Chemical Dealloying Synthesis of CuS Nanowire-on-Nanoplate Network as Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries

CuS is a metal sulfide anode material used in constructing lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with great promise. However, its practical application is limited by rapid capacity decline, poor cycling, and rate performance. In this work, the CuS nanowire-on-nanoplate network is synthesized through an improved dealloying method under two contrasting reaction temperatures. When used as an LIB anode, the as-obtained CuS network exhibits superior cycling performance (420 mAh·g −1 retained after 100 cycles at 0.2 C). When at 3 C, it still delivers a capacity of around 350 mAh·g −1 . The improved electrochemical performances of the CuS anode should be attributed to the well-designed nanowire-on-nanoplate network structure in which the introduction of nanowires improves Li storage sites, shortens Li-ion diffusion distance, enhances the conductivity of active materials, and offers multiscale spaces for buffering the volume variation. The fabrication route adopted in this paper has an important significance for developing the dealloying technique and designing more suitable anode structures for LIBs

What a Whole Slide Image Can Tell? Subtype-guided Masked Transformer for Pathological Image Captioning

Pathological captioning of Whole Slide Images (WSIs), though is essential in computer-aided pathological diagnosis, has rarely been studied due to the limitations in datasets and model training efficacy. In this paper, we propose a new paradigm Subtype-guided Masked Transformer (SGMT) for pathological captioning based on Transformers, which treats a WSI as a sequence of sparse patches and generates an overall caption sentence from the sequence. An accompanying subtype prediction is introduced into SGMT to guide the training process and enhance the captioning accuracy. We also present an Asymmetric Masked Mechansim approach to tackle the large size constraint of pathological image captioning, where the numbers of sequencing patches in SGMT are sampled differently in the training and inferring phases, respectively. Experiments on the PatchGastricADC22 dataset demonstrate that our approach effectively adapts to the task with a transformer-based model and achieves superior performance than traditional RNN-based methods. Our codes are to be made available for further research and development

Esophageal foreign body removal under holmium laser-assisted gastroscope: A case report

As a common clinical emergence, esophageal foreign body can lead to esophageal perforation followed by severe complications including aortic injury, mediastinal abscess and airway obstruction, leading to a high rate of mortality. Therefore, fast and effective diagnosis and treatment are of great necessity. In this case, holmium laser-assisted gastroscopy was adopted to remove the foreign body incarcerated in the esophagus, allowing patients to avoid traumatic and costly surgeries. It is a supplement to traditional methods of foreign body removal. The new combination tried in this report can bring development and innovation inspiration to the development of endoscopic technology

An All-Solid-State Phosphate Electrode with H3PO4 Doped Polyaniline as the Sensitive Layer

We here describe the construction of a highly sensitive and selective all-solid-state phosphate electrode based on polyaniline and H3PO4 doped polyaniline. The polyaniline layer was electroplated on the gold substrate with Chronoamperometry method and was in-situ doped by H3PO4. The Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM, EDS) and contact angle measurement was taken to explain the difference of the two layers. This electrode can be used in both freshwater and seawater systems. In both of the two systems, the electrode exhibits linear response in the concentration range 10-1 to 10-6 M with detection limit of 10-6 M. and response time of <1 seconds. The selectivity of the electrodes was also studied in 10-1-10-5 M KH2PO4 solutions containing either 0.01 M sulfate, nitrate, chloride as the interference ions. During 12 hours continuous monitoring in 10-3 M KH2PO4 with 3.5% NaCl the potential drift was 0.05 mV/h and the lifetime of the electrode was over 40 days when preserved in this solutionpublishersversionPeer reviewe

An 852 nm Faraday laser with 8 kHz linewidth based on corner-cube retroreflector

A single-mode Cs atom 852 nm Faraday laser based on the corner-cube reflector feedback is first demonstrated to our best knowledge. Using the corner-cube reflector as external cavity feedback in Faraday laser, the robustness can be greatly improved. This Faraday laser can always achieve laser oscillation unless the angle between incident light and the optical axis of corner-cube retroreflector is beyond the plus or minus 3{\deg} range. Furthermore, the Faraday laser achieves single-mode operation within the current range of 100 mA , and its output wavelength is automatically limited to the vicinity of the Cs atomic transition lines. The wavelength fluctuation range is limited to plus or minus 1.2 pm within 9 hours under +3{\deg} rotation angle. Moreover, the most probable linewidth is 7.97 kHz measured by heterodyne beating. The Faraday laser with high robustness as well as narrow linewidth can be widely used in quantum precision measurement fields including quantum optics, atomic clocks, atomic magnetometers, cold atoms, and atomic gravimeters, etc

Endocrine disrupting chemical Bisphenol A and its association with cancer mortality: a prospective cohort study of NHANES

IntroductionThere is evidence suggesting that Bisphenol A (BPA) is associated with increased all-cause mortality in adults. However, the specific nature of the relationship between BPA exposure and cancer mortality remains relatively unexplored.MethodsThe National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset was used to recruit participants. Urinary BPA was assessed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrum (LC–MS). Through the use of multivariable Cox proportional hazard regressions and constrained cubic splines, the relationships between urine BPA and death from all causes and cancer were investigated.ResultsThis study has a total of 8,035 participants, and 137 died from cancers after a 7.5-year follow-up. The median level of BPA was 2.0 g/mL. Urinary BPA levels were not independently associated with all-cause mortality. For cancer mortality, the second quartile’s multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio was 0.51 (95% confidence interval: 0.30 to 0.86; p = 0.011) compared to the lowest quartile. The restricted cubic splines showed that the association was nonlinear (p for nonlinearity = 0.028) and the inflection point was 1.99 ng/mL.ConclusionUrinary BPA exposure was U-shaped associated with the risk of cancer mortality, and a lower level of BPA less than 1.99 ng/mL was associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality

Crosstalk interference and correction methods for low background gas-flow proportional counter

The crosstalk phenomenon and its influence in the determination of gross α and β radioactivity when using a low background gas-flow proportional counter as a measuring instrument was examined in this paper. The crosstalk ratio between α and β channel was measured by using a series of α, β metal planar sources, powder sources, and thin-layer surface sources. The β-to-α crosstalk ratio of 90Sr-90Y metal planar sources and powder sources containing 14C, 137Cs, 90Sr-90Y, or 40K is less than 0.1%, which can be negligible. The crosstalk ratios of α metal planar source in ascending order are 210Po, 209Po, 239Pu, 239Pu-241Am mixed source, and 241Am, which range from 3.49% to 25.4%. The crosstalk ratio of 241Am is significantly higher than those of other sources. Furthermore, 241Am powder sources' crosstalk ratio increases with mass thickness. The crosstalk of α particles to β channel is obvious and related to the sample source preparation method. This is mainly due to the difference in self-absorption due to different source preparation methods. Overall, the crosstalk ratio of α powder sources is larger than thin-layer surface sources and metal planar sources. The interference of α-to-β crosstalk should be considered. By covering the sample sources with aluminum foil or paper with a certain thickness, the crosstalk interference of α-to-β can be reduced effectively. Additionally, it is an effective way to directly correct the count rate by the crosstalk ratio. In this case, it is necessary to consider the consistency of the sample source to be measured and the crosstalk ratio scale source, as any discrepancies can lead to a significant deviation in the corrected result

A novel clinical−radiomic nomogram for the crescent status in IgA nephropathy

ObjectiveWe used machine-learning (ML) models based on ultrasound radiomics to construct a nomogram for noninvasive evaluation of the crescent status in immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy.MethodsPatients with IgA nephropathy diagnosed by renal biopsy (n=567) were divided into training (n=398) and test cohorts (n=169). Ultrasound radiomic features were extracted from ultrasound images. After selecting the most significant features using univariate analysis and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator algorithm, three ML algorithms were assessed for final radiomic model establishment. Next, clinical, ultrasound radiomic, and combined clinical−radiomic models were compared for their ability to detect IgA crescents. The diagnostic performance of the three models was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.ResultsThe average area under the curve (AUC) of the three ML radiomic models was 0.762. The logistic regression model performed best, with AUC values in the training and test cohorts of 0.838 and 0.81, respectively. Among the final models, the combined model based on clinical characteristics and the Rad score showed good discrimination, with AUC values in the training and test cohorts of 0.883 and 0.862, respectively. The decision curve analysis verified the clinical practicability of the combined nomogram.ConclusionML classifier based on ultrasound radiomics has a potential value for noninvasive diagnosis of IgA nephropathy with or without crescents. The nomogram constructed by combining ultrasound radiomic and clinical features can provide clinicians with more comprehensive and personalized image information, which is of great significance for selecting treatment strategies

Alterations in intra- and inter-network connectivity associated with cognition impairment in insulinoma patients

ObjectiveCognitive dysfunction is common in insulinoma patients, but the underlying neural mechanisms are less well understood. This study aimed to explore the alterations of intra- and inter-network connectivity patterns associated with patients with insulinoma.MethodsResting-state fMRI were acquired from 13 insulinoma patients and 13 matched healthy controls (HCs). Group Independent component analysis (ICA) was employed to capture the resting-state networks (RSNs), then the intra- and inter-network connectivity patterns, were calculated and compared. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to assess the cognitive function. The relationship between connectivity patterns and MoCA scores was also examined.ResultsInsulinoma patients performed significantly worse on MoCA compared to HCs. The intra-network connectivity analysis revealed that patients with insulinoma showed decreased connectivity in the left medial superior frontal gyrus within anterior default mode network (aDMN), and decreased connectivity in right lingual gyrus within the visual network (VN). The intra-network connectivity analysis showed that patients with insulinoma had an increased connectivity between the inferior-posterior default mode network (ipDMN) and right frontoparietal network (rFPN) and decreased connectivity between the ipDMN and auditory network (AUN). There was a significant negative correlation between the ipDMN-rFPN connectivity and MoCA score.ConclusionThis study demonstrated significant abnormalities in the intra- and inter-network connectivity in patients with insulinoma, which may represent the neural mechanisms underlying the cognitive impairment in insulinoma patients