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Abstract Plant growth regulators are cost-effective and efficient methods for enhancing plant defenses under stress conditions. This study investigates the ability of two plant growth-regulating substances, thiourea (TU) and arginine (Arg), to mitigate salinity stress in wheat. The results show that both TU and Arg, particularly when used together, modify plant growth under salinity stress. Their application significantly increases the activities of antioxidant enzymes while decreasing the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and relative electrolyte leakage (REL) in wheat seedlings. Additionally, these treatments significantly reduce the concentrations of Na+ and Ca2+ and the Na+/K+ ratio, while significantly increasing K+ levels, thereby preserving ionic osmotic balance. Importantly, TU and Arg markedly enhance the chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, and gas exchange rate in wheat seedlings under salinity stress. The use of TU and Arg, either individually or in combination, results in a 9.03–47.45% increase in dry matter accumulation, with the maximum increase observed when both are used together. Overall, this study highlights that maintaining redox homeostasis and ionic balance are crucial for enhancing plant tolerance to salinity stress. Furthermore, TU and Arg are recommended as potential plant growth regulators to boost wheat productivity under such conditions, especially when applied together.

Abstract Reporting the results of quality indicators can narrow the gap in the quality of care between hospitals. While most studies rely on outcome indicators, they may not accurately measure the quality of care. Process indicators are not only strongly associated with treatment outcomes, but are also more sensitive to whether patients are treated accurately, enabling timely intervention. Our study aims to investigate whether process indicators provide a more reasonable assessment of hospital quality of care compared to outcome indicators. Data were sourced from the Specific Disease Medical Service Quality Management and Control System in China. A total of 113,942 patients with breast cancer treated in 298 hospitals between January 2019 and April 2023 were included in this retrospective study. The rankability of 11 process indicators was calculated and used as a weight to create a new composite indicator. The composite indicators and outcome measures were compared using the O/E ratio categories. Finally, in order to determine the impact of different years on the results, a sensitivity analysis was conducted using bootstrap sampling. The rankability ( $$\rho$$ ρ ) values of the eleven process indicators showed significant differences, with the highest $$\rho$$ ρ value for preoperative cytological or histological examination before surgery (0.919). The $$\rho$$ ρ value for the outcome indicator was 0.011. The rankability-weighting method yielded a comprehensive score ( $$\rho$$ ρ = 0.883). The comparison with categorical results of the outcome indicator has different performance classifications for 113 hospitals (37.92%) for composite scores and 140 (46.98%) for preoperative cytological or histological examinationbefore surgery. Process indicators are more suitable than outcome indicators for assessing the quality of breast cancer care in hospitals. Healthcare providers can use process indicators to identify specific areas for improvement, thereby driving continuous quality improvement efforts.

Abstract As an important pest on winter wheat, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) causes damage to the wheat yield by sucking plant nutrients, transmitting plant viruses and producing mildew. R. padi has been reported to develop resistance to pyrethroids and neonicotinoids. To explore potential alternative approaches for R. padi control, the activity of 10 botanical insecticides was evaluated. Results suggested that the toxicity of rotenone and pyrethrins to R. padi were the highest and near to the commonly used chemical insecticides. When exposed to the low-lethal concentrations (LC10, LC30) of rotenone or pyrethrins for 24 h, the lifespan and fecundity of adults in F0 generation decreased significantly compared to control. The negative effect could also be observed in the F1 generation, including the decreased average offspring, longevity of adult, and prolonged nymph period. The population parameters in F1 generation of R. padi were also inhibited by exposing to the low-lethal concentrations of rotenone or pyrethrins, including the decreased net reproductive rate, intrinsic rate of natural increase, finite rate of population increase, and gross reproduction rate. Co-toxocity factor results showed that mixtures of rotenone and thiamethoxam, pyrethrins and thiamethoxam showed synergistic effect. Our work suggested that rotenone and pyrethrins showed negative effect on the population growth under low-lethal concentrations. They are suitable for R. padi control as foliar spraying without causing population resurgence.

Arginine has been widely applied in the food industry as coloring agents, flavoring agents, and nutritional fortifiers. It is also one of the major components of feed additives. Currently, methods for the highly selective detection of arginine remain absent. For accurate and sensitive detection of L−arginine, a novel ratiometric fluorescence assay based on Ru@UiO-66-NH2 was developed and demonstrated in this study. Under optimized detection conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) of this assay for L-arginine was 2.32 μM, which is superior to most assays reported to date. Meanwhile, Ru@UiO-66-NH2 showed good stability within 30 days, demonstrating the wide applicability of the proposed assay. The spike-and-recovery rates of the proposed assay for L-arginine in real samples (e.g., tea, grape juice, and serum) were 84.27–113.09%. Overall, the proposed assay showed high sensitivity, good reproducibility, and excellent stability in the detection of L-arginine in both buffer and real samples.

Nickel-based superalloys have been widely used in the aerospace industry, and regulating the reinforcing phases is the key to improving the high-temperature strength of the alloy. In this study, a series of aging treatments (650 °C, 750 °C, 850 °C and 950 °C for 8 h) were designed to study different thermal deformation behaviors and microstructure evolutions for a novel nickel-based superalloy. Among the aged samples, the 950 °C aged sample achieved the peak stress of ~323 MPa during the thermal deformation and the highest microhardness of ~315 HV after thermal compression, which were the greatest differences compared to before deformation. In addition, the grains of the 950 °C sample exhibit deformed fibrous shapes, and the grain orientation is isotropic, while the other samples exhibited isotropy. In the 850 °C and 950 °C high-temperature aging samples, the γ′ precipitate (about 20 nm in size) is gradually precipitated, which inhibits the movement of dislocation in the grain during compression, thus inhibiting the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization and improving the high-temperature mechanical properties of the alloy.

The Ti/SiC gradient material with Mg2Si additive was designed and fabricated by reaction sintering. The structure, microstructure and properties were investigated systematically. The result indicated that the Ti/SiC gradient material contained six layers with Ti-rich and Si-rich regions. The relative density decreased from 98.32% to 88.73%, and it increased to 97.28%. Besides, the harness increased from 532.97 HV to 571.32 HV and reduced to 228.14 HV with the increase of Ti content. The fracture toughness of the SiC layer was 6.74 MPa m1/2, and it decreased to 4.91–5.39 MPa m1/2 at the layers containing Ti. The shrinkage rates increased during heating, and it slowed down at the holding stage. The densification primarily occurred at the heating and holding stages. The densification mechanism is the pore displacement controlled by lattice diffusion. Ti5Si3 synthesized by the reaction between Ti and SiC shows the incoherent interface to the Ti grain.

To improve its ductility and clarify the mechanism, the AlSi7Mg alloy fabricated by a novel casting-forging process was solid-soluted at 535 °C for 5 h, followed by aging at 170 °C for 2 h. Phase component, microstructure were observed and mechanical properties were tested. The results show that the alloy contains Al, Si and Al–Si intermetallics. The eutectic Si particles present equiaxed and the Al–Si precipitations present filamentous morphorgy in the alloy. The eutectic Si particles present quasi-continuous network distribution, dividing the matrix into equiaxed units. When the deformation degree increased from 15% to 35%, the units are refined and the precipitation of Al–Si intermetallics is prevented. The difference of ultimate strength between surface and center was decreased, while the elongation improved obviously with the increase of deformation degree. The most excellent elongation reached 12% when the deformation degree was 35%, with the improvement of 7%. The improvement of ductility is owed to the fine, equiaxed eutectic Si particles, the refined units and the prevented precipitations.

To improve the heat resistance of titanium alloys, the effects of Y content on the precipitation behavior, oxidation resistance and high-temperature mechanical properties of as-cast Ti-5Al-2.75Sn-3Zr-1.5Mo-0.45Si-1W-2Nb-xY (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4) alloys were systematically investigated. The microstructures, phase evolution and oxidation scales were characterized by XRD, Laser Raman, XPS, SEM and TEM. The properties were studied by cyclic oxidation as well as room- and high-temperature tensile testing. The results show that the microstructures of the alloys are of the widmanstätten structure with typical basket weave features, and the prior β grain size and α lamellar spacing are refined with the increase of Y content. The precipitates in the alloys mainly include Y2O3 and (TiZr)6Si3 silicide phases. The Y2O3 phase has specific orientation relationships with the α-Ti phase: (002)Y2O3 // (1¯1¯20)α-Ti, [110]Y2O3 // [4¯401]α-Ti. (TiZr)6Si3 has an orientation relationship with the β-Ti phase: (022¯1¯)(TiZr)6Si3 // (011)β-Ti, [1¯21¯6](TiZr)6Si3 // [044¯]β-Ti. The 0.1 wt.% Y composition alloy has the best high-temperature oxidation resistance at different temperatures. The oxidation behaviors of the alloys follow the linear-parabolic law, and the oxidation products of the alloys are composed of rutile-TiO2, anatase-TiO2, Y2O3 and Al2O3. The room-temperature and 700 °C UTS of the alloys decreases first and then increases with the increase of Y content; the 0.1 wt.% Y composition alloy has the best room-temperature mechanical properties with a UTS of 1012 MPa and elongation of 1.0%. The 700 °C UTS and elongation of the alloy with 0.1 wt.% Y is 694 MPa and 9.8%, showing an optimal comprehensive performance. The UTS and elongation of the alloys at 750 °C increase first and then decrease with the increase of Y content. The optimal UTS and elongation of the alloy is 556 MPa and 10.1% obtained in 0.2 wt.% Y composition alloy. The cleavage and dimples fractures are the primary fracture mode for the room- and high-temperature tensile fracture, respectively.

CO2 electroreduction (CO2 ER) using renewable energy is ideal for mitigating the greenhouse effect and closing the carbon cycle. Bicarbonate (HCO3−) is most commonly employed as the electrolyte anion because it is known to facilitate CO2 ER. However, its dynamics in the electric double layer remains obscure and requires more in-depth investigation. Herein, we investigate the refined reduction process of bicarbonate by employing in situ attenuated total reflectance surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy. By comparing the product distributions in Ar-saturated KCl and KHCO3 electrolytes, we confirmed CO production from HCO3− in the absence of an external CO2 source. Notably, in contrast to an electric compulsion, negatively charged HCO3− anions were found to accumulate near the electrode surface. A reduction mechanism of HCO3− is proposed in that HCO3− is not adsorbed over a catalyst, but may be enriched near the electrode surface and converted to CO2 and react over Au and Cu electrodes. The dependence of the CO2 ER activity on the local HCO3− concentration was subsequently discovered, which was in turn dependent on the bulk HCO3− concentration and cathodic potential. In particular, the local HCO3− concentration was limited by the cathodic potential, leading to a plateau in the CO2 ER activity. The proposed mechanism provides insights into the interaction between the catalyst and the electrolyte in CO2 ER.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important players in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). However, the function of the long noncoding RNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 20 (SNHG20) in LSCC is hardly known. We therefore analyzed the role of this lncRNA in LSCC. Our data showed that SNHG20 was significantly overexpressed in LSCC cell lines and human LSCC tissue. SNHG20 significantly promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion of LSCC cells. The actions of SNHG20 are likely mediated by miR-342-3p expression, which results in increased expression of MTDH. Finally, the results of in vivo models confirmed that SNHG20 promotes LSCC progression through modulating miR-342-3p and MTDH expression. Taken together, our study demonstrates that SNHG20/miR-342-3p/MTDH axis participates in LSCC progression.

Silicon carbide (SiC) has been widely used in industries due to its advantages of wide bandgap, high mechanical and thermal properties, attractive thermal shock resistance and conductivity. To enhance the propertis of the components made of SiC, ball-milling is usually adopted to refine SiC particles before fabrication. However, these existing ball-milling processes are either time-consuming or costly. In this work, a cost-effective and efficient process was proposed to refine SiC particles by using balls of diameters ranging from 5 to 15 mm. The average size of SiC, Dv(50) and Dv(90), decreased dramatically from 39.7 and 111 μm to 7.51 and 19 μm after 5 h, with a reduction of 81.1% and 82.9%, respectively. Neither oxidation nor reaction occurred during the milling process for 5 h. Moreover, the irregular particles are distributed homogeneously without any impurities.

Copper foils with excellent bending property were fabricated by double-rolling followed by cross rolling. The deformation characteristics of the two advanced rolling processes introduce high density of grain boundaries and dislocations in copper foils. Due to high densities of grain boundaries, dislocations and strong single texture, bending cracks are fine and dispersive, a 101.0% improvement of the bending fatigue life compared to copper foils fabricated by conventional rolling process. After bending fracture, concentrated dislocation and fine dispersive cracks can be observed.

Silicon carbide ceramics were prepared by hot press sintering using Mg additive. Pores are observed on boundaries between particles, grains, and substructures. The microstructures and pores in the ceramics were observed. Results show that pores between particles mainly located on boundaries along the major axis of elongated particles. Micronecks formed between particles in the initial stage, which divide voids between particles into micropores. The initial micronecks and pores are generous to distribute along the major axis of elongated particles. Pores shrunk in the intermediate stage then coarsened. Equiaxed nanopores are formed on grain boundaries between abnormal growth grains and normal grains. Elongated nanopores are formed adjacent to high-density defects.

Silicon carbide was hot pressing sintered at 1300 ̊C/30 MPa by using magnesium additive. Microstructure and sintering mechanism are studied. Result shows that the hot pressing sintered sample composed of both α-SiC and β-SiC, indicating that no polytype transition has happened. Magnesium with stacking faults is located on the silicon carbide matrix as second phase particles. Dislocations and stacking defaults are initiated from grain boundaries and move toward the interior. Micropores locate on grain boundaries, substructure and triple grain junction, revealing a boundary diffusion mechanism. Long-range dislocations in grains and substructures in the lattice confirm a power-law creep mechanism. Keywords: Hot pressing sintering, Silicon carbide, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Microstructure, Sintering mechanism

Seeing that opinions vary, no unanimous conclusion has been drawn on mechanisms of SiC sintered with Mg additive. In this work, SiC porous ceramics were sintered at 1300 °C/30 MPa for 2 h and 6 h. The X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), were used to study the microstructure and mechanism, relative density and mechanical properties were tested. Results show that relative density and most of the mechanical properties decreased with prolongation of sintering time, while hardness increased. M2C3 forms during sintering and has a pinning effect on the boundary between SiC and Mg. Both SiC and M2C3 are strong bonded with Mg with coherent boundary. The mechanism of microstructure evolution has been discussed. Keywords: Ceramics, Sintering, Microstructure, Transmission electron microscopy, TEM

X2CrNi12 ferritic stainless steel has a wide range of application prospects in the railway transportation, construction, and automobile fields due to its excellent properties. The properties of X2CrNi12 ferritic stainless steel can be further improved by cold-rolling and subsequent annealing treatment. The purpose of this work is to investigate the effect of cold-rolling reduction on the microstructure, texture and corrosion properties of the recrystallized X2CrNi12 ferritic stainless steel by using SEM, TEM, EBSD and electrochemical testing technology. The results show that the crystal orientation characteristics of the cold-rolled sheet could be inherited into the annealed sheet. The higher cold-rolling reduction could promote the deformed grains rotating into the {111} orientation, increasing storage energy and driving force for recrystallization, which could reduce the recrystallized grain size. The orientation densities of α-fiber and γ-fiber were low at 50% cold-rolling reduction. After recrystallization annealing, a large number of grains with random orientation could be produced, and the texture strength was weakened. When the cold-rolling reduction rose to 90%, the γ-fiber texture at {111} was strengthened and the α-fibers, particularly the {112} component, were weakened after recrystallisation annealing, which could improve the formability of the steels. The proportions of special boundaries, i.e., low-angle grain boundaries and low-Σ CSL boundaries, among the grain boundary distribution of the recrystallized X2CrNi12 stainless steel were higher when the reduction was 90%, especially when the annealing temperature was 770 °C. Additionally, the proportion of LAGBs and low-Σ CSL boundaries were 53% and 7.43%, respectively, which improves the corrosion resistance of the matrix, showing the best corrosion resistance.

Abstract Background There are differences in the quality of care among breast cancer patients. Narrowing the quality differences could be achieved by increasing the utilization rate of indicators. Here we explored key indicators that can improve the quality of care and factors that may affect the use of these indicators. Methods A total of 3669 breast cancer patients were included in our retrospective study. We calculated patient quality-of-care composite score based on patient average method. Patients were divided into high- and low-quality groups according to the mean score. We obtained the indicators with large difference in utilization between the two groups. Multilevel logistic regression model was used to analyze the factors influencing quality of care and use of indicators. Results The mean composite score was 0.802, and the number of patients in the high- and low-quality groups were 1898 and 1771, respectively. Four indicators showed a difference in utilization between the two groups of over 40%. Histological grade, pathological stage, tumor size and insurance type were the factors affecting the quality of care. In single indicator evaluation, besides the above factors, age, patient income and number of comorbidities may also affect the use of these four indicators. Number of comorbidities may have opposite effects on the use of different indicators, as does pathological stage. Conclusions Identifying key indicators for enhancing the quality-of-care of breast cancer patients and factors that affect the indicator adherence may provide guides for enhancing the utilization rate of these indicators in clinical practice.

Given a group of images, co-saliency detection aims at highlighting the common and salient foreground regions. To optimally explore the complementary information among images, we propose an effective propagation mechanism for RGBD images. First, we design a depth optimization map guided by image global saliency, which generates a superpixel-level saliency propagation label to express the primary saliency propagation confidence. Then, we further get the superior saliency propagation confidence based on the corresponding probabilities of the external contrast between images and the image internal regions. Finally, the primary and superior saliency propagation confidence are integrated to optimize the saliency propagation and get the final co-saliency value. The proposed method enables the complementary information among images to be reasonably propagated in a group of images. The relevance of depth information is enhanced and the co-salient objects are closer to the truth values. Experiments on two RGBD co-saliency datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Objectives This study aimed to set a data-driven achievable performance benchmark, explore the process–outcome association and speculate about the net gain in quality improvement with benchmarking.Design Observational study.Setting Patient survey conducted at 466 secondary and tertiary hospitals across 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China.Participants 183 334 patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure (CHF) who were treated at 466 Chinese hospitals from January 2011 through May 2017.Primary independent variables Hospital process composite performance (HPCP).Secondary independent variables Patient-level and hospital-level characteristics.Primary outcome measure Patients getting better or recovered after treatment, in-hospital mortality, length of hospital stay (LOS) and medical cost.Methods HPCP was calculated using denominator-based weights. Mixed random-intercept models were used to evaluate the contributions of HPCP on patient outcomes and to speculate quality improvement after adjusting HPCP to benchmark level.Results When all hospitals were to operate at the benchmark level, the proportion of patients getting better or recovered after treatment would increase in most hospitals, particularly those with low baseline rates. However, there was no evidence for lowering in-hospital mortality, significant savings in cost or shortening LOS.Conclusions Increasing the adherence rate of CHF care and closing the gap in HPCP between hospitals have important implications for improving patient condition.

Ti-Cu alloys have broad application prospects in the biomedical field due to their excellent properties. The properties of Ti-Cu alloys are strongly dependent on Cu content, microstructures, its Ti2Cu phase and its preparation process. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of Cu content on the precipitation behaviors, mechanical and corrosion properties of the as-cast Ti-Cu alloys. The microstructures and phase evolution were characterized by SEM and TEM, and the properties were studied by tensile and electrochemical test. The results show that the volume fraction of Ti2Cu phase increases with the increase of Cu content. The Ti2Cu phase presents a variety of microscopic morphologies with different Cu content, such as rod, granular, lath and block shaped. The crystal orientation relationships between the Ti2Cu and α-Ti matrix in Ti-4Cu and Ti-10Cu alloys are (103)Ti2Cu//(0[11¯11)α-Ti, [3¯01]Ti2Cu//[21¯1¯0]α-Ti, and (103)Ti2Cu//(0002)α-Ti, [3¯31]Ti2Cu//[12¯10]α-Ti, respectively. The tensile strength, Vickers hardness and Young’s modulus of the Ti-Cu alloys increase with the increase of Cu content, whereas the elongation decreases. The fracture morphologies of these alloys reveal ductile, ductile-brittle hybrid, and cleavage brittle mode, respectively. The corrosion resistance of the Ti-Cu alloys in SBF solution can be described as: Ti-4Cu alloy > Ti-10Cu alloy > Ti-7Cu alloy. The volume fraction of Ti2Cu phases and the “protective barrier” provided by the fine lath Ti2Cu phases strongly affected the electrochemical performances of the alloys.

Nitrogen-doped carbon materials with atomically dispersed iron or cobalt are promising for catalytic use. Here, the authors show that cobalt moieties have a higher redox potential, bind oxygen more weakly and are less active toward oxygen reduction than their iron counterpart, despite similar coordination.

A novel thermal cycling process was applied on the 65Mn spring to improve the cycle fatigue life. Results demonstrate that the cycle fatigue life after the thermal cycling process was improved from 3 times to 14 times, with an improvement of 470%. The fine, equiaxed grains were observed on the fracture surface. Moreover, the prolongation of cracks was prevented by the high density of interfaces, and the slipping and rotating between the grains consumed the applied energy during the cycling process, contributing to the improvement of cycle fatigue life.

Aiming at dense sintering of silicon carbide ceramic, magnesium alloy powder was taken as additive, and silicon carbide powders with two different particle size were sintered by the same hot pressure sintering process. Result shows that ceramic sintered by the powder with larger particle size is denser. Magnesium and carbon segregation is observed in the sample prepared by powder with smaller particle size, in which silicon carbide particles cannot be uniformly dispersed by sintering additives. However, sintering additives distribute homogeneously among silicon carbide particles in the sample prepared by powder with larger particle size, which can effectively play a bonding role. In the selection of liquid phase sintering additives, particle size matching of raw material and sintering additives should be emphasized.

Background and Objective. This study investigated the effects and underlying mechanisms of azithromycin (AZM) treatment on the osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) after their stimulation with TNF-α in vitro. Methods. PDLSCs were isolated from periodontal ligaments from extracted teeth, and MTS assay was used to evaluate whether AZM and TNF-α had toxic effects on PDLSCs viability and proliferation. After stimulating PDLSCs with TNF-α and AZM, we analyzed alkaline phosphatase staining, alkaline phosphatase activity, and alizarin red staining to detect osteogenic differentiation. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis was performed to detect the mRNA expression of osteogenic-related genes, including RUNX2, OCN, and BSP. Western blotting was used to measure the NF-κB signaling pathway proteins p65, phosphorylated p65, IκB-α, phosphorylated IκB-α, and β-catenin as well as the apoptosis-related proteins caspase-8 and caspase-3. Annexin V assay was used to detect PDLSCs apoptosis. Results. TNF-α stimulation of PDLSCs decreased alkaline phosphatase and alizarin red staining, alkaline phosphatase activity, and mRNA expression of RUNX2, OCN, and BSP in osteogenic-conditioned medium. AZM enhanced the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs that were stimulated with TNF-α. Western blot analysis showed that β-catenin, phosphorated p65, and phosphorylated IκB-α protein expression decreased in PDLSCs treated with AZM. In addition, pretreatment of PDLSCs with AZM (10 μg/ml, 20 μg/ml) prevented TNF-α-induced apoptosis by decreasing caspase-8 and caspase-3 expression. Conclusions. Our results showed that AZM promotes PDLSCs osteogenic differentiation in an inflammatory microenvironment by inhibiting the WNT and NF-κB signaling pathways and by suppressing TNF-α-induced apoptosis. This suggests that AZM has potential as a clinical therapeutic for periodontitis.

As one of the most promising platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), Fe⁻N⁻C catalysts with a high density of FeNx moieties integrated in a highly graphitic carbon matrix with a proper porous structure have attracted extensive attention to combine the high activity, high stability and high accessibility of active sites. Herein, we investigated a ZnCl2/NaCl eutectic salts-assisted ionothermal carbonization method (ICM) to synthesize Fe⁻N⁻C catalysts with tailored porous structure, high specific surface area and a high degree of graphitization. However, it was found to be challenging to anchor a high density of FeNx sites onto highly graphitized carbon. Iron precursors with preexisting Fe⁻N coordination were required to form FeNx sites in the nitrogen-doped carbon with a high degree of graphitization, while individual Fe and N precursors led to a Fe⁻N⁻C catalyst with poor-ORR activity. This provides valuable insights into the synthesis-structure relationship. Moreover, the FeNx moieties were identified as the major active sites in acidic conditions, while both FeNx sites and Fe2O3 were found to be active in alkaline medium.

Gastrodia elata Blume (G. elata) is a prominent traditional herb and its dry tuber is officially listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. To ensure the quality of dried G. elata, the establishment of a nondestructive and convenient method to monitor the drying process is necessary. In this study, a nondestructive low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method was introduced to monitor the drying process of G. elata. Three water states (bound, immobilized, and free) in G. elata samples were investigated through multiexponential fitting and inversion of the NMR data. The variation and distribution of the three water states during drying were monitored by LF-NMR, and the spatial distribution of water and internal structural changes were analyzed by MRI. Linear analysis of the moisture content, L* (lightness), b* (yellowness), and NMR parameters showed good correlations among them. Furthermore, partial least squares regression (PLSR) model analysis, which takes into account all NMR parameters, also showed good correlations among these parameters. All results showed that LF-NMR was feasible and convenient for monitoring moisture content. Therefore, LF-NMR and MRI could be used to monitor the moisture content nondestructively in the drying process of Chinese traditional herbs.

BackgroundEvery hospital manager aims to build harmonious, mutually beneficial, and steady-state departments. Therefore, it is important to explore a hospital department development assessment model based on objective hospital data. ObjectiveThis study aims to use a novel machine learning algorithm to identify key evaluation indexes for hospital departments, offering insights for strategic planning and resource allocation in hospital management. MethodsData related to the development of a hospital department over the past 3 years were extracted from various hospital information systems. The resulting data set was mined using neural machine algorithms to assess the possible role of hospital departments in the development of a hospital. A questionnaire was used to consult senior experts familiar with the hospital to assess the actual work in each hospital department and the impact of each department’s development on overall hospital discipline. We used the results from this questionnaire to verify the accuracy of the departmental risk scores calculated by the machine learning algorithm. ResultsDeep machine learning was performed and modeled on the hospital system training data set. The model successfully leveraged the hospital’s training data set to learn, predict, and evaluate the working and development of hospital departments. A comparison of the questionnaire results with the risk ranking set from the departments machine learning algorithm using the cosine similarity algorithm and Pearson correlation analysis showed a good match. This indicates that the department development assessment model and risk score based on the objective data of hospital systems are relatively accurate and objective. ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that our machine learning algorithm provides an accurate and objective assessment model for hospital department development. The strong alignment of the model's risk assessments with expert opinions, validated through statistical analysis, highlights its reliability and potential to guide strategic hospital management decisions.