Recently, A2 B3 type strong spin orbital coupling compounds such as Bi2 Te3 , Bi2 Se3 and Sb2 Te3 were theoretically predicated to be topological insulators and demonstrated through experimental ...efforts. The counterpart compound Sb2 Se3 on the other hand was found to be topological trivial, but further theoretical studies indicated that the pressure might induce Sb2 Se3 into a topological nontrivial state. Here, we report on the discovery of superconductivity in Sb2 Se3 single crystal induced via pressure. Our experiments indicated that Sb2 Se3 became superconductive at high pressures above 10 GPa proceeded by a pressure induced insulator to metal like transition at ~3 GPa which should be related to the topological quantum transition. The superconducting transition temperature (TC ) increased to around 8.0 K with pressure up to 40 GPa while it keeps ambient structure. High pressure Raman revealed that new modes appeared around 10 GPa and 20 GPa, respectively, which correspond to occurrence of superconductivity and to the change of TC slop as the function of high pressure in conjunction with the evolutions of structural parameters at high pressures.
Integrins are components of cell-matrix adhesions, and function as scaffolds for various signal transduction pathways. So far no lipid ligand for integrin has been reported. Here we show that a ...lipid, oxysterol 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), directly binds to α5β1 and αvβ3 integrins to activate integrin-focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling. Treatment of macrophages and epithelial cells with 25HC results in an increase in activated αvβ3 integrin in podosome and focal adhesion matrix adhesion sites. Moreover, activation of pattern recognition receptor on macrophages induces secretion of 25HC, triggering integrin signaling and the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF and IL-6. Thus, the lipid molecule 25HC is a physiologically relevant activator of integrins and is involved in positively regulating proinflammatory responses. Our data suggest that extracellular 25HC links innate immune inflammatory response with integrin signaling.
Summary
Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) plays an important role in maintaining the tolerance and may interfere with host innate and adaptive immune responses; therefore, novel therapeutic ...strategies to reduce HBsAg loads in patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) are emerging as an attractive but challenging issue. Metformin could regulate hepatic metabolism while the latter interacts with HBV infection. We hypothesized that metformin could affect HBsAg expression and HBV replication and may work synergistically when combined with current antivirals. In our study, a notably inhibitory effect on HBsAg production, as well as a moderate inhibition in HBV replication and HBeAg expression was observed following metformin treatment. The 50% effective concentration (EC50) for extracellular HBsAg and intracellular HBsAg in HBV‐producing HepG2.2.15 cells was 2.85 mm and 2.75 mm, respectively, with a similarly selective index of about 18. When administered in combination, metformin enhanced the inhibitory effects of interferon‐α2b on HBsAg expression and HBV replication and provided a complimentary role in HBsAg expression for lamivudine (LMV). This novel action of metformin derives partially from its inhibition on multiple HBV cis‐acting elements. By the virtues of preferably hepatocyte distribution and safety profile, collectively, our results suggest that metformin would be potentially clinically helpful as an HBsAg production inhibitor.
Aerosol variations and trends over different land and ocean regions from 1980 to 2009 are analyzed with the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model and observations from ...multiple satellite sensors and available ground-based networks. Excluding time periods with large volcanic influence, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and surface concentration over polluted land regions generally vary with anthropogenic emissions, but the magnitude of this association can be dampened by the presence of natural aerosols, especially dust. Over the 30-year period in this study, the largest reduction in aerosol levels occurs over Europe, where AOD has decreased by 40–60% on average and surface sulfate concentrations have declined by a factor of up to 3–4. In contrast, East Asia and South Asia show AOD increases, but the relatively high level of dust aerosols in Asia reduces the correlation between AOD and pollutant emission trends. Over major dust source regions, model analysis indicates that the change of dust emissions over the Sahara and Sahel has been predominantly driven by the change of near-surface wind speed, but over Central Asia it has been largely influenced by the change of the surface wetness. The decreasing dust trend in the North African dust outflow region of the tropical North Atlantic and the receptor sites of Barbados and Miami is closely associated with an increase of the sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic. This temperature increase may drive the decrease of the wind velocity over North Africa, which reduces the dust emission, and the increase of precipitation over the tropical North Atlantic, which enhances dust removal during transport. Despite significant trends over some major continental source regions, the model-calculated global annual average AOD shows little change over land and ocean in the past three decades, because opposite trends in different land regions cancel each other out in the global average, and changes over large open oceans are negligible. This highlights the necessity for regional-scale assessment of aerosols and their climate impacts, as global-scale average values can obscure important regional changes.
We report a successful observation of pressure-induced superconductivity in a topological compound Bi 2 Te 3 with T c of ∼3 K between 3 to 6 GPa. The combined high-pressure structure investigations ...with synchrotron radiation indicated that the superconductivity occurred at the ambient phase without crystal structure phase transition. The Hall effects measurements indicated the hole-type carrier in the pressure-induced superconducting Bi 2 Te 3 single crystal. Consequently, the first-principles calculations based on the structural data obtained by the Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction patterns at high pressure showed that the electronic structure under pressure remained topologically nontrivial. The results suggested that topological superconductivity can be realized in Bi 2 Te 3 due to the proximity effect between superconducting bulk states and Dirac-type surface states. We also discuss the possibility that the bulk state could be a topological superconductor.
We report an approach to the development of advanced structural composites based on engineered multiscale carbon nanotube−carbon fiber reinforcement. Electrophoresis was utilized for the selective ...deposition of multi- and single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on woven carbon fabric. The CNT-coated carbon fabric panels were subsequently infiltrated with epoxy resin using vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) to fabricate multiscale hybrid composites in which the nanotubes were completely integrated into the fiber bundles and reinforced the matrix-rich regions. The carbon nanotube/carbon fabric/epoxy composites showed ∼30% enhancement of the interlaminar shear strength as compared to that of carbon fiber/epoxy composites without carbon nanotubes and demonstrate significantly improved out-of-plane electrical conductivity.
Few-layer black phosphorus was recently rediscovered as a narrow-bandgap atomically thin semiconductor, attracting unprecedented attention due to its interesting properties. One feature of this ...material that sets it apart from other atomically thin crystals is its structural in-plane anisotropy which manifests in strongly anisotropic transport characteristics. However, traditional angle-resolved conductance measurements present a challenge for nanoscale systems, calling for new approaches in precision studies of transport anisotropy. Here, we show that the nonlocal response, being exponentially sensitive to the anisotropy value, provides a powerful tool for determining the anisotropy in black phosphorus. This is established by combining measurements of the orientation-dependent nonlocal resistance response with the analysis based on the anamorphosis relations. We demonstrate that the nonlocal response can differ by orders of magnitude for different crystallographic directions even when the anisotropy is at most order-one, allowing us to extract accurate anisotropy values.
Eutectic In-48Sn was considered a promising candidate for low-temperature solder due to its low melting point and excellent mechanical properties. Both Cu
(In,Sn) and Cu(In,Sn)
formation were ...observed at the In-48Sn/Cu interface after 160 °C soldering. However, traditional mechanical polishing produces many defects at the In-48Sn/Cu interface, which may affect the accuracy of interfacial reaction investigations. In this study, cryogenic broad Ar
beam ion milling was used to investigate the interfacial reaction between In-48Sn and Cu during soldering. The phase Cu
(Sn,In)
was confirmed as the only intermetallic compound formed during 150 °C soldering, while Cu(In,Sn)
formation was proven to be caused by room-temperature aging after soldering. Both the Cu
(Sn,In)
and Cu(In,Sn)
phases were confirmed by EPMA quantitative analysis and TEM selected area electron diffraction. The microstructure evolution and growth mechanism of Cu
(Sn,In)
during soldering were proposed. In addition, the Young's modulus and hardness of Cu
(Sn,In)
were determined to be 119.04 ± 3.94 GPa and 6.28 ± 0.13 GPa, respectively, suggesting that the doping of In in Cu
(Sn,In)
has almost no effect on Young's modulus and hardness.
The T3SS injectisome is a syringe-shaped macromolecular assembly found in pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria that allows for the direct delivery of virulence effectors into host cells. It is composed ...of a "basal body", a lock-nut structure spanning both bacterial membranes, and a "needle" that protrudes away from the bacterial surface. A hollow channel spans throughout the apparatus, permitting the translocation of effector proteins from the bacterial cytosol to the host plasma membrane. The basal body is composed largely of three membrane-embedded proteins that form oligomerized concentric rings. Here, we report the crystal structures of three domains of the prototypical Salmonella SPI-1 basal body, and use a new approach incorporating symmetric flexible backbone docking and EM data to produce a model for their oligomeric assembly. The obtained models, validated by biochemical and in vivo assays, reveal the molecular details of the interactions driving basal body assembly, and notably demonstrate a conserved oligomerization mechanism.
Side Lobe Level (SLL) suppression is a challenging but essential part of frequency selective surface (FSS) structural design. The SLL of the radiation pattern is a key parameter demonstrating the ...directional anti-interference ability and mainly depends on the geometry of the FSS. However, the correlation between SLL and FSS structural parameters is extremely complicated. A minor FSS structure change may result in a drastic diversion in the sidelobe’s direction or level, making the SLL the most difficult parameter to optimize. In this paper, an efficient optimization method specifically for SLL suppression is proposed. We discretized the edges of split square ring FSS structures by binary representation and generated new patterns based on the genetic algorithm. Optimization results showed that in the most optimal structure, the SLL was −23.41 dB, exhibiting a 5.17 dB reduction. Meanwhile, the center frequency variation was less than 2%. Moreover, the computation time cost was reduced by over 90% compared with that of the fully discretized pattern optimization method, showing that this novel method was truly effective in getting SLL suppressed FSS structures.
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