Adding salt to expand voltage window of humid ionic liquids

Humid hydrophobic ionic liquids-widely used as electrolytes-have narrowed electrochemical windows due to the involvement of water, absorbed on the electrode surface, in electrolysis. In this work, we performed molecular dynamics simulations to explore effects of adding Li salt in humid ionic liquids on the water adsorbed on the electrode surface. Results reveal that most of the water molecules are pushed away from both cathode and anode, by adding salt. The water remaining on the electrode is almost bound with Li⁺, having significantly lowered activity. The Li⁺-bonding and re-arrangement of the surface-adsorbed water both facilitate the inhibition of water electrolysis, and thus prevent the reduction of electrochemical windows of humid hydrophobic ionic liquids. This finding is testified by cyclic voltammetry measurements where salt-in-humid ionic liquids exhibit enlarged electrochemical windows. Our work provides the underlying mechanism and a simple but practical approach for protection of humid ionic liquids from electrochemical performance degradation.

Photo-Triggered Logic Circuits Assembled on Integrated Illuminants and Resonant Nanowires

High-performance photo-triggered electronic devices have already become an abiding target of optoelectronics. Current results, involving high-sensitivity phototransistors with the enhancement of material properties or the modification of electrical field, need an independent external light-source system. Nevertheless, few research studies inform of circuits in which the logic channel can be directly light controlled by a fully integrated photogate. In this paper, nanowire-based photon-effect transistors (PETs) combined with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) gates, and the photo-triggered nanowire circuits (PTNCs) are exhibited. The nanowire channels are manifested as high-quality optical cavities coupled by reflective electrodes for forming standing wave resonance. With the function of resonance, the nanowire channel under the illumination of the OLED gate can reach a high on/off ratio of ∼10⁷, and under the different interconnected configuration of OLED gates, the functions of PETs can separately be realized as P-type and N-type of CMOS-like transistors. Then, a PTNC inverter that includes two nanowire channels with the respective OLED gates is operated utilizing electrical input voltage and logic opposite output signal. NAND and NOR gates as PTNC have also been demonstrated and indicate their corresponding outstanding arithmetic logic operation. PTNCs can effectively represent an innovative step toward multipurpose photonic circuits as to programmable logic components and photo-triggered computing.

Yeast cell wall product enhanced intestinal IgA response and changed cecum microflora species after oral vaccination in chickens

The study was designed to explore the effect of a commercial yeast cell wall product (YP) on chicken intestinal IgA response and cecum microbiome after oral vaccination. Chickens were fed with YP during the experiments and orally immunized with live Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine at 2 wk of age. Then, the animals were sacrificed, and samples were collected to measure the indicators of hemagglutination inhibition (HI), IgA response, IgA + cells, and cecum microbiome populations. The results showed that supplement of YP significantly enhanced serum NDV HI titer, intestinal NDV-specific secretory IgA, and intestinal IgA + cells. The sequencing results revealed that obviously increased relative abundance of Ruminococcaceae and decreased population of Bacteroidaceae in cecum were found in YP group. In summary, YP supplementation in diet enhanced intestinal IgA response to NDV vaccination by oral route and modulated the cecum microbiota to the advantage of the host in chickens.

Identifying the Related Genes of Muscle Growth and Exploring the Functions by Compensatory Growth in Mandarin Fish (Siniperca chuatsi)

How organisms display many different biochemical, physiological processes through genes expression and regulatory mechanisms affecting muscle growth is a central issue in growth and development. In Siniperca chuatsi, the growth-related genes and underlying relevant mechanisms are poorly understood, especially for difference of body sizes and compensatory growth performance. Muscle from 3-month old individuals of different sizes was used for transcriptome analysis. Results showed that 8,942 different expression genes (DEGs) were identified after calculating the RPKM. The DEGs involved in GH-IGF pathways, protein synthesis, ribosome synthesis and energy metabolisms, which were expressed significantly higher in small individuals (S) than large fish (L). In repletion feeding and compensatory growth experiments, eight more significant DEGs were used for further research (GHR2, IGFR1, 4ebp, Mhc, Mlc, Myf6, MyoD, troponin). When food was plentiful, eight genes participated in and promoted growth and muscle synthesis, respectively. Starvation can be shown to inhibit the expression of Mhc, Mlc and troponin, and high expression of GHR2, IGFR1, and 4ebp inhibited growth. Fasting promoted the metabolic actions of GHR2, IGFR1, and 4ebp rather than the growth-promoting actions. MyoD can sense and regulate the hunger, which also worked with Mhc and Mlc to accelerate the compensatory growth of S. chuatsi. This study is helpful to understand the regulation mechanisms of muscle growth-related genes. The elected genes will contribute to the selective breeding in future as candidate genes.

Single-Layer MoS2 Mechanical Resonant Piezo-Sensors with High Mass Sensitivity

Thin-film resonators and scanning probe microscopies (SPM) are usually used on low-frequency mechanical systems at the nanoscale or larger. Generally, off-chip approaches are applied to detect mechanical vibrations in these systems, but these methods are not much appropriate for atomic-thin-layer devices with ultrahigh characteristic frequencies and ultrathin thickness. Primarily, those mechanical devices based on atomic-layers provide highly improved properties, which are inapproachable with conventional nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). In this report, the assembly and manipulation of single-atomic-layer piezo-resonators as mass sensors with eigen mechanical resonances up to gigahertz are described. The resonators utilize electronic vibration transducers based on piezo-electric polarization charges, allowing direct and optimal atomic-layer sensor exports. This direct detection affords practical applications with the previously inapproachable Q-factor and sensitivity rather than photoelectric conversion. Exploration of a 2406.26 MHz membrane vibration is indicated with a thermo-noise-limited mass resolution of ∼3.0 zg (10^-21 g) in room temperature. The fabricated mass sensors are contactless and fast and can afford a method for precision measurements of the ultrasmall mass with two-dimentional materials.

High Performance and Efficiency Resonant Photo-Effect-Transistor by Near-Field Nano-Strip-Controlled Organic Light Emitting Diode Gate

Phototriggered devices have attracted attention due to their exceptional characteristics, advanced multifunctionalities and unprecedented applications in optoelectronic systems. Here, we report a pioneer structural device, a resonant photoeffect-transistor (RPET) with a functionalized nanowire (NW) charge transport channel, modulated by a near-field nanostrip organic light emitting diode (OLED) and controlled by a gate bias to realize exceptional photoelectric properties. The RPET presents high-quality nanowire channel characteristics due to tunable optical cavities manifesting strong standing wave resonance under controlled light emission. To enhance performance, methodical analyses were carried out to determine the effects of the structural design, electric field distribution and charge carrier generation on photoresponsivity when light traverses a single or multiple nanoslit masks. The developed RPET yields stable photocurrents in the 10⁵ range and generates current on/off ratios upward of 10⁶ under the influence of intense electromagnetic distribution, effectively lending itself to promising opportunities in fully integrated optoelectronic devices.

Ultra-High-Responsivity Vertical Nanowire-based Phototransistor under Standing-Wave Plasmon Mode Interaction Induced by Near-Field Circular OLED

High-responsivity photodevices are strongly desired for various demanding applications, such as optical communications, logic circuits, and sensors. The use of quantum and photon confinement has enabled a true revolution in the development of high-performance devices. Unfortunately, many practical optoelectronic devices exhibit intermediate sizes where resonant enhancement effects seem to be insignificant. Here we design and fabricate an ultra-high-responsivity organic-light-emitting-diode-induced nanowire resonance phototransistor (ONRPT) based on standing-wave resonance in the nanoscale cavity, subjected to a near-field light. Observations of the ONRPT in standing-wave resonance mode indicate a >10⁴ enhancement in the on/off ratio and a six times higher subthreshold slope when compared with the ONRPT in non-resonance mode. The ONRPT, which leads itself to outstanding electrical and favorably stable performance, opens up a plethora of opportunities for high-efficiency energy devices and allows for nanowire applications in the solar cell, piezo-photonic detectors, and optical modulators.

Molecular understanding of charge storage and charging dynamics in supercapacitors with MOF electrodes and ionic liquid electrolytes

We performed constant-potential molecular dynamics simulations to analyse the double-layer structure and capacitive performance of supercapacitors composed of conductive metal-organic framework (MOF) electrodes and ionic liquids. The molecular modelling clarifies how ions transport and reside inside polarized porous MOFs, and then predicts the corresponding potential-dependent capacitance in characteristic shapes. The transmission line model was adopted to characterize the charging dynamics, which further allowed evaluation of the capacitive performance of this class of supercapacitors at the macroscale from the simulation-obtained data at the nanoscale. These 'computational microscopy' results were supported by macroscopic electrochemical measurements. Such a combined nanoscale-to-macroscale investigation demonstrates the potential of MOF supercapacitors for achieving unprecedentedly high volumetric energy and power densities. It gives molecular insights into preferred structures of MOFs for accomplishing consistent performance with optimal energy-power balance, providing a blueprint for future characterization and design of these new supercapacitor systems.

Ion Structure Transition Enhances Charging Dynamics in Subnanometer Pores

Using electrodes with subnanometer pores and ionic liquid electrolytes can improve the charge storage capacity at the expense of the charging rate. The fundamental understanding of the charging dynamics of nanoporous electrodes can help to avoid compromising the power density. In this work, we performed molecular dynamics simulations to reveal the charging mechanism of subnanometer pores in ionic liquids. Different from the traditional view that a smaller pore results in slower charging, a non-monotonic relation is found between the charging rate and pore size, in which the charging process is accelerated in some subnanometer pores. Our analysis uncovers that the mechanism of the charging enhancement can be attributed to the transition of in-pore ion structure.

High-Density Surface EMG-Based Gesture Recognition Using a 3D Convolutional Neural Network

High-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) and deep learning technology are becoming increasingly used in gesture recognition. Based on electrode grid data, information can be extracted in the form of images that are generated with instant values of multi-channel sEMG signals. In previous studies, image-based, two-dimensional convolutional neural networks (2D CNNs) have been applied in order to recognize patterns in the electrical activity of muscles from an instantaneous image. However, 2D CNNs with 2D kernels are unable to handle a sequence of images that carry information concerning how the instantaneous image evolves with time. This paper presents a 3D CNN with 3D kernels to capture both spatial and temporal structures from sequential sEMG images and investigates its performance on HD-sEMG-based gesture recognition in comparison to the 2D CNN. Extensive experiments were carried out on two benchmark datasets (i.e., CapgMyo DB-a and CSL-HDEMG). The results show that, where the same network architecture is used, 3D CNN can achieve a better performance than 2D CNN, especially for CSL-HDEMG, which contains the dynamic part of finger movement. For CapgMyo DB-a, the accuracy of 3D CNN was 1% higher than 2D CNN when the recognition window length was equal to 40 ms, and was 1.5% higher when equal to 150 ms. For CSL-HDEMG, the accuracies of 3D CNN were 15.3% and 18.6% higher than 2D CNN when the window length was equal to 40 ms and 150 ms, respectively. Furthermore, 3D CNN achieves a competitive performance in comparison to the baseline methods.

Life cycle exposure to propiconazole reduces fecundity by disrupting the steroidogenic pathway and altering DNA methylation in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Propiconazole is fungicide widely used in agriculture, which may enter aquatic ecosystems and affect organisms. In this study, zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to environmentally relevant levels of propiconazole throughout the life cycle, from embryo to sexually mature adults, and the effects on growth, reproduction, and offspring viability were investigated. To investigate the mechanisms of propiconazole action, the sex steroid hormones and the expression of genes related to the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad-liver (HPGL) axis and DNA methylation were examined. Growth decreased in the parental zebrafish (F0) after exposure to propiconazole for 120 days. In males, increases in the levels of 17β-estradiol and vitellogenin were observed. The alterations in sex steroid hormones were regulated by the expression of genes involved with the HPGL axis. The decreases in fecundity and fertilization of the F0 was induced by the global DNA methylation, and then may result in the abnormal development of the F1. Therefore, propiconazole disrupted the steroidogenic pathway and caused changes in global DNA methylation that induced reproductive toxicity.

Combined adjuvant effect of ginseng stem-leaf saponins and selenium on immune responses to a live bivalent vaccine of Newcastle disease virus and infectious bronchitis virus in chickens

Vaccination with a live bivalent vaccine of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a routine practice in poultry industry in China. This study was designed to evaluate ginseng stem-leaf saponins (GSLS) in combination with selenium (Se) for their adjuvant effect on the immune response to vaccination against NDV and IBV in chickens. A live bivalent vaccine of NDV and IBV was diluted in saline solution containing GSLS or Se or both and used to immunize chickens via a intraocular-and-intranasal route. Results showed that GSLS promoted significantly higher NDV- and IBV-specific antibody responses with the highest antibody response detected in GSLS-Se group. The increased antibody was capable of neutralizing NDV and IBV. In addition, GSLS-Se enhanced lymphocyte proliferation and production of IFN-γ and IL-4. More importantly GSLS-Se was found to promote early production and prolong the duration of the antibody responses. In order to improve the efficacy of vaccination in chicken flocks, the diluent containing GSLS-Se deserves further studies to evaluate its effect on other chicken vaccines.

Paper-like Foldable Nanowave Circuit with Ultralarge Curvature and Ultrahigh Stability

Highly foldable conducting interconnects are fundamental elements for multipurpose flexible electronic circuits, including wearable electronics and biomedical devices. Traditional metalized thin-film interconnects demonstrate stable electronic performances in rigid devices but low deformation tolerance in flexibility. Recently, several remarkable research studies on flexible electronics have been carried out, as interconnect structures of serpentine, wavy, and nanowire networks. However, all of the reported flexible interconnects possess either mechanical instability or fabrication difficulty, which restrict their practical applications. Here, we report a new flexible circuit system, which consists of nanowave structure metal interconnects with highly foldable and large-scale manufactured features. This kind of nanowave interconnects presents both stable and prominent electrical performances under mechanical deformation (down to 0.2 mm bending radius with interconnecting resistance variation less than 10%). Further, a highly flexible paper-like wireless accelerometer based on the nanowave interconnects is fabricated and characterized under several extreme strain situations. Our approach affords a comprehensive direction for constitutional realization of new flexible designs and implements the assembly of next-generation foldable electronic equipment.

Browning of white adipose tissue after a burn injury promotes hepatic steatosis and dysfunction

Burn patients experiencing hypermetabolism develop hepatic steatosis, which is associated with liver failure and poor outcomes after the injury. These same patients also undergo white adipose tissue (WAT) browning, which has been implicated in mediating post-burn cachexia and sustained hypermetabolism. Despite the clinical presentation of hepatic steatosis and WAT browning in burns, whether or not these two pathological responses are linked remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the burn-induced WAT browning and its associated increased lipolysis leads to the accelerated development of hepatic steatosis in mice. Deletion of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), regulators of burn-induced WAT browning completely protected mice from hepatic steatosis after the injury. Treatment of post-burn mice with propranolol or IL-6 receptor blocker attenuated burn-induced WAT browning and its associated hepatic steatosis pathology. Lipidomic profiling in the plasma of post-burn mice and burn patients revealed elevated levels of damage-inducing lipids (palmitic and stearic acids), which induced hepatic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and compromised hepatic fat oxidation. Mechanistically, we show that hepatic ER stress after a burn injury leads to a greater ER-mitochondria interaction, hepatocyte apoptosis, oxidative stress, and impaired fat oxidation. Collectively, our findings uncover an adverse "cross-talk" between the adipose and liver tissue in the context of burn injury, which is critically mediated by WAT browning.

High Performance Vertical Resonant Photo-Effect-Transistor with an All-Around OLED-Gate for Ultra-Electromagnetic Stability

The utilization of three-dimensional (3D) structures in next-generation nanodevices has been attractive due to the exceptional features they offer. These 3D structures can reduce component space and improve device properties compared to thin-film electronic components. The type of transistor applied in 3D nanodevices is one of the most widely studied components due to its rich physics and ubiquitous application. In this paper, we report a complete functionalized component, a 3D vertical resonant photo-effect-transistor (VRPET), which is realized with the functionalized nanowire current channel, asymmetric ohmic/Schottky contacts, and an ultraviolet photogate with an organic light emission diode (OLED) excitation. To enhance the VRPET performance, analyses of the design and fabrication parameters were carried out, where the focus was specifically on the relationship between light resonance and absorption. The transistor developed here can operate up to a high voltage of 16.5 V and control currents up to 50 μA with an ultrastable performance under a strong electromagnetic interference. The VRPET with excellent properties is a step toward achieving integrated photoelectric devices and corresponding applications.

Differential regulation of thyrotropin-releasing hormone mRNA expression in the paraventricular nucleus and dorsomedial hypothalamus in OLETF rats

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) plays an important role in the regulation of energy balance. While the regulation of TRH in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in response to changes of energy balance has been well studied, how TRH is regulated in the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) in maintaining energy homeostasis remains unclear. Here, we assessed the effects of food restriction and exercise on hypothalamic Trh expression using Otsuka Long-Evens Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats. Sedentary ad lib fed OLETF rats (OLETF-SED) became hyperphagic and obese. These alterations were prevented in OLETF rats with running wheel access (OLETF-RW) or food restriction in which their food was pair-fed (OLETF-PF) to the intake of lean control rats (LETO-SED). Evaluation of hypothalamic gene expression revealed that Trh mRNA expression was increased in the PVN of OLETF-SED rats and normalized in OLETF-RW and OLETF-PF rats compared to LETO-SED rats. In contrast, the expression of Trh in the DMH was decreased in OLETF-SED rats relative to LETO-SED rats. This alteration was reversed in OLETF-RW rats as seen in LETO-SED rats, but food restriction resulted in a significant increase in DMH Trh expression in OLETF-PF rats compared to LETO-SED rats. Strikingly, while Trh mRNA expression was decreased in the PVN of intact rats in response to acute food deprivation, food deprivation resulted in increased expression of Trh in the DMH. Together, these results demonstrate the differential regulation of Trh expression in the PVN and DMH in OLETF rats and suggest that DMH TRH also contributes to hypothalamic regulation of energy balance.

Low-Temperature Charging Dynamics of the Ionic Liquid and Its Gating Effect on FeSe0.5Te0.5 Superconducting Films

Ionic liquids (ILs) have been investigated extensively because of their unique ability to form the electric double layer (EDL), which induces high electrical field. For certain materials, low-temperature IL charging is needed to limit the electrochemical etching. Here, we report our investigation of the low-temperature charging dynamics in two widely used ILs-DEME-TF₂N and C₄mim-TF₂N. Results show that the formation of the EDL at ∼220 K requires several hours relative to milliseconds at room temperature, and an equivalent voltage V_e is introduced as a measure of the EDL formation during the biasing process. The experimental observation is supported by molecular dynamics simulation, which shows that the dynamics are logically a function of gate voltage, time, and temperature. To demonstrate the importance of understanding the charging dynamics, a 140 nm thick FeSe_0.5Te_0.5 film was biased using the DEME IL, showing a tunable T_c between 18 and 35 K. Notably, this is the first observation of the tunability of the T_c in thick film FeSe_0.5Te_0.5 superconductors.

Changes in sperm parameters of sex-reversed female mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi during cryopreservation process

This works studies the physiological characteristics (sperm motility characteristics) and biochemical characteristics (DNA damage, enzymes activities and fertilization ability) of fresh and freeze-thawed semen of sex-reversed female mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi (n = 30) obtained with the application of 17α-methyl testosterone for sex reversal. The fresh sperm motility and fertilization rate of sex-reversed females were about 83% and 70% respectively which had no significant difference with normal males (p > 0.05). Except for the value of DNA damage, other values of sperm motility, related enzymes activities and fertilization rate of sex-reversed female sperm declined after a process of cryopreservation (p < 0.05). But the frozen sperm can still get nearly 60% of the fertilization rate. This study identified the physiological and biochemical characteristics of the fresh and cryopreserved sperm from sex-reversed female mandarin fish, and the sex-reversed female spermatozoa can be used for actual production.

Effect of Propiconazole on the Lipid Metabolism of Zebrafish Embryos ( Danio rerio)

Propiconazole is a triazole fungicide that has been widely used in agriculture and has been detected in the aquatic environment. This study aimed to investigate the effects of propiconazole exposure on lipid metabolism in the early life stages of zebrafish for 120 h postfertilization (hpf). Using the early life stages of zebrafish to address scientific questions is lower in cost, more efficient, and suitable to meeting current legislation than those in other traditional fish species. Exposure to propiconazole significantly inhibited the development of zebrafish embryos and larvae. This exposure also caused reduced locomotor activities in zebrafish. Furthermore, total cholesterol levels, lipoprotein lipase, and fatty acid synthase activities were significantly decreased. The expression levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism were significantly up-regulated in response to propiconazole exposure. GC-MS/MS analysis revealed that fatty acids were significantly decreased. Together, the findings indicate the potential environmental risks of propiconazole exposure in the aquatic ecosystem.

Chronic Toxic Effects of Flutolanil on the Liver of Zebrafish ( Danio rerio)

Flutolanil is a broad-spectrum amide fungicide that is widely used to prevent fungal pathogens in agriculture. However, its usage may have a potential environmental impact on organisms. So far, few literatures have investigated the chronic toxicity of flutolanil at concentrations relevant to environmental conditions in the nontarget aquatic organisms. This study was aimed at evaluating whether the long-term exposure of flutolanil affects oxidative stress, immune response, and apoptosis in the liver of zebrafish ( Danio rerio). The results showed that the activity of catalase (CAT) was significantly decreased in the liver in all flutolanil-treated groups. Interestingly, the malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were remarkably increased following the flutolanil exposure. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage was increased with a concentration-dependent manner. The transcription level of genes involved in apoptosis and the immune system were significantly altered following flutolanil chronic exposure in zebrafish liver. Furthermore, the caspase-3 enzyme activity was significantly increased. Taken together, this study demonstrated that the resulting effects on oxidative stress, immune toxicity, and apoptosis may be responsible for the pathological alterations in zebrafish liver after flutolanil exposure at concentrations relevant to environmental conditions, advancing the knowledge of pesticide environmental risk assessment.

Adding Solvent into Ionic Liquid-Gated Transistor: The Anatomy of Enhanced Gating Performance

Most studies of ionic liquid (IL)-gated field effect transistors (FETs) focus on the extremely large electric field and capacitance induced in liquid/solid interfaces and correspondingly the significantly enhanced carrier density in semiconductors, which can appreciably improve the gating performance. However, how to boost the switching speed, another key property of gating performance of FETs, has been rarely explored. In this work, the gating performance of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) FETs, gated by the mixtures of IL/organic solvent (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/acetonitrile, [Bmim][BF₄]/ACN) at different ion concentrations, is investigated for both dynamic and static properties by a combination of molecular dynamics simulation and resistance network analysis. Results reveal that organic solvent can speed up the IL response time by a factor of about 40 times at the optimal ion concentration of 1.94 M, which is mainly attributed to the increased ionic conductivity of IL via the addition of organic solvent. Meanwhile, the surface charge distribution of MoS₂ becomes more homogenous after the addition of organic solvent, which increases the conductivity of MoS₂ by up to 2.4 times. Surprisingly, the optimal ion concentration for increased switching speed is nearly the same as that for achieving the highest MoS₂ conductivity. Thus, our findings provide a strategy to simultaneously improve the dynamic and static gating performance of IL-gated FETs as well as a modeling technique to screen out the ideal ion concentration.