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Background: The cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) non‐response rate can reach 30% in heart failure (HF) patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB). This study aimed to evaluate the value of baseline q waves in leads I, V5, or V6 in predicting response to CRT in patients with HF and LBBB. Methods: Patients with HF (left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35%) and LBBB receiving CRT implantation were retrospectively enrolled. Baseline characteristics and electrocardiogram parameters, including lateral and left precordial q waves were evaluated. Non‐response to CRT was defined as the improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 5% at a 6‐month follow‐up. Results: A total of 132 patients (mean age 63.0 ± 10.4 years, 94 [71.2%] male) were included. Among them, 32 patients with q waves in leads I, V5, or V6 were classified into the qLBBB (+) group, and the rest without q waves in these leads were defined as the qLBBB (‐) group. The CRT non‐response rate in the qLBBB (+) group was markedly higher than that in the qLBBB (‐) group (68.8% vs. 33.3%, p <.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the presence of baseline q waves in leads I, V5, or V6 remained significantly associated with a higher rate of CRT non‐response in patients with HF and LBBB (odds ratio: 4.8, 95% confidence interval: 1.5–15.0, p =.007). Conclusion: Any q wave in leads I, V5, or V6 was an independent predictive factor for CRT non‐response in patients with HF and LBBB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regarding the complex properties of various cations, the design of aqueous batteries that can simultaneously store multi‐ions with high capacity and satisfactory rate performance is a great challenge. Here an amorphization strategy to boost cation‐ion storage capacities of anode materials is reported. In monovalent (H+, Li+, K+), divalent (Mg2+, Ca2+, Zn2+) and even trivalent (Al3+) aqueous electrolytes, the capacity of the resulting amorphous MoOx is more than quadruple than that of crystalline MoOx and exceeds those of other reported multiple‐ion storage materials. Both experimental and theoretical calculations reveal the generation of ample active sites and isotropic ions in the amorphous phase, which accelerates cation migration within the electrode bulk. Amorphous MoOx can be coupled with multi‐ion storage cathodes to realize electrochemical energy storage devices with different carriers, promising high energy and power densities. The power density exceeded 15000 W kg−1, demonstrating the great potential of amorphous MoOx in advanced aqueous batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust ionospheric model is indispensable for providing the atmospheric delay corrections for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) navigation and positioning and forecasting the space environment. The accuracy of ionospheric models is limited due to the simplified model structures. Complicated spatiotemporal variations in total electron content (TEC) biases between GNSS and international reference ionosphere (IRI) suggest a robust strategy to optimally combine GNSS and IRI TEC for high-precision modeling. In this paper, we propose a novel ionospheric data assimilation method, which is a local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF), to construct an ionospheric model over Yunnan in southwestern China. We used the LETKF method to assimilate the ionospheric TEC extracted from GNSS observations in Yunnan into the IRI-2016 model. The experimental results indicate that the ionospheric data assimilation has a more pronounced improvement effect on the IRI empirical model during periods of geomagnetic quiet than during periods of geomagnetic disturbance. On quiet magnetic days, the skill score (SKS) of the assimilation is 0.60 and the root mean square error (RMSE) values before and after assimilation are 5.08 TECU and 2.02 TECU, respectively. The correlation coefficient after assimilation increases from 0.94 to 0.99. On magnetic storm days, the SKS of the assimilation is 0.42 and the RMSE values before and after assimilation are 5.99 TECU and 3.46 TECU, respectively. The correlation coefficient after assimilation increases from 0.98 to 0.99. The results suggest that the LETKF algorithm can be considered an effective method for ionospheric data assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Altered abundance or activity of the dual-function transient receptor potential melastatin-like 7 (TRPM7) protein is implicated in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Toxic aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) in neurons is implicated in AD pathology. Here, we found that the kinase activity of TRPM7 is important to stimulate the degradation of Aβ. TRPM7 expression was decreased in hippocampal tissue samples from patients with AD and two mouse models of AD (APP/PS1 and 5XFAD). In cultures of hippocampal neurons from mice, overexpression of full-length TRPM7 or of its functional kinase domain M7CK prevented synapse loss induced by exogenous Aβ. In contrast, this neuroprotection was not afforded by overexpression of either the functional ion channel portion alone or a TRPM7 mutant lacking kinase activity. M7CK overexpression in the hippocampus of young and old 5XFAD mice prevented and reversed, respectively, memory deficits, synapse loss, and Aβ plaque accumulation. In both neurons and mice, M7CK interacted with and activated the metalloprotease MMP14 to promote Aβ degradation. Thus, TRPM7 loss in patients with AD may contribute to the associated Aβ pathology. Editor's summary: The abundance of the dual-function ion channel and kinase TRPM7 is decreased in postmortem brain samples from patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Zhang et al. uncovered a pathological role for loss of TRPM7 in AD. In mice modeling amyloid-β–induced pathology, synapse formation and cognitive function were restored in aged mice and preserved in pre-symptomatic, younger mice upon overexpression of the kinase portion of TRPM7 (called M7CK). M7CK directly activated the protease MMP14, which promoted amyloid-β degradation and clearance. The findings may provide a mechanistic link between TRPM7 loss and amyloid pathology in AD patients.–Leslie K. Ferrarelli [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted increasing attention due to their low cost and high safety. MoS2 is a promising cathode material for aqueous ZIBs due to its favorable Zn2+ accommodation ability. However, the structural strain and large volume changes during intercalation/deintercalation lead to exfoliation of active materials from substrate and cause irreversible capacity fading. In this work, a highly stable cathode was developed by designing a hierarchical carbon nanosheet-confined defective MoSx material (CNS@MoSx). This cathode material exhibits an excellent cycling stability with high capacity retention of 88.3% and ∼ 100% Coulombic efficiency after 400 cycles at 1.2 A·g−1, much superior compared to bare MoS2. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with experiments illustrate that the promising electrochemical properties of CNS@MoSx are due to the unique porous conductive structure of CNS with abundant active sites to anchor MoSx via strong chemical bonding, enabling MoSx to be firmly confined on the substrate. Moreover, this unique hierarchical complex structure ensures the fast migration of Zn2+ within MoSx interlayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous zinc‐ion battery is one of the candidates for the next generation batteries due to its reliable safety, environmental friendliness and low cost. While the poor structurally stability and limited cyclic reversibility of the cathode restricts its practical application. In this work, we elaborately design hierarchical three‐dimensional (3D) carbon networks (CNs) for the embedding of non‐stoichiometry MnOx with abundant defects (MnOx/CNs), which provide 3D diffusion pathway and efficient electrochemical active sites for zinc‐ion storage. The as‐designed Zn//MnOx/CNs battery delivers high energy density of 452.2 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 133.0 W kg−1, much superior to that of MnO2/CNs and pristine MnO2. Moreover, defective manganese species experience stable phase transformation during charging/discharging process, providing a long‐term cycling performance with a high reversible capacity of 263.3 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 after 1000 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-infrared emitting nano-sized particles of ZnGa2−x(Mg/Si)xO4:Cr3+ (x = 0–0.15, termed as ZGMSO:Cr3+) with persistent luminescence were prepared by sol-gel processing followed by calcination. The samples were tested by XRD, TEM, STEM, SAED, Raman, XPS, UV-Vis-NIR, TL, PLE/PL spectroscopy, and persistent luminescence decay analysis. Equimolar incorporation of Mg2+ and Si4+ ions did not change the spindle structure of ZnGa2O4 seriously. Most Mg2+ ions are more likely to occupy the sites in octahedron, but Si4+ ions are more likely to occupy the sites in tetrahedron in priority. A broader bandgap, up shift of conduction band minimum, and more anti-defects were found at a higher Mg2+/Si4+ doping concentration. ZGMSO:Cr3+ outputs near-infrared emission with a dominated band at 694 nm (2E → 4A2 transition of Cr3+), which can last longer than 48 h after the stoppage of UV irradiation. Mg2+/Si4+ doping contributes to a better near-infrared persistent luminescence, and the strongest and the longest NIR afterglow was observed at x = 0.05, owing to that the x = 0.05 sample has the deepest defects. The synthesized nanoparticles of ZGMSO:Cr3+ not only output intense NIR afterglow but also can be recharged by the red light of LED several times, indicating that they are the potential nano probes for bio imaging in living animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: No study has systematically investigated the quality of long-term care delivered to the rural older people with chronic diseases, such as atrial fibrillation (AF) in China. This study aims to provide contemporary data on the prevalence and awareness of AF among the older population in rural China and to evaluate healthcare knowledge and delivery by village doctors., Design: A cross-sectional study., Setting: Rural villages in Daqiao and Xiaoji towns of Jiangsu Province, China., Participants: Rural population aged ≥65 years., Outcome Measures: AF was identified using 12-lead electrocardiography in the first-step (government-led health examination) and single-lead electrocardiography in the second-step (in-house AF screening). Questionnaire surveys were designed for the AF patients and their village doctors., Results: Among 31,342 permanent residents, 12,630 (40.3 %) declined, 7,956 (25.3 %) participated in the first-step and 10,756 (34.3 %) in the second-step. The overall AF detection rate was 4.3 % (810/18,712). Of the 810 AF patients (mean age 76.1±5.9 years; 51.4 % female), 51.5 % were illiterate, only 2.6 % could use smartphone applications, and 8.1 % lived with their children. Common risk factors were older age, men, hypertension, diabetes, prior stroke, vascular disease, and congestive heart failure. Among the 402 patients with known AF, 367 were at high risk of stroke and 10.9 % (40/367) were anticoagulated. Only 17.6 % patients with known hypertension had blood pressure level <140/90 mmHg, and 6.0 % with known diabetes had a fasting blood glucose level ≤6.1 mmol/L. Only 7.3 % (9/122) village doctors reported having the knowledge of integrated care AF management., Conclusions: This study identified AF in 4.3 %, but AF management was suboptimal in rural China. The current village doctor-dominant rural healthcare system is far from delivering standardized AF management for older patients in rural China. There is an urgent need to empower the village doctors in optimising the care of AF patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest MLC reported receiving lecture fee from Boehringer Ingelheim. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The main challenge for immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy lies in immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Repolarizing M2-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) into inflammatory M1 phenotype is a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapy. Here, this study shows that the tumor suppressive protein SHISA3 regulates the antitumor functions of TAMs. Local delivery of mRNA encoding Shisa3 enables cancer immunotherapy by reprogramming TAMs toward an antitumoral phenotype, thus enhancing the efficacy of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody. Enforced expression of Shisa3 in TAMs increases their phagocytosis and antigen presentation abilities and promotes CD8 + T cell-mediated antitumor immunity. The expression of SHISA3 is induced by damage/pathogen-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs/PAMPs) in macrophages via nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) transcription factors. Reciprocally, SHISA3 forms a complex with heat shock protein family A member 8 (HSPA8) to activate NF-κB signaling thus maintaining M1 polarization of macrophages. Knockout Shisa3 largely abolishes the antitumor efficacy of combination immunotherapy with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) and PD-1 antibody. It further found that higher expression of SHISA3 in antitumoral TAMs is associated with better overall survival in lung cancer patients. Taken together, the findings describe the role of SHISA3 in reprogramming TAMs that ameliorate cancer immunotherapy., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Aqueous zinc metal batteries are a viable candidate for next-generation energy storage systems, but suffer from poor cycling efficiency of the Zn anode. Emerging approaches aim to regulate zinc plating behavior to suppress uncontrolled dendrites, while the stripping process is seldom considered. Herein, an oriented metal stripping strategy is demonstrated to stabilize the Zn anode by removing high-index facets for exposing the (002) plane through the addition of anionic additive sodium citrate (SC). Consequently, high-index facets that coordinate strongly with SC are preferentially stripped out due to a reduced stripping barrier, rendering stable (002) facet preponderant in epitaxial plating. After repeat stripping/plating, the ultra-high proportion of 93% for (002) and large-size grains of ≈100 µm (six times larger than before) can be obtained. Zn anode shows continuous 25 000 cycles with low overpotential at 100 mA cm -2 in symmetric cells and more than 70 h of stable operation even at an ultra-high depth of discharge of 92.3%. Moreover, an extremely long lifespan of 12 000 cycles at 10 A g -1 with a high capacity retention of 89% is achieved by the assembled Zn//I 2 battery. This work provides a distinctive approach to improving the stripping process to design highly efficient zinc anodes for promising aqueous zinc metal batteries., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)