Ready-to-use binder-free Co(OH)2 plates@porous rGO layers/Ni foam electrode for high-performance supercapacitors

In this work, an outstanding nano-structured composite electrode is fabricated through the co-deposition of Co(OH)₂ nanoplates and porous reduced GO (p-rGO) nanosheets onto Ni foam (NF). Through field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations, it was confirmed that porous reduced graphene oxide sheets are completely wrapped by uniform hexagonal Co(OH)₂ plates. Due to the unique architecture of both components of the prepared composite, a high surface area of 234.7 m² g⁻¹ and mean pore size of 3.65 nm were observed for the Co(OH)₂@p-rGO composite. The constructed Co(OH)₂@p-rGO/NF composite electrode shows higher energy storage capability compared to that of Co(OH)₂/NF and p-rGO/NF electrodes. The Co(OH)₂/NF electrode shows specific capacitances of 902 and 311 F g^–1 at 5 and 30 A g^–1, while the Co(OH)₂@p-rGO/NF electrode delivers 1688 and 1355 F g^–1 under the same current loads, respectively. Furthermore, when the current load was increased from 1 to 30 A g^–1, 74.5% capacitance retention was observed for the Co(OH)₂@p-rGO/NF electrode, indicating its outstanding high-power capability, while the Co(OH)₂/NF electrode retained only 38.5% of its initial capacitance. The fabricated Co(OH)₂@p-rGO/NF//rGO/NF ASC device shows an areal capacitance of 3.29 F cm⁻², cycling retention of 91.2% after 4500 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹ and energy density of 68.7 W h kg⁻¹ at a power density of 895 W kg⁻¹. The results of electrochemical tests prove that Co(OH)₂@p-rGO/NF exhibits good performance as a positive electrode for use in an asymmetric supercapacitor device. The prepared porous composite electrode is thus a promising candidate for use in supercapacitor applications.

Fabrication mechanism of a ready-to-use Co(OH)2@p-rGO/NF electrode: (a) base generation step, (b) electrophoretic deposition of rGO onto NF and (c) chemical formation of Co(OH)2 on rGO.     

Patient satisfaction with occlusal scheme of conventional complete dentures

Occlusal scheme is a controversial topic that has been linked to patient satisfaction with conventional complete dentures (CCDs). This study aimed to compare the patient satisfaction with CCDs with four different occlusal schemes namely the lingualised occlusion (LO), buccalised occlusion (BO), fully bilateral balanced occlusion (FBBO) and partially group function occlusion (PGFO). In this clinical study, new CCDs were made for 121 patients; out of which, 97 patients (mean age of 57.87 ± 9.5 years) completed the 1-year follow-up. The CCD wearers were followed up at 1 month, 3 months and 1 year after CCD delivery. Data were collected via an interview and recorded in a checklist by a blinded examiner. The checklist included the demographic variables, the 19-item version of Oral Health Impact Profile for Edentulous Patients (OHIP-EDENT), and seven 100-mm line visual analogue scales (VASs) to assess the items related to patient satisfaction. The Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman tests followed by post hoc tests were used to compare the variables among the 4 groups and between the 3 follow-ups. P-value ≤ .05 was considered statistically significant for all tests. The patients with BO presented higher satisfaction scores for comfort, stability and retention at the 1-year follow-up compared with PGFO. Both PGFO and FBBO groups had higher physical pain scores compared with BO and LO. The psychological discomfort scores of FBBO group were significantly higher than those in LO group. Pairwise comparisons revealed no significant differences in the general patient satisfaction and total OHIP-EDENT scores between the 4 groups. For most items, within-group analysis showed significant improvement of the satisfaction scores and reduction of domain scores over time.     

Household cardiovascular screening of high-risk families: a school-based study.

BACKGROUND: A parental history of cardiovascular disease has a strong relationship with risk factor clusters in the offspring. This study was performed to identify major cardiovascular risk factors in middle school-aged children and their parents in both high and low-risk families. DESIGN: A school-based, cross-sectional study. METHODS: The middle schools of the 6th district of Tehran were divided randomly into two groups. A total of 169 high-risk children with their families were recruited from the first group and 105 low-risk children with their families were recruited from the second group of schools. Anthropometric and metabolic measurements were performed. RESULTS: The means of the waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio were significantly higher in high-risk fathers. The means of total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were significantly higher in both parents and children of the high-risk group. The means of the fasting plasma glucose were significantly higher in fathers and offspring of high-risk families. More fathers in high-risk families were smokers. The prevalence of increased total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and hyperglycemia (> or = 100 mg/dl) were higher in high-risk parents and children. The prevalence of increased body mass index (> or = 25 kg/m for parents and 85th percentile for children) was higher in fathers and children of high-risk families. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiovascular risk factors are more prevalent and clustered in high-risk families. The screening of high-risk families is essential to prevent the progression of atherosclerosis from childhood and reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in adulthood.     

The European Narcolepsy Network (EU‐NN) database

Narcolepsy with cataplexy is a rare disease with an estimated prevalence of 0.02% in European populations. Narcolepsy shares many features of rare disorders, in particular the lack of awareness of the disease with serious consequences for healthcare supply. Similar to other rare diseases, only a few European countries have registered narcolepsy cases in databases of the International Classification of Diseases or in registries of the European health authorities. A promising approach to identify disease‐specific adverse health effects and needs in healthcare delivery in the field of rare diseases is to establish a distributed expert network. A first and important step is to create a database that allows collection, storage and dissemination of data on narcolepsy in a comprehensive and systematic way. Here, the first prospective web‐based European narcolepsy database hosted by the European Narcolepsy Network is introduced. The database structure, standardization of data acquisition and quality control procedures are described, and an overview provided of the first 1079 patients from 18 European specialized centres. Due to its standardization this continuously increasing data pool is most promising to provide a better insight into many unsolved aspects of narcolepsy and related disorders, including clear phenotype characterization of subtypes of narcolepsy, more precise epidemiological data and knowledge on the natural history of narcolepsy, expectations about treatment effects, identification of post‐marketing medication side‐effects, and will contribute to improve clinical trial designs and provide facilities to further develop phase III trials.     

早产儿和足月儿脐血及母亲静脉血硒含量的比较

目的：硒是一种人体必需的微量元素,在细胞抗氧化防御系统中发挥着主要的作用。在早期早产儿中,低水平的硒会增加诸如慢性新生儿肺疾病、早产儿视网膜病等并发症的发生。该研究旨在检测并比较早产儿和足月儿脐血及母亲静脉血硒含量。方法：选取2008年3~7月间30个足月儿（胎龄>37 周）和30个早产儿（胎龄< 34 周）及他们的母亲作为研究对象。用原子吸收光谱法测定脐血和母亲静脉血的硒含量。结果：足月儿的脐血硒平均含量高于早产儿,差异有非常显著性(124.80± 13.72 μg/L vs 100.30 ± 11.72 μg/L, P=0.0001) 。 足月儿母亲与早产儿母亲的的平均硒含量差异无显著性 (117.03±17.15 μg/L vs 110.56±17.49 μg/L, P=0.15)。将所有婴儿的资料一起分析时,发现脐血硒含量与胎龄和出生体重显著正相关(r=0.66, P<0.0001;r=0.59, P<0.0001)。60例婴儿母亲中,无一例的血硒含量低于正常参考值的下限（70.0 μg/L）。将所有婴儿及其母亲的资料一起分析时,发现母亲血硒含量与其婴儿脐血硒含量呈显著正相关 (r=0.40, P<0.001)。结论：在伊斯法罕地区,孕母的血硒水平处于一个良好的状态,血硒水平不是早产的预测指标。足月儿的脐血硒含量高于早产儿,但足月儿和早产儿的脐血硒含量均在正常参考范围。［中国当代儿科杂志,2009,11（7）：513-516］     

Case report and literature review: primary cutaneous carcinosarcoma

Carcinosarcomas are rare but aggressive neoplasms commonly described in organs such as the breast, urinary bladder, uterus, liver, and lungs. Histopathologically, they are characterized by the presence of malignant epithelial and mesenchymal components. The exact histogenesis of carcinosarcomas remains unknown and is debated in the literature. Primary carcinosarcomas of the skin are uncommon. To our knowledge, 20 cases of primary cutaneous carcinosarcoma have been described in the world literature. Most of these tumors were seen on the head and neck region of older individuals, both male and female. Microscopically, the more common carcinoma component is a squamous cell carcinoma followed by basal cell carcinoma, whereas the most common sarcoma component is an osteosarcoma. We report an example of this rare entity and speculate on its histogenesis in the skin.     

Human chondrocytes differentially express matrix modulators during in vitro expansion for tissue engineering

Cartilage tissue engineering plays an important role in the generation of grafts for reconstructive surgery. In cultured chondrocytes, the dedifferentiation of cells seems unavoidable for multiplication. Dedifferentiated cells produce matrix of less quality, and the molecular basis is still not well understood. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the expression of matrix modulators in human chondrocytes during expansion. Human chondrocytes were isolated from septal cartilage (n=32) and held in primary cell culture. Cells were harvested after 1, 6 and 21 days. The differentiation of cells using light microscopy, the expression patterns of various proteins (MMPs, BMPs, and TIMPs) using immunohistochemistry, and the expression of distinct genes using microarray technique, were investigated. The chondrocytes showed strong in vitro proliferation. After 6 and 21 days, BMP-5 and -8 were up-regulated, BMP-2 was down-regulated and BMP-6 was inactivated. Other BMPs were not expressed. The expression of MMP-2, -3 and -13 was up-regulated from day 1 to 21, and MMP-12 and -20 were down-regulated. Other MMPs were not expressed. TIMP-1 was up-regulated and TIMP-3 was down-regulated during expansion. Differential expression of matrix modulators might influence the matrix composition of engineered cartilage. Improving the basic knowledge in this area may ultimately help clinicians to identify and proactively intervene in an attempt to prevent bioartificial cartilage from losing stability.     

Genotype characterization and phylogenetic analysis of hepatitis B virus isolates from Iranian patients

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major causative agents of acute and chronic liver disease worldwide and is believed to be responsible for a million deaths annually. Eight genotypes of HBV, A to H, have been described on the basis of similarity of the complete genomes sequence. Although, it is reported that the predominant HBV genotype in the Mediterranean area and the middle east is genotype D, there are no reports on HBV genotypes prevalent in Iran. In this study, the C and S regions of HBV from 26 chronic hepatitis B Iranian patients were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all Iranian HBV isolates sequences were classified into genotype D with bootstrap values of 100%, 73%, and 100% (1,000 replicates each) for S, C, and preS2 regions, respectively. The mean percent intra-distance of S and C regions were 0.8% and 2.3%, respectively. The mean percent inter-distance of S and C regions between Iranians and genotype D isolates were 1.7% and 3.0%, respectively, and the range of mean percent nucleotide distance of S and C regions between Iranians and the other reference isolates were 7.9%-17.5% and 4.8%-14.7%, respectively. Thirteen out of 23 HBV C region sequences showed nucleotide "A" at position 1896 (precore mutant) in C region. Nucleotide 1858 showed presence of "T" in all isolates. No insertion or deletion was found in both regions. SimPlot and BootScanning analyses did not show any recombination between Iranian isolates and other genotypes in both regions.