Search

The incorporation of the UiO-66-NH2 metal–organic frameworks as the processing additive into mixed lead–tin halide perovskites can effectively passivate the defects, enabling the photovoltaic devices to exhibit high performance and good stability.

Metabolic (dysfunction)-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is currently the most common chronic liver disease and affects at least a quarter of the global adult population. It has rapidly become one of the leading causes of hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis in Western countries. In this review, we discuss the nomenclature and definition of MAFLD as well as its prevalence and incidence in different geographical regions. Although cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in MAFLD patients, the proportion of patients dying from hepatic complications increases sharply as the disease progresses to advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. In addition, patients with MAFLD are at increased risk of various extrahepatic cancers. Although a causal relationship between MAFLD and extrahepatic cancers has not been established, clinicians should recognize the association and consider cancer screening (e.g., for colorectal cancer) as appropriate., Graphical abstract

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) can inhibit liver fibrogenesis in animal models. We aimed to evaluate the impact of ACEI/ARB use on the risk of liver cancer and cirrhosis complications in patients with NAFLD.We conducted a retrospective, territory-wide cohort study of adult patients with NAFLD diagnosed between January 2000 and December 2014 to allow for at least 5 years of follow-up. ACEI or ARB users were defined as patients who had received ACEI or ARB treatment for at least 6 months. The primary endpoint was liver-related events (LREs), defined as a composite endpoint of liver cancer and cirrhosis complications. We analyzed data from 12,327 NAFLD patients (mean age, 54.2 ± 14.7 years; 6163 men [50.0%]); 6805 received ACEIs, and 2877 received ARBs. After propensity score weighting, ACEI treatment was associated with a lower risk of LREs (weighted subdistribution hazard ratio [SHR], 0.48; 95% CI, 0.35-0.66; p 0.001), liver cancer (weighted SHR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.28-0.75; p = 0.002), and cirrhosis complications (weighted SHR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.27-0.66; p 0.001), but ARB was not. In subgroup analysis, ACEI treatment was associated with greater reduction in LREs in patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKDs) than those without (CKD-weighted SHR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.52-0.96; p = 0.036; non-CKD-weighted SHR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.07-0.33; p 0.001).ACEI, rather than ARB, treatment is associated with a lower risk of LREs in NAFLD patients, especially among those with CKD.

Background and Aims Metformin is an oral anti‐hyperglycemic recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as a preferred initial pharmacologic agent for type 2 diabetes. Metabolic acidosis is a rare yet severe side effect of it. We examined the association of metformin use and dosage on the risk of metabolic acidosis in diabetic patients with different degrees of chronic hepatitis B (CHB)‐related cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods Metabolic acidosis was defined by blood pH ≤7.35, together with lactate >5 mmol/L or arterial bicarbonate ≤18 mmol/L or venous bicarbonate ≤21 mmol/L, and/or diagnosis codes. Child‐Pugh class and CKD stage were included in the model as time‐dependent covariates. Age, gender, comorbidities, and use of relevant medications were adjusted as covariates. Maximum daily dose of metformin was classified into ≤1000 mg and >1000 mg. Results We identified 4431 diabetic patients with CHB‐related cirrhosis between 2000 and 2017 from a territory‐wide database in Hong Kong. The risk of metabolic acidosis increased with Child‐Pugh class B and C cirrhosis regardless of CKD stage (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio [aSHR] ranged from 3.50 to 86.16). Metformin use was associated with a higher risk in patients with Child‐Pugh class B or C cirrhosis and stage 3A CKD or above (aSHR ranged from 1.55 to 2.46). In stage 4/5 CKD, a daily dose of metformin ≤1000 mg was still associated with a higher risk of metabolic acidosis regardless of the severity of cirrhosis (aSHR ranged from 2.45 to 3.92). Conclusion In conclusion, patients with Child‐Pugh class B cirrhosis or above were at a higher risk of metabolic acidosis. Metformin further increased the risk in patients with Child‐Pugh class B cirrhosis or above and stage 3A CKD or above. Dose adjustment in stage 4/5 CKD did not reduce the risk of metabolic acidosis.

A healthy plant microbiome is diverse, taxonomically-structured, and gives its plant host moderate advantages in growth, development, stress tolerance, and disease resistance. The plant microbiome varies with ecological niches and is influenced by variables that are complex and difficult to separate from each other, such as the plant species, soil, and environmental factors. To explore the composition, diversity, and functions of the bacterial community of Korean pine forests, we used high-throughput sequencing to study five areas with different forest ages from June to October 2017 in northeast China. We obtained 3,247 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing via an Illumina Hi-seq platform. A total of 36 phyla and 159 known genera were classified. The Shannon index of the bacterial community from the rhizospheric soil was significantly higher (p n = 10) than that of the root tips. Beta-diversity analysis confirmed that the bacterial community of the rhizospheric soil was significantly different (p 1%) in the rhizospheric soil, but there were six dominant phyla in the root tips. Proteobacteria was the core flora in the root tips with a relative abundance of more than 50%. It is known that the formation of bacterial communities in the rhizospheric soil or the root is mainly caused by the processes of selection, and we found a relatively high abundance of a few dominant species. We further analyzed the correlations between the bacterial community from the rhizospheric soil with that of the root tips, as well as the correlations of the bacterial community with soil physicochemical properties and climate factors. We used Functional Annotation of the Prokaryotic Tax (FAPROTAX) to predict the functions of the bacterial community in the rhizospheric soil and root tips. Five related phototrophic functions, nine nitrogen cycle functions, two related chemoheterotrophic functions, and two others were predicted. The abundance of the bacteria phyla performing relevant functions was different in the rhizospheric soil than in the root tips. These functions were significantly influenced by the contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the soil habitat. The bacterial composition and functions in the rhizospheric soil and root tips of Korean pine were analyzed, and the results demonstrated the importance of soil and plant species on the bacterial community in the below ground plant microbiome.

The benefit of colonoscopy and/or polypectomy for colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains unclear. We aimed to estimate the incidence rate of CRC in patients with NAFLD who had and had not undergone colonoscopy. We conducted a retrospective territory‐wide cohort study for patients aged over 40 years with NAFLD identified with the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2014. Patients were followed until CRC diagnosis, death, or December 31, 2017. We estimated CRC incidence and standardized incidence ratio (SIR) using the general population of Hong Kong as reference. We included 8,351 patients with NAFLD in the final analysis (median age, 56.2 years; interquartile ratio [IQR], 49.2‐65.3 years; 45.4% male; median follow‐up, 7.4 years; IQR, 5.4‐9.6 years). Compared with the general population, patients with NAFLD who had not undergone colonoscopy had a higher incidence of CRC (SIR, 2.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.64‐2.88; P 2.67) had a significantly higher risk of CRC after adjusting for demographic and metabolic factors. Conclusion: Patients with NAFLD who had undergone colonoscopy had a lower incidence of CRC than the general population, especially among those aged ≥50 years or with DM. A high FIB‐4 index was associated with a higher risk of CRC.

In order to realize the superresolution imaging with a telescope optical system, a two- dimensional polynomial function phase pupil filter with a high strehl ratio is designed, and its improvement for the light distribution around the focal point of the optical imaging system is demonstrated. The result of the theory analysis shows that, when the filter is added into the system, the system optical resolution is increased 1.33 times, and the strehl ratio is 0.75 time as much as that of the system without this pupil filter. The performance of two-dimensional polynomial filter is compared with the other typical phase pupil filters, including the three-zone, the four-zone and the one-dimensional polynomial phase filter. The comparison results show that the strehl ratio of the two-dimensional polynomial filter is the highest in these filters, and the transverse superresolution ratio of this filter is next only to that of the four-zone filter. But the strehl ratio of the four-zone filter is too low to be applied into the telescope.

Pupil off-axis optical system has the advantages of imaging unobscured and restraining the stray light for the next generation space telescope. However, non-rotationally asymmetric aberrations lead by the pupil off-axis structure becomes the main influencing factor of imaging quality. Since the freeform surface can provide more degrees of freedom for optical design, it is widely used to control the non-rotationally asymmetric aberrations. In order to guide designer optimize the pupil off-axis optical systems with freeform surfaces efficiently, an aberration analysis method for pupil off-axis optical system with Fringe Zernike polynomial freeform surfaces is proposed. The analysis expressions of third-order astigmatism and coma of the pupil off-axis freeform system are deduced. The freeform impacts on aberration nodal properties are analyzed. According to the aberration distribution, a pupil off-axis space telescope freeform optical system is designed by optimizing the Zernike terms pointedly. The effective focal length is 25m, the pupil diameter is 2m. By stitching multi-detectors to realize the field of view (FOV) of 1.2°×1.2°. Because of introducing freeform surfaces, the third-order astigmatism and coma nodes are both moved back to the FOV. Therefore, the asymmetric aberrations lead by pupil off-axis are balanced. The final imaging quality is closed to the diffraction limit, which meets the requirements.

In this work, zinc complexes containing amidopyridinate ligands substituted with different pendant arms have been described. Treatment of ligand precursors with ZnEt2 at a 1:1 ratio in THF yields zinc ethyl complexes (PyN C 1 Py )2(ZnEt)2 (1) and (PyN C 2 NMe 2 )2(ZnEt)2 (2), respectively. Complexes 1 and 2 show the same geometry as a distorted tetrahedron, but adopt different coordination behaviors supported by the ligands. Complex 1 represents a rare and a non-centrosymmetric mode, which the amido group bridges two zinc centers to form a six-membered ring. However, complex 2 shows a centrosymmetric mode, which the pyridine group links to the zinc centers to form an eight-membered ring. Recrystallization of complex 2 gives an additional complex (PyN C 2 NMe 2 )4Zn3(μ3-O) (3). We attempted to prepare zinc benzyl oxide complexes but afforded only a self-assembly cubane complex Zn7Et6(OBn)8 (4). All molecular structures 1-4 are characterized depending on both single-crystal X-ray and spectroscopic data. Furthermore, their catalytic properties toward the ring opening polymerization of e-caprolactone and L-lactide, using benzyl alcohol as the initiation reagent, are under investigation.

For utilization of frequency diversity in frequency hopping (FH) communication to enhance the anti-jamming performance of FH system and improve the transmission reliability under multipath fading channel, FH communication usually hope the launch of the two carrier frequency interval is than a specified value in the adjacent frequency hopping time slot. This paper designs a new FH sequences generator based on AES block cipher, and tests the interval characteristics of the FH sequences produced by the generator. The test results show that the interval of the FH sequences are similar to the ideal values, which can satisfy the requirements of wide interval characteristics of FH codes in the FH communication systems.

The biogeochemical cycle of biogenic dimethylated sulfur compounds in oceans has received significant attention because of their critical role in the global climatic and atmospheric processes. The behavior of biogenic dimethylated sulfur compounds including dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) was measured in the waters of the Changjiang River Estuary and the coastal East China Sea during two cruises from 7 to 20 March 2016 and from 4 to 16 July 2016. The concentrations of DMS, particulate DMSP (DMSPp), dissolved DMSP (DMSPd), particulate DMSO (DMSOp) and dissolved DMSO (DMSOd) in the study area showed significant spatial and seasonal variation, with higher values in summer. DMS displayed significant relationships with DMSPp, DMSPd and DMSOp, and the dimethylated sulfur compound distributions showed similar patterns with that of chlorophyll a (Chl-a). The seasonal variation in DMSOd was inconspicuous compared to other sulfur compounds and its concentration inside the estuary was relatively high, suggesting an impact by anthropogenic activities and riverine inputs. Phytoplankton biomass and water mass mixing (upwelling and the Changjiang diluted water) played an important role in controlling the distributions of dimethylated sulfur compounds in the Changjiang River Estuary and the coastal East China Sea. The mean sea-to-air fluxes of DMS in this study area were 3.21 and 20.73 μmol m−2 d−1 in spring and summer, respectively. The study area was a net source for atmospheric DMS.

In this paper a numerical investigation on the void nucleation behaviors under combined mechanical and thermal cycling conditions have been performed. A finite element unit cell model is conduct to calculate the local stress-strain field and describe the process of void nucleation from inclusion. Numerical results show that the thermal mismatch stress between the particles and matrix can assist the external load to cause interface debonding. Under certain mechanical and thermal cycling conditions, complicated stress and strain hystereses developed in the matrix. Both the plastic strain and plastic energy density of the interface will be accumulated during every thermal cycle. The plastic energy accumulation of the interface will first reach the debonding value and failure occurs. Based on the numerical calculation, a new energy based failure criteria is proposed to characterize the behaviors of void nucleation under combine mechanical and thermal cycling conditions.

A new feedback controller architecture is presented for linear systems with a single I / O delay in the generalized internal model control (GIMC) framework. According to the doubly coprime factorization of these systems, traditional GIMC strategy is extended to linear systems with a single I / O delay. The distinguished feature of the control system architecture is that high tracking performance and good external disturbance rejection could be done separately by a nominal Smith predictor part and a finite dimensional conditional controller. First, a nominal Smith predictor part could be designed to deal with command tracking performance. Second, according to the left coprime factorization of the nominal controller, a finite dimensional conditional controller could be considered for external disturbance rejection, when the controlled plant should be assumed to be a square one. Finally, a simple design example is illustrated the effectiveness of the presented method. Finally, a simple design example is illustrated the effectiveness of the presented method.

A window delay-line analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with programmable resolutions for digitally-controlled switch-mode power supplies (SMPS) used in low-power portable applications is proposed in this paper. Due to its simple, low-power architecture and small silicon area, this ADC can be fully integrated with a digital controller. The proposed ADC quantizes the output converter voltage within a window of the reference voltage. The ADC has been fabricated in a TSMC 0.18µm CMOS technology and verified as a part of a 976.56 KHz, 3.6 to 1.2 V buck DC-DC converter.

This paper presents a single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) boost-boost or buck-boost DC-DC converter with charge control. The first output VO1 in our proposed converter can operate in either buck-boost mode (output voltage 2.6V) or boost- boost mode (output voltage 3.3V) according to the ratio of the external feedback resistor, while the second output V O2 only operates at boost mode (output voltage 3.5V). The proposed SIDO converter was fabricated in TSMC 0.18µm 1P6M 3.3V model CMOS technology with an input supply voltage in the range of 2.8V to 3.2V.

Anthrax toxin from Bacillus anthracis is a three-component toxin consisting of lethal factor (LF), edema factor (EF), and protective antigen (PA). PA binds to target cells and transports LF or EF into the cell cytosol where they carry out their enzymatic functions. PA can induce protective immunity to the infection of the bacterium and is the major component in the only anthrax vaccine approved by FDA of USA. Mouse hybridoma clones specifically secreting anti-PA monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were generated by cell fusion technique and their ability to neutralize anthrax lethal toxin activities was screened in vitro on a toxin-sensitive cell line. Nine toxin-neutralizing MAbs obtained were then characterized for the domains of PA they recognize, and the epitope regions they bind were analyzed by competitive binding ELISA. It was found that these MAbs bind four potential neutralizing epitope regions in three different domains of PA. Four MAbs bind to two non-overlapping epitope regions in domain 4 of PA and may prevent the binding of PA to its cell receptor. Four MAbs bind to domain 2, a domain involved in membrane insertion. One MAb binds to domain 3, a region involved in the oligomerization of PA. The results provided supporting evidence that PA has several neutralizing epitopes, and offered potential immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment of anthrax.

An expression plasmid carrying anthrax protective antigen (PA) gene was constructed, which has an OmpA signal sequence attached to the 5' end of PA gene. The plasmid was transformed into E. coli and induced to express recombinant PA (rPA) . The recombinant protein, about 10% of the total bacterial protein in volume, was secreted to the periplasmic space of the cell. After a purification procedure including ion-exchange, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and gel filtration, about 15 mg of 95 % pure rPA was obtained from 1-liter culture. The bioactivity of rPA was proved by in vitro cytotoxicity assay. The polyclonal antiserum from rabbits immunized with rPA could inhibit the action of anthrax lethal toxin in vitro, which suggests that antibodies against rPA can provide high passive protection against anthrax. The results reported here may be helpful to develop a safe and efficacious recombinant PA vaccine against anthrax.