A background parenchymal enhancement quantification framework of breast magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) is defined as the enhanced proportion of normal fibroglandular tissue on enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. BPE shows promise as a quantitative imaging biomarker (QIB). However, the lack of consensus among radiologists in their semi-quantitative grading of BPE limits its clinical utility. Methods: The main objective of this study was to develop a BPE quantification model according to clinical expertise, with the BPE integral being used as a QIB to incorporate both the volume and intensity of the enhancement metrics. The model was applied to 2,786 cases to compare our quantitative results with radiologists' semi-quantitative BPE grading to evaluate the effectiveness of using the BPE integral as a QIB for analyzing BPE. Comparisons between multiple groups of nonnormally distributed BPE integrals were performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Our study found a considerable degree of concordance between our BPE quantitative integral and radiologists' semi-quantitative assessments. Specifically, our research results revealed significant variability in BPE integral attained through the BPE quantification framework among all semi-quantitative BPE grading groups labeled by experienced radiologists, including mild-moderate (P<0.001), mild-marked (P<0.001), and moderate-marked (P<0.001). Furthermore, there was an apparent correlation between BPE integral and BPE grades, with marked BPE displaying the highest BPE integral, followed by moderate BPE, with mild BPE exhibiting the lowest BPE integral value. Conclusions: The study developed and implemented a BPE quantification framework, which incorporated both the volume and intensity of enhancement and which could serve as a QIB for BPE.

Customizable assembly of free-standing integrated electronics for wearables by phase separation.

The non-solvent induced phase separation method is utilized to produce a free-standing electrode with good conductivity retention during 1000 bending/stretching cycles. The as-prepared electrode has been fabricated for an integrated device consisting of an ethanol fuel cell, a supercapacitor and a motion sensor. This method for fabricating free-standing electronics reveals a cost-effective approach towards wearable devices.

Highly Selective Wearable Alcohol Homologue Sensors Derived from Pt-Coated Truncated Octahedron Au.

Unhealthy alcohol inhalation is among the top 10 causes of preventable death. However, the present alcohol sensors show poor selectivity among alcohol homologues. Herein, Pt-coated truncated octahedron Au (Ptm@Auto) as the electrocatalyst for a highly selective electrochemical sensor toward alcohol homologues has been designed. The alcohol sensor is realized by distinguishing the electro-oxidation behavior of methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), or isopropanol (2-propanol). Intermediates from alcohols are further oxidized to CO2 by Ptm@Auto, resulting in different oxidation peaks in cyclic voltammograms and successful distinction of alcohols. Ptm@Auto is then modified on wearable glove-based sensors for monitoring actual alcohol samples (MeOH fuel, vodka, and 2-propanol hand sanitizer), with good mechanical performance and repeatability. The exploration of the Ptm@Auto-based wearable alcohol sensor is expected to be suitable for environmental measurement with high selectivity for alcohol homologues or volatile organic compounds.

Hydrogen Production and Water Desalination with On-demand Electricity Output Enabled by Electrochemical Neutralization Chemistry.

Energy-saving hydrogen production can be achieved by using renewables or decoupling the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction from overall water splitting, which still needs electricity input. We have realized hydrogen production and water desalination with on-demand electricity output via an electrochemical neutralization chemistry strategy that couples acidic hydrogen evolution and alkaline hydrazine oxidation with ionic exchange. The electrochemical neutralization cells allow efficient use of chemical energy and low-grade heat from the surroundings to output 0.81 kWh electricity per m3 of hydrogen. Cell function can be rapidly switched to electricity output with a high peak power density up to 85.5 mW cm-2 or spontaneous hydrogen production at a high rate up to 70.1 mol h-1 m-2 without breaking cell operation or changing cell configuration. Fast water desalination is simultaneously achieved at a high salt removal rate of 56.1 mol h-1 m-2 without an external electricity supply.

[Study on the Synergistic Antioxidant Mechanism of Chlorogenic Acids (CQAs) with Electrochemical and Spectroscopy Property].

The synergistic antioxidant mechanism of chlorogenic acids (CQAs) was studied in this paper through cyclic voltammograms (CV), oil-water partition coefficient (P), FT-IR, XRD and circular dichroism (CD). The antioxidant capability of CQAs isomers and their mixture was determined by using ABTS free radical quenching ability assay. The results showed that the bigger the antioxidant activity disparity between the CQAs molecules was, the higher the content of high antioxidant activity CQAs was, the better the synergistic effect of the CQAs combination mixture became; The oxidation potential (Epa) of CQAs combination mixture kept constant in the synergistic experiments, which indicted the oxidative coupling interaction don't exist between the CQAs; The charge transferred (Q) and antioxidant activity exhibited high correlation (0.92); the practical Q was higher than the theoretical Q in the synergistic process and this confirmed that the CQAs (dicaffeoylquinic acids) regeneration of high antioxidant activity happened; the CQAs mixture with the absolute difference value of oil-water partition coefficient of 0.13 gave the good interface effect and high synergistic degree; the interaction and the regular arrangement between the CQAs combination were not discovered through FT-IR, XRD and CD. Therefore, the regeneration mechanism of CQAs molecules and the interface effect of reaction system were the main cause of the phenomenon of the synergistic antioxidant of CQAs.