It is still one of the main directions to search for dark matter with better sensitivity and to measure neutrinos with good statistics and better precision. The technologies of scintillation ...detectors on the lowthreshold, low background, and good directionality are valuable and can contribute to the study. In this topic, I will try to introduce some progress on the development of the low threshold scintillation detector for dark matter and neutrino in liquid argon (LAr) and liquid scintillator (LS) and make some review on interesting topics.
In a deregulated market, wholesale energy costs and distribution investment costs contribute significantly to consumers' electricity bills. However, in a low carbon electrical power system, the two ...cost pressure points may not be synchronous in time and space with each other. This paper develops a novel methodology for home area energy management as a key vehicle for demand response, using electricity storage devices. The aim is to enable energy storage at consumer premises to not only take advantage of lower wholesale energy prices, but also to support low voltage (LV) distribution networks for reducing network investment. New operation strategies for domestic energy storage to facilitate demand response (DR) are developed in the paper. They have the capability to maximize the overall savings in energy costs and investment costs. In the proposed approach, the operation of home-area energy storage devices is jointly conducted by end customers and network operators. The purpose is to fight for an optimal balance between DRs to energy price and to network congestion, and thus to maximize benefits for both consumers and network operators. An intensive study is carried out to investigate the impacts of different dispatch strategies on wholesale energy costs and network investment costs. Benefit quantification methods are introduced as well to evaluate the total benefits in terms of savings in energy costs and investment costs that can be brought along by the proposed operation approach. The demonstration is carried out on two practical distribution networks with varying utilization levels for one typical calendar day and a whole year.
Cracking represents the main challenge for exploiting tungsten in additive manufacturing. In this study, laser powder-bed-fusion technique was applied to additively manufacture tungsten. In the built ...bulks, the grain boundaries were found to be rich in nanoscale gas pores. On the basis of that, a nanopore segregation induced cracking initiation mechanism was proposed. In order to control cracks, W-6wt.%Ta alloy was produced and the cracking suppression mechanism was investigated. The W-6Ta alloy is characterized by a submicron intragranular cellular structure, which composed large amount of interlocked dislocations as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. Owing to the cellular structure, the nanopores were trapped inside grains, which can reduce the cracking possibility. Moreover, the W-Ta alloy possesses higher strength (by 17%) and higher energy dissipation rate (by 52%) than pure tungsten, which both are beneficial for crack reduction.
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•Nanopores segregation at grain boundaries was responsible for crack initiation in laser additively manufactured W.•The nanopores originated from the tungsten oxides vaporization during solidification process.•Cracks were reduced by 80% in the built W-6Ta alloy.•Submicron intragranular cellular structure was identified in the W-Ta alloy.•The cellular structure contributed to crack reduction by not only trapping the nanopores but also toughening the grains.
Stroke is common during the first few weeks after a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor ischemic stroke. Combination therapy with clopidogrel and aspirin may provide greater protection against ...subsequent stroke than aspirin alone.
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted at 114 centers in China, we randomly assigned 5170 patients within 24 hours after the onset of minor ischemic stroke or high-risk TIA to combination therapy with clopidogrel and aspirin (clopidogrel at an initial dose of 300 mg, followed by 75 mg per day for 90 days, plus aspirin at a dose of 75 mg per day for the first 21 days) or to placebo plus aspirin (75 mg per day for 90 days). All participants received open-label aspirin at a clinician-determined dose of 75 to 300 mg on day 1. The primary outcome was stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic) during 90 days of follow-up in an intention-to-treat analysis. Treatment differences were assessed with the use of a Cox proportional-hazards model, with study center as a random effect.
Stroke occurred in 8.2% of patients in the clopidogrel-aspirin group, as compared with 11.7% of those in the aspirin group (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% confidence interval, 0.57 to 0.81; P<0.001). Moderate or severe hemorrhage occurred in seven patients (0.3%) in the clopidogrel-aspirin group and in eight (0.3%) in the aspirin group (P=0.73); the rate of hemorrhagic stroke was 0.3% in each group.
Among patients with TIA or minor stroke who can be treated within 24 hours after the onset of symptoms, the combination of clopidogrel and aspirin is superior to aspirin alone for reducing the risk of stroke in the first 90 days and does not increase the risk of hemorrhage. (Funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China; CHANCE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00979589.).
Precise and differential profiling of the dynamic correlations and pathophysiological implications of multiplex biological mediators with deep penetration and highly programmed precision remain ...critical challenges in clinics. Here we present an innovative strategy by tailoring a powerful multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) technique with a photon-upconverting nanoprobe (UCN) for simultaneous visualization of diversely endogenous redox biomarkers with excellent spatiotemporal resolution in living conditions. Upon incorporating two specific radicals-sensitive NIR cyanine fluorophores onto UCNs surface, such nanoprobes can orthogonally respond to disparate oxidative and nitrosative stimulation, and generate spectrally opposite optoacoustic signal variations, which thus achieves compelling superiorities for reversed ratiometric tracking of multiple radicals under dual independent wavelength channels, and significantly, for precise validating of their complex dynamics and correlations with redox-mediated pathophysiological procession in vivo.
Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that regulate protein expression by cleaving or repressing the translation of target mRNAs. In mammal animals, their function mainly ...represses the target mRNAs transcripts via imperfectly complementary to the 3′UTR of target mRNAs. Several miRNAs have been recently reported to be involved in modulation of glioma development, especially some up-regulated miRNAs, such as microRNA-21 (miR-21), which has been found to function as an oncogene in cultured glioblastoma multiforme cells. Temozolomide (TMZ), an alkylating agent, is a promising chemotherapeutic agent for treating glioblastoma. However, resistance develops quickly and with high frequency. To explore the mechanism of resistance, we found that miR-21 could protect human glioblastoma U87MG cells from TMZ induced apoptosis. Our studies showed that TMZ markedly enhanced apoptosis in U87MG cells compared with untreated cells ( P < 0.05). However, over-express miR-21 in U87MG cells could significantly reduce TMZ-induced apoptosis ( P < 0.05). Pro-apoptotic Bax and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins are known to regulate the apoptosis of glioma cells. Bcl-2, resistance to induction of apoptosis, constitutes one major obstacle to chemotherapy in many cancer cells. Bax is shown to correlate with an increased survival of glioblastoma multiforme patients. Further research demonstrated that the mechanism was associated with a shift in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and change in caspase-3 activity. Compared to control cells, cells treated with TMZ showed a significant increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and caspase-3 activity ( P < 0.01). However, such effect was partly prevented by treatment of cells with miR-21 overexpression before, which appeared to downregulate the Bax expression, upregulate the Bcl-2 expression and decrease caspase-3 activity. Taken together, these results suggested that over-express miR-21 could inhibit TMZ-induced apoptosis in U87MG cells, at least in part, by decreasing Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and caspase-3 activity, which highlighted the possibility of miR-21 overexpression in the clinical resistance to chemotherapeutic therapy of TMZ.
Infectious diseases still remain one of the biggest challenges for human health. In order to gain a better understanding of the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and develop effective diagnostic ...tools, therapeutic agents, and preventive vaccines, a suitable animal model which can represent the characteristics of infectious is required. The Syrian hamster immune responses to infectious pathogens are similar to humans and as such, this model is advantageous for studying pathogenesis of infection including post-bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens, along with assessing the efficacy and interactions of medications and vaccines for those pathogens. This review summarizes the current status of Syrian hamster models and their use for understanding the underlying mechanisms of pathogen infection, in addition to their use as a drug discovery platform and provides a strong rationale for the selection of Syrian hamster as animal models in biomedical research. The challenges of using Syrian hamster as an alternative animal model for the research of infectious diseases are also addressed.
The orientation of cell division along the long axis of the interphase cell--the century-old Hertwigfs rule--has profound roles in tissue proliferation, morphogenesis, architecture and mechanics ...(1,2). In epithelial tissues, the shape of the interphase cell is influenced by cell adhesion, mechanical stress, neighbour topology, and planar polarity pathways (3-12). At mitosis, epithelial cells usually adopt a rounded shape to ensure faithful chromosome segregation and to promote morphogenesis (1). The mechanisms underlying interphase cell shape sensing in tissues are therefore unknown. Here we show that in Drosophila epithelia, tricellular junctions (TCJs) localize force generators, pulling on astral microtubules and orienting cell division via the Dynein-associated protein Mud independently of the classical Pins/Ga pathway. Moreover, as cells round up during mitosis, TCJs serve as spatial landmarks, encoding information about interphase cell shape anisotropy to orient division in the rounded mitotic cell. Finally, experimental and simulation data show that shape and mechanical strain sensing by the TCJs emerge from a general geometric property of TCJ distributions in epithelial tissues. Thus, in addition to their function as epithelial barrier structures, TCJs serve as polarity cues promoting geometry and mechanical sensing in epithelial tissues.
Abstract
The topological materials have attracted much attention for their unique electronic structure and peculiar physical properties. ZrTe
5
has host a long-standing puzzle on its anomalous ...transport properties manifested by its unusual resistivity peak and the reversal of the charge carrier type. It is also predicted that single-layer ZrTe
5
is a two-dimensional topological insulator and there is possibly a topological phase transition in bulk ZrTe
5
. Here we report high-resolution laser-based angle-resolved photoemission measurements on the electronic structure and its detailed temperature evolution of ZrTe
5
. Our results provide direct electronic evidence on the temperature-induced Lifshitz transition, which gives a natural understanding on underlying origin of the resistivity anomaly in ZrTe
5
. In addition, we observe one-dimensional-like electronic features from the edges of the cracked ZrTe
5
samples. Our observations indicate that ZrTe
5
is a weak topological insulator and it exhibits a tendency to become a strong topological insulator when the layer distance is reduced.
Female and latent genital tuberculosis (FGTB and LGTB) in young women may lead to infertility by damaging ovarian reserve function, but the regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we ...investigated the effects of FGTB and LGTB on ovarian reserve function and potential regulatory mechanisms by untargeted metabolomics of follicular fluid, aiming to provide insights for the clinical management and treatment approaches for afflicted women. We recruited 19 patients with FGTB, 16 patients with LGTB, and 16 healthy women as a control group. Clinical data analysis revealed that both the FGTB and LGTB groups had significantly lower ovarian reserve marker levels compared to the control group, including lower anti-Müllerian hormone levels (FGTB: 0.82 0.6, 1.1 μg/L; LGTB: 1.57 1.3, 1.8 μg/L vs. control: 3.29 2.9, 3.5 μg/L), reduced antral follicular counts (FGTB: 6 5.5, 9.5; LGTB: 10.5 7, 12.3 vs. control: 17 14.5, 18), and fewer retrieved oocytes (FGTB: 3 2, 5; LGTB: 8 4, 8.3 vs. control: 14.5 11.5, 15.3). Conversely, these groups exhibited higher ovarian response marker levels, such as longer gonadotropin treatment days (FGTB: 12 10.5, 12.5; LGTB: 11 10.8, 11.3 vs. control: 10 8.8, 10) and increased gonadotropin dosage requirements (FGTB: 3300 3075, 3637.5 U; LGTB: 3037.5 2700, 3225 U vs. control: 2531.25 2337.5, 2943.8 U). All comparisons were statistically significant at P < 0.05. The results suggested that FGTB and LGTB have adverse effects on ovarian reserve and response. Untargeted metabolomic analysis identified 92 and 80 differential metabolites in the control vs. FGTB and control vs. LGTB groups, respectively. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed significant alterations in metabolic pathways in the FGTB and LGTB groups compared to the control group (P < 0.05), with specific changes noted in galactose metabolism, biotin metabolism, steroid hormone biosynthesis, and nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism in the FGTB group, and caffeine metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis, steroid hormone biosynthesis, and glycerophospholipid metabolism in the LGTB group. The analysis of metabolic levels has revealed the potential mechanisms by which FGTB and LGTB affect ovarian reserve function, namely through alterations in metabolic pathways. The study emphasizes the importance of comprehending the metabolic alterations associated with FGTB and LGTB, which is of considerable relevance for the clinical management and therapeutic approaches in afflicted women.
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