Abstract
Most chemical vapor deposition methods for transition metal dichalcogenides use an extremely small amount of precursor to render large single-crystal flakes, which usually causes low ...coverage of the materials on the substrate. In this study, a self-capping vapor-liquid-solid reaction is proposed to fabricate large-grain, continuous MoS
2
films. An intermediate liquid phase-Na
2
Mo
2
O
7
is formed through a eutectic reaction of MoO
3
and NaF, followed by being sulfurized into MoS
2
. The as-formed MoS
2
seeds function as a capping layer that reduces the nucleation density and promotes lateral growth. By tuning the driving force of the reaction, large mono/bilayer (1.1 mm/200 μm) flakes or full-coverage films (with a record-high average grain size of 450 μm) can be grown on centimeter-scale substrates. The field-effect transistors fabricated from the full-coverage films show high mobility (33 and 49 cm
2
V
−1
s
−1
for the mono and bilayer regions) and on/off ratio (1 ~ 5 × 10
8
) across a 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm region.
Background: Mapping disease rates is an important aspect of epidemiological research because it helps inform public health policy. Disease maps are often drawn according to local administrative areas ...(LAAs), such as counties, cities, or towns. In LAAs with small populations, disease rates are unstable and are prone to appear extremely high or low. The empirical Bayes methods consider variance differences among different LAAs, thereby stabilizing the disease rates. The methods of kriging break the constraints of geopolitical boundaries and produce a smooth curved surface in the form of contour lines, but the methods lack the stabilizing effect of the empirical Bayes methods.Methods: An easy-to-implement stabilized kriging method is proposed to map disease rates, which allows different errors in different LAAs.Results: Monte Carlo simulations revealed that the stabilized kriging method had smaller symmetric mean absolute percentage error than three other types of methods (original LAA-based method, empirical Bayes methods, and traditional kriging methods) in nearly all scenarios considered. Real-world data analysis of oral cancer incidence rates in men from Taiwan demonstrated that the age-standardized rates in the central mountainous sparsely-populated region of Taiwan were stabilized using our proposed method, with no more large differences in numerical values, whereas the rates in other populous regions were not over smoothed. Additionally, the stabilized kriging map had improved resolution and helped locate several hot and cold spots in the incidence rates of oral cancer.Conclusions: We recommend the use of the stabilized kriging method for mapping disease rates.
Developing efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts in neutral media to avoid the deterioration of electrodes or catalysts under harsh environments has become the ultimate goal in electrochemical ...water splitting. This work demonstrates the fabrication of an on-chip bifunctional two-dimensional (2D) monolayer (ML) WSe2/graphene heterojunction microreactor for efficient overall water splitting in a neutral medium (pH = 7). Through the synergistic atomic growth of the metallic Cr dopant and graphene stitching contact on the 2D ML WSe2, the bifunctional WSe2/graphene heterojunction microreactor consisting of a full-cell configuration demonstrates excellent performance for overall water splitting in a neutral medium. Atomic doping of metallic Cr atoms onto the 2D ML WSe2 effectively facilitates the charge transfer at the solid–liquid interface. In addition, the direct growth of the self-stitching graphene contact with the 2D WSe2 catalyst largely reduces the contact resistance of the microreactor and further improves the overall water splitting efficiency. A significant reduction of the overpotential of nearly 1000 mV at 10 mA cm–2 at the Cr-doped WSe2/graphene heterojunction microreactor compared to the ML pristine WSe2 counterpart is achieved. The bifunctional WSe2/graphene self-stitching heterojunction microreactor is an ideal platform to investigate the fundamental mechanism of emerging bifunctional 2D catalysts for overall water splitting in a neutral medium.
Since brain tissue is not readily accessible, a new focus in search of biomarkers for schizophrenia is blood-based expression profiling of non-protein coding genes such as microRNAs (miRNAs), which ...regulate gene expression by inhibiting the translation of messenger RNAs. This study aimed to identify potential miRNA signature for schizophrenia by comparing genome-wide miRNA expression profiles in patients with schizophrenia vs. healthy controls. A genome-wide miRNA expression profiling was performed using a Taqman array of 365 human miRNAs in the mononuclear leukocytes of a learning set of 30 cases and 30 controls. The discriminating performance of potential biomarkers was validated in an independent testing set of 60 cases and 30 controls. The expression levels of the miRNA signature were then evaluated for their correlation with the patients' clinical symptoms, neurocognitive performances, and neurophysiological functions. A seven-miRNA signature (hsa-miR-34a, miR-449a, miR-564, miR-432, miR-548d, miR-572 and miR-652) was derived from a supervised classification with internal cross-validation, with an area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristics of 93%. The putative signature was then validated in the testing set, with an AUC of 85%. Among these miRNAs, miR-34a was differentially expressed between cases and controls in both the learning (P = 0.005) and the testing set (P = 0.002). These miRNAs were differentially correlated with patients' negative symptoms, neurocognitive performance scores, and event-related potentials. The results indicated that the mononuclear leukocyte-based miRNA profiling is a feasible way to identify biomarkers for schizophrenia, and the seven-miRNA signature warrants further investigation.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Organometallic two‐dimensional (2D) nanosheets with tailorable components have recently fascinated the optoelectronic communities due to their solution‐processable nature. However, the poor stability ...of organic molecules may hinder their practical application in photovoltaic devices. Instead of conventional organometallic 2D nanosheets with low weatherability, an air‐stable π‐conjugated 2D bis(dithiolene)iron(II) (FeBHT) coordination nanosheet (CONASH) is synthesized via bottom‐up liquid/liquid interfacial polymerization using benzenehexathiol (BHT) and iron(II) ammonium sulfate Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2 as precursors. The uncoordinated thiol groups in FeBHT are easily oxidized, but the Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2 dissociation rate is slow, which facilitates the protection of sulfur groups by iron(II) ions. The density functional theory calculates that the resultant FeBHT network gains the oxygen‐repelling function for oxidation suppression. In air, the FeBHT CONASH exhibits self‐powered photoresponses with short response times (<40 ms) and a spectral responsivity of 6.57 mA W−1, a specific detectivity of 3.13 × 1011 Jones and an external quantum efficiency of 2.23% under 365 nm illumination. Interestingly, the FeBHT self‐powered photodetector reveals extremely high long‐term air stability, maintaining over 94% of its initial photocurrent after aging for 60 days without encapsulation. These results open the prospect of using organometallic 2D materials in commercialized optoelectronic fields.
The organometallic bis(dithiolene)iron(II) (FeBHT) 2D coordination nanosheets (CONASHs) are used to fabricate self‐powered photodetectors, resulting in a superior UV photoresponse. The effective suppression of oxygen molecule adsorption on FeBHT CONASHs is responsible for the device stability in air. This function provides guidance for the design of unstable organic–inorganic 2D hybrid nanomaterials in practical optoelectronic devices.
Cancer registration provides core information for cancer surveillance and control. The population-based Taiwan Cancer Registry was implemented in 1979. After the Cancer Control Act was promulgated in ...2003, the completeness (97%) and data quality of cancer registry database has achieved at an excellent level. Hospitals with 50 or more beds, which provide outpatient and hospitalized cancer care, are recruited to report 20 items of information on all newly diagnosed cancers to the central registry office (called short-form database). The Taiwan Cancer Registry is organized and funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The National Taiwan University has been contracted to operate the registry and organized an advisory board to standardize definitions of terminology, coding and procedures of the registry's reporting system since 1996. To monitor the cancer care patterns and evaluate the cancer treatment outcomes, central cancer registry has been reformed since 2002 to include detail items of the stage at diagnosis and the first course of treatment (called long-form database). There are 80 hospitals, which count for >90% of total cancer cases, involved in the long-form registration. The Taiwan Cancer Registry has run smoothly for >30 years, which provides essential foundation for academic research and cancer control policy in Taiwan.
The high efficiency of precursor-to-perovskite conversion is one of the core factors in boosting the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, we report a liquid/liquid interfacial ...synthesis of terpyridine-zinc(
ii
) (ZnTPY) coordination nanosheets (CONASHs), which can enhance PbI
2
-based perovskite crystallization and thus the efficiency of PSCs. Ultrasonically fragmented ZnTPY CONASHs, rich in uncoordinated terpyridine moieties, caused multidentate chelation with PbI
2
, resulting in a well-dispersed ZnTPY:PbI
2
complex. This metal-organic complex could act as a heterogeneous nucleation seed and facilitate the formation of a PbI
2
-to-PbI
6−
x
4−
coordinated octahedral framework in a precursor solution of perovskite, thereby reducing the crystallization barrier of tetragonal CH
3
NH
3
PbI
3
perovskites and achieving a complete precursor-to-perovskite conversion. Consequently, ZnTPY-capped perovskite crystals had a long photoluminescence (PL) lifetime, which is attributed to the more passivated trap states associated with ZnTPY. The corresponding PSCs exhibited an optimal power conversion efficiency of 19.8% compared with 17.9% of the controlled device. The results prove that the performance of PSC families can be improved by dispersing PbI
2
in a solution with CONASHs for enhancing the PbI
2
-to-perovskite conversion.
ZnTPY-chelated PbI
2
nuclei effectively reduce the activation energy of perovskite crystallization resulting in higher conversion of PbI
2
into uniform perovskite crystalline films, which ultimately improves the performance of perovskite solar cells.
For never-smokers (smoked <100 lifetime cigarettes), lung cancer (LC) has emerged as an important issue. We aimed to investigate the effects of prevalence changes in tobacco smoking and particulate ...matter (PM) 2.5 (PM2.5) levels on LC in Taiwan, in relation to contrasting PM2.5 levels, between Northern Taiwan (NT) and Southern Taiwan (ST).
We reviewed 371,084 patients with LC to assess smoking prevalence and correlations between the incidence of adenocarcinoma lung cancer (AdLC) and non-AdLC. Two subsets were selected to assess different AdLC stage trends and the effect of PM2.5 on survival of patients with AdLC.
From 1995 to 2015, the proportion of male adult ever-smokers decreased from 59.4% to 29.9% whereas the female smoking rate remained low (3.2% to 5.3%). AdLC incidence in males and females increased from 9.06 to 23.25 and 7.05 to 24.22 per 100,000 population, respectively. Since 1993, atmospheric visibility in NT improved (from 7.6 to 11.5 km), but deteriorated in ST (from 16.3 to 4.2 km). The annual percent change in AdLC stages IB to IV was 0.3% since 2009 (95% confidence interval CI: -1.9%–2.6%) in NT, and 4.6% since 2007 (95% CI: 3.3%–5.8%) in ST; 53% patients with LC had never smoked. Five-year survival rates for never-smokers, those with EGFR wild-type genes, and female patients with AdLC were 12.6% in NT and 4.5% in ST (hazard ratio: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.70–0.90).
In Taiwan, greater than 50% of patients with LC had never smoked. PM2.5 level changes can affect AdLC incidence and patient survival.
Background
The incidence of different soft tissue sarcoma (STS) histotypes among ethnic and geographic populations has not been comprehensively investigated.
Methods
Data from 2013 to 2016 were ...obtained from national cancer registry databases in France and Taiwan. Liposarcoma (LPS), leiomyosarcoma (LMS), angiosarcoma (AS), synovial sarcoma (SS), and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) were selected as index STSs to estimate the age‐standardized incidence rates (ASRs) and other clinical features between patients.
Results
In total, 9398 patients (7148 from France and 2250 from Taiwan) were included. The ASRs of AS (5.4 vs. 2.8) and MPNST (2.0 vs. 1.0) were significantly higher in Taiwan; France had significantly higher ASRs for LPS (12.0 vs. 10.0), LMS (9.7 vs. 7.6), and SS (1.7 vs. 1.2). Patients in Taiwan with LMS or LPS were younger than their French counterparts. With regard to the distribution according to primary anatomic site, French patients had higher odds for extremity and truncal LMS (odds ratio OR, 2.84; p < .001), AS (OR, 2.67; p < .001), MPNST (OR, 1.55; p = .027), and LPS (OR, 1.38; p < .001) and for breast AS (OR, 10.58; p < .001). Taiwanese patients had higher odds for liver AS (OR, 10.72; p < .001) and uterine LMS (OR, 3.21; p < .001). SS age and distribution according to primary anatomic site did not differ significantly between the French and Taiwanese populations.
Conclusions
Significant differences in the incidence and clinical characteristics of index STS suggested that geographic (environmental) and ethnicity factors likely play a vital role in the pathogenesis of STS.
In two nationwide, population‐based cancer registry databases outside of the United States, the epidemiology of soft tissue sarcoma was investigated between Europeans and Asians. The incidence of five index soft tissue sarcoma histology subtypes differed significantly, as did the distribution according to sex, primary anatomic site, and age, between the two populations, and the results increase awareness that ethnicity and geographic factors are important in the pathogenesis of sarcoma.
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