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The paper proposes the phase triangulation method with an optimization of spatial modulation frequency. The optimal frequency is calculated based on the analysis of the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the measuring optical path according to the data obtained during the formation of structured images encoding the binary Gray code. The proposed approach makes it possible to use the optimal frequency of optical source spatial modulation in the 3D geometry measurements using phase steps triangulation and binary Gray code approaches. As a result, the method provides the minimum level of measurement error, regardless to parameters of the used optical-electronic elements of the measuring system.

Chemical protein synthesis and biorthogonal modification chemistries allow production of unique proteins for a range of biological studies. Bond-forming reactions for site-selective protein labeling are commonly used in these endeavors. Selective bond-cleavage reactions, however, are much less explored and still pose a great challenge. In addition, most of studies with modified proteins prepared by either total synthesis or semisynthesis have been applied mainly for in vitro experiments with very limited extension to live cells. Reported here is an approach for studying uniquely modified proteins containing a traceless cell delivery unit and palladium-based cleavable element for chemical activation, and monitoring the effect of these proteins in live cells. This approach is demonstrated for the synthesis of a caged ubiquitin-aldehyde, which was decaged for the inhibition of deubiquitinases in live cells.

Background Calcific aortic stenosis (AS) is a progressive disease, and once moderate AS is present, the likelihood of symptom onset within 5 years is significant. The aim of this study was to determine the incremental value of global longitudinal strain (GLS) and basal longitudinal strain (BLS) at rest and during exercise on outcomes among asymptomatic patients' with moderate and severe AS. Methods Seventy-five patients with isolated, asymptomatic AS and preserved left ventricular function were retrospectively enrolled and underwent symptom-limited exercise echocardiography. Clinical and echocardiographic data, including GLS and BLS at rest and during exercise, were assessed. Occurrence of AS-related cardiovascular events was recorded. Results The mean age was 71 ± 10 years, and 63% were men. The mean aortic valve gradient was 30 ± 11 mm Hg, and the mean aortic valve area was 0.98 ± 0.21 cm2. Resting GLS and BLS were −16.5 ± 4% and −16.9 ± 3.6%, respectively. Exercise stress test results were positive in 27 patients (36%). Mean exercise GLS was −17.8 ± 3.5%, and mean exercise BLS was −17.9 ± 4%. During mean follow-up of 34.5 ± 3.5 months, cardiovascular events were observed in 45 patients. In multivariate analysis, aortic valve mean gradient (HR, 1.073; 95% CI, 1.032–1.115; P Conclusions Reduced exercise BLS is associated with future cardiovascular events in patients' with asymptomatic AS, independently of clinical factors and conventional echocardiographic parameters. Detection of postexercise myocardial dysfunction in patients with asymptomatic AS with preserved left ventricular function can aid in risk assessment of these patients.

During Science Verification of the new SEPIA660 facility receiver at APEX, we carried out a shallow line survey of the archetypal Kleinmann-Low Nebula in the Orion star forming region (Orion-KL). These observations cover the tuning range towards the band edges, which has recently been extended beyond ALMA Band 9 specifications. At these frequencies, atmospheric transmission is very low but still sufficient to detect bright lines in Orion-KL. We present the collected spectra and compare with surveys from the literature, demonstrating the capabilities of the instrument., Published in The Messenger vol. 176, pp. 20-24, June 2019.

One of the enigmas in the ubiquitin (Ub) field is the requirement for a poly-Ub chain as a proteasomal targeting signal. The canonical chain appears to be longer than the distance between the two Ub-binding proteasomal receptors. Furthermore, genetic manipulation has shown that one receptor subunit is sufficient, which suggests that a single Ub can serve as a degradation signal. To shed light on this mystery, we chemically synthesized tetra-Ub, di-Ub (K48-based), and mono-Ub adducts of HA-α-globin, where the distal or proximal Ub moieties were tagged differentially with either Myc or Flag. When incubated in a crude cell extract, the distal Ub moiety in the tetra-Ub adduct was mostly removed by deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) and reconjugated to other substrates in the extract. In contrast, the proximal moiety was most likely degraded with the substrate. The efficacy of degradation was proportionate to the chain length; while tetra-Ub globin was an efficient substrate, with mono-Ub globin, we observed rapid removal of the Ub moiety with almost no degradation of the free globin. Taken together, these findings suggest that the proximal moieties are necessary for securing the association of the substrate with the proteasome along the proteolytic process, whereas the distal moieties are important in protecting the proximal moieties from premature deubiquitination. Interestingly, when the same experiment was carried out using purified 26S proteasome, mono- and tetra-Ub globin were similarly degraded, highlighting the roles of the entire repertoire of cellular DUBs in regulating the degradation of proteasomal substrates.

The resistive switching in metal-oxide thin films typically occurs via modulation of the oxygen content in nano-sized conductive filaments. For Ta2O5-based resistive switching devices, the two current models consider filaments composed of oxygen vacancies and those containing metallic Ta clusters. The present work tries to resolve this dispute. The filaments in Ta2O5 were formerly shown to exhibit the same electrical transport mechanisms as TaOx thin films with x∼ 1.0. In this paper, sputtered thin films of pure β-Ta and of TaOx with different oxygen concentrations are studied and compared in terms of their structure and electrical transport. The structural analysis reveals the presence of Ta clusters in the TaOx films. Identical electrical transport characteristics were observed in the TaOx films with x∼ 1.0 and in the β-Ta film. Both show the same transport mechanism, a carrier concentration on the order of 1022 cm-3 and a positive magnetoresistance associated with weak antilocalization at T < 30 K. It is concluded that the electrical transport in the TaOx films with x∼ 1.0 is dominated by percolation through Ta clusters. This means that the transport in the filaments is also determined by percolation through Ta clusters, strongly supporting the metallic Ta filament model.

This article describes a technique for measuring the diameter of fuel pellets in the range of 7.5-8.3 mm and its use in the Geometric dimension control unit of the line for automatic control of the geometric dimensions of fuel pellets stacked on pallets. The principle of operation of the unit for controlling the geometric dimensions of pellets is based on measuring the diameter of a pellet from the photograph of the pellet shadow.

A method of multipositional phase triangulation for measure the three-dimensional geometry of convex and extended objects is proposed. The method is universal for the light-scattering properties of the measured object and can be used to measure objects with any geometric structure. The method improves the accuracy of measurements and makes it possible to measure the full three-dimensional geometry of convex and extended objects in an optical manner based on the triangulation principle and structured lighting. phase triangulation, 3D geometry, stitching fragments

The new method for laser nanodiagnosis of oncological diseases based on the hydrodynamic analysis of nanoparticle distribution in human urine using the laser Doppler spectrometry and self-engineered devices has been proposed, tested and patented for the first time. The generalized distributions of nanoparticles in the urine of a healthy and ill people have been constructed. The statistics on the distribution of nanoparticles in the urine of healthy donors and patients with oncological diseases was collected and added with the results of biochemical analyses of blood and urine of 136 donors in a wide age spectrum. The biochemical analyses were found to correlate with spatial and dimensional distributions of nanoparticles in human urine. The reliability of the diagnosis exceeded 89%, which is a very good result for a simple non-invasive screening method. The results have revealed perspectives for the development of the proposed method for diagnosing a wide range of disorders, such as diseases of heart, liver, kidney and circulatory system. These results provide opportunities and perspectives for further commercialization

Advanced functional materials 2102929 (2021). doi:10.1002/adfm.202102929, Published by Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

Powder metallurgy introduces small structures of high-density grain boundaries into Bi2 Te3 -based alloys, which promises to enhance their mechanical and thermoelectric performance. However, due to the strong donor-like effect induced by the increased surface, Te vacancies form in the powder-metallurgy process. Hence, the as-sintered n-type Bi2 Te3 -based alloys show a lower figure of merit (ZT) value than their p-type counterparts and the commercial zone-melted (ZM) ingots. Here, boron is added to one-step-sintered n-type Bi2 Te3 -based alloys to inhibit grain growth and to suppress the donor-like effect, simultaneously improving the mechanical and thermoelectric (TE) performance. Due to the alleviated donor-like effect and the carrier mobility maintained in our n-type Bi2 Te2.7 Se0.3 alloys upon the addition of boron, the maximum and average ZT values within 298-473 K can be enhanced to 1.03 and 0.91, respectively, which are even slightly higher than that of n-type ZM ingots. Moreover, the addition of boron greatly improves the mechanical strength such as Vickers hardness and compressive strength due to the synergetic effects of Hall-Petch grain-boundary strengthening and boron dispersion strengthening. This facile and cost-effective grain boundary engineering by adding boron facilitates the practical application of Bi2 Te3 -based alloys and can also be popularized in other thermoelectric materials.

Aim Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) is an increasingly recognized cause of heart failure (HF) with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), typically presenting as restrictive cardiomyopathy. The potential co-existence of ATTR-CA with systolic heart failure has not been studied. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence of ATTR-CA and its clinical characteristics in HF patients with reduced LVEF. Methods Patients with an unexplained cause of LV systolic dysfunction were screened for ATTR-CA by a 99mTc-PYP planar scintigraphy. Patients in whom presence of ≥ 2 uptake was confirmed by SPECT imaging were included. Their clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic data were collected. Results Out of 75 patients (mean age 65±12 years, LVEF 35.8±7.9%) included in this study, 7 (9.3%) patients (mean age 75±6 years, LVEF 32.0±8.3%) had ATTR-CA. Patients with ATTR-CA were more symptomatic at diagnosis (NYHA FC 3–4 (86% vs 35% (p = 0.03)) and had a more severe clinical course evident by recurrent hospitalizations for HF, and a need for intravenous diuretic treatment (p = 0.04 and p2 vs. 121.0±39.5 g/m2, p = 0.07) and a larger proportions of ATTR-CA patients had IVS thickness >13 mm (57.1% vs 13.1%, p = 0.02) as compared to HF patients with no ATTR-CA. Conclusion In our study, a meaningful percentage of patients with unexplained LV dysfunction had a co-existing ATTR-CA indicating that the clinical heterogeneity of ATTR-CA is much broader than previously thought.

We report a successful fabrication of long-length rolling-assisted biaxially-textured substrate-based coated conductors (CCs) via chemical solution deposition starting from colloidal YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) solutions containing 5 mol-% preformed BaMO3 (M = Hf, Zr) (BMO) nanocrystals. Partial optimization of the existing continuous reel-to-reel YBCO processing via design of experiments approach allowed us to obtain YBCO nanocomposites that retain 80%-90% self-field performance of the pristine CC and show a 10%-40% improvement of in-field critical current, which is only a moderate performance improvement compared to similar films on single-crystal substrates prepared on lab-scale. Based on x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy studies, we attribute this to worsening of the YBCO texture and strong coarsening of BMO nanoparticles, particularly, BaZrO3, during processing. Possible process improvements to overcome these effects are discussed.

Materials 14(16), 4531 (2021). doi:10.3390/ma14164531, Published by MDPI, Basel