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The intrinsic carbon defects including pentagons, vacancies and sp3-hybridized carbon have recently been proposed as efficient reactive sites for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Nevertheless, it is still a great challenge to controllably introduce the intrinsic defects into carbon materials. Herein, a universal defect-engineering method via vaporized salt is reported to modify the N-doped carbon surface with abundant sp3-hybridized carbon defects. At an elevated temperature, the vaporized sodium chloride is found to selectively modulate the surface structure of carbon material. The obtained carbon-based electrocatalyst delivers an outstanding electrocatalytic ORR property with a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.85 V vs. RHE and an excellent performance in zinc air battery (ZAB) test. The analysis of components and structures of surface elements via XANES and XPS reveals that the increasing sp3-hybridized carbon defects, induced by the vaporized-salt modification, are responsible for the enhancement of ORR performance. The theoretical calculations further suggest the sp3 component hybridizes with original sp2 carbon, forming efficient sp2/sp3 hybridized carbon sites towards ORR. Additionally, other halide salts are proved to have the similar effect on promoting ORR activity and this method can expand to other carbon-based materials, suggesting its universality and significance in synthesis of defect-rich carbon-based materials.

Quantifying the influences of land use/cover (LULC) change on hydrological processes is important for rational utilization of water resources. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of spatiotemporal LULC change on hydrological components in a typical agricultural area located in the North China Plain at both basin and sub-basin scales. LULC change was quantified, and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool was optimized using parameters associated with LULC conditions. We concluded that the urban and forest areas increased by 25.57 and 10.56%, with the cropland area decreased by 36.76%. About half of the surface runoff (SURQ) in the basin was generated from the urban area, with the SURQ increased significantly in the upstream and downstream of the basin where overlapped with urbanized areas. The proportions of evapotranspiration generated by cropland and forest areas increased slightly (0.89 and 0.55%, respectively), especially in sub-basins where the conversion of cropland to forest was obvious. Urban, forest, and cropland were the main types that generated water yield (WYLD). The proportion of WYLD generated on the urban area increased by 9.55% and decreased in other areas, which may be related to the combined effects of urbanization and forest reduction. Highlights The SWAT model was used under different scenarios for a typical agricultural area, North China Plain.; The influences of land use/cover change on key hydrological components were analyzed at both basin and sub-basin scales.; Urbanization and reforestation will affect changes in hydrological components.

Based on the experiment of damaged RC columns strengthened with GFRP strips and steel fiber mortar, this paper established a model using ABAQUS to perform the finite element simulation analysis and the extended analysis on the factors such as the spacing of GFRP strips, the number of layers and the strength of steel fiber mortar. The results indicate that: The smaller spacing of GFRP strips and the more layers bring the stronger constraint on the core part, the larger peak load on the composite structure and the better ductility; The larger strength of steel fiber mortar brings larger peak load but lower increased range; With the increased strength of steel fiber mortar, its ductility becomes worse, and the brittle failure becomes more obvious. Finally, according to the superposition method, the calculation equation of bearing capacity of damaged RC columns Strengthened with GFRP strip and steel fiber mortar was proposed. The calculated values basically agreed with the test values.

In this paper, a new combined form of Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) column and steel fiber mortar reinforced damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) column is proposed. With the help of ABAQUS finite element software, the finite element model of GFRP tube and steel fiber mortar reinforced damaged RC column is established. Based on the experiment of GFRP tube and steel fiber mortar strengthening damaged RC column, the parameters such as fiber winding angle of GFRP tube, steel fiber mortar strength and section loading mode are studied by numerical simulation. The results show that the axial compression bearing capacity of the composite structure increases with the increase of the angle between the fiber winding angle of GFRP tube and the 45° winding direction. With the change of steel fiber mortar strength, initial damage of RC column and different loading methods, the bearing capacity results have little change. On the basis of numerical simulation research, the calculation equation of the bearing capacity of damaged RC columns strengthened with GFRP tube and steel fiber mortar is modified by superposition method, and the comparison shows that the agreement is good.

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising technique to resolve the carbon emission in energy-intensive ammonia production in industry, which, however, is hampered by the lack of efficient catalysts. Herein, by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, it was demonstrated that the twin boundary (TB) of copper could effectively relieve the N

Non-methane short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), including aerosols, ozone, and their precursors, are important climate forcings and primary air pollutants. Stringent SLCF emissions controls to mitigate air pollution have been implemented by various governments, which will substantially impact the future climate. We investigate the changes in future climate extremes and resulting population exposure risks in Asia during 2031–2050 in response to non-methane SLCF emissions reductions using multi-model ensemble (MME) simulations under two scenarios (SSP3-7.0 and SSP3-7.0-lowNTCF) with different air quality control measures from the Aerosol and Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP), which is endorsed by Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6). The MME results show that future reductions in non-methane SLCF emissions lead to an increase of 0.23 W m-2 in global annual mean effective radiative forcing, thereby magnifying the greenhouse gas (GHG)-induced global surface warming by 0.19 K during 2031–2050. The additional warming caused by the non-methane SLCF reductions increases the regional average temperature on the hottest days (TXx) by 0.3 K, the percentage of warm days (TX90p) by 4.8 %, the number of tropical nights (TR) by 1.7 days, the warm spell duration (WSDI) by 1.0 days, the number of heavy precipitation days (R10) by 1.3 days, the maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation (RX5day) by 0.8 mm, and the total wet-day precipitation (R95p) by 16.4 mm during 2031–2050. For temperature extremes, the largest regional increases of TXx, TX90p, and WSDI occur in northern India (NIN) and northern China (NC). Relatively large increases in TR are predicted in NC and the Sichuan Basin (SCB), reaching 5.1 days and 4.9 days, respectively. For precipitation extremes, the regional changes are greatest in southern China (SC), particularly southwestern China (SWC), where reductions of non-methane SLCF emissions increases R10 by 3.0 days, RX5day by 2.2 mm, and R95p by 39.5 mm. Moreover, the populations exposed to temperature and precipitation extremes increase most sharply in NIN, reaching (32.2 ± 11.4) × 107 person-days and (6.7 ± 7.8) × 106 person-days during 2031–2050, respectively, followed by NC and SCB. Our results highlight the significant impacts of non-methane SLCF reductions on future climate extremes and related exposure risks in Asia, which are comparable to the impact associated with increased GHG forcing in some regions.

BACKGROUND: The breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) lexicon provides a standardized terminology for describing leision characteristics but does not provide defined rules for converting specific imaging features into diagnostic categories. The inter-reader agreement of the BI-RADS is moderate. In this study, we explored the use of a simplified protocol and scoring system for BI-RADS categorization which integrates the morphologic features (MF), kinetic time-intensity curve (TIC), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values with equal weights, with a view to providing a convenient and practical method for breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and improving the inter-reader agreement and diagnostic performance of BI-RADS. METHODS: This cross-sectional, retrospective, single-center study included 879 patients with 898 histopathologically verified lesions who underwent an MRI scan on a 3.0 Tesla GE Discovery 750 MRI scanner between January 1, 2017, and June 30, 2020. The BI-RADS categorization of the studied lesions was assessed according to the sum of the assigned scores (the presence of malignant MF, lower ADC, and suspicious TIC each warranted a score of +1). Total scores of +2 and +3 were classified as category 5, scores of +1 were classified as category 4, and scores of +0 but with other lesions of interest were classified as category 3. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of this categorization were investigated to assess its efficacy and its consistency with pathology. RESULTS: There were 472 malignant, 104 risk, and 322 benign lesions. Our simplified scoring protocol had high diagnostic accuracy, with an area under curve (AUC) value of 0.896. In terms of the borderline effect of pathological risk and category 4 lesions, our results showed that when risk lesions were classified together with malignant ones, the AUC value improved (0.876 vs. 0.844 and 0.909 vs. 0.900). When category 4 and 5 lesions were classified as malignant, the specificity, accuracy, and AUC value decreased (82.3% vs. 93.2%, 89.3% vs. 90.2%, and 0.876 vs. 0.909, respectively). Therefore, to improve the diagnostic accuracy of the protocol for BI-RADS categorization, only category 5 lesions should be considered to be malignant. CONCLUSIONS: Our simplified scoring protocol that integrates MF, TIC, and ADC values with equal weights for BI-RADS categorization could improve both the diagnostic performance of the protocol for BI-RADS categorization in clinical practice and the understanding of the benign-risk-malignant breast diseases.

The reverse projection protocol results in fast phase-contrast imaging thanks to its compatibility with conventional computed-tomography scanning. Many researchers have proposed variants. However, all these reverse projection methods in grating-based phase-contrast imaging are built on the hypothesis of the synchronous phase of reference shifting curves in the whole field of view. The hypothesis imposes uniformity and alignment requirements on the gratings, thus the field of view is generally limited. In this paper, a generalized reverse projection method is presented analytically for the case of non-uniform reference in grating-based phase tomography. The method is demonstrated by theoretical derivation, numerical simulations and synchrotron radiation experiments. The influence of imaging position to sensitivity, and the phase-wrapping phenomenon are also discussed. The proposed method combines the advantages of the high efficiency of the reverse projection method and the universal applicability of the phase-stepping method. The authors believe that the method would be used widely in fast and dose-constrained imaging.

Developing an efficient catalyst for hydrogen (H2) generation from hydrolysis of ammonia borane (AB) to significantly improve the activity for the hydrogen generation from AB is important for its practical application. Herein, we report a novel hybrid nanostructure composed of uniformly dispersed Co@Co2P core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in N-doped carbon nanotube polyhedron (Co@Co2P/N–CNP) through a carbonization-phosphidation strategy derived from ZIF-67. Benefiting from the electronic effect of P doping, high dispersibility and strong interfacial interaction between Co@Co2P and N-CNTs, the Co@Co2P/N–CNP catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance towards the hydrolysis of AB for hydrogen generation, affording a high TOF value of 18.4 mol H2 mol metal−1 min−1 at the first cycle. This work provides a promising lead for the design of efficient heterogeneous catalysts towards convenient H2 generation from hydrogen-rich substrates in the close future.

Ammonia synthesis by the electrochemical technique is a promising solution to replace the energy-intensive Haber–Bosch process in industry, which inevitably requires high-performance catalysts. However, the development of catalysts is still limited by the inferior activation of the stable NN bond. Herein, a robust N2-activation mode is proposed, which addresses the electron donation mechanism to both the N2 antibonding orbitals of py and pz, simultaneously. Following this strategy, the single cluster catalyst (SCC) of Fe4/GaS has realized remarkable nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) performance with an ultra-low overpotential (η) of 0.08 V by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. N2 is completely activated in a side-on adsorption configuration on the hollow site of Fe4/GaS, where both degenerate N2–π* orbitals are properly hybridized to the frontier orbitals of the Fe4 cluster, as proven by fragment orbital analysis. This work proposes an efficient strategy for N2 activation, and also provides a valid design guideline for further research.

Emergence of antibiotic resistance presents a major setback to global health, and shortage of antibiotic pipelines has created an urgent need for development of alternative therapeutic strategies. Bacteriophage (phage) therapy is considered as a potential approach for treatment of the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Phage-antibiotic synergy (PAS) refers to sublethal concentrations of certain antibiotics that enhance release of progeny phages from bacterial cells. A combination of phages and antibiotics is a promising strategy to reduce the dose of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic resistance during treatment. In this review, we highlight the state-of-the-art advancements of PAS studies, including the analysis of bacterial-killing enhancement, bacterial resistance reduction, and anti-biofilm effect, at both in vitro and in vivo levels. A comprehensive review of the genetic and molecular mechanisms of phage antibiotic synergy is provided, and synthetic biology approaches used to engineer phages, and design novel therapies and diagnostic tools are discussed. In addition, the role of engineered phages in reducing pathogenicity of bacteria is explored.

Highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts towards sluggish oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR and OER) are of great significance for cathode catalysis of rechargeable metal–air batteries. Herein, we report a one-pot pyrolysis strategy to construct binary transition metal oxide (TMO) interfaces on a nitrogen doped porous carbon framework (CN) for bifunctional oxygen reaction catalysis. The constructed Fe3O4/Co3O4 interfaces not only help promote the stabilization of Fe2+ ions, but also generate abundant oxygen vacancies on the surface of composite catalysts (Fe3O4/Co3O4-CN), which boost the intrinsic oxygen reaction activity. The Fe3O4/Co3O4-CN catalyst exhibits a bifunctional electrocatalytic performance with a significantly lowered potential difference (ΔE) of 0.68 V between the half-wave potential of the ORR (E1/2) and the potential of the OER at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 (Ej=10), rivaling the best performance of previously reported bifunctional TMO catalysts to the best of our knowledge. The rechargeable Zn–air battery with Fe3O4/Co3O4-CN as the cathode catalyst exhibits superior performance with an energy density of 1045.82 W h kgZn−1 and a peak power density of 105.7 mW cm−2, as well as excellent cycling stability (over 80 h at a current density of 10 mA cm−2), demonstrating our new bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst as a promising candidate for practical energy storage applications.

For reliable downstream molecular analysis, it is crucially important to recover circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from clinical blood samples with high purity and viability. Herein, magnetic nanoparticles coated with an antifouling hydrogel layer based on the polymerization method were developed to realize cell-friendly and efficient CTC capture and recovery. Particularly, the hydrogel layer was fabricated by zwitterionic sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA) and methacrylic acid (MAA) cross-linked with N,N-bis(acryloyl)cystamine (BACy), which could not only resist nonspecific adhesion but also gently recover the captured cells by glutathione (GSH) responsiveness. Moreover, the anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule (anti-EpCAM) antibody was modified onto the surface of the hydrogel to provide high specificity for CTC capture. As a result, 96% of target cells were captured in the mimic clinical blood samples with 5-100 CTCs per mL in 25 min of incubation time. After the GSH treatment, about 96% of the obtained cells were recovered with good viability. Notably, the hydrogel-coated magnetic nanoparticles were also usefully applied to isolate CTCs from the blood samples of cancer patients. The favorable results indicate that the hydrogel-modified magnetic nanoparticles may have a promising opportunity to capture and recover CTCs for subsequent research.

It is of great importance to develop efficient and low-cost oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, S doped NiCoVOx nanosheets grown on Ni-Foam (S-NiCoVOx/NF) with a modified electronic structure have been prepared through a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The as-prepared S4.06-NiCoVOx/NF exhibits outstanding OER activity with low overpotentials of 248 mV and 289 mV to deliver current densities of 10 mA cm−2 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively, and a small Tafel slope of 46.2 mV dec−1 in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte. These values are much lower than those obtained for most of the recently reported non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts under similar experimental conditions. This study provides a simple approach to rational design of efficient and cost-effective OER electrocatalysts for practical application of electrochemical water splitting.

The isolation of specific and sensitive circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is significant for applying them in cancer diagnosis and monitoring. In this work, dual aptamer-modified poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanofiber-based microfluidic devices were fabricated to achieve the highly efficient capture and specific release of epithelial and mesenchymal CTCs of ovarian cancer. Dual aptamer targeting epithelial cell adhesion molecules (EpCAM) and N-cadherin proteins to improve the capture sensitivity, bovine serum albumin (BSA) to guarantee the capture purity and the nanofibers to increase the capture efficiency via synchronously and effectively capturing the epithelial and mesenchymal CTCs with good capture specificity and sensitivity from blood samples were used. We used the target cells including the ovarian cancer A2780 cells (N-cadherin-high, EpCAM-low) and OVCAR-3 cells (EpCAM-high, N-cadherin-low) to test the devices, which exhibited good capture efficiency (91% for A2780 cells, 89% for OVCAR-3 cells), release efficiency (95% for A2780 cells, 88% for OVCAR-3 cells), and sensitivity for rare cells (92% for A2780 cells, 88% for OVCAR-3 cells). Finally, the clinical blood samples of ovarian cancer patients were detected by the PLGA nanofiber-based microfluidic device, and 1 to 13 CTCs were successfully confirmed to be captured with the help of immunofluorescence staining identification. The results exhibited that the dual aptamer-modified PLGA nanofiber-based microfluidic device used as a tool for CTC capture has the potential for clinical application to guide the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of ovarian cancer patients.

Anthropogenic aerosol (AA) forcing has been shown as a critical driver of climate change over Asia since the mid-20th century. Here we show that almost all Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models fail to capture the observed dipole pattern of aerosol optical depth (AOD) trends over Asia during 2006–2014, last decade of CMIP6 historical simulation, due to an opposite trend over eastern China compared with observations. The incorrect AOD trend over China is attributed to problematic AA emissions adopted by CMIP6. There are obvious differences in simulated regional aerosol radiative forcing and temperature responses over Asia when using two different emissions inventories (one adopted by CMIP6; the other from Peking university, a more trustworthy inventory) to driving a global aerosol-climate model separately. We further show that some widely adopted CMIP6 pathways (after 2015) also significantly underestimate the more recent decline in AA emissions over China. These flaws may bring about errors to the CMIP6-based regional climate attribution over Asia for the last two decades and projection for the next few decades, previously anticipated to inform a wide range of impact analysis.

Fluorescence spectroscopy, particle size determination, and potential analysis were exploited to elucidate the effect of Lonicera edulis polysaccharide on polyphenol protein. The results revealed that Lonicera edulis polysaccharides mediated the binding of polyphenols and proteins through competition and formation of ternary complexes and were also able to enhance the stability of the polyphenol-protein complex solution system. A certain electrostatic effect was also present in the process simultaneously. As confirmed by the dyeing test, to improve oral dyeing, the optimum conditions of adding polysaccharide, pectin, and casein were as follows: the dosage of the polysaccharide group was 1.2 mg/mL, coloring time was 100 min, pH value was 4.0. Pectin group added 0.8 mg/mL with coloring time 80 min, pH 5.0. The addition of casein was 1.2 mg/mL; the coloring time was 100 min with pH 5.0. The sample juice substantiated a significant improvement in the dyeing of porcine tongue mucosa. Under the optimal conditions, microscopic observation validates that the mucosal color of the porcine tongue epidermis was closer to that of unstained porcine tongue epidermis, which significantly improved astringency and oral staining.

With the continuation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the impacts of this catastrophe on anthropogenic emissions are no longer limited to its early stage. This study quantitatively estimates effective radiative forcings (ERFs) due to anthropogenic well-mixed greenhouse gases (WMGHGs) and aerosols for the period 2020-2050 under the three latest Covid-19 economic-recovery scenarios using an aerosol-climate model. The results indicate that reductions in both WMGHG and aerosol emissions under the Covid-19 green recoveries lead to increases ranging from 0 to 0.3 W m

Background: Long-term exposures to particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) impairing lung function in children, but the effect of acute exposure has not been clarified. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify the adverse effect of acute PM2.5 exposure on lung function in children. Methods: Studies analyzing PM2.5 level and lung function in children were eligible. Effect estimates were quantified for peak expiratory flow (PEF) by using random effects models, for forced vital capacity (FVC)and forced expiratory volume in 1 s(FEV1) by using fixed effects models. Heterogeneity was investigated with Q-test and I2 statistics. Subgroup analyses were conducted to determine the effects of acute PM2.5 exposure on children of different asthmatic status and different countries.Results: A total of 11 studies with 4314 participants from Brazil, China and Japan were included finally. A 10 μg/m3 increase of PM2.5 was associated with a 1.74L/min (95% CI: -2.68, -0.90) decrease in PEF. Children with severe asthma were more susceptible to PM2.5 exposure (-3.11 L/min per 10 μg/m3 increase, 95 % CI -4.54, -1.67) than healthy children (-1.61 L/min per 10 μg/m3 increase, 95 % CI -2.34, -0.91). The change of PEF in children of Brazil was -0.38 L/min(95 % CI -0.91, 0.15) per 10 μg/m3 increase of PM2.5, which was slighter than that in China (-1.54 L/min, 95 % CI -2.33，-0.75) and Japan (-1.72 L/min, 95 % CI -3.82 , 0.36). Elevated PM2.5 exposure was also associated slight alteration of FVC and FEV1, with no significant difference presented. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that the acute PM2.5 exposure has an adverse impact on children’s lung function, and children with severe asthma were more susceptible when PM2.5 concentration increases. The impact of PM2.5 varies among the three countries. More measures should be taken to protect lung function of children from PM2.5 exposure.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption on January 15, 2022 was one of the most explosive volcanic eruptions of the 21st century and has attracted global attention. Here we show that large numbers of the volcanic aerosols from the eruption broke through the tropopause into the lower stratosphere, forming an ash plume with an overshooting top at 25-30 km altitude. In the four days following the eruption, the ash plume moved rapidly westward for nearly 10,000 km under stable stratospheric conditions characterized by strong tropical easterlies, weak meridional winds and weak vertical motion. The intrusion of the ash plume into the stratosphere resulted in a marked increase in atmospheric aerosol loading across northern Australia, with the aerosol optical depth (AOD) observed by satellites and sun-photometers peaking at 1.5 off the coast of northeastern Australia; these effects lasted for nearly three days. The ash plume was characterized by fine-mode particles clustered at a radius of about 0.26 µm, with an observed peak volume of 0.25 µm

Internet of things (IoT) in smart city consists of a diversity of public utility and vertical industry services with extremely different performance requirements. As a key technology of 5G networks, network slicing (NS) is featured to provide distinct virtual networks and differentiated QoS guarantees in a shared infrastructure. Therefore, it becomes necessary to employ intelligent NS management for IoT in smart city. This work proposes a machine learning (ML) driven automatic NS framework which can intelligently scale slice according to network state. The resource preservation and slicing implementation scheme is given to trade off robustness and resource efficiency. Finally, the present study provides preliminary results via simulation and experimentation to justify the effectiveness and efficiency of the presented design.

Nitrogen fixation in legumes requires the development of specialized organs called root nodules. Here we characterized the high-confidence transcriptome and genome-wide patterns of H3K4me3 marks in soybean roots and mature nodules symbiotic with Sinorhizobium fredii. Changes in H3K4me3 levels were positively associated with the transcription levels of functional genes in the nodules. The up-regulation of H3K4me3 levels was not only present in leghaemoglobin and nodulin-related genes, but also in genes involved in nitrogen and carbon metabolic pathways. In addition, genes regulating the transmembrane transport of metal ions, phosphates, sulphates, peptides, and sugars were differentially modified. On the contrary, a loss of H3K4me3 marks was found in several key transcription factor genes and was correlated with the down-regulation of the defense-related network in nodules, which could contribute to nodule maintenance. All these findings demonstrate massive reprogramming of gene expressions via alterations in H3K4me3 levels in the genes in mature soybean nodules.

ObjectiveTo study the frequency and clinical features of sleep disturbances in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients and compare sleep disorders between ALS with and without mutations.MethodsIn this case–control study, 204 ALS patients and 206 controls were included. We evaluated sleep quality using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) was diagnosed according to Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Other characteristics, including rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, restless legs syndrome (RLS), cognitive and psychological impairments, were also evaluated. All ALS patients underwent whole exome sequencing analysis to screen for ALS mutations and were divided into genetic ALS and non-genetic ALS subgroups based on the genetic testing results.ResultsA total of 114 men and 90 women ALS patients, with a mean onset age of 53.5±9.9 years, were included in this study. There were 21 mutations detected, contributing to 46.6% of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS) and 7.4% of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS). The PQSI and ESS scores were higher in ALS patients than in controls (PSQI 6.0 (3.0,10.0) vs 3.5 (2.0,5.0) (pConclusionsIn the current study, ALS patients with mutations were more likely to have sleep-wake disturbances than were those without mutations. The former group may benefit more from sleep management.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive injury of both upper and lower motor neurons. Recently, protein-truncating and missense mutations of DNAJC7 have been reported in European ALS cohorts. However, the contribution of DNAJC7 mutations in Asian patients with ALS remains unclear. Methods: DNAJC7 mutation screening was performed in a large Chinese cohort comprising 304 sporadic ALS (SALS), 16 familial ALS (FALS), and 6 ALS patients presenting with concomitant frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Results: Two rare missense variants of uncertain significance were identified. One was c.410A > G (p.K137R) detected in 1 SALS, which was absent in 2445 neurologically normal controls. The other variant, c.1106A > C (p.N369T), which is considered benign was found in 5 SALS patients with a detected frequency of 0.65% in control group. No pathogenic mutations of DNAJC7 were found in Chinese ALS cohort. Conclusions: Our results suggest that pathogenic mutations of DNAJC7 are rare in Chinese ALS patients.

This study examines the mechanisms by which the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) changes in response to non–East Asian (NEA) anthropogenic aerosol forcing by distinguishing the fast direct atmospheric response and slow ocean-mediated response to forcing using a global aerosol–climate coupled model. The results show that NEA aerosol forcing significantly exacerbates the weakening of the EASM due to local aerosol forcing. The fast response is dominant in the weakening of the EASM and an anomalous precipitation pattern over eastern China resembling the “southern flood and northern drought” pattern in the total response to NEA aerosol forcing. Changes in upper-tropospheric temperature caused by the fast response play a major role in the impact of NEA aerosol forcing on the EASM. Anomalous cooling occurs during summer in the upper troposphere (at ~40°N) over East Asia caused by the fast response. This is due to the combined effects of strong eastward cold advection in the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes caused by increased aerosol loading in Europe and the resulting change in local meridional heat transport in East Asia. Subsequently, the zonal wind speed changes on either side of the anomalous cooling, and the East Asian subtropical jet shifts equatorward, thereby weakening the EASM. The changes in atmospheric temperature and the local Hadley cell caused by the slow response to NEA aerosol forcing are conducive to strengthening the southwesterly winds over eastern China. Our study suggests the importance of NEA aerosol forcing in driving changes in the EASM on a fast time scale.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an important part of liquid biopsy as they represent a potentially rich source of information for cancer diagnosis, monitoring, prognosis, and treatment guidance. It has been proved that the nanotopography interaction between cells and the surface of CTC detection platforms can significantly improve the capture efficiency of CTCs, whereas many mature nanostructure substrates have been developed based on chemistry materials. In this work, a natural biointerface with unique biological properties is fabricated for efficient isolation and nondestructive release of CTCs from blood samples using the cancer cell membranes. The cell membrane interfaces are proved to have a good antiadhesion property for nonspecific cells because of their own electronegativity. A natural surface nanostructure is provided by the cancer cell membrane to nicely match with the surface nanotopography of CTCs. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a linker and DNA aptamer against the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) as a specific affinity molecule are then introduced onto the cell membrane interfaces to achieve the highly efficient and specific capture of CTCs. Finally, the captured target cells can be intactly released from the substrate using the complementary DNA sequence with controlling the incubation time. This study provides a smart strategy in the development of a natural biological interface for the isolation and release of CTCs with high purity.

PNU-282987, the α7 acetylcholine receptor(α7nAchR) agonist, has been repeatedly reported to play a key role in anti-inflammatory action of multiple disease. However, little is known about its effect on LPS-induced intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction. This study investigated the protective effects and mechanisms of PNU-282987 on intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction in lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced endotoxemic rats. Endotoxemia models were induced by intraperitoneal injection of 10 mg/kg LPS. In the endotoxemic group, results showed increases in ileum mucosal permeability, ultrastructural damage of tight junction and redistribution of zonula occludens-1, apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells and caspase-3 activation. These changes were significantly improved after PNU-282987 administration(P

One of the key challenges with atomic catalysts (single, double, and triple atom catalysts) is the relatively low loading of active materials, resulting in the low mass or volume activity of catalysts, which hinders their rapid development in the field of catalysis. Herein, using density functional theory (DFT), we explore a series of atomic catalysts with heterostructured substrate, graphdiyne and graphene (GDY/Gra), for the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR). The theoretical mass loading of active metal atoms can exceed 35.0 wt% in the triple atom catalyst (TAC), which could be reached through the optimal substrate and suitable precursors in experiments. Among the designed atomic catalysts, Fe3-GDY/Gra with a theoretical mass loading of 35.8 wt% shows outstanding catalytic activity for the electrocatalytic NRR with a potential of −0.26 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Moreover, the proposed TACs show better catalytic activity for the NRR than single atom catalysts (SACs) and double atom catalysts (DACs) due to the unique properties of M3 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) active sites, which provide more electrons for activating N2, but also have a weak adsorption to more easily release products. These findings provide a new strategy for designing atomic catalysts with high loading, high stability, and high activity.

Edge computing can be widely used in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) inspection, field operation control, power consumption information collection and other businesses in the power Internet of Things scene. Edge computing offloads functions such as data processing and applications to network edge nodes near the terminals to provide low-latency services and ensure service quality. However, with the explosive growth of business terminals, the capacity of single edge node is limited and it is difficult to meet all business requirements at the same time. Therefore, this article proposes a task allocation mechanism based on cooperative edge computing. Firstly, a task allocation model based on cooperation of two edge nodes is established to minimize the average task completion delay while meeting business requirements. Secondly, the Two-edge-node Cooperative-task Allocation based on Improved Particle Swarm Optimization (TCA-IPSO) algorithm is proposed, which applies the crossover and mutation strategy in genetic algorithm to improve the particle swarm optimization algorithm, and solves the problem that the task allocation scheme in cooperation is prone to fall into a local optimum. Finally the simulation results show that the proposed TCA-IPSO algorithm reduces the average task completion delay by 53.8% and 36.0% compared to the benchmark and QoS-based Task Distribution (QBTD) algorithm.

As a mode of processing task request, edge computing paradigm can reduce task delay and effectively alleviate network congestion caused by the proliferation of Internet of things(IoT) devices compared with cloud computing. However, in the actual construction of the network, there are various edge autonomous subnets in the adjacent areas, which leads to the possibility of unbalance of server load among autonomous subnets during the peak period of task request. In this paper, a deep reinforcement learning algorithm is proposed to solve the complex computation offloading problem for the heterogeneous Edge Computing Server(ECS) collaborative computing. The problem is solved based on the real-time state of the network and the attributes of the task, which adopts Actor Critic and Policy Gradient's Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient(DDPG) to make optimized decisions of computation offloading. Considering multi-task, the heterogeneity of edge subnet and mobility of edge devices, the proposed algorithm can learn the network environment and generate the computation offloading decision to minimize the task delay.The simulation results show that the proposed DDPG-based algorithm is competitive compared with the Deep Q Network(DQN) algorithm and Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic(A3C) algorithm. Moreover, the optimal solutions are leveraged to analyze the influence of edge network parameters on task delay.

Analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can provide significant clinical information for tumors, which has proven to be helpful for cancer diagnosis, prognosis monitoring, treatment efficacy, and personalized therapy. However, CTCs are an extremely rare cell population, which challenges the isolation of CTCs from patient blood. Over the last few decades, many strategies for CTC detection have been developed based on the physical and biological properties of CTCs. Among them, nanostructured interfaces have been widely applied as CTC detection platforms to overcome the current limitations associated with CTC capture. Furthermore, aptamers have attracted significant attention in the detection of CTCs due to their advantages, including good affinity, low cost, easy modification, excellent stability, and low immunogenicity. In addition, effective and nondestructive release of CTCs can be achieved by aptamer-mediated methods that are used under mild conditions. Herein, we review some progress in the detection and release of CTCs through aptamer-functionalized nanostructured interfaces.

With the rapid development of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is introduced in the edge network to provide flexible and personalized service. However, there still exist some problems to be solved, such as high cost, unbalanced load, and low availability. Therefore, a reliability-and-energy-balanced Service Function Chain (SFC) mapping and migration method is presented for IoT applications. First, aiming at improving network performance and reducing expenditure, an SFC mapping algorithm based on cost optimization, load balancing, and reliability is proposed to map SFC requests onto the network and provide backup. Second, aiming at optimizing resource configuration, an SFC migration method based on energy consumption and quality of service is proposed to integrate network resources. Simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms the compared algorithms by 15.5% and 24.55% in the acceptance ratio of SFC requests and the overall costs, respectively.

As a novel computing technology closer to business ends, edge computing has become an effective solution for delay sensitive business of power Internet of Things (IoT). However, the uneven spatial and temporal distribution of business requests in edge network leads to a significant difference in business busyness between edge nodes. Due to the natural lightweight and portability, container migration has become a critical technology for load balancing, thereby optimizing the resource utilization of edge nodes. To this end, this paper proposes a container migration-based decision-making (CMDM) mechanism in power IoT. First, a load differentiation matrix model between edge nodes is constructed to determine the timing of container migration. Then, a container migration model of load balancing joint migration cost (LBJC) is established to minimize the impact of container migration while balancing the load of edge network. Finally, the migration priority of containers is determined from the perspective of resource correlation and business relevance, and by introducing a pseudo-random ratio rule and combining the local pheromone evaporation with global pheromone update at the same time, a migration algorithm based on modified Ant Colony System (MACS) is designed to utilize the LBJC model and thus guiding the choice of possible migration actions. The simulation results show that compared with genetic algorithm (GA) and Space Aware Best Fit Decreasing (SABFD) algorithm, the comprehensive performance of CMDM in load balancing joint migration cost is improved by 7.3% and 12.5% respectively.

AuPd nanoparticles with ultrafine sizes and good dispersion are successfully anchored on amine-functionalized monochlorotriazinyl β-cyclodextrin, and exhibit remarkable catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution from formic acid, affording an unprecedented initial turnover frequency of 7352 mol H2 per mol catalyst h−1 without any additives.