A porous⁃layered aluminoborate built by mixed oxoboron clusters and AlO_(4)tetrahedra

An aluminoborate,Na_(2.5)Rb[Al{B_(5)O_(10)}{B_(3)O_(5)}]·0.5NO_(3)·H_(2)O(1),was synthesized under hydrothermal condition,which was built by mixed oxoboron clusters and AlO_(4)tetrahedra.In the structure,the[B_(5)O_(10)]^(5-)and[B_(3)O_(7)]^(5-)clusters are alternately connected to form 1D[B_(8)O_(15)]_(n)^(6n-)chains,which are further linked by AlO_(4)units to form a 2D monolayer with 7‑membered ring and 10‑membered ring windows.Two adjacent monolayers with opposite orientations further form a porous‑layered structure with six channels through B—O—Al bonds.Compound 1 was characterized by single crystal X‑ray diffraction,powder X‑ray diffraction(PXRD),IR spectroscopy,UV‑Vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy,and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA),respectively.UV‑Vis diffuse reflectance analysis indicates that compound 1 shows a wide transparency range with a short cutoff edge of 201 nm,suggesting it may have potential application in UV regions.CCDC:2383923.

Merging polymers of intrinsic microporosity and porous carbon-based zinc oxide composites in novel mixed matrix membranes for efficient gas separation

Mixed matrix membranes(MMMs)have demonstrated significant promise in energy-intensive gas separations by amalgamating the unique properties of fillers with the facile processability of polymers.However,achieving a simultaneous enhancement of permeability and selectivity remains a formidable challenge,due to the difficulty of achieving an optimal match between polymers and fillers.In this study,we incorporate a porous carbon-based zinc oxide composite(C@ZnO)into high-permeability polymers of intrinsic microporosity(PIMs)to fabricate MMMs.The dipole–dipole interaction between C@ZnO and PIMs ensures their exceptional compatibility,mitigating the formation of non-selective voids in the resulting MMMs.Concurrently,C@ZnO with abundant interconnected pores can provide additional low-resistance pathways for gas transport in MMMs.As a result,the CO_(2) permeability of the optimized C@ZnO/PIM-1 MMMs is elevated to 13,215 barrer,while the CO_(2)/N_(2) and CO_(2)/CH_(4) selectivity reached 21.5 and 14.4,respectively,substantially surpassing the 2008 Robeson upper bound.Additionally,molecular simulation results further corroborate that the augmented membrane gas selectivity is attributed to the superior CO_(2) affinity of C@ZnO.In summary,we believe that this work not only expands the application of MMMs for gas separation but also heralds a paradigm shift in the application of porous carbon materials.

Adenosine triphosphate-binding pocket inhibitor for mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein attenuated alcoholic liver disease via necroptosis-independent pathway

BACKGROUND Mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein(MLKL)serves as a critical mediator in necroptosis,a form of regulated cell death linked to various liver diseases.This study aims to specifically investigate the role of MLKL’s adenosine triphosphate(ATP)-binding pocket in facilitating necroptosis-independent pathways that may contribute to liver disease progression.By focusing on this mechanism,we seek to identify potential therapeutic targets that can modulate MLKL activity,offering new strategies for the prevention and treatment of liver-related pathologies.AIM To investigate the possibility of using the ATP-binding pocket-associated,necro-ptosis-independent MLKL pathway as a target for liver diseases.METHODS Cell death following necroptosis stimuli was evaluated using cell proliferation assays,flow cytometry,and electron microscopy in various cells.The human liver organoid system was used to evaluate whether the MLKL ATP pocket-binding inhibitor could attenuate inflammation.Additionally,alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases animal models were used to determine whether MLKL ATP pocket inhibitors could attenuate liver injury.RESULTS While an MLKL ATP pocket-binding inhibitor did not prevent necroptosis-induced cell death in RAW 264.7 cells,it did reduce the necroptosis-led expression of CXCL2,ICAM,and VCAM.Notably,MLKL ATP pocket inhibitor diminishes the expression of CXCL2,ICAM,and VCAM by inhibiting the IκB kinase and nuclear factor kappa-B pathways without inducing necroptosis-induced cell death in two-dimensional cell culture as well as the human-derived liver organoid system.Although MLKL ATP-binding inhibitor was ineffective in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease animal models,MLKL ATP-binding inhibitor attenuated hepatic inflammation in the alcoholic liver disease model.CONCLUSION MLKL ATP pocket-binding inhibitor exerted anti-inflammatory effects through the necroptosis-independent MLKL pathway in an animal model of alcoholic liver disease.

Clinical observation on prognosis of mixed hemorrhoids treated with polidocanol injection combined with automatic elastic thread ligation operation

BACKGROUND A total of 100 patients diagnosed with mixed hemorrhoids from October 2022 to September 2023 in our hospital were randomly divided into groups by dice rolling and compared with the efficacy of different treatment options.AIM To analyze the clinical effect and prognosis of mixed hemorrhoids treated with polidocanol injection combined with automatic elastic thread ligation operation(RPH).METHODS A total of 100 patients with mixed hemorrhoids who visited our hospital from October 2022 to September 2023 were selected and randomly divided into the control group(n=50)and the treatment group(n=50)by rolling the dice.The procedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids(PPH)was adopted in the control group,while polidocanol foam injection+RPH was adopted in the treatment group.The therapeutic effects,operation time,wound healing time,hospital stay,pain situation(24 hours post-operative pain score,first defecation pain score),quality of life(QOL),incidence of complications(post-operative hemorrhage,edema,infection),incidence of anal stenosis 3 months post-operatively and recurrence rate 1 year post-operatively of the two groups were compared.RESULTS Compared with the control group,the total effective rate of treatment group was higher,and the difference was significant(P<0.05).The operation time/wound healing time/hospital stay in the treatment group were shorter than those in the control group(P<0.05).The pain scores at 24 hours after operation/first defecation pain score of the treatment group was significantly lower than those in the control group(P<0.05).After surgery,the QOL scores of the two groups decreased,with the treatment group having higher scores than that of the control group(P<0.05).Compared with the control group,the incidence of postoperative complications in the treatment group was lower,and the difference was significant(P<0.05);However,there was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative bleeding between the two groups(P>0.05);There was no significant difference in the incidence of anal stenosis 3 months after operation and the recurrence rate 1 year after operation between the two groups(P>0.05).CONCLUSION For patients with mixed hemorrhoids,the therapeutic effect achieved by using polidocanol injection combined with RPH was better.The wounds of the patients healed faster,the postoperative pain was milder,QOL improved,and the incidence of complications was lower,and the short-term and long-term prognosis was good.

Mixed reality head mounted displays for enhanced indoor point cloud segmentation with virtual seeds

Mixed Reality(MR)Head Mounted Displays(HMDs)offer a hitherto underutilized set of advantages compared to conventional 3D scanners.These benefits,inherent to MR-HMDs albeit not originally intended for such appli-cations,encompass the freedom of hand movement,hand tracking capabilities,and real-time mesh visualization.This study leverages these attributes to enhance indoor scanning process.The primary innovation lies in the con-ceptualization of manual-positioned MR virtual seeds for the purpose of indoor point cloud segmentation via a region-growing approach.The proposed methodology is effectively implemented using the HoloLens 2 platform.An application is designed to enable the remote placement of virtual tags based on the user’s visual focus on the MR-HMD display.This non-intrusive interface is further enriched with expedited tag saving and deletion functionalities,as well as augmented tag visualization through overlaying them on real-world objects.To assess the practicality of the proposed method,a comprehensive real-world case study spanning an area of 330 s^(2) is conducted.Remarkably,the survey demonstrates remarkable efficiency,with 20 virtual tags swiftly deployed,each requiring a mere 2 s for precise positioning.Subsequently,these virtual tags are employed as seeds in a region-growing algorithm for point cloud segmentation.The accuracy of virtual tag positioning is found to be exceptional,with an average error of 2.4±1.8 cm.Importantly,the user experience is significantly enhanced,leading to improved seed positioning and,consequently,more accurate final segmentation results.

Application of Mixed Reality Technology in Visualization of Medical Operations

With the continuous progress of virtual simulation technology,medical surgery visualization system has been developed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional,from digital to network and intelligentization.The visualization system with mixed reality technology will also be used in all stage of medical surgery,such as case discussion,surgical planning,intraoperative guidance,post-operative evaluation,rehabilitation,so as to further promote high intelligence,high precision of medical surgery,and consequently improve effectiveness of treatment and quality of medical service.This paper discusses the composition and technical characteristics of medical operation visualization system based on mixed reality technology,and introduces some typical applications of mixed reality technology in medical operation visualization,which provides a new perspective for the application of mixed technology in medical surgery.

Mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasms in gastroenteropancreatic tract

Mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasms(MiNENs)are a hetero-geneous group of malignant neoplasms that can settle in the gastroenteropan-creatic tract.They are composed of a neuroendocrine(NE)and a non-NE compo-nent in at least 30%of each tumour.The non-NE component can include different histological combinations of glandular,squamous,mucinous and sarcomatoid phenotypes,and one or both of the components can be low-or high grade malignant.Recent changes in the nomenclature of these neoplasms might lead to great deal of confusion,and the lack of specific clinical trials is the main reason why their management is difficult.The review aims to clarify the definition of MiNEN and analyze available evidence about their diagnosis and treatment options according to their location and extension through careful analysis of the available data.It would be important to reach a general consensus on their diagnosis in order to construct a classification that remains stable over time and facilitates the design of clinical trials that,due to their low incidence,will require long recruitment periods.

Mixed Reality-based Interactive Technology for Aircraft Cabin Assembly

Due to the narrowness of space and the complexity of structure, the assembly of aircraft cabin has become one of the major bottlenecks in the whole manufacturing process. To solve the problem, at the beginning of aircraft design, the different stages of the lifecycle of aircraft must be thought about, which include the trial manufacture, assembly, maintenance, recycling and destruction of the product. Recently, thanks to the development of the virtual reality and augmented reality, some low-cost and fast solutions are found for the product assembly. This paper presents a mixed reality-based interactive technology for the aircraft cabin assembly, which can enhance the efficiency of the assemblage in a virtual environment in terms of vision, information and operation. In the mixed reality-based assembly environment, the physical scene can be obtained by a camera and then generated by a computer. The virtual parts, the features of visual assembly, the navigation information, the physical parts and the physical assembly environment will be mixed and presented in the same assembly scene. The mixed or the augmented information will provide some assembling information as a detailed assembly instruction in the mixed reality-based assembly environment. Constraint proxy and its match rules help to reconstruct and visualize the restriction relationship among different parts, and to avoid the complex calculation of constraint＇s match. Finally, a desktop prototype system of virtual assembly has been built to assist the assembly verification and training with the virtual hand.

Application and Prospect of Mixed Reality Technology in Medical Field

Mixed reality(MR)technology is a new digital holographic image technology,which appears in the field of graphics after virtual reality(VR)and augmented reality(AR)technology,a new interdisciplinary frontier.As a new generation of technology,MR has attracted great attention of clinicians in recent years.The emergence of MR will bring about revolutionary changes in medical education training,medical research,medical communication,and clinical treatment.At present,MR technology has become the popular frontline information technology for medical applications.With the popularization of digital technology in the medical field,the development prospects of MR are inestimable.The purpose of this review article is to introduce the application of MR technology in the medical field and prospect its trend in the future.

Uses of a dedicated 3D reconstruction software with augmented and mixed reality in planning and performing advanced liver surgery and living donor liver transplantation(with videos)

The development of digital intelligent diagnostic and treatment technology has opened countless new opportunities for liver surgery from the era of digital anatomy to a new era of digital diagnostics,virtual surgery simulation and using the created scenarios in real-time surgery using mixed reality.In this article,we described our experience on developing a dedicated 3 dimensional visualization and reconstruction software for surgeons to be used in advanced liver surgery and living donor liver transplantation.Furthermore,we shared the recent developments in the field by explaining the outreach of the software from virtual reality to augmented reality and mixed reality.

Mixed reality for visualization of orthopedic surgical anatomy

In the modern era,preoperative planning is substantially facilitated by artificial reality technologies,which permit a better understanding of patient anatomy,thus increasing the safety and accuracy of surgical interventions.In the field of orthopedic surgery,the increase in safety and accuracy improves treatment quality and orthopedic patient outcomes.Artificial reality technologies,which include virtual reality(VR),augmented reality(AR),and mixed reality(MR),use digital images obtained from computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging.VR replaces the user’s physical environment with one that is computer generated.AR and MR have been defined as technologies that permit the fusing of the physical with the virtual environment,enabling the user to interact with both physical and virtual objects.MR has been defined as a technology that,in contrast to AR,enables users to visualize the depth and perspective of the virtual models.We aimed to shed light on the role that MR can play in the visualization of orthopedic surgical anatomy.The literature suggests that MR could be a valuable tool in orthopedic surgeon’s hands for visualization of the anatomy.However,we remark that confusion exists in the literature concerning the characteristics of MR.Thus,a more clear description of MR is needed in orthopedic research,so that the potential of this technology can be more deeply understood.

Mixed neuroendocrine and adenocarcinoma of gastrointestinal tract:A complex diagnosis and therapeutic challenge

In this editorial we comment on the manuscript describing a case of adenocarcinoma mixed with a neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction.Mixed neuroendocrine and non-neuroendocrine neoplasms of the gastrointestinal system are rare heterogeneous group of tumors characterized by a high malignant potential,rapid growth,and poor prognosis.Due to the rarity of these cancers,the standard therapy is poorly defined.The diagnosis of these tumors is based on combination of morphological features,immunohistochemical and neuroendocrine and epithelial cell markers.Both endocrine and epithelial cell components can act independently of each other and thus,careful grading of each component separately is required.These cancers are aggressive in nature and the potential of each component has paramount importance in the choice of treatment and response.Regardless of the organ of origin,these tumors portend poor prognosis with increased proportion of neuroendocrine component.Multidisciplinary services and strategies are required for the management of these mixed malignancies to provide the best oncological outcomes.The etiopathogenesis of these mixed tumors remains obscure but poses interesting question.We briefly discuss a few salient points in this editorial.

Application value of mixed reality in hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND As a new digital holographic imaging technology,mixed reality(MR)technology has unique advantages in determining the liver anatomy and location of tumor lesions.With the popularization of 5 G communication technology,MR shows great potential in preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation,making hepatectomy more accurate and safer.AIM To evaluate the application value of MR technology in hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).METHODS The clinical data of 95 patients who underwent open hepatectomy surgery for HCC between June 2018 and October 2020 at our hospital were analyzed retrospectively.We selected 95 patients with HCC according to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria.In 38 patients,hepatectomy was assisted by MR(Group A),and an additional 57 patients underwent traditional hepatectomy without MR(Group B).The perioperative outcomes of the two groups were collected and compared to evaluate the application value of MR in hepatectomy for patients with HCC.RESULTS We summarized the technical process of MR-assisted hepatectomy in the treatment of HCC.Compared to traditional hepatectomy in Group B,MR-assisted hepatectomy in Group A yielded a shorter operation time(202.86±46.02 min vs 229.52±57.13 min,P=0.003),less volume of bleeding(329.29±97.31 mL vs 398.23±159.61 mL,P=0.028),and shorter obstructive time of the portal vein(17.71±4.16 min vs 21.58±5.24 min,P=0.019).Group A had lower alanine aminotransferas and higher albumin values on the third day after the operation(119.74±29.08 U/L vs 135.53±36.68 U/L,P=0.029 and 33.60±3.21 g/L vs 31.80±3.51 g/L,P=0.014,respectively).The total postoperative complications and hospitalization days in Group A were significantly less than those in Group B[14(37.84%)vs 35(60.34%),P=0.032 and 12.05±4.04 d vs 13.78±4.13 d,P=0.049,respectively].CONCLUSION MR has some application value in three-dimensional visualization of the liver,surgical planning,and intraoperative navigation during hepatectomy,and it significantly improves the perioperative outcomes of hepatectomy for HCC.

Mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine tumors:The quest for evidence

Mixed neuroendocrine non-neuroendocrine neoplasms(MiNENs)are rare mixed tumors containing both neuroendocrine and non-neuroendocrine components that occupy at least 30%of the whole tumor.Biologically,both components appear to derive from an identical cellular precursor undergoing early dual differentiation or late transdifferentiation.While our understanding of MiNENs has improved in recent years,many areas of uncertainty remain.In this context,setting diagnostic criteria capable of capturing the continuum of disease biology while providing clinically meaningful information in terms of prognosis and response to treatments appears vital to advance the field and improve patients’outcomes.Evidence is needed to generate robust classification schemes,and multi-institutional cooperation will likely play a crucial role in building adequately powered cohorts to address some of the most pressing questions discussed in this Editorial.What is the minimum representation for each component needed to define MiNENs?How can the epidemiology of MiNENs change according to different diagnostic definitions?How can we generate the clinical evidence nee-ded to optimize the management of MiNENs?

Dendroclimatological study of Sabina saltuaria and Abies faxoniana in the mixed forests of the Qionglai Mountains,eastern Tibetan Plateau

Tree-ring chronologies were developed for Sabina saltuaria and Abies faxoniana in mixed forests in the Qionglai Mountains of the eastern Tibetan Plateau.Climate-growth relationship analysis indicated that the two co-exist-ing species reponded similarly to climate factors,although S.saltuaria was more sensitive than A.faxoniana.The strong-est correlation was between S.saltuaria chronology and regional mean temperatures from June to November.Based on this relationship,a regional mean temperature from June to November for the period 1605-2016 was constructed.Reconstruction explained 37.3%of the temperature variance during th period 1961-2016.Six major warm periods and five major cold periods were identified.Spectral analysis detected significant interannual and multi-decadal cycles.Reconstruction also revealed the influence of the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation,confirming its importance on climate change on the eastern Tibetan Plateau.

Synergistic anionic/zwitterionic mixed surfactant system with high emulsification efficiency for enhanced oil recovery in low permeability reservoirs

Emulsification is one of the important mechanisms of surfactant flooding. To improve oil recovery for low permeability reservoirs, a highly efficient emulsification oil flooding system consisting of anionic surfactant sodium alkyl glucosyl hydroxypropyl sulfonate(APGSHS) and zwitterionic surfactant octadecyl betaine(BS-18) is proposed. The performance of APGSHS/BS-18 mixed surfactant system was evaluated in terms of interfacial tension, emulsification capability, emulsion size and distribution, wettability alteration, temperature-resistance and salt-resistance. The emulsification speed was used to evaluate the emulsification ability of surfactant systems, and the results show that mixed surfactant systems can completely emulsify the crude oil into emulsions droplets even under low energy conditions. Meanwhile,the system exhibits good temperature and salt resistance. Finally, the best oil recovery of 25.45% is achieved for low permeability core by the mixed surfactant system with a total concentration of 0.3 wt%while the molar ratio of APGSHS:BS-18 is 4:6. The current study indicates that the anionic/zwitterionic mixed surfactant system can improve the oil flooding efficiency and is potential candidate for application in low permeability reservoirs.

Amino-functionalized UiO-66-doped mixed matrix membranes with high permeation performance and fouling resistance

For the reduction of bovine serum proteins from wastewater,a novel mixed matrix membrane was prepared by functionalizing the substrate material polyaryletherketone(PAEK),followed by carboxyl groups(C-SPAEKS),and then adding amino-functionalized UiO-66-NH_(2)(Am-UiO-66-NH_(2)).Aminofunctionalization of UiO-66 was accomplished by melamine,followed by an amidation reaction to immobilize Am-UiO-66-NH_(2),which was immobilized on the surface of the membrane as well as in the pore channels,which enhanced the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface while increasing the negative potential of the membrane surface.This nanoparticle-loaded ultrafiltration membrane has good permeation performance,with a pure water flux of up to 482.3 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1) for C-SPAEKS/AmUiO-66-NH_(2) and a retention rate of up to 98.7%for bovine serum albumin(BSA)-contaminated solutions.Meanwhile,after several hydrophilic modifications,the flux recovery of BSA contaminants by this series of membranes increased from 56.2%to 80.55%of pure membranes.The results of ultra-filtration flux time tests performed at room temperature showed that the series of ultrafiltration membranes remained relatively stable over a test time of 300 min.Thus,the newly developed mixed matrix membrane showed potential for high efficiency and stability in wastewater treatment containing bovine serum proteins.

A mixed-coordination electron trapping-enabled high-precision touch-sensitive screen for wearable devices

Touch-sensitive screens are crucial components of wearable devices.Materials such as reduced graphene oxide(rGO),carbon nanotubes(CNTs),and graphene offer promising solutions for flexible touch-sensitive screens.However,when stacked with flexible substrates to form multilayered capacitive touching sensors,these materials often suffer from substrate delamination in response to deformation;this is due to the materials having different Young’s modulus values.Delamination results in failure to offer accurate touch screen recognition.In this work,we demonstrate an induced charge-based mutual capacitive touching sensor capable of high-precision touch sensing.This is enabled by electron trapping and polarization effects related to mixed-coordinated bonding between copper nanoparticles and vertically grown graphene nanosheets.Here,we used an electron cyclotron resonance system to directly fabricate graphene-metal nanofilms(GMNFs)using carbon and copper,which are firmly adhered to flexible substrates.After being subjected to 3000 bending actions,we observed almost no change in touch sensitivity.The screen interaction system,which has a signal-to-noise ratio of 41.16 dB and resolution of 650 dpi,was tested using a handwritten Chinese character recognition trial and achieved an accuracy of 94.82%.Taken together,these results show the promise of touch-sensitive screens that use directly fabricated GMNFs for wearable devices.

Recent progress in ternary mixed matrix membranes for CO_(2) separation

Mixed matrix membranes(MMMs)could combine the advantages of both polymeric membranes and porousfillers,making them an effective alternative to conventional polymer membranes.However,interfacial incompatibility issues,such as the presence of interfacial voids,hardening of polymer chains,and blockage of micropores by polymers between common MMMsfillers and the polymer matrix,currently limit the gas sep-aration performance of MMMs.Ternary phase MMMs(consisting of afiller,an additive,and a matrix)made by adding a third compound,usually functionalized additives,can overcome the structural problems of binary phase MMMs and positively impact membrane separation performance.This review introduces the structure and fabrication processes for ternary MMMs,categorizes various nanofillers and the third component,and summarizes and analyzes in detail the CO_(2) separation performance of newly developed ternary MMMs based on both rubbery and glassy polymers.Based on this separation data,the challenges of ternary MMMs are also discussed.Finally,future directions for ternary MMMs are proposed.

Mixed D-vine copula-based conditional quantile model for stochastic monthly streamflow simulation

Copula functions have been widely used in stochastic simulation and prediction of streamflow.However,existing models are usually limited to single two-dimensional or three-dimensional copulas with the same bivariate block for all months.To address this limitation,this study developed a mixed D-vine copula-based conditional quantile model that can capture temporal correlations.This model can generate streamflow by selecting different historical streamflow variables as the conditions for different months and by exploiting the conditional quantile functions of streamflows in different months with mixed D-vine copulas.The up-to-down sequential method,which couples the maximum weight approach with the Akaike information criteria and the maximum likelihood approach,was used to determine the structures of multivariate Dvine copulas.The developed model was used in a case study to synthesize the monthly streamflow at the Tangnaihai hydrological station,the inflow control station of the Longyangxia Reservoir in the Yellow River Basin.The results showed that the developed model outperformed the commonly used bivariate copula model in terms of the performance in simulating the seasonality and interannual variability of streamflow.This model provides useful information for water-related natural hazard risk assessment and integrated water resources management and utilization.