Balancing the Efficiency and Synthetic Accessibility of Organic Solar Cells with Isomeric Acceptor Engineering.

With the continuous development of organic semiconductor materials and on-going improvement of device technology, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of organic solar cells (OSCs) have surpassed the threshold of 19%. Now, the low production cost of organic photovoltaic materials and devices have become an imperative demand for its practical application and future commercialization. Herein, the feasibility of simplified synthesis for cost-effective small-molecule acceptors via end-cap isomeric engineering is demonstrated, and two constitutional isomers, BTP-m-4Cl and BTP-o-4Cl, are synthesized and compared in parallel. These two non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) have very similar optoelectronic properties but nonuniform morphological and crystallographic characteristics. Consequently, the OSCs composed of PM6:BTP-m-4Cl realize PCE of 17.2%, higher than that of the OSCs with PM6:BTP-o-4Cl (≈16%). When ternary OSCs are fabricated with PM6:BTP-m-4Cl:BTP-o-4Cl, the averaged PCE value reaches 17.95%, presenting outstanding photovoltaic performance. Most excitingly, the figure of merit (FOM) values of PM6:BTP-m-4Cl, PM6:BTP-o-4Cl, and PM6:BTP-m-4Cl:BTP-o-4Cl based devices are 0.190, 0.178, and 0.202 respectively. The FOM values of these systems are all among the top ones of the current high-efficiency OSC systems, revealing high cost-effectiveness of the two NFAs. This work provides a general but accessible strategy to minimize the efficiency-cost gap and promises the economic prospects of OSCs.

A Hyperheuristic With Q-Learning for the Multiobjective Energy-Efficient Distributed Blocking Flow Shop Scheduling Problem.

Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, which are the significant national strategy for sustainable development, have attracted considerable attention from production enterprises. In this study, the energy consumption is considered in the distributed blocking flow shop scheduling problem (DBFSP). A hyperheuristic with Q -learning (HHQL) is presented to address the energy-efficient DBFSP (EEDBFSP). Q -learning is employed to select an appropriate low-level heuristic (LLH) from a predesigned LLH set according to historical information fed back by LLH. An initialization method, which considers both total tardiness (TTD) and total energy consumption (TEC), is proposed to construct the initial population. The ε -greedy strategy is introduced to utilize the learned knowledge while retaining a certain degree of exploration in the process of selecting LLH. The acceleration operation of the job on the critical path is designed to optimize TTD. The deceleration operation of the job on the noncritical path is designed to optimize TEC. The statistical and computational experimentation in an extensive benchmark testified that the HHQL outperforms the other comparison algorithm regarding efficiency and significance in solving EEDBFSP.

Astilbin attenuates apoptosis induced by cadmium through oxidative stress in carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) head kidney lymphocyte.

As a kind of environmental pollutant, heavy metal Cadmium (Cd) exists widely in the environment. It is well known that Cd can accumulate and cause damage in liver, kidney and other organs. However, there are few studies on the immune cytotoxicity of Cd to fish. In particular, there are few studies on the toxicity of Cd to the head kidney lymphocytes of common carp. In order to further explore these mechanisms, we established an Cd exposure model in vitro. At the same time, we used the natural antioxidant astilbin (AST) to treat the cells to study its antagonistic effect on the toxicity of Cd. After exposure to Cd, the level of oxidative stress in head kidney lymphocytes increased, and the mRNA and protein expression of apoptosis-related markers Fas, FADD, Caspase8 and Caspase3 increased significantly (P < 0.05), which led to lymphocytes apoptosis. Hoechst staining and AO/EB staining also showed that the level of apoptosis increased after exposure to Cd. This is consistent with our previous research results. AST treatment reduced oxidative stress and apoptosis induced by Cd. In addition, oxidative stress inhibitor NAC could also reduce head kidney lymphocytes apoptosis induced by Cd, indicating that oxidative stress was involved in this process. Our results suggested that AST can alleviate the apoptosis of carp head kidney lymphocytes induced by Cd through oxidative stress. This study enriches the theoretical mechanism of Cd toxicity to fish head kidney lymphocytes, and puts forward a method to solve the toxicity of Cd, which provides a theoretical and research basis for the in vivo study of animal models in the future.

Effects of family relationship and social support on the mental health of Chinese postpartum women.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies suggest that interpersonal relationships and social support influence the development of postpartum depression and sleep quality for women. However, the effect of support from the husband or the mother-in-law has not been thoroughly validated. The current study examined the relative contribution of marital satisfaction, perceived caring of the mother-in-law, and social support on postpartum depression and sleep quality simultaneously in a path model. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2017 in Hebei, China, using a self-report questionnaire. A total of 817 women participated at 6 weeks postpartum. Sociodemographics and information about marital satisfaction, perceived caring of the mother-in-law, social support, postpartum depression, and sleep were collected. Path analysis was used to analyze the cross-sectional data. RESULTS: The final model had a highly satisfactory fit. Marital satisfaction and perceived caring of mother-in-law had both direct and indirect effects on postpartum depression through social support, but these two variables had only an indirect effect on sleep quality through social support and postpartum depression. Sleep quality is a consequence of postpartum depression at 6 weeks after delivery. The prevalence of minor and major postpartum depressive symptoms at 6 weeks postpartum was 41.49 and 23.13%, respectively. A total of 371 (45.41%) women experienced sleep disturbance at 6 weeks postpartum. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that interpersonal relationships with family members play important roles in postpartum depression and sleep quality through social support in Chinese women. Improving the relationship between new mothers and their husbands or mothers-in-law and then enhancing social support might reduce postpartum depression and sleep disturbance.

A Self-Learning Discrete Jaya Algorithm for Multiobjective Energy-Efficient Distributed No-Idle Flow-Shop Scheduling Problem in Heterogeneous Factory System.

In this study, a self-learning discrete Jaya algorithm (SD-Jaya) is proposed to address the energy-efficient distributed no-idle flow-shop scheduling problem (FSP) in a heterogeneous factory system (HFS-EEDNIFSP) with the criteria of minimizing the total tardiness (TTD), total energy consumption (TEC), and factory load balancing (FLB). First, the mixed-integer programming model of HFS-EEDNIFSP is presented. An evaluation criterion of FLB combining the energy consumption and the completion time is introduced. Second, a self-learning operators selection strategy, in which the success rate of each operator is summarized as knowledge, is designed for guiding the selection of operators. Third, the energy-saving strategy is proposed for reducing the TEC. The energy-efficient no-idle FSP is transformed to be an energy-efficient permutation FSP to search the idle times. The speed of operations which adjacent are idle times is reduced. The effectiveness of SD-Jaya is tested on 60 benchmark instances. On the quality of the solution, the experimental results reveal that the efficacy of the SD-Jaya algorithm outperforms the other algorithms for addressing HFS-EEDNIFSP.

The Diagnostic Value of Serum Exosomal Has_circ_0000615 for Breast Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: To explore the expression level of has_circ_0000615 in peripheral blood samples and evaluate its diagnostic value for breast cancer patients. METHODS: The peripheral blood samples of 95 breast cancer patients who underwent curative surgical resection and 95 age-matched healthy volunteers in our institutions from September 2019 to November 2020 were systematically collected. The expression level of has_circ_0000615 in the plasma was amplified and detected by qRT-PCR, and its correlation to clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer patients were analyzed. RESULTS: Breast cancer patients had a significantly higher expression level of has_circ_0000615 in the plasma than healthy controls (P < 0.01), and its high expression was closely associated with advanced tumor stage (P=0.010), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001) and high grade of recurrence risk (P=0.012). The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves showed that the area under curve (AUC) value, sensitivity and specificity of has_circ_0000615 for the diagnosis of non-metastatic breast cancer was 0.904 (95% CI: 0.863-0.944), 76.8% and 88.4%, respectively. Serum has_circ_0000615 expression had a better diagnostic efficiency than routine tumor biomarkers such as CA153, CA125 and CEA for distinguishing breast cancer patients from healthy individuals. TEM revealed that isolated exosomes from the culture medium of breast cancer cells had a disk-like appearance with a diameter of 80-200 nm vesicles, and the expression of exosome markers CD9 and CD81 was markedly increased. More importantly, the expression of has_circ_0000615 was detected in the exosomes and its expression level was markedly upregulated in breast cancer cell lines compared with normal ductal epithelial cells. The stability assay showed that there was no difference between RNA extraction at 0 hour and 24 hours in terms of the expression of has_circ_0000615 (P =0.327). Has_circ_0000615 might as exosomes be secreted into the circulating blood of breast cancer patients, resulting in a high expression level in plasma samples. CONCLUSION: The detection of has_circ_0000615 might be a promising diagnostic method for breast cancer.

Psychosocial risk factors for postpartum depression in Chinese women: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Postpartum depression (PPD) has been identified as a recognized public health problem that may adversely affect mothers, infants, and family units. Recent studies have identified risk factors for PPD in Westerners; however, societal and cultural differences between China and the West could, potentially, lead to differences in risk factors for PPD. No comprehensive study has been conducted to collect all the evidence to provide estimates of psychological and social risk factors in China. Therefore, this study aimed to quantitatively assess all studies meeting the review's eligibility criteria and identify the psychological and social risk factors for PPD in Chinese women. METHODS: The following databases were used in the literature search from their inception until December 2020: PubMed, Embase, Foreign Medical Literature Retrieval Service (FMRS), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and China Biology Medicine disc (CBM). The quality was assessed through Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale. The I2statistic was used to quantify heterogeneity. We extracted data for meta-analysis and generated pooled-effect estimates from a fixed-effects model. Pooled estimates from a random-effects model were also generated if significant heterogeneity was present. Funnel plot asymmetry tests were used to check for publication bias. Statistical analysis was conducted using Review Manager version 5.3 software. RESULTS: From a total of 1175 identified studies, 51 were included in the analysis. Prenatal depression (OR 7.70; 95% CI 6.02-9.83) and prenatal anxiety (OR 7.07; 95% CI 4.12-12.13) were major risk factors for PPD. A poor economic foundation (OR 3.67; 95% CI 3.07-4.37) and a poor relationship between husband and wife (OR 3.56; 95% CI 2.95-4.28) were moderate risk factors. Minor risk factors included a poor relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law (OR 2.89; 95% CI 2.12-3.95), a lack of social support (OR 2.57; 95% CI 2.32-2.85), unplanned pregnancy (OR 2.55; 95% CI 2.08-3.14), and poor living conditions (OR 2.44; 95% CI 1.92-3.10), mother-in-law as the caregiver (1.95; 95% CI 1.54-2.48) . CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a number of psychological and social risk factors for PPD in Chinese women. The major and moderate risk factors are prenatal depression, prenatal anxiety, a poor economic foundation, and a poor relationship between husband and wife. These findings have potential implications for informing preventive efforts and modifying screening to target at-risk populations.

A Two-Stage Cooperative Evolutionary Algorithm With Problem-Specific Knowledge for Energy-Efficient Scheduling of No-Wait Flow-Shop Problem.

Green scheduling in the manufacturing industry has attracted increasing attention in academic research and industrial applications with a focus on energy saving. As a typical scheduling problem, the no-wait flow-shop scheduling has been extensively studied due to its wide industrial applications. However, energy consumption is usually ignored in the study of typical scheduling problems. In this article, a two-stage cooperative evolutionary algorithm with problem-specific knowledge called TS-CEA is proposed to address energy-efficient scheduling of the no-wait flow-shop problem (EENWFSP) with the criteria of minimizing both makespan and total energy consumption. In TS-CEA, two constructive heuristics are designed to generate a desirable initial solution after analyzing the properties of the problem. In the first stage of TS-CEA, an iterative local search strategy (ILS) is employed to explore potential extreme solutions. Moreover, a hybrid neighborhood structure is designed to improve the quality of the solution. In the second stage of TS-CEA, a mutation strategy based on critical path knowledge is proposed to extend the extreme solutions to the Pareto front. Moreover, a co-evolutionary closed-loop system is generated with ILS and mutation strategies in the iteration process. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of TS-CEA in solving the EENWFSP.

The imbalance of Th1/Th2 triggers an inflammatory response in chicken spleens after ammonia exposure.

Ammonia is a hazardous environmental pollutant that can be harmful to animal health. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of ammonia exposure on broiler chicken spleens. We randomly divided one hundred twenty 1-day-old broiler chickens into 3 groups and raised them with exposure to different ammonia concentrations (low, middle, and high); at 42 D of age, the chicken spleens were extracted. We observed histopathologic changes in spleen tissues by microscopy and measured the expression of Th1/Th2 secreted cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1ß, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, interferon-γ [IFN-γ], tumor necrosis factor-α) by RT-PCR. We also measured the expression of nuclear receptor-κB (NF-κB) pathway-related genes (cyclooxygenase-2 [COX-2], nitric oxide synthase [iNOS], and prostaglandin synthetase [PGE]) in spleens by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Histopathologic observations indicated that the spleen tissues were seriously injured in the high ammonia concentration group. There was abnormal cytokine expression, including increased IL-4, IL-6, and IFN-γ and decreased IL-2, which indicated an imbalance in the Th1/Th2 response. The proinflammatory factors such as NF-κB, COX-2, iNOS, and PGE were upregulated in the high ammonia group. In conclusion, this study illustrated that ammonia exposure led to a Th1/Th2 immune imbalance and triggered the NF-κB pathway, causing inflammatory damage to the spleen.

Atrazine exposure triggers common carp neutrophil apoptosis via the CYP450s/ROS pathway.

Due to the excessive pursuit of crop yields and the abuse of herbicides, water pollution caused by atrazine (ATR) has become one of the most severe environmental issues threatening the health of fish and aquatic animals. However, no detailed report has been conducted on the mechanisms of ATR immunotoxicity in fish neutrophils. To investigate these mechanism, we exposed peripheral blood neutrophils to 25 µg/ml atrazine for 1, 2, and 3 h. The results showed that ATR induced the mRNA expression of CYPs enzymes (CYP1A1, CYP1B1, CYP1C and CYP3A138), which increased the ROS levels, and inhibited the SOD and CAT activities, GSH content and spurred the accumulation of MDA. Additionally, a significant decline in the OXPHOS, Na+-K+-ATPase and Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase activities of mitochondria was observed after ATR exposure. Concurrently, ATR activated Caspase3 and induced apoptosis by changing the expression of mitochondrial pathway factors (Bcl-2, BAX, Caspase9) and death receptor pathway major genes (TNF-α, TNFR, Fas, FasL, and Caspase8). The results reported here indicate that the oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage caused by ATR metabolism may play a crucial role in the apoptosis of carp neutrophils, and enrich the immunotoxicological mechanisms of ATR observed in fish.

Autophagy is upregulated in brain tissues of pigeons exposed to avermectin.

Avermectin (AVM) is used in agriculture and veterinary medicine for the prevention of parasitic diseases; AVM is the active component of some insecticidal and nematicidal products. Residues of AVM drugs or their metabolites in livestock feces have toxic effects on non-target aquatic and terrestrial organisms. In this study, changes in the levels of autophagy related genes and ultrastructure in pigeon brain tissues after subchronic exposure to AVM for 30, 60 and 90 d were investigated. The decrease in the mRNA levels of TORC1 and TORC2 and increase in the mRNA levels of LC3, Beclin 1, Dynein, ATG5 and ATG4B and the increase in the protein levels of LC3, Beclin 1 and Dynein in a dose- and time-dependent manner in the pigeon brain were observed. The number of autophagic vacuoles in the cerebrum, cerebellum and optic lobe increased significantly with the concentration of AVM and the exposure time. We found that the changes in the levels of autophagy related genes and the ultrastructure in the cerebrum were more obvious than in the cerebellum and the optic lobe. The results suggest that AVM could induce autophagy in pigeon brain tissues. The information presented in this study is helpful for understanding the mechanism of AVM-induced autophagy in birds.

Effects of atrazine and chlorpyrifos on DNA methylation in the liver, kidney and gill of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.).

Pesticide exposure has repeatedly been associated with cancers, although the molecular mechanisms behind this association are largely undetermined. Abnormal DNA methylation plays a key role in the process of some disease. However, little was known about the effect of pesticides on DNA methylation in the common carp. In this study, we investigated the mRNA levels of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and methyl-CpG-binding protein DNA-binding domain protein 2 (MBD2) as well as the DNA methylation levels in the liver, kidney and gill of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) after 40-d exposure to atrazine (ATR) and chlorpyrifos (CPF) alone or in combination, and a 40-d recovery period. Juvenile common carp were exposed to various concentrations of ATR (at concentrations of 4.28, 42.8 and 428µg/L), CPF (1.16, 11.6 and 116µg/L), and an ATR/CPF mixture (at concentrations of 1.13, 11.3 and 113µg/L). The results revealed that the levels of genomic DNA methylation decreased in all tissues after 40d of exposure to ATR and CPF either individually or in combination. Moreover, the mRNA expression of DNMTs was down-regulated in all treatment groups. In contrast, the mRNA expression of MBD2 was up-regulated. These results demonstrated that long-term exposure to ATR, CPF and ATR/CPF mixtures could disrupt genomic DNA. It might imply that DNA methylation is involved in the toxicity caused by ATR and CPF in the common carp.

The role of heat shock proteins in inflammatory injury induced by cold stress in chicken hearts.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cold stress on the expression levels of heat shock proteins (Hsps90, 70, 60, 40, and 27) and inflammatory factors (iNOS, COX-2, NF-κB, TNF-α, and PTGEs) and oxidative indexes in hearts of chickens. Two hundred forty 15-day-old male chickens were randomly divided into 12 groups and kept at the temperature of 12 ± 1 °C for acute and chronic cold stress. There were one control group and five treatment groups for acute cold stress, three control groups, and three treatment groups for chronic cold stress. After cold stress, malondialdehyde level increased in chicken heart; the activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in the heart first increased and then decreased. The inflammatory factors mRNA levels were increased in cold stress groups relative to control groups. The histopathological analysis showed that heart tissues were seriously injured in the cold stress group. Additionally, the mRNA levels of Hsps (70, 60, 40, and 27) increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the cold stress groups relative to the corresponding control group. Meanwhile, the mRNA level and protein expression of Hsp90 decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in the stress group, and showed a gradually decreasing tendency. These results suggested that the levels of inflammatory factors and Hsps expression levels in heart tissues can be influenced by cold stress. Hsps commonly played an important role in the protection of the heart after cold stress.

Effects of atrazine and chlorpyrifos on the production of nitric oxide and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase in the brain of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.).

The study aimed to investigate the effects of atrazine (ATR), chlorpyrifos (CPF), and the mixture of them on nitric oxide (NO) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the brain of common carp. The triazine herbicide ATR and the organophosphorus insecticide CPF are frequently and extensively applied in agriculture all over the world. 220 Carps were averagely divided into eleven groups according to the different treatments and concentration, including the exposure and recovery experiments. In the present study, we investigated production of NO, iNOS activity and iNOS mRNA and protein expression in the brain of the common carp after a 40d exposure to ATR, CPF, alone or in combination, and a 40d recovery treatment. The results showed that the activity of iNOS and production of NO were significantly higher in all groups of fish exposed to high doses ATR, CPF and their mixture compared to control fish. After a 40d recovery treatment, iNOS activity and production of NO were lower than in the corresponding exposure groups in all the recovery groups. The mRNA and protein levels of iNOS were significantly higher in the high-dose group of ATR and CPF compared to control group, but were significantly lower in the group of the mixture of ATR and CPF compared to control group. Results indicated that NO and iNOS were involved in oxidative stress and brain tissue damage induced by ATR, CPF, and their mixture. Thus, the information presented in this study is helpful to understand the mechanism of ATR-, CPF- and ATR/CPF-mixture-induced neurotoxicity in fish.

Effects of cold stress on mRNA expression of immunoglobulin and cytokine in the small intestine of broilers.

To investigate the effects of cold stress on mRNA expression of immunoglobulin and cytokine in small intestine of broilers, eighty-four 15-day-old male chickens were randomly divided into 12 groups. There were 1 control (25°C) and 5 acute stress groups (under the temperature of 12 ± 1°C) for 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24h, 3 control (25°C) and 3 chronic cold stress groups (under the temperature of 12 ± 1°C) for 5, 10, and 20d. The mRNA expression levels of IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-10, IL-17, IFN-γ, IgA, IgM, IgG, plgR, and TGF-ß4 in duodenum, jejunum and ileum were detected by real-time PCR. The results showed that expression levels of IgM, IgA, IgG, plgR and IL-7 had an increased tendency in acute and chronic cold stress, especially plgR that was markedly increased in the duodenum than jejunum and ileum in the acute cold stress. In addition, the mRNA expression levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17 and TGF-ß4 had a first increased then decreased tendency in acute and chronic cold stress groups, however, expression levels of IL-4 were higher in the stress groups than control groups. The histopathological detect showed that issues in cold stress group was seriously injured. These results demonstrated that cold stress could cause the change of immune function in chicken intestinal.