Transition from tunneling leakage current to molecular tunneling in single-molecule junctions

数十年来，半导体工业一直遵循基于“摩尔定律”所设定的发展蓝图，逐步提升集成电路芯片上晶体管的集成度和运行速度，减小器件尺寸。为探索这一尺寸极限，课题组基于机械可控裂结技术自主开发了具有飞安级电学测量和亚纳米级位移控制灵敏度的科学仪器，在国际上首次获取了一系列具有不同重复单元的寡聚苯乙炔类分子电导随电极间距的演变关系，并发现随着电极间距的缩小，器件电输运由通过分子器件电流占主导逐步转变到由隧穿漏电流占主导。对于本研究中具有最小尺寸的寡聚苯乙炔分子器件，其由于隧穿漏电流所制约的尺寸极限可小至0.66 nm，预示了有机分子器件在未来电子器件小型化方面具有重要的应用潜力。 这一研究工作是在化学化工学院洪文晶教授、萨本栋微纳研究院杨扬助理教授以及英国Durham University的MartinR. Bryce教授共同指导下完成的。能源材料化学协同创新中心iChEM Fellow刘俊扬博士为论文第一作者，博士研究生郑珏婷、李瑞豪和硕士研究生黄晓艳、唐永翔、皮九婵、本科生王飞等参与了研究工作。田中群教授、毛秉伟教授和师佳副教授为论文工作提供了重要指导。【Abstract】The tunneling leakage current will be a major quantum obstacle during miniaturization in the semiconductor industry down to the scale of several nanometers. At this scale, to promote charge transport and overcome the tunneling leakage current between the source and drain terminals, molecular electronic junctions offer opportunities by inserting molecules between these two electrodes. Employing a series of oligo(aryleneethynylene) (OAE) molecules, here we investigate the transition from tunneling leakage current to molecular tunneling in the single-molecule devices using mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) technique, and the transition distances of the OAE molecular junctions were determined and even down to 0.66 nm for OAE2 molecular junction, which demonstrates that the intrinsic charge transport properties of a single-molecule device can be outstripped from the tunneling leakage current. Consequently, molecular electronic devices show the potential to push the ultimate limit of miniaturization to the scale of several angstroms.This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0204902). This work was also generously supported by the Young Thousand Talent Project of China, the EC FP7 ITN “MOLESCO” project number 606728, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 21703188, 21673195, 21503179), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M622060). 该工作获得科技部国家重点研发计划课题（2017YFA0204902），国家自然科学基金委（21673195、21703188、21503179）以及中国博士后科学基金（2017M622060）等项目的资助，也得到了固体表面物理化学国家重点实验室、能源材料化学协同创新中心的支持

Single nucleotide polymorphisms at the TRAF1/C5 locus are associated with rheumatoid arthritis in a Han Chinese population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic variants in <it>TRAF1C5 </it>and <it>PTPN22 </it>genes have been shown to be significantly associated with arthritis rheumatoid in Caucasian populations. This study investigated the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in <it>TRAF1/C5 </it>and <it>PTPN22 </it>genes and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a Han Chinese population. We genotyped SNPs rs3761847 and rs7021206 at the <it>TRAF1/C5 </it>locus and rs2476601 SNP in the <it>PTPN22 </it>gene in a Han Chinese cohort composed of 576 patients with RA and 689 controls. The concentrations of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (CCP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) were determined for all affected patients. The difference between the cases and the controls was compared using <it>χ</it>²analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant differences in SNPs rs3761847 and rs7021206 at <it>TRAF1/C5 </it>were observed between the case and control groups in this cohort; the allelic p-value was 0.0018 with an odds ratio of 1.28 for rs3761847 and 0.005 with an odds ratio of 1.27 for rs7021206. This significant association between rs3761847 and RA was independent of the concentrations of anti-CCP and RF. No polymorphism of rs2476601 was observed in this cohort.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We first demonstrated that genetic variants at the <it>TRAF1/C5 </it>locus are significantly associated with RA in Han Chinese, suggesting that <it>TRAF1/C5 </it>may play a role in the development of RA in this population, which expands the pathogenesis role of <it>TRAF1/C5 </it>in a different ethnicity.</p

Whole-Genome Resequencing of Worldwide Wild and Domestic Sheep Elucidates Genetic Diversity, Introgression, and Agronomically Important Loci

Domestic sheep and their wild relatives harbor substantial genetic variants that can form the backbone of molecular breeding, but their genome landscapes remain understudied. Here, we present a comprehensive genome resource for wild ovine species, landraces and improved breeds of domestic sheep, comprising high-coverage (similar to 16.10x) whole genomes of 810 samples from 7 wild species and 158 diverse domestic populations. We detected, in total, similar to 121.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms, similar to 61 million of which are novel. Some display significant (P < 0.001) differences in frequency between wild and domestic species, or are private to continent-wide or individual sheep populations. Retained or introgressed wild gene variants in domestic populations have contributed to local adaptation, such as the variation in the HBB associated with plateau adaptation. We identified novel and previously reported targets of selection on morphological and agronomic traits such as stature, horn, tail configuration, and wool fineness. We explored the genetic basis of wool fineness and unveiled a novel mutation (chr25: T7,068,586C) in the 3 '-UTR of IRF2BP2 as plausible causal variant for fleece fiber diameter. We reconstructed prehistorical migrations from the Near Eastern domestication center to South-and-Southeast Asia and found two main waves of migrations across the Eurasian Steppe and the Iranian Plateau in the Early and Late Bronze Ages. Our findings refine our understanding of genome variation as shaped by continental migrations, introgression, adaptation, and selection of sheep

Women with endometriosis have higher comorbidities: Analysis of domestic data in Taiwan

AbstractEndometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities

Corrigendum to: The TianQin project: current progress on science and technology

In the originally published version, this manuscript included an error related to indicating the corresponding author within the author list. This has now been corrected online to reflect the fact that author Jun Luo is the corresponding author of the article

Whole-Genome Resequencing of Worldwide Wild and Domestic Sheep Elucidates Genetic Diversity, Introgression, and Agronomically Important Loci

Domestic sheep and their wild relatives harbor substantial genetic variants that can form the backbone of molecular breeding, but their genome landscapes remain understudied. Here, we present a comprehensive genome resource for wild ovine species, landraces and improved breeds of domestic sheep, comprising high-coverage (∼16.10×) whole genomes of 810 samples from 7 wild species and 158 diverse domestic populations. We detected, in total, ∼121.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms, ∼61 million of which are novel. Some display significant (P < 0.001) differences in frequency between wild and domestic species, or are private to continent-wide or individual sheep populations. Retained or introgressed wild gene variants in domestic populations have contributed to local adaptation, such as the variation in the HBB associated with plateau adaptation. We identified novel and previously reported targets of selection on morphological and agronomic traits such as stature, horn, tail configuration, and wool fineness. We explored the genetic basis of wool fineness and unveiled a novel mutation (chr25: T7,068,586C) in the 3'-UTR of IRF2BP2 as plausible causal variant for fleece fiber diameter. We reconstructed prehistorical migrations from the Near Eastern domestication center to South-and-Southeast Asia and found two main waves of migrations across the Eurasian Steppe and the Iranian Plateau in the Early and Late Bronze Ages. Our findings refine our understanding of genome variation as shaped by continental migrations, introgression, adaptation, and selection of sheep

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an