We demonstrate spin-orbit torque (SOT) switching of amorphous CoTb single-layer films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). The switching sustains even the film thickness is above 10 nm, ...where the critical switching current density stays almost constant. Without the need of overcoming the strong interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction caused by the heavy metal, a quite low assistant field of ∼20 Oe is sufficient to realize the full switching. The SOT effective field decreases and undergoes a sign change with the decrease of the Tb concentration, implying that a combination of the spin Hall effect from both Co and Tb as well as an asymmetric spin current absorption accounts for the SOT switching mechanism. Our findings advance the use of magnetic materials with bulk PMA for energy-efficient and thermally stable nonvolatile memories, and add a different dimension for understanding the ordering and asymmetry in amorphous thin films.
Background and Aims
Protein kinases are widely involved in the response in plants to external environment stress signals. Sucrose non‐fermenting 1‐related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) is an important ...class of plant‐specific protein kinases that plays a crucial role in abscisic acid responses and abiotic stresses across some model plant species. Genome‐wide annotation, however, and specific expression patterns of SnRK2s in grapevine remain unclear.
Methods and Results
From a genome‐wide survey of grapevine, we identified eight VviSnRK2 genes through phylogenetic and local BLAST methods and various bioinformatics analyses. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that these VviSnRK2s could be classified into three subgroups as found in Arabidopsis. Comparison of the structure of the genes with those of Arabidopsis suggests that intron length may be a special evolutionary imprint of the SnRK2 gene family in grapevine. Sequence alignment and structural annotation provided an overview of variations that may contribute to functional divergence from Arabidopsis SnRK2s. Expressional analyses based on public microarray data and quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction and co‐expression network analyses suggest both conserved and variant biological functions exist in SnRK2s across different species.
Conclusions
Our thorough analysis of the SnRK2 gene family in the grapevine genome revealed functional conservation and diversity synchronously existed in grapevine SnRK2 gene family.
Significance of the Study
Our research provides a comprehensive overview of both the expression pattern and functional diversity of the grapevine SnRK2 gene family, which will facilitate the future functional characterisation of individual VviSnRK2 genes.
We have performed x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements on a series of Ir-based 5d transition metal compounds, including Ir, IrCl sub(3), IrO sub(3), Na sub(2) IrO sub(3), Sr sub(2) IrO ...sub(4), and Y sub(2) Ir sub(2) O sub(7). By comparing the intensity of the "white-line" features observed at the Ir L sub(2) and L sub(3) absorption edges, it is possible to extract valuable information about the strength of the spin-orbit coupling in these systems. We observe remarkably large, nonstatistical branching ratios in all Ir compounds studied, with little or no dependence on chemical composition, crystal structure, or electronic state. This result confirms the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling effects in novel iridates such as Sr sub(2) IrO sub(3), Na sub(2) IrO sub(3), and Y sub(2) Ir sub(2) O sub(7), and suggests that even simple Ir-based compounds such as IrO sub(2) and IrCl sub(3) may warrant further study. In contrast, XAS measurements on Re-based 5d compounds, such as Re, ReO sub(2), ReO sub(3), and Ba sub(2) FeReO sub(6), reveal statistical branching ratios indicative of negligible spin-orbit coupling effects.
Gastric cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers and is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Approximately 40% of global gastric cancer cases occur in China, with peritoneal ...metastasis being the prevalent form of recurrence and metastasis in advanced disease. Currently, there are limited clinical approaches for predicting and treatment of peritoneal metastasis, resulting in a 6-month average survival time. By comprehensive genome analysis will uncover the pathogenesis of peritoneal metastasis. Here we describe a comprehensive whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing analysis of one advanced gastric cancer case, including non-cancerous mucosa, primary cancer and matched peritoneal metastatic cancer. The peripheral blood is used as normal control. We identified 27 mutated genes, of which 19 genes are reported in COSMIC database (ZNF208, CRNN, ATXN3, DCTN1, RP1L1, PRB4, PRB1, MUC4, HS6ST3, MUC17, JAM2, ITGAD, IREB2, IQUB, CORO1B, CCDC121, AKAP2, ACAN and ACADL), and eight genes have not previously been described in gastric cancer (CCDC178, ARMC4, TUBB6, PLIN4, PKLR, PDZD2, DMBT1and DAB1).Additionally,GPX4 and MPND in 19q13.3-13.4 region, is characterized as a novel fusion-gene. This study disclosed novel biological markers and tumorigenic pathways that would predict gastric cancer occurring peritoneal metastasis.
Summary
We evaluated three risk assessment tools, including bone mineral density (BMD) measurement by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), osteoporosis self-assessment tool for Asians (OSTA), and ...fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX), for the prediction of fracture status among Chinese patients undergoing hemodialysis. All of the three assessment tools have a reasonable capability in discriminating fractures.
Introduction
Fractures are common in hemodialysis patients however insufficiently assessed. Our study aimed to assess the ability of three widely used tools BMD, OSTA, and FRAX to discriminate fracture status in patients with renal failure undergoing hemodialysis.
Methods
We enrolled 136 hemodialysis patients in a tertiary teaching hospital setting. BMD was measured using DXA at the lumbar spine and the hip region. OSTA was calculated from weight and age. FRAX score was calculated based upon online availability. Discriminative abilities of BMD, OSTA, and FRAX in fracture status were analyzed by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves.
Results
There were total 16 fractures (11.76 %) identified in 136 hemodialysis patients. BMD at any site (lumbar spine L1-L4, femoral neck, and total hip) was independently associated with fracture. Areas under the curves (AUC) of BMD (lumbar spine L1-L4, femoral neck, total hip), OSTA, FRAX1 (non-BMD model), and FRAX2 (BMD model) were 0.669 (95 % CI 0.583, 0.747), 0.708 ( 95 % CI 0.624, 0.783), 0.736 (95 % CI 0.654, 0.808), 0.686 (95 % CI 0.601, 0.763), 0.715 (95 % CI 0.631, 0.789), and 0.697 (95 % CI 0.613, 0.773), respectively. The differences of their performance were not significant.
Conclusions
All of the three risk assessment tools had the ability to discriminate fracture status among hemodialysis patients; FRAX BMD model did not improve the discriminative ability of BMD or FRAX non-BMD model alone.
Laser-driven particle acceleration, obtained by irradiation of a solid target using an ultra-intense (I > 10
W/cm
) short-pulse (duration <1 ps) laser, is a growing field of interest, in particular ...for its manifold potential applications in different domains. Here, we provide experimental evidence that laser-generated particles, in particular protons, can be used for stress testing materials and are particularly suited for identifying materials to be used in harsh conditions. We show that these laser-generated protons can produce, in a very short time scale, a strong mechanical and thermal damage, that, given the short irradiation time, does not allow for recovery of the material. We confirm this by analyzing changes in the mechanical, optical, electrical, and morphological properties of five materials of interest to be used in harsh conditions.
Background and purpose
Elevated plasma total homocysteine level (tHcy) is associated with increased risk of dementia via increased white matter changes or reduction in cortical volume. Whether tHcy ...has an independent impact on regional perfusion and if it can predict a more rapid cognitive decline in mild Alzheimer dementia (AD) warrants investigation.
Methods
Eighty AD patients with a clinical dementia rating of 1 were enrolled. Their Cognitive Ability Screening Instrument (CASI) scores on enrolment and after 1 year of follow‐up as well as their perfusion index (PI) from single photon emission computed tomography upon enrolment were analyzed.
Results
In cross‐sectional analysis, elevated tHcy was associated with lower frontal PI independent of cerebrovascular risk factors (β = −0.35, P = 0.009). The CASI scores correlated with temporo‐parietal PI (Pearson r range 0.3–0.39, P < 0.01) but not with tHcy or frontal PI. By longitudinal analysis, only tHcy level was related to a more rapid cognitive decline (odds ratio for executive function score 1.82; odds ratio for total CASI score 1.74).
Conclusions
Cognitive performance in mild AD can be reflected by hypo‐perfusion of the temporo‐parietal region while frontal hypo‐perfusion may be mediated by tHcy. tHcy level is an independent risk factor for rapid cognitive decline, especially in the executive function.
To optimize ethidium monoazide (EMA) coupled with real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and to evaluate its environmental applicability on quantifying viable legionellae in water and biofilm of cooling ...towers and hot water systems. EMA (0·9-45·5 μg ml⁻¹) and propidium monoazide (PMA, 0·9 and 2·3 μg ml⁻¹) combined with qPCR (i.e. EMA-qPCR and PMA-qPCR, respectively) were applied to unheated and heated (70°C for 30 min) Legionella pneumophila to quantify viable cells, which was also simultaneously determined by BacLight Bacterial Viability kit with epifluorogenic microscopic enumeration (BacLight-EM). The effects of nontarget microflora and sample matrix on the performance of EMA-qPCR were also evaluated. In comparison with BacLight-EM results, qPCR with EMA at 2·3 μg ml⁻¹ was determined as the optimal EMA-qPCR assay, which performed equally well as PMA-qPCR for unheated Leg. pneumophila but better than PMA-qPCR for heated Leg. pneumophila (P < 0·05). Moreover, qPCR with EMA at 2·3 μg ml⁻¹ accurately quantified viable Leg. pneumophila, Legionella anisa and Legionella-like amoebal pathogens 6 (LLAP 6) without interferences by heated legionellae, unheated nonlegionellae cells and cooling tower water matrix (P > 0·05). As for water and biofilm samples collected from cooling towers and hot water systems, the viable legionellae counts determined by EMA-qPCR were mostly greater than the culturable counts by culture assay but consistently lower than the total cell counts quantified by qPCR. The qPCR with EMA at 2·3 μg ml⁻¹ may accurately quantify viable legionellae (including fastidious LLAP 6) and Leg. pneumophila pretreated with superheating and is applicable for water and biofilm samples obtained from cooling towers and hot water systems. The EMA-qPCR assay may be useful in environmental surveillance for viable legionellae and in evaluation of superheating efficacy against legionellae.
We report nanoporous Pd100–x Au x (x = 0, 25, 50, 75, 100; np-PdAu) bimetallic catalysts fabricated by electrochemically dealloying isomorphous Pd20–y Au y Ni80 (y = 0, 5, 15, 20) precursors. The ...chemical composition of the nanoporous bimetallic catalysts can be precisely controlled by predesigning Pd/Au ratios in the ternary alloys. Dealloying at an appropriate potential for each alloy can selectively leach Ni away while the Pd and Au remain intact to form a geometrically controllable nanoporous structure. The electrocatalysis of the np-PdAu shows evident dependence on the Au/Pd atomic ratio, and the np-Pd75Au25 bimetallic catalyst shows superior electrocatalytic performance toward ethanol electrooxidation in comparison with commercial Pt/C, np-Pd, and other np-PdAu alloys. Since there are no obvious geometric shape and pore size disparities among the np-PdAu samples, the dealloyed catalysts also provide an ideal system to explore the chemical origins of the excellent catalytic properties of bimetallic catalysts.
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