Internal Electric Field Facilitates Facet-Dependent Photocatalytic Cl- Utilization on BiOCl in High-Salinity Wastewater for Ammonium Removal.

High Cl- concentration in saline wastewater (e.g., landfill leachate) limits wastewater purification. Catalytic Cl- conversion into reactive chlorine species (RCS) arises as a sustainable strategy, making the salinity profitable for efficient wastewater treatment. Herein, aiming to reveal the structure-property relationship in Cl- utilization, bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) photocatalysts with coexposed {001} and {110} facets are synthesized. With an increasing {001} ratio, the RCS production efficiency increases from 75.64 to 96.89 µg L-1 min-1. Mechanism investigation demonstrates the fast release of lattice Cl- as an RCS and the compensation of ambient Cl-. Correlation analysis between the internal electric field (IEF, parallel to [001]) and normalized efficiency on {110} (kRCS/S{110}, perpendicular to [001]) displays a coefficient of 0.86, validating that the promoted carrier dynamics eventually affects Cl- conversion on the open layered structure. The BiOCl photocatalyst is well behaved in ammonium (NH4+-N) degradation ranging from 20 to 800 mg N L-1 with different chlorinity (3-12 g L-1 NaCl). The sustainable Cl- conversion into RCS also realizes 85.4% of NH4+-N removal in the treatment of realistic landfill leachate (662 mg of N L-1 NH4+-N). The structure-property relationship provides insights into the design of efficient catalysts for environment remediation using ambient Cl-.

Near-infrared light-assisted methanol oxidation reaction over the ferrous phosphide.

Ferrous phosphide (Fe2P) possesses both functions of near-infrared light (NIR) responsive and metal-support interactional behaviors, which will show great significance in photo-assisted electrocatalytic methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) areas. Hereby, we use Fe2P as the support to load Pt nanoparticles and investigate the performance of the as-obtained Pt-Fe2P for MOR. The results show that the synergistic effect of photocatalysis and electrocatalysis contributes to the high-performance MOR, especially under NIR irradiation. The as-obtained Pt-Fe2P also shows excellent photoelectric response performance and long-time stability of photo-electrocatalytic activity with the assistance of NIR illumination. The mass activities of the Pt-Fe2P catalysts with the assistance of NIR towards MOR is 2430.0 mA mg-1Pt, 4.7 times superior to the dark condition (521.1 mA mg-1Pt), which is obviously better than that of traditional electrocatalysts and some reported photo-electrocatalysts. The strong metal-support interaction between Pt and Fe2P together with NIR excited hot electrons from Fe2P result in the above superior photo-electrocatalytic methanol oxidation abilities. The present investigation offers a NIR-assisted electrocatalytic MOR strategy, which may be a feasible approach to further elevate the catalytic performance for MOR in photo-assisted direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs).

Prognostic values of preoperative platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, albumin and hemoglobin in patients with non-metastatic colon cancer.

Purpose: Preoperative platelet-to-monocyte ratio (PLR), albumin and hemoglobin are suggested prognostic indicators in various malignancies. However, the prognostic values of PLR, albumin and hemoglobin remain elusive. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic values of PLR, albumin and hemoglobin in stage I-III colon cancer. Patients and methods: A total of 312 patients with non-metastatic colon cancer undergoing curative resection were enrolled in this study. The prognostic values of PLR, albumin and hemoglobin were identified by receiver operating characteristics, and univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Univariate analysis revealed that preoperative PLR, albumin and hemoglobin were significantly associated with overall survival (OS) and that preoperative PLR and albumin were significantly associated with progression-free survival (PFS). Multivariate analysis revealed that preoperative PLR was significantly associated with OS. Conclusion: Reduced preoperative PLR was significantly associated with better OS in patients with stage I-III colon cancer. Preoperative PLR was an independent prognostic indictor for OS in patients with colon cancer undergoing curative resection.

Proteomic Maps of Human Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Subgroups.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a common sarcoma of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) with high metastatic and recurrence rates, but the proteomic features are still less understood. Here we performed systematic quantitative proteome profiling of GIST from 13 patients classified into very low/low, intermediate and high risk subgroups. An extended cohort of GIST (n = 131) was used for immunohistochemical validation of proteins of interest. In total, 9177 proteins were quantified, covering 55.9% of the GIT transcriptome from The Human Protein Altas. Out of the 9177 quantified proteins, 4930 proteins were observed in all 13 cases with 517 upregulated and 187 downregulated proteins in tumorous tissues independent of risk stage. Pathway analysis showed that the downregulated proteins were mostly enriched in metabolic pathway, whereas the upregulated proteins mainly belonged to spliceosome pathway. In addition, 131 proteins showed differentially expressed patterns among GIST subgroups with statistical significance. The 13 GIST cases were classified into 3 subgroups perfectly based on the expression of these proteins. The intensive comparison of molecular phenotypes and possible functions of quantified oncoproteins, tumor suppressors, phosphatases and kinases between GIST subgroups was carried out. Immunohistochemical analysis of the phosphatase PTPN1 (n = 117) revealed that the GIST patients with high PTPN1 expression had low chances of developing metastasis. Collectively, this work provides valuable information for understanding the inherent biology and evolution of GIST.

The predictive value and the correlation of peripheral absolute monocyte count, tumor-associated macrophage and microvessel density in patients with colon cancer.

The tumor microenvironment plays a pivotal role in cancer progression. The purpose of the present study was designed to evaluate the predictive value of peripheral absolute monocyte count, tumor-associated macrophage, microvessel density, and to clarify the correlation between them in patients with colon cancer.A series of 216 patients with colon cancer were enrolled in this study. The peripheral absolute monocyte count was obtained from preoperative routine blood test. Tumor-associated macrophage and microvessel density were assessed on tissue microarray by immunohistochemistry.The one, three, five-year overall survival rate for the low absolute monocyte count group was 98.4%, 91.1%, 87.1%, respectively; and for the high absolute monocyte count group was 94.6%, 83.7%, 77.2%, respectively (P = .046). The one, three, five-year progression-free survival rate for the low absolute monocyte count group was 94.4%, 87.1%, 85.5%, respectively; and for the high absolute monocyte count group was 90.2%, 75.0%, 73.9%, respectively (P = .024). Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that there was a strong association between peripheral monocyte count and clinical outcome. The correlation between peripheral absolute monocyte count, tumor-associated macrophage, and microvessel density were not observed.The peripheral absolute monocyte count was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival and progression-free survival in colon cancer. The high absolute monocyte count was significantly associated with poor outcome.

Solution-processed two-dimensional layered heterostructure thin-film with optimized thermoelectric performance.

Graphene-based two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures have ignited intensive interest in recent years because of their excellent physical performance. However, the most common method to prepare them uses chemical vapor deposition, which has the drawback of a complex process unsuitable for large-scale production. In this respect, reduced graphene oxide and transitional metal dichalcogenides (rGO-TMDs) composite thin-films were fabricated by a simple solution-processing method and their thermoelectric performance was investigated systematically. Addition of rGO nanosheets (NSs) efficiently improved the electrical conductivity of MoS2 and WS2 (MS2) NSs, due to the excellent electron transport performance of rGO. Furthermore, it should be noted that an optimized content of rGO can effectively avoid direct contact between TMDs NSs by forming a rGO-TMDs heterojunction, leading to significantly increased electrical conductivity and a slight variation in its Seebeck coefficient. Our work obtained high thermoelectric performance heterostructures by inducing two kinds of layered materials using a simple method that may potentially be applied to other 2D layered materials to construct heterostructures for energy conversion.

The interference in the suicide ideation of patients with malignant tumors by mental clinical nursing pathway.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of mental clinical nursing pathways on suicidal ideation and life quality of patients with malignant tumors. METHODS: Two hundred patients with malignant tumors were randomly divided into a study group and a control group, with 100 patients in each group. During the treatment, patients in the study group received mental clinical nursing pathway care, while those in the control group were given the usual nursing care, such as timely inspection, nurse's reactions to patient's behavior, and execution of medical orders. Thereafter, the "self-rating idea of suicide scale" and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) were used to compare the differences in the suicidal ideation of patients with malignant tumors between the two groups before and after the treatment. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences in the scores of despair factor, optimistic factor, sleep factor, and cover factor between the two groups before the treatment (P>0.05). After different styles of nursing, the former four factors of patients in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.01), while there were no significant differences in the score of cover factor between the two groups (P>0.05). The KPS of patients receiving mental clinical nursing pathway care was higher than those receiving usual nursing care, and there was a statistical significant difference between the two groups (P<0.01). Interestingly, the patients' suicidal ideation scale was negatively correlated with KPS (r =-0.29, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: For individuals diagnosed with a malignant tumor, using a mental health clinical nursing pathway can effectively decrease the degree of suicidal ideation and positively impact the quality of life.