Regulations currently in force enable to claim that the lead content in perovskite solar cells is low enough to be safe, or no more dangerous, than other electronics also containing lead. However, ...the actual environmental impact of lead from perovskite is unknown. Here we show that the lead from perovskite leaking into the ground can enter plants, and consequently the food cycle, ten times more effectively than other lead contaminants already present as the result of the human activities. We further demonstrate that replacing lead with tin represents an environmentally-safer option. Our data suggest that we need to treat the lead from perovskite with exceptional care. In particular, we point out that the safety level for lead content in perovskite-based needs to be lower than other lead-containing electronics. We encourage replacing lead completely with more inert metals to deliver safe perovskite technologies.
Population ageing is an increasingly severe global issue. And this has been posing challenges for public health policies and medical resource allocation There are various features of population ...ageing in different regions worldwide.
All data were obtained from the health data of World Bank Open Data. Quantile linear regression was used to subtly measure the common variation tendency and strength of the global ageing rate and ageing population. The Bayesian space-time hierarchy model (BSTHM) was employed to assess the detailed spatial temporal evolution of ageing rate and ageing population in global 195 countries and regions.
Annual growth of the ageing (65 and above) rate occurred on six continents: Europe (0.1532%), Oceania (0.0873%), Asia (0.0834%), South America (0.0723%), North America (0.0673%) and Africa (0.0069%). The coefficient of variation of the global ageing rate increased from 0.54 in 1960 to 0.69 in 2017. The global ageing rate and ageing population increased over this period, correlating positively with their quantiles. Most countries (37/39) in Europe belong to the top level with regard to the ageing rate, including the countries with the greatest degree of ageing-Sweden, Germany, Austria, Belgium and the UK-whose spatial relative risks of ageing are 3.180 (3.113-3.214), 3.071 (3.018-3.122), 2.951 (2.903-3.001), 2.932 (2.880-2.984) and 2.917 (2.869-2.967), respectively. Worldwide, 44 low ageing areas which were distributed mainly in Africa (26 areas) and Asia (15 areas) experienced a decreasing trend of ageing rates. The local trends of ageing population in the 195 areas increased.
The differentiation of global population ageing is becoming increasingly serious. Globally, all 195 areas showed an increasing local ageing trend in absolute terms, although there were 44 low-ageing areas that experienced a decreasing local trend of ageing rate. The statistical results may provide some baseline reference for developing public health policies in various countries or regions, especially in less-developed areas.
Air pollution in the form of particulate matter (PM) is becoming one of the greatest current threats to human health on a global scale. This paper firstly presents a Bayesian space–time hierarch ...piecewise regression model (BSTHPRM) which can self-adaptively detect the transitions of local trends, accounting for spatial correlations. The spatiotemporal trends of the approximately anthropogenic PM2.5 removed natural dust (PM2.5_No Dust) concentrations and the corresponding population's PM2.5_No Dust exposure (PPM2.5E) in the global continent from 1998 to 2016 were investigated by the presented BSTHPRM. The total areas of the high and higher PM2.5_No Dust-polluted regions, whose spatial relative magnitude of PM2.5_NoDust pollution to the global continental overall level was between 1.89 and 14.68, accounted for about 13.4% of the global land area, and the corresponding exposed populations accounted for 56.0% of the global total population. The spatial heterogeneity of the global PM2.5_NoDust pollution increased generally from 1998 to 2016. The areas of hot, warm, and cold spots with increasing trends of PM2.5_NoDust concentration initially contracted and then later expanded. The local trends of the global continental PM2.5_NoDust concentrations and PPM2.5E can be parted into three changing stages, early, medium, and later stages, using the BSTHPRM. The area proportions of the regions experiencing a decreasing trend of PM2.5_NoDust concentrations and PPM2.5E were greater in the medium stage than in the early and later stages. The local trends of PM2.5_NoDust concentration and PPM2.5E in the two higher PM2.5_NoDust polluted areas, northern India and eastern and southern China, increased in the early stage and then decreased in the medium stage. In the later stage (recent years), northern India displayed a stronger increasing trend; nevertheless, the follow-up decreasing trend still occurred in eastern and southern China. In the first two stages, more than half of the areas in Europe experienced a decreasing trend of PM2.5_NoDust concentration and PPM2.5E; later, more than half of areas in Europe exhibited increasing trends in the later stage. North America and South America experienced a similar local trend of PPM2.5E to Europe. The PPM2.5E trend in Africa generally increased during the study period.
•First presentation of a Bayesian space-time hierarchy piecewise regression model detecting self-adaptively transitions.•Firstly applies a developed Bayesian space-time model in investigating the global population’s exposure to PM2.5.•Deeply analyses the spatiotemporal trends of the global continental PM2.5 pollution removed natural dust.•Details the spatiotemporal trends of the global population’s exposure to anthropogenic PM2.5.
Highlights
A novel physical approach is proposed to enhance the electrocatalytic performance by electric field.
Under the action of electric field, some stable conductive filaments consisting of ...oxygen vacancies are formed in the Ni/Co
3
O
4
film, which remarkably reduces the system resistivity.
The electric-field-treated Ni/Co
3
O
4
material exhibits significantly superior activity and stability as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting, and its performance exceeds the state-of-the-art electrocatalysts.
Rational design of bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with excellent activity and stability is of great significance, since overall water splitting is a promising technology for sustainable conversion of clean energy. However, most electrocatalysts do not simultaneously possess optimal HER/OER activities and their electrical conductivities are intrinsically low, which limit the development of overall water splitting. In this paper, a strategy of electric field treatment is proposed and applied to Ni/Co
3
O
4
film to develop a novel bifunctional electrocatalyst. After treated by electric field, the conductive channels consisting of oxygen vacancies are formed in the Co
3
O
4
film, which remarkably reduces the resistance of the system by almost 2 × 10
4
times. Meanwhile, the surface Ni metal electrode is partially oxidized to nickel oxide, which enhances the catalytic activity. The electric-field-treated Ni/Co
3
O
4
material exhibits super outstanding performance of HER, OER, and overall water splitting, and the catalytic activity is significantly superior to the state-of-the-art noble metal catalysts (Pt/C, RuO
2
, and RuO
2
ǁ Pt/C couple). This work provides an effective and feasible method for the development of novel and efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst, which is also promising for wide use in the field of catalysis.
Abstract
Background
Globally, the increasingly severe population ageing issue has been creating challenges in terms of medical resource allocation and public health policies. The aim of this study is ...to address the space-time trends of the population-ageing rate (PAR), the number of medical resources per thousand residents (NMRTR) in mainland China in the past 10 years, and to investigate the spatial and temporal matching between the PAR and NMRTR in mainland China.
Methods
The Bayesian space-time hierarchy model was employed to investigate the spatiotemporal variation of PAR and NMRTR in mainland China over the past 10 years. Subsequently, a Bayesian Geo-Detector model was developed to evaluate the spatial and temporal matching levels between PAR and NMRTR at national level. The matching odds ratio (OR) index proposed in this paper was applied to measure the matching levels between the two terms in each provincial area.
Results
The Chinese spatial and temporal matching q-statistic values between the PAR and three vital types of NMRTR were all less than 0.45. Only the spatial matching Bayesian q-statistic values between the PAR and the number of beds in hospital reached 0.42 (95% credible interval: 0.37, 0.48) nationwide. Chongqing and Guizhou located in southwest China had the highest spatial and temporal matching ORs, respectively, between the PAR and the three types of NMRTR. The spatial pattern of the spatial and temporal matching ORs between the PAR and NMRTR in mainland China exhibited distinct geographical features, but the geographical structure of the spatial matching differed from that of the temporal matching between the PAR and NMRTR.
Conclusion
The spatial and temporal matching degrees between the PAR and NMRTR in mainland China were generally very low. The provincial regions with high PAR largely experienced relatively low spatial matching levels between the PAR and NMRTR, and vice versa. The geographical pattern of the temporal matching between the PAR and NMRTR exhibited the feature of north-south differentiation.
The tuberculous granuloma is an elaborately organized structure and one of the main histological hallmarks of tuberculosis. Macrophages, which are important immunologic effector and ...antigen-presenting cells, are the main cell type found in the tuberculous granuloma and have high plasticity. Macrophage polarization during bacterial infection has been elucidated in numerous recent studies; however, macrophage polarization during tuberculous granuloma formation and development has rarely been reported. It remains to be clarified whether differences in the activation status of macrophages affect granuloma formation. In this study, the variation in macrophage polarization during the formation and development of tuberculous granulomas was investigated in both sections of lung tissues from tuberculosis patients and an in vitro tuberculous granuloma model. The roles of macrophage polarization in this process were also investigated. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) infection was found to induce monocyte-derived macrophage polarization. In the in vitro tuberculous granuloma model, macrophage transformation from M1 to M2 was observed over time following M. tuberculosis infection. M2 macrophages were found to predominate in both necrotic and non-necrotic granulomas from tuberculosis patients, while both M1 and M2 polarized macrophages were found in the non-granulomatous lung tissues. Furthermore, it was found that M1 macrophages promote granuloma formation and macrophage bactericidal activity in vitro, while M2 macrophages inhibit these effects. The findings of this study provide insights into the mechanism by which M. tuberculosis circumvents the host immune system as well as a theoretical foundation for the development of novel tuberculosis therapies based on reprogramming macrophage polarization.
Two new hole selective materials (HSMs) based on dangling methylsulfanyl groups connected to the C‐9 position of the fluorene core are synthesized and applied in perovskite solar cells. Being ...structurally similar to a half of Spiro‐OMeTAD molecule, these HSMs (referred as FS and DFS) share similar redox potentials but are endowed with slightly higher hole mobility, due to the planarity and large extension of their structure. Competitive power conversion efficiency (up to 18.6%) is achieved by using the new HSMs in suitable perovskite solar cells. Time‐resolved photoluminescence decay measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy show more efficient charge extraction at the HSM/perovskite interface with respect to Spiro‐OMeTAD, which is reflected in higher photocurrents exhibited by DFS/FS‐integrated perovskite solar cells. Density functional theory simulations reveal that the interactions of methylammonium with methylsulfanyl groups in DFS/FS strengthen their electrostatic attraction with the perovskite surface, providing an additional path for hole extraction compared to the sole presence of methoxy groups in Spiro‐OMeTAD. Importantly, the low‐cost synthesis of FS makes it significantly attractive for the future commercialization of perovskite solar cells.
Interactions of methylammonium with methylsulfanyl groups in DFS/FS strengthen their electrostatic attraction with the perovskite surface, providing an additional path for hole extraction compared to the sole presence of methoxy groups in Spiro‐OMeTAD, which contributes to more efficient charge extraction and less accumulation of charge carriers.
The pathogenesis of carcinoma is believed to come from the combined effect of polygenic variation, and the initiation and progression of malignant tumors are closely related to the dysregulation of ...biological pathways. Quantifying the alteration in pathway activation and identifying coordinated patterns of pathway dysfunction are the imperative part of understanding the malignancy process and distinguishing different tumor stages or clinical outcomes of individual patients. In this study, we have conducted in silico pathway activation analysis using Riemannian manifold (RiePath) toward pan-cancer personalized characterization, which is the first attempt to apply the Riemannian manifold theory to measure the extent of pathway dysregulation in individual patient on the tangent space of the Riemannian manifold. RiePath effectively integrates pathway and gene expression information, not only generating a relatively low-dimensional and biologically relevant representation, but also identifying a robust panel of biologically meaningful pathway signatures as biomarkers. The pan-cancer analysis across 16 cancer types reveals the capability of RiePath to evaluate pathway activation accurately and identify clinical outcome-related pathways. We believe that RiePath has the potential to provide new prospects in understanding the molecular mechanisms of complex diseases and may find broader applications in predicting biomarkers for other intricate diseases.
NAT10 is the firstly recognized RNA acetyltransferase that participates in multiple cellular biological processes and human disease. However, the role of N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10) in ankylosing ...spondylitis (AS) is still poorly elaborated.
Fifty-six patients with New-Onset AS, 52 healthy controls (HC), 20 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 16 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were recruited from The First Afliated Hospital of Nanchang University, and their clinical characteristics were recorded. The expression level of NAT10 in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) was examined using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis. The correlations between the expression level of NAT10 in the New-Onset AS patients and disease activity of AS were examined, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were built to evaluate predictive value in AS. Univariate analysis and multivariate regression analysis were used to analyze the risk factors and construct predictive model.
The mRNA expressions of NAT10 in PBMC from new-onset AS patients were significantly low and there were negative correlation between mRNA NAT10 and ASDAS-CRP, BASDIA in new-onset AS patients. ROC analysis suggested that mRNA NAT10 has value in distinguishing new-onset AS patients from HC, RA and SLE. Furthermore, a novel predictive model based on mRNA NAT10 and neutrophil percentages (N%) was constructed for distinguishing new-onset AS patients from HC (AUC = 0.880, sensitivity = 84.62%, specificity = 76.92%) and the predictive model correlated with the activity of new-onset AS. Furthermore, the predictive model could distinguish new-onset AS patients from RA and SLE (AUC = 0.661, sensitivity = 90.38%, specificity = 47.22%). Moreover, the potential predictive value of the combination of predictive model-HLA-B27 for AS vs. HC with a sensitivity of 92.86% (39/42), a specificity of 100.00% (52/52) and an accuracy of 96.81% (91/94) was superior to that of HLA-B27, which in turn had a sensitivity of 84.44% (38/45), a specificity of 100.00% (52/52) and an accuracy of 92.78% (90/97).
The present study suggested that the decreased mRNA NAT10 may play a role in AS pathogenesis and predictive model based on mRNA NAT10 and N% act as bioindicator for forecast and progression of diseases.
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