Abstract: All-perovskite-based polycrystalline thin-film tandem solar cells have the potential to deliver efficiencies of >30%. However, the performance of all-perovskite-based tandem devices has been limited by the lack of high-efficiency, low-band gap tin-lead (Sn-Pb) mixed-perovskite solar cells (PSCs). We found that the addition of guanidinium thiocyanate (GuaSCN) resulted in marked improvements in the structural and optoelectronic properties of Sn-Pb mixed, low-band gap (~1.25 electron volt) perovskite films. The films have defect densities that are lower by a factor of 10, leading to carrier lifetimes of greater than 1 microsecond and diffusion lengths of 2.5 micrometers. These improved properties enable our demonstration of >20% efficient low-band gap PSCs. When combined with wider-band gap PSCs, we achieve 25% efficient four-terminal and 23.1% efficient two-terminal all-perovskite-based polycrystalline thin-film tandem solar cells.

Abstract: Matrix stiffness potently regulates cellular behaviour in various biological contexts. In breast tumours, the presence of dense clusters of collagen fibrils indicates increased matrix stiffness and correlates with poor survival. It is unclear how mechanical inputs are transduced into transcriptional outputs to drive tumour progression. Here we report that TWIST1 is an essential mechanomediator that promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in response to increasing matrix stiffness. High matrix stiffness promotes nuclear translocation of TWIST1 by releasing TWIST1 from its cytoplasmic binding partner G3BP2. Loss of G3BP2 leads to constitutive TWIST1 nuclear localization and synergizes with increasing matrix stiffness to induce EMT and promote tumour invasion and metastasis. In human breast tumours, collagen fibre alignment, a marker of increasing matrix stiffness, and reduced expression of G3BP2 together predict poor survival. Our findings reveal a TWIST1-G3BP2 mechanotransduction pathway that responds to biomechanical signals from the tumour microenvironment to drive EMT, invasion and metastasis.

Abstract: Whether the epidemiological benefits of mandatory mass quarantine outweigh the psychological costs is a judgement that should not be made lightly

Abstract: Translating advances in neuroscience into benefits for patients with mental illness presents enormous challenges because it involves both the most complex organ, the brain, and its interaction with a similarly complex environment. Dealing with such complexities demands powerful techniques. Computational psychiatry combines multiple levels and types of computation with multiple types of data in an effort to improve understanding, prediction and treatment of mental illness. Computational psychiatry, broadly defined, encompasses two complementary approaches: data driven and theory driven. Data-driven approaches apply machine-learning methods to high-dimensional data to improve classification of disease, predict treatment outcomes or improve treatment selection. These approaches are generally agnostic as to the underlying mechanisms. Theory-driven approaches, in contrast, use models that instantiate prior knowledge of, or explicit hypotheses about, such mechanisms, possibly at multiple levels of analysis and abstraction. We review recent advances in both approaches, with an emphasis on clinical applications, and highlight the utility of combining them.

Abstract: The targeting of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), a crucial regulator of both normal and pathological angiogenesis, has revealed innovative therapeutic approaches in oncology and ophthalmology. The first VEGFA inhibitor, bevacizumab, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2004 for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer, and the first VEGFA inhibitors in ophthalmology, pegaptanib and ranibizumab, were approved in 2004 and 2006, respectively. To mark this tenth anniversary of anti-VEGFA therapy, we discuss the discovery of VEGFA, the successes and challenges in the development of VEGFA inhibitors and the impact of these agents on the treatment of cancers and ophthalmic diseases.

Abstract: Environmental DNA (eDNA) refers to the genetic material that can be extracted from bulk environmental samples such as soil, water, and even air. The rapidly expanding study of eDNA has generated unprecedented ability to detect species and conduct genetic analyses for conservation, management, and research, particularly in scenarios where collection of whole organisms is impractical or impossible. While the number of studies demonstrating successful eDNA detection has increased rapidly in recent years, less research has explored the “ecology” of eDNA—myriad interactions between extraorganismal genetic material and its environment—and its influence on eDNA detection, quantification, analysis, and application to conservation and research. Here, we outline a framework for understanding the ecology of eDNA, including the origin, state, transport, and fate of extraorganismal genetic material. Using this framework, we review and synthesize the findings of eDNA studies from diverse environments, taxa, and fields of study to highlight important concepts and knowledge gaps in eDNA study and application. Additionally, we identify frontiers of conservation-focused eDNA application where we see the most potential for growth, including the use of eDNA for estimating population size, population genetic and genomic analyses via eDNA, inclusion of other indicator biomolecules such as environmental RNA or proteins, automated sample collection and analysis, and consideration of an expanded array of creative environmental samples. We discuss how a more complete understanding of the ecology of eDNA is integral to advancing these frontiers and maximizing the potential of future eDNA applications in conservation and research.

Abstract: In our efforts to obtain electrocatalysts with improved activity for water splitting, meticulous design and synthesis of the active sites of the electrocatalysts and deciphering how exactly they catalyze the reaction are vitally necessary. Herein, we report a one-step facile synthesis of a novel precious-metal-free hydrogen-evolution nanoelectrocatalyst, dubbed Mo2C@NC that is composed of ultrasmall molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) nanoparticles embedded within nitrogen-rich carbon (NC) nanolayers. The Mo2C@NC hybrid nanoelectrocatalyst shows remarkable catalytic activity, has great durability, and gives about 100 % Faradaic yield toward the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER) over a wide pH range (pH 0–14). Theoretical calculations show that the Mo2C and N dopants in the material synergistically co-activate adjacent C atoms on the carbon nanolayers, creating superactive nonmetallic catalytic sites for HER that are more active than those in the constituents.

Abstract: We describe the kinetics of Zika virus (ZIKV) detection in serum and urine samples of 6 patients. Urine samples were positive for ZIKV >10 days after onset of disease, which was a notably longer period than for serum samples. This finding supports the conclusion that urine samples are useful for diagnosis of ZIKV infections.

Abstract: BackgroundGlioblastoma is associated with a poor prognosis in the elderly. Survival has been shown to increase among patients 70 years of age or younger when temozolomide chemotherapy is added to standard radiotherapy (60 Gy over a period of 6 weeks). In elderly patients, more convenient shorter courses of radiotherapy are commonly used, but the benefit of adding temozolomide to a shorter course of radiotherapy is unknown. MethodsWe conducted a trial involving patients 65 years of age or older with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either radiotherapy alone (40 Gy in 15 fractions) or radiotherapy with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide. ResultsA total of 562 patients underwent randomization, 281 to each group. The median age was 73 years (range, 65 to 90). The median overall survival was longer with radiotherapy plus temozolomide than with radiotherapy alone (9.3 months vs. 7.6 months; hazard ratio for death, 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56 to 0.80; P<0.0...

Abstract: A core challenge for an agent learning to interact with the world is to predict how its actions affect objects in its environment. Many existing methods for learning the dynamics of physical interactions require labeled object information. However, to scale real-world interaction learning to a variety of scenes and objects, acquiring labeled data becomes increasingly impractical. To learn about physical object motion without labels, we develop an action-conditioned video prediction model that explicitly models pixel motion, by predicting a distribution over pixel motion from previous frames. Because our model explicitly predicts motion, it is partially invariant to object appearance, enabling it to generalize to previously unseen objects. To explore video prediction for real-world interactive agents, we also introduce a dataset of 59,000 robot interactions involving pushing motions, including a test set with novel objects. In this dataset, accurate prediction of videos conditioned on the robot's future actions amounts to learning a "visual imagination" of different futures based on different courses of action. Our experiments show that our proposed method produces more accurate video predictions both quantitatively and qualitatively, when compared to prior methods.

Abstract: Most studies of the human microbiome have focused on westernized people with life-style practices that decrease microbial survival and transmission, or on traditional societies that are currently in transition to westernization We characterize the fecal, oral, and skin bacterial microbiome and resistome of members of an isolated Yanomami Amerindian village with no documented previous contact with Western people These Yanomami harbor a microbiome with the highest diversity of bacteria and genetic functions ever reported in a human group Despite their isolation, presumably for >11,000 years since their ancestors arrived in South America, and no known exposure to antibiotics, they harbor bacteria that carry functional antibiotic resistance (AR) genes, including those that confer resistance to synthetic antibiotics and are syntenic with mobilization elements These results suggest that westernization significantly affects human microbiome diversity and that functional AR genes appear to be a feature of the human microbiome even in the absence of exposure to commercial antibiotics AR genes are likely poised for mobilization and enrichment upon exposure to pharmacological levels of antibiotics Our findings emphasize the need for extensive characterization of the function of the microbiome and resistome in remote nonwesternized populations before globalization of modern practices affects potentially beneficial bacteria harbored in the human body

Abstract: Blockchains are tamper evident and tamper resistant digital ledgers implemented in a distributed fashion (i.e., without a central repository) and usually without a central authority (i.e., a bank, company, or government). At their basic level, they enable a community of users to record transactions in a shared ledger within that community, such that under normal operation of the blockchain network no transaction can be changed once published. This document provides a high-level technical overview of blockchain technology. The purpose is to help readers understand how blockchain technology works.

Abstract: Teaching machines to read natural language documents remains an elusive challenge. Machine reading systems can be tested on their ability to answer questions posed on the contents of documents that they have seen, but until now large scale training and test datasets have been missing for this type of evaluation. In this work we define a new methodology that resolves this bottleneck and provides large scale supervised reading comprehension data. This allows us to develop a class of attention based deep neural networks that learn to read real documents and answer complex questions with minimal prior knowledge of language structure.

Abstract: Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery has emerged as one of the most promising next-generation energy-storage systems. However, the shuttle effect greatly reduces the battery cycle life and sulfur utilization, which is great deterrent to its practical use. This paper reviews the tremendous efforts that are made to find a remedy for this problem, mostly through physical or chemical confinement of the lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Intrinsically, this "confinement" has a relatively limited effect on improving the battery performance because in most cases, the LiPSs are "passively" blocked and cannot be reused. Thus, this strategy becomes less effective with a high sulfur loading and ultralong cycling. A more "positive" method that not only traps but also increases the subsequent conversion of LiPSs back to lithium sulfides is urgently needed to fundamentally solve the shuttle effect. Here, recent advances on catalytic effects in increasing the rate of conversion of soluble long-chain LiPSs to insoluble short-chain Li2S2/Li2S, and vice versa, are reviewed, and the roles of noble metals, metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal nitrides, and some metal-free materials in this process are highlighted. Challenges and potential solutions for the design of catalytic cathodes and interlayers in Li-S battery are discussed in detail.

Abstract: A subset of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) has been shown to be seropositive for myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies (MOG-IgG) To describe the epidemiological, clinical, radiological, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and electrophysiological features of a large cohort of MOG-IgG-positive patients with optic neuritis (ON) and/or myelitis (n = 50) as well as attack and long-term treatment outcomes Retrospective multicenter study The sex ratio was 1:28 (m:f) Median age at onset was 31 years (range 6-70) The disease followed a multiphasic course in 80% (median time-to-first-relapse 5 months; annualized relapse rate 092) and resulted in significant disability in 40% (mean follow-up 75 ± 465 months), with severe visual impairment or functional blindness (36%) and markedly impaired ambulation due to paresis or ataxia (25%) as the most common long-term sequelae Functional blindness in one or both eyes was noted during at least one ON attack in around 70% Perioptic enhancement was present in several patients Besides acute tetra-/paraparesis, dysesthesia and pain were common in acute myelitis (70%) Longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesions were frequent, but short lesions occurred at least once in 44% Fourty-one percent had a history of simultaneous ON and myelitis Clinical or radiological involvement of the brain, brainstem, or cerebellum was present in 50%; extra-opticospinal symptoms included intractable nausea and vomiting and respiratory insufficiency (fatal in one) CSF pleocytosis (partly neutrophilic) was present in 70%, oligoclonal bands in only 13%, and blood-CSF-barrier dysfunction in 32% Intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) and long-term immunosuppression were often effective; however, treatment failure leading to rapid accumulation of disability was noted in many patients as well as flare-ups after steroid withdrawal Full recovery was achieved by plasma exchange in some cases, including after IVMP failure Breakthrough attacks under azathioprine were linked to the drug-specific latency period and a lack of cotreatment with oral steroids Methotrexate was effective in 5/6 patients Interferon-beta was associated with ongoing or increasing disease activity Rituximab and ofatumumab were effective in some patients However, treatment with rituximab was followed by early relapses in several cases; end-of-dose relapses occurred 9-12 months after the first infusion Coexisting autoimmunity was rare (9%) Wingerchuk’s 2006 and 2015 criteria for NMO(SD) and Barkhof and McDonald criteria for multiple sclerosis (MS) were met by 28%, 32%, 15%, 33%, respectively; MS had been suspected in 36% Disease onset or relapses were preceded by infection, vaccination, or pregnancy/delivery in several cases Our findings from a predominantly Caucasian cohort strongly argue against the concept of MOG-IgG denoting a mild and usually monophasic variant of NMOSD The predominantly relapsing and often severe disease course and the short median time to second attack support the use of prophylactic long-term treatments in patients with MOG-IgG-positive ON and/or myelitis

Abstract: Denmark has a large network of population-based medical databases, which routinely collect high-quality data as a by-product of health care provision. The Danish medical databases include administrative, health, and clinical quality databases. Understanding the full research potential of these data sources requires insight into the underlying health care system. This review describes key elements of the Danish health care system from planning and delivery to record generation. First, it presents the history of the health care system, its overall organization and financing. Second, it details delivery of primary, hospital, psychiatric, and elderly care. Third, the path from a health care contact to a database record is followed. Finally, an overview of the available data sources is presented. This review discusses the data quality of each type of medical database and describes the relative technical ease and cost-effectiveness of exact individual-level linkage among them. It is shown, from an epidemiological point of view, how Denmark's population represents an open dynamic cohort with complete long-term follow-up, censored only at emigration or death. It is concluded that Denmark's constellation of universal health care, long-standing routine registration of most health and life events, and the possibility of exact individual-level data linkage provides unlimited possibilities for epidemiological research.

Abstract: Aim: To systematically review the evidence on the associations between breastfeeding and overweight / obesity blood pressure total cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. Methods: Two independent literature searches were carried out using the MEDLINE LILACS SCIELO and Web of Science databases. Studies restricted to infants and those without an internal comparison group were excluded. Fixed- and random-effects models were used to pool the estimates. Results: Breastfed subjects were less likely to be considered obese / overweight [pooled odds ratio: 0.74 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.70; 0.78)] (n = 113). Among the 11 high-quality studies the association was smaller [pooled odds ratio: 0.87 (95%CI: 0.76; 0.99)]. Total cholesterol (n = 46) was independent of breastfeeding [pooled mean difference: -0.01 mmol/L (95%CI: -0.05; 0.02)]. Systolic blood pressure (n = 43) was lower among breastfed subjects [mean difference: -0.80 (95%CI: -1.17; -0.43)] but no association was observed among larger studies and for diastolic blood pressure (n = 38) [mean difference: -0.24 (95%CI: -0.50; 0.02)]. For type 2 diabetes (n = 11) the odds ratio was lower among those subjects who had been breastfed [pooled odds ratio: 0.65 (95%CI: 0.49; 0.86)]. Conclusion: Breastfeeding decreased the odds of type 2 diabetes and based on high-quality studies decreased by 13% the odds of overweight / obesity. No associations were found for total cholesterol or blood pressure. ©2015 The Authors. Open Access.

Abstract: This text offers comprehensive coverage of the design and use of qualitative methods in leadership research. The book equips leadership researchers at all levels with the knowledge to make informed choices of research strategies. The second edition features 50% new research and includes new developments in qualitative research methods.

Abstract: More than half of human colorectal cancers (CRCs) carry either KRAS or BRAF mutations and are often refractory to approved targeted therapies. We found that cultured human CRC cells harboring KRAS or BRAF mutations are selectively killed when exposed to high levels of vitamin C. This effect is due to increased uptake of the oxidized form of vitamin C, dehydroascorbate (DHA), via the GLUT1 glucose transporter. Increased DHA uptake causes oxidative stress as intracellular DHA is reduced to vitamin C, depleting glutathione. Thus, reactive oxygen species accumulate and inactivate glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Inhibition of GAPDH in highly glycolytic KRAS or BRAF mutant cells leads to an energetic crisis and cell death not seen in KRAS and BRAF wild-type cells. High-dose vitamin C impairs tumor growth in Apc/Kras(G12D) mutant mice. These results provide a mechanistic rationale for exploring the therapeutic use of vitamin C for CRCs with KRAS or BRAF mutations.

Abstract: The sluggish rate of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells has been a major challenge. Significantly increasing efforts have been made worldwide towards a highly active ORR catalyst with high durability. Among all the catalysts exploited, Pt electrocatalysts are still the best in terms of a comprehensive evaluation. The investigation of Pt-based ORR catalysts is necessary for a practical ORR catalyst with low Pt content. This paper reviews recent progress in the studies of the mechanism, nanostructure, size effect and carbon supports of Pt electrocatalysts for the ORR. The importance of the size and structure control of Pt ORR catalysts, related with carbon support materials, is indicated. The potential methods for such control are discussed. The progress in theoretical studies and in situ catalyst characterization are also discussed. Finally, challenges and future developments are addressed.

Abstract: Using a 25-y time series of precision satellite altimeter data from TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3, we estimate the climate-change-driven acceleration of global mean sea level over the last 25 y to be 0.084 ± 0.025 mm/y2 Coupled with the average climate-change-driven rate of sea level rise over these same 25 y of 2.9 mm/y, simple extrapolation of the quadratic implies global mean sea level could rise 65 ± 12 cm by 2100 compared with 2005, roughly in agreement with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (AR5) model projections.

Abstract: In this paper we present CatBoost, a new open-sourced gradient boosting library that successfully handles categorical features and outperforms existing publicly available implementations of gradient boosting in terms of quality on a set of popular publicly available datasets. The library has a GPU implementation of learning algorithm and a CPU implementation of scoring algorithm, which are significantly faster than other gradient boosting libraries on ensembles of similar sizes.

Abstract: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are connected at the 3′ and 5′ ends by exon or intron cyclization, forming a complete ring structure. circRNA is more stable and conservative than linear RNA and abounds in various organisms. In recent years, increasing numbers of reports have found that circRNA plays a major role in the biological functions of a network of competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA). circRNAs can compete together with microRNAs (miRNAs) to influence the stability of target RNAs or their translation, thus, regulating gene expression at the transcriptional level. circRNAs are involved in biological processes such as tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and migration as ceRNAs. circRNAs, therefore, represent promising candidates for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Here, we review the progress in studying the role of circRNAs as ceRNAs in tumors and highlight the participation of circRNAs in signal transduction pathways to regulate cellular functions.

Abstract: Diesel engines have high efficiency, durability, and reliability together with their low-operating cost. These important features make them the most preferred engines especially for heavy-duty vehicles. The interest in diesel engines has risen substantially day by day. In addition to the widespread use of these engines with many advantages, they play an important role in environmental pollution problems worldwide. Diesel engines are considered as one of the largest contributors to environmental pollution caused by exhaust emissions, and they are responsible for several health problems as well. Many policies have been imposed worldwide in recent years to reduce negative effects of diesel engine emissions on human health and environment. Many researches have been carried out on both diesel exhaust pollutant emissions and aftertreatment emission control technologies. In this paper, the emissions from diesel engines and their control systems are reviewed. The four main pollutant emissions from diesel engines (carbon monoxide-CO, hydrocarbons-HC, particulate matter-PM and nitrogen oxides-NOx) and control systems for these emissions (diesel oxidation catalyst, diesel particulate filter and selective catalytic reduction) are discussed. Each type of emissions and control systems is comprehensively examined. At the same time, the legal restrictions on exhaust-gas emissions around the world and the effects of exhaust-gas emissions on human health and environment are explained in this study.

Abstract: In this paper we introduce a new publicly available dataset for verification against textual sources, FEVER: Fact Extraction and VERification. It consists of 185,445 claims generated by altering sentences extracted from Wikipedia and subsequently verified without knowledge of the sentence they were derived from. The claims are classified as Supported, Refuted or NotEnoughInfo by annotators achieving 0.6841 in Fleiss $\kappa$. For the first two classes, the annotators also recorded the sentence(s) forming the necessary evidence for their judgment. To characterize the challenge of the dataset presented, we develop a pipeline approach and compare it to suitably designed oracles. The best accuracy we achieve on labeling a claim accompanied by the correct evidence is 31.87%, while if we ignore the evidence we achieve 50.91%. Thus we believe that FEVER is a challenging testbed that will help stimulate progress on claim verification against textual sources.