Ibrutinib versus bendamustine plus rituximab for first-line treatment of 65 or older patients with untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia without del(17p)/TP53 mutation in China: a lifetime economic research study.

BACKGROUND: The incidence and mortality rates of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in China have recently increased. This study performed a long-term economic evaluation of the first-line treatment strategies ibrutinib (IB) or bendamustine (BE) plus rituximab (RI) for previously untreated older patients with CLL without the del(17p)/TP53 mutation in China. METHODS: Based on clinical data from large, randomized trials, a Markov model including four disease states (event-free survival, treatment failure, post-treatment failure, and death) was used to estimate the incremental costs per quality adjusted-life year (QALY) gained from the first-line IB strategy versus the BE plus RI strategy over a 10-year period. All costs were adjusted to 2022 values based on the Chinese Consumer Price Index, and all costs and health outcomes were discounted at an annual rate of 5%. Sensitivity analysis was performed to confirm the robustness of base-case results. RESULTS: Compared to the first-line BE plus RI strategy, first-line IB treatment achieved 1.17 additional QALYs, but was accompanied by $88,046.78 (estimated in 2022 US dollars) in decremental costs per patient over 10 years. Thus, first-line treatment with IB appeared to have absolute dominance compared to the BE plus RI strategy. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of these results. CONCLUSIONS: The first-line treatment with IB is absolutely cost-effective compared to the first-line BE plus RI treatment strategy for 65 or older patients with CLL without the del (17p)/TP53 mutation from the Chinese payer perspective. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that Chinese health authorities select the former strategy for these CLL patients.

Leveraging Hydrophilic Hierarchical Channels to Regulate Excessive Water for High-Efficiency Solar Steam Yield.

Both the solar absorptance and water content in solar-driven interface evaporation (SDIE) devices are of equal importance for efficient solar steam yield and freshwater production, but water content regulation has garnered relatively less attention, as it is more challenging to balance the water supply rate and the evaporation rate inside SDIE devices. Herein, an SDIE device is designed by coating natural luffa with polypyrrole, which could effectively regulate the water content during the solar steam yield by its unique hydrophilic hierarchical channels to transform excessive water from the bulk state into the film state on the porous skeleton. The hierarchical channels revealed by cryoelectron microscopy experiments not only reduce the loss of heat in unevaporated water but also offer abundant escape channels for solar steam, thus enabling the proposed SDIE device to achieve an evaporation rate of 2.38 kg m-2 h-1 under 1 sun illumination. This work reveals the key role of hierarchical channels for water regulation in the high-efficiency solar steam yield and triggers further application of natural biomaterials with unique structures in the field of solar interfacial evaporation.

Efficient Removal of Dye from Wastewater without Selectivity Using Activated Carbon-Juncus effusus Porous Fibril Composites.

Adsorption techniques have been successfully applied in water purification because of their flexibility, simplicity of design, and effectiveness. Activated carbon is an effective absorbent using for dye adsorption; however, the powder structure is not conducive for practical applications and cannot be used to filter dye solutions which are challenges that still need to be addressed. Herein, a natural cellulose-based absorbent, activated carbon-Juncus effusus fiber (AC-JE fiber), demonstrates the removal of all kinds of dyes without selectivity and humic substances and humic-like organics from wastewater. The combined macroporous structures of JE fibers and the microporous and mesoporous structures of activated carbon particles enhance their adsorption properties. These composite absorbents have excellent adsorption and continuous filtration effect. The rejection rate is approximately 100% not only on acidic and anionic dyes but also on basic and cationic dyes. Moreover, the dye solution adsorbed by AC-JE fibers exhibits an ideal freshwater quality (almost no bacteria), similar to that of the deionized water. The AC-JE fibers prove their potential for dye removal, in both adsorption and filtration. Their sterilization ability substantiates their potential in the field of water purification as they can be used as ideal absorbents based on cellulose for removing dyes and purifying wastewater.

Blackbody-Inspired Array Structural Polypyrrole-Sunflower Disc with Extremely High Light Absorption for Efficient Photothermal Evaporation.

The three-dimensional (3D) structural design of solar evaporators has been considered as one of the most promising approaches toward enhancing photothermal performance by improving light absorption and the available evaporation area. Herein, polypyrrole-decorated 3D array structural sunflower discs (PPy-SFD) were prepared for solar steam generation, thereby turning SFD biomass waste into valuable materials. The SFD can absorb a majority of the incident light because of numerous light reflections from each natural 3D array structural unit, and therefore behaves similar to a blackbody. Moreover, a facile pyrrole polymerization method was introduced to further improve SFD light absorption and enhance the photothermal performance of SFD. This circumvents expensive consumption fabrication processes. The black PPy-decorated SFD shows a light absorption of 99.3% across the entire solar spectrum coupled with mechanical stability. During photothermal evaporation, the increased evaporation area of the 3D array structural SFD could effectively reduce heat loss to the environment because the inherent microporous structure of the SFD leaves and cellulose hydrophilicity provide channels for water transport. The PPy-SFD-based evaporator could reach an evaporation rate of 1.74 kg m-2 h-1 under 1 sun. Thus, the 3D array structural PPy-SFD is a possible candidate for high-efficiency photothermal evaporators.

Biocompatible and degradable Bletilla striata polysaccharide hemostasis sponges constructed from natural medicinal herb Bletilla striata.

Medicinal herb Bletilla striata as a traditional Chinese herb has been used to treat alimentary canal mucosal damage, ulcers, bruises, and burns for thousands of years. Despite numerous efforts directed at the development of Bletilla striata products, the challenge of preparing Bletilla striata hemostasis dressings while simultaneously maintaining portability and high hemostasis performance has not yet been addressed. Herein, we describe a Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP) sponge with hierarchical aligned porous channels formed via directional freeze technology. The microstructure and mechanical property of the BSP sponges could be controlled by modifying the BSP concentration. Notably, in vivo animal studies indicated that BSP sponges show high biocompatibility and degradation and possess excellent hemostasis capability. In addition, BSP sponges showed accelerated wound healing in comparison to commercial dressings. Thus, our study indicates that the constructed BSP sponges could find potential application in dressings for efficient wound healing.

Polyphenylene Sulfide Ultrafine Fibrous Membrane Modified by Nanoscale ZIF-8 for Highly Effective Adsorption, Interception, and Recycling of Iodine Vapor.

In this study, two novel composite membranes containing nanoscale ZIF-8 and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) nonwoven fabric were prepared via hydrothermal (PPS-ZIF-8) and biomimetic mineralization (PPS-ZIF-8-BSA; BSA, bovine serum albumin) approaches. The biomimetic mineralization approach in particular was extremely rapid and mild, and crystalline ZIF-8 was coated on the PPS substrate in only a few seconds at room temperature. The maximum iodine adsorption capacities of the PPS-ZIF-8 and PPS-ZIF-8-BSA membranes were 2.51 and 2.07 g/g, respectively. The composite fibrous membranes were able to capture trace iodine vapor under differential pressures ranging from 0 to 1000 Pa without almost any iodine vapor leakage. The composite membranes can be applied in harsh environments because of the excellent stability of ZIF-8 and the PPS high-performance fibers. This study provides a promising strategy to fabricate novel adsorption materials for the collection of radioactive iodine during nuclear waste disposal.

Is It Possible To Fabricate a Nanocomposite with Excellent Mechanical Property Using Unmodified Inorganic Nanoparticles Directly?

Unmodified ZrO2 nanoparticles (ZDNPs) are used for the enhancement of polyurethane (PU) films. Optimized strain and toughness of PU/ZDNP nanocomposite at 9.09 wt % ZDNPs are up to 2714.6%, and 280.8 MJ m-3, respectively. The unique bimodal ZDNP aggregate size distribution which exploits both interfacial positively and negatively toughening mechanisms accounts mainly for the excellent mechanical property of PU/ZDNP nanocomposite. The dependence of different toughening mechanisms on three sizes of ZDNP aggregates is summarized. These findings provide a new avenue for the industrial production of nanocomposites at low cost without surface modification of inorganic nanoparticles.

Facile and Effective Coloration of Dye-Inert Carbon Fiber Fabrics with Tunable Colors and Excellent Laundering Durability.

Carbon fiber is a good candidate in various applications, including in the military, structural, sports equipment, energy storage, and infrastructure. Coloring of carbon fiber has been a big challenge for decades due to their high degrees of crystallization and insufficient chemical affinity to dyes. Here, multicolored carbon fiber fabrics are fabricated using a feasible and effective atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. The vibrant and uniform structural colors originating from thin-film interference is simply regulated by controlling the thickness of conformal TiO2 coatings on the surface of black carbon fibers. Impressively, the colorful coatings show excellent laundering durability, which can endure 50 cycles of domestic launderings. Moreover, the mechanical properties only drop off slightly after coloring. Overall, these results open an alternative avenue for development of TiO2 nanostructured films with multifunctional features grown using ALD technologies. This technology is speculated to have potential applications in various fields such as color engineering and radiation-proof fabrics and will further guide material design for future innovations in functional optical and color-display devices. More importantly, this research demonstrates a route for the coloring of black carbon fiber-based materials with vibrant colors.

Facile Fabrication of Multifunctional Hybrid Silk Fabrics with Controllable Surface Wettability and Laundering Durability.

To obtain a hydrophobic surface, TiO2 coatings are deposited on the surface of silk fabric using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to realize a hierarchical roughness structure. The surface morphology and topography, structure, and wettability properties of bare silk fabric and TiO2-coated silk fabrics thus prepared are evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), scanning probe microscope (SPM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), static water contact angles (WCAs), and roll-off angles, respectively. The surfaces of the silk fabrics with the TiO2 coatings exhibit higher surface roughnesses compared with those of the bare silk fabric. Importantly, the hydrophobic and laundering durability properties of the TiO2-coated silk fabrics are largely improved by increasing the thickness of the ALD TiO2 coating. Meanwhile, the ALD process has a litter effect on the service performance of silk fabric. Overall, TiO2 coating using an ALD process is recognized as a promising approach to produce hydrophobic surfaces for elastic materials.

Highly Anti-UV Properties of Silk Fiber with Uniform and Conformal Nanoscale TiO2 Coatings via Atomic Layer Deposition.

In this study, silk fiber was successfully modified via the application of a nanoscale titania coating using atomic layer deposition (ALD), with titanium tetraisopropoxide (TIP) and water as precursors at 100 °C. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, and field emission scanning electron microscope results demonstrated that uniform and conformal titania coatings were deposited onto the silk fiber. The thermal and mechanical properties of the TiO2 silk fiber were then investigated. The results showed that the thermal stability and mechanical properties of this material were superior to those of the uncoated substance. Furthermore, the titania ALD process provided the silk fiber with excellent protection against UV radiation. Specifically, the TiO2-coated silk fibers exhibited significant increases in UV absorbance, considerably less yellowing, and greatly enhanced mechanical properties compared with the uncoated silk fiber after UV exposure.