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In this paper, a class of linear discrete-time systems with input saturation is studied in a data-driven framework. Firstly, the input-state data are collected to represent the open-loop and closed-loop systems. While the open-loop data-based representation is a result that is parallel to system identification, the closed-loop representation bypasses the system identification and can be used for direct data-driven control law synthesis. Then, by a novel Lyapunov technique, sufficient conditions for system stability are derived, such conditions are independent of system matrices. Moreover, the attraction domain is estimated using two classes of shape reference sets. Finally, two examples are used to test the correctness of the data-driven control laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initially discovered to be induced by heat shock, heat shock protein 27 (HSP27, also called HSPB1), a member of the small HSP family, can help cells better withstand or avoid heat shock damage. After years of studies, HSP27 was gradually found to be extensively engaged in various physiological or pathophysiological activities. Herein, revisiting the previously published data concerning HSP27, we conducted a critical review of the literature regarding its role in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) from the perspective of clinicopathological and prognostic significance, excluding studies conducted on adenocarcinoma, which is very different from SCC, to understand the enigmatic role of HSP27 in the tumorigenesis of SCC, including normal mucosa, dysplasia, intraepithelial neoplasm, carcinoma in situ and invasive SCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antigen-presentation genes play a vital role in the pathogenesis of HCV infection. However, the relationship of variants of these genes with spontaneous outcomes of HCV infection has not been fully investigated. To explore novel loci in the Chinese population, 34 tagging-SNPs in 9 candidate genes were genotyped for their associations with the outcomes of HCV infection. The distributions of different genotypes and haplotypes were compared among 773 HCV-negative controls, 246 subjects with HCV natural clearance, and 218 HCV persistent carriers recruited from hemodialysis patients and intravenous drug users. Our study implicated that TAP2, HLA-DOA, HLA-DOB, and tapasin loci were novel candidate regions for susceptibility to HCV infection and viral clearance in the Chinese population. Logistic regression analyses showed that TAP2 rs1800454 A (OR = 1.48, P = 0.002) and HLA-DOB rs2071469 G (OR = 1.23, P = 0.048) were significantly associated with increased susceptibility to establishment of HCV infection. However, high-risk behavior exposure and age were stronger predictors of HCV infection. Mutation of tapasin rs9277972 T (OR = 1.57, P =0.043) increased the risk of HCV chronicity, and HLA-DOA rs3128935 C (OR = 0.62, P = 0.019) increased the chance of viral resolution. With regards to the effect of rs3128925, interactions were found with high-risk behavior (P = 0.013) and age (P = 0.035). The risk effect of rs3128925 T for persistent HCV infection was higher in injecting drug users (vs. dialysis patients) and in subjects ≥ 40 years old (vs. < 40 years old). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excited‐state dynamics of indocyanine green (ICG) fundamentally determine its photophysical properties for phototheranostic. However, its dynamics are predictable to be susceptible toward intracellular viscosity due to its almost freely rotating structure, making the precise phototheranostic very challenging. Therefore, correlating the viscosity with the dynamics of ICG is of great importance and urgency for precise phototheranostic prospects. This study presents systemic investigations on the viscosity‐dependent dynamics of ICG for phototheranostic. Femtosecond transient absorption (fs‐TA) experiments elucidate a prolonged radiative transition (225 ps vs 152 ps) for ICG in a viscous environment, which benefits fluorescence. High viscosity remarkably extends the triplet excited‐state lifetime of ICG but reduces its internal conversion (6.2 ps vs 2.2 ps). The extended triplet lifetime affords sufficient photosensitization time to enhance photodynamic therapy. A moderative internal conversion is unfavorable for heat production, resulting in inferior photothermal therapy. With this clear picture of excitation energy state dissipation in mind, we readily identified the safety laser power density for precise phototheranostic. This work provides an insightful understanding of viscosity‐relevant excited‐state dynamics toward phototheranostic, which is also beneficial for designing novel ICG derivatives with improved phototheranostic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was designed to assess whether raised Serine protease inhibitor Kazal type 1 (SPINK1) expressions modulates angiogenesis. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) exposed to SPINK1 were noted to exhibit raised expressions of interleukin-8 (IL-8) as well as VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 cell adhesion molecules in a dose-dependent manner. In co-culture system of HUVECs and Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells, SPINK1 exposure also resulted in enhanced endothelial cell motility and ALL cells trans-endothelial migration. High concentrations of SPINK1 caused in vitro cellular reorganization into tubes in Matrigel-cultured HUVECs and induced in vivo vascularization and brain infiltration of NOD/SCID ALL model mice. The further transcriptomic analysis indicated that SPINK1 treatment altered several biological processes of endothelial cells and led to activation of the MAPK pathway. This study is the first to determine the neovascularization effects of raised SPINK1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers impulsive observer‐based control of uncertain linear systems. A novel time‐varying Lyapunov function is introduced to explore the hybrid characteristic of the impulsive observed‐based control systems. By applying the time‐varying Lyapunov function method combined with convex combination technique, sufficient conditions for the existence of the impulsive observer‐based controller is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The control and observer gains can be obtained from the feasible solutions of the newly‐obtained LMI‐based conditions. Two numerical examples are presented to show the efficiency of the proposed design method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the design of impulsive observers with variable update intervals for Lipschitz nonlinear systems with delays in state. Discontinuous Lyapunov function/funtional approaches are developed to analyse the stability of error dynamics. Delay-independent sufficient conditions for uniform exponential stability of the error dynamics over variable update intervals are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). When these LMIs are feasible, the observer gain matrix can be solved numerically with an LMI-based optimisation algorithm. Numerical examples are provided to show the efficiency of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new type of discretized Lyapunov functional is introduced for stability and hybrid L 2 × l 2 -gain analysis of linear impulsive delay systems. This functional consists of three parts. The first part is the conventional discretized functional for delay-independent stability analysis. The second part is the looped-functionals-like functional for exploiting the internal structure inside impulse intervals, in which the decision matrix functions are approximated by piecewise linear matrix functions. The third part is a discretized adjustive factor, which makes the proposed Lyapunov functional continuous along the system trajectories. Thanks to this continuity, the resultant criteria for exponential stability and finite hybrid L 2 × l 2 -gain are expressed in terms of a combination of the continuous and discrete parts of the system. It is shown through numerical examples that the accuracy of the stability test increases with the increase of the partition number on impulse intervals, and the convergence rate is faster than that of the previous discretized functionals-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel (1- x)BST– x KNN lead-free relaxor ceramic system was proposed. • Coexistence of multiphase PNRs contributed to the linearization of the P-E loops. • Ultrafine grains in the ceramics greatly improved the E b. • High energy storage performances were achieved in 0.7BST-0.3KNN. Electrostatic dielectric capacitors have received great attention due to their ultrafast charging-discharging speed and ultrahigh power density. However, the low energy storage density and efficiency are the main obstacles to their practical applications. In this work, solid solution relaxor ceramics with different proportions of lead-free ferroelectrics Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 TiO 3 (BST) and K 0.5 Na 0.5 NbO 3 (KNN) were prepared. Superior energy storage performance was achieved in the 0.7BST-0.3KNN ceramics with a breakdown strength (E b) of 510 kV/cm, a recoverable energy storage density (W rec) of 4.10 J/cm3, and an energy storage efficiency (η) of 80 %, which was fairly stable over the temperature range of 30–100 °C. Since multiple cations with different valence and radius coexist on the equivalent sites (A or B sites) of the solid solutions, the chemical disorder and the corresponding lattice distortion induced the coexistence of cubic, tetragonal, and orthorhombic phases, as well as the appearance of the multiphase polar nanoregions (PNRs), making the ferroelectric hysteresis loops linear. At the same time, ultrafine grains in the ceramics greatly improved the E b. For achieving excellent energy storage performance, this work demonstrates a potential candidate of (1- x)BST- x KNN lead-free solid solution ceramics and a combined strategy of fine grains and multiphase PNRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The p18T-BDD-F8-V3 variant has high FVIII activity. • Targeted knock-in of BDD-hF8 cDNA at the mROSA26 locus was achieved by HDR or NHEJ, which significantly increased FVIII expression. • Gene editing was successfully achieved in vitro using CRISPR/Cas9. Hemophilia A is caused by a deficiency of coagulation factor VIII in the body due to a defect in the F8 gene. The emergence of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology will make it possible to alter the expression of the F8 gene in hemophiliacs, while achieving a potential cure for the disease. Initially, we identified high-activity variants of FVIII and constructed donor plasmids using enzymatic digestion and ligation techniques. Subsequently, the donor plasmids were co-transfected with sgRNA-Cas9 protein into mouse Neuro-2a cells, followed by flow cytometry-based cell sorting and puromycin selection. Finally, BDD-hF8 targeted to knock-in the mROSA26 genomic locus was identified and validated for FVIII expression. We identified the p18T-BDD-F8-V3 variant with high FVIII activity and detected the strongest pX458-mROSA26-int1-sgRNA1 targeted cleavage ability and no cleavage events were found at potential off-target sites. Targeted knock-in of BDD-hF8 cDNA at the mROSA26 locus was achieved based on both HDR/NHEJ gene repair approaches, and high level and stable FVIII expression was obtained, successfully realizing gene editing in vitro. Knock-in of exogenous genes based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system targeting genomic loci is promising for the research and treatment of a variety of single-gene diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common renal malignant tumour. We evaluated the potential value and dose reduction of virtual non-contrast (VNC) images and virtual monoenergetic images (VMIs) from dual-layer spectral CT (DL-CT) in the diagnosis of RCC. Results: Sixty-two patients with pathologically confirmed RCC who underwent contrast-enhanced DL-CT were retrospectively analysed. For the comparison between true non-contrast (TNC) and VNC images of the excretory phase, the attenuation, image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and subjective image quality of tumours and different abdominal organs and tissues were evaluated. To compare corticomedullary phase images and low keV VMIs (40 to 100 keV) from the nephrographic phase, the attenuation, image noise, SNR and subjective lesion visibility of the tumours and renal arteries were evaluated. For the tumours, significant differences were not observed in attenuation, noise or SNR between TNC and VNC images (p > 0.05). For the abdominal organs and tissues, except for fat, the difference in attenuation was 100% within 15 HU and 96.78% within 10 HU. The subjective image quality of TNC and VNC images was equivalent (p > 0.05). The attenuation of lesions in 40 keV VMIs and renal arteries in 60 keV VMIs were similar to those in the corticomedullary images (p > 0.05). The subjective lesion visibility in low keV VMIs is slightly lower than that in the corticomedullary images (p < 0.05). Using VNC and VMIs instead of TNC and corticomedullary phase images could decrease the radiation dose by 50.5%. Conclusion: VNC images and VMIs acquired from DL-CT can maintain good image quality and decrease the radiation dose for diagnosis of RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brown-Vialetto-Van Laere syndrome-2 (BVVLS2) is a rare autosomal recessive neurological disorder caused by mutations in the SLC52A2 gene, which is characterized by early childhood onset of sensorineural hearing loss, bulbar palsy, peripheral neuropathy, and respiratory insufficiency. We aimed to investigate the genetic cause of a 4-year-old boy who suffered from BVVLS2 whose initial presentation was severe normocytic anemia and had been overlooked for three years in a local hospital. He was misdiagnosed with pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) and treated with hormones and chemotherapy drugs, but there was no obvious effect. The targeted capture of 927 genes associated with neuromuscular disorders and next-generation sequencing were performed. Sanger sequencing was employed to verify the variant mutations. The proband was found to be heterozygous for c.350T > C (p.L117P) in exon 3 and c.1135_1137delTGG (p.W379del) in exon 5 of SLC52A2 gene. His anemia and neurological symptoms improved significantly after treatment with low dose oral riboflavin. This study expands the mutational spectrum of SLC52A2 and phenotypic spectrum of BVVLS2, which provides a foundation for further investigations elucidating the SLC52A2 related mechanisms of BVVLS2. A low-dosage of riboflavin supplementation was used to obtain good curative effect, which provides further future references for the clinical treatments of BVVLS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MAO-A promotes the proliferation of human glioma cells. Herein, we report a series of MAO-A specific two-photon small molecular fluorescent probes (A1–5) based on an intramolecular charge transfer enhancing strategy. The activity of endogenous MAO-A can be selectively imaged using A3 as a representative probe in different biological samples including human glioma cells/tissues via two-photon fluorescence microscopy. The study provides new tools for the visual detection of glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical stress effect on the crystallization behaviour of Ge2Sb2Te5(GST) thin films is carefully investigated by electrical resistance measurements. It is found that the crystallization temperature of GST films increases as external compressive stress is applied, while the crystallization temperature decreases under tensile stress. We also find that the uneven distribution of extrinsic stress can widen the span of transition temperature. These results clearly demonstrate that mechanical stress plays an important role during the crystallization process of GST films and may further influence the reliability and storage speed of relevant devices. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Rheological properties of aqueous solution containing xanthan gum (XG) and cationic cellulose JR400 were investigated at different composition ratio, shear rate, pH and electrolyte concentrations. It was found that the mixing of XG and JR400 can induce a viscosity-increasing effect for the mixed solution. As the concentration fraction (f JR) of JR400 in the mixed solution increases from 0 to 0.40 with the total polymer concentration (c t) of 1%, the solution transforms from an elastic fluid into a viscoelastic one, while as f JR decreases from 1 to 0.78, the solution transforms from a viscous fluid into a viscoelastic one. At pH 5–10, both the viscosity and elasticity of XG/JR400 mixture (f JR =0.15) are independent of pH and the viscosity-increasing effect is obvious. Outside this pH range, the viscosity, elasticity and viscosity-increasing effect of the mixture decrease. The increase of added NaCl concentration and shear rate can induce the decrease of viscosity, elasticity and viscosity-increasing effect of the XG/JR400 mixture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, the exponential stability of a class of singularly perturbed stochastic time-delay systems with impulse effect is considered. By using the comparison principle and time scale decomposition, a Lyapunov-based sufficient condition for exponential stability in mean square for a sufficiently small singular perturbation parameter is derived. Some known results are generalized and improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The annealing temperature impact on the internal strain and the ferroelectric properties of Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 thin films was studied. It is found that, with the annealing temperature increasing, the internal strain in films first decreases (below 720°C) and then increases (at 750°C), while the volume fraction of a-axis-oriented grains, the remnant polarization and the coercive field first increase (below 720°C) and then decrease (at 750°C). These experimental results show that the properties of the Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 thin films can be directly influenced by the annealing temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ta substituted Bi4Ti3O12 ceramics samples at B-Site [Bi4Ti3-xTaxO12 (BTT) x = 0, 0.006, 0.01, 0.02] were prepared by conventional solid state reaction method. The structure and ferroelectric properties were studied by x-ray diffraction, ferroelectric and dielectric measurement. The BTT ceramics have a largest 2Pr about 30 μC/cm2 at x = 0.006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-dielectric-constant CaCu 3 Ti 4 O 12 (CCTO) ceramics were prepared using the conventional solid-state reaction method. The cubic perovskite structures were characterized using X-ray diffraction. The low frequency dielectric constants of these compounds are above 10,000 and keep constant in a wide temperature range. The origin of the larger dielectric constant is not fully understood, but many researchers attributed it to the internal barrier layer capacitance (IBLC) effect and the high dielectric constant in CCTO single crystal is attributed to the contribution of twin boundaries. In this letter, two sheets of CCTO ceramics were annealed under 1050°C for 10 min. A large pressure was applied on one of the two samples. The dielectric constants of the two annealed samples were greatly suppressed compared with the as-prepared one. We contribute this suppression to the loss of Cu contents and the reorientation of twin boundaries in CCTO ceramics. Our result confirms that the giant dielectric constant of CCTO is related with the IBLC effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, the problem of exponential stability in mean square for stochastic systems with multiple delays is investigated. A delay-dependent sufficient condition is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) by using a descriptor model transformation of the system and by applying Moon''s inequality for bounding cross terms. The criteria obtained in this paper can be tested numerically very efficiently using interior point algorithms. An example shows that the proposed methods are less conservative than the other methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pure and Nd-modified Bi4Ti3O12 ceramics were prepared using the conventional solid state reaction method and their dielectric properties and mechanical properties are investigated- II shows that the activation energy of oxygen vacancies is enhanced whereas the concentration of oxygen vacancies is reduced when Bi3+ ions are partially substituted by Nd3+ ions. The Cole-Cole fitting to the dielectric loss reveals a strong correlation among oxygen vacancies. The strong correlation reduces the activation energy of oxygen vacancies efficiently. Therefore, we conclude that the diluted oxygen vacancies concentration is the origin of the excellent fatigue resistance of Nd-modified Bi4Ti3O12 materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the problem of output-feedback guaranteed cost controller design for uncertain time-delay systems. By representing the time-delay system in the descriptor form and using a recent result on bounding of cross products of vectors, we obtain new delay-dependent sufficient conditions for the existence of the guaranteed cost output-feedback controller in terms of matrix inequalities. A numerical algorithm is proposed to construct a full order output feedback controller achieving a suboptimal guaranteed cost such that the system can be stabilized for all admissible uncertainties. An example is presented which shows that the proposed method can produce a lower guaranteed cost than the delay-independent method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this Letter, a thorough analysis of existence, uniqueness and globally exponential stability of the equilibrium point of neural networks with variable delays is presented. By applying M-matrix theory and some new analysis techniques, a new delay-dependent sufficient condition for global exponential stability is derived. The criteria obtained in this Letter extend and improve the existing ones, and a numerical example illustrate the effectiveness of our results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] MiR-520b belongs to the miR-373/520 family, is expressed only in human and nonhuman primates. Previous reports indicated that the expression of miR-520b was repressed in human atherosclerotic plaque tissue compared with healthy vessels. However, the role of miR-520b in coronary artery disease still remains to be uncovered. In this study, we demonstrated that endothelial cells (ECs) in human atherosclerotic plaques expressed miR-520b and aimed to elucidate the impact of miR-520b on EC activation and inflammatory response. To determine the potential targets of miR-520b, we performed RNA-seq analysis by transfecting miR-520b mimics in ECs. The quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) validation suggested that miR-520b over-expression reduced pro-inflammatory gene expression (e.g. ICAM1 , VCAM1 , SELE) while the inhibition of miR-520b induced their expression. By combining bioinformatics prediction and functional assays, we identified that RELA (Nuclear Factor-κB (NF-κB) Transcription Factor P65) was a direct target of miR-520b. Moreover, miR-520b mimics attenuated monocyte adhesion and monocyte trans-endothelial migration (the initial steps of atherosclerotic formation) in response to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) stimulation. Re-expression of a non-miR-targetable version of p65 could rescue the reduced monocyte cell attachment, suggesting that this process is NF-κB p65 dependent. MiR-520b reduced the abundance of NF-κB p65 in cytoplasmic fractions without corresponding increase in nuclear fractions, indicating that this regulation is independent of p65 translocation process. MiR-520b mimics attenuated the activity of VCAM-1 promoter, whereas miR-520b inhibitor activated its activity. However, miR-520b inhibitor had no effect on promoter activity containing the mutated NF-κB p65 binding sites, strongly demonstrating that the impact of miR-520b on VCAM1 gene is mediated by NF-κB p65. Thus, we concluded that miR-520b suppressed EC inflammation and the cross-talk between monocytes and ECs by down-regulating NF-κB p65-ICAM1/VCAM1 axis and might serve as a potential therapeutic target for EC dysfunction and atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CXCL6, contraction of C‐X‐C motif chemokine ligand 6, whose biological roles have been rarely described in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). To understand the clinicopathological and biological roles played by CXCL6 in the growth and metastasis of ESCC, immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of CXCL6 in ESCC tissues, totaling 105 cases; and the correlation was statistically analyzed between CXCL6 expression and clinicopathological parameters. The role mediated in migration and invasion was evaluated using wound‐healing and Transwell assays. MTT and flow cytometry were used to assay the proliferative variation. In vivo, tail vein injection model was established in nude mice xenografted with human ESCC cell lines whose CXCL6 were artificially manipulated. It was found that relative to normal control, CXCL6 was profoundly higher in ESCC; upregulated CXCL6 only significantly correlated with differentiation degree. In vitro, CXCL6 was found to promote the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCC cells; which was fully corroborated by nude mice experiment that CXCL6 can promote the growth and metastases of ESCC cells in vivo. Mechanistically, CXCL6 was discovered to be capable of promoting epithelial‐mesenchymal transition and upregulating PD‐L1 expression through activation of the STAT3 pathway. Collectively, all the data we showed here demonstrate that CXCL6 can enhance the growth and metastases of ESCC cells both in vivo and in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of virtual monoenergetic images (VMIs) in reducing metal artifacts in rabbit VX2 liver cancer models treated with microwave ablation (MWA) therapy. A total of 31 VX2 liver cancer models that accepted CT-guided percutaneous microwave ablation were analyzed. Conventional images (CIs) with the most severe metallic artifacts and their corresponding energy levels from 40 to 200 keV with 10 keV increment of VMIs were reconstructed for further analysis. Objective image analysis was assessed by recording the attenuation (HU) and standard deviation of the most severe hyper/hypodense artifacts as well as artifact-impaired liver parenchyma tissue. Two radiologists visually evaluated the extent of artifact reduction, assessed data obtained by a diagnostic evaluation of liver tissues, and appraised the appearance of new artifacts according to the grade score. Statistical analysis was performed to compare the difference between CIs and each energy level of VMIs. For subjective assessment, reductions in hyperdense and hypodense artifacts were observed at 170–200 keV and 160–200 keV, respectively. The outcomes of the diagnostic evaluation of adjacent liver tissue were statistically higher at 140–200 keV for VMIs than for CIs. In terms of objective evaluation results, VMIs at 90–200 keV reduced the corrected attenuation of hyperdense and of artifact-impaired liver parenchyma compared with CIs (P < 0.001). When VMIs at 80–200 keV decreased the hypodense artifacts (P < 0.001). Therefore, we concluded that VMIs at 170–200 keV can obviously decrease the microwave ablation needle-related metal artifacts objectively and subjectively in rabbit VX2 liver cancer models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time, phosphors with long‐lived emission are dominated by rare earth/transition metal ion‐doped sulfides and oxides. Recently, organic materials capable of emitting long‐lived room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) are reported, carbon skeletons are almost the exclusive structural feature of the conjugated luminophores. Herein, we reported that boric acid, a non‐metal and C‐free material, could emit RTP with lifetime up to 0.3 s. Detailed investigations indicated the weak conjugation between the n electrons of the O atoms in the B‐O confined space was the possible origin of RTP. Similar RTP was also found in electron‐rich N/F systems, namely, BN and BF3 (BF4−). Importantly, the vacant pz0 orbital of B was found to contribute to the relevant unoccupied molecular orbitals involved in excitation, which is different from previous reports on phosphorescence from arylboronic acids. The results confirm the unique role of B as a versatile structure motif for construction of new RTP materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time, phosphors with long‐lived emission are dominated by rare earth/transition metal ion‐doped sulfides and oxides. Recently, organic materials capable of emitting long‐lived room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) are reported, carbon skeletons are almost the exclusive structural feature of the conjugated luminophores. Herein, we reported that boric acid, a non‐metal and C‐free material, could emit RTP with lifetime up to 0.3 s. Detailed investigations indicated the weak conjugation between the n electrons of the O atoms in the B‐O confined space was the possible origin of RTP. Similar RTP was also found in electron‐rich N/F systems, namely, BN and BF3 (BF4−). Importantly, the vacant pz0 orbital of B was found to contribute to the relevant unoccupied molecular orbitals involved in excitation, which is different from previous reports on phosphorescence from arylboronic acids. The results confirm the unique role of B as a versatile structure motif for construction of new RTP materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As a large capillary network, the human placenta plays an important role throughout pregnancy. Placental vascular development is complex and delicate and involves many types of placental cells, such as trophoblasts, and mesenchymal stem cells. There has been no systematic, comparative study on the roles of these two groups of placental cells and the whole placental tissue in the placental angiogenesis. In this study, primary cytotrophoblasts (CTBs) from early pregnancy and primary human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hPDMSCs) from different stages of pregnancy were selected as the cell research objects, and full-term placental tissue was selected as the tissue research object to detect the effects of their conditioned medium (CM) on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) angiogenesis. Methods: We successfully isolated primary hPDMSCs and CTBs, collected CM from these placental cells and sub-cultured placental tissue, and then evaluated the effects of the CM on a series of angiogenic processes in HUVECs in vitro. Furthermore, we measured the levels of angiogenic factors in the CM of placental cells or tissue by an angiogenesis antibody array. Results: The results showed that not only placental cells but also sub-cultured placental tissue, to some extent, promoted HUVEC angiogenesis in vitro by promoting proliferation, adhesion, migration, invasion, and tube formation. We also found that primary placental cells in early pregnancy, whether CTBs or hPDMSCs, played more significant roles than those in full-term pregnancy. Placental cell-derived CM collected at 24 h or 48 h had the best effect, and sub-cultured placental tissue-derived CM collected at 7 days had the best effect among all the different time points. The semiquantitative angiogenesis antibody array showed that 18 of the 43 angiogenic factors had obvious spots in placental cell-derived CM or sub-cultured placental tissue-derived CM, and the levels of 5 factors (including CXCL-5, GRO, IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1) were the highest in sub-cultured placental tissue-derived CM. Conclusions: CM obtained from placental cells (primary CTBs or hPDMSCs) or sub-cultured placental tissue contained proangiogenic factors and promoted HUVEC angiogenesis in vitro. Therefore, our research is helpful to better understand placental angiogenesis regulation and provides theoretical support for the clinical application of placental components, especially sub-cultured placental tissue-derived CM, in vascular tissue engineering and clinical treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Calmodulin1 (CALM1) has been identified as one of the overexpression genes in a variety of cancers and EGFR inhibitor have been widely used in clinical treatment but it is unknown whether CALM1 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have a synergistic effect in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The aim of the present study was to explore the synergistic effects of knock-out CALM1 combined with EGFR inhibitor (Afatinib) and to elucidate the role of CALM1 in sensitizing the resistance to Afatinib in ESCC. Method: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and qRT-PCR were used to examine the expression of CALM1 and EGFR in ESCC tissues. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the clinical and prognostic significance of CALM1 and EGFR expression in ESCC. Furthermore, to evaluate the biological function of CALM1 in ESCC, the latest gene editing technique CRISPR/Cas9(Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)was applied to knockout CALM1 in ESCC cell lines KYSE150, Eca109 and TE-1. MTT, flow cytometry, Transwell migration, scratch wound-healing and colony formation assays were performed to assay the combined effect of knock-out CALM1 and EGFR inhibitor on ESCC cell proliferation and migration. In addition, nude mice xenograft model was used to observe the synergistic inhibition of knock-out CALM1 and Afatinib. Results: Both CALM1 and EGFR were found to be significantly over-expressed in ESCC compared with paired normal control. Over-expressed CALM1 and EGFR were significantly associated with clinical stage, T classification and poor overall prognosis, respectively. In vitro, the combined effect of knock-out CALM1 mediated by the lentivirus and EGFR inhibitor was shown to be capable of inhibiting the proliferation, inducing cell cycle arrest at G1/S stage and increasing apoptosis of KYSE-150 and Eca109 cells; invasion and migration were also suppressed. In vivo, the results of tumor weight and total fluorescence were markedly reduced compared with the sgCtrl-infected group and sgCAML1 group. Conclusion: Our data demonstrated that knock-out of CALM1 could sensitize ESCC cells to EGFR inhibitor, and it may exert oncogenic role via promotion of EMT. Taken together, CALM1 may be a tempting target to overcome Afatinib resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The expression of Senp2 is upregulated by CVB3 infection in primary cardiomyocytes. • Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Senp2 exacerbates CVB3 infection-induced myocarditis. • Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Senp2 facilitates CVB3 viral replication. • Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Senp2 downregulates the expression of antiviral proteins. Viral myocarditis (VMC) is characterized by cardiac inflammation and excessive inflammatory responses after viral infection. SENP2, a deSUMO-specific protease, has been reported to regulate antiviral innate immunity. This study aimed to investigate whether SENP2 affects CVB3-induced VMC. We generated a CVB3-induced VMC mouse model in 6-week-old cardiomyocyte-specific Senp2 knockout mice. The mice were sacrificed at days 0, 2, 4 and 6 after CVB3 infection. The survival rate, body weight, myocardial histopathological changes, viral load, cytokine levels and antiviral gene expression in cardiac tissues of both groups were investigated. Our study indicated that the expression of Senp2 in primary cardiomyocytes was upregulated by CVB3 infection. Moreover, deletion of Senp2 in the heart exacerbated CVB3 infection-induced myocarditis, facilitated CVB3 viral replication and downregulated the expression of antiviral proteins. In conclusion, our findings suggest a protective role for SENP2 in CVB3-induced VMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: KNb0.95Co0.05O3 (KN–Co) ceramic was prepared via a solid-state reaction method, and the effect of cobalt dopant on the structural, electric, and magnetic properties was studied. The KN–Co ceramic with polycrystalline perovskite structure exhibited ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties simultaneously at room temperature, and the coupling of them was confirmed by a large magnetocapacitance effect (about 13%) near the Curie temperature. The possible causes for the magnetism and magnetoelectric properties are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Decay processes of artificial two-domain structures with various distances in LiNbO3 crystals were carefully investigated using scanning probe microscope. The decay behavior of the composite domains is found closely related to the set domain distance. Detailed analysis indicates that the tip field mostly affects the lateral domain wall motion of the domains in two-domain structures, while the repulsive force of bound charges mainly influences vertical domain wall motion. Thin sample thickness and large domain distance are inferred beneficial for manufacturing small scaled stable domain structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newly emerging fluorescence imaging in the second near‐infrared window (NIR‐II, 1000–1700 nm) permits visualization of deep anatomical features with unprecedented spatial resolution due to its minimized autofluorescence, optical scattering and absorption of tissue, and increased applicable power at longer wavelengths than the traditional NIR (NIR‐I, 650–900 nm) fluorescence imaging. Compared with "always‐on" NIR‐II fluorescence probes, activatable NIR‐II fluorescence probes that can change their fluorescence signals by pathologic parameters stimuli, hold great promise for providing high target‐to‐background ratio, significantly improving specificity and sensitivity of early disease detection. Additionally, such probes provide an excellent opportunity to understand the underlying pathological mechanism at the molecular level in order to optimize therapeutic interventions. Here, the recent advances in the development of activatable NIR‐II fluorescence probes for bioimaging and biosensing are reviewed. The photochemical design mechanisms and biomedical applications of these probes are described in detail. Moreover, the present challenges to completely exhibit the potential of activatable NIR‐II fluorescence probes for optical theranostics in life science are also discussed. Finally, the future perspective is further analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NME4, also named Nm23-H4, is a contraction of NME/NM23 Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase 4, whose major role is the synthesis of nucleoside triphosphates. However, its association with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) remains far from understood. Herein, it was discovered that silencing NME4 can lead to the marked downregulation of PD-L1, with phosphorylated STAT3 at the 705th serine being inactivated in vitro in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines. To further validate the association between NME4 and PD-L1 that was observed in cell lines, Pearson correlation analysis was performed on the data regarding the transcriptomic RNA sequencing of NME4 and PD-L1 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), which pathologically highly resembles ESCC in terms of tumor origin, obtained from the GEPIA database. It was demonstrated that their correlation was significant but negative between NME4 and PD-L1 in CSCC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing a modulation exerted by NME4 over PD-L1 in the background of squamous cell carcinoma, strongly suggestive of the underlying role of NME4 working to exclude CD8 T cells from infiltrating into the squamous cell carcinoma microenvironment. • Silencing of NEM4 leads to the down-regulation of PD-L1. • Silencing of NEM4 inactivates STAT3 signaling pathway. • NEM4 significantly but negatively correlates with PD-L1 in CSCC on mRNA level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cationic and zwitterionic polyelectrolytes are synthesized through atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), comprising a polyfluorene backbone with a small fraction of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole and poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA) side chains. Due to higher charge density generated from grafted side chains, two polymers show higher water solubility and higher quantum yield. In comparison with cationic polyelectrolytes, zwitterionic polyelectrolytes are stable over a broad pH range from 1 to 13, even in 1 M NaCl solution. The absence of FRET between zwitterionic polymers and dye-labeled ssDNA indicates their ultralow nonspecific adsorption, while cationic polymer shows much stronger nonspecific interactions. The MTT assay of zwitterionic polymers exhibits their minimal cytotoxicity and potential in long-term clinical application. Most importantly, zwitterionic polymer could be efficiently taken up by cells, whereas cationic polymer stains the surface of cell due to membrane disruption generated from positive charges. The results illustrate that conjugated zwitterionic polymer could serve as a novel type of highly efficient ultralow fouling material with low cytotoxicity for labelling cell or potential biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed 1300 nm absorption semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (SPNs3) based on a two-acceptor semiconducting polymer to realize in vivo NIR-II photothermal therapy (PTT) treatment guided by commercial small-animal NIR-II photoacoustic imaging (PAI) systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imprint behavior of polycrystalline Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 thin films under stress was studied. The voltage shift along the positive voltage axis can be depressed by tensile stress while increased by compressive stress. With the measured voltage increasing, the voltage shift referred above increases and the increase trend gets enhanced under both compressive and tensile stress compared with that at zero stress. The asymmetric distribution of the trapped charged in films, which is caused by the increase of the in-plane polarization component for the domain reorientation induced by stress or for the voltage-assisted domain walls depinning, was considered the contribution to the voltage shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activatable second near‐infrared window fluorescence (NIR‐II, 1000–1700 nm) probes that emit fluorescence via biomarker stimuli have emerged as promising tools to image diseases with an unprecedented tissue depth, spatial resolution, and low background noise. In article number 1807376, Quli Fan and co‐workers use a bio‐erasable intermolecular donor‐acceptor interaction‐based strategy to construct stimuli‐activatable NIR‐II fluorescence probes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activatable second near‐infrared window (NIR‐II; 1.0–1.7 µm) fluorescence probes that uncage deep‐tissue penetrating fluorescence by disease‐related biomarker stimuli hold great promise for detecting diseases with a poor understanding of the pathology at the molecular level with unprecedented resolution. However, currently, very few activatable NIR‐II fluorescence probes are reported mainly due to the lack of a simple yet general design strategy. Herein, a new and fairly generic design strategy using a bio‐erasable intermolecular donor–acceptor interaction to construct activatable NIR‐II fluorescence probes is reported. An organic semiconducting nanoprobe (SPNP) is constructed through blending a biomarker‐sensitive organic semiconducting non‐fullerene acceptor (3,9‐bis(2‐methylene‐(3‐(1,1‐dicyanomethylene)‐cyclopentane‐1,3‐dione‐[c]thiophen))‐5,5,11,11‐tetrakis(4‐hexylphenyl)‐dithieno[2,3‐d:2',3'‐d']‐s‐indaceno[1,2‐b:5,6‐b'] dithiophene) (ITTC) (one of electric acceptors in organic solar cells) with a biomarker‐inert semiconducting polymer donor 5‐(4,8‐bis((2‐ethylhexyl)oxy)‐6‐methylbenzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b']difuran‐2‐yl)‐10‐methylnaphtho[1,2‐c:5,6‐c']bis([1,2,5]thiadiazole) (PDF) in an amphiphilic‐polymer‐coated single nanoparticle to suppress NIR‐II fluorescence of the donor via a intermolecular donor–acceptor interaction. The acceptor ITTC is found to be specifically degraded by hypochlorite (an important biomarker) to erase its acceptor property, thus erasing the intermolecular donor–acceptor interaction and uncaging NIR‐II fluorescence. Consequently, SPNP exhibits a 17.5‐fold higher fluorescence brightness in the hypochlorite‐abnormal inflammation in vivo than in normal tissues. Our bio‐erasable intermolecular donor–acceptor interaction strategy provides simple yet general guidelines to design various biomarker‐activatable NIR‐II fluorescence probes. A generic design strategy for an activatable second near‐infrared window (NIR‐II; 1.0–1.7 µm) fluorescence probe is developed based on a bio‐erasable intermolecular donor–acceptor interaction. To exemplify the strategy, hypochlorite‐sensitive semiconducting acceptors are blended with hypochlorite‐inert semiconducting polymer donors to quench their NIR‐II fluorescence. In hypochlorite‐abnormal tissues, the acceptor can be degraded to erase its acceptor property for amplifying the NIR‐II fluorescence of the nanoprobe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in coronary artery disease (CAD) remains elusive. The aim of the present study was to profile circRNAs expression in CAD patients and assess diagnostics biomarkers for CAD. The circRNA profiles of 24 CAD patients and 7 controls were assessed by microarray. The expression levels of candidate circRNAs were further verified by qRT-PCR in large cohorts. Logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic were conducted to assess the diagnostic value. Gain-of-function approach was used to determine the functional significance of validated circRNA in THP-1-derived macrophages. A total of 624 circRNAs and 171 circRNAs were significantly upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in CAD patients relative to controls. Hsa_circ_0001879 and hsa_circ_0004104 were validated to be significantly upregulated in large cohorts. The receiver operating characteristics analysis of hsa_circ_0001879 and hsa_circ_0004104 in CAD patients and controls showed that the area under curve was 0.703 (95% confidence interval: 0.656–0.750; p < 0.001) and 0.700 (95% confidence interval: 0.646–0.755; p < 0.001), respectively. The combination of hsa_circ_0001879 and hsa_circ_0004104, together with CAD risk factors, had the better performance to discriminate CAD patients from healthy controls. Overexpression of hsa_circ_0004104 resulted in dysregulation of atherosclerosis-related genes in THP-1-derived macrophages. We offered a transcriptome-wide overview of aberrantly expressed circRNAs in CAD patients and identified two novel circRNA biomarkers to diagnose CAD. Upregulation of hsa_circ_0004104 might contribute to the pathogenesis of CAD. Image 1 • We offered a transcriptome-wide overview of aberrantly expressed circRNAs in CAD patients. • hsa_circ_0001879 and hsa_circ_0004104 were identified as novel circRNA biomarkers for diagnosing CAD. • Hsa_circ_0004104 might contribute to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and CAD by regulating atherosclerosis related genes expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural, electric, and magnetic properties were investigated in multisusceptible BaAlxFe12−xO19 (x = 0, 1, 2, and 3) ceramics. It is found that the magnetic domain structure changes abruptly with the increase in the Al3+ concentration, which is responsible for the abnormal coercivity enhancement and the distinct initial magnetization behavior. Smaller Al3+ doping increases the off-center displacement of Fe3+ ions at the trigonal bipyramid by introducing compressive strain, which thus enhances the stability of the ferroelectric phase and improves the ferroelectric Curie temperature of BaFe12O19. Moreover, more stable Al3+ ions can increase the resistance of BaFe12O19. The present results highlight the possible application of Al3+ doped BaFe12O19 ceramics as a multisusceptible single-phase material on multifunctional electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KIAA1377 has been found to be linked with lymph node metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in our previous study; however, the regulation of KIAA1377 remains far from understood. Herein, to understand the regulation of KIAA1377 from the angle of microRNA (miRNA)–messenger RNA (mRNA) modulation in the setting of SCC cells, the basal level of KIAA1377 was determined by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) and western blot analysis in KYSE‐150 and HeLa cells; biological roles of KIAA1377 contributing in the proliferation, migration, and invasion were evaluated using 3‐(4,5‐dimethyl‐2‐thiazolyl)‐2,5‐diphenyl‐2H‐tetrazolium bromide (MTT), wound‐healing and Transwell assays, respectively, after KIAA1377 was knocked out mediated by the CRISPR‐Cas9 system. Bioinformatic prediction revealed that let‐7b‐5p was a putative miRNA regulating KIAA1377, which was ensuingly validated by the luciferase reporter assay; after which, variation of KIAA1377 expression was further verified by qRT‐PCR and western blot analysis. Moreover, the biological roles of let‐7b‐5p in proliferation, migration, and invasion of KYSE‐150 and HeLa cells were also evaluated. It was exhibited that KIAA1377 was able to promote the proliferation and motility of both KYSE‐150 and HeLa cells, which can be reverted by re‐expression of let‐7b‐5p. The luciferase reporter assay verified that let‐7b‐5p can diametrically target KIAA1377. Collectively, our data demonstrated that let‐7b‐5p can directly but negatively regulate KIAA1377 in SCC cell lines, Ecal109, and HeLa cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report a dual-activatable MRI/PAI strategy for bimodal tumor imaging using an intelligent platform based on degradable MnO2 and a near-infrared absorptive polymer conjugated with BODIPY molecules. We believe the smart platform could promote the advance of numerous dual-activatable bimodal imaging techniques for biological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small-molecule photoacoustic probe based on cyanine dyes was developed by taking advantage of the nucleophilic substitution reaction of H2S with chlorine. The probe demonstrated specific response to H2S with ratiometric photoacoustic signals in the NIR region, which enabled real-time, accurate, high-resolution imaging of endogenous H2S in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract About 1.3 billion tons of food waste (FW) is annually produced at a global scale. A major fraction of FW is deposited into landfills thereby contributing to environmental pollution and emission of greenhouse gasses. While increasing amounts of FW are recycled more sustainably into fertilizers in industrial-scale composting, very little is known about the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) present in FW and how their abundance is affected by composting. To study this, we quantified the diversity and abundance of ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and bacterial communities in the beginning, during and at the end of the FW composting. All targeted 27 ARGs and 5 MGEs were detected in every sample suggesting that composted FW remains a reservoir of ARGs and MGEs. While the composting drastically changed the abundance, composition and diversity of bacterial communities, an increase in total ARG and MGE abundances was observed. Changes in ARGs were linked with shifts in the composition of bacterial communities as revealed by a Procrustes analysis (P < 0.01). Crucially, even though the high composting temperatures reduced the abundance and diversity of initially ARG-associated bacterial taxa, ARG abundances were maintained in other associated bacterial taxa. This was likely driven by horizontal gene transfer and physicochemical composting properties as revealed by a clear positive correlation between ARGs, MGEs, pH, NO 3 − and moisture. Together our findings suggest that traditional composting is not efficient at removing ARGs and MGEs from FW. More effective composting strategies are thus needed to minimize ARG release from composted FW into agricultural environments. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Food waste is an important reservoir of ARGs and MGEs. • The composition of potential ARGs carrier changed during FW composting. • Composting properties are vital drivers to affecting the abundances of ARGs. • Shifts in bacterial community composition are associated with the maintenance of ARGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]