Luminal fluid reabsorption plays a fundamental role in male fertility. We demonstrated that the ubiquitous GPCR signaling proteins Gq and β-arrestin-1 are essential for fluid reabsorption because ...they mediate coupling between an orphan receptor ADGRG2 (GPR64) and the ion channel CFTR. A reduction in protein level or deficiency of ADGRG2, Gq or β-arrestin-1 in a mouse model led to an imbalance in pH homeostasis in the efferent ductules due to decreased constitutive CFTR currents. Efferent ductule dysfunction was rescued by the specific activation of another GPCR, AGTR2. Further mechanistic analysis revealed that β-arrestin-1 acts as a scaffold for ADGRG2/CFTR complex formation in apical membranes, whereas specific residues of ADGRG2 confer coupling specificity for different G protein subtypes, this specificity is critical for male fertility. Therefore, manipulation of the signaling components of the ADGRG2-Gq/β-arrestin-1/CFTR complex by small molecules may be an effective therapeutic strategy for male infertility.
Urea is an important raw material in the chemical industry and is widely used as a nitrogen source in chemical fertilizers. The current industrial urea synthesis not only requires harsh reaction ...conditions, but also consumes most of the NH
obtained through artificial synthesis. The conversion of N
and CO
into urea through electrochemical reactions under ambient conditions represents a novel green urea synthesis method. However, the large-scale promotion of this method is limited by the lack of suitable electrocatalysts. Here, by means of density functional theory computations, we systematically study the catalytic activity of three experimentally available two-dimensional metal borides (MBenes), Mo
B
, Ti
B
, and Cr
B
toward simultaneous electrocatalytic coupling of N
and CO
to produce urea under ambient conditions. According to our results, these three MBenes not only have superior intrinsic basal activity for urea formation, with limiting potentials ranging from -0.49 to -0.65 eV, but also can significantly suppress the competitive reaction of N
reduction to NH
. In particular, 2D Mo
B
and Cr
B
possess superior capacity to suppress surface oxidation and self-corrosion under electrochemical reaction conditions, rendering them relatively promising electrocatalysts for urea production. Our work paves the way for the electrochemical synthesis of urea.
This systematic review aimed to identify the unmet care needs and their associated variables in patients with advanced cancer and informal caregivers, alongside summarizing the tools used for needs ...assessment.
Ten electronic databases were searched systematically from inception of each database to December 2016 to determine eligible studies. Studies that considered the unmet care needs of either adult patients with advanced cancer or informal caregivers, regardless of the study design, were included. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was utilized for quality appraisal of the included studies. Content analysis was used to identify unmet needs, and descriptive analysis was adopted to synthesize other outcomes.
Fifty studies were included, and their methodological quality was generally robust. The prevalence of unmet needs varied across studies. Twelve unmet need domains were identified in patients with advanced cancer, and seven among informal caregivers. The three most commonly reported domains for patients were psychological, physical, and healthcare service and information. The most prominent unmet items of these domains were emotional support (10.1-84.4%), fatigue (18-76.3%), and "being informed about benefits and side-effects of treatment" (4-66.7%). The most commonly identified unmet needs for informal caregivers were information needs, including illness and treatment information (26-100%) and care-related information (21-100%). Unmet needs of patients with advanced cancer were associated with their physical symptoms, anxiety, and quality of life. The most commonly used instruments for needs assessment among patients with advanced cancer were the Supportive Care Needs Survey (N = 8) and Problems and Needs in Palliative Care questionnaire (N = 5). The majority of the included studies investigated unmet needs from the perspectives of either patients or caregivers with a cross-sectional study design using single time-point assessments. Moreover, significant heterogeneity, including differences in study contexts, assessment methods, instruments for measurement, need classifications, and reporting methods, were identified across studies.
Both advanced cancer patients and informal caregivers reported a wide range of context-bound unmet needs. Examining their unmet needs on the basis of viewing patients and their informal caregivers as a whole unit will be highly optimal. Unmet care needs should be comprehensively evaluated from the perspectives of all stakeholders and interpreted by using rigorously designed mixed methods research and longitudinal studies within a given context.
Solar‐driven syngas production by CO2 reduction provides a sustainable strategy to produce renewable feedstocks. However, this promising reaction often suffers from tough CO2 activation, sluggish ...oxidative half‐reaction kinetics and undesired by‐products. Herein, we report a function‐oriented strategy of deliberately constructing black phosphorus quantum dots‐ZnIn2S4 (BP/ZIS) heterostructures for solar‐driven CO2 reduction to syngas, paired with selectively oxidative C−N bond formation, in one redox cycle. The optimal BP/ZIS heterostructure features the enhanced charge‐carrier separation and enriched active sites for cooperatively photocatalytic syngas production with a tunable ratio of CO/H2 and efficient oxidation of amines to imines with high conversion and selectivity. This prominent catalytic performance arises from the efficient electronic coupling between black phosphorus quantum dots and ZnIn2S4, as well as the optimized adsorption strength for key reaction intermediates, as supported by both experimental and theoretical investigations. We also demonstrate a synergistic interplay between CO2 reduction and amine dehydrogenation oxidation, rather than simply collecting these two single half‐reactions in this dual‐functional photoredox system.
A function‐oriented strategy of engineering black phosphorus quantum dots‐ZnIn2S4 heterostructures for solar‐driven CO2 reduction to syngas, paired with selectively oxidative C−N bond formation, in one redox cycle is reported. The promoted charge‐carrier separation, enriched active sites and optimized adsorption strength of key reaction intermediates for CO2 reduction, as well as the cooperative photoredox manner, jointly contribute to the enhanced photoactivity and selectivity.
Ambipolar transistors represent a class of transistors where positive (holes) and negative (electrons) charge carriers both can transport concurrently within the semiconducting channel. The basic ...switching states of ambipolar transistors are comprised of common off‐state and separated on‐state mainly impelled by holes or electrons. During the past years, diverse materials are synthesized and utilized for implementing ambipolar charge transport and their further emerging applications comprising ambipolar memory, synaptic, logic, and light‐emitting transistors on account of their special bidirectional carrier‐transporting characteristic. Within this review, recent developments of ambipolar transistor field involving fundamental principles, interface modifications, selected semiconducting material systems, device structures, ambipolar characteristics, and promising applications are highlighted. The existed challenges and prospective for researching ambipolar transistors in electronics and optoelectronics are also discussed. It is expected that the review and outlook are well timed and instrumental for the rapid progress of academic sector of ambipolar transistors in lighting, display, memory, as well as neuromorphic computing for artificial intelligence.
Ambipolar transistors represent transistors that allow synchronous transport of electrons and holes and their accumulation within semiconductors. This review provides a comprehensive summary of recent advances in various semiconducting materials realized in ambipolar transistors and their functional memory, synapse, logic, as well as light‐emitting applications.
China is one of the countries with the highest incidence of gastric cancer. There are differences in epidemiological characteristics, clinicopathological features, tumor biological characteristics, ...treatment patterns, and drug selection between gastric cancer patients from the Eastern and Western countries. Non‐Chinese guidelines cannot specifically reflect the diagnosis and treatment characteristics for the Chinese gastric cancer patients. The Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) arranged for a panel of senior experts specializing in all sub‐specialties of gastric cancer to compile, discuss, and revise the guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer based on the findings of evidence‐based medicine in China and abroad. By referring to the opinions of industry experts, taking into account of regional differences, giving full consideration to the accessibility of diagnosis and treatment resources, these experts have conducted experts’ consensus judgement on relevant evidence and made various grades of recommendations for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer to reflect the value of cancer treatment and meeting health economic indexes. This guideline uses tables and is complemented by explanatory and descriptive notes covering the diagnosis, comprehensive treatment, and follow‐up visits for gastric cancer.
Gastric cancer,one of the most common malignancies in the world,frequently reveals lymph node,peritoneum,and liver metastases.Most of gastric cancer patients present with lymph node metastasis when ...they were initially diagnosed or underwent surgical resection,which results in poor prognosis.Both the depth of tumor invasion and lymph node involvement are considered as the most important prognostic predictors of gastric cancer.Although extended lymphadenectomy was not considered a survival benefit procedure and was reported to be associated with high mortality and morbidity in two randomized controlled European trials,it showed significant superiority in terms of lower locoregional recurrence and disease related deaths compared to limited lymphadenectomy in a 15-year followup study.Almost all clinical investigators have reached a consensus that the predictive efficiency of the number of metastatic lymph nodes is far better than the extent of lymph node metastasis for the prognosis of gastric cancer worldwide,but other nodal metastatic classifications of gastric cancer have been proposed as alternatives to the number of metastatic lymph nodes for improving the predictive efficiency for patient prognosis.It is still controversial over whether the ratio between metastatic and examined lymph nodes is superior to the number of metastatic lymph nodes in prognostic evaluation of gastric cancer.Besides,the negative lymph node count has been increasingly recognized to be an important factor significantly associated with prognosis of gastric cancer.
The human brain is a sophisticated, high‐performance biocomputer that processes multiple complex tasks in parallel with high efficiency and remarkably low power consumption. Scientists have long been ...pursuing an artificial intelligence (AI) that can rival the human brain. Spiking neural networks based on neuromorphic computing platforms simulate the architecture and information processing of the intelligent brain, providing new insights for building AIs. The rapid development of materials engineering, device physics, chip integration, and neuroscience has led to exciting progress in neuromorphic computing with the goal of overcoming the von Neumann bottleneck. Herein, fundamental knowledge related to the structures and working principles of neurons and synapses of the biological nervous system is reviewed. An overview is then provided on the development of neuromorphic hardware systems, from artificial synapses and neurons to spike‐based neuromorphic computing platforms. It is hoped that this review will shed new light on the evolution of brain‐like computing.
Spiking neural networks based on neuromorphic computing platforms simulate the architecture and information processing of the brain, providing a new insight for building machines having artificial intelligence. A comprehensive overview of the development of neuromorphic engineering from biological nervous systems to spike‐based neuromorphic computing platforms is provided.
Foreground and background cues can assist humans in quickly understanding visual scenes. In computer vision, however, it is difficult to detect salient objects when they touch the image boundary. ...Hence, detecting salient objects robustly under such circumstances without sacrificing precision and recall can be challenging. In this paper, we propose a novel model for salient region detection, namely, the foreground-center-background (FCB) saliency model. Its main highlights as follows. First, we use regional color volume as the foreground, together with perceptually uniform color differences within regions to detect salient regions. This can highlight salient objects robustly, even when they touched the image boundary, without greatly sacrificing precision and recall. Second, we employ center saliency to detect salient regions together with foreground and background cues, which improves saliency detection performance. Finally, we propose a novel and simple yet efficient method that combines foreground, center, and background saliency. Experimental validation with three well-known benchmark data sets indicates that the FCB model outperforms several state-of-the-art methods in terms of precision, recall, F-measure, and particularly, the mean absolute error. Salient regions are brighter than those of some existing state-of-the-art methods.
Photocatalytic epoxide alcoholysis through C−O bond cleavage and formation has emerged as an alternative to synthesizing anti‐tumoral pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. However, the lack of crucial ...evidence to interpret the interaction between reactants and photocatalyst surface makes it challenging for photocatalytic epoxide alcoholysis with both high activity and regioselectivity. In this work, we report the hierarchical ZnIn2S4@CdS photocatalyst for epoxide alcoholysis with high regioselectivity nearly 100 %. Mechanistic studies unveil that the precise activation switch on exposed Zn acid sites for C−O bond polarization and cleavage has a critical significance for achieving efficient photocatalytic performance. Furthermore, the establishment of Z‐scheme heterojunction facilitates the interface charge separation and transfer. Remarkably, the underlying regioselective photocatalytic reaction pathway has been distinctly revealed.
Hollow CdS nanocages wrapped in ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets were synthesized to form the hierarchical photocatalyst ZnIn2S4@CdS. Surface‐exposed Zn acid centers and the Z‐Scheme pathway between ZnIn2S4 and CdS promote the polarization of epoxide molecules and interfacial charge transfer, leading to photoredox‐catalyzed regioselective alcoholysis of epoxides.
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