Abstract
Li-ion-conducting chloride solid electrolytes receive considerable attention due to their physicochemical characteristics such as high ionic conductivity, deformability and oxidative ...stability. However, the raw materials are expensive, and large-scale use of this class of inorganic superionic conductors seems unlikely. Here, a cost-effective chloride solid electrolyte, Li
2
ZrCl
6
, is reported. Its raw materials are several orders of magnitude cheaper than those for the state-of-the-art chloride solid electrolytes, but high ionic conductivity (0.81 mS cm
–1
at room temperature), deformability, and compatibility with 4V-class cathodes are still simultaneously achieved in Li
2
ZrCl
6
. Moreover, Li
2
ZrCl
6
demonstrates a humidity tolerance with no sign of moisture uptake or conductivity degradation after exposure to an atmosphere with 5% relative humidity. By combining Li
2
ZrCl
6
with the Li-In anode and the single-crystal LiNi
0.8
Mn
0.1
Co
0.1
O
2
cathode, we report a room-temperature all-solid-state cell with a stable specific capacity of about 150 mAh g
–1
for 200 cycles at 200 mA g
–1
.
Though a growing number of studies have examined the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and negative later-life health outcomes, the effects of these early life-course factors ...on elder abuse victimization have yet to be fully investigated. Using a life-course perspective, this study examines the associations between ACEs and elder abuse victimization. We used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in Beijing, China. A total of 1,002 older adults were included in this study. Retrospective self-report items were used to measure ACEs and elder abuse victimization in later life. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed to examine the associations between ACEs and elder abuse victimization. Five types of ACEs (i.e., socio-economic difficulty of the original family, parental divorce, frequent quarrels between parents, frequent physical punishment by parents, and starvation) were associated with a higher risk of elder abuse victimization. After controlling for participants’ socio-demographic characteristics and adding these five types of ACEs simultaneously in the multivariate regression model, the poor socio-economic status of the original family (OR = 1.759, p < .05) and suffering frequent physical punishment inflicted by parents (OR = 2.288, p < .05) were found to be significantly associated with elder abuse victimization. To have multiple (at least 4) ACEs is a risk factor for elder abuse victimization as well (OR = 3.06, p < .001). This study provides evidence for ACEs as risk factors for elder abuse victimization. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening our understanding of the impacts of ACEs in both research and practice.
Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death due to late diagnosis with high metastatic frequency. In this study, the impact of tumor secreted exosomes on immune function in ...the tumor environment was investigated using exosomes isolated from gastric cancer cell lines MKN-28, MKN-45, and SGC-7901. Results show that exosomes derived from all of these cell lines changed the gene expression and cytokine secretion levels of CD8
T cells. They also block cell cycle progression, induced apoptosis in CD8
T cells. Image analysis of fluorescent labeled exosomes derived from three cell lines injected systemically into C57BL/6 mice revealed these exosomes primarily localize to the lungs. We further showed exosomes were mainly taken up by natural killer cells and macrophages in the lung. After long-term exposure to inject exosomes from MKN-45 cells, mice developed an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in the lung with increased frequency of effector memory CD4
T and MDSC, decreased CD8
T cell and NK frequency. This immune suppressive environment promotes gastric cancer lung metastasis. Lung metastasis sites developed after mice were exposed to exosomes isolated from all three gastric cancer cell lines when the mice were injected with MFC cells. Results suggest that exosomes derived from gastric cancer cells (especially MKN-45 and MKN-28) changed CD8
T cell gene expression and cytokine secretion patterns to create an immunosuppressive condition for metastatic niche formation in the lung. Overall, this study provides new insights into how gastric cancer derived exosomes modulate the immune response to promote lung tumor metastasis.
SUMMARY
The South China Craton formed after collision between the Yangtze and Cathaysia Blocks. The suture zone between these two blocks is the crux of understanding the geological evolution of South ...China. Due to the relative paucity of high-resolution subsurface data, the location of the suture zone in the southwestern region remains uncertain. To find the suture zone, we created a high-resolution model of the crust and upper mantle structure using 27 months of continuous waveform data acquired from 457 stations in South China. The model uses extracted phase velocity dispersion curves of Rayleigh waves at 4–40 s from ambient noise cross-correlation functions, to perform a direct inversion for an azimuthal anisotropic VSV model. In the crust a prominent belt of strong azimuthal anisotropy exists between the Yangtze and Cathaysia Blocks. The fast polarization axes in this belt correspond to the NE-trending orogen between the two blocks. In the deeper crust of the Cathaysia Block we image multiple areas of diffuse low-velocity anomalies. As defined by the margins of the strongly anisotropic belt, the Yangtze–Cathaysia suture zone is delineated by lines that traverse: Shaoxing–Jiangshan–Pingxiang–Longsheng–Hechi and Shitai–Jiujiang–Yueyang–Dayong–Jishou. Further analysis of the seismic data links deep low velocities with widespread Late Mesozoic magmatism in the Cathaysia Block. The deep low velocities are likely a result of dehydration of the subducting Pacific Plate causing mantle upwelling and underplating.
This is an editorial report of the supplements to BMC Bioinformatics that includes 6 papers selected from the BIOCOMP'19-The 2019 International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. ...These articles reflect current trend and development in bioinformatics research.
Rapid and accurate crop aboveground biomass estimation is beneficial for high-throughput phenotyping and site-specific field management. This study explored the utility of high-definition digital ...images acquired by a low-flying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and ground-based hyperspectral data for improved estimates of winter wheat biomass. To extract fine textures for characterizing the variations in winter wheat canopy structure during growing seasons, we proposed a multiscale texture extraction method (Multiscale_Gabor_GLCM) that took advantages of multiscale Gabor transformation and gray-level co-occurrency matrix (GLCM) analysis. Narrowband normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVIs) involving all possible two-band combinations and continuum removal of red-edge spectra (SpeCR) were also extracted for biomass estimation. Subsequently, non-parametric linear (i.e., partial least squares regression, PLSR) and nonlinear regression (i.e., least squares support vector machine, LSSVM) analyses were conducted using the extracted spectral features, multiscale textural features and combinations thereof. The visualization technique of LSSVM was utilized to select the multiscale textures that contributed most to the biomass estimation for the first time. Compared with the best-performing NDVI (1193, 1222 nm), the SpeCR yielded higher coefficient of determination (R2), lower root mean square error (RMSE), and lower mean absolute error (MAE) for winter wheat biomass estimation and significantly alleviated the saturation problem after biomass exceeded 800 g/m2. The predictive performance of the PLSR and LSSVM regression models based on SpeCR decreased with increasing bandwidths, especially at bandwidths larger than 11 nm. Both the PLSR and LSSVM regression models based on the multiscale textures produced higher accuracies than those based on the single-scale GLCM-based textures. According to the evaluation of variable importance, the texture metrics “Mean” from different scales were determined as the most influential to winter wheat biomass. Using just 10 multiscale textures largely improved predictive performance over using all textures and achieved an accuracy comparable with using SpeCR. The LSSVM regression model based on the combination of the selected multiscale textures, and SpeCR with a bandwidth of 9 nm produced the highest estimation accuracy with R2val = 0.87, RMSEval = 119.76 g/m2, and MAEval = 91.61 g/m2. However, the combination did not significantly improve the estimation accuracy, compared to the use of SpeCR or multiscale textures only. The accuracy of the biomass predicted by the LSSVM regression models was higher than the results of the PLSR models, which demonstrated LSSVM was a potential candidate to characterize winter wheat biomass during multiple growth stages. The study suggests that multiscale textures derived from high-definition UAV-based digital images are competitive with hyperspectral features in predicting winter wheat biomass.
•PLSR of band depth ratio together with optimal NDVI-like estimated biomass best.•The PLSR model based on BDR was better than optimal NDVI-like/SAVI-like.•The REP got lower estimation accuracy than ...optimal NDVI-like/SAVI-like.•The performance of REP was better than that of NDVI/SAVI.
Crop aboveground biomass estimates are critical for assessing crop growth and predicting yield. In order to ascertain the optimal methods for winter wheat biomass estimation, this study compared the utility of univariate techniques involving narrow band vegetation indices and red-edge position (REP), as well as multivariate calibration techniques involving the partial least square regression (PLSR) analyses using band depth parameters, and the combination of band depth parameters and hyperspectral indices including narrow band indices and REP. Narrow band indices were calculated in the form of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) using all possible two-band combinations for selecting optimal narrow band indices. Band depth, band depth ratio (BDR), normalized band depth index, and band depth normalized to area extracted from a red absorption region (550nm–750nm) were utilized as band depth parameters. The results indicated that: (1) Compared with the traditional NDVI and SAVI constructed with bands at 670nm and 800nm and REP, the selected narrow band indices (optimal NDVI-like and optimal SAVI-like) produced higher estimation accuracy of the winter wheat biomass; (2) the PLSR models based on band depth parameters produced lower root mean square error, relative to the models based on the selected narrow band indices; and (3) the PLSR model based on the combination of optimal NDVI-like and BDR produced the best estimated result of the winter wheat biomass (R2=0.84, RMSE=0.177kg/m2). The results of this study suggest that PLSR analysis using the combination of optimal NDVI-like and band depth parameters could significantly improve estimation accuracy of winter wheat biomass.
In the contemporary era, energy demands are ever-growing and a significant number of people are concerned about environmental pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Therefore, it is a ...striking problem for the researchers to pursue renewable energy and sustainable energy to deal with the environmental and energy crisis. In this work, a novel hybrid hollow porous ZnO/C nanocages with high specific surface areas of 256 m2 g−1 and high carbon content in weight of about 50% used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) were synthesized by a one-step pyrolysis of hollow metal organic framework material MOF-5 as both precursor and self-sacrificing template under N2 atmosphere. The hollow porous ZnO/C nanocages released an initial discharge capacity of 1928 mA h g−1 at the current density of 100 mA g−1 and remained a high reversible capacity of 750 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles. According to the results of electrochemical measurements, the hollow porous ZnO/C nanocages also showed a good rate capability of 351 mA h g−1 at a relative large current density of 2 A g−1. The excellent electrochemical performance was mainly due to the special nanostructures of the fabricated materials. Hence, the as-resulted hollow porous ZnO/C nanocages are promising anode materials for LIBs.
A simple and feasible route to fabricate hollow porous ZnO/C nanocages by a one-step pyrolysis of MOF-5 both as the precursor and as the self-sacrificing template under N2 atmosphere was demonstrated. The proposed ZnO/C hybrid possessing high surface areas of 256 m2 g−1 and high carbon content about 50% in weight is expected to be used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Display omitted
•Hollow porous ZnO/C nanocages were synthesized by pyrolysis of hollow MOF-5.•The hollow porous ZnO/C nanocages were potentially useful for rechargeable LIBs.•The ZnO/C released an initial discharge capacity of 1928 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1.•The ZnO/C remained a high reversible capacity of 750 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles.•The ZnO/C also exhibited an exceptional rate capability of 351 mA h g−1 at 2 A g−1.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of lymphoma, whose treatment still has a major challenge of achieving a satisfactory curative effect. The underlying mechanisms also ...have not been fully illustrated.
N
6
-Methyladenosine (m6A) has been identified as the most prevalent internal modification of mRNAs present in eukaryotes, which is involved in the pathogenesis of cancers. It remains unclear how m6A mRNA methylation is functionally linked to the pathogenesis of DLBCL. In this study, we sought to explore the roles of METTL3 on DLBCL development. The results showed that m6A level for RNA methylation and the expression level of METTL3 were upregulated in DLBCL tissues and cell lines. Functionally, downregulated METTL3 expression in DLBCL cells inhibited the cell proliferation ability. Further mechanism analysis indicated that METTL3 knockdown abates the m6A methylation and total mRNA level of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF). However, Wnt/β-catenin signaling was not thus activated. Overexpressed PEDF abrogates the inhibition of cell proliferation in DLBCL cells that is caused by METTL3 silence. In summary, the above-mentioned results demonstrated that the METTL3 promotes DLBCL progression by regulating the m6A level of PEDF.
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