2D ferroelectrics with robust polar order in the atomic‐scale thickness at room temperature are needed to miniaturize ferroelectric devices and tackle challenges imposed by traditional ferroelectrics. These materials usually have polar point group structure regarding as a prerequisite of ferroelectricity. Yet, to introduce polar structure into otherwise nonpolar 2D materials for producing ferroelectricity remains a challenge. Here, by combining first‐principles calculations and experimental studies, it is reported that the native Ga vacancy‐defects located in the asymmetrical sites in cubic defective semiconductor α‑Ga2Se3 can induce polar structure. Meanwhile, the induced polarization can be switched in a moderate energy barrier. The switched polarization is observed in 2D α‑Ga2Se3 nanoflakes of ≈4 nm with a high switching temperature up to 450 K. Such polarization switching could arise from the displacement of Ga vacancy between neighboring asymmetrical sites by applying an electric field. This work removes the point group limit for ferroelectricity, expanding the range of 2D ferroelectrics into the native defective semiconductors.
Objective
To explore the alteration of pattens of anatomical and functional connectivity (FC) of posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with cognitive dysfunction and the relationship between the connection strengths and cognitive state.
Methods
We prospectively enrolled 20 PD patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), 13 PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC) and 13 healthy controls (HCs). By collecting, preprocessing and FC analyzing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data, we extracted default mode network (DMN) patterns, compared the differences in DMN between the three groups and the analyzed the correlation between FC value with the commonly used neuropsychological testing.
Results
The PD-MCI showed significant worse performances in general cognition, and PD-NC and HCs showed comparable performances of cognitive function. Cognitive-related differences in DMN were detected in the bilateral precuneus (BPcu). Compared with the HCs, PD-NC and PD-MCI showed significantly decreased FC within BPcu (both P < 0.001). For PD-MCI, the rho of the Fisher’s Z-transformed FC (zFC) value within BPcu with the TMTA, DSST and CFT-20min were 0.50, 0.66 and 0.47, respectively. For PD-NC, the rho of the zFC value within BPcu with the MMSE was 0.58.
Discussion
BPcu was the cognitive-related region in DMN. As cognition declines, FC within BPcu weakens. For PD-MCI, the higher the FC values within BPcu were likely to be related to the better the performances of TMTA, DSST and CFT-20 min DR, which needs to be further confirmed by large-sample studies.
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