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Objective To understand the characteristics and hospital management procedures of mass casualty incidents in Jinshan District and to provide clinical suggestions for standardizing the management of mass casualty incidents. Methods A retrospective analysis of mass casualty incidents handled by the Affiliated Jinshan Hospital of Fudan University from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2021 was conducted, and the characteristics and hospital treatment procedures of mass casualty incidents were analyzed. Results The hospital handled 197 mass casualty incidents in 12 years, with a total of 1 430 injured persons. The primary cause of injury was traffic accidents, accounting for 100 cases (50.9%), followed by chemical injuries, accounting for 25 cases (12.7% ). The most common age distribution of the injured population was between 21 and 50 years old, with 995 people (69.5%); 964 (67.4%) were male and 466 (32.6%) were female; 23 (1.6%) were dead on arrival; 73 (5.1%) were admitted to the ICU, and 106 (7.4%) were hospitalized. The frequency of mass casualty incidents was similar in March to May (spring) with 60 cases (30.5%), June to August (summer) with 52 cases (26.4%), and September to November (autumn) with 54 cases (27.4%), while the frequency decreased in December to next February (winter) with 31 cases (15.7%). The highest frequency of occurrence was from 8:00 to 16:00, with 186 cases (94.4%), followed by 16:00 to 24:00, with 11 cases (5.6%), and no mass casualty incidents occurred from 0:00 to 8:00. After the new treatment procedure was implemented in 2016, the forewarning rate increased significantly (P < 0.05), the forewarning content increased (P < 0.01), and the allocation time of treatment materials was significantly shortened (P < 0.01); the accuracy rate of secondary injury assessment increased (P < 0.01), and the retention time was significantly reduced (P < 0.01). Conclusions In Jinshan District of Shanghai, the primary cause of mass casualty incidents was traffic accidents, followed by chemical injuries. The age group with the most mass casualties was between 20 and 50 years old, with males significantly outnumbering females. The key points of mass casualty incident treatment include forewarning, timely initiation of treatment procedures, zone and hierarchical treatment, secondary damage control, timely diversion, experienced commanders, summary, and drills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalytic depolymerisation of naturally occurring catechyl lignins (C-lignins) with benzodioxane linkages represents a direct and sustainable protocol for producing catechols, but the configuration of this process typically involves operation at high temperature, high H2 pressure, and high solvent-to-biomass ratios. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate that tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (B(C6F5)3) can efficiently catalyse reductive cleavage of vicinal C–O bonds in benzodioxane structures with Et3SiH as a hydrogen donor. This homogeneous catalytic system can be generalized to C-lignin biopolymer derived from castor seed coats at room temperature and ambient pressure in highly concentrated form, thus giving silylated catechol derivatives in 85% yield. The as-depolymerized product is readily purified from the reaction mixture owing to high monomer selectivity. Reactivity screening of various C-lignin mimics, together with DFT calculations, offer an insight into the mechanistic understanding of the current depolymerisation of benzodioxane C-lignin. Overall, our results pave an economic and environmental pathway for producing catechols from biomass waste products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerodynamic shape optimization is frequently complicated and challenging due to the involvement of multiple objectives, large-scale decision variables, and expensive cost function evaluation. This paper presents a bilayer parallel hybrid algorithm framework coupling multi-objective local search and global evolution mechanism to improve the optimization efficiency and convergence accuracy in high-dimensional design space. Specifically, an efficient multi-objective hybrid algorithm (MOHA) and a gradient-based surrogate-assisted multi-objective hybrid algorithm (GS-MOHA) are developed under this framework. In MOHA, a novel multi-objective gradient operator is proposed to accelerate the exploration of the Pareto front, and it introduces new individuals to enhance the diversity of the population. Afterward, MOHA achieves a trade-off between exploitation and exploration by selecting elite individuals in the local search space during the evolutionary process. Furthermore, a surrogate-assisted hybrid algorithm based on the gradient-enhanced Kriging with the partial least squares(GEKPLS) approach is established to improve the engineering applicability of MOHA. The optimization results of benchmark functions demonstrate that MOHA is less constrained by dimensionality and can solve multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs) with up to 1000 decision variables. Compared to existing MOEAs, MOHA demonstrates notable enhancements in optimization efficiency and convergence accuracy, specifically achieving a remarkable 5–10 times increase in efficiency. In addition, the optimization efficiency of GS-MOHA is approximately five times that of MOEA/D-EGO and twice that of K-RVEA in the 30-dimensional test functions. Finally, the multi-objective optimization results of the airfoil shape design validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and their potential for engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tetraphenylethene-based hexacationic molecular cage (1) with an open cavity was synthesized. 1 exhibited 1 : 2 or 1 : 1 host–guest recognition for two nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide molecules (NADH and NAD+) with different CD and fluorescence responses in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aerodynamic optimization of aircraft based on evolutionary algorithms generally requires thousands or even tens of thousands of iterations. Moreover, it faces challenges such as high-dimensional design variables and high computational costs, leading to low efficiency in algorithm search and poor optimization results. In order to enhance the efficiency of aerodynamic optimization, a data-driven collaborative optimization and multi-fidelity hierarchical modeling method is proposed. Firstly, a Clustering-Enhanced Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (CETLBO) algorithm is introduced to improve its exploration and exploitation capabilities. By employing a collaborative optimization strategy, a divide-and-conquer paradigm is utilized to efficiently solve high-dimensional, nonlinear, and complex engineering optimization problems. Secondly, a two-stage hierarchical aerodynamic optimization framework is designed to reduce computational costs by integrating data from different fidelity levels. Stage 1 adopts a data-driven approximate optimization method to provide prior knowledge for the high-fidelity optimization of stage 2. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the optimization design of supersonic wing shapes. Compared to traditional optimization design systems, it demonstrates high efficiency in high-dimensional aerodynamic optimization problems, yielding better optimization results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indium phosphide (InP) based quantum dots (QDs) have been known as an ideal alternative to heavy metals including QDs light emitters, such as cadmium selenium (CdSe) QDs, and show great promise in the next‐generation solid‐state lighting and displays. However, the electroluminescence performance of green InP QDs is still inferior to their red counterparts, due to the higher density of surface defects and the wider particle size distribution. Here, a quasi‐shell‐growth strategy for the growth of highly luminescent green InP/ZnSe/ZnS QDs is reported, in which the zinc and selenium monomers are added at the initial nucleation of InP stage to adsorb on the surface of InP cores that create a quasi‐ZnSe shell rather than a bulk ZnSe shell. The quasi‐ZnSe shell reduces the surface defects of InP core by passivating In‐terminated vacancies, and suppresses the Ostwald ripening of InP core at high temperatures, leading to a photoluminescence quantum yield of 91% with a narrow emission linewidth of 36 nm for the synthesized InP/ZnSe/ZnS QDs. Consequently, the light‐emitting diodes based on the green QDs realize a maximum luminance of 15606 cd m−2, a peak external quantum efficiency of 10.6%, and a long half lifetime of > 5000 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) still lacks effective treatment because of its extensive mutation diversity and frequent drug resistance. Therefore, it is urgent to develop new therapeutic strategies for NSCLC. In this study, we evaluated the inhibitory effect of a new coumarin-furoxan hybrid compound 9 , a nitric oxide (NO) donor drug, on NSCLC proliferation and its mechanism. Our results show that compound 9 can inhibit the growth of four NSCLC cell lines and H1975 xenograft model in a dose-dependent manner. Compound 9 effectively releases high concentrations of NO within the mitochondria, leading to cellular oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and apoptosis. Moreover, compound 9 inhibits JAK2/STAT3 protein phosphorylation and induces S-nitrosylation modification of STAT3, ultimately resulting in endogenous apoptosis in NSCLC. Additionally, compound 9 significantly induces NSCLC ferroptosis by depleting intracellular GSH, elevating MDA levels, inhibiting SLC7A11/GSH protein expression, and negatively regulating the JAK2/STAT3 pathway. In summary, this study elucidates the inhibitory effects of compound 9 on NSCLC proliferation and provides insights into the underlying mechanisms, offering new possibilities for NSCLC treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aerodynamic design of supersonic aircraft necessitates the comprehensive consideration of multiple conflicting design objectives and multi-disciplinary characteristics. However, the efficiency of heuristic algorithms in solving multi-objective aerodynamic problems significantly decreases with the increase in the number of design variables and objectives. Although gradient-based adjoint optimization methods can eliminate the constraints of design variables on aerodynamic optimization and have high optimization efficiency, they are prone to getting stuck in local optima and are difficult to apply in multi-objective optimization. To overcome these shortcomings, a manifold-guided multi-objective gradient-based algorithm (MG-MOGBA) is proposed. This algorithm enhances the optimization efficiency of the algorithm by coupling the multi-objective gradient operator with the predicted Pareto front (PF) manifold structure to guide the population search direction and reduce the search space. A multi-objective aerodynamic optimization framework based on the discrete adjoint method is developed to automate the aerodynamic optimization process. Test functions and airfoil optimization results confirm that the proposed algorithm achieves superior results with fewer iterations and is more efficient than heuristic algorithms. The four-objective supersonic civil aircraft example demonstrates that the algorithm can effectively handle high-dimensional multi-objective aerodynamic optimization problems. A potential equilibrium solution increased the cruise factor by 17.5% and 12.8% under supersonic and transonic conditions respectively, reduced the maximum overpressure of the sonic boom by 25.1%, and decreased the root bending moment by 20.3%. Overall, MG-MOGBA can efficiently solve high-dimensional multi-objective aerodynamic optimization problems and has good scalability for the dimensions of design objectives and variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. We retrospectively analyzed the surgical results of pulmonary blood flow studies to guide ventricular septal defect (VSD) closure in the correction of pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect with major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (PA/VSD/MAPCAs). Methods. A total of 57 children who were diagnosed with PA/VSD/MAPCAs and who underwent intraoperative pulmonary blood flow studies at our hospital between August 2016 and June 2019 were included. Surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass records were collected. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to verify the accuracy of pulmonary blood flow studies to predict VSD closure. Results. Complete VSD closure was achieved in 39 of 57 children (68.42%), with a median age of 2 years and 5 months (range: 7 months to 15 years and 9 months) and a median weight of 11.0 kg (5.7–36.5 kg). Partial VSD repair was recorded for 21 children (36.84%), including 4 children (19.05%) who underwent VSD closure in the later stages and 13 children (61.90%) who were under follow-up and waiting to undergo complete VSD closure. There was only one child (1.75%) with VSD left. After eliminating the data of four unqualified cases, the ROC curve for predicting VSD closure based on 53 pulmonary blood flow studies was obtained at a p value of <0.001, with an area under the curve of 0.922. The maximum Youden's index was 0.713, which corresponded to an optimal mean pulmonary artery pressure cutoff value of 24.5 mmHg. Conclusion. The functional evaluation provided by pulmonary blood flow studies is highly accurate to predict intraoperative VSD repair. We recommend using pulmonary blood flow studies with a mean pulmonary artery pressure of ≤25 mmHg during blood perfusion at 3.0 L/min/m2 as the standard to repair VSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine whether there are common or specific deficits of reading disability (RD) in first (L1) and second languages (L2), Chinese children (9–11 years, N = 76) with or without RD who learn English as an L2 were studied during a visual word rhyming judgment task. Evidence was found for common deficits in L1 and L2 in visuo‐orthographic processes in left inferior temporal gyrus and left precuneus, as well as in phonological processes in left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus as children with RD showed less activation than controls in both languages. Furthermore, the visuo‐orthographic deficit appears to be a RD effect, whereas the phonological deficit appears to be a reading/performance effect. Some weak evidence for language specific effects was also found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the inherent benefits, such as, better cell coverage and higher area throughput, extra-large scale massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) has great potential to be one of the key technologies for the next generation wireless communication systems. However, in practice, when the antenna dimensions grow large, spatial non-stationarities occur and users will only see a portion of the base station antenna array, which we call visibility region (VR). To assess the impact of spatial non-stationarities, in this paper, we investigate the uplink transmission of extra-large scale massive MIMO systems by considering VRs. In particular, we first propose a subarray-based system architecture for extra-large scale massive MIMO systems. Then, tight closed-form uplink spectral efficiency (SE) approximations with linear receivers are derived. With the objective of maximizing the achievable SE, we also propose schemes for the subarray phase coefficient design. In addition, based on the obtained ergodic achievable SE approximations, two statistical channel state information (CSI)-based greedy user scheduling algorithms are developed. Our results indicate that the statistical CSI-based greedy joint user and subarray scheduling algorithm collaborating with the on-off switch-based subarray architecture is a promising practical solution for extra-large scale massive MIMO systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To estimate the age-standardized incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates of autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS), type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), asthma, and psoriasis in women of childbearing age from 1990 to 2019, and to further analyze their changing trends, at global, regional, and national levels. Women of childbearing age was defined as 15–49 years old. The estimates and 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) for case number of RA, IBD, MS, T1DM, asthma and psoriasis in seven age groups (15–19, 20–24, 25–29, 30–34, 35–39, 40–44, 45–49 years) were extracted from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. Age standardization by direct method was adopted to estimate the age-standardized incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates of these autoimmune diseases in women of childbearing age. Joinpoint regression analysis was utilized to analyze the changing trends of estimated age-standardized incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates from 1990 to 2019 by calculating the average annual percentage change (AAPC) and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs). In 2019, the estimated global age-standardized incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates of RA in women of childbearing age was 17.13 (95% UI: 12.39 to 22.60), 215.86 (95% UI: 179.04 to 259.70), and 0.06 (95% UI: 0.04 to 0.08); of IBD was 5.85 (95% UI: 4.72 to 7.12), 63.54 (95% UI: 53.50 to 74.37), and 0.11 (95% UI: 0.08 to 0.13); of MS was 1.63 (95% UI: 1.05 to 2.28), 28.74 (95% UI: 23.80 to 34.46), and 0.17 (95% UI: 0.14 to 0.27); of T1DM was 6.22 (95% UI: 2.75 to 11.50), 290.51 (95% UI: 221.39 to 370.19), and 0.63 (95% UI: 0.48 to 0.78); of asthma was 291.14 (95% UI: 157.06 to 468.78), 2796.25 (95%UI: 1987.07 to 3842.97), and 1.42 (95% UI: 1.12 to 1.75), respectively. The estimated global age-standardized incidence and prevalence rates of psoriasis in women of childbearing age was 58.68 (95% UI: 51.04 to 66.85) and 477.20 (95% UI: 440.30 to 515.76). Highest disease burden generally exists in Region of the Americas and European Region. From 1990 to 2019, the estimated global age-standardized incidence and prevalence rates of RA (AAPC: 0.18, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.24; AAPC: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.18 to 0.30) and T1DM (AAPC: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.40 to 1.54; AAPC: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.79 to 0.88) in women of childbearing age showed significantly increasing trends whereas those of IBD (AAPC: -0.76, 95% CI: −0.80 to −0.73; AAPC: -0.65, 95% CI: −0.70 to −0.60), MS (AAPC: -0.20, 95% CI: −0.23 to −0.16; AAPC: -0.25, 95% CI: −0.26 to −0.23), asthma (AAPC: -0.53, 95% CI: −0.60 to −0.47; AAPC: -0.74, 95% CI: −0.81 to −0.68), and psoriasis (AAPC: -0.83, 95% CI: −0.85 to −0.82; AAPC: -0.99, 95% CI: −1.02 to −0.96) showed significantly decreasing trends. Favorably, the estimated global age-standardized mortality rate of RA (AAPC: -1.32, 95% CI: −1.63 to −1.01), IBD (AAPC: -0.95, 95% CI: −1.06 to −0.84), MS (AAPC: -0.96, 95% CI: −1.12 to −0.80), T1DM (AAPC: -1.05, 95% CI: −1.21 to −0.89), and asthma (AAPC: -2.27, 95% CI: −2.34 to −2.19) in women of childbearing age all declined. The changing trends of estimated age-standardized incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates varied significantly across 204 countries and territories. Our study provides an accurate estimation on the age-standardization of disease indicators of autoimmune diseases in women of childbearing age. There are remarkable disparities in the incidence, prevalence, and mortality burden related to autoimmune diseases in women of childbearing age, as well as their changing trends across the world, suggesting that each individual government should establish flexible health policies and make reasonable source allocation to address different needs for autoimmune diseases in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carrier imbalance resulting from stronger electron injection from ZnO into quantum‐dot (QD) emissive layer than hole injection is one critical issue that constrains the performance of QDs‐based light‐emitting diodes (QLEDs). This study reports highly efficient inverted QLEDs enabled by periodic insertion of MoO3 into (4,4′‐bis(N‐carbazolyl)‐1,1′‐biphenyl) (CBP) hole transport layer (HTL). The periodic ultrathin MoO3/CBP‐stacked HTL results in improved lateral current spreading for the QLEDs, which significantly relieves the crowding of holes and thus enhances hole transport capability across the CBP in QLEDs. Comprehensive analysis on the photoelectric properties of devices shows that the optimal thickness for MoO3 interlayer inserted in CBP is only ≈1 nm. The resulting devices with periodic two insertion layers of MoO3 into CBP exhibit better performance compared with the CBP‐only ones, such that the peak current efficiency is 88.7 cd A−1 corresponding to the external quantum efficiency of 20.6%. Furthermore, the resulting QLEDs show an operational lifetime almost 2.5 times longer compared to CBP‐only devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a type of transcriptional factor, is widely expressed in immune cells. The activation of AhR signaling pathway depends on its ligands, which exist in environment and can also be produced by metabolism. Normal expressions of AhR and AhR-mediated signaling may be essential for immune responses, and effects of AhR signaling on the development and function of innate and adaptive immune cells have also been revealed in previous studies. Recent studies also indicate that aberrant AhR signaling may be related to autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), multiple sclerosis (MS), autoimmune uveitis (AU), autoimmune diabetes, Behcet's disease (BD) and myasthenia gravis (MG). Moreover, administration of AhR ligands or drugs has been proven effective for improving pathological outcomes in some autoimmune diseases or models. In this review, we summarize the effects of AhR on several innate and adaptive immune cells associated with autoimmunity, and the mechanism on how AhR participates in autoimmune diseases. In addition, we also discuss therapeutic potential and application prospect of AhR in autoimmune diseases, so as to provide valuable information for exploring novel and effective approaches to autoimmune disease treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ transmission electron microscopy has achieved remarkable advances for atomic-scale dynamic analysis in low-dimensional materials and become an indispensable tool in view of linking a material's microstructure to its properties and performance. Here, accompanied with some cutting-edge researches worldwide, we briefly review our recent progress in dynamic atomistic characterization of low-dimensional materials under external mechanical stress, thermal excitations and electrical field. The electron beam irradiation effects in metals and metal oxides are also discussed. We conclude by discussing the likely future developments in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L2 processing is shaped by L1 experience; however, it is not completely understood whether L1 reading experience also influences how the brain learns L2 under different learning conditions. In this study, we compare brain mechanisms of Spanish word learning in Chinese and English speakers using two learning conditions: speech-based learning and handwriting-based learning. The behavioral data suggest an advantage for learning that uses handwriting over speech-based learning across all participants. Furthermore, brain imaging data reveal that English speakers show greater functional connectivity among phonological regions in the handwriting condition than the speech-based condition during a silent phonological recall task. This suggests that, for English speakers specifically, handwriting further enhanced the phonological network. Interestingly, Chinese speakers showed an opposite pattern, with greater functional connectivity among phonological regions in the speech-based condition than the handwriting condition. Moreover, it was found that Chinese speakers with higher reading skills in their native L1 tended to engage the right fusiform to a greater degree by connecting to phonological regions in the handwriting condition. Thus, the handwriting-based learning engaged visuo-orthographic regions to a greater degree in highly skilled Chinese speakers. In summary, the current findings suggest that handwriting facilitates lexical learning by enhancing orthographic involvement in Chinese speakers, while the handwriting condition enhanced phonological involvement in English speakers. This difference between Chinese and English speakers might be due to different L1 learning experience. • Handwriting facilitates written word learning. • English L1 speakers involved phonological regions in handwriting learning. • Highly skilled Chinese L1 speakers recruited right fusiform gyrus in handwriting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P2X7 receptor (P2X7R), a distinct ligand-gated ion channel, is a member of purinergic type 2 receptor family with ubiquitous expression in human body. Previous studies have revealed a pivotal role of P2X7R in innate and adaptive immunity. Once activated, it will meditate some vital cascaded responses including the assembly of nucleotide-binding domain (NOD) like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, non-classical secretion of IL-1β, modulation of cytokine-independent pathways in inflammation such as P2X7R- transglutaminase-2 (TG2) and P2X7R-cathepsin pathway, activation and regulation of T cells, etc. In fact, above responses have been identified to be involved in the development of autoimmunity, specifically, the NLRP3 inflammasome could promote inflammation in massive autoimmune diseases and TG2, as well as cathepsin may contribute to joint destruction and degeneration in inflammatory arthritis. Recently, numerous evidences further suggested the significance of P2X7R in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS), etc. In this review, we will succinctly discuss the biological characteristics and summarize the recent progress of the involvement of P2X7R in the development and pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, as well as its clinical implications and therapeutic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autoimmune eye diseases (AEDs), a collection of autoimmune inflammatory ocular conditions resulting from the dysregulation of immune system at the ocular level, can target both intraocular and periorbital structures leading to severe visual deficit and blindness globally. The roles of air pollution and meteorological factors in the initiation and progression of AEDs have been increasingly attractive, among which the systemic and local mechanisms are both involved in. Exposure to excessive air pollution and extreme meteorological conditions including PM 2.5 /PM 0.1 , environmental tobacco smoke, insufficient sunshine, and high temperature, etc., can disturb Th17/Treg balance, regulate macrophage polarization, activate neutrophils, induce systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, decrease retinal blood flow, promote tissue fibrosis, activate sympathetic nervous system, adversely affect nutrients synthetization, as well as induce heat stress, therefore may together deteriorate AEDs. The crosstalk among inflammation, oxidative stress and dysregulated immune system appeared to be prominent. In the present review, we will concern and summarize the potential mechanisms underlying linkages of air pollution and meteorological factors to ocular autoimmune and inflammatory responses. Moreover, we concentrate on the specific roles of air pollutants and meteorological factors in several major AEDs including uveitis, Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO), ocular allergic disease (OAD), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To describe current situation and analyze temporal trends of prevalence for four autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and psoriasis, at the global, continental, and national levels. The estimates and 95% uncertainty interval (UI) for age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR) of RA, IBD, MS and psoriasis were obtained from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. ASPR of RA, IBD, MS and psoriasis in 2019 was illustrated at the global, continental, and national levels. Joinpoint regression analysis was adopted to analyze the 1990–2019 temporal trends by calculating the annual percentage change (APC) and average APC (AAPC), as well as their 95% confidence interval (CI). In 2019, the global ASPR of RA, IBD, MS and psoriasis was 224.25 (95% UI: 204.94 to 245.99), 59.25 (95% UI: 52.78 to 66.47), 21.25 (95% UI: 18.52 to 23.91) and 503.62 (95% UI: 486.92 to 519.22), respectively, with ASPRs generally higher in Europe and America than in Africa and Asia. From 1990 to 2019, the global ASPR increased significantly for RA (AAPC = 0.27%, 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.30; P < 0.001) and decreased significantly for IBD (AAPC = −0.73%, 95% CI: −0.76 to −0.70; P < 0.001), MS (AAPC = −0.22%, 95% CI: −0.25 to −0.18; P < 0.001) and psoriasis (AAPC = −0.93%, 95% CI: −0.95 to −0.91; P < 0.001), with the most substantial changes occurring at different continents and periods. The trends of ASPR of these four autoimmune diseases varied significantly across 204 countries and territories. There is a strong heterogeneity in prevalence (2019), as well as their temporal trends (1990–2019) of autoimmune diseases across the world, highlighting the strong distributive inequities of autoimmune diseases worldwide, which may be instructive for better understanding the epidemiology of these diseases, appropriately allocating the medical resources, as well as making relevant health policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic inflammation is a major risk factor for cancer. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, ultimately leading to a breakdown of intestinal barrier function. Clematis florida var. plena is a folk prescription used to treat inflammation and rheumatism in She pharmacy. The bioactivity of C. florida var. plena is primarily due to triterpene saponins. Huzhangoside C (HZ) is an active component of C. florida var. plena. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of HZ on a mouse colitis model induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) was investigated. Result indicated a notable reduction in body weight loss and colon length shortening in HZ-mediated mice compared to DSS-stimulated control mice. Furthermore, inflammatory signaling mechanisms involving interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α were suppressed in HZ-treated mice. HZ treatment significantly suppressed the expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), STAT3, and iNOS in colon tissue. After HZ treatment, malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels were significantly decreased, while Nrf-2, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione expression levels were notably improved. The result indicated that HZ could activate the Nrf-2 signal cascade, inhibit the expression of NF-κB, eNOS, and STAT3, and enhance the intestinal barrier function of DSS stimulated ulcerative colitis intestinal injury. The results suggest that HZ is potential anti-inflammatory agent for treating IBD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract The proposed technology allows topographical imaging with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and extraction of DNA via tip-enhanced laser ablation using the same tip. Plasmid DNA is imaged with a gold coated tip and extracted using a pulsed laser with a sampling size of 1 µm. The captured DNA can be amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and nested PCR. Highlights • AFM imaging and tip-enhanced laser ablation of DNA. • ∼1 µm sampling size with 532 nm laser irradiation. • Captured DNA amplified by PCR. • 20 ag of DNA ablated and captured from each spot. Abstract Tip-enhanced laser ablation was used to extract DNA plasmid for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. A 532 nm nanosecond laser was directed onto a gold coated atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip 10 nm above a sample surface to ablate a 7.1 kbp green fluorescent protein (GFP) plasmid DNA sample on a glass coverslip. The ablated material was captured on a metal ribbon 300 µm above the sample surface. The ablation craters had diameters from 1 to 2 µm and an average volume of 0.14 µm3. PCR and nested PCR were employed for the amplification of the ablated DNA. The quantity of sample from each ablation crater for PCR amplification was 20 ag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is great significance to develop an effective eye-readable gas detection technology that would be safe, low-cost, and highly sensitive, serving as a vital complement to traditional H 2 sensors. In this work, a class of flexible MoO 3 nanowire labels (NWLs) modified with Pd nanoparticles have been successfully developed and studied as eye-readable hydrogen indicators at room-temperature. The nanowire labels turn from white to blue-gray even at a very low concentration (0.1%), where the eye-readable color change takes place in 65 s, and the color changes gradually from white to blue-gray. The reaction of MoO 3 nanowire label with hydrogen is of high sensitivity, fast response and time-resolved. The process can be divided into two stages, i.e., fast and slow responses, which are dominated by H 2 concentration and intrinsic properties of Pd MoO 3 , respectively. The color response is also reversible by annealing under air ambient at 200 °C for 2 h, and selective to hydrogen compared with other flammable gases (i.e., CO, CH 3 CH 2 OH, CH 3 OH). The gasochromic NWLs involve Pd-catalyzed reduction of MoO 3 in the presence of hydrogen. They also exhibit the superior advantage of being flexible, which have promises applications in efficient eye-readable hydrogen detection. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • A class of flexible Pd MoO 3 NWLs were developed. • Pd MoO 3 NWLs exhibits eye-readable H 2 indicators at room-temperature. • Oxygen vacancies acted as the coloring centers and responsible for the eye-readable color change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • 1DMA2P was firstly employed as a novel amine- based absorbent for CO 2 absorption in the hollow fiber membrane contactor. • A semi-empirical correlation was proposed for direct prediciton of CO 2 absorption flux. • The correlation shows a good agreement with experimental data with an AARD of 6.2%. Abstract 1-Dimethylamino-2-propanol (1DMA2P), a tertiary amine, has been regarded as the promising absorbent with relative higher reaction rate and high capacity for CO 2 capture. The CO 2 absorption into aqueous 1-Dimethylamino-2-propanol (1DMA2P) solution in the polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE) hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) was firstly studied experimentally in the present work. The CO 2 absorption performance in terms of the CO 2 absorption flux was comprehensively investigated by considering a series of operating parameters, including liquid velocity, gas velocity, liquid phase temperature, CO 2 partial pressure, initial lean CO 2 loading in the liquid phase, amine concentration and flow orientations. The experimental results indicated increasing liquid velocity can significantly enhance CO 2 absorption performance over a reasonable range of liquid velocities while similar trends were observed by increasing gas velocity, liquid temperature, CO 2 partial pressure and amine concentration properly. By contrast, there was a severe loss of CO 2 absorption flux with increase in lean CO 2 loading. Counter-current flow achieved the improvement of CO 2 absorption performance compared to co-current flow. Besides, to predict the CO 2 absorption performance at various operating parameters, satisfactory correlations of K G and J CO₂ were proposed for the 1DMA2P-CO 2 system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum dot light emitting devices (QLED) were recently investigated as the next generation of displays. Based on the type of transport materials used, the QLEDs are classified as organic, hybrid and inorganic devices. Even though the all-inorganic devices are more stable compared with OLED, the QLED's life still affected by air environment. In this paper, the low-point sealing glass frit as an encapsulation material for all inorganic quantum dot light emitting devices were fabricated by us. It was found that the laser bonding encapsulation had a better barrier performance than UV encapsulation. A lower water vapor transmission rate improved effectively from 5.31 × 10−2 gm−2day−1 of UV package to 7.46 × 10−7 gm−2day−1 of the glass frit bonding at 85 °C and a relative humidity of 85% and a longer luminance decay time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To describe burden, and to explore cross-country inequalities across sociodemographic development levels for four autoimmune diseases (ADs) including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and psoriasis (PS). The estimates and their 95% uncertainty interval (UI) for disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) of RA, IBD, MS and PS were extracted from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. Age-standardized DALYs rate (ASDR) across 204 countries, as well as age and sex distribution of global DALYs rate of these four ADs were illustrated. Slope index of inequality and concentration index, which are two standard metrics of absolute and relative gradient inequality recommended by World Health Organization (WHO), were utilized to quantify the distributive inequalities in the burden of ADs. In 2019, the ASDR of RA, IBD, MS and PS varied remarkably across 204 countries, with different age and sex distribution of global DALYs rate. The slope index of inequality changed from 26.7 (95% CI: 20.7 to 32.8) in 1990 to 40.3 (95% CI: 31.9 to 48.7) in 2019 for RA, from 17.1 (95% CI: 12.4 to 21.7) in 1990 to 25.2 (95% CI: 20.1 to 30.2) in 2019 for IBD, from 19.3 (95% CI: 15.2 to 23.4) in 1990 to 28.9 (95% CI: 24.2 to 33.5) in 2019 for MS, from 42.3 (95% CI: 33.1 to 51.6) in 1990 to 40.2 (95% CI: 32.5 to 48.0) in 2019 for PS. Moreover, the concentration index showed 20.4 (95% CI: 18.9 to 22.0) in 1990 and 18.2 (95% CI: 16.7 to 19.6) in 2019 for RA, 25.0 (95% CI: 23.0 to 27.1) in 1990 and 33.5 (95% CI: 31.6 to 35.5) in 2019 for IBD, 46.7 (95% CI: 44.0 to 49.3) in 1990 and 41.8 (95% CI: 39.6 to 44.1) in 2019 for MS, 31.7 (95% CI: 29.0 to 34.4) in 1990 and 32.6 (95% CI: 29.9 to 35.2) in 2019 for PS. There is a strong heterogeneity in ASDR across all countries, as well as in age and sex distribution of global DALYs rate for four ADs including RA, IBD, MS and PS. Countries with higher sociodemographic development levels shouldered disproportionately higher burden of ADs, and the magnitude of this sociodemographic development level-related inequalities exacerbated over time. • A strong heterogeneity in ASDR across countries for ADs including RA, IBD, MS and PS was detected. • Age and sex distribution of global DALYs rate for these ADs was diverse. • Countries with higher sociodemographic development levels shouldered disproportionately higher burden of ADs. • Sociodemographic development level-related distributive inequalities across countries exacerbated over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of laser wavelength in atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip-enhanced laser ablation was studied using an apertureless tip and a nanosecond pulsed laser. An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) laser wavelength tunable from 410 to 2400 nm was used to irradiate a gold-coated silicon AFM probe held 15 nm above the surface of an anthracene film. The absorption of laser energy by the tip at 532 nm is sufficient to melt the gold coating and increase the diameter of the tip from about 100 nm to approximately 1 µm. The ablation crater volume was measured and found to have a maximum at 500 nm and an approximately linear drop to 800 nm. Craters could not be produced between 800 and 1200 nm and the crater was slightly smaller at 450 nm compared to 500 nm. A crater rim was observed with a volume comparable to that of the crater but lower density. The mechanism of ablation is postulated to be the result of energy absorption by the tip through plasmon resonance of the gold coating followed by melting of the anthracene by ballistic, contact, or radiative heating of the anthracene film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stabilization is one critical issue that needs to be improved for future application of colloidal quantum dot (QD)-based light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). This study reports highly efficient and stable QLEDs based on solution-processsed, metal-doped nickel oxide films as hole injection layer (HIL). Several kinds of metal dopants (Li, Mg, and Cu) are introduced to improve the hole injection capability of NiO films. The resulting device with Cu:NiO HIL exhibits superior performance compared to the state-of-the-art poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene-sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)-based QLEDs, with a maximum current efficiency and external quantum efficiency of 45.7 cd A−1 and 10.5%, respectively. These are the highest values reported so far for QLEDs with PEDOT:PSS-free normal structure. Meanwhile, the resulting QLED shows a half-life time of 87 h at an initial luminance of 5000 cd m−2, almost fourfold longer than that of the PEDOT:PSS-based device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnMgO nanoparticles (NPs) are commonly used as the electron transport layer (ETL) in indium phosphide (InP) based quantum dots light‐emitting diodes (QLEDs). It has been experimentally found that the inherent oxygen vacancy defects in ZnMgO can be passivated by halogen additives. However, an in‐depth understanding of how the halogen additives in ZnMgO affect the quantum dots (QDs) films is currently missing. Here, the study reports on efficient and stable indium phosphide (InP) green QLEDs by effectively bridging QDs and ETL using chloride (Cl) ions. As bi‐functional anchoring additives, Cl ions not only passivate the oxygen vacancy defects of ZnMgO NPs for suppressing the exciton quenching at the QDs/ZnMgO interfaces, but also facilitate the hole transport of QDs due to part replacement of insulated oleic acid ligands on the surfaces of InP QDs with Cl anions for more balanced charge injection in the devices. Consequently, the optimized green InP QLED achieves a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 13.8% and an operational lifetime of 5944 h, which, to the best of current knowledge, represents the best overall performance among the reported green InP QLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Word reading has been found to be associated with different neural networks in different languages, with greater involvement of the lexical pathway for opaque languages and greater invovlement of the sub-lexical pathway for transparent langauges. However, we do not know whether this language divergence can be demonstrated in second langauge learners, how learner's metalinguistic ability would modulate the langauge divergence, or whether learning method would interact with the language divergence. In this study, we attempted to answer these questions by comparing brain activations of Chinese and Spanish word reading in native English-speaking adults who learned Chinese and Spanish over a 2 week period under three learning conditions: phonological, handwriting, and passive viewing. We found that mapping orthography to phonology in Chinese had greater activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) than in Spanish, suggesting greater invovlement of the lexical pathway in opaque langauges. In contrast, Spanish words evoked greater activation in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) than English, suggesting greater invovlement of the sublexical pathway for transparant languages. Furthermore, brain-behavior correlation analyses found that higher phonological awareness and rapid naming were associated with greater activation in the bilateral IFG for Chinese and in the bilateral STG for Spanish, suggesting greater language divergence in participants with higher meta-linguistic awareness. Finally, a significant interaction between the language and learning condition was found in the left STG and middle frontal gyrus (MFG), with greater activation in handwriting learning than viewing learning in the left STG only for Spanish, and greater activation in handwriting learning than phonological learning in the left MFG only for Chinese. These findings suggest that handwriting facilitates assembled phonology in Spanish and addressed phonology in Chinese. In summary, our study suggests different mechanisms in learning different L2s, providing important insights into neural plasticity and important implications in second language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been debate on whether phonological deficits explain reading difficulty in Chinese, since Chinese is a logographic language which does not employ grapheme-phoneme-correspondence rules and remote memorization seems to be the main method to acquire reading. In the current study, we present neuroimaging evidence that the phonological deficit is also a signature of Chinese dyslexia. Specifically, we found that Chinese children with dyslexia (DD) showed reduced brain activation in the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus (dIFG) when compared to both age-matched controls (AC) and reading-matched controls (RC) during an auditory rhyming judgment task. This suggests that the phonological processing deficit in this region may be a signature of dyslexia in Chinese, rather than a difference due to task performance or reading ability, which was matched on DD and RC. At exactly the same region of the left dIFG, we found a positive correlation between brain activation and reading skill in DD, suggesting that the phonological deficit is associated with the severity of dyslexia. We also found increased brain activation in the right precentral gyrus in DD than both AC and RC, suggesting a compensation of reliance on articulation. Functional connectivity analyses revealed that DD had a weaker connection between the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and fusiform gyrus (FG) than the two control groups, suggesting that the reduced connection between phonology and orthography is another neural signature of dyslexia. In contrast, DD showed greater connectivity between the left dIFG and the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) than both control groups, suggesting a reduced segregation between the language network and default mode network in dyslexic children. We also found that connectivity between the left STG and the left dIFG was sensitive to task performance and/or reading skill rather than being dyslexic or not, because AC was greater than both RC and DD, while the connectivity between the left middle occipital gyrus (MOG) and left STG was sensitive to age, because both AC and DD were greater than RC. In summary, our study provides the very first neurological evidence of phonological deficits in Chinese developmental dyslexia and we successfully distinguished variations of brain activity/functional connectivity due to age, performance, and dyslexia by comparing AC, RC, and DD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroimaging studies investigating bilingual processes have produced controversial results in determining similarities versus differences between L1 and L2 neural networks. The current meta-analytic study was conducted to examine what factors play a role in the similarities and differences between L1 and L2 networks with a focus on age of acquisition (AOA) and whether the orthographic transparency of L2 is more or less transparent than that of L1. Using activation likelihood estimation (ALE), we found L2 processing involved more additional regions than L1 for late bilinguals in comparison to early bilinguals, suggesting L2 processing is more demanding in late bilinguals. We also provide direct evidence that AOA of L2 influences L1 processing through the findings that early bilinguals had greater activation in the left fusiform gyrus than late bilinguals during L1 processing even when L1 languages were the same in the two groups, presumably due to greater co-activation of orthography in L1 and L2 in early bilinguals. In addition, we found that the same L2 languages evoked different brain activation patterns depending on whether it was more or less transparent than L1 in orthographic transparency. The bilateral auditory cortex and right precentral gyrus were more involved in shallower-than-L1 L2s, suggesting a "sound-out" strategy for a more regular language by involving the phonological regions and sensorimotor regions to a greater degree. In contrast, the left frontal cortex was more involved in the processing of deeper-than-L1 L2s, presumably due to the increased arbitrariness of mapping between orthography and phonology in L2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) is mostly known as a mature inhibitor of classic Wnt signaling pathways, which plays a critically role in regulating bone formation and bone metastasis. In recent years, the roles of DKK-1 played in bone resorption, bone formation, immune homeostasis and inflammation have been investigated. The role of DKK-1 in the pathogenesis and treatment of autoimmune diseases (ADs), including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), etc, has attracted widespread attention. Various studies have found that DKK-1 may be used as a biomarker for the occurrence and development of ADs, and as a potential target for the treatment of ADs. In this review, we have briefly summed up the intricate immunological functions and regulatory mechanisms of DKK-1 in ADs, aiming to further learning more about the role of DKK-1 involved in the pathogenesis of ADs and provide an outlook for the potential future researches. • DKK-1 is a multifunctional regulator of the Wnt signaling pathway involved in embryogenesis, organogenesis and homeostasis. • The role of DKK-1 in the pathogenesis and progression of ADs are indispensable but not fully understood. • The role of DKK-1 is different among various ADs, and it opens a brand-new door for the relief and treatment of ADs. • Further research should focus on the molecular mechanism of DKK-1 and the treatment of its agonists or antagonists in ADs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] A pyridine-promoted diazotization of P H bonds with aryl diazonium tetrafluoroborates is established. The reported method is simple and efficient for the synthesis of azo organophosphorus compounds with excellent yields, which avoids the adoption of complex and harsh reaction conditions and the addition of oxides, tolerating various kinds of functional groups. The synthesized azo organophosphorus compounds may have potential applications in organic chemistry and drug design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration and size distribution were measured for particles ablated from tissue sections using an infrared optical parametric oscillator laser system. A scanning mobility particle sizer and light scattering particle sizer were used in parallel to realize a particle sizing range from 10 nm to 20 μm. Tissue sections from rat brain and lung ranging in thickness between 10 and 50 μm were mounted on microscope slides and irradiated with nanosecond laser pulses at 3 μm wavelength and fluences between 7 and 21 kJ m−2 in reflection geometry. The particle size distributions were characterized by a bimodal distribution with a large number of particles 100 nm in diameter and below and a large mass contribution from particles greater than 1 μm in diameter. The large particle contribution dominated the ablated particle mass at high laser fluence. The tissue type, thickness, and water content did not have a significant effect on the particle size distributions. The implications of these results for laser ablation sampling and mass spectrometry imaging under ambient conditions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a laser ablation sampling technique for matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analyses of in-situ digested tissue proteins. Infrared laser ablation was used to remove biomolecules from tissue sections for collection by vacuum capture and analysis by MALDI. Ablation and transfer of compounds from tissue removes biomolecules from the tissue and allows further analysis of the collected material to facilitate their identification. Laser ablated material was captured in a vacuum aspirated pipette-tip packed with C18 stationary phase and the captured material was dissolved, eluted, and analyzed by MALDI. Rat brain and lung tissue sections 10 μm thick were processed by in-situ trypsin digestion after lipid and salt removal. The tryptic peptides were ablated with a focused mid-infrared laser, vacuum captured, and eluted with an acetonitrile/water mixture. Eluted components were deposited on a MALDI target and mixed with matrix for mass spectrometry analysis. Initial experiments were conducted with peptide and protein standards for evaluation of transfer efficiency: a transfer efficiency of 16% was obtained using seven different standards. Laser ablation vacuum capture was applied to freshly digested tissue sections and compared with sections processed with conventional MALDI imaging. A greater signal intensity and lower background was observed in comparison with the conventional MALDI analysis. Tandem time-of-flight MALDI mass spectrometry was used for compound identification in the tissue. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By deliberately using a metastable polyanion [(NbO2)6P2W12O56]12− ( 1), which was formed in situ, we have discovered the unprecedented hexameric cluster {Mn15(Nb6P2W12O62)6} ( 2), in which the six polyanions [Nb6P2W12O61]10− are alternately connected by four intriguing trinuclear {MnIII3} moieties and four {MnII} linkers. This discovery is the first in which the phosphoniobotungstate has been made accessible by using transition-metal ions; furthermore, polyanion 2 represents the largest niobotungstate cluster reported to date. Analysis by means of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS ) provides insight into the self-assembly process, and the peaks observed relate to the different charge states of the parent cluster, thus confirming the stability of 2. In addition, magnetic-susceptibility measurements reveal that each {MnIII3} subunit is a separate single-molecule magnet (SMM). This discovery results from the exploration of the reverse effect of metastable polyanion 1 possessing high reactivity, thereby turning a disadvantage into an advantage. This finding could define a new synthetic strategy for the design and synthesis of magnetic polyoxometalate (POM) clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), ablation takes place in general in an ambient gas of the atmospheric pressure, often in air but also in noble gas such as argon or helium. The use of noble gas is known to significantly improve the performance of the technique. We investigate in this work the morphology and the characteristics of induced plasma in argon and in air. The purpose is to understand the mechanism of the analytical performance improvement by the use of argon ambient with respective to air ambient and the dependence on the other experimental parameters such as the laser fluence. The observation of plasma morphology in different ambient gases provides also information for better design of the detection system which optimizes the signal collection according to the used ambient gases. More specifically, the expansion of the plasma induced on an aluminum target with nanosecond infrared (1064 nm) laser pulse in two ambient gases, argon and the atmospheric air, has been studied with spectroscopic imaging at short delays and with emission spectroscopy at longer delays. With relatively low ablation laser fluence (65 J/cm 2 ), similar morphologies have been observed in argon and in air over the early stage of plasma expansion, while diagnostics at longer delay shows stronger emission, higher electron density and temperature for plasma induced in argon. With higher ablation laser fluence (160 J/cm 2 ) however, different expansion behaviors have been observed, with a stagnating aluminum vapor near the target surface in air while a propagating plume away from the target in argon. The craters left on the target surface show as well corresponding difference: in air, the crater is very shallow with a target surface chaotically affected by the laser pulse, indicating an effective re-deposition of the ablated material back to the crater; while in Ar a deeper crater is observed, indicating an efficient mass removal by laser ablation. At longer delays, a brighter, denser and hotter plasma is always observed in argon than in air as with lower ablation laser fluences. The observed different influences of the ambient gas on the plasma expansion behavior for different laser fluences are related to the different modes of laser-supported absorption waves, namely laser-supported combustion (LSC) wave and laser-supported detonation (LSD) wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed 3d-4f 12-azametallacrown-4 complexes, [Mn2Ln2(OH)2(hppt)4(OAc)2(DMF)2] ⋅2 DMF ⋅H2O [Ln=Dy ( 1), Er ( 2), Yb ( 3), Tb ( 4) and Y ( 5), H2hppt=3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(pyrazin-2-yl)-1,2,4-triazole)], were synthesized by reactions of H2hppt with Mn(OAc)2 ⋅4 H2O and Ln(NO3)3 ⋅6 H2O. This is the first 3d-4f azametallacrown family to incorporate Ln ions into the ring sets. These isostructural complexes exhibit alternating arrangements of two Mn and two Ln ions in the rings with each pair of metal centers bound by an NN group and μ2-O bridging. Magnetic measurements revealed dominant antiferromagnetic interactions between metal centers, and frequency-dependent out-of-phase ( ${\chi {^\prime}{^\prime}_{\rm{M}} }$) signals below 4 K suggest slow relaxation of magnetization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI), we examined the process of language specialization in the brain by comparing developmental changes in two contrastive orthographies: Chinese and English. In a visual word rhyming judgment task, we found a significant interaction between age and language in left inferior parietal lobule and left superior temporal gyrus, which was due to greater developmental increases in English than in Chinese. Moreover, we found that higher skill only in English children was correlated with greater activation in left inferior parietal lobule. These findings suggest that the regions associated with phonological processing are essential in English reading development. We also found greater developmental increases in English than in Chinese in left inferior temporal gyrus, suggesting refinement of this region for fine-grained word form recognition. In contrast, greater developmental increases in Chinese than in English were found in right middle occipital gyrus, suggesting the importance of holistic visual-orthographic analysis in Chinese reading acquisition. Our results suggest that the brain adapts to the special features of the orthography by engaging relevant brain regions to a greater degree over development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural product-based nanomedicine resulting from the combination of natural products with nanotechnology has been extensively investigated to improve the therapeutic index and safety profile of NPs in massive inflammatory diseases, including bone-, intestine-, neuron-, and ocular-related diseases. [Display omitted] • Natural product-based nanomedicine is characterized by diverse classification and abundant function. • Natural product-based nanomedicine showed exceptional therapeutic efficacy in bone-, intestine-, neuron- and ocular-related inflammatory diseases. • Challenges in the wide clinical application of natural product-based nanomedicine remain, and further exploration is urgently needed. Inflammatory diseases present with dysregulated inflammatory reactions and oxidative stress, resulting in heavy health-associated economic burden to society. Current mainstream therapies, including traditional therapies such as steroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and immunosuppressants, as well as novel biological strategies such as cytokine and intracellular signal inhibitors, cannot cure inflammatory diseases and always cause a series of unexpected adverse effects. Natural products (NPs), which are complex chemical molecules with abundant biological activities derived from microorganisms and plants, have demonstrated great potential for treating inflammatory diseases with several unresolved drawbacks. Increasing studies have indicated that NP-based nanomedicine resulting from the combination of NPs and nanotechnology may open a brand-new vista for the therapy of inflammatory diseases. In the present review, we summarize the classification of NP-based nanomedicine and its potential therapeutic effects in various inflammatory diseases, as well as further elucidate the challenges in the wide clinical application of NP-based nanomedicine to promote a comprehensive understanding and development of inflammatory disease therapy by NP-based nanomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the dynamic evolution of the morphology and phase transformations in CuO nanowires during the process of sodiation. Our results facilitate a fundamental understanding of the sodiation mechanism in CuO nanostructures used as electrode materials in sodium ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mn–Ce/γ-Al 2 O 3 granular catalyst was modified by adding silver and then developed in the low temperature selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH 3 . It showed outstanding SCR activity in low and middle temperature region and achieved 95% NO conversion at 250 °C. It also performed excellent space velocity tolerance in a wide range. The characterization results showed that silver mainly existed in the form of Ag and Ag 2 O, which could promote the migration of surface active oxygen and increase the weak Brønsted and strong Lewis acid sites. NO adsorption benefited from the addition of silver and mainly existed as the bridged nitrite and bidentate nitrate species. Introducing O 2 could create more oxidized surfaces and promote the NO oxidation, which prompted NO to be adsorbed as unstable monodentate nitrate, bridged nitrite and nitrate species. NH 3 could be adsorbed mainly on the Lewis acid sites as coordinated NH 3 and − NH 2 species, which also could be promoted by the introduction of O 2 . The mechanism of SCR reactions was also explored. It showed that most NO could be adsorbed as the unstable nitrates or nitrites firstly and then reacted with the adsorbed ammonia species. The most possible reaction pathway followed the Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unusual solvent effect on the synthesis of five manganese complexes [Mn2(L1)2(Py)4](1), [Mn2(L1)2(DMSO)4](2), [Mn4(L2)4(OH)4](3), [Mn4(L3)2(DMSO)7(H2O)](4), and [Mn6O2(L4)4(OAc)2(OMe)2(DMSO)4]·MeOH] (5), (H3L1 = 5-(2-oxyphenyl)-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid; H2L2 = 5-(2-oxyphenyl)-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid amide; H4L3 = di-[5-(2-oxyphenyl)-pyrazole]-3-hydroxamic ether; and H2L4 = 5-(2-oxyphenyl)-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid methyl ester) has been reported. Five complexes have been characterized by X-ray single crystal diffraction, IR, element analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and UV-vis spectra. The analysis reveals that complexes 1 and 2 are isostructural with a bimetallic six-membered ring and L1 from the decomposition of the original H4ppha (H4ppha = 5-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-pyrazole-3-hydroxamic acid) ligand. Complexes 3 and 4 are two tetranuclear clusters, and 3 possesses an aza12-metallacrown-4 core with L2 from the amide functionalization of the decomposition L1; while 4 represents a novel linear [Mn4N8O2] core with L3 from the condensation of L1 and H4ppha. Complex 5 is the first Mn6 cluster linked by two stacked, off-set 8-azametallacrown-3 subunits with [M–N–N–M–N–N–M–O] connectivity, and L4 derived from the esterification of L1. The magnetic behaviour of complexes 1–5 show the dominant antiferromagnetic interactions between metal centers, whereas complex 5 further reveals the coexistence of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions, and slow magnetic relaxation at T ＜ 6 K with S = 4 ground state, as well as field induced magnetization saturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe–Mn–Ce/γ-Al 2 O 3 granular catalyst was synthesized using the sol-gel method and then developed in the low temperature selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH 3 . It achieved outstanding SCR activity at low temperature and also showed excellent space velocity tolerance and favorable SO 2 and H 2 O resistance. The addition of Fe obviously increased the surface area and pore volume of the catalyst, and it also strengthened the surface acidity of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites, which was beneficial with the increase of SCR activity. The TPD and DRIFT results showed that the number of Lewis acid sites on the catalyst was much more than Brønsted sites, which could facilitate the formation of coordinated NH 3 and –NH 2 species. NO could be adsorbed in the form of unstable nitrates, which could then react with the adsorbed NH 3 species directly. The most possible reaction pathway was proposed as that NH 3 was firstly adsorbed on the catalyst after the competitive adsorption, and then the formed coordinated NH 3 and –NH 2 species reacted with the gas phase NO and generated N 2 and H 2 O. That is, the SCR reaction route mainly followed the Eley–Rideal mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been evidenced that both similarities and differences exist in the brain network involved in second language reading in comparison to the first language reading. However, very few studies have been done to compare functional connectivity in L1 and L2 reading. Brain activation and functional connectivity during English pseudoword rhyming judgment in a group of late Chinese–English bilinguals (the CE group) were compared to a Chinese word rhyming judgment task in another group of late Chinese–English bilinguals (the CC group). Brain activation analyses revealed that the two groups engaged a similar network and that the only significant group difference was greater involvement of the right middle occipital gyrus in the CC group than in the CE group, due to greater holistic visuospatial processing of Chinese characters. English pseudowords can be read using the same network as Chinese characters, whereas psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses revealed different connectivity within the reading network between the two groups. Greater functional connectivity was found between three visuo-orthographic seed regions and the right precentral gyrus in the CC group, suggesting that the sensorimotor patterns of Chinese syllables are activated during Chinese word rhyming judgment. In contrast, we found greater connectivity between the three seed regions and the left postcentral gyrus in the CE group. In addition, the connectivity between one of the three seed regions (i.e. the right middle occipital gyrus) and the left postcentral gyrus was positively correlated with English proficiency in the CE group. This suggests that somatosensory feedback plays a key role in processing the foreign phonemes of English pseudowords and those highly proficient bilinguals tend to rely on this information to a greater degree. We also found that within the CE group, the connectivity between the right middle occipital gyrus and the left inferior parietal lobule was positively correlated with accuracy, and that the connectivity between the right middle occipital gyrus and the left superior temporal gyrus was negatively correlated with reaction time. These results suggest that even if a Chinese network is used in reading English pseudowords, the classic grapheme–phoneme-correspondence regions that are important for native English reading are involved in highly performing bilinguals by connecting them with the visuo-orthographic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) provides a technique to directly determine metals in viscous liquids and especially in lubricating oils. A specific laser ablation configuration of a thin layer of oil applied on the surface of a pure aluminum target was used to evaluate the analytical figures of merit of LIBS for elemental analysis of lubricating oils. Among the analyzed oils, there were a certified 75cSt blank mineral oil, 8 virgin lubricating oils (synthetic, semi-synthetic, or mineral and of 2 different manufacturers), 5 used oils (corresponding to 5 among the 8 virgin oils), and a cooking oil. The certified blank oil and 4 virgin lubricating oils were spiked with metallo-organic standards to obtain laboratory reference samples with different oil matrix. We first established calibration curves for 3 elements, Fe, Cr, Ni, with the 5 sets of laboratory reference samples in order to evaluate the matrix effect by the comparison among the different oils. Our results show that generalized calibration curves can be built for the 3 analyzed elements by merging the measured line intensities of the 5 sets of spiked oil samples. Such merged calibration curves with good correlation of the merged data are only possible if no significant matrix effect affects the measurements of the different oils. In the second step, we spiked the remaining 4 virgin oils and the cooking oils with Fe, Cr and Ni. The accuracy and the precision of the concentration determination in these prepared oils were then evaluated using the generalized calibration curves. The concentrations of metallic elements in the 5 used lubricating oils were finally determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] MnO x –CeO2–ZrO2/γ-Al2O3 catalyst showed high SCR activity at low temperature. [•] MnO x –CeO2–ZrO2/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was well-behaved in the presence of SO2 and H2O. [•] NO and NH3 could be adsorbed on the catalyst in different forms. [•] The SCR reaction route followed both of the E–R mechanism and L–H mechanism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]