ABSTRACT:We developed the novel electrode that enables fine control of overpotential by exploiting surface segregation that is the enrichment of one component at the surface of binary alloy. To realize this approach, we controlled the proportion of Si with low Li diffusivity at the surface by annealing the SiGe nanowire in H 2 environment at various temperatures. The resulting SiGe nanowires annealed at 850°C exhibited high reversible capacity (>1031 mA·h·g −1 ), and long cycle life (400 cycles) with high capacity retention (89.0%) at 0.2 C. This superior battery performance is attributed to the remaining unlithiated part acting as support frame to prevent pulverization of anode material, which results from the fine-tuning of overpotential by controlling the degree of Si segregation.

Cube-and tube-shaped C 70 crystals were obtained selectively by reprecipitation using a combination of mesitylene (good solvent) and isopropyl alcohol (poor solvent). Both crystals include mesitylene molecules in their lattices; the ratios of C 70 to mesitylene were 1:2 in C 70 cubes and 1:0.7 in C 70 tubes. The volume ratio of mesitylene to IPA is a key parameter for the selective growth of C 70 cubes and C 70 tubes, rather than the supersaturation ratio, which governs crystal morphology in many other cases. Thus, we propose that the absolute amount of mesitylene near C 70 molecules determines the crystallization pathways for forming the C 70 •2(mesitylene) or C 70 • 0.7(mesitylene) phase, which finally result in C 70 cubes or C 70 tubes, respectively.

BackgroundHigh levels of blood lipids have been associated with high levels of coagulation factors. We investigated whether blood lipids influence the results of global coagulation tests, including prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and thrombin generation assay (TGA).MethodsPT, aPTT, and TGA, along with procoagulant and anticoagulant factors, were measured in 488 normal individuals. Vitamin K status was assessed with prothrombin-induced by vitamin K absence-II (PIVKA-II).ResultsThe procoagulant factors II, VII, IX, X, and XI and anticoagulant factors protein C and protein S showed significant correlations with triglyceride, and the procoagulant factors II, V, VII, IX, X, XI, and XII and anticoagulant factors antithrombin and protein C correlated with total cholesterol. There were no correlations of blood lipid levels with PIVKA-II levels. Subjects with high triglyceride levels (≥200 mg/dL) showed shorter PT values than those with lower triglyceride levels. However, aPTT value was not changed in terms of blood lipid levels. In both 1 and 5 pM tissue factor-induced TGAs, subjects in the high-triglyceride or high-cholesterol groups (≥240 mg/dL) had high levels of lag time, time-to-peak, and endogenous thrombin potential. Total cholesterol was a significant determinant of PT and TGA values.ConclusionHigh blood lipids were related with increased coagulation activity in a normal population. Our findings are expected to help interpret the global coagulation test results in individuals with high lipid levels.

Background Current diagnostic tests for hereditary spherocytosis (HS) focus on the detection of hemolysis or indirectly assessing defects of membrane protein, whereas direct methods to detect protein defects are complicated and difficult to implement. In the present study, we investigated the patterns of genetic variation associated with HS among patients clinically diagnosed with HS. Methods Multi-gene targeted sequencing of 43 genes (17 RBC membrane protein-encoding genes, 20 RBC enzyme-encoding genes, and six additional genes for the differential diagnosis) was performed using the Illumina HiSeq platform. Results Among 59 patients with HS, 50 (84.7%) had one or more significant variants in a RBC membrane protein-encoding genes. A total of 54 significant variants including 46 novel mutations were detected in six RBC membrane protein-encoding genes, with the highest number of variants found in SPTB ( n = 28), and followed by ANK1 ( n = 19), SLC4A1 ( n = 3), SPTA1 ( n = 2), EPB41 ( n = 1), and EPB42 ( n = 1). Concurrent mutations of genes encoding RBC enzymes ( ALDOB, GAPDH, and GSR ) were detected in three patients. UGT1A1 mutations were present in 24 patients (40.7%). Positive rate of osmotic fragility test was 86.8% among patients harboring HS-related gene mutations. Conclusions This constitutes the first large-scaled genetic study of Korean patients with HS. We demonstrated that multi-gene target sequencing is sensitive and feasible that can be used as a powerful tool for diagnosing HS. Considering the discrepancies of clinical and molecular diagnoses of HS, our findings suggest that molecular genetic analysis is required for accurate diagnosis of HS. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13023-019-1070-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Despite potential advantages of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) in wide area applications, several limitations in conventional solvothermal synthesis, such as long reaction time and high reaction temperature, reduce reaction efficiency and prohibit technical processes for practical applications. Therefore, the development of a novel synthesis method that provides better reaction efficiency and spatial controllability has become a critical challenge. Herein, a photochemical synthesis of C 9 H 4 BO 2 (COF-5) is demonstrated for the first time, by which "sea urchin-shaped" COF-5 (UV-COF-5) with uniform size is synthesized with a highly enhanced growth rate, ≈48 times faster than that of the solvothermal method for 75% yield. In addition, an enlarged surface area is measured from UV-COF-5, which originates from its hierarchical morphology. The selectively increased growth rate of UV-COF-5 in the [001] direction observed by microscopic analysis results in the local 1D morphology of the hierarchical structure. Density functional theory calculations determine that the enhanced growth rate along the [001] direction can be understood by the characteristic of the interlayer orbital coupling at the frontier energy region. In addition, this study successfully demonstrates the preparation of COF-5 patterns without any complicated postsynthesis lithography process, but simply by utilizing optical masks during the photochemical method.

We report that C60 molecules are spontaneously crystallized into vertical nanowires by the solvent vapor annealing (SVA) process. C60 molecules have been known to be assembled into wire-like crystals by simply dropping and drying C60 solutions in m-xylene on a solid substrate. By the drop-drying process, C60 nanowires have been mostly grown laterally on a solid substrate, as the major force applied to the droplet during the drying process is parallel to the substrate. On the other hand, the SVA process seems to provide an ideal environment under which the direction of the dominant drying force of a droplet becomes vertical. When a thermally evaporated C60 film is exposed to m-xylene solvent vapor under controlled SVA environments at room temperature, C60 molecules are found to be crystallized into vertical nanowires. The effect of solvent vapor pressure on the vertical growth of C60 nanowire is examined by comparative studies using mesitylene and 1,3-dichlorobenzene. The versatility of the SVA process for the growth of vertical organic nanostructures is further demonstrated by the successful formations of vertically grown C60 2D disks and 5,7,12,14-pentacenetetrone anisotropic crystals by employing carbon tetrachloride and toluene solvent vapors, respectively.

The prognostic significance of CALR mutations likely differs among the MPN subtypes.

Background Patient verification by unique identification is an important procedure in health care settings. Risks to patient safety occur throughout health care settings by failure to correctly identify patients, resulting in the incorrect patient, incorrect site procedure, incorrect medication, and other errors. To avoid medical malpractice, radio-frequency identification (RFID), fingerprint scanners, iris scanners, and other technologies have been implemented in care settings. The drawbacks of these technologies include the possibility to lose the RFID bracelet, infection transmission, and impracticality when the patient is unconscious. Objective The purpose of this study was to develop a mobile health app for patient identification to overcome the limitations of current patient identification alternatives. The development of this app is expected to provide an easy-to-use alternative method for patient identification. Methods We have developed a facial recognition mobile app for improved patient verification. As an evaluation purpose, a total of 62 pediatric patients, including both outpatient and inpatient, were registered for the facial recognition test and tracked throughout the facilities for patient verification purpose. Results The app was developed to contain 5 main parts: registration, medical records, examinations, prescriptions, and appointments. Among 62 patients, 30 were outpatients visiting plastic surgery department and 32 were inpatients reserved for surgery. Whether patients were under anesthesia or unconscious, facial recognition verified all patients with 99% accuracy even after a surgery. Conclusions It is possible to correctly identify both outpatients and inpatients and also reduce the unnecessary cost of patient verification by using the mobile facial recognition app with great accuracy. Our mobile app can provide valuable aid to patient verification, including when the patient is unconscious, as an alternative identification method.