Trifluoromethylation Enables Compact 2D Linear Stacking and Improves the Efficiency and Stability of Q-PHJ Organic Solar Cells.

Compared to the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices, the quasiplanar heterojunction (Q-PHJ) exhibits a more stable morphology and superior charge transfer performance. To achieve both high efficiency and long-term stability, it is necessary to design new materials for Q-PHJ devices. In this study, QxIC-CF and QxIC-CH are designed and synthesized for the first time.

Prediction of acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery with fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio: a prospective observational study.

Background: The occurrence of acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery is common and linked to unfavorable consequences while identifying it in its early stages remains a challenge. The aim of this research was to examine whether the fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR), an innovative inflammation-related risk indicator, has the ability to predict the development of AKI in individuals after cardiac surgery.

Methods: Patients who underwent cardiac surgery from February 2023 to March 2023 and were admitted to the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary teaching hospital were included in this prospective observational study.

Noncovalent Interaction Boosts Performance and Stability of Organic Solar Cells Based on Giant-Molecule Acceptors.

Designing giant-molecule acceptors is deemed as an up-and-coming strategy to construct stable organic solar cells (OSCs) with high performance. Herein, two giant dimeric acceptors, namely, DYV and DYFV, have been designed and synthesized by linking two Y-series derivatives with a vinyl unit. DYFV exhibits more red-shifted absorption, down-shifted energy levels, and enhanced intermolecular packing than DYV because the intramolecular noncovalent interaction (H···F) of DYFV leads to better coplanarity of the backbone.

The Balance Effect of π-π Electronic Coupling on NIR-II Emission and Photodynamic Properties of Highly Hydrophobic Conjugated Photosensitizers.

Deep NIR organic phototheranostic molecules generally have large π-conjugation structures and show highly hydrophobic properties, thus, forming strong π-π stacking in the aqueous medium, which will affect the phototheranostic performance. Herein, an end-group strategy is developed to lift the performance of NIR-II emitting photosensitizers. Extensive characterizations reveal that the hydrogen-bonding interactions of the hydroxyl end group can induce a more intense π-π electronic coupling than the chlorination-mediated intermolecular forces.

Trifluoromethylation in the Design and Synthesis of High-Performance Wide Bandgap Polymer Donors for Quasiplanar Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells.

New strategies for the molecular design to construct efficient electron-deficient units for D-A-type donor copolymers are urgently needed. Halogenation of electron-deficient units (A) has been shown to be the most effective strategy reported to date with which to produce high-performance donor polymers. Herein, we have constructed two different trifluoromethyl-substituted polymer donors, PBQP-CF and PBQ-CF.

Phenanthroline-carbolong interface suppress chemical interactions with active layer enabling long-time stable organic solar cells.

To restrain the chemical reaction at cathode interface of organic solar cells, two cathode interfacial materials are synthesized by connecting phenanthroline with carbolong unit. Consequently, the D18:L8-BO based organic solar cell with double-phenanthroline-carbolong achieve the highest efficiency of 18.2%.

Chlorination-Mediated π-π Stacking Enhances the Photodynamic Properties of a NIR-II Emitting Photosensitizer with Extended Conjugation.

NIR-II-emitting photosensitizers (PSs) have attracted great research interest due to their promising clinical applications in imaging-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, it is still challenging to realize highly efficient PDT on NIR-II PSs. In this work, we develop a chlorination-mediated π-π organizing strategy to improve the PDT of a PS with conjugation-extended A-D-A architecture.

Organic Solar Cell With Efficiency Over 20% and V Exceeding 2.1 V Enabled by Tandem With All-Inorganic Perovskite and Thermal Annealing-Free Process.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) based on polymer donor and non-fullerene acceptor achieve power conversion efficiency (PCE) more than 19% but their poor absorption below 550 nm restricts the harvesting of high-energy photons. In contrast, wide bandgap all-inorganic perovskites limit the absorption of low-energy photons and cause serious below bandgap loss. Therefore, a 2-terminal (2T) monolithic perovskite/organic tandem solar cell (TSC) incorporating wide bandgap CsPbI Br is demonstrated as front cell absorber and organic PM6:Y6 blend as rear cell absorber, to extend the absorption of OSCs into high-energy photon region.

PPARβ down-regulation is involved in high glucose-induced endothelial injury via acceleration of nitrative stress.

Endothelial injury plays a vital role in vascular lesions from diabetes mellitus (DM). Therapeutic targets against endothelial damage may provide critical venues for the treatment of diabetic vascular diseases. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor β (PPARβ) is a crucial regulator in DM and its complications.

17.6%-Efficient Quasiplanar Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells from a Chlorinated 3D Network Acceptor.

Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) have achieved great success because they overcome the shortcomings of short exciton diffusion distances. With the progress in material innovation and device technology, the efficiency of BHJ devices is continually being improved. For some special photovoltaic material systems, it is difficult to manipulate the miscibility and morphology of blend films, and this results in moderate, even poor device performance.

Bell's Palsy after second dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination in a patient with history of recurrent Bell's palsy.

Objective: To report a patient with history of recurrent Bell's Palsy who developed Bell's Palsy 36 ​h after the administration of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Case: The patient is a 57-year-old female with past medical history of 3 episodes of Bell's Palsy. She responded to prednisone treatment and returned to her baseline after each occurrence.

Heterogeneity in PD-L1 expression in malignant peritoneal mesothelioma with systemic or intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression has been described in patients with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM), but treatment strategies utilising immune checkpoint inhibition are yet to be defined. Here, we examine levels of PD-L1 expression in MPM patients treated with systemic and/or intraperitoneal chemotherapy using tissue from patient tumour biopsies or resections at multiple time points. We found the mean PD-L1 expression was higher in those with a germline mutation and/or those with a higher somatic mutation burden.

Galangin (GLN) Suppresses Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion of Human Glioblastoma Cells by Targeting Skp2-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT).

Background: Galangin (GLN), a pure natural flavonoid compound found in plants, has been shown to exert anti-cancer effects against multiple cancer types, including glioma. However, its underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) performs an important function in the genesis and development of cancer.

4-Hydroxyacetophenone modulates the actomyosin cytoskeleton to reduce metastasis.

Metastases are the cause of the vast majority of cancer deaths. In the metastatic process, cells migrate to the vasculature, intravasate, extravasate, and establish metastatic colonies. This pattern of spread requires the cancer cells to change shape and to navigate tissue barriers.

Intratumoral accumulation of gut microbiota facilitates CD47-based immunotherapy via STING signaling.

Most studies focus on how intestinal microbiota influence cancer immunotherapy through activating gut immunity. However, immunotherapies related to innate responses such as CD47 blockade rely on the rapid immune responses within the tumor microenvironment. Using one defined anaerobic gut microbiota to track whether microbiota interact with host immunity, we observed that Bifidobacterium facilitates local anti-CD47 immunotherapy on tumor tissues through the capacity to accumulate within the tumor microenvironment.

Peritoneal Metastases in Colorectal Cancer: Biology and Barriers.

Background: Advances in the molecular biology of tumor metastasis have paralleled the evolution in the management of metastatic disease from colorectal cancer. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the mechanism of colorectal cancer metastases, in particular that of peritoneal metastases, as well as clinical data on the treatment of this disease.

Methods: A review of relevant English literature using MEDLINE/PubMed on the biology of colorectal cancer metastases, determinants of oligometastasis, and use of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer is presented.

Verbascoside attenuates acute inflammatory injury in experimental cerebral hemorrhage by suppressing TLR4.

Cerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a common cerebrovascular condition with high mortality, disability and recurrence rates. TLR4-mediated acute inflammatory injury plays a pivotal role in ICH. Verbascoside (VB) is an active component of multiple medicinal plants, and exerts neuroprotective effects in ischemic stroke by targeting the inflammatory response.

Systemic miRNA delivery by nontoxic nanoscale coordination polymers limits epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and suppresses liver metastases of colorectal cancer.

Though early detection and treatment of primary tumors has significantly improved in recent years, metastatic disease remains among the most significant challenges in cancer therapy. Cancer cells can disseminate before the primary tumor is detected to form micro or gross metastases, requiring toxic systemic therapies. To prevent and suppress metastases, we have developed a nontoxic, long-circulating nanoscale coordination polymer (NCP) protecting microRNA (miRNA) in circulation and releasing it in tumors.

Author Correction: Integrated molecular subtyping defines a curable oligometastatic state in colorectal liver metastasis.

In the originally published version of this Article, the affiliation details for Kevin P. White inadvertently omitted 'Tempus Labs, Chicago, IL, 60654, USA'. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

Fluorination Triggered New Small Molecule Donor Materials for Efficient As-Cast Organic Solar Cells.

Solution-processable small molecules (SMs) have attracted intense attention due to their definite molecular structures, less batch-to-batch variation, and easier structure control. Herein, two new SM donors based on substituted isatin unit (DI3T, DI3T-2F) are synthesized and applied as electron donors with the mixture of PC BM to construct organic photovoltaics. As a result, 5,6-difluoro isatin derivative (DI3T-2F) obtains a power conversion efficiency of 7.

Integrated molecular subtyping defines a curable oligometastatic state in colorectal liver metastasis.

The oligometastasis hypothesis suggests a spectrum of metastatic virulence where some metastases are limited in extent and curable with focal therapies. A subset of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer achieves prolonged survival after resection of liver metastases consistent with oligometastasis. Here we define three robust subtypes of de novo colorectal liver metastasis through integrative molecular analysis.

The protective effects of HGF against apoptosis in vascular endothelial cells caused by peripheral vascular injury.

Closed vascular injuries have danger of developing critical tissue ischemia with a high risk of amputation and limb loss. However, limited effective strategies exist at present. In this study, we investigate the role of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) on apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells (VECs).