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Silicon (Si) and arsenite (iAsIII) share the same pathway of uptake and translocation in rice (Oryza sativaL.), and it has been reported that Si can decrease arsenic (As) uptake by rice in hydroponic culture. Due to the competitive sorption between Si and As for the soil minerals, different extents of effects on As toxicity and uptake by rice as influenced by soil Si application were found. In order to avoid the competitive sorption between Si and As for the soil minerals, foliar applications of Si might be a more efficient alternative to reduce As uptake by rice. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Si foliar and soil applications on the growth and As accumulation in rice seedlings. In this study, three application rates of Si (as sodium silicate) were applied to (1) the foliage and (2) the soil, of rice grown in two soils with different Si retention capacities and As contents. The results showed that there were no significant differences in Si concentrations in shoots among different Si foliar applications, and it had no significant effect on the growth and As accumulation in rice seedlings. In contrast, soil applications of Si caused a decrease in As accumulation in shoots grown in the tested soils, resulting from a high Si/As ratio in the soil pore water allowing enough Si to out-compete the As for uptake by roots. These results were further supported by the significant negative correlation found between Si and As in the shoots. However, a growth inhibition of rice plants was also observed due to As toxicity from the addition of excessive treatments of Si into As-contaminated soils. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that foliar applications of Si are not able to decrease As accumulation in rice seedlings, but that the application of moderate amounts of Si into As-contaminated soils could effectively reduce As uptake by rice seedlings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ventricular arrhythmia originating from the papillary muscle (VA-PM) is characterized by multiple exits and morphologic alternations. The conventional ablation strategy relies on activation mapping, but the results might be suboptimal.Objective: The purpose of this study was to propose a novel pacemapping strategy aimed at multiple exits using high-output software as a complementary approach to the conventional strategy.Methods: A consecutive 13 patients with VA-PM were enrolled in this study. Novel pacemapping based on an automatic matching algorithm and integrated electroanatomic mapping was used to quantify the morphology variation in these patients and to identify the potential exits of VA-PM. Complementary ablation targeting at the best matching site of each morphology was performed.Results: Twelve of 13 patients (92%) experienced morphologic alternation, and a total of 34 morphologies were detected (2.6 ± 1.0 per patient). A total of 23 (68%) morphologies were detected as spontaneous pleomorphic ventricular premature complexes (VPCs) before procedure, and 4 morphologies (12%) were induced under isoproterenol infusion. Another 7 of 34 morphologies (21%) could be found only after radiofrequency ablation attempts. Exits with a high pacemapping correlation index for corresponding morphology would be mapped, so preferential exits could be identified. Mean interexit distance was 15.1 ± 5.9 mm. Acute success rate was 100%. During mean follow-up of 12.2 ± 6.9 months, only 1 case recurred with ventricular tachycardia. Although 3 cases recurred with different VPC morphologies, the VPC burden decreased from 16.3% ± 8.8% to 2.6% ± 1.7%.Conclusion: This novel pacemapping strategy could effectively eliminate multiple exits as a complementary approach to the conventional strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The charge‐transport behavior of nanostructured titanium dioxide (TiO2) is of great interest because of the wide range of applications. In this work, we demonstrate a facile approach to improve electron transport in TiO2 nanorods (NRs) by introducing niobium (Nb) dopant into the lattice of TiO2. The TiO2‐NRs doped with Nb were grown directly on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates by a facile hydrothermal method and used directly as the photoanodes for water oxidation. The TiO2 nanorod electrode doped with 0.25 % of Nb showed 65 % improvement in photocurrent as compared with the pristine TiO2 nanorod electrode. Furthermore, by simply changing the light illuminating direction, the improvement of charge transport induced by Nb doping could be easily identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiconductor nanostructures with specially exposed reactive crystal facets are promising to promote photocatalytic/photoelectrochemical reactions. Here, we demonstrate that the introduction of niobium into TiO2 can modify TiO2 surface chemistry, which in turn influences the growth of TiO2 nanostructures from one-dimensional rutile nanorods at a low niobium doping concentration to two-dimensional anatase nanosheets at a high niobium doping concentration. Additionally, the electronic structure, optical properties, and surface activity for O2 adsorption are substantially influenced for Nb-doped TiO2 by electron donation from the niobium dopant, which significantly enhances the light-induced generation of super oxide radicals (O2−Ṗ), and thus improves the photocatalytic activity of Nb-doped TiO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response surface models (RSMs) are a new trend in modern anesthesia. RSMs have demonstrated significant applicability in the field of anesthesia. However, the comparative analysis between RSMs and logistic regression (LR) in different surgeries remains relatively limited in the current literature. We hypothesized that using a total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) technique with the response surface model (RSM) and logistic regression (LR) would predict the emergence from anesthesia in patients undergoing video-assisted thoracotomy surgery (VATS). This study aimed to prove that LR, like the RSM, can be used to improve patient safety and achieve enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS). This was a prospective, observational study with data reanalysis. Twenty-nine patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class II and III) who underwent VATS for elective pulmonary or mediastinal surgery under TIVA were enrolled. We monitored the emergence from anesthesia, and the precise time point of regained response (RR) was noted. The influence of varying concentrations was examined and incorporated into both the RSM and LR. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve area for Greco and LR models was 0.979 (confidence interval: 0.987 to 0.990) and 0.989 (confidence interval: 0.989 to 0.990), respectively. The two models had no significant differences in predicting the probability of regaining response. In conclusion, the LR model was effective and can be applied to patients undergoing VATS or other procedures of similar modalities. Furthermore, the RSM is significantly more sophisticated and has an accuracy similar to that of the LR model; however, the LR model is more accessible. Therefore, the LR model is a simpler tool for predicting arousal in patients undergoing VATS under TIVA with Remifentanil and Propofol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a photoelectrochemical cell, the most concerned issue in the nanostructured TiO2 electrode is the charge transport, which consists of the internal movement of electrons in TiO2 nanostructures and the intergrain charge transfer. Here, inspired by electrochemical studies on different polymorphs of TiO2, it is proposed to bridge the adjacent building blocks and fence the electron transport highways in TiO2 electrodes by surface rutilization of anatase nanorods. The ultrathin rutilized layer completely coated on the anatase surface has a slightly higher conduction band edge than that of anatase. The obtained surface rutilized anatase nanorods can not only improve the intergrain charge transfer while maintaining fast electron transport within anatase but also minimize the internal energy consumption and protect the electrons in TiO2 electrodes from recombination, which are beneficial to the charge collection and can significantly improve the photovoltaic performance of photoelectrochemical cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and earth abundant electrocatalysts for high-performance oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are essential for the development of sustainable energy conversion technologies. Here, a new hierarchical Ni-Co oxide nanostructure, composed of small secondary nanosheets grown on primary nanosheet arrays, is synthesized via a topotactic transformation of Ni-Co layered double hydroxide. The Ni3+-rich surface benefits the formation of NiOOH, which is the main redox site as revealed via in situ X-ray absorption near edge structure and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The Ni-Co oxide hierarchical nanosheets (NCO-HNSs) deliver a stable current density of 10 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of ≈0.34 V for OER with a Tafel slope of as low as 51 mV dec−1 in alkaline media. The improvement in the OER activity can be ascribed to the synergy of large surface area offered by the 3D hierarchical nanostructure and the facile formation of NiOOH as the main active sites on the surface of NCO-HNSs to decrease the overpotential and facilitate the catalytic reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]