Interest toward the human microbiome, particularly gut microbiome has flourished in recent decades owing to the rapidly advancing sequence-based screening and humanized gnotobiotic model in ...interrogating the dynamic operations of commensal microbiota. Although this field is still at a very preliminary stage, whereby the functional properties of the complex gut microbiome remain less understood, several promising findings have been documented and exhibit great potential toward revolutionizing disease etiology and medical treatments. In this review, the interactions between gut microbiota and the host have been focused on, to provide an overview of the role of gut microbiota and their unique metabolites in conferring host protection against invading pathogen, regulation of diverse host physiological functions including metabolism, development and homeostasis of immunity and the nervous system. We elaborate on how gut microbial imbalance (dysbiosis) may lead to dysfunction of host machineries, thereby contributing to pathogenesis and/or progression toward a broad spectrum of diseases. Some of the most notable diseases namely
infection (infectious disease), inflammatory bowel disease (intestinal immune-mediated disease), celiac disease (multisystemic autoimmune disorder), obesity (metabolic disease), colorectal cancer, and autism spectrum disorder (neuropsychiatric disorder) have been discussed and delineated along with recent findings. Novel therapies derived from microbiome studies such as fecal microbiota transplantation, probiotic and prebiotics to target associated diseases have been reviewed to introduce the idea of how certain disease symptoms can be ameliorated through dysbiosis correction, thus revealing a new scientific approach toward disease treatment. Toward the end of this review, several research gaps and limitations have been described along with suggested future studies to overcome the current research lacunae. Despite the ongoing debate on whether gut microbiome plays a role in the above-mentioned diseases, we have in this review, gathered evidence showing a potentially far more complex link beyond the unidirectional cause-and-effect relationship between them.
The current status of research on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs)—carbon nanotube structural analogues—is discussed. Latest achievements in BNNT synthesis, morphology, and atomic structure analysis ...as well as physical, chemical, and functional property evaluations are reviewed. Similarities and differences between structural parameters and properties of BNNTs in comparison with conventional carbon nanotubes are particularly highlighted. Recent breakthroughs in BNNT filling, doping and functionalization, morphology, and electronic structure engineering are examined. Finally, prospective BNNT applications for fabricating field‐effect transistors, gas accumulators, and reinforcing polymer films are presented.
Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are well‐known structural analogues of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This Review discusses the latest achievements in BNNT synthesis, morphology, and analysis, as well as their property evaluations. Similarities and differences between BNNTs and CNTs in particular are highlighted. Prospective BNNT applications for reinforcing polymer films, fabricating field‐effect transistors, and gas accumulators are presented.
A family of donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) type near-infrared (NIR) fluorophores containing rigid nonplanar conjugated tetraphenylethene (TPE) moieties was designed and synthesized through Stille ...coupling reactions with electron-deficient 1,2,5thiadiazolo3,4-gquinoxaline (QTD) or benzo1,2-c;4,5-c′bis1,2,5thiadiazole (BBTD) as acceptors. The absorption, fluorescence, and electrochemical properties were studied. These compounds exhibited good aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) property, as a result of the twisted TPE units, which restrict the intramolecular rotation and reduce the π–π stacking. Photoluminescence of these chromophores ranges from 600 to 1100 nm, and their HOMO–LUMO gaps are between 1.85 and 1.50 eV. Non-doped organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on these fluorophores were made and exhibited EL emission spectra peaking from 706 to 864 nm. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) of these devices ranged from 0.89% to 0.20% and remained fairly constant over a range of current density of 100–300 mA cm–2. The device with the highest solid fluorescence efficiency emitter 1a shows the best performance with a maximum radiance of 2917 mW Sr–1 m–2 and EQE of 0.89%. A contrast between nondoped and doped OLEDs with these materials confirms that AIEE compounds are suitable for fabricate efficient nondoped NIR OLEDs.
Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) is a rare and disabling disease. Early diagnosis and appropriate therapy are essential. This update and revision of the global guideline for HAE provides up‐to‐date ...consensus recommendations for the management of HAE. In the development of this update and revision of the guideline, an international expert panel reviewed the existing evidence and developed 20 recommendations that were discussed, finalized and consented during the guideline consensus conference in June 2016 in Vienna. The final version of this update and revision of the guideline incorporates the contributions of a board of expert reviewers and the endorsing societies. The goal of this guideline update and revision is to provide clinicians and their patients with guidance that will assist them in making rational decisions in the management of HAE with deficient C1‐inhibitor (type 1) and HAE with dysfunctional C1‐inhibitor (type 2). The key clinical questions covered by these recommendations are: (1) How should HAE‐1/2 be defined and classified?, (2) How should HAE‐1/2 be diagnosed?, (3) Should HAE‐1/2 patients receive prophylactic and/or on‐demand treatment and what treatment options should be used?, (4) Should HAE‐1/2 management be different for special HAE‐1/2 patient groups such as pregnant/lactating women or children?, and (5) Should HAE‐1/2 management incorporate self‐administration of therapies and patient support measures?
Background
Hereditary angioedema is a rare autosomal dominant disease, and its correlation between genotype and phenotype seems not to exist. So far, there are very few studies on Chinese population. ...We aimed to establish a Chinese genetic database of hereditary angioedema and investigated the potential correlation between genotype and phenotype.
Method
All the eight exons and intron–exon boundaries of C1 inhibitor gene were detected in 48 unrelated families with HAE. The correlations between genotype and clinical parameters were evaluated by R statistical software.
Results
Thirty‐five different mutations (25 of them were novel) and 7 SNPs (3 of them were novel) were identified. Significant difference was found in the level of C1 inhibitor antigen (P = 0.01793) between different groups of mutational types. The correlation between different groups of mutational types and the level of C1 inhibitor antigen (0.5047, P = 0.00027) was significant. The different groups of mutational types showed neither difference nor correlations of clinical parameters (severity score and the level of C1 inhibitor function).
Conclusion
It appears that nonsense, frameshift, and mutations on Arg466 can cause lower level of C1 inhibitor antigen than missense and in‐frame mutations; however, it does not affect severity of symptoms.
Motivated by an interest in inciting instabilities and mixing for heat transfer enhancement in ducts, flow in a channel with repeated wedge-shaped protrusions is considered for various blockage ...ratios (wedge height to duct height), pitch (distance between wedges) and wedge angles. The stability of the two-dimensional base flow and its dependence on the geometric parameters is elucidated through a global linear stability analysis. A linearly unstable two-dimensional mode was found, contrasting similar confined flow set-ups. However, the primary instability is a three-dimensional mode manifesting as counter-rotating streamwise vortices over the wedge tip. Analysis of the kinetic energy budget indicates a lift-up mechanism leading to instability, with the dominant energy gain of the global three-dimensional mode due to shear in the base flow. Structural sensitivity and receptivity of the instability to momentum forcing identifies the core of the instability and locations important for flow control. An endogeneity approach is used to show that the local perturbation pressure gradient component dominates the distribution of the local contribution to the growth rate of the linear global eigenmode in most cases considered, despite its net contribution being identically zero. Weakly nonlinear Stuart–Landau analysis reveals that the primary bifurcation is supercritical across all tested geometric parameter combinations. This is consistent with the finding of low linear transient growth amplifications at subcritical Reynolds numbers, being orders of magnitude lower than in similar channel flow set-ups.
The successful market availability of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has brought revolutionary changes to the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). With the widespread application of ICIs ...in HCC patients, the impact or even termination of antitumor therapy due to ICIs hepatotoxicity is a clinical problem that must be faced. However, it is currently unclear whether there are differences in the occurrence and risk factors of ICI hepatotoxicity between HCC patients and other tumors. At the same time, the chronic liver disease that often accompanies HCC patients also poses great challenges to their diagnosis and management. Therefore, clinical physicians need to understand the coping strategies for ICIs hepatotoxicity so as to improve the benefit of immunotherapy for patients.
Corundum-structured α-Ga2O3 thin films have been employed to deposit on m-plane (300) α-Al2O3 substrates under different temperature, oxygen pressure, pulse laser energy and frequency by laser ...molecular beam epitaxy method. (300)-oriented α-Ga2O3 epitaxial thin film can be obtained under the appropriate growth parameters. The prepared α-Ga2O3 thin film shows a band gap of 5.15eV which is larger than that of β-Ga2O3, exhibiting an excellent solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) characteristic. The α-Ga2O3 thin film exhibits obvious photoresponse under 254nm UV light irradiation, and it increases in photocurrent with both the increase of optical input power and applied bias. However, it is not sensitive to 365nm light. The results suggest that α-Ga2O3 thin film is a promising candidate for use in solar-blind photodetectors.
•High-quality (300)-oriented corundum-structured α-Ga2O3 epitaxial thin films have been fabricated by LMBE on m-plane α-Al2O3 substrates .•The α-Ga2O3 epitaxial thin film with a band gap of 5.15eV exhibits a promising use in solar-blind photodetectors.
Shale oil refers to oil stored in organic-rich shale. It is an important part of unconventional oil and provides a large amount of resources. Based on the systematic study of the geological ...characteristics of shale oil in China's major continental basins, the geological connotation of the “sweet area (section)” in shale oil is proposed in this paper, and it refers to areas (sections) that can be preferentially explored and developed in oil-bearing shale formations under current economic and technical conditions. The formation conditions and distribution characteristics of continental shale oil in China are analyzed with a focus on the geological properties of the Triassic Yanchang Formation in the Ordos Basin, the Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation in the Songliao Basin and the Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Jimusar Sag in the Junggar Basin. It is found that the “sweet areas” of shale oil with medium-high maturation are mainly located in thick shales with a Ro greater than 0.9%, and the “sweet sections” are mainly located in the middle and lower parts of the shale formation. The geological resources of continental shale oil in the major continental basins in China are estimated to be approximately 3700 × 108 tons. The in situ conversion process (ICP) may be a key technology for the effective development of medium-to low-mature shale oil. The scale, maximum burial depth and present depth of the organic-rich shale are proposed as the three key parameters for the optimization of pilot sites by taking the Triassic Yanchang Formation in the Ordos Basin as an example. Using ICP, it is expected that the recoverable resources of China's continental shale oil will be approximately (400–500) × 108 tons. The terminology of "man-made reservoir" is proposed in this paper. In an "man-made reservoir", the overall industrial output of the "sweet areas (sections)" is formed by artificial intervention and the construction of an underground fracture network system with "man-made permeability". Continental shale oil may be another revolutionary source of unconventional oil and is expected to be first successfully produced in China.
•The “sweet areas(sections)” of continental shale oil with medium-high maturation are illustrated with examples and the resources are assessed.•The formation conditions and distribution characteristics of continental shale oil in China are analyzed.•Some important concepts are proposed, including “exploring oil into source kitchen”, “source rock oil”, “man-made oil reservoir”, etc.
The stability of the wakes of cylinders with triangular cross-sections at incidence is investigated using Floquet stability analysis to elucidate the effects of cylinder inclination on the dominant ...flow instability. The upper limit of the Reynolds numbers (scaled by the height projected by the cylinder in this study) at which the wake of the two-dimensional base flow is time periodic is
$Re\approx 140$
for most cylinder inclinations, exceeding which the flow becomes aperiodic, restricting the range of Reynolds numbers permitted for the stability analysis. Two different instability modes are predicted to manifest as the first-occurring mode at various cylinder inclinations – a regular mode possessing perturbation structures consistent with mode A dominates the wakes of cylinders at inclinations
$\unicodeSTIX{x1D6FC}\lesssim 34.6^{\circ }$
and
$\unicodeSTIX{x1D6FC}\gtrsim 55.4^{\circ }$
, with a subharmonic mode consistent with mode C emerging as the primary mode in the wakes of the cylinder at the intermediate range of inclinations. For all inclinations, the mode B branch is not detected within the range of Reynolds numbers examined. The peak instability growth rates corresponding to mode A for all cylinder inclinations describe a linear variation with
$(Re-Re_{A})/Re_{A}$
, where
$Re_{A}$
is the mode A transition Reynolds number, while those corresponding to mode C vary only approximately linearly. The generalized trend most pertinently shows mode C to develop more rapidly than mode A at inclinations which permit it. Examination of the near wake of the two-dimensional time-periodic base flow demonstrates the dependence of the development and intensity of mode C on imbalances in the flow solution over each shedding period, directly implying that the two-dimensional base flow solutions deviate from the half-period-flip map as the cylinder inclination is increased. The degree of asymmetry of the two-dimensional base flow relative to the ideal half-period-flip map is quantified using several measures. The results show distinctly different trends in these asymmetry measures between inclinations where modes A or C are dominant, agreeing with results from the stability analysis. The nature of the predicted instability modes at transition are also investigated by applying the Stuart–Landau equation, showing the transitions to be supercritical for all cylinder inclinations, with mode C being consistently more strongly supercritical than mode A.
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