Anion-Driven Bandgap Tuning of AgIn(SxSe1-x)2 Quantum Dots.

Accurate tuning of the electronic and photophysical properties of quantum dots is required to maximize the light conversion efficiencies in semiconductor-assisted processes. Herein, we report a facile synthetic procedure for AgIn(SxSe1-x)2 quantum dots with S content (x) ranging from 1 to 0. This simple approach allowed us to tune the bandgap (2.6-1.9 eV) and extend the absorption of AgIn(SxSe1-x)2 quantum dots to lower photon energies (near-IR) while maintaining a small QD size (∼5 nm). Ultraviolet spectroscopy studies revealed that the change in the bandgap is modulated by the electronic shifts in both the valence band and the conduction band positions. The negative overall charge of the as-synthesized quantum dots enabled us to make films of quantum dots on mesoscopic TiO2. Excited state studies of the AgIn(SxSe1-x)2 quantum dot films demonstrated a fast charge injection to TiO2, and the electron transfer rate constant was found to be 1.5-3.5 × 1011 s-1. The results of this work present AgIn(SxSe1-x)2 quantum dots synthesized by the one-step method as a potential candidate for designing light-harvesting assemblies.

Sex-specific implications of inflammation in covert cerebral small vessel disease.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between inflammation and covert cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) with regards to sex difference has received limited attention in research. We aim to unravel the intricate associations between inflammation and covert SVD, while also scrutinizing potential sex-based differences in these connections. METHODS: Non-stroke/dementia-free study population was from the I-Lan longitudinal Aging Study. Severity and etiology of SVD were assessed by 3T-MRI in each participant. Systemic and vascular inflammatory-status was determined by the circulatory levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and homocysteine, respectively. Sex-specific multivariate logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and interaction models to scrutinize women-to-men ratios of ORs (RORs) were used to evaluate the potential impact of sex on the associations between inflammatory factors and SVD. RESULTS: Overall, 708 participants (62.19 ± 8.51 years; 392 women) were included. Only women had significant associations between homocysteine levels and covert SVD, particularly in arteriosclerosis/lipohyalinosis SVD (ORs[95%CI]: 1.14[1.03-1.27] and 1.15[1.05-1.27] for more severe and arteriosclerosis/lipohyalinosis SVD, respectively). Furthermore, higher circulatory levels of homocysteine were associated with a greater risk of covert SVD in women compared to men, as evidenced by the RORs [95%CI]: 1.14[1.01-1.29] and 1.14[1.02-1.28] for more severe and arteriosclerosis/lipohyalinosis SVD, respectively. No significant associations were found between circulatory hsCRP levels and SVD in either sex. CONCLUSION: Circulatory homocysteine is associated with covert SVD of arteriosclerosis/lipohyalinosis solely in women. The intricacies underlying the sex-specific effects of homocysteine on SVD at the preclinical stage warrant further investigations, potentially leading to personalized/tailored managements. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

From Light to Dark: Dancing with Electrons in Colloidal 2D MoS2 Nanosheets.

Extending the lifetime of photogenerated electrons in semiconductor systems is an important criterion for the conversion of light into storable energy. We have now succeeded in storing electrons in a photoirradiated colloidal molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) suspension, showcasing its unique reversible photoresponsive behavior. The dampened A and B excitonic peaks indicate the accumulation of photogenerated electrons and the minimization of interactions between MoS2 interlayers. The stored electrons were quantitatively extracted by titrating with a ferrocenium ion in the dark, giving ca. 0.2 electrons per MoS2 formula unit. The emergence of the photoinduced A1g* Raman mode and the decrease in zeta potential after irradiation suggest intercalation of counterions to maintain overall charge balance upon electron storage. These results provide insights into the mechanism of photogenerated electron storage in 2D materials and pave the way for the potential application of colloidal 2D materials in electron storage.

Psoriatic arthritis increases the risk of venous thromboembolism following degenerative lumbar spine surgery: An analysis of U.S. Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2005-2018.

Background: This retrospective study aimed to determine the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with PsA after surgery for lumbar degenerative disease (LDD). Methods: The study data of adults aged ≥20 years admitted to U.S. hospitals with diagnoses of LDD and undergoing spinal decompression or fusion between 2005 and 2018 were extracted from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. Patients were further divided into two groups based on a diagnosis of PsA or not via codes ICD-9: 696.0 and ICD-10: L40.50. Patients with missing information were excluded. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to enhance comparability between groups. Logistic regression was used to determine associations between PsA and various outcomes, including complications, unfavorable discharge, and prolonged length of stay (LOS). Results: Data on 471,283 patients with LDD was extracted from the NIS database.from 2005 to 2018. Before propensity score matching, patients with PsA had higher proportions of overall morbidity (8.8 % vs. 6.9 %), VTE (1.4 % vs. 0.7 %), and unfavorable discharge (20.8 % vs. 16.9 %). After matching, patients with PsA still had higher VTE incidence and unfavorable discharge proportions. After adjustments, multivariable regression analysis indicated that patients with PsA had a higher risk of unfavorable discharge (aOR: 1.26, 95 % CI: 1.03-1.55) and VTE (aOR: 1.99, 95 % CI: 1.05-3.75). Conclusions: Among patients undergoing surgery for LDD, pre-existing PsA may be associated with increased risks of unfavorable discharge and VTE occurrence. The findings may benefit preoperative risk stratifications before LDD surgeries.

Effective Invasiveness Recognition of Imbalanced Data by Semi-Automated Segmentations of Lung Nodules.

Over the past few decades, recognition of early lung cancers was researched for effective treatments. In early lung cancers, the invasiveness is an important factor for expected survival rates. Hence, how to effectively identify the invasiveness by computed tomography (CT) images became a hot topic in the field of biomedical science. Although a number of previous works were shown to be effective on this topic, there remain some problems unsettled still. First, it needs a large amount of marked data for a better prediction, but the manual cost is high. Second, the accuracy is always limited in imbalance data. To alleviate these problems, in this paper, we propose an effective CT invasiveness recognizer by semi-automated segmentation. In terms of semi-automated segmentation, it is easy for doctors to mark the nodules. Just based on one clicked pixel, a nodule object in a CT image can be marked by fusing two proposed segmentation methods, including thresholding-based morphology and deep learning-based mask region-based convolutional neural network (Mask-RCNN). For thresholding-based morphology, an initial segmentation is derived by adaptive pixel connections. Then, a mathematical morphology is performed to achieve a better segmentation. For deep learning-based mask-RCNN, the anchor is fixed by the clicked pixel to reduce the computational complexity. To incorporate advantages of both, the segmentation is switched between these two sub-methods. After segmenting the nodules, a boosting ensemble classification model with feature selection is executed to identify the invasiveness by equalized down-sampling. The extensive experimental results on a real dataset reveal that the proposed segmentation method performs better than the traditional segmentation ones, which can reach an average dice improvement of 392.3%. Additionally, the proposed ensemble classification model infers better performances than the compared method, which can reach an area under curve (AUC) improvement of 5.3% and a specificity improvement of 14.3%. Moreover, in comparison with the models with imbalance data, the improvements of AUC and specificity can reach 10.4% and 33.3%, respectively.

Image Deblurring With Image Blurring.

Deep learning (DL) based methods for motion deblurring, taking advantage of large-scale datasets and sophisticated network structures, have reported promising results. However, two challenges still remain: existing methods usually perform well on synthetic datasets but cannot deal with complex real-world blur, and in addition, over- and under-estimation of the blur will result in restored images that remain blurred and even introduce unwanted distortion. We propose a motion deblurring framework that includes a Blur Space Disentangled Network (BSDNet) and a Hierarchical Scale-recurrent Deblurring Network (HSDNet) to address these issues. Specifically, we train an image blurring model to facilitate learning a better image deblurring model. Firstly, BSDNet learns how to separate the blur features from blurry images, which is adaptable for blur transferring, dataset augmentation, and ultimately directing the deblurring model. Secondly, to gradually recover sharp information in a coarse-to-fine manner, HSDNet makes full use of the blur features acquired by BSDNet as a priori and breaks down the non-uniform deblurring task into various subtasks. Moreover, the motion blur dataset created by BSDNet also bridges the gap between training images and actual blur. Extensive experiments on real-world blur datasets demonstrate that our method works effectively on complex scenarios, resulting in the best performance that significantly outperforms many state-of-the-art approaches.

Outcomes of hemorrhagic stroke in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases: An analysis of the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample.

AIM: To determine whether and how rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and systemic sclerosis (SSc) affect outcomes in patients admitted for hemorrhagic stroke. METHODS: This study screened the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database for adults aged ≥20 years admitted to US hospitals with a principal diagnosis of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) between 2005 and 2018. Diagnoses were determined using the International Classification of Diseases, 9th and 10th revisions (ICD-9 and ICD-10) diagnostic codes for ICH (ICD-9: 431, 432; ICD-10: I61, I62). Study outcomes were: (1) in-hospital mortality; (2) unfavorable discharge, defined as transfer to nursing homes or long-term care facilities; and (3) prolonged length of stay (LOS), defined as LOS >75th centile. RESULTS: Associations between comorbid RA, SLE, and SSc and clinical outcomes show a significantly lower risk of in-hospital mortality and prolonged LOS in RA patients. After admissions for ICH, the risk for in-hospital mortality and prolonged LOS was decreased in RA patients, and the risk for unfavorable discharge (long-term care) was reduced in SLE patients. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients admitted to US hospitals for hemorrhagic stroke, patients with RA had decreased risk for in-hospital mortality and prolonged LOS.

Correction: First-principles modeling of the highly dynamical surface structure of a MoS2 catalyst with S-vacancies.

Correction for 'First-principles modeling of the highly dynamical surface structure of a MoS2 catalyst with S-vacancies' by Po-Yuan Wang et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2022, 24, 24166-24172, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CP03384D.

Acupuncture for pain control after degenerative lumbar spine surgery.

BACKGROUND: Wound pain after surgery for lumbar spine disease may interfere with patients' recovery. Acupuncture is commonly used for pain management, but its efficacy for postoperative pain control is unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for adjuvant pain control after surgery for degenerative lumbar spine disease. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of consecutive patients who received surgery for degenerative lumbar spine disease at our institution from 2013 to 2014. Surgical procedures included open laminectomy, discectomy, and trans-pedicle screw instrumentation with posterior-lateral fusion. Patients were grouped by pain control methods, including routine analgesia, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), and acupuncture. The routine analgesia group received oral acetaminophen/non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with meperidine as needed for immediate pain control. The PCA group received a basal dose of morphine and subsequent user-demand doses. The acupuncture group received acupuncture every other day after surgery. RESULTS: Ninety-six patients were included, of whom 37 received acupuncture, 27 received PCA, and 32 received routine analgesics for pain control. Visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores in all 3 groups decreased significantly, and to the same degree, from the first postoperative day to the second day. No significant differences were found in VAS scores over the next 6 postoperative days; however, the scores of patients treated with PCA were slightly but still significantly higher (p = 0.026) on postoperative day 4 than scores of patients treated with acupuncture and traditional analgesia, a difference likely due to PCA being discontinued on postoperative day 3. No major complications were noted in the acupuncture group, but 2 patients dropped out because of fear of needle insertion. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture may be as effective as traditional analgesia and PCA for adjuvant pain control after surgery for degenerative lumbar spine disease.

First-principles modeling of the highly dynamical surface structure of a MoS2 catalyst with S-vacancies.

Vacancy sites, e.g., S-vacancies, are essential for the performance of MoS2 catalysts. As earlier studies have revealed that the size and shape of the S-vacancies may affect the catalytic activity, we have studied the behavior and mobility of such vacancies on MoS2 using DFT calculations and kinetic Monte-Carlo (kMC) simulations. The diffusion barriers for the S-vacancies are highly dependent on the immediate environment: isolated single S-vacancies are found to be immobile. In contrast, small nS-vacancies formed from n = 2 to 5 neighboring S-vacancies are often highly dynamic systems that can move within a confined area. Large extended nS-vacancies are generally unstable and transform quickly into alternating patterns of S-atoms and vacancy sites. These results illustrate the importance of recognizing MoS2 (but also other catalysts) as dynamic structures when trying to tune their catalytic performances by introducing specific defect structures.