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Xu-ping Gao,1,* Yan-hua Liu,2,* Ze-ying Liu,1 Li-jun Wang,3 Chun-xia Jing,1 Sui Zhu,4 Fang-fang Zeng1 1Department of Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong, China; 2Department of Nutrition, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China; 3Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong, China; 4Department of Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Introduction: In this meta-analysis, we analyzed retrospective cohort studies that assessed the prognostic potential of the pretreatment lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) among patients with ovarian cancer (OC).Materials and methods: We comprehensively searched electronic databases, including PubMed and Embase, from inception through October 2018. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled HRs and their 95% CIs for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). The low LMR group was treated as the reference group.Results: Twelve studies, including 3,346 OC cases at baseline, were included. Overall, our results indicated that LMR was positively associated with both OS (HR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.50–2.28, P

Chitosan, as a kind of naturally occurring green and degradable material for the preservation of perishable foods, was investigated in this study with the objective of enhancing its preservation performances. Herein, lignin was modified using the solvent fractionation method (modified lignin, ML, including ML1-ML3), while natural clinoptilolite zeolite was modified using the alkali modification method (modified clinoptilolite zeolite, MCZ, including MCZ1-MCZ5). After optimizing the conditions, it was discovered that incorporating both ML3 and MCZ3 into pure chitosan-based membranes might be conducive to fabricate chitosan-based composite membranes for the preservation of perishable foods. As-prepared composite membranes possessed better visible light transmittance, antioxidant activity, and carbon dioxide/oxygen selectivity, resulting in improved preservation effects on the model perishable foods such as bananas, cherry tomatoes, and cheeses. These findings might indicate promising applications for chitosan-based composite membranes with modified lignin and zeolite in the field of eco-friendly degradable materials for the preservation of perishable foods., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study summarizes and analyzes the characteristics of deep circumflex iliac artery (DCIA) flap reconstruction for maxillary defects and proposes a generalized protocol under the guidance of computer-assisted technique to enhance surgical efficiency and success rate., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 10 cases of maxillary defects reconstructed using DCIA flaps under the application of computer-assisted technique, collecting clinical data for statistical analysis., Results: These cases included 2 cystic lesions, 2 mucinous tumors, 2 ameloblastomas, 1 mucoepidermoid carcinoma, 1 odontogenic fibroma, 1 bone defect following squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) surgery, and 1 ossifying fibroma. According to Brown's classification system, there were 7 Type IIb defects, 1 Type IId defect, 1 Type IIIb defect, and 1 Type IIId defect. The length of the iliac bone harvested ranged from 42 mm to 100 mm, and the width from 20 mm to 51 mm. In 7 patients, chimeric iliac myofascial flaps were used; in 2 patients, deep circumflex iliac artery perforator (DCIAP) flaps were utilized; and in 1 patient, a vascularized iliac crest was employed. The recipient vessels were the facial artery and vein in all cases. Intraoral anastomoses were performed in 4 cases, and submandibular anastomoses in 6 cases. The donor site was chosen from the ipsilateral ilium in 8 patients and from the contralateral ilium in 2 patients. The mean operative time was 8.74 hours. Postoperatively, 9 patients recovered well without any complications, while 1 patient experienced necrosis of the bone flap on the first day after surgery and underwent secondary reconstruction using a vascularized fibula flap. The average postoperative hospital stay was 8.6 days., Conclusion: The combination of DCIA flaps with computer-assisted technique provides a reliable method for the reconstruction of maxillary defects and functional restoration. Establishing generalized procedures could facilitate its broader application., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Echinococcosis is a zoonotic disease, which seriously endangers human health. The immune game between parasite and host is not fully understood. Exosomes are thought to be one of the ways of information communication between parasite and host. In this study, we attempted to explore the communication between Echinococcus granulosus and its host through the medium of exosomes. We collected plasma from E. granulosus patients (CE-EXO) and healthy donors (HD-EXO) and extracted exosomes from the plasma. The expression profile of miRNA in plasma was determined by second generation sequencing. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were used to annotate the function of target genes of differential miRNAs. Meanwhile, we co-cultured plasma exosomes from healthy donors and plasma exosomes from E. granulosus patients with Jurkat T cells with or without phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation. The expression of CD69 on Jurkat T cells was detected by flow cytometry. The results showed that the miRNA of exosomes between healthy donors and E. granulosus patients was significantly different. GO and KEGG were used to annotate the function of target genes of differential miRNAs. The results indicate that many important pathways are involved in inflammation, metabolism, and immune response after parasite infection, such as p53 signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis. Flow cytometry showed that CE-EXO reduced the expression of CD69 + on Jurkat T cells. Our present results suggest that these differentially expressed miRNAs may be important regulators of parasite-host interactions. Meanwhile, functional prediction of its target genes provides valuable information for understanding the mechanism of host-parasite interactions. These results provide clues for future studies on E. granulosus escape from host immune attack, which could help control E. granulosus infection., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The pursuit of high energy densities propels the design of next-generation nickel-based layered oxide cathodes. The utilization of low-cobalt, ultrahigh-nickel layered oxide cathodes, and the extension of operating voltages promise enhanced energy density. However, stability and safety face challenges associated with nickel content, including structural degradation, lattice oxygen evolution, and thermal instability. In this study, a promising strategy of Al and Nb dual-bulk-doping is presented in high-Ni cathode materials of LiNi 0.96 Co 0.04 O 2 (NC) to stabilize the bulk structure, suppress oxygen release, and attain superior electrochemical performance at high voltages. The introduction of Al and Nb effectively raises the migration energy of Ni 2+ into Li sites and stabilizes lattice oxygen through strengthened Al─O and Nb─O bonds. Furthermore, the substitution of high-valence Nb ions reduces the charge depletion of lattice oxygen and induces an ordered microstructure. The Al and Nb dual-bulk-doping strategy mitigates strain and stress associated with the H2↔H3 phase transition, reducing the generation and propagation of microcracks. The resulting Li(Ni 0.96 Co 0.04 ) 0.985 Al 0.01 Nb 0.005 O 2 (NCAN) cathode exhibits superior cycling stability, with a capacity retention of 77.8% after 300 cycles, even when operating at a high-voltage of 4.4 V, outperforming the NC (48.5%). This work provides a promising perspective for developing high-voltage and high-Ni cathode materials., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are one of the most promising high-energy density secondary batteries due to their high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg -1 . However, the sluggish kinetics and severe "shuttle effect" of polysulfides are the well-known barriers that hinder their practical applications. A carefully designed catalytic host of sulfur may be an effective strategy that not only accelerates the conversion of polysulfides but also limit their dissolution to mitigate the "shuttle effect." Herein, in situ surface-phosphided Ni 0.96 Co 0.03 Mn 0.01 O (p-NCMO) oxide microspheres are prepared via gas-phase phosphidation as a catalytic host of sulfur. The as-prepared unique heterostructured microspheres, with enriched surface-coated metal phosphide, exhibit superior synergistic effect of catalytic conversion and absorption of the otherwise soluble intermediate polysulfides. Correspondingly, the sulfur cathode exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, including a high initial discharge capacity (1162 mAh g s -1 at 0.1C), long cycling stability (491 mAh g s -1 after 1000 cycles at 1C), and excellent rate performance (565 mAh g s -1 at 5C). Importantly, the newly prepared sulfur cathode shows a high areal capacity of 4.0 mAh cm -2 and long cycle stability under harsh conditions (high sulfur loading of 5.3 mg cm -2 and lean electrolyte/sulfur ratio of 5.8 μL mg -1 ). This work proposes an effective strategy to develop the catalytic hosts of sulfur for achieving high-performance Li-S batteries via surface phosphidation.

Objectives: To study the intervention effect of narrative therapy on non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), as well as anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents with depressive disorder., Methods: Sixty adolescents with depressive disorder and NSSI were randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group using coin flipping. The control group received conventional psychological support, while the intervention group received individual narrative therapy in addition to the conventional psychological support (twice a week, 60 minutes per session, for a total of 3 weeks). Assessment of treatment efficacy was conducted using the Adolescent Self-Harm Questionnaire, Children's Depression Inventory, and Children's Anxiety and Mood Scale before the intervention, at the end of the intervention, and one month after the intervention for both groups., Results: A total of 26 adolescents in the intervention group and 29 adolescents in the control group completed the entire study. At the end of the intervention and one month after the intervention, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in the NSSI frequency score, NSSI level, anxiety score, and depression score compared to before the intervention ( P <0.017). Moreover, at the end of the intervention and one month after the intervention, the intervention group exhibited significantly lower NSSI frequency score, NSSI severity score, NSSI level, anxiety score and depression score compared to the control group ( P <0.05)., Conclusions: Narrative therapy is effective in reducing NSSI frequency and alleviating NSSI severity, as well as anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents with depressive disorder.

Disruption of circadian rhythms during fetal development may predispose mice to developing heart disease later in life. Here, we report that male, but not female, mice that had experienced chronic circadian disturbance (CCD) in utero were more susceptible to pathological cardiac remodeling compared with mice that had developed under normal intrauterine conditions. CCD-treated males showed ventricular chamber dilatation, enhanced myocardial fibrosis, decreased contractility, higher rates of induced tachyarrhythmia, and elevated expression of biomarkers for heart failure and myocardial remodeling. In utero CCD exposure also triggered sex-dependent changes in cardiac gene expression, including upregulation of the secretoglobin gene, Scgb1a1 , in males. Importantly, cardiac overexpression of Scgb1a1 was sufficient to induce myocardial hypertrophy in otherwise naive male mice. Our findings reveal that in utero CCD exposure predisposes male mice to pathological remodeling of the heart later in life, likely as a consequence of SCGB1A1 upregulation., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Objective: In this study, we aimed to compare the short-term safety of two digestive tract reconstruction techniques, laparoscopic total abdominal overlap anastomosis and laparoscopic-assisted end-to-side anastomosis, following radical resection of Siewert Type II adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed relevant clinical data of 139 patients who had undergone radical surgery for Siewert Type II esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma. These included 89 patients treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University from November 2021 to July 2023, 36 patients treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from December 2020 to June 2021, and 14 patients treated at the Yuncheng Central Hospital in Shanxi Province from September 2021 to November 2022. The group consisted of 107 men (77.0%) and 32 women (23.0%) of mean age 62.5±9.3 years. Forty-eight patients underwent laparoscopic total abdominal overlap anastomosis (overlap group), and 91 laparoscopic-assisted end-to-side anastomosis (end-to-side group). Clinical data, surgical information, pathological findings, postoperative recovery, and related complications were compared between the two groups. Results: There were no significant differences in general clinical data between the overlap and end-to-side anastomosis groups (all P >0.05), indicating comparability. There was no significant difference in operation time (267.2±60.1 minutes vs. 262.8±70.6 minutes, t =0.370, P =0.712). However, the intraoperative blood loss in the overlap group (100 [50, 100] mL) was significantly lower compared to the end-to-side group (100[50, 175] mL, Z =2.776, P =0.005). Compared to the end-to-side group, longer distances between the tumor and distal resection margin proximal(1.7±1.0 cm vs. 1.3±0.9 cm, t =2.487, P =0.014) and the tumor and distal resection margin (9.5±2.9 cm vs. 7.9±3.5 cm, t =2.667, P =0.009) were achieved in the overlap group. Compared with the end-to-side group, the overlap group achieved significantly earlier postoperative ambulation (1.0 [1.0, 2.0] days vs. 2.0 [1.0, 3.0] days, Z =3.117, P =0.002), earlier time to first drink (4.7±2.6 days vs. 6.2±3.0 days, t =2.851, P =0.005), and earlier time to first meal (6.0±2.7 days vs. 7.1±3.0 days, t =2.170, P =0.032). However, the hospitalization costs were higher in the overlap group (113, 105.5±37, 766.3) yuan vs. (97, 250.2±27, 746.9) yuan; this difference is significant ( t =2.818, P =0.006). There were no significant differences between the two groups in postoperative hospital stay, total number of lymph nodes cleared, or time to first postoperative flatus (all P >0.05). The incidence of surgery-related complications was 22.9%(11/48) in the overlap group and 19.8% (18/91) in the end-to-side group; this difference is not significant (χ²=0.187, P =0.831). Further comparison of complications using the Clavien-Dindo classification also showed no significant differences ( Z =0.406, P =0.685). Conclusions: Both laparoscopic total abdominal overlap anastomosis and laparoscopic-assisted end-to-side anastomosis are feasible for radical surgery for Siewert Type II esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma. Laparoscopic total abdominal overlap anastomosis achieves longer proximal and distal resection margins and better postoperative recovery; however, end-to-side anastomosis is more cost-effective.

Owing to the high energy density, ultrahigh-nickel (Ni > 0.9) layered oxides are used as promising cathode materials for next-generation Li-ion batteries. Unfortunately, the serious pulverization and rapid capacity fading during cycling limit the commercial viability of an ultrahigh-nickel oxide cathode. Herein, the introduction of Ga into LiNi 0.96 Co 0.04 O 2 brings a radially aligned microstructural change of oxide microspheres during the lithiation of the Ni 0.96 Co 0.04 (OH) 2 precursor. As expected, such radially aligned needle-like primary grains on microspheres have a positive influence to reduce the anisotropic volume change and suppress the formation of microcracks of Ga-induced Li(Ni 0.96 Co 0.04 ) 0.99 Ga 0.01 O 2 during cycling. Specifically, compared with irregular primary grains of LiNi 0.96 Co 0.04 O 2 , Ga-induced oxide presents a high initial discharge capacity of 227.9 mA h g -1 at 0.1C rate between 2.8 and 4.3 V. Especially, Ga-induced oxide delivers higher initial discharge capacities of 233.9 and 240.3 mA h g -1 with higher cutoff charge voltages of 4.4 and 4.5 V at 0.1C, respectively. Furthermore, a good capacity retention of 74.1% at 1 C rate is obtained after 300 cycles, which is almost 85% higher than that of the pristine sample, mainly due to the generation of microcracks of oxide microspheres during the long-term cycle. Therefore, the introduction of Ga into LiNi 0.96 Co 0.04 O 2 is a feasible approach for improving the microstructure and cycling stability of the ultrahigh-Ni layered oxides.

Currently, ultrahigh-nickel layered oxide is one of the most promising cathodes for lithium-ion batteries, with the advantages of high theoretical capacity and low cost. However, some problems in ultrahigh-nickel layered oxides are more serious, such as irreversible structural transformation, particle cracking, and side reactions at the electrode/electrolyte interface, resulting in the fast decay of the discharge capacity and midpoint potential. In this work, La doping is introduced into ultrahigh-nickel layered LiNi 0.9 Co 0.1 O 2 oxide to improve the cycle stability on both discharge capacity and midpoint potential. As demonstrated, La can be doped successfully into the subsurface of LiNi 0.9 Co 0.1 O 2 oxide, and the morphology of the oxide microspheres is not changed obviously by La doping. Compared with the pristine sample, the La-doped sample presents improved electrochemical performance, especially good cycle stabilization on both discharge capacity and midpoint potential. In addition, after a long-term cycle, the La-doped sample still maintains a relatively complete spherical morphology. It means that the pillaring effect of La with a large radius is helpful in accommodating the volume change caused by the insertion/extraction of Li ions, thus easing the anisotropic stress accumulation and microcrack growth inside the microspheres of the La-doped sample.

Lignin, the most abundant source of renewable aromatic compounds derived from natural lignocellulosic biomass, has great potential for various applications as green materials due to its abundant active groups. However, it is still challenging to quickly construct green polymers with a certain crystallinity by utilizing lignin as a building block. Herein, new green lignin-based covalent organic polymers (LIGOPD-COPs) were one-pot fabricated with water as the reaction solvent and natural lignin as the raw material. Furthermore, by using paraformaldehyde as a protector and modulator, the LIGOPD-COPs prepared under optimized conditions displayed better crystallinity than reported lignin-based polymers, demonstrating the feasibility of preparing lignin-based polymers with improved crystallinity. The improved crystallinity confers LIGOPD-COPs with enhanced application performance, which was demonstrated by their excellent performances in sample treatment of non-targeted food safety analysis. Under optimized conditions, phytochromes, the main interfering matrices, were almost completely removed from different phytochromes-rich vegetables by LIGOPD-COPs, accompanied by "full recovery" of 90 chemical hazards. Green, low-cost, and reusable properties, together with improved crystallinity, will accelerate the industrialization and marketization of lignin-based COPs, and promote their applications in many fields., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A Li-rich Mn-based layered oxide cathode (LLO) is one of the most promising cathode materials for achieving high-energy lithium-ion batteries. Nevertheless, the intrinsic problems including sluggish kinetics, oxygen evolution, and structural degradation lead to unsatisfactory performance in rate capability, initial Coulombic efficiency, and stability of LLO. Herein, different from the current typical surface modification, an interfacial optimization of primary particles is proposed to improve the simultaneous transport of ions and electrons. The modified interfaces containing AlPO 4 and carbon can effectively increase the Li + diffusion coefficient and decrease the interfacial charge-transfer resistance, thereby achieving fast charge-transport kinetics. Moreover, the in situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction confirms that the modified interface can improve the thermal stability of LLO by inhibiting the lattice oxygen release on the surface of the delithiated cathode material. In addition, the chemical and visual analysis of the cathode-electrolyte interface (CEI) composition clarifies that a highly stable and conductive CEI film generated on the modified electrode can facilitate interfacial kinetic transmission during cycling. As a result, the optimized LLO cathode exhibits a high initial Coulombic efficiency of 87.3% at a 0.2C rate and maintains superior high-rate stability with a capacity retention of 88.2% after 300 cycles at a 5C high rate.

The present study investigated the association between the presence of periodontitis and aortic calcification (AC) risk among Chinese adults. A total of 6059 individuals who underwent regular health check-ups and received a diagnosis of periodontitis between 2009 and 2016 were included. The outcome was AC, assessed by a chest low-dose spiral CT scan. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to assess the association between periodontitis and AC risk after adjusting for several confounders. After a median follow-up period of 2.3 years (interquartile range: 1.03-4.97 years), 843 cases of AC were identified, with 532 (12.13%) and 311 (18.59%) patients in the non-periodontitis group and periodontitis group, respectively. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that, compared with those without periodontitis, the hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval for AC risk in participants with periodontitis was 1.18 (1.02-1.36) ( P = .025) in the fully adjusted model. Stratified analyses showed that the positive relationship between periodontitis and AC was more evident in males and participants <65 years of age (p interaction = .005 and .004, respectively). Our results show that the presence of periodontitis was positively associated with AC among Chinese adults, especially among males and younger participants.

Lithium electrodes have gained increasing attention in recent years for their promising applications in high-energy-density secondary batteries. However, structural instability during cycling remains a considerable obstacle to development. In this study, a dimensionally stable Li-Mg/Cu composite electrode was fabricated. Cu foam as a plate grid can sustain the structure, and Li-Mg alloy as the active and lithophilic component can guide the uniform Li plating within the composite. Thus, Li-Mg/Cu electrode shows long-term stability in terms of dimensional change and surface morphology. This work provides a facile and practical way to fabricate composite Li electrodes with high dimensional stability for secondary batteries.

Background: Small cell ovarian neuroendocrine (NE) carcinoma is a rare NE tumor with a low incidence, poor prognosis, and no standardized treatment. To date, there have been no clear reports on the efficacy or prognosis of combined immunological and chemotherapy-based approaches in patients with this type of tumor., Methods: We administered the immune checkpoint inhibitor tirelizumab (PD-1 mab), in combination with etoposide and cisplatin chemotherapy (EP), to a patient with small cell ovarian NE carcinoma to examine its efficacy and safety., Results: The evaluation of efficacy was PR for every 2 courses of application, and immunomaintenance therapy was administered after 6 courses of treatment., Conclusion: Our studies indicate that tirelizumab combined with EP, may be an effective treatment for small cell ovarian NE carcinoma., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Objective: T cells represent a predominant cell type in autoimmune disease. However, their exact roles are not fully clear in systemic sclerosis (SSc). This study aimed to mainly investigate the alteration in the absolute numbers of T-lymphocyte subsets and the serum levels of cytokines in SSc patients. Methods: A total of 76 patients with SSc and 76 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled. The levels of circulating T cell subsets and serum cytokines were measured by flow cytometry. T cell subsets or serum cytokines correlations with disease activity and organ involvement were analyzed. Results: The absolute numbers of Th2 and Treg cells in SSc patients were lower than those in HCs ( p < 0.05), resulting in the ratios of Th1/Th2 [25.01 (12.24, 38.61) vs. 11.64 (6.38, 20.34)] and Th17/Treg [0.42 (0.17, 0.66) vs. 0.17 (0.13, 0.29)] were increased significantly ( p < 0.001). The absolute numbers of total T, Th, and Treg cells were negatively correlated with CRP ( r = -0.406, p = 0.002; r = -0.263, p < 0.05; r = -0.367 p < 0.01). The serum levels of IL-2, SIL-2R, IL-6, IL-10, INF-γ, and TNF-α were significantly higher than those in HCs ( p < 0.001). Increasing IL-2 in the wake of the augment of ESR ( r = 0.671, p = 0.004), so did IL-6 ( r = 0.378, p < 0.05). The ratio of Th17/Treg in SSc-ILD patients had lower levels than that in other patients [0.35 (0.14, 0.53) vs. 0.64 (0.26, 0.93) p = 0.028]; Treg cells were lessened in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon relative to controls [3.00 (2.41, 4.28) vs. 3.55 (2.86, 4.53) p < 0.05]. The levels of IL-2, IL-10 and INF-γ [3.32 (1.05,11.73) vs. 2.32 (0.44,6.45), p = 0.045], [8.08 (3.63, 355,77) vs. 4.89 (0.78, 21.44), p = 0.02], [6.31 (2.66, 44.03) vs. 4.03 (0.22, 16.96), p = 0.009] were elevated in patients with arthralgia, while the level of Th17 was decreased [0.62 (0.20,2.16) vs. 1.26 (0.22,10.93), p = 0.026]. ROC curve analysis yielded an optimal cut-off IL-2, IL-10, and INF-γ levels of 2.67, 5.93, and 5.32 pg/ml for the presence of arthralgia. Conclusion: We exhibited abnormalities in T subsets and the production of their cytokines in SSc, as compared with those in HCs. This may allow the pathogenesis of SSc and the development of novel therapeutic interventions aimed at targeting these cells and the cytokines they produce., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Guo, Cheng, Zhang, Yu, Wang, Hao, Gao and Wen.)

Active metal ions often show a strong cutting effect on the chemical bonds during high-temperature thermal processes. Herein, a one-pot metal ion cutting-assisted method was adopted to design defect-rich MoS 2- x nanosheet (NS)/ZnS nanoparticle (NP) heterojunction composites on carbon nanofiber skeletons (CNF@MoS 2- x /ZnS) via a simple Ar-ambience annealing. Results show that Zn 2+ ions capture S 2- ions from MoS 2 and form into ZnS NPs, and the MoS 2 NSs lose S 2- ions and become MoS 2- x ones. As sulfur hosts for lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), the CNF@MoS 2- x /ZnS-S cathodes deliver a high reversible capacity of 1233 mA h g -1 at 0.1 C and keep 944 mA h g -1 at 3 C. Moreover, the cathodes also show an extremely low decay rate of 0.012% for 900 cycles at 2 C. Series of analysis indicate that the MoS 2- x NSs significantly improve the chemisorption and catalyze the kinetic process of redox reactions of lithium polysulfides, and the heterojunctions between MoS 2- x NSs and ZnS NPs further accelerate the transport of electrons and the diffusion of Li + ions. Besides, the CNF@MoS 2- x /ZnS-S LSBs also show an ultralow self-discharge rate of 1.1% in voltage. This research would give some new insights for the design of defect-rich electrode materials for high-performance energy storage devices.

The multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform based on the combination of persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has both in vivo imaging and tumor therapeutic drug-loading functions, providing a new strategy for accurate and effective tumor diagnosis and treatment. Herein, the near-infrared (NIR) PLNP SiO 2 @Zn 1.05 Ga 1.9 O 4 :Cr was combined with HKUST-1 MOFs to form a core-shell structure theranostic nanoplatform which possessed the triple function of autofluorescence-free NIR PersL bioimaging, tumor chemodynamic therapy (CDT), and tumor photothermal therapy (PTT). Also, the photothermal conversion efficiency reached 58.7%, which is superior to the reported nano metal-organic framework (NMOF) photothermal reagents. We demonstrated that the nanoplatform could enter the tumors of mice within 0.5 h and could be target-activated by H 2 O 2 and H 2 S in the tumor cells, resulting in effective PTT and CDT synergistic treatment. Tumor-bearing mice experiments showed that the tumor could be completely cured without harming normal tissue. This theranostic nanoplatform may provide a promising strategy showing imaging, PTT, and CDT synergistic treatment tri-mode for clinical cancer therapy.

Objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) greatly affects cardiovascular disease, but evidence on the associations between NAFLD and markers of aortic calcification is limited. We aim to evaluate the association between NAFLD and aortic calcification in a cohort of Chinese adults using propensity score-matching (PSM) analysis., Methods: This prospective cohort study involved adults who underwent health-screening examinations from 2009 to 2016. NAFLD was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasonography at baseline, and aortic calcification was identified using a VCT LightSpeed 64 scanner. Analyses included Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis and PSM with predefined covariates (age, gender, marital and smoking status, and use of lipid-lowering drugs) to achieve a 1:1 balanced cohort., Results: Of the 6,047 eligible participants, 2,729 (45.13%) were diagnosed with NAFLD at baseline, with a median age of 49.0 years [interquartile range, 44.0-55.0]. We selected 2,339 pairs of participants with and without NAFLD at baseline for the PSM subpopulation. Compared with those without NAFLD, patients with NAFLD were at a higher risk of developing aortic calcification during follow-up; significant results were observed before and after matching, with the full-adjusted hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals being 1.19 (1.02-1.38) and 1.18 (1.01-1.38), respectively (both p < 0.05). In subgroup analyses, no interaction was detected according to age, gender, smoking status, body mass index, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, use of lipid-lowering drugs, hypertension, or type 2 diabetes., Conclusions: NAFLD may be independently associated with aortic calcification. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the possible underlying mechanisms., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhu, Gao, Liao, Cui, Tan, Zeng, Lou, Wang, Xu, Peng, Dai, Zhao, Wang, Ping, Dai, Feng and Han.)

Ni-rich layered oxides as cathode materials deliver a higher capacity than those used currently, in hopes of improving the energy density of Li-ion batteries. However, the surface residual alkali and the interfacial parasitic reactions caused by the rich nickel bring a series of problems such as surface slurrying, structure deterioration, mechanical fracture, and capacity decay. Herein, different from the common surface coating strategies with inorganics, an organo-soluble acid modification approach is proposed to meet the challenges. For LiNi 0.90 Co 0.07 Mn 0.03 O 2 (NCM90), decanoic acid can react with the residual lithium salts on the surface to form an organic lithium salt-dominant modification layer. During cycling, an organic lithium-involved cathode/electrolyte interface (CEI) layer is rapidly formed. Specially, the solubility of decanoic acid in the organic electrolyte makes the CEI layer keep strong interaction with NCM90, thin but effective. Consequently, the modified NCM90 exhibits notable performances in terms of structural stability, mechanical integrity, and capacity retention.

The standard potential of a lithium metal electrode versus the standard hydrogen electrode was calculated by constructing the thermodynamic cycle in a hypothetical electrochemical cell with a dual-phase electrolyte. It is demonstrated that the standard potential of the lithium metal electrode can fluctuate over 0.5 V in different organic solvents, and is correlated to the modified donor number by the entropy of fusion of the solvents.

Background: A clinical study indicated that infusion of dexmedetomidine without a loading dose administered intraoperatively provided a smooth and hemodynamically stable emergence and improved the quality of recovery with fewer postoperative side effects and reduced analgesic requirements. The objective was to determine whether administering remifentanil-propofol combined with dexmedetomidine during general anesthesia would decrease the incidence and severity of postoperative emergence agitation, anxiety, and depression without affecting cognitive dysfunction in elderly patients., Methods: A total of 120 elderly patients scheduled for ureteroscopic holmium laser lithotripsy were randomly allocated to the PR group and administered normal saline, and the PRD group was administered dexmedetomidine 0.4 μg kg -1 h -1 intravenously after the induction of anesthesia and stopped 30 min before the end of surgery. The primary outcome was the Mini-Mental State Examination score. The secondary outcomes were the Richmond Agitation Sedation, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale scores; the memory span for Arabic numerals; the duration of surgery; and the time to spontaneous respiration, recovery, and extubation., Results: The MMSE scores were lower at T 1-2 in the two groups (P < 0.001). The dosage of propofol and remifentanil decreased more significantly in the PRD group than in the PR group (P < 0.001). Both the RASS scores and the incidence of emergence agitation (EA) in the PRD group were significantly lower than those in the PR group at t 1-3 (P < 0.001). Compared to the PR group, the ZSDS scores and STAI scores at T 1-2 were lower in the PRD group (P < 0.005). The number of the Arabic numbers that were accurately recalled from memory was lower at T 2 in the PR group than in the PRD group (P < 0.001)., Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine administration has no influence on postoperative cognitive dysfunction but could reduce both the dosage of remifentanil and propofol needed during ureteroscopic holmium laser lithotripsy and the incidence and severity of postoperative emergence agitation, anxiety, and depression in elderly patients., Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900021254 . Registered on 3 February 2019., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are often used to settle down the sluggish reaction kinetics in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). However, the self-aggregation of CNTs often makes them fail to effectively inhibit the shuttling effect of soluble lithium polysulfide (LiPS) intermediates. Herein, a type of ultra-stable carbon micro/nano-scale interconnected "carbon cages" has been designed by incorporating polar acid-treated carbon fibers (ACF) into three-dimensional (3D) CNT frameworks during vacuum filtration processes. Results show that the ACF-CNT composite frameworks possess a reinforced-concrete-like structure, in which the ACFs can well work as the main mechanical supporting frames for the composite electrodes, and the oxygen-containing functional groups (OFGs) formed on them as cross linker between ACFs and CNTs. Benefitted from this design, the ACF-CNT/S cathodes deliver an excellent rate capability (retain 72.6% at 4C). More impressively, the ACF-CNT/S cathodes also show an ultrahigh cycling stability (capacity decay rate of 0.001% per cycle over 350 cycles at 2C). And further optimization suggests that the suitable treatment on CFs could balance the chemical adsorption (OFGs) and physical confinement (carbon cages), leading to fast and durable electrochemical reaction dynamics. In addition, the assembled soft-pack LSBs further show a high dynamic bending stability., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Lithium-sulfur batteries with high theoretical energy density have emerged as one of the most promising next-generation rechargeable batteries, while their discharge capacity and cycle stability are challenges mainly due to the shuttle effect of polysulfide intermediates. Employing an effective catalyst for the conversion of polysulfides in cathode reactions can promote the reaction kinetics to restrain the shuttle of polysulfides. Here, for the first time, La 2 MoO 6 (LMO) as a catalyst is introduced into sulfur cathodes. To investigate the effect of La 2 MoO 6 , we prepare two different structures of La 2 MoO 6 /carbon nanofiber composites. One is carbon nanofiber-supported crystalline La 2 MoO 6 nanoparticles (LMO@CNFs) and the other is amorphous La 2 MoO 6 nanoparticles embedded in carbon nanofibers (LMO-in-CNFs). For sulfur electrodes with ∼73 wt % sulfur loading, LMO@CNFs/S and LMO-in-CNFs/S deliver initial gravimetric capacities of 1493.4 and 1246.7 mA h g -1 , respectively, at a 0.1C rate, obviously higher than that of the control sample CNFs/S. Moreover, LMO@CNFs/S shows much better rate performance than LMO-in-CNFs/S, indicating strongly that La 2 MoO 6 is a highly effective catalyst to promote kinetic conversion of polysulfides.

All-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries (ASSLSBs) have become a promising candidate because of their high energy density and safety. To ensure the high utilization and electrochemical capacity of sulfur in all-solid-state batteries, both the electronic and ionic conductivities of the sulfur cathode should be as high as possible. In this work, an intercalation-conversion hybrid cathode is proposed by distributing sulfur evenly on electroactive niobium tungsten oxide (Nb 18 W 16 O 93 ) and conductive carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for achieving high performance ASSLSBs. Herein, Nb 18 W 16 O 93 shows good electrochemical lithium storage in the hybrid cathode, which could serve as an effective Li-ion/electron conductor for the conversion of sulfur in the discharge/charge processes to achieve a high utilization of sulfur. However, CNTs could further increase the electronic conductivity of the hybrid cathode by constructing good conductive frameworks and suppress the volumetric fluctuation during the interconversion of sulfur and Li 2 S. With this strategy, the S/Nb 18 W 16 O 93 /CNT cathode achieves a high sulfur utilization of 91% after one cycle activation with a high gravimetric capacity of 1526 mA h g -1 . In addition, excellent rate performance is also obtained at 0.5 C with a reversible capacity of 1262 mA h g -1 after 1000 cycles. This work offers a new perspective to develop ASSLSBs.

Simultaneously harvesting, converting and storing solar energy in a single device represents an ideal technological approach for the next generation of power sources. Herein, we propose a device consisting of an integrated carbon-based perovskite solar cell module capable of harvesting solar energy (and converting it into electricity) and a rechargeable aqueous zinc metal cell. The electrochemical energy storage cell utilizes heterostructural Co 2 P-CoP-NiCoO 2 nanometric arrays and zinc metal as the cathode and anode, respectively, and shows a capacity retention of approximately 78% after 25000 cycles at 32 A/g. In particular, the battery cathode and perovskite material of the solar cell are combined in a sandwich joint electrode unit. As a result, the device delivers a specific power of 54 kW/kg and specific energy of 366 Wh/kg at 32 A/g and 2 A/g, respectively. Moreover, benefiting from its narrow voltage range (1.40-1.90 V), the device demonstrates an efficiency of approximately 6%, which is stable for 200 photocharge and discharge cycles., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The merits of Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes in specific capacity and material cost accelerate their practical applications in electric vehicles and grid energy storage. However, detrimental structural deterioration occurs inevitably during long-term cycling, leading to potential instability and capacity decay of the cathodes. In this work, we investigate the effect of the doped cation radius on the electrochemical performance and structural stability of Ni-rich cathode materials by doping with Mg and Ca ions in LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 . The results reveal that an increase in the doping ion radius can enlarge the interlayer spacing but lead to the collapse of the layered structure if the ion radius is too large, which undermines the cycling stability of the cathode material. Compared with the Ca-doped sample and the pristine material, Mg-doped LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 presents improved structural stability and superior thermal stability due to the pillar and glue roles of medium-sized Mg ions in the lithium layer. The results of this study suggest that a suitable ionic radius of the dopant is critical for stabilizing the structure and improving the electrochemical properties of Ni-rich layered oxide cathode materials.

To examine the association between blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) among Chinese adults, we performed an ongoing cohort study of 38578 Chinese adults (56.3% males; average age, 41.6 y) who underwent repeated health check-up examinations between 2009 and 2016 and without T2DM at baseline. During follow-up, incident T2DM cases were identified based on self-report, medication use, measurements of fasting plasma glucose, 2 h post oral glucose, or haemoglobinA1c. 2009 (5.2%) cases confirmed with incident T2DM were identified during median follow-up of 3.1 years. With increasing quartiles of BUN levels, the incidences of T2DM gradually increased with 0.69%, 1.11%, 1.53%, and 1.87% for quartile 1 to quartile 4 (p trend <0.001). Compared with quartile 1, the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and its 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for T2DM risk were 1.16 (0.97-1.38) for quartile 2, 1.28 (1.07-1.51) for quartile 3, and 1.28 (1.08-1.52) for quartile 4 (p trend = 0.005). HR for per each standard deviation increase in BUN level was 1.10 (1.04-1.16) (p trend <0.001). This association tended to be more pronounced in those with a lower body mass index at baseline (p-interaction <0.001). Our results suggested that BUN levels were positively associated with incident T2DM risk among Chinese adults. Future prospective investigations in other populations are necessary to confirm our findings.

Aims/introduction: The current literature suggests that men with diabetes have a lower prostate-specific antigen concentration than men without diabetes, but the causal association remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between serum prostate-specific antigen concentrations and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in a cohort study of a Chinese population., Materials and Methods: We designed a cohort study that comprised 16,811 initially non-diabetic Chinese men who received annual health checkups between 2009 and 2016. The outcome of this study was type 2 diabetes mellitus, identified by medical diagnosis, self-reportage, medication use, fasting glucose, 2-h post oral glucose or glycated hemoglobin measurements. Cox proportional hazards models were carried out to evaluate the association., Results: During a median follow-up period of 3.8 years (interquartile range 1.91-5.73 years), 1,260 participants developed incident type 2 diabetes mellitus. The multivariable model, adjusted for various potential confounders, showed that serum prostate-specific antigen concentrations were inversely related to type 2 diabetes mellitus risk (P for trend = 0.014). Compared with the lowest quartile of serum prostate-specific antigen, the hazard ratio and 95% confidence intervals of type 2 diabetes mellitus risk for quartile 2-4 were 0.84 (0.66-1.07), 0.75 (0.59-0.94) and 0.77 (0.62-0.96), respectively. Subgroup analyses suggested the inverse relationship was more prominent in overweight or obese participants (P for interaction = 0.013)., Conclusions: High serum prostate-specific antigen concentration was associated with a low risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Chinese men. Future studies are required to confirm these findings and investigate underlying mechanisms., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Diabetes Investigation published by Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes (AASD) and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Currently, there are no satisfactory noninvasive methods for the diagnosis of fibrosis in patients with chronic drug-induced liver injury (DILI). Our goal was to develop an algorithm to improve the diagnostic accuracy of significant fibrosis in this population. In the present study, we retrospectively investigated the biochemical and pathological characteristics of consecutive patients with biopsy-proven chronic DILI, who presented at our hospital from January 2013 to December 2017. A noninvasive algorithm was developed by using multivariate logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA) to diagnose significant fibrosis in the training cohort, and the algorithm was subsequently validated in the validation cohort. Totally, 1,130 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned into a training cohort (n = 848) and a validation cohort (n = 282). Based on the multivariate analysis, LSM, CHE, and APRI were independently associated with significant fibrosis. A novel algorithm, LAC, was identified with the AUROC of 0.81, which was significantly higher than LSM (AUROC 0.78), CHE (AUROC 0.73), and APRI (AUROC 0.68), alone. The best cutoff value of LAC in the training cohort was 5.4. When the LAC score was used to diagnose advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis stages, the optimal cutoff values were 6.2 and 6.7, respectively, and the AUROC values were 0.84 and 0.90 in the training cohort and 0.81 and 0.83 in the validation cohort. This study proved that the LAC score can contribute to the accurate assessment of high-risk disease progression and the establishment of optimal treatment strategies for patients with chronic DILI., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Li, Chen, He, Li, Zhou, Fu, Deng, Niu, Chu, Gao, Zou, Chen and Ji.)

Glass-ceramic sulfide solid electrolytes like Li 7 P 3 S 11 are practicable propellants for safe and high-performance all-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries (ASSLSBs); however, the stability and conductivity issues remain unsatisfactory. Herein, we propose a congener substitution strategy to optimize Li 7 P 3 S 11 as Li 7 P 2.9 Sb 0.1 S 10.75 O 0.25 via chemical bond and structure regulation. Specifically, Li 7 P 2.9 Sb 0.1 S 10.75 O 0.25 is obtained by a Sb 2 O 5 dopant to achieve partial Sb/P and O/S substitution. Benefiting from the strengthened oxysulfide structural unit of POS 3 3- and P 2 OS 6 4- with bridging oxygen atoms and a distorted lattice configuration of the Sb-S tetrahedron, the Li 7 P 2.9 Sb 0.1 S 10.75 O 0.25 electrolyte exhibits prominent chemical stability and high ionic conductivity. Besides the improved air stability, the ionic conductivity of Li 7 P 2.9 Sb 0.1 S 10.75 O 0.25 could reach 1.61 × 10 -3 S cm -1 at room temperature with a wide electrochemical window of up to 5 V (vs Li/Li + ), as well as good stability against Li and Li-In alloy anodes. Consequently, the ASSLSB with the Li 7 P 2.9 Sb 0.1 S 10.75 O 0.25 electrolyte shows high discharge capacities of 1374.4 mAh g -1 (0.05C, 50th cycle) at room temperature and 1365.4 mAh g -1 (0.1C, 100th cycle) at 60 °C. The battery also presents remarkable rate performance (1158.3 mAh g -1 at 1C) and high Coulombic efficiency (>99.8%). This work provides a feasible technical route for fabricating ASSLSBs.

MUC4 , a transmembrane mucin, plays important roles in epithelial renewal and differentiation. Recent studies suggest that MUC4 has been implicated in pancreatic cancer pathogenesis and is expressed in various normal and cancer tissues. The underlying features of MUC4 across various cancer types may allow us to ensure appropriate treatment and patient monitoring. However, the contributions of MUC4 to pan-cancer have not been well characterized. In this study, we investigated the expression pattern and prognostic value of MUC4 across multiple databases. We further explored genomic and epigenetic alterations of MUC4 , its association with proliferation and metastasis, and the correlation with immune infiltration in different cancers. Our results characterized the distinct expression profile and prognostic values of MUC4 in pan-cancer. Through examining its association with genomic alteration, tumor proliferation, and metastasis, as well as tumor infiltration, we revealed multiple function effects of MUC4 . MUC4 may influence prognosis, proliferation, metastasis, and immune response in opposite directions. In conclusion, our findings suggested the necessity to more carefully evaluate MUC4 as a biomarker and therapeutic target and develop the new antibodies for cancer detection and intervention., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Gao, Dong, Xie and Guan.)

The organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells present a rapid improvement on power conversion efficiency from 3.8% to 25.5% in the past decades. Owing to the tuneable bandgaps, low-cost, and ease of fabrication, perovskites become ideal candidate materials for fabricating tandem solar cells, especially for efficient and high-voltage monolithic two-terminal devices. In this review, an overview of recent advances in various monolithic perovskite-based tandem solar cells with a focus on the key challenges is provided. Subsequently, the recombination layer materials, construction of wide-bandgap perovskite layer, stability of narrow-bandgap, and current matching principle in tandems are highlighted in order to optimize the output voltage and conversion efficiency of tandem solar cells. Finally, the recent progress is summarized with a focus on potential applications of tandem solar cells for energy conversion and storage, including hydrogen production by water splitting, CO 2 reduction, supercapacitors, and rechargeable batteries, benefiting from the adjustable output voltage of tandem solar cells. It is hoped that this work can offer a feasible strategy to explore more possibilities for fabricating new two-terminal tandem solar cells with high voltage and high conversion efficiency for energy conversion and storage., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is one of the most promising next-generation rechargeable batteries. Lots of fundamental research has been done for the problems during cycling like capacity fading and columbic efficiency reducing owing to severe diffusion and migration of polysulfide intermediates. In the early stage, a wide variety of carbon materials are used as host materials for sulfur to enhance electrical conductivity and adsorb soluble polysulfides. Beyond carbon materials, metal based polar compounds are introduced as host materials for sulfur because of their strong catalytic activity and adsorption ability to suppress the shuttle effect. In addition, relatively high density of metal compounds is helpful for increasing volumetric energy density of Li-S batteries. This review focuses on crystalline multi-metal compounds as host materials in sulfur cathodes. The multi-metal compounds involve not only transition metal composite oxides with specific crystalline structures, binary metal chalcogenides, double or complex salts, but also the metal compounds doped or partially substituted by other metal ions. Generally, for the multi-metal compounds, microstructure and morphologies in micro-nano scale are very significant for mass transfer in electrodes; moreover, adsorption and catalytic ability for polysulfides make fast kinetics in the electrode processes., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Despite their high theoretical energy density, the application of lithium-sulfur batteries is seriously hindered by the polysulfide shuttle and sluggish kinetics, especially with high sulfur loading and under low electrolyte usage. Herein, to facilitate the conversion of lithium polysulfides, nickel-boron (Ni-B) alloy nanoparticles, dispersed uniformly on carbon nanotube microspheres (CNTMs), are used as sulfur hosts for lithium-sulfur batteries. It is demonstrated that Ni-B alloy nanoparticles can not only anchor polysulfides through Ni-S and B-S interactions but also exhibit high electrocatalytic capability toward the conversion of intermediate polysulfide species. In addition, the intertwined CNT microspheres provide an additional conductive scaffold in response to the fast electrochemical redox. The enhanced redox kinetics is beneficial to improve the specific capacity and cycling stability of the sulfur cathode, based on the fast conversion of lithium polysulfides and effective deposition of the final sulfide products. Conclusively, the S/Ni-B/CNTM composite delivers a high specific capacity (1112.7 mAh g s -1 ) along with good cycle performance under both high sulfur loading (8.3 mg cm -2 ) and a lean electrolyte (3 μL mg s -1 ). Consequently, this study opens up a path to design new sulfur hosts toward lithium-sulfur batteries.

Objective: To explore the clinical effect of the simple nucleus pulposus removal and small incision interlaminar window in the treatment of prolapsed and displaced lumbar disc herniation., Methods: From February 2016 to February 2018, 35 patients with single-segment prolapse and displaced lumbar disc herniation were treated by the simple nucleus pulposus removal and small incision interlaminar window under general anesthesia. Among them, there were 21 males and 14 females;aged (42±17) years;27 cases of L 4,5 segment, 6 cases of L 5 S 1 segment, 2 cases of L 3,4 segment;20 cases on the left side, 13 cases on the right side. Modified Macnab standard was used to evaluate postoperative symptoms and functional recovery., Results: All the operations were successful and the operation time was 30 to 60 min with an average of 40 min, the intraoperative blood loss was 10 to 30 ml with an average of 20 ml. All the patients were followed up for 1 to 3 years with an average of 1.2 years. Thirty-five patients with low back pain and lower limb symptoms were significantly relieved or disappeared. According to modified Macnab standard, 29 cases obtained excellent results, 5 good, and 1 fair., Conclusion: Applying the concept of minimally invasive operation, small incision interlaminar window and simple nucleus pulposus removal for the treatment of prolapsed and displaced lumbar disc herniation has the advantages of short operation time, definite curative effect, and less trauma. And it is a safe and effective surgical method under the premise of strict control of the indications.

This study aimed to determine the levels of health-related behaviours (physical activity, screen exposure and sleep status) among Chinese students from primary, secondary and high schools during the pandemic of COVID-19, as well as their changes compared with their status before the pandemic. A cross-sectional online survey of 10,933 students was conducted among 10 schools in Guangzhou, China, between 8th and 15th March, 2020. After getting the informed consent from student's caregivers, an online questionnaire was designed and used to obtain time spending on health-related behaviours during the pandemic of COVID-19, as well as the changes compared with 3 months before the pandemic, which was completed by students themselves or their caregivers. Students were stratified by regions (urban, suburban, exurban), gender (boys and girls), and grades (lower grades of primary school, higher grades of primary schools, secondary schools and high schools). Data were expressed as number and percentages and Chi-square test was used to analyse difference between groups. Overall, the response rate of questionnaire was 95.3% (10,416/10,933). The median age of included students was 13.0 (10.0, 16.0) years and 50.1% (n = 5,219) were boys. 41.4%, 53.6% and 53.7% of total students reported less than 15 min per day in light, moderate and vigorous activities and 58.7% (n = 6,113) reported decreased participation in physical activity compared with the time before pandemic. Over 5 h of screen time spending on online study was reported by 44.6% (n = 4,649) of respondents, particular among high school students (81.0%). 76.9% of students reported increased screen time compared with the time before pandemic. Inadequate sleep was identified among 38.5% of students and the proportion was highest in high school students (56.9%). Our study indicated that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the school closure exerted tremendous negative effects on school-aged children's health habits, including less physical activity, longer screen exposure and irregular sleeping pattern.

The high-nickel layered oxides are potential candidate cathode materials of next-generation high energy lithium-ion batteries, in which higher nickel/lower cobalt strategy is effective for increasing specific capacity and reducing cost of cathode. Unfortunately, the fast decay of capacity/potential, and serious thermal concern are critical obstacles for the commercialization of high-nickel oxides due to structural instability. Herein, in order to improve the structure and thermal stability of high-nickel layered oxides, we demonstrate a feasible and simple strategy of the surface gradient doping with yttrium, without forming the hard interface between coating layer and bulk. As expected, after introducing yttrium, the surface gradient doping layer is formed tightly based on the oxidation induced segregation, leading to improved structure and thermal stability. Correspondingly, the good capacity retention and potential stability are obtained for the yttrium-doped sample, together with the superior thermal behavior. The excellent electrochemical performance of the yttrium-doped sample is primarily attributed to the strong yttrium-oxygen bonding and stable oxygen framework on the surface layer. Therefore, the surface manipulating strategy with the surface gradient doping is feasible and effective for improving the structure and thermal stability, as well as the capacity/potential stability during cycling for the high-Ni layered oxides.

Metallic lithium as an anode is an ultimate ideal for rechargeable lithium batteries with high energy density such as lithium-oxygen batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries. However, the excess reactivity and asymmetrical dissolution-deposition of the metallic lithium anode make it impossible to support a stable long charge-discharge cycling. To protect the metallic lithium anode, apparently it needs to adjust the dissolution and deposition of lithium ions, but more essentially, it should reasonably change the distribution and transport of electrons on the surface and interface of the metallic lithium. In this work, anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes are used to build highly ordered channels on the lithium anode surface in which lithium ions can transfer in the channels and electrons can be transported by the lithiation reaction of alumina with an oxygen vacancy-involved process. As a result, the cyclic reaction actually is partially transferred to the AAO surface, and lithium deposition occurs there as a hemispherical appearance but not as dendrites. Meanwhile, the highly ordered characteristics provide a physical effect to make the deposited lithium hemispheres a uniform distribution on the AAO surface. The AAO-regulated lithium anodes could be widely used to improve the cycling performance for metal lithium batteries.

SnO 2 /TiO 2 type II heterojunctions are often introduced to enhance the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers in photoelectrochemical electrodes, while most of these heterojunctions are of core-shell structure, which often limits the synergistic effect from the two components. In this work, dissymmetric SnO 2 /TiO 2 side-by-side bi-component nanofibers (SBNFs) with tunable composition ratios have been prepared by a novel needleless electrospinning technique with two V-shape connected conductive channels (V-channel electrospinning). Results show that this V-channel electrospinning technique is more stable, controllable and tunable for the large-scale preparation of SBNF materials compared to the traditional electrospinning using two side-by-side metal needles. And these SnO 2 /TiO 2 SBNFs are dissymmetric and comprised of a tiny SnO 2 NF (tunable diameter within 20-80 nm) and a Sn-doped TiO 2 NF (diameter of ~ 250 nm) with a side-by-side structure. Moreover, the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based these dissymmetric SnO 2 /TiO 2 SBNFs show the maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.3%, which is 2.59 times that of the ones based on the TiO 2 NFs. Series of analyses indicate that the enhancements in PCE could mainly be due to the improved electron transport via SnO 2 NFs and the enhanced carrier separation via dissymmetric SnO 2 /TiO 2 heterojunction interface. This research will give some new insight in the preparation of SBNFs for high-performance photoelectrochemical devices., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries hold the promise of the next generation energy storage system beyond state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. Despite the attractive gravimetric energy density (W G ), the volumetric energy density (W V ) still remains a great challenge for the practical application, based on the primary requirement of Small and Light for Li-S batteries. This review highlights the importance of cathode density, sulfur content, electroactivity in achieving high energy densities. In the first part, key factors are analyzed in a model on negative/positive ratio, cathode design, and electrolyte/sulfur ratio, orientated toward energy densities of 700 Wh L -1 /500 Wh kg -1 . Subsequently, recent progresses on enhancing W V for coin/pouch cells are reviewed primarily on cathode. Especially, the "Three High One Low" (THOL) (high sulfur fraction, high sulfur loading, high density host, and low electrolyte quantity) is proposed as a feasible strategy for achieving high W V , taking high W G into consideration simultaneously. Meanwhile, host materials with desired catalytic activity should be paid more attention for fabricating high performance cathode. In the last part, key engineering technologies on manipulating the cathode porosity/density are discussed, including calendering and dry electrode coating. Finally, a future outlook is provided for enhancing both W V and W G of the Li-S batteries., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Findings for the roles of dairy products, Ca and vitamin D on ovarian cancer risk remain controversial. We aimed to assess these associations by using an updated meta-analysis. Five electronic databases (e.g. PubMed and Embase) were searched from inception to 24 December 2019. Pooled relative risks (RR) with 95 % CI were calculated. A total of twenty-nine case-control or cohort studies were included. For comparisons of the highest v. lowest intakes, higher whole milk intake was associated with increased ovarian cancer risk (RR 1·35; 95 % CI 1·15, 1·59), whereas decreased risks were observed for higher intakes of low-fat milk (RR 0·84; 95 % CI 0·73, 0·96), dietary Ca (RR 0·71; 95 % CI 0·60, 0·84) and dietary vitamin D (RR 0·80; 95 % CI 0·67, 0·95). Additionally, for every 100 g/d increment, increased ovarian cancer risks were found for total dairy products (RR 1·03; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·04) and for whole milk (RR 1·07; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·11); however, decreased risks were found for 100 g/d increased intakes of low-fat milk (RR 0·95; 95 % CI 0·91, 0·99), cheese (RR 0·87; 95 % CI 0·76, 0·98), dietary Ca (RR 0·96; 95 % CI 0·95, 0·98), total Ca (RR 0·98; 95 % CI 0·97, 0·99), dietary vitamin D (RR 0·92; 95 % CI 0·87, 0·97) and increased levels of circulating vitamin D (RR 0·84; 95 % CI 0·72, 0·97). These results show that whole milk intake might contribute to a higher ovarian cancer risk, whereas low-fat milk, dietary Ca and dietary vitamin D might reduce the risk.

Li-rich layered oxide cathode materials are regarded as an attractive candidate of next-generation Li-ion batteries (LIBs) to realize an energy density of >300 Wh kg -1 . However, challenges such as capacity fade, cycle life, oxygen release, and structural transformation still restrain its practical application. Micro/nanotechnology is one of the effective strategies to enhance its structural stability and electrochemical performance. An in-depth understanding of the relationship between micro/nanostructures and the electrochemical performance of Li-rich layered oxides is undoubtedly important for developing high-performance cathode materials. Herein, Li 1.2 Ni 0.13 Co 0.13 Mn 0.54 O 2 with different micro/nanostructures including irregular particles, microspheres, microrods, and orthogonal particles are synthesized. Starting from the amount of surface oxygen vacancies in the different structures, the influence of oxygen vacancies on every step during the charge-discharge processes is analyzed by experimental characterizations and theoretical calculations. It is indicated that intrinsic oxygen vacancies can enhance the electrical conductivity and decrease the energy barrier for ion migration, which exerts a significant influence on promoting the kinetics and capacity. Among the different micro/nanostructures, microrods with abundant oxygen vacancies can not only promote lithium ion transport but also stabilize a cathode electrolyte interface (CEI) film by adjusting the distribution of surface elements with lower nickel content. The microrods deliver an initial discharge capacity of up to 306.1 mAh g -1 at 0.1C rate and a superior cycle performance with a capacity retention of 91.0% after 200 cycles at 0.2C rate.

Background: Previous studies have examined the role of the KQT-like subfamily Q member1 ( KCNQ1 ) gene polymorphisms on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the findings are inconclusive., Objective: To examine the association between the KCNQ1 gene polymorphisms and the risk of T2DM using an updated meta-analysis with an almost tripled number of studies., Methods: Five electronic databases, such as PubMed and Embase, were searched thoroughly for relevant studies on the associations between seven most studied KCNQ1 gene polymorphisms, including rs2237892, rs2237897, rs2237895, rs2283228, rs231362, rs151290, and rs2074196, and T2DM risk up to September 14, 2019. The summary odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to assess the strength of associations in the random-effects models. We used the trial sequential analysis (TSA) to measure the robustness of the evidence., Results: 49 publications including 55 case-control studies (68,378 cases and 66,673 controls) were finally enrolled. In overall analyses, generally, increased T2DM risk was detected for rs2237892, rs2237895, rs2283228, rs151290, and rs2074196, but not for rs231362 under all genetic models. The ORs and 95% CIs for allelic comparison were 1.23 (1.14-1.33) for rs2237892, 1.21 (1.16-1.27) for rs2237895, 1.27 (1.11-1.46) for rs2237897, 1.25 (1.09-1.42) for rs2283228, 1.14 (1.03-1.27) for rs151290, 1.31 (1.23-1.39) for rs2074196, and 1.16 (0.83, 1.61) for rs231362. Stratified analyses showed that associations for rs2237892, rs2237895, rs2283228, and rs151290 were more evident among Asians than Caucasians. TSA demonstrated that the evidence was sufficient for all polymorphisms in this study. The genotypes of the three SNPs (rs2237892, rs2283228, and rs231362) were significantly correlated with altered KCNQ1 gene expression., Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggested that KCNQ1 gene polymorphisms (rs2237892, rs2283228, rs2237895, rs151290, and rs2074196) might be the susceptible factors for T2DM, especially among Asian population., Competing Interests: The authors state that the study was conducted without any commercial or financial relationship., (Copyright © 2020 Xiao-xuan Yu et al.)

This study was designed to explore the impact of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) on inflammation and gut microbiota in mice with allergic asthma. Mice were divided into four groups: control group, OVA (ovalbumin) group, Con+LBP group, OVA+LBP group. After 28 days of LBP intervention, mice were euthanized and associated indications were investigated. Histopathological examination demonstrated that LBP reduced lung injury. The results of our current study provide evidence that supplementation with LBP in asthmatic mice decreases TNF , IL-4 , IL-6 , MCP-1 , and IL-17A in plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Sequencing and analysis of gut microbiota indicated that compared with the OVA group, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were increased, but Firmicutes , Actinobacteria , Alistipes , and Clostridiales were decreased in the OVA+LBP group. We also found that gut microbiota were related to inflammation-related factors. Therefore, we speculate that LBP may improve allergic asthma by altering gut microbiota and inhibiting inflammation in mice.