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The two-dimensional (2D) transition metal thiophosphates family CdPS3 and CdPSe3 are supposed to explore pressure-relevant structural and electronic behaviors as support to build 2D spintronic devices. The pressure-induced phase transition and electronic properties of CdPX3 are investigated up to 40 GPa using first-principles calculation. CdPS3 undergoes reversible phase transitions at around 1.5 GPa and 25 GPa from C2/m structure to structure and then to P 3 ¯ 1 m structure, while the reversible phase transitions of CdPSe3 are found at approximately 13 GPa from R 3 ¯ structure to P 3 ¯ 1 m structure, reflected in the lattice constant mutation and cell volume collapse. The computed metallization transition is found at about 25 GPa and 13 GPa owing to energy band closure for CdPS3 and CdPSe3, respectively. As anisotropy increases with pressure, the enhanced metallic property is accompanied by the inter- and intra-layer sliding atom pairs induced by phase transition. The paper is conducive to considering the phase transition and metallization of CdPX3-type family under extreme conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct current (DC) power transmission systems have received great attention because it can easily integrate many types of renewable energies and have low energy loss in long-distance and large-capacity power transmission for electricity global sharing. Nanoparticles (NPs) have a positive effect on the insulation properties of polymers, but weak interaction between NPs and polymer matrix greatly decreases the effort of NPs on the enhancement of insulation properties, and thereby limits its engineering application. In this work, grafting strategy was used to link the modified NPs and polymer matrix to improve their interactions. Silica NPs (SiO2-NPs) were modified by 3-(methacrylyloxy) propyl-trimethoxysilane (MPS) to introduce highly active groups on the SiO2-NPs surface, followed by the pre-irradiated linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) being easily grafted onto the MPS modified SiO2-NPs (MPS-SiO2-NPs) in the melt blending process to obtain LLDPE-g-MPS-SiO2-NPs nanocomposites. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrum and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirm the successful incorporation of MPS into SiO2-NPs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) verifies that the modified SiO2-NPs exhibits more uniform distribution. The rheology result shows that the interaction between MPS-SiO2-NPs and LLDPE significantly improves. More importantly, the LLDPE-g-MPS-SiO2-NPs nanocomposites displays superior DC breakdown strength to that fabricated by conventional modification methods. When the addition of MPS-SiO2-NPs is 0.1 wt%, the highest DC breakdown strength values of 525 kV/mm and 372 kV/mm are obtained at 30 °C and 70 °C, respectively, and high DC breakdown strength can be well maintained in a wide loading range of NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The ankle-foot exoskeleton has been demonstrated to help users resist anterior perturbation in the horizontal pelvis plane. However, its effects on perturbations in other directions remain unclear. This paper focuses on how the ankle-foot exoskeleton helps people resist perturbations coming from forward directions within the fan-shaped region in the pelvis horizontal plane. Methods: Firstly, we proposed and validated a hypothesis that the human torque ratio of inversion to plantar flexion torque would change with the perturbation directions of anterior (dir0) and 45° deviating from anterior to left (dir45). Subsequently, based on the regulation demand, we developed an ankle-foot exoskeleton that can adjust the torque ratio delivered to the human body by controlling the forces on two cross-arranged cables. Finally, we evaluated and compared the assistance performance of three powered assistive modes (NM, medBD, and latBD) with the unpowered one (UN) by setting different force pairs in two cables. Results: The results showed that, with the assistance, the margin of stability was increased and the standard deviations of ankle-foot segmental movements were decreased. Meanwhile, the biological inversion torque has a significant difference among the three assistive modes. Compared to the UN, the latBD was shown to reduce the biological inversion torque by 15.8 % and 13.7 % in response to the dir0 and dir45 perturbations, respectively, while the reductions for the NM and medBD were smaller. It was also observed that the torque ratios, generated by the human and the exoskeleton in latBD mode, differed by about 0.1 under dir0 and 0.08 under dir45, while the physiologically similarity of the exoskeleton torque ratio in NM and medBD modes were smaller. Based on the above results, we found that the more physiologically similar the exoskeleton torque ratio, the better the assistive performance. Discussion: The findings demonstrated that the torque-ratio-adjustable exoskeleton could support human resistance to perturbations coming from forward directions within a fan-shaped region in the pelvis horizontal plane and indicated that the exoskeleton's torque ratio should be carefully modulated to match the ratio of the human under various environmental conditions for better assistive performance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Liu, Sun, Zou, Li and Xu.)

Compositional complex alloys, including high and medium-entropy alloys (HEAs/MEAs) have displayed significant potential as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), but their structure-activity relationship remains unclear. In particular, the basic question of which crystal facets are more active, especially considering the surface reconstructions, has yet to be answered. This study demonstrates that the lowest index {100} facets of FeCoNiCr MEAs exhibit the highest activity. The underlying mechanism associated with the {100} facet's low in-plane density, making it easier to surface reconstruction and form amorphous structures containing the true active species is uncovered. These results are validated by experiments on single crystals and polycrystal MEAs, as well as DFT calculations. The discoveries contribute to a fundamental comprehension of MEAs in electrocatalysis and offer physics-based strategies for developing electrocatalysts., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Background: Cardiotoxicity (CTX) induced by adjuvant chemotherapy is a significant factor that impacts the prognosis and quality of life in breast cancer (BC) patients. In this study, we aimed to investigate the changes in epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) before and after treatment in BC patients who received anthracyclines adjuvant chemotherapy protocol (AC-T) and anthracyclines combined with trastuzumabadjuvant chemotherapy protocol (AC-TH). Additionally, we assessed whether there were any differences in the changes in EAT between the two groups of patients. Our objective was to examine the effects of anthracyclines and trastuzumab on EAT and determine the potential role of EAT changes on CTX., Methods: We reviewed female BC patients who were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy protocols of AC-T and AC-TH, all of whom underwent baseline (T0) and follow-up (T1) chest computed tomography (CT) and echocardiography. A cohort of healthy women, matched in age, underwent two chest CTs. EAT was quantified on chest CT using semi-automated software. CTX was defined as a > 10% reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) from baseline, with an absolute value of < 53%., Results: A total of 41 BC patients were included in the study, with 23 patients in the AC-T group and 18 patients in the AC-TH group. Additionally, 22 healthy females were included as the normal group. None of the BC patients developed CTX after chemotherapy. The age did not differ significantly between the normal group and the AC-T group ( p = 0.341) or the AC-TH group ( p = 0.853). Similarly, the body mass index (BMI) of the normal group was comparable to that of the AC-T group ( p = 0.377, 0.346) and the AC-TH group ( p = 0.148, 0.119) before and after chemotherapy. The EAT volume index (mL/kg/ m 2 ) was significantly higher in both the AC-T group (5.11 ± 1.85 vs. 4.34 ± 1.55, p < 0.001) and the AC-TH group (4.53 ± 1.61 vs. 3.48 ± 1.62, p < 0.001) at T1 compared with T0. In addition, both the AC-T group (-72.95 ± 5.01 vs. -71.22 ± 3.91, p = 0.005) and the AC-TH group (-72.55 ± 5.27 vs. -68.20 ± 5.98, p < 0.001) exhibited a significant decrease in EAT radiodensity (HU) at T1 compared to T0. However, there was no significant difference observed in the normal group. At T0, no difference was seen in EAT volume index (4.34 ± 1.55 vs. 3.48 ± 1.62, p = 0.090) and radiodensity (-71.22 ± 3.91 vs. -68.20 ± 5.98, p = 0.059) between the AC-T and AC-TH groups. Similarly, at T1, there was still no significant difference observed in the EAT volume index (-5.11 ± 1.85 vs. 4.53 ± 1.61, p = 0.308) and radiodensity (-72.95 ± 5.00 vs. -72.54 ± 5.27, p = 0.802) between the two groups., Conclusions: BC patients who underwent AC-T and AC-TH adjuvant chemotherapy protocols demonstrated a significant rise in the volume index of EAT, along with a substantial reduction in its radiodensity post-chemotherapy. These findings indicate that alterations in EAT could potentially aid in identifying cardiac complications caused by chemotherapeutic agents and remind clinicians to focus on changes in EAT after adjuvant chemotherapy in BC patients to prevent the practical occurrence of CTX., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.)

Objective: To develop and validate a radiomics-based nomogram model which aimed to predict hematoma expansion (HE) in hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH)., Methods: Patients with HICH (n=187) were included from October 2017 to March 2022 in the Yongchuan Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Patients were randomly divided into a training set (n=130) and a validation set (n=57) in a ratio of 7:3. The radiomic features were extracted from the regions of interest (including main hematoma, the surrounding small hematoma(s) and perihematomal edema) in the first CT scan images. The variance threshold, SelectKBest and LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator), features were selected and the radiomics signature was built. Multivariate logistic regression was used to establish a nomogram based on clinical risk factors and the Rad-score. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the generalization of the models' performance. The calibration curve and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test were used to assess the calibration of the predictive nomogram. And decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to evaluate the prediction model., Results: Thirteen radiomics features were selected to construct the radiomics signature, which has a robust association with HE. The radiomics model found that blend sign was a predictive factor of HE. The radiomics model ROC in the training set was 0.89 (95%CI 0.82-0.96) and was 0.82 (95%CI 0.60-0.93) in the validation set. The nomogram model was built using the combined prediction model based on radiomics and blend sign, and worked well in both the training set (ROC: 0.90[95%CI 0.83-0.96]) and the validation set (ROC: 0.88[95%CI 0.71-0.93])., Conclusion: The radiomic signature based on CT of HICH has high accuracy for predicting HE. The combined prediction model of radiomics and blend sign improves the prediction performance., (Copyright: © Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences.)