Search

Diffusion-induced stresses in Sn, a promising anode material for Li-ion batteries owing to its high specific capacity, depend significantly on the phase transformation mechanism. In this study, an in-situ X-ray diffraction study is performed to reveal the phase transformation mechanism in Sn as functions of the discharge rate and Sn anode dimensions. In a 500 nm-thick Sn thin-film discharged at C/9 or a 100 nm-thick Sn thin-film discharged at 0.1C, the Sn phase transforms sequentially to Li2Sn5, followed by β-LiSn and a-Li7Sn3 in three steps, where each step involves reaction-controlled lithiation. However, in a 500 nm-thick Sn thin-film discharged at 2C or a 2 μm-thick Sn thin-film discharged at 0.1C, the a-Li7Sn3 phase is directly formed via one-step reaction-controlled lithiation between Sn and a-Li7Sn3. A transition from three-step to one-step results in a steep gradient in the mismatch strain, thereby causing early failure. Finite element simulations show a lower J-integral for the three steps compared with that of a one-step reaction, thereby confirming previously reported experimental observations. For a specified transformation mechanism, the J-integral is lower for smaller Sn micropillars. Therefore, the mechanical reliability of the Sn anode can be enhanced significantly when lithiated under phase transformation mechanism involving three-reaction-controlled lithiations, as well as utilizing a small Sn anode measuring less than 200 nm.

Purpose Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a rare disease in children and there are some different characteristics between children and adult. We aimed to evaluate incidence, clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of pediatric APL in Korea.Materials and Methods Seventy-nine pediatric APL patients diagnosed from January 2009 to December 2016 in 16 tertiary medical centers in Korea were reviewed retrospectively.Results Of 801 acute myeloid leukemia children, 79 (9.9%) were diagnosed with APL. The median age at diagnosis was 10.6 years (range, 1.3 to 18.0). Male and female ratio was 1:0.93. Thirty patients (38.0%) had white blood cell (WBC) count greater than 10×109/L at diagnosis. All patients received induction therapy consisting of all-trans retinoic acid and chemotherapy. Five patients (6.6%) died during induction chemotherapy and 66 patients (86.8%) achieved complete remission (CR) after induction chemotherapy. The causes of death were three intracranial hemorrhage, one cerebral infarction, and one sepsis. Five patients (7.1%) suffered a relapse during or after maintenance chemotherapy. The estimated 4-year event-free survival and overall survival (OS) rates were 82.1%±4.4%, 89.7%±5.1%, respectively. The 4-year OS was significantly higher in patients with initial WBC < 10×109/L than in those with initial WBC ≥ 10×109/L (p=0.020).Conclusion This study showed that the CR rates and survival outcomes in Korean pediatric APL patients were relatively good. The initial WBC count was the most important prognostic factor and most causes of death were related to serious bleeding in the early stage of treatment.

There is limited information on the association between weekend catch-up sleep (CUS), which has beneficial effects on health, and depression. This study aimed to investigate the association between CUS and depression in adults.We used the data of the Seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2016. Depression was defined as Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score ≥10. We categorized CUS duration as ≤0, 0 to 1, 1 to 2, and2 h.Of 5550 eligible participants, 3286 (54.9%), 1033 (19.5%), 723 (14.7%) and 508 (10.9%) had CUS duration ≤0, 0 to 1, 1 to 2, and2 h, respectively; of these, the prevalence of depression was 7.0%, 4.2%, 2.9%, and 6.0%, respectively. Multivariable regression analyses including covariates revealed that individuals with CUS duration 1 to 2 h had a significantly decreased risk of depression compared to individuals with CUS duration ≤0 h (odds ratio [OR] = 0.517, 95% CI = 0.309-0.865). Individuals with CUS duration 0 to 1 h (OR = 0.731, 95% CI = 0.505-1.060) and2 h (OR = 1.164, 95% CI = 0.718-1.886) showed no significantly different risk of depression.The risk of depression in individuals with CUS duration 1 to 2 h was lower than for those with CUS duration ≤0 h. This finding provides a better understanding on the association between CUS and depression; and can be a basis for better management of depression.

A 3D co-continuous polymer nanocomposite with high strength and high recoverability is demonstrated. This nanocomposite used hard-core-soft-matrix design which is suitable for obtaining the optimal strength. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was freeze-dried together with silver nanowires (AgNW) to fabricate a 3D porous structure as hard-core phase, which was then filled with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as soft-matrix phase via vacuum infiltration. The PVA + AgNW nanocomposite served as the hard core, with PDMS as the soft matrix, with this hard core-soft matrix design allowing for a combination of the excellent strength of the nanocomposite and the resilience of the PDMS. The addition of AgNWs strengthened the modulus of the freeze-dried structure over the 3 times and the comparison with the Halpin-Tsai model is indicated of AgNWs were well dispersed into the wall of the 3D structure. The vertical pore alignment of the freeze-dried structure resulted in an increased the strength. In addition, incorporation of hard core-soft matrix significantly increased the strength of the 3D nanocomposite up to 3.5 times that of the PDMS as a result of the co-continuous incorporation of hard and soft phases with well distributed 3D interfaces that also hindered crack propagation. Therefore, the PVA + AgNW 3D porous structure contributed by strengthening and toughening of the entire composite, resulting in increasing energy loss coefficients of nanocomposites, which showed good shock absorbance.

Ruthenium (Ru) thin films were grown via atomic layer deposition (ALD) using a novel Ru precursor with enhanced reactivity, namely Ru(η5-cycloheptadienyl)2 (Ru(chd)2) and O2. Self-limiting growth during the Ru ALD process was achieved by varying the Ru precursor and O2 feeding times. Metallic Ru films with a low resistivity (10–16 μΩ cm) grew at deposition temperatures between 200 and 300 °C, where the growth per cycle (GPC) during Ru ALD was 0.2 to 0.4 A cy−1 at 265 °C. The Ru incubation times were considerably shorter using the novel precursor (negligible on Pt and TiN, ∼22 cycles on SiO2) compared with those associated with Ru ALD using a high-valency Ru precursor and O2. The characteristics of the Ru film were influenced by the substrate. Specifically, the Pt substrate gave rise to an amorphous film, while crystalline films were grown on the TiN and SiO2 substrates, where a high RuOx content resulted on the SiO2 substrate.

Primary chemomechanical impacts of confinement on hydrogen storage performance are studied using a nanolaminate structure where reduced graphene oxide (rGO) encapsulates palladium (Pd) nanoparticles. Three contributing factors are identified that can alter the reaction enthalpy: nanosizing, chemical interaction with the encapsulant, and mechanical stress induced strain from a combination of clamping force and lateral pulling force exerted on the Pd nanoparticles. The mechanical contributions are quantified by combining transmission electron microscopy, ab initio computation, and continuum elasticity theory, from which the encapsulation is found to exert an additional strain of 4.96% and 2.99% before and after hydrogen absorption, respectively, increasing the Pd and Pd hydride (PdHx) reaction enthalpy by 1.3–2.8 kJ (mol H2)−1. The effect of the chemical interaction with rGO also raises the reaction enthalpy by up to 1.6 kJ (mol H2)−1, while the nanosizing effect decreases the reaction enthalpy. The three contributing factors to the reaction enthalpy are found to be similar in magnitude, where the net effect is in agreement with the measured enthalpy increase of 3.7 kJ (mol H2)−1 from the bulk value. Hydrogen absorption kinetics and capacity also improved, which is attributed to facile nucleation of the hydrogen-rich phase enabled by the inhomogeneous strain distribution over the encapsulated PdHx nanoparticles. These results demonstrate that the chemomechanical effect can be controlled in the nanolaminate structure, providing an ideal template for tuning hydrogen storage performance.

Lithium (Li) metal is an ideal anode material for next-generation batteries. However, the commercialization of Li metal-based batteries is impeded by uncontrollable Li dendrite formation and the accumulation of a solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI). Recently, various polymers have been investigated to form a stable SEI layer on Li metal and extend its cycle life. In this study, a polymer film composed of sodium alginate (Na-Alg), which is a natural biopolymer obtained from brown algae, and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), was used as a separator. Na-Alg sustained the film structure and PEO facilitated Li-ion diffusion by absorbing the liquid electrolyte. Without using any additives in the commercial carbonate electrolyte, this method extended the cycle life of a Li metal symmetric cell to 1000 h with an overpotential

Decades of research on solute-induced phase transformation of metal hydride systems have shown the possibility to enhance hydrogen storage properties through novel material design such as nanoconfinement engineering. Nevertheless, the fundamentals of mechanical stress effect on confined Pd nanoparticles remain yet to be elucidated due to the difficulty in linking with hydrogen sorption thermodynamics. Here, a thermodynamic tuning of Pd nanocubes associated with hydrogen sorption as a result of encapsulation by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layers is demonstrated. Pd nanocubes are constrained by rGO to such a degree that the chemical potential and the pressure hysteresis of the system during hydrogen sorption drastically change while showing a size dependence. A thorough thermodynamic analysis elucidates the role of constraints on hydrogen uptake and release; despite the nanoscale regime, the thermodynamic parameters (enthalpy and entropy) during phase transition considerably increase, a phenomenon not seen before in unconstrained Pd nanoparticle systems.

Biological systems consist of hierarchical protein structures, each of which has unique 3D geometries optimized for specific functions. In the past decades, the growth of inorganic materials on specific proteins has attracted considerable attention. However, the use of specific proteins as templates has only been demonstrated in relatively simple organisms, such as viruses, limiting the range of structures that can be used as scaffolds. This study proposes a method for synthesizing metallic structures that resemble the 3D assemblies of specific proteins in mammalian cells and animal tissues. Using 1.4 nm nanogold-conjugated antibodies, specific proteins within cells and ex vivo tissues are labeled, and then the nanogold acts as nucleation sites for growth of metal particles. As proof of concept, various metal particles are grown using microtubules in cells as templates. The metal-containing cells are applied as catalysts and show catalytic stability in liquid-phase reactions due to the rigid support provided by the microtubules. Finally, this method is used to produce metal structures that replicate the specific protein assemblies of neurons in the mouse brain or the extracellular matrices in the mouse kidney and heart. This new biotemplating approach can facilitate the conversion of specific protein structures into metallic forms in ex vivo multicellular organisms.

Molybdenum-based compounds are considered as a potential replacement for expensive precious-metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acid electrolytes. However, coating of thin films of molybdenum nitride or carbide on a large-area self-standing substrate with high precision is still challenging. Here, MoNx is uniformly coated on carbon cloth (CC) and nitrogen-doped carbon (NC)-modified CC (NCCC) substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The as-deposited film has a nanocrystalline character close to amorphous and a composition of approximately Mo2 N with significant oxygen contamination, mainly at the surface. Among the as-prepared ALD-MoNx electrodes, the MoNx /NCCC has the highest HER activity (overpotential η≈236 mV to achieve 10 mA cm-2 ) owing to the high surface area and porosity of the NCCC substrate. However, the durability of the electrode is poor, owing to the poor adhesion of NC powder on CC. Annealing MoNx /NCCC in H2 atmosphere at 400 °C improves both the activity and durability of the electrode without significant change in the phase or porosity. Annealing at an elevated temperature of 600 °C results in formation of a Mo2 C phase that further enhances the activity (η≈196 mV to achieve 10 mA cm-2 ), although there is a huge reduction in the porosity of the electrode as a consequence of the annealing. The structure of the electrode is also systematically investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A deviation in the conventional Warburg impedance is observed in EIS of the NCCC-based electrode and is ascribed to the change in the H+ ion diffusion characteristics, owing to the geometry of the pores. The change in porous nature with annealing and the loss in porosity are reflected in the EIS of H+ ion diffusion observed at high-frequency. The current work establishes a better understanding of the importance of various parameters for a highly active HER electrode and will help the development of a commercial electrode for HER using the ALD technique.

The practical use of lithium–sulfur battery (LSB) is impeded by the excessive growth of Li dendrite in the anode and the dissolution of soluble intermediates (shuttle effect) in the cathode. In spi...

We investigated the role of graphene interfaces in strengthening and toughening of the Cu-graphene nanocomposite by a combination of

Deposition providing precise control of the film thickness, low deposition temperature, and noncorrosive byproducts is essential for the efficient fabrication of barrier layers in semiconductor dev...

The effect of varying the density of Ag nanowire networks on their reliability was explored during cyclic bending. The reliability of the Ag nanowire network was degraded as the density of nanowires decreased, which is in contrast to E-beam evaporated dense Cu thin films that showed enhanced reliability for thinner films. The cause for such a reverse trend is explained by a percolation mechanism considering that the failure in the Ag nanowire network occurs locally at the junctions that are randomly distributed as opposed to fatigue-induced channel crack formation in a Cu thin film.

Flexible and stretchable electrochromic supercapacitor systems are widely considered as promising multifunctional energy storage devices that eliminate the need for an external power source. Nevertheless, the performance of conventional designs deteriorates significantly as a result of electrode/electrolyte exposure to atmosphere as well as mechanical deformations for the case of flexible systems. In this study, we suggest an all-transparent stretchable electrochromic supercapacitor device with ultrastable performance, which consists of Au/Ag core–shell nanowire-embedded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), bistacked WO3 nanotube/PEDOT:PSS, and polyacrylamide (PAAm)-based hydrogel electrolyte. Au/Ag core–shell nanowire-embedded PDMS integrated with PAAm-based hydrogel electrolyte prevents Ag oxidation and dehydration while maintaining ionic and electrical conductivity at high voltage even after 16 days of exposure to ambient conditions and under application of mechanical strains in both tensile and bending condit...

To expand the processing options for low-temperature-operating solid oxide fuel cells (LT-SOFCs), the hybridization of powder processing and vacuum deposition is attempted. Nanostructured nickel-yttria-stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) anode functional layer (AFL) and YSZ/gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) bi-layer electrolyte are fabricated over a sintered anode support by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), a physical vapor deposition technology. The most common powder-processed (screen-printed and sintered) La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ-Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 (LSCF-GDC) composite cathode is applied over vacuum-deposited thin-film components. When LSCF-GDC is sintered at a general sintering temperature of 1050 °C then the continuity of the GDC buffer is lost and excessive interdiffusion between the cathode and the electrolyte has occurred at the interface. On the other hand, if the sintering temperature is lowered to 950 °C, peak power density more than 1.7 W cm−2 at 650 °C is obtained. Moreover, the operation stability of the hybrid SOFC (degradation rate ∼8%/100 h) is superior to that of the SOFC with a vacuum-processed nanostructure cathode (degradation rate ∼21%/100 h) when exposed to 0.7 A cm−2 at 650 °C, which is a significantly harsh degradation test condition for LT-SOFCs.

Nanocarbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and their derivatives, are regarded as promising reinforcing agents in metal matrix composites (MMCs) because of their excellent intrinsic mechanical properties. Considering the various types of nanocarbons with different defect states and intrinsic properties, there is a potential for tailoring the mechanical behavior of nanocarbon-reinforced MMCs. This article reviews recent developments in both the processing and the structure–property correlations of these composites. Particular emphasis is given to the structure and properties of the nanocarbon–metal interfaces, as the external mechanical load is transferred between the nanocarbon and the metal matrix across their interfaces. Moreover, in addition to the intuitive load-bearing effect of the nanocarbon reinforcements, a copious interplay between nanocarbons and dislocations in the metal matrix has been found, which alters the deformation behavior that leads to additional strengthening. For structural applications, scalable fabrication routes for the nanocarbon-metal composites need to be developed, and studies on the mechanical behavior under real service conditions are needed.

We demonstrated the non-volatile operation of a Si PN ring resonator with a ferroelectric HfZrO2 capacitor. Due to the polarization in the HfZrO2 capacitor, the resonance wavelength of the ring resonator shows the bi-stable operation.

Although metal-phenolic species have emerged as one of the versatile material-independent-coating materials, providing attractive tools for interface engineering, mechanistic understanding of their film formation and growth still remains largely unexplored. Especially, the anions have been overlooked despite their high concentration in the coating solution. Considering that the anions are critical in the reactivity of metal-organic complex and the formation and/or property of functional materials, we investigated the anionic effects on the characteristics of film formation, such as film thickness and properties, in the Fe3+-tannic acid coating. We found that the film characteristics were strongly dictated by the counteranions (e.g., SO42-, Cl-, and Br-) of the Fe3+ ion. Specifically, the film thickness and properties (i.e., mechanical modulus, permeability, and stability) followed the reversed anionic Hofmeister series (Br- > Cl- > SO42-). Mechanistic studies suggested that more chaotropic anions, such as Br-, might induce a more widely extended structure of the Fe3+-TA complexes in the coating solution, leading to thicker, harder, but more porous films. The reversed anionic Hofmeister effect was further confirmed by the additive effects of various sodium salts (NaF, NaCl, NaBr, and NaClO4).

Native extracellular matrix (ECM) can exhibit cyclic nanoscale stretching and shrinking of ligands to regulate complex cell-material interactions. Designing materials that allow cyclic control of changes in intrinsic ligand-presenting nanostructures in situ can emulate ECM dynamicity to regulate cellular adhesion. Unprecedented remote control of rapid, cyclic, and mechanical stretching ("ON") and shrinking ("OFF") of cell-adhesive RGD ligand-presenting magnetic nanocoils on a material surface in five repeated cycles are reported, thereby independently increasing and decreasing ligand pitch in nanocoils, respectively, without modulating ligand-presenting surface area per nanocoil. It is demonstrated that cyclic switching "ON" (ligand nanostretching) facilitates time-regulated integrin ligation, focal adhesion, spreading, YAP/TAZ mechanosensing, and differentiation of viable stem cells, both in vitro and in vivo. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging reveals magnetic switching "ON" (stretching) and "OFF" (shrinking) of the nanocoils inside animals. Versatile tuning of physical dimensions and elements of nanocoils by regulating electrodeposition conditions is also demonstrated. The study sheds novel insight into designing materials with connected ligand nanostructures that exhibit nanocoil-specific nano-spaced declustering, which is ineffective in nanowires, to facilitate cell adhesion. This unprecedented, independent, remote, and cytocompatible control of ligand nanopitch is promising for regulating the mechanosensing-mediated differentiation of stem cells in vivo.

Traditionally, the manipulation of contact mechanisms has been adopted as the primary strategy to tailor the friction properties of surfaces. On the contrary, the detaching process involving the local deformation and failure at the interface has been considered relatively less important. Here, we present a new approach toward the friction control of amorphous carbon through the plasticity and resultant transition of deformation mode on nanopatterned surfaces. Depending on the topography of the nanopatterns, the mechanical responses of the surfaces alter from elastic fracture to plastic flow, through which the friction coefficient changes by a factor of 5 without manipulation of the intrinsic structure of the material.

Information on sex differences in the association between chronotype and depression is scarce. We aimed to investigate these differences using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2016. Chronotypes were categorised based on mid-sleep time on free days corrected by sleep debt accumulated on workdays (MSFsc): early type, mean MSFsc + 1 SD. A Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score of ≥ 10 indicated depression. Among 5550 non-shift working adults aged 19–80 years, the prevalence rates of depression in the early, intermediate, and late chronotype groups were 7.4%, 4.5%, and 9.3%, respectively. Women with late chronotype (odds ratio [OR] = 2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.8–4.7) showed a higher risk of depression than women with intermediate chronotype after adjusting for covariates. Women with early chronotype did not show a significant difference in depression risk (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 0.9–2.0). In conclusion, late chronotype is associated with an increased risk of depression in women but not in men. Early chronotype is not associated with depression in women or men.

Background There has been growing international interest in performing remote consultations in primary care, particularly amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the evidence surrounding the safety of remote consultations is inconclusive. The appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing in remote consultations is an important aspect of patient safety that needs to be addressed. Objective This study aimed to summarize evidence on the impact of remote consultation in primary care with regard to antibiotic prescribing. Methods Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, HMIC, PsycINFO, and CINAHL for literature published since the databases’ inception to February 2020. Peer-reviewed studies conducted in primary health care settings were included. All remote consultation types were considered, and studies were required to report any quantitative measure of antibiotic prescribing to be included in this systematic review. Studies were excluded if there were no comparison groups (face-to-face consultations). Results In total, 12 studies were identified. Of these, 4 studies reported higher antibiotic-prescribing rates, 5 studies reported lower antibiotic-prescribing rates, and 3 studies reported similar antibiotic-prescribing rates in remote consultations compared with face-to-face consultations. Guideline-concordant prescribing was not significantly different between remote and face-to-face consultations for patients with sinusitis, but conflicting results were found for patients with acute respiratory infections. Mixed evidence was found for follow-up visit rates after remote and face-to-face consultations. Conclusions There is insufficient evidence to confidently conclude that remote consulting has a significant impact on antibiotic prescribing in primary care. However, studies indicating higher prescribing rates in remote consultations than in face-to-face consultations are a concern. Further, well-conducted studies are needed to inform safe and appropriate implementation of remote consulting to ensure that there is no unintended impact on antimicrobial resistance.

Background: Cutaneous allodynia (CA) is a common feature of migraine and a clinical marker of central sensitization. Probable migraine (PM) is a subtype of migraine that fulfils all but one criterion of migraine. The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of CA and those of migraine in PM. Methods: We used the data of the Korean Sleep-Headache study, which was a nation-wide population-based study on headache and sleep. CA was evaluated using the Allodynia Symptom Checklist-12 (ASC-12) questionnaire with ASC-12 score ≥ 3 classified as CA. Results: Of 2501 participants, the prevalence of migraine and PM were 5.0% and 11.6%, respectively. The prevalence of CA did not significantly differ between migraine and PM (16.0% vs. 14.5%, respectively, p = 0.701). Individuals with PM with CA reported a higher monthly frequency of headache (3.3 ± 4.3 vs. 1.8 ± 3.6, respectively, p = 0.044), more severe intensity of headache (Visuals Analogue Scale, median and interquartile range, 6.0 [4.0–7.0] vs. 5.0 [3.0–6.0], respectively, p = 0.002), and higher impact of headache (Headache Impact Test-6, 56.3 ± 7.2 vs. 48.3 ± 8.0, respectively, p < 0.001) and disability (Migraine Disability Assessment, 1.00 [0.00–10.00] vs. 0.00 [0.00–1.00], respectively, p < 0.001) than individuals with PM without CA. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the frequency and intensity of headache, anxiety, and depression were significant factors of CA in individuals with PM. Conclusions: Approximately one-sixth of individuals with migraine and PM experienced CA in a representative sample of Korea. Anxiety, depression, and high frequency of headaches were significant factors of CA in individuals with PM.

BACKGROUND There has been growing international interest in performing remote consultations in primary care, particularly amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the evidence surrounding the safety of remote consultations is inconclusive. The appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing in remote consultations is an important aspect of patient safety that needs to be addressed. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to summarize evidence on the impact of remote consultation in primary care with regard to antibiotic prescribing. METHODS Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, HMIC, PsycINFO, and CINAHL for literature published since the databases’ inception to February 2020. Peer-reviewed studies conducted in primary health care settings were included. All remote consultation types were considered, and studies were required to report any quantitative measure of antibiotic prescribing to be included in this systematic review. Studies were excluded if there were no comparison groups (face-to-face consultations). RESULTS In total, 12 studies were identified. Of these, 4 studies reported higher antibiotic-prescribing rates, 5 studies reported lower antibiotic-prescribing rates, and 3 studies reported similar antibiotic-prescribing rates in remote consultations compared with face-to-face consultations. Guideline-concordant prescribing was not significantly different between remote and face-to-face consultations for patients with sinusitis, but conflicting results were found for patients with acute respiratory infections. Mixed evidence was found for follow-up visit rates after remote and face-to-face consultations. CONCLUSIONS There is insufficient evidence to confidently conclude that remote consulting has a significant impact on antibiotic prescribing in primary care. However, studies indicating higher prescribing rates in remote consultations than in face-to-face consultations are a concern. Further, well-conducted studies are needed to inform safe and appropriate implementation of remote consulting to ensure that there is no unintended impact on antimicrobial resistance.

Purpose Nasal pain, as an epileptic aura, has been poorly recognized. This study aims to demonstrate clinical features of patients with epilepsy who have nasal pain as an aura. Methods We retrospectively investigated consecutive patients who visited the epilepsy clinic of tertiary hospital from April 2000 to September 2019. All included patients underwent epilepsy-dedicated, high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. All MRI studies were analyzed by visual inspection. Results Seven patients who presented nasal pain as an aura, were identified. Four patients reported nasal pain as the first aura. Four patients had right amygdala enlargement (isolated amygdala enlargement in three patients; amygdala enlargement in addition to hippocampal sclerosis in one patient), and one patient with compression of an internal carotid-posterior communicating artery aneurysm to right amygdala on brain MRI. Interictal epileptiform or ictal discharges on EEG were found in the right temporal region in five patients. In all four patients with amygdala enlargement, amygdala enlargement was ipsilateral to EEG anomalies. In all patients, nasal pain was accompanied by ictal semiological features, such as autonomic, olfactory, abdominal, or psychic auras, and focal impaired awareness seizures, which are typically associated with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Conclusions Our findings suggest that nasal pain can occur as an epileptic aura in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with probable involvement of the amygdala.

Molybdenum-based compounds are considered as a potential replacement for expensive precious-metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acid electrolytes. However, coating of thin films of molybdenum nitride or carbide on a large-area self-standing substrate with high precision is still challenging. Here, MoN

Although graphene has considerable potential as a next-generation transparent conducting electrode (TCE) material owing to its excellent optical transparency and flexibility, its electrical properties require further improvement for industrial application. This study reports a pathway of doping graphene by selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) of metals to elevate the electrical conductivity of graphene. Introduction of a novel Pt precursor [dimethyl(N,N-dimethyl-3-butene-1-amine-N)platinum(II); C8H19NPt; DDAP] facilitates a low-temperature (165 °C) process. The sheet resistance (Rs) of graphene is reduced significantly from 471 to 86.8 Ω sq-1 after 200 cycles of Pt ALD, while the optical transmittance at 550 nm (T) is maintained above 90% up to 200 cycles due to the selective growth of Pt on the defects of graphene. Furthermore, comprehensive analysis, including metal (Ru, Pt, and Ni) ALD on graphene, metal (Ru, Pt, Ni, Au, and Co) evaporation on graphene, and change in the ALD chemicals, demonstrates that ALD allows efficient graphene doping and the oxygen affinity of the metal is one of the key properties for efficient graphene doping. Finally, Pt ALD is applied to a multilayer graphene to further reduce Rs down to 75.8 Ω sq-1 yet to be highly transparent (T: 87.3%) after 200 cycles. In summary, the selective ALD of metals opens a way of improving the electrical properties of graphene to a level required for the industrial TCE application and has the potential to promote development of other types of functional metal-graphene composites.

A strategy for improving the stability of nickel-based solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anodes via compositional and microstructural engineering is presented. Ni content was reduced to 2 vol%, and nanosized Ni particles were uniformly dispersed in a mixed ionic-electronic conducting matrix comprising gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) using a thin-film technique. Remarkable stability with no performance deterioration even after 100 reduction-oxidation cycles could be observed for the optimized nanostructured anodes. Cell performance at 500 °C was enhanced, exceeding 650 mW/cm 2 . This study offers valuable insights for enhancing the durability, performance, and productivity of SOFCs.

Although foldable electronic devices have been commercially available for some time now, flexible protective coating with sufficient reliability is yet to be achieved. The integration of polyurethane acrylate and an organic-inorganic (O-I) siloxane hybrid is proposed in this study as a promising protective coating, where both high strength and stretchability could be achieved to allow for the needed reliability for foldable electronics. In this work, a urethane-methacrylate siloxane hybrid (U-MSH) composite was fabricated by a physical blending of methacrylate-functionalized oligosiloxane and acrylate terminated urethane prepolymer followed by curing. The U-MSH composite demonstrates excellent performance in terms of optical (e.g., transmittance, Abbe number, UV stability) and mechanical properties (e.g., resilience under compression, tension, and scratch). These outstanding properties can be attributed to the synergetic effect of the combined polyurethane acrylate and O-I siloxane hybrid. Excellent reliability of U-MSH coating film is successfully demonstrated using an outward-bending test, suggesting that U-MSH has great potential as a protective material for flexible electronics.

Binderless, additiveless Si electrode design is developed where a nanoporous ZnO matrix is coated on a Si microparticle electrode to accommodate extreme Si volume expansion and facilitate stable electrochemical cycling. The conversion reaction of nanoporous ZnO forms an ionically and electrically conductive matrix of metallic Zn embedded in Li2O that surrounds the Si microparticles. Upon lithiation, the porous Li2O/Zn matrix expands with Si, preventing extensive pulverization, while Zn serves as active material to form LixZn to further enhance capacity. Electrodes with a Si mass loading of 1.5 mg/cm2 were fabricated, and a high initial capacity of ∼3900 mAh/g was achieved with an excellent reversible capacity of ∼1500 mAh/g (areal capacity ∼1.7 mAh/cm2) beyond 200 cycles. A high first-cycle Coulombic efficiency was obtained owing to the conversion reaction of nanoporous ZnO, which is a notable feature in comparison to conventional Si anodes. Ex situ analyses confirmed that the nanoporous ZnO coating maint...

Polymer nanocomposites with inclusion of ceramic nanofillers have relatively high yield strength, elastic moduli, and toughness that therefore are widely used as functional coating and films for optoelectronic applications. Although the mechanical properties are enhanced with increasing the fraction of nanofiller inclusion, there generally is an upper limit on the amount of nanofiller inclusion because the aggregation of the fillers in the polymer matrix, which typically occurs, degrades the mechanical and/or optical performances above 5 vol % of inclusions. Here, we demonstrate an unconventional polymer nanocomposite composed of a uniformly distributed three-dimensional (3D) continuous ceramic nanofillers, which allows for extremely high loading (∼19 vol %) in the polymer matrix without any concern of aggregation and loss in transparency. The fabrication strategy involves conformal deposition of Al2O3 nanolayer with a precise control in thickness that ranges from 12 to 84 nm on a 3D nanostructured porous...

Micro-architectures, such as cellular truss structures, enhance the mechanical properties of structural materials while ensuring that they are lightweight in nature. Among others, stretching-dominated truss structures are known for their high modulus and yield strength, which makes them the best choice for lightweight structural applications. Finite element analysis of octahedral vs. octet structures is used to compare the differences in stress distribution in the stretching-dominated deformation of such trusses. Both octahedral and octet stretching-dominated structures were fabricated by fused deposition modeling (FDM)-based three-dimensional (3D) printing. These micro-architectures are printed with different polymeric materials, such as polylactic acid or polylactide (PLA), nylon 618, and a carbon fiber reinforced composite of PLA (CFRPLA). In addition, the CFRPLA filament with randomly suspended carbon fibers in PLA undergoes shear-induced alignment along the strut direction of the 3D printed micro-trusses, which leads to an improved Young's modulus as compared to the other materials. The properties of the 3D printed stretching-dominated micro-trusses are evaluated by compression testing, finite element analysis (FEA), and thermal analysis. The 3D printed octet structure of CFRPLA with fiber alignment exhibits the highest modulus and yield strength of 0.6 GPa and 17 MPa, respectively. Keywords: Architected material, Micro-truss, 3D printing, Stretching-dominated structures, Compressive stress and strain

Nanoscale metal/graphene nanolayered composite is known to have ultrahigh strength as the graphene effectively blocks dislocations from penetrating through the metal/graphene interface. The same graphene interface, which has a strong sp2 bonding, can simultaneously serve as an effective interface for deflecting the fatigue cracks that are generated under cyclic bendings. In this study, Cu/Gr composite with repeat layer spacing of 100 nm was tested for bending fatigue at 1.6% and 3.1% strain up to 1,000,000 cycles that showed for the first time a 5-6 times enhancement in fatigue resistance compared to the conventional Cu thin film. Fatigue cracks that are generated within the Cu layer were stopped by the graphene interface, which are evidenced by cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images. Molecular dynamics simulations for uniaxial tension of Cu/Gr showed limited accumulation of dislocations at the film/substrate interface, which makes the fatigue crack formation and propagation through thickness of the film difficult in this materials system.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing generates cellular architected metamaterials with complex geometries by introducing controlled porosity. Their ordered architecture, imitative from the hierarchical high-strength structure in nature, defines the mechanical properties that can be coupled with other properties such as the acoustic, thermal, or biologic response. Recent progress in the field of 3D architecture materials have advanced that enables for design of lightweight materials with high strength and stiffness at low densities. Applications of these materials have been identified in the fields of ultra-lightweight structures, thermal management, electrochemical devices, and high absorption capacity.