Publications by authors named "Xi Zhao"

Amorphous pseudocapacitive nanomaterials are highly desired in energy storage applications for their disordered crystal structures, fast electrochemical dynamics, and outstanding cyclic stability, yet hardly achievable using the state-of-the-art synthetic strategies. Herein, for the first time, high capacitive fiber electrodes embedded with nanosized amorphous molybdenum trioxide (A-MoO) featuring an average particle diameter of ~20 nm and rich oxygen vacancies are obtained a top-down method using -MoO bulk belts as the precursors. The Jahn-Teller distortion in MoO octahedra due to the doubly degenerate ground state of Mo, which can be continuously strengthened by oxygen vacancies, triggers the phase transformation of -MoO bulk belts (up to 30 m long and 500 nm wide).

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. Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can cause much visual discomfort if the users use the SSVEP-BCIs for a long time. As an alternative scheme to reduce users' visual fatigue, this study proposes a new stimulation paradigm (termed as steady state peripheral visual evoked potential, abbreviated as SSPVEP) which makes full use of peripheral vision.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) have important roles in inflammation and infections, which are common manifestations of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The present study aimed to assess whether serum miRNAs are potential diagnostic biomarkers for human ARDS. For this, two sets of serum samples from healthy individuals and patients with ARDS were analysed by high-throughput sequencing to identify differentially expressed genes in ARDS.

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Background: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a common condition after general anesthesia (GA). Previous studies have reported that propofol can ameliorate the occurrence of such disorder. However, its results are still inconsistent.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are suggested to play important roles in the pathogenesis and progress of human diseases with heterogeneous regulation in different types of cells. However, limited technique is available for profiling miRNAs with both expression and spatial dynamics. Here, we describe a platform for multiplexed miRNA profiling in acute tissue slices.

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High-power microwaves (HPMs) have been reported to have hazardous effects on multiple human and animal organs. However, the biological effects of 1.5-GHz HPMs on the reproductive system are not clear.

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Machine learning algorithms play an important role in the detection of toxic, flammable and explosive gases, and they are extremely important for the study of mixed gas classification and concentration prediction methods. To solve the problem of low prediction accuracy of gas concentration regression prediction algorithms, a gas concentration prediction algorithm based on a stacking model is proposed in the current research. In this paper, the stochastic forest, extreme random regression tree and gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) regression algorithms are selected as the base learning devices and use the stacking algorithm to take the output of each base learning device as input to train a new model to produce a final output.

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Non-invasive estimation of pressure gradients across a coarctation of the aorta (CoA) can reduce the need for diagnostic cardiac catheterisation. We aimed to validate two novel computational strategies-target-value approaching (TVA) and target-value fixing (TVF)-together with unrefined Doppler estimates, and to compare their diagnostic performance in identifying critical pressure drops for 40 patients. Compared to catheterisation, no statistically significant difference was demonstrated with TVA (P = 0.

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Protein therapeutics carry inherent limitations of membrane impermeability and structural instability, despite their predominant role in the modern pharmaceutical market. Effective formulations are needed to overcome physiological and physicochemical barriers, respectively, for improving bioavailability and stability. Knowledge of membrane affinity, cellular internalization, encapsulation, and release of drug-loaded carrier vehicles uncover the structural basis for designing and optimizing biopharmaceuticals with enhanced delivery efficiency and therapeutic efficacy.

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The human autophagy-related protein ATG7 (hATG7), an E1-like ubiquitin enzyme, activates two ubiquitin-like proteins, LC3 (Atg8) and Atg12, and promotes autophagosome formation. While hATG7 plays an essential role for the autophagy conjugation system, the production of full-length functional hATG7 in bacterial systems remains challenging. Previous studies have demonstrated that the HIV-1 virus-encoded Tat peptide ('GRKKRRQRRR') can increase the yield and solubility of heterologous proteins.

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The glucose-sensitive self-adjusting drug delivery system simulates the physiological model of the human pancreas-secreting insulin and then precisely regulates the release of hypoglycemic drugs and controls the blood sugar. Thus, it has good application prospects in the treatment of diabetes. Presently, there are three glucose-sensitive drug systems: phenylboronic acid (PBA) and its derivatives, concanavalin A (Con A), and glucose oxidase (GOD).

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As a BET bromodomain inhibitor, JQ1 has been proven have efficacy against a number of different cancers. In terms of male reproduction, JQ1 may be used as a new type of contraceptive, since JQ1 treatment in male mice could lead to germ cell defects and a decrease of sperm motility, moreover, this effect is reversible. However, the mechanism of JQ1 acting on gene regulation in spermatogenesis remains unclear.

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In steady-state visual-evoked potential (SSVEP) based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), existing detection algorithms utilizing spatial filters like task-related component analysis (TRCA) derive the spatial filters mainly through maximizing the inter-trial similarity between the combined signals over the training set. Although they achieve by far the best classification performance in SSVEP-based BCIs, some important problems are still unresolved. Especially, the mechanism of how spatial filters cancel the background noise in brain signals and optimize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of SSVEPs is still not figured out.

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The CD47-signal regulatory protein-alpha (SIRPα) immune checkpoint constitutes a therapeutic target in cancer, and initial clinical studies using inhibitors of CD47-SIRPα interactions in combination with tumor-targeting antibodies show promising results. Blockade of CD47-SIRPα interaction can promote neutrophil antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) toward antibody-opsonized targets. Neutrophils induce killing of antibody-opsonized tumor cells by a process identified as trogoptosis, a necrotic/lytic type of cancer cell death that involves trogocytosis, the antibody-mediated endocytic acquisition of cancer membrane fragments by neutrophils.

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B cell-activating factor (BAFF) production is increased in septic patients. However, the specific role of BAFF in sepsis remains unknown. This study was designed to investigate the expression and function of BAFF in an experimental endotoxemia model and to identify the potential mechanisms.

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Gliomas are the most common primary malignant brain tumors associated with a low survival rate. Even after surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, gliomas still have a poor prognosis. Extracellular vesicles are a heterogeneous group of cell-derived membranous structures.

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One may expect that isotopic exchange has no influence on charge carrier lifetime and perovskite solar cell performance because isotopic effects do not affect the fundamental electronic structure of materials. Experiments defy this expectation. By performing nonadiabatic (NA) molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that hydrogen and deuterium exchange significantly enhances the excited-state lifetime and stability of CHNHPbI.

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DEAD-Box Helicase 5(DDX5), also known as P68, is one of the founding members of the DEAD-Box helicase superfamily and it plays a key role in RNA metabolism. Several studies have reported that DDX5 is involved in many types of tumors through abnormal expression, but the detailed mechanism of DDX5 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has not been elucidated. In this study, we demonstrate that the level of DDX5 is a negative prognostic factor for ESCC.

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Rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) offers a targeted therapy for ~85% of SCLC patients whose tumors express DLL3, but clinical dosing is limited due to off-target toxicities. We hypothesized that a sub-efficacious dose of Rova-T combined with anti-PD1, which alone shows a clinical benefit to ~15% of SCLC patients, might elicit a novel mechanism of action and extend clinical utility. Using a pre-clinical murine SCLC tumor model that expresses Dll3 and has an intact murine immune system, we found that sub-efficacious doses of Rova-T with anti-PD1 resulted in enhanced anti-tumor activity, compared to either monotherapy.

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Emergency management (EM) has always been a concern of people from all walks of life due to the devastating impacts emergencies can have. The global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has pushed EM to the top topic. As mobile phones have become ubiquitous, many scholars have shown interest in using mobile phone data for EM.

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A novel halogen-free flame retardant containing sulfonamide, 1,3,5,7-tetrakis (phenyl-4-sulfonamide) adamantane (FRSN) was synthesized and used for improving the flame retardancy of largely used polycarbonate (PC). The flame-retardant properties of the composites with incorporation of varied amounts of FRSN were analyzed by techniques including limited oxygen index, UL 94 vertical burning, and cone calorimeter tests. The new FR system with sulfur and nitrogen elements showed effective improvements in PC's flame retardancy: the LOI value of the modified PC increased significantly, smoke emission suppressed, and UL 94 V-0 achieved.

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Many strategies have been employed to artificially reconstruct adipose tissue in tissue engineering. The functionalization and survival of reconstructed adipose tissue depend on sufficient angiogenesis. Notably, agglomeration growth of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) is beneficial to promoting angiogenesis.

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In order to simplify the complexity of white blood cell classification in existing point-of-care testing (POCT) testing equipment, a white blood cell classification detection system based on microfluidic and multimode imaging was constructed. Microfluidic chip was used in the system. A multimodal optical imaging system based on the characteristics of blood samples was designed to obtain eigenvalue extraction of cells.

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