Redox Targeting-based Neutral Aqueous Flow Battery with High Energy Density and Low Cost.

Neutral aqueous flow batteries with common traits of the redox flow batteries, such as the independence of energy and power, scalability and operational flexibility, and additional merits of outstanding safety and low corrosivity show great promise for storing massive electrical energy from solar and wind energy. Particularly, the ferricyanide/ferrocyanide ([Fe(CN)6 ]3-/4- ) couple has been intensively employed as redox mediator to store energy in the catholyte ascribed to its abundance, low corrosivity, remarkable redox reversibility and stability. However, the low energy density arising from poor solubility of [Fe(CN)6 ]3-/4- restricts their commercial applications for energy storage systems. In this study, the practical energy density of a [Fe(CN)6 ]3-/4- -based catholyte is significantly boosted from 10.5 to 92.8 Wh L-1 by combining the counter-ion effect and the single-molecule redox-targeting (SMRT) reactions between [Fe(CN)6 ]3-/4- and Prussian blue (Fe4 [Fe(CN)6 ]3 , PB)/Prussian white (PW). Paired with concentrated K2 S anolyte, we demonstrate a neutral aqueous SMRT-based PB-Fe/S flow battery with ultra-long lifespan over 7000 cycles (4500 h) and ultra-low chemical cost of electrolytes in the cell as 19.26 $ kWh-1 . Remarkably, under the influences of SMRT reactions in the presence of PB granules in the catholyte, the capacity after 7000 cycles of the PB-Fe/S flow battery is 181.8 % of the initial capacity without PB.

First-line immunotherapy of neuronal surface antibody-mediated autoimmune encephalitis: Assessment of therapeutic effectiveness and cost-efficiency.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness and cost-efficiency of first-line immunotherapies on neuronal surface antibody-mediated autoimmune encephalitis (AE) based on a real-world observational study in China. METHODS: Our study retrospectively collected the clinical and paraclinical data of patients with definite neuronal surface antibody-mediated AE between July 2014 and July 2020. Regular follow-up was performed after administering standard regimens of first-line immunotherapies, including intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) and / or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Therapeutic effectiveness was reflected by modified Rankin Scale scores. The health resource utilization and direct medical costs were extracted to analyze the cost-efficiency. RESULTS: Among the 78 eligible patients, 48 (61.5%) were males with a median age of 40 years. More than half (56, 71.8%) were treated with combination therapy, with the rest receiving IVMP and IVIG monotherapy (both of 11, 14.1%). Related objective variables, i.e., sex, onset age, disease course, onset symptoms, antibody types, abnormal paraclinical results, disease severity, and the health insurance, showed insignificant differences on the selection of therapy. Each therapy showed similar short-term (4-week) and long-term (1-year) therapeutic effects. Yet the single or combination of IVIG had a slightly better effectiveness but higher cost than the monotherapy of IVMP. CONCLUSION: The combination of IVMP and IVIG was used more frequently than either alone, which may be associated with neurologist's personal experience and patient's wishes. Though with similar therapeutic effectiveness, the use of IVMP alone might be a better choice with a better cost-efficiency.

Construction of Enterprise Financial Information Intelligent Processing Innovation Model Based on Internet of Things Technology.

The application of Internet of Things technology provides conditions for the systematization of enterprise financial data and the intellectualization of financial management. In this study, support vector machine (SVM) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) are combined to obtain the innovation model of enterprise financial information intelligent processing based on GA-SVM optimization algorithm. Nine factors affecting enterprise financial information processing from 2010 to 2018 are selected as influencing factors, and according to the idea and method of data modeling, the simulation experiment of enterprise financial information intelligent processing model is carried out with MATLAB. The results show that the average fitness of GA-SVM is close to the best fitness, indicating that each individual in the population is near the optimal solution. The RMSE of GA-SVM is 0.35%, and the root mean square error obtained is greater than this value, which shows that the application effect of GA-SVM is significantly better than that of SVM using cross validation method, and it is more suitable for precision prediction. At the same time, it also reflects that the optimization of SVM parameters by GA is reliable. The algorithm can be better applied in the intelligent processing of enterprise financial information and can provide a certain reference for enterprises in the financial management based on the Internet of Things.

Validation of the Clinical Assessment Scale for Autoimmune Encephalitis: A Multicenter Study.

INTRODUCTION: A new scale, named the Clinical Assessment Scale for Autoimmune Encephalitis (CASE), has recently been developed for rating the severity of autoimmune encephalitis (AE) with a high level of clinimetric properties. In this study, our primary objective was to validate the performance of CASE through a multicenter study in China. METHODS: Between July 2014 and December 2019, 143 consecutive patients with definite neuronal surface antibody-associated AE from three tertiary hospitals were enrolled in the study. We validated the reliability, internal consistency, and validity of CASE. We further compared CASE with the modified Rankin scale (mRS) among different subtypes of AE in terms of its sensitivity to disease dynamics. Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism and R software. RESULTS: Our analyses showed that CASE had good inter- and intraobserver reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient 0.96/0.98) and internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.847) at disease onset. The scores of CASE and mRS remained well correlated in patients at admission and at discharge (both r = 0.80, p < 0.001). From admission to discharge, the scores of CASE changed in 81 (56.6%) patients, in comparison to changes in mRS in 48 (33.6%) patients (p = 0.007 and p < 0.001, respectively). The largest changes in scores occurred for non-motor symptoms, including psychiatric, memory, and language dysfunctions (40.6, 26.6, and 23.1% of patients, respectively); in contrast, scores for motor symptoms, such as dyskinesia, weakness and ataxia, changed the least (7.0, 15.4, and 16.1% of patients, respectively). CONCLUSION: Based on these results, CASE performed well in assessing the severity of neuronal surface antibody-associated AE. In comparison to mRS, it performed better for non-motor symptoms and was more sensitive to changes in severity.

A Cost-effective Nafion Composite Membrane as an Effective Vanadium-Ion Barrier for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries.

Ion exchange membranes play a key role in all vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). The mostly available commercial membrane for VRFBs is Nafion. However, its disadvantages, such as high cost and severe vanadium-ion permeation, become obstacles for large-scale energy storage. It is thus crucial to develop an efficient membrane with low permeability of vanadium ions and low cost to promote commercial applications of VRFBs. In this study, graphene oxide (GO) has been employed as an additive to the Nafion 212 matrix and a composite membrane named rN212/GO obtained. The thickness of rN212/GO has been reduced to only 41 µm (compared with 50 µm Nafion 212), which indicates directly lower cost. Meanwhile, rN212/GO shows lower permeability of vanadium ions and area-specific resistance compared to the Nafion 212 membrane due to the abundant oxygen-containing functional groups of GO additives. The VRFB cells with the rN212/GO membrane show higher Coulombic efficiencies and lower capacity decay than those of VRFB cells with the Nafion 212 membrane. Therefore, the cost-effective rN212/GO composite membrane is a promising alternative to suppress migration of vanadium ions across the membrane to set up VRFB cells with better performances.

Highly Efficient and Low Cost SPEEK/TiO2 Nanocomposite Membrane for Vanadium Redox Flow Battery.

In this work, a sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)/titanium oxide composite membrane (SPEEK/TiO2) was prepared by solution casting method. The TiO2 nanoparticles in the polymer matrix not only improved the vanadium ion selectivity of SPEEK/TiO2, but also enhanced the mechanical stability of this membrane by forming hydrogen bonds with SPEEK. Based on the SPEEK/TiO2 composite membrane, vanadium redox flow battery (VRB) exhibited ultrahigh coulombic efficiency (over 99.3%) and excellent energy efficiency (over 84.8%) under current density of 120 mA cm-2 for 200 cycles. More importantly, the device also presented excellent discharge capacity retention performance of about 95.4% and 86.9% after 100 and 200 cycles under this current density, respectively. The good performance and low cost of this membrane indicate that it is a promising candidate in VRB applications and an excellent substitute for Nafion membranes.

Application of High-Throughput Flow Cytometry in Early Drug Discovery: An AstraZeneca Perspective.

Flow cytometry is a powerful tool providing multiparametric analysis of single cells or particles. The introduction of faster plate-based sampling technologies on flow cytometers has transformed the technology into one that has become attractive for higher throughput drug discovery screening. This article describes AstraZeneca's perspectives on the deployment and application of high-throughput flow cytometry (HTFC) platforms for small-molecule high-throughput screening (HTS), structure-activity relationship (SAR) and phenotypic screening, and antibody screening. We describe the overarching HTFC workflow, including the associated automation and data analysis, along with a high-level overview of our HTFC assay portfolio. We go on to discuss the practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the course of our deployment of HTFC, as well as future enhancements and expansion of the technology to new areas of drug discovery.

Prognostic evaluation of categorical platelet-based indices using clustering methods based on the Monte Carlo comparison for hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the performance of clustering methods used in the prognostic assessment of categorical clinical data for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients in China, and establish a predictable prognostic nomogram for clinical decisions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 332 newly diagnosed HCC patients treated with hepatic resection during 2006-2009 were enrolled. Patients were regularly followed up at outpatient clinics. Clustering methods including the Average linkage, k-modes, fuzzy k-modes, PAM, CLARA, protocluster, and ROCK were compared by Monte Carlo simulation, and the optimal method was applied to investigate the clustering pattern of the indices including platelet count, platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and serum aspartate aminotransferase activity/platelet count ratio index (APRI). Then the clustering variable, age group, tumor size, number of tumor and vascular invasion were studied in a multivariable Cox regression model. A prognostic nomogram was constructed for clinical decisions. RESULTS: The ROCK was best in both the overlapping and non-overlapping cases performed to assess the prognostic value of platelet-based indices. Patients with categorical platelet-based indices significantly split across two clusters, and those with high values, had a high risk of HCC recurrence (hazard ratio [HR] 1.42, 95% CI 1.09-1.86; p<0.01). Tumor size, number of tumor and blood vessel invasion were also associated with high risk of HCC recurrence (all p<0.01). The nomogram well predicted HCC patient survival at 3 and 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: A cluster of platelet-based indices combined with other clinical covariates could be used for prognosis evaluation in HCC.