One-year clinical outcomes in invasive treatment strategies for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock in eld-erly patients

Objective To investigate the clinical outcomes of an invasive strategy for elderly (aged≥75 years) patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) complicated by cardiogenic shock (CS). Methods Data on 366 of 409 elderly CS patients from a total of 6,132 acute STEMI cases enrolled in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry between January 2008 and June 2011, were collected and analyzed. In-hospital deaths and the 1-month and 1-year survival rates free from major adverse cardiac events (MACE;defined as all cause death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization) were reported for the patients who had undergone invasive (n=310) and conservative (n=56) treatment strategies. Results The baseline clinical characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups. There were fewer in-hospital deaths in the invasive treatment strategy group (23.5%vs. 46.4%, P<0.001). In addition, the 1-year MACE-free survival rate after invasive treatment was significantly lower compared with the conservative treatment (51%vs. 66%, P=0.001). Conclusions In elderly patients with acute STEMI complicated by CS, the outcomes of invasive strategy are similar to those in younger patients at the 1-year follow-up.

Liver abscess and sepsis with Bacillus pantothenticus in an immunocompetent patient:A first case report

Bacillus species are aerobic,gram-positive,spore forming rods that are usually found in the soil,dust,streams,and other environmental sources.Except for Bacillus.anthracis(B.anthracis) ,most species display low virulence,and only rarely cause infections in hosts with weak or damaged immune systems.There are two case reports of B.cereus as a potentially serious bacterial pathogen causing a liver abscess in an immunologically competent patient.We herein report a case of liver abscess and sepsis caused by B.pantothenticus in an immunocompetent patient.Until now,no case of liver abscess due to B.pantothenticus has been reported.

Non-Hermitian chiral degeneracy of gated graphene metasurfaces

Non-Hermitian degeneracies,also known as exceptional points(EPs),have been the focus of much attention due to their singular eigenvalue surface structure.Nevertheless,as pertaining to a non-Hermitian metasurface platform,the reduction of an eigenspace dimensionality at the EP has been investigated mostly in a passive repetitive manner.Here,we propose an electrical and spectral way of resolving chiral EPs and clarifying the consequences of chiral mode collapsing of a non-Hermitian gated graphene metasurface.More specifically,the measured non-Hermitian Jones matrix in parameter space enables the quantification of nonorthogonality of polarisation eigenstates and half-integer topological charges associated with a chiral EP.Interestingly,the output polarisation state can be made orthogonal to the coalesced polarisation eigenstate of the metasurface,revealing the missing dimension at the chiral EP.In addition,the maximal nonorthogonality at the chiral EP leads to a blocking of one of the cross-polarised transmission pathways and,consequently,the observation of enhanced asymmetric polarisation conversion.We anticipate that electrically controllable non-Hermitian metasurface platforms can serve as an interesting framework for the investigation of rich non-Hermitian polarisation dynamics around chiral EPs.

Electrical characteristics and detailed interfacial structures of Ag/Ni metallization on polycrystalline thermoelectric SnSe

SnSe is a promising thermoelectric material with a high figure of merit in single crystal form, which has stimulated continuous research on polycrystalline SnSe. In this study, we investigated a metallization techniques for polycrystalline SnSe to achieve highly efficient and practical SnSe thermoelectric modules. The Ag/Ni metallization layers were formed on pristine polycrystalline SnSe using various deposition technique: sputter coating Ni, powder Niand foil Ni by spark plasma sintering. Structural analysis demonstrated that the microstructure and con tact resistance could be different according to the metallization process, despite using the same metals. The Ag/Ni metallization layer using foil Ni acted as an effective diffusion barrier and minimized electrical contact resistance (2.3×10^-4Ωcm^2). A power loss in the thermoelectric module of only 5% was demonstrated using finite element simulation.

Room-temperature synthesis of ZrSnO4 nanoparticles for electron transport layer in efficient planar hetrojunction perovskite solar cells

The interface engineering plays a key role in controlled optoelectronic properties of perovskite photovoltaic devices,and thus the electron transport layer(ETL)material with tailored optoelectronic properties remains a challenge for achieving high photovoltaic performance of planar perovskite solar cells(PSCs).Here,the fine and crystalline zirconium stanate(ZrSnO4)nanoparticles(NPs)was synthesized at low temperature,and its optoelectronic properties are systematically investigated.Benefiting from the favorable electronic structure of ZrSnO4 NPs for applications in ETL,efficient electron transport and extraction with suppre s sed charge recombination are achieved at the interface of perovskite layer.As a result,the optimized ZrSnO4 NPs synthesized at room-temperature deliver the optimized power conversion efficiency up to 16.76%with acceptable stability.This work opens up a new class of ternary metal oxide for the use in ETL of the planar PSCs and should pave the way toward designing new interfacial materials for practical optoelectronic devices.