H19 is an imprinted long noncoding RNA abundantly expressed in embryonic liver and repressed after birth. We show that H19 serves as a lipid sensor by synergizing with the RNA‐binding polypyrimidine ...tract‐binding protein 1 (PTBP1) to modulate hepatic metabolic homeostasis. H19 RNA interacts with PTBP1 to facilitate its association with sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 1c mRNA and protein, leading to increased stability and nuclear transcriptional activity. H19 and PTBP1 are up‐regulated by fatty acids in hepatocytes and in diet‐induced fatty liver, which further augments lipid accumulation. Ectopic expression of H19 induces steatosis and pushes the liver into a “pseudo‐fed” state in response to fasting by promoting sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 1c protein cleavage and nuclear translocation. Deletion of H19 or knockdown of PTBP1 abolishes high‐fat and high‐sucrose diet–induced steatosis. Conclusion: Our study unveils an H19/PTBP1/sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 1 feedforward amplifying signaling pathway to exacerbate the development of fatty liver. (Hepatology 2018;67:1768‐1783)
•First review on Solidified Natural Gas (SNG) Technology via clathrate hydrates.•Prospects for improving the kinetics and storage capacity is presented.•Critical examination of ‘self-preservation’ ...and ‘tuning’ effect in hydrates is presented.•Challenges and future directives for commercial deployment of SNG technology are outlined.
Natural gas (NG), the cleanest burning fossil fuel, plays a crucial role in meeting the global energy demand, contributing to 24% and is projected to grow at a rate of about 2% until 2040. Natural gas is also considered as the bridging fuel to transition into a carbon-constrained world with reduced carbon dioxide emissions whilst catering to the huge energy demand. Efficient and effective modes of NG storage/transport are dire need in the current golden era of natural gas. A plethora of advantages offered by storing NG in the form of hydrates carve a niche for this novel technology. Termed as solidified natural gas (SNG) technology, it has remarkable potential to store multi-fold volumes of natural gas in compact hydrate crystals offering the safest and the most environmental friendly mode of NG storage. This review provides an account on the research efforts put forth in this technology. Hydrate formation and storage aspects have been examined thoroughly with a subtle account on the gas recovery. The review encompasses studies conducted using different promoters (thermodynamic, kinetic or a combination of both) in different reactor configurations, novel/innovative approaches and hybrid processes adopted to improve the kinetics of hydrate formation and to increase the gas storage capacity. Detailed sections on the ‘self-preservation’ and ‘tuning’ effect in hydrates have been included due to their significance in SNG technology. Process chain of the SNG technology, underlying challenges and measures adopted to deploy the SNG technology for large-scale NG storage applications are included in this review.
An Advanced Lithium-Sulfur Battery Kim, Junghoon; Lee, Dong-Ju; Jung, Hun-Gi ...
Advanced functional materials,
February 25, 2013, Volume:
23, Issue:
8
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
A lithium‐sulfur battery employing a high performances mesoporous hard carbon spherules‐sulfur cathode and a stable, highly conducting electrolyte is reported. The results demonstrate that the ...battery cycles with very high capacity, i.e., of the order of 750 mAh g−1 with excellent retention during cycling. In addition, by exploiting the high conductivity of our selected electrolyte, the battery performs very well also at low temperature, i.e., delivering a capacity of 500 mAh g−1(S) at 0 °C for over 170 charge‐discharge cycles. We believe that these results may substantially contribute to the progress of the lithium‐sulfur battery technology.
A porous hard carbon spherules‐sulfur (HCS‐S) composite cathode shows remarkable electrochemical behavior in a lithium cell using a solution of lithium triflate (LiCF3SO3) in tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (TEGDME) as the electrolyte. The new composite, characterized by high capacity, long cycle life, and remarkable sulfur content, is proposed as a new cathode material for high energy‐lithium batteries.
Fertility rates below population replacement level now characterize a broad swath of post-industrial societies, especially in Southern Europe and East Asia. This article offers a theoretical ...framework that gives primacy to the role of gender-essentialist norms and institutional variation in labor markets to explain variation in total fertility rates across 24 OECD countries over the past two decades. We demonstrate the variation in gender-role ideologies that characterize post industrial countries and show how these country-level patterns interact with measures of labor market protection and the economic situation of young adult males to influence variation in TFRs. We provide evidence that interaction between gender-role ideologies and labor market institutions that reinforces men's role as breadwinners and women's role as caregivers (what we term gender-essentialist norms) is negatively related to post-industrial fertility.
In order to evaluate hydrate-based desalination (HBD), experiments with seawater samples were carried out at various conditions (i.e. hydraulic pressure, washing step, and hydrate-forming gas). ...Before and after the hydrate process, cations (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and B3+) and anions (Cl− and SO42−) were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and ion chromatography (IC). In a single stage of CO2 hydrate process without any pretreatment, 71%–94% of each cation was removed in the following order: K+>Na+≈Mg2+≈Ca2+>B3+ and 73%–83% of each anion was removed. When the brines on the surface of hydrate pellets were removed, the ion removal efficiency increased above 4%. It was also found that the desalting efficiency depended on the hydrate-forming gas (CO2>CH4) and the hydraulic pressure (6–10MPa) to produce hydrate pellets. In this study, the removal efficiency of cations and anions in a real seawater sample using HBD processes were reported for the first time.
•We evaluated an application possibility of hydrate-based desalination process.•Increasing hydraulic pressure increased the removal efficiency of ions.•CO2 as a guest gas is more suitable than CH4 for the HBD process.•The property of ionic behavior depending on its concentration should be examined further in the future.
Immunomodulation involves two mechanisms, immunostimulation and immunosuppression. It is a complex mechanism that regulates the pathophysiology and pathogenesis of various diseases affecting the ...immune system. Immunomodulators can be used as immunostimulators to reduce the side effects of drugs that induce immunosuppression. In this study, we characterized the chemical composition of high molecular weight fucoidan (HMWF) and low molecular weight fucoidan and compared their functions as natural killer (NK) cell-derived immunostimulators in vitro. We also tested the effectiveness of HMWF, which has a relatively high function in vitro, as an immunostimulator in immunosuppressed animal models. In these models, HWMF significantly restored NK cell cytotoxicity and granzyme B release to the control group level. In addition, the expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-12, interferon (IFN)-γ, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α also increased in the spleen. This study suggests that HMWF acts as an effective immunostimulant under immunosuppressive conditions.
Nickel-rich layered lithium transition-metal oxides, LiNi(1-x)M(x)O(2) (M = transition metal), have been under intense investigation as high-energy cathode materials for rechargeable lithium ...batteries because of their high specific capacity and relatively low cost. However, the commercial deployment of nickel-rich oxides has been severely hindered by their intrinsic poor thermal stability at the fully charged state and insufficient cycle life, especially at elevated temperatures. Here, we report a nickel-rich lithium transition-metal oxide with a very high capacity (215 mA h g(-1)), where the nickel concentration decreases linearly whereas the manganese concentration increases linearly from the centre to the outer layer of each particle. Using this nano-functional full-gradient approach, we are able to harness the high energy density of the nickel-rich core and the high thermal stability and long life of the manganese-rich outer layers. Moreover, the micrometre-size secondary particles of this cathode material are composed of aligned needle-like nanosize primary particles, resulting in a high rate capability. The experimental results suggest that this nano-functional full-gradient cathode material is promising for applications that require high energy, long calendar life and excellent abuse tolerance such as electric vehicles.
We propose a feasibility of Co-free Ni-rich Li(Ni1–x Mn x )O2 layer compound. Li(Ni1–x Mn x )O2 (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) have been synthesized by a coprecipitation method. Rietveld refinement of X-ray ...diffraction and microscopic studies reveal dense and spherical secondary particles of highly crystalline phase with low cation mixing over the whole compositions, implying successful optimization of synthetic conditions. Electrochemical test results indicated that the Co-free materials delivered high capacity with excellent capacity retention and reasonable rate capability. In particular, Li(Ni0.9Mn0.1)O2, which possesses the lowest cation mixing in the Li layers among samples, exhibited exceptionally high rate capacity (approximately 149 mAh g–1 at 10 C rate) at 25 °C and high discharge capacity upon cycling under a severe condition, in the voltage range of 2.7–4.5 V at 55 °C. The cation mixing in Li(Ni0.9Mn0.1)O2 increased slightly even after the extensive cycling at the elevated temperature, which is ascribed to the structural integrity induced from the optimized synthetic condition using the coprecipitation.
This study aimed to develop and validate deep-learning-based artificial intelligence algorithm for predicting mortality of AHF (DAHF).
12,654 dataset from 2165 patients with AHF in two hospitals were ...used as train data for DAHF development, and 4759 dataset from 4759 patients with AHF in 10 hospitals enrolled to the Korean AHF registry were used as performance test data. The endpoints were in-hospital, 12-month, and 36-month mortality. We compared the DAHF performance with the Get with the Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) score, Meta-Analysis Global Group in Chronic Heart Failure (MAGGIC) score, and other machine-learning models by using the test data. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the DAHF were 0.880 (95% confidence interval, 0.876-0.884) for predicting in-hospital mortality; these results significantly outperformed those of the GWTG-HF (0.728 0.720-0.737) and other machine-learning models. For predicting 12- and 36-month endpoints, DAHF (0.782 and 0.813) significantly outperformed MAGGIC score (0.718 and 0.729). During the 36-month follow-up, the high-risk group, defined by the DAHF, had a significantly higher mortality rate than the low-risk group(p<0.001).
DAHF predicted the in-hospital and long-term mortality of patients with AHF more accurately than the existing risk scores and other machine-learning models.
During October 2022-March 2023, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus caused outbreaks in South Korea, including 174 cases in wild birds. To understand the origin and ...role of wild birds in the evolution and spread of HPAI viruses, we sequenced 113 HPAI isolates from wild birds and performed phylogenetic analysis. We identified 16 different genotypes, indicating extensive genetic reassortment with viruses in wild birds. Phylodynamic analysis showed that the viruses were most likely introduced to the southern Gyeonggi-do/northern Chungcheongnam-do area through whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) and spread southward. Cross-species transmission occurred between various wild bird species, including waterfowl and raptors, resulting in the persistence of HPAI in wild bird populations and further geographic spread as these birds migrated throughout South Korea. Enhanced genomic surveillance was an integral part of the HPAI outbreak response, aiding in timely understanding of the origin, evolution, and spread of the virus.
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