Research Progress of Baihe Gujin Decoction in the Treatment of Lung Cancer.

Baihe Gujin decoction is one of the most commonly used decoction in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of lung cancer. It can nourish yin and moisten the lung as well as prevent phlegm from forming and stop coughing. On the one hand, Baihe Gujin decoction is characterized with extensive application, proven efficacy, a long history, and high safety. On the other hand, Baihe Gujin decoction can induce apoptosis of tumor cells, improve immune function and inhibit inflammation. The main anti-tumor components of this include kaempferol, quercetin, isorhamnetin, glycyrrhizin and ß-sitosterol. Clinically, Baihe Gujin decoction can improve the adverse reactions caused by radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy for lung cancer, enhance the quality of life of patients, and prolong their survival time. At present, there are a large number of clinical and basic researches on the treatment of lung cancer with Baihe Gujin decoction. In this paper, we mainly discussed the treatment of lung cancer with Baihe Gujin decoction through analyzing basic and clinical researches at home and abroad in the past 20 years. Through the discussion, we aimed to probe deeper into Baihe Gujin decoction for the treatment of lung cancer, thereby providing a broader idea for clinical diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

The mechanism of Xihuang pills' intervention in the tumour immune microenvironment for the treatment of liver cancer based on the STAT3-PDL1 pathway.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Xihuang pills, a time-honored Chinese compound formula with a history spanning thousands of years, have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in treating various cancers, such as breast cancer, colon cancer, and liver cancer. Clinical applications over the years have established their effectiveness. Several scholars conducting experimental studies have elucidated the potent tumor-suppressing effects of Xihuang pills. While the inhibition of tumor vascular development and prevention of tumor cell invasion and metastasis have been well-explored mechanisms, the impact on the tumor immune microenvironment has received less attention. This study focuses on investigating the immune microenvironment adjustments induced by Xihuang pills in hepatocellular carcinoma. AIM OF THE STUDY: Tumour cells will find an escape phenomenon during tumour immunotherapy, which will affect immunotherapy results. We will research the regulation of the tumour immune microenvironment, to provide a more complete and precise basis for the elucidation of the mechanism of Xihuang pills in treating cancers. It provides new research ideas for people to treat liver cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through in vivo and in vitro assessments confirming the intervention effects of Xihuang pills, we observed alterations in T cell typing, macrophage polarization, and tumor-associated cytokine levels. The primary active ingredients of Xihuang pills were identified using UPLC-MS/GC-MS, and relevant pathways in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma were predicted through network pharmacology. Combining the network pharmacology approach, we predicted the pathways relevant to Xihuang pills in treating hepatocellular carcinoma and experimentally validated the involvement of PD-1/PD-L1, a key immunity-related axis. RESULTS: Xihuang Pill has a regulatory effect on the tumor immune microenvironment. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that Xihuang pills could impact splenic lymphocyte phenotyping, macrophage polarization, and IL-6 cytokine expression in liver cancer mice. The mechanism of action was associated with the regulation of the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway by the STAT3 protein.

DIPAN: Detecting personalized intronic polyadenylation derived neoantigens from RNA sequencing data.

Intronic polyadenylation (IPA) refers to a particular type of alternative polyadenylation where a gene makes use of a polyadenylation site located within its introns. Aberrant IPA events have been observed in various types of cancer. IPA can produce noncoding transcripts or truncated protein-coding transcripts with altered coding sequences in the resulting protein product. Therefore, IPA events hold the potential to act as a reservoir of tumor neoantigens. Here, we developed a computational method termed DIPAN, which incorporates IPA detection, protein fragmentation, and MHC binding prediction to predict IPA-derived neoantigens. Utilizing RNA-seq from breast cancer cell lines and ovarian cancer clinical samples, we demonstrated the significant contribution of IPA events to the neoantigen repertoire. Through mass spectrometry immunopeptidome analysis, we further illustrated the processing and presentation of IPA-derived neoantigens on the surface of cancer cells. While most IPA-derived neoantigens are sample-specific, shared neoantigens were identified in both cancer cell lines and clinical samples. Furthermore, we demonstrated an association between IPA-derived neoantigen burden and overall survival in cancer patients.

Dynamics and Internal Structure Evolution during the Glass Transition of the Ethylene-Cyclic Olefin Copolymers: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

Amorphous ethylene-cyclic olefin copolymers (COCs) which can be used in cell phone lenses and prefilled syringes have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent and tunable thermal properties. In order to better explain the influence of COC microstructure (cyclic olefin types and content) on the glass transition mechanism, we used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to track the evolution of free volume, diffusion coefficients, atomic mobility, trans conformation probabilities, and characteristic parameters of α-relaxation kinetics during the quenching process. MD results show that for the classic COC E-co-NB (ethylene-norbornene copolymer), an increase in cyclic olefin content from 25 to 50 mol % reduces atomic mobility, limiting the molecular chain movement at higher temperatures and improving Tg. Compared to NB, the more rigid rings in tricyclopentadiene (TCPD) and exo-1,4,4a,9,9a,10-hexahydro-9,10(1',2')-bridged phenylidene-1,4-bridged methylideneanthracene (HBM) have the following effects: (1) reducing the thermal expansion coefficient and overall chain mobility; (2) enhancing the diffusion energy barrier; (3) promoting the formation of local ordered structures; (4) accelerating α-relaxation dynamics at high temperatures and improving the dynamic fragility m. These lead to an upward shift in the temperature region where chain movement is limited and thus improve Tg and high-temperature dimensional stability. In this simulation, the correlation equation between Tg, m, and the microstructural parameters of COCs is established, which is of great significance for the development of COCs with high performance.

A whole-slide foundation model for digital pathology from real-world data.

Digital pathology poses unique computational challenges, as a standard gigapixel slide may comprise tens of thousands of image tiles1-3. Prior models have often resorted to subsampling a small portion of tiles for each slide, thus missing the important slide-level context4. Here we present Prov-GigaPath, a whole-slide pathology foundation model pretrained on 1.3 billion 256 × 256 pathology image tiles in 171,189 whole slides from Providence, a large US health network comprising 28 cancer centres. The slides originated from more than 30,000 patients covering 31 major tissue types. To pretrain Prov-GigaPath, we propose GigaPath, a novel vision transformer architecture for pretraining gigapixel pathology slides. To scale GigaPath for slide-level learning with tens of thousands of image tiles, GigaPath adapts the newly developed LongNet5 method to digital pathology. To evaluate Prov-GigaPath, we construct a digital pathology benchmark comprising 9 cancer subtyping tasks and 17 pathomics tasks, using both Providence and TCGA data6. With large-scale pretraining and ultra-large-context modelling, Prov-GigaPath attains state-of-the-art performance on 25 out of 26 tasks, with significant improvement over the second-best method on 18 tasks. We further demonstrate the potential of Prov-GigaPath on vision-language pretraining for pathology7,8 by incorporating the pathology reports. In sum, Prov-GigaPath is an open-weight foundation model that achieves state-of-the-art performance on various digital pathology tasks, demonstrating the importance of real-world data and whole-slide modelling.

Current trends and emerging patterns in the application of nanomaterials for ovarian cancer research: a bibliometric analysis.

Introduction: Ovarian cancer remains to be a significant cause of global cancer-related mortality. In recent years, there has been a surge of studies in investigating the application of nanomaterials in the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis regarding nanomaterial-based researches on ovarian cancer to evaluate the current state and emerging patterns in this field. Methods: A thorough literature search on the Web of Science Core Collection database was conducted to identify articles focused on nanomaterial-based ovarian cancer researches. The studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected for further analysis. VOSviewer and CiteSpace were applied for the bibliometric and visual analyses of the selected publications. Results: A total of 2,426 studies were included in this study. The number of annual publications showed a consistent upward trend from 2003 to 2023. Notably, China, the United States, and India have emerged as the leading contributors in this field, accounting for 37.39%, 34.04%, and 5.69% of the publications, respectively. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Anil K. Sood were identified as the most influential institution and author, respectively. Furthermore, the International Journal of Nanomedicine was the most frequently cited journal. In terms of the research focus, significant attention has been directed towards nanomaterial-related drug delivery, while the exploration of immunogenic cell death and metal-organic frameworks represented recent areas of interest. Conclusion: Through comprehensive analyses, an overview of current research trends and emerging areas of interest regarding the application of nanomaterials in ovarian cancer was illustrated. These findings offered valuable insights into the status and future directions of this dynamic field.

ROCK1 inhibition improves wound healing in diabetes via RIPK4/AMPK pathway.

Refractory wounds are a severe complication of diabetes mellitus that often leads to amputation because of the lack of effective treatments and therapeutic targets. The pathogenesis of refractory wounds is complex, involving many types of cells. Rho-associated protein kinase-1 (ROCK1) phosphorylates a series of substrates that trigger downstream signaling pathways, affecting multiple cellular processes, including cell migration, communication, and proliferation. The present study investigated the role of ROCK1 in diabetic wound healing and molecular mechanisms. Our results showed that ROCK1 expression significantly increased in wound granulation tissues in diabetic patients, streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice, and db/db diabetic mice. Wound healing and blood perfusion were dose-dependently improved by the ROCK1 inhibitor fasudil in diabetic mice. In endothelial cells, fasudil and ROCK1 siRNA significantly elevated the phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase at Thr172 (pThr172-AMPKα), the activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and suppressed the levels of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) and nitrotyrosine formation. Experiments using integrated bioinformatics analysis and coimmunoprecipitation established that ROCK1 inhibited pThr172-AMPKα by binding to receptor-interacting serine/threonine kinase 4 (RIPK4). These results suggest that fasudil accelerated wound repair and improved angiogenesis at least partially through the ROCK1/RIPK4/AMPK pathway. Fasudil may be a potential treatment for refractory wounds in diabetic patients.

Bubble Turbulent Gas-Permeable Membrane for Ammonia Recovery from Swine Wastewater: Mass Transfer Enhancement and Antifouling Mechanisms.

Recovering ammonium from swine wastewater employing a gas-permeable membrane (GM) has potential but suffers from the limitations of unattractive mass transfer and poor-tolerance antifouling properties. Turbulence is an effective approach to enhancing the release of volatile ammonia from wastewater while relying on interfacial disturbance to interfere with contaminant adhesion. Herein, we design an innovative gas-permeable membrane coupled with bubble turbulence (BT-GM) that enhances mass transfer while mitigating membrane fouling. Bubbles act as turbulence carriers to accelerate the release and migration of ammonia from the liquid phase, increasing the ammonia concentration gradient at the membrane-liquid interface. In comparison, the ammonium mass transfer rate of the BT-GM process applied to real swine wastewater is 38% higher than that of conventional GM (12 h). Through a computational fluid dynamics simulation, the turbulence kinetic energy of BT-GM system is 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of GM, and the effective mass transfer area is nearly 3 times that of GM. Seven batches of tests confirmed that the BT-GM system exhibits remarkable antifouling ability, broadens its adaptability to complex water quality, and practically promotes the development of sustainable resource recycling.

Microfluidic Impedance Cytometry Enabled One-Step Sample Preparation for Efficient Single-Cell Mass Spectrometry.

Single-cell mass spectrometry (MS) is significant in biochemical analysis and holds great potential in biomedical applications. Efficient sample preparation like sorting (i.e., separating target cells from the mixed population) and desalting (i.e., moving the cells off non-volatile salt solution) is urgently required in single-cell MS. However, traditional sample preparation methods suffer from complicated operation with various apparatus, or insufficient performance. Herein, a one-step sample preparation strategy by leveraging label-free impedance flow cytometry (IFC) based microfluidics is proposed. Specifically, the IFC framework to characterize and sort single-cells is adopted. Simultaneously with sorting, the target cell is transferred from the local high-salinity buffer to the MS-compatible solution. In this way, one-step sorting and desalting are achieved and the collected cells can be directly fed for MS analysis. A high sorting efficiency (>99%), cancer cell purity (≈87%), and desalting efficiency (>99%), and the whole workflow of impedance-based separation and MS analysis of normal cells (MCF-10A) and cancer cells (MDA-MB-468) are verified. As a standalone sample preparation module, the microfluidic chip is compatible with a variety of MS analysis methods, and envisioned to provide a new paradigm in efficient MS sample preparation, and further in multi-modal (i.e., electrical and metabolic) characterization of single-cells.

Metabolism pathway-based subtyping in endometrial cancer: An integrated study by multi-omics analysis and machine learning algorithms.

Endometrial cancer (EC), the second most common malignancy in the female reproductive system, has garnered increasing attention for its genomic heterogeneity, but understanding of its metabolic characteristics is still poor. We explored metabolic dysfunctions in EC through a comprehensive multi-omics analysis (RNA-seq datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas [TCGA], Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia [CCLE], and GEO datasets; the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium [CPTAC] proteomics; CCLE metabolomics) to develop useful molecular targets for precision therapy. Unsupervised consensus clustering was performed to categorize EC patients into three metabolism-pathway-based subgroups (MPSs). These MPS subgroups had distinct clinical prognoses, transcriptomic and genomic alterations, immune microenvironment landscape, and unique patterns of chemotherapy sensitivity. Moreover, the MPS2 subgroup had a better response to immunotherapy. Finally, three machine learning algorithms (LASSO, random forest, and stepwise multivariate Cox regression) were used for developing a prognostic metagene signature based on metabolic molecules. Thus, a 13-hub gene-based classifier was constructed to predict patients' MPS subtypes, offering a more accessible and practical approach. This metabolism-based classification system can enhance prognostic predictions and guide clinical strategies for immunotherapy and metabolism-targeted therapy in EC.

Mesh-less laparoscopic extraperitoneal linear suspension treatment of vaginal vault prolapse.

OBJECTIVES: To report the results of a mesh-less laparoscopic extraperitoneal linear suspension technique for the treatment of post-hysterectomy vaginal vault prolapse (PHVP). STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective observational study was conducted collecting medical records of 41 patients with symptomatic PHVP treated between November 2017 to November 2019 in Gynecologic department of China-Japan Friendship Hospital. All patients had Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) scores indicating stage 3-4 PHVP and underwent mesh-less laparoscopic extraperitoneal linear suspension.The primary outcome was the subjective satisfaction rate based on responses to validated questionnaires. The secondary outcomes were the objective anatomical cure rate based on POP-Q scores and complication rates. All listed parameters were determined before the surgery and at control examinations in 1 year and 3 years after the treatment. RESULTS: The operation was completed successfully without serious complications in all patients. Mean operation time was 53.8 mins. Comparison of the scores by the questionnaires revealed a significant improvement in the quality of life in the postoperative period.The subjective satisfaction rates were 100 % (41/41) and 95 % (38/40) at 1 year and 3 years after surgery. The objective cure rates were 100 % (41/41) and 97.5 % (39/40) at 1 year and 3 years after surgery, respectively. During the follow-up, none of the patients experienced suture exposure, infection, chronic pelvic pain, or other related complications. CONCLUSION: The mesh-less laparoscopic extraperitoneal linear suspension technique avoids the use of implantable synthetic mesh. It has been shown to lead to favorable postoperative outcomes, considerable patient contentment, and low complication rates. It offers a new, cost-effective treatment option for PHVP patients.

Creation of a machine learning-based prognostic prediction model for various subtypes of laryngeal cancer.

Depending on the source of the blastophore, there are various subtypes of laryngeal cancer, each with a unique metastatic risk and prognosis. The forecasting of their prognosis is a pressing issue that needs to be resolved. This study comprised 5953 patients with glottic carcinoma and 4465 individuals with non-glottic type (supraglottic and subglottic). Five clinicopathological characteristics of glottic and non-glottic carcinoma were screened using univariate and multivariate regression for CoxPH (Cox proportional hazards); for other models, 10 (glottic) and 11 (non-glottic) clinicopathological characteristics were selected using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis, respectively; the corresponding survival models were established; and the best model was evaluated. We discovered that RSF (Random survival forest) was a superior model for both glottic and non-glottic carcinoma, with a projected concordance index (C-index) of 0.687 for glottic and 0.657 for non-glottic, respectively. The integrated Brier score (IBS) of their 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year time points is, respectively, 0.116, 0.182, 0.195 (glottic), and 0.130, 0.215, 0.220 (non-glottic), demonstrating the model's effective correction. We represented significant variables in a Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) plot. The two models are then combined to predict the prognosis for two distinct individuals, which has some effectiveness in predicting prognosis. For our investigation, we established separate models for glottic carcinoma and non-glottic carcinoma that were most effective at predicting survival. RSF is used to evaluate both glottic and non-glottic cancer, and it has a considerable impact on patient prognosis and risk factor prediction.

Spontaneous recurrent menstrual pneumothorax: a case report.

Introduction and importance: Endometriosis is most commonly found in the pelvic area, ~12% of people have it in other areas or organs, which is known as extrapelvic endometriosis. Thoracic endometriosis, which is also classified as extrapelvic endometriosis, manifests with four distinct forms: catamenial pneumothorax, catamenial hemothorax, catamenial hemoptysis, or lung nodules. Catamenial pneumothorax is the most common clinical symptom of these; however, it is frequently neglected by clinicians and goes undiagnosed and untreated. As a result, it is critical to raise awareness of this medical condition among clinicians. Case presentation: The authors present a case report of a 34-year-old woman of reproductive age who had recurrent episodes of spontaneous pneumothorax during menstruation and underwent treatment with thoracoscopic surgery as well as gynaecological hormonal drugs including oral progesterone and dienogest throughout this time. Based on her symptoms, a catamenial pneumothorax caused by thoracic endometriosis was suspected. Clinical discussion: The clinical symptoms, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of Catamenial Pneumothorax are analyzed. Furthermore, the usage of gynaecological hormone medications in this condition has been discussed. The mechanisms of oral contraceptives and progestin-based medications are evaluated by comparing the patient's treatment process, highlighting their pros and cons. Conclusions: Thoracoscopic surgery combined with postoperative gynaecological hormonal medications may be the most effective treatment for this issue. Several gynaecological hormonal medicines are available, each of which has its own set of pros and cons, and must be thoroughly evaluated as well as correctly tailored to the patient's specific circumstances to have a positive therapeutic outcome.

Feasibility and Tolerability of Anlotinib Plus PD-1 Blockades for Patients with Treatment-Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Retrospective Exploratory Study.

Objective: Therapeutic regimens are relatively scarce among patients with treatment-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed to determine the feasibility and tolerability of anlotinib plus PD-1 blockades in patients with treatment-refractory metastatic CRC retrospectively. Methods: A total of 68 patients with previously treated metastatic CRC who received anlotinib plus PD-1 blockades in clinical practice were included in this study retrospectively. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients, therapeutic outcomes and safety profile during administration were collected and briefly analyzed. All subjects were followed up regularly. Therapeutic outcomes, including drug response and prognosis, were presented, and a safety profile was depicted to illustrate the adverse reactions. Results: A total of 68 patients with treatment-refractory metastatic CRC who received anlotinib plus PD-1 blockades in clinical practice were included in the final analysis. Best therapeutic response during treatment indicated that partial response was observed in 11 patients, stable disease was noted in 41 patients, and progressive disease was found in 16 patients, producing an objective response rate of 16.2% (95% CI: 8.4%-27.1%) and a disease control rate of 76.5% (95% CI: 64.6%-85.9%). Prognostic analysis suggested that the median progression-free survival (PFS) of the 68 patients was 5.3 months (95% CI: 3.01-7.59), and the median overall survival (OS) was 12.5 months (95% CI: 9.40-15.60). Of the 11 patients who responded, the median duration of response was 6.7 months (95% CI: 2.89-10.53). Safety profile during treatment showed that patients experienced adverse reactions regardless of grade, and grade ≥3 adverse reactions were found in 61 patients (89.7%) and 41 patients (60.3%), respectively. Common adverse reactions were hypertension, myelosuppression (including leukopenia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and anemia), fatigue, and hand-foot syndrome. Conclusion: Anlotinib plus PD-1 blockades demonstrated encouraging efficacy and acceptable safety profile in patients with treatment-refractory metastatic CRC preliminarily in clinical practice. This conclusion should be confirmed in prospective clinical trials.

Apolipoprotein C3 (ApoC3) facilitates NLRP3 mediated pyroptosis of macrophages through mitochondrial damage by accelerating of the interaction between SCIMP and SYK pathway in acute lung injury.

Respiratory failure caused by severe acute lung injury (ALI) is the main cause of mortality in patients with COVID-19.This study aimed to investigate the effects and underlying biological mechanism of Apolipoprotein C3 (ApoC3) in ALI. To establish an in vivo model, C57BL/6 mice were exposed by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). For the in vitro model, murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) or RAW264.7 cells were stimulated with LPS + adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Serum levels of ApoC3 were found to be upregulated in patients with COVID-19 or pneumonia-induced ALI. Inhibition of ApoC3 reduced lung injury in an ALI model, while overexpression of ApoC3 promoted lung injury. ApoC3 induced mitochondrial damage-mediated pyroptosis in ALI through the activation of the NOD-like receptorprotein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. ApoC3 recombinant protein significantly increased SCIMP expression in the lung tissue of mice models with ALI. ApoC3 also facilitated the interaction between the SLP adapter and CSK-interacting membrane protein (SCIMP) protein and Spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) protein in the ALI model. Moreover, ApoC3 accelerated calcium-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the ALI model. The effects of ApoC3 on pyroptosis were mitigated by the use of a pyroptosis inhibitor or an ROS inhibitor in the ALI model. Furthermore, ApoC3 activated the expression of SYK, which in turn induced NLRP3 inflammasome-regulated pyroptosis in the ALI model. METTL3 was found to mediate the m6A mRNA expression of ApoC3. Overall, our study highlights the crucial role of ApoC3 in promoting macrophage pyroptosis in ALI through calcium-dependent ROS production and NLRP3 inflammasome activation via the SCIMP-SYK pathway, providing a potential therapeutic strategy for ALI and other inflammatory diseases.

Pharmacological properties of Polygonatum and its active ingredients for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Despite continued advances in prevention and treatment strategies, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of death worldwide, and more effective therapeutic methods are urgently needed. Polygonatum is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine with a variety of pharmacological applications and biological activities, such as antioxidant activity, anti-inflammation, antibacterial effect, immune-enhancing effect, glucose regulation, lipid-lowering and anti-atherosclerotic effects, treatment of diabetes and anticancer effect. There has also been more and more evidence to support the cardioprotective effect of Polygonatum in recent years. However, up to now, there has been a lack of comprehensive studies on the active ingredients and their pharmacotoxicological effects related to cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the main active components of Polygonatum (including Polysaccharides, Flavonoids, Saponins) and their biological activities were firstly reviewed in this paper. Furthermore, we summarized the pharmacological effects of Polygonatum's active components in preventing and treating CVDs, and its relevant toxicological investigations. Finally, we emphasize the potential of Polygonatum in the prevention and treatment of CVDs.

Structural distortion-induced monoclinic sodium iron hexacyanoferrate as a high-performance electrode for rocking-chair desalination batteries.

Sodium iron hexacyanoferrate (NaFeHCF) has been recognized as a promising Prussian blue analogue (PBA)-based electrode for electrochemical desalination; however, its application potential is limited by its unsatisfactory desalination capacity and cycling stability. Herein, the structurally distorted high-quality monoclinic NaFeHCF with fewer defects in the framework was synthesized by a crystal-controlled coprecipitation method via tuning the crystallization reaction conditions and applied to seawater desalination. Physicochemical characterization and desalination experiments show that the NFHFC-2 with minimized defects possesses enhanced electrochemical activity of Fe2+ and electrochemical kinetics, thus achieving higher desalination performance (specific capacity of 75.0 mA h g-1 and capacity retention of 85.3% after 50 cycles). Furthermore, a symmetrical NFHCF-2 RCDB is assembled, and the operation parameters (including various salinities and electrode spacing) are optimized to achieve a remarkable salt removal capacity (SRC) of 108.9 mg g-1 and a salt removal rate (SRR) of 2.22 mg g-1 min-1 with low energy consumption (0.056 kW h kg-1-NaCl) and outstanding cycling stability (almost no capacity attenuation in 150 cycles). Impressively, the RCDB further exhibits favorable technical feasibility in the simultaneous removal of univalent/bivalent ions from the natural seawater. This study inspires the design of high-quality PBA-based electrodes with optimized crystal structures for electrochemical desalination.

Sono-activated materials for enhancing focused ultrasound ablation: Design and application in biomedicine.

The ablation effect of focused ultrasound (FUS) has played an increasingly important role in the biomedical field over the past decades, and its non-invasive features have great advantages, especially for clinical diseases where surgical treatment is not available or appropriate. Recently, rapid advances in the adjustable morphology, enzyme-mimetic activity, and biostability of sono-activated materials have significantly promoted the medical application of FUS ablation. However, a systematic review of sono-activated materials based on FUS ablation is not yet available. This progress review focuses on the recent design, fundamental principles, and applications of sono-activated materials in the FUS ablation biomedical field. First, the different ablation mechanisms and the key factors affecting ablation are carefully determined. Then, the design of sono-activated materials with high FUS ablation efficiencies is comprehensively discussed. Subsequently, the representative biological applications are summarized in detail. Finally, the primary challenges and future perspectives are also outlined. We believe this timely review will provide key information and insights for further exploration of focused ultrasound ablation and new inspiration for designing future sono-activated materials. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The ablation effect of focused ultrasound (FUS) has played an increasingly important role in the biomedical field over the past decades. However, there are also some challenges of FUS ablation, such as skin burns, tumour recurrence after thermal ablation, and difficulty in controlling cavitation ablation. The rapid advance in adjustable morphology, enzyme-mimetic activity, and biostability of sono-activated materials has significantly promoted the medical application of FUS ablation. However, the systematic review of sono-activated materials based on FUS ablation is not yet available. This progress review focuses on the recent design, fundamental principles, and applications in the FUS ablation biomedical field of sono-activated materials. We believe this timely review will provide key information and insights for further exploration of FUS ablation.

Clinical efficacy and risk factors for suction curettage and hysteroscopy in patients with type I and II cesarean scar pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and evaluate risk factors for suction curettage (SC) and hysteroscopy in the treatment of type I and II cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP). METHODS: This was a retrospective study including 100 women diagnosed with type I/II CSP. Patients were treated with either ultrasound-guided SC (SC group) or hysteroscopy resection (surgery group). The success rates, mean operation time, hospitalization duration, hospitalization cost, risk factors, adverse events, and complications were analyzed. RESULTS: The success rate of the SC and surgery groups were 85% and 100%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.032). There was one case of type I CSP and eight cases of type II CSP that failed SC treatment. No failed cases were found in the surgery group. Analysis of the causes of treatment failure revealed that diameter of the gestational sac was a risk factor for SC failure (odds ratio, 19.66 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.70-227.72], P = 0.017). Comparing the clinical outcomes between the SC and surgery groups, although the mean operation time of the SC group was significantly shorter than the surgery group (15 [CI, 15-20] vs. 30 [CI, 27-40], P = 0.001), the cost and duration of hospitalization were significantly lower in the surgery group than that in the SC group. No significant differences were observed for adverse events and complications between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Hysteroscopy is an effective and economical method for treating type I/II CSP. Moreover, SC is not recommended for patients with type I/II CSP with a gestation age ≥8 weeks.

Epidemiology of plaque-induced gingivitis among 12-15-year-old Chinese schoolchildren: A study based on the 2018 case definition.

AIM: To explore the epidemiology of plaque-induced gingivitis and related factors among Chinese adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional survey comprised 118,601 schoolchildren in the 12-15-year age group. Data came from the National Oral Health Survey in mainland China. The field investigation was conducted according to the World Health Organization guidelines. The new 2018 case definition for plaque-induced gingivitis was used. Participants underwent clinical examinations and completed a structured questionnaire. Bleeding on probing (BOP) was performed on all teeth. Multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the factors related to the extent of gingivitis. RESULTS: Nearly half of the study population (47.3%) had plaque-induced gingivitis; 23.9% and 23.3% presented with localised and generalised gingivitis, respectively. The first molars were the most affected by BOP. Well-established factors, such as demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, local factors and smoking habits, were significantly associated with the extent of gingivitis. Odds ratios for localised and generalised gingivitis increased with the decrease in frequency of toothbrushing with a fluoride dentifrice. CONCLUSIONS: The study population had high plaque-induced gingivitis prevalence. The extent of gingivitis appeared to have a dose-response relationship with the frequency of toothbrushing with a fluoride dentifrice.