Electrodeposition of Self-Supported High-Entropy Spinel Oxides for Stable Oxygen Evolution.

Spinel oxides have attracted increasing interest due to their excellent activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, despite the high intrinsic OER activity, their poor electrical conductivity and weak structural stability prevented their application for a long time. These shortcomings can be solved by effectively adjusting the electronic structures of spinel oxides through a high-entropy strategy. Herein, a rapid two-step method was developed to prepare self-supported high-entropy spinel-type oxides on a carbon cloth (CC) to yield (Fe0.2Co0.2Ni0.2Mn0.2Cr0.2)3O4@CC (abbreviated as FeCoNiMnCr@CC). The unique electronic structure and stable crystal configuration of the resulting FeCoNiMnCr@CC materials required only an overpotential of 287 mV for the OER at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 coupled with excellent cyclic stability. In summary, the proposed high-entropy strategy looks promising for improving the catalytic performance of spinel oxides.

Understanding the Interfacial Reactions and Band Alignment for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells Built on Metal Substrates with Reduced Upscaling Losses.

Conventional perovskite solar cells (PSC) built on transparent conductive oxide (TCO) glass face a fundamental challenge to retain fill factor (FF) for large-area upscaling due to series resistance loss. Building a perovskite solar cell on metal has the potential to reduce this FF loss and is promising for flexible applications. However, their efficiency and stability lag far behind their TCO counterparts. Herein, findings on the complex chemical reactions and degradation-promoting processes at different perovskite/metal (Cu, Au, Ag, and Mo) interfaces, which are closely linked with the inherent stability; and the interlayer engineering for perovskite/metal interface's band alignment, which plays an essential role in achieving high efficiency, are reported. Leveraging these findings, 21% power conversion efficiency (PCE) is achieved for 1 cm2 perovskite solar cells using a p-i-n top-illumination structure on a molybdenum substrate, the highest reported for a PSC built on metal. Notably, the FF and PCE losses due to area upscaling are remarkably reduced by one order of magnitude relative to the counterparts on conventional TCO glass, highlighting an alternative pathway for PSC upscaling and module design.

Reducing nonradiative recombination in perovskite solar cells with a porous insulator contact.

Inserting an ultrathin low-conductivity interlayer between the absorber and transport layer has emerged as an important strategy for reducing surface recombination in the best perovskite solar cells. However, a challenge with this approach is a trade-off between the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and the fill factor (FF). Here, we overcame this challenge by introducing a thick (about 100 nanometers) insulator layer with random nanoscale openings. We performed drift-diffusion simulations for cells with this porous insulator contact (PIC) and realized it using a solution process by controlling the growth mode of alumina nanoplates. Leveraging a PIC with an approximately 25% reduced contact area, we achieved an efficiency of up to 25.5% (certified steady-state efficiency 24.7%) in p-i-n devices. The product of Voc × FF was 87.9% of the Shockley-Queisser limit. The surface recombination velocity at the p-type contact was reduced from 64.2 to 9.2 centimeters per second. The bulk recombination lifetime was increased from 1.2 to 6.0 microseconds because of improvements in the perovskite crystallinity. The improved wettability of the perovskite precursor solution allowed us to demonstrate a 23.3% efficient 1-square-centimeter p-i-n cell. We demonstrate here its broad applicability for different p-type contacts and perovskite compositions.

Correlation between Collateral Compensation and Homocysteine Levels in Patients with Acute Cerebral Infarction after Intravenous Thrombolysis Based on Medical Big Data.

Homocysteine is an amino acid present in plasma, which is an important intermediate product in the metabolism of methionine and cysteine. Acute cerebral infarction (CI) is called acute CI of stroke. It is one of the most common diseases in neurology and has a serious impact, affecting people's lives. This article is aimed at studying the effect of data mining algorithms based on medical big data and the improved apriori algorithm on the analysis of the correlation between collateral compensation and homocysteine levels in patients with acute CI. This article proposes that there are many factors in patients with acute CI, among which are collateral compensation and homocysteine levels that are not easily determined. From the data in the tables in the experiment of this article, it can be seen that the collateral circulation of patients with acute CI is 8%, and the collateral circulation of patients without acute CI is 35%. The results indicate that both collateral compensation and homocysteine levels affect patients with acute CI. The higher the homocysteine level, the greater the probability of acute CI, and the better the state of collateral circulation, the less likely it is to suffer from acute CI.

Preliminary study on the differentiation of vulnerable carotid plaques via analysis of calcium content and spectral curve slope by using gemstone spectral imaging.

Growing evidence indicates that vulnerable carotid plaque rupture is an important cause of stroke. However, the role of novel gemstone spectral imaging (GSI) in the assessment of vulnerable carotid plaques has remained to be sufficiently explored. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to provide a comprehensive evaluation of carotid atherosclerotic plaques using both GSI imaging biomarkers and serological biomarkers, and further explore their possible roles in the atherogenic process. The present study analyzed GSI data, including calcium content of carotid atherosclerotic plaques and spectral curve slope, as well as serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) levels in patients with a carotid atherosclerotic plaque using GSI-computed tomographic angiography and immunoturbidimetry. Patients with unstable plaque exhibited a significantly lower calcium content and higher spectral curve slope than those of the stable plaque group. In addition, patients with unstable plaque exhibited an increase in Hs-CRP and MCP-1 levels compared with those of the stable plaque and normal control groups. The alteration in GSI calcium content and spectral curve slope reflects a close link between calcification and plaque instability, while aberrant Hs-CRP and MCP-1 expression are involved in the formation or development of vulnerable plaques. Taken together, the present results strongly support the feasibility of using these serological and newly identified imaging parameters as multiple potential biomarkers relevant to plaque vulnerability or stroke progression.

The complete chloroplast genome of Rubus lambertianus var. paykouangensis, an edible wild plant.

Rubus lambertianus Ser. var. paykouangensis (Levl.) Hand.-Mazz. is great important in the phylogeny and evolution of the genus Rubus L. in the family Rosaceae. The chloroplast genome of R. lambertianus var. paykouangensis reported in this study is 156177 bp in length, and it has an average GC content of 37.18%. The complete chloroplast genome showed a typical quadripartite structure, comprising a small single copy (SSC) region (18,730 bp) and a large single copy (LSC) region (85,883 bp), both of which were separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IRs, 25,782 bp). This plastome was discovered to contain 129 different genes (112 unique), including 85 protein-coding genes (79 unique), 36 tRNA genes (29 unique), and 8 rRNA genes (4 unique). The published chloroplast genome of R. lambertianus var. paykouangensis will provide a significant insight into elucidating the phylogenetic relationship of taxa within the genus Rubus of the family Rosaceae.

Boeravinone B Protects Brain against Cerebral Ichemia Reperfusion Injury in Rats: Possible Role of Anti-inflammatory and Antioxidant.

It is well known that inflammatory reactions and oxidative stress play a key role in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia and secondary injury. Boeravinone B (BB) proofed their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect, but their neuroprotective effects still unknown. In this experimental study, we explore the neuro-protective effect of Boeravinone B on the ischemia/reperfusion and explore the possible mechanism. Male Wistar rats were used for the current experimental study. First induces natural I/R injury in rats and treated with BB and nifedipine, respectively. Rats were subjected to ischemia after 6 consecutive days by occlusion of the bilateral common carotid arteries (BCCAO). Neurological score, biochemical, antioxidant, pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory parameters were estimated in the serum and brain tissue. BB treatment significantly (p < 0.001) suppressed neuronal injury, dose-dependently decreased the cerebral water content. BB treatment altered the pro-inflammatory cytokines, antioxidant and inflammatory mediators in the serum and brain tissue. BB regulated the expression of glycine (Gly), glutamic acid (Glu), taurine (Tau), aspartic acid (Asp) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and enhanced the activity of Na+, K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase. BB significantly (p < 0.001) reduced antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione reductase (GR); inflammatory cytokines include interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-1 (IL-1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-10 (IL-10), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß); inflammatory mediators include prostaglandin (PGE2), nuclear kappa factor B (NF-κB) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), respectively. In this study, we have found that Boeravinone B exhibited protection against cerebral I/R by reducing oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction.