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Substitution of A-site and/or X-site ions of ABX3 -type perovskites with organic groups can give rise to hybrid perovskites, many of which display intriguing properties beyond their parent compounds. However, this method cannot be extended effectively to hybrid antiperovskites. Now, the design of hybrid antiperovskites under the guidance of the concept of Goldschmidt's tolerance factor is presented. Spherical anions were chosen for the A and B sites and spherical organic cations for the X site, and seven hybrid antiperovskites were obtained, including (F3 (H2 O)x )(AlF6 )(H2 dabco)3 , ((Co(CN)6 )(H2 O)5 )(MF6 )(H2 dabco)3 (M=Al3+ , Cr3+ , or In3+ ), (Co(CN)6 )(MF6 )(H2 pip)3 (M=Al3+ or Cr3+ ), and (SbI6 )(AlF6 )(H2 dabco)3 . These new structures reveal that all ions at A, B, and X sites of inorganic antiperovskites can be replaced by molecular ions to form hybrid antiperovskites. This work will lead to the synthesis of a large family of hybrid antiperovskites.

Endogenous phytohormones auxin (indole-3-acetic acid [IAA]), abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellin (GA3), and brassinosteroid (BR) play a role in responses to drought stress in higher plants. Tea plant is one of the major economic corps worldwide. The tender shoots of tea plants are the main source for tea production. The effects of drought stress on endogenous IAA, ABA, GA3, and BR metabolisms in tender shoots of tea plants need to be illustrated. In this study, a total of 17 IAA-related genes, 17 ABA-related genes, 18 GA3-related genes, and 8 BR-related genes were identified under drought stress in tender shoots of tea plants, respectively. By using a combination of phytohormone determination, phylogenetic tree construction and sequence analysis, gene expression profiles, functional classification, Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes enrichment, and distribution of genes analysis, we have demonstrated that IAA, ABA, GA3, and BR metabolisms might participate in the regulation of the response to drought stress in tender shoots of tea plants. The expression level of CsLYCE negatively correlated with ABA accumulation under drought stress. Our findings could shed new light on the effects of drought stress on the IAA, ABA, GA3, and BR metabolisms in tender shoots of tea plants.

Litter and vegetation under forest canopy (i.e., understory vegetation) are known to reduce soil erosion and contribute substantially to evapotranspiration. However, previous studies rarely examined understory water interception. We conducted a comprehensive study of rainfall partitioning using a water balance equation that included both overstory and understory components in a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation and a nearby naturally regenerated Castanopsis (C. carlesii) forest of similar age in southeastern China. Understory interception was measured by submerging understory components (vegetation and litter) in water for 24 h, which gave an estimate of the amount of water retained (i.e., water holding capacity). The total interception loss of rainfall events (>9.8 mm) that generated surface runoff converged between the two forests, a result of a smaller overstory interception loss (20%) coupled with a greater understory interception loss (14%) in the Chinese fir plantation relative to the Castanopsis forest (overstory 25% and understory 11%). The convergence of the total interception contributed to the convergence of the surface runoff, 1% of the rainfall in both forests. Furthermore, the throughfall partition (78%) was greater whereas the stemflow partition (2%) was smaller in the Chinese fir plantation relative to the Castanopsis forest (throufhfall 70% and stemflow 5%). These patterns in rainfall partitioning could be explained by the greater development of the understory vegetation (hence greater understory interception loss) in the Chinese fir plantation, lower canopy leaf area index (hence smaller overstory interception loss and greater throughfall), and rougher barks (hence smaller stemflow) of Chinese fir trees compared to that of Castanopsis trees. Our study illustrated that a comprehensive evaluation of interception loss must take into account understory components.

Melatonin (MT) is a bioactive molecule that can regulate various developmental processes. Changes in lignin content play important roles in plant growth and development. Herein, quantitative analysis and histochemical staining showed that lignin content significantly increased over time, and melatonin treatment triggered the lignification at 8 and 16 d in tea leaves. The POD activity participated in lignin formation had also been significantly improved. The effect of melatonin on the increase of lignin content was attenuation over time. Sequencing results based on transcriptome at 8 and 16 d showed that 5273 and 3019 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in CK1 vs. MT1 and CK2 vs. MT2, respectively. A total of 67 DEGs were annotated to lignin biosynthesis, and 38 and 9 genes were significantly up-regulated under melatonin treatment, respectively. Some transcription factor genes such as MYB were also identified among the two pairwise comparisons, which might relate to lignin metabolism. Melatonin increased the degree of lignification in tea leaves by modifying the enzyme genes expression involved in lignin synthesis pathway. These results provide a reference for further study on the molecular mechanism of the dynamic changes of lignin content induced by melatonin treatment in tea plants.

Band pass filters (BPF) using LC components, i.e. inductors and capacitors are widely used in radio frequency applications. These filters enable a band of frequencies to be passed through the filter, while those in the stop band of the band pass filter are rejected. In this study, a one-order chebyshev BPF with center frequency of 2.34GHz was designed in a four layer organic substrate with size of 1.5mm×0.86mm×0.25mm. The film type capacitor material was applied to fabricate the capacitor and the winding copper trace was applied to form the inductors. Based on the center frequency formula, the embedded capacitor value and inductor trace width were simulated and optimized by Ansoft HFSS. According to the model and the simulation results, the organic filters were fabricated at three different etching parameters to form three types of filters. Three typical filters with three different center frequencies of 1.6GHz, 1.9GHz, and 2.35GHz were tested, repectively. For the filter with center frequency of 2.35GHz meets the designed value of 2.34GHz. The maximum return loss is −26dB. The insertion loss is max. −1.07dB. In the lower frequency band of 1.0GHz-2.0GHz, the stop band suppression of −13.6dB to −18.1dB achieved. These results can meet the requirements of some low-end radio frequency device with frequency of 2.4GHz, so it is the potential technology to integrate the BPF in organic package substrate and PCB mother board for some specific application.

Piezoelectric materials are technologically important, and the most used are perovskite ferroelectrics. In recent years, more and more emerging areas have put forward new requirements for piezoelectric materials, such as light weight, low acoustic impedance, good flexibility, and biocompatibility. In this context, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite ferroelectrics have emerged as promising supplements, because they combine attractive features of inorganic and organic materials. Among them, hybrid double-metal perovskites have recently been found to exhibit excellent ferroelectricity. However, their potential as piezoelectric materials has not been exploited. Here, we describe large piezoelectric response in hybrid rare-earth double perovskite relaxor ferroelectrics (RM3HQ)

Researchers have made a lot of effort for the lightweight and high flexibility of wearable electronic devices, which also requires the associated energy harvesting equipment to have ultra-thin thickness and high stretchability. Therefore, a piezoelectric-triboelectric hybrid self-powered sensor (PTHS) has been proposed which can be used as the second layer of the human body. This elastic PTHS can even work on a person's fingers without disturbing the body's movements. The open circuit voltage (OCV) and short circuit current (SCC) of devices with a projected area of 30 mm × 25 mm can reach 1.2 V and 30 nA, respectively. Two piezoelectrically-triboelectrically sensors with machine learning optimized identification strategies were experimentally proven as the potential applications of the PTHS. The PTHS's ultra-thin thickness, high stretchability and superior geometry control features are promising in electronic skin, artificial muscle and soft robotics. The novelty of this work is that a smart mask integrated with PTHS can generate signal of the hybrid sensor for the biomechanical motion classifier. After suitable training, an overall accuracy of 87.9% using long short-term memory (LSTM) can be achieved.

Supplemental material, Supplemantary_Material_0.2 for Alisol B 23-acetate attenuates CKD progression by regulating the renin–angiotensin system and gut–kidney axis by Hua Chen, Min-Chang Wang, Yuan-Yuan Chen, Lin Chen, Yan-Ni Wang, Nosratola D. Vaziri, Hua Miao and Ying-Yong Zhao in Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease

Bletilla striata (Thunb.) Rchb. f. (Orchidaceae) is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant. In April 2018 and 2019, a leaf spot disease was observed on ∼20% of B. striata plants in two fields (∼1.4 h) in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China (Fig.1 A). Small, circular, brown spots were initially observed on the leaf surfaces, which progressively expanded into large, sunken, dark brown, necrotic areas. As the disease progressed, lesions merged into large, irregular spots, ultimately resulting in abscission. To determine the causal agent, small pieces (5 mm x 5 mm) were collected from the infected leaf tissues (n = 18), surface sterilized in 1% NaOCl for 2 min, and rinsed three times with sterile water. Then, the tissues were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) with chloramphenicol (0.1 g/L) and incubated under 12 h photoperiod at 26°C for 3 days. Seventeen isolates were obtained, of which twelve isolates with similar morphological characteristics were obtained from the germinated spores on PDA. Seven-day-old colonies on PDA appeared cottony, pale white to pale gray from above, and grayish-green from below. Conidia of strain BJ-101.3 were hyaline, aseptate, straight, and cylindrical, with rounded ends (Fig.1 E-G), measuring 11.3 to 15.9 μm × 4.0 to 6.4 μm (n = 50). Appressoria were brown to dark brown, with different shapes and a smooth edge (Fig.1 H-I), measuring 6.3 to 10.0 μm × 4.1 to 8.0 μm (n = 50). Morphological features were similar to C. gloeosporioides species complex (Weir et al. 2012, Fuentes-Aragon et al. 2018). For molecular identification, DNA was extracted from two isolates BJ-101.3 and BJ-101.13, following the CTAB method (Guo et al. 2000). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, partial actin (ACT), calmodulin (CAL), chitin synthase (CHS-1), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), manganese superoxide dismutase (SOD2), beta-tubulin (TUB2), glutamine synthetase (GS), and Apn2-Mat1-2 intergenic spacer and partial mating-type (ApMat) genes were amplified by PCR and sequenced (Weir et al. 2012, Silva et al. 2012, Vieira et al. 2017). The obtained sequences were deposited in GenBank (MW386818, MW386819, MW403508 to MW403519, and MW888410 to MW888413). BLASTN analysis of the obtained sequences showed 99% identity with those of C. fructicola (JX010165，JX010033, FJ917508, FJ907426, JX009866, JX010095, JX010327, JX010405, JQ807838) (Weir et al. 2012, Liu et al. 2015). A phylogenetic tree based on the concatenated sequences confirmed the isolates as C. fructicola (Fig.2). Furthermore, pathogenicity tests were conducted on six 1.5-year-old B. striata plants. Healthy leaves on the plants were inoculated with the conidial suspensions (106 conidia/mL; 10 μL) of the strains BJ-101.3 and BJ101.13. The conidial suspension of each isolate was inoculated onto at least three leaves. Another three plants inoculated with sterile water served as the control. All plants were covered with transparent plastic bags and incubated in a greenhouse at 26°C for 14 days with a 12 h photoperiod. Nine days post-inoculation, the inoculated leaves showed leaf spot symptoms, while the control plants remained symptomless (Fig.1 B-C). The experiments repeated three times showed similar results. Finally, C. fructicola was consistently reisolated from the infected leaves and confirmed by morphology and sequencing, fulfilling Koch's postulates. The outcome of this study will help in developing effective management measures against anthracnose of B. striata.

As a major branch of hybrid perovskites, two-dimensional (2D) hybrid double perovskites are expected to be ideal systems for exploring novel ferroelectric properties, because they can accommodate a variety of organic cations and allow diverse combinations of different metal elements. However, no 2D hybrid double perovskite ferroelectric has been reported since the discovery of halide double perovskites in the 1930s. Based on trivalent rare-earth ions and chiral organic cations, we have designed a new family of 2D rare-earth double perovskite ferroelectrics, A

Tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) is one of the most important economic crops worldwide, and it has a positive effect on human health. The low temperature in late autumn and early/late spring cold often cause damage to the normal physiological activities of tea plant, thereby reducing the quality and yield of tea. As one of the essential pigment of higher plant, carotenoids play an important role in the physiological activities of higher plant. In addition, as an important precursor of tea aroma volatiles, carotenoids are the important factors involved in the formation of tea quality. In this study, the main carotenoids, lutein and β-carotene, in leaves of common green tea cultivar 'Longjing 43′ and albino tea cultivar 'White leaf No.1′ were detected after low temperature treatment at 4 ℃. The results showed that the contents of lutein and β-carotene in 'Longjing 43′ were higher than that in 'White leaf No.1′, respectively. The chlorophyll content in two tea cultivars decreased and was significant positive correlation with two kinds of carotenoid content at low temperature. Under low temperature, the genes related to the biosynthesis pathway of methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) and carotenoids all showed varying degrees of response with the changes of lutein and β-carotene content. The relative expression levels of CsDXS1, CsPSY1 and CsCHXB were up-regulated and higher than other related genes. Expression analysis of carotenoids biosynthesis genes and its correlation with carotenoids accumulation confirmed the regulatory role of structural genes in tea plant at low temperature. Promoter prediction results showed that the CsDXR, CsHDS1 and CsCHXB contain low-temperature response element LTR. This study provides reference for further study on the dynamic changes of carotenoids during the growth of tea plant.