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Most of the mineral resources of lithium and potassium are distributed in remote western China. Fast, on-site analytical techniques are urgently needed for their exploration and comprehensive utilization. In this work, a newly developed portable Li-K analyzer was introduced for its analytical performance and the application of this equipment in determining lithium in spodumene is also discussed. The analyser is a type of atomic emission spectrometer based on solution cathode atmospheric glow discharge. Sample solution was used as a graphite cathode, which atomized and excited the elements Li and K. A charge coupled device (CCD) was used to detect the characteristic lines of Li and K, which had wavelengths ranging from 345 to 1015 nm with a 3 nm resolution. Using a Li analytical line of 670.78 nm and a K analytical line of 769.90 nm under the optimized working conditions, the measurement precisions for Li and K were greater than 2%RSD with the limit of detection of 0.03 μg/mL. Results show that different types and concentrations of acids strongly affect the intensities of Li and K, and co-existent elements produce serious matrix effect. Quantification of Li in spodumene ores by use of a calibration curve without matched matrix could not produce accurate results with relative standard deviation up to 267%. Standard addition methods can eliminate the influence of the matrix effect and obtain analytical results consistent with those by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry, which thus provides a basis for on-site determination of Li in solid samples.

Objective To analyze the clinical features of hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) associated with Orientia tsutsugamushi disease in children. Methods The case data of patients with scrub typhus in Kunming Children's Hospital from January 1st 2019 to December 31st 2021 was retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the HPS group and the non-HPS group according to whether associated with HPS. The clinical data of the two groups were analyzed using SPSS 25.0. Results Eighty-five cases of scrub typhus in children were collected, 15 cases (17.6%) had HPS. The mean age of patients with HPS was (5.10±3.82) years, included 9 males and 6 female, there was no significant difference in gender and age between the HPS and the non-HPS group (P>0.05). Comparison of the two groups indicted that the incidence of cough, lung rales, edema, and hepatomegaly were significantly increased in the HPS group (P<0.05). The data showed that compared to the non-HPS group, the HPS group showed significant decreases in the levels of hemoglobin (HGB), platelet (PLT), albumin (ALB), fibrinogen (Fib) (P<0.05), and significant decreases in the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), triglyceride (TG), serum ferritin (SF) (P<0.05). The proportion of CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD4+/CD8+ were significantly decreased (P<0.05); the proportion of CD3+, CD8+ T lymphocytes were significantly increased (P<0.05). The proportion of pulmonary exudation or consolidation in the HPS group was higher than the non-HPS group, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). All the patients with scrub typhus associated with HPS were treated with oral doxycycline, and intravenous immunoglobulin was given in 13 cases (86.7%). There was one case of death and 14 cases discharged from hospital after treatment in HPS group. Conclusion HPS in scrub typhus infected children is a nonnegligible complication. Prolonged fever, lung rales, hepatomegaly, HGB decreased, thrombocytopenia, hyperferritinemia, and abnormal lymphocyte subsets may associate with HPS. It should be alerted to scrub typhus when presenting with HPS in endemic areas. The scrub typhus associated with HPS can be successfully treated with appropriate antibiotic and immunomodulator treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 21st century, many countries pay much attention to lithium because lithium is an ideal material for green energy and light alloys as well as an important kind of strategic resources. The main source of lithium is from salt lake brine. China has rich resources of salt lake brine, but these brine resources are mainly distributed in the remote western region, which are in urgent need of portable analytical instrument for on-site exploration and exploitation. However, the available experimental techniques at present can not achieve the target of on-site analysis. Over the past decade, based on atmospheric pressure solution cathode glow discharge-atomic emission spectrometry (SCGD-AES) has been paid attention to analytical researchers because it runs without common air conditions such as fuel gas, carrier gas and vacuum environment. On the basis of previous studies of other researchers, we have developed a portable SCGD based on a charge coupled device (CCD) detector by ourselves, which is short for Li-K analyzer. The length, width, height and weight of the portable Li-K analyzer is 35 cm, 19 cm, 27 cm and 10 kg, respectively, which is very conducive to carry. This work selected the wavelength of 670.78 nm as the characteristic spectral line of Li and has established a rapid analytical method for Li in salt lake brine based on two different types of brines from Tibet. Under the optimum operating conditions, the detection limit of Li was 4 ng·mL-1 and the measured precision (RSD) was better than 2%. The analytical results of Li were much different from those obtained by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with different dilution ratios by standard curve method, which may be related to the matrix effect of solution. However, the analytical results of Li agreed well with the results obtained by ICP-MS using standard addition method, which showed that standard addition method can effectively reduce the matrix effect and improve the analytical accuracies. A great deal of experimental results showed that standard addition method could obtain accurate results of Li using only two points and can greatly reduce the workloads. This work laid a methodological foundation for on-site determination of Li in salt lake brine by the portable Li-K analyzer.

Holmium doped scandium silicate (Ho:SSO) bulk crystal grown by Czochralski technique is reported. The absorption cross section of 4.8 × 10(-21) cm2 at pumping wavelength 1940 nm and emission cross section of 5.56 × 10(-21) cm2 at lasing wavelength 2112 nm were calculated, respectively. Lifetime was measured to be 1.51 ms at 300 K and 0.92 ms at 77 K. Continuous-wave laser was operated by using a diode-pumped Tm:YAP laser as pump source with central wavelength of 1940 nm. Output power of 385 mW at 2112 nm was primarily obtained.