A stable rod‐like sulfonated viologen (R‐Vi) derivative is developed through a spatial‐structure‐adjustment strategy for neutral aqueous organic redox flow batteries (AORFBs). The obtained R‐Vi ...features four individual methyl groups on the 2,2′,6,6′‐positions of the 4,4′‐bipyridine core ring. The tethered methyls confine the movement of the alkyl chain as well as the sulfonic anion, thus driving the spatial structure from sigmoid to rod shape. The R‐Vi with weak charge attraction and large molecular dimension displays an ultralow membrane permeability that is only 14.7 % of that of typical sigmoid viologen. Moreover, the electron‐donating effect of methyls endows R‐Vi with the lowest redox potential of −0.55 V vs. SHE among one‐electron‐storage viologen‐based AORFBs. The AORFB with the R‐Vi anolyte and a K4Fe(CN)6 catholyte exhibits an energy efficiency up to 87 % and extremely low capacity‐fade rate of 0.007 % per cycle in 3200 continuous cycles.
We report a rod‐like sulfonated viologen (R‐Vi) anolyte for aqueous redox flow batteries (AORFBs). R‐Vi possesses a low membrane‐penetration rate of ≈10−10 cm2 s−1 and the lowest redox potential of −0.55 V vs. SHE among one‐electron‐storage viologens in AORFBs simultaneously. The R‐Vi‐based AORFB exhibits an extremely low capacity‐fade rate of 0.007 % per cycle in 3200 continuous charging–discharging processes.
Carbon dots (C-dots) have been proven to show the capability for direct reduction of Ag+ to elemental silver (Ag0) without additional reducing agent or external photoirradiation by incubating Ag+ ...with C-dots for 5 min in a water bath at 50 °C. Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) are simultaneously formed with an average size of 3.1 ± 1.5 nm and grew on carbon dots. This process involves the oxidation of amine or phenol hydroxyl groups on the aromatic ring of C-dots. Meanwhile C-dots protect and stabilize the Ag-NPs from aggregation in aqueous medium; that is, the Ag-NPs are stable at least for 45 days in aqueous medium. The formed Ag-NPs cause significant resonance light scattering (RLS), which correlates closely with the concentration of silver cation, and this facilitates quantitative detection of silver in aqueous medium.
Traditional methods of tumor treatment such as surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy have certain limitations, and their treatment effects are not always satisfactory. As a new ...tumor treatment method, photothermal therapy based on nanostructures has attracted the attention of researchers due to its characteristics of minimally invasive, low side effects, and inhibition of cancer metastasis. In recent years, there has been a variety of inorganic or organic nanostructures used in the field of photothermal tumor treatment, and they have shown great application prospects. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of nanomaterials/nanostructures as photothermal agents (PTAs) for photothermal therapy as well as their research progress are reviewed. For the sake of clarity, the recently reported nanomaterials/nanostructures for photothermal therapy of tumor are classified into five main categories, i.e., carbon nanostructures, noble metal nanostructures, transition metal sulfides, organic polymer, and other nanostructures. In addition, future perspectives or challenges in the related field are discussed.
Immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) adsorbents generally have excellent affinity for histidine-rich proteins. However, the leaching of metal ions from the adsorbent usually affects ...its adsorption performance, which greatly affects the reusable performance of the adsorbent, resulting in many limitations in practical applications. Herein, a novel IMAC adsorbent, i.e., Cu(II)-loaded polydopamine-coated urchin-like titanate microspheres (Cu-PDA-UTMS), was prepared via metal coordination to make Cu ions uniformly decorate polydopamine-coated titanate microspheres. The as-synthesized microspheres exhibit an urchin-like structure, providing more binding sites for hemoglobin. Cu-PDA-UTMS exhibit favorable selectivity for hemoglobin adsorption and have a desirable adsorption capacity towards hemoglobin up to 2704.6 mg g
. Using 0.1% CTAB as eluent, the adsorbed hemoglobin was easily eluted with a recovery rate of 86.8%. In addition, Cu-PDA-UTMS shows good reusability up to six cycles. In the end, the adsorption properties by Cu-PDA-UTMS towards hemoglobin from human blood samples were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The results showed that Cu-PDA-UTMS are a high-performance IMAC adsorbent for hemoglobin separation, which provides a new method for the effective separation and purification of hemoglobin from complex biological samples.
The tumor microenvironment (TME) can aid tumor cells in evading surveillance and clearance by immune cells, creating an internal environment conducive to tumor cell growth. Consequently, there is a ...growing focus on researching anti-tumor immunity through the regulation of immune cells within the TME. Various bioactive compounds in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are known to alter the immune balance by modulating the activity of immune cells in the TME. In turn, this enhances the body's immune response, thus promoting the effective elimination of tumor cells. This study aims to consolidate recent findings on the regulatory effects of bioactive compounds from TCM on immune cells within the TME. The bioactive compounds of TCM regulate the TME by modulating macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells and T lymphocytes and their immune checkpoints. TCM has a long history of having been used in clinical practice in China. Chinese medicine contains various chemical constituents, including alkaloids, polysaccharides, saponins and flavonoids. These components activate various immune cells, thereby improving systemic functions and maintaining overall health. In this review, recent progress in relation to bioactive compounds derived from TCM will be covered, including TCM alkaloids, polysaccharides, saponins and flavonoids. This study provides a basis for further in-depth research and development in the field of anti-tumor immunomodulation using bioactive compounds from TCM.
The retention of psychiatric nurses is an important concern for healthcare administrators in China. However, Chinese psychiatric nurses’ intention to leave their jobs and the factors associated with ...it have been scarcely studied.
To investigate Chinese psychiatric nurses’ intention to leave their jobs, and to explore the associations between the intention to leave and individual characteristics, job-related factors and job satisfaction.
A cross-sectional, anonymous survey of a nationwide sample was conducted.
Thirty-two tertiary psychiatric hospitals in 29 provincial capital cities in China.
All 9907 nurses in 32 hospitals were targeted for this survey conducted in December 2017; 8493 responded (response rate = 85.7%), and 7933 (without logic errors in the data) were included in the analysis.
A questionnaire was used to investigate the respondent’s intention to leave their job and to collect data on related factors, including individual characteristics (gender, age, marital status, educational background and self-rated health), job-related factors (professional title, working years, income, work hours, history of patient-initiated violence, perceived respect from patients, social recognition as well as physician-nurse coordination and trust) and job satisfaction. The short version of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire was used to assess job satisfaction. Chi-square tests and multilevel logistic regression analysis were used to examine associations between an intention to leave and other factors.
Among 7933 respondents, 20.2% reported an intention to leave their current jobs. The multiple regression analysis showed that better self-rated health (i.e. OR = 0.373, 95%CI = 0.308-0.452 for good health, reference: poor health), working more than 20 years (OR = 0.479, 95%CI = 0.389-0.590, reference: 20 years or less), higher monthly income (i.e. OR = 0.521, 95%CI = 0.399-0.680 for 6001–8000 RMBs, reference: 4500 RMB or less), perceived patient respect (OR = 0.727, 95%CI = 0.623-0.849), physician-nurse coordination (OR = 0.549, 95%CI = 0.480-0.629) and being satisfied with one’s job (OR = 0.373, 95%CI = 0.308-0.452) were negatively associated with an intention to leave; while those who were male (OR = 1.879, 95%CI = 1.605–2.199), working more than 40 hours per week (OR = 1.584, 95%CI = 1.374–1.825) and experienced patient-initiated violence in the past 12 months (OR = 1.566, 95%CI = 1.376–1.781) had a higher odds of reporting an intention to leave.
Self-rated health, monthly income, work hours, patient-initiated violence, perceived patient respect, physician-nurse coordination and job satisfaction are significant factors associated with a nurse’s intention to quit their job. In order to retain nurses in Chinese tertiary psychiatric hospitals, the government and hospital administrators should consider ways to address these factors.
Stress often leads to emotional disorders such as depression. The reward might render this effect through the enhancement of stress resilience. However, the effect of reward on stress resilience ...under different intensities of stress needs more evidence, and its potential neural mechanism has been poorly revealed. It has been reported that the endogenous cannabinoid system (ECs) and downstream metabolic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) are closely related to stress and reward, which might be the potential cerebral mechanism between reward and stress resilience, but there is a lack of direct evidence. This study aims to observe the effect of reward on stress resilience under different intensities of stress and further explore potential cerebral mechanisms underlying this effect.
Using the chronic social defeat stress model, we applied reward (accompanied by a female mouse) under different intensities of stress in mice during the modeling process. The impact of reward on stress resilience and the potential cerebral mechanism were observed after modeling through behavioral tests and biomolecules.
The results showed that stronger stress led to higher degrees of depression-like behavior. Reward reduced depression-like behavior and enhanced stress resilience (all
-value <0.05) (more social interaction in the social test, less immobility time in the forced swimming test, etc.), with a stronger effect under the large stress. Furthermore, the mRNA expression levels of CB1 and mGluR5, the protein expression level of mGluR5, and the expression level of 2-AG (2-arachidonoylglycerol) in both ventral tegmental area (VTA) and dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) were significantly upregulated by reward after modeling (all
-value <0.05). However, the protein expression of CB1 in VTA and DRN and the expression of AEA (anandamide) in VTA did not differ significantly between groups. Intraperitoneal injection of a CB1 agonist (URB-597) during social defeat stress significantly reduced depression-like behavior compared with a CB1 inhibitor (AM251) (all
-value <0.05). Interestingly, in DRN, the expression of AEA in the stress group was lower than that of the control group, with or without reward (all
-value <0.05).
These findings demonstrate that combined social and sexual reward has a positive effect on stress resilience during chronic social defeat stress, potentially by influencing the ECs and mGluR5 in VTA and DRN.
Background
Patient satisfaction has been seen as a key criterion when evaluating hospitals and is one of the main focuses of the current health‐care reform in China. This paper aimed to explore ...patient‐ and hospital‐level factors associated with inpatient satisfaction, which can provide policy implications for the evaluation and development of a patient‐oriented health‐care system.
Methods
The paper analyses data from the 2017 China National Patient Survey which includes 20 300 inpatients from 131 tertiary hospitals across 31 provinces. Descriptive analysis and multivariable logistic regressions are conducted to identify key factors related to satisfaction.
Results
Patient sociodemographic characteristics, including gender, age, income and insurance type, are found to be strongly associated with their satisfaction of inpatient experience. In terms of institutional characteristics, hospital type, size, staffing and financial performance are also significantly correlated with inpatient satisfaction. Patients are more satisfied with specialist hospitals and large hospitals measured by the number of beds and surgeries. Hospitals with higher nurse‐to‐bed ratio also receive more satisfaction. The financial performance of hospitals, however, is negatively associated with satisfaction.
Conclusion
Patient satisfaction contains unique information on service quality and thus should be incorporated into the matrix of hospital evaluation. Meanwhile, differences in patient composition must be adjusted to make fair comparisons across hospitals. Moreover, future reform needs to put greater efforts in the design of comprehensive public insurance scheme, efficient hospital structure and an overall well‐functioning health‐care delivery system in order to better serve patients in China.
Background Study
As interest in programming education continues to grow, more educators are incorporating programming into K‐12 classrooms. There is evidence that programming can help develop ...essential skills for future societal advancement, known as 21st century skills. However, there has been limited research into which sub‐skills of 21st century skills are fostered through programming and the effect sizes thereof.
Objective
This study presented a meta‐analysis to comprehensively understand the influence of programming instruction in K‐12 classrooms on the development of students' 21st century skills in different dimensions of sub‐skills. And further analysed the impact of key elements of programming instruction design on its effectiveness.
Methods
A comprehensive meta‐analysis was conducted, covering 74 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2023, involving 136 effect sizes, and moderation analyzes on variables of instructional design.
Results
This study indicated that implementing programming instruction in K‐12 schools can help develop students' multiple dimensions of 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, problem‐solving and decision, learning to learn, ICT literacy, and personal and social responsibility. Overall, programming demonstrates a moderate but significant effect on improving 21st century skills (Hedges's g = 0.621, p = 0.000 < 0.01). Furthermore, several best practices were identified to enhance students' 21st century skills, including initiating programming education from kindergarten, limiting the duration of programming interventions to 6 months, adopting interdisciplinary approaches to programming education, utilizing visual programming tools, and selecting appropriate assessment methods.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, this study recommended the thoughtful design of programming education to maximize its advantages in various dimensions of 21st century skills.
Lay Description
What is already known about this topic
Currently, 21st century skills have become critical skills that students should have.
A popular practice in K‐12 schools is to use programming to develop students' 21st century skills, but results are inconsistent and quantitative synthesis of empirical research is lacking.
Some factors of programming instruction may influence the effectiveness of programming on students' 21st century competencies.
What this paper adds
A meta‐analysis of 74 studies was conducted to provide systematic evidence that programming has a moderate effect on improving K‐12 students' 21st century skills.
Programming significantly improves students' eight sub‐skills in the 21st century.
Educational level moderated the impact of programming on students' 21st century skills.
Instructional duration moderated the impact of programming on students' 21st century skills.
The implications of study findings for practitioners
Programming instruction is designed to be well‐planned and to take full advantage of technology to develop students' 21st century skills.
Starting programming instruction at a younger age is more beneficial for students' 21st century skill development.
Regarding intervention duration, it is noteworthy that interventions lasting within six months are more effective.
Integrate programming across disciplines to promote students' multi‐dimensional 21st century skills.
Phytohormone-related transcription factors (TFs) are involved in regulating stress responses and plant growth. However, systematic analysis of these TFs in Brassicaceae is limited, and their ...functions in stress adaptation and plant height (PH) regulation remain unclear. In this study, 2115 hormone-related TFs were identified in nine Brassicaceae species. Specific domains were found in several Brassicaceae hormone-related TFs, which may be associated with diverse functions. Syntenic analysis indicated that expansion of these genes was mainly caused by segmental duplication, with whole-genome duplication occurring in some species. Differential expression analysis and gene co-expression network analysis identified seven phytohormone-related TFs (BnaWRKY7, 21, 32, 38, 52, BnaGL3-4, and BnaAREB2-5) as possible key genes for cadmium (Cd) toxicity, salinity stress, and potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) deficiencies. Furthermore, BnaWRKY42 and BnaARR21 may play essential roles in plant height. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) identified 15 phytohormone-related TFs and their potential target genes regulating stress adaptation and plant height. Among the above genes, BnaWRKY56 and BnaWRKY60 responded to four different stresses simultaneously, and BnaWRKY42 was identified in two dwarf rapeseeds. In summary, several candidate genes for stress resistance (BnaWRKY56 and BnaWRKY60) and plant height (BnaWRKY42) were identified. These findings should help elucidate the biological roles of Brassicaceae hormone-related TFs, and the identified candidate genes should provide a genetic resource for the potential development of stress-tolerant and dwarf oilseed plants.
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