Microfiber/Nanofiber/Attapulgite Multilayer Separator with a Pore-Size Gradient for High-Performance and Safe Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have an extremely diverse application nowadays as an environmentally friendly and renewable new energy storage technology. The porous structure of the separator, one essential component of LIBs, provides an ion transport channel for the migration of ions and directly affects the overall performance of the battery. In this work, we fabricated a composite separator (GOP-PH-ATP) via simply laminating an electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) nanofibrous membrane coated with attapulgite (ATP) nanoparticles onto a PP nonwoven microfibrous fabric, which exhibits a unique porous structure with a pore-size gradient along the thickness direction that ranges from tens of microns to hundreds of nanometers. As a result, besides the enhanced thermal stability given by the chosen materials, the GOP-PH-ATP separator was endowed with a superhigh porosity of ~95%, strong affinity with electrolyte, and great electrolyte uptake of ~760%, thus effectively enabling an ionic conductivity of 2.38 mS cm-1 and a lithium-ion transference number of 0.62. Furthermore, the cell with the GOP-PH-ATP separator shows an excellent cycling performance with a capacity retention of 91.2% after 150 cycles at 1 C, suggesting that the composite separator with a pore-size gradient structure has great potential to be applied in LIBs.

Roles of long non­coding RNA SNHG16 in human digestive system cancer (Review).

The incidence of tumors in the human digestive system is relatively high, including esophageal cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. These malignancies arise from a complex interplay of environmental and genetic factors. Among them, long non­coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which cannot be translated into proteins, serve an important role in the development, progression, migration and prognosis of tumors. Small nucleolar RNA host gene 16 (SNHG16) is a typical lncRNA, and its relationship with digestive system tumors has been widely explored. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that the principal molecular mechanism of SNHG16 in digestive system tumors involves it functioning as a competitive endogenous RNA that interacts with other proteins, regulates various genes and influences a downstream target molecule. The present review summarizes recent research on the relationship between SNHG16 and numerous types of digestive system cancer, encompassing its biological functions, underlying mechanisms and potential clinical implications. Furthermore, it outlines the association between SNHG16 expression and pertinent risk factors, such as smoking, infection and diet. The present review indicated the promise of SNHG16 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in human digestive system cancer.

MnFe Prussian Blue Analogue Open Cages for Sodium-Ion Batteries: Simultaneous Evolution of Structure, Morphology, and Energy Storage Properties.

Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) exhibiting hollow morphologies have garnered considerable attention owing to their remarkable electrochemical properties. In this study, a one-pot strategy is proposed for the synthesis of MnFe PBA open cages. The materials are subsequently employed as cathode electrode in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). The simultaneous evolution of structure, morphology, and performance during the synthesis process is investigated. The findings reveal substantial structural modifications as the reaction time is prolonged. The manganese content in the samples diminishes considerably, while the potassium content experiences an increase. This compositional variation is accompanied by a significant change in the spin state of the transition metal ions. These structural transformations trigger the occurrence of the Kirkendall effect and Oswald ripening, culminating in a profound alteration of the morphology of MnFe PBA. Moreover, the shifts in spin states give rise to distinct changes in their charge-discharge profiles and redox potentials. Furthermore, an exploration of the formation conditions of the samples and their variations before and after cycling is conducted. This study offers valuable insights into the intricate relationship between the structure, morphology, and electrochemical performance of MnFe PBA, paving the way for further optimizations in this promising class of materials for energy storage applications.

Super-twisting sliding mode control for neutral point voltage of three-phase four-wire inverter based on SiC/Si hybrid switch.

The three-phase four-wire voltage source inverter (3P4W VSI) is widely used in applications like uninterrupted power supply (UPS) and bidirectional onboard charger. The increasing power density demand requires higher switching frequency and lower switching loss. To fulfill the conflicting objectives, two-fold methodology is proposed in this paper: 1) SiC/Si hybrid switches (HyS) together with recently reported gate trigger are reported for the first time in the 3P4W VSI; 2) the natural point voltage is controlled to track a sinusoidal voltage with the frequency equal to 3 times of fundamental frequency in order to achieve higher DC-bus voltage utilization rate, and further reduce the switching loss. The traditional PI controller is very hard to achieve desired performance due to both the nonlinearity and the variant reference of the natural point voltage control system. Thereby, the super-twisting sliding mode control (ST-SMC) is proposed in this paper to achieve desired tracking performance and fast dynamic response. The effectiveness and superiority of the system are verified by both simulation and experiment comparison with the existing methods using a 5 kW prototype.

Robust model predictive power control for three-phase VSRs under unbalanced grid.

The unbalanced grid voltage and circuit parameter uncertainty are two main obstacles for three phase voltage source rectifiers (VSRs) to achieve high performance in the practical applications. According to the instantaneous power model of the three-phase VSRs, six power components have to be well-regulated using only four available current manipulated variables, which is a typical underactuated problem. The model predictive control (MPC) provides a unified framework to regulate six power components simultaneously. However, how to balance the six power components control efforts is a challenge task. Meanwhile, the predictive model maybe inaccurate because of circuit parameters uncertainty, which degrades the performance of the MPC as well. In this paper, a robust model predictive power control (RMPPC) method is proposed for the three-phase VSRs to overcome above twice obstacles. The contributions of the work are: (1) The proposed method achieves the balance six power components control of the three-phase VSRs under unbalanced grid by using the off-line optimized weights; (2) a soft robust item with time variant boundary is proposed to achieve robust predictive model to deal with parameter uncertainty. Comparing with the existing voltage oriented control (VOC), direct power control (DPC) and model predictive control (MPC) methods, the proposed method achieves the best power quality in the sense of highest power factor and the lowest power oscillation in experiment, which verify the superiority of the proposed method.

Bi-directional impulse chaos control in crystal growth.

Mono-silicon crystals, free of defects, are essential for the integrated circuit industry. Chaotic swing in the flexible shaft rotating-lifting (FSRL) system of the mono-silicon crystal puller causes harm to the quality of the crystal and must be suppressed in the crystal growth procedure. From the control system viewpoint, the constraints of the FSRL system can be summarized as not having measurable state variables for state feedback control, and only one parameter is available to be manipulated, namely, the rotation speed. From the application side, an additional constraint is that the control should affect the crystallization physical growth process as little as possible. These constraints make the chaos suppression in the FSRL system a challenging task. In this work, the analytical periodic solution of the swing in the FSRL system is derived using perturbation analysis. A bi-directional impulse control method is then proposed for suppressing chaos. This control method does not alter the average rotation speed. It is thus optimum regarding the crystallization process as compared with the single direction impulse control. The effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed chaos control method to parameter uncertainties are validated by the simulations.

Case Report: Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Pancreas With High PD-L1 Expression: A Rare Presentation.

Primary pancreatic squamous cell carcinoma is sporadic. The diagnosis is usually made following surgery or needle biopsy and requires a thorough workup to exclude metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma of the pancreas often has a very poor prognosis. There is no treatment guideline for this type of cancer, and to date, no therapeutic regimen has been proven effective. Here, we report the effectiveness of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy against locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the pancreas with high programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression. Regional intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy consisting of nab-Paclitaxel followed by gemcitabine infused via gastroduodenal artery every three weeks for two cycles. This therapy resulted in the depletion of carcinoma, and the patient continues to lead a high-quality life with no symptoms for more than 16 months.

Intestinal fatty acid-binding protein as a biomarker for the diagnosis of strangulated intestinal obstruction: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to clarify the value of intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) for the early diagnosis of strangulated intestinal obstruction through a meta-analysis. METHODS: A search was performed on PubMed, EBSCO, the Cochrane Library, the Web of Science, EMBASE, CNKI, and WanFang for studies on the diagnosis of strangulated intestinal obstruction based on I-FABP. Endnote X9 software and the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies 2 (QUADAS-2) were used to screen the studies and evaluate their quality, respectively. Meta-Disc 1.4 and Stata 15.1 software were used to perform the assessment of heterogeneity and meta-analysis. RESULT: A total of eight studies were included, Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.703 (P = 0.078), suggesting that there was no threshold effect. The pooled results of the meta-analysis were as follows: sensitivity: 0.75 (95% CI: 0.66-0.81), specificity: 0.83 (95% CI: 0.71-0.91), positive likelihood ratio (PLR): 4.35 (95% CI: 2.57-7.36), negative likelihood ratio (NLR): 0.31 (95% CI: 0.24-0.39), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR): 14.19 (95% CI: 8.08-24.92). The area under the curve was 0.83. There was obvious heterogeneity among the studies. CONCLUSION: I-FABP is very valuable for the early diagnosis of strangulated intestinal obstruction and can be used to distinguish strangulated intestinal obstruction from intestinal obstruction in a timely manner, enabling accurate planning of the timing of surgery.

Enhanced Descending Corticomuscular Coupling During Hand Grip With Static Force Compared With Enhancing Force.

The interaction between cortex and muscles under hand motor with different force states has not been quantitatively investigated yet, which to some extent places the optimized movement tasks design for brain-computer interface (BCI) applications in hand motor rehabilitation under uncertainty. Converging evidence has suggested that both the descending corticospinal pathway and ascending sensory feedback pathway are involved in the generation of corticomuscular coupling. The present study aimed to explore the corticomuscular coupling during hand motor task with enhancing force and steady-state force. Twenty healthy subjects performed precision grip with enhancing and static force using the right hand with visual feedback of exerted force. Mutual information and Granger causal connectivity were assessed between electroencephalography (EEG) over primary motor cortex and electromyography (EMG) recordings, and statistically analyzed. The results showed that the mutual information value was significantly larger for static force in the beta and alpha frequency band than enhancing force state. Furthermore, compared with enhancing force, the Granger causal connectivity of descending pathways from cortex to muscle was significantly larger for static force in the beta and high alpha frequency band (10-20 Hz), indicating the connection between the primary motor cortex and muscle was strengthened for static force. In summary, the hand grip with static force resulted in an increasing corticomuscular coupling from EEG over the primary motor cortex to EMG compared with enhancing force, implying more attention was required in the static force state. These results have important implications toward motor rehabilitation therapy design for the recovery of impaired hand motor functions.

Rössler-network with time delay: Univariate impulse pinning synchronization.

Rössler had a brilliant and successful life as a scientist during which he published a benchmark dynamical system by using an electronic circuit interpreting chemical reactions. This is our contribution to honor his splendid erudite career. It is a hot topic to regulate a network behavior using the pinning control with respect to a small set of nodes in the network. Besides pinning to a small number of nodes, small perturbation to the node dynamics is also demanded. In this paper, the pinning synchronization of a coupled Rössler-network with time delay using univariate impulse control is investigated. Using the Lyapunov theory, a theorem is proved for the asymptotic stability of synchronization in the network. Simulation is given to validate the correctness of the analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed univariate impulse pinning controller.

Microwave ablation plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a multicenter, randomized, controlled, phase III clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES: This prospective trial was performed to verify whether microwave ablation (MWA) in combination with chemotherapy could provide superior survival benefit compared with chemotherapy alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From March 1, 2015, to June 20, 2017, treatment-naïve patients with pathologically verified advanced or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were randomly assigned to MWA plus chemotherapy group or chemotherapy group. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), while the secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), time to local progression (TTLP), and objective response rate (ORR). The complications and adverse events were also reported. RESULTS: A total of 293 patients were randomly assigned into the two groups. One hundred forty-eight patients with 117 stage IV tumors were included in the MWA plus chemotherapy group. One hundred forty-five patients with 113 stage IV tumors were included in the chemotherapy group. The median follow-up period was 13.1 months and 12.4 months, respectively. Median PFS was 10.3 months (95% CI 8.0-13.0) in the MWA plus chemotherapy group and 4.9 months (95% CI 4.2-5.7) in the chemotherapy group (HR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.28-0.53; p < 0.0001). Median OS was not reached in the MWA plus chemotherapy group and 12.6 months (95% CI 10.6-14.6) in the chemotherapy group (HR = 0.38, 95% CI 0.27-0.53; p < 0.0001) using Kaplan-Meier analyses with log-rank test. The median TTLP was 24.5 months, and the ORR was 32% in both groups. The adverse event rate was not significantly different in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with advanced NSCLC, longer PFS and OS can be achieved with the treatment of combined MWA and chemotherapy than chemotherapy alone. KEY POINTS: • Patients treated with MWA plus chemotherapy had superior PFS and OS over those treated with chemotherapy alone. • The ORR of patients treated with MWA plus chemotherapy was similar to that of those treated with chemotherapy alone. • Complications associated with MWA were common but tolerable and manageable.

Hyperchaos synchronization using univariate impulse control.

Rössler and Chen systems with time delay are shown to be hyperchaotic, which exhibits a more complex dynamics, including multiple positive Lyapunov exponents and infinite dimension. The hyperchaos has better application potential where hyperchaos synchronization is concerned. Univariate impulse control requires smaller perturbation to the response system, thus promising better performance. However, synchronization of two hyperchaotic systems using this control method is a challenging task due to the difficulty to guarantee synchronization stability using a minimum number of manipulated variables. In this paper, a univariate impulse control method is proposed for the synchronization of two hyperchaotic dynamics generated by time delay. A theorem is developed and proved to provide the sufficient conditions for the synchronization of time delay systems using the univariate impulse control. The upper bound of the impulse interval is proved to guarantee the asymptotic synchronization. Simulation and circuit experiment show the correctness of the analysis and the feasibility of the proposed method.

Spike-burst chimera states in an adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire neuronal network.

Chimera states are spatiotemporal patterns in which coherence and incoherence coexist. We observe the coexistence of synchronous (coherent) and desynchronous (incoherent) domains in a neuronal network. The network is composed of coupled adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire neurons that are connected by means of chemical synapses. In our neuronal network, the chimera states exhibit spatial structures both with spike and burst activities. Furthermore, those desynchronized domains not only have either spike or burst activity, but we show that the structures switch between spikes and bursts as the time evolves. Moreover, we verify the existence of multicluster chimera states.

Quantitative assessment of cerebral connectivity deficiency and cognitive impairment in children with prenatal alcohol exposure.

It is common knowledge that alcohol consumption during pregnancy would cause cognitive impairment in children. However, recent works suggested that the risk of drinking during pregnancy may have been exaggerated. It is critical to determine whether and up to which amount the consumption of alcohol will affect the cognitive development of children. We evaluate time-varying functional connectivity using magnetoencephalogram data from somatosensory evoked response experiments for 19 teenage subjects with prenatal alcohol exposure and 21 healthy control teenage subjects using a new time-varying connectivity approach, combining renormalised partial directed coherence with state space modeling. Children exposed to alcohol prenatally are at risk of developing a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) characterized by cerebral connectivity deficiency and impaired cognitive abilities. Through a comparison study of teenage subjects exposed to alcohol prenatally with healthy control subjects, we establish that the inter-hemispheric connectivity is deficient for the former, which may lead to disruption in the cortical inter-hemispheric connectivity and deficits in higher order cognitive functions as measured by an IQ test, for example. We provide quantitative evidence that the disruption is correlated with cognitive deficits. These findings could lead to a novel, highly sensitive biomarker for FASD and support a recommendation of no safe amount of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Self-adaptation of chimera states.

Chimera states in spatiotemporal dynamical systems have been investigated in physical, chemical, and biological systems, and have been shown to be robust against random perturbations. How do chimera states achieve their robustness? We uncover a self-adaptation behavior by which, upon a spatially localized perturbation, the coherent component of the chimera state spontaneously drifts to an optimal location as far away from the perturbation as possible, exposing only its incoherent component to the perturbation to minimize the disturbance. A systematic numerical analysis of the evolution of the spatiotemporal pattern of the chimera state towards the optimal stable state reveals an exponential relaxation process independent of the spatial location of the perturbation, implying that its effects can be modeled as restoring and damping forces in a mechanical system and enabling the articulation of a phenomenological model. Not only is the model able to reproduce the numerical results, it can also predict the trajectory of drifting. Our finding is striking as it reveals that, inherently, chimera states possess a kind of "intelligence" in achieving robustness through self-adaptation. The behavior can be exploited for the controlled generation of chimera states with their coherent component placed in any desired spatial region of the system.

Short-term outcomes and clinical efficacy of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in treatment of adrenal gland metastases from lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: To assess the efficacy and safety of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in the management of adrenal gland metastases (AGMs) from lung cancer. Moreover, it is the first two-institutional experience and the largest-to-date study to report the safety and efficacy of SBRT for inoperable AGM from lung cancer. METHODS: In this retrospective study, 30 patients (27 males, 3 females) with 32 AGMs were treated by SBRT from October 2006 to June 2016. Of these, 11 patients were treated with the intent of controlling all known metastatic sites and 19 for palliation of bulky AGMs. Follow-up was performed every 3 months for evaluations of efficacy and safety. Factors predictive of overall survival (OS) and local control (LC) were identified with univariate and then multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Median follow-up time was 10.7 months (2.9-96.4 months). The complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD) rates were 23.3%, 33.3%, 33.3% and 16.7% respectively. The 6-month, 1, and 2-year LC rates were 96.9%, 96.9%, and 72.7% respectively. Additionally, the 6-month, 1, and 2-year OS rates were 85.6%, 58.1%, and 54.0% respectively while 6-month, 1, and 2-year progression free survival (PFS) rates were 39.5%, 24.6%, and 8.2%, respectively. All the patients with cancer-induced pain (8 with abdominal pain and 6 with lumbar back pain) had significant alleviations after SBRT. The treatment was well tolerated with only 1 patient reporting grade-3 diarrhoea. No predictors of OS and LC were found after multivariate analysis, while it was demonstrated that biologic equivalent dose (BED10, α/ß = 10) ≥85.5Gy (P = 0.007) and gross tumor volume < 30 ml (P = 0.003) correlated with LC only after univariate analysis. CONCLUSION: SBRT is a safe and effective treatment modality in the management of AGMs from lung cancer with high LC rates and acceptable toxicity.

Computed tomography-guided percutaneous microwave ablation for treatment of peripheral ground-glass opacity-Lung adenocarcinoma: A pilot study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study is to retrospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of microwave ablation (MWA) for the treatment of ground-glass opacity (GGO)-lung adenocarcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From December 2013 to June 2017, a total of 51 patients (22 males and 29 females, mean age of 69.4 ± 10.1 years) were included in this study, with 51 lung adenocarcinoma lesions showing GGO (mean long-axis diameter of 18.7 ± 6.05 mm). They received a total of 52 sessions of percutaneous computed tomography-guided (CT-guided) MWA. First, lung adenocarcinoma with GGO was histologically defined by needle biopsy under the guidance of CT. Second, the efficacy of CT-guided MWA was analyzed, including the feasibility, safety, 3 years local progression-free survival (LPFS), 3 years disease-specific survival, and 3 years overall survival (OS). Final, complications after MWA were also summarized. RESULTS: The technical success rate was 100%, without MWA procedure-related death. At the median follow-up period (27.02, range: 7-45 months), the rates of 3 years LPFS, cancer-specific survival, and OS were 98%, 100%, and 96%, respectively. The complications after MWA included pneumothorax (48.1%, 25/52), hemoptysis (28.8%, 14/52), pleural effusion (23.1%, 12/52), and pulmonary infection (7.7%, 4/52). CONCLUSIONS: CT-guided percutaneous MWA was a feasible, safe, and effective therapeutic approach for treating GGO-lung adenocarcinoma.