Flexible thermoelectrics is a synergy of flexible electronics and thermoelectric energy conversion. In this work, we fabricated flexible full-inorganic thermoelectric power generation modules based on doped silver chalcogenides.

BackgroundExtracellular communication within the tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in tumor progression. Although exosomes can package into long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) to mediate extracellular communication, the role of exosomal lncRNA PTENP1 in bladder cancer (BC) remains unclear.MethodWe detected PTENP1 expression between patients with BC and healthy controls; the expression occurred in tissues and exosomes from plasma. We assessed the diagnostic accuracy by the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and the area under curve (AUC). Cell phenotypes and animal experiments were performed to determine the effect of exosomal PTENP1.ResultsPTENP1 was significantly reduced in BC tissues and in exosomes from plasma of patients with BC (P < 0.05). We found that PTENP1 was mainly wrapped by exosomes. Exosomal PTENP1 could distinguish patients with BC from healthy controls (AUC = 0.743; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.645–0.840). Normal cells secreted exosomal PTENP1 and transmitted it to BC cells, thus inhibiting the biological malignant behavior of BC cells by increasing cell apoptosis and reducing the ability to invade and migrate (P < 0.05). Exosomal PTENP1 could suppress tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, exosomal PTENP1 mediated the expression of PTEN by competitively binding to microRNA-17.ConclusionExosomal PTENP1 is a promising novel biomarker that can be used for the clinical detection of BC. Exosomes derived from normal cells transfer PTENP1 to BC cells, which reduce the progression of BC both in vitro and in vivo and suggest that exosomal PTENP1 participates in normal-cell-to-bladder-cell communication during the carcinogenesis of BC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12943-018-0880-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Hetero‐shaped thermoelectric (TE) generators (TEGs) can power the sensors used in safety monitoring systems of undersea oil pipelines, but their development is greatly limited by the lack of materials with both good shape‐conformable ability and high TE performance. In this work, a new ductile inorganic TE material, Ag20S7Te3, with high TE performance is reported. At 300–600 K, Ag20S7Te3 crystallizes in a body‐centered cubic structure, in which S and Te atoms randomly occupy the (0, 0, 1) site. Due to the smaller generalized stacking fault energy in the (101¯)[010] slip system, Ag20S7Te3 shows better ductility than Ag2S, yielding excellent shape‐conformability. The high carrier mobility and low lattice thermal conductivity observed in Ag20S7Te3 result in a maximum dimensionless figure of merit (zT) of 0.80 at 600 K, which is comparable with the best commercial Bi2Te3‐based alloys. The prototype TEG consisting of 10 Ag20S7Te3 strips displays an open‐circuit voltage of 69.2 mV and a maximum power output of 17.1 µW under the temperature difference of 70 K. This study creates a new route toward hetero‐shaped TEG.

Self-powered wearable electronics require thermoelectric materials simultaneously with a high dimensionless figure of merit (zT) and good flexibility to convert the heat discharged by the human body into electricity. Ag2(S,Se)-based semiconducting materials can well satisfy these requirements, and thus, they are attracting great attention in thermoelectric society recently. Ag2(S,Se) crystalizes in an orthorhombic structure or monoclinic structure, depending on the detailed S/Se atomic ratio, but the relationship between its crystalline structure and mechanical/thermoelectric performance is still unclear to date. In this study, a series of Ag2Se1‐xSx (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.45) samples were prepared and their mechanical and thermoelectric performance dependence on the crystalline structure was systematically investigated. x=0.3 in the Ag2Se1‐xSx system was found to be the transition boundary between orthorhombic and monoclinic structures. Mechanical property measurement shows that the orthorhombic Ag2Se1‐xSx samples are brittle while the monoclinic Ag2Se1‐xSx samples are ductile and flexible. In addition, the orthorhombic Ag2Se1‐xSx samples show better electrical transport performance and higher zT than the monoclinic samples under a comparable carrier concentration, most likely due to their weaker electron-phonon interactions. This study sheds light on the further development of flexible inorganic TE materials.

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It is well-known that the adaptability of coral-Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis to thermal stress varies among coral species, but the cause and/or mechanism behind it are not well-understood. In this study, we aimed to explore this issue based on zooxanthellae density (ZD) and Symbiodiniaceae genus/subclade. Hemocytometry and next-generation sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) marker gene were used to observe ZDs and Symbiodiniaceae genera/subclades associated with 15 typical coral species in the southern South China Sea (SCS). Average ZDs of all corals were in low levels, ranging from 0.84 to 1.22 × 106 cells cm−2, with a total of five Symbiodiniaceae genera, Symbiodinium, Cladocopium, Durusdinium, Fugacium, and Gerakladium, as well as 24 dominant subclades, were detected and varied among these coral species. Pocillopora verrucosa was dominated by Durusdinium (subclade D1/D1a), and other colonial corals were dominated by Cladocopium, but the subclades were varied among these species. Porites lutea and Montipora efflorescens were dominated by C15, and Echinopora lamellosa, Hydnophora exesa, and Coscinaraea exesa were dominated by C40. Acropora corymbosa, Merulina ampliata, and five species of Faviidae were mainly associated with Cladocopium types of C3u and Cspc. In contrast to other colonial corals, the dominant subclade of solitary Fungia fungites was C27, with high host specificity. Our study indicates that coral thermal stress adaptability is mainly affected by dominant Symbiodiniaceae type instead of ZD in the southern SCS. Some heat-sensitive corals, such as P. verrucosa corals, have acquired a high abundance of heat-tolerant Durusdinium to adapt to thermal stress. This could be the main reason for these corals becoming the dominant corals in this reef region. Background subclades analyses showed significant differences among coral species in subclade quantity and diversity. These suggest that numbers of coral species may have adapted to high environmental temperature by adopting various symbionts and/or associating with heat-tolerant Symbiodiniaceae.

We report the crystal structure and magnetic properties of the Zn1−xMnxO compounds synthesized by a combustion method. The Zn1−xMnxO compounds with x=0–0.1 crystallize in the wurtzite ZnO structure. The lattice parameters a and c of Zn1−xMnxO increase linearly with the Mn content, indicating that Mn2+ ions substitute for Zn2+ ions. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the average particle radius of Zn0.95Mn0.05O is about 40 nm. From the Curie–Weiss behavior of susceptibility at high temperature, it was found that the Mn–Mn interaction is dominated by antiferromagnetic coupling with effective nearest-neighbor exchange constant J about −32 K and the large negative value of the Curie–Weiss temperature.

It is well known that different coral species have different tolerances to thermal or cold stress, which is presumed to be related to the density of Symbiodinium. However, the intrinsic factors between stress-tolerant characteristics and coral-associated bacteria are rarely studied. In this study, 16 massive coral and 9 branching coral colonies from 6 families, 10 genera, and 18 species were collected at the same time and location (Xinyi Reef) in the South China Sea to investigate the bacterial communities. The results of an alpha diversity analysis showed that bacterial diversities associated with massive corals were generally higher than those with branching corals at different taxonomic levels (phylum, class, order, and so on). In addition, hierarchical clustering tree and PCoA analyses showed that coral species were clustered into two large groups according to the similarity of bacterial communities. Group I consisted of massive Goniastrea, Plesiastrea, Leptastrea, Platygyra, Echinopora, Porites, and Leptoria, and group II consisted of branching Acropora and Pocillopora. These findings suggested that both massive corals and branching corals have their own preference for the choice of associated bacteria, which may be involved in observed differences in thermal/cold tolerances. Further analysis found that 55 bacterial phyla, including 43 formally described phyla and 12 candidate phyla, were detected in these coral species. Among them, 52 phyla were recovered from the massive coral group, and 46 phyla were recovered from the branching coral group. Formally described coral pathogens have not been detected in these coral species, suggesting that they are less likely to be threatened by disease in this geographic area. This study highlights a clear relationship between the high complexity of bacterial community associated with coral, skeletal morphology of coral and potentially tolerances to thermal or cold stress.