Using TiO to capture hot electrons for self-powered position-sensitive photodetection.

As environmental issues arise, the demand for self-powered position-sensitive detectors (PSDs) is increasing because of their advantages in miniaturization and low power consumption. Finding higher efficiency schemes for energy conversion is paramount for realizing high-performance self-powered PSDs. Here, a surface plasmon-based approach was used to improve the energy conversion efficiency, and a plasmon-enhanced lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) was observed in PSD with TiO/Au nanorods (NRs)/Si structure.

Graphene-enhanced lateral photovoltaic effect observed in the Ag nanoparticle-covered graphene/n-type silicon.

Graphene is a kind of two-dimensional material with a single-layer carbon structure and has been investigated in many high-performance photodetectors. The lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) is widely used in the position-sensitive detectors (PSDs) owing to its linear response of photovoltage to the light position. In this Letter, a type of graphene-enhanced LPE is observed in the Ag nanoparticle-covered graphene/n-type Si.

Multiple Sulfur Isotopic Evidence for Sulfate Formation in Haze Pollution.

The mechanism of sulfate formation during winter haze events in North China remains largely elusive. In this study, the multiple sulfur isotopic composition of sulfate in different grain-size aerosol fractions collected seasonally from sampling sites in rural, suburban, urban, industrial, and coastal areas of North China are used to constrain the mechanism of SO oxidation at different levels of air pollution. The ΔS values of sulfate in aerosols show an obvious seasonal variation, except for those samples collected in the rural area.

Estimating atmospheric nitrogen deposition within a large river basin using moss nitrogen and isotope signatures.

Assessing flux and primary sources of the atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition with high spatial resolution remained challenging. The epilithic moss is considered a suitable biological monitor to explore N deposition. Our study presented a detailed analysis of flux and major source contributions of ammonium (NH) and nitrate (NO) deposition using N and δN signatures of epilithic moss collected densely from the Yangtze River basin.

Constructing time-invariant dynamic surveillance rules for optimal monitoring schedules.

Dynamic surveillance rules (DSRs) are sequential surveillance decision rules informing monitoring schedules in clinical practice, which can adapt over time according to a patient's evolving characteristics. In many clinical applications, it is desirable to identify and implement optimal time-invariant DSRs, where the parameters indexing the decision rules are shared across different decision points. We propose a new criterion for DSRs that accounts for benefit-cost tradeoff during the course of disease surveillance.

A Generalized Integration Approach to Association Analysis with Multi-category Outcome: An Application to a Tumor Sequencing Study of Colorectal Cancer and Smoking.

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease, and rapid progress in sequencing and -omics technologies has enabled researchers to characterize tumors comprehensively. This has stimulated an intensive interest in studying how risk factors are associated with various tumor heterogeneous features. The Cancer Prevention Study-II (CPS-II) cohort is one of the largest prospective studies, particularly valuable for elucidating associations between cancer and risk factors.

Slight transition in Chinese atmospheric Pb isotopic fingerprinting due to increasing foreign Pb.

Atmospheric lead (Pb) pollution negatively affects human health and ecosystem, and extensive research is required to identify its sources and develop robust mitigation methods. In this study, the concentration and isotopic composition of Pb in fine particulate matter (PM) at five sites in the China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region were analyzed. The results showed that the Pb concentration in the BTH region declined along the northwest direction in winter owing to the East Asian monsoon.

Tracing the transboundary transport of atmospheric Particulate Bound Mercury driven by the East Asian monsoon.

Taking Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) with severe atmospheric mercury (Hg) and PM pollution as a typical region, this study clarified the characteristics and transboundary transport of atmospheric Particulate Bound Mercury (PBM) affected by the East Asian monsoon. Five sampling sites were conducted in rural, suburban, urban, industrial, and coastal areas of BTH from northwest to southeast along the East Asian monsoon direction. PBM showed increasing concentrations from northwest to southeast and negative δHg values, indicating significant contributions from anthropogenic sources.

The role of WSC domain-containing protein encoding gene AOL_s00043g401 in the growth and nematode trapping of Arthrobotrys oligospora.

Arthrobotrys oligospora is a model nematode-trapping fungus that has been extensively investigated to understand the interactions between fungi and nematodes. Nematode capture by A. oligospora is a complex process in which recognition of nematodes is generally believed to be mediated by lectins from the fungi.

Genetic Regulation of DNA Methylation Yields Novel Discoveries in GWAS of Colorectal Cancer.

Background: Colorectal cancer has a strong epigenetic component that is accompanied by frequent DNA methylation (DNAm) alterations in addition to heritable genetic risk. It is of interest to understand the interrelationship of germline genetics, DNAm, and colorectal cancer risk.

Methods: We performed a genome-wide methylation quantitative trait locus (meQTL) analysis in 1,355 people, assessing the pairwise associations between genetic variants and lymphocytes methylation data.

The fucose-specific lectin gene AOL_s00054g276 affects trap formation and nematocidal activity of the nematophagous fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora.

Nematode-trapping fungi are natural enemies of nematodes in nature. Arthrobotrys oligospora, a typical nematode-trapping fungus with a clear genetic background, can capture and infect nematodes by forming adhesive three-dimensional networks. Lectins, a class of glycoproteins containing glycosyl-specific recognition domains, play an important role in biological recognition.

Recent Research Advances in Plasma Spraying of Bulk-Like Dense Metal Coatings with Metallurgically Bonded Lamellae.

Although thermal spray metallic coatings have been widely used for materials protection from wear, corrosion and oxidation, its porous feature limits the full utilization of materials potential. Moreover, the oxidation inherent to thermal spraying in the ambient atmosphere is detrimental to interlamellar bonding formation, which further degrades the performance of thermal spray metal coatings. How to tape out the full potential of spray materials in the form of the coating is a still great challenge to thermal spray coating technology.

High-Sensitivity Infrared Photoelectric Detection Based on WS /Si Structure Tuned by Ferroelectrics.

As one of the typical transition-metal dichalcogenides with distinct optical and electrical properties, WS exhibits tremendous potential for optoelectronic devices. However, its inherent band gap range limits the application in the infrared region. To overcome this draw-back and improve the sensitivity, P(VDF-CTFE) is used as a ferroelectric gate to control the states of WS /Si junctions and achieve an enhanced infrared photodetection.

A putative F-box-domain-encoding gene AOL_s00076g207 regulates the development and pathogenicity of Arthrobotrys oligospora.

F-box protein is a key component of the Skp1-cullin-F-box-type ubiquitin ligase complex (SCF-ULC) that marks its target proteins with ubiquitin for proteasomal degradation. In this study, we explored the potential role of AOL_s00076g207 (Aog207) in Arthrobotrys oligospora, a model fungus for studying nematodes-fungi interactions. The Aog207 gene encodes a putative F-box protein of the SCF-ULC.

High performance and low power consumption resistive random access memory with Ag/FeO/Pt structure.

Due to magnetic field tunability and the abundance of iron in the Earth's crust, iron oxide-based resistive random access memory (RRAM) is considered to be low cost and potential for multi-level storage. However, the relatively high operation voltage (>1 V) and small storage window (<100) limit its application. In this work, the devices with simple Ag/FeO/Pt structure exhibit typical bipolar resistive switching with ultralow set voltage () of 0.

The isotopic patterns and source apportionment of nitrate and ammonium in atmospheric aerosol.

Nitrate (NO) and ammonium (NH) are the major components in inorganic aerosol. However, their sources and formation processes remain unclear. This study conducted a year-round field measurement of TSP, PM and PM in five different sites in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region to determine the concentrations of water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs) and the isotopic compositions of inorganic nitrogen (δN-NH, δN-NO, and δO-NO).

Genetic variants associated with cytomegalovirus infection after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation is a frequent complication of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Despite routine screening for CMV reactivation and early antiviral treatment, the rates of CMV-related complications after HCT remain high. Genetic variants in both the donor and recipient have been associated with the risk of CMV reactivation and disease after HCT, but these associations have not been validated, and their clinical importance remains unclear.

The role of Jacalin-related lectin gene AOL_s00083g511 in the development and pathogenicity of the nematophagous fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora.

Arthrobotrys oligospora is a model species of nematophagous fungi and has great potential for the biological control of nematode diseases. Lectin is a protein that binds to carbohydrates and their complexes with high specificity, which mediates recognition events in various physiological and pathological processes. This study aimed to investigate the role of the Jacalin-related lectin (JRL) gene, AOL_s00083g511, in A.

Heterojunction interface-induced enhancement of position-sensitive photodetection in the nano-film of Ti/SrTiO based on the p-type silicon.

Complex oxide perovskites exhibit a range of novel, to the best of our knowledge, physical phenomena and have gained popularity as a material system in the past decades. Strontium titanate () is an iconic material among oxide perovskite due to its unusual electronic transport behavior and has been investigated in many electronic devices. In this Letter, a type of nano-film-induced enhancement of lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) is observed in the heterojunction of Ti//p-type Si.

Atmospheric lead pollution in a typical megacity: Evidence from lead isotopes.

Atmospheric lead (Pb) pollution has adverse health effects on humans, while the sources and atmospheric process of Pb are key scientific problems. In this study, the concentrations and isotopic composition of Pb in fine particulate matter (PM), coal and street dust samples collected from a typical megacity Beijing were analyzed to identify the sources of atmospheric Pb. Results showed that the Pb concentrations in PM were high in winter (168.

A general framework for functionally informed set-based analysis: Application to a large-scale colorectal cancer study.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified tens of thousands of genetic variants associated with various phenotypes, but together they explain only a fraction of heritability, suggesting many variants have yet to be discovered. Recently it has been recognized that incorporating functional information of genetic variants can improve power for identifying novel loci. For example, S-PrediXcan and TWAS tested the association of predicted gene expression with phenotypes based on GWAS summary statistics by leveraging the information on genetic regulation of gene expression and found many novel loci.

Recipient and donor genetic variants associated with mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Many studies have suggested that genetic variants in donors and recipients are associated with survival-related outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), but these results have not been confirmed. Therefore, the utility of testing genetic variants in donors and recipients for risk stratification or understanding mechanisms leading to mortality after HCT has not been established. We tested 122 recipient and donor candidate variants for association with nonrelapse mortality (NRM) and relapse mortality (RM) in a cohort of 2560 HCT recipients of European ancestry with related or unrelated donors.

Improved uniformity in resistive switching behaviors by embedding Cu nanodots.

An improvement in the uniformity of resistive switching behaviors by embedding Cu nanodots is observed in TaO memory cells. In the conventional device structure, the growth of conductive filaments tends to be random and uncontrollable, which is the major obstacle for memory cell fabrication. By using a bottom electrode covered in metal nanodots, the field distribution in the electrolyte layer is modified and the conductive filaments prefer to grow along the direction of the Cu nanodots.

Self-Contained High-SNR Underwater Acoustic Signal Acquisition Node and Synchronization Sampling Method for Multiple Distributed Nodes.

Aiming at the application demand in underwater noise monitoring, observation of marine animal, antisubmarine and underwater target localization, a high-SNR underwater acoustic signal acquisition (UASA) node that combines a self-contained acquisition system and floating platform is designed to improve the acquisition performance of a single UASA node, and a high-accuracy synchronization sampling method among multiple distributed UASA nodes based on master-slave dual phase-locked loops (MSDPLL) is proposed to improve the synchronization sampling accuracy. According to the equivalent model of hydrophone and application requirements, low noise signal conditioning circuit and large-capacity data storage modules are designed. Based on the long-term monitoring requirements for underwater acoustic signal and distributed positioning requirements for underwater targets, the structure of a single UASA node is designed and MSDPLL is developed for high-accuracy synchronization sampling among multiple UASA nodes.

Brief Report: Reduced Use of Illicit Substances, Even Without Abstinence, Is Associated With Improved Depressive Symptoms Among People Living With HIV.

Purpose: Substance use is linked with poor outcomes among people living with HIV (PLWH) and is associated with mental health disorders. This analysis examines the impact of decreasing substance use, even without abstinence, on depressive symptoms among PLWH.

Methods: Data are from PLWH enrolled in the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Sites cohort.