Lignin-derived hierarchical porous carbon (LHPC) was prepared through a facile template-free method. Solidification of the lignin-KOH solution resulted in KOH crystalizing within lignin. The crystalized KOH particles in solid lignin acted both as template and activating agent in the heat-treatment process. The obtained LHPC, exhibiting a 3D network, consisted of macroporous cores, mesoporous channels, and micropores. The LHPC comprised 12.27 at % oxygen-containing groups, which resulted in pseudocapacitance. The LHPC displayed a capacitance of 165.0 F g(-1) in 1 M H2 SO4 at 0.05 A g(-1) , and the capacitance was still 123.5 F g(-1) even at 10 A g(-1) . The LHPC also displayed excellent cycling stability with capacitance retention of 97.3 % after 5000 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles. On account of the facile preparation of LHPC, this paper offers a facile alternative method for the preparation of hierarchical porous carbon for electrochemical energy storage devices.

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As an important animal model to study the relationship between behaviour and neural activity, the mouse is able to perform a variety of visual tasks, such as orientation discrimination and contrast detection. However, it is not clear how stimulus contrast influences the performance of orientation discrimination in mice. In this study, we used two task designs, two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) and go/no-go, to examine the performance of mice to discriminate two orthogonal orientations at different contrasts. We found that the performance tended to increase with contrast, and the performance at high contrast was better when the stimulus set contained a single contrast than multiple contrasts. Physiological experiments in V1 showed that neural discriminability of two orthogonal orientations increased with contrast. Furthermore, orientation discriminability of V1 neurons at high contrast was higher in the single than in the multiple contrast condition, largely due to smaller response variance in the single contrast condition. Thus, the performance of mice to discriminate orientations at high contrast is adapted to the contrast range in the stimuli, partly attributed to the contrast-range dependent capacity of V1 neurons to discriminate orientations.

Aims To explore the quantitative dose–response association of total sedentary behaviour and television viewing with overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension in a meta‐analysis. Materials and methods We searched three databases to identify English‐language reports that assessed the association of total sedentary behaviour or television viewing with the aforementioned health outcomes. Restricted cubic splines were used to evaluate possible linear or non‐linear associations of total sedentary behaviour and television viewing with these health outcomes. Results We included 48 articles (58 studies) with a total of 1 071 967 participants in the meta‐analysis; 21 (six cohort and 15 cross‐sectional) studies examined the association of total sedentary behaviour with overweight/obesity, 23 (13 cohort and 10 cross‐sectional) studies examined the association with type 2 diabetes and 14 (one cohort and 13 cross‐sectional) studies examined the association with hypertension. We found linear associations between total sedentary behaviour and type 2 diabetes (Pnon‐linearity = 0.190) and hypertension (Pnon‐linearity = 0.225) and a non‐linear association between total sedentary behaviour and overweight/obesity (Pnon‐linearity = 0.003). For each 1‐h/d increase in total sedentary behaviour, the risk increased by 5% for type 2 diabetes and 4% for hypertension. We also found linear associations between television viewing and type 2 diabetes (Pnon‐linearity = 0.948) and hypertension (Pnon‐linearity = 0.679) and a non‐linear association for overweight/obesity (Pnon‐linearity = 0.007). For each 1‐h/d increase in television viewing, the risk increased by 8% for type 2 diabetes and 6% for hypertension. Conclusions High levels of total sedentary behaviour and television viewing were associated with overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Hierarchical porous carbon based on the self-templating structure of rice husk was prepared for high-performance supercapacitors.

Background The evidence of the association between Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI) and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is limited. We explored the association of CVAI with T2DM and directly compared with the predictive power of CVAI with other visceral obesity indices (visceral adiposity index, waist to height ratio, waist circumference and body mass index) based on a large prospective study. Methods We conducted a population‐based study of 12 237 Chinese participants. Cox proportional‐hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between CVAI and T2DM. Results During follow‐up (median: 6.01 years), the incidence of T2DM was 3.29, 7.34, 12.37 and 23.72 per 1000 person‐years for quartiles 1, 2, 3 and 4 of CVAI, respectively. The risk of T2DM was increased with quartiles 2, 3 and 4 vs quartile 1 of CVAI (HR 2.12 [95% CI 1.50‐3.00], 2.94 [2.10‐4.13] and 5.01 [3.57‐7.04], Ptrend < 0.001). Per‐SD increase in CVAI was associated with a 72% increased risk of T2DM (HR 1.72 [95% CI 1.56‐1.88]). Sensitivity analyses did not alter the association. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve was significantly higher for CVAI than other visceral obesity indices (all P <.001). Similar results were observed in stratified analyses by sex. Conclusions Our findings show a positive association between CVAI and risk of T2DM. CVAI has the best performance in predicting incident T2DM, so the index might be a reliable and applicable indicator identifying people at high risk of T2DM.

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Objective: The evidence between age at menarche and mortality risk is controversial. We aimed to quantify the dose–response association of age at menarche and risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality based on cohort studies. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched up to March 15, 2018 for relevant articles. Random-effects models and restricted cubic splines were used for this meta-analysis. Results: Twelve cohort studies, with 79,363 deaths and 2,341,769 participants, met the inclusion criteria. With each 1-year increase in menarche age, the relative risk (RR) was reduced for all-cause mortality (RR: 0.977, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.970-0.984), CVD mortality (RR: 0.993, 95% CI: 0.975-1.011), ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality (RR: 0.969, 95% CI: 0.947-0.993), and stroke mortality (RR: 0.983, 95% CI: 0.954-1.012). We found a nonlinear dose–response association (P nonlinearity = 0.001) between age at menarche and all-cause mortality, with the lowest risk observed at menarche age 15 years (RR: 0.849 95% CI: 0.800-0.901), but no evidence of a nonlinear association between menarche age and CVD mortality (P nonlinearity = 0.543), IHD mortality (P nonlinearity = 0.310), or stroke mortality (P nonlinearity = 0.824). Conclusions: Age at menarche is inversely associated with all-cause and IHD mortality.