Comparison of the efficacy of acupuncture with tuina with acupuncture-only in the treatment of peripheral facial paralysis: a network meta-analysis.

At present, traditional Chinese medicine treatment is considered safe for treating peripheral facial paralysis (PFP). Acupuncture-only and acupuncture combined with tuina are widely used for this purpose. However, it is not clear whether acupuncture combined with tuina is better for treating PFP than acupuncture-only. Conventional meta-analysis and network meta-analysis were used to compare the clinical efficacies of acupuncture combined with tuina and acupuncture-only in the treatment of PFP. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), with the subjects being patients with PFP and treatment interventions including acupuncture combined with tuina, acupuncture-only, tuina-only, placebo, single Western medicine, and steroids combined with other Western medicine were searched from both Chinese and English databases. The primary outcomes included Modified House-Brackmann (MHBN) scores and Sunnybrook Facial Grading System, whereas the secondary outcomes included cure time, Portmann scores, and physical function scale of Facial Disability Index, using conventional meta-analysis and network meta-analysis. The study included 22 RCTs with a sample size of 1814 patients. The results of conventional meta-analysis (MD = 16.12, 95%CI 13.13,19.10) and network meta-analysis (MD = 14.53, 95%CI 7.57,21.49) indicate that acupuncture combined with tuina was better than acupuncture-only in improving MHBN and shortening the cure time (MD = - 6.09, 95%CI - 7.70, - 4.49). Acupuncture combined with tuina was the optimal therapy for improving MHBN (SUCRA was 100%) and shortening the cure time (SUCRA was 100%). The results of this meta-analysis indicate that acupuncture combined with tuina can significantly improve MHBN and shorten the cure time, compared with acupuncture-only. However, the current evidence is insufficient, and more high-quality clinical studies are needed.Registration: This study had been registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022379395).

Oxalic Acid-Assisted Vacancy Engineering Promotes Iron-Copper Sulfide Nanosheets for High-Current Density Water Oxidation.

The effective defect and interface coupling are pivotal for the promotion of the catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction. Herein, we report novel hybrid nanosheets with sulfur vacancies composed of FeS2 and Cu39S28 grown on Cu foam (Vs-FeS2/Cu39S28). The optimal Vs-FeS2/Cu39S28 exhibits a high current output of 500 mA cm-2 at a low overpotential of 370 mV and robust stability for 60 h at 100 mA cm-2, surpassing the values of most previously reported Cu-based catalysts. Furthermore, a two-electrode electrolyzer made by pairing the prepared catalyst with commercial Pt/C requires a low cell voltage of 1.75 V at 100 mA cm-2 and is retained over 80 h. Key to its excellent performance is the synergism between intertwined FeS2 and Cu39S28 domains, enriched by the deliberate introduction of sulfur vacancies, thus optimizing the electronic structure and causing the proliferation of catalytic active sites. This work presents a potent Cu-based electrocatalyst and emphasizes the leveraging of non-precious metals for efficient water oxidation.

Niobium-Incorporated CoSe2 Nanothorns with Electronic Structural Alterations for Efficient Alkaline Oxygen Evolution Reaction at High Current Density.

Developing cost-effective, highly active, and robust electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at high current density is a critical challenge in water electrolysis since the sluggish kinetics of the OER significantly impedes the energy conversion efficiency of overall water splitting. Here, a 1D nanothorn-like Nb-CoSe2 /CC (CC=carbon cloth) structure was developed as an efficient OER catalyst. The optimized Nb-CoSe2 /CC catalyst exhibited remarkable OER performance with the low overpotentials of 220 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and 297 mV 200 mA cm-2 and a small Tafel slope (54.1 mV dec-1 ) in 1.0 m KOH electrolyte. More importantly, the Nb-CoSe2 /CC electrode displayed superior stability after 60 h of continuous operation. In addition, cell voltages of 1.52 and 1.93 V were required to achieve 10 and 500 mA cm-2 for the electrolyzer made of Nb-CoSe2 /CC (anode) and the Pt/C (cathode). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with experimental results revealed that incorporating niobium into the CoSe2 could optimize the adsorption free energy of the reaction intermediates and enhance the conductivity to improve the catalytic activity further. Additionally, the super-hydrophilicity of Nb-CoSe2 /CC resulting from the surface defects increased the surface wettability and facilitated reaction kinetics. These results indicate that Nb-CoSe2 /CC intrinsically enhances OER performance and possesses potential practical water electrolysis applications.

Electronic Modulation of Pt Nanoparticles on Ni3N-Mo2C by Support-Induced Strategy for Accelerating Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution.

Electrochemical energy conversion and storage through hydrogen has revolutionized sustainable energy systems using fuel cells and electrolyzers. Regrettably, the sluggish alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) hampers advances in fuel cells. Herein, we report a Pt/Ni3N-Mo2C bifunctional electrocatalyst toward HOR and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The Pt/Ni3N-Mo2C exhibits remarkable HOR/HER performance in alkaline media. The mass activity at 50 mV and exchange current density of HOR are 5.1 and 1.5 times that of commercial Pt/C, respectively. Moreover, it possesses an impressive HER activity with an overpotential of 11 mV @ 10 mA cm-2, which is lower than that of Pt/C and most reported electrocatalysts under the same conditions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with experimental results reveal that Pt/Ni3N-Mo2C not only possesses an optimal balance between hydrogen binding energy (HBE) and OH- adsorption but also facilitates water adsorption and dissociation on the catalyst surface, which contribute to the excellent HOR/HER performance. Thus, this work may guide bifunctional HOR/HER catalyst design in the conversion and transport of energy.