Case report: Bronchoscopic intervention for rare benign airway tumors: a report of 4 cases and literature review.

Due to their unique location, airway tumors have a significant impact on patient quality of life and survival. Current research has focused extensively on malignant airway tumors; however, benign airway tumors, especially rare ones, are less understood due to their low incidence. These tumors are often misdiagnosed and mistreated due to diagnostic challenges. Therefore, there is still a lack of consensus on the treatment of some rare benign airway tumors. Our center summarizes the diagnosis and treatment of four rare cases of benign airway stenosis in recent years, highlighting the bronchoscopic manifestations and therapeutic approaches to improve the understanding of these diseases.

Life cycle assessment for evaluation of novel solvents and technologies: A case study of flavonoids extraction from Ginkgo biloba leaves.

Innovative solvents such as deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and process intensification technologies assisted by ultrasound have been demonstrated to be promising pathways for enhancing solid-liquid extraction. Nevertheless, quantitative and systematic knowledge of their environmental impact is still limited. In this work, a case study of flavonoids extraction from Ginkgo biloba leaves was evaluated by using life cycle assessment (LCA) for comparison of three extraction scenarios. The first used DES as extractant (DESE), and the other two adopted ethanol, including heat reflux extraction (HRE), and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). Among eight key midpoints investigated, all these from UAE were 10.0 %-80.0 % lower than from DESE and HRE except water consumption. The UAE was the eco-friendliest option due to its higher extraction yield, shorter duration and lower solvent consumption. The DESE exhibited the lowest water consumption, the highest freshwater ecotoxicity and human carcinogenic toxicity, while HRE had the highest impacts for the other 6 midpoints. Moreover, solvent production was the key contributor for all the categories. The standardized sensitivity analysis showed that the overall environmental footprint can be further decreased by 15.4 % for DESE pathways via substituting choline chloride/glycerine with choline chloride/ethylene glycol. Furthermore, all pathways using DESs had higher standardized impacts than those employing ethanol from sugarcane or wood. Replacing ethanol from maize with other feedstocks can significantly lessen the overall impacts, among which the UAE using ethanol from sugarcane demonstrated the least environmental impacts. The promotion of DESs as "green and sustainable" alternative to traditional solvents requires careful consideration.

Relationship Between Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index and Risk of Respiratory Failure and Death in COPD: A Retrospective Cohort Study Based on the MIMIC-IV Database.

Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) concurrent with respiratory failure (RF) is devastating, and may result in death and disability. Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) is a new prognostic biomarker linked to unfavorable outcomes of acute coronary syndrome, ischemic stroke, and heart failure. Nonetheless, its role in COPD is rarely investigated. Consequently, this study intends to assess the accuracy of SII in predicting the prognosis of COPD. Patients and Methods: The clinical information was retrospectively acquired from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV database. The outcomes encompassed the incidence of RF and mortality. The relationship between different SII and outcomes was examined utilizing the Cox proportional-hazards model and restricted cubic splines. Kaplan-Meier analysis was employed for all-cause mortality. Results: The present study incorporated 1653 patients. During hospitalization, 697 patients (42.2%) developed RF, and 169 patients (10.2%) died. And 637 patients (38.5%) died during long-term follow-up. Higher SII increased the risk of RF (RF: HR: 1.19, 95% CI 1.12-1.28, P<0.001), in-hospital mortality (HR: 1.22, 95% CI 1.07-1.39, P=0.003), and long-term follow-up mortality (HR: 1.12, 95% CI 1.05-1.19, P<0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested a significantly elevated risk of all-cause death (log-rank P<0.001) in patients with higher SII, especially during the short-term follow-up period of 21 days. Conclusion: SII is closely linked to an elevated risk of RF and death in COPD patients. It appears to be a potential predictor of the prognosis of COPD patients, which is helpful for the risk stratification of this population. However, more prospective studies are warranted to consolidate our conclusion.

The efficacy of telemedicine for pain management in patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Pain is the most common cancer-related symptom, but it is often undertreated. Telemedicine is widely used in cancer treatment, but its effectiveness is uncertain. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the impact of telemedicine intervention on pain in patients with cancer. Design: Methodological quality and risk-of-bias evaluation were conducted, and the sources of heterogeneity were explored through subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis. Data Sources and Methods: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and clinical trial databases were searched up to 16 August 2022. Randomized controlled trials of the impact of telemedicine intervention regarding pain in patients with cancer were included, and the results related to pain were extracted. Results: Twenty-one randomized controlled trials were selected from 1810 articles. A total of 1454 patients received telemedicine interventions, and 2213 received conventional medical services. Telemedical intervention had a positive effect on improving pain intensity [standard mean deviation (SMD) = -0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.49 to -0.06, p = 0.01] and pain interference (SMD = -0.41, 95% CI: -0.54 to -0.28, p < 0.00001), with statistical difference between the two groups. The subgroup analysis results showed that the telemedicine subgroup based on an application (SMD = -0.54, 95% CI: -0.91 to -0.18, p = 0.004) and the subgroup with intervention time ⩾ 6 months (SMD = -0.33, 95% CI: -0.52 to -0.13, p = 0.001), both demonstrated significant improvement regarding pain intensity, with significant statistical difference between the two groups. When the follow-up time was ⩾ 6 months, there was no significant difference (SMD = -0.24, 95% CI: -0.55 to 0.07, p = 0.13). Conclusion: Compared with conventional medical services, telemedicine intervention can improve the pain of patients with cancer and is effective and acceptable regarding symptom monitoring. Integrating telemedicine interventions into cancer pain management may be a feasible option. But its long-term effects still need to be confirmed with more high-quality randomized controlled trials in the future. Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/; CRD42022361990.

Efficient Planar Perovskite Solar Cells with Improved Fill Factor via Interface Engineering with Graphene.

Organic-inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskites have been widely investigated in optoelectronics both experimentally and theoretically. The present work incorporates chemically modified graphene into nanocrystal SnO2 as the electron transporting layer (ETL) for highly efficient planar perovskite solar cells. The modification of SnO2 with highly conductive two-dimensional naphthalene diimide-graphene can increase surface hydrophobicity and form van der Waals interaction between the surfactant and the organic-inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskite compounds. As a result, highly efficient perovskite solar cells with power conversion efficiency of 20.2% can be achieved with an improved fill factor of 82%, which could be mainly attributed to the augmented charge extraction and transport.

Comparison of alkaline- and fungi-assisted wet-storage of corn stover.

Storage of lignocellulosic biomass is critical for a year-round supply of feedstock for a biorefinery. Compared with dry storage, wet storage is a promising alternative technology, providing several advantages including reduced dry matter loss and fire risk and improved feedstock digestibility after storage. This study investigated the concurrent pretreatment and wet-storage of corn stover with the assistance of NaOH or a lignin-degrading fungus, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, during a 90-d period. Compared with ensilage, adding NaOH or inoculation with C. subvermispora significantly enhanced the enzymatic degradability of corn stover by 2-3-fold after 90-d wet storage. Lignin and xylan removal during NaOH pretreatment and wet-storage were influenced by NaOH loading and moisture. NaOH pretreatment retarded the production of organic acids during storage and the acetate release correlated with lignin and xylan removal. Further study is needed to reduce cellulose degradation during the late stage of fungal treatment.

Solid-state anaerobic digestion of spent wheat straw from horse stall.

The spent wheat straw from horse stall bedding has lower cellulose and hemicellulose contents, but higher volatile fatty acid content than raw wheat straw. Biogas production from solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) of spent wheat straw and raw wheat straw was compared in this study. The SS-AD tests were conducted at 22% total solids (TS) content using inoculum from a liquid AD system at three feedstock-to-inoculum (F/I) ratios of 2.0, 4.0, and 6.0. Daily methane yields of spent wheat straw peaked 8 and 3 days earlier than those of raw wheat straw at F/I ratios of 2.0 and 4.0, respectively. The highest methane yield of 150.0 L/kg volatile solids (VS) was obtained from spent wheat straw at an F/I ratio of 4.0, which was 56.2% higher than that of raw wheat straw. The corresponding cellulose and hemicellulose degradation of spent wheat straw was 24.1% and 49.4% higher than those of raw wheat straw, respectively.