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Hypoglycemia is a common adverse reaction to glucose-lowering treatment. Diabetes mellitus (DM) combined with recurrent nonsevere hypoglycemia (RH) can accelerate cognitive decline. Currently, the metabolic pattern changes in cognition-related brain regions caused by this combined effect of DM and RH (DR) remain unclear. In this study, we first characterized the metabolic profiles of the hippocampus in mice exposed to DR using non-targeted metabolomic platforms. Our results showed that DR induced a unique metabolic pattern in the hippocampus, and several significant differences in metabolite levels belonging to the histidine metabolism pathway were discovered. Based on these findings, in the follow-up experiment, we found that histidine treatment could attenuate the cognitive impairment and rescue the neuronal and synaptic damage induced by DR in the hippocampus, which are closely related to ameliorated mitochondrial injury. These findings provide new insights into the metabolic mechanisms of the hippocampus in the progression of DR, and l -histidine supplementation may be a potential metabolic therapy in the future. • Found novel metabolic changes of recurrent nonsevere hypoglycemia in diabetic mice. • New metabolic changes may have some impact on cognitive function in diabetic mice. • Histidine treatment may have neuroprotective effects in diabetic mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates a polycrystalline silicon avalanche mode light-emitting device. The unique N+PN+PN+ cascade structure is designed to enhance light intensity via carrier injection engineering, in which the minority carriers are injected from the forward-biased junction to the light emission junction. Visible light can be observed at the reverse-biased PN junctions when the device operating voltage exceeds 20 V. In particular, the phonon-assisted indirect interband recombination of carriers with excess energy may be the main mechanism of photon emission. A specific junction model is proposed to explain that the light intensity peaks are generated primarily via carrier injection. Comparing the spectral measurements of a single polysilicon N+P junction device and the proposed cascade device shows that the strategy of improving the luminous intensity via carrier injection engineering is feasible and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) material WS2 and Au nanoparticles were combined with TiO2 to enhance the photocatalytic performance under visible light. The WS2 nanosheets were synthesized from bulk WS2 via ultrasonic process, and the Au nanoparticles were prepared through the reduction reaction from HAuCl4. The composite photocatalysts of WS2/TiO2/Au, TiO2/Au, and WS2/TiO2 were synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal process. The light absorption property of the composites was determined by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) photospectroscopy. Surface analysis of WS2 nanosheet, TiO2 nanoparticles, and Au nanoparticles was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical structure of composites and thickness of WS2 nanosheets were analyzed by Raman spectra. The photocatalytic activity was measured by methylene blue degradation reaction under visible light. These results revealed the photocatalytic behavior of WS2/TiO2/Au, TiO2/Au, and WS2/TiO2 composites, as well as WS2 nanosheets. The WS2/TiO2/Au composite showed improved photocatalytic behavior among all samples. It is believed that the WS2 nanosheet and Au nanoparticle extend the light absorption range from UV region to the visible region, as well as the WS2/TiO2/Au composite reduces the recombination of electrons. This study shows that the enhanced photocatalytic behavior of WS2/TiO2/Au composite can be used as photocatalytic applications in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focal stack images (FoSIs) are a set of 2D images that captured one scene with serial focal depths. The redundancies of FoSIs mainly come from gradual focused depths changes rather than motion of objects. Conventional coding schemes cannot fully exploit such redundancies, leading to coding inefficiency. In this paper, we propose a new Gaussian-Wiener representation to model the gradual focused depths changes among FoSIs. In the representation, image degradation-restoration relations are utilized to describe the focus-defocus changing characteristics of FoSIs. Based on this representation, we propose a new hierarchical coding scheme for fully exploiting the inter-frame redundancies of FoSIs. In the scheme, a Gaussian-Wiener representation based inter prediction (GWR-IP) is presented by embedding Gaussian convolution and Wiener deconvolution into normal video encoder. Block-wise focus-defocus changing of FoSIs can be predicted in bi-directional manner by solving optimization problem. For higher coding efficiency, a Gaussian-Wiener representation based hierarchical prediction structure (GWR-HPS) is also designed and applied in the coding scheme. The proposed coding scheme is performed on 10 test sequences, including 5 synthetic scenes and 5 realistic scenes. Experimental results show that proposed coding scheme can obtain 2.640 dB PSNR gains and 51.830% bitrate savings on average of all test sequences in Low Delay P configuration, 2.123 dB PSNR gains and 43.975% bitrate savings in Low Delay B configuration, and 1.044 dB PSNR gains and 26.078% bitrate savings in Random Access configuration. Particularly, it achieves up to 65.544% bit rate savings and 3.901 dB PSNR increments for test sequence I09 in Low Delay P configuration. Furthermore, ablation test demonstrates that Gaussian representation contributes more on coding performance than Wiener representation and GWR-HPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few studies have focused on the association between lifestyle and subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH). The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between lifestyle and thyroid function in SCH. Methods: This study was a part of a community-based and cross-sectional study, the Epidemiological Survey of Thyroid Diseases in Fujian Province, China. A total of 159 participants with SCH (81 males and 78 females) and 159 euthyroid (87 males and 72 females) participants without any missing data were included in the analysis. General information and lifestyle information including sleep, exercise, diet and smoking habits of the participants was collected by questionnaire and Pittsburgh sleep quality index scale (PSQI) was collected. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), thyroid globulin antibody (TgAb) and urine iodine concentration (UIC) were tested. Thyroid homeostasis parameter thyroid' s secretory capacity (SPINA-GT), Jostel's TSH index (TSHI), thyrotroph T4 sensitivity index (TTSI) were calculated. Logistic regression and multiple linear regression were performed to assess associations. Results: Compared with euthyroid subjects, patients with SCH were more likely to have poor overall sleep quality (15.1 vs.25.8 %, P = 0.018) and l less likely to stay up late on weekdays (54.7 vs. 23.9 % P < 0.001). In SCH group, exercise was the influencing factor of TSH (β= -0.224, P = 0.004), thyroid secretory capacity (β = 0.244, P = 0.006) and thyrotropin resistance (β = 0.206, P = 0.009). Iodine excess was the influencing factor of thyroid secretory capacity (β = 0.209, P = 0.001) and pituitary thyroid stimulating function (β = 0.167, P = 0.034). Smoking was the influencing factor of pituitary thyroid stimulating function (β = 0.161, P = 0.040). Staying up late on weekends was the influencing factor of thyroid secretory capacity (β = 0.151, P = 0.047). After adjusting for possible confounders, logistic regression showed that those with poor overall sleep quality assessed by PSQI and iodine excess had an increased risk of SCH (OR 2.159, 95 %CI 1.186–3.928, P = 0.012 and OR 2.119, 95 %CI 1.008–4.456, P = 0.048, respectively). Conclusions: Lifestyle including sleep, smoking, diet and exercise was closely related to thyroid function especially thyroid homeostasis in SCH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the preparation of ternary photocatalyst using a simple hydrothermal method is shown with high performance. A ternary composite consisting of tungsten sulfide (WS 2) nanosheets, titanium oxide (TiO 2) and gold (Au) nanoparticles is used to the extend the visible-light absorption region of TiO2. The morphological and spectroscopic natures of the prepared sample were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) photospectroscopy. The photocatalysis measurement for photodegradation of methylene blue dye was performed under the visible light. The photocatalytic studies suggest that in the ternary composite, consisting of three materials with different energy levels, the electrons excited form a cycle to lower the probability for the recombination of electron–hole pairs enhancing the property of photocatalytic activity of TiO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurrent non-severe hypoglycemia (RH) in patients with diabetes might be associated with cognitive impairment. Previously, we found that mitochondrial dysfunction plays an important role in this pathological process; however, the mechanism remains unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial damage associated with RH in diabetes mellitus (DM). We found that RH is associated with reduced hippocampal mitophagy in diabetic mice, mainly manifested by reduced autophagosome formation and impaired recognition of impaired mitochondria, mediated by the PINK1/Parkin pathway. The same impaired mitophagy initiation was observed in an in vitro high-glucose cultured astrocyte model with recurrent low-glucose interventions. Promoting autophagosome formation and activating PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy protected mitochondrial function and cognitive function in mice. The results showed that impaired mitophagy is involved in the occurrence of mitochondrial dysfunction, mediating the neurological impairment associated with recurrent low glucose under high glucose conditions. • Models of chronic and recurrent non-severe hypoglycemia were constructed. • Impaired mitophagy is associated with diabetic hypoglycemia-related cognitive disorders. • Disturbed mitophagy is manifested by down-regulated PINK1/Parkin pathway. • Activated mitophagy improved mitochondrial function and cognitive function in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on first-principles Density functional theory (DFT), the binding work, interface energy, electronic structure and interface bonding mechanism of WC-304 stainless steel with Fe-Cr-Ni cemented carbides were calculated. The results show that the interface between Fe (100) and WC (100) C-teminations has the lowest interface distance and the highest binding work when it is constructed with MT position. The subsitution of Fe atoms with Ni atoms results in a decrease in the interfacial distance, measured at 0.9412 Å, accompanied by a simultaneous increase the adhesion work to 9.3647 J/m2. The stability of the interface structure is significantly influenced by the bonding strength of Fe C bonds. Furthermore, the C Cr bond at the interface exhibits greater strength compared to the C W bond when the W atom is replaced by Cr atom. Therefore, the doping of Cr and Ni atoms in 304 stainless steel results in a more stable interface structure between WC and Fe. The results have important guiding significance for improving the interfacial strength and stability of WC-Fe cemented carbide. • The WC-304 cemented carbide is prepared using the vacuum sintering process. • The binding work, interface energy, eletronic structure and interface bonding mechanism of WC-304 cemented cerbides are calculated. • When replacing Ni atoms in Fe structure, the interface spacing and the adhesion work have undergone a change. • The reason of the formation of stable interface is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a high-speed, low-jitter, and high-precision clock receiver circuit (CLKRX) for time-interleaved ADCs with a sampling rate of 4 GS/s operating in the 3–5 GHz frequency range. The CLKRX circuit is composed of a continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) and a duty-cycle corrector (DCC). The CTLE featuring active feedback, negative Miller capacitance, and source-follower feedback is capable of enhancing the bandwidth, and improving the quality of the high-speed clock. Whereas the 3–5 GHz DCC module contains a common-mode voltage correction circuit and a wideband amplifier that corrects the input signal's duty cycle ranging from 20% to 80%. A second-order duty-cycle detection circuit is used in the feedback loop, which significantly improves the range and accuracy of duty-cycle correction and greatly reduces duty cycle jitter.The clock receiver circuit proposed in this paper was verified in a 28 nm CMOS process, and the test results show that the output duty cycle is corrected to 50 ± 0.1% within the input duty cycle range of 20–80% (3–5 GHz). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pot experiment was conducted to explore the plant-assisted degradation efficiency of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and pyrene. Three plant species: Ceylon spinach, sunflower, and leaf mustard were cultivated in co-contaminated soils under three contamination levels: control (T0), 20 mg kg−1 (T20), and 50 mg kg−1 (T50). The results showed that a higher DEHP and pyrene degradation efficiency was observed evidently in planted cases, increasing from 42 to 53–59% (T0), 61 to 65–76% (T20) and 52 to 68–78% (T50) for DEHP, and from 22 to 30–49% (T0), 58 to 62–72% (T20), and 54 to 57–70% (T50) for pyrene. Under T20 contamination level, soil phospholipid fatty-acid analysis depicted the increased microbial biomass in rhizosphere, especially the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus that is effective for the degradation of organic pollutants. The study also revealed that the activities of dehydrogenase, acid phosphomonoesterase, urease, and phenol oxidase negatively correlated with pollutant concentration. In general, the removal rate of DEHP and pyrene was highest in the soil planted with leaf mustard for each contamination level considered. For soils at T20 level, sunflower and leaf mustard appeared as interesting phytoremediation plants due to the improved removal rates of organic pollutants and the soil microbial activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combined analysis of transient simulation and statistical method is proposed for comparative study of signalling methods applied to high-speed backplane transceivers. This method enables fast and accurate signal-to-noise ratio and symbol error rate estimation of a serial link based on a four-dimension design space, including channel characteristics, noise scenarios, equalisation schemes, and signalling methods. The proposed combined analysis method chooses an efficient sampling size for performance evaluation. A comparative study of non-return-to-zero (NRZ), PAM-4, and four-phase shifted sinusoid symbol (PSS-4) using parameterised behaviour-level simulation shows PAM-4 and PSS-4 has substantial advantages over conventional NRZ in most of the cases. A comparison between PAM-4 and PSS-4 shows PAM-4 gets significant bit error rate degradation when noise level is enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Plants and associated microbial communities can actively participate in the biodegradation of organic pollution. Potexperiments were conducted to explore the plant–microbe interrelations on Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and pyrene degradation in a soil culture system. Three dicotyledonous plant species, Ceylon spinach (Gynuracusimbua(D. Don) S.Moore), sunflower (Helianthus annuusL.), and Shuidong mustard (Brassica juncea(L.) Coss.var.foliosaBailey), were cultivated for 45 days in DEHP and pyrene co-contaminated soils using three initial content levels: 0 (T0), 20 (T20) and 50 mg kg−1(T50) with no plants (NP) as control. The results demonstrated that Shuidong mustard biomass and sunflower biomass had significantly positive correlations with the removal rate of DEHP (P < .05), respectively, while Ceylon spinach biomass has no significant correlation with the removal rate of DEHP. Shuidong mustard–actinomycetes and Ceylon spinach–actinomycetes accelerated the removal rate of pyrene, and sunflower–gram-positive bacteria could also enhance the removal rate of pyrene. Our results suggest that a better understanding of plant–microbe interrelations could be exploited to enhance the phytoremediation of organic co-contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various signaling techniques have been considered for I/O interconnects at 25 Gb/s or higher. However, they either suffer from high baud rate, as in the case of NRZ, or an excess signal-to-noise ratio penalty, as in the case of PAM-4. To overcome these problems, a four-phase shifted sinusoid symbol (PSS-4) signaling method is proposed that can be readily applied to high-speed I/O transceivers. By using PSS-4, the SNR penalty can be reduced from PAM-4; our theoretical analysis has revealed that the SNR performance of the PSS-4 is 6.5 dB better than that of PAM-4 with comparable bandwidth. The transistor-level simulation results have shown that PSS-4 has an average of twice larger vertical eye opening than PAM-4. In addition, the supply voltage sensitivity of PSS-4 is 55% and 20% less than that of PAM-4 and NRZ, respectively, and the power consumption of PSS-4 is 13.5% lower than that of PAM-4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel group‐delay‐insensitive linear equaliser (GDILE) is proposed to reduce the eye‐skew in four‐level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM‐4) receivers. With a cross‐coupled positive‐feedback degeneration network, the proposed GDILE employs additional pole and zero into its transfer function to reduce the group‐delay variation with frequency. Simulation results shows a 40 Gbit/s PAM‐4 receiver that employs a GDILE that can reduce the eye‐skew by 73% compared with the conventional linear equaliser with a modest increase of power consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the limited linearity range of current‐mode logic circuits used for four‐level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM‐4) symbol generation, a voltage‐mode, inverter‐like circuit featuring a stacked transistor–resistor structure is proposed. Simulation results have shown that the linearity of the proposed PAM‐4 circuit has been improved by 43.1%, with a modest increase of circuit area. Additionally, 20% resistance mismatch in the proposed PAM‐4 symbol generator leads to linearity degradation of <9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce pattern‐dependent jitter in four‐level pulse‐amplitude modulation (PAM‐4) signalling, a transition‐aware feed‐forward equaliser (TFFE) is proposed. By allowing the transition time to vary according to the transition types of the PAM‐4 symbols, switching jitter in TFFE‐based PAM‐4 transmitters can be greatly suppressed, down to the non‐return‐to‐zero (NRZ) level. Simulation results confirm that a PAM‐4 transmitter that employs a TFFE can reduce the jitter level by 0.18 unit interval peak‐to‐peak, and this proposed equaliser can achieve nearly identical eye height as the conventional PAM‐4 feed‐forward equalisers design without introducing any signal‐to‐noise ratio penalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The civil aviation transportation has sustained rapid growth, which poses significant challenges in ensuring airport safety and efficiency of use. Persons and vehicles are tiny targets in airport surveillance. Existing detection methods are difficult to detect accurately. Enhancing small target detection by only the method of adding enhancement modules inevitably leads to increased network parameters. To address the above issues, this article proposes a lightweight airport surveillance detection based on YOLOv7 named LAS-YOLO. Firstly, we design the lightweight basic module, which significantly reduces network parameters while retaining certain local features. Secondly, we replace the SPPCSPC module with the spatial pyramid pooling-fast module with fewer parameters, further reducing the quantity of network parameters. Finally, the attention mechanism and small object detection layer are introduced to enhance small object detection accuracy. The efficient channel attention module is selected among three attention methods by experiments. We simulate the application process of object detection methods in airport surveillance, training on high-performance computers and testing on lower-performance computer. This article verifies the performance of the proposed method on the public ASS dataset consisting of the airport surface surveillance dataset (ASS1) and panoramic surveillance dataset (ASS2). The experiment shows that the parameters of LAS-YOLO are 12.5 M, which is 34.2%\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\%$$\end{document} of the original model. The mean average precision is 89.8%\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\%$$\end{document} on the ASS1. This proposed method enhances the average precision for airplane and vehicle detection by 14.5%\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\%$$\end{document} and 22.7%\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\%$$\end{document} compared to YOLOv7 on the ASS2. In order to reflect the robustness of the model in airport surveillance, we conduct another experiment using airplane data from the ROSD. The experiment demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method over other models in airport surveillance. Code is available at https://zenodo.org/records/10969930. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

File fragment classification (FFC) aims to identify the file type of file fragments in memory sectors, which is of great importance in memory forensics and information security. Existing works focused on processing the bytes within sectors separately and ignoring contextual information between adjacent sectors. In this paper, we introduce a joint self-attention network (JSANet) for FFC to learn intra-sector local features and inter-sector contextual features. Specifically, we propose an end-to-end network with the byte, channel, and sector self-attention modules. Byte self-attention adaptively recognizes the intra-sector significant bytes, and channel self-attention re-calibrates the features between channels. Based on the insight that adjacent memory sectors are most likely to store a file fragment, sector self-attention leverages contextual information in neighboring sectors to enhance inter-sector feature representation. Extensive experiments on seven FFC benchmarks show the superiority of our method compared with state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, we construct VFF-16, a variable-length file fragment dataset to reflect file fragmentation. Integrated with sector self-attention, our method improves accuracy by more than 16.3% against the baseline on VFF-16, and the runtime achieves 5.1 s/GB with GPU acceleration. In addition, we extend our model to malware detection and show its applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A silicon-based light source using simple manufacturing process and having excellent luminous efficiency is significantly desired for the development of optoelectronic integrated circuits. In this paper, an integrated poly-silicon avalanche mode light-emitting-device (poly-SiAMLED) is fabricated using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. It utilizes the poly-silicon p-n junctions in avalanche breakdown to achieve illumination and employs the carrier injection technology to achieve about 2.9 × 10−7 external quantum efficiency and about 2.2 × 10−8 power conversion efficiency. Moreover, it is easy to fabricate because the process is compatible with the existing integrated circuit process. The proposed device can be used as one of the components of the optoelectronic interface in optoelectronic integrated circuits. • The light-emitting wavelength range of 400~1000 nm is in good agreement with the detection range of silicon-based photodetectors. • The poly-SiAMLED can serve as good electro-optical interfaces in standard silicon-CMOS integrated circuitry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an optimization method of switching sequence is proposed to compensate for the gradient errors in the current source array of the current-steering digital-to-analog converter. Combining the central symmetry method and the iterative method, the linear and the quadratic gradient errors in the current source arrays are all eliminated. Through the mathematical induction and MATLAB simulation, the proposed switching sequence shows that both the linear and quadratic gradient errors can be compensated. To verify the optimization method proposed, a 12-bit DAC was fabricated under the 55 ​nm 2.5 ​V CMOS process. The measured INL and DNL are bounded at 0.62LSB and 0.37LSB, respectively. The SFDR is more than 78 ​dB with the signal frequencies below 1 ​MHz and more than 66 ​dB in the whole Nyquist band frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. It remains unknown whether obesity has an effect on the pituitary-thyroid feedback control axis in subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH). We aimed to investigate the association of thyroid homeostasis with obesity in a SCH population. Methods. Our study consisted of a community-based and cross-sectional study from the Epidemiological Survey of Thyroid Diseases in Fujian Province, China. A total of 193 subjects with SCH (90 males and 103 females) without a history of treatment of thyroid disease, such as surgery, radiation, and thyroid hormone or antithyroid medication, were included in the present study. Indices of obesity, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-height ratio (WHtR) were measured. Results. Our results showed that the secretory capacity of the thyroid gland (SPINA-GT) and Jostel's thyrotropin index (TSHI) were negatively correlated with BMI, WC, and WHtR, whereas the reciprocal of the thyrotroph thyroid hormone resistance index (TTSI-1) was positively correlated with BMI (all p < 0.05). After adjustment for age, sex, smoking, iodine status, and glucolipid metabolism, the associations between TSHI, TTSI (reciprocal transformation), and BMI still persisted (all p < 0.05). Conclusions. These results suggest that low levels of thyroid homeostasis indexes may be associated with overall obesity in SCH, rather than central adiposity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palladium nanoparticles stabilised by aniline modified polymer immobilised ionic liquid is a remarkably active catalyst for the hydrogenation of CO2 to formate; the initial TOF of 500 h−1 is markedly higher than either unmodified catalyst or its benzylamine and N,N-dimethylaniline modified counterparts and is among the highest to be reported for a PdNP-based catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a programmable low power and low noise analog front-end (AFE) for electrocardiogram (ECG) signal acquisition. A novel capacitor-coupled instrumentation amplifier (CCIA) features independent biasing technique and AC coupling to signal source is proposed. Independent biasing technique is capable of obtaining better noise performance and more stable static working point reducing the glitch of chopping. An AC coupling style helps suppress electrode DC offset and enhance input impedance with metal-oxide-metal capacitor array, which is symmetrical to the center to alleviate the mismatch of input capacitor enhancing system common mode rejection ratio (CMRR). The current steering technology (CST) and programmable feedback capacitors are utilized to achieve an area-efficient programmable low pass filter (PLPF) under PVT variations. Also, a charge buck after PLPF is introduced to strengthen the driving ability of AFE. To verify the proposed AFE structure, a prototype is designed in 0.13 μm standard CMOS process with a 1.2 V supply. Post-simulation results show that the input impedance reaches 1.4 GΩ under 50 Hz. The in-band white noise density and integrating noise are 48 nV/sqrt (Hz) and 0.6 μV, respectively. The obtained low pass corner of PLPF are 380 Hz, 451 Hz and 1 kHz. The CMRR and PSRR under montecarlo simulation are 93 dB and 77 dB, respectively. The power of whole AFE is 48 μW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Robust HDR imaging for wide baseline and large angle deviation. • One image per viewpoint. • MVHDR images without exposure time and ISO information. • Complex geometric alignment of non-linear cameras. • Low and backlighting. The restoration and enhancement of multiview low dynamic range (MVLDR) images captured in low lighting conditions is a great challenge. The disparity maps are hardly reliable in practical, real-world scenarios and suffers from holes and artifacts due to large baseline and angle deviation among multiple cameras in low lighting conditions. Furthermore, multiple images with some additional information (e.g., ISO/exposure time, etc.) are required for the radiance map and poses the additional challenges of deghosting to encounter motion artifacts. In this paper, we proposed a method to reconstruct multiview high dynamic range (MVHDR) images from MVLDR images without relying on disparity maps. We detect and accurately match the feature points among the involved input views and gather the brightness information from the neighboring viewpoints to optimize an image restoration function based on input exposure gain to finally generate MVHDR images. Our method is very reliable and suitable for a wide baseline among sparse cameras. The proposed method requires only one image per viewpoint without any additional information and outperforms others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RuNPs stabilised by amino‐decorated imidazolium‐based polymer immobilized ionic liquids catalyse the dimethylamine borane mediated reduction of quinolines to 1,2‐dihydroquinoline (DHQ) and 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroquinoline (THQ). Partial reduction of 3‐substituted quinolines to the corresponding 1,2‐dihydroquinoline was achieved with 100 % selectivity in toluene under mild conditions. This is the first report of the selective partial reduction of 3‐substituted quinolines to the corresponding 1,2‐dihydroquinolines with a heterogeneous nanoparticle‐based catalyst. A wide range of substituted quinolines have also been reduced to the corresponding 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroquinoline with high selectivity and good yields by adjusting the reaction time. The 1,2‐dihydroquinolines readily release dihydrogen in toluene at 60 °C in the absence of catalyst with no evidence for disproportionation and as such are potential organo‐hydride reagents. The initial TOF of 610 mol quinoline converted mol Ru−1 h−1 for the reduction of quinoline is among the highest to be reported for a metal nanoparticle‐based catalyst and the conversion of 96 % obtained after 4 h at 65 °C is significantly higher than its platinum nanoparticle counterpart PtNP@NH2‐PEGPIILS as well as 5 wt/% Ru/C, which only reached 9 % and 11 % conversion, respectively, at the same time. Hot filtration experiments showed that the active species was heterogeneous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of ammonia as a hydrogen vector has the potential to unlock the hydrogen economy. In this context, this paper presents novel insights into improving the ammonia decomposition activity of ruthenium nanoparticles supported on carbon nanotubes (CNT) by nitrogen doping. Our results can be applied to develop more active systems capable of delivering hydrogen on demand, with a view to move towards the low temperature target of less than 150 °C. Herein we demonstrate that nitrogen doping of the CNT support enhances the activity of ruthenium nanoparticles for the low temperature ammonia decomposition with turnover frequency numbers at 400 °C of 6200 LH mol h, higher than the corresponding value of unmodified CNT supports under the same conditions (4400 LH mol h), despite presenting similar ruthenium particle sizes. However, when the nitrogen doping process is carried out with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to enhance the dispersion of CNTs, the catalyst becomes virtually inactive despite the small ruthenium particle size, likely due to interference of CTAB, weakening the metal-support interaction. Our results demonstrate that the low temperature ammonia decomposition activity of ruthenium can be enhanced by nitrogen doping of the CNT support due to simultaneously increasing the support's conductivity and basicity, electronically modifying the ruthenium active sites and promoting a strong metal-support interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ultrafine RuNPs stabilised by a phosphine oxide-modified polymer immobilized ionic liquid. • Complete selectivity for the partial reduction of aromatic and heteroaromatic nitroarenes to the corresponding N -arylhydroxylamine. • Highest initial turn over frequency to be reported for a RuNP catalysed partial reduction of nitrobenzene to N -phenylhydroxylamine. • Reduction of electron rich amino nitroarenes to the aniline proposed to occur via a quinondiimine-derived iminium. • High activity and selectivity retained over five reuses with only a minor reduction in conversion. RuNPs stabilised by a polymer immobilised ionic liquid derived from co-polymerisation of a PEG-substituted imidazolium-based styrene monomer and diphenyl(4-vinylphenyl)phosphine oxide, RuNP@O = PPh 2 -PEGPIILS, (2) is a remarkably efficient and selective catalyst for the hydrazine hydrate-mediated partial reduction of nitroarenes to the corresponding N -arylhydoxylamine. Near quantitative conversion to N -phenylhydroxylamine with > 99 % selectivity was obtained after only 2 h when the reaction was conducted at 25 °C in ethanol under an inert atmosphere using 0.1 mol% catalyst. Under these conditions, the composition-time profile showed that the reduction occurred via the direct pathway whereas reactions in air gave a mixture of azoxy-based products due to competing condensation resulting from reversible formation of N -phenylhydroxylamine. The initial TOF of 6,100 h−1 obtained after 10 min at 40 °C with 0.1 mol% 2 is among the highest to be reported for the metal nanoparticle catalysed reduction of nitrobenzene to N -phenylhydroxylamine and a significant improvement on 5 wt% Ru/C which gave a modest conversion of 21 % (initial TOF = 240 h−1) to a mixture of N -phenylhydroxylamine and aniline. A broad range of substituted N -aryl and N -heteroaryl nitroarenes were reduced to the corresponding N -arylhydroxylamine in high yield and with excellent selectivity by adjusting the reaction times. However, reduction of electron rich amino-substituted nitroarenes was extremely slow and resulted in reduction to the aniline with no evidence for the corresponding hydroxylamine. Complete reduction of amino substituted nitroarene is proposed to be facilitated by amine-assisted elimination of hydroxide from the hydroxylamine to afford a readily reducible quinondiimine-derived iminium intermediate that reacts with a surface hydride to liberate the amine. Under optimum conditions the catalyst could be reused five times for the reduction of nitrobenzene to N -phenylhydroxylamine with no detectable change in activity and only slight decrease in selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an observational, retrospective, single-center study aimed to determine whether the free triiodothyronine (FT3) to free thyroxine (FT4) ratio was related to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) prognosis in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A total of 294 euthyroid T2DM patients with new-onset AMI were enrolled. FT3/FT4 ratio tertiles were used to categorize patients into Group 1 (FT3/FT4 ≥ 4.3), Group 2 (3.5 ≤ FT3/FT4 < 4.3), and Group 3 (FT3/FT4 < 3.5). Major adverse cardiac events (MACE), including nonfatal myocardial infarction, target vessel revascularization (TVR), and cardiac mortality, served as the primary endpoint. Group 3 demonstrated a considerably higher incidence of MACE than the other two groups over the average follow-up duration of 21 ± 6.5 months (all p < 0.001). Multivariable Cox regression analysis showed that a low FT3/FT4 ratio was an independent risk factor for MACE after AMI (Group 1 as a reference; Group 2: hazard ratio [HR] 1.275, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.563–2.889, p = 0.561; Group 3: HR 2.456, 95% CI: 1.105–5.459, p = 0.027). Moreover, the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) indicates a good predictive value of FT3/FT4 ratio for MACE (AUC = 0.70). Therefore, in T2DM patients with AMI, a low FT3/FT4 ratio was strongly linked to poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platinum and ruthenium nanoparticles stabilised by an amine modified polymer immobilised ionic liquid (MNP@NH2-PEGPIILS, M = Pt, Ru) catalyse the hydrolytic liberation of hydrogen from dimethylamine borane (DMAB), ammonia borane (AB) and NaBH4 under mild conditions. While RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS and PtNP@NH2-PEGPIILS catalyse the hydrolytic evolution of hydrogen from NaBH4 with comparable initial TOFs of 6,250 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1 and 5,900 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1, respectively, based on the total metal content, RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS is a markedly more efficient catalyst for the dehydrogenation of DMAB and AB than its platinum counterpart, as RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS gave initial TOFs of 8,300 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1 and 21,200 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1, respectively, compared with 3,050 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1 and 8,500 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1, respectively, for PtNP@NH2-PEGPIILS. Gratifyingly, for each substrate tested RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS and PtNP@NH2-PEGPIILS were markedly more active than commercial 5wt % Ru/C and 5wt% Pt/C, respectively. The apparent activation energies of 55.7 kJ mol−1 and 27.9 kJ mol−1 for the catalytic hydrolysis of DMAB and AB, respectively, with RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS are significantly lower than the respective activation energies of 74.6 kJ mol−1 and 35.7 kJ mol−1 for its platinum counterpart, commensurate with the markedly higher initial rates obtained with the RuNPs. In comparison, the apparent activation energies of 44.1 kJ mol−1 and 46.5 kJ mol−1, for the hydrolysis NaBH4 reflect the similar initial TOFs obtained for both catalysts. The difference in apparent activation energies for the hydrolysis of DMAB compared with AB also reflect the higher rates of hydrolysis for the latter. Stability and reuse studies revealed that RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS recycled efficiently as high conversions for the hydrolysis of DMAB were maintained across five runs with the catalyst retaining 97% of its activity.Graphical Abstract: Platinum and ruthenium nanoparticles stabilised by an amine modified polymer immobilised ionic liquid (MNP@NH2-PEGPIILS, M = Pt, Ru) catalyse the hydrolytic liberation of hydrogen from dimethylamine borane (DMAB), ammonia borane (AB) and NaBH4 under mild conditions. While RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS and PtNP@NH2-PEGPIILS catalyse the hydrolytic evolution of hydrogen from NaBH4 with comparable initial TOFs of 6,250 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1 and 5,900 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1, respectively, based on the total metal content, RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS is a markedly more efficient catalyst for the dehydrogenation of DMAB and AB than its platinum counterpart, as RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS gave initial TOFs of 8,300 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1 and 21,200 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1, respectively, compared with 3,050 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1 and 8,500 molesH2.molcat−1.h−1, respectively, for PtNP@NH2-PEGPIILS. Gratifyingly, for each substrate tested RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS and PtNP@NH2-PEGPIILS were markedly more active than commercial 5wt % Ru/C and 5wt% Pt/C, respectively. The apparent activation energies of 55.7 kJ mol−1 and 27.9 kJ mol−1 for the catalytic hydrolysis of DMAB and AB, respectively, with RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS are significantly lower than the respective activation energies of 74.6 kJ mol−1 and 35.7 kJ mol−1 for its platinum counterpart, commensurate with the markedly higher initial rates obtained with the RuNPs. In comparison, the apparent activation energies of 44.1 kJ mol−1 and 46.5 kJ mol−1, for the hydrolysis NaBH4 reflect the similar initial TOFs obtained for both catalysts. The difference in apparent activation energies for the hydrolysis of DMAB compared with AB also reflect the higher rates of hydrolysis for the latter. Stability and reuse studies revealed that RuNP@NH2-PEGPIILS recycled efficiently as high conversions for the hydrolysis of DMAB were maintained across five runs with the catalyst retaining 97% of its activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-situ WC/Fe composites were prepared by spark plasma sintering, and the interfacial reaction of two phases was regulated by adjusting the atomic ratio of W-to-C. With the decrease of the atomic ratio of W-to-C, the content of Fe 3 W 3 C of the interfacial products of two phases decreased, and the hardness and wear resistance of WC/Fe composites increased. The phase composition of the composite remains relatively unchanged and the optimal wear performance is achieved when the atomic ratio of W-to-C is below 1:1.5. Meanwhile, based on the nanohardness results, the hardness distribution from WC to the substrate was determined. At a penetration depth of 300 nm, the interfacial fracture toughness of Fe 3 W 3 C was found to be 3.01 ± 0.82 MPa·m1/2. Additionally, the deformation rate of Fe 3 W 3 C was determined to be 89% based on the load-displacement curve. For the composites with W to C atomic mass ratio of 1:1.5, 1:1.76 and 1:2.02, oxidative wear may play an important role in reducing the specific wear rate, while for W to C atomic mass ratio of 1:1.3, micro-cutting wear may play a key role. Through a combination of simulation and experimentation, an analysis was conducted on the impact of the friction coefficient of composite materials on their wear resistance, as well as the stress situation of WC particles during the friction process. This analysis serves as a theoretical foundation for the results obtained in the testing process. • The interfacial reaction of WC/Fe composite was regulated by adjusting the atomic ratio of W-to-C. • The optimal wear performance is achieved when the atomic ratio of W-to-C is below 1:1.5. • Based on the nanohardness results, the interfacial fracture toughness of Fe 3 W 3 C was found to be 3.01 ± 0.82 MPa·m1/2. • The main wear mechanisms of each WC/Fe composite are different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long wave infrared (LWIR) imaging technology is booming due to its all-weather capability. Sea–sky–line (SSL) detection based on LWIR images is a promising research in marine environment perception. However, LWIR images have been suffering the lack of rich features, challenge arises from the accurate SSL detection in complex sea–sky background. In this paper, we propose a novel SSL detection method for LWIR images, which consists of three algorithms. First, a three-channel reconstruction algorithm for local images is proposed to increase the amount of SSL features. Second, an improved Swin Transformer network is presented for local image SSL identification, which improves the identification speed while ensuring accuracy. Third, a local SSL extraction algorithm is designed and applied to global SSL detection. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed SSL detection method is more robust to complex background environments than the existing methods. As high as 98.9% average accuracy of SSL detection in LWIR images can be achieved, which outperforms all comparison methods. The extracted SSL is visually closer to the nature SSL, where the radian effect caused by camera distortion can be well fitted. Moreover, ablation studies are also conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed three algorithms in our method. • A three-channel reconstruction algorithm for LWIR local images is proposed. • Swin Transformer is improved to extract key SSL regions efficiently. • A SSL extraction method based on local key regions analysis is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platinum nanoparticles stabilized by imidazolium‐based phosphine‐decorated Polymer Immobilized Ionic Liquids (PPh2‐PIIL) catalyze the hydrolytic evolution of hydrogen from sodium borohydride with remarkable efficiency, under mild conditions. The composition of the polymer influences efficiency with the catalyst based on a polyethylene glycol modified imidazolium monomer (PtNP@PPh2‐PEGPIILS) more active than its N‐alkylated counterpart (PtNP@PPh2‐N‐decylPIILS). The maximum initial TOF of 169 moleH2.molcat−1.min−1 obtained at 30 °C with a catalyst loading of 0.08 mol% is among the highest to be reported for the aqueous phase hydrolysis of sodium borohydride catalyzed by a PtNP‐based system. Kinetic studies revealed that the apparent activation energy (Ea) of 23.9 kJ mol−1 for the hydrolysis of NaBH4 catalyzed by PtNP@PPh2‐PEGPIILS is significantly lower than that of 35.6 kJ mol−1 for PtNP@PPh2‐N‐decylPIILS. Primary kinetic isotope effects kH/kD of 1.8 and 2.1 obtained with PtNP@PPh2‐PEGPIILS and PtNP@PPh2‐N‐decylPIILS, respectively, for the hydrolysis with D2O support a mechanism involving rate determining oxidative addition or σ‐bond metathesis of the O−H bond. Catalyst stability and reuse studies showed that PtNP@PPh2‐PEGPIILS retained 70 % of its activity across five runs; the gradual drop in conversion appears to be due to poisoning of the catalyst by the accumulated metaborate product as well as the increased viscosity of the reaction mixture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia, characterized by severe mitochondrial dysfunction, which is an intracellular process that is significantly compromised in the early stages of AD. Mitophagy, the selective removal of damaged mitochondria, is a potential therapeutic strategy for AD. Rapamycin, a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, augmented autophagy and mitigated cognitive impairment. Our study revealed that rapamycin enhances cognitive function by activating mitophagy, alleviating neuronal loss, and improving mitochondrial dysfunction in 5 ×FAD mice. Interestingly, the neuroprotective effect of rapamycin in AD were negated by treatment with 3-MA, a mitophagy inhibitor. Overall, our findings suggest that rapamycin ameliorates cognitive impairment in 5 ×FAD mice via mitophagy activation and its downstream PINK1-Parkin pathway, which aids in the clearance of amyloid-β (Aβ) and damaged mitochondria. This study reveals a novel mechanism involving mitophagy regulation underlying the therapeutic effect of rapamycin in AD. This study provides new insights and therapeutic targets for rapamycin in the treatment of AD. However, there are still some shortcomings in this topic; if we can further knock out the PINK1/Parkin gene in animals or use siRNA technology, we can further confirm the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UAVs captured targets are relatively small when compared with the ordinary surveillance cameras. Thus, a strong discriminative ability is required for aerial trackers to accurately locate small targets, especially in challenging scenes, including similar objects, occlusion and size change. Since most existing aerial trackers do not perform satisfactorily, in this paper, we design a tracker called TAP-GC that utilizes a weight-sharing deep CNN network to extract the multi-scale template and test features. We then construct a target-aware pooling module in the template branch, allowing the tracker to pay more attention to the target-related information. Thereafter, we directly fuse the template and test features through a transformer which is able to make full use of the global context, enabling the tracker to discriminate the target more accurately. Extensive experiments on well-known aerial tracking benchmarks, UAV123, UAV123@10fps and DTB70, show that our tracker outperforms a number of state-of-the-art trackers. In addition, when evaluating TAP-GC on OTB100, a tracking benchmark captured by ordinary cameras, it also achieves leading tracking performance. TAP-GC can achieve about 70 fps speed for real-time UAV tracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Novel CNC#BOC hybrid was constructed via an innovative interfacial bonding tactic. • CNC#BOC shows high activity for selective CO 2 photoreduction under blue LED light. • Interfacial bonding promotes light harvesting, OV stability, and electron transfer. • Both DFT and experimental studies verify the multiple roles of interfacial bonding. • This work broadens the potential applications of renewable biomass nanocomposites. Biomass-derived nanocomposites represent a developing class of multifunctional materials with biomimetic implications. Here, cellulose nanocrystal interfacially bonded Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 hybrids (CNC#BOC) were fabricated via a hydrothermal approach for visible-light CO 2 photoreduction. The as-synthesized CNC#BOC demonstrated superb photocatalytic activity with a CO production rate of 15.22 μmol g-1 h−1, a selectivity of ∼ 97 %, and excellent cycling stability. Theoretical calculations and experimental studies indicated the existence of covalent bonds between the BOC and CNC, resulting in LMCT photosensitization, a narrowed bandgap energy, plentiful and stable OVs, high reactants affinity, fast electron transfer channels, and facile formation of *COOH intermediate. This study introduces a novel covalent bonding tactic for developing natural polymer-based catalysts for selective CO 2 photoreduction, which is expected to broaden the applications of environmentally friendly biomass composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the association between hypoglycemia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and identified risk factors for MCI in patients with hypoglycemia. In this retrospective study, 328 patients with T2DM were screened in 2019 and followed up in 2022. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The diagnosis of MCI was based on established criteria. Risk ratio (RR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI) was calculated to estimate the risk of MCI. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify risk factors for MCI in those with hypoglycemia. Patients with hypoglycemia had lower cognitive performance 3 years later. The RR of MCI was 2.221 (95 % CI 1.269–3.885). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that low grip strength, existing diabetic retinopathy (DR), and multiple hypoglycemia episodes were associated with higher odds of MCI in patients with hypoglycemia (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.909 [95 % CI 0.859–0.963]), 3.078 [95 % CI 1.158–12.358], and 4.642 [95 % CI 1.284–16.776], respectively, all P < 0.05). Hypoglycemia increased MCI risk among patients with T2DM. Low grip strength, DR, and multiple hypoglycemia episodes may be potential risk factors for hypoglycemia-associated MCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the severe distortion of the fisheye image, the rectangular bounding box contain a lot of invalid information. So the multi-point representation method are emerging. However, it will fail in some extreme cases especially when the center of the object is not in the instance. In this work, we propose a Convex Hull Regression Strategy for people detection on top-view fisheye images. It replaces the instance with its convex hull to solve the above challenging issue and can be pre-trained on regular datasets without additional processing. In addition, the mosaic and mixup data augmentation methods that perform well under rectangular boxes are applied to our representation. Finally, we improve the label assignment and propose a more reasonable loss function called PDIoU loss so as to focus on the overall IoU between ground truth polygon and predicted polygon. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms. Source code is available at https://github.com/xiaoxuebajie/CHRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe hypoglycemia is closely related to adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with diabetes; however, the specific mechanism remains unclear. We previously found that severe hypoglycemia aggravated myocardial injury and cardiac dysfunction in diabetic mice, and that the mechanism of damage was related to mitochondrial oxidative stress and dysfunction. Based on the key regulatory role of mitophagy in mitochondrial quality control, this study aimed to further explore whether the myocardial damage caused by severe hypoglycemia is related to insufficient mitophagy and to clarify their underlying regulatory relationship. After severe hypoglycemia, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species increased, mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP content decreased, and pathological mitochondrial damage was aggravated in the myocardium of diabetic mice. This was accompanied by decreased mitochondrial biosynthesis, increased fusion, and downregulated PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1)/Parkin-dependent mitophagy. Treating diabetic mice with the mitophagy activator and polyphenol metabolite urolithin A activated PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy, reduced myocardial oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage associated with severe hypoglycemia, improved mitochondrial function, alleviated myocardial damage, and ultimately improved cardiac function. Thus, we provide insight into the prevention and treatment of diabetic myocardial injury caused by hypoglycemia to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with diabetes. • Severe hypoglycemia induced mitochondrial injury and dysfunction in diabetic mice. • Severe hypoglycemia interfered with mitochondrial quality control in the myocardium. • Severe hypoglycemia impaired PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy in the myocardium. • Activating mitophagy improved myocardial injury induced by severe hypoglycemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a power and area efficient pseudo single ended switching ADC for portable biomedical signal monitoring applications. The switching method features an 8-bit binary-weighted DAC array with a novel layout method called limited bottom-plate routing (LBPR) maintaining both feasibility and symmetry, a dynamic biased comparator and dynamic control logic. As a result, the proposed ADC saves 96.7% power consumption and 87.5% area occupation compared with conventional SAR ADC. Also, a novel DAC array layout method is promoted maintaining both feasibility and symmetry. A prototyped chip including a proposed ADC is fabricated in a 0.13 μm CMOS process. On condition of 0.6 V supply voltage and 10 kS/s sampling rate, the measured signal-to-noise-distortion (SNDR) and spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) are 57.8 dB and 64.3 dB, respectively. Besides, the ADC consumes only 40 nW power and 0.053 mm2 area achieving a figure-of-merit (FoM) of 6.26 fJ/conversion-step. Low power and low area occupation make it a good candidate for biomedical signal monitoring applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-linearity input-buffer with high output common-mode stability for 10-bit 3.2 GS/s ADC is proposed in this Letter. The buffer is mainly composed of a source follower for strong driving ability. To enhance its linearity, a feed forward signal path from input to output is proposed. A replica buffer-based common-mode feedback is designed to achieve high output common-mode stabilisation of input-buffer. The prototype is implemented in 40 nm CMOS process. The output common-mode variation is reduced from 200 to 1 mV. Input-buffer consumes 96 mW in 3.2 GHz sampling rate and achieves 69.3 dB spur-free dynamic range at 1581 MHz input frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high‐linearity input‐buffer with high output common‐mode stability for 10‐bit 3.2 GS/s ADC is proposed in this Letter. The buffer is mainly composed of a source follower for strong driving ability. To enhance its linearity, a feed forward signal path from input to output is proposed. A replica buffer‐based common‐mode feedback is designed to achieve high output common‐mode stabilisation of input‐buffer. The prototype is implemented in 40 nm CMOS process. The output common‐mode variation is reduced from 200 to 1 mV. Input‐buffer consumes 96 mW in 3.2 GHz sampling rate and achieves 69.3 dB spur‐free dynamic range at 1581 MHz input frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Novel interface-bonded OH-CN/BOC heterojunctions were fabricated by a simple mixing route. • The chemical bonding and its role on inducing stable OVs are elucidated by DFT calculation. • OH-CN/BOC exhibits enhanced CO yield that is 91.8 and 18.2 times of BOC and CN, respectively. • OH groups play a key and multiple roles in improving the photoreduction activity of OH-CN/BOC. The development of heterogeneous photocatalysts with superior photogenerated charge separation and CO 2 activation is a key challenge for artificial photosynthesis. Herein, novel hydroxyl-modified g-C 3 N 4 /flower-like Bi 2 O 2 CO 3 composites (OH-CN/BOC) with covalently bonded heterointerfaces were fabricated through a direct mechanical mixing approach. The bonded samples exhibited remarkable CO 2 photoreduction activity under visible light. The CO production rate of the optimized sample was 91.8, 18.2, 8.6, and 6.1 times greater than those of BOC, CN, OH-CN, and CN/BOC, respectively, reaching 26.69 μmol g-1h−1; and it remained stable after four cycles. The experimental and DFT studies reveal that the introduction of OH groups on CN leads to the chemical bonding of CN and BOC, induces stable surface oxygen vacancies (OVs) on BOC, and enhances the interaction between the catalyst with CO 2 and H 2 O molecules, hence greatly improving the CO 2 photoreduction activity of OH-CN/BOC. This work provides new insights and potential strategies for constructing high-quality interfacial heterojunctions with strong chemical bonds to facilitate the photocatalytic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health risks associated with rice consumption may decrease if consumers use cooking practices which can reduce the bioaccessibility of metal(loid)s. The effects of cooking on the Cd and As bioaccessibility, at three contamination levels of rice, were studied. Results indicated that cooking reduced bioaccessibility of Cd and As in rice. Cooking resulted in a significant increase (p < 0.01) of Cd and As concentrations in the residual fraction. Low volume water-cooking of rice to dryness reduced total Cd by about 10% for rices A and B, while medium or high volume water-cooking had no effect on Cd bioaccessibility in all rice types. In contrast, low volume cooking did not remove As, but a significant decrease (p < 0.05) was observed when cooking with higher volumes of water. This study provides information for a better understanding of more realistic estimation of metal(loid)s exposure from rice and the possible health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ultrafine RuNPs are stabilised by amino-modified polymer immobilized ionic liquid. • High activity for hydrolytic evolution of hydrogen from NaBH 4. • Kinetic studies confirm the hydrolysis is first order in catalyst and hydride. • Kinetic isotope studies with H 2 O/D 2 O and NaBH 4 /NaBD 4 support the proposed mechanism. • High activity retained over five reuses with only a minor reduction in conversion. Ruthenium nanoparticles stabilised by polymer immobilized ionic liquids catalyse the hydrolytic release of hydrogen from sodium borohydride. The composition of the polymer influences performance and ruthenium nanoparticles stabilised by an amine-decorated imidazolium-based polymer immobilised ionic liquid (RuNP@NH 2 -PIILS) was the most efficient with a maximum initial turnover frequency (TOF) of 177 mole H2.mol Ru −1.min−1, obtained at 30°C with a catalyst loading of 0.08 mol%; markedly higher than that of 69 mol H2.mol Ru −1.min−1 obtained with 5 wt% Ru/C and one of the highest to be reported for a RuNP catalyst. The apparent activation energy (Ea) of 38.9 kJ mol−1 for the hydrolysis of NaBH 4 catalysed by RuNP@NH 2 -PIILS is lower than that for the other polymer immobilized ionic liquid stabilised RuNPs, which is consistent with its efficacy. Comparison of the initial rates of hydrolysis in H 2 O and D 2 O catalysed by RuNP@NH 2 -PIILS gave a primary kinetic isotope effect (k H / k D) of 2.3 which supports a mechanism involving rate limiting oxidative addition of one of the O-H bonds in a strongly hydrogen-bonded surface-coordinated [BH 3 H−]—-H 2 O ensemble. The involvement of a surface-coordinated borohydride is further supported by an inverse kinetic isotope effect of 0.65 obtained from a comparison of the initial rates for the hydrolysis of NaBH 4 and NaBD 4 under the conditions of catalysis i.e., at a high hydride/catalyst mole ratio. Interestingly though, when the comparison of the initial rates of hydrolysis of NaBH 4 and NaBD 4 was conducted in dilute solution with a hydride/catalyst mole ratio of 1 a kinetic isotope effect (k H / k D) of 2.72 was obtained; this would be more consistent with concerted activation of both an O-H and B-H bond in the rate limiting step, possibly via a concerted oxidative addition-hydride transfer in the surface-coordinated hydrogen-bonded ensemble. Catalyst stability and reuse studies showed that RuNP@NH 2 -PIILS retained 71% of its activity over five runs; the gradual drop in the initial TOF with run number appears to be due to passivation of the catalyst by the sodium borate by-product as well as an increase in viscosity of the reaction mixture rather than leaching of the catalyst. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Microfluidics provide a continuous and controllable way for nanomaterials synthesis. • Comparison between traditional routes and microfluidics for nanofabrication are presented. • Existing microfluidic configurations for fluorescent nanomaterials synthesis are summarized. • Typical fluorescent nanomaterials fabricated by microfluidics are reviewed. Fluorescent nanomaterials of excellent optical properties have been widely used in fields ranging from bio-imaging, ions detection to solid-state lighting, displays and sensing. Recently, microfluidics have been proven to be an effective way to produce functional materials in nanometer scale with controllable morphology and customized properties in a continuous manner, providing an alternative approach for the synthesis of fluorescent nanomaterials. This review focuses on recent progress in the microfluidic fabrication of fluorescent nanomaterials. Firstly, based on the type of the energy coupling, the existing microfluidic configurations for synthesizing nanomaterials are summarized and categorized. Afterwards, typical examples are shown to demonstrate how fluorescent nanomaterials, including semiconductor nanocrystals, carbon dots, metal nanoparticles, rare earth doped nanophosphors, perovskite nanocrystals, and fluorescent oxide composites, are fabricated. Furthermore, the development directions of microfluidic-based nanofabrication in the future are prospected. Hopefully this review can serve as a guidance for both the scientific and industry research communities interested in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to determine the relationship between astrocytes and recurrent non-severe hypoglycemia (RH)2 -associated cognitive decline in diabetes. RH induced cognitive impairment and neuronal cell death in the cerebral cortex of diabetic mice, accompanied by excessive activation of astrocytes. Levels of the neurotrophins BDNF and GDNF, together with BDNF and GDNF- related signaling, were downregulated by RH. In vitro , recurrent low glucose (RLG)3 impaired cell viability and induced apoptosis of high-glucose cultured astrocytes. Accumulating mitochondrial ROS and dysregulated mitochondrial functions, including abnormal morphology, decreased membrane potential, downregulated ATP levels, and disrupted bioenergetic status, were observed in these cells. SS-31 mediated protection of mitochondrial functions reversed RLG-induced cell viability defects and neurotrophin production. These findings demonstrate that RH induced astrocyte overactivation and mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to astrocyte-derived neurotrophin disturbance, which might contribute to diabetic cognitive decline. Targeting astrocyte mitochondria might represent a neuroprotective therapy for hypoglycemia-associated neurodegeneration in diabetes. • RH induced neurodegeneration and excessive activation of the cortical astrocytes. • RH disrupted neurotrophin level and the related signaling in the cerebral cortex of diabetic mice. • RLG induced mitochondrial ROS accumulation in astrocytes in high glucose culture. • RLG impaired mitochondrial function of astrocytes in high glucose culture. • RLG-induced mitochondrial dysfunction reduced astrocytic neurotrophin synthesis and secretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic biochar has been widely used in the removal of aquatic pollutants due to its strong adsorption capacity and recyclability. However, the nutrient deficiency caused by magnetic biochar reduces plant performance and limits its use. The effects of magnetic biochar (derived from either eucalyptus wood or pig manure compost) on soil Cd, Zn, and Pb bioavailability to Phragmites australis L. (reed) and soil microbial community were investigated in a pot experiment. We also examined treatments of magnetic biochar with P supplementation and unmodified biochar with Fe addition to elucidate the mechanism by which magnetic biochar affects plant growth. We found that the addition of magnetic biochar significantly reduced the concentrations of available heavy metals in soil and inhibited heavy metal uptake by reeds. It also promoted the formation of iron plaque on reed roots to inhibit metal translocation. However, compared to unmodified biochar, magnetic biochar reduced reed performance, as indicated by the reduced plant biomass and photosynthetic ability, and it also reduced the biomass of soil bacteria and fungi. This was due to the interception of P by the iron plaque and the reduced concentration of soil available P. Collectively, although magnetic biochar exhibited a strong potential for heavy metal remediation, P supplementation is recommended to maintain plant performance and soil health when applying magnetic biochar. Unlabelled Image • Recyclable magnetic biochar was useful for soil heavy metal remediation. • The use of magnetic biochar promoted the formation of iron plaque on the reed root. • The iron oxide from magnetic biochar reduced soil P availability. • Plant performance and soil microbial biomass were reduced due to P deficiency. • P supplementation should be recommended in magnetic biochar-applied soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]