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Lithium–sulfur battery of practical interest requires thin-layer support to achieve acceptable volumetric energy density. However, the typical aluminum current collector of Li-ion battery cannot be efficiently used in the Li/S system due to the insulating nature of sulfur and a reaction mechanism involving electrodeposition of dissolved polysulfides. We study the electrochemical behavior of a Li/S battery using a carbon-coated Al current collector in which the low thickness, the high electronic conductivity, and, at the same time, the host ability for the reaction products are allowed by a binder-free few-layer graphene (FLG) substrate. The FLG enables a sulfur electrode having a thickness below 100 μm, fast kinetics, low impedance, and an initial capacity of 1000 mAh gS–1with over 70% retention after 300 cycles. The Li/S cell using FLG shows volumetric and gravimetric energy densities of 300 Wh L–1and 500 Wh kg–1, respectively, which are values well competing with commercially available Li-ion batteries.

Several drug screening campaigns identified Calpeptin as a drug candidate against SARS-CoV-2. Initially reported to target the viral main protease (Mpro), its moderate activity in Mpro inhibition assays hints at a second target. Indeed, we show that Calpeptin is an extremely potent cysteine cathepsin inhibitor, a finding additionally supported by X-ray crystallography. Cell infection assays proved Calpeptin’s efficacy against SARS-CoV-2. Treatment of SARS-CoV-2-infected Golden Syrian hamsters with sulfonated Calpeptin at a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight significantly reduces the viral load in the trachea. Our results show that the inhibition of cathepsins, a protein family of the host organism, is a promising approach for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and potentially other viral infections. An intrinsic advantage in targeting host proteins is their mutational stability in contrast to highly mutable viral targets.

We investigated herein the morphological, structural, and electrochemical features of electrodes using a sulfur (S)-super P carbon (SPC) composite (i.e., S@SPC-73), and including few-layer graphene (FLG), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), or a mixture of them within the current collector design. Furthermore, we studied the effect of two different electron-conducting agents, that is, SPC and FLG, used in the slurry for the electrode preparation. The supports have high structural crystallinity, while their morphologies are dependent on the type of material used. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) shows a reversible and stable conversion reaction between Li and S with an activation process upon the first cycle leading to the decrease of cell polarization. This activation process is verified by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with a decrease of the resistance after the first CV scan. Furthermore, CV at increasing scan rates indicates a Li+ diffusion coefficient (D) ranging between 10−9 and 10−7 cm2·s−1 in the various states of charge of the cell, and the highest D value for the electrodes using FLG as electron-conducting agent. Galvanostatic tests performed at constant current of C/5 (1 C = 1675 mA·gS−1) show high initial specific capacity values, which decrease during the initial cycles due to a partial loss of the active material, and subsequently increase due to the activation process. All the electrodes show a Coulombic efficiency higher than 97% upon the initial cycles, and a retention strongly dependent on the electrode formulation. Therefore, this study suggests a careful control of the electrode in terms of current collector design and slurry composition to achieve good electrode morphology, mechanical stability, and promising electrochemical performance in practical Li-S cells.

Journal of applied crystallography 55, 1549 - 1561 (2022). doi:10.1107/S1600576722009815, X-ray crystallography has witnessed a massive development over the past decade, driven by large increases in the intensity and brightness of X-ray sources and enabled by employing high-frame-rate X-ray detectors. The analysis of large data sets is done via automatic algorithms that are vulnerable to imperfections in the detector and noise inherent with the detection process. By improving the model of the behaviour of the detector, data can be analysed more reliably and data storage costs can be significantly reduced. One major requirement is a software mask that identifies defective pixels in diffraction frames. This paper introduces a methodology and program based upon concepts of machine learning, called robust mask maker (RMM), for the generation of bad-pixel masks for large-area X-ray pixel detectors based on modern robust statistics. It is proposed to discriminate normally behaving pixels from abnormal pixels by analysing routine measurements made with and without X-ray illumination. Analysis software typically uses a Bragg peak finder to detect Bragg peaks and an indexing method to detect crystal lattices among those peaks. Without proper masking of the bad pixels, peak finding methods often confuse the abnormal values of bad pixels in a pattern with true Bragg peaks and flag such patterns as useful regardless, leading to storage of enormous uninformative data sets. Also, it is computationally very expensive for indexing methods to search for crystal lattices among false peaks and the solution may be biased. This paper shows how RMM vastly improves peak finders and prevents them from labelling bad pixels as Bragg peaks, by demonstrating its effectiveness on several serial crystallography data sets., Published by Wiley-Blackwell, [S.l.]

Die mobile und stationare Energiespeicherung durch wiederaufladbare Batterien ist ein Thema von breiter gesellschaftlicher und okonomischer Bedeutung. Die wichtigste Technologie in diesem Bereich ist die Lithiumionenbatterie (LIB), jedoch muss man davon ausgehen, dass ein massiv wachsender LIB-Markt ernsten Druck auf Ressourcen und Lieferketten ausuben wird. Seit kurzem richtet sich die Aufmerksamkeit daher auch wieder auf die Natriumionenbatterie (SIB), die eine preisgunstige Alternative darstellen konnte, die weniger anfallig fur Ressourcen- und Versorgungsrisiken ist. Auf dem Papier scheint der Austausch von Lithium durch Natrium in einer Batterie unkompliziert, jedoch erlebt man in der Praxis oft unvorhersehbare Uberraschungen. Was geschieht, wenn in Elektrodenreaktionen Lithium durch Natrium ersetzt wird? Dieser Aufsatz bietet einen aktuellen Uberblick uber das Redoxverhalten von Materialien bei ihrer Verwendung als Elektroden in LIBs bzw. SIBs. Die Vorteile und Herausforderungen im Zusammenhang mit der Verwendung von Natrium anstelle von Lithium werden diskutiert.

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is a neurohormone that maintains circadian rhythms

Mobile and stationary energy storage by rechargeable batteries is a topic of broad societal and economical relevance. Lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology is at the forefront of the development, but a massively growing market will likely put severe pressure on resources and supply chains. Recently, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been reconsidered with the aim of providing a lower-cost alternative that is less susceptible to resource and supply risks. On paper, the replacement of lithium by sodium in a battery seems straightforward at first, but unpredictable surprises are often found in practice. What happens when replacing lithium by sodium in electrode reactions? This review provides a state-of-the art overview on the redox behavior of materials when used as electrodes in lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, respectively. Advantages and challenges related to the use of sodium instead of lithium are discussed.

Introduction: At present no evidence-based medical treatment for persistent atelectasis in pediatric non-cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is available. Method: To evaluate the use of intratracheally inst

Developments in the CrystFEL software suite, for processing diffraction data from ‘serial crystallography’ experiments, are described., CrystFEL is a suite of programs for processing data from ‘serial crystallography’ experiments, which are usually performed using X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) but also increasingly with other X-ray sources. The CrystFEL software suite has been under development since 2009, just before the first hard FEL experiments were performed, and has been significantly updated and improved since then. This article describes the most important improvements which have been made to CrystFEL since the first release version. These changes include the addition of new programs to the suite, the ability to resolve ‘indexing ambiguities’ and several ways to improve the quality of the integrated data by more accurately modelling the underlying diffraction physics.

At present no evidence-based medical treatment for persistent atelectasis in pediatric non-cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is available.To evaluate the use of intratracheally instilled recombinant human deoxyribonuclease (rhDNase) in intubated and ventilated pediatric patients, we performed a single-center observational study on 46 pediatric intensive care patients who had received intratracheal DNase. Patients were classified, according to radiologic findings of atelectasis (group 1) or infiltrates. As controls we examined a historical control group of 17 patients with atelectasis after cardiac surgery, who had been treated with NaCl 0.9% and matched for age and diagnosis with 21 patients from group 1 (subgroup 1a). Radiologic improvement and inflammatory markers in both serum and tracheal aspirates were measured.In group 1, 35 patients had 51 atelectases/dystelectases episodes at baseline. 67 % of patients showed radiologic signs of improvement after 24h treatment with rhDNase. In subgroup 1a, 16 patients had complete resolution of atelectases and minimal change in dystelectases after a treatment of 24 hours rhDNase, compared with the control group of 17 patients, who had 7 atelectases and 10 dystelectases at baseline and an improvement in only 1 out of 17 (6 %) patients after 24h.Intratracheal instillation of rhDNase is an effective adjunct to conservative therapy of atelectases in children. Further randomized controlled prospective studies are necessary.

Das Grundbuch ist ein Register, das die Rechtsverhaltnisse an den Grundstucken dokumentiert1. Damit gewahrleistet ist, das der Inhalt des Registers weitgehend der wirklichen Rechtslage entspricht, setzen Verfugungen (Eigentumsubertragung, Belastung usw.) neben der rechtsgeschaftlichen Einigung der Beteiligten eine Eintragung voraus. Fehlt die Eintragung, ist der Verfugungstatbestand nicht vollendet und es treten keine Rechtswirkungen ein. Die Eintragung ist aber nicht in dem Sinne konsumtiv, das die Rechtsverhaltnisse am Grundstuck stets der Eintragung folgen. Wird etwa aufgrund einer nichtigen Auflassung2 ein neuer Eigentumer eingetragen, fehlt es an einer wirksamen Ubereignung, die nach §§ 873, 925 BGB neben der Eintragung die (wirksame) Auflassung (Einigung uber den Eigentumswechsel) voraussetzt. Das Grundbuch wird in diesen Fallen unrichtig. Unrichtig kann das Grundbuch auch bei einem gesetzlichen (im Gegensatz zum rechtsgeschaftlichen) Rechtserwerb oder Rechtsverlust werden, der keine Eintragung voraussetzt. So wird etwa der Erbe mit dem Erbfall Eigentumer. Seine Eintragung in das Grundbuch andert an der materiellen Rechtslage nichts.