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Microwave plasma jets have garnered significant attention due to their unique advantages and wide applications in numerous fields. However, the frequent collisions between electrons and neutral particles at atmospheric pressure make it challenging to generate a room-temperature plasma jet and maintain a high energy efficiency at the same time. This paper introduces a new microwave plasma jet based on a rectangular waveguide, which utilizes the surface wave propagating along the plasma jet to sustain the gas discharge. It features a simple structure, low power consumption, high energy efficiency, and strong controllability without the need for any external tuning measures. The minimum power required to ignite and stably maintain the plasma jet at atmospheric pressure is as low as 25 W and the measured lowest gas temperature at the plasma jet tail is approximately 295 K. Meanwhile, experiments show the microwave energy efficiency can be higher than 90% in a large range of input powers and gas inflow rates, while the gas temperature is maintained close to room temperature. These characteristics of our proposed surface wave plasma jet demonstrate tremendous potential in fields such as hemostasis, sterilization, wastewater treatment, semiconductor cleaning, and material processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Koninginins X-Z (1–3), three novel polyketides, were isolated from the solid fermentation of the endophytic fungus Trichoderma koningiopsis SC-5. Their structures, including the absolute configurations, were comprehensively characterized by a combination of NMR spectroscopic methods, HRESIMS, 13C NMR, DFT GIAO 13C NMR, and electronic circular dichroism calculations as well as single crystal X-ray diffraction. In addition, all the compounds were evaluated for antifungal activity against Candida albicans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to help enterprises to identify the opinion leaders of electronic products, reduce the cost of buyers and sellers satisfied with the deal, this article from the perspective of victory force elements, opinion leader of electronic products, which can identify the key elements to build the evaluation index system of electronic products of opinion leaders, according to the DEMATEL-Basd Analytic Network Process (DANP) method for empirical research. The results show that there is a mutual influence relationship between the competency factors of opinion leaders of electronic products. Among them, activity is the most important competency factor, and centrality has the greatest influence on other competency factors. Based on this study, management suggestions are put forward for marketers.

Three new indole diketopiperazines, ochrolines A-C (1–3), along with three known compounds (4–6), were isolated and identified from the EtOAc extract of the solid fermentation of Bionectria ochroleuca SLJB-2. Notably, compound 1 featured a natural rarely-occurring caged skeleton with a 6/5/6/7 heterotetracyclic bridged ring system. The structures including absolute configurations of 1–3 were fully accomplished by extensive spectroscopic analyses, DFT GIAO 13C NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. The plausible biogenetic pathways of these new indole diketopiperazines were also proposed. Moreover, the cytotoxic activity screening revealed that compound 2 exhibited moderate inhibitory effect against A549 with inhibition rate of 57.44% at the concentration of 50 μM and compound 1 exhibited mild inhibitory activities against A549, Hela and MCF-7. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Retrospective observational study., Objective: To describe the epidemiology of Schmorl's nodes (SN) of primarily developmental cause (SNd) and SN of primarily acquired cause (SNa) separately in the thoracic spine in subjects aged 35 to 90 years old., Summary of Background Data: The epidemiology of SN and its relationship with age and gender remain controversial. On the basis of a pathophysiological hypothesis and the different morphologic characteristics, two subtypes of SN may exist and should be considered separately., Patients and Methods: Chest CT scans of subjects who came to our institution for health checks aged 35 to 90 years old were retrospectively reviewed. The presence or absence of SN was recorded for each thoracic vertebra. The SNs were further classified into SNd and SNa. The prevalence, location, and relationship with age, gender, and bone mineral density (BMD) were evaluated separately for the two subtypes., Results: Of the 848 subjects (407 female, mean age: 53±12.2 yr) included, 15.7% had SNs. Of the 303 SNs, 49.2% were SNd, and 48.5% were SNa. Aging increased the prevalence of SNa, while it was not related to the prevalence of SNd. Males had significantly more SNd than females (11.3% vs. 4.7%, P <0.001), while the prevalence of SNa was not different between the two genders (10.2% vs. 9.1%, P =0.666). A similar distribution of SNd and SNa among thoracic vertebral levels was appreciated, with T9 most frequently involved. Subjects with SNa had lower lumbar BMD than controls ( P =0.006), while no significant difference in BMD was found between subjects with SNd and controls ( P =0.166)., Conclusions: The clinical characteristics of SN differ based on the developmental and acquired subtypes, including the relationship with age, gender, and BMD. The subtypes may be considered distinct clinical entities as a result., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: This study assesses the diagnostic utility of strain parameters from cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking across all cardiac chambers in patients with acute myocarditis, stratified by ejection fraction., Methods and Results: Our cohort included 65 patients with acute myocarditis and 25 healthy controls; all underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on left ventricular ejection fraction (EF)with a 55% cutoff: acute myocarditis with preserved EF, EF ≥55%, n=48; and acute myocarditis with reduced EF, EF <55%, n=17. The control group matched for age and sex. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking evaluated strain parameters across all cardiac chambers. Both acute myocarditis with preserved EF and acute myocarditis with reduced EF groups showed significant decreases in left atrial peak early negative strain rate compared with controls. The acute myocarditis with reduced EF group had significantly reduced left ventricular circumferential strain relative to acute myocarditis with preserved EF and controls. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis confirmed the diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing patients with acute myocarditis with preserved EF from controls, with left atrial peak early negative strain rate achieving 92.9% specificity, left ventricular circumferential strain demonstrating an area under the curve of 0.832, and similarly effective results for left ventricular longitudinal strain and right ventricular longitudinal strain. Additionally, left atrial peak early negative strain rate and left ventricular circumferential strain showed significant correlations with troponin I levels, indicating myocardial injury., Conclusions: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature-tracking-derived strain parameters, particularly left atrial peak early negative strain rate and left ventricular circumferential strain, effectively diagnose acute myocarditis across different EFs, enhancing diagnostic accuracy and facilitating early detection, notably in patients with preserved EF.