2D polarization materials have emerged as promising candidates for meeting the demands of device miniaturization, attributed to their unique electronic configurations and transport characteristics. ...Although the existing inherent and sliding mechanisms are increasingly investigated in recent years, strategies for inducing 2D polarization with innovative mechanisms remain rare. This study introduces a novel 2D Janus state by modulating the puckered structure. Combining scanning probe microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and density functional theory calculations, this work realizes force‐triggered out‐of‐plane and in‐plane dipoles with distorted smaller warping in GeSe. The Janus state is preserved after removing the external mechanical perturbation, which could be switched by modulating the sliding direction. This work offers a versatile method to break the space inversion symmetry in a 2D system to trigger polarization in the atomic scale, which may open an innovative insight into configuring novel 2D polarization materials.
2D polarization materials are promising for miniaturized devices due to their unique properties. However, strategies for creating 2D polarization through new mechanisms are rare. This work introduces a 2D Janus structure with both vertical and planar polarization, achieved by applying force with a nanoprobe. This technique breaks symmetry at the atomic level, inducing polarization and paving the way for new 2D polarization materials' development and design.
With the expansion of saline land worldwide, it is essential to establish a model halophyte to study the salt‐tolerance mechanism. The salt glands in the epidermis of Limonium bicolor (a ...recretohalophyte) play a pivotal role in salt tolerance by secreting excess salts from tissues. Despite the importance of salt secretion, nothing is known about the molecular mechanisms of salt gland development. In this study, we applied RNA sequencing to profile early leaf development using five distinct developmental stages, which were quantified by successive collections of the first true leaves of L. bicolor with precise spatial and temporal resolution. Specific gene expression patterns were identified for each developmental stage. In particular, we found that genes controlling salt gland differentiation in L. bicolor may evolve in a trichome formation, which was also confirmed by mutants with increased salt gland densities. Genes involved in the special ultrastructure of salt glands were also elucidated. Twenty‐six genes were proposed to participate in salt gland differentiation. Our dataset sheds light on the molecular processes underpinning salt gland development and thus represents a first step towards the bioengineering of active salt‐secretion capacity in crops.
The salt glands play a pivotal role in salt tolerance of exo‐recretohalophytes by secreting excess salts from tissues and nothing is known about the molecular mechanisms of salt gland development. In this study, the deep transcriptomic surveys and qRT‐PCR analysis were conducted based on the histological observations of the leaf development in Limonium bicolor. The salt gland was the first differentiated epidermal structure of L. bicolor and differentiated two days earlier than the stomata. A series of key genes were proposed to be involved in salt gland differentiation.
It is desirable but challenging to assemble various biomimetic properties into a functional catalytic cascade system. In this work, cupric oxide nanoparticles were investigated as oxidase mimics for ...the aerobic oxidation of cysteine to cystine with the generation of hydrogen peroxide. Coupling this property with the peroxidase-like activity of CuO nanoparticles, we constructed a self-organized cascade reaction system based on a single-component nanozyme, which includes the oxidation of cysteine to yield cystine and hydrogen peroxide and the hydrogen peroxide-mediated oxidation of terephthalic acid to produce a fluorescence change. Based on this artificial enzymatic cascade reaction system, a fluorometric assay method with a low detection limit of 6.6nM was established for cysteine determination. This platform was then applied for the detection of cysteine in pharmaceutical products and human plasma, which yielded satisfactory results. Our investigations open up a new route and holds promise for the development and applications of multifunctional nanomaterials as enzyme mimics.
•CuO nanoparticle-based dual-functional enzyme mimics.•CuO nanoparticle as an artificial enzyme substitute for cysteine oxidase.•CuO nanoparticle as an artificial enzyme substitute for peroxidase.•A self-organized cascade reaction system based on a single-component nanozyme.•A fluorometric assay method is established for cysteine determination.
Abstract
The accuracy of prostate-specific antigen or clinical examination in prostate cancer (PCa) screening is in question, and circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) can be alternatives to PCa diagnosis. ...However, recent circulating miRNA biomarkers either are identified upon small sample sizes or cannot have robust diagnostic performance in every aspect of performance indicators. These may decrease applicability of potential biomarkers for the early detection of PCa. We reviewed recent studies on blood-derived miRNAs for prostate cancer diagnosis and carried out a large case study to understand whether circulating miRNA pairs, rather than single circulating miRNAs, could contribute to a more robust diagnostic model to significantly improve PCa diagnosis. We used 1231 high-throughput miRNA-profiled serum samples from two cohorts to design and verify a model based on class separability miRNA pairs (cs-miRPs). The pairwise model was composed of five circulating miRNAs coupled to miR-5100 and miR-1290 (i.e. five miRNA pairs, 5-cs-miRPs), reaching approximately 99% diagnostic performance in almost all indicators (sensitivity = 98.96%, specificity = 100%, accuracy = 99.17%, PPV = 100%, NPV = 96.15%) shown by a test set (n = 484: PCa = 384, negative prostate biopsies = 100). The nearly 99% diagnostic performance was also verified by an additional validation set (n = 140: PCa = 40, healthy controls = 100). Overall, the 5-cs-miRP model had 1 false positive and 7 false negatives among the 1231 serum samples and was superior to a recent 2-miRNA model (so far the best for PCa diagnosis) with 18 false positives and 80 false negatives. The present large case study demonstrated that circulating miRNA pairs could potentially bring more benefits to PCa early diagnosis for clinical practice.
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•Cupric oxide nanoparticle as tandem nanozyme.•One-pot cascade catalysis driven by cupric oxide nanoparticle.•Ascorbate oxidase and peroxidase-like activities in similar pH / ...temperature.•Fluorescent sensors for ascorbic acid and alkaline phosphatase detection.
During the past decades, most reported nanozymes have been confined to limited species of enzyme-like activities and only few examples were reported to mimic tandem enzyme-like activities. To fill gaps in expanding the species and improving catalytic efficiency of nanozymes, exploring nanozymes as tandem nanozymes has turned out to be an effective method. Herein, we have presented the cupric oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) as tandem nanozymes, which is expected to simultaneously catalyze the cascade reaction coupling ascorbate oxidase with peroxidase like activities at temperature (45 °C) and neutral pH (pH = 7). This one-pot cascade reaction system included the oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA) to yield H2O2 and terephthalic acid (TA) oxidation reaction mediated by H2O2 to generate a fluorescence product (λex = 315 nm, λem =422 nm). More significantly, fluorescent sensors are respectively fabricated for AA, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and l-phenylalanine (ALP inhibitor) detection coupling the catalysis of CuO tandem nanozymes with ALP enzymatic reaction. Base on these findings, this work shows high selectivity/sensitivity and low limit of detection (2.92 × 10−8 M for AA, 0.058 U/L for ALP) properly due to an in-situ reaction. CuO tandem nanozymes expand the species of nanozymes and these CuO tandem nanozymes based fluorescent sensors can be applied for one-pot nonenzymatic biomolecular sensing in clinical diagnostics, biological or pharmaceutical analysis.
Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is a powerful technique to characterize ferroelectric thin films by measuring the dynamic electromechanical response. The ferroelectricity is commonly ...demonstrated by the PFM hysteresis loops and a 180o phase difference of PFM images before and after poling. Such ferroelectric-like behaviors, however, recently are also found in many non-ferroelectrics. Consequently, it is still a challenge to identify intrinsic ferroelectricity in various kinds of thin films. Here, using PFM, we systematically studied the electromechanical responses in ferroelectric thin films with fast (BaTiO3) and slow (PVDF) switch dynamics, and also in the non-ferroelectric (Al2O3) thin films. It is found that both of the ac voltage (
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a
c
) and pulsed dc voltage (
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d
c
) play an important role in the PFM measurement. When the
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a
c
amplitude is higher than a explicit threshold voltage (
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), collapse of the PFM hysteresis loops is observed for the films with fast switch dynamics. By measuring PFM hysteresis loops at various
V
d
c
frequencies, an explicit
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c
could be found in ferroelectric rather than in non-ferroelectric. The existence of an explicit
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as well as nonvolatile behavior is proposed as an important approach to unambiguously identify intrinsic ferroelectricity in materials regardless of switch dynamics.
The spikelet number per spike (SNS) contributes greatly to grain yield in wheat. Identifying various genes that control wheat SNS is vital for yield improvement. This study used a recombinant inbred ...line population genotyped by the Wheat55K single-nucleotide polymorphism array to identify two major and stably expressed quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for SNS. One of them (QSns.sau-2SY-2D.1) was reported previously, while the other (QSns.sau-2SY-7A) was newly detected and further analyzed in this study. QSns.sau-2SY-7A had a high LOD value ranging from 4.46 to 16.00 and explained 10.21–40.78％ of the phenotypic variances. QSns.sau-2SY-7A was flanked by the markers AX-110518554 and AX-110094527 in a 4.75-cM interval on chromosome arm 7AL. The contributions and interactions of both major QTLs were further analyzed and discussed. The effect of QSns.sau-2SY-7A was successfully validated by developing a tightly linked kompetitive allele specific PCR marker in an F2:3 population and a panel of 101 high-generation breeding wheat lines. Furthermore, several genes including the previously reported WHEAT ORTHOLOG OF APO1 (WAPO1), an ortholog of the rice gene ABERRANT PANICLE ORGANIZATION 1 (APO1) related to SNS, were predicted in the interval of QSns.sau-2SY-7A. In summary, these results revealed the genetic basis of the multi-spikelet genotype of wheat line 20828 and will facilitate subsequent fine mapping and breeding utilization of the major QTLs.
Steel plates have great potential in being used as main structural members in single-layer reticulated shells (SLRS). The main advantages of steel plates include high-precision and flexible outline ...shape fabrication as well as convenient transportation and storage, which make them suitable for curved surface structures. To improve the buckling resistance of plate members, two strengthening methods, i.e., double-limb method and sub-unit method, are introduced. In this study, the stability behavior of a 3.27 m × 3.27 m spherical SLRSs strengthened by using the proposed methods is comprehensively investigated via an experimental test and a finite element (FE) simulation. Specifically, the equivalent FE models for double-limb plate members and semi-rigid joints are proposed. The comparison results indicate that the presented FE model is effective for predicting the development of member stress and the structural ultimate load. Then parametric analysis is conducted, which reveals the effects of the sub-units, the bending stiffness of the joints and the geometric imperfection on the structural stability. The results obtained in this study may provide guidance for the design and analysis of this type of structure.
•A novel single-layer reticulated shell structure composed of plate members.•Experimental study on the structural stability under distributed load.•Refined numerical modeling of the collapse of this novel structure.•Effects of Sub-units, imperfection, joint rigidity on the structural stability.
Sepsis, the leading cause of mortality in intensive care unit, is characterized by hyperinflammatory response in the early stage and followed by a period of immunosuppression. This immune disorder is ...believed to be the potent factor that is tightly associated with high mortality in sepsis. Dendritic cells (DCs) serve as professional antigen-presenting cells that play a vital role in immune response by activating T lymphocytes. During the progression of sepsis, DCs have been reported to take part in the aberrant immune response and be necessary for survival. Therefore, a better understanding of the DCs pathology will be undoubtedly beneficial for resolving the problems occurring in sepsis. This review discusses effects of sepsis on DCs number and function, including surface molecules expression, cytokines secretion, and T cell activation, and the underlying mechanism as well as some potential therapeutic strategies.
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