Since the discovery of liquid-phase-exfoliated black phosphorus (BP) as a field-effect transistor in 2014, BP, with its 2D layered structure, has attracted significant attention, owing to its ...anisotropic electroconductivity, tunable direct bandgap, extraordinary surface activity, moderate switching ratio, high hole mobility, good biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Several pioneering research efforts have explored the application of BP in different types of electrochemical sensors. This review summarizes the latest synthesis methods, protection strategies, and electrochemical sensing applications of BP and its derivatives. The typical synthesis methods for BP-based crystals, nanosheets, and quantum dots are discussed in detail; the degradation of BP under ambient conditions is introduced; and state-of-the-art protection methodologies for enhancing BP stability are explored. Various electrochemical sensing applications, including chemically modified electrodes, electrochemiluminescence sensors, enzyme electrodes, electrochemical aptasensors, electrochemical immunosensors, and ion-selective electrodes are discussed in detail, along with the mechanisms of BP functionalization, sensing strategies, and sensing properties. Finally, the major challenges in this field are outlined and future research avenues for BP-based electrochemical sensors are highlighted.
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•Developments in black phosphorus (BP)-based electrochemical sensors are discussed.•BP synthesis and stability-enhancement strategies are elaborated.•BP functionalization and applications in electrochemical sensors are described.•Challenges and opportunities in BP-based electrochemical sensors are outlined.
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•Typical characteristics of LST and its variations over LULC types were identified.•Profile analysis was conducted to examine radial characteristics of LST.•Circumferential ...characteristics of LST was examined by concentric zonal analysis.•Building and road are the main divers leading to hot LST.•Predictive models for LST were developed based on MLRM and PLSRM.
In this study, relationships between land use/land cover (LULC) types and land surface temperature (LST) patterns in Shenyang, China were investigated using Landsat 8 image. Typical characteristics of LST in summer time and temperature variations over all LULC types were firstly examined. Afterwards, spatial distribution of LST in radial and circumferential directions was characterized based on profile and concentric zonal analysis, in which contributions of LULC types to LST were studied. In addition, models that can effectively predict LST distribution were developed based on multiple linear regression method (MLRM) and the partial least squares regression method (PLSRM). Results indicate that (1) LST of the study area mainly ranges from 32°C to 41°C, where building and road are main drivers leading to hot temperatures. (2) Temperature profiles vary greatly with LULC types, while urban expansion along central axis causes to horizontal arrangement of building and road, resulting in hot but small-fluctuated LST temperature in 0° and 180°. (3) Mean and standard deviation of LST in concentric zones are 36.0±4.2°C, and LST over all LULC types follows the following pattern: building>road>bare land>agricultural land>green land>water bodies. Due to large proportions of building and road, Buffer 3, 4 and 5 undergo the highest temperature. Although green land and water bodies show significant capability to mitigate UHI effects, cooling effects are unapparent when their sizes are small. (4) Both models developed on MLRM and PLSRM have high degree of accuracy, while the latter is more reasonable for different coefficients can respectively indicate negative and positive roles of LULC types in affecting surface temperature. In general, this study can assist urban planners and policy makers to understand relationships between local LULC types versus LST patterns, and can help them predict UHI patterns along rapid urban expansion, and then make rational urban planning decisions for UHI mitigation.
Developing reliable and user-friendly electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes remains a challenge for emerging real-world EEG applications. Classic wet electrodes are the gold standard for recording ...EEG; however, they are difficult to implement and make users uncomfortable, thus severely restricting their widespread application in real-life scenarios. An alternative is dry electrodes, which do not require conductive gels or skin preparation. Despite their quick setup and improved user-friendliness, dry electrodes still have some inherent problems (invasive, relatively poor signal quality, or sensitivity to motion artifacts), which limit their practical utilization. In recent years, semi-dry electrodes, which require only a small amount of electrolyte fluid, have been successfully developed, combining the advantages of both wet and dry electrodes while addressing their respective drawbacks. Semi-dry electrodes can collect reliable EEG signals comparable to wet electrodes. Moreover, their setup is as fast and convenient similar to that of dry electrodes. Hence, semi-dry electrodes have shown tremendous application prospects for real-world EEG acquisition. Herein, we systematically summarize the development, evaluation methods, and practical design considerations of semi-dry electrodes. Some feasible suggestions and new ideas for the development of semi-dry electrodes have been presented. This review provides valuable technical support for the development of semi-dry electrodes toward emerging practical applications.
Low‐dimensional luminescent lead halide perovskites have attracted tremendous attention for their fascinating optoelectronic properties, while the toxicity of lead is still considered a drawback. ...Herein, we report a novel lead‐free zero‐dimensional (0D) indium‐based perovskite (Cs2InBr5⋅H2O) single crystal that is red‐luminescent with a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 33 %. Experimental and computational studies reveal that the strong PL emission might originate from self‐trapping excitons (STEs) that result from an excited‐state structural deformation. More importantly, the in situ transformation between hydrated Cs2InBr5⋅H2O and the dehydrated form is accompanied with a switchable dual emission, which enables it to act as a PL water‐sensor in humidity detection or the detection of traces of water in organic solvents.
Unleaded and unleashed: A highly emissive lead‐free indium‐based perovskite single crystal, Cs2InBr5⋅H2O, was successfully prepared. The versatile material is the first reversible metal halide perovskite photoluminescence water sensor and paves the way for the application of metal halide perovskites in water detection.
Recent advances in a low-rank matrix completion have enabled the exact recovery of incomplete data drawn from a low-dimensional subspace of a high-dimensional observation space. However, in many ...applications, the data are drawn from multiple low-dimensional subspaces without knowing which point belongs to which subspace. In such cases, using a single low-dimensional subspace to complete the data may lead to erroneous results, because the complete data matrix need not be low rank. In this paper, we propose a structured sparse plus structured low-rank (S 3 LR) optimization framework for clustering and completing data drawn from a union of low-dimensional subspaces. The proposed S 3 LR framework exploits the fact that each point in a union of subspaces can be expressed as a sparse linear combination of all other points and that the matrix of the points within each subspace is low rank. This framework leads to a nonconvex optimization problem, which we solve efficiently by using a combination of a linearized alternating direction method of multipliers and spectral clustering. In addition, we discuss the conditions that guarantee the exact matrix completion in a union of subspaces. Experiments on synthetic data, motion segmentation data, and cancer gene data validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Objective
To minimize the adverse events of uterine compression suture in controlling postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) and to search for a prophylactic approach to potential PPH.
Methods
A retrospective ...analysis was performed in 39 women with removable retropubic uterine compression suture (RRUCS) to stop PPH due to uterine atony during cesarean section (CS). The procedure was to suspend and compress the uterus to the retropubic abdominal wall using an absorbable suture.
Results
The technique was sufficient to stanch bleeding immediately in 36 patients (92.31%, 36/39). No morbidity or abnormalities occurred in women who underwent RRUCS. Subsequent pregnancies occurred in 10 cases, but the others lacked the desire for future pregnancy.
Conclusion
RRUCS is a simple, safe, and effective technique in controlling atonic PPH; it is also used as a prophylactic application in patients with potential PPH after CS.
The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causing an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei province of China was isolated in January 2020. This study aims to investigate its epidemiologic history, and ...analyze the clinical characteristics, treatment regimens, and prognosis of patients infected with 2019-nCoV during this outbreak.
Clinical data from 137 2019-nCoV-infected patients admitted to the respiratory departments of nine tertiary hospitals in Hubei province from December 30, 2019 to January 24, 2020 were retrospectively collected, including general status, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, imaging characteristics, and treatment regimens.
None of the 137 patients (61 males, 76 females, aged 20-83 years, median age 57 years) had a definite history of exposure to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Major initial symptoms included fever (112/137, 81.8%), coughing (66/137, 48.2%), and muscle pain or fatigue (44/137, 32.1%), with other, less typical initial symptoms observed at low frequency, including heart palpitations, diarrhea, and headache. Nearly 80% of the patients had normal or decreased white blood cell counts, and 72.3% (99/137) had lymphocytopenia. Lung involvement was present in all cases, with most chest computed tomography scans showing lesions in multiple lung lobes, some of which were dense; ground-glass opacity co-existed with consolidation shadows or cord-like shadows. Given the lack of effective drugs, treatment focused on symptomatic and respiratory support. Immunoglobulin G was delivered to some critically ill patients according to their conditions. Systemic corticosteroid treatment did not show significant benefits. Notably, early respiratory support facilitated disease recovery and improved prognosis. The risk of death was primarily associated with age, underlying chronic diseases, and median interval from the appearance of initial symptoms to dyspnea.
The majority of patients with 2019-nCoV pneumonia present with fever as the first symptom, and most of them still showed typical manifestations of viral pneumonia on chest imaging. Middle-aged and elderly patients with underlying comorbidities are susceptible to respiratory failure and may have a poorer prognosis.
Aberrant expressions of microRNAs have been reported to be strongly associated with the progression and prognosis of various tumors, including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Recent studies on ...miRNA expression profiling have suggested that microRNA‐16 (miR‐16) may be dysregulated in OSCC. However, the tumorigenic roles and mechanisms of miR‐16 in OSCC are still largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that miR‐16 was specifically downregulated in both OSCC patients and cancer cell lines. In addition, functional roles of miR‐16 in vitro suggested that the miR‐16 mimic inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis, whereas miR‐16 inhibitor displayed the opposite effects. Luciferase reporter assay and correlation analysis showed that AKT3 and BCL2L2 were directly targeted by miR‐16 and were inversely expressed with miR‐16 in OSCC. Moreover, restoration of AKT3 and BCL2L2 expression could partially reverse the cell proliferation inhibition and apoptosis induction caused by miR‐16. In xenograft nude mice, miR‐16 mimics decreased the expression of AKT3 and BCL2L2 and reduced the tumors volumes and weights, whereas the miR‐16 inhibitor exhibited adverse effects in the derived xenografts. In conclusion, the findings suggested that miR‐16 functions as a tumor suppressor miRNA to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in OSCC through decreasing the oncogenes AKT3 and BCL2L2 and that miR‐16 could be a potential therapeutic target for OSCC.
microRNA‐16 is downregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissues and cell lines, it functions as a tumor suppressor microRNAs to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in OSCC through decreasing the oncogenes AKT3 and BCL2L2.
Subspace clustering refers to the problem of segmenting data drawn from a union of subspaces. State-of-the-art approaches for solving this problem follow a two-stage approach. In the first step, an ...affinity matrix is learned from the data using sparse or low-rank minimization techniques. In the second step, the segmentation is found by applying spectral clustering to this affinity. While this approach has led to the state-of-the-art results in many applications, it is suboptimal, because it does not exploit the fact that the affinity and the segmentation depend on each other. In this paper, we propose a joint optimization framework - Structured Sparse Subspace Clustering (S 3 C) - for learning both the affinity and the segmentation. The proposed S 3 C framework is based on expressing each data point as a structured sparse linear combination of all other data points, where the structure is induced by a norm that depends on the unknown segmentation. Moreover, we extend the proposed S 3 C framework into Constrained S 3 C (CS 3 C) in which available partial side-information is incorporated into the stage of learning the affinity. We show that both the structured sparse representation and the segmentation can be found via a combination of an alternating direction method of multipliers with spectral clustering. Experiments on a synthetic data set, the Extended Yale B face data set, the Hopkins 155 motion segmentation database, and three cancer data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in the regulation of resistance to radiotherapy in cervical cancer, which is a type of gynecological disease with high mortality in women around the ...world. Hence, our purpose is to delineate the involvement of LINC00958 in regulating cell sensitivity to radiotherapy in cervical cancer. LINC00958 expression in cervical cancer was assayed, followed by verification of the relationship among LINC00958, microRNA‐5095 (miR‐5095) and ribonucleotide reductase subunit M2 (RRM2). Hela cells were transduced with up‐/downregulation of miR‐5095 or RRM2, or LINC00958 silencing, respectively, and then treated with or without a 6 Gy dose of X‐ray irradiation. Then the cell proliferation, apoptosis, survival fraction rate, as well as sensitivity to radiotherapy, were assessed. Finally, xenograft tumor in nude mice was established by transplanting Hela cells transfected with sh‐LINC00958 and irradiated with 6 Gy of X‐ray. High expression of LINC00958 was revealed in The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis, as well as in radiation‐resistant patients, which was associated with lower sensitivity to radiotherapy in cervical cancer. Moreover, cervical cancer patients with higher LINC00958 expression exhibited a shorter overall survival according to Kaplan–Meier analysis. In addition, LINC00958 could regulate the expression of RRM2 by competing for miR‐5095. A combination of radiotherapy with LINC00958 silencing, RRM2 downregulation or miR‐5095 overexpression was found to inhibit cervical cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth, while promoting cell apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, our results suggest that LINC00958 could regulate RRM2 by competing to miR‐5095, which regulates cell sensitivity to radiotherapy in cervical cancer.
Collectively, our results suggest that LINC00958 could regulate ribonucleotide reductase subunit M2 (RRM2) by competing to microRNA‐5095 (miR‐5095), which regulates cell sensitivity to radiotherapy in cervical cancer.
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