Hysteretic Tricolor Electrochromic Systems Based on the Dynamic Redox Properties of Unsymmetrically Substituted Dihydrophenanthrenes and Biphenyl-2,2 '-Diyl Dications: Efficient Precursor Synthesis by a Flow Microreactor Method

A series of biphenyl-2, 2'-diylbis(diarylmethanol)s 3, which have two kinds of aryl groups at the bay region, were efficiently obtained by integrated flow microreactor synthesis. The diols 3NO/NX are the precursors of unsymmetric biphenylic dications 2NO/NX^[2+] which are transformed into the corresponding dihydrophenanthrenes 1NO/NX via 2NO/NX^[+•] upon reduction, when they exhibit two-stage color changes. On the other hand, the steady-state concentration of the intermediate 2NO/NX^[+•] is negligible during the oxidation of 1NO/NX to 2NO/NX^[2+], which reflects unique tricolor electrochromicity with a hysteretic pattern of color change [color 1→color 2→color 3→color 1]

Learning to Select, Track, and Generate for Data-to-Text

We propose a data-to-text generation model with two modules, one for tracking and the other for text generation. Our tracking module selects and keeps track of salient information and memorizes which record has been mentioned. Our generation module generates a summary conditioned on the state of tracking module. Our model is considered to simulate the human-like writing process that gradually selects the information by determining the intermediate variables while writing the summary. In addition, we also explore the effectiveness of the writer information for generation. Experimental results show that our model outperforms existing models in all evaluation metrics even without writer information. Incorporating writer information further improves the performance, contributing to content planning and surface realization.Comment: ACL 201

Enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity of anatase-rutile mixed-phase nano-size powder given by high-temperature heat treatment

Nano-size EVONIK AEROXIDE® P25 titanium dioxide, TiO2, powder was heat-treated at temperatures, 700–900°C, in air. An X-ray diffraction study showed that the P25 powder is composed of approximately 20 and approximately 80 mass% of rutile and anatase phases, respectively. It was also shown that the transformation from anatase to rutile induced by hightemperature heat treatment was almost completed at 750°C, whereas a small amount (less than 3 mass%) of anatase phase was still left even in the powder heat-treated at 900°C. The transformation behaviour was consistent with results obtained by Raman scattering spectroscopy. Raman experiments also indicated that high-temperature heating induced the formation of oxide ion vacancies. Powders were dispersed in methyl orange (MO) aqueous solution, and the bleach rate of MO was measured to evaluate photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet (UV)- and visible-light irradiation. After the heat treatment, the UV-light photocatalytic performance sharply deteriorated. Interestingly, visible-light photocatalytic activity was enhanced by high-temperature heating and reached the highest performance for an 800°C-heated sample, indicating that the P25 powder obtained high visible-light photocatalytic performance after heat treatment. Even after 900°C heat treatment, the photocatalytic performance was higher than that of as-received powder. Enhancement of photocatalytic activities was discussed in relation to visible light absorption and charge carrier transfer.T.I., H.O. and D.H. were supported by a programme, the Strategic Research Foundation at Private Universities, grant no. S1311023, from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan

Time definition of reintubation most relevant to patient outcomes in critically ill patients: a multicenter cohort study

Background: Reintubation is a common complication in critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation. Although reintubation has been demonstrated to be associated with patient outcomes, its time definition varies widely among guidelines and in the literature. This study aimed to determine the association between reintubation and patient outcomes as well as the consequences of the time elapsed between extubation and reintubation on patient outcomes. Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective cohort study of critically ill patients conducted between April 2015 and March 2021. Adult patients who underwent mechanical ventilation and extubation in intensive care units (ICUs) were investigated utilizing the Japanese Intensive Care PAtient Database. The primary and secondary outcomes were in-hospital and ICU mortality. The association between reintubation and clinical outcomes was studied using Cox proportional hazards analysis. Among the patients who underwent reintubation, a Cox proportional hazard analysis was conducted to evaluate patient outcomes according to the number of days from extubation to reintubation. Results: Overall, 184,705 patients in 75 ICUs were screened, and 1849 patients underwent reintubation among 48,082 extubated patients. After adjustment for potential confounders, multivariable analysis revealed a significant association between reintubation and increased in-hospital and ICU mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.520, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.359–1.700, and adjusted HR 1.325, 95% CI 1.076–1.633, respectively). Among the reintubated patients, 1037 (56.1%) were reintubated within 24 h after extubation, 418 (22.6%) at 24–48 h, 198 (10.7%) at 48–72 h, 111 (6.0%) at 72–96 h, and 85 (4.6%) at 96–120 h. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard analysis showed that in-hospital and ICU mortality was highest in patients reintubated at 72–96 h (adjusted HR 1.528, 95% CI 1.062–2.197, and adjusted HR 1.334, 95% CI 0.756–2.352, respectively; referenced to reintubation within 24 h). Conclusions: Reintubation was associated with a significant increase in in-hospital and ICU mortality. The highest mortality rates were observed in patients who were reintubated between 72 and 96 h after extubation. Further studies are warranted for the optimal observation of extubated patients in clinical practice and to strengthen the evidence for mechanical ventilation.Tanaka A., Shimomura Y., Uchiyama A., et al. Time definition of reintubation most relevant to patient outcomes in critically ill patients: a multicenter cohort study. Critical Care 27, 378 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-023-04668-3

Skin Perfusion Pressure Is a Prognostic Factor in Hemodialysis Patients

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is common in hemodialysis patients and predicts a poor prognosis. We conducted a prospective cohort study to identify risk factors for PAD including skin perfusion pressure (SPP) in hemodialysis patients. The cohort included 373 hemodialysis patients among 548 patients who received hemodialysis at Oyokyo Kidney Research Institute, Hirosaki, Japan from August 2008 to December 2010. The endpoints were lower limb survival (peripheral angioplasty or amputation events) and overall survival of 2 years. Our results showed that <70 mmHg SPP was a poor prognosis for the lower limb survival and overall survival. We also identified age, history of cardiovascular disease, presence of diabetes mellitus, smoking history, and SPP < 70 mmHg as independent risk factors for lower limb survival and overall survival. Then, we constructed risk criteria using the significantly independent risk factors. We can clearly stratify lower limb survival and overall survival of the hemodialysis patients into 3 groups. Although the observation period is short, we conclude that SPP value has the potential to be a risk factor that predicts both lower limb survival and the prognosis of hemodialysis patients

An attenuated vaccinia vaccine encoding the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 spike protein elicits broad and durable immune responses, and protects cynomolgus macaques and human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 transgenic mice from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 and its variants

As long as the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues, new variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) with altered antigenicity will emerge. The development of vaccines that elicit robust, broad, and durable protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants is urgently required. We have developed a vaccine consisting of the attenuated vaccinia virus Dairen-I (DIs) strain platform carrying the SARS-CoV-2 S gene (rDIs-S). rDIs-S induced neutralizing antibody and T-lymphocyte responses in cynomolgus macaques and human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) transgenic mice, and the mouse model showed broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 isolates ranging from the early-pandemic strain (WK-521) to the recent Omicron BA.1 variant (TY38-873). Using a tandem mass tag (TMT)-based quantitative proteomic analysis of lung homogenates from hACE2 transgenic mice, we found that, among mice subjected to challenge infection with WK-521, vaccination with rDIs-S prevented protein expression related to the severe pathogenic effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection (tissue destruction, inflammation, coagulation, fibrosis, and angiogenesis) and restored protein expression related to immune responses (antigen presentation and cellular response to stress). Furthermore, long-term studies in mice showed that vaccination with rDIs-S maintains S protein-specific antibody titers for at least 6 months after a first vaccination. Thus, rDIs-S appears to provide broad and durable protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2, including current variants such as Omicron BA.1 and possibly future variants