H* Species Regulation by Mn-Co(OH)2 for Efficient Nitrate Electro-reduction in Neutral Solution.

During the electrocatalytic NO3 - reduction reaction (NO3 - RR) under neutral condition, the activation of H2 O to generate H* and the inhibition of inter-H* species binding, are critically important but remain challenging for suppressing the non-desirable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, a Mn-doped Co(OH)2 (named as Mn-Co(OH)2 ) has been synthesized by in situ reconstruction in the electrolyte, which is able to dissociate H2 O molecules but inhibits the binding of H* species between each other owing to the increased interatomic spacing by the Mn-doping. The Mn-Co(OH)2 electrocatalyst offers a faradaic efficiency (FE) of as high as 98.9±1.7% at -0.6 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and an energy efficiency (EE) of 49.90±1.03% for NH3 production by NO3 - RR, which are among the highest of the recently reported state-of-the-art catalysts in neutral electrolyte. Moreover, negligible degradation at -200 mA cm-2 has been found for at least 500 h, which is the longest catalytic durations ever reported. This work paves a novel approach for the design and synthesis of efficient NO3 - RR electrocatalysts.

[Effect of weight growth velocity in the early stage after birth on neurodevelopment of preterm infants at the corrected age of 12 months].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of weight growth velocity in the early stage after birth on the neurodevelopment of preterm infants at the corrected age of 12 months. METHODS: Related data were collected from the preterm infants who were discharged from the Department of Neonatology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, from July 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019 and were followed up at the outpatient service of high-risk infants. According to the weight growth velocity from birth to the corrected gestational age of 40 weeks, the infants were divided into two groups: low velocity [< 10 g/(kg·d); n=21] and high velocity [≥10 g/(kg·d); n=87]. At the corrected ages of 3, 6, and 12 months, Gesell Developmental Schedules were used to evaluate and compare neurodevelopment between the two groups. RESULTS: At the corrected age of 12 months, the low velocity group had a significantly lower score of fine motor (P < 0.05) and a significantly higher abnormal rate of language ability score compared with high velocity (P < 0.05). For the preterm infants with a birth weight of < 1 500 g or ≥1 500 g, the low velocity group had a significantly lower score of fine motor than the high velocity group (P < 0.05); for the preterm infants with a birth weight of ≥1 500 g, the low velocity group had a significantly higher abnormal rate of language ability score than the high velocity group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The weight growth velocity from birth to the corrected age of 40 weeks affects the development of fine motor and language in preterm infants at the corrected age of 12 months; however it needs to be further verified by large-sample studies.

[A clinical analysis of neurobehavioral development within one year after birth in preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) on neurobehavioral development within one year after birth in preterm infants. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed for the preterm infants with a gestational age of <34 weeks who were born from September 2017 to December 2019 and completed the follow-up assessments of neurobehavioral development at the corrected gestational ages of 40 weeks and 3, 6, and 12 months. According to their diagnosis, they were divided into a BPD group with 23 infants and a non-BPD group with 27 infants. The outcome of neurobehavioral development was compared between the two groups at different time points. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the neonatal behavioral neurological assessment score between the BPD and non-BPD groups at the corrected gestational age of 40 weeks (P>0.05). Based on the Gesell Developmental Scale, compared with the non-BPD group, the BPD group had significantly lower global developmental quotient (DQ) and DQs of fine motor, adaptive behavior, and personal-social behavior at the corrected gestational ages of 3, 6, and 12 months (P<0.05). For both groups, the DQ of language at the corrected gestational age of 6 months was significantly higher than that at the corrected gestational age of 12 months (P<0.017), the DQ of personal-social behavior at the corrected gestational age of 6 months was significantly higher than that at the corrected gestational age of 3 months (P<0.017), and the DQ of adaptive behavior at the corrected gestational age of 12 months was significantly higher than that at the corrected gestational ages of 3 and 6 months (P<0.017). Based on the BSID-II scale, there were no significant differences in mental development index and psychomotor development index at each time point between the two groups (P>0.05). The mental development index at the corrected gestational age of 3 months was significantly higher than that at the corrected gestational ages of 6 and 12 months in both groups (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Preterm infants with BPD have delayed neurodevelopment within one year after birth compared with those without BPD, which should be taken seriously in clinical practice.

Effect of parental physiological conditions and assisted reproductive technologies on the pregnancy and birth outcomes in infertile patients.

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are widely used to treat infertility. Emerging evidence suggested that ART was associated with perinatal or neonatal problems, however, little is known about the ART related risk factors. Here using 21136 ART cases, we determined the impacts of parental physiological conditions in the ART mediated pregnancy outcomes. In addition, we further evaluated the effects of three different ART methods (frozen-thawed embryo transfer [FET], in vitro fertilization [IVF] and intracytoplasmic sperm injection [ICSI]) in the pregnancy and birth outcomes in ART mediated pregnancy. Our data revealed that older parental age increases the risks of abortion, preterm birth and low body weight birth. Higher maternal BMI (Body mass index) level correlates with higher abortion rate. Moreover, pregnancy with multiple fetuses has severer adverse outcomes compared to singleton pregnancy. Among the three ART methods, ICSI is associated with lower ratios of ectopic pregnancy, abortion and deformity compared to FET and IVF. Our study revealed new clinical insights into the ART related risk factors and suggested that both the parental physiological conditions and ART methods should be evaluated to develop better ART mediated infertility treatments.

[Determination of indirubin and indigo in Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek by HPLC].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a method for content determination of indirubin and indigo in Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek. METHOD: HPLC was used with C18 column, methanol-water (75:25) as mobile phase and detecting wavelength 289 nm. RESULTS: The range linear curve was 3.875 approximately 23.25 microg/ml (indirubin), 3.05 approximately 18.3 microg/ml (indigo). The average recovery was 96.9%, RSD =3.5%, n =5 (indirubin); 96.9% RSD = 2.8%, n = 5 (indigo). CONCLUSION: The method is proper for the quality control of Baphicacanthus cusia (Nees) Bremek.