Atomically dispersed asymmetric cobalt electrocatalyst for efficient hydrogen peroxide production in neutral media.

Electrochemical hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production (EHPP) via a two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e- ORR) provides a promising alternative to replace the energy-intensive anthraquinone process. M-N-C electrocatalysts, which consist of atomically dispersed transition metals and nitrogen-doped carbon, have demonstrated considerable EHPP efficiency. However, their full potential, particularly regarding the correlation between structural configurations and performances in neutral media, remains underexplored. Herein, a series of ultralow metal-loading M-N-C electrocatalysts are synthesized and investigated for the EHPP process in the neutral electrolyte. CoNCB material with the asymmetric Co-C/N/O configuration exhibits the highest EHPP activity and selectivity among various as-prepared M-N-C electrocatalyst, with an outstanding mass activity (6.1 × 105 A gCo-1 at 0.5 V vs. RHE), and a high practical H2O2 production rate (4.72 mol gcatalyst-1 h-1 cm-2). Compared with the popularly recognized square-planar symmetric Co-N4 configuration, the superiority of asymmetric Co-C/N/O configurations is elucidated by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy analysis and computational studies.

Establishment and evaluation of a nomogram prediction model for the risk of vascular calcification in stage 5 chronic kidney disease patients.

Vascular calcification (VC) is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) that has a detrimental effect on patients' survival and prognosis. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a practical and reliable prediction model for VC in CKD5 patients. The medical records of 544 CKD5 patients were reviewed retrospectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent risk factors for vascular calcification in patients with CKD5 and then created a nomogram prediction model. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to assess model performance. The patients were split into groups with normal and high serum uric acid levels, and the factors influencing these levels were investigated. Age, BUN, SUA, P and TG were independent risk factors for vascular calcification in CKD5 patients in the modeling group (P < 0.05). In the internal validation, the results of model showed that the AUC was 0.917. No significant divergence between the predicted probability of the nomogram and the actual incidence rate (x2 = 5.406, P = 0.753) was revealed by the calibration plot and HL test, thus confirming that the calibration was satisfactory. The external validation also showed good discrimination (AUC = 0.973). The calibration chart and HL test also demonstrated good consistency. Besides, the correlation analysis of serum uric acid levels in all CKD5 patients revealed that elevated uric acid levels may be related to gender, BUN, P, and TG.

The impact of statin use before intensive care unit admission on patients with acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery.

Background: Cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI) is a common and serious complication after cardiac surgery. The influence of statin use before surgery on the renal outcome of patients undergoing cardiac surgery is controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of statins on postoperative renal outcomes in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods: We included CSA-AKI patients in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV database and were divided into statin group and non-statin group according to whether they used statins before entering intensive care units (ICU). The main outcomes were hospitalization and 30-day mortality, and the secondary outcomes were 60-day mortality and 90-day mortality. We used propensity score matching (PSM) to adjust for confounding factors. The 95% confidence interval (CI) and risk ratio (RO) were calculated by the COX proportional regression model. At the same time, stratified analysis was used to explore whether the relationship between the statins use before intensive care units and mortality was different in each subgroup and whether the relationship between different doses of Atorvastatin and mortality was different. Result: We identified 675 pre-ICU statin users and 2095 non-statin users. In the COX proportional regression model, pre-ICU statin use was associated with decreased in-hospital (HR = 0.407, 95%confidence interval 0.278-0.595, p < 0.001) and 30-day mortality (HR = 0.407, 95%CI 0.279-0.595, p < 0.001). The survival rate of patients who took statins before entering ICU was significantly higher than that of those who did not use statins at 30 days, 60 days and 90 days. There is a significant interaction between patients with aged>65 years (HR = 0.373, 95%CI 0.240-0.581, p < 0.001), Acute kidney injury grade I (HR = 0.244, 95%CI 0.118-0.428, p < 0.001), and without post-myocardial infarction syndrome (HR = 0.344, 95%CI 0.218-0.542, p < 0.001). The mortality in hospital and 60 days of CSA-AKI patients treated with ≥80 mg Atorvastatin before operation was significantly reduced (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The pre-ICU statin use was significantly associated with decreased risk in hospital and 30-day mortality. The preoperative use of ≥80 mg Atorvastatin may improve the prognosis of CSA-AKI.

Analysis of proteome and post-translational modifications of 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation reveals the glycolysis pathway in oral adenoid cystic carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Oral adenoid cystic carcinoma (OACC) has high rates of both local-regional recurrence and distant metastasis. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of Khib on OACC and its potential as a targeted therapeutic intervention. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We investigated the DEPs (differentially expressed proteins) and DHMPs between OACC-T and OACC-N using LC-MS/MS-based quantitative proteomics and using several bioinformatics methods, including GO enrichment analysis, KEGG pathway analysis, subcellular localization prediction, MEA (motif enrichment analysis), and PPI (protein-protein interaction networks) to illustrate how Khib modification interfere with OACC evolution. RESULTS: Compared OACC-tumor samples (OACC-T) with the adjacent normal samples (OACC-N), there were 3243 of the DEPs and 2011 Khib sites were identified on 764 proteins (DHMPs). DEPs and DHMPs were strongly associated to glycolysis pathway. GAPDH of K254, ENO of K228, and PGK1 of K323 were modified by Khib in OACC-T. Khib may increase the catalytic efficiency to promote glycolysis pathway and favor OACC progression. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Khib may play a significant role in the mechanism of OACC progression by influencing the enzyme activity of the glycolysis pathway. These findings may provide new therapeutic options of OACC.

Aspirin reduces the mortality risk of sepsis-associated acute kidney injury: an observational study using the MIMIC IV database.

Introduction: Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) is a complication of sepsis and is characterized by high mortality. Aspirin affects cyclooxygenases which play a significant role in inflammation, hemostasis, and immunological regulation. Sepsis is an uncontrolled inflammatory and procoagulant response to a pathogen, but aspirin can inhibit platelet function to attenuate the inflammatory response, thus improving outcomes. Several studies have generated contradictory evidence regarding the effect of aspirin on patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI). We conducted an analysis of the MIMIC IV database to investigate the correlation between aspirin utilization and the outcomes of patients with SA-AKI, as well as to determine the most effective dosage for aspirin therapy. Materials and methods: SA-AKI patients' clinical data were extracted from MIMIC-IV2.1. Propensity score matching was applied to balance the baseline characteristics between the aspirin group and the non-user group. Subsequently, the relationship between aspirin and patient death was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard regression models. Results: 12,091 patients with SA-AKI were extracted from the MIMIC IV database. In the propensity score-matched sample of 7,694 individuals, lower 90-day mortality risks were observed in the aspirin group compared to the non-users group (adjusted HR: 0.722; 95%CI: 0.666, 0.783) by multivariable cox proportional hazards analysis. In addition, the Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated a superior 90-day survival rate for aspirin users compared to non-users (the log-rank test p-value was 0.001). And the median survival time of patients receiving aspirin treatment was significantly longer than those not receiving (46.47 days vs. 24.26 days). In the aspirin group, the average ICU stay length was shorter than non-users group. (5.19 days vs. 5.58 days, p = 0.006). There was no significant association between aspirin and an increased risk of gastrointestinal hemorrhage (p = 0.144). Conclusion: Aspirin might reduce the average ICU stay duration and the 30-day or 90-day mortality risks of SA-AKI patients. No statistically significant difference in the risk of gastrointestinal hemorrhage was found between the aspirin group and the control group.

Integrated CO2 capture and reverse water-gas shift reaction over CeO2-CaO dual functional materials.

Achieving carbon neutrality is one of the most important tasks to meet the environmental challenges due to excessive CO2 emissions. Integrated CO2 capture and utilization (ICCU) represents an effective process for direct utilization of CO2-contained exhaust gas (e.g. flue gas), in which converting the captured CO2 into CO via reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction is a promising route. The dual functional materials (DFMs), containing CO2 adsorbents and catalysts, are widely applied to achieve ICCU. The conventional active metals (Ni, Fe, etc.)-based DFMs and non-transition metal DFMs (e.g. CaO) are restricted by low CO selectivity, catalytic efficiency or CO generation in the CO2 capture step. To address the above obstructs in the application of DFMs, the metal oxides-based DFMs, MOx-CaO (M = Al, Ce, Ti or Zr), are synthesized and evaluated. The CeO2-CaO outperformed the other metal oxides-based DFMs and possessed significantly improved catalytic performance. It is found that 33% CeO2-CaO DFM displayed approximately 49% CO2 conversion and approximately 100% CO selectivity in integrated CO2 capture and reverse water-gas shift reaction (ICCU-RWGS) at 650°C, while CaO-alone only achieved approximately 20% CO2 conversion at the same condition. The surface basicity of CeO2 is revealed to contribute to the improved catalytic performance by enhancing CO2 chemisorption and activation in the hydrogenation step. Furthermore, CeO2-CaO material possessed excellent cycle stability in 20 cycles ICCU-RWGS, achieving a sustainable and high-efficient performance in CO2 conversion and CO selectivity.

Spatial Accessibility and Equity Evaluation of Medical Facilities Based on Improved 2SFCA: A Case Study in Xi'an, China.

Accurate evaluation of the accessibility of medical facilities is a prerequisite for the reasonable allocation of medical resources in a city. The accessibility of medical facilities depends not only on the distance to the supply and demand points, but also on the time spent in the process, and the supply capacity of the supply points. Taking Xi'an City of Shaanxi Province as an example, this paper comprehensively considers the facility supply capacity and introduces the selection probability function based on the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method. In addition, in order to approximate the residents' acceptance of different types of hospitals for long-distance medical treatment in real situations, different levels of search radius were set for the different levels of hospitals, and ArcGIS was used to measure the accessibility and evaluate the spatial layout of medical facilities in the main urban area of Xi'an. The results show that there is a significant difference in the accessibility of medical facilities in the main urban area of Xi'an, and the accessibility tends to decrease gradually from the central city to the periphery. The inequity in the allocation of medical facilities in the main urban area of Xi'an is more obvious, with about 81.64% of people having access to 54.88% of medical resources. The accessibility evaluation model established by the improved 2SFCA method can obtain more accurate and objective evaluation results. This study can provide a reference basis for urban medical facilities' planning and rational spatial layout.

Study on Dynamic Probability and Quantitative Risk Calculation Method of Domino Accident in Pool Fire in Chemical Storage Tank Area.

The domino event caused by fire is one of the common accidents in hydrocarbon storage tank farms, which further expands the severity and scope of the accident. Due to the different failure sequence of the storage tanks in a domino accident, the radiant heat generated by the failed storage tank to the target tank is different. Based on the influence of this synergistic effect, this study combined the Monte Carlo algorithm and FSEM, and proposed a fast real-time probability calculation method for a fire domino accident in a storage tank area, for the first time. This method uses the Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate all accident scenarios, and obtains the evolution of multiple escalation fire domino accidents under the synergistic effect according to FSEM, and then calculates the real-time failure probability and risk. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the accident propagation path, this method avoids the problem of a large amount of calculation, and is conducive to the rapid and effective analysis of the fire risk in a storage tank area and the formulation of corresponding risk reduction measures. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method were proved by a case study.

Negative effects of heat stress on maize yield were compensated by increasing thermal time and declining cold stress in northeast China.

Northeast China (NEC), an important maize region located at high northern latitudes, is undergoing pronounced climate warming. This warming highlights the importance of taking the effects of brief extreme high and low temperature events into account when addressing the impacts of climate warming on crop yields. The spatiotemporal variability of heat and cold stress and their impact on yield were determined by combining climate data, maize phenological observations and yield records from 1981 to 2018 for 17 counties in the major maize cropping area of NEC. Spatially, more severe heat stress during the vegetative phase occurred in the western border and cold stress occurred in the central regions. Both stresses during the reproductive phase and growing degree days (GDD) showed a northeast-southwest gradient. Temporally, we found overall increased (0.5 °C•d/yr) heat stress during the vegetative phase, which was predominantly more than five times that during the reproductive phase. The cold stress during the vegetative phase was alleviated by an average of -1.3 °C•d/yr, particularly in the central regions. In contrast, exposure to a cold environment during the reproductive phase was intensified, with an average of 0.3 °C•d/yr, though a few downward trends mainly occurred near the borders of three provinces. The increasing trend in GDDr was 3.6 °C•d/yr, almost twice as high as that in the vegetative phase. The impact of increased heat stress contributed an average yield loss of 0.10 t/ha/10a, while reduced cold stress during the vegetative phase coupled with increased GDD increased yield by 0.42 t/ha/10a. Although cold stress during the reproductive phase had an insignificant impact on yield, its intensity together with the increase in heat stress, especially in the vegetative phase, should be considered when developing appropriate adaptations to increase maize yield in the face of ongoing warming.

A validation of models for prediction of pathogenic variants in mismatch repair genes.

PURPOSE: Models used to predict the probability of an individual having a pathogenic homozygous or heterozygous variant in a mismatch repair gene, such as MMRpro, are widely used. Recently, MMRpro was updated with new colorectal cancer penetrance estimates. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive performance of MMRpro and other models for individuals with a family history of colorectal cancer. METHODS: We performed a validation study of 4 models, Leiden, MMRpredict, PREMM5, and MMRpro, using 784 members of clinic-based families from the United States. Predicted probabilities were compared with germline testing results and evaluated for discrimination, calibration, and predictive accuracy. We analyzed several strategies to combine models and improve predictive performance. RESULTS: MMRpro with additional tumor information (MMRpro+) and PREMM5 outperformed the other models in discrimination and predictive accuracy. MMRpro+ was the best calibrated with an observed to expected ratio of 0.98 (95% CI = 0.89-1.08). The combination models showed improvement over PREMM5 and performed similar to MMRpro+. CONCLUSION: MMRpro+ and PREMM5 performed well in predicting the probability of having a pathogenic homozygous or heterozygous variant in a mismatch repair gene. They serve as useful clinical decision tools for identifying individuals who would benefit greatly from screening and prevention strategies.

Heat stress may cause a significant reduction of rice yield in China under future climate scenarios.

Extreme heat events have become more frequent and severe under climate change and seriously threaten rice growth. Most existing crop models tend to underestimate the impacts of heat stress on rice yields. Heat stress modules in crop models have not been extensively explored, particularly on a large scale. This study modeled rice growth under heat stress at the flowering and filling stages through two heat stress models which coupled into the CERES-Rice model. We evaluated the advanced model with provincial statistics and Gridded Observed Rice Yield. Our improved CERES-Rice model produced more accurate estimates on rice yield than the original model evidenced by an increased correlation coefficient (R) of 12.72% and d-index of 0.02%. The RMSE and MAE decreased by 5.94% and 6.01%, respectively. Most pseudo positive correlations between rice yield and the number of heat days were corrected to the negative ones by the improved model. The future projections from the improved model signifies multi-model ensemble yield projection without CO2 effect (MME-I-NOCO2) has an apparent fall from 2020 to 2099 under RCP4.5, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5 with the decreasing percentages of 6%, 14%, and 37%, respectively, whereas the decreasing trend (12%) only occurs under RCP8.5 with CO2 effect (MME-I-CO2). The apparently decreasing trends of yield projection from MME-I-NOCO2 will occur in most rice-planted regions of China with the decreasing rate < 50 kg/ha/a especially in the central-south and southern cropping regions, and this decreasing trend will be slowed down for MME-I-CO2. Relative to rice yield of historical period, rice yield variations of MME-I-NOCO2 for different growing seasons show a downward trend with the decrease of approximately 54%, 60%, and 43%, respectively. Our study highlights the importance of modeling crop yields under heat stress to food security, agricultural adaptation and mitigation to climate change.

MicroRNA-506 has a suppressive effect on the tumorigenesis of nonsmall-cell lung cancer by regulating tubby-like protein 3.

MicroRNA-506 (miR-506), a miRNA, has been proven to act as a tumor suppressor gene in nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC); Tubby-like protein 3 (TULP3) is a potential target gene of miR-506. This study investigates whether miR-506 can prevent NSCLC progression by mediating TULP3. In vivo and in vitro experiments were performed to explore the function and potential regulatory relationship of miR-506 and TULP3 in NSCLC. Our results revealed that miR-506 is high expression in NSCLC cell lines, and the overexpression of miR-506 could inhibit cell viability and enhance cell apoptosis in H1299 and A549 cells. Pro-apoptotic related protein (cytochrome C, Bax, and cleaved caspase-9) expression increased while anti-apoptotic related protein (BCL-2 and BCL-XL) expression decreased after miR-506 was overexpression. Meanwhile, the overexpression of miR-506 could notably downregulate TULP3. Additionally, silence of TULP3 inhibited cell viability and promoted cell apoptosis. At the same time, pro-apoptotic related protein expression was promoted while anti-apoptotic related protein expression was inhibited. Furthermore, TULP3 overexpression could markedly reverse the inhibitory effect of miR-506 on the proliferation and induction of mitochondrial apoptosis in H1299 and A549 cells. In vivo tumor formation experiments also exhibited consistent results indicating that the functions of TULP3 might be correlated with the promotion of tumorigenesis. In conclusion, we firstly found that miR-506 can be involved in the processes of NSCLC and exert a suppressive effect on tumorigenesis by regulating TULP3 expression.

Antibacterial activity of positively charged carbon quantum dots without detectable resistance for wound healing with mixed bacteria infection.

Widespread bacterial infection and the spread of antibiotic resistance exhibit increasing threat to the public and thus require new antibacterial strategies. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have been extensively investigated to play fluorescent, catalytic roles and even potential biomedical functions containing sterilization. However, synthetic understanding of the interaction of CQDs and bacteria, the exhibition of antibacterial ability, and the risk of resistance evolution remain lacking. Herein, a simple one-pot method was fabricated to prepare positively charged CQDs (PC-CQDs) as a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent. PC-CQDs possessed effective antibacterial activity against all tested Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and drug-resistant bacteria. Investigation of the antibacterial mechanism of PC-CQDs indicated that small-sized PC-CQDs functionalized with -NH2 and -NH induced strong adherence behavior on the bacterial cell membrane. Moreover, the entry of PC-CQDs caused conformational changes in the genes and generation of reactive oxygen species in the bacteria. Safety evaluation illustrated that PC-CQDs did not trigger detectable drug resistance or hemolysis. Furthermore, PC-CQDs effectively promoted the antibacterial treatment of mixed Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli infected wound in rats with low in vivo toxicity. These results suggested that PC-CQDs are a potential antibacterial candidate for real wound healing applications in complex bacterial infections and even resistant bacteria-caused infections.

Theophylline and dexamethasone in combination reduce inflammation and prevent the decrease in HDAC2 expression seen in monocytes exposed to cigarette smoke extract.

Lung and systemic inflammation are associated with impaired lung function and increased mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Theophylline and glucocorticoids have been shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect in some respiratory diseases. However, corticosteroid insensitivity is a major barrier to the anti-inflammatory management of COPD. This study aimed to explore whether a combined treatment of theophylline and dexamethasone (Dex) could decrease cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-induced inflammation via prevention of a reduction in histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) expression and through inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway, which may be related to corticosteroid sensitivity. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of Dex (IC50-Dex) was used to as a marker of corticosteroid sensitivity. IC50-Dex was determined through observation of Dex inhibition of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced interleukin (IL)-8 release. Using reverse transcription quantitative PCR and western blotting, U937 cells treated with CSE were assessed for HDAC2 expression levels and phosphorylation levels of Akt. Theophylline and Dex pre-treatment was shown to significantly reduce the CSE-induced release of IL-8 and TNF-α. The combination of theophylline and Dex pretreatment also reversed corticosteroid insensitivity in CSE-induced U937 cells and inhibited the PI3K/AKT pathway to a greater extent than theophylline treatment alone. CSE-treated U937 cells showed a reduction in HDAC2 mRNA and protein expression compared with the control group. However, this effect was reduced after pre-incubation with the combined therapy or theophylline alone. In conclusion, pretreatment with theophylline and Dex decreased CSE-induced inflammation via inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway and increase in HDAC2 protein expression.

Inflammasome activation restrains the intracellular Neospora caninum proliferation in bovine macrophages.

Neospora caninum is an intracellular parasite that causes neosporosis in cattle. Bovine neosporosis is considered a major cause of bovine abortion worldwide. Rapid replication of N. caninum tachyzoites within host cells is responsible for the acute phase of N. caninum infection. Evidence shows that the host immune response plays an essential role in recognizing and regulating the replication of invading pathogens. Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain receptors (NLRs) are a class of cytoplasmic sensors that can sense pathogens and induce the formation of the inflammasome complex. Activation of the inflammasome promotes restriction of microbial replication. Our previous study revealed NLRP3 inflammasome activation in N. caninum-infected murine macrophages. However, the role of inflammasome activity in N. caninum-infected bovine cells is unknown. To address this question, a bovine peritoneal macrophage cell line was used to investigate the role of inflammasome activation in regulating intracellular N. caninum replication. The results showed that inflammasome mediated activation of caspase-1 occurs in N. caninum-infected bovine macrophages, and caspase-1-dependent cell death was considered to be induced in N. caninum-infected bovine macrophages because N. caninum induced cell death decreased following pretreatment with zVAD-fmk and VX765. Meanwhile, the inhibition of caspase-1 in N. caninum-infected bovine macrophages led to the presence of more parasites in the parasitophorous vacuole. In contrast, inflammasome activation induced by ATP treatment in N. caninum-infected bovine macrophages contributed to the clearance of N. caninum. In addition, pyroptotic cell supernatant collected from ATP-stimulated bovine macrophages also impaired the ability of this parasite to infect new cells. In conclusion, this study is the first report on the role of the bovine inflammasome in restraining intracellular N. caninum replication and suggests that the bovine inflammasome may be a potential target for future development of drugs or vaccines against N. caninum infection in cattle.

Synthesis of Cu0.5Mg1.5Mn0.5Al0.5Ox mixed oxide from layered double hydroxide precursor as highly efficient catalyst for low-temperature selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3.

We report a novel NH3-SCR catalyst Cu0.5Mg1.5Mn0.5Al0.5Ox synthesized from layered double hydroxides with superior activity in a wide temperature range and improved SO2 and H2O resistance comparing to conventional doped Mn/γ-Al2O3. This catalyst results in a high NOx removal efficiency of 87.0-96.6% in the low temperature range of 100-250 °C, much better than Mn/γ-Al2O3 (35.0-67.2%). Besides, it exhibits significant resistance to SO2 and H2O due to the existence of Cu and Mg. The promoting effects of Cu and Mg are thoroughly investigated using various physico-chemical techniques. The superior NH3-SCR activity of Cu0.5Mg1.5Mn0.5Al0.5Ox catalyst can be associated with its high specific surface area, high reducibility of MnO2 and CuO species, abundance of acid sites, and the well dispersion of MnO2 and CuO species. The interactions between SO2 and NH3, and the degradation mechanism caused by SO2 were investigated using in-situ DRIFT analysis.

Flower-Shaped Mg3Al1-xFex-CO3 Layered Double Hydroxides Derived Adsorbents with Tunable Memory Effect for Environmental Remediation.

Herein, flower-shaped ternary layered double hydroxides (LDHs) Mg3Al1-xFex-CO3 with tunable memory effect as promising adsorbents was developed for the removal of acid red 88 anionic dye. All the samples were prepared using a co-precipitation method and were thoroughly characterized using several analytical techniques. The influence of Fe/(Al + Fe) ratio on the memory effect and dye adsorption capacity of Mg3Al1-xFex-CO3 LDHs was evaluated. Among all samples, Mg3Fe0.1Al0.9CO3 LDH resulted in the best adsorption capacity of 2709 mg/g in the first cycle. Comparing to Mg3Al1-CO3 and Mg3Fe1-CO3 LDHs, it also showed much better cycling performance during 4 cycles at 30 °C and atmospheric pressure. The influence of regeneration temperature was also investigated and found that 400 °C exhibit best performance. The detailed studies demonstrated that the adsorption capacity of Mg3Al1-CO3 can be improved by partially replacing Al by Fe.

The synthesis of CuyMnzAl1-zOx mixed oxide as a low-temperature NH3-SCR catalyst with enhanced catalytic performance.

A new type of low-temperature selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst, CuyMnzAl1-zOx, derived from layered double hydroxides is presented in this contribution. By tuning the Cu/Mn/Al ratio, the optimal catalyst Cu2Mn0.5Al0.5Ox resulted in a NOx conversion of 91.2% at 150 °C, which is much higher than that of all other control catalysts, Cu2AlOx (71.1%), Cu-Mn/γ-Al2O3 (65.23%), and Mn/γ-Al2O3 (59.32%). All samples were characterized in detail using various physico-chemical techniques including XRD, BET, FTIR, TEM, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, and XPS analyses, and the results revealed that the superior catalytic performance of the Cu2Mn0.5Al0.5Ox catalyst can be attributed to its high specific surface area, high reducibility of MnO2 and CuO species, abundance of surface acid sites, and the good dispersion of MnO2 and CuO species. FTIR analyses of pyridine adsorbed samples revealed that the catalytic activity is proportional to the amount of Lewis acid sites. Cu2Mn0.5Al0.5Ox also showed much higher resistance to 100 ppm SO2 and 5% H2O than the control catalysts. The poisoning mechanism and the regenerability of the Cu2Mn0.5Al0.5Ox catalyst was also investigated. In all, compared with the control catalysts of Cu2AlOx, Cu-Mn/γ-Al2O3, and Mn/γ-Al2O3, the newly designed Cu2Mn0.5Al0.5Ox catalyst is not only more active at low temperatures (100-250 °C), but is also relatively more robust in the presence of SO2 and H2O.

Bayesian analysis on meta-analysis of case-control studies accounting for within-study correlation.

In retrospective studies, odds ratio is often used as the measure of association. Under independent beta prior assumption, the exact posterior distribution of odds ratio given a single 2 × 2 table has been derived in the literature. However, independence between risks within the same study may be an oversimplified assumption because cases and controls in the same study are likely to share some common factors and thus to be correlated. Furthermore, in a meta-analysis of case-control studies, investigators usually have multiple 2 × 2 tables. In this article, we first extend the published results on a single 2 × 2 table to allow within study prior correlation while retaining the advantage of closed-form posterior formula, and then extend the results to multiple 2 × 2 tables and regression setting. The hyperparameters, including within study correlation, are estimated via an empirical Bayes approach. The overall odds ratio and the exact posterior distribution of the study-specific odds ratio are inferred based on the estimated hyperparameters. We conduct simulation studies to verify our exact posterior distribution formulas and investigate the finite sample properties of the inference for the overall odds ratio. The results are illustrated through a twin study for genetic heritability and a meta-analysis for the association between the N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) acetylation status and colorectal cancer.

Best-case kappa scores calculated retrospectively from EEG report databases.

PURPOSE: The most popular metric for interrater reliability in electroencephalography is the kappa (κ) score. κ calculation is laborious, requiring EEG readers to read the same EEG studies. We introduce a method to determine the best-case κ score (κBEST) for measuring interrater reliability between EEG readers, retrospectively. METHODS: We incorporated 1 year of EEG reports read by four adult EEG readers at our institution. We used SQL queries to determine EEG findings for subsequent analysis. We generated logistic regression models for particular EEG findings, dependent on patient age, location acuity, and EEG reader. We derived a novel measure, the κBEST statistic, from the logistic regression coefficients. RESULTS: Increasing patient age and location acuity were associated with decreased sleep and increased diffuse abnormalities. For certain findings, EEG readers exhibited the dominant influence, manifesting directly as lower between-reader κBEST scores for certain EEG findings. Within-reader κBEST control scores were higher than between-reader scores, suggesting internal consistency. CONCLUSIONS: The κBEST metric can measure significant interrater reliability differences between any number of EEG readers and reports, retrospectively, and is generalizable to other domains (e.g., pathology or radiology reporting). We suggest using this metric as a guide or starting point for focused quality control efforts.