High Curie Temperature Ferromagnetism and High Hole Mobility in Tensile Strained Mn-doped SiGe Thin Films

Diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) based on group-IV materials are desirable for spintronic devices compatible with current silicon technology. In this work, amorphous Mn-doped SiGe thin films were first fabricated on Ge substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering and then crystallized by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). After the RTA, the samples became ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductors, in which the Curie temperature increased with increasing Mn doping concentration and reached 280 K with 5% Mn concentration. The data suggest that the ferromagnetism came from the hole-mediated process and was enhanced by the tensile strain in the SiGe crystals. Meanwhile, the Hall effect measurement up to 33 T to eliminate the influence of anomalous Hall effect (AHE) reveals that the hole mobility of the annealed samples was greatly enhanced and the maximal value was ~1000 cm2/Vs, owing to the tensile strain-induced band structure modulation. The Mn-doped SiGe thin films with high Curie temperature ferromagnetism and high hole mobility may provide a promising platform for semiconductor spintronics

HIV/AIDS knowledge in detention in Hunan province, China

BACKGROUND: Injection drug use (IDU) is one of the major modes of HIV transmission in China. Drug use is illegal in China, all identified drug users are registered by Public Security Bureau, and most were sent to detention; most detainees engaged in high risk behaviours. In order to well understand the HIV/AIDS knowledge among detainees, a survey was conducted in different detention settings in Hunan province in 2008 to assess knowledge and attitudes about HIV among detainees and to provide useful information for HIV prevention and intervention strategies in detention centers. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 10 detentions in Hunan province, China, and demographic information along with knowledge and attitude of HIV/AIDS was collected through standardized interviews. Descriptive statistics were used to describe HIV knowledge, attitudes, and education services among detainees. RESULTS: There were 956 detainees interviewed from 10 detention centers. The male to female ratio was 2.24:1. The majority detainees received nine years of compulsory education, accounting for 51.5%. There were nine questions to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge of detainees, and 35.7% of those surveyed answered all nine questions correctly. There were 92.3% (882/956) who consented to be informed about the HIV antibody test results when tested, and 81% (774/956) elected that their family members were also informed. All detention centers had an organized HIV/AIDS education program. CONCLUSION: This study gives us an overview about HIV/AIDS knowledge in detention in Hunan province, and all detention sites in the study provided HIV/AIDS intervention services among detainees that focused on HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude, and health behaviors

Movable Fiber-Integrated Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguide on Metal Film

A waveguide structure consisting of a tapered nanofiber on a metal film is proposed and analyzed to support highly localized hybrid plasmonic modes. The hybrid plasmonic mode can be efficiently excited through the in-line tapered fiber based on adiabatic conversion and collected by the same fiber, which is very convenient in the experiment. Due to the ultrasmall mode area of plasmonic mode, the local electromagnetic field is greatly enhanced in this movable waveguide, which is potential for enhanced coherence light emitter interactions, such as waveguide quantum electrodynamics, single emitter spectrum and nonlinear optics

Heating storage performance of a water tank combined PCM：An experimental case study

Water tank is a commonly used unit which has been frequently applied for thermal energy storage units. In order to enhance the thermal performance of the water tank, the phase change material is utilized by embedding paraffin into water tank. But the key question is whether a competitive charging could be achieved. Therefore, an experimental system has been constructed. In this article, two key indices, the energy storage capacity and the energy storage intensity, are investigated. The performances of the phase change material–thermal energy storage tank during the heat charging processes are investigated experimentally, and a series of experiments are carried out under different heat transfer fluid flow rates and distance between phase change material plates. The temperature evolutions of the phase change material plates and heat transfer fluid are obtained during the experiments. The thermal performance of the phase change material–thermal energy storage tank was observed to be more effective than the conventional sensible thermal energy storage tank. It is found that water flow rate of 1.3 m3/h is taken as the optimal working condition, and the 3-cm plate distance is considered as the optimal design

Polydopamine-Coated Manganese Carbonate Nanoparticles for Amplified Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Photothermal Therapy

【Abstract】This study reports a multifunctional nanoparticle (NP) with function of amplified magnetic resonance image (MRI)-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) by the surface coating of polydopamine (PDA) shell. Importantly, by means of introducing the surface coating of PDA，it helps entrap large quantities of water around NPs and allow more efficient water exchange， leading to greatly improved MR contrast signals compared with the one without PDA coating. Besides，the distinct photothermal effect can be obtained arising from the strong absorption of PDA in the near-infrared (NIR) region. By synthesizing the multifunctional MnCOs@PDA NPs as example，we found that the longitudinal relaxivity (ri) of MnCOs NPs might improve from 5.7 to 8.3 mM-is-i. Subsequently，In vitro MRI and PTT results verified that MnCOs@PDA could serve well as an excellent MRI/PTT theranostic agent. Furthermore， the MnCO3@PDA nanoparticles were applied as MRI/PTT theranostic agent for in vivo MRI-guided photothermal ablation of tumors by intratumorally injection in 4T1 tumor bearing-mice. The MR imaging result shows a significantly bright MR image in the tumor site. The MnCO3@PDA-mediated PTT result shows high therapy efficiency as a result of their high photothermal conversion efficiency. The present strategy of amplified MRI-guided PTT based on PDA coating on NPs will be widely applicable to other multifunctional nanoparticles.This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31271071，31371012，andU1505228)

A study of two Chinese patients with tetrasomy and pentasomy 15q11q13 including Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome critical region present with developmental delays and mental impairment

BACKGROUND: The proximal chromosome 15q is prone to unequal crossover, leading to rearrangements. Although 15q11q13 duplications are common in patients with developmental delays and mental impairment, 15q aneusomies resulting in greater or equal to 4 copies of 15q11q13 are rare and no pentasomy 15q11q13 has been reported in the literature. Thus far, all reported high copy number 15q11q13 cases are from the West populations and no such study in Chinese patients have been documented. Dosage-response pattern of high copy number 15q11q13 on clinical presentations is still a subject for further study. CASE PRESENTATION: In this study, we characterized two Han Chinese patients with high copy number 15q11q13. Using chromosome banding, high resolution SNP-based cytogenomic array, Fluorescence in situ hybridization, and PCR-based microsatellite analysis, we identified two patients with tetrasomy 15q11q13 and pentasomy 15q11q13. Both 15q11q13 aneusomies resulted from a maternally inherited supernumerary marker chromosome 15, and each was composed of two different sized 15q11q13 segments covering the Prader-Willi/Angelman critical region: one being about 10 Mb with breakpoints at BP1 and BP5 regions on 15q11 and 15q13, respectively, and another about 8 Mb in size with breakpoints at BP1 and BP4 regions on 15q. Both patients presented with similar clinical features that included neurodevelopmental delays, mental impairment, speech and autistic behavior, and mild dysmorphism. The patient with pentasomy 15q11q13 was more severely affected than the patient with tetrasomy 15q11q13. Low birth weight was noted in patient with pentasomy 15q1q13. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of pentasomy 15q11q13 and the first study of high copy number 15q11q13 in Han Chinese patients. Our findings demonstrate that patients with tetrasomy and pentasomy of chromosome 15q11q13 share similar spectrum of phenotypes reported in other high copy number 15q11q13 patients in the West, and positive correlation between 15q11q13 copy number and degree of severity of clinical phenotypes. Low birth weight observed in the pentasomy 15q11q13 patient was not reported in other patients with high copy number 15q11q13. Additional studies would be necessary to further characterize high copy number 15q11q13 aneusomies

Chinese Expert Consensus on Critical Care Ultrasound Applications at COVID-19 Pandemic

The spread of new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) follows a different pattern than previous respiratory viruses, posing a serious public health risk worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease as COVID-19 and declared it a pandemic. COVID-19 is characterized by highly contagious nature, rapid transmission, swift clinical course, profound worldwide impact, and high mortality among critically ill patients. Chest X-ray, computerized tomography (CT), and ultrasound are commonly used imaging modalities. Among them, ultrasound, due to its portability and non-invasiveness, can be easily moved to the bedside for examination at any time. In addition, with use of 4G or 5G networks, remote ultrasound consultation can also be performed, which allows ultrasound to be used in isolated medial areas. Besides, the contact surface of ultrasound probe with patients is small and easy to be disinfected. Therefore, ultrasound has gotten lots of positive feedbacks from the frontline healthcare workers, and it has played an indispensable role in the course of COVID-19 diagnosis and follow up