Direct-to-metal UV-cured hybrid coating for the corrosion protection of aircraft aluminium alloy

Finding eco-efficient and environmentally viable alternatives to chromate coatings represents a fundamental milestone in the aerospace industry. Here, we show a chromate-free approach to protective hybrid coatings on aluminium alloy (AA2024-T3) departing from photoinduced sol–gel and cationic polymerizations. Beginning with a film of n-alkyltrimethoxysilane and diepoxy monomer, we rely on photogenerated superacids to induce the single step formation of two inorganic and organic barrier networks. Such system combines the unique aspects of photopolymerization including fast reactions, temporal control, solvent-free composition and temperature independence. Used without chemical conversion coating or anodizing, some films have passed 2000h of salt spray testing

Recombinant mycobacterium tuberculosis fusion protein for diagnosis of mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: a short-term economic evaluation

ObjectivesRecombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis fusion protein (EC) was anticipated to be used for the scale-up of clinical application for diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in China, but it lacked a head-to-head economic evaluation based on the Chinese population. This study aimed to estimate the cost-utility and the cost-effectiveness of both EC and tuberculin pure protein derivative (TB-PPD) for diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in the short term.MethodsFrom a Chinese societal perspective, both cost-utility analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis were performed to evaluate the economics of EC and TB-PPD for a one-year period based on clinical trials and decision tree model, with quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) as the utility-measured primary outcome and diagnostic performance (including the misdiagnosis rate, the omission diagnostic rate, the number of patients correctly classified, and the number of tuberculosis cases avoided) as the effective-measured secondary outcome. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to validate the robustness of the base-case analysis, and a scenario analysis was conducted to evaluate the difference in the charging method between EC and TB-PPD.ResultsThe base-case analysis showed that, compared with TB-PPD, EC was the dominant strategy with an incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) of saving 192,043.60 CNY per QALY gained, and with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of saving 7,263.53 CNY per misdiagnosis rate reduction. In addition, there was no statistical difference in terms of the omission diagnostic rate, the number of patients correctly classified, and the number of tuberculosis cases avoided, and EC was a similar cost-saving strategy with a lower test cost (98.00 CNY) than that of TB-PPD (136.78 CNY). The sensitivity analysis showed the robustness of cost-utility and cost-effectiveness analysis, and the scenario analysis indicated cost-utility in EC and cost-effectiveness in TB-PPD.ConclusionThis economic evaluation from a societal perspective showed that, compared to TB-PPD, EC was likely to be a cost-utility and cost-effective intervention in the short term in China

Associations between composite dietary antioxidant index and estimated 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk among U.S. adults

BackgroundAtherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains the leading cause of death and disability both in U.S. and worldwide. Antioxidants have been proved critical in mitigating the development of atherosclerosis. This study aimed to investigate the associations between composite dietary antioxidant index (CDAI) and estimated 10-year ASCVD risk among U.S. adults.MethodsData extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. A total of 10,984 adults aged 18 years and above were included in this study. CDAI was calculated based on the dietary intake reported in their 24-h recall interviews. The estimated 10-year ASCVD risk was calculated via Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE).ResultsAfter adjusting potential confounders, it was indicated that CDAI score was negatively correlated with 10-year ASCVD risk (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95–0.99). Stratify CDAI score by quartile, results showed that participants in the second, third, and fourth quartiles had lower ASCVD odds ratio (Q2: OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.69–1.09; Q3: OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.62–0.98; Q4: OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.59–0.94) than those in the first quartile (Q1, lowest CDAI score group), which was confirmed by the trend test as well (p < 0.05). Subgroup analyses stratified by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and smoking status did not show significant effect modification.ConclusionHigher dietary antioxidants intake is associated with lower ASCVD risk among U.S. adults, for which policymakers and healthcare professionals may consider increasing the consumption of antioxidant-rich foods as a preventive strategy for ASCVD

The Genomes of Oryza sativa: A History of Duplications

We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family

Films hybrides n-alkylsilsesquioxane par voie sol-gel photoinduite : propriétés anti-corrosion et auto-assemblage

Les composés hybrides organiques-inorganiques représentent une classe intéressante de matériaux dotés d'un très large éventail d'applications potentielles dans les revêtements protecteurs, les micro-optiques, conducteurs ioniques, membrane échangeuse de protons etc. Depuis le début des années 1990, le développement de la chimie sol-gel, dite «Chimie Douce», a donné naissance à une nouvelle ère de matériaux hybrides, où des conditions douces de synthèse ont permis un accès simplifié aux matériaux nanocomposites. Parmi les divers précurseurs sol-gel, des organoalkoxysilanes sont très attractifs en raison de leur stabilité, leur faible toxicité et de leur accessibilité. Mais l'insolubilité de ces précurseurs a jusqu'à présent limité leur utilisation dans un procédé sol-gel conventionnel.L'essentiel de la chimie détaillée dans cette thèse porte sur la formation de films hybrides à partir de n-alkylsilanes. Tout d'abord, la partie linéaire et alkyle hydrophobe peut fournir des propriétés barrières à la pénétration de l'eau et des ions, ce qui est un élément clé dans la protection contre la corrosion de substrats métalliques. Deuxièmement, les alkylsilanes possèdent la géométrie et la composition appropriée à un auto-assemblage pour générer des nanostructures périodiquement ordonnées. Récemment, la recherche menée dans le LPIM à Mulhouse démontré le potentiel d’une photopolymérisation inorganique sans solvant. Basée sur la photogénération de superacides par photolyse de sels d'onium qui sont photoamorceurs cationiques classiques, cette voie offre une chance pour étudier l’aptitude de film à base d’alkylsilanes pour la protection des métaux (Partie I) et l'assemblage supramoléculaire (Partie II).Hybrid organic-inorganic materials have attracted tremendous attention due to their wide range of potential applications in protective coatings, micro-optics, ionic conductors, proton-exchange membrane and so on. Since the early 1990s, the development of sol-gel chemistry (“Chimie Douce”) has given birth to a new age of hybrid materials, where mild synthetic conditions allowed a simplified access to well dispersed and chemically designed nanocomposite materials. Among various sol-gel precursors, organo alkoxysilanes are very attractive because of their superior stability compared to other hybrid precursors, low toxicity and accessibility. However, their insolubility in polar solvents and water has so far limited their use in conventional classic hydrolytic sol-gel procedure.In this thesis, the combination of a UV-driven solvent-free sol-gel process simultaneously to organic photopolymerization has been introduced to form hybrid films based on simple n-alkylsilane building blocks. Based on the photogeneration of superacids under photolysis of onium salts that are conventional photoinitiators, this pathway offers a new chance to investigate alkylsilanes in metal corrosion protection (Part I) and supramolecular assembly (Part II). As the linear and hydrophobic alkyl moiety can provide barrier-properties to the penetration of water and ions, which is a key feature in the corrosion protection of metallic substrates, in part I, the effect of alkyl chain structure of the alkylsilanes as well as their proportions on the corrosion resistance properties has been studied by Salt spray tests and Electron impendence spectroscopy. Furthermore, an effort to correlate the corrosion resistance and coating structure was made as a range of characterization techniques have been implemented (Real time FTIR, 29Si solid state NMR and contact angle measurement). Secondly, alkylsilanes have the proper geometry and composition to self-assemble and generate periodically ordered nanostructures. In part II, the influence on the mesostructure, alkyl chain packing arrangement and its conformational order, which come from alkyl chain length of the silane precursors and the experimental conditions (light intensity, temperature and humidity), has been investigated depending on various characterization techniques (X ray diffraction, microscope, solid state NMR, RT-FTIR). As an application example, a patterned 3D multilayer crystalline organosilica film has been amplified via a facile photopattrerning pathway

Tunable luminescence properties and efficient energy transfer in Eu2+, Tb3+ co-doped NaBaPO4

Eu2 + and Tb3+ singly doped and co-doped NaBaPO4 phosphors were synthesized by solid state reaction. The structure character, photoluminescence properties and the lifetime were investigated. The emission spectra of NaBaPO4:Eu2+, Tb3+, Na+ phosphor show both broad blue emission band and sharp green emission peaks. The energy transfer mechanism from Eu2+ to Tb3+ in NaBaPO4 host was discussed. The excitation spectra of NaBaPO4: Eu2+, Tb3+, Na+ phosphor show broad excitation band in the 250–400 nm range, which was in agreement with the near-ultraviolet (n-UV) chip. The hue of the NaBaPO4: Eu2+, Tb3+, Na+ phosphors could be appropriately tuned by adjusting the contents of activators

Characteristics and associated factors of health information-seeking behaviour among patients with inflammatory bowel disease in the digital era: a scoping review

Abstract Background Health Information-Seeking Behaviour (HISB) is necessary for self-management and medical decision-making among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). With the advancement of information technology, health information needs and seeking are reshaped among patients with IBD. This scoping review aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of HISB of people with IBD in the digital age. Methods This scoping review adhered to Arksey and O'Malley's framework and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews frameworks (PRISMA-ScR). A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and three Chinese databases from January 1, 2010 to April 10, 2023. Employing both deductive and inductive content analysis, we scrutinized studies using Wilson's model. Results In total, 56 articles were selected. Within the information dimension of HISB among patients with IBD, treatment-related information, particularly medication-related information, was identified as the most critical information need. Other information requirements included basic IBD-related information, daily life and self-management, sexual and reproductive health, and other needs. In the sources dimension, of the eight common sources of information, the internet was the most frequently mentioned source of information, while face-to-face communication with healthcare professionals was the preferred source. Associated factors were categorized into six categories: demographic characteristics, psychological aspects, role-related or interpersonal traits, environmental aspects, source-related characteristics, and disease-related factors. Moreover, the results showed five types of HISB among people with IBD, including active searching, ongoing searching, passive attention, passive searching, and avoid seeking. Notably, active searching, especially social information seeking, appeared to be the predominant common type of HISB among people with IBD in the digital era. Conclusion Information needs and sources for patients with IBD exhibit variability, and their health information-seeking behaviour is influenced by a combination of diverse factors, including resource-related and individual factors. Future research should focus on the longitudinal changes in HISB among patients with IBD. Moreover, efforts should be made to develop information resources that are both convenient and provide credible information services, although the development of such resources requires further investigation and evaluation

Technique failure in peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis: risk factors and patient survival

AbstractObjective This study aimed to investigate the association between patient clinical characteristics and technique failure in peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis (PDRP). The effect of peritonitis-associated technique failure on patient survival was also assessed.Methods Patients diagnosed with PDRP from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2022 were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. Relevant demographic, biochemical, and clinical data were collected. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine the predictors of peritonitis-associated technique failure in PD. Patients were divided into technique failure (F group) and nontechnique failure (NF group) groups. Patients were followed until death or until the date of Oct 1, 2022. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and landmark analysis were used to assess the survival of the PDRP cohort. Cox regression models were used to assess the association between potential risk factors and mortality.Results A total of 376 patients with 648 cases of PDRP were included in this study. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that peritoneal dialysis (PD) duration (OR = 1.12 [1.03, 1.21], p = 0.005), dialysate WBC count on Day 3 after antibiotic therapy (OR = 1.41 [1.22, 1.64], p = 0.001), blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (OR = 1.83 [1.25, 2.70], p = 0.002), and serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (OR = 4.13 [1.69, 10.11], p = 0.002) were independent predictors for technique failure in PDRP. Furthermore, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (OR = 0.28 [0.13, 0.64], p = 0.002) was a protective factor against technique failure. According to the Kaplan–Meier analysis, patients experiencing peritonitis-associated technique failure had lower postperitonitis survival (log-rank = 4.326, p = 0.038). According to the landmark analysis, patients with a history of peritonitis-associated technical failures had a higher 8-year mortality after peritoneal dialysis. A Cox model adjusted for plausible predetermined confounders showed that technique failure was independently associated with all-cause mortality.Conclusions Dialysate WBC count on Day 3, PD duration, NLR, and LDH were independent risk factors for technique failure, whereas HDL was a protective factor. Peritonitis-associated technique failure had a higher risk of mortality and adverse effects on postperitonitis survival