Graphite composite electrodes mixed with silicon are proposed as next generation anode material for high energy and high power applications. In order to overcome drawbacks caused by volume changes of ...silicon particles during electrochemical cycling and to maintain high specific capacities at enhanced C-rates, free-standing structures are generated on silicon/graphite electrodes by applying ultrafast laser ablation. Electrochemical properties are systematically investigated by means of galvanostatic measurements, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Cells with structured electrodes exhibit improved battery performances and lithium-ion transport kinetics in comparison to cells with unstructured electrodes. Furthermore, the cells with structured electrodes exhibit a lower impedance at fully lithiated state. After cycling, post-mortem analysis is performed revealing that the mechanical stress within the electrodes and current collector can be significantly reduced due to laser generated free-standing structures.
The epithelial and epidermal innate cytokines IL-25, IL-33, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) have pivotal roles in the initiation of allergic inflammation in asthma and atopic dermatitis (AD). ...However, the mechanism by which the expression of these innate cytokines is regulated remains unclear. Intelectin (ITLN) is expressed in airway epithelial cells and promotes allergic airway inflammation. We hypothesized that ITLN is required for allergen-induced IL-25, IL-33, and TSLP expression. In two asthma models, Itln knockdown reduced allergen-induced increases in Il-25, Il-33, and Tslp and development of type 2 response, eosinophilic inflammation, mucus overproduction, and airway hyperresponsiveness. Itln knockdown also inhibited house dust mite (HDM)-induced early upregulation of Il-25, Il-33, and Tslp in a model solely inducing airway sensitization. Using human airway epithelial cells, we demonstrated that HDM-induced increases in ITLN led to phosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor and extracellular-signal regulated kinase, which were required for induction of IL-25, IL-33, and TSLP expression. In two AD models, Itln knockdown suppressed expression of Il-33, Tslp, and Th2 cytokines and eosinophilic inflammation. In humans, ITLN1 expression was significantly increased in asthmatic airways and in lesional skin of AD. We conclude that ITLN contributes to allergen-induced Il-25, Il-33, and Tslp expression in asthma and AD.
•We studied soil erosion and sediment yield response to various land cover patterns.•SHDI, AI, LPI, CONTAG, and COHESION were the primary controlling metrics.•The PLSR approach is useful for ...analyzing co-dependent data.•Results from PLSR produce useful information for modeling sediment delivery ratio.
There are strong ties between land cover patterns and soil erosion and sediment yield in watersheds. The spatial configuration of land cover has recently become an important aspect of the study of geomorphological processes related to erosion within watersheds. Many studies have used multivariate regression techniques to explore the response of soil erosion and sediment yield to land cover patterns in watersheds. However, many landscape metrics are highly correlated and may result in redundancy, which violates the assumptions of a traditional least-squares approach, thus leading to singular solutions or otherwise biased parameter estimates and confidence intervals. Here, we investigated the landscape patterns within watersheds in the Upper Du River watershed (8973km2) in China and examined how the spatial patterns of land cover are related to the soil erosion and sediment yield of watersheds using hydrological modeling and partial least-squares regression (PLSR). The results indicate that the watershed soil erosion and sediment yield are closely associated with the land cover patterns. At the landscape level, landscape characteristics, such as Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI), aggregation index (AI), largest patch index (LPI), contagion (CONTAG), and patch cohesion index (COHESION), were identified as the primary metrics controlling the watershed soil erosion and sediment yield. The landscape characteristics in watersheds could account for as much as 65% and 74% of the variation in soil erosion and sediment yield, respectively. Greater interspersion and an increased number of patch land cover types may significantly accelerate soilerosion and increase sediment export. PLSR can be used to simply determine the relationships between land-cover patterns and watershed soil erosion and sediment yield, providing quantitative information to allow decision makers to make better choices regarding landscape planning. With readily available remote sensing data and rapid developments in geographic information system (GIS) technology, this practical and simple PLSR approach could be applied to a variety of other watersheds.
To describe the experience of endovascular treatment (EVT) of acute ischaemic stroke caused by isolated internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion, with emphasis on treatment strategies, outcomes, and ...prognostic factors.
A retrospective examination was performed of 66 consecutive patients with acute moderate-to-severe stroke who underwent EVT for isolated ICA occlusion from July 2016 to June 2021. The modified thrombolysis in cerebral ischaemia (mTICI) score was used to evaluate reperfusion outcomes. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify risk factors associated with poor 90-day outcome (modified Rankin Scale mRS 3–6).
The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) median score of the 66 patients at admission was 15. Twelve patients (18.2%) showed thrombus migration to the M1 segment or proximal M2 during EVT and underwent additional intracranial thrombectomy. Successful reperfusion (mTICI 2b–3) was achieved in 60 patients (90.9%) and complete reperfusion (mTICI 3) in 42 (63.6%). A poor functional outcome was seen in 27 patients (40.9%). The rate of 90-day mortality was 9.1% (6/66). Higher NIHSS scores and a lower Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) were independently associated with poor outcomes. Complete reperfusion was the only treatment factor with a significant predictive value (adjusted odds ratio OR 0.03; 95% CI = 0.01 to 0.25; p=0.001).
Endovascular therapy is safe and effective in patients with acute ischaemic stroke due to isolated ICA occlusion. Prevention of thrombus migration and complete reperfusion should be the aim of EVT.
•Thrombus migration is common during thrombectomy for isolated ICA occlusion.•Complete reperfusion should be the aim of thrombectomy for isolated ICA occlusion.•Addition of data helps guide treatment for isolated ICA occlusion.
The effects of dietary supplementation of essential oil on growth performance, carcass yield, meat quality, serum antioxidant capacity, and intestinal tight junctions of broilers with or without ...Eimeria challenge were investigated. A total of 576 one-day-old male broilers were randomly separated into 8 treatments (6 replication floor-pens per treatment, 12 broilers per pen) in a 4 × 2 factorial design. The 4 diets consisted of 1) a corn and soybean meal basal diet, 2) an anticoccidial diet (60 g nicarbazin and 60 g narasin per ton of feed), 3) an oregano oil diet (500 ppm oregano oil), and 4) a clove oil diet (500 ppm clove oil). On d 10, half chicks were challenged with 1 × 104 sporulated oocysts of E. tenella, E. acervulina, and E. maxima per chick, whereas the others were inoculated with an equal amount of dilution (0.5 mL). The Eimeria challenge induced a higher fecal oocyst output on d 18, a lower duodenum Occludin expression level on d 28, a lower serum catalase level, and a higher cook loss and protein loss in thigh muscle on d 42. The anticoccidial diet lowered fecal Eimeria output and increased d 1 to 42 BW gain as compared to the control diet. The clove oil treatment enhanced duodenum ZO-1 expression level in nonchallenged birds, increased BW gain from d 1 to 14 and breast yield on d 42. The oregano oil treatment enhanced ZO-1 expression of challenged birds, reduced feed intake from 15 to 28 d, and helped broilers gain more tender meat. For those Eimeria-challenged broilers, both clove and oregano oil treatments recovered drip loss in breast muscle. Our results suggested that Eimeria challenge in broiler early age could interrupt later serum antioxidant capacity and damage meat quality. The dietary supplementation of clove or oregano essential oils could improve broiler growth performance and partially relieve the coccidial damage in gut integrity and meat quality.
Two polyurethanases PueA and PueB from Pseudomonas protegens Pf‐5 have been reported to have hydrolytic activity against synthetic p‐nitrophenyl palmitate of lipase substrate, and PueA may play a ...more effective role in this activity. However, it is still unknown whether PueA and PueB play similar parts in the lipase activity against natural acylglycerols and achieve the extracellular secretion via their cognate ABC exporter AprDEF. In this study, we investigated these questions through the construction of four markerless deletion mutants in Pf5139 (Δupp derivative of Pf‐5), two heterologous co‐expression strains and their three control strains in lipase‐free Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), and detected their lipase activities by the tributyrin plate assay and the liquid culture assay. The results showed that PueA and PueB, classified as subfamily I.3 lipases, are major extracellular lipases involved in the uptake of oil in Pf‐5, and PueA plays a leading role in extracellular lipase activity. In addition, the extracellular secretion of PueA and PueB can be partly mediated via AprDEF in Pf‐5 and BL21(DE3). Finally, PueA and PueB are also able to achieve the extracellular secretion without the assistance of AprDEF in Pf‐5 and BL21(DE3).
Significance and Impact of the Study: We investigated the additional function of two polyurethanases PueA and PueB from Pseudomonas protegens Pf‐5, and demonstrated that they are major extracellular lipases that belong to the members of subfamily I.3 lipases, involved in the uptake of oil in Pf‐5, of which PueA plays a more important role in extracellular lipase activity. Furthermore, their cognate ABC exporter AprDEF can partly mediate the extracellular secretion of PueA and PueB in Pf‐5 and heterologous Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). Lastly, PueA and PueB can also be secreted into the extracellular environment without the help of their cognate AprDEF in Pf‐5 and BL21(DE3).
Aim
The aim was to assess the diagnostic value of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) for discriminating between benign and malignant lymph nodes in patients with rectal carcinoma.
Method
ighty‐five ...patients with rectal adenocarcinoma who underwent total mesorectal excision of the rectum were studied. A total of 273 lymph nodes were harvested and subjected to histological analysis. Quantitative parameters apparent diffusion parameter Dapp of the Gaussian distribution, apparent kurtosis coefficient Kapp and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of lymph nodes were derived from DKI. Differences and the diagnostic performance of these parameters were calculated by using the independent‐samples t test and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses.
Results
The median Dapp and ADC values of metastatic lymph nodes were significantly greater than those of benign lymph nodes, whereas the median Kapp of metastatic lymph nodes was statistically less than that of normal lymph nodes. Dapp had the relatively highest area under the curve of 0.774. When 1126.15 × 10−6 mm2/s was used as a Dapp threshold value, the sensitivity and specificity were 96.97% and 41.82%, respectively.
Conclusion
DKI can help differentiate metastatic vs benign lymph nodes during the primary staging of rectal cancer.
Mineralocorticoid antagonists improve survival among patients with chronic, severe systolic heart failure and heart failure after myocardial infarction. We evaluated the effects of eplerenone in ...patients with chronic systolic heart failure and mild symptoms.
In this randomized, double-blind trial, we randomly assigned 2737 patients with New York Heart Association class II heart failure and an ejection fraction of no more than 35% to receive eplerenone (up to 50 mg daily) or placebo, in addition to recommended therapy. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes or hospitalization for heart failure.
The trial was stopped prematurely, according to prespecified rules, after a median follow-up period of 21 months. The primary outcome occurred in 18.3% of patients in the eplerenone group as compared with 25.9% in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.63; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.54 to 0.74; P<0.001). A total of 12.5% of patients receiving eplerenone and 15.5% of those receiving placebo died (hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.93; P=0.008); 10.8% and 13.5%, respectively, died of cardiovascular causes (hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.94; P=0.01). Hospitalizations for heart failure and for any cause were also reduced with eplerenone. A serum potassium level exceeding 5.5 mmol per liter occurred in 11.8% of patients in the eplerenone group and 7.2% of those in the placebo group (P<0.001).
Eplerenone, as compared with placebo, reduced both the risk of death and the risk of hospitalization among patients with systolic heart failure and mild symptoms. (Funded by Pfizer; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00232180.).
PDF
