A Low Voltage Delta-Sigma Fractional Frequency Divider for Multi-band WSN Frequency Synthesizers

A 1 V low voltage delta-sigma fractional-N frequency divider for multi-band (780/868/915 MHz and 2.4 GHz) WSN frequency synthesizers is presented. The frequency divider consists of a dual-modulus prescaler, a pulse-swallow counter and a delta-sigma modulator. The high-speed and low-voltage phase-switching dual-modulus prescaler is used in the frequency divider. Low threshold voltage transistors are applied to overcome low voltage supply and forward phase-switching technique is adopted to prevent glitches. The modified delta-sigma modulator with long output sequence length and less spurs is adopted to minimize the fractional spurs. The frequency divider is designed in 0.18 mm TSMC RF CMOS technology under 1 V supply instead of the standard 1.8 V supply. The total chip area is 1190 mm 485 mm including I/O pads. The post simulation results show the frequency divider operates normally over a wide range of 1.3-5.0 GHz and the core circuit (without test buffers) consumes 2.3 mW

Identification of common molecular signatures of SARS-CoV-2 infection and its influence on acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the main cause of COVID-19, causing hundreds of millions of confirmed cases and more than 18.2 million deaths worldwide. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of COVID-19 that leads to an increase in mortality, especially in intensive care unit (ICU) settings, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a high risk factor for COVID-19 and its related mortality. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms among AKI, CKD, and COVID-19 are unclear. Therefore, transcriptome analysis was performed to examine common pathways and molecular biomarkers for AKI, CKD, and COVID-19 in an attempt to understand the association of SARS-CoV-2 infection with AKI and CKD. Three RNA-seq datasets (GSE147507, GSE1563, and GSE66494) from the GEO database were used to detect differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for COVID-19 with AKI and CKD to search for shared pathways and candidate targets. A total of 17 common DEGs were confirmed, and their biological functions and signaling pathways were characterized by enrichment analysis. MAPK signaling, the structural pathway of interleukin 1 (IL-1), and the Toll-like receptor pathway appear to be involved in the occurrence of these diseases. Hub genes identified from the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network, including DUSP6, BHLHE40, RASGRP1, and TAB2, are potential therapeutic targets in COVID-19 with AKI and CKD. Common genes and pathways may play pathogenic roles in these three diseases mainly through the activation of immune inflammation. Networks of transcription factor (TF)–gene, miRNA–gene, and gene–disease interactions from the datasets were also constructed, and key gene regulators influencing the progression of these three diseases were further identified among the DEGs. Moreover, new drug targets were predicted based on these common DEGs, and molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed. Finally, a diagnostic model of COVID-19 was established based on these common DEGs. Taken together, the molecular and signaling pathways identified in this study may be related to the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 infection affects renal function. These findings are significant for the effective treatment of COVID-19 in patients with kidney diseases

Chronic kidney disease as a predictive factor for poor prognosis in traumatic brain injury among older adults: a case-control study

ObjectiveTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a highly prevalent neurological disorder that affects a gradually increasing proportion of older adults. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) significantly contributes to global years of life lost, with an estimated one-tenth of the global population affected by CKD. However, it remains unclear whether CKD impacts TBI prognosis. We conducted a case-control study to investigate the clinical outcomes of TBI patients with or without CKD comorbidity and identified the risk factors associated with a poor prognosis.MethodsFrom January 2017 through April 2023, 11 patients with TBI and CKD were included, and 27 control TBI cases with normal kidney function were matched by age, gender, and admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score as the control group.ResultsThe CKD TBI group had a significantly lower GCS score upon discharge (7.1 ± 5.9) compared to the non-CKD TBI group (13.1 ± 2.6) (p < 0.01). ICU stay time and hospitalization expenses were higher in the CKD group than the non-CKD group, though there were no statistical differences. Additionally, patients in the CKD TBI group had a higher frequency of hospital-acquired infections (54.4%) compared with those in the non-CKD TBI group (7.4%) (p < 0.01). The two groups exhibited no differences in hemoglobin levels, albumin levels, or coagulation function. Logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age, low admission GCS score, elevated blood urea, and creatinine levels were associated with a poor neurological prognosis.ConclusionTBI patients comorbid with CKD have a poorer prognosis than those with normal kidney function

Characterization of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolated from healthy pigs in China

BACKGROUND: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is recognized as an important human diarrheal pathogen. Swine plays an important role as a carrier of this pathogen. In this study we determined the prevalence and characteristics of STEC from healthy swine collected between May 2011 and August 2012 from 3 cities/provinces in China. RESULTS: A total of 1003 samples, including 326 fecal, 351 small intestinal contents and 326 colon contents samples, was analyzed. Two hundred and fifty five samples were stx-positive by PCR and 93 STEC isolates were recovered from 62 stx-positive samples. Twelve O serogroups and 19 O:H serotypes including 6 serotypes (O100:H20/[H20], O143:H38/[H38], O87:H10, O172:H30/[H30], O159:H16, O9:H30/[H30]) rarely found in swine and ruminants were identified. All 93 STEC isolates harbored stx(2) only, all of which were stx(2e) subtype including 1 isolate being a new variant of stx(2e). 53.76%, 15.05% and 2.15% STEC isolates carried astA, hlyA and ehxA respectively. Four STEC isolates harbored the high-pathogenicity island. Of the 15 adherence-associated genes tested, 13 (eae, efa1, iha, lpfA(O113), lpfA(O157/OI-154), lpfA(O157/OI-141), toxB, saa, F4, F5, F6, F17 or F41) were all absent while 2 (paa and F18) were present in 7 and 4 STEC isolates respectively. The majority of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline (79.57%), nalidixic acid (78.49%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (73.12%) and kanamycin (55.91%). The STEC isolates were divided into 63 pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns and 21 sequence types (STs). Isolates of the same STs generally showed the same or similar drug resistance patterns. A higher proportion of STEC isolates from Chongqing showed multidrug resistance with one ST (ST3628) resistant to 14 antimicrobials. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that swine is a significant reservoir of STEC strains in China. Based on comparison by serotypes and sequence types with human strains and presence of virulence genes, the swine STEC may have a low potential to cause human disease

Morphological diversity of single neurons in molecularly defined cell types.

Dendritic and axonal morphology reflects the input and output of neurons and is a defining feature of neuronal types1,2, yet our knowledge of its diversity remains limited. Here, to systematically examine complete single-neuron morphologies on a brain-wide scale, we established a pipeline encompassing sparse labelling, whole-brain imaging, reconstruction, registration and analysis. We fully reconstructed 1,741 neurons from cortex, claustrum, thalamus, striatum and other brain regions in mice. We identified 11 major projection neuron types with distinct morphological features and corresponding transcriptomic identities. Extensive projectional diversity was found within each of these major types, on the basis of which some types were clustered into more refined subtypes. This diversity follows a set of generalizable principles that govern long-range axonal projections at different levels, including molecular correspondence, divergent or convergent projection, axon termination pattern, regional specificity, topography, and individual cell variability. Although clear concordance with transcriptomic profiles is evident at the level of major projection type, fine-grained morphological diversity often does not readily correlate with transcriptomic subtypes derived from unsupervised clustering, highlighting the need for single-cell cross-modality studies. Overall, our study demonstrates the crucial need for quantitative description of complete single-cell anatomy in cell-type classification, as single-cell morphological diversity reveals a plethora of ways in which different cell types and their individual members may contribute to the configuration and function of their respective circuits

Single cell atlas for 11 non-model mammals, reptiles and birds.

The availability of viral entry factors is a prerequisite for the cross-species transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Large-scale single-cell screening of animal cells could reveal the expression patterns of viral entry genes in different hosts. However, such exploration for SARS-CoV-2 remains limited. Here, we perform single-nucleus RNA sequencing for 11 non-model species, including pets (cat, dog, hamster, and lizard), livestock (goat and rabbit), poultry (duck and pigeon), and wildlife (pangolin, tiger, and deer), and investigated the co-expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Furthermore, cross-species analysis of the lung cell atlas of the studied mammals, reptiles, and birds reveals core developmental programs, critical connectomes, and conserved regulatory circuits among these evolutionarily distant species. Overall, our work provides a compendium of gene expression profiles for non-model animals, which could be employed to identify potential SARS-CoV-2 target cells and putative zoonotic reservoirs

Cellular anatomy of the mouse primary motor cortex.

An essential step toward understanding brain function is to establish a structural framework with cellular resolution on which multi-scale datasets spanning molecules, cells, circuits and systems can be integrated and interpreted1. Here, as part of the collaborative Brain Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN), we derive a comprehensive cell type-based anatomical description of one exemplar brain structure, the mouse primary motor cortex, upper limb area (MOp-ul). Using genetic and viral labelling, barcoded anatomy resolved by sequencing, single-neuron reconstruction, whole-brain imaging and cloud-based neuroinformatics tools, we delineated the MOp-ul in 3D and refined its sublaminar organization. We defined around two dozen projection neuron types in the MOp-ul and derived an input-output wiring diagram, which will facilitate future analyses of motor control circuitry across molecular, cellular and system levels. This work provides a roadmap towards a comprehensive cellular-resolution description of mammalian brain architecture

A multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex

ABSTRACT We report the generation of a multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex (MOp or M1) as the initial product of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN). This was achieved by coordinated large-scale analyses of single-cell transcriptomes, chromatin accessibility, DNA methylomes, spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomes, morphological and electrophysiological properties, and cellular resolution input-output mapping, integrated through cross-modal computational analysis. Together, our results advance the collective knowledge and understanding of brain cell type organization: First, our study reveals a unified molecular genetic landscape of cortical cell types that congruently integrates their transcriptome, open chromatin and DNA methylation maps. Second, cross-species analysis achieves a unified taxonomy of transcriptomic types and their hierarchical organization that are conserved from mouse to marmoset and human. Third, cross-modal analysis provides compelling evidence for the epigenomic, transcriptomic, and gene regulatory basis of neuronal phenotypes such as their physiological and anatomical properties, demonstrating the biological validity and genomic underpinning of neuron types and subtypes. Fourth, in situ single-cell transcriptomics provides a spatially-resolved cell type atlas of the motor cortex. Fifth, integrated transcriptomic, epigenomic and anatomical analyses reveal the correspondence between neural circuits and transcriptomic cell types. We further present an extensive genetic toolset for targeting and fate mapping glutamatergic projection neuron types toward linking their developmental trajectory to their circuit function. Together, our results establish a unified and mechanistic framework of neuronal cell type organization that integrates multi-layered molecular genetic and spatial information with multi-faceted phenotypic properties

Influence of cathode materials on thermal characteristics of lithium-ion batteries

In this work, the thermal stability of four types of 18,650 lithium-ion batteries with LiCoO2 (LCO), LiFePO4 (LFP), LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811) and LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 (NCA) materials as cathodes are experimentally investigated by the accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC) and the isothermal battery testing calorimeter (iso-BTC) under adiabatic and isothermal conditions, respectively. The thermal runaway danger level of these batteries can be ranked as LCO > NCA > NCM811 >> LFP by judging from the values of Tmax and HRmax, nominal. The higher the nickel and cobalt content, the higher the lithium-ion battery capacity, but the worse the thermal stability. The Qtotal of NCA is the largest in the complete standard charge and discharge process, due to that the capacity of NCA is significantly higher than that of the other three batteries, resulting in remarkable increase in Qirre proportioned to the square of the current. When the ambient temperature rises, the energy release decreases owing to the decrease in the internal resistance of the battery. These studies are expected to have important implications for the subsequent safe design of commercial lithium-ion batteries with different cathode materials

Energy Storage Characteristic Analysis of Voltage Sags Compensation for UPQC Based on MMC for Medium Voltage Distribution System

The modular multilevel converter (MMC), as a new type of voltage source converter, is increasingly used because it is a distributed storage system. There are many advantages of using the topological structure of the MMC on a unified power quality controller (UPQC), and voltage sag mitigation is an important use of the MMC energy storage system for the power quality compensation process. In this paper, based on the analysis of the topology of the MMC, the essence of energy conversion in a UPQC of voltage sag compensation is analyzed; then, the energy storage characteristics are calculated and analyzed to determine the performance index of voltage sag compensation; in addition, the simulation method is used to verify the voltage sag compensation characteristics of the UPQC; finally, an industrial prototype of the UPQC based on an MMC for 10 kV of medium voltage distribution network has been developed, and the basic functions of UPQC have been tested