Publications by authors named "Yuan Hou"

This study investigates the mechanical properties and microstructure of basalt fiber (BF) and nanoalumina (NA)-modified ultra-high-performance concrete with recycled aggregates (UHPC-RA) under high-temperature conditions. The effects of different replacement rates of recycled aggregates (RAs), BF content, and NA content on the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and elastic modulus were evaluated at ambient temperatures and after exposure to 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C, and 800 °C. The results show that mechanical properties decrease with temperature rise, but specimens containing BF exhibited improved crack resistance and better high-temperature integrity.

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Objective: This study examined the mutation spectrum and frequency of three prevalent pathogenic genes in patients with non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) from Gansu Province, China.

Methods: We analyzed 452 NSHL patients from five special education schools across several cities in Gansu Province using SNPscan technology to determine the mutation spectrum of mtDNA 12S rRNA, GJB2, and SLC26A4 genes.

Results: Among the 452 patients evaluated, mutations in the GJB2 gene were observed in 91 cases (20.

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Background: Cancer-therapy related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer survivors. In this study, we aimed to identify differential plasma proteins and metabolites associated with left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) in cancer patients.

Methods: We analyzed data from 50 patients referred to the Cleveland Clinic Cardio-Oncology Center for echocardiograph assessment, integrating electronic health records, proteomic, and metabolomic profiles.

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Moiré potentials caused by lattice mismatches significantly alter electrons in two-dimensional materials, inspiring the discovery of numerous unique physical properties. While strain modulates the structure and symmetry of the moiré potential, serving as a tuning mechanism for interactions, the impact of out-of-plane deformation, e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • High microglial diversity complicates the creation of targeted treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD).
  • A comprehensive analysis of RNA-sequencing data revealed specific microglial subtypes associated with AD and identified potential drug targets, including microglial transition networks.
  • The study highlights ketorolac as a promising anti-inflammatory treatment for AD, showing its association with lower AD incidence in patient databases.
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  • Transposable element (TE) dysregulation is linked to neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and this study aims to identify TE quantitative trait loci (teQTLs) in the brains of aged individuals with AD.
  • Utilizing large-scale RNA sequencing and whole-genome sequencing data from three human AD brain biobanks, researchers discovered 26,188 significant teQTLs and demonstrated an association between these elements and AD-related genetic factors.
  • Experimental CRISPR interference assays indicated that an upregulated TE affects neuroinflammation by suppressing the expression of the anti-inflammatory gene C1QTNF4 in neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.
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Introduction: Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent congenital sensory disorders. Over 50% of congenital hearing loss cases are attributed to genetic factors. The gene encodes the protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor Q, which plays an important role in maintaining the structure and function of the stereocilia of hair cells.

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  • The study examines the transcriptional and epigenomic changes in the human cerebellum related to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias, evaluating 103,861 nuclei from AD cases and controls through advanced genome analysis techniques.
  • Researchers identified thousands of significant connections between gene expression and chromatin accessibility, focusing on key transcription factors RORA and ELF1 in specific cerebellar cell types, which correlate with disease-specific changes.
  • The analysis also highlighted two potentially crucial genes, SEZ6L2 and KANSL1, that may play a role in the pathology of AD, providing new insights into the genetic and epigenetic factors influencing neurological disorders.
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In the heterostructure of two-dimensional (2D) materials, many novel physics phenomena are strongly dependent on the Moiré superlattice. How to achieve the continuous manipulation of the Moiré superlattice in the same sample is very important to study the evolution of various physical properties. Here, in minimally twisted monolayer-multilayer graphene, we found that bubble-induced strain has a huge impact on the Moiré superlattice.

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Monolayer two-dimensional (2D) materials possess excellent in-plane mechanical strength yet extremely low bending stiffness, making them particularly susceptible to instability, which is anticipated to have a substantial impact on their physical functionalities such as 2D-based Micro/Nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS), nanochannels, and proton transport membrane. In this work, we achieve quantitatively tuning instability in suspended 2D materials including monolayer graphene and MoS by employing a push-to-shear strategy. We comprehensively examine the dynamic wrinkling-splitting-smoothing process and find that monolayer 2D materials experience stepwise instabilities along with different recovery processes.

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  • The research identifies the role of gut microbial metabolites in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and focuses on the host's G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that interact with these metabolites.
  • Using a systems biology framework, the study analyzes 1.09 million metabolite-protein pairs, revealing orphan GPCRs like GPR84 as potential drug targets.
  • The findings show that specific metabolites, such as phenethylamine and agmatine, can reduce tau hyperphosphorylation in neurons linked to AD, highlighting a novel approach to exploring GPCR targets in complex diseases.
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The layer-by-layer stacked van der Waals structures (termed vdW hetero/homostructures) offer a new paradigm for materials design-their physical properties can be tuned by the vertical stacking sequence as well as by adding a mechanical twist, stretch, and hydrostatic pressure to the atomic structure. In particular, simple twisting and stacking of two layers of graphene can form a uniform and ordered Moiré superlattice, which can effectively modulate the electrons of graphene layers and lead to the discovery of unconventional superconductivity and strong correlations. However, the twist angle of twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) is almost unchangeable once the interlayer stacking is determined, while applying mechanical elastic strain provides an alternative way to deeply regulate the electronic structure by controlling the lattice spacing and symmetry.

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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease needing effective therapeutics urgently. Sildenafil, one of the approved phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, has been implicated as having potential effect in AD.

Objective: To investigate the potential therapeutic benefit of sildenafil on AD.

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Article Synopsis
  • Solid-state phase transformation involves changes in solid materials that lead to unique physical and chemical properties, making it an exciting area for materials engineering, especially with nanomaterials due to their small size and high surface area.
  • Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) plays a crucial role in understanding these transformations by offering high-resolution imaging and the ability to analyze materials under various conditions, such as heat, pressure, and electric fields.
  • The review highlights recent advancements in TEM techniques, discusses the principles of phase stability and transformation, and outlines future challenges and research opportunities in phase engineering, along with potential applications for improved materials.
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Introduction: The molecular mechanisms that contribute to sex differences, in particular female predominance, in Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevalence, symptomology, and pathology, are incompletely understood.

Methods: To address this problem, we investigated cellular metabolism and immune responses ("immunometabolism endophenotype") across AD individuals as a function of sex with diverse clinical diagnosis of cognitive status at death (cogdx), Braak staging, and Consortium to Establish a Registry for AD (CERAD) scores using human cortex metabolomics and transcriptomics data from the Religious Orders Study / Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP) cohort.

Results: We identified sex-specific metabolites, immune and metabolic genes, and pathways associated with the AD diagnosis and progression.

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Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic progressive interstitial lung disease of unknown etiology, is characterized by continuous damage to alveolar epithelial cells, abnormal repair of alveolar tissue, and alveolar wall scar formation. Currently, the recommended treatment for IPF in Western medicine is relatively limited. In contrast, traditional Chinese medicine and compound prescriptions show advantages in the diagnosis and treatment of IPF, which can be attributed to their multi-channel and multi-target characteristics and minimal side-effects.

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The broad applications of ceramic materials in functional devices are often limited by their intrinsic brittleness. Amorphous boron nitride (a-BN), as a promising ceramic has shown high thermal stability and excellent dielectric properties that can be applied to microfabricated aerogel and nano dielectric layers, while its mechanical properties at small scales are yet to be studied. Here we report synthesized a-BN microribbons can have a uniform elongation at a breaking strain of more than 50% upon tension, exhibiting outstanding ductility.

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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an interstitial lung disease that leads to progressive dyspnea and dry cough, with extracellular matrix deposition as the main pathological feature. Yifei Tongluo granules (YTG) are a traditional Chinese medicine formula that could nourish Qi-Yin, clear phlegm, and invigorate blood circulation. In this research, network pharmacology and molecular docking were used to elucidate the potential mechanism of YTG for treating IPF.

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With the development of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), high-resolution structures of macromolecules can be reconstructed by the single particle method efficiently. However, challenges may still persist during the specimen preparation stage. Specifically, proteins tend to adsorb at the air-water interface and exhibit a preferred orientation in vitreous ice.

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Unlabelled: Radiotherapy (RT) is one of the primary treatments of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), which has a high-risk of locoregional failure (LRF). Presently, there is no reliable predictive biomarker of radioresistance in HNSCC. Here, we found that mutations in NFE2L2, which encodes Nrf2, are associated with a significantly higher rate of LRF in patients with oral cavity cancer treated with surgery and adjuvant (chemo)radiotherapy but not in those treated with surgery alone.

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Background: Diabetic cardiomyopathy, secondary to diabetes, is the main cause of death in patients with diabetes. In China, traditional Chinese medicine has achieved good performance in treating diabetic cardiomyopathy. However, to date, no systematic review or meta-analysis has been published on the treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy by traditional Chinese medicine.

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Translating human genetic findings (genome-wide association studies [GWAS]) to pathobiology and therapeutic discovery remains a major challenge for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We present a network topology-based deep learning framework to identify disease-associated genes (NETTAG). We leverage non-coding GWAS loci effects on quantitative trait loci, enhancers and CpG islands, promoter regions, open chromatin, and promoter flanking regions under the protein-protein interactome.

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