Role of pre-procedure CCTA in predicting failed percutaneous coronary intervention for chronic total occlusions.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify major lesion characteristics of chronic total occlusions (CTOs) that predict failed percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using pre-procedure coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in combination with conventional coronary angiography (CCA).

Methods: Consecutive patients with at least one CTO of the native coronary arteries received CCTA and CCA-guided PCI, with computed tomography performed before or during PCI.

Results: A total of 76 patients with CTO were included in this study.

[Inhibition of miR-30d-5p promotes mitochondrial autophagy and alleviates high glucose-induced injury in podocytes].

Objectives: To study the role of microRNA (miR)-30d-5p in high glucose-induced podocyte injury.

Methods: Podocytes were hyperglycated with 30 mmol/L glucose, transfected with miR-30d-5p inhibitor and mimic, and then treated with 1 mg/mL 3-methyladenine (3-MA). The transfection efficiency of miR-30d-5p was quantified by reverse transcription PCR.

In Situ Fabrication of Hierarchical CuO@CoNi-LDH Composite Structures for High-Performance Supercapacitors.

Layered double hydroxide (LDH) materials, despite their high theoretical capacity, exhibit significant performance degradation with increasing load due to their low conductivity. Simultaneously achieving both high capacity and high rate performance is challenging. Herein, we fabricated vertically aligned CuO nanowires in situ on the copper foam (CF) substrate by alkali-etching combined with the annealing process.

In vitro investigation of axial mechanical support devices implanted in the novel convergent cavopulmonary connection Fontan.

Objectives: The 2 opposing inflows and 2 outflows in a total cavopulmonary connection make mechanical circulatory support (MCS) extremely challenging. We have previously reported a novel convergent cavopulmonary connection (CCPC) Fontan design that improves baseline characteristics and provides a single inflow and outflow, thus simplifying MCS. This study aims to assess the feasibility of MCS of this novel configuration using axial flow pumps in an in vitro benchtop model.

Virtual Planning and Patient-Specific Graft Design for Aortic Repairs.

Purpose: Patients presenting with coarctation of the aorta (CoA) may also suffer from co-existing transverse arch hypoplasia (TAH). Depending on the risks associated with the surgery and the severity of TAH, clinicians may decide to repair only CoA, and monitor the TAH to see if it improves as the patient grows. While acutely successful, eventually hemodynamics may become suboptimal if TAH is left untreated.

Prevalence and Angiographic Characteristics of Coronary Artery Ectasia among Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: A Retrospective Analysis between 2014 and 2022.

Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is defined as segmental dilatation with a diameter of 1.5-fold greater than that of an adjacent normal segment. Whether CAE is a unique clinical finding or results from other clinical entities remains to be determined.

The convergent cavopulmonary connection: A novel and efficient configuration of Fontan to accommodate mechanical support.

Objective: The current total cavopulmonary connection Fontan has competing inflows and outflows, creating hemodynamic inefficiencies that contribute to Fontan failure and complicate placement and efficiency of mechanical circulatory support. We propose a novel convergent cavopulmonary connection (CCPC) Fontan design to create a single, converged venous outflow to the pulmonary arteries, thus increasing efficiency and mechanical circulatory support access. We then evaluate the feasibility and hemodynamic performance of the CCPC in various patient sizes using computational fluid dynamic assessments of computer-aided designs.

LncRNA X Inactive Specific Transcript Exerts a Protective Effect on High Glucose-Induced Podocytes by Promoting the Podocyte Autophagy via miR-30d-5p/BECN-1 Axis.

Inhibiting podocyte autophagy promotes the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). This study aims to explore the upstream regulatory mechanism of the autophagy-related gene BECN1 in high glucose (HG)-induced podocytes. C57BL/6 mice were treated with 50 mg/kg streptozotocin to construct a DN model.

High-performance ferroelectric nonvolatile memory based on Gd-and Ni-codoped BiFeO films.

BiFeO (BFO), BiGdFeO (BGFO) and BiGdFeNiO (BGFNO) films are epitaxially grown on 0.7 wt% Nb-SrTiO (NSTO) substrates. The strong ferroelectric property in BGFNO film is confirmed by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and polarization voltage (-) measurement.

Comparison of algorithms for estimating blood flow velocities in cerebral arteries based on the transport information of contrast agent: An in silico study.

While many algorithms have been proposed to estimate blood flow velocities based on the transport information of contrast agent acquired by digital subtraction angiography (DSA), most relevant studies focused on a single vessel, leaving a question open as to whether the algorithms would be suitable for estimating blood flow velocities in arterial systems with complex topological structures. In this study, a one-dimensional (1-D) modeling method was developed to simulate the transport of contrast agent in cerebral arterial networks with various anatomical variations or having occlusive disease, thereby generating an in silico database for examining the accuracies of some typical algorithms (i.e.

Scalable Slippery Omniphobic Covalently Attached Liquid Coatings for Flow Fouling Reduction.

Fouling and accretion have negative impacts on a plethora of processes. To mitigate heterogeneous nucleation of a foulant, lowering the surface energy and reducing surface roughness are desired. Here, we develop a multilayer coating to mitigate solution-based heterogeneous fouling for internal flows.

Nanometer CeO doped high silica ZSM-5 heterogeneous catalytic ozonation of sulfamethoxazole in water.

A novel CeO doped high silica ZSM-5(CeO@HSZSM-5) composite was originally fabricated via ammonia precipitation for the catalytic ozonation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX). Physicochemical properties have been investigated through electron microscope, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, etc. The prepared nanometer CeO@HSZSM-5 had a much higher specific surface (348-395 m/g), a finer crystallite size (8.

Insights into Reactivity of Silicon Negative Electrodes: Analysis Using Isothermal Microcalorimetry.

Silicon offers high theoretical capacity as a negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries; however, high irreversible capacity upon initial cycling and poor cycle life have limited commercial adoption. Herein, we report an operando isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) study of a model system containing lithium metal and silicon composite film electrodes during the first two cycles of (de)lithiation. The total heat flow data are analyzed in terms of polarization, entropic, and parasitic heat flow contributions to quantify and determine the onset of parasitic reactions.

Generalized Synthetic Strategy for Transition-Metal-Doped Brookite-Phase TiO Nanorods.

We report a generalized wet-chemical methodology for the synthesis of transition-metal (M)-doped brookite-phase TiO nanorods (NRs) with unprecedented wide-range tunability in dopant composition (M = V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, etc.). These quadrangular NRs can selectively expose {210} surface facets, which is induced by their strong affinity for oleylamine stabilizer.

Ultrathin Amorphous Titania on Nanowires: Optimization of Conformal Growth and Elucidation of Atomic-Scale Motifs.

Due to its chemical stability, titania (TiO) thin films increasingly have significant impact when applied as passivation layers. However, optimization of growth conditions, key to achieving essential film quality and effectiveness, is challenging in the few-nanometers thickness regime. Furthermore, the atomic-scale structure of the nominally amorphous titania coating layers, particularly when applied to nanostructured supports, is difficult to probe.

Deliberate Modification of FeO Anode Surface Chemistry: Impact on Electrochemistry.

FeO nanoparticles (NPs) with an average size of 8-10 nm have been successfully functionalized with various surface-treatment agents to serve as model systems for probing surface chemistry-dependent electrochemistry of the resulting electrodes. The surface-treatment agents used for the functionalization of FeO anode materials were systematically varied to include aromatic or aliphatic structures: 4-mercaptobenzoic acid, benzoic acid (BA), 3-mercaptopropionic acid, and propionic acid (PA). Both structural and electrochemical characterizations have been used to systematically correlate the electrode functionality with the corresponding surface chemistry.

New aspects of improving the performance of WO thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting by tuning the ultrathin depletion region.

In this work, we explored a facile, scalable and effective method for substantially enhancing photocurrent and incident-photon-to-current efficiency of WO thin-film photoanodes by a mild reduction treatment under low oxygen pressure. Experimental data from photoelectrochemical and electrochemical impedance spectroscopies have shown that such treatment can increase the charge carrier density on WO photoanode surfaces resulting in improvements in hole collection efficiency and reduction in charge recombination. Despite a much thinner layer of WO (about 500 nm) compared to those in other published studies, the electrodes exhibited an ultra-high photocurrent density of 1.

Active sites for tandem reactions of CO reduction and ethane dehydrogenation.

Ethylene (CH) is one of the most important raw materials for chemical industry. The tandem reactions of CO-assisted dehydrogenation of ethane (CH) to ethylene creates an opportunity to effectively use the underutilized ethane from shale gas while mitigating anthropogenic CO emissions. Here we identify the most likely active sites over CeO-supported NiFe catalysts by using combined in situ characterization with density-functional theory (DFT) calculations.

High selectivity of CO hydrogenation to CO by controlling the valence state of nickel using perovskite.

The selectivity of CO2 hydrogenation can be significantly tuned by controlling the valence state of nickel using lanthanum-iron-nickel perovskites. Nickel with higher valence states weakens the binding of CO and increases the activation barrier for further CO hydrogenation, leading to a higher CO selectivity than the metallic nickel.

Unexpected visible light driven photocatalytic activity without cocatalysts and sacrificial reagents from a (GaN) (ZnO) solid solution synthesized at high pressure over the entire composition range.

Optical and photocatalytic properties were determined for the solid solution series (GaN) (ZnO) synthesized at high pressure over the entire compositional range ( = 0.07 to 0.9).

A comprehensive study of catalytic, morphological and electronic properties of ligand-protected gold nanoclusters using XPS, STM, XAFS, and TPD techniques.

Ultra-small gold nanoclusters were synthesized via a ligand exchange method and deposited onto different TiO supports to study their properties. STM imaging revealed that the as-synthesized gold nanoclusters had 2-D morphology consisting of monolayers of gold atoms. Subsequent XPS, XAFS, and CO oxidation TPD results indicated that heat treatments of gold clusters at different temperatures significantly altered their electronic and catalytic properties due to ligand deprotection and cluster agglomeration.

Plasminogen kringle 5 suppresses gastric cancer via regulating HIF-1α and GRP78.

Inhibition of tumour angiogenesis has an important role in antitumour therapy. However, a recent study indicates that antiangiogenesis therapy may lead to glucose-related protein 78 (GRP78) associated antiapoptotic resistance. The present study aims to elucidate the dual effects of plasminogen kringle 5 (K5) on tumour angiogenesis and apoptosis induction by targeting hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and GRP78.