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Background Dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT) is a brief, structured psychodynamic psychotherapy with demonstrated efficacy in treating major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of the study was to determine whether DIT is an acceptable and efficacious treatment for MDD patients in China. Method Patients were randomized to 16-week treatments with either DIT plus antidepressant medication (DIT + ADM; n = 66), general supportive therapy plus antidepressant medication (GST + ADM; n = 75) or antidepressant medication alone (ADM; n = 70). The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) administered by blind raters was the primary efficacy measure. Assessments were completed during the acute 16-week treatment and up to 12-month posttreatment. Results The group × time interaction was significant for the primary outcome HAMD (F = 2.900, df1 = 10, df2 = 774.72, p = 0.001) in the acute treatment phase. Pairwise comparisons showed a benefit of DIT + ADM over ADM at weeks 12 [least-squares (LS) mean difference = −3.161, p = 0.007] and 16 (LS mean difference = −3.237, p = 0.004). Because of the unexpected high attrition during the posttreatment follow-up phase, analyses of follow-up data were considered exploratory. Differences between DIT + ADM and ADM remained significant at the 1-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up (ps range from 0.001 to 0.027). DIT + ADM had no advantage over GST + ADM during the acute treatment phase. However, at the 12-month follow-up, patients who received DIT remained less depressed. Conclusions Acute treatment with DIT or GST in combination with ADM was similarly efficacious in reducing depressive symptoms and yielded a better outcome than ADM alone. DIT may provide MDD patients with long-term benefits in symptom improvement but results must be viewed with caution.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a well-known phytopathogenic fungus with a wide host range. Identifying novel mycoviruses in phytopathogenic fungi is necessary to develop novel strategies for plant health protection and contribute to understanding the origin of viruses. Six new mycoviruses with positive single-stranded RNA genomes co-infecting the hypovirulent strain SCH733 of S. sclerotiorum were identified using a metatranscriptomic approach, and their complete genome sequences were molecularly determined. These mycoviruses belong to the following five families: Narnaviridae, Mitoviridae, Deltaflexviridae, Botourmiaviridae, and Ambiguiviridae. Three of these mycoviruses belong to existing International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)-recognized species. Two of these newly identified mycoviruses have unique genomic features that are significantly different from those of all known mycoviruses. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these six mycoviruses included close as well as distant relatives of known mycoviruses, thereby providing new insight into virus evolution and classification. Mycovirus horizontal transmission and elimination experiments revealed that Sclerotinia sclerotiorum narnavirus 5 is associated with hypovirulence of S. sclerotiorum, although we have not shown that it is independently responsible for the hypovirulence phenotype. This study broadens the diversity of known mycoviruses infecting S. sclerotiorum and provides a clue toward limiting hypovirulence in S. sclerotiorum.

Either effortful swallowing exercise or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is considered as an effective method to treat dysphagia after stroke. Thus, synchronizing these two interventions may improve the efficiency of treatment. This trial intended to explore the effects of rTMS and effortful swallowing exercise on the recovery of swallowing function in patients after stroke. A total of 56 patients with post-stroke dysphagia who were able to actively cooperate with the training were analyzed in this study. We experimented with different intervention effects of rTMS synchronization with effortful swallowing training (group 1), rTMS (group 2), and traditional swallowing training alone (group 3). Every patient completed conventional swallowing training 5 days a week for 2 weeks. Patients in group 1 and group 2 underwent 10 consecutive sessions of 5 Hz rTMS over the affected mylohyoid cortical region. Fiberoptic endoscopic dysphagia severity scale (FEDSS), penetration/aspiration scale (PAS), standardized swallowing assessment (SSA), and functional oral intake scale (FOIS) were assessed and compared across the groups. No significant difference in FEDSS, PAS, SSA, or FOIS scores was found at baseline among the three groups. The mean change values of the FEDSS score, PAS score, SSA score, and FOIS score between baseline and post-intervention of the three groups (H = 16.05, P 0.001; H = 21.70, P 0.001; F (2, 53) = 9.68, P 0.001; H = 18.26, P 0.001; respectively) were statistically significant. In addition, the mean change values of FEDSS, PAS, SSA, and FOIS scores in participants in group 1 (all P 0.001) and group 2 (P = 0.046; P = 0.045; P = 0.028; P = 0.032; respectively) were significantly higher than in group 3. Similarly, the mean change values of FEDSS, PAS, SSA, and FOIS scores were significantly higher in participants in group 1 than in group 2 (P = 0.046; P = 0.038; P = 0.042; P = 0.044; respectively). The results revealed that the conjunction of rTMS and effortful swallowing training was an effective method to facilitate the recovery of swallowing function in stroke patients. The present clinical trial provided a new treatment method for the functional restoration of swallowing in stroke patients, which may further facilitate the recovery of swallowing function in stroke patients with swallowing disorders.

With the development of flexible surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates that can realize rapid

A post chemical etching process to a tapered seven-core fiber (TSCF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to effectively adjust the mode profiles of high-order supermodes, aimed to improve the figure of merit (FOM). The experimental results show that the FOM of an etched TSCF is as high as 1431.36 1/RIU, a 7.32-times enhancement compared with that of TSCF without etching, provided the TSCF has the same taper waist diameter of 19.20 µm. The proposed method opens a new, to the best of our knowledge, method for optimizing optical fiber sensor performance.

Approximately one in four myocardial infarctions occur in older patients. The majority of therapeutic advances are either not appropriate or not tested in elderly patients. The main reasons for deviating from the guidelines are justified concerns regarding the effectiveness of the recommended forms of therapy, fear of adverse drug reactions and ethical concerns. Targeting interleukin 6 (IL-6) for ventricular remodeling after cardiovascular damage is a feasible alternative to standard polypharmaceutics, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Continuous activation of the IL-6-associated cytokine receptor gp130 leads to cardiomyopathic hypertrophy. TGFβ1 is involved in forming fibrosis in various organs, and its overexpression can cause myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis. Il-6 has been hypothesized to be indirectly involved in cardiac remodeling via the TGFβ1/Smad signaling transduction pathway. In the present study, a rat model of acute myocardial ischemia, IL-6 and IL-6 receptor blockers were injected directly into the necrotic myocardium. Changes in cardiac function, myocardial infarction area, myocardial collagen, necrotic myocardial fibrosis and levels of TGFβ1, IL-6 and MMP2/9 were quantified in myocardial tissue fibrosis by ELISA. The present study demonstrated that IL-6 stimulated myocardial fibrosis through the TGFβ1-Smad-MM2/9 signaling transduction pathway. Overall, this provided a solid foundation for understanding the relationship between IL-6 and ventricular remodeling.

Waveguides fabricated in crystals, created by utilizing techniques such as ion implantation, femtosecond laser inscription, and proton exchange, have low refractive index contrast with the crystal substrate, which limits their potential development to create compact passive devices, such as waveguide interferometers. In this work, a new waveguide multi-mode interferometer fabrication strategy based on low-effective-index mode interference is presented. Numerical tools have been used for the analysis of this new guided-wave approach used for the device design. The research has demonstrated that a series of high-order modes with an effective refractive index much lower than the substrate can exist in trench-cladded ridge crystal waveguides that have a tiny index contrast in the vertical direction. Simple trench-cladded tapered waveguide configurations to excite such modes and to realize compact waveguide multi-mode interferometers with lengths of several tens and up to hundreds of micrometers are presented. The waveguide multi-mode interferometer design is compact in size, easy to modulate, and with low insertion loss. Furthermore, refractive index sensing is realized, with a sensitivity of ∼490 nm/RIU for aqueous solution samples. The novel multi-mode interference phenomenon present here offers new possibilities and significant opportunities for waveguide modulation and, thus, the development of compact waveguide refractometers.

Age-related cataract (ARC) is one of the most common chronic diseases. Circular RNA (circ)_HIPK3 is reported to be involved in the advancement of ARC, but its molecular mechanism has not been clarified. Our study provides a new perspective on the clinical treatment of ARC. Our data showed that the expression levels of circ_HIPK3 and histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) were downregulated, while microRNA (miR)-495-3p level was increased in ARC tissues and H

Background. Disorder of consciousness (DoC) is a clinical condition caused by severe brain damage. Some studies have reported that acupuncture, a traditional Chinese treatment, could facilitate the recovery of the patient’s consciousness. The therapeutic effects of acupuncture may be due to its modulation of facilitating cortex (PFC) activity, but it has not been greatly demonstrated. Objectives. We intended to observe the effects of acupuncture on prefrontal cortical activity, explore the potential correlation between cortical activation and the severity of DoC, and analyze the functional brain network connectivity to provide a theoretical basis for its application in clinical practice. Methods. Participants diagnosed with DoC were included in the study. Before the intervention, we assessed the patient’s state of consciousness using relevant scales, such as the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and the coma recovery scale-revised (CRS-R). All patients received acupuncture manipulation with the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system monitored. Result. A total of 16 subjects participated in our study. We observed that the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) in the PFC was increased during the acupuncture manipulation and declined during the resting state. Then, the connection strength of the left cerebral cortex was generally higher than that of the right. Finally, we observed only a weak difference in hemodynamic responses of PFC between the vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) groups. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion. Our results indicated that acupuncture can increase the concentration of HbO in the PFC and strengthen the connection strength of the left cerebral cortex. However, our present study did not find a significant correlation between the cortical hemodynamic response and the severity of DoC.

Using phage display technology, 810A was developed as a novel peptide, which binds to the C-terminal domain of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). The present study investigated whether this peptide could neutralize CTGF and block its biological activity as a specific strategy to treat pulmonary fibrosis in vitro and in vivo. Human bronchial epithelial (16HBE) cells were treated with CTGF to evaluate the anti-CTGF capability of 810A using MTT testing, cell migration assays, and Western blotting. The action of 810A in mouse models of bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis was evaluated according to leukocyte counts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), hydroxyproline content, and pathological analysis. Treatment with 810A resulted in inhibition of cell proliferation, migration, and increases in transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and α-Smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) caused by CTGF treatment in vitro. In vivo, 810A significantly alleviated fibrosis in the pulmonary index. Inflammation was inhibited, as inferred by the reduced number of leukocytes in BALF. Pathophysiological analysis indicated that hydroxyproline content, alveolar enlargement, interstitial inflammatory infiltration, and collagen deposition were reduced. Collectively, these data suggest that 810A may potentially be a CTGF-specific, small-molecule antagonist, providing a new method for prevention and treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.

With the depth increasing and the improvement of mining mechanization of the coal mine, heat hazard is becoming more and more serious, the ice cooling system is gradually promoted and applied in China for recent years, but the cooling capacity and energy efficiency ratio (EER) test and analysis for such system is seldom reported. The cooling capacity and EER of the refrigerating equipment of an ice cooling system of a coal mine are tested and analyzed in Shandong Province in this paper. The test result indicates that the refrigerating capacity and EER are lower and both the pre-cooling units and the ice making system have a large variable range. It points out that it should not evaluate the ice cooling system by the test data only in this mine but expect more test data and analysis of the ice cooling system in other coal mines to get a more scientific conclusion. And the test, analysis and comparison for different kinds of cooling system are also expected to explore suitable cooling system while a full consideration of the geological conditions and other factors of the mine are taken into consideration.

Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that split away from the primary tumor and appear in the circulatory system as singular units or clusters, which was first reported by Dr. Thomas Ashworth in 1869. CTCs migrate and implantation occurs at a new site, in a process commonly known as tumor metastasis. In the case of breast cancer, the tumor cells often migrate into locations such as the lungs, brain, and bones, even during the early stages, and this is a notable characteristic of breast cancer. Survival rates have increased significantly over the past few decades because of progress made in radiology and tissue biopsy, making early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer possible. However, liquid biopsy, particularly that involving the collection of CTCs, is a non-invasive method to detect tumor cells in the circulatory system, which can be easily isolated from human plasma, serum, and other body fluids. Compared to traditional tissue biopsies, fluid sample collection has the advantages of being readily available and more acceptable to the patient. It can also detect tumor cells in blood earlier and in smaller numbers, possibly allowing for diagnosis prior to any tumor detection using imaging methods. Because of the scarcity of CTCs circulating in blood vessels (only a few CTCs among billions of erythrocytes and leukocytes), thorough but accurate detection methods are particularly important for further clinical applications.

Transcription intermediary factor 1γ (Tif1γ), a ubiquitous nuclear protein, is a regulator of transforming growth factor‑β (TGF‑β)/Smad signaling. Tif1γ can function as an oncogene and as a tumor suppressor. In the present study, Tif1γ levels were measured in the plasma of patients with breast cancer in order to investigate the association of Tif1γ with overall survival (OS). The results indicated that Tif1γ is an independent prognostic and predictive factor in breast cancer, and thus, a promising target protein for use in diagnostics and patient follow‑up. Plasma levels of Tif1γ were measured in samples obtained from 110 patients with operable breast cancer and in 110 healthy volunteers at the Breast Cancer Department of Yangpu Hospital between 2008 and 2016. The association between Tif1γ levels and clinicopathologic parameters, and the OS in a follow‑up period of 98 months was evaluated. The prognostic significance was assessed using the Kaplan‑Meier method. The levels of Tif1γ were significantly lower in patients with breast cancer compared with healthy controls. The average concentration of 18.40 ng/ml was used to discriminate between Tif1γ‑positive (52) and Tif1γ‑negative patients (58). Tif1γ‑positive patients had a significantly improved OS compared with Tif1γ‑negative patients. In the multivariate analysis, Tif1γ was an independent predictor of a favorable OS in a prospective follow‑up setting; thus, Tif1γ plasma levels are an independent prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer. These findings support the potential of using measurements of Tif1γ plasma levels to guide breast cancer therapy and monitoring. Further studies are required to validate Tif1γ as an easily detectable, non‑invasive prognostic biomarker for breast cancer.

Catalytic oxidation can efficiently eliminate nitrogen-containing volatile organic compounds (NVOCs) and suppress the generation of toxic NOx in order to avoid secondary pollution. In this study, mesoporous SiO2-confined LaMnO3 perovskite nanoparticles with high dispersion were successfully prepared by a citric acid-assisted deposition method (LMO/SiO2-SD) and tested for the oxidation of n-butylamine. The method utilized the synergistic effect of abundant active hydroxyl groups existing on the SiO2 gel surface and citric acid, rendering the metal ions more uniformly scattered on the SiO2 surface. Strikingly, the LMO/SiO2-SD sample exhibited the optimum catalytic performance (T90 at 246 °C) and the highest N2 selectivity, which was mainly ascribed to its abundant surface acid sites, superior low-temperature reducibility and higher ratio of surface Mn4+ species. The apparent activation energy (Ea) for n-butylamine oxidation over LMO/SiO2-SD sample was 29.0 kJ mol−1. Furthermore, the reaction mechanism of n-butylamine oxidation was investigated by in situ FITR and a reasonable reaction route for n-butylamine oxidation over the LMO/SiO2-SD sample was proposed.

A series of Ce-Ti mixed oxides (CeaTi1−a) were successfully synthesized by a spontaneous deposition method and evaluated in selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 (NH3-SCR). The structures and properties of the CeaTi1−a catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, Raman, TEM, N2-sorption, XPS, H2-TPR and NH3-TPD. The results demonstrated that lots of Ce-O-Ti species were formed because of the strong synergistic interaction of gelation of TiO2 and deposition of Ce3+ during the preparation process of CeaTi1−a catalysts. As results, the CeaTi1−a catalysts exhibited excellent redox ability, enrichment of Ce3+ species, high surface adsorbed oxygen concentration, and abundant acid sites. The CeaTi1−a catalysts showed remarkable catalytic activity with broad operation temperature window, and Ce0.5Ti0.5 catalyst exhibited the best catalytic activity and extraordinary H2O/SO2 durability. The in-situ FTIR results revealed that the mechanisms of L-H and E-R existed synchronously during the NH3-SCR reaction, and the former one was predominant due to its rapid reaction rate.

A versatile ethanol-mediated oxidative polymerization of dopamine is demonstrated for the effective surface modification of nanomaterials. The presence of ethanol is found to significantly slow down the polymerization rate of dopamine and make the surface modification of nanomaterials with polydopamine more controllable in comparison to the water-phase polymerization. Various nanomaterials with different morphologies and surface properties, including one-dimensional (1-D) CNTs and iron oxide nanorods, 2-D nanodiscs, silver nanocubes and magnetite particles, were successfully modified by a layer of PDA with a controllable thickness from 5 to 100 nm, giving rise to PDA-shelled nanocomposites with well-defined structures and excellent water dispersibility. As exemplified by the case of magnetite particles, the PDA coating can dramatically reduce the cytotoxicity of nanomaterials and enhance their biocompatibility. This method is facile and particularly suitable for the surface engineering of nanomaterials, and thus promising for designing various functional nanostructures for a broad range of applications, such as drug delivery, protein purification, enzyme immobilization, and chemo/biosensing.

A new substrate composing of Ag nanoflowers on graphene@Cu net (AgNFs/G@Cu) was fabricated on the flexible woven copper net. Graphene, an ideal 2D plane, provides better dispersion of regular electrodeposited AgNFs arrays. Graphene nanogap was used to enhance the EM coupling between AgNFs and metal Cu substrate. Regular AgNFs arrays offer denser “hotspots”, which further enhance the EM coupling. High sensitivity (rhodamine 6G (R6G): 10−14 M, crystal violet (CV): 10−12 M) and good homogeneity are realized in our experiment and proved by the COMSOL simulation. Cu net, remarkable flexibility and practicality, allows for a close contact to the sample surface by swabbing. Malachite green (MG) as low as 10−11 M on the surface of the marine fish can be detected. This work may offer novel and practical SERS applications in the areas of pesticide residue, food security and biotechnology.

Hypoviruses are positive-sense single-stranded RNA mycovirus that infect filamentous fungi. However, hypoviruses have not been reported in Bipolaris oryzae, an important phytopathogenic fungus in water bamboo and rice. Here, we report the characterization of a novel hypovirus, tentatively named "Bipolaris oryzae hypovirus 1" (BoHV1), isolated from strain ES35 of B. oryzae infecting water bamboo. The complete genome of BoHV1 consists of 13,596 nucleotides and a poly(A) tail at the 3' end. BoHV1 has single open reading frame (ORF) and encodes a putative polyprotein (4,218 amino acids) containing four potential conserved domains for a papain-like protease, a protein of unknown function (DUF3525), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), and helicase. Phylogenetic analysis of the polyprotein, RdRp, and helicase domains suggested that BoHV1 belongs to the genus Hypovirus within the family Hypoviridae. This is the first report of the presence of a hypovirus in the phytopathogenic fungus B. oryzae.

Due to the problems of sharp tool wear, large drilling force and high temperature during the actual processing of 15-5PH stainless steel, in order to improve the processing efficiency and tool life, this work uses the finite element simulation software AdvantEdge FEM studies the cemented carbide drilling process of 15-5PH stainless steel. The multi-factor orthogonal test method is adopted to analyze the results by range analysis method to study the influence of factors such as tool's point angle, clearance angle and helix angle on axial force and temperature. A brief analysis has presented a picture of change process of the axial force and temperature with time. The results show that the point angle has the greatest influence on the axial force, the clearance angle is the second, and the helix angle has the minimum impact. The helix angle has the greatest influence on the temperature, the point angle is the second, and the clearance angle has the minimum impact on the temperature. Finally, author optimizes the geometric parameters of the drill bit for 15-5PH stainless steel and gets the optimized parameter combination. The optimal combination of parameters are expressed as point angle p = 118°, clearance angle γ = 14°, and helix angle β = 30°.

Recently, biological materials have attracted more and more attentions on preparing the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate with the conspicuous SERS performance. Herein, we demonstrate a simply facile and inexpensive approach to fabricate a novel natural SERS substrate based on graphene oxide-Ag nanoparticles-Mytilus coruscus (GO-AgNPs-M.c.). The surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS) signals of the Rhodamine 6G (R6G) on the GO-AgNPs-M.c. hybrids exhibit the much better SERRS performances in terms of the sensitivity, the signal reproducibility and the antioxidant stability than that on the AgNPs-M.c. one. The well electric field enhancement contribution is likewise confirmed in theory via the COMSOL software. Moreover, the successful detection of trace malachite green (MG) and methylene blue (MB) indicates the well feasibility for multi-molecules detection on the GO-AgNPs-M.c. hybrids. Thus, this inexpensive and high-efficiency natural SERS substrate have great potential for the considerable biochemical SERS applications and broaden the way for preparing multiple SERS platforms derived from other natural materials.

For application in practice, reducing the cost and simplifying the steps in fabrication of SERS substrates with excellent property are still the important factors. Here, a three-dimensional (3D) Ag nanoparticles (NPs) obtained by facile thermal evaporation is obtained for SERS. The Raman enhancement effect gradually become strong as the number of Ag NPs layers increase and attain the best until four layers Ag NPs deposited for the finite penetration depth of incident laser. The intensity of Raman signal collected from the four-layer Ag NPs substrate is around 11.3 times stronger than that from one-layer Ag NPs. Besides, the reproducibility of the SERS substrate was also significantly promoted as the layers of Ag NPs increases. The SERS substrate exhibits temporal stability and its enhancement factor attains 6.8 × 108. Furthermore, the SERS substrate can easily combine with some other blocks with superior SERS property and show better SERS ability. Additionally, the in-situ trace analyses in aquatic products were realized by flexible Ag NPs/PET substrate.

A series of mesoporous Mn–Ti amorphous oxides (MnaTi1−a) fabricated by a combined strategy of in situ deposition and freeze-drying were studied for the selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 (NH3-SCR) at low temperature. The physico-chemical properties of MnaTi1−a catalysts were characterized systematically by XRD, TEM, Raman, EXAFS, N2-sorption, XPS, H2-TPR and NH3-TPD. The results revealed that the increased amount of Mn4+ species greatly promoted the NO conversion at low temperature. Additionally, the highly dispersed active sites, abundant surface Lewis acid sites and strong interaction between Mn and Ti contributed to the remarkable low-temperature SCR activity. Among these MnaTi1−a catalysts, the Mn0.5Ti0.5 catalyst exhibited the best low-temperature NH3-SCR performance (61% NO conversion at 100 °C and over 95% N2 selectivity at 150–250 °C) and excellent H2O/SO2 durability. In situ FTIR was used to investigate the reaction mechanism, and the results indicated that both the L–H and E–R mechanisms were present and NH3-SCR mainly proceeded via the L–H reaction pathway at low temperature.

The three-dimensional (3D) MoS 2 decorated with Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) hybrids (3D MoS 2 -Au NPs) for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing was demonstrated in this paper. SEM, Raman spectroscopy, TEM, SAED, EDX and XRD were performed to characterize 3D MoS 2 -Au NPs hybrids. Rhodamine 6G (R6G), fluorescein and gallic acid molecules were used as the probe for the SERS detection of the 3D MoS 2 -Au NPs hybrids. In addition, we modeled the enhancement of the electric field of MoS 2 -Au NPs hybrids using Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) analysis, which can further give assistance to the mechanism understanding of the SERS activity.

By combining the excellent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), the well-separated pyramid arrays of the pyramidal silicon (PSi) and unique physical/chemical properties of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), the MoS2@AgNPs@PSi substrate shows high performance in terms of sensitivity, uniformity, reproducibility and stability. By using rhodamine 6G (R6G) as probe molecule, the SERS results indicate that the MoS2@AgNPs@PSi substrate is superior to the AgNPs@PSi, AgA@PSi (the second annealing of the AgNPs@PSi) and the MoS2@AgNPs@flat-Si substrate. The MoS2@AgNPs@PSi substrate also shows the reasonable linear response between the Raman intensity and R6G concentration. The maximum deviations of SERS intensities from 20 positions on a same MoS2@AgNPs@PSi substrate and 10 MoS2@AgNPs@PSi substrates in different batches are less than 7.6% and 9%, respectively, revealing the excellent uniformity and reproducibility of the substrate. Besides, the SERS substrate has a good stability, the Raman intensity of the MoS2@AgNPs@PSi substrate only drop by 15% in a month. The corresponding experimental and theoretical results suggest that our proposed MoS2@AgNPs@PSi substrate is expected to offer a new and practical way to accelerate the development of label-free SERS detection.

We proposed a high sensitivity and a high resolution surface plasmon resonance sensor composed of graphene–WS2 hybrid nanostructure and Au–Ag bimetallic-layers film. The bimetallic-layer configuration uses the high sensitivity of gold and the narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM) of silver to improve the sensor's sensitivity and resolution respectively. Graphene and WS2 serve as an effective light absorption medium. Once they cover the bimetallic-layer, the sensitivity can be further improved significantly. Graphene–WS2–Au–Ag model shows a higher sensitivity and higher resolution than that of the conventional sensing scheme where pure Au thin film is used. In our paper, we mainly use Fresnel equations and the transfer matrix method (TMM) to study the reflectivity and sensitivity as well as the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the SPR sensor.

Anthracyclines are highly effective chemotherapeutic agents, used for a wide variety of malignancies. Cardiotoxicity is a well-recognized side effect of anthracycline therapy that limits the total amount of drug administered and can cause heart failure in some patients. Most experimental data support oxidative stress as the etiology of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. The objective of this paper was to provide a review of the clinical classification, risk factors, monitoring and prevention of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity in patients with breast cancer.

Catalytic oxidation can efficiently eliminate nitrogen-containing volatile organic compounds (NVOCs) and suppress the generation of toxic NO

Nanogap-rich silver nanoislands with fascinating optical properties are desirable substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Here, we propose a simple and high-throughput approach through the laser molecular beam epitaxy (LMBE) technique for preparing silver nanoislands containing large numbers of intra-nanogaps on a silicon wafer (6×6 cm2). By optimizing the deposition time, the enlarged silver nanoislands with ∼5 nm interstitial gaps of abundance and homogeneity were formed. Remarkably, the optimized SERS substrate with high-density hotspots demonstrated a high analytical enhancement factor (AEF) as large as 1.17×105, excellent reproducibility with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 7.76% over the entire substrate, and good stability after storage for 21 days. The electromagnetic field distribution of the optimized SERS substrate was simulated using the software COMSOL Multiphysics based on the actual SEM image of the fabricated sample, and the calculated enhancement factor (EF) is as high as 109. Furthermore, it can enable sensitive and quantitative detection of malachite green at concentrations as low as 10−8 M. This simple fabrication of silver nanoislands with homogeneous ∼5 nm interstitial gaps provides a practical solution for wafer-scale, sensitive, and reproducible SERS substrates.

In this paper, we designed a 2D distance and rotation angle plasmon ruler based on Fano resonance of a trimer nanostructure, which consists of a concentric square nanoring–disk and an outside nanorod (CSRDR). The Fano dip energy and depth are fairly sensitive to the nanometer-scale displacements and rotations, when the nanodisk moves in all direction and rotates around its center. When the symmetry of the nanoring is broken, we can identify the moving and rotating direction of the nanodisk more accurately. We use the CSRDR nanostructure which supports a narrow line-width as a 2D plasmon ruler, which can enhance the sensitivity of a plasmon ruler significantly.

The magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) is widely used in the analysis of electromagnetic scattering problems for conducting objects. Usually, the MFIE is solved by the method of moments (MoM) using the Rao–Wilton–Glisson (RWG) basis functions. In this paper, a new kind of basis function which is named the piece-wise constant vector basis function is proposed and used to solve the MFIE by MoM. Definition of this kind of basis function is given. The calculation of the impedance matrix entries is presented in detail. This kind of basis function is then used for the solution of the MFIE for electromagnetic scattering problems. The radar cross section (RCS) results and the iterative property of both kinds of basis functions are presented. It is shown that the piece-wise constant vector basis functions give similar RCS results as those of the RWG basis functions. Particularly, when iterative solver is used to solve the resultant linear system, the solution scheme using the piece-wise constant vector basis functions iterates much faster than that using the RWG basis functions.