Enabling low-drift flexible perovskite photodetectors by electrical modulation for wearable health monitoring and weak light imaging.

Metal halide perovskites are promising for next-generation flexible photodetectors owing to their low-temperature solution processability, mechanical flexibility, and excellent photoelectric properties. However, the defects and notorious ion migration in polycrystalline metal halide perovskites often lead to high and unstable dark current, thus deteriorating their detection limit and long-term operations. Here, we propose an electrical field modulation strategy to significantly reduce the dark current of metal halide perovskites-based flexible photodetector more than 1000 times (from ~5 nA to ~5 pA). Meanwhile, ion migration in metal halide perovskites is effectively suppressed, and the metal halide perovskites-based flexible photodetector shows a long-term continuous operational stability (~8000 s) with low signal drift (~4.2 × 10-4 pA per second) and ultralow dark current drift (~1.3 × 10-5 pA per second). Benefitting from the electrical modulation strategy, a high signal-to-noise ratio wearable photoplethysmography sensor and an active-matrix photodetector array for weak light imaging are successfully demonstrated. This work offers a universal strategy to improve the performance of metal halide perovskites for wearable flexible photodetector and image sensor applications.

Gender disparities in the education gradient in self-reported health across birth cohorts in China.

BACKGROUND: Variation in the relationship between education and health has been studied intensely over the past few decades. Although there is research on gender disparity and cohort variations in educational effect on health using samples from the U.S. and Europe, research about China's is limited. Given the specific social changes in China, our study is designed to analyze the gender and cohort patterns in the education-health gradient. METHOD: The latent growth-curve modeling was used to analyze the gender and cohort variations in the education gradient in self-rated health among Chinese respondents. The study employed longitudinal and nationally representative data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies from the years 2010 to 2016. Each cohort is specified according to their distinct periods of social change in China. Following the analysis, we used latent growth-curve model to illustrate gender and cohort differences in the age-graded education and health trajectories. RESULTS: Although Chinese men have reported to have better health than women in general, women reported 1.6 percentage points higher in self-reported health for each additional year of schooling compared to that of men (P < 0.001). The latent growth curve model showed women's extra education benefits were persistent overtime. Compared to the people born during the "Old China" (1908-1938), the education gradient in self-rated health did not change for cohorts born before 1955 and after 1977, but the education-health gap changed significantly in the 1956-1960 (O.R. = 1.038, P < 0.05), 1967-1976 (O.R. = 1.058, P < 0.001), and 1977-1983 (O.R. = 1.063, P < 0.001) cohorts. There was a gender difference for the cohort variations in the education-health gradient. For women, the education effect in the 1956-1960 (O.R. = 1.063, P < 0.05), 1967-1976 (O.R. = 1.088, P < 0.001) and 1977-1983 (O.R. = 1.102, P < 0.001) cohorts was significantly higher than that of the 1908-1938 cohort. On the contrary, the education-health gradient remained the same across all cohorts for men. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that the education-health gradient varies across cohorts for women, but the size of education effect remains consistent for men across cohorts. The findings support the resource-substitution hypothesis and not the rising-importance hypothesis in China. We discussed the potential influences of the unique, social transformation and educational expansion in China.

Hierarchically Structured Vertical Gold Nanowire Array-Based Wearable Pressure Sensors for Wireless Health Monitoring.

We have recently demonstrated that vertically aligned gold nanowires (v-AuNWs) are outstanding material candidates for wearable biomedical sensors toward real-time and noninvasive health monitoring because of their excellent tunable electrical conductivity, biocompatibility, chemical inertness, and wide electrochemical window. Here, we show that v-AuNWs could also be used to design a high-performance wearable pressure sensor when combined with rational structural engineering such as pyramid microarray-based hierarchical structures. The as-fabricated pressure sensor featured a low operation voltage of 0.1 V, high sensitivity in a low-pressure regime, a fast response time of <10 ms, and high durability with stable signals for the 10 000 cycling test. In conjunction with printed electrode arrays, we could generate a multiaxial map for spatial pressure detection. Furthermore, our flexible pressure sensor could be seamlessly connected with a Bluetooth low-energy module to detect high-quality artery pulses in a wireless manner. Our solution-based gold coating strategy offers the benefit of conformal coating of nanowires onto three-dimensional microstructured elastomeric substrates under ambient conditions, indicating promising applications in next-generation wearable biodiagnostics.

Phylogenetic and temporal dynamics of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC among recently infected antiretroviral therapy-naïve men who have sex with men in Jiangsu province, China, 2012 to 2015: A molecular epidemiology-based study.

The prevalence and incidence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) among men who have sex with men (MSM) are on the rise throughout China. With a large population of MSM, Jiangsu Province is facing an escalating HIV-1 epidemic.The aim of this study was to explore the phylogenetic and temporal dynamics of HIV-1 CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC among antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve MSM recently infected with HIV-1 in Jiangsu Province.We recruited MSM in Jiangsu Province (Suzhou, Wuxi, Nantong, Taizhou and Yancheng) 2012 to 2015. We collected information on demographics and sexual behaviors and a blood sample for HIV genome RNA extraction, RT-PCR amplification, and DNA sequencing. Multiple alignments were made using Gene Cutter, with the selected reference sequences of various subtypes/recombinants from the Los Alamos HIV-1 database. Phylogenetic and Bayesian evolutionary analysis was performed by MEGA version 6.0, Fasttree v2.1.7. and BEAST v1.6.2. Categorical variables were analyzed using χ test (or Fisher exact test where necessary). χ test with trend was used to assess the evolution of HIV-1 subtype distribution over time. All data were analyzed using SPSS20.0 software package (IBM Company, New York, NY).HIV-1 phylogenetic analysis revealed a broad viral diversity including CRF01_AE (60.06%), CRF07_BC (22.29%), subtype B (5.88%), CRF67_01B (5.26%), CRF68_01B (2.79%), CRF55_01B (1.55%), CRF59_01B (0.93%), and CRF08_BC (0.62%). Two unique recombination forms (URFs) (0.62%) were also detected. Four epidemic clusters and 1 major cluster in CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC were identified. The introduction of CRF01_AE strain (2001) was earlier than CRF07_BC strain (2004) into MSM resided in Jiangsu based on the time of the most recent common ancestor.Our study demonstrated HIV-1 subtype diversity among ART-naïve MSM recently infected with HIV-1 in Jiangsu. We first depicted the spatiotemporal dynamics, traced the dates of origin for the HIV-1 CRF01_AE/07_BC strains and made inference for the effective population size among newly infected ART-naïve MSM in Jiangsu from 2012 to 2015. A real-time surveillance of HIV-1 viral diversity and phylodynamics of epidemic cluster would be of great value to the monitoring of the epidemic and control of transmission, improvement of antiretroviral therapy strategies, and design of vaccines.

Scaling Up Human Immunodeficiency Virus Screening and Antiretroviral Therapy Among Men Who Have Sex With Men to Achieve the 90-90-90 Targets in China.

INTRODUCTION: The Joint United Nations Programme on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome has proposed the 90-90-90 targets by 2020. Human immunodeficiency virus epidemic is spreading rapidly among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China. This study investigates how the scale-up of HIV testing and treatment in achieving the targets and its cost-effectiveness. METHODS: We constructed a compartmental model to forecast the HIV epidemic in Chinese MSM based on various "test-and-treat" scale-up scenarios. We assessed their cost effectiveness based on the cost for each HIV infection, death, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) prevented by the scale-up. RESULTS: If the current epidemic continued, HIV prevalence among Chinese MSM would increase from 9.2% in 2016 to 12.6% (9.2-15.6%) in 2020 and 16.2% (11.3-20.0%) in 2025. By 2020, 49.2% of infected MSM would be diagnosed and 40.1% of whom on treatment, falling short of the 90-90-90 targets, so would be even by 2025. To achieve these targets by 2020, additional 850,000 HIV screening tests and 112,500 person-years of antiretroviral treatment (ART) annually are necessary. This spending is US $478 million during 2016 to 2020, which almost tripled the status quo. However, by delaying to 2025, an investment of US $1210 million over 2016 to 2025 corresponding to 52% increase to the status quo, will enable extra 340,000 HIV screening tests and 60,000 person-year on ART annually. In both scenarios, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was US $733 to 960 for each DALY prevented, indicating highly cost-effective scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: Achieving the 90-90-90 targets by 2020 requires steep increase in investment, but delaying the targets to 2025 is practical and cost-effective.

Quantitative assessment of polymorphisms in H19 lncRNA and cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 13,392 cases and 18,893 controls.

H19 refers to a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that functions as an oncogenic molecule in different cancer cells. Genetic variants of H19 may affect the activity of certain regulatory factors, which subsequently regulate the aberrant expression of H19. This feedback loop might be one of the underlying mechanisms influencing tumour susceptibility and prognosis. Although there have been several recent studies that examined possible links between polymorphisms in H19 and cancer risk, the results have been inconclusive. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to estimate the associations between H19 polymorphisms (rs2107425, rs2839698 and rs217727) and cancer risk. Ten studies comprising 13,392 cases and 18,893 controls were included in the study. Overall, the variant T allele of rs2107425 correlated with a significantly decreased risk of developing cancer (dominant model: OR = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.76-0.98). In addition, a marginally significant association between the rs2839698 and cancer risk was observed (dominant model: OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.99-1.20). After stratification for ethnicity, it became apparent that Asians with the variant A allele of rs2839698 exhibited a significantly higher risk of developing cancer (dominant model: OR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.01-1.23). Interestingly, the rs2839698 variant was also significant associated with an increased risk of cancers of the digestive system (dominant model: OR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.08-1.41). These findings provided evidence that H19 rs2107425 may modify general cancer susceptibility, while rs2839698 may modify cancer susceptibility based on ethnicity and type. Further experimental studies to evaluate the limits of this hypothesis are warranted, and future functional studies are required to clarify the possible mechanisms.