Bioinspired functional surface with micro/nanostructures are particularly attractive because of the potential for outstanding characteristics, such as self-cleaning, self-replenishing and antibiosis. ...Here, we presented a facile approach to fabricate a functional photocuring coating with both a self-wrinkling patterned surface and incorporated silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Fluorinated polymeric photoinitiator (FPPI) and silver precursor (TFAAg) can self-assemble together on the air/acrylate interface to form a top layer of photocuring liquid resin. Under UV irradiation, a wrinkled pattern was formed as a result of the mismatch in shrinkage caused by photopolymerization between the top layer and the bulk layer. Simultaneously, Ag NPs with sizes of 15 ± 8 nm in diameter were in situ generated in the photocuring coating through the photoreduction of TFAAg. Their number density is higher in the top layer than in the bulk. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements revealed that the characteristic wavelength (λ) and amplitude (A) of the wrinkled morphology increased with growing concentration of FPPI, and that the generation of Ag NPs led to the wrinkle-to-fold transition. Furthermore, the obtained functional coatings possess a low surface energy and self-replenishing and antibiosis capabilities as a result of the synergistic effect of the wrinkled surface covered by FPPI and Ag NPs.
This paper presents an attempt to evaluate the sensitivity of lattice parameters on the contact pressure instability of newly lattice brake disc. The instability characteristics are investigated ...through theoretical representation, modal analysis experiments, and nonlinear finite element thermo-mechanical analysis. Lattice properties are defined concerning the lattice truss angle geometry in the unit cell and periodicity of the lattice cell on the lattice plate. Motion dynamics of lattice plate concern the principal coordinates on the rotating disc are presented to use in the braking system. The modal behaviour of vanned and lattice brake disc/pad systems are defined through experimental modal analysis at free-free boundary conditions, and results are used as inputs of nonlinear finite element models as it goes through a partial simulation of the SAE J2521 drag braking noise test. Subsequently, the dynamic instability analysis of the brake disc is detailed by using the complex eigenvalue extraction technique concerning the contact pressure and lattice parameters effect. The sensitivity analysis of the brake instability respected to the mass fraction factor and relative density of the lattice structure is presented by using the average standard deviations of the contact pressure force. The likelihood of instability occurrence is quantified by definition of a single indicator derived from the system eigenvalues. The analysis indicates that the higher relative density with lower mass fraction factor of lattice structure is led to a higher temperature at the disc and pad surface. Mutually, the higher mass fraction factor with lower relative density is led to the lower temperature. The maximum contact pressure is observed in the model with less mass fraction factor and more uniform pressure distributions are observed at higher values of the mass fraction factor. The instability analysis points out that high instability frequencies are predicted at lower mass fraction factor and higher relative density.
Background A high-fat diet (HFD) contributes to various metabolic disorders and obesity, which are major contributors to cardiovascular disease. As an essential regulator for heart homeostasis, ...cardiac resident macrophages may go awry and contribute to cardiac pathophysiology upon HFD. Thus, to better understand how HFD induced cardiac dysfunction, this study intends to explore the transcriptional and functional changes in cardiac resident macrophages of HFD mice. Methods C57BL/6J female mice that were 6 weeks old were fed with HFD or normal chow diet (NCD) for 16 weeks. After an evaluation of cardiac functions by echocardiography, mouse hearts were harvested and cardiac resident CCR2 - macrophages were sorted, followed by Smart sequencing. Bioinformatics analysis including GO, KEGG, and GSEA analyses were employed to elucidate transcriptional and functional changes. Results Hyperlipidemia and obesity were observed easily upon HFD. The mouse hearts also displayed more severe fibrosis and diastolic dysfunction in HFD mice. Smart sequencing and functional analysis revealed metabolic dysfunctions, especially lipid-related genes and pathways. Besides this, antigen-presentation-related gene such as Ctsf and inflammation, particularly for NF-κB signaling and complement cascades, underwent drastic changes in cardiac resident macrophages. GO cellular compartment analysis was also performed and showed specific organelle enrichment trends of the involved genes. Conclusion Dysregulated metabolism intertwines with inflammation in cardiac resident macrophages upon HFD feeding in mice, and further research on crosstalk among organelles could shed more light on potential mechanisms.
We introduce a theoretical framework for resource-efficient characterization and control of non-Markovian open quantum systems, which naturally allows for the integration of given, experimentally ...motivated, control capabilities and constraints. This is achieved by developing a transfer filter-function formalism based on the general notion of a frame and by appropriately tying the choice of frame to the available control. While recovering the standard frequency-based filter-function formalism as a special instance, this control-adapted generalization affords intrinsic flexibility and, crucially, it permits an efficient representation of the relevant control matrix elements and dynamical integrals if an appropriate finite-size frame condition is obeyed. Our frame-based formulation overcomes important limitations of existing approaches. In particular, we show how to implement quantum noise spectroscopy in the presence of nonstationary noise sources, and how to effectively achieve control-driven model reduction for noise-optimized prediction and quantum gate design.
Abstract
Adaptive techniques have great potential for wide application in enhancing the precision of quantum parameter estimation. We present an adaptive quantum state tomography protocol for finite ...dimensional quantum systems and experimentally implement the adaptive tomography protocol on two-qubit systems. In this adaptive quantum state tomography protocol, an adaptive measurement strategy and a recursive linear regression estimation algorithm are performed. Numerical results show that our adaptive quantum state tomography protocol can outperform tomography protocols using mutually unbiased bases and the two-stage mutually unbiased bases adaptive strategy, even with the simplest product measurements. When nonlocal measurements are available, our adaptive quantum state tomography can beat the Gill–Massar bound for a wide range of quantum states with a modest number of copies. We use only the simplest product measurements to implement two-qubit tomography experiments. In the experiments, we use error-compensation techniques to tackle systematic error due to misalignments and imperfection of wave plates, and achieve about a 100-fold reduction of the systematic error. The experimental results demonstrate that the improvement of adaptive quantum state tomography over nonadaptive tomography is significant for states with a high level of purity. Our results also show that this adaptive tomography method is particularly effective for the reconstruction of maximally entangled states, which are important resources in quantum information.
A cylindrical negative Poisson’s ratio (CNPR) structure based on two-dimensional double-arrow negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) structure was introduced in this paper. The CNPR structure has excellent ...stiffness, damping and energy absorption performances, and can be applied as spring, damper and energy absorbing components. In this study, the CNPR structure was used as a jounce bumper in vehicle suspension, and the load-displacement curve of NPR jounce bumper was discussed. Moreover, the influences of structural parameters and materials on the load-displacement curve of NPR jounce bumper were specifically researched. It came to the conclusion that only the numbers of cells and layers impact the hardening displacement of NPR jounce bumper. And all parameters significantly affect the structure stiffness at different displacement periods. On the other hand, the load-displacement curve of NPR jounce bumper should be in an ideal region which is difficult to be achieved applying mathematical optimization method. Therefore, a parametric design strategy of NPR jounce bumper was proposed according to the parametric analysis results. The design strategy had two main steps: design of hardening displacement and design of stiffness. The analysis results proved that the proposed method is reliable and is also meaningful for relevant structure design problem.
The sodium-chloride cotransporter (NCC) has been identified as a key molecule regulating potassium balance. The mechanisms of NCC regulation during low extracellular potassium concentrations have ...been studied
These studies have shown that hyperpolarization increased chloride efflux, leading to the activation of chloride-sensitive WNK kinases and their downstream molecules, including STE20/SPS1-related proline/alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) and NCC. However, this mechanism was not studied
Previously, we developed the barttin hypomorphic mouse (
mice), expressing very low levels of barttin and ClC-K channels, because barttin is an essential ß-subunit of ClC-K. In contrast to
mice,
mice survived to adulthood. In
mice, SPAK and NCC activation after consuming a low-potassium diet was clearly impaired compared to that in wild-type mice. In
kidney slice experiment, the increase in phosphorylated NCC and SPAK in low-potassium medium was also impaired in
mice. Furthermore, increased blood pressure was observed in wild-type mice fed a high-salt and low-potassium diet, which was not evident in
mice. Thus, our study provides
evidence that, in response to a low-potassium diet, ClC-K and barttin play important roles in the activation of the WNK4-SPAK-NCC cascade and blood pressure regulation.
The superior vena cava (SVC) has been established as an important source of atrial fibrillation (AF). The role of SVC in long-standing persistent AF and the efficacy of empiric electrical isolation ...of the SVC are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to judge the role of SVC in catheter ablation of long-standing persistent AF.
A total of 102 consecutive patients with long-standing persistent AF were enrolled. All patients underwent circumferential pulmonary vein isolation, complex fractionated atrial electrograms ablation, and linear ablation during the index procedure. Superior vena cava-triggered AF and an SVC associated with the maintenance of AF were evaluated by mapping catheters during the procedure. The arrhythmogenicity of the SVC was confirmed in only 1 of the patients (0.98%). At the end of 12 months follow-up, the arrhythmia-free survival rate after a single procedure was 43.1%. After the last procedure (mean 1.47 ± 0.58 procedures), sinus rhythm was maintained in 71 (69.6%) patients, 63 of whom without antiarrhythmic drugs. The patients in AF recurrence group had higher rates of right atrium enlargement (71 vs. 34%, P = 0.03), ≥2 procedures (65 vs. 34%, P < 0.05), longer AF duration (84 ± 46 vs. 45 ± 34 months, P < 0.05), and larger left atrium diameter (50 ± 5 vs. 45 ± 6 mm, P < 0.05). In the multivariate analysis, left atrium diameter and AF duration were independent predictors of AF recurrence.
The arrhythmogenic SVC is rarely detected in patients with long-standing persistent AF. Empiric SVC electrical isolation in the stepwise approach of long-standing persistent AF seems unnecessary.
Paulownia witches' broom (PaWB) caused by a phytoplasma, has caused extensive losses in the yields of paulownia timber and resulted in significant economic losses. However, the molecular mechanisms ...in Paulownia that underlie the phytoplasma stress are poorly characterized. In this study, we use an Illumina platform to sequence four small RNA libraries and four degradome sequencing libraries derived from healthy, PaWB-infected, and PaWB-infected 15 mg·L-1 and 30 mg·L-1 methyl methane sulfonate (MMS)-treated plants. In total, 125 conserved and 118 novel microRNAs (miRNAs) were identified and 33 miRNAs responsive to PaWB disease were discovered. Furthermore, 166 target genes for 18 PaWB disease-related miRNAs were obtained, and found to be involved in plant-pathogen interaction and plant hormone signal transduction metabolic pathways. Eleven miRNAs and target genes responsive to PaWB disease were examined by a quantitative real-time PCR approach. Our findings will contribute to studies on miRNAs and their targets in Paulownia, and provide new insights to further understand plant-phytoplasma interactions.
Objective
To compare overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in renal pelvic urothelial carcinoma (RPUC) patients treated with radical nephroureterectomy (NU) and inadvertent radical ...nephrectomy (RN).
Patients and methods
In this retrospective study, patients with RPUC who underwent NU or RN diagnosed between 2004 and 2017 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. To adjust the confounders, the propensity score-matched analysis was conducted. The Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test were performed to explore the effect of different surgical methods on OS and CSS.
Results
A total of 2197 cases were finally included in this analysis, among which, 187 (8.5%) patients were treated with RN and 2010 (91.5%) patients were treated with NU. Before matching, the survival analysis revealed that the OS (HR: 1.444, 95%CI: 1.197, 1.741) and CSS (HR: 1.522, 95%CI: 1.211, 1.914) of patients who received RN were worse than that of patients who received NU (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0003, respectively). After matching, the RN group had a worse OS (HR: 1.298, 95%CI: 1.002, 1.682) than the NU group (p = 0.048). No significant difference was observed in CSS between the RN and NU groups (p = 0.282). The hierarchical analysis showed that there was no significant difference observed in OS and CSS in patients with tumor size ≤4.2 cm (p = 0.884 and p = 0.496, respectively). In tumor size >4.2 cm, both OS (HR: 1.545, 95%CI: 1.225, 1.948) and CSS (HR: 1.607, 95%CI: 1.233, 2.095) of patients who received RN were worse than those of patients who received NU (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.0005).
Conclusion
RN could lead to worse oncological outcomes than NU in patients with renal pelvis urothelial carcinoma. Accurate diagnosis of renal pelvis urothelial carcinoma is extremely important.
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