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Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) is a difficult enzyme to work with. Here, the authors covalently immobilized it in a microfluidic reactor to enhance its storage/thermal stabilities and reusability, which enabled the continuous artificial synthesis of glucose precursor.

Abstract Antibody‐drug conjugates (ADCs) belong to a promising class of biopharmaceuticals in which target‐killing of tumor cells was achieved by marrying the potency of the cytotoxic payload with the tumor specificity of the antibody. Here we developed a novel ADC (ZV0508) that targets 5T4 oncofetal antigen, which is overexpressed in many carcinomas on both bulk tumor cells and cancer stem cells. A novel cytotoxic payload called Duostatin‐5 (Duo‐5) which was derived from monomethyl auristatin F (MMAF) was attached to a 5T4 targeting antibody (ZV05) by interchain cysteine cross‐linking conjugation via a disubstituted C‐Lock linker. We have investigated the antitumor efficacy of ZV0508 by in vitro and in vivo studies, and compared its antitumor activity with ZV05‐mcMMAF (ZV0501), in which MMAF was linked via a conventional noncleavable maleimidocaproyl linker. As results, ZV0508 exhibited ideal antiproliferative effects through blocking cell cycle and inducing cell apoptosis. The in vivo studies revealed that both ZV0501 and ZV0508 exhibited excellent antitumor activities even at a single dose. Although ZV0508 was inferior to ZV0501 in vitro, it elicited more durable antitumor responses than ZV0501 in vivo. The superior in vivo activity of ZV0508 may be due to the combined use of the disubstituted C‐Lock linker and the novel payload Duo‐5, resulting in a more stable and potent ADC. Taken together, these data suggest ZV0508 is a worthy candidate for the treatment of 5T4 positive cancers.

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrated the high-speed low-cost mode-division-multiplexed (MDM) discrete multi-tone (DMT) signal transmission based on cylindrical vector beam (CVB) multiplexing over few-mode fiber (FMF) with intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) utilizing electro-absorption modulated laser (EML). Two CVBs (TM01 and TE01 modes) are employed for signal transmission simultaneously with the minimum mode isolation of 16.7 dB between them after transmission over 5 m 4-mode FMF. The digital discrete Fourier transform-spread (DFT-spread) and pre-equalization techniques are implemented in transmitter to improve the system performance. By adopting the proposed schemes, the 240 Gbit/s DFT-spread DMT signal has been transmitted successfully over 5 m FMF below the bit-error-ratio (BER) of $3.8\times 10^{-3}$ which is the hard-decision forward-error-correction (HD-FEC) threshold. The required received optical powers (ROPs) of the two CVBs (TM01 and TE01 modes) are -7.27 dBm and -7.15 dBm, respectively. The experimental results show that CVB-based multiplexing technology combined with advanced modulation format could be a potential candidate for high-speed low-cost server backplane optical interconnection.

On-line condition monitoring and real-time fault detection are essential to protect power transformers from unscheduled outage of services. The core earth signals (CES) are valuable for fault detection and diagnosis of power transformers, as they are related to multiple transformer defects and faults, such as core multi-point earthing fault and core deep saturation. Moreover, the CES also contain valuable information of transient impulses intruded into power transformers such as very fast transient overvoltage (VFTO) impulses. This paper develops a novel power transformer condition monitoring system (NCMS), which makes full use of CES to detect and diagnose the external impulses and internal defects and faults. Firstly, the NCMS carries out the wide-band measurement of CES. Secondly, the NCMS obtains data from supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADAS), dissolved gases analysis (DGA) system, and other monitoring systems, and correlates these data using grey relational analysis (GRA). Finally, the NCMS detects the impulses and diagnoses defects and faults based on the correlation relationships, then presents the monitoring results to the users. This novel system has been applied to the field and successfully diagnosed many defects and faults. It has high accuracy (

As the widespread of mobile devices in recent years, mobile crowdsensing (MCS) has become a powerful mechanism to produce knowledge by collecting the individual contributed sensor data. In this paper, we aim to solve the target tracking problem through mobile crowdsensing. The traditional tracking method tends to rely on photos or videos provided by pre-deployed monitors, which may consume much power resources. Different from the traditional tracking method, the tracking approach through mobile crowdsensing (TAMC) proposed in this paper utilizes the wireless communication of mobile users to collect and contribute the valuable information about the target's whereabouts. Specifically, whenever the mobile users witness the target person, they will take photos of the target person and report the location and time of witnessing the target to the platform. Due to the fact that mobile users communicate with the platform only when they witness the target, the crowdsensing network composed of mobile users can be seen as a green network. In this way, the visited location history and corresponding time sequence of the target are available through the reports of mobile users. Once a new report is uploaded to the platform, the location history is updated. Then, according to the latest report, we apply a tree-based location prediction model named XGBoost, which is a scalable machine learning system, to predict the next place to be visited by the target. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments on a large-scale real-world dataset, namely, the Gowalla check-in dataset. The experimental results show that compared with the baseline methods, the tracking approach can predict the next places accurately.

Fritillaria is a perennial herb with medicinal properties. There are 158 Fritillaria species worldwide, 33 of which have reported therapeutic efficacy. Alkaloids are the principal constituents in Fritillaria. Fritillaria species growing at 2700–4000 m are the sources of extract namely Chuan Beimu (the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China, 2020 Edition), with low biomass, mainly containing more 5α-cevanine isosteroidal alkaloids with cis-configuration. In contrast, species growing below 1500 m are usually taller than 50 cm, and they mainly contain more trans-configuration isosteroidal alkaloids. There are two schemes of the biosynthetic pathways of steroidal alkaloids with different frameworks and catalytic reactions and combined high-throughput omics data. Based on the distributed elevations, Fritillaria species were divided into three major categories, which met classification features based on phylogenetic analysis or morphological features. Artificial or in vitro cultivations are effective strategies for balancing economical requirements and ecological protection. Fritillaria species growing at lower altitudes can be cultivated by bulb reproduction, but species growing at higher altitudes still rely mainly on gathering a large number of wild resources. Integration of asexual tissue culture and bulb reproduction with sexual artificial or imitated wild cultivation may create a very promising and effective way to maintain sustainable industrial development of Fritillaria.

The temperature and pressure of seawater are of great importance to investigate the environmental evolution for the research of ocean science. With this regard, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated a seawater temperature and pressure sensor realized by a polyimide (PI) tube-based Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) together with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). Benefiting from the higher thermo-optical coefficient and larger elasticity of polymer than the fused silica fiber, the sensitivity of the sensor is largely improved. The FBG is used to compensate the cross effect of the temperature. The measured temperature and pressure sensitivities of the sensor are 18.910 nm/°C and −35.605 nm/MPa, respectively. Furthermore, the temperature and pressure information measured by the sensor can be achieved simultaneously using the sensitivity matrix method. In addition, the proposed sensor has advantages of easy fabrication, compact size, as well as capability of multiplexing and long-distance measurement, making it competitive and promising during the marine monitoring.

Thrombin facilitates the aggregation of platelet in hemostatic processes and participates in the regulation of cell signaling. Therefore, the development of thrombin sensors is conducive to comprehending the role of thrombin in the course of a disease. Biosensors based on aptamers screened by SELEX have exhibited superiority for thrombin detection. In this review, we summarized the aptamer-based sensors for thrombin detection which rely on the specific recognitions between thrombin and aptamer. Meanwhile, the unique advantages of different sensors including optical and electrochemical sensors were also highlighted. Especially, these sensors based on electrochemistry have the potential to be miniaturized, and thus have gained comprehensive attention. Furthermore, concerns about aptamer-based sensors for thrombin detection, prospects of the future and promising avenues in this field were also presented.

On-chip mid-infrared (MIR) supercontinuum generation (SCG) covering the molecular functional spectral region (3–12 μm) offers the advantages of robustness, simplicity, and compactness. Yet, the spectral range still cannot be expanded beyond 10 μm. In this study, on-chip ultrabroadband MIR SCG in a high numerical aperture chalcogenide (ChG) waveguide is numerically investigated. The ChG waveguide with a Ge-As-Se-Te core and Ge-Se upper and lower cladding is designed to optimize the nonlinear coefficients and dispersion profile. Assisted by dispersive wave generation in both short- and long-wavelength range, broadband SCG ranging from 2 to 13 µm is achieved. Besides, a fabrication scheme is proposed to realize precise manipulation of dispersion design. Such results demonstrate that such sources are suitable for compact, chip-integrated molecular spectroscopy applications.

Previous studies have established that disturbed lymphocytes are involved in the pathogenesis of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome. Accordingly, glucocorticoids (GCs), with their well-recognized immune-suppressive function, have been widely used for treatment of VKH patients with acute relapses. However, the systemic response of diverse immune cells to GC therapy in VKH is poorly characterized. To address this issue, we analyzed immune cell subpopulations and their phenotype, as well as cytokine profiles in peripheral blood from VKH patients (n=25) and health controls (HCs, n=21) by flow cytometry and luminex technique, respectively. For 16 patients underwent GC therapy (methylprednisolone, MP), the aforementioned measurements as well as the transcriptome data from patients before and after one-week’s GC therapy were also compared to interrogate the systemic immune response to GC therapy. Lymphocyte composition in the blood was different in VKH patients and HCs. VKH patients had significantly higher numbers of T cells with more activated, polarized and differentiated phenotype, more unswitched memory B cells and monocytes, as compared to HCs. MP treatment resulted in decreased frequencies of T cells and NK cells, inhibited NK cell activation and T cell differentiation, and more profoundly, a marked shift in the distribution of monocyte subsets. Collectively, our findings suggest that advanced activation and differentiation, as well as dysregulated numbers of peripheral lymphocytes are the major immunological features of VKH, and GC therapy with MP not only inhibits T cell activation directly, but also affects monocyte subsets, which might combinatorically result in the inhibition of the pathogenic immune response.

Orientation selectivity, as an emergent property of neurons in the visual cortex, is of critical importance in the processing of visual information. Characterizing the orientation selectivity based on neuronal firing activities or local field potentials (LFPs) is a hot topic of current research. In this paper, we used cross-frequency coupling and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) to predict the grating orientations in V1 and V4 of two rhesus monkeys. The experimental data were recorded by utilizing two chronically implanted multi-electrode arrays, which were placed, respectively, in V1 and V4 of two rhesus monkeys performing a selective visual attention task. The phase–amplitude coupling (PAC) and amplitude–amplitude coupling (AAC) were employed to characterize the cross-frequency coupling of LFPs under sinusoidal grating stimuli with different orientations. Then, a LASSO logistic regression model was constructed to predict the grating orientation based on the strength of PAC and AAC. Moreover, the cross-validation method was used to evaluate the performance of the model. It was found that the average accuracy of the prediction based on the combination of PAC and AAC was 73.9%, which was higher than the predicting accuracy with PAC or AAC separately. In conclusion, a LASSO logistic regression model was introduced in this study, which can predict the grating orientations with relatively high accuracy by using PAC and AAC together. Our results suggest that the principle behind the LASSO model is probably an alternative direction to explore the mechanism for generating orientation selectivity.

Aim: To estimate whether implantable collamer lens (V4c ICL) implantation increases the risk of retinal detachment in high myopia comparing with myopes with Rigid Gas-Permeable (RGP) correction.Methods: This prospective study was comprised of an ICL group (704 eyes) and an RGP group (628 eyes). Patients were enrolled according to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria, then divided into the ICL group and RGP group. Patients in the ICL and RGP groups received V4c ICL implantation and RGP fitting respectively. Retinal details, spherical equivalent refraction (SE), uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance vision acutivity (CDVA), axis length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD) and other relevant parameters were recorded at different time points. Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) morbidity and incidence, RRD morphology and relevant parameters were analyzed.Results: All enrolled patients were followed for 3–6 years. Patients characteristics before the refractive procedure did not show a statistical difference. At the end of the follow up, all the RD cases were RRD. The RRD morbidity of the ICL group and RGP group was 1.99% (14 eyes) and 0.96% (6 eyes) respectively, which did not show statistical difference (P = 0.12). During the first year after refractive procedure, the RRD incidence of the ICL group was 0.85% (6/704), while this number of the RGP group was 0.16% (1/628). It did not show statistical difference (P = 0.08).Conclusion: Compared with RGP fitting, V4c ICL implantation for high myopia correction does not add RRD risk in the long term. V4c ICL implantation is a safe method for high myopia correction.

Under axial compression, multi-cell tubes are considered more effective than single-cell tubes. Regular hexagonal multi-cell tubes (HMT) were designed, tested, and analyzed by finite element modeling (FEM). The crushing mechanism of the HMT was revealed by compression testing and FEM. Experiments and FEM revealed that the mean crushing force of the HMT can be increased by 14% by adopting multi-cell topology, which shortens the folding wavelength and enables HMT progressive crushing. Thus, the HMT is more efficient in energy absorption compared with the conventional regular hexagonal thin-walled tube (HST). More triangular cells result in HMTs with much greater mean crushing force and specific energy absorption. Three evaluation methods were proposed and discussed to determine the effective crushing distance. A plastic model established according to classical simplified super-folding elements was shown to consistently predict the mean crushing force of the HMTs.

The extensive use of color dyes in modern society has resulted in serious concerns of water contamination. Many organic dyes bear charges; thus, materials of opposite charges have been tested for sorptive removal. However, the results from several studies also showed that anionic dyes methyl orange (MO) and alizarin red S (ARS) could be removed from water using minerals of negative charges, but the mechanisms were not addressed. In this study, negatively charged clinoptilolite was tested for its removal of anionic dyes MO and ARS from water under different physico-chemical conditions and to investigate the mechanism of Mo and ARS removal. The sorption capacities were 166 and 92 mmol/kg for MO and ARS, respectively, confirming the uptake of anionic dyes on negatively charged framework silicates. The influence of solution pH and ionic strength on MO removal was minimal, indicating the strong affinity of anionic dyes for clinoptilolite in comparison to other inorganic species. It was speculated that the N in the dimethyl group may bear a partial positive charge, which may have a net electrostatic attraction to the negatively charged mineral surfaces for MO sorption. For ARS, sorption may involve hydrogen bonding formation between the dye and the clinoptilolite. Moreover, under the experimental conditions, the MO molecules form dimers in solution via dimeric π-π interactions. Thus, the sorption of the dimers or aggregation of the MO monomers and dimers on clinoptilolite surface was attributed to additional MO removal, as suggested by molecular dynamic simulations. The speculation was supported by FTIR analyses and molecular dynamic simulations. As such, negatively charged Earth materials may be used as sorbents for the removal of certain anionic dyes via sorption, a new perspective for the innovative use of Earth materials.

This Special Issue is a collection of five original articles devoted to both experimental and theoretical studies of phenomena and processes occurring at surfaces of clay minerals and related materials [...]

Rectovesical fistula (RVF) is a multifactorial complication that can be caused by different types of laparoscopic surgery, malignant tumor invasion, and chronic inflammation. However, RVF as a postoperative complication of laparoscopic radical rectal cancer is rare and serious. Here, we describe the case of a patient with RVF secondary to pelvic infection that was induced by anastomotic leakage. The patient was managed with conservative treatment, which included double-cavity cannula irrigation-drainage, indwelling balloon urethral catheter, treating the urinary tract infection, partial parenteral nutrition, and enteral nutrition. The patient was discharged after his symptoms had improved. In this case report, we provide a feasible scheme for patients with RVF that is induced by postoperative anastomotic fistula. Inflammatory, infectious, and thrombotic factors are presumable factors that are involved in RVF pathogenesis. These findings provide new directions for the study of RVF induced by anastomotic leakage after rectal cancer surgery. Conservative treatment may be an option in patients who want to avoid an ostomy.

Purpose. To evaluate visual acuity (VA) and refractive status in patients with cataract and irregular astigmatism with a regular central component after phacoemulsification with implantation of a toric intraocular lens (IOL). Methods. Patients with cataract associated with irregular astigmatism with a regular central component were enrolled. All patients underwent phacoemulsification and toric IOL implantation. Postoperative visual acuity, residual astigmatism, toric IOL rotation, higher-order aberration, and objective and subjective visual quality were measured 3 months after surgery. Results. Twenty-three eyes were included in the study. The logMAR corrected and uncorrected distance visual acuity values were decreased at 3 months postoperatively (p

Background. Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment associated with choroidal detachment (RRDCD) is rare and the prognosis is poor. This retrospective study evaluated the effect of preoperative steroid on the clinical outcome of patients with RRDCD receiving 23-gauge pars plana vitrectomy (PPV). Methods. Sixty-six patients (67 eyes) with diagnosed RRDCD underwent 23-gauge PPV. The patients assigned to receive systemic or subtenon injection of preoperative steroids were considered Group A (35 eyes) and did not receive are considered Control Group B (32 eyes). Most patients in Group A received subtenon injection of glucocorticoids. The cyclodialysis angle was measured with ultrasound biomicroscopy. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were compared. Results. The rates of retinal reattachment in Group A after the first and second operations were 68.8% (24/35 eyes) and 91.43% (32/35 eyes), respectively, which were not significantly different from that of Group B (78.1%, 25/32 eyes; 96.6%, 31/32 eyes). The logMAR (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) visual acuity in Group A (1.63 ± 0.75) was similar to that of Group B (1.34 ± 0.74). Postoperative intraocular pressure and ocular hypertension in Group A (17.94 ± 9.82 mmHg and 37.1%, respectively; 13/35 eyes) were comparable to that of Group B (20.93 ± 10.21 mmHg and 56.3%; 18/32 eyes). Logistic regression analysis showed that postoperative reattachment was negatively associated with preoperative cyclodialysis angle as measured with ultrasound biomicroscopy (P=0.048) but was not significantly associated with preoperative steroid use (P=0.907). Conclusions. Preoperative steroid use does not improve retinal reattachment and visual acuity in patients with RRDCD after 23-gauge PPV. Preoperative measurement of the cyclodialysis angle with ultrasound biomicroscopy may be useful for predicting clinical outcomes.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of cellular aging. Mitophagy is a critical mitochondrial quality control mechanism that removes dysfunctional mitochondria and contributes to cell survival. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) promotes survival of smooth muscle cells (SMCs), but its potential effect on cellular aging is unknown yet. We found that IGF-1 decreased cell senescence, prevented DNA telomere shortening, increased mitochondrial membrane potential, activated cytochrome C oxidase, and reduced mitochondrial DNA damage in long-term cultured (aged) aortic SMC, suggesting an antiaging effect. IGF-1 increased mitophagy in aged cells, and this was associated with decreased expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p16 and p21 and elevated levels of Nrf2 and Sirt3, regulators of mitophagy and mitochondrial biogenesis. SiRNA-induced inhibition of either Nrf2 or Sirt3 blocked IGF-1-induced upregulation of mitophagy, suggesting that the Nrf2/Sirt3 pathway was required for IGF-1’s effect on mitophagy. PINK1 is a master regulator of mitophagy. PINK1 silencing suppressed mitophagy and inhibited IGF-1-induced antiaging effects in aged SMC, consistent with an essential role of mitophagy in IGF-1’s effect on cellular aging. Thus, IGF-1 inhibited cellular aging via Nrf2/Sirt3-dependent activation of mitophagy. Our data suggest that activation of IGF-1 signaling is a novel potential strategy to activate mitophagy and slow cellular aging.

The increased use of color dyes in industry imposes a great threat to the environment. As such, developing cost-effective techniques for dye removal from wastewater attracted great attention. Earth materials, particularly those with large specific surface area (SSA) and high cation exchange capacity (CEC), were evaluated for their potential use for wastewater treatment. In this study, palygorskite, sepiolite, and clinoptilolite were evaluated for their removal of cationic dyes using safranin O (SO+) as a model compound. The CEC values of the materials played a key role in SO+ removal while other physicochemical conditions, such as temperature, equilibrium solution pH, and ionic strength, had less influence on SO+ removal. Sorbed SO+ cations were limited to the external surfaces of the minerals, as their channel sizes are less than the size of SO+ cation. Molecular dynamic simulations showed dense monolayer SO+ uptake on palygorskite due to its relatively large CEC value. In contrast, loosely packed monomer SO+ uptake was adopted on sepiolite for its large SSA and low CEC. Dense multilayers or admicelles of SO+ formed on zeolite surfaces. As such, for the best SO removal, palygorskite is better than sepiolite, though both are fibrous clay minerals.

Acridine orange (AO) is a cationic fluorescent dye commonly used in DNA analyses. Extensive studies were conducted for its metachromasy under different solution concentrations and different amounts of AO sorbed on a solid surface. Meanwhile, for the safe disposal of wastewater, AO removal from water using different materials was also evaluated extensively. Clay minerals, due to their large specific surface area, high cation exchange capacity, and vast reserves, have been evaluated as potential sorbents for the removal of a variety of different types of contaminants, including color dyes. In this study, the sorption of AO on different types of clay minerals was contrasted. The sorption of co-presenting Zn2+ was much less than the sorption of AO, suggesting that clay minerals have higher affinities for AO in comparison to inorganic Zn2+. The desorption of exchangeable cations was linearly related to AO sorption, and the amounts of AO sorbed were close to the CEC values of the minerals, confirming that cation exchange is the dominating mechanism for AO sorption. Molecular dynamics simulation results showed that, under low and high AO loading levels, the sorbed AO formed monolayers and bilayers on the mineral surfaces of non-swelling clay minerals, except halloysite, as well as in the interlayer of swelling clay minerals, due to its relatively large dimer constant in solution. Overall, clay minerals are good candidates for the removal of cationic dyes from solution even in the presence of competing inorganic cations.

A new species, Dicranocentrus hainanicus Ren & Zhang, sp. n., is described from Hainan Province, China. Complete tergal chaetotaxy including microchaetae is illustrated and discussed. It is characterized by having the dental spines arranged in 2–3 rows, two inner teeth on unguis, 5, 2, 2 central macrochaetae on Abd. I–III, two inner S-chaetae on Abd. V displaced anteriorly, and the additional microchaetae associated with the S-chaeta acc.p6 on Th. II–Abd. II. It is most similar to D. chenae Ma, Chen & Soto-Adames but differs from the latter in the number and arrangement of dental spines and the absence of macrochaeta Pa1 on dorsal head. A key to the Chinese species of the genus is provided.

Abstract Background The most dominant global threat to natural forests and their biodiversity is land-cover change, which has negative impacts on both species persistence and ecosystem functions. Land-cover change could alter animal behaviour and disrupt seed dispersal mutualisms. However, its effects on the role of bird functional traits in seed dispersal are not well studied. Methods In the present study, we assessed the contributions of bird functional traits (behavioural traits: food habit, foraging pattern, foraging frequency, and habitat specialisation; morphological traits: weight, body length, wing length, and tail length) to both seed removal patterns and seed dispersal distances of an endangered and native tree species, Chinese yew (Taxus chinensis), in farmland, patchy habitat, and natural habitat, of southeast China. Results We found that the ability of T. chinensis trees to form seed dispersal mutualisms with local birds varied across the different disturbed habitats. As a consequence of these mutualisms, more seeds were removed by birds from the patchy habitat than from the other two habitats. The number of seeds removed increased with bird foraging frequency. Moreover, the dispersal distance from the three habitats differed, and the longest dispersal distances were observed at both the patchy habitat and the farmland site. Seed dispersal distance increased with bird tail and wing length. Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of bird functional traits in the seed dispersal patterns of endangered trees across disturbed forest habitats, which should be considered for tree conservation and management.

Utilizing symmetric compression in time-frequency space, we can eliminate the crosstalk between real and imaginary components, and thus simplify the decoding complexity significantly in a non-orthogonal discrete multi-tone transmission system. The experiments are also demonstrated for an intensity-modulated direct detection system with the decoding complexity decreased to 1/4 for 13.8 Gbit/s QPSK and 1/8 for 27.6 Gbit/s 16-QAM with 1310 nm transmission over 40 km SMF.

With the development of data transactions, data security issues have become increasingly important. For example, the copyright authentication and provenance of data have become the primary requirements for data security defense mechanisms. For this purpose, this paper proposes a data provenance system with retention of reference relations (called RRDP), which can enhance the security of data service in the process of publishing and transmission. The system model for data provenance with retention of reference relations adds virtual primary keys using reference relations between data tables. Traditional provenance algorithms have limitations on data types. This model has no such limitations. Added primary key is auto-incrementing integer number. Multi-level encryption is performed on the data watermarking to ensure the secure distribution of data. The experimental results show that the data provenance system with retention of reference relations has good accuracy and robustness of the provenance about common database attacks.

Abstract Carbon dots (CDs) have a wide range of applications in chemical, physical and biomedical research fields. We are particularly interested in the use of CDs as fluorescence nanomaterials for targeted tumor cell imaging. One of the important aspects of success is to enhance the fluorescence quantum yields (QY) of CDs as well as increase their targetability to tumor cells. However, most of the reported CDs are limited by relative low QY. In the current study, for the first time, one-step synthesis of highly luminescent CDs by using folic acid (FA) as single precursor was obtained in natural water through hydrothermal method. The as-prepared CDs exhibited QY as high as 94.5% in water, which is even higher than most of organic fluorescent dyes. The obtained CDs showed excellent photoluminescent activity, high photostability and favorable biocompatibility. The FA residuals in CDs led to extraordinary targetability to cancer cells and promoted folate receptor-mediated cellular uptake successfully, which holds a great potential in biological and bioimaging studies.

The design and structural frameworks for targeted drug delivery of medicinal compounds and improved cell imaging have been developed with several advantages. However, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are supplemented tremendously for medical uses with efficient efficacy. These MOFs are considered as an absolutely new class of porous materials, extensively used in drug delivery systems, cell imaging, and detecting the analytes, especially for cancer biomarkers, due to their excellent biocompatibility, easy functionalization, high storage capacity, and excellent biodegradability. While Zn-metal centers in MOFs have been found by enhanced efficient detection and improved drug delivery, these Zn-based MOFs have appeared to be safe as elucidated by different cytotoxicity assays for targeted drug delivery. On the other hand, the MOF-based heterogeneous catalyst is durable and can regenerate multiple times without losing activity. Therefore, as functional carriers for drug delivery, cell imaging, and chemosensory, MOFs’ chemical composition and flexible porous structure allowed engineering to improve their medical formulation and functionality. This review summarizes the methodology for fabricating ultrasensitive and selective Zn-MOF-based sensors, as well as their application in early cancer diagnosis and therapy. This review also offers a systematic approach to understanding the development of MOFs as efficient drug carriers and provides new insights on their applications and limitations in utility with possible solutions.

The studies on dye removal from solutions attracted great attention due to the increased use of color dyes in different fields. However, most of the studies were focused on dye removal from a single solution. In reality, wastewater from the fabric industry could contain mixed dyes. As such, evaluating different dye removal from mixed solutions may have more practical importance. In terms of sorbents evaluated for dye removal, most of them were an organic type generated from agricultural wastes. Clay minerals and zeolites were also studied extensively, because of the vast reserves, inexpensive material cost, larger specific surface area (SSA) and high cation exchange capacity (CEC). However, evaluating the factors controlling the dye removal from mixed dye solutions was limited. In this study, the removal of cationic dyes safranin O (SO) and toluidine blue (TB) by clinoptilolite zeolite (ZEO) was evaluated under single and binary systems. The results showed that removal of TB was preferred over SO by approximately a 2:1 ratio. The counterion Cl− sorption from mixed dye solution helped the formation of mixed dye aggregates on mineral surfaces. Molecular dynamic simulation confirmed the multilayer mixed dye formation on ZEO under high loading levels.

Cross-frequency phase–amplitude coupling (PAC) plays an important role in neuronal oscillations network, reflecting the interaction between the phase of low-frequency oscillation (LFO) and amplitude of the high-frequency oscillations (HFO). Thus, we applied four methods based on permutation analysis to measure PAC, including multiscale permutation mutual information (MPMI), permutation conditional mutual information (PCMI), symbolic joint entropy (SJE), and weighted-permutation mutual information (WPMI). To verify the ability of these four algorithms, a performance test including the effects of coupling strength, signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), and data length was evaluated by using simulation data. It was shown that the performance of SJE was similar to that of other approaches when measuring PAC strength, but the computational efficiency of SJE was the highest among all these four methods. Moreover, SJE can also accurately identify the PAC frequency range under the interference of spike noise. All in all, the results demonstrate that SJE is better for evaluating PAC between neural oscillations.

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light provides a new degree of freedom for carrying information. The stable propagation and generation of OAM modes are necessary for the fields of OAM-based optical communications and microscopies. In this review, we focus on discussing the novel fibers that are suitable for stable OAM mode transmission and conversion. The fundamental theory of fiber modes is introduced first. Then, recent progress on a multitude of fiber designs that can stably guide or generate OAM modes is reviewed. Currently, the mode crosstalk is regarded as the main issue that damages OAM mode stability. Therefore, the coupled-mode theory and coupled-power power theory are introduced to analyze OAM modes crosstalk. Finally, the challenges and prospects of the applications of OAM fibers are discussed.

Interactions between cationic dyes and negatively charged mineral surfaces have long attracted great attention from clay mineralogists, environmental scientists, and chemical engineers. In this study, the interactions between a cationic dye toluidine blue (TB) and palygorskite and sepiolite were investigated under different experimental conditions. The results showed that in addition to cation exchange, the specific surface area (SSA) of the minerals, particularly the formation of dimer molecules on the surface of both minerals, also accounted for the much higher TB uptake in comparison to their cation exchange capacities (CEC). The TB molecules were sorbed to the external surfaces, as no d-spacing expansion was observed in X-ray diffraction analyses. FTIR analyses showed strong interactions between the C=N or N-(CH3)2 group and the mineral surfaces, suggesting net electrostatic interactions if either of these functional groups bears a positive charge. Results from molecular dynamic simulations suggested dense monolayer TB formation on palygorskite because of its limited SSA and large CEC values. In comparison, a loosely dimeric formation was revealed on sepiolite for its large SSA and limited CEC values. Therefore, palygorskite is a better carrier for the sorption of cationic dyes, as evidenced by Maya blue paintings.

Diphenhydramine (DPH) is one of the pharmaceuticals commonly found in the effluent stream after wastewater treatment, and the cause of its environmental persistence needs to be addressed urgently. Smectite minerals are common soil components with large surface area, expandable interlayer, and high cation exchange capacity (CEC), thus are capable of adsorbing or intercalating inorganic or organic cations on the surface or in the interlayer. In this study the intercalation of DPH in the interlayer of a Ca-smectite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, infra-red, and thermogravimetric analyses supported by molecular dynamic simulation. At the low (0.2–0.3 CEC) and high (0.6–0.7 CEC) adsorption levels, the intercalated DPH might take a horizontal monolayer or a bilayer configuration, resulting in a d001 expansion to 15 or 17 Å, respectively. As the amount of DPH intercalation increased, a gradual, yet systematic, dehydration due to removal of hydrated inorganic cation Ca2+ from the interlayer was observed. In addition, the intercalated DPH had a slightly higher thermal stability due to the shield effect of the host mineral smectite against heat. The uptake of DPH by the smectite was attributed to both electrostatic interactions between the negatively charged mineral surfaces and the positively charged tertiary amine and cation exchange interactions between DPH+ and hydrated Ca2+. Thus, smectite minerals could serve as a sink to remove dissolved DPH from water on the one hand, and as a carrier to transport intercalated DPH in the environment on the other hand.

Abstract In this report, a novel fluorescent sensing platform using nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) as probes for fluorescence signal transmission has been designed for the detection of significant biomolecules pyrophosphate (PPi) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). The high fluorescent N-CDs could be selectively quenched by Cu2+, and recovered by the addition of PPi because PPi preferentially binds to Cu2+. Once ALP was introduced into the system, ALP can specifically hydrolyze PPi into Pi, the intense fluorescence of N-CDs could be quenched again due to the recombination of the as-released Cu2+ with N-CDs. So, fluorescence of N-CDs is regulated by an ALP-triggered reaction. Based on this strategy, we demonstrated that N-CDs could serve as a very effective fluorescent sensing platform for label-free, sensitive and selective detection of PPi and ALP with low detection limit of 0.16 μM and 0.4 U/L for PPi and ALP, respectively. Moreover, the assay time is just around 0.5 min for PPi and 30 min for ALP. This developed strategy shows remarkable advantages including sensitive, rapid, simple, convenient, and low-cost and so forth. Furthermore, this method was also successfully applied to monitor ALP in human serum, which indicates its great potential for practical applications in biological and clinical diagnosis.

We propose and demonstrate an optical router by selecting data encoded in massive orthogonal orbital angular momentum (OAM) states carried by collinear optical vortex (OV) beams. By switching the OV grating on a digital micromirror device, we achieve information exchange and multicasting in 49 OAM channels with 1.37 Tbit/s aggregated data capacity. The time-domain characterization of the OAM router shows a fast-switching time of 6.9 μs. Both the analytical derivations and experimental demonstrations show that the router has signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) better than 10.1 dB for all tens of OAM channels. The OAM-based optical interconnect technique is a promising solution for networking multiple users with ultrahigh data capacity density in datacenters.

We introduce a high-efficient vector modes (VMs) conversion scheme by using Q-plate (QP) and half-waveplate based on higher-order Poincaré sphere model. Enabled by this simple mode conversion scheme, we demonstrate a 95.16-Gb/s vector-mode-division-multiplexing (VMDM) transmission with direct-detection orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing signal over ~20-cm free space optical link. The mode crosstalk of four typical cylindrical VMs (TE01, TM01, HE21e, and HE21o) are less than -10.3 dB and can be further optimized by high-quality QP. The experimental results indicate that the VMDM technique can be a powerful candidate for large-capacity short-reach optical interconnects.

We propose a new method to generate orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode by superposing multiple LP11 modes with microphase difference distributed along fiber propagation. This way, OAM mode can be generated by superposing a series of LP11 mode with phase difference much less than π/2, which is necessary for schemes using two degenerated LP11 mode superposition but is difficult to generate and hard to keep stable. We demonstrate this principle experimentally by utilizing few-mode fiber long period grating (FMF-LPG), in which a series of LP11 modes with microphase difference distribution can be generated by twisting FMF-LPG. This scheme provides a potential all-fiber, compact, and low-attenuation scheme to generate stable OAM modes.

A novel optical frequency comb generator (OFCG) based on a dual-polarization IQ modulator shared by two polarization-orthogonal recirculating frequency shifting (RFS) loops has been proposed. The states of polarization of two optical subcombs output from the respective loops are kept orthogonal in the proposed scheme. More than 80 carriers, whose carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) can be further improved with better conditions, have been demonstrated experimentally. Meanwhile, the number and frequency spacing of the carriers of both the two optical subcombs can be easily tuned due to the unique feature of flexible controls, which is different from the previous dual-RFS-loop-based OFCG in which the carrier frequency spacing must be kept fixed. Based on the theoretical and experimental results, the proposed scheme has the advantages of good feasibility, tunability, and flexibility, which can find the potential applications in various fields.

Background & Aims: The transcription factor atonal homolog 1 (ATOH1) controls the fate of intestinal progenitors downstream of the Notch signaling pathway. Intestinal progenitors that escape Notch activation express high levels of ATOH1 and commit to a secretory lineage fate, implicating ATOH1 as a gatekeeper for differentiation of intestinal epithelial cells. Although some transcription factors downstream of ATOH1, such as SPDEF, have been identified to specify differentiation and maturation of specific cell types, the bona fide transcriptional targets of ATOH1 still largely are unknown. Here, we aimed to identify ATOH1 targets and to identify transcription factors that are likely to co-regulate gene expression with ATOH1. Methods: We used a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation and messenger RNAâbased high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq and RNA-seq), together with cell sorting and transgenic mice, to identify direct targets of ATOH1, and establish the epistatic relationship between ATOH1 and SPDEF. Results: By using unbiased genome-wide approaches, we identified more than 700 genes as ATOH1 transcriptional targets in adult small intestine and colon. Ontology analysis indicated that ATOH1 directly regulates genes involved in specification and function of secretory cells. De novo motif analysis of ATOH1 targets identified SPDEF as a putative transcriptional co-regulator of ATOH1. Functional epistasis experiments in transgenic mice show that SPDEF amplifies ATOH1-dependent transcription but cannot independently initiate transcription of ATOH1 target genes. Conclusions: This study unveils the direct targets of ATOH1 in the adult intestines and illuminates the transcriptional events that initiate the specification and function of intestinal secretory lineages. Keywords: ATOH1, SPDEF, Transcription, Intestinal Epithelium, Villin-creER, TRE-Spdef, Atoh1GFP, Atoh1Flag

Background Water storage is a significant physiological index of vegetation growth. However, information on water storage at the individual tree level and its relationship to climatic conditions and productivity is scarce. Methods We performed a comparative analysis of water storage using field measurements acquired three age classes of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) and Korean larch (Larix olgensis). The distributions of water storage, water content ratio and dry mass were presented, and regression analyses were used to confirm the relationships of water storage and water content ratio to dry mass components, respectively. Results Our results indicated that water was mostly concentrated in the stem xylem, which aligned well with the distribution of dry mass in both conifer species. However, the water storage of the stem xylem was always higher in Chinese fir than in Korean larch. The average water content ratio of both conifer species decreased with age, but that of Chinese fir was always higher than that of Korean larch. There was a significant difference in the water storage proportion in the components of Chinese fir (P < 0.001) and Korean larch (P < 0.001). The effects of age class on the water storage of Chinese fir (P = 0.72) and Korean larch (P = 0.077) were not significant. Interestingly, significant positive linear correlations were found between fine root water and leaf water and mass in Chinese fir (P < 0.001, R2 ≥ 0.57) and Korean larch (P < 0.001, R2 ≥ 0.74). The slopes showing that the linear relationship between tree size and water content ratio of stem xylem were always steeper than that of other components for the two conifers. Conclusion Our study indicates the similar water related characteristics and their close relations to biomass accumulation and growth in both fast growing species at contrasting climates, illustrating the same coherent strategies of fast growing conifers in water utilization.

Glioma is the most common form of malignant brain cancer with high mortality rate in human. Therefore, finding effective therapeutic strategy and revealing the underlying molecular mechanism is necessary. Ampelopsin (Amp), an effective component of the traditional Chinese herb of Ampelopsis grossedentata, is reported to have important biological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-oxidant activity; however, its effects on human glioma are poorly understood. Here, the in vitro and in vivo study was performed to investigate the anti-glioma ability of Ampelopsin. Human glioma cell lines of U251 and A172 were treated with Ampelopsin (0, 25, 50, and 100 uM) for 24 h, followed by various analysis. And human glioma xenograft models were established by injecting U251, accompanied with administration of Ampelopsin at 50 and 100 mg/kg to confirm the anti-cancer role of Ampelopsin. We found that Ampelopsin could suppress the glioma cell proliferation by modulating G1 and S phase arrest. Incubation with Ampelopsin led to the activity of Caspase-8, Caspase-9, Caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARP), indicating that Ampelopsin induced apoptotic response via both intrinsic and extrinsic signaling pathways. Additionally, autophagy was also observed in Ampelopsin-treated cancer cells, which is evidenced by autophagosome formation and LC3B-II accumulation. Ampelopsin-caused cancer cell death was obviously regained by apoptosis inhibitors. Further, Ampelopsin activated c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) expression and enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Suppressing JNK markedly ameliorated Ampelopsin-induced apoptosis and autophagy, and ROS scavenger exhibited similar results. In vivo, Ampelopsin inhibited tumor growth and progression in mouse xenograft models. In conclusion, our findings indicated that Ampelopsin led to G1 and S phase arrest, triggered apoptosis and autophagy through potentiating ROS generation and JNK activation in human glioma cells. Thus, Ampelopsin might be a promising candidate against human glioma.

Orientation selectivity is a fundamental property of visual cortical neurons and plays a crucial role in pattern perception. Although many studies have dedicated to explain how the orientation selectivity emerged, the mechanism underlying orientation selectivity is still not clear. In this work, we investigated the synchronization between spikes and local field potentials (LFP) in gamma band, with the aim of providing a new avenue to analyze the orientation selectivity. The experimental data were recorded by utilizing two chronically implanted multi-electrode arrays, where each array consisted of 48 electrodes and was placed over V1 and V4, respectively, in two macaques performing a selective visual attention task. An unbiased and robust measure for quantifying the synchronization between spikes and LFP was employed in the analysis process, which is termed as spike-triggered correlation matrix synchronization (SCMS) and performs reliably for limited samples of data. We observed the spike-LFP synchronization in three cases, i.e., spikes and LFP in V1, spikes and LFP in V4, spikes in V4 and LFP in V1. From the orientation tuning curves based on the spike-LFP synchronization, it is found that there is a strong correlation between the synchronization and grating orientation. The neurons in both V1 and V4 exhibit orientation selectivity, but V1 is stronger. In addition, the spike-LFP synchronization strength between V1 and V4 also shows orientation selectivity to drifting gratings. It means that the synchronization not only reflects the basic features of visual stimulation, but also describes the orientation tuning characteristics of neurons in different regions. Our results suggest that the spike-LFP synchronization can be used as an alternative and effective method to study the mechanism for generating orientation selectivity of visual neurons.

Feedback-based wavefront shaping focuses light through scattering media by employing phase optimization algorithms. Genetic algorithms (GAs), inspired by the process of natural selection, are well suited for phase optimization in wavefront shaping problems. In 2012, Conkey et al. first introduced a GA into feedback-based wavefront shaping to find the optimum phase map. Since then, due to its superior performance in noisy environment, the GA has been widely adopted by lots of implementations. However, there have been limited studies discussing and optimizing the detailed procedures of the GA. To fill this blank, in this study, we performed a thorough study on the performance of the GA for focusing light through scattering media. Using numerical tools, we evaluated certain procedures that can be potentially improved and provided guidance on how to choose certain parameters appropriately. This study is beneficial in improving the performance of wavefront shaping systems with GAs.

The decoherence in coherent lidar becomes serious with the increase in distance. A small laser spot can suppress the decoherence of the echo light from noncooperation targets. However, it is very difficult to keep a small light spot over a long distance. In this paper, a pulsed coherent lidar with high sensitivity at the few-photon level was demonstrated. A phase plate was used to modulate the wavefront of the laser to achieve 100 m focusing which reduced the decoherence effect. Based on coherent detection and time-of-flight (TOF) measurements, long-distance laser ranging and imaging on all days was realized. A signal classification and superposition method was used to extract the echo signal submerged in noise. The system was experimentally demonstrated by ranging different noncooperation targets within 105.0 m. The measurement rate was 10 k/s, and the measurement uncertainty was 1.48 cm. In addition, laser imaging was realized at ~50.0 m. The system was simple and portable as well as eye safe, and it may offer new application possibilities in automated vehicle lidar.

It is well known that optical fiber communications support the global communication networks nowadays, which originates from Charles K [...]

In order to save water and reduce the cost of water in public areas, we studied the feasibility of recycling bath wastewater by a membrane bioreactor (MBR) at a college campus scale. The results showed that the treatment of bath wastewater by the MBR could achieve a chemical oxygen demand (COD) 3–N concentration of 3 or 0.25 USD/m3, which is below the price of tap water. The results demonstrated both the economic benefit and the conservation of natural resources.

Excipients play an important role in pharmaceutical formulations. Many clay minerals, because of their large specific surface area and inert behaviour in reactions with active ingredients, are commonly used as excipients. In this study, the uptake of ranitidine (RT), the active ingredient of Zantac, on and released from palygorskite (Pal), kaolinite (Kao), and talc was evaluated under different physicochemical conditions. The results showed that the uptake of RT on these minerals was limited to the external surface areas only. Cation exchange and electrostatic interactions were responsible for the RT uptake on Pal and Kao, resulting in a monolayer sorption. In contrast, multilayer RT uptake was found on the talc surfaces. Under different desorbing conditions, significant amounts of sorbed RT remained on the solid surface after 5 h of desorption. The results suggest that the sorptive interactions between the active ingredients and the excipients may not be neglected in pharmaceutical formulations, should these minerals be used as additives and/or excipients.

Neural oscillations reflect rhythmic fluctuations in the synchronization of neuronal populations and play a significant role in neural processing. To further understand the dynamic interactions between different regions in the brain, it is necessary to estimate the coupling direction between neural oscillations. Here, we developed a novel method, termed weighted symbolic transfer entropy (WSTE), that combines symbolic transfer entropy (STE) and weighted probability distribution to measure the directionality between two neuronal populations. The traditional STE ignores the degree of difference between the amplitude values of a time series. In our proposed WSTE method, this information is picked up by utilizing a weighted probability distribution. The simulation analysis shows that the WSTE method can effectively estimate the coupling direction between two neural oscillations. In comparison with STE, the new method is more sensitive to the coupling strength and is more robust against noise. When applied to epileptic electrocorticography data, a significant coupling direction from the anterior nucleus of thalamus (ANT) to the seizure onset zone (SOZ) was detected during seizures. Considering the superiorities of the WSTE method, it is greatly advantageous to measure the coupling direction between neural oscillations and consequently characterize the information flow between different brain regions.