Sensitive fluorescence detection of glyphosate and glufosinate ammonium pesticides by purine-hydrazone-Cu2+ complex.

Organophosphorus pesticides play an important role as broad-spectrum inactivating herbicides in agriculture. Developing a method for rapid and efficient organophosphorus pesticides detection is still urgent due to the increasing concern on food safety. An organo-probe (ZDA), synthesized by purine hydrazone derivative and 2,2'-dipyridylamine derivative, was applied in sensitive recognition of Cu2+ with detection limit of 300 nM. Mechanism study via density functional theory (DFT) and job's plot experiment revealed that ZDA and Cu2+ ions form a 1:2 complex quenching the fluorescence emission. Moreover, this fluorescent complex ZDA-Cu2+ was applicable for detecting glyphosate and glufosinate ammonium following fluorescence enhancement mechanism, with detection limits of 11.26 nM and 11.5 nM, respectively. Meanwhile, ZDA-Cu2+ was effective and sensitive when it is used for pesticide detection, reaching the maximum value and stabilizing in 1 min. Finally, the ZDA-Cu2+ probe could also be tolerated in cell assay environment, implying potential bio-application.

Oxymatrine Inhibition of Hepatitis B Virus Replication Through ERK1/2 Pathway and HNF1α and HNF4α Block in vitro.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the molecular mechanism of oxymatrine (OM) by increasing the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 signal factor and blocking the transcription factors HNF1α and HNF4α expression against hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigen secretion and HBV DNA replication in HepG2.2.15 cells. STUDY DESIGN: An experimental study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Laboratory Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Jiangxi, China, between May 2020 and December 2022. METHODOLOGY: HepG2.2.15 cells, known for stably expressing HBV particles, were utilised as a cell-based model to explore potential pathways pertaining to the OM inhibition of HBV replication. An MTT assay was utilised to measure cytotoxicity. HBsAg or HBeAg content was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. HBV DNA in cell-free culture media was examined using a fluorescent quantitative PCR kit. Real-time PCR was utilised to analyse HNF1α and HNF4α mRNA expression, whereas Western blotting was performed to evaluate HNF1α, HNF4α, and ERK1/2 protein expression. RESULTS: OM inhibited HBV DNA copy number in the cell supernatant, 3.5-kb RNA gene expression in cells, and HBsAg and HBeAg secretion. OM upregulated p-ERK1/2 protein and significantly downregulated HNF1α and HNF4α gene transcription and protein translation. CONCLUSION: OM may inhibit the replication of HBV by inducing the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and blocking the transcription factors HNF1α and HNF4α expression that are essential for viral replication. KEY WORDS: Oxymatrine, ERK1/2, Hepatocyte nuclear factor, Anti-HBV.

Electrochemical decarboxylative alkylation of ß-ketoacids with phenol derivatives.

An electrochemical method for the decarboxylative alkylation of ß-ketoacids with phenol derivatives has been developed. The protocol was carried out in readily available unseparated cells at room temperature in the absence of catalysts and oxidants. The corresponding aryl ketones were obtained in satisfactory yields without additional electrolytes, and were easy to produce in gram-scale synthesis. Based on control experiments and cyclic voltammetry, a plausible reaction mechanism was proposed.

Inorganic Oxide-Based "Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic-Hydrophobic" Separators Systems for Long-Life Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Hydrogen reduction reaction (HER) and corrosion limit the long-life cycle of zinc-ion batteries. However, hydrophilic separators are unable to prevent direct contact between water and electrodes, and hydrophobic separators have difficulty in transporting electrolytes. In this work, an inorganic oxide-based "hydrophobic-hydrophilic-hydrophobic" self-assembled separator system is proposed. The hydrophobic layer consists of a porous structure, which can isolate a large amount of free water to avoid HER and corrosion reactions, and can transport electrolyte by binding water. The middle hydrophilic layer acts as a storage layer consisting of the GF separator, storing large amounts of electrolyte for proper circulation. By using this structure separator, Zn||Zn symmetric cell achieve 2200 h stable cycle life at 5 mA cm-2 and 1mAh cm-2 and still shows a long life of 1800 h at 10 mA cm-2 and 1mAh cm-2. The assembled Zn||VO2 full cell displays high specific capacity and excellent long-term durability of 60.4% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 2C. The assembled Zn||VO2 pouch full cell displays high specific capacity of 172.5mAh g-1 after 40 cycles at 0.5C. Changing the inorganic oxide materials, the hydrophobic-hydrophilic-hydrophobic structure of the separators still has excellent performance. This work provides a new idea for the engineering of water-based battery separators.

A purine-based fluorescent probe for H2S detection and imaging of cells.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a gas with a toxic odor that plays an irreplaceable role in physiological activities within the mammalian body. Therefore, it is important to do the distribution and quantitative detection of H2S in mammalian cells. In this paper, a fluorescence probe (EDPH) based on purine scaffold was designed and synthesized with high sensitivity and good selectivity. H2S induced ether bond breakage in EDPH, resulting in a significant redshift of the absorption band (from 370 nm to 500 nm) with a Stokes shift of 130 nm. After the addition of H2S, the fluorescence intensity of EDPH showed a good linear correlation with the concentration of H2S, which enabled the quantitative detection of H2S with a low limit of detection (41 nM). Finally, the EDPH was applied to the cellular Hele, and the probe has good cellularity imaging capability for the detection of H2S in living systems.

Diagnostic performance of 3.0 T unenhanced Dixon water-fat separation coronary MR angiography in patients with low-to-intermediate risk of coronary artery disease.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of 3.0 T unenhanced compressed-sensing sensitivity encoding (CS-SENSE) Dixon water-fat separation coronary MR angiography (CMRA) in patients with low-to-intermediate risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and its ability to grade the severity of CAD based on Coronary Artery Disease Reporting and Data System (CAD-RADS). METHODS: A total of 55 patients who was clinically evaluated as low-to-intermediate risk of CAD were finally included to undergo both 3.0 T CS-SENSE water-fat separation CMRA and coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), and 11 of them also underwent X-ray coronary angiography (CAG). The severity of coronary artery disease was graded in patients who had completed both CCTA and CMRA examinations by the use of CAD-RADS reports for the patients with stable chest pain, and the diagnostic consistency between the two approaches was evaluated. Diagnostic performance of CMRA was assessed using the combination of CCTA and CAG as the reference standard for excluding or confirming CAD respectively. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic accuracy of 3.0 T unenhanced water-fat separation coronary MRA were 90.0%, 95.0%, 81.8%, 97.4% and 94.0% for a patient-based analysis respectively. In comparison with CCTA, 3.0 T Dixon water-fat separation CMRA demonstrated excellent consistency in grading the severity of coronary heart disease according to CAD-RADS (0.77 for kappa value). CONCLUSION: In the group of low-to-intermediate probability for CAD, 3.0 T unenhanced CS-SENSE Dixon water-fat separation CMRA can present satisfactory diagnostic performance for the exclusion of CAD with high sensitivity and negative predictive value as well as the evaluation of grading the severity of coronary artery disease.

A clinical strategy to improve the diagnostic performance of 3T non-contrast coronary MRA and noninvasively evaluate coronary distensibility: combination of diastole and systole imaging.

BACKGROUND: The clinical application of coronary MR angiography (MRA) combining diastole and systole imaging has never been described comprehensively in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. We aimed to design an optimal non-contrast coronary MRA scan protocol combining diastolic and systolic imaging and to (1) evaluate its diagnostic performance for detecting significant coronary stenosis; (2) evaluate the feasibility of this protocol to noninvasively measure the coronary distensibility index (CDI). METHODS: From June 2021 to May 2022, 33 healthy volunteers and 91 suspected CAD patients scheduled for X-ray coronary angiography (CAG) were prospectively enrolled. 3T non-contrast water-fat coronary MRA was carried out twice at diastole and systole. Significant coronary stenosis was defined as a luminal diameter reduction of ≥ 50% using CAG as the reference and was evaluated as follows: (1) by coronary MRA in diastole alone; (2) by coronary MRA in systole alone; (3) by combined coronary MRA in diastole and systole. According to CAG, the patients were divided into significant CAD patients and non-significant CAD patients. The difference in CDI among participants was evaluated. RESULTS: Combined coronary MRA was completed in 31 volunteers and 76 patients. The per-patient sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of combined coronary MRA were 97.5%, 83.3%, and 90.8%, respectively. Compared with single diastolic mode, combined coronary MRA showed equally high sensitivity but improved specificity on a per-patient basis (83.3% vs. 63.9%, adjusted P = 0.013). The CDI tested by coronary MRA decreased incrementally from healthy volunteers to non-significant and significant CAD patients. CONCLUSION: Compared with single-phase mode, 3 T non-contrast combined coronary MRA significantly improved specificity and may have potential to be a simple noninvasive method to measure CDI.

The emerging role of extracellular vesicles in fungi: a double-edged sword.

Fungi are eukaryotic microorganisms found in nature, which can invade the human body and cause tissue damage, inflammatory reactions, organ dysfunctions, and diseases. These diseases can severely damage the patient's body systems and functions, leading to a range of clinical symptoms that can be life-threatening. As the incidence of invasive fungal infections has progressively increased in the recent years, a wealth of evidence has confirmed the "double-edged sword" role of fungal extracellular vesicles (EVs) in intercellular communication and pathogen-host interactions. Fungal EVs act as mediators of cellular communication, affecting fungal-host cell interactions, delivering virulence factors, and promoting infection. Fungal EVs can also have an induced protective effect, affecting fungal growth and stimulating adaptive immune responses. By integrating recent studies, we discuss the role of EVs in fungi, providing strong theoretical support for the early prevention and treatment of invasive fungal infections. Finally, we highlight the feasibility of using fungal EVs as drug carriers and in vaccine development.

3.0 T unenhanced Dixon water-fat separation whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography: compressed-sensing sensitivity encoding imaging versus conventional 2D sensitivity encoding imaging.

This study was aimed to investigate 3.0 T unenhanced Dixon water-fat whole-heart CMRA (coronary magnetic resonance angiography) using compressed-sensing sensitivity encoding (CS-SENSE) and conventional sensitivity encoding (SENSE) in vitro and in vivo. The key parameters of CS-SENSE and conventional 1D/2D SENSE were compared in vitro phantom study. In vivo study, fifty patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) completed unenhanced Dixon water-fat whole-heart CMRA at 3.0 T using both CS-SENSE and conventional 2D SENSE methods. We compared mean acquisition time, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and the diagnostic accuracy between two techniques. In vitro study, CS-SENSE achieved better effectiveness between higher SNR/CNR and shorter scan times using the appropriate acceleration factor compared with conventional 2D SENSE. In vivo study, CS-SENSE CMRA had better performance than 2D SENSE in terms of the mean acquisition time, SNR and CNR (7.4 ± 3.2 min vs. 8.3 ± 3.4 min, P = 0.001; SNR: 115.5 ± 35.4 vs. 103.3 ± 32.2; CNR: 101.1 ± 33.2 vs. 90.6 ± 30.1, P < 0.001 for both). The diagnostic accuracy between CS-SENSE and 2D SENSE had no significant difference on a patient-based analysis (sensitivity: 97.3% vs. 91.9%; specificity: 76.9% vs. 61.5%; accuracy: 92.0% vs. 84.0%; P > 0.05 for each). Unenhanced CS-SENSE Dixon water-fat separation whole-heart CMRA at 3.0 T can improve the SNR and CNR, shorten the acquisition time while providing equally satisfactory image quality and diagnostic accuracy compared with 2D SENSE CMRA.

Cancer phototherapy with nano-bacteria biohybrids.

The utilization of light for therapeutic interventions, also known as phototherapy, has been extensively employed in the treatment of a wide range of illnesses, including cancer. Despite the benefits of its non-invasive nature, phototherapy still faces challenges pertaining to the delivery of phototherapeutic agents, phototoxicity, and light delivery. The incorporation of nanomaterials and bacteria in phototherapy has emerged as a promising approach that leverages the unique properties of each component. The resulting nano-bacteria biohybrids exhibit enhanced therapeutic efficacy when compared to either component individually. In this review, we summarize and discuss the various strategies for assembling nano-bacteria biohybrids and their applications in phototherapy. We provide a comprehensive overview of the properties and functionalities of nanomaterials and cells in the biohybrids. Notably, we highlight the roles of bacteria beyond their function as drug vehicles, particularly their capacity to produce bioactive molecules. Despite being in its early stage, the integration of photoelectric nanomaterials and genetically engineered bacteria holds promise as an effective biosystem for antitumor phototherapy. The utilization of nano-bacteria biohybrids in phototherapy is a promising avenue for future investigation, with the potential to enhance treatment outcomes for cancer patients.

Sensing of organophosphorus pesticides by fluorescent complexes based on purine-hydrazone receptor and copper (II) and its application in living-cells imaging.

In this study, we used purine hydrazone derivatives and coumarin aldehyde to synthesize a novel fluorescent sensor (EDTP) by Schiff base reaction, which exhibited significant selective fluorescence quenching of Cu2+, and a distinct change from brilliant yellow to red is present along with the solution color. The detection limit of EDTP for Cu2+ was 109.52 nM. Job's plot experiment, density flooding theory (DFT) and 1H NMR titration experiments revealed the possible binding mechanism of EDTP to Cu2+, the probe EDTP could achieve highly detection of Cu2+ through forming a 1:1 complex. Additionally, this new fluorescent sensor EDTP-Cu2+ can be further applied in the rapid and selective detection of pesticide residues in solutions. When the EDTP-Cu2+ system was subsequently exposed to organophosphorus pesticides (glyphosate and glufosinate-ammonium), it was observed that the fluorescence was recovered and accompanied by a red to yellow color change. This may be attributed to the strong chelation of glyphosate and glufosinate-ammonium with Cu2+, leading to the dissociation of the EDTP-Cu2+ system and thus triggering the fluorescence recovery effect. The detection limits of the EDTP-Cu2+ system is 2.48 nM for glyphosate and 17.23 nM for glufosinate-ammonium, respectively. Finally, the developed sensor system has been successfully utilized image glyphosate and glufosinate-ammonium fluorescence in living cells. Purine fluorescence probes are a potential fluorescent probe for the detection of metal ions and pesticides due to their good characteristics. This study opens up a new way for the detection of fluorescent probes in pesticides.

Gradient Electrolyte Strategy Achieving Long-Life Zinc Anodes.

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries are plagued by a short lifespan caused by localized dendrites. High-concentration electrolytes are favorable for dense Zn deposition but have poor performance in batteries with glass-fiber separators. In contrast, low-concentration electrolytes can wet the separators well, ensuring the migration of zinc ions, but the dendrites grow rapidly. In this work, we propose an electrolyte gradient strategy wherein a zinc-ion concentration gradient is established from the anode to the separator, ensuring that the separator keeps a good wettability in low-concentration areas and the zinc anode achieves dendrite-free deposition in a high-concentration area. By using this strategy in a common electrolyte, zinc sulfate, a Zn||Zn symmetric cell achieves 14 000 ultralong cycles (exceeding 8 months) at 5 mA cm-2 and 1 mAh cm-2 . When the current is further increased to 20 mA cm-2 , the symmetric cell could still run for over 10 000 cycles. Assembled Zn||NVO full cells also demonstrate prominent performance. At a high current of 16 mA cm-2 , the NVO cathode with high loading (8 mg cm-2 ) still has a capacity of 58% after 1200 cycles. Overall, the gradient electrolyte strategy provides a promising approach for practical long-life Zn anodes with the advantages of simple operation and low cost.

Drug Resistance Genes and Molecular Epidemiological Characteristics of Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumonia.

Background: The global prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) has become a serious challenge for nosocomial infection and attracted worldwide attention. This study explored the drug resistance genes and molecular characteristics for CRKP, providing a reference for nosocomial prevention and control. Methods: A total of 42 CRKP isolates were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University (Ganzhou, China) from January 2018 to February 2021. The drug resistance of CRKP was tested by the VitekII Compact system. Drug resistance gene expression was detected by poly-merase chain reaction (PCR), and molecular typing was performed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Results: All the 42 CRKP isolates were multi-drug resistant. Among them, 35 isolates (83.3%) produced blaKPC-2 and 12 isolates (28.6%) produced blaNDM-1. The detection rate of blaIMP-4 and blaOXA-48 was 2.4% (1/42), respectively. Twelve isolates (28.6%) carried both blaKPC-2 and blaNDM-1, one isolate (2.4%) carried both blaKPC-2 and blaIMP-4, and one isolate (2.4%) carried blaKPC-2, blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-48. A variety of other extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) were also detected. All 42 isolates carried blaSHV and blaCTX-M-1, 27 isolates (64.3%) carried blaTEM and 12 isolates (28.6%) carried blaCTX-M-9. The MLST data classified the 42 CRKP isolates into 11 sequence types, mainly ST11, accounting for 61.9% (26/42), of which 92.3% of isolates (24/26) carrying blaKPC-2. The PFGE results demonstrated that the 42 CRKP isolates could be divided into 20 clusters A-T, with cluster A (26.2%, 11/42) and cluster H (21.4%, 9/42) dominating, which were all ST11. Conclusion: The CRKP isolates were severely multi-drug resistant, and the main resistant gene was blaKPC-2 production, carrying multiple ESBLs genes simultaneously. The MLST and PFGE revealed that the ST11-blaKPC-2 Klebsiella pneumoniae was the main clonotype. Our findings may offer help to antibiotics selection and nosocomial infection prevention and control.

200 MPa cold isostatic pressing creates surface-microcracks in a Zn foil for scalable and long-life zinc anodes.

The Zn anode suffers from severe dendrite growth and side reactions, which restrict its development in the realm of large-scale energy storage. Herein, in this study, we propose a method to create surface-microcracks in a Zn foil by 200 MPa cold isostatic pressing. The proposed pressing method can avoid the surface tip effect of Zn, and creates a subtly surface-microcracked zinc structure, providing more zinc ion transport channels, thereby effectively alleviating the dendrite growth and side reactions during the repeated Zn plating and stripping. Benefiting from these advantages, the 200 MPa Zn‖Zn symmetric cell can achieve a long cycle life (1525 h) of 1 mA h cm-2 at 2 mA cm-2. The 200 MPa Zn‖VO2 full cell can still maintain a capacity of 110 mA h g-1 after 1000 cycles at 0.1 A g-1. In addition, assembled pouch cells also show excellent cycling stability. The proposed cold isostatic pressing method is compatible with large-scale production applications and provides an effective strategy for realizing high-performance zinc anodes for zinc-ion batteries.

Bonding Lithium Metal with Garnet Electrolyte by Interfacial Lithiophobicity/Lithiophilicity Transition Mechanism over 380 °C.

Garnet electrolytes, possessing high ionic conductivity (10-4 -10-3 S cm-1 at room temperature) and excellent chemical/electrochemical compatibility with lithium metal, are expected to be used in solid-state lithium metal batteries. However, the poor solid-solid interfacial contact between lithium and garnet leads to high interfacial resistance, reducing the battery power capability and cyclability. Garnet electrolytes are commonly believed to be intrinsically lithiophilic, and lithiophobic Li2 CO3 on the garnet surface accounted for the poor interfacial contact. Here, it is proposed that the interfacial lithiophobicity/lithiophilicity of garnets (LLZO, LLZTO) can be transformed above a temperature of ≈380 °C. This transition mechanism is also suitable for other materials such as Li2 CO3 , Li2 O, stainless steel, and Al2 O3 . By using this transition mechanism, uniform and even lithium can be strongly bonded no-surface-treated garnet electrolytes with various shapes. The Li-LLZTO interfacial resistance can be reduced to ≈3.6 Ω cm2 and sustainably withstood lithium extraction and insertion for up to 2000 h at 100 µA cm-2 . This high-temperature lithiophobicity/lithiophilicity transition mechanism can help improve the understanding of lithium-garnet interfaces and build practical lithium-garnet solid-solid interfaces.

Modulation of the Oxidation End-Product Toward Polysulfides-Free and Sustainable Lithium-Pyrite Thermal Batteries.

The FeS2 has abundant reserves and a high specific capacity (894 mAh g-1 ), commonly used to fabricate Li-FeS2 primary batteries, like LiMx -FeS2 thermal batteries (working at ≈500 °C). However, Li-FeS2 batteries struggle to function as rechargeable batteries due to serious issues such as pulverization and polysulfide shuttling. Herein, highly reversible solid-state Li-FeS2 batteries operating at 300 °C are designed. Molten salt-based FeS2 slurry cathodes address the notorious electrode pulverization problem by encapsulating pulverized particles in time with e- and Li⁺ flow conductors. In addition, the solid electrolyte LLZTO tube serves as a hard separator and fast Li+ channel, effectively separating the molten electrodes to construct a liquid-solid-liquid structure instead of the solid-liquid-solid structure of LiMx -FeS2 thermal batteries. Most importantly, these high-temperature Li-FeS2 solid-state batteries achieve FeS2 conversion to Li2 S and Fe at discharge and further back to FeS2 at charge, unlike room-temperature Li-FeS2 batteries where FeS and S act as oxidation products. Therefore, these new-type Li-FeS2 batteries have a lower operating temperature than Li-FeS2 thermal batteries and perform highly reversible electrochemical reactions, which can be cycled stably up to 2000 times with a high specific capacity of ≈750 mAh g-1 in the prototype batteries.

Living and Regenerative Material Encapsulating Self-Assembled Shewanella oneidensis-CdS Hybrids for Photocatalytic Biodegradation of Organic Dyes.

Reductive biodegradation by microorganisms has been widely explored for detoxifying recalcitrant contaminants; however, the biodegradation capacity of microbes is limited by the energy level of the released electrons. Here, we developed a method to self-assemble Shewanella oneidensis-CdS nanoparticle hybrids with significantly improved reductive biodegradation capacity and constructed a living material by encapsulating the hybrids in hydrogels. The material confines the nano-bacteria hybrids and protects them from environmental stress, thus improving their recyclability and long-term stability (degradation capacity unhindered after 4 weeks). The developed living materials exhibited efficient photocatalytic biodegradation of various organic dyes including azo and nitroso dyes. This study highlights the feasibility and benefits of constructing self-assembled nano-bacteria hybrids for bioremediation and sets the stage for the development of novel living materials from nano-bacteria hybrids.

[Application regularity and solution strategies of mineral medicine Cinnabaris in pediatric preparations].

Mineral medicine is a characteristic element of advantage of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), which embodies unique scientific connotation. Cinnabaris is a characteristic drug in Chinese medicinal preparations, especially in Chinese medicinal pediatric preparations. Because of the adverse reactions caused by mercury contained, the safety and application of Cinnabaris have attracted much attention. To explore the application regularity and the value of the pediatric preparations containing Cinnabaris, this study statistically analyzed 32 Cinnabaris-contained pediatric preparations in the 2020 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and 105 pediatric preparations containing Cinnabaris in the Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescriptions(Vol. Ⅰ and Ⅱ). The statistical results indicated that the pediatric preparations and formulae containing Cinnabaris had great advantages in the treatment of pediatric convulsions, but there were still problems in dosage form, dosage, and quality control. In this study, ICP-MS and LC-AFS were further used to determine the content of total mercury and soluble mercury in 15 commercially available pediatric preparations containing Cinnabaris. It was found that the total mercury content was far higher than soluble mercury content in the sample preparations, and there was no obvious correlation between them. According to the results, the research and application strategies of Cinnabaris were put forward in order to provide references for the rational application of Cinnabaris in pediatric preparations.

A green and sustainable strategy toward lithium resources recycling from spent batteries.

Recycling lithium from spent batteries is challenging because of problems with poor purity and contamination. Here, we propose a green and sustainable lithium recovery strategy for spent batteries containing LiFePO4, LiCoO2, and LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 electrodes. Our proposed configuration of "lithium-rich electrode || LLZTO@LiTFSI+P3HT || LiOH" system achieves double-side and roll-to-roll recycling of lithium-containing electrode without destroying its integrity. The LiTFSI+P3HT-modified LLZTO membrane also solves the H+/Li+ exchange problem and realizes a waterproof protection of bare LLZTO in the aqueous working environment. On the basis of these advantages, our system shows high Li selectivity (97%) and excellent Faradaic efficiency (≥97%), achieving high-purity (99%) LiOH along with the production of H2. The Li extraction processes for spent LiFePO4, LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2, and LiCoO2 batteries is shown to be economically feasible. Therefore, this study provides a previously unexplored technology with low energy consumption as well as high economic and environmental benefits to realize sustainable lithium recycling from spent batteries.

Comparison of cephalometric measurements of the Twin Block and A6 appliances in the treatment of Class II malocclusion: a retrospective comparative cohort study.

Background: Skeletal Class II malocclusion is a common malocclusion that seriously affects patients' profile and occlusal function. The key to treatment is to use functional appliances guide the mandible forward. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of traditional functional appliance Twin Block (TB) and invisible functional appliance (A6). Methods: In the retrospective cohort study, 46 patients with Class II Division 1 mandibular retrognathia (23 females, 23 males; mean age 13.66±4.25 years) from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were selected. They were divided into A6 group and TB group according to the type of appliance guided mandibular forward used in orthodontic treatment (n=23 each; average treatment time 9.82±3.52 months). Lateral cephalometric radiographs were taken before and at the end of each treatment, and paired t-test or paired rank-sum tests were performed when appropriate to detect any statistical significance at the level of α=0.05. Results: The baseline characteristics of the two groups of patients were similar. Treatment with both appliances helped correct Class II malocclusion, improve the discrepancy between the maxilla and mandible, reduce the labial inclination of the maxillary anterior teeth, and relieve the deep overbite. A comparison of the treatment effects of the TB and A6 groups showed that the A6 had a better effect when moving Point A backward, and performed better in the abduction of the anterior teeth. TB group has more advantages than A6 group in moving forward point B and improving the nasolabial angle. Conclusions: Both the A6 and TB can significantly improve Class II malocclusion. A6 showed an obvious advantage in moving Point A backward and adducting the anterior teeth, which better corrects a skeletal Class II malocclusion.