Crystalline Ru0.33 Se Nanoparticles-Decorated TiO2 Nanotube Arrays for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Nowadays, the state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are platinum group metals. Nonetheless, Pt-based catalysts show decreased HER activity in alkaline media compared with that in acidic media due to the sluggish dissociation process of H2 O on the surface of Pt. With a cost 1/25 that of Pt, Ru demonstrates a favorable dissociation kinetics of absorbed H2 O. Herein, crystalline Ru0.33 Se nanoparticles are decorated onto TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNAs) to fabricate Ru0.33 Se @ TNA hybrid for HER. Owing to the large-specific surface area, Ru0.33 Se nanoparticles are freely distributed and the particle aggregation is eliminated, providing more active sites. The contracted electron transport pathway rendered by TiO2 nanotubes and the synergistic effect at the interface significantly improve the charge transfer efficiency in the hybrid catalyst. Compared with Ru0.33 Se nanoparticles deposited directly on the Ti foil (Ru0.33 Se/Ti) or carbon cloth (Ru0.33 Se/CC), Ru0.33 Se @ TNA shows an enhanced catalytic activity with an overpotential of 57 mV to afford a current density of 10 mA cm-2 , a Tafel slope of 50.0 mV dec-1 . Furthermore, the hybrid catalyst also exhibits an outstanding catalytic stability. The strategy here opens up a new synthetic avenue to the design of highly efficient hybrid electrocatalysts for hydrogen production.

Ultrahigh-Energy Density Lithium-Ion Cable Battery Based on the Carbon-Nanotube Woven Macrofilms.

Moore's law predicts the performance of integrated circuit doubles every two years, lasting for more than five decades. However, the improvements of the performance of energy density in batteries lag far behind that. In addition, the poor flexibility, insufficient-energy density, and complexity of incorporation into wearable electronics remain considerable challenges for current battery technology. Herein, a lithium-ion cable battery is invented, which is insensitive to deformation due to its use of carbon nanotube (CNT) woven macrofilms as the charge collectors. An ultrahigh-tap density of 10 mg cm-2 of the electrodes can be obtained, which leads to an extremely high-energy density of 215 mWh cm-3 . The value is approximately seven times than that of the highest performance reported previously. In addition, the battery displays very stable rate performance and lower internal resistance than conventional lithium-ion batteries using metal charge collectors. Moreover, it demonstrates excellent convenience for connecting electronics as a new strategy is applied, in which both electrodes can be integrated into one end by a CNT macrorope. Such an ultrahigh-energy density lithium-ion cable battery provides a feasible way to power wearable electronics with commercial viability.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and bipolar disorder in patients in their first depressive episode: 3-year prospective longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Early identification of patients with bipolar disorder during their first depressive episode is beneficial to the outcome of the disorder and treatment, but traditionally this has been a great challenge to clinicians. Recently, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been suggested to be involved in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder (MDD), but it is not clear whether BDNF levels can be used to predict bipolar disorder among patients in their first major depressive episode. AIMS: To explore whether BDNF levels can differentiate between MDD and bipolar disorder in the first depressive episode. METHOD: A total of 203 patients with a first major depressive episode as well as 167 healthy controls were recruited. After 3 years of bi-annual follow-up, 164 patients with a major depressive episode completed the study, and of these, 21 were identified as having bipolar disorder and 143 patients were diagnosed as having MDD. BDNF gene expression and plasma levels at baseline were compared among the bipolar disorder, MDD and healthy control groups. Logistic regression and decision tree methods were applied to determine the best model for predicting bipolar disorder at the first depressive episode. RESULTS: At baseline, patients in the bipolar disorder and MDD groups showed lower BDNF mRNA levels (P<0.001 and P = 0.02 respectively) and plasma levels (P = 0.002 and P = 0.01 respectively) compared with healthy controls. Similarly, BDNF levels in the bipolar disorder group were lower than those in the MDD group. These results showed that the best model for predicting bipolar disorder during a first depressive episode was a combination of BDNF mRNA levels with plasma BDNF levels (receiver operating characteristics (ROC) = 0.80, logistic regression; ROC = 0.84, decision tree). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that BDNF levels may serve as a potential differential diagnostic biomarker for bipolar disorder in a patient's first depressive episode.

Altered resting-state fMRI signals and network topological properties of bipolar depression patients with anxiety symptoms.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to explore the changes in functional neuroimaging in bipolar depression patients with anxiety symptoms (BDP-A). METHODS: Forty-five BDP-A patients, 22 bipolar depression patients without anxiety symptoms (BDP-NA), and 48 healthy controls (HC) were finally involved. The low-frequency oscillation characteristics, functional connectivity (FC), and network properties among the three groups of participants were analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with the BDP-NA group, BDP-A patients exhibited significantly decreased amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), superior occipital gyrus, and inferior parietal, but supramarginal and angular gyri (IPL). Enhanced FC from left IPL to middle temporal gyrus, from left precentral gyrus (PreCG) to bilateral angular gyri, medial superior frontal gyrus, and left superior frontal gyrus (SFG)/MFG were also revealed. Compared with HC, the BDP-A group showed remarkably increased ALFF in the left MFG/PreCG, right superior parietal gyrus, while decreased ALFF in the left inferior frontal gyrus, opercular part, and SFG. In addition, higher regional homogeneity in the left MFG/PreCG was found. LIMITATIONS: The limitations are as follows: (1) relatively small sample size; (2) not all the patients were drug-naive; (3) lack of pure anxiety disorder patients as a controlled group; (4) mental health conditions of HC were not systemic evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: BDP-A patients showed significant differences in resting-state fMRI properties when compared with BDP-NA or HC group. These results may infer the dysfunction of the dorsal attention network, the default network, and the fronto-limbic system as well as disrupted brain network efficiency in BDP-A patients.

Expression pattern of aquaporin 1 in the middle ear of the guinea pig with secretory otitis media.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the pathological change of water homeostasis in the secretory otitis media (SOM) middle ear, we observed the expression and regulation of aquaporin 1 (AQP1) in the SOM middle ear cavity. METHODS: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining were used to detect AQP1 in the bullae of SOM models and normal animals. The expression patterns of AQP1 in the SOM group were compared with those in the normal animal group. RESULTS: RT-PCR and immunoblot analyses revealed that mRNAs encoding AQP1 were expressed in the middle ear membrane of the guinea pigs of both groups; AQP1 was also detected as 28-kDa proteins in both groups. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that AQP1 was localized on capillary endothelial cells and fibroblasts in the lamina propria mucosae as well as on flat and cubical epithelial cells. Quantitative analysis of RT-PCR and Western blotting revealed that AQP1 expression was higher in the SOM group than in the control group. The cellular expression of AQP1 was somewhat altered in the SOM middle ear. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that AQP1 in the middle ear cavity may play a vital role in the accumulation of the effusion. It might work on the vessel-caused hydrops in the middle ear cavity.

Dataset of lithium phosphate recovery from a low concentrated lithium-containing solution.

The lithium-containing solution is also rich in lithium after preparation of lithium carbonate. With the depletion of primary lithium resource, it is necessary to recovery lithium from a low concentrated lithium-containing solution which can solve the shortage of lithium resources and avoid the waste of lithium. In this article, the lithium phosphate is recovered from lithium-containing solution with a concentration of 2 g/L after preparation of lithium carbonate. The results show that by the application of ultrasound, the lithium recovery rate can be increased. The concentration of lithium is less than 0.3 g/L after preparation of lithium phosphate. For lithium carbonate recovery by ultrasound, please refer to the full length article entitled "Lithium carbonate recovery from lithium-containing solution by ultrasound assisted precipitation", https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultsonch.2018.12.025 (Chunlong Zhao et al., 2019) [1].

Lithium carbonate recovery from lithium-containing solution by ultrasound assisted precipitation.

Lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), one of the most important lithium compounds, is usually prepared from lithium-containing solution. The lithium recovery rate and the purity of Li2CO3 are highly dependent on the lithium concentration. In order to get a high lithium recovery rate, high concentrated lithium-containing solution is required, while the purity of Li2CO3 can be low remaining a significant amount of impurities. Usually, it is not possible to obtain high purity Li2CO3 by single-step precipitation with a relatively high lithium recovery rate especially from a low concentrated lithium-containing solution. In this research, ultrasound is introduced to increase lithium recovery rate and prepare industrial grade Li2CO3. The research found that ultrasound can significantly reduce the polymerization of Li2CO3 crystal particles and promote dissociation of impurity ions. At the same time, ultrasound accelerates the nucleation process of Li2CO3 and boosts lithium recovery rate because of cavitation. The different parameters during the Li2CO3 precipitation process were systematically discussed. Under the optimized conditions, the lithium recovery rate can be increased by 12% with a global lithium recovery rate of 97.4%. Li2CO3 with a purity higher than industrial grade can be obtained by one-step precipitation. It demonstrates a potential pathway for effective lithium recovery from low concentrated lithium-containing solution and preparation of industrial grade Li2CO3.

Disagreement and factors between symptom on self-report and clinician rating of major depressive disorder: A report of a national survey in China.

BACKGROUND: Measurement-based care (MBC) is a popular strategy of clinical management for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The consistency of self-report and clinical measurements is of importance, but whether individual symptom severity is in agreement for both self-report and clinician rating in MDD has not been comprehensively tested. This study aimed to test whether individual symptom severity of MDD was in agreement between self-report and clinician rating, and to explore factors affecting the agreement. METHODS: In the National Survey on Symptomatology of Depression (NSSD) of China, 3275 patients with a major depressive episode were evaluated by both self-report and a clinician-rated version of 62 questions. RESULTS: On average, 59% of all patients reached absolute agreement with their research clinicians. Among all questions, 73% returned with moderate positive strength of correlation, followed by 27% with low positive correlation. In 77% of the total questions, there was a tendency to rate higher in the self-report version compared with the clinician-rated version. After classifying the symptoms by six major domains, it was found that patients and clinicians showed more consistent answers in history and somatic questions (81% and 65% reached agreement), and that there were more differences in mood, energy, and anxiety questions (up to 56% in full agreement). "Outpatient", "high financial status", "poor working condition", and "high education level" were found to be significant positive predictors for patients rating higher than clinicians or patients and clinicians reaching agreement as opposed to clinicians rating higher than patients. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional nature of our study undermines the interpretation of the results across the MDD treatment course. CONCLUSIONS: It is sufficient to use the self-report version of a questionnaire to screen, monitor, and detect remission for MDD symptoms. Complete assessment of depression severity should take both clinician-rated scales and self-reported measures into consideration. Factors other than source of admission, financial status, working condition, and education level should be further investigated for the discrepancy between self-report and clinician rating.

The association of duration and severity of disease with executive function: Differences between drug-naïve patients with bipolar and unipolar depression.

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to investigate the differences in executive function and the relationship with clinical factors between drug-naïve patients with bipolar depression (BDD) and unipolar depression (UPD). METHODS: Drug-naïve patients with BDD, UPD and healthy controls (HC) were recruited (30 cases in each group). All patients were assessed with Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression-17 (HAM-D), and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). Executive function was evaluated by Stroop color-word test (CWT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). RESULTS: In the BDD group, only the CWT number of missing was higher than HCs (P = 0.047). In the UDP group, CWT number of correct was lower, CWT number of missing was higher, and the WCST indices were worse than the HC group (P < 0.05). The WCST percentage of errors (PE) and percentage of conceptual level responses (PCLR) in the UPD group were worse than the BDD group (P < 0.05). In the BDD group, no correlations between CWT and WCST indices and clinical features were detected after correcting for multiple comparisons (P > 0.05). In the UDP group, the WCST PE, PCLR, number of categories completed (CC), and the percentage of perseverative responses (PPR) were correlated to the number of mood episodes (P < 0.01). LIMITATION: This was a small-sample cross-sectional study. The possibility of UPD transforming to bipolar disorder (BD) in future could not be ruled out. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested only small differences in executive function between drug-naïve patients with BDD and UPD, but in this sample only the UPD group showed differences with HCs. The executive function of drug-naïve BDD patients may be associated with duration of current depressive episode, while for UDP patients executive function indices were significantly correlated with number of mood episodes.

Different levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression.

BACKGROUND: Immune system dysregulation is critical in the physiopathology of major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). However, it is unclear whether both diseases present the same inflammatory patterns during depressive episodes. We explored the differences in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines between unipolar and bipolar depression (BDD) and the trajectory of these cytokines after acute-phase treatment. METHODS: Sixty-four MDD patients, 61 BDD patients, and 62 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled. We assessed the clinical features and cytokines plasma levels at baseline and week 12. The pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-13) of all subjects were assessed by multiplexed sandwich ELISA-based quantitative arrays. RESULTS: Before acute-phase treatment, the initial levels of TNF-α and IL-13 were significantly lower in the BDD patients than in the MDD patients. The results demonstrated that there was no relationship between each cytokine level and clinical features of unipolar and bipolar depressions. After 12 weeks, TNF-α, IL-4, and IL-13 levels became lower in MDD patients than in the other two groups regardless of the patients' response to treatment while the levels of TNF-α and IL-4 increased only in the BDD responders. LIMITATIONS: The effects of different drugs on inflammatory cytokines in MDD or BDD could not be explored further due to the relatively small sample size. CONCLUSION: Even within the same depressive states, MDD and BDD patients present different inflammatory features, particularly in regard to pro-inflammatory TNF-α and anti-inflammatory IL-13. In addition, the fluctuations of cytokines induced by medication may provide a hint regarding the prediction of treatment response.

Association analysis between mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) gene polymorphisms and depressive disorder in the Han Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Recent research findings suggest that BDNF and BDNF signaling pathways participate in the development of major depressive disorder. Mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) is the most important kinase in the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway, and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway is the key signaling pathway of BDNF, so it may play a role in development of depressive disorder. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between polymorphisms of the MAP2K1 (also known as MEK) gene and depressive disorder. RESULTS: Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were significantly associated with depressive disorder: rs1549854 (p = 0.006), rs1432441 (p = 0.025), and rs7182853 (p = 0.039). When subdividing the sample by gender, two of the SNPs remained statistically associated with depressive disorder in females: rs1549854 (p = 0.013) and rs1432441 (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: The rs1549854 and rs1432441 polymorphisms of the MAP2K1 gene may be associated with major depressive disorder, especially in females. This study is the first to report that the MAP2K1 gene may be a genetic marker for depressive disorder.

Reduced ENA78 levels as novel biomarker for major depressive disorder and venlafaxine efficiency: Result from a prospective longitudinal study.

Although lines of evidence demonstrated that cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD), none of the them have been established as reliable biomarkers. We use our previous whole-genome cRNA microarray data to identify epithelial cell-derived neutrophil-activating peptide 78 (ENA78), the most differentially expressed cytokine in peripheral blood between MDD patients and healthy controls; and then we confirmed the result by the quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for mRNA and protein level, respectively, in an independent drug-naïve first-episode sample set. In addition, to replicate the role of plasma ENA 78 in MDD, and determine the role of ENA78 on the venlafaxine efficiency, we further detected the plasma ENA78 in another independent 8- week follow-up sample set. We found that both of mRNA and plasma of ENA78 decreased in MDD patients, and displayed much lower after venlafaxine treatment. We also found that venlafaxine non-responders had lower level of peripheral plasma ENA78 prior to treatment than responders. Our findings for the first time provided strong evidence that the ENA78 may play a key role of mediator in pathogenesis of MDD and in the mechanism of vinlafaxine effects on MDD indicating that reduced ENA78 may be a potential biomarker for diagnosing of MDD and predicting of response to venlafaxine.

Ratio of mBDNF to proBDNF for Differential Diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Depression.

There is a high rate of misdiagnosis between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) in clinical practice. Our previous work provided suggestive evidence for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in differentiating BD from MDD. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of mature BDNF (mBDNF) and its precursor (proBDNF) in distinguishing bipolar depression (BP) from MDD during acute depressive episode. A total of 105 participants, including 44 healthy controls, 37 MDD patients and 24 BP patients, were recruited. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were applied to measure plasma mBDNF levels and proBDNF levels of all participants. Plasma mBDNF levels were significantly decreased in BP group than those in MDD group (P = 0.001) and healthy controls (P = 0.002). Significantly higher ratio of mBDNF to proBDNF (M/P) at baseline was showed in MDD group than those in BP group as well as in healthy controls (P = 0.000 and P = 0.000, respectively). The optimal model for discriminating BP was the M/P ratio (area under the ROC curve = 0.858, 95 % CI 0.753-0.963). Furthermore, the M/P ratio was restored to normal levels after antidepressants treatment in MDD group. In summary, our data demonstrated that both plasma mBDNF levels and M/P ratio were lower in BP compared with MDD. These findings further support M/P ratio as a potential differential diagnostic biomarker for BP among patients in depressive episodes.

Validation of the Chinese Version of the Short TEMPS-A and its application in patients with mood disorders.

BACKGROUND: The short version of Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego-Auto-questionnaire (TEMPS-A) is a useful instrument to measure affective temperaments. Aims of the present study are to validate the Chinese Version of the Short TEMPS-A, and to explore whether it could be useful to distinguish patients with mood disorders from healthy controls or differentiate patients with bipolar disorder (BPD) from those with major depressive disorder (MDD) in Chinese population. METHODS: A sample of 715 participants, including 387 patients with MDD, 143 with BPD and 185 healthy controls, was recruited. All participants completed The Chinese Version of the Short TEMPS-A. Standard psychometric tests of reliability and validation were performed. ANOVA, non-parameter test and Multiple Logistic Regression were used to test the association between TEMPS-A scores and mood disorders. RESULTS: The originally proposed five factors of the Chinese Version of the Short TEMPS-A were upheld. The Chronbach-Alpha coefficients of it varied from 0.70 to 0.89 and test-retest Spearman׳s Correlation Coefficients varied from 0.52 to 0.85. Significant differences were found across the three groups on all five TEMPS-A subscales (P<0.001). Multiple Logistic Regression showed that hyperthymic temperament distinguished patients with BPD from those with MDD (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.14-1.45, P<0.001) after controlling for age, gender and the severity of depression. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional self-report design, unbalanced demographic characteristics and undifferentiated subtypes of bipolar disorders might limit the generalizability of the results. CONCLUSION: The Chinese Version of the Short TEMPS-A shows good reliability and validity. It might be used as a screening tool in the general population to identify the vulnerability for developing a mood disorder and the potential risk for bipolar disorder among those who only have depressive symptoms.

Significantly decreased mRNA levels of BDNF and MEK1 genes in treatment-resistant depression.

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the levels of mRNA expression of brain-derived neurotrophin factor (BDNF) and a related gene MEK1 were more obviously decreased in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). In total, 50 patients with major depressive disorder (including 26 with TRD and 24 with treatment-responsive depression) and 48 healthy controls were enrolled. BDNF and MEK1 mRNA levels in blood samples from all patients and controls were measured using reverse transcriptase-PCR. BDNF and MEK1 mRNA levels were significantly reduced in patients with major depressive disorder when compared with healthy controls (BDNF: P<0.01; MEK1: P<0.001), as well as among treatment-resistant depressive patients as compared with treatment-responsive depressive patients (BDNF: P<0.001; MEK1: P<0.01). Our findings support the hypothesis that BDNF and MEK1 mRNA expression levels are more obviously decreased in patients with TRD.

The role of BDNF, NTRK2 gene and their interaction in development of treatment-resistant depression: data from multicenter, prospective, longitudinal clinic practice.

BACKGROUND: Although genetic variants may play a key role in development of treatment-resistant depression (TRD), relevant research is scarce. METHODS: To examine whether the polymorphisms of BDNF (rs6265) and NTRK2 (rs1387923, rs2769605 and rs1565445) genes confer risk for TRD in major depressive disorder (MDD), a total of 948 MDD patients were recruited in a 12-week, multicenter, prospective longitudinal study. RESULTS: Our study showed a significant allelic association between rs1565445 and TRD with an excess of the T allele in the TRD group, compared to non-TRD group (OR = 1.43, 95%CI: 1.16-1.76, p = 0.0008); while patients with genotype C/C and T/C in rs1565445 were less likely to develop TRD than those carrying T/T (OR = 0.52, 95%CI: 0.33-0.82; OR = 0.72, 95%CI: 0.54-0.97, respectively; p = 0.005). Haplotype T-T (rs1565445 and rs1387923) had 1.41-fold increased risk of TRD (p = 0.0014). Furthermore, significant four-locus (rs1387923-rs1565445-rs2769605-rs6265) gene-gene interactions were detected by the Multifactor-dimensionality reduction (MDR) method. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that the interactions of BDNF (rs6265) with NTRK2 (rs1387923, rs2769605 and rs1565445) gene polymorphisms likely play an essential role in the development of TRD in Han Chinese MDD patients.

Expression pattern of aquaporin 4 and 5 in the middle ear of guinea pigs with secretory otitis media.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that aquaporins 4 and 5 (AQP4 and AQP5) in the middle ear cavity may play a vital role in the homeostasis of the tubotympanum and in the course of the accumulation of the effusion in secretory otitis media (SOM). OBJECTIVE: To explore the pathological change in water homeostasis in the middle ear in SOM and to observe the expression and regulation of AQP4 and AQP5 in the middle ear cavity in SOM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting were used to detect AQP4 and AQP5 in the bullae of animal models of SOM and normal animals. The expression patterns of AQP4 and AQP5 in the SOM group were compared with those in the normal group. RESULTS: RT-PCR and immunoblot analyses revealed that mRNAs encoding AQP4 and AQP5 were expressed in the middle ear membrane of the guinea pigs in both groups; AQP4 was also detected as 33 kDa protein in both groups. Quantitative analysis of RT-PCR and Western blotting revealed that expression of AQP4 and AQP5 was higher in the SOM group than in the control group.