Abstract
Most chemical vapor deposition methods for transition metal dichalcogenides use an extremely small amount of precursor to render large single-crystal flakes, which usually causes low ...coverage of the materials on the substrate. In this study, a self-capping vapor-liquid-solid reaction is proposed to fabricate large-grain, continuous MoS
2
films. An intermediate liquid phase-Na
2
Mo
2
O
7
is formed through a eutectic reaction of MoO
3
and NaF, followed by being sulfurized into MoS
2
. The as-formed MoS
2
seeds function as a capping layer that reduces the nucleation density and promotes lateral growth. By tuning the driving force of the reaction, large mono/bilayer (1.1 mm/200 μm) flakes or full-coverage films (with a record-high average grain size of 450 μm) can be grown on centimeter-scale substrates. The field-effect transistors fabricated from the full-coverage films show high mobility (33 and 49 cm
2
V
−1
s
−1
for the mono and bilayer regions) and on/off ratio (1 ~ 5 × 10
8
) across a 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm region.
Possible association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been controversial. This study used a nationwide population-based dataset to investigate the relationship between ...DM and subsequent AD incidence.
Data were collected from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, which released a cohort dataset of 1,000,000 randomly sampled people and confirmed it to be representative of the Taiwanese population. We identified 71,433 patients newly diagnosed with diabetes (age 58.74 ± 14.02 years) since January 1997. Using propensity score, we matched them with 71,311 non-diabetic subjects by time of enrollment, age, gender, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and previous stroke history. All the patients were followed up to December 31, 2007. The endpoint of the study was occurrence of AD.
Over a maximum 11 years of follow-up, diabetic patients experienced a higher incidence of AD than non-diabetic subjects (0.48% vs. 0.37%, p<0.001). After Cox proportional hazard regression model analysis, DM (hazard ratio HR, 1.76; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.50-2.07, p<0.001), age (HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.10-1.12, p<0.001), female gender (HR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.06-1.46, p=0.008), hypertension (HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.07-1.59, p=0.01), previous stroke history (HR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.28-2.50, p<0.001), and urbanization status (metropolis, HR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.07-1.63, p=0.009) were independently associated with the increased risk of AD. Neither monotherapy nor combination therapy with oral antidiabetic medications were associated with the risk of AD after adjusting for underlying risk factors and the duration of DM since diagnosis. However, combination therapy with insulin was found to be associated with greater risk of AD (HR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.04-4.52, p=0.039).
Newly diagnosed DM was associated with increased risk of AD. Use of hypoglycemic agents did not ameliorate the risk.
Dysfunction and reduction of circulating endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) is correlated with the onset of cardiovascular disorders including coronary artery disease (CAD). VEGF is a known mitogen ...for EPC to migrate out of bone marrow to possess angiogenic activities, and the plasma levels of VEGF are inversely correlated to the progression of CAD. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in patient body fluids have recently been considered to hold the potential of being novel disease biomarkers and drug targets. However, how miRNAs and VEGF cooperate to regulate CAD progression is still unclear. Through the small RNA sequencing (smRNA-seq), we deciphered the miRNome patterns of EPCs with different angiogenic activities, hypothesizing that miRNAs targeting VEGF must be more abundant in EPCs with lower angiogenic activities. Candidates of anti-VEGF miRNAs, including miR-361-5p and miR-484, were enriched in not only diseased EPCs but also the plasma of CAD patients. However, we found out only miR-361-5p, but not miR-484, was able to suppress VEGF expression and EPC activities. Reporter assays confirmed the direct binding and repression of miR-361-5p to the 3'-UTR of VEGF mRNA. Knock down of miR-361-5p not only restored VEGF levels and angiogenic activities of diseased EPCs in vitro, but further promoted blood flow recovery in ischemic limbs of mice. Collectively, we discovered a miR-361-5p/VEGF-dependent regulation that could help to develop new therapeutic modalities not only for ischemia-related diseases but also for tumor angiogenesis.
Ultrastrong and precisely controllable n‐type photoinduced doping at a graphene/TiOx heterostructure as a result of trap‐state‐mediated charge transfer is demonstrated, which is much higher than any ...other reported photodoping techniques. Based on the strong light–matter interactions at the graphene/TiOx heterostructure, precisely controlled photoinduced bandgap opening of a bilayer graphene device is demonstrated.
Many active materials have properties that make them challenging to design with or limit their utility, including having combinations of nonlinear, viscous, slow, or small responses. In this work, we ...show that by designing metamaterial unit cells that have separately active and, specifically geometrically nonlinear, passive elements, many of these drawbacks can be mitigated and enhanced performance enabled (specifically, large, rapid, and resettable shape change). This separation between active and passive elements is advantageous, in that the complex active materials can be assigned only where needed, with the simplest geometries and functions. The use of geometric nonlinearity in passive elements is helpful as it provides mechanisms for augmented performance and further simplifies the role of the active elements. While all elements of the microstructural motifs used herein have been previously seen elsewhere, we suggest that the contribution provided here is a conceptual design approach that may be used more broadly for enabling new types of high-performing, stimuli-responsive metamaterials.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) could result in edema and cause an increase in intracranial pressure of the brain resulting in mortality and morbidity. Although there is hyperosmolarity therapy ...available for this pathophysiological event, it remains controversial. Recently, several groups have shown docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to improve functional and histological outcomes following brain injury based on reduction of neuroinflammation and apoptosis. However, the effect of DHA on blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction after brain injury has not been fully studied. Here, a controlled cortical impact rat model was used to test the effect of a single dose of DHA administered 30 min post injury. Modified neurological severity score (mNSS) and forelimb asymmetry were used to determine the functional outcomes. Neuroimaging and histology were used to characterize the edema and BBB dysfunction. The study showed that DHA-treated TBI rats had better mNSS and forelimb asymmetry score than vehicle-treated TBI rats. Temporal analysis of edema using MRI revealed a significant reduction in edema level with DHA treatment compared to vehicle in TBI rats. Histological analysis using immunoglobulin G (IgG) extravasation showed that there was less extravasation, which corresponded with a reduction in aquaporin 4 and astrocytic metalloprotease 9 expression, and greater endothelial occludin expression in the peri-contusional site of the TBI rat brain treated with DHA in comparison to vehicle treatment. In conclusion, the study shows that DHA can exert its functional improvement by prevention of the edema formation via prevention of BBB dysfunction after TBI.
In this study, we demonstrated a blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (BPOLED) based on a host with two carbazole and one trizole (2CbzTAZ) moiety, ...9,9'-(2-(4,5-diphenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)-1,3-phenylene)bis(9H-carbazole), that exhibits bipolar transport characteristics. Compared with the devices with a carbazole host (N,N'-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene, (mCP)), triazole host (3-(biphenyl-4-yl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-4-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole, (TAZ)), or a physical mixture of mCP:TAZ, which exhibit hole, electron, and bipolar transport characteristics, respectively, the BPOLED with the bipolar 2CbzTAZ host exhibited the lowest driving voltage (6.55 V at 10 mA/cm
), the highest efficiencies (maximum current efficiency of 52.25 cd/A and external quantum efficiency of 23.89%), and the lowest efficiency roll-off, when doped with bis2-(4,6-difluorophenyl)pyridinato-C2,N(picolinato)iridium(III) (FIrpic) as blue phosphor. From analyses of light leakage of the emission spectra of electroluminescence, transient electroluminescence, and partially doped OLEDs, it was found that the recombination zone was well confined inside the emitting layer and the recombination rate was most efficient in a 2CbzTAZ-based OLED. For the other cases using mCP, TAZ, and mCP:TAZ as hosts, electrons and holes transported with different routes that resulted in carrier accumulation on different organic molecules and lowered the recombination rate.
The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were notified of increasing acute hepatitis A (AHA) in June 2015. Serum and/or stool from AHA patients and sewage samples were tested for hepatitis A ...virus (HAV). We defined outbreak cases as AHA patients with illness onset after June 2015 and with an HAV sequence less than 0.5% different from that of the TA-15 outbreak strain. We analysed characteristics and food exposures between outbreak and non-outbreak cases between January 2014 (start of enhanced surveillance) and February 2016. From June 2015 to September 2017, there were 1,563 AHA patients with a median age of 31 years (interquartile range (IQR): 26-38); the male-to-female ratio was 8.8 and 585 (37%) had human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. TA-15 was detected in 82% (852/1,033) of AHA patients, and 14% (74/540) of sewage samples tested since July 2015. Infection with the TA-15 strain was associated with having HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STI), recent oral-anal sex and men who have sex with men (MSM). The Taiwan CDC implemented an HAV vaccine campaign starting from October 2016 where 62% (15,487/24,879) of people at risk were vaccinated against HAV. We recommend HAV vaccination for at-risk populations and continuous surveillance to monitor control measures.
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