Lockdown is an effective nonpharmaceutical intervention to reduce coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission, but it restricts daily activity. We aimed to investigate the impact of lockdown on ...pediatric body weight and body mass index (BMI).
The systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. Four online databases (EMBASE, Medline, the Cochrane Library and CINAHL) were searched.
The pooled results showed that lockdown was associated with significant body weight gain (MD 2.67, 95% CI 2.12-3.23;
< 0.00001). The BMI of children with comorbidities or obesity did not change significantly. The BMI of general population was significantly higher during lockdown than before the pandemic (MD 0.94, 95% CI 0.32-1.56;
= 0.003). However, heterogeneity was high (I
= 84%). Among changes in weight classification, increases in the rates of obesity (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.10-1.37;
= 0.0002) and overweight (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06-1.29;
= 0.001) were reported.
Our meta-analysis showed significant increases in body weight and BMI during lockdown among school-age children and adolescents. The prevalence of obesity and overweight also increased. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the burden of childhood obesity.
Computation-in-memory (CIM) is a promising candidate to improve the energy efficiency of multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operations of artificial intelligence (AI) chips. This work presents an static ...random access memory (SRAM) CIM unit-macro using: 1) compact-rule compatible twin-8T (T8T) cells for weighted CIM MAC operations to reduce area overhead and vulnerability to process variation; 2) an even-odd dual-channel (EODC) input mapping scheme to extend input bandwidth; 3) a two's complement weight mapping (C2WM) scheme to enable MAC operations using positive and negative weights within a cell array in order to reduce area overhead and computational latency; and 4) a configurable global-local reference voltage generation (CGLRVG) scheme for kernels of various sizes and bit precision. A 64 × 60 b T8T unit-macro with 1-, 2-, 4-b inputs, 1-, 2-, 5-b weights, and up to 7-b MAC-value (MACV) outputs was fabricated as a test chip using a foundry 55-nm process. The proposed SRAM-CIM unit-macro achieved access times of 5 ns and energy efficiency of 37.5-45.36 TOPS/W under 5-b MACV output.
A unique “clean‐lifting transfer” (CLT) technique that applies a controllable electrostatic force to transfer large‐area and high‐quality CVD‐grown graphene onto various rigid or flexible substrates ...is reported. The CLT technique without using any organic support or adhesives can produce residual‐free graphene films with large‐area processability, and has great potential for future industrial production of graphene‐based electronics or optoelectronics.
Computing-in-memory (CIM) based on embedded nonvolatile memory is a promising candidate for energy-efficient multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) operations in artificial intelligence (AI) edge devices. ...However, circuit design for NVM-based CIM (nvCIM) imposes a number of challenges, including an arealatency-energy tradeoff for multibit MAC operations, patterndependent degradation in signal margin, and small read margin. To overcome these challenges, this article proposes the following: 1) a serial-input non-weighted product (SINWP) structure; 2) a down-scaling weighted current translator (DSWCT) and positive-negative current-subtractor (PN-ISUB); 3) a currentaware bitline clamper (CABLC) scheme; and 4) a triple-margin small-offset current-mode sense amplifier (TMCSA). A 55-nm 1-Mb ReRAM-CIM macro was fabricated to demonstrate the MAC operation of 2-b-input, 3-b-weight with 4-b-out. This nvCIM macro achieved T MAC = 14.6 ns at 4-b-out with peak energy efficiency of 53.17 TOPS/W.
Organic–inorganic hybrid two-dimensional (2D) perovskites have recently attracted great attention in optical and optoelectronic applications due to their inherent natural quantum-well structure. We ...report the growth of high-quality millimeter-sized single crystals belonging to homologous two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic–inorganic Ruddelsden–Popper perovskites (RPPs) of (BA)2(MA) n −1Pb n I3 n +1 (n = 1, 2, and 3) by a slow evaporation at a constant-temperature (SECT) solution-growth strategy. The as-grown 2D hybrid perovskite single crystals exhibit excellent crystallinity, phase purity, and spectral uniformity. Low-threshold lasing behaviors with different emission wavelengths at room temperature have been observed from the homologous 2D hybrid RPP single crystals. Our result demonstrates that solution-growth homologous organic–inorganic hybrid 2D perovskite single crystals open up a new window as a promising candidate for optical gain media.
Quantum‐dot‐tagged reduced graphene oxide (QD‐rGO) nanocomposites (left) internalized into targeted tumor cells display bright fluorescence from the QDs (right); by absorbing NIR radiation incident ...on the rGO and converting it into heat, they also cause simultaneous cell death and fluorescence reduction (bottom). The nanocomposite is thus capable of tumor imaging, photothermal therapy and in situ monitoring of treatment in progress.
Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth, development and production. However, little is known about the effects of P deficiency on nutrient absorption, photosynthetic apparatus ...performance and antioxidant metabolism in citrus. Seedlings of 'sour pummelo' (Citrus grandis) were irrigated with a nutrient solution containing 0.2 mM (Control) or 0 mM (P deficiency) KH2PO4 until saturated every other day for 16 weeks. P deficiency significantly decreased the dry weight (DW) of leaves and stems, and increased the root/shoot ratio in C. grandis but did not affect the DW of roots. The decreased DW of leaves and stems might be induced by the decreased chlorophyll (Chl) contents and CO2 assimilation in P deficient seedlings. P deficiency heterogeneously affected the nutrient contents of leaves, stems and roots. The analysis of Chl a fluorescence transients showed that P deficiency impaired electron transport from the donor side of photosystem II (PSII) to the end acceptor side of PSI, which showed a greater impact on the performance of the donor side of PSII than that of the acceptor side of PSII and photosystem I (PSI). P deficiency increased the contents of ascorbate (ASC), H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) in leaves. In contrast, P deficiency increased the ASC content, reduced the glutathione (GSH) content and the activities of SOD, CAT, APX and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), but did not increase H2O2 production, anthocyanins and MDA content in roots. Taking these results together, we conclude that P deficiency affects nutrient absorption and lowers photosynthetic performance, leading to ROS production, which might be a crucial cause of the inhibited growth of C. grandis.
The development of high-performance near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes is hindered by strong non-radiative processes as governed by the energy gap law. Here, we show that exciton ...delocalization, which serves to decouple the exciton band from highly vibrational ladders in the S0 ground state, can bring substantial enhancements in the photoluminescence quantum yield of emitters, bypassing the energy gap law. Experimental proof is provided by the design and synthesis of a series of new Pt(ii) complexes with a delocalization length of 5–9 molecules that emit at 866–960 nm with a photoluminescence quantum yield of 5–12% in solid films. The corresponding near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes emit light with a 930 nm peak wavelength and a high external quantum efficiency up to 2.14% and a radiance of 41.6 W sr−1 m−2. Both theoretical and experimental results confirm the exciton–vibration decoupling strategy, which should be broadly applicable to other well-aligned molecular solids.Pt(ii) complexes allow the fabrication of efficient near-infrared organic light-emitting diodes that operate beyond the 900 nm region.
Prostate stromal cells play a crucial role in the promotion of tumor growth and immune evasion in the tumor microenvironment (TME) through intricate molecular alterations in their interaction with ...prostate cancer (PCa) cells. While the impact of these cells on establishing an immunosuppressive response and influencing PCa aggressiveness remains incompletely understood. Our study shows that the activation of the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)/LIF receptor (LIFR) pathway in both prostate tumor and stromal cells, following androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), leads to the development of an immunosuppressive TME. Activation of LIF/LIFR signaling in PCa cells induces neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) and upregulates immune checkpoint expression. Inhibition of LIF/LIFR attenuates these effects, underscoring the crucial role of LIF/LIFR in linking NED to immunosuppression. Prostate stromal cells expressing LIFR contribute to NED and immunosuppressive marker abundance in PCa cells, while LIFR knockdown in prostate stromal cells reverses these effects. ADT‐driven LIF/LIFR signaling induces brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, which, in turn, promotes NED, aggressiveness, and immune evasion in PCa cells. Clinical analyses demonstrate elevated BDNF levels in metastatic castration‐resistant PCa (CRPC) and a positive correlation with programmed death‐ligand 1 (PDL1) and immunosuppressive signatures. This study shows that the crosstalk between PCa cells and prostate stromal cells enhances LIF/LIFR signaling, contributing to an immunosuppressive TME and NED in PCa cells through the upregulation of BDNF.
Activation of LIF/LIFR/STAT3 signaling in the prostate cancer tumor microenvironment triggers BDNF production, linked to heightened PDL1 expression and neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate cancer cells. This pathway is crucial in stromal cells for regulating immune suppression and checkpoint responses, suggesting potential prognostic markers and therapies to combat immune evasion and neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate cancer.
Photodetectors based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) have attracted much attention owing to their simple and low‐cost fabrication process. However, the aggregation and defects of rGO flakes still ...limit the performance of rGO photodetectors. Controlling the composition of rGO has become a vital factor for its prospective applications. For example, the interconnection between rGO and polymers for modified morphologies of rGO films leads to an enhanced performance of devices. In this work, a practical approach to engineer surface uniformity and enhance the performance of a photodetector by modifying the rGO film with hydrophilic polymers poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is reported. Compared with the rGO photodetector, the on/off ratio for the PVA/rGO photodetector shows 3.5 times improvement, and the detectivity shows 53% enhancement even when the photodetector is operated at a low bias of 0.3 V. This study provides an effective route to realize PVA/rGO photodetectors with a low‐power operation which shows promising opportunities for the future development of green systems.
A practical approach to enhance the performance of a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) photodetector by modifying the rGO film with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is reported. Compared with the rGO photodetector, the on/off ratio for the PVA/rGO photodetector shows 3.5 times improvement, and the detectivity shows 53% enhancement at a low operating bias of 0.3 V.
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