LiMnPO4 olivine as a cathode for lithium batteries

The olivine structured mixed lithium-transition metal phosphates LiMPO4 (M = Fe, Mn, Co) have attracted tremendous attention of many research teams worldwide as a promising cathode materials for lithium batteries. Among them, lithium manganese phosphate LiMnPO4 is the most promising considering its high theoretical capacity and operating voltage, low cost and environmental safety. Various techniques were applied to prepare this perspective cathode for lithium batteries. The solution based synthetic routes such as spray pyrolysis, precipitation, sol-gel, hydrothermal and polyol synthesis allow preparing nanostructured powders of LiMnPO4 with enhanced electrochemical properties, which is mostly attributed to the higher chemical homogeneity and narrow particle size distribution of the material. Up-to-date, the LiMnPO4/C composites prepared by the spray pyrolysis route have the best electrochemical performance among the reported in the literature

A Case of Severe Bronchial Asthma Controlled with Tacrolimus

Background. The control of severe bronchial asthma, such as corticosteroid-resistant asthma, is difficult. It is also possible that immunosuppressive agents would be effective for bronchial asthma. Case Summary. A 55-year-old Japanese female presented with severe bronchial asthma controlled with tacrolimus. She had been diagnosed with bronchial asthma during childhood. Her asthma worsened, and a chest radiograph showed atelectasis of the left lung. Bronchoscopy revealed the left main bronchus to be obstructed with viscous sputum consisting of 82% neutrophils and no eosinophils. The atelectasis did not improve with corticosteroid treatment, but was ameliorated by administration of tacrolimus. Discussion. This patient had severe asthma due to neutrophilic inflammation of the airways. Tacrolimus is effective for treating severe asthma, for example, in corticosteroid-resistant cases

An Alternative Approach for Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation for Intra-atrial Reentrant Tachycardia Associated with Open-Heart Surgery

We present case reports of 2 patients with scar-related intra-atrial reentrant tachycardia (IART) associated with previous open-heart surgeries, in which standard ablation strategies failed to eliminate atrial tachycardia (AT). The strategies targeted a narrow conducting channel between the right atrial scars or between the scar and inferior vena cava. In these patients, an alternative approach to transect another narrow conducting pathway between the scar and crista terminalis (CT), which was revealed by a noncontact mapping system, successfully terminated and eliminated the IART. Both the cases were free of recurrent AT at the 24-and 25-month follow up visits, respectively. Transection of the corridor between the CT and the incision scar appears to be an effective technique for eliminating scar-related IART and can be considered as a second-line procedure for radiofrequency catheter ablation to eliminate IART

High performance freestanding composite cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries

A freestanding sulfur/dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite (S/DPAN/MWCNT) was prepared by a simple vacuum filtration of a mixture of S/DPAN composite and MWCNT suspensions, and studied as a cathode for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries

Sheet Dependence on Superconducting Gap in Oxygen-Deficient Iron-based Oxypnictide Superconductors NdFeAs0.85

Photoemission spectroscopy with low-energy tunable photons on oxygen-deficient iron-based oxypnictide superconductors NdFeAsO0.85 (Tc=52K) reveals a distinct photon-energy dependence of the electronic structure near the Fermi level (EF). A clear shift of the leading-edge can be observed in the superconducting states with 9.5 eV photons, while a clear Fermi cutoff with little leading-edge shift can be observed with 6.0 eV photons. The results are indicative of the superconducting gap opening not on the hole-like ones around Gamma (0,0) point but on the electron-like sheets around M(pi,pi) point.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure