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Background Acute kidney injury due to crush syndrome is a major life-threatening complication characterized by high morbidity and mortality. The role of senescence in the progression of acute kidney injury is receiving increasing attention. Our previous study has shown that remote ischemic postconditioning can attenuate kidney cell senescence and serum IL-6 from ischemia-reperfusion injury after crush injury. This raises the question of what role IL-6 plays in the progression of CS-AKI. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IL-6 in CS-AKI. Methods Hk-2 cells were treated with 150uM ferrous myoglobin to mimic CS-AKI at the cellular level. Cells were harvested after 24 hours or treated with 100ug/ml tocilizumab for another 24 hours. RNA sequencing was performed on myoglobin and tocilizumab treated cells. The cell cycle and the percentage of senescent cells were detected by flow cytometry. The expression levels of SERPINE1, GATA2, p53, p21 were detected by real-time PCR and Western blot. The binding effect of SERPINE1 and GATA2 was verified by dual luciferase gene reporter assay. Results RNA sequencing revealed genes down-regulated by tocilizumab in HK-2 cells, including GATA2 and SERPINE1. qPCR and Western blotting confirmed that GATA2, SERPINE1, p53 and p21 expression decreased after tocilizumab treatment. The dual luciferase gene reporter verified that GATA2 acts on the promoter of SERPINE1 (PAI-1) to initiate SERPINE1 transcription. Conclusions In a word, IL-6 activates the p53/ P21 pathway through GATA2/SERPINE1, which triggers senescence in CS-AKI and then promotes the progression of AKI (Fig. 1 graphical abstract).

In order to improve the voltage unbalance of large-scale wind power collection grid three-phase and solve the problem that negative sequence voltage unbalance factor exceeds the national standard, which sometimes even causes the wind turbine generators to be off grid, this paper proposes a split-phase flow optimization method that uses the split-phase reactive power compensation equipments in wind farms collected area to improve the voltage unbalance. Firstly, this paper takes the collection grid and the wind farms as optimization nodes, establishes an optimization model to minimize the mean value of voltage unbalance degree, then the node voltage safety constraint and the constraint condition of the reactive power compensation capacity of each phase of the reactive power compensation equipments are considered. Secondly, this paper introduces PSO to solve the optimization problem. Finally, an actual area wind farms collected is used to verify that the method proposed in this paper can effectively solve the problem that voltage unbalance degree is too high.

Yi Zhang,1,* Shenglei Yu,1,* Chen Chen,1,* Feng Sun,1,* Lei Zhou,1 Haijun Yao,2 Jin Hu,2 Shirong Li,3 Jingwen Ai,1 Ning Jiang,1 Jing Wang,1 Qihui Liu,1 Jialin Jin,1 Wenhong Zhang1,4,5 1Department of Infectious Diseases, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 2Department of Critical Care Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 4National Clinical Research Center for Aging and Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 5Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/MOH), Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Wenhong Zhang; Jialin Jin, Email wenhongzhang_hs@126.com; jinjialin@fudan.edu.cnPurpose: Carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs) have posed a great threat to antibiotic use and induce multi-drug resistance. Contamination of the hospital environment and infection of healthcare workers (HCWs) are reported as sources of nosocomial infections. Here, we performed a comprehensive environment sampling and timely epidemiological investigation during outbreaks to investigate the role of the environment and HCWs in CRO transmission.Patients and Methods: We enrolled carbapenem-resistant organism outbreaks in ICU-1 of Huashan Hospital from January 2019 to March 2019, and ICU-2 located at west branch of Huashan Hospital from October 2019 to November 2019. Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) isolates were collected from the patients. We performed a real-time comprehensive environmental and HCW sampling in the two ICUs. Isolated strains from patients and the positive colonies from the screening were sent for whole-genome sequencing. Finally, phylogenetic trees were constructed.Results: CRAB and CRKP outbreaks simultaneously occurred in ICU-1; the outbreak involved 13 patients. Meanwhile, the CRKP outbreak in ICU-2 included 11 patients. Twelve out of 146 environment and HCWs samples in ICU-1 were carbapenem-resistant bacteria, including six CRKP and six CRAB strains. For ICU-2, hospital surfaces and HCWs were negative for CRKP. Phylogenetic analyses showed that CRKP strains in ICU-1 were classified into two clades: Clade 1 and Clade 2, sharing a high similarity of isolates from the environment and HCWs. The same phenomenon was observed in CRAB.Conclusion: A timely comprehensive sampling combined with genome-based investigation may aid in tracking the transmission route of and controlling the infections. The environment and HCWs could be contaminated during CRO transmission, which calls for strengthened prevention and control measures.Keywords: carbapenem-resistant, environment, whole-genome sequencing, prevention, control

Heavy multi-axle vehicles with long bodies, large loads, and many steering axles are prone to one stuck axle with its steering system failed, which leads to a sharp drop in vehicle safety. Modulating the steering angles of the remaining non-faulty axles for compensation control can significantly improve the safety of the vehicle. Therefore, this paper proposes a method based on multi-axle steering compensation, which solves the large trajectory error, and instability of heavy multi-axle vehicles caused by the failure of one-axle steering system. Firstly, based on the Lyapunov method, and nonlinear model, the critical steering angle of the faulty axle leading to vehicle instability under the failure of one-axle steering system is clarified, which provides a quantitative index for vehicle stability evaluation. Then, a two-level controller is designed to maintain stability and reduce trajectory error of the faulty vehicle. The upper dual-input dual-output (DIDO) sliding mode controller (SMC) compensates for the faulty vehicle’s lateral force and yaw moment. And the lower controller distributes the non-faulty axles’ steering angles through a strategy considering tire workload and slip energy dissipation. Finally, a seven-axle vehicle model in the Trucksim and a Trucksim-Simulink co-simulation are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results illustrate that the proposed method can maintain vehicle stability and reduce the lateral trajectory error by about 22%–91% in the failure of one-axle steering system. It proves that this method can provide a new scheme for active safety control of heavy multi-axle vehicles.

Traditional multi-axle steering vehicle often adopts linear state feedback control, which is difficult to ensure high-precision trajectory tracking under all working conditions. Moreover, due to the failure to consider the optimal distribution of tire lateral and longitudinal forces, tires are prone to problems such as uneven load rates and wear. In this paper, considering the over-redundant and nonlinear characteristics of three-axle vehicle, a hierarchical coordinated control strategy is proposed. In the upper layer, the trajectory tracking controller is designed based on the robust nonlinear sliding mode control theory. In the middle layer, based on the optimization conditions of tire load rate and dissipative energy, the lateral and longitudinal forces optimal distribution controller is constructed under the constraint of friction circle. In the lower layer, the lateral and longitudinal forces are finally converted into tire angles and torques with the tire inverse model. The results show that the hierarchical coordinated control strategy can ensure that the multi-axle vehicle can achieve high-precision trajectory tracking under all-terrain load conditions, and the load rate and wear of each tire are relatively uniform. The coordinated control strategy proposed in this paper considers the influence of nonlinear characteristic of vehicle and tire lateral and longitudinal forces distribution on steering coordination, which can provide an important theoretical basis for the further improvement of steering coordination of multi-axle vehicle.

Background and aims Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose represents the most frequent cause of acute liver failure, resulting in death or liver transplantation in more than one third of patients in the United States. The effectiveness of the only antidote, N-acetylcysteine, declines rapidly after APAP ingestion, long before patients are admitted to the clinic with symptoms of severe liver injury. The direct hepatotoxicity of APAP triggers a cascade of innate immune responses that may exacerbate or limit the progression of tissue damage. A better understanding of this complex mechanism will help uncover targets for therapeutic interventions. Approach and results We observed that APAP challenge caused stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) in the liver and hepatic macrophages (MΦs), particularly HIF-2α. Genetic deletion of the HIF-2α gene in myeloid cells (HIF-2αmye/- ) markedly exacerbated APAP-induced liver injury (AILI) without affecting APAP bioactivation and detoxification. In contrast, hepatic and serum levels of the hepatoprotective cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6), its downstream signal transducer and transcription factor 3 activation in hepatocytes, as well as hepatic MΦ IL-6 expression were markedly reduced in HIF-2αmye/- mice compared to wild-type mice post-APAP challenge. In vitro experiments revealed that hypoxia induced IL-6 production in hepatic MΦs and that such induction was abolished in HIF-2α-deleted hepatic MΦs. Restoration of IL-6 by administration of exogenous IL-6 ameliorated AILI in HIF-2αmye/- mice. Finally, IL-6-mediated hepatoprotection against AILI was abolished in hepatocyte-specific IL-6 receptor knockout mice. Conclusions The data demonstrate that APAP treatment leads to HIF-2α stabilization in hepatic MΦs and that HIF-2α subsequently reprograms hepatic MΦs to produce the hepatoprotective cytokine IL-6, thereby ameliorating AILI.

We present a new magnetometry method integrating an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in a single-crystal diamond with an extended dynamic range for monitoring the fast changing magnetic-field. The NV-center spin resonance frequency is tracked using a closed-loop frequency locked technique with fast frequency hopping to achieve a 10 kHz measurement bandwidth, thus, allowing for the detection of fast changing magnetic signals up to 0.723 T/s.This technique exhibits an extended dynamic range subjected to the working bandwidth of the microwave source. This extended dynamic range can reach up to 4.3 mT, which is 86 times broader than the intrinsic dynamic range. The essential components for NV spin control and signal processing such as signal generation, microwave frequency control, data processing and readout are integrated in a board-level system. With this platform, we demonstrate broadband magnetometry with an optimized sensitivity of 4.2 nT-Hz-1/2. This magnetometry method has the potential to be implemented in a multichannel frequency locked vector magnetometer suitable for a wide range of practical applications such as magnetocardiography and high-precision current sensors., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures

On-line measurement is a trend of development toward laser-based applications. We present a fiber-integrated force sensor device for laser power measurement with both CW mode and pulse mode based on laser radiometric heat and radiation force sensing simultaneously. The sensor device is fabricated using a standard microfabrication process. Laser intensity is determined through the displacement of a movable mirror measured by an integrated Fabry-Perot interferometer. Compared with the performance of the device in the ambient condition, a non-linearity error of 0.02% and measurement uncertainty of 2.06% is observed in the quasi-vacuum condition for CW laser illumination. This device can measure a CW laser power with a 46.4 μW/Hz1/2 noise floor and a minimum detection limit of 0.125 mW. For a pulsed laser, a non-linearity error of 0.37% and measurement uncertainty of 2.08% is achieved with a noise floor of 1.3 μJ/Hz1/2 and a minimum detection limit of 3 μJ.

Background With more emergency visits, there is increasing pressure to provide emergency medical services globally and locally. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and the disease spectrum of patients presenting in the last three years to the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Tianjin, China, to improve the services of the emergency medicine department. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on all patients in the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from Jan 1, 2017, 00:00:00 to Dec 31, 2020, 23:59:59, including variables like medical record number, gender, age, date of admission, principal diagnosis. The data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software; statistical charts were prepared by GraphPad Prism9.0 and SPSS 20.0; statistical tables were made by Microsoft Excel. Results A total of 1,314,916 patients presented to the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from Jan 1, 2017, 00:00:00 to Dec 31, 2020, 23:59:59. In terms of gender distribution, the male–female ratio was 0.78∶1. As for age distribution, patients aged 60–69 were the most (23.47%), and patients younger than 20 years were the least (2.80%). Concerning monthly data, the number of visits peaked during January and December. The distribution of daily visits showed the feature of three highs and a low. The top three prevalence diseases in the emergency disease spectrum were respiratory, cardiovascular, and digestive diseases. The respiratory system was the most common in patients with infectious diseases (200,912, accounting for 86.97%). Among the patients suffering from infectious diseases, the number of patients with respiratory infections peaked in 2019 (73,530) and was the lowest in 2020 (20,078). Conclusions From 2017 to 2019, the demand for emergency services in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital continued to increase, but it was greatly affected by COVID-19 in 2020. This emergency department is mainly for patients with respiratory system, circulatory system and digestive system diseases, and its treatment time is relatively centralized. The prevention of diseases for people of all ages, especially female patients and the elderly, should be strengthened, and emergency medical resources should be allocated reasonably according to the peak months and crowed periods of patients.

The phenomenon of three phase voltage imbalance frequently occurs in large-scale new energy grid connected areas in China; in severe cases, a large number of wind turbines will be disconnected from the grid. To solve the problem of the voltage imbalance at the point of common coupling (PCC), analyze the influence of generator parameters change on negative sequence voltage under the background of unbalanced power grid, a modeling method of base-frequency negative sequence impedance of doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) which including phase locked loop (PLL), rotor side converter (RSC) and grid side converter (GSC) is proposed. By establishing the negative sequence equivalent circuit of grid-connected system of DFIG, the relationship between the negative sequence voltage of PCC and the negative sequence impedance of DFIG is listed, and analyzing the sensitivity of control parameters link to base-frequency impedance, the parameter that has great influence on base-frequency negative sequence impedance of PCC is found out. Finally, the accuracy of impedance modeling and sensitivity analysis is verified by simulation studies.

Electro-hydraulic servo steering system (EHSSS) is a key technology for heavy vehicles. The traditional EHSSS has high control accuracy but low energy efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel EHSSS based on independent metering system, which can combine high steering accuracy with high energy efficiency. Firstly, two servo-proportional valves are used to reduce the throttling loss at the meter-out orifice. The servo motor pump is used to keep the pump supply pressure at a low value. Then, to ensure high steering accuracy, a position-velocity-pressure combined control strategy is proposed for easy engineering practice. And a smooth switching strategy is proposed to achieve smooth mode switching at high frequency. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experiments. The experimental comparison results show that the proposed method can achieve the same accuracy as the valve-controlled steering system with less energy, and can realize smooth mode switching.

Compared with passenger cars, heavy vehicles have larger loads, longer bodies, more steering modes, and are more likely to cause improper steering angle relationships among the wheels, resulting in uncoordinated steering. This uncoordinated steering makes the tyres roll and drag, which results in abnormal lateral and longitudinal slips, changing the lateral and longitudinal mechanical characteristics of tyres and leading to low path tracking accuracy and poor steering performance of vehicles. Therefore, a tyre model containing lateral and longitudinal mechanical characteristics under heavy load is the key to solving the problem of uncoordinated steering in heavy vehicles. Firstly, with the physical tyre model, the lateral and longitudinal slip is described as carcass deflections. With the carcass deflections and contact pressure distribution of heavy load, the tyre forces under uncoordinated steering conditions are derived. Then, the tyre imprint parameters are obtained with a test bench, and a two-dimensional contact pressure distribution model is established to reproduce the contact pressure distribution of tyre under heavy loads and dynamic slips. The comparison results with Magic Formula (MF) and Trucksim are generally consistent, proving the effectiveness of the model. Finally, a lateral and longitudinal tyre force distribution control of vehicles is carried out based on the established model. The results of the Trucksim-Simulink co-simulation show that the path tracking accuracy of vehicles is significantly improved, which demonstrates that the tyre model incorporating lateral and longitudinal mechanical characteristics under heavy loads can provide a theoretical basis for solving the problem of uncoordinated steering in heavy vehicles.

Liver fibrosis represents a severe stage of liver damage, with hallmarks of inflammation, hepatic stellate cell activation, and extracellular matrix accumulation. Although previous studies demonstrated γδ T cells are involved in liver fibrosis, the precise role and mechanisms of γδ T cells migrating to fibrotic liver have not been elucidated. Here, we aim to investigate the functional subsets of γδ T cells in hepatic fibrosis and to further explore the underlying causes and drivers of migration. In this study, we observed that γδ T cells accumulate in fibrotic liver. Adoptive transfer of γδ T, especially Vγ4 γδ T subset, can significantly alleviate liver fibrosis. In addition, CCl

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to (1) explore the changes in topological properties of static and dynamic brain functional networks after nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) radiotherapy (RT) using rs-fMRI and graph theoretical analysis, (2) explore the correlation between cognitive function and changes in brain function, and (3) add to the understanding of the pathogenesis of radiation brain injury (RBI).MethodsFifty-four patients were divided into 3 groups according to time after RT: PT1 (0–6 months); PT2 (>6 to ≤12 months); and PT3 (>12 months). 29 normal controls (NCs) were included. The subjects’ topological properties were evaluated by graph-theoretic network analysis, the functional connectivity of static functional networks was calculated using network-based statistics, and the dynamic functional network matrix was subjected to cluster analysis. Finally, correlation analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between the altered network parameters and cognitive function.ResultsAssortativity, hierarchy, and network efficiency were significantly abnormal in the PT1 group compared with the NC or PT3 group. The small-world variance in the PT3 group was smaller than that in NCs. The Nodal ClustCoeff of Postcentral_R in the PT2 group was significantly smaller than that in PT3 and NC groups. Functional connectivities were significantly reduced in the patient groups. Most of the functional connectivities of the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) were shown to be significantly reduced in all three patient groups. Most of the functional connectivities of the insula showed significantly reduced in the PT1 and PT3 groups, and most of the functional connectivities in brain regions such as frontal and parietal lobes showed significantly reduced in the PT2 and PT3 groups. These abnormal functional connectivities were correlated with scores on multiple scales that primarily assessed memory, executive ability, and overall cognitive function. The frequency F of occurrence of various states in each subject differed significantly, and the interaction effect of group and state was significant.ConclusionThe disruption of static and dynamic functional network stability, reduced network efficiency and reduced functional connectivity may be potential biomarkers of RBI. Our findings may provide new insights into the pathogenesis of RBI from the perspective of functional networks.

Background Immunochromatographic strips (ICSs) are a practical tool commonly used in point-of-care testing (POCT) applications. However, ICSs that are currently available have low sensitivity and require expensive equipment for quantitative analysis. These limitations prohibit their extensive use in areas where medical resources are scarce. Methods We developed a novel POCT platform by integrating a gas generation biosensor with Au@Pt Core/Shell nanoparticle (Au@PtNPs)-based ICSs (G-ICSs). The resulting G-ICSs enabled the convenient and quantitative assessment of a target protein using the naked eye, without the need for auxiliary equipment or complicated computation. To assess this platform, C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker commonly used for the diagnosis of acute, infectious diseases was chosen as a proof-of-concept test. Results The linear detection range (LDR) of the G-ICSs for CRP was 0.05–6.25 μg/L with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.041 μg/L. The G-ICSs had higher sensitivity and wider LDR when compared with commonly used AuNPs and fluorescent-based ICSs. When compared with results from a chemiluminescent immunoassay, G-ICS concordance rates for CRP detection in serum samples ranged from 93.72 to 110.99%. Conclusions These results demonstrated that G-ICSs have wide applicability in family diagnosis and community medical institutions, especially in areas with poor medical resources. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12951-019-0493-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background The purpose/aim of this study was to 1) use magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), fibre bundle/tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and machine learning methods to study changes in the white matter (WM) structure and whole brain WM network in different periods of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients after radiotherapy (RT), 2) identify the most discriminating WM regions and WM connections as biomarkers of radiation brain injury (RBI), and 3) supplement the understanding of the pathogenesis of RBI, which is useful for early diagnosis in the clinic. Methods A DTI scan was performed in 77 patients and 67 normal controls. A fractional anisotropy map was generated by DTIFit. TBSS was used to find the region where the FA differed between the case and control groups. Each resulting FA value image is registered with each other to create an average FA value skeleton. Each resultant FA skeleton image was connected to feature vectors, and features with significant differences were extracted and classified using a support vector machine (SVM). Next, brain segmentation was performed on each subject’s DTI image using automated anatomical labeling (AAL), and deterministic white matter fiber bundle tracking was performed to generate symmetrical brain matrix, select the upper triangular component as a classification feature. Two-sample t-test was used to extract the features with significant differences, then classified by SVM. Finally, we adopted a permutation test and ROC curves to evaluate the reliability of the classifier. Results For FA, the accuracy of classification between the 0–6, 6–12 and > 12 months post-RT groups and the control group was 84.5, 83.9 and 74.5%, respectively. In the case groups, the FA with discriminative ability was reduced, mainly in the bilateral cerebellum and bilateral temporal lobe, with prolonged time, the damage was aggravated. For WM connections, the SVM classifier classification recognition rates of the 0–6, 6–12 and > 12 months post-RT groups reached 82.5, 78.4 and 76.3%, respectively. The WM connections with discriminative ability were reduced. Conclusions RBI is a disease involving whole brain WM network anomalies. These brain discriminating WM regions and WM connection modes can supplement the understanding of RBI and be used as biomarkers for the early clinical diagnosis of RBI.

Purpose Cycloserine has been used in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment since the 1950s. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of cycloserine and sought to clarify the role of cycloserine for treatment of simple MDR-TB, pre-extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (pre-XDR-TB), and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). Materials and methods A retrospective observational study was performed in Zhejiang Province, China. We enrolled 144 cycloserine-treated and 181 cycloserine-nontreated patients consecutively and determined the treatment outcome as the primary outcome. The proportion of patients with sputum culture conversion and the frequency of adverse drug reactions were also assessed. Results One-hundred (69.4%) out of 144 patients in the cycloserine group successfully completed treatment. The HR of any unfavorable treatment outcome after the introduction of cycloserine was 0.58 (95% CI: 0.38-0.86, P=0.008). Subgroup analysis showed that cycloser-ine could benefit simple MDR-TB cases reducing the risk of unfavorable treatment outcomes (HR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.24-0.76, P=0.004), but not pre-XDR-TB (HR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.30-1.38, P=0.263) or XDR-TB (HR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.22-2.37, P=0.589). The culture conversion rate at the intensive phase was similar whether cycloserine was administered or not (P=0.703). Of the 144 patients treated with cycloserine, a total of 16 (11.1%) patients experienced side effects attributed to cycloserine. Conclusion Cycloserine is an attractive agent for the treatment of MDR-TB, and its safety profile warrants its use in most MDR-TB cases. Cycloserine significantly improved the chance of a favorable outcome for patients with simple MDR-TB but not pre-XDR-TB and XDR-TB. Thus, more aggressive regimens might be required for pre-XDR-TB or XDR-TB patients.

When commutation failure occurs in HVDC transmission system, the transient voltage of “first low then high” will appear in the sending end grid which will affect the wind turbines. A new control strategy is proposed to solve the problem of excess reactive power when overvoltage occurs. Firstly, the mathematical models of Double Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) and Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) are established. Secondly, the active power priority control strategy is proposed to avoid reactive power surplus during overvoltage period to suppress transient overvoltage. Finally, the active power priority control strategy applied to DFIG and PMSG is simulated in PSCAD. The simulation results show that the wind turbines using proposed control strategy can not only avoid reactive power surplus, but also absorb reactive power in the period of over-voltage.

Miniaturization is a trend of development toward practical applications for diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers-based sensors. We demonstrate a compact diamond magnetic field sensor device using a standard microfabrication process. A single-crystal-diamond plate is embedded in a cavity formed with stacking of three silicon chips. Thermal compression bonding is implemented at silicon–silicon and diamond–silicon interfaces ensuring mechanical robustness. The specific construction volume for the essential sensor component is about 10 × 10 × 1.5 mm3. By integrating a gradient index lens pigtailed fiber to the sensor device, 532-nm laser light and emitted fluorescence share a common path for excitation and detection. An omega-shaped transmission line for applied microwave power is fabricated directly on the surface of diamond. The integrated sensor device exhibits an optimized sensitivity of 2.03 nT·Hz−1/2 and over twofold enhancement of fluorescence collection efficiency compared to bare diamond. Such a sensor is utilized to measure a magnetic field change caused by switching a household electrical appliance.

Neonicotinoid insecticides (NEOs) are widely used for pest control worldwide. However, only a few studies have analyzed NEOs and their metabolites in blood samples, and no study has measured the concentrations of NEOs and their metabolites in paired urine and blood samples. In this study, six NEOs and three characteristic metabolites were detected in 196 paired urine and blood samples collected from young adults from China. The NEOs and their metabolites were widely detected in paired urine (67%–91%) and blood (64%–97%) samples, and the median levels ranged within 0.01–1.15 ng/mL in urine and 0.08–0.80 ng/mL in blood. Olefin-imidacloprid (Of-IMI) and 1-methyl-3-(tetrahydro-3-furylmethyl) urea (UF) were the most abundant target compounds in the urine (32.4%) and blood (26.4%) samples, respectively. Gender-related differences were observed in the concentrations of most NEOs and their metabolites in the urine and blood samples. The partitioning of target analytes between blood and urine (NEOs-B/NEOs-U ratios) was also calculated in this study. The B/U ratios of most NEOs and their metabolites were below 1, and positive correlations were observed between urine and blood in most levels of NEOs and their metabolites. This finding indicates that urinary levels are good predictors of human exposure to NEOs and their metabolites. The estimated daily intake (EDI) and the imidacloprid-equivalent (IMIeq) levels of NEOs and their metabolites in 196 young adults were also determined. The median EDI values (ng/kg bw/day) of ΣNEOs (sum of NEOs and their metabolites) and IMIeq in females (194.9 and 458.2) were slightly higher than (p > 0.05) those in males (157.1 and 439.7). This finding shows young adults are extensively exposed to NEOs and their metabolites. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report about NEOs and their metabolites in paired samples of urine and blood in China.

A pixel counting strategy is designed on the basis of DNA walker-triggered fluorescence spots for ultrasensitive detection of nucleic acid. The two-dimensional DNA walker was constructed by hybridization of two types of capture DNAs, which were covalently modified by click chemistry on a glass slide, and dye-labeled hairpin structure (hDNA) as track and swing strand (sDNA) as DNAzyme, respectively. Introduction of target DNA unlocked the sDNA via strand displacement to form the activated DNAzyme, and the latter cut nearby hDNA with Mn2+ as cofactor, resulting in fluorescence recovery of dye-labeled hDNA on the substrate due to the separation from the quencher. Meanwhile, the DNAzyme sequence of sDNA was released to cut the next hDNA and, thus, initiated autonomous walking of sDNA for signal amplification. The enhanced fluorescence spots were digitalized as pixels on the basis of DNA walker-built compartments and extracted by a homemade program in MATLAB. The association between fluorescent pixel numbers a...