NADP-malic Enzyme OsNADP-ME2 Modulates Plant Height Involving in Gibberellin Signaling in Rice.

Plants NADP-malic enzymes (NADP-MEs) act as a class of oxidative decarboxylase to mediate malic acid metabolism in organisms. Despite NADP-MEs have been demonstrated to play pivotal roles in regulating diverse biological processes, the role of NADP-MEs involving in plant growth and development remains rarely known. Here, we characterized the function of rice cytosolic OsNADP-ME2 in regulating plant height.

Prevalence of prediabetes by the fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c screening criteria among the children and adolescents of Shenzhen, China.

Background: Prediabetes is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality. Rare research in China has evaluated the prevalence of prediabetes among children and adolescents using the HbA1c criterion or the combined FPG-or-HbA1c diagnostic criterion, and researchers paid no attention to the distributions of blood glucose in Shenzhen, especially for juveniles.

Methods: We conducted a school-based cross-sectional study based on the first-year students from 17 primary, middle, and high schools.

Engineering of High-Density Thin-Layer Graphite Foam-Based Composite Architectures with Superior Compressibility and Excellent Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Performance.

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene architectures with well-controlled structure and excellent physiochemical properties have attracted considerable interest due to their potential applications in flexible electronic devices. However, the majority of the existing 3D graphene still encounters several drawbacks such as brittleness, non-uniform building units, and limited scale (millimeter or even micrometer), which severely limits its practical applications. Herein, we demonstrate a new scalable technique for the preparation of thin-layer graphite foam (GF) with controllable densities (27.

Smoothening of wrinkles in CVD-grown hexagonal boron nitride films.

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an ideal substrate for two-dimensional (2D) materials because of its unique electrically insulating nature, atomic smoothness and low density of dangling bonds. Although mechanical exfoliation from bulk crystals produces the most pristine flakes, scalable fabrication of devices is still dependent on other more direct synthetic routes. To date, the most utilized method to synthesize large-area h-BN films is by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using catalytic metal substrates.

Supercompressible Coaxial Carbon Nanotube@Graphene Arrays with Invariant Viscoelasticity over -100 to 500 °C in Ambient Air.

Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays have been recognized as promising cushion materials because of their superior thermal stability, remarkable compressibility, and viscoelastic characteristics. However, most of the previously reported CNT arrays still suffer from permanent shape deformation at only moderate compressive strains, which considerably restricts their practical applications. Here, we demonstrate a facile strategy of fabricating supercompressible coaxial CNT@graphene (CNT@Gr) arrays by using a two-step route involving encapsulating polymer layers onto plastic CNT arrays and subsequent annealing processes.

Scalable Production of Few-Layer Boron Sheets by Liquid-Phase Exfoliation and Their Superior Supercapacitive Performance.

Although two-dimensional boron (B) has attracted much attention in electronics and optoelectronics due to its unique physical and chemical properties, in-depth investigations and applications have been limited by the current synthesis techniques. Herein, we demonstrate that high-quality few-layer B sheets can be prepared in large quantities by sonication-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation. By simply varying the exfoliating solvent types and centrifugation speeds, the lateral size and thickness of the exfoliated B sheets can be controllably tuned.

Biocompatible Hydroxylated Boron Nitride Nanosheets/Poly(vinyl alcohol) Interpenetrating Hydrogels with Enhanced Mechanical and Thermal Responses.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels with tissue-like viscoelasticity, excellent biocompatibility, and high hydrophilicity have been considered as promising cartilage replacement materials. However, lack of sufficient mechanical properties is a critical barrier to their use as load-bearing cartilage substitutes. Herein, we report hydroxylated boron nitride nanosheets (OH-BNNS)/PVA interpenetrating hydrogels by cyclically freezing/thawing the aqueous mixture of PVA and highly hydrophilic OH-BNNS (up to 0.

Direct Observation of Indium Conductive Filaments in Transparent, Flexible, and Transferable Resistive Switching Memory.

Electronics with multifunctionalities such as transparency, portability, and flexibility are anticipated for future circuitry development. Flexible memory is one of the indispensable elements in a hybrid electronic integrated circuit as the information storage device. Herein, we demonstrate a transparent, flexible, and transferable hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)-based resistive switching memory with indium tin oxide (ITO) and graphene electrodes on soft polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate.

Impact of assisted hatching on fresh and frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles: a prospective, randomized study.

The aim of this study was to determine if assisted hatching (AH) could improve the rates of pregnancy and implantation for both fresh and frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles. A total of 760 fresh embryo transfer cycles and 200 frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles were randomly assigned to either the treatment group (AH) or the control group (no AH). Zona thinning by laser was performed just before embryo transfer.

Exposure to human chorionic gonadotropin during in vitro maturation does not improve the maturation rate and developmental potential of immature oocytes from patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Objective: To investigate the effects of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in culture medium on the in vitro maturation (IVM) and subsequent developmental potential of human immature oocytes.

Design: Prospective, randomized study.

Setting: Reproductive Medicine Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, People's Republic of China.