Designing Low Toxic Deep Eutectic Solvents for the Green Recycle of Lithium-Ion Batteries Cathodes.

The Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is one of the main energy storage equipment. Its cathode material contains Li, Co, and other valuable metals. Therefore, recycling spent LIBs can reduce environmental pollution and resource waste, which is significant for sustainable development. However, traditional metallurgical methods are not environmentally friendly, with high cost and environmental toxicity. Recently, the concept of green chemistry gives rise to environmental and efficient recycling technology, which promotes the transition of recycling solvents from organic solvents to green solvents represented by deep eutectic solvents (DESs). DESs are considered as ideal alternative solvents in extraction processes, attracting great attention due to their low cost, low toxicity, good biodegradability, and high extraction capacity. It is very important to develop the DESs system for LIBs recycling for sustainable development of energy and green economic development of recycling technology. In this work, the applications and research progress of DESs in LIBs recovery are reviewed, and the physicochemical properties such as viscosity, toxicity and regulatory properties are summarized and discussed. In particular, the toxicity data of DESs are collected and analyzed. Finally, the guidance and prospects for future research are put forward, aiming to explore more suitable DESs for recycling valuable metals in batteries.

A Nomogram Model Based on Noninvasive Bioindicators to Predict 3-Year Risk of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver in Nonobese Mainland Chinese: A Prospective Cohort Study.

The purpose of this study is to establish and validate an accurate and personalized nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prediction model based on the nonobese population in China. This study is a secondary analysis of a prospective study. We included 6,155 nonobese adults without NAFLD at baseline, with a median follow-up of 2.3 years. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to determine independent predictors. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis was used to optimize the selection of variables. Based on the results of multivariate analysis, a prediction model was established. Harrell's consistency index (C-index) and area under the curve (AUC) were used to determine the discrimination of the proposed model. The goodness of fit of the calibration model was tested, and the clinical application value of the model was evaluated by decision curve analysis (DCA). The participants were randomly divided into a training cohort (n = 4,605) and a validation cohort (n = 1,550). Finally, seven of the variables (HDL-c, BMI, GGT, ALT, TB, DBIL, and TG) were included in the prediction model. In the training cohort, the C-index and AUC value of this prediction model were 0.832 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.820-0.844) and 0.861 (95% CI, 0.849-0.873), respectively. In the validation cohort, the C-index and AUC values of this prediction model were 0.829 (95% CI, 0.806-0.852) and 0.859 (95% CI, 0.841-0.877), respectively. The calibration plots demonstrated good agreement between the estimated probability and the actual observation. DCA demonstrated a clinically effective predictive model. Our nomogram can be used as a simple, reasonable, economical, and widely used tool to predict the 3-year risk of NAFLD in nonobese populations in China, which is helpful for timely intervention and reducing the incidence of NAFLD.

Assessment of Clofazimine and TB47 Combination Activity against Mycobacterium abscessus Using a Bioluminescent Approach.

Mycobacterium abscessus is intrinsically resistant to most antimicrobial agents. The emerging infections caused by M. abscessus and the lack of effective treatment call for rapid attention. Here, we intended to construct a selectable marker-free autoluminescent M. abscessus strain (designated UAlMab) as a real-time reporter strain to facilitate the discovery of effective drugs and regimens for treating M. abscessus The UAlMab strain was constructed using the dif/Xer recombinase system. In vitro and in vivo activities of several drugs, including clofazimine and TB47, a recently reported cytochrome bc1 inhibitor, were assessed using UAlMab. Furthermore, the efficacy of multiple drug combinations, including the clofazimine and TB47 combination, were tested against 20 clinical M. abscessus isolates. The UAlMab strain enabled us to evaluate drug efficacy both in vitro and in live BALB/c mice in a real-time, noninvasive fashion. Importantly, although TB47 showed marginal activity either alone or in combination with clarithromycin, amikacin, or roxithromycin, the drug markedly potentiated the activity of clofazimine, both in vitro and in vivo This study demonstrates that the use of the UAlMab strain can significantly facilitate rapid evaluation of new drugs and regimens. The clofazimine and TB47 combination is effective against M. abscessus, and dual/triple electron transport chain (ETC) targeting can be an effective therapeutic approach for treating mycobacterial infections.

Assessment of false negative rates of lactate dehydrogenase-based malaria rapid diagnostic tests for Plasmodium ovale detection.

Currently, malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are widely used for malaria diagnosis, but test performance and the factors that lead to failure of Plasmodium ovale detection are not well understood. In this study, three pLDH-based RDTs were evaluated using cases in China that originated in Africa. The sensitivity of Wondfo Pf/Pan, CareStart pLDH PAN and SD BIOLINE Pf/Pan in P. ovale detection was 70, 55 and 18%, respectively. CareStart was worse at detecting P. o. curtisi (36.5%) than at detecting P. o. wallikeri (75.0%), and SD could not detect P. o. curtisi. The overall detection ratio of all three RDTs decreased with parasite density and pLDH concentration. Wondfo, CareStart and SD detected only 75.0, 78.1 and 46.9% of the P. ovale cases, respectively, even when the parasitemia were higher than 5000 parasites/µL. Subspecies of P. ovale should be considered while to improve RDT quality for P. ovale diagnosis to achieve the goal of malaria elimination.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of malaria rapid diagnostic tests: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) can effectively manage malaria cases and reduce excess costs brought by misdiagnosis. However, few studies have evaluated the economic value of this technology. The purpose of this study is to systematically review the economic value of RDT in malaria diagnosis. MAIN TEXT: A detailed search strategy was developed to identify published economic evaluations that provide evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of malaria RDT. Electronic databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biosis Previews, Web of Science and Cochrane Library were searched from Jan 2007 to July 2018. Two researchers screened studies independently based on pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) checklist was applied to evaluate the quality of the studies. Then cost and effectiveness data were extracted and summarized in a narrative way. Fifteen economic evaluations of RDT compared to other diagnostic methods were identified. The overall quality of studies varied greatly but most of them were scored to be of high or moderate quality. Ten of the fifteen studies reported that RDT was likely to be a cost-effective approach compared to its comparisons, but the results could be influenced by the alternatives, study perspectives, malaria prevalence, and the types of RDT. CONCLUSIONS: Based on available evidence, RDT had the potential to be more cost-effective than either microscopy or presumptive diagnosis. Further research is also required to draw a more robust conclusion.

Reasons for Primary Medication Nonadherence: A Systematic Review and Metric Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The behavior of medication nonadherence is distinguished into primary and secondary nonadherence. Primary nonadherence (PNA) is not as thoroughly studied as secondary nonadherence. OBJECTIVE: To explore and synthesize contributing factors to PNA based on the existing body of literature. METHODS: A search was performed on the PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ScienceDirect databases to identify previously published scholarly articles that described the "factors," "reasons," "determinants" or "facilitators" of PNA. The alternate spelling of "nonadherence" was used as well. The effect that the articles had in the research community, as well as across social media, was also explored. RESULTS: 22 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. The PNA factors that the studies identified were diverse, spanning economic, social, and medical dimensions. A multilevel classification method was applied to categorize the factors into 5 broad groups-patient, medication, health care provider, health care system, and socioeconomic factors. Patient factors were reported the most. Some groups overlapped and shared a dynamic causal relationship where one group influenced the outcome of the other. CONCLUSIONS: Like all nonadherence behaviors, PNA is multifaceted with highly varied contributing factors that are closely associated with one another. Given the multidimensional nature of PNA, future intervention studies should focus on the dynamic relationship between these factor groups for more efficient outcomes. DISCLOSURES: This research was supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore under its National Innovation Challenge on Active and Confident Ageing (Award No. MOH/NIC/CAHIG03/2016) and administered by the Singapore Ministry of Health's National Medical Research Council. This research was also supported by the National Research Foundation within the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore, under its Science of Research, Innovation and Enterprise Programme (SRIE Award No. NRF2014-NRF-SRIE001-019). The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose.

Development and assessment of a functional activated fore-modified bio-hydrochar for amoxicillin removal.

A fore-modified method was put forward and hybridized into hydrothermal process with acid, neutral and alkali circumstances. The activated fore-modified bio-hydrochars of feather and cornstalk (AFBF and AFBC) were manufactured. Some thinner carbon layers/smaller micro carbon spheres and much more hydroxyls functional groups were clearly observed in the acid and alkali fore-modified bio-hydrochars (AFBs). Batch experiments were taken to assess the AMOX removal abilities. By contrast, the AFB fore-modified by alkali, has got the most superior adsorbability of 92.87mg/g. Particularly, the BET surface areas of AFBs increased by 155.46% and the adsorbance of AMOX increased as much as 42.92% than traditional bio-hydrochar. Zeta potentials were introduced to illustrate the interactions between adsorbents and adsorbates under different pH. In addition, the powerful chemical adsorptions processes were also demonstrated by kinetics tests. As a result, the fore- modified method was essential in improving the characters of Bio-hydrochars.

Engineering more stable, selectable marker-free autoluminescent mycobacteria by one step.

In our previous study, we demonstrated that the use of the autoluminescent Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a reporter strain had the potential to drastically reduce the time, effort, animals and costs consumed in evaluation of the activities of drugs and vaccines in live mice. However, the strains were relatively unstable and lost reporter with time without selection. The kanamycin selection marker used wasn't the best choice as it provides resistance to amino glycosides which are an important class of second line drugs used in tuberculosis treatment. In addition, the marker could limit utility of the strains for screening of new potential drugs or evaluating drug combinations for tuberculosis treatment. Limited selection marker genes for mycobacterial genetic manipulation is a major drawback for such a marker-containing strain in many research fields. Therefore, selectable marker-free, more stable autoluminescent mycobacteria are highly needed. After trying several strategies, we created such mycobacterial strains successfully by using an integrative vector and removing both the resistance maker and integrase genes by Xer site-specific recombination in one step. The corresponding plasmid vectors developed in this study could be very convenient in constructing other selectable marker-free, more stable reporter mycobacteria with diverse applications.

Assessment of adaptive rate response provided by accelerometer, minute ventilation and dual sensor compared with normal sinus rhythm during exercise: a self-controlled study in chronotropically competent subjects.

BACKGROUND: Dual sensor (DS) for rate adaption was supposed to be more physiological. To evaluate its superiority, the DS (accelerometer [ACC] and minute ventilation [MV]) and normal sinus rate response were compared in a self-controlled way during exercise treadmill testing. METHODS: This self-controlled study was performed in atrioventricular block patients with normal sinus function who met the indications of pacemaker implant. Twenty-one patients came to the 1-month follow-up visit. Patients performed a treadmill test 1-month post implant while programmed in DDDR and sensor passive mode. For these patients, sensor response factors were left at default settings (ACC = 8, MV = 3) and sensor indicated rates (SIRs) for DS, ACC and MV sensor were retrieved from the pacemaker memories, along with measured sinus node (SN) rates from the beginning to 1-minute after the end of the treadmill test, and compared among study groups. Repeated measures analysis of variance and profile analysis, as well as variance analysis of randomized block designs, were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Fifteen patients (15/21) were determined to be chronotropically competent. The mean differences between DS SIRs and intrinsic sinus rates during treadmill testing were smaller than those for ACC and MV sensor (mean difference between SIR and SN rate: ACC vs. SN, MV vs. SN, DS vs. SN, respectively, 34.84, 17.60, 16.15 beats/min), though no sensors could mimic sinus rates under the default settings for sensor response factor (ACC vs. SN P-adjusted < 0.001; MV vs. SN P-adjusted = 0.002; DS vs. SN P-adjusted = 0.005). However, both in the range of 1 st minute and first 3 minutes of exercise, only the DS SIR profile did not differ from sinus rates (P-adjusted = 0.09, 0.90, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The DS under default settings provides more physiological rate response during physical activity than the corresponding single sensors (ACC or MV sensor). Further study is needed to determine if individual optimization would further improve adaptive performance of the DS.