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Introduction: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with significant global morbidity and mortality. Low treatment rates are observed in patients living with HBV; the reasons for this are unclear. This study sought to describe patients' demographic, clinical and biochemical characteristics across three continents and their associated treatment need. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional post hoc analysis of real-world data used four large electronic databases from the United States, United Kingdom and China (specifically Hong Kong and Fuzhou). Patients were identified by first evidence of chronic HBV infection in a given year (their index date) and characterized. An algorithm was designed and applied, wherein patients were categorized as treated, untreated but indicated for treatment and untreated and not indicated for treatment based on treatment status and demographic, clinical, biochemical and virological characteristics (age; evidence of fibrosis/cirrhosis; alanine aminotransferase [ALT] levels, HCV/HIV coinfection and HBV virology markers). Results: In total, 12,614 US patients, 503 UK patients, 34,135 patients from Hong Kong and 21,614 from Fuzhou were included. Adults (99.4%) and males (59.0%) predominated. Overall, 34.5% of patients were treated at index (range 15.9–49.6%), with nucleos(t)ide analogue monotherapy most commonly prescribed. The proportion of untreated-but-indicated patients ranged from 12.9% in Hong Kong to 18.2% in the UK; almost two-thirds of these patients (range 61.3–66.7%) had evidence of fibrosis/cirrhosis. A quarter (25.3%) of untreated-but-indicated patients were aged ≥ 65 years. Conclusion: This large real-world dataset demonstrates that chronic hepatitis B infection remains a global health concern; despite the availability of effective suppressive therapy, a considerable proportion of predominantly adult patients apparently indicated for treatment are currently untreated, including many patients with fibrosis/cirrhosis. Causes of disparity in treatment status warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to construct a clinically practical model to precisely predict lymph node (LN) metastasis in bladder cancer patients. Methods: Four independent cohorts were included. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression with multivariate logistic regression were applied. The diagnostic efficacy of LN score and CT/MRI was compared by accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under curve (AUC). Results: A total of 606 patients were included to develop a basic prediction model. After multistep gene selection, the LN metastasis prediction model was constructed with 5 genes. The model can accurately predict LN metastasis with an AUC of 0.781. For clinically practical use, we transformed the model into a Fast LN Scoring System using the SYSMH cohort (n = 105). High LN score patients exhibited a 72.2% LN metastasis rate, while low LN score patients showed a 3.4% LN metastasis rate. The LN score achieved a superior accuracy than CT/MRI (0.882 vs. 0.727). Application of LN score can correct the diagnosis of 88% (22/25) patients who were misdiagnosed by CT/MRI. Discussion: The clinically practical LN score can precisely, rapidly, and conveniently predict LN status, which will assist preoperative diagnosis for LN metastasis and guide precise therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HTO has proven to be a cost-effective surgical procedure in the treatment of KOA, but few investigations have studied radiological changes and clinical effectiveness of OWHTO in geriatric patients. 76 patients were recruited in this retrospective study. According to the age, patients were divided into two groups (≤ 60, Group "Young"; > 60, Group "Geriatric"). Demographic data, radiological imaging and postoperative complications were analyzed. Kellgren–Lawrence grade (K–L), weight-bearing line ratio (WBLR); posterior tibial slope angle (PTS); American knee score (AKS); Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) and visual analog scale (VAS) were introduced to estimate the clinical outcome of OWHTO. There were 18 male and 58 female patients in the present study with a mean age of 58.5 ± 9.2 years (ranges from 40 to 82 years); the average age was 51.4 ± 4.1 years and 67.3 ± 4.9 years for group Y and G respectively, 44.7% and 31.5% patients were older than 60 and 65 years. BMI for the 76 patients was 26.6 ± 3.2 kg/m2, and geriatric patients were more likely accompanied by one or more comorbidities (70.6 vs. 45.2%). There were 34 and 42 patients in group Geriatric and group Young respectively, and no significant difference of MPTA, WBLR, PTS and WOMAC, VAS, AKS and ROM between the two group (P > 0.05) were found. After more than a two-year follow-up period, postoperative WBLR, AKS, WOMAC and VAS were much more desired than preoperative, and no significant difference of these variables between the young and geriatric group (P > 0.05), however, elderly patients were more likely to suffer from a longer bone union time. OWHTO can avoid geriatric patients from undergoing secondary knee surgery in the short term, however the survival rate of OWHTO in geriatric patients should be ultimately clarified by different studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falls are a serious public health problem in the aging population because of the associated clinical and socioeconomic impact. Although previous studies have investigated fall-risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs), few studies have focused on dosage among adult inpatients. This study aimed to evaluate associations between fall risk and dosage of different FRIDs classes in hospital inpatients. Inpatients who experienced falls at medical or surgical wards of Changhua Christian Hospital from January 2017 to December 2021 were identified and matched by age, sex, and hospital ward to randomly selected controls (four per case). Anonymous patient data were extracted from the hospital medical data repository, including demographic characteristics, comorbidities, fall-risk scores, and drug prescriptions. Medication dosages were computed using the anatomical therapeutic chemical classification and the defined daily dose system of the World Health Organization. A total of 852 cases and 3408 controls were identified as eligible. Reducing the use of CNS-active medications, administering lower doses of sedative-hypnotics, prescribing sufficient dopaminergic anti-Parkinson agents, and using NSAIDs instead of opioids are imperative in preventing falls among hospitalized patients according to the findings in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has brought an unprecedented public health crisis and continues to threaten humanity due to the persistent emergence of new variants. Therefore, developing more effective and broad-spectrum therapeutic and prophylactic drugs against infection by SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, as well as future emerging CoVs, is urgently needed. In this study, we screened several US FDA-approved drugs and identified phenothiazine derivatives with the ability to potently inhibit the infection of pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 and distinct variants of concern (VOCs), including B.1.617.2 (Delta) and currently circulating Omicron sublineages XBB and BQ.1.1, as well as pseudotyped SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Mechanistic studies suggested that phenothiazines predominantly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus (PsV) infection at the early stage and potentially bound to the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2, which may prevent the proteolytic cleavage of the S protein, thereby exhibiting inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 infection. In summary, our findings suggest that phenothiazines can serve as a potential broad-spectrum therapeutic drug for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as the infection of future emerging human coronaviruses (HCoVs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroactive hydrogels, which exhibit intelligent deformation in response to electric fields, have garnered significant attention as potential actuating materials for flexible sensors, smart devices, soft actuators, and artificial muscles. In the process of converting mechanical energy to electrical energy, electroactive hydrogels can achieve efficient energy conversion and charge transfer due to their porous structure, high water solubility, flexibility, and electrical conductivity. However, the limited performance of single-functional electroactive hydrogels severely hampers their development prospects. To expand the application areas of these gels in self-powered devices, smart response devices, and other directions, there is a need to design electroactive hydrogels with multiple properties. In this paper, we present a systematic review of the mechanism and preparation strategies of electroactive hydrogels in response to electric fields. We also discuss the design strategy for electroactive hydrogels with multiple properties and provide an overview of the current progress in their applications. Furthermore, we analyze the role and advantages of electroactive hydrogels. Finally, we address the existing problems in electroactive hydrogel research and offer suggestions to solve them, and we hope that this design idea will inspire readers and researchers in the field. The article reviews the mechanism behind the generation of electroactive hydrogels and the design strategy of electroactive hydrogels with different properties, and describes the current status and challenges of their application areas. [Display omitted] • Exploring the mechanism and preparation of electroactive hydrogels. • Discussing the significance of electroactive hydrogels in various applications. • Examining the challenges and potential opportunities of electroactive hydrogels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycobacterium kansasii infections predominantly manifest in immunocompromised people and are primarily responsible for lung disease and systemic disseminated infection. Osteopathy is a rare consequence of M. kansasii infection. Here, we present imaging data from a 44-year-old immunocompetent Chinese woman diagnosed with multiple bone destruction, particularly of the spine, secondary to M. kansasii pulmonary disease, which is easily misdiagnosed. The patient underwent an emergency operation after experiencing unexpected incomplete paraplegia during hospitalization, indicating an aggravation of bone destruction. Preoperative sputum testing and next-generation sequencing of DNA and RNA of intraoperative samples confirmed the diagnosis of M. kansasii infection. Treatment with anti-tuberculosis therapy and the subsequent patient response supported our diagnosis. Given the rarity of osteopathy secondary to M. kansasii infection in immunocompetent individuals, our case offers some insight into this diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to ensure the normal production of industries in an uncertain emergency environment has aroused a lot of concern in society. Selecting the best emergency material suppliers using the multicriteria group decision making (MCGDM) method will ensure the normal production of industries in this environment. However, there are few studies in emergency environments that consider the impact of the decision order of decision makers (DMs) on the decision results. Therefore, in order to fill the research gap, we propose an extended MCGDM method, whose main steps include the following: Firstly, the DMs give their assessment of all alternatives. Secondly, we take the AHP method and entropy weight method to weight the criteria and the DMs. Thirdly, we take the intuitionistic fuzzy hybrid priority weight average (IFHPWA) operator we proposed to aggregate evaluation information and take the TOPSIS method to rank all the alternatives. Finally, the proposed method is applied in a case to prove its practicability and effectiveness. The proposed method considers the influence of the decision order of the DMs on the decision results, which improves the accuracy and efficiency of decision-making results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Evidence is limited regarding the associations between vitamin D status and microvascular complications in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D), among whom vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency is particularly common. In this study we aimed to prospectively investigate the associations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms with risk of diabetic microvascular complications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This analysis included 14,709 participants with T2D who were free of microvascular complications from the UK Biobank. Incidence of diabetic microvascular complications was ascertained via electronic health records. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs. RESULTS: Median serum 25(OH)D concentration was 40.7 nmol/L (interquartile range 27.5, 56.4). During a median of 11.2 years of follow-up, 1,370 people developed diabetic microvascular complications. Compared with participants with 25(OH)D <25 nmol/L, individuals with 25(OH)D ≥75 nmol/L had a multivariable-adjusted HR of 0.65 (95% CI 0.51, 0.84) for composite diabetic microvascular complications, 0.62 (0.40, 0.95) for diabetic retinopathy, 0.56 (0.40, 0.79) for diabetic nephropathy, and 0.48 (0.26, 0.89) for diabetic neuropathy. In addition, in comparisons with participants with 25(OH)D <25 nmol/L and minor allele homozygotes (TT of rs1544410 and GG of rs731236), the multivariable-adjusted HRs of composite diabetic microvascular complications were 0.54 (0.38, 0.78) and 0.55 (0.38, 0.80) for participants with serum 25(OH)D ≥50 nmol/L and major allele homozygotes (CC and AA), respectively, although no significant interaction was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Higher serum 25(OH)D concentrations were significantly associated with lower risk of diabetic microvascular complications, including diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, and diabetic neuropathy. Our findings suggest a potential beneficial role of maintaining adequate vitamin D status in the prevention of diabetic microvascular complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To investigate patients' preference and the attitude towards physician attire in an internal medicine clinic in China. Methods. This study was conducted from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021 in a tertiary care hospital in China. We surveyed 126 patients in the hospital with 6 sets of pictures of commonly worn physician attires in the hospital setting with a two-part questionnaire. The first part listed respondent demographics to collect basic information. The second part of the questionnaire was administered to adult patients who received care in the internal medicine clinics (outpatients). Survey forms collected demographic data (age, gender, patient age, education, marital status, and employment status), asked questions regarding 6 specific attires (scrubs, scrubs and white coat, casual, casual and white coat, business suit, and formal and white coat), and behavioral items (professional, responsible, reliable, knowledgeable, succession rate, and medical safety), finally, to assess the preference of attire on overall perception. Results. Scrubs and white coat scored the highest through 6 domains about physicians' attire (professional, reliable, responsible, knowledgeable, medical safety, and succession rate, p < 0.05 for all comparisons). A casual suit without a white coat was the least preferred across the surveyed attributes. There was a significant preference gap between wearing a white coat and not wearing a white coat (p < 0.001). Physician attire to white coat was considered as more professional, reliable, responsible, knowledgeable, having greater medical safety, and a higher success rate than attires without white coat. Conclusion. Patients felt that the physician wearing a white coat was better than other attires. Scrubs and white coat was the most popular attire. Hospital or related authorities may promote the standardized wearing of white coats, leading in a greater patient-physician relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the growing demand for energy, oil extraction under complicated geological conditions is increasing. Herein, oil displacement by CO2 in wedge-shaped pores was investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. The results showed that, for both single and double wedge-shaped models, pore Ⅱ (pore size from 3 to 8 nm) exhibited a better CO2 flooding ability than pore Ⅰ (pore size from 8 to 3 nm). Compared with slit-shaped pores (3 and 8 nm), the overall oil displacement efficiency followed the sequence of 8 nm > double pore Ⅱ > single pore Ⅱ > 3 nm > double pore Ⅰ > single pore Ⅰ, which confirmed that the exits of the wedge-shaped pores had determinant effects on CO2 enhanced oil recovery over their entrances. "Oil/CO2 inter-pore migration" and "siphoning" phenomena occurred in wedge-shaped double pores by comparing the volumes of oil/CO2 and the center of mass. The results of the interaction and radial distribution function analyses indicate that the wide inlet and outlet had a larger CO2–oil contact surface, better phase miscibility, higher interaction, and faster displacement. These findings clarify the CO2 flooding mechanisms in wedge-shaped pores and provide a scientific basis for the practical applications of CO2 flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The long chain non-coding RNA HOXA11-OS was recently identified. Increasing studies have shown that HOXA11-OS has regulatory effects on genes in gastric cancer, prostate cancer, and various kidney diseases, but research on its role in systemic lupus erythematosus is still lacking. The present study aimed to investigate the role of HOXA11-OS in the regulation of podocyte autophagy in the development of lupus nephritis (LN) and its potential molecular mechanism. Methods: mRNA and protein expression of the target gene (i.e., Cyr61) was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and immunofluorescence. Mouse podocytes were induced using serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) from patients with lupus and their viability was detected using the cell counting kit-8 assay. The interaction of miR-124-3p with HOXA11-OS and Cyr61 was analyzed by double luciferase reporter gene assay. Serum autoantibody levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Pathological lesions in the kidney tissue were detected by hematoxylin–eosin and periodate-Schiff staining. The independent samples t-test was used for comparing two groups, and one-way analysis of variance for comparing multiple groups. Results: HOXA11-OS was highly expressed in LN tissues, serum, and cells, and the expression of some key autophagy factors and Cyr61 was significantly increased, while miR-124-3p expression was significantly decreased. In vitro, LN-IgG inhibited podocyte activity, increased autophagy and Cyr61 expression, and aggravated podocyte injury in a time- and dose-dependent manner. As a competitive endogenous RNA of miR-124-3p, HOXA11-OS promoted the expression of Cyr61, thus enhancing the autophagy increase induced by LN-IgG and aggravating podocyte injury. Knockdown of HOXA11-OS had the opposite effect. miR-124-3p mimic or Cyr61 knockdown restored the high expression of autophagy factors and Cyr61 induced by HOXA11-OS overexpression and alleviated podocyte injury. Further in vivo experiments showed that injection of sh-HOXA11-OS adeno-associated virus downregulated HOXA11-OS and significantly alleviated renal damage in lupus mice. Conclusions: HOXA11-OS is involved in the occurrence and development of LN by regulating podocyte autophagy through miR-124-3p/Cyr61 sponging, which may provide a good potential therapeutic target for LN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The RRAM-based accelerators have become very popular candidates for neural network acceleration due to they perform matrix-vector multiplication in-memory with high storage density and low latency. Many related works have used fixed-precision quantization to achieve the model compression and enhance the tolerance of process variation, but these methods still suffer a large accuracy degradation and poor robustness to nonideal effects. In this work, we propose a crossbar-aware mixed-precision quantization scheme, which enables to search for the optimal precision of each part of the network as a way to improve the accuracy and robustness to noise. First, we introduce a group quantization strategy that can flexibly adjust the group size dynamically according to the crossbar size. Then, we propose a detailed mixed-precision search flow to search for the optimal precision set of the network. Finally, we give a noise injection adaption training method to enhance the tolerance of noise. Experimental results show that our proposed method can improve inference accuracy by at least 2.04% compared to the fixed-precision quantization under the same resource cost. The searched architecture with the highest accuracy most accurate (MA) could achieve an accuracy of 92.39% and a resource saving of 93.30% compared to the full precision model. The searched architecture with the biggest resource savings most efficient (ME) could achieve an accuracy of 91.11% and a resource saving of 95.57% compared to the full precision model. And, the average precision of the ME mixed-precision architecture is only 1.4 bits. Besides, the results show the mixed-precision network with noise adaption training is more robust to noise than the fixed-precision network with noise adaption training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the effective ways to improve the electrochemical performance of supercapacitors is to fabricate a combined electric double layer capacitor (EDLC)-pseudocapacitance system. In this study, we synthesized the composite material FeCo 2 O 4 @PC by hydrothermal method, which can enhance the electrochemical performance of supercapacitors by the synergetic effect of EDLC and pseudocapacitance mechanisms. A series of physical characterizations including X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to demonstrate the successful compositing of FeCo 2 O 4 @PC. And FeCo 2 O 4 @PC was used for the testing of supercapacitor and the electrochemical performance was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD). The results show that the composite FeCo 2 O 4 @PC-5 possesses larger specific capacitance and excellent rate capability. This further confirms that the composite of the two materials can overcome their respective shortcomings and improve the overall capacitive performance of the electrode. The composite electrode material FeCo 2 O 4 @PC has great application potential and prospects in the field of supercapacitors. [Display omitted] • In composite material FeCo 2 O 4 @PC, PC and FeCo 2 O 4 are tightly combined. • FeCo 2 O 4 @PC can enhance specific capacitance and rate capabilities of supercapacitor. • The C s of FeCo 2 O 4 @PC electrode is up to 1046.4 F g−1 at a current density of 2 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, protein hydrogels have attracted more and more attention due to their unique physical, chemical and biological properties. They have a more complex molecular structure than traditional polymer hydrogels, which leads to special properties like excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and responsiveness. The proteins used to construct hydrogels have similar structure and function with proteins in human body, which is an excellent bio-derived material with potential biological activities. Therefore, through the study of the flexible and diverse assembly mechanism of protein hydrogels, we can understand their special properties. This allows it to be used to construct rich and diverse biomaterials with a wide range of application prospect. In this review, we summarized the research progress of protein hydrogels. The different assembly mechanisms were briefly described, including self-assembly and co-assembly. Then we introduced properties based on protein, including responsiveness, adhesion property, biocompatibility, conductivity, self-healing and mechanical property. In addition, the applications of protein hydrogels in wound dressings, drug delivery, bioadhesion, and biosensing were reviewed. Finally, we summarized the current challenges in the field of protein hydrogels. The future development prospects in biomedicine, tissue repair, biosensing and so on were also prospected. [Display omitted] • Different assembly mechanisms of protein hydrogels were introduced. • Properties of protein hydrogels were summarized in detail. • Biological applications of protein hydrogels were elaborated. • Superiority of protein hydrogels compared to other hydrogels was described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability, as a trend of social development and the embodiment of corporate social responsibility, has begun to receive more attention. To achieve this goal, sustainable supplier selection (SSS) and order allocation (OA) are seen as the crucial activities in corporate management. In the process of SSS, the psychological behavior of decision-makers (DMs) could play a critical role in the evaluation results. Therefore, introducing it into the decision-making process may lead to decision in line with the actual situation. In the uncertain multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) problem described by probability linguistic term sets (PLTS), the DMs can evaluate the criteria of each supplier based on his own preference and hesitation, which is useful to avoid the loss of information. For this reason, this study develops a novel multi-criteria group decision-making combined with fuzzy multi-objective optimization (MCGDM-FMOO) model for SSS/OA problems by considering the triple bottom line (TBL) in which includes economic, environmental and social factors. The proposed method includes four stages. (1) the best-worst method (BWM) and entropy weight method are utilized to assign the weights of criteria to obtain the comprehensive weight. According to the output weights, the an acronym for interactive and multi-criteria decision-making in Portugese (TODIM) approach is applied to rank the suppliers under PLTS environment; (2) a FMOO model that can effectively deal with uncertainties and dynamic nature of parameter is formulated for allocating optimal order quantities; (3) two novel approaches are utilized to solve the FMOO model in order to obtain the richer Pareto frontier; and (4) the final OA solution is achieved by technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. Finally, the validity and practicability of proposed MCGDM-FMOO model are verified by an example and comparative analysis with other classical MCGDM methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-ideal characteristics at the interfaces of anti-ferroelectric (AFE) film and electrodes will greatly affect the potential performance in the way to embedded dynamic random-access memory applications. In this paper, we have proposed a high-performance AFE TiN/HfxZr1−xO2/TiN capacitor fabricated by fully atomic layer deposition grown and alcohol-thermal high-pressure annealing methods that have been employed to avoid exposure to the ambient atmosphere and cure the interface defects induced by the inevitable oxidization of electrodes. Due to the high improvement of the interface quality, the capacitors based on ultra-thin (∼6 nm) AFE film show competitive memory performances, such as low operating voltage (−0.6/1.8 V), high speed (10 ns), long retention time (103 s), and high endurance (1012). The final benchmark demonstrates that the proposed AFE TiN/HfxZr1−xO2/TiN capacitor is a promising candidate toward the next generation high-speed and high-density embedded memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the CW laser is used as a local heat source to simulate the extreme thermal environment generated by shock wave interference at discontinuities in spacecraft. The ablation behavior of the thermal protection material (C/SiC) is investigated under the combined impact of high-temperature airflow and the local extreme heat source. A novel multi-field coupling numerical computation software was presented to examine this strong coupling process of fluid-solid-thermal-ablation. The program was modified using the ALE + umeshmotion ablation calculation method in the ABAQUS software to mimic the process of the material's ablative boundary retreating under the action of the CW laser until the target was perforated. ANSYS Fluent software was used to do the numerical analysis of the high-speed airflow. The results of wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations indicate that, compared to the effect of local heat sources in static air, irregular ablation pits are formed on the material surface under the action of local heat sources in high-temperature flow fields, resulting in higher ablation rates due to mechanical denudation effects. Analysis of the localization characteristics of the flow field near the ablation pit reveals that the shock wave generated downstream of the ablation pit leads to an increase in gas temperature, pressure, and density. When the ablation amount reaches a certain threshold, the gas in the ablation pit forms vortices, leading to an increase in local heat flow and pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Patient Biochemistry and Treatment Need in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection Across Three Continents: Retrospective Cross-Sectional Cohort Studies." The original article was published without open access, but the error has been resolved and the article is now available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The correction also includes the removal of a duplicate reference and the addition of an affiliation for one of the authors. The publisher, Springer Nature, remains neutral in terms of jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Lung cancer is a kind of malignancy with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Paclitaxel (PTX) is the main treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and resistance to PTX seriously affects the survival of patients. However, the underlying mechanism and potential reversing strategy need to be further explored. Methods: We identified ALDH2 as a PTX resistance-related gene using gene microarray analysis. Subsequently, a series of functional analysis in cell lines, patient samples and xenograft models were performed to explore the functional role, clinical significance and the aberrant regulation mechanism of ALDH2 in PTX resistance of NSCLC. Furthermore, the pharmacological agents targeting ALDH2 and epigenetic enzyme were used to investigate the diverse reversing strategy against PTX resistance. Results: Upregulation of ALDH2 expression is highly associated with resistance to PTX using in vitro and in vivo analyses of NSCLC cells along with clinicopathological analyses of NSCLC patients. ALDH2-overexpressing NSCLC cells exhibited significantly reduced PTX sensitivity and increased biological characteristics of malignancy in vitro and tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. EHMT2 (euchromatic histone lysine methyltransferase 2) inhibition and NFYA (nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha) overexpression had a cooperative effect on the regulation of ALDH2. Mechanistically, ALDH2 overexpression activated the RAS/RAF oncogenic pathway. NSCLC/PTX cells re-acquired sensitivity to PTX in vivo and in vitro when ALDH2 was inhibited by pharmacological agents, including the ALDH2 inhibitors Daidzin (DZN)/Disulfiram (DSF) and JIB04, which reverses the effect of EHMT2. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that ALDH2 status can help predict patient response to PTX therapy and ALDH2 inhibition may be a promising strategy to overcome PTX resistance in the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The α-Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 -RGO-15 possessed a competitive sensing performance with a high response of 7.4 towards 1 ppm NO 2 at room temperature. [Display omitted] As promising sensing materials, reduced graphene oxide (RGO)-based nanomaterials have drawn considerable attention in the fields of gas monitoring owing to their low operating temperature. However, constructing RGO-based room-temperature gas sensors possessing ppb-level limit of detection with high sensitivity remains challenging. In this work, a series of highly sensitive NO 2 sensors were fabricated using α-Fe 2 O 3 and SnO 2 co-decorated RGO hybrids (designated as α-Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 -RGO) as sensing materials. They were rationally synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method. Compared to SnO 2 modified RGO hybrids (SnO 2 -RGO with bandgap of 3.88 eV), the bandgap energy of α-Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 -RGO hybrids (3.53 eV) was reduced by adding α-Fe 2 O 3; the narrower bandgap facilitated the sensing materials to release more electrons and form more oxygen ions at room temperature. Besides, the high carrier migration of RGO, which served as continuous phase, identical structure with ultrasmall particle size of α-Fe 2 O 3 and SnO 2 (about 3–6 nm), and abundant chemisorbed oxygen species on the surface (20.8%) of the sensing materials, as well as their suitable bandgap (3.53 eV) in the sensing materials, significantly improved NO 2 response at room temperature. Among the sensors fabricated, α-Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 -RGO-15-based NO 2 sensor had the highest response of 7.4 with a short response time of 59 s towards 1 ppm NO 2 ; it could even reach a response of 2.6 towards 100 ppb NO 2. Notably, α-Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 -RGO-15 sample has excellent capability to recognize NO 2 , where the response value (7.4) towards 1 ppm NO 2 is about 7 times higher than that of 100 ppm ammonia and common volatile organic compounds (formaldehyde, toluene, ethanol and acetone). Such NO 2 sensor has superior repeatability with negligible response deviation towards 1 ppm NO 2 for four reversible cycles. This makes it to have a great potential application in the field of NO 2 detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the internal mechanism of CO2 adsorption and separation of COF adsorbent materials is of great significance for high-efficiency carbon capture and storage (CCS). Herein, polyarylether-based covalent organic frameworks (PAE-COFs) structures with functionalized –CN, –COOH, and –C(NH2)NOH groups were evaluated for CO2 adsorption and separation over N2 by using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation and density functional theory (DFT). Our calculation results showed that the adsorption and separation performance of CO2 in COF frameworks was related to the physical characteristics of pores, the types of gas molecules, and the interaction between COFs and gas molecules. JUC-505 modified by –CN functional group provided a feasible microporous environment with moderate specific surface area and porosity, presenting a high CO2 adsorption capacity of 5.14 mmol/g at 273 K and 1 bar. The PAE-COFs structures had good CO2/N2 separation performance, in which the CO2/N2 selectivity of JUC-505-COOH reached up to 90 at 273 K and 1 bar. Interactions analysis showed that the van der Waals and Coulomb interactions between CO2 and the framework were significantly stronger than those between N2 and the framework. Therefore, CO2 had a higher adsorption heat, which led to the larger adsorption capacity and the high selectivity of CO2 over N2. The gas radial distribution functions and 2D density distribution displayed that the CO2 adsorption corresponded to a multi-layer adsorption in frameworks, leading to the high performances of PAE-COFs for CO2 capture and separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The metal oxides-based chemiresitive gas sensors have attracted enormous interest because of their exellent sensing perforamcnes, which have emerged as very promising candidates for gas monitoring. However, from the view of organophosphorus compounds detection, a unique combination of low detection limit and fast respons/recovery rate remains challenging. Herein, the synersgitic effects of oxygen vacancy engineering and surface gold decoration enabling excellent sensing performances for detection of dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP, a typical organophosphorus) is reported. To demonstrate the proof of concept, Au nanoparticles (NPs) decorated oxygen vacancy-enriched SnO 2 hybrids (designated as Au-O-SnO 2) were designed as sensing materials, where the O-SnO 2 samples were fabricated by introduction of oxygen vacancies onto commercial SnO 2 through organometallic chemistry-assisted approach using (CH 3) 2 SnCl 2 as precursor, followed by deposition of Au NPs by an in-situ reduction routine. After optimizing Au NPs content in hybrids (1 wt%, 3 wt%, 5 wt% and 7 wt%), O-SnO 2 decorated with 5 wt% Au NPs (designated as Au-O-SnO 2 -5) exhibits excellent DMMP sensing performances, such as, an enhanced recoverable response of 1.67 to 680 ppb DMMP, low detection limit of 4.8 ppb, short response time of 26 s and recovery time of 32 s, as well as good selectivity, which are much better than that of commercial SnO 2 (C-SnO 2) and O-SnO 2 , and Au NPs decorated C-SnO 2. Based on the detailed investigation, the enhanced DMMP sensing performances of Au-O-SnO 2 hybrids can be mainly ascribed to the synergistic effect of increasing surface active sites induced by oxygen vacancies, the chemical and electronic sensitization of Au NPs. As a result, Au-O-SnO 2 -5 hybrids display relatively low activation energy of 24.11 kJ/mol for DMMP oxidization, which is lower than that of O-SnO 2 (35.54 kJ/mol). Our results provide a feasible method for boosting sensing performances for DMMP detection, paving new way for fabrication of metal oxides-based gas sensors for rapid detection of trace organic compounds with complexed structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐rectifying memristor has no need for selector devices, but possesses the one‐way transmission behaviour and multi‐level non‐volatile memory characteristics, which makes it a promising candidate for electronic synapse. In this letter, the authors propose a novel self‐rectifying memristor based on a Pt/Hf0.5Zr0.5O2/TiN structure. The devices show large memory window (104) and high rectifying ratio (104), which can block the sneak current in a passive crossbar array without any additional hardware overhead. Moreover, the devices demonstrate excellent multi‐level states modulation capability, low power consumption, high endurance and long retention. The final benchmark demonstrates that the proposed Pt/Hf0.5Zr0.5O2/TiN self‐rectifying memristor is a promising candidate for electronic synapse application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Naturally abundant seawater mineral was employed to engineer banana pseudostem and bamboo biochars through pyrolysis at different low temperatures for improving their adsorption capabilities for methylene blue (MB) and tetracycline (TC). The adsorption capabilities were greatly enhanced as the biochars were pyrolyzed at 300 °C with 50/1 (mL/g) dosage of seawater to biomass. For instance, the engineered banana pseudostem biochar exhibited 8.00 and 6.54 times higher adsorption capabilities than the corresponding pristine biochar for MB (447.79 mg/g vs 55.96 mg/g) and TC (100.59 mg/g vs 16.75 mg/g) at 25 °C, respectively. The characterization results indicated that a large number of carboxylates, lactone acid salts, and alkoxides were generated on the engineered biochar and a high cation exchange capacity was gained. The adsorption of MB was mainly attributed to cation exchange complying with hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction, whereas the adsorption of TC was realized by hydrogen bonding and complexation. [Display omitted] • Oxygen containing groups were regulated by seawater mineral-promoted pyrolysis. • Carboxylates, lactonic salts and alkoxides were massively generated. • High cation exchange capacity was obtained. • High adsorption capabilities were achieved for methylene blue and tetracycline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Chlorella incorporated into hydrogels for continuous oxygen and bioelectric delivery. • Hydrogels offer mechanical support and create optimal microenvironment for Chlorella. • Hydrogels improve diabetic wound healing by enhancing proliferation and angiogenesis. Electrical stimulation and oxygen are vital for promoting cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation to repair damaged tissues in chronic wound healing in patients with diabetes. The effective oxygen production by Chlorella has garnered attention in the medical field, but the potential of extracellular electron production in skin repair has not been explored. Inspired by this, we developed CHPS hydrogels, a composite of polyacrylamide and sodium alginate, with Chlorella loaded in a semi-interpenetrating network. This network is formed by crosslinking acrylamide initiated by free radicals, with alginate chains dispersed within the network. When applied to wounds, CHPS hydrogels effectively protect damaged tissue, provide mechanical support to Chlorella against external forces, and create an optimal artificial microenvironment to promote the proliferation of Chlorella. Our study demonstrated that CHPS hydrogels exhibit remarkable fracture elongation and adhesion properties and continuously produce oxygen and bioelectrical currents through photosynthesis. Furthermore, the sustained release of dissolved oxygen and bioelectricity by CHPS hydrogels significantly enhances cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis, leading to improved wound healing in diabetic mice. These findings provide compelling evidence for further exploration of CHPS hydrogels as a cost-effective, simple, and accessible strategy for enhancing the clinical treatment of chronic wounds in diabetic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In application scenarios such as astronautics, high-altitude aircraft, medical radiography, high-energy physics, and nuclear power plants, the irradiation resistance of electronic components is one of the basic requirements for their reliability. HfO 2 -based ferroelectric films have the advantages of high CMOS process compatibility, good miniaturizability, low operating voltage, and excellent irradiation resistance, which are the core materials for the new generation of irradiation resistance ferroelectric memories. In this paper, two kinds of metal-electrode ferroelectric capacitors, W/Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 /W (WW) and Pt/Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 /Pt (PP), have been prepared, and three gradient γ-irradiation experiments have been carried out on the two kinds of ferroelectric capacitors. The effect of metal electrodes on the irradiation resistance of Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 ferroelectric thin films was carefully investigated by comparing and analyzing the statistical laws of polarization change and rectangularity change before and after irradiation of a large number of devices. The experimental results show that the WW devices have better irradiation resistance than PP devices, and we further explain the irradiation resistance mechanism by first-principle calculations and finite element analysis to verify the credibility of the experimental results. Finally, we conducted a comparative test of the fatigue and wake-up characteristics of the WW devices before and after irradiation, and the results show that the prepared W/Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 /W devices can withstand very high total γ-dose radiation, reaching up to 13.86 Mrad(Si), and they are very suitable for the application of irradiation resistant electronics. [Display omitted] • The Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 (HZO) thin films with outstanding ferroelectric properties were prepared. • The HZO ferroelectric thin films exhibited extremely high radiation tolerance (reaching up to 13.86 Mrad(Si)). • The effect of different metal electrodes on the irradiation resistance of HZO ferroelectric thin films was analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A printable multifunctional electronic skin (e-skin) with an excellent self-healing ability was developed via a simple, clean and universally applicable method. Water served as both the only solvent throughout the fabrication process and the trigger of the self-healing process. Each e-skin component was biocompatible. Combined with conventional electronics, signals collected by the e-skin could be transmitted to smartphones via Bluetooth for post-processing.Electronic skins (e-skins) with an excellent sensing performance have been widely developed over the last few decades. However, wearability, biocompatibility, environmental friendliness and scalability have become new limitations. Self-healing ability can improve the long-term robustness and reliability of e-skins. However, self-healing ability and integration are hardly balanced in classical structures of self-healable devices. Here, cellulose nanofiber/poly(vinyl alcohol) (CNF/PVA), a biocompatible moisture-inspired self-healable composite, was applied both as the binder in functional layers and the substrate. Various functional layers comprising particular carbon materials and CNF/PVA were patterned on the substrate. A planar structure was beneficial for integration, and the active self-healing ability of the functional layers endowed self-healed e-skins with a higher toughness. Water served as both the only solvent throughout the fabrication process and the trigger of the self-healing process, which avoids the pollution and bioincompatibility caused by the application of noxious additives. Our e-skins could achieve real-time monitoring of whole-body physiological signals and environmental temperature and humidity. Cross-interference between different external stimuli was suppressed through reasonable material selection and structural design. Combined with conventional electronics, data could be transmitted to a nearby smartphone for post-processing. This work provides a previously unexplored strategy for multifunctional e-skins with an excellent practicality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Application of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) on sensors is of great interest for researchers. Film forming ability of the sensing material is very important for both the preparation process and sensing properties of the devices. Humidity sensors based on UIO-66 derived polyelectrolyte films were well prepared by in situ thiol-ene click cross-linking polymerization in this work. The hydrophilicity of the sensing film could be controlled by the feed ratios. The optimized humidity sensor shows a fast response to RHs change (Res/Rec time is 3.1 s/1.5 s, respectively) with ∼1.2% RH of humidity hysteresis. The water molecules adsorption behavior of the film and the sensing mechanism were also be investigated. The humidity sensor with good water and thermal stability and repeatability was applied in breath monitoring, which can well distinguish different breath states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scalability issue hinders the deployment of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) in the Wide Area Networks (WANs). Existing solutions have two issues: (1) network performance relies on complicated controller synchronization, which increases the complexity of network control; (2) fine-grained flow processing enables flexible flow control at the cost of high processing load on the controllers and high flow table occupancy on switches. In this paper, we propose a scalable routing solution named HybridFlow, which achieves a good load balancing performance using a single controller with low control overhead (i.e., flow routing and rerouting overhead). HybridFlow mainly employs two techniques: hybrid routing and crucial flow rerouting. Hybrid routing enabled by commercial SDN switches gives us opportunities to reduce the processing load of the controller by routing flows with the hybrid OpenFlow/OSPF mode. Thus, the majority of flows can be routed by OSPF without involving the controller. Crucial flow rerouting realizes load balancing by dynamically identifying crucial flows based on a new metric called Variation Slope and rerouting these flows with the hybrid OpenFlow/OSPF mode. The simulation based on the real traffic traces and network typologies shows that compared with the optimal solution, HybridFlow can achieve 87% of the optimal load balancing performance by rerouting 36% less flows on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Calcined Ge-UTL encountered structural degradation under pure water solution at RT. • A simply ultrasonic treatment caused random arrangement of the formed cfi layers. • The stacking faults of cfi layers generated abundant intracrystal mesopores. • An excellent styrene epoxidation activity (TOF = 403 h−1) is achieved on Co-Meso-UTL. Co-zeolites with hierarchical porous are significantly desirable for the liquid-phase selective epoxidation of styrene that required relatively open reaction spaces. A typical UTL germanosilicate with the absence of organic structure-directing agent molecules inside pore channels suffered from severe structural collapse after ultrasonic treatment under pure water medium, originating from the unstable germanium-rich double four ring subunits. The simple strategy cleaved the weak linkage Ge-O bands and caused the irregular location of silicon-rich cfi layers. Subsequently, Co activity centers was incorporated into the framework through reacting with the abundant silanol groups located in the hydroxyl nests at room temperature. The random arrangement of mono- or multi- cfi layers induced the stacking faults and generated a large amount of intracrystal mesopores after calcination. The resultant Co-Meso-UTL catalysts favored the molecules diffusion of large-sized styrene and target products, improving the accessibility of Co active sites and exhibiting excellent catalytic performance in the styrene epoxidation reaction with single hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) oxidant. Especially, high styrene oxide product selectivity was also obtained through controlling appropriate H 2 O 2 -added content as well as reaction time, which possessed a highest turnover frequency value of 403 h−1 among the reported catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Au-loaded mesoporous silica/gelatin hydrogel was used the excellent humidity sensing film. • The prepared sensor could detect NH 3 by utilizing the outstanding ability to adsorb water molecules. • An egg storage scenario was simulated, and the water loss in eggs was monitored by the humidity sensor. • The sensing mechanism and contribution of each component in the sensing process were analyzed. In this paper, a composite hydrogel film (Au/Me-SiO 2 /G) based on Au nanoparticles, mesoporous silica and gelatin was prepared, which can be used for low relative humidity (RH) detection. Au-1%/Me-SiO 2 /G exhibits a response of 423% in the range of 0.4–30% RH, a short response time of 28 s, a linearity of R2 = 0.997, and good long-term stability. With the outstanding ability to adsorb water molecules, the sensor can detect NH 3 at room temperature and low humidity environment. The response of the sensor to NH 3 significantly increases with the humidity. At 30% RH, the initial impedance value of the sensor is as low as ∼6.6 MΩ, and the response to 50 ppm NH 3 is 78%. In addition, an egg storage scenario was simulated, and the water loss in eggs was monitored simultaneously by the prepared humidity sensor and a commercial sensor. The results demonstrate the practical application detection ability of the prepared humidity sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities are strongly linked to soil available phosphorus levels in Eucalyptus plantations. AMF frequently collect and route considerable amounts of P to their host plants, likely through collaboration with other soil nutrients. Nevertheless, the mechanism of AMF driving available P in Eucalyptus plantation soil remains ambiguous. This paper aimed to determine the effect of the AMF community structure on available P in Eucalyptus soil. Four Eucalyptus stands including 1-, 3-, 5-, and 12-year-old (abbreviated as SA1, SA3, SA5, and SA12, respectively) were obtained from a national forest farm. High-throughput sequencing and a modified Hedley technique for soil P fractionation were used to investigate the AMF community structure. Our results revealed the P fractionation and the structure of the AMF community in SA5 and SA12 are highly variable compared with the control. Redundancy analysis showed the AMF taxa are closely connected with the available P in soil. Glomeraceae and Paraglomeraceae have a strong influence on resin P, inorganic P extracted by concentrated hydrochloric acid, residual P that is difficult to extract, as well as ammonium nitrogen and pH. The structural equation model indicated that soil properties have a significant influence on AMF diversity and abundance, and AMF dominant species support organic P (NaHCO 3 –Po) conversion. These results implied that Eucalyptus stand ages alter the soil physical and chemical properties, which affect the AMF colonization capacity. AMF also has a significant influence on the available P content of the soil. Glomeraceae and Paraglomeraceae are the dominant fungi influencing the available P content. Furthermore, expanding Glomeraceae and Paraglomeraceae , and applying them to Eucalyptus plantation may improve soil P availability. Finally, the structure of the AMF community may be a sensitive indicator of the quality of soil available P in Eucalyptus plantation. • Successively planting of Eucalyptus make soil physicochemical properties show erratic changes over a 12-year period. • Soil physicochemical properties drive changes in the community structure of AMF in Eucalyptus soils. • Changes in community structure of AMF significantly contribute to phosphorus content in Eucalyptus soil. • Ecological issues in management deserve increased attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is an important member of the immunoglobulin family of inflammatory stimulating receptors and is involved in a number of pathophysiological processes. The present study aimed to investigate the role of TREM2 in neurotoxicity induced by high cholesterol levels in SH-SY5Y cells and explore the potential mechanism. SH-SY5Y cells were routinely cultured and stimulated with a range of cholesterol concentrations. Cell viability was assessed using an MTT assay, morphological changes were observed, and the cell cycle distribution was measured using flow cytometry. Lipid deposition was measured by Oil red O staining, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of SRBEP-1 and SRBEP-2 were detected by quantitative PCR and western blotting, respectively. Moreover, the protein expression levels of BDNF, Copine-6, TREM1, TREM2, and key molecules of the Wnt signaling pathways were detected by western blotting. Finally, TREM2 was overexpressed to investigate its potential role in high cholesterol-induced neurotoxicity. The results showed that cell viability was significantly decreased in SH-SY5Y cells stimulated with cholesterol (0.1~100 µM) in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Stimulation with 100 µM cholesterol for 24 h resulted in morphological injuries, increased the proportion of SH-SY5Y cells at G0/G1, the degree of lipid accumulation, and the protein expression levels of sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP)1 and SREBP2, markedly decreased the protein expression levels of BDNF, Copine-6, and TREM2, and the p-β-catenin/β-catenin ratio, and increased the expression levels of nesfatin-1, TREM1 and the p-GSK3β/GSK3β ratio. Furthermore, the imbalanced expression of BDNF, Copine-6, nesfatin-1, and p-GSK3β induced by high cholesterol levels was reversed after overexpression of TREM2. These results suggest that a high concentration of cholesterol could induce cell injury and lipid deposition in SH-SY5Y cells and that the underlying mechanism may be associated with imbalanced TREM2 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The kinetic behaviors CO 2 reaction in MEA/DEA + tertiary amines nonaqueous system and water-lean system were investigated by the stopped-flow technique, and a unified kinetic model was proposed. • The effects of the molecular structure of tertiary amines, the pKa, and the concentration of water was explored. • In MEA/DEA + tertiary amines nonaqueous/water-lean systems, tertiary amines only participated in the deprotonation of MEA-zwitterion/DEA-zwitterion, and ethanol or water played the role of proton transfer channel to accelerate proton transfer. • The activation energy of CO 2 reaction in MEA-EtOH system and MEA-TREA-EtOH was predicted. The kinetic behavior of the reaction of CO 2 with MEA-TREA in ethanol solution was studied using the stopped-flow technique. The results indicate that the zwitterion mechanism successfully correlates the experimentally measured pseudo first-order reaction constant (k 0) and that the TREA participated in the deprotonation step of MEA-zwitterion as an alkaline substance after the formation of MEA-zwitterion. Then, the applicability of this proposed mechanism was investigated by using the reaction kinetics of CO 2 with MEA-DMEA, MEA-DEEA, MEA-MDEA, DEA-TREA, DEA-DMEA blended amines in non-aqueous ethanol solution, as well as MEA-TREA, MEA-DMEA, DEA-TREA, DEA-DMEA blended amines in water-lean solutions. It was found that the mechanism of the reaction of CO 2 with these mixed amines can be expressed by: k 0 = K A - A z [ A ] 2 + K A - B z [ A ] [ B ] + K 1 z [ A ]. The ethanol and water molecules which contribute to K 1 z can be used as proton transfer channels to accelerate proton transfer, but they do not directly participate in the reaction. In addition, the alkalinity and the steric hindrance effect controlled by the molecular structure of tertiary amines affected the reaction rate at the same time. The activation energies in MEA-EtOH and MEA-TREA-EtOH system were estimated by fitting the second-order rate constants to the Arrhenius expression, indicating that TREA can reduce the reaction activation energy and make the reaction more kinetically favorable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Puck criterion combined with modified Tsai-Wu polynomial criterion is used in numerical simulation of the composites on mesoscale. • The CT three-dimensional reconstruction of the targets which impacted by the ice projectile are carried out. • The generation and distribution of different mode cracks and their influence on the whole structure are analyzed. • This work provides a method to explain the generation mechanism of Barely Visible Impact Damage and judge the overall failure of CFRP. This work studied the barely visible damage caused by hail impact on the aircraft surface's carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates. The mesoscale model of the composites was established. Puck criterion combined with the modified Tsai-Wu polynomial criterion was used as the criterion of the fiber bundle fracture failure in numerical simulation. According to the computerized tomography three-dimensional reconstruction results and the test results of impact response obtained from previous work, the reliability of numerical simulation was verified. It was shown that different stress states cause different fiber fracture modes. Moreover, the location with the largest crack density was not at the center of the impact area but at the edge where the ice projectile contacted the CFRP plate at the moment of ductile–brittle transition during the impact. Finally, based on the influence mechanism of the fiber bundle's fracture mode on the damage propagation of the internal structure, the damage threshold of composites was determined to be about 4.872 J. This work provides a method to explain the generation mechanism of barely visible impact damage and judge the overall failure of CFRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the effects of guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) and betaine (BT) on growth performance, nutrient digestion, energy-nitrogen metabolism, and microbial protein synthesis in lambs. Forty-eight 3-month-old Dorper × Thin-tailed Han first crossbred generation ram lambs with similar body weight (22.03 ± 1.3 kg; mean ± SD) were randomly divided into 4 groups. According to the 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, lambs in each of the 4 groups were fed basal diets, or basal diets supplemented with 0.9 g GAA/kg dietary dry matter (DM), 5 g BT/day, or 5 g BT/day + 0.9 g GAA/kg dietary DM. Before the formal trial, all lambs were allowed to adapt to the facilities as well as the basal diet for 15 days. This study lasted for 71 days including a 60-day period for feeding trial and an 11-day period for digestion and metabolism trials. The results showed that supplementation with GAA or BT increased the average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency (FE). However, no further increase in ADG or FE was observed with the combination of GAA and BT compared to that induced by addition of GAA or BT alone. Moreover, the addition of GAA or BT improved the apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), while GAA increased acid detergent fiber (ADF). GAA or BT supplementation decreased ruminal pH but increased the concentration of total volatile fatty acids (T-VFA), propionate, and valerate. Ruminal ammonia N content was not influenced by GAA or BT supplementation. Addition of GAA or BT resulted in an increase in microbial protein (MCP) synthesis. Additionally, supplementation with GAA or BT promoted digestible nitrogen (N), retained N, digestible energy and apparent digestibility of gross energy, and reduced fecal N. Supplementation with GAA decreased urinary N and increased metabolizable energy. The addition of GAA or BT increased total protein and creatine levels in serum, but the addition of BT alone decreased blood homocysteine (Hcy) levels. GAA elevated blood insulin-like growth factors-1 (IGF-1). These results demonstrate that supplementation with GAA or BT improves growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and energy-nitrogen metabolism, but the addition of BT and GAA in combination does not further improve the growth of lambs. • Average daily gain and feed efficiency were increased for lambs fed the diets with addition of GAA or BT. • The digestibility of dry matter and neutral detergent fiber was improved with addition of GAA or BT. • Higher digestible energy and nitrogen were observed when lambs fed diets with addition of GAA or BT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CO 2 absorption in MEA + H 2 O + Ethanol is explained by zwitterion mechanism with rate-limiting of deprotonation. • Water accelerates reactions by participating in the deprotonation of MEA-zwitterion and changing the solvation environment. • An improved kinetic model based on zwitterion mechanism was proposed with an average absolute relative difference of 6.73%. The kinetics of CO 2 absorption in ethanolamine (MEA) + H 2 O + ethanol systems was investigated using stopped-flow apparatus. The first-order reaction rate constant (k 0) values were tested with varying H 2 O and MEA concentrations. Transiting from the aqueous to non-aqueous solvents, the k 0 decreases and the reaction order for MEA shifts from 1.05 to 1.88. The zwitterion mechanism with the rate-limiting step of deprotonation was used to explore the role of water and its effect. Results showed that water could impact reactions through direct involvement and changing solvation environment. An improved kinetic model based on the zwitterion mechanism was obtained to indicate the quantitative influence of H 2 O concentration on the reaction kinetics of MEA + H 2 O + ethanol systems. The predicted values from the model well agreed to the experimental data with the average absolute relative difference of 6.73%. This study highlights the important effects of water on the reaction kinetics of CO 2 absorption into water-lean amine solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The way for arterial and venous thrombus are treated should also be varied. • Smaller system favors penetration, while larger one promotes trapping in thrombus. • Physical-matched nano-systems show advances in specific arteriovenous thrombolysis. The differences of physiology, fluid parameters and core structures of thrombus in artery and vein determine the distinct ways for arterial and venous thrombolytic treatments. As an effective drug delivery strategy, physical-matching of nano-delivery system and clot structure will lead to significant advances in specific arteriovenous thrombolysis treatment. We fabricated mesoporous silicon nanoparticles (MSNs) with different sizes (MSN-S: ∼40 nm, MSN-M: ∼70 nm, MSN-L: ∼110 nm) cloaked with platelet membrane (termed PNPs). Results demonstrated that PNP-S (small-sized PNP) exhibited the optimal penetration effect in the both carotid arterial thrombus and deep venous thrombosis (DVT) rat model. However, the enrichment effects in the arterial and venous thrombus were distinct. Upon the action of blood flow shear stress, PNP-S had a better enrichment effect in the carotid arterial thrombus rat model compared with the other groups, while PNP-L (large-sized PNP) showed the best penetration and enrichment efficiency in the DVT rat model. After loading with 100 U/g urokinase (UK) (termed UNPs), large-sized UNPs (UNP-L) and small-sized UNPs (UNP-S) respectively yielded the best thrombolytic effect in the DVT and carotid arterial thrombus rat model, which was near to that of high-dose UK (200 U/g). These results revealed that the physical-matching brought by size adjustment optimized the penetration and retention of nano-delivery system in various thrombi, and eventually enabled specific and effective arteriovenous thrombolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • In-situ isomorphism Mn doped CoCo 2 O 4 were prepared by microwave assistance process. • Mn2CoCo 2 O 4 electrode exhibits improved capacity and broadened voltage window. • Charge storage mechanism was revealed by kinetic analysis and ex-situ characterizations. • BSH devices deliver 58.6 Wh kg−1 energy density at a power density of 950 W kg−1. Introducing secondary metal ions into host electrode materials may result in extra redox sites and regulating the electronic structure to increase electrochemical properties. With the assistance of microwave, Mn cation was in-situ isomorphism doped into porous CoCo 2 O 4 nanowires during a hydrothermal process. Ex-situ characterizations reveal that the doped Mn2+ and Mn3+ in CoCo 2 O 4 provides additional redox reaction by forming reversible Mn4+, which effectively improved electrochemical storage capacity. The added redox reaction of Mn cations is also helpful to effectively suppress the water-splitting, which expanded the operating voltage window. As a result, the as-obtained Mn-doped CoCo 2 O 4 nanowire array electrodes exhibited an enlarged specific capacity (1528.0C g−1/424.4 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1) with a widened operating voltage window of 1.1 V and superior cycling stability (91.5 % retention after 5000cycles). Correspondingly, the battery-supercapacitor hybrid device constructed by Mn2CoCo 2 O 4 porous nanowire array electrode and biomass-derived N doped porous carbon delivered a stable working voltage of 1.9 V and superior energy density of 58.6 Wh kg−1 at power density of 950 W kg−1 as well as excellent stability (83.7 % specific capacity retained at 10 A g−1 for 8000cycles). This work provides a feasible route for the construction of energy storage devices with high energy density and high power density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Trace MoS 2 modified rGO, MWCNTs and CB were prepared. • The effect of microstructures in three carbon materials on sensing performances for CAP detection was examined. • The reasons why different carbon-based hybrids exhibit different electrochemical performances for CAP detection was also discussed. Carbon nanomaterials are considered as potentially promising sensing materials for fabrication of high-performance electrochemical chloramphenicol (CAP) sensors. However, it is highly required to investigate the structure effect of carbon supports on electrochemical sensing performances. Herein, three typical carbon nanomaterials were selected as carbon supports to deposition of trace MoS 2 , including reduced graphene oxide (rGO), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and carbon black (CB), which were subsequently used to construct electrochemical CAP sensors. The combined characterizations of Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy indicate that these MoS 2 modified carbon nanomaterials show the morphology and microstructures similar with carbon supports as used. Electrochemical tests indicate that the sensing performances of these CAP sensors are dependent on the structure of carbon supports. Among all these MoS 2 modified carbon nanomaterials, MoS 2 modified rGO hybrids display large electrochemically active surface area and low interfacial resistance between electrolyte and electrode, resulting in the highest sensitivity of 3.581 μA μM−1 cm−2. As a result, rGO is regarded as good candidate for fabrication of high-performance CAP sensors, compared to MWCNTs and CB. The present work not only clarifies structure effect of carbon supports on electrochemical sensing performances, but also provides help for the construction of high-performance electrochemical sensors and biosensors based on carbon nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]