Enhancing Orbital Interaction in Spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 Cathode for High-Voltage and High-Rate Li-Ion Batteries.

High voltage cobalt-free spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) is well organized as a high-power cathode material for lithium (Li)-ion batteries, however, the weak interaction between the 3d orbital of the transition metal (TM) ions and the 2p orbital of oxygen (O) leads to the instability of crystal structural, hindering the long-term stable cycling of LNMO cathode especially at high temperatures. Here, a design strategy of orbital interaction is initiated to strengthen TM 3d-O 2p framework in P-doped LNMO (P-LNMO) by choosing phytic acid as P dopant, which can realize more uniform doping compared to regular phosphate. The results show that the enhancement of TM 3d-O 2p orbital interaction in P-LNMO can suppress the Jahn-Teller effect and subsequent dissolution of Mn, as well as lowers the energy barrier for Li ion insertion/extraction kinetics. As a result, superior electrochemical performances including high discharge capacity, stable cycling behavior and enhanced rate capability of P-LNMO are obtained. Significantly, the P-LNMO pouch cell shows great cycling stability with 97.4% capacity retention after 100 cycles.

Clinically significant macular edema in an underserved population: Association with demographic factors and hemoglobin A1c.

SIGNIFICANCE: Suspected clinically significant macular edema (SCSME) from exudates differed among ethnic groups in our underserved population. African American and Asian subjects had higher prevalence than Hispanics and non-Hispanic Caucasians, from the same clinics. Men had higher prevalence than women. Highly elevated blood glucose was frequent and associated with SCSME. PURPOSE: We investigated the association between the presence of SCSME from exudates and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), as well as demographic factors such as age, sex, and ethnic group. Our population was underserved diabetic patients from the same geographic locations. Ethnic groups were White Hispanic, non-Hispanic Caucasian, African American, and Asian, with a high proportion of underrepresented minorities. METHODS: In a diabetic retinopathy screening study at four community clinics in Alameda County, California, nonmydriatic 45° color fundus images were collected from underserved diabetic subjects following the EyePACS imaging protocol. Images were analyzed for SCSME from exudates by two certified graders. Logistic regression assessed the association between SCSME from exudates and age, sex, ethnic group, and HbA1c. RESULTS: Of 1997 subjects, 147 (7.36%) had SCSME from exudates. The mean ± standard deviation age was 53.4 ± 10.5 years. The mean ± standard deviation HbA1c level was 8.26 ± 2.04. Logistic regression analysis indicated a significant association between presence of SCSME from exudates and HbA1c levels (p<0.001), sex (p=0.027), and ethnicity (p=0.030). African Americans (odds ratio [OR], 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 2.50; p=0.025) and Asians (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.05 to 2.54; p=0.029) had a higher risk than Hispanics. After adjusting for ethnicity, sex, and age, the odds of developing SCSME from exudates increased by 26.5% with every 1% increase in HbA1c level (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.18 to 1.36; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In our underserved population, many diabetic patients had very high HbA1c values. Ethnic background (African American > Asians > Hispanics), sex (male > female), and HbA1c level were strong indicators for identifying who is at increased risk of developing SCSME from exudates.

Reconstructing Helmholtz Plane Enables Robust F-Rich Interface for Long-Life and High-Safe Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Hard carbon (HC) is the most commonly used anode material in sodium-ion batteries. However, the solid-electrolyte-interface (SEI) layer formed in carbonate ester-based electrolytes has an imperceptible dissolution tendency and a sluggish Na+ diffusion kinetics, resulting in unsatisfactory performance of the HC anode. Given that electrode/electrolyte interface property is highly dependent on the configuration of Helmholtz plane, we filtrate proper solvents by PFBE (PF6- anion binding energy) and CAE (carbon absorption energy) and disclose the function of chosen TFEP to reconstruct the Helmholtz plane and regulate the SEI film on HC anode. Benefiting from the preferential adsorption tendency on HC surface and strong anion-dragging interaction of TFEP, a robust and thin anion-derived F-rich SEI film is established, which greatly enhances the mechanical stability and the Na+ ion diffusion kinetics of the electrode/electrolyte interface. The rationally designed TFEP-based electrolyte endows Na||HC half-cell and 2.8 Ah HC||Na4Fe3(PO4)2P2O7 pouch cell with excellent rate capability, long cycle life, high safety and low-temperature adaptability. It is believed that this insightful recognition of tuning interface properties will pave a new avenue on the design of compatible electrolyte for low-cost, long-life, and high-safe sodium-ion batteries.

Aromatic Ketones as Mild Presodiating Reagents toward Cathodes for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Chemical presodiation (CP) is an effective strategy to enhance energy density of sodium ion batteries. However, the sodiation reagents reported so far are basically polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) wth low reductive potential (~0.1 V vs. Na+ /Na), which could easily cause over-sodiation and structural deterioration of the presodiated cathodes. In this work, Aromatic ketones (AKs) are rationally designed as mild presodiating reagents by introducing a carbonyl group (C=O) into PAHs to balance the conjugated and inductive effect. As the representatives, two compounds 9-Fluorenoneb (9-FN) and Benzophenone (BP) manifest favorable equilibrium potential of 1.55 V and 1.07 V (vs. Na+ /Na), respectively. Note that 9-FN demonstrates versatile presodiating capability toward multiple Na uptake hosts (tunneled Na0.44 MnO2 , layered Na0.67 Ni0.33 Mn0.67 O2 , polyanionic Na4 Fe2.91 (PO4 )2 P2 O7 , Na3 V2 (PO4 )3 and Na3 V2 (PO4 )2 F3 ), enabling greatly improved initial charging capacity of the cathode to balance the irrevisible capacity of the anode. Our results indicate that the Aromatic ketones are competitive presodiating cathodic reagents for high-performance sodium-ion batteries, and will inspire more studies and application attempts in the future.

Diabetes, metformin use and risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in postmenopausal women: A prospective cohort analysis in the Women's Health Initiative.

Epidemiologic evidence is limited about associations between T2DM, metformin, and the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). We aimed to examine associations between T2DM, metformin, and the risk of NHL in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Study. Information on T2DM status (diabetes status/types of antidiabetic drug use/diabetes duration) from study enrollment and during follow-up were assessed. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate associations of T2DM status with risks of overall NHL and its three major subtypes [diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL, n = 476), follicular lymphoma (FL, n = 301) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL, n = 136)] based on multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. During a median follow-up of 18.86 years (range, 0.01-25.13; SD ± 6.55), a total of 1637 women developed NHL among 147 885 postmenopausal women. Women with T2DM and with self-reported oral medication use had 38% and 55% higher risk of DLBCL, respectively [multivariable-adjusted model HR = 1.38, 95% CI (1.06-1.81) and HR = 1.55, 95% CI (1.16-2.06)] compared to the reference group (nondiabetics/untreated diabetes). Risks of NHL and DLBCL [multivariable-adjusted model: HR = 1.28, 95% CI (1.06-1.54) and HR = 1.56, 95% CI (1.13-2.14), respectively] were significantly higher in associations with relatively short duration (≤7 years) of diabetes, compared to reference group. Additionally, an increased risk of DLBCL [HR = 1.76, 95% CI (1.13-2.75)] was found in metformin users compared to the reference group. Postmenopausal women who had T2DM, who were oral antidiabetic drug users, especially metformin, and who had a shorter diabetes duration may have higher risks of DLBCL. Further well-designed research is needed to confirm our findings.

Detecting methylation quantitative trait loci using a methylation random field method.

DNA methylation may be regulated by genetic variants within a genomic region, referred to as methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs). The changes of methylation levels can further lead to alterations of gene expression, and influence the risk of various complex human diseases. Detecting mQTLs may provide insights into the underlying mechanism of how genotypic variations may influence the disease risk. In this article, we propose a methylation random field (MRF) method to detect mQTLs by testing the association between the methylation level of a CpG site and a set of genetic variants within a genomic region. The proposed MRF has two major advantages over existing approaches. First, it uses a beta distribution to characterize the bimodal and interval properties of the methylation trait at a CpG site. Second, it considers multiple common and rare genetic variants within a genomic region to identify mQTLs. Through simulations, we demonstrated that the MRF had improved power over other existing methods in detecting rare variants of relatively large effect, especially when the sample size is small. We further applied our method to a study of congenital heart defects with 83 cardiac tissue samples and identified two mQTL regions, MRPS10 and PSORS1C1, which were colocalized with expression QTL in cardiac tissue. In conclusion, the proposed MRF is a useful tool to identify novel mQTLs, especially for studies with limited sample sizes.

Random field modeling of multi-trait multi-locus association for detecting methylation quantitative trait loci.

MOTIVATION: CpG sites within the same genomic region often share similar methylation patterns and tend to be co-regulated by multiple genetic variants that may interact with one another. RESULTS: We propose a multi-trait methylation random field (multi-MRF) method to evaluate the joint association between a set of CpG sites and a set of genetic variants. The proposed method has several advantages. First, it is a multi-trait method that allows flexible correlation structures between neighboring CpG sites (e.g. distance-based correlation). Second, it is also a multi-locus method that integrates the effect of multiple common and rare genetic variants. Third, it models the methylation traits with a beta distribution to characterize their bimodal and interval properties. Through simulations, we demonstrated that the proposed method had improved power over some existing methods under various disease scenarios. We further illustrated the proposed method via an application to a study of congenital heart defects (CHDs) with 83 cardiac tissue samples. Our results suggested that gene BACE2, a methylation quantitative trait locus (QTL) candidate, colocalized with expression QTLs in artery tibial and harbored genetic variants with nominal significant associations in two genome-wide association studies of CHD. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: https://github.com/chenlyu2656/Multi-MRF. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Validation and Comparison of Two Dietary Indexes for Predicting Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in US Adults.

BACKGROUND: Two indexes have been used to describe dietary inflammatory potential: the experiment-based dietary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and the literature-derived dietary inflammatory index (DII). How robustly each index represents dietary inflammatory potential and the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has not yet been established. OBJECTIVES: We investigated the relation between dietary inflammatory potential and NAFLD, and compared the abilities of the TAC and DII scores to predict NAFLD in US adults. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from 12,410 participants aged 20-80 y in the NHANES from 2011 to 2018 were identified. TAC and DII scores were calculated using 2 d of 24-h dietary recall data. We examined the association between dietary index and risk of NAFLD using linear and logistic regression models. RESULTS: Higher energy-adjusted TAC (E-TAC) and inversely energy-adjusted DII (IE-DII) scores (both representing more anti-inflammatory diets) were associated with lower hepatic steatosis index (HSI) and US fatty liver index (USFLI) values after adjusting for potential covariates, and the association for each SD increase in the IE-DII was stronger than the E-TAC (ß estimates for HSI: -0.39 compared with -0.25; P-difference = 0.036). In modeling the risk of NAFLD, we observed that participants with IE-DII scores in the highest quartile had the lowest ORs for NAFLD as assessed by either the HSI (OR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.62, 0.96; P-trend = 0.023) or USFLI (OR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.68; P-trend <0.0001). TAC scores were also associated with NAFLD as assessed by the USFLI. CONCLUSIONS: An anti-inflammatory diet is beneficial for reducing the risk of NAFLD in US adults. The DII is a stronger predictor of hepatic measures than the TAC, and we recommend that future hepatic health studies use the DII to estimate dietary inflammatory potential.

Association of Tea-drinking Habits with the Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma - A Prospective Cohort Study among Postmenopausal Women.

Although, biological evidence suggests that tea consumption may protect against non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), epidemiologic evidence has been unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the association between tea-drinking habits and the risk of NHL in a large nationwide prospective cohort of postmenopausal US women. 68,854 women who were enrolled from 1993 through 1998 in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS) and responded to year 3 annual follow-up questionnaire comprised the analytic cohort. Newly diagnosed NHL cases after the year 3 visit were confirmed by medical and pathology reports. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were performed to assess the associations of tea-drinking habits (specifically, the amounts of caffeinated/herbal/decaffeinated tea intake) with the overall risk of NHL and 3 major subtypes (Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, DLBCL, (n=195, 0.3%), follicular lymphoma, FL, (n=128, 0.2%), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, CLL/SLL, (n=51, 0.1%)). Among 62,622 participants, a total of 663 (1.1%) women developed NHL during a median follow-up of 16.51(SD±6.20) years. Overall, different amounts of type-specific tea intake were not associated with the risk of NHL regardless of its histologic subtypes after adjustment for confounders. Our findings suggest that tea intake at the current consumption level does not influence the risk of NHL, regardless of its histologic types.

Rechargeable Mg-Na and Mg-K hybrid batteries based on a low-defect Co3[Co(CN)6]2 nanocube cathode.

Rechargeable Mg-Li hybrid batteries have the merits of a Mg metal anode and a Li+ intercalation cathode, but the limited availability of Li resources hinders their large-scale application. Herein, rechargeable Mg-Na and Mg-K hybrid batteries are constructed with a low-defect Co3[Co(CN)6]2 nanocube cathode. The large redox active cavities of Co3[Co(CN)6]2 are highly favorable for reversible Na+ and K+ intercalations. The Mg-Na and Mg-K hybrid batteries provide reversible capacities of 123 and 126 mA h g-1, respectively, and a stable long-term cycling over 600 cycles. By contrast, the Mg-Li hybrid battery delivers a much lower capacity of 55 mA h g-1. It is also demonstrated that controlled crystallization of well-defined nanocubes with few lattice defects is important for these high-capacity Mg-Na and Mg-K hybrid battery cathodes. The low-defect Co3[Co(CN)6]2 nanocube cathode shows good rate capability, providing specific capacities of 45 and 53 mA h g-1 at 1000 mA g-1 in Mg-Na and Mg-K hybrid batteries, respectively. This study illustrates that low-defect Prussian blue analogs of Co3[Co(CN)6]2 are highly compatible and promising cathodes for Mg-Na and Mg-K hybrid batteries. The present study also provides a new method for the development of low-cost and high-performance batteries based on Mg metal anodes.

Understanding and Calibration of Charge Storage Mechanism in Cyclic Voltammetry Curves.

Noticeable pseudo-capacitance behavior out of charge storage mechanism (CSM) has attracted intensive studies because it can provide both high energy density and large output power. Although cyclic voltammetry is recognized as the feasible electrochemical technique to determine it quantitatively in the previous works, the results are inferior due to uncertainty in the definitions and application conditions. Herein, three successive treatments, including de-polarization, de-residual and de-background, as well as a non-linear fitting algorithm are employed for the first time to calibrate the different CSM contribution of three typical cathode materials, LiFePO4 , LiMn2 O4 and Na4 Fe3 (PO4 )2 P2 O7 , and achieve well-separated physical capacitance, pseudo-capacitance and diffusive contributions to the total capacity. This work can eliminate misunderstanding concepts and correct ambiguous results of the pseudo-capacitance contribution and recognize the essence of CSM in electrode materials.

Acute Time-Course Changes in CCL11, CCL2, and IL-10 Levels After Controlled Subconcussive Head Impacts: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To examine changes in plasma levels of CCL11, CCL2, and IL-10 after 10 controlled soccer headers. SETTING: Laboratory setting. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-nine healthy soccer players with at least 3 years of soccer heading experience, between 18 and 26 years old, and enrolled at a large public university. DESIGN: In this randomized clinical trial using a soccer heading model, participants were randomized into the heading (n = 22) or kicking-control (n = 17) groups to perform 10 headers or kicks. MAIN MEASURES: Plasma levels of CCL11, CCL2, and IL-10 at preintervention and 0, 2, and 24 hours postintervention. RESULTS: Mixed-effects regression models did not reveal any significant group differences in changes of plasma CCL11, CCL2, or IL-10 levels from preintervention. Within the heading group, there was a statistically significant time by years of heading experience interaction with 2.0-pg/mL increase in plasma CCL11 each year of prior experience at 24 hours postintervention (P = .001). CONCLUSION: Findings from this study suggest that 10 soccer headers do not provoke an acute inflammatory response. However, the acute CCL11 response may be influenced by prior exposure to soccer headers, providing a precedent for future field studies that prospectively track head impact exposure and changes in CCL11.

A genetic association test through combining two independent tests.

Gene- and pathway-based variant association tests are important tools in finding genetic variants that are associated with phenotypes of interest. Although some methods have been proposed in the literature, powerful and robust statistical tests are still desirable in this area. In this study, we propose a statistical test based on decomposing the genotype data into orthogonal parts from which powerful and robust independent p-value combination approaches can be utilized. Through a comprehensive simulation study, we compare the proposed test with some existing popular ones. Our simulation results show that the new test has great performance in terms of controlling type I error rate and statistical power. Real data applications are also conducted to illustrate the performance and usefulness of the proposed test.

The association of depression stigma with barriers to seeking mental health care: a cross-sectional analysis.

Background: Stigma is one of several barriers to seeking mental health care. However, few studies have examined how stigma relates to other common barriers (e.g. attitudes about treatment, cost, time).Aims: This study investigated whether depression stigma (internalized or perceived) was related to other treatment-seeking barriers (attitudinal, structural) and whether depression severity influenced the strength of the association.Methods: We used multivariable-adjusted linear regression to model barrier outcomes as a function of internalized and perceived stigma in an undergraduate population (N = 2551). We evaluated potential effect modification by depression severity using likelihood-ratio tests.Results: Internalized stigma displayed a stronger association with overall barriers to care (including perceived need, negative treatment expectations, and structural barriers) than did perceived stigma. Higher internalized stigma predicted a stronger emphasis on each barrier to treatment measured. Sub-components of internalized stigma (e.g. alienation, stereotype endorsement) uniquely predicted a greater emphasis on distinct barriers.Conclusions: Internalized stigma is strongly linked to greater perception of barriers to mental health care. It may be necessary to address stigma and barriers concurrently rather than independently.

Gene-based genetic association test with adaptive optimal weights.

It is well known that using proper weights for genetic variants is crucial in enhancing the power of gene- or pathway-based association tests. To increase the power, we propose a general approach that adaptively selects weights among a class of weight families and apply it to the popular sequencing kernel association test. Through comprehensive simulation studies, we demonstrate that the proposed method can substantially increase power under some conditions. Applications to real data are also presented. This general approach can be extended to all current set-based rare variant association tests whose performances depend on variant's weight assignment.

Recent Progress in Rechargeable Sodium-Ion Batteries: toward High-Power Applications.

The increasing demands for renewable energy to substitute traditional fossil fuels and related large-scale energy storage systems (EES) drive developments in battery technology and applications today. The lithium-ion battery (LIB), the trendsetter of rechargeable batteries, has dominated the market for portable electronics and electric vehicles and is seeking a participant opportunity in the grid-scale battery market. However, there has been a growing concern regarding the cost and resource availability of lithium. The sodium-ion battery (SIB) is regarded as an ideal battery choice for grid-scale EES owing to its similar electrochemistry to the LIB and the crust abundance of Na resources. Because of the participation in frequency regulation, high pulse-power capability is essential for the implanted SIBs in EES. Herein, a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in the exploration of high-power cathode and anode materials for SIB is presented, and deep understanding of the inherent host structure, sodium storage mechanism, Na+ diffusion kinetics, together with promising strategies to promote the rate performance is provided. This work may shed light on the classification and screening of alternative high rate electrode materials and provide guidance for the design and application of high power SIBs in the future.

Gene-based sequential burden association test.

Detecting the association between a set of variants and a phenotype of interest is the first and important step in genetic and genomic studies. Although it attracted a large amount of attention in the scientific community and several related statistical approaches have been proposed in the literature, powerful and robust statistical tests are still highly desired and yet to be developed in this area. In this paper, we propose a powerful and robust association test, which combines information from each individual single-nucleotide polymorphisms based on sequential independent burden tests. We compare the proposed approach with some popular tests through a comprehensive simulation study and real data application. Our results show that, in general, the new test is more powerful; the gain in detecting power can be substantial in many situations, compared to other methods.

Rechargeable Mg-M (M = Li, Na and K) dual-metal-ion batteries based on a Berlin green cathode and a metallic Mg anode.

Mg-M (M = Li, Na and K) dual-metal-ion batteries featuring a dendrite-free Mg anode and an alkali-metal-ion storage cathode are promising safe energy storage systems. However, the compatibility between cathode materials and insertion cations might largely limit the electrochemical performance of the cathodes. In this work, three types of Mg-M (M = Li, Na and K) dual-metal-ion batteries are constructed with a Berlin green (FeFe(CN)6) cathode. The FeFe(CN)6 cathode is compatible with the dual-salt Mg2+/M+ (M = Li, Na and K) electrolytes, and delivers a high reversible capacity of 120 mA h g-1 at 50 mA g-1, with no capacity fading over 50 cycles in Mg-Na batteries. The Mg-Na battery also shows an outstanding rate capability, providing 85 mA h g-1 at 1000 mA g-1 and superior long-term cyclability over 800 cycles. The electrochemical performance comparison between Mg-Li, Mg-Na and Mg-K dual-metal-ion batteries demonstrates the significance of the appropriate hydrated ionic radius and dehydrated ionic radius for the insertion of cations with the FeFe(CN)6 cathode. This work provides new design strategies for stable and high energy density cathodes, and opens a new avenue for building safe and high-performance Mg-M (M = Li, Na and K) dual-metal-ion batteries for practical applications.

Understanding capacity fading of the LiVO3 cathode material by limiting the cutoff voltage.

The effects of discharge cutoff voltages on the structural evolution and electrochemical performance of the LiVO3 cathode upon cycling are investigated by electrochemical measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, ex situ X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is found that a lower cutoff voltage causes formation and accumulation of unstable V4+ ions on the surface of the electrode, which easily leads to severe structural deterioration and capacity fading. A limited cutoff voltage between 3.5 and 1.5 V can effectively enhance the structural stability and consequently the electrode demonstrates 75.9% capacity retention and neglectable working voltage decay over 400 cycles. The result that the operation voltage range strongly affects the structural stability of cycled LiVO3 provides a new insight into exploring feasible approaches to achieve highly stable LiVO3 and other vanadium-based electrodes for lithium-ion batteries.

Recent Progress in Iron-Based Electrode Materials for Grid-Scale Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Grid-scale energy storage batteries with electrode materials made from low-cost, earth-abundant elements are needed to meet the requirements of sustainable energy systems. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) with iron-based electrodes offer an attractive combination of low cost, plentiful structural diversity and high stability, making them ideal candidates for grid-scale energy storage systems. Although various iron-based cathode and anode materials have been synthesized and evaluated for sodium storage, further improvements are still required in terms of energy/power density and long cyclic stability for commercialization. In this Review, progress in iron-based electrode materials for SIBs, including oxides, polyanions, ferrocyanides, and sulfides, is briefly summarized. In addition, the reaction mechanisms, electrochemical performance enhancements, structure-composition-performance relationships, merits and drawbacks of iron-based electrode materials for SIBs are discussed. Such iron-based electrode materials will be competitive and attractive electrodes for next-generation energy storage devices.