Hierarchical Honeycomb-structured Electret/Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Biomechanical and Morphing Wing Energy Harvesting

Flexible, compact, lightweight and sustainable power sources are indispensable for modern wearable and personal electronics and small-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Hierarchical honeycomb has the unique merits of compact mesostructures, excellent energy absorption properties and considerable weight to strength ratios. Herein, a honeycomb-inspired triboelectric nanogenerator (h-TENG) is proposed for biomechanical and UAV morphing wing energy harvesting based on contact triboelectrification wavy surface of cellular honeycomb structure. The wavy surface comprises a multilayered thin film structure (combining polyethylene terephthalate, silver nanowires and fluorinated ethylene propylene) fabricated through high-temperature thermoplastic molding and wafer-level bonding process. With superior synchronization of large amounts of energy generation units with honeycomb cells, the manufactured h-TENG prototype produces the maximum instantaneous open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current and output power of 1207 V, 68.5 μA and 12.4 mW, respectively, corresponding to a remarkable peak power density of 0.275 mW/cm3 (or 2.48 mW/g) under hand-pressing excitations. Attributed to the excellent elastic property of self-rebounding honeycomb structure, the flexible and transparent h-TENG can be easily pressed, bent, and integrated into shoes for real-time insole plantar pressure mapping. The lightweight and compact h-TENG is further installed into a morphing wing of small UAVs for efficiently converting the flapping energy of ailerons into electricity for the first time. This research demonstrates this new conceptualizing single h-TENG device's versatility and viability for broad-range real-world application scenarios

Identification of DYNLT1 associated with proliferation, relapse, and metastasis in breast cancer

BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant disease worldwide. Although the survival rate is improved in recent years, the prognosis is still bleak once recurrence and metastasis occur. It is vital to investigate more efficient biomarkers for predicting the metastasis and relapse of BC. DYNLT1 has been reported that participating in the progression of multiple cancers. However, there is still a lack of study about the correlation between DYNLT1 and BC.MethodsIn this study, we evaluated and validated the expression pattern and prognostic implication of DYNLT1 in BC with multiple public cohorts and BC tumor microarrays (TMAs) of paraffin-embedded tissues collected from the Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University. The response biomarkers for immune therapy, such as tumor mutational burden (TMB), between different DYNLT1 expression level BC samples were investigated using data from the TCGA-BRCA cohort utilizing public online tools. In addition, colony formation and transwell assay were conducted to verify the effects of DYNLT1 in BC cell line proliferation and invasion.ResultsThe results demonstrated that DYNLT1 overexpressed in BC and predicted poor relapse-free survival in our own BC TMA cohort. In addition, DYNLT1 induced BC development by promoting MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation migration, and metastasis.ConclusionAltogether, our findings proposed that DYNLT1 could be a diagnostic and prognostic indicator in BC

Genome-wide association meta-analyses and fine-mapping elucidate pathways influencing albuminuria

Abstract: Increased levels of the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) are associated with higher risk of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we conduct trans-ethnic (n = 564,257) and European-ancestry specific meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of UACR, including ancestry- and diabetes-specific analyses, and identify 68 UACR-associated loci. Genetic correlation analyses and risk score associations in an independent electronic medical records database (n = 192,868) reveal connections with proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, gout, and hypertension. Fine-mapping and trans-Omics analyses with gene expression in 47 tissues and plasma protein levels implicate genes potentially operating through differential expression in kidney (including TGFB1, MUC1, PRKCI, and OAF), and allow coupling of UACR associations to altered plasma OAF concentrations. Knockdown of OAF and PRKCI orthologs in Drosophila nephrocytes reduces albumin endocytosis. Silencing fly PRKCI further impairs slit diaphragm formation. These results generate a priority list of genes and pathways for translational research to reduce albuminuria

Genome-wide association meta-analyses and fine-mapping elucidate pathways influencing albuminuria

Publisher Copyright: © 2019, The Author(s).Increased levels of the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) are associated with higher risk of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we conduct trans-ethnic (n = 564,257) and European-ancestry specific meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of UACR, including ancestry- and diabetes-specific analyses, and identify 68 UACR-associated loci. Genetic correlation analyses and risk score associations in an independent electronic medical records database (n = 192,868) reveal connections with proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, gout, and hypertension. Fine-mapping and trans-Omics analyses with gene expression in 47 tissues and plasma protein levels implicate genes potentially operating through differential expression in kidney (including TGFB1, MUC1, PRKCI, and OAF), and allow coupling of UACR associations to altered plasma OAF concentrations. Knockdown of OAF and PRKCI orthologs in Drosophila nephrocytes reduces albumin endocytosis. Silencing fly PRKCI further impairs slit diaphragm formation. These results generate a priority list of genes and pathways for translational research to reduce albuminuria.Peer reviewe

Genome-wide association meta-analyses and fine-mapping elucidate pathways influencing albuminuria

Increased levels of the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) are associated with higher risk of kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we conduct trans-ethnic (n = 564,257) and European-ancestry specific meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of UACR, including ancestry- and diabetes-specific analyses, and identify 68 UACR-associated loci. Genetic correlation analyses and risk score associations in an independent electronic medical records database (n = 192,868) reveal connections with proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, gout, and hypertension. Fine-mapping and trans-Omics analyses with gene expression in 47 tissues and plasma protein levels implicate genes potentially operating through differential expression in kidney (including TGFB1, MUC1, PRKCI, and OAF), and allow coupling of UACR associations to altered plasma OAF concentrations. Knockdown of OAF and PRKCI orthologs in Drosophila nephrocytes reduces albumin endocytosis. Silencing fly PRKCI further impairs slit diaphragm formation. These results generate a priority list of genes and pathways for translational research to reduce albuminuria

Research progress of biomass-derived carbon for the supercapacitors

In order to fulfil the requirements of various equipment in different fields for energy storage components, there is an increasing number of studies being conducted on the development of electrode materials for supercapacitors. At present, carbon materials used in electrode components in supercapacitors are mostly graphene, porous carbon, activated carbon, and carbon nanotubes. Due to the fast advancements in modern technology and science, which have stimulated the demand for sustainable and eco-friendly energy storage materials, biomass-derived carbon materials have gradually emerged in the public eye. The carbon source of biomass-derived carbon is usually a natural substance, which has advantages such as low cost, easy availability, and environmental friendliness. Due to the diversity of material structures, the required electrode materials can be designed and prepared according to performance requirements. At the same time, biomass-derived carbon is also capable of being combined alongside various electrode materials to create asymmetric capacitors, combining the advantages of the two to enhance capacitor electrochemical performance. This article first introduces different sources of biomass-derived carbon-based electrode materials and compares their electrochemical performance. Then, based on various research results, the factors that affect their electrochemical performance are discussed in detail. Then, the preparation methods of biomass-derived carbon electrode materials are introduced, and the specific requirements, advantages and disadvantages of different preparation methods are briefly analyzed. The application of biomass-derived carbon electrode materials in supercapacitors in combination with other materials is listed. Finally, a summary and outlook of the current research status are provided to provide a reference for the rational design of biomass carbon supercapacitors in the future

A New Control Strategy for Bi-directional DC/DC Converter in DC Microgrid

The bi-directional DC / DC converter in DC microgrid is a typical nonlinear system which has large voltage disturbance during lead accumulator charging and discharging. In order to solve the problem of voltage disturbance, the linearization of the converter is realized by exact feedback linearization, and the sliding mode controller is designed by using exponential approximation law. The simulation results show that the method has fast response speed, strong anti-interference ability and good steady-state characteristics

Sol-gel template synthesis and characterization of VO2 nanotube arrays

In this paper, we report on the obtention of highly ordered VO2 nanotube arrays synthesized by the simple sol-gel template method. Techniques of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-synthesized nanotube arrays. It is found that the size of the as-obtained nanotubes has the dimension of 180-220 nm in outer diameter, 110-140 nm in inner diameter and up to 10 mu m in length. The results show that as-synthesized sample is assigned to VO2 (B) phase in expected V/O ratio with V existing in the +4 oxidation state