Phase-Engineered Dichalcogenides/Fluorine-Free V4C3Tx (T = OH, O) Heterostructures for pH-Universal Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

This research addresses the pH-dependency limitation in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) by creating heterostructures through the chemical bonding between 2D-dichalcogenides and V4C3Tx (T = OH, O) planes. The one-step solvothermal synthesis employed in this study constructs a synergistically interacted 1T phase of, e.g., MoS2 and V4C3Tx MXene, demonstrating an omnidirectional improvement on catalytic stability, active site exposure, surface area enlargement, electrical conductivity, and hence enhancement of water dissociation activities. Despite the notable progress in creating hydrogen production catalysts with ground breaking performances, a significant gap remains in the availability of catalysts capable of functioning effectively under high current densities. The catalyst 1T MoS2@V4C3Tx shows remarkable activities under the current density of 1000 mA cm-2, which require overpotentials of 16, 24, and 37 mV in 0.5 m H2SO4, 1 m KOH, and 0.1 m PBS electrolytes, respectively at 10 mA cm-2, and exhibits excellent HER performance with small overpotentials of 103.16 and 138 mV to achieve current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm-2, respectively, with outstanding stability for 1000 cylic voltammetric cycle HER test without degradation in acidic media. Enhanced HER performance has also been observed in other 2D-dichalcogenides/V4C3Tx heterostructures, providing prospects for phase-engineered dichalcogenides/fluorine-free V4C3Tx composites for pH-universal HER.

Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy with Cilioretinal artery occlusion: a case report.

BACKGROUND: To describe a peculiar case of concurrent non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) and cilioretinal arteries occlusion (CLRAO) without other causative agents which responded well to intravenous and intravitreal injection of corticosteroids. CASE PRESENTATION: A 41-year-old woman presented with painless vision loss in the right eye for 1 week. Fundus examinations showed marked disc swelling, flame-shaped hemorrhage over the superior nerve fiber area, and well-demarcated retinal ischemia superior to the fovea in the right eye. Under the impression of NAION with branch retinal artery occlusion, the patient was treated with intravenous and intravitreal injection of corticosteroids. Two months later, as the disc swelling and retinal ischemia resolved, we found that the occluded artery was the cilioretinal artery and not the ordinary branch retinal artery. CONCLUSIONS: CLRAO may be concomitant with the setting of NAION, the physicians should be aware that CLRAO may be misinterpreted as BRAO owing to profound disc edema during the early stages of the disease.

Postoperative herpetic endophthalmitis-A case report.

We report a case of herpetic endophthalmitis following cataract surgery. A 65-year-old man underwent uneventful phacoemulsification and vision improved within the first few postoperative days. However, visual loss with an anterior chamber reaction of ++++ and a ++ vitreous cell were noted in the 4th postoperative week. Repeated intravitreal injection of vancomycin and ceftriaxone, pars plana vitrectomy and removal of the intraocular lens (IOL), and the capsular bag were performed sequentially but in vain. Bacterial, mycobacterial, and fungal culture of the IOL and capsular bag demonstrated negative findings. Pathological examination revealed no pathogen but a number of mononuclear cells and several multinuclear giant cells. Serology exam revealed positive herpes simplex virus immunoglobulin (Ig)M and IgG. The intraocular inflammation resolved soon after changing antibiotics to oral valcyclovir.

Genetic variations of the ADIPOQgene and risk of prostate cancer in Chinese Han men.

Adiponectin secreted by adipose tissue has been implicated in prostate carcinogenesis. Genetic variations in ADIPOQ are thought to influence the activity of adiponectin, thus relating to cancer occurrence. In this hospital-based case-control study of 917 prostate cancer (PCa) cases and 1036 cancer-free controls, we evaluated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in ADIPOQ with risk of PCa and adiponectin levels in Chinese Han men. Variants of ADIPOQ were genotyped by Taqman polymerase chain reaction method. The plasma adiponectin concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in a subset of cases and controls. We found that the ADIPOQ rs3774262 variant AA genotype was associated with both decreased PCa risk [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) =0.48-0.92] and increased plasma adiponectin levels (P = 0.036 and 0.043), with significant difference by tumor grade, clinical stage, and aggressiveness. A significant interaction between ADIPOQ rs3774262 and body mass index was observed in modifying the risk of PCa (P = 6.7 × 10⁻³). ADIPOQ rs266729 and rs182052 were not related to PCa risk or plasma adiponectin levels. Our data support that ADIPOQ rs3774262 may affect PCa risk in combination with plasma adiponectin levels in Chinese Han men. It may contribute to the molecular basis for the association between obesity and PCa.

[On-farm conservation and utilization of paddy rice, wheat and maize landrace varieties in 15 unique ethnic groups in Yunnan, China].

On-farm conservation and utilization of crop landraces have been proposed as means of conserving plant germplasm, in contrast to ex situ germplasm conservation, but little is known about the effectiveness of this approach. This paper reports the findings from a survey conducted in 15 unique ethnic groups of the Yunnan Province on the conservation and utilization of paddy rice, wheat (including wheat, barley, oats, and rye) and maize landrace varieties through participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and questionnaires. The surveyed regions covered 306 villages (the village group) from 237 administrative villages in 124 towns (township) distributed in 36 counties of 11 prefectures (city) in Yunnan Province. The survey showed that 44.8%, 77.5%, and 37.3% of the visited villages had lost their paddy rice, wheat, and maize landraces, respectively. A total of 901 landraces were collected, including 371 rice, 119 wheat, and 411 maize varieties, respectively. There were 2.9 on-farm varieties on average per village, 3.3, 8.0 and 5.2 varieties on average per 100 households, 1 000 peasants and 100 Ha farmland areas, respectively. Among the 306 villages, two villages (Laomian and Qingkou) maintained the highest crop diversity with 18 varieties (including 10 rice and 8 maize varieties) and 14 paddy rice varieties. Also, on-farm varieties in different ethnic groups varied significantly from each other, ranging from 16 to 120 varieties per group. The diversity of paddy rice varieties was the highest, ranging from 1 to 72, and the diversity was mainly distributed in southern, southwest Yunnan of tropical, subtropical ethnic regions. The wheat varieties ranged from 0 to 47 and distributed in northern, northwest Yunnan of high altitude, temperature, and cold ethnic regions. The maize varieties ranged from 4 to 40. These patterns of variation in on-farm varieties are directly associated with traditional culture and custom for the ethnic minorities and reflect the lack of improved varieties for the local special environments. These findings confirm the role of on-farm conservation in plant genetic resources in China and provide baseline information for better on-farm conservation and utilization of plant germplasm in China.

[Analysis of genetic variation in rice paddy landraces across 30 years as revealed by microsatellite DNA markers].

To reveal the genetic variation of rice paddy landraces across 30 years, we compared the genetic variation of between 6 paddy rice landraces grown in Yuanyang Hani's terraced fields in Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province in the 1970s (past-grown landraces) and 6 paired ones that have been grown during the past decade (current-grown landraces) using 60 SSR markers. The results showed that one to four alleles were amplified in 60 loci and 159 alleles in all the landraces tested. The number of alleles from the current-grown landraces decreased by 7 alleles compared to the past-grown landraces. The average number of alleles (Na), effective number of alleles (Ne), locus polymorphism information content (PIC), and genotype diversity (H') of the past-grown landraces were higher than those of the current-grown landraces, with Na of 2.567>2.450, Ne of 2.052>1.968, PIC of 0.469>0.439, and H' of 0.768>0.722. The average genetic similarity coefficient (GS) of the past-grown landraces was 0.437 with a range from 0.200 to 0.700 based on the 60 SSR markers, and the average GS of the current-grown landraces was 0.473 with a range from 0.117 to 0.667. In conclusion, the genetic diversity in current-grown landraces was decreased compared to the past-grown landraces, and the degree of variation in some of the allele locus varied in different rice landraces as a result of 30 years' natural and artificial selection.

A simple cryo-holder facilitates specimen observation under a conventional scanning electron microscope.

A pre-cryogenic holder (cryo-holder) facilitating cryo-specimen observation under a conventional scanning electron microscope (SEM) is described. This cryo-holder includes a specimen-holding unit (the stub) and a cryogenic energy-storing unit (a composite of three cylinders assembled with a screw). After cooling, the cryo-holder can continue supplying cryogenic energy to extend the observation time for the specimen in a conventional SEM. Moreover, the cryogenic energy-storing unit could retain appropriate liquid nitrogen that can evaporate to prevent frost deposition on the surface of the specimen. This device is proved feasible for various tissues and cells, and can be applied to the fields of both biology and material science. We have employed this novel cryo-holder for observation of yeast cells, trichome, and epidermal cells in the leaf of Arabidopsis thaliana, compound eyes of insects, red blood cells, filiform papillae on the surface of rat tongue, agar medium, water molecules, penicillium, etc. All results suggested that the newly designed cryo-holder is applicable for cryo-specimen observation under a conventional SEM without cooling system. Most importantly, the design of this cryo-holder is simple and easy to operate and could adapt a conventional SEM to a plain type cryo-SEM affordable for most laboratories.