The reliability of amorphous-InGaZnO4 thin film transistor influence by self-heating stress at high temperature under compressive strain

Flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs) play an important role in flexible technology applications, including wearable devices and high-resolution foldable displays and as curved displays. A reliability test was performed in this work, including mechanism and electrical stress at high temperature. An abnormal hump can be found in flexible a-InGaZnO4 TFTs after a self-heating stress at 90°C under compressive bending. COMSOL simulation confirmed that the etching stop layer absorbs more mechanism stress than the gate insulator. Accordingly, during the reliability stress, holes induced by the impact ionization tend to inject into the defect in the etching stop layer near the source side rather than the gate insulator, which is induced by compressive bending. Single side C-V measurement and forward/reverse-operation mode are utilized to analyze the hole trapping distribution. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Elevated 1- α

A uremic patient developed hypercalcemia after tuberculosis infection, and his ionized calcium levels correlated with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) levels. We performed further studies to determine whether monocytes are alternative sites of 1,25(OH)2D3 conversion beyond renal tubular cells. Using an ex vivo bioassay, in this study, we found that 1-α hydroxylase (CYP27B1) activity in monocytes is significantly higher in patients with active tuberculosis (TB) than in those with frequent TB contact. However, when monocytes from patients with active TB were restimulated with antigen derived from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, less 1,25(OH)2D3 was observed. In contrast, the level of 1,25(OH)2D3 was unchanged in those with frequent TB contact. We conclude that monocytes may be an alternative source of 1-α hydroxylase that could convert 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 to the more active 1,25(OH)2D3

Effect of the presence of virus-like particles on bacterial growth in sunlit xurface and dark deep ocean environments in the southern East China Sea

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Tsai, A.-Y., Lin, Y.-T., & Gong, G.-C. Effect of the presence of virus-like particles on bacterial growth in sunlit xurface and dark deep ocean environments in the southern East China Sea. Water, 13(20), (2021): 2934, https://doi.org/10.3390/w13202934.Virus-like particles (VLPs) are thought to increase the dissolved organic carbon by releasing the contents of the host cell, which, in turn, can affect bacterial growth in natural aquatic environments. Yet, experimental tests have shown that the effect of VLPs on the bacterial growth rate at different depths has seldom been studied. Bacteria–VLP interaction and the effect of VLPs on bacterial growth rate in the sunlit surface (3 m) and dark, deep ocean (130 m) environments were first explored at a test site in the southern East China Sea of the northwest Pacific. Our experimental results indicated that bacterial and virus-like particle (VLP) abundance decreased with depth from 0.8 ± 0.3 × 105 cells mL−1 and 1.8 ± 0.4 × 106 VLPs mL−1 at 3 m to 0.4 ± 0.1 × 105 cells mL−1 and 1.4 ± 0.3 × 106 VLPs mL−1 at 130 m. We found that the abundance of VLPs to Bacteria Ratio (VBR) in the dark deep ocean (VBR = 35.0 ± 5.6) was higher than in the sunlit surface environment (VBR = 22.5 ± 2.1). The most interesting finding is that in the dark, deep ocean region the bacterial growth rate in the presence of VLPs was higher (0.05 h−1) than that in virus-diluted treatments (0.01 h−1). However, there was no significant difference in the bacterial growth rates between the treatments in the sunlit surface ocean region. Deep-sea ecosystems are dark and extreme environments that lack primary photosynthetic production, and our estimates imply that the contribution of recycled carbon by viral lysis is highly significant for bacterial growth in the dark, deep ocean environment. Further work for more study sites is needed to identify the relationship of VLPs and their hosts to enable us to understand the role of VLPs at different depths in the East China Sea.The research was supported by RFBR projects 18-44-920026, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, grant number NSC 109-2611-M-019-013 and NSC 110-2611-M-019-005

Effects of Childhood Adversity and Resilience on Taiwanese Youth Health Behaviors

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can leave negative impacts on one\u27s health behaviors or social functioning later in life. Resilient characteristics have been shown to mitigate effects against risk behaviors in developing adolescents. However, clinical and research attention has rarely been given to jointly consider the effects of ACEs and resilient characteristics on health behaviors in Taiwanese youth. Method: A total of 200 individuals aged 15–22 years were recruited from primary care settings, communities, and schools. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their ACEs, resilient characteristics, and health behaviors. Univariate analysis was firstly used to describe the correlates of ACEs and resilient characteristics. Further multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association of both factors with health behaviors. Results: More than half (61.5%) of those surveyed had been exposed to at least one category of ACE. Verbal (37%) and physical (21%) abuses were the most common types of ACEs. The counts in the ACE categories were associated with being involved in physical fights (odds ratio 1.28 [confidence interval 1.01–1.63]), property damage (1.29 [1.03–1.61]), running away from home (1.30 [1.05–1.60]), bullying victimization (1.37 [1.16–1.61]), and sleep problems/tiredness (1.25 [1.03–1.52]). Meanwhile, resilience scores were associated with decreased odds of infrequent seatbelt use (0.47 [0.23–0.97]), low fruit and vegetable intake (0.42 [0.21–0.86]) unsatisfied body image (0.46 [0.22–0.97]), and sleep problems/tiredness (0.37 [0.18–0.79]). Conclusions: ACEs and resilience characteristics play a significant role in shaping youth health behaviors. Further research should be undertaken to identify ways to build resilience against health risks in youth with prior ACE exposure

Angular Velocity Analysis of an Epicyclic Gear Train Using Fundamental Circuits and a Block Diagram

The prediction of angular velocity is a prerequisite to investigate the power flow and mechanical efficiency of an epicyclic gear train. This paper presents a useful tool, which combines the fundamental circuit and a block diagram, to analyze the angular velocity of an epicyclic gear train. It is a visualized and straightforward method without manipulating tedious kinematic equations, which makes the angular velocity analysis of epicyclic gear trains more simplified. A compound epicyclic gear train used in a synchronous differential device is taken as an example to demonstrate the analysis process of the proposed approach. The velocity ratio of the epicyclic gear train is also derived

Effects of human parvovirus B19 VP1 unique region protein on macrophage responses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Activity of secreted phospholipase A (sPLA2) has been implicated in a wide range of cellular responses. However, little is known about the function of human parvovirus B19-VP1 unique region (VP1u) with sPLA2 activity on macrophage.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To investigate the roles of B19-VP1u in response to macrophage, phospholipase A2 activity, cell migration assay, phagocytosis activity, metalloproteinase assay, RT-PCR and immunoblotting were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study, we report that migration, phagocytosis, IL-6, IL-1β mRNA, and MMP9 activity are significantly increased in RAW264.7 cells by B19-VP1u protein with sPLA2 activity, but not by B19-VP1uD175A protein that is mutated and lacks sPLA2 activity. Additionally, significant increases of phosphorylated ERK1/2 and JNK proteins were detected in macrophages that were treated with B19-VP1u protein, but not when they were treated with B19-VP1uD175A protein.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Taken together, our experimental results suggest that B19-VP1u with sPLA2 activity affects production of IL-6, IL-1β mRNA, and MMP9 activity, possibly through the involvement of ERK1/2 and JNK signaling pathways. These findings could provide clues in understanding the role of B19-VP1u and its sPLA2 enzymatic activity in B19 infection and B19-related diseases.</p

MicroRNA miR-155 Affects Antiviral Effector and Effector Memory CD8 T Cell Differentiation

MicroRNAs are key regulators of the immune response, but their role in CD8 T cell differentiation in vivo is not known. We show that miR-155 is important in both effector and memory antiviral CD8 T cell responses. Without miR-155, there was a weaker effector response and a skewing toward memory precursor cells. At the memory stage, miR-155-deficient CD8 T cells preferentially differentiated into central memory cells and were capable of mounting a potent secondary response

A Study of the Wound Healing Mechanism of a Traditional Chinese Medicine, Angelica sinensis, Using a Proteomic Approach

Angelica sinensis (AS) is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine that has been formulated clinically to treat various form of skin trauma and to help wound healing. However, the mechanism by which it works remains a mystery. In this study we have established a new platform to evaluate the pharmacological effects of total AS herbal extracts as well as its major active component, ferulic acid (FA), using proteomic and biochemical analysis. Cytotoxic and proliferation-promoting concentrations of AS ethanol extracts (AS extract) and FA were tested, and then the cell extracts were subject to 2D PAGE analysis. We found 51 differentially expressed protein spots, and these were identified by mass spectrometry. Furthermore, biomolecular assays, involving collagen secretion, migration, and ROS measurements, gave results that are consistent with the proteomic analysis. In this work, we have demonstrated a whole range of pharmacological effects associated with Angelica sinensis that might be beneficial when developing a wound healing pharmaceutical formulation for the herbal medicine

Critical Neurons: optimized visual recognition in a neuronal network

In the past few decades, there have been intense debates whether the brain operates at a critical state. To verify the criticality hypothesis in the neuronal networks is challenging and the accumulating experimental and theoretical results remain controversial at this point. Here we simulate how visual information of a nature image is processed by the finite Kinouchi-Copelli neuronal network, extracting the trends of the mutual information (how sensible the neuronal network is), the dynamical range (how sensitive the network responds to external stimuli) and the statistical fluctuations (how criticality is defined in conventional statistical physics). It is rather remarkable that the optimized state for visual recognition, although close to, does not coincide with the critical state where the statistical fluctuations reach the maximum. Different images and/or network sizes of course lead to differences in details but the trend of the information optimization remains the same. Our findings pave the first step to investigate how the information processing is optimized in different neuronal networks and suggest that the criticality hypothesis may not be necessary to explain why a neuronal network can process information smartly.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures in the main text and 3 figures in the Supplementary Informatio