Oxygen doping of cobalt-single-atom coordination enhances peroxymonosulfate activation and high-valent cobalt-oxo species formation.

The high-valent cobalt-oxo species (Co(IV)=O) is being increasingly investigated for water purification because of its high redox potential, long half-life, and antiinterference properties. However, generation of Co(IV)=O is inefficient and unsustainable. Here, a cobalt-single-atom catalyst with N/O dual coordination was synthesized by O-doping engineering. The O-doped catalyst (Co-OCN) greatly activated peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and achieved a pollutant degradation kinetic constant of 73.12 min-1 g-2, which was 4.9 times higher than that of Co-CN (catalyst without O-doping) and higher than those of most reported single-atom catalytic PMS systems. Co-OCN/PMS realized Co(IV)=O dominant oxidation of pollutants by increasing the steady-state concentration of Co(IV)=O (1.03 × 10-10 M) by 5.9 times compared with Co-CN/PMS. A competitive kinetics calculation showed that the oxidation contribution of Co(IV)=O to micropollutant degradation was 97.5% during the Co-OCN/PMS process. Density functional theory calculations showed that O-doping influenced the charge density (increased the Bader charge transfer from 0.68 to 0.85 e), optimized the electron distribution of the Co center (increased the d-band center from -1.14 to -1.06 eV), enhanced the PMS adsorption energy from -2.46 to -3.03 eV, and lowered the energy barrier for generation of the key reaction intermediate (*O*H2O) during Co(IV)=O formation from 1.12 to 0.98 eV. The Co-OCN catalyst was fabricated on carbon felt for a flow-through device, which achieved continuous and efficient removal of micropollutants (degradation efficiency of >85% after 36 h operation). This study provides a new protocol for PMS activation and pollutant elimination through single-atom catalyst heteroatom-doping and high-valent metal-oxo formation during water purification.

Synergistic dual conversion reactions assisting Pb-S electrochemistry for energy storage.

SignificanceBased on the analysis of three thermodynamic parameters of various M-S systems (solubility of metal sulfides [MxSy] in aqueous solution, volume change of the metal-sulfur [M-S] battery system, and the potential of S/MxSy cathode redox couple), an aqueous Pb-S battery operated by synergistic dual conversion reactions (cathode: S⇄PbS, anode: Pb2+⇄PbO2) has been officially reported. Benefitting from the inherent insolubility of PbS and a conversion-type counter electrode, the aqueous Pb-S battery exhibited two advantages: it is shuttle effect free and has a dendrite-free nature. Moreover, the practical value of the Pb-S battery was further certified by the prototype S|Pb(NO3)2ǁZn(NO3)2|Zn hybrid cell, which afforded an energy density of 930.9 Wh kg-1sulfur.

High-Current Water-Enabled Electricity Generation in Mushrooms via Synergistic Ion Sieving and Adsorption.

Water-enabled electricity generation (WEG), which harvests energy from the natural water cycle, is a novel strategy for producing green electricity. Taking advantage of the ion sieving effect based on evaporation-induced water flows in charged nanopores, various WEG devices have been developed. Here, we report that a carbonized mushroom produces a record-high current output of up to 96.7 µA, which is attributed to a unique ion adsorption effect combined with an ion sieving effect. Specifically, the natural gradient potential from root to cap in a mushroom caused by tissue differentiation adsorbs different ions, enhancing the traditional ion sieving current. In synergy with the two effects, the mushroom can operate under a broad range of concentrations (0 to 0.6 mol L-1) and represents significant improvements in current, duration, and total charge transfer. These findings reveal the hidden talent of mushrooms as natural materials for WEG, providing inspiration for the development of high-performance WEG devices.

Effects of Contact Surface Shape on Dynamic Lifetime and Strength of Molecular Bond Clusters under Displacement- and Force-Controlled Loading Conditions.

Many experimental and theoretical studies have shown that the mechanical properties of cells and the extracellular matrix can significantly affect the lifetime and strength of the adhesion clusters of molecular bonds. However, there are few studies on how the shape of the contact surface affects the lifetime and strength of the adhesion clusters of molecular bonds, especially theoretical studies in this area. An idealized model of focal adhesion is adopted, in which two rigid media are bonded together by an array of receptor-ligand bonds modeled as Hookean springs on a complex surface topography, which is described by three parameters: the surface shape factor ß, the length of a single identical surface shape L, and the amplitude of surface shapes w. In this study, systematic Monte Carlo simulations of this model are conducted to study the lifetime of the molecular bond cluster under linear incremental force loading and the strength of the molecular bond cluster under linear incremental displacement loading. We find that both small surface shape amplitudes and large surface shape factors will increase the lifetime and strength of the adhesion cluster, whereas the length of a single surface shape causes oscillations in the lifetime and strength of the cluster, and this oscillation amplitude is affected by the surface shape amplitude and the factor. At the same time, we also find that the pretension in the cluster will play a dominant role in the adhesion strength under large amplitudes and small factors of surface shapes. The physical mechanisms behind these phenomena are that the changes of the length of a single surface shape, the amplitude of surface shapes, and the surface shape factor cause the changes of stress concentration in the adhesion region, bond affinity, and the number of similar affinity bonds.

Crystal-Liquid-Glass Transition and Near-Unity Photoluminescence Quantum Yield in Low Melting Point Hybrid Metal Halides.

Hybrid metal halides (HMHs) are a class of materials that combine extraordinary photophysical properties and excellent processability. Their chemical variability allows for the solid-liquid transition toward melt-processable HMHs. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of zero-dimensional HMHs [M(DMSO)6][SbCl6], where the isolated octahedra of [M(DMSO)6]3+ and [SbCl6]3- are alternatively aligned in the crystal structure. The luminescent center of [SbCl6]3- enables the photogeneration of self-trapped excitons, resulting in broadband photoluminescence with a large Stokes shift and a nearly 100% quantum yield. Meanwhile, the release of DMSO ligands from [M(DMSO)6]3+ is controlled by the M-O coordination and thus a low melting point of ∼90 °C is achieved for HMHs. Interestingly, the glass phase is obtained by melt quenching, with a sharp change in photoluminescence colors compared to the crystal phase of melt-processable HMHs. The robust crystal-liquid-glass transition opens a new avenue to tailoring structural disorder and optoelectronic performance in organic-inorganic materials.

Deep learning-based postoperative visual acuity prediction in idiopathic epiretinal membrane.

BACKGROUND: To develop a deep learning (DL) model based on preoperative optical coherence tomography (OCT) training to automatically predict the 6-month postoperative visual outcomes in patients with idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM). METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, a total of 442 eyes (5304 images in total) were enrolled for the development of the DL and multimodal deep fusion network (MDFN) models. All eyes were randomized into a training dataset with 265 eyes (60.0%), a validation dataset with 89 eyes (20.1%), and an internal testing dataset with the remaining 88 eyes (19.9%). The input variables for prediction consisted of macular OCT images and diverse clinical data. Inception-Resnet-v2 network was utilized to estimate the 6-month postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Concurrently, a regression model was developed using the clinical data and OCT parameters in the training data set for predicting postoperative BCVA. The reliability of the models was subsequently evaluated using the testing dataset. RESULTS: The prediction DL algorithm exhibited a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.070 logMAR and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.11 logMAR in the testing dataset. The DL model demonstrated a robust promising performance with R2 = 0.80, notably superior to R2 = 0.49 of the regression model. The percentages of BCVA prediction errors within ± 0.20 logMAR amounted to 94.32% in the testing dataset. CONCLUSIONS: The OCT-based DL model demonstrated sensitivity and accuracy in predicting postoperative BCVA in iERM patients. This innovative DL model exhibits substantial potential for integration into surgical planning protocols.

Microbial spectrum and antibiotic sensitivity in infantile dacryocystitis.

PURPOSE: To identify the characteristics and the spectrum of microbial agents of infantile dacryocystitis and to assess the trends in both antibiotic sensitivities and pathogens over the past 10 years. METHODS: The microbial and medical records of 546 culture-proven patients (546 eyes) of infantile dacryocystitis diagnosed at Henan Eye Hospital between January 2009 and December 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Patient demographics, microbial analysis, and susceptibility rates to various antibiotics were done. A chi-squared test for trends was applied to evaluate changes in antibiotic susceptibility and microbial spectrum over time. RESULTS: A total of 546 patients with infantile dacryocystitis were documented. The average age was 2.97 ± 4.15 months, and 42.7% were female. The proportion of gram-positive microbes, gram-negative microbes, and fungi was 80.2, 19.4, and 0.4%, respectively. Minocycline was sensitive to gram-positive bacteria (98.0%). Imipenem was sensitive to gram-negative bacteria (89.2%). Increasing susceptibility was observed in two bacterial isolates: Staphylococcus aureus (P = 0.005) and Streptococcus mitis (P = 0.001). Decreasing susceptibility was observed in one bacterial isolate: Staphylococcus epidermidis (P < 0.0001). Increasing microbial susceptibility over time was detected for 12 antibiotics. Decreasing microbial sensitivity was observed for one antibiotic. CONCLUSIONS: The most common cause of infantile dacryocystitis is Staphylococcus epidermidis. Though a significant trend towards increasing microbial sensitivity to some antibiotics was observed, including glycopeptides, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines, and lincosamides, a significant trend towards decreasing microbial sensitivity to amikacin was also detected.

Stereological analysis and transcriptome profiling of testicular injury induced by di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in prepubertal rats.

Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is the most common phthalate that can affect the male reproductive system. DEHP exposure at the prepubertal stage could lead to the injury of immature testes, but the mechanism has not been fully clarified. In the present study, we elucidated the possible underlying mechanism of DEHP-induced prepubertal testicular injury through stereological analysis and transcriptome profiling. Compared with the control group, the DEHP-treated rats had lower body weight gain and decreased testicular weight and organ coefficient. Moreover, lower serum levels of testosterone and LH were observed in the DEHP group, in contrast to the increased FSH level. Additionally, the serum level of estradiol had no significant difference after DEHP exposure. Stereological analysis showed significant reduction in volumes of most testicular structures, especially in the seminiferous tubule and seminiferous epithelium, along with a vast decrease of spermatogenic cells and obvious structural damages with substantial pathological signs (germ cracks, cytoplasmic vacuolization, sloughing, multinucleated giant cell formation, chromatolysis desquamation and dissolution, pyknosis of nuclei) in the seminiferous tubule upon DEHP exposure at the prepubertal stage. Furthermore, transcriptome profiling identified 5548 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) upon DEHP exposure. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed several crucial signaling pathways related to retinol metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, steroid hormone biosynthesis, and cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). In addition, seven DEGs selected from RNA-seq data were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and the results showed the same trends as the RNA-seq results. In conclusion, the above findings provide basic morphological data and lay a foundation for systematic research on transcriptome profiling in prepubertal testicular injury induced by DEHP.

The protective effect of WKYMVm peptide on inflammatory osteolysis through regulating NF-κB and CD9/gp130/STAT3 signalling pathway.

The balance between bone formation and bone resorption is closely related to bone homeostasis. Osteoclasts, originating from the monocyte/macrophage lineage, are the only cell type possessing bone resorption ability. Osteoclast overactivity is thought to be the major reason underlying osteoclast-related osteolytic problems, such as Paget's disease, aseptic loosening of prostheses and inflammatory osteolysis; therefore, disruption of osteoclastogenesis is considered a crucial treatment option for these issues. WKYMVm, a synthetic peptide, which is a potent FPR2 agonist, exerts an immunoregulatory effect. This peptide inhibits the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as (IL)-1ß and TNF-α, thus regulating inflammation. However, there are only few reports on the role of WKYMVm and FPR2 in osteoclast cytology. In the current study, we found that WKYMVm negatively regulates RANKL- and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced osteoclast differentiation and maturation in vitro and alleviates LPS-induced osteolysis in animal models. WKYMVm down-regulated the expression of osteoclast marker genes and resorption activity. Furthermore, WKYMVm inhibited osteoclastogenesis directly through reducing the phosphorylation of STAT3 and NF-kB and indirectly through the CD9/gp130/STAT3 pathway. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated the potential medicinal value of WKYMVm for the treatment of inflammatory osteolysis.

Quantitative (stereological) study of the epididymis and seminal vesicle in the rat from young to old.

There is a scarcity of morphometric data on the developmental and ageing changes in the epididymis and seminal vesicle in young and old rats. Eighty-six normal male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly sampled from a cohort of animals aged 1-36 months (7-9 animals each age group). The epididymis and seminal vesicle (with the closely attached coagulating gland) were removed, and methacrylate resin-embedded sections were prepared for quantitative study of key histological structures by light microscopy. Stereological methods (point counting and optical disector) were used to estimate the total volumes of sperm mass, secretion (glandular lumen) and other structures and the number of spermatozoa. The results showed that the rapid growth of the reproductive organs was between 1 and 4 months of age. The epididymis stored the largest volume of sperm mass or number of spermatozoa at 12 months of age, but thereafter until 36 months of age, the sperm storage did not markedly diminish. The volume of secretion stored in the seminal vesicular gland declined by more than 35% from a plateau at 12-18 months until 36 months of age while that in the coagulating gland declined by more than 30% from a plateau at 18-24 months until 36 months of age.

Optically selective catalyst design with minimized thermal emission for facilitating photothermal catalysis.

Converting solar energy into fuels is pursued as an attractive route to reduce dependence on fossil fuel. In this context, photothermal catalysis is a very promising approach through converting photons into heat to drive catalytic reactions. There are mainly three key factors that govern the photothermal catalysis performance: maximized solar absorption, minimized thermal emission and excellent catalytic property of catalyst. However, the previous research has focused on improving solar absorption and catalytic performance of catalyst, largely neglected the optimization of thermal emission. Here, we demonstrate an optically selective catalyst based Ti3C2Tx Janus design, that enables minimized thermal emission, maximized solar absorption and good catalytic activity simultaneously, thereby achieving excellent photothermal catalytic performance. When applied to Sabatier reaction and reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) as demonstrations, we obtain an approximately 300% increase in catalytic yield through reducing the thermal emission of catalyst by ~70% under the same irradiation intensity. It is worth noting that the CO2 methanation yield reaches 3317.2 mmol gRu-1 h-1 at light power of 2 W cm-2, setting a performance record among catalysts without active supports. We expect that this design opens up a new pathway for the development of high-performance photothermal catalysts.

[Impact of ethane dimethane sulfonate on the histological structures of seminal vesicles in adult rats].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of ethane dimethane sulfonate (EDS) injection on the volumes of different histological structures in the seminal vesicles of adult rats. METHODS: Twenty-seven male SD rats aged approximately 90 days were randomly divided into a control group (n = 14) and an EDS group (n = 13) to receive one intraperitoneal injection of normal saline and EDS (75 mg/kg bodyweight), respectively. At 7 and 12 days after treatment, the unilateral seminal vesicles were removed, methacrylate resin-embedded sections prepared and the total volumes of various structures in the seminal vesicles estimated using stereological methods. RESULTS: EDS treatment almost completely destroyed the Leydig cells in the testis, resulting in a drastic testosterone deficiency. The volume of the seminal vesicle (including the coagulating gland attached to the vesicle) was decreased by 53% in the 7 d EDS group (n = 6) in comparison with the 7 d control group (n = 7) ([138.2 +/- 12.9] vs [64.9 +/- 3.6] mm3, P < 0.01), but showed no significant difference between the 7 d and the 12 d EDS (n = 7) groups ([64.9 +/- 3.6] vs [55.4 +/- 7.7] mm3, P > 0.05). The total volumes of the glandular lumen, glandular epithelium, smooth muscular layer and adventitia were decreased by 96.7, 80.3, 57.6 and 67.0%, respectively, in the 12 d EDS group as compared with the 12 d control group (n = 7). CONCLUSION: EDS induces drastic testosterone deficiency in adult rats, and significantly reduces the total volumes of the seminal vesicle lumen, glandular epithelium, smooth muscular layer and adventitia.

[Histological effects of unilateral spermatic cord torsion without removal of the ipsilateral necrotic testis on the contralateral testis in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effect of retarded removal of the unilateral necrotic testis after long-time (> 24 h) spermatic cord torsion on the contralateral testis in rats. METHODS: Thirty-three male SD rats aged 21 -42 days were divided into a sham-operation group (n = 11), a torsion-reservation group (n = 12) and a torsion-orchiectomy group (n = 10). The rats of the sham-operation group received dartos pouch orchidopexy on the left testis, while those of the latter two groups underwent 720 degrees unilateral spermatic cord torsion on the left side. Ninety-six hours later, the rats of the torsion-reservation group received detorsion with the ipsilateral testis preserved, while those of the torsion-orchiectomy group underwent orchiectomy. Three months after operation, blood samples were obtained from the rats for measurement of serum testosterone and antisperm antibodies by ELISA, and meanwhile testes and epididymides were harvested for determination of the volumes of various structures and the diameter of seminiferous tubules with stereological methods. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the level of serum testosterone among the three groups. Anti-sperm antibody positive was found in only 1 animal in the torsion-reservation group. The Leydig cell nuclei in the contralateral testis appeared larger in the torsion groups than in the sham-operation group. Marked morphological changes were observed in 1, 3 and 0 of the animals in the sham-operation, torsion-reservation and torsion-orchiectomy group, respectively, mainly including atrophy of seminiferous tubules and reduced number of spermatogenic cells. The volume of the contralateral testis was increased by 19% and 21% in the torsion-reservation and torsion-orchiectomy group, respectively, in comparison with that in the sham-operation group (P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in the volume of seminiferous tubules of the contralateral testis among the sham-operation, torsion-reservation and torsion-orchiectomy groups ([1.15 +/- 0.07], [1.30 +/- 0.04] and [1.35 +/- 0.05] cm3). The volume of the interstitial tissue was significantly increased in the latter two groups ([0.36 +/- 0.02 and 0.34 +/- 0.03] cm3) as compared with the former ([0.25 +/- 0.02] cm3) (P < 0.05). The diameters of the seminiferous tubules exhibited no significant differences among the three groups ([226.00 +/- 7.00], [223.00 +/- 6.00] and [221.00 +/- 3.0] microm). CONCLUSION: Long-time unilateral spermatic cord torsion may result in compensatory hypertrophy of the contralateral testis, and orchiectomy does not significantly affect the histology of the contralateral testis and epididymis.

Serum Amyloid A 4 as a Common Marker of Persistent Inflammation in Patients with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy.

Background: Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and its subtype, polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), are common choroidal vasculopathies. Although they share many common clinical manifestations and treatment strategies, a lack of comprehensive analysis of these conditions means that it is difficult for researchers to further explore the common pathomechanisms of nAMD and PCV. The aim of this study was to characterize aqueous humor (AH) proteome alterations and identify a novel biomarker related to both nAMD and PCV. Methods: Liquid Chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was adopted to analyze the AH proteomes of nAMD, PCV and controls. The target protein was validated using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and subjected to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: A total of 737 different proteins were identified in all the groups, of which 544 were quantifiable. The bioinformatics analysis suggested that immune response activation is the essential event in both nAMD and PCV. Serum amyloid A (SAA) 4 is closely associated with a number of chronic inflammatory diseases, and it was enriched as the hub protein. ROC analysis showed that SAA4 could distinguish both nAMD and PCV from the controls. Conclusion: This comprehensive study provides insights into, and furthers our understanding of, the pathological mechanism of nAMD and PCV. Additionally, the SAA4 level alteration may serve as a common biomarker of nAMD and PCV.

Auto-MatRegressor: liberating machine learning alchemists.

Machine learning (ML) is widely used to uncover structure-property relationships of materials due to its ability to quickly find potential data patterns and make accurate predictions. However, like alchemists, materials scientists are plagued by time-consuming and labor-intensive experiments to build high-accuracy ML models. Here, we propose an automatic modeling method based on meta-learning for materials property prediction named Auto-MatRegressor, which automates algorithm selection and hyperparameter optimization by learning from previous modeling experience, i.e., meta-data on historical datasets. The meta-data used in this work consists of 27 meta-features that characterize the datasets and the prediction performances of 18 algorithms commonly used in materials science. To recommend optimal algorithms, a collaborative meta-learning method embedded with domain knowledge quantified by a materials categories tree is designed. Experiments on 60 datasets show that compared with the traditional modeling method from scratch, Auto-MatRegressor automatically selects appropriate algorithms at lower computational cost, which accelerates constructing ML models with good prediction accuracy. Auto-MatRegressor supports dynamic expansion of meta-data with the increase of the number of materials datasets and other required algorithms and can be applied to any ML materials discovery and design task.

Data quantity governance for machine learning in materials science.

Data-driven machine learning (ML) is widely employed in the analysis of materials structure-activity relationships, performance optimization and materials design due to its superior ability to reveal latent data patterns and make accurate prediction. However, because of the laborious process of materials data acquisition, ML models encounter the issue of the mismatch between a high dimension of feature space and a small sample size (for traditional ML models) or the mismatch between model parameters and sample size (for deep-learning models), usually resulting in terrible performance. Here, we review the efforts for tackling this issue via feature reduction, sample augmentation and specific ML approaches, and show that the balance between the number of samples and features or model parameters should attract great attention during data quantity governance. Following this, we propose a synergistic data quantity governance flow with the incorporation of materials domain knowledge. After summarizing the approaches to incorporating materials domain knowledge into the process of ML, we provide examples of incorporating domain knowledge into governance schemes to demonstrate the advantages of the approach and applications. The work paves the way for obtaining the required high-quality data to accelerate materials design and discovery based on ML.

Win-Win by Competition: Auxiliary-Free Cloth-Changing Person Re-Identification.

Recent person Re-IDentification (ReID) systems have been challenged by changes in personnel clothing, leading to the study of Cloth-Changing person ReID (CC-ReID). Commonly used techniques involve incorporating auxiliary information (e.g., body masks, gait, skeleton, and keypoints) to accurately identify the target pedestrian. However, the effectiveness of these methods heavily relies on the quality of auxiliary information and comes at the cost of additional computational resources, ultimately increasing system complexity. This paper focuses on achieving CC-ReID by effectively leveraging the information concealed within the image. To this end, we introduce an Auxiliary-free Competitive IDentification (ACID) model. It achieves a win-win situation by enriching the identity (ID)-preserving information conveyed by the appearance and structure features while maintaining holistic efficiency. In detail, we build a hierarchical competitive strategy that progressively accumulates meticulous ID cues with discriminating feature extraction at the global, channel, and pixel levels during model inference. After mining the hierarchical discriminative clues for appearance and structure features, these enhanced ID-relevant features are crosswise integrated to reconstruct images for reducing intra-class variations. Finally, by combing with self- and cross-ID penalties, the ACID is trained under a generative adversarial learning framework to effectively minimize the distribution discrepancy between the generated data and real-world data. Experimental results on four public cloth-changing datasets (i.e., PRCC-ReID, VC-Cloth, LTCC-ReID, and Celeb-ReID) demonstrate the proposed ACID can achieve superior performance over state-of-the-art methods. The code is available soon at: https://github.com/BoomShakaY/Win-CCReID.

Risk of diabetic retinopathy and retinal neurodegeneration in individuals with type 2 diabetes: Beichen Eye Study.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate associations of different risk factors with odds of diabetic retinopathy (DR) diagnosis and retinal neurodegeneration represented by macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (mGCIPL). Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from individuals aged over 50 years examined between June 2020 and February 2022 in the community-based Beichen Eye Study on ocular diseases. Baseline characteristics included demographic data, cardiometabolic risk factors, laboratory findings, and medications at enrollment. Retinal thickness in both eyes of all participants was measured automatically via optical coherence tomography. Risk factors associated with DR status were investigated using multivariable logistic regression. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to explore associations of potential risk factors with mGCIPL thickness. Results: Among the 5037 included participants with a mean (standard deviation, SD) age of 62.6 (6.7) years (3258 women [64.6%]), 4018 (79.8%) were control individuals, 835 (16.6%) were diabetic individuals with no DR, and 184 (3.7%) were diabetic individuals with DR. The risk factors significantly associated with DR status were family history of diabetes (odds ratio [OR], 4.09 [95% CI, 2.44-6.85]), fasting plasma glucose (OR, 5.88 [95% CI, 4.66-7.43]), and statins (OR, 2.13 [95% CI, 1.03-4.43]) relative to the control individuals. Compared with the no DR, diabetes duration (OR, 1.17 [95% CI, 1.13-1.22]), hypertension (OR, 1.60 [95% CI, 1.26-2.45]), and glycated hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) (OR, 1.27 [95% CI, 1.00-1.59]) were significantly correlated with DR status. Furthermore, age (adjusted ß = -0.19 [95% CI, -0.25 to -0.13] µm; P < 0.001), cardiovascular events (adjusted ß = -0.95 [95% CI, -1.78 to -0.12] µm; P = 0.03), and axial length (adjusted ß = -0.82 [95% CI, -1.29 to -0.35] µm; P = 0.001) were associated with mGCIPL thinning in diabetic individuals with no DR. Conclusion: Multiple risk factors were associated with higher odds of DR development and lower mGCIPL thickness in our study. Risk factors affecting DR status varied among the different study populations. Age, cardiovascular events, and axial length were identified as potential risk factors for consideration in relation to retinal neurodegeneration in diabetic patients.

Synergistic effects of ozone/peroxymonosulfate for isothiazolinone biocides degradation: Kinetics, synergistic performance and influencing factors.

Synergistic effects of ozone (O3) and peroxymonosulfate (PMS, HSO5-) for isothiazolinone biocides degradation was studied. The synergistic ozonation process (O3/PMS) increased the efficiency of methyl-isothiazolinone (MIT) and chloro-methyl-isothiazolinone (CMIT) degradation to 91.0% and 81.8%, respectively, within 90 s at pH 7.0. This is 30.6% and 62.5% higher than the corresponding ozonation efficiency, respectively. Total radical formation value (Rct,R) for the O3/PMS process was 24.6 times that of ozonation alone. Calculated second-order rate constants for the reactions between isothiazolinone biocides and (kSO4-,MIT and kSO4-,CMIT) were 8.15 × 109 and 4.49 × 109 M-1 s-1, respectively. Relative contributions of O3, hydroxyl radical (OH) and oxidation to MIT and CMIT removal were estimated, which were 15%, 45%, and 40% for O3, OH and oxidation to MIT, and 1%, 67%, and 32% for O3, OH and oxidation to CMIT at pH 7.0, respectively. Factors influencing the O3/PMS process, namely the solution pH, chloride ions (Cl-), and bicarbonate (HCO3-), were evaluated. Increasing the solution pH markedly accelerated O3 decay and OH and formation, thus weakening the relative contribution of O3 oxidation while enhancing that of OH and . Cl- had a negligible effect on MIT and CMIT degradation. Under the dual effect of bicarbonate (HCO3-) as inhibitor and promoter, low concentrations (1-2 mM) of bicarbonate weakly promoted MIT and CMIT degradation, while high concentrations (10-20 mM) induced strong inhibition. Lastly, oxidation performance of O3 and O3/PMS processes for MIT and CMIT degradation in different water matrices was compared.