Synergistic Enhancement of Photocatalytic CO Reduction by Built-in Electric Field/Piezoelectric Effect and Surface Plasmon Resonance via PVDF/CdS/Ag Heterostructure.

Photocatalytic reduction of CO using solar energy is an effective means to achieve carbon neutrality. However, the photocatalytic efficiency still requires improvements. In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ferroelectric/piezoelectric nanofiber membranes are prepared by electrospinning.

Elevated serum platelet count inhibits the effects of brain functional changes on cognitive function in patients with mild cognitive impairment: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Objective: Brain function remodeling has been observed in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and is closely associated with cognitive performance. However, it is not clear if this relationship is influenced by complete blood counts. This study investigated the role of complete blood counts in the relationship between brain function and cognitive performance.

The protective effect of Buzhong Yiqi decoction on ischemic stroke mice and the mechanism of gut microbiota.

Buzhong Yiqi decoction (BZYQD) has been developed for preventing or reducing the recurrence of ischemic stroke for a long time in China. However, the mechanism of action of the BZYQD is not completely understood. Our research aims to determine whether the mechanism of action of BZYQD is by regulating gut microbiota using 16SR RNA and fecal microbiota transplantation.

Functional Disability After Ischemic Stroke: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Shanghai, China.

This study aimed to understand the demographics, functional disabilities, cognitive impairment, and depressive mood among stroke patients and to explore the correlation between functional disability and the other health conditions so as to provide some data for community rehabilitation among stroke patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the functional status of ischemic stroke patients with stroke history between 1 month and 2 years by applying the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Data were collected during October 2016 and January 2017 from 11 communities in two districts of Shanghai, China.

Predicting Goal-directed Human Attention Using Inverse Reinforcement Learning.

Human gaze behavior prediction is important for behavioral vision and for computer vision applications. Most models mainly focus on predicting free-viewing behavior using saliency maps, but do not generalize to goal-directed behavior, such as when a person searches for a visual target object. We propose the first inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) model to learn the internal reward function and policy used by humans during visual search.

Structure and Magnetic Properties of Melilite-Type Compounds REBeGeO (RE = Pr, Nd, Gd-Yb) with Rare-Earth Ions on Shastry-Sutherland Lattice.

Rare-earth (RE)-based frustrated magnets, such as typical systems of combining strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), geometric frustration, and anisotropic exchange interaction, can give rise to diverse exotic magnetic ground states such as quantum spin liquid. The discovery of new RE-based frustrated materials is crucial for exploring the exotic magnetic phases. Herein, we report the synthesis, structure, and magnetic properties of a family of melilite-type REBeGeO (RE = Pr, Nd, and Gd-Yb) compounds crystallized in a tetragonal 4̅2 structure, where magnetic RE ions lay out on the Shastry-Sutherland lattice (SSL) within the plane and are well separated by nonmagnetic [GeBeO] polyhedrons along the -axis.

Sequence-to-Segments Networks for Detecting Segments in Videos.

Detecting segments of interest from videos is a common problem for many applications. And yet it is a challenging problem as it often requires not only knowledge of individual target segments, but also contextual understanding of the entire video and the relationships between the target segments. To address this problem, we propose the Sequence-to-Segments Network (SN), a novel and general end-to-end sequential encoder-decoder architecture.

3D self-gated cardiac cine imaging at 3 Tesla using stack-of-stars bSSFP with tiny golden angles and compressed sensing.

Purpose: To develop and evaluate an accelerated 3D self-gated cardiac cine imaging technique at 3 Tesla without the use of external electrocardiogram triggering or respiratory gating.

Methods: A 3D stack-of-stars balanced steady-state free precession sequence with a tiny golden angle sampling scheme was developed to reduced eddy current effect-related artefacts at 3 Tesla. Respiratory and cardiac motion were derived from a central 5-point self-gating signal extraction approach.

Noninvasive Assessment of Jugular Venous Pressure via Force-Coupled Single Crystal Ultrasound.

Objective: we have developed a handheld device for noninvasive quantitative assessment of jugular venous pressure (JVP).

Methods: we used a single crystal ultrasound coupled to a force-sensing load cell to measure JVP based on the force necessary to collapse the internal jugular vein (IJV) walls. We used a gelatin-based model system of the IJV to test the ability of single crystal ultrasound to identify the IJV and verified the cross-sectional position and diameter of the vessels with conventional imaging ultrasound.

Three-dimensional self-gated cardiac MR imaging for the evaluation of myocardial infarction in mouse model on a 3T clinical MR system.

Purpose: To develop and assess a three-dimensional (3D) self-gated technique for the evaluation of myocardial infarction (MI) in mouse model without the use of external electrocardiogram (ECG) trigger and respiratory motion sensor on a 3T clinical MR system.

Methods: A 3D T1-weighted GRE sequence with stack-of-stars sampling trajectories was developed and performed on six mice with MIs that were injected with a gadolinium-based contrast agent at a 3T clinical MR system. Respiratory and cardiac self-gating signals were derived from the Cartesian mapping of the k-space center along the partition encoding direction by bandpass filtering in image domain.

Flexible piezoelectric devices for gastrointestinal motility sensing.

Improvements in ingestible electronics with the capacity to sense physiological and pathophysiological states have transformed the standard of care for patients. Yet, despite advances in device development, significant risks associated with solid, non-flexible gastrointestinal transiting systems remain. Here, we report the design and use of an ingestible, flexible piezoelectric device that senses mechanical deformation within the gastric cavity.

Ferromagnetic, folded electrode composite as a soft interface to the skin for long-term electrophysiological recording.

This paper introduces a class of ferromagnetic, folded, soft composite material for skin-interfaced electrodes with releasable interfaces to stretchable, wireless electronic measurement systems. These electrodes establish intimate, adhesive contacts to the skin, in dimensionally stable formats compatible with multiple days of continuous operation, with several key advantages over conventional hydrogel based alternatives. The reported studies focus on aspects ranging from ferromagnetic and mechanical behavior of the materials systems, to electrical properties associated with their skin interface, to system-level integration for advanced electrophysiological monitoring applications.

Template-Free Synthesis of Hollow/Porous Organosilica-FeO Hybrid Nanocapsules toward Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Therapy.

Entirely differing from the common templating-based multistep strategy for fabricating multifunctional hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSN), a facile and template-free synthetic strategy has been established to construct a unique hollow/mesoporous organosilica nanocapsule (OSNC) concurrently encapsulating both isopentyl acetate (PeA) liquid and superparamagnetic iron oxides inside (denoted as PeA@OSNC). This novel material exhibits ultrasmall and uniform particle size (∼82 nm), high surface area (∼534 m·g), and excellent colloidal stability in aqueous solution. The oil-phase PeA with relatively low boiling point (142 °C) and high volatility not only plays a crucial role in formation of a large hollow cavity from the viewpoint of structural design but also enables the PeA@OSNC to act as an efficient enhancement agent in high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy.

Materials science. Assembly of micro/nanomaterials into complex, three-dimensional architectures by compressive buckling.

Complex three-dimensional (3D) structures in biology (e.g., cytoskeletal webs, neural circuits, and vasculature networks) form naturally to provide essential functions in even the most basic forms of life.