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Abstract Background Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is the most common congenital heart disease. Although a small number of genes associated with VSD have been found, the genetic factors of VSD remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the association of 10 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with isolated VSD in a population from Southwest China. Methods Based on the results of 34 congenital heart disease whole-exome sequencing and 1000 Genomes databases, 10 candidate SNPs were selected. A total of 618 samples were collected from the population of Southwest China, including 285 VSD samples and 333 normal samples. Ten SNPs in the case group and the control group were identified by SNaPshot genotyping. The chi-square (χ2) test was used to evaluate the relationship between VSD and each candidate SNP. The SNPs that had significant P value in the initial stage were further analysed using linkage disequilibrium, and haplotypes were assessed in 34 congenital heart disease whole-exome sequencing samples using Haploview software. The bins of SNPs that were in very strong linkage disequilibrium were further used to predict haplotypes by Arlequin software. ViennaRNA v2.5.1 predicted the haplotype mRNA secondary structure. We evaluated the correlation between mRNA secondary structure changes and ventricular septal defects. Results The χ2 results showed that the allele frequency of FLT4 rs383985 (P = 0.040) was different between the control group and the case group (P 0.8). Among them, rs3736061 and rs3736062 SNPs in the FLT4 gene led to synonymous variations of amino acids, but predicting the secondary structure of mRNA might change the secondary structure of mRNA and reduce the free energy. Conclusions These findings suggest a possible molecular pathogenesis associated with isolated VSD, which warrants investigation in future studies.

Abstract Background Atrial septal defect (ASD) is a common form of congenital heart disease. Although several genes related to ASD have been found, the genetic factors of ASD remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between 10 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and sporadic atrial septal defects. Methods Based on the results of 34 individual whole exome sequences, 10 candidate SNPs were selected. In total, 489 ASD samples and 420 normal samples were collected. The 10 SNPs in the case group and the control group were identified through Snapshot genotyping technology. The χ2-test and unconditional regression model were used to evaluate the relationship between ASD and each candidate SNP. Haploview software was used to perform linkage disequilibrium and haplotype analysis. Results The χ2 results showed that the FLT4 rs383985 (P = 0.003, OR = 1.115–1.773), HYDIN rs7198975 (P = 0.04621, OR = 1.003–1.461), and HYDIN rs1774266 (P = 0.04621, OR = 1.003–1.461) alleles were significantly different between the control group and the case group (P

Background: Tricuspid transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (T-TEER) has emerged as an attractive option for severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR). To avoid the radiation exposure for both patients and medical staff, we propose a sole-echocardiography-guided method for T-TEER. The purpose of this article was to investigate the feasibility of sole-echocardiography-guided T-TEER. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study, including 43 patients who underwent sole-echocardiography-guided T-TEER at two medical centers in China between June 2022 and September 2023. Clinical and echocardiographic data were collected at baseline, discharge and 6-month follow-up. Results: Patients enrolled in this study were elderly (71.6 ± 8.2 years) with significant comorbidities, 67.4% had baseline massive or torrential TR and 76.7% were classified as New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III/IV. All patients achieved successful device implantation, and no severe device-related complications or mortality occurred during the follow-up period. Significantly reduced TR and reversed right ventricular remodeling were observed at 6-month follow-ups. Patients classified as NYHA functional class I/II increased from 23.3% at baseline to 81.4% at 6-month follow-up (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Sole-echocardiography-guided T-TEER has a low incidence of complications and can effectively reduce TR. It is feasible to substitute conventional fluoroscopy and echocardiography guidance for echocardiography guidance alone. Further large-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to validate the safety, efficacy and patient benefits of this technique.

Abstract The recycling of spent batteries has become increasingly important owing to their wide applications, abundant raw material supply, and sustainable development. Compared with the degraded cathode, spent anode graphite often has a relatively intact structure with few defects after long cycling. Yet, most spent graphite is simply burned or discarded due to its limited value and inferior performance on using conventional recycling methods that are complex, have low efficiency, and fail in performance restoration. Herein, we propose a fast, efficient, and “intelligent” strategy to regenerate and upcycle spent graphite based on defect‐driven targeted remediation. Using Sn as a nanoscale healant, we used rapid heating (~50 ms) to enable dynamic Sn droplets to automatically nucleate around the surface defects on the graphite upon cooling owing to strong binding to the defects (~5.84 eV/atom), thus simultaneously achieving Sn dispersion and graphite remediation. As a result, the regenerated graphite showed enhanced capacity and cycle stability (458.9 mAh g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 after 100 cycles), superior to those of commercial graphite. Benefiting from the self‐adaption of Sn dispersion, spent graphite with different degrees of defects can be regenerated to similar structures and performance. EverBatt analysis indicates that targeted regeneration and upcycling have significantly lower energy consumption (~99% reduction) and near‐zero CO2 emission, and yield much higher profit than hydrometallurgy, which opens a new avenue for direct upcycling of spend graphite in an efficient, green, and profitable manner for sustainable battery manufacture.

We present the generation of attosecond gamma rays via inverse Compton scattering within the framework of laser wakefield acceleration through 2D Particle-In-Cell simulations. Utilizing the near-threshold ionization injection mechanism, an attosecond micro-bunched electron beam characterized by a comb-like current density profile can be achieved with a linearly polarized laser at an intensity of a0 = 1.5. The micro-bunched beam provides a beam energy of approximately 300 MeV and achieves a minimum relative energy spread of about 1.64% after undergoing 2 mm of acceleration. In the inverse Compton scattering scheme, these attosecond electron micro-bunches interact with the reflected driving laser pulse, resulting in the attosecond gamma-ray radiation exhibiting similar structures. Individual spatial-separated gamma-ray pulses exhibit a length of approximately 260–300 as, with a critical energy of 2.0 ± 0.2 MeV. The separated attosecond gamma-ray source owns a peak brilliance of ~1022 photons s−1 mm−2 mrad−2 0.1% BW. This brilliance is competitive in a laboratory for multi-MeV γ-ray sources with a laser intensity of I = 5 × 1018 W/cm2. Such attosecond gamma-ray radiation offers promising applications requiring ultrashort X-ray/gamma ray sources.

Developing multifunctional energy storage systems with high specific energy, high specific power and long cycling life has been the one of the most important research directions. Compared to batteries and traditional capacitors, supercapacitors possess more balanced performance with both high specific power and long cycle-life. Nevertheless, regular supercapacitors can only achieve energy storage without harvesting energy and the energy density is still not very high compared to batteries. Therefore, combining high specific energy and high specific power, long cycle-life and even fast self-charging into one cell has been a promising direction for future energy storage devices. The multifunctional hybrid supercapacitors like asymmetric supercapacitors, batteries/supercapacitors hybrid devices and self-charging hybrid supercapacitors have been widely studied recently. Carbon based electrodes are common materials used in all kinds of energy storage devices due to their fabulous electrical and mechanical properties. In this survey, the research progress of all kinds of hybrid supercapacitors using multiple effects and their working mechanisms are briefly reviewed. And their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The hybrid supercapacitors have great application potential for portable electronics, wearable devices and implantable devices in the future.

Abstract Multifunctionality is important to the development of next‐generation actuators and intelligent robots. However, current multi‐functional actuating systems are achieved based on the integration of diverse functional units with complex design, especially lacking in multi‐mode sensing and displaying functions. Herein, a light‐driven actuator integrated with self‐powered/visual dual‐mode sensing functions and rewritable display function is proposed. The actuator demonstrates a bending curvature of 0.93 cm−1 under near‐infrared light irradiation. Meanwhile, by embedding a pencil‐drawn graphite generator and thermochromic materials, the actuator also provides two independent sensing functions. First, owing to the photo‐thermoelectric effect of graphite, the actuator spontaneously outputs a self‐powered voltage (Seebeck coefficient: 23 µV K−1), which can reflect the deformation trend of actuator. Second, color changes occur on the actuator during deformation, which provide a visual sensing due to the thermochromic property. Furthermore, the actuator can be utilized as a rewritable display, owing to the integrated color‐memorizing component. Intelligent robots, switches, and smart homes are further demonstrated as applications. All of them can spontaneously provide self‐powered and visual sensing signals to demonstrate the working states of actuating systems, accompanied by rewritable displays on the actuators. This study will open a new direction for self‐powered devices, multi‐functional actuators, and intelligent robots.

BackgroundLeft ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is a vital variable to describe left ventricle systolic function and contractility of left ventricle. However, the association between LVEF and the prognostic effect in patients with moderate or severe mitral regurgitation (MR) is still controversial.MethodsThis study comprised 30,775 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients who underwent coronary arteriography (CAG) in the Cardiorenal ImprovemeNt (CIN) registry from January 2007 to December 2018. Patients were divided into none or mild MR group and moderate or severe MR group, and 3 levels of LVEF ≥50, 40–50%, and

Abstract Soft actuators with sensing capabilities are important in intelligent robots and human–computer interactions. However, present perceptive actuating systems rely on the integration of multiple functional units with complex circuit design. Here, a new‐type pressure‐perceptive actuator is reported, which integrates functions of sensing, actuating, and decision making at material level without complex combination. The actuator is composed of an actuating unit and a pressure‐sensing unit, both of which are fabricated by carbon nanotube (CNT), silk, and polymer composite. On the one hand, the actuating unit can be driven by low voltages (

The prevalence of smartphones equipped with various sensors enables the pervasive capture of users' location data. WiFi scan lists on one smartphone, i.e., scan results of the network in a range, can roughly indicate the physical location of the phone in a time period. Considering the close relationship between location and daily life, users' lifestyle can be inferred from their WiFi scan lists. Given the issue of user privacy, in this paper, we explore anonymized WiFi scan lists to discover users' lifestyle. Individual lifestyle about mobility and important places of home and workplaces is discovered, respectively, based on the stay places extracted from anonymized WiFi scan lists and the reconstructed mobility trajectories. We first learn the lifestyle about mobility by detecting activity areas from mobility trajectories and introducing two metrics of activeness and diversity to measure individual mobility. Then, we discover the lifestyle about the home and workplaces identified from anonymized WiFi scan lists, such as stay duration at home, activeness of going outside at night, and working hours on weekdays and weekends. The experiments were conducted on a real-world large-scale dataset, which contains records of smartphone usage of more than 17 000 volunteering participants. Our work is a promising step toward automatically discover people's lifestyle from anonymized smartphone data.

Flow distortions caused by ambient wind can have complex negative effects on the performance of direct air-cooling condensers, which use air as their cooling medium. A control-oriented model of the direct air-cooling condenser model, considering fan volumetric effectiveness and plume recirculation rate, was developed, and its linearization model was derived. The influences of fan volumetric effectiveness and plume recirculation rate on backpressure were analyzed, and the optimal backpressure was calculated. To improve both the transient performance and steady-state energy saving of the condenser, a multi-model-based predictive control strategy was proposed to divisionally adjust the fan array. Four division schemes of the direct air-cooling fan array constituted the local models, and in each division scheme, axial fans were divided into three groups according to the wind direction: windward fans, leeward fans, and other fans. The simulation results showed that the turbine backpressure can be increased by 15 kPa under the influence of plume recirculation and the reduction of the fan volumetric efficiency. The fan division adjustment strategy can achieve satisfactory control performance with switching rules.

Background: The present study aimed to explore the correlation between calcium-activated potassium channels, left atrial flow field mechanics, valvular atrial fibrillation (VAF), and thrombosis. The process of transforming mechanical signals into biological signals has been revealed, which offers new insights into the study of VAF. Methods: Computational fluid dynamics simulations use numeric analysis and algorithms to compute flow parameters, including turbulent shear stress (TSS) and wall pressure in the left atrium (LA). Real-time PCR and western blotting were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression of IKCa2.3/3.1, ATK1, and P300 in the left atrial tissue of 90 patients. Results: In the valvular disease group, the TSS and wall ressure in the LA increased, the wall pressure increased in turn in all disease groups, mainly near the mitral valve and the posterior portion of the LA, the increase in TSS was the most significant in each group near the mitral valve, and the middle and lower part of the back of the LA and the mRNA expression and protein expression levels of IKCa2.3/3.1, AKT1, and P300 increased (p < 0.05) (n = 15). The present study was preliminarily conducted to elucidate whether there might be a certain correlation between IKCa2.3 and LA hemodynamic changes. Conclusions: The TSS and wall pressure changes in the LA are correlated with the upregulation of mRNA and protein expression of IKCa2.3/3.1, AKT1, and P300.

Background: Variations in TOR1A were thought to be associated with early-onset isolated dystonia. The variant S287Y (NM_000113.2: c.860C > A, p. Ser287Tyr, rs766483672) was found in our late-onset isolated dystonia patient. This missense variant is adjacent to R288Q (c.863G > A, p. Arg288Gln), which was reported to be associated with isolated dystonia. The potentially pathogenic role of S287Y is not conclusively known. Methods: Cytological and molecular biological analyses were performed in vitro to determine whether this variant damages the structure and function of the cell. Results: Compared with the SH-SY5Y cells overexpressing wild-type TOR1A, the cells overexpressing the protein with S287Y have an enlarged peri-nuclear space. The same changes in nuclear morphology were also found in the cells overexpressing the pathogenic variants ΔE (NM_000113.2:c.904_906delGAG, p. Glu302del), F205I (NM_000113.2:c.613 T > A, p. Phe205Ile), and R288Q (NM_000113.2:c.863G > A, p. Arg288Gln). Mutated proteins with S287Y presented a higher tendency to form dimers under reducing conditions. The same tendencies were observed in other mutated proteins but not in wild-type torsinA. Conclusions: TorsinA with S287Y damages the structure of the cell nucleus and may be a novel pathogenic mutation that causes isolated dystonia.