BackgroundHypertriglyceridemia is the third most common cause of acute pancreatitis, but whether the level of triglyceride (TG) is related to severity of pancreatitis is unclear.AimTo evaluate the effect of TG level on the severity of hypertriglyceridemic pancreatitis (HTGP).DesignRetrospective cohort study.MethodsWe reviewed the records of 144 patients with HTGP from 1999 to 2013 at Tri-Service General Hospital. Patients with possible etiology of pancreatitis, such as gallstones, those consuming alcohol or drugs, or those with infections were excluded. The classification of severity of pancreatitis was based on the revised Atlanta classification. We allocated the patients into high-TG and low-TG groups based on the optimal cut-off value (2648 mg/dL), which was derived from the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve between TG level and severity of HTGP. We then compared the clinical characteristics, pancreatitis severity, and mortality rates of the groups.ResultsThere were 66 patients in the low-TG group and 78 patients in the high-TG group. There was no significant difference in the age, sex ratio, body mass index, and comorbidity between the 2 groups. The high-TG group had significantly higher levels of glucose (P = 0.022), total cholesterol (P = 0.002), and blood urea nitrogen (P = 0.037), and lower levels of sodium (P = 0.003) and bicarbonate (P = 0.002) than the low-TG group. The incidences of local complication (P = 0.002) and severe and moderate form of pancreatitis (P = 0.004) were significantly higher in the high-TG group than in the low-TG group. The mortality rate was higher in the high-TG group than in the low-TG group (P = 0.07).ConclusionsHigher TG level in patients with HTGP may be associated with adverse prognosis, but randomized and prospective studies are needed in the future verify this relationship.

Constructing two-dimensional (2D), free-standing, nonprecious, and robust electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reactions (OERs) is of primary importance in the commercial water-splitting technology. Herein, we have constructed a 2D heterostructured NiFe 2 O 4 /NiFe layered double hydroxides (LDH) mixed composite on a low-cost stainless-steel mesh substrate using a lowtemperature one-step wet chemical synthesis method and have also investigated the effect of starting material concentration on the formation of the NiFe 2 O 4 /NiFe LDH mixed composite. The as-prepared NiFe 2 O 4 /NiFe LDH-25 electrocatalyst drives a 100 mA/cm 2 OER with the lowest reported overpotential of 190 mV and a Tafel slope 21.5 mV/dec and drives a stable 100 mA/cm 2 OER process in 1 M KOH. These OER activities are superior to that of the state-of-the-art RuO 2 OER electrocatalyst. The excellent OER activity appears to be due to the synergetic effect of NiFe LDHs and NiFe 2 O 4 . In addition, the vertically aligned heterostructure of the NiFe 2 O 4 /NiFe LDH composite thin sheets provides a large number of active edge sites, directly attached to the highly conducting substrate, which contributes to improving the electronic conductivity of the electrocatalyst. This work provides valuable insight into the design and one-step synthesis of NiFe 2 O 4 /NiFe LDH bimetallic mixed oxide and hydroxide composite thin films with enhanced OER activity and stability as well as deciphering the origin of the OER enhancement by metal oxides and metal hydroxides.

No abstract

The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma synergistic catalytic pyrolysis scheme was developed for upgrading polyethylene (PE) pyrolysis volatiles to obtain aromatics-enriched oil. The effects of the PE/HZSM-5 ratio, discharge power, and discharge time interval on the product yield, oil composition, and carbon deposition were studied by the experiment. When the PE/HZSM-5 ratio shifted from 5:1 to 1:5, the oil yield decreased first and then ramped to 51.32%. The selectivity for aromatics in oil increased from 69.93 to 98.43%. In the discharge power range of 0–15 W, increasing the power increased the aromatic content with the maximum of 98.14%, consequently decreasing the alkane and alkene contents of the product oils. The further addition of the power resulted in a small decrease in the selectivity for the aromatics. The coke showed a decrease in yield with increasing discharge power when the power did not exceed 20 W. The maximum selectivities for aromatics (97.69%) and the minimum coke yield (2.82%) were obtained at the discharge time intervals of 2.5 and 5 ms, respectively. In general, both of the free radicals excited by the plasma and the specific surface area, acidity, and strength of HZSM-5 changed by the plasma favored the aromatization reaction.