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Saline stress is a major abiotic stress that inhibits plant growth and yields worldwide. The plant transcription factor (TF) family plays an important role in converting abiotic stress signals into gene expression changes. In this study, a transcriptome-based comparative analysis was performed to investigate the global gene expression of all the TFs in diploid and autotetraploid rice during the early stage of NaCl stress and recovery period. The phenotypic data indicated that the tetraploid rice exhibited a superior salt-tolerant ability compared to the diploid rice. A total of 55 TF families were co-expressed in the tetraploid and diploid rice, and the cumulative number of TF-expressed genes was relatively higher in the diploid rice than in the tetraploid rice at all time points. Unlike the diploid rice, the overall gene expression levels of the tetraploid rice were comparable to the control during recovery. The number of differentially expressed TFs (DE-TFs) in the tetraploid rice decreased after recovery, whereas it increased to a large extent in the diploid rice. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the DE-TFs discovered the early switching of the ABA-activated signaling pathway and specific circadian rhythm in the tetraploid rice. Combining the PPI network and heatmap analysis, some core DE-TFs were found that may have potential roles to play in tetraploid salt tolerance. This study will pave the way for elucidating the complex network regulatory mechanisms of salt tolerance in tetraploid rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas-hydrate saturation and porosity are the most crucial reservoir parameters for gashydrate resource assessment. Numerous academics have put forward elastic and electrical petrophysical models for calculating the saturation and porosity of gas-hydrate. However, owing to the limitations of a single petrophysical model, the estimation of gas-hydrate saturation and porosity using single elastic or electrical measurement data appears to be inconsistent and uncertain. In this study, the sonic wave velocity, density and resistivity well log data are combined with a Bayesian linear inversion method for the simultaneous estimation of gas-hydrate saturation and porosity. The sonic wave velocity, density and resistivity data of the Shenhu area in the South China Sea are used to estimate the gas-hydrate saturation and porosity. To validate the accuracy of this method, the estimation results are compared with the saturation obtained from pore water chemistry and porosity obtained from density logs. The well log data examples show that the joint estimation method not only provides a rapid estimation of the gas-hydrate reservoir parameters but also improves the accuracy of results and determines their uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility services including carsharing and transportation network company (TNC) services have been growing rapidly in North America and around the world. Measuring the effects of these services on traveler behavior is challenging because the results of any such analysis are sensitive to how (1) outcomes are measured and (2) counterfactuals are constructed. The lack of good control groups or randomization of assignment leaves lingering uncertainty over the contributions of selection bias and treatment effects to reported differences in travel behavior between users and non-users of these services. This paper reports on two approaches for measuring the effects of mobility service adoption on travel rate and car ownership. We first tried a pretest-posttest randomized encouragement experiment to deal with the shortcomings of poor control groups. Then, we turned to the approach of self-reported effects based on hypothetical controls to investigate whether variations in survey question presentation could influence respondents' answers and thus lead to changes in estimated effects. The data to conduct this study came from two sources: a panel survey administered by the authors at the University of Washington (UW), and a survey by Populus Technologies, Inc. (Populus). Various statistical tests were applied to analyze the data, and the results highlight the pivotal role that the research design plays in influencing the outcomes, and manifest the fundamental challenge of establishing credible estimates of the causal effects of adopting mobility services on travel behaviors. • Establishing valid estimates of causal effects of mobility services is challenging. • A randomized encouragement experiment in a pretest-posttest format offers promise. • Question framing is shown to influence self-reported effects of mobility services. • Research design plays a pivotal role in influencing estimated outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two novel thiosemicarbazone derivatives (E)‐N‐(3,5‐dimethylphenyl)‐2‐(3‐methylbenzylidene)thiosemicar‐bazone (1) and (E)‐N‐(3,5‐dimethylphenyl)‐2‐(3‐fluorobenzylidene)thiosemicarbazone (2) had been synthesized and characterized by FT‐IR, nuclear magnetic resonance, and elemental analysis. Single crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis showed that compound 1 belongs to triclinic system in P‐1 space group and compound 2 belongs to monoclinic system in C2/c space group. It could be seen from the determined crystal structure that the central skeleton NNHC(S)NH of both thiosemicarbazone compounds have good planarity. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were done using B3LYP/6‐31+G(d, p) basis set and the calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. In addition, the UV‐visible absorption spectrum was estimated based on TD‐DFT quantum chemistry calculations. Likewise, the simulated absorption spectrum is very consistent with the experimental data. Combining Hirshfeld surface analysis and molecular structure, it was found that the intermolecular hydrogen bond NH···SC constitutes central symmetric dimer S228. Through quantum chemical calculation, we investigated the reduced density gradient function and the independent gradient model, which provided a deeper insight into the intermolecular and intramolecular interaction force of the compounds. The frontier molecular orbital analysis and molecular electrostatic potential were also discussed by theoretical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are dominant components of tumor microenvironment, which has been reported to promote development, progression, and metastasis of cancer. However, the role of CAFs during adhesion process remains unknown. It has been hypothesized that CAFs contribute to adhesion to endothelial cells of colorectal cancer (CRC) via HGF/c-Met pathway. Methods: Clinical specimen and orthotopic liver metastasis model was used to investigate association between CD44 expression and propensity of metastasis in CRC. Human CRC derived cancer associated fibroblasts was isolated and its effect on migration and adhesion of CRC cells was investigated. We also confirm the conclusion on animal metastasis model. Results: In this study, clinical specimen and orthotopic liver metastatic model indicated that overexpression of CD44 is associated with CRC metastasis, and we found that colorectal cancer-derived CAFs (CC-CAFs) increased the adhesion and migration of CRC cells in vitro through up-regulation of CD44, we also found that CC-CAFs promoted adhesion and liver or lung metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, we found that the expression of HGF increased tenfolds compared CC-CAFs with adjacent normal fibroblasts, and HGF promoted adhesion through up-regulation of CD44 via HGF/c-MET signal pathway. Conclusions: These results indicated that CC-CAFs-derived HGF induced up-regulation of CD44 which mediated adhesion of CRC cells to endothelial cells, and subsequently resulted in enhancement of metastasis of CRC cells, it could provide a novel therapeutic or preventive target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient silver-catalyzed tandem decarboxylative radical addition/cyclization of oxamic acids with alkenes has been developed. This method provides a novel and straightforward protocol toward a variety of 4-aryl-3,4-dihydroquinolin-2(1 H)-ones, 4-(α-carbonyl)-3,4-dihydroquinolin-2(1 H)-ones, and quinolin-2(1 H)-ones in aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most previous studies supported that the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is over-activated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and exacerbates the development of AD. It is unclear whether the causal associations between the mTOR signaling-related protein and the risk for AD exist. Objective: This study aims to investigate the causal effects of the mTOR signaling targets on AD. Methods: We explored whether the risk of AD varied with genetically predicted AKT, RP-S6K, EIF4E-BP, eIF4E, eIF4A, and eIF4G circulating levels using a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis. The summary data for targets of the mTOR signaling were acquired from published genome-wide association studies for the INTERVAL study. Genetic associations with AD were retrieved from the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project. We utilized the inverse variance weighted as the primary approach to calculate the effect estimates. Results: The elevated levels of AKT (OR = 0.910, 95% CI=0.840-0.986, p = 0.02) and RP-S6K (OR = 0.910, 95% CI=0.840-0.986, p = 0.02) may decrease the AD risk. In contrast, the elevated eIF4E levels (OR = 1.805, 95% CI=1.002-1.174, p = 0.045) may genetically increase the AD risk. No statistical significance was identified for levels of EIF4-BP, eIF4A, and eIF4G with AD risk (p > 0.05). Conclusion: There was a causal relationship between the mTOR signaling and the risk for AD. Activating AKT and RP-S6K, or inhibiting eIF4E may be potentially beneficial to the prevention and treatment of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural gas hydrate has been regarded as an important future green energy. Significant progress on the hydrate exploitation has been made, but some challenges are still remaining. In order to enhance the hydrate exploitation efficiency, a significant understanding of the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of the hydrate-bearing sediment has become essential, since it directly controls the heat and mass transfer behaviors, and thereby determines the stability of hydrate reservoir and production rate. In this study, the effective thermal conductivities of various hydrate-bearing sediments were in-situ measured and studied. The impacts of temperature, particle size and type of sediment were investigated. The effective thermal conductivities of the quartz sand sediments before and after hydrate formation were in-situ measured. The results show the weak negative correlation of effective thermal conductivity of the quartz sand sediment on the temperature before and after the hydrate formation. The effective thermal conductivity of the hydrate-bearing sediment decreases with the increase of particle size of the sediment. The dominant effect of the type of porous medium on the characteristics of the effective thermal conductivity of hydrate-bearing sediment was highlighted. The results indicate that both the effective thermal conductivities of hydrate-bearing quartz sand sediment and hydrate-bearing silicon carbide sediment are weakly negatively correlated with temperature, but the effective thermal conductivity of hydrate-bearing clay sediment is weakly positively dependent on the temperature. In addition, the values of the effective thermal conductivities of various hydrate-bearing sediments are in the order of hydrate-bearing silicon carbide sediment > hydrate-bearing quartz sand sediment > hydrate-bearing clay sediment. These findings could suggest that the intrinsic thermal conductivity of porous medium could control the characteristics of effective thermal conductivity of hydrate-bearing sediment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gram-negative bacteria can cause serious infections and are well known problems in biomedical practices. Biofilms of gram-negative bacteria are notorious for their frequently encountered resistance toward antibiotics. We demonstrate that α/β chimeric polypeptide molecular brush (α/β CPMB) exerts potent activities against antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacteria. MTT viability assay, bacterial colony counting, and live/dead staining all indicate that α/β CPMB not only inhibits biofilm formation of gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, but also effectively disrupts mature biofilms that are highly resistant to one of the most active antibiotics—colistin. The superior antibacterial performance of the α/β CPMB implies its potential topical applications in treating biofilms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser linewidth is of central importance in spectroscopy, frequency metrology, and all applications of lasers requiring high coherence. It is also of fundamental importance, because the Schawlow-Townes laser linewidth limit is of quantum origin. Recently, a theory of stimulated Brillouin laser (SBL) linewidth has been reported. While the SBL linewidth formula exhibits power and optical Q factor dependences that are identical to the Schawlow-Townes formula, a source of noise not present in conventional lasers, phonon occupancy of the Brillouin mechanical mode is predicted to be the dominant SBL linewidth contribution. Moreover, the quantum limit of the SBL linewidth is predicted to be twice the Schawlow-Townes limit on account of phonon participation. To help confirm this theory the SBL fundamental linewidth is measured at cryogenic temperatures in a silica microresonator. Its temperature dependence and the SBL linewidth theory are combined to predict the number of thermomechanical quanta at three temperatures. The result agrees with the Bose-Einstein phonon occupancy of the microwave-rate Brillouin mode in support of the SBL linewidth theory prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposed a knowledge transfer method to promote the utilization of emergency experience and get it reused. • Adaptively combined policy distillation with actor-critic structured multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm. • Developed a fast emergency decision making method for freeway accident optimal onsite disposal. • Established an MDP model to simulate task-level accident disposal, modelled commonality among different freeway accidents. A large number of freeway accident disposals are well-recorded by accident reports and surveillance videos, but it is not easy to get the emergency experience reused from past recorded accidents. To reuse emergency experience for better emergency decision-making, this paper proposed a knowledge-based experience transfer method to transfer task-level freeway accident disposal experience via multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm with policy distillation. First, the Markov decision process is used to simulate the emergency decision-making process of multi-type freeway accident scene at the task level. Then, an adaptive knowledge transfer method named policy distilled multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient (PD-MADDPG) algorithm is proposed to reuse experience from past freeway accident records to current accidents for fast decision-making and optimal onsite disposal. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on instantiated cases of freeway accidents that occurred on the freeway in Shaanxi Province, China. Aside from achieving better emergency decisions performance than various typical decision-making methods, the result shows decision maker with transferred knowledge owns 65.22%, 11.37%, 9.23%, 7.76% and 1.71% higher average reward than those without in the five studied cases, respectively. Indicating that the emergency experience transferred from past accidents contributes to fast emergency decision-making and optimal accident onsite disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impact of new-onset left bundle branch block and periprocedural permanent pacemaker implantation on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a systematic review and meta-analysis. [7] In this case report, we successfully implanted a permanent pacemaker with HBP technique to correct TA VR-induced A VB in an old female patient. In our case, the patient's interventricular septum thickness was 1.4 mm as shown in CT, and the mean valve implantation depth was 5.32 mm, which might lead to the new-onset post-TA VR A VB. [Extracted from the article]

Saline–alkali stress is a significant abiotic stress factor that impacts plant growth, development, and crop yield. Consistent with the notion that genome-wide replication events can enhance plant stress resistance, autotetraploid rice exhibited a higher level of tolerance to saline–alkali stress than its donor counterparts, which is reflected by differential gene expression between autotetraploid and diploid rice in response to salt, alkali, and saline–alkali stress. In this study, we investigated the expression of the transcription factors (TFs) in the leaf tissues of autotetraploid and diploid rice under different types of saline–alkali stress. Transcriptome analysis identified a total of 1040 genes from 55 TF families that were altered in response to these stresses, with a significantly higher number in autotetraploid rice compared to diploid rice. Contrarily, under these stresses, the number of expressed TF genes in autotetraploid rice was greater than that in diploid rice for all three types of stress. In addition to the different numbers, the differentially expressed TF genes were found to be from significantly distinct TF families between autotetraploid and diploid rice genotypes. The GO enrichment analysis unraveled that all the DEGs were distributed with differentially biological functions in rice, in particular those that were enriched in the pathways of phytohormones and salt resistance, signal transduction, and physiological and biochemical metabolism in autotetraploid rice compared to its diploid counterpart. This may provide useful guidance for studying the biological roles of polyploidization in plant resilience in response to saline–alkali stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a bridge between the coating and the substrate, the primer has a direct impact on the adhesion performance of silicone resin thermal protection coating. In this paper, the synergistic effects of an aminosilane coupling agent on the adhesion performance of silane primer were investigated. The results show that silane primer containing N-aminoethyl-3-aminopropylmethyl-dimethoxysilane (HD-103) formed a continuous and uniform film on the surface of the substrate. Two amino groups of HD-103 were conducive to moderate and uniform hydrolysis of the silane primer system, and the introduction of dimethoxy groups was more conducive to the improvement of interfacial layer density and the formation of the planar surface structure, thus enhancing the bond strength at the interface. When the content was 13 wt%, it exhibited excellent synergistic effects on adhesive properties, and the adhesive strength reached 1.53 MPa. The possible morphology and composition of the silane primer layer were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A thermogravimetric infrared spectrometer (TGA-IR) was used to analyze the thermal decomposition of the silane primer layer. The results showed that the alkoxy groups in the silane primer were first hydrolyzed to form Si-OH, and then the dehydration and condensation reactions between Si-OH and the substrate formed a firm network structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient deficiency in ruminants can lead to estrus cycle disorders, a decreased pregnancy rate, and reduce birth weight. l -arginine (L-Arg), an important amino acid, can improve uterine homeostasis in pregnant sheep and prevent intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). However, most studies of L-Arg have been conducted on pregnant sheep and few have reported the effects of L-Arg on microvessel density (MVD) in the non-pregnant ovine endometrium. The processes of normal uterine cyclical development and implantation are dependent on a balanced of endometrial MVD. In this study, female Hu sheep were randomly assigned to either a control group (n = 6), a nutrient-restricted group (n = 6), or an L-Arg supplemented nutrient-restricted group (n = 6). The effects of L-Arg on MVD in ovine endometrium were then studied. Our results showed that ovine endometrial MVD was significantly increased by nutrient restriction, but L-Arg counteracted the effect of nutrient restriction on MVD ( P  < 0.05). Levels of angiogenic growth factors (including VEGFA, VEGFR2, and FGF2) had significant increases ( P  < 0.05) in endometrium of nutrient restriction on sheep, but that L-Arg supplementation substantially decreased ( P  < 0.05) their expressions in nutrient restriction sheep. Furthermore, oxidative stress caused by nutrient restriction was also alleviated by L-Arg supplementation in the ovine endometrium. Overall, the results suggested that L-Arg has crucial roles in maintaining the balance of endometrial MVD and angiogenic growth factors, and increasing anti-oxidation capability in the endometrium of nutrient-restricted sheep. This study will provide a theoretical basis and technical means for the normal development of endometrial microvessels in low nutrition level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrate reservoirs are different from the host reservoirs of all other fossil energy sources because the characteristics of hydrate reservoirs are generally controlled by deep-sea fine-grained sedimentation. In such reservoirs, the reliability of the classical logging evaluation models established for diagenetic reservoirs is questionable. This study used well W8 in the Qiongdongnan Basin to explore the clay content, porosity, saturation, and hydrate-enriched layer identification of a logging-based hydrate reservoir, and it was found that considering the effect of the clay content on the log response is necessary in the logging evaluation of hydrate reservoirs. In the evaluation of clay content, a method based on the optimization inversion method can obtain a more reliable clay content than other methods. Fine-grained sediment reservoirs have a high clay content, and the effect of clay on log responses must be considered when calculating porosity. In addition, combining density logging and neutron porosity logging data can obtain the best porosity calculation results, and the porosity calculation method based on sonic logging predicted that the porosity of the studied reservoir was low. It was very effective to identify hydrate layers based on resistivity, but the clay distribution and pore structure will also affect the relationship between resistivity, porosity and saturation, and it was suggested that the factors effecting the resistivity of different layers should be considered in the saturation evaluation and that a suitable model should be selected. This study also considered the lack of clarity of the relationships among the lithology, physical properties, hydrate-bearing occurrence properties, and log response properties of hydrate reservoirs and the lack of specialized petrophysical models. This research can directly help to improve hydrate logging evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prediction of unstart boundaries of hypersonic inlets is significant to the engine control. To correct the previous conclusions based on the one-dimensional and inviscid flow assumption, the present paper numerically investigates the unstart characteristics of two-dimensional contraction ducts in viscous flow that vary with multiple controlling variables. Based on the newly defined dimensionless cowl length and effective internal contraction ratio, the similarity law of unstart is discovered. The universal empirical equation of unstart boundary for different cowl lengths, cowl lip heights, entrance boundary-layer thicknesses, unit Reynolds numbers, and Mach numbers is proposed, which can simplify the design of two-dimensional hypersonic inlets. With varying the dimensionless cowl length, three different types of short-cowl, transitional, and long-cowl unstarts are identified, owing to the different evolution mechanisms of separation region. The unstart displays a separation region growing under the streamwise pressure difference enhanced by the shock system or flow choke. In addition, the wall pressure criteria for unstart are correlated to the characteristic separation scale at unstart critical state and the dimensionless cowl length, which facilitates the unstart detection or early warning. It is observed that the Kantrowitz limit is close to the unstart boundaries for very short cowl and the isentropic limit is close to the unstart boundaries for very long cowl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An external-cavity diode laser for 1550-nm wavelength is reported with ultra-low noise, high power coupled to a fiber, and fast tunability. These characteristics enable the generation of an optical frequency comb in a silica micro-resonator with a single-soliton state. Neither an optical amplifier nor a modulator is used in the experiment. This demonstration greatly simplifies the soliton generation setup and represents a significant step forward to a fully integrated soliton comb system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rectangular external-compression supersonic inlet with a shock-on-lip Mach number of 2.0 is carefully studied at a freestream Mach number of 2.5. In the throttling process before the onset of buzz, the interaction between the ramp shock and the cowl-induced bow shock appears as regular reflection, Mach reflection, and λ-shaped pattern successively. It is interestingly found that the currently observed Mach reflection, which should have been broken down shortly after the emergence as reported previously, keeps fairly stable until the throttling ratio changes. In the remaining buzz stage, three types of instabilities of similar frequencies but of different oscillating behaviors and amplitudes are observed. The term medium buzz is adopted to describe the special buzz phenomenon with moderate oscillations. It is shown that both the little buzz and big buzz are characterized by the separation oscillation, whereas the medium buzz features the oscillation of the cowl-induced bow shock. Further analysis indicates that all three buzz phenomena probably share a common origin (i.e., the ramp-side flow separation). Also, it is demonstrated that the transition of buzz flows in the throttling process is attributed to the changes of disturbance strength and dominant role between two feedback loops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperthermia, as an anticancer therapeutic strategy, presents notable advantages in conjunction with irradiation and/or chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer by promoting apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation. A number of studies have documented that hyperthermia inhibits cancer progression through transcriptional activation of p53, which promotes cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of hyperthermia-regulated apoptosis and proliferation dependent on p53 remain largely unknown. To investigate the effects and molecular mechanism of hyperthermia on the apoptosis and proliferation of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) HCT116 cells, the present study assessed cell apoptosis and proliferation following exposure to hyperthermia (42°C for 2-4 h). The results indicated that, compared with the control group at 0 h, hyperthermia exposure for 2 and 4 h induced the apoptosis of HCT116 cells (P<0.05), inhibited cell proliferation by causing cell cycle arrest at G1/G0 phase (P<0.05), and significantly increased microRNA (miR)-34a expression (P<0.05), but not miR-34b, miR-34c, miR-215 and miR-504 expression. The transcriptional activity of p53 on its consensus sequence and downstream target genes, namely p21, B cell lymphoma 2-associated X protein, mouse double minute 2 homolog, p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis and growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible 45α, was subsequently detected. The data indicated significantly higher transcriptional activity of p53 following hyperthermia exposure for 2 and 4 h (P<0.05), and these observations were similar to the effects of transfection with miR-34a mimics in HCT116 cells. Furthermore, transfection with miR-34a antagomiR supressed hyperthermia-induced apoptosis and promoted cell cycle progression following hyperthermia exposure when compared with transfection controls (P<0.05). Collectively, these findings indicate that miR-34a may serve an important role in hyperthermia-regulated apoptosis and proliferation in HCT116 cells by influencing the transcriptional activity of p53. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rectangular external-compression supersonic inlet with partially isentropic compression is experimentally studied at a freestream Mach number of 2.0. During the test, the inlet operates at the little buzz state after going through the supercritical state and the steady subcritical state. A striking feature of the little buzz state is that both the most upstream and downstream positions of the unsteady separation point of the forebody boundary layer take on a linear variation trend with the increase of throttling ratio, yielding an intensifying flow oscillation. Then, the mixed buzz phenomenon that the little and big buzz coexist appears. As the throttling ratio further rises, the occurrence probability of little buzz is reduced, and finally the big buzz state takes place. In this state, two unique transient flow patterns with the inflow and supersonic backflow coexisting at the duct entrance can be observed. Different from the prevailing viewpoint, the present little buzz belongs to the Dailey instability and shares a common origin with the big buzz in essence. Furthermore, a theoretical analysis based on Fisher's criterion indicates that a single shear layer from a λ-shaped terminal shock with an upstream Mach number below 1.60 is unable to trigger the Ferri instability of a supersonic inlet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are currently under both of intense academic and industrial investigations. Here, two dimethoxyphenylamine-substituted carbazole derivatives (SYN1 and PARA1), as hole-transporting materials (HTMs) for PSCs, have been synthesized via two-step synthesis with low cost and simple operation. PSCs devices based on SYN1 and PARA1 showed power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of 11.4% and 13.1%, respectively, outperforming that of Spiro-OMeTAD (12.0%), demonstrating the dimethoxyphenylamine-substituted carbazole derivatives are good candidates as HTMs for perovskite solar cells. Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and J-V test under dark indicate that the hole injecting efficiency and dark current affect the cell performance seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic and recording properties of antiferromagnetically coupled (AFC) media are studied in comparison to conventional media. AFC media have superior magnetic recording properties compared to conventional media in terms of media signal to noise ratio (S[SUB0]NR) increase and transition pulse width (PW[SUB50]) reduction. Such improvements are most significant for media with (11.0) texture, small underlayer grain size, and low dispersion of the crystallographic texture. AFC media with (10.0) texture do not perform as well. In particular, AFC media have wider PW[SUB50] than conventional media in this orientation. For (11.0) textured media, the large underlayer grain size reduces media SNR improvement of AFC media while exchange field reduction is the major drawback of the deteriorated crystallographic texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harvesting energy from ambient mechanical vibrations by the piezoelectric effect has been proposed for powering microelectromechanical systems and replacing batteries that have a finite life span. A conventional piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) is usually designed as a linear resonator, and suffers from a narrow operating bandwidth. To achieve broadband energy harvesting, in this paper we introduce a concept and describe the realization of a novel nonlinear PEH. The proposed PEH consists of a primary piezoelectric cantilever beam coupled to an auxiliary piezoelectric cantilever beam through two movable magnets. For predicting the nonlinear response from the proposed PEH, lumped parameter models are established for the two beams. Both simulation and experiment reveal that for the primary beam, the introduction of magnetic coupling can expand the operating bandwidth as well as improve the output voltage. For the auxiliary beam, the magnitude of the output voltage is slightly reduced, but additional output is observed at off-resonance frequencies. Therefore, broadband energy harvesting can be obtained from both the primary beam and the auxiliary beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saline-alkali soil has posed challenges to the growth of agricultural crops, while polyploidy often show greater adaptability in diverse and extreme environments including saline-alkali stress, but its defense mechanisms in rice remain elusive. Herein, we explored the mechanisms of enhanced saline-alkali tolerance of autotetraploid rice 93-11T relative to diploid rice 93-11D, based on physiological, hormonal and transcriptomic profilings. Physiologically, the enhanced saline-alkali tolerance in 93-11T was manifested in higher soluble sugar accumulation and stronger superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities in leaves during 24 h after saline-alkali shock. Furthermore, various hormone levels in leaves of 93-11T altered greatly, such as the negative correlation between salicylic acid (SA) and the other four hormones changed to positive correlation due to polyploidy. Global transcriptome profiling revealed that the upregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in leaves and roots of 93-11T were more abundant than that in 93-11D, and there were more DEGs in roots than in leaves under saline-alkali stress. Genes related to phytohormone signal transduction of auxin (AUX) and SA in roots, lignin biosynthesis in leaves or roots, and wax biosynthesis in leaves were obviously upregulated in 93-11T compared with 93-11D under saline-alkali condition. Collectively, 93-11T subjected to saline-alkali stress possibly possesses higher osmotic regulation ability due to cuticular wax synthesis, stronger negative regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by increasing the SA levels and maintaining relative lower levels of IAA, and higher antioxidant capacity by increasing activities of SOD and POD, as well as lignin biosynthesis. Our research provides new insights for exploring the mechanisms of saline-alkali tolerance in polyploid rice and discovering new gene targets for rice genetic improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • This study used sesquiterpenoids with 97 carbon skeletons for model construction. • The scheme based on the DFT method combined with triple correction can accurately calculate Δ c H of sesquiterpenoid HEDFs. • We developed the MLR equation with only 4 features for predicting Δ c H for sesquiterpenoid HEDFs. • The proposed DFT-QSPR scheme can effectively guide the design of novel sesquiterpenoid HDEFs. Sesquiterpenoids that are renewable and have high energy density and low freezing point are promising biomass high-energy–density fuels (HEDFs). The enthalpy of combustion (Δ c H) is the key characteristic to measure the heat energy content of HEDFs. Its accurate theoretical prediction and evaluation is essential for designing novel sesquiterpenoid HEDFs. Combining the screened and optimized density functional theory (DFT) method with triple computational correction, we presented a standardized calculation scheme for Δ c H with an average absolute error of only 2.6 % by 295 structurally diverse sesquiterpenoid HEDFs. Then, the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm was used to determine the correlation between the calculated Δ c H and 54 quantum chemical (QC) descriptors and the shapley additive explanation (SHAP) method to elucidate the key factors affecting Δ c H. Lastly, a quantitative structure–property relationship (QSPR) prediction model with only four QC features was constructed by using the SHAP results via the multiple linear regression (MLR) algorithms. Notably, the model has excellent prediction performance, decreased complexity, and improved applicability. The coefficient of determination (R 2) of the internal training set and external test set of the model are 0.957 and 0.956, while the root mean square error (RMSE) are 8.626 kcal/mol and 9.012 kcal/mol, respectively. The proposed DFT-QSPR (the ingenious combination of DFT and QSPR) scheme can effectively guide the design of Δ c H of novel sesquiterpenoid HDEFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum has emerged as a major threat for malaria control and elimination worldwide. Mutations in the Kelch propeller domain of PfK13 are the only known molecular markers for artemisinin resistance in this parasite. Over 100 non-synonymous mutations have been identified in PfK13 from various malaria endemic regions. This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of PvK12, the Plasmodium vivax ortholog of PfK13, in parasite populations from Southeast Asia, where artemisinin resistance in P. falciparum has emerged. Methods: The PvK12 sequences in 120 P. vivax isolates collected from Thailand (22), Myanmar (32) and China (66) between 2004 and 2008 were obtained and 353 PvK12 sequences from worldwide populations were retrieved for further analysis. Results: These PvK12 sequences revealed a very low level of genetic diversity (π = 0.00003) with only three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Of these three SNPs, only G581R is nonsynonymous. The synonymous mutation S88S is present in 3% (1/32) of the Myanmar samples, while G704G and G581R are present in 1.5% (1/66) and 3% (2/66) of the samples from China, respectively. None of the mutations observed in the P. vivax samples were associated with artemisinin resistance in P. falciparum. Furthermore, analysis of 473 PvK12 sequences from twelve worldwide P. vivax populations confirmed the very limited polymorphism in this gene and detected only five distinct haplotypes. Conclusions: The PvK12 sequences from global P. vivax populations displayed very limited genetic diversity indicating low levels of baseline polymorphisms of PvK12 in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three Stemona alkaloids named stemotuberines A–C (1 – 3) with unique C 17 N frameworks, presumably formed by elimination of the C-11–C-15 lactone ring of the stichoneurine skeleton, were isolated from the roots of Stemona tuberosa. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis, X-ray diffraction, and computational methods. Compounds 2 and 3 showed inhibition (IC 50 values of 37.1 and 23.2 μM, respectively) against LPS-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells. In addition, concern was expressed about the reported plant origin (S. sessilifolia) of the recently described alkaloids tuberostemonols O–R (4–7), which should be S. tuberosa. NMR calculations indicated structural misassignment of these compounds except for 6. Isolation of tuberostemonol P (5) from our material of S. tuberosa allowed for a close examination of the spectroscopic data leading to the revised structure 5a. Tuberostemonol R (7) was found to have identical 1H and 13C NMR data to the well-known alkaloid croomine, and therefore its structure including relative stereochemistry must be revised as 7a. [Display omitted] • Three previously undescribed Stemona alkaloids were isolated from Stemona tuberosa. • Compounds 1 – 3 possess unprecedented C 17 N skeletons. • Nitric oxide inhibitory activities of isolated compounds were evaluated. • Putative structures of tuberostemonols P and R were revised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Face-hobbing is a continuous generating process employed in manufacturing spiral bevel and hypoid gears. Due to machining dynamics and tolerances of machine tools, the exact tooth surface geometry may not be obtained from the machining process using theoretical machine tool settings. Repeatable tooth surface geometric errors may be observed. The tooth surface errors will cause unfavorable displacement of tooth contact and increased transmission errors, resulting in noisy operation and premature failure due to edge contact and highly concentrated stresses. In order to eliminate the tooth surface errors and ensure precision products, a corrective machine setting technique is employed to modify the theoretical machine tool settings, compensating for the surface errors. This paper describes a method of correcting tooth surface errors for spiral bevel and hypoid gears generated by the face-hobbing process using computer numerically controlled hypoid gear generators. Polynomial representation of the universal motions of machine tool settings is considered. The corrective universal motion coefficients are determined through an optimization process with the target of minimization of the tooth surface errors. The sensitivity of the changes of the tooth surface geometry to the changes of universal motion coefficients is investigated. A numerical example of a face-hobbed hypoid pinion is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing demand for low noise and high strength leads to higher quality requirements in manufacturing spiral bevel and hypoid gears. Due to heat treatment distortions, machine tolerances, variation of cutting forces, and other unpredictable factors, the real tooth flank form geometry may deviate from the theoretical or master target geometry. This will cause unfavorable displacement of tooth contact and increased transmission errors, resulting in noisy operation and premature failure due to edge contact and highly concentrated stresses. In the hypoid gear development process, a corrective machine setting technique is usually employed to modify the machine settings, compensating for the tooth flank form errors. Existing published works described the corrective machine setting technique based on the use of mechanical hypoid gear generators, and the second-order approximation of error surfaces. Today, computer numerically controlled (CNC) hypoid gear generators have been widely employed by the gear industry. The universal motion concept has been implemented on most CNC hypoid generators, providing additional freedoms for the corrections of tooth flank form errors. Higher-order components of the error surfaces may be corrected by using the higher-order universal motions. This paper describes a new method of tooth flank form error correction utilizing the universal motions for spiral bevel and hypoid gears produced by the face-milling process. The sensitivity of the changes of tooth flank form geometry to the changes of universal motion coefficients is investigated. The corrective universal motion coefficients are determined through an optimization process with the target of minimization of the tooth flank form errors. A numerical example of a face-mill completing process is presented. The developed new approach has been implemented with computer software. The new approach can also be applied to the face-hobbing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the chemistry of gold clusters has been developed rapidly, the knowledge of trinuclear gold clusters with low-valent gold remains scarce. Herein, we report the synthesis, structural characterization, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations of trinuclear anionic gold clusters 3a and 3b ligated by dialkylsilylene (1a) and dialkylgermylene (1b), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shock-train transitions in simplified curved isolators are carefully studied by simulation. The results show the shock-train behavior is subject to the complex pressure field created by the duct deflection, eventually presenting five modes during a backpressure-varying process. Of them, the most special one is the abrupt shock-train leap. It appears as the leading shocks interact with an adverse pressure gradient and follows a different path after a reversal of the direction the backpressure takes, which causes a shock-train hysteresis. If the curvature increases, the leap phenomenon, together with the related hysteresis, grows in number and intensity. Analysis indicates the background pressure gradients stem from the inherent left-running expansion waves and right-running compression waves. They control alternately the near-wall flow state, provoking the cyclic changes in the pressure gradient sign. Unlike the former, the latter can enhance separation through a positive feedback mechanism, rendering the shock train highly sensitive to backpressure. This is why the leap occurs. Comparing with the previously reported shock-induced leap indicates that there is a marked similarity in their behaviors, suggesting the irrelevance of the occurrence of a leap to the category of incident waves. Nevertheless, a delay in the onset usually follows a compression-wave-typed leap, which reflects that there is a triggering threshold for an incident wave. Given the fact that no local separation is provoked by the compression waves, it is speculated that the threshold should lie below the criterion for causing a separation, as opposed to the impression from the previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a useful vertebrate model for use in cardiovascular drug discovery. The present study aimed to construct optimized methods for the study of intravascular lipid metabolism of zebrafish. The lipophilic dye, Oil Red O, was used to stain fasting zebrafish one to eight days post-fertilization (dpf) and to stain 7-dpf zebrafish incubated in a breeding system containing 0.1% egg yolk as a high-fat diet (HFD) for 48 h. Three-dpf zebrafish were kept in CholEsteryl boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) 542/563 C11 water for 24 h which indicated the efficiency of CholEsteryl BODIPY 542/563 C11 intravascular cholesterol staining. Subsequently, 7-dpf zebrafish were incubated in water containing the fluorescent probe CholEsteryl BODIPY 542/563 C11 and fed a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) for 10 d. Two groups of 7-dpf zebrafish were incubated in regular breeding water and fed with a regular or HCD containing CholEsteryl BODIPY 542/563 C11 for 10 d. Finally, blood lipids of adult zebrafish fed with regular or HFD for seven weeks were measured. Oil Red O was not detected in the blood vessels of 7-8-dpf zebrafish. Increased intravascular lipid levels were detected in 7-dpf zebrafish incubated in 0.1% egg yolk, indicated by Oil Red O staining. Intravascular cholesterol was efficiently stained in 3-dpf zebrafish incubated in breeding water containing CholEsteryl BODIPY 542/563 C11; however, this method was inappropriate for the calculation of intravascular fluorescence intensity in zebrafish >7-dpf. In spite of this, intra-aortic fluorescence intensity of zebrafish fed a HCD containing CholEsteryl BODIPY 542/563 C11 was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of those fed a regular diet containing CholEsteryl BODIPY 542/563 C11. The serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels of adult zebrafish fed a HFD were markedly increased compared to those of the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, the use of Oil Red O staining and CholEsteryl BODIPY 542/563 C11 may have applications in zebrafish intravascular lipid metabolism research and screens for novel lipid-regulating drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkaline stress is harmful to plant growth and development, it would induce endogenic ionic concentration and osmotic pressure, trigger relevant genes expression with transcription factor binding, signal transduction and hormone synthesis. In this study, we selected "Dongdao-4", a salt-alkali stress tolerance rice cultivar, which was subjected to extreme high pH (pH = 11.5) alkaline stress at the trefoil stage for 7 days. Using the RNA-seq technology, we analyzed variations in genes expressed between the fourth and the seventh day of treatment. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was 3804, 2534, 207 and 3276 for fourth day-stress vs. fourth day-control, seventh day-stress vs. seventh day-control, seventh day-control vs. fourth day-control and seventh day-stress vs. fourth day-stress, respectively. Gene ontology (GO) results revealed that DEGs were mainly enriched in apoptotic process, electron carrier activity, receptor activity, molecular transducer activity. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) results implied that DEGs were mainly enriched in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. In particular, DEGs were distributed in genes related to the transcription factor, leucine rich repeats (LRRs) and hormones. We also report here for the first-time identification of 125 genes specifically expressed during the alkaline stress. Our results provided important information assisting with the exploration of the molecular mechanisms of rice plants subjected to high pH condition and can facilitate rice abiotic tolerance breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Cover Feature: Synthesis and reactivity of a dialkyl-2H-1,2-phosphasiliren-3-olate" in the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry showcases a traditional Chinese cultural symbol called Shuanglong Xizhu, which represents auspiciousness, majesty, and strength. The picture also celebrates the Chinese New Year, specifically the "Year of the Dragon," which is a symbol of China. The two dragons in the picture represent nucleophilic centers on the P and O atoms, respectively, and interact around a "pearl" formed from the substrates. The article provides more information on the molecular structure and can be found in the Research Article by L. Wang, Z. Li, and co-workers. [Extracted from the article]

A numerical approach of the finite element method is extended to study the scattering properties of an arbitrary dielectric target above the dielectric rough surface. For scattering in an open region, the artificial boundaries should be introduced to truncate the infinite computational domain. A perfectly matched layer (PML), as the artificial boundary of the finite-element-method (FEM) region, is employed to absorb the outward wave scattered from the model. The strategies of hybrid FEM/PML are presented with their validity evaluated by finite element/boundary integral method (FE/BIM), and then the scattering properties of the dielectric composite problem with different material permittivity are discussed in detail. Compared with the published works about FEM/PML, we extend the FEM/PML into the simulations of a dielectric target above the dielectric rough surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Malaria within the Greater Mekong sub-region is extremely heterogeneous. While China and Thailand have been relatively successful in controlling malaria, Myanmar continues to see high prevalence. Coupled with the recent emergence of artemisinin-resistant malaria along the Thai-Myanmar border, this makes Myanmar an important focus of malaria within the overall region. However, accurate epidemiological data from Myanmar have been lacking, in part because of ongoing and emerging conflicts between the government and various ethnic groups. Here the results are reported from a risk analysis of malaria slide positivity in a conflict zone along the China-Myanmar border. Methods Surveys were conducted in 13 clinics and hospitals around Laiza City, Myanmar between April 2011 and October 2012. Demographic, occupational and educational information, as well as malaria infection history, were collected. Logistic models were used to assess risk factors for slide positivity. Results Age patterns in Plasmodium vivax infections were younger than those with Plasmodium falciparum. Furthermore, males were more likely than females to have falciparum infections. Patients who reported having been infected with malaria during the previous year were much more likely to have a current vivax infection. During the second year of the study, falciparum infections among soldiers increased signficiantlyConclusions These results fill some knowledge gaps with regard to risk factors associated with malaria slide positivity in this conflict region of north-eastern Myanmar. Since epidemiological studies in this region have been rare or non-existent, studies such as the current are crucial for understanding the dynamic nature of malaria in this extremely heterogeneous epidemiological landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel D-A compound, [Cu(L)2Cl2]·2CH2Cl2 ML, has been synthesized based on 4′,5′-diaza-9′-(4,5-bis(benzylthio)-1,3-dithiole-2-ylidene)-fluorene ((C11N2H6)(C3S2)(SCH2C6H5)2, L). Both ML and L are further characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H and 13C NMR. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction shows ML displays a 3-D supramolecular network built by the neutral mononuclear unit [Cu(L)2Cl2] via hydrogen bonds, π–π stacking and S⋯S interactions. The UV–Vis spectra show the lowest-energy absorption band (431nm) of ML is red-shifted compared to that of L (415nm). The electrochemistry behavior shows that while the HOMO level of the ML is lowered by L coordinating with the Cu2+ ion, the oxidative potentials are increased (1.19 to 1.37V). Photocurrent measurements show the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) of L should be easier than that of ML. The results of the reorganization energy obtained from DFT calculations (λ i: 0.25eV for L, 0.82eV for ML) reveal the lower reorganization energy is of great benefit to carrier transport within L. These results are in good agreement with those experimentally obtained by CV, UV–Vis, fluorescence and photocurrent measurements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A new form of induced transparency enabled by dynamical tunneling coupling of continuous chaos and discrete regular modes in a slightly deformed optical microcavity is demonstrated experimentally. An optical beam is focused on the cavity boundary and tuned on resonance with a high-Q mode, which leads to destructive interference for the excitation of chaotic field and induces a transparency in the transmission. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with a model based on quantum scattering theory. This tunneling-induced transparency is accompanied by extremely steep normal dispersion, and holds great potential in slow light and enhanced nonlinear interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Anemia is prevalent in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and has been linked to impaired outcomes after the procedure. Few studies have evaluated the impact of anemia and new ischemic lesions post TAVR. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 158 patients who received TAVR in our center. Anemia was defined according to the World Health Organization criteria as hemoglobin <12 g/dL in women and <13 g/dL in men. All patients underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) procedure before and within 4-7 days after TAVR. RESULTS: Anemia was present in 85 (53.8%) patients who underwent TAVR, and 126 (79.7%) patients had 718 new DW-MRI positive lesions with a mean of 4.54±5.26 lesions per patient. The incidence of new ischemic lesions was 81.2% in patients with anemia versus 78.1% in patients without anemia (P=0.629). Moreover, anemic patients had bigger total volume/lesions in the anterior cerebral artery/middle cerebral artery (ACA/MCA) and MCA regions compared to the non-anemic patients (31.89±55.78 mm3 vs. 17.08±37.39 mm3, P=0.049; and 54.54±74.72 mm3 vs. 33.75±46.03 mm3, P=0.034). Anemia was independently associated with the volume/lesion in the ACA/MCA (ß=16.796, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 2.001 to 31.591, P=0.026) and in the MCA zone (ß=0.020, 95% CI 0.001 to 0.040, P=0.041). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with pre-procedural anemia may have bigger total volume/lesions in the ACA/MCA and MCA regions compared to the non-anemic patients. Whether the consequences of bigger total volume/lesions impact neurological and cognitive outcomes remains to be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that flipped learning has great potential for enhancing students' conceptual understanding through the reversed arrangement of before-class learning activities and in-class settings. However, this approach also raises the challenge of students having to obtain the learning content by themselves, especially for abstract concepts such as fractions, where students frequently encounter problems in mathematics education. In this study, we proposed a gamified interactive e-book approach to supporting a flipped mathematics classroom. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a quasi-experimental study was implemented in an elementary school mathematics course. There were three groups: the students who adopted the gamified interactive e-book in the mathematical flipped classroom (the GIEBFL group), the students who learned with conventional flipped learning (the CFL group), and those who learned with traditional instruction (the TI group). The results from a paper-and-pencil test indicated that the GIEBFL students significantly outperformed the CFL and TI students. In addition, the questionnaire of students' learning motivation showed that the GIEBFL students had better motivation than the CFL and TI students. Also, the GIEBFL students achieved significantly higher meta-cognition tendency than the TI students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective·To assess the cardiopulmonary exercise capacity in patients with breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the early stage and explore possible factors leading to the reduced functional tolerance in those patients. Methods·Fifty-two consecutive patients suffering from breast cancer and receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy were included and completed cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), laboratory tests, electrocardiograph and echocardiography after 1 cycle of chemotherapy in the Department of Cardiology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from September, 2020 to May, 2021. Fifty-two healthy age-, gender- and body mass index (BMI)-matched volunteers were enrolled and received CPET as the control group. The general conditions, hematological biomarkers, electrocardiogram and echocardiography of the subjects in the two groups were collected and recorded. Results·Compared to the control group, the group of patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy had reduced peak VO2 [(18.22±3.48) mL/(min·kg) vs (22.80±3.13) mL/(min·kg), P=0.000], anaerobic threshold [(12.09±2.35) mL/(min·kg) vs (14.93±2.60) mL/(min·kg), P=0.000] and oxygen pulse [(7.67±1.45) mL/beat vs (8.87±1.29) mL/beat), P=0.000]. On multivariable regression analysis, BMI was independently associated with peak VO2 (β = - 0.528, P=0.047) of patients in the early stage of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Conclusion·Decreased cardiopulmonary function could be detected in the early stage of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on patients with breast cancer via CPET. High BMI can be an independent predictor of the reduced peak VO2 . Maintaining BMI at normal level by losing weight may help to improve patients' cardiopulmonary function and long-term cardiovascular prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y3+- and Co2+-substituted Sr 1- x Y x Fe 12- x Co x O 19 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.50) M-type hexaferrites were synthesized using a traditional oxide ceramic process to study their structural and static magnetic properties. The well-defined M-type phase structures of the pure and Y–Co co-substituted strontium ferrites were verified via XRD analysis. When the Y–Co substitution amount (x) exceeded 0.20, the Fe 2 O 3 , Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 , SrFe 2 O 4 , and CoFe 2 O 4 impurity phases coexisted in the M-type strontium hexaferrite structure. The lattice parameters a and c increased when x ≤ 0.20; however, a further increase in the Y–Co substitution caused them to decrease. The X-ray density d x initially decreased when x ≤ 0.20, and subsequently increased with a further increase in Y–Co substitution. The density of the sintered samples d s exhibited a decreasing trend with the increasing Y–Co substitution, inducing the porosity to increase. The saturation magnetization M s monotonously decreased with the increasing Y–Co substitution amount. The in-plane and out-of-plane coercivities, H c (ip) and H c (op), initially increased as x increased from 0 to 0.20. When x > 0.20, however, H c (ip) exhibited a decreasing trend; particularly, a linear decrease was observed as x increased from 0.30 to 0.50. The squareness ratio S reached its maximum (79.6%) at x = 0.20. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the compound (E)‐N‐(3,5‐dimethylphenyl)‐2‐(3‐chlorobenzylidene)thiosemicarb‐azone was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13C NMR. The crystal structure was determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction tool, indicating that the compound belongs to the orthorhombic crystal system of the Fdd2 space group, where a = 14.0472(12) Å, b = 57.148(4) Å, c = 7.9633(6) Å, the chemical formula is C16H16ClN3S, Mr = 317.83, V = 6392.7(9) Å3, Z = 16, Dc = 1.321 Mg/m3, F(000) = 2656, R = 0.0339, wR = 0.0903. Analysis of crystal data shows that the molecular conformation has good planarity. Hirshfeld surface and two‐dimensional (2D) fingerprints were used to analyze the intermolecular hydrogen bonds. In addition, a more comprehensive theoretical calculation studies were carried out on synthetic compound, such as potential energy surface (PES) scan, reduced density gradient (RDG), and independent gradient model (IGM) analysis, atoms in molecules (AIM) analysis, highest occupied molecular orbital–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO–LUMO) and UV‐visible spectra analysis. The combination of experimental and theoretical data proved that non‐covalent bonds play a vital role in maintaining the stability of molecule. Finally, molecular docking was used to research the interaction between the synthetic compound and the receptor protein (4C2L). Meanwhile, the results obtained by in vitro antifungal assay indicated that the synthetic compound possesses the most remarkable inhibitory effect for Fusarium graminearum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel three-dimensional barium metal-organic framework [Ba3(btc)2(H2O) 4 ]·0.5H2O (H3btc = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid) has been synthesised under hydrothermal conditions, and characterised by single-crystal X-ray structure determination, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, IR, and photoluminescence studies. The volume of the tunnel formed by the two-dimensional layers is 341.9 Å3 per unit cell using PLATON based on the crystal structures, comprising 14.3% of the crystal volume 2387.2 Å3. The solid-state fluorescence measurement of this compound at room temperature reveals a fluorescent emission band at 454.5 nm under the excitation of 337 nm, assigned to a charge-transfer transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new Zn(II) phosphonate, (NH4)[Zn(HPMIDA)(H2O)2] (1) (H4PMIDA = N-(phosphonomethyl)iminodiacetic acid), has been solvothermally synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, TGA fluorescence, and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Compound 1 is an example of a six-coordinate Zn-carboxylate-phosphonate and possesses a 3-D supramolecular structure built from mononuclear anions [image omitted] through hydrogen bonding. Compound 1 exhibits a solid-state fluorescent emission band at 593 nm under excitation of 413 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eucalyptals A−C (1−3) with a new skeleton of 3,5-diformyl-isopentyl phloroglucinol-coupled cadinane were isolated from the fruits of Eucalyptus globulus. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis, and that of 1 was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The biosynthetic pathway of 1−3 was also postulated. Compounds 1−3 exhibited selective cytotoxicity against the HL-60 cell line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]