Strain-Induced Defect Evolution for the Construction of Porous Cu2-xSe with Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance.

Superionic Cu2-xSe, with disordered and even liquid-like Cu ions, has been extensively studied as a high efficiency thermoelectric material. However, the relationship between lattice stability and microstructure evolution in Cu2-xSe under strain, which is crucial for its application, has seldom been explored in previous research. In this study, we investigate the impacts of hydrostatic compression strain on the microstructural evolution and, consequently, its implications for thermoelectric performance. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show that high hydrostatic compression strain could induce local diffusion of Cu ions and Se twin evolution, resulting in the breaking and reforming of Cu-Se dynamic bonds and the unstable Se sublattice. The subsequent annealing process of the destabilized structure promoted Se evaporation from the sublattice and resulted in lotus-seedpod-like pores. The reduced sound velocity and intensified phonon scattering, due to pores, lead to a reduction in the lattice thermal conductivity from 0.44 W m-1 K-1 to 0.24 W m-1 K-1 at 800 K, a decrease of approximately 45%, in the porous Cu1.92Se sample. These findings reveal the relationship between stability and defect evolution in Cu2-xSe under high hydrostatic compression, offering a straightforward strategy of defect engineering for designing unique microstructures by leveraging the instability in superionic conductor materials.

Circular RNA METTL9 contributes to neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury by complexing with astrocytic SND1.

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are highly enriched in the central nervous system and have been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. However, whether and how circRNAs contribute to the pathological processes induced by traumatic brain injury (TBI) has not been fully elucidated. METHODS: We conducted a high-throughput RNA sequencing screen for well-conserved, differentially expressed circRNAs in the cortex of rats subjected to experimental TBI. Circular RNA METTL9 (circMETTL9) was ultimately identified as upregulated post-TBI and further characterized by RT-PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis, Sanger sequencing, and RNase R treatment. To examine potential involvement of circMETTL9 in neurodegeneration and loss of function following TBI, circMETTL9 expression in cortex was knocked-down by microinjection of a shcircMETTL9 adeno-associated virus. Neurological functions were evaluated in control, TBI, and TBI-KD rats using a modified neurological severity score, cognitive function using the Morris water maze test, and nerve cell apoptosis rate by TUNEL staining. Pull-down assays and mass spectrometry were conducted to identify circMETTL9-binding proteins. Co-localization of circMETTL9 and SND1 in astrocytes was examined by fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence double staining. Changes in the expression levels of chemokines and SND1 were estimated by quantitative PCR and western blotting. RESULTS: CircMETTL9 was significantly upregulated and peaked at 7 d in the cerebral cortex of TBI model rats, and it was abundantly expressed in astrocytes. We found that circMETTL9 knockdown significantly attenuated neurological dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and nerve cell apoptosis induced by TBI. CircMETTL9 directly bound to and increased the expression of SND1 in astrocytes, leading to the upregulation of CCL2, CXCL1, CCL3, CXCL3, and CXCL10, and ultimately to enhanced neuroinflammation. CONCLUSION: Altogether, we are the first to propose that circMETTL9 is a master regulator of neuroinflammation following TBI, and thus a major contributor to neurodegeneration and neurological dysfunction.

Efficacy and Risk Factor Analysis of DBT Therapy for PTSD-Related Symptoms in Mainland Chinese College Students Based on Data Mining.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder characterized by a delayed onset and long-lasting psychiatric disorder in an individual due to unusual threatening or catastrophic stressful events, characterized by repeated experiences of the situation, avoidant behaviors, emotional numbness, hypervigilance, and other mental symptoms. It seriously affects the occupational, psychological, and social functions of the human body, leads to a decrease in the quality of life, and brings a greater economic burden to the patients themselves, their families, and the society. It has attracted widespread attention worldwide. Due to social transformation and fierce competition, college students are increasingly exposed to various stressful or traumatic events, and PTSD is becoming more and more obvious. Therefore, this study took a university student as the research object, analyzed the risk factors of PTSD, and used the method of data mining to analyze the effectiveness of DBT therapy and completed the following work: (1) this paper introduces the research status of PTSD pathogenesis at home and abroad and expounds the treatment methods and research results of DBT. (2) The basic principle of BPNN is introduced, the weight and threshold of BPNN are screened by genetic algorithm, and the best weight and threshold after screening are given to BPNN. A GA-BP model is constructed to improve the learning quality of BPNN. (3) The optimal parameters of the model are selected through experiments, and the model is verified by the collected data. The results show that the model has superiority in evaluating the effectiveness of DBT therapy. Then, it was proved by experiments that DBT therapy has a good effect in the treatment of PTSD. Finally, the influencing factors of PTSD were analyzed one by one through the experimental results.

Compression Induced Deformation Twinning Evolution in Liquid-Like Cu2Se.

For practical applications of copper selenide (Cu2Se) thermoelectric (TE) materials with liquid-like behavior, it is essential to determine the structure-property relations as a function of temperature. Here, we investigate ß-Cu2Se structure evolution during uniaxial compression over the temperature range of 400-1000 K using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that at temperatures above 800 K, Cu2Se exhibits poor stability with breaking order that is described as a liquid-like or hybrid structure comprising a rigid Se sublattice and mobile Cu ions. A uniaxial load causes accumulated structural heterogeneity that is alleviated by diffusion-induced accommodation of local deformations. With increasing strain, the deformation mode changes into a combination of compression and shear, accompanied by restructuring in terms of twinning. Interestingly, in addition to a plastic behavior rarely found in inorganic semiconductors, we find that higher temperature promotes deformation twinning in liquid-like Cu2Se, showing the role of thermal instability, including Cu diffusion, in structural adaptation and mechanical modulation. These findings reveal the micromechanism of hybrid structural evolution as well as performance tuning through twinning, which provides a theoretical guide toward advanced Cu2Se TE materials design.

Role of Yes-associated protein (YAP) in regulation of mesenchymal stem cell tenogenic differentiation.

The Yes-associated protein (YAP) transcription co-activator is recognized as a key mediator and has been implicated in the regulation of stem cell fate; however, the role of YAP in the tenogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is not well understood. In the present study, we characterized tenogenic differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells induced by BMP-12 and evaluated the function of YAP in the regulation of the BMP-12-induced tenogenesis. We found that the tendon-related proteins Scleraxis, Tenascin C, and Tenomodulin were significantly increased after induction by 10 ng/ml BMP-12 for 48 h in C3H10T1/2 cells. In addition, the expression of YAP was significantly enhanced and transferred from the cytoplasm to the nucleus during tenogenic differentiation. In contrast, downregulation of YAP suppressed the cells' tenogenic differentiation, and the expression of YAP transferred from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. These results indicate that YAP is required for the expression of tenogenic markers in the tenocytic differentiation process of C3H10T1/2 cells. Collectively, we demonstrate that YAP transcription co-activator is a novel regulator in the process of BMP-12-induced MSCs tenogenesis and has a correlation with the other tenogenic regulators and markers. These results shed new light on the function of YAP in tendon healing and regeneration.

Exploring Family Backgrounds of Chinese Adolescents Who Are Vulnerable to Victimization and Repeated Victimization.

There is abundant evidence in the literature to show that victimization has a series of adverse consequences on child victims' physical and mental health. However, some studies detailed whether the family correlates of repeat victims differ from those who are victimized only once. This study fills this gap by describing the probabilities that children who fit certain profiles will be repeat victims and implies that it is possible to identify and screen individual and family factors who are at high risk of repeated victimization. Using the 2009-2010 Child Victimization Survey, we analyzed data from 14,564 Chinese adolescents aged 14-18 years from five major cities in China. We employed a multinomial logit regression model, using child victimization as the dependent variable and demographic factors as independent variables. We identified the top 1% of the most vulnerable cases and summarized their demographic characteristics. Our analysis revealed that older boys with siblings in the same household whose mothers' education was below average were the most vulnerable to one-time victimization. Further, boys with siblings whose parents were less-educated than average, unemployed, and unmarried were the most vulnerable to repeated victimization. This study has vast practical implications, including different ways to confront the problem of repeated child victimization (both practically and in the literature), develop a quick screening tool, and apply cost-effective prevention and interventions in China.

Health effects of repeated victimization among school-aged adolescents in six major cities in China.

BACKGROUND: Child victimization is a public health concern in China. Existing studies documented associations between victimization and negative health effects, while cumulative health effects of repeated victimization have attracted relatively little attention from scholars. OBJECTIVE: To examine the health effects of various types of repeated victimization by using a large representative sample of school children in six major cities in China. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This study used data from a large representative sample of 18,452 Chinese adolescents aged 15-17 from six cities, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Xi'an, Wuhan, and Hong Kong. METHODS: We carried out a two-stage data analysis in this study, including descriptive statistics to describe the prevalence of repeated victimization, and multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine the health consequences of repeated victimization. RESULTS: 27.54% of respondents experienced one-time victimization, and 44.26% suffered repeated victimizations, and those adolescents with repeated victimization reported significantly higher levels of depression and lower levels of self-esteem and overall health when compared to those with one-time victimization and those without victimization experience. CONCLUSIONS: Experiences of repeated victimization can have much stronger associations with negative health outcomes when compared to experiences of one-time victimization. Promoting awareness of both the severity and repetition of victimization and designing integrative screening tool could be meaningful strategies to address the issue of child victimization in China.

Exosomal protein CD82 as a diagnostic biomarker for precision medicine for breast cancer.

CD82, a member of the tetraspanin superfamily, has been proposed to exert its activity via tetra-transmembrane protein enriched microdomains (TEMs) in exosomes. The present study aimed to explore the potential of the exosome protein CD82 in diagnosing breast cancers of all stages and various histological subtypes in patients. The results strongly suggest that CD82 expression in breast cancer tissue was significantly lower than that in healthy and benign breast disease tissues. There was a significant negative correlation between CD82 expression in tissues and CD82 content in exosomes, which indicated that CD82 expression was redistributed from tissues to the blood with the development and metastasis of breast cancer.

Political polarization on support for government spending on environmental protection in the USA, 1974-2012.

Since the early 1990s, the American conservative movement has become increasingly hostile toward environmental protection and Congressional Republicans have become increasingly anti-environmental in their voting records. Party sorting theory holds that such political polarization among elites will likely extend to the general public. Analyzing General Social Survey data from 1974 to 2012, we examine whether political polarization has occurred on support for government spending on environmental protection over this time period in the US general public. We find that there has been significant partisan and ideological polarization on support for environmental spending since 1992-consistent with the expectations of party sorting theory. This political polarization on environmental concern in the general public will likely endure save for political convergence on environmental concern among elites in the near future. Such polarization likely will inhibit the further development and implementation of environmental policy and the diffusion of environmentally friendly behaviors.

Predicting Health Care Utilization Among Latinos: Health Locus of Control Beliefs or Access Factors?

There are two competing research explanations to account for Latinos' underutilization of health services relative to non-Latino Whites in the United States. One hypothesis examines the impact of health locus of control (HLOC) beliefs, while the other focuses on the role of access factors on health care use. To date, the relative strength of HLOC beliefs in explaining Latinos' use of health care services in the context of access factors is inconclusive. This study, therefore, tests and compares both explanations. We analyzed data from the 2007 Pew Hispanic Healthcare Survey, a nationally representative survey of 4,013 Latino adults. HLOC beliefs had a statistically significant but weak impact on health care use after accounting for access factors. Having continuous health insurance coverage and a usual place of care to go when sick or in need of health advice were much more influential in predicting health care use than HLOC beliefs. This study suggests that disparities in health care service use among Latinos are much more an issue of access than it is an issue of HLOC beliefs. Implications for public health research and intervention efforts that aim to reduce health disparities in health care use are discussed.

Cross-border health care utilization among the Hispanic population in the United States: implications for closing the health care access gap.

OBJECTIVES: To examine predictors of health care service utilization in Mexico or any other country in Latin America among the U.S. Hispanic population. METHODS: This study used data from the 2007 Pew Hispanic Healthcare Survey, a nationally representative survey of 4013 Hispanic adults. Using the Behavioral Model of Health Service Use (BMHSU) model, we examined three levels of predictive factors: (1) predisposing characteristics (e.g., language proficiency), (2) enabling resources (e.g., health insurance status), and (3) need (e.g., self-perceived health status). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict odds of seeking health care services in Mexico or any other country in Latin America. RESULTS: As hypothesized, lack of continuous health insurance coverage, perceived lack of quality health care, and low English proficiency increased the likelihood of seeking health care in Mexico or any other Latin American country among US Hispanic adults. Self-reported health status and usual source of care, however, were not significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Hispanic immigrants face critical access gaps to health care in the United States. Implications for closing the access gap for this population are discussed within the context of health care system reform and immigration reform in the United States.