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Lithium-rich oxide cathode material focuses the attention of many researchers due to its excellent electrochemical performance for lithium–ion batteries. Further improvement on the performance with a strong operability approach can be beneficial to its industrialization and commercialization. In this work, the effect of powder compaction pressure in sintering process on the electrochemical performance of Li[Formula: see text]Mn[Formula: see text]Ni[Formula: see text]Co[Formula: see text]O2 cathode material is investigated. Four cathode materials under different powder compaction pressure are synthesized by sol–gel method. The XRD analysis results reveal their consistency on the crystal structure. But there is a slight difference on particle size and microstructure found by SEM analysis. Electrochemical tests show that a cathode material under medium compaction pressure exhibits the best performance with a discharge capacity of 170.3 mAh⋅g[Formula: see text] at the rate of 200 mA⋅g[Formula: see text] with 89.35% retention after 100 cycles. This work reveals that the powder compaction pressure does have influence on the cycle and rate performance and this relation is not proportional and linear.

Background Previous studies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have focused on populations with normal immunity, but lack data on immunocompromised populations. Objective To evaluate the clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 pneumonia in kidney transplant recipients. Design, setting, and participants A total of 10 renal transplant recipients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia were enrolled in this retrospective study. In addition, 10 of their family members diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia were included in the control group. Intervention Immunosuppressant reduction and low-dose methylprednisolone therapy. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis The clinical outcomes (the severity of pneumonia, recovery rate, time of virus shedding, and length of illness) were compared with the control group by statistical analysis. Results and limitations The clinical symptomatic, laboratory, and radiological characteristics of COVID-19 pneumonia in the renal transplant recipients were similar to those of severe COVID-19 pneumonia in the general population. The severity of COVID-19 pneumonia was greater in the transplant recipients than in the control group (five severe/three critical cases vs one severe case). Five patients developed transient renal allograft damage. After a longer time of virus shedding (28.4 ± 9.3 vs 12.2 ± 4.6 d in the control group) and a longer course of illness (35.3 ± 8.3 vs 18.8 ± 10.5 d in the control group), nine of the 10 transplant patients recovered successfully after treatment. One patient developed acute renal graft failure and died of progressive respiratory failure. Conclusions Kidney transplant recipients had more severe COVID-19 pneumonia than the general population, but most of them recovered after a prolonged clinical course and virus shedding. Findings from this small group of cases may have important implications for the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia in immunosuppressed populations. Patient summary Immunosuppressed transplant recipients with coronavirus disease 2019 infection had more severe pneumonia, but most of them still achieved a good prognosis after appropriate treatment.

Aiming at the problem that the mental health of contemporary college students is affected by many parties, and the evaluation accuracy and evaluation effect are poor, an online evaluation method of college students’ mental health based on campus network text mining is proposed. Mining and analyzing the association rules of the association features between texts, analyzing the monitoring quantitative index of the online evaluation of college students’ mental health; based on the regional transfer coefficient of existing mental health text information, the influencing factors of college students’ mental health are determined, and the online evaluation model of college students’ mental health is constructed. The membership degree of the factors is comprehensively calculated, and the corresponding fuzzy consistent matrix is used to compare the quantitative results of the index scales, and the interval number judgment matrix is constructed, which corresponds to the interval number weight of each secondary evaluation index one-to-one. The weight of the indicators is divided into the mental health assessment level, and the online assessment of college students’ mental health is completed. The experimental results show that the evaluation accuracy of the design method is more than 97.36%, the recall rate is more than 97%, and the highest packet loss rate is less than 0.3%, which proves that the online evaluation results of college students in this method are more accurate and that the accuracy and effect of the online evaluation of college students’ mental health are improved.

Recent studies have emphasized the role of vascular adventitia inflammation and immune response in hypertension. It has been reported that stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) plays various biological functions through its receptors C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and CXCR7 in tumor growth and tissue repair. However, it is unclear that whether SDF-1/CXCR4/CXCR7 axis is involved in hypertensive vascular remodeling. In the present study, the involvement of SDF-1/CXCR4/CXCR7 axis was evaluated with lentivirus-mediated shRNA of SDF-1 and CXCR7, CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100 and CXCR7 agonist VUF11207 in angiotensin II (AngII)-induced hypertensive mice and in cultured adventitial fibroblasts (AFs). Results showed that AngII infusion markedly increased SDF-1 expressed in vascular adventitia, but not in media and endothelium. Importantly, blockade of SDF-1/CXCR4 axis strikingly potentiated AngII-induced adventitial thickening and fibrosis, as indicated by enhanced collagen I deposition. In contrast, CXCR7 shRNA largely attenuated AngII-induced adventitial thickness and fibrosis, whereas CXCR7 activation with VUF11207 significantly potentiated AngII-induced adventitial thickening and fibrosis. In consistent with these in vivo study, CXCR4 inhibition with AMD3100 and CXCR7 activation with VUF11207 aggravated AngII-induced inflammation, proliferation and migration in cultured AFs. In summary, these results suggested that SDF-1 exerted opposing effects through CXCR4 and CXCR7 in AngII-induced vascular adventitial remodeling.

A D-band extended interaction klystron amplifier is investigated. A traveling wave structure is adopted as the input and output structure to improve the bandwidth. When the operating voltage is 22 kV, and current is 0.3 A. The simulation results show that a maximum output power of 450 W is obtained with the input power of 31.25 mW, the corresponding gain is 41.5 dB, efficiency is 6.8%, and a 3-dB bandwidth of about 600 MHz can be achieved. Our work provides a feasible method to the improvement of bandwidth for the extended interaction klystron amplifier.

There has been a global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) since December 2019. In clinical practice, not only fever and respiratory tract symptoms but also multiple organ symptoms are observed in patients diagnosed with COVID‐19. Herein, we report a rare case of a patient diagnosed with COVID‐19 who manifested with concomitant neurological symptoms. The patient developed fever and respiratory symptoms at disease onset, followed by muscle soreness, and subsequently altered consciousness and psychiatric symptoms, with positive signs based on neurological examination. The patient tested positive for the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) nucleic acid (throat swab). Further, chest computed tomography (CT) revealed typical COVID‐19 findings, and head CT did not reveal significant abnormalities. The patient recovered after treatment and was discharged. This rare case indicates that SARS‐CoV‐2 can invade the central nervous system, thus causing neurological symptoms and signs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Layered Li-rich oxide, Li[Li0.13Mn0.56Ni0.31]O2 is prepared by oxalic acid co-crystallisation method (OA). Physical characterisations reveal that the obtained material is uniform grape-like micro-nano spherical structure with diameter of about 5 μm, composed of 200–300 nm particles. Galvanostatic charge/discharge tests demonstrate enhanced cycling stability and largely increased rate capability of the material synthesised by OA, compared to that of solid-state method (SS).

A novel composite of layered lithium-rich oxide, Li-Rich@Li 3 PO 4 , coated with Li 3 PO 4 is synthesized through polydopamine template method. Physical characterizations reveal that Li-Rich@Li 3 PO 4 is composed of nanoparticles of 100–200 nm that are coated with a uniform Li 3 PO 4 layer of about 5 nm in thickness. Galvanostatic charge/discharge tests demonstrate enhanced cycling stability and largely increased rate capability of the material after Li 3 PO 4 coating.

Ets-1 is a member of the Ets family of transcription factors and has critical roles in multiple biological functions. Structural kidney defects occur at an increased frequency in Jacobsen syndrome (OMIM #147791), a rare chromosomal disorder caused by deletions in distal 11q, implicating at least one causal gene in distal 11q. In this study, we define an 8.1 Mb "critical region" for kidney defects in Jacobsen syndrome, which spans ~50 genes. We demonstrate that gene-targeted deletion of Ets-1 in mice results in some of the most common congenital kidney defects occurring in Jacobsen syndrome, including: duplicated kidney, hypoplastic kidney, and dilated renal pelvis and calyces. Taken together, our results implicate Ets-1 in normal mammalian kidney development and, potentially, in the pathogenesis of some of the most common types of human structural kidney defects.

A novel composite of layered lithium-rich oxide with AlF3 and graphene, Li-Rich@AlF3@Graphene, is synthesized as high performance cathode of lithium ion battery in terms of rate capability and cyclic stability. Physical characterizations from X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope, demonstrate that the layered lithium-rich oxide in Li-Rich@AlF3@Graphene is composed of uniform nanoparticles of 100 nm, which are coated with a layer of 2 nm AlF3 and wrapped with graphene sheets. Charge/discharge tests indicate that the naked lithium-rich oxide exhibits poor cyclic stability and rate capability as cathode of lithium ion battery, which can be improved to some extent by the only contribution of AlF3 but significantly by the concurrent contribution of AlF3 and graphene.

In this work, trimethylboroxine is used as electrolyte additive to improve the electrode/electrolyte interface stability of LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (LNCM) cathode for high voltage lithium ion battery. Charge/discharge tests show that addition of 3% TMB is the optimal amount for LNCM. After 300 cycled at 1C rate under the cut-off charge voltage of 4.5 V, the LNCM with 3% TMB achieves a capacity retention of 99%, compared to the 40% of that using STD electrolyte (1 M LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate/diethyl carbonate /dimethyl carbonate). The results from LSV, EIS and physical characterizations, including SEM, TEM, XPS and ICP–MS, demonstrate that TMB oxidizes preferentially to the STD electrolyte, and catalyzes the decomposition of base electrolyte subsequently, generating a thin and low impedance film on the LNCM surface, which effectively stabilizes the electrode/electrolyte interface by suppressing the continuous oxidation of STD electrolyte and the dissolution of LNCM, and hence, improves the cyclic and rate performances of LNCM under high voltage.

We report a novel composite, sulfur supported by multi-walled carbon nanotubes and coated with polyaniline (denoted as MWCNTs-S@PANI), as cathode of lithium-sulfur battery. MWCNTs-S is prepared by loading sulfur on MWCNTs via chemical deposition and coated with polyaniline via in situ polymerization under the control of ascorbic acid. The physical and electrochemical performances of the resulting MWCNTs-S@PANI are investigated by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and charge/discharge test. It is found that MWCNTs-S@PANI exhibits good cyclic stability and rate capability compared to MWCNTs-S as cathode of lithium-sulfur battery.

A hierarchically porous layered lithium-rich oxide, 0.5Li 2 MnO 3 ·0.5LiMn 1/3 Ni 1/3 Co 1/3 O 2 , is synthesized by co-precipitation of metal oxalates with an assistance of a moderate polyethylene glycol (PEG2000). The morphology and crystal structure of the product are characterized by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and its performance as cathode of lithium ion battery is evaluated with charge/discharge tests. It is found that the as-synthesized oxide exhibits excellent rate capability and cyclic stability: delivering an initial discharge capacity of 262 mAh g −1 at 0.1C (1C = 250 mA g −1 ) and 135 mAh g −1 at 4C, and possessing a capacity retention of 83% after 200 cycles at 4C. These performances can be attributed to the unique structure of the as-synthesized oxide: uniform secondary microspheres of about 10 μm, which is composed of uniform primary microparticles of about 2 μm, and hierarchically porous structure with pores distributed among primary and secondary particles. The hierarchically porous structure provides large reaction sites for lithium ion insertion/extraction and large space to buffer the volume change during cycling, leading to the excellent rate capability and cyclic stability of the as-synthesized oxide.

With an aim to broaden the understanding of factors influencing oxygen loss, reversible capacity, and cyclic stability of lithium-rich layered oxide cathodes for lithium ion batteries, a series of Fe substituted Li[Li0.2Ni0.13Mn0.54Co0.13]O2 samples, Li[Li0.2Ni0.13-x/2Mn0.54-x/2Co0.13Fe x ]O2 (x = 0, 0.02, 0.04, and 0.08) and Li[Li0.2Ni0.13Mn0.54Co0.13-y Fe y ]O2 (y = 0, 0.02, 0.04, and 0.06), have been synthesized with a hydroxide co-precipitation method and comparatively studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and charging/discharging measurements. The results indicate that with increasing the Fe substitution for either Co3+ or [Ni0.5Mn0.5]3+, the oxygen loss during the first charge dramatically decreases, leading to the decrease in reversible capacity. Interestingly, the substitution for Co3+ can significantly suppress the voltage decay of the material with extended cycling. For instance, the decayed voltage in 30 cycles is 0.21 V for Li[Li0.2Ni0.13Mn0.54Co0.13]O2, while only 0.11 V for Li[Li0.2Ni0.13Mn0.54Co0.07Fe0.06]O2. The suppression mechanism is discussed.

A layered lithium-rich oxide, Li[Li0.19Mn0.32Co0.49]O2, is synthesized by introducing manganese and cobalt via oxalates co-crystallization in reverse micellar microemulsion. The physical and electrochemical performances of the as-synthesized oxide are evaluated as cathode of lithium ion battery. The physical characterizations, from X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope, indicate that the as-synthesized oxide takes a nanorod morphology of up to 1 μm in length and 200 nm in diameter, which is composed of about 20 nm subunit nanoparticles, and possesses a hierarchical pore structure. Electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the as-synthesized oxide exhibits improved charge/discharge performances: less polarization, larger discharge capacity, higher rate capability, and better cyclic stability, compared to the sample synthesized by introducing the transition metals in solid-state reaction.

We report a composite (CG-S@PANI), sulfur (S) loaded in curved graphene (CG) and coated with conductive polyaniline (PANI), as a cathode for lithium–sulfur batteries. CG is prepared by splitting multi-wall carbon nanotubes and loaded with S via chemical deposition and then coated with polyaniline via in situ polymerization under the control of ascorbic acid. The physical and electrochemical performances of the resulting CG-S@PANI are investigated by nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, transmission electron microscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, charge–discharge tests, and electronic conductivity measurements. CG-S@PANI as a cathode for lithium–sulfur batteries delivers an initial discharge capacity of 851 mA h g−1 (616 mA h g−1 on the basis of the cathode mass) at 0.2 C with a capacity retention of over 90% after 100 cycles. This nature is attributed to the co-contribution of CG and conductive PANI to the concurrent improvement in electronic conductivity and chemical stability of the sulfur cathode.

Lithium terephthalate (Li2C8H4O4, PTAL), a carboxylate-based organic electrode material, displays high reversible capacity of up to 248 mA h g−1 and long cycle life, which is promoted by graphene as a sustainable anode material for lithium ion batteries.

Three samples, LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4, LiNi0.4Mn1.4Co0.2O4, and LiNi0.4Mn1.4Cr0.15Co0.05O4, were prepared by sol–gel method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscope, scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, four-probe resistance, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and charge–discharge test. It is found that the co-doped sample LiNi0.4Mn1.4Cr0.15Co0.05O4 exhibits an improved performance compared with the Co-doped sample LiNi0.4Mn1.4Co0.2O4 and the undoped sample LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4, especially at elevated temperature. At 25 °C, the discharge capacity of LiNi0.4Mn1.4Cr0.15Co0.05O4 is 130 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and 103 mAh g−1 at 10 C. At an elevated temperature (55 °C), its 1 C discharge capacity is 136 mAh g−1 and maintains 95.6 % of its initial capacity after 100 cycles. Compared with the reported results of LiNi0.4Mn1.4Co0.2O4 and LiNi0.475Mn1.475Co0.05O4, the co-doped sample LiNi0.4Mn1.4Cr0.15Co0.05O4, with least content of Co, 0.05, possesses not only the high C-rate capacity but also the structural stability. The mechanism on the electrochemical performance improvement of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 by the co-doping was discussed.

Nebivolol is a third-generation β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) blocker with additional beneficial effects, including the improvement of lipid and glucose metabolism in obese individuals. However, the underlying mechanism of nebivolol's role in regulating the lipid profile remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the role of nebivolol in mitochondrial biogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Exposure of 3T3-L1 cells to nebivolol for 24h increased mitochondrial DNA copy number, mitochondrial protein levels and the expression of transcription factors involved in mitochondrial biogenesis, including PPAR-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), Sirtuin 3 (Sirt3), mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam) and nuclear related factor 1 (Nrf1). These changes were accompanied by an increase in oxygen consumption and in the expression of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation and antioxidant enzymes in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, including nebivolol-induced endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), as well as an increase in the formation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). Pretreatment with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) attenuated nebivolol-induced mitochondrial biogenesis, as did the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor, ODQ. Treatment with nebivolol and β3-AR blocker SR59230A markedly attenuated PGC-1α, Sirt3 and manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) protein levels in comparison to treatment with nebivolol alone. These data indicate that the mitochondrial synthesis and metabolism in adipocytes that is promoted by nebivolol is primarily mediated through the eNOS/cGMP-dependent pathway and is initiated by the activation of β3-AR receptors.

The soils contaminated by copper (Cu) near a mine tailing are remedied via an enhanced electrokinetical (EK) method utilizing approaching anodes (AAs). The variations in the removal efficiency and soil pH as a function of treatment time are determined. The maximum Cu removal efficiency is as high as 61.98% under a voltage gradient of 1 V/cm for 48 h; in contrast to 38.97% when the conventional electrokinetic remediation with one fixed anode (FA) is employed. Several anodes were inserted as AAs in the treated soil. They were switched in turn from the anode towards the cathode allowing for high H+ ions concentrations and high redox potentials to quickly migrate towards the cathode. As a result, the soil remediation is accelerated. The mechanism of Cu electromigration behavior in soils during an enhanced EK method is described as the elution in an electrokinetically-driven chromatogram.

Nanolayered lithium-rich oxide doped with spinel phase is synthesized by acidic sucrose-assistant sol-gel combustion and evaluated as the cathode of a high-energy-density lithium ion battery. Physical characterizations indicate that the as-synthesized oxide (LR-SN) is composed of uniform and separated nanoparticles of about 200 nm, which are doped with about 7% spinel phase, compared to the large aggregated ones of the product (LR) synthesized under the same condition but without any assistance. Charge/discharge demonstrates that LR-SN exhibits excellent rate capability and cyclic stability: delivering an average discharge capacity of 246 mAh g(-1) at 0.2 C (1C = 250 mA g(-1)) and earning a capacity retention of 92% after 100 cycles at 4 C in the lithium anode-based half cell, compared to the 227 mA g(-1) and the 63% of LR, respectively. Even in the graphite anode-based full cell, LR-SN still delivers a capacity of as high as 253 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 C, corresponding to a specific energy density of 801 Wh kg(-1), which are the best among those that have been reported in the literature. The separated nanoparticles of the LR-SN provide large sites for charge transfer, while the spinel phase doped in the nanoparticles facilitates lithium ion diffusion and maintains the stability of the layered structure during cycling.

The Mediator complex functions as a control center, orchestrating diverse signaling, gene activities, and biological processes. However, how Mediator subunits determine distinct cell fates remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we show that Mediator MED23 controls the cell fate preference that directs differentiation into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) or adipocytes. Med23 deficiency facilitates SMC differentiation but represses adipocyte differentiation from the multipotent mesenchymal stem cells. Gene profiling revealed that the presence or absence of Med23 oppositely regulates two sets of genes: the RhoA/MAL targeted cytoskeleton/SMC genes and the Ras/ELK1 targeted growth/adipogenic genes. Mechanistically, MED23 favors ELK1–SRF binding to SMC gene promoters for repression, whereas the lack of MED23 favors MAL–SRF binding to SMC gene promoters for activation. Remarkably, the effect of MED23 on SMC differentiation can be recapitulated in zebrafish embryogenesis. Collectively, our data demonstrate the dual, opposing roles for MED23 in regulating the cytoskeleton/SMC and growth/adipogenic gene programs, suggesting its “Ying-Yang” function in directing adipogenesis versus SMC differentiation.