The ever‐increasing demand for large‐scale energy storage systems requires novel battery technologies with low‐cost and sustainable properties. Due to earth‐abundance and cost effectiveness, the development of rechargeable potassium ion batteries (PIBs) has recently attracted much attention. Since carbon‐based materials are abundant, inexpensive, nontoxic, and safe, extensive feasibility investigations have suggested that they can become promising anode materials for PIBs. This review not only attempts to provide better understanding of the potassium storage mechanism, but also summarizes the availability of new carbon‐based materials and their electrochemical performance covering graphite, graphene, and hard carbon materials plus carbon‐based composites. Finally, the critical issues, challenges, and perspectives are discussed to demonstrate the developmental direction of PIBs.

Developing nonprecious hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts that can work well at large current densities (e.g., at 1000 mA/cm: a value that is relevant for practical, large-scale applications) is of great importance for realizing a viable water-splitting technology. Herein we present a combined theoretical and experimental study that leads to the identification of α-phase molybdenum diboride (α-MoB) comprising borophene subunits as a noble metal-free, superefficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Our theoretical finding indicates, unlike the surfaces of Pt- and MoS-based catalysts, those of α-MoB can maintain high catalytic activity for HER even at very high hydrogen coverage and attain a high density of efficient catalytic active sites. Experiments confirm α-MoB can deliver large current densities in the order of 1000 mA/cm, and also has excellent catalytic stability during HER. The theoretical and experimental results show α-MoB's catalytic activity, especially at large current densities, is due to its high conductivity, large density of efficient catalytic active sites and good mass transport property.

Background: Despite the large volume of research dedicated to health-related behavior change, chronic disease costs continue to rise, thus creating a major public health burden. Health literacy, the ability to seek, understand, and utilize health information, has been identified as an important factor in the course of chronic conditions. Little research has been conducted on the relationship between health literacy and health-related behaviors and health status in elderly Chinese. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between health literacy and health-related behaviors and health status in China. Methods: The subjects enrolled in this study were selected based on a stratified cluster random sampling design. Information involving >4500 older adults in 44 pension institutions in Urumqi, Changji, Karamay, and Shihezi of Xinjiang between September 2011 and June 2012 was collected. The Chinese Citizen Health Literacy Questionnaire (China Health Education Centre, 2008) and a Scale of the General Status were administered and the information was obtained through face-to-face inquiries by investigators. A total of 1452 respondents met the inclusion criteria. A total of 1452 questionnaires were issued and the valid response rate was 96.14% (1396 of 1452). Factors affecting health literacy and the relationship to health literacy were identified by one-way ANOVA and a multiple linear regression model. Results: The average health literacy level of the elderly in nursing homes was relatively low (71.74 ± 28.35 points). There were significant differences in the health literacy score among the factors of age, gender, race, education level, household income, marital conditions, and former occupation (p < 0.001). The health literacy score was significantly associated with smoking, drinking, physical exercise, and health examination (p < 0.001). The elderly with higher health literacy scores were significantly less likely to have risky behaviors (smoking, regular drinking, and lack of physical exercise), and in turn significantly more likely to undergo health examinations regularly, report good self-rated health, and significantly more likely to access sufficient health information from multiple sources (p < 0.001). No differences were noted between the health literacy score and BMI (p > 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the independent influencing factors of health literacy included education level, race, former occupation, household income, age, physical exercise, health examination, smoking, and health information access (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Health literacy was significantly associated with health-related behaviors in elderly Chinese. Further longitudinal studies are needed to help confirm that improving health literacy in the elderly may be effective in changing health-related behaviors. To reduce risky habits, educational interventions to improve health literacy should be simultaneously conducted in health promotion work.

Leaf senescence can be triggered and promoted by various environmental stressors, developmental cues, and endogenous hormone signals. Several lines of evidence have suggested the involvement of WRKY transcription factors in regulating leaf senescence, but the underlying mechanisms and signaling pathways involved remain elusive. In this study, we identified Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY DNA-binding protein 45 (WRKY45) as a positive regulator of age-triggered leaf senescence. Loss of WRKY45 function resulted in increased leaf longevity in age-triggered senescence, whereas overexpression of WRKY45 significantly accelerated age-triggered leaf senescence. Consistently, expression of SENESCENCE-ASSOCIATED GENEs (SAGs) was significantly reduced in wrky45 mutants but markedly enhanced in transgenic plants overexpressing WRKY45. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that WRKY45 directly binds the promoters of several SAGs such as SAG12, SAG13, SAG113, and SEN4. Both in vivo and in vitro biochemical analyses demonstrated that WRKY45 interacts with the DELLA protein RGA-LIKE1 (RGL1), a repressor of the gibberellin (GA) signaling pathway. We found that RGL1 repressed the transcription activation function of WRKY45, thereby attenuating the expression of its regulon. Consistent with this finding, overexpression of RGL1 resulted in significantly increased leaf longevity in age-triggered senescence. Taken together, our results provide compelling evidence that WRKY45 functions as a critical component of the GA-mediated signaling pathway to positively regulate age-triggered leaf senescence.