Investigation of the deterioration of passive films in H_2S-containing solutions

The effect of H_2S on the corrosion behavior of 316 L stainless steel was investigated using electrochemical methods by changing the gas condition from CO_2 to H_2S and then back to CO_2. The presence of H_2S showed an acceleration effect on the corrosion of 316 L stainless steel in comparison with CO_2. The acceleration effect remained even after the complete removal of H_2S by CO_2, indicating that the passive film was irreversibly damaged. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) analysis indicated that the passive film was composed of Cr_2O_3, Fe_2O_3, and FeS_2 after being immersed in H_2S-containing solutions. The semiconducting property of the passive film was then investigated by using the Mott–Schottky approach. The presence of sulfides resulted in higher acceptor and donor densities and thus was responsible for the deterioration of passive films.

Effects of policies and containment measures on control of COVID- 19 epidemic in Chongqing

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is an emerging,rapidly evolving disease that spreads through the respiratory system and is highly contagious.In March 2020,the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.In China,the pandemic was controlled after 2 mo through effective policies and containment measures.Describing the detailed policies and containment measures used to control the epidemic in Chongqing will provide a reference for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in other areas of the world.AIM To explore the effects of different policies and containment measures on the control of the COVID-19 epidemic in Chongqing.METHODS Epidemiological data on COVID-19 in Chongqing were prospectively collected from January 21 to March 15,2020.The policies and prevention measures implemented by the government during the epidemic period were also collected.Trend analysis was performed to explore the impact of the main policy measures on the effectiveness of the control of COVID-19 in Chongqing.As of March 15,the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in Chongqing was 1.84/100000(576 cases)and the infection fatality rate was 1.04%(6/576).The spread of COVID-19 was controlled by effective policies that involved establishing a group for directing the COVID-19 epidemic control effort;strengthening guidance and supervision;ensuring the supply of daily necessities and medical supplies and equipment to residents;setting up designated hospitals;implementing legal measures;and enhancing health education.Medical techniques were implemented to improve the recovery rate and control the epidemic.Policies such as“the lockdown of Wuhan”,“initiating a first-level response to major public health emergencies”,and“implementing the closed management of residential communities”significantly curbed the spread of COVID-19.Optimizing the diagnosis process,shortening the diagnosis time,and constructing teams of clinical experts facilitated the provision of“one team of medical experts for each patient”treatment for severe patients,which significantly improved the recovery rate and reduced the infection fatality rate.CONCLUSION The prevention policies and containment measures implemented by the government and medical institutions are highly effective in controlling the spread of the epidemic and increasing the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients.

An Optimized Labeling Scheme for Reachability Queries

Answering reachability queries is one of the fundamental graph operations.Existing approaches either accelerate index construction by constructing an index that covers only partial reachability relationship,which may result in performing cost traversing operation when answering a query;or accelerate query answering by constructing an index covering the complete reachability relationship,which may be inefficient due to comparing the complete node labels.We propose a novel labeling scheme,which covers the complete reachability relationship,to accelerate reachability queries processing.The idea is to decompose the given directed acyclic graph(DAG)G into two subgraphs,G1 and G2.For G1,we propose to use topological labels consisting of two integers to answer all reachability queries.For G2,we construct 2-hop labels as existing methods do to answer queries that cannot be answered by topological labels.The benefits of our method lie in two aspects.On one hand,our method does not need to perform the cost traversing operation when answering queries.On the other hand,our method can quickly answer most queries in constant time without comparing the whole node labels.We confirm the efficiency of our approaches by extensive experimental studies using 20 real datasets.

Relationship between quality of life and adolescent glycolipid metabolism disorder:A cohort study

BACKGROUND The prevalence of glucolipid metabolic disorders(GLMDs)in children and adolescents has a recognized association with cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus in adulthood.Therefore,it is important to enhance our understanding of the risk factors for GLMD in childhood and adolescence.AIM To explore the relationship between quality of life(QoL)and adolescent GLMD.METHODS This study included 1956 samples in 2019 from a cohort study established in 2014.The QoL scale and glycolipid indexes were collected during follow-up;other covariates of perinatal factors,physical measures,and socioeconomic indicators were collected and adjusted.A generalized linear regression model and logistic regression model were used to analyse the correlation between QoL and GLMD.RESULTS Higher scores of QoL activity opportunity,learning ability and attitude,attitude towards doing homework,and living convenience domains correlated negatively with insulin and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance(IR)levels.Psychosocial factors,QoL satisfaction factors,and total QoL scores had significant protective effects on insulin and IR levels.Activity opportunity,learning ability and attitude,attitude towards doing homework domains of QoL,psychosocial factor,and total score of QoL correlated positively with high density lipoprotein.In addition,the attitude towards doing homework domain was a protective factor for dyslipidaemia,IR>3,and increased fasting blood glucose;four factors,QoL and total QoL score correlated significantly negatively with IR>3.In subgroup analyses of sex,more domains of QoL correlated with insulin and triglyceride levels,dyslipidaemia,and IR>3 in females.Poor QoL was associated with an increased prevalence of GLMD,and the effect was more pronounced in males than in females.Measures to improve the QoL of adolescents are essential to reduce rates of GLMD.CONCLUSION Our study revealed that QoL scores mainly correlate negatively with the prevalence of GLMD in adolescents of the healthy population.The independent relationship between QoL and GLMD can be illustrated by adjusting for multiple covariates that may be associated with glycaemic index.In addition,among females,more QoL domains are associated with glycaemic index.

The Diagnostic Value of Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Detecting CNS Diseases Among Advanced AIDS Patients

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of brain magnetic resonance imaging in detecting central nervous system diseases among AIDS patients of different levels of T cells. Methods Total of 164 AIDS patients who did not receive antiviral treatment were divided into 2 groups according to their baseline CD4+ T cell counts. Group A had CD4+ T cell below or equal to 50 cells/μl(n = 81) and group B had CD4+ T cells over 50 cells/μl(n = 83). All patients underwent brain MRI scan. Imaging analysis and the prevalence of the central nervous system disorders were compared between two groups. Results Among them 48 cases were found of abnormal brain MRI, group A was higher than group B(35.8% vs. 22.9%) although without statistical significance(P = 0.065). Altogether 48 cases were diagnosed as AIDS related central nervous system disorders based on clinical symptoms, signs and laboratory findings. The prevalence of CNS disorders was higher in group A than in group B(41.9% vs. 16.8%) with statistical significance(P < 0.01). Conclusions The patients with CD4+ T cell count less than or equal to 50 cells/μl had high prevalence of CNS diseases. Brain MRI plays an important role in the diagnosis and differentiation of CNS diseases in advanced AIDS patients. This study suggests patients with low CD4+ T cell count(≤ 50/μl) should routinely undergo MRI examination.

ABR: An Optimized Buffer Replacement Algorithm for Flash Storage Devices

Flash disks are being widely used as an important alternative to conventional magnetic disks, although accessed through the same interface by applications, their distinguished feature, i.e., different read and write cost makes it necessary to reconsider the design of existing replacement algorithms to leverage their performance potential. We propose an adaptive cost-aware replacement policy based on average hit distance (AHD) to control the movement of buffer pages when hits occur, thus pages that are re-visited within AHD will stay still. Such a mechanism makes our method adaptive to workloads of different access patterns. The experimental results show that our method not only adaptively tunes itself to workloads of different access patterns, but also works well for different kind of flash disks compared with existing methods.

Water vapor corrosion behavior and failure mechanism of air sprayed bi-layer Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/SiC and tri-layer Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/(SiCw-Mullite)/SiC environmental barrier coating

To improve the corrosion resistance of Cf/SiC composites in a water vapor oxygen coupled environment,the bilayer Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/SiC and tri-layer Yb2Si2O7/(SiCw-Mullite,SM)/SiC environment barrier coatings were designed and prepared on the surface of Cf/SiC composites by chemical vapor deposition and sol-gel method united with air spraying.Results show that the mass loss of bi-layer Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/SiC coating coated samples was 17.24×10^(-3) g cm^(-2) after 200 h oxidation at 1673 K,and the average compression strength retention rate was only 79.44% due to the formation of wide penetrating cracks.Comparatively,SiC whiskers in SM middle coating can not only increase the crack propagation resistance of mullite middle coating,but also alleviate the difference of coefficient of thermal expansion between Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7) outer coating and mullite middle coating.Therefore,the mass loss of trilayer Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/SM/SiC coating coated samples was only 2.93×10^(-3) g cm^(-2) after 200 h oxidation at 1673 K,and the average compression strength retention rate was up to 98.79%.

Multifunctional polymeric micelle-based chemo-immunotherapy with immune checkpoint blockade for efficient treatment of orthotopic and metastatic breast cancer

Immunotherapy has become a highly promising paradigm for cancer treatment. Herein, a chemo-immunotherapy was developed by encapsulating chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin(DOX) and Toll-like receptor 7 agonist imiquimod(IMQ) in low molecular weight heparin(LMWH)-D-α-tocopheryl succinate(TOS) micelles(LT). In this process, LMWH and TOS were conjugated by ester bond and they were not only served as the hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments of the carrier, but also exhibited strong anti-metastasis effect. The direct killing of tumor cells mediated by DOX-loaded micelles(LT-DOX)generated tumor-associated antigens, initiating tumor-specific immune responses in combination with IMQ-loaded micelles(LT-IMQ). Furthermore, the blockade of immune checkpoint with programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-L1) antibody further elevated the immune responses by up-regulating the maturation of DCs as well as the ratios of CD8+ CTLs/Treg and CD4+ Teff/Treg. Therefore, such a multifunctional strategy exhibited great potential for inhibiting the growth of orthotopic and metastatic breast cancer.

Ultrafast presodiation of graphene anodes for high-efficiency and high-rate sodium-ion storage

The low initial Coulombic efficiency(ICE)is a significant problem hindering the practical uses of carbon anodes in sodium-ion batteries(SIBs),especially for the carbons with large surface area.Presodiation is an effective way to solve the above problem,but it always needs complicated operations and cannot suppress the unavoidable electrolyte decomposition in the assembled battery.Herein,we develop an ultrafast chemical presodiation method for reduced graphene oxide(rGO)using sodium naphthalene(Na-Nt)dissolved in dimethoxyethane(DME)solvent as a presodiation reagent.The presodiation effectively improves the ICE of rGO to 96.8%and forms an artificial solid electrolyte interphase(SEI)on its surface due to the decomposition of the formed complex between Na+and DME.The formed artificial SEI suppresses the excessive decomposition of electrolytes in the assembled battery,leading to a formation of uniform and inorganic component–rich SEI on rGO surface,which enables a rapid interfacial ion transfer.Therefore,the presodiated rGO showed excellent rate performance with a high capacity of 198.5 mAh g^(-1) at 5 A g^(-1).Moreover,excellent cycle stability indicated by the high capacity retention of 68.4%over 1000 cycles was also achieved,showing the poten-tial to promote the practical uses of high-rate rGO anode in SIBs.

Corrosion behavior and failure mechanism of SiC whisker and c-AlPO_(4) particle-modified novel tri-layer Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/mullite/SiC coating in burner rig tests

The corrosion behavior of environmental barrier coatings(EBCs)directly affects the service life and stability of ceramic matrix composite(CMC)structural parts in the aero-engines.The silicon carbide(SiC)whisker toughening phase and c-AlPO_(4) bonding phase are firstly used to improve the service life of novel tri-layer Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/mullite/SiC EBCs in the burner rig test.The formation of penetrating cracks in Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/mullite/SiC coating caused the failure of coating at 1673 K.The SiC whiskers in mullite middle coating significantly inhibited the formation of penetrating cracks in Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/mullite/SiC coating,and efficiently prevented the oxidation of carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide(C_(f)/SiC)samples for 360-min thermal cycles(24 times)with a weight loss of 6.19×10^(−3) g·cm^(−2).Although c-AlPO_(4) particles further improved the service life of SiC_(w)-mullite(SM)coating,the overflow of PO_(x) gas aggravated the formation and expansion of cracks in the Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7) outer coating,and caused the service life of overall Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/c-AlPO_(4)-SiC_(w)-mullite(ASM)/SiC coating to be slightly lower than that of Yb_(2)Si_(2)O_(7)/SM/SiC coating.This study guides the design of modified tri-layer EBCs with long service life in high-temperature and high-speed gas environment.

Low rate of pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis uptake and high prevalence of transmitted drug resistance among newly diagnosed primary HIV infections in Shenzhen, China: a real-world retrospective study

Background: Understanding the characteristics of newly diagnosed primary human deficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection in the context of the post-antiretroviral therapy era and HIV drug prophylaxis is essential for achieving the new target of 95-95-95-95 by 2025. This study reported the characteristics of newly diagnosed primary HIV-1 infection in Shenzhen.Methods: This is a real-world retrospective study. Eighty-seven newly diagnosed primary HIV-1-infected patients were recruited from January 2021 to March 2022 at the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen. Demographic, epidemiological, diagnostic, drug resistance, and medical data were described and analyzed.Results: Overall, 96.6% (84/87) of the newly identified primary HIV-1-infected patients were male, including 88.5% (77/87) men have sex with men (MSM), with a median age of 29.0 years (Q_(1)-Q_(3): 24.0-34.0 years);of these, 85.1% (74/87) reported high-risk sexual behaviors with casual partners. The rate of condom usage was only 28.7% (25/87). The overall rate of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) was 8.0% (7/87, including 4 PrEP and 3 PEP cases) around the potential exposure, although 41.4% of the patients had prior awareness of such interventions. Moreover, only 19.5% (17/87) had previously used PrEP or PEP. Of those, 58.8% (10/17) of the patients obtained drugs from the internet, and only 35.3% (6/17) reported good compliance. A total of 54.0% (47/87) of subjects were diagnosed by the HIV nucleic acid test. Acute retroviral syndrome appeared in 54.0% (47/87) of patients. The prevalence of transmitted drug resistance (TDR) mutation was 33.9% (19/56), including 6 (10.7%) against nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) plus non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), 8 (14.3%) against NNRTI, and 5 (8.9%) against protease inhibitor (PI) only.Conclusions: Owing to the low utilization rate and incorrect usage of PrEP and PEP, massive efforts are needed to promote HIV-preventive strategies in the MSM population. The extremely high prevalence of TDR mutation in this population implies the need for future pretreatment drug resistance surveillance.