Chemical modification of electrode materials by heteroatom dopants is crucial for improving storage performance in rechargeable batteries. Electron configurations of different dopants significantly ...influence the chemical interactions inbetween and the chemical bonding with the host material, yet the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We revealed competitive doping chemistry of Group IIIA elements (boron and aluminum) taking nickel‐rich cathode materials as a model. A notable difference between the atomic radii of B and Al accounts for different spatial configurations of the hybridized orbital in bonding with lattice oxygen. Density functional theory calculations reveal, Al is preferentially bonded to oxygen and vice versa, and shows a much lower diffusion barrier than BIII. In the case of Al‐preoccupation, the bulk diffusion of BIII is hindered. In this way, a B‐rich surface and Al‐rich bulk is formed, which helps to synergistically stabilize the structural evolution and surface chemistry of the cathode.
A model study has been performed on Group IIIA element (boron and aluminum) co‐doped high‐nickel layered oxide cathode materials to understand competitive doping chemistry. A notable difference between the atomic radii of B and Al accounts for different spatial configurations of the hybridized orbital in bonding with lattice oxygen, resulting in the formation of a B‐rich surface and an Al‐rich bulk.
Abstract
Background
The relationship between triglyceride-glucose index (TyG index) and the prevalence and prognosis of cardiovascular disease has been confirmed by former studies. However, it ...remains uncertain whether TyG index has a prognostic impact in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Methods
The study retrospectively enrolled 798 patients (mean age: 60.9 ± 8.3 years; 68.3% men) with T2DM and NSTE-ACS who underwent PCI at Beijing Anzhen Hospital from January to December 2015. TyG index was calculated as previously reported: ln fasting TGs (mg/dL) * FBG (mg/dL)/2. The primary endpoint was a composite of adverse events as follows: all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemia-driven revascularization.
Results
TyG index was significantly higher in patients with a primary endpoint event compared with those without. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis showed that 1-unit increase of TyG index was independently associated with higher risk of primary endpoint, independent of other risk factors hazard ratio (HR) 3.208 per 1-unit increase, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.400–4.289, P < 0.001. The addition of TyG index to a baseline risk model had an incremental effect on the predictive value for adverse prognosis AUC: baseline risk model, 0.800 vs. baseline risk model + TyG index, 0.856, P for comparison < 0.001; category-free net reclassification improvement (NRI) 0.346, P < 0.001; integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) 0.087, P < 0.001.
Conclusions
Increased TyG index is a significant predictor of adverse prognosis in patients with T2DM and NSTE-ACS undergoing PCI. Further studies need to be performed to determine whether interventions for TyG index have a positive impact on improving clinical prognosis.
The high fracture toughness of mollusk nacre is predominantly attributed to the structure‐associated extrinsic mechanisms such as platelet sliding and crack deflection. While the nacre‐mimetic ...structures are widely adopted in artificial ceramics, the extrinsic mechanisms are often weakened by the relatively low tensile strength of the platelets with a large aspect ratio, which makes the fracture toughness of these materials much lower than expected. Here, it is demonstrated that the fracture toughness of artificial nacre materials with high inorganic contents can be improved by residual stress‐induced platelet strengthening, which can catalyze more effective extrinsic toughening mechanisms that are specific to the nacre‐mimetic structures. Thereby, while the absolute fracture toughness of the materials is not comparable with advanced ceramic‐based composites, the toughness amplification factor of the material reaches 16.1 ± 1.1, outperforming the state‐of‐the‐art biomimetic ceramics. The results reveal that, with the merit of nacre‐mimetic structural designs, the overall fracture toughness of the artificial nacre can be improved by the platelet strengthening through extrinsic toughening mechanisms, although the intrinsic fracture toughness may decrease at platelet level due to the strengthening. It is anticipated that advanced structural ceramics with exceeding performance can be fabricated through these unconventional strategies.
This work illustrates an anti‐intuitive strategy that, with the merit of biomimetic designs, residual stress that is conventionally harmful to ceramics can inversely help improve the fracture toughness of biomimetic ceramics through nanoscale residual stress‐induced platelet strengthening. This provides new insights into the design principles of nacre‐like materials at the bottom level.
The detrimental outcomes of right ventricular pacing on left ventricular electromechanical function ultimately result in heart failure, a phenomenon termed pacing-induced cardiomyopathy (PICM) in ...clinical research. This study aimed to validate prognostic factors that can be used to identify patients with higher susceptibility to progress to the stage of cardiomyopathy before pacemaker implantation.
This observational analysis enrolled 256 patients between January 2013 and June 2016, 23 (8.98%) of whom progressed to PICM after 1 year of follow-up. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the prognostic factors associated with PICM. Dose-response analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between significant indicators in multifactor analysis and PICM.
The mean values of left ventricular ejection fraction before and after pacemaker implantation in 23 patients diagnosed with PICM were 62.3% and 42.7%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that sex, atrio-ventricular block, paced QRS duration, and ventricular pacing percentage were significantly associated with PICM. In the multivariate analysis, male sex (hazard ratio: 1.20, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.09-1.33, P < 0.005), paced QRS duration (hazard ratio: 1.95 per 1 ms increase, 95% CI: 1.80-2.12, P < 0.001), and ventricular pacing percentage (hazard ratio: 1.65 per 1% increase, 95% CI: 1.51-1.79, P < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors associated with the development of PICM. The ventricular pacing percentage and paced QRS duration level defined by the dose-response analysis were positively associated with PICM (P < 0.05).
Our findings indicated that paced QRS duration and ventricular pacing percentage were the most sensitive prognostic factors for PICM.
Overproduction of oxidants (reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species) in the human body is responsible for the pathogenesis of some diseases. The scavenging of these oxidants is thought ...to be an effective measure to depress the level of oxidative stress of organisms. It has been reported that intake of vegetables and fruits is inversely associated with the risk of many chronic diseases, and antioxidant phytochemicals in vegetables and fruits are considered to be responsible for these health benefits. Antioxidant phytochemicals can be found in many foods and medicinal plants, and play an important role in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases caused by oxidative stress. They often possess strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging abilities, as well as anti-inflammatory action, which are also the basis of other bioactivities and health benefits, such as anticancer, anti-aging, and protective action for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases. This review summarizes recent progress on the health benefits of antioxidant phytochemicals, and discusses their potential mechanisms in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.
Low‐cost and stable sodium‐layered oxides (such as P2‐ and O3‐phases) are suggested as highly promising cathode materials for Na‐ion batteries (NIBs). Biphasic hybridization, mainly involving P2/O3 ...and P2/P3 biphases, is typically used to boost their electrochemical performances. Herein, a P3/O3 intergrown layered oxide (Na2/3Ni1/3Mn1/3Ti1/3O2) as high‐rate and long‐life cathode for NIBs via tuning the amounts of Ti substitution in Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3−xTixO2 (x = 0, 1/6, 1/3, 2/3) is demonstrated. The X‐ray diffraction (XRD) Rietveld refinement and aberration‐corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy show the co‐existence of P3 and O3 phases, and density functional theory calculation corroborates the appearance of the anomalous O3 phase at the Ti substitution amount of 1/3. The P3/O3 biphasic cathode delivers an unexpected rate capability (≈88.7% of the initial capacity at a high rate of 5 C) and cycling stability (≈68.7% capacity retention after 2000 cycles at 1 C), superior to those of the sing phases P3‐Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2, P3‐Na2/3Ni1/3Mn1/2Ti1/6O2, and O3‐Na2/3Ni1/3Ti2/3O2. The highly reversible structural evolution of the P3/O3 integrated cathode observed by ex situ XRD, ex situ X‐ray absorption spectra, and the rapid Na+ diffusion kinetics, underpin the enhancement. These results show the important role of P3/O3 biphasic hybridization in designing and engineering layered oxide cathodes for NIBs.
P3/O3 biphasic Na2/3Ni1/3Mn1/3Ti1/3O2 cathode material is prepared for Na‐ion batteries by tuning the Ti amounts. This P3/O3 intergrown cathode delivers superior rate capability and cycling stability to those of the pristine P3 and O3 phases, which are underpinned by the observed highly reversible structural transition of P3/O3 biphase and the rapid Na+ diffusion kinetics.
In pigs, three circovirus species within the genus Circovirus have been identified so far, including the non‐pathogenic Porcine circovirus 1 (PCV1), the pathogenic Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) and the ...recently identified Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3). In April 2019, a new circovirus with a distinct relationship to other circoviruses was identified in several pigs with severe clinical disease in Hunan province, China. The size of the viral genome, tentatively designated as porcine circovirus type 4 (PCV4), is 1,770 nucleotides (nt). PCV4 shows the highest genomic identity to mink circovirus (66.9%) and has identities of 43.2%–51.5% to the other PCV genomes. Two major genes, a replicase (Rep) gene spanning 891 nt and a capsid (Cap) gene spanning 687 nt, were predicted. Furthermore, a TaqMan® real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the replicase gene was developed to investigate the prevalence of PCV4 in 187 clinical samples from Hunan province, China. The results revealed an overall PCV4 prevalence of 12.8%, with the highest positive rates in nasal swabs (28.5%, 6/21) followed by serum samples (13.4%, 11/82). The clinical significance and pathogenesis of this virus needs further investigation.
In populations in China, colorectal cancer (CRC) screening can be mainly accessed through organized screening, opportunistic screening, and physical examination. This screening intervention is found ...to be effective but the exact coverage rate is difficult to measure. Based on data from published articles, official websites, and available program reports, the screening coverage rate and related indicators were quantified. A rapid review was then conducted to estimate the overall and the breakdown coverage rates of the sub‐type screening services, by leveraging the numbers of articles and the by‐type median sample sizes. Up to 2020, two central government‐funded and four provincial/municipal‐level organized CRC screening programs have been initiated and included in this analysis. For populations aged 40–74, the estimated coverage rate of organized programs in China was 2.7% in 2020, and the 2‐year cumulative coverage rate in 2019–2020 was 5.3% and the 3‐year cumulative coverage rate in 2018–2020 was 7.7%. The corresponding coverage rates of 50–74‐year‐olds were estimated to be 3.4%, 7.1%, and 10.3%, respectively. Based on the rapid review approach, the overall screening coverage rate for 40–74 years, considering organized screening programs, opportunistic screening, and physical examinations, was then estimated to be 3.0% in China in 2020. However, comparing the findings of this study with the number of health check‐ups reported in the local national health statistics yearbooks suggests that the number of CRC physical examinations may be underestimated in this study. The findings suggest that further efforts are needed to improve population access to CRC screening in China. Furthermore, evidence for access to opportunistic CRC screening and physical examination is limited, and more quantitative investigation is needed.
What's new?
A national screening program for colorectal cancer (CRC) is absent in China. Nonetheless, CRC screening is available via organized programs, such as provincial or municipal programs, and via opportunistic screening and physical examination. Here, the authors derived a reference point for evaluating CRC prevention efforts in China based on estimated screening coverage rates. In 2020, among persons aged 40–74, the overall CRC screening rate was 3.0%. For this same age group, cumulative coverage rates of organize screening from 2019 to 2020 and 2018 to 2020 were 5.3% and 7.7%, respectively. The findings highlight a need for greater CRC screening access in China.
As a highly appealing technology for hydrogen generation, water electrolysis including oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the cathode largely ...depends on the availability of efficient electrocatalysts. Accordingly, over the past years, much effort has been made to develop various electrocatalysts with superior performance and reduced cost. Among them, ruthenium (Ru)-based materials for OER and HER are very promising because of their prominent catalytic activity, pH-universal application, the cheapest price among the precious metal family, and so on. Herein, recent advances in this hot research field are comprehensively reviewed. A general description about water splitting is presented to understand the reaction mechanism and proposed scaling relations toward activities, and key stability issues for Ru-based materials are further given. Subsequently, various Ru-involving electrocatalysts are introduced and classified into different groups for improving or optimizing electrocatalytic properties, with a special focus on several significant bifunctional electrocatalysts along with a simulated water electrolyzer. Finally, a perspective on the existing challenges and future progress of Ru-based catalysts toward OER and HER is provided. The main aim here is to shed some light on the design and construction of emerging catalysts for energy storage and conversion technologies.
The role of solution aggregates on the charge transport process of conjugated polymers in electronic devices has gained increasing attention; however, the correlation of the charge carrier mobilities ...between the solution aggregates and the solid‐state films remains elusive. Herein, three polymers, FBDOPV‐2T, FBDOPV‐2F2T, and FBDOPV‐4F2T, are designed and synthesized with distinct aggregation behavior in solution. By combining contact‐free ultrafast terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and field‐effect transistor measurements, we track the charge carrier mobility of the aggregates of these polymers from the solution to the thin‐film state. Remarkably, the mobility of these three polymers is found to follow nearly the same trend (FBDOPV‐2T>FBDOPV‐2F2T≫FBDOPV‐4F2T) in both solutions and thin‐film states. The quantitative mobility correlation indicates that the charge transport properties of solution aggregates play a critical role in determining the thin‐film charge transport properties and final device performance. Our results highlight the importance of investigating and controlling solution aggregation structures towards efficient organic electronic devices.
Different aggregation structures of three BDOPV‐based polymers in solution were obtained via subtle adjustment of the molecular structures. By employing contact‐free ultrafast terahertz (THz) spectroscopy, we directly reveal that the correlation of the charge carrier mobilities between the solution aggregates and the solid‐state films remains highly consistent.
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