Search

Lead halide perovskites have been explored as a new kind of promising X-ray with wide applications in radiation-associated fields, but low light yield and serious toxicity extremely restrict further applications. To address these issues, we herein demonstrated one new zero-dimensional (0D) organic–inorganic hybrid cuprous halide of [BAPMA]Cu2Br5(BAPMA = N,N-Bis(3-aminopropyl) methylamine) containing discrete [Cu4Br10]6–tetramers as excellent lead-free scintillators. Upon UV light excitation, [BAPMA]Cu2Br5displays highly efficient broadband yellowish-green light emission with one dominant peak at 526 nm, a large Stokes shift of 244 nm, and a high photoluminescent quantum yield of 53.40%. Significantly, this broadband light emission can also be excited by higher-energy X-ray as radioluminescence with a high scintillation light yield of 43,744 photons/MeV. The detection limit of 0.074 μGyair/s is also far less than the required value for regular medical diagnostics of 5.5 μGyair/s. The solution-assembled hybrid structure facilely enables the [BAPMA]Cu2Br5-based scintillation screen to display high-performance X-ray imaging with a spatial resolution of 15.79 lp/mm showcasing potential application in X-ray radiography. In brief, combined merits of low toxicity and cost, negligible self-absorption, a low detection limit, considerable light yield, and spatial resolution highlight the excellent scintillation performance of 0D hybrid cuprous halide.

Alternate partial root-zone drip fertigation (ADF) is a combination of alternating irrigation and drip fertigation, with the potential to save water and increase nitrogen (N) fertilizer efficiency. A 2-year greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different fertigation frequencies on the distribution of soil moisture and nutrients and tomato yield under ADF. The treatments included three ADF frequencies with intervals of 3 days (F3), 6 days (F6) and 12 days (F12), and conventional drip fertigation as a control (CK), which was fertilized once every 6 days. For the ADF treatments, two drip tapes were placed 10 cm away on each side of the tomato row, and alternate drip irrigation was realized using a manual valve on the distribution tapes. For the CK treatment, a drip tape was located close to the roots of the tomato plants. The total N application rate of all treatments was 180 kg ha−1. The total irrigation amounts applied to the CK treatment were 450.6 and 446.1 mm in 2019 and 2020, respectively; and the irrigation amounts applied to the ADF treatments were 60% of those of the CK treatment. The F3 treatment resulted in water and N being distributed mainly in the 0–40-cm soil layer with less water and N being distributed in the 40–60-cm soil layer. The F6 treatment led to 21.0 and 29.0% higher 2-year average concentration of mineral N in the 0–20 and 20–40-cm soil layer, respectively and a 23.0% lower N concentration in the 40–60-cm soil layer than in the CK treatment. The 2-year average tomato yields of the F3, F6, F12, and CK treatments were 107.5, 102.6, 87.2, and 98.7 t ha−1, respectively. The tomato yield of F3 was significantly higher (23.3%) than that in the F12 treatment, whereas there was no significant difference between the F3 and F6 treatment. The F6 treatment resulted in yield similar to the CK treatment, indicating that ADF could maintain tomato yield with a 40% saving in water use. Based on the distribution of water and N, and tomato yield, a fertigation frequency of 6 days under ADF should be considered as a water-saving strategy for greenhouse tomato production.

Successful prevention and treatment of hypertension depend on the appropriate combination of antihypertensive drug therapy and nondrug lifestyle modification. While most hypertension guidelines recommend moderate- to high-intensity exercise, we decided to explore a mild yet effective type of exercise to add to hypertension management, especially in populations with complications or frailty. After comparing the short-term cardiovascular effects of low-speed walking versus high-speed walking for 3 kilometers (km) (3 km/h versus 6 km/h) in young, healthy volunteers, we delivered low-speed walking (low-intensity walking, 2.5 metabolic equivalents of task, METs) as exercise therapy in 42 prehypertensive and 43 hypertensive subjects. We found that one session of 3 km low-intensity walking exerted a transient pressure-lowering effect as well as a mild negative chronotropic effect on heart rate in both the prehypertensive and hypertensive subjects; these short-term benefits on blood pressure and heart rate were accompanied by a brief increase in urine β-endorphin output. Then we prescribed regular low-intensity walking with a target exercise dose (exercise volume) of 500–1000 METs·min/week (50–60 min/day and 5–7 times/week) in hypertensive subjects in addition to their daily activities. Regular low-intensity walking also showed mild but significant blood pressure-lowering and heart rate-reducing effects in 7 hypertensive subjects within two months. It is hypothesized that regular low-intensity exercise of the necessary dose could be taken as a pragmatic and supplementary medication for hypertension management.

The analgesic effect of acupuncture has been widely accepted. Nevertheless, the mechanism behind its analgesic effect remains elusive, thus impeding the progress of research geared toward enhancing the analgesic effect of acupuncture. This paper investigated the role of acupuncture needle surface textures on acupuncture’s analgesic effect by creating four experimental acupuncture needles with different patterns of surface augmentation.