Measurement of 19F(p, γ)20Ne reaction suggests CNO breakout in first stars.

Proposed mechanisms for the production of calcium in the first stars (population III stars)-primordial stars that formed out of the matter of the Big Bang-are at odds with observations1. Advanced nuclear burning and supernovae were thought to be the dominant source of the calcium production seen in all stars2. Here we suggest a qualitatively different path to calcium production through breakout from the 'warm' carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle through a direct experimental measurement of the 19F(p, γ)20Ne breakout reaction down to a very low energy point of 186 kiloelectronvolts, reporting a key resonance at 225 kiloelectronvolts. In the domain of astrophysical interest2, at around 0.1 gigakelvin, this thermonuclear 19F(p, γ)20Ne rate is up to a factor of 7.4 larger than the previous recommended rate3. Our stellar models show a stronger breakout during stellar hydrogen burning than previously thought1,4,5, and may reveal the nature of calcium production in population III stars imprinted on the oldest known ultra-iron-poor star, SMSS0313-67086. Our experimental result was obtained in the China JinPing Underground Laboratory7, which offers an environment with an extremely low cosmic-ray-induced background8. Our rate showcases the effect that faint population III star supernovae can have on the nucleosynthesis observed in the oldest known stars and first galaxies, which are key mission targets of the James Webb Space Telescope9.

Modulating the d-Band Center of RuO2 via Ni Incorporation for Efficient and Durable Li-O2 batteries.

Rechargeable Li-O2 batteries (LOBs) are considered as one of the most promising candidates for new-generation energy storage devices. One of major impediments is the poor cycle stability derived from the sluggish reaction kinetics of unreliable cathode catalysts, hindering the commercial application of LOBs. Therefore, the rational design of efficient and durable catalysts is critical for LOBs. Optimizing surface electron structure via the negative shift of the d-band center offers a reasonable descriptor for enhancing the electrocatalytic activity. In this study, the construction of Ni-incorporating RuO2 porous nanospheres is proposed as the cathode catalyst to demonstrate the hypothesis. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the introduction of Ni atoms can effectively modulate the surface electron structure of RuO2 and the adsorption capacities of oxygen-containing intermediates, accelerating charge transfer between them and optimizing the growth pathway of discharge products. Resultantly, the LOBs exhibit a large discharge specific capacity of 19658 mA h g-1 at 200 mA g-1 and extraordinary cycle life of 791 cycles. This study confers the concept of d-band center modulation for efficient and durable cathode catalysts of LOBs.

7.56-W continuous-wave Pr3+-based green laser via managing thermally induced effects.

Blue-laser-diode-pumped Pr3+-based continuous-wave (CW) green lasers have aroused growing research interest in developing optoelectronic applications and deep ultraviolet laser sources due to their simple and compact structural design. However, the obstacle of thermally induced effects limits the available output power of Pr3+-based green lasers. Herein, combined with the theoretical analysis and experimental feedback, we effectively adjust the heat distribution inside the Pr3+:LiYF4 gain crystal by optimizing the crystal dimension and doping concentration. The excellent mode matching between the pump and green lasers is achieved under the consideration of thermally induced effects, yielding a maximum CW output power of 7.56 W. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest output power of Pr3+-based CW green lasers so far. Moreover, the obtained green laser demonstrates excellent output stability (RMS = 1.27%) and beam quality (M2 = 1.30 × 1.12) under the lasing operation state with the maximum output power. We hope that this study can provide a feasible paradigm for developing blue-laser-diode-pumped visible lasers, especially for high-power lasers.

NCMCMDA: miRNA-disease association prediction through neighborhood constraint matrix completion.

Emerging evidence shows that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in diverse fundamental and important biological processes associated with human diseases. Inferring potential disease related miRNAs and employing them as the biomarkers or drug targets could contribute to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of complex human diseases. In view of that traditional biological experiments cost much time and resources, computational models would serve as complementary means to uncover potential miRNA-disease associations. In this study, we proposed a new computational model named Neighborhood Constraint Matrix Completion for MiRNA-Disease Association prediction (NCMCMDA) to predict potential miRNA-disease associations. The main task of NCMCMDA was to recover the missing miRNA-disease associations based on the known miRNA-disease associations and integrated disease (miRNA) similarity. In this model, we innovatively integrated neighborhood constraint with matrix completion, which provided a novel idea of utilizing similarity information to assist the prediction. After the recovery task was transformed into an optimization problem, we solved it with a fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm. As a result, the AUCs of NCMCMDA in global and local leave-one-out cross validation were 0.9086 and 0.8453, respectively. In 5-fold cross validation, NCMCMDA achieved an average AUC of 0.8942 and standard deviation of 0.0015, which demonstrated NCMCMDA's superior performance than many previous computational methods. Furthermore, NCMCMDA was applied to three different types of case studies to further evaluate its prediction reliability and accuracy. As a result, 84% (colon neoplasms), 98% (esophageal neoplasms) and 98% (breast neoplasms) of the top 50 predicted miRNAs were verified by recent literature.

Extreme enhancement of optical force via the acoustic graphene plasmon mode.

We have investigated the effect of enhanced optical force via the acoustic graphene plasmon (AGP) cavities with the ultra-small mode volumes. The AGP mode can generate stronger field confinement and higher momentum, which could provide giant optical force, and has no polarization preference for the optical source. We have demonstrated that the trapping potential and force applied on polystyrene nanoparticle in the AGP cavities are as high as -13.6 × 102 kBT/mW and 2.5 nN/mW, respectively. The effect of radius of rounded corners and gap distance of AGP cavities on the optical force has been studied. Compared with an ideal nanocube, nanocube with rounded corners is more in line with the actual situation of the device. These results show that the larger radius of nanocube rounded corners, the smaller trapping potential and force provided by AGP cavities. Our results pave a new idea for the investigation of optical field and optical force via acoustic plasmon mode.

High-Performance and Self-Powered X-Ray Detectors Made of Smooth Perovskite Microcrystalline Films with 100†µm Grains.

Perovskite single crystals and polycrystalline films have complementary merits and deficiencies in X-ray detection and imaging. Herein, we report preparation of dense and smooth perovskite microcrystalline films with both merits of single crystals and polycrystalline films through polycrystal-induced growth and hot-pressing treatment (HPT). Utilizing polycrystalline films as seeds, multi-inch-sized microcrystalline films can be in situ grown on diverse substrates with maximum grain size reaching 100 µm, which endows the microcrystalline films with comparable carrier mobility-lifetime (µτ) product as single crystals. As a result, self-powered X-ray detectors with impressive sensitivity of 6.1×104  µC Gyair -1 cm-2 and low detection limit of 1.5 nGyair s-1 are achieved, leading to high-contrast X-ray imaging at an ultra-low dose rate of 67 nGyair s-1 . Combining with the fast response speed (186 µs), this work may contribute to the development of perovskite-based low-dose X-ray imaging.

LncRNA RMRP knockdown promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in osteoarthritis chondrocytes by miR-206/CDK9 axis.

The etiology of osteoarthritis (OA) has been discussed widely, but the molecular mechanisms beneath OA aggravation have not yet been investigated in detail. This study focused on the role of lncRNA RMRP (RMRP) on OA progression. We found that the expression of RMRP was significantly increased in cartilage tissues of patients with OA. CCK-8 and colony formation assays showed that RMRP knockdown promoted proliferation of chondrocytes treated with IL-1ß. Flow cytometry and caspase-3 activity analysis indicated that RMRP silence inhibited apoptosis of chondrocytes treated with IL-1ß. Moreover, luciferase reporter, RNA pull-down and RIP assays showed that RMRP competing with miR-206. Additionally, CDK9 acted as a direct target of miR-206. Moreover, rescue assays indicated that miR-206 inhibitor or pcDNA-CDK9 reversed the effects of RMRP suppression on the proliferation and apoptosis of chondrocytes. Taken together, our results indicated that RMRP knockdown could promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis in OA chondrocytes via the miR-206/CDK9 axis.

High-Quality CH3NH3PbI3 Films Obtained via a Pressure-Assisted Space-Confined Solvent-Engineering Strategy for Ultrasensitive Photodetectors.

High-quality organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite films are crucial for excellent performance of photoelectric devices. Herein, we demonstrate a pressure-assisted space-confined solvent-engineering strategy to grow highly oriented, pinhole-free thin films of CH3NH3PbI3 with large-scale crystalline grains, high smoothness, and crystalline fusion on grain boundaries. These single-crystalline grains vertically span the entire film thickness. Such a film feature dramatically reduces recombination loss and then improves the transport property of charge carriers in the films. Consequently, the photodetector devices, based on the high-quality CH3NH3PbI3 films, exhibit high photocurrent (105 µA under 671 nm laser with a power density of 20.6 mW/cm2 at 10 V), good stability, and, especially, an ultrahigh on/off ratio (Ilight/Idark > 2.2 × 104 under an incident light of 20.6 mW/cm2). These excellent performances indicate that the high-quality films will be potential candidates in other CH3NH3PbI3-based photoelectric devices.

Observation and comparison of tower vibration and underwater noise from offshore operational wind turbines in the East China Sea Bridge of Shanghai.

Underwater operational turbine noise emitted by China's first offshore wind farm in the East China Sea Bridge of Shanghai was measured and analyzed in this study. Two sensors were used in the measurement: a hydrophone recording the underwater sound and an accelerometer placed in the turbine tower detecting the tower vibrations. Measurements were performed at two different types of wind turbines: a Sinovel 3 MW SL3000 turbine and a Shanghai Electric 3.6 MW W3600 turbine. The two turbines show similar tower vibration characteristics, characterized by a number of tonal components, mainly in the low-frequency domain (30-500 Hz). The peak vibration frequencies changed with the wind speed until the turbine approached its nominal power rating. Spectral analysis of the underwater acoustic data showed that the amplitude spectra had a strong correlation with the spectra of the turbine vibration intensity level, indicating that the measured underwater noise was generated by the tower mechanical vibration.

Ultrafast Molecular Stitching of Graphene Films at the Ethanol/Water Interface for High Volumetric Capacitance.

Compact graphene film electrodes with a high ion-accessible surface area have the promising potential to realize high-density electrochemical energy storage (or high volumetric capacitance), which is vital for the development of flexible, portable, and wearable energy storage devices. Here, a novel, ultrafast strategy for stitching graphene sheets into films, in which p-phenylenediamine (PPD) molecules are uniformly intercalated between the graphene sheets, is simply constructed at the ethanol/water interface. Due to uniformly interlayer spacing (∼1.1 nm), good wettability, and an interconnected ion transport channel, the binder-free PPD-graphene film with a high packing density (1.55 g cm-3) delivers an ultrahigh volumetric capacitance (711 F cm-3 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1), high rate performance, high power and energy densities, and excellent cycling stability in aqueous electrolytes. This interfacial stitching strategy holds new promise for the future design of enhanced electrochemical energy-storage devices.

Cryptoporic acid S, a new drimane-type sesquiterpene ether of isocitric acid from the fruiting bodies of Cryptoporus volvatus.

A new drimane-type sesquiterpene with an isocitric acid moiety, cryptoporic acid S (1), together with six known compounds, cryptoporic acid D (2), ß-sitosterol (3), ß-daucosterol (4), stigmast-4-en-3-one (5), ergosterol (6), and (22E,24R)-ergosta-7,22-diene-3ß,5α,6ß-triol (7), was isolated from the fruiting bodies of Cryptoporus volvatus. The structures of these compounds were established on the basis of UV, IR, MS, 1D and 2D NMR analysis. In the meanwhile, compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for antioxidant activity using the methods of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity (DPPH-RSA) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, and they exhibited moderate antioxidant activities.

Coastal sound-field change due to typhoon-induced sediment warming.

Typhoon induced sediment warming has been proven important to coastal sound-field change in this study. It was observed that the temperature of the bottom waters off the coast of Qingdao increased by 5 °C after the passage of typhoon Damrey in 2012. Sediment warming due to bottom-water temperature increase was calculated and the change in sediment sound speed was estimated. Transmission loss (TL) was simulated both with and without consideration of the change in sediment sound speed induced by temperature variation and results showed TL change could be >10 dB within a distance of 16 km.

Large-Scale Synthesis of Few-Layer F-BN Nanocages with Zigzag-Edge Triangular Antidot Defects and Investigation of the Advanced Ferromagnetism.

Investigation of light-element magnetism system is essential in fundamental and practical fields. Here, few-layer (∼3 nm) fluorinated hexagonal boron nitride (F-BN) nanocages with zigzag-edge triangular antidot defects were synthesized via a facile one-step solid-state reaction. They are free of metallic impurities confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. Ferromagnetism is obviously observed in the BN nanocages. Saturation magnetization values of them differed by less than 7% between 5 and 300 K, indicating that the Curie temperature (Tc) was much higher than 300 K. By adjusting the concentration of triangular antidot defects and fluorine dopants, the ferromagnetic performance of BN nanocages could be effectively varied, indicating that the observed magnetism originates from triangular antidot defects and fluorination. The corresponding theoretical calculation shows that antidot defects and fluorine doping in BN lattice both favor spontaneous spin polarization and the formation of local magnetic moment, which should be responsible for long-range magnetic ordering in the sp material.

Mechanisms of the InCl3-catalyzed type-I, II, and III cycloisomerizations of 1,6-enynes.

InCl3-catalyzed cycloisomerizations of 1,6-enynes can give either type-I dienes and cyclohexenes (type-III dienes), or type-II dienes, depending on the substitutions in the substrates. Previously, we studied how the type-II diene products were generated and found that the real catalytic species for the cycloisomerizations is InCl2(+) (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 8527-8540). In the present paper, we used density functional theory (DFT) calculations to reveal how the type-I and type-III dienes were generated. A unified model to explain how substituents affect the regiochemistry of type-I, II, and III cycloisomerizations has been provided. Experimental and computational investigation of the InCl3-catalyzed cycloisomerization of 1,6-enynes with both substituents at the alkyne and alkene parts has also been reported in the present study.

Comparative proteomics in gastric cancer cell line BGC823 after ZNF139 gene inhibited with RNA interference.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Zinc finger protein 139 (ZNF139) gene is proved play an important role in gastric cancer. Aim of this study is to identify changes of proteins after ZNF139 gene was inhibited in gastric cancer cell line BGC823. METHODS: siRNA-specific ZNF139 was synthesized and transfected into BGC823; 2-D fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) were applied to screen, identify differentially expressed proteins, and function of these proteins was analyzed; Western blot method was applied to verify the identified proteins. RESULTS: ZNF139 expression in siRNA transfected cancer cell BGC823 decreased significantly. Results of 2-D DIGE showed eight differential protein spots, of which seven were identified with LC-MS, including switches associated protein 70, far upstream element binding protein 1, heat shock protein 60, annexin A7, small ubiquitin-like modifier 1 activating enzyme, chaperonin-containing tail-less complex protein 1 and annexin A2. These proteins were found to be associated with proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, metastasis, adhesion of gastric cancer cells with bioinformatic analysis. Western blot analysis confirmed that expressions of these proteins in BGC823 were consistent with the proteomic results. CONCLUSIONS: ZNF139 gene may influence the biological behavior of gastric cancer cells in many ways by regulating multiple proteins.

Mild-condition synthesis of allenes from alkynes and aldehydes mediated by tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ).

A practical 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ)-mediated synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted allenes from terminal alkynes and aldehydes under mild conditions in the presence of CuBr first and then ZnI2 was reported. This telescoped allene synthesis reaction includes three consecutive steps and two reactions: first, a room-temperature CuBr-catalyzed synthesis of propargylamines, exo-yne-THIQs, from terminal alkynes, aldehydes, and THIQ, then filtration of the CuBr catalyst, and finally the ZnI2-mediated allene synthesis from the generated exo-yne-THIQs under mild conditions (either at room temperature or heating at 50 or 75 °C). A wide range of aliphatic or aromatic aldehydes and terminal alkynes are tolerated, affording the allene products in up to 92% yield. Especially, temperature-sensitive aldehydes can be used in the reaction system. Preliminary exploration of the asymmetric allene synthesis has also been conducted, and a moderate enantioselectivity has been achieved. Finally, the relative reactivities of several secondary amines were compared with THIQ, showing that THIQ is the best of these amines in the synthesis of allenes under mild reaction conditions.

[Study on tolerability for safflower peony ointment in clinical trial phase I].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the tolerability for safflower peony ointment and determine its safe dosage, by selecting health volunteers and testing from the initial safety dosage, in order to provide basis for formulating administration scheme of the drug in clinical trial phase II. METHOD: Forty-six healthy volunteers were included in the open, random, dose escalation, self control clinical trial on tolerability for single dosage scheme or multi-dosage. In the single dosage scheme, dosages of test drugs were 2.16 g (four people), 4.32 g (6 people), 6.48 g (6 people), 8.62 g (6 people), 11.46 g (6 people), 15.24 g (including crude drug) for 24 hours, once everyday. In the multi-dosage scheme, dosages of test drugs were 8.62 g (6 people), 11.46 g (including crude drug) once everyday for 7 days. RESULT: The maximum safe dosage of single administration was 15.24 g (including crude drug) , while that of multiple administration 8.62 g (including crude drug). The occurrence rate of side effect was as low as 2.17%, which was recovered by medicines, without severe adverse event. CONCLUSION: The study proves the safe application of single administration and multiple administration of safflower peony ointment in human bodies, which lays a foundation for the application in the clinical trial phase II.

Monitoring and spatial traceability of river water quality using Sentinel-2 satellite images.

Due to limited monitoring stations along rivers, it is difficult to trace the specific locations of high pollution areas along the whole river by traditionally in situ measurement. High-spatiotemporal-resolution Sentinel-2 satellite images make it possible to routinely monitor and trace the spatial distributions of river water quality if reliable retrieval algorithms are available. This study took seven major rivers (Qiantang River (QTR), Cao'e River (CEJ), Yongjiang River (YJ), Jiaojiang River (JJ), Oujiang River (OJ), Feiyun River (FYR), and Aojiang River (AJ)) in Zhejiang Province, China, as examples to illustrate the spatial traceability of river water quality parameters (permanganate index (CODMn), total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN)) from Sentinel-2 satellite images. The regional retrieval models established for these parameters (CODMn, TP and TN) provided correlation coefficients (R) of 0.68, 0.82, and 0.7, respectively. Based on these models, time-series CODMn, TP, and TN products were obtained for the seven rivers from 2016 to 2021 from Sentinel-2 satellite images, and the results show that the CODMn, TP and TN were high downstream and low upstream; exceptions the CEJ, which was slightly higher in the middle reach than other reaches, and the TN in YJ, which was higher upstream than downstream. The downstream reaches were the main areas suffering from relatively high values in most seasons. Except for the springtime TN level in CEJ, the high value areas were located along the middle reaches. In summer and autumn, the high TN areas in JJ, OJ, and AJ were located along the middle and lower reaches, and the TN in YJ was highest in the upstream. More importantly, this study revealed that the specific locations of high pollution areas along rivers can be effectively traced using Sentinel-2 satellite images, which would be helpful for precise water quality control of rivers.

A General Strategy for Ordered Carrier Transport of Quasi-2D and 3D Perovskite Films for Giant Self-Powered Photoresponse and Ultrahigh Stability.

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials have been focusing more attention in the field of self-powered photodetectors due to their superb photoelectric properties. However, a universal growth approach is required and challenging to realize vertically oriented growth and grain boundary fusion of 2D and 3D perovskite grains to promote ordered carrier transport, which determines superior photoresponse and high stability. Herein, a general thermal-pressed (TP) strategy is designed to solve the above issues, achieving uniaxial orientation and single-grain penetration along the film thickness direction. It constructs the efficient channel for ordered carrier transport between two electrodes. Combining of the improved crystal quality and lower trap-state density, the quasi-2D and 3D perovskite-based self-powered photodetector devices (with/without hole transport layer) all exhibit giant and stable photoresponse in a wide spectrum range and specific wavelength laser. For the MAPbI3-based self-powered photodetectors, the largest Rλ value is as high as 0.57 A W-1 at 760 nm, which is larger than most reported results. Meanwhile, under laser illumination (532 nm), the FPEA2MA4Pb5I16-based device exhibits a high responsivity (0.4 A W-1) value, which is one of the best results in 2DRP self-powered photodetectors. In addition, fast response, ultralow detection limit, and markedly improved humidity, optical and heat stabilities are clearly demonstrated for these TP-based devices.

Factors impacting the behavior of phytoremediation in pesticide-contaminated environment: A meta-analysis.

Phytoremediation provides substantial advantages, including eco-friendliness, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and visual appeal. However, the current knowledge of the factors influencing phytoremediation in pesticide-contaminated environments remains limited. It is critical to understand phytoremediation and the factors affecting the variation in removal efficiency. In this study, we compiled 72 previous research articles to quantify plant-induced improvements in removal efficiency and identify factors that influence variations in phytoremediation behavior through meta-analysis. We observed a significant increase in the removal efficiency of phytoremediation compared to the control group which did not involve phytoremediation. Pesticides significantly affect removal efficiency in terms of their modes of action, substance group, and properties. Plants demonstrated higher efficiency in remediating environments contaminated with pesticides possessing lower molecular masses and log Kow values. Plant species emerged as a crucial determinant of variations in removal efficiency. Annual plants exhibited a 1.45-fold higher removal efficiency than perennial plants. The removal efficiencies of different plant types decreased in the following order: agri-food crops > aquatic macrophytes > turfgrasses > medicinal plants > forage crops > woody trees. The Gramineae family, which was the most prevalent, demonstrated a robust and consistent phytoremediation ability. This study offers a more comprehensive triangular relationship between removal efficiency, pesticides, and plants, expanding the traditional linear model. Our findings offer valuable insights into the behavior of phytoremediation in pesticide-contaminated environments and the factors determining its success, ultimately guiding further research toward developing strategies for higher removal efficiency in phytoremediation.