Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid assessment facilitates precision medicine for lung cancer

Lung cancer is the most common and fatal malignant disease worldwide and has the highest mortality rate among tumor-related causes of death.Early diagnosis and precision medicine can significantly improve the survival rate and prognosis of lung cancer patients.At present,the clinical diagnosis of lung cancer is challenging due to a lack of effective non-invasive detection methods and biomarkers,and treatment is primarily hindered by drug resistance and high tumor heterogeneity.Liquid biopsy is a method for detecting circulating biomarkers in the blood and other body fluids containing genetic information from primary tumor tissues.Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF)is a potential liquid biopsy medium that is rich in a variety of bioactive substances and cell components.BALF contains information on the key characteristics of tumors,including the tumor subtype,gene mutation type,and tumor environment,thus BALF may be used as a diagnostic supplement to lung biopsy.In this review,the current research on BALF in the diagnosis,treatment,and prognosis of lung cancer is summarized.The advantages and disadvantages of different components of BALF,including cells,cell-free DNA,extracellular vesicles,and micro RNA are introduced.In particular,the great potential of extracellular vesicles in precision diagnosis and detection of drug-resistant for lung cancer is highlighted.In addition,the performance of liquid biopsies with different body fluid sources in lung cancer detection are compared to facilitate more selective studies involving BALF,thereby promoting the application of BALF for precision medicine in lung cancer patients in the future.

Correlation Between the Clinical Severity, Bacterial Load, and Inflammatory Reaction in Children with Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Pneumonia

Given the lack of defining features in the clinical manifestations and radiographic findings for children with mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia(MPP),quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR)has become a useful diagnostic method.This study was performed to explore the relationship between the qPCR findings,clinical symptoms,and inflammatory markers in children with MPP.Four hundred children with MPP have been enrolled in this retrospective analysis.All clinical and analytical information,including mycoplasma pneumoniae(MP)PCR results,has been collected.Based on the PCR results,the patients were divided into groups with load values(copy number)<105(54 cases),2105 and<106(71 cases),2106 and<107(112 cases),>107 and<108(114 cases),and>108(49 cases).The clinical features(including symptoms and signs)and inflammatory indicators were compared among the groups.The incidence of high fever(above 39℃),thermal peak during the entire hospitalization period,fever duration,days of hospitalization,and plasma lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)levels were statistically correlated with the MP PCR load value in children with MPP.The analysis of relevance degree showed the correlative order as a thermal peak of hospitalization>duration of fever>period of hospitalization>LDH value>C-reactive protein value.The host immune response was significantly greater in the complication group than in the non-complication group.

Learning-based joint UAV trajectory and power allocation optimization for secure IoT networks

Non-Orthogonal Multiplex Access(NOMA)can be deployed in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)networks to improve spectrum efficiency.Due to the broadcasting feature of NOMA-UAV networks,it is essential to focus on the security of the wireless system.This paper focuses on maximizing the secrecy sum rate under the constraint of the achievable rate of the legitimate channels.To tackle the non-convexity optimization problem,a reinforcement learning-based alternative optimization algorithm is proposed.Firstly,with the help of successive convex approximations,the optimal power allocation scheme with a given UAV trajectory is obtained by using convex optimization tools.Afterwards,through plenty of explorations of the wireless environment,the Q-learning networks approach the optimal location transition strategy of the UAV,even without the wireless channel state information.

Observations of kinetic Alfvén waves and associated electron acceleration in the plasma sheet boundary layer

Kinetic Alfvén waves(KAWs),with a strong parallel disturbed electric field,play an important role in energy transport and particle acceleration in the magnetotail.On the basis of high-resolution observations of the Magnetospheric Multiscale(MMS)Mission,we present a detailed description of the acceleration process of electrons by KAWs in the plasma sheet boundary layer(PSBL).The MMS observed strong electromagnetic disturbances carrying a parallel disturbed electric field with an amplitude of up to 8 mV/m.The measured ratio of the electric to magnetic field perturbations was larger than the local Alfvén speed and was enhanced as the frequency increased,consistent with the theoretical predictions for KAWs.This evidence indicates that the electromagnetic disturbances should be identified as KAWs.During the KAWs,the energy flux of electrons at energies above 1 keV in the parallel and anti-parallel directions are significantly enhanced,implying occurrences of electron beams at higher energies.Additionally,the KAWs became more electrostaticlike and filled with high-frequency ion acoustic waves.The energy enhancement of electron beams is in accordance with the derived work done with the observed parallel disturbed electric field of KAWs,indicating electron acceleration caused by KAWs.Therefore,these results provide direct evidence of electron acceleration by KAWs embodying electrostatic ion acoustic waves in the PSBL.

Fluorination-substitution effect on all-small-molecule organic solar cells

Due to the strong crystallinity and anisotropy of small molecules, matched molecular photoelectric properties and morphologies between small molecules and non-fullerene acceptors are especially important in all-small-molecule organic solar cells(OSCs).Introducing fluorine atoms has been proved as an effective strategy to achieve a high device performance through tuning molecular energy levels, absorption and assembly properties. Herein, we designed a novel benzodithiophene-based small molecule donor BDTF-CA with deep highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) energy level. All-small-molecule OSCs were fabricated by combing non-fullerene acceptor IDIC with different fluorine-atom numbers. Two or four fluorine atoms were introduced to the end-capped acceptor of IDIC, which are named as IDIC-2 F and IDIC-4 F, respectively. With the increase of fluorination from IDIC to IDIC-4 F, the open circuit voltage(Voc) of the devices decreased, while hole and electron mobilities of the active layers increased by one order of magnitude. Contributed to the most balanced Voc, short-circuit current(Jsc) and fill factor(FF), the device based on BDTF-CA/IDIC-2 F achieved the highest power conversion efficiency of 9.11%.

A-π-D-π-A small-molecule donors with different end alkyl chains obtain different morphologies in organic solar cells

For bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells, the morphology of the blend films highly influence the exciton dissociation and charge transport process. In this work, two novel A-π-D-π-A(A represents the acceptor unit and D represents the donor unit) backbone structure small molecular electron donors based on two dimensional conjugated naphtho[1,2-b:5,6-b']dithiophene(NDT) with different end alkyl chains, named as NDT-3T-EH and NDT-3T-O, have been designed and synthesized. The photovoltaic property of NDT-3T-O-based device is better than that of the NDT-3T-EH and the best efficiency reaches 7.06%, and the photovoltaic property of NDT-3T-EH reaches 6.11%. The difference in the performance should be attributed to the different morphology and phase separation resulted from the different crystallinity and aggregation ability of two donors. The results demonstrate that the optimized end alkyl chains can be used to design A-π-D-π-A backbone structure small molecular electron donors for smallmolecule organic solar cells.

Research progress of rare earth composite shielding materials

With the rapid development of nuclear technology,nuclear protection has received extensive attention.As an important strategic resource,rare earth plays an important role in the field of nuclear shielding materials.In this review,the shielding principles of rare earth materials are first introduced.According to the type of matrix,the characteristics and current research status of metal-based,inorganic nonmetallic-based and polymer-based rare earth shielding materials are reviewed.Meanwhile,the future development trend of rare earth shielding materials is discussed.

Self-extinguishing and transparent epoxy resin modified by a phosphine oxide-containing bio-based derivative

A phosphine oxide-containing bio-based curing agent was synthesized by addition reaction between furan derivatives and diphenylphosphine oxide.The molecular structure of the as-prepared bio-based curing agent was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.Dynamic mechanical analysis results indicated that with the increase of bio-based curing agent content,the glass transition temperature of epoxy/bio-based curing agent composites decreased,which was related to the steric effect of diphenylphosphine oxide species that possibly hinder the curing reaction as well as the reduction in the cross-linking density by mono-functional N-H.By the addition of 7.5 wt-%bio-based curing agent,the resulting epoxy composite achieved UL-94 V-0 rating,in addition to limiting oxygen index of 32.0 vol-%.With the increase of content for the bio-based curing agent,the peak of heat release rate and total heat release of the composites gradually decreased.The bio-based curing agent promoted the carbonization of the epoxy matrix,leading to higher char yield with good thermal resistance.The high-quality char layer served as an effective barrier to retard the diffusion of decomposition volatiles and oxygen between molten polymers and the flame.This study provides a renewable strategy for fabricating flame retardant and transparent epoxy thermoset.

D-A structural protean small molecule donor materials for solution-processed organic solar cells

Under the synergistic effect of molecular design and devices engineering, small molecular organic solar cells have presented an unstoppable tendency for rapid development with putting forward donor- acceptor （D-A） structures. Up to now, the highest power conversion efficiency of small molecules has exceeded 11%, comparable to that of polymers. In this review, we summarize the high performance small molecule donors in various classes of typical donor-acceptor （D-A） structures and discuss their relationships briefly.

Construction and Properties of Simvastatin and Calcium Phosphate Dual-Loaded Coaxial Fibrous Membranes with Osteogenic and Angiogenic Functions

The ideal Guided Bone Regeneration(GBR)membrane is required to have good biocompatibility,space maintenance ability,appropriate degradation rate,and preferably can guide the regeneration of vascularized bone tissue.In this study,Simvastatin(SIM)and calcium Phosphate(CaP)were encapsulated in a Polycaprolactone(PCL)/Chitosan(CS)core-shell structural fibrous membranes via coaxial electrospinning technology.The results showed that loaded SIM in the core of the core-shell structure fibrous membranes could sustainably release the drug for more than two months and upregulate the angiogenic marker of Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells(BMSCs).Adding a certain amount of CaP to the shell layer provided more sites for the mineralization and synergistic with SIM to promote osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs in vitro.The intramuscular implantation experiments in rabbits suggested a normal early inflammation and enhanced vascularization induced by the SIM-loaded fibrous membranes.This study proposed an effective strategy to prepare a dual-loaded core-shell fibrous membrane for guided vascularized bone tissue regeneration.

Investigation of charge transfer between donor and acceptor for small-molecule organic solar cells by scanning tunneling microscopy and ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy

Small-molecule organic solar cell is a category of clean energy potential device since charge transfers between donor and acceptor.The morphologies,co-assembly behavior,interaction sites,and charge transfer of BTID-nF(n=1,2)/PC71BM donor-acceptor system in the active layer of organic solar cell have been studied employing scanning tunneling microscopy(STM),scanning tunneling spectroscopy(STS),density functional theory(DFT)calculations,and transient absorption(TA)spectroscopy.The results show that BTID-1F and BTID-2F form bright strip structures,whereas BTID-nF(n=1,2)/PC71BM form ridge-like structures with each complex composed of one BTID-nF(n=1,2)molecule and four PC71BM molecules which adsorbed around the BTID-nF(n=1,2)molecule by S···πinteraction.With the assistance of S···πinteraction between BTID-nF(n=1,2)and PC71BM,BTID-nF(n=1,2)/PC71BM co-assembled ridge-like structures are more stable than the BTID-nF(n=1,2)ridge structures.To investigate the charge transfer of BTID-nF(n=1,2)/PC71BM system,STS measurements,DFT calculation,and TA spectroscopy are further performed.The results show that charge transfer occurs in BTID-nF(n=1,2)/PC71BM system with the electron transferring from BTID-nF(n=1,2)molecules to PC71BM.