Circularizing PET-G Multimaterials: Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis.

The recycling of multimaterials such as payment or access cards poses significant challenges. Building on previous experimental work demonstrating the feasibility of chemically recyclable payment cards made from glycol-modified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET-G), we use life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis to investigate two chemical recycling scenarios and evaluate their potential environmental and economic benefits. Recovering all components from the depolymerized products (Scenario 1) achieves substantial environmental benefits across most categories, reducing global warming by up to 67% compared to only recovering major components (Scenario 2). However, the environmental benefits in Scenario 1 incur 69% higher total annualized costs, causing its profitability to be dependent on a minimum selling price of £13.4/kg for cyclohexanedimethanol and less than a 10% discount rate. In contrast, Scenario 2 is less sensitive to discount rate variation and thus a lower risk and more economically feasible option, albeit less environmentally sustainable.

Prussian White Cathode Materials for All-Climate Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Prussian white (PW) is considered one of the most promising cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries because of its large ion diffusion channels, low lattice strain, facile preparation, nontoxicity, and low cost. At present, research on PW mainly focuses on optimizing the material's structures for the ambient environment yet less on its practical application under extreme temperatures. In this Spotlight, we intend to offer progress we have made in developing PW cathode materials working over wide temperatures in terms of intrinsic feasibility and development prospects. These findings provide a direction to promote the practical viability of PW under extreme conditions.

Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Hydrogen Inhalation in Chinese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Single-Arm, Retrospective Study.

Aim: To evaluate the real-life effectiveness and safety of Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) receiving hydrogen inhalation (HI) treatment as a supplementary treatment. Methods: This retrospective, multicenter, observational 6-months clinical study included T2DM patients maintaining HI, visited at 4 time points. The primary outcome is the mean change in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) at the end of the study compared to baseline. The secondary outcome is analyzing the mean change of fasting plasma glucose (FPG), weight, lipid profile, insulin dose and homeostasis model assessment. Linear regression and logistics regression are applied to evaluate the effect of HI after the treatment. Results: Of the 431 patients comprised, it is observed a significant decrease in HbA1c level (9.04±0.82% at baseline to 8.30±0.99% and 8.00±0.80% at the end, p<0.001), FPG (165.6±40.2 mg/dL at baseline to 157.1±36.3mg/dL and 143.6±32.3mg/dL at the end, p<0.001), weight (74.7±7.1kg at baseline to 74.8±10.0kg and 73.6±8.1kg at the end, p<0.001), insulin dose (49.3±10.8U/d at baseline to 46.7±8.0U/d and 45.2±8.7U/d, p<0.001). The individuals in subgroup with higher baseline HbA1c and longer daily HI time duration gain greater HbA1c decrease after 6 months. Linear regression shows that higher baseline HbA1c level and shorter diabetes duration are significantly in relation to greater HbA1c reduction. Logistics regression reveals that lower weight is associated with a higher possibility of reaching HbA1c<7%. The most common adverse event is hypoglycemia. Conclusion: HI therapy significantly improves glycemic control, weight, insulin dose, lipid metabolism, ß-cell function and insulin resistance of patients with type 2 diabetes after 6 months. Higher baseline HbA1c level and shorter diabetes duration is related to greater clinical response to HI.

Water-soluble single molecular probe for simultaneous detection of viscosity and hydrazine.

Hydrazine (N2H4) can cause serious damage to human health, while intracellular viscosity is highly associated with many diseases and cellular dysfunctions. Herein, we report the synthesis of a dual-responsive organic molecule-based fluorescent probe with excellent water solubility being capable of detection of N2H4 and viscosity through dual-fluorescence channels in "turn on" manner for both. Besides sensitive detection of N2H4 in aqueous solution with detection limit of 0.135 µM, this probe could be used for vapor N2H4 detection in colorimetric and fluorescent manners. In addition, the probe demonstrated viscosity-dependent fluorescence enhancement behavior, and as high as 150-fold enhancement could be obtained at 95% glycerol aqueous solution. Cell imaging experiment revealed that the probe could be used for the discriminating of living and dead cells.

Effectiveness and safety of hydrogen inhalation as an adjunct treatment in Chinese type 2 diabetes patients: A retrospective, observational, double-arm, real-life clinical study.

Aim: To analyze the effectiveness and safety of hydrogen inhalation (HI) therapy as an adjunct treatment in Chinese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in a real-life clinical setting. Methods: This observational, non-interventional, retrospective, double-arm, 6-month clinical study included T2DM patients receiving conventional anti-diabetes medication with or without HI initiation from 2018 to 2021. Patients were assigned to the HI group or non-HI group (control group) after 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM). The mean change in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) after 6 months in different groups was evaluated primarily. The secondary outcome was composed of the mean change of fasting plasma glucose (FPG), weight, lipid profile, and homeostasis model assessment. Logistics regression was performed to evaluate the likelihood of reaching different HbA1c levels after 6-month treatment between the groups. Adverse event (AE) was also evaluated in patients of both groups. Results: In total, 1088 patients were selected into the analysis. Compared to the control group, subjects in HI group maintained greater improvement in the level of HbA1c (-0.94% vs -0.46%), FPG (-22.7 mg/dL vs -11.7 mg/dL), total cholesterol (-12.9 mg/dL vs -4.4 mg/dL), HOMA-IR (-0.76 vs -0.17) and HOMA-ß (8.2% vs 1.98%) with all p< 0.001 post the treatment. Logistics regression revealed that the likelihood of reaching HbA1c< 7%, ≥ 7% to< 8% and > 1% reduction at the follow-up period was higher in the HI group, while patients in the control group were more likely to attain HbA1c ≥ 9%. Patients in HI group was observed a lower incidence of several AEs including hypoglycemia (2.0% vs 6.8%), vomiting (2.6% vs 7.4%), constipation (1.7% vs 4.4%) and giddiness (3.3% vs 6.3%) with significance in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: HI as an adjunct therapy ameliorates glycemic control, lipid metabolism, insulin resistance and AE incidence of T2DM patients after 6-month treatment, presenting a noteworthy inspiration to existing clinical diabetic treatment.