Engineering the Non-Radiative Recombination of Mixed-Halide Perovskites with Optimal Bandgap for Indoor Photovoltaics

Indoor photovoltaics have attracted increasing attention, since they can provide sustainable energy through the recycling of photon energy from household dim lighting. However, solar cells exhibiting high performance under sunlight may not perform well under indoor light conditions, mainly due to the mismatch of the irradiance spectrum. In particular, most of the indoor light sources emit visible photons with negligible near-infrared irradiance. According to the detailed balance theory, the optimal bandgap for indoor photovoltaics should be relatively larger, considering the trade-off between photocurrent and photovoltage losses. In this work, a systematic comparison of the theoretical limits of the conventional and indoor photovoltaics is presented. Then the non-radiative recombination losses are reduced by a synergetic treatment with Pb(SCN)₂ and PEABr, resulting relatively high open circuit voltage of 1.29 V and power conversion efficiency of 17.32% under 1 sun illumination. Furthermore, the devices are fully characterized under weak indoor light (1000 lux, 4000 K LED) achieving a high efficiency of 37.18%, which is promising for real applications.

[Clinical analysis of penetrating keratoplasty for infants with congenital corneal opacity]

Objective: To investigate the corneal graft survival and related risk factors of primary penetrating keratoplasty in congenital corneal opacity infants. Methods: It was a retrospective cohort study. Data were collected from forty-two infants (51 eyes) who were aged ≤12 months and diagnosed with congenital corneal opacity in Beijing Tongren Hospital and Beijing Anzhen Hospital from January 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018. The mean age at surgery was (5.7±2.2) months (3-12 months). The mean follow-up duration was (28.6±2.6) months (24-33 months). All the patients underwent penetrating keratoplasty. The status of the corneal grafts and complications were observed and recorded during the regular follow-up. The survival probabilities were estimated by using the Kaplan-Meier and Log-rank test. The graft survival between different influence factors was analyzed by using the χ² test. Results: The Kaplan-Meier survival rates for penetrating keratoplasty were 84.3% (43/51) at 6 months, 78.4% (40/51) at 12 months and 60.8% (31/51) at the last follow-up. The presence of corneal neovascularization was significantly correlated with graft failure (χ²=5.264, P=0.022). The graft survival differed between eyes receiving combined surgery and mere penetrating keratoplasty and in eyes with varied surgical indications (P=0.039, <0.01). Increased intraocular pressure (7 eyes, 13.7%) and persistent epithelial defects (7 eyes, 13.7%) were the most common postoperative complications, followed by complicated cataract (4 eyes, 7.8%) and posterior capsule opacification (2 eyes, 3.9%). Conclusions: The graft survival rate was satisfactory following pediatric keratoplasty although it had a tendency to decrease with the follow-up time. Corneal neovascularization was a major risk factor of graft failure. Surgical indications and procedures also had a certain effect on the graft survival.

Omicron-specific mRNA vaccination alone and as a heterologous booster against SARS-CoV-2

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 recently swept the globe and showed high level of immune evasion. Here, we generate an Omicron-specific lipid nanoparticle (LNP) mRNA vaccine candidate, and test its activity in animals, both alone and as a heterologous booster to WT mRNA vaccine. Our Omicron-specific LNP-mRNA vaccine elicits strong antibody response in vaccination-naïve mice. Mice that received two-dose WT LNP-mRNA show a > 40-fold reduction in neutralization potency against Omicron than WT two weeks post boost, which further reduce to background level after 3 months. The WT or Omicron LNP-mRNA booster increases the waning antibody response of WT LNP-mRNA vaccinated mice against Omicron by 40 fold at two weeks post injection. Interestingly, the heterologous Omicron booster elicits neutralizing titers 10-20 fold higher than the homologous WT booster against Omicron variant, with comparable titers against Delta variant. All three types of vaccination, including Omicron alone, WT booster and Omicron booster, elicit broad binding antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 WA-1, Beta, Delta variants and SARS-CoV. These data provide direct assessments of an Omicron-specific mRNA vaccination in vivo, both alone and as a heterologous booster to WT mRNA vaccine.

Variant-specific vaccination induces systems immune responses and potent in vivo protection against SARS-CoV-2

Lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-mRNA vaccines offer protection against COVID-19; however, multiple variant lineages caused widespread breakthrough infections. Here, we generate LNP-mRNAs specifically encoding wild-type (WT), B.1.351, and B.1.617 SARS-CoV-2 spikes, and systematically study their immune responses. All three LNP-mRNAs induced potent antibody and T cell responses in animal models; however, differences in neutralization activity have been observed between variants. All three vaccines offer potent protection against in vivo challenges of authentic viruses of WA-1, Beta, and Delta variants. Single-cell transcriptomics of WT- and variant-specific LNP-mRNA-vaccinated animals reveal a systematic landscape of immune cell populations and global gene expression. Variant-specific vaccination induces a systemic increase of reactive CD8 T cells and altered gene expression programs in B and T lymphocytes. BCR-seq and TCR-seq unveil repertoire diversity and clonal expansions in vaccinated animals. These data provide assessment of efficacy and direct systems immune profiling of variant-specific LNP-mRNA vaccination in vivo.

Omicron-specific mRNA vaccination alone and as a heterologous booster against SARS-CoV-2

The Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has high transmissibility and recently swept the globe. Due to the extensive number of mutations, this variant has high level of immune evasion, which drastically reduced the efficacy of existing antibodies and vaccines. Thus, it is important to test an Omicron-specific vaccine, evaluate its immune response against Omicron and other variants, and compare its immunogenicity as boosters with existing vaccine designed against the reference wildtype virus (WT). Here, we generated an Omicron-specific lipid nanoparticle (LNP) mRNA vaccine candidate, and tested its activity in animals, both alone and as a heterologous booster to existing WT mRNA vaccine. Our Omicron-specific LNP-mRNA vaccine elicited strong and specific antibody response in vaccination-naive mice. Mice that received two-dose WT LNP-mRNA, the one mimicking the commonly used Pfizer/Moderna mRNA vaccine, showed a >40-fold reduction in neutralization potency against Omicron variant than that against WT two weeks post second dose, which further reduced to background level >3 months post second dose. As a booster shot for two-dose WT mRNA vaccinated mice, a single dose of either a homologous booster with WT LNP-mRNA or a heterologous booster with Omicron LNP-mRNA restored the waning antibody response against Omicron, with over 40-fold increase at two weeks post injection as compared to right before booster. Interestingly, the heterologous Omicron LNP-mRNA booster elicited neutralizing titers 10-20 fold higher than the homologous WT booster against the Omicron variant, with comparable titers against the Delta variant. All three types of vaccination, including Omicron mRNA alone, WT mRNA homologous booster, and Omicron heterologous booster, elicited broad binding antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 WA-1, Beta, and Delta variants, as well as other Betacoronavirus species such as SARS-CoV, but not Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). These data provided direct proof-of-concept assessments of an Omicron-specific mRNA vaccination in vivo, both alone and as a heterologous booster to the existing widely-used WT mRNA vaccine form.

Flexible and stable copper-based halide scintillator for high-performance X-ray imaging

A flexible scintillator screen of Rb2CuBr3@polymer has been developed for X-ray imaging with good quality, exhibiting a high spatial resolution of 27.9 lp mm−1 and a low detection limit of 63 nGyair s−1.

Online Teaching Platform of Design Thinking Workshop

This paper aims to discover the problems encountered in conducting design thinking workshops online, which is also the starting point and the anchor point of the online teaching platform design. Through literature research, the problems existing in the existing teaching platform were obtained, and the competitive analysis was carried out to obtain the most suitable teaching platform for conducting online design thinking workshops. An online teaching experiment was carried out to explore the specific problems existing in the online design thinking workshop. The results show that the problems of online design thinking workshops can be summarized in four areas: technology, collaboration between groups, insufficient interaction between teachers and students, and lack of atmosphere. The findings of this study can be translated into user requirements in the future, and then transform the functionality of the teaching platform and carry out the design of the teaching platform.

Altered EEG Microstates Dynamics During Cue-Induced Methamphetamine Craving in Virtual Reality Environments

BACKGROUND

Cue-induced craving is widely considered to be the most important risk factor for relapse during abstinence from methamphetamine (Meth). There is limited research regarding electroencephalography (EEG) microstates of Meth-dependent patients under exposure to drug-related cues. Our objective was to investigate whether EEG microstate temporal characteristics could capture neural correlates of cue-induced Meth craving in virtual reality (VR) environments.

METHODS

EEG recordings of 35 Meth-dependent patients and 30 healthy controls (HCs) were collected during eyes-open state and cue-induced state, respectively. Group differences and condition differences in temporal parameters of four microstate classes were compared.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated the greater presence of microstate B in both Meth-dependent patients and HCs during the cue-induced condition, compared to resting state. In addition, for Meth-dependent patients, microstate C occurred significantly less frequently, along with a tendency of increased occurrence for class D during the cue-induced condition, compared to resting state. However, the change direction of class C and class D in HCs was completely opposite to that of Meth-dependent patients. The cue-induced condition also elicited different changes in transition probability between Meth-dependent patients and HCs.

CONCLUSION

This study explored the features of EEG microstates in Meth-dependent patients during the cue-induced condition, which can improve our understanding of Meth addiction and contribute to the development of effective assessments and intervention tools.

Upper Limb Lymphedema Impacts the Risk of Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter-Related Thrombosis in Patients with Breast Cancer

There is little information on the risk for catheter-related thrombosis in patients with upper limb lymphedema following breast cancer treatment. We investigated the association between upper limb lymphedema and the risk of peripherally inserted central catheterrelated thrombosis (PICC-RT) occurring in the contralateral limb of patients with breast cancer. A retrospective review analyzed all patients with breast cancer who underwent PICC insertion at a cancer hospital in Hunan Province from 2015 to 2019. Upper limb lymphedema was indexed from hospital information system (HIS) before the occurrence of PICC-RT developed in the contralateral limb. Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate the association of factors with outcome. A total of 1,262 patient records were found and 50 cases of PICC-RT were identified. Forty of these occurred in patients without lymphedema (n=1,236) and 10 in patients with upper limb lymphedema (n=26). After adjustment for various co-variables, Cox regression analysis showed that upper limb lymphedema was significantly associated with increased risk of PICC-RT (hazard ratio=12.128, 95% confidence interval=5.551-26.501; P<0.001). In breast cancer patients, upper limb lymphedema may be an important predictor for PICC-RT in the contralateral limb and information should be provided to patients.

Construction of the Educational Model of Vocational College Students' Career Planning Based on Design Thinking

Design thinking is an integrated thinking method with mature concepts, methods and tools, which is widely used in the field of education. Career planning education includes five aspects: Self-analysis, Environmental Analysis, Goal Establishment, Strategy Development, Evaluation and Modification, which fits well with the five steps of Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test of design thinking. This study introduces the design thinking method and structure into the curriculum, puts forward the teaching activity model and strategy based on design thinking, and makes an empirical study on the strategy. The study mainly adopts the experimental research method and evaluates the effect of the teaching mode by comparing the improvement of the career planning ability of learners between the experimental group and the control group. The results show that the teaching mode based on design thinking has a positive effect on promoting students' career planning ability.

A Computer Vision-Based Yoga Pose Grading Approach Using Contrastive Skeleton Feature Representations

The main objective of yoga pose grading is to assess the input yoga pose and compare it to a standard pose in order to provide a quantitative evaluation as a grade. In this paper, a computer vision-based yoga pose grading approach is proposed using contrastive skeleton feature representations. First, the proposed approach extracts human body skeleton keypoints from the input yoga pose image and then feeds their coordinates into a pose feature encoder, which is trained using contrastive triplet examples; finally, a comparison of similar encoded pose features is made. Furthermore, to tackle the inherent challenge of composing contrastive examples in pose feature encoding, this paper proposes a new strategy to use both a coarse triplet example—comprised of an anchor, a positive example from the same category, and a negative example from a different category, and a fine triplet example—comprised of an anchor, a positive example, and a negative example from the same category with different pose qualities. Extensive experiments are conducted using two benchmark datasets to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach.

[Gut microbiome composition in pre-adolescent children with different meat consumption patterns]

OBJECTIVE

To compare the composition of gut microbiome in pre-adolescent children with different meat consumption patterns.

METHODS

This study was conducted among 44 healthy school-age children (age range 8-10 years) in Shenzhen. According to the monthly intake frequency ratio of white meat and red meat, the children were divided into red-meat group (n=15), balanced group (n=16) and white-meat group (n=13). The Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was used to investigate the children's diet, and samples of morning feces were collected to study the gut microbiome. The fecal DNA was extracted and amplified, and the composition of the intestinal microbiome of the children was analyzed using Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing.

RESULTS

The children in red meat and white meat groups showed significantly lower abundance and diversity of gut microbiota than those with a balanced diet (P < 0.05). LEfSe analysis of the genus in the fecal samples showed that Escherichia-Shigella, Coprobacillus and Peptoniphilus were enriched in red-meat group and Holdemanella was enriched in the white-meat group as compared with the balanced group. In the samples of the balanced group, 31 and 25 genus (such as Laurespirillum and Rumenococcus) were significantly enriched as compared with the samples of the red-meat group and the white-meat group, respectively. Prediction of the gut microbiota KEGG pathway using PICRUSt2 suggested that compared with that in the balanced group, the gut microbiota in red-meat group had significant activation of the pathways involving lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis (P < 0.01), arachidonic acid metabolism (P < 0.01), thyroid hormone synthesis (P < 0.001), and carbohydrate digestion and absorption (P < 0.05). But compared with the white-meat group, the red-meat group showed only significant activation of the pathways of arachidonic acid metabolism (P < 0.05) and thyroid hormone synthesis (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The preference of red meat and white meat consumption may significantly reduce the abundance and diversity of gut microbiota in pre-adolescent children. A red meat-rich diet may cause enrichment of Escherichia-Shigella and significant activation of lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis pathway, suggesting the potential benefit of a balanced diet for pre-adolescent children.

Benefit of digital breast tomosynthesis in symptomatic young women (≤30 years) diagnosed with BI-RADS category 4 or 5 on ultrasound

AIM

To evaluate the addition of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) in the diagnosis of breast lesions in symptomatic young Chinese women (≤30 years) diagnosed with Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category 4 or 5 on ultrasound, and demonstrate the potential use of combining DBT with ultrasound.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This retrospective analysis included 5 years of digital mammography (DM) and DBT data (January 2015 to July 2020). In total, 768 DBT and DM examinations were performed in 713 young women. The results were determined by pathological assessment. Diagnostic performance was measured based on the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (AUC).

RESULTS

Compared with DM alone, DBT + DM increased the sensitivity from 82.5% to 93.2%, specificity from 70.8% to 84%, accuracy from 74% to 86.5%, NPV from 93.6% to 97.4% (all p<0.01). The AUC of DBT + DM (0.946, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.927-0.960) was greater than that of DM (0.884, 95% CI: 0.859-0.905; p<0.001). The differences in the BI-RADS category distributions of malignant and benign lesions were both statistically significant (p<0.001). DM alone led to 36 false-negative diagnoses, whereas the inclusion of DBT identified breast cancer in 22 of those cases. There were 4.9% (10/206) false-negative diagnoses in ultrasound. After adding DBT, four breast cancers were detected. An additional six breast cancers were diagnosed by biopsy based on an assessment of BI-RADS 4A by DBT/DM.

CONCLUSION

DBT + DM significantly improves the diagnostic performance in this young population, especially in young people with higher breast density. Moreover, DBT is an effective supplementary examination to ultrasound.

Interfacial Engineering of Perovskite Solar Cells with Evaporated PbI2 Ultrathin Layers

Perovskite solar cells are one of the most promising thin-film photovoltaic techniques, which have an unprecedented progress in the last decade. It is well-recognized in the perovskite community that nonradiative recombination losses and the open-circuit voltage deficit are the dominant limiting factors to further improve the device efficiency. Recently, multiple groups have reported that lead iodide can effectively passivate both perovskite grain boundaries and the interfaces between perovskite and charge transport layers. However, most of the excess PbI2 was processed with solution methods and formed PbI2 grains, which cannot cover perovskite layers completely. It is also very challenging to spin-coat PbI2 layers directly on perovskites, which requires orthogonal solvents. In this work, we deposit additional PbI2 thin layers directly on perovskite thin films via thermal evaporation. The impact of PbI2 layers on the perovskite thin films and devices is systematically investigated. It was found that the evaporated PbI2 thin films can effectively reduce the nonradiative recombination and enhance the device performance. The optimized thickness of the PbI2 layer was determined to be around 10 nm, which results in a relatively high Voc of 1.18 V and power conversion efficiency of 21.52%.

Potential markers for sample size estimations in hereditary spastic paraplegia type 5

Background

Aim to identify potential biomarkers to assess therapeutic efficacy for hereditary spastic paraplegias type 5 (SPG5) by investigating the clinical, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features.

Methods

We performed a cross-sectional study to compare SPG5 patients with age- and sex-matched healthy controls who underwent conventional and quantitative MRI techniques of spinal cord (C1-T9) and brain. SPG5 patients also underwent assessment for clinical status and CSF biomarkers (27-hydroxycholesterol, neurofilament light). We identified a set of markers with standardized effect sizes (|t|> 0.5) to estimate sample sizes for disease progression (disease duration > 14 years vs. ≤ 14 years).

Results

Seventeen genetically confirmed SPG5 patients (11 men, 6 women; age range, 13–49 years; median disease duration, 14 years) were enrolled. Compared to healthy controls, the total spinal cord area (SCA) of SPG5 patients was reduced particularly at the thoracic levels (cervical levels: 12–27%; thoracic levels 41–60%). Patients did not show significant alterations of brain signal abnormalities or atrophy relative to controls. A total of 10 surrogate markers were selected and a minimum sample size was achieved with the measurement of SCA on T9 (n = 22) much less that what would be required if using clinical disability assessment (n = 124).

Conclusions

SPG5 patients showed distinct MRI features of spinal cord atrophy without significant brain alterations. Our finding supports the measurements of spinal cord on T9 level as potential endpoint for SPG5 clinical trials.

Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04006418. Registered 05 July 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04006418?term=NCT04006418&draw=2&rank=1.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13023-021-02014-w.

Efficacy and safety of heat-sensitive moxibustion in the treatment of neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most disabling and destructive neurological diseases. Neurogenic bladder dysfunction (NBD) is one of the serious complications after SCI, 80% of patients after SCI will have neurogenic bladder symptoms. NBD after SCI may lead to urinary retention, urinary incontinence, and urinary tract infection. In severe cases, it can lead to renal failure or even death. NBD after SCI not only seriously affects the patient's quality of life but also physical and mental health. NBD after SCI is a social and medical problem. In recent years, more and more clinical studies prove that heat-sensitive can improve the clinical symptoms of NBD after SCI. Therefore, this article conducts a systematic evaluation and meta-analysis on the efficacy and safety of heat-sensitive moxibustion in treating NBD after SCI.

METHODS

Search 8 electronic databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, Clinical Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Wanfang Database, and China Biomedical Literature Database. We will search above electronic databases from the inception to May 2021, without any language restriction. Clinical randomized controlled trials containing heat-sensitive moxibustion for NBD after SCI and eligible interventions(s) and outcome(s) were included, with no limitation of language and publication status. Two researchers will independently conduct literature search, screening, information extraction, quality assessment, and data analysis. Review Manager 5.3 software will be used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The findings will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication.

CONCLUSION

This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide a standard clinical decision-making guideline for heat-sensitive moxibustion treatment of NBD after SCI.

INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER

INPLASY202150071.

Room-Temperature Diffusion-Induced Extraction for Perovskite Nanocrystals with High Luminescence and Stability

Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) serve as a kind of ideal semiconductor for luminescence and display applications. However, the optoelectronic performance and stability of perovskite NCs are mainly subjected to current ligand strategies since these ligands exhibit a highly dynamic binding state, which complicates NC purification and storage. Herein, a method named diffusion-induced extraction is developed for crystallization (DEC) at room temperature, in which silicone oil serves as a medium to separate the solvent from perovskite precursors and diethyl ether promotes the nucleation, leading to highly emissive perovskite NCs. The formation mechanism of NCs using this approach is elucidated, and their optoelectronic properties are fully characterized. The resultant NCs ink exhibits a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) over 90% with a narrow full width at half maximum of 17 nm. The DEC method strengthens the interaction between ligand and NCs via the hydrophobic silicone oil. Therefore, the NCs maintain almost 95% of their initial PLQYs after aging more than seven months in air. The findings will be of great significance for the continued advancement of high PLQY perovskite NCs through a better understanding of formation dynamics. The DEC strategy presents a major step forward for advancing the field of perovskite semiconductor nanomaterials.

Breast ductal carcinoma in situ with micro-invasion versus ductal carcinoma in situ: a comparative analysis of clinicopathological and mammographic findings

AIM

To determine the differences in clinicopathological and mammographic findings between ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and ductal carcinoma in situ with micro-invasion (DCIS-MI) and explore clinicopathological and mammographic factors associated with DCIS-MI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All DCIS patients with or without micro-invasion who underwent preoperative mammography at The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from January 2016 through June 2020 were identified retrospectively. The correlations of clinicopathological findings with DCIS-MI were evaluated using univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses. Imaging findings were compared between the groups by using the Pearson chi-square test.

RESULTS

A total of 445 DCIS lesions and 151 DCIS-MI lesions were included in the final analysis. Large extent (≥2.7 cm), high nuclear grade, comedo-type, negative progesterone receptor (PR), negative oestrogen receptor (ER), high Ki-67 and axillary lymph node metastasis were more frequently found in DCIS-MI than in DCIS (all p<0.05), and the first four of these were found to be independent predictors of DCIS-MI in the multivariate analysis (all p<0.05). Regarding imaging findings, compared to DCIS, DCIS-MI showed fewer occult lesions and more lesions with calcifications in mass, asymmetry, and architectural distortion (p=0.004). Grouped calcifications were usually associated with DCIS, while regional calcifications were commonly found in DCIS-MI (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Large extent, high nuclear grade, comedo-type and negative PR were found to be independent predictors of DCIS-MI. Lesions with calcifications and regional calcifications were more likely associated with DCIS-MI on mammography.

Prognostic analysis of Behçet's disease with aortic regurgitation or involvement

Background

Aortic regurgitation is the most common cardiovascular damage in Chinese patients with Behçet’s disease (BD) and is usually associated with aortic disease. These patients are easily misdiagnosed, and their prognosis is poor, even after surgical treatment. This study aimed to analyse potential factors that can improve the prognosis of BD patients with aortic regurgitation and/or aortic involvement.

Methods

Twenty-two patients with diagnosed or suspected BD as well as aortic regurgitation and/or aortic involvement in our hospital from 2012 through 2017 were collected in this study. Their clinical characteristics were listed, and the diagnosis of BD was evaluated by two different criteria sets. The influences of surgical treatment and immunosuppressive therapy (IST) on their prognosis were also explored.

Results

The diagnostic positive rate of the International Criteria for Behçet’s Disease was higher than that of the International Study Group criteria (kappa value 0.31, p < 0.05), indicating that the diagnostic consistency between the criteria sets was poor. There was no significant difference in survival between patients who had undergone ≤ 1 operation and those with ≥ 2 operations. Aortic valve replacement alone or in combination with aortic root replacement had no significant effect on the incidence of reoperation or death, but IST did significantly reduce this incidence (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the occurrence of reoperation or death between preoperative and postoperative IST versus postoperative IST only.

Conclusion

IST significantly improved the prognosis of BD patients with aortic regurgitation and/or aortic involvement.

Supplementary Information

The online version of this article (10.1007/s12471-021-01567-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

222 Rn emanation measurements for the XENON1T experiment

The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of utmost importance for the success of low-energy rare event search experiments. Besides radioactive contaminants in the bulk, the emanation of radioactive radon atoms from material surfaces attains increasing relevance in the effort to further reduce the background of such experiments. In this work, we present the 222 Rn emanation measurements performed for the XENON1T dark matter experiment. Together with the bulk impurity screening campaign, the results enabled us to select the radio-purest construction materials, targeting a 222 Rn activity concentration of 10 μ Bq / kg in 3.2 t of xenon. The knowledge of the distribution of the 222 Rn sources allowed us to selectively eliminate problematic components in the course of the experiment. The predictions from the emanation measurements were compared to data of the 222 Rn activity concentration in XENON1T. The final 222 Rn activity concentration of ( 4.5 ± 0.1 ) μ Bq / kg in the target of XENON1T is the lowest ever achieved in a xenon dark matter experiment.