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Ionic conductors are promising candidates for fabricating soft electronics, but currently applied ionic hydrogels and organogels suffer from liquid leakage and evaporation issues. Herein, we fabricated a free-liquid ionic conducting elastomer (LFICE) with dry lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonimide) and elastomeric waterborne polyurethane. The resultant versatile LFICE exhibits superior tensile strength (∼4.5 MPa), satisfactory stretchability (900%), excellent ionic conductivity (8.32 × 10

Vehicle lightweight promises to drive down the maintenance quality and increase energy efficiency in transportation with the safe and strength performance. The use of fiber reinforced polymer composite materials structural battery vehicles is recognized as an essential enabling technology for achieving high bearing capacity and energy storage capacity. At the same time it improves the energy storage capacity, the overall structural energy storage and space utilization of new energy vehicles. In this study we bring an idea to fabricate composites with integrated lithium-ion pouch batteries. The whole preparation process was carried out at room temperature to prevent thermal damage on battery. Experimental results indicate that the cyclic working voltage and capacity of CFRP structure battery are basically consistent with the monomer lithium-ion polymer battery which obtained from Xinwei battery testing equipment. Therefore, the fabrication process does not damage the lithium-ion polymer battery.

Ischaemic stroke is a common condition leading to human disability and death. Previous studies have shown that oleanolic acid (OA) ameliorates oxidative injury and cerebral ischaemic damage, and miR-186-5p is verified to be elevated in serum from ischaemic stroke patients. Herein, we investigated whether OA regulates miR-186-5p expression to control neuroglobin (Ngb) levels, thereby inhibiting neuronal pyroptosis in ischaemic stroke. Three concentrations of OA (0.5, 2, or 8 μM) were added to primary hippocampal neurons subjected to oxygen–glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R), a cell model of ischaemic stroke. We found that OA treatment markedly inhibited pyroptosis. qRT–PCR and western blot revealed that OA suppressed the expression of pyroptosis-associated genes. Furthermore, OA inhibited LDH and proinflammatory cytokine release. In addition, miR-186-5p was downregulated while Ngb was upregulated in OA-treated OGD/R neurons. MiR-186-5p knockdown repressed OGD/R-induced pyroptosis and suppressed LDH and inflammatory cytokine release. In addition, a dual luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-186-5p directly targeted Ngb. OA reduced miR-186-5p to regulate Ngb levels, thereby inhibiting pyroptosis in both OGD/R-treated neurons and MCAO mice. In conclusion, OA alleviates pyroptosis in vivo and in vitro by downregulating miR-186-5p and upregulating Ngb expression, which provides a novel theoretical basis illustrating that OA can be considered a drug for ischaemic stroke.

Non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) are promising low-cost alternatives of Pt/C for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which however suffer from serious stability challenge in the devices of proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). Different from the traditional strategies of increasing the degree of graphitization of carbon substrates and using less Fenton-reactive metals, we prove here that proper regulation of coordination anions is also an effective way to improve the stability of NPMC. N/P co-coordinated Fe-Co dual-atomic-sites are constructed on ZIF-8 derived carbon support using a molecular precursor of C34H28Cl2CoFeP2 and a “precursor-preselected” method. A composition of FeCoN5P1 is infered for the dual-atom active site by microscopy and spectroscopy analysis. By comparing with N-coordinated references, we investigate the effect of P-coodination on the ORR catalysis of Fe-Co dual-atom catalysts in PEMFC. The metals in FeCoN5P1 have the lower formation energy than those in the solo N-coordinated active sites of FeCoN6 and FeN4, and exhibits a much better fuel cell stability. This anion approach provides a new way to improve the stability of dual-atom catalysts.

Luxiang Shang,1 Rui Li,2 Yang Zhao,3 Huaxin Sun,3 Baopeng Tang,3 Yinglong Hou1 1Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong Medicine and Health Key Laboratory of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2Shandong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pacing and Electrophysiology, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cardiac Electrophysiology and Remodeling, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yinglong HouDepartment of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, No. 16766, Jingshi Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250014, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 531-89269317Email yinglonghou@hotmail.comBackground: Obesity is a well-known risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Studies have shown that the Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), a novel visceral adiposity indicator, is positive associated with the risk of T2DM in the Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between CVAI and incident T2DM in a Japanese population.Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of open-access data from a retrospective cohort study. This study included 15,464 participants who received regular medical examinations at Murakami Memorial Hospital. All participants underwent a questionnaire survey, physical examination, and blood biochemical testing at baseline. The main outcome was new-onset T2DM during follow-up. Cox regression analysis and Kaplan–Meier analysis were used to analyze the risk of CVAI on T2DM, and we conducted smooth curve fitting. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the predictive value of CVAI, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) for incident T2DM.Results: During a median follow-up time of 5.39 years, 373 new-onset T2DM events were observed. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that the incidence of T2DM increased as the CVAI increased (log-rank χ2 = 187.1076 and 129.6067 in males and females, respectively, both P < 0.001). After adjustment for covariates, per 1 increase of CVAI was associated with a 1.0133-fold and 1.0246-fold higher risk of incident T2DM in males and females, respectively (both P < 0.001). Those individuals in the top CVAI quartile group had the highest risk of new-onset T2DM (HR = 3.1568 and 5.8415 in males and females, respectively, both P < 0.05). A nonlinear relationship was identified by the smooth fitting curve between CVAI and T2DM events in both genders. ROC analysis indicated that CVAI had better predictive power than BMI and WC in both genders.Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that CVAI was significantly associated with an increased risk of new-onset T2DM in Japanese adults.Keywords: diabetes mellitus, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Chinese visceral adiposity index, obesity, cohort study, Japanese adults

Carbon-supported transition metal single atoms are promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst. Since there are many types of carbon supports and transition metals, the accurate prediction of the components with high activity through theoretical calculations can greatly save experimental time and costs. In this work, the ORR catalytic properties of 180 types single-atom catalysts (SACs) composed of the eight representative carbon-based substrates (graphdiyne, C2N, C3N4, phthalocyanine, C-coordination graphene, N-coordination graphene, covalent organic frameworks and metal-organic frameworks) and 3d, 4d, and 5d transition metal elements are investigated by density functional theory (DFT). The adsorption free energy of OH* is proved a universal descriptor capable of accurately prediction of the ORR catalytic activity. It is found that the oxygen reduction reaction overpotentials of all the researched SACs follow one volcano shape very well with the adsorption free energy of OH*. Phthalocyanine, N-coordination graphene and metal-organic frameworks stand out as the promising supports for single metal atom due to the relatively lower overpotentials. Notably, the Co-doped metal-organic frameworks, Ir-doped phthalocyanine, Co-doped N-coordination graphene, Co-doped graphdiyne and Rh-doped phthalocyanine show extremely low overpotentials comparable to that of Pt (111). The study provides a guideline for design and selection of carbon-supported SACs toward oxygen reduction reaction.

Frailty is a risk factor for postoperative delirium (POD), and has led to preoperative interventions that have reduced, but not eliminated, the risk. We hypothesised that EEG suppression, another risk factor for POD, mediates some of the frailty risk for POD.A prospective cohort study enrolled patients aged 65 yr or older, scheduled for noncardiac surgery under total intravenous anaesthesia. Frailty was assessed using the FRAIL scale. Cumulative duration of EEG suppression, defined as an amplitude between -5 and 5 μV for0.5 s during anaesthesia, was measured. POD was diagnosed by either confusion assessment method (CAM), CAM-ICU, or medical records. The severity of POD was assessed using the Delirium Rating Scale - Revised-98 (DRS). Mediation analysis was used to estimate the relationships between frailty, EEG suppression, and severity of POD.Among 252 enrolled patients, 51 were robust, 129 were prefrail, and 72 were frail. Patients classified as frail had higher duration of EEG suppression than either the robust (19 vs 0.57 s, P0.001) or prefrail groups (19 vs 3.22 s, P0.001). Peak delirium score was higher in the frail group than either the robust (17 vs 15, P0.001) or prefrail groups (17 vs 16, P=0.007). EEG suppression time mediated 24.2% of the frailty-DRS scores association.EEG suppression time mediated a statistically significant portion of the frailty-POD association in older noncardiac surgery patients. Trials directed at reducing EEG suppression time could result in intraoperative interventions to reduce POD in frail patients.ChiCTR2000041092 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry).

Among the various scanning techniques, spot and raster scanning are the most frequently adopted. Raster scanning turns off the beam only when each isoenergy slice irradiation is completed. This feature intrinsically solves the leakage dose and frequent beam-switching problems encountered during spot scanning. However, to shorten the delivery time of raster scanning, a sophisticated dose control strategy is required to guarantee dose distribution. In this study, a real-time compensation method with raster scanning for synchrotron systems was designed. It is characterized by a small spot-spacing planning strategy and real-time subtraction of the transient number of particles delivered between two planning-spot positions from the planned number of particles of the subsequent raster point. The efficacy of the compensation method was demonstrated by performing accurate raster scanning simulations with an in-house simulation code and accurate final dose evaluations with a commercial treatment planning system. Given the similar dose evaluation criteria under a practical high scanning speed, compared with the spot scanning method, the total delivery time of the compensated raster scanning method was significantly shortened by 53.3% in the case of irradiating a cubical target and by 28.8% in a pelvic case. Therefore, it can be concluded that real-time compensated raster scanning with a fast scanning configuration can significantly shorten the delivery time compared to that of spot scanning. It is important to reduce the pressure on patients caused by prolonged immobilization and to improve patient throughput capacity at particle therapy centers.

Background and ObjectivesTo identify fetal familial cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) and a novel variation.MethodsA 37-year-old pregnant woman (G4P0) presented with right-handed numbness since 2 weeks at 31 weeks of gestation. Evaluation with brain MRI revealed multiple CCMs. As a result, fetal MRI, fetal whole exome sequencing, and maternal Sanger sequencing were performed.ResultsThe mother's brain MRI demonstrated numerous CCMs involving the brain stem, cerebral hemispheres, and cerebellum. Fetal MRI showed a CCM located in the left frontal lobe in susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). The neuroimaging characteristics of the mother and the fetus suggested that their CCMs may be familial. Genetic analysis revealed a novel variation in KRIT1 (c.1A>G, p.0?), also called CCM1, in the mother and the baby. The mother delivered a daughter at 32 weeks of gestation with an Apgar score of 10 by cesarean section.DiscussionThis variation of the initial codon in the KRIT1 gene leads to a phenotype with an early-onset. To our knowledge, this is the first-ever reported case of fetal familial CCM and this novel variation. Brain MRI has excellent sensitivity and specificity, providing the best option for detecting CCMs, even in utero, primarily when SWI is used.

Hydrogen storage materials are the key to hydrogen energy utilization. However, current materials can hardly meet the storage capacity and/or operability requirements of practical applications. Here we report an advancement in hydrogen storage performance and related mechanism based on a hydrofluoric acid incompletely etched MXene, namely, a multilayered Ti2CTx (T is a functional group) stack that shows an unprecedented hydrogen uptake of 8.8 wt% at room temperature and 60 bar H2. Even under completely ambient conditions (25 °C, 1 bar air), Ti2CTx is still able to retain ~4 wt% hydrogen. The hydrogen storage is stable and reversible in the material, and the hydrogen release is controllable by pressure and temperature below 95 °C. The storage mechanism is deduced to be a nanopump-effect-assisted weak chemisorption in the sub-nanoscale interlayer space of the material. Such a storage approach provides a promising strategy for designing practical hydrogen storage materials. An incompletely etched Ti2CTx stack exhibits highly reversible hydrogen storage under near-ambient conditions by nanopump-effect-assisted weak chemisorption.

Bionic ionic skin, having the ionic transduction and chromotropic traits of chameleons, along with multiple sensing, antibacterial, self-healing, and anti-freezing functions, is of great importance in a wide range of applications, such as flexible iontronics, health monitoring systems, and smart wearable devices. Although such advanced intelligence universally exists in natural organisms, these characteristics are rarely achieved in artificial materials simultaneously. By mimicking biological skin, here, a novel electromechanical and mechanochromic dual-sensing ionic skin (DSI-skin) with these superior functions is presented for visually monitoring human motions and expiration. The DSI-skin is mainly generated by the introduction of highly-substituted hydroxypropyl cellulose (H-HPC) forming liquid-crystal structures into a multifunctional ionic hydrogel (MFIH) containing Al3+ ions with ionic conduction. The resulting DSI-skin is the first to realize simultaneously sensitive dual-mode sensing of strain (gauge factor: 4.90; response time: 363 ms; mechanochromic sensitivity: 2.14 nm per %), pressure (sensitivity: 3.14 kPa−1; response time: 631 ms; mechanochromic sensitivity: 8.02 nm kPa−1), and humidity (fast response: 0.5 s; wide range: 30–90% RH) via the change of structure color and resistance. More importantly, owing to the highly synergistic effect of Al3+ ions and H-HPC, the DSI-skin is simultaneously integrated with handy color tuning (426–641 nm), outstanding antibacterial (log reduction > 3.43), excellent self-healing (85.0% efficiency), and anti-freezing (−15 °C) functions for the first time. These utility functions prolong the service life of the materials and expand their applications in many fields. Interestingly, the DSI-skin is also created with Zn2+ ions. Thus, this investigation provides insights into the design and fabrication of high-performance biomimetic materials.

International audience; In this work a synthesis technique for designing sparse phased arrays of large size is presented. The procedure is based on an iterative convex optimization algorithm, also known as compressive sensing, which is straightforward to implement and efficient in terms of computational cost. It is capable of producing a layout with a significant reduction of active elements for predefined performance. Due to its effectiveness, it can also be employed for the optimization of large arrays. The capabilities and versatility of the algorithm are illustrated by different case studies. In particular, the possibility to reduce by 45% the number of elements in a large array is shown in details.

Due to the high specific surface area, abundant nitrogen and micropores, ZIF-8 is a commonly used precursor for preparing high performance Fe-N-C catalysts. However, the Zn element is inevitably remained in the prepared Fe-N-C catalyst. Whether the residual Zn element affects the catalytic activity and active site center of the Fe-N-C catalyst caused widespread curiosity, but has not been studied yet. Herein, we built several Fe, Zn, and N co-doped graphene models to investigate the effect of Zn atoms on the electrocatalytic performance of Fe-N-C catalysts by using density functional theory method. The calculation results show that all the calculated Fe-Zn-Nx structures are thermodynamically stable due to the negative formation energies and relative stabilities. The active sites around Fe and Zn atoms in the structure of Fe-Zn-N6(III) show the lowest oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotentials of 0.38 and 0.43 V, respectively. The bridge site of Fe-Zn in Fe-Zn-N5 shows the lowest ηHER of −0.26 V. A few structures with a better activity than that of FeN4 or ZnN4 are attributed to the synergistic effects between Fe and Zn atoms. The calculated ORR reaction pathways on Fe-Zn-N6(III) show that H2O is the final product and the ORR mechanism on the catalyst would be a four-electron process, and the existence of Zn element in the Fe-N-C catalysts plays a key role in reducing the ORR activation energy barrier. The results are helpful for the deep understand of high-performance Fe-N-C catalysts.

Long noncoding RNAs play an important role in the occurrence, invasion, as well as metastasis of various human cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma. Long noncoding RNAs can affect the biological functions of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by regulating various genes; however, only a small fraction of molecular mechanisms of long noncoding RNAs have been elucidated. In the present study, lnc AC010973.1 (lnc-ATG9B-4) was first identified by microarray analysis from 8 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and confirmed by quantitative PCR in 176 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. We demonstrated that lnc-ATG9B-4 was tightly relative to the tumorous size, TNM stages, portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT), the tumor capsule, metastasis, degree of differentiation, and poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma according to long-term follow-up data. In hepatocellular carcinoma cells, overexpression of lnc-ATG9B-4 promoted proliferation, invasion, as well as migration, while inhibiting lnc-ATG9B-4 by siRNA significantly attenuated the proliferation, invasion, as well as migration. Interestingly, lnc-ATG9B-4 increased the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), which was closely related to the development and chemotherapy sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma. In summary, our results revealed that lnc-ATG9B-4 suggests an unfavorable prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and facilitates the proliferation, invasion, as well as migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by upregulating CDK5. This research suggests that lnc-ATG9B-4 may be a new biomarker for predicting the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma; meanwhile, targeting lnc-ATG9B-4 might serve as a potential strategy for the treatment hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: To analyze the correlation between placenta related disease of pregnant women with antecedent hysteroscopic adhesiolysis due to intrauterine adhesions (IUA). Materials and methods: This is a single center, non-randomized, open-label, retrospective cohort Study. 74 patients who had adhesiolysis and hormone therapy for IUA and progressed into the third trimester were group A and 296 without IUA were group B. The main outcome measure is the incidence of placenta related disease including placenta accreta spectrum, placenta previa, placental abruption, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). The second outcome is the perinatal, and intrapartum complications. Results: Patients in group A had a higher frequency of prior pregnancy times (2.51 ± 1.56 vs.1.84 ± 1.06, p = 0.001) and lower frequency of prior delivery times (0.20 ± 0.41 vs. 1.30 ± 0.51, p

Constructing uniformly coated Mg nanoparticles (NPs) with addition of Al-V alloy nanocatalyst and keeping the stability of the core@shell structure are challenging issues. In this work, a novel Mg@...

Aims Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended for patients with curatively resected colorectal cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of unmet supportive care needs and anxiety on the initiation of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients. Methods This is a retrospective study from a single tertiary referral hospital. Patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer who met the inclusion criteria were included. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and modified 34-item Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS-SF34) were applied to assess patient’s anxiety level and unmet needs. The time intervals between initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy and operation were recorded. Factors associated with delayed initiation of chemotherapy were investigated in univariate and multivariate analysis. Results A total of 135 patients with colorectal cancer were included. In total, 16.3% (22/135) and 5.2% (7/135) reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. In multivariate analysis, low to moderate income status, postoperative complications, anxiety, and high level of unmet needs are independent risk factors for late initiation of chemotherapy. Conclusions Our findings showed that psychological problems such as anxiety and high unmet supportive needs are correlated with delayed initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients.

Bimetallic atom catalysts (BACs), which can exhibit remarkable catalytic performance compared with single atom catalysts (SACs) due to their higher metal loading and the synergy between two metal atoms, have attracted great attention in research. Herein, by means of density functional theory calculations, novel BACs with a bilayer structure composed of monolayers FeN4 (Fe and nitrogen co-doped graphene) and MN4 (Fe/M, M represents transition metal atoms) as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are investigated. Among these bilayer SACs, a series of highly efficient monofunctional, bifunctional, and even trifunctional electrocatalysts have been screened. For example, the overpotentials for the HER, ORR, and OER can reach -0.02 (Fe/Cu), 0.31 (Fe/Hg), and 0.27 V (Fe/Hf), respectively; Fe/Hf and Ir/Fe can serve as promising bifunctional catalysts for the ORR/OER and HER/OER, respectively and Fe/Rh is considered as an excellent trifunctional catalyst for the HER, OER, and ORR. This work not only provides a new idea for understanding and optimizing the active sites of BACs, but also proposes a new strategy for designing high-performance multifunctional electrocatalysts for fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

Heterostructures have attracted extensive attention because of their unique structure and multiple functions, showing potential for various energy storage and conversion techniques. Here, inspired by the potential advantages of heterostructures, we design an insulating MoO3/conducting MoO2 heterostructure as a host for lithium octasulfide (Li2S8) for lithium–sulfur batteries. Different from other heterostructures with a sharp interface, the transition state of MoOx is proved to have a large atomic ratio (∼18%). Benefiting from the good conductivity of MoO2 and the strong polarity of MoOx to adsorb LiPS, the initial specific capacity of the MoO3/MoO2-CP-Li2S8 cathode is 898.4 mA h g−1 and drops to 828.1 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles at 0.5C, showing a 92.2% retention of the initial capacity. Meanwhile, it can deliver an initial specific capacity of 580.5 mA h g−1 at 2.5C with a capacity retention of 82.8% after 850 cycles. This work shows that the heterostructures of 2D materials are promising as a Li2S8 host because of their multiple functions and may provide new strategies to design electrochemical electrodes.

Background Emergency laparotomy (EL) has a high mortality rate. Clinically, frail patients have a poor tolerance for EL. In recent years, sarcopenia has been used as an important indicator of frailty and has received much attention. There have been five different calculation methods of psoas for computed tomography (CT) to measure sarcopenia, but lack of assessment of these calculation methods in Eastern Asian EL patients. Methods We conducted a 2-year retrospective cohort study of patients over 18 years of age who underwent EL in our institution. Five CT measurement values (PMI: psoas muscle index, PML3: psoas muscle to L3 vertebral body ratio, PMD: psoas muscle density, TPG: total psoas gauge, PBSA: psoas muscle to body face area ratio) were calculated to define sarcopenia. Patients with sarcopenia defined by the sex-specific lowest quartile of each measurement were compared with the rest of the cohort. The primary outcome was "ideal outcome", defined as: (1) No postoperative complications of Clavien-Dindo Grade ≥ 4; (2) No mortality within 30 days; (3) When discharged, no need for fluid resuscitation and assisted ventilation, semi-liquid diet tolerated, and able to mobilize independently. The second outcome was mortality at 30-days. Multivariate logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were used. Results Two hundred and twenty-eight patients underwent EL met the inclusion criteria, 192 (84.2%) patients had an ideal outcome after surgery; 32 (14%) patients died within 30 days. Multivariate analysis showed that, except PMD, each calculation method of psoas was independently related to clinical outcome (ideal outcome: PML3, P P = 0.001; PMD, P = 0.157; TPG, P = 0.006; PBSA, P P P = 0.002; PMD, P = 0.088; TPG, P = 0.002; PBSA, P = 0.001). In ROC analysis, the prediction model containing PML3 had the largest area under the curve (AUC) value (AUC value = 0.922 and 0.920, respectively). Conclusion The sarcopenia determined by CT psoas measurements is significantly related to the clinical outcome of EL. The calculation of CT psoas measurement is suitable for application in outcome prediction of EL. In the future, it is necessary to develop a scoring tool that includes sarcopenia to evaluate the risk of EL better.

Additional file 1: The statistical evaluation of the models.

Polymeric micelle has emerged as an efficient implement to overcome the shortcomings of conventional cancer chemotherapy due to its superior solubility of hydrophobic drugs and less side effects of drugs. However, insufficient dilution resistance and ordinary therapeutic effect severely restrict the further translation of current drug-loaded polymeric micelles. Here, we showed that well-defined G-Fn (n = 5, 9, 13) polymeric micelles possessed excellent capabilities as a drug carrier in light of high drug loading content, high stability and precise drug release combined with wonderful endocytosis efficiency to tumors. The representative G-F13 exhibited an excellent dilution resistance, outstanding high drug loading content (22 wt%) and drug loading efficiency (82%), which might be attributed to the extremely low critical micelle concentration conferred by its special Gemini structure and the superhydrophobicity of the fluorocarbon chain. Furthermore, the "cross-linked" internal fluoride membrane consisted of the two chains of the Gemini structure made G-F13 stable even after 24 h of incubation in 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). The camptothecin (CPT) release was selectively triggered by glutathione (GSH) and H

Isoquercitrin (ISO), an extract from Chinese traditional herb, exhibits potent neuroprotective roles in various disease models. However, its role in stroke is not fully understood. We established oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) model in SH-SY5Y cell to study the roles of ISO in stroke. In the experiment, the changes of LDH level and cell viability (MTT) were analyzed. Apoptotic cells stained with anti-Annexin V antibody and propidium iodide (PI) were detected by flow cytometry. The mRNA and protein level of aldolase C (ALDOC) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2) was determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western blotting assay, respectively. The localization of Nrf2 was investigated by immunofluorescent assay. OGD/R reduced cell viability via inducing cell apoptosis, while ISO treatment reduced the level of apoptosis in OGD/R-treated SH-SY5Y cells ISO rescued OGD/R-treated cells. Mechanistically, the expression of Nrf2 and ALDOC was upregulated upon ISO treatment, while knockdown of ALDOC diminished the activation of autophagy and hence inhibited ISO-mediated protective activity. We further demonstrated that ISO enhanced ALDOC transcription by promoting nuclear translocation of Nrf2, and suppression of Nrf2 decreased the expression of ALDOC. Our data revealed that ISO exhibited neuroprotective activity in OGD/R model through Nrf2-ALDOC-autopagy axis and highlighted the potential application of ISO in stroke treatment.

The atmospheric boundary layer height (BLH) is a key parameter in weather forecasting and air quality prediction. To investigate the relationship between BLH and air pollution under different conditions, a compact micro-pulse lidar integrating both direct-detection lidar (DDL) and coherent Doppler wind lidar (CDWL) has been built. This hybrid lidar is operated at 1.5 µm, which is eye-safe and made of all-fibre components. The BLH can be determined from aerosol density and vertical wind independently. During a 45 h continuous observation in June 2018, the stable boundary layer, residual layer and convective boundary layer are identified. The fine structure of the aerosol layers, drizzles and vertical wind near the cloud base are also detected. In comparison, the standard deviation between BLH values derived from DDL and CDWL is 0.06 km, indicating the accuracy of this work. The retrieved convective BLH is a little higher than that from ERA5 reanalysis due to different retrieval methods. Correlation between different BLH and PM2.5 is strongly negative before a precipitation event and becomes much weaker after the precipitation. Different relationships between PM2.5 and BLH may result from different BLH retrieval methods, pollutant sources and meteorological conditions.

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the tensile behavior of W bicrystals with different twist grain boundaries (TGBs): the low-angle grain boundary (LAGB), the ordinary high-angle grain boundary (HAGB) and the Σ 3 TGB. Owing to the initial hexagonal dislocation network (HDN), the LAGB can directly emit dislocations without dislocation nucleation: the 1 2 〈 1 1 1 〉 dislocations in HDN are pinned by bilateral nodes or 〈 0 0 1 〉 dislocations and form Frank-Rend dislocation sources, which continually emit dislocations and remain the structure of HDN under tensile loading. Once the HDN become disordered, Frank-Rend dislocation sources are broken and dislocations in HDN can be directly emitted. In the ordinary HAGB and Σ 3 TGB, dislocations are nucleated from interfaces accompanied with apparent stress decrease at nucleation sites. Supplied with enough stress, emitted dislocations can freely pass through adjacent boundaries. By measuring dislocation densities, we find that the Σ 3 TGB becomes more active at high temperature and easier to nucleate dislocations, while the LAGB and ordinary HAGB are less affected by temperature. Besides, it is found that 1 2 〈 1 1 1 〉 dislocations play a dominate role in the plastic deformation of W bicrystals regardless of TGB structures and temperature.

Background: Little is known about the risk factors for sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the overall hospitalized cardiac department population. This study was conducted to investigate the risk factors and develop a predictive model for SCD in a hospitalized cardiac department population. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of patients admitted to the cardiac department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from June 2015 to February 2017. We collected the clinical data from medical records. Multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis was carried out to confirm the risk factors for SCD and develop a predictive risk model. The risk score was assessed by the area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test. Results: A total of 262 patients with SCD and 4485 controls were enrolled in our study. Logistic regression modeling identified eight significant risk factors for in-hospital SCD: age, main admitting diagnosis, diabetes, corrected QT interval, QRS duration, ventricular premature beat burden, left ventricular ejection fraction, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. A predictive risk score including these variables showed an AUROC curve of 0.774 (95% confidence interval: 0.744–0.805). The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test showed the chi-square value was 2.527 (P = 0.640). The incidence of in-hospital SCD was 1.3%, 4.1%, and 18.6% for scores of 0 to 2, 3 to 5 and ≥6, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Age, main admitting diagnosis, diabetes, QTc interval, QRS duration, ventricular premature beat burden, left ventricular ejection fraction, and estimated glomerular filtration rate are factors related to in-hospital SCD in a hospitalized cardiac department population. We developed a predictive risk score including these factors that could identify patients who are predisposed to in-hospital SCD. Key words: Sudden cardiac death; inpatient; risk factors; predictive risk score

The active sites of Fe–N–C catalysts are nitrogen coordinated iron atoms, FeNx (x = 1–5), that have five possible coordination numbers. FeN4 active sites are commonly reported, but active sites with other coordination numbers are rarely prepared and compared with FeN4 for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Herein, Fe–N–C catalysts with different coordination numbers but similar active site densities are synthesized. Combined with theoretical calculations, the effects of FeNx coordination number x on the ORR activity and PEMFC performance are systematically investigated. It is found that the annealing temperature is the key to tailoring the coordination number of FeNx. The ORR activity and PEMFC performance follow the order FeN4 > FeN3 > FeN1. FeN4 delivers almost 1.7× and 2.9× peak power densities, and 2× and 14× current densities (at 0.7 V) compared with FeN3 and FeN1, respectively. Theoretical calculations demonstrate an “inverted volcano” relationship for the formation energy and a “volcano” relationship for the ORR activity as a function of coordination number x = 1–5. FeN4 was proved to have the lowest formation energy, the highest ORR activity and the best PEMFC performance among the five types of FeNx (x = 1–5). This research provides a deep insight into the differences among FeNx active sites of Fe–N–C catalysts.

Background: This study aims to develop and validate an effective nomogram to estimate the individual outcome of patients with Gastric neuroendocrine neoplasms (G-NENs). Methods: A total of 260 patients diagnosed with G-NENs at two medical centers were included, with 156 patients allocated as training set and 104 patients as validation. Predictive nomogram was constructed based on multivariate analyses using RMS package in R version. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability were analyzed by C-index, risk group stratification and calibration curve, which was compared with other predictive systems for G-NENs. Results: In multivariate analysis, age, Ki-67, mitoses, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, serum tumor marker and distant metastasis were significantly associated with overall survival. The constructed prognostic nomogram demonstrated a good calibration and discrimination value with 0.884 and 0.852 C-indices in training and validation dataset. Compare to World Health Organization (WHO) grading system (C-indices=0.760 and 0.732) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system (C-indices=0.747 and 0.811), the nomogram displayed a better predictive accuracy. Conclusions: The novel prognostic nomogram showed superior predictive value in overall survival of G-NENs. It might be a useful tool for clinicians in estimating individual survival in G-NENs patients.

For a coaxial single-photon lidar system, amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise from the fiber amplifier is inevitable. The ASE backscattering from specular reflection annihilates the far-field weak signal, resulting in low signal-to-noise ratio, short measurement distance, and even misidentification. We propose a method for calibrating and mitigating ASE noise in all-fiber coaxial aerosol lidar and demonstrate the method for a lidar system with different single-photon detectors (SPDs). The accuracy of the coaxial aerosol lidar is comparable to that of the biaxial one. We conducted an experiment using three different detectors, namely, InGaAs/InP SPD, up-conversion SPD, and superconducting nanowire SPD in the same coaxial lidar system. Compared with the biaxial system, the three different detectors we used have achieved more than 90% ASE noise suppression, the measured visibility percent errors of InGaAs/InP SPD data, up-conversion SPD data, and superconducting nanowire SPD data all within 20%, and the percent error within 10% are 99.47%, 100%, and 95.12%, respectively. Moreover, time-sharing optical switching allowed to obtain background noise with high accuracy.

To identify fetal familial cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) and a novel variation.A 37-year-old pregnant woman (G4P0) presented with right-handed numbness since 2 weeks at 31 weeks of gestation. Evaluation with brain MRI revealed multiple CCMs. As a result, fetal MRI, fetal whole exome sequencing, and maternal Sanger sequencing were performed.The mother's brain MRI demonstrated numerous CCMs involving the brain stem, cerebral hemispheres, and cerebellum. Fetal MRI showed a CCM located in the left frontal lobe in susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). The neuroimaging characteristics of the mother and the fetus suggested that their CCMs may be familial. Genetic analysis revealed a novel variation inThis variation of the initial codon in the

In order to study the failure mechanism of fractured rock mass under different loading and unloading conditions, marble was used as the test material, which contained 45° double pre-existing cracks. The main processes, which initiation, propagation, coalescence of the cracks, were recorded by a high speed camera. To analyze the crack modes, it could be seen that shear stress played a main effect on the failure process of the uniaxial and biaxial loading of specimens. While shear stress played a significant role in the initial stage of unloading, tensile stress was dominated in the final stage of failure under unloading. At the same time, the numerical models under different loads have been established by ANSYS. It was found that the initiation and propagation characteristics of the main cracks in the experiment were basically consistent with the Mises stress distribution characteristics in the numerical simulation. Finally the effective shear stress (τe) was defined by combining with the stress field theory and power function of Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The critical zones of the crack initiation were estimated. Compared with the experimental results, it could be proved that the angle between danger zone and pre-existing crack was about 40° and -140°.

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a most attractive approach to ammonia synthesis, and the development of catalysts with excellent activity, high NRR selectivity, and long-term durability is crucial but remains a great challenge. Herein, by means of density functional theory calculations, the stability and catalytic performance of anchored bimetals was systematically investigated by pairing different transition-metal atoms (Mo, Cr, Ti, V, Ru, and W) on graphene with different coordination atoms (C, N, O, P, and S) for N2 fixation. By screening the stability, limiting potential, and selectivity of 105 candidates, carbon was found to be the optimal coordination atom for bimetallic pairs, whereas the other four coordination atoms were unsatisfactory owing to either thermodynamically unstable anchor sites for bimetallic pairs (O, P, and S atoms) or relatively low catalytic activity (N atom). Notably, the bimetallic compound of Mo and Ti supported on C-coordinated graphene (MoTi-CG) and TiV-CG were predicted as effective NRR catalysts with the attractive limiting potentials of -0.34 and -0.30 V. Furthermore, the volcano curve between the limiting potential and the adsorption free energy of NH2 * [ΔG(NH2 *)] was revealed, in which a moderate ΔG(NH2 *) was required for high-activity NRR catalysts. This study not only provides a theoretical basis for the rational design of bimetallic compounds anchored on graphene as effective NRR catalysts under ambient conditions but also opens up a new way to accelerate the screening of NRR catalysts.

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the influence of hydrostatic pressure P on the thermally induced phase transformations in NiTi alloy during thermal cycling between 500 K and 5 K. It is found that the martensitic transformation path shows strong dependence on the P: During cooling process, the NiTi alloy undergoes single transformation of B2 → B19′ at 0 ≤ P ≤ 3 GPa, two-step transformation of B2 → B2 + R → B19′ at 3

An eye-safe 1 . 5 μ m visibility lidar is presented in this work considering in situ particle size distribution, which can be deployed in crowded places like airports. In such a case, the measured extinction coefficient at 1 . 5 μ m should be converted to that at 0 . 55 μ m for visibility retrieval. Although several models have been established since 1962, the accurate wavelength conversion remains a challenge. An adaptive inversion algorithm for 1 . 5 μ m visibility lidar is proposed and demonstrated by using the in situ Angstrom wavelength exponent, which is derived from an aerosol spectrometer. The impact of the particle size distribution of atmospheric aerosols and the Rayleigh backscattering of atmospheric molecules are taken into account. Using the 1 . 5 μ m visibility lidar, the visibility with a temporal resolution of 5 min is detected over 48 h in Hefei ( 31 . 83 ∘ N , 117 . 25 ∘ E ). The average visibility error between the new method and a visibility sensor (Vaisala, PWD52) is 5.2% with the R-square value of 0.96, while the relative error between another reference visibility lidar at 532 nm and the visibility sensor is 6.7% with the R-square value of 0.91. All results agree with each other well, demonstrating the accuracy and stability of the algorithm.

The ideal tensile strengths of Cr along [001], [110] and [111] directions were calculated based on the first-principles method. The results show that the ideal tensile strengths are 30.83, 37.2 and 35.49 GPa for anti-ferromagnetic Cr, while they are 33.09, 47.15 and 38.11 GPa for non-magnetic Cr along [001], [110] and [111] directions, respectively. It is obvious that [001] is the weakest direction. When the loading is applied on the direction [001], the ideal tensile strength is reached before the shear instability for both the anti-ferromagnetic and non-magnetic Cr; thus, Cr fails by cleavage and it is deemed to be intrinsically brittle. Meanwhile, for the anti-ferromagnetic Cr, the correlation between the magnetic moment and volume was analyzed, and the result shows that the magnetic moment increases with the increase in volume and eventually disappears with the increase in strain. In addition, the density of states in the process of loading was also discussed.

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the thermally induced martensitic phase transformation (B2-B19′) of NiTi free-standing nanoparticles. We successfully reproduce the experimental observations that the martensitic transformation temperature decreases with reducing particle size and the martensite may form self-accommodated herringbone morphology. It is found that a core-shell structure with shell thickness of 0.3 nm (approximately equal to one unit cell) exists in NiTi nanoparticles and the B2-B19′ transformation is dominated by the core region. In addition, three detwinning manners are observed in the reverse martensitic phase transformation (B19′-B2) process. It is concluded that the suppression of B2-B19′ transformation in NiTi nanoparticles is due to the lack of nucleation sites and the size dependent martensitic morphology originates from the constraints of surface shell.

Pourbaix diagrams (electrode potential-pH diagrams) for pure metals systems are studied completely, whereas researches on diagrams for binary or ternary alloys systems are lagging behind. In this work, we provide a complete procedure for simulations of Pourbaix diagrams of binary and multielement systems. With this scheme, Pourbaix diagrams of Ni Ti alloys with different Ni/Ti molar ratios in aqueous solutions at 25 °C have been constructed based on first-principles chemical potentials of solids and experimental chemical potentials of ions. The corrosion behaviors of different Ni Ti alloys including NiTi, Ti2Ni, and Ni3Ti are discussed and compared based on the obtained Pourbaix diagrams. The corrosion resistance of Ti2Ni is comparable to or even better than that of NiTi while the corrosion resistance of Ni3Ti is worse than that of NiTi. In addition, the electrochemical corrosion behaviors of NiTi alloys under Ti-rich and Ni-rich conditions are also investigated; it is found that the precipitations of Ti2Ni in Ti-rich NiTi alloys and Ni3Ti in Ni-rich NiTi alloys deteriorate the pitting corrosion resistance.

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the orientation and temperature dependence of tensile response in single crystal W. It is found that W single crystal exhibits distinct temperature-dependent deformation behaviors along different orientations. With increasing temperature, the yield strain in the [001] orientation increases, while those in [110] and [111] orientations first increase and then decrease. The tensile deformations along orientations close to [001] are found to be dominated by twinning; the nucleation and growth of twins are accomplished through the nucleation and glide of ⅙〈111〉 partial dislocations on {112} planes. In contrast, the deformations along orientations close to [110] and [111] are found to be dominated by the slip of ½〈111〉 full dislocations, which move in a stay-and-go fashion. Moreover, intermediate deformation behaviors, which may become unstable at high temperatures, are observed for some intervening orientations. The distinct deformation behaviors of W along different orientations are rationalized based on the twinning–antitwinning asymmetry of ⅙〈111〉 partial dislocations on {112} planes.

Nickel sulfides decorated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been produced by co-reducing Ni2+ and graphene oxide (GO), and is subsequently ball milled with Mg nanoparticles (NPs) produced by hydrogen plasma metal reaction (HPMR). The nickel sulfides of about 800 nm completely in situ change to MgS, Mg2Ni and Ni multiple catalysts after first hydrogenation/dehydrogenation process at 673 K. The Mg-5wt%NiS/rGO nanocomposite shows the highest hydrogen desorption kinetics and capacity properties, and the catalytic effect order of the additives is NiS/rGO, NiS and rGO. At 573 K, the Mg-NiS/rGO nanocomposite can quickly desorb 3.7 wt% H2 in 10 min and 4.5 wt% H2 in 60 min. The apparent hydrogen absorption and desorption activation energies of the Mg-5wt%NiS/rGO nanocomposite are decreased to 44.47 and 63.02 kJ mol−1, smaller than those of the Mg-5wt%rGO and Mg-5wt%NiS samples. The best hydrogen desorption properties of the Mg-5wt%NiS/rGO nanocomposite can be explained by the synergistic catalytic effects of the highly dispersed MgS, Mg2Ni and Ni catalysts on the rGO sheets, and the more nucleation sites between the catalysts, rGO sheets and Mg matrix.