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Cs2Cu3(CN)5 has a layered structure consisting of [Cu3(CN)5]2− sheets stacked in an ABAB fashion along the c axis, with Cs+ cations lying between the sheets. The sheets are generated by linking –(CuCN)– chains, in which the C[triple-bond]N groups are ordered, via [Cu(CN)3]2− units. The two bridging cyanide groups of each [Cu(CN)3]2− unit show partial `head-to-tail' disorder of C and N, whilst the third C[triple-bond]N group is terminal and ordered with C bonded to Cu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: Biological valves exhibit characteristic curves (CC) regarding transvalvular gradient, resistance, and effective orifice area when correlated with a physiological cardiac output range (CO). The slope of the curve of transvalvular resistance over a typical CO range characterizes the clinical performance of the valve. These information may support an individualized decision towards the most adequate valve type. Methods: In an extracorporeal mock circuit two types of stented biological aortic valves (constructed pericardial valves, Edwards Perimount: EP; porcine cusp valves, Medtronic Mosaic: MM) of 21, 23, and 25mm were investigated. Mean transvalvular gradient was measured over a range of 1.9 to 7.2l/min CO at a simulated heart rate of 70beats/min. Transvalvular resistance was calculated and presented as characteristic curves in a log–log-plot against cardiac output. Results: EP valves of all sizes demonstrated low slopes (resistance range; slope: 21mm: 53–79dynesscm−5; 0.29; 23mm: 44–56dynesscm−5; 0.12; 25mm: 38–45dynesscm−5; 0.12) while MM valves exhibited steep slopes (resistance range; slope: 21mm: 46–169dynesscm−5; 0.97; 23mm: 36– −146dynesscm−5; 0.95; 25mm: 27–64dynesscm−5; 0.68) Conclusions: While constructed pericardial valves demonstrate sufficient hemodynamic performance especially in the higher CO range porcine cusp valves exhibited minor resistance in the lower CO range. Patients who exercise regularly may therefore profit from a pericardial valve while patients with a small body surface area and little exercise who therefore remain in the lower CO range may be adequately treated with a porcine cusp valve. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Microstructural changes, thermodynamic and cyclic properties, total material cost and the cumulative energy demand of V (40−40·x) Fe (8−8·x) Ti 26 Cr 26 (FeV) (48·x) with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.9 using commercial ferrovanadium (FeV) are investigated. The substitution of V + Fe by FeV (x = 0.9) raises the equilibrium hydrogen pressure at 298 K from p a = 1 MPa to p a = 6 MPa during absorption of H 2 and p d = 0.2 MPa and p d = 1 MPa during desorption. The reversible hydrogen storage capacity is determined after 50 pressure-swing cycles and is reduced from 2.2 mass% to 1.7 mass% for the unsubstituted alloy (x = 0) compared to 1.7 mass% to 1.3 mass% for the FeV substituted alloy (x = 0.9). This corresponds to a loss of capacity of approx. 23% for both samples. After taking into account the capacity loss caused by FeV substitution, the raw material cost per 100 kg of stored H is reduced to 1/3 of the original price of the unsubstituted alloy. The cumulative energy demand of pure V depends on the number of purification steps. Ferrovanadium shows a cumulative energy demand which is reduced at least by a factor of 1.4 as compared to high-purity vanadium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modulation of testing conditions such as resting lactate (La rest ) levels or carbohydrate intake may affect the calculation of the maximal glycolytic rate (νLa.max). To evaluate the impact of elevated La rest as well as reduced and increased carbohydrate availability on νLa.max in running sprints (RST), twenty-one participants completed five 15-s RST tests on a running track under five different conditions: (I). baseline: La rest  ≤1.5 mmol·L -1 ; (II). Lactate+: La rest  ≥2.5 mmol·L -1 ; (III). CHO-: carbohydrate intake: ≤ 1 g·kg -1 BW d -1 for 3 days; (IV). CHO+: carbohydrate intake: ≥ 9 g·kg -1 BW d -1 for one day; and (V). acuteCHO: 500 mL glucose containing beverage consumed before RST. νLa.max was significantly reduced in lactate+ and CHO- conditions compared to the baseline RST, due to a reduction in the arithmetic mean delta (∆) between La peak and La rest lactate concentration (La peak , mmol · L -1 ). AcuteCHO led to an increase in La rest compared to baseline, CHO- and CHO+ with a high interindividual variability but did not significantly reduce νLa.max. Therefore, avoiding low carbohydrate nutrition before νLa.max testing, along with carefully adjusting La rest to below ≤1.5 mmol·L-1, is crucial to prevent the unintentional underestimation of νLa.max., (© 2024 The Author(s). Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.)

Background: The level of type-I interferons (IFNs) in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) was investigated to evaluate its association with disease activity and progression., Methods: Bioactive type-I IFNs were evaluated in a murine model of PSC and human patients' sera using a cell-based reporter assay and ELISA techniques. In total, 57 healthy participants, 71 PSC, and 38 patients with primary biliary cholangitis were enrolled in this study., Results: Bioactive type-I IFNs were elevated in the liver and serum of multidrug resistance protein 2-deficient animals and showed a correlation with the presence of CD45+ immune cells and serum alanine transaminase levels. Concordantly, bioactive type-I IFNs were elevated in the sera of patients with PSC as compared to healthy controls (sensitivity of 84.51%, specificity of 63.16%, and AUROC value of 0.8267). Bioactive IFNs highly correlated with alkaline phosphatase (r=0.4179, p<0.001), alanine transaminase (r=0.4704, p<0.0001), and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activities (r=0.6629, p<0.0001) but not with serum bilirubin. In addition, patients with PSC with advanced fibrosis demonstrated significantly higher type-I IFN values. Among the type-I IFN subtypes IFNα, β and IFNω could be detected in patients with PSC with IFNω showing the highest concentration among the subtypes and being the most abundant among patients with PSC., Conclusions: The selectively elevated bioactive type-I IFNs specifically the dominating IFNω could suggest a novel inflammatory pathway that might also have a hitherto unrecognized role in the pathomechanism of PSC., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.)

Objectives: PORTAS-3 was designed to compare the frequency of pneumothorax or haemothorax in a primary open versus closed strategy for port implantation., Background Data: The implantation strategy for totally implantable venous access ports with the optimal benefit/risk ratio remains unclear., Methods: PORTAS-3 was a multicentre, randomized, controlled, parallel-group superiority trial. Adult patients with oncological disease scheduled for elective port implantation were randomized to a primary open or closed strategy. Primary endpoint was the rate of pneumothorax or haemothorax. Assuming a difference of 2.5% between the 2 groups, a sample size of 1154 patients was needed to prove superiority of the open group. A logistic regression model after the intention-to-treat principle was applied for analysis of the primary endpoint., Results: Between November 9, 2014 and September 5, 2016, 1205 patients were randomized. Of these, 1159 (open n = 583; closed n = 576) were finally analyzed. The rate of pneumothorax or haemothorax was significantly reduced with the open strategy [odds ratio 0.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.09-0.88; P = 0.029]. Operation time was shorter for the closed strategy. Primary success rates, tolerability, morbidity, dose rate of radiation, and 30-day mortality did not differ significantly between the groups., Conclusion: A primary open strategy by cut-down of the cephalic vein, if necessary enhanced by a modified Seldinger technique, reduces the frequency of pneumothorax or haemothorax after central venous port implantation significantly compared with a closed strategy by primary puncture of the subclavian vein without routine sonographic guidance. Therefore, open surgical cut-down should be the reference standard for port implantation in comparable cohorts., Trial Registration: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS 00004900.

The affiliations. Originally, Kolja Schilz was named last in the affiliations, implying that he is the senior author. This has been corrected; Kolja Schilz is now mentioned after Martin Walter in both the html and PDF versions of the article.

Child sexual offending (CSO) places a serious burden on society and medicine and pedophilia (P) is considered a major risk factor for CSO. The androgen system is closely linked to sexual development and behavior. This study assessed markers of prenatal brain androgenization, genetic parameters of androgen receptor function, epigenetic regulation, and peripheral hormones in a 2 × 2 factorial design comprising the factors Offense (yes/no) and Pedophilia (yes/no) in analyzing blood samples from 194 subjects (57 P+CSO, 45 P-CSO, 20 CSO-P, and 72 controls) matched for age and intelligence. Subjects also received a comprehensive clinical screening. Independent of their sexual preference, child sexual offenders showed signs of elevated prenatal androgen exposure compared with non-offending pedophiles and controls. The methylation status of the androgen receptor gene was also higher in child sexual offenders, indicating lower functionality of the testosterone system, accompanied by lower peripheral testosterone levels. In addition, there was an interaction effect on methylation levels between offense status and androgen receptor functionality. Notably, markers of prenatal androgenization and the methylation status of the androgen receptor gene were correlated with the total number of sexual offenses committed. This study demonstrates alterations of the androgen system on a prenatal, epigenetic, and endocrine level. None of the major findings was specific for pedophilia, but they were for CSO. The findings support theories of testosterone-linked abnormalities in early brain development in delinquent behavior and suggest possible interactions of testosterone receptor gene methylation and plasma testosterone with environmental factors.

Pedophilia is a heterogeneous disorder for which the neurobiological correlates are not well established. In particular, there are no biological markers identifying individuals with high risk to commit child sexual offense (CSO). Pedophiles with CSO (P+CSO; N = 73), pedophiles without CSO (P-CSO; N = 77), and non-pedophilic controls (NPC; N = 133) were assessed using multimodal structural neuroimaging measures including: cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), and white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), as well as full scale IQ (FSIQ) performance. Cortex-wise mediation analyses were used to assess the relationships among brain structure, FSIQ and CSO behavior. Lower FSIQ performance was strongly predict with P+CSO (Wald Chi 2 = 13.0, p = 3.1 × 10 -5 ). P+CSO had lower CT in the right motor cortex and pronounced reductions in SA spanning the bilateral frontal, temporal, cingulate, and insular regions (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). P+CSO also had lower FA particularly in the corpus callosum (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). The relationship between SA and P+CSO was significantly mediated by FSIQ, particularly in the prefrontal and anterior insular cortices (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). Within P+CSO, left prefrontal and right anterior cingulate SA negatively correlated with number of CSOs (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). This study demonstrates converging neurobiological findings in which P+CSO had lower FSIQ performance, reduced CT, reduced SA, and reduced FA, compared to P-CSO as well as NPC. Further, FSIQ potentially mediates abuse by pedophiles via aberrant SA, whereas the CT and FA associations were independent of FSIQ differences. These findings suggest aberrant neuroanatomy and lower intelligence as a potential core feature underlying child sexual abuse behavior by pedophiles., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.)

Use of lithium ion batteries is currently the method of choice when it comes to local stationary storage of electrical energy. In the search for an alternative system, fluoride ion batteries (FIBs) emerge as a candidate due to their high theoretical capacity, and no lithium is needed for its operation. To improve the cycling performance and lower the working temperature of a solid-state battery, one of the critical components is the electrolyte, which needs advanced performance. This paper aims at developing an electrolyte with enhanced ionic conductivity for fluoride ions, to be used in a FIB. Tysonite La 1-x Ba x F 3-x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.15) solid solutions were synthesized by a facile wet chemical method, and its ionic conductivity was analyzed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. A composition study shows that the conductivity reaches a maximum of 1.26 × 10 -4 S·cm -1 at 60 °C for the La 0.95 Ba 0.05 F 2.95 pellet sintered at 800 °C for 20 h, which is 1 order of magnitude higher than that for the as-prepared pellet and 2 times higher than the conductivity of sintered ball-milled batches. The reason for this dramatic increment is the more efficient decrement of grain boundary resistance upon sintering. Morphological, chemical, and structural characterizations of solid electrolytes were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy , energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, physisorption by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, and transmission electron microscopy. Electrochemical testing was carried out for the FIB cell using La 0.95 Ba 0.05 F 2.95 as electrolyte due to its highest conductivity among the compositions, Ce as anode, and BiF 3 as a cathode. The cycling performance was found to be considerably improved when compared to our earlier work, which used the ball-milled electrolyte.

The viewing time method (VT) is an indirect measure of sexual interest in which participants are usually asked to rate the sexual attractiveness of target stimuli while their response latencies are unobtrusively measured. Higher response latencies for a certain group of depicted individuals indicate sexual interest in that group. Contrary to the general assumption that the picture content accounts for this effect by eliciting affect- or attention-based response delays, we hypothesized that the attractiveness rating task might be responsible for the VT effect. To test this hypothesis, we used two different tasks. Our heterosexual and homosexual male participants (N = 50) were instructed to rate the attractiveness or the sex of the depicted individuals. As expected, VT effects only emerged in attractiveness rating trials. Based on these findings, we conclude that VT effects are task dependent and are unlikely to be caused by affective or attentional processes (at least when participants are instructed to rate the attractiveness of target stimuli). We argue that rating tasks in VT measures cause participants to use affect independent response strategies. These response strategies seem to undermine stimulus-driven processes (like increased attention directed toward salient stimuli) which were thought to cause VT effects according to previous hypotheses.

Thus far, four studies have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to test for differences in brain structure between paedophilic (i.e. sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children) and teleiophilic (i.e. sexually attracted to adults) men, revealing divergent results. To re-examine this issue, we acquired high resolution structural T1-weighted and diffusion MRI scans of the brain in 24 paedophilic and 32 teleiophilic men. We performed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of the T1-weighted images and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) of the diffusion tensor imaging data to search for grey and white matter differences between groups. In contrast to previous studies, less than half of the individuals in our paedophilic group had a record of sexual offences against children, as subjects were partially recruited from two outpatient facilities of a child sexual abuse prevention project for self-acknowledged paedophiles. After adjustment for multiple comparisons and controlling for important confounding factors, we did not find any significant grey or white matter differences between the paedophilic and teleiophilic subjects. Together with the inconsistencies in the literature, these results argue against consistent structural differences at the macroanatomical scale between paedophiles and teleiophiles., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)