Polysaccharide-Based Coating with Excellent Antibiofilm and Repeatable Antifouling-Bactericidal Properties for Treating Infected Hernia.

In recent years, the utilization of medical devices has gradually increased and implantation procedures have become common treatments. However, patients are susceptible to the risk of implant infections. This study utilized chemical grafting to immobilize polyethylenimine (QPEI) and hyaluronic acid (HA) on the surface of the mesh to improve biocompatibility while being able to achieve antifouling antimicrobial effects. From the in vitro testing, PP-PDA-Q-HA exhibited a high antibacterial ratio of 93% against S. aureus, 93% against E. coli, and 85% against C. albicans. In addition, after five rounds of antimicrobial testing, the coating continued to exhibit excellent antimicrobial properties; PP-PDA-Q-HA also inhibits the formation of bacterial biofilms. In addition, PP-PDA-Q-HA has good hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility. In vivo studies in animal implantation infection models also demonstrated the excellent antimicrobial properties of PP-PDA-Q-HA. Our study provides a promising strategy for the development of antimicrobial surface medical materials with excellent biocompatibility.

Selective Integrating Molecular Catalytic Units into Bipyridine-Based Covalent Organic Frameworks for Specific Photocatalytic Fuel Production.

Molecular metal compounds have demonstrated excellent catalytic activity and product selectivity in the H2 evolution reaction (HER) and the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). The heterogenization of molecular catalysts is regarded as an effective approach to improve their applicability. In this work, the molecular catalytic units [Cp*Ir(Bpy)Cl]+ and [Ru(Bpy)(CO)2Cl2] are constructed in situ on the bipyridine sites of the covalent organic framework for photocatalytic HER and CO2RR, respectively. Inheriting the impressive performance of molecular catalysts, the functionalized TpBpy-M exhibits excellent catalytic activity and product selectivity. Under visible light irradiation, the H2 production rate of TpBpy-Ir is about 760 µmol g-1 h-1, which is 6.7 times higher than that of TpBpy without built-in catalytic sites. Also, the HCOOH production rate of TpBpy-Ru is 271 µmol g-1 h-1, with an impressive selectivity of 88%. Control experiments validated that this improvement is attributed to the incorporation of molecular catalytic units into the framework. Photoluminescence spectroscopy measurements and theoretical calculation consistently demonstrate that, under illumination, the photosensitizer [Ru(Bpy)3]Cl2 is excited and transfers electrons to the catalytic sites in TpBpy-M, which then catalyzes the reduction of H+ and CO2.

Scalable Electro-Biosynthesis of Ectoine from Greenhouse Gases.

Converting greenhouse gases into valuable products has become a promising approach for achieving a carbon-neutral economy and sustainable development. However, the conversion efficiency depends on the energy yield of the substrate. In this study, we developed an electro-biocatalytic system by integrating electrochemical and microbial processes to upcycle CO2 into a valuable product (ectoine) using renewable energy. This system initiates the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methane, an energy-dense molecule, which then serves as an electrofuel to energize the growth of an engineered methanotrophic cell factory for ectoine biosynthesis. The scalability of this system was demonstrated using an array of ten 25 cm2 electrochemical cells equipped with a high-performance carbon-supported isolated copper catalyst. The system consistently generated methane at the cathode under a total partial current of approximately -37 A (~175 mmolCH4 h-1) and O2 at the anode under a total partial current of approximately 62 A (~583 mmolO2 h-1). This output met the requirements of a 3-L bioreactor, even at maximum CH4 and O2 consumption, resulting in the high-yield conversion of CO2 to ectoine (1146.9 mg L-1). This work underscores the potential of electrifying the biosynthesis of valuable products from CO2, providing a sustainable avenue for biomanufacturing and energy storage.

Time-domain low-complexity clock recovery for non-integer oversampled Nyquist signals with a small roll-off factor.

A clock recovery algorithm (CRA) suitable for non-integer oversampled Nyquist signals with a small roll-off factor (ROF) is appealing to short-reach high-speed inter-datacenter transmission systems which need to cut down the transceiver power consumption and cost by reducing the oversampling factor (OSF) and using cheap low-bandwidth components. However, due to the lack of a suitable timing phase error detector (TPED), CRAs proposed now fail for non-integer OSFs below two and small ROFs close to zero and are not hardware-efficient. To solve these problems, we propose a low-complexity TPED by modifying the time-domain quadratic signal and reselecting the synchronization spectral component. We demonstrate that the proposed TPED, in combination with a piece-wise parabolic (PWP) interpolator, can significantly improve the performance of feedback CRAs for non-integer oversampled Nyquist signals with a small ROF. Numerical simulations and experiments show that, based on the improved CRA, the receiver sensitivity penalty can keep below 0.5 dB when the OSF is reduced from 2 to 1.25 and the ROF is varied from 0.1 to 0.001 for 45 GBaud dual-polarization Nyquist 16QAM signals.

Low complexity joint clock recovery and adaptive equalization based on a baud-rate timing phase error detector for short-reach digital coherent transmission.

Digital coherent receivers adopting joint clock recovery and adaptive equalization (JCA) can avoid failures of the adaptive equalizer (AEQ) or clock recovery algorithm (CRA) due to clock asynchrony and chromatic dispersion (CD). But in the previous JCA scheme, the AEQ has a heavy computational load as it has to generate two samples per symbol (SPS) for the subsequent timing phase error detector (TPED) which is the core of the CRA. Furthermore, the previous JCA scheme cannot compensate for receiver skew or accommodate Nyquist signals with small roll-off factors (ROFs). These shortcomings hinder its practical applications in ultrahigh-speed short-reach coherent transmission requiring low power consumption, high spectral efficiency, whilst being sensitive to receiver skew. To solve this problem, we propose a new JCA scheme by integrating a two-section real-valued (RV) AEQ with an all-digital feedback CRA based on a baud-rate TPED versatile for different ROFs. Experiments for 61-GBaud dual-polarization (DP) Nyquist 16QAM signals with an ROF of 0.01 show that, compared with the previous JCA scheme, the proposed scheme can reduce the AEQ computational load by about 70% for 10-km transmission, whilst improving the receiver sensitivity by more than 1.7 dB for a receiver skew of 1.5 ps. As far as we know, the proposed JCA scheme is the most comprehensive and efficient solution for ultrahigh-speed short-reach coherent transmission where CD, receiver skew, clock asynchrony, and Nyquist signals with small ROFs have to be dealt with.

Time-dependent immune injury induced by short-term exposure to nanoplastics in the Sepia esculenta larvae.

Marine organisms are threatened by various environmental contaminants, and nanoplastics (NPs) is one of the most concerned. Studied have shown that NPs has a certain impact on marine organisms, but the specific molecular mechanism is still unclear. At present, researches on the effect of NPs on marine life mostly focus on crustaceans, gastropods, and bivalves. In this study, cephalopod Sepia esculenta larvae were first used to investigate the potential immune response molecular mechanisms caused by PS-NPs (50 nm, 50 mg/L) short-term exposure (4 and 24 h). Through S. esculenta larvae transcriptome profile of gene expression analysis, 548 and 1990 genes showed differential expression at 4 and 24 h after NPs exposure, respectively. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis were performed to find immune related DEGs. Then, the interaction relationship between the immune related DEGs after NPs exposure was known through the constructed protein-protein interaction network. 20 hub genes were found on the base of KEGG pathway numbers involved and protein-protein interaction numbers. This research supply valuable genes for the study of cephalopod immune response caused by NPs, which can help us further uncover the molecular mechanisms of organism against NPs.

Intestinal tuberculosis presented as spindle cell pseudotumor in a HIV-positive case.

MSP is a rare and atypical form of benign granulomatous inflammation characterised by tumour-like local proliferation of spindle-shaped histiocytes containing acid-fast positive mycobacteria, which should be differentiated from neoplastic lesions. A 26-year-old Chinese man complained an intermittent and mild right lower abdominal pain for 5 months in May 2022.Histopathology of biopsy samples showed Mycobacterial spindle cell pseudotumor (MSP). The test of Mycobacterium tuberculosis detected by polymerase chain reaction using intestinal tissue slice was negative. The metagenomic next-generation sequencing (BGI-Shenzhen) using formalin-fixation and paraffin-embedded intestine samples confirmed Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC).

Multiplication-free timing phase error detector for Nyquist and non-Nyquist optical signals.

A versatile digital coherent receiver capable of handling optical signals with different kinds of pulse shaping schemes (PSSs) is indispensable for future flexible and heterogeneous coherent optical communication networks. Therefore, a low-complexity timing phase error detector (TPED) versatile for all PSSs is of particular interest. In this paper, we propose a TPED suitable for both Nyquist signals with different roll-off factors and non-Nyquist signals. It requires two samples per symbol and involves no multiplications. As far as we know, it has the lowest computation complexity compared with the existing TPEDs used in coherent systems, while incurring no receiver sensitivity penalty. Numerical simulations and experiments are carried out to demonstrate the superior timing performance and PSS versatility of the proposed TPED in both open-loop and closed-loop working conditions. We also implement the novel TPED in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and verify its real-time clock recovery performance using the 10 Gbaud very low roll-off Nyquist and non-Nyquist quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signals.

Oxygen Vacancies of CeO2 Nanospheres by Mn-Doping: An Efficient Electrocatalyst for N2 Reduction under Ambient Conditions.

The electrochemical N2 reduction reaction (NRR) demonstrates a process of NH3 synthesis from N2 molecules under ambient conditions, which is environmentally friendly and recyclable. However, it requires an efficient electrocatalyst to activate inert N2 molecules, which is still difficult to satisfy. Recently, as an active NRR electrocatalyst and a typical metal oxide, CeO2 has featured ultrahigh thermal stability and the ability to apply heteroatom doping, which is an imperative approach importing oxygen vacancy by replacing metal ions with selective elements to greatly influence the activity of catalysts. Here, we analyze the unique properties of manganese dopants in modulating the activity of CeO2 nanospheres for NRR. It attains a larger NH3 yield of 27.79 µg h-1 mgcat-1 and a higher Faradaic efficiency of 9.1% than pure CeO2 at -0.30 V in 0.1 M HCl, with high electrochemical and structure stability. With calculations by density functional theory, the performance enhancement of Mn-doped CeO2 is also proved mathematically.

Rhabdomyolysis induced by rosuvastatin combined with entecavir: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Rhabdomyolysis is a serious and potentially life threatening condition that can be caused by drugs. We report a case of acute hepatitis B with rhabdomyolysis after treatment with rosuvastatin and entecavir. CASE PRESENTATION: A 72-year-old female was admitted to our hospital due to acute hepatitis B infection. She had taken atorvastatin for 3 months before being admitted to our hospital. After being administered entecavir (ETV) and rosuvastatin to replace atorvastatin, she suffered from muscle pain in both lower limbs and was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. After discontinuation of the two drugs, the patient's symptoms subsided and creatine kinase levels returned to normal. We hypothesize that the rhabdomyolysis was caused by the combination of rosuvastatin and ETV. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that patients who use rosuvastatin and ETV be made aware of the complication of rhabdomyolysis.

Deaminative Arylation and Alkenyaltion of Aliphatic Tertiary Amines with Aryl and Alkenylboronic Acids via Nitrogen Ylides.

Transition-metal-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling has significantly advanced C-C bond formation and has been well recognized in organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals, materials science and other fields. In this rapid development, cross coupling without transition metal catalyst is a big challenge in this field, and using widely existing tertiary amines as electrophiles to directly couple with boronic acids has great hurdles yet significant application prospects. Herein, we report an efficient and general deaminative arylation and alkenylation of tertiary amines (propargyl amines, allyl amines and 1H-indol-3-yl methane amines) with ary and alkenylboronic acids enabled by difluorocarbene under transition-metal-free conditions. Preliminary mechanism experiments suggest that in situ formed difluoromethyl quaternary amine salt, nitrogen ylide and tetracoordinate boron species are the key intermediates, the subsequent 1,2-metallate shift and protodeboronation complete the new coupling reaction.

Simple and fast colorimetric and electrochemical methods for the ultrasensitive detection of glucose.

Developing ultrasensitive and user-friendly methods for the detection glucose has attracted more and more attention. By virtue of high selectivity and sensitivity, enzyme-based glucose sensor plays a key role in point-of-care sensing technology for detecting glucose concentration. In this study, Amplex Red (AR), as both indicator and mediator, was investigated to detect glucose in presence of glucose oxidase (GOx) enzymes using colorimetric and electrochemical methods. Without using any advanced techniques and sophisticated nanomaterials, 1 µM glucose can be easily detected through simply detecting the solution color with a visual colorimetric method. On the other hand, the electrochemical method can provide much higher sensitivity for the detection of glucose, which achieves a linear range spanning from 20 nM to 3.56 µM with a limit of 7.3 nM (signal-to-noise ratio SNR = 3). It is also found that the presence of other sugars such as fructose, lactose, and maltose have very limited interference effects on the detection of glucose. More importantly, a bare GC electrode was used in all these electrochemical measurements without any electrode surface modification, guaranteeing a simple and fast operation. The analytical platforms for the detection of glucose presented here not only provide simple, fast, and ultrasensitive methods, but also have the potential to advance the sensing technology in the application of other health diagnostic research areas. Amplex Red (AR) was reported as both an indicator and mediator for the sensitive and specific determination of glucose using the colorimetric and electrochemical methods. The detection limit was 1 µM glucose by the visual colorimetric methods. A bare glassy carbon electrode without any functional modification was employed for the detection as low as 20 nM glucose with LOD of 7.3 nm (SNR = 3) in the electrochemical method.

A man with recurrent fever, arthritis, and rashes-brucellosis? A case report.

BACKGROUND: We report a rare case of chronic brucellosis accompanied with myelodysplastic syndrome and neutrophilic dermatosis, which to the best of our knowledge, has never been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: A young man was admitted to our hospital complaining of recurrent fever, arthritis, rashes and anemia. He had been diagnosed with brucellosis 6 years prior and treated with multiple courses of antibiotics. He was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and neutrophilic dermatosis following bone marrow puncture and skin biopsy. After anti-brucellosis treatment and glucocorticoid therapy, the symptoms improved. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should consider noninfectious diseases when a patient who has been diagnosed with an infectious disease exhibits changing symptoms.

Spinel LiMn2O4 Nanofiber: An Efficient Electrocatalyst for N2 Reduction to NH3 under Ambient Conditions.

The production of ammonia (NH3) in the industrial scale basically relies on the traditional technology of Haber-Bosch, which is operated under harsh conditions with high energy consumption and a huge number of greenhouse gas emissions. Electrochemical N2 reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising route for artificial N2-to-NH3 fixation with less energy consumption. However, an effective electrocatalyst, as a prerequisite of the NRR, is of significance. Here, we report that a spinel LiMn2O4 nanofiber acts as a noble-metal-free electrocatalyst for NH3 synthesis with excellent performance under ambient conditions. The electrocatalyst, which was tested in 0.1 M HCl, has an excellent Faradaic efficiency of 7.44% and a NH3 yield of 15.83 µg h-1 mgcat.-1 at -0.50 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Moreover, it also possesses excellent electrochemical and structure stability.

Electrical Properties of Ba0.96Ca0.04Ti0.90Sn0.10O3 Lead-Free Ceramics with the Addition of Nano-CeO2.

Well dispersed CeO2 nanoparticles are prepared by azeotropic co-precipitation method. (Ba0.96Ca0.04)(Ti0.90Sn0.10)O3 lead-free piezoelectric ceramics doped with nano-CeO2 (x =0 mol%, 0.03 mol%, and 0.07 mol%) and micro-CeO2 (x = 0.03 mol%) are prepared at 1430 °C for 2 h by the conventional solid state sintering method. XRD diffraction indicates that all components have typical perovskite structure. Both doping of nano-CeO2 and micro-CeO2 can inhibit grain growth. And the average grain size decreased apparently with the increase of nano-CeO2 amount. All the samples exhibit typical diffuse phase transition behavior. The optimized electrical performances are obtained at x = 0.03 mol% with d33 = 512 pC/N, kp = 41.5%, and Pr = 14.00 µC/cm².

Application of a Self-Made Equipment for Patient Positioning during Percutaneous Nephroscopy in the Oblique-Supine Position.

BACKGROUND: The oblique-supine position for percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) has advantages, but the position fixation methods are inadequate. This study aimed to analyze the PCNL outcomes using a patented self-made frame for oblique-supine position. METHODS: This was a prospective study of patients scheduled to undergo PCNL at 2 hospitals in China between November 2009 and December 2016. The patients underwent PCNL in the oblique-supine position using the self-made position frame (n = 94). Operative time, stone clearance rate, intraoperative average systolic pressure, intraoperative average heart rate, intraoperative average airway pressure, intraoperative average intrapelvic pressure, and complications were observed. RESULTS: The patients were 45.3 ± 19.7 years old and 71% were male. Stones were of the size 2.5 ± 1.1 cm. The operative time was 95.6 min and the stone clearance rate was 81.9%. Intraoperative systolic blood pressure was 15.13 ± 1.68 kPa. Intraoperative airway pressure was 15.5 ± 2.3 cm H2O. Postoperative fever was observed in 3.2% of the patients. None had organ injury. Postoperative stay was 4.8 ± 0.6 days. The nephrostomy tube was routinely removed on the 5th day after surgery and the patients were discharged on the following day. CONCLUSION: The self-made surgical position frame met the position requirements for the oblique-supine PCNL operation. This surgical position frame deserves clinical application and promotion.

LiMII (IO3 )3 (MII =Zn and Cd): Two Promising Nonlinear Optical Crystals Derived from a Tunable Structure Model of α-LiIO3.

Excellent nonlinear optical materials simultaneously meet the requirements of large SHG response, phase-matching capability, wide transparency windows, considerable energy band-gap, good thermal stability and structure stability. Herein, two new promising nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals LiMII (IO3 )3 (MII =Zn and Cd) are rationally designed by the aliovalent substitution strategy from the commercialized α-LiIO3 with the perfect parallel alignment of IO3 groups. Compared with parent α-LiIO3 and related AI 2 MIV (IO3 )6 , the title compounds exhibit more stable covalent 3D structure, and overcome the racemic twinning problem of AI 2 MIV (IO3 )6 . More importantly, both compounds inherit NLO-favorable structure merits of α-LiIO3 and show larger SHG response (≈14× and ≈12×KDP), shorter absorption edge (294 and 297 nm) with wider energy band-gap (4.21 and 4.18 eV), good thermal stability (460 and 430 °C), phase-matching behaviors, wider optical transparency window and good structure stability, achieving an excellent balance of NLO properties.

Greatly Improving Electrochemical N2 Reduction over TiO2 Nanoparticles by Iron Doping.

Titanium-based catalysts are needed to achieve electrocatalytic N2 reduction to NH3 with a large NH3 yield and a high Faradaic efficiency (FE). One of the cheapest and most abundant metals on earth, iron, is an effective dopant for greatly improving the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) performance of TiO2 nanoparticles in ambient N2 -to-NH3 conversion. In 0.5 m LiClO4 , Fe-doped TiO2 catalyst attains a high FE of 25.6 % and a large NH3 yield of 25.47 µg h-1 mgcat -1 at -0.40 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode. This performance compares favorably to those of all previously reported titanium- and iron-based NRR electrocatalysts in aqueous media. The catalytic mechanism is further probed with theoretical calculations.

Synergetic Influence of Alkali-Metal and Lone-Pair Cations on Frameworks of Tellurites.

Four new tellurites were hydrothermally synthesized by the adjustment of different alkali-metal ions, and all of the compounds demonstrate 2D layer structures. Rb2Te4O9·2H2O in centrosymmetric space group Pccn features a new [Te4O9]∞2- anion sheet consisting of rare [Te8O22]12- groups. RbNaTe8O14(OH)6·8H2O in CS space group P1̅ exhibits a [Te4O9]∞2- anion layer by linkage of the TeO3 and TeO4 units. NaPb4Te4O12F located in CS space group P4/ n displays an unusual [PbTeO3]∞ neutral layer made up of PbO3 and TeO3 trigonal pyramids. RbK3Te8O18·5H2O lying in noncentrosymmetric (NCS) space group Cc shows a [Te4O9]∞2- anion layer composed of the TeO3 and TeO4 units; its second-harmonic-generation response is about 0.2 times that of KH2PO4; structure analysis and local dipole moment calculation verify that the weak polarization mostly from the [Te4O9]∞2- layer results from the inverse arrangement of TeO n units, and further theoretical calculation confirms that TeO n groups dominate the band gap of RbK3Te8O18·5H2O and optical properties. Meanwhile, systematic analyses of a series of metal tellurites reveal that the alkali-metal cations exert a considerable impact on polarization of the crystal structures, which puts forward a feasible idea about the design of new NCS materials.

Using 'swallow-tail' sign and putaminal hypointensity as biomarkers to distinguish multiple system atrophy from idiopathic Parkinson's disease: A susceptibility-weighted imaging study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of 'swallow-tail' sign and putaminal hypointensity on 3 T susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) for distinguishing multiple system atrophy (MSA) from idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). METHODS: Three groups - 39 MSA patients, 18 IPD patients,and 31 healthy controls (HCs) - were administered a 3 T SWI sequence to evaluate 'swallow-tail' sign and putaminal hypointensity using visual scales from 0 to 2 and 0 to 3 scores, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of the two signs separately and combined was calculated using a receiver operating characteristic curve, with clinical diagnosis as the gold standard. RESULTS: The scores of 'swallow-tail' sign were lower in IPD than in MSA or in HCs, as well as for putaminal hypointensity in IPD or HCs than in MSA (p < 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of 'swallow-tail' sign and putaminal hypointensity were 87.9% and 83.3%, and 35.9% and 100%, respectively, in the respective patient groups. The area under the curve of combined signs was increased from 0.85 ('swallow tail') or 0.68 (putaminal hypointensity) to 0.93. CONCLUSION: The combination of 'swallow-tail' sign and putaminal hypointensity can increase the accuracy of discriminating between MSA and IPD. KEY POINTS: • Differential diagnosis of MSA and IPD is still challenging in clinical practice. • Absence of 'swallow-tail' sign is a valuable biomarker for IPD on SWI. • Putaminal hypointensity is a valuable biomarker for MSA on SWI. • Combined 'swallow- tail' sign and putaminal hypointensity increase diagnostic accuracy.