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In allusion to the multi‐variable robust control for the turbofan engine with the large envelope, an L2−L∞$$ {L}_2-{L}_{\infty } $$ almost output regulation (AOR) problem is discussed for a class of turbofan switched systems under multi‐source disturbances and time delay. The addressed disturbances include the regulated disturbance signal, the modeled disturbance from the input channel and the energy‐bounded disturbance. First of all, a disturbance observer is constructed to estimate the unknown disturbance in the system input. Then, by combining the output regulation method and the disturbance observer‐based control (DOBC) method, a switched composite regulation controller is developed to deal with the AOR problem of the turbofan switched systems and reject the adverse effects of disturbances. Through the multiple Lyapunov function method, a set of sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee the AOR property with the L2−L∞$$ {L}_2-{L}_{\infty } $$ performance and disturbance suppression ability. Finally, the validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by applying the composite anti‐disturbance regulator to the regulation of the speed and pressure ratio for the turbofan model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that hypertension and depression are associated with worse cardiovascular outcomes and reduced quality of life. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is strongly linked to increased mortality and cardiovascular disease, and depression may be one of the key factors contributing to hypertensive LVH. The authors consecutively enrolled 353 patients with uncomplicated hypertension between November 2017 and May 2021. All participants completed the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM‐D) to assess their depression status, with depression defined as a HAM‐D score of 20 or higher. Linear regression analysis revealed a positive association between HAM‐D and LVMI (adjusted β, 1.51, 95% CI, 1.19–1.83, p <.001). Logistic regression models showed that individuals with hypertension and depression had a higher risk of LVH than those with hypertension alone (adjusted OR, 2.51, 95% CI, 1.14–5.52, p =.022). The association between depression and LVH significantly interacted with age, sex, education levels, but not BMI and household income. Following age, sex, and education levels stratification, an independent association of depression and LVH was observed only in age <60 years (age <60 years: OR, 7.36, 95% CI, 2.25–24.13, p <.001), male (male: OR, 16.16, 95% CI, 3.80–68.73, p <.001), and higher education levels (high school and above: OR, 11.09, 95% CI, 2.91–42.22, p <.001). Our findings suggest that depression is a significant risk factor for LVH in hypertensive patients, particularly in those who are under 60 years of age, male, and have higher education levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new enantioselective open‐tubular capillary electrochromatography was developed employing poly(glycidyl methacrylate) nanoparticles/β‐cyclodextrin covalent organic frameworks chemically immobilized on the inner wall of the capillary as a stationary phase. A pretreated silica‐fused capillary reacted with 3‐aminopropyl‐trimethoxysilane followed by poly(glycidyl methacrylate) nanoparticles and β‐cyclodextrin covalent organic frameworks through a ring‐opening reaction. The resulting coating layer on the capillary was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The electroosmotic flow was studied to evaluate the variation of the immobilized columns. The chiral separation performance of the fabricated capillary columns was validated by the analysis of the four racemic proton pump inhibitors including lansoprazole, pantoprazole, tenatoprazole, and omeprazole. The influences of bonding concentration, bonding time, bonding temperature, buffer type and concentration, buffer pH, and applied voltage on the enantioseparation of four proton pump inhibitors were investigated. Good enantioseparation efficiencies were achieved for all enantiomers. In the optimum conditions, the enantiomers of four proton pump inhibitors were fully resolved within 10 min with high resolutions of 9.5–13.9. The column‐to‐column and inter‐ to intra‐day repeatability of the fabricated capillary columns through relative standard deviation were found better than 9.54%, exhibiting satisfactory stability and repeatability of the fabricated capillary columns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A γ‐Mo8O26‐based organic–inorganic hybrid [Cu2(L)2(γ‐Mo8O26)0.5(H2O)]•H2O (CuLMo8) [L = 5‐(pyrimidyl)tetrazolate] was hydrothermally synthesized and fully characterized by various spectral techniques. In the crystal structure of CuLMo8, the μ2‐bridging γ‐Mo8 anion coordinates with Cu ions to extend into a 2D network. CuLMo8 displayed excellent photo‐Fenton‐like catalyst properties for MB degradation under UV light irradiation. Complete decolorization of MB solution was finished in 5 min, and the degradation rate reached 97.9% in 7 min. The degradation rate of the present system was much higher than that of similar systems in the literature. The synergistic effect of CuLMo8 and H2O2 was the fundamental reason for the high degradation rate. Initial pH value and concentration of MB solution, catalyst dosage, and concentration of H2O2 were the main factors to affect the degradation rate. Hydroxyl (•OH) and superoxide (•O2H/O2•‐) radicals were the major reactive species to degrade MB molecules. Moreover, the total organic carbon (TOC) removal was about 37.5% in 3 h, indicating mineralization and decolorization did not take place at the same time. The possible MB degradation pathway was deduced depending on the data gained. In view of the high catalytic efficiency, repeated use, and no need to adjust the pH value of MB solution, this heterogeneous catalyst might have potential to deal with practical wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor diagnosed in women. It is the second leading cause of cancer‐related death among women in the world. Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified to be involved in the development and progression of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the function of miR‐223‐3p in breast cancer progression and metastasis. Methods: qRT‐PCR was used to analyze the expression levels of miR‐223‐3p in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Wound healing and Matrigel assays were used to examine cell motility and invasiveness. FBXW7 3′‐UTR construct and luciferase reporter assays were performed for the target gene. Results: miR‐223‐3p was overexpressed in breast cancer tissue and cell lines. A high level of miR‐223‐3p was associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. In addition, overexpressed miR‐223‐3p promoted the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we found that tumor suppressor gene FBXW7 is a target of miR‐223‐3p. Luciferase activity reporter assay indicated miR‐223‐3p could directly bind with the 3′‐UTR of FBXW7. miR‐223‐3p exhibited its oncogenic role partly by decreasing FBXW7 expression, and consequently promoted the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Conclusions: Our study revealed a physical and functional relationship among miR‐223‐3p and FBXW7. By negatively regulating FBXW7 expression, miR‐223‐3p exerts a tumor promotion role promoting cell invasion and metastasis in breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As closely related to exciton quenching, Auger recombination (AR) is very important to colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) in applications such as lasing, solar energy conversion, and light‐emitting diodes. It is beneficial to understand the kinetic mechanism of AR. In this article, colloidal CdSe QDs with a narrow range of diameters, 2.7, 2.5, 2.3, 2.2, and 2.0 nm, are synthesized by adequately modulating the reaction temperature and time during hot injection synthesis. With sizes less than the Bohr exciton radius, the resultant collision probability differs for various CdSe QDs attributed to the varying extent of the spatial confinement effect. To analyze the bi‐exciton AR in these QDs, the ultrafast time‐resolved absorption spectrum is utilized to derive the bi‐exciton lifetime (τBX) in high precision as a function of QD size. The τBX varying with volume (V) obeys the universal scaling law; that is, τBX = γV. In our experiments, the scaling factor γ is 1.649 ± 0.097 ps/nm3. This study could provide further insight for understanding the theory of the AR process and rational design of optoelectronic devices based on colloidal QDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An open tubular capillary electrochromatography column was prepared by immobilizing β‐cyclodextrin on the inner wall of pretreated capillary via noncovalent adsorption of polydopamine. The resulting coating layer on the capillary was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Electroosmotic flow was studied to evaluate the variation of the immobilized columns. The prepared columns showed good chiral separation performance toward five proton pump inhibitors including lansoprazole, pantoprazole, tenatoprazole, rabeprazole, and omeprazole. The influences of β‐cyclodextrin concentration, coating time, buffer pH, buffer concentration, and applied voltage on separation were investigated. In the optimum conditions, the enantiomers of five analytes were fully resolved within 15 min with high resolutions of 4.57 to 8.13. The method was extensively validated in terms of accuracy, precision, and linearity and proved to be robust. The relative standard deviation values for migration times and peak areas of the analytes representing intraday and interday were less than 1.9 and 3.6%, respectively. Further, the polydopamine/β‐cyclodextrin coated capillary column could be successively used over 100 runs without showing significant decrease in the separation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3) could mediate pathological α-synuclein transmission in neurodegeneration and may be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of the present study was to explore soluble LAG-3 (sLAG-3) as a potential diagnostic biomarker for PD.Methods: Serum sLAG-3 concentrations were measured by a quantitative ELISA for patients with PD, essential tremor (ET) and age- and sex-matched controls. The relationships between sLAG-3 and clinical phenotype were assessed via correlation analysis and logistic regression.Results: Serum sLAG-3 levels in patients with PD were significantly higher than those in ET patients and age- and sex-matched controls. The area under the curve of serum sLAG-3 in differentiating PD from age- and sex-matched controls was 0.82. Serum sLAG-3 was associated with non-motor symptoms and excessive daytime sleep.Conclusion: sLAG-3 is a candidate novel biomarker for PD. © 2018 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early diagnosis improves the prognosis for non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); therefore, there is a pressing need for effective diagnostic methods for NSCLC. Increasing evidence indicates that serum exosomal micro RNAs (miRNAs) represent promising diagnostic and prognostic markers for multiple cancers. Here, we explored a panel of miRNAs for NSCLC diagnosis and functionally characterized miR‐1269a in the pathogenesis of NSCLC. Methods: First, we analyzed high‐throughput data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to identify differentially expressed miRNAs between NSCLC patients and healthy controls. We examined the expression profiles of the identified miRNAs using qRT‐PCR. Results: We found that four micro‐RNAs (hsa‐miR‐9‐3p, hsa‐miR‐205‐5p, hsa‐miR‐210‐5p, and hsa‐miR‐1269a) were more abundant in serum exosomes from NSCLC patients. A logistic regression model validated the diagnostic efficacy of the four‐microRNA panel, allowing us to distinguish NSCLC patients from healthy controls with AUCs of 0.915 and 0.878 for the training and validation sets, respectively. Functionally, NSCLC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were affected by the aberrant expression of hsa‐miR‐1269a in culture. Reduced expression of miR‐1269a resulted in reduced proliferation, migration, and invasion through targeting the forkhead box O1 gene (FOXO1). Conclusions: Taken together, our study identified a panel of four serum exosomal miRNAs as a potential noninvasive diagnostic biomarker for NSCLC. The interactions between FOXO1 and miR‐1269a represent novel potential targets for NSCLC therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overexpression of P2X7R has been observed in several tumours and is related to cancer advancement and metastasis. However, the role of P2X7R in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is not well understood. In the current study, overexpression of P2X7R and the effects at the molecular and functional levels in CRC were assessed in a mouse orthotopic model. Functional assays, such as the CCK‐8 assay, wound healing and transwell assay, were used to determine the biological role of P2X7R in CRC cells. CSC‐related genes and properties were detected via sphere formation and real‐time PCR assays. The underlying mechanisms were explored by Western blotting, real‐time PCR and Flow cytometry. In this study, we found that overexpression of P2X7R increases in the in vivo growth of tumours. P2X7R overexpression also increased CD31, VEGF and concurrent angiogenesis. P2X7R up‐regulates aldehyde dehydrogenase‐1 (ALDH1) and CSC characteristics. Transplanted tumour cells with P2X7R overexpression stimulated cytokines to recruit tumour‐associated macrophage (TAMs) to increase the growth of tumours. We also found that the NF‐κB signalling pathway is involved in P2X7R‐induced cytokine up‐regulation. P2X7R promotes NF‐κB–dependent cytokine induction, which leads to TAM recruitment to control tumour growth and advancement and remodelling of the stroma. Our findings demonstrate that P2X7R plays a key role in TAM recruitment, which may be a therapeutic target for CRC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new chiral open‐tubular capillary electrochromatography column was prepared with 6‐O‐monotosyl‐deoxy‐β‐cyclodextrin as staionary phase by covalent immobilization on inner wall of a fused‐silica capillary. Preparation procedure of the open‐tubular column was investigated and resulting surface morphology was determined using scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, the enantiomeric separation performance of open‐tubular capillary electrochromatography column was evaluated by using several related benzimidazoles as model analytes, including pantoprazole, tenatoprazole, omeprazole, and lansoprazole. The primary factors affecting its separation efficiency, such as type, concentration, and pH of buffer, applied voltage were optimized. In the optimum conditions, the enantiomers of four analytes revealed high resolutions of 5.75–8.83. The relative standard deviation values for the migrated times and resolutions of the model analyte representing intraday, interday, and column‐to‐column were less than 1.8 and 1.3%, respectively. The chiral open‐tubular capillary electrochromatography column still had satisfactory separation performance after continuous use for 72 h or intermittent use for 3 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT To evaluate the effects of two-dimensional (2D) programming on thermal properties of shape memory polymer (SMP)-based composites when exposed to high temperature, the specimens of composites were prepared and programmed. Then the morphology, thermal properties, dynamic evolution, and constituents of released gaseous products were characterized. Results indicate that the programmed composite is more compacted, but the proportion of interconnected voids is larger than that in the nonprogrammed sample. 2D programming causes molecular or segmental orientations in SMP, and leads to the decrease in the char yield from 16.1 to 8.1%. The programmed sample shows a lower thermal stability. Further, the melting enthalpy of nonprogrammed composite is 1012 J/g which is lower than 1100 J/g of the programmed sample. The prestored stress in oriented molecules or segments of SMP is more prone to cause the chain scissions. The dynamic evolution and constituents of released volatiles from nonprogrammed and programmed samples are similar, but the release amount of volatiles from the latter is larger. Finally, the more compacted charring layer of nonprogrammed composite is more efficient to prevent volatiles from releasing out. The 2D programming has a slight influence on the elemental contents of O, Si, and C in the charring layer. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45480. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Fatigue is a common nonmotor symptom in Parkinson's disease ( PD); however, the Parkinson's disease fatigue scale ( PFS), which is designed to measure fatigue in PD, has not been validated in China. The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the PFS in PD patients. Methods A total of 115 PD patients were evaluated at baseline and after 7 days. Assessments included the PFS, the Fatigue Severity Scale ( FSS), and scales assessing motor, cognition, depression, and anxiety. Acceptability was assessed in terms of the rate of missing data and floor and ceiling effects. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to determine internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient ( ICC). Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were used to calculate convergent and divergent validity between PFS scores and scales assessing clinical characteristics. Results No data were missing for the PFS. Compared with the original scoring method, the binary scoring method had relatively large floor effects (5.21% vs. 17.39%) and ceiling effects (0.90% vs. 4.31%). The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the PFS were satisfactory (original scoring method: Cronbach's alpha = 0.97, ICC = 0.94; binary scoring method: Cronbach's alpha = 0.94, ICC = 0.94). The PFS score exhibited strong convergent validity with FSS score (correlation coefficient = 0.87). PFS score was weakly to moderately correlated with disease duration and with measures of disease stage, motor function, depression, and anxiety (range of correlation coefficients: 0.25-0.48). There was no significant correlation between PFS score and either onset age or Mo CA score (range of correlation coefficients: −0.05 to 0.12). Conclusion The Chinese version of the PFS is a valid measure for assessing fatigue in PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of serological HBsAg− and anti-HBc+ on the prognosis of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is unknown. We conducted a systematic review to analyze whether anti-HBc positivity imposes any effect on the course of HCV-related chronic liver disease. We retrieved references from online databases that included PubMed and EMBASE. Data were gathered with regard to demographic information, disease progression and prognosis, and the results of serological tests. The development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was the endpoint of follow-up of all cohort studies. Eighteen references were included in this study, of which four were cohort studies. Twelve studies were retrospective, observational and non-interventional studies. According to our meta-analysis, the rate of serological HBsAg− and anti-HBc+ was higher among HCC patients compared with non-HCC patients (odds ratio [OR], 1.55; 95% CI, 1.22-1.98). HCV patients that were anti-HBc+ had a greater chance of developing HCC than their anti-HBc− counterparts (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.34-3.47). The serological status of HBsAg− and anti-HBc+ appears to be correlated with a poor prognosis for chronic HCV infection. Though the general quality of these references was low, and multiple confounding factors existed, the likelihood of a poorer outcome of HCV patients that are positive for anti-HBc should be considered by their physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband emission in hybrid lead halide perovskites (LHPs) has gained significant attention due to its potential applications in optoelectronic devices. The origin of this broadband emission is primarily attributed to the interactions between electrons and phonons. Most investigations have focused on the impact of structural characteristics of LHPs on broadband emission, while neglecting the role of electronic mobility. In this work, the study investigates the electronic origins of broadband emission in a family of 2D LHPs. Through spectroscopic experiments and density functional theory calculations, the study unveils that the electronic states of the organic ligands with conjugate effect in LHPs can extend to the band edges. These band‐edge carriers are no longer localized only within the inorganic layers, leading to electronic coupling with molecular states in the barrier and giving rise to additional interactions with phonon modes, thereby resulting in broadband emission. The high‐pressure photoluminescence measurements and theoretical calculations reveal that hydrostatic pressure can induce the reconfiguration of band‐edge states of charge carriers, leading to different types of band alignment and achieving macroscopic control of carrier dynamics. The findings can provide valuable guidance for targeted synthesis of LHPs with broadband emission and corresponding design of state‐of‐the‐art optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]