The development and evolution of the research topic on the mental health of college students: A bibliometric review based on CiteSpace and VOSviewer.

Background: With the advances in society and in response to changing times, college students have had to face multiple challenges. These challenges frequently affect the mental health of college students, leading to significant consequences for their social lives, personal well-being, and academic achievements, thereby attracting extensive societal attention. Therefore, examining the current status of research topics related to the mental health of college students can assist academia in dissecting the influencing factors and seeking solutions at their source or through early intervention. This can contribute to a better understanding of and effectively address this challenge. Method: CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to conduct a bibliometric analysis of 1609 journal articles indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database over the past two decades (2000-2022), which helped identify the current state of research and hot topics in the field based on development trends. Furthermore, this study analyzes and discusses the core authors, high-productivity countries and organizations, key journals, and keyword clustering in this field. This study clarifies the current research landscape, analyzes evolving trends based on developmental trajectories, and identifies forefront research hotspots. This study provides scholars with reference research directions and ideas for conducting subsequent studies. Results: Since the beginning of the 21st century, research on college students' mental health has increased, especially in the past three years, and due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and online distance learning, the number of publications has increased rapidly. With the increase in attention and publication volume, the countries and organizations contributing papers as well as core journals have all started to take shape. Cluster and evolution analyses found that several stable research topics have been formed in this research field, and many new and diverse topics are continuously emerging with time. Conclusion: and prospect: The findings prove that the field of college students' mental health has begun to take shape, gradually shifting from conceptual research to the implementation of specific interventions. However, whether specific interventions are effective and how effective they are require further investigation.

The Use of Spiral Cement Injector for Percutaneous Vertebroplasty to Treat Kümmell Disease: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) is a common method used to treat Kümmell disease. In patients without neurologic symptoms, we sought to evaluate whether using the new spiral injectors instead of the traditional push-rod injectors in PVP can result in improved clinical efficacy for the treatment of Kümmell disease. METHODS: A clinical retrospective study was conducted between August 2018 and December 2020. The study included patients diagnosed with single-level thoracolumbar Kümmell disease who underwent PVP surgery. The patients were divided into 2 groups: an observation group consisting of 53 patients treated with spiral injectors and a control group consisting of 68 patients treated with push-rod injectors. RESULTS: A 2-year follow-up period was adopted. The bone cement injection volume and occurrence of bone cement leakage were significantly greater in the observation group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The observation group had significantly shorter operation time and intraoperative fluoroscopy times compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The scores for the visual analog scale and Oswestry Disability Index in both groups were significantly lower at 3 days or 3 months and 2 years after surgery compared with before surgery, with the scores at 2 years after surgery being significantly lower than those at 3 days or 3 months for both groups (P < 0.05). The relative anterior ledge height and Cobb angle showed significant improvement at 3 days and 2 years after surgery compared with before surgery in both groups (P < 0.05), but patients in the observation group experienced substantial improvement at 3 days and 2 years after surgery compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05). In both groups, the relative anterior ledge height was noticeably lower 2 years after surgery compared with 3 days after surgery (P < 0.05). Concurrently, there was a significant increase in the local Cobb angle over time in both groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of both spiral injectors and traditional push-rod injectors in PVP surgery yields effective pain relief, improved function, partially restored vertebral height, and corrected kyphosis in treating Kümmell disease. Compared with the push-rod injector, the spiral injector is highly efficient in restoring vertebral height, correcting kyphosis, and minimizing fluoroscopy use and operation time, but it carries a greater risk of bone cement leakage.

A bacterial toxin co-opts caspase-3 to disable active gasdermin D and limit macrophage pyroptosis.

During infections, host cells are exposed to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and virulence factors that stimulate multiple signaling pathways that interact additively, synergistically, or antagonistically. The net effect of such higher-order interactions is a vital determinant of the outcome of host-pathogen interactions. Here, we demonstrate one such complex interplay between bacterial exotoxin- and PAMP-induced innate immune pathways. We show that two caspases activated during enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infection by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Shiga toxin (Stx) interact in a functionally antagonistic manner; cytosolic LPS-activated caspase-11 cleaves full-length gasdermin D (GSDMD), generating an active pore-forming N-terminal fragment (NT-GSDMD); subsequently, caspase-3 activated by EHEC Stx cleaves the caspase-11-generated NT-GSDMD to render it nonfunctional, thereby inhibiting pyroptosis and interleukin-1ß maturation. Bacteria typically subvert inflammasomes by targeting upstream components such as NLR sensors or full-length GSDMD but not active NT-GSDMD. Thus, our findings uncover a distinct immune evasion strategy where a bacterial toxin disables active NT-GSDMD by co-opting caspase-3.

Practical organic batteries: Concepts to realize high mass loading with high performance.

Organic electrode materials (OEMs) have been well developed in recent years. However, the practical applications of OEMs have not been paid sufficient attention. The concept here focused on one of the essential aspects for practical applications, i. e., high mass loading of active materials. This paper summarizes the challenges posed by high-mass loading of active materials in organic batteries and discusses the possible solutions in terms of organic electrode materials, conductive additives, electrode structures, and electrolytes or battery systems. We hope this concept can stimulate more attention to practical applications of organic batteries towards industry from lab.

Monoallelically expressed noncoding RNAs form nucleolar territories on NOR-containing chromosomes and regulate rRNA expression.

Out of the several hundred copies of rRNA genes arranged in the nucleolar organizing regions (NOR) of the five human acrocentric chromosomes, ~50% remain transcriptionally inactive. NOR-associated sequences and epigenetic modifications contribute to the differential expression of rRNAs. However, the mechanism(s) controlling the dosage of active versus inactive rRNA genes within each NOR in mammals is yet to be determined. We have discovered a family of ncRNAs, SNULs (Single NUcleolus Localized RNA), which form constrained sub-nucleolar territories on individual NORs and influence rRNA expression. Individual members of the SNULs monoallelically associate with specific NOR-containing chromosomes. SNULs share sequence similarity to pre-rRNA and localize in the sub-nucleolar compartment with pre-rRNA. Finally, SNULs control rRNA expression by influencing pre-rRNA sorting to the DFC compartment and pre-rRNA processing. Our study discovered a novel class of ncRNAs influencing rRNA expression by forming constrained nucleolar territories on individual NORs.

Aliphatic Hyperbranched Polycarbonates Solid Polymer Electrolytes with High Li-Ion Transference Number for Lithium Metal Batteries.

In this work, hyperbranched polycarbonate-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based solid polymer electrolytes (HBPC-SEs) are successfully synthesized via a straightforward organo-catalyzed "A1"+"B2"-ring-opening polymerization approach. The temperature-dependent ionic conductivity of HBPC-SEs, composed of different polycarbonate linkages and various LiTFSI concentrations, is investigated. The results demonstrate that HBPC-SE with an ether-carbonate alternating structure exhibits superior ionic conductivity, attributed to the solubility of Li salts in the polymer matrix and the mobility of the polymer segments. The HBPC1-SE with 30 wt% LiTFSI presents the highest ionic conductivities of 2.15  × 10-5, 1.78 × 10-4, and 6.07 × 10-4 Scm-1 at 30, 60, and 80 °C, respectively. Compared to traditional PEO-based electrolytes, the incorporation of polycarbonate segments significantly enhances the electrochemical stability window (5 V) and Li+ transference number (0.53) of HBPC-SEs. Furthermore, the LiFePO4/HBPC1-SE-3/Li cell exhibits exceptional rate capability and long-cycling performance, maintaining a discharge capacity of 130 mAh g-1 at 0.5C with a capacity retention of 95% after 300 cycles.

Electrolyte design combining fluoro- with cyano-substitution solvents for anode-free Li metal batteries.

Fluoro-substitution solvents have achieved great success in electrolyte engineering for high-energy lithium metal batteries, which, however, is beset by low solvating power, thermal and chemical instability, and possible battery swelling. Instead, we herein introduce cyanogen as the electron-withdrawing group to enhance the oxidative stability of ether solvents, in which cyanogen and ether oxygen form the chelating structure with Li+ not notably undermining the solvating power. Cyano-group strongly bonds with transition metals (TMs) of NCM811 cathode to attenuate the catalytic reactivity of TMs toward bulk electrolytes. Besides, a stable and uniform cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) inhibits the violent oxidation decomposition of electrolytes and guarantees the structural integrity of the NCM811 cathode. Also, a N-containing and LiF-rich solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) in our electrolyte facilitates fast Li+ migration and dense Li deposition. Accordingly, our electrolyte enables a stable cycle of Li metal anode with Coulombic efficiency of 98.4% within 100 cycles. 81.8% capacity of 4.3 V NCM811 cathode remains after 200 cycles. Anode-free pouch cells with a capacity of 125 mAh maintain 76% capacity after 100 cycles, corresponding to an energy density of 397.5 Wh kg-1.

A donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymer for fast storage of anions.

Organic electrode materials have attracted a lot interest in batteries in recent years. However, most of them still suffer from low performance such as low electrode potential, slow reaction kinetics, and short cycle life. In this work, we report a strategy of fabricating donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymers for facilitating the charge transfer and therefore accelerating the reaction kinetics by using the copolymer (p-TTPZ) of dihydrophenazine (PZ) and thianthrene (TT) as a proof-of-concept. The D-A conjugated polymer as p-type cathode could store anions and exhibited high discharge voltages (two plateaus at 3.82 V, 3.16 V respectively), a reversible capacity of 152 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 , excellent rate performance with a high capacity of 124.2 mAh g-1 at 10 A g-1 (≈50 C) and remarkable cyclability. The performance, especially the rate capability was much higher than that of its counterpart homopolymers without D-A structure. As a result, the p-TTPZ//graphite full cells showed a high output voltage (3.26 V), a discharge specific capacity of 139.1 mAh g-1 at 0.05 A g-1 and excellent rate performance. This work provides a novel strategy for developing high performance organic electrode materials through molecular design and will pave a way towards high energy density organic batteries.

Markov modeling and performance analysis of infectious diseases with asymptomatic patients.

After over three years of COVID-19, it has become clear that infectious diseases are difficult to eradicate, and humans remain vulnerable under their influence in a long period. The presence of presymptomatic and asymptomatic patients is a significant obstacle to preventing and eliminating infectious diseases. However, the long-term transmission of infectious diseases involving asymptomatic patients still remains unclear. To address this issue, this paper develops a novel Markov process for infectious diseases with asymptomatic patients by means of a continuous-time level-dependent quasi-birth-and-death (QBD) process. The model accurately captures the transmission of infectious diseases by specifying several key parameters (or factors). To analyze the role of asymptomatic and symptomatic patients in the infectious disease transmission process, a simple sufficient condition for the stability of the Markov process of infectious diseases is derived using the mean drift technique. Then, the stationary probability vector of the QBD process is obtained by using RG-factorizations. A method of using the stationary probability vector is provided to obtain important performance measures of the model. Finally, some numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the model's feasibility through analyzing COVID-19 as an example. The impact of key parameters on the system performance evaluation and the infectious disease transmission process are analyzed. The methodology and results of this paper can provide theoretical and technical support for the scientific control of the long-term transmission of infectious diseases, and we believe that they can serve as a foundation for developing more general models of infectious disease transmission.

Structural Isomers: Small Change with Big Difference in Anion Storage.

Organic electrode materials are promising for batteries. However, the reported organic electrodes are often facing the challenges of low specific capacity, low voltage, poor rate capability and vague charge storage mechanisms, etc. Isomers are good platform to investigate the charge storage mechanisms and enhance the performance of batteries, which, however, have not been focused in batteries. Herein, two isomers are reported for batteries. As a result, the isomer tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) could store two monovalent anions reversibly, deriving an average discharge voltage of 1.05 V and a specific capacity of 220 mAh g-1 at a current density of 2 C. On the other hand, the other isomer tetrathianaphthalene could only reversibly store one monovalent anion and upon further oxidation, it would undergo an irreversible solid-state molecular rearrangement to TTF. The molecular rearrangement was confirmed by electrochemical performances, X-ray diffraction patterns, nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and 1H detected heteronuclear multiple bond correlation spectra. These results suggested the small structural change could lead to a big difference in anion storage, and we hope this work will stimulate more attention to the structural design for boosting the performance of organic batteries.

Mobile energy storage technologies for boosting carbon neutrality.

Carbon neutrality calls for renewable energies, and the efficient use of renewable energies requires energy storage mediums that enable the storage of excess energy and reuse after spatiotemporal reallocation. Compared with traditional energy storage technologies, mobile energy storage technologies have the merits of low cost and high energy conversion efficiency, can be flexibly located, and cover a large range from miniature to large systems and from high energy density to high power density, although most of them still face challenges or technical bottlenecks. In this review, we provide an overview of the opportunities and challenges of these emerging energy storage technologies (including rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, and electrochemical and dielectric capacitors). Innovative materials, strategies, and technologies are highlighted. Finally, the future directions are envisioned. We hope this review will advance the development of mobile energy storage technologies and boost carbon neutrality.

Synthesis of Functional Isosorbide-Based Polyesters and Polyamides by Passerini Three-Component Polymerization.

Environmental issues are becoming more and more prominent, and bio-based polymers are essential to alleviate environmental degradation by replacing traditional polymers. With this context, a new family of functional isosorbide-based polyesters and polyamides with high glass transition temperature are prepared via Passerini-Three component polymerization (P-3CP). To optimize the P-3CP conditions, the influence of the polymerization solvent, temperature, feed ratio on the molar mass of final polymers are investigated. The higher molar mass (up to 10100 g/mol) and yield (>70 %) are achieved under very mild conditions (30 °C, standard atmosphere). Functional side groups, such as alkenyl, alkynyl and methyl ester, were introduced into polymer structure via P-3CP by using functional isocyanides. The obtained polyesters and polyamides are characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared (IR) spectroscopies, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). All polymers are thermal stable and amorphous with variable glass transition temperatures (Tg ). The obtained polyester has Tg up to 87.5 °C, while the Tg of polyamides (ISPA-2) is detected to be 97.5 °C depending on the amide bonds in the polymer backbone and the benzene ring side groups. The cytotoxicity is investigated by the CCK-8 assay against mBMSC cells to confirm the biological safety. Overall, this novel strategy provides an efficient approach to produce functional isosorbide-based polyesters and polyamides, which are promising prospect for being applied to biodegradable materials.

A novel model based on disulfidptosis-related genes to predict prognosis and therapy of bladder urothelial carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Disulfidptosis is a novel type of cell death induced by disulphide stress that depends on the accumulation of cystine disulphide, causing cytotoxicity and triggering cell death. However, the direct prognostic effect and regulatory mechanism of disulfidptosis-related genes in bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) remain unclear. METHODS: To explore the role of 10 disulfidptosis-related genes, the multiomic data of 10 genes were comprehensively analysed. Next, based on seven disulfidptosis-related differentially expressed genes, a novel disulfidptosis-related gene score was developed to help predict the prognosis of BLCA. Immunohistochemistry, EDU, Real-time PCR and western blot were used to verify the model. RESULTS: Significant functional differences were found between the high- and low-risk score groups, and samples with a higher risk score were more malignant. Furthermore, the tumour exclusion and Tumour Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion scores of the high-risk score group were higher than those of the low-risk score group. The risk score was positively correlated with the expression of immune checkpoints. Drug sensitivity analyses revealed that the low-risk score group had a higher sensitivity to cisplatin, doxorubicin, docetaxel and gemcitabine than the high-risk score group. Moreover, the expression of the TM4SF1 was positively correlated with the malignancy degree of BLCA, and the proliferation ability of BLCA cells was reduced after knockdown TM4SF1. CONCLUSION: The present study results suggest that disulfidptosis-related genes influence the prognosis of BLCA through their involvement in immune cell infiltration. Thus, these findings indicate the role of disulfidptosis in BLCA and its potential regulatory mechanisms.

A data-driven Markov process for infectious disease transmission.

The 2019 coronavirus pandemic exudes public health and socio-economic burden globally, raising an unprecedented concern for infectious diseases. Thus, describing the infectious disease transmission process to design effective intervention measures and restrict its spread is a critical scientific issue. We propose a level-dependent Markov model with infinite state space to characterize viral disorders like COVID-19. The levels and states in this model represent the stages of outbreak development and the possible number of infectious disease patients. The transfer of states between levels reflects the explosive transmission process of infectious disease. A simulation method with heterogeneous infection is proposed to solve the model rapidly. After that, simulation experiments were conducted using MATLAB according to the reported data on COVID-19 published by Johns Hopkins. Comparing the simulation results with the actual situation shows that our proposed model can well capture the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases with and without imposed interventions and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention strategies. Further, the influence of model parameters on transmission dynamics is analyzed, which helps to develop reasonable intervention strategies. The proposed approach extends the theoretical study of mathematical modeling of infectious diseases and contributes to developing models that can describe an infinite number of infected persons.

Single Crystals of a Highly Conductive Three-Dimensional Conjugated Coordination Polymer.

Conjugated coordination polymers (CCPs), which possess long-range planar π-d conjugation, are fascinating for various applications because they inherit the merits of both metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and conducting polymers. However, only one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) CCPs have been reported so far. The synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) CCPs is challenging and even seems theoretically infeasible because conjugation implies 1D or 2D structure. Besides, the redox activity of the conjugated ligands and the π-d conjugation makes the synthesis of CCPs very complicated, and hence, single crystals of CCPs are rarely achieved. Herein, we reported the first 3D CCP and its single crystals with atomically precise structures. The synthesis process involves complicated in situ dimerization, deprotonation of ligands, oxidation/reduction of both ligands and metal ions, and precise coordination between them. The crystals contain in-plane 1D π-d conjugated chains and close π-π interactions between the adjacent chains that are bridged by another column of stacked chains, thus forming 3D CCP with high conductivity (400 S m-1 at room temperature and 3100 S m-1 at 423 K) and potential applications as cathodes in sodium-ion batteries with high capacity, rate capability, and cyclability.

An ancient defense mechanism: Conservation of gasdermin-mediated pyroptosis.

The gasdermins are a family of pore-forming proteins involved in various cellular processes such as cell death and inflammation. A new study in PLOS Biology explores the evolutionary history of gasdermins across metazoans, highlighting the conservation and divergence of gasdermin E.

Consistency of limb preference across unimanual feeding, bipedal locomotion, and social grooming in golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana).

The golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is a typical arboreal group-living Old World primate. While limb preference has been extensively studied in this species, limb preference consistency has not yet been explored. Here, based on 26 R. roxellana adults, we investigated whether individuals exhibit consistent motor biases in manual- (e.g., unimanual feeding and social grooming) and foot-related (e.g., bipedal locomotion) tasks and whether limb preference consistency is influenced by increased social interactions during social grooming. Results showed no consistency in the direction or strength of limb preference among tasks, except for lateral strength in handedness for unimanual feeding and footedness in the initiation of locomotion. Population-level foot preference was only found among right-handers. Marked lateral bias was found in unimanual feeding, indicating that it may be a sensitive behavioural measure for assessing manual preference, especially for provisioned populations. This study not only improves our understanding of the relationship between hand and foot preference in R. roxellana but also reveals potential differential hemispheric regulation of limb preference and the influence of increased social interaction on handedness consistency.

The Proof-of-Concept of Anode-Free Rechargeable Mg Batteries.

The desperate pursuit of high gravimetric specific energy leads to the ignorance of volumetric energy density that is one of the basic requirements for batteries. Due to the high volumetric capacity, less-prone formation of dendrite, and low reduction potential of Mg metal, rechargeable Mg batteries are considered with innately high volumetric energy density. Nevertheless, the substantial elevation in energy density is compromised by extremely excessive Mg metal anode. Herein, the proof-of-concept of anode-free Mg2 Mo6 S8 -MgS/Cu batteries is proposed, in which MgS as the premagnesiation additive constantly decomposes to replenish Mg loss by electrolyte corrosion over cycling, while both Mg2 Mo6 S8 and MgS acts as the active material to reversibly provide high capacities. Besides, Mg2 Mo6 S8 shows superior catalytic activity on the decomposition of MgS and provides the strong affinity to polysulfides to restrain their dissolution. Consequently, the anode-free Mg2 Mo6 S8 -MgS/Cu batteries deliver a high reversible capacity of 190 mAh g-1 with the capacity retention of 92% after 100 cycles, corresponding to the highly competitive energy density of 420 Wh L-1 . The proposed anode-free Mg battery here spotlights the great promise of Mg batteries in achieving high volumetric energy densities, which will significantly expedite the advances of Mg batteries in practice.

Structural basis for GSDMB pore formation and its targeting by IpaH7.8.

Gasdermins (GSDMs) are pore-forming proteins that play critical roles in host defence through pyroptosis1,2. Among GSDMs, GSDMB is unique owing to its distinct lipid-binding profile and a lack of consensus on its pyroptotic potential3-7. Recently, GSDMB was shown to exhibit direct bactericidal activity through its pore-forming activity4. Shigella, an intracellular, human-adapted enteropathogen, evades this GSDMB-mediated host defence by secreting IpaH7.8, a virulence effector that triggers ubiquitination-dependent proteasomal degradation of GSDMB4. Here, we report the cryogenic electron microscopy structures of human GSDMB in complex with Shigella IpaH7.8 and the GSDMB pore. The structure of the GSDMB-IpaH7.8 complex identifies a motif of three negatively charged residues in GSDMB as the structural determinant recognized by IpaH7.8. Human, but not mouse, GSDMD contains this conserved motif, explaining the species specificity of IpaH7.8. The GSDMB pore structure shows the alternative splicing-regulated interdomain linker in GSDMB as a regulator of GSDMB pore formation. GSDMB isoforms with a canonical interdomain linker exhibit normal pyroptotic activity whereas other isoforms exhibit attenuated or no pyroptotic activity. Overall, this work sheds light on the molecular mechanisms of Shigella IpaH7.8 recognition and targeting of GSDMs and shows a structural determinant in GSDMB critical for its pyroptotic activity.