First principles study of post-boron carbide phases with icosahedra broken

Boron carbide (B4C) is a rhombic structure composed of icosahedra and atomic chains, which has an important application in armored materials. The application of B4C under super high pressure without failure is a hot spot of research. Previous studies have unmasked the essential cause of B4C failure, i.e., its structure will change subjected to impact, especially under the non-hydrostatic pressure and shear stress. However, the change of structure has not been clearly understood nor accurately determined. Here in this paper, we propose several B4C polymorphs including B4C high pressure phases with non-icosahedra, which are denoted as post-B4C and their structures are formed due to icosahedra broken and may be obtained through high pressure and high temperature (HPHT). The research of their physical properties indicates that these B4C polymorphs have outstanding mechanical and electrical properties. For instance, aP10, mC10, mP20, and oP10-B4C are conductive superhard materials. We hope that our research will enrich the cognition of high pressure structural deformation of B4C and broaden the application scope of B4C.

Erlotinib versus gemcitabine plus cisplatin as neoadjuvant treatment of stage IIIA-N2 EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer:final overall survival analysis of the EMERGING-CTONG 1103 randomised phase II trial

EMERGING-CTONG 1103 showed improved progression-free survival(PFS)with neoadjuvant erlotinib vs.chemotherapy for patients harbouring EGFR sensibility mutations and R0 resected stage IIIA-N2 non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)(NCT01407822).Herein,we report the final results.Recruited patients were randomly allocated 1:1 to the erlotinib group(150 mg/day orally;neoadjuvant phase for 42 days and adjuvant phase to 12 months)or to the GC group(gemcitabine 1250 mg/m2 plus cisplatin 75 mg/m2 intravenously;2 cycles in neoadjuvant phase and 2 cycles in adjuvant phase).Objective response rate(ORR),complete pathologic response(pCR),PFS,and overall survival(OS)were assessed along with safety.Post hoc analysis was performed for subsequent treatments after disease recurrence.Among investigated 72 patients(erlotinib,n=37;GC,n=35),the median follow-up was 62.5 months.The median OS was 42.2 months(erlotinib)and 36.9 months(GC)(hazard ratio[HR],0.83;95%confidence interval[CI],0.47-1.47;p=0.513).The 3-and_(5-y)ear OS rates were 58.6%and 40.8%with erlotinib and 55.9%and 27.6%with GC(p_(3-y)=0.819,p_(5-y)=0.252).Subsequent treatment was administered in 71.9%and 81.8%of patients receiving erlotinib and GC,respectively;targeted therapy contributed mostly to OS(HR,0.35;95%CI,0.18-0.70).After disease progression,the ORR was 53.3%,and the median PFS was 10.9 months during the EGFR-TKI rechallenge.During postoperative therapy,grade 3 or 4 adverse events(AEs)were 13.5%in the erlotinib group and 29.4%in the GC group.No serious adverse events were observed.Erlotinib exhibited clinical feasibility for resectable IIIA-N2 NSCLC over chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting.

Universality of slip avalanches in a ductile Fe-based bulk metallic glass

Intermittent serrated flows of a novel ductile Fe60Ni20P13C7 bulk metallic glass（BMG）at variant strain rates were investigated by statistics analysis.Peak and clutter distribution of slip-avalanche magnitudes are displayed during stable plastic flows at strain rates of 2×10-4 s-1 and 5×10-5 s-1,respectively,which means that serration behavior depends on the strain rate.However,the remarkable agreement between measured slip-avalanche magnitudes and the scaling behavior,i.e.a universal complementary cumulative distribution function（CCDF）predicted by mean-field theory（MFT）model,indicates that the plasticity of the present Fe-based BMGs can be tuned by imposed strain rates：Smax^6）ε-λ.This tuned plasticity is elucidated with expended free-volume model.Moreover,the scaling behavior of serrated flows for other strain rates can be predicted as well.

Pd-based nanoporous metals for enzyme-free electrochemical glucose sensors

Nanoporous metals （NPMs） show potential applications as enzyme-free glucose sensors. There are few reports on nanoporous Pd in this area even though their cost is much lower than other NPMs. In this work, we report the formation of Pd-based NPM with improved catalytic activity towards the oxidation of glucose. By dealloying metallic glasses, Pd-based NPMs with hi-continuous networks were obtained. All the Pd-based NPMs show high electrochemical catalytic activity towards glucose oxidation. In this study, NPM with an open, three-dimensional, ligament-channel nanoporous structure resulted by dealloying metallic Pd3oCu4oNiloP2o, producing a pore size of 11 nm and a ligament size of 7 nm as the best configuration towards the direct oxidation reaction of glucose.