1. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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2. |
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3. |
- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(author)
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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy
- 2012
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In: Autophagy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1554-8635 .- 1554-8627. ; 8:4, s. 445-544
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.
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4. |
- Chong, Hui, et al.
(author)
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Organo-ptii complexes for potent photodynamic inactivation of multi-drug resistant bacteria and the influence of configuration
- 2024
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In: Advanced Science. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2198-3844. ; 11:14
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PtII based organometallic photosensitizers (PSs) have emerged as novel potent photodynamic inactivation (PDI) reagents through their enhanced intersystem crossing (ISC) processes. Currently, few PtII PSs have been investigated as antibacterial materials, with relatively poor performances reported and with structure-activity relationships not well described. Herein, a pair of configurational isomers are reported of Bis-BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-boradizaindacene) embedded PtII PSs. The cis-isomer (cis-BBP) displayed enhanced 1O2 generation and better bacterial membrane anchoring capability as compared to the trans-isomer (trans-BBP). The effective PDI concentrations (efficiency > 99.9%) for cis-BBP in Acinetobacter baumannii (multi-drug resistant (MDR)) and Staphylococcus aureus are 400 nM (12 J cm−2) and 100 nM (18 J cm−2), respectively; corresponding concentrations and light doses for trans-BBP in the two bacteria are 2.50 µM (30 J cm−2) and 1.50 µM (18 J cm−2), respectively. The 50% and 90% minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC50 and MIC90) ratio of trans-BBP to cis-BBP is 22.22 and 24.02 in A. baumannii (MDR); 21.29 and 22.36 in methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), respectively. Furthermore, cis-BBP displays superior in vivo antibacterial performance, with acceptable dark and photoinduced cytotoxicity. These results demonstrate cis-BBP is a robust light-assisted antibacterial reagent at sub-micromolecular concentrations. More importantly, configuration of PtII PSs should be an important issue to be considered in further PDI reagents design.
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5. |
- Pan, Xiong-Fei, et al.
(author)
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Circulating fatty acids and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus : prospective analyses in China
- 2021
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In: European Journal of Endocrinology. - : Bioscientifica. - 0804-4643 .- 1479-683X. ; 185:1, s. 87-97
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: We aimed to examine prospective associations between circulating fatty acids in early pregnancy and incident gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among Chinese pregnant women.Methods: Analyses were based on two prospective nested case-control studies conducted in western China (336 GDM cases and 672 matched controls) and central China (305 cases and 305 matched controls). Fasting plasma fatty acids in early pregnancy (gestational age at enrollment: 10.4 weeks(s.d., 2.0)) and 13.2 weeks (1.0), respectively) were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and GDM was diagnosed based on the International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups criteria during 24-28 weeks of gestation. Multiple metabolic biomarkers (HOMA-IR (homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance), HbA1c, c-peptide, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, adiponectin, leptin, and blood lipids) were additionally measured among 672 non-GDM controls at enrollment.Results: Higher levels of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) 14:0 (pooled odds ratio, 1.41 for each 1-s.d. increase; 95% CI: 1.25, 1.59) and 16:0 (1.19; 1.05, 1.35) were associated with higher odds of GDM. Higher levels of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) 18:2n-6 were strongly associated with lower odds of GDM (0.69; 0.60, 0.80). In non-GDM pregnant women, higher SFAs 14:0 and 16:0 but lower n-6 PUFA 18:2n-6 were generally correlated with unfavorable metabolic profiles.Conclusions: We documented adverse associations of 14:0 and 16:0 but a protective association of 18:2n-6 with GDM among Chinese pregnant women. Our findings highlight the distinct roles of specific fatty acids in the onset of GDM.
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6. |
- Sampson, Joshua N., et al.
(author)
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Analysis of Heritability and Shared Heritability Based on Genome-Wide Association Studies for 13 Cancer Types
- 2015
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In: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0027-8874 .- 1460-2105. ; 107:12
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Studies of related individuals have consistently demonstrated notable familial aggregation of cancer. We aim to estimate the heritability and genetic correlation attributable to the additive effects of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for cancer at 13 anatomical sites. Methods: Between 2007 and 2014, the US National Cancer Institute has generated data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for 49 492 cancer case patients and 34 131 control patients. We apply novel mixed model methodology (GCTA) to this GWAS data to estimate the heritability of individual cancers, as well as the proportion of heritability attributable to cigarette smoking in smoking-related cancers, and the genetic correlation between pairs of cancers. Results: GWAS heritability was statistically significant at nearly all sites, with the estimates of array-based heritability, h(l)(2), on the liability threshold (LT) scale ranging from 0.05 to 0.38. Estimating the combined heritability of multiple smoking characteristics, we calculate that at least 24% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 14% to 37%) and 7% (95% CI = 4% to 11%) of the heritability for lung and bladder cancer, respectively, can be attributed to genetic determinants of smoking. Most pairs of cancers studied did not show evidence of strong genetic correlation. We found only four pairs of cancers with marginally statistically significant correlations, specifically kidney and testes (rho = 0.73, SE = 0.28), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and pediatric osteosarcoma (rho = 0.53, SE = 0.21), DLBCL and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (rho = 0.51, SE = 0.18), and bladder and lung (rho = 0.35, SE = 0.14). Correlation analysis also indicates that the genetic architecture of lung cancer differs between a smoking population of European ancestry and a nonsmoking Asian population, allowing for the possibility that the genetic etiology for the same disease can vary by population and environmental exposures. Conclusion: Our results provide important insights into the genetic architecture of cancers and suggest new avenues for investigation.
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7. |
- Wang, Fang, et al.
(author)
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Emerging contaminants: A One Health perspective
- 2024
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In: Innovation. - 2666-6758. ; 5
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Environmental pollution is escalating due to rapid global development that often prioritizes human needs over planetary health. Despite global efforts to mitigate legacy pollutants, the continuous introduction of new substances remains a major threat to both people and the planet. In response, global initiatives are focusing on risk assessment and regulation of emerging contaminants, as demonstrated by the ongoing efforts to establish the UN's Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution Prevention. This review identifies the sources and impacts of emerging contaminants on planetary health, emphasizing the importance of adopting a One Health approach. Strategies for monitoring and addressing these pollutants are discussed, underscoring the need for robust and socially equitable environmental policies at both regional and international levels. Urgent actions are needed to transition toward sustainable pollution management practices to safeguard our planet for future generations.
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8. |
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9. |
- Yang, Qin, et al.
(author)
-
Sustainable operations-oriented painting process optimisation in automobile maintenance service
- 2021
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier Science Ltd. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 324
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Building a more sustainable society is an urgent requirement for todays service-oriented manufacturing enterprises, such as automobile maintenance firms. In automobile maintenance service, traditional painting process scheduling scheme usually only considers the profits of enterprises, ignoring the requirements of customers or other stakeholders. To address this gap and achieve sustainable operations of enterprises in the long term, this paper concentrated on the vehicle scheduling of painting process problem with the concern of the demands of managers, workers, customers, governments and non-government environmental protection organisations. This problem was formulated as a nonlinear 0-1 integer programming model to minimise makespan (MP), total pollutant emissions (TPE) and total customers perceived dissatisfaction (TCPDS). A genetic algorithm was designed to solve the model, and a practical case using data from both the information system and the survey was performed to test the performance of the proposed model and algorithm. Computational results revealed that the genetic algorithm performed well in terms of validity and stability. Pareto solutions demonstrated that optimising task sequences helped increase customers perceived satisfaction while improving the makespan of vehicle painting, decreased paint waste, and reduced worker health and safety risks. Some of the increases in the percentage of well-timed customer service reservations were catalysed by the method that combined tiered pricing, related to delivery times, the automobile painting efficiency, which improved customers perceived satisfaction. This paper also further guides managers to incorporate sustainable development into operations in service-oriented manufacturing enterprises.
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10. |
- Yang, Yalan, et al.
(author)
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Chemodiversity of Cyanobacterial Toxins Driven by Future Scenarios of Climate Warming and Eutrophication
- 2023
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In: Environmental Science and Technology. - 0013-936X. ; 57:32, s. 11767-11778
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Climate change and eutrophication are two environmental threats that can alter the structure of freshwater ecosystems and their service functions, but we know little about how ecosystem structure and function will evolve in future scenarios of climate warming. Therefore, we created different experimental climate scenarios, including present-day conditions, a 3.0 °C increase in mean temperature, and a “heatwaves” scenario (i.e., an increase in temperature variability) to assess the effects of climate change on phytoplankton communities under simultaneous stress from eutrophication and herbicides. We show that the effects of climate warming, particularly heatwaves, are associated with elevated cyanobacterial abundances and toxin production, driven by a change from mainly nontoxic to toxic Microcystis spp. The reason for higher cyanobacterial toxin concentrations is likely an increase in abundances because under the dual pressures of climate warming and eutrophication individual Microcystis toxin-producing ability decreased. Eutrophication and higher temperatures significantly increased the biomass of Microcystis, leading to an increase in the cyanobacterial toxin concentrations. In contrast, warming alone did not produce higher cyanobacterial abundances or cyanobacterial toxin concentrations likely due to the depletion of the available nutrient pool. Similarly, the herbicide glyphosate alone did not affect abundances of any phytoplankton taxa. In the case of nutrient enrichment, cyanobacterial toxin concentrations were much higher than under warming alone due to a strong boost in biomass of potential cyanobacterial toxin producers. From a broader perspective our study shows that in a future warmer climate, nutrient loading has to be reduced if toxic cyanobacterial dominance is to be controlled.
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11. |
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12. |
- Akerman, Ildem, et al.
(author)
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Human Pancreatic β Cell lncRNAs Control Cell-Specific Regulatory Networks
- 2017
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In: Cell Metabolism. - : Elsevier BV. - 1550-4131. ; 25:2, s. 400-411
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent studies have uncovered thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in human pancreatic β cells. β cell lncRNAs are often cell type specific and exhibit dynamic regulation during differentiation or upon changing glucose concentrations. Although these features hint at a role of lncRNAs in β cell gene regulation and diabetes, the function of β cell lncRNAs remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the function of β cell-specific lncRNAs and transcription factors using transcript knockdowns and co-expression network analysis. This revealed lncRNAs that function in concert with transcription factors to regulate β cell-specific transcriptional networks. We further demonstrate that the lncRNA PLUTO affects local 3D chromatin structure and transcription of PDX1, encoding a key β cell transcription factor, and that both PLUTO and PDX1 are downregulated in islets from donors with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance. These results implicate lncRNAs in the regulation of β cell-specific transcription factor networks.
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13. |
- Bass, Gary Alan, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Techniques for mesoappendix transection and appendix resection: insights from the ESTES SnapAppy study
- 2023
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In: European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1863-9933 .- 1615-3146 .- 1863-9941. ; 49, s. 17-32
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Surgically managed appendicitis exhibits great heterogeneity in techniques for mesoappendix transection and appendix amputation from its base. It is unclear whether a particular surgical technique provides outcome benefit or reduces complications. Material and methods: We undertook a pre-specified subgroup analysis of all patients who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy at index admission during SnapAppy (ClinicalTrials.gov Registration: NCT04365491). We collected routine, anonymized observational data regarding surgical technique, patient demographics and indices of disease severity, without change to clinical care pathway or usual surgeon preference. Outcome measures of interest were the incidence of complications, unplanned reoperation, readmission, admission to the ICU, death, hospital length of stay, and procedure duration. We used Poisson regression models with robust standard errors to calculate incident rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Three-thousand seven hundred sixty-eight consecutive adult patients, included from 71 centers in 14 countries, were followed up from date of admission for 90days. The mesoappendix was divided hemostatically using electrocautery in 1564(69.4%) and an energy device in 688(30.5%). The appendix was amputated by division of its base between looped ligatures in 1379(37.0%), with a stapler in 1421(38.1%) and between clips in 929(24.9%). The technique for securely dividing the appendix at its base in acutely inflamed (AAST Grade 1) appendicitis was equally divided between division between looped ligatures, clips and stapled transection. However, the technique used differed in complicated appendicitis (AAST Grade 2 +) compared with uncomplicated (Grade 1), with a shift toward transection of the appendix base by stapler (58% vs. 38%; p < 0.001). While no statistical difference in outcomes could be detected between different techniques for division of appendix base, decreased risk of any [adjusted IRR (95% CI): 0.58 (0.41–0.82), p = 0.002] and severe [adjusted IRR (95% CI): 0.33 (0.11–0.96), p = 0.045] complications could be detected when using energy devices. Conclusions: Safe mesoappendix transection and appendix resection are accomplished using heterogeneous techniques. Technique selection for both mesoappendix transection and appendix resection correlates with AAST grade. Higher grade led to more ultrasonic tissue transection and stapled appendix resection. Higher AAST appendicitis grade also correlated with infection-related complication occurrence. Despite the overall well-tolerated heterogeneity of approaches to acute appendicitis, increasing disease acuity or complexity appears to encourage homogeneity of intraoperative surgical technique toward advanced adjuncts.
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14. |
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15. |
- Bi, Huan-Yu, et al.
(author)
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Degeneracy relations in QCD and the equivalence of two systematic all-orders methods for setting the renormalization scale
- 2015
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In: Physics Letters B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-2693 .- 1873-2445. ; 748, s. 13-18
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC) eliminates QCD renormalization scale-setting uncertainties using fundamental renormalization group methods. The resulting scale-fixed pQCD predictions are independent of the choice of renormalization scheme and show rapid convergence. The coefficients of the scale-fixed couplings are identical to the corresponding conformal series with zero beta-function. Two all-orders methods for systematically implementing the PMC-scale setting procedure for existing high order calculations are discussed in this article. One implementation is based on the PMC-BLM correspondence (PMC-I); the other, more recent, method (PMC-II) uses the R-delta-scheme, a systematic generalization of the minimal subtraction renormalization scheme. Both approaches satisfy all of the principles of the renormalization group and lead to scale-fixed and scheme-independent predictions at each finite order. In this work, we show that PMC-I and PMC-II scale-setting methods are in practice equivalent to each other. We illustrate this equivalence for the four-loop calculations of the annihilation ratio Re+e- and the Higgs partial width Gamma(H -> b (b) over bar). Both methods lead to the same resummed ('conformal') series up to all orders. The small scale differences between the two approaches are reduced as additional renormalization group {beta(i)}-terms in the pQCD expansion are taken into account. We also show that special degeneracy relations, which underly the equivalence of the two PMC approaches and the resulting conformal features of the pQCD series, are in fact general properties of non-Abelian gauge theory. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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16. |
- Cao, Lina, et al.
(author)
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Atomically dispersed iron hydroxide anchored on Pt for preferential oxidation of CO in H-2
- 2019
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In: Nature. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 565:7741, s. 631-635
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are attractive next-generation power sources for use in vehicles and other applications(1), with development efforts focusing on improving the catalyst system of the fuel cell. One problem is catalyst poisoning by impurity gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), which typically comprises about one per cent of hydrogen fuel(2-4). A possible solution is on-board hydrogen purification, which involves preferential oxidation of CO in hydrogen (PROX)(3-7). However, this approach is challenging(8-15) because the catalyst needs to be active and selective towards CO oxidation over a broad range of low temperatures so that CO is efficiently removed (to below 50 parts per million) during continuous PEMFC operation (at about 353 kelvin) and, in the case of automotive fuel cells, during frequent cold-start periods. Here we show that atomically dispersed iron hydroxide, selectively deposited on silica-supported platinum (Pt) nanoparticles, enables complete and 100 per cent selective CO removal through the PROX reaction over the broad temperature range of 198 to 380 kelvin. We find that the mass-specific activity of this system is about 30 times higher than that of more conventional catalysts consisting of Pt on iron oxide supports. In situ X-ray absorption fine-structure measurements reveal that most of the iron hydroxide exists as Fe-1(OH)(x) clusters anchored on the Pt nanoparticles, with density functional theory calculations indicating that Fe-1(OH)(x)-Pt single interfacial sites can readily react with CO and facilitate oxygen activation. These findings suggest that in addition to strategies that target oxide-supported precious-metal nanoparticles or isolated metal atoms, the deposition of isolated transition-metal complexes offers new ways of designing highly active metal catalysts.
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17. |
- Chen, Huan, et al.
(author)
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The mycobacterial membrane : a novel target space for anti-tubercular drugs
- 2018
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In: Frontiers in Microbiology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-302X. ; 9
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- uberculosis (TB) poses an enduring threat to global health. Consistently ranked among the top 10 causes of death worldwide since 2000, TB has now exceeded HIV-AIDS in terms of deaths inflicted by a single infectious agent. In spite of recently declining TB incident rates, these decreases have been incremental and fall short of threshold levels required to end the global TB epidemic. As in other infectious diseases, the emergence of resistant organisms poses a major impediment to effective TB control. Resistance in mycobacteria may evolve from genetic mutations in target genes which are transmitted during cell multiplication from mother cells to their progeny. A more insidious form of resistance involves sub-populations of non-growing (“dormant”) mycobacterial persisters. Quiescent and genetically identical to their susceptible counterparts, persisters exhibit non-inheritable drug tolerance. Their prevalence account for the protracted treatment period that is required for the treatment of TB. In order to improve the efficacy of treatment against mycobacterial persisters and drug-resistant organisms, novel antitubercular agents are urgently required. Selective targeting of bacterial membranes has been proposed as a viable therapeutic strategy against infectious diseases. The underpinning rationale is that a functionally intact cell membrane is vital for both replicating and dormant bacteria. Perturbing the membrane would thus disrupt a multitude of embedded targets with lethal pleiotropic consequences, besides limiting the emergence of resistant strains. There is growing interest in exploring small molecules as selective disruptors of the mycobacterial membrane. In this review, we examined the recent literature on different chemotypes with membrane perturbing properties, the mechanisms by which they induce membrane disruption and their potential as anti-TB agents. Cationic amphiphilicity is a signature motif that is required of membrane targeting agents but adherence to this broad physical requirement does not necessarily translate to conformity in terms of biological outcomes. Nor does it ensure selective targeting of mycobacterial membranes. These are unresolved issues that require further investigation.
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18. |
- Chen, W., et al.
(author)
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Enhanced efficiency of polymer solar cells by improving molecular aggregation and broadening the absorption spectra
- 2019
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In: Dyes and Pigments. - : Elsevier BV. - 0143-7208 .- 1873-3743. ; 166, s. 42-48
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alkylthio-substituted thiophene-based benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b’]dithiophene (BDT) was used to construct PBDTS-DTBT, a medium band gap donor-acceptor (D-A) polymer with 5,6-difluoro-4,7-bis[4-(2-octyldodecyl)thiophene-2-yl]benzo[c] [1,2,5]thiadiazole (DTBT). The incorporation of sulfur atoms into the side chains not only lowered the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level but also improved molecular aggregation and thus afforded lower band gap (1.68 eV) with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 170 nm in comparison to that of the analogous polymer (PBDT-DTBT) without sulfur atoms in side chains. Therefore, the bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells based on PBDTS-DTBT with 2% diiodooctane (DIO) as processing additive showed a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.73% with high open-circuit voltage (V OC , 0.93 V), large short-circuit current density (J SC , 14.23 mA/cm 2 ) and high fill factor (FF, 0.735).
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19. |
- Chen, W., et al.
(author)
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Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells
- 2019
-
In: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1944-8252 .- 1944-8244. ; 11:36, s. 33173-33178
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work, position effects of an alkylthio side chain were investigated by designing and synthesizing two copolymers based on a phenyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDTP) and difluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ). The polymer based on the meta-position-alkylthiolated BDTP, named m-PBDTPS-FTAZ, showed a relatively broader bandgap (2.00 vs 1.96 eV) and lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level (-5.40 vs-5.32 eV) than its para-positioned structural isomeric analogue polymer (named p-PBDTPS-FTAZ), that is, m- A nd p-PBDTPS-FTAZ with the side chain structured as ethylhexyl-in the phenyl unit and hexyldecyl-in the FTAZ moiety. When blended with ITIC, m-PBDTPS-FTAZ showed a comparable crystallinity but more uniform morphology compared to that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ. A high power conversion efficiency of 13.16% was achieved for m-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices with a high open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.95 V, which is higher than that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices (10.86%) with a VOC of 0.89 V. Therefore, m-BDTPS could be an effective donor unit to construct high-efficiency polymers due to its effectively decreased HOMO energy level of polymers while still maintaining good molecular stacking.
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20. |
- Daníelsdóttir, Hilda Björk, et al.
(author)
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Adverse childhood experiences and resilience among adult women : A population-based study
- 2022
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In: eLIFE. - : eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. - 2050-084X. ; 11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have consistently been associated with elevated risk of multiple adverse health outcomes, yet their contribution to coping ability and psychiatric resilience in adulthood is unclear.Methods: Cross-sectional data were derived from the ongoing Stress-And-Gene-Analysis cohort, representing 30% of the Icelandic nationwide female population, 18-69 years. Participants in the current study were 26,198 women with data on 13 ACEs measured with the ACE-International Questionnaire. Self-reported coping ability was measured with the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and psychiatric resilience was operationalized as absence of psychiatric morbidity. Generalized linear regression assuming normal or Poisson distribution were used to assess the associations of ACEs with coping ability and psychiatric resilience controlling for multiple confounders.Results: Number of ACEs was inversely associated with adult resilience in a dose-dependent manner; every 1SD unit increase in ACE scores was associated with both lower levels of coping ability (β = -0.14; 95% CI-0.15,-0.13) and lower psychiatric resilience (β = -0.28; 95% CI-0.29,-0.27) in adulthood. Compared to women with 0 ACEs, women with ≥5 ACEs had 36% lower prevalence of high coping ability (PR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.59,0.70) and 58% lower prevalence of high psychiatric resilience (PR = 0.42; 95% CI 0.39,0.45). Specific ACEs including emotional neglect, bullying, sexual abuse and mental illness of household member were consistently associated with reduced adult resilience. We observed only slightly attenuated associations after controlling for adult socioeconomic factors and social support in adulthood.Conclusions: Cumulative ACE exposure is associated with lower adult resilience among women, independent of adult socioeconomic factors and social support, indicating that adult resilience may be largely determined in childhood.
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21. |
- Deng, Huan, et al.
(author)
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Progress of selenium deficiency in the pathogenesis of arthropathies and selenium supplement for their treatment
- 2022
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In: Biological Trace Element Research. - : Springer Nature. - 0163-4984 .- 1559-0720. ; 200, s. 4238-4249
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Selenium, an essential trace element for human health, exerts an indispensable effect in maintaining physiological homeostasis and functions in the body. Selenium deficiency is associated with arthropathies, such as Kashin-Beck disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis. Selenium deficiency mainly affects the normal physiological state of bone and cartilage through oxidative stress reaction and immune reaction. This review aims to explore the role of selenium deficiency and its mechanisms existed in the pathogenesis of arthropathies. Meanwhile, this review also summarized various experiments to highlight the crucial functions of selenium in maintaining the homeostasis of bone and cartilage.
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22. |
- Ding, Chen, et al.
(author)
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An Ultra-Low Latency Multicast Router for Large-Scale Multi-Chip Neuromorphic Processing
- 2021
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In: 2021 IEEE 3rd international conference on artificial intelligence circuits and systems (AICASs). - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Neuromorphic simulation is fundamental to the study of information processing mechanism of the human brain and can further inspire application development of event-driven spiking neural networks. However large-scale neuromorphic simulation requires massive parallelism on multi-chip processing and imposes great challenges on dealing with data transmission latency and congestion problems between chips, especially when the number of simulated neurons reaches to billions or even trillions level. In this paper, we propose an ultra-low-latency on-chip router together with a multicast routing algorithm that focuses on reducing global loads and balancing loads between links. Additionally, we build a large-scale neuromorphic simulation platform consisting of 64 FPGA chips and evaluate the proposed design on it. The experiment results suggest that this design benefits from the proposed multicast routing algorithm in global communication loads and simulation capacity. This work has 4.1% similar to 5.2% reduction of global loads comparing to previous works and can achieve a latency as low as 25ns and a maximum data throughput of 6.25Gbps/chip.
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23. |
- Forssten, Maximilian Peter, 1996-, et al.
(author)
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Surgical management of acute appendicitis during the European COVID-19 second wave: safe and effective
- 2023
-
In: European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1863-9933 .- 1615-3146 .- 1863-9941. ; 49, s. 57-67
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic drove acute care surgeons to pivot from long established practice patterns. Early safety concerns regarding increased postoperative complication risk in those with active COVID infection promoted antibiotic-driven non-operative therapy for select conditions ahead of an evidence-base. Our study assesses whether active or recent SARS-CoV-2 positivity increases hospital length of stay (LOS) or postoperative complications following appendectomy. Methods: Data were derived from the prospective multi-institutional observational SnapAppy cohort study. This preplanned data analysis assessed consecutive patients aged ≥ 15years who underwent appendectomy for appendicitis (November 2020–May 2021). Patients were categorized based on SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity: no infection, active infection, and prior infection. Appendectomy method, LOS, and complications were abstracted. The association between SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity and complications was determined using Poisson regression, while the association with LOS was calculated using a quantile regression model. Results: Appendectomy for acute appendicitis was performed in 4047 patients during the second and third European COVID waves. The majority were SARS-CoV-2 uninfected (3861, 95.4%), while 70 (1.7%) were acutely SARS-CoV-2 positive, and 116 (2.8%) reported prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. After confounder adjustment, there was no statistically significant association between SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity and LOS, any complication, or severe complications. Conclusion: During sequential SARS-CoV-2 infection waves, neither active nor prior SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with prolonged hospital LOS or postoperative complication. Despite early concerns regarding postoperative safety and outcome during active SARS-CoV-2 infection, no such association was noted for those with appendicitis who underwent operative management.
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24. |
- Han, Jing, et al.
(author)
-
Nano-elemental selenium particle developed via supramolecularself-assembly of chondroitin sulfate A and Na2SeO3 to repaircartilage lesions
- 2023
-
In: Carbohydrate Polymers. - : Elsevier. - 0144-8617 .- 1879-1344. ; 316
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cartilage repair is a significant clinical issue due to its restricted ability to regenerate and self-heal after cartilage lesions or degenerative disease. Herein, a nano-elemental selenium particle (chondroitin sulfate A‑selenium nanoparticle, CSA-SeNP) is developed by the supramolecular self-assembly of Na2SeO3 and negatively charged chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) via electrostatic interactions or hydrogen bonds followed by in-situ reducing of l-ascorbic acid for cartilage lesions repair. The constructed micelle exhibits a hydrodynamic particle size of 171.50 ± 2.40 nm and an exceptionally high selenium loading capacity (9.05 ± 0.03 %) and can promote chondrocyte proliferation, increase cartilage thickness, and improve the ultrastructure of chondrocytes and organelles. It mainly enhances the sulfation modification of chondroitin sulfate by up-regulating the expression of chondroitin sulfate 4-O sulfotransferase-1, −2, −3, which in turn promotes the expression of aggrecan to repair articular and epiphyseal-plate cartilage lesions. The micelles combine the bio-activity of CSA with selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs), which are less toxic than Na2SeO3, and low doses of CSA-SeNP are even superior to inorganic selenium in repairing cartilage lesions in rats. Thus, the developed CSA-SeNP is anticipated to be a promising selenium supplementation preparation in clinical application to address the difficulty of healing cartilage lesions with outstanding repair effects.
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25. |
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26. |
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27. |
- Hsiung, Nai-Huan, et al.
(author)
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Translation, adaptation, and validation of the behavioral pain scale and the critical-care pain observational tools in Taiwan
- 2016
-
In: Journal of Pain Research. - Auckland, New Zealand : Dove Medical Press. - 1178-7090. ; 9, s. 661-669
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study describes the cultural adaptation and testing of the behavioral pain scale (BPS) and the critical-care pain observation tools (CPOT) for pain assessment in Taiwan. The cross-cultural adaptation followed the steps of translation, including forward translation, back-translation, evaluation of the translations by a committee of experts, adjustments, and then piloting of the prefinal versions of the BPS and the CPOT. A content validity index was used to assess content validities of the BPS and the CPOT, with 0.80 preset as the level that would be regarded as acceptable. The principal investigator then made adjustments when the content validity index was,0.80. The pilot test was performed with a sample of ten purposively selected patients by 2 medical staff from a medical care center in Taiwan. The BPS and the CPOT are adequate instruments for the assessment of pain levels in patients who cannot communicate due to sedation and ventilation treatments.
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28. |
- Huan, Yang, et al.
(author)
-
Three perspectives on inclusive Service Design : user-centred, adaptive systems, and service logics
- 2020
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- How do we design services that are inclusive and accessible to a wide variety of users (e.g. people with disabilities, of different ethnical backgrounds, of different genders)? Inclusive design has been extensively researched in product design and architecture, but less has been done in the area of service design. We will, in this conceptual paper, describe and discuss a plurality of perspectives on inclusive service design. The first perspective explores user-centred design and describes it as an umbrella covering a multitude of user groups. The second perspective takes an adaptive systems perspective to manage a variability in users.The third perspective uses service logics to describe inclusive service design in terms of resource integration. The different perspectives also come with their own tensions. It is concluded that a plurality of perspectives can contribute to a rich understanding of how to approach inclusive and accessible design of services
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29. |
- Huang, Ke, et al.
(author)
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Tailoring magnetic order via atomically stacking 3d/5d electrons to achieve high-performance spintronic devices
- 2020
-
In: Applied Physics Reviews. - : AMER INST PHYSICS. - 1931-9401. ; 7:1
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ability to tune magnetic orders, such as magnetic anisotropy and topological spin texture, is desired to achieve high-performance spintronic devices. A recent strategy has been to employ interfacial engineering techniques, such as the introduction of spin-correlated interfacial coupling, to tailor magnetic orders and achieve novel magnetic properties. We chose a unique polar-nonpolar LaMnO3/SrIrO3 superlattice because Mn (3d)/Ir (5d) oxides exhibit rich magnetic behaviors and strong spin-orbit coupling through the entanglement of their 3d and 5d electrons. Through magnetization and magnetotransport measurements, we found that the magnetic order is interface-dominated as the superlattice period is decreased. We were able to then effectively modify the magnetization, tilt of the ferromagnetic easy axis, and symmetry transition of the anisotropic magnetoresistance of the LaMnO3/SrIrO3 superlattice by introducing additional Mn (3d) and Ir (5d) interfaces. Further investigations using in-depth first-principles calculations and numerical simulations revealed that these magnetic behaviors could be understood by the 3d/5d electron correlation and Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The results reported here demonstrate a new route to synchronously engineer magnetic properties through the atomic stacking of different electrons, which would contribute to future applications in high-capacity storage devices and advanced computing.
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30. |
- Huang, Yajun, et al.
(author)
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Flame-retardant polyvinyl alcohol/cellulose nanofibers hybrid carbon aerogel by freeze drying with ultra-low phosphorus
- 2019
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In: Applied Surface Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-4332. ; 497
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Polyvinyl alcohol/cellulose nanofibers hybrid aerogel was prepared under freeze drying method. To improve the aerogels' anti-combustion performance, 0.8 wt% microencapsulated ammonium polyphosphate (MCAPP) was loaded as the flame retardant. Aerogels with extremely low density (~0.06 g/cm3) and excellent mechanical performance (Young's modulus: 1.045 MPa) can be obtained. The resulted aerogel also exhibit considerable thermal insulation ability (thermal conductivity: ~0.04 W/m·K). Experimental results indicate that the value of limiting oxygen index increases from 19.5% to 37.5% when loading 0.8 wt% MCAPP. Accordingly, the aerogels' peak heat release rate decreased significantly from 222.44 to 107.84 kW/m2. The char residue rises when introducing MCAPP and the char's integrity improves a lot after combustion. The fire performance index and fire growth index increases and falls respectively, indicating improved anti-combustion performance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show C[dbnd]O bonds would be increased for the esterification of phosphoric acid from MCAPP. In addition, the production of carbonate can be prohibited while combustion when loading MCAPP.
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31. |
- Jian, Wang, et al.
(author)
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A PSO-Based Layout Method for GNSS Pseudolite System
- 2017
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In: Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Information Technology. - New York, NY, USA : ACM. - 9781450363518 ; , s. 313-317
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In order to improve the user positioning accuracy in GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) pseudolite system, we propose a PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization)-based method to optimize the pseudolite layout in this paper. In detail, given the pseudolite layout information, we calculate the system GDOP (Geometric Dilution of Precision) and then minimize it by using a PSO-based algorithm with N particles. Here the first particle indicates the classical layout under the given scenario and the other particles separately represent N-1 randomly generated layouts. In each iteration of our PSO-based algorithm, these particles move to a direction to reduce the GDOP value. After several iterations, the GDOP value can be minimized and the optimal pseudolite layout is found out as well. To evaluate the merits of our method, we perform some experiments. The experimental results show that compared to the classical pseudolite layout, our method can reduce the GDOP by 13.4%. This, with no doubt, improves the user positioning accuracy. For example, when the pseudo-range error is about 1%, the user positioning accuracy in our optimized layout can be improved by 12.4% against the classical layout.
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32. |
- Jiang, Huanxiang, et al.
(author)
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Appropriate Molecular Interaction Enabling Perfect Balance Between Induced Crystallinity and Phase Separation for Efficient Photovoltaic Blends
- 2020
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In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. - : American Chemical Society. - 1944-8244 .- 1944-8252. ; 12:23, s. 26286-26292
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fluorination is a promising modification method to adjust the photophysical profiles of organic semiconductors. Notably, the fluorine modification on donor or acceptor materials could impact the molecular interaction, which is strongly related to the morphology of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blends and the resultant device performance. Therefore, it is essential to investigate how the molecular interaction affects the morphology of BHJ films. In this study, a new fluorinated polymer PBDB-PSF is synthesized to investigate the molecular interaction in both nonfluorinated (ITIC) and fluorinated (IT-4F) systems. The results reveal that the F-F interaction in the PBDB-PSF:IT-4F system could effectively induce the crystallization of IT-4F while retaining the ideal phase separation scale, resulting in outstanding charge transport. On the contrary, poor morphology can be observed in the PBDB-PSF:ITIC system because of the unbalanced molecular interaction. As a consequence, the PBDB-PSF:IT-4F device delivers an excellent power conversion efficiency of 13.63%, which greatly exceeds that of the PBDB-PSF:ITIC device (9.84%). These results highlight manipulating the micromorphology with regard to molecular interaction.
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33. |
- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(author)
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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy in higher eukaryotes
- 2008
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In: Autophagy. - : Landes Bioscience. - 1554-8627 .- 1554-8635. ; 4:2, s. 151-175
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research in autophagy continues to accelerate,1 and as a result many new scientists are entering the field. Accordingly, it is important to establish a standard set of criteria for monitoring macroautophagy in different organisms. Recent reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose.2,3 There are many useful and convenient methods that can be used to monitor macroautophagy in yeast, but relatively few in other model systems, and there is much confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure macroautophagy in higher eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers of autophagosomes versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway; thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from fully functional autophagy that includes delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of the methods that can be used by investigators who are attempting to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as by reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that investigate these processes. This set of guidelines is not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to verify an autophagic response.
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34. |
- Li, Daobin, et al.
(author)
-
Atomically dispersed platinum supported on curved carbon supports for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution
- 2019
-
In: Nature Energy. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2058-7546. ; 4:6, s. 512-518
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dispersing catalytically active metals as single atoms on supports represents the ultimate in metal utilization efficiency and is increasingly being used as a strategy to design hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts. Although platinum (Pt) is highly active for HER, given its high cost it is desirable to find ways to improve performance further while minimizing the Pt loading. Here, we use onion-like nanospheres of carbon (OLC) to anchor stable atomically dispersed Pt to act as a catalyst (Pt-1/OLC) for the HER. In acidic media, the performance of the Pt-1/OLC catalyst (0.27 wt% Pt) in terms of a low overpotential (38 mV at 10 mA cm(-2)) and high turnover frequencies (40.78 H-2 s(-1) at 100 mV) is better than that of a graphene-supported single-atom catalyst with a similar Pt loading, and comparable to a commercial Pt/C catalyst with 20 wt% Pt. First-principle calculations suggest that a tip-enhanced local electric field at the Pt site on the curved support promotes the reaction kinetics for hydrogen evolution.
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35. |
- Li, Wenting, et al.
(author)
-
Recent progress in silver nanowire networks for flexible organic electronics
- 2020
-
In: Journal of Materials Chemistry C. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 2050-7526 .- 2050-7534. ; 8:14, s. 4636-4674
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recently, flexible transparent electrodes (FTEs) have attracted extensive attention as an essential element for future organic electronics (OEs), i.e. solution-processable, scalable and flexible organic electronics (FOEs). Although the traditional transparent electrode indium tin oxide (ITO) has been widely used in OEs, its brittleness and high cost significantly limit its application in the next generation of devices, typically flexible electronics. Thus, many alternatives, such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, conductive polymers, metal nanowires, metal grids and electrospun metallic nanofibers, have arisen at the forefront of FTEs. Among them, silver nanowire (AgNW) networks have attracted particular attention due to their excellent electrical conductivity and high transmittance, as well as facile availability and low cost. Since many studies on AgNWs have been published, a comprehensive review highlighting the advantages of AgNWs in FOEs is highly required. In this review, the synthesis and film fabrication of AgNWs have been firstly summarized, focusing especially on the properties of conductivity and light transmittance. Next, post treatments with different approaches to improve the conductivity of AgNWs have been included. And then, characterization of FTEs has been introduced with details on key parameters for FOEs. Furthermore, AgNW-based FOEs have been summarized to demonstrate the recent progress, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic solar cells (OSCs), light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs), organic field effect transistors (OFETs), organic memory devices (OMDs), etc. Finally, perspectives for AgNWs in FOEs have been discussed and concluded as well. It is expected that AgNWs could be the focus of future FOEs compared with other alternatives in terms of their advantages of optoelectronic properties, film-formation, solution-processability and flexibility.
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36. |
- Li, Yuchen, et al.
(author)
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Associations of parental and perinatal factors with subsequent risk of stress-related disorders : a nationwide cohort study with sibling comparison
- 2022
-
In: Molecular Psychiatry. - : Springer Nature. - 1359-4184 .- 1476-5578. ; 27, s. 1712-1719
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Little is known about the contribution of pregnancy-related parental and perinatal factors to the development of stress-related disorders. We aimed to investigate whether parental/perinatal adversities entail higher risks of stress-related disorders in the offspring, later in life, by accounting for genetic and early environmental factors. Based on the nationwide Swedish registers, we conducted a population-based cohort study of 3,435,747 singleton births (of which 2,554,235 were full siblings), born 1973-2008 and survived through the age of 5 years. Using both population- and sibling designs, we employed Cox regression to assess the association between parental and perinatal factors with subsequent risk of stress-related disorders. We identified 55,511 individuals diagnosed with stress-related disorders in the population analysis and 37,433 in the sibling analysis. In the population-based analysis we observed increased risks of stress-related disorders among offspring of maternal/paternal age <25, single mothers, parity >= 4, mothers with BMI >= 25 or maternal smoking in early pregnancy, gestational diabetes, and offspring born moderately preterm (GA 32-36 weeks), or small-for-gestational-age. These associations were significantly attenuated toward null in the sibling analysis. Cesarean-section was weakly associated with offspring stress-related disorders in population [hazard ratio (HR) 1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-1.12] and sibling analyses (HR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02-1.20). Our findings suggest that most of the observed associations between parental and perinatal factors and risk of stress-related disorders in the population analysis are driven by shared familial environment or genetics, and underscore the importance of family designs in epidemiological studies on the etiology of psychiatric disorders.
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37. |
- Li, Yuchen, et al.
(author)
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Public awareness, emotional reactions and human mobility in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in China : a population-based ecological study
- 2022
-
In: Psychological Medicine. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0033-2917 .- 1469-8978. ; 52:9, s. 1793-1800
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 generated severe emotional reactions, and restricted mobility was a crucial measure to reduce the spread of the virus. This study describes the changes in public emotional reactions and mobility patterns in the Chinese population during the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: We collected data on public emotional reactions in response to the outbreak through Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, between January 1st and March 31st, 2020. Using anonymized location-tracking information, we analyzed the daily mobility patterns of approximately 90% of Sichuan residents.Results: There were three distinct phases of the emotional and behavioral reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak. The alarm phase (January 19th –26th) was a restriction-free period, characterized by few new daily cases, but enormous public negative emotions (the number of negative comments per Weibo post increased by 246.9 per day, 95%CI: 122.5–371.3), and a substantial increase in self-limiting mobility (from 45.6% to 54.5%, changing by 1.5% per day, 95%CI: 0.7%–2.3%). The epidemic phase (January 27th –February 15th) exhibited rapidly increasing numbers of new daily cases, decreasing expression of negative emotions (a decrease of 27.3 negative comments per post per day, 95%CI: −40.4–−14.2), and a stabilized level of self-limiting mobility. The relief phase (February 16th –March 31st) had a steady decline in new daily cases and decreasing levels of negative emotion and self-limiting mobility.Conclusions: During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the public’s emotional reaction was strongest before the actual peak of the outbreak and declined thereafter. The change in human mobility patterns occurred before the implementation of restriction orders, suggesting a possible link between emotion and behavior.
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38. |
- Li, Zhongqiang, et al.
(author)
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Heat Waves Alter Macrophyte-Derived Detrital Nutrients Release under Future Climate Warming Scenarios
- 2021
-
In: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 55:8, s. 5272-5281
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In addition to a rise in global air and water mean temperatures, extreme climate events such as heat waves are increasing in frequency, intensity, and duration in many regions of the globe. Developing a mechanistic understanding of the impacts of heat waves on key ecosystem processes and how they differ from just an increase in mean temperatures is therefore of utmost importance for adaptive management against effects of global change. However, little is known about the impact of extreme events on freshwater ecosystem processes, particularly the decomposition of macrophyte detritus. We performed a mesocosm experiment to evaluate the impact of warming and heat waves on macrophyte detrital decomposition, applied as a fixed increment (+4 °C) above ambient and a fluctuating treatment with similar energy input, ranging from 0 to 6 °C above ambient (i.e., simulating heat waves). We showed that both warming and heat waves significantly accelerate dry mass loss of the detritus and carbon (C) release but found no significant differences between the two heated treatments on the effects on detritus dry mass loss and C release amount. This suggests that moderate warming indirectly enhanced macrophyte detritus dry mass loss and C release mainly by the amount of energy input rather than by the way in which warming was provided (i.e., by a fixed increment or in heat waves). However, we found significantly different amounts of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) released between the two warming treatments, and there was an asymmetric response of N and P release patterns to the two warming treatments, possibly due to species-specific responses of decomposers to short-term temperature fluctuations and litter quality. Our results conclude that future climate scenarios can significantly accelerate organic matter decomposition and C, N, and P release from decaying macrophytes, and more importantly, there are asymmetric alterations in macrophyte-derived detrital N and P release dynamic. Therefore, future climate change scenarios could lead to alterations in N/P ratios in the water column via macrophyte decomposition processes and ultimately affect the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems, especially in the plankton community.
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39. |
- Liang, Yuanyuan, et al.
(author)
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Spatial distribution and seasonal variations of atmospheric organophosphate esters (OPEs) in Tianjin, China based on gridded field observations
- 2020
-
In: Environmental Pollution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0269-7491 .- 1873-6424. ; 263
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The atmospheric concentrations of 14 organophosphate esters (OPEs) were monitored by passive air sampling at 33 sites to determine their spatial distributions, and seasonal variations (summer and winter) in Tianjin, North China. The total concentrations of the OPEs (Sigma 9OPEs) in the summer ranged from 0.08 to 1113 ng/sample with a median of 98.4 ng/sample, which was non-statistically different from the concentrations obtained in the winter (which ranged from 1.93 to 548 ng/sample with a median of 46.2 ng/sample). Among the observed OPEs, the concentrations of TnBP and TCiPP were statistically higher in the summer compared with the winter (p < 0.05). For grouped OPEs, only a significantly higher level of chlorinated OPEs was found in summer than that in winter. In the winter, spatial differences were found to be significantly different between the concentrations of TnBP, TiBP, TCEP, and TEHP in the suburban and rural areas (p < 0.05). Considering the possible point-sources, in the summer, the concentrations of TDCPP, TCiPP, DPEHP, TEHP, and the total concentration of TCPs (denoted as Sigma 3TCP, comprised of the concentrations of TCP, TmCP, and ToCP) in an electronic-waste (e-waste) dismantling area were higher than those obtained at the other sampling sites. Sigma 9OPEs at the e-waste site and another site located near a manufacturing plant of organophosphate flame retardants (OFRs) were both higher than the median concentrations obtained at the other sampling sites, and TCiPP was the most abundant pollutant. In the winter, the concentrations of Sigma 9OPEs at the e-waste site were still higher than their median concentrations at the other sites. Because OPEs are used in aircraft lubricating oils and hydraulic fluids, an airport was thought to be another important source of TiBP and TPhP in the present study. Therefore, the e-waste site, airport, and OFR manufacturing plant may be the major sources of OPEs in the environment.
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40. |
- Liu, Huan, et al.
(author)
-
The first human induced pluripotent stem cell line of Kashin–Beck disease reveals involvement of heparan sulfate proteoglycan biosynthesis and PPAR pathway
- 2022
-
In: The FEBS Journal. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1742-464X .- 1742-4658. ; 289:1, s. 279-293
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) is an endemic osteochondropathy. Due to a lack of suitable animal or cellular disease models, the research progress on KBD has been limited. Our goal was to establish the first disease-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) cellular disease model of KBD, and to explore its etiology and pathogenesis exploiting transcriptome sequencing.METHODS: HiPSCs were reprogrammed from dermal fibroblasts of two KBD and one healthy control donors via integration-free vectors. Subsequently, hiPSCs were differentiated into chondrocytes through three-week culture. Gene expression profiles in KBD, normal primary chondrocytes and hiPSC-derived chondrocytes were defined by RNA sequencing. A Venn diagram was constructed to show the number of shared differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between KBD and normal. Gene oncology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes annotations were performed, and six DEGs were further validated in other individuals by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR).RESULTS: KBD cellular disease models were successfully established by generation of hiPSC lines. Seventeen consistent and significant DEGs present in all compared groups (KBD and normal) were identified. RT-qPCR validation gave consistent results with the sequencing data. Glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis-heparan sulfate/heparin, PPAR signaling pathway and cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) pathways were identified to be significantly altered in KBD.CONCLUSION: Differentiated chondrocytes deriving from KBD-origin hiPSCs provide the first cellular disease model for etiological studies of KBD. This study also provides new sights into the pathogenesis and etiology of KBD and is likely to inform the development of targeted therapeutics for its treatment.
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41. |
- Liu, Huan, et al.
(author)
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The potential of induced pluripotent stem cells as a tool to study skeletal dysplasias and cartilage-related pathologic conditions
- 2017
-
In: Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. - : Elsevier. - 1063-4584 .- 1522-9653. ; 25:5, s. 616-624
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology has opened up new horizons for development of new research tools especially for skeletal dysplasias, which often lack human disease models. Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering could be the next areas to benefit from refinement of iPSC methods to repair focal cartilage defects, while applications for osteoarthritis (OA) and drug screening have evolved rather slowly. Although the advances in iPSC research of skeletal dysplasias and repair of focal cartilage lesions are not directly relevant to OA, they can be considered to pave the way to future prospects and solutions to OA research, too. The same problems which face the present cell-based treatments of cartilage injuries concern also the iPSC-based ones. However, established iPSC lines, which have no genomic aberrations and which efficiently differentiate into extracellular matrix secreting chondrocytes, could be an invaluable cell source for cell transplantations in the future. The safety issues concerning the recipient risks of teratoma formation and immune response still have to be solved before the potential use of iPSCs in cartilage repair of focal cartilage defects and OA.
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42. |
- Liu, Minzhang, et al.
(author)
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Numerical study on aerodynamic pressure caused by high-speed train passing through the subway station
- 2024
-
In: The International Journal of Ventilation. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1473-3315 .- 2044-4044.
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As the demand for efficient travel increased, the train speed is greatly increased and the subway gradually appeared the express train and the slow train. Express trains pass through some stations without stopping. In this case, the pressure transient phenomenon in the tunnel will become severe. In this study, the dynamic mesh simulation is used to study the pressure variations of the tunnel, platform screen door (PSD), and airshaft caused by the piston wind which is generated by the high-speed train passing through the tunnel and station. The effects of train speed, modes of the train passing through the station, number of airshafts and station types on the aerodynamic pressure are analyzed. The results demonstrate that the increase in train speed brings new challenges to the loading capacity of tunnel structure. Airshafts are set at the entrance and exit of the station, which is conducive to the pressure relief of each part of the tunnel structure. Furthermore, a new type of station with two tracks (express line and slow line) is conducted. The peak pressure of PSD is reduced by 48% compared with the conventional station. This study will contribute to the improvement of subway construction and provide theoretical and data support for the operation of the high-speed train.
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43. |
- Liu, Weiyue, et al.
(author)
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Study on moving fire smoke characteristics and mechanical ventilation system of tunnel
- 2023
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In: Fire safety journal. - : Elsevier. - 0379-7112 .- 1873-7226. ; 141
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Limited by the narrow space of the tunnel, fire has become one of the important factors threatening the safe operation of subway especially the fire on a moving vehicle. Researches on moving fire through the large length-width ratio of tunnels are extremely lacking at present. This study investigates the characteristics of moving fire and the influence of mechanical ventilation under different conditions. First, a three-dimensional model of the tunnel with the moving train is established, and the dynamic mesh simulation is conducted and validated by the experiments. Then, the variation of smoke temperature distribution under different fire source intensities, train speeds, and blocking ratios are studied. Based on the smoke flow characteristics, the mechanical ventilation with different layouts of draught fans is investigated. It is found that the maximum growth rate of smoke spread is 70.90% with an increase of two fans. Finally, the influence of the tunnel shaft on the smoke characteristics under different fire source locations is discussed. When the fire source is under the shaft, the smoke discharge efficiency reaches the highest, almost 5.89% and 21.91% higher than other conditions. This study provides the basis and reference for the research and control of the tunnel moving fire.
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44. |
- Lundbäck, Peter, et al.
(author)
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A novel high mobility group box 1 neutralizing chimeric antibody attenuates drug-induced liver injury and postinjury inflammation in mice
- 2016
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In: Hepatology. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0270-9139 .- 1527-3350. ; 64:5, s. 1699-1710
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Acetaminophen (APAP) overdoses are of major clinical concern. Growing evidence underlines a pathogenic contribution of sterile postinjury inflammation in APAP-induced acute liver injury (APAP-ALI) and justifies development of anti-inflammatory therapies with therapeutic efficacy beyond the therapeutic window of the only current treatment option, N-acetylcysteine (NAC). The inflammatory mediator, high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), is a key regulator of a range of liver injury conditions and is elevated in clinical and preclinical APAP-ALI. The anti-HMGB1 antibody (m2G7) is therapeutically beneficial in multiple inflammatory conditions, and anti-HMGB1 polyclonal antibody treatment improves survival in a model of APAP-ALI. Herein, we developed and investigated the therapeutic efficacy of a partly humanized anti-HMGB1 monoclonal antibody (mAb; h2G7) and identified its mechanism of action in preclinical APAP-ALI. The mouse anti-HMGB1 mAb (m2G7) was partly humanized (h2G7) by merging variable domains of m2G7 with human antibody-Fc backbones. Effector function-deficient variants of h2G7 were assessed in comparison with h2G7 in vitro and in preclinical APAP-ALI. h2G7 retained identical antigen specificity and comparable affinity as m2G7. 2G7 treatments significantly attenuated APAP-induced serum elevations of alanine aminotransferase and microRNA-122 and completely abrogated markers of APAP-induced inflammation (tumor necrosis factor, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, and chemokine [C-X-C motif] ligand 1) with prolonged therapeutic efficacy as compared to NAC. Removal of complement and/or Fc receptor binding did not affect h2G7 efficacy. Conclusion: This is the first report describing the generation of a partly humanized HMGB1-neutralizing antibody with validated therapeutic efficacy and with a prolonged therapeutic window, as compared to NAC, in APAP-ALI. The therapeutic effect was mediated by HMGB1 neutralization and attenuation of postinjury inflammation. These results represent important progress toward clinical implementation of HMGB1-specific therapy as a means to treat APAP-ALI and other inflammatory conditions. (Hepatology 2016;64:1699-1710).
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45. |
- Moretti, Rocco, et al.
(author)
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Community-wide evaluation of methods for predicting the effect of mutations on protein-protein interactions
- 2013
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In: Proteins. - : Wiley. - 0887-3585 .- 1097-0134. ; 81:11, s. 1980-1987
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Community-wide blind prediction experiments such as CAPRI and CASP provide an objective measure of the current state of predictive methodology. Here we describe a community-wide assessment of methods to predict the effects of mutations on protein-protein interactions. Twenty-two groups predicted the effects of comprehensive saturation mutagenesis for two designed influenza hemagglutinin binders and the results were compared with experimental yeast display enrichment data obtained using deep sequencing. The most successful methods explicitly considered the effects of mutation on monomer stability in addition to binding affinity, carried out explicit side-chain sampling and backbone relaxation, evaluated packing, electrostatic, and solvation effects, and correctly identified around a third of the beneficial mutations. Much room for improvement remains for even the best techniques, and large-scale fitness landscapes should continue to provide an excellent test bed for continued evaluation of both existing and new prediction methodologies. Proteins 2013; 81:1980-1987.
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46. |
- Nan, Jun-hu, et al.
(author)
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Air-core characteristics in a swirling tunnel flow
- 2022
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In: Journal of Hydrodynamics. - : Springer Nature. - 1001-6058 .- 1000-4874 .- 1878-0342. ; 34:4, s. 634-646
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A cost-effective technique to dissipate the energy in hydropower systems is the formation of a swirling flow within a tunnel. In such flows, an air core with a significant cross section usually occurs. To reveal the air-core features in the horizontal tunnel of a high-head shaft spillway, laboratory tests, numerical modeling, and prototype observations are performed, to examine issues such as the formation of the air core, the interjacent air motion, the air-carrying capacity, and the scale effects. It is shown that the shape of the air core varies greatly in the axial and radial directions along the tunnel and that the center of the core deviates from the axis of the tunnel. The motion of the air within the core is caused by the combined action of the water entrainment on the inner surface of the swirling flow and the axial pressure difference in the air core. The aeration process can be divided into five processes with respect to the changes of the gate openings. A theoretical expression is established for the air-carrying capacity of the swirling flow. The vacuum degree is the similarity condition of the air-carrying capacity of the swirling flow between the model and prototype tests based on the Froude law of the similitude, and this similarity condition is verified by both the model and prototype results. This work provides a reference for the application of the swirling flows in horizontal hydropower tunnels.
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47. |
- Olofsson, Peder S., et al.
(author)
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Blood pressure regulation by CD4+ lymphocytes expressing choline acetyltransferase
- 2016
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In: Nature Biotechnology. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1087-0156 .- 1546-1696. ; 34:10, s. 1066-1071
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Blood pressure regulation is known to be maintained by a neuro-endocrine circuit, but whether immune cells contribute to blood pressure homeostasis has not been determined. We previously showed that CD4(+) T lymphocytes that express choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), which catalyzes the synthesis of the vasorelaxant acetylcholine, relay neural signals(1). Here we show that these CD4(+)CD44(hi)CD62L(Io) T helper cells by gene expression are a distinct T-cell population defined by ChAT (CD4 T-ChAT). Mice lacking ChAT expression in CD4(+) cells have elevated arterial blood pressure, compared to littermate controls. Jurkat T cells overexpressing ChAT (JT(ChAT)) decreased blood pressure when infused into mice. Co-incubation of JT(ChAT) and endothelial cells increased endothelial cell levels of phosphorylated endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and of nitrates and nitrites in conditioned media, indicating increased release of the potent vasorelaxant nitric oxide. The isolation and characterization of CD4 T-ChAT cells will enable analysis of the role of these cells in hypotension and hypertension, and may suggest novel therapeutic strategies by targeting cell-mediated vasorelaxation.
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48. |
- Pharo, John, et al.
(author)
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Emission-line Metallicities from the Faint Infrared Grism Survey and VLT/MUSE
- 2019
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 874:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We derive direct-measurement gas-phase metallicities of 7.4 < 12 + log (O/H) < 8.4 for 14 low-mass emissionline galaxies at 0.3 < z < 0.8 identified in the Faint Infrared Grism Survey. We use deep slitless G102 grism spectroscopy of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, dispersing light from all objects in the field at wavelengths between 0.85 and 1.15 mu m. We run an automatic search routine on these spectra to robustly identify 71 emission-line sources, using archival data from Very Large Telescope (VLT)/Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) to measure additional lines and confirm redshifts. We identify 14 objects with 0.3 < z < 0.8 with measurable [O Iota Iota Iota] lambda 4363 angstrom emission lines in matching VLT/MUSE spectra. For these galaxies, we derive direct electron-temperature gas-phase metallicities with a range of 7.4 < 12 + log (O/H) < 8.4. With matching stellar masses in the range of 10(7.9) M-circle dot < M* < 10(10.4) M-circle dot, we construct a mass-metallicity (MZ) relation and find that the relation is offset to lower metallicities compared to metallicities derived from alternative methods (e.g., R-23,O3N2, N2O2) and continuum selected samples. Using star formation rates derived from the H alpha emission line, we calculate our galaxies' position on the Fundamental Metallicity Relation, where we also find an offset toward lower metallicities. This demonstrates that this emission-line-selected sample probes objects of low stellar masses but even lower metallicities than many comparable surveys. We detect a trend suggesting galaxies with higher Specific Star Formation (SSFR) are more likely to have lower metallicity. This could be due to cold accretion of metal-poor gas that drives star formation, or could be because outflows of metal-rich stellar winds and SNe ejecta are more common in galaxies with higher SSFR.
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49. |
- Qiang, Xiaoling, et al.
(author)
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New melanocortin-like peptide of E. coli can suppress inflammation via the mammalian melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) : possible endocrine-like function for microbes of the gut.
- 2017
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In: npj Biofilms and Microbiomes. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2055-5008. ; 3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- E. coli releases a 33 amino acid peptide melanocortin-like peptide of E. coli (MECO-1) that is identical to the C-terminus of the E. coli elongation factor-G (EF-G) and has interesting similarities to two prominent mammalian melanocortin hormones, alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). Note that MECO-1 lacks HFRW, the common pharmacophore of the known mammalian melanocortin peptides. MECO-1 and the two hormones were equally effective in severely blunting release of cytokines (HMGB1 and TNF) from macrophage-like cells in response to (i) endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide) or (ii) pro-inflammatory cytokine HMGB-1. The in vitro anti-inflammatoty effects of MECO-1 and of alpha-MSH were abrogated by (i) antibody against melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) and by (ii) agouti, an endogenous inverse agonist of MC1R. In vivo MECO-1 was even more potent than alpha-MSH in rescuing mice from death due to (i) lethal doses of LPS endotoxin or (ii) cecal ligation and puncture, models of sterile and infectious sepsis, respectively.
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50. |
- Schouten, Stefan, et al.
(author)
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An interlaboratory study of TEX86 and BIT analysis of sediments, extracts, and standard mixtures
- 2013
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In: Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems. - 1525-2027. ; 14:12, s. 5263-5285
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Two commonly used proxies based on the distribution of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are the TEX86 (TetraEther indeX of 86 carbon atoms) paleothermometer for sea surface temperature reconstructions and the BIT (Branched Isoprenoid Tetraether) index for reconstructing soil organic matter input to the ocean. An initial round-robin study of two sediment extracts, in which 15 laboratories participated, showed relatively consistent TEX86 values (reproducibility +/- 3-4 degrees C when translated to temperature) but a large spread in BIT measurements (reproducibility +/- 0.41 on a scale of 0-1). Here we report results of a second round-robin study with 35 laboratories in which three sediments, one sediment extract, and two mixtures of pure, isolated GDGTs were analyzed. The results for TEX86 and BIT index showed improvement compared to the previous round-robin study. The reproducibility, indicating interlaboratory variation, of TEX86 values ranged from 1.3 to 3.0 degrees C when translated to temperature. These results are similar to those of other temperature proxies used in paleoceanography. Comparison of the results obtained from one of the three sediments showed that TEX86 and BIT indices are not significantly affected by interlaboratory differences in sediment extraction techniques. BIT values of the sediments and extracts were at the extremes of the index with values close to 0 or 1, and showed good reproducibility (ranging from 0.013 to 0.042). However, the measured BIT values for the two GDGT mixtures, with known molar ratios of crenarchaeol and branched GDGTs, had intermediate BIT values and showed poor reproducibility and a large overestimation of the true (i.e., molar-based) BIT index. The latter is likely due to, among other factors, the higher mass spectrometric response of branched GDGTs compared to crenarchaeol, which also varies among mass spectrometers. Correction for this different mass spectrometric response showed a considerable improvement in the reproducibility of BIT index measurements among laboratories, as well as a substantially improved estimation of molar-based BIT values. This suggests that standard mixtures should be used in order to obtain consistent, and molar-based, BIT values.
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