Ideal stoichiometric technetium nitrides under pressure: a first-principles study

Technetium nitrides with various ideal stoichiometries have been investigated with the first-principle method at the pressures between 0–60 GPa. It have been found that there could be many stable technetium nitrides including Tc₃N, Tc₂N, TcN, Tc₂N₃, TcN₂, TcN₃, and TcN₄, among which Tc₃N and Tc₂N sub-nitrides are synthesizable at zero pressure and could be applied to nuclear waste management, such as separate radioactive 99Tc from nuclear fuel cycle. Moreover, N-rich TcN₃ and TcN₄ exhibit remarkable bulk properties and can be potential ultrastiff and hard materials.Нітриди технеція з різною ідеальної стехіометрією досліджені із застосуванням методу перших принципів при тисках від 0 до 60 ГПа. Встановлено, що може бути багато стабільних нітридів технеція, включаючи Tc₃N, Tc₂N, ТКС, Tc₂N₃, TcN₂, TcN₃ і TcN₄, серед яких субнітриди Tc₃N і Tc₂N синтезуються при нульовому тиску і можуть бути використані для обробки ядерних відходів, таких як виділений при ядерному паливному циклі радіоактивний 99Tc. Більш того, TcN₃ і TcN₄, збагачені N, демонструють чудові об’ємні властивості і можуть бути потенційними ультражорсткими і твердими матеріалами.Нитриды технеция с различной идеальной стехиометрией исследованы с применением метода первых принципов при давлениях от 0 до 60 ГПа. Установлено, что может быть много стабильных нитридов технеция, включая Tc₃N, Tc₂N, ТКС, Tc₂N₃, TcN₂, TcN₃ и TcN₄, среди которых субнитриды Tc₃N и Tc₂N синтезируются при нулевом давлении и могут быть использованы для обработки ядерных отходов, таких как выделенный при ядерном топливном цикле радиоактивный 99Tc. Более того, TcN₃ и TcN₄, обогащенные N, демонстрируют замечательные объемные свойства и могут быть потенциальными ультражесткими и твердыми материалами

Understanding the role of the hydrogen bond donor of the deep eutectic solvents in the formation of the aqueous biphasic systems

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) have been proposed as phase-forming compounds of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS). However, due to DES nature and the high water content of the ABS, their nature and behavior remains controversial. To foster the understanding of DES-based ABS, the present work uses the relative hydrophilicity of the hydrogen bond donor (HBD) as a descriptor to clarify its role on ABS for- mation and phase properties. Dipotassium phosphate (K2HPO4)-based ABS phase diagrams composed of cholinium chloride ([N111(2OH)]Cl), as hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA), and several HBD (alcohols and sugars) were compared in molality units and the saturation solubility point for each binodal curve determined. The results here reported establish the HBD role as function of its relative hydrophilicity: very hydrophilic HBD act only as an adjuvant in the formation of ABS; HBD of intermediate hydrophilicity influence the ABS formation; while the most hydrophobic HBD tend to form organic-aqueous two-phase systems, where the HBA acts as an adjuvant to the system.publishe

Anthropogenic influences on heavy precipitation during the 2019 extremely wet rainy season in Southern China

Anthropogenic forcings have reduced the likelihood of heavy precipitation in southern China like the 2019 March-July event by about 60

Improved Approximation Algorithms for Box Contact Representations ⋆

Abstract. We study the following geometric representation problem: Given a graph whose vertices correspond to axis-aligned rectangles with fixed dimensions, arrange the rectangles without overlaps in the plane such that two rectangles touch if the graph contains an edge between them. This problem is called CONTACT REPRESENTATION OF WORD NETWORKS (CROWN) since it formalizes the geometric problem behind drawing word clouds in which semantically related words are close to each other. CROWN is known to be NP-hard, and there are approximation algorithms for certain graph classes for the optimization version, MAX-CROWN, in which realizing each desired adjacency yields a certain profit. We present the first O(1)-approximation algorithm for the general case, when the input is a complete weighted graph, and for the bipartite case. Since the subgraph of realized adjacencies is necessarily planar, we also consider several planar graph classes (namely stars, trees, outerplanar, and planar graphs), improving upon the known results. For some graph classes, we also describe improvements in the unweighted case, where each adjacency yields the same profit. Finally, we show that the problem is APX-hard on bipartite graphs of bounded maximum degree.

Schwinger boson theory of anisotropic ferromagnetic ultrathin films

Ferromagnetic thin films with magnetic single-ion anisotropies are studied within the framework of Schwinger bosonization of a quantum Heisenberg model. Two alternative bosonizations are discussed. We show that qualitatively correct results are obtained even at the mean-field level of the theory, similar to Schwinger boson results for other magnetic systems. In particular, the Mermin-Wagner theorem is satisfied: a spontaneous magnetization at finite temperatures is not found if the ground state of the anisotropic system exhibits a continuous degeneracy. We calculate the magnetization and effective anisotropies as functions of exchange interaction, magnetic anisotropies, external magnetic field, and temperature for arbitrary values of the spin quantum number. Magnetic reorientation transitions and effective anisotropies are discussed. The results obtained by Schwinger boson mean-field theory are compared with the many-body Green's function technique.Comment: 14 pages, including 7 EPS figures, minor changes, final version as publishe

Healthy lifestyle and life expectancy free of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To examine how a healthy lifestyle is related to life expectancy that is free from major chronic diseases. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The Nurses' Health Study (1980-2014; n=73 196) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2014; n=38 366). MAIN EXPOSURES: Five low risk lifestyle factors: never smoking, body mass index 18.5-24.9, moderate to vigorous physical activity (≥30 minutes/day), moderate alcohol intake (women: 5-15 g/day; men 5-30 g/day), and a higher diet quality score (upper 40%). MAIN OUTCOME: Life expectancy free of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. RESULTS: The life expectancy free of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer at age 50 was 23.7 years (95% confidence interval 22.6 to 24.7) for women who adopted no low risk lifestyle factors, in contrast to 34.4 years (33.1 to 35.5) for women who adopted four or five low risk factors. At age 50, the life expectancy free of any of these chronic diseases was 23.5 (22.3 to 24.7) years among men who adopted no low risk lifestyle factors and 31.1 (29.5 to 32.5) years in men who adopted four or five low risk lifestyle factors. For current male smokers who smoked heavily (≥15 cigarettes/day) or obese men and women (body mass index ≥30), their disease-free life expectancies accounted for the lowest proportion (≤75%) of total life expectancy at age 50. CONCLUSION: Adherence to a healthy lifestyle at mid-life is associated with a longer life expectancy free of major chronic diseases

Metabolites related to purine catabolism and risk of type 2 diabetes incidence; modifying efects of the TCF7L2-rs7903146 polymorphism

Studies examining associations between purine metabolites and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are limited. We prospectively examined associations between plasma levels of purine metabolites with T2D risk and the modifying effects of transcription factor-7-like-2 (TCF7L2) rs7903146 polymorphism on these associations. This is a case-cohort design study within the PREDIMED study, with 251 incident T2D cases and a random sample of 694 participants (641 non-cases and 53 overlapping cases) without T2D at baseline (median follow-up: 3.8 years). Metabolites were semi-quantitatively profiled with LC-MS/MS. Cox regression analysis revealed that high plasma allantoin levels, including allantoin-to-uric acid ratio and high xanthine-to-hypoxanthine ratio were inversely and positively associated with T2D risk, respectively, independently of classical risk factors. Elevated plasma xanthine and inosine levels were associated with a higher T2D risk in homozygous carriers of the TCF7L2-rs7903146 T-allele. The potential mechanisms linking the aforementioned purine metabolites and T2D risk must be also further investigated

Diet-dependent acid load and type 2 diabetes: pooled results from three prospective cohort studie

Aims/hypothesis: Studies suggest a potential link between low-grade metabolic acidosis and type 2 diabetes. A western dietary pattern increases daily acid load but the association between diet-dependent acid load and type 2 diabetes is still unclear. This study aimed to assess whether diet-dependent acid load is associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes. Methods: We examined the association between energy-adjusted net endogenous acid production (NEAP), potential renal acid load (PRAL) and animal protein-to-potassium ratio (A:P) on incident type 2 diabetes in 67,433 women from the Nurses’ Health Study, 84,310 women from the Nurses’ Health Study II and 35,743 men from the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study who were free from type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Study-specific HRs were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying covariates and were pooled using a random effects meta-analysis. Results: We documented 15,305 cases of type 2 diabetes during 4,025,131 person-years of follow-up. After adjustment for diabetes risk factors, dietary NEAP, PRAL and A:P were positively associated with type 2 diabetes (pooled HR [95% CI] for highest (Q5) vs lowest quintile (Q1): 1.29 [1.22, 1.37], ptrend <0.0001; 1.29 [1.22, 1.36], ptrend <0.0001 and 1.32 [1.24, 1.40], ptrend <0.0001 for NEAP, PRAL and A:P, respectively). These results were not fully explained by other dietary factors including glycaemic load and dietary quality (HR [95% CI] for Q5 vs Q1: 1.21 [1.09, 1.33], ptrend <0.0001; 1.19 [1.08, 1.30] and 1.26 [1.17, 1.36], ptrend <0.0001 for NEAP, PRAL and A:P, respectively). Conclusions/interpretation: This study suggests that higher diet-dependent acid load is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. This association is not fully explained by diabetes risk factors and overall diet quality

Lysine pathway metabolites and the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the PREDIMED study: results from two case-cohort studies

Background: The pandemic of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) requires the identifcation of new predictor biomarkers. Biomarkers potentially modifable with lifestyle changes deserve a special interest. Our aims were to analyze: (a) The associations of lysine, 2-aminoadipic acid (2-AAA) or pipecolic acid with the risk of T2D or CVD in the PREDIMED trial; (b) the efect of the dietary intervention on 1-year changes in these metabolites, and (c) whether the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) interventions can modify the efects of these metabolites on CVD or T2D risk. Methods: Two unstratifed case-cohort studies nested within the PREDIMED trial were used. For CVD analyses, we selected 696 non-cases and 221 incident CVD cases; for T2D, we included 610 non-cases and 243 type 2 diabetes incident cases. Metabolites were quantifed using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, at baseline and after 1-year of intervention. Results: In weighted Cox regression models, we found that baseline lysine (HR+1 SD increase=1.26; 95% CI 1.06–1.51) and 2-AAA (HR+1 SD increase=1.28; 95% CI 1.05–1.55) were both associated with a higher risk of T2D, but not with CVD. A signifcant interaction (p=0.032) between baseline lysine and T2D on the risk of CVD was observed: subjects with prevalent T2D and high levels of lysine exhibited the highest risk of CVD. The intervention with MedDiet did not have a signifcant efect on 1-year changes of the metabolites. Conclusions: Our results provide an independent prospective replication of the association of 2-AAA with future risk of T2D. We show an association of lysine with subsequent CVD risk, which is apparently diabetes-dependent. No evidence of efects of MedDiet intervention on lysine, 2-AAA or pipecolic acid changes was found