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Copyright of Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia / Journal Canadien d'Anesthésie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Batteries that utilize low‐cost elemental sulfur and light metallic lithium as electrodes have great potential in achieving high energy density. However, building a lithium–sulfur (Li–S) full battery by controlling the electrolyte volume generally produces low practical energy because of the limited electrochemical Li–S redox. Herein, the high energy/high performance of a Li–S full battery with practical sulfur loading and minimum electrolyte volume is reported. A unique hybrid architecture configured with Ni–Co metal alloy (NiCo) and metal oxide (NiCoO2) nanoparticles heterogeneously anchored in carbon nanotube‐embedded self‐standing carbon matrix is fabricated as a host for sulfur. This work demonstrates the considerable improvement that the hybrid structure's high conductivity and satisfactory porosity promote the transport of electrons and lithium ions in Li–S batteries. Through experimental and theoretical validations, the function of NiCo and NiCoO2 nanoparticles as an efficient polysulfide mediator is established. These particles afford polysulfide anchoring and catalytic sites for Li–S redox reaction, thus improving the redox conversion reversibility. Even at high sulfur loading, the nanostructured Ni–Co metal alloy and metal oxide enable to have stable cycling performance under lean electrolyte conditions both in half‐cell and full‐cell batteries using a graphite anode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Forum the authors suggest that a growing intensity of contradictory public and private interests in education is a persistent force in education development stemming from the increasing centrality of education in contemporary society. Contrasting South Korea's effective policies ensuring equality of educational opportunity with its world-leading levels of family expenditures on private education services demonstrates this force. A brief comparison with the US also indicates that such a contradiction and symbiosis may likely to be more universal than is often assumed. This observation can be demonstrated in particular by a historical analysis of the consequences of dynamic conflict between public and private interests in the Republic of Korea (hereafter, South Korea), a centralised national system more equitable and effective than most. With its global leading-edge conflict between effective public education policies and dramatic runaway private actions by families to gain advantages for their children, this country illustrates where this dynamic might take education systems in the future, for better and worse. South Korea is then briefly contrasted with the United States, a large decentralised nation that struggles with educational equality and uneven effectiveness. Showing that a transforming synergy between public and private interests occurs in these contrasting education systems suggests a more universal pattern than is often acknowledged.

Purpose An endoscopic bite block is a device to ensure that the patient's mouth remains wide open during endoscopic procedures. Wide opening of the mouth may facilitate the efficiency of one-handed mask ventilation. We evaluated the effect of an endoscopic bite block on mask ventilation among three ventilation techniques: one-handed ventilation, one-handed ventilation with an endoscopic bite block, and two-handed ventilation. Methods Fifty-nine anesthetized and paralyzed patients were included. After induction of anesthesia, one-handed ventilation, one-handed ventilation with an endoscopic bite block and two-handed ventilation were performed in a cross-over, randomized order. The primary outcome was the expiratory tidal volume (mL/kg of predicted body weight). Secondary outcomes included minute ventilation (L/min) and the incidence of inadequate mask ventilation or dead space ventilation. Results The expiratory tidal volume of one-handed ventilation with an endoscopic bite block was significantly improved when compared with that of one-handed ventilation (8.2 [6.8-10.2] mL/kg vs. 7.1 [4.5-9.0] mL/kg, respectively, difference = 1.1 mL/kg; 95% CI 0.8-2.4; P < 0.001), and was comparable to that of two-handed ventilation (8.9 [6.3-11.5] mL/kg; difference = 0.7 mL/kg; 95% CI - 0.7 to 1.5; P = 0.432). Minute ventilation was also significantly improved in one-handed ventilation with an endoscopic bite block compared with that in one-handed ventilation (7.4 [6.3-8.6] L/min vs. 6.7 [4.2-7.9] L/min, respectively, difference = 0.7 L/min; 95% CI 0.6-2.0; P < 0.001), and was comparable to that of two-handed ventilation (7.7 [6.5-9.5] L/min; difference = 0.3 L/min; 95% CI - 0.5 to 1.4; P = 0.390). The incidence of inadequate ventilation or dead space ventilation was not different among the ventilation techniques (P = 0.080). Conclusion The use of an endoscopic bite block improved one-handed mask ventilation, showing comparable efficacy with two-handed mask ventilation., Author(s): Hyerim Kim [sup.1], Jee-Eun Chang [sup.1], Jung-Man Lee [sup.1], Dongwook Won [sup.1], Hyo Jun Yang [sup.1], Jin-Young Hwang [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.412479.d, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain [...]

Study designs: Retrospective Observational Study Objectives: To compare the incidence of POD after propofol- and sevoflurane-based anesthesia in elderly patients undergoing spine surgery. Methods: In this study, the medical records of elderly patients ≥ 65 years of age who underwent spine surgery under total intravenous anesthesia with propofol or inhalational anesthesia with sevoflurane were reviewed. The primary outcome was the incidence of POD after propofol- and sevoflurane-based anesthesia. Secondary outcomes included postoperative 30-day complications, length of postoperative hospital stay, associations of patient characteristics, and surgery- and anesthesia-related data with the development of POD, and associations of anesthetics with clinical outcomes such as postoperative 30-day complications, and length of postoperative hospital stay. Results: Of the 281 patients, POD occurred in 29 patients (10.3%). POD occurred more frequently in the sevoflurane group than in the propofol group (15.7% vs. 5.0%, respectively; P=.003). The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that sevoflurane-based anesthesia was associated with an increased risk of POD compared with propofol-based anesthesia (odds ratio [OR], 4.120; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.549−10.954; P =.005), whereas anesthetics were not associated with postoperative 30-day complications and the length of postoperative hospital stay. Older age (OR, 1.242 CI, 1.130−1.366; P <.001) and higher mean pain score at postoperative day 1 (OR, 1.338 CI, 1.056−1.696; P =.016) were also associated with an increased risk of POD. Conclusions: Propofol-based anesthesia was associated with a lower incidence of POD than sevoflurane-based anesthesia in elderly patients after spine surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although containing only single piece of information, aerosol layer height (ALH) indicates the altitude of aerosol layer in vertical coordinate which is essential for assessment of surface air quality and aerosol climate impact. Passive remote sensing measurements in oxygen (O2) absorption bands are sensitive to ALH, providing an opportunity to derive global or regional ALH information from satellite observations. In this study, we compare ALH products retrieved from near-infrared O2 absorption measurements from multiple satellite platforms including Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) focusing on Asia, Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) in deep space, and polar orbiting satellite TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), and validate them using spaceborne lidar (CALIOP) measurements for typical dust and smoke plumes. Adjustments have been made to account for the inherent variations in the definitions of ALH among different products, ensuring an apple-to-apple comparison. In comparison with CALIOP ALH, both EPIC and TROPOMI ALH display a high correlation coefficient (R) higher than 0.7 and an overestimation by ~ 0.8 km, whereas GEMS ALH exhibits minimal bias (0.1 km) but a slightly lower correlation with R of 0.64. Categorizing GEMS retrievals with UVAI ≥ 3 improves the agreement with CALIOP. GEMS ALH demonstrates a narrower range and lower mean value compared to EPIC and TROPOMI, and their correlation is further improved when UVAI ≥ 3. Furthermore, diurnal variation of GEMS and EPIC ALH, especially for UVAI ≥ 3, aligns with boundary layer development. Considering the important role of AOD in ALH retrieval, we found GEMS AOD at 680 nm correlates well with AERONET AOD (R ~ 0.9) but features a negative bias of -0.2. EPIC and TROPOMI tend to overestimate ALH by 0.33 km and 0.23 km, respectively, in dust cases. Finally, a dust and a smoke case are analysed in detail to explore the variation of ALH during plume transport from multiple data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]