Synthesis and Characteristics of Mesoporous Copper Cobalt Oxides Using the Inverse Micelle Method Fabricated for Supercapacitors.

Mesoporous materials have gained considerable attention in the fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes because of their large surface areas and controlled porosities. This study reports the synthesis of mesoporous CuCo2O4 powders using the inverse micelle method. X-ray diffraction, N2 sorption measurement, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were performed to investigate the properties of the powders. After heat treatment at 250 °C in a vacuum atmosphere, the mesoporous CuCo2O4 powders exhibited a large specific surface area of 116.32 m2 g-1 and a high crystallinity. The electrode fabricated by using the as-prepared mesoporous CuCo2O4 powder exhibited enhanced electrical properties with a maximum specific capacitance of 140 F g-1 and capacitance retention of 91.4% after 3000 continuous charge-discharge cycles. Therefore, the as-prepared mesoporous CuCo2O4 powders hold great potential in the fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes to be used for a wide range of electrochemical applications.

Development of High-Performance Thermoelectric Materials by Microstructure Control of P-Type BiSbTe Based Alloys Fabricated by Water Atomization.

Developing inexpensive and rapid fabrication methods for high efficiency thermoelectric alloys is a crucial challenge for the thermoelectric industry, especially for energy conversion applications. Here, we fabricated large amounts of p-type Cu0.07Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 alloys, using water atomization to control its microstructure and improve thermoelectric performance by optimizing its initial powder size. All the water atomized powders were sieved with different aperture sizes, of 32-75 µm, 75-125 µm, 125-200 µm, and <200 µm, and subsequently consolidated using hot pressing at 490 °C. The grain sizes were found to increase with increasing powder particle size, which also increased carrier mobility due to improved carrier transport. The maximum electrical conductivity of 1457.33 Ω-1 cm-1 was obtained for the 125-200 µm samples due to their large grain sizes and subsequent high mobility. The Seebeck coefficient slightly increased with decreasing particle size due to scattering of carriers at fine grain boundaries. The higher power factor values of 4.20, 4.22 × 10-3 W/mk2 were, respectively, obtained for large powder specimens, such as 125-200 µm and 75-125 µm, due to their higher electrical conductivity. In addition, thermal conductivity increased with increasing particle size due to the improvement in carriers and phonons transport. The 75-125 µm powder specimen exhibited a relatively high thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT of 1.257 due to this higher electric conductivity.

Factors affecting plastic lamina cribrosa displacement in glaucoma patients.

PURPOSE: To investigate factors associated with irreversible components of anterior lamina cribrosa (LC) depth in glaucoma patients. METHODS: A total of 141 glaucoma patients and 51 healthy control subjects were enrolled. The optic nerve head (ONH) was imaged using the enhanced depth imaging (EDI) modes of Spectralis optical coherence tomography (OCT). The depth of the LC was measured at the midhorizontal, superior, and inferior midperipheral regions of the ONH of each eye. Analyzed factors associated LC depth included age, axial length, intraocular pressure (IOP), disc size, central corneal thickness, average retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, and mean deviation (MD). RESULTS: In glaucoma patients, the LC was more deeply located compared with the control group at the midhorizontal and superior and inferior midperipheral B-scans (All P < 0.001). Age, initial IOP, and treated IOP was correlated with mean LC depth (All P < 0.001), and those correlations remained after adjusting for MD and RNFL thickness (All P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, younger age, high untreated IOP, and thinner RNFL thickness was significantly associated with a deeper LC (P = 0.015, <0.001, and 0.042). There was an interaction between age and MD as predictors for LC depth (P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: The anterior LC surface is more deeply located in glaucoma patients compared with healthy controls. In glaucoma patients, age, initial IOP, and RNFL thickness were influential factors related to LC depth. These factors should be considered in clinical application of plastic LC displacement in glaucoma patients.

Merkel Cell Carcinoma Concurrent with Bowen's Disease.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare, aggressive cutaneous malignancy of the elderly and immunocompromised patients. It is occasionally found coexisting with other diseases, such as squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, miscellaneous adnexal tumors, and rarely Bowen disease. A 75-year-old woman presented with a 6-month history of an irregularly shaped erythematous patch on the left mandibular angle. Three months later, a 1.5×1.0 cm sized painless and rapidly growing erythematous nodule developed on the patch. Microscopically, the patch lesion was consistent with that of Bowen disease. The nodular lesion showed a number of small uniform hyperchromatic cells with scanty cytoplasm. It showed dense small-cell like nodular infiltration in the dermis. Immunohistochemical staining for cytokeratin 20 showed a positive result with a dot-like perinuclear pattern. Additionally, the result for thyroid transcription factor-1 was negative, which is positive in small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. From these findings, we diagnosed this lesion as MCC concurrent with Bowen disease.

A case of the hyperkeratotic variant of porokeratosis Mibelli.

Herein, we report a case of the hyperkeratotic variant of porokeratosis Mibelli. A 58-year-old woman presented with two brownish verrucous plaques on the buttock for 20 years, and extremely hyperkeratotic verrucous nodules and brownish macules on the right foot for 1 year. Histopathological findings of the buttock were typical of porokeratosis. However, histopathological findings of the right foot were atypical for porokeratosis, including extreme hyperkeratosis and an increased number of and unusual sized cornoid lamellae.