Honeycomb-like Microthermal Traps on a Photothermal Surface for Highly Efficient Solar Evaporation.

Solar evaporation is an ecofriendly and practical method for seawater desalination. The photothermal layer, which absorbs solar energy and converts it to thermal energy, plays a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of the evaporator. However, structural design methods for photothermal layers are often complex and energy-intensive.

Designing of anisotropic gradient surfaces for directional liquid transport: Fundamentals, construction, and applications.

Many biological surfaces are capable of transporting liquids in a directional manner without energy consumption. Inspired by nature, constructing asymmetric gradient surfaces to achieve desired droplet transport, such as a liquid diode, brings an incredibly valuable and promising area of research with a wide range of applications. Enabled by advances in nanotechnology and manufacturing techniques, biomimetics has emerged as a promising avenue for engineering various types of anisotropic material system.

An ultrasensitive method for detecting mutations from short and rare cell-free DNA.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) was short and rare, making the detection performance of the current targeted sequencing methods unsatisfying. We developed the One-PrimER Amplification (OPERA) system and examined its performance in detecting mutations of low variant allelic frequency (VAF) in various samples with short-sized DNA fragments. In cell line-derived samples containing sonication-sheared DNA fragments with 50-150 bp, OPERA was capable of detecting mutations as low as 0.

Bilayer Nanoporous Polyethylene Membrane with Anisotropic Wettability for Rapid Water Transportation/Evaporation and Radiative Cooling.

Both sweat drainage and evaporation play important roles in achieving personal moisture and thermal management during sweat-producing exercises. However, it remains a great challenge to simultaneously realize thermal management through radiative cooling for human body without perspiration. Herein, we report a bilayer nanoporous polyethylene membrane with anisotropic wettability, which possesses superior radiative cooling ability (∼2.

Comprehensive Analysis of EGFR-Mutant Abundance and Its Effect on Efficacy of EGFR TKIs in Advanced NSCLC with EGFR Mutations.

Introduction: A qualitative detection method for EGFR mutations is not sufficient to guide precise targeted therapy in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the abundance of EGFR mutations and efficacy of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Methods: We used the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) method optimized with competitive blockers and specific mutation quantitation (ARMS+) to quantitatively evaluate the abundance of EGFR mutations in 201 patients with advanced NSCLC.

A preliminary study on the relationship between circulating tumor cells count and clinical features in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: To evaluate the clinical value of circulating tumor cells (CTC) count in peripheral venous blood of patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).

Methods: A total of 50 NSCLC patients who were diagnosed in Wuxi No. 2 People's Hospital from January 2013 to December 2013 were selected as the NSCLC group, 35 patients with lung benign tumor as the benign group, and 28 healthy subjects as the normal control group.

Folate receptor-positive circulating tumor cells as a novel diagnostic biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer.

The study aims to determine the efficacy and feasibility of a novel folate receptor (FR)-based circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection method in the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). CTCs were collected from 3 ml of blood based on negative enrichment by immunomagnetic beads and then labeled by a conjugate of a tumor-specific ligand folate and an oligonucleotide. After washing off redundant conjugates, the bound conjugates were removed and analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction.