Slow-Release Effect Assisted Crystallization for Sequential Deposition Realizes Efficient Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells.

The two-step sequential deposition strategy has been widely recognized in promoting the research and application of perovskite solar cells, but the rapid reaction of organic salts with lead iodide inevitably affects the growth of perovskite crystals, accompanied by the generation of more defects. In this study, the regulation of crystal growth was achieved in a two-step deposition method by mixing 1-naphthylmethylammonium bromide (NMABr) with organic salts. The results show that the addition of NMABr effectively delays the aggregation and crystallization behavior of organic salts; thereby, the growth of the optimal crystal (001) orientation of perovskite is promoted. Based on this phenomenon of delaying the crystallization process of perovskite, the "slow-release effect assisted crystallization" is defined. Moreover, the incorporation of the Br element expands the band gap of perovskite and mitigates material defects as nonradiative recombination centers. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the enhanced perovskite solar cells (PSCs) reaches 20.20%. It is noteworthy that the hydrophobic nature of the naphthalene moiety in NMABr can enhance the humidity resistance of PSCs, and the perovskite phase does not decompose for more than 3000 h (30-40% RH), enabling it to retain 90% of its initial efficiency even after exposure to a nitrogen environment for 1200 h.

The predictive value of serum tumor markers for EGFR mutation in non-small cell lung cancer patients with non-stage IA.

Objective: The predictive value of serum tumor markers (STMs) in assessing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations among patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), particularly those with non-stage IA, remains poorly understood. The objective of this study is to construct a predictive model comprising STMs and additional clinical characteristics, aiming to achieve precise prediction of EGFR mutations through noninvasive means. Materials and methods: We retrospectively collected 6711 NSCLC patients who underwent EGFR gene testing. Ultimately, 3221 stage IA patients and 1442 non-stage IA patients were analyzed to evaluate the potential predictive value of several clinical characteristics and STMs for EGFR mutations. Results: EGFR mutations were detected in 3866 patients (57.9 %) of all NSCLC patients. None of the STMs emerged as significant predictor for predicting EGFR mutations in stage IA patients. Patients with non-stage IA were divided into the study group (n = 1043) and validation group (n = 399). In the study group, univariate analysis revealed significant associations between EGFR mutations and the STMs (carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC), and cytokeratin-19 fragment (CYFRA21-1)). The nomogram incorporating CEA, CYFRA 21-1, pathology, gender, and smoking history for predicting EGFR mutations with non-stage IA was constructed using the results of multivariate analysis. The area under the curve (AUC = 0.780) and decision curve analysis demonstrated favorable predictive performance and clinical utility of nomogram. Additionally, the Random Forest model also demonstrated the highest average C-index of 0.793 among the eight machine learning algorithms, showcasing superior predictive efficiency. Conclusion: CYFRA21-1 and CEA have been identified as crucial factors for predicting EGFR mutations in non-stage IA NSCLC patients. The nomogram and 8 machine learning models that combined STMs with other clinical factors could effectively predict the probability of EGFR mutations.

MRI characteristics of H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric gliomas and possible differentiation from IDH-wild-type glioblastomas in adolescents and young adults.

OBJECTIVE: H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric gliomas (G34m-DHGs) are rare and constitute a new infiltrating brain tumor entity whose characteristics require elucidation, and their difference from isocitrate dehydrogenase-wild-type glioblastomas (IDH-WT-GBMs) needs to be clarified. In this study, the authors report the demographic, clinical, and neuroradiological features of G34m-DHG and investigate the capability of quantitative MRI features in differentiating them. METHODS: Twenty-three patients with G34m-DHG and 30 patients with IDH-WT-GBM were included in this retrospective study. The authors reviewed the clinical, radiological, and molecular data of G34m-DHGs and compared their neuroimaging features with those of IDH-WT-GBMs in adolescents and young adults. Visually Accessible Rembrandt Images (VASARI) features were extracted, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was performed. A logistic regression model was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic performance for differentiating between G34m-DHG and IDH-WT-GBM. Subsequently, FeAture Explorer (FAE) was used to generate the machine learning pipeline and select important radiomics features that had been extracted with PyRadiomics. Estimates of the performance were supplied by metrics such as sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: The mean age of the 23 patients with G34m-DHG was 23.7 years (range 11-45 years), younger than the mean age of patients with IDH-WT-GBM (30.96 years, range 5-43 years). All tumors were hemispheric. Most cases were immunonegative for ATRX (95%) and Olig2 (100%), were immunopositive for p53 (95%), and exhibited MGMT promoter methylation (81%). The radiological presentations of G34m-DHG were different from those of IDH-WT-GBM. The majority of the G34m-DHGs were in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes and demonstrated no or only faint contrast enhancement (74%), while IDH-WT-GBMs were mostly seen in the frontal lobe and showed marked contrast enhancement in 83% of cases. The FAE-generated model, based on radiomics features (AUC 0.925) of conventional MR images, had better discriminatory performance between G34m-DHG and IDH-WT-GBM than VASARI feature analysis (AUC 0.843). CONCLUSIONS: G34m-DHGs most frequently occur in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes in adolescent and young adults and are associated with radiological characteristics distinct from those of IDH-WT-GBMs. Successful identification can be achieved by using either VASARI features or radiomics signatures, which may contribute to prognostic evaluation and assist in clinical settings.

Amino Pyridine Iodine as an Additive for Defect-Passivated Perovskite Solar Cells.

Defect passivation of the perovskite surface and grain boundary (GBs) has become a widely adopted approach to reduce charge recombination. Research has demonstrated that functional groups with Lewis acid or base properties can successfully neutralize trap states and limit nonradiative recombination. Unlike traditional Lewis acid-base organic molecules that only bind to a single anionic or cationic defect, zwitterions can passivate both anionic and cationic defects simultaneously. In this work, zwitterions organic halide salt 1-amino pyridine iodine (AmPyI) is used as a perovskite for defect passivation. It is found that a pair of amino lone electrons in AmPyI can passivate defects surface and GBs through hydrogen bonding with perovskite, and the introduced I- can bind to uncoordinated Pb2+ while also controlling the surface morphology of the film and improving the crystallinity. In the presence of the AmPyI additive, we obtained about 1.24 µm of amplified perovskite grains and achieved an efficiency of 23.80% with minimal hysteresis.

Randomized Trial of Modified Chest Tube Placement vs Routine Placement After Lung Resection.

BACKGROUND: Chest tube placement after pulmonary resection is usually considered a mandatory procedure. However, peritubular leakage of pleural fluid and intrathoracic air is frequent after surgery. Therefore, we separated the chest tube from the intercostal space as a modified placement strategy. METHODS: Patients undergoing robotic and video-assisted lung resection were enrolled in this study at our medical center between February 2021 and August 2021. All patients were randomly divided into either the modified group (n = 98) or the routine group (n = 101). The incidence of peritubular leakage of pleural fluid and peritubular air leaking or entering after surgery were the primary end points of the study. RESULTS: A total of 199 patients were randomized. Patients in the modified group had lower incidence of peritubular leakage of pleural fluid (after surgery, 39.6% vs 18.4% [P = .001]; after chest tube removal, 26.7% vs 11.2% [P = .005]), lower incidence of peritubular air leaking or entering (14.9% vs 5.1% [P = .022]), and fewer dressing changes (5.02 ± 2.30 vs 3.48 ± 0.94 [P < .001]). In patients undergoing lobectomy and segmentectomy, the type of chest tube placement was associated with the severity of peritubular pleural fluid leakage (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The modified chest tube placement was safe and had better clinical efficacy than the routine type. The reduction of postoperative peritubular leakage of pleural fluid resulted in better wound recovery. This modified strategy should be popularized, especially in patients undergoing pulmonary lobectomy or segmentectomy.

Strategy of Enhancing Built-in Field to Promote the Application of C-TiO2 /SnO2 Bilayer Electron Transport Layer in High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells (24.3%).

Combining two kinds of electron transport layer (ETL) which have complementary advantages into a bilayer structure to form a bilayer ETL is an effective way to transcend inherent limitations of single-layer ETL, which is very helpful in the development of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, a strategy is proposed to break constraints on the application of the staggered bilayer ETL in high-efficiency PSC, namely utilizing a built-in field to overcome the dilemma in ECBM making it possible to improve VOC and FF simultaneously by tuning the Fermi level of ETLs properly. According to the strategy, a bilayer ETL structure comprised of C-TiO2 and SnO2 layer and corresponding Li-doping process are developed, and the characterization results confirm the effectiveness of the strategy, making the potentials of the C-TiO2 (Li)/SnO2 bilayer ETL fully released for its application in high-efficiency PSCs: a VOC of 1.201 V for an ordinary triple-cation-perovskite-based PSC and a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 24.3% for a low-bandgap-perovskite-based PSC with high haze FTO superstrate are successfully achieved, indicating that the C-TiO2 (Li)/SnO2 bilayer ETL is a successful application paradigm of the proposed strategy and very promising in the application of high-efficiency PSCs.

Progress in three-dimensional computed tomography reconstruction in anatomic pulmonary segmentectomy.

The number of minimally invasive surgeries, such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, has increased enormously in recent years. More and more relevant studies report that anatomic pulmonary segmentectomy has the same effect as traditional lobectomy in the surgical treatment of early stage non-small cell lung cancer (diameter less than 2.0 cm). Segmentectomy requires sufficient knowledge of the location of the pulmonary nodules, as well as the anatomy of the target segments, blood vessels, and bronchi. With the rapid development of imaging technology and three-dimensional technology, three-dimensional reconstruction has been widely used in the medical field. It can effectively assess the vascular branching patterns, discover the anatomic variations of the blood vessels and bronchi, determine the location of the lesion, and clarify the division of the segments. Therefore, it is helpful for preoperative positioning, surgical planning, preoperative simulation and intraoperative navigation, and provides a reference for formulating an individualized surgical plan. It therefore plays a positive role in anatomic pulmonary segmentectomy. This study reviews the progress made in three-dimensional computed tomography reconstruction in anatomic pulmonary segmentectomy.

Systems biomarker characteristics of circulating alkaline phosphatase activities for 48 types of human diseases.

BACKGROUND: Most human diseases are accompanied by systems changes. Systems biomarkers should reflect such changes. The phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of biomolecules maintain human homeostasis. However, the systems biomarker characteristics of circulating alkaline phosphatase, a routine blood test conducted for many human diseases, have never been investigated. METHOD: This study retrieved the circulating alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities from patients with 48 clinically confirmed diseases and healthy individuals from the database of our hospital during the past five years. A detailed analysis of the statistical characteristics of ALP was conducted, including quantiles, receiving operator curve (ROC), and principal component analysis. RESULTS: Among the 48 diseases, 45 had increased, and three had decreased median levels of ALP activities compared to the healthy control. Preeclampsia, hepatic encephalopathy, pancreatic cancer, and liver cancer had the highest median values, whereas nephrotic syndrome, lupus erythematosus, and nephritis had decreased median values compared to the healthy control. Further, area under curve (AUC) values were ranged between 0.61 and 0.87 for 19 diseases, and the ALP activities were the best systems biomarker for preeclampsia (AUC 0.87), hepatic encephalopathy (AUC 0.87), liver cancer (AUC 0.81), and pancreatic cancer (AUC 0.81). CONCLUSIONS: Alkaline phosphatase was a decent systems biomarker for 19 different types of human diseases. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of over-up-and-down-regulation of ALP activities might be the key to understanding the whole-body systems' reactions during specific disease progression.

Predictive value of a novel Asian lung cancer screening nomogram based on artificial intelligence and epidemiological characteristics.

BACKGROUND: To develop and validate a risk prediction nomogram based on a deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNN) model and epidemiological characteristics for lung cancer screening in patients with small pulmonary nodules (SPN). METHODS: This study included three data sets. First, a CNN model was developed and tested on data set 1. Then, a hybrid prediction model was developed on data set 2 by multivariable binary logistic regression analysis. We combined the CNN model score and the selected epidemiological risk factors, and a risk prediction nomogram was presented. An independent multicenter cohort was used for model external validation. The performance of the nomogram was assessed with respect to its calibration and discrimination. RESULTS: The final hybrid model included the CNN model score and the screened risk factors included age, gender, smoking status and family history of cancer. The nomogram showed good discrimination and calibration with an area under the curve (AUC) of 91.6% (95% CI: 89.4%-93.5%), compare with the CNN model, the improvement was significance. The performance of the nomogram still showed good discrimination and good calibration in the multicenter validation cohort, with an AUC of 88.3% (95% CI: 83.1%-92.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that epidemiological characteristics should be considered in lung cancer screening, which can significantly improve the efficiency of the artificial intelligence (AI) model alone. We combined the CNN model score with Asian lung cancer epidemiological characteristics to develop a new nomogram to facilitate and accurately perform individualized lung cancer screening, especially for Asians.

Perioperative safety and feasibility outcomes of stage IIIA-N2 non-small cell lung cancer following neoadjuvant immunotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine the perioperative safety and feasibility outcomes of stage IIIA (N2) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following neoadjuvant immunotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: The clinical details of patients who attended the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University between January 2019 and December 2020 were retrospectively evaluated. Eligible patients had pathologically proven stage IIIA (N2) NSCLC and were randomly prescribed neoadjuvant therapy. Those in the neoadjuvant immunotherapy group received two cycles of nivolumab (3 mg/kg) and those in the control group received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (1,000 mg/m2 gemcitabine and 80 mg/m2 cisplatin). All patients were scheduled to undergo surgery. The primary endpoint was the risk of major complications within 30 days of surgery and the secondary endpoints were interval to surgery and 30-day mortality. RESULTS: A total of 107 eligible patients were evaluated of whom 25 were allocated to the neoadjuvant immunotherapy group and 82 to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group. The median interval to surgery was similar in the two groups at 29.2 days [95% confidence interval (CI), 27.1 to 31.4 days] in the immunotherapy group and 28.7 days (95% CI, 27.6 to 29.8 days) in the chemotherapy group (P=0.656). While treatment-related adverse events were reported in most patients, all 25 patients completed two cycles of neoadjuvant immunotherapy and 80 of 82 patients completed two cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, although one patient in the latter group died within 30 days of surgery. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in the probability of grade 3 or higher postoperative complications within 30 days after surgery (P=0.757). CONCLUSIONS: Most patients achieved the primary and secondary endpoints of the study. However, the major pathological response (MPR) showed statistically significant differences between the neoadjuvant immunotherapy and neoadjuvant chemotherapy groups.

circFBXW7 attenuates malignant progression in lung adenocarcinoma by sponging miR-942-5p.

BACKGROUND: As a type of non-coding RNA, circular RNAs (circRNAs) are considered to be functional molecules associated with human cancers. An increasing number of circRNAs have been verified in malignant progression in a number of cancers. The circRNA, circFBXW7, has been proven to play an important role in tumor proliferation and metastasis. However, whether circFBXW7 influences progression in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains unclear. METHODS: Quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to verify circFBXW7 in LUAD cell lines and LUAD tissues. Kaplan-Meier analysis was then used to compare the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of these LUAD patients. The biological function of circFBXW7 was examined by overexpression and knockdown of circFBXW7 using MTT assay, EdU assay, wound-healing assay, and Transwell in vitro assays. To explore the mechanism of the circFBXW7, RNA pull-down assay, dual luciferase reporter assay, and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay were employed to examine the interaction between circFBXW7 and miR-942-5p. Western blot was used to study the fundamental proteins associated with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway. In vivo studies with BALB/c nude mice subcutaneously injected with cells stably overexpressing circFBXW7 were performed to further validate the in vitro results. RESULTS: circFBXW7 was downregulated in LUAD cell lines and tissues, and LUAD patients with lower levels had shorter DFS and OS. The in vitro study showed that circFBXW7 overexpression inhibited proliferation and migration of A549 and HCC2279 cell lines. These results were confirmed by circFBXW7 knockdown, which showed the reverse effect. The in vivo model showed that the circRNA levels influenced the tumor growth. Finally, we determined that circFBXW7 target miRNA-942-5p which regulates the EMT gene BARX2. The modulation of circFBXW7 levels produced significant changes in EMT genes in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that circFBXW7 inhibits proliferation and migration by controlling the miR-942-5p/BARX2 axis in LUAD cell lines and its levels correlates with patient survival suggesting that regulating circFBXW7 could have therapeutic value in treating LUAD patients.

Circ-AASDH functions as the progression of early stage lung adenocarcinoma by targeting miR-140-3p to activate E2F7 expression.

BACKGROUND: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), which is the most common subtype of non-small cell lung cancer, is a leading course of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Recently, circular RNA (CircRNAs) has become a hot spot in cancer research because of its important role in tumorigenesis and development and its superior stability. This study aims to clarify the role of circ-AASDH in LUAD and explore its competitive endogenous RNA mechanism. METHODS: The circ-AASDH, miR-140-3p and E2F transcription factor 7 (E2F7) mRNA expression levels were detected via qRT-PCR. CCK-8 and colony formation assay were used to evaluate the ability of cell proliferation. Transwell assay and wound healing assay were performed to measure the invasion and migration ability. Flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis of cells. Moreover, Sanger sequencing, RNaseR treatment and divergent primers were used to verify the circular structure. Luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down experiment were performed to characterize the ceRNA mechanism of circ-AASDH. The xenograft model of mice was established to investigate the tumorigenicity of circ-AASDH to LUAD in vivo. RESULTS: By screening for differentially expressed circRNAs, we found that circ-AASDH was highly expressed in LUAD tissues and cells and correlated with tumor size, clinical stage and poor prognosis. Transfection of si-circ-AASDH can inhibit the proliferation and migration of LUAD cells and promote apoptosis in vitro. In mechanism, circ-AASDH could be used as a sponge of miR-140-3p to weaken its inhibition on the expression of E2F7. Additionally, the overexpression of circ-AASDH could deduce the suppression of miR-140-3p on the malignant progression of LUAD cells. Besides, silencing of circ-AASDH inhibited cell proliferation and migration by regulating the expression of E2F7. Furthermore, overexpression of circ-AASDH can promote the growth of LUAD in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Circ-AASDH/miR-140-3p/E2F7 regulating axis promoted the progression in LUAD. Our results provided ideas for understanding the biological mechanism of circ-AASDH and clarify potential therapeutic targets in LUAD.

First-Line Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Current Landscape and Future Progress.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Most of these patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) present with the advanced stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis, and thus decrease the 5-year survival rate to about 5%. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can act on the inhibitory pathway of cancer immune response, thereby restoring and maintaining anti-tumor immunity. There are already ICIs targeting different pathways, including the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) pathway. Since March 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (anti-PD-1 antibody) as the second-line option for treatment of patients with advanced squamous NSCLC. Additionally, a series of inhibitors related to PD-1/PD-L1 immune-checkpoints have helped in the immunotherapy of NSCLC patients, and modified the original treatment model. However, controversies remain regarding the use of ICIs in a subgroup with targeted oncogene mutations is a problem that we need to solve. On the other hand, there are continuous efforts to find biomarkers that effectively predict the response of ICIs to screen suitable populations. In this review, we have reviewed the history of the continuous developments in cancer immunotherapy, summarized the mechanism of action of the immune-checkpoint pathways. Finally, based on the results of the first-line recent trials, we propose a potential first-line immunotherapeutic strategy for the treatment of the patients with NSCLC.

Circ-ZKSCAN1 regulates FAM83A expression and inactivates MAPK signaling by targeting miR-330-5p to promote non-small cell lung cancer progression.

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) belong to a new type of endogenous non-coding RNA and plays a key role in carcinogenesis. Circ-ZKSCAN1 (hsa_circ_0001727) has been proven to be a tumor-dependent circRNA. However, its role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been underreported. METHODS: The expression patterns of circ-ZKSCAN1 were determined using qRT-PCR in NSCLC samples and cell lines. Cell proliferation was examined utilizing the CCK-8 assay. Cell migration and invasion were evaluated using the Transwell assay. The combination of circ-ZKSCAN1 and miR-330-5p in NSCLC cells was analyzed by RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assay. We used the bioinformatics software circbank, CircInteractome, TargetScan and Miranda to predict circRNA-miRNA and miRNA-mRNA interactions. RESULTS: Our results showed that circ-ZKSCAN1 was significantly up-regulated in NSCLC, closely related to malignant characteristics and poor prognosis, and clinically related to tumor size and clinical stage. Subsequent experiments showed that circ-ZKSCAN1 could inhibit the growth of NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, circ-ZKSCAN1 can act as a sponge of carcinogenic miR-330-5p to increase the expression of FAM83A, resulting in the inhibition of MAPK signal transduction pathway, thus promoting the progress of NSCLC. Interestingly, the increase in FAM83A expression caused by circ-ZKSCAN1 overexpression could in turn promote the expression of circ-ZKSCAN1. CONCLUSIONS: Circ-ZKSCAN1 is a key positive regulator of NSCLC, and clarifies the potential molecular mechanism of the new circ-ZKSCAN1/miR-330-5p/FAM83A feedback loop in promoting the progress of NSCLC.