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Magnetic tracking technology shows great promise for applications in medicine and industry. However, it often suffers from diverse and unpredictable interferences in practical applications, such as hard-/soft-iron interferences and sensor saturation, leading to reduced localization accuracy or even tracking failure. Thus, we propose a two-step framework to mitigate the impact of interferences based on MagRobustNet, a UNet-like autoencoder network. In the first step, disjoint mask sets are used in conjunction with MagRobustNet to detect anomalous measurements subject to disturbances. In the second step, the interfered regions are masked, and MagRobustNet is applied again to recover their expected measurements from neighboring normal data. Experimental results from testing in four interference scenarios showed that the proposed method improved the average position accuracy by 76.2%, enhancing the tracking system's anti-interference capability. In addition, the proposed method can indicate the interfered regions, thereby prompting the adjustment of the magnetometer array to an interference-free location and offering a new potential diagnostic method for localizing ingested foreign bodies in clinical practice.

Magnetic tracking is a promising technique for surgery navigation. However, the magnetic interference (MI) generated in the operating room causes great disturbances to the magnetic tracking system. To attenuate the influence of the MI and improve the tracking performance, this article proposes a differential-based extended Kalman filter (D-EKF) algorithm. Different from conventional algorithms, in the D-EKF, differential units are constructed using the Hamiltonian circle method with the help of a dummy vertex. This helps to attenuate the influence of the MI. Furthermore, an extended Kalman filter is used to estimate the magnet states via the differential signals. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested in a surgical scene equipped with common surgical instruments and a surgical robot. The experimental results show that the disturbances of MIs can be well attenuated by the proposed algorithm, and high robustness against MI is achieved.

Herein, covalent triazine frameworks in eclipsed AA and staggered AB stacking modes are respectively used for the in-situ growth of TiO2, and two heterostructures are obtained. Due to the highly organized stacking of the molecular layer in CTF-AA that strengthens the interlayer interaction, the light absorption and carrier migration of CTF-AA/TiO2are both enhanced in comparison to those of its component or CTF-AB/TiO2. Correspondently, the photocatalytic CO2reduction reaction (CO2RR) of CTF-AA/TiO2proffers 9.19 μmol·g–1·h–1CH4and 2.32 μmol·g–1·h–1CO production, about 9.2 and 4.3 times greater than that of pristine TiO2, respectively. Even though the innate photoresponse of the triazine unit endows CTF-AB/TiO2with augmented light capturing, its photocatalytic CO2conversion is relatively insignificant. According to the analyses of the planar-averaged electron density difference and Bader charge, the unproductive CO2efficiency might be due to the insufficient interfacial electron transfer from TiO2to CTF-AB. Given that the ΔG(−3.22 eV) of CHO intermediate generation is lower than that of CO desorption (−1.23 eV), the reaction tends to further generate CH4other than yielding CO. This study could shed fresh light over the reasonable design of effective photocatalytic heterostructures.

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) photoanodes face challenges such as rapid electron–hole recombination, slow water oxidation kinetics, and poor surface stability. To tackle these problems, this study incorporates a Keggin-type polyoxometalate (POM) anion, characterized by a high negative charge and the absence of precious metals, into the MIL-101(Cr)/BiVO4composite photoanode. The POM anion effectively enhances charge separation and injection within the BiVO4photoanode under minimal optimization conditions by separating photogenerated holes from the MIL-101 framework. The NiPOM/MIL-101(Cr)/BiVO4photoanode achieves a photocurrent density of 4.5 mA cm–2at 1.23 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), approximately 4 times higher than that of pristine BiVO4. Furthermore, the oxygen evolution reaction yield of the photoanode reaches 36.2 μmol after 90 min of reaction, with faradic efficiencies consistently exceeding 84%, indicating the predominant involvement of photogenerated charge carriers in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. At an applied potential of 1.23 V vs RHE, the applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) reaches 1.16%. The charge transfer mechanism of the photochemical process reveals that the uniform distribution of the NiPOM cocatalyst within the hydrophilic zeolite cage of MIL-101(Cr) promotes the formation of additional chemically active sites and facilitates electron transfer from its Ni site to the BiVO4surface, significantly boosting photocurrent density. This mechanism effectively suppresses the dissolution of V5+ions and enhances the oxidation stability during photoelectrochemical water decomposition. This work presents a novel strategy for designing POM-based molecular synergistic catalysts to enhance the efficiency and stability of PEC water splitting, thereby facilitating the efficient conversion of solar energy to clean hydrogen fuel.

Semiconductor heterojunctions could accelerate carrier separation and transfer for improving light-to-hydrogen (LTH) conversion efficiency. However, the lack of tight and efficient interfacial charge cross in three-dimensional semiconductor-based heterojunctions limits their practical application and the relevant profound understanding of the interfacial charge delivery. In this work, porphyrin (Cu)-based COF with a highly conjugated structure was deposited onto three-dimensional (3D) ZnIn2S4by a facile solvothermal method to prepare a 3D/2D ZnIn2S4@CuP–Ph COF heterojunction. The content-optimized ZnIn2S4@CuP–Ph COF composite showed an excellent LTH conversion rate of up to 2667.94 μmol g–1h–1, about 13.5 times higher than that of pristine ZnIn2S4. The significantly meliorated photocatalytic performance is attributed to the synergistically functioning contributors, that is, the fast interfacial charge transfer and the augmented light capturing capability after integration. Also, the work function results by DFT calculation reveals that the electrons of CuP–Ph COF (Φ = 4.41 eV) transfer from the interface electron delivery channels of the two components to ZIS (Φ = 7.03 eV) until the Fermi level of the two components reaches equilibrium. This moment, the work function of ZnIn2S4@CuP–Ph COF (Φ = 6.50 eV) lies between the two components, and an electron accumulation region is formed on the side of ZIS. Additionally, the free-energy barriers of hydrogen evolution dominated by ZnIn2S4@CuP–Ph COF (0.0955 eV) is much lower than that of ZnIn2S4(0.1256 eV). This study possesses certain guiding significance for the design of organic–inorganic heterojunction photocatalysts for efficient LTH conversion.

ABSTRACTStudies on planning have traditionally exposed how institutional participation opposes informal modes of participation. But do activists have to choose between the two? Suggesting that there is a grey-zone, recent work has focused on the distinct paths that individuals take to engage in civic life. We argue that strategies that involves both civil society-led and traditional approaches may help defend planning options, especially for those not considered in formal decision-making in local planning. In what ways can the interrelation of traditional and non-traditional modes of participation help bring forth new ideas? Building on a case study of urban activists tackling issues regarding cycling in Québec City (Québec, Canada), we observed how they connect planning with different modes of participation. Activists take part in the debate on urban planning through institutional platforms, demonstrating their desire to be recognized. Also, they take actions to increase the legitimacy of alternative modes of mobility.

Activated sludge is one of the most difficult sludges to dewatering, reduction of moisture content (MC) was very important for the treatment and disposal. In this paper, multiple advanced detecting and analysis methods were used to explore the cooperative mechanism and technology of mechanical dewatering (MDW) and thermal drying (TD) of activated sludge, including moisture distribution, pore structure, fractal dimension and thermal conductivity. Relationship between energy consumption and treatment efficiency during the drying process with different combination modes and parameters of dewatering were also studied. The results indicated that MDW can remove most of the free water (FW) in sludge, and the proportion of binding water (BW) after constant voltage gradient mode (G-PEDW) treatment is 36.64% less than that of MDW, which can reduce energy consumption during the subsequent TD progress. The factors including MC, moisture distribution, pore structure, fractal dimension etc., of the dewatered sludge have important influences on the energy consumption and treatment efficiency of the subsequent TD. Taking into account energy consumption and treatment efficiency comprehensively, the optimal process combination of MDW—TD is that MCof sludge is first reduced to about 60% by MDW, then to about 30% by TD, the whole energy consumption and treatment time can be reduced by 75.94%, 18.75% compared with the single TD mode. This work is helpful to understand the cooperative relationship of the dewatering-drying.

Flexible endoscopes can reach the lesion via a small incision or the patient’s natural orifices, exhibiting minimally invasive or noninvasive diagnosis and surgery capabilities. Precise position and shape estimations of the soft tip are key to guarantee the precision of operation. Different from conventional fluoroscopy-based measurements, this article proposes a tip shape estimation method for flexible endoscopes based on permanent magnet positioning. A tip shape-sensing probe with embedded magnets is designed to be inserted into the working channel of the flexible endoscope, serving as positioning markers. Subsequently, the tip shape of the flexible endoscope is estimated using non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) curve approximation by optimizing the control points and weights via the path points, tangent lines, and tip length. Further, tip shape estimation experiments are conducted on a flexible ureteroscope and an upper gastrointestinal endoscope with the help of a G-arm surgical X-ray fluoroscopy system and computed tomography (CT) scanner, respectively. The mean contour error is measured to 0.6–1.3 mm for different bending angles. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a good estimation performance, thus showing great potential for fluoroscopy-free measurement and navigation in flexible endoscopic surgeries.

Importance: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) care cascade data by race/ethnicity for US correctional populations are sparse. Objective: To evaluate the HCV care cascade by race/ethnicity for a state correctional population. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study used Connecticut Department of Correction data for incarcerated individuals tested, diagnosed, and treated for chronic HCV infection with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) from 2019 to 2023. Main Outcomes and Measures: HCV care cascade outcomes, including testing, treatment, and cure rates, were compared by race/ethnicity. Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs), with adjustment for demographic and legal status factors. Results: A total of 24,867 patients tested for HCV (88.9% men, mean (SD) age 35.6 (11.8), 32.7% White, 37.9% Black, 28.4% Hispanic, 0.6% Asian, 0.4% American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN), 34.7% sentenced ≥ 1 year). Both HCV exposure and chronic HCV were highest for White (27.1% and 15.2%) and lowest for Black individuals (4.6% and 2.6%) (P< 0.01, for both outcomes). While incarcerated, 63.2% of chronic HCV patients started DAAs, and treatment rates did not significantly differ by race/ethnicity (P> 0.05). For those treated and having post-treatment lab data available, cure rates were 98.8% or better for all racial/ethnic groups (P> 0.05). In the adjusted regression analyses, HCV treatment initiation was lower for those sentenced < 1 year (PR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.67–0.87) and unsentenced (PR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.80–0.91) than those sentenced ≥ 1 year. The adjusted prevalence of advanced fibrosis stage/activity grade was not significantly associated with race/ethnicity. Conclusions: In this cohort study, less than two-thirds of chronic HCV patients initiated DAA treatment during their incarceration, and for those with available data, nearly all were cured. While there were disparities in HCV exposure and chronic HCV infection, significant racial/ethnic differences were not observed for treatment initiation or cure rates. Further efforts are needed to increase HCV treatment, especially for patients with shorter incarceration periods.

Introduction: While it is widely recognized that older adults, adults with chronic medical conditions (CMC), and adults with immunocompromising conditions (IC) are at increased risk of lower respiratory tract illness (LRTI), evidence of the magnitude of increased risk is limited. This study was thus undertaken to characterize rates of hospitalized and ambulatory LRTI among United States (US) adults by age and comorbidity profile. Methods: A retrospective cohort design and US healthcare claims database (2016–2019) were employed. Study population included adults aged ≥ 18 years and was stratified by age and comorbidity profile (CMC−, CMC+ , IC). LRTI was ascertained overall and by pathogen pathogen (e.g., respiratory syncytial virus [RSV]), and was classified by care setting (hospital, emergency department [ED], physician office/hospital outpatient [PO/HO]). Results: Relative rates (RR) of LRTI generally increased with older age across care settings (vs. 18–49 years), with the most marked increase for hospitalizations: for LRTI-hospitalized, RRs ranged from 3.3 for 50–64 years to 46.6 for ≥ 85 years; for LRTI-ED and LRTI-PO/HO, RRs ranged from 1.0 to 2.7 and from 1.3 to 1.5, respectively. Within age groups, LRTI rates were also consistently higher among CMC+ and IC adults (vs. CMC− adults). Age-specific RRs of LRTI patients hospitalized due to RSV were largely comparable to overall LRTI; age-specific RRs for other care settings, and RRs for CMC+ and IC adults (vs. CMC− adults), were generally higher for LRTI due to RSV. Conclusions: Incidence of LRTI, including that due to RSV, especially for events requiring acute inpatient care, is markedly higher among older adults and adults of all ages with CMC or IC.

Despite tremendous efforts in the past decades, relationships among main avian lineages remain heavily debated without a clear resolution. Discrepancies have been attributed to diversity of species sampled, phylogenetic method and the choice of genomic regions1–3. Here we address these issues by analysing the genomes of 363 bird species4(218 taxonomic families, 92% of total). Using intergenic regions and coalescent methods, we present a well-supported tree but also a marked degree of discordance. The tree confirms that Neoaves experienced rapid radiation at or near the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. Sufficient loci rather than extensive taxon sampling were more effective in resolving difficult nodes. Remaining recalcitrant nodes involve species that are a challenge to model due to either extreme DNA composition, variable substitution rates, incomplete lineage sorting or complex evolutionary events such as ancient hybridization. Assessment of the effects of different genomic partitions showed high heterogeneity across the genome. We discovered sharp increases in effective population size, substitution rates and relative brain size following the Cretaceous–Palaeogene extinction event, supporting the hypothesis that emerging ecological opportunities catalysed the diversification of modern birds. The resulting phylogenetic estimate offers fresh insights into the rapid radiation of modern birds and provides a taxon-rich backbone tree for future comparative studies.

Due to the high accuracy and repeatability, capacitive force sensor array-based smart insoles enable clinical-grade mobile motion assessments for healthcare professionals, trainers, and researchers. Nonetheless, the capacitive sensors exhibit inferior performance in dynamic response, a critical indicator for motion assessment. Conversely, inertial sensing modules (ISMs) possess exceptional dynamic response capability. Accordingly, this study developed a pair of smart insoles, each containing a capacitive force sensor array. The dynamic response of the left insole was compensated by the accelerations from an ISM, i.e., attitude and heading reference system (AHRS), attached to the subject’s left shank. A radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) incorporating prior knowledge, i.e., the principle of a capacitive force sensor, was adopted to calculate the vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) using force data obtained from the force sensor array. According to Newton’s second law of motion, the vGRF is also estimated by multiplying the vertical linear acceleration and half of the test subject’s body weight. A Kalman filter (KF) was implemented as the fusion algorithm. The proposed method was practically tested by comparing it to a 3-D high-precision force plate from Kistler Group, where the test subjects performed strenuous movements, including rapid jumping. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the transient impact’s vGRF was 358.9 ± 40.7 N, indicating a 49.1% increase in accuracy compared to that of the capacitive sensor insole. Experimental results suggest that the proposed method improves the measurement performance of capacitive sensing insoles, thereby significantly broadening their applicability.

High-precision pose adjustment for the self-charging of mobile robots remains a significant challenge. Permanent magnet (PM)-based magnetic tracking technique is a promising technical solution, with occlusion-free and simultaneous positioning and orientation tracking. However, the superposition of the geomagnetic vector and the magnetic field vector generated by the PM leads to the degrading of magnetic tracking performance. Thus, a magnetic tracking technique with real-time geomagnetic vector separation is investigated in this study. Firstly, the environmental magnetic field is accurately modeled, consisting of the PM field, uniform disturbance field, and non-uniform disturbance field. For the uniform disturbance field, we combine it with the PM pose as unknown parameters to be estimated. For the non-uniform disturbance field, a robust kernel function is employed to diminish its influence on positioning performance. Finally, the PM pose and geomagnetic vector are simultaneously estimated by optimization algorithms. A docking experiment for self-charging mobile robots was carried out based on the proposed tracking technique. The robot can successfully recharge its battery with only one alignment operation, where the repeat parking accuracy at the anchor point is 1.38 mm and ±1.27°, respectively.

Protein glycosylation is a common post-translational modification on extracellular proteins. The conformational dynamics of several glycoproteins have been characterized by hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS). However, it is, in most cases, not possible to extract information about glycan conformation and dynamics due to the general difficulty of separating the deuterium content of the glycan from that of the peptide (in particular, for O-linked glycans). Here, we investigate whether the fragmentation of protonated glycopeptides by collision-induced dissociation (CID) can be used to determine the solution-specific deuterium content of the glycan. Central to this concept is that glycopeptides can undergo a facile loss of glycans upon CID, thereby allowing for the determination of their masses. However, an essential prerequisite is that hydrogen and deuterium (H/D) scrambling can be kept in check. Therefore, we have measured the degree of scrambling upon glycosidic bond cleavage in glycopeptides that differ in the conformational flexibility of their backbone and glycosylation pattern. Our results show that complete scrambling precedes the glycosidic bond cleavage in normal glycopeptides derived from a glycoprotein; i.e., all labile hydrogens have undergone positional randomization prior to loss of the glycan. In contrast, the glycosidic bond cleavage occurs without any scrambling in the glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin, reflecting that the glycan cannot interact with the peptide moiety due to a conformationally restricted backbone as revealed by molecular dynamics simulations. Scrambling is also inhibited, albeit to a lesser degree, in the conformationally restricted glycopeptides ristocetin and its pseudoaglycone, demonstrating that scrambling depends on an intricate interplay between the flexibility and proximity of the glycan and the peptide backbone.

Graphical AbstractPFO: patent foramen ovale ; DAPT: dual antiplatelet therapy; SAPT: single antiplatelet therapy; TIA: transient ischemic attack; MI: myocardial infarction; BARC: bleeding academic research criteria; HR: Hazard ratio; CI: confidence interval

The grasping of transparent objects is challenging but of significance to robots. In this article, a visual–tactile fusion framework for transparent object grasping in complex backgrounds is proposed, which synergizes the advantages of vision and touch, and greatly improves the grasping efficiency of transparent objects. First, we propose a multiscene synthetic grasping dataset named SimTrans12 K together with a Gaussian-mask annotation method. Next, based on the TaTa gripper, we propose a grasping network named transparent object-grasping convolutional neural network for grasping position detection, which shows good performance in both synthetic and real scenes. Inspired by human grasping, a tactile calibration method and a visual–tactile fusion classification method are designed, which improve the grasping success rate by 36.7% compared with direct grasping and the classification accuracy by 39.1%. Furthermore, the tactile height sensing module and the tactile position exploration module are added to solve the problem of grasping transparent objects in irregular and visually undetectable scenes. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of the framework.

Executive coaches use a disciplined process to enable people to uncover why they are getting their current results and stimulate them to identify new ideas to achieve different results in the future. Unlike mentors, coaches do not give direction or advice. A coach might offer examples of what others have done in similar situations but only in service to idea generation, not recommendations. Data is key. Coaches typically gather information through assessments or interviews to give clients new insights. Clients learn about their deficiencies and strengths, their brand, how they work with teams, and glean unvarnished advice. Mindset matters. Anyone coerced into coaching might be frustrated about their situation and, therefore, be less open to honestly discovering the source of their discomfort and uncovering new possibilities through coaching. Courage is crucial. Being open to coaching can be daunting, yet with a willing mindset, the insights and results can be compelling.

Objective: The current meta-analysis reviews the different randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the use of sacubitril-valsartan (SV) thoroughly and assesses its effectiveness and safety as a drug for heart failure.Data Sources: Relevant articles for meta-analysis were searched from PubMed, MEDLINE, and Central databases using appropriate keywords.Study Selection and data extraction: Studies were included as per the predefined PICOS criteria. Demographic summary and event data change in heart conditions after drug intake and adverse effects of drugs under both the SV and control arms were determined. The risk of bias and comparative drug efficiency in terms of diagnostic odds ratio (OR) and risk ratio (RR) were determined using RevMan software.Data Synthesis: Ten RCTs with total 18 164 heart failure patients were included according to the inclusion criteria from the year 2015 to 2022. Included studies have patients of different age groups treated with either SV or control. For the change in number of patients with heart conditions after drug intake, we obtained the pooled OR of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.71-0.91) and pooled RR of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.88-0.96). The OR value less than 1 is indicative of high efficiency of SV in lowering the number of heart patients. All these values are statistically significant (P< 0.05) and suggested better recovery of patients with SV as compared with the control drugs with minimal risk and side effects.Conclusions: The present evidence shows that SV is effective in the treatment of heart failure, reducing hospitalization and cardiovascular mortality, and that the adverse effects are comparable or fewer than those associated with other drugs used for this indication.

Modern maple sugaring operations use vacuum tubing systems to enhance sap flow and maximize yield. The positioning of tapholes is a crucial aspect influencing tree health and sap yields, but is limited by dropline length. Inverting droplines to expand the tappable zone and reduce the risk of over-tapping has raised concerns about vacuum efficiency and microbial contamination.

Permanent magnet tracking (PMT) can be employed in robots and precision control due to its advantage of being wireless, without optical occlusion, and simultaneous position and orientation tracking. However, existing PMT studies based on optimization algorithms are limited to stationary or low-speed motions, where the tracking accuracy rapidly decreases with the increasing magnet speed. This study presents an extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based PMT. The magnetic field distribution around the cylindrical permanent magnet is approximated with a magnetic dipole model, where a random walk model is utilized as the system motion model. The state update model of the EKF estimation is adaptively adjusted according to different magnet speeds, while the initial magnet pose is approximated by the statistical analysis of magnetometer array outputs. The proposed PMT method hence can track the object at a higher speed while ensuring an effective pose accuracy than the previous studies. The proposed method was tested in technical verification experiments and a practical application. In addition, the relationship between the magnet speed and the position accuracy is investigated. When the magnet speed reaches 40 mm/s, experimental results show that the average pose error and algorithm latency are (1.83 ± 0.25 mm, 1.296 $\pm ~0.091^{\circ }$ ) and 0.485 ± 0.064 ms, respectively. In the robot parking experiment for charging, the pose errors are (2.85 ± 0.41 mm, 1.302 $\pm ~0.023^{\circ }$ ) when the robot speed reaches 40 mm/s. The proposed method can greatly improve tracking performance for a fast-moving object is greatly improved by performing the proposed method, thereby expanding the application scenarios of PMT.

This paper presents a learning based motion planning method for robotic manipulation, aiming to solve the asymptotically-optimal motion planning problem with nonlinear kinematics in a complex environment. The core of the proposed method is based on a novel neural network model, i.e., graph wasserstein autoencoder (GraphWAE) network, which is used to represent the implicit sampling distributions of the configuration space (C-space) for sampling-based planning algorithms. Through learning the implicit distributions, we can guide the planning process to search or extend in the desired region to reduce the collision checks dramatically for fast and high-quality motion planning. The theoretical analysis and proofs are given to demonstrate the probabilistic completeness and asymptotic optimality of the proposed method. Numerical simulations and experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method through a series of planning problems from 2D, 6D and 12D robot C-spaces in the challenging scenes. Results indicate that the proposed method can achieve better planning performance than the state-of-the-art planning algorithms. Note to Practitioners—The motivation of this work is to develop a fast and high-quality asymptotically optimal motion planning method for practical applications such as autonomous driving, robotic manipulation and others. Due to the time consumption caused by collision detection, current planning algorithms usually take much time to converge to the optimal motion path especially in the complicated environment. In this paper, we present a neural network model based on GraphWAE to learn the biasing sampling distributions as the sample generation source to further reduce or avoid collision checks of sampling-based planning algorithms. The proposed method is general and can be also deployed in other sampling-based planning algorithms for improving planning performance in different robot applications.

ObjectiveFaecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in germ-free (GF) mice is a common approach to study the causal role of the gut microbiota in metabolic diseases. Lack of consideration of housing conditions post-FMT may contribute to study heterogeneity. We compared the impact of two housing strategies on the metabolic outcomes of GF mice colonised by gut microbiota from mice treated with a known gut modulator (cranberry proanthocyanidins (PAC)) or vehicle.DesignHigh-fat high-sucrose diet-fed GF mice underwent FMT-PAC colonisation in sterile individual positive flow ventilated cages under rigorous housing conditions and then maintained for 8 weeks either in the gnotobiotic-axenic sector or in the specific pathogen free (SPF) sector of the same animal facility.ResultsUnexpectedly, 8 weeks after colonisation, we observed opposing liver phenotypes dependent on the housing environment of mice. Mice housed in the GF sector receiving the PAC gut microbiota showed a significant decrease in liver weight and hepatic triglyceride accumulation compared with control group. Conversely, exacerbated liver steatosis was observed in the FMT-PAC mice housed in the SPF sector. These phenotypic differences were associated with housing-specific profiles of colonising bacterial in the gut and of faecal metabolites.ConclusionThese results suggest that the housing environment in which gnotobiotic mice are maintained post-FMT strongly influences gut microbiota composition and function and can lead to distinctive phenotypes in recipient mice. Better standardisation of FMT experiments is needed to ensure reproducible and translatable results.

The hardness of a thin film structural material is a direct reflection of its comprehensive mechanical properties, which are dependent on the film thickness. In recent years, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been gradually applied to the determination of the hardness of materials; however, there is no relevant studies have been conducted on thin film structural materials. In this study, Q235 steels with different copper plating thicknesses on the surface were used to determine the correlation between the hardness and spectroscopic parameters. Nanoindentation was used for the hardness analysis. First, a linear relationship was obtained between the sample hardness and copper film thickness and the goodness-of-fit value was 0.9961. Second, we calibrated the plasma temperature and Cu ionic-to-atomic line intensity ratio of the surface spectra to the hardness and found that the spectroscopic parameters of the surface spectra of the samples were not sufficient to characterize their hardness. Finally, the number of shots reaching the Cu-substrate interface is determined by the similarity between the spectra obtained from two adjacent shots, 2, 5, 21, and 96, respectively. We determined a more accurate linear relationship between the plasma temperature, ionic-to-atomic line intensity ratio of the spectra at the film-substrate interface, and sample hardness. The goodness-of-fit values were 0.9923 and 0.9973. This demonstrates that the spectra at the film-substrate interface are more suitable for sample hardness analysis and LIBS is a potential method for the estimation of the hardness of thin film structural materials.

This paper proposes a new method for the computation of guaranteed minimal detectable and isolable faults of set-based active fault diagnosis for multiplicative actuator faults. Compared with our previous work, the proposed method in this paper has the important advantage of low computational complexity. In particular, by handling the coupling of faults and inputs and using an objective function describing the minimal detectable and isolable faults, a new two-step optimization method is proposed to analyze and compute the minimal detectable and isolable faults. At the end of this paper, two examples are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed method and the advantage of low computational complexity.

The photocatalytic CO2reduction reaction (CO2RR) provides an attractive approach to tackling environmental issues. To actualize the optimal catalytic efficiency, one efficacious strategy is to rationally modulate the charge migration for the adopted heterogeneous catalysts. Herein, by virtue of a one-step hydrothermal method, Cu2S nanospheres and defect-rich Cu2S (CuSx) nanosheets are wrapped by a triazine-containing covalent framework (TP-TA COF), resulting in CuSx/TP-TA and Cu2S/TP-TA. Owing to the heterojunction construction that suppresses the carrier recombination, both hybridized structures present enhanced charge migration in comparison to that of their corresponding sulfides and COF constituents. It is worth emphasizing that CuSx/TP-TA proffers a significantly greater photocurrent than Cu2S/TP-TA. The subsequent photocatalytic reduction of CO2also exhibits an apparently higher CO evolution rate, about 2.8 times higher than the Cu2S/TP-TA photocatalyst. The above evident improvement owes much to the heterostructure establishment between CuSxand TP-TA COF, as well as the synergistic effect provided by the defect engineering for CuSx, both of which are able to enhance the separation efficiency of photoinduced carriers. Our work sheds light on the rational construction of heterogeneous structures between organic and inorganic photocatalysts, which emphasizes the possible synergistic effect of defect centers for enhancing photocatalytic performance.

Background: An innovative program, ‘Paramedics Providing Palliative Care at Home,’ was implemented in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2015. Roles like this are part of an evolving professional identity; role discordance or lack of clarity not only hinders professionalization but may impair the wellbeing, and career longevity of paramedics. This study explored the alignment of providing palliative support at home with paramedic professional identity. Methods: Qualitative description was employed, with thematic analysis of focus groups with paramedics and palliative health care providers. Recruitment posters were sent through the professional college (paramedics) and program managers (health care providers). Focus groups followed a semi-structured guide, discussing understanding of and experiences with the role and its alignment with professional identity. Challenges to paramedic palliative support and fit with professional identify were explored. Thematic content analysis was ongoing while focus groups were being conducted, until no new codes were found. Codes were combined, sorted into categories, and ultimately, agreed-upon themes. Saturation of themes was reached. Results: Eleven paramedics and twenty palliative health care providers participated. Four themes reflected paramedic’s expanded role: (1) patient centeredness and job satisfaction with provision of palliative support, (2) a bridging role, (3) paramedic as advocate and educator, (4) provision of psychosocial support. Four themes reflected paramedic’s professional identity: (1) evolution of paramedicine as a skilled clinical profession, (2) helping people and communities, (3) paramedic skill set aligns with work in palliative care, and (4) changing paramedic mindset. Conclusion: Paramedics and palliative health care providers highlighted the provision of palliative care as part of a positive growth of paramedicine as a health profession, and a good fit with professional identity. Novel roles like this are important in the evolution of our health care system faced with increasing pressures to get the right care with the right provider at the right time.

The construction of rich phase interfaces to increase active reaction area in hybrid materials is an excellent strategy to improve electrochemical performance. Under this guideline, MIL-101@OX-metal organic framework (MOF) is constructed by the "MOF on MOF" method, then converts to MIL-101@NiFe-layered double hydroxides (LDH) by in situtransformation in alkaline solution. MIL-101@NiFe-LDH shows excellent electrochemical water oxidation performance. It needs only an overpotential of 215 mV to drive 10 mA/cm2of oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is less than that of NiFe-LDH, MIL-101. In addition, MIL-101@NiFe-LDH has the smallest Tafel slope (55.1 mV/dec) compared with NiFe-LDH (61.1 mV/dec), MIL-101 (150.8 mV/dec). The excellent water oxidation activity is due to the high phase interfaces derived from high specific surface area of MOF. This work offers an alternative method for making MOF/LDH heterostructures with an optimized phase interfaces and provides new insights for OER.

Current recommendations suggest discontinuation of immunosuppressants 1 year after kidney transplant failure. In this first prospective multicenter study of 269 patients with kidney transplant failure in 16 Canadian centers, most patients were prescribed immunosuppressants for longer than 2 years. Continued use of immunosuppressants was not associated with an increased risk of death or hospitalized infection. However, the continued use of immunosuppressants did not prevent rejection of the failed allograft or an increase in anti-HLA antibodies, possibly due to inadequate drug exposure. The findings challenge current recommendations and highlight the need for a controlled trial of immunosuppressant use in patients with transplant failure.