Self-Assembly Monolayer Inspired Stable Artificial Solid Electrolyte Interphase Design for Next-Generation Lithium Metal Batteries.

Lithium metal is widely regarded as the "ultimate" anode for energy-dense Li batteries, but its high reactivity and delicate interface make it prone to dendrite formation, limiting its practical use. Inspired by self-assembled monolayers on metal surfaces, we propose a facile yet effective strategy to stabilize Li metal anodes by creating an artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). Our method involves dip-coating Li metal in MPDMS to create an SEI layer that is rich in inorganic components, allowing uniform Li plating/stripping under a low overpotential over 500 cycles in carbonate electrolytes. In comparison, pristine Li metal shows a rapid increase in overpotential after merely 300 cycles, leading to failure soon after. Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that this uniform artificial SEI suppresses Li dendrite formation. We further demonstrated its enhanced stability pairing with LiFePO4 and LiNi1-x-yCoxMnyO2 cathodes, highlighting the proposed strategy as a promising solution for practical Li metal batteries.

Establishment and development of national community-based collaborative innovation demonstration areas to achieve the control target of hepatitis B in China.

BACKGROUND: The major infectious diseases of hepatitis B has constituted an acute public health challenge in China. An effective and affordable HBV control model is urgently needed. A national project of Community-based Collaborative Innovation HBV (CCI-HBV) demonstration areas has optimized the existing community healthcare resources and obtained initial results in HBV control. METHODS: Based on the existing community healthcare network, CCI-HBV project combined the community health management and health contract signing service for long-staying residents in hepatitis B screening. Moreover, HBV field research strategy was popularized in CCI-HBV areas. After screening, patients with seropositive results were enrolled in corresponding cohorts and received treatment at an early stage. And the uninfected people received medical supports including health education through new media, behavior intervention and HBV vaccinations. In this process, a cloud-based National Information Platform (NIP) was established to collect and store residents' epidemiological data. In addition, a special quality control team was set up for CCI project. RESULTS: After two rounds of screening, HBsAg positive rate dropped from 5.05% (with 5,173,003 people screened) to 4.57% (with 3,819,675 people screened), while the rate of new HBV infections was 0.28 per 100 person-years in the fixed cohorts of 2,584,322 people. The quality control team completed PPS sampling simultaneously and established the serum sample database with 2,800,000 serum samples for unified testing. CONCLUSIONS: CCI-HBV project has established a large-scale field research to conduct whole-population screening and intervention. We analyzed the HBsAg prevalence and new infection rate of HBV in the fixed population for the epidemic trend and intervention effect. The purpose of CCI-HBV project is to establish and evaluate a practical model of grid management and field strategy, to realize the new goal to control hepatitis B in China. To provide policymakers with a feasible model, our results are directly applicable. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The project was funded by the Major Projects of Science Research for the 11th and 12th five-year plans of China, entitled "The prevention and control of AIDS, viral hepatitis and other major infectious diseases", Grant Nos. 2009ZX10004901, 2011ZX10004901, 2013ZX10004904, 2014ZX10004007 and 2014ZX10004008.

Analysis of Social and Genetic Factors Influencing Heterosexual Transmission of HIV within Serodiscordant Couples in the Henan Cohort.

There is considerable variability between individuals in susceptibility to infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Many social, clinical and genetic factors are known to contribute to the likelihood of HIV transmission, but there is little consensus on the relative importance and potential interaction of these factors. Additionally, recent studies of several variants in chemokine receptors have identified alleles that may be predictive of HIV transmission and disease progression; however the strengths and directions of the associations of these genetic markers with HIV transmission have markedly varied between studies. To better identify factors that predict HIV transmission in a Chinese population, 180 cohabiting serodiscordant couples were enrolled for study by the Henan Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and transmission and progression of HIV infection were regularly measured. We found that anti-retroviral therapy, education level, and condom use were the most significant factors in determining likelihood of HIV transmission in this study. We also assessed ten variants in three genes (CXCL12, CCR2, and CCR5) that have been shown to influence HIV transmission. We found two tightly linked variants in CCR2 and CCR5, rs1799864 and rs1800024, have a significant positive association with transmission as recessive models (OR>10, P value=0.011). Mixed effects models showed that these genetic variants both retained significance when assessed with either treatment or condom use. These markers of transmission susceptibility may therefore serve to help stratify individuals by risk for HIV transmission.

ABCB1 variation and treatment response in AIDS patients: initial results of the Henan cohort.

HIV/AIDS has the highest mortality among infectious diseases in China. In ongoing efforts to alleviate this crisis, the national government has placed great emphasis on efforts in Henan province where HIV-infected former plasma donors in the 1990s contributed to AIDS becoming a public health crisis. Concomitant with a national initiative focusing the use of pharmacogenetics for the better prediction of treatment response, we studied genetic variants with known pharmacokinetic phenotypes in a set of 298 HAART-treated (highly active antiretroviral therapy) patients infected with HIV from the Henan cohort. We measured the association of response to treatment, assessed as changes in CD4+ T cell counts after antiretroviral therapy, of five polymorphisms in four genes (CYP2B6, ABCB1/MDR1, ABCG2, and ABCC4) in which variation has been suggested to affect the pharmacokinetics of drugs commonly employed to treat HIV/AIDS. We show that genotyping for ABCB1 variations (rs1045642 and rs2032582) may help predict HIV treatment response. We found variations in this gene have a significant association with outcome as measured by CD4+ T cell counts in a discovery subset (N= 197; odds ratio (OR) = 1.58; 95% CI 1.02-2.45), these results were confirmed in a validation subset of the cohort (N = 78; OR= 2.81; 95% CI 1.32-5.96). Exploratory analysis suggests that this effect may be specific to NVP (nevirapine) or 3TC (lamivudine) response. This publication represents the first genetic analysis in a continuing effort to study and assist the patients in a very large, unique, and historically significant HIV-AIDS cohort. Genotyping of AIDS patients for ABCB1 variation may help predict outcome and potentially could help guide treatment strategies.

Total lymphocyte count as a surrogate marker to predict CD4 count in human immunodeficiency virus-infected children: a retrospective evaluation.

A retrospective study was conducted, and 576 human immunodeficiency virus-infected children with total lymphocyte count (TLC) and CD4 count were recruited from China. Spearman rank order correlation and receiver-operating characteristic were used. An overall positive correlation was noted between TLC and CD4 count (prehighly active antiretroviral therapy [pre-HAART], r = 0.789, 6 months of HAART, r = 0.642, 12 months of HAART, r = 0.691, P = 0.001). TLC ≤ 2600 cells/mm(3) predicted a CD4 count of ≤ 350 cells/mm(3) with 82.9% sensitivity, 79.6% specificity pre-HAART. Meanwhile, the optimum prediction for CD4 count of ≤ 350 cells/mm(3) was a TLC of ≤ 2400 cells/mm at 6 months (73.6% sensitivity and 74.1% specificity) and 12 months (81.7% sensitivity and 76.5% specificity) of HAART. TLC can be used as a surrogate marker for predicting CD4 count of human immunodeficiency virus-infected children before and during HAART in resource-limited countries.

Correlation analysis on total lymphocyte count and CD4 count in HIV-infected patients: a retrospective evaluation.

CD4 count is the standard method for determining eligibility for highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and monitoring HIV/AIDS disease progression, but it is not widely available in resource-limited settings. This study examined the correlation between total lymphocyte count (TLC) and CD4 count of HIV-infected patients before and after HAART, and assessed the thresholds of TLC for making decisions about the initiation and for monitoring HAART. A retrospective study was performed, and 665 HIV-infected patients with TLC and CD4 count from four counties (Shangcai, Queshan, Shenqiu and Weishi) were included in the study. Pearson correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) were used. TLC and CD4 count after HAART was significantly increased as compared with pre-HAART (P<0.01). An overall positive correlation was noted between TLC and CD4 count (pre-HAART, r=0.73, P=0.0001; follow-up HAART, r=0.56, P=0.0001). The ROC curve between TLC and CD4 count showed that TLC ≤ 1200 cells/mm(3) could predict CD4 < 200 cells/mm(3) with a sensitivity of 71.12%, specificity of 66.35% at pre-HAART. After 12-month HAART, the optimum prediction for CD4 count < 200 cells/mm3 was a TLC ≤ 1300 cells/mm(3), with a sensitivity of 63.27%, and a specificity of 74.84%. Further finding indicated that TLC change was positively correlated to CD4 change (r=0.77, P=0.0001) at the time point of 12-month treatment, and the best prediction point of TLC change for CD4 increasing was 135 cells/mm(3). TLC and its change can be used as a surrogate marker for CD4 count and its change of HIV-infected individuals for making decisions about the initiation and for monitoring HAART in resource-limited settings.

Correlation Analysis on Total Lymphocyte Count and CD4 Count in HIV-infected Patients: A Retrospective Evaluation / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

CD4 count is the standard method for determining eligibility for highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and monitoring HIV/AIDS disease progression,but it is not widely available in resource-limited settings.This study examined the correlation between total lymphocyte count (TLC) and CD4 count of HIV-infected patients before and after HAART,and assessed the thresholds of TLC for making decisions about the initiation and for monitoring HAART.A retrospective study was performed,and 665 HIV-infected patients with TLC and CD4 count from four counties (Shangcai,Queshan,Shenqiu and Weishi) were included in the study.Pearson correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) were used.TLC and CD4 count after HAART was significantly increased as compared with pre-HAART (P＜0.01).An overall positive correlation was noted between TLC and CD4 count (pre-HAART,r=0.73,P=0.0001; follow-up HAART,r=0.56,P=0.0001).The ROC curve between TLC and CD4 count showed that TLC ≤ 1200 cells/mm3 could predict CD4 ＜ 200 cells/mm3 with a sensitivity of 71.12％,specificity of 66.35％at pre-HAART.After 12-month HAART,the optimum prediction for CD4 count ＜ 200 cells/mm3 was a TLC ≤ 1300 cells/mm3,with a sensitivity of 63.27％,and a specificity of 74.84％.Further finding indicated that TLC change was positively correlated to CD4 change (r=0.77,P=0.0001) at the time point of 12- month treatment,and the best prediction point of TLC change for CD4 increasing was 135 cells/mm3.TLC and its change can be used as a surrogate marker for CD4 count and its change of HIV-infected individuals for making decisions about the initiation and for monitoring HAART in resource-limited settings.