26Al/10Be burial dating and technological strategies of hominins at the Jijiazhuang Paleolithic site, Nihewan Basin, China: Implications for understanding Middle Pleistocene human adaptations in east Asia

With the discovery of more than a hundred Pleistocene Paleolithic sites, the Nihewan Basin of North China has become an area of reference for the study of human evolution and behavioral adaptations during and after the spread of hominins out of Africa and into Eurasia. However, most research has focused on the Early and Late Pleistocene archaeological record, whereas studies of the Middle Pleistocene sequence are relatively limited. Here we contribute to fill this gap by introducing the archaeological assemblage and 26Al/10Be burial dating of the newly discovered Jijiazhuang (JJZ) Paleolithic site. Systematic excavations in recent years have yielded well-preserved stone artifacts and mammalian fossils in fluvio-lacustrine sediments at the site. Cosmogenic 26Al/10Be burial dating indicates that hominins occupied the site between 0.49 ± 0.10 and 0.63 ± 0.11 Ma, corresponding to the extra-long interglacial period of MIS 15-13. The JJZ lithic assemblage shows evidence of relatively long-distance resource procurement, and the increased number of retouched tools indicate standardized, extensive and refined modification, even shaping strategies. The JJZ lithic technology shows advanced features that may shed light on the regional emergence of Middle Paleolithic technologies, in a paleoecological context where the extra-long duration of interglacial/mild stadial climate events (MIS 15−13) may have provided favorable conditions for increased technological capabilities among Middle Pleistocene hominins from the Nihewan Basin. Our study is the first to present a detailed techno-typological analysis of a Middle Pleistocene lithic assemblage in the Nihewan Basin and contributes to the characterization of technological adaptions in the high latitudes of East Asia.This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 42371165 ), the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2020YFC1521500 ), and an ERC-Advanced Grant (Horizon, 2020; BICAEHFID grant agreement No. 832980 )N

Isomeric anthracene diimide polymers

Two anthracene diimide (ADI) polymers with the backbone conformational isomerism, new members of aromatic diimide polymers family, have been synthesized as a class of highly promising n-type semiconductors for organic electronics.</p

Relationship Between Pregnancy and Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis: A Single-Case Study

The relationship between pregnancy and autoimmune diseases is unclear. This study investigated the possible role of local immune changes and the activation state of the HMGB1/TLR4/Nf-κB/IL-6 pathway at the maternal–fetal interface during pregnancy in the pathogenesis of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). Clinical data and blood samples of a patient with ADEM were collected to observe the dynamic changes in lymphocyte populations after an abortion. The expression of HMGB1, TLR4, Nf-κB, AQP4, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-α in the fetal membrane and placenta was compared between the patient with pregnancy-related ADEM and a woman with a normal pregnancy using Real-time qPCR and western blotting (WB). The patient was diagnosed with ADEM in the early stage of pregnancy after showing limb weakness symptoms. In the third month of gestation, the symptoms worsened, with a disturbance of consciousness and breathing. After the abortion, the patient relapsed with vertigo and visual rotation. Analysis of lymphocyte subsets by flow cytometry showed that B lymphocytes increased, while natural killer T lymphocytes decreased. WB and Real-time qPCR showed that the expression levels of HMGB1, TLR4, Nf-κB, AQP4, and IL-6 in the fetal membrane and placenta were higher in the patient with pregnancy-related ADEM than in the woman with a normal pregnancy, while those of IL-2 were lower in the patient than in the woman with a normal pregnancy. The local immune changes and the activation of the HMGB1/TLR4/Nf-κB/IL-6 pathway at the maternal–fetal interface may be related to the pathogenesis of ADEM.</jats:p

Bandgap Engineering of Dual Acceptor-Containing Naphthalene Diimide Polymers for All-Polymer Solar Cells

Naphthalene diimide (NDI)-based polymers, as nonfullerene acceptors for all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs), are usually investigated by manipulating electron donating units, which have a narrow bandgap showing absorption spectra mostly overlapping with high-performance donor polymers like PTB7-Th. In order to gain complementary absorptions between NDI-based polymers and PTB7-Th, we report three NDI-based polymers (P1-P3) designed by a dual-acceptor strategy and systematically study their effect on the bandgap, molecular configuration, and charge transport property. The absorption bands of these polymers range from 300 to 800 nm; in particular, P1 with a maximum absorption at 530 nm exhibits a good complementary absorption with the PTB7-Th. The device based on the PTB7-Th:P1 blend provides higher J(sc) and efficiency than those based on other two polymers. The result suggests that the dual-acceptor strategy is effective to design acceptor polymers with adjustable absorption and molecular configuration for the all-PSCs

Motion Control of Polymeric Nanomotors Based on Host-Guest Interactions

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