Scalable One-Pot Fabrication of Carbon-Nanofiber-Supported Noble-Metal-Free Nanocrystals for Synergetic-Dependent Green Hydrogen Production: Unraveling Electrolyte and Support Effects.

Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) are envisaged as the most promising sustainable approach for green hydrogen production. However, the considerably high cost often associated with such reactions, particularly upon scale-up, poses a daunting challenge. Herein, a facile, effective, and environmentally benign one-pot scalable approach is developed to fabricate MnM (M═Co, Cu, Ni, and Fe) nanocrystals supported over in situ formed carbon nanofibers (MnM/C) as efficient noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for HER. The formation of carbon nanofibers entails impregnating cellulose in an aqueous solution of metal precursors, followed by annealing the mixture at 550 °C. During the impregnation process, cellulose acts as a reactor for inducing the in situ reductions of MnM salts with the assistance of ether and hydroxyl groups to drive the mass production (several grams) of ultralong (5 ± 1 µM) carbon nanofibers ornamented with MnM nanoparticles (10-14 nm in size) at an average loading of 2.87 wt %. For better electrocatalytic HER benchmarking, the fabricated catalysts were tested over different working electrodes, i.e., carbon paper, carbon foam, and glassy carbon, in the presence of different electrolytes. All the fabricated MnM/C catalysts have demonstrated an appealing synergetic-effect-dependent HER activity, with MnCo/C exhibiting the best performance over carbon foam, close to that of the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C (10 wt % Pt), with an overpotential of 11 mV at 10 mA cm-2, a hydrogen production rate of 2448 mol g-1 h-1, and a prolonged stability of 2 weeks. The HER performance attained by MnCo/C nanofibers is among the highest reported for Pt-free electrocatalysts, thanks to the mutual alloying effect, higher synergism, large surface area, and active interfacial interactions over the nanofibers. The presented findings underline the potential of our approach for the large-scale production of cost-effective electrocatalysts for practical HER.

A polarity-responsive lysosomes-nucleus translocation probe for the dual-emissive visualization of cell apoptosis.

Visualization of cell apoptosis is a critical task playing central roles in the fundamental studies in biology, pathology, and biomedicine. Dual-emissive fluorescent probes are desired molecular tools for study on apoptosis, which however were rarely reported. Herein, utilizing the polarity differences between lysosomes and nucleus, a translocation type of fluorescent probe (NA-S) was developed for the dual-color visualization of cell apoptosis. NA-S was designed to be polarity sensitive, bearing alkalescence group, and with DNA affinity. In living cells, NA-S targeted the lysosomes to give blue fluorescence, which translocated into the nucleus during cell apoptosis to give green emission. Thereby, the cell apoptosis could be visualized with NA-S in dual-emissive manner. With the unique probe, the cell apoptosis induced by oxidative stress, UV irradiation, rotenone, colchicine, and paclitaxel have been successfully visualized.

Unique fluorescent probe for the recognition of late apoptosis via translocation from plasma membrane to nucleus.

Cell apoptosis is a crucial physiological process playing central roles in key biological and pathological activities. However, the current fluorescent probes for the detection of late apoptosis were "off-on" probes, which were facilely interfered by false positive signals caused by inhomogeneous staining and other factors. Herein, a unique fluorescent probe (NPn) discriminating late apoptosis from early apoptosis and heathy status with two different sets of fluorescent signals have been prepared, to overcome the possible false positive signals. NPn was designed impermeable to biomembranes and simultaneously with high affinity to DNA/RNA, which localized on the plasma membranes of living and early apoptotic cells, while relocated to the nucleus in late apoptotic cells. The hydrophilic amine unit and small ion radius were responsive for its membrane impermeability, which was confirmed with two control molecules without amine group. Using the probe, we have successfully evaluated the cell apoptosis induced by ultraviolet irradiation, rotenone, colchicine, and paclitaxel, demonstrating its potential application in biological researches.

Optimization Milling Force and Surface Roughness of Ti-6Al-4V Based on Ultrasonic-Assisted Milling (UAM): An Experimental Study.

This study aimed to develop a longitudinal ultrasonic-assisted milling system to investigate the machinability of titanium (Ti) Alloy Ti-6Al-4V (TC4). Aiming at reduced milling force and enhanced surface quality, ultrasonic-assisted milling was investigated taking into account the following processing parameters: spindle speed (cutting rate) n, feed per tooth fz, milling depth ap, and ultrasonic amplitude A. A comparison was made with conventional milling. The results of univariate tests demonstrated that the ultrasonic amplitude had the most significant impact on the milling force along the z-axis, resulting in a reduction of 15.48% compared with conventional milling. The range analysis results of multivariate tests demonstrated that ap and fz were the dominant factors influencing the cutting force. The minimum reduction in the milling force in ultrasonic-assisted milling along the x-, y-, and z-axes was 11.77%, 15.52%, and 17.66%, respectively, compared with that in conventional milling. The ultrasonic-assisted milling led to reduced surface roughness and enhanced surface quality; the maximum surface roughness in ultrasonic-assisted milling was 25.93%, 36.36% and 26.32% in terms of n, fz, and ap, respectively. In longitudinal ultrasonic-assisted milling, the periodic "separation-contact" was accompanied by microimpacts, resulting in even smaller intermittent periodic cutting forces. Hence, regular fish scale machining mesh was observed on the processed surface, and the workpiece surface exhibited high cleanness and smoothness. The reasonable configuration of ultrasonic-assisted milling parameters can effectively improve the milling force and surface quality of Ti alloys and accumulate reference data for the subsequent machining process research.

Supramolecular Biomaterials for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Cancer immunotherapy has achieved tremendous successful clinical results and obtained historic victories in tumor treatments. However, great limitations associated with feeble immune responses and serious adverse effects still cannot be neglected due to the complicated multifactorial etiology and pathologic microenvironment in tumors. The rapid development of nanomedical science and material science has facilitated the advanced progress of engineering biomaterials to tackle critical issues. The supramolecular biomaterials with flexible and modular structures have exhibited unparalleled advantages of high cargo-loading efficiency, excellent biocompatibility, and diversiform immunomodulatory activity, thereby providing a powerful weapon for cancer immunotherapy. In past decades, supramolecular biomaterials were extensively explored as versatile delivery platforms for immunotherapeutic agents or designed to interact with the key moleculars in immune system in a precise and controllable manner. In this review, we focused on the crucial role of supramolecular biomaterials in the modulation of pivotal steps during tumor immunotherapy, including antigen delivery and presentation, T lymphocyte activation, tumor-associated macrophage elimination and repolarization, and myeloid-derived suppressor cell depletion. Based on extensive research, we explored the current limitations and development prospects of supramolecular biomaterials in cancer immunotherapy.

The correlation between modifications to corneal topography and changes in retinal vascular density and retinal thickness in myopic children after undergoing orthokeratology.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationship among changes in corneal topography, retinal vascular density, and retinal thickness in myopic children who underwent orthokeratology for 3 months. Method: Thirty children with myopia wore orthokeratology lenses for 3 months. Using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), the retina was imaged as 6 × 6 mm en-face images at baseline and 3 months after orthokeratology. Cornea data was acquired by topography and analyzed by customer MATLAB software. The cornea was divided into 3 zones and 9 sectors. The relative corneal refractive power shift (RCRPS) was used in this study. Changes in retinal vascular density (RVDC) and retinal thickness change (RTC) were associated with RCRPS by using spearman test. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Result: A significant correlation was observed between the RVDC and the RCRPS in many regions (the r was 0.375 ~ 0.548, all p value <0.05). Significant positive correlations were found between RVDC in inner and outer temple regions with RCRPS at inner and outer nasal sectors. There were no significant correlations between RTC and RCRPS in other sectors except in the central cornea and the outer nasal retina (r:0.501, p:0.006). At baseline and 3 months after wearing the orthokeratology lens, no significant differences in the retinal microvasculature or thickness (p > 0.05) were observed at any regions. Conclusion: The correlation between the cornea and the retina was observed after orthokeratology. Cornea changes may affect regional retinal responses accordingly，which may explain how orthokeratology delays myopia progression partially.

Unraveling ultrasonic assisted aqueous-phase one-step synthesis of porous PtPdCu nanodendrites for methanol oxidation with a CO-poisoning tolerance.

The tailored design of tri-metallic Pt-based porous nanodendrites (PNDs) is crucial for green energy production technologies, ascribed to their fancy features, great surface areas, accessible active sites, and stability against aggregation. However, their aqueous-phase one-step synthesis at room temperature remains a daunting challenge. Herein, we present a facile, green, and template-free approach for the one-step synthesis of PtPdCu PNDs by ultrasonication of an aqueous solution of metal salts and Pluronic F127 at 25 ℃, based on natural isolation among nucleation and growth step driven by the disparate reduction kinetics of the metals and acoustic cavitation mechanism of ultrasonic waves. The resultant PtPdCu PNDs formed in a spatial nanodendritic shape with a dense array of branches, open corners, interconnected pores, high surface area (46.9 m2/g), and high Cu content (21 %). The methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) mass activity of PtPdCu PNDs (3.66 mA/µgPt) is 1.45, 2.73, and 2.83 times higher than those of PtPd PNDs, PtCu PNDs, and commercial Pt/C, respectively based on equivalent Pt mass, which is superior to previous PtPdCu catalysts reported elsewhere, besides a superior durability and CO-poisoning tolerance. This study may pave the way for the controlled fabrication of ternary Pt-based PNDs for various electrocatalytic applications.

Electrical Detection Assay Based on Programmable Nucleic Acid Probe for Efficient Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Identification.

The large-scale pandemic and fast evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants have triggered an urgent need for an efficient and sensitive on-site nucleic acid testing method with single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) identification capability. Here, we report a multiplexed electrical detection assay based on a paperclip-shaped nucleic acid probe (PNprobe) functionalized field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor for highly sensitive and specific detection and discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 variants. The three-stem structure of the PNprobe significantly amplifies the thermodynamic stability difference between variant RNAs that differ in a single-nucleotide mutation. With the assistance of combinatorial FET detection channels, the assay realizes simultaneously the detection and identification of key mutations of seven SARS-CoV-2 variants, including nucleotide substitutions and deletions at single-nucleotide resolution within 15 min. For 70 simulated throat swab samples, the multiplexed electrical detection assay shows an identification accuracy of 97.1% for the discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Our designed multiplexed electrical detection assay with SNP identification capability provides an efficient tool to achieve scalable pandemic screening.

The effect of orthokeratology lenses on optical quality and visual function in children.

Purpose: To assess changes in optical quality and visual function in children after 3 months of wearing orthokeratology (OK) lenses. Methods: A total of 25 myopic children aged 8-12 years were recruited and completed the follow-up study. Optical quality, visual function and corneal morphology were assessed at baseline and at follow-ups 1 and 3 months after wearing OK lenses. Optical quality parameters mainly included the modulation transfer function (MTF) cutoff, objective scattering index (OSI), Strehl ratio (SR) and the predicted visual acuities (PVAs). Visual function was assessed by visual acuity, monocular contrast sensitivity function (CSF) across five spatial frequencies and the area under the log contrast sensitivity function (AULCSF) that was also computed as an index for overall CSF. Results: The MTF cutoff and SR values both increased after 1 month of wearing the OK lenses (baseline vs. 1 month: P MTF = 0.008 and P SR = 0.049); this improvement plateaued after 3 months of lens wear (1 month vs. 3 months: P MTF = 0.626, P SR = 0.428). The corneal morphology also showed the similar change trend. The OSI showed the opposite change trend (baseline vs. 1 month: P OSI < 0.001; 1 month vs. 3 months: P OSI = 0.720). The mean CSF at 1.5 cpd decreased significantly after 1 month of wearing the lenses (baseline vs. 1 month: p = 0.001) and recovered after 3 months of lens wear (baseline vs. 3 months: p = 0.076). CSF at spatial frequencies of 3, 6, 12 and 18 cpd as well as the AULCSF did not significantly differ between any two timepoints (all Ps > 0.05). Conclusion: After 3 months of wearing OK lenses, the subjects exhibited a decrease in optical quality, similar to corneal morphology, whereas their visual function remained largely unchanged. Thus, the optical quality was more susceptible to OK lenses than visual function in children. The initial month of OK treatment of children is a key period to be paid close attention to deterioration of optical quality and visual function.

Primary Hepatic Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor on 18 F-FDG PET/CT Images.

ABSTRACT: Primary hepatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor is an extremely rare type of liver tumor with an unknown origin and poor prognosis and usually lacking specific symptoms. This makes it difficult to make an accurate diagnosis. We report the case of a 56-year-old man with primary hepatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor demonstrating multiple heterogeneous lesions with intense FDG uptake in the liver on PET/CT mimicking hepatocellular carcinoma or sarcoma. Primary hepatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor should be considered among the differential diagnoses when multiple FDG-avid primary liver neoplasms are found in patients with malignant characteristic on PET/CT imaging.

Long-acting injectable in situ gel of rasagiline: a patented product development.

Rasagiline has a certain potential in neuroprotection and delaying the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the poor pharmacokinetics (PK) characteristics of conventional oral tablets and poor medication compliance limit the optimal efficacy of rasagiline. Based on this, we designed and optimized a sustained-release rasagiline in situ gel based on in vitro release and in vivo PK results. Among them, we found for the first time that aluminum hydroxide can effectively shorten the lag phase and promote early and late release, making the daily release more uniform. After subcutaneous administration of the optimized gel formulation at a monthly dose, the Cmax (64 ng/ml) was lower than that of free rasagiline (494 ng/ml) administered subcutaneously at a daily dose and comparable to that of oral administration of Azilect® (59.1 ng/ml) at a daily dose. In the meantime, the plasma concentration of rasagiline was mainly maintained at 5-10 ng/ml for about 1 month, and the active metabolite 1-aminoindane in plasma was also able to maintain a steady state. The rasagiline in situ gel has suitable viscosity and injectability, good repeatability of subcutaneous injection, and controllable impurities and can achieve sustained release in vivo with small burst release, which may have the clinical application advantages of maximizing the disease-modifying effect of rasagiline and improving medication compliance. The rasagiline in situ gel was optimized through the feedback of in vitro release and in vivo pharmacokinetics (PK), in which the addition of aluminum hydroxide had a modulating effect on uniform release. The gel has low burst release and maintains steady-state blood drug concentration for about 1 month.

Bioaugmentation of intertidal sludge enhancing the development of salt-tolerant aerobic granular sludge.

Three parallel bioreactors were operated with different inoculation of activated sludge (R1), intertidal sludge (ItS) (R2), and ItS-added AS (R3), respectively, to explore the effects of ItS bioaugmentation on the formation of salt-tolerant aerobic granular sludge (SAGS) and the enhancement of COD removal performance. The results showed that compared to the control (R1-2), R3 promoted a more rapid development of SAGS with a cultivation time of 25 d. Following 110-day cultivation, R3 exhibited a higher granular diameter of 1.3 mm and a higher hydrophobic aromatic protein content than that in control. Compared to the control, the salt-tolerant performance in R3 was also enhanced with the COD removal efficiency of 96.4% due to the higher sludge specific activity of 14.4 g·gVSS-1·d-1 and the salinity inhibition constant of 49.3 gL-1. Read- and genome-resolved metagenomics together indicated that a higher level of tryptophan/tyrosine synthase gene (trpBD, tyrBC) and enrichment of the key gene hosts Rhodobacteraceae, Marinicella in R3, which was about 5.4-fold and 1.4-fold of that in control, could be the driving factors of rapid development of SAGS. Furthermore, the augmented salt-tolerant potential in R3 could result from that R1 was dominated by Rhodospirillaceae, Bacteroidales, which carried more trehalose synthase gene (otsB, treS), while the dominant members Rhodobacteraceae, Marinicella in R3 were main contributors to the glycine betaine synthase gene (ectC, betB, gbsA). This study could provide deeper insights into the rapid development and improved salt-tolerant potential of SAGS via bioaugmentation of intertidal sludge, which could promote the application of hypersaline wastewater treatment.

Contralesional macrostructural plasticity in patients with frontal low-grade glioma: a voxel-based morphometry study.

PURPOSE: Neuroplasticity can partially compensate for the neurological deficits caused by brain tumors. However, the structural plasticity of the brain caused by brain tumors is not fully understood. This study aimed to assess the structural plasticity of the contralesional hemisphere in patients with frontal low-grade gliomas (LGGs). METHODS: A total of 25 patients with left frontal LGGs (LFLGGs), 19 patients with right frontal LGGs (RFLGGs), and 25 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. High-resolution structural T1-weighted imaging and fluid attenuation inversion recovery were performed on all participants. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis was used to detect differences in the brain structural plasticity between patients with unilateral LGGs and HCs. RESULTS: VBM analysis revealed that compared with HCs, the gray matter volume (GMV) of the contralesional putamen and amygdala was significantly smaller and larger in the patients with RFLGGs and LFLGGs, respectively, while the GMVs of the contralesional cuneus and superior temporal gyrus (STG) were significantly larger in the patients with LFLGGs. The surviving clusters of the right hemisphere included 1357 voxels in the amygdala, 1680 voxels in the cuneus, 384 voxels in the STG, and 410 voxels in the putamen. The surviving clusters of the left hemisphere were 522 voxels in the amygdala and 320 voxels in the putamen. CONCLUSION: The unilateral frontal LGGs are accompanied by structural plasticity in the contralesional cortex and vary with tumor laterality. Contralesional structural reorganization may be one of the physiological basis for functional reorganization or compensation in the frontal LGGs.

A radiomics feature-based machine learning models to detect brainstem infarction (RMEBI) may enable early diagnosis in non-contrast enhanced CT.

OBJECTIVES: Magnetic resonance imaging has high sensitivity in detecting early brainstem infarction (EBI). However, MRI is not practical for all patients who present with possible stroke and would lead to delayed treatment. The detection rate of EBI on non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) is currently very low. Thus, we aimed to develop and validate the radiomics feature-based machine learning models to detect EBI (RMEBIs) on NCCT. METHODS: In this retrospective observational study, 355 participants from a multicentre multimodal database established by Huashan Hospital were randomly divided into two data sets: a training cohort (70%) and an internal validation cohort (30%). Fifty-seven participants from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University were included as the external validation cohort. Brainstems were segmented by a radiologist committee on NCCT and 1781 radiomics features were automatically computed. After selecting the relevant features, 7 machine learning models were assessed in the training cohort to predict early brainstem infarction. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, F1-score, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the performance of the prediction models. RESULTS: The multilayer perceptron (MLP) RMEBI showed the best performance (AUC: 0.99 [95% CI: 0.96-1.00]) in the internal validation cohort. The AUC value in external validation cohort was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.82-0.98). CONCLUSIONS: RMEBIs have the potential in routine clinical practice to enable accurate computer-assisted diagnoses of early brainstem infarction in patients with NCCT, which may have important clinical value in reducing therapeutic decision-making time. KEY POINTS: • RMEBIs have the potential to enable accurate diagnoses of early brainstem infarction in patients with NCCT. • RMEBIs are suitable for various multidetector CT scanners. • The patient treatment decision-making time is shortened.

Non-Metal-Doped Porous Carbon Nitride Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Green Hydrogen Production.

Photocatalytic green hydrogen (H2) production through water electrolysis is deemed as green, efficient, and renewable fuel or energy carrier due to its great energy density and zero greenhouse emissions. However, developing efficient and low-cost noble-metal-free photocatalysts remains one of the daunting challenges in low-cost H2 production. Porous graphitic carbon nitride (gCN) nanostructures have drawn broad multidisciplinary attention as metal-free photocatalysts in the arena of H2 production and other environmental remediation. This is due to their impressive catalytic/photocatalytic properties (i.e., high surface area, narrow bandgap, and visible light absorption), unique physicochemical durability, tunable electronic properties, and feasibility to synthesize in high yield from inexpensive and earth-abundant resources. The physicochemical and photocatalytic properties of porous gCNs can be easily optimized via the integration of earth-abundant heteroatoms. Although there are various reviews on porous gCN-based photocatalysts for various applications, to the best of our knowledge, there are no reviews on heteroatom-doped porous gCN nanostructures for the photocatalytic H2 evolution reaction (HER). It is essential to provide timely updates in this research area to highlight the research related to fabrication of novel gCNs for large-scale applications and address the current barriers in this field. This review emphasizes a panorama of recent advances in the rational design of heteroatom (i.e., P, O, S, N, and B)-doped porous gCN nanostructures including mono, binary, and ternary dopants for photocatalytic HERs and their optimized parameters. This is in addition to H2 energy storage, non-metal configuration, HER fundamental, mechanism, and calculations. This review is expected to inspire a new research entryway to the fabrication of porous gCN-based photocatalysts with ameliorated activity and durability for practical H2 production.

Quantitative collateral score for the prediction of clinical outcomes in stroke patients: Better than visual grading.

Objectives: To identify preoperative prognostic factors for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients receiving mechanical thrombectomy (MT) and compare the performance of quantitative collateral score (qCS) and visual collateral score (vCS) in outcome prediction. Methods: Fifty-five patients with AIS receiving MT were retrospectively enrolled. qCS was defined as the percentage of the volume of collaterals of both hemispheres. Based on the dichotomous outcome assessed using a 90-day modified Rankin Scale (mRS), we compared qCS, vCS, age, sex, National Institute of Health stroke scale score, etiological subtype, platelet count, international normalized ratio, glucose levels, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels between favorable and unfavorable outcome groups. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the effect on the clinical outcome. The discriminatory power of qCS, vCS, and their combination with cofounders for determining favorable outcomes was tested with the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: vCS, qCS, LDL-C, and age could all predict clinical outcomes. qCS is superior over vCS in predicting favorable outcomes with a relatively higher AUC value (qCS vs. vCS: 0.81 vs. 0.74) and a higher sensitivity rate (qCS vs. vCS: 72.7% vs. 40.9%). The prediction power of qCS + LDL-C + age was best with an AUC value of 0.91, but the accuracy was just increased slightly compared to that of qCS alone. Conclusion: Collateral scores, LDL-C and age were independent prognostic predictors for patients with AIS receiving MT; qCS was a better predictor than vCS. Furthermore, qCS + LDL-C + age offers a strong prognostic prediction power and qCS alone was another good choice for predicting clinical outcome.

Agreement of three CT perfusion software packages in patients with acute ischemic stroke: A comparison with RAPID.

PURPOSE: To compare ischemic core volume (ICV) and penumbra volume (PV) measured by MIStar, F-STROKE, and Syngo.via with that measured by RAPID in acute ischemic stroke (AIS), and their concordance in selecting patients for endovascular thrombectomy (EVT). METHODS: Computed tomography perfusion (CTP) data were processed with four software packages. Bland-Altman analysis and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were performed to evaluate their agreement in quantifying ICV and PV. Kappa test was conducted to assess consistency in the selection of EVT candidates. The correlation between predicted ICV and segmented final infarct volume (FIV) on follow-up images was investigated. RESULTS: A total of 91 patients were retrospectively included. F-STROKE had the best consistency with RAPID (ICV: ICC = 0.97; PV: ICC = 0.84) and Syngo.via had the worst consistency (ICV: ICC = 0.77; PV: ICC = 0.66). F-STROKE had the narrowest limits of agreements both in ICV (-27.02, 24.40 mL) and PV (-85.59, 101.80 mL). When selecting EVT candidates, MIStar (kappa = 0.71-0.88) and F-STROKE (kappa = 0.84-0.90) had good to excellent consistency with RAPID, while Syngo.via had poor consistency (kappa = 0.20-0.41). ICV predicted by MIStar was correlated strongest with FIV (r = 0.77). CONCLUSIONS: F-STROKE is most consistent with RAPID in quantitative ICV and PV. F-STROKE and MIStar exhibit similar EVT candidate selection to RAPID. Syngo.via, for its part, seems to have overestimated ICV and underestimated PV, leading to an overly restrictive selection of EVT candidates.

Heteroatom-Doped Porous Carbon-Based Nanostructures for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction.

The continual rise of the CO2 concentration in the Earth's atmosphere is the foremost reason for environmental concerns such as global warming, ocean acidification, rising sea levels, and the extinction of various species. The electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) is a promising green and efficient approach for converting CO2 to high-value-added products such as alcohols, acids, and chemicals. Developing efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts is the main barrier to scaling up CO2RR for large-scale applications. Heteroatom-doped porous carbon-based (HA-PCs) catalysts are deemed as green, efficient, low-cost, and durable electrocatalysts for the CO2RR due to their great physiochemical and catalytic merits (i.e., great surface area, electrical conductivity, rich electrical density, active sites, inferior H2 evolution activity, tailorable structures, and chemical-physical-thermal stability). They are also easily synthesized in a high yield from inexpensive and earth-abundant resources that meet sustainability and large-scale requirements. This review emphasizes the rational synthesis of HA-PCs for the CO2RR rooting from the engineering methods of HA-PCs to the effect of mono, binary, and ternary dopants (i.e., N, S, F, or B) on the CO2RR activity and durability. The effect of CO2 on the environment and human health, in addition to the recent advances in CO2RR fundamental pathways and mechanisms, are also discussed. Finally, the evolving challenges and future perspectives on the development of heteroatom-doped porous carbon-based nanocatalysts for the CO2RR are underlined.

Synergistic Effect of Combined Sub-Tenon Triamcinolone and Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Therapy for Uveitic Macular Edema.

Purpose: To investigate effects of intravitreal anti-VEGF in combination therapy with sub-Tenon triamcinolone acetonide (STA) injection for uveitic macular edema (UME). Design: A single-center, retrospective cohort study. Methods: The medical records were obtained for 65 eyes of 65 patients with UME. Of which, 32 eyes received combined anti-VEGF with STA injection, and 33 eyes received 40 mg of STA injection alone. The primary outcome was the reduction of central macular thickness (CMT) measured with optical coherence tomography (OCT). Resolution rate of clinical UME and changes of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) over 24 weeks were secondary outcomes. Results: There was a significantly greater reduction of CMT with the combination treatment than with STA alone at 1-week (ß = -157.9, P < 0.001) and 1-month (ß = -53.1, P = 0.019) after injection. The cumulative incidence of macular edema resolution of all eyes was 87.7%, with 90.6% (29/32) in the combined group and 84.8% (28/33) in the STA group, respectively. More incidence of UME resolution was observed in the combined group than the STA group after 1 week (71.9% vs 15.2%, P < 0.001) and 4 weeks (84.4% vs 54.5%, P = 0.009), respectively. BCVA was better for the combination treatment than STA alone at 1-week (ß = -0.085, P = 0.070) and 1-month (ß = -0.108, P = 0.019) after injection, respectively. Increased intraocular pressure (>25 mmHg) was observed in 4 eyes (12.5%) in the combined group and 5 eyes (15.2%) in the STA group, respectively. Conclusion: Combined intravitreal anti-VEGF and STA is superior to STA alone for reduction of UME and visual restoration. Addition of anti-VEGF did not increase risk for steroid-induced elevation of intraocular pressure over 6 months.