Search

Abstract Multiferroic materials offer a promising avenue for manipulating digital information by leveraging the cross-coupling between ferroelectric and ferromagnetic orders. Despite the ferroelectricity has been uncovered by ion displacement or interlayer-sliding, one-unit-cell of multiferroic materials design and wafer-scale synthesis have yet to be realized. Here we develope an interface modulated strategy to grow 1-inch one-unit-cell of non-layered chromium sulfide with unidirectional orientation on industry-compatible c-plane sapphire. The interfacial interaction between chromium sulfide and substrate induces the intralayer-sliding of self-intercalated chromium atoms and breaks the space reversal symmetry. As a result, robust room-temperature ferroelectricity (retaining more than one month) emerges in one-unit-cell of chromium sulfide with ultrahigh remanent polarization. Besides, long-range ferromagnetic order is discovered with the Curie temperature approaching 200 K, almost two times higher than that of bulk counterpart. In parallel, the magnetoelectric coupling is certified and which makes 1-inch one-unit-cell of chromium sulfide the largest and thinnest multiferroics.

In recent years, a growing body of research has confirmed that the gut microbiota plays a major role in the maintenance of human health and disease. A gut microbiota imbalance can lead to the development of many diseases, such as pregnancy complications, adverse pregnancy outcomes, polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, and cancer. Short-chain fatty acids are metabolites of specific intestinal bacteria and are crucial for maintaining intestinal homeostasis and regulating metabolism and immunity. Endometriosis is the result of cell proliferation, escape from immune surveillance, and invasive metastasis. There is a strong correlation between the anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory effects of short-chain fatty acids produced by gut microbes and the development of endometriosis. Given that the mechanism of action of gut microbiota and Short-chain fatty acids in endometriosis remain unclear, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the complex interactions between intestinal flora, short-chain fatty acids and endometriosis. In addition, we explored potential microbial-based treatment strategies for endometriosis, providing new insights into the future development of diagnostic tests and prevention and treatment methods for endometriosis.

Introduction: The bone ingrowth depth in the porous scaffolds is greatly affected by the structural design, notably the pore size, pore geometry, and the pore distribution. To enhance the bone regeneration capability of scaffolds, the bionic design can be regarded as a potential solution. Objectives: We proposed a Haversian system-like gradient structure based on the triply periodic minimal surface architectures with pore size varying from the edge to the center. And its effects in promoting bone regeneration were evaluated in the study. Methods: The gradient scaffold was designed using the triply periodic minimal surface architectures. The mechanical properties were analyzed by the finite element simulation and confirmed using the universal machine. The fluid characteristics were calculated by the computational fluid dynamics analysis. The bone regeneration process was simulated using a in silico computational model containing the main biological, physical, and chemical variation during the bone growth process. Finally, the in vitro and in vivo studies were carried out to verify the actual osteogenic effect. Results: Compared to the uniform scaffold, the biomimetic gradient scaffold demonstrated better performance in stress conduction and reduced stress shielding effects. The fluid features were appropriate for cell migration and flow diffusion, and the permeability was in the same order of magnitude with the natural bone. The bone ingrowth simulation exhibited improved angiogenesis and bone regeneration. Higher expression of the osteogenesis-related genes, higher alkaline phosphatase activity, and increased mineralization could be observed on the gradient scaffold in the in vitro study. The 12-week in vivo study proved that the gradient scaffold had deeper bone inserting depth and a more stable bone-scaffold interface. Conclusion: The Haversian system-like gradient structure can effectively promote the bone regeneration. This structural design can be used as a new solution for the clinical application of prosthesis design.

Conformal 3D printing can construct specific three-dimensional structures on the free-form surfaces of target objects, achieving in situ additive manufacturing and repair, making it one of the cutting-edge technologies in the current field of 3D printing. To further improve the repair efficacy in tissue engineering, this study proposes a conformal path planning algorithm for in situ printing in specific areas of the target object. By designing the conformal 3D printing algorithm and utilizing vector projection and other methods, coordinate transformation of the printing trajectory was achieved. The algorithm was validated, showing good adherence of the printing material to the target surface. In situ repair experiments were also conducted on human hands and pig tibia defect models, verifying the feasibility of this method and laying a foundation for further research in personalized medicine and tissue repair.

The spread of infectious diseases are inevitably affected by natural and social factors, and their evolution presents oscillations and other uncertainties. Therefore, it is of practical significance to consider stochastic noise interference in the studies of infectious disease models. In this paper, a stochastic SIR model with nonlinear incidence and recovery rate is studied. First, a unique global positive solution for any initial value of the system is proved. Second, we provide the sufficient conditions for disease extinction or persistence, and the influence of threshold $ \tilde{R_{0}} $ of the stochastic SIR model on disease state transition is analyzed. Additionally, we prove that the system has a stationary distribution under some given parameter conditions by building an appropriate stochastic Lyapunov function as well as using the equivalent condition of the Hasminskii theorem. Finally, the correctness of these theoretical results are validated by numerical simulations.

Background: Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is a common disease, frequently afflicting the lower limb veins of bedridden patients. Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC) is often employed as an effective solution for this problem. In our study, a random selection of 264 patients underwent IPC treatment for either one or 8 hours daily. The rate of severe venous thrombosis was substantially reduced in the IPC-treated group compared to the control group. However, real-time monitoring of blood flow during IPC operation periods remains a challenge, leading to rare awareness of IPC working mechanism on thrombosis prevention.Methods: Here, microfluidic chip methodology is used to create an in vitro vein-mimicking platform integrating venous valves in a deformable channel. Whole blood of patients after knee surgery was perfused into the venous channel at a controlled flow rate obtained from patients with IPC treatment clinically.Results: According to the numerical simulations results, both of an increase in compressive pressure and a decrease in time interval of IPC device can accelarete blood flow rate and the shear stress within the vein. The vein chip experiments also reveal that the fibrin accumulation can be greatly lowered in IPC treated group, indicating less thrombosis formation in future. A time interval of 24 seconds and a maximum contraction pressure of 40 mmHg were proved to be the most effective parameters for the IPC device adopted in our clinical trail.Conclusion: This vein chip presents a novel method for observing the functional mechanisms of IPC device for DVT prevention. It provides crucial data for further standardization and optimization of IPC devices in clinical usage.

2D multiferroic materials have garnered broad interests due to their magnetoelectric properties and multifunctional applications. Here, the authors discover a multiferroic feature in physical vapor deposition synthesized 2D metallic p-doped SnSe.

Bamboo fiber/polypropylene composites (BPCs) have been widely used in buildings, interior decoration, and automobile components. However, pollutants and fungi can interact with the hydrophilic bamboo fibers on the surface of Bamboo fiber/polypropylene composites, degrading their appearance and mechanical properties. To improve their anti-fouling and anti-mildew properties, a superhydrophobic modified Bamboo fiber/polypropylene composite (BPC-TiO2-F) was fabricated by introducing titanium dioxide (TiO2) and poly(DOPAm-co-PFOEA) onto the surface of a Bamboo fiber/polypropylene composite. The morphology of BPC-TiO2-F was analyzed by XPS, FTIR, and SEM. The results showed that TiO2 particles covered on Bamboo fiber/polypropylene composite surface via complexation between phenolic hydroxyl groups and Ti atoms. Low-surface-energy fluorine-containing poly(DOPAm-co-PFOEA) was introduced onto the Bamboo fiber/polypropylene composite surface, forming a rough micro/nanostructure that endowed BPC-TiO2-F with superhydrophobicity (water contact angle = 151.0° ± 0.5°). The modified Bamboo fiber/polypropylene composite exhibited excellent self-cleaning properties, and a model contaminant, Fe3O4 powder, was rapidly removed from the surface by water drops. BPC-TiO2-F showed excellent anti-mold performance, and no mold was on its surface after 28 days. The superhydrophobic BPC-TiO2-F had good mechanical durability and could withstand sandpaper abrasion with a weight load of 50 g, finger wiping for 20 cycles, and tape adhesion abrasion for 40 cycles. BPC-TiO2-F showed good self-cleaning properties, mildew resistance, and mechanical resistance, giving it promising applications for automotive upholstery and building decoration.

Costimulatory molecules (CMGs) play essential roles in multiple cancers. However, lncRNAs regulating costimulatory molecules have not been fully explored in gastric cancer (GC). Public data of GC patients were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. R software v4.1.1, SPSS v13.0, and GraphPad Prism 8 were used to perform all the analyses. The Limma package was used for differential expression analysis. The survival package was used for patient prognosis analysis. The gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), gene ontology (GO), and the Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis were used for pathway enrichment analysis. qRT-PCR was used to detect the RNA level of target lncRNA. CCK-8 and colony formation assay were used to assess the proliferation ability of GC cells. The transwell assay was used to evaluate the invasion and migration ability of GC cells. We first identified CMG-related lncRNAs (CMLs) through co-expression analysis. Then, an eight-CML-based signature was constructed to predict patient overall survival (OS), which showed satisfactory predictive efficiency (the training cohort: 1-year AUC = 0.764, 3-year AUC = 0.810, 5-year AUC = 0.840; the validation cohort: 1-year AUC = 0.661, 3-year AUC = 0.718, 5-year AUC = 0.822). The patients in the high-risk group tend to have a worse prognosis. GSEA showed that epithelial–mesenchymal transition, KRAS signaling, and angiogenesis were aberrantly activated in high-risk patients. GO and KEGG analyses indicated that the biological difference between high- and low-risk patients was mainly enriched in the extracellular matrix. Immune infiltration analysis showed that macrophages (M1 and M2), dendritic cells, monocytes, Tregs, and T regulatory cells were positively correlated with the risk scores, partly responsible for the worsening OS of high-risk patients. Finally, lncRNA AP000695.2 was selected for further experiments. The result showed that AP000695.2 was upregulated in GC cell lines and could facilitate the proliferation, invasion, and migration of GC cells. In summary, this study established an effective prognosis model based on eight CMLs, which would be helpful for further therapy options for cancer. Also, we found that AP000695.2 could promote GC cell malignant phenotype, making it an underlying therapy target in GC.

PurposeAs a second-generation drug-eluting stent, the restenosis risk factors of the everolimus-eluting stent (EES) lack sufficient evidence. Therefore, the study investigated the in-stent restenosis occurrence and its predictive factors among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with EES.Materials and methodsTotally, 235 patients with CHD who underwent PCI with EES were included. At 1 year post PCI with EES (or earlier if clinically indicated), coronary angiography was performed to evaluate the in-stent restenosis status.ResultsWithin 1 year post-operation, 20 patients developed in-stent restenosis while 215 patients did not develop in-stent restenosis, resulting in a 1-year in-stent restenosis rate of 8.5%. Diabetes mellitus, hypercholesteremia, hyperuricemia, fasting blood glucose, serum uric acid (SUA), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (HsCRP), target lesions in the left circumflex artery, patients with two target lesions, length of target lesions and length of stent positively correlated with in-stent restenosis risk, while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol negatively associated with in-stent restenosis risk. Notably, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesteremia, SUA, HsCRP levels, and patients with two target lesions were independent predictive factors for in-stent restenosis risk by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Then, the in-stent restenosis risk prediction model was established based on these independent predictive factors, which exhibited an excellent value in predicting in-stent restenosis risk (area under the curve: 0.863; 95% CI: 0.779–0.848) by receiver operating characteristic analysis.ConclusionIn-stent restenosis risk prediction model, consisting of diabetes mellitus, hypercholesteremia, SUA, HsCRP, and patients with two target lesions, may predict in-stent restenosis risk in patients with CHD who underwent post-PCI with EES.

Introduction: The traditional clinical treatment of long segmental bone defects usually requires multiple operations and depends on donor availability. The 3D bio-printing technology constitutes a great potential therapeutic tool for such an injury. However, in situ 3D bio-printing remains a major challenge. Objectives: In this study, we report the repair of long segmental bone defects by in situ 3D bio-printing using a robotic manipulator 3D printer in a swine model. Methods: We systematically optimized bio-ink gelation under physiological conditions to achieve desirable mechanical properties suitable for bone regeneration, and a D-H kinematic model was used to improve printing accuracy to 0.5 mm. Results: These technical improvements allowed the repair of long segmental defects generated on the right tibia of pigs using 3D bio-printing within 12 min. The 3D bio-printing group showed improved treatment effects after 3 months. Conclusion: These findings indicated that robotic in situ 3D bio-printing is promising for direct clinical application.

Taking the minimizing pose error of the end-effector as the objective function， the inverse kinematics problem of redundant manipulator is transformed into an equivalent optimization problem. An improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to solve this optimization problem. The algorithm is comprehensively improved from the aspects of particle population initialization， inertia weight adjustment strategy， differential mutation operation as well as the boundary violation treatment of searching space. At the same time， a two-stage hybrid coevolution mechanism based on particle swarm evolution and differential mutation evolution is constructed. As a result， the global exploration and the local exploitation of the algorithm are reasonably and effectively balanced， the convergence precision and speed of the algorithm are improved. Taking the inverse kinematics solutions of a planar redundant manipulator and a 7-DOF redundant manipulator as examples， the proposed algorithm and the comparison algorithms are used to solve the inverse kinematics problem. The simulation results show that compared with the comparison algorithm， the proposed algorithm has higher convergence accuracy， faster convergence speed and stronger optimization stability. The proposed algorithm can effectively solve the inverse kinematics problem of redundant manipulator.

Abstract Background Procyanidin B2 (PB2), a unique component of the grape seed and other medicinal plants. PB2 has shown wide anticancer activity in various human cancer cells. However, it remains unclear about the biological effects and associated mechanisms of PB2 on gastric cancer cells. Methods Cell proliferation was measured by CCK8 assay, and cellular lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release was measured in the culture medium. Cellular apoptosis was observed via TUNEL staining assay and measured by caspase-3 and -9 activities. Autophagy was observed by LC3 staining. Western blot analysis was performed to verify autophagy-associated proteins (Beclin1 and Atg5) and Akt-mTOR pathway. Results PB2 reduced the viability of BGC-823 and SGC-7901 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, PB2 induced increased apoptosis rate of gastric cancer cells and enhanced caspase-3 and -9 activities. Simultaneously, PB2 triggered autophagy in gastric cancer cells, with enhanced LC3 staining and increased expression of Beclin1 and Atg5, while the inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA reversed the PB2-induced suppression on cell viability. In addition, PB2 significantly decreased p-Akt and p-mTOR protein expression of gastric cancer cells. Conclusion PB2 exerts anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects and induces autophagy by modulating Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. PB2 may be developed as a potential therapeutic drug for gastric cancer.

In medical validation experiments, such as drug testing and clinical trials, 3D bioprinted biomimetic tissues, especially those containing blood vessels, can be used to replace animal models. The difficulty in the viability of printed biomimetic tissues, in general, lies in the provision of adequate oxygen and nutrients to the internal regions. This is to ensure normal cellular metabolic activity. The construction of a flow channel network in the tissue is an effective way to address this challenge by both allowing nutrients to diffuse and providing sufficient nutrients for internal cell growth and by removing metabolic waste in a timely manner. In this paper, a three-dimensional TPMS vascular flow channel network model was developed and simulated to analyse the effect of perfusion pressure on blood flow rate and vascular-like flow channel wall pressure when the perfusion pressure varies. Based on the simulation results, the in vitro perfusion culture parameters were optimised to improve the structure of the porous structure model of the vascular-like flow channel, avoiding perfusion failure due to unreasonable perfusion pressure settings or necrosis of cells without sufficient nutrients due to the lack of fluid passing through some of the channels, and the research work promotes the development of tissue engineering in vitro culture.

Abstract Background Extensive research has revealed that genes play a pivotal role in tumor development and growth. However, the underlying involvement of gene expression in gastric carcinoma (GC) remains to be investigated further. Methods In this study, we identified overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by comparing tumor tissue with adjacent normal tissue using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Results Our analysis identified 79 up-regulated and ten down-regulated genes. Functional enrichment analysis and prognosis analysis were conducted on the identified genes, and the fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase (FALDH) gene, ALDH3A2, was chosen for more detailed analysis. We performed Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and immunocorrelation analysis (infiltration, copy number alterations, and checkpoints) to elucidate the mechanisms of action of ALDH3A2 in depth. The immunohistochemical (IHC) result based on 140 paraffin-embedded human GC samples indicated that ALDH3A2 was over-expressed in low-grade GC cases and the OS of patients with low expression of ALDH3A2 was significantly shorter than those with high ALDH3A2 expression. In vitro results indicated that the expression of ALDH3A2 was negatively correlated with PDCD1, PDCD1LG2, and CTLA-4. Conclusion We conclude that ALDH3A2 might be useful as a potential reference value for the relief and immunotherapy of GC, and also as an independent predictive marker for the prognosis of GC.

Abstract In this paper, we study the reasonability of linearized approximation and Hopf bifurcation control for a fractional-order delay Bhalekar–Gejji (BG) chaotic system. Since the current study on Hopf bifurcation for fractional-order delay systems is carried out on the basis of analyses for stability of equilibrium of its linearized approximation system, it is necessary to verify the reasonability of linearized approximation. Through Laplace transformation, we first illustrate the equivalence of stability of equilibrium for a fractional-order delay Bhalekar–Gejji chaotic system and its linearized approximation system under an appropriate prior assumption. This semianalytically verifies the reasonability of linearized approximation from the viewpoint of stability. Then we theoretically explore the relationship between the time delay and Hopf bifurcation of such a system. By introducing the delayed feedback controller into the proposed system, the influence of the feedback gain changes on Hopf bifurcation is also investigated. The obtained results indicate that the stability domain can be effectively controlled by the proposed delayed feedback controller. Moreover, numerical simulations are made to verify the validity of the theoretical results.

Wave plates as important polarization control devices are widely used in the applications of biomedical imaging, fiber optical communication, astronomy, semiconductor industry and aerospace etc. To make the wave plate actively tunable, we propose a rectangular antenna-based metasurface based on the phase-changing material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) with high transmittance and polarization conversion rate. Before the GST phase transition, the metasurface operates as a quarter-wave plate in the wavelength range of 10.0-11.9 μm. After the GST turning into crystalline state, the metasurface operates as a half-wave plate in the wavelength range of 10.3-10.9 μm. The physical mechanism for the high transmittance efficiency and polarization conversion rate attributes to the combination of the electric dipole and magnetic dipole resonances. Moreover, the adjustable wavelength range can be further extended by changing the geometry of antenna-based GST to selectively enhancing or suppressing the electric and magnetic resonances. This work provides a new strategy for tunable wave plate, which would have the potential in the application of multi-functional integrated optical systems.

Basic analysis of the flow field and aerosol deposition under different conditions when a spreader contains an upper airway tract is important to accurately predict the transmission of virus-laden aerosols. An upper airway was included to simulate aerosol transport and deposition. A flow field was simulated by the Transition SST model for validation. The simulation results show that, in the absence of the upper airway structure, an over-predicted aerosol deposition rate will occur. Higher upper-stream air velocity enhanced the intensity but added complexity to the recirculating flow between two manikins and increased the deposition rate of aerosol in the disseminator. A low-temperature environment can reduce the deposition rate of aerosol particles on the body of the disseminator due to a strong thermal plume. Therefore, the structure of the upper airway should be considered when predicting respiratory aerosol in order to increase the accuracy of aerosol propagation prediction.

A generalized delay stage structure prey-predator model with fear effect and prey refuge is considered in this paper via introducing fractional-order and fear effect induced by immature predators. Hopf bifurcation and control of this system are investigated though regarding the delay as the parameter. Firstly, by using the method of linearization and Laplace transform, the roots of the characteristic equation of the linearized system of the original system are discussed, and the sufficient conditions for the system exhibits an unstable state of symmetrical periodic oscillation (Hopf bifurcation) are explored. Secondly, a linear delay feedback controller is added to the system to increase the stability domain successfully. Thirdly, numerical simulations are performed to validate the theoretical analysis, and the various impacts on the dynamical behavior of the system occurring by fear effects, prey refuge, and each fractional-order are illustrated, respectively. Furthermore, the influence of feedback gain on the bifurcation critical point is analyzed. Finally, an analysis based on the results and in-depth research about this system under the biological background is stated in the conclusion.

Objectives To develop a model of in-hospital mortality using medical record front page (MRFP) data and assess its validity in case-mix standardisation by comparison with a model developed using the complete medical record data.Design A nationally representative retrospective study.Setting Representative hospitals in China, covering 161 hospitals in modelling cohort and 156 hospitals in validation cohort.Participants Representative patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction. 8370 patients in modelling cohort and 9704 patients in validation cohort.Primary outcome measures In-hospital mortality, which was defined explicitly as death that occurred during hospitalisation, and the hospital-level risk standardised mortality rate (RSMR).Results A total of 14 variables were included in the model predicting in-hospital mortality based on MRFP data, with the area under receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.78 among modelling cohort and 0.79 among validation cohort. The median of absolute difference between the hospital RSMR predicted by hierarchical generalised linear models established based on MRFP data and complete medical record data, which was built as ‘reference model’, was 0.08% (10th and 90th percentiles: −1.8% and 1.6%). In the regression model comparing the RSMR between two models, the slope and intercept of the regression equation is 0.90 and 0.007 in modelling cohort, while 0.85 and 0.010 in validation cohort, which indicated that the evaluation capability from two models were very similar.Conclusions The models based on MRFP data showed good discrimination and calibration capability, as well as similar risk prediction effect in comparison with the model based on complete medical record data, which proved that MRFP data could be suitable for risk adjustment in hospital performance measurement.

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the biomechanics on the knee components caused by degenerative and radial meniscal tears and resultant meniscectomy. Methods: A detailed finite element model of the knee joint with bones, cartilages, menisci and main ligaments was constructed from a combination of computed tomography and magnetic resonance images. Degenerative and radial tears of both menisci and resultant medial meniscectomy were used and two different kinds of simulations, the vertical and the anterior load, mimicking the static stance and slight flexion simulations, were applied on the model. The compressive and shear stress and meniscus extrusion were evaluated and compared. Results: Generally, both degenerative and radial tears lead to increased peak compressive and shear stress of both cartilages and menisci and large meniscus extrusion, and the medial meniscal tear induced larger value of stress and extrusion than the lateral meniscal tear. The peak stress and meniscus extrusion further elevated after the medial meniscus meniscectomy. Distribution of stress was shifted from the intact hemi joint to the injured hemi joint with either medial or lateral meniscal tear. Conclusion: Our finite element model provides a realistic three-dimensional knee model to investigate the effects of degenerative and radial meniscal tears and resultant meniscectomy on the stress distribution of the knee. The stress was increased in meniscal tears and increased significantly when meniscectomy was performed. Increased meniscus extrusion may explain the mechanism for higher stress on the components of the knee. The translational potential of this article: Meniscal tears are the most common damage associated to the menisci, and meniscectomy is often performed to relieve the pain and instability of the knee. The results of our study indicated increased stress on cartilages and menisci, which may lead to early onset of osteoarthritis. This may guide surgeons to preserve more of the meniscus when performing meniscectomy. Keywords: Compressive stress, Finite element analysis, Meniscal tear, Meniscectomy, Shear stress

Abstract Background Meniscal horns are important structures of meniscus, and longitudinal tears of these places could significantly change the load distribution among the knee joint. Few studies concerned the stress concentrated on bones, which may induce the osteonecrosis of subchondral bone. The goal of this study was to construct a finite element (FE) model with high fidelity of the knee joint and evaluate the biomechanical changes of load distribution of components after longitudinal tears of the horns of meniscus. Methods Computed tomography and magnetic resonance images were used to develop the FE model, and two different kinds of simulations, the vertical and the anterior load, mimicking the static stance and slight flexion simulations, were applied after longitudinal tears of the horns of meniscus. Results Significantly elevated peak compressive and shear stress was observed on the menisci, cartilages, and subchondral bones, and enlarged meniscus extrusion was noticed. Between all the four types of longitudinal tears investigated in this study, longitudinal tears at the posterior horn of the medial meniscus were found to be the most significant. Conclusions These findings showed that longitudinal tears of the meniscal horns lead to increased magnitude and changed distribution of stress and indicated the important role of posterior horn of medial meniscus. This may contribute to the mechanism between meniscal tears and spontaneous subchondral bone osteonecrosis.

With the rapid development of integrated optics, bulky and curved traditional lenses cannot meet the requirements of on-chip optical systems. Alternatively, the metalenses based on the artificial subwavelength structure possess ultra-thin and lightweight characteristics, providing a potential candidate for on-chip optical systems. Nonetheless, most metalenses have a limited field-of-view (FOV) due to the prevalence of severe off-axis aberrations. In this work, we propose and design an on-chip metalens with wide FOV based on the quadratic phase. The metalens modulates the phase of the incident light with different lengths of gold nano-bands placed on the silicon-on-insulator substrate; thus, the quadratic distribution of the phase of the output light can be achieved by shifting the lengths of gold nano-bands and the output light is focused. The metalens can be focused on a large angle (∼120°, ranging from −60° to +60°). Furthermore, the metallic strips in the metalens are very thin with a thickness of 50 nm, which can be easily integrated into a chip. The monolithic metalens of broad FOV and ultrathin thickness will have great potential for applications in areas of sensing, imaging, and on-chip information processing.

A multi-exposure fused (MEF) image is generated by multiple images with different exposure levels, but the transformation process will inevitably introduce various distortions. Therefore, it is worth discussing how to evaluate the visual quality of MEF images. This paper proposes a new blind quality assessment method for MEF images by considering their characteristics, and it is dubbed as BMEFIQA. More specifically, multiple features that represent different image attributes are extracted to perceive the various distortions of MEF images. Among them, structural, naturalness, and colorfulness features are utilized to describe the phenomena of structure destruction, unnatural presentation, and color distortion, respectively. All the captured features constitute a final feature vector for quality regression via random forest. Experimental results on a publicly available database show the superiority of the proposed BMEFIQA method to several blind quality assessment methods.

Abstract Background To explore the therapeutic effect and the biomechanical mechanism of 3D printing individualized heel cup in treating of plantar heel pain. Methods The clinical effect was evaluated by plantar pressure analysis and pain assessment in participants. Its biomechanical mechanism of protecting the plantar heel was explored using finite element simulation. Results The individualized heel cup could support and protect the osseous structure and soft tissue of plantar heel while walking and jogging, as well as significantly reduce the self-reported pain after being worn for 4 weeks. The nylon heel cup could alter the load concentration of the heel as well as decrease the load affected on plantar fascia and calcaneus bone. It also provided an obvious support for heel pad. Conclusion To summarize, the 3D printed individualized heel cup can be used as an effective method for the treatment of plantar heel pain.

Abstract In the field of bone defect repair, gradient porous scaffolds have received increased attention because they provide a better environment for promoting tissue regeneration. In this study, we propose an effective method to generate bionic porous scaffolds based on the TPMS (triply periodic minimal surface) and SF (sigmoid function) methods. First, cortical bone morphological features (e.g., pore size and distribution) were determined for several regions of a rabbit femoral bone by analyzing CT-scans. A finite element method was used to evaluate the mechanical properties of the bone at these respective areas. These results were used to place different TPMS substructures into one scaffold domain with smooth transitions. The geometrical parameters of the scaffolds were optimized to match the elastic properties of a human bone. With this proposed method, a functional gradient porous scaffold could be designed and produced by an additive manufacturing method.

Growth of large-area monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides is critical for their application but remains challenging. Here Yang et al. report rapid chemical vapor deposition of 6-inch monolayer molybdenum disulfide by sufficiently uniformly supplying the precursors and catalysts.

Among the various scaffold design methods, function-based modeling is of great interest due to its accurate controllability for designing pore architectures. Parameters, such as the pore size, pore shape, porosity, and channel interconnectivity, should be designed according to actual skeleton characteristics. To this, an effective modeling method of trabecular bone is proposed, combining triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) and fractal geometry. First, the surface morphology of real trabecular bone is obtained based on the binary processing of computed tomography images. Then, the fractal pore-making element using TPMS is built and constructed into a complex porous structure. Finally, the customized scaffold model is manufactured with an additive manufacturing method.

Metallic transition metal dichalcogenides are important materials for catalysis, but scalable and controllable preparation methods are scarce. Here, the authors synthesize 2H-TaS2 as centimetre-scale films of tunable thickness and show they are an efficient catalyst for hydrogen evolution.

Due to the advantages of control over shape and properties, multimaterial parts have potential for a broad range of biomedical engineering applications. A type of multimaterial part processing method based on digital design and manufacturing has been put forward to solve the problems associated with multimaterial part formation. A modeling platform for a heterogeneous object (HEO) part based on a material distribution control function and hierarchical contour loop was designed and utilized to characterize the material distribution in the HEO model. The hierarchical algorithm of the point color and surface texture based on the topological structure was studied and provided the basic data for the material construction area. An HEO part was fabricated using a custom-made 3-D printing system. The results showed that the digital processing method could effectively solve the problem of HEO part material definition and could realize the integrated design and manufacture of the geometry, material and function of biological parts.

Abstract Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is usually recognized to have a genetic factor, and in our study, we performed a case–control study to analyze the association between 14 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in OPG and the risk of knee OA in a Chinese Han population. Methods Fourteen OPG SNPs were assayed using MassARRAY in 393 patients clinically and radiographically diagnosed with knee OA and in 500 controls. Allelic and genotypic frequencies were compared between the groups. Logistic regression adjusting for age and gender was used to estimate risk associations between specific genotypes and knee OA by computing odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results We found that the minor alleles of six SNPs in OPG were associated with an increased or decreased risk of knee OA in the allelic model analysis. In the genetic model analysis, we found that rs1905786, rs1032128, rs3134058, rs11573828, rs11573849, rs3134056, and rs1564861 were associated with an increased or decreased risk of knee OA before adjusted by sex and age. And after adjustment, three SNPs (rs1485286, rs1905786, and rs1032128) were identified to have a negative effect on knee OA. Conclusion Our results verify that genetic variants of OPG contribute to knee OA susceptibility in the population of northern China. These genetic associations may identify individuals at a particularly high risk of developing knee OA.

In this paper, the photochemical catalytic wastewater degradation property based on photovoltaic technology is studied. The spectral segmentation and utilization technology is taken as the bond to achieve the effective combination of photocatalytic oxidation technology and photovoltaic power generation technology to achieve the goal of sewage purification using solar energy. The photocatalytic and electrical performance of different simulated pollutants, such as methylene blue and p-chlorophenol at different initial concentrations are investigated through the established SOLWAT system. The results show that: with the SOLWAT system, the catalytic degradation rate of the simulated pollutant machine dye methylene blue exceeds 99% and the degradation rate of p-chlorophenol exceeds 90%; and the total organic carbon content of simulated wastewater is reduced by more than 80%, which proves the SOLWAT system can completely mineralize the simulated pollutants into CO2 and H2O; the degradation of colorless simulated pollutants does not affect the electrical performance of the system; the degradation of colored pollutants will increase the output power of the system.

With the rapid development of on-chip optics, integrated optical devices with better performance are desirable. Waveguide couplers are the typical integrated optical devices, allowing for the fast transmission and conversion of optical signals in a broad working band. However, traditional waveguide couplers are limited by the narrow operation band to couple the spatial light into the chip and the fixed unidirectional transmission of light flow. Furthermore, most of the couplers only realize unidirectional transmission under the illumination of the linear polarized light. In this work, a broadband polarization directional coupler based on a metallic catenary antenna integrated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide has been designed and demonstrated under the illumination of the circularly polarized light. By applying the genetic algorithm to optimize the multiple widths of the metallic catenary antenna, the numerical simulation results show that the extinction ratio of the coupler can be maintained larger than 18 dB in a wide operation band of 300 nm (from 1400 to 1700 nm). Moreover, the coupler can couple the spatial beam into the plane and transmit in the opposite direction by modulating the rotation direction of the incident light. The broadband polarization directional coupler might have great potential in integrated optoelectronic devices and on-chip optical devices.

An Al0.15Ga0.85N/Al0.4Ga0.6N separate absorption and multiplication avalanche photodiode (APD) integrated with the 1-D photonic crystal (PC) filter with a three-period antireflection coating between the air and periodic PC units on the back of the sapphire substrate are designed and studied. The calculated results show that the designed Al0.15Ga0.85N/Al0.4Ga0.6N APD has a much higher gain and a steeper spectral responsivity cutoff edge in the solar-blind region, and its peak responsivity and ultraviolet/visible rejection ratio are enhanced near 110% and 230%, respectively, when compared with the conventional AlGaN APD. Moreover, the antireflection coatings used in the designed APD can obviously improve the spectral response curve and the spectral responsivity due to its significant suppression to the reflectivity the in solar-blind region.

A kind of digitally designing and manufacturing system for the gradient heterogeneous 3-D printing was designed. The molar model of PLY format was composed based on the CT images, and a novel method for the gradient heterogeneous material model designing based on the material distribution control function and the sliced edge rings was proposed. The point color slicing algorithm based on the topological structure was achieved. Based on the system, a gradient heterogeneous dental model was prepared. The algorithm used for constructing and slicing of the molar model could store the geometry and material information effectively, and maintain the compatibility for the heterogeneous 3-D printer. The system supplied a fast and integrating method for the heterogeneous 3-D bio-model printing.

The rise of three-dimensional bioprinting technology provides a new way to fabricate in tissue engineering in vitro, but how to provide sufficient nutrition for the internal region of the engineered printed tissue has become the main obstacle. In vitro perfusion culture can not only provide nutrients for the growth of internal cells but also take away the metabolic wastes in time, which is an effective method to solve the problem of tissue engineering culture in vitro. Aiming at user-defined tissue engineering with internal vascularized channels obtained by three-dimensional printing experiment in the early stage, a simulation model was established and the in vitro fluid–structure interaction finite element analysis of tissue engineering perfusion process was carried out. Through fluid–structure interaction simulation, the hydrodynamic behavior and mechanical properties of vascularized channels in the perfusion process was discussed when the perfusion pressure, hydrogel concentration, and crosslinking density changed. The effects of perfusion pressure, hydrogel concentration, and crosslinking density on the flow velocity, pressure on the vascularized channels, and deformation of vascularized channels were analyzed. The simulation results provide a method to optimize the perfusion parameters of tissue engineering, avoiding the perfusion failure caused by unreasonable perfusion pressure and hydrogel concentration and promoting the development of tissue engineering culture in vitro.

Three-dimensional bioprinting has emerged as one of the manufacturing approaches that could potentially fabricate vascularized channels, which is helpful to culture tissues in vitro. In this paper, we report a novel approach to fabricate 3D perfusable channels by using the combination of extrusion and inkjet techniques in an integrated manufacture process. To achieve this, firstly we investigate the theoretical model to analyze influencing factors of structural dimensions of the printed parts like the printing speed, pressure, dispensing time, and voltage. In the experiment, photocurable hydrogel was printed to form a self-supporting structure with internal channel grooves. When the desired height of hydrogel was reached, the dual print-head was switched to the piezoelectric nozzle immediately, and the sacrificial material was printed by the changed nozzle on the printed hydrogel layer. Then, the extrusion nozzle was switched to print the next hydrogel layer. Once the printing of the internal construct was finished, hydrogel was extruded to wrap the entire structure, and the construct was immersed in a CaCl2 solution to crosslink. After that, the channel was formed by removing the sacrificial material. This approach can potentially provide a strategy for fabricating 3D vascularized channels and advance the development of culturing thick tissues in vitro.

Single-layer metallic rings are the effective structure cell which are widely used to design single-band and multiband perfect metamaterial absorbers owning to their electromagnetic resonance. However, the absorbers based on the single-layer metallic rings have a common shortcoming, that is the narrow absorption bandwidth. To overcome the limitations, here we proposed a single-layer, flexible and broadband terahertz metamaterial absorber, which consists of four sub-cells with multiple metal rings and a metal ground plane separated by a dielectric layer. By enhancing the coupling response between adjacent metallic rings and merging the adjacent resonant peaks of multi-resonators, we experimentally observed broadband characteristics at the terahertz band. The average absorption of 88% from 0.63 to 1.34 THz and the relative absorption bandwidth of 95% at the incident angle of 15o for TE polarization. Correspondingly, for TM polarization the absorption of more than 80% from 0.61 to 1.1 THz with the relative absorption bandwidth of 80% were also observed. The results went far beyond the previous single-layer absorbers based on metal rings and were much better than the fractal-cross structure reported recently [Kenney et al., ACS Photonics 4, 2604 (2017)]. We had reason to believe that the presented terahertz metamaterial absorber with broad absorption bandwidth and simple structure can find important applications in communication, stealth, energy harvesting systems and so on.

In this study, a novel form-stable phase change material (FSPCM) consisting of calcination iron tailings (CIT), capric acid (CA), and carbon nanotubes (CNT) was prepared using a simple direct melt impregnation method, and a series of tests have been carried out to investigate its properties. The leakage tests showed that CA can be retained in CIT with a mass fraction of about 20 wt.% without liquid leakage during the phase change process. Moreover, the morphology, chemical structure, and thermal properties of the fabricated composite samples were investigated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs confirmed that CIT had a certain porous structure to confine CA in composites. According to the Fourier transformation infrared spectroscope (FTIR) results, the CA/CIT/CNT FSPCM had good chemical compatibility. The melting temperature and latent heat of CA/CIT/CNT by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) were determined as 29.70 °C and 22.69 J/g, respectively, in which the mass fraction of CIT and CNT was about 80 wt.% and 5 wt.%, respectively. The thermal gravity analysis (TGA) revealed that the CA/CIT/CNT FSPCM showed excellent thermal stability above its working temperature. Furthermore, the melting and freezing time of CA/CIT/CNT FSPCM doped with 5 wt.% CNT reduced by 42.86% and 54.55% than those of pure CA, and it showed better heat transfer efficiency. Therefore, based on the above analyses, the prepared CA/CIT/CNT FSPCM is not only a promising candidate material for the application of thermal energy storage in buildings, but it also provides a new approach for recycling utilization of iron tailings.

BackgroundThe ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) gene has a key role in DNA repair including activation and stabilization of p53, which implicates the importance of ATM polymorphisms in the development of cancer. This study aims to investigate the association of two ATM single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with lung cancer, as well as their potential interaction with p53 gene and other known risk factors of lung cancer.MethodsA population-based case–control study was conducted in Taiyuan city, China with 399 cases and 466 controls matched on the distribution of age and sex of cases. The two ATM gene SNPs, ATMrs227060 and ATMrs228589 as well as p53 gene SNP, p53rs1042522 were genotyped using Sequenom platform. Unconditional logistic regression models were used to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Adjusted models controlled for age, sex, and smoking status.ResultsThe study showed that TT genotype of ATMrs227060 (aOR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.06–2.35) and AA genotype of ATMrs228589 were significantly associated with lung cancer (aOR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.08–2.08) in a recessive model. Additionally, carrying variant genotypes of ATMrs227060 (TT), ATMrs228589 (AA), and p53rs1042522 (CC) concomitantly was associated with much higher risk (aOR = 3.68, 95% CI: 1.43–9.45) of lung cancer than carrying variant genotypes of any one of the above three SNPs. We also found multiplicative and additive interaction between tea drinking and ATMrs227060 in association with lung cancer.ConclusionThis study indicates that ATM gene variants might be associated with development of lung cancer in Chinese population. These results need to be validated in larger and different population samples.

Using the 3D printed mold-removal method to fabricate microchannel has become a promising alternative to the conventional soft lithography technique, due to the convenience in printing channel mold and the compatibility with PDMS material. Although having great potential, the use of single filament extruded by fused deposition modeling (FDM) as the sacrificial channel mold has not been elaborately studied. In this paper, we demonstrate the fabrication of microchannels with different structure and size by controllably extruding the sacrificial channel molds. The influences of the main processing parameters including working distance, extrusion amount and printing speed on the printed microchannels are systematically investigated. The results show that, the circular and low-aspect-ratio straight microchannels with different sizes can be fabricated by adjusting the extrusion amounts. The sinusoidal, 3D curved and cross-linked curved microchannels along straight path can be fabricated, either independently or in combination, by the combined control of the working distance, extrusion amount and printing speed. The complex microchannels with different structural features can also be printed along curved serpentine, rectangular serpentine, and spiral paths. This paper presents a simple and powerful method to fabricate the complex microchannels with different structure and size by just controlling the processing parameters for extruding channel molds.

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is useful for manufacturing complex structures; however, factors affecting the forming quality have not been clearly researched. This study aimed to clarify the influence of geometric characteristic size on the forming quality of solid struts. Ti–6Al–4V struts with a square section on the side length (0.4 to 1.4 mm) were fabricated with different scan speeds. Micro-computed tomography was used to detect the struts’ profile error and defect distribution. Scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy were used to characterize the samples’ microstructure. Nanoindentation tests were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties. The experimental results illustrated that geometric characteristic size influenced the struts’ physical characteristics by affecting the cooling condition. This size effect became obvious when the geometric characteristic size and the scan speed were both relatively small. The solid struts with smaller geometric characteristic size had more obvious size error. When the geometric characteristic size was smaller than 1 mm, the nanohardness and elastic modulus increased with the increase in scan speed, and decreased with the decline of the geometric characteristic size. Therefore, a relatively high scan speed should be selected for LPBF—the manufacturing of a porous structure, whose struts have small geometric characteristic size.

The paper considers the nonlocal hydrodynamic-type systems which are two-dimensional travelling wave systems with a five-parameter group. We apply the method of dynamical systems to investigate the bifurcations of phase portraits depending on the parameters of systems and analyze the dynamical behavior of the travelling wave solutions. The existence of peakons, compactons, and periodic cusp wave solutions is discussed. When the parameter n equals 2, namely, let the isochoric Gruneisen coefficient equal 1, some exact analytical solutions such as smooth bright solitary wave solution, smooth and nonsmooth dark solitary wave solution, and periodic wave solutions, as well as uncountably infinitely many breaking wave solutions, are obtained.

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000-40,000. Only 2%-3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family.