Promise and challenges of traditional Chinese medicine,specifically Calculus bovis,in liver cancer treatment

Liver cancer,one of the most common malignancies worldwide,ranks sixth in incidence and third in mortality.Liver cancer treatment options are diverse,inclu-ding surgical resection,liver transplantation,percutaneous ablation,transarterial chemoembolization,radiotherapy,chemotherapy,targeted therapy,immuno-therapy,and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).A multidisciplinary team(MDT)is essential to customize treatment plans based on tumor staging,liver function,and performance status(PS),ensuring individualized patient care.Treatment decisions require a MDT to tailor strategies based on tumor staging,liver function,and PS,ensuring personalized care.The approval of new first-line and second-line drugs and the establishment of standard treatments based on immune checkpoint inhibitors have significantly expanded treatment options for advanced liver cancer,improving overall prognosis.However,many patients do not respond effectively to these treatments and ultimately succumb to the disease.Modern oncology treatments,while extending patient survival,often come with severe side effects,resistance,and damage to the body,negatively impacting quality of life.Huang et al's study published at World Journal of Gastroenterology rigorously validates the anticancer properties of Calculus bovis,enhancing our understanding of TCM and contributing to new liver cancer treatment strategies.For over 5000 years,TCM has been used in East Asian countries like China to treat various diseases,including liver conditions.Analysis of real-world clinical data suggests that for patients with advanced-stage tumors lacking effective treatments,integrated TCM therapies could provide significant breakthroughs.

First integrals of the axisymmetric shape equation of lipid membranes

The shape equation of lipid membranes is a fourth-order partial differential equation.Under the axisymmetric condi-tion,this equation was transformed into a second-order ordinary differential equation(ODE)by Zheng and Liu(Phys.Rev.E 482856(1993)).Here we try to further reduce this second-order ODE to a first-order ODE.First,we invert the usual process of variational calculus,that is,we construct a Lagrangian for which the ODE is the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equation.Then,we seek symmetries of this Lagrangian according to the Noether theorem.Under a certain restriction on Lie groups of the shape equation,we find that the first integral only exists when the shape equation is identical to the Will-more equation,in which case the symmetry leading to the first integral is scale invariance.We also obtain the mechanical interpretation of the first integral by using the membrane stress tensor.

Interface materials for perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells exhibit great potential to become commercial photovoltaic technology due to their high power conversion efficiency,low cost,solution processability,and facile large-area device manufacture.Interface engineering plays a significant role to optimize device performance.For the anode in the inverted devices,this review introduces the progress on the modification of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)including chemical structure alteration,physical doping,and solution treatment.We present the recent advances of dopant-free hole transport materials widely applied in mesoporous and conventional devices,outlining their innovation with novel molecular design concepts toward promising material properties,and device performance.For the cathode,various metal oxide and organic electron transport materials are covered and the different modification strategies and related mechanisms are highlighted.Most importantly,simple synthesis process,inexpensive raw materials and highly reproducible photovoltaic performance are the main consideration for the design of all the interface materials.Finally,an outlook and some suggestions regarding the future interface engineering are proposed based on the summary of the current development status and working mechanism of interface materials.

Pancharatnam-Berry phase reversal via opposite-chirality-coexisted superstructures

Recently discovered reflective Pancharatnam-Berry phase(PB phase)from chiral anisotropic media(e.g.,cholesteric liquid crystal,CLC)has aroused great interest in the emerging frontier of planar optics.However,the single chirality of common CLCs results in the intrinsic limitation of the same spin-selective PB phase manipulation,which means the reversal of the input spin cannot realize the conjugated PB phase.In this work,an innovative scheme based on opposite-chirality-coexisted superstructures is proposed to simultaneously modulate orthogonal circular polarization and get PB phase reversal.Through refilling CLC into a washed-out polymer network with opposite chirality and delicate photo-patterned structures,reflective optical vortex(OV)with opposite topological charges and vector beams with conjugated spiral PB phases are efficiently generated depending on the incident polarization.Furthermore,OV holograms are encoded to reconstruct polarization-selective OV arrays,indicating the strong capability of such opposite-chirality-coexisted anisotropic media.This work provides a new compact platform for planar optics,and sheds light on the architectures and functionalities of chiral superstructures.