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The development of high energy electrode materials for lithium ion batteries is challenged by their inherent instabilities, which become more aggravated as the energy densities continue to climb, accordingly causing increasing concerns on battery safety and reliability. Here, taking the high voltage cathode of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 as an example, we demonstrate a protocol to stabilize this cathode through a systematic phase modulating on its particle surface. We are able to transfer the spinel surface into a 30 nm shell composed of two functional phases including a rock-salt one and a layered one. The former is electrochemically inert for surface stabilization while the latter is designated to provide necessary electrochemical activity. The precise synthesis control enables us to tune the ratio of these two phases, and achieve an optimized balance between improved stability against structural degradation without sacrificing its capacity. This study highlights the critical importance of well-tailored surface phase property for the cathode stabilization of high energy lithium ion batteries.

This abstract was withdrawn by the authors. Citation Format: Zhao H, Gong Y, Ye F, Ling H, Hu X. Withdrawn [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-08-25.

The widely distributed unconformity (T7) in Pearl River Mouth Basin, formed at ~ 30 Ma, is one of the most important unconformities of northern South China Sea related to the evolution of basin dynamics. Based on seismic data and logs, this study documents the distribution of the unconformity in Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) and discusses the mechanism of the breakup unconformity in the evolution of the basin. The study verifies that the T7 boundary is a breakup unconformity: (1) most fault tips end at T7 unconformity or the offset diminishes markedly across the unconformity, and (2) these faults control the stratal thickness, reflected by the wedge shape formation. The T7 unconformity can be divided into three zones according to different structures and contact relationships: (1) the angular unconformity zone, (2) the local unconformity and onlap zone, and (3) the conformity zone, these three correspond to strong erosion zone, weak erosion zone, and non-erosion zone respectively. The distribution pattern of the breakup unconformity in this study area is controlled by the tectonic and geomorphology in the different zones of a basin: The angular erosion zone in the north is controlled by fault activity, but in local unconformity and onlap zone the erosion is mainly caused by diapir or local uplift. The conformity zone is located at the depression center in an underwater environment. This pattern indicates that the mechanism of the breakup unconformity is related to the erosion on shoulder uplift structure at the basin margin in rift stage.

Two-dimensional (2D) metal–semiconductor transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) vertical heterostructures play a crucial role in device engineering and contact tuning fields, while their direct integration still challenging. Herein, a robust epitaxial growth method is designed to construct multiple lattice-matched 2D metal–semiconductor TMDC vertical stacks (VSe2/MX2, M: Mo, W; X: S, Se) by a two-step chemical vapor deposition method. Intriguingly, the metallic VSe2 preferred to nucleate and extend from the energy-favorable edge site of the semiconducting MX2 underlayer to form VSe2/MX2 vertical heterostructures. This growth behavior was also confirmed by density functional theory calculations of the initial adsorption of VSe2 adatoms. In particular, the formation of Schottky-diode or Ohmic contact-type band alignments was detected for the stacks between VSe2 and p-type WSe2 or n-type MoSe2, respectively. This work hereby provides insights into the direct integration, band-alignment engineering, and poten...

The use of TiO2 as an anode in rechargeable sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) is hampered by intrinsic low electronic conductivity of TiO2 and inferior electrode kinetics. Here, a high-performance TiO2 electrode for NIBs is presented by designing a multichannel porous TiO2 nanofibers with well-dispersed Cu nanodots and Cu2+-doping derived oxygen vacancies (Cu-MPTO). The in-situ grown well-dispersed copper nanodots of about 3 nm on TiO2 surface could significantly enhance electronic conductivity of the TiO2 fibers. The one-dimensional multichannel porous structure could facilitate the electrolyte to soak in, leading to short transport path of Na+ through carbon toward the TiO2 nanoparticle. The Cu2+-doping induced oxygen vacancies could decrease the bandgap of TiO2, resulting in easy electron trapping. With this strategy, the Cu-MPTO electrodes render an outstanding rate performance for NIBs (120 mAh·g−1 at 20 C) and a superior cycling stability for ultralong cycle life (120 mAh·g−1 at 20 C and 96.5% retention over 2,000 cycles). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations also suggest that Cu2+ doping can enhance the conductivity and electron transfer of TiO2 and lower the sodiation energy barrier. This strategy is confirmed to be a general process and could be extended to improve the performance of other materials with low electronic conductivity applied in energy storage systems.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of current study was to develop and validate comprehensive nomograms for predicting the survival of young women with breast cancer. METHODS: Women aged

To explore the possible roles of metallothioneins (MTs) played in cadmium (Cd) accumulation of water spinach, three IaMT genes, IaMT1, IaMT2 and IaMT3 in a high-shoot-Cd (T308) and a low-shoot-Cd accumulation cultivar (QLQ) were cloned, characterized, and quantitated. Gene expression analysis suggested that the expression of the IaMTs was differentially regulated by Cd stress in different cultivars, and T308 showed higher MTs expression overall. Furthermore, only shoot IaMT3 expression was cultivar dependent among the three IaMTs. Antioxidant analysis showed that the high production of IaMTs in T308 should be associated with its high oxidation resistance. The role of IaMTs in protecting against Cd toxicity was demonstrated in vitro via recombinant E. coli strains. The results showed that IaMT1 correlated with neither Cd tolerance nor Cd accumulation of E. coli, while IaMT2 conferred Cd tolerance in E. coli, IaMT2 and IaMT3 increased Cd accumulation in E. coli. These findings help to clarify the roles of IaMTs in Cd accumulation, and increase our understanding of the cultivar-dependent Cd accumulation in water spinach.

Hai-yun Zhao,1,2 Yue Gong,1,2 Fu-gui Ye,1,2 Hong Ling,1,2 Xin Hu1,2 1Department of Breast Surgery, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer in Shanghai, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; 2Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the incidence and prognostic factors of patients with breast cancer liver metastases (BCLM) at initial diagnosis.Methods: We utilized the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database to extract data on patients with primary invasive breast cancer from 2010 to 2014. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to determine factors associated with the presence of liver metastases upon initial diagnosis of breast cancer. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify the prognostic factors in these patients.Results: In total, 3,276 patients with liver metastases were identified upon initial diagnosis of breast cancer. Patients with hormone receptor-negative (HR–), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer had the highest incidence (4.6% among the entire population, 46.5% among the metastatic subgroup). Age, gender, race, pathological grade, extrahepatic metastases, tumor subtype, and marital status were identified as factors associated with the presence of liver metastases upon initial diagnosis of breast cancer. The median overall survival among the entire population with BCLM was 20.0 months. Patients with HR+/HER2+ breast cancer had the longest median survival of 36.0 months. The survival analyses indicated that older age, higher pathological grade, extrahepatic metastases, triple-negative subtype, unmarried status, and uninsured status were independent prognostic factors for a poorer prognosis.Conclusion: The study provides insight into the incidence and prognostic factors for patients with BCLM at initial diagnosis, which is important clinical information for risk evaluation and prognostic assessment. Keywords: breast cancer, liver metastases, incidence, prognostic factors, breast cancer subtype

Cochlear implant (CI) users have been shown to be more susceptible to the variations in speech production encountered in everyday listening, in which speaking rate, amplitude, duration, and voice pitch information may be quite variable, depending on the production context. Such variations may be further enlarged by the background noise, especially dynamic noise. The limited spectral resolution provided by the CI limits perception of voice pitch, which is an important cue for speech prosody and for tonal languages such as Mandarin Chinese. In this study, the effect of varying speaking rates and styles and background noise on speech understanding was investigated in Mandarin-speaking CI and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. Thirteen (5 male and 8 female, age 19–62 years) Mandarin-speaking, post-lingually deafened adult CI patients using their clinical processors and 9 (5 male and 4 female, age 23–59 years) NH subjects listening to unprocessed speech. Five different types of speech variations, including 3 speaking rates (slow, normal, fast) and 2 speaking styles (emotional, shouted) were presented with two masking noises (speech-shaped steady state noise-SSN or six-talker babble). Speech reception threshold, defined as the signal-to-noise ratio producing 50% correct word-in-sentence recognition using Mandarin Speech Perception materials was measured. NH listeners performed significantly better (16.7 dB) than CI patients across all conditions regardless of speech variations and noise types. CI patients’ performance deficit was highly dependent on speech rate and noise type; the deficit was smallest (11.7 dB) when slowly-spoken speech was presented in SSN and largest (20.6 dB) when shouted speech was presented in six-talker speech babble. NH listeners performed significantly better in speech babble than in SSN for all speech variations, while CI patients performed similarly in both noise types. The use of clear and slowly-spoken speech in the laboratory setting may largely underestimate CI patients’ performance deficits in real-world listening conditions, where acoustic variations introduced by speech variations and dynamic noise may present additional challenges.

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RtxA1 is a major cytotoxin of Vibrio vulnificus (V. vulnificus) causing fatal septicemia and necrotic wound infections. Our previous work has shown that RpoS regulates the expression and secretion of V. vulnificus RtxA1 toxin. This study was conducted to further investigate the potential mechanisms of RpoS on RtxA1 secretion. First, V. vulnificus TolCV1 and TolCV2 proteins, two Escherichia coli TolC homologs, were measured at various time points by Western blotting. The expression of TolCV1 was increased time-dependently, whereas that of TolCV2 was decreased. Expression of both TolCV1 and TolCV2 was significantly downregulated in an rpoS deletion mutation. Subsequently, we explored the roles of TolCV1 and TolCV2 in V. vulnificus pathogenesis. Western blot analysis showed that RtxA1 toxin was exported by TolCV1, not TolCV2, which was consistent with the cytotoxicity results. Furthermore, the expression of TolCV1 and TolCV2 was increased after treatment of the host signal bile salt and the growth of tolCV1 mutant was totally abolished in the presence of bile salt. A tolCV1 mutation resulted in significant reduction of V. vulnificus induced-virulence in mice. Taken together, TolCV1 plays key roles in RtxA1 secretion, bile salt resistance, and mice lethality of V. vulnificus, suggesting that TolCV1 could be an attractive target for the design of new medicines to treat V. vulnificus infections.

Rh nanostructures composed of nanosheets embedded with nanodomains adopt vacated Barlow packing with ordered vacancies., Metallic nanostructures are commonly densely packed into a few packing variants with slightly different atomic packing factors. The structural aspects and physicochemical properties related with the vacancies in such nanostructures are rarely explored because of lack of an effective way to control the introduction of vacancy sites. Highly voided metallic nanostructures with ordered vacancies are however energetically high lying and very difficult to synthesize. Here, we report a chemical method for synthesis of hierarchical Rh nanostructures (Rh NSs) composed of ultrathin nanosheets, composed of hexagonal close-packed structure embedded with nanodomains that adopt a vacated Barlow packing with ordered vacancies. The obtained Rh NSs exhibit remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline media. Theoretical calculations reveal that the exceptional electrocatalytic performance of Rh NSs originates from their unique vacancy structures, which facilitate the adsorption and dissociation of H2O in the HER.

Background Distant metastases are the leading cause of death among breast cancer (BC) patients, and lung is the second preferential colonized sits. However, there has been no prognostic evaluation of BC patients with lung metastases so far. This research aimed to predict the overall survival (OS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) for BC patients with lung metastases and stratify them into different risk groups.Result A total of 3888 patients from the SEER database were eligible for the subsequent analyses, with the training cohort of 1944 patients and the validation cohort I of 1944 patients. In addition, 374 patients from the Chinese XXX database were assigned as the validation II. Race, age, grade, subtype, number of metastatic sites, surgery, and chemotherapy were identified as determinant prognostic variables and integrated to construct the nomogram. Ultimately, a risk stratification model was established, and all patients were classified as three risk groups. Conclusion We constructed prognostic prediction and risk stratification models for BC patients with lung metastases and validated it in both the SEER cohort and the Chinese cohort; these could assist clinicians in risk prediction, prognosis evaluation, and decision making on an individualized basis.

Piper crocatum RuizPav. (P. crocatum), a traditional medicinal plant, has been shown to possess various pharmacological activities, including anticancer activity, antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity, anti-hyperglycemic activity, anti-allergic inflammatory activity and others. To identify the potential anti-allergic inflammatory effective constituents of P. crocatum, 13 single compounds were isolated from the methanol extract of P. crocatum leaves, and their structures were identified by contrasting their NMR spectroscopic data and previously published papers. First, the anti-allergic inflammatory activities of these single compounds were examined by accessing immune function related biomarkers such as nitric oxide (NO) and β-hexosaminidase. We found that the methanol extract and catechaldehyde (compound 1) potently suppressed NO production. Additionally, Western blot analysis showed that P. crocatum methanol extract and compound 1 suppressed the production of NO by reducing inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 macrophages. Consistent with these observations, P. crocatum methanol extract and compound 1 remarkably decreased β-hexosaminidase release from RBL-2H3 cells stimulated with 2,4-dinitrophenylated bovine serum albumin (DNP-BSA)-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. Furthermore, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay indicated that P. crocatum methanol extract and compound 1 exhibited no cytotoxicity to RAW264.7 and RBL-2H3 cells. Based on these findings, compound 1 is suggested as an active anti-allergic inflammatory component of P. crocatum.

To improve the efficiency of whole cottonseed (WCS) on dairy cattle, crush and alkali treatment were combined (Table 1) in this study. The gastrointestinal tract digestibility of WCS were measured by in situ ruminal incubation and in vitro fermentation, respectively. Finally, animal feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of processed WCS on dairy cattle. A total of 30 Holstein dairy cows with similar physiological status were allocated to three groups (CON, Group I, and Group II). Ration for the CON group was a basic ration with no WCS, ration with about 8% non-processed WCS was for Group I (DM basis), while the Group II was provided by the ration added with 8% Crush-Alkali (4% mixed alkali solids with NaOH/CaO ratio at 1:1) treated WCS. Results of the in situ and in vitro experiments showed that, compared with non-treated WCS, Crushing-Alkali treatment groups significantly improved WCS ruminal effective degradation rate of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (P < 0.05). Furthermore, Crush-Alkali (4% mixed alkali solids with NaOH/CaO ratio at 1:1) was the most beneficial to improve WCS gastrointestinal degradation of DM, CP and NDF, as well as enhance WCS rumen-bypass of EE. With the lowest free gossypol content (P< 0.05). Results of animal feeding experiment showed that DMI, 4% fat corrected milk production (4% FCM), milk protein, milk fat, and content of short-chain saturated fatty acids in milk in Group II significantly increased (P < 0.05) compared with CON group. DMI, ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in milk, and the ratio of ω-6 to ω-3 PUFA were significantly higher in Group II than that in Group I (P < 0.05). Additionally, free gossypol concentration in serum and milk, as well as parameters reflecting liver function were not notably different among the three groups (P > 0.05).

Executive functions are of vital importance in the process of active cognition, which is thought to be associated with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). As a valid brain stimulation technology, high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) has been used to optimize cognitive function in healthy adults. Substantial evidence indicates that short-term or single anodal tDCS sessions over the left DLPFC will enhance the performance of executive functions. However, the changes in performance and cortical activation of executive functions after modulation by repeated anodal HD-tDCS is as yet unexplored. This study aims to examine changes in three core components of executive functions (inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) produced by nine HD-tDCS sessions (1.5 mA, over left DLPFC, 20 min per session), and to use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to bilaterally record DLPFC neural activity. A total of 43 participants were divided randomly into two study groups (anodal group vs. sham group) to complete nine interventions. Our results demonstrate that the enhancement of cognitive flexibility in the anodal group was significantly better than that in the sham group. Additionally, a Stroop effect-related decrease in oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) concentration in the DLPFC was observed in the anodal group but not the sham group. In conclusion, our study found that repeated anodal HD-tDCS sessions can significantly promote cognitive flexibility, one of the core components of executive function, and that alterations in DLPFC activation can enhance our understanding of the neuroplastic modifications modulated by HD-tDCS.

Although percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) significantly improves the prognosis for myocardial infarction, the no-reflow phenomenon is still the major adverse complication of PCI leading to increased mortality, especially for the patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) combined with diabetes. To reduce the occurrence of no-reflow, prognostic factors must be identified for no-reflow phenomenon before PCI. A total of 262 participants with acute STEMI and diabetes were recruited into our cardiovascular center and underwent primary PCI for the analyses of prognostic factors of no-reflow. The patients were divided into two groups according to thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI): the normal flow and no-reflow groups, and related factors were analyzed with different statistical methods. In the present investigation, the in-hospital peak glycemia was significantly higher in the no-reflow group than the normal flow group, while more narrowed vessels, higher level of initial TIMI flow, were observed in the patients of the no-reflow group. A multivariate logistic regression analysis further demonstrated that peak glycemia was an independent predictor for no-reflow in the diabetic patients with STEMI. Our data indicated the importance of the proper control of glucose before PCI for the diabetic patients with STEMI before PCI to reduce the occurrence of the no-reflow after operation.

Introduction: The population of young women who suffered from female pattern hair loss (FPHL) or female androgenic alopecia (AGA) is gradually increasing. Platelet-rich plasma is a novel and promising therapeutic method as a nonsurgical treatment for FPHL.Objective: To summarize different preparation methods of PRP and treatment regimes in FPHL, qualitatively evaluate the current observations, and quantitively analyze the efficacy of PRP in FPHL treatment.Methods: Six databases, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, LILACS, and CNKI, were searched with terms “platelet-rich plasma,” synonyms for AGA and FPHL. Meta-analysis was conducted with enrolled observational studies and randomized controlled trials separately.Results: We evaluated 636 studies and 12 trials from all searched databases. A total of 42 studies of 1,569 cases, including 776 female participants covering 16 randomized controlled trials and 26 observational trials, were included for qualitative synthesis study and systematic review. PRP showed positive efficacy in treating FPHL in hair density compared to the control groups with odds ratio (OR) 1.61, 95% CI 0.52–2.70, and compared to baseline with OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.86–1.37.Conclusion: PRP showed excellent efficiency as a novel therapy of FPHL through hair density evaluation. Further studies are needed to define standardized protocols, and large-scale randomized trials still need to be conducted to confirm its efficacy.

INTRODUCTION: Compared with endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL), cap-assisted endoscopic sclerotherapy (CAES) improves efficacy in the treatment of small esophageal varices (EVs) but has not been evaluated in the management of medium EVs. The aim of this study was to compare CAES with EVL in the long-term management of patients exhibiting cirrhosis with medium EVs and a history of esophageal variceal bleeding (EVB), with respect to variceal eradication and recurrence, adverse events, rebleeding, and survival. METHODS: Cirrhotic patients with medium EVs and a history of EVB were divided randomly into EVL and CAES groups. EVL or CAES was repeated each month until variceal eradication. Lauromacrogol was used as a sclerosant. Patients were followed up until 1 year after eradication. RESULTS: In total, 240 patients (age: 51.1 ± 10.0 years; men: 70.8%) were included and randomized to the EVL and CAES groups. The recurrence rate of EVs was much lower in the CAES group than in the EVL group (13.0% vs 30.7%, P = 0.001). The predictors for variceal recurrence were eradication by EVL (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.37, P = 0.04), achievement of complete eradication (HR: 0.27, P < 0.001), and nonselective β-blocker response (HR: 0.32, P = 0.003). There was no significant difference in the rates of eradication, rebleeding, requirement for alternative therapy, and mortality or the incidence of complications between groups. DISCUSSION: CAES reduces the recurrence rate of EVs with comparable safety to that of EVL in the long-term management of patients presenting cirrhosis with medium EVs and a history of EVB.

Broussonetia papyrifera (BP) is a woody roughage source with high protein content. The experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different growth height (GH) on the BP yield, chemical composition, silage fermentation profile, as well as ruminants in vitro and in situ digestibility of different parts of BP. The three different harvested GH of BP were 0.8, 1.2, and 1.6 m, respectively. Samples from leaf, stem, and whole plant of BP were collected (each one has three replicates), making silage, and detected the nutritional composition of them. The results were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance with Duncan’s multiple comparisons. Fresh weight increased with the GH increased (P < 0.05). No significant difference was observed in dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) yield of leaf, and CP yield of whole plant between 1.2 to 1.6 m GH (P > 0.05). With the increase of GH, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) of BP increased, while CP content decreased (P < 0.05). Stem had the highest NDF and acid detergent fiber (ADF) content, and the lowest CP content and buffer capacity. The BP silage fermentation quality was deteriorated (lactic acid content decreased and pH values increased) with GH increased. For the different parts of BP, leaf silage had the highest pH and stem silage had the highest lactic acid content (P < 0.05). The leaf and its silage had the highest in vitro dry matter digestibility and gas production compared to others. The BP in situ digestibility were corresponded with in vitro results. DM, CP, NDF, and ADF effective digestibility rates of whole plant with 1.2 m GH were 439.6, 455.1, 412.9, and 381.3 g/kg, respectively. In conclusion, the BP nutritional quality decreased with GH increased and it could be used as a potential feedstuff for ruminants.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease of articular cartilage degradation and inflammation of the joint capsule. Combining anti-inflammatory therapy with nutritional supplement is an effective means for the treatment of OA. In this study, we prepared gelatin (Gel)-glucosamine hydrochloride (GH) mixed crosslinked-cyclodextrin metal-organic framework (G-GH/CL-CD-MOF) composite hydrogel. Polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether was the crosslinking agent of GH and Gel to solve the problem of poor mechanical properties and water solubility at 37 °C. CL-CD-MOF was fabricated through a simple one-step chemical reaction to crosslink the hydrophilic hydroxyl groups in CD-MOF with diphenyl carbonate. Electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction analysis of CL-CD-MOF showed perfect porous morphology with a chaotic internal structure. CL-CD-MOF@IBU was prepared by immersing CL-CD-MOF in high-concentration ibuprofen (IBU) solution. CL-CD-MOF@IBU was uniformly dispersed in Gel and GH mixed solution to prepare G-GH/CL-CD-MOF@IBU composite hydrogel long-term sustained drug delivery system. The compression curve of G-GH/CL-CD-MOF composite hydrogel showed a non-linear elastic behavior. The cyclic loading–unloading compression showed that the shape of the G-GH/CL-CD-MOF composite hydrogel can be kept intact under 50% strain. On the day 14, the G-GH/CL-CD-MOF@IBU composite hydrogel was degraded by 87.1%, 61% of IBU was released. G-GH/CL-CD-MOF@IBU exhibited good biocompatibility during co-culture with MC3T3-E1 cells. Briefly, the certain mechanical properties, sustained drug release behavior, and good biocompatibility of G-GH/CL-CD-MOF@IBU composite hydrogel showed that it has potential application in OA treatment of long-term sustained nutritional supplement and anti-inflammatory synchronously.

Solid amine materials are promising adsorbents for CO2 capture from biogas, flue gas and other similar gas mixture. Here, tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA)-impregnated porous polymeric resin (ADS-17) with very high CO2 adsorption capacity was successfully prepared. Its CO2 separation performance from simulated biogas was investigated by breakthrough experiments. And the influence of parameters such as TEPA loading, adsorption temperature and flow rate on the adsorption behaviours were studied in detail. The optimal TEPA loading was 40 wt% (ADS-17–40%TEPA) and the CO2 adsorption capacity of this adsorbent reached the optimal value (ca. 264.2 mg▪g−1) at the flow rate of 200 mL▪min−1. The CO2 adsorption capacity of ADS-17–40%TEPA had no pronounced change from 25 °C to 70 °C, but it decreased obviously when the adsorbent was heated to 90 °C. At 100 °C, the adsorption capacity became negligible. According to detailed characterization, it was inferred that the pores of ADS-17–40%TEPA in the range of 13–115 nm were probably responsible for CO2 diffusion. In addition, ADS-17–40%TEPA possessed good reversibility and the CO2 adsorption capacity was nearly stable after two adsorption–desorption cycles. ADS-17–40%TEPA with high and fast CO2 adsorption exhibits a very promising application in CO2 separation from biogas.

BACKGROUND The objectives of this study were to evaluate the cumulative incidence of breast cancer-specific death (BCSD) and other cause-specific death in elderly patients with breast cancer (BC) and to develop an individualized nomogram for estimating BCSD. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. A total of 25 241 patients older than 65 years with stage I-III BC diagnosed between 2004 and 2008 was included in the study cohort. We used the cumulative incidence function (CIF) to describe the cause-specific mortality and Gray's test to compare the differences in CIF among the groups. Fine and Gray's proportional subdistribution hazard model was applied to validate the independent prognostic factors, upon which the competing-risks nomogram and web-based calculator was built. The performance of the nomogram was assessed with the C-indexes and calibration plot diagrams. RESULTS After data screening, 25 241 cases were included for statistical analysis. In the training cohort, the 5-, 8-, and 10-year cumulative incidence of BCSD was 5.7, 8.1, and 9.1%, respectively. Ten independent prognostic factors associated with BCSD were identified. The C-index of the nomogram was 0.818 (0.804-0.831) in the training cohort and 0.808 (0.783-0.833) in the validation cohort. Calibration plot diagrams showed near-ideal consistency between the predicted probabilities and actual observations. CONCLUSIONS We built a reliable dynamic nomogram for predicting BCSD in elderly patients, and this individualized predictive tool is favorable for risk classification and complex personalized treatment decision making in clinical practice.

To meet the growing demand for global electrical energy storage, high‐energy‐density electrode materials are required for Li‐ion batteries. To overcome the limit of the theoretical energy density in conventional electrode materials based solely on the transition metal redox reaction, the oxygen redox reaction in electrode materials has become an essential component because it can further increase the energy density by providing additional available electrons. However, the increase in the contribution of the oxygen redox reaction in a material is still limited due to the lack of understanding its controlled parameters. Here, it is first proposed that Li‐transition metals (TMs) inter‐diffusion between the phases in Li‐rich materials can be a key parameter for controlling the oxygen redox reaction in Li‐rich materials. The resulting Li‐rich materials can achieve fully exploited oxygen redox reaction and thereby can deliver the highest reversible capacity leading to the highest energy density, ≈1100 Wh kg−1 among Co‐free Li‐rich materials. The strategy of controlling Li/transition metals (TMs) inter‐diffusion between the phases in Li‐rich materials will provide feasible way for further achieving high‐energy‐density electrode materials via enhancing the oxygen redox reaction for high‐performance Li‐ion batteries., A new key parameter for fully exploiting the oxygen redox reaction by Li/transition metals (TMs) inter‐diffusion between the two phases in Co‐free Li‐rich materials is first proposed. The resulting Li‐rich materials can achieve fully exploited oxygen redox reaction and thereby can deliver the highest reversible capacity leading to the highest energy density, ≈1100 Wh kg−1 among Co‐free Li‐rich materials.

Preclinical studies require an immune response similar to that of humans in a small animal model that is convenient to operate. Based on genome alignment, tree shrews are small animals considered to be more similar to primates than are rodents, and many human disease models have been established with tree shrews. However, the characteristics of the humoral immune response of tree shrews remain to be elucidated. In this study, the genetic sequence of the heavy chain constant region of tree shrew immunoglobulin (Ig) was complemented, and the results of immunoglobulin domain homology and transcriptome analysis showed that the tree shrew genome encodes only four classes of antibodies and does not encode IgD. The oldest IgM antibody has the highest homology with primates. After the complete sequence of each type of antibody was obtained, the tree shrew antibody protein was further expressed and purified by in vitro recombination, and an IgG quantitative evaluation system was established. The highly effective immuno protective effect induced by HSV-1 infection and the significant bactericidal effect induced by Neisseria meningitidis group C polysaccharide immunization showed that tree shrews exhibited immune responses more similar to humans than to mice. This may provide better predictive value for vaccine preclinical research.

Vibrio vulnificus (V. vulnificus) infection, frequently resulting in fatal septicemia, has become a growing health concern worldwide. The present study aimed to explore the potential agents that could protect against V. vulnificus cytotoxicity, and to analyze the possible underlying mechanisms. First, we observed that 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid disodium salt hydrate (DIDS) significantly suppressed V. vulnificus cytotoxicity to host cells by using a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. DIDS did not exhibit any effect on host cell viability, bacterial growth, microbial adhesion and swarming motility. DIDS effectively lowered V. vulnificus RtxA1 toxin-induced calcium influx into host mitochondria and RtxA1 binding to host cells. To further elucidate the underlying mechanism, the synthesis and secretion of RtxA1 toxin were investigated by Western blotting. Intriguingly, DIDS selectively inhibited the secretion of RtxA1 toxin, but did not influence its synthesis. Consequently, the outer membrane portal TolC, a key conduit for RtxA1 export coupled with tripartite efflux pumps, was examined by RT-PCR and Western blotting. We found that DIDS significantly reduced the expression of TolCV1 protein at the transcriptional level. Taken together, these results suggest that DIDS is a promising new paradigm as an antimicrobial drug that targets TolC-mediated toxin.

In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia, which was named COVID-2019, emerged as a global health crisis. Scientists worldwide are engaged in attempts to elucidate the transmission and pathogenic mechanisms of the causative coronavirus. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, making it critical to track and review the state of research on COVID-19 to provide guidance for further investigations. Here, bibliometric and knowledge mapping analyses of studies on COVID-19 were performed, including more than 1500 papers on COVID-19 available in the PubMed and CNKI databases from January 1, 2020 to March 8, 2020. In this review, we found that because of the rapid response of researchers worldwide, the number of COVID-19-related publications showed a high growth trend in the first ten days of February; among these, the largest number of studies originated in China, the country most affected by pandemic in its early stages. Our findings revealed that the epidemic situation and data accessibility of different research teams have caused obvious difference in emphases of the publications. Besides, there was an unprecedented level of close cooperation and information sharing within the global scientific community relative to previous coronavirus research. We combed and drew the knowledge map of the SARS-CoV-2 literature, explored early status of research on etiology, pathology, epidemiology, treatment, prevention, and control, and discussed knowledge gaps that remain to be urgently addressed. Future perspectives on treatment, prevention, and control were also presented to provide fundamental references for current and future coronavirus research., Graphical Abstract

Concrete has low porosity and compact microstructure, and thus can be vulnerable to high temperature, and the increasing application of various types of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in concrete makes its high-temperature resistant behavior more complex. In this study, we investigate the effects of four formulations with typical SCMs combinations of fly ash (FA), ultra-fine fly ash (UFFA) and metakaolin (MK), and study the effects of SCMs combinations on the thermal performance, microstructure, and the crystalline and amorphous phases evolution of concrete subjected to high temperatures. The experimental results showed that at 400 &deg, C, with the addition of 20% FA (wt %), the thermal conductivity of the sample slightly increased to 1.5 W/(m&middot, K). Replacing FA with UFFA can further increase the thermal conductivity to 1.7 W/(m&middot, K). Thermal conductivity of concrete slightly increased at 400 &deg, C and significantly reduced at 800 &deg, C. Further, combined usage of SCMs delayed and reduced micro-cracks of concrete subjected to high temperatures. This study demonstrates the potential of combining the usage of SCMs to promote the high-temperature performance of concrete and explains the micro-mechanism of concrete containing SCMs at high temperatures.

To keep pace with the upcoming big-data era, the development of a device-level neuromorphic system with highly efficient computing paradigms is underway with numerous attempts. Synaptic transistors based on an all-solution processing method have received growing interest as building blocks for neuromorphic computing based on spikes. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrated the dual operation mode in poly{2,2-(2,5-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-3,6-dioxo-2,3,5,6-tetrahydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-diyl)dithieno[3,2-b]thiophene-5,5-diyl-alt-thiophen-2,5-diyl}(PDPPBTT)/ZnO junction-based synaptic transistor from ambipolar charge-trapping mechanism to analog the spiking interfere with synaptic plasticity. The heterojunction formed by PDPPBTT and ZnO layers serves as the basis for hole-enhancement and electron-enhancement modes of the synaptic transistor. Distinctive synaptic responses of paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and paired-pulse depression (PPD) were configured to achieve the training/recognition function for digit image patterns at the device-to-system level. The experimental results indicate the potential application of the ambipolar transistor in future neuromorphic intelligent systems.

Human beings have experienced a serious public health event as the new pneumonia (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus has killed more than 3000 people in China, most of them elderly or people with underlying chronic diseases or immunosuppressed states. Rapid assessment and early warning are essential for outbreak analysis in response to serious public health events. This paper reviews the current model analysis methods and conclusions from both micro and macro perspectives. The establishment of a comprehensive assessment model, and the use of model analysis prediction, is very efficient for the early warning of infectious diseases. This would significantly improve global surveillance capacity, particularly in developing regions, and improve basic training in infectious diseases and molecular epidemiology.

In this study, the thermoelectric properties of group IIIA element (Al, Ga, In) doped PbS are systematically investigated. Al shows a low solubility limit (1 mol %) in PbS, whereas Ga and In are soluble up to 2 mol %. Both experimental results and theoretical calculations suggest that Ga or In doping introduces strong gap states in PbS, which are the physical origins of enhanced effective mass and Seebeck coefficients. Meanwhile, a subtle simulation of carrier-concentration-dependent mobilities under single Kane band model clearly reveals that Ga doping significantly lowers the deformation potential of n-type PbS, whereas In does not. This lower deformation potential yields higher electrical conductivities at the same doping levels. The weakened electron phonon coupling phenomenon by Ga doping in PbS is further verified by our first-principles calculations. The rare combination of large effective mass and low deformation potential in Ga-doped PbS contributes to a high

The majority of research indicates that trait emotional intelligence (EI) plays a crucial role in personal well-being, however, the deeper mechanisms of this link remain unclear. The study explored the impact of psychological empowerment and work engagement in the link between trait EI and job satisfaction. 370 female nurses completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Psychological Empowerment Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction. The results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that work engagement partially mediated the association between trait EI and job satisfaction. Moreover, the serial one mediator model revealed that trait EI could influence job satisfaction via the serial mediating impact of “psychological empowerment - work engagement”. These results help to a better understanding of the association between these variables and demonstrate that high trait EI may improve occupational well-being from emotional perspectives.

Fiber polymer has been extensively used to improve the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. However, the studies of the effect of fiber polymer on the dynamic performance of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is still very limited. In this study, we prepared two types of RAC formulations: RAC reinforced with basalt fibers (BFs) and RAC reinforced with polypropylene fibers (PPs), and compared the effects of fiber types and contents on the air void content, workability (slump), mechanical properties (compressive and flexural strength), dynamic characteristics (dynamic modulus of elasticity and damping ratio), and chloride resistance of RAC. The experimental results showed that the air void content and slump value decreased with the increase of replacement percentage of RCA and fiber contents. Adding PPs provided a more negative effect on the slump of RAC than BFs. The mixtures containing 0.2% PPs and BFs both obtained the highest flexural strength. The addition of PPs was more effective than BFs in improving the damping ratio of RAC, and the mixtures containing 0.3% PPs and BFs both obtained the highest damping ratio. Compared to the RAC without addition of fiber, the charge passed of specimen with addition of PPs approximately increased by 45%, while the specimen with addition of BFs approximately increased by 30%, when the fiber content was 0.3%. This study demonstrates the potential of using fiber to promote the dynamic properties of RAC.

Motivated by a long-standing gap between inventory theory and practice, we study online inventory models with unknown cyclic demand distributions. We design provably efficient reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms that leverage the structure of inventory problems. We apply the standard performance measure in online learning literature, regret, which is defined as the difference between the total expected cost of our policy and the total expected cost of the clairvoyant optimal policy that has full knowledge of the demand distributions a priori. This paper analyzes, in the presence of unknown cyclic demands, the lost-sales model with zero lead time, and the multi-product backlogging model with positive lead times, fixed joint-ordering costs and order limits. For both models, we first introduce episodic models where inventory is discarded at the end of every cycle, and then build upon these results to analyze non-discarding models. Our RL policies HQL and FQL achieve ~O(T^(1/2)) regret for the episodic lost-sales model and the episodic multi-product backlogging model, matching the regret lower bound that we prove in this paper. For the non-discarding models, we construct a bandit learning algorithm on top of the previous RL algorithms, named Meta-HQL. Meta-HQL achieves ~O(T^(1/2)) regret for the non-discarding lost-sales model with zero lead time, again matching the regret lower bound. For the non-discarding multi-product backlogging model, our policy Mimic-QL achieves ~O(T^(5/6)) regret bound. Our policies remove the regret dependence on the cardinality of the state-action space for inventory problems, which is an improvement over existing RL algorithms. We conducted experiments with a real sales dataset from Rossmann, one of the largest drugstore chains in Europe, and also with a synthetic dataset. For both sets of experiments, our policy converges rapidly to the optimal policy and dramatically outperforms the best policy that models demand as i.i.d. instead of cyclic.

Campus security log is an important information and data source of protecting campus network security. The analysis and application for campus security log are not inadequate, and security administrator is puzzled by the massive and multi-source security logs. It is difficult to extract implicit knowledge from security logs and to visualize it. How to extract and visualize it has been an urgent problem to be solved in the application of security knowledge engineering. Therefore, a knowledge extraction model based on entity relation triples is proposed in this paper, which deals with structured or semi-structured campus security logs. The knowledge graph of campus security logs is built by the extraction model and visualized in the form of graph. In the experiment, the implicit attack sources, methods and paths of security logs are analyzed and discovered by knowledge graph of campuses security logs. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model not only can extract implicit knowledge, but also efficiently visualize knowledge as graph.

Size effect plays a crucial role in catalytic hydrogenation. The highly dispersed ultrasmall clusters with a limited number of metal atoms are one candidate of the next generation catalysts that bridge the single-atom metal catalysts and metal nanoparticles. However, for the unfavorable electronic property and their interaction with the substrates, they usually exhibit sluggish activity. Taking advantage of the small size, their catalytic property would be mediated by surface binding species. The combination of metal cluster coordination chemistry brings new opportunity. CO poisoning is notorious for Pt group metal catalysts as the strong adsorption of CO would block the active centers. In this work, we will demonstrate that CO could serve as a promoter for the catalytic hydrogenation when ultrasmall Pd clusters are employed. By means of DFT calculations, we show that P d n n = 2 ‐ 147 clusters display sluggish activity for hydrogenation due to the too strong binding of hydrogen atom and reaction intermediates thereon, whereas introducing CO would reduce the binding energies of vicinal sites, thus enhancing the hydrogenation reaction. Experimentally, supported Pd 2 CO catalysts are fabricated by depositing preestablished [Pd 2 ( μ -CO) 2 Cl 4 ] 2- clusters on oxides and demonstrated as an outstanding catalyst for the hydrogenation of styrene. The promoting effect of CO is further verified experimentally by removing and reintroducing a proper amount of CO on the Pd cluster catalysts.