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ATG5-induced autophagy is triggered in the early stages after SAH, which plays a vital role in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Acyl-CoA synthetase short-chain family 2 (ACSS2) is not just involved in energy metabolism but also binds to TEFB to form a complex translocated to related autophagy genes to regulate the expression of autophagy-related genes. However, the contribution of ACSS2 to the activation of autophagy in early brain injury (EBI) after SAH has barely been discussed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the alterations of ACSS2 and its neuroprotective effects following SAH. We first evaluated the expression of ACSS2 at different time points (6, 12, 24, and 72 h after SAH) in vivo and primary cortical neurons stimulated by oxyhemoglobin (OxyHb). Subsequently, adeno-associated virus and lentivirus were used to regulate ACSS2 expression to investigate the effect of ACSS2 after SAH. The results showed that the ACSS2 level decreased significantly in the early stages of SAH and was minimized at 24 h post-SAH. After artificial intervention to overexpress ACSS2, ATG5-induced autophagy was further enhanced in EBI after SAH, and neuronal apoptosis was alleviated to protect brain injury. In addition, brain edema and neurological function scores were improved. These results suggest that ACSS2 plays an important role in the neuroprotection against EBI after SAH by increasing ATG5-induce autophagy and inhibiting apoptosis.

With the increasing awareness of privacy protection, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are widely used to build a more secure communication tunnel. However, a traffic hijacking attack called blind in/on-path has seriously threatened the security of VPNs. Inspired by Moving Target Defense (MTD), Moving VPN architecture (MVPN) is designed to defend against such attacks. MVPN includes multiple nodes to encrypt and decrypt traffic to enhance reliability. Thus, the consistency judgment algorithm is proposed to make MVPN obtain the ability to perceive attacks. Moreover, according to the judgment result and the state update strategy, the MVPN state is dynamically changed so as to achieve the purpose of active defense. In addition, this paper also designs the multichannel packet classification mechanism and availability assurance strategy, which not only ensures the security and availability of the system but also reduces the performance loss caused by the defense strategy. The simulation verifies that MVPN architecture can reduce the success rate of blind in/on-path attacks by five orders of magnitude. In addition, we implemented and deployed MVPN based on the fast-forwarding framework of the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK). Experiments in the real environment also show that the MVPN system can effectively prevent attackers from carrying out blind in/on-path attacks.

Enterprise stents are widely used for intracranial aneurysms located on small arteries (2.5 mm in diameter) and change the geometry of parent arteries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between vascular geometry changes and long-term outcomes.Between May 2013 and 2018, 1065 consecutive intracranial aneurysms were treated with Enterprise stents at our institution. After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 377 aneurysms with6 months of digital subtraction angiography follow-up were evaluated. The cohort comprised 101 aneurysms located on small parent arteries. After stent-assisted coiling, the vascular geometry parameters of small parent arteries were compared to explore their correlation with procedural complications, delayed stent migration, and recanalization.The rate of delayed aneurysm occlusion in patients with initial efferent artery diameter (De)2.5 mm was significantly higher than in patients with De2.5 mm (62.2% vs. 40.2%; P = 0.032). At follow-up, vascular geometry parameters significantly increased (P0.001). In multivariate analyses, larger aneurysms and initial parent artery angle (α)90° were independent predictors of procedural complications and discrepancy in vessel size (ΔD)0.5 mm was an independent predictor of delayed stent migration. Larger aneurysms and follow-up angle change (ΔAngle)30° were independent predictors for recanalization of aneurysms located on small arteries.Enterprise stent-assisted coiling of intracranial aneurysms located on small arteries is safe and effective. Our study found that Enterprise deployment in small arteries had a low procedural complication rate and high stent tolerance. Vascular geometry changes play an important role in aneurysm recanalization.

Background We conducted a multi-center study to investigate the prevalence, the malignant transformation potential of the simple renal cysts and the factors that might predict malignancy. Methods We defined the simple renal cysts as Bosniak class I & II (including IIF) lesions. In the prevalence study, data from 115,132 ultrasonographies was collected from individuals who participated in a multiphasic health wellness screen. In the natural history and progression study, we retrospectively reviewed 333 participants with simple renal cysts and were followed for at the least 3 years with a mean of 6.3±2.9 years (ranged from 3 to 13 years). Results About 7.2% (8,303) of the individuals who participated in the study were found to have at the least one simple renal cyst. The incidence increased with age from 0.6% in the first decade to 28.0% in the eighth or later decade of life. The Bosniak class I lesion accounted for 7,559 or 91.0% of the cysts whereas 744 or 9.0% were class II. A slower growth rate was observed in the older age group. Twenty-four patients (7.2%) had their renal cysts upgraded according to the Bosniak classification. Gender, age, initial cyst size, number of cysts and bi-laterality failed to predict the malignancy tendency. Conclusions Most of the cysts discovered were the Bosniak class I and II lesions and they rarely progress further. Treatment for the asymptomatic simple renal cyst is not warranted. Treatment decision-making based on older age or larger initial cyst size should not be recommended.

Axially (c-axis)-oriented ZnO thick films with a ∼8.1 μm thickness were fabricated on ZnO seed layer coated substrates by using a filtered preheated hydrothermal solution. The thick films composed of single-crystal ZnO microrods with various diameters were formed by coalescing each nanorod together along their side surfaces. From the X-ray diffraction result a biaxial stress exists was found to exist in the as-grown thick films, and the stress gradually increased with increasing annealing temperatures from 200 to 550 °C due to a degradation in the crystalline quality. The biaxial stress is responsible for the red-shift of the optical band gap of the ZnO thick films. Photoluminescence and Hall results revealed that the optical and the electrical properties of the thick films were degenerated after high-temperature annealing (> 200 °C), which was due to the introduction of point defects, such as oxygen interstitials and zinc vacancies.

TiO2 nanoparticle-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were modified by depositing a layer of a long-persistent phosphor, SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+, on top of the TiO2 nanoparticle layer to prepare working electrodes of the DSSCs. SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ red-shifted the short UV wavelengths into the main absorption range of the dye commonly used in DSSCs. The SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ layer also acted as a light-scattering layer to reduce the loss of visible light. Incident photon to current conversion efficiency measurements showed that the application of such phosphor materials enhanced light-harvesting. The open-circuit voltage was found to be higher in the modified DSSCs. The electrons produced by the SrAl2O4:Eu2+,Dy3+ particles contribute to the reduction of I3– to I–, leading to a lower I3– concentration in the electrolyte. This reduces the recapture of electrons injected in the conduction band of TiO2 by triiodide ions and promotes the open circuit voltage. The performance of the modified DSSC device was improved co...

Osteoporosis is a progressive bone disease which is characterized by a decrease in the bone mass and deterioration in bone micro-architecture. In theory, photoacoustic (PA) imaging analysis has potential to obtain the characteristics of the bone effectively. Previous study demonstrated that photoacoustic spectral analysis (PASA) method with the qualified parameter slope could provide an objective assessment of bone microstructure and deterioration. In this study, we tried to compare PASA method with the traditional quantitative ultrasound (QUS) method in osteoporosis assessment. Numerical simulations of both PA and ultrasound (US) signal are performed on computerized tomographic (CT) images of trabecular bone with different bone mineral densities (BMDs). Ex vivo experiments were conducted on porcine femur bone model of different BMDs. We compared the quantified parameter slope and the broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) coefficient from the PASA and QUS among different bone models, respectively. Both the simulation and ex vivo experiment results show that bone with low BMD has a higher slope value and lower BUA value. Our result demonstrated that the PASA method has the same efficacy with QUS in bone assessment, considering PA is a non-ionizing, non-invasive technique, PASA method holds potential for clinical diagnosis in osteoporosis and other bone diseases.

To identify susceptibility loci for ankylosing spondylitis, we performed a two-stage genome-wide association study in Han Chinese. In the discovery stage, we analyzed 1,356,350 autosomal SNPs in 1,837 individuals with ankylosing spondylitis and 4,231 controls; in the validation stage, we analyzed 30 suggestive SNPs in an additional 2,100 affected individuals and 3,496 controls. We identified two new susceptibility loci between EDIL3 and HAPLN1 at 5q14.3 (rs4552569; P = 8.77 × 10(-10)) and within ANO6 at 12q12 (rs17095830; P = 1.63 × 10(-8)). We also confirmed previously reported associations in Europeans within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region (top SNP, rs13202464; P < 5 × 10(-324)) and at 2p15 (rs10865331; P = 1.98 × 10(-8)). We show that rs13202464 within the MHC region mainly represents the risk effect of HLA-B*27 variants (including HLA-B*2704, HLA-B*2705 and HLA-B*2715) in Chinese. The two newly discovered loci implicate genes related to bone formation and cartilage development, suggesting their potential involvement in the etiology of ankylosing spondylitis.

The porous nanotubes were successfully fabricated by coating a porous layer on the walls of the TiO2 nanotubes. This method was proved available for effectively increasing the specific surface area of the nanotubes. The DSSCs based on such porous nanotubes has a higher conversion efficiency than that of the DSSCs using common TiO2 nanotubes. This could be explained by the enhanced loading of dye molecules on porous TiO2 nanotubes, which resulted in the improvement of short-circuit current. The light to electric energy conversion efficiency of the DSSCs applying porous TiO2 nanotubes is about 1.79% nearly two times higher than that of the DSSCs based on normal TiO2 nanotubes.

Volmer―Weber-type ZnO nanorods (VW ZnO NRs) were fabricated by using a hybrid method combined with RF sputtering and hydrotherma) methods. The structural and optical properties of VW ZnO NRs were investigated by using synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS). it was found that VW ZnO NRs showed wurtzite structure and were verticaDy standing on a substrate with a compressive stress from the substrate that can be reduced by annealing. in the micro-Raman study, a forbidden E 1 (LO) mode in a bulk ZnO was observed in VW ZnO NRs due to the many edges in NR structures. It was also confirmed that VW ZnO NRs have a wurtzite structure by observing E 2 Iow and E 2 high peaks. In the PL spectra, VW ZnO NRs showed a broad emission in the visible range, especially yellow emission, with a weak UV emission. The UV emission was monotonously enhanced on increasing the annealing temperature. The yellow emission was enhanced in the annealed sample at 200 C due to an evaporation ofhydroxy) groups (OH )on the surface of VW ZnO NRs.

A single-crystalline twinned ZnO nanostructure with a 2-dimensional leaf-like morphology (nanoleaves) was synthesized using a facile hydrothermal strategy. The ZnO nanoleaves had 2-fold symmetric branches, which were identified by the existence of an inversion domain boundary (IDB) along the [2110] growth direction of the ribbon-like stems with both side surfaces of the stems terminated with a chemically active Zn-(0001) plane. A proposed growth mechanism suggested that the formation of IDB and the leaf-like shape are related to the dissolution of seed particles on the substrate surfaces and an OH- shielding effect in solution, respectively. Optical measurements revealed visible emission, suggesting the possession of defects in the as-grown and annealed ZnO nanoleaves. In addition, various ZnO nanostructures were synthesized by simply controlling the fabrication conditions.

Ultralong ZnO nanorod arrays with a length of 10 microm were synthesized using a preheated hydrothermal-solution precursor, and their optical and electrical properties were studied using photoluminescence (PL) spectra and field effect transistors (FETs). The PL spectra showed ultraviolet, orange, and red emissions and had different temperature dependences with increasing temperature. The high-resolution photoluminescence spectra showed that the ultraviolet (UV) emission had different origins within different temperature ranges. The parameters describing the temperature dependence of the peak position shift, intensity, and full width at half maximum were evaluated using different models. After the fabrication of individual nanorod FETs, the ultralong ZnO NRs showed a clear n-type gate modulation with a typical electron concentration of 10(17) cm(-3) and a typical electron mobility of 35.7 cm2/V x s.

Porous TiO2 thin films obtained from sol–gel self-organize approach were firstly used as masks to control the growth of ZnO nanorod arrays by aqueous solution method. The effect of TiO2 pore size on the density of ZnO nanorod arrays was investigated by atomic force microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscope. The results show that the density of ZnO nanorod arrays obviously decreases after using porous TiO2 masks, and increases with increasing the TiO2 pore size. Additionally, the existence of TiO2 mask can also effectively prolong the wet-chemical etching time of TiO2 nanotube arrays manufactured from ZnO nanorod templates assisted sol–gel method, to completely remove the ZnO nanorod templates and to avoid collapsing of TiO2 nanotube arrays from the substrates.

Osteoporosis is a progressive bone disease, which is characterized by a decrease in the bone mass and deterioration in bone micro-architecture. In theory, photoacoustic (PA) analysis has the potential to obtain the characteristics of the bone effectively. In this study, we try to compare the PA spectral analysis (PASA) method with the quantitative ultrasound (QUS) method in osteoporosis assessment. We compare the quantified parameter slope from the PASA and broadband ultrasound attenuation from QUS among different bone models, respectively. Both the simulation and ex vivo experiment results show that bone with lower bone mineral density has the higher slope in the PASA method. Our comparison study proves that the PASA method has the same efficiency as QUS in osteoporosis assessment.

We studied the effect of nano-tubular anodic TiO2 buffer layers on hydroxyapatite (HA) coating. The pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method was used to deposit HA on a well arranged nano-tubular anodic TiO2 (NT-ATO) buffer layer prepared by an electrochemical anodization technique. The surface morphology and chemical composition of HA coatings were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and contact angle measurement. We found that crystalline HA coatings show well arranged porous morphologies with a favorable surface wettability. We also found that an anodic nano-tubular TiO2 buffer layer with a relatively short tube length shows a better coating morphology. The deposition process of HA on the nanotubular TiO2 buffer layer was also proposed.

Well-aligned ZnO nanowire arrays with a long length of more than 40 microm were prepared successfully by using the polyethylenimine (PEI)-assisted preheating hydrothermal method (PAPHT). Several important synthetic parameters such as PEI content, growth time, preheating time and zinc salt concentration were found to determine the growth of ultralong ZnO nanowire arrays, including length, diameter, density and alignment degree. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of as-grown ultralong ZnO nanowire arrays revealed a UV emission and a yellow emission, which was attributed to the absorbed hydroxyl group based on the peak shift after annealing in various atmospheres. The performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) increased with increasing length of ZnO nanowire arrays, which was mainly ascribed to the aggrandized photocurrent and reduced recombination loss according to electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A maximum efficiency of 1.3% for a cell with a short-circuit current density (J(sc)) = 4.26 mA cm(2), open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) = 0.69 V and (fill factor) FF = 0.42 was achieved with a length of 40 microm.

Tubeimoside 1, one of the new triterpenoid saponins from the bulb of Bolbostemma paniculatum (Maxim) Franquet, had an anti-inflammatory effect on mouse ear edema induced by arachidonic acid and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Furthermore, a potent anti-tumorigenic effect of tubeimoside 1 was observed in 2-stage carcinogenesis of mouse skin after oral administration as well as topical application. Thus, tubeimoside 1 appears to be a promising agent for cancer chemoprevention.

We fabricated Volmer-Weber type ZnO nanorods by using a hydrothermal method combing with an RF sputtering system. Volmer-Weber type ZnO seed nanocrystals were formed on Pt(111)/TiO2/SiO2/Si(100) substrates by using RF sputtering method and then the seeded substrates were soaked in an aqueous chemical solution, which was mixed with Zn(NO3)2 x 6H2O and NaOH. We found that ZnO nanorods were perpendicularly grown along the [002] direction by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods. We also confirmed that fabricated ZnO nanorods were Volmer-Weber type by using an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) method.