The cardiovascular system at high altitude: A bibliometric and visualization analysis.

BACKGROUND: When exposed to high-altitude environments, the cardiovascular system undergoes various changes, the performance and mechanisms of which remain controversial. AIM: To summarize the latest research advancements and hot research points in the cardiovascular system at high altitude by conducting a bibliometric and visualization analysis. METHODS: The literature was systematically retrieved and filtered using the Web of Science Core Collection of Science Citation Index Expanded. A visualization analysis of the identified publications was conducted employing CiteSpace and VOSviewer. RESULTS: A total of 1674 publications were included in the study, with an observed annual increase in the number of publications spanning from 1990 to 2022. The United States of America emerged as the predominant contributor, while Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia stood out as the institution with the highest publication output. Notably, Jean-Paul Richalet demonstrated the highest productivity among researchers focusing on the cardiovascular system at high altitude. Furthermore, Peter Bärtsch emerged as the author with the highest number of cited articles. Keyword analysis identified hypoxia, exercise, acclimatization, acute and chronic mountain sickness, pulmonary hypertension, metabolism, and echocardiography as the primary research hot research points and emerging directions in the study of the cardiovascular system at high altitude. CONCLUSION: Over the past 32 years, research on the cardiovascular system in high-altitude regions has been steadily increasing. Future research in this field may focus on areas such as hypoxia adaptation, metabolism, and cardiopulmonary exercise. Strengthening interdisciplinary and multi-team collaborations will facilitate further exploration of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying cardiovascular changes in high-altitude environments and provide a theoretical basis for standardized disease diagnosis and treatment.

In-situ Ultrafast Construction of Zinc Tungstate Interface Layer for Highly Reversible Zinc Anodes.

Constructing artificial solid electrolyte interface on the Zn anode surface is recognized as an appealing method to inhibit zinc dendrites and side reactions, whereas the current techniques are complex and time-consuming. Here, a robust and zincophilic zinc tungstate (ZnWO4) layer has been in situ constructed on the Zn anode surface (denoted as ZWO@Zn) by an ultrafast chemical solution reaction. Comprehensive characterizations and theoretical calculations demonstrate that the ZWO layer can effectively modulate the interfacial electric field distribution and promote the Zn2+ uniform diffusion, thus facilitating the uniform Zn2+ nucleation and suppressing zinc dendrites. Besides, ZWO layer can prevent direct contact between the Zn/water and increase the hydrogen evolution reaction overpotential to eliminate side reactions. Consequently, the in-situ constructed ZWO layer facilitates remarkable reversibility in the ZWO@Zn||Ti battery, achieving an impressive Coulombic efficiency of 99.36% under 1.0 mA cm-2, unprecedented cycling lifespan exceeding 1800 h under 1.0 mA cm-2 in ZWO@Zn||ZWO@Zn battery, and a steady and reliable operation of the overall ZWO@Zn||VS2 battery. The work provides a simple, low cost, and ultrafast pathway to crafting protective layers for driving advancements in aqueous zinc-metal batteries.

Successful treatment of Purpureocillium lilacinum pulmonary infection with isavuconazole: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Purpureocillium lilacinum (P. lilacinum) is a saprophytic fungus widespread in soil and vegetation. As a causative agent, it is very rarely detected in humans, most commonly in the skin. CASE SUMMARY: In this article, we reported the case of a 72-year-old patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who was admitted with cough and fever. Computed tomography revealed an infection in the right lower lobe. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid culture and metagenomic next-generation sequencing were ultimately confirmed to have a pulmonary infection with P. lilacinum. She was eventually discharged with good outcomes after treatment with isavuconazole. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary infection with P. lilacinum was exceedingly rare. While currently there are no definitive therapeutic agents, there are reports of high resistance to amphotericin B and fluconazole and good sensitivity to second-generation triazoles. The present report is the first known use of isavuconazole for pulmonary P. lilacinum infection. It provides new evidence for the characterization and treatment of clinical P. lilacinum lung infections.

Variational autoencoder-assisted unsupervised hardware fingerprint authentication in a fiber network.

Physical-layer authentication (PLA) based on hardware fingerprints can safeguard optical networks against large-scale masquerade or active injection attacks. However, traditional schemes rely on massive labeled close-set data. Here, we propose an unsupervised hardware fingerprint authentication based on a variational autoencoder (VAE). Specifically, the triplets are generated through variational inference on unlabeled optical spectra and then applied to train the feature extractor, which has an excellent generalization ability and enables fingerprint feature extraction from previously unknown optical transmitters. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is experimentally verified by the successful classification of eight optical transmitters after a 20 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) transmission, to distinguish efficiently the rogue from legal devices. A recognition accuracy of 99% and a miss alarm rate of 0% are achieved even under the interference of multiple rogue devices. Moreover, the proposed scheme is verified to have a comparable performance with the results obtained from supervised learning.

Constructing Highly Stable Zinc Metal Anodes via Induced Zn(002) Growth.

The nonuniform electric field at the surface of a zinc (Zn) anode, coupled with water-induced parasitic reactions, exacerbates the growth of Zn dendrites, presenting a significant impediment to large-scale energy storage in aqueous Zn-ion batteries. One of the most convenient strategies for mitigating dendrite-related issues involves controlling crystal growth through electrolyte additives. Herein, we present thiamine hydrochloride (THC) as an electrolyte additive capable of effectively stabilizing the preferential deposition of the Zn(002) plane. First-principles calculations reveal that THC tends to adsorb on Zn(100) and Zn(101) planes and is capable of inducing the deposition of Zn ion onto the (002) plane and the preferential growth of the (002) plane, resulting in a flat and compact deposition layer. A THC additive not only effectively suppresses dendrite growth but also prevents the generation of side reactions and hydrogen evolution reaction. Consequently, the Zn||Zn symmetric battery exhibits long-term cycling stability of over 3000 h at 1 mA cm-2/1 mAh cm-2 and 1000 h at 10 mA cm-2/10 mAh cm-2. Furthermore, the NH4V4O10||Zn full battery also displays excellent cycling stability and a high reversible capacity of 210 mAh g-1 after 1000 cycles at 1 A g-1, highlighting a significant potential for practical applications.

Hollow Layered Iron-Based Prussian Blue Cathode with Reduced Defects for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Fe-based Prussian blue (Fe-PB) analogues have emerged as promising cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries, owing to their cost-effectiveness, high theoretical capacity, and environmental friendliness. However, their practical application is hindered by [Fe(CN)6] defects, negatively impacting capacity and cycle stability. This work reports a hollow layered Fe-PB composite material using 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (BTA) as a chelating and etching agent by the hydrothermal method. Compared to benzoic acid, our approach significantly reduces defects and enhances the yield of Fe-PB. Notably, the hollow layered structure shortens the diffusion path of sodium ions, enhances the activity of low-spin Fe in the Fe-PB lattice, and mitigates volume changes during Na-ion insertion/extraction into/from Fe-PB. As a sodium-ion battery cathode, this hollow layered Fe-PB exhibits an impressive initial capacity of 95.9 mAh g-1 at a high current density of 1 A g-1. Even after 500 cycles, it still maintains a considerable discharge capacity of 73.1 mAh g-1, showing a significantly lower capacity decay rate (0.048%) compared to the control sample (0.089%). Moreover, the full cell with BTA-PB-1.6 as the cathode and HC as the anode provides a considerable energy density of 312.2 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 291.0 W kg-1. This research not only enhances the Na storage performance of Fe-PB but also increases the yield of products obtained by hydrothermal methods, providing some technical reference for the production of PB materials using the low-yield hydrothermal method.

In situ fluoro-oxygen codoped graphene layer for high-performance lithium metal anode.

Because traditional lithium-ion batteries have been unable to meet the energy density requirements of various emerging fields, lithium-metal batteries (LMBs), known for their high energy density, are considered promising next-generation energy storage batteries. However, a series of problems, including low coulombic efficiency and low safety caused by dendrites, limit the application of lithium metal batteries. Herein, fluoro-oxygen codoped graphene (FGO) was used to modify the copper current collector (FGO@Cu). FGO-coated current collector provides more even nucleation sites to reduce the local effective current density. FGO is partly reduced during cycling and helps form stable LiF-rich SEI. Moreover, graphene's oxygen and fluorine functional groups reconstruct the current density distribution, promoting uniform lithium plating. The FGO@Cu current collector demonstrates superior properties than commercial Cu foil. The FGO@Cu delivers a 97% high CE for over 250 cycles at 1 mA cm-2. The FGO@Cu symmetrical battery cycled at 1 mA cm-2 for over 650 h. LiFePO4 fuel cell with a lithium-plated FGO@Cu collector as an anode exhibits superior cycling stability.

High-Rate and Ultra-Stable aqueous Zinc-Ion batteries enabled by Potassium-Infused ammonium vanadate nanosheets.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), defined by low expenses, superior safety, and plentiful reserves, demonstrate tremendous development potential in energy storage systems at the grid scale. Whereas the cathode instability and the limited diffusion of Zn2+ have impeded the development of AZIBs. Herein, a high-performance K-NH4V4O10 (K-NVO) cathode with K+ doping synthesized successfully through one-step hydrothermal approach. Experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that K-NVO has Zn2+ diffusion pathways with lower barriers for smoother transport, and lower formation energy. The combination of the rapid Zn2+ diffusion and the stable structure results in outstanding electrochemical performance of K-NVO as demonstrated in tests. K-NVO cathode achieves a specific capacity of 406 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1, maintains satisfactory cyclic stability with 81.6 % capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 5 A g-1, and possesses a high energy density of 350.9 Wh kg-1. Furthermore, confirmation of the zinc storage mechanism in K-NVO was carried out through Ex situ tests, such as XRD and XPS. This research contributes a unique perspective to the formulation of high-performance cathode materials for AZIBs.

Achieving High Rate and Long Cycle Performance of Na2FePO4F Cathode Through Co-Modification of Ti Doping and Carbon Coating.

Layered Na2FePO4F (NFPF) cathode material has received widespread attention due to its green nontoxicity, abundant raw materials, and low cost. However, its poor inherent electronic conductivity and sluggish sodium ion transportation seriously impede its capacity delivery and cycling stability. In this work, NFPF by Ti doping and conformal carbon layer coating via solid-state reaction is modified. The results of experimental study and density functional theory calculations reveal that Ti doping enhances intrinsic conductivity, accelerates Na-ion transport, and generates more Na-ion storage sites, and pyrolytic carbon from polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) uniformly coated on the NFPF surface improves the surface/interface conductivity and suppresses the side reactions. Under the combined effect of Ti doping and carbon coating, the optimized NFPF (marked as 5T-NF@C) exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, with a high capacity of 108.4 mAh g-1 at 0.2C, a considerable capacity of 80.0 mAh g-1 even at high current density of 10C, and a high capacity retention rate of 81.8% after 2000 cycles at 10C. When assembled into a full cell with a hard carbon anode, 5T-NF@C also show good applicability. This work indicates that co-modification of Ti doping and carbon coating makes NFPF achieve high rate and long cycle performance for sodium-ion batteries.

Stabilizing a Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3/Li metal anode interface in solid-state batteries with a LiF/Cu-rich multifunctional interlayer.

Li1.3Al0.3Ti1.7(PO4)3 (LATP) has attracted much attention due to its high ionic conductivity, good air stability and low cost. However, the practical application of LATP in all-solid-state lithium batteries faces serious challenges, such as high incompatibility with lithium metal and high interfacial impedance. Herein, a CuF2 composite layer was constructed at a Li/LATP interface by a simple drop coating method. CuF2 in the interlayer reacts with lithium metal in situ to form a multifunctional interface rich in Cu and LiF. The multifunctional layer not only brings about close interfacial contact between LATP and Li metal, but also effectively prevents the electrochemical reaction of LATP with Li metal, and suppresses the electron tunneling and dendrite growth at the interface. The interfacial resistance of Li/CuF2@LATP/Li symmetric batteries is significantly reduced from 562 to 92 Ω, and the critical current density is increased to 1.7 mA cm-2. An impressive stable cycle performance of over 6000 h at 0.1 mA cm-2/0.1 mA h cm-2, 2200 h at 0.2 mA cm-2/0.2 mA h cm-2 and 1600 h at 0.3 mA cm-2/0.3 mA h cm-2 is achieved. Full batteries of LiFePO4/CuF2@LATP/Li also show a high capacity retention ratio of 80.3% after 540 cycles at 25 °C. This work provides an effective and simple composite layer solution to address the interfacial problem of Li/LATP.

The establishment and evaluation of a swine model of deinagkistrodon acutus snakebite envenomation.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a preclinical large-animal model of Deinagkistrodon acutus snakebite envenomation and evaluate its feasibility. METHODS: The venom of D. acutus (0 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg, or 10 mg/kg) was injected into the left biceps femoris of 11 male pigs. Then, the circumferences of the limbs were regularly measured, and changes in muscle injury biomarkers, blood parameters, coagulation function, vital organ function and injury biomarkers were regularly detected. At 24 h after venom injection, the animals were euthanized, and the pathological damage to the vital organs mentioned above was evaluated. RESULTS: The two pigs receiving 10 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg snake venom died at 8 h and 12 h after injection, respectively. The remaining pigs were equally divided into 0 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg, and 2 mg/kg snake venom groups, and all of them survived to 24 h after injection. Compared with the pigs receiving 0 mg/kg snake venom, the pigs receiving 1 mg/kg or 2 mg/kg snake venom exhibited significant abnormities, including limb swelling; increased muscle injury biomarker creatine kinase (CK) and coagulation function indicators prothrombin time and D-dimer; and decreased blood routine indicator platelet and coagulation function indicator fibrinogen. Moreover, significant abnormalities in myocardial and cerebral function and injury biomarkers in the heart, brain, liver, kidney and intestine were also observed. In particular, the abnormalities mentioned above were significantly obvious in those pigs receiving 2 mg/kg snake venom. Pathological evaluation revealed that the morphology of muscle, heart, brain, liver, kidney, and intestine in those pigs receiving 0 mg/kg snake venom was normal; however, pathological damage was observed in those pigs receiving 1 mg/kg and 2 mg/kg snake venom. Similarly, the pathological damage was more severe in those pigs receiving 2 mg/kg snake venom. CONCLUSION: The intramuscular injection of 2 mg/kg D. acutus venom seems to be an optimal dose for examining the preclinical efficacy of existing and novel therapeutics for treating D. acutus envenomation in pigs.

A 300†km fiber channel mapping using neural networks for Gb/s physical-layer key distribution.

Physical-layer secure key distribution (PLSKD) generally acquires highly correlated entropy sources via bidirectional transmission to share the channel reciprocity. For long-haul fiber links, the non-negligible backscattering noise (BSN) and the challenge of bidirectional optical amplification degrade the key generation performances. Since the channel reciprocity can be precisely mapped using neural networks (NNs), unidirectional PLSKD provides a feasible PLSKD for longer fiber links. Here, a final error-free key generation rate (KGR) in unidirectional PLSKD of 3.07 Gb/s is demonstrated over a 300 km fiber link using NNs. Moreover, the channel mapping is analyzed in terms of fiber distance, chromatic dispersion, the nonlinearity of random source, and BSN.

Sodium octanoate alleviates cardiac and cerebral injury after traumatic cardiac arrest in a porcine model.

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic cardiac arrest (TCA) is a severe condition with a high mortality rate, and patients who survive from TCA face a poor prognosis due to post-resuscitation injury, including cardiac and cerebral injury, which remains a serious challenge. Sodium octanoate has shown protective effects against various diseases. The present study aims to investigate sodium octanoate's protective effects against cardiac and cerebral injury after TCA in a porcine model. METHODS: The study included a total of 22 male domestic pigs divided into three groups: Sham group (n = 7), TCA group (n = 7), and sodium octanoate (SO) group (n = 8). Hemorrhage was initiated via the right femoral artery by a blood pump at a rate of 2 ml·kg-1·min-1 to establish TCA model. The Sham group underwent only endotracheal intubation and arteriovenous catheterization, without experiencing the blood loss/cardiac arrest/resuscitation model. At 5 min after resuscitation, the SO group received a continuous sodium octanoate infusion while the TCA group received the same volume of saline. General indicators were monitored, and blood samples were collected at baseline and at different time points after resuscitation. At 24 h after resuscitation, pigs were sacrificed, and heart and brain were obtained for cell apoptosis detection, iron deposition staining, oxidative stress detection, and the expression of ferroptosis-related proteins (ACSL4 and GPX4). RESULTS: Sodium octanoate significantly improved mean arterial pressure, cardiac output and ejection fraction induced by TCA. Serum biomarkers of cardiac and cerebral injury were found to increase at all time points after resuscitation, while sodium octanoate significantly reduced their levels. The apoptosis rates of cardiomyocytes and cerebral cortex cells in the SO group were significantly lower than in the TCA group, along with a reduced area of iron deposition staining. The sodium octanoate also reduced oxidative stress and down-regulated ferroptosis which was indicated by protein level alteration of ACSL4 and GPX4. CONCLUSION: Our study's findings suggest that early infusion of sodium octanoate significantly alleviates post-resuscitation cardiac and cerebral injury in a porcine model of TCA, possibly through inhibition of cell apoptosis and GPX4-mediated ferroptosis. Therefore, sodium octanoate could be a potential therapeutic strategy for patients with TCA.

Simultaneously Tailoring Zinc Deposition and Solvation Structure by Electrolyte Additive.

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted intense attention due to their high safety and low cost. Unfortunately, the serious dendrite growth and side reactions of the Zn metal anode in an aqueous electrolyte result in rapid battery failure, hindering the practical application of AZIBs. Herein, sodium gluconate as a dual-functional electrolyte additive has been employed to enhance the electrochemical performance of AZIBs. Gluconate anions preferentially adsorb on the surface of the Zn anode, which effectively prevents H2 evolution and induces uniform Zn deposition to suppress dendrite growth. Moreover, the gluconate anions can highly coordinate with Zn2+, promoting the dissolution of [Zn(H2O)6]2+ to inhibit side reactions and the water-induced corrosion reaction. As a result, the Zn||Zn symmetric battery exhibits a long-term cycling stability of over 3000 h at 1 mA cm-2/1 mA h cm-2 and 600 h at 10 mA cm-2/10 mA h cm-2. Furthermore, the NH4V4O10||Zn full battery also displays excellent cycling stability and a high reversible capacity of 193 mA h g-1 at 2 A g-1 after 1000 cycles. Given the low-cost advantage of SG, the proposed interface chemistry modulation strategy holds considerable potential for promoting the commercialization of AZIBs.

Constructing stable V2O5/V6O13 heterostructure interface with fast Zn2+ diffusion kinetics for ultralong lifespan zinc-ion batteries.

Given their plentiful reserves, impressive safety features, and economical pricing, aqueous zinc - ion batteries (ZIBs) have positioned themselves as strong competitors to lithium - ion batteries. Yet, the scarcity of available cathode materials poses a challenge to their continued development. In this study, a V2O5/V6O13 heterostructure has been synthesized using a one - pot hydrothermal approach and employed as the cathode material for ZIBs. As evidenced by both experimental and theoretical findings, V2O5/V6O13 heterostructure delivers a rapid electrons and ions diffusion kinetics promoted by the stable interface and strong electronic coupling with significant charge transfer between V2O5 and V6O13, as well as a stable interface achieved by adjusting V - O bond length. Consequently, the optimized V2O5/V6O13 heterostructure cathode of ZIBs demonstrates exceptional capacity (338 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1), remarkable cycling stability (92.96 % retained after 1400 cycles at 1 A g-1). Through comprehensive theoretical calculations and ex situ characterization, the kinetic analysis and storage mechanism of Zn2+ are thoroughly investigated, providing a solid theoretical foundation for the advancement of novel V - based cathode materials aimed at enhancing the performance of ZIBs.

Inorganic Hybrid Interfacial Layer for a Stable Zinc Metal Anode.

In aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), the zinc metal anode faces serious problems such as dendrite growth, interface corrosion, and byproduct accumulation, which hinder the commercialization process of AZIBs. Herein, an inorganic hybrid interfacial layer ZnF2/ZnSe (ZnFS) including the insulating interfacial phase (ZnF2) and conductive interfacial phase (ZnSe) has been manufactured. ZnF2 provides excellent corrosion resistance, inhibiting the corrosion and passivation of the zinc metal anode to enhance interfacial stability. The conductive ZnSe can reduce the interfacial resistance and induce the rapid migration of Zn2+, leading to the uniform deposition of Zn to inhibit the dendrite growth. Consequently, the Zn/ZnFS//Zn/ZnFS symmetrical batteries can run stably for more than 2200 h at 1 mA cm-2/1 mAh cm-2 and over 700 h at 5 mA cm-2/5 mAh cm-2. At the same time, the average Coulombic efficiency of the Zn/ZnFS//Ti half batteries reaches 98.3% after 600 cycles (1 mA cm-2/1 h), indicating that the reversibility of zinc was greatly improved. The full batteries based on the Zn/ZnFS anode and (NH4)2V10O25·8H2O cathode perform a high capacity ratio of 73.4% after 620 cycles at 1 A g-1. The concept of hybrid interface layer design can provide inspiration for the modification of metal anode.

Experimental study on the transporting and crushing effect of gas on coal powder during the develop stage of coal and gas outburst in roadway.

In recent years, coal and gas outburst disasters are still occurring and difficult to prevent, seriously endangering the safety of coal mine production. It is well known that the transporting and crushing of outburst coal is the main pathway of energy dissipation during the coal and gas outburst process. However, a consensus regarding how much gas involves in outburst and affects energy dissipation is still lacking. Quantitative study on the gas effect on migration and fragmentation characteristics of outburst coal in restricted roadway space can improve the energy model and guide the prevention and control of gas outburst. In this paper, an improved visual coal and gas outburst dynamic effect simulation experiment system was used to conduct outburst simulation experiments at different gas pressure conditions. The results showed that the movement of outburst coal in the roadway has experienced various flow patterns. In the initial stage of the outburst, under low gas pressure condition, the motion of the outburst coal was dominated by stratified flow. However, as the gas pressure increases, the initial acceleration increases, and the outburst coal mainly move forward rapidly in the form of plug flow. The average velocity at 0.3, 0.5, and 0.8 MPa gas pressure condition were 6.75, 22.22 and 35.81 m/s, respectively. Gas also has a crushing effect on outburst coal. With increasing gas pressure, the number of coal powder particles of the same mass increased significantly, and the range of the particle size distribution of the particles decreaed, and the median particle size decreased. As the gas pressure increases, the outburst intensity gradually increases, and the total energy involved in the outburst work also increases. However, the energy dissipation pathways are different. At 0.3 MPa, the energy dissipation is dominated by crushing energy, which is about six times the ejection energy. As the gas pressure increased to 0.8 MPa, the proportion of the ejection energy gradually increases to about twice that of the crushing energy. Under the experimental conditions, 2.71-13.43% of the adsorbed gas involves in the outburst (AGIO) through rapid desorption, and the proportion increases with increasing gas pressure. This paper improves the energy model of coal and gas outburst, which is applicable to risk assessment and prevention of outburst disasters.

Highly Reversible Zn Metal Anode with Low Voltage Hysteresis Enabled by Tannic Acid Chemistry.

The zinc dendrites and side reactions formed on the zinc anode have greatly hindered the development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs). Herein, we introduce tannic acid (TA) as an additive in the ZnSO4 (ZSO) electrolyte to enhance the reversible Zn plating/stripping behavior. TA molecules are found to adsorb onto the zinc surface, forming a passivation layer and replacing some of the H2O molecules in the Zn2+ solvation sheath to form the [Zn(H2O)6-xTAx]2+ complex; this process effectively prevents side reactions. Moreover, the lower desolvation energy barrier of the [Zn(H2O)6-xTAx]2+ structure facilitates uniform Zn metal deposition and enables a stable plating/stripping lifespan of 2500 h with low voltage hysteresis (53 mV at 0.5 mA cm-2) as compared to the ZSO electrolyte (167 h and 104 mV). Additionally, the incorporation of the MnO2 cathode in the TA + ZSO electrolyte shows improved cycling capacity retention, from 64% (ZSO) to 85% (TA + ZSO), after 250 cycles at 1 A g-1, demonstrating the effectiveness of the TA additive in enhancing the performance of ZIBs.

Temporal variability of microbiome in the different plankton hosts revealed distinct environmental persistence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in shrimp farms.

Plankton-bacteria interactions may play essential roles in maintaining the persistence of pathogenic Vibrio spp. However, the actual plankton host of the toxigenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus that harbors thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) and TDH-related hemolysin (TRH) remains unclear. To answer this question, we measured the abundance of toxigenic and nontoxigenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus in different types of plankton by most probable number (MPN)-PCR. We next investigated the dynamics of the microbiomes of rearing water, copepods, Chlorella, four predominant diatom genera (Nitzschia, Melosira, Skeletonema and Chaetoceros) and the gut of the shrimp in two recirculated shrimp farming systems from April to September using high-throughput 16 S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The survival of trh-positive and trh-negative V. parahaemolyticus in seawater and different plankton hosts was examined under low temperature and starvation conditions. The results showed that copepods harbored the highest proportion of trh-positive V. parahaemolyticus, followed by diatoms. Chitinous diatoms (CD) harbored a high proportion of Vibrionaceae, of which a high abundance of V. parahaemolyticus was found in summer. In contrast, Vibrio spp. is rarely found in Chlorella and nonchitinous diatoms. Taxon-specific associations were also observed, including a relatively high abundance of Vibrio and Halodesulfovibrio on copepods and covariation of Aeromonas and Bacillus inside the Chlorella. The survival assays showed that, in comparison to trh-negative V. parahaemolyticus, trh-positive V. parahaemolyticus showed better survival in copepods and CD under starvation conditions and maintained high persistence in the above hosts at low temperature. In conclusion, the results herein suggested that chitinous plankton might provide protection for V. parahaemolyticus, especially trh-positive V. parahaemolyticus, and improve their persistence under harsh conditions. Our study provided in-depth insights into the persistence of V. parahaemolyticus in the environment, which would promote targeted disease prevention measures.

Changes in expression levels of erythrocyte and immune-related genes are associated with high altitude polycythemia.

BACKGROUND: As a chronic mountain sickness(CMS) with the highest incidence and the greatest harm, the pathogenesis of high altitude polycythemia (HAPC) is still not fully understood. METHODS: 37 HAPC patients and 42 healthy subjects were selected from plateau, and peripheral venous blood samples were collected for transcriptome sequencing on Illumina NovaSeq platform. The sequenced data were analyzed by bioinformatics and phenotypic association analysis. RESULTS: The results showed significant differences in multiple clinical indicators including RBC and HGB et al. existed between HAPC and control. Based on the RNA-seq data, 550 genes with significant differential expression were identified in HAPC patients. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the up-regulated genes were mainly enriched in processes such as erythrocyte differentiation and development and homeostasis of number of cells, while the down-regulated genes were mainly enriched in categories such as immunoglobulin production, classical pathway of complement activation and other biological processes. The coupling analysis of differential expression genes(DEGs) and pathological phenotypes revealed that 91 DEGs were in close correlation with in the phenotype of red blood cell volume distribution (width-CV and width-SD), and they were all up-regulated in HAPC and involved in the process of erythrocyte metabolism. Combined with the functional annotation of DEGs and literature survey, we found that the expression of several potential genes might be responsible for pathogenesis of HAPC. Besides, cell type deconvolution analysis result suggested that the changes in the number of some immune cell types was significantly lower in HAPC patients than control, implying the autoimmune level of HAPC patients was affected to a certain extent. CONCLUSION: This study provides an important data source for understanding the pathogenesis and screening pathogenic genes of HAPC. We found for the first time that there was a significant correlation between HAPC and the pathological phenotype of width-CV and width-SD, wherein the enriched genes were all up-regulated expressed and involved in the process of erythrocyte metabolism. Although the role of these genes needs to be further studied, the candidate genes can provide a starting point for functionally pinning down the underlying mechanism of HAPC.