Room-temperature sub-100 nm Néel-type skyrmions in non-stoichiometric van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3-xGaTe2 with ultrafast laser writability.

Realizing room-temperature magnetic skyrmions in two-dimensional van der Waals ferromagnets offers unparalleled prospects for future spintronic applications. However, due to the intrinsic spin fluctuations that suppress atomic long-range magnetic order and the inherent inversion crystal symmetry that excludes the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, achieving room-temperature skyrmions in 2D magnets remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we target room-temperature 2D magnet Fe3GaTe2 and unveil that the introduction of iron-deficient into this compound enables spatial inversion symmetry breaking, thus inducing a significant Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction that brings about room-temperature Néel-type skyrmions with unprecedentedly small size. To further enhance the practical applications of this finding, we employ a homemade in-situ optical Lorentz transmission electron microscopy to demonstrate ultrafast writing of skyrmions in Fe3-xGaTe2 using a single femtosecond laser pulse. Our results manifest the Fe3-xGaTe2 as a promising building block for realizing skyrmion-based magneto-optical functionalities.

Utility of spectral CT with orthopedic metal artifact reduction algorithms for 125I seeds implantation in mediastinal and hepatic tumors.

Background: Virtual monochromatic image (VMI) combined with orthopedic metal artifact reduction algorithms (VMI + O-MAR) can effectively reduce artifacts caused by metal implants of different types. Nevertheless, so far, no study has systematically evaluated the efficacy of VMI + O-MAR in reducing various types of metal artifacts induced by 125I seeds. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of combining spectral computed tomography (CT) images with O-MAR in reducing metal artifacts and improving the image quality affected by artifacts in patients after 125I radioactive seeds implantation (RSI). Methods: A total of 45 patients who underwent dual-layer detector spectral CT (DLCT; IQon, Philips Healthcare) scanning of mediastinal and hepatic tumors after 125I RSI were retrospectively included. Spectral data were reconstructed into conventional image (CI), VMI, CI combined with O-MAR (CI + O-MAR), and VMI + O-MAR to evaluate the de-artifact effect and image quality improvement. Objective indicators included signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and artifact index (AI) of lesions affected by artifacts. Subjective indicators included assessment of overcorrected artifacts and new artifacts, different morphology of artifacts, and overall image quality. Results: In artifact-affected lesion areas, SNR and CNR in the CI/VMI + O-MAR groups were better than those in CI groups (all P values <0.05). The AI showed a downward trend as VMI keV increased (all P values <0.001). The AI values of the CI/VMI (50-150 keV) group were all higher than the groups of CI/VMI + O-MAR (50-150 keV) (P<0.001). Overcorrection artifacts and new artifacts were concentrated in the VMI50/70 keV groups. In the evaluation of artifact morphology, as the VMI keV increased, the number of near-field banding artifacts in hyperdense artifacts gradually decreased, whereas the number of minimal or no artifacts increased, and the total number of hyperdense artifacts were decreased. The diagnostic and image quality scores of hyperdense artifacts were higher than those of hypodense artifacts as VMI keV increased. Conclusions: High VMI level combined with O-MAR substantially improve objective and subjective image quality, lesion display ability, and diagnostic confidence of CT follow-up after 125I RSI, especially at the VMI + O-MAR 150 keV level.

Strain-Induced Reversible Motion of Skyrmions at Room Temperature.

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected swirling spin textures with great potential for future spintronic applications. The ability to induce skyrmion motion using mechanical strain not only stimulates the exploration of exotic physics but also affords the opportunity to develop energy-efficient spintronic devices. However, the experimental realization of strain-driven skyrmion motion remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we demonstrate that the inhomogeneous uniaxial compressive strain can induce the movement of isolated skyrmions from regions of high strain to regions of low strain at room temperature, which was directly observed using an in situ Lorentz transmission electron microscope with a specially designed nanoindentation holder. We discover that the uniaxial compressive strain can transform skyrmions into a single domain with in-plane magnetization, resulting in the coexistence of skyrmions with a single domain along the direction of the strain gradient. Through comprehensive micromagnetic simulations, we reveal that the repulsive interactions between skyrmions and the single domain serve as the driving force behind the skyrmion motion. The precise control of skyrmion motion through strain provides exciting opportunities for designing advanced spintronic devices that leverage the intricate interplay between strain and magnetism.

All-ferroelectric implementation of reservoir computing.

Reservoir computing (RC) offers efficient temporal information processing with low training cost. All-ferroelectric implementation of RC is appealing because it can fully exploit the merits of ferroelectric memristors (e.g., good controllability); however, this has been undemonstrated due to the challenge of developing ferroelectric memristors with distinctly different switching characteristics specific to the reservoir and readout network. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an all-ferroelectric RC system whose reservoir and readout network are implemented with volatile and nonvolatile ferroelectric diodes (FDs), respectively. The volatile and nonvolatile FDs are derived from the same Pt/BiFeO3/SrRuO3 structure via the manipulation of an imprint field (Eimp). It is shown that the volatile FD with Eimp exhibits short-term memory and nonlinearity while the nonvolatile FD with negligible Eimp displays long-term potentiation/depression, fulfilling the functional requirements of the reservoir and readout network, respectively. Hence, the all-ferroelectric RC system is competent for handling various temporal tasks. In particular, it achieves an ultralow normalized root mean square error of 0.017 in the Hénon map time-series prediction. Besides, both the volatile and nonvolatile FDs demonstrate long-term stability in ambient air, high endurance, and low power consumption, promising the all-ferroelectric RC system as a reliable and low-power neuromorphic hardware for temporal information processing.

Strain Tuning of Negative Capacitance in Ferroelectric KNbO3 Thin Films.

Ferroelectrics with negative capacitance effects can amplify the gate voltage in field-effect transistors to achieve low power operation beyond the limits of Boltzmann's Tyranny. The reduction of power consumption depends on the capacitance matching between the ferroelectric layer and gate dielectrics, which can be well controlled by adjusting the negative capacitance effect in ferroelectrics. However, it is a great challenge to experimentally tune the negative capacitance effect. Here, the observation of the tunable negative capacitance effect in ferroelectric KNbO3 through strain engineering is demonstrated. The magnitude of the voltage reduction and negative slope in polarization-electric field (P-E) curves as the symbol of negative capacitance effects can be controlled by imposing various epitaxial strains. The adjustment of the negative curvature region in the polarization-energy landscape under different strain states is responsible for the tunable negative capacitance. Our work paves the way for fabricating low-power devices and further reducing energy consumption in electronics.

Performance estimation for the memristor-based computing-in-memory implementation of extremely factorized network for real-time and low-power semantic segmentation.

Nowadays many semantic segmentation algorithms have achieved satisfactory accuracy on von Neumann platforms (e.g., GPU), but the speed and energy consumption have not meet the high requirements of certain edge applications like autonomous driving. To tackle this issue, it is of necessity to design an efficient lightweight semantic segmentation algorithm and then implement it on emerging hardware platforms with high speed and energy efficiency. Here, we first propose an extremely factorized network (EFNet) which can learn multi-scale context information while preserving rich spatial information with reduced model complexity. Experimental results on the Cityscapes dataset show that EFNet achieves an accuracy of 68.0% mean intersection over union (mIoU) with only 0.18M parameters, at a speed of 99 frames per second (FPS) on a single RTX 3090 GPU. Then, to further improve the speed and energy efficiency, we design a memristor-based computing-in-memory (CIM) accelerator for the hardware implementation of EFNet. It is shown by the simulation in DNN+NeuroSim V2.0 that the memristor-based CIM accelerator is ∼63× (∼4.6×) smaller in area, at most ∼9.2× (∼1000×) faster, and ∼470× (∼2400×) more energy-efficient than the RTX 3090 GPU (the Jetson Nano embedded development board), although its accuracy slightly decreases by 1.7% mIoU. Therefore, the memristor-based CIM accelerator has great potential to be deployed at the edge to implement lightweight semantic segmentation models like EFNet. This study showcases an algorithm-hardware co-design to realize real-time and low-power semantic segmentation at the edge.

Effect of Mobile Phone App-Based Interventions on Quality of Life and Psychological Symptoms Among Adult Cancer Survivors: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: Most patients with cancer experience psychological or physical distress, which can adversely affect their quality of life (QOL). Smartphone app interventions are increasingly being used to improve QOL and psychological outcomes in patients with cancer. However, there is insufficient evidence regarding the effect of this type of intervention, with conflicting results in the literature. OBJECTIVE: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we investigated the effectiveness of mobile phone app interventions on QOL and psychological outcomes in adult patients with cancer, with a special focus on intervention duration, type of cancer, intervention theory, treatment strategy, and intervention delivery format. METHODS: We conducted a literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang to identify studies involving apps that focused on cancer survivors and QOL or psychological symptoms published from inception to October 30, 2022. We selected only randomized controlled trials that met the inclusion criteria and performed systematic review and meta-analysis. The standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% CI was pooled when needed. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were also conducted. RESULTS: In total, 30 randomized controlled trials with a total of 5353 participants were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with routine care, app interventions might improve QOL (SMD=0.39, 95% CI 0.27-0.51; P<.001); enhance self-efficacy (SMD=0.15, 95% CI 0.02-0.29; P=.03); and alleviate anxiety (SMD=-0.64, 95% CI -0.73 to -0.56; P<.001), depression (SMD=-0.33, 95% CI -0.58 to -0.08; P=.009), and distress (SMD=-0.34, 95% CI -0.61 to -0.08; P=.01). Short-term (duration of ≤3 months), physician-patient interaction (2-way communication using a smartphone app), and cognitive behavioral therapy interventions might be the most effective for improving QOL and alleviating adverse psychological effects. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that interventions using mobile health apps might improve QOL and self-efficacy as well as alleviate anxiety, depression, and distress in adult cancer survivors. However, these results should be interpreted with caution because of the heterogeneity of the interventions and the study design. More rigorous trials are warranted to confirm the suitable duration and validate the different intervention theories as well as address methodological flaws in previous studies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42022370599; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=370599.

Ultrahigh Polarization Response along Large Energy Storage Properties in BiFeO3-BaTiO3-Based Relaxor Ferroelectric Ceramics under Low Electric Field.

BiFeO3-BaTiO3 (BF-BT) dielectric ceramics are receiving more and more concern for advanced energy storage devices owing to their excellent ferroelectric properties and environmental sustainability. However, the energy density and efficiency are limited in spite of the large remanent polarization. Herein, we proposed a multiscale optimization strategy via a local compositional disorder with a Birich content and nanodomain engineering by introducing the Sr0.7Bi0.2Ca0.1TiO3 (SBCT) into BF-BT ceramics. Interestingly, an extraordinary energy storage property (ESP) with a high reversible energy storage density (Wrec) of ∼3.79 J/cm3 and an ultrahigh polarization discrepancy (ΔP) of ∼58.5 µC/cm2 were obtained in the SBCT-modified BF-BT ceramics under 160 kV/cm. The boosted ESP should be attributed to the fact that the replacement of A/B-sites cations could transform the long-range ferroelectric order of the BF-BT system into polar nanoregions (PNRs) along with the refined grain size, decreased leakage current, and broadened energy band gap. Moreover, good frequency (1-103 Hz) and temperature (25-125 °C) stabilities, high fatigue resistance (× 105), large power density (∼31.1 MW/cm3), and fast discharge time (∼97 ns) were also observed for the optimized ceramics. These results illustrate a potentially effective method for creating high ESP lead-free ceramics at a low electric field.

The Association Between Plant-Based Diet Indices and Obesity and Metabolic Diseases in Chinese Adults: Longitudinal Analyses From the China Health and Nutrition Survey.

Background: A wide range of health benefits are associated with consuming a diet high in plant-based foods. Diet quality can be accurately assessed using plant-based diet indices, however there is inadequate evidence that plant-based diet indices are linked to obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes (T2D), especially in Chinese cultures who have traditionally consumed plant-rich foods. Methods: The data came from the China Nutrition and Health Survey. Overall, 11,580 adult participants were enrolled between 2004 and 2006 and followed up until 2009 or 2015 (follow-up rate: 73.4%). Dietary intake was assessed across three 24-h recalls, and two plant-based dietary indices [overall plant-based diet indice (PDI) and healthy plant-based diet indice (hPDI)] were calculated using China Food Composition Code and categorized into quintiles. The study's endpoints were overweight/obesity, hypertension, and T2D. The Hazard ratio (HR) and dose-response relationship were assessed using the Cox proportional risk model and restricted cubic splines. The areas under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were used to evaluate the predictive performance of the PDI and hPDI. Results: During the median follow-up period of more than 10 years, 1,270 (33.4%), 1,509 (31.6%), and 720 (11.5%) participants developed overweight / obesity, hypertension, and T2D, respectively. The higher PDI score was linked with a reduced risk of overweight/obesity [HR: 0.71 (95% CI: 0.55-0.93), P-trend <0.001], hypertension [HR: 0.63 (95% CI: 0.51-0.79), P-trend <0.001], and T2D [HR: 0.79 (95% CI: 0.72-0.87), P-trend <0.001]. The hPDI score was inversely associated with overweight/obesity [HR: 0.79 (95% CI: 0.62-0.98), P-trend = 0.02] and T2D [HR: 0.84 (95% CI: 0.75-0.93), P-trend = 0.001]. In the aged <55-year-old group, subgroup analysis indicated a significant negative association between PDI/hPDI and overweight/obesity, hypertension, and T2D. There was no significant difference in the areas under the curve of the fully adjusted obesity, hypertension, and diabetes prediction models between PDI and hPDI. Conclusion: The PDI and hPDI scores were very similar in application in Chinese populations, and our findings highlight that adherence to overall plant-based diet index helps to reduce the risk of T2D, obesity, and hypertension in Chinese adults who habitually consume plant-based foods, especially for those aged <55 year. Further understanding of how plant-based diet quality is associated with chronic disease will be needed in the future, which will help develop dietary strategies to prevent diabetes, hypertension, and related chronic diseases.

Silencing of a Cotton Actin-Binding Protein GhWLIM1C Decreases Resistance against Verticillium dahliae Infection.

LIM proteins are widely spread in various types of plant cells and play diversely crucial cellular roles through actin cytoskeleton assembly and gene expression regulation. Till now, it has not been clear whether LIM proteins function in plant pathogen defense. In this study, we characterized a LIM protein, GhWLIM1C, in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). We found that GhWLIM1C could bind and bundle the actin cytoskeleton, and it contains two LIM domains (LIM1 and LIM2). Both the two domains could bind directly to the actin filaments. Moreover, the LIM2 domain additionally bundles the actin cytoskeleton, indicating that it possesses a different biochemical activity than LIM1. The expression of GhWLIM1C responds to the infection of the cotton fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae (V. dahliae). Silencing of GhWLIM1C decreased cotton resistance to V. dahliae. These may be associated with the down regulated plant defense response, including the PR genes expression and ROS accumulation in the infected cotton plants. In all, these results provide new evidence that a plant LIM protein functions in plant pathogen resistance and the assembly of the actin cytoskeleton are closely related to the triggering of the plant defense response.

Ferroelectric photosensor network: an advanced hardware solution to real-time machine vision.

Nowadays the development of machine vision is oriented toward real-time applications such as autonomous driving. This demands a hardware solution with low latency, high energy efficiency, and good reliability. Here, we demonstrate a robust and self-powered in-sensor computing paradigm with a ferroelectric photosensor network (FE-PS-NET). The FE-PS-NET, constituted by ferroelectric photosensors (FE-PSs) with tunable photoresponsivities, is capable of simultaneously capturing and processing images. In each FE-PS, self-powered photovoltaic responses, modulated by remanent polarization of an epitaxial ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 layer, show not only multiple nonvolatile levels but also sign reversibility, enabling the representation of a signed weight in a single device and hence reducing the hardware overhead for network construction. With multiple FE-PSs wired together, the FE-PS-NET acts on its own as an artificial neural network. In situ multiply-accumulate operation between an input image and a stored photoresponsivity matrix is demonstrated in the FE-PS-NET. Moreover, the FE-PS-NET is faultlessly competent for real-time image processing functionalities, including binary classification between 'X' and 'T' patterns with 100% accuracy and edge detection for an arrow sign with an F-Measure of 1 (under 365 nm ultraviolet light). This study highlights the great potential of ferroelectric photovoltaics as the hardware basis of real-time machine vision.

The N-terminal acetyltransferase Naa50 regulates tapetum degradation and pollen development in Arabidopsis.

The N-terminal acetylation of proteins is a key modification in eukaryotes. However, knowledge of the biological function of N-terminal acetylation modification of proteins in plants is limited. Naa50 is the catalytic subunit of the N-terminal acetyltransferase NatE complex. We previously demonstrated that the absence of Naa50 leads to sterility in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the present study, the lack of Naa50 resulted in collapsed and sterile pollen in Arabidopsis. Further experiments showed that the mutation in Naa50 accelerated programmed cell death in the tapetum. Expression pattern analysis revealed the specific expression of Naa50 in the tapetum cells of anthers at 9-11 stages during pollen development, when tapetal programmed cell death occurred. Reciprocal cross analyses indicated that male sterility in naa50 is caused by sporophytic effects. mRNA sequencing and quantitative PCR of the closed buds showed that the deletion of Naa50 resulted in the upregulation of the cysteine protease coding gene CEP1 and impaired the expression of several genes involved in pollen wall deposition and pollen mitotic division. The collective data suggest that Naa50 balances the degradation of tapetum cells during anther development and plays an important role in pollen development by affecting several pathways.

Magnaporthe oryzae Transcription Factor MoBZIP3 Regulates Appressorium Turgor Pressure Formation during Pathogenesis.

The devastating fungus Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) forms a specialized infection structure known as appressorium, which generates enormous turgor, to penetrate the plant cells. However, how M. oryzae regulates the appressorium turgor formation, is not well understood. In this study, we identified MoBZIP3, a bZIP transcription factor that functioned in pathogenesis in M. oryzae. We found that the pathogenicity of the MoBZIP3 knockout strain (Δmobzip3) was significantly reduced, and the defect was restored after re-expression of MoBZIP3, indicating that MoBZIP3 is required for M. oryzae virulence. Further analysis showed that MoBZIP3 functions in utilization of glycogen and lipid droplets for generation of glycerol in appressorium. MoBZIP3 localized in the nucleus and could bind directly to the promoters of the glycerol synthesis-related genes, MoPTH2, MoTGL1 and MoPEX6, and regulate their expression which is critical for glycerol synthesis in the appressorium turgor pressure generation. Furthermore, the critical turgor sensor gene MoSln1 was also down regulated and its subcellular localization was aberrant in Δmobzip3, which leads to a disordered actin assembly in the Δmobzip3 appressorium. Taken together, these results revealed new regulatory functions of the bZIP transcription factor MoBZIP3, in regulating M. oryzae appressorium turgor formation and infection.

Nonvolatile Ferroelectric-Domain-Wall Memory Embedded in a Complex Topological Domain Structure.

The discovery and precise manipulation of atomic-size conductive ferroelectric domain walls offers new opportunities for a wide range of prospective electronic devices, and the emerging field of walltronics. Herein, a highly stable and fatigue-resistant nonvolatile memory device is demonstrated, which is based on deterministic creation and erasure of conductive domain walls that are geometrically confined in a topological domain structure. By introducing a pair of delicately designed coaxial electrodes onto the epitaxial BiFeO3  film, a center-type quadrant topological domain with conductive charged domain walls can be easily created. More importantly, reversible switching of the quadrant domain between the convergent state with highly conductive confined walls and the divergent state with insulating confined walls can be realized, resulting in an apparent resistance change with a large on/off ratio of >104  and a technically preferred readout current (up to 40 nA). Owing to restrictions from the clamped quadrant ferroelastic domain, the device exhibits excellent restoration repeatability over 108  cycles and a long retention of over 12 days (>106  s). These results provide a new pathway toward high-performance ferroelectric-domain-wall memory, which may spur extensive interest in exploring the immense potential in the emerging field of walltronics.

Controlled Switching of the Number of Skyrmions in a Magnetic Nanodot by Electric Fields.

Magnetic skyrmions are topological swirling spin configurations that hold promise for building future magnetic memories and logic circuits. Skyrmionic devices typically rely on the electrical manipulation of a single skyrmion, but controllably manipulating a group of skyrmions can lead to more compact and memory-efficient devices. Here, an electric-field-driven cascading transition of skyrmion clusters in a nanostructured ferromagnetic/ferroelectric multiferroic heterostructure is reported, which allows a continuous multilevel transition of the number of skyrmions in a one-by-one manner. Most notably, the transition is non-volatile and reversible, which is crucial for multi-bit memory applications. Combined experiments and theoretical simulations reveal that the switching of skyrmion clusters is induced by the strain-mediated modification of both the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and effective uniaxial anisotropy. The results not only open up a new direction for constructing low-power-consuming, non-volatile, and multi-bit skyrmionic devices, but also offer valuable insights into the fundamental physics underlying the voltage manipulation of skyrmion clusters.

C-Reactive Protein Levels in relation to Incidence of Hypertension in Chinese Adults: Longitudinal Analyses from the China Health and Nutrition Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels and incident hypertension, as well as the association between hs-CRP levels and related covariates, in a Chinese adult population. METHODS: This study was based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey, a continuing open, large-scale prospective cohort study. Adult participants who were free of hypertension were included at baseline survey in 2009 and were followed up in 2015 (follow-up rate: 77.45%). The hs-CRP was measured using the immunoturbidimetric method and divided into three groups: low-risk group (0 ≤ hs-CRP <1 mg/L), average-risk group (1 ≤ hs-CRP <3 mg/L), and high-risk group (3 ≤ hs-CRP ≤10 mg/L). Definite diagnosis of hypertension in the follow-up survey in 2015 was the endpoint event of this study. The areas under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to evaluate the predictive value of the hs-CRP. RESULTS: 3794 participants were finally included as study sample, of whom 912 developed hypertension during a 6-year follow-up period (incidence: 24.1%). The incidences of hypertension in hs-CRP low-risk, average-risk, and high-risk groups were 17.6% (200/1135), 25.9% (521/2015), and 29.7% (191/644), respectively. Spearman's correlation analyses showed that there was significant positive correlation between hs-CRP levels and waist circumference, total triglycerides, total cholesterol, age, body mass index, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index. Stepwise regression analyses showed that participants in the hs-CRP high-risk group had a 46.2% higher risk of developing hypertension compared with those in the hs-CRP low-risk group (odds ratio: 1.462, 95% confidence interval: 1.018-2.101). Baseline systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels and waist circumference contributed the most to the development of hypertension with R 2 of 0.076, 0.052, and 0.039, respectively, while hs-CRP had lower area under the curve (AUC) for hypertension, adding baseline BP and WC to the prediction model increased the AUC to 0.708 (95% CI: 0.681-0.735). CONCLUSION: This study revealed a weak positive association between CRP levels and future incidence of hypertension in the Chinese population. The combination of hs-CRP with baseline BP and waist circumference (WC) had a higher predictive value for hypertension (AUC: 0.708), but the predictive value was still limited.

Twinfilin regulates actin assembly and Hexagonal peroxisome 1 (Hex1) localization in the pathogenesis of rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

Actin assembly at the hyphal tip is key for polar growth and pathogenesis of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. The mechanism of its precise assemblies and biological functions is not understood. Here, we characterized the role of M. oryzae Twinfilin (MoTwf) in M. oryzae infection through organizing the actin cables that connect to Spitzenkörper (Spk) at the hyphal tip. MoTwf could bind and bundle the actin filaments. It formed a complex with Myosin2 (MoMyo2) and the Woronin body protein Hexagonal peroxisome 1 (MoHex1). Enrichment of MoMyo2 and MoHex1 in the hyphal apical region was disrupted in a ΔMotwf loss-of-function mutant, which also showed a decrease in the number and width of actin cables. These findings indicate that MoTwf participates in the virulence of M. oryzae by organizing Spk-connected actin filaments and regulating MoHex1 distribution at the hyphal tip.

Quasi-one-dimensional metallic conduction channels in exotic ferroelectric topological defects.

Ferroelectric topological objects provide a fertile ground for exploring emerging physical properties that could potentially be utilized in future nanoelectronic devices. Here, we demonstrate quasi-one-dimensional metallic high conduction channels associated with the topological cores of quadrant vortex domain and center domain (monopole-like) states confined in high quality BiFeO3 nanoislands, abbreviated as the vortex core and the center core. We unveil via the phase-field simulation that the superfine metallic conduction channels along the center cores arise from the screening charge carriers confined at the core region, whereas the high conductance of vortex cores results from a field-induced twisted state. These conducting channels can be reversibly created and deleted by manipulating the two topological states via electric field, leading to an apparent electroresistance effect with an on/off ratio higher than 103. These results open up the possibility of utilizing these functional one-dimensional topological objects in high-density nanoelectronic devices, e.g. nonvolatile memory.

Highly Controllable and Silicon-Compatible Ferroelectric Photovoltaic Synapses for Neuromorphic Computing.

Ferroelectric synapses using polarization switching (a purely electronic switching process) to induce analog conductance change have attracted considerable interest. Here, we propose ferroelectric photovoltaic (FePV) synapses that use polarization-controlled photocurrent as the readout and thus have no limitations on the forms and thicknesses of the constituent ferroelectric and electrode materials. This not only makes FePV synapses easy to fabricate but also reduces the depolarization effect and hence enhances the polarization controllability. As a proof-of-concept implementation, a Pt/Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3/LaNiO3 FePV synapse is facilely grown on a silicon substrate, which demonstrates continuous photovoltaic response modulation with good controllability (small nonlinearity and write noise) enabled by gradual polarization switching. Using photovoltaic response as synaptic weight, this device exhibits versatile synaptic functions including long-term potentiation/depression and spike-timing-dependent plasticity. A simulated FePV synapse-based neural network achieves high accuracies (>93%) for image recognition. This study paves a new way toward highly controllable and silicon-compatible synapses for neuromorphic computing.

All-Inorganic Flexible Ba0.67Sr0.33TiO3 Thin Films with Excellent Dielectric Properties over a Wide Range of Frequencies.

With rapid advances in flexible electronics and communication devices, flexible dielectric capacitors exhibiting high permittivity, low loss, and large electric-field tunability over a wide frequency range have attracted increasing attention. Here, a large-scale Ba0.67Sr0.33TiO3 (BST) dielectric thin film sandwiched between SrRuO3 (SRO) bottom electrode and Pt top electrode is fabricated on a flexible mica substrate. The mica/SRO/BST/Pt capacitor exhibits a dielectric constant (εr') of more than 1200, a loss tangent [tan(δ)] as low as 0.16, and a tunability of 67% at low frequencies around 10 kHz. Simultaneously, the capacitor can retain an εr' of 540 and a tan(δ) of 0.07 at microwave frequencies, e.g., 18.6 GHz. Moreover, even when the capacitor is bent to a small radius of 5 mm or undergoes 12 000 bending cycles (at 5 mm radius), almost no deterioration in εr', tan(δ), and tunability is observed. The excellent dielectricity and mechanical flexibility and durability endow the mica/SRO/BST/Pt capacitor with huge potential for flexible electronic and microwave applications.