Search

Boron, the neighbor element to carbon in the periodic table, is characterized by unique electron deficiency that fosters multicenter delocalized bonding, contributing to its diverse chemistry. Unlike carbon cages (fullerenes), which preserve their structural integrity under endohedral or exohedral doping, larger boron cages (borospherenes) exhibit diverse structural configurations. These configurations can differ from those of pure boron cages and are stabilized by various metals through unique metal–boron bonding, resulting in a variety of metalloborospherenes. Due to boron’s electron deficiency, metalloborospherenes exhibit fascinating chemical bonding patterns that vary with cluster size and the type of metal dopants. This review paper highlights recent advancements in metalloborospherene research, drawing comparisons with metallofullerenes, and focuses on the use of transition metals, lanthanides, and actinides as dopants across various cage dimensions.

The most common oxidation state for lanthanides is +3. Here the authors use photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations to study half-sandwich complexes where a lanthanide center in the oxidation state +1 is bound to an aromatic wheel-like B8 2- ligand.

Abstract Background Although dyslipidaemia may have a crucial impact on cardiovascular health in adults, there is a lack of specific data in transitional-age youth. Therefore, this study attempted to evaluate the association of dyslipidaemia with fat-to-muscle ratio (FMR), and establish FMR thresholds for diagnosing dyslipidaemia in transitional-age youth. Methods One thousand six hundred sixty individuals aged 16 to 24 years from the baseline of a subcohort in the Northwest China Natural Population Cohort: Ningxia Project were analysed. Anthropometric characteristics were gauged by a bioelectrical impedance analyser, and dyslipidaemia components were measured using a Beckman AU480 chemistry analyser. Additionally, this study used logistic regression to estimate the risk of dyslipidaemia based on FMR quintiles, and calculate the gender-specific ideal cut-off values of dyslipidaemia and its components by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results Of the 1660 participants, aged 19.06 ± 1.14 years, 558 males and 1102 females. The prevalence of dyslipidaemia was 13.4% and was significantly associated with FMR quintiles among all participants (P

The data on long-term trends and factors of tobacco retailers’ compliance in Taiwan are limited. The new regulations of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act were established in 2009. Now, the government is planning to raise the minimum legal age (MLA) for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 20, so the results of this study will be an important reference to promote new regulations in the future. We carried out an observational mystery shopping study design and data were collected from 2009 to 2019. In total, 6320 undercover tests were conducted to investigate selling by tobacco retailers to persons aged less than 18 years by an impartial third party annually. Logistic regression was used to analyze the factors influencing compliance by adjusting test variables and independent variables. The compliance rate increased by 8.4% annually and was better among tests conducted during summer vacation (AOR = 1.324), chain convenience stores (AOR = 3.651), supermarkets or hypermarkets (AOR = 1.973), and verifications with age (AOR = 15.345). It is the first study to explore long-term and national tobacco retailers’ enforcement effects by an impartial third party in Asia. The findings suggest that local health agencies should enhance enforcement on those stores which were tested during non-summer holidays and weekends, betel nut stands, and grocery stores.