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A high malondialdehyde-oxidized low-density lipoprotein (MDA-oxLDL) level is associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and major adverse cardiovascular events. A higher cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is independently associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke in patients with cardiovascular risk. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the relationship between serum MDA-oxLDL levels and CAVI in patients with triple-vessel coronary artery disease who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Fasting blood samples and baseline characteristics were obtained from 88 patients who had undergone CABG. A commercialized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure MDA-oxLDL levels. An automatic pulse wave analyzer was used to measure CAVI values, and each side of CAVI values of ≥9 was designated as arterial stiffness. In total, 47 participants were assigned to the arterial stiffness group. More patients had diabetes mellitus, were older, and had higher serum MDA-oxLDL levels in the arterial stiffness group than in the control group. A multivariate logistic regression analysis disclosed that MDA-oxLDL and diabetes mellitus were independent predictors of arterial stiffness. Moreover, according to the Spearman’s correlation analysis, the serum MDA-oxLDL level was positively associated with both left and right CAVI. Serum MDA-oxLDL levels were positively associated with arterial stiffness in patients who had undergone CABG.

A multi-mode wideband antenna based on multi-mode resonator is proposed with stable radiation pattern, which is composed of two metal radiators, two parasitic resonators, two shorted patches fed by the U-shaped feedline and a box-shaped reflector. A prototype of the proposed antenna is designed, fabricated and tested. Measured results show that the antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 37.5% (0.67-0.98 GHz) for |S11

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of cell death caused by the inactivation of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and accumulation of lipid peroxides. Ferroptosis has been found to participate in the ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, leading to heart dysfunction and myocardial cell death. Xanthohumol (XN), a prenylated flavonoid isolated from Humulus lupulus, has multiple pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. This study is aimed at investigating whether XN could attenuate the I/R-induced ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes and the underlying mechanisms. Cardiomyocytes were treated with Fe-SP and RSL3, and the rat hearts were treated with I/R. The results from the present study show that XN was able to protect cardiomyocytes against Fe-SP- and RSL3-induced ferroptotic cell death by decreasing the production of lipid peroxidation and ROS, chelating iron, reducing the NRF2 protein level, and modulating the protein levels of GPX4. Moreover, XN significantly decreased the mRNA levels of ferroptosis markers, Ptgs2 and Acsl4, and the protein levels of ACSL4 and NRF2 and modulated the protein levels of GPX4 in I/R-treated hearts. The findings from the present study suggest that XN might have the therapeutic potential for the I/R-induced ferroptosis injury.

In the wake of increasing demands on skin health, we propose simple, natural, and safe dry facial masks that restrict melanin synthesis. Phyllanthus emblica (P. emblica) is made into powders via a low-temperature extraction and freeze-drying process to serve as a natural agent. Next, it is added to mixtures containing Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Chitosan (CS), after which the blends are electrospun into PVP/CS/P. emblica nanofiber membrane dry facial masks using the electrospinning technique. The dry facial masks are evaluated using the calibration analysis method, extraction rate test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), release rate test, tyrosinase inhibition assay, biocompatibility test, and anti-inflammatory capacity test. Test results indicate that when the electrospinning mixture contains 29.0% P. emblica, the nanofibers have a diameter of ≤214.27 ± 74.51 nm and a water contact angle of 77.25 ± 2.21. P. emblica is completely released in twenty minutes, and the tyrosinase inhibition rate reaches 99.53 ± 0.45% and the cell activity ≥82.60 ± 1.30%. Moreover, the anti-inflammatory capacity test results suggest that dry facial masks confine inflammatory factors. PVP/CS/P. emblica nanofiber dry facial masks demonstrate excellent tyrosinase inhibition and are hydrophilic, biocompatible, and inflammation-free. The dry facial masks are a suitable material that is worthwhile exploring and applying to the cosmetic field.

Myocardial hypertrophy is associated with a significant increase in intracellular Ca

In the wake of increasing demands on skin health, we propose simple, natural, and safe dry facial masks that restrict melanin synthesis.

Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) is associated with severe cellular damage and death. Ferroptosis, a new form of regulated cell death caused by the accumulation of iron-mediated lipid peroxidation, has been found in several diseases including I/R injury, which was reported to be suppressed by flavonoids. Baicalein (BAI) and luteolin (Lut) are flavonoids and were shown to reduce the myocardial I/R injury. BAI was found to suppress ferroptosis in cancer cells via reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. However, the anti-ferroptosis effect of Lut on ferroptosis has not been reported. This study aimed to investigate whether ferroptosis reduction contributes to the BAI- and Lut-protected cardiomyocytes.This research used erastin, RSL3, and Fe-SP to induce ferroptosis. Cell viability was examined using MTT assay. Annexin V-FITC, CM-HOur data show that BAI and Lut protected cardiomyocytes against ferroptosis caused by ferroptosis inducers and I/R. Moreover, both BAI and Lut decreased ROS and malondialdehyde (MDA) generation and the protein levels of ferroptosis markers, and restored Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) protein levels in cardiomyocytes reduced by ferroptosis inducers. BAI and Lut reduced the I/R-induced myocardium infarction and decreased the levels of Acsl4 and Ptgs2 mRNA.BAI and Lut could protect the cardiomyocytes against the I/R-induced ferroptosis via suppressing accumulation of ROS and MDA.

In this study, stainless steel (SS) filaments are wrapped in Ge fibers to form core-spun yarns. The yarns along with 500 D polyester (PET) fibers undergo weaving, thereby forming functional woven fabrics. The experiment is composed of two parts:yarns and fabrics. The yarns are twisted with TPI of 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, and then tested for tensile strength and tensile elongation. The yarns possess mechanical properties that are dependent on the TPI—the higher the TPI, the better the mechanical properties. The maximal mechanical properties occur when the core-spun yarns are made of 12 TPI where the maximal tensile strength is 5.26 N and the lowest elongation is 43.2%. As for the functional woven fabrics, they are made of Ge/SS core-spun yarns as the weft yarns and 500 D PET yarns as the warp yarns. The tensile strength, tensile elongation, negative ion release, electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE), and air permeability tests are conducted, determining the optimal woven fabrics. The 12 TPI core-spun yarns provide the woven fabrics with the maximal tensile strength of 153.6 N and the optimal elongation at break of 10.08%. In addition, the woven fabrics made with 8 or 9 TPI core-spun yarns exhibit an optimal EMI SE of 41 dB, an optimal air permeability of 212 cm3/cm2/s, and an optimal release amount of negative ion of 550–600 ions/cc. The proposed woven fabrics have a broad range of applications, such as functional garments and bedding.

This study investigated eco-friendly antibacterial medical protective clothing via the nonwoven process and characteristic evaluations. Firstly, Tencel

With the increasingly powerful and extensive deployment of edge devices, edge/fog computing enables customers to manage and analyze data locally, and extends computing power and data analysis applications to network edges. Meanwhile, as the next generation of the power grid, the smart grid can achieve the goal of efficiency, economy, security, reliability, use safety and environmental friendliness for the power grid. However, privacy and secure issues in fog-based smart grid communications are challenging. Without proper protection, customers’ privacy will be readily violated. This article presents a smart and practical Privacy-preserving Data Aggregation (PDA) scheme with smart pricing and packing method for fog-based smart grids, which achieves diversified tariffs, multifunctional statistics and efficiency. Especially, we first propose a smart PDA scheme with Smart Pricing (PDA-SP). With PDA-SP, the Control Center (CC) can compute more complex and higher-order aggregation statistics to provide various services, provide diversiform pricing strategies and choose a double-winning strategy. Subsequently, we put forward a practical PDA scheme with Packing Method (PDA-PM), which is able to reduce the size of encrypted data and improve performance in performing various secure computations. Moreover, we extend our original packing method and present a more useful packing method, which can handle general vectors with large entries. The security analysis shows that our proposed scheme is secure against many threats. The performance evaluation reveals that the computation and communication overheads of our proposed scheme are effectively reduced by employing the Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption (SHE), and our packing method can further significantly reduce these overheads.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network (BLN) was launched in 2018 to scale up the number of transactions between Bitcoin owners. Although several contributions concerning the analysis of the BLN binary structure have recently appeared in the literature, the properties of its weighted counterpart are still largely unknown. The present contribution aims at filling this gap, by considering the Bitcoin Lightning Network over a period of 18 months, ranging from 12th January 2018 to 17th July 2019, and focusing on its weighted, undirected, daily snapshot representation - each weight representing the total capacity of the channels the two involved nodes have established on a given temporal snapshot. As the study of the BLN weighted structural properties reveals, it is becoming increasingly ‘centralized’ at different levels, just as its binary counterpart: (1) the Nakamoto coefficient shows that the percentage of nodes whose degrees/strengths ‘enclose’ the 51% of the total number of links/total weight is rapidly decreasing; (2) the Gini coefficient confirms that several weighted centrality measures are becoming increasingly unevenly distributed; (3) the weighted BLN topology is becoming increasingly compatible with a core–periphery structure, with the largest nodes ‘by strength’ constituting the core of such a network, whose size keeps shrinking as the BLN evolves. Further inspection of the resilience of the weighted BLN shows that removing such hubs leads to the network fragmentation into many components, an evidence indicating potential security threats — as the ones represented by the so called ‘split attacks’., Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 164, ISSN:0960-0779, ISSN:1873-2887

In this paper, we study the robustness of multiple interrelated R&D networks under risk propagation. Firstly, using a bi-partite graph to represent the interrelated R&D networks is emphasized and proposed. Secondly, a risk propagation model is built by defining risk load and risk capacity of each enterprise on a specific R&D network, Thirdly, we use simulations to study risk propagation in interrelated R&D networks. Our results indicate that there exist three critical thresholds to quantify the robustness of R&D networks. Risk propagation in R&D networks is highly affected by the heterogeneity of all enterprises' scales and risk capacities.

With the development of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things, in order to provide a more effective and reliable monitoring system, industrial machinery is equipped with multiple sensors to form a multi-sensor system that provides high quality and large amounts of data for diagnosis. However, different components of machine may have different features, and the same type of sensor has different characteristic outputs due to different sensing positions, resulting in heterogeneous data. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a complex data preprocessing process to train an effective detection model. In addition, the trained model is immutable. When the configuration of the sensors is changed, a lot of time must be spent to retrain the model. It is difficult to efficiently adjust the model according to the actual situation. In view of data heterogeneity and model immutability of multi-sensor systems, this study proposes an architecture named two-stage anomaly detection system. In the first stage, the data conversion model called Converter is proposed in this paper to convert heterogeneous data to uniform, thus making multi-sensor diagnostic systems easy for training. The second stage considers the relationship among data input and integrates all the unified data for accurate diagnosis of the entire system. The experiment of this study uses the IMS rolling bearing data set to verify the effectiveness of this architecture. The results show that the two-stage architecture can effectively perform anomaly detection and help to deal with heterogeneous data and model variability in multi-sensor systems.

The Bitcoin lightning network (BLN), a so-called 'second layer' payment protocol, was launched in 2018 to scale up the number of transactions between Bitcoin owners. In this paper, we analyse the structure of the BLN over a period of 18 months, ranging from 12th January 2018 to 17th July 2019, at the end of which the network has reached 8.216 users, 122.517 active channels and 2.732,5 transacted Bitcoins. Here, we consider three representations of the BLN: the daily snapshot one, the weekly snapshot one and the daily-block snapshot one. By studying the topological properties of the binary and weighted versions of the three representations above, we find that the total volume of transacted Bitcoins approximately grows as the square of the network size; however, despite the huge activity characterising the BLN, the Bitcoins distribution is very unequal: the average Gini coefficient of the node strengths (computed across the entire history of the Bitcoin lightning network) is, in fact, sime0.88 causing the 10% (50%) of the nodes to hold the 80% (99%) of the Bitcoins at stake in the BLN (on average, across the entire period). This concentration brings up the question of which minimalist network model allows us to explain the network topological structure. Like for other economic systems, we hypothesise that local properties of nodes, like the degree, ultimately determine part of its characteristics. Therefore, we have tested the goodness of the undirected binary configuration model (UBCM) in reproducing the structural features of the BLN: the UBCM recovers the disassortative and the hierarchical character of the BLN but underestimates the centrality of nodes; this suggests that the BLN is becoming an increasingly centralised network, more and more compatible with a core-periphery structure. Further inspection of the resilience of the BLN shows that removing hubs leads to the collapse of the network into many components, an evidence suggesting that this network may be a target for the so-called split attacks., New Journal of Physics, 22 (8), ISSN:1367-2630

Medical protective clothing is the first line of defense for medical staff, which makes the acquisition of protection and multiple function challenging. When it comes to contagious diseases, the physical properties of protective clothing are deemed the top priority and, subsequently, they have significant meaning for the structural design, production cost evaluation, convenient production, and innovation. In this study, nonwoven technology is employed to produce matrices in which mechanical properties are supported by Tencel fibers and recycled Kevlar fibers. Next, the electrostatic spinning is conducted to generate breathable and waterproof films. The nonwoven fabrics and membranes are combined to have diverse functions, forming lay-up compound matrices for medical protective clothing. Moreover, measurements are conducted to characterize the lay-up compound matrices in terms of the tensile strength, tearing strength, bursting strength, puncture resistance, stiffness, air-permeable property, surface resistance, comfort performance, sub-micron particulate filtration efficiency, and the penetration of synthetic blood. As for the nonwoven fabrics, the mechanical properties are significantly improved after Kevlar fibers are incorporated. The tensile strength is (62.6 ± 2.4) N along the machine direction (MD) and (50.1 ± 3.1) N along the cross machine direction (CD); the tearing strength is (29.5 ± 1.6) N along the MD and (43.0 ± 1.7) N along the CD; the bursting strength is (365.8 ± 5.0) kPa; and the puncture resistance is (22.6 ± 1.0) N. Moreover, the lay-up compound matrices exhibit a stiffness of (14.7 ± 0.2) cm along the MD and (14.6 ± 0.1) cm along the CD, a surface resistance of (2.85 × 109 ± 0.37 × 109) Ω, an air-permeable property of (45.4 ± 2.3) cm3/s/cm2, and sub-micron particulate filtration efficiency of over 98%. In the measurement for penetration of synthetic blood, the K40/PAN/TPU group prevents the synthetic blood from penetration. Hence, the incorporation of recycled Kevlar fibers and lay-up compound technique creates good physical properties, an appropriate comfort attribute, and functions, which suggests that this study provides a greater diversity and new concepts for the production of medical protective clothing.

Identifying influential nodes is of significance for understanding the dynamics of information diffusion process in complex networks. In this paper, we present an improved distance-based coloring method to identify the multiple influential spreaders. In our method, each node is colored by a kind of color with the rule that the distance between initial nodes is close to the average distance of a network. When all nodes are colored, nodes with the same color are sorted into an independent set. Then we choose the nodes at the top positions of the ranking list according to their centralities. The experimental results for an artificial network and three empirical networks show that, comparing with the performance of traditional coloring method, the improvement ratio of our distance-based coloring method could reach 12.82%, 8.16%, 4.45%, 2.93% for the ER, Erdős, Polblogs and Routers networks respectively.

In this letter, the response in the drain current ( $\text{I}_\text{D})$ of the amorphous indium–gallium–zinc oxide thin-film transistors under positive-bias illumination stress is measured with respect to time in less than 5 s under light pulses with altering frequencies and duty ratios. The curves of $\text{I}_\text{D}$ under the light pulses are affected by the different defect-reacting rates under illumination and in the dark. By taking the derivative of $\text{I}_\text{D}$ , the trend of the change in the number of defects becomes clear. The total behavior of $\text{I}_\text{D}$ in response to light pulses can be fairly predicted by the integral of the derivative terms with a correction factor of charge trapping.

Growing interest has emerged to understand the coupled awareness-epidemic dynamics in multiplex network. However, most previous studies usually assume that all the infected nodes have the same influence on the susceptible neighbors, without considering node’s heterogeneity. In this paper, with the similarity between epidemic spreading and risk propagation, we apply the UAU-SIS model to investigate the interplay between awareness and risk propagation in R&D networks considering firms’ heterogeneity. Here, the risk triggering probabilities are heterogeneous and depend on two factors: cooperation intensity and local risk prevalence. The results reveal that the cooperation intensity can increase the risk propagation prevalence and decrease the risk propagation threshold, while the local risk prevalence can only increase the risk propagation prevalence. Moreover, we find that the risk propagation threshold undergoes an abrupt transition with a certain point of the local awareness ratio (the global awareness ratio) ignoring the global awareness (the local awareness ratio), which includes two-stage effects on risk propagation threshold. Furthermore, threshold lies in three different areas when considering both the global and local awareness. These results could provide a basis for managerial professionals to improve the robustness of interdependent R&D networks under risk propagation by taking effective measures.

In this study, we synthesized a periodic polystyrene nanosphere (PS NS) array using the dip-drop method with post-deposition etching to improve the light extraction efficiency (LEE) of InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The dip-drop method has advantages such as simple procedure, inexpensive equipment, room temperature deposition, and easy implementation in LEDs. The arrangement of PS NSs on an indium-tin-oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate depends on the average dip-drop speed and the concentration of the PS NS suspension. The periodic PS NS array can modulate the in-plane wave vector of emission light from a semiconductor to free space and thus increase the escape probability. The calculated and experimental results indicated that the light output intensity of the InGaN/GaN LEDs can be improved by using the periodic PS NS array as a window layer; this array comprises PS NSs with a diameter of 100 nm separated with periods of 100 and 100 nm in the x and y directions. Because of the improved LEE, the InGaN/GaN LEDs with the optimal PS NS array window layers exhibited a 38% increase in light output intensity compared with the conventional InGaN/GaN LEDs under 20-mA driving current.

Background/Aims: Intermittent hypoxia (IH) has been shown to exert preconditioning-like cardioprotective effects. It also has been reported that IH preserves intracellular pH (pHi) during ischemia and protects cardiomyocytes against ischemic reperfusion injury. However, the exact mechanism is still unclear. Methods: In this study, we used proton indicator BCECF-AM to analyze the rate of pHi recovery from acidosis in the IH model of rat neonatal cardiomyocytes. Neonatal cardiomyocytes were first treated with repetitive hypoxia-normoxia cycles for 1-4 days. Cells were then acid loaded with NH4Cl, and the rate of pHi recovery from acidosis was measured. Results: We found that the pHi recovery rate from acidosis was much slower in the IH group than in the room air (RA) group. When we treated cardiomyocytes with Na+-H+ exchange (NHE) inhibitors (Amiloride and HOE642) or Na+-free Tyrode solution during the recovery, there was no difference between RA and IH groups. We also found intracellular Na+ concentration ([Na+]i) significantly increased after IH exposure for 4 days. However, the phenomenon could be abolished by pretreatment with ROS inhibitors (SOD and phenanathroline), intracellular calcium chelator or Na+-Ca2+ exchange (NCX) inhibitor. Furthermore, the pHi recovery rate from acidosis became faster in the IH group than in the RA group when inhibition of NCX activity. Conclusions: These results suggest that IH would induce the elevation of ROS production. ROS then activates Ca2+-efflux mode of NCX and results in intracellular Na+ accumulation. The rise of [Na+]i further inhibits the activity of NHE-mediated acid extrusion and retards the rate of pHi recovery from acidosis during IH.

Identifying the nodes with largest spreading influence of complex networks is one of the most promising domains. By taking into account the neighbors' k-core values, we present an improved neighbors' k-core (INK) method which is the sum of the neighbors' k-core values with a tunable parameter α to evaluate the node spreading influence with largest k-core values. Comparing with the Susceptible–Infected–Recovered (SIR) results for four real networks, the INK method could identify the node spreading influence with largest k-core values more accurately than the ones generated by the degree k, closeness C, betweenness B and coreness centrality method.

Developments of backplane technologies, which are one of the challenging topics, toward the realization of flexible active matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLEDs) are discussed in this paper. Plastic substrates including polyimide are considered as a good candidate for substrates of flexible AMOLEDs. The fabrication process flows based on plastic substrates are explained. Limited by the temperature that plastic substrates can sustain, TFT technologies with maximum processing temperature below 400 °C must be developed. Considering the stringent requirements of AMOLEDs, both oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) and ultra-low-temperature poly-silicon TFTs (U-LTPS TFTs) are investigated. First, oxide TFTs with representative indium gallium zinc oxide channel layer are fabricated on polyimide substrates. The threshold voltage shifts under bias stress and under bending test are small. Thus, a 4.0-in. flexible AMOLED is demonstrated with indium gallium zinc oxide TFTs, showing good panel performance and flexibility. Further, the oxide TFTs based on indium tin zinc oxide channel layer with high mobility and good stability are discussed. The mobility can be higher than 20 cm2/Vs, and threshold voltage shifts under both voltage stress and current stress are almost negligible, proving the potential of oxide TFT technology. On the other hand, the U-LTPS TFTs are also developed. It is confirmed that dehydrogenation and dopant activation can be effectively performed at a temperature within 400 °C. The performance of U-LTPS TFTs on polyimide is compatible to those of TFTs on glass. Also, the performance of devices on polyimide can be kept intact after devices de-bonded from glass carrier. Finally, a 4.3-in. flexible AMOLED is also demonstrated with U-LTPS TFTs.

In this paper, microwave assisted annealing (MWAA) technique on atmospheric pressure plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (AP-PECVD) fabricated indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors (IGZO TFTs) is investigated for the first time. MWAA with 300W for 100sec treatment on AP-IGZO TFTs have been fabricated successfully and show excellent electrical characteristics including a VTH of −1.23 V, SS of 0.18 V/dec, µFE of 17.4 cm2/V-s, and Ion/Ioff ratio of 8.14 106. Stretched exponential time dependence model is used to analyze the mechanism of AP-IGZO TFTs under PBTI stress. Accordingly, chemisorption model for oxygen adsorption at AP-IGZO backchannel with and without MWAA is proposed to explain the mechanism under PBTI stress.

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the N2 plasma treatment for high-κ ZrO2 gate dielectric stack (30 nm) with indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Experimental results reveal that a suitable incorporation of nitrogen atoms could enhance the device performance by eliminating the oxygen vacancies and provide an amorphous surface with better surface roughness. With N2 plasma treated ZrO2 gate, IGZO channel is fabricated by atmospheric pressure plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (AP-PECVD) technique. The best performance of the AP-PECVD IGZO TFTs are obtained with 20 W-90 sec N2 plasma treatment with field-effect mobility (μ(FET)) of 22.5 cm2/V-s, subthreshold swing (SS) of 155 mV/dec, and on/off current ratio (I(on)/I(off)) of 1.49 x 10(7).

The aim of the present study was to construct angiopoietin-2 (Ang2)-small interfering (si)RNA chitosan magnetic nanoparticles and to observe the interference effects of the nanoparticles on the expression of the Ang2 gene in human malignant melanoma cells. Ang2-siRNA chitosan magnetic nanoparticles were constructed and transfected into human malignant melanoma cells in vitro. Red fluorescent protein expression was observed, and the transfection efficiency was analyzed. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to assess the inhibition efficiency of Ang2 gene expression. Ang2-siRNA chitosan magnetic nanoparticles were successfully constructed, and at a mass ratio of plasmid to magnetic chitosan nanoparticles of 1:100, the transfection efficiency into human malignant melanoma cells was the highest of the ratios assessed, reaching 61.17%. RT-qPCR analysis showed that the magnetic chitosan nanoparticles effectively inhibited Ang2 gene expression in cells, and the inhibition efficiency reached 59.56% (P