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Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are considered as the development direction of the new generation energy storage system due to their high energy density and low cost. The slow redox kinetics of sulfur and the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfide (LiPS) are considered to be the main obstacles to the practical application of LSBs. Transition-metal sulfide as the cathode host can improve the Li-S redox chemistry. However, there has been no investigation of the application of FeS 2 host in Li-S redox chemistry. Applying the first-principles calculations, we investigated the formation energy, band gap, Li + diffusion, adsorption energy, catalytic performance and Li 2 S decomposition barrier of FeA x S 2-x (A=N, P, O, Se; x=0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.375) to explore the Li-S redox chemistry and finally select excellent host material. FeA 0.25 S 1.75 (A=P, Se) has a low Li + diffusion barrier and superior electronic conductivity. FeO 0.25 S 1.75 is more favorable for LiPS adsorption, followed by FeP 0.25 S 1.75 . FeP 0.25 S 1.75 (001) shows a low overpotential for the Li-S redox chemistry. In summary, FeP 0.25 S 1.75 has more application potential in LSBs due to its physical and chemical properties, followed by FeSe 0.25 S 1.75 . This work provides theoretical guidance for the design and selection of the sulfur cathode host materials in LSBs., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Eight compounds were isolated from ethyl acetate fraction of 80% ethanol extract of the hulls of Garcinia mangostana by silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, as well as prep-HPLC methods. By HR-ESI-MS, MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectral analyses, the structures of the eight compounds were identified as 16-en mangostenone E(1), α-mangostin(2), 1,7-dihydroxy-2-(3-methy-lbut-2-enyl)-3-methoxyxanthone(3), cratoxyxanthone(4), 2,6-dimethoxy-para-benzoquinone(5), methyl orselinate(6), ficusol(7), and 4-(4-carboxy-2-methoxyphenoxy)-3,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid(8). Compound 1 was a new xanthone, and compound 4 was a xanthone dimer, compound 5 was a naphthoquinone. All compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time except compounds 2 and 3. Cytotoxic bioassay suggested that compounds 1, 2 and 4 possessed moderate cytotoxicity, suppressing HeLa cell line with IC_(50) va-lues of 24.3, 35.5 and 17.1 μmol·L~(-1), respectively. Compound 4 also could suppress K562 cells with an IC_(50) value of 39.8 μmol·L~(-1).

A six-and-a-half-year-old girl with white secretions in her eyes for 2 weeks was treated in the Ophthalmology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University after ineffective treatment in several hospitals. The patient refused to communicate with the doctor and receive detailed examination. Only conjunctival congestion was found in both eyes. According to the photos and specimens of white secretions from both eyes provided by the parents of the patient, the diagnosis was conjunctivitis and conjunctival foreign bodies. With the doctor's reminding, the parents did close observation and good communication. The child finally admitted that she had put tissue fragments into her eyes in order to attract the parents' attention. Munchausen syndrome was diagnosed by a psychiatrist. After symptomatic treatment and improvement of family environment, the patient's condition improved. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2021, 57: 621-623) .

Objective: To analyze the characteristics of newly reported HIV/AIDS cases in medical institutions in Tianjin from 2005 to 2017 and provide evidence for the improvement of AIDS prevention and treatment in medical institutions. Methods: The data of the newly reported cases of HIV/AIDS in medical institutions in Tianjin from 2005 to 2017 were analyzed. Meanwhile a retrospective survey was conducted on the source department of medical institutions and the main disease for treatment of HIV/AIDS cases. Results: A total of 3 035 HIV/AIDS cases were reported in medical institutions in Tianjin from 2005 to 2017 with an annual increase of 24.8 % , among these cases, 49.2 % (1 343/2 728) were reported from inpatients and 50.8 % (1 385/2 728) were reported from outpatients. There was an increasing trend in the HIV positive detection rate in STD outpatients from 2011 to 2017 ( χ (2)=18.469, P =0.005). The counts of the first CD(4)(+) T cell counts (CD(4)) ( χ (2)=17.189, P =0.000) among the cases from inpatients and outpatients and the proportions of deaths in the year when the cases were found differed ( χ (2)=61.198, P =0.000), the differences were significant. And the statistically significant differences in the counts of the first CD(4) ( χ (2)=16.751, P =0.000) and the proportions of deaths in the year when the cases were found ( χ (2)=18.926, P =0.000) existed among the cases in grade Ⅲ hospitals and in grade Ⅱ hospitals; meanwhile the differences in the counts of the first CD(4) ( χ (2)=37.620, P =0.000) and the proportions of deaths in the year when the cases was found ( χ (2)=95.489, P =0.000) among the cases from different departments were significant. Conclusion: The timeliness of HIV/AIDS case reporting by outpatient departments was better in medical institutions in Tianjin, and the case reporting in grade Ⅱ hospitals were more timely than in grade Ⅲ hospitals; so it is suggested to provide active HIV test in key departments of medical institutions for the better HIV/AIDS prevention and control in Tianjin.

Pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) represent a group of common and frequently-occurring diseases that seriously affect the life quality of women, generally including stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Surgery has been used as a treatment for PFD, but almost 30% of patients require subsequent surgery due to a high incidence of postoperative complications and high recurrence rates. Therefore, investigations of new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Stem cells possess strong multi-differentiation, self-renewal, immunomodulation, and angiogenesis abilities and they are able to differentiate into various cell types of pelvic floor tissues and thus provide a potential therapeutic approach for PFD. Recently, various studies using different autologous stem cells have achieved promising results by improving the pelvic ligament and muscle regeneration and conferring the tissue elasticity and strength to the damaged tissue in PFD, as well as reduced inflammatory reactions, collagen deposition, and foreign body reaction. However, with relatively high rates of complications such as bladder stone formation and wound infections, further studies are necessary to investigate the role of stem cells as maintainers of tissue homeostasis and modulators in early interventions including therapies using new stem cell sources, exosomes, and tissue-engineering combined with stem cell-based implants, among others. This review describes the types of stem cells and the possible interaction mechanisms in PFD treatment, with the hope of providing more promising stem cell treatment strategies for PFD in the future., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflict of interest., (©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To study the survival time and influencing factors of HIV/AIDS cases who began receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) from 2005 to 2015 in Tianjin. Methods: Data related to HIV/AIDS cases that receiving ART between 2005 and 2015 in Tianjin, were collected from the Chinese HIV/AIDS Basic Information Management System. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze data of collection. Life table was used to calculate the survival proportion and Cox proportion hazard regression model was used to analyze the factors associated to the time of survival. Results: A total of 2 057 HIV/AIDS cases were involved, including 51 died from AIDS related disease, ending up with the survival rates of 1, 3, 5 and 10 years as 98.4%, 97.8%, 97.4% and 95.8%, respectively. Results from the multivariate Cox proportion hazard regression model showed that when comparing with the cases aged<30 years, a HR (95 %CI ) of the cases aged 30-39 years, 40-49 years, 50 years or above appeared as 4.506 (1.226-9.059), 5.944 (1.479-13.892) and 15.958 (5.309-27.206) respectively. When comparing with the cases having no loss of follow-up during ART process, the a HR of the cases having lost of follow-up during ART was 5.645 (95 %CI : 3.124-10.200). When comparing with the cases diagnosed by other institutions, the a HR of the cases diagnosed by hospitals was 3.823 (95 %CI : 1.423-10.274). When compared with the cases had no hepatitis B or hepatitis C before ART, a HR of the cases with hepatitis B or C prior to ART was 2.580 (95 %CI :1.210-5.502). Compared with the cases receiving ART at Ⅰ/Ⅱ clinical stages, the a HR of the cases at Ⅲ/Ⅳ clinical stages was 3.947 (95 %CI : 2.167-7.188). Compared with the cases with junior high school education or below, the a HR of the cases with high school education or above was 0.440 (95 %CI : 0.238-0.810). Compared with the cases diagnosed before operation, a HR of the cases from special investigation and from counseling and testing (VCT) were 0.111 (0.027-0.456) and 0.182 (0.049-0.674) respectively. Conclusions: The survival rate of HIV/AIDS cases that received ART was high in Tianjin. Risk factors related to the survival of cases would include: old age when started receiving ART, loss of follow-up during ART, diagnosed by hospitals, co-infected with hepatitis B or hepatitis C and receiving ART at Ⅲ/Ⅳ clinical stages. Meanwhile, protective factors related to the survival of cases would include: having high school or above education, diagnosis was made through other special programs or from VCT services.

Aim: To retrospectively identify clinicopathological and radiological characteristics that could be independent predictors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 and 21 mutation in surgically resected lung adenocarcinomas in a cohort of Asian patients., Materials and Methods: Demographics, histopathology data, and preoperative chest computed tomography (CT) images were evaluated retrospectively in 471 surgically resected lung adenocarcinomas. A total of 24 CT descriptors were assessed. Univariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify independent predicted factors of harbouring EGFR mutations., Results: EGFR mutations were existed in 252 (53.5%) of 471 patients, and associated with 11 clinicoradiological features. For the model with both clinical and radiological features, the independent predictors of harbouring EGFR mutation were small maximum diameter (≤3.9 cm), non-smokers, micropapillary pattern, pleural retraction, vascular convergence, and absence of solid pattern. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was 0.784. Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that non-smokers, vascular convergence, and absence of solid pattern were important independent predictors of EGFR exon 19 mutation, while non-smokers and vascular convergence were independent predictors of EGFR exon 21 mutation. The AUCs were 0.807 and 0.794, respectively. A lepidic growth pattern appeared more frequently in exon 21 mutant tumours than in exon 19 mutant group (p<0.001)., Conclusion: CT imaging features of lung adenocarcinomas in combination with clinical variables could be used to prognosticate EGFR mutation status. The separate analysis of EGFR exon 19 or 21 mutation could further improve diagnostic performance., (Copyright © 2018 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In the present study, the response of spring wheat production and water use efficiency (WUE) to the elevated CO 2 concentrations was investigated based on the open-top chamber (OTC) experiment platform in Dingxi, a typical semi-arid area. Three different CO 2 concentrations (390 μmol·mol -1 , 480 μmol·mol -1 and 570 μmol·mol -1 ) were involved. The results showed that the air temperature above plant canopy increased and the soil temperature at depth of 10 cm decreased by elevated CO 2 . The increased CO 2 concentration substantially enhanced the total and each component biomass. The aboveground dry mass under the increased CO 2 concentrations (480 and 570 μmol·mol -1 ) was increased by 20.6% and 41.5%, respectively, and the total dry mass was increased by 19.3% and 39.6%, respectively. The biomass enhacement was mainly due to the increases of dry mass of stems and leaves, which was strongly related to the material production capacity during the middle growth stage. The root/shoot ratio under the increased CO 2 concentrations (480 and 570 μmol·mol -1 ) was decreased by 7.3% and 11.8%, respectively, indicating that the elevated CO 2 affected the dry matter accumulation of aboveground more than that of belowground. The yields of spring wheat under the increased CO 2 concentrations (480 and 570 μmol·mol -1 ) were higher than that of the control by 8.9% and 19.9%, respectively, mainly due to the increase of grains per spike. The long-term effect of elevated CO 2 concentration on the photosynthesis of spring wheat was not obvious. The photosynthetic rate significantly increased, the transpiration rate decreased and the evapotranspiration reduced with the increases of CO 2 concentration. WUE at the leaf, population, and yield levels increased under elevated CO 2 concentration, with the increase range of WUE being the largest at the population level and the lowest at the yield level.

A field infrared temperature-increasing simulation experiment was conducted to investi- gate the effects of air temperature increases (0, 1 and 2 °C ) on growth, development and yield of spring wheat at the Dingxi Arid Meteorology and Ecological Environment Experimental Station of the Institute of Arid Meteorology of China Meteorological Administration. The results showed that the growth period of spring wheat was shortened by 7-11 d when the temperature increased by 1-2 °C. The plant height and leaf area index increased at early growth stage, decreased after entering the jointing stage, and warming 2 °C had a higher effect than warming 1 °C. Warming treatment induced an obvious decrease in chlorophyll content, especially from late grain filling stage to milk ripe stage. Compared with the control, increasing temperature by 1-2 °C decreased the spring wheat yield by 25.4%-45.5%, mainly due to obvious decreases in number of grains and grain mass per panicle. Water consumption of 0-100 cm soil horizons increased with the increase of temperature, while the variation tendency of water consumption of 100-160 cm soil horizons was not obvious.

In order to predict effects of climate changing on growth, quality and grain yields of spring wheat, a field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of air temperature increases (0 °C, 1.0 °C, 2.0° C and 3.0°) and precipitation variations (decrease 20%, unchanging and increase 20%) on grain yields, quality, diseases and insect pests of spring wheat at the Dingxi Arid Meteorology and Ecological Environment Experimental Station of the Institute of Arid Meteorology of China Meteorological Administration (35°35' N ,104°37' E). The results showed that effects of precipitation variations on kernel numbers of spring wheat were not significant when temperature increased by less than 2.0° C , but was significant when temperature increased by 3.0° C. Temperature increase enhanced kernel numbers, while temperature decrease reduced kernel numbers. The negative effect of temperature on thousand-kernel mass of spring wheat increased with increasing air temperature. The sterile spikelet of spring wheat response to air temperature was quadratic under all precipitation regimes. Compared with control ( no temperature increase), the decreases of grain yield of spring wheat when air temperature increased by 1.0°C, 2.0°C and 3.0°C under each of the three precipitation conditions (decrease 20%, no changing and increase 20%) were 12.1%, 24.7% and 42.7%, 8.4%, 15.1% and 21.8%, and 9.0%, 15.5% and 22.2%, respectively. The starch content of spring wheat decreased and the protein content increased with increasing air temperature. The number of aphids increased when air temperature increased by 2.0°C , but decreased when air temperature increased by 3.0°CT. The infection rates of rust disease increased with increasing air temperature.

A method is developed to determine salbutamol in human plasma and urine using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a coulometric electrode array system, based on the electrochemical behavior of salbutamol at graphite electrode. The mobile phase component A is 30 mM sodium dihydroxy phosphate-30 mM triethylamine and is adjusted to pH 6.0 with 20% phosphate acid. The mobile phase component B is methanol. The optimized mobile phase composition was A and B in the proportion of 90:10 (v/v). Paracetamol is selected as the external standard. The human plasma and urine samples are pretreated using solid-phase extraction cartridges (Sep-Pak Silica), and the eluting solution is monitored by the coulometric electrode array system. The electrode potentials are set at 300, 400, 550, and 650 mV, respectively. Calibration curves show good linearity, and the recovery of salbutamol proves to be constant and unaffected by the concentration of the drug. This method, developed using HPLC-electrochemical detection, is reproducible and sensitive enough for the determination of salbutamol in human plasma and urine.

Aim: To detect the residual clenbuterol in pork meat and liver using HPLC with Coulometric electrode array system., Methods: Homogenized meat or liver sample was treated with 1 mol x L(-1) hydrochloric acid and centrifuged, the fat existing in meat or liver tissue was removed by diethyl ether. The pH of the remaining aqueous layer was adjusted to 10.8 +/- 0.2 or 11.6 +/- 0.2 for meat or liver and liquid-liquid extraction with diethyl ether was followed. The ether extract was evaporated to dryness, the residue was dissolved in the mobile phase. The mobile phase A consisted of 50 mmol x L(-1) phosphoric acid-30 mmol x L(-1) triethylamine and was adjusted to pH 4.0 with 2 mol x L(-1) sodium hydroxide solution. The mobile phase B consisted of methanol-acetonitrile (30:45). A mixture of mobile phase A and B (80:20) was used in the method. A four electrode array module was selected for quantitation, the electrode potentials were set at 450, 600, 650 and 680 mV respectively., Results: The two calibration curves for meat and liver showed good linearity between 1.88 - 60.16 ng x g(-1), the detection limit of clenbuterol was 1.2 ng x g(-1)., Conclusion: This method using HPLC-electrochemical detection is reproducible, and the sensitivity is good enough for the determination of clenbuterol in meat and liver.