Rice Paper Reinforced Sulfonated Poly(ether ether ketone) as Low-Cost Membrane for Vanadium Flow Batteries

Low-cost, highly efficient, and durable membrane is essential for practical application of vanadium flow battery (VFB). Sulfonated poly­(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membrane is considered as potential candidate to replace the expensive Nafion membrane because of its high proton to vanadium ion selectivity. To overcome the poor mechanical/chemical stability of SPEEK membrane in VFB, a new strategy by using commercial paper (copy paper, rice paper, and filter paper) as the scaffold of SPEEK, and subsequently self-cross-linking the SPEEK through thermal treatment was conducted. The optimized rice paper reinforced SPEEK membrane exhibits superior VFB performances to that of the benchmark Nafion 115 membrane, such as 98.3% vs 92.8% for Coulombic efficiency, 79.5% vs 75.8% for energy efficiency, and 0.13% vs 0.16% for capacity decay per cycle at a high current density of 120 mA cm^–2. Besides, S@RP-C6 shows an extremely stable performance in the temperature range of 0–70 °C. Combining the outstanding battery performances with the extremely low cost (estimated at about $10 per m²), the rice paper reinforced SPEEK membrane shows a very good application prospect in VFB

Toward Cheaper Vanadium Flow Batteries: Porous Polyethylene Reinforced Membrane with Superior Durability

Developing cheap and durable proton exchange membrane is crucial to promote the practical application of vanadium flow batteries (VFB). Here we report a simple and scalable method to fabricate a reinforced sulfonated poly­(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membrane using a lithium-ion battery separator, ceramic-coated porous polyethylene (CCP), as a robust scaffold. With the confinement effect of the extremely stable CCP substrate, the reinforced SPEEK membrane (S@CCP) shows significantly improved chemical/mechanical stability and reduced vanadium ion permeability compared to the control SPEEK membrane. Accordingly, the S@CCP membrane demonstrates excellent rate performance and cycling stability than those of the benchmark Nafion 212 membrane. It exhibits stable performance over 1500 cycles at 160 mA cm^–2 with 99% of CE, 76% of EE and 0.126% of capacity decay per cycle. Meanwhile, the S@CCP membrane is highly resistant to temperature fluctuations over a wide range of −20–60 °C. The superior durability, wide temperature adaptability, and low cost suggest that the S@CCP membrane offers great promise as an ideal membrane for VFB application

Ubiquitous Occurrence of Chlorinated Byproducts of Bisphenol A and Nonylphenol in Bleached Food Contacting Papers and Their Implications for Human Exposure

The occurrence of bisphenol A (BPA), nonylphenol (NP), and their six chlorinated byproducts were investigated in 74 food contacting papers (FCPs) from China, the U.S.A., Japan, and Europe using a sensitive dansylation LC-MS/MS method. BPA

Levels of Phthalate Metabolites in Urine of Pregnant Women and Risk of Clinical Pregnancy Loss

Toxicological studies have shown that phthalate esters (PAEs), a class of widely used and environmentally prevalent chemicals, can increase the abortion rate in animals, but epidemiological evidence is scarce. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the urinary concentration of phthalate metabolites and the risk of clinical pregnancy loss. A total of 132 women who underwent clinical pregnancy loss (cases) and 172 healthy pregnant women (controls) were recruited from Beijing, China. Eight phthalate metabolites in urine were determined by ultraperformance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS). Five phthalate metabolites, monomethyl phthalate (MMP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monoisobutyl phthalate (MiBP), mono-<i>n</i>-butyl phthalate (MnBP), and mono­(2-ethlyhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), were detected in at least 95% of the urine samples, with the highest median concentration of 51.0 μg/g of creatinine for MnBP of all participants. The differences in urinary concentrations of phthalate metabolites between cases and controls were evaluated using the Mann–Whitney <i>U</i> test. The concentrations of MEP (median of 18.7 μg/g of creatinine), MiBP (23.3 μg/g of creatinine), and MnBP (58.2 μg/g of creatinine) detected in the cases were significantly higher than those (15.7 μg/g of creatinine for MEP, 19.4 μg/g of creatinine for MiBP, and 43.9 μg/g of creatinine for MnBP) in the controls (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Increasing risks of clinical pregnancy loss were observed from the first to fourth quartiles of the MEP, MiBP, and MnBP concentrations (<i>p</i> < 0.05 for trend). We concluded that exposure to MEP, MiBP, and MnBP was associated with an increased risk of clinical pregnancy loss

Levels of Blood Organophosphorus Flame Retardants and Association with Changes in Human Sphingolipid Homeostasis

While a recent toxicological study has shown that organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) may disrupt sphingolipid homeostasis, epidemiologic evidence is currently lacking. In this study, a total of 257 participants were recruited from Shenzhen, China. Eleven OPFRs were for the first time simultaneously determined in the human blood samples by ultraperformance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. Six OPFRs, tributyl phosphate (TNBP), 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP), tris­(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), tris­(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP), triethyl phosphate (TEP), and TPHP, were detectable in at least 90% of participants, with median concentrations of 37.8, 1.22, 0.71, 0.54, 0.49, and 0.43 ng/mL, respectively. Sphingomyelin (SM) levels in the highest quartile of EHDPP, TPHP, TNBP, TBOEP, TEP, and TCIPP were 45.3% [95% confidence interval; 38.1%, 53.0%], 51.9% (45.5%, 58.6%), 153.6% (145.1%, 162.3%), 20.6% (14.5%, 27.0%), 59.0% (52.1%, 66.2%), and 62.8% (55.2%, 70.6%) higher than those in the lowest quartile, respectively, after adjusting for covariates. Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) levels in the highest quartile of EHDPP, TPHP, and TNBP were 36% (−39%, −33%), 16% (−19%, −14%), and 36% (−38%, −33%) lower than those in the lowest quartile, respectively. A similar pattern emerged when exposures were modeled continuously. We for the first time found the associations between OPFRs and changes in human sphingolipid homeostasis

Equol Induces Gonadal Intersex in Japanese Medaka (<i>Oryzias latipes</i>) at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations: Comparison with 17β-Estradiol

Equol is present in the aquatic environment via livestock waste and runoff discharge; however, it remains unclear whether it can induce gonadal intersex in fish at environmentally relevant concentrations. This study evaluated adverse effects of equol on gonadal development by exposing transgenic Japanese medaka (<i>Oryzias latipes</i>) from hatching for 100 days. Equol induced intersex incidence in male medaka in a dose-dependent manner, and the benchmark dose corresponding to 10% intersex incidence (BMD₁₀) was 11.5 ng/L (95% confidence interval (CI): 5.8 ng/L, 19.8 ng/L), which was comparable to the required dose of 17β-estradiol (E2β) (9.0 ng/L, 95% CI: 6.6 ng/L, 11.0 ng/L). Equol exposure resulted in reduced plasma 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) concentrations in male medaka at 1.3 ng/L, while reduced plasma 11-KT concentrations were observed at a relatively high concentration (6.4 ng/L) of E2β. Such antiandrogenic property could partly explain the comparable potency of equol with that of E2β to induce intersex at relatively low concentrations, although the binding affinity of equol to medaka estrogen receptor α (EC₅₀ 939.4 nM) was 230-fold lower than that (4.07 nM) of E2β. This study for the first time demonstrated that equol could induce intersex in medaka fish at environmentally relevant concentrations

Human Rabies in China, 1960-2014: A Descriptive Epidemiological Study

<div><p>Background</p><p>Rabies in China remains a public health problem. In 2014, nearly one thousand rabies-related deaths were reported while rabies geographic distribution has expanded for the recent years. This report used surveillance data to describe the epidemiological characteristics of human rabies in China including determining high-risk areas and seasonality to support national rabies prevention and control activities.</p><p>Methods</p><p>We analyzed the incidence and distribution of human rabies cases in mainland China using notifiable surveillance data from 1960–2014, which includes a detailed analysis of the recent years from 2004 to 2014.</p><p>Results</p><p>From 1960 to 2014, 120,913 human rabies cases were reported in mainland China. The highest number was recorded in 1981(0.7/100,000; 7037 cases), and in 2007(0.3/100,000; 3300 cases). A clear seasonal pattern has been observed with a peak in August (11.0% of total cases), Human rabies cases were reported in all provinces with a yearly average of 2198 from 1960 to 2014 in China, while the east and south regions were more seriously affected compared with other regions. From2004 to 2014, although the number of cases decreased by 65.2% since 2004 from 2651 to 924 cases, reported areas has paradoxically expanded from 162 prefectures to 200 prefectures and from southern to the central and northern provinces of China. Farmers accounted most of the cases (65.0%); 50–59 age group accounted for the highest proportion (20.5%), and cases are predominantly males with a male-to-female ratio of 2.4:1 on average.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Despite the overall steady decline of cases since the peak in 2007, the occurrence of cases in new areas and the spread trend were obvious in China in recent years. Further investigations and efforts are warranted in the areas have high rabies incidence to control rabies by interrupting transmission from dogs to humans and in the dog population. Furthermore, elimination of rabies should be eventually the ultimate goal for China.</p></div

The proportion of gender and diagnosis of human rabies cases by age and year, 2004–2014.

<p>(A) The number of male and female of human rabies cases by age. (B) The proportion of male and female of cases by age. (C) The proportion of occupation of cases by year of illness onset. Kids includes kindergarten children and diaspora children, student includes primary, secondary and college students. Others included teacher, laborers, self-employed and unemployed, workers, food industry personnel, retired and cadres of staff, etc. (D) The proportion of confirmed cases by year of illness onset.</p

The reported human rabies cases by month in mainland China.

<p>(A) The reported human rabies cases by month in mainland China from 1960 to 2014. (B) The reported human rabies cases by month in mainland China from 2004 to 2014.</p

Spatiotemporal distribution of human rabies by prefecture level in mainland China, from 2004 to 2014.

<p>Spatiotemporal distribution of human rabies by prefecture level in mainland China, from 2004 to 2014.</p