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Background: Studies have identified significant sex-based differences and disparities in the clinical presentation and treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Studies have shown women are less likely to be referred for catheter ablation, are older at the time of ablation, and are more likely to have recurrence after ablation. However, in most studies investigating AF ablation outcomes, the female cohorts were relatively small. The impact of gender on the outcome and safety of ablation procedures is still unclear. Objective: To investigate sex-based differences in outcomes and complications after AF catheter ablation, with a significant size female cohort Method: In this retrospective study, patients undergoing AF ablation from January 1, 2014, to March 31, 2021, were included. We investigated clinical characteristics, duration and progression of AF, number of EP appointments from diagnosis to ablation, procedural data, and procedure complications. Results: Total 1346 patients underwent first catheter ablation for AF during this period, including 896 (66.5%) male and 450 (33.4%) female patients. Female patients were older at the time of ablation (66.2y vs 62.4y; pConclusion: Female patients were older and had higher CHA DS -VASc scores compared to males at the time of AF ablation. Women tried more AADs than men prior to ablation. 1-y arrhythmia recurrence rates and procedural complications were similar in both genders. No sex- based differences were observed in safety and efficacy of ablation.

FilaminC (Flnc) is a member of the actin binding protein family, which is preferentially expressed in the cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues. Although it is known to interact with proteins associated with myofibrillar myopathy, its unique role in skeletal muscle remains largely unknown. In this study, we identify the biological functions of Flnc in vitro and in vivo using chicken primary myoblast cells and animal models, respectively. From the results, we observe that the growth rate and mass of the skeletal muscle of fast-growing chickens (broilers) were significantly higher than those in slow-growing chickens (layers). Furthermore, we find that the expression of Flnc in the skeletal muscle of broilers was higher than that in the layers. Our results indicated that Flnc was highly expressed in the skeletal muscle, especially in the skeletal muscle of broilers than in layers. This suggests that Flnc plays a positive regulatory role in myoblast development. Flnc knockdown resulted in muscle atrophy, whereas the overexpression of Flnc promotes muscle hypertrophy in vivo in an animal model. We also found that Flnc interacted with dishevelled-2 (Dvl2), activated the wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and controlled skeletal muscle development. Flnc also antagonized the LC3-mediated autophagy system by decreasing Dvl2 ubiquitination. Moreover, Flnc knockdown activated and significantly increased mitophagy. In summary, these results indicate that the absence of Flnc induces autophagy or mitophagy and regulates muscle atrophy., Graphical Abstract, Filamin C (Flnc) interacts with dishevelled-2 (Dvl2) to activate wnt/β-catenin signaling, consequently regulating skeletal muscle development. Furthermore, Flnc stabilizes Dvl2 by reducing the level of LC3-labeled Dvl2 and preventing cells from undergoing autophagy. In addition, Flnc silence-induced autophagy mediates muscle atrophy by mitochondrial clearance.

Aim To investigate the functions of ThGM-CSF cells in the host defense against L. monocytogenes infection. Material 168 Wild-type (WT, C57BL/6J) mice and 18 GM-CSF deficient (Csf2−/−) mice were used in this study. In vitro bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and ThGM-CSF cells were respectively derived from bone marrow and spleen. Methods A protective immune mouse model was established with L. monocytogenes. Flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and quantitative RT-PCR were used to detect the expression of related immune cells and proteins at cellular, protein and mRNA levels. Plate counts and immunofluorescence were used to determine bacterial colonization. Results ThGM-CSF cells contribute to the protective immune response against L. monocytogenes infection. The induction of GM-CSF is significantly increased in both primary and secondary infection. Csf2−/− mice are more susceptible to L. monocytogenes infection and transfer of ThGM-CSF cells enhanced the clearance of L. monocytogenes. Anti-GM-CSF neutralizing antibody impaired the elimination of L. monocytogenes and the generation of protective immune response. Depletion of macrophages and neutrophils decreased ThGM-CSF cells development. GM-CSF promotes phagocytosis of macrophages and neutrophils to clear L. monocytogenes. Conclusion The results suggest that ThGM-CSF cells are significantly involved in the generation of protective immune responses against bacterial infection.

Up-conversion charging (UCC) is a promising approach for charging storage phosphors using low-energy excitation light sources. For further understanding the UCC, research on the competition between trapping and detrapping during illumination is essentially required. Here we demonstrate the effect of detrapping on UCC dynamics by a rate equation approach. Accordingly, taking LaMgGa11O19:Pr3+ phosphor as an example, we experimentally verified the dependence of illumination dose and duration on the thermoluminescence intensities using 450 nm laser excitation. The present model and experimental approach appear to be transferable to other phosphors. Thus, many existing persistent phosphors can now be revisited, paving the way toward advancing the understanding of UCC.

Aiming at the stagnation and precocity of the basic ant colony algorithm in solving the film and television transmission path problem, an ant colony optimization algorithm with forgetting factor is proposed. By adding forgetting factor to artificial ants, a new state transition formula is established, and pheromone update strategy is modified. Combined with the optimal error rate of the current solution, the state transition equation is adjusted. Due to the introduction of the forgetting factor, the new formula can be adjusted in time when the original ant colony algorithm calculation falls into the local optimal solution, and the selection and updation of the next node are carried out according to the new state transition scheme. Pheromone, which can be used to reduce the optimal value error, improves the tracking ability of the optimal value, modifies the path evaluation model, and calculates the probability of each path to the current optimal solution. The simulation results of the film transmission path problem (FTPP) example show that the improved algorithm takes less time and the result of path optimization is better.

A group of robots can be assigned with different roles to collaboratively conduct interdependent tasks. The robots form a multi-robot system (MRS), where one robot's decision or action relies on the others'. This paper addresses the sequential decision problem of user association and resource allocation in a mobile edge computing (MEC)-enabled, wirelessly-connected MRS to maximize the time-averaged completion rate of interdependent computing tasks. The problem is challenging due to the partial observability of the network environment, and the delicate delay requirements of interdependent computing tasks. A new decentralized partially observable Markov decision process (Dec-POMDP) problem is reformulated, where edge servers act as intelligent agents and can make decentralized decisions about user association and resource management with their local information of the network state. By leveraging the multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient (MADDPG) theory, a new cooperative multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) model is developed to enable interdependent computing. Simulations show the merits of our approach in terms of task completion rate compared to existing techniques.

As an emerging approach to charge storage phosphors, upconversion charging (UCC) is attracting increased attention owing to its fundamental and practical perspectives. Despite the potential, further development of the UCC technology is restricted by the limited types of excitation light sources. Here, we use a white flashlight as excitation to investigate the UCC performance of storage phosphors. We demonstrate, as an example, that a Y3Al2Ga3O12:Pr3+ phosphor exhibits long-lasting emissions in the ultraviolet and visible regions after intense illumination from the flashlight. Thermoluminescence investigations reveal that both excited-state absorption and energy-transfer upconversion are involved in the UCC process. Based on the luminescence performance of the white-light charged phosphor, a conceptual thermometry approach is introduced, which can remotely sense the local temperature by monitoring the afterglow intensity ratio. Considering the wide use of flashlight, such a white-light excitability and the associated glow emission may potentially revolutionize the way to utilize storage phosphors.

Skeletal muscle is a heterogeneous tissue that is essential for initiating movement and maintaining homeostasis. The genesis of skeletal muscle is an integrative process that lasts from embryonic development to postnatal stages, which is carried out under the modulation of many factors. Recent studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs), a class of non-coding RNAs, are involved in myogenesis. However, more circRNAs and their mechanisms that may regulate skeletal muscle development remain to be explored. Through in-depth analysis of our previous RNA-Seq data, circFNDC3AL was found to be a potentially functional circRNA highly expressed during embryonic development of chicken skeletal muscle. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of circFNDC3AL on skeletal muscle development in chickens and found that circFNDC3AL promoted chicken skeletal muscle satellite cell (SMSC) proliferation and differentiation. To gain a thorough understanding of the exact modulatory mechanisms of circFNDC3AL in chicken skeletal muscle development, we performed target miRNA analysis of circFNDC3AL and found that circFNDC3AL has a binding site for miR-204. Subsequently, we demonstrated that miR-204 inhibited chicken SMSC proliferation and differentiation, which showed the opposite functions of circFNDC3AL. Furthermore, we identified the miR-204 target gene B-cell CLL/lymphoma 9 (BCL9) and validated that miR-204 had an inhibitory effect on BCL9, while the negative effect could be relieved by circFNDC3AL. In addition, we verified that BCL9 performed the same positive functions on chicken SMSC proliferation and differentiation as circFNDC3AL, as opposed to miR-204. In conclusion, our study identified a circRNA circFNDC3AL that upregulates BCL9 expression to promote the proliferation and differentiation of chicken SMSCs by binding to miR-204.

Light-emission phenomena of storage phosphors have received widespread attention, provoking the continuous developments of persistent luminescence, photostimulated luminescence, and mechanoluminescence. In the study and application of storage phosphors, as a matter of experience, it is always necessary to avoid or eliminate ambient light. It is the requirement for ambient darkness that is hindering the further development of storage phosphors under different ambient conditions. Here, we report an interesting glow phenomenon of storage phosphors in bright ambient light by introducing a concept termed ambient stimulated emission, in which the ambient temperature and ambient lighting can simultaneously release energy stored in the storage phosphors and lead to long-lasting emissions beyond the visible spectrum. As a proof of concept, we focus our discussion on an x-ray-charged ${\mathrm{La}\mathrm{Mg}\mathrm{Al}}_{11}{\mathrm{O}}_{19}:{\mathrm{Gd}}^{3+}$ phosphor, which exhibits ambient stimulated emission in the ultraviolet-B region, with increased initial light emission when the phosphor is exposed to ambient illumination instead of dark conditions. The ambient-stimulated-emission performances are found to depend on the illuminance and spectral distribution of ambient light. Moreover, our study indicates that the glow phenomenon in bright ambient light commonly appears in various storage phosphors, involving ultraviolet and infrared phosphors. The introduction of ambient stimulated emission brings different insights to luminescence research and offers approaches to further learn about and utilize storage phosphors.

Intelligent transportation is an important component of future smart cities, and electric autonomous vehicles (EAVs) are envisioned to be the main form of transportation because EAVs can save energy, protect the environment, and improve service efficiency. With limited vehicle-specific energy storage capacity and overall constraint in the smart grid’s electric load, we propose a novel intelligent management scheme to jointly schedule the travel and charging activities of the EAV fleet in one geographical area. This scheme not only schedules EAVs to meet the passengers’ requests but also explores the matching problem between the energy requirement of EAVs and the deployment of charging piles in smart cities. We minimize the total cruise energy consumption of EAVs under the condition of limited energy supply while guaranteeing the quality-of-service (QoS). Network Calculus (NC) is extended to model the electric traffic flow in this paper. With the real-world electric taxi data in Beijing, simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can achieve substantial energy reduction and remarkable improvements in both the order completion rate and utilization rate of the charging stations.

The global production of denim fabric is more than 9 billion meters, and indigo dye, an essential dye in the denim field, uses about 30–50 tons of water per million meters in the washing process after dyeing in order to remove the floating color. At present, the most common cotton yarn dyeing process is the traditional process of dyeing, using the multi-vat immersion dyeing method of the assembly line. In order to successfully reduce the water and energy consumption with the foaming process, it is necessary to combine the foam system by indigo reduction method. This study through the foam system selection and process optimization,The results showed the concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate is 3 g/L, the concentration of citric acid is 1.2 g/L, the temperature is 50 °C, the speed is 1200r/min, and the stirring time is 5min. A simulated factory yarn-dyeing line was built, Through orthogonal test, sodium Hydrosulfite concentration and sodium hydroxide concentration required for 5 g/L indigo reduction were 7 g/L and 3 g/L, respectively. When the temperature was 80 °C, the reduction effect of indigo was the best. Taking the K/S value of cotton dyed with 5 g/L traditional process as the control, the required concentration of indigo dye foaming process was determined to be 14 g/L at 50 °C, and the foam indigo foaming technology was realized. By comparing the twist, single yarn strength, and hairiness tests of the dyed cotton yarn with the two technology, the results showed that the properties of the dyed cotton yarn with the foam indigo technology dye are better than the traditional technology. Compared with traditional technology, foam technology saves about 53.5% water and has an efficiency ratio of 1:10.

Graphene nanoribbons wrapped carbon-coated SnO2 nanoparticles which are anchored on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by a two-step hydrothermal method. In the final hybrid of graphene nanoribbons wrapping carbon-coated SnO2 nanoparticles on CNTs (GCSCNTs), SnO2 nanoparticles in the diameter of ∼5 nm are uniformly anchored on the surface of CNTs and graphene nanoribbons flexibly wrapped carbon-coated SnO2 nanoparticles on the surface. Electrochemical experiments proved that GCSCNTs exhibited superior lithium storage capacity and cycling performance. The GCSCNTs showed a reversible capacity of 1038 mA h g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1 and keep the specific capacity of 502 mA h g−1 at the current density of 1 A g−1 over1000 cycles.

Papillae-like polyaniline (PANI) nanocones arrays growing on graphsene nanosheets (GNs) were synthesized in mass at low cost by in situ polymerization with the assistant of ethanol. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images show that papillae-like PANI nanocones arrays are located uniformly on flexible two-dimensional GNs. Electrochemical properties are tested by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The electrochemical performances of GNs/PANI hybrid are better than those of bare GNs or PANI. GNs/PANI electrode delivered a maximum specific capacitance of 372 F g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1 in 1.0 M Na2SO4 aqueous solution. And the composite exhibit an excellent cycle life with ~80% specific capacitance retention over 3000 cycles at 1 A g−1. The GNs/PANI nanocomposites will be one of the most promising flexible electrode materials for high-performance ultracapacitors.

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with opened edges and less structural defects are embedded in polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon nanofibers (CNFs) by electrospinning followed by stabilization and carbonization. GNRs not only can be used as one-dimensional nanofillers, but also act as nanoplatelet template to promote the formation of graphitic carbon in PAN matrix. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and N2 absorption are used to analyze the microstructure of GNR-reinforced CNFs. In situ tensile test using a micromechanical device inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is carried out to evaluate the mechanical performance of individual GNR-reinforced CNF. The tensile strength and elastic modulus of CNFs reinforced by 2 wt% GNRs with a diameter of ∼160 nm are 3.52 GPa and 70.07 GPa, respectively, which are higher than those of pristine PAN CNFs with similar size, i.e. 2.44 GPa and 28.97 GPa. The rough fracture surface for all GNR-reinforced CNFs suggests that the GNRs can dramatically toughen the fibers. A sword-in-sheath failure is observed in 4 wt% GNR reinforced CNFs, confirming that GNRs are entirely embedded and well aligned along the fiber axis. This study demonstrates the potential of GNRs as a promising reinforcement to improve the formation of graphitic carbon and mechanical performance of CNFs.

Graphene nanosheets (GNs) with large specific surface area, high conductivity, and excellent flexibility were integrated with negative active materials (NAM) as backbones to construct a continuous conductive network to suppress the sulfation of negative plates and improve the cycle-life of lead–acid batteries (LABs) under high-rate partial state-of-charge (HRPSoC) condition. The microstructure of GNs was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption–desorption techniques, fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman spectroscopy. The effect of GNs at different contents in the electrochemical performances of negative plates and LABs is investigated. The electrochemical tests show that the cycle-life of LABs under HRPSoC conditions has improved by more than 370% and the utilization ratio of NAM has been raised to 63.7%, when 0.9 wt% additions of GNs was added to NAM. It is found that the GNs will be a promising carbonaceous additive for long cycle-life of LABs under HRPSoC conditions.

Two-dimensional tremelliform Co0.85Se nanosheets were synthesized by a simple solvothermal method using ethylenediamine (EN) to control the morphology. EN acts as a strong alkalinity supplier, facilitating the formation of Co0.85Se nanosheets or nanospheres in the final product. To further explore the electrochemical application of tremelliform Co0.85Se nanosheets, an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was fabricated in which tremelliform Co0.85Se nanosheets were used as the positive electrode and commercial activated carbon (AC) was used as the negative electrode. Co0.85Se//AC ASC demonstrated impressive electrochemical performances, providing an energy density of 17.8 W h kg−1 at a high power density of 3.57 kW kg−1 and a capacitance retention of 93% after 2000 charge–discharge cycles.

A three-dimensional sponge of graphene nanoribbons crosslinked by Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs), which is denoted as 3D Fe3O4@GNRs, is synthesized using a simple reflux procedure. In this hybrid, GNRs with open and active edges are used as building blocks while Fe3O4 NPs are employed not only as anode materials but as a crosslinking agent to weld GNRs at the joints, resulting in the assembly of a 3D porous sponge. The 3D Fe3O4@GNR hybrid exhibits super-high cycling performance (1700 mA h g−1 over 100 cycles at 0.1 A g−1) and excellent rate capability (1265 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1), demonstrating a significant advancement in anode active materials with high energy density for lithium ion batteries.

Polyurethane (PU) foams reinforced with bamboo fiber sources in China, i.e., bamboo fiber, bamboo α-cellulose fiber, and bamboo nanocellulose fiber, were prepared and their physico-mechanical properties were analyzed in this work. The bamboo fiber sources and PU foams were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and universal compression testing. The results indicated that the hydroxyl groups on the fiber surfaces were enhanced by removing non-celluloses in the preparation of α-cellulose and nanocellulose. With the addition of small particle size α-cellulose and nanocellulose, the cell sizes of PU foams were reduced due to more nucleating agents being introduced. The FTIR spectra confirmed that the bamboo fiber sources were involved in the foaming reaction. The PU foams with bamboo fiber sources had a higher thermal stability than neat foam, and they were satisfactory enough to be used as insulation. PU foams reinforced with 5% bamboo fiber, 3% α-cellulose fiber and 3% nanocellulose fiber had better physico-mechanical performance than other foams. The reinforcement performance of 3% bamboo α-cellulose fiber on PU foam was comparable with that of high-cost nanocellulose. Accordingly, bamboo α-cellulose fiber was demonstrated to be a promising candidate to reinforce PU foam, which could be used in the reinforcement of foam insulation.

The design and fabrication of sustainable and efficient electrocatalyst for water splitting are crucial for rechargeable metal-air batteries and regenerative fuel cells. In this report, a highly stable and active NiCo-selenide electrocatalyst was successfully prepared by a facile two-step solvothermal approach. In 0.1 M KOH alkaline electrolyte solution, the novel NiCo-selenide electrocatalyst afforded the current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a lower overpotential of 393 mV, a smaller Tafel slope of ~89 mV dec−1 and better stability, compared with NiCo-based oxide and sulfide.

Most of existing nanocontainers suffer from tedious, complicated and unsustainable assembly process which restricts their application in corrosion protection as smart inhibitor carriers. In this study, we adopted the framework-hybridization approach to prepare a smart anticorrosion system (MBT@Ph-HPMO), with MBT inhibitor as cargo and phenylene-bridged hollow periodic mesoporous organosilica (Ph-HPMO) as nanocontainer. Results reveal that the π-π stacking between MBT and framework of Ph-HPMO serves as nature valve, which is supplemented by the molecular dynamic simulation. The encapsulated inhibitor was loaded into Ph-HPMO at neutral pH, demonstrating fast release in acidic environment. On-demand release of inhibitors from MBT@Ph-HPMO contributed to achieving in situ active corrosion protection. Anticorrosion performance of MBT@Ph-HPMO for copper alloy was evaluated in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution for a period of 30 days. The alloy exhibited the slightest corrosion damage in the corrosion medium with the addition of 0.24 wt% MBT@Ph-HPMO. This facile and versatile strategy will have broad applications in new class of nanocontainers fabrication and open up a new prospect for active corrosion protection.

Trap filling studies of persistent phosphors using visible-light excitation have important implications on both fundamental luminescence research and practical applications. We report here an up-conversion charging (UCC) design of Gd3Ga5O12:Pr3+ persistent phosphor upon excitation with blue lasers. As an example, long-lasting emission from Pr3+ has been achieved in the phosphor after the traps are filled by subsequently absorbing two 450 nm excitation photons from a blue diode laser. Spectroscopic investigations reveal that the composition of UCC intermediate state is predominantly that of 3P0 state of Pr3+ in the phosphor. Our work provides a major step toward developing the UCC design, which enables new properties of persistent luminescence to be discovered and new applications of persistent phosphors developed.

Understanding the effect of electron-transfer quenching on the photoluminescence (PL) of phosphors is important but often underestimated. Here we study the PL of two Pr3+-doped phosphors, MgGeO3:Pr and MgSiO3:Pr, which share analogous chemical formulas but exhibit different PL performances. Ultraviolet and red emissions dominate the PL of MgSiO3:Pr at room temperature, while the ultraviolet emission is absent in MgGeO3:Pr. A photoionization experiment, which is based on thermoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, reveals that an impurity-trapped exciton state quenches the 4f5d state of Pr3+ in MgGeO3. We believe that the present experimental approach, as well as the associated physical insight on the electron-transfer quenching, is generally applicable for many existing phosphors.