The value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) with other methods, including Xpert MTB/RIF, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) culture, and acid-fast bacillus (AFB) staining in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). METHODS: The data of 186 patients with suspected PTB were retrospectively collected from January 2020 to May 2021 at Tongji Hospital. BALF samples were collected from all patients and analyzed using AFB staining, MTB culture, Xpert MTB/RIF, and mNGS. RESULTS: Of the 186 patients, 38 patients were ultimately diagnosed as PTB. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing exhibited a sensitivity of 78.95%, which was higher than AFB staining (27.59%) and MTB culture (44.12%) but similar to Xpert MTB/RIF (72.73%). Utilization of combined methods demonstrates improvement for PTB diagnosis. In support of this, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the combination of mNGS and MTB culture (0.933, 95% CI: 0.871, 0.995) was larger than those of mNGS, Xpert MTB/RIF, MTB culture, and the combination of Xpert MTB/RIF and MTB culture. CONCLUSION: The sensitivity of mNGS in the diagnosis of PTB using BALF specimen is similar to Xpert MTB/RIF. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing in combination with MTB culture may further improve the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Mitochondria dysfunction in airway epithelial cells is associated with type 2-low asthma.

Background: Type 2 (T2)-low asthma can be severe and corticosteroid-resistant. Airway epithelial cells play a pivotal role in the development of asthma, and mitochondria dysfunction is involved in the pathogenesis of asthma. However, the role of epithelial mitochondria dysfunction in T2-low asthma remains unknown. Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using gene expression omnibus (GEO) dataset GSE4302, which is originated from airway epithelial brushings from T2-high (n = 22) and T2-low asthma patients (n = 20). Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was implemented to analyze the potential biological pathway involved between T2-low and T2-high asthma. T2-low asthma related genes were identified using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The mitochondria-related genes (Mito-RGs) were referred to the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB). T2-low asthma related mitochondria (T2-low-Mito) DEGs were obtained by intersecting the DEGs, T2-low asthma related genes, and Mito-RGs. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) was performed to further explore the potential function of the T2-low-Mito DEGs. In addition, the hub genes were further identified by protein-protein interaction (PPI), and the expressions of hub genes were verified in another GEO dataset GSE67472 and bronchial brushings from patients recruited at Tongji Hospital. Results: Six hundred and ninety-two DEGs, including 107 downregulated genes and 585 upregulated genes were identified in airway epithelial brushings from T2-high and T2-low asthma patients included in GSE4302 dataset. GSEA showed that mitochondrial ATP synthesis coupled electron transport is involved in T2-low asthma. Nine hundred and four T2-low asthma related genes were identified using WGCNA. Twenty-two T2-low-Mito DEGs were obtained by intersecting the DEGs, T2-low asthma and Mito-RGs. The GO enrichment analysis of the T2-low-Mito DEGs showed significant enrichment of mitochondrial respiratory chain complex assembly, and respiratory electron transport chain. PPI network was constructed using 22 T2-low-Mito DEGs, and five hub genes, ATP5G1, UQCR10, NDUFA3, TIMM10, and NDUFAB1, were identified. Moreover, the expression of these hub genes was validated in another GEO dataset, and our cohort of asthma patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that mitochondria dysfunction contributes to T2-low asthma.

Equilibrated PtIr/IrOx Atomic Heterojunctions on Ultrafine 1D Nanowires Enable Superior Dual-Electrocatalysis for Overall Water Splitting.

Dual-active-sites atomically coupled on ultrafine 1D nanowires (NWs) can offer synergic atomic heterojunctions (AHJs) and high atomic-utilization toward multipurpose and superior catalysis. Here, ≈2-nm-thick PtIr/IrOx hybrid NWs are elaborately synthesized with equilibrated Pt/IrOx AHJs as high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. Mechanism studies reveal the atomically coupled Pt-IrOx dual-sites are favorable for facilitating water dissociation, alleviating the binding of H* on Pt sites and inversely regulating the *OH adsorption and oxidation on bridge Ir-Ir sites. By simply equilibrating the Pt-IrOx ratio, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) can be substantially accelerated. In particular, Pt-rich PtIr/IrOx -30 NWs attain 11-fold enhancements for HER compared to Pt/C in 1.0 m KOH, while IrOx -rich PtIr/IrOx -50 NWs express about five times mass activity referring to Ir/C for OER. Remarkably, the ratio-optimized PtIr/IrOx NWs electrode couple achieves a durably continuous H2 production under a substantially low cell voltage.

TiO2 quantum dots confined in 3D carbon framework for outstanding surface lithium storage with improved kinetics.

Pseudocapacitive lithium storage is an effective way to promote the improvement of electrochemical performance for lithium ion batteries. However, the intrinsically sluggish lithium ionic diffusion and the low electronic conductivity of TiO2 limit its capability of pseudocapacitive behavior with fast surface redox reaction. In this work, TiO2 quantum dots confined in 3-dimensional carbon framework have been synthesized by a facile process of reverse microemulsion method combined with heat treatment. The obtained composites effectively combine electrochemical redox with surface pseudocapacitive, showing excellent electrochemical properties. An ultra-high discharge capacity of 370.5 mAh/g can be retained after 200 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A/g. Ultra-long life extends to 10,000 cycles with an average capacity loss of as low as 0.00314% per cycle can be obtained at a high current density of 5.0 A/g, due to the high pesudocapacitance contribution of fast surface redox reaction. Furthermore, the practice application of the obtained electrode is also investigated in a full cell with LiCoO2 as the cathode and a high capacity retention of 93.5% is maintained after 100 cycles at the current density of 0.1 A/g.

Highly compacted TiO2/C micospheres via in-situ surface-confined intergrowth with ultra-long life for reversible Na-ion storage.

TiO2 as the promising anode material candidate of sodium-ion battery suffers from poor conductivity and slow ion diffusion rate, which severely hampers its development. Highly compacted TiO2/C microspheres without inner pores/tunnels are synthesized by a very facile one-pot rapid processing method based on novel in-situ surface-confined inter-growth mechanism. This highly compacted TiO2/C microspheres exhibit an excellent electrochemical performance of reversible Na+ storage despite with relatively large particle/aggregation size from submicrometer to micrometer. An outstanding cycling stability extending to 10,000 cycles is gained with a high retention capacity of 140.5 mAh g-1 at a current rate of 2 A g-1. An ultra-high reversible capacity of 362 mAh g-1 close to its theoretic specific capacity is obtained at a current rate of 0.05 A g-1. The successful combination of highly compacted structure with large particle size, excellent electrochemical performance as well as rapid cost-effective preparing process might provide a potential industrial approach for efficiently synthesizing electrode materials for Na ion batteries.

Petal-like metal-organic framework stabilized Si@C with long cycle life and excellent kinetics.

Poor electrochemical kinetics caused by the unstable structure for the dramatically volumetric expansion (>300%) hinders the application of silicon in rechargeable lithium ion batteries. Si@C-Ni-MOF composites with petal-like Ni-MOFs as the skeleton and Si@C nanoparticles as the active center were synthesized via facile solvothermal process. The resulting Ni-MOF-Si@C material maintains admirable stability on cycling, and its capacity remains 1545.3 mAh g-1 with a high capacity retention rate of 99.79% after 300 cycles at the current density of 200 mA g-1. The enhancement on the kinetics is obtained, attributing to the porous structure created by the petal-like Ni-MOFs and the strong interface bonding between Si@C and Ni-MOFs.