Designing Pt-based nanoparticle (NP) catalysts is of great interest for the lowering of Pt usage and the enhancement of catalytic activity on the proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). ...However, it is still challenging to develop well-arrayed catalyst NPs on supports over multiple-length scales. Herein, we presented a facile strategy of producing well-ordered Pt-based NPs toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts assisted by the self-assembly of block copolymers. In contrast to the conventional Pt/C ORR catalysts with a random dispersion on carbon, the as-prepared Pt, PtCo, and PtCo@Pt NPs in our work were hexagonally arranged with a uniform quasi-spherical shape and ordered distribution. The systematic study related to their ORR activities revealed that the PtCo@Pt core–shell NP arrays were more active and more durable than PtCo, Pt, and the commercial Pt/C catalyst. In the rotating-disk electrode test, a half-wave potential (E 1/2) of 0.86 V versus RHE and a 4-e ORR mechanism were found for PtCo@Pt. Single-cell performance showed that the current density and the peak power density of PtCo@Pt achieved 0.86 A/cm2@0.7 V and 1.05 W/cm2, respectively, with a Pt loading of ∼0.15 mg/cm2 on the cathode. Also, they held 81.4 and 82.9% retention, respectively, after the durability test in the single-cell test. Density functional theory calculation results revealed that PtCo@Pt NPs had a lower d-band center and a weaker oxygen binding energy compared to Pt and PtCo, which contributed to the enhancement of the ORR activity.
Various segmentation networks based on Swin Transformer have shown promise in medical segmentation tasks. Nonetheless, challenges such as lower accuracy and slower training convergence have ...persisted. To tackle these issues, we introduce a novel approach that combines the Swin Transformer and Deformable Transformer to enhance overall model performance. We leverage the Swin Transformer's window attention mechanism to capture local feature information and employ the Deformable Transformer to adjust sampling positions dynamically, accelerating model convergence and aligning it more closely with object shapes and sizes. By amalgamating both Transformer modules and incorporating additional skip connections to minimize information loss, our proposed model excels at rapidly and accurately segmenting CT or X-ray lung images. Experimental results demonstrate the remarkable, showcasing the significant prowess of our model. It surpasses the performance of the standalone Swin Transformer's Swin Unet and converges more rapidly under identical conditions, yielding accuracy improvements of 0.7% (resulting in 88.18%) and 2.7% (resulting in 98.01%) on the COVID-19 CT scan lesion segmentation dataset and Chest X-ray Masks and Labels dataset, respectively. This advancement has the potential to aid medical practitioners in early diagnosis and treatment decision-making.
In recent years, neural networks have made pioneering achievements in the field of medical imaging. In particular, deep neural networks based on U-shaped structures are widely used in different ...medical image segmentation tasks. In order to improve the early diagnosis and clinical decision-making system of lung diseases, it has become a key step to use the neural network for lung segmentation to assist in positioning and observing the shape. There is still the problem of low precision. For the sake of achieving better segmentation accuracy, an optimized pure Transformer U-shaped segmentation is proposed in this article. The optimization segmentation network adopts the method of adding skip connections and performing special splicing processing, which reduces the information loss in the encoding process and increases the information in the decoding process, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the segmentation accuracy. The final experiment shows that our improved network achieves 97.86% accuracy in segmentation of the “Chest Xray Masks and Labels” dataset, which is better than the full convolutional network or the combination of Transformer and convolution.
We present a facile approach for the direct attachment of cross-linked poly(2-thiopheneacetic acid) onto the surface of magnetite nanoparticles with one single carbon layer (Fe
3
O
4
@1C NPs) via ...self-assembly oxidative polymerization. The functional Fe
3
O
4
@1C NPs combined with poly(2-thiopheneacetic acid) Fe
3
O
4
@1C@ poly(Th) NPs was successfully prepared and used for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). The influence of the preparation conditions and extraction conditions were investigated in detail. The morphology and size distribution of the monolithic materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the prepared Fe
3
O
4
@1C@ poly(Th) NPs showed good extraction efficiency for canthin-6-one alkaloids. Furthermore, the results indicated that the binding specificity and selectivity of the Fe
3
O
4
@1C@ poly(Th) NPs might be attributed to electrostatic interactions and pore structure. A MSPE–HPLC method was also developed for quantitative analysis of canthin-6-one alkaloids. The developed method showed good linearity, low limit of detections, low limit of quantifications, and good reproducibility over a wide linear range. To further prove the utility, Fe
3
O
4
@1C@ poly(Th) NPs-MSPE was also used to extract canthin-6-one alkaloids from
Eurycoma longifolia
stems, with a recovery rate of 87.9–114%. Thus, this method is potentially applicable for the extraction of similar alkaloid compounds from medicinal herb samples.
Sodium-dependent glucose transporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) has the advantages of effectively lowering blood glucose levels and improving renal outcomes in diabetic patients. This study evaluated the ...effect of canagliflozin on intrarenal lipid content and oxygenation in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients.
A total of 64 newly diagnosed T2DM patients with normal renal function were randomly divided into canagliflozin (n = 33) and glimepiride control (n = 31) groups. All patients underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning to assay patients' intrarenal lipid content and oxygenation level before and after 24 weeks of treatment. Furthermore, the relationship between body mass index and intrarenal lipid content in T2DM patients was analyzed and the correlation between changes in intrarenal lipid content and improvements in renal hypoxia was further assessed.
The canagliflozin group had a greater decrease in body weight and blood uric acid level than the glimepiride group (all P < 0.05). The intrarenal lipid content could be significantly reduced after canagliflozin treatment for 24 weeks. The R2* values, a parameter for quantifying the oxygen content in tissues and is inversely related to the oxygen content, of the renal cortex and medulla in the canagliflozin group decreased from the baseline by 6.40% (P < 0.01) and 12.09% (P = 0.000007), respectively. In addition, the degree of reduction of fat fraction (ΔFF) in the kidneys of the canagliflozin group was correlated with the degree of improvement of oxygenation level (ΔR2*) in the renal cortex (r = 0.422, P = 0.014).
The early renal protective effect of SGLT2i in newly diagnosed T2DM patients may be partly attributed to the amelioration of renal hypoxia via the alleviation of ectopic lipid deposition in the kidneys.
Chu Hsien-I Memorial Hospital of Tianjin Medical University (ChiCTR2000037951).
Statins may decrease chronic kidney diseases (CKDs) risk, but their underlying molecular mechanisms are not completely understood. Recent studies indicate Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition ...(EndMT) plays an important role contributing to renal interstitial fibrosis. In the present study, we first investigated whether lovastatin could ameliorate renal fibrosis via suppression of EndMT and its possible mechanism.
experiments, lovastatin significantly ameliorated microalbuminuria and pathologic changes in diabetic rats. Double labeling immunofluorescence showed lovastatin could inhibit EndMT in glomeruli. Furthermore, lovastatin could inhibit oxidative stress and down-regulate TGF-β1-Smad signaling. Consistent alterations were observed
that lovastatin substantially suppressed EndMT and TGF-β1 signaling induced by high glucose in glomerular endothelial cells (GEnCs). These data indicated that lovastatin could ameliorate EndMT in glomeruli in diabetic nephropathy, the mechanism of which might be at least partly through suppression of oxidative stress and TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.
To date, most of the research on electrodes for lithium sulfur batteries has been focused on the nanostructured sulfur cathodes and achieves significant success. However, from the viewpoint of ...manufacturers, the nanostructured sulfur cathodes are not so promising, because of the low volumetric energy density and high cost. In this work, we obtained the low-cost, scalable, eco-friendly mass production of edge-functionalized acetylene black-sulfur(FAB-S) composites by high-energy ball-milling technique for lithium sulfur batteries. The as-prepared FAB-S composite can deliver a high initial discharge capacity of 1304 mAh/g and still remain a reversible capacity of 814 mAh/g after 200 cycles at a charge-discharge rate of 0.2 C in the voltage range of 1.7–2.7 V. The observed excellent electrochemical properties demonstrate that the cathodes obtained by the facile high-energy ball-milling method as the cathode for rechargeable Li-S batteries are of great potential because it used the sole conductive additive acetylene black(AB).Such improved properties could be attributed to the partially exfoliation of AB, which not only keeps the AB’s inherent advantage, but also increases the specific surface area and forms chemical bonds between carbon and sulfur, resulting in the accumulation of the polysulfides intermediate through both the physical and chemical routes.
Objective
To assess the feasibility and safety of zero ischaemia robotic-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (RALPN) after preoperative superselective transarterial embolization (STE) of T1 ...renal cancer.
Methods
We retrospectively analyzed the data of 32 patients who underwent zero ischaemia RALPN after STE and 140 patients who received standard robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (S-RALPN). In addition, we selected 35 patients treated with off-clamp RALPN (O-RALPN) from September 2017 to March 2022 for comparison. STE was performed by the same interventional practitioner, and zero ischaemia laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) was carried out by experienced surgeon 1-12 hours after STE. The intraoperative data and postoperative complications were recorded. The postoperative renal function, routine urine test, urinary Computed Tomography (CT), and preoperative and postoperative glomerular filtration rate (GFR) data were analyzed.
Results
All operations were completed successfully. There were no cases of conversion to opening and no deaths. The renal arterial trunk was not blocked. No blood transfusions were needed. The mean operation time was 91.5 ± 34.28 minutes. The mean blood loss was 58.59 ± 54.11 ml. No recurrence or metastasis occurred.
Conclusion
For patients with renal tumors, STE of renal tumors in zero ischaemia RALPN can preserve more renal function, and it provides a safe and feasible surgical method.
The effects of different dietary protein and lipid levels on juvenile greenfin horse-faced filefish (
Thamnaconus septentrionalis
) was experimentally evaluated in a 56-day study. Fish (initial ...weight 6.47±0.56 g) were fed with nine different diet combinations containing three varying levels of protein (37%, 43%, 49%) and lipids (4%, 7%, 10%) in triplicates, where the protein-to-energy (P/E) ratios of the diets varied in the range of 19.17–26.99 mg kJ
−1
. Results showed that fish fed diets containing 49% protein and 10% lipid exhibited significantly lower feed intake than those fed other diets. The weight gain of fish fed diets with 43% protein was significantly higher than that of fish fed 37% or 49% protein diets. While no significant change in weight gain was observed when lipid content was increased from 4% to 7%, weight gain decreased significantly when lipid increased from 7% to 10%. The protein efficiency ratio and feed efficiency were highest when the fish were fed the diet with 49% protein and 7% lipids. Muscle crude lipid content was positively correlated with dietary protein level regardless of lipid level. The diet of 43% protein or 7% lipids significantly reduced the activity of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in liver. The contents of aspartate aminotransferase, superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde were significantly increased from 4% to 10% lipids in plasma. The plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride contents were positively correlated with dietary lipid level at the same protein level. Our comprehensive analysis concluded that a diet with 43% protein and 7% lipid, with a P/E ratio of 23.07 mg kJ
−1
, significantly promote the growth performance, feed utilization and health of juvenile greenfin horse-faced filefish.
A method is proposed in this paper to prepare a SiC slurry with SiC particles selected by an ultrasonic-assisted elutriation method to reduce substrate surface damage caused by abrasive particles ...during lapping. Sapphire substrate lapping experiments were carried out using the prepared SiC slurry, and the lapping performance of the slurry was analyzed. The experimental results show that the SiC particle size is a factor that directly affects the material removal rate and surface roughness Ra, of sapphire substrates. When a SiC slurry with a particle size of 630 nm was used, the material removal rate was 508 nm/h, and the surface roughness Ra was 1.9 nm; increasing the slurry concentration and the platen rotating speed can improve the material removal rate. In addition, the agglomeration of SiC particles in the slurry depends on the pH of the slurry. Efficient precision lapping of sapphire substrates can be achieved by selecting appropriately sized SiC particles and by adjusting the slurry pH to control the agglomeration and dispersion of SiC particlesto further reduce the scratches on the substrate surface during the lapping process.
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