Search

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Engineering catalytic sites at the atomic level provides an opportunity to understand the catalysts active sites, which is vital to the development of improved catalysts. Here we show a reliable and tunable polyoxometalate template-based synthetic strategy to atomically engineer metal doping sites onto metallic 1T-MoS2, using Anderson-type polyoxometalates as precursors. Benefiting from engineering nickel and oxygen atoms, the optimized electrocatalyst shows great enhancement in the hydrogen evolution reaction with a positive onset potential of ~ 0 V and a low overpotential of -46 mV in alkaline electrolyte, comparable to platinum-based catalysts. First-principles calculations reveal co-doping nickel and oxygen into 1T-MoS2 assists the process of water dissociation and hydrogen generation from their intermediate states. This research will expand on the ability to improve the activities of various catalysts by precisely engineering atomic activation sites to achieve significant electronic modulations and improve atomic utilization efficiencies.

Although the fast-growing metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) has been used in diagnosing infectious diseases, low detection rate of mNGS in detecting pathogens with low loads limits its extensive application. In this study, 130 patients with suspected pulmonary infections were enrolled, from whom bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples were collected. The conventional tests and mNGS of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and whole-cell DNA (wcDNA) using BALF were simultaneously performed. mNGS of cfDNA showed higher detection rate (91.5%) and total coincidence rate (73.8%) than mNGS of wcDNA (83.1% and 63.9%) and conventional methods (26.9% and 30.8%). A total of 70 microbes were detected by mNGS of cfDNA, and most of them (60) were also identified by mNGS of wcDNA. The 31.8% (21/66) of fungi, 38.6% (27/70) of viruses, and 26.7% (8/30) of intracellular microbes can be only detected by mNGS of cfDNA, much higher than those [19.7% (13/66), 14.3% (10/70), and 6.7% (2/30)] only detected by mNGS of wcDNA. After in-depth analysis on these microbes with low loads set by reads per million (RPM), we found that more RPM and fungi/viruses/intracellular microbes were detected by mNGS of cfDNA than by mNGS of wcDNA. Besides, the abilities of mNGS using both cfDNA and wcDNA to detect microbes with high loads were similar. We highlighted the advantage of mNGS using cfDNA in detecting fungi, viruses, and intracellular microbes with low loads, and suggested that mNGS of cfDNA could be considered as the first choice for diagnosing pulmonary infections.

According to the experience in the construction of water conservancy and hydropower projects in the Mainland, RCC dam construction has two main advantages: the rapid construction speed of roller compacted concrete can realize early power generation, and the price of fly ash is much lower than that of cement, which can reduce the project cost. Tibet has special geographical environment and climatic conditions, and generally has the characteristics of “high altitude, low pressure, low temperature, large temperature difference between day and night, and dry climate”. Taking the dam-building environment in central Tibet as an example, through investigation and research and analogy of similar projects, this paper analyzes the adaptability of construction of RCC gravity dams in Tibet from the aspects of geographical environment, climatic conditions, material properties, construction progress, and project cost. Adaptability to high altitudes. It provides a reference for choosing a safe, reliable, economical and reasonable dam type in the construction of water conservancy and hydropower projects. It provides reference for selecting safe, reliable, economical and reasonable dam types in water conservancy and hydropower engineering construction.

Abstract Background Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) has been reported to play a part in the development of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and its complications. However, the relationship between TNF-α and OSA still remains inconclusive. We aimed to systematically review and synthesize studies published to date on association between the two in adults. Methods We searched for English-language articles containing original human data from case-control study studies in adults≥18 years of age. The selection criteria were set according to the PICOS framework. Articles were independently reviewed by three investigators. Data regarding demographics, clinical characteristics, and TNF-α levels were obtained. A random-effects model was applied to evaluate the overall effect sizes by calculating standard mean difference (SMD) and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Of 393 identified abstracts, 50 articles (3503 OSA patients and 3379 health controls) were ultimately included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated that the TNF-α level in patients with OSA was 1.77 (95%CI, 1.37 to 2.17, I 2 = 97.8%, P

Delivery of drugs to special locations of ocular lesions, while minimizing systemic and local toxic effects, is recognized as a critical challenge in the ophthalmic practice. The special anatomy and physiology barriers within the eyeball entail effective drug delivery systems. Emerging attempts in drug delivery has led to developments in ocular iontophoresis, which acts as a noninvasive technology to enhance drug penetration using a small electric current. This technique offers greater flexibility to deliver desired drug dose in a controlled and tolerable manner. In previous studies, this technique has been testified to deliver antibiotics, corticoid, proteins and other gene drugs into the eye with the potency of treating or alleviating diverse ophthalmological diseases including uveitis, cataract, retinoblastoma, herpes simplex and cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR), etc. In this review, we will introduce the recent developments in iontophoresis device. We also summarize the latest progress in coulomb controlled iontophoresis (CCI), hydrogel ionic circuit (HIC) and EyeGate II delivery system (EGDS), as well as overview the potential toxicity of iontophoresis. We will discuss these factors that affect the efficacy of iontophoresis experiments, and focus on the latest progress in its clinical application in the treatment of eye diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness due to the emerging infectious diseases, the scarcity of novel antibiotics, and the contributions of antibiotic misuse and overuse to resistance. Characterization of the lipidomic response to pneumonia and exploring the “lipidomic phenotype” can provide new insight into the underlying mechanisms of pathogenesis and potential avenues for diagnostic and therapeutic treatments. Methods Lipid profiles of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples were generated through untargeted lipidomic profiling analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to identify possible sources of variations among samples. Partitioning clustering analysis (k-means) was employed to evaluate the existence of distinct lipidomic clusters. Results PCA showed that BALF lipidomes differed significantly between CAP (n = 52) and controls (n = 68, including 35 healthy volunteers and 33 patients with non-infectious lung diseases); while no clear separation was found between severe CAP and non-severe CAP cases. Lactosylceramides were the most prominently elevated lipid constituent in CAP. Clustering analysis revealed three separate lipid profiles; subjects in each cluster exhibited significant differences in disease severity, incidence of hypoxemia, percentages of phagocytes in BALF, and serum concentrations of albumin and total cholesterol (all p

Abstract Background This study aimed to determine whether community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) had a metabolic profile and whether this profile can be used for disease severity assessment. Methods A total of 175 individuals including 119 CAP patients and 56 controls were enrolled and divided into two cohorts. Serum samples from a discovery cohort (n = 102, including 38 non-severe CAP, 30 severe CAP, and 34 age and sex-matched controls) were determined by untargeted ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based metabolomics. Selected differential metabolites between CAP patients versus controls, and between the severe CAP group versus non-severe CAP group, were confirmed by targeted mass spectrometry assays in a validation cohort (n = 73, including 32 non-severe CAP, 19 severe CAP and 22 controls). Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed to assess relationships between the identified metabolites and clinical severity of CAP. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity of the metabolites for predicting the severity of CAP were also investigated. Results The metabolic signature was markedly different between CAP patients and controls. Fifteen metabolites were found to be significantly dysregulated in CAP patients, which were mainly mapped to the metabolic pathways of sphingolipid, arginine, pyruvate and inositol phosphate. The alternation trends of five metabolites among the three groups including sphinganine, p-Cresol sulfate, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), lactate and l-arginine in the validation cohort were consistent with those in the discovery cohort. Significantly lower concentrations of sphinganine, p-Cresol sulfate and DHEA-S were observed in CAP patients than in controls (p 65 years (CURB-65), pneumonia severity index (PSI) and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scores, while DHEA-S inversely correlated with the three scoring systems. Combining lactate, sphinganine and DHEA-S as a metabolite panel for discriminating severe CAP from non-severe CAP exhibited a better AUC of 0.911 (95% confidence interval 0.825–0.998) than CURB-65, PSI and APACHE II scores. Conclusions This study demonstrates that serum metabolomics approaches based on the LC-MS/MS platform can be applied as a tool to reveal metabolic changes during CAP and establish a metabolite signature related to disease severity. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03093220. Registered retrospectively on 28 March 2017.

Abstract Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of death worldwide and occurs with variable severity. There are few studies focused on the expression of soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) and syndecan-4 in patients with CAP. Methods A prospective, multi-centre study was conducted between January 2014 and December 2016. A total of 103 patients with severe CAP (SCAP), 149 patients with non-SCAP, and 30 healthy individuals were enrolled. Clinical data were recorded for all enrolled patients. Serum suPAR and syndecan-4 levels were determined by quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The t test and Mann–Whitney U test were used to compare between two groups; one-way analysis of variance and the Kruskal–Wallis test were used to compare multiple groups. Correlations were assessed using Pearson and Spearman tests. Area under the curve (AUCs), optimal threshold values, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated. Survival curves were constructed and compared by log-rank test. Regression analyses assessed the effect of multiple variables on 30-day survival. Results suPAR levels increased in all patients with CAP, especially in severe cases. Syndecan-4 levels decreased in patients with CAP, especially in non-survivors. suPAR and syndecan-4 levels were positively and negatively correlated with severity scores, respectively. suPAR exhibited high accuracy in predicting SCAP among patients with CAP with an AUC of 0.835 (p