Associations between metabolic syndrome and female stress urinary incontinence: a meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The objective was to identify the associations between metabolic syndrome (MS) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women and to provide an evidence base for clinical practice. METHODS: A meta-analysis of cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies about the association between MS and SUI was performed using databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine disc (CBMdisc), Wanfang Database (WanFang Data), and VIP database (VIP). The time limit was from the commencement of each database to 1 November 2020. Two researchers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. RevMan 5.3 software was used for statistical analysis. The dichotomous variables were presented as the risk ratio (odds ratio, OR) and 95% CI as the effect indicators. RESULTS: Six studies were included in the meta-analysis, with a total sample size of 3,678 cases. The results showed that the risk for SUI in women with MS was three times those without MS (OR = 3.41, 95% CI 2.01, 5.77, p <0.00001), and the difference was statistically significant. The results of subgroup analysis showed that MS was significantly associated with SUI in the subgroups of pre- and postmenopausal women (OR = 2.46, 95% CI 1.63, 3.73, p < 0.00001), and in the subgroups of other types of women (OR = 3.41, 95% CI 2.01, 5.77, p = 0.0003), and the differences were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic syndrome is associated with SUI in women and increases its risk.

Site-Selective Transformation for Preparing Tripod-like NiCo-Sulfides@Carbon Boosts Enhanced Areal Capacity and Cycling Reliability.

Flexible power supply systems for future wearable electronics desperately require high areal capacity (Ca) and robust cycling reliability due to the limited surface area of the human body. Transition metal sulfides are preferred as cathode materials for their improved conductivity and rich redox centers, yet their practical applications are severely hindered by the sluggish charge transport kinetics and unavoidable capacity decay due to the phase transformation during charge/discharge processes. Herein, we develop a site-selective transformation strategy for preparing tripod-like NiCo-sulfides@carbon (T-NCS@C) arrays on carbon cloth. The mass loading of active materials is balanced with charge (electron and ion) transport efficiency. The optimized T-NCS@C delivers a superior Ca of 494 µA h/cm2 (corresponding to 235 mA h/g) at 3 mA/cm2. Due to the protection of the carbon layer that is derived from transformed metal-organic framework (MOF) sheath, the T-NCS@C displays excellent stability with 92% retention over 5000 charge/discharge cycles. The flexible full cell adopting Fe2O3 as the anode and T-NCS@C as the cathode exhibits an improved Ea (areal energy density) of 389 µW h/cm2 at a Pa (areal power density) of 4.22 mW/cm2 together with robust cycling reliability.

Recent Advances in Molybdenum-Based Materials for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries as power supply systems possessing a theoretical energy density of as high as 2600 Wh kg-1 are considered promising alternatives toward the currently used lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the insulation characteristic and huge volume change of sulfur, the generation of dissolvable lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) during charge/discharge, and the uncontrollable dendrite formation of Li metal anodes render Li-S batteries serious cycling issues with rapid capacity decay. To address these challenges, extensive efforts are devoted to designing cathode/anode hosts and/or modifying separators by incorporating functional materials with the features of improved conductivity, lithiophilic, physical/chemical capture ability toward LiPSs, and/or efficient catalytic conversion of LiPSs. Among all candidates, molybdenum-based (Mo-based) materials are highly preferred for their tunable crystal structure, adjustable composition, variable valence of Mo centers, and strong interactions with soluble LiPSs. Herein, the latest advances in design and application of Mo-based materials for Li-S batteries are comprehensively reviewed, covering molybdenum oxides, molybdenum dichalcogenides, molybdenum nitrides, molybdenum carbides, molybdenum phosphides, and molybdenum metal. In the end, the existing challenges in this research field are elaborately discussed.

Jahn-Teller distortions boost the ultrahigh areal capacity and cycling robustness of holey NiMn-hydroxide nanosheets for flexible energy storage devices.

Flexible energy storage devices with ultrahigh areal capacity and excellent cycling stability are highly desired for portable and wearable electronics. Bimetal hydroxides with low crystallinity are preferred as electrode materials due to their advantageous features of high electrochemical performance, rapid ion diffusion and high structure stability enabled by lattice disorder. Herein, holey NiMn-hydroxide (NiMn-OH) nanosheets with abundant lattice disorder induced by Jahn-Teller distortion are grown vertically on carbon cloth and their loading level reaches as high as 3.27 mg cm-2. The obtained NiMn-OH nanosheets demonstrate a superior capacity of 881 µAh cm-2 at 3 mA cm-2 and outstanding rate capability (66.4% capacity retained at 30 mA cm-2). The flexible all-solid hybrid device (NiMn-OH//Fe2O3) delivers a high energy density of 573.8 µW h cm-2 at a power density of 2.4 mW cm-2 and more importantly exhibits good cycling stability with 90.1% retained after 10 000 cycles and mechanical robustness. This proof-of-principle investigation is opening up a viable way to develop high performance electrodes for flexible energy storage devices.

Mechanistic insight in site-selective and anisotropic etching of prussian blue analogues toward designable complex architectures for efficient energy storage.

Engineering coordination compounds, e.g., prussian blue (PB) and its analogues (PBAs), with designable complex nanostructures via chemical etching holds great opportunities for improving energy storage performances by adjusting topological geometry, selectively exposing active sites, tuning electronic properties and enhancing accessible surface area. Unfortunately, it remains ambiguous particularly on site-selective and anisotropic etching behaviors. Herein, for the first time, we propose that two distinct regions are formed inside NiCo PBA (NCP) cubes due to the competition between classical ion-by-ion crystallization and non-classical crystallization based on aggregation. Such a unique structure ultimately determines not only the etching position but also the anisotropic pathway by selectively exposing unprotected Ni sites. According to this principle, complex PBA architectures, including nanocages, open nanocubes (constructed by six cones sharing the same apex), nanocones, and chamfer nanocubes can be intentionally obtained. After thermal annealing, NCP nanocones are converted to morning glory-like porous architectures composed of NiO/NiCo2O4 heterostructures with a mean particle size of 5 nm, which show improved rate performance and cycling stability.

Electrostatically Assembling 2D Nanosheets of MXene and MOF-Derivatives into 3D Hollow Frameworks for Enhanced Lithium Storage.

As an essential member of 2D materials, MXene (e.g., Ti3 C2 Tx ) is highly preferred for energy storage owing to a high surface-to-volume ratio, shortened ion diffusion pathway, superior electronic conductivity, and neglectable volume change, which are beneficial for electrochemical kinetics. However, the low theoretical capacitance and restacking issues of MXene severely limit its practical application in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, a facile and controllable method is developed to engineer 2D nanosheets of negatively charged MXene and positively charged layered double hydroxides derived from ZIF-67 polyhedrons into 3D hollow frameworks via electrostatic self-assembling. After thermal annealing, transition metal oxides (TMOs)@MXene (CoO/Co2 Mo3 O8 @MXene) hollow frameworks are obtained and used as anode materials for LIBs. CoO/Co2 Mo3 O8 nanosheets prevent MXene from aggregation and contribute remarkable lithium storage capacity, while MXene nanosheets provide a 3D conductive network and mechanical robustness to facilitate rapid charge transfer at the interface, and accommodate the volume expansion of the internal CoO/Co2 Mo3 O8 . Such hollow frameworks present a high reversible capacity of 947.4 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 , an impressive rate behavior with 435.8 mAh g-1 retained at 5 A g-1 , and good stability over 1200 cycles (545 mAh g-1 at 2 A g-1 ).

Identifying the active site of ultrathin NiCo LDH as an efficient peroxidase mimic with superior substrate affinity for sensitive detection of hydrogen peroxide.

Nanozymes have been extensively investigated to imitate protein enzymes in biomimetic chemistry and the identification of the active site is believed to be the pre-requisite before one can effectively regulate their activity. Herein, ultrathin NiCo LDH nanosheets are synthesized via a fast co-precipitation at room temperature and can be stably dispersed in water without any additives of surfactants or organic solvents. By tuning the ratio between Ni and Co in LDH nanosheets, the activity is tuned and their peroxidase-like activity is determined by Co sites that show higher affinity to both 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) due to the strong Lewis acidity of Co3+ and the low redox potential of Co3+/Co2+. Together with their small crystallite size, ultra-thin thickness and tunable composition, NiCo LDH is used as a nanozyme for highly sensitive colorimetric detection of H2O2 and the limit of detection (LOD) reaches 0.48 µM.

Construction of triazolyl bidentate glycoligands (TBGs) by grafting of 3-azidocoumarin to epimeric pyranoglycosides via a fluorogenic dual click reaction.

Glycoligands, which feature a glycoside as the central template incorporating Lewis bases as metal chelation sites and various fluorophores as the chemical reporter, represent a range of interesting scaffolds for development of chemosensors. Here, new types of triazolyl bidentate glycoligands (TBGs) based on the grafting of 3-azidocoumarin to the C2,3- or C4,6-positions of three epimeric pyranoglycosides including a glucoside, a galactoside, and a mannoside were efficiently synthesized via a fluorogenic dual click reaction assisted by microwave irradiation. The desired TBGs were afforded in high conversion rates (>90%) and reasonable yields (∼70%). Moreover, a preliminary optical study of two hydroxyl-free glucoside-based TBGs indicates that these compounds are strongly fluorescent in pure water, implying their potential for ion detections in aqueous media.