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LaTaON2 porous single crystals (PSCs), integrating structural coherence and porous microstructures, will warrant promising photocatalytic performance. The absence of grain boundaries in PSCs ensures rapid photocarrier transportation from bulk to the surface, thereby mitigating photocarriers' recombination. Porous microstructures not only provide ample reachable surface to host photochemical reactions but also reinforce photon-matter interactions by additional photon reflection/scattering. Here, we have synthesized LaTaON2 PSCs via a topotactic route and show significantly improved photocatalytic performance. Efficient water oxidation into O2 has been realized by LaTaON2 PSCs with an apparent quantum efficiency as high as 5.7% at 420 ± 20 nm. Stable overall water splitting into stoichiometric H2 and O2 has also been achieved in a Z-scheme setup using LaTaON2 PSCs as the O2 evolution photocatalyst. These results not only prove that PSCs facilitate photocarrier migrations, which in turn deliver exceptional photocatalytic performance, but also imply that PSCs are useful to reinvigorate conventional semiconductor photocatalysts toward efficient solar energy conversions.

Cr doped Ruddlesden-Popper compound Sr2TiO4 has been successfully modified by fluorine to form a new compound Sr2Ti0.95Cr0.05O3F2. Structure analysis suggests two types of fluorine in the structure of this new compound, i.e. intralayer and interlayer F, which induce strong built-in electric field within this layered compound. The electric field stems from uneven distribution of F atoms on the two sides of perovskite layers therefore leads to charge disproportionation. DFT calculations suggest that this unique structural feature is highly beneficial for charge dissociations as it breaks the coplanar settlement of conduction band minimum and valence band maximum whilst maintains the 2D charge transportation properties. This is clearly demonstrated by the superior photocatalytic activities of Sr2Ti0.95Cr0.05O3F2 for hydrogen production from water. Apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) as high as 1.16% at 420 ± 20 nm has been achieved which stands as the highest AQE reported on Sr2TiO4 to date. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) analysis confirms improved charge separation conditions and prolonged charge lifetime.

LaTaON

Titanoniobate nanosheets with thickness down to a few nanometers have been prepared by ion exchange and subsequent exfoliation treatment on a bulk layer compound KTiNbO5. Superior photocatalytic H2 production activity has been realized on these nanosheets, surpassing their mother compound KTiNbO5. More interestingly, their photocatalytic activity has been successfully extended into visible light region when Cr/Nb co-dopants are introduced into nanosheets. The Cr/Nb modified nanosheets show apparent quantum efficiency as high as 2.75% at 420 ± 20 nm for H2 production, outperforming a number of doped metal oxides photocatalysts. Such high photocatalytic activity origins from their tiny thickness and a much enlarged surface area that favors charge separation and transfer. Their little dependence on cocatalyst for H2 production suggest that dopants Cr may also serve as catalytic reaction sites as a substantial fraction of Cr dopants are accommodated at the surface. This facile approach to fabricate ultrathin 2D semiconductor as well as versatility of doping strategy open new playground for the design and development of efficient visible light active photocatalysts.

The study of the late Neo-Proterozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Tarim Basin is a key to unravel the tectonic setting, the intracontinental rift formation mechanism, and the sedimentary filling processes of this basin. Since in the Tarim Basin, the late Neo-Proterozoic to early Cambrian sedimentary successions were preserved, this basin represents an excellent site in order to study the Precambrian geology. Based on the outcrop data collected in the peripheral areas of the Tarim Basin, coupled with the intra-basinal drill sites and seismic data previously published, the late Neo-proterozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Tarim Basin has been investigated. These data show that there were two individual blocks before the Cryogenian Period, namely, the north Tarim Block and the south Tarim Block. In the early Neo-Proterozoic (ca. 800 Ma), the amalgamation of two blocks resulted in the formation of the unified basement. During the late Neo-Proterozoic, the Tarim Block was in an extensional setting as a result of the Rodinia supercontinent breakup and then evolved into an intracontinental rift basin. The tectono-sedimentary evolution of the basin may be divided into three stages: the rifting stage (780–700 Ma), the rifting to depression transitional stage (660–600 Ma), and the post-rift depression stage (580–540 Ma). In the rifting stage, intracontinental rifts (i.e., the Awati Rift, the North Manjar Rift, and the South Manjar Rift) were formed, in which coarse-grained clastic sediments were deposited, generally accompanied by a massive volcanic activity due to an intensive stretching. In the rifting-depression transitional stage and in the post-rift depression stage, the paleogeography was characterized by uplifts to the south and depressions to the north. Three types of depositional association (i.e., clastic depositional association, clastic-carbonate mixed depositional association, and carbonate depositional association) were formed. The distribution of the lower Cambrian source rock was genetically related to the tectono-sedimentary evolution during the late Neo-Proterozoic. The lower Cambrian source rock was a stable deposit in the northern Tarim Basin, where the late Ediacaran carbonate was deposited, thinning out toward the central uplift. It was distributed throughout the entire Mangar region in the east and may be missing in the Magaiti and the southwestern Tarim Basin.

Porous single-crystalline SrTaO2N, combining structural homogeneity and high porosity, afford a great promise as an active photocatalyst. The lack of grain boundaries in SrTaO2N porous single crystals (PSCs) enables fast photocarrier migration from bulk to the surface whilst the high porosity offers adequate accessible surface to perform photocatalytic reactions. In this work, we demonstrate a facile synthesis of SrTaO2N PSCs via a topotactic conversion route. These SrTaO2N PSCs deliver exceptional activity and stability for photocatalytic O2 production from water with a record-breaking apparent quantum efficiency as high as 17.9% at 420 ± 20 nm. Overall water splitting with H2/O2 equals 2 has also been attained in a Z-scheme system employing SrTaO2N PSCs as the O2-evolution moiety. These results signify a paradigm to improve photocatalytic performance based on PSCs, which extends the toolbox to achieve efficient solar water splitting over conventional photocatalysts.

Geochemistry is a branch of geological sciences that deals with chemistry rocks and minerals in various igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary processes, from high to low temperatures and in various environments. Geochemistry is also an important background for a detailed description of rocks' origin and evolution. Geochemistry is also significant for other geological sciences, especially for dating various rock formations, geological processes and exploration of various mineral deposits. Geochemistry includes thirteen chapters that discuss the chemical composition of various rock complexes, their structural evolution, the methodology of specific geochemical methods (isotopic geology) and use of geochemical methods for the exploration of mineral deposits, structural geology, stratigraphy and lithology. Chapter 1, "Geochemistry of Granitic Rocks of the Moldanubian Batholith (Central European Variscides)," by Milo? René focuses on detailed geochemistry of four magmatic suites evolved in one of the largest plutonic complexes within the European Variscan Belt. Chapter 2, "An Overview on the Classification and Tectonic Setting of Neoproterozoic Granites of the Nubian Shield, Eastern Desert, Egypt," by Gaafar A. El Bahariya presents a comprehensive description of granitoid rocks exposed in the Eastern desert of Egypt and their geotectonic classification. Chapter 3, "Microstructure Features in Paleo and Neoproterozoic Granitic Rocks, Southeastern Region of Brazil," by Leonardo Gon?alves and Christiane Castro Gon?alves provides a mineralogical and microstructural description of granitic rocks exposed in the south-eastern region of Brazil, including detailed information on the geochemical evolution of feldspars during magmatic differentiation and high-temperature deformation. Chapter 4, "Deformation Features and Structures in Some Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks: A Case Study of Central African Fold Belt in Cameroon," by Benjamin Ntieche, Wokwenmendam Nguet, Zakari Nchouwet, Mahomed Azis Mounjouohou and Daouha Mfepat, is a detailed tectonic study of selected magmatic and metamorphic complexes in Central Africa. Chapter 5, "The Importance of Mechanical Transport, Rock Texture, and Mineral Chemistry in Chemical Weathering of Granites: The Melechov Massif, Czech Republic," by Václav Procházka, Miroslav ?á?ek, Petr Sulovský, Tomá? Vaculovi?, Lenka Rukavi?ková and Dobroslav Mat?jka describes the geochemical evolution of selected granitic rocks from the northern part of the Moldanubian batholith, Central European Variscan Belt, during their chemical weathering. The study also partly focuses on the fractionation of the rare-earth elements in these granites. Chapter 6, "Changes of Granite Rapakivi under the Biofouling Influence," by Dmitry Yu. Vlasov, Elena G. Panova, Marina S. Zelenskaya, Oksana A. Rodina, Alexey D. Vlasov and Katerina V. Sazanova is a detailed study of the influence of biochemical weathering on the destruction of rapakivi granite stones in several Russian and Finish cities. A significant part of this study presents the chemical composition of fresh rocks in comparison with the composition of crusts evolved during the biodegradation of these granitic rocks. Chapter 7, "Geochemistry of Radioactive Isotopes," by Salih Muhammad Awadh examines the geochemistry of selected isotopes of argon, carbon, kalium, neodymium, rubidium, samarium, strontium, uranium, and thorium, which are predominantly used to date magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary rock complexes. The chapter also contains the basic characteristics of radioactivity, radioactive decay, and the methodology of rock dating. Chapter 8, "Exploration for Fe-Mn Oxides Using Geochemical Signatures in Soil: A Case Study of Part of Northwestern Nigeria," by Olufemi Sijuade Bamigboye focuses on detailed geochemical analyses of soil samples for geochemical exploration of Fe-Mn mineralization evolved in north-western Nigeria. It also presents results of detailed multi-componential geochemical analyses using principal component analysis. Chapter 9, "Main Features of Sedimentogenesis and Ecogenesis in Late Paleozoic Sea Pools of Northeast Asia," by Victor Gdal'evich Ganelin presents sedimentological analyses of Late Paleozoic sediments of the Taimyr-Kolyma paleogeographic region. The evolution of limestone bodies is characterized using the composition of carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. Chapter 10, "Structural Differentiation and Sedimentary System of the Permian Sichuan Cratonic Basin," by Haofu Zheng and Bo Liu focuses on detailed sedimentological and structural analyses of the Sichuan basin evolved in the western region of the Yangtze tectonic block. Chapter 11, "Late Neo-Proterozoic Tectono-Sedimentary Evolution of the Tarim Block, NW China," by Kaibo Shi, Bo Liu, Weimin Jiang, Jinxing Yu, Yue Kong, Tong Li and Changhai Li presents a sedimentology study of the Late Neo-Proterozoic and Early Cambrian sediments. It also characterizes the geochemical evolution of carbonate rocks by fractionation of carbon isotopes. For some sediments enriched inorganic matter, the content of total carbon is presented. Chapter 12, "The Onshore Southern Carnarvon Basin in Coastal Western Australia during the Quaternary: Tectonic Setting and Facies-Complicated Heterogeneous Stratigraphic Patterns," by Vic Semeniuk and Margaret Broex present very detailed stratigraphy, lithology, and sedimentology of the Quaternary sediments. Chapter 13, "Middle Miocene Evaporites from Northern Iraq: Petrography, Geochemistry, and Cap Rock Efficiency," by Ali I. Al-Juboury, Rana A. Mahmood, and Abulaziz M. Al-Hamdani examines petrography, geochemistry, and petroleum cap rock potential of middle-Miocene evaporites (gypsum and anhydrite). The gypsum enriched evaporites are characterized by their chemical composition. Chapter 14, "Bioclastic Deposits in the NW Gulf of Naples (Southern TyrrhenianSea, Italy): A Focus on New Sedimentological and Stratigraphic Data around the Island of Ischia," by Gemma Aiello discusses sedimentology and stratigraphic studies of bioclastic deposits evolved in some parts of the Gulf of Naples.

Background: Knowledge on the pharmacodynamic effects of antiplatelet drugs including clopidogrel and ticagrelor on Asian patients is scarce. We aim to evaluate the effects of the two drugs on platelet reactivity in the treatment of Chinese patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), using two platelet function tests (PFT). Meanwhile, the relationship between mean platelet volume (MPV), a routinely index of platelet size, and high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HPR) is also investigated.Methods: Patients receiving dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) treatment were scheduled for the assessment of platelet reactivity at 2-3 days after PCI. Two PFTs, light transmission aggregometry (LTA) and vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) assay, were applied in the evaluation of platelet reactivity. MPV was measured simultaneously.Results: The final study population included the traditional therapy group with aspirin and clopidogrel (n = 46) and the new therapy group with aspirin and ticagrelor (n = 66). In the new therapy group, the value of platelet aggregation assessed by LTA was obviously lower than that in the traditional therapy group (P < 0.001). The platelet reactivity index (PRI) level at VASP test was also markedly lower in the group given the new therapy (P < 0.001). It presented significant difference of HPR rates between the two groups. MPV showed a potent ability in predicting the presence of HPR at VASP assay (AUC = 0.788, 95% CI: 0.701-0.875, P < 0.001) in receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis.Conclusions: Compared with clopidogrel, ticagrelor has dramatically greater antiplatelet effect, with a superiority of suppressing platelet function and a lower HPR rates. In addition, there existed a significantly independent association between MPV and high prevalence of HPR at VASP assay.

Item does not contain fulltext Background Prostate MRI is used widely in clinical care for guiding tissue sampling, active surveillance, and staging. The Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) helps provide a standardized probabilistic approach for identifying clinically significant prostate cancer. Despite widespread use, the variability in performance of prostate MRI across practices remains unknown. Purpose To estimate the positive predictive value (PPV) of PI-RADS for the detection of high-grade prostate cancer across imaging centers. Materials and Methods This retrospective cross-sectional study was compliant with the HIPAA. Twenty-six centers with members in the Society of Abdominal Radiology Prostate Cancer Disease-focused Panel submitted data from men with suspected or biopsy-proven untreated prostate cancer. MRI scans were obtained between January 2015 and April 2018. This was followed with targeted biopsy. Only men with at least one MRI lesion assigned a PI-RADS score of 2-5 were included. Outcome was prostate cancer with Gleason score (GS) greater than or equal to 3+4 (International Society of Urological Pathology grade group >/=2). A mixed-model logistic regression with institution and individuals as random effects was used to estimate overall PPVs. The variability of observed PPV of PI-RADS across imaging centers was described by using the median and interquartile range. Results The authors evaluated 3449 men (mean age, 65 years +/- 8 [standard deviation]) with 5082 lesions. Biopsy results showed 1698 cancers with GS greater than or equal to 3+4 (International Society of Urological Pathology grade group >/=2) in 2082 men. Across all centers, the estimated PPV was 35% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 27%, 43%) for a PI-RADS score greater than or equal to 3 and 49% (95% CI: 40%, 58%) for a PI-RADS score greater than or equal to 4. The interquartile ranges of PPV at these same PI-RADS score thresholds were 27%-44% and 27%-48%, respectively. Conclusion The positive predictive value of the Prostate Imaging and Reporting Data System was low and varied widely across centers. (c) RSNA, 2020 Online supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Milot in this issue.

This study sought to assess the value of multiparametric magnetic resonance image (mp-MRI) in patients with a prostate cancer (PCa) Gleason score of 6 or less under consideration for or already in active surveillance and to determine the rate of upgrading by target biopsy. Three hundred and fifty-four consecutive men with an initial transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUS) biopsy-confirmed PCa Gleason score of 6 or less under clinical consideration for or already in active surveillance underwent mp-MRI and were retrospectively reviewed. One hundred and nineteen of 354 patients had cancer-suspicious regions (CSRs) at mp-MRI. Each CSR was assigned a Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) score based on PI-RADS v2. One hundred and eight of 119 patients underwent confirmatory imaging-guided biopsy for CSRs. Pathology results including Gleason score (GS) and percentage of specimens positive for PCa were recorded. Associations between PI-RADS scores and findings at target biopsy were evaluated using logistic regression. At target biopsy, 81 of 108 patients had PCa (75%). Among them, 77 patients had upgrading (22%, 77 of 354 patients). One hundred and forty-six CSRs in 108 patients had PI-RADS 3 n = 28, 4 n = 66, and 5 n = 52. The upgraded rate for each category of CSR was for PI-RADS 3 (5 of 28, 18%), 4 (47 of 66, 71%) and 5 (49 of 52, 94%). Using logistic regression analysis, differences in PI-RADS scores from 3 to 5 are significantly associated with the probability of disease upgrade (20%, 73%, and 96% for PI-RADS score of 3, 4, and 5, respectively). Adding mp-MRI to patients under consideration for or already in active surveillance helps to identify undiagnosed PCa of a higher GS or higher volume resulting in upgrading in 22%. Published version

In this paper, a comparative study of the effectiveness of deep neural networks (DNNs) in the classification of pure and impure purees is conducted. Three different types of deep neural networks (DNNs)—the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), the Long Short Term Memory (LSTM), and the temporal convolutional network (TCN)—are employed for the detection of adulteration of strawberry purees. The Strawberry dataset, a time series spectroscopy dataset from the UCR time series classification repository, is utilized to evaluate the performance of different DNNs. Experimental results demonstrate that the TCN is able to obtain a higher classification accuracy than the GRU and LSTM. Moreover, the TCN achieves a new state-of-the-art classification accuracy on the Strawberry dataset. These results indicates the great potential of using the TCN for the detection of adulteration of fruit purees in the future.

Transmission towers and substations are used in a variety of natural environments, coupled with the interference of the surrounding production and life, facing the test of soil corrosion. Based on the experimental data of 72 soil samples from five cities in Southern Hebei Province, the soil resistivity, soil pH value and soil moisture content were investigated, and the soil corrosion grade and soil corrosion grade distribution map were obtained. It provides a reference for the collection of soil corrosivity data in power transmission and transformation projects.

Serum chloride concentrations have clinical significance in the prognosis of heart failure (HF). Little is known regarding the prognostic value of serum chloride in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). This study sought to investigate the prognostic ability of admission serum chloride for long-term mortality in CHF patients.We identified 1021 consecutive patients diagnosed with CHF. Participants were followed up for all-cause mortality at 21 ± 9 months to establish the survival models and analyze the association between admission serum chloride concentrations and death risk.Of the 1021 patients, 905(88.6%) available cases were obtained. Admission serum chloride concentrations of patients were independently and inversely associated with long-term mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.890; 95% CI: 0.863 to 0.918; p 0.001). After multivariable risk adjustment for age, male sex, history of diabetes, LVEF, loop diuretic use, beta-blocker use, ACEI or ARB use, eGFR and NT-proBNP, chloride concentrations remained independently associated with mortality (HR:0.922; 95% CI:0.887 to 0.958; p 0.001) but not independent of sodium concentrations (HR: 0.953; 95% CI: 0.900 to 1.009; p = 0.095). The optimal cut-off value of chloride concentrations predicting death was 102.8 mmol/l with an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.686 (95% CI: 0.635 to 0.737; p 0.001), with a sensitivity of 62% and specificity of 70%. The lower chloride concentrations could significantly increase the risk ratio of CHF patients in the setting of hyponatremia (p 0.001). The cumulative survival estimates significantly differed across Na/Cl quartiles (log-rank χIn a Chinese Han population, admission serum chloride concentrations are inversely associated with all-cause mortality of CHF patients and provide incremental prognostic information of serum sodium.

Multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) represents a growing modality for the non-invasive evaluation of prostate cancer (PCa) and is increasingly being used for patients with persistently elevated PSA and prior negative biopsies, for monitoring patients in active surveillance protocols, for preoperative characterization of cancer for surgical planning, and in planning for MRI-targeted biopsy. The focus of this work is twofold. First, we review the key role of T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) in mpMRI, specifically outlining how it is used for anatomic evaluation of the prostate, detection of clinically significant PCa, assessment of extraprostatic extension (EPE), and mimics of PCa on this sequence. We will also discuss optimal technical acquisition parameters for this sequence and recent technical advancements in T2WI. Second, we will delineate the role that mpMRI plays in the staging of PCa and describe the implications of the information that mpMRI can provide in determining the most appropriate management plan for the patient with PCa.

Protein S is a vitamin K-dependent plasma glycoprotein that acts as an anticoagulant, and its deficiency usually predisposes individuals to venous thromboembolism. Hereditary protein S deficiency is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by a PROS1 mutation. Herein, we described a novel PROS1 frameshift mutation, c.74dupA, in a hereditary protein S deficiency family. Interestingly, both of the proband and his mother carried the mutation and had a protein S deficiency, however, only the proband suffered a pulmonary embolism while his mother had no history of any thrombosis, suggesting that a triggering event might have been involved in the thrombus formation. Therefore, genetic testing of PROS1 appeared important for the early diagnosis of hereditary protein S deficiency, and it allowed the application of prophylactic interventions to prevent the incidence of severe thrombosis.

Many of the current clinical screening methods for prostate cancer (PCa) such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing or transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy lack sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of PCa of the transition zone (TZ). Recent technical advances in multiparametric-MRI have markedly improved detection of PCa of the TZ. However, there are many diagnostic challenges that we still encounter in our daily practice that compromise the accuracy of the diagnosis. By performing both MRI-guided and ultrasound/MRI fusion-guided biopsies, we have gained extensive experience in the diagnosis of PCa of the TZ. Biopsy-proven examples including but not limited to typical and atypical PCa of the TZ as well as a wide variety of its mimics will be presented. Recognition of the MR features of typical and atypical PCa of the TZ and its mimics on multiparametric-MRI along with findings that help to differentiate these mimics from PCa is important in establishing an accurate diagnosis and in guiding clinical management.

Starting from two wide band gap semiconductors AgTaO3 and SrTiO3, we managed to reduce the band gap by forming their solid solutions, i.e. (AgTaO3)1-x(SrTiO3)x (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0). These solid solutions all adopt cubic perovskite structure similar to SrTiO3 and high temperature phase of AgTaO3, suggesting that SrTiO3 is helpful to stabilize AgTaO3 in its high temperature cubic phase. Substantial improvements over photocatalytic hydrogen production were realized in these solid solutions which clearly outperform their parent compounds AgTaO3 and SrTiO3. In-situ exolution of silver nanoparticles at the surface of solid solutions (x = 0.2) substantially strengthen the visible light absorption due to localized surface plasmons of these silver nanoparticles. This contributes to further improvements on both photocatalytic hydrogen and oxygen production under visible light illumination (λ ≥ 400 nm). Apparent quantum efficiency as high as ˜ 2.02% and ˜ 0.11% was achieved at solid solutions (x = 0.2) decorated with silver nanoparticles for full range (λ ≥ 250 nm) and visible light (λ ≥ 400 nm) illumination respectively. Photoelectrochemical analysis suggests that solid solutions own a better charge separation conditions than their parent compounds. Furthermore, the band edge positions of solid solutions (x = 0.2) lie approximately in the middle between AgTaO3 and SrTiO3, being ideal for solar water splitting reactions.

Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have made imaging the biliary tract faster while providing excellent anatomic reproduction of this duct system. MRI/MR-cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) has now become the first-line imaging procedure for many biliary tract problems. This work briefly discusses the MR techniques for biliary tree imaging and reviews MRI's role in the numerous diagnoses of filling defects in the biliary tract.