Association between RMTg Neuropeptide Genes and Negative Effect during Alcohol Withdrawal in Mice.

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) frequently co-occur with negative mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression, exacerbating relapse through dopaminergic dysfunction. Stress-related neuropeptides play a crucial role in AUD pathophysiology by modulating dopamine (DA) function. The rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg), which inhibits midbrain dopamine neurons and signals aversion, has been shown to increase ethanol consumption and negative emotional states during abstinence. Despite some stress-related neuropeptides acting through the RMTg to affect addiction behaviors, their specific roles in alcohol-induced contexts remain underexplored. This study utilized an intermittent voluntary drinking model in mice to induce negative effect behavior 24 h into ethanol (EtOH) abstinence (post-EtOH). It examined changes in pro-stress (Pnoc, Oxt, Npy) and anti-stress (Crf, Pomc, Avp, Orx, Pdyn) neuropeptide-coding genes and analyzed their correlations with aversive behaviors. We observed that adult male C57BL/6J mice displayed evident anxiety, anhedonia, and depression-like symptoms at 24 h post-EtOH. The laser-capture microdissection technique, coupled with or without retrograde tracing, was used to harvest total ventral tegmental area (VTA)-projecting neurons or the intact RMTg area. The findings revealed that post-EtOH consistently reduced Pnoc and Orx levels while elevating Crf levels in these neuronal populations. Notably, RMTg Pnoc and Npy levels counteracted ethanol consumption and depression severity, while Crf levels were indicative of the mice's anxiety levels. Together, these results underscore the potential role of stress-related neuropeptides in the RMTg in regulating the negative emotions related to AUDs, offering novel insights for future research.

Closing yield gaps in China by empowering smallholder farmers.

Sustainably feeding the world's growing population is a challenge, and closing yield gaps (that is, differences between farmers' yields and what are attainable for a given region) is a vital strategy to address this challenge. The magnitude of yield gaps is particularly large in developing countries where smallholder farming dominates the agricultural landscape. Many factors and constraints interact to limit yields, and progress in problem-solving to bring about changes at the ground level is rare. Here we present an innovative approach for enabling smallholders to achieve yield and economic gains sustainably via the Science and Technology Backyard (STB) platform. STB involves agricultural scientists living in villages among farmers, advancing participatory innovation and technology transfer, and garnering public and private support. We identified multifaceted yield-limiting factors involving agronomic, infrastructural, and socioeconomic conditions. When these limitations and farmers' concerns were addressed, the farmers adopted recommended management practices, thereby improving production outcomes. In one region in China, the five-year average yield increased from 67.9% of the attainable level to 97.0% among 71 leading farmers, and from 62.8% to 79.6% countywide (93,074 households); this was accompanied by resource and economic benefits.

Low-frequency multi-order acoustic absorber based on spiral metasurface.

In this work, we propose a spiral metasurface for multi-order sound absorption in the low-frequency range (<1000 Hz). By dividing the long channel of the spiral metasurface into a series of tunable sub-cavities and employing recessed necks, the metasurface can quasi-perfectly (>0.95 in experiments) absorb airborne sound at multiple low-frequency orders without being limited by the number of equivalent cavities. Owing to the superior impedance manipulation provided by the spiral metasurface, each absorption order can be tuned flexibly with a constant external shape. By suitably modulating the sub-cavities and the recessed necks, we obtained multi-order high-absorption metasurfaces with dual-chamber, tri-chamber, and four-chamber designs. The ratio of the lowest resonant wavelength to the thickness is as high as 78. The samples, which are fabricated by three-dimensional printing technology, were measured to verify the theoretical results. We also investigate the relationship between the geometric parameters of the recessed necks and the sound absorption performance, which facilitates the more feasibly designed multi-order metasurfaces. The concept can be further applied to broadband absorption with ultra-thin thickness and has potential applications for noise reduction.

Transport behavior of pressure-driven electrolyte solution through a surface-charged nanochannel.

The transport behavior of a pressure-driven electrolyte solution through a surface-charged nanochannel is investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Similar to pure water, the relationship between the applied pressure (P) and the average transport velocity ([Formula: see text]) of the electrolyte solution is roughly linear, which matches with the theoretical solution very well. The friction coefficient λ is used to describe the transport behavior (a higher λ leads to a lower [Formula: see text]), which scales with the slope of the P- [Formula: see text] relationship and increases with the increases of both the charge density of the channel wall σ and the electrolyte concentration n. The physical mechanism is found as follows: the solid-liquid interaction energy between the channel wall and the liquid inside the channel decreases with both σ and n (being more negative), which makes it more difficult for the liquid boundary layer to slide against the channel wall, leading to a higher λ. In addition, the increase of σ also causes a significant decrease of the liquid-liquid interaction energy but the opposite effect is found with the increase of n. However, λ increases with the increase of both σ and n, suggesting that the relationship between λ and the liquid-liquid interaction energy is more complicated for an electrolyte solution, different from the corresponding result of pure water.

Bending response of single layer MoS2.

Using molecular mechanics (or dynamics) simulations, three different approaches, including the targeted molecular mechanics, four-point bending and nanotube methods, are employed to investigate the bending response of single layer MoS2 (SLMoS2), among which four-point bending is the most accurate approach to determine the bending stiffness according to the continuum theory. It is found that when the bending curvature radius is large enough (e.g. >4 nm), three approaches will give the same bending stiffness of SLMoS2 and the bending behavior is isotropic for SLMoS2, whereas the nanotube method with small tubes (e.g. <4 nm) cannot give the correct bending stiffness. Compared with the reported result from the MoS2 nanotube calculated by density functional theory, the revised Stillinger-Weber (SW) and reactive empirical bond-order (REBO) potentials can give the reasonable bending stiffness of SLMoS2 (8.7-13.4 eV) as well as the effective deformed conformation. In addition, since the Mo-S bond deformation of SLMoS2 under bending is similar to that under in-plane tension/compression, the continuum bending theory can quite accurately predict the bending stiffness of SLMoS2 if a reasonable thickness of SLMoS2 is given. For SLMoS2, the reasonable thickness should be larger than the distance between its two S atomic planes and lower than the distance between two Mo atomic planes of bulk MoS2 crystal, e.g. 0.375-0.445 nm.

Nonlinear anisotropic deformation behavior of a graphene monolayer under uniaxial tension.

Based on first principle calculations, a graphene monolayer shows a complicated deformation behavior under uniaxial tension. The maximum stress of graphene is reached when the bond stretching ratio is far less than its breaking value, which means that graphene shows the typical "ductile-like" behavior but not the conventionally considered "brittle-like" behavior. Although the graphene monolayer shows isotropic behavior in strength, it is strongly anisotropic in deformation (i.e., the ultimate strain is highly different along the different directions). Under uniaxial tension along the zigzag/armchair direction, the overall deformation is only supported by the C-C bonds in one orientation, whereas the C-C bonds in the other orientation and the C-C-C bond angle have almost no contribution, which cannot be correctly predicted by the empirical potential simulations. The complicated bond deformation means that the conventional constitutive model (σ = Eε + Dε(2)) cannot accurately describe the tensile behavior of the graphene monolayer. According to the bond deformation under uniaxial tension, graphene can be simplified as a spring-network including both nonlinear springs (resisting both the tensile and compressive load) and a very strong compressive angle-spring (resisting the decrease of the C-C-C bond angle).

Molecular dynamics simulations of mechanical properties of monolayer MoS2.

Based on the benchmark created by the first principle calculations, the effectiveness of different empirical potential functions, including CVFF1, CVFF2, SW and REBO potentials, on describing the mechanical behavior of single layer MoS2 (SLMoS2) are evaluated. The mechanical properties including the elastic modulus E, Poisson's ratio ν, nonlinear elastic modulus D, failure stress and ultimate strain are considered. It is found that under a small deformation, the REBO and CVFF2 potentials can provide an effective description of the elastic behavior of SLMoS2; whereas under a large deformation, the SW potential gives a more accurate stress value and the CVFF2 potential can only predict the right value under biaxial tension. After modifying the cut-off distances in the REBO potential, the failure strain can be reasonably predicted by the REBO potential; whereas the failure stress will be overestimated by about 20-40% for biaxial and uniaxial tension. The present study can provide help on accurately understanding the mechanical behavior of SLMoS2.

An inverse analysis procedure for characterizing the homogeneous skull model used for predicting blast-induced brain response.

Based upon the homogeneous skull model, the skull/brain assembly can be simplified as a homogeneous-shell (HMS)/core structure, in which the exterior shell and interior core represent the skull and brain, respectively. From the blast responses of the spherical shell/core structures calculated via finite element modeling, it is found that the existing homogeneous skull model developed by the well-accepted approach based upon three-point bending tests cannot properly describe the blast response of the skull, modeled as a three-layered sandwich (TLS) shell in the present work, e.g. the average error in the calculated core (brain) pressure is up to ∼30%. Moreover, an innovative approach based upon inverse analysis procedure is then proposed to develop a modified homogeneous skull model, which can give a proper description of the blast response of the skull (a TLS shell), e.g. the average error in the calculated core (brain) pressure is reduced to ∼7%. It is concluded that the well-accepted three-point bending approach cannot develop an effective HMS skull model for studying the blast response of the skull/brain assembly, upon which the model parameter will be overestimated by ∼60%; instead, the innovative approach based upon inverse analysis procedure should be adopted.

A high resolution dilatometer using optical fiber interferometer.

We introduce a high-performance differential dilatometer based on an all-fiber Michelson interferometer at cryogenic temperature with 10-10 resolution in δL/L. It resolves the linear thermal expansion coefficient by measuring the oscillating changes of sample thickness and sample temperature with the interferometer and in situ thermometer, respectively. By measuring the linear thermal expansion coefficient α near the antiferromagnetic transition region of BaFe2As2 as a demonstration, we show that our dilatometer is able to measure thin samples with sub-pm-level length change resolution and mK-level temperature resolution. Despite the residual background thermal expansion of a few nm/K in the measurement results, our new dilatometer is still a powerful tool for the study of phase transition in condensed matter physics, especially has significant advantages in fragile materials with sub-100 µm thickness and being integrated with multiple synchronous measurements and tuning thanks to its extremely high resolution and contactless nature. The prototype design of this setup can be further improved in many aspects for specific applications.

Effects of impact velocity on pressure-driven nanofluid.

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the pressure-driven water infiltration behavior of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), in which water molecules can infiltrate into CNTs from outside upon an external impact load. According to the direction of impact mechanical wave, the infiltration procedure can be divided into the forward stage (stage I) and the reflected stage (stage II). At the forward stage of mechanical wave, the flow behavior strongly depends on the impact velocity but it is essentially not very sensitive to the tube radius. With a higher impact velocity, the water flow has a higher transport velocity, a lower density, a weaker CNT-water interaction, a higher potential energy, and a more disordered structure shown by a wider distribution of water dipole and OH bonds orientations. At the reflected stage, due to the impact pressure effect, the water structure is significantly changed, and the flow behavior is less sensitive to the impact velocity but more sensitive to the tube radius. After the reflected wave passed the water molecules inside CNTs, the water density and potential are significantly increased, which initiates a significant change for the water structure inside CNTs, especially for small size tubes. In a small tube like (10,10), a new water conformation is created in the reflected procedure, while there is no such new structure created in a larger tube like (20,20). Due to the different structures, the behavior of the pressure-driven water flow inside CNTs is significantly different than the steady flow.

Effectiveness of the Young-Laplace equation at nanoscale.

Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, a new approach based on the behavior of pressurized water out of a nanopore (1.3-2.7 nm) in a flat plate is developed to calculate the relationship between the water surface curvature and the pressure difference across water surface. It is found that the water surface curvature is inversely proportional to the pressure difference across surface at nanoscale, and this relationship will be effective for different pore size, temperature, and even for electrolyte solutions. Based on the present results, we cannot only effectively determine the surface tension of water and the effects of temperature or electrolyte ions on the surface tension, but also show that the Young-Laplace (Y-L) equation is valid at nanoscale. In addition, the contact angle of water with the hydrophilic material can be further calculated by the relationship between the critical instable pressure of water surface (burst pressure) and nanopore size. Combining with the infiltration behavior of water into hydrophobic microchannels, the contact angle of water at nanoscale can be more accurately determined by measuring the critical pressure causing the instability of water surface, based on which the uncertainty of measuring the contact angle of water at nanoscale is highly reduced.

Elastic properties of monolayer graphene with different chiralities.

Using molecular mechanics simulations we investigate the in-plane elastic properties of monolayer graphene with different chirality angles under both uniaxial stretching and free-standing indentation. The effect of the loading range is also considered: the tensile strain ranges of 2% and 5% are selected. Under uniaxial stretching, all of the elastic properties including the second-order elastic stiffness (E), the Poisson's ratio (ν) and the third-order elastic constant (c(m)) are essentially not sensitive to the graphene chirality angle. The values of E are essentially not sensitive to the tensile strain range (ε), while the values of c(m) slightly increase (numerically) with the decrease of ε. Under free-standing indentation, the values of E and c(m) determined are higher than those obtained from uniaxial stretching, and this difference significantly increases with the decrease of the tensile strain, especially for c(m). The difference between the in-plane stretching results and the indentation results arises mainly from the van der Waals (VDW) interaction between the indenter tip and the graphene, and the effect of the VDW interaction rapidly decreases with the tensile strain. The VDW effect is also not sensitive to the chirality angle. Therefore, a relatively large tensile strain is required (e.g. 5%) in order to obtain more accurate results from free-standing indentation.

Evaluating the nucleus effect on the dynamic indentation behavior of cells.

The effect of the nucleus on the cell mechanical behavior was investigated based on the dynamic indentation response of cells under a spherical tip. A "two-component" cell model (including cytoplasm and nucleus) is used, and the dynamic indentation behavior is studied by a semiempirical method, which is established based on fitting the numerical simulation results of the quasi-static indentation response of cells. We found that the "routine analysis" (based on the Hertz's contact solution of homogeneous model) significantly overestimated the nucleus effect on the overall cell indentation response due to the effects of the Hertz contact radius and the substrate stiffening. These effects are significantly stronger in the "two-component" cell model than in the homogeneous model. The inaccuracy created by the "routine analysis" slightly increases with the modulus ratio of nucleus to cytoplasm and the volume fraction of nucleus. Finally, the error sensitivity to the geometrical parameters used in the model is discussed, which shows the indentation analysis is not very sensitive to these parameters, and the reasonable assumptions for these parameters are effective. This systematic analysis can provide a useful guideline to understanding the mechanical behavior of cells and nuclei.

Estimating the elastic properties of few-layer graphene from the free-standing indentation response.

Using molecular mechanics simulations, the elastic properties of multi-layer graphene (MLG) are investigated; this includes both the linear analysis based on the indentation load-displacement relationship and the nonlinear analysis based on the strain energy. The elastic properties of graphene layers in MLG are similar to each other and also quite close to those of monolayer graphene. The van der Waals (VDW) interaction between graphene layers (interlayer interaction) will create a difference between the indenter tip displacement and the deviation of MLG in indentation, which will cause an overestimation of the elastic modulus of MLG based on classic indentation analysis. This overestimation can be as high as 20%. In addition, the interlayer interaction will significantly affect the nonlinear elastic behavior of MLG in free-standing indentation. With an increase in the number of layers of MLG, the second-order elastic stiffness of MLG is very sensitive to the indentation loading range, and the third-order nonlinear elastic constant is significantly increased.

Boundary condition and pre-strain effects on the free standing indentation response of graphene monolayer.

Using molecular mechanics simulations, we investigated the true pre-stress/pre-strain state of graphene in free standing indentation and the effect of the pre-strain (ε0) on the free standing indentation response of graphene is also considered. We found that there is essentially no effective pre-tension in graphene during free standing indentation and the reported pre-tensile stress determined from the indentation tests does not show the true pre-stress state of graphene, which is a 'fake stress' caused by the assumption (the indenter tip displacement is equal to the displacement of graphene) typically used in the classic indentation analysis. A negative ε0 will increase the van der Waals (VDW) interaction between the indenter tip and graphene to cause a larger overestimation of both values of the elastic modulus (E) and the nonlinear elastic constant (c) of graphene from the classic indentation analysis. However, applying a positive ε0 in graphene, the VDW effect will be significantly decreased, and a more accurate value of E can be obtained, but the value of c will decrease to zero, which may become an effective way to more accurately obtain the elastic stiffness of graphene from indentation tests.

Functional biomaterials for cartilage regeneration.

The injury and degeneration of articular cartilage and associated arthritis are leading causes of disability worldwide. Cartilage tissue engineering as a treatment modality for cartilage defects has been investigated for over 20 years. Various scaffold materials have been developed for this purpose, but has yet to achieve feasibility and effectiveness for widespread clinical use. Currently, the regeneration of articular cartilage remains a formidable challenge, due to the complex physiology of cartilage tissue and its poor healing capacity. Although intensive research has been focused on the developmental biology and regeneration of cartilage tissue and a diverse plethora of biomaterials have been developed for this purpose, cartilage regeneration is still suboptimal, such as lacking a layered structure, mechanical mismatch with native cartilage and inadequate integration between native tissue and implanted scaffold. The ideal scaffold material should have versatile properties that actively contribute to cartilage regeneration. Functional scaffold materials may overcome the various challenges faced in cartilage tissue engineering by providing essential biological, mechanical, and physical/chemical signaling cues through innovative design. This review thus focuses on the complex structure of native articular cartilage, the critical properties of scaffolds required for cartilage regeneration, present strategies for scaffold design, and future directions for cartilage regeneration with functional scaffold materials.

Evaluation of biological cell properties using dynamic indentation measurement.

Viscoelastic mechanical properties of biological cells are commonly measured using atomic force microscope (AFM) dynamic indentation with spherical tips. A semiempirical analysis based on numerical simulation is built to determine the cell mechanical properties. It is shown that the existing analysis cannot reflect the accurate values of cell elastic/dynamic modulus due to the effects of substrate, indenter tip size, and cell size. Among these factors, substrate not only increases the true contact radius but also interferes the indentation stress field, which can cause the overestimation of cell moduli. Typically, the substrate effect is much stronger than the other two influences in cell indentation; and, thus, the cell modulii are usually overestimated. It is estimated that the moduli can be overestimated by as high as over 200% using the existing analysis. In order to obtain the accurate properties of cells, correction factors that account for these effects are required in the existing analysis.

Self-assembled triangular and labyrinth buckling patterns of thin films on spherical substrates.

We investigated the possibility of controlling thin film buckling patterns by varying the substrate curvature and the stress induced therein upon cooling. The numerical and experimental studies are based on a spherical Ag core/SiO(2) shell system. For Ag substrates with a relatively larger curvature, the dentlike triangular buckling pattern comes out when the film nominal stress exceeds a critical value. With increasing film stress and/or substrate radius, the labyrinthlike buckling pattern takes over. Both the buckling wavelength and the critical stress increase with the substrate radius.

Nanoscale fluid transport: size and rate effects.

The transport behavior of water molecules inside a model carbon nanotube is investigated by using nonequilibrium molecular dynamcis (NMED) simulations. The shearing stress between the nanotube wall and the water molecules is identified as a key factor in determining the nanofluidic properties. Due to the effect of nanoscale confinement, the effective shearing stress is not only size sensitive but also strongly dependent on the fluid flow rate. Consequently, the nominal viscosity of the confined water decreases rapidly as the tube radius is reduced or when a faster flow rate is maintained. An infiltration experiment on a nanoporous carbon is performed to qualitatively validate these findings.

Effects of gas molecules on nanofluidic behaviors.

Most previous studies on nanofluidic motions were focused on liquid-solid interactions, with the important role of gas phase being ignored. Through a molecular dynamics simulation, we show that the gas-liquid interaction can be an indispensable factor in nanoenvironments. Gas molecules in relatively large nanochannels can be dissolved in the liquid during pressure-induced infiltration, leading to the phenomenon of "nonoutflow". By contrast, gas molecules tend to form clusters in relatively small nanochannels, which triggers liquid defiltration at a reduced pressure. The results qualitatively fit with the observations in a high-pressure-resting experiment on nanoporous silica gels.