An artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) is demonstrated for the efficient and safe operation of a lithium metal anode. Composed of lithium-ion-conducting inorganic nanoparticles within a flexible polymer binder matrix, the rationally designed artificial SEI not only mechanically suppresses lithium dendrite formation but also promotes homogeneous lithium-ion flux, significantly enhancing the efficiency and cycle life of the lithium metal anode.

High-energy all-solid-state lithium (Li) batteries have great potential as next-generation energy storage devices. Among all choices of electrolytes, polymer-based systems have attracted wide-spread attention due to their low density, low cost, and excellent processability. However, they are generally mechanically too weak to effectively suppress Li dendrites and have lower ionic conductivity for reasonable kinetics at ambient temperature.Herein, an ultra-strong reinforced composite polymer electrolyte (CPE) has been successfully designed and fabricated by introducing a stiff mesoporous SiO 2 aerogel as the backbone for a polymer-based electrolyte. The interconnected SiO 2 aerogel not only perform as a strong backbone strengthening the whole composite, but also offer large and continuous surfaces for strong anion adsorption, which produces a highly-conductive pathway across the composite.As a consequence, a high modulus of ~0.43 GPa and high ionic conductivity of ~0.6 mS cm -1

For wearable and implantable electronics applications, developing intrinsically stretchable polymer semiconductor is advantageous, especially in the manufacturing of large-area and high-density devices. A major challenge is to simultaneously achieve good electrical and mechanical properties for these semiconductor devices. While crystalline domains are generally needed to achieve high charge carrier mobilities, amorphous domains are necessary to impart stretchability. Recent progresses in the design of high-performance donor-acceptor polymers which exhibited low degrees of energetic disorder, while having high fraction of amorphous morphology, appears promising for polymer semiconductors. Here, a low crystalline, i.e. near-amorphous, indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole (IDTBT) polymer and a semi-crystalline thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPPTT) are compared, for mechanical properties and electrical performance under applied strains. It is observed that the low crystalline IDTBT is able to achieve both high modulus and high fracture strain, and to preserve electrical functionality under high strain. Next, fully stretchable transistors are fabricated using the IDTBT polymer, and observed mobility ~0.6 cm 2 V-1 s-1 at 100% strain along stretching direction. In addition, the morphological evolution of the stretched IDTBT films is investigated by polarized UV-Vis and GIXD to elucidate the molecular origins of high ductility. In summary, the nearamorphous IDTBT polymer signifies a promising direction regarding molecular design principles toward intrinsically stretchable high-performance polymer semiconductor.

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Chinese pregnant women had less sexual activities and desire during pregnancy. Culture, inadequate knowledge, and excessive anxiety are likely the important factors for the marked reduction in sexuality in Chinese couples. Medical staffs should take a proactive role in providing more information to relieve their anxiety.

The MBS test is not only a reliable test for hamstring and low-back flexibility, it is also a more practical with improved validity for hamstring and low-back flexibility in men than previous protocols.

Systemic primary carnitine deficiency (CDSP, OMIM 212140) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by low serum and intracellular concentrations of carnitine. CDSP may present with acute metabolic derangement simulating Reye's syndrome within the first 2 years of life. After 3 years of age, patients with CDSP may present with cardiomyopathy and muscle weakness. A linkage with D5S436 in 5q was reported in a family. A recently cloned homologue of the organic cation transporter, OCTN2, which has sodium-dependent carnitine uptake properties, was also mapped to the same locus. We screened for mutation in OCTN2 in a confirmed CDSP family. One truncating mutation (Trp132Stop) and one missense mutation (Pro478Leu) of OCTN2 were identified together with two silent polymorphisms. Expression of the mutant cDNAs revealed virtually no uptake activity for both mutations. Our data indicate that mutations in OCTN2 are responsible for CDSP. Identification of the underlying gene in this disease will allow rapid detection of carriers and postnatal diagnosis of affected patients.

Summary:We report a retrospective analysis of VZV infection after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in children. Thirty-three (30%) of the total 109 children who were transplanted during a 7 year period developed post-transplant VZV infection. Twenty-four of these 33 (73%) children had VZV infection within 1 year following HSCT. The cumulative incidences of post-transplant VZV infection at 1 and 5 years were 26% and 45%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values of pretransplant VZV serology in recipients on the development of HZ following HSCT were 39% and 88%, respectively. Pretransplant VZV seropositivity in recipients was the only risk factor for post-transplant herpes zoster (HZ) infection on multivariate analysis. All patients responded to acyclovir. The median duration of VZV infection was 5 days. Three (11%) and one (3%) children with HZ developed visceral dissemination and post-herpetic neuralgia, respectively. No mortality was directly attributed to VZV infection. VZV infection remains a major cause of morbidity in children after HSCT. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the potential use of VZV vaccine in these children. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2000) 25, 167-172. Keywords: haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; herpes zoster; paediatric; varicella-zoster virus Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a herpes virus that causes chickenpox (CP) as a primary infection and herpes zoster (HZ) when the latent virus is reactivated. It is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Ten percent of children with leukaemia on maintenance chemotherapy died of VZV infection in the preacyclovir era. 1 Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is now the treatment of choice for some malignant and nonmalignant conditions in children. However, these patients are at high risk of having severe VZV infection because of significant and prolonged immunosuppression in the post-transplant period. The incidence of VZV infec- tion in children following HSCT varied from 23% to 67%. [2][3][4][5][6] Herpes zoster is one of the common late infections in post-transplant patients. The median onset of HZ following HSCT occurred at the fifth month. 7 However, risk factors for post-transplant VZV infection in children are less well defined because there are few reports on this subject. In this study, we review the incidence, risk factors, treatment and clinical outcome of VZV infection in children who underwent HSCT at our centre. Patients and methods Study population and design