From waste plastics to layered porous nitrogen-doped carbon materials with excellent HER performance.

Herein, layered porous nitrogen-doped carbon sheets (LPNCS) prepared from waste plastics are employed as an electrocatalytic carrier for the HER under alkaline conditions. The N-doped coral-like nanostructure with abundant meso- and macropores would shorten the proton diffusion pathway, reduce the mass transfer resistance and promote Ru dispersion. The prepared Ru/LPNCS shows an excellent performance with an overpotential of 15 mV at 10 mA cm-2, even lower than that of most reported Ru-based catalysts and the commercial Pt/C catalyst (17 mV), which provides a potential application for converting waste plastics into highly efficient HER catalysts.

Adaptive SVM-based pixel accumulation technique for a SPAD-based lidar system.

This paper proposes an adaptive support vector machine (SVM)-based pixel accumulation technique for the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD)-based flash lidar system to greatly improve the accuracy of depth images. In this method, an adaptive incremental SVM classifier is proposed to distinguish the target and background to avoid the boundary blur caused by accumulation. With the SVM classifier, only the pixels belonging to the same target are accumulated. Then by accumulating the multiple measurements of the results of neighboring pixels, the influence of noisy photons can be reduced, and an accurate peak position of the laser signal in the histogram generated by the SPAD detector can be derived. Different from most existing classification algorithms in which the SVM model is used to recognize the target in depth, the image is trained with huge amounts of offline data, which neglect the ability to handle the changes of target's features by building a small subset of input data that contains all needed information of the trained SVM model. The new method could quickly update itself with the motion of target or light intensity changes online and definitely enhance the practicability of the proposed depth image-processing method. Experimental results show that using the proposed adaptive pixel accumulation technique, the mean squared error of depth images can be reduced by 61% compared with raw images and 44% compared with the static SVM-based method when the target moves.

Simulation of Subrapid Solidification and Secondary Cooling for the Strip Casting of IF Steel.

A combination of droplet solidification tester and confocal laser scanning microscope was used to simulate subrapid solidification and secondary cooling process pertinent to the strip casting. The IF steel droplet had a delamination structure and the bottom part went through sub-rapid solidification. During secondary cooling, γ/α transformation mechanism belonged to interface-controlled massive transformation and the ferrite grains grew quickly. With the increase of cooling rate, the γ/α transformation temperature decreased and the incubation period and phase transformation duration reduced. The hardness showed a slight increase due to fine-grain strengthening. With coiling temperature increasing from 600 °C to 800 °C, the grain size became larger, precipitates became coarse, and defects in grain were recovered. Consequently, the hardness decreased.

Effect of nicorandil combined with trimetazidine on miR-223-3p and NRF2 expression in patients with coronary heart disease.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the effect of nicorandil (NCR) combined with trimetazidine (TMZ) on miR-223-3p and NRF2 expression in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: This study included 71 CHD patients admitted to our hospital from February 2017 to March 2019, including 33 cases in the control group (CG) treated with NCR and 38 cases in the research group (RG) treated with TMZ combined with NCR. Improvement in clinical efficacy after treatment was observed in the two groups; serum miR-223-3p and NRF2 levels pre- and post-treatment were compared, and the predictive value of the two for curative effect was analyzed. In addition, ST segment depression frequency and total duration, pre- and post-treatment cardiac function levels and blood lipid levels were recorded and compared. RESULTS: RG had statistically more markedly effective cases and notably lower serum miR-223-3p and NRF2 expression than CG after treatment. Through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, it was found that the area under curves (AUCs) of miR-223-3p and NRF2 were 0.716 and 0.712 respectively. The post-treatment ST segment depression frequency and duration were lower in RG than in CG (P<0.05). Cardiac function and blood lipid levels were significantly better in RG as compared to those in CG after treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: NCR combined with TMZ is more effective in patients with CHD, and miR-223-3p and NRF2 can be predictors of clinical efficacy.

Phototunable Cloud Point Temperatures Stemming from Cyclic Topology: Synthesis and Thermal Phase Transition Behavior of Cyclic Poly(N-acryloylsarcosine methyl ester).

Cyclic polymers possess distinct properties compared with their linear counterparts, such as smaller hydrodynamic volume, lower viscosity, and higher glass-transition temperature, etc. To explore the impact of the cyclic topology on the thermo-induced phase transition behavior of poly(N-acryloylsarcosine methyl ester) (PNASME), the anthracene-terminated telechelic PNASMEs are synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of monomer NASME using a bifunctional chain transfer agent (CTA) with two anthryl groups. Subsequently, cyclic PNASMEs are prepared via UV-induced cyclization under 365 nm UV. There are considerable increases (up to 50 °C) for the cloud point temperatures (Tcp s) of cyclic PNASMEs compared with the linear counterparts. In view of the increment, the Tcp of PNASME is tuned by varying the cyclic/linear ratio (the molar ratio between cyclic PNASME and linear PNASME in the product) with different irradiation time.

Hyperbranched Multicyclic Polymer Built from Tailored Multifunctional Monocyclic Prepolymer.

A simple and efficient method to construct a hyperbranched multicyclic polymer is introduced. First, a tailored trithiocarbonate with two terminal anthracene units and three azide groups is successfully synthesized, and this multifunctional trithiocarbonate is used as chain transfer agent (CTA) to afford anthracene-telechelic polystyrene (PS) via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. After that, linear PS is irradiated under 365 nm UV light to achieve the cyclization process. The monocyclic polymer further reacts with sym-dibenzo-1,5-cyclooctadiene-3,7-diyne via "A2 +B3 " strategy based on a self-accelerating click reaction to produce hyperbranched multicyclic polymer. The structures and properties of the polymers are characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), UV-vis spectrophotometry, and triple-detection size-exclusion chromatography (TD-SEC). The number of monocyclic units of the resultant hyperbranched multicyclic polymer reaches about 21 based on multi-angle laser light scattering (MALLS) measurements. The plot of intrinsic viscosity versus molecular weight reveals that the α value of the unique hyperbranched multicyclic polymer is lower than both hyperbranched polymers and cyclic polymers.

LINC00511 knockdown enhances paclitaxel cytotoxicity in breast cancer via regulating miR-29c/CDK6 axis.

AIMS: Drug resistance is becoming a major clinical challenge to the success of breast cancer treatment. Compelling evidence has shown the association between the deregulated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and drug resistance in various malignancies. However, the effects of long intergenic noncoding RNA 00511 (LINC00511), a newly identified oncogenic lncRNA, on the drug resistance of breast cancer cells remain unknown. MAIN METHODS: RT-qPCR was performed to detect the expressions of LINC00511, miR-29c, and cyclin dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) in breast cancer tissues and cells. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between miR-29c, CDK6 and LINC00511 expression in breast cancer tissues. The interactions between LINC00511, CDK6 and miR-29c were explored by luciferase reporter assay, RT-qPCR and western blot. MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis were applied to evaluate paclitaxel cytotoxicity. KEY FINDINGS: LINC00511 and CDK6 were upregulated while miR-29c was downregulated in breast cancer tissues and cells. miR-29c was negatively correlated with LINC00511 and CDK6 expression while LINC00511 was positively correlated with CDK6 expression in breast cancer tissues. LINC0051 directly interacted with miR-29c to suppress its expression. LINC00511 knockdown enhanced paclitaxel cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells by upregulating miR-29c. CDK6 was identified as a target of miR-29c. CDK6 knockdown attenuated the effects of miR-29c inhibition on paclitaxel cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells. LINC00511 positively regulated CDK6 expression in breast cancer cells. SIGNIFICANCE: LINC00511 knockdown enhanced paclitaxel cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells via regulating miR-29c/CDK6 axis.

Efficient coding and detection of ultra-long IDs for visible light positioning systems.

Visible light positioning (VLP) is a promising technique to complement Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) such as Global positioning system (GPS) and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) which features the advantage of low-cost and high accuracy. The situation becomes even more crucial for indoor environments, where satellite signals are weak or even unavailable. For large-scale application of VLP, there would be a considerable number of Light emitting diode (LED) IDs, which bring forward the demand of long LED ID detection. In particular, to provision indoor localization globally, a convenient way is to program a unique ID into each LED during manufacture. This poses a big challenge for image sensors, such as the CMOS camera in everybody's hands since the long ID covers the span of multiple frames. In this paper, we investigate the detection of ultra-long ID using rolling shutter cameras. By analyzing the pattern of data loss in each frame, we proposed a novel coding technique to improve the efficiency of LED ID detection. We studied the performance of Reed-Solomon (RS) code in this system and designed a new coding method which considered the trade-off between performance and decoding complexity. Coding technique decreases the number of frames needed in data processing, significantly reduces the detection time, and improves the accuracy of detection. Numerical and experimental results show that the detected LED ID can be much longer with the coding technique. Besides, our proposed coding method is proved to achieve a performance close to that of RS code while the decoding complexity is much lower.

Circulating pro-angiogenic micro-ribonucleic acid in patients with coronary heart disease.

OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to evaluate the expressions of 14 selected pro-angiogenic micro-ribonucleic acids in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and healthy controls (HCs) and to assess the correlations of those micro-ribonucleic acids with risk and severity of CHD. METHODS: In the exploration stage, 20 patients with CHD were enrolled; in the validation stage, 102 patients with CHD and 92 age- and gender-matched HCs with the same eligibility of those in the exploration stage were recruited. Blood samples were collected from all participants, and plasma levels of micro-ribonucleic acids were measured by the quantitative polymerase chain reaction method. RESULTS: In the exploration stage, the expression of miR-126, miR-17-5p, miR-19a, miR-92a, miR-210 and miR-378 in patients with CHD was down-regulated compared with that of HCs. In the validation stage, miR-126, miR-17-5p, miR-92a, miR-210 and miR-378 levels decreased remarkably in patients with CHD compared with the HCs. Plasma levels of miR-126, miR-17-5p, miR-92a, miR-210 and miR-378 were independent prediction factors for CHD. The combination of miR-126, miR-17-5p, miR-92a, miR-210 and miR-378 was of good diagnostic value for CHD with an area under the curve of 0.756. Additionally, plasma levels of miR-126, miR-210 and miR-378 correlated negatively with Gensini scores. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating miR-126, miR-17-5p, miR-92a, miR-210 and miR-378 could serve as novel, promising biomarkers for risk and severity of CHD. Additionally, miR-126, miR-210 and miR-378 were negatively associated with Gensini scores.

Wintertime peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) in the megacity Beijing: role of photochemical and meteorological processes.

Previous measurements of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) in Asian megacities were scarce and mainly conducted for relative short periods in summer. Here, we present and analyze the measurements of PAN, O3, NO(x), etc., made at an urban site (CMA) in Beijing from 25 January to 22 March 2010. The hourly concentration of PAN averaged 0.70 x 10(-9) mol/mol (0.23 x 10(-9) -3.51 x 10(-9) mol/mol) and was well correlated with that of NO2 but not O3, indicating that the variations of the winter concentrations of PAN and 03 in urban Beijing are decoupled with each other. Wind conditions and transport of air masses exert very significant impacts on O3, PAN, and other species. Air masses arriving at the site originated either from the boundary layer over the highly polluted N-S-W sector or from the free troposphere over the W-N sector. The descending free-tropospheric air was rich in O3, with an average PAN/O3 ratio smaller than 0.031, while the boundary layer air over the polluted sector contained higher levels of PAN and primary pollutants, with an average PAN/O3 ratio of 0.11. These facts related with transport conditions can well explain the observed PAN-O3 decoupling. Photochemical production is important to PAN in the winter over Beijing. The concentration of the peroxyacetyl (PA) radical was estimated to be in the range of 0.0014 x 10(-12) -0.0042 x 10(-12) mol/mol. The contributions of the formation reaction and thermal decomposition to PAN's variation were calculated and found to be significant even in the colder period in air over Beijing, with the production exceeding the decomposition.