| 1. |
- Feng, Ruizhi, et al.
(författare)
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Mutations in TUBB8 and Human Oocyte Meiotic Arrest.
- 2016
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Ingår i: The New England journal of medicine. - 1533-4406. ; 374:3, s. 223-232
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Human reproduction depends on the fusion of a mature oocyte with a sperm cell to form a fertilized egg. The genetic events that lead to the arrest of human oocyte maturation are unknown. Methods We sequenced the exomes of five members of a four-generation family, three of whom had infertility due to oocyte meiosis I arrest. We performed Sanger sequencing of a candidate gene, TUBB8, in DNA samples from these members, additional family members, and members of 23 other affected families. The expression of TUBB8 and all other β-tubulin isotypes was assessed in human oocytes, early embryos, sperm cells, and several somatic tissues by means of a quantitative reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction assay. We evaluated the effect of the TUBB8 mutations on the assembly of the heterodimer consisting of one α-tubulin polypeptide and one β-tubulin polypeptide (α/β-tubulin heterodimer) in vitro, on microtubule architecture in HeLa cells, on microtubule dynamics in yeast cells, and on spindle assembly in mouse and human oocytes. Results We identified seven mutations in the primate-specific gene TUBB8 that were responsible for oocyte meiosis I arrest in 7 of the 24 families. TUBB8 expression is unique to oocytes and the early embryo, in which this gene accounts for almost all the expressed β-tubulin. The mutations affect chaperone-dependent folding and assembly of the α/β-tubulin heterodimer, disrupt microtubule behavior on expression in cultured cells, alter microtubule dynamics in vivo, and cause catastrophic spindle-assembly defects and maturation arrest on expression in mouse and human oocytes. Conclusions TUBB8 mutations have dominant-negative effects that disrupt microtubule behavior and oocyte meiotic spindle assembly and maturation, causing female infertility. (Funded by the National Basic Research Program of China and others.).
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| 2. |
- Qin, Linqing, et al.
(författare)
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Triplet Acceptors with a D-A Structure and Twisted Conformation for Efficient Organic Solar Cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Angewandte Chemie International Edition. - : WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH. - 1433-7851 .- 1521-3773. ; 59:35, s. 15043-15049
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Triplet acceptors have been developed to construct high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs) as the long lifetime and diffusion range of triplet excitons may dissociate into free charges instead of net recombination when the energy levels of the lowest triplet state (T-1) are close to those of charge-transfer states ((CT)-C-3). The current triplet acceptors were designed by introducing heavy atoms to enhance the intersystem crossing, limiting their applications. Herein, two twisted acceptors without heavy atoms, analogues of Y6, constructed with large pi-conjugated core and D-A structure, were confirmed to be triplet materials, leading to high-performance OSCs. The mechanism of triplet excitons were investigated to show that the twisted and D-A structures result in large spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and small energy gap between the singlet and triplet states, and thus efficient intersystem crossing. Moreover, the energy level of T-1 is close to (CT)-C-3, facilitating the split of triplet exciton to free charges.
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| 3. |
- Wang, Anqi, et al.
(författare)
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Characterizing prostate cancer risk through multi-ancestry genome-wide discovery of 187 novel risk variants
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Nature. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 55:12, s. 2065-2074
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The transferability and clinical value of genetic risk scores (GRSs) across populations remain limited due to an imbalance in genetic studies across ancestrally diverse populations. Here we conducted a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of 156,319 prostate cancer cases and 788,443 controls of European, African, Asian and Hispanic men, reflecting a 57% increase in the number of non-European cases over previous prostate cancer genome-wide association studies. We identified 187 novel risk variants for prostate cancer, increasing the total number of risk variants to 451. An externally replicated multi-ancestry GRS was associated with risk that ranged from 1.8 (per standard deviation) in African ancestry men to 2.2 in European ancestry men. The GRS was associated with a greater risk of aggressive versus non-aggressive disease in men of African ancestry (P = 0.03). Our study presents novel prostate cancer susceptibility loci and a GRS with effective risk stratification across ancestry groups.
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| 4. |
- Zhang, Shunming, et al.
(författare)
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Added sugar intake and its forms and sources in relation to risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease : results from the Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health cohort study
- 2023
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Ingår i: British Journal of Nutrition. - 1475-2662. ; 129:12, s. 2094-2101
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been suggested that added sugar intake is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, previous studies only focused on sugar-sweetened beverages; the evidence for associations with total added sugars and their sources is scarce. This study aimed to examine the associations of total added sugars, their physical forms (liquid vs. solid), and food sources with risk of NAFLD among adults in Tianjin, China. We used data from 15,538 participants, free of NAFLD, other liver diseases, cardiovascular disease, cancer, or diabetes at baseline (2013-2018 years). Added sugar intake was estimated from a validated 100-item food frequency questionnaire. NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasonography after exclusion of other causes of liver diseases. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to calculate hazards ratios (HRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for NAFLD risk with added sugar intake. During a median follow-up of 4.2 years, 3,476 incident NAFLD cases were documented. After adjusting for age, sex, body mass index and its change from baseline to follow-up, lifestyle factors, personal and family medical history, and overall diet quality, the multivariable HRs (95% CIs) of NAFLD risk were 1.18 (1.06, 1.32) for total added sugars, 1.20 (1.08, 1.33) for liquid added sugars, and 0.96 (0.86, 1.07) for solid added sugars when comparing the highest quartiles of intake with the lowest quartiles of intake. In this prospective cohort of Chinese adults, higher intakes of total added sugars and liquid added sugars, but not solid added sugars, were associated with a higher risk of NAFLD.
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| 5. |
- Busch, Jonah, et al.
(författare)
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A global review of ecological fiscal transfers
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 4:9, s. 756-765
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecological fiscal transfers (EFT) transfer public revenue between governments within a country based on ecological indicators. EFT can compensate subnational governments for the costs of conserving ecosystems and in principle can incentivize greater ecological conservation. We review established EFT in Brazil, Portugal, France, China and India, and emerging or proposed EFT in ten more countries. We analyse common themes related to EFT emergence, design and effects. EFT have grown rapidly from US$0.35 billion yr−1 in 2007 to US$23 billion yr−1 in 2020. We discuss the scope of opportunity to expand EFT to other countries by ‘greening’ intergovernmental fiscal transfers.
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| 6. |
- Feng, Ruizhi, et al.
(författare)
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MiRNA-320 in the human follicular fluid is associated with embryo quality in vivo and affects mouse embryonic development in vitro.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Scientific reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated the existence of miRNAs in human follicular fluid. In the current study, we have sought to identify miRNAs that might affect oocyte/embryo quality in patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection and to investigate their roles in in vitro fertilization outcomes in mouse oocytes. 53 samples were classified as Group 1 (high quality) if the day-3 embryos had seven and more cells or as Group 2 (low quality) if the embryos had six and fewer cells. TaqMan Human microRNAs cards and qRT-PCR were performed to verify differently expressed miRNAs. The function of the corresponding miRNA was investigated in mouse oocytes by injecting them with miRNA-inhibitor oligonucleotides. We found that hsa-miR-320a and hsa-miR-197 had significantly higher expression levels in the Group 1 follicular fluids than in Group 2 (p = 0.0073 and p = 0.008, respectively). Knockdown of mmu-miR-320 in mouse oocytes strongly decreased the proportions of MII oocytes that developed into two-cell and blastocyst stage embryos (p = 0.0048 and p = 0.0069, respectively). Wnt signaling pathway components had abnormal expression level in miR-320 inhibitor-injected oocytes. This study provides the first evidence that miRNAs in human follicular fluid are indicative of and can influence embryo quality.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Tian, Chen, et al.
(författare)
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An effective modulation of bulk perovskite by V2CTx nanosheets for efficient planar perovskite solar cells
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry A. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2050-7488 .- 2050-7496. ; 11:10, s. 5015-5026
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Crystallization modulation and defect passivation are key for high performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) through suppressing defects in the surface and/or near the grain boundaries (GBs) of solution-processed perovskite films. In this work, we report simultaneous modulation of crystallization and passivation of defects for perovskites through a new vanadium carbide (V2CTx) MXene that is employed in an anti-solvent. The final modified perovskite film showed an improved crystallization, better energy level alignment and higher hole injection with a hole-transporting layer, leading to an increased power conversion efficiency from 20.1% up to 23.47% for planar PSCs, with enhanced device stability retaining over 90% of the initial PCE after 1000 hours exposure under 40-60% relative humidity at 25 degrees C. We have further employed the synchrotron radiation in situ grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) equipment to monitor the kinetic process of crystallization during spin-coating; it is notable that a lower dimensional perovskite structure (n < 3) was observed in the modified perovskite film during the process of dropping the antisolvent CB with V2CTx, which helps explain the enhanced device stability.
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| 9. |
- Wang, Weilong, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Enhanced thermal conductivity and thermal performance of form-stable composite phase change materials by using beta-Aluminum nitride
- 2009
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Ingår i: Applied Energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-2619 .- 1872-9118. ; 86:7-8, s. 1196-1200
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- beta-Aluminum nitride powder is a promising additive due to its great conductivity value, which can enhance the thermal conductivity of organic phase change materials. In this paper, a high conductivity form-stable phase change material was prepared by blending polyethylene glycol, silica gel, and P-Aluminum nitride powder. The conductivity value of the composite PCMs was determined using the Hotdisk thermal analyzer, which is based on the transient plane source technique. Experiment of heat storage and release performance was carried out to investigate heat efficiencies of TES system. The results showed that thermal conductivity of composite PCMs increased with an increase in beta-Aluminum nitride content, but the value of latent heat decreased correspondingly. There was no change on the melting temperature while different ratios of composites. The value of thermal conductivity changed from 0.3847 W m(-1) K-1 to 0.7661 W m(-1) K-1 with the increase of mass ratio of beta-Aluminum nitride from 5% to 30%. The heat storage and release rate of the composite PCMs was higher than that of pure polyethylene glycol. Crown
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| 10. |
- Wang, Weilong, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Preparation and performance of form-stable polyethylene glycol/silicon dioxide composites as solid–liquid phase change materials
- 2009
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Ingår i: Applied Energy. - : Elsevier. - 0306-2619 .- 1872-9118. ; 86:2, s. 170-174
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This work mainly involved the preparation and characterization of form-stable polyethylene glycol (PEG)/silicon dioxide (SiO2) composite as a novel solid–liquid phase change material (PCM). In this study, the polyethylene glycol/silicon dioxide composites as form-stable, solid–liquid phase change material (PCM) was prepared. In this new material, the polyethylene glycol acts as the latent heat storage material and silicon dioxide serves as the supporting material, which provides structural strength and prevents the leakage of the melted polyethylene glycol. Results indicated that the composite remained solid when the weight percentage of silicon dioxide was higher than 15%. Moreover, the polyethylene glycol was observed to disperse into the network of the solid silicon dioxide by investigation of the structure of the composite PCMs using a scanning electronic microscope (SEM). The properties of the porous materials and phase change materials were characterized using Fourier transformation infrared spectroscope (FTIR). The transition process was observed using polarizing optical microscope (POM) and dynamic thermo mechanic analysis (DMA). The melting temperatures and latent heats of the form-stable PEG/SiO2 composite PCMs were determined using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC).
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