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To evaluate the clinical characteristics, biochemical parameters and the distribution of HLA-DQ genotypes among adult patients with celiac disease (CD) in Northwest China.This cross-sectional study retrospectively collected clinical, biochemical, and HLA-DQ genotype of patients with CD from a tertiary hospital in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China between March 2016 and December 2021. Small intestinal biopsy and serum-specific antibodies were used to diagnose CD.Of the 102 CD patients, 63.7% were women (female: male = 1.76:1), and the mean age was 47.3 ± 14.7 years at diagnosis. Common gastrointestinal symptoms included abdominal pain (50.0%), diarrhea (39.2%), and abdominal distension (24.5%). While common extraintestinal manifestations were anemia (48.0%), osteopenia or osteoporosis (36.3%), and fatigue (35.3%). Approximately 34.3% of patients with CD had comorbidities, with the most common being thyroid diseases (18.6%). Biochemical profiles showed lower hemoglobin, higher platelet count, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) deficiency. HLA-DQ2/DQ8 was detected among all 53 patients who underwent genotype testing; the frequency of the HLA-DQ2.5, DQ2.2, and DQ8 haplotypes was 71.7%, 24.5%, and 3.8%, respectively.CD was more common among women. Clinical manifestations include primarily gastrointestinal symptoms, but extraintestinal manifestations were not uncommon. Lower hemoglobin level, higher platelet count, and 25[OH]D deficiency are the main biochemical manifestations. The HLA-DQ2.5 and DQ2.2 haplotypes are the most common genotypes in CD.

Carbon nanocomposites with Ru-doped Fe2O3 nanoparticles are derived from a Fe–Ru–Fe trinuclear complex and zeolitic imidazolate framework 8 and exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reaction, comparable to that of Pt/C.

The “void lattice” formed by periodic arrangements of voids, usually replicating the symmetry and crystallographic orientation of the host matrix, is an interesting phenomenon in materials under neutron irradiation. In this work, taking tungsten (W) as an example, we explore the formation mechanism of the void lattice using an object kinetic Monte Carlo (OKMC) model together with the collision cascades simulated by the molecular dynamics method. The entire formation processes from the chaotic neutron irradiation defects to the observable void lattice are reproduced via OKMC simulation, which could be divided into three stages: nucleation, incubation and growth. It is found that both the one-dimensional (1D) migration of SIAs and the fraction of clustered vacancies in cascades play a critical role in the formation of the void lattice. On the one hand, the 1D migration of SIAs leads to the mutual protection of voids aligned in directions. The self-shielded voids may therefore grow faster than the unaligned ones. On the other hand, a moderate fraction of clustered vacancies in cascades guarantees the stable nucleation and growth rates of voids. Once the density of the aligned voids reaches a critical value, the shrinkage rate of the unaligned voids will overwhelm their growth rate, leading to the formation of void-free channels and thus the void lattice. Our results reveal the synergistic effects of the fraction of clustered vacancies in cascades and 1D migration of SIAs for the formation of the void lattice in W under neutron irradiation, which improves the fundamental understanding of the self-assembled microstructures in irradiated materials.

The oxygen (O) induced embrittlement of molybdenum (Mo) grain boundary (GB) is one of the key issues that limit the application of Mo-based alloys. The addition of carbon (C) can suppress the O-induced embrittlement. In this study, taking Σ5 (3 1 0)/[0 0 1] Mo GB as an example, we investigate the segregation of C/O into Mo GB and their influences on GB properties by using the first-principles method. It has been demonstrated that the suppressing effect of C on O-induced embrittlement should be mainly attributed to C inhibiting the O segregation in Mo GB, while the direct strengthening effect of C cannot compensate for the reduction of fracture energy induced by O. On the one hand, due to the attractive interaction between C and O, the presence of C effectively reduces the mobility of O in bulk Mo, thereby slowing down the segregation of O. On the other hand, owing to the large available volume and promoted electronic states in the GB region, the segregation of C and O in Mo GB is energetically favorable. Specifically, the interaction of C with O in Mo GB changes to be repulsive from the attraction of C-O in bulk system, suggesting that the pre-segregated C atoms inhibit the segregation of O into GB. This should be rationalized by the site-dependent segregation of O and strong electronic repulsion of C-O pair in the GB region. Consequently, the C addition can effectively reduce the O concentration in Mo GBs and thus relieve the O-induced embrittlement. Our results deepen the understanding of the impurities effects on the properties of Mo GB, and have a guiding significance on the development of advanced Mo-based materials.

Understanding the evolution of irradiation-induced defects is of critical importance for the performance estimation of nuclear materials under irradiation. Hereby, we systematically investigate the influence of He on the evolution of Frenkel pairs and collision cascades in tungsten (W) via using the object kinetic Monte Carlo (OKMC) method. Our findings suggest that the presence of He has significant effect on the evolution of irradiation-induced defects. On the one hand, the presence of He can facilitate the recombination of vacancies and self-interstitial atoms (SIAs) in W. This can be attributed to the formation of immobile He-SIA complexes, which increases the annihilation probability of vacancies and SIAs. On the other hand, due to the high stability and low mobility of He-vacancy complexes, the growth of large vacancy clusters in W is kinetically suppressed by He addition. Specially, in comparison with the injection of collision cascades and He in sequential way at 1223 K, the average sizes of surviving vacancy clusters in W via simultaneous way are smaller, which is in good agreement with previous experimental observations. These results advocate that the impurity with low concentration has significant effect on the evolution of irradiation-induced defects in materials, and contributes to our understanding of W performance under irradiation.