Near stoichiometric molybdenum oxide (MoO3-x) film has attracted extensive interest as superior hole-selecting material in optoelectronic devices. However, the existence of multi-oxidation states ...significantly affects its work function and carrier transport behaviors. In this work, we have proposed a facile way to modulate the oxidation states of solution-processed MoO3-x with vanadium ions (V5+) doping (MoO3-x:V), beneficial for improved hole-selecting contact performance with silicon. As the doping concentration of V5+ increases, oxygen vacancies and reduced Mo5+ ions reduce, resulting in the increase of work function of MoO3-x film. The effective carrier lifetime of MoO3-x deposited Czochralski silicon has been largely improved from 60.1 to 153.0 μs (Δn = 1015 cm−3) at the optimized doping concentration of 5%, and the contact resistivity is reduced from 9.1 to 2.1 Ω cm2 simultaneously. The finished solar cells with the scheme of Ag/MoO3-x:V/n-Si have exhibited significantly improved conversion efficiency. Our results have demonstrated a very promising way to modulate the stoichiometry and work function of MoO3-x film, which has great potential in solar cell and light emitting diode applications.
When bone cement is used to strengthen the vertebrae in patients with Kummell disease (KD), loosening and displacement of cement are common complications that can cause poor results. We developed a ...bone cement bridging screw system to avoid this complication. This three-dimensional finite element study aims to analyze the biomechanical properties of the novel bridging screw system and compare it to single vertebroplasty and vertebroplasty combined with pediculoplasty. After the effective establishment of a KD three-dimensional finite element model, the stability of the bone cement in the five treatment methods was analyzed and compared on four aspects. According to the calculation results of the maximum von Mises stress of bone cement and the relative displacement ratio of bone cement, it was determined that the stability of the bone cement was significantly improved when combined with the bridging screw system or pediculoplasty. In addition, according to the calculation results of the maximum von Mises stress of the inferior endplate of T12 and the displacement load ratio of the bone cement, we further found that after using the bridging screw system, the bone cement in the vertebral body has the best stability, and the risk of bone cement loosening or displacement is the lowest. In conclusion, for treating KD with bone cement augmentation, the bone cement bridging screw system combined with vertebroplasty has better stability and safety than ordinary single vertebroplasty and vertebroplasty combined with pediculoplasty. This treatment approach has the most robust ability to avoid loosening and displacement of bone cement.
Here, we explored the liver, heart and muscle tissue transcriptome of the haemoglobinless Antarctic fish Chionodraco hamatus using the Illumina paired‐end RNA sequencing. A total of 114,028 unigenes ...with a mean length of 794.24 bp was produced. Annotation of these unigenes showed that 29.16% and 35.52% of them had hits in the nucleotide (Nt) and protein (Nr) databases, respectively. In addition, 29.10% and 35.28% unigenes were annotated in the SwissProt and TrEMBL databases while 23.27% and 21.08% of unigenes were annotated in the conserved domain (CCD) and protein family (PFAM) databases, respectively. The results of eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOG) classification analysis showed that around 21.36% of unigenes could be mapped. Differential gene expression analysis indicated that 16,331, 16,291 and 13,262 differentially expressed genes (DEG) could be screened between muscle and heart, muscle and liver and heart and liver, respectively. A significant enrichment analysis of these DEGs revealed their implication in important biological processes, molecular functions, cellular components and diverse pathways. Furthermore, a total of 24,455 simple sequence repeats (SSR) were detected from the generated tissue transcriptome. The transcriptome data produced in this study will constitute an important resource for improving our knowledge of C. hamatus functional genomics and will facilitate future studies regarding this species.
Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARα) regulates lipids metabolism and inhibits inflammatory response. However, the role of PPARα in alcoholic liver disease is largely unknown. We ...aim to elucidate the effect and the molecular basis of PPARα in ethanol induced hepatic injury in mice.
C57BL/6J mice fed with 4% ethanol-containing Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet for 12 weeks exhibited hepatocyte steatosis, necrosis and inflammatory infiltration, accompanied with elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartic transaminase (AST) levels, decreased hepatic expression of PPARα, lipids oxidation promoting genes and anti-inflammatory factors, as well as enhanced hepatic expression of fatty acids synthesis promoting genes and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Induction of PPARα by PPARα agonist WY14643 treatment for 2 weeks ameliorated the severity of liver injury and restored expression of genes altered by ethanol treatment. However, administration of PPARα antagonist GW6471 for 2 weeks promoted the inflammatory response.
The present study provided the evidence for the protective role of PPARα in ameliorating ethanol induced liver injury through modulation of the genes related to lipid metabolism and inflammatory response.
Mud crabs, found throughout the Indo‐Pacific region, are coastal species that are important fisheries resources in many tropical and subtropical Asian countries. Here, we present a chromosome‐level ...genome assembly of a mud crab (Scylla paramamosain). The genome is 1.55 Gb (contig N50 191 kb) in length and encodes 17,821 proteins. The heterozygosity of the assembled genome was estimated to be 0.47%. Effective population size analysis suggested that an initial large population size of this species was maintained until 200 thousand years ago. The contraction of cuticle protein and opsin genes compared with Litopenaeus vannamei is assumed to be correlated with shell hardness and light perception ability, respectively. Furthermore, the analysis of three chemoreceptor gene families, the odorant receptor (OR), gustatory receptor (GR) and ionotropic receptor (IR) families, suggested that the mud crab has no OR genes and shows a contraction of GR genes and expansion of IR genes. The numbers of the three gene families were similar to those in three other decapods but different from those in two nondecapods and insects. In addition, IRs were more diversified in decapods than in nondecapod crustaceans, and most of the expanded IRs in the mud crab genome were clustered with the antennal IR clades. These findings suggested that IRs might exhibit more diverse functions in decapods than in nondecapods, which may compensate for the smaller number of GR genes. Decoding the S. paramamosain genome not only provides insight into the genetic changes underpinning ecological traits but also provides valuable information for improving the breeding and aquaculture of this species.
Li2CaGeO4 and Er3+: Li2CaGeO4 crystals were successfully grown by TSSG method. The electronic structure, vacancy defects, near-infrared luminescence, thermodynamic stability, and mechanical ...properties of the crystals were characterized and analyzed by first principles calculation and experimental tests. The results show that Li2CaGeO4 and Er3+: Li2CaGeO4 crystals are typical wide-gap direct bandgap crystals (3.64 and 3.96 eV). The effect of two cationic vacancy defects on crystal properties was studied. The results show that the defects of O2− or Li+ vacancy leads to the change of band structure, and the coupling degree between conduction band and valence band is reduced, and the degree of hybridization is reduced. The probability of non-radiative transition increases greatly and the luminescence intensity decreases. Spectral tests show that the Er3+: Li2CaGeO4 crystal is an excellent laser crystal with a high near-infrared optical output at 1550 nm (4I13/2 → 4I15/2) and long fluorescence decay lifetime (5.804 ms). The thermal vibration and elastic constants of Er3+: Li2CaGeO4 crystal are calculated by simulation. The results show that Er3+: Li2CaGeO4 crystal is a kind of crystal material with easy processing, good brittleness, good thermal stability, and excellent thermal conductivity. Therefore, it has a very high application prospect in the field of laser or thermoelectric.
•The Li2CaGeO4 and Er3+: Li2CaGeO4 crystals were successfully grown by TSSG.•Er3+: Li2CaGeO4 crystal has a high optical output at near infrared 1.5 μm.•The O2− and Li+ vacancy defects were successfully calculated by DFT.•The ability of O defects to reduce transitions near the bandgap.
Suitable electron transport materials bearing good interfacial contact, improved electron transport ability, and matched energy levels are indispensable for developing efficient perovskite solar ...cells (PSCs). Herein, regular (n‐i‐p) planar Cs0.05FA0.83MA0.12PbI2.55Br0.45 (CsFAMA) PSC devices were fabricated using a pyridine‐functionalized fullerene derivative (C60‐3‐BPy) as an independent electron transport layer (ETL), delivering a decent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.22%, which is dramatically higher than that of the control device based on 6,6‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) ETL (15.70%). The energy level offset between C60‐3‐BPy and the perovskite is smaller than that based on PCBM ETL, which is beneficial for efficient ohmic contact in ETL/perovskite interface and improved open‐circuit voltage (Voc). Moreover, C60‐3‐BPy affords strong coordination interactions with perovskite, leading to an improved film quality of the perovskite layer with enlarged grain size and decreased trap state density, which contribute to facilitated electron extraction as reflected by the increases of both the fill factor (FF) and the short‐circuit current (Jsc). C60‐3‐BPy‐facilitated electron extraction further results in hysteresis‐free devices.
Regular n‐i‐p CsFAMA perovskite solar cells using C60‐3‐BPy as an independent ETL afforded a decent PCE of 18.22% with negligible current‐voltage hysteresis, which outperformed the control device with PCBM ETL (15.70%) due to the improved film quality of perovskite layer, the matched energy alignment of the device through the modified work function of the ITO electrode and improved charge extraction.
To explore the possible mechanism of Curcumin (Cur) for protecting imiquimod-induced psoriasis in mice.
Sixty BALB/c mice were removal the back hair about 2 cm × 3 cm and divided into five groups. ...The control group was used Vaseline, the model and the drug group used 5% imiquimod in the back skin for 7 days, once time a day (62.5 mg/day/mice). At the same time, control and model mice were intragastric administration of normal saline, while the drug group were orally administrated with 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg Cur, respectively. The morphology, histopathological changes were observed. The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) were analyzed by ELISA. The protein expression levels of phosphorylation STAT 3 and its down-stream protein expression in lesion skin were detected by western blot. The protein expression of TNF-α and IL-6 in lesion skin were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The result showed that Cur could improve the lesion skin pathological, decrease the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in serum and in lesion skin of psoriasis mice. In addition, Cur also reduced the protein levels of phosphorylation STAT 3 and its down-stream protein levels of Cyclin D1, Bcl-2 and Pim 1 in lesion skin of psoriasis mice.
Cur could effectivly improve the pathological characteristics of psoriasis mice, which may be through the regulation of IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway.
Deoxynivalenol, a secondary metabolite of Fusarium graminearum, is a suspected carcinogen. It has great threat to people's health. A sensitive determination method for deoxynivalenol is necessary to ...satisfy food safety requirement. In this study, traditional chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) was modified by replacing the microplate with magnetic nanoparticle as immobile phase. The limit of detection of this novel CLEIA was low to 0.032 ng/mL. The linear range was 0.1–20 ng/mL. The within-run and between-run precisions were 2.1%–4.7% and 5.4%–10.0%, respectively. And this method showed a good specificity. Therefore, it could be concluded that magnetic nanoparticles replacing microplate as immobile phase could improve the sensitivity of CLEIA with a good precision through the merits of microparticle and magnetic separation. This was significant work for food safety.
•A novel chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay was developed by adopting magnetic nanoparticle as immobile phase.•The limit of detection is low to 0.032 ng/mL.•It was pretty sensitive and the performance of this method did not decrease.
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