Search

On-orbit assembling space telescope (OAST) is one of the most feasible methods to implement a large-scale space telescope. Unlike a monolithic space telescope (such as Hubble Space Telescope, HST) or a deployable space telescope (such as James Webb Space Telescope, JWST), OAST can be assembled in the spatial environment. To ensure proper telescope performance, OAST must be equipped with a large deployable sunshade. In order to verify the technology of the OAST, the authors propose a modular space telescope on the China Space Station (CSS) and design a deployable sunshade. The deployable mechanism of the sunshade is made up of a radial deployable mechanism and an axial deployable mechanism. The paper describes the overall design approach, the key component technologies, and the design and preliminary testing of a part of the deployable sunshade assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces an innovative outdoor nephelometer system designed to monitor the dynamic hygroscopic behavior of aerosols in ambient air. Field measurements conducted in the Pearl River Delta region of China unveil significant roles of relative humidity (RH) swings on aerosol phase states. Highlighting the occurrence of aerosol crystallization in the afternoon followed by gradual deliquescence as RH increases, particularly when minimum afternoon RH drops below 35%, with no such behavior observed when it exceeds 40%. Emphasizing that aerosol phase states are shaped not only by RH and chemical composition but also by their RH history, illustrating that RH levels of 70% in the morning or evening may correspond to fully dissolved metastable or partially dissolved metastable states of ambient aerosols. These findings underscore the need to account for RH history when predicting aerosol phase states and have broader implications for comprehending aerosol behavior and its atmospheric impacts. Plain Language Summary: This research introduces a new device to study how tiny particles called atmospheric aerosols in the air behave when they encounter moisture. We tested it in a region of China and discovered that relative humidity fluctuations from morning to evening impact significantly on phase state of atmospheric aerosols. In the afternoon, some of the particles might become solid, like tiny crystals, and later turn into liquid gradually as humidity increases. This phenomenon occurs when the afternoon minimum relative humidity is low, below 35%, but does not take place when it exceeds 40%. Suggesting that relative humidity history matters for aerosol phase. For example, relative humidity of 70% in the morning or evening, particles may be in a liquid or semi‐liquid state. This study helps us understand phase changes of atmospheric particles and their effects on our environment. Key Points: Innovative outdoor nephelometer system was developed to monitor aerosol hygroscopic behavior in ambient airAerosol crystallization in the afternoon followed by gradual deliquescence observedRelative humidity history plays significant roles in determining aerosol phase state [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activation of biomass burning aerosols (BBA) and fossil fuel combustion aerosols (FFA) in fogs and clouds significantly impact regional air quality through aqueous chemistry and climate by affecting cloud microphysics. However, we lack direct observations of how these aerosols behave in fogs and clouds. Using a newly developed aerosol‐cloud sampling system, we conducted observations during fog events and found that BBA, despite their high organic content, effectively contributed to super‐micron interstitial aerosols and fog droplets in low supersaturation fogs. In contrast, FFA, predominantly externally mixed organic, did not grow beyond the super‐micron size in fogs due to their near‐hydrophobic nature. Measurements conducted under supersaturations relevant for cloud formation revealed that portions of FFA could serve as cloud condensation nuclei, but only when supersaturation exceeded ∼0.14%. These findings have broad implications for future investigations into the influence of BBA and FFA on fog and cloud chemistry and their interactions with clouds. Plain Language Summary: Tiny particles, known as aerosols, emitted from combustion of biomass and fossil fuels, can impact air quality and global climate by interacting with fog and clouds. However, we lack direct observational evidence of how these aerosols behave in these conditions. In our study, we developed an advanced aerosol‐cloud sampling system to observe aerosol activation during fog events. Our findings highlight a crucial factor of aerosol activation: the mixing of these aerosols. Biomass burning aerosols with an internal mixture of organic and inorganic components activate more easily, even in conditions with low supersaturation like fog. In contrast, fossil fuel combustion aerosols are often externally mixed and almost water‐repellent, requiring higher supersaturation to become cloud condensation nuclei. Understanding these distinctions has significant implications for regional air quality and the intricate interactions between aerosols and clouds. By gaining insights into how various aerosols interact with fog and clouds, we can enhance our understanding of their impact on our environment and climate. Key Points: Advanced Aerosol‐Cloud sampling system was developed to characterize aerosol activation in fogsBiomass burning aerosols efficiently form fog droplets, while fossil fuel combustion aerosols are almost hydrophobic and don't contributeFossil fuel combustion organic aerosols can serve as CCN in high supersaturation conditions (>0.14%) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary liver cancer with high mortality. The long‐term use of sorafenib, a targeted drug for hepatocellular carcinoma, will lead to drug resistance, and patients are prone to cancer metastasis, the molecular mechanism of which is still unclear. Methods: In our study, we constructed a sorafenib‐resistant hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2/Sora) and validated the resistance in vivo and in vitro. Transwell assays confirmed the invasion and migration abilities of cells. Colorimetric assays confirmed that the level of m6A methylation modification in cells. RT‐qPCR and Western blot assays confirmed that the expression levels of KIAA1429 in HepG2/Sora cells and tissues. The EMT related proteins were detected by Western blot assay. Results: Transwell and Western blot assays confirmed that HepG2/Sora cells had higher invasion and migration abilities and showed EMT phenomena. Colorimetric assays confirmed that the level of m6A methylation modification was upregulated in HepG2/Sora cells. Transwell and Western blot assays confirmed that inhibiting m6A methylation in HepG2/Sora cells inhibited their invasion, migration ability and EMT phenomenon. RT‐qPCR and Western blot assays confirmed that the expression levels of KIAA1429 in HepG2/Sora cells and tissues was increased. Silencing KIAA1429 in HepG2/Sora cells inhibited their invasion, migration ability and EMT phenomenon. Finally, we found that the medium supernatant of sorafenib‐resistant HepG2/Sora cells induced vascular production of EA.hy926 cells, and silencing KIAA1429 inhibited this induction effect. Conclusion: We suggest that KIAA1429 promotes sorafenib‐resistant hepatocellular carcinoma invasion, migration and EMT by mediating m6A methylation. KIAA1429 with its mediated m6A methylation may be a key factor for sorafenib‐resistant patients prone to cancer cell metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercial continuous‐flow streamwise thermal‐gradient cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) counter is widely used in aerosol CCN activity measurements which are critical for investigating aerosol‐cloud interactions. In CCN measurements, a critical threshold is needed for distinguishing interstitial aerosols and activated droplets, and a default threshold of 0.75 μm was set in CCN counter. Theoretically, interstitial aerosols could also grow larger than 0.75 μm in CCN counter at low supersaturations, thus theoretical thresholds derived from the Köhler theory were suggested. Here, we report that droplet growth in the CCN counter is kinetically limited and CCN‐active droplets does not reach their theoretical diameters under low supersaturations. Neglecting the kinetic growth limitation in CCN identification would count less CCN and underestimate the aerosol hygroscopicity parameter κ $\kappa $ by up to 50% for supersaturations lower than 0.1%. We recommend that thresholds considering kinetic limitations should be used as new criteria for CCN identification under low supersaturations. Plain Language Summary: Accurate Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) predictions in climate and regional models are crucial for the assessment of climate effects of aerosol‐cloud interactions. Direct measurements of CCN activity, varied by aerosol size, hygroscopicity, and supersaturation, are important for model verifications and improvements. The commercial continuous‐flow streamwise thermal‐gradient CCN counter (CCNC) is widely used in CCN activity measurements. We found that the droplet growth in the CCNC is kinetically limited under low supersaturations (<0.14%), thus not reaching the theoretical critical activation diameter, which significantly affect CCN identification. Kinetic model results revealed that the wet diameter thresholds of CCN identification that took the kinetic limitations of droplet growth into account were independent of dry aerosol size and hygroscopicity thus could be directly used as new criteria for CCN identification. Neglecting the kinetic growth limitation in CCN identification would result in significant bias in CCN activity measurements and thus supersaturated aerosol hygroscopicity retrievals. Findings of this research have significant impacts on CCN activity measurements and supersaturated aerosol hygroscopicity investigations. Key Points: Limited hygroscopic growth of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in CCN counter is recognized and evaluated based on model analysisKinetic limitations in CCN counter impacts significantly on size‐resolved CCN activity measurementsKinetic limitations in CCN counter impacts significantly on aerosol hygroscopicity measurements under low supersaturation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5-methylcytosine (m5C) is a post-transcriptional RNA modification identified, m5C readers can specifically identify and bind to m5C. ALYREF and YBX1 as members of m5C readers that have garnered increasing attention in cancer research. However, comprehensive analysis of their molecular functions across pancancer are lacking. Using the TCGA and GTEx databases, we investigated the expression levels and prognostic values of ALYREF and YBX1. Additionally, we assessed the tumor microenvironment, immune checkpoint-related genes, immunomodulators, Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) score and drug resistance of ALYREF and YBX1. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) analyses were performed to investigate the potential functions associated with m5C readers and coexpressed genes. Aberrant expression of ALYREF and YBX1 was observed and positively associated with prognosis in KIRP, LGG and LIHC. Furthermore, the expression levels of ALYREF and YBX1 were significantly correlated with immune infiltration of the tumor microenvironment and immune-related modulators. Last, our analysis revealed significant correlations between ALYREF, YBX1 and eIFs. Our study provides a substantial understanding of m5C readers and the intricate relationship between ALYREF, YBX1, eIFs, and mRNA dynamics. Through multidimensional analysis of immune infiltration and drug sensitivity/resistance in ALYREF and YBX1, we propose a possibility for combined modality therapy utilizing m5C readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water condensed on ambient aerosol particles plays significant roles in atmospheric environment, atmospheric chemistry and climate. Before now, no instruments were available for real-time monitoring of ambient aerosol liquid water contents (ALWCs). In this paper, a novel method is proposed to calculate ambient ALWC based on measurements of a three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system, which measures aerosol light scattering coefficients and backscattering coefficients at three wavelengths under dry state and different relative humidity (RH) conditions, providing measurements of light scattering enhancement factor f (RH). The proposed ALWC calculation method includes two steps: the first step is the estimation of the dry state total volume concentration of ambient aerosol particles, Va(dry), with a machine learning method called random forest model based on measurements of the "dry" nephelometer. The estimated Va(dry) agrees well with the measured one. The second step is the estimation of the volume growth factor Vg(RH) of ambient aerosol particles due to water uptake, using f (RH) and the Ångström exponent. The ALWC is calculated from the estimated Va(dry) and Vg(RH). To validate the new method, the ambient ALWC calculated from measurements of the humidified nephelometer system during the Gucheng campaign was compared with ambient ALWC calculated from ISORROPIA thermodynamic model using aerosol chemistry data. A good agreement was achieved, with a slope and intercept of 1.14 and -8.6 μm3 cm-3 (r2 =0.92), respectively. The advantage of this new method is that the ambient ALWC can be obtained solely based on measurements of a three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system, facilitating the real-time monitoring of the ambient ALWC and promoting the study of aerosol liquid water and its role in atmospheric chemistry, secondary aerosol formation and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Most cancer cells perform glycolysis despite having sufficient oxygen. The specific metabolic pathways of cancer cells have become the focus of cancer treatment. Recently, accumulating evidence indicates oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and glycolysis can be regulated with each other. Thus, we suggest that the glycolysis of cancer cells is inhibited by restoring or improving OXPHOS in cancer cells. In our study, we found that oxaloacetate (OA) induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells in vivo and in vitro. Meanwhile, we found that OA induced a decrease in the energy metabolism of HepG2 cells. Further results showed that the expression and activity of glycolytic enzymes were decreased with OA treatment. Conversely, the expression and activity of enzymes involved in the TCA cycle and OXPHOS were increased with OA treatment. The results indicate that OA can inhibit glycolysis through enhancement of OXPHOS. In addition, OA‐mediated suppression of HIF1α, p‐Akt, and c‐myc led to a decrease in glycolysis level. Therefore, OA has the potential to be a novel anticancer drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parameterization of the size-resolved particle activation ratio (AR) is useful for the prediction and analysis of the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration ( N CCN ). Critical issues for the application of AR parameterizations in models are (1) the consistency of the different parameterization schemes in terms of fitting AR curves and (2) the applicability of the estimate of N CCN under different aerosol conditions. These issues are discussed in this study based on summertime measurements of the size-resolved AR in the North China Plain. By comparing parameterized AR curves, variations in the fitting parameters and application to N CCN calculations, the consistency of the three existing parameterization schemes is confirmed. Based on an analysis using representative AR fitting parameters, the method commonly used to calculate N CCN with a fixed AR was found to be accurate, except during periods affected by strong black carbon (BC) emissions or new particle formation (NPF) events. The N CCN value was overestimated by approximately 10% when BC aerosol emissions were abundant and deviated from the 1:1 line by 15% during NPF events. The bias of the calculated N CCN due to these significant emission or aerosol production events cannot be eliminated by using the appropriate representative fitting parameters. Under these circumstances, accurate prediction of N CCN requires real-time aerosol hygroscopicity data based on CCN measurements. This research furthers our understanding of the relationship between aerosol cloud activation and aerosol spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal nano-sized drug carrier requires long blood circulation, selective extravasation, and efficient cell uptake. Here we develop a charge-convertible nanoplatform based on Pt(IV) prodrug loaded NaYF 4 :Yb,Tm upconversion nanoparticles (UCNs), followed by coating a layer of PEG-PAH-DMMA polymer (UCNs-Pt(IV)@PEG-PAH-DMMA). The polymer endows the platform with high biocompatibility, initial nano-size for prolonged blood circulation and selective extravasation. Especially, the anionic polymer can response to the mild acidic stimulus (pH ∼6.5) of tumor extracellular microenvironment and experience charge-shifting to a cationic polymer, resulting in electrostatic repulsion and releases of positive UCNs-Pt(IV). The positive UCNs-Pt(IV) nanoparticles have high affinity to negative cell membrane, leading to efficacious cell internalization. Simultaneously, the ultraviolet (UV) light emitted from UCNs upon near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation, together with the reductive glutathione (GSH) in cancer cells efficiently activate the Pt(IV) prodrug to highly cytotoxic Pt(II), realizing NIR photon improved chemotherapy. The experimental results reveal the charge convertibility, low adverse effect and markedly enhanced tumor ablation efficacy upon NIR laser irradiation of this smart nanoplatform. Moreover, combining the inherent upconversion luminescence (UCL) and computed tomography (CT) imaging capabilities, an alliance of cancer diagnosis and therapy has been achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An estimate of a measurand using a nonlinear function of uncorrelated input quantities can be done by either applying the nonlinear function to the means of the input quantities (Method 1) or calculating the mean of a set of values obtained from propagating individual measurement values through the nonlinear function (Method 2). This paper proposes an improvement over the standard Method 2 procedures when the input quantities are assumed to be statistically independent and the nonlinear function has a general sum-of-product form, which covers many common measurement models. This paper shows that the proposed new approach (called Method 2S), if applicable, always produces a mean-squared error smaller than that of the conventional Method 2 procedures. The proposed approach improves the efficiency of Type-A evaluation as well as the Monte Carlo method. It also well complements the mainstream practices in the measurement uncertainty evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanded uncertainty estimation is normally required for mission-critical applications, e.g., those involving health and safety. It helps to get a distribution range of the required confidence level for the uncertainty evaluation of a system. There are a number of available techniques to estimate the expanded uncertainty. However, there is currently no commonly accepted benchmark test distribution set adopted to compare the performances of different techniques when they are used to estimate the expanded uncertainty. Without such a common benchmarking platform, the relative reliability of a particular technique in comparison to other techniques can be untrustworthy. To address the shortcoming, this paper proposes a set of analytically derived benchmark test distributions. It goes on to show the benefits of using them by comparing the performance of existing distribution fitting techniques when applied to the moment-based expanded uncertainty evaluation. The most commonly used moment-based distribution fitting techniques, such as Pearson, Tukey’s gh, Cornish–Fisher expansion, and extended generalized lambda distributions, are employed as test cases in this paper. The test distribution set proposed in this paper provides a common benchmarking platform for metrologists intending to assess the performance of different expanded uncertainty estimation techniques. Results from the performance comparison would help practitioners to make a better choice of a distribution fitting technique that would best suit their respective systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertension is a globally prevalent condition, with a heavy clinical and economic burden. It is the predominant risk factor for premature cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, and is associated with a variety of clinical disorders including stroke, congestive cardiac failure, ischaemic heart disease, chronic renal failure, and peripheral arterial disease. A significant subset of hypertensive patients have resistant hypertensive disease. In this group of patients, catheter-based renal artery denervation has emerged as a potential therapy, with favourable clinical efficacy and safety in early trials. Additional benefits of this therapy are also being identified and include effects on left ventricular remodeling, cardiac performance, and symptom status in congestive cardiac failure. Utility of renal denervation for the management of resistant hypertension, however, has become controversial since the release of the Symplicity HTN-3 trial, the first large-scale blinded randomised study investigating the efficacy and safety of renal artery denervation. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the history, utility, and clinical efficacy of renal artery denervation technology, including an in-depth appraisal of the current literature and principal trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcium alginate encapsulated Ni/Fe bimetallic nanoparticles beads (CA–Ni/Fe beads) were synthesized to simultaneously remove Cu (II) and monochlorobenzene (MCB) from aqueous solution. SEM, EDS, and XRD analyses confirmed that Ni/Fe bimetallic nanoparticles were not oxidized and successfully encapsulated by calcium alginate (CA). The experiments showed that the encapsulation process improved the simultaneous removal efficiency of Cu (II) and MCB, from 83.9% to 86.7% for Cu (II) and 94.7% to 99.1% for MCB compared with bare Ni/Fe nanoparticles after 120 min treatment. Furthermore, the removal efficiency of Cu (II) and MCB increased with higher temperature, calcium alginate: Ni/Fe ratios and pH. Pseudo-second-order model for adsorption and pseudo-first-order model for the reduction process fitted the simultaneous removal of Cu (II) and MCB using CA–Ni/Fe beads. Based on the above results, it could be concluded that the simultaneous removal was a two-step process: firstly, the adsorption of Cu (II) and MCB on the CA–Ni/Fe beads; and secondly, reduction of Cu (II) and dehalogenation of MCB by Ni/Fe in CA–Ni/Fe beads. Finally, the efficiency of regenerated CA–Ni/Fe beads was tested using synthesized wastewater which showed a satisfactory removal efficiency of Cu (II) and MCB maintained at 83.8% and 91.7% after three times’ regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Fe nanoparticles (Fe NPs) were synthesized by tea extracts. [•] Fe NPs as the catalyst were used for Fenton-like oxidation of monochlorobenzene. [•] The oxidation of MCB and the removal of COD were 81.15% and 31.01%, respectively. [•] The mechanism for Fenton-like oxidative mechanism was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] ZnO/ZnAl2O4 microspheres were prepared from LDH precursor spray-dried microspheres. [•] A preferential photodegradation on MO of the MB/MO mixture was observed. [•] Acidity of ZnO/ZnAl2O4 underlies preferential photodegradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant disease originating from myeloid hematopoietic stem or progenitor cells. It is important to identify molecules associated with the prognosis of AML and conduct an individual risk assessment for different patients. In the present study, the RNA expression profile of 132 patients with AML and 337 healthy individuals were downloaded from the University of California Santa Cruz Xena and the Genotype-Tissue Expression project databases. Differentially expressed mRNA (DEmRNA) transcripts between normal blood and AML blood were identified. Among these, prognosis-associated signature mRNA molecules were screened using univariate Cox and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression. A total of four genes, namely, family with sequence similarity 124 member B (FAM124B), 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-like protein (HPDL), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and purinergic receptor P2Y1 (P2RY1), were identified using multivariate Cox regression analysis and were used to construct a prognostic scoring system. Moreover, the expression levels of HPDL and MPO were higher in the samples with high immunity scores and estimate scores (sum of stromal score and immune score), compared with those with low scores. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analysis were used to confirm the upregulation of the four candidate genes in AML cell lines as well as in clinical AML samples. In summary, the present study identified a novel mRNA-based prognostic risk scoring system for patients with AML. The four genes used in this scoring system may also play an important role in AML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Full degradation of p-chlorophenol by B/Fe/Pd nanoparticles and Bacillus fusiformis. [•] p-CP was dechlorinated by B/Fe/Pd and the formation of the phenol. [•] Phenol was biodegraded by BF Bacillus fusiformis. [•] A integrated approach using both B–Fe/Pd nd sequential biodegradation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Heavily utilised reconfigurable production equipment has uneven deterioration rate caused by frequently changing configurations and complex subsystem interaction. Thus, traditional maintenance approaches that rely on reliability modelling are ineffective when applied on this class of equipment. This paper introduces a throughput-driven condition-based maintenance framework intended to perform predictive maintenance for heavily utilised reconfigurable production equipments. The effectiveness of the proposed method is experimentally validated using actual production records of the semiconductor test handlers. The primary benefit of the proposed framework is its prediction efficacy while accounting for the complex subsystem interaction through Bayesian statistics. It is low cost to implement because it only uses existing resources already available in most manufacturing plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multisine excitation signal enables fast and statistically robust measurement of the nonlinear behavior of analog devices under test. This paper describes the design considerations and constraints of a multisine excitation signal when it is applied to analog-to-digital converter testing. A novel phase-plane uniformity objective function followed by an optimization procedure is proposed to optimize the multisine excitation signal. Performance comparison between the proposed multisine design and other alternative multisine design is carried out. It is demonstrated that the proposed phase-space uniform multisine enables better representation of the conversion error distribution compared with existing multisine designs. This results in a more accurate assessment of the analog-to-digital converter performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An automated frequency selection algorithm for dual-tone analog-to-digital converter sine-wave test that guarantees optimal test coverage in the phase-plane is presented. The proposed method relaxes some constraints of the existing phase-space design methodology. This enables wider application of the phase-space method in test frequency selection. The proposed algorithm also extends the previous works by generating a good frequency pair while taking into account various hardware constraints in the production environment. Quality measures for phase-plane coverage is proposed and evaluated, followed by the theoretical analysis and description of the phase-plane uniformity. Extensive computer simulation is carried out to validate the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), particularly those that are highly doped, possess outstanding properties and have demonstrated tremendous application potential. However, novel fine-tuning strategies are urgently required to enhance the upconversion luminescence (UCL) performance of UCNPs. In this study, a series of core–multishell UCNPs highly doped with Ho3+ and Yb3+ ions were synthesized via the oleate route. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UCL spectra and decay times, and pump power dependency of the synthesized UCNPs were used to examine their morphology, size, and the UCL properties. Ce3+ ions were introduced to enhance Ho3+-based red UCL, and their doping strategy was also optimized based on summarized UCL trends and detailed UCL mechanism analysis. NaHoF 4 :Gd3+@NaGdF 4 :Yb3+,Ce3+@NaGdF 4 :Yb3+ UCNPs that had 10 mol% Ce3+ dopants in their middle shells exhibited better UCL properties than the larger traditional NaGdF 4 :Yb3+,Ce3+,Ho3+ UCNPs, probably because of the combined influence of the energy interactions between the Ce3+ ions and surface groups, sensitizing energy enhancement by active shells, and the positive cooperation between the Ce3+ ions and highly-doped core–shell structures. In this study, the phenomenon of UCL decrease resulting from Ce3+ ion doping was explored. Using unique core–multishell structures with highly-doped activators and sensitizers placed within and outside the structures, respectively, the UCL decrease due to Ce3+ ion doping was attributed to a competition for photons. Doping the UCNPs with Ce3+ ions near the UCNP surfaces favors Ho3+-based red UCL. Our study findings can deepen the understanding of the Ho3+-based UCL mechanisms and increase the potential uses of NaHoF 4 materials in photo-induced therapy. When Ce3+ ions are doped near the nanoparticle surface, they might have energy interactions with surface groups to relieve phonon energy shortage and thus enhance the efficiency of cross-relaxation between Ho3+ and Ce3+ ions. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Size-resolved Particle Activation Ratio (SPAR), defined as the size-dependence of CCN activity of aerosol particles, is generally parameterized by a scheme that neglects the contribution of nearly-hydrophobic particles. In this paper, it was found that nearly-hydrophobic particles can contribute up to 20% to the CCN activity for large particles and the estimation of particle hygroscopicity would be significantly biased using the original parameterization scheme. An improved parameterization scheme considering the contribution of nearly-hydrophobic particles was proposed and applied on measurements conducted at a rural site in the North China Plain during summer 2013. For hygroscopic particles in range of 50–70 nm diameter, which might be dominated by organic compounds, their number fraction (f n) and midpoint activation diameter (D a) fitted with the improved scheme were up to 20% lower than the parameters fitted with the original scheme. Both parameterization schemes of SPAR were further applied in a comparison study of aerosol hygroscopicity measurements between Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) Counter coupled with Differential Mobility Analyzer (DMA-CCNC) and Hygroscopicity Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (HTDMA) during the Xianghe Campaign. Applying the improved scheme, the correlations of derived f n for hygroscopic particles between measurements of DMA-CCNC and HTDMA were improved (R increased by up to 0.2 with the uncertainty of the regression to be about 10%). In addition, for particles smaller than 100 nm, the size-dependence of hygroscopicity parameter and the diurnal cycle of f n derived using the improved scheme, based on the DMA-CCNC measurements were more consistent with those derived with the HTDMA measurements. These results highlight the importance of considering nearly-hydrophobic particles in SPAR curves fitting and in the calculation of aerosol hygroscopicity based on DMA-CCNC measurements. • A new parameterization scheme for SPAR considering the contribution of the nearly-hydrophobic particles is proposed. • The fitting parameters using the improved scheme were up to 20% lowered for hygroscopic particles. • The derived aerosol hygroscopicity using the improved scheme agrees better with aerosol hygroscopicity derived from HTDMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol surface area concentration ( S A ) is crucial for studying atmospheric chemical reactions happened in aerosol water or on aerosol surface. However, there is no commercial instrument that can provide direct measurements of ambient S A . In this paper, we propose a method to calculate ambient S A based only on measurements of a three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system, which measures aerosol optical properties at three wavelengths under dry state and different relative humidity (RH) conditions. Two critical steps are required in this method: (1) Calculating surface area concentration of ambient aerosols in dry state, S A (dry) , using a trained random forest machine learning model based only on optical properties measured by the "dry" nephelometer. The proposed machine learning method is evaluated with particle number size distributions (PNSD) datasets from eight field campaigns conducted on the North China Plain during different seasons. The square of correlation coefficients between predicted and calculated S A (dry) for PNSD is about 0.99, the average ratio between predicted and calculated S A (dry) is 1.01 and 70% of data points has a relative difference less than 10%. (2) Calculating the surface area growth factor f S (RH) of ambient aerosol particles due to water uptake using the proposed f S (RH) parameterization scheme f S (RH) = (1 + κ S R H 100 − R H) 2 3 , and the hygroscopicity parameter κ S can be calculated using measured aerosol light scattering enhancement factor and Å ngstr o ¨ m exponent. The ambient S A values during two field campaigns which are conducted on the North China Plain (Wangdu campaign and Gucheng campaign, in summer and winter respectively) are calculated using the proposed method. The ambient S A ranges from 42 to 1871 μ m 2 / c m 3 with an average of 319 μ m 2 / c m 3 during Wangdu campaign, and ranges from 19 to 4156 μ m 2 / c m 3 with an average of 788 μ m 2 / c m 3 during Gucheng campaign. Drastic daily variations of ambient S A are observed during these two campaigns. The results demonstrate that aerosol hygroscopic growth impacts significantly on variations in ambient S A especially under high RH conditions. The f S (RH) ranges from near 1 to 4 with an average of 1.4 during Wangdu campaign, and ranges from near 1 to 2.7 with an average of 1.3 during Gucheng campaign. The results indicate that the larger RH, the more sensitive f S (RH) becomes to variations in κ S which highlights that real-time measurements of aerosol hygroscopicity are required for accurate calculations of ambient S A . The advantage of the proposed method is that the ambient S A can be obtained solely based on measurements of a three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system, facilitating real-time measurements of ambient S A and promoting studies in aerosol heterogeneous reactions. • Humidified nephelometer system performs great in predicting aerosol surface area. • Proposed method can be used in different regions. • Aerosol hygroscopic growth impacts significantly on aerosol surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearable antennas play an important role in transmitting signals wirelessly in body-worn systems, helping body-worn applications to achieve real-time monitoring and improving the working efficiency as well as the life quality of the users. Over conventional antenna types, ultra wideband (UWB) antennas have advantages of very large operating bandwidth, low power consumption, and high data transmission speed, therefore, they become of great interest for body-worn applications. One of the strategies for making the antenna comfortable to wear is replacing the conventional rigid printed circuit board with textile materials in the manufacturing process. In this study, a novel three-dimensional woven fabric integrated UWB antenna was proposed and fabricated with pure textile materials. The antenna electromagnetic properties were simulated and measured and its properties under bending were investigated. The antenna operated in a wide bandwidth from 2.7 to 13 GHz with the proper radiation pattern and gain value. At the same time, the antenna performance under bending varied in a reasonable range indicating that the antenna is prospectively applied on the curved surfaces of the human body. Additionally, the current distribution of the antenna showed that different conductive parts had different current densities indicating the uniqueness of the three-dimensional textile-based antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical injury is partly due to free radical lipid peroxidation, which can induce oxidative stress and produce a large number of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxaloacetic acid is an important intermediary in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) and participates in metabolism and energy production. In our study, we found that oxaloacetate (OA) effectively alleviated liver injury which was induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in vitro and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in vivo. OA scavenged ROS, prevented oxidative damage and maintained the normal structure of mitochondria. We further confirmed that OA increased adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by promoting the TCA production cycle and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Finally, OA inhibited the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and apoptotic pathways by suppressing tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Our findings reveal a mechanism for OA ameliorating chemical liver injury and suggest a possible implementation for preventing the chemical liver injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submicron aerosol (PM1) species measured by aerosol mass spectrometers have been widely used to validate chemical transport models; however, the uncertainties due to chemical differences between PM1 and PM2.5 are poorly constrained. Here we characterized such differences in a highly polluted environment in north China in winter. Our results showed that the changes in PM1/PM2.5 ratios as a function of relative humidity (RH) were largely different for primary and secondary species. Secondary organic and inorganic aerosol (SOA and SIA) presented clear decreases in PM1/PM2.5 ratios at RH > 60% during periods with high SIA contributions (>50%), likely driven by the changes in aerosol hygroscopicity and phase states, while the traffic and coal combustion OA had limited dependence on RH. Thermodynamic modeling showed negligible impacts of PM differences on predictions of particle acidity, yet these impacts can cause a difference in aerosol water content by up to 50–70%. Plain Language Summary: Current air pollution studies rely largely upon aerosol mass spectrometers that provide real‐time measurements of submicron aerosol (PM1) species, and in many studies, PM1 aerosol species are used to validate those of PM2.5 in chemical transport models and estimate particle acidity and aerosol water content which are key parameters in studying heterogeneous reactions. However, the uncertainties in air pollution studies due to the chemical differences of PM1 and PM2.5 are poorly constrained, particularly in highly polluted environment, for example, China and India. We found that the changes in PM1/PM2.5 ratios as a function of relative humidity were largely different for primary and secondary aerosol species in highly polluted environment, which was likely driven by the changes in aerosol hygroscopicity and phase states. The chemical differences of PM1/PM2.5 ratios were also found to have negligible impacts on predictions of particle acidity, yet these impacts can cause a difference in aerosol water content by up to 50–70%. Considering the rapid increases in the deployments of aerosol mass spectrometers worldwide, the results in this study are of great importance for a better understanding of the uncertainties in both modelling and observations. Key Points: We observed large chemical differences between PM1 and PM2.5 under high relative humidity periods in highly polluted environmentThe RH dependence of PM1/PM2.5 ratios of primary and secondary species was largely different due to different hygroscopicityThe chemical differences between PM1 and PM2.5 have negligible influences on particle acidity prediction, yet have a large impact on AWC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the radiative forcing of aerosols in models still lacks sufficient input data for aerosol hygroscopicity. The light scattering enhancement factor [f(RH, λ)] is a crucial parameter for describing aerosol hygroscopic growth properties. In this paper, we provide a survey of f(RH, λ) studies in China for the past seven years, including instrument developments of humidified nephelometers, ambient f(RH, λ) measurements in China, f(RH, λ) parameterization schemes, and f(RH, λ) applications in aerosol measurements. Comparisons of different f(RH, λ) parameterizations are carried out to check their performance in China using field measurement datasets. We also summary the parameterization schemes for predicting f(RH, λ) with aerosol chemical compositions. The recently developed methods to observe other aerosol properties using f(RH, λ) measurements, such as calculating the aerosol hygroscopicity parameter, cloud condensation nuclei number concentration, aerosol liquid water content, and aerosol asymmetry factor, are introduced. Suggestions for further research on f(RH, λ)in China are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The light scattering enhancement factor f (RH), defined as the ratio of the light scattering coefficient (σ S P ) observed under an elevated relative humidity (RH) conditions to that under dry conditions, is a crucial parameter for estimating aerosol direct radiative effects and atmospheric visibility. In this paper, a new f (RH) parameterization scheme considering both the influence of aerosol chemical compositions and that of particle number size distribution (PNSD) is proposed based on in situ measurements in the North China Plain. The development of this parameterization scheme includes three steps. First, aerosol hygroscopicity parameter κ is parameterized with aerosol chemical compositions. Then, the ratio between f (RH) fitted parameter κ s c a (f (R H) = 1 + κ s c a R H 100 − R H ) and κ is introduced to correlate f (RH) with κ. The ratio, influenced mostly by PNSD, is described as a function of scattering Ångström exponent (SAE) because the SAE can represent the predominant size of aerosol particles to some extent. Finally, f (RH) cycle is parameterized with κ s c a . Validation results show that a good consistency between the parameterized and measured f (RH = 80%) is achieved and the correlation coefficient is 0.80. This parameterization scheme between aerosol chemistry and f (RH) can be used in chemical transport models for reducing uncertainties in estimations of direct aerosol radiative forcing and air quality assessments. Highlights • A relationship between the f (RH) fitted parameter (κ sca) and the aerosol hygroscopicity parameter (κ f(RH)) is found. • The ratio of κ sca and κ f(RH) increases linearly with the increase of the scattering Ångström exponent. • A new parameterization of f (RH) considering the aerosol chemical compositions is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) plays a fundamental role in cloud physics. Instrumentations of direct measurements of CCN number concentration (NCCN) based on chamber technology are complex and costly; thus a simple way for measuring NCCN is needed. In this study, a new method for NCCN calculation based on measurements of a three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system is proposed. A three-wavelength humidified nephelometer system can measure the aerosol light-scattering coefficient (σsp) at three wavelengths and the light-scattering enhancement factor (fRH). The Ångström exponent (Å) inferred from σsp at three wavelengths provides information on mean predominate aerosol size, and hygroscopicity parameter (κ) can be calculated from the combination of fRH and Å. Given this, a lookup table that includes σsp, κ and Å is established to predict NCCN. Due to the precondition for the application, this new method is not suitable for externally mixed particles, large particles (e.g., dust and sea salt) or fresh aerosol particles. This method is validated with direct measurements of NCCN using a CCN counter on the North China Plain. Results show that relative deviations between calculated NCCN and measured NCCN are within 30 % and confirm the robustness of this method. This method enables simplerNCCN measurements because the humidified nephelometer system is easily operated and stable. Compared with the method using a CCN counter, another advantage of this newly proposed method is that it can obtain NCCN at lower supersaturations in the ambient atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pichia pastoris is one of the most widely used expression systems for the production of recombinant secretory proteins. Its universal application is, however, somewhat hampered by its unpredictable yields for different heterologous proteins, which is now believed to be caused in part by their varied efficiencies to traffic through the host secretion machinery. The yeast endoprotease Kex2 removes the signal peptides from pre-proteins and releases the mature form of secreted proteins, thus, plays a pivotal role in the yeast secretory pathways. In this study, we found that the yields of many recombinant proteins were greatly influenced by Kex2 P1' site residues and the optimized P1’s amino acid residue could largely determine the final amount of secretory proteins synthesized and secreted. A further improvement of secretory yield was achieved by genomic integration of additional Kex2 copies, which again highlighted the importance of Kex2 cleavage to the production of recombinant secretory proteins in Pichia yeast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remediation of toxic persistent organic contaminants in the environment has raised a need for effective cleanup methods. In this study, an integrated remediation technique based on biodegradation of naphthalene using Bacillus fusiformis and Fenton oxidation of their degraded metabolites using nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI). A 99.0% naphthalene was biodegraded by B . fusiformis in 96 h, while only 59.4% chemical oxygen demand (COD) was removed, indicating that the degraded metabolites existed in solution. To further degrade the metabolites, nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) was used as heterogeneous catalyst for Fenton-like oxidation of the metabolites after biodegradation lasting 40 h. Results showed that the total the removal COD increased from 36.4% to 91.6% at pH 3.0, 1.0 g L −1 nZVI, 10.0 mM L −1 H 2 O 2 and temperature of 35 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the aggregation and corrosion of nZVI. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the existence of Fe 0 and the presence of iron oxide (Fe(II)) and iron oxohydroxide (Fe(III)). A possible degradation pathway was proposed since two naphthalene metabolites (1-Naphthalenol and 1,4-Naphthalenedione) were detected by GC–MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) identifies production test data as an essential element in improving design and technology in the manufacturing process feedback loop. One of the observations made from the high-volume production test data is that dies that fail due to a systematic failure have a tendency to form certain unique patterns that manifest as defect clusters at the wafer level. Identifying and categorising such clusters is a crucial step towards manufacturing yield improvement and implementation of real-time statistical process control. Addressing the semiconductor industry’s needs, this research proposes an automatic defect cluster recognition system for semiconductor wafers that achieves up to 95% accuracy (depending on the product type). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

High-volume production data shows that dies, which failed probe test on a semiconductor wafer, have a tendency to form certain unique patterns, i.e., defect clusters. Identifying such clusters is one of the crucial steps toward improvement of the fabrication process and design for manufacturing. This paper proposes a new technique for defect-cluster identification that combines data mining with a defect-cluster extraction using a Segmentation, Detection, and Cluster-Extraction algorithm. It offers high defect-extraction accuracy, without any significant increase in test time and cost. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Size-resolved particle activation ratio (SPAR), the size-dependent ability of aerosol particles to form cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), is generally parameterized by a formula with sigmoidal shape with three key parameters. However, our understanding about the intrinsic relationship between the sigmoidal shape function and aerosol hygroscopicity distribution remains incomplete. In this study, the relationship between SPAR and particle hygroscopicity distribution is mathematically derived and relationships between key parameters for SPAR and particle hygroscopicity distribution are manifested, making it clear for the physical understanding of key CCN spectral characteristics. On the basis of the mathematically derived SPAR parameterization, a simplified method to calculate SPAR parameters (including maximum activation fraction (MAF), critical diameter and its heterogeneity of CCN-active particles) based on hygroscopicity distribution data is proposed. This simplified method is applied to Hygroscopicity Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (HTDMA) field measurement datasets around the world for the meta-analysis of regional and seasonal characteristics of CCN activity. It was found that, for CCN-active particles in polluted regions, the MAF can reach lower values, and the variations of both hygroscopicity and its heterogeneity can be larger, compared with those in clean regions. In summer, the MAF and the hygroscopicity of CCN can reach higher values than those in winter. In addition, the variations of SPAR parameters among different campaigns are large and thus measurements of CCN Counter or HTDMA are needed to specify the SPAR parameters at a specific site during a specific period. The bulk CCN activity at different SSs are also calculated based on the calculated SPAR by considering the measured particle number size distribution. The mathematical derivation and physical interpretation of SPAR parameterization in this study can further the understanding of CCN activity based on particle hygroscopicity distribution. The proposed simplified method to calculate SPAR parameters based on HTDMA measurements allows meta-analysis of SPAR parameters and helps expand the CCN activity datasets around the world. • Relationship between Size-resolved particle activation ratio and hygroscopicity distribution is mathematically derived. • A simplified method to calculate SPAR parameters based on hygroscopicity distribution data is proposed. • Meta-analysis of CCN activity is conducted based on HTDMA field measurement datasets in references. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibrotic tissue remodelling in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) will probably emerge as the leading cause of end-stage liver disease in the coming decades, but the ability to diagnose liver fibrosis in NAFLD patients noninvasively is limited. The abnormal expression of tRNA-derived small RNA (tsRNA) in plasma provides a novel idea for noninvasive diagnosis of various diseases, however, the relationship between tsRNAs and NAFLD is still unknown. Here, we took advantage of small RNA-Seq technology to profile tsRNAs in NAFLD patients and found the ubiquitous presence of hepatic tsRNAs secreted into circulating blood. Verification in a cohort of 114 patients with NAFLD and 42 patients without NAFLD revealed that three tsRNAs (tRF-Val-CAC-005, tiRNA-His-GTG-001, and tRF-Ala-CGC-006) were significantly elevated in the plasma of NAFLD patients, and the expression level are associated with NAFLD activity score (calculated from 0 to 8) and fibrosis stage (scored from 0 to 4). In mouse models, we further found that increased plasma levels of these three tsRNAs were positively correlated with the degree of liver fibrosis. Our study potentially identifies a new class of NAFLD biomarkers and reveal the possible existence of tsRNAs in the blood that can be used to predict fibrogenesis risk in patients diagnosed with NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel parametric design analysis of the magnetic sensor module used to find mover positions in linear motors. The proposed framework utilizes a computationally inexpensive proper orthogonal decomposition-dynamic mode decomposition-based model order reduction (MOR), coupled with a multiparameter moment matching method. The model is then utilized by a moment-based probabilistic design optimization method that considers the manufacturing uncertainties to find the optimal sensor design. A magnetic sensor module is designed for employing the proposed framework, and the results show that: 1) the proposed MOR technique is accurate; 2) the reliability analysis performed during the probabilistic design optimization can help to reduce the excessive non-compliance costs for the manufacturers; and 3) the combined framework is able to significantly expedite the optimal design search. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non‑coding RNA colon cancer‑associated transcript 2 (CCAT2) is dysregulated in a variety of types of human cancer. However, the role of CCAT2 in epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) remains largely unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of CCAT2 on epithelial‑mesenchymal transition (EMT) and related molecular mechanisms in epithelial ovarian cancer cells. In the current paper, we found that CCAT2 was significantly upregulated in EOC SKOV3, A2780 and HO8910 cell lines compared with the normal ovarian epithelial HUM‑CELL‑0088 cell line. Functional assays demonstrated that the knockdown of CCAT2 inhibited migration and invasion of EOC cells in vitro. Moreover, our results showed that silencing CCAT2 inhibited EMT by the upregulation of epithelial cadherin and downregulation of neural cadherin, zinc finger protein SNAI and Twist‑related protein 1 in SKOV3 and A2780 cell lines. But, that was reversed by the treatment with lithium chloride (LiCl), by which the canonical Wnt/β‑catenin pathway could be activated. In addition, we further investigated the role of CCAT2 in the modulation of Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway. Our results revealed that knockdown of CCAT2 inhibited the expression of β‑catenin and the activity of T‑cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor, acting as a key transcription factor of Wnt signaling pathway. Collectively, these results indicate that CCAT2 may promote EMT, at least partly through Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway in EOC cells. Thus, CCAT2 might play a critical role in EOC progression and serve as a valuable target for the treatment of ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) spectra, that indicate the dependence of CCN number concentrations (N CCN) on supersaturation, are important factors in aerosol–cloud interactions. Owing to the lack of direct measurements of N CCN , calculating the CCN spectra based on conventional observational data of aerosols is important to obtain N CCN ; however, this is challenging owing to the complex relationship between aerosol properties and CCN activity. Machine learning techniques have recently been applied to estimate N CCN and found to be a promising method for CCN prediction. In this study, the random forest (RF) model was applied to predict CCN spectral parameters using the observation data measured in four campaigns in the North China Plain, and the effects of chemical and optical properties of aerosol on the estimation of CCN spectra were investigated. The results show that the RF model trained with the data of one campaign can be used to estimate CCN spectral parameters in another campaign, with the coefficient of determination between the estimated and measured CCN spectral parameters being approximately 0.5. The deviations of the estimation by the RF model may result from the difference in both the aerosol properties and measurement uncertainties among different campaigns, whose influence on the deviations can be further magnified by overfitting the RF model. Further analysis revealed that the major aerosol properties among the input variables of the RF model were the mass concentration of black carbon and aerosol hemispheric backscattering fraction at a wavelength of 450 nm. In addition, the roles of chemical compositions of aerosol in estimating CCN spectra parameters are different among different campaigns because the poor correlation between aerosol chemical compositions and CCN spectra parameter can affect the performance of the RF model. For estimating CCN spectra, using aerosol optical properties, including the hemispheric backscattering fraction and absorption coefficient, as model inputs is more recommended than using aerosol chemical properties. • Random forest model is used to estimate CCN spectra based on observation data in the North China Plain. • Mass concentration of black carbon and hemispheric backscattering fraction are the most important input variables. • Aerosol optical properties data are recommended in estimation of CCN spectra parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the physical properties of refractory BC (rBC) including mass concentration, core size distribution and mixing state were in-situ characterized with a single particle soot photometer (SP2) at a polluted rural site in the North China Plain in November 2018. The average rBC mass concentration is 4.12 ± 2.47 μg m−3, accounting for 6.26% of PM 1 mass. Its diurnal variation shows that the rBC concentration is affected by both the local residential activities and the evolution of planetary boundary layer (PBL). And a broader rBC core mass size distribution (CMSD) can be observed in the afternoon. The CMSD show a primary mode with peak diameter (D m) of ~222 nm, and a small secondary mode with D m of ~687 nm. The average absolute coating thickness (ACT) of rBC particles is 50 nm and the bulk relative coating thickness (BRCT) is about 1.7, indicating a relatively high aging level of rBC. The correlation analysis between SP2-separated rBC and PMF-separated OA factors indicate that rBC with different core size (D c) and ACT may be originated from different sources. The rBC contributed by coal combustion is distributed throughout a large D c range (~70–500 nm). The rBC particles emitted by traffic sources have small core sizes and thin coating thickness (D c < 180 nm and ACT <50 nm); while the rBC particles emitted from biomass burning show a higher degree of aging (ACT >250 nm). In addition, the secondary mode of rBC particles are likely to be originated from coal combustion. • High concentration of rBC with relatively high aging level was observed in the North China Plain • The rBC core mass size distribution was bimodal distribution with a small secondary mode at ~687 nm • The secondary mode of rBC was likely to be contributed by coal combustion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Although aquaporin-3 (AQP3) is widely distributed in mammalian tissues and over-expressed in NSCLC cells, there are limited studies on the effects of AQP3 knockdown on NSCLC cells under hypoxic conditions. Methods: The CCK-8 assay was used to calculate cell viability. Scratch-wound healing and transwell assays were used to detect cell migration and invasion. Apoptotic cells were measured by the TUNEL assay. mRNA expression levels were calculated via quantitative RT-PCR. Relative protein levels were determined by immunoblot assays. Results: AQP3 knockdown substantially reduced proliferation, migration, and invasion of A549 and NCI-H460 cells under hypoxic conditions. Moreover, AQP3 knockdown clearly induced cell apoptosis. Further analysis identified levels of HIF-1α, VEGF, Raf, phosphor-MEK, and phosphor-ERK, whose activities were significantly attenuated in the AQP3 knockdown group. Conclusions: These findings indicate that AQP3 knockdown retards the growth of NSCLC cells partially through inhibiting HIF-1α/VEGF and Raf/MEK/ERK signalling pathways. © 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle microphysical and chemical properties, including particle number size distribution (PNSD) and chemical composition of both ambient PM 1 and PM 10 particles were measured in the North China Plain (NCP) during the Multiphase chemistry experiment in Fogs and Aerosols in the North China Plain (McFAN) campaign in November 2018. Focused on the differences of measured PNSD between PM 1 and PM 10 , the variations of aerosol microphysical and chemical properties in fog were analyzed and their corresponding influence on fog droplets evolution was evaluated. Two nighttime fog events were observed on the 12th and 13th November, respectively. During fog events, PNSDs of particles with diameter larger than ∼200 nm sampled from the PM 10 inlet were similar to those after fogs. But in particle size range larger than 200 nm, particles number concentration sampled from the PM 1 inlet were very few and much lower than those after fogs, indicating that some particles larger than 200 nm have grown into droplets with diameter larger than 1 μm and thus were not detected under the PM 1 inlet. No significant decrease in particle number concentration larger than ∼200 nm was detected under the PM 10 inlet after the dissipation of these fog events, suggesting that fog droplets were generally smaller than 10 μm and could be sampled by the PM 10 inlet. The additional particles sampled in PM 10 in fogs demonstrated a normal distribution, which indicates that they belonged to an individual particle group externally mixed with those sampled under the PM 1 impactor and could outgrow 1 μm either through hygroscopic growth or through activation. This can lead to uncertainties in droplet number concentration estimations within fog from microphysical and chemical properties measurements of the aerosol with assumption of fully internal mixture. We find that PM 1 hygroscopicity derived from particle chemical composition measurements was overestimated, which may result in significant bias in the estimated droplets number concentration in the North China Plain. These results and approaches in this study can improve the understanding of aerosol microphysical properties in fogs and the corresponding influence of aerosol particles on fog microphysics. [Display omitted] • Simultaneous measurements of PM1 and PM10 during fog events in the North China Plain. • Differences between PNSDs of PM1 and PM10 suggest additional particles in PM10 different from PM1. • Ignoring external mixing state of PM10 leads to an overestimated droplet number concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psoriasis (PS; MIM#177900) is a chronic inflammatory immune-mediated skin disorder. Although the disease is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic, immunologic and environmental factors, its complete etiology has not been fully understood. Here, we focused on the BSG (MIM#109480), a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily expressed ubiquitously in circulating immune cell populations. We observed that the expression level of BSG in PBMCs was elevated in psoriasis patients. To understand the underlying mechanism for this change, we genotyped the rs8259 T>A SNP located in the 3′UTR of the BSG gene from 668 psoriasis patients and 1,143 healthy controls. The rs8259 T allele was associated with significantly decreased psoriasis susceptibility (OR = 0.758, 95% CI 0.638-0.901, p = 0.002). Interestingly, the rs8259 polymorphism was located in a seed region for miR-492 binding. The miR-492 was able to bind to the BSG 3′UTR sequence bearing the rs8259 T allele as assayed by luciferase reporter gene assay. The substitution of T with A abolished miR-492 binding. BSG protein expression in PBMCs from patients carrying the rs8259 AA genotype was significantly higher than in those from patients carrying the rs8259 TT genotype. Our study suggests that miR-492 may physiologically suppress BSG expression and the BSG rs8259 polymorphism is associated with decreased psoriasis susceptibility through affecting miR-492 binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: CoFeIIFeIII-layered double hydroxide (LDH) hollow spheres with two distinctly different hierarchical morphologies—flower-like and raspberry-like, involving edge-on and face-on oriented LDH platelets as building blocks, respectively—can be fabricated by tuning the rate of addition of NaOH solution in a coprecipitation process with sulfonated polystyrene spheres as a template. Ex situ pH-dependent microscopic observations of the formation of the flower-like LDH shells shows the details of non-classic nucleation and growth underlying the edge-on orientation. After calcination, the resulting CoFe2O4 materials retain the hierarchical morphology of the corresponding LDH precursor. The hollow CoFe2O4 spheres with raspberry-like morphology exhibit magnetic properties comparable to a reference material obtained by calcination of a conventional LDH powder precursor. Similar materials with tunable magnetic properties can be prepared by virtue of the flexibility in LDH layer composition. The CoFeIIFeIII-LDH spheres with a raspberry-like morphology may be also be prepared by using a scalable procedure involving separate ultra-rapid nucleation and aging steps in a modified colloid mill reactor. The results reported here may open up the possibility of producing shell structures with controllable morphologies and properties on a large scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

At present, many mines adopt the filling method. It is particularly important to solve the problem of the long-distance transportation of slurry during the filling process. Based on the high-density filling material of Sanning mine, the experiments were designed to add sodium abietate (SA), triterpene saponin (SJ) and sodium dodecyl sulfonate (K12) with concentrations of 0.0%, 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively, which were used as air entraining agents (AEA). The filling body with the curing age of 7 and 28 days was prepared for various tests, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and alternating current (AC) impedance tests. The effects of the air entraining agent and curing time on the physical properties, pore structure and AC impedance properties of the filling were obtained. The results show that: (1) within the frequency range of 10−1–105 Hz, the variation trend of AC impedance of the filling body cannot be changed by adding the air entraining agent, and the filling body with the same ratio had a similar topological structure. (2) The filling body with different AEA and curing times can be represented by the same equivalent circuit model, while the maximum chi-square coefficient was 0.46%. (3) Under the condition of a high frequency of 105 Hz, the porosity and uniaxial compressive strength of the filling body with 7 day curing age were linearly correlated with the AC impedance. However, the porosity and uniaxial compressive strengths of the filling body with 28 days curing time were affected by the type of AEA at a high frequency of 105 Hz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current conventional photo-therapeutic agents often show low therapy efficacy because of their single treatment model, the limited penetration depth of excitation light and hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Herein, a new type of phthalocyanine manganese (MnPcE 4) photosensitizer with strong NIR absorption was designed and fabricated for the first time, and was used to modify pure Bi nanomaterials to obtain an intelligent multifunctional Bi/MnPcE 4 nanocomposites. The Mn2+ in the Bi/MnPcE 4 nanocomposite could catalyze H 2 O 2 to generate O 2 , thus helping to overcome TME hypoxia and enhancing the photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy. Further, the nanocomposites showed excellent T 1 -weighted MRI performance. Our novel use of a pure metal Bi core, offers lower toxicity, higher CT imaging performance, and a photothermal therapy (PTT) effect triggered by 808 nm near infrared (NIR) laser. Moreover, in vivo fluorescence imaging (in vivo FL) vividly showed that the nanocomposite rapidly accumulates in tumor sites due to the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect and metabolized in the organs. The presence of Bi enables the use of these nanocomposites as a CT contrast agent, and the Mn content enables them to be used in MRI. This triple imaging ability implies that our nanocomposites have a high potential for use in imaging directed tumor therapy. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black carbon (BC) aerosols play an important role in modifying the PBL meteorology and severity of haze pollution through its radiative effect (Ding et al. 2016). The radiative effect of BC strongly depends on its mixing state or coating thickness, which is subject to the aging process in the atmosphere (Cheng et al. 2006, 2008). North China Plain (NCP) is one of the areas where both severe haze and high abundance of BC have been reported. By using a single particle soot photometer (SP2) and complimentary measurements, we investigated the aging of BC during several severe haze events in the North China Plain during our winter campaign in 2018. We calculated the size-resolved mixing state and aging rate of BC in the ambient air under different pollution levels. Our results show a fast aging of BC especially during the haze events with high concentrations of air pollutants and condensable vapors. The occurrence of fog episodes in the campaign enables us to analyze the BC-droplet interactions, especially the effect of aerosol size and coating thickness on its activation and removal, which is key for understanding the aerosol-cloud and aerosol fog interactions. Moreover, we find that most coated BC particles can be classified to a "core-shell" type while only a small fraction of BC-containing particles is in an "attached" type. It suggests that the traditional Core-Shell model should still be applicable for modeling the radiative properties of BC in the North China Plain. Based on the Mie model calculation, we determined their absorption enhancement factor of BC due to the aging process and discussed its implication to the formation of severe haze.References:Ding, A. J., Huang, X., Nie, W., Sun, J. N., Kerminen, V. M., Petaja, T., Su, H., Cheng, Y. F., Yang, X. Q., Wang, M. H., Chi, X. G., Wang, J. P., Virkkula, A., Guo, W. D., Yuan, J., Wang, S. Y., Zhang, R. J., Wu, Y. F., Song, Y., Zhu, T., Zilitinkevich, S., Kulmala, M., and Fu, C. B.: Enhanced haze pollution by black carbon in megacities in China, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 2873-2879, 10.1002/2016gl067745, 2016.Cheng, Y. F., Eichler, H., Wiedensohler, A., Heintzenberg, J., Zhang, Y. H., Hu, M., Herrmann, H., Zeng, L. M., Liu, S., Gnauk, T., Bruggemann, E., and He, L. Y.: Mixing state of elemental carbon and non-light-absorbing aerosol components derived from in situ particle optical properties at Xinken in Pearl River Delta of China, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 111, 18, 10.1029/2005jd006929, 2006.Cheng, Y. F., Wiedensohler, A., Eichler, H., Su, H., Gnauk, T., Brueggemann, E., Herrmann, H., Heintzenberg, J., Slanina, J., Tuch, T., Hu, M., and Zhang, Y. H.: Aerosol optical properties and related chemical apportionment at Xinken in Pearl River Delta of China, Atmos. Environ., 42, 6351-6372, 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.02.034, 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black carbon (BC) is the most important light-absorbing species in the atmosphere and has a strong positive direct radiative forcing. Recent studies found that BC-containing particles may also modify the structure of planetary boundary layer and thus enhance haze pollution, especially in densely populated areas, for instance, in China. It is however difficult to quantify these effects due to their complex mixing state, hygroscopicity and the high spatial variability of concentration. During an intensive field campaign conducted in the North China Plain in a cold season, the mass size distribution and mixing state of BC was measured with a single particle soot photometer (SP2). During a severe haze event, the BC mass concentration exceeded 15 ug m-3. Stemming from the strong aging process under high relative humidity condition, freshly emitted BC particle was observed to turn into internally mixing within a short time scale. To understand the variation of the hygroscopicity of BC during its aging process, the hygroscopic growth factor of BC-containing particles was measured with a combination of a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer and a SP2. The particle hygroscopic growth factor was found to be correlated with the volume fraction of BC. During haze events, a fraction of the more-hygroscopic mode particles was observed to contain BC cores; while a minor fraction of the hydrophobic mode particles contained no BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]