Publications by authors named "Tao Kun"

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted patient's visits to general practitioners (GPs). However, it is unclear what the impact of COVID-19 has been on the interaction among the local primary care clinics, the GP Department within the hospital and specialists.

Methods: The interaction among GPs referring to hospital-based specialists and specialists to local doctors was determined, comparing pre-pandemic 2019 and 2020 during the pandemic.

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Unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance (USMR) has emerged as a promising candidate for magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) technology. However, the realization of high signal-to-noise output signal in USMR devices has remained a challenge, primarily due to the limited USMR effect at room temperature. In this study, we report a large USMR effect in FeNi/Pt/Bi₂Se₃ trilayers through interfacial engineering with Pt to optimize the spin current transmission efficiency and electron-magnon scattering.

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Aqueous ammonium-ion supercapacitors (AASCs) are recognized for their rapid charge-discharge capability, long cycle life, and excellent power density. However, they still confront the challenges of low energy density. To address the above issue, this work proposes a novel strategy involving the establishment of CuCoS@MoS core@shell heterostructures to enhance the capacity of electrode material.

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Microglia activation-induced neuroinflammation is a risk factor for cognitive dysfunction in the hippocampus during the early stages of neurodegenerative diseases. Exercise is an intrinsic remedy that plays a crucial role in enhancing the survival of neurons and reducing neuroinflammation in the brain. Among these theories, alterations in intracellular signaling pathways associated with neuronal growth and inflammation have been emphasized.

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The demographic traits of an organism are key components of its fitness and life history theory aims at identifying the environmental drivers underlying the evolution of life history strategies. For fishes, the equilibrium species, those investing into larval survival (large eggs, parental care) rather than into absolute fecundity, are hypothesized to have evolved in stable and predictable environments with high biotic pressure. Human induced nutrient enrichment in many lakes around the world makes them increasingly subjected to perturbations such as anoxia and toxic algal blooms.

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Topological materials carrying topological surface states (TSSs) have extraordinary carrier mobility and robustness, which provide a new platform for searching for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts. However, the majority of these TSSs originate from the sp band of topological quantum catalysts rather than the d band. Here, based on the density functional theory calculation, it is reported a topological semimetal PdSn carrying TSSs mainly derived from d orbital and proposed that optimizing surface state electrons of PdSn by introduction heteroatoms (Ni) can promote hybridization between hydrogen atoms and electrons, thereby reducing the Gibbs free energy (ΔG) of adsorbed hydrogen and improving its HER performance.

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Introduction: Prostate Cancer (PCa) remains a significant concern in male cancer-related mortality. Tumour development is intricately regulated by the complex interactions between tumour cells and their microenvironment, making it essential to determine which is/are key factor(s) that influence the progression of PCa within the tumour microenvironment.

Materials And Methods: The current study utilised histopathology and immunohistochemistry to determine the expression of IL-38 in PCa and analysed the correlation between the expression level of IL-38 within PCa and clinical pathological characteristics.

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Background: The progress in Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and management has resulted in an unprecedented caseload for histopathological diagnosis. While artificial intelligence (AI) presents a potential solution, the predominant emphasis on slide-level aggregation performance without thorough verification of cancer in each location, impedes both explainability and transparency. Effectively addressing these challenges is crucial to ensuring the reliability and efficacy of AI in histology applications.

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Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive disease that poses a significant threat to human health, particularly in aging individuals: Although sympathetic activation has been implicated in bone metabolism, its role in the development of OA related to aging remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how sympathetic regulation impacts aging-related OA through experiments conducted both in vivo and in vitro.

Methods: To analyze the effect of sympathetic regulation on aging-related OA, we conducted experiments using various mouse models.

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Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) presents a substantial challenge characterized by unacceptably high mortality and morbidity, primarily attributed to delayed diagnosis and reliance on palliative care. The immune response of the host plays a pivotal role in carcinogenesis, with IL-38 emerging as a potential protective factor in CRC. However, the precise involvement of IL-38 among various leucocytes, its interactions with PD-1/PD-L1, and its impact on metastasis require further elucidation.

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Introduction: Wound healing poses a clinical challenge in diabetes mellitus (DM) due to compromised host immunity. CD64, an IgG-binding Fcgr1 receptor, acts as a pro-inflammatory mediator. While its presence has been identified in various inflammatory diseases, its specific role in wound healing, especially in DM, remains unclear.

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Synthetic lethality is a phenomenon wherein the simultaneous deficiency of two or more genes results in cell death, while the deficiency of any individual gene does not lead to cell death. In recent years, synthetic lethality has emerged as a significant topic in the field of targeted cancer therapy, with certain drugs based on this concept exhibiting promising outcomes in clinical trials. Nevertheless, the presence of tumor heterogeneity and the intricate DNA repair mechanisms pose challenges to the effective implementation of synthetic lethality.

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Adenocarcinoma of the bladder is a rare urinary bladder carcinoma with limited therapy options due to lack of molecular characterization. Here, we aimed to reveal the mutational and transcriptomic landscapes of adenocarcinoma of the bladder and assess any relationship with prognosis. Between February 2015 and June 2021, a total of 23 patients with adenocarcinoma of the bladder were enrolled.

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The practical application of Li-S batteries is still severely restricted by poor cyclic performance caused by the intrinsic polysulfides shuttle effect, which is even more severe under the high-temperature condition owing to the inevitable increase of polysulfides' solubility and diffusion rate. Herein, tungsten-doped vanadium dioxide (W-VO) micro-flowers are employed with first-order metal-insulator phase transition (MIT) property as a robust and multifunctional modification layer to hamper the shuttle effect and simultaneously improve the thermotolerance of the common separator. Tungsten doping significantly reduces the transition temperature from 68 to 35 °C of vanadium dioxide, which renders the W-VO easier to turn from the insulating monoclinic phase into the metallic rutile phase.

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Article Synopsis
  • Electrochemical oxygen reduction (ORR) offers a cleaner alternative to traditional methods of producing hydrogen peroxide (HO), focusing on developing effective electrocatalysts.
  • Bimetallic doping of graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) with potassium (K) and cobalt (Co) resulted in 2D porous K-Co/CNNs nanosheets that enhance selectivity for HO production while suppressing competing pathways.
  • Under neutral conditions, K-Co/CNNs achieved up to 97% selectivity for HO and accumulated 31.7 g L of HO after 24 hours, demonstrating improved stability and providing insights for future research.
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Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture combined with extracorporeal shock wave therapy (EESWT) and extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA).

Methods: A total of 135 KOA patients who received EESWT treatment were selected as the EESWT group, and 135 KOA patients who received extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) were selected as the ESWT group. The clinical efficacy, inflammatory factors in joint synovial fluid and adverse events during treatment were compared before and after treatment.

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The exploitation of high-performance supercapacitors is crucial to promote energy storage technologies. Benefiting from the three-dimensional conductive micronanostructures and high specific capacity of the PPy@CuCoS@NF (polypyrrole/copper cobalt sulfide/nickel foam) composite electrode, this electrode exhibits a high specific capacity of 1403.21 C g at 1 A g and a capacitance retention of 85.

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Uncontrolled and excessive progression of liver fibrosis is thought to be the prevalent pathophysiological cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular cancer, and there are currently no effective antifibrotic therapeutic options available. Intercellular communication and cellular heterogeneity in the liver are involved in the progression of liver fibrosis, but the exact nature of the cellular phenotypic changes and patterns of interregulatory remain unclear. Here, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on nonparenchymal cells (NPCs) isolated from normal and fibrotic mouse livers.

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Transition metal sulfide (TMS) CoS is considered an ideal anode material for new-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of its high specific capacity, high electrochemical activity, and low cost. However, CoS is prone to volume expansion and structural collapse when it participates in the internal conversion reaction of the battery, which limits its practical application. After analyzing the failure mechanism of CoS as the anode material of LIBs, the concept of nanoengineered materials is introduced here.

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Although spinal cord injury (SCI) represents a primary etiology of disability, currently, there are exist limited viable therapies modalities. Acquiring comprehension of the diverse pathways that drive mitochondrial aberration may facilitate the identification of noteworthy targets for ameliorating the deleterious consequences precipitated by SCI. Our objective was to determine the efficiency of exosomes produced from Schwann cells (SCDEs) in protecting against mitochondrial dysfunction.

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Efficient electrocatalysts and catalytic mechanisms remain a pressing need in Li-S electrochemistry to address lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling and enhance conversion kinetics. This study presents the development of multifunctional VO@rGO heterostructures, incorporating interfacial built-in electric field (BIEF) enhancement, as a Mott-Schottky electrocatalyst for Li-S batteries. Electrochemical experiments and theoretical analysis demonstrate that the interfacial BIEF between VO and rGO induces self-driven charge redistribution, resulting in accelerated charge transport rates, enhanced LiPS chemisorption, reduced energy barriers for LiS nucleation/decomposition, and improved Li-ion diffusion behavior.

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Background: This study aimed to accurately evaluate the matching of proximal and distal femoral segments and fitting of the femur-femoral stem in patients with Crowe type IV developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) who have undergone subtrochanteric osteotomy at different locations with an implanted Wagner cone stem to improve the rate of the bone union at the osteotomy site.

Methods: Three-dimensional femur morphology of 40 patients with Crowe type IV DDH was evaluated at each cross-section to determine the femoral cortical bone area. This study focused on five osteotomy lengths (2.

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Polysulfide shuttle effect and sluggish sulfur reaction kinetics severely impede the cycling stability and sulfur utilization of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Modulating d-band electronic structures of molybdenum disulfide electrocatalysts via p/n doping is promising to boost polysulfide conversion and suppress polysulfide migration in lithium-sulfur batteries. Herein, p-type V-doped MoS (V-MoS ) and n-type Mn-doped MoS (Mn-MoS ) catalysts are well-designed.

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To control COVID-19 pandemic, complete lockdown was initiated in 2020. We investigated the impact of lockdown on tertiary-level academic performance, by comparing educational outcomes amongst first-year students during second semester of their medical course prior to and during lockdown. Evidence: The demographics, including educational outcomes of the two groups were not significantly different during semester one (prior to the lockdown).

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Neutral electrosynthesis of HO the 2e ORR is attractive for numerous applications, but the low activity and high cost of electrocatalysts have become important constraints. Therefore, the development of cheap and efficient electrocatalysts for the 2e ORR is necessary. Herein, we report the embedding of transition metal single atoms (TM SAs) in g-CN nanosheets (CNNS).

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