Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Intercalated Mn0.07 VOx toward High Rate and Long-Life Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are expected to be an attractive alternative in advanced energy storage devices due to large abundance and dependable security. Nevertheless, the undesirable energy density and operating voltage still hinder the development of AZIBs, which is intimately associated with the fundamental properties of the cathode. In this work, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) intercalated Mn0.07 VOx (PVP-MnVO) with a large interlayer spacing of 13.5 Å (against 12.5 Å for MnVO) synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method is adopted for the cathode in AZIBs. The experimental results demonstrate that PVP-MnVO with expanded interlayer spacing provides beneficial channels for the rapid diffusion of Zn2+ , resulting in a high discharge capacity of 402 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 , superior to that of MnVO (275 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 ). Meanwhile, the PVP molecule remains in the layer structure as a binder/pillar, which can maintain its structural integrity well during the charging/discharging process. Consequently, PVP-MnVO cathode exhibits superior rate capability and cycling stability (89% retention after 4300 cycles at 10 A g-1 ) compared to that of MnVO (≈51% retention over 500 cycles at 2 A g-1 ). This work proposes a new approach to optimize the performance of vanadium-based electrode materials in AZIBs.

Serum Metabolomics Analysis Reveals a Distinct Metabolic Profile of Patients with Primary Biliary Cholangitis.

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic autoimmune liver disease associated with profound metabolic changes. The purpose of this study was to identify a distinctive metabolic signature from the training set with 29 PBC patients, 30 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-caused cirrhosis (HBC) and 41 healthy controls, and to validate the applicability and stability of the distinctive model from the validation set with 21 PBC patients, 7 autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and 9 HBC. The sera were investigated using high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and the datasets were analyzed pairwise using pattern recognition methods. 45 distinguishable metabolites were identified and 15 metabolic pathways were reprogrammed. The altered metabolic pathways were associated with glucose, fatty acid and amino acid metabolites. Logistic regression and ROC analysis were used to establish a diagnostic model with the equated (p) = -12.22-3.46*log(4-hydroxyproline) + 6.62*log(3-hydroxyisovalerate) - 2.44*log(citraconate) - 3.80*log(pyruvate). The area under the curve (AUC) of the optimized model was 0.937 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.868-0.976) in the training set and 0.890 (95% CI: 0.743-0.969) in the validation set. These results not only revealed the potential pathogenesis of PBC, but also provided a feasible diagnostic tool for PBC populations through detection of serum metabolites.

[Effect of Fuzheng Huayu capsule on serum metabolomics in rats with liver fibrosis induced by dimethylnitrosamine].

To investigate the effect of Fuzheng Huayu capsule(FHC) on serum metabolomics in rats with liver fibrosis induced by dimethylnitrosamine(DMN). The metabolic profiles of rat serum of normal group, model group, and FHC group were established by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technology. Furthermore, the levels of endogenous metabolites such as amino acids and bile acids were measured in each group. The results showed that there were significant differences in the serum metabolic fingerprints between the FHC group and the model group. Moreover, 5 potential lysophosphatidylcholines biomarkers were identified by using principal component analysis(PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Quantitative analysis of amino acids and bile acids in serum of rats showed that 14 kinds of amino acids and 5 kinds of bile acids returned to normal levels after four weeks of FHC treatment. In conclusion, the anti-hepatic fibrosis mechanisms of FHC may be related to the metabolic process of lysophosphatidylcholines, amino acids and bile acids.