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Aims The modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) uses preoperative CRP and albumin to calculate a score from 0 to 2 (2 being associated with poor outcomes). mGPS is validated in multiple carcinomas. To date, its use in soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) is limited, with only small cohorts reporting that increased mGPS scores correlates with decreased survival in STS patients. Methods This retrospective multicentre cohort study identified 493 STS patients using clinical databases from six collaborating hospitals in three countries. Centres performed a retrospective data collection for patient demographics, preoperative blood results (CRP and albumin levels and neutrophil, leucocyte, and platelets counts), and oncological outcomes (disease-free survival, local, or metastatic recurrence) with a minimum of two years' follow-up. Results We found that increased mGPS, tumour size, grade, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, and disease recurrence were associated with reduced survival. Importantly, mGPS was the best at stratifying prognosis and could be used in conjunction with tumour grade to sub-stratify patient survival. Conclusion This study demonstrated that prognosis of localized STS strongly correlates with mGPS, as an increasing score is associated with a poorer outcome. We note that 203 patients (41%) with an STS have evidence of systemic inflammation. We recommend the mGPS and other biochemical blood indicators be introduced into the routine diagnostic assessment in STS patients to stratify patient prognosis. Its use will support clinical decision-making, especially when morbid treatment options such as amputation are being considered. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2022;104-B(1):168–176.

Single-crystal materials have played a unique role in the development of high-performance cathode materials for Li batteries due to their favorable chemomechanical stability. The molten salt synthe...

In the spinel oxide cathode family, LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) shows a high operating voltage (approximate to 4.7 V vs Li/Li+) and excellent Li-ion mobility with stable 3D conducting channels. Ni/Mn cation disordered and ordered phases usually coexist in LNMO materials, and they have distinct structural and electrochemical properties, resulting in different battery performances for LNMO materials with different phase compositions. Identifying the correlation between phase compositions and electrochemical properties is of significance to the improvement of battery performance and understanding of degradation mechanisms. Herein, the disordered/ordered phase compositions in LNMO materials are tailored by post-annealing strategies and their impacts on electrochemical performance and degradation mechanisms from the surface to the bulk are systematically investigated. The ordered phase increases rapidly as Mn3+ is oxidized to Mn4+ through a post-annealing process. LNMO with an intermediate fraction of disordered and ordered phases gives rise to improved cycling stability. This article further reports that a high ordered phase fraction can preferentially protect Ni from dissolution during cycling. However, these results suggest that the transition metal dissolution and surface structural change of LNMO do not exhibit a direct correlation with cycling stability. These results indicate the capacity fading mainly correlates with the bulk structural distortion, leading to decreased Li-ion kinetics. Department of Chemistry startup funds; U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences [DE-AC02-76SF00515]; Applied Battery Research (ABR) for Transportation Program; U.S. DOE Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences [DE-AC05-00OR22725]; U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility [DE-AC02-05CH11231]; Walter Ahlstrom Foundation; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skodowska-Curie grant [841621] Published version The work at Virginia Tech was supported by Department of Chemistry startup funds. Use of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515. The pristine LNMO powder was produced at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) CAMP (Cell Analysis, Modeling and Prototyping) Facility, Argonne National Laboratory. The CAMP Facility is fully supported by the DOE Vehicle Technologies Program (VTP) within the core funding of the Applied Battery Research (ABR) for Transportation Program. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Sources at Argonne National Laboratory, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The use of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was supported by the U.S. DOE Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The authors thank Dr. Gi-Hyeok Lee and Dr. Wanli Yang for fruitful discussion and soft XAS experiments. S.S. acknowledges funding from the Walter Ahlstrom Foundation. S.S. received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skodowska-Curie grant agreement No 841621.

Transmission x-ray microscopy (TXM), which can provide morphological and chemical structural information inside of battery component materials at tens of nanometer scale, has become a powerful tool in battery research. This article presents a short review of the TXM, including its instrumentation, battery research applications, and the practical sample preparation and data analysis in the TXM applications. A brief discussion on the challenges and opportunities in the TXM applications is presented at the end. DOE Office of Science [DE-SC0012704]; National Science Foundation [DMR 1832613] Published version This research used resources of the beamline FXI/18ID of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704. The work at Virginia Tech was supported by the National Science Foundation under contract DMR 1832613.

Ni–Fe layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are promising for catalyzing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media. However, the OER mechanism is highly debated, partially because of the lac...

Data on 806 patients undergoing bone graft surgery for a scaphoid fracture nonunion were retrospectively collected at 19 centres in the United Kingdom. Each centre contributed at least 30 cases. Sufficient data were available in 462 cases to study factors that influenced the outcome of surgery. Overall union occurred in at least 69%, and nonunion in at least 22%, with 9% of cases having ‘uncertain union status’. Union appeared to be adversely influenced by smoking and the time between acute scaphoid fracture and nonunion surgery, with adjusted odds ratios of 1.8 and 2.4, respectively, but neither achieved the pre-determined significance level of 0.003. The type of bone graft (vascular vs non-vascular; iliac crest vs distal radius) did not appear to influence outcome. Further large multicentre prospective studies with clear definitions of ‘union’ and other factors are needed to clarify whether modification of surgical technique can influence union. Level of evidence: IV

Issues in traditional cross-section sampling of paintings and other cultural artifacts with a scalpel, such as crumbling, delamination and paint compression, can deter conservators from sampling fragile paint layers. Often, such sampling carries the risk of causing further damage from a scalpel, which outweighs the benefits of scientific investigation. Here, we show that femtosecond lasers offer a viable alternative to obtaining cross-sections with minimal damage to the surrounding artwork. A Regenerative Ti:Sapphire amplifier system with a pulse duration of 70 femtoseconds, a few milliwatts of average power and a repetition rate of 1 kHz (1000 pulses/sec) was used for the study. Tests were performed on oil paintings ranging in age from the 19th century to late 20th century. Effective settings were determined to be 2 mW of power at a speed of 10mm/sec using an 800nm laser. Preliminary results suggest femtosecond lasers could be a viable alternative for obtaining paint cross-sections when traditional sampling methods cause unnecessary damage to fragile materials.

The commercialization of lithium-ion batteries has played a pivotal role in the development of consumer electronics and electric vehicles. In recent years, much research has focused on the development and modification of the active materials of electrodes to obtain higher energies for a broader range of applications. High-voltage spinel materials including LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 -δ (LNMO) have been considered as promising cathode materials to address the increasing demands for improved battery performance due to their high operating potential, high energy density, and stable cycling lifetimes. Spinel LNMO can adopt two crystallographic structures depending on the synthesis conditions: an ordered P4332 structure which contains Ni and Mn on separate octahedral sites and a disordered Fdm structure which contains Ni and Mn in a random arrangement on octahedral sites. The disordered spinel phase requires higher synthesis temperatures than the ordered phase to form and is often associated with the loss of oxygen from the material lattice, as well as the reduction of a small amount of electrochemically inactive Mn4+ to active Mn3+ for overall charge compensation. The differences in structure and Mn oxidation state of LNMO cathode materials can influence the electrochemical performance. Increased structural disorder can increase Li+ transport properties through reducing two-phase transformation domains, leading to improved rate performances. Through manipulation of synthetic parameters, the structural and electronic properties of LNMO can be well controlled during formation. The molten salt synthesis method has become one of the most prominent techniques to synthesize single-crystal layered and spinel materials. In this work, the molten salt synthesis method is used as a technique to tune both the morphology and Mn3+ content of high-voltage LNMO cathodes. The resulting materials are thoroughly characterized by a suite of analytical techniques, including synchrotron X-ray core-level spectroscopy, which are sensitive to the materials properties at multiple length scales. The multidimensional characterization allows us to build a materials library according to the molten salt phase diagram as well as to establish the relationship between synthesis, materials properties, and battery performance. Results of this work show that Mn3+ content is primarily dependent on the synthesis temperature and increases as temperature is increased. Particle morphology is mostly dependent on the composition of the molten salt flux, which can be tailored to obtain well-defined octahedrons enclosed by (111) facets, plates with predominant (11) facets, irregularly shaped particles, or mixtures of these. The electrochemical measurements indicate that the Mn3+ content has a larger contribution to the battery performance of LNMO than morphological characteristics and that a significant amount of Mn3+ could become detrimental to the battery performance. However, with similar Mn3+ contents, morphology still plays a role in influencing the battery cycle life and rate performance. We also employ high spatial resolution, synchrotron X-ray nanodiffraction techniques to identify the presence and quantify the percentage of the ordered versus disordered spinel phases at the individual particle level as LNMO single-crystal particles likely contain local regions of both ordered and disordered regimes which standard lab X-ray diffractometers may be unable to distinguish. The relationship between structural ordering and Mn3+ content is critical to the understanding of the intrinsic chemomechanical and electrochemical properties of LNMO. The insights of molten salt synthesis parameters on the formation and performance of LNMO, with deconvolution of the roles of Mn3+, crystal structure, and morphology, are crucial for continuing studies in the rational design of LNMO cathode materials for high energy Li batteries.

Recently, ultrafast lasers exhibiting high peak powers and extremely short pulse durations have created a new paradigm in materials processing. The precision and minimal thermal damage provided by ultrafast lasers in the machining of metals and dielectrics also suggests a novel application in obtaining precise cross-sections of fragile, combustible paint layers in artwork and cultural heritage property. Cross-sections of paint and other decorative layers on artwork provide critical information into its history and authenticity. However, the current methodology which uses a scalpel to obtain a cross-section can cause further damage, including crumbling, delamination, and paint compression. Here, we demonstrate the ability to make controlled cross-sections of paint layers with a femtosecond pulsed laser, with minimal damage to the surrounding artwork. The femtosecond laser cutting overcomes challenges such as fragile paint disintegrating under scalpel pressure, or oxidation by the continuous-wave (CW) laser. Variations in laser power and translational speed of the laser while cutting exhibit different benefits for cross-section sampling. The use of femtosecond lasers in studying artwork also presents new possibilities in analyzing, sampling, and cleaning of artwork with minimal destructive effects.