Strongly Localized Moiré Exciton in Twisted Homobilayers.

Artificially molding exciton flux is the cornerstone for developing promising excitonic devices. In the emerging hetero/homobilayers, the spatial separated charges prolong exciton lifetimes and create out-plane dipoles, facilitating electrically control exciton flux on a large scale, and the nanoscale periodic moiré potentials arising from twist-angle or/and lattice mismatch can substantially alter exciton dynamics, which are mainly proved in the heterostructures. However, the spatially indirect excitons dynamics in homobilayers without lattice mismatch remain elusive. Here the nonequilibrium dynamics of indirect exciton in homobilayers are systematically investigated. The homobilayers with slightly twist-angle can induce a deep moiré potential (>50 meV) in the energy landscape of indirect excitons, resulting in a strongly localized moiré excitons insulating the transport dynamics from phonons and disorder. These findings provide insights into the exciton dynamics and many-body physics in moiré superlattices modulated energy landscape, with implications for designing excitonic devices operating at room temperature.

TaCAP1 Interacts with TaLHCB1s and Positively Regulates Wheat Resistance Against Stripe Rust.

Actin filaments and their associated actin-binding proteins play key roles in plant innate immune signaling. CAP1, or cyclase-associated protein 1, is an important regulatory factor of the actin cytoskeleton-associated signaling network and was hypothesized here to be involved in resistance against wheat stripe rust because TaCAP1 expression was upregulated in response to Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst). Downregulation of TaCAP1 expression led to decreased resistance against Pst, in contrast to increased resistance upon TaCAP1 overexpressing, as demonstrated by the changes of phenotypes and hyphal growth. We found increased expression of pathogenesis-responsive or relative related genes and disease grade changed in TaCAP1 overexpressing plants. Our results also showed TaCAP1-regulated host resistance to Pst by inducing the production and accumulation of reactive oxygen species and mediating the salicylic acid signaling pathway. Additionally, TaCAP1 interacted with chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins TaLHCB1.3 and TaLHCB1.4, also known as the light-harvesting chlorophyll-protein complex II subunit B, which belong to the light-harvesting complex II protein family. Silencing of two TaLHCB1 genes showed higher susceptibility to Pst, which reduced wheat resistance against Pst. Therefore, the data presented herein further illuminate our understanding that TaCAP1 interacts with TaLHCB1s and functions as a positive regulator of wheat resistance against stripe rust.

Assessing the Effectiveness of eHealth Interventions to Manage Multiple Lifestyle Risk Behaviors Among Older Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Developing adverse lifestyle behaviors increases the risk of a variety of chronic age-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, and Alzheimer disease. There is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of eHealth-based multiple health behavior change (MHBC) interventions to manage lifestyle risk behaviors. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this systematic evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of eHealth MHBC interventions in changing ≥2 major lifestyle risk behaviors in people aged ≥50 years. METHODS: The literature search was conducted in 6 electronic databases-PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and SPORTDiscus-from inception to May 1, 2024. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials of eHealth interventions targeting ≥2 of 6 behaviors of interest: alcohol use, smoking, diet, physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and sleep. RESULTS: A total of 34 articles with 35 studies were included. eHealth-based MHBC interventions significantly increased smoking cessation rates (odds ratio 2.09, 95% CI 1.62-2.70; P<.001), fruit intake (standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.18, 95% CI 0.04-0.32; P=.01), vegetable intake (SMD 0.17, 95% CI 0.05-0.28; P=.003), self-reported total PA (SMD 0.22, 95% CI 0.02-0.43; P=.03), and objectively measured moderate to vigorous PA (SMD 0.25, 95% CI 0.09-0.41; P=.002); in addition, the interventions decreased fat intake (SMD -0.23, 95% CI -0.33 to -0.13; P<.001). No effects were observed for alcohol use, sedentary behavior, or sleep. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to test the robustness of the pooled results. Moreover, the certainty of evidence was evaluated using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) framework. CONCLUSIONS: eHealth-based MHBC interventions may be a promising strategy to increase PA, improve diet, and reduce smoking among older adults. However, the effect sizes were small. Further high-quality, older adult-oriented research is needed to develop eHealth interventions that can change multiple behaviors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42023444418; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023444418.

The Discovery of Novel α2a Adrenergic Receptor Agonists Only Coupling to Gαi/O Proteins by Virtual Screening.

Most α2-AR agonists derived from dexmedetomidine have few structural differences between them and have no selectivity for α2A/2B-AR or Gi/Gs, which can lead to side effects in drugs. To obtain novel and potent α2A-AR agonists, we performed virtual screening for human α2A-AR and α2B-AR to find α2A-AR agonists with higher selectivity. Compound P300-2342 and its three analogs significantly decreased the locomotor activity of mice (p < 0.05). Furthermore, P300-2342 and its three analogs inhibited the binding of [3H] Rauwolscine with IC50 values of 7.72 ± 0.76 and 12.23 ± 0.11 µM, respectively, to α2A-AR and α2B-AR. In α2A-AR-HEK293 cells, P300-2342 decreased forskolin-stimulated cAMP production without increasing cAMP production, which indicated that P300-2342 activated α2A-AR with coupling to the Gαi/o pathway but without Gαs coupling. P300-2342 exhibited no agonist but slight antagonist activities in α2B-AR. Similar results were obtained for the analogs of P300-2342. The docking results showed that P300-2342 formed π-hydrogen bonds with Y394, V114 in α2A-AR, and V93 in α2B-AR. Three analogs of P300-2342 formed several π-hydrogen bonds with V114, Y196, F390 in α2A-AR, and V93 in α2B-AR. We believe that these molecules can serve as leads for the further optimization of α2A-AR agonists with potentially few side effects.

Does economic growth targets setting lead to carbon emissions? An empirical study from China.

Accurately identifying the historical causes of carbon emissions in the process of national economic development is an important basis for developing countries to achieve carbon emission reduction. This paper explores the intrinsic institutional causes of China's high CO2 emission growth based on the characteristic economic growth target system of China, and attempts to empirically test the environmental effects behind this system. The results of the study show that the setting of absolute economic growth targets significantly increases the carbon dioxide emissions of cities under horizontal competition, and the setting of relative economic growth targets exacerbates the above carbon emission effect under vertical competition. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the carbon emission effect of setting economic growth targets is stronger in resource-dependent cities and cities with a lower level of economic development. Mechanism tests show that economic growth targets not only significantly increases total fossil energy consumption and reduces energy efficiency at the firm level, but also leads to the increase of energy consumption and the reduction of energy efficiency at the industry level. The findings of this study provide an intrinsic institutional explanation for China's high carbon emissions and provide useful guidance for the design of mechanisms to achieve large-scale carbon emission reductions in developing countries.

Interfacial Chemical Bond Modulation of Co3(PO4)2-MoO3-x Heterostructures for Alkaline Water/Seawater Splitting.

The development of a high current density with high energy conversion efficiency electrocatalyst is vital for large-scale industrial application of alkaline water splitting, particularly seawater splitting. Herein, we design a self-supporting Co3(PO4)2-MoO3-x/CoMoO4/NF superaerophobic electrode with a three-dimensional structure for high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by a reasonable devise of possible "Co-O-Mo hybridization" on the interface. The "Co-O-Mo hybridization" interfaces induce charge transfer and generation of fresh oxygen vacancy active sites. Consequently, the unique heterostructures greatly facilitate the dissociation process of H2O molecules and enable efficient hydrogen spillover, leading to excellent HER performance with ultralow overpotentials (76 and 130 mV at 100 and 500 mA cm-2) and long-term durability of 100 h in an alkaline electrolyte. Theoretical calculations reveal that the Co3(PO4)2-MoO3-x/CoMoO4/NF promotes the adsorption/dissociation process of H2O molecules to play a crucial role in improving the stability and activity of HER. Our results exhibit that the HER activity of non-noble metal electrocatalysts can be greatly enhanced by rational interfacial chemical bonding to modulate the heterostructures.

The Wheat Annexin TaAnn12 Plays Positive Roles in Plant Disease Resistance by Regulating the Accumulation of Reactive Oxygen Species and Callose.

(1) Annexins are proteins that bind phospholipids and calcium ions in cell membranes and mediate signal transduction between Ca2+ and cell membranes. They play key roles in plant immunity. (2) In this study, virus mediated gene silencing and the heterologous overexpression of TaAnn12 in Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 trials were used to determine whether the wheat annexin TaAnn12 plays a positive role in plant disease resistance. (3) During the incompatible interaction between wheat cv. Suwon 11 and the Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) race CYR23, the expression of TaAnn12 was significantly upregulated at 24 h post inoculation (hpi). Silencing TaAnn12 in wheat enhanced the susceptibility to Pst. The salicylic acid hormone contents in the TaAnn12-silenced plants were significantly reduced. The overexpression of TaAnn12 in A. thaliana significantly increased resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000, and the symptoms of the wild-type plants were more serious than those of the transgenic plants; the amounts of bacteria were significantly lower than those in the control group, the accumulation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)and callose deposition increased, and the expression of resistance-related genes (AtPR1, AtPR2, and AtPR5) significantly increased. (4) Our results suggest that wheat TaAnn12 resisted the invasion of pathogens by inducing the production and accumulation of ROS and callose.

Using Potassium Bicarbonate to Improve the Water-Holding Capacity, Gel and Rheology Characteristics of Reduced-Phosphate Silver Carp Batters.

To study the use of partial or total potassium bicarbonate (PBC) to replace sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) on reduced-phosphate silver carp batters, all the batters were composed of silver carp surimi, pork back fat, ice water, spices, sugar, and sodium chloride. Therein, the sample of T1 contained 4 g/kg STPP; T2 contained 1 g/kg PBC, 3 g/kg STPP; T3 contained 2 g/kg PBC, 2 g/kg STPP; T4 contained 3 g/kg PBC, 1 g/kg STPP; T5 contained 4 g/kg PBC, and they were all produced using a bowl chopper. The changes in pH, whiteness, water- and oil-holding capacity, gel and rheological properties, as well as protein conformation were investigated. The pH, cooking yield, water- and oil-holding capacity, texture properties, and the G' values at 90 °C of the reduced-phosphate silver carp batters with PBC significantly increased (p < 0.05) compared to the sample without PBC. Due to the increasing pH and enhanced ion strength, more ß-sheet and ß-turns structures were formed. Furthermore, by increasing PBC, the pH significantly increased (p < 0.05) and the cooked silver carp batters became darkened. Meanwhile, more CO2 was generated, which destroyed the gel structure, leading the water- and oil-holding capacity, texture properties, and G' values at 90 °C to be increased and then decreased. Overall, using PBC partial as a substitute of STPP enables reduced-phosphate silver carp batter to have better gel characteristics and water-holding capacity by increasing its pH and changing its rheology characteristic and protein conformation.

Association of daily step counts and step intensity with fear of falling in Chinese community-dwelling older women.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between objectively measured step counts, step intensity and FOF in community-dwelling older Chinese women. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on pooled data (n = 1101) from the baseline survey of the Physical Activity and Health Study (PAHIOWS). Step counts and step intensity were measured using wGT3X-BT accelerometers, and FOF was categorized into two levels (low and high) for logistic regression analysis. Higher step counts were significantly and negatively associated with FOF; however, after adjusting for step intensity, the association was no longer statistically significant. On the contrary, higher step intensity was negatively associated with FOF independent of step counts. This finding may provide new insights into the physical activity management of FOF in older women.

Market incentives, carbon quota allocation and carbon emission reduction: Evidence from China's carbon trading pilot policy.

As a major carbon dioxide-emitting country, China set carbon trading market to reduce enterprise carbon emissions through the rational allocation of carbon quotas among different enterprises and regions. The market has also conducted a preliminary exploration for the country to achieve carbon dioxide emissions peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060 while actively addressing the challenges of global climate change. This study analysed the emission reduction effect of China's carbon trading pilot policy, especially the role of carbon quota and carbon trading price. The analysis used county-level panel data from 1997 to 2017, regarded the implementation of the carbon trading pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and used the difference-in-differences method. The results showed that, first, the policy implementation not only reduced regional carbon emissions but also inhibited carbon dioxide emissions per capita, with long-term effects. Second, the carbon emission reduction effect brought by the carbon pilot policy showed significant heterogeneous results with the different degrees of regional carbon emissions and environmental supervision. The effect was greater in areas with higher carbon emission density and stronger legal supervision. Third, the difference in carbon quota allocations resulted in different emission reduction effects, among which the historical method had the strongest effect. The carbon quota price and number of enterprises participating carbon trading market were the key factors affecting carbon emission reduction.

Wheat Thioredoxin (TaTrxh1) Associates With RD19-Like Cysteine Protease TaCP1 to Defend Against Stripe Rust Fungus Through Modulation of Programmed Cell Death.

Thioredoxins (Trxs) function within the antioxidant network through modulation of one or more redox reactions involved in oxidative-stress signaling. Given their function in regulating cellular redox, Trx proteins also fulfill key roles in plant immune signaling. Here, TaTrxh1, encoding a subgroup h member of the Trx family, was identified and cloned in wheat (Triticum aestivum), which was rapidly induced by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici invasion and salicylic acid (SA) treatment. Overexpression of TaTrxh1 in tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) induced programmed cell death. Silencing of TaTrxh1 in wheat enhanced susceptibility to P. striiformis f. sp. tritici in different aspects, including reactive oxygen species accumulation and pathogen-responsive or -related gene expression. Herein, we observed that the cellular concentration of SA was significantly reduced in TaTrxh1-silenced plants, indicating that TaTrxh1 possibly regulates wheat resistance to stripe rust through a SA-associated defense signaling pathway. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen to identify TaTrxh1-interacting partners, we further show that interaction with TaCP1 (a RD19-like cysteine protease) and subsequent silencing of TaCP1 reduced wheat resistance to P. striiformis f. sp. tritici. In total, the data presented herein demonstrate that TaTrxh1 enhances wheat resistance against P. striiformis f. sp. tritici via SA-dependent resistance signaling and that TaTrxh1 interaction with TaCP1 is required for wheat resistance to stripe rust.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

Long-term impact of the burden of new-onset atrial fibrillation in patients with acute myocardial infarction: results from the NOAFCAMI-SH registry.

AIMS: We aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of the burden of new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) on long-term cardiovascular outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS AND RESULTS: This retrospective analysis consecutively included patients without a documented atrial fibrillation (AF) history who admitted for AMI at Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital between February 2014 and March 2018. Atrial fibrillation burden was measured as the percentage of time spent in AF, and its optimal cut-off value of 10.87% was identified by X-tile software. Of 2399 patients (mean age: 65.8 years, 76.6% of men), 278 (11.6%) developed NOAF during hospitalization. During a median follow-up of 2.7 years, the incidence of all-cause death was 3.19, 9.00, and 17.41 per 100 person-years in the sinus rhythm (SR), low-burden (AF burden ≤ 10.87%), and high-burden (AF burden > 10.87%) groups, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, it was the high-burden NOAF [hazard ratio (HR): 1.94, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.28-2.95] rather than the low-burden one (HR: 1.47, 95% CI: 0.97-2.21) that was significantly associated with increased mortality compared with SR. Concordant results were obtained in our propensity score-matched analyses [2.55 (1.57-4.16) and 1.32 (0.85-2.05) for high- and low-burden NOAF, respectively). In addition, post-myocardial infarction NOAF was associated with an increased risk of heart failure irrespective of its burden. Only those high-burden individuals were at heightened risk of ischaemic stroke. The restricted cubic spline curves illustrated a dose-response relationship of NOAF burden with outcomes. CONCLUSION: In patients with NOAF complicating AMI, high AF burden was strongly associated with long-term outcomes.

Electroacupuncture alleviates polycystic ovary syndrome-like symptoms through improving insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and endoplasmic reticulum stress via enhancing autophagy in rats.

BACKGROUND: Electroacupuncture (EA), a treatment derived from traditional Chinese medicine, can effectively improve hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), however, its underlying mechanisms remain obscure. This study aimed to investigate whether EA could mitigate PCOS-like symptoms in rats by regulating autophagy. METHODS: A rat model of PCOS-like symptoms was established by subcutaneous injection with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and then EA treatment at acupoints (ST29 and SP6) was carried out for 5 weeks. To inhibit autophagy in rats, intraperitoneal injection with 0.5 mg/kg 3-MA (an autophagy inhibitor) was performed at 30 min before each EA treatment. RESULTS: EA intervention alleviated PCOS-like symptoms in rats, which was partly counteracted by the combination with 3-MA. Moreover, DHEA-exposure-induced deficient autophagy in skeletal muscle was improved by EA treatment. EA-mediated improvements in insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in PCOS-like rats were counteracted by 3-MA pretreatment. Mechanically, EA attenuated autophagy deficiency-mediated insulin resistance in PCOS-like rats via inactivating mTOR/4E-BP1 signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings indicate that EA treatment ameliorates insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and ER stress through enhancing autophagy in a PCOS-like rat model. Our study provides novel insight into the mechanisms underlying the treatment of EA in PCOS, which offers more theoretic foundation for its clinical application.

Ternary multicomponent Ba/Mg/Si compounds with inherent bonding hierarchy and rattling Ba atoms toward low lattice thermal conductivity.

Compositional tailoring externally enables the fine tuning of thermal transport parameters of materials using the dual modulation of electronic or thermal transport properties. Theoretically, we examined the lattice dynamics of three particularly ternary representatives with different stoichiometry, BaMgSi, Ba2Mg3Si4, and BaMg2Si2, and identified the inherent bonding hierarchy and rattling Ba atoms, which were responsible for reducing the lattice thermal conductivity. BaMgSi and Ba2Mg3Si4 exhibited inherently ultra-low lattice thermal conductivity of 1.27-0.37 W m-1 K-1 in the range of 300-1000 K due to the bonding hierarchy and rattling Ba atoms. The low-energy optical phonons are overlapping with the acoustic phonons. This is associated with the intrinsic rattler-like vibration of Ba cations and leads to the characteristic in the localization of the propagative phonons and large anharmonicity. Although BaMg2Si2 had a dumbbell-shaped Si-Si covalent and Ba-Si/Mg ionic bonding environment and intrinsic rattler-like vibration of Ba cations, the middle frequency optic phonon branches contribute considerably to the thermal conductivity of the lattice. At the same temperature, compared with BaMgSi and Ba2Mg3Si4, the lattice thermal conductivity of BaMg2Si2 almost doubles owing to the higher phonon lifetime and group velocities. Our findings highlight considerable potential for thermoelectric applications with a different stoichiometric ratio of Ba/Mg/Si systems due to their low lattice thermal conductivities via intrinsic modulating stoichiometry.

First-principles investigation on the transport properties of quaternary CoFeRGa (R = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Cu, and Nb) Heusler compounds.

The Heusler alloys CoFeRGa (R = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Cu, and Nb) have similar chemical compositions, but exhibit remarkably distinct electronic structures, magnetism and transport properties. These structures cover an extensive range of spin gapless semiconductors, half-metals, semiconductors and metals with either ferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, antiferromagnetic, or nonmagnetic states. The Heusler alloys have three types of structures, namely, type-I, type-II, and type-III. By means of first-principles calculation combined with the Boltzmann equation within the consideration of spin-freedom, we explore the transport feature of the most stable structure (type-I). In addition, we provide evidence that all the considered materials are mechanically and dynamically stable, possessing high strength and toughness to resist compression and tensile strain. Moreover, the distinct electronic (metallic, insulating, and half-metallic) properties and magnetic behaviors originate mainly from a cooperative electron transfer and electronic structures have been verified by our calculation. Finally, we found that the tunable electronic structure with varied atomic numbers has significant influence on the spin-Seebeck effect. Correspondingly, the calculated spin-Seebeck coefficient of CoFeCrGa is -60.29 µV K-1 at 300 K, which is larger than that of other quaternary Heusler compounds. Our results provide a band-engineering platform to design Heusler structures with different electronic behaviors in isomorphic compounds, which provide the way for accelerating the pre-screening of materials to advance and for using the quaternary Heusler compounds for potential applications in spin caloritronic devices.

Inhibition of miR-25 attenuates doxorubicin-induced apoptosis, reactive oxygen species production and DNA damage by targeting PTEN.

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX) is one of the widely used anti-cancer drugs, whereas it can induce irreversible cardiac injury in a dose-dependent manner which limits its utility in clinic. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between miR-25 and DOX-induced cardiac injury and its underlying mechanism. Methods: Mice and H9c2 cells were exposed to DOX. The overexpressed or knockdown of miR-25 in H9c2 cells was achieved by miR-25 mimic or inhibitor and the efficiency of transfection was identified by qRT-PCR or Western blotting. Cell viability, apoptotic cell rate, and levels of apoptosis-related proteins were determined by CCK-8, flow cytometry, and Western blotting, respectively. Furthermore, Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining (IF) were performed to assess the expression levels of reactive oxygen species and degree of DNA damage. Results: As a result, DOX significantly upregulated miR-25 expression in mice and H9c2 cells and reduced cell viability and increased cell apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. miR-25 overexpression expedited cell injury induced by DOX in H9c2 cells demonstrated by the increased cell apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, whereas miR-25 inhibition attenuated the cell injury. Furthermore, miR-25 negatively controlled the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN). Intervention the expression of PTEN using si-PTEN reversed the beneficial effects of miR-25 inhibition on DOX-injured H9c2 cells. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study demonstrated that miR-25 is involved in DOX-induced cell damage through the regulation of PTEN expression.

Upregulation of long noncoding RNA TUG1 by EGR1 promotes adenomyotic epithelial cell migration and invasion through recruiting EZH2 and suppressing TIMP2.

Emerging studies showed that lncRNA taurine upregulated 1 (TUG1) plays important roles in diverse biological processes. However, there is no previously published research reporting the regulatory role of lncRNAs in the progression of adenomyosis. In the present study, we found that TUG1 is upregulated in human adenomyosis, and the overexpression of TUG1 is associated with the transcription factor early growth response 1 (EGR1). Functionally, the knockdown of TUG1 inhibited adenomyotic epithelial cell migration and invasion but not growth. The mechanistic experiments demonstrated that the function of TUG1 in adenomyotic epithelial cell invasion is, at least in part, through recruiting the enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) to the promoter of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP2) and negatively regulating its expression. Our study demonstrated that TUG1 promotes the migration and invasion of human adenomyotic epithelial cells, and EGR1/TUG1/EZH2/TIMP2 may be a potential therapeutic target for adenomyosis.

Seeking large Seebeck effects in LaX(X = Mn and Co)O3/SrTiO3 superlattices by exploiting high spin-polarized effects.

SrTiO3-based transition-metal oxide heterostructures with superconducting, ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and ferroelastic properties exhibit high application potential in the fields of energy storage, energy conversion, and spintronic devices. Meanwhile, high effective (charge)-Seebeck coefficient materials composed of a ferromagnetic layer and SrTiO3 insulator layer have been achieved but we still have blocks to pursuing high spin-Seebeck coefficient materials. Here, we use first-principles calculations combined with spin-resolved Boltzmann transport theory to investigate the spin- and effective-Seebeck coefficients in the LaX(X = Mn and Co)O3/SrTiO3 superlattice. Compared with the LaMnO3/SrTiO3 superlattice, LaCoO3/SrTiO3 with ferromagnetic ordering has high spin polarization, relatively low valence valley degeneracy but high effective mass. Utilizing these characteristics, the maximum spin-Seebeck coefficient of LaMnO3/SrTiO3 is -152 µV K-1 at 450 K along the cross-plane direction, while LaCoO3/SrTiO3 reaches -247 µV K-1 under the same conditions. Interestingly, the spin- and effective-Seebeck coefficients are amazingly consistent with each other below 200 K, which indicates that one spin channel (spin-up or spin-down) dominates the carrier transport, and the other one (spin-down or spin-up) is filtered out. These characteristics are mainly associated with the magnetic MnO2/CoO2 layers with distinct dxy and dz2 orbitals near the Fermi level. Our results clarify the relationship of spin- and effective-Seebeck coefficients and indicate that SrTiO3-based transition metal oxide heterointerfaces are a key candidate for spin caloritronics.

Control efficiency and expressions of resistance genes in tomato plants treated with ε-poly-l-lysine against Botrytis cinerea.

The antifungal properties and the induction of resistance by ε-poly-l-lysine (ε-PL) were examined to reveal its potential in protecting tomato plants against Botrytis cinerea. As presented herein, ε-PL at 1200mg/L was found to have optimal in vitro antifungal activities, achieving an inhibition rate of 94.96%. In first-year field tests, ε-PL (1200mg/L) had a control effect of up to 79.07% against tomato grey mould. Similar results were obtained in the second year. In greenhouse experiments, ε-PL was observed to effectively reduce leaf infection, with an observed control rate at 89.22%. To define the molecular-genetic mechanisms, we compared the gene expression under four different conditions: sterile water sprayed plants (Control), Botrytis-infected plants (Inf), ε-PL-treated plants (ε-PL) and ε-PL-treated+infected plants (ε-PL+Inf). Quantitative PCR analysis at 36h after inoculation revealed that ε-PL+Inf plants exhibited significant expression and priming of several key Botrytis-induced genes in tomato. The results indicate that ε-PL promoted plant capacity of tomato to activate defense mechanisms upon pathogen attack. In total, these findings revealed that ε-PL should be an excellent biocontrol agent candidate that combined direct antifungal activity against B. cinerea and plant resistance capacity.

Comparative effectiveness of interventions on promoting physical activity in older adults: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Background: Despite the well-established health benefits of physical activity, a large population of older adults still maintain sedentary life style or physical inactivity. This network meta-analysis (NMA) aimed to compare the effectiveness of wearable activity tracker-based intervention (WAT), electronic and mobile health intervention (E&MH), structured exercise program intervention (SEP), financial incentive intervention (FI) on promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary time in older adults. Methods: The systematic review based on PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Scopus were searched from inception to December 10th 2022. The randomized controlled trials (RCT) were included. Two reviewers independently conducted study selection, data extraction, risk of bias and certainty of evidence assessment. The effect measures were standard mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) in daily steps, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time. Results: A total of 69 studies with 14,120 participants were included in the NMA. Among these included studies, the results of daily steps, MVPA and sedentary time was reported by 55, 25 and 15 studies, respectively. The NMA consistency model analysis suggested that the following interventions had the highest probability (surface under the cumulative ranking, SUCRA) of being the best when compared with control: FI + WAT for daily steps (SUCRA = 96.6%; SMD = 1.32, 95% CI:0.77, 1.86), WAT + E&MH + SEP for MVPA (SUCRA = 91.2%; SMD = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.36, 1.52) and WAT + E&MH + SEP for sedentary time (SUCRA = 80.3%; SMD = -0.50, 95% CI: -0.87, -0.14). The quality of the evidences of daily steps, MVPA and sedentary time was evaluated by very low, very low and low, respectively. Conclusions: In this NMA, there's low quality evidence that financial incentive combined with wearable activity tracker is the most effective intervention for increasing daily steps of older adults, wearable activity tracker combined with electronic and mobile health and structured exercise program is the most effective intervention to help older adults to increase MVPA and reduce sedentary time.