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We seek to demonstrate whether therapeutic efficacy can be improved by combination of repeated intravenous administration and local transplantation of human induced pluripotential stem cell derived MSCs (hiPSC-MSCs). In this study, mice model of hind-limb ischemia is established by ligation of left femoral artery. hiPSC-MSCs (5 × 105) is intravenously administrated immediately after induction of hind limb ischemia with or without following intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week or every 3 days. Intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs (3 × 106) is performed one week after induction of hind-limb ischemia. We compare the therapeutic efficacy and cell survival of intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs with or without a single or repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs. Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs can increase splenic regulatory T cells (Tregs) activation, decrease splenic natural killer (NK) cells expression, promote the polarization of M2 macrophages in the ischemic area and improved blood perfusion in the ischemic limbs. The improved therapeutic efficacy of MSC-based therapy is due to both increased engraftment of intramuscular transplanted hiPSC-MSCs and intravenous infused hiPSC-MSCs. In conclusion, our study support a combination of repeated systemic infusion and local transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs for cardiovascular disease. A combination of repeated systemic infusion and local transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs could enhance regenerative therapies for cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The creation of a bioengineered cardiac patch (BCP) is a potential novel strategy for myocardial repair. Nevertheless, the ideal scaffold for BCP is unknown. Objective: We investigated whether the decellularized placenta (DP) could serve as natural scaffold material to create a BCP for myocardial repair. Methods and results: A BCP was created by seeding human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs; 1 × 106/cm2) onto DP. The functional and electrophysiological properties of the BCP were first characterized by in vitro analysis and optical mapping. Next, in vivo therapeutic efficacy of the BCP was evaluated in a rat model of myocardial infarction (MI), created by left descending coronary artery ligation (MI + BCP group), and compared with MI alone (MI group), transplantation of DP (MI + DP group), and hiPSC-CMs (MI + CM group). Cytokine profiling demonstrated that the BCP contained multiple growth and angiogenic factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-1, basic fibroblast growth factor, angiogenin, and angiopoietin-2. In vitro optical mapping showed that the BCP exhibited organized mechanical contraction and synchronized electrical propagation. RNA sequencing showed that DP enhanced the maturation of hiPSC-CMs compared with the monolayer of cultured hiPSC-CMs. At 4 weeks follow-up, the BCP significantly improved left ventricular (LV) function, as determined by LV ejection fraction, fractional shortening, + dP/dtmax, and end-systolic pressure-volume relationship, compared with the MI, MI + DP, and MI + CM groups. Moreover, histological examination revealed that engraftment of the BCP at the infarct zone decreased infarct size and increased cell retention and neovascularization compared with the MI, MI + DP, and MI + CM groups. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that a DP scaffold contains multiple growth and angiogenic factors that enhance the maturation and survival of seeded hiPSC-CMs. Transplantation of a BCP is superior to DP or hiPSC-CMs alone in reducing infarct size and improving cell retention and neovascularization, thus providing a novel therapy for myocardial repair following MI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new fiber optic micro bend sensor has been proposed in this paper for respiration monitoring. The detected respiration rate was verified by counting the breathing manually. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to find the appropriate gear numbers and cycles of the optical fiber micro bend modulator in order to enhance the accuracy of the measurement result. The relevant improvement measures will be applied to the medical field in the future. The number of the fiber optic micro bend sensor’s teeth has been determined by the simulation results and based on which the micro bend modulator tooth structure were designed. The size of the tooth is 6 mm, and the number of teeth is 15. This structure is a kind of seat-back type fiber optic micro bend sensor. This sensors can be used to measure vital signs because it possess several advantages, such as real-time and accuracy, low cost and convenient operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time we investigate cryptographic applications of unambiguous set discrimination in quantum oblivious transfer. In particular, using techniques for unambiguous set discrimination, we present a novel quantum protocol for all-or-nothing oblivious transfer (OT). Using the same technique, we further propose an efficient and economical quantum protocol for one-out-of-two OT. The receiver performs only Bell-state measurements (BSM) to attain the goal of all-or-nothing OT or one-out-of-two OT. Moreover in the second protocol, all the conclusive and inconclusive results are useful to determine the sender's secret bits so that the qubit efficiency of the protocol is improved to 100%. Decoy-state-technology-like detection method ensures the security of the proposed protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although private information retrieval and oblivious transfer are equivalent in classical cryptography, we show that the existence of secure quantum private information retrieval is necessary but not sufficient for secure quantum oblivious transfer, which provides a strong evidence of nonequivalence of two flavors of oblivious transfer at the quantum level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Jakobi et al. (Phys Rev A 83, 022301, ) suggested the first practical private database query protocol (J-protocol) based on the Scarani et al. (Phys Rev Lett 92, 057901, ) quantum key distribution protocol. Unfortunately, the J-protocol is just a cheat-sensitive private database query protocol. In this paper, we present an idealized relativistic quantum private database query protocol based on Minkowski causality and the properties of quantum information. Also, we prove that the protocol is secure in terms of the user security and the database security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private information retrieval implies oblivious transfer in classical cryptography. Following this clue, we present a novel quantum one-out-of-two OT protocol based on a practical quantum symmetrically private information retrieval protocol Jakobi et al. (Phys. Rev. A 83, 022301 ), with changes only in the classical postprocessing of the key. While unconditionally secure oblivious transfer is known to be impossible, we argue that an interesting degree of security can be achieved by means of quantum physical principles instead of unproven security assumptions in order to protect both the sender and the receiver. The proposed OT protocol is loss tolerant, practical and robust against quantum memory attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Boyer et al. (Phys Rev Lett 99:140501, ) introduced a conceptually novel semi-quantum key distribution scheme (BKM07). Tan et al. (Phys Rev Lett 102:098901, ) showed that classical Bob is unable to detect Eve's eavesdropping by giving a special implementation of BKM07 protocol. In the reply, Boyer et al. (Phys Rev Lett 102:098902, ) gave a solution against the eavesdropping, i.e., Bob may place a filter that allows only photons with approximately specific frequency to pass just at the expected time $${\sim }t$$ . However, their improvement contradicts the descriptions about 'classical.' If the assumption of 'classical' is not considered, we give a delay-photon Trojan-horse attack on BKM07 protocol and its improvement and further present a possible improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a class of one-sided two-party computation, unconditionally secure symmetrically private information retrieval (SPIR) is impossible. So the study of quantum symmetrically private information retrieval (QSPIR), i.e., quantum private query (QPQ) with an interesting degree of security is desirable. Known QPQ protocols [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 (23) (2008) 230502; Phys. Rev. A 84 (2) (2011) 022313; Phys. Rev. A 83 (2011) 022301; Opt. Exp. 20 (16) (2012) 17411–17420] are claimed to be cheat-sensitive, especially not real-time. It is natural to ask whether we can design a QPQ protocol with real-time security check. In this paper, we introduce an untrusted third party and propose a framework of one-sided two-party quantum computation protocols with real-time security check. For clarity and without loss of generality, we demonstrate a concrete QPQ example under this framework by improving Gao et al's protocol [Opt. Exp. 20 (16) (2012) 17411–17420]. We discuss the security of the protocol and show that it really has real-time security check. The proposed framework paves the way for the design of one-sided two-party quantum computation protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jakobi et al. for the first time proposed a novel and practical quantum private query (QPQ) protocol based on SARG04 (Scarani et al. in Phys Rev Lett 92:057901, ) quantum key distribution protocol (Jakobi et al. in Phys Rev A 83:022301, ). Gao et al. generalized Jakobi et al's protocol and proposed a flexible QPQ protocol (Gao et al. in Opt Exp 20(16):17411-17420, ). When $$\theta <\pi /4$$ , Gao et al's protocol exhibits better database security than Jakobi et al's protocol, but has a higher probability with which Bob can correctly guess the address of Alice's query. In this paper, we propose a flexible B92-based QPQ protocol. Although SARG04 protocol is a modification of B92 protocol and can be seen as a generalization of B92 protocol, our protocol shows different advantages from Gao et al's protocol. It can simultaneously obtain better database security and a lower probability with which Bob can correctly guess the address of Alice's query when $$\theta <\pi /4$$ . By introducing entanglement, the proposed QPQ protocol is robust against channel-loss attack, which also implies lower classical communication complexity. Similar to Gao et al's protocol, it is flexible, practical, and robust against quantum memory attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac shock wave therapy (CSWT) is a novel therapeutic procedure for patients with angina that is refractory to conventional therapy. We investigated the potential mechanism and therapeutic efficacy of non-R-wave-triggered CSWT to attenuate myocardial dysfunction in a large animal model of hypertensive cardiomyopathy. Sustained elevated blood pressure (BP) was induced in adult pigs using a combination of angiotensin-II and deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA). Two sessions of non-R-wave-triggered CSWT were performed at 11 and 16 weeks. At 10 weeks, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, LV posterior wall thickness and intraventricular septum thickness significantly increased in both the hypertension and CSWT groups. At 20 weeks, +dP/dt and end-systolic pressure-volume relationship (ESPVR) decreased significantly in the hypertension group but not the CSWT group, as compared with week 10. A significant improvement in end-diastolic pressure-volume relationship (EDPVR) was observed in the CSWT group. The CSWT group exhibited significantly increased microvascular density and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in the myocardium. Cytokine array demonstrated that the CSWT group had significantly reduced inflammation compared with the hypertension group. Our results demonstrate that non-R-wave-triggered CSWT is safe and can attenuate LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction via enhancement of myocardial neovascularization and anti-inflammatory effect in a large animal model of hypertensive cardiomyopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is a significant global health issue that poses high mortality and morbidity risks. One commonly observed cause of DILI is acetaminophen (APAP) overdose. GSDME is an effector protein that induces non‐canonical pyroptosis. In this study, the activation of GSDME, but not GSDMD, in the liver tissue of mice and patients with APAP‐DILI is reported. Knockout of GSDME, rather than GSDMD, in mice protected them from APAP‐DILI. Mice with hepatocyte‐specific rescue of GSDME reproduced APAP‐induced liver injury. Furthermore, alterations in the immune cell pools observed in APAP‐induced DILI, such as the replacement of TIM4+ resident Kupffer cells (KCs) by monocyte‐derived KCs, Ly6C+ monocyte infiltration, MerTk+ macrophages depletion, and neutrophil increase, reappeared in mice with hepatocyte‐specific rescue of GSDME. Mechanistically, APAP exposure led to a substantial loss of interferon‐stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), resulting in deISGylation of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase‐1 (CPS1), promoted its degradation via K48‐linked ubiquitination, causing ammonia clearance dysfunction. GSDME deletion prevented these effects. Delayed administration of dimethyl‐fumarate inhibited GSDME cleavage and alleviated ammonia accumulation, mitigating liver injury. This findings demonstrated a previously uncharacterized role of GSDME in APAP‐DILI by promoting pyroptosis and CPS1 deISGylation, suggesting that inhibiting GSDME can be a promising therapeutic option for APAP‐DILI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leucine, isoleucine, and valine are diet derived and essential amino acids that are termed branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). BCAA are widely used as dietary supplements to boost muscle growth and enhance exercise performance. However, the effects of BCAA on myocardial function are largely unknown. This study was designed to investigate whether BCAA affect heart function and, if so, to further explore the underlying molecular basis for the observed effects. C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into two groups, the control group received solvent (water) and the BCAA group received 2% BCAA dissolved in water, for a successive period of 12 weeks. Compared with control, BCAA treatment significantly increased water consumption without changing body weight or diet consumption; heart tissue BCAA levels were increased, markers representative of myocardial injury in heart tissue including c-reactive protein and cardiac muscle troponin were increased ; and creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, and lactate dehydrogenase were increased in serum; severe myocardial fibrosis was observed by Masson staining, which was accompanied by increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and decreased superoxide dismutase activity in heart tissue; both p-AMPK and p-ULK1 were significantly increased as was autophagy, judged by the presence of LC3 by western blotting and immunofluorescence, increased numbers of autophagosomes were found by transmission electron microscopy in the BCAA group. In vitro , 20 mmol/L BCAA significantly decreased cell viability and increased the production of ROS, as well as the expression of p-AMPK/AMPK and p-ULK1/ULK1 in cultured H9C2 cells. Treatment with the ROS scavenger N -acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) improved cell viability and reversed ROS changes. Decreased H9C2 cell viability induced with 20 mmol/L BCAA was reversed by either blocking AMPK or inhibition of ULK1. Furthermore, blocking AMPK significantly decreased p-ULK1/ULK1, while inhibition of ULK1 reversed the enhanced expression of LC3-II/LC3-I induced by BCAA. Excessive ROS production and decreased cell viability induced by BCAA were further confirmed in primary cultured murine cardiomyocytes. Pharmacological activation of α7nAChR with PNU-282987 attenuated BCAA-induced injury in primary murine cardiomyocytes. However, this compound failed to suppress BCAA activation of AMPK and autophagy (LC3-II/I ratio). These results provide the first evidence that treatment of mice with BCAA induced myocardial injury by triggering excessive ROS production and by enhancing AMPK-ULK1 pathway-dependent autophagy. These findings suggested that inhibition of either ROS production or autophagy may alleviate myocardial injury induced by BCAA. • Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) treatment produced cell injury in C57BL/6 mice and cultured cardiomyocytes. • Excessive oxidative stress and enhanced autophagy mediated BCAA-induced myocardial injury in vivo and in vitro. • Enhanced autophagy contributed to BCAA-induced cardiomyocyte injury through an AMPK-ULK1 dependent pathway. • Pharmacological activation of α7nAChR attenuated cardiomyocyte injury by BCAA, related to inhibition of ROS production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a worldwide public health problem with no established pharmacological therapy. Here, we explored the potential benefit of P7C3-A20, a novel aminopropyl carbazole compound with neuroprotective activity, in a NAFLD model, induced in mice by a high-fat diet (HFD).Experimental Approach: C57BL/6J mice were given a HFD (42% fat content) for 16 weeks to induce NAFLD. P7C3-A20 (20 mg·kg-1 ·day-1 ) was given by gavage for 2 weeks. Indirect calorimetry, histological analysis, immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, and biomedical examinations were performed. Gut microbiota were determined using a 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing analysis.Key Results: P7C3-A20 treatment reduced body weight gain/adiposity, improved insulin resistance, promoted energy expenditure (O2 consumption/CO2 production), inhibited lipid oxidation, suppressed hepatic inflammation (Kupffer cell number and pro-inflammatory factors), decreased necroptosis/apoptosis (receptor-interacting protein kinase 3, cleaved caspase-3, and TUNEL), and alleviated liver fibrosis and injury. Mechanistically, P7C3-A20 stimulated FGF21 and FGF1 via activating liver kinase B1 (LKB1) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which further resulted in a reduced nuclear translocation of CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 2 (CRTC2). In AMPKα2 knockout mice, the protection of P7C3-A20 against HFD-induced metabolism abnormalities and fat accumulation, as well as the elevation of blood FGF21 and FGF1, was abolished. P7C3-A20 increased the gut microbiota species richness. Moreover, it enhanced the proportions of Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, and Prevotellaceae, while reducing the proportions of Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia, and Parasutterella.Conclusions and Implications: P7C3-A20 increased levels of NAD+ and alleviated NAFLD through stimulating FGF21 and FGF1 in an LKB1/AMPK/CRTC2-dependent manner and shaping gut microbiota.Linked Articles: This article is part of a themed issue on Cellular metabolism and diseases. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v178.10/issuetoc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image matching, also known as correspondence problem, can be defined as the establishment of the correspondence between two or more digital images depicting at least partly the same scene. In this paper, we propose a method for matching gray-scale images consisting of quantum information. Quantum template image is directly mapped with quantum reference image, i.e., the quantum register representing each corresponding pixel of the quantum template image is subtracted from that of the quantum reference image by running a quantum subtracter. According to the quantum measurement results, we can save the gray-scale difference and sum all the differences. Then we compare the sum with Tolerance value. If the sum is smaller than Tolerance value, then quantum image matching succeeds. Experimental simulations show that the proposed approach can distinguish any two quantum gray-scale images successfully. Compared to the schemes based on flexible representation of quantum images (FRQI), our approach based on novel enhanced quantum representation of digital images (NEQR) has the advantages of retrieving the original classical image accurately from the quantum image so that it can be generalized to the case where the dimension of quantum template image is smaller than that of quantum reference image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel quantum encryption method for audio signals is proposed. We introduce a novel quantum representation model for audio. The encryption principle is based on two secret random-phase encoding operations performed in both the input and quantum Fourier transform (QFT) planes of the proposed quantum representation model for audio respectively. Due to the reversibility of the quantum computation, the decryption process is the inverse of the encryption process. Simulation results and theoretical analyses show that the proposed approach offers a significant gain in terms of robustness, computational complexity and advantages over its classical counterparts. It opens the way for introducing audio encryption into quantum scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • An oxygen vacancy contained SnO 2 QDs/Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene composite is prepared. • This composite shows high reversible discharge capacity and good rate performance. • A high-capacity N, S co-doped biomass derived porous carbon is prepared. • The LIC presents high energy and power densities, and excellent cyclic stability. Li-ion capacitors (LICs) based on battery-type anodes and capacitive cathodes have the potential to become the candidate of the next generation of electrochemical energy storage (EES) devices because of their high energy density (ED) along with large power density (PD) which are basically determined by the physical and chemical properties of their anodes and cathodes. In this work, the coating of SnO 2 quantum dots (QDs, ca. 4–5 nm) with oxygen vacancies on the surface of Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene sheets with different contents has been achieved through one-step solvothermal method. The optimized SnO 2 QDs/Ti 3 C 2 T x -50 composite anode displays a large reversible discharge capacity (1000.4 mAh g−1@0.2 A g−1), distinguished cycling stability (the discharge capacity of 1004.0 mAh g−1 at the end of 300 cycles under the same current density), and good rate performance, and in which the reaction kinetics is dominated by the fast capacitive process to a large extent, due to the reduced Li+ ion diffusion path and oxygen vacancies in SnO 2 QDs, the prominent electrical conductivity along with outstanding mechanical property for Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene, and the large specific surface area of this composite. And a high-capacity N, S co-doped biomass derived porous carbon (NS-BPC) cathode (95.8 mAh g−1@0.2 A g−1) is synthesized, and constructed with the SnO 2 QDs/Ti 3 C 2 T x -50 anode to give rise to a superior-performance Li-ion capacitor possessing ED being 148.5 to 17.5 Wh kg−1 with the corresponding PD of 200.4 W kg−1 to 10.0 kW kg−1, additionally exceedingly good cycling stability (96.5% capacity retention ratio after 5000 cycles). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are considered as a promising energy storage device possessing large specific energy along with high specific power due to the integration of the merits of electric double-layer capacitors (ELDCs) and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In the present work, TiO 2 nanotubes supported ultrafine MnCo 2 O 4 nanoparticles with the size of 5–10 nm is solvothermally synthesized. It is found that the introduction of TiO 2 nanotubes can weaken the aggregation of MnCo 2 O 4 nanoparticles, therefore causing the enhancement in the electrode/electrolyte interfacial contact and the reduction in Li + diffusion path. Benefiting from the synergy effect of MnCo 2 O 4 and TiO 2 which can alleviate the volume change of MnCo 2 O 4 , the MnCo 2 O 4 /TiO 2 composite used in LIBs displays a large reversible capacity of 743 mAh g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 after 100 cycles and impressive rate performance. This composite as anode is assembled with an activated carbon (AC) electrode as cathode into MnCo 2 O 4 /TiO 2 //AC LIC working in a wide voltage range of 0.5–4 V. This LIC can deliver high specific energies of 89.8 and 44.1 Wh kg−1 at specific power of 0.25 and 3.41 kW kg−1, respectively, and presents outstanding cyclic stability (76.4% of initial capacity at the end of 5000 cycles). A high-performance MnCo 2 O 4 /TiO 2 composite was synthesized and used as an anode of Li-ion capacitors. [Display omitted] • TiO 2 nanotubes are employed to support ultrafine MnCo 2 O 4 nanoparticles. • MnCo 2 O 4 /TiO 2 composite can deliver high reversible capacity. • A Li-ion capacitor is assembled by using MnCo 2 O 4 /TiO 2 composite as anode. • The Li-ion capacitor shows high specific energy and specific power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enhancement in specific energy (SE) of supercapacitors (SCs) by increasing the operating voltage and/or specific capacitance is the focus of this study, particularly for the quasi-solid-state supercapacitors. Herein, a redox-active "water-in-salt" (WIS) hydrogel polymer electrolyte (HPE) possessing a wide operating voltage and exhibiting pseudocapacitance was synthesized by the stepwise dissolution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and redox additive KBr in a 5 m (mol kgwater−1) lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulphonyl)imide (LiTFSI) WIS solution. The dependence of the ionic conductivity of PVA–LiTFSI–KBr HPE on the KBr mass was investigated and the optimized PVA–LiTFSI–KBr HPE with a maximum ionic conductivity of 43.3 mS cm−1 was acquired. The optimized PVA–LiTFSI–KBr HPE was covered by two identical activated carbon (AC) electrodes to form a sandwich-configuration SC. This device can deliver a large SE of 34.5 W h kg−1, mainly attributed to the observation that the as-prepared HPE inherits the character of the WIS electrolyte, in which the reduced water activity leads to suppressed water decomposition, resulting in the wide operating voltage of 2.0 V. The Br−/Br3− redox reaction at the HPE/AC electrode interface exhibits additional pseudocapacitance. In addition, a remarkable cyclic stability and excellent self-discharge performance are demonstrated in this device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More attention has been focused on the design of all-solid-state supercapacitors (ASSCs) due to that this kind of supercapacitors can avoid some problems such as electrolyte leakage occurring in liquid electrolyte-based supercapacitors. However, ASSCs present lower specific energy, which is generally in great relation with the very low ionic conductivity of utilized electrolyte. To achieve high-specific-energy ASSCs with superior performance, a redox-active ionic liquid-based ionogel electrolyte (IGE) consisting of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (BMIMI) IL, poly(vinylidene fluoride- co -hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was prepared by a solution-casting method. By optimizing BMIMI/PVDF-HFP and CNTs/PVDF-HFP mass ratios, the obtained PVDF-HFP/BMIMI/CNTs IGE presents the maximum ionic conductivity as high as 17.6 mS cm−1. A sandwiched ASSC constructed by two identical activated carbon electrodes and an as-prepared PVDF-HFP/BMIMI/CNTs IGE possesses a high specific energy of 50.1 Wh kg−1 as a result of the extra pseudocapacitance contribution from the redox-reactions related to I-based ions happening at the interface between electrolyte and electrode and the increased ionic conductivity of IGE for the existence of CNTs network into the IGE providing fast ion transfer channel. The self-discharge behavior of this device is effectively weakened due to the addition of CNTs. Furthermore, the promising cyclic stability is achieved. • A redox-active ionic liquid-based ionogel electrolyte was prepared. • Redox-active BMIMI ionic liquid produces extra pseudocapacitance. • CNTs enhance the ionic conductivity and suppress the self-discharge. • An all-solid-state supercapacitor presents high energy density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the energy density of quasi-solid-state supercapacitors, a redox-active gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) was prepared by evaporating the excess water in a neutral gel that consists of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Na2SO4 and the ionic liquid (IL) N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bromide (Pyr14Br). The influence of IL Pyr14Br on the ionic conductivity of GPE was investigated. The maximum ionic conductivity of PVA–Na2SO4–Pyr14Br GPE can reach 27.1 mS cm−1. The optimized GPE was assembled with two activated carbon electrodes into a quasi-solid-state supercapacitor. The electrochemical performances of this supercapacitor were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and self-discharge measurements. The assembled supercapacitor exhibits a high energy density of 33.0 W h kg−1, which is due to the wide working voltage (2.0 V) as a result of the strong solvation of Na+ cations and SO42− anions and the production of an additional pseudocapacitive contribution from the Br−/Br3− redox reaction at the electrolyte/electrode interface. This supercapacitor exhibits outstanding cyclic stability with an 81.0% capacitance retention ratio after 8000 charge/discharge cycles. Moreover, this supercapacitor presents good self-discharge behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: It has been reported that APOA1 -75G/A polymorphism might be associated with susceptibility to coronary artery disease (CAD). Owing to mixed and inconclusive results, we conducted a meta-analysis to systematically summarize and clarify the association between APOA1-75G/A polymorphism and the risk of CAD.Material and Methods: A systematic search of studies on the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) with susceptibility to CAD was conducted. A total of 9 case-control studies (1864 cases and 1196 controls) on the APOA1-75G/A polymorphism were included.Results: We observed no statistically significant association between APOA1 -75G/A polymorphism and risk of CAD under the dominant genetic model (AA + AG vs. GG: OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.65-1.66), allelic contrast (A vs. G: OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.58-1.32), heterozygote model (AG vs. GG: OR = 1.24, 95% CI: 0.81-1.89) or homozygote model (AA vs. GG: OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.26-1.05). Significant heterogeneity between individual studies appears in all five models, but a strong association under the recessive genetic model (AA vs. AG + GG: OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.28-0.92). In the subgroup analysis by Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE; the presence or absence of HWE in controls), significantly decreased CAD risk and no significant heterogeneity were observed among controls consistent with HWE. Overall, the APOA1 A allele is one of the protective factors of CAD. A stronger association between APOA1-75G/A polymorphisms and CAD risk was present in the studies consistent with HWE.Conclusions: The minor allele of the APOA1-75G/A polymorphism is a protective factor for CAD, especially in the studies consistent with HWE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum computation has achieved a tremendous success during the last decades. In this paper, we investigate the potential application of a famous quantum computation model, i.e., quantum walks (QW) in image encryption. It is found that QW can serve as an excellent key generator thanks to its inherent nonlinear chaotic dynamic behavior. Furthermore, we construct a novel QW-based image encryption algorithm. Simulations and performance comparisons show that the proposal is secure enough for image encryption and outperforms prior works. It also opens the door towards introducing quantum computation into image encryption and promotes the convergence between quantum computation and image processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]