Printable elastic conductors by in situ formation of silver nanoparticles from silver flakes

Printable elastic conductors promise large-area stretchable sensor/actuator networks for healthcare, wearables and robotics. Elastomers with metal nanoparticles are one of the best approaches to achieve high performance, but large-area utilization is limited by difficulties in their processability. Here we report a printable elastic conductor containing Ag nanoparticles that are formed in situ, solely by mixing micrometre-sized Ag flakes, fluorine rubbers, and surfactant. Our printable elastic composites exhibit conductivity higher than 4,000 S cm^-1 (highest value: 6,168 S cm^-1) at 0% strain, and 935 S cm^-1 when stretched up to 400%. Ag nanoparticle formation is influenced by the surfactant, heating processes, and elastomer molecular weight, resulting in a drastic improvement of conductivity. Fully printed sensor networks for stretchable robots are demonstrated, sensing pressure and temperature accurately, even when stretched over 250%.

High expression of ABCG2 induced by EZH2 disruption has pivotal roles in MDS pathogenesis

Both proto-oncogenic and tumor-suppressive functions have been reported for enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2). To investigate the effects of its inactivation, a mutant EZH2 lacking its catalytic domain was prepared (EZH2-dSET). In a mouse bone marrow transplant model, EZH2-dSET expression in bone marrow cells induced a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)-like disease in transplanted mice. Analysis of these mice identified Abcg2 as a direct target of EZH2. Intriguingly, Abcg2 expression alone induced the same disease in the transplanted mice, where stemness genes were enriched. Interestingly, ABCG2 expression is specifically high in MDS patients. The present results indicate that ABCG2 de-repression induced by EZH2 mutations have crucial roles in MDS pathogenesis.

Superconductivity in a chiral nanotube

Chirality of materials are known to affect optical, magnetic and electric properties, causing a variety of nontrivial phenomena such as circular dichiroism for chiral molecules, magnetic Skyrmions in chiral magnets and nonreciprocal carrier transport in chiral conductors. On the other hand, effect of chirality on superconducting transport has not been known. Here we report the nonreciprocity of superconductivity—unambiguous evidence of superconductivity reflecting chiral structure in which the forward and backward supercurrent flows are not equivalent because of inversion symmetry breaking. Such superconductivity is realized via ionic gating in individual chiral nanotubes of tungsten disulfide. The nonreciprocal signal is significantly enhanced in the superconducting state, being associated with unprecedented quantum Little-Parks oscillations originating from the interference of supercurrent along the circumference of the nanotube. The present results indicate that the nonreciprocity is a viable approach toward the superconductors with chiral or noncentrosymmetric structures.

Chirality affects many properties of materials, but how it affects superconductivity remains unclear. Here, Qin et al. report nonreciprocal supercurrent flows in individual nanotubes of WS₂ via ionic gating, evidencing chiral superconducting transport.

[Diagnostic value of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for patients with non-herpetic acute limbic encephalitis]

To evaluate the diagnostic value of SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) brain blood flow imaging for patients with non-herpetic acute limbic encephalitis (NHALE). A retrospective review of three patients who had clinical symptoms compatible to NHALE and were positive for anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate-type glutamate receptor (GluRε2) antibody. The patients consisted of a 6-year-old female, a 10-year-old female and a 13-year-old male, all of whom had limbic symptoms and were anti-GluRε2 antibody-positive. In all cases, brain MRI failed to detect any abnormality, but SPECT brain blood flow imaging was able to detect blood flow changes. All three cases showed some abnormality in their brain waves, and one of them also developed epilepsy. SPECT brain blood flow imaging may therefore be helpful for diagnosing NHALE which can lead to the development of either epilepsy or cognitive impairment.

Performance Improvement of AlN Crystal Quality Grown on Patterned Si(111) Substrate for Deep UV-LED Applications

An AlN template layer is required for growth of AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). However, the crystal quality of AlN templates grown on both flat and patterned Si substrates has so far been insufficient for replacing templates grown on sapphire substrates. In this work, we grew a high-quality AlN template on 2 in. micro-circle-patterned Si substrate (mPSiS) with two different sizes and shapes through controlling the bias power of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching. The experimental results showed that the best AlN template was obtained on a large pattern size with a bow-angle shape and the template had X-ray rocking curves with full widths at half-maximum of 620 and 1141 arcsec for the (002) and (102) reflection planes. The threading dislocation density near surface of AlN template through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) estimation was in the order of 10⁷ cm^-2, which is the lowest dislocation density reported for a Si substrate to our knowledge. A strong single electroluminescence (EL) peak was also obtained for an AlGaN-based deep UV-LED grown on this template, means that it can be used for further developing high-efficiency deep UV-LEDs.

MR Imaging of Hippocampal Sulcus Remnant: Age-Related Differences

The hippocampal sulcus remnant (HSR) is often observed at the medial temporal lobe on MR images. In the present study, we made a retrospective assessment of the frequency and age-related differences in HSR in routine brain MR examinations of 1000 patients, 494 females and 506 males. Cases with one or several spots that were hypointense on T1-weighted and FLAIR images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images were defined as positive for HSR. Abnormal spots with the same intensity as cerebrospinal fluid were observed in 210 out of 506 males and in 193 out of 494 females. No significant sex-related differences were observed in the frequency of HSR. The HSR was seen more frequently with age in both males and females. Patients with hypertension had a significantly higher frequency of HSR.

Crystallinity-dependence of ionic conductivity in the ion pairs of a multi-interactive anion

Sodium and ammonium salts of a multi-interactive molecule possessed different main-structural units, which explains their ion conductivities and stabilities against water.

Highly bent crystals formed by restrained π-stacked columns connected via alkylene linkers with variable conformations

A reproducible formation of strongly bent crystals was accomplished by structurally restraining macrocyclic π-conjugated molecules. The model π-units consist of two 9,10-bis(2-thienylethynyl)anthracenes with a strong propensity for stacking, which are connected in a macrocyclic fashion via two alkylene linkers. The correlation between the crystalline morphology and the macrocyclic structures restrained by a variety of flexible alkylene linker combinations was systematically studied. Bent crystals were obtained only with specific alkylene linkers of appropriate chain length. The alkylene linkers can adopt different conformations in the crystal packing, so as to fill voids within the macrocycle. The ability to form several similar molecular structures with different alkylene conformations gives rise to contaminations of different crystalline phases within a single crystal, and it is these phase contaminations which are responsible for the bending of the crystals.

Ambipolar organic field-effect transistors based on solution-processed single crystal microwires of a quinoidal oligothiophene derivative

A simple and versatile solution-processing method based on molecular self-assembly is used to fabricate organic single crystal microwires of a low bandgap quinoidal oligothiophene derivative. Individual single crystal microwire transistors present well-balanced ambipolar behaviour with hole and electron mobilities as high as 0.4 and 0.5 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), respectively.

SETBP1 mutations drive leukemic transformation in ASXL1-mutated MDS

Mutations in ASXL1 are frequent in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and associated with adverse survival yet the molecular pathogenesis of ASXL1 mutations are not fully understood. Recently it has been found that deletion of Asxl1 or expression of C-terminal-truncating ASXL1 mutations (ASXL1-MT) inhibit myeloid differentiation and induce MDS-like disease in mice. Here, we find that SETBP1 mutations (SETBP1-MT) are enriched among patients with ASXL1-mutated MDS patients and associated with increased incidence of leukemic transformation as well as shorter survival, suggesting SETBP1-MT play a critical role in leukemic transformation of MDS. We identify that SETBP1-MT inhibit ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of SETBP1, resulting in increased expression. Expression of SETBP1-MT, in turn, inhibited Pp2a activity, leading to Akt activation and enhanced expression of posterior Hoxa genes in ASXL1 mutant cells. Biologically, SETBP1-MT augmented ASXL1-MT-induced differentiation block, inhibited apoptosis, and enhanced myeloid colony output. SETBP1-MT collaborated with ASXL1-MT in inducing AML in vivo. The combination of ASXL1-MT and SETBP1-MT activated a stem cell signature and repressed the TGF-β signaling pathway, in contrast to the ASXL1-MT-induced MDS model. These data reveal that SETBP1-MT are critical drivers of ASXL1-mutated MDS and identify several deregulated pathways as potential therapeutic targets in high-risk MDS.

Removal characteristics of retinoic acids and 4-oxo-retinoic acids in wastewater by activated sludge treatment

Retinoic acid (RA) receptor (RAR) agonists are potential teratogens to various vertebrates. Their contamination has been detected in municipal wastewater in different countries. This study involved field investigations and laboratory batch treatment experiments to elucidate the removal characteristics by activated sludge treatment of RAs (all-trans RA and 13-cis RA) and 4-oxo-RAs (4-oxo-all-trans RA and 4-oxo-13-cis RA), which were identified as major RAR agonists in municipal wastewater. Results obtained in this study show that currently employed activated sludge treatments can remove RAs, 4-oxo-RAs and overall RAR agonist contamination effectively from municipal wastewater in general, although high RAR agonistic activity might sometimes remain in the effluent. Laboratory experiments revealed that RAs were removed rapidly from the aqueous phase by adsorption to the sludge, after which they were removed further by biological and/or chemical degradation. Aside from adsorption to the sludge, 4-oxo-RAs were also apparently removed by biological and chemical degradation. Biodegradation contributed greatly to the removal. Results of additional experiments indicated that novel non-identifiable RAR agonists can occur through the biodegradation of 4-oxo-RAs by activated sludge and that they can persist for a long period.

A co-beneficial system using aquatic plants: bioethanol production from free-floating aquatic plants used for water purification

A co-beneficial system using constructed wetlands (CWs) planted with aquatic plants is proposed for bioethanol production and nutrient removal from wastewater. The potential for bioethanol production from aquatic plant biomass was experimentally evaluated. Water hyacinth and water lettuce were selected because of their high growth rates and easy harvestability attributable to their free-floating vegetation form. The alkaline/oxidative pretreatment was selected for improving enzymatic hydrolysis of the aquatic plants. Ethanol was produced with yields of 0.14-0.17 g-ethanol/ g-biomass in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation mode using a recombinant Escherichia coli strain or a typical yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Subsequently, the combined benefits of the CWs planted with the aquatic plants for bioethanol production and nutrient removal were theoretically estimated. For treating domestic wastewater at 1,100 m(3)/d, it was inferred that the anoxic-oxic activated sludge process consumes energy at 3,200 MJ/d, whereas the conventional activated sludge process followed by the CW consumes only 1,800 MJ/d with ethanol production at 115 MJ/d.