As the energy demand is expected to double over the next 30 years, there has been a major initiative towards advancing the technology of both energy harvesting and storage for renewable energy. In ...this work, we explore a subset class of dielectrics for energy storage since ferroelectrics offer a unique combination of characteristics needed for energy storage devices. We investigate ferroelectric lead-free 0.5Ba(Ti0.8Zr0.2)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 epitaxial thin films with different crystallographic orientations grown by pulsed laser deposition. We focus our attention on the influence of the crystallographic orientation on the microstructure, ferroelectric, and dielectric properties. Our results indicate an enhancement of the polarization and strong anisotropy in the dielectric response for the (001)-oriented film. The enhanced ferroelectric, energy storage, and dielectric properties of the (001)-oriented film is explained by the coexistence of orthorhombic-tetragonal phase, where the disordered local structure is in its free energy minimum.
In the quest for enhanced functionality of all sorts, nanostructured materials are
becoming ever more common. This is particularly true of oxide/oxide heterostructures in
which the high density of ...interfaces has been implicated in enhanced properties and used
to engineer strain in oxide composite structures. These interfaces are often characterized
by a network of misfit dislocations that relieve the lattice mismatch strain between the
two materials, and these dislocations themselves are often suggested as the source of
either enhancements or degradation of properties. Despite the importance and pervasiveness
of misfit dislocations, however, there is still much that is unknown about their structure
and properties, particularly in oxide/oxide heterostructures. Here, we give a perspective
on the importance of these dislocation networks and the need to interrogate their impact
on functionality.
Mixtures of Ce‐doped rare‐earth aluminum perovskites are drawing a significant amount of attention as potential scintillating devices. However, the synthesis of complex perovskite systems leads to ...many challenges. Designing the A‐site cations with an equiatomic ratio allows for the stabilization of a single‐crystal phase driven by an entropic regime. This work describes the synthesis of a highly epitaxial thin film of configurationally disordered rare‐earth aluminum perovskite oxide (La0.2Lu0.2Y0.2Gd0.2Ce0.2)AlO3 and characterizes the structural and optical properties. The thin films exhibit three equivalent epitaxial domains having an orthorhombic structure resulting from monoclinic distortion of the perovskite cubic cell. An excitation of 286.5 nm from Gd3+ and energy transfer to Ce3+ with 405 nm emission are observed, which represents the potential for high‐energy conversion. These experimental results also offer the pathway to tunable optical properties of high‐entropy rare‐earth epitaxial perovskite films for a range of applications.
This work describes the synthesis of high‐entropy epitaxial perovskite oxide films composed of multiple luminescent centers Gd3+ and Ce3+. Such materials exhibit the ability of UV to visible light energy transfer. The experimental results offer a pathway to tunable optical properties for a range of applications.
Cystic lung cancer, a special type of lung cancer, has been paid more and more attention. The most common pathological type of cystic lung cancer is adenocarcinoma. The invasiveness of cystic lung ...adenocarcinoma is vital for the selection of clinical treatment and prognosis. The aim of this study is to analyze the multiple clinical features of cystic lung adenocarcinoma, explore the independent risk factors of its invasiveness, and establish a risk prediction model.
A total of 129 cases of cystic lung adenocarcinoma admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2021 to July 2022 were retrospectively analyzed and divided into pre-invasive group atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH), adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA) and invasive group invasive adenocarcinoma (IAC) according to pathological findings. There were 47 cases in the pre-invasive group, including 19 males and 28 females, with an ave
Background:
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a gastrointestinal malignancy with a poor prognosis. Although studies have shown metabolic reprogramming to be linked to ESCC development, no ...prognostic metabolic biomarkers or potential therapeutic metabolic targets have been identified.
Method:
The present study investigated some circulating metabolites associated with overall survival in 276 curatively resected ESCC patients using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry metabolomics and Kaplan-Meier analysis. Tissue metabolomic analysis of 23-paired ESCC tissue samples was performed to discover metabolic dysregulation in ESCC cancerous tissue. A method consisting of support vector machine recursive feature elimination and LIMMA differential expression analysis was utilized to select promising feature genes within transcriptomic data from 179-paired ESCC tissue samples. Joint pathway analysis with genes and metabolites identified relevant metabolic pathways and targets for ESCC.
Results:
Four metabolites, kynurenine, 1-myristoyl-glycero-3-phosphocholine (LPC(14:0)sn-1), 2-piperidinone, and hippuric acid, were identified as prognostic factors in the preoperative plasma from ESCC patients. A risk score consisting of kynurenine and LPC(14:0)sn-1 significantly improved the prognostic performance of the tumor-node-metastasis staging system and was able to stratify risk for ESCC. Combined tissue metabolomic analysis and support vector machine recursive feature elimination gene selection revealed dysregulated kynurenine pathway as an important metabolic feature of ESCC, including accumulation of tryptophan, formylkynurenine, and kynurenine, as well as up-regulated indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 in ESCC cancerous tissue.
Conclusions:
This work identified for the first time four potential prognostic circulating metabolites. In addition, kynurenine pathway metabolism was shown to be up-regulated tryptophan-kynurenine metabolism in ESCC. Results not only provide a metabolite-based risk score system for prognosis, but also improve the understanding of the molecular basis of ESCC onset and progression, and as well as novel potential therapeutic targets for ESCC.
Accumulating evidences have suggested a crucial role of epigenetics in the initiation and progression of pre-eclampsia (PE). Here, we studied the expression of the metalloproteinase ADAMTS7 and the ...methylation level of its promoter in PE placentas and investigated ADAMTS7 role in the pathogenesis of PE.
We first explored ADAMTS7 expression in PE and normal placentas by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), western blot, and immunohistochemistry. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) were performed to evaluate the methylation status of ADAMTS7 promoter. Treatment with 5′-Aza was used to induce demethylation and thereby to explore the direct relationship between promoter methylation and ADAMTS7 expression. CCK8 assay, colony formation assay, and trans-well assay were conducted to assess the viability, migration, and invasion of HTR-8/SVneo and JEG-3 cells.
Our results showed that ADAMTS7 expression was upregulated in PE placentas. Methylation analysis revealed a hypomethylated status of ADAMTS7 promoter regions in PE placenta tissues. Besides, demethylation induced by 5′-Aza directly restored ADAMTS7 expression in trophoblast cells. Finally, overexpression of ADAMTS7 inhibited viability, migration, and invasion of HTR-8/SVneo and JEG-3 cells, while silence of ADAMTS7 by RNA interference reciprocally facilitated cell viability, migration and invasion in vitro.
Upregulation of ADAMTS7 by promoter hypomethylation in placenta might contribute to the etiology of PE via suppressing cell functions of trophoblasts.
•The expression of ADAMTS7 is increased in PE placentas.•Hypomethylation of ADAMTS7 promoter increases gene transcription.•ADAMTS7 inhibits cell viability, migration, and invasion of HTR-8/SVneo and JEG-3 cells in vitro.
Resistive switching devices herald a transformative technology for memory and computation, offering considerable advantages in performance and energy efficiency. Here, a simple and scalable material ...system of conductive oxide interfaces is employed, and their unique properties are leveraged for a new type of resistive switching device. An Al2O3–TiO2‐based valence‐change resistive switching device, where the conductive oxide interface serves both as the bottom electrode and as a reservoir of defects for switching, is demonstrated. The amorphous–polycrystalline Al2O3–TiO2 conductive interface is obtained following the technological path of simplifying the fabrication of the 2D electron gases (2DEGs), making them scalable for practical mass integration. Physical analysis of the device chemistry and microstructure with comprehensive electrical analysis of its switching behavior and performance is combined. The origin of the resistive switching is pinpointed to the conductive oxide interface, which serves both as the bottom electrode and as a reservoir of oxygen vacancies. The latter plays a key role in valence‐change resistive switching devices. The new device, based on scalable and complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)‐technology‐compatible fabrication processes, opens new design spaces toward increased tunability and simplification of the device selection challenge.
Conductive oxide interfaces are gaining considerable traction for oxide electronics. In this work, such interfaces are formed using the highly scalable atomic layer deposition technique. These are then crafted into resistive switching devices, where the interface functions both as the back electrode and the source of defects for switching. This demonstration paves the way toward new types of self‐rectifying devices.
Summary Objectives To determine the prevalence of Aeromonas infections in diarrheal patients, the distribution of virulence-associated genes and antibiotic resistance among different Aeromonas ...species in China. Methods We conducted continual active surveillance aimed on Aeromonas from diarrheal patients and aquatic samples. Aeromonas strains were identified by biochemical tests, further confirmed to species level by a multilocus phylogenetic analysis. Potential virulence genes were detected by PCR. Antibiotics susceptibility testing was carried based on the minimal inhibitory concentration. Results From 5069 samples (stool specimens, n = 4529; water samples, n = 540) in China, 257 Aeromonas isolates stools, n = 193 (4.3%); water, n = 64 (11.9%) were identified by biochemical tests. The most common species from stools and water were Aeromonas veronii (42.5%) and Aeromonas caviae (37.5%), respectively. Distribution of five potential genes were significantly different between stool and water samples, two genes ( ast and alt ) were higher in stool than in water samples ( P < 0.01). Meanwhile, three species ( A. veronii , A. caviae and Aeromonas aquariorum ) account for the six most prevalent combination patterns of potential genes. Furthermore, strains resistant to nine antibiotics was markedly higher in strains isolated from water than those from stools ( P ≤ 0.003); in contrast, resistance to only two antibiotics was higher in strains isolated from stools compared to those from water. In addition, strains containing multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) from stools (8.6%; 16/187) and water (30.2%; 19/63) were resistant to ten or more antibiotics. Conclusion Our study highlights the multiple factors involved in the pathogenesis of Aeromonas and reveals that environmental Aeromonas has acquired a wide range of MAR compared to those from clinical sources.
Antrochoanal polyp (ACP) is a benign nasal mass of unknown etiology. Tight junctions (TJs) are essential to the epithelial barrier that protects the body from external damage. However, the phenotype ...of tight junction in ACP is currently unclear.
The samples were collected from 20 controls, 37 patients with ACP and 45 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyp (CRSwNP). Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunofluorescence staining (IF) were performed to analyze the expressions of TJs markers (ZO-1, claudin-3 and occludin) and ZEB1. hNEpCs were transfected with ZEB1 small interfering RNA (si-ZEB1) or ZEB1 over-expression plasmid (OE-ZEB1). qRT-PCR and Western blotting were used to determine the levels of TJs-related markers. Primary human nasal epithelial cells (hNECs) were stimulated with IL-17A and si-ZEB1, and the expression of epithelial barrier markers were measured by qRT-PCR and Western blotting.
Compared to the control group, ACP group showed a significant downregulation in both mRNA and protein levels of ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-3. Furthermore, disease severity correlates positively with the degree of disruption of tight junctions. In addition, higher expression levels of ZEB1, IL-17A, and IFN-γ were observed in the ACP group compared to controls. Overexpression of ZEB1 in hNEpCs led to impairments in the levels of ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-3, while silencing of ZEB1 expression was found to enhance the barrier function of epithelial cells. Finally, IL-17 stimulation of hNECs impaired the expression of TJs-associated molecules (ZO-1, occludin, and claudin-3), which was effectively reversed by the IL-17A + si-ZEB1 group.
The tight junctions in ACP were extremely damaged and were correlated with the severity of the disease. ZEB1 was involved in the pathogenesis of ACP mediated by IL-17A through regulating tight junctions.
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