Taming heat with tiny pressure.

Heat is almost everywhere. Unlike electricity, which can be easily manipulated, the current ability to control heat is still highly limited owing to spontaneous thermal dissipation imposed by the second law of thermodynamics. Optical illumination and pressure have been used to switch endothermic/exothermic responses of materials via phase transitions; however, these strategies are less cost-effective and unscalable.

Efficient degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A using peroxymonosulfate oxidation activated by a novel nano-CuFeO@coconut shell biochar catalyst.

In this study, a novel bimetallic complexation-curing nucleation-anaerobic calcination method was developed to synthesize a nano-CuFeO@coconut shell biochar (CuFeO@CSBC) catalyst to activate peroxymonosulfate for degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). The reaction processes of the TBBPA on CuFeO@CSBC have been investigated using in situ characterization and metal leaching. The effects of initial reaction conditions and degradation mechanism were investigated.

Atomically engineered cobaltite layers for robust ferromagnetism.

Emergent phenomena at heterointerfaces are directly associated with the bonding geometry of adjacent layers. Effective control of accessible parameters, such as the bond length and bonding angles, offers an elegant method to tailor competing energies of the electronic and magnetic ground states. In this study, we construct unit-thick syntactic layers of cobaltites within a strongly tilted octahedral matrix via atomically precise synthesis.

Imaging biological samples by integrated differential phase contrast (iDPC) STEM technique.

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is a powerful imaging technique and has been widely used in current material science research. The attempts of applying STEM (annual dark field (ADF)-STEM or annular bright field (ABF)-STEM) into biological research have been going on for decades while applications have still been limited because of the existing bottlenecks in dose efficiency and non-linearity in contrast. Recently, integrated differential phase contrast (iDPC) STEM technique emerged and achieved a linear phase contrast imaging condition, while resolving signals of light elements next to heavy ones even at low electron dose.

Octahedral rotations trigger electronic and magnetic transitions in strontium manganate under volume expansion.

The perovskite structure of manganate yields a series of intriguing physical properties. Based on the results of first-principles calculations, strontium manganate appears to undergo a magnetic phase transition and a metal-insulator transition-from antiferromagnetic insulator to ferromagnetic metal and then to ferromagnetic insulator-under isotropic volume expansion combined with oxygen octahedral distortions. Interestingly, the results show that increasing the Mn-O bond length and adding rotation of the oxygen octahedra can soften the breathing distortion and account for the insulator phase.

Integrated analysis of miRNA-mRNA interaction in ovaries of Turpan Black Sheep during follicular and luteal phases.

To investigate the regulatory mechanism of the follicular-luteal phase transition in Turpan black sheep (Ovis aries), the genome-wide expression patterns of microRNAs (miRNAs) and genes were investigated in ovaries of six sheep (3 years and single lamb with 3 consecutive births) during follicular and luteal phases of the oestrous cycle. Bioinformatic analysis was used to screen potential miRNAs and genes related to Turpan black sheep ovarian function. RT-qPCR was used to validate the sequencing results.

Bending Strain-Tailored Magnetic and Electronic Transport Properties of Reactively Sputtered γ'-FeN/Muscovite Epitaxial Heterostructures toward Flexible Spintronics.

The strain modulation on the magnetic and electronic transport properties of the ferromagnetic films is one of the hot topics due to the practical applications in flexible and wearable spintronic devices. However, the large strain-induced saturation magnetization and resistance change is not easy to achieve because most of the ferromagnetic films deposited on flexible substrates are polycrystalline or amorphous. Here, the flexible epitaxial γ'-FeN/mica films are fabricated by facing-target reactive sputtering.

Atomic origin of spin-valve magnetoresistance at the SrRuO grain boundary.

Defects exist ubiquitously in crystal materials, and usually exhibit a very different nature from the bulk matrix. Hence, their presence can have significant impacts on the properties of devices. Although it is well accepted that the properties of defects are determined by their unique atomic environments, the precise knowledge of such relationships is far from clear for most oxides because of the complexity of defects and difficulties in characterization.

Russula alutacea Fr. polysaccharide ameliorates inflammation in both RAW264.7 and zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae.

Russula alutacea Fr. (RaF) is a tasty mushroom with high nutritional value and have been regarded as food by local people for a long time. However, few researches have focused on the polysaccharide in RaF.

The Kinetic Behaviors of H Impurities in the Li/Ta Bilayer: Application for the Accelerator-Based BNCT.

Hydrogen bubble phenomenon is one of the key issues to be solved in the development of a long-life target system for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). In this study, we assessed the kinetic behaviors of H impurities in the nano-composite target from the atomic level. Firstly, two kinds of Li/Ta nanolayer models were constructed, based on the calculated lattice parameters and surface energies.

Iron-Chelated Polydopamine Decorated Doxorubicin-Loaded Nanodevices for Reactive Oxygen Species Enhanced Cancer Combination Therapy.

Combination therapy which enhances efficacy and reduces toxicity, has been increasingly applied as a promising strategy for cancer therapy. Here, a reactive oxygen species (ROS) that enhanced combination chemotherapy nanodevices was fabricated based on the Fe-chelated polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticles (NPs). The structure was characterized by dynamic light scattering-autosizer, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometer.

Paclitaxel-Loaded Core-Shell Magnetic Nanoparticles and Cold Atmospheric Plasma Inhibit Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Growth.

Nanoparticle-based drug delivery allows effective and sustained delivery of therapeutic agents to solid tumors and has completely changed how cancer is treated. As a new technology for medical applications, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) shows a great potential in selective cancer treatment. The aim of this work is to develop a new dual cancer treatment approach by integrating CAP with novel paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded nanoparticles for targeting A549 cells.

Cold atmospheric plasma and iron oxide-based magnetic nanoparticles for synergetic lung cancer therapy.

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is an emerging biomedical technique that shows great potential for cancer treatment. On the other hand, magnetic nanoparticles open up a wide field of possible applications in medicine. Here we seek to develop a novel dual cancer therapeutic method by integrating promising CAP and iron oxide-based magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), and evaluate its underlying mechanism for targeted lung cancer treatment.

Differentiated Data Aggregation Routing Scheme for Energy Conserving and Delay Sensitive Wireless Sensor Networks.

Data aggregation is a widely adopted method to effectively reduce the data transmission volume and improve the lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In the data aggregation networks, some parameters directly determine the delay of aggregation. In industrial applications, the data generated by different sensors have different requirements for delay or other QoS performance.

Adaptive Aggregation Routing to Reduce Delay for Multi-Layer Wireless Sensor Networks.

The quality of service (QoS) regarding delay, lifetime and reliability is the key to the application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Data aggregation is a method to effectively reduce the data transmission volume and improve the lifetime of a network. In the previous study, a common strategy required that data wait in the queue.

Amplification and the clinical significance of circulating cell-free DNA of PVT1 in breast cancer.

Duplication in the chromosome 8q24 region is a frequent occurrence in carcinomas. The PVT1 oncogene (PVT1), a long non-coding RNA, is found in this locus. PVT1 amplification is a frequent event in cancers, such as in lymphomas, serous ovarian, colorectal and breast cancers.

Ru Catalyst-Induced Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in MgO/CoFeB/Ta/MgO Multilayered Films.

The high oxygen storage/release capability of the catalyst Ru is used to manipulate the interfacial electronic structure in spintronic materials to obtain perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). Insertion of an ultrathin Ru layer between the CoFeB and Ta layers in MgO/CoFeB/Ta/MgO films effectively induces PMA without annealing. Ru plays a catalytic role in Fe-O-Ta bonding and isolation at the metal-oxide interface to achieve moderate interface oxidation.

Application of distortion product otoacoustic emissions to inflation of the eustachian tube in low frequency tinnitus with normal hearing.

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the applications of distortion product otoacoustic emissions to assess the efficacy of eustachian tube inflation on low frequency tinnitus with normal hearing.

Methods: Ninety-four patients (155 ears) suffering from subjective tinnitus with normal hearing sensitivity participated in this study. Control group consists of fifty volunteers (100 ears) without tinnitus.