Modulating Smart Mechanoluminescent Phosphors for Multistimuli Responsive Optical Wood.

Mechanoluminescence is a smart light-emitting phenomenon in which applied mechanical energy is directly converted into photon emissions. In particular, mechanoluminescent materials have shown considerable potential for applications in the fields of energy and sensing. This study thoroughly investigates the mechanoluminescence and long afterglow properties of singly doped and codoped Sr2 MgSi2 O7 (SMSO) with varying concentrations of Eu2+ and Dy3+ ions. Subsequently, a comprehensive analysis of its multimode luminescence properties, including photoluminescence, mechanoluminescence, long afterglow, and X-ray-induced luminescence, is conducted. In addition, the density of states mapping is acquired through first-principles calculations, confirming that the enhanced mechanoluminescence properties of SMSO primarily stem from the deep trap introduced by Dy3+ . In contrast to traditional mixing with Polydimethylsiloxane, in this study, the powders are incorporated into optically transparent wood to produce a multiresponse with mechanoluminescence, long afterglow, and X-ray-excited luminescence. This structure is achieved by pretreating natural wood, eliminating lignin, and subsequently modifying the wood to overall modification using various smart phosphors and epoxy resin composites. After natural drying, a multifunctional composite wood structure with diverse luminescence properties is obtained. Owing to its environmental friendliness, sustainability, self-power, and cost-effectiveness, this smart mechanoluminescence wood is anticipated to find extensive applications in construction materials and energy-efficient displays.

The chromosome-scale reference genome of mirid bugs (Adelphocoris suturalis) genome provides insights into omnivory, insecticide resistance, and survival adaptation.

BACKGROUND: Adelphocoris suturalis (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a notorious agricultural pest, which causes serious economic losses to a diverse range of agricultural crops around the world. The poor understanding of its genomic characteristics has seriously hindered the establishment of sustainable and environment-friendly agricultural pest management through biotechnology and biological insecticides. RESULTS: Here, we report a chromosome-level assembled genome of A. suturalis by integrating Illumina short reads, PacBio, 10x Chromium, and Hi-C mapping technologies. The resulting 1.29 Gb assembly contains twelve chromosomal pseudomolecules with an N50 of 1.4 and 120.6 Mb for the contigs and scaffolds, respectively, and carries 20,010 protein-coding genes. The considerable size of the A. suturalis genome is predominantly attributed to a high amount of retrotransposons, especially long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs). Transcriptomic and phylogenetic analyses suggest that A. suturalis-specific candidate effectors, and expansion and expression of gene families associated with omnivory, insecticide resistance and reproductive characteristics, such as digestion, detoxification, chemosensory receptors and long-distance migration likely contribute to its strong environmental adaptability and ability to damage crops. Additionally, 19 highly credible effector candidates were identified and transiently overexpressed in Nicotiana benthamiana for functional assays and potential targeting for insect resistance genetic engineering. CONCLUSIONS: The high-quality genome of A. suturalis provides an important genomic landscape for further investigations into the mechanisms of omnivory, insecticide resistance and survival adaptation, and for the development of integrated management strategies.

Application of ultrasound combined with noninvasive prenatal testing in prenatal testing.

BACKGROUND: Both noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) and prenatal ultrasound are widely used in clinical settings due to their safety, noninvasiveness, and accuracy, showing high detection rates for fetal chromosomal aneuploidies and structural abnormalities. However, whether the combined application of these two techniques has higher clinical applicability remains to be demonstrated. METHODS: The clinical and laboratory data of 3,050 pregnant women who underwent NIPT were collected. The clinical feasibility and health economics of NIPT were investigated by analyzing the accuracy, postnatal follow-up results, and population applicability of NIPT. In addition, an analysis ultrasonography, NIPT, and karyotyping results were performed to evaluate the combined application of ultrasonography and NIPT in screening fetal chromosomal abnormalities. RESULTS: NIPT could accurately detect trisomies 21, 18, and 13, and was highly sensitive and specific in detecting other autosomal and sex chromosomal aneuploidies. The positive rates of chromosomal abnormalities in the presence of 1 or 2 or more ultrasound markers were 7.5% and 29.2%, respectively, indicating that ultrasonography combined with NIPT should be preferred for the detection of fetal chromosomal abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: Health economic analysis revealed NIPT to be superior to conventional serologic screening in terms of accuracy and socioeconomics. Ultrasound and NIPT are complementary to each other and the combined techniques can improve the screening ability of fetal chromosomal abnormalities and provide clinicians with more diagnostic information.

Molten Salt Shielded Synthesis of Monodisperse Layered CaZnOS-Based Semiconductors for Piezophotonic and X-Ray Detection Applications.

CaZnOS-based semiconductors are the only series of material system discovered that can simultaneously realize a large number of dopant elements to directly fulfill the highly efficient full-spectrum functionality from ultraviolet to near-infrared under the same force/pressure. Nevertheless, owing to the high agglomeration of the high temperature solid phase manufacturing process, which is unable to control the crystal morphology, the application progress is limited. Here, the authors report first that CaZnOS-based fine monodisperse semiconductor crystals with various doping ions are successfully synthesized by a molten salt shielded method in an air environment. This method does not require inert gas ventilation, and therefore can greatly reduce the synthesis cost and more importantly improve the fine control of the crystal morphology, along with the crystals' dispersibility and stability. These doped semiconductors can not only realize different colors of mechanical-to-optical energy conversion, but also can achieve multicolor luminescence under low-dose X-ray irradiation, moreover their intensities are comparable to the commercial NaI:Tl. They can pave the way to the new fields of advanced optoelectronic applications, such as piezophotonic systems, mechanical energy conversion and harvesting devices, intelligent sensors, and artificial skin as well as X-ray applications.