The power scaling on short wavelength (SW) fiber lasers operating around 1 μm are in significant demand for applications in energy, environment and industry. The challenge for performance scalability of high-power SW lasers based on rare-earth-doped fiber primarily lies in the physical limitations, including reabsorption, amplified spontaneous emission and parasitic laser oscillation. Here, we demonstrate an all-fiberized, purely passive SW (1018 nm) random-distributed-feedback Raman fiber laser (RRFL) to validate the capability of achieving high-power output at SWs based on multimode laser diodes (LDs) direct pumping. Directly pumped by multimode LDs, the high-brightness RRFL delivers over 656 W, with an electro-optical efficiency of 20% relative to the power. The slope efficiency is 94%. The beam quality M2 factor is 2.9 (which is ~20 times that of the pump) at the maximum output signal power, achieving the highest brightness enhancement of 14.9 in RRFLs. To the best of our knowledge, this achievement also represents the highest power record of RRFLs utilizing multimode diodes for direct pumping. This work may not only provide a new insight into the realization of high-power, high-brightness RRFLs but also is a promising contender in the power scaling of SWs below 1 μm.

On April 20, 2013, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan County, Ya’an City, Sichuan Province in southwest China. West China Hospital of Sichuan University, the largest and best hospital in Sichuan Province, is located in the city of Chengdu—about 100 km from the epicenter—and provided medical treatment to a total of 400 seismic patients. In this article, we retrospectively investigated 199 patients with musculoskeletal injuries who were treated in the Department of Orthopedics. Based on the seismic intensity distribution map, injury-occurring locations were divided into 5 grade-related areas: IX, VIII, VII, VI, and ≤V grade-area. The characteristics of seismic injuries were analyzed according to the geographic distribution of victims. We found that the constituent ratio of injury causes significantly differed in different earthquake areas according to the seismic intensity. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018; 12: 408–410)

Plant height is important for crop yield improvement. In this study, a dwarf mutant, Gmdwarf1, was screened from a γ-ray-treated soybean population. Compared with the wild type, the mutant exhibited later germination, smaller and darker green leaves, and less-elongated shoots. Genome-wide transcriptome detection through RNA-seq analysis revealed that not only gibberellin-related genes but many other genes involved in hormone biosynthetic pathways were also significantly influenced in the mutant. We presumed that Gmdwarf1 might play essential roles in the plant hormone pathways. Future functional analysis of this dwarf mutant would help us to understand the underlying mechanisms and be beneficial for improving soybean yield.

The astrocytic enzyme adenosine kinase (ADK) is a key negative regulator of the brain’s endogenous anticonvulsant adenosine. Astrogliosis with concomitant upregulation of ADK is part of the epileptogenic cascade and contributes to seizure generation. To molecularly dissect the respective roles of astrogliosis and ADK-expression for seizure generation, we used a transgenic approach to uncouple ADK-expression from astrogliosis: in Adk-tg mice the endogenous Adk-gene was deleted and replaced by a ubiquitously expressed Adk-transgene with novel ectopic expression in pyramidal neurons, resulting in spontaneous seizures. Here, we followed a unique approach to selectively injure the CA3 of these Adk-tg mice. Using this strategy, we had the opportunity to study astrogliosis and epileptogenesis in the absence of the endogenous astrocytic Adk-gene. After triggering epileptogenesis we demonstrate astrogliosis without upregulation of ADK, but lack of seizures, whereas matching wild-type animals developed astrogliosis with upregulation of ADK and spontaneous recurrent seizures. By uncoupling ADK-expression from astrogliosis, we demonstrate that global expression levels of ADK rather than astrogliosis per se contribute to seizure generation.

Epilepsy is characterized by both neuronal and astroglial dysfunction. The endogenous anticonvulsant adenosine, the level of which is largely controlled by astrocytes, might provide a crucial link between astrocyte and neuron dysfunction in epilepsy. Here we have studied astrogliosis, a hallmark of the epileptic brain, adenosine dysfunction and the emergence of spontaneous seizures in a comprehensive approach that includes a new mouse model of focal epileptogenesis, mutant mice with altered brain levels of adenosine, and mice lacking adenosine A1 receptors. In wild-type mice, following a focal epileptogenesis-precipitating injury, astrogliosis, upregulation of the adenosine-removing astrocytic enzyme adenosine kinase (ADK), and spontaneous seizures coincide in a spatio-temporally restricted manner. Importantly, these spontaneous seizures are mimicked by untreated transgenic mice that either overexpress ADK in brain or lack A1 receptors. Conversely, mice with reduced ADK in the forebrain do not develop either astrogliosis or spontaneous seizures. Our studies define ADK as a crucial upstream regulator of A1 receptor-mediated modulation of neuronal excitability, and support the ADK hypothesis of epileptogenesis in which upregulation of ADK during astrogliosis provides a crucial link between astrocyte and neuron dysfunction in epilepsy. These findings define ADK as rational target for therapeutic intervention.

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon thin films were prepared by using organic hydrocarbon source, xylene (C8H10), in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition-(PECVD) system. In contrast to a single broad PL peak from methane (CH4)-based hydrogenated amorphous carbon films, a new PL feature was observed from xylene-based a–C:H films in the blue-green light region. It was found that the aromatic-structures were enhanced in xylene-based a–C:H films deposited at high radio frequency power, which may result in the existence of luminescence centers in the carbon films and induce the appearance of a new PL peak.

The organic carbon source –xylene(C6H6-C2H4), was used to fabricate a-C:H films in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. The structures and bonding configurations were characterized and compared with that of conventional methane-based samples by using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and Raman scattering technique. Strong room temperature luminescence in blue-green light range was found and the PL feature was quite different from that of methane-based a-C:H films.