Ion-Sieve-Confined Synthesis of Size-Tunable Ru for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution.

The controllable and low-cost synthesis of nanometal particles is highly desired in scientific and industrial research. Herein, size-tunable Ru nanoparticles were synthesized by using a novel ion-sieve-confined reduction method. The H2TiO3 ion-sieve was used to adsorb Ru3+ into the hydroxyl-enriched porous [TiO3]2- layers. The confined environment of the interlayer space facilitates Ru-Ru collision and bonding during annealing, achieving a precise reduction from Ru3+ to Ru0 without additional reductants. Owing to the confinement effect, Ru0 nanoparticles are uniformly embedded in the pores on the surface of the postannealed TiO2 matrix (Ru@TiO2). Ru@TiO2 exhibited a lower overpotential than Pt/C (57 vs 87 mV at 10 mA cm-2) for the HER in 0.1 M KOH solution. The confinement-induced reduction of metal ions was also preliminarily proved in ion-exchanged zeolites, which provides facile and abundant approaches for the size-controllable synthesis of nanometal catalysts with high catalytic activity.

Fabrication of high power 1.5†µm wavelength InGaAsP/InP BH lasers having dilute waveguide structure.

1.5 µm wavelength high power buried heterojunction (BH) semiconductor lasers having dilute waveguide structure have been fabricated. The optical field is dragged down toward the n side of the device by the dilute waveguide layer, lowering the optical confinement factor of the p doped material and active material, which helps to enlarge the laser output light power. Compared with thick InGaAsP cladding layer, the dilute waveguide material is easy to be grown and has higher thermal conductivity. The slope efficiency of the obtained dilute waveguide BH lasers is notably higher than that of the BH lasers having no dilute waveguide. Our studies show that the dilute waveguide structure is promising for the fabrication of high power BH lasers.

Slotted surface gratings fabricated by selective area growth of the p-InP cladding layer for BH lasers.

In this paper, we present a novel, to our knowledge, method for the fabrication of slotted surface gratings for buried heterostructure (BH) lasers. In the device fabrication process, SiO2 strips needed for InP current blocking layer growth are reused for the formation of slot grating pattern masks. In the following growth of the p-InP cladding layer, because the slot areas are covered by SiO2, the InP material is grown selectively in only the areas outside the slot areas, forming slots of the surface gratings in the p-InP layer at the same time as the cladding layer growth. Single longitude mode BH lasers having slotted surface gratings have been fabricated successfully, and the spectra show higher than 40 dB side mode suppression ratio (SMSR). The adoption of the method helps to simply the device fabrication and thus lower the device fabrication cost notably.

Single-mode InGaAsP/InP BH lasers based on high-order slotted surface gratings.

A single-mode InGaAsP/InP buried heterostructure (BH) laser based on high-order slotted surface gratings has been fabricated. The introduction of surface slotted grating can simplify the fabrication process of single-mode BH lasers notably. The laser shows a good single-mode emission performance, with larger than 30 dB side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) when the current is between 200 and 400 mA. Calculations show that the gain coupling mechanism plays a key role for the slot grating to select the emission wavelength. The linewidth of the laser is measured. The fitted Gaussian and Lorentzian linewidths are 1500 and 550 kHz, respectively.

RNA-binding protein-regulated fibronectin is essential for EGFR-activated metastasis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

There is a higher expression level of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in up to 90% of advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) tissue than in normal surrounding tissues. However, the role of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in EGFR-associated metastasis of HNSCC remains unclear. In this study, we reveal that RBPs, specifically nucleolin (NCL) and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (hnRNPA2B1), correlated with the mesenchymal phenotype of HNSCC. The depletion of RBPs significantly attenuated EGF-induced HNSCC metastasis. Intriguingly, the EGF-induced EMT markers, such as fibronectin, were regulated by RBPs through the ERK and NF-κB pathway, followed by the enhancement of mRNA stability of fibronectin through the 5' untranslated region (5'-UTR) of the gene. The upregulation of fibronectin triggered the integrin signaling activation to enhance tumor cells' attachment to endothelial cells and increase endothelial permeability. In addition, the concurrence of EGFR and RBPs or EGFR and fibronectin was associated with overall survival and disease-free survival of HNSCC. The in vivo study showed that depletion of NCL, hnRNPA2B1, and fibronectin significantly inhibited EGF-promoted extravasation of tumor cells into lung tissues. The depletion of fibronectin or treatment with integrin inhibitors dramatically attenuated EGF-induced HNSCC metastatic nodules in the lung. Our data suggest that the RBPs/fibronectin axis is essential for EGF-induced tumor-endothelial cell interactions to enhance HNSCC cell metastasis.

How to handle a missed or delayed dose of lacosamide in pediatric patients with epilepsy? a mode-informed individual dosing.

This study aims to investigate the effects on the pharmacokinetic (PK) of lacosamide (LCM), and to guide the individual dosing regimens for children and ones with poor medication adherence. Population PK research was performed based on 164 plasma samples of 113 pediatric patients aged from 1.75 to 14.42 years old. The PK characteristic of LCM was developed by a one-compartment model with first-order elimination. The typical value of apparent clearance (CL) and apparent volume of distribution (Vd) was 1.91 L·h-1 and 56.53 L respectively. In the final model, the variability of CL was significantly associated with the body surface area (BSA) and elevated uric acid (UA) level. In contrast, the impact of some prevalent anti-seizure medicines, such as valproic acid, levetiracetam, oxcarbazepine, lamotrigine, and perampanel, and gene polymorphisms of Cytochrome P450 (CYP)2C19, ATP-binding cassette (ABC)B1, and ABCC2 had no clinical significance on the PK parameters of LCM. BSA-based dosing regimen of LCM was provided according to Monte Carlo simulation approach; while the dosage should reduce half in patients with an UA level of more than 400 µmol·L-1 comparing with an UA level of 100 µmol·L-1. Individualize remedial doses of about 0.5- to 1.5-fold of regular doses were recommended in six common scenarios of missed or delayed doses, that depended on the delayed time. In current study, the population PK model of LCM in children with epilepsy was developed successfully. The BSA-based dosing regimen and individualized remedial strategy were recommended to guarantee the precise administration of LCM.

Solibacillus ferritrahens sp. nov., a novel siderophore-producing bacterium isolated from Wumeng Mountain National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province.

A gram-stain-positive, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterial strain capable of producing siderophores, named YIM B08730T, was isolated from a soil sample collected from Wumeng Mountain National Nature Reserve, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province. Growth occurred at 10-45 °C (optimum, 35-40 â„ƒ), pH 7.0-9.0 (optimum, 7.0) and in the presence of 0-5 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0-1 %, w/v). A comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence (1558 bp) of strain YIM B08730T showed the highest similarity to Solibacillus isronensis JCM 13838T (96.2 %), followed by Solibacillus silvestris DSM 12223T (96.0 %) and Solibacillus kalamii ISSFR-015T (95.4 %). The main polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and one unidentified lipid. The main respiratory quinone of strain YIM B08730T was menaquinone 7 (MK-7). The major fatty acids were iso-C15:0 and C16:1ω7c alcohol. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values between strain YIM B08730T and the reference strain S. isronensis JCM 13838T were 24.8 % and 81.2 %, respectively. The G + C content of the genomic DNA was 37.1 mol%. The genome of the novel strain contained genes associated with the production of siderophores, and it also revealed other functional gene clusters involved in plant growth promotion and soil bioremediation. Based on these phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses, strain YIM B08730T is considered to be a novel species of the genus Solibacillus, for which the name Solibacillus ferritrahens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM B08730T (= NBRC 116268T = CGMCC 1.60169T).

Poly(Propylene Carbonate)-Based Biodegradable and Environment-Friendly Materials for Biomedical Applications.

Poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) is an emerging "carbon fixation" polymer that holds the potential to become a "biomaterial of choice" in healthcare owing to its good biocompatibility, tunable biodegradability and safe degradation products. However, the commercialization and wide application of PPC as a biomedical material are still hindered by its narrow processing temperature range, poor mechanical properties and hydrophobic nature. Over recent decades, several physical, chemical and biological modifications of PPC have been achieved by introducing biocompatible polymers, inorganic ions or small molecules, which can endow PPC with better cytocompatibility and desirable biodegradability, and thus enable various applications. Indeed, a variety of PPC-based degradable materials have been used in medical applications including medical masks, surgical gowns, drug carriers, wound dressings, implants and scaffolds. In this review, the molecular structure, catalysts for synthesis, properties and modifications of PPC are discussed. Recent biomedical applications of PPC-based biomaterials are highlighted and summarized.

Stepped-height ridge waveguide MQW polarization mode converter monolithically integrated with sidewall grating DFB laser.

We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of a 1555-nm stepped-height ridge waveguide polarization mode converter monolithically integrated with a sidewall grating distributed-feedback (DFB) laser using the identical epitaxial layer scheme. The device shows stable single longitudinal mode (SLM) operation with the output light converted from TE to TM polarization with an efficiency of >94% over a wide range of DFB injection currents (IDFB) from 140 mA to 190 mA. The highest TM mode purity of 98.2% was obtained at IDFB = 180 mA. A particular advantage of this device is that only a single step of metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy and two steps of III-V material dry etching are required for the whole integrated device fabrication, significantly reducing complexity and cost.

Millimeter-wave generation based on a monolithic dual-wavelength DFB laser with four phase-shifted sampled gratings and equivalent chirp technology.

A dual-wavelength DFB laser array based on four phase-shifted grating and equivalent chirp technology is first proposed, fabricated, and experimentally demonstrated. The dual-wavelength emitting is achieved by symmetrically introducing two π phase shifts into a chirped four phase-shifted sampled grating cavity. Meanwhile, the beating signal of the dual-wavelength output is stabilized by applying an electro-absorption modulator integrated at the rear of the cavity. Under different grating chirp rates, a series of RF signals from 66.8 GHz to 73.6 GHz with a linewidth of less than 210 kHz is obtained.

Discovery of novel phenanthridone derivatives with anti-streptococcal activity.

To address the growing health threat posed by drug-resistant pathogenic microorganisms, the development of novel antimicrobial medications with multiple mechanisms of action is in urgent demand. With traditional antibacterial drug resources challenging to push forward, developing new antibacterial drugs has become a hot spot in biomedical research. In this study, we tested the antibacterial activity of 119 phenanthridine derivatives via the antibacterial assay and obtained 5 candidates. The cytotoxicity assay showed one phenanthridine derivative, HCK20, was safe for mammalian cells below 125 µM. HCK20 was verified to possess significant antibacterial activity to Streptococcus spp., such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus suis, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, and Streptococcus equi with MICs ranging from 15 to 60 µM. Furthermore, we found that HCK20 probably achieved its bacterial inhibition by influencing the permeability of bacterial cell walls via interacting with Streptococcal penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs). Our results suggest that this phenanthridine derivative, HCK20, has great potential to become a novel antibacterial agent that can be a potent treatment for streptococcal infections.

Optimizing laboratory-based surveillance networks for monitoring multi-genotype or multi-serotype infections.

With the aid of laboratory typing techniques, infectious disease surveillance networks have the opportunity to obtain powerful information on the emergence, circulation, and evolution of multiple genotypes, serotypes or other subtypes of pathogens, informing understanding of transmission dynamics and strategies for prevention and control. The volume of typing performed on clinical isolates is typically limited by its ability to inform clinical care, cost and logistical constraints, especially in comparison with the capacity to monitor clinical reports of disease occurrence, which remains the most widespread form of public health surveillance. Viewing clinical disease reports as arising from a latent mixture of pathogen subtypes, laboratory typing of a subset of clinical cases can provide inference on the proportion of clinical cases attributable to each subtype (i.e., the mixture components). Optimizing protocols for the selection of isolates for typing by weighting specific subpopulations, locations, time periods, or case characteristics (e.g., disease severity), may improve inference of the frequency and distribution of pathogen subtypes within and between populations. Here, we apply the Disease Surveillance Informatics Optimization and Simulation (DIOS) framework to simulate and optimize hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) surveillance in a high-burden region of western China. We identify laboratory surveillance designs that significantly outperform the existing network: the optimal network reduced mean absolute error in estimated serotype-specific incidence rates by 14.1%; similarly, the optimal network for monitoring severe cases reduced mean absolute error in serotype-specific incidence rates by 13.3%. In both cases, the optimal network designs achieved improved inference without increasing subtyping effort. We demonstrate how the DIOS framework can be used to optimize surveillance networks by augmenting clinical diagnostic data with limited laboratory typing resources, while adapting to specific, local surveillance objectives and constraints.

Bayesian belief network modelling approach for predicting and ranking risk factors for malaria infections among children under 5 years in refugee settlements in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Malaria risk factors at household level are known to be complex, uncertain, stochastic, nonlinear, and multidimensional. The interplay among these factors, makes targeted interventions, and resource allocation for malaria control challenging. However, few studies have demonstrated malaria's transmission complexity, control, and integrated modelling, with no available evidence on Uganda's refugee settlements. Using the 2018-2019 Uganda's Malaria Indicator Survey (UMIS) data, an alternative Bayesian belief network (BBN) modelling approach was used to analyse, predict, rank and illustrate the conceptual reasoning, and complex causal relationships among the risk factors for malaria infections among children under-five in refugee settlements of Uganda. METHODS: In the UMIS, household level information was obtained using standardized questionnaires, and a total of 675 children under 5 years were tested for malaria. From the dataset, a casefile containing malaria test results, demographic, social-economic and environmental information was created. The casefile was divided into a training (80%, n = 540) and testing (20%, n = 135) datasets. The training dataset was used to develop the BBN model following well established guidelines. The testing dataset was used to evaluate model performance. RESULTS: Model accuracy was 91.11% with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.95. The model's spherical payoff was 0.91, with the logarithmic, and quadratic losses of 0.36, and 0.16 respectively, indicating a strong predictive, and classification ability of the model. The probability of refugee children testing positive, and negative for malaria was 48.1% and 51.9% respectively. The top ranked malaria risk factors based on the sensitivity analysis included: (1) age of child; (2) roof materials (i.e., thatch roofs); (3) wall materials (i.e., poles with mud and thatch walls); (4) whether children sleep under insecticide-treated nets; 5) type of toilet facility used (i.e., no toilet facility, and pit latrines with slabs); (6) walk time distance to water sources (between 0 and 10 min); (7) drinking water sources (i.e., open water sources, and piped water on premises). CONCLUSION: Ranking, rather than the statistical significance of the malaria risk factors, is crucial as an approach to applied research, as it helps stakeholders determine how to allocate resources for targeted malaria interventions within the constraints of limited funding in the refugee settlements.

Pseudomonas subflava sp. nov., a new Gram-negative bacterium isolated from Guishan in Yunnan province, south-west China.

A new Gram-negative, rod-shaped, flagellated bacterium was isolated from soil in the Guishan, Xinping County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, China, and named YIM B01952T. Growth occurred at 10-40 °C (optimum, 30 °C), pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.5) and with up to ≤ 5.0% (w/v) NaCl on Tryptic Soy Broth Agar (TSA) plates. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene and draft-genome sequence showed that strain YIM B01952T belonged to the genus Pseudomonas, and was closely related to the type strain of Pseudomonas alcaligenes (sequence similarity was 98.8%). The digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) value between strain YIM B01952T and the parallel strain P. alcaligenes ATCC 14909T was 49.0% based on the draft genome sequence. The predominant menaquinone was Q-9. The major fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18:1 ω6c and/or C18:1 ω7c), summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω6c and/or C16:1 ω7c) and C16:0. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylglycerol. The genome size of strain YIM B01952T was 4.341 Mb, comprising 4156 predicted genes with a DNA G + C content of 66.4 mol%. In addition, we detected that strain YIM B01952T had some traditional functional genes (plant growth promotion and multidrug resistance), unique genes through genome comparison and analysis with similar strains. Based on genetic analyses and biochemical characterization, the strain YIM B01952T was identified as a novel species in the genus Pseudomonas, for which the name Pseudomonas subflava sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM B01952T (=CCTCC AB 2021498T = KCTC 92073T).

Chitinolyticbacter albus sp. Nov., A Novel Chitin-Degrading Bacterium Isolated from Ancient Wood Rhizosphere Soil.

In this study, a novel aerobic mesophilic bacterial strain with capable of degrading chitin, designated YIM B06366T, was isolated and classified. The rod-shaped, Gram-stain-negative, on-spore-forming bacterium originated from rhizosphere soil sample collected in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, southwest PR China. Strain YIM B06366T exhibited growth at temperatures between 20 and 35 °C (optimum, 30 °C) and at pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 6.0). The analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity revealed that strain YIM B06366T was most closely related to type strain Chitinolyticbacter meiyuanensis SYBC-H1T (98.9%). Phylogenetic analysis based on genome data indicated that strain YIM B06366T should be assigned to the genus Chitinolyticbacter. The Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA Hybridization (dDDH) values between strain YIM B06366T and the reference strain Chitinolyticbacter meiyuanensis SYBC-H1T were 84.4% and 27.7%, respectively. The major fatty acids included Summed Feature 3 (C16:1 ω6c/C16:1 ω7c), Summed Feature 8 (C18:1 ω6c/C18:1 ω7c), and C16:0. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, aminophospholipids, and two unidentified phospholipids. The predominant menaquinone was Q-8, and the genomic DNA G + C content was 64.1%. Considering the polyphasic taxonomic evidence, strain YIM B06366T is proposed as a novel species within the genus Chitinolyticbacter, named Chitinolyticbacter albus sp. nov. (type strain YIM B06366T = KCTC 92434T = CCTCC AB 2022163T).

Prenatal and early-life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine increased the risk of tuberculosis in adulthood across two generations.

Global food security is a major driver of population health, and food system collapse may have complex and long-lasting effects on health outcomes. We examined the effect of prenatal exposure to the Great Chinese Famine (1958-1962)-the largest famine in human history-on pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) across consecutive generations in a major center of ongoing transmission in China. We analyzed >1 million PTB cases diagnosed between 2005 and 2018 in Sichuan Province using age-period-cohort analysis and mixed-effects metaregression to estimate the effect of the famine on PTB risk in the directly affected birth cohort (F1) and their likely offspring (F2). The analysis was repeated on certain sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) to explore potential mechanisms of the intergenerational effects. A substantial burden of active PTB in the exposed F1 cohort and their offspring was attributable to the Great Chinese Famine, with more than 12,000 famine-attributable active PTB cases (>1.23% of all cases reported between 2005 and 2018). An interquartile range increase in famine intensity resulted in a 6.53% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-12.14%) increase in the ratio of observed to expected incidence rate (incidence rate ratio, IRR) in the absence of famine in F1, and an 8.32% (95% CI: 0.59-16.6%) increase in F2 IRR. Increased risk of STBBI was also observed in F2. Prenatal and early-life exposure to malnutrition may increase the risk of active PTB in the exposed generation and their offspring, with the intergenerational effect potentially due to both within-household transmission and increases in host susceptibility.

Human Activity Recognition Method Based on FMCW Radar Sensor with Multi-Domain Feature Attention Fusion Network.

This paper proposes a human activity recognition (HAR) method for frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar sensors. The method utilizes a multi-domain feature attention fusion network (MFAFN) model that addresses the limitation of relying on a single range or velocity feature to describe human activity. Specifically, the network fuses time-Doppler (TD) and time-range (TR) maps of human activities, resulting in a more comprehensive representation of the activities being performed. In the feature fusion phase, the multi-feature attention fusion module (MAFM) combines features of different depth levels by introducing a channel attention mechanism. Additionally, a multi-classification focus loss (MFL) function is applied to classify confusable samples. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves 97.58% recognition accuracy on the dataset provided by the University of Glasgow, UK. Compared to existing HAR methods for the same dataset, the proposed method showed an improvement of about 0.9-5.5%, especially in the classification of confusable activities, showing an improvement of up to 18.33%.

Circularly Polarized Ultra-Wideband Antenna for Uni-Traveling-Carrier Photodiode Terahertz Source.

This paper proposes a circularly polarized ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna for a Uni-Traveling-Carrier Photodiode (UTC-PD) to meet the growing demand for bandwidth and polarization diversity in terahertz (THz) communication. In the design of the UTC-PD integrated antenna, the planar electrodes of the chip are directly integrated with the antenna to simplify the integration process. However, this integration introduces new problems, such as asymmetry inside the spiral antenna, which leads to a deterioration in the corresponding high-frequency performance. To address this issue, the antenna's structure is optimized, and a lens is integrated to enhance directivity and eliminate surface waves. As a result, the proposed antenna achieves a 100-1500 GHz (175%) impedance bandwidth and a 150-720 GHz (131%) axial ratio bandwidth for the UTC-PD. The maximum gain of the antenna is 21.05 dBi at 1 THz.

Constructing Oxygen Vacancies via Engineering Heterostructured Fe3 C/Fe3 O4 Catalysts for Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis.

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) under ambient conditions provides an intriguing pathway to convert N2 into NH3 . However, significant kinetic barriers of the NRR at low temperatures in desirable aqueous electrolytes remain a grand challenge due to the inert N≡N bond of the N2 molecule. Herein, we propose a unique strategy for in situ oxygen vacancy construction to address the significant trade-off between N2 adsorption and NH3 desorption by building a hollow shell structured Fe3 C/Fe3 O4 heterojunction coated with carbon frameworks (Fe3 C/Fe3 O4 @C). In the heterostructure, the Fe3 C triggers the oxygen vacancies of the Fe3 O4 component, which are likely active sites for the NRR. The design could optimize the adsorption strength of the N2 and Nx Hy intermediates, thus boosting the catalytic activity for the NRR. This work highlights the significance of the interaction between defect and interface engineering for regulating electrocatalytic properties of heterostructured catalysts for the challenging NRR. It could motivate an in-depth exploration to advance N2 reduction to ammonia.

Designed Tetranuclear Iron-oxo Clusters with Redox Activity for High-Performance Lithium Storage.

Polyoxometalates (POMs) are considered as promising catalysts with unique redox activity at the molecular level for energy storage. However, eco-friendly iron-oxo clusters with special metal coordination structures have rarely been reported for Li-ion storage. Herein, three novel redox-active tetranuclear iron-oxo clusters have been synthesized using the solvothermal method with different ratios of Fe3+ and SO4 2- . Further, they can serve as anode materials for Li-ion batteries. Among them, cluster H6 [Fe4 O2 (H2 O)2 (SO4 )7 ]⋅H2 O, the stable structure extended by SO4 2- with a unique 1D pore, displays a specific discharge capacity of 1784 mAh g-1 at 0.2 C and good cycle performance (at 0.2 C and 4 C). This is the first instance of inorganic iron-oxo clusters being used for Li-ion storage. Our findings present a new molecular model system with a well-defined structure and offer new design concepts for the practical application of studying the multi-electron redox activity of iron-oxo clusters.