Evaluation of atherogenic lipoprotein-cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio as a prognostic test for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Background: The detectable component of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TGRLs), remnant lipoprotein cholesterol (RLP-c), has been proven being correlated with the progression of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. However, when taken as a risk predictor, the prognostic and diagnostic potential of RLP-c remains controversial in studies. In this study, we evaluated the hypothesis that atherogenic lipoprotein-cholesterol (AL-c), representing the sum of RLP-c and the sd-LDL-c, to the HDL-c ratio, could represent a better predictive indicator than RLP-c alone in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods: The 316 consecutive patients suffering from persistent chest discomfort admitted to the Shanghai General Hospital between January 2018 and June 2018 were enrolled. 149 STEMI patients (62% men, mean age 69.6 ± 13.3 years) were included as the study cohort. The AL-c/HDL-c ratio was calculated on admission in a cohort of electrocardiogram-confirmed STEMI patients and compared to other lipid profiles as a predictive indicator. Results: The AL-c/HDL-c ratio was significantly increased in STEMI patients compared with apparently healthy adults (0.93; IQR [0.71-1.18] vs 0.70; IQR [0.45-1.04]; p < 0.001). Gender dependency existed, and the male and female patients had median AL-c/HDL-c ratios of 1.01 and 0.79, respectively (p < 0.001). Compared to RLP-c, the AL-c/HDL-c ratio had a better prognostic value to predict STEMI risk in both sexes (AUC of 0.672 with a sensitivity of 0.794 in males and 0.613 with a sensitivity of 0.684 in females). Conclusions: The AL-c/HDL-c ratio could represent a convenient and sensitive biomarker for screening and predicting STEMI risk.

Energy effective utilization of circulating fluidized bed fly ash to prepare silicon-aluminum composite aerogel and gypsum.

To reduce the cost of Si-Al aerogels preparation, circulating fluidized bed fly ash (CFA) was developed to be as the alternative to synthetic precursors. High energy consumption of alkali-melting and secondary wastes production were the major challenges. Here, a technique characterized by effective energy consumption and non-secondary waste was developed to convert CFA into Si-Al aerogel. The process consists two stages, preparation of Si-Al sol by sintering of CFA and Na2CO3 followed by sulfuric acid leaching, and synthesis of Si-Al aerogel by so-gel with trimethyl chlorosilane modification and ambient pressure drying. The optimization results of proportion and sintering temperature showed that the optimal temperature of sintering of Na2CO3 and CFA with the mass ratio of 0.7 was 750 °C, 100 °C lower than that of most other waste aluminosilicate materials. CaSO4·0.5H2O which meet building gypsum requirement was obtained by specifying the drying temperature of acid-leached residue at 126 °C for 2 h. The modification procedure was explored to obtain Si-Al aerogel with a large specific surface area of 857 m2/g and hydrophobic angle of 139.3°. Thermal and mechanical properties tests indicated that the Si-Al aerogels and gypsum produced from CFA exhibited promising thermal insulation and the potential application in construction.

Topological polarization singular lasing with highly efficient radiation channel.

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) in photonic crystals describe the originally leaky Bloch modes that can become bounded when their radiation fields carry topological polarization singularities. However, topological polarization singularities do not carry energy to far field, which limits radiation efficiencies of BICs for light emitting applications. Here, we demonstrate a topological polarization singular laser which has a topological polarization singular channel in the second Brillouin zone and a paired linearly polarized radiation channel in the first Brillouin zone. The presence of the singular channel enables the lasing mode with a higher quality factor than other modes for single mode lasing. In the meanwhile, the presence of the radiation channel secures the lasing mode with high radiation efficiency. The demonstrated topological polarization singular laser operates at room temperature with an external quantum efficiency exceeding 24%. Our work presents a new paradigm in eigenmode engineering for mode selection, exotic field manipulation and lasing.

[Dynamics of litter decomposition and phosphorus and potassium release in Jinggang Mountain region of Jiangxi Province, China].

By using litter bag method, a 2-year experiment was made to study the dynamics of litter decomposition and phosphorous and potassium release of Castanopsis eyrei-dominated evergreen broad-leaved forest (EBF), Pinus taiwanensis, Cyclobalanopsis nubium and Castanopsisfabri coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest (CBF) , and Rhododendron simiarum-dominated mountainous dwarf forest (MDF) in Jinggang Mountain region of Jiangxi Province, China. In each forest, litter bags were placed on soil surface (aboveground treatment, AG) and at the depth of 10 cm (below-ground treatment, BG). An inverse exponential relationship was found between litter decay rate and time for each of the three forests. The average value of the litter mass loss of AG and BG was 50.6% for EBF, 41. 7% for CBF, and 40. 13% for MDF by the end of first year, and 60.95% for EBF, 57. 06% for CBF, and 56. 60% for MDF by the end of second year, indicating that the litter decomposition of the forests was faster in first year than in second year. The annual litter loss decreased in the order of EBF > CBF > MDF, and that of AG was significantly higher than that of BG in first year but no significant difference was found in second year. According to the model simulation by Olson' s exponential function, it might take 6. 8-9. 9 years to reach 95% of decay (t095) for the forests investigated, compared with 8-17 years for warm temperate forests and 2 -8 years for south subtropical forests. The t0.95 value of the three test forests increased in the order of EBF < CBF < MDF. A net phospbhorus (P) immobilization was observed in the process of litter decomposition, with the intensity decreased in the order of MDF > CBF > EBF, which was related to the initial P content and C/P ratio of the litter. As for potassium ( K) , it was net release in most cases. By the end of the experiment, the release rate of P had little difference between AG and BG, while that of K was significantly higher in AG than in BG.