Bi-reforming of methane in a carbon deposit-free plasmatron with high operational adaptability

An atmospheric plasmatron reactor with two-stage inlets was developed for bi-reforming of methane (CO2/CH4/H2O) to produce syngas (H2 + CO) and value-added liquid products. The influence of CH4 inlet position, gas flow rate and reactant composition were investigated. The results showed that the two-stage-inlet design allows for a wide range of operational conditions in terms of the CO2/CH4/H2O ratio (2–7:0–6:0–3) and total flow rate (4.5-11 L/min). A CO2 and CH4 conversion of 24% and 12.9%, respectively, was obtained at flow rates of up to 7-8 L/min, with no observable carbon deposit formed. A closer injection of CH4 to the core plasma area was more beneficial for both reactant conversion and syngas selectivity. Interestingly, value-added oxygenated products (e.g., methanol, ethanol, acetic acid) were produced simultaneously, offering a promising power-to-liquid (PtL) route. In particular, the direct synthesis of acetic acid from CH4 and CO2 was achieved, which is infeasible in thermocatalytic processes. A small addition of H2O (14.3%) favorably enhanced the formation of acetic acid by up to 160%, likely due to the improved generation of CH3 and COOH intermediates. Overall, this work offers a promising route for syngas and oxygenated products generation in a scalable plasmatron reactor with high operational adaptability

Effectiveness of medication review services on diabetes self-care in primary care patients-A randomised controlled study

Background Though self-care is a critical component of diabetes management, it is unknown whether pharmacist-run medication review service (MRS) can be an additional intervention to enhance self-care in diabetic patients. Objectives Hence, this study aims to determine the effectiveness of MRS in addition to existing care protocol in improving self-care in diabetic patients. Methods This randomised controlled study was conducted in five polyclinics from December 2014 to October 2016. Participants were 40 to 80 years of age and had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. These participants were prescribed with five or more chronic medications, of which at least one was an antidiabetic medication, by the primary healthcare centres’ doctors. The participants were randomly recruited into the intervention or control arm. A self-developed questionnaire which incorporated the validated Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ) was administered face-to-face by the study team to the participants prior to and after MRS. MRS was not administered to participants in the control group. Results A total of 221 participants completed the follow up. There were 105 participants in the control arm and 116 in the intervention arm. The DSMQ Sum Scale score of the control group improved by 0.16 ± 1.11 ( p = 0.136) while the intervention group improved by 0.40 ± 0.99 ( p = 0.000). Participants in the intervention group reported a better improvement in their self-care of diabetes, specifically in glucose management ( p = 0.003), dietary control ( p = 0.096) and physical activity ( p = 0.003). Conclusions Pharmacist-run MRS can be included in addition to existing care to improve self-care in patients with diabetes

The prevalence of burnout among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists pre- and post-COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) increased the already heavy workload in the pulmonary and respiratory departments, which therefore possibly increased the prevalence of burnout among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists. We aimed to compare the differences in burnout among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists pre- and post-COVID-19 by doing a systematic review with meta-analysis. We searched pulmonologist, or pulmonary, or respiratory, and burnout up to 29 January 2023 in six databases. We included studies investigating pulmonologists or respiratory therapists and reporting the prevalence of burnout among them. The risk of bias was assessed by a tool for prevalence studies. The overall prevalence of burnout was pooled. A total of 2859 records were identified and 16 studies were included in the final analysis. The included studies reported 3610 responding individuals and 2336 burnouts. The pooled prevalence of burnout was 61.7% (95% confidence interval (CI), 48.6–73.2%; I2 = 96.3%). The pooled prevalence of burnout during COVID-19 was significantly higher than it was prior to the outbreak (68.4% vs. 41.6%, p = .01). The result of the meta-regression revealed that COVID-19 coverage was significantly associated with the prevalence of burnout (p = .04). Burnout was widely prevalent among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists and increasingly perceived during COVID-19. Therefore, interventions were needed to reduce burnout in this specialty.KEY MESSASGESThe coronavirus disease-19 increased the already heavy workload in the pulmonary and respiratory departments.Burnout was widely prevalent among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists and increasingly perceived during COVID-19. The coronavirus disease-19 increased the already heavy workload in the pulmonary and respiratory departments. Burnout was widely prevalent among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists and increasingly perceived during COVID-19.</p

Enhanced NH₃ Synthesis from Air in a Plasma Tandem-Electrocatalysis System Using Plasma-Engraved N‑Doped Defective MoS₂

We have developed a sustainable method to produce NH3 directly from air using a plasma tandem-electrocatalysis system that operates via the N2–NOx–NH3 pathway. To efficiently reduce NO2– to NH3, we propose a novel electrocatalyst consisting of defective N-doped molybdenum sulfide nanosheets on vertical graphene arrays (N-MoS2/VGs). We used a plasma engraving process to form the metallic 1T phase, N doping, and S vacancies in the electrocatalyst simultaneously. Our system exhibited a remarkable NH3 production rate of 7.3 mg h–1 cm–2 at −0.53 V vs RHE, which is almost 100 times higher than the state-of-the-art electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction and more than double that of other hybrid systems. Moreover, a low energy consumption of only 2.4 MJ molNH3–1 was achieved in this study. Density functional theory calculations revealed that S vacancies and doped N atoms play a dominant role in the selective reduction of NO2– to NH3. This study opens up new avenues for efficient NH3 production using cascade systems

Integration of antiangiogenic therapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-1727Clin Cancer Resclincanres.1727.2020-clincanres.1727.202