Career adaptability and correlating factors among secondary vocational nursing students in China.

Background: Career adaptability significantly affects college students' career happiness in the future, and it is essential to make a detailed evaluation of its correlation for making a targeted intervention plan. However, the applicability of occupational adaptability to secondary vocational nursing students is still an unexplored field in academic research. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the current situation of career adaptability and its influencing factors on secondary vocational nursing students in medical schools. Methods: A total of 1,414 secondary vocational nursing students from three secondary colleges and universities in Southwest China from July 2022 to September 2022 were selected for the survey. A questionnaire was used to assess secondary vocational nursing students' sociodemographic, Career Adaptability, Psychological Control Sources, and the Meaning in Life. Statistical analyses were performed using Pearson's correlation analysis, t-test, analysis of variance and multiple. Results: Secondary vocational nursing students scored (51.03 ± 9.64) for the meaning in life, (81.46 ± 25.39) for psychological control sources, and (94.12 ± 15.55) for career adaptability. Career resilience was significantly and positively correlated with the opportunity and internal control factors of psychological control sources (r = 0.091, -0.488, p < 0.01); and career adaptability was significantly and positively correlated with the sense of seeking meaning and possessing meaning factors of sense of meaning in life (r = 0.725, 0.734, p < 0.01); Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that academic performance, mother's educational level, search for meaning, sense of meaningfulness, opportunities, and internal control entered the regression equation (p < 0.05), explaining 64% of the total variance. Conclusion: The overall career adaptability of secondary vocational nursing students is at a moderately high level, with significant individual differences closely correlated with locus of control, meaning in life, and career adaptability. Nursing educators can provide targeted intervention measures based on influencing factors to promote the development of secondary vocational nursing students' career adaptability, enabling them to better adapt to future clinical work.

Palladium(II)-Catalyzed Site-Selective C(sp3)-H Alkenylation of Oligopeptides.

An innovative palladium-catalyzed alkenylation of peptides and vinyl iodides has been developed. This method does not require the introduction of a directing group and uses carboxylic acid groups as endogenous directing groups. It is noteworthy that two key building blocks for the ilamycins and CXCR7 modulators were prepared using our methodology. In addition, the free carboxylic acid residue can be linked to a variety of other compounds, providing a novel approach to the synthesis of peptide drugs in the future.

Development of a core outcome set of clinical research on the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine for spinal metastases: a study protocol.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the incidence of spinal metastasis (SM) has been increasing steadily. In response to this serious public health problem, researchers have made progress by using the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine. However, considerable heterogeneity in the definition and measurement of outcomes across clinical research studies, along with the lack of uniform measurement standards for study data, makes it difficult for researchers to compare different treatments. Therefore, it is crucial to accurately evaluate clinical research on the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine for SM. METHODS: This study protocol outlines a comprehensive research programme based on the Core Outcome Set Standards Protocol Items. The study consists of four phases: a literature review, semistructured interviews, a two-round modified Delphi survey, a consensus meeting. Phase 1 involves a comprehensive literature review to extract outcomes used in current clinical studies of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine or Western medicine for the treatment of SM. A semistructured interview format will be used to survey patients and caregivers in phase 2 to collect suggestions from the patient perspective. Phase 3 involves a two-round modified Delphi survey to complete a prioritisation evaluation of outcomes to generate a candidate list for core outcome set (COS). Finally, phase 4 involves a face-to-face consensus meeting to review and establish the COS. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Conducted in response to the current dilemma of SM, the study was endorsed by the Spine Oncology Group of the Orthopaedic Surgeons Branch of the Chinese Physicians' Association. It will be developed and reported through a rigorous process, with the results of the study to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.Registration: COMET Registry: COMET 2938; https://www.comet-initiative.org/Studies/Details/2938.

Unveiling chlorine's role: How it shapes the formation and light-activated oxygen dynamics of chlorophenol-derived environmental persistent free radicals.

Environmental persistent free radicals (EPFRs) derived from chlorophenols, triggered by light or heat exposure, pose significant ecological concerns, yet the impact of chlorine substituents on EPFRs formation and reactivity remains inadequately understood. Through an intentional synthesis of chlorophenol-derived EPFRs with varying chlorine contents and positioning, we elucidated the role of chlorine in the photoactivation of molecular oxygen. Our combined experimental and theoretical analysis reveals that these EPFRs are primarily oxygen-centered phenoxy radicals, establishing a direct link between chlorine substitution patterns and their ability to activate molecular oxygen under visible light. Increased chlorine content enhances EPFRs formation by elevating the positive charge on the phenolic hydroxyl group's hydrogen atom, facilitating its removal. Moreover, the capability of EPFRs to activate molecular oxygen was directly correlated with chlorine content, with 2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenol-derived EPFRs showcasing the highest activity. This activity is attributed to their structural propensity for TCSQ·- species generation. Furthermore, our study established a significant correlation between the toxicity and activity of EPFRs, emphasizing the critical role of halogen substituents in determining the reactivity of EPFRs. These insights contribute to our understanding of their environmental and toxicological ramifications, underscoring the imperative for continued research aimed at mitigating their detrimental impacts.

Regulating the Scaling Relations in Ammonia Synthesis through a Light-Driven Bendable Seesaw Effect on Tailored Iron Catalyst.

Advancing the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process faces significant challenges due to the intrinsic constraints of scaling relations in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we reported an approach of bending the "seesaw effect" to regulate the scaling relations over a tailored α-Fe metallic material (α-Fe-110s), realizing highly efficient light-driven thermal catalytic ammonia synthesis with a rate of 1260 µmol gcatalyst -1 h-1 without additional heating. Specifically, the thermal catalytic activity of α-Fe-110s was significantly enhanced by the novel stepped {110} surface, exhibiting a 3.8-fold increase compared to the commercial fused-iron catalyst with promoters at 350 °C. The photo-induced hot electron transfer further accelerates the dinitrogen dissociation and hydrogenation simultaneously, effectively overcoming the limitation of scaling relation over identical sites. Consequently, the ammonia production rate of α-Fe-110s was further enhanced by 30 times at the same temperature with irradiation. This work designs an efficient and sustainable system for ammonia synthesis and provides a novel approach for regulating the scaling relations in heterogeneous catalysis.

Droplet Micro-Sensor and Detection of Respiratory Droplet Transmission.

Droplet transmission is the primary infection route for respiratory diseases like COVID-19 and influenza, but small and low-cost wearable droplet detection devices are a significant challenge. Herein, a respiratory droplet micro-sensor based on graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) assembled onto SiO2 microspheres by the nebulized natural deposition is presented. Benefiting from the energy dissipation of the microsphere to droplets, the sensor can detect droplets as far as 2 m from coughing. With this sensor, droplet signal variations caused by some factors like distance, speech, angles, and wind directions are explored, and the effectiveness of different protective measures in preventing droplet transmission is evaluated. This droplet detection technology is expected to be utilized for the development of personal detection and protection devices against infectious respiratory diseases.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire: A Methodological Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: Neck pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder, and it affects the quality of life of patients. As an effective and reliable multidimensional measurement tool for neck pain, the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire (NBQ) has been cross-culturally adapted into multiple languages for clinical practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the translation procedures and measurement properties of cross-cultural adaptations of the NBQ. METHODS: Searches were conducted in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Scopus using the keywords: "the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire," "NBQ," "cross-cultural," and "adaptation." Methodological quality of cross-cultural adaptation processes and measurement properties were comprehensively assessed by the guidelines for Cross-cultural Adaptation Process of Self-Reporting Measures and the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments. RESULTS: There were 12 adaptations of NBQ in 10 different languages, including Dutch, simplified Chinese, and German. Among these studies, 11 adaptations completed all cross-cultural adaptation procedures. However, significant variations existed in the specific implementation plans, particularly regarding translator selection and expert committee composition. Most cross-cultural adaptations reported internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity. Only one study conducted factor analysis and hypothesis testing. Five adaptations examined floor and ceiling effects with one reporting a floor effect. A few studies reported protocol responsiveness and interpretability. CONCLUSIONS: The Dutch, German, and Urdu adaptations demonstrate comparatively higher quality than other adaptations. Further research should comprehensively evaluate the measurement properties of the NBQ in the French, Portuguese-Brazilian, and Turkish adaptations.

A critical appraisal of clinical practice guidelines on surgical treatments for spinal metastasis.

PURPOSE: As an important treatment for spinal metastasis, surgery has strict applicable conditions. Although various organizations have formulated different guidelines on surgical treatment for spinal metastasis (SM), there are certain differences in the content, standardization and quality of the guidelines and it is necessary to make a critical appraisal of them. We aim to systematically review and appraise the current guidelines on surgical treatments of SM and summarize the related recommendations with the quality evaluation of supporting evidence, as to provide a reference for the standardization of surgical treatment plans, and help clinical front-line medical workers can make safe and effective clinical decisions faster. METHODS: We searched Pubmed, Web of Science, and Embase for three major databases and online guideline databases. According to certain inclusion and exclusion criteria, the latest guidelines on the surgical treatment of SM were sorted out. AGREE II was used to evaluated the guideline's quality, and we extracted and compared the recommended treatment content of each guideline with evaluating by the evidence-grading scale. RESULTS: Eight guidelines from 2013 to 2019 were included. Seven guidelines are comprehensive guidelines and one related to the reconstructive surgery of SM. Five guidelines were evaluated as "recommended," and three guidelines were evaluated as "recommended with modifications." Regarding the indications of surgery with SM, four guidelines, seven guidelines, seven guidelines, three guidelines and three guidelines recommended surgical treatment for patients with SM with intractable pain, mechanical instability, metastatic epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC), recurrent spinal metastasis (RSM), and survival predication, respectively. Regarding the surgical strategies, three guidelines recommended minimally invasive therapy but had strict indications. Six guidelines and five guidelines recommend palliative surgery and with receiving radiation therapy, respectively. For the aggressive surgery, only one guideline recommended to apply to patients in good general conditions who has isolated symptomatic SM. Regarding the surgical reconstructions, one guideline didn't recommend iliac bone graft and three guidelines recommended PMMA bone cement. CONCLUSION: Most of the guidelines do not provide clear criteria for surgical application and provide more of a basic framework. The level of evidence for these surgical recommendations ranges from LOE B to D, and almost all guidelines recommend vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty, but for palliative and more aggressive surgery, which recommended to personalize specific surgical strategies with multidisciplinary collaboration.

Pd(II)-Catalyzed ß-C(sp3)-H Alkynylation of Alanine in Di- and Tripeptides with Asn as an Endogenous Directing Group.

The introduction of alkyne moieties into peptides remains in demand as it represents a promising approach for further structural diversification of peptides. Herein, we describe the Pd(II)-catalyzed C(sp3)-H alkynylation of Ala-Asn-embedded di- and tripeptides using Asn as the endogenous lead group. In addition, a key building block for the glycopeptide Tyc4PG-14 and Tyc4PG-15 was produced by our methodology.

Measurement properties of health-related quality of life measures for people living with metastatic disease of the spine: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: Patients with spinal metastases (SM) suffer from a significant quality of life (QoL) deterioration. The measurement of QoL has garnered significant attention. In this study, the authors aimed to investigate the frequency of QoL measurement, systematically appraise the measurement properties of identified instruments, and facilitate the effective selection of an appropriate QoL instrument for patients with SM. METHODS: This systematic review adhered to the newly revised Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement guidelines. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) checklist. Measurement property results were assessed using the adapted criteria. Each measurement property was allocated a separate rating (excellent, good, fair, or poor). 'Best evidence synthesis' was performed using COSMIN outcomes and the quality of findings. RESULT: Two hundred and nine publications were included, and 18 instruments were identified. ECOG, EuroQol-5D, SF-36, SOSGOQ, and EORTC-QLQ-C30 were the top five instruments used for patients with SM in published literature. The measurement properties evaluated included internal consistency (four instruments), reliability (three instruments), validity (five instruments), validity (nine measures), floor and ceiling effects (four instruments), responsiveness (four instruments), and interpretability (three measures). Based on the limited evidence, the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) had the best methodological quality. CONCLUSIONS: Owing to the limitations of BPI in assessment domains, we cannot fully support the use of BPI. For the lack of high-quality research, it is challenging to nominate a single appropriate measure. Additional studies are needed to explore the evidence before a confirmatory decision is made.

Expanded phenotypic spectrum of FOXL2 Variant c.672_701dup revealed by whole-exome sequencing in a rare blepharophimosis, ptosis, and epicanthus inversus syndrome family.

INTRODUCTION: Blepharophimosis, ptosis, and epicanthus inversus syndrome (BPES) is a rare genetic disease with diverse ocular malformations. This study aimed to investigate the disease-causing gene in members of a BPES pedigree presenting with the rare features of anisometropia, unilateral pathologic myopia (PM), and congenital cataracts. METHODS: The related BPES patients underwent a comprehensive ocular examination. Next, whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed to screen for the disease-causing genetic variants. A step-wise variant filtering was performed to select candidate variants combined with the annotation of the variant's pathogenicity, which was assessed using several bioinformatic approaches. Co-segregation analysis and Sanger sequencing were then conducted to validate the candidate variant. RESULTS: The variant c.672_701dup in FOXL2 was identified to be the disease-causing variant in this rare BPES family. Combined with clinical manifestations, the two affected individuals were diagnosed with type II BPES. CONCLUSION: This study uncovered the variant c.672_701dup in FOXL2 as a disease causal variant in a rare-presenting BPES family with anisometropia, unilateral pathogenic myopia, and/or congenital cataracts, thus expanding the phenotypic spectrum of FOXL2.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of chondroitinase ABC promotes functional recovery in rat models of spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND: To comprehensively assess the neurologic recovery potential of chondroitinase ABC (ChABC) in rats after spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: The PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were searched for animal experiments that evaluated the use of ChABC in the treatment of SCI up to November 2022. Studies reporting neurological function using the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scale, as well as assessments of cavity area, lesion area, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels, were included in the analysis. RESULTS: A total of 46 studies were ultimately selected for inclusion. The results of the study showed that rats with SCI that received ChABC therapy exhibited a significant improvement in locomotor function after 7 days compared with controls (32 studies, weighted mean difference (WMD) = 0.58, [0.33, 0.83], p < 0.00001). Furthermore, the benefits of ChABC therapy were maintained for up to 28 days according to BBB scale. The lesion area was reduced by ChABC (5 studies, WMD = -20.94, [-28.42, -13.46], p < 0.00001). Meanwhile, GFAP levels were reduced in the ChABC treatment group (8 studies, WMD = -29.15, [-41.57, -16.72], p < 0.00001). Cavity area is not statistically significant. The subgroup analysis recommended that a single injection of 10 µL (8 studies, WMD = 2.82, [1.99, 3.65], p < 0.00001) or 20 U/mL (4 studies, WMD = 2.21, [0.73, 3.70], p = 0.003) had a better effect on improving the function. The funnel plot of the BBB scale was found to be essentially symmetrical, indicating a low risk of publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis has indicated that ChABC could improve functional recovery in rats after SCI.

Berry Curvature and Bulk-Boundary Correspondence from Transport Measurement for Photonic Chern Bands.

Berry curvature is a fundamental element to characterize topological quantum physics, while a full measurement of Berry curvature in momentum space was not reported for topological states. Here we achieve two-dimensional Berry curvature reconstruction in a photonic quantum anomalous Hall system via Hall transport measurement of a momentum-resolved wave packet. Integrating measured Berry curvature over the two-dimensional Brillouin zone, we obtain Chern numbers corresponding to -1 and 0. Further, we identify bulk-boundary correspondence by measuring topology-linked chiral edge states at the boundary. The full topological characterization of photonic Chern bands from Berry curvature, Chern number, and edge transport measurements enables our photonic system to serve as a versatile platform for further in-depth study of novel topological physics.

Supplementation of chestnut tannins in diets can improve meat quality and antioxidative capability in Hu lambs.

Chestnut tannins (CNT), as a source of hydrolyzable tannins, positively affect the antioxidant status of livestock. In the current study, 90 male Hu lambs were used to investigate the effect of dietary CNT intake on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, meat quality and oxidative stability, rumen microbial, and the transcriptomes of muscle and liver. A completely randomized design with three CNT intake levels (0, 0.3%, and 0.6%) was used. Rumen microbial and nutrient digestibility were not significantly altered by CNT intake. Diets with 0.3% CNT intake significantly reduced the shear force, yellowness at 24 h, and C20:2 polyunsaturated fatty acids of lamb meat and malondialdehyde in serum and longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle. Meanwhile, the 0.3% CNT diet significantly increased average daily gain during the 1- 21 days and 64- 90 days, dry matter intake during the 1- 21 days, the slaughter weight, and liver index of lambs. The 0.3% CNT diet significantly increased C26:0 saturated fatty acids, total antioxidant capacity, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase in LT muscle. The meat shelf life of 0.3% CNT and 0.6% CNT groups was prolonged by 8.7 h and 5.4 h, respectively. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that CNT supplementation can induce the expression of antioxidant enzyme gene (CAT, SOD1), and the differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in antioxidant activity, transferase activity, and adenosine triphosphate binding. These results suggest that 0.3% CNT intake can relieve the oxidative stress of lambs, and improve the stability of meat color and meat tenderness, due to the enhanced antioxidative capacity.

Bibliometric Insights in Advances of Chordoma: Global Trends and Research Development in the Last Decade.

Chordoma is a rare tumor, but has a serious effect on the quality of life of patients. This study aims to assess the overall knowledge structure and trends in the development of chordoma research using a bibliometric analysis and visualization tool. Research datasets were acquired from the Web of Science. VOS viewer and CiteSpace visualization software were used to demonstrate collaborations and correlations. Annual trends in publications, distribution, H-index status, co-authorship status, and research hotspots were analyzed. A total of 1844 publications from 2012 to 2022 were included. The number of chordoma-related publications increased year by year. The United States contributed the most publications (717) and had the highest total citations (10130) and H-index (50), followed by China. The United States was also the country most frequently involved in international cooperation. The most productive organization involved in chordoma research was Massachusetts General Hospital. World Neurosurgery (114) published the most papers on chordoma. Hornicek FJ was the most productive author over the last decade (41). Initially, diagnosis and the location of onset captured the attention of the research society. Quality of life, risk factors, disability, minimally invasive surgical techniques, molecular targeted therapy, and radiotherapy technology are the research hotspots in recent years. Indeed, this study provides important insights into the overall landscape of chordoma research and also contributes to the further investigation of the international frontier of chordoma.

Predictors of post-stroke depression: the perspective from the social convoy model.

BACKGROUND: Post-stroke depression (PSD) as one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders after a stroke and is caused by many factors. However, the relationships among different factors and their potential contributions to PSD remain unclear. METHODS: Two hundred and seventy-six patients were recruited into this study. The general information questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Family Assessment Device, the General Well-Being Scale, the Barthel Index, and the modified Rankin Scale were used to assess the condition of patients. Subsequently, we identify the main causes associated with the PSD and then performed a path analysis to clarify the direct, indirect and total effects among the variables. RESULTS: We found that age, stroke with coronary heart disease, neurological function, family function, social support, and general well-being had a significant impact on PSD (P < 0.05). Of these, neurological function had the largest total effect on PSD (ß = 0.451), social support contributed the most as a direct effect (ß = -0.306), and family function showed the largest indirect effect (ß = -0.264). CONCLUSION: Individual, disease, and social-psychological factors all contributed to the development of PSD. We should pay more attention to comprehensive assessment, especially for those with poor neurological function, and lacking family or social support. In addition, it would be preferable to provide them with necessary support and care strategies to reduce the incidence of PSD.

GIONet: Global information optimized network for multi-center COVID-19 diagnosis via COVID-GAN and domain adversarial strategy.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2019 has highlighted the need for automatic diagnosis of the disease, which can develop rapidly into a severe condition. Nevertheless, distinguishing between COVID-19 pneumonia and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) through computed tomography scans can be challenging due to their similar characteristics. The existing methods often perform poorly in the 3-class classification task of healthy, CAP, and COVID-19 pneumonia, and they have poor ability to handle the heterogeneity of multi-centers data. To address these challenges, we design a COVID-19 classification model using global information optimized network (GIONet) and cross-centers domain adversarial learning strategy. Our approach includes proposing a 3D convolutional neural network with graph enhanced aggregation unit and multi-scale self-attention fusion unit to improve the global feature extraction capability. We also verified that domain adversarial training can effectively reduce feature distance between different centers to address the heterogeneity of multi-center data, and used specialized generative adversarial networks to balance data distribution and improve diagnostic performance. Our experiments demonstrate satisfying diagnosis results, with a mixed dataset accuracy of 99.17% and cross-centers task accuracies of 86.73% and 89.61%.

A systematic review and bibliometric study of Bertolotti's syndrome: clinical characteristics and global trends.

PURPOSE: Bertolotti's syndrome is a prevalent congenital deformity. However, many physicians fail to include it in their differential diagnosis for low back pain (LBP), which results in missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis. There is still a lack of standardized treatment and management strategies for Bertolotti's syndrome. This study aimed to review the clinical characteristics and management of Bertolotti's syndrome and reports bibliometric insights in advancements in Bertolotti's syndrome research. METHODS: Studies published until 30 September 2022 were systematically reviewed according to the PRISMA guidelines. Three independent reviewers extracted the data and assessed the quality and risk of bias of the studies based on the methodological index of non-randomized studies (MINORS). SPSS, VOS viewer, and the Citespace software were used for the systematic review, visual analysis, data mining, mapping, and clustering of the retrieved articles, which presented clear and visual presentations of the structural patterns of published research in graphs. RESULT: A total of 118 articles, describing a total of 419 patients with Bertolotti's syndrome, were included. There was an upward trend with a steady increase in the number of publications. The world map distribution showed that most publications were predominantly from North America and Asia. The most cited articles were published in the following journals: Spine, J Bone Joint Surg, and Radiology. The mean age of the patients was 47.7 years, and 49.6% of them were male. A total of 159 (96.4%) patients had LBP symptoms. The mean symptom duration was 41.4 months (74.8%), and most of the patients had Castellvi type II. Disc degeneration was the most reported comorbid spinal diseases. The mean methodological index of non-randomized studies score was 4.16±3.95 points (range, 1-21). A total of 265 (68.3%) patients underwent surgical treatments. Minimally invasive surgical techniques, prevalence, image classification, and disc degeneration were the current main research areas of Bertolotti's syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The steady increase in the number of publications demonstrated the increased attention of researchers on this topic. Our results showed a significant prevalence of Bertolotti's syndrome in patients with LBP and a long symptom duration before the initiation of treatment. Surgical treatments were commonly used to treat patients with Bertolotti's syndrome after a non-effective conservative treatment. Minimally invasive surgical techniques, prevalence, image classification, and disc degeneration are the major research areas of Bertolotti's syndrome.

The Efficacy of Pretreatment 18F-FDG PET-CT-Based Deep Learning Network Structure to Predict Survival in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Background: Previous studies have shown that the 5-year survival rates of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) were still not ideal despite great improvement in NPC treatments. To achieve individualized treatment of NPC, we have been looking for novel models to predict the prognosis of patients with NPC. The objective of this study was to use a novel deep learning network structural model to predict the prognosis of patients with NPC and to compare it with the traditional PET-CT model combining metabolic parameters and clinical factors. Methods: A total of 173 patients were admitted to 2 institutions between July 2014 and April 2020 for the retrospective study; each received a PET-CT scan before treatment. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was employed to select some features, including SUVpeak-P, T3, age, stage II, MTV-P, N1, stage III and pathological type, which were associated with overall survival (OS) of patients. We constructed 2 survival prediction models: an improved optimized adaptive multimodal task (a 3D Coordinate Attention Convolutional Autoencoder and an uncertainty-based jointly Optimizing Cox Model, CACA-UOCM for short) and a clinical model. The predictive power of these models was assessed using the Harrell Consistency Index (C index). Overall survival of patients with NPC was compared by Kaplan-Meier and Log-rank tests. Results: The results showed that CACA-UOCM model could estimate OS (C index, 0.779 for training, 0.774 for validation, and 0.819 for testing) and divide patients into low and high mortality risk groups, which were significantly associated with OS (P < .001). However, the C-index of the model based only on clinical variables was only 0.42. Conclusions: The deep learning network model based on 18F-FDG PET/CT can serve as a reliable and powerful predictive tool for NPC and provide therapeutic strategies for individual treatment.

The critical impacts of pyrochar during 2,4,6-trichlorophenol photochemical remediation process: Cooperation between persistent free radicals and oxygenated functional groups.

The widespread use of polychlorophenols poses enormous environmental challenges. Biochar has the potential to accelerate the transformation of polychlorophenols. But the biochar-triggered photochemical decomposition mechanism of polychlorophenols still remains unclear. Herein, the photochemical behavior of pyrochar was comprehensively investigated in 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) remediation. Researches revealed that persistent free radicals (PFRs) and oxygenated functional groups (OFGs) on the surface of pyrochar cooperatively promoted ROS generation for TCP degradation. PFRs performed a key role of electron-donating and energy transfer in ROS conversion, especially in the activation of H2O2 into •OH. The hydroxyl groups of photosensitive components of pyrochar were photo-excited and provided electrons for enhanced ROS formation as well. With photogenerated ROS involved, more TCP was decomposed through dechlorination under light irradiation than that in the dark, in which 1O2, •OH, and •O2- were the dominant active species. During this process, stronger light intensities (3 W/m2) and shorter light wavelengths (400 nm) can provide more energy for the activation of PFRs and OFGs, promoting the decomposition of TCP. This work casts a new light on the environmental roles of pyrochar in the photochemical removal of polychlorophenol pollutants.