WTe 2 shows unique properties different from sulfides and selenides. Large-area, uniform few-layer 1T′ phase WTe 2 and long-term stability are essential for fundamental studies and applications of WTe 2 . Here, centimeter-scale, large-area, uniform few-layer 1T′-WTe 2 films are prepared by a facile, low-temperature, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and the long-term stability of such CVD-grown 1T′-WTe 2 up to 30 days in ambient condition is studied for the first time. Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy reveal the high quality of WTe 2 . The thickness of few-layer WTe 2 can be well tuned, and thickness-dependent Raman spectra are observed. The electrical and quantum electronic transport properties are found to be highly influenced by air exposure with different exposure times under ambient condition. The conductivity decreases by about 10 times with exposure, whereas weak antilocation behavior is observed in both pristine and air-exposed samples for 30 days. Surface-oxidization-induced magnetoresistance enhancement up to 30% is discovered unexpectedly.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the regional synchronization of brain in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Methods. Resting-state fMRI data were acquired from twenty-one patients with JME and twenty-two healthy subjects. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to analyze the spontaneous activity in whole brain. Two-sample t-test was performed to detect the ReHo difference between two groups. Correlations between the ReHo values and features of seizures were calculated further. Key Findings. Compared with healthy controls, patients showed significantly increased ReHo in bilateral thalami and motor-related cortex regions and a substantial reduction of ReHo in cerebellum and occipitoparietal lobe. In addition, greater ReHo value in the left paracentral lobule was linked to the older age of onset in patients. Significance. These findings implicated the abnormality of thalamomotor cortical network in JME which were associated with the genesis and propagation of epileptiform activity. Moreover, our study supported that the local brain spontaneous activity is a potential tool to investigate the epileptic activity and provided important insights into understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of JME.

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Our previous studies have shown that geniposide plays an essential role in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from pancreatic β cells and also regulates the metabolism of Aβ and its deposition in neurons. In this study, we reported that insulin deficiency induced significant increase of tau phosphorylation. Administration of geniposide for 4 weeks significantly decreased the phosphorylated level of tau and the acceleration of GSK-3β phosphorylation in the brain of APP/PS1 transgenic mice induced by insulin deficiency. We also observed that geniposide decreased the phosphorylation of tau protein directly and increased the phosphorylation of Akt in primary cultured cortical neurons. Furthermore, geniposide enhanced the role of insulin on the phosphorylation of Akt, GSK-3β, and tau in primary cultured cortical neurons. And these effects of geniposide in cortical neurons could be prevented by preincubation with LY294002, an inhibitor of PI3K. Taken together, our findings provide a mechanistic and perhaps a foundational link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease and are consistent with the notion that geniposide might play an essential role on the phosphorylation of tau protein via enhancing insulin signaling and may convey a therapeutic benefit in Alzheimer's disease.

With the development of distributed energy resources (DERs) and the increasing flexibility in active distribution networks (ADNs), the economic operation of ADN coordinating both generation and demand sides is required to be studied. In this paper, considering the electricity price response of DER, a coordinated operation strategy for ADN is presented based on a bi-level agent framework. DER agent makes their own response based on the technical operability and economic consideration, while ADN agent will finally coordinate each participant by using the interactive benefit prioritization (IBP) principle. The simulation results indicate that the proposed strategy cannot only reduce the power imbalance, but also improve the economic operation of ADN. Moreover, consumption of renewable energy is ameliorated as well.