Huan Wang

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is one of the major risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in China. METHODS: A multistage, stratified sampling method was used to obtain a representative sample of persons aged 18 years or older in the general population of China. Blood pressure (BP) was measured by sphygmomanometer 3 times at 5-minute intervals. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥ 140mm Hg, or diastolic BP ≥ 90mm Hg, or self-reported use of antihypertensive medications in the last 2 weeks irrespective of the BP. RESULTS: Altogether 50,171 subjects finished the survey across the entire country. The adjusted prevalence of hypertension was 29.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 28.9%-30.4%) and was higher among men than among women (31.2%, 95% CI = 30.1%-32.4%; vs. 28.0%, 95% CI = 27.0%-29.0%). The awareness, treatment among all hypertensive participants, control among all hypertensive participants, and control among treated hypertensive participants were 42.6%, 34.1%, 9.3%, and 27.4%, respectively. Multiple lifestyle factors were independently associated with presence of hypertension, including physical inactivity, habitual drinking, chronic use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, high body mass index, and central obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension is an important public health burden in China, and control of hypertension is still suboptimal. Several modifiable lifestyle activities were associated with hypertension and thus should be considered potential targets for intervention, with special attention to socioeconomically disadvantaged subpopulations in China.

Abstract Sodium (Na) metal is a promising alternative to lithium metal as an anode material for the next‐generation energy storage systems due to its high theoretical capacity, low cost, and natural abundance. However, dendritic/mossy Na growth caused by uncontrollable plating/stripping results in serious safe concerns and rapid electrode degradation. This study presents Sn 2+ pillared Ti 3 C 2 MXene serving as a stable matrix for high‐performance dendrite‐free Na metal anode. The intercalated Sn 2+ between Ti 3 C 2 layers not only induces Na to nucleate and grow within Ti 3 C 2 interlayers, but also endows the Ti 3 C 2 with larger interlayer space to accommodate the deposited Na by taking advantage of the “pillar effect,” contributing to uniform Na deposition. As a result, the pillar‐structured MXene‐based Na metal electrode could enable high current density (up to 10 mA cm −2 ) along with high areal capacity (up to 5 mAh cm −2 ) over long‐term cycling (up to 500 cycles). The full cell using MXene‐based Na metal anode exhibits superior electrochemical performance than that using host‐less commercial Na. It is believed that the well‐controlled MXene‐based Na anode not only extends the application scope of MXene, but also provides guidance in designing high‐performance Na metal batteries.

Rechargeable sodium (Na) based batteries have gained tremendous research interest because of the high natural abundance and low cost of Na resources, as well as electrochemical similarities with lithium (Li) based batteries. However, despite the great potential as a candidate for next-generation grid-scale energy storage, the implementation of the Na metal anode has been primarily hindered by dendritic and "dead" Na formation that leads to low Coulombic efficiency, short lifespan and even safety concerns. Na dendrite formation mainly originates from the uncontrolled Na deposition behavior in the absence of nucleation site regulation. Hence, the Na nucleation and initial stage of growth are critically important for the final morphology of Na metal. Here, this tutorial review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the importance of the nucleation behavior towards dendrite-free Na metal anodes. Firstly, we start with an introduction about the advantages of Na metal batteries over the Li counterpart and the challenges faced by Na metal anodes. The differences between metallic Li and Na are summarized according to advanced in situ characterization techniques. Next, we elucidate the key factors that influence the Na nucleation and growth behaviors based on the existing theoretical models. Then, we review the state-of-the-art approaches that have been applied to effectively regulate Na nucleation for dendrite-free Na deposition. Lastly, we conclude the review with perspectives on realizing safe Na metal batteries with high energy density.