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Background. Gastric cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the digestive system. It has a poor prognosis and is clinically challenging to treat. Ferroptosis is a newly defined mode of programmed cell death. The roles and prognostic value of ferroptosis-related long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in gastric cancer remain unknown. Results. In the current study, 20 ferroptosis-related lncRNAs were identified via univariate Cox analysis, least absolute shrinkage, and selection operator Cox regression analysis and used to construct a prognostic signature and classify gastric cancer patients into high-risk and low-risk groups. The signature was validated using TCGA training and testing cohorts. The risk signature was an independent prognostic indicator of survival and accurately predicted the prognoses of patients with gastric cancer. It was also associated with immune cell infiltration. Gene set enrichment analysis was used to investigate underlying mechanisms that the 20 ferroptosis-related lncRNAs were involved in. Chemosensitivity and immune checkpoint inhibitor analyses indicated that high-risk patients were more sensitive to the immune checkpoint inhibitor programmed cell death protein 1. Conclusions. The important role of ferroptosis-related lncRNAs in immune infiltration identified in the current study may assist the determination of personalized prognoses and treatments in patients with gastric cancer. These 20 lncRNAs can be used as the diagnostic and prognostic markers for gastric cancer.

Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been widely applied in patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (ANPC). However, limited imaging modality exists on the evaluation of early response to CRT. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate whether 3D pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (3D pCASL) perfusion imaging could predict early response to CRT in ANPC patients.Seventy ANPC patients who received CRT underwent pre-treatment MRI including 3D pCASL perfusion measurements, and were categorized into response group (RG) and no-response group (NRG) according to RECIST 1.1. Pre-treatment 3D pCASL derived cerebral blood flow (CBF) values in tumors were compared between RG and NRG patients. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the optimal diagnostic cutoff value for CBF in predicting tumor response to CRT. Clinicopathological variables were also analyzed by using univariate and binary logistic regression. The corresponding obtained variables with statistical significance were further applied to create a nomogram in which the bootstrap resampling method was used for calibration.Forty-eight patients in RG had significantly higher pre-treatment CBF values in tumors compared with 22 patients in NRG (P 0.001). CBF showed the high area under the ROC curve (AUC = 0.843) in distinguishing RG from NRG patients. The corresponding cutoff value for CBF was 103.68 ml/100 g/min, with respective accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 82.86%, 87.50% and 72.73%. The nomogram was generated by binary logistic regression results, incorporating three variables: CBF value, clinical stage and pathological type. The AUC, accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the nomogram was respectively 0.893, 84.28%, 81.25% and 90.91% in predicting tumor response to CRT. Moreover, as shown in the calibration curve, a strong agreement was observed between nomogram prediction probability and actual clinical findings (P = 0.309).3D pCASL derived CBF in tumor could act as a noninvasive effective biomarker to predict tumor response to CRT in ANPC patients before clinical treatment. Furthermore, the nomogram combining CBF and clinicopathological variables could serve as a novel clinical analysis tool for treatment response prediction.

Cross-sectional studies have reported that high sodium sensitivity is more common among individuals with hypertension. Experimental studies have also reported various animal models with sodium-resistant hypertension. It is unknown, however, whether sodium sensitivity and resistance precede the development of hypertension. We conducted a feeding study, including a 7-day low-sodium diet (1180 mg/day) followed by a 7-day high-sodium diet (7081 mg/day), among 1718 Chinese adults with blood pressure (BP) P P =0.006 for nonlinear trend). Furthermore, a J-shaped association between systolic BP responses to sodium intake and incident hypertension was identified ( P

Construction of Z-scheme heterostructure is of great significance for realizing efficient photocatalytic water splitting. However, the conscious modulation of Z-scheme charge transfer is still a great challenge. Herein, interfacial Mo-S bond and internal electric field modulated Z-scheme heterostructure composed by sulfur vacancies-rich ZnIn2S4 and MoSe2 was rationally fabricated for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Systematic investigations reveal that Mo-S bond and internal electric field induce the Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism as confirmed by the surface photovoltage spectra, DMPO spin-trapping electron paramagnetic resonance spectra and density functional theory calculations. Under the intense synergy among the Mo-S bond, internal electric field and S-vacancies, the optimized photocatalyst exhibits high hydrogen evolution rate of 63.21 mmol∙g−1·h−1 with an apparent quantum yield of 76.48% at 420 nm monochromatic light, which is about 18.8-fold of the pristine ZIS. This work affords a useful inspiration on consciously modulating Z-scheme charge transfer by atomic-level interface control and internal electric field to signally promote the photocatalytic performance. The construction of Z-scheme heterostructures is of great significance for realizing efficient photocatalytic water splitting. Here, the authors report an interfacial chemical bond and internal electric field modulated Z-Scheme Sv-ZnIn2S4/MoSe2 photocatalyst for efficient hydrogen evolution.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted healthcare systems worldwide. This study investigated cardiologists’ opinions on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted clinical practice patterns in atrial fibrillation (AF). A multicenter clinician survey, including demographic and clinical questions, was administered to 300 cardiologists from 22 provinces in China, in April 2022. The survey solicited information about their treatment recommendations for AF and their perceptions of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their clinical practice patterns for AF. The survey was completed by 213 cardiologists (71.0%) and included employees in tertiary hospitals (82.6%) and specialists with over 10 years of clinical cardiology practice (53.5%). Most respondents stated that there were reductions in the number of inpatients and outpatients with AF in their hospital during the pandemic. A majority of participants stated that the pandemic had impacted the treatment strategies for all types of AF, although to different extents. Compared with that during the assumed non-pandemic period in the hypothetical clinical questions, the selection of invasive interventional therapies (catheter ablation, percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion) was significantly decreased (all p < 0.05) during the pandemic. There was no significant difference in the selection of non-invasive therapeutic strategies (the management of cardiovascular risk factors and concomitant diseases, pharmacotherapy for stroke prevention, heart rate control, and rhythm control) between the pandemic and non-pandemic periods (all p > 0.05). The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the clinical practice patterns of AF. The selection of catheter ablation and percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion was significantly reduced, whereas pharmacotherapy was often stated as the preferred option by participating cardiologists.

Metal sulfide electrocatalyst is developed as a cost-effective and promising candidate for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, we report a novel Mo-doped Cu

Ruoyang Du,1 Qing Xiao,2 Jianfeng Huang,1 Wubing Feng,1 Xiangqi Zheng,1 Tong Yi1 1Department of Urology, Chongqing Emergency Medical Center, Chongqing University Central Hospital, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Tong Yi, Chongqing Emergency Medical Center, Chongqing University Central Hospital, No. 1, Jiankang Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400014, People’s Republic of China, Email tongy09@sina.comIntroduction: Introduction. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a common malignant tumor worldwide, and to explore, accurate prediction models are essential to the diagnosis and treatment.Methods: In the present study, the profile expression of RCC patients for long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were obtained from the database of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) showed that the gene sets related to autophagy are significantly differentially expressed among the paired normal tissues and RCC. Multivariate and univariate Cox analyses were used to construct the gene signature related to prognosis. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) dependent on the time factor and the Kaplan-Meier curves are used for evaluating identified signatures. For gene signature combination, a nomogram with associated clinical constraints was designed.Results: Multivariate and Univariate Cox analyses presented seven autophagy-related lncRNAs were significantly correlated with Overall Survival (OS) for people with RCC. Risk scores of lncRNA prognostic signature, related to autophagy helped in distinguishing the patients accurately among the low-risk and high-risk RCC based on age, sex, grade of tumor, T, M, N, and AJCC stages. The RCC condition patients, as per their signature were put into the category of low and high-risk groups, having varying prognostic outcomes. Gene signature is an independent prognosticator for OS, accurately predicting 3– 5 year survival time for RCC patients from either of the two groups. GSEA revealed that high-risk scores of the prognostic seven-long non-coding signature correlate with immune-regulatory and cancer, signaling pathways, whereas a low-risk score correlates with metabolism. The quantitative reverse chain reaction of transcription-polymerase verified differential expression of seven lncRNAs autophagy-related samples.Conclusion: The results depict that seven autophagy-related lncRNA prognostic signature helps in predicting the prognosis accurately among people with RCC.Keywords: autophagy, lncRNA, renal cell carcinoma, prognosis, GSEA

Ti3C2Tx materials have large specific surface area, high in-layer conductivity, strong conductivity loss and good electromagnetic absorption properties. However, the impedance matching characteristics of Ti3C2Tx still need to be further optimized. Through cross-linking reaction, a poly-dopamine (PDA) protective layer is coated on the surface of Ti3C2Tx, and then, the N-doped pyrolytic carbon (N-PyC)/Ti3C2Tx hybrids are fabricated by heat treatment with the obtained PDA-Ti3C2Tx. The results show that Ti3C2Tx coated with N-PyC layered has a low degree of oxidation and a high dielectric loss, which is attributed to the carbon coating as a protective layer consumes Ti3C2Tx surface functional groups and reduces the O-terminals of Ti3C2Tx produced during the heat treatment process, thereby reducing oxidation. The high conductivity Ti3C2Tx is compounded with the medium loss material N-PyC, which can optimize the impedance matching characteristics. On the flip side defect polarization caused by N atoms in N-PyC is propitious to dissipate electromagnetic waves. Hence, N-PyC/Ti3C2Tx hybrids exhibit good electromagnetic wave absorption properties. When the mass ratio is 21wt% and the thickness is 2.6 mm, the minimum reflection coefficient of N-PyC/Ti3C2Tx is -26.5 dB in X-band.

This article employs a Markovian regime-switching autoregressive approach to examine triangular arbitrage across forex and cryptocurrency markets during the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. The fin...

ObjectiveTo construct a polygenic risk score (PRS) for stroke and evaluate its utility in risk stratification and primary prevention for stroke.MethodsUsing a meta-analytic approach and large genome-wide association results for stroke and stroke-related traits in East Asians, we generated a combined PRS (metaPRS) by incorporating 534 genetic variants in a training set of 2,872 patients with stroke and 2,494 controls. We then validated its association with incident stroke using Cox regression models in large Chinese population-based prospective cohorts comprising 41,006 individuals.ResultsDuring a total of 367,750 person-years (mean follow-up 9.0 years), 1,227 participants developed stroke before age 80 years. Individuals with high polygenic risk had an about 2-fold higher risk of incident stroke compared with those with low polygenic risk (hazard ratio [HR] 1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.66–2.38), with the lifetime risk of stroke being 25.2% (95% CI 22.5%–27.7%) and 13.6% (95% CI 11.6%–15.5%), respectively. Individuals with both high polygenic risk and family history displayed lifetime risk as high as 41.1% (95% CI 31.4%–49.5%). Individuals with high polygenic risk achieved greater benefits in terms of absolute risk reductions from adherence to ideal fasting blood glucose and total cholesterol than those with low polygenic risk. Maintaining favorable cardiovascular health (CVH) profile could substantially mitigate the increased risk conferred by high polygenic risk to the level of low polygenic risk (from 34.6% to 13.2%).ConclusionsOur metaPRS has great potential for risk stratification of stroke and identification of individuals who may benefit more from maintaining ideal CVH.Classification of EvidenceThis study provides Class I evidence that metaPRS is predictive of stroke risk.

The definition of the graph Fourier transform is a fundamental issue in graph signal processing. Conventional graph Fourier transform is defined through the eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian matrix, which minimize the $\ell_2$ norm signal variation. However, the computation of Laplacian eigenvectors is expensive when the graph is large. In this paper, we propose an alternative definition of graph Fourier transform based on the $\ell_1$ norm variation minimization. We obtain a necessary condition satisfied by the $\ell_1$ Fourier basis, and provide a fast greedy algorithm to approximate the $\ell_1$ Fourier basis. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of the greedy algorithm. Moreover, the Fourier transform under the greedy basis demonstrates a similar rate of decay to that of Laplacian basis for simulated or real signals.

The intrinsic activity of catalysts is crucial for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction, which is essentially dependent on their crystal structure and surface electronic state. The vari...

A covalently bonded 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS)-TiO2 nanorods-woven carbon fiber (WCF) was designed though the in-situ hydrothermal growth followed by the chemical grafting. The silanization for TiO2 nanorods-WCF improved both the mechanical interlocking and chemical interaction among TiO2 nanorods, carbon fiber and phenolic, as well as the interfacial bonding between TiO2 nanorod and carbon fiber, thus formed an effective transition interface. The designed WCF offered a 157.1% increase of tensile strength compared to the desized-WCF. Moreover, the optimized interfacial binding and Si-based transfer film on worn surface leaded to the increased frictional coefficient and a 63.0% decrease of wear rate for composite under sliding frication. The APS-TiO2 nanorods-woven carbon fiber was proven to be an advanced reinforcement for wear-resistance phenolic composite.

Iron carbodiimide (FeNCN) belongs to a type of metal compounds with a more covalent bonding structure compared to common transition metal oxides. It could provide possibilities for various structural designs with improved charge-transfer kinetics in battery systems. Moreover, these possibilities are still highly expected for promoting enhancement in rate performance of sodium (Na)-ion battery. Herein, oriented FeNCN crystallites were grown on the carbon-based substrate with exposed {010} faces along the [001] direction (O-FeNCN/S). It provides a high Na-ion storage capacity with excellent rate capability (680 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 and 360 mAh g-1 at 20 A g-1), presenting rapid charge-transfer kinetics with high contribution of pseudocapacitance during a typical conversion reaction. This high rate performance is attributed to the oriented morphology of FeNCN crystallites. Its orientation along [001] maintains preferred Na-ion diffusion along the two directions in the entire morphology of O-FeNCN/S, supporting fast Na-ion storage kinetics during the charge/discharge process. This study could provide ideas toward the understanding of the rational structural design of metal carbodiimides for attaining high electrochemical performance in future.

The conversion chemistry of lithium–sulfur provides a high energy density (2600 Wh/kg), enabling lithium–sulfur batteries to be a promising energy storage system. Nevertheless, the dissolved lithiu...

Developing a high-activity, robust and economic electrocatalyst for large-scale green hydrogen production is still of great significance. Herein, a novel V6O13 nanosheets self-assembled micro-flower array self-supporting electrode is synthesized using a facile one-pot hydrothermal route. Owing to the large electrochemically active surface area of a unique hierarchical micro-flower and the stable all-in-one structure, the as-prepared V6O13/NF electrode delivers impressive HER activity with extremely low overpotentials of 125 and 298 mV at large current densities of 100 and 1000 mA cm−2, respectively, and a long-term durability for at least 90 h in an alkaline condition. This work extends the application of vanadium oxides to the realm of electrocatalytic hydrogen fuel production.

Owing to the high expenses and numerous potential avenues for formula research in ceramic production, obtaining cost-effective and high-quality ceramic formulas for high-performance ceramics poses significant challenges. To address this issue, a flux formula optimization procedure is proposed to develop the predictive ceramic formula P18, which allows precise control of the Al/Si ratio and is compatible with standard manufacturing processes. This cost-effective method enables the visual examination of ceramics’ physical, mechanical and thermodynamic properties. It is found that sintering temperature plays a crucial role in phase and microstructure evolution by classical phenomenological kinetic theory. Moreover, the sintered sample P18 exhibits remarkable mechanical performance, with a strength of 96.82 ± 2.0 MPa and fracture toughness of 1.89 ± 0.02 MPa·m1/2. These outstanding properties can be attributed to the reinforcing effects of multiple phases, such as high-strength corundum and in situ mullite whiskers. The mechanical mechanisms of the resulting ceramic tiles include particle reinforcement, microcrack deflection, intergranular and transgranular fracture, and in situ mullite whisker bridge pull-out, which collectively contribute to increase energy consumption per unit length, thus reducing the risk of brittle fractures.

To effectively improve the electrochemical performance of lithium-ion batteries through the design and manufacture of a new structure of composite electrode materials. Hence, in this work, we prepared a structure that Ge nanoparticles encapsulate in carbon spheres by a simple two-step method. When applied as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, which serves a specific capacity of 529 mAh g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1 after 100 cycles with the Coulomb efficiency (CE) of over 99.8%. Otherwise, it also obtains preferable cycling stability and rate capability. Its prominent advantages in the electrochemical performance of Ge/C can be due to the synergy between carbon spheres and Ge nanoparticles: including highly electrical conductivity carbon spheres and the coated structure, which can reduce the volume change of Germanium nanoparticles. At the same time, we also provide a novel structure design method for those electrode materials that suffer from huge volume expansion in the course of charging and discharging to suppress their volume expansion, so that they can be better used or create more efficient and practical electrodes.

To meet the ever-increasing demand for higher energy density and power density, developing cathode materials with high specific capacity has become an urgent problem. V2O5 has been considered as one of the most promising cathodes for its high theoretical specific capacity (443 mAh g−1), abundant source, and low cost. In this work, cobalt-doped vanadium pentoxide (Co-V2O5) microflowers were synthesized through a simple solvothermal method. The doped Co not only improves the electronic conductivity but also increases the diffusion coefficient of the lithium ions. Benefiting from the appropriate amount of Co doping, the charge transfer impedance decreases from 51 to 28 Ω and the diffusion coefficient of the lithium ions increased from 2.81×10−17 cm2 s−1 to 3.31×10−16 cm2 s−1. The optimal Co-V2O5 microflowers deliver a high reversible capacity of 166 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles.

Layer-structured α-MoO3 with high theoretical capacity (1117 mAh g−1) is considered as one of the alternative anode materials for LIBs. However, the repeated insertion/extraction of Li+ often causes irregularly exfoliated layer structure of α-MoO3, especially the multiple-direction interlayer Li+ insertion/extraction shows rapid capacity decay. In this work, we achieve regularly exfoliated layer structure by inducing [100]-orientated plate-like α-MoO3 during high-temperature calcinations process. This regularly exfoliated layer structure is dominated by the optimized [100] single-direction Li+ interlayer diffusion way caused by the induced orientation growth. As anode for LIBs, the plate-like α-MoO3 exhibits capacity retention of 86.7% from 1st to 300th, showing enhanced stability of Li storage performance. This work indicates that inducing orientation growth of electrode material to optimize lithium-ion diffusion path can achieve regular exfoliation of layer structure, which can enhance the stability of Li storage performance. This conclusion can be used as a good reference for enhancing stability of layer-structured electrodes by structure design.

The rational design and construction of noble-metal-free electrocatalysts with high activity and robust durability for oxygen evolution reactions (OERs) have aroused immense interest in the past decades, but challenges remain. Herein, a reduction-induced dissolution–recrystallization (RIDR) strategy was developed to fabricate a defect-rich yolk–shell Prussian-blue analogue (YS-PBA) by a solvothermal process in isopropyl alcohol (IPA) in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The experimental result indicated that the defect-rich YS-PBA was formed via phase transformation from Co3[FeIII(CN)6]2 to Co2FeII(CN)6 induced by the reduction potential of the IPA-PVP couple. The newly synthesized YS-PBA exhibited outstanding OER performance with a low overpotential of 293 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and long-term durability (120 h) in alkaline media. Both experimental and density functional theory (DFT) results unveiled that the defects formed in YS-PBA cause a dramatic positive effect on the improvement of the OER activity.

The development of cost-effective, high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalysts as alternatives to the state-of-the-art Pt-based materials toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great significance but still challenging. Herein, an advanced bifunctional electrocatalyst is presented, composed of Fe2P encapsulated in carbon nanowalls decorated with well-dispersed Fe3C nanodots (denoted as Fe2P@Fe3C/CNTs), which is achieved by a novel “inside-out” gas–solid reaction protocol. When functioning as a cathodic catalyst for water splitting, the Fe2P@Fe3C/CNT catalyst needs an ultralow overpotential of 83 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2, shows a small Tafel slope of 53 mV dec−1 and ensures long-term stability for over 200 h in an alkaline electrolyte. Notably, the Fe2P@Fe3C/CNT catalyst exhibits an extremely impressive ORR performance with an onset potential (Eonset) of 1.060 V and a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.930 V, excellent stability (≈94% activity retention after 36 000 s), and a strong methanol resistance ability, even far outperforming commercial Pt/C (Eonset = 0.955 V, E1/2 = 0.825 V, ≈75% activity retention after less than 3500 s). Such outstanding HER and ORR performances are mainly ascribed to the improved corrosion resistance of the unique Fe2P@C core–shell structures, the abundant catalytically active sites of ultrasmall Fe3C nanodots incorporated in carbon nanowalls, and the good electrical conductivity of 2D graphitic carbon nanotubes used as a support.

Developing advanced negative and positive electrode materials for asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) as electrochemical energy storage devices can enable the device to reach high energy/power densities resulting from the cooperative effect of the two electrodes. In this work, a nanochain-like hybrid nanostructured composite of MoO3 with rich oxygen vacancies (MoO3−x) in situ grown on N-doped graphene nanotubes (N-GNTs) is synthesized as the negative electrode for an ASC. It can deliver a large specific capacitance (591 F g−1 at 2 A g−1), as well as an outstanding rate capability. Simultaneously, N-GNTs@Na+-preinserted MnO2 (NaxMnO2) nanosheet arrays are fabricated as the positive electrode of the ASC, which can exhibit an enhanced specific capacitance of 429 F g−1 with a wide potential window of 0–1.2 V. When these two different electrodes are assembled in an ASC, a maximum energy density of 105 W h kg−1 at 2.2 kW kg−1, and an ultralong lifespan with 95.4% capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles are achieved, which are superior to those of the reported ASC devices to date. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that benefitting from the designed vacancy defects and unique N-GNT skeleton, the electronic structure and adsorption energy can be adjusted to greatly boost the electrical conductivity and ion adsorption efficiency and subsequently enhance the capacitive properties of the electrodes in the ASC.

In this paper we consider the limit cycles of the planar system \begin{document}$ \begin{align*} \frac{d}{dt}(x,y) = \boldsymbol X_n+\boldsymbol X_m, \end{align*} $\end{document} where \begin{document}$ \boldsymbol X_n $\end{document} and \begin{document}$ \boldsymbol X_m $\end{document} are quasi-homogeneous vector fields of degree \begin{document}$ n $\end{document} and \begin{document}$ m $\end{document} respectively. We prove that under a new hypothesis, the maximal number of limit cycles of the system is \begin{document}$ 1 $\end{document} . We also show that our result can be applied to some systems when the previous results are invalid. The proof is based on the investigations for the Abel equation and the generalized-polar equation associated with the system, respectively. Usually these two kinds of equations need to be dealt with separately, and for both equations, an efficient approach to estimate the number of periodic solutions is constructing suitable auxiliary functions. In the present paper we introduce a formula on the divergence, which allows us to construct an auxiliary function of one equation with the auxiliary function of the other equation, and vice versa.

We report the in situ generation of NiCoV-LTH on nickel foam for the HER. Interestingly, the introduction of Co into NiV-LDH can induce the formation of porous nanosheets to expose a large number of active sites and change the electron density around Ni and V to promote the absorption of hydrogen species and thus accelerate the HER kinetics.

Building composite structures of hollow metal sulfides and carbon material is considered an effective strategy for improving the performance of sodium storage. However, most of these composite structures are implemented using complex hard-templating and multiple-step methods. Moreover, the mechanism for enhancing the electrochemistry of carbon materials in hollow structures is not clear. In this work, a carbon-supported hollow tungsten disulfide (WS2) cuboid composite structure (marked H-WS2) was synthesized in one step by a self-templating method. On the one hand, the hollow composite structure can alleviate the volume changes during the charging and discharging processes, showing good structural stability. On the other hand, the pyrolytic carbon and nanosheet structure can effectively promote the transport of electrons/ions, exhibiting fast reaction kinetics. The H-WS2 electrode showed improved electrochemical performance for sodium storage. A high reversible capacity was achieved, 353.2 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 200 mA g−1. At a high current density of 5.0 A g−1, the reversible capacity of 236.7 mA h g−1 was still achieved. This work provides new insight into the synthesis of hollow metal sulfides and carbon composite structures.

In this work, the SnS2 nanoflakes electrode materials have been synthesized using citric acid as chelating agent for lithium-ions battery by a facile microwave hydrothermal method. Citric acid can form a strong ligand for metal ions, and the crystals growth is controlled by the interaction between ligand and hydrogen bond, which affects the nucleation, growth, and self-assembly in the synthesis process. Therefore, the SnS2 nanoflakes electrodes were obtained with the size and thickness of around 100–200 nm and ~ 30 nm, respectively. The SnS2 nanoflakes electrode delivers the initial discharge capacity of 1485.8 mAh g−1, the reversible capacity of 327.3 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles, and the Coulombic efficiency (CE) of about 99.8%. The prominent rate capability was exhibited for lithium-ion battery (387.5 mAh g−1 and 339.7 mAh g−1 at 800 and 1000 mA g−1, respectively). The outstanding electrochemical performance and high capacity retention rate mainly are ascribed to the fast charges, lithium-ions diffusion, and stable structure for SnS2 nanoflakes. This work could provide a potential approach to promote the electrochemical performances of sulfides electrode materials for lithium-ions battery.

Developing cost-effective, highly-active and robust electrocatalysts is of vital importance to supersede noble-metal ones for both hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) and oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs). Herein, a unique vanadium-mediated space confined strategy is reported to construct a composite structure involving Co/Co9S8 nanoparticles anchored on Co–N-doped porous carbon (VCS@NC) as bifunctional electrocatalysts toward HER and ORR. Benefitting from the ultrafine nanostructure, abundant Co–Nx active sites, large specific surface area and defect-rich carbon framework, the resultant VCS@NC exhibits unexceptionable HER catalytic activity, needing extremely low HER overpotentials in pH-universal media (alkaline: 117 mV, acid: 178 mV, neutral: 210 mV) at a current density of 10 mA cm−2, paralleling at least 100 h catalytic durability. Notably, the VCS@NC catalyst delivers high-efficiency ORR performance in alkaline solution, accompanied with a quite high half wave potential of 0.901 V, far overmatching the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Our research opens up novel insight into engineering highly-efficient multifunctional non-precious metal electrocatalysts by a metal-mediated space-confined strategy in energy storage and conversion system.

Both biomass carbon and titanium dioxide are beneficial for enhancing the capturing capacities and conversion capacities of polysulfides and achieving excellent lithium–sulfur battery performance. However, the binding ability between highly polar titanium dioxide and weakly polar biomass carbon is weak. The sulfur-loading capacity of titanium dioxide/biomass carbon composite structures is limited and a large number of polysulfides produce shuttle effects. How to enhance the binding ability of titanium dioxide and biomass carbon to achieve high sulfur-loading is an issue that needed to be solved. In this paper, we introduce cobalt into the surface of titanium dioxide/biomass carbon composite structures, adjust the cobalt–titanium molar ratio and obtain composite structures with the strongest binding abilities. The composite structure has high specific capacity and good cycling stability. After 500 cycles at 1.7 A g−1, the reversible capacity is still close to 400 mA h g−1. The high capacity and good cycling stability depend on the ability of composite structures to capture multiple polysulfides and achieve reversible conversion.

What is already known about this topic? Short-term PM2.5 exposure has been associated with hourly, 24-hour, daytime, and nighttime blood pressure (BP) levels, and further studies focusing whether and how the associations with other ambulatory BP monitoring indicators are warranted. What is added by this report? This study observed that short-term PM2.5 exposure was associated with BP elevations and was the first to report the associations of short-term PM2.5 exposure with BP variability. Circadian rhythm of BP and BP load among hypertensive patients were found to be modified by controlled BP status or taking angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). What are the implications for public health practice? This study suggested that antihypertensive therapy, especially with well-controlled BP status may be potential measurements to attenuate adverse impacts of PM2.5 for hypertensive patients with intermediate-to-high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

A highly sensitive electrochemical biosensor was manufactured with triple synergistic catalysis to detect hydrogen peroxide (H

Mango is an evergreen plant belonging to the genus Mangifera of the Anacardiaceae family. Genus Mangifera has 69 species of Mangifera around the world that are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical countries, including India, Indonesia, the Malay Peninsula, Thailand, and South China. It is a popular tropical fruit known as the “King of Tropical Fruits”. However, the study of the structure information of the complete chloroplast genome of Mangifera was microscopic, there was no report about the comparison of SSR, Ka/Ks, codons analysis and RNA editing, so in this study, we sequenced the 6 Mangifera samples and used three different ways to analyze the relationship of 6 species of Mangifera. Then we got some results, through the RNA editing and Ka/Ks calculating, we found the species could be divided into two groups, and the difference between the two groups was protein-coding gene ccsA. Moreover, all RNA editing occurred conversion of C to T and the gene ndhB had the most RNA editing sites in all species. In Ka/Ks analysis, the gene atpB, cemA, clpP, ndhD, petD, petB and ycf15 would be suffered from the positive selection after divergence. We also find the IR regions in these seven samples were very conservation through IR contraction and expansion and Sequence Divergence Analysis. Finally, we tried to confirm the relationship between 7 samples of Mangifera in Angiosperms in 3 different ways. Then we got that ML210 and MP090 had a closer relationship than others, MS796 had a closer relationship with ML210 and MP090 than others. At the same time, the method of phylogenetic analysis based on the gene ycf2 was not more accurate at the genus level than the method based on complete cp genome and proteincoding genes.

The development of low-cost and high-efficient electrocatalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly desirable and challenging. Herein, the novel V-doped Ni3S2/NiS heterostructure nanorod arrays grown on nickel foam (VNS/NF-WM) are synthesized via a facile methanol-assisted hydrothermal method. We demonstrate that the morphology, phase composition, and crystallinity of VNS/NF are well modulated by tuning the ratios of water/methanol solvent. The optimized VNS/NF-WM-heterostructured nanorod (volume ratio of water/methanol is 3:1) exhibits superior HER electrocatalytic activity with low overpotentials of 85 and 218 mV to yield current density values of 10 and 100 mA cm-2, respectively, meanwhile sustaining an excellent stability with almost an unchanged current density of 10 mA cm-2 for 60 h. Our work offers fresh insights into the rational design of highly active and stable earth-abundant-heterostructured electrocatalysts for the hydrogen fuel production.

Ablation of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites was investigated in a nitrogen plasma torch with a heat flux of ∼25 MW/m2. The reaction products of carbon in C/C composites and nitrogen plasma jet were calculated based on the principle of free energy minimum. The calculated results show that the thermal chemical ablation and sublimation of carbon occur and Cn(g) (n = 1–3), CN(g), C2N(g) and C2N2(g) may be the major reaction products consuming carbon. Ablation is apt to begin at the interfaces, especially the fibre-matrix interface and interfaces inside the matrix. Ablation of C/C composites is mainly controlled by the thermal chemical ablation, sublimation of carbon, and mechanical breakage. The formation of needle-shaped fibres and shell-shaped matrices is attributed to both the thermal chemical ablation and sublimation of carbon, while carbon fragments and fractured fibres or matrices result from the mechanical breakage.

A green and natural biomass carbon with hollow structure was first reported derived from waste makeup cotton, which was prepared by facile pyrolysis and carbonisation in the nitrogen-filled vacuum tube furnace. Utilised as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) anode materials, the hollow structure exhibits superior cycling and rate performance. At the current density of 100 mA g−1, it demonstrates a reversible capacity of 340 mAh g−1 with the Coulombic efficiency of 58.8%, and the reversible capacity gradually increases to 450 mAh g−1 at 300 cycles, displaying long cycling stability. Even at a higher current density of 500 mA g−1, the capacity can be maintained around 245 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles. Moreover, the hollow carbon exhibits excellent rate capability (222 mAh g−1 at an ultrahigh rate of 2000 mA g−1). This enhanced property can be attributed to its special hollow structure, which could provide fast lithium ions and electrons transfer path to facilitate the electrochemical reaction. The authors believe this work could help to design new carbon materials with green and environmental protection as anode materials for LIBs.

This paper investigates the limit cycles for planar differential system x˙=λx−y+Pn(x,y), y˙=x+λy+Qn(x,y), where Pn(x,y),Qn(x,y) are homogeneous polynomials of degree n. Using the method of upper an...

BACKGROUND Differentiating nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) from nasopharyngeal lymphoma (NPL) is useful for deciding the appropriate treatment. However, the diagnostic accuracy of current imaging methods is low. PURPOSE To explore the feasibility of arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion imaging in the qualitative and quantitative differentiation between NPC and NPL to improve the diagnosis of malignancies in the nasopharynx. STUDY TYPE Retrospective. POPULATION Ninety seven patients: NPC (65 cases) and NPL (32 cases), histologically confirmed. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE 3T/3D fast spin echo pseudo-continuous ASL imaging with spiral readout scheme, 3D inverse recovery- fast spoiled gradient recalled echo brain volume (BRAVO) imaging. ASSESSMENT Cerebral blood flow (CBF) images from ASL perfusion imaging were assessed by three radiologists. Each tumor was visually scored based on CBF images. Intratumoral CBF and intramuscular CBF values were obtained from intratumoral and lateral pterygoid muscle areas, respectively. Through dividing intratumoral CBF by intramuscular CBF, normalized CBF (nCBF) was further calculated. STATISTICAL TESTS Fleiss's kappa and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to assess interobserver agreement among the three readers. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare visual scoring, and an unpaired t-test was performed to compare CBF value between the NPC and NPL groups. The area under the curve (AUC) value was used to quantify the diagnostic ability of each parameter. RESULTS Good interobserver agreements were validated by high Fleiss's kappa and ICC values (all >0.80). NPCs showed significantly higher visual scores than NPLs (P