. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the high‐density a−c phase boundaries play a critical role in determining high OER activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to investigate the clinical relevance of the immune microenvironment in patients with combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC‐ICC). Patients and Methods: The density of tumor‐infiltrating CD3+, CD8+, CD163+, and Foxp3+ immune cells, as well as Programmed cell death 1, Programmed cell death‐ligand 1, and Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 4, was measured in the peritumor liver, tumor invasive margin, and intratumor subregions of 56 cHCC‐ICC by immunohistochemistry. The immune index was established to stratify patients. Prognostic significance of immune cell subsets and immune indices was evaluated. Results: The distribution of immune cells was highly heterogeneous among different subregions of cHCC‐ICC. As compared with the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) component, the lower density of CD8+ T cells and higher intensity of Foxp3+ Tregs and immune checkpoints in the intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) component may indicate a stronger immune evasive ability of ICC. Based on clustering classification or a combination of random forest and lasso‐cox, two models of immune indices were established and both were identified as independent prognostic factors for cHCC‐ICC patients. The selected immune variables in the immune prognostic models derived from both HCC and ICC subregions, indicating that the prognosis of cHCC‐ICC patients was a complex interaction of both components. Conclusions: The immune contexture was heterogeneous among different subregions of cHCC‐ICC patients and contributed differently to patient prognosis. Immune score based on the densities of immune cells might serve as a promising prognostic predictor for cHCC‐ICC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since it was first postulated by Wigglesworth in 1934, juvenile hormone (JH) is considered a status quo hormone in insects because it prevents metamorphosis that is initiated by the molting hormone 20‐hydroxyecdysone (20E). During the last decade, significant advances have been made regarding JH signaling. First, the bHLH‐PAS transcription factor Met/Gce was identified as the JH intracellular receptor. In the presence of JH, with the assistance of Hsp83, and through physical association with a bHLH‐PAS transcriptional co‐activator, Met/Gce enters the nucleus and binds to E‐box‐like motifs in promoter regions of JH primary‐response genes for inducing gene expression. Second, the zinc finger transcription factor Kr‐h1 was identified as the anti‐metamorphic factor which transduces JH signaling. Via Kr‐h1 binding sites, Kr‐h1 represses expression of 20E primary‐response genes (i.e. Br, E93 and E75) to prevent 20E‐induced metamorphosis. Third, through the intracellular signaling, JH promotes different aspects of female reproduction. Nevertheless, this action varies greatly from species to species. Last, a hypothetical JH membrane receptor has been predicted to be either a GPCR or a tyrosine kinase receptor. In future, it will be a great challenge to understand how the JH intracellular receptor Met/Gce and the yet unidentified JH membrane receptor coordinate to regulate metamorphosis and reproduction in insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic mutations play important roles in not only development of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) but also determination of its properties. The radioactive iodine refractory (RAIR) state is a harbinger of poor outcomes for PTC. We used various statistical models to investigate the significance of TERT promoter, BRAF, and RAS mutations in distinguishing the RAIR state and their associations with 131I uptake. Mutations were examined in primary lesions of 33 RAIR cases and 34 age‐ and sex‐matched 131I‐treated cases with disease‐free status. Thyrotropin‐stimulated thyroglobulin (sTg) change, 131I uptake ability, and RAIR categories were evaluated in the RAIR cases. The prevalence of TERT mutation in the RAIR group was 24.24% (8/33), which was significantly higher than that in the disease‐free group (0/34). BRAF mutation showed a similar high prevalence in both the RAIR group (69.70%) and disease‐free group (64.71%). Among the eight TERT mutation‐positive cases, six carried both TERT and BRAF mutations. RAS mutation was detected in only one disease‐free case and in two RAIR cases. Despite a significantly higher prevalence of TERT mutations in the RAIR group, only tumor size and N1b lymph node involvement were independently associated with RAIR status. In the RAIR group, all patients carrying a TERT mutation showed maximum or increased sTg. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that the TERT mutation was associated with decreased 131I uptake and the RAIR categories of absent or weaker 131I uptake. TERT mutation constitutes a novel genetic biomarker indicating absent or weaker 131I‐avid lesions in RAIR PTC patients. It is worth evaluating the TERT status in all DTC patients undergoing 131I therapy. © 2019 IUBMB Life, 2019 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition‐metal‐catalyzed acetoxylation or hydroxylation of arene C−H bonds is regarded as a valuable transformation in organic synthesis for the efficient incorporation of oxygen atoms.[1] This mode of C−H oxidation has received much attention due to the important applications of phenol derivatives in natural products, pharmaceuticals, organic synthesis, metal ligands and materials science. Early discoveries for arene C−H oxidation were generally limited due to poor selectivity, low efficiency and harsh conditions.[3] Strategie that rely coordinating directing groups have enabled the direct oxidation of a specific arene C−H bond with high regioselectivity and efficiency. This methods generally employ palladium (II) or ruthenium (II) catalysts and PhI(OAc)2 or other stoichiometric oxidants under acidic conditions (Scheme , 1a). Methods using other transition metals, such as a rhodium (III) catalyzed ortho‐C−H acetoxylation or hydroxylation, have also been reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general and efficient synthetic methodology for the preparation of enantio‐ and diastereopure [6]‐, and [7]helicenes is developed. Commercially available chiral binaphthanols are utilized to generate the arylene‐vinylene precursors, which undergo helical folding via photocyclization to give enantio‐ and diastereopure [6]‐, and [7]helicenes. These optically pure helicenes could be easily obtained via silica gel column chromatography without the use of expensive HPLC or chiral resolution reagents. The configurations and structures of these helicenes are confirmed by CD spectra and X‐ray crystallographic analysis. This work provides a new method for preparation of enantiopure helicenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA) plays a critical role in male germline development. Atrazine (AZ) as an environmental endocrine disrupting chemical (EDCs) can induce male reproductive toxicity in amphibians. Our previous studies demonstrated that AZ can alter gene and circular RNA (circRNA) expression of damaged testes in Xenopus laevis (X. laevis). We furthered to investigate the lncRNA expression profiling in the testis of X. laevis. Over 3559 lncRNAs were detected by lncRNA sequencing. AZ induced 40 upregulated and 46 downregulated differentially expressed lncRNAs. KEGG analysis showed that AZ‐affected lncRNAs mainly involve in 19 pathways among which 12 pathways are found in circRNA analysis. This study for the first time demonstrated that AZ can alter lncRNAs which may play a role in testicular degeneration through regulating expressions of functional genes in X. laevis. Our data may provide more insights on the mechanism about male reproductive toxicity of EDCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although some bright, organic mechanoluminescence (ML) luminogens with aggregation‐induced emission properties and twisted molecular structures are recently reported, those with planar structures and bright ML and their related effective design strategies are not yet explored, partially due to aggregation‐caused quenching in luminogens with planar structures. Herein, using the unique solid‐state packing style of pyrene, bright dual monomer‐excimer‐ML and excimer‐ML from two pyrene derivatives (Py‐Bpin and Py‐Br) with a simple, planar molecular structure are reported for the first time, and two analogs of pyrene and Py‐H are used for comparison. These four luminogens display similar optical properties in dilute solution but different luminescent properties in the solid state, mainly due to their different molecular packing. Interestingly, pyrene is mechanochromism (MC)‐ and ML‐inactive, while Py‐H is MC‐active, Py‐Bpin is MC‐ and ML‐active, and Py‐Br is ML‐active. The relationship between molecular packing and ML/MC properties is confirmed by analyzing single‐crystal structures and related experimental results, providing important information to further understand the mysterious ML process and opening a new way to design efficient luminogens with both MC and ML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heteroarenes are important structural motif in functional molecules. A MnI-catalyzed 1,2-diheteroarylation of allenes via a C−H activation/Smiles rearrangement cascade is presented. The reaction occurred under additive-free or even solvent-free conditions, which allowed the creation of two C−C and one C−N bonds in a single operation. A series of structurally diverse bicyclic or tricyclic compounds bearing an exocyclic double bond were constructed in good to excellent efficiency. The decarboxylative ring-opening of the products led to the facile synthesis of vicinal biheteroaryls. Synthetic applications were demonstrated and preliminary mechanistic studies were conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heteroarenes are important structural motif in functional molecules. A MnI-catalyzed 1,2-diheteroarylation of allenes via a C−H activation/Smiles rearrangement cascade is presented. The reaction occurred under additive-free or even solvent-free conditions, which allowed the creation of two C−C and one C−N bonds in a single operation. A series of structurally diverse bicyclic or tricyclic compounds bearing an exocyclic double bond were constructed in good to excellent efficiency. The decarboxylative ring-opening of the products led to the facile synthesis of vicinal biheteroaryls. Synthetic applications were demonstrated and preliminary mechanistic studies were conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs have been used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for many cancers including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Several studies have been shown that microRNA (miRNA) play important roles during the progression of OSCC. However, the results vary largely in different studies due to different platforms and sample sizes. In this study, we systematically evaluated a large scale of miRNA profiles from current qualified OSCC samples, and further investigated the functions of genes regulated by these key miRNAs as well as the signaling pathways through which these miRNA effect carcinogenesis. Seven key miRNAs were identified, and of which three were significantly upregulated, including hsa-miR-21, hsa-miR-31, hsa-miR-338, and four were downregulated, namely hsa-miR-125b, hsa-miR-133a, hsa-miR-133b, and hsa-miR-139. The function enrichment analysis revealed that target genes of upregulated miRNAs were associated with cellular protein metabolic process, macromolecule metabolic process, and TGF-beta pathway, while the targets of downregulated were enriched in negative regulation of macromolecule biosynthetic process and gene expression, and p53, long-term potentiation and adherens junction pathways. Transcription factor analysis revealed that there were 67 (51.1%) transcription factors influenced by both up and downregulated miRNAs. In summary, seven key miRNAs were found to play essential role in progression of OSCC, as well as the target genes and transcription factors of these miRNAs. The potential functions of these target genes identified in our study may be profitable to diagnosis and prognostic prediction of OSCC as biomarkers. J. Cell. Physiol. 232: 2178-2185, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a MnI/AgI-based relay catalysis process is described for the one-pot synthesis of polycyclic products by a formal [3+2] and [4+2] cycloaddition reaction cascade. A manganese(I) complex catalyzed the first example of directed C−H allylation with allenes, setting the stage for an in situ Povarov cyclization catalyzed by silver(I). The reaction proceeds with high bond-forming efficiency (three C−C bonds), broad substrate scope, high regio- and stereoselectivity, and 100 % atom economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interlayer stacking of 2D covalent organic frameworks (COFs) plays a crucial role in determining not only the geometry of channels inside COFs but also the mobility of carrier transport between COF layers. However, though topological structures of 2D COFs monolayers can be precisely predicted through the structures of building blocks, factors affecting their interlayer stacking remain poorly understood. In this work, a truxene-based building block on which six methyl groups are introduced was designed. The condensation of it with 1,4-diaminobenzene or benzidine afforded 2D COFs with the methyl groups extending out-of-plane of the layers. A significant influence of the methyl groups on interlayer stacking of the COFs was revealed by the adoption of inclined packing of monolayers, which has never been experimentally observed before. This unprecedented stacking manner was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction analysis, pore-size distribution analysis, and TEM investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blueberry anthocyanins are the major active ingredients of blueberry with a variety of biological activities. The scale extraction and separation of blueberry anthocyanins could contribute to their application in drugs, cosmetics, food additives and so on. In this study, using combined technologies to high-efficient extraction and separation of blueberry anthocyanins was developed. Under the optimum extraction conditions of first 0.3% cellulose and pectinase with 2:1 (m/m) at 37 °C for 4 h and then 1% citric acid-acidified 75% (v/v) ethanol at 37 °C for 6 h, as high as 25% extraction rate of blueberry anthocyanins was obtained. By ethyl acetate extraction in triplicate and then D101 resin column chromatography, up to 49.6% purity of blueberry anthocyanins was obtained based on UV-vis analysis. The scale-up extraction and separation of blueberry anthocyanins were carried out. This method was simple but effective, and easy scalable at industrial purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO)@MoS2 composites with a loose structure were prepared and added to poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) to form composites that showed superior microwave absorption and excellent electromagnetic interference shielding performances. The maximum reflection loss of the rGO@MoS2/PVDF composites, with a low filling rate (only 5.0 wt %), can reach −43.1 dB at 14.48 GHz, and the frequency bandwidth below −10 dB is 3.6-17.8 GHz (in the frequency range of 2-18 GHz) with a thickness of 1-5 mm. Furthermore, rGO@MoS2/PVDF composites with a higher filling rate (25 wt %) also exhibit outstanding electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness, reaching a maximum at 27.9 dB. The mechanism of enhanced absorption and electromagnetic interference shielding performances were also studied in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]