The successful growth of colloidal lead halide perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) has generated tremendous interest in the community, due to the unique properties and the promise PQDs offer for use in ...applications involving light-emitting devices and solar cell technology. However, tangible progress in probing their fundamental properties and/or their integration into optoelectronic devices has been hampered by issues of colloidal and photophysical instability. Here, we introduce a promising surface coating strategy relying on a polyzwitterion polymer, where high-affinity binding onto the QDs is driven by multicoordinating electrostatic interactions with the ion-rich surfaces of CsPbBr3 PQDs. The polymer ligands were synthesized by installing a stoichiometric mixture of amine-modified sulfobetaine anchors and solubilizing motifs on poly(isobutylene-alt-maleic anhydride), PIMA, via nucleophilic addition reaction. We find that this coating approach imparts enhanced colloidal and photophysical stability to the nanocrystals over a broad range of solvent conditions and in powder form. This approach also allows easy phase transfer of the PQDs from nonpolar media to an array of solutions with varying polarities and properties. Additionally, the stabilization strategy preserves the photophysical and structural characteristics of the nanocrystals over a period extending to 1.5 years under certain conditions.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
As micron-sized objects, mobile microrobots have shown significant potential for future biomedical applications, such as targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive surgery. However, to make these ...microrobots viable for clinical applications, several crucial aspects should be implemented, including customizability, motion-controllability, imageability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. Developing materials to meet these requirements is of utmost importance. Here, a gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) and (2-(4-vinylphenyl)ethene-1,1,2-triyl)tribenzene (TPEMA)-based multifunctional hydrogel with 3D printability, fluorescence imageability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility is demonstrated. By using 3D direct laser writing method, the hydrogel exhibits its versatility in the customization and fabrication of 3D microstructures. Spherical hydrogel microrobots were fabricated and decorated with magnetic nanoparticles on their surface to render them magnetically responsive, and have demonstrated excellent movement performance and motion controllability. The hydrogel microstructures also represented excellent drug loading/release capacity and degradability by using collagenase, along with stable fluorescence properties. Moreover, cytotoxicity assays showed that the hydrogel was non-toxic, as well as able to support cell attachment and growth, indicating excellent biocompatibility of the hydrogel. The developed multifunctional hydrogel exhibits great potential for biomedical microrobots that are integrated with customizability, 3D printability, motion controllability, drug delivery capacity, fluorescence imageability, degradability, and biocompatibility, thus being able to realize the real in vivo biomedical applications of microrobots.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Google Trends is a novel, freely accessible tool that allows users to interact with Internet search data, which may provide deep insights into population behavior and health-related phenomena. ...However, there is limited knowledge about its potential uses and limitations. We therefore systematically reviewed health care literature using Google Trends to classify articles by topic and study aim; evaluate the methodology and validation of the tool; and address limitations for its use in research.
PRISMA guidelines were followed. Two independent reviewers systematically identified studies utilizing Google Trends for health care research from MEDLINE and PubMed. Seventy studies met our inclusion criteria. Google Trends publications increased seven-fold from 2009 to 2013. Studies were classified into four topic domains: infectious disease (27% of articles), mental health and substance use (24%), other non-communicable diseases (16%), and general population behavior (33%). By use, 27% of articles utilized Google Trends for casual inference, 39% for description, and 34% for surveillance. Among surveillance studies, 92% were validated against a reference standard data source, and 80% of studies using correlation had a correlation statistic ≥0.70. Overall, 67% of articles provided a rationale for their search input. However, only 7% of articles were reproducible based on complete documentation of search strategy. We present a checklist to facilitate appropriate methodological documentation for future studies. A limitation of the study is the challenge of classifying heterogeneous studies utilizing a novel data source.
Google Trends is being used to study health phenomena in a variety of topic domains in myriad ways. However, poor documentation of methods precludes the reproducibility of the findings. Such documentation would enable other researchers to determine the consistency of results provided by Google Trends for a well-specified query over time. Furthermore, greater transparency can improve its reliability as a research tool.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
The integrated green–gray–blue (IGGB) system is considered to be a new way of stormwater management, and a comprehensive evaluation of the green–gray–blue infrastructure layout mode under ...different return periods is the key to the implementation decision-making of stormwater management. In this study, a blue–green synergism evaluation model is established to optimize the layout of blue–green infrastructure. An evaluation framework combining the evaluation indicator system and the hydrology model is established. Stormwater storage, peak flow reduction, and life cycle cost are selected as evaluation indicators. On this basis, seven optimal scenarios, including green, blue, gray, green–blue, green–gray, blue–gray, and green–gray–blue, are established. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is used to analyze these seven scenarios under different return periods. The results indicate that (1) when the drainage infrastructures are arranged in combination, the peak flow reduction is significantly improved compared to that of a single drainage. (2) TOPSIS results show that green–gray and blue–gray perform better when the cost weight is 0–0.35, and green–gray–blue performs best when the cost weight is 0.35–1. (3) The integrated green–gray–blue system has obvious synergistic effects. This study can provide support for planning department workers for the urban stormwater management strategy.
This paper presents an adaptive approach to the federated filter for multi-sensor nonlinear systems with cross-correlations between process noise and local measurement noise. The adaptive Gaussian ...filter is used as the local filter of the federated filter for the first time, which overcomes the performance degradation caused by the cross-correlated noises. Two kinds of adaptive federated filters are proposed, one uses a de-correlation framework as local filter, and the subfilter of the other one is defined as a Gaussian filter with correlated noises at the same-epoch, and much effort is made to verify the theoretical equivalence of the two algorithms in the nonlinear fusion system. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms are superior to the traditional federated filter and Gaussian filter with same-paced correlated noises, and the equivalence between the proposed algorithms and high degree cubature federated filter is also demonstrated.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Defect passivation has developed as an attractive approach to promote the performance of perovskite solar cells. However, robust control of the interplay between the defects and adsorbates is ...challenging and critical for applications. Here, hydrophobic 3-(trifluoromethyl) phenethylamine hydroiodide (CF
3
PEAI) is introduced on the surface of perovskite films. By controlling the post-treatment of the passivation layers, the amphipathic passivation agent CF
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PEAI can form 2D perovskite and go deeply into the films (>30 nm), which can further passivate the internal defects and improve the long-term stability of perovskite films. Furthermore, the CF
3
PEAI 2D passivated perovskite films exhibit better energy level alignment, lower surface roughness, longer carrier lifetimes, lower trap state density, and higher stability than the control and the ones without annealing. Our first-principles simulation reveals that CF
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PEAI effectively renormalizes the defective states of the vacancies with benign characteristics. The defect-adsorbate complex facilitates the manipulation of versatile electronic states for a prolonged lifetime of photoexcited carriers with improved structural integrity. Perovskite solar cells' performance is enhanced from 18.87% to 21.05% along with improved stability, which can retain 98% of initial performance after 528 h in ambient air with a humidity of 70-80%.
CF
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PEAI, an amphipathic passivation agent, can passivate multiple perovskite defects leading to high performance and stability of perovskite solar cells.
The function of lncRNAs in cancer stem cells (CSCs) remains to be elucidated. The present study aimed to investigate the regulating role of a novel lncRNA, hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α) ...promoter upstream transcript (HIF2PUT), in osteosarcoma stem cells.
The expression of lncRNA HIF2PUT and HIF-2α in osteosarcoma stem cell lines and tissues was monitored by real-time PCR and western blot. The proliferation ability was examined by MTT assay when HIF2PUT overexpression or knockdown. The self-renewing capabilities of the cells were assessed by spheroid formation assay. The migration and invasion of cells were monitored by wound-healing assay and transwell cell assay, respectively. The correlation of HIF2PUT and HIF-2α expression was determined in osteosarcoma cancer tissues.
LncRNA HIF2PUT and HIF-2α were downregulated in osteosarcoma cell lines. HIF2PUT exhibited a significant decline in proliferation capacity. Wound healing and transwell assays showed that lncRNA overexpression inhibited osteosarcoma stem cell migration and invasion. HIF2PUT inhibited sphere formation in osteosarcoma stem cells. Increased HIF2PUT expression inhibited the enrichment of CD133 in osteosarcoma stem cells. There was a strong positive correlation between relative HIF2PUT level and relative HIF-2α level in the 30 paired osteosarcoma cancer tissues.
Overexpression of lncRNA HIF2PUT significantly attenuated the proliferation, migration and invasion of osteosarcoma stem cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that lncRNA overexpression inhibited the sphere-formation of osteosarcoma stem cells by downregulating HIF-2α. These findings suggest that lncRNA HIF2PUT may act as a tumour suppressor in osteosarcoma. LncRNA HIF2PUT/HIF-2α may be a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of osteosarcoma.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background BRE-AS1 is a recently identified tumor suppressor in non-small cell lung cancer. It role in other human diseases remains elusive. Methods Differential expression of BRE-AS1 in with ...triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients (n = 74, patient group) and healthy volunteers (n = 58, control group) was studied with RT-qPCR. The direct interaction between BRE-AS1 and premature microRNA-21 (miR-21) was assessed by RNA pull-down assay. The interactions among BRE-AS1, miR-21 and PTEN were evaluated by overexpression assays. CCK-8 assay and Transwell assay were used to evaluate cell behaviors. Results BRE-AS1 was downregulated in TNBC, while miR-21 was highly expressed in TNBC. Low expression levels of lncRNA BRE-AS1 and high expression levels of miR-21 were significantly correlated with unfavorable survival outcomes. BRE-AS1 and miRNA-21 were inversely correlated across TNBC samples, not control samples. BRE-AS1 decreased miR-21 expression and increased PTEN expression while miR-21showed no role in BRE-AS1 expression. RNA pull-down assay illustrated that BRE-AS1 may sponge premature miR-21 to suppress it maturation. Overexpression of BRE-AS1 decreased cell behaviors, while overexpression of miR-21 promoted cell behaviors. MiR-21 suppressed the role of BRE-AS1 in cancer cell behaviors. Conclusion Therefore, BRE-AS1 may inhibit TNBC by downregulating miR-21. Keywords: Triple-negative breast cancer, lncRNA BRE-AS1, miR-21, Survival
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
BiOCl nanosheets modified with AuCu nanoparticles were successfully designed and fabricated for water reduction of CO2. The AuxCuy/BiOCl composites exhibited enhanced visible light absorption ability ...due to a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect. The AuxCuy/BiOCl composites could convert carbon dioxide to ethane (C2H6), while only CO was obtained over pure BiOCl nanosheets. In this study, the rate of C2H6 production (12.2 μmol h-1 g-1) and selectivity of C2H6 (75.7%) were obtained over the Au1Cu1/BiOCl photocatalyst under simulated sunlight illumination. The AuCu nanoparticles played the dual role of electron traps and hot electron donors, facilitating efficient separation and migration of the carriers. The photocatalyst exhibited steady photocatalytic activity over the test duration of 9 h.
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