Structural Tuning and Spectroscopic Characterizations of Polysulfide as Battery Materials

Polysulfide materials have drawn extensive attention for next-generation battery development since the current lithium-ion battery has almost reached its limit regarding energy density and safety issues. Many phosphorus and sodium sulfide materials have been used in different battery types, such as solid-state and sodium-sulfur batteries. However, there are still issues that prevent these techniques from applications. In recent years, there has been increasing attention on investigations of the structural and phase transformations of electrode and electrolyte materials under high pressure. Many studies have shown that external pressure can affect structural properties and influence electrical properties. In this study, three battery-related materials, P4S3, P4S10, and Na2S4, were investigated under high-pressure conditions for the first time using in-situ vibrational spectroscopy. Structural reversibility and phase transition upon compression were studied for all three materials. In terms of P4S3, two phase transitions were identified, one at about 3 GPa and 7 GPa. The amorphous state was at 13 GPa. For P2S5, two phase transitions were observed upon compression at 3 GPa and 7.5 GPa. When the pressure reached above 12 GPa, the material became amorphous. For Na2S4, three phase transitions occurred upon compression at about 1, 6 and 11 GPa. The material would reach the amorphous state at 16 GPa. Overall, our high-pressure studies of these three materials could further understand how these materials react to external compression and could promote the improvement of their performance as battery materials or the development of new battery materials

Exposure to Chinese famine and the risk of hyperuricemia in later life: a population-based cross-sectional study

BackgroundLimited studies have investigated the relationship between famine exposure and the risk of hyperuricemia in later life. Consequently, the primary purpose of the current study was to examine the potential association between exposure to Chinese famine and hyperuricemia, as well as any gender disparities in this relationship.MethodThe data were obtained from the China PEACE (China Patient-Centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events) Million Persons Project in Rongchang. The study participants were enrolled into different cohorts based on their birthdates: the fetal-exposed cohort (born between 1959 and 1962), the childhood-exposed cohort (born between 1949 and 1958), the adolescence-exposed cohort (born between 1941 and 1948), and the non-exposed cohorts (born between 1963 and 1974). The potential association between famine exposure and hyperuricemia was assessed using binary logistic regression models.ResultsA total of 6,916 individuals were enrolled in the current study with an average age of 60.11 ± 9.22 years, out of which 3,544 were women. After adjusting for confounding factors, fetal (OR = 0.530, 95% CI: 0.411–0.0.683), childhood (OR = 0.642, 95% CI: 0.494–0.833) exposure to the Chinese famine for men was negatively associated with hyperuricemia. Conversely, exposure to the Chinese famine during fetal (OR = 2.144, 95% CI: 1.622–2.834), childhood (OR = 1.485, 95% CI: 1.105–1.997), and adolescence (OR = 1.967, 95% CI: 1.465–2.641) for women was positively associated with hyperuricemia. Furthermore, the impact of famine on hyperuricemia that has been observed in exposed women might be intensified by the presence of dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, and overweight/obesity.ConclusionWomen exposed to the Chinese famine during fetal, childhood, and adolescence were positively associated with hyperuricemia, while men exhibited a negative association during fetal and childhood. Additionally, the effect of famine on hyperuricemia in exposed women appears to be intensified by the presence of dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, and overweight/obesity

Antecedent infections in Guillain-Barré syndrome: a single-center, prospective study

Objective: To investigate the spectrum of antecedent infections in Chinese patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and analyze the infecti

Spinal CX3CL1/CX3CR1 may not directly participate in the development of morphine tolerance in rats

CX3CL1 (fractalkine), the sole member of chemokine CX3C family, is implicated in inflammatory and neuropathic pain via activating its receptor CX3CR1 on neural cells in spinal cord. However, it has not been fully elucidated whether CX3CL1 or CX3CR1 contributes to the development of morphine tolerance. In this study, we found that chronic morphine exposure did not alter the expressions of CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 in spinal cord. And neither exogenous CX3CL1 nor CX3CR1 inhibitor could affect the development of morphine tolerance. The cellular localizations of spinal CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 changed from neuron and microglia, respectively, to all the neural cells during the development of morphine tolerance. A microarray profiling revealed that 15 members of chemokine family excluding CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 were up-regulated in morphine-treated rats. Our study provides evidence that spinal CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 may not be involved in the development of morphine tolerance directly

Study on Natural Settlement Index Characteristics of Iron-Bearing Tailings Applied to Goaf Filling Treatment

In order to provide a technical basis for the subsequent concentration and utilization of the tailings treatment process in an iron ore mine, and to achieve the objectives of cost reduction and sustainable development, the settling concentration and settling capacity of a tailings slurry with an initial concentration of 40% in its natural state were tested in conjunction with the pumping supply concentration index of the beneficiation tailings slurry in a metal mine. The test results show that the iron ore tailings particles settle at an overall fast rate: basically, within 10 to 20 min they are able to reach or approach 85 to 99.5% of the final settling state-related index. During the settling process in the fixed container, at first, the clarified water at the top of the tailings slurry is very turbid. With the passage of time, the clarified water gradually becomes blurred and clear from turbidity, and the interface between the slurry and the water gradually becomes clearer. From the phenomena observed during the settling process and the test parameters such as the net increase in clear water and slurry variation, the maximum settling concentration and settling capacity indicators of 50% and 90% can be reached or approached in 5.5 to 7.25 and 10.5 to 15.5 min after settling, and the maximum settling concentration and settling capacity can be reached or approached in 10 to 20 min after the settling process. As the settling tests and observations continued, the relevant settling parameters basically reached the final settling state within the time period of 20 to 1440 min, during which the settling concentration of the tailing sand was 71.33 to 73.42% and the settling capacity was 1.85 to 1.91 g/cm3. It can be judged from the test results that the natural settling of the low concentration tailings slurry can meet the technical specifications required for the filling process, and that the natural settling and concentration of dewatering can save the costs of the relevant facilities and flocculation chemicals, and therefore has good technical and economic feasibility

Expression of UGP2 and CFL1 expression levels in benign and malignant pancreatic lesions and their clinicopathological significance

Abstract Background This study investigated UGP2 (uridine diphosphate-glucose pyrophosphorylase-2) and CFL1 (cofilin-1) expression in pancreatic ductal carcinoma (PDC), paracancerous tissue (PT), benign lesions (BL), and normal tissue (NT) and their clinicopathological significance. Methods Surgical specimens, which were collected from 106 cases of pancreatic ductal carcinoma, 35 cases of paracancerous tissues, 55 cases of benign lesions and 13 cases of normal pancreatic tissues, were fixed with 4% formaldehyde to prepare conventional paraffin-embedded sections. EnVision immunohistochemical was used to stain for UGP2 and CFL1. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to assess the correlation of expression pattern with survival. Results We found that positive UGP2 and CFL1 expression in PDC were significantly higher than those in PT, BL, and NT. In PT and BL with positive UGP2 and CFL1 expression, mild to severe atypical hyperplasia or intraepithelial neoplasia of grades II–III was observed in ductal epithelium. Positive UGP2 and CFL1 expression in cases with high differentiation, no lymph node metastasis, no surrounding invasion, and TNM (tumor-node-metastasis) staging I or/and II were significantly lower than those in cases with poor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, surrounding invasion, and TNM stage III and/or IV. Positive UGP2 expression in male patients was significantly lower than that in female patients. UGP2 and CFL1 expression in PDC were positively correlated. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed the degree of differentiation, tumor maximal diameter, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and surrounding invasion, and UGP2 and CFL1 expression were closely related to the average survival time of patients with PDC. The survival time of patients with positive UGP2 and CFL1 expression was significantly shorter than that of patients with negative expression. Cox multivariate analysis showed that poor differentiation, tumor maximal diameter ≥ 3 cm, TNM stage III or IV, lymph node metastasis, surrounding invasion, and positive UGP2 and CFL1 expression was negatively correlated with the postoperative survival rate and positively correlated with the mortality of patients with PDC. Conclusion Positive expression of UGP2 and CFL1 can serve a valuable prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer

Nonvolatile magnetization switching in a single-layer magnetic topological insulator

Abstract Magnetization in a ferromagnetic layer could be manipulated by the spin-orbit torque whose generation commonly relies on the spin-orbit coupling from the adjacent heavy-metal layer within the bilayer. The fact that the magnetic topological insulator possesses both the ferromagnetic order with perpendicular anisotropy and inherent spin-orbit coupling inspires to realize such a torque-induced magnetization switching without forming any heterostructure with other materials. Here, only using a single layer of magnetically-doped topological insulator Cr:(Bi,Sb)2Te3, we realize a magnetization switching only by applying a large dc current. Assisted by the magnetic history, such a switching behaves nonvolatile under zero field but becomes volatile otherwise, as consistently shown by magnetoelectric transports and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements. Static and quasistatic current are found to be equivalent for the switching. We propose that this switching may associate with the torque resulted from the spin-orbit coupling and the compositional asymmetry in the Cr-profile of the single layer

MCM2 and TIP30 are prognostic markers in squamous cell/adenosquamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder

axonometric projectio