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A 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMI–BF 4) ionic liquid is introduced into an electrolyte as a functional additive to enhance the low-temperature performance of LiNi 0.5 Co 0.2 Mn 0.3 O 2 (NCM523)/graphite batteries. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests show that EMI–BF 4 can be oxidized in advance and produce low impedance solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) films on the electrode surfaces. Compared with the batteries without the EMI–BF 4 additive, the capacity retention of the NCM523/graphite batteries with 1% EMI–BF 4 additive is enhanced from 82.3% to 93.8% after 150 cycles at a low temperature of −10 °C. In addition, at −30 °C, the discharge capacity of the batteries with 1% EMI–BF 4 additive is nearly doubled. And at the room temperature of 25 °C and after 400 cycles, the capacity retention also increases from 80.3% to 85.9%, and the coulomb efficiency remains at approximately 100%. These results demonstrate that EMI–BF 4 used as a functional electrolyte additive has promising prospects for application to improve the low-temperature performance of NCM523-based lithium-ion batteries. Image 1069882 • 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMI-BF 4) is evaluated as a low temperature electrolyte additive. • EMI-BF 4 can form interfacial films on both electrode surfaces of NCM523/graphite batteries. • The interfacial films formed on both electrodes improve their cycle stability. • The capacity retention rate of the batteries with EMI-BF4 is increased under low temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capacitive fringing field sensors have been used in some non‐contact detections. A lateral displacement measurement method based on fringing field capacitors is investigated by simulations and experiments in this study. For the conventional interdigitated structure, the periodic electric field distribution is obtained because of those alternate electrodes, which produces periodic capacitances along with the target displacement. However, it is inconvenient to construct measurement systems due to the non‐linear capacitance output. A dentate structure is proposed to improve the output characteristics of displacement measurement. The periodic uniform electric field is achieved by the dentate electrodes, which brings the linear capacitance variation in every period. Indium–tin oxide film was employed to fabricate a prototype, and the experiment results indicate that the dentate structure can be used in the lateral displacement measurement for its linear output characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low‐cost and passive medical examination solution based on near‐field communication (NFC) technology is presented in this Letter. NFC antenna is responsible for inducing energy from the smartphone and transmitting data. The signal of medical sensor is acquired and calculated by microcontroller; the result is sent to the smartphone by NFC and displayed on Android application. In order to adapt to the low energy induction of NFC, maximum output of 5 mA at 3 V, a ponded energy method based on time control is designed to achieve that higher power consumption at time of signal acquisition. A body temperature detection prototype was fabricated to verify such medical detection system. Experimental results show that the system can work stably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the lifespan, energy density, and temperature performance of LiCoO 2 /artificial graphite lithium-ion batteries (LCO/AG LIBs) to meet the requirements of 5G devices, three nitrile ether molecules are developed as bifunctional electrolyte additives to match 4.5 V LCO/AG LIBs. The commonalities and differences of these three nitrile ether molecules as additives are revealed. The batteries with nitrile ether additives can be cycled more than 1000 cycles at 4.5 V, 25 °C, and 1C, while the capacity retention of battery without additives after 200 cycles is close to 0%. At 45 °C, additive with four C N bonds can also lead to stable cycling over 600 cycles, whereas the batteries without additives fail after 100 cycles. It is demonstrated that nitrile ether additives participate in the repair and stabilization of interface films, which decreases the electrolyte decomposition. And the greater the number of C N bonds contained in the molecules, the stronger ability inhibits Co3+ dissolution from LCO, which is the main reason for the difference in the properties of the nitrile ether molecule. These results not only reveal the promising prospects of nitrile ether additives in practical applications but also provide a strategy to develop functional electrolytes for high voltage LCO/AG LIBs. [Display omitted] • Nitrile ether additives are used in 4.5V LiCoO 2 /graphite batteries. • Nitrile ether additives can build a self-healing interface film. • Nitrile ether additives can improve the high temperature performance of batteries. • The number of C N bonds is the key to improving batteries performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• HBA promotes to form a solvation sheath structure by hydrogen bonds with solvent and LiTFSI. • The solvation sheath structure can inhibit the decomposition of solvent. • HBA can promote to form even and dense CEI and SEI of the Li||LFP batteries during the cycling process. • HBA can effectively improve the electrochemical performance of Li||LFP batteries. From the perspective of intermolecular forces, p-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) as a functional additive to regulate the electrode/electrolyte interface films and improve the electrochemical performance of lithium metal batteries (LMBs) with LiFePO 4 (LFP) cathode. The results show that the HBA forms intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the solvent and lithium salt, which can reduce the free solvent molecules in the electrolyte, inhibit the decomposition of the solvent, and stabilize the electrolyte system. Compared with the batteries with blank electrolyte, the capacity retentions of Li||LFP batteries with HBA additive increase from about 69.3% to 86.7% after 500 cycles. After cycling, the interface impedance (R SEI) of the batteries with blank electrolyte is also much higher than that with HBA, indicating that HBA can effectively reduce the interface impedance during cycling. And combined with the spectroscopic characterization, it is also indicated that the functional electrolyte can promote the formation of a robust solid-electrolyte interface (SEI), inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites, and deposit lithium evenly and smoothly. Besides the functionalized electrolyte, this work also gives a new strategy to develop functionalized electrolytes for high-performance LMBs. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transient pressure measurement system applied in an explosion field is usually characterized by non-real-time measurement due to the conflict between quick signal acquisition and limited communication bandwidth. The correct signal acquisition is launched by triggering, but the false triggering often leads to measurement failure due to the fact that the operating status of system cannot be real-time detected in an explosion condition. A distributed wireless measurement system with data extraction technology is proposed in this paper to improve the reliability of transient pressure measurement. A long-time signal acquisition is achieved by mass data storage to eliminate the trigger mode. On the other hand, an effective data segment is extracted by signal identification, which improves the efficiency of data transmission and data processing. A measurement system based on data extraction technology was designed and implemented in an explosion field, and the measurement node was characterized by sampling rate of 1 Msps, data storage of 128 Gb, effective data segment of 512 kW, and Wi-Fi wireless network coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five new ursane-type triterpenoidal saponins ( 1 – 5 ), together with five known ones ( 6 – 10 ), were isolated from the EtOH extract of the roots of Ilex cornuta . The structures of saponins 1 – 5 were elucidated as 19 α -hydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid 3 β -O- β -D-glucuronopyranoside ( 1 ), 19 α -hydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid 3 β -O- β -D-glucuronopyranoside-6-O-ethyl ester ( 2 ), 19 α -hydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid 3 β -O- α -L-arabinopyranosyl-(1 → 2)- β -D-glucuronopyranoside ( 3 ), 3 β -O-[ α -L-arabinopyranosyl-(1 → 2)- β -D-glucuronopyranosyl]-19 α -hydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid 28-O- β -D-glucopyranosyl ester ( 4 ) and 3 β -O-[ α -L-arabinopyranosyl-(1 → 2)- β -D-glucuronopyranoside-6-O-methyl ester]-19 α -hydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid 28-O- β -D-glucopyranosyl ester ( 5 ), on the basis of spectroscopic analyses (IR, ESI-MS, HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR) and chemical reactions. Protective effects of compounds 1 – 10 against H 2 O 2 -induced H9c2 cardiomyocyte injury were tested. Compounds 1 – 5 , 7 , and 10 showed cell-protective effects. Among them compound 5 exhibited the highest activity. No significant DPPH radical scavenging activity was observed for compounds 1 – 10 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring sufficient preload of bolted connections is crucial for maintaining the safety of railway operations. Accidents resulting from loose bolts caused by inadequate preload are a recurring concern. Traditional bolt preload detection methods suffer from reliability issues and bulky equipment requirements. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel solution utilising passive wireless measurement systems. However, the communication effectiveness of these systems can be significantly impacted by the surrounding metal environment. This research introduces an intelligent clover washer design to mitigate the adverse effects of eddy currents induced by the metal environment. The design incorporates a new clover antenna and washer structure, effectively reducing the influence of the metal environment and improving the communication quality. The proposed design has undergone comprehensive prototyping, simulation and experimental verification. The results demonstrate a significant improvement over the traditional circular antenna and washer combination under similar conditions. Specifically, the sensing distance of the new clover washer is enhanced by 60% and the stable communication distance is improved by 75%. The experimental results highlight the ability of the new clover smart washer to generate a stronger spatial magnetic field and exhibit reduced susceptibility to the metal washer, thereby enhancing communication effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with high-nickel ternary material cathode can provide a high specific capacity but are more sensitive to the H 2 O/HF contents and functional additives in the electrolyte. In this work, 1,4-phenylene diisocyanate (PPDI) is developed as an H 2 O/HF scavenger and film-forming electrolyte additive to enhance the performances of pouch LiNi 0 · 6 Co 0 · 2 Mn 0 · 2 O 2 (NCM622)/graphite batteries. Compared with batteries containing the blank electrolyte, the electrochemical performances of batteries with the PPDI-containing electrolyte can be significantly improved. Thereinto, after 600 cycles at room temperature (25 °C) and 300 cycles at high temperature (45 °C), the capacity retentions for the batteries with the PPDI-containing electrolyte are 84.9% and 81.3% at 1C, while the rates for the batteries with the blank electrolyte are only 29.3% and 14.4%, respectively. With the aid of theory calculations and spectroscopic characterization, the reasons behind the performance enhancement are elucidated, and the reaction mechanism of PPDI and H 2 O/HF is proposed. It is demonstrated that PPDI can scavenge H 2 O/HF in the electrolyte and form stable and highly conductive films on two electrodes to stabilize NCM622 and improve battery performances. Besides the functionalized electrolyte, this work can also inspire new ideas to develop functionalized electrolytes for high-performance NCM622-based LIBs. Image 1 • Phenylene diisocyanate (PPDI)-containing multi-functional electrolyte is developed. • PPDI can facilitate scavenge H 2 O/HF, form conductive films, and stabilize NCM622. • The NCM622/graphite batteries with PPDI additive exhibit enhanced performances. • The mechanisms for the H 2 O/HF scavenging and interface formation are elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization of electrode-electrolyte interfacial properties plays a key role in the stable operation of high-energy density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) over a wide temperature range. In this work, a functional electrolyte using dihydro-1,3,2-dioxathiolo [1,3,2]dioxathiole-2,2,5,5-tetraoxide (D-DTD) molecules as an overall-functional additive is designed and used to enhance the comprehensive performance of LiNi 0.5 Co 0.2 Mn 0.3 O 2 /graphite batteries under extreme conditions, namely, a high 4.4 V working potential and a wide temperature range of −30 °C–60 °C. The batteries with D-DTD exhibit stable coulombic efficiency, enhanced cycling stability, and superior rate performance. Specifically, the batteries with D-DTD retain 89.1% of their original reversible capacities after 150 cycles at room temperature, while only 55.4% and 84.0% capacity retentions are obtained from the batteries without additive and with 1,3,2-dioxathiolane-2,2-dioxide (DTD), respectively. Interestingly, the addition of D-DTD to the baseline electrolyte promotes higher cycling retentions of 77.2% (45 °C) and 92.5% (−10 °C) after 100 cycles in comparison to 14.7% and 82.1% with DTD-added electrolyte, respectively. It is demonstrated that D-DTD can participate in the construction of interfacial films on both cathode and anode, which contributes to stabilizing the electrode-electrolyte interfaces and reducing parasitic interfacial reactions of LIBs. Image 1 • Sulfur-containing D-DTD is studied as an overall-functional electrolyte additive. • The batteries with D-DTD show enhanced performance over a wide temperature range. • D-DTD additives show better performance than well-known DTD additives. • The D-DTD-derived interfacial films exhibit high stability and low impedance. • The unique functions of the D-DTD additives in the electrolyte are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI)-functionalized electrolyte is demonstrated that it can decrease the electrolyte HF content, form the stable electrode interfaces, and improve the performances of LiNi 0·6 Co 0·2 Mn 0·2 O 2 (NCM622)/graphite batteries. The capacity of the battery with blank electrolyte decreases sharply at a 1C rate after 230 cycles, while the battery with 0.1% HDI-functionalized electrolyte exhibits stable discharge capacity and an increase of capacity retention rate from 74.7% to 98.4% at the 230th cycle. Specifically, the battery with 0.1% HDI-functionalized electrolyte retains 82.9% initial reversible capacity even after 600 cycles, and also exhibits an excellent rate performance. Based on the analysis of HDI molecules and film-forming mechanism, it is indicated that the HDI molecules in the electrolyte can inhibit the HF generation and participate in the interface formation, which are conducive to reduce the corrosion and impedance and finally improve the electrode stability and battery performances. This work not only obtains a high-performance HDI-functionalized electrolyte but also can provide an effective strategy to develop the functionalized electrolyte matching high-nickel NCM/graphite batteries. Image 1 • Hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) in the electrolyte reduces the HF formation and cathode corrosion. • HDI-functionalized electrolyte facilitates the formation of high-quality interface films on both electrodes. • The interface films can improve the cycle and rate performances of NCM622/graphite batteries. • The low-temperature discharge performance of the batteries with HDI can also be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flow measurement method based on fringing field capacitors is proposed. Alternate annular electrodes are fabricated on the surface of the tube to constitute the capacitor structure, and the fringing field penetrates the wall to achieve the detection of fluid. The electric field between two electrodes distributes along the annular wall, which is conducive to analyse the relationship of the capacitance and the flow. The proposed measurement method is suitable for the industrial applications due to the simple structure and low cost. A water flow measurement experiment was implemented by making foil capacitor on the surface of a plastic tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thin film thermocouple (TFTC) on printed circuit board (PCB) substrate is investigated for measuring transient high temperature. The thermal conductivity of PCB is smaller than that of ceramic, which indicates less influence of substrate on heat conduction of TFTC. Therefore, PCB is suitable to make fast response sensors although it cannot withstand continuous high temperature as ceramic. On the other hand, the TFTC is fabricated on the PCB with measurement circuit together, which integrates a miniature measurement unit. A k‐type TFTC was fabricated by magnetron sputtering while the film naturally connected with tracks of PCB, which achieves an integration of the sensor with measurement circuit. Experimental result indicates that the response time of TFTC is less than 2 ms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether necroptosis occurs in high glucose (HG)-induced H9c2 cardiac cell injury and whether the activation of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) can inhibit necroptosis. H9c2 cardiac cells were treated with 35 mM glucose to establish a HG-induced cell injury model. Alda-1 (20 µM), a specific activator of ALDH2 and necrostatin-1 (Nec-1, 100 µM), an inhibitor of necroptosis were used to treat H9c2 cardiac cells under HG conditions. Cell viability was measured using a Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was measured by the dihydroethidium staining method. ALDH2 activity was measured at 450 nm. The mRNA and protein expression of ALDH2, necroptosis-associated genes, receptor-interacting protein (RIP)1, RIP3 and mixed lineage kinase domain like pseudokinase (MLKL), were analyzed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. The expression of cleaved caspase-3 protein was also examined by western blotting. The results demonstrated that under HG conditions, cell viability, ALDH2 activity, mRNA and protein expression were decreased. Furthermore, ROS generation, mRNA and protein expression of RIP1, RIP3, MLKL and the protein expression of cleaved caspase-3 were increased. Treatment with Alda-1 or Nec-1 attenuated HG-induced downregulation of ALDH2 activity, mRNA and protein expression. In addition, RIP1, RIP3, MLKL mRNA, and protein expression were downregulated. Furthermore, Alda-1 but not Nec-1 decreased cleaved caspase-3 protein expression. Collectively these data indicated that activation of ALDH2 protected H9c2 cardiac cells against HG-induced injury, partly by inhibiting the occurrence of necroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• NaDFP preferentially deposits on HC anode can induce a low-impedance interphase. • Interphase on NFM cathode inhibits iondissolution and maintains structure integrity. • NaDFP improves battery's cycle and storage performance over a wide temperature range. An electrolyte containing a sodium difluorophosphate (NaDFP) dual-functional additive is developed to enhance the temperature performance of NaNi 0.33 Fe 0.33 Mn 0.33 O 2 (NFM)/hard carbon (HC) sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). The addition of NaDFP in the electrolyte not only induces solid electrolyte interphases (SEIs) and cathode electrolyte interphases with excellent properties on the anode and cathode surfaces but also optimizes of the solvation structure of sodium ions, resulting in a better cycle stability of NFM/HC SIBs over a wide temperature range from −30 °C to 60 °C. In addition, high capacity retentions of 85 % after 700 cycles at 25 °C, 90 % after 150 cycles at −10 °C and 90 % after 150 cycles at 45 °C are achieved, respectively. And those common problems such as gas generation and sodium evolution of pouch NFM/HC SIBs are also effectively relieved, indicating the promising application prospect of NaDFP additive in the functional electrolyte of NFM/HC SIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automatic segmentation of the lung region for chest X-ray (CXR) can help doctors diagnose many lung diseases. However, extreme lung shape changes and fuzzy lung regions caused by serious lung diseases may incorrectly make the automatic lung segmentation model. We improved the U-Net network by using the pre-training Efficientnet-b4 as the encoder and the Residual block and the LeakyReLU activation function in the decoder. The network can extract Lung field features efficiently and avoid the gradient instability caused by the multiplication effect in gradient backpropagation. Compared with the traditional U-Net model, our method improves about 2.5% dice coefficient and 6% Jaccard Index for the two benchmark lung segmentation datasets. Our model improves about 5% dice coefficient and 9% Jaccard Index for the private lung segmentation datasets compared with the traditional U-Net model. Comparative experiments show that our method can improve the accuracy of lung segmentation of CXR images and it has a lower standard deviation and good robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nonflammable functional electrolyte with fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) and ethyl difluoroacetate (EFA) solvents is developed to match the rechargeable Li-metal batteries (LMBs) with LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 cathode (NCM811). The NCM811/Li LMBs with 1 M LiPF 6 -FEC/EFA electrolyte exhibit an enhanced cycling retention of 74% after 150 cycles and an average coulombic efficiency of ~99.9% at 1 C under a charging cut-off voltage of 4.4 V. In contrast, the capacity retention and average coulombic efficiency of NCM811/Li LMBs with fluorocarbonate-based electrolyte are 28% and 99.5%, and the batteries with carbonate-based electrolyte are 8% and 97.2%, respectively. This FEC/EFA-based electrolyte also shows comparable low-temperature performance to carbonate-based electrolyte and is superior to fluorocarbonate-based electrolyte. It is indicated that this all-fluorinated solvent system can facilitate the formation of a durable and highly fluorinated interfacial layer on both cathode and Li-metal anode. Especially, the FEC/EFA-based electrolyte promotes the uniform Li deposition with less Li dendrites and lower polarization in the Li-metal anode, which reduces the decomposition of the electrolyte and enables stable cycling of LMBs. This FEC/EFA-based electrolyte shows promising prospects in the application of high-performance LMBs, and it also provides a novel idea for the design of all-fluorinated high-performance electrolyte to advance the commercialization of LMBs. • The FEC/EFA electrolyte exhibits high ionic conductivity and low viscosity. • The FEC/EFA electrolyte displays an efficient Li plating/stripping behavior. • The FEC/EFA electrolyte shows better performance than well-known FEC/FEMC. • The FEC/EFA can facilitate the formation of a highly fluorinated interfacial film. • The unique functions of the FEC/EFA electrolyte in the electrolyte are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2-thiophene sulfonamide (2-TS) is demonstrated as a multi-functional additive to functionalize the electrolyte and improve the performances of LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 (NCM811)/graphite batteries. Compared with the batteries without 2-TS, the performances of batteries with 2-TS containing electrolyte are significantly improved at wide temperature and high cut-off charge voltage of 4.40 V (vs. Li/Li+）. After 500 cycles at room temperature and in the voltage range of 2.80–4.20 V, the batteries with 1% 2-TS and without 2-TS additive lose 8.40% and 23.59% initial discharge capacity, respectively. At an elevated temperature of 45 °C and in the voltage range of 2.80–4.40 V, the cycle performance of the batteries with 1% 2-TS is also enhanced, i.e., 68.68% initial discharge capacity is remained after 115 cycles, while the batteries without 2-TS has already decayed to the lifespan point. It is shown that 2-TS molecules can both consume the H 2 O/HF residues to alleviate the decomposition of LiPF 6 and preferentially react on the electrodes to form uniform and dense low-resistance films. These results demonstrate this electrolyte can effectively improve the battery performances and has promising prospects applying in high-voltage and high-nickel NCM-based batteries. • The NCM811/graphite batteries with 2-TS show enhanced performances at 25 °C and 45 °C. • The first proposed 2-TS as an overall-functional electrolyte additive for high voltage NCM811/graphite batteries. • The 2-TS-derived interfacial films on both electrodes exhibit high stability and low impedance. • The 2-TS enables a more stable internal environment—less HF attack, less decomposition of EC and lithium salt LiPF 6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sulfur-containing compound S-phenyl Benzenethiosulfonate (SPBS) is developed as an electrolyte additive to improve the electrochemical performance of LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 (NCM811)/graphite lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in a wide temperature range. Compared with the batteries without SPBS, the capacity retention of the batteries containing SPBS increases from 58.15% to 91.48% after 1100 cycles at 25 °C and from 70.09% to 80.68% after 550 cycles at 45 °C. And after stored at 60 °C for 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days, the capacity retention rate and capacity recovery rate of the batteries containing SPBS are obviously improved. In addition, it is also shown that SPBS can inhibit the internal polarization and capacity attenuation of the batteries during low-temperature cycling, the capacity retention of the batteries containing SPBS increases from 46.3% to 81.9% after 100 cycles at −10 °C. The experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that SPBS facilitates the construction of high-quality electrode-electrolyte interfaces, reduces the electrolyte decomposition and inhibits the impedance increase. The excellent temperature performance of NCM811/graphite LIBs means the promising application prospect of SPBS-containing electrolyte. • A S-phenyl Benzenethiosulfonate (SPBS)-containing multi-functional electrolyte is developed. • The formation of electrode/electrolyte interfacial films is regulated by using SPBS. • The temperature performance of the NCM811/graphite batteries with SPBS additive is enhanced. • The film-forming mechanism of SPBS-containing electrolyte is elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the plasma levels of amyloid beta (Aβ) and select inflammatory mediators in patients with various stages of AMD compared to that of age-matched controls, and discern a relationship to disease severity. Methods: Plasma samples were obtained from AMD subjects at various stages of disease-early (drusen only), geographic atrophy (GA), neovascular AMD (CNV)-and from controls of similar age without AMD. Samples were analyzed using a commercially available ELISA kit (sixteen cytokines) or LC/MS/MS (Aβ isotypes). Descriptive statistics were compiled on all analytes. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare each analyte across AMD groups while adjusting for sex and age of the patients, and in comparison to the control group. Receiver operating characteristics plots were generated for the strongest predictor variables. Results: Levels of alternative spliced CC3 proteins were significantly different between controls and CNV groups ( p < 0.05), with median levels almost twice higher in CNV than in controls. There was an increasing trend for plasma levels of Αβ isotypes across AMD progressive stages ( p values ranged from 0.052 to 0.0012) (ANCOVA). When adjusted for multiple comparisons analysis, plasma Aβ 1-42 levels, and its ratio with Aβ 1-40 were the most significantly associated with late AMD stages. Consistently with the ANCOVA results for Αβ isotypes, the ROC curve showed a moderate prediction (AUC = - ~ 0.78) of AMD vs control using the Aβ 1−42 isotype. Conclusion: Plasma Aβ 1-42 may have utility as a systemic biomarker for AMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explored the correlations of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) gene polymorphisms with susceptibility and the condition of primary nephrotic syndrome. A total of 200 patients with primary nephrotic syndrome in Qilu hospital were collected as disease group, and 200 healthy people were selected as control group. Genomic deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) of nucleated cells in the peripheral blood were extracted to detect the gene polymorphisms of TNF-α (rs1799724 and rs1800629) and IL-10 (rs1800872 and rs141219090). Allele distributions at rs1799724 (P=0.003) and rs1800629 (P=0.011) of TNF-α gene and at rs1800872 (P=0.033) of IL-10 gene in disease group were different from those in control group. In the disease group, allele C frequency at rs1799724 and allele A frequency at rs1800629 of TNF-α gene and allele T frequency at rs1800872 of IL-10 gene were higher. There were differences between rs1799724 (P=0.007) and rs1800629 (P=0.002) of TNF-α gene. In addition, there was a difference in the frequency of the dominant model of TNF-α gene rs1800629 between disease group and control group (P=0.035), and the frequency of dominant model GG+GA was remarkably lower in the disease group. Additionally, TT genotype at rs1799724 of TNF-α gene was obviously related to the plasma TNF-α level (P<0.05), and the plasma TNF-α level was significantly increased in disease group. AA genotype at rs141219090 of IL-10 gene had a notable correlation with the plasma IL-10 level (P<0.05), and the plasma IL-10 level in disease group was markedly raised. Additionally, CT genotype at rs1799724 of TNF-α gene was related to the 24-h urine protein level (P=0.035), GG genotype at rs1800872 of IL-10 gene was associated with the plasma albumin level (P=0.031), and GG genotype at rs141219090 was related to the serum creatinine level (P=0.047). TNF-α and IL-10 gene polymorphisms are predominantly correlated with the susceptibility and the condition of primary nephrotic syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium difluorophosphate (LiPO 2 F 2) as a multi-functional additive is added into the carbonate-based electrolyte to enhance the electrochemical performances of 4.4 V LiNi 0.5 Co 0.2 Mn 0.3 O 2 /graphite lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Compared with the baseline electrolyte, the addition of 2% LiPO 2 F 2 can significantly improve the electrolyte stability and enlarge the electrochemical window of about 1 V. At the room temperature and cutoff voltage of 4.4 V, the capacity retention of the batteries with 2% LiPO 2 F 2 is increased from 55% to 93% after 150 cycles. At the high temperature of 45 °C, the capacity retention of the battery with 2% LiPO 2 F 2 additive still keeps 86% after 150 cycles, while the coulombic efficiency of the battery without additive begins to decline sharply after 30 cycles. These positive effects are also reflected in the low temperature discharging at −20 °C, cycling at −10 °C, and rate capability. The enhanced performances are attributed to the excellent interfacial film promoted by the additive, which can reduce the interfacial impedance, suppress electrolyte decomposition, and alleviate the side reactions. It is indicated that LiPO 2 F 2 is a promising multi-functional electrolyte additive for high-voltage NCM/graphite LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]