A high-ε polymer based composite with lower inorganic content (≤10 vol%) has been fabricated using BaTiO3 nanowires as fillers.

for the PCOSAct Study Group IMPORTANCE Acupuncture is used to induce ovulation in some women with polycystic ovary syndrome, without supporting clinical evidence.OBJECTIVE To assess whether active acupuncture, either alone or combined with clomiphene, increases the likelihood of live births among women with polycystic ovary syndrome. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA double-blind (clomiphene vs placebo), single-blind (active vs control acupuncture) factorial trial was conducted at 21 sites (27 hospitals) in mainland China between July 6, 2012, and November 18, 2014, with 10 months of pregnancy follow-up until October 7, 2015. Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome were randomized in a 1:1:1:1 ratio to 4 groups.INTERVENTIONS Active or control acupuncture administered twice a week for 30 minutes per treatment and clomiphene or placebo administered for 5 days per cycle, for up to 4 cycles. The active acupuncture group received deep needle insertion with combined manual and low-frequency electrical stimulation; the control acupuncture group received superficial needle insertion, no manual stimulation, and mock electricity. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome, the use of acupuncture with or without clomiphene, compared with control acupuncture and placebo, did not increase live births. This finding does not support acupuncture as an infertility treatment in such women. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Photofragment action spectroscopy and femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging are utilized to probe the dissociation channels in iodide-uracil (I(-) ⋅ U) binary clusters upon photoexcitation. The photofragment action spectra show strong I(-) and weak [U-H](-) ion signal upon photoexcitation. The action spectra show two bands for I(-) and [U-H](-) production peaking around 4.0 and 4.8 eV. Time-resolved experiments measured the rate of I(-) production resulting from excitation of the two bands. At 4.03 eV and 4.72 eV, the photoelectron signal from I(-) exhibits rise times of 86 ± 7 ps and 36 ± 3 ps, respectively. Electronic structure calculations indicate that the lower energy band, which encompasses the vertical detachment energy (4.11 eV) of I(-)U, corresponds to excitation of a dipole-bound state of the complex, while the higher energy band is primarily a π-π(∗) excitation on the uracil moiety. Although the nature of the two excited states is very different, the long lifetimes for I(-) production suggest that this channel results from internal conversion to the I(-) ⋅ U ground state followed by evaporation of I(-). This hypothesis was tested by comparing the dissociation rates to Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus calculations.

Core–shell structured BaTiO3@carbon hybrid particles fabricated via chemical vapor deposition can remarkably enhance the dielectric performance of polymer composites.

ChiCTR-TRC-09000376 (http://apps.who.int/trialsearch/).

Photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations are used to investigate the structures and chemical bonding of the B25(-) cluster. Global minimum searches reveal a dense potential energy landscape with 13 quasi-planar structures within 10 kcal/mol at the CCSD(T)/6-311+G(d) level of theory. Three quasi-planar isomers (I, II, and III) are lowest in energy and nearly degenerate at the CCSD(T) level of theory, with II and III being 0.8 and 0.9 kcal/mol higher, respectively, whereas at two density functional levels of theory isomer III is the lowest in energy (8.4 kcal/mol more stable than I at PBE0/6-311+G(2df) level). Comparison with experimental photoelectron spectroscopic data shows isomer II to be the major contributor while isomers I and III cannot be ruled out as minor contributors to the observed spectrum. Theoretical analyses reveal similar chemical bonding in I and II, both involving peripheral 2c-2e B-B σ-bonding and delocalized interior σ- and π-bonding. Isomer III has an interesting elongated ribbon-like structure with a π-bonding pattern analogous to those of dibenzopentalene. The high density of low-lying isomers indicates the complexity of the medium-sized boron clusters; the method dependency of predicting relative energies of the low-lying structures for B25(-) suggests the importance of comparison with experiment in determining the global minima of boron clusters at this size range. The appearance of many low-lying quasi-planar structures containing a hexagonal hole in B25(-) suggests the importance of this structural feature in maintaining planarity of larger boron clusters.

Nanoparticles of ZnO and their application in coating systems have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years because of its multifunction property, especially antibacterial activity. In this study, antibacterial and physical properties of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) based film coated with ZnO nanoparticles were investigated. It was found that the antibacterial action should be attributed to the killing effect property of ZnO nanoparticles. The ZnO-coated films treated by shaking for 10 h exhibited a similar high antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as the untreated ZnO-coated films. This result indicated that the ZnO nanoparticles adhered very well to the plastic film. The antibacterial activity of the ZnO-coated film to inactivate E. coli or S. aureus was improved by UV irradiation. The analysis of physical properties of the ZnO-coated films revealed that the nano-ZnO particles showed less effects on the tensile strength and elongation at break of the film. The ultraviolet (UV) light fastness of the ZnO-coated PVC film was improved, which may be attributed to the absorption of ZnO nanoparticles against UV light. Water vapor transmission of the ZnO-coated film decreased from 128 to 85 g/m(2) · 24 h, whereas the thickness of film increased from 6.0 μm with increasing the amount of nano-ZnO particles coated from 0 to 187.5 μg/cm(2). This research revealed that the PVC film coated with nano-ZnO particles has a good potential to be used as an active coating system for food packaging.

Photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations have been carried out to probe the structures and chemical bonding of the B27 (-) cluster. Comparison between the experimental spectrum and the theoretical results reveals a two-dimensional (2D) global minimum with a triangular lattice containing a tetragonal defect (I) and two low-lying 2D isomers (II and III), each with a hexagonal vacancy. All three 2D isomers have 16 peripheral boron atoms and 11 inner boron atoms. Isomer I is shown to be mainly responsible for the observed photoelectron spectrum with isomers II and III as minor contributors. Chemical bonding analyses of these three isomers show that they all feature 16 localized peripheral B-B σ-bonds. Additionally, isomer I possesses 16 delocalized σ bonds and nine delocalized π bonds, while isomers II and III each contain 17 delocalized σ bonds and eight delocalized π bonds. It is found that the hexagonal vacancy is associated generally with an increase of delocalized σ bonds at the expense of delocalized π bonds in 2D boron clusters. The hexagonal vacancy, characteristic of borophenes, is found to be a general structural feature for mid-sized boron clusters. The current study shows that B27 (-) is the first boron cluster, where a hexagonal vacancy appears among the low-lying isomers accessible experimentally.