Modulated Electronic Structure of Co3O4 by Single Atoms for Efficient Anodic Oxygen Evolution in Acid.

The challenge of the practical application of a water electrolyzer system lies in the development of low-manufacturing cost, highly active, and stable electrocatalysts to replace the noble metal ones, in order to enable environmentally friendly hydrogen production on a large scale. Herein, a facile method is proposed for boosting the performance of Co3O4 through the incorporation of large-sized single atoms. Due to the larger ionic radius of rare earth metals than that of Co, the incorporation elongates the bond length of Co─O, resulting in the narrowed d-p band centers and the high spin configuration, which is favorable for the interaction and charge transfer with absorbent (*OH). As a result, the Ce-incorporated Co3O4 with the longest Co─O bond length exhibits the best oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance, specifically, the turnover frequency is over 17 times higher than that of pristine Co3O4 nanosheet under an overpotential of 400 mV. Powered by a commercial Si solar cell, a two-electrode solar water-splitting device combining Ce-incorporated Co3O4 and Pt delivers a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 13.53%. The strategy could provide a new insight for improving the performance of OER electrocatalysts in acid toward practical applications.

Association of GNRI, NLR, and FT3 with the Clinical Prognosis of Older Patients with Heart Failure.

We investigated the relationship between heart failure and malnutrition, inflammation, and thyroid function and evaluated the predictive potential of these markers for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs).This study included 454 patients aged over 65 years with heart failure as the main diagnosis for 18 months follow-up. The nutritional and inflammatory status were assessed using the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), respectively. Free triiodothyronine (FT3) in thyroid hormone was divided into low, medium, and high FT3. Older patients were divided into two groups according to whether they had endpoint events. Differences in nutrition, inflammation, and thyroid hormone were compared between the two groups. The prognostic value of the combination of GNRI, NLR, and FT3 was analyzed.Older patients in the MACEs (+) group had lower levels of GNRI and FT3 and higher NLR than those in the MACEs (-) group. Low GNRI and FT3 and high NLR were associated with MACEs (P < 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that low FT3 was an independent predictor of MACEs (P < 0.05). Regardless of how the LVEF changed, when patients had low GNRI and FT3 and high NLR risk factors, the risk of developing MACEs significantly increased. The addition of GNRI, NLR, and FT3 to the basic model significantly increased the predictability of MACEs in patients.Low GNRI and FT3 and high NLR were associated with MACEs. The combination of GNRI, NLR, and FT3 increased the predictive value of MACEs in older patients with heart failure.

Association of ADAMTS13 activity with cerebral deep medullary vein: A community-based cross-sectional study.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate whether circulating ADAMTS13 activity can offer insights into the mechanism of pathophysiological changes in deep medullary veins (DMVs). Methods: This study was conducted on a community cohort of elderly individuals in Shanghai. Plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels and ADAMTS13 activity were measured. A validated DMV score described the overall burden of DMV on the brain. Through ordinal regression models, we investigated the correlation between VWF levels, ADAMTS13 activity, and increasing severity of DMV score while adjusting for demographics and cardiovascular risk factors. Results: The study enrolled 262 subjects according to the inclusion criteria. The mean VWF level (1.35 ± 0.25) was higher in the DMV group than in the group without DMV (1.25 ± 0.30) (p = 0.025), and ADAMTS13 activity (83.76 ± 7.96) was relatively lower. After adjusting for age, sex, alcohol consumption, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes, reduced ADAMTS13 activity [ß = -7.78; 95 % CI (-10.21, -5.35) p < 0.01] was associated with DMV. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that ADAMTS13 activity was negatively correlated with the DMV score (Kendall's tau-b = -0.53, p < 0.001). Discussion: In summary, there was an inverse correlation observed between ADAMTS13 activity and the DMV score, which may provide some clinical clues for exploring the potential pathogenesis of DMV.

Strain-Induced Electronic Structure Modulation on MnO2 Nanosheet by Ir Incorporation for Efficient Water Oxidation in Acid.

Oxygen electrochemistry plays a key role in renewable energy technologies, such as fuel cells and electrolyzers, but its slow kinetics limits the performance and the commercialization of such devices. Here, a strained MnO2 nanosheet induced by Ir incorporation is developed with optimized electronic structure by a simple hydrothermal method. With the incorporation of Ir, the strain induces elongated Mn─O bond length, and thereby tuning the electronic structure to favor the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. The obtained catalyst exhibits an excellent mass activity of 5681 A g-1 at an overpotential of 300 mV in 0.5 m H2 SO4 , and reaches 50 and 100 mA cm-2 at overpotentials of only 240 and 277 mV, respectively. The catalyst is also stable even at 300 mA cm-2 in 0.5 m H2 SO4 . Using the nanosheet as the OER catalyst and the Pt/C as the hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst, a two-electrode electrolyzer achieves 10 mA cm-2 with only a cell voltage of 1.453 V for overall water splitting in 0.5 m H2 SO4 . This strategy enables the material with high feasibility for practical applications on hydrogen production.

The oral microbiome of patients with ischemic stroke predicts their severity and prognosis.

Background and objectives: Stroke is a common group of cerebrovascular diseases that can lead to brain damage or death. Several studies have shown a close link between oral health and stroke. However, the oral microbiome profiling of ischemic stroke (IS) and its potential clinical implication are unclear. This study aimed to describe the oral microbiota composition of IS, the high risk of IS, and healthy individuals and to profile the relationship between microbiota and IS prognosis. Methods: This observational study recruited three groups: IS, high-risk IS (HRIS), and healthy control (HC) individuals. Clinical data and saliva were collected from participants. The modified Rankin scale score after 90 days was used to assess the prognosis of stroke. Extracted DNA from saliva and performed 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing. Sequence data were analyzed using QIIME2 and R packages to evaluate the association between the oral microbiome and stroke. Results: A total of 146 subjects were enrolled in this study according to the inclusion criteria. Compared with HC, HRIS and IS demonstrated a progressive increase trend in Chao1, observed species richness, and Shannon and Simpson diversity index. On the basis of permutational multivariate analysis of variance, the data indicate a great variation in the saliva microbiota composition between HC and HRIS (F = 2.40, P < 0.001), HC and IS (F = 5.07, P < 0.001), and HRIS and IS (F = 2.79, P < 0.001). The relative abundance of g_Streptococcus, g_Prevotella, g_Veillonella, g_Fusobacterium, and g_Treponema was higher in HRIS and IS compared with that in HC. Furthermore, we constructed the predictive model by differential genera to effectively distinguish patients with IS with poor 90-day prognoses from those with good (area under the curve = 79.7%; 95% CI, 64.41%-94.97%; p < 0.01). Discussion: In summary, the oral salivary microbiome of HRIS and IS subjects have a higher diversity, and the differential bacteria have some predictive value for the severity and prognosis of IS. Oral microbiota may be used as potential biomarkers in patients with IS.

The Relationship Between ADAMTS13 Activity and Overall Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Burden: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on CSVD.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF) level, ADAMTS13 activity, and neuroimaging features of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), including the CSVD neuroimaging markers and the overall CSVD burden. Methods: CSVD patients admitted to our hospital from 2016 to 2020 were recruited. Plasma VWF level and ADAMTS13 activity were measured. The overall effect of CSVD on the brain was described as a validated CSVD score. We evaluated the association between VWF levels, ADAMTS13 activity, and the increasing severity of CSVD score by the logistic regression model. Results: We enrolled 296 patients into this study. The mean age of the sample was 69.0 years (SD 7.0). The mean VWF level was 1.31 IU/mL, and the ADAMTS13 activity was 88.01 (SD 10.57). In multivariate regression analysis, lower ADAMTS13 activity and higher VWF level was related to white matter hyperintensity (WMH) [ß = -7.31; 95% confidence interval (CI) (-9.40, -4.93); p<0.01; ß = 0.17; 95% confidence interval (0.11, 0.23); p<0.01], subcortical infarction (SI) [(ß = -9.22; 95% CI (-11.37, -7.06); p<0.01); ß = 0.21; 95% confidence interval (0.15, 0.27); p<0.01] independently, but not cerebral microbleed (CMB) [(ß = -2.3; 95% CI (-4.95, 0.05); p = 0.22); ß = 0.02; 95% confidence interval (-0.05, 0.08); p = 0.63]. Furthermore, ADAMTS13 activity was independently negatively correlated with the overall CSVD burden (odd ratio = 21.33; 95% CI (17.46, 54.60); p < 0.01) after adjustment for age, history of hypertension, and current smoking. Conclusions: Reducing ADAMTS13 activity change is related to white matter hyperintensity, subcortical infarction, but not with cerebral microhemorrhage. In addition, ADAMTS13 may have played an essential role in the progression of CSVD.