Phosphors emitting visible and near-infrared persistent luminescence have been explored extensively owing to their unusual properties and commercial interest in their applications such as ...glow-in-the-dark paints, optical information storage, and in vivo bioimaging. However, no persistent phosphor that features emissions in the ultraviolet C range (200-280 nm) has been known to exist so far. Here, we demonstrate a strategy for creating a new generation of persistent phosphor that exhibits strong ultraviolet C emission with an initial power density over 10 milliwatts per square meter and an afterglow of more than 2 h. Experimental characterizations coupled with first-principles calculations have revealed that structural defects associated with oxygen introduction-induced anion vacancies in fluoride elpasolite can function as electron traps, which capture and store a large number of electrons triggered by X-ray irradiation. Notably, we show that the ultraviolet C afterglow intensity of the yielded phosphor is sufficiently strong for sterilization. Our discovery of this ultraviolet C afterglow opens up new avenues for research on persistent phosphors, and it offers new perspectives on their applications in terms of sterilization, disinfection, drug release, cancer treatment, anti-counterfeiting, and beyond.
Although the Japanese Orthopedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ), Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire ...(RMDQ), and Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) has shown a preferable psychometric properties in patients with low back pain (LBP), but no study has yet determined these in conservative treatment of patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Thus the current study aimed to compare those scales in LDH patients receiving conservative treatment to select the better option to assess the severity of disease. LDH patients were invited to complete the JOABPEQ, NPRS, ODI, RMDQ, and SF-36 twice. The internal consistency was evaluated by the Cronbach's alpha. Test-retest reliability was tested by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The relationships of these scales were evaluated by the Pearson correlation coefficients (r). The responsiveness was operationalised using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, as well as the comparison of smallest detectable change (SDC), minimum important change (MIC). A total of 353 LDH patients were enrolled. Four subscales of the Chinese JOABPEQ were over 0.70, then the ICCs for the test-retest reliability were over 0.75. For functional status, remarked negative correlations could be seen between JOABPEQ Q2-Q4 and ODI, as well as RMDQ (r = - 0.634 to - 0.752). For general health status, remarkable positive correlations could also be seen between Q5 Mental health and SF-36 PCS (r = 0.724) as well as SF-36 MCS (r = 0.736). Besides, the area under of the curves (AUC) of the JOABPEQ ranged from 0.743 to 0.827, indicating acceptale responsiveness, as well as the NPRS, ODI, and RMDQ. NPRS, and ODI or RMDQ is recommended in studies related to LDH patients, while if the quality of life also is needed to observe, the NPRS, and JOABPEQ would be more appropriate rather than SF-36.
Celotno besedilo
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Herbivore‐induced terpenes have been reported to function as ecological signals in plant–insect interactions. Here, we showed that insect‐induced cotton volatile blends contained 16 terpenoid ...compounds with a relatively high level of linalool. The high diversity of terpene production is derived from a large terpene synthase (TPS) gene family. The TPS gene family of Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium raimondii consist of 46 and 41 members, respectively. Twelve TPS genes (GhTPS4–15) could be isolated, and protein expression in Escherichia coli revealed catalytic activity for eight GhTPS. The upregulation of the majority of these eight genes additionally supports the function of these genes in herbivore‐induced volatile biosynthesis. Furthermore, transgenic Nicotiana tabacum plants overexpressing GhTPS12 were generated, which produced relatively large amounts of (3S)‐linalool. In choice tests, female adults of Helicoverpa armigera laid fewer eggs on transgenic plants compared with non‐transformed controls. Meanwhile, Myzus persicae preferred feeding on wild‐type leaves over leaves of transgenic plants. Our findings demonstrate that transcript accumulation of multiple TPS genes is mainly responsible for the production and diversity of herbivore‐induced volatile terpenes in cotton. Also, these genes might play roles in plant defence, in particular, direct defence responses against herbivores.
We systematically analysed insect‐induced cotton volatile blends and characterized 12 terpene synthases (GhTPS4–15) from upland cotton plants. Furthermore, GhTPS12 was transformed into Nicotiana tabacum plants to produce (3S)‐linalool and thus enhanced the repellency of two insect pests belong to different feeding guilds, Helicoverpa armigera and Myzus persicae. Our data indicate that these TPS genes might play roles in plant defence and could be used as tools for the metabolic engineering of terpene biosynthesis in cotton or other plant species.
In this paper the primary resonance of van der Pol (VDP) oscillator with fractional-order derivative is studied analytically and numerically. At first the approximately analytical solution is ...obtained by the averaging method, and it is found that the fractional-order derivative could affect the dynamical properties of VDP oscillator, which is characterized by the equivalent damping coefficient and the equivalent stiffness coefficient. Moreover, the amplitude–frequency equation for steady-state solution is established, and the corresponding stability condition is also presented based on Lyapunov theory. Then, the comparisons of several different amplitude–frequency curves by the approximately analytical solution and the numerical integration are fulfilled, and the results certify the correctness and satisfactory precision of the approximately analytical solution. At last, the effects of the two fractional parameters, i.e., the fractional coefficient and the fractional order, on the amplitude–frequency curves are investigated for some typical excitation amplitudes, which are different from the traditional integer-order VDP oscillator.
Insect odorant binding proteins (OBPs) and chemosensory proteins (CSPs) play an important role in chemical communication of insects. Gene discovery of these proteins is a time-consuming task. In ...recent years, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of many insect species have accumulated, thus providing a useful resource for gene discovery.
We have developed a computational pipeline to identify OBP and CSP genes from insect ESTs. In total, 752,841 insect ESTs were examined from 54 species covering eight Orders of Insecta. From these ESTs, 142 OBPs and 177 CSPs were identified, of which 117 OBPs and 129 CSPs are new. The complete open reading frames (ORFs) of 88 OBPs and 123 CSPs were obtained by electronic elongation. We randomly chose 26 OBPs from eight species of insects, and 21 CSPs from four species for RT-PCR validation. Twenty two OBPs and 16 CSPs were confirmed by RT-PCR, proving the efficiency and reliability of the algorithm. Together with all family members obtained from the NCBI (OBPs) or the UniProtKB (CSPs), 850 OBPs and 237 CSPs were analyzed for their structural characteristics and evolutionary relationship.
A large number of new OBPs and CSPs were found, providing the basis for deeper understanding of these proteins. In addition, the conserved motif and evolutionary analysis provide some new insights into the evolution of insect OBPs and CSPs. Motif pattern fine-tune the functions of OBPs and CSPs, leading to the minor difference in binding sex pheromone or plant volatiles in different insect Orders.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
To build and validate a radiomics nomogram based on preoperative CT scans and clinical data for detecting synchronous ovarian metastasis (SOM) in female gastric cancer (GC) cases.
Pathologically ...confirmed GC cases in 2 cohorts were retrospectively enrolled. All cases had presurgical abdominal contrast-enhanced CT and pelvis contrast-enhanced MRI and pathological examinations for any suspicious ovarian lesions detected by MRI. Cohort 1 cases (n = 101) were included as the training set. Radiomics features were obtained to develop a radscore. A nomogram combining the radscore and clinical factors was built to detect SOM. The bootstrap method was carried out in cohort 1 as internal validation. External validation was carried out in cohort 2 (n = 46). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, decision curve analysis (DCA) and the confusion matrix were utilized to assess the performances of the radscore, nomogram and subjective evaluation model.
The nomogram, which combined age and the radscore, displayed a higher AUC than the radscore and subjective evaluation (0.910 vs 0.827 vs 0.773) in the training cohort. In the external validation cohort, the nomogram also had a higher AUC than the radscore and subjective evaluation (0.850 vs 0.790 vs 0.675). DCA and the confusion matrix confirmed the nomogram was superior to the radscore in both cohorts.
This pilot study showed that a nomogram model combining the radscore and clinical characteristics is useful in detecting SOM in female GC cases. It may be applied to improve clinical treatment and is superior to subjective evaluation or the radscore alone.
Insect chemosensory proteins (CSPs) have been proposed to capture and transport hydrophobic chemicals from air to olfactory receptors in the lymph of antennal chemosensilla. They may represent a new ...class of soluble carrier protein involved in insect chemoreception. However, their specific functional roles in insect chemoreception have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we report for the first time three novel CSP genes (AlinCSP1-3) of the alfalfa plant bug Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze) by screening the antennal cDNA library. The qRT-PCR examinations of the transcript levels revealed that all three genes (AlinCSP1-3) are mainly expressed in the antennae. Interestingly, these CSP genes AlinCSP1-3 are also highly expressed in the 5(th) instar nymphs, suggesting a proposed function of these CSP proteins (AlinCSP1-3) in the olfactory reception and in maintaining particular life activities into the adult stage. Using bacterial expression system, the three CSP proteins were expressed and purified. For the first time we characterized the types of sensilla in the antennae of the plant bug using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Immunocytochemistry analysis indicated that the CSP proteins were expressed in the pheromone-sensitive sensilla trichodea and general odorant-sensitive sensilla basiconica, providing further evidence of their involvement in chemoreception. The antennal activity of 55 host-related semiochemicals and sex pheromone compounds in the host location and mate selection behavior of A. lineolatus was investigated using electroantennogram (EAG), and the binding affinities of these chemicals to the three CSPs (AlinCSP1-3) were measured using fluorescent binding assays. The results showed several host-related semiochemicals, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, (E)-2-hexen-1-al and valeraldehyde, have a high binding affinity with AlinCSP1-3 and can elicit significant high EAG responses of A. lineolatus antennae. Our studies indicate the three antennae-biased CSPs may mediate host recognition in the alfalfa plant bug A. lineolatus.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this paper, the incremental harmonic balance (IHB) method is extended to analyze the dynamical properties of fractional-order nonlinear oscillator, and the general forms of the periodic solutions ...for the oscillator are founded based on IHB method, which is useful to obtain the solutions with higher precision. The fractional-order Duffing oscillator is selected at first to test the feasibility of IHB method for this kind of system. The comparisons between the numerical results with the approximate analytical solutions by IHB method and averaging method verify the correctness and higher precision of IHB method. Then the nonlinear dynamics of fractional-order Mathieu–Duffing oscillator is researched by IHB method, where the coupling effects of the two kinds of typical nonlinearities are especially analyzed. Moreover, the influences of the system parameters in the fractional-order derivative on the amplitude–frequency curves are also researched by IHB method. At last, the detailed results are summarized and the conclusions are made, which presents some useful information to analyze and/or control the dynamical response of this kind of system.
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•Two generations of garnet were identified in the Xinqiao stratiform orebody.•The physicochemical conditions of hydrothermal fluids for Xinqiao garnet were constrained.•The Xinqiao ...mineralization may have formed from magmatic-hydrothermal fluids.
The Xinqiao Cu–S–Fe–Au deposit in the Tongling ore district, an important part of the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Valley metallogenic belt in eastern China, is located along the northern margin of the Yangtze Block. The deposit consists of two major mineralization types: stratiform and skarn (the genesis of the former is disputed). The more important stratiform orebody (90% of the total Cu, S and Fe reserves) has abundant garnet as the main gangue mineral, similar to the skarn orebody hosted in the intrusive contact.
Garnets from the Xinqiao stratiform orebody range from pure andradite (And100) to And50Gro46, and can be divided into the early (Grt1) and late (Grt2) generation. Both generations contain low MnO (0.19–0.89%), wide range of Y/Ho (39.0–40.7 for Grt1, 29.8–67.9 for Grt2), and do not contain melt or fluid-melt inclusions, indicative of a magmatic-hydrothermal replacement origin. Grt1 and the Grt2 cores are grandite, whilst the Grt2 rims are mainly andradite with some grandite zones. Grandite is enriched in heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), and displays low ΣLREE/ΣHREE, LaN/YbN and U concentrations with negative Eu anomalies, whereas andradite is HREE-depleted, and displays high ΣLREE/ΣHREE, LaN/YbN ratios and U concentrations with positive Eu anomalies. The distinct trace element features suggest that the hydrothermal fluids for Grt1 and the Grt2 cores were of nearly neutral (pH), relatively oxidized and HREE-enriched, whereas those for the Grt2 rims had experienced episodic inflections between a mildly acidic, relatively reduced and HREE-depleted fluid and a nearly neutral, relatively oxidized and HREE-enriched fluid. Meanwhile, they also reveal that Grt1 and the Grt2 cores may have formed by diffusive metasomatism in a closed system, whereas the Grt2 rims may have formed by infiltration metasomatism in an open fracture system, possibly related to the unconformity that hosts the Xinqiao stratiform orebody. We propose that the Xinqiao stratiform orebody may have formed from Early Cretaceous magmatic-hydrothermal fluids associated with the Jitou stock, similar to the skarn-type orebodies in the district.
Femoral neck fractures are one of the problems in clinical treatment. The prognosis is uncertain. Currently, No internal fixation method is superior to other internal fixation methods in the ...treatment of femoral neck fractures. Therefore, the internal fixation system needs to be further explored. The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of femoral neck dynamic compression locking system (DCLS) and multiple cannulated compression screws(MCCS) in the treatment of femoral neck fractures.
A prospective analysis of 54 cases of femoral neck fractures treated with either a DCLS (n = 28) or MCCS (n = 26) was conducted between December 2015 and November 2017 in authors' hospitals. The perioperative and postoperative parameters of the two groups were recorded and evaluated.
Fifty-four patients were followed up for 24-47 months. The etiology was caused by a fall. There was no significant difference in follow-up time, operation time, incision length, surgical blood loss, the incidence of perioperative and postoperative healing complications, and mobility in the two groups (all P > 0.05). The Harris score, fracture healing time, femoral neck shortening, partial weight-bearing time and complete weight-bearing time were significantly better in the DCLS group than in the MCCS group (all P < 0.05). The fracture healing rate in the DCLS group was higher than that in the MCCS group.
The DCLS and MCCS might be equally effective in terms of operation time, incision length, surgical blood loss, the incidence of perioperative and postoperative healing complications, and mobility in the treatment of femoral neck fractures. However, the DCLS is superior to the MCCS in Harris score, fracture healing time, femoral neck shortening, weight-bearing time and fracture healing rate. So, DCLS deserves further study.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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