Ultrasound-Assisted Adsorption of Perchlorate Using Calcined Hydrotalcites and the Thermal Stabilization Effect of Recycled Adsorbents on Poly(vinyl chloride).

Due to their high anion exchange and memory effect, the layered double hydroxides (LHDs) have wide applications for some areas. In this work, an efficient and green recycling route for layered double hydroxide based adsorbents is proposed specifically for application as a poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) heat stabilizer without requiring secondary calcination. Conventional magnesium-aluminum hydrotalcite was synthesized using the hydrothermal method followed by removal of carbonate anion (CO32-) between LDH layers by calcination. The adsorption of perchlorate anion (ClO4-) by the memory effect of calcined LDHs with and without ultrasound assistance was compared. Using ultrasound assistance, the maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbents (291.89 mg/g) was increased, and the adsorption process was fitted using the kinetic Elovich rate equation (R2 = 0.992) and Langmuir adsorption model (R2 = 0.996). This material was characterized using XRD, FT-IR, EDS, and TGA which demonstrated that ClO4- was intercalated into the hydrotalcite layer successfully. The recycled adsorbents were used to augment a commercial calcium-zinc-based PVC stabilizer package applied in a epoxidized soybean oil plasticized cast sheet which is based on an emulsion type PVC homopolymer resin. Use of perchlorate intercalated LDH augmentation yielded significant improvement to static heat resistance as indicated by the degree of discoloration with a life extension of approximately 60 min. The improved stability was corroborated by evaluation of HCl gas evolved during thermal degradation using conductivity change curves and the Congo red test.

Concurrent sintilimab with sequential chemoradiotherapy for unresectable, stage III non-small cell lung cancer: a retrospective study.

Background: Concurrent programmed death 1 (PD-1) or programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors with sequential chemoradiotherapy (SCRT) have been reported in only a limited number of studies involving patients with unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A retrospective study was conducted to systematically analyze the efficacy and safety of the emerging therapy among Chinese patients. Materials and methods: We included patients with unresectable, stage III NSCLC who received concurrent sintilimab with chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone for 3-6 cycles, followed by radical radiotherapy at the First Hospital of Jilin University from Dec 15, 2019, to Jul 15, 2022. The primary end point was the objective response rate (ORR). The secondary end points included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), 12-month and 18-month PFS rates, the duration of response (DoR), and safety. Results: The retrospective study involved 77 patients, of which 49 receiving concurrent sintilimab with SCRT were assigned to cohort A, and 28 receiving SCRT alone were assigned to cohort B. The ORR was significantly higher in cohort A (79.6%, 95% CI 65.7-89.8) than in cohort B (35.7%, 95% CI 18.6-55.9) (p<0.001). Median PFS was significantly longer in cohort A than in cohort B (NR [95% CI 21.4-NR] vs. 16.0 months [13.0-22.5]; HR 0.375, 95% CI 0.192-0.735; p=0.003). The PFS rates at 12 and 18 months were 84.8% (95% CI 75.0-95.9) and 71.3% (95% CI 58.7-86.7) in cohort A and 75.0% (95% CI 60.6-92.9) and 38.3% (95% CI 23.7-61.7) in cohort B, respectively. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events (AEs) were reported in 19 patients (38.8%) and seven patients (25.0%) in two cohorts, respectively. Grade 3 or 4 pneumonitis or immune-mediated pneumonitis, radiation pneumonitis, and pneumonia occurred in five (10.2%), four (8.2%), and two (4.1%) cohort A patients, and zero, two (7.1%), and two (7.1%) cohort B patients, respectively. Only cohort A reported AE leading to death in one (2.0%) patient (immune-mediated pneumonitis). Conclusion: Concurrent sintilimab with SCRT resulted in a significantly better ORR and longer PFS than SCRT alone, with manageable safety profiles in Chinese patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC.

Endometrial clear cell carcinoma: A population-based study.

Background: A systematic analysis of prognostic factors concerning endometrial clear cell carcinoma (ECCC) is lacking. The current study aimed to construct nomograms predicting the overall survival (OS) of ECCC patients. Methods: We performed a retrospective study, and predicted nomograms for 3-, 5-, and 10-year OS were established. The nomograms were verified with the consistency index (C-index), calibration curve, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: A total of 1778 ECCC patients, 991 from FIGO stage I/II and 787 from FIGO stage III/IV, were included in this study. The age at diagnosis, marital status, T stage, tumor size, and surgery-independent prognostic factors in FIGO stage I/II, and the age at diagnosis, T stage, lymph node involvement, distant metastasis, tumor size, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy in FIGO stage III/IV were independent prognostic factors. The C-indexes of the training and validation group were 0.766 and 0.697 for FIGO stage I/II and 0.721 and 0.708 for FIGO stage III/IV, respectively. The calibration curve revealed good agreement between nomogram-predicted and actual observation values. The DCA established that nomograms had better clinical benefits than the traditional FIGO stage. Conclusions: The predicted nomograms showed good accuracy, excellent discrimination ability, and clinical benefits, depicting their usage in clinical practice.

A new V-shaped organic fluorescent compound integrated with crystallization-induced emission enhancement and intramolecular charge transfer.

The emission behavior of a new V-shaped organic fluorescent compound (p,p'-bis(2-aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-5-yl)diphenyl sulfone (OZA-SO)), consisting of diethylamino (donor) and sulfone (acceptor) units, has been studied in various polar solvents and with different morphologies. As expected, there is the gradual transition from the locally excited state to the intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) state with the increasing solvent polarity. The photoluminescence intensity of OZA-SO initially decreases with a low water fraction (f(w)), owing to ICT effect, and then increases with a high f(w), owing to crystallization-induced emission enhancement. At the same time, the fluorescence lifetime of OZA-SO increases from 0.062 ns in dimethylformamide (DMF) to 5.80 ns in a solution containing 90 % water, and then to 7.49 ns in a solution containing 60 % water. Furthermore, the solid-state emission of OZA-SO can be tuned reversibly from green to yellow by fuming/grinding or fuming/heating owing to morphological changes. This color-switchable feature of OZA-SO may have potential applications in optical-recording and temperature-sensing materials.