Metasurfaces have enabled a plethora of emerging functions within an ultrathin dimension, paving way towards flat and highly integrated photonic devices. Despite the rapid progress in this area, ...simultaneous realization of reconfigurability, high efficiency, and full control over the phase and amplitude of scattered light is posing a great challenge. Here, we try to tackle this challenge by introducing the concept of a reprogrammable hologram based on 1-bit coding metasurfaces. The state of each unit cell of the coding metasurface can be switched between '1' and '0' by electrically controlling the loaded diodes. Our proof-of-concept experiments show that multiple desired holographic images can be realized in real time with only a single coding metasurface. The proposed reprogrammable hologram may be a key in enabling future intelligent devices with reconfigurable and programmable functionalities that may lead to advances in a variety of applications such as microscopy, display, security, data storage, and information processing.Realizing metasurfaces with reconfigurability, high efficiency, and control over phase and amplitude is a challenge. Here, Li et al. introduce a reprogrammable hologram based on a 1-bit coding metasurface, where the state of each unit cell of the coding metasurface can be switched electrically.
With a proper energy management strategy (EMS), supercapacitor can be integrated into droop-controlled dc microgrid as an independent supercapacitor energy storage system (SCESS). The resulted ...microgrid could supply repeatedly quick bursts of electrical power due to load or source transients and improve power quality and lifetime of other distributed generations (DGs) or distributed energy storages. In this paper, a novel control strategy for SCESS is proposed. The method uses the virtual impedance loop to add a virtual resistor and a virtual capacitor connected in series between the converter and dc bus, which decouples power flow between SCESS and other DGs while ensuring the plug `n' play feature. The results show that the proposed EMS has a competing dynamic performance with excellent flexibility as compared to existing methods.
Summary
Tea is the world's widely consumed nonalcohol beverage with essential economic and health benefits. Confronted with the increasing large‐scale omics‐data set particularly the genome sequence ...released in tea plant, the construction of a comprehensive knowledgebase is urgently needed to facilitate the utilization of these data sets towards molecular breeding. We hereby present the first integrative and specially designed web‐accessible database, Tea Plant Information Archive (TPIA; http://tpia.teaplant.org). The current release of TPIA employs the comprehensively annotated tea plant genome as framework and incorporates with abundant well‐organized transcriptomes, gene expressions (across species, tissues and stresses), orthologs and characteristic metabolites determining tea quality. It also hosts massive transcription factors, polymorphic simple sequence repeats, single nucleotide polymorphisms, correlations, manually curated functional genes and globally collected germplasm information. A variety of versatile analytic tools (e.g. JBrowse, blast, enrichment analysis, etc.) are established helping users to perform further comparative, evolutionary and functional analysis. We show a case application of TPIA that provides novel and interesting insights into the phytochemical content variation of section Thea of genus Camellia under a well‐resolved phylogenetic framework. The constructed knowledgebase of tea plant will serve as a central gateway for global tea community to better understand the tea plant biology that largely benefits the whole tea industry.
The nonresonant single-phase dual-active-bridge (NSDAB) dc-dc converter has been increasingly adopted for isolated dc-dc power conversion systems. Over the past few years, significant research has ...been carried out to address the technical challenges associated with modulations and controls of the NSDAB dc-dc converter. The aim of this paper is to review and compare these recent state-of-the-art modulation and control strategies. First, the modulation strategies for the NSDAB dc-dc converter are analyzed. All possible phase-shift patterns are demonstrated, and the correlation analysis of the typical phases-shift modulation methods for the NSDAB dc-dc converter is presented. Then, an overview of steady-state efficiency-optimization strategies is discussed for the NSDAB dc-dc converter. Moreover, a review of optimized techniques for dynamic responses is also provided. For both the efficiency and dynamic optimizations, thorough comparisons and recommendations are provided in this paper. Finally, to improve both steady-state and transient performances, a combination approach to optimize both the efficiency and dynamics for an NSDAB dc-dc converter based on the reviewed methods is presented in this paper.
Abstract
Objectives
To identify a novel plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from chickens in China.
Methods
WGS was used to identify a novel colistin ...resistance gene. The transferability of plasmids carrying mcr-7.1 was investigated by conjugation experiments. The expression of the mcr-7.1 gene was examined using an expression vector.
Results
A novel plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene mcr-7.1, sharing 70% amino acid identity with the mcr-3 gene, was identified in three K. pneumoniae strains isolated from chickens in China. The mcr-7.1 gene was found in an IncI2-type plasmid (pSC20141012) that co-harboured the blaCTX-M-55 gene in one isolate. pSC20141012 can be transferred from K. pneumoniae SC20141012 to Escherichia coli J53Azr, exhibiting a ≥8-fold increase in colistin MIC compared with the recipient E. coli J53Azr.
Conclusions
We identified a novel plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene named mcr-7.1 in K. pneumoniae in China. The prevalence of mcr-7.1 in various species of human and animal origin needs to be investigated immediately.
In this paper, a power control strategy is proposed for a low-voltage microgrid, where the mainly resistive line impedance, the unequal impedance among distributed generation (DG) units, and the ...microgrid load locations make the conventional frequency and voltage droop method unpractical. The proposed power control strategy contains a virtual inductor at the interfacing inverter output and an accurate power control and sharing algorithm with consideration of both impedance voltage drop effect and DG local load effect. Specifically, the virtual inductance can effectively prevent the coupling between the real and reactive powers by introducing a predominantly inductive impedance even in a low-voltage network with resistive line impedances. On the other hand, based on the predominantly inductive impedance, the proposed accurate reactive power sharing algorithm functions by estimating the impedance voltage drops and significantly improves the reactive power control and sharing accuracy. Finally, considering the different locations of loads in a multibus microgrid, the reactive power control accuracy is further improved by employing an online estimated reactive power offset to compensate the effects of DG local load power demands. The proposed power control strategy has been tested in simulation and experimentally on a low-voltage microgrid prototype.
The distant metastasis of cancer cells is a risk factor for tumor lethality and poor prognosis in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Increased SOX9 expression has been associated with clinical ...stage and poor prognosis in NSCLC, but the molecular mechanisms by which SOX9 promotes metastasis in NSCLC are still unknown.
The relationship between SOX9 expression and T, N, M classification was assessed using the χ
test and Spearman's analysis in 142 immunohistochemically diagnosed specimens of NSCLC. We also generated SOX9-overexpression and SOX9-knockdown cells lines and their corresponding control cell lines by transfection with lentiviral constructs. In vivo assay, SOX9-overexpressing and SOX9-knockdown NSCLC cells were injected in zebrafish to examine distance metastasis. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was applied to analysis the correlation between SOX9 overexpression and Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Luciferase assay was used to check transcriptional activity of TCF/LEF and western blot and immunofluorescence was employed to detect β-catenin translocation in SOX9-overexpression, SOX9-knockdown and their corresponding control cell lines.
We found that SOX9 overexpression correlates with the T, N and M stage significantly (p = 0.03, 0.000, and 0.032 respectively) in 142 immunohistochemically diagnosed specimens of NSCLC. SOX9 overexpression was found to decrease the expression of the epithelial cell markers E-cadherin and γ-catenin and increase the expression of the mesenchymal cell markers N-cadherin and vimentin. An in vivo assay showed distant metastasis of the SOX9-overexpressing cells, which was not observed in the SOX9-knockdown cells. These findings indicate that SOX9 promotes distant metastasis by promoting EMT in NSCLC cells. GSEA showed that SOX9 overexpression was significantly correlated with the Wnt/β-catenin pathway which was corroborated by the expression of EMT-associated proteins in this pathway and its downstream target genes. SOX9 overexpression was also found to enhance the transcriptional activity of TCF/LEF, promote the nuclear translocation of β-catenin and increase the phosphorylation of GSK3β at Ser9. Further, inhibition of β-catenin suppressed the metastasis-promoting effects of SOX9 overexpression.
This study is the first to report that SOX9 is associated with clinical TNM stage and indicates that SOX9 promotes migration, invasion and the EMT process through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.
Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is associated with various health benefits. In this review, we searched current work about the effects of EGCG and its wound dressings on skin for wound healing. ...Hydrogels, nanoparticles, micro/nanofiber networks and microneedles are the major types of EGCG-containing wound dressings. The beneficial effects of EGCG and its wound dressings at different stages of skin wound healing (hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and tissue remodeling) were summarized based on the underlying mechanisms of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, angiogenesis and antifibrotic properties. This review expatiates on the rationale of using EGCG to promote skin wound healing and prevent scar formation, which provides a future clinical application direction of EGCG.
Previous studies suggest that gut microbiota is associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and depression. However, whether the ...composition and diversity of gut microbiota is altered in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains largely unknown. In the present study, we collected fecal samples from 43 AD patients and 43 age- and gender-matched cognitively normal controls. 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing technique was used to analyze the microbiota composition in feces. The composition of gut microbiota was different between the two groups. Several bacteria taxa in AD patients were different from those in controls at taxonomic levels, such as Bacteroides, Actinobacteria, Ruminococcus, Lachnospiraceae, and Selenomonadales. Our findings suggest that gut microbiota is altered in AD patients and may be involved in the pathogenesis of AD.
Background and Aim
Immune‐mediated neuroinflammation has been proposed to underlie the loss of lower esophageal sphincter (LES) myenteric neurons in achalasia. However, the immune status and key ...pathogenic immune subpopulations remain unclear. This study aims to evaluate the inflammatory status of patients with achalasia and their correlation with clinical characteristics, and further explore the key pathogenic subpopulations.
Methods
We investigated the complete blood cell count and inflammatory markers in a large population of patients with achalasia (n = 341) and healthy controls (n = 80). The subpopulations of lymphocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry. Immunofluorescence was used to determine immune cell infiltration in the LES. Transcriptome changes of the key subpopulation were determined by RNA sequencing analysis.
Results
NLR, MLR, CRP, globulin, IL‐6 and IL‐10 were significantly elevated in patients with achalasia. MLR and globulin were positively correlated with disease duration. The absolute count and percentage of CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood and its infiltration around ganglion in the LES were significantly increased in achalasia. Transcriptome analysis indicated that CD8+ T cells were activated and proliferative. In addition to multiple inflammatory pathways, regulation of neuroinflammatory response pathway was also significantly up‐regulated in achalasia. GSEA analysis revealed a close association with autoimmune diseases.
Conclusions
Patients with achalasia suffered from chronic low‐grade inflammation with dysregulated immune cells and mediators associated with disease duration. CD8+ T cells might be the key pathogenic subpopulation of achalasia. Our results provide an important immune cell signature of the pathogenesis of achalasia.
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