Comprehensive insight into the mechanism, material selection and performance evaluation of supercapatteries

Electrochemical energy storage devices (EESs) play a crucial role for the construction of sustainable energy storage system from the point of generation to the end user due to the intermittent nature of renewable sources. Additionally, to meet the demand for next-generation electronic applications, optimizing the energy and power densities of EESs with long cycle life is the crucial factor. Great efforts have been devoted towards the search for new materials, to augment the overall performance of the EESs. Although there are a lot of ongoing researches in this field, the performance does not meet up to the level of commercialization. A further understanding of the charge storage mechanism and development of new electrode materials are highly required. The present review explains the overview of recent progress in supercapattery devices with reference to their various aspects. The different charge storage mechanisms and the multiple factors involved in the performance of the supercapattery are described in detail. Moreover, recent advancements in this supercapattery research and its electrochemical performances are reviewed. Finally, the challenges and possible future developments in this field are summarized.publishedVersio

Electrochemical sensing of tyrosine and removal of toxic dye using self-assembled three-dimensional CuBi2O4/rGO microsphere composite

In this work, a novel low-cost electrochemical sensor involving copper bismuthate (CuBi2O4) microspheres embedded in reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is described for electrochemical determination of L-Tyrosine (L-Tyr) and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) in Parkinson’s disease treatment and industrial waste treatment, respectively. The rGO improves the electrocatalytic behaviours of CuBi2O4 and enhances the sensing performance of L-Tyr. At the optimized conditions, the nanocomposites show good long-term stability, reproducibility, and fast response with nanomolar detection (6.9 nM) at wide linear ranges of 83–1234 × 10− 9 M (R2 = 0.9964) towards L-Tyr. Further, the photocatalytic dye degradation within 30 min was studied in the presence of CuBi2O4/rGO catalysts. The synthesized CuBi2O4/rGO composite enhances the dye degradation rate and shows good sensitivity to detect the L-Tyrosine compared to CuBi2O4. The results suggest that the self-assembled three-dimensional CuBi2O4/rGO microsphere is an excellent material for the detection of biomolecules and the removal of organic dyes

KBERG: KnowledgeBase for Estrogen Responsive Genes

Estrogen has a profound impact on human physiology affecting transcription of numerous genes. To decipher functional characteristics of estrogen responsive genes, we developed KnowledgeBase for Estrogen Responsive Genes (KBERG). Genes in KBERG were derived from Estrogen Responsive Gene Database (ERGDB) and were analyzed from multiple aspects. We explored the possible transcription regulation mechanism by capturing highly conserved promoter motifs across orthologous genes, using promoter regions that cover the range of [−1200, +500] relative to the transcription start sites. The motif detection is based on ab initio discovery of common cis-elements from the orthologous gene cluster from human, mouse and rat, thus reflecting a degree of promoter sequence preservation during evolution. The identified motifs are linked to transcription factor binding sites based on the TRANSFAC database. In addition, KBERG uses two established ontology systems, GO and eVOC, to associate genes with their function. Users may assess gene functionality through the description terms in GO. Alternatively, they can gain gene co-expression information through evidence from human EST libraries via eVOC. KBERG is a user-friendly system that provides links to other relevant resources such as ERGDB, UniGene, Entrez Gene, HomoloGene, GO, eVOC and GenBank, and thus offers a platform for functional exploration and potential annotation of genes responsive to estrogen. KBERG database can be accessed at

Impact of primary kidney disease on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease: secondary analyses of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial

Background: The EMPA KIDNEY trial showed that empagliflozin reduced the risk of the primary composite outcome of kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease mainly through slowing progression. We aimed to assess how effects of empagliflozin might differ by primary kidney disease across its broad population. Methods: EMPA-KIDNEY, a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial, was conducted at 241 centres in eight countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and the USA). Patients were eligible if their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 20 to less than 45 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or 45 to less than 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) of 200 mg/g or higher at screening. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to 10 mg oral empagliflozin once daily or matching placebo. Effects on kidney disease progression (defined as a sustained ≥40% eGFR decline from randomisation, end-stage kidney disease, a sustained eGFR below 10 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or death from kidney failure) were assessed using prespecified Cox models, and eGFR slope analyses used shared parameter models. Subgroup comparisons were performed by including relevant interaction terms in models. EMPA-KIDNEY is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594110. Findings: Between May 15, 2019, and April 16, 2021, 6609 participants were randomly assigned and followed up for a median of 2·0 years (IQR 1·5–2·4). Prespecified subgroupings by primary kidney disease included 2057 (31·1%) participants with diabetic kidney disease, 1669 (25·3%) with glomerular disease, 1445 (21·9%) with hypertensive or renovascular disease, and 1438 (21·8%) with other or unknown causes. Kidney disease progression occurred in 384 (11·6%) of 3304 patients in the empagliflozin group and 504 (15·2%) of 3305 patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·71 [95% CI 0·62–0·81]), with no evidence that the relative effect size varied significantly by primary kidney disease (pheterogeneity=0·62). The between-group difference in chronic eGFR slopes (ie, from 2 months to final follow-up) was 1·37 mL/min per 1·73 m2 per year (95% CI 1·16–1·59), representing a 50% (42–58) reduction in the rate of chronic eGFR decline. This relative effect of empagliflozin on chronic eGFR slope was similar in analyses by different primary kidney diseases, including in explorations by type of glomerular disease and diabetes (p values for heterogeneity all >0·1). Interpretation: In a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease at risk of progression, including a wide range of non-diabetic causes of chronic kidney disease, empagliflozin reduced risk of kidney disease progression. Relative effect sizes were broadly similar irrespective of the cause of primary kidney disease, suggesting that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of a standard of care to minimise risk of kidney failure in chronic kidney disease. Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and UK Medical Research Council

Process Variation Aware Parallelization Strategies for MPSoCs

Scaling of microprocessors is aggravating the gap between design and manufacturing expectations. Such variations may lead to manufacturing of processors cores with frequencies lower or higher than their expected frequencies. In particular, with the rapid advent of Multiprocessor System on Chips (MPSoC), such manufacturing uncertainties may lead to significant variations in the operating frequencies of different processors cores on the same chip. In this work, we demonstrate that traditional load balanced parallelization schemes need to be revisited to account for such variations. Specifically, we show the need for tuning the degree of parallelization and non-uniform workload generation to achieve lower power consumption in the presence of process variations