Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography Purified GC/C/IRMS Doping Control Method: Analysis of Endogenous and Exogenous Sources in Urine Samples from Asian Subjects Administered a Low Dose of AICAR.

AICAR (5-amino-4-imidazolecarboxyamide ribonucleoside), as a metabolic modulator, is classified in the S4 category by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Carbon Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (CIR) is the mainstream method for distinguishing the endogenous and exogenous sources of AICAR in urine due to the significant individual difference in the concentration. The purpose of this study is to establish a gas chromatography combustion Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) method for AICAR based on efficient two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-HPLC) separation. METHOD: In this study, an automated 2D-HPLC separation technique was used to separate and purify AICAR and endogenous reference substances in urine samples. Then, AICAR was derivatized with 3-TMS as the main derivative product, while the endogenous reference compounds remained in their original form. Subsequently, the developed GC/C/IRMS method was utilized for the detection of the target and reference substances. Followed, we evaluated the applicability of this method using urine samples from two Asian males administered a low dose of AICAR (3 grams). RESULTS: The advantages of this study include: 1) reduced sample pretreatment time: the established 2D-HPLC separation method can separate the target and endogenous reference substances in one step; 2) low interference: the isotope chromatograms have low background interference, and the separation of endogenous reference substances is purer; 3) more accurate result calculations: this method only requires derivatization and result correction for AICAR, with the endogenous reference substances measured in their original form, reducing biases from corrections of multiple substances. The detection method performed well, with a concentriton limit of 2500 ng/mL, meeting the needs of routine detection concentrations. The CIR results from volunteer samples indicated that samples collected within 16 hours post-administration exceeded the threshold set in the literature. CONCLUSION: This study successfully established a 2D-HPLC-GC/IRMS method that integrates CIR as the most stable indicator for distinguishing the internal and external sources of AICAR. After administering a low dose of AICAR to the Asian population, exogenous drug characteristics were manifested within 16 hours. This observation, when compared to the 40-hour detection window cited in the literature, suggests that the length of the detection window is positively correlated with the dosage of the test drug.

Photolithography-Free, Solution-Processable Perovskite Electrodes for High-Performance Organic Transistors.

Solution-processable electrodes are promising for next-generation electronics due to their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and potential for large-area fabrication. However, current solution-processable electrodes based on conductive polymers, carbon-based compounds, and metal nanowires face challenges related to stability, patterning, and production scalability. Here we introduce a novel approach using 3D tin halide perovskites (THPs) combined with a photolithography-free solution patterning technique to fabricate solution-processed electrodes. We demonstrate the preparation of highly conductive CsSnI3 films (234.9 S cm-1) and the fabrication of patterned 35 × 35 perovskite electrode arrays on a 4-in. silicon wafer. These electrodes, used as source/drain electrodes in organic transistors, resulted in devices showing high uniformity and stability. This electrode fabrication strategy is also applicable to other 3D THPs like FASnI3 and MASnI3, showcasing versatility for diverse applications. The results highlight the feasibility and advantages of using 3D THPs as solution-processable electrodes, providing a new material system for the advancement of solution-processed electronics.

Large-scale sub-5-nm vertical transistors by van der Waals integration.

Vertical field effect transistor (VFET), in which the semiconductor is sandwiched between source/drain electrodes and the channel length is simply determined by the semiconductor thickness, has demonstrated promising potential for short channel devices. However, despite extensive efforts over the past decade, scalable methods to fabricate ultra-short channel VFETs remain challenging. Here, we demonstrate a layer-by-layer transfer process of large-scale indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) semiconductor arrays and metal electrodes, and realize large-scale VFETs with ultra-short channel length and high device performance. Within this process, the oxide semiconductor could be pre-deposited on a sacrificial wafer, and then physically released and sandwiched between metals, maintaining the intrinsic properties of ultra-scaled vertical channel. Based on this lamination process, we realize 2 inch-scale VFETs with channel length down to 4 nm, on-current over 800 A/cm2, and highest on-off ratio up to 2 × 105, which is over two orders of magnitude higher compared to control samples without laminating process. Our study not only represents the optimization of VFETs performance and scalability at the same time, but also offers a method of transfer large-scale oxide arrays, providing interesting implication for ultra-thin vertical devices.

Intracellular calcium dysregulation in heart and brain diseases: Insights from induced pluripotent stem cell studies.

The central nervous system (CNS) plays a role in regulating heart rate and myocardial contractility through sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves, and the heart can impact the functional equilibrium of the CNS through feedback signals. Although heart and brain diseases often coexist and mutually influence each other, the potential links between heart and brain diseases remain unclear due to a lack of reliable models of these relationships. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can differentiate into multiple functional cell types, stem cell biology and regenerative medicine may offer tools to clarify the mechanisms of these relationships and facilitate screening of effective therapeutic agents. Because calcium ions play essential roles in regulating both the cardiovascular and nervous systems, this review addresses how recent iPSC disease models reveal how dysregulation of intracellular calcium might be a common pathological factor underlying the relationships between heart and brain diseases.

High-density vertical sidewall MoS2 transistors through T-shape vertical lamination.

Vertical transistors, in which the source and drain are aligned vertically and the current flow is normal to the wafer surface, have attracted considerable attention recently. However, the realization of high-density vertical transistors is challenging, and could be largely attributed to the incompatibility between vertical structures and conventional lateral fabrication processes. Here we report a T-shape lamination approach for realizing high-density vertical sidewall transistors, where lateral transistors could be pre-fabricated on planar substrates first and then laminated onto vertical substrates using T-shape stamps, hence overcoming the incompatibility between planar processes and vertical structures. Based on this technique, we vertically stacked 60 MoS2 transistors within a small vertical footprint, corresponding to a device density over 108 cm-2. Furthermore, we demonstrate two approaches for scalable fabrication of vertical sidewall transistor arrays, including simultaneous lamination onto multiple vertical substrates, as well as on the same vertical substrate using multi-cycle layer-by-layer laminations.

Sotagliflozin attenuates cardiac dysfunction and depression-like behaviors in mice with myocardial infarction through the gut-heart-brain axis.

Myocardial infarction (MI) and depression are leading causes of mortality and morbidity globally, and these conditions are increasing recognized as being fundamentally interconnected. The recently recognized gut-heart-brain axis offers insights into depression following MI, but effective treatments for this comorbidity remain lacking. To address this medical need, we employed an animal model of MI to investigate the potential repurposing of sotagliflozin (SOTA), an approved sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 and 2 (SGLT1/2) inhibitor for diabetes, for managing depression following MI and identifying potential SOTA-associated microbial mechanisms. SOTA treatment improved cardiac dysfunction and alleviated depression-like behaviors induced by MI, accompanied by alterations in gut microbiota composition, such as changes in the Prevotellaceae NK3B31 group, Alloprevotella, and Prevotellaceae UCG-001. Moreover, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) using fecal samples from SOTA-treated MI mice demonstrated that gut microbiota contributed to the beneficial effects of SOTA on cardiac dysfunction and depression-like behaviors in MI mice. Intriguingly, FMT-based intervention and concordance analysis of gut microbiota before and after FMT suggested that Prevotellaceae NK3B31 group, Alloprevotella, and Prevotellaceae UCG-001 were associated with the beneficial effects of SOTA. Furthermore, functional prediction of gut microbiota and correlation analysis support the significance of these dynamic microbial communities. In conclusion, these findings suggest that SOTA could serve as a potential drug to ameliorate cardiac dysfunction and depressive symptoms in MI patients via through the gut-heart-brain axis.

Two-Dimensional Ultrathin Fe3Sn2 Kagome Metal with Defect-Dependent Magnetic Property.

Two-dimensional (2D) Fe3Sn2, which is a room-temperature ferromagnetic kagome metal, has potential applications in spintronic devices. However, the systematic synthesis and magnetic study of 2D Fe3Sn2 single crystals have rarely been reported. Here we have synthesized 2D hexagonal and triangular Fe3Sn2 nanosheets by controlling the amount of FeCl2 precursors in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. It is found that the hexagonal Fe3Sn2 nanosheets exist with Fe vacancy defects and show no obvious coercivity. While the triangular Fe3Sn2 nanosheet has obvious hysteresis loops at room temperature, its coercivity first increases and then remains stable with an increase in temperature, which should result from the competition of the thermal activation mechanism and spin direction rotation mechanism. A first-principles calculation study shows that the Fe vacancy defects in Fe3Sn2 can increase the distances between Fe atoms and weaken the ferromagnetism of Fe3Sn2. The resulting 2D Fe3Sn2 nanosheets provide a new choice for spintronic devices.

Facile Synthesis to Porous TiO2 Nanostructures at Low Temperature for Efficient Visible-Light Degradation of Tetracycline.

In this study, nanoporous TiO2 with hierarchical micro/nanostructures was synthesized on a large scale by a facile one-step solvothermal method at a low temperature. A series of characterizations was performed and carried out on the as-prepared photocatalysts, which were applied to the degradation of the antibiotic tetracycline (TC). The results demonstrated that nanoporous TiO2 obtained at a solvothermal temperature of 100 °C had a spherical morphology with high crystallinity and a relatively large specific surface area, composed of a large number of nanospheres. The nanoporous TiO2 with hierarchical micro/nanostructures exhibited excellent photocatalytic degradation activity for TC under simulated sunlight. The degradation rate was close to 100% after 30 min of UV light irradiation, and reached 79% only after 60 min of visible light irradiation, which was much better than the photodegradation performance of commercial TiO2 (only 29%). Moreover, the possible intermediates formed during the photocatalytic degradation of TC were explored by the density functional theory calculations and HPLC-MS spectra. Furthermore, two possible degradation routes were proposed, which provided experimental and theoretical support for the photocatalytic degradation of TC. In this study, we provide a new approach for the hierarchical micro/nanostructure of nanoporous TiO2, which can be applied in industrial manufacturing fields.

Effects of hydraulic cues in barrier environments on fish navigation downstream of dams.

Understanding how hydraulic cues in the barrier environment affect fish navigation is critical to fish migration in dammed rivers. However, most of the current research on the effects of hydraulic cues on fish navigation focuses on the effects of a single hydraulic parameter on fish migration and usually ignores fish sensory perception and swimming ability. This study presents an effective approach that combines a computational fluid dynamics model of a river with a model of fish behaviour to elucidate the effects of hydraulic cues in the barrier environment on fish migration paths and strategies by simulating the fish's perception of flow direction and their regulation of multiple hydraulic parameters. Four release scenarios for the dam were reviewed and it was determined that the modelled fish movements realistically reflected actual observations. In various scenarios, the target fish (Schizothorax chongi) managed to move upstream to the tailrace downstream of the dam, despite the hydraulic barrier created by the mainstem area of the river; they overcame this obstacle by exploiting low-velocity zones on both sides of the mainstem and in the river's boundary layer. During upstream movement, the target fish preferred areas with flow velocities between 0.7 and 1.0 m/s and a turbulent kinetic energy of less than 0.3 m2/s2 to maintain aerobic activity. Additionally, the effects of alternative turbine release strategies on the fine-motor movement of target fish were reviewed and an optimised strategy was provided that could increase the proportion of target fish entering the fish passage facility from 0% to 53.8% in the original scenario to 82.6%. This study provides a feasible method for the simulation of fish fine motion in complex flow environments as well as a scientific basis for the management of fish resources in dammed rivers.

Monolithic three-dimensional tier-by-tier integration via van der Waals lamination.

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have shown great potential for monolithic three-dimensional (M3D) integration due to their dangling-bonds-free surface and the ability to integrate to various substrates without the conventional constraint of lattice matching1-10. However, with atomically thin body thickness, 2D semiconductors are not compatible with various high-energy processes in microelectronics11-13, where the M3D integration of multiple 2D circuit tiers is challenging. Here we report an alternative low-temperature M3D integration approach by van der Waals (vdW) lamination of entire prefabricated circuit tiers, where the processing temperature is controlled to 120 °C. By further repeating the vdW lamination process tier by tier, an M3D integrated system is achieved with 10 circuit tiers in the vertical direction, overcoming previous thermal budget limitations. Detailed electrical characterization demonstrates the bottom 2D transistor is not impacted after repetitively laminating vdW circuit tiers on top. Furthermore, by vertically connecting devices within different tiers through vdW inter-tier vias, various logic and heterogeneous structures are realized with desired system functions. Our demonstration provides a low-temperature route towards fabricating M3D circuits with increased numbers of tiers.

Multidimensional Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) Synapses Based on Organic/Perovskite Semiconductor Heterojunction Transistors for Antispoofing Facial Recognition Systems.

Reliably discerning real human faces from fake ones, known as antispoofing, is crucial for facial recognition systems. While neuromorphic systems offer integrated sensing-memory-processing functions, they still struggle with efficient antispoofing techniques. Here we introduce a neuromorphic facial recognition system incorporating multidimensional deep ultraviolet (DUV) optoelectronic synapses to address these challenges. To overcome the complexity and high cost of producing DUV synapses using traditional wide-bandgap semiconductors, we developed a low-temperature (≤70 °C) solution process for fabricating DUV synapses based on PEA2PbBr4/C8-BTBT heterojunction field-effect transistors. This method enables the large-scale (4-in.), uniform, and transparent production of DUV synapses. These devices respond to both DUV and visible light, showing multidimensional features. Leveraging the unique ability of the multidimensional DUV synapse (MDUVS) to discriminate real human skin from artificial materials, we have achieved robust neuromorphic facial recognition with antispoofing capability, successfully identifying genuine human faces with an accuracy exceeding 92%.

Protective Mechanisms of SGLTi in Ischemic Heart Disease.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a common clinical cardiovascular disease with high morbidity and mortality. Sodium glucose cotransporter protein inhibitor (SGLTi) is a novel hypoglycemic drug. To date, both clinical trials and animal experiments have shown that SGLTi play a protective role in IHD, including myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). The protective effects may be involved in mechanisms of energy metabolic conversion, anti-inflammation, anti-fibrosis, ionic homeostasis improvement, immune cell development, angiogenesis and functional regulation, gut microbiota regulation, and epicardial lipids. Thus, this review summarizes the above mechanisms and aims to provide theoretical evidence for therapeutic strategies for IHD.

Screening anabolic androgenic steroids in human urine: an application of the state-of-the-art gas chromatography-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Over the past few decades, anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) have been abused in and out of competition for their performance-enhancing and muscle-building properties. Traditionally, AASs were commonly detected using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the initial testing procedure for doping control purposes. Gas chromatography-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-Orbitrap-HRMS) is a new technology that has many advantages in comparison with GC-MS (e.g., a maximum resolving power of 240,000 (FWHM at m/z 200), excellent sub-ppm mass accuracy, and retrospective data analysis after data acquisition). Anti-doping practitioners are encouraged to take full advantage of the updated techniques of chromatography-mass spectrometry to develop sensitive, specific, and rapid screening methods for AASs. A new method for screening a wide range of AASs in human urine using GC-Orbitrap-HRMS was developed and validated. The method can qualitatively determine 70 anabolic androgenic steroids according to the minimum required performance limit of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Moreover, the validated method was successfully applied to detect six metabolites in urine after the oral administration of metandienone, and their excretion curves in vivo were studied. Metandienone M6 (17ß-hydroxymethyl-17α-methyl-18-nor-androst-1,4,13-trien-3-one) has been identified as a long-term urinary metabolite which can be detected up to 7 weeks, thus providing a longer detection window compared with previous studies. This study provides a rationale for GC-Orbitrap-HRMS in drug metabolism and non-targeted screening.

Reconfigurable Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt Memristors with Stable Synchronous Synaptic and Neuronal Functions for Renewable Homogeneous Neuromorphic Computing System.

Artificial synapses and bionic neurons offer great potential in highly efficient computing paradigms. However, complex requirements for specific electronic devices in neuromorphic computing have made memristors face the challenge of process simplification and universality. Herein, reconfigurable Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt memristors are designed for feasible switching between volatile and nonvolatile modes by compliance current controlled Ag filaments, which enables stable and reconfigurable synaptic and neuronal functions. A neuromorphic computing system effectively replicates the biological synaptic weight alteration and continuously accomplishes excitation and reset of artificial neurons, which consist of bionic synapses and artificial neurons based on isotype Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt memristors. This reconfigurable electrical performance of the Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt memristors takes advantage of simplified hardware design and delivers integrated circuits with high density, which exhibits great potency for future neural networks.

Artificial Domain Patterning in Ultrathin Ferroelectric Films via Modifying the Surface Electrostatic Boundary Conditions.

Nanoscale spatially controlled modulation of the properties of ferroelectrics via artificial domain pattering is crucial to their emerging optoelectronics applications. New patterning strategies to achieve high precision and efficiency and to link the resultant domain structures with device functionalities are being sought. Here, we present an epitaxial heterostructure of SrRuO3/PbTiO3/SrRuO3, wherein the domain configuration is delicately determined by the charge screening conditions in the SrRuO3 layer and the substrate strains. Chemical etching of the top SrRuO3 layer leads to a transition from in-plane a domains to out-of-plane c domains, accompanied by a giant (>105) modification in the second harmonic generation response. The modulation effect, coupled with the plasmonic resonance effect from SrRuO3, enables a highly flexible design of nonlinear optical devices, as demonstrated by a simulated split-ring resonator metasurface. This domain patterning strategy may be extended to more thin-film ferroelectric systems with domain stabilities amenable to electrostatic boundary conditions.

Adsorption of high-temperature CO2 by Ca2+/Na+-doped lithium orthosilicate: characterization, kinetics, and recycle.

High-temperature solid adsorbent Li4SiO4 has received broad attention due to its high theoretical adsorption capacity, high regeneration capacity, and wide range of raw materials for preparation. In this paper, a Li4SiO4 adsorbent was prepared by MCM-48 as the silica precursor and modified by doping with metal ions (Ca2+ and Na+) for high-temperature capture of low-concentration CO2. The results showed that the surface of the Ca-doped (or Na-doped) Li4SiO4 adsorbent developed some particles that are primarily composed by Li2CaSiO4 (or Li3NaSiO4). Furthermore, the grains of the adsorbents became finer, effectively increasing the specific surface area and enhancing adsorption performance. Under 15 vol% CO2, the maximum CO2 adsorption was 25.63 wt% and 32.86 wt% when the Ca2+ doping amount was 0.06 and the Na+ doping amount was 0.12, respectively. These values were both higher than the adsorption capacity before the metal ion doping. After 10 adsorption/desorption cycles, the adsorption capacity of Na-doped Li4SiO4 increased by 9.68 wt%, while that of Ca-doped Li4SiO4 decreased by 7.98 wt%. This difference could be attributed to the easy sintering of the Ca-containing adsorbent. Furthermore, a biexponential model was used to fit the CO2 adsorption curve of the adsorbent in order to study the adsorption kinetics. Compared to the conventional Li4SiO4, the Ca/Na-doped adsorbent offers several advantages, such as a high CO2 adsorption capacity and stable cycling ability.

Edge-by-Edge Lateral Heterostructure through Interfacial Sliding.

van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) based on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have attracted considerable attention. However, the reported vdWHs are largely based on vertical device structure with large overlapping area, while the realization of lateral heterostructures contacted through 2D edges remains challenging and is majorly limited by the difficulties of manipulating the lateral distance of 2D materials at nanometer scale (during transfer process). Here, we demonstrate a simple interfacial sliding approach for realizing an edge-by-edge lateral contact. By stretching a vertical vdWH, two 2D flakes could gradually slide apart or toward each other. Therefore, by applying proper strain, the initial vertical vdWH could be converted into a lateral heterojunction with intimately contacted 2D edges. The lateral contact structure is supported by both microscope characterization and in situ electrical measurements, exhibiting carrier tunneling behavior. Finally, this approach can be extended to 3D thin films, as demonstrated by the lateral 2D/3D and 3D/3D Schottky junction.

Compositional Engineering of Cu-Doped SnO Film for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Technology.

Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS)-based complementary thin-film transistor (TFT) circuits have broad application prospects in large-scale flexible electronics. To simplify circuit design and increase integration density, basic complementary circuits require both p- and n-channel transistors based on an individual semiconductor. However, until now, no MOSs that can simultaneously show p- and n-type conduction behavior have been reported. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time that Cu-doped SnO (Cu:SnO) with HfO2 capping can be employed for high-performance p- and n-channel TFTs. The interstitial Cu+ can induce an n-doping effect while restraining electron-electron scatterings by removing conduction band minimum degeneracy. As a result, the Cu3 atom %:SnO TFTs exhibit a record high electron mobility of 43.8 cm2 V-1 s-1. Meanwhile, the p-channel devices show an ultrahigh hole mobility of 2.4 cm2 V-1 s-1. Flexible complementary logics are then established, including an inverter, NAND gates, and NOR gates. Impressively, the inverter exhibits an ultrahigh gain of 302.4 and excellent operational stability and bending reliability.

Controllable van der Waals gaps by water adsorption.

Van der Waals (vdW) gaps with ångström-scale heights can confine molecules or ions to an ultimately small scale, providing an alternative way to tune material properties and explore microscopic phenomena. Modulation of the height of vdW gaps between two-dimensional (2D) materials is challenging due to the vdW interaction. Here we report a general approach to control the vdW gap by preadsorption of water molecules on the material surface. By controlling the saturation vapour pressure of water vapour, we can precisely control the adsorption level of water molecules and vary the height of the vdW gaps of MoS2 homojunctions from 5.5 Å to 53.6 Å. This technique can be further applied to other homo- and heterojunctions, constructing controlled vdW gaps in 2D artificial superlattices and in 2D/3D and 3D/3D heterojunctions. Engineering the vdW gap has great practical potential to modulate the device performance, as evidenced by the vdW-gap-dependent diode characteristics of the MoS2/gap/MoS2 junction. Our work introduces a general strategy of molecular preadsorption that can extend to various precursors, creating more tunability and variability in vdW material systems.

Performance and mechanism analysis of sludge-based biochar loaded with Co and Mn as photothermal catalysts for simultaneous removal of acetone and NO at low temperature.

Replacing NH3 in NH3-SCR with VOCs provides a new idea for the simultaneous removal of VOCs and NOx, but the technology still has urgent problems such as high cost of catalyst preparation and unsatisfactory catalytic effect in the low-temperature region. In this study, biochar obtained from sewage sludge calcined at different temperatures was used as a carrier, and different Co and Mn injection ratios were selected. Then, a series of sludge-based biochar (SBC) catalysts were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal synthesis method for the simultaneous removal of acetone and NO in a low-temperature photothermal co-catalytic system with acetone replacing NH3. The characterization results show that heat is the main driving force of the reaction system, and the abundance of Co and Mn atoms in high valence states, surface-adsorbed oxygen, and oxygen lattice defects in the catalyst are the most important factors affecting the performance of the catalyst. The performance test results showed that the optimal pyrolysis temperature of sludge was 400 °C, the optimal dosing ratio of Co and Mn was 4:1, and the catalyst achieved 42.98% and 52.41% conversion of acetone and NO, respectively, at 240 °C with UV irradiation. Compared with the pure SBC without catalytic effect, the SBC loaded with Co and Mn gained the ability of simultaneous removal of acetone and NO through the combined effect of multiple factors. The key reaction steps for the catalytic conversion of acetone and NO on the catalyst surface were investigated according to the Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism, and a possible mechanism was proposed. This study provides a new strategy for the resource utilization of sewage sludge and the preparation of photothermal catalysts for the simultaneous removal of acetone and NO at low cost.