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Halogenated organic compounds are ubiquitous in water bodies due to anthropogenic activities and some of them pose a real threat to the aquatic environment and human health. That is the case of artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and haloacetic acid disinfection byproducts such as trichloroacetic acid (TCA), classified as contaminants of emerging concern. This motivates the search for rapid, cost-effective and easy-to-use analytical tools that could be deployed to facilitate the analysis of organohalide pollutants and aid in accurately monitoring water quality. This work explores the rapid detection of sucralose and TCA using a very simple miniaturized sample-to-result integrated electrochemical sensor. The device incorporates a screen-printed three-electrode electrochemical cell (SPE) where the working electrode is made of a nanocomposite of Ag nanoparticles and porous C (Ag/C). The material is prepared from bread waste, in an attempt to add value to one of the largest fractions of food leftovers and thus contribute to the sustainable circular economy. The electrochemical process behind the sensor analytical performance is initially evaluated using free Cl− ions in solution and then, the sensor is used to analyze the mentioned target analytes. A paper disk integrated over the electrode area and loaded with the reagents required for the sample conditioning makes the analysis straightforward. The sensor thus produced can be inserted in a highly compact low-power instrument connected to a mobile phone, making an easy-to-use device suitable for on-site analytical studies., The Chinese Scholarship Council fellowship (201806220063) to W.C. Duan is acknowledged. WD is enrolled in the Materials Science Ph.D. Program of the UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). The X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis laboratories of the ICMAB scientific services contributed to this work and are acknowledged. This work used the Spanish ICTS Network MICRONANOFABS which was partly supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This work was also partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Severo Ochoa program for Centers of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019–000917-S)., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

The rapid expansion of urban areas has given rise to the generation of large amounts of wastewater that pose a growing pressure on the surrounding ecosystems. Effective water quality surveillance programs demand the implementation of in-field tests to monitor water safe discharge in the environment after being adequately treated. This paper describes the manufacturing and application of a miniaturized electrochemical sensor for measuring dissolved chemical oxygen demand (COD) in surface waters entering and exiting urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTP). Thin-film carbon electrodes are produced on Si/SiO2 substrates by a combined sol–gel material synthesis and photolithography/dry etching process at the wafer level and show superior electrochemical performance compared with the glassy carbon standard electrode. Three-electrode electrochemical cells of planar configuration are produced and the COD sensor is manufactured by electrodepositing copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) on the working electrode under controlled potentiostatic conditions. A simple fluidic electrochemical sensor device is fabricated and allows for the Cu NPs electrodeposition as well as analytical sensor performance in an automatic fashion. A linear range up to 670 mg·L-1 O2 and a limit of detection of 30 mg·L-1 O2 are achieved. The ability of this electrochemical sensor approach to monitoring the soluble organic load of urban wastewater in real-time is evaluated by analyzing three samples collected in different locations of an UWWTP. The COD values estimated with the sensor are in excellent agreement with those obtained using the standard dichromate method provided by an accredited laboratory. This analytical platform provides a robust, user-friendly low-maintenance flow sensor approach for deployed analysis of COD that could aid to control the effectiveness of water treatment processes, especially when facing water influents containing organic overloads due to changing weather conditions or any anthropogenic phenomena., The Chinese Scholarship Council fellowship (201806220063) to W.C. Duan is acknowledged. WD is enrolled in the Materials Science PhD Program of the UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). This work has also received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 framework programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 801342 (Tecniospring INDUSTRY)” and the Government of Catalonia's Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ). The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation is acknowledged for financial support through the Severo Ochoa programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019-000917-S). Some additional funding was also given by the government of Catalonia, with grants numbers 2017 SGR 1771 and 2017 SGR 765. The X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis laboratories of the ICMAB scientific services contributed to this work and are acknowledged. This work used the Spanish ICTS Network MICRONANOFABS which was partly supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. We are very grateful to Mercè Baldi and Josefina Torán for their help and for kindly providing us with the real water samples from the wastewater treatment plant., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

The increasing awareness of the importance of water for human and environmental health has prompted the need for developing fast, user-friendly and cost-effective analytical approaches for quality control and management. This work reports the fabrication and analytical assessment of a very simple sample-to-result electrochemical sensor for discrete and precise measurements of dissolved chemical oxygen demand (COD) in water samples of urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTP). The device is fabricated by screen printing and shows a three-electrode cell configuration including a working electrode made of a composite material comprising a porous carbon matrix and copper nanoparticles, synthesized by a customized one-pot sol-gel process. The key feature of this device is the implementation of a paper disk loaded with sodium hydroxide covering the electrochemical cell area that allows sample filtering and pH conditioning. Thus, analytical measurements are carried out by casting a 20 µL sample drop without requiring any further user intervention. The overall sensor fabrication process can be scaled up for cost-effective mass manufacturing. The feasibility and performance of this integrated device are first evaluated using glucose as a standard analyte. A linear range up to 400 mg L− 1 O2 and a limit of detection of around 26 mg L− 1 O2 is achieved, this being well below the EU legal concentration limit of 125 mg L− 1 set for effluents of UWWTPs. Three real samples are analyzed in the lab as well as on-site and COD sensor values are in agreement with those obtained with the standard dichromate method at a certified laboratory, within the error limits. This miniaturized novel sensor platform greatly simplifies the standard analytical procedure for measuring COD, facilitating rapid decentralized analysis for precise control of urban wastewater treatment., This work was partially funded by Generalitat de Catalunya, grants numbers 2017 SGR 1771 and 2017 SGR 765, and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Severo Ochoa programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019-000917-S). We are very grateful to Antoni Baldi, Mercè Baldi and Josefina Torán for their help and for kindly providing us with the real water samples. The Chinese Scholarship Council fellowship (201806220063) to W.C. Duan is also acknowledged. WD is enrolled in the Materials Science PhD Program of the UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). The X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis laboratories of the ICMAB scientific services contributed to this work and are acknowledged. This work used the Spanish ICTS Network MICRONANOFABS that was partly supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

Bread waste is a major part of food wastage which could be upcycled to produce functional materials, following the principles of the circular bioeconomy. This work shows that bread waste can be recycled and valorized to produce a composite conductive material with excellent properties for chemical sensor applications. Here, dry bread is impregnated with an aqueous solution of a silver precursor and pyrolyzed to produce a porous carbon matrix containing Ag nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 20 to 40 nm. These particles perform as catalytic redox centers for the electrochemical detection of halide ions (Cl-, Br-, and I-) and organohalide target molecules such as sucralose and trichloroacetic acid. A thorough analytical characterization is carried out to show the potential application of the developed material for the manufacturing of electrochemical sensor approaches. The material preparation is sustainable, low-cost, simple, and upscalable. These are ideal features for the large-scale manufacturing by screen-printing technologies of single-use electrochemical sensors for the rapid analysis of halogenated organic pollutants in waters., This work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Severo Ochoa programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019-000917-S) and the Generalitat de Catalunya, Grants 2017 SGR 1771 and 2017 SGR 765. The Chinese Scholarship Council fellowship (201806220063) to W.D. is also acknowledged. W.D. is enrolled in the Materials Science Ph.D. Program of the UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). The X-ray Diffraction and Thermal Analysis laboratories of the ICMAB scientific services contributed to this work and are acknowledged., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

The prediction of clinical outcome for patients with infiltrative gliomas is challenging. Although preoperative hematological markers have been proposed as predictors of survival in glioma and other cancers, systematic investigations that combine these data with other relevant clinical variables are needed to improve prognostic accuracy and patient outcomes. We investigated the prognostic value of preoperative hematological markers, alone and in combination with molecular pathology, for the survival of 592 patients with Grade II-IV diffuse gliomas. On univariate analysis, increased neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and decreased albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR), all predicted poor prognosis in Grade II/III gliomas. Multivariate analysis incorporating tumor status based on the presence of IDH mutations, TERT promoter mutations, and 1p/19q codeletion showed that in lower-grade gliomas, high NLR predicted poorer survival for the triple-negative, IDH mutation only, TERT mutation only, and IDH and TERT mutation groups. NLR was an independent prognostic factor in Grade IV glioma. We therefore propose a prognostic model for diffuse gliomas based on the presence of IDH and TERT promoter mutations, 1p/19q codeletion, and NLR. This model classifies lower-grade gliomas into nine subgroups that can be combined into four main risk groups based on survival projections.

Background To develop a radiomics signature for predicting overall survival (OS)/progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with medulloblastoma (MB), and to investigate the incremental prognostic value and biological pathways of the radiomics patterns. Methods A radiomics signature was constructed based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from a training cohort (n = 83), and evaluated on a testing cohort (n = 83). Key pathways associated with the signature were identified by RNA-seq (GSE151519). Prognostic value of pathway genes was assessed in a public GSE85218 cohort. Findings The radiomics-clinicomolecular signature predicted OS (C-index 0.762) and PFS (C-index 0.697) better than either the radiomics signature (C-index: OS: 0.649; PFS: 0.593) or the clinicomolecular signature (C-index: OS: 0.725; PFS: 0.691) alone, with a better calibration and classification accuracy (net reclassification improvement: OS: 0.298, P = 0.022; PFS: 0.252, P = 0.026). Nine pathways were significantly correlated with the radiomics signature. Average expression value of pathway genes achieved significant risk stratification in GSE85218 cohort (log-rank P = 0.016). Interpretation This study demonstrated radiomics signature, which associated with dysregulated pathways, was an independent parameter conferring incremental value over clinicomolecular factors in survival predictions for MB patients. Funding A full list of funding bodies that contributed to this study can be found in the Acknowledgements section.

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) can generate and enhance the nonlinear optical (NLO) response and has been widely used in biosensing, optical bistability, optical switch, and modulator, surface-enhanced spectroscopies, etc. Here, the two-dimensional (2D) Au & Ag hybrid plasmonic NP network (Au & Ag HPNN) were synthesized by assembling Au and Ag NPs in ethanol solvent and transferring onto a CaF2 substrate. The frequency-domain finite element method (FEM) simulations were performed to explore their LSPR properties, demonstrating the broadband optical responses throughout visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared regions. The ultrafast carrier relaxation times were determined to be 3.9, 5.6, and 8.6 ps, while the nonlinear absorption coefficients were −1.12 × 104, −1.71 × 104, and −2.54 × 104 cm/GW, respectively, for the three wavelengths matching the LSPRs peaks at 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 μm bands. Furthermore, passively Q-switched (PQS) solid-state lasers operating at 1062.8, 1990.8, and 2947 nm were demonstrated with 2D Au & Ag HPNN based saturable absorbers. This work not only reveals desirable ultrafast broadband NLO responses of 2D HPNN, but also provides a platform for investigating their applications in nanophotonic devices., This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of China (Grant No. 61675116, 61975095, 61775093, 615751109), Development Program for Public Welfare in Shandong (2017GGX20134), and the Young Scholars Program of Shandong University (Grant No.2017WLJH48). The Chinese Scholarship Council fellowship (201806220063) to W.C. Duan is also acknowledged.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Glioma is the most common malignant tumor in the central nervous system (CNS). Lower-grade gliomas (LGG) refer to Grade II and III gliomas. In LGG patients, seizure often appears as an initial symptom and play an important role in clinical performance and quality of life of the patients. To date, the relationship between the onset of seizures and the molecular pathology in gliomas is still poorly investigated. In this study, we investigate the potential relationship between isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)/telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter (TERTp) mutations and preoperative seizures in patients with LGG. 289 adult LGG patients were enrolled in this study. Data of clinical characteristics and molecular pathology were acquired. Sanger sequencing was used to detect IDH/TERTp mutations. Chi-square test was performed to determine if the IDH/TERTp mutations were associated with seizures and seizure types. In 289 LGG patients, preoperative seizures accounted for 25.3% (73/289), IDH mutations accounted for 34.3%(99/289), and TERTp mutations accounted for 44.3% (128/289). The correlation analysis demonstrated that IDH mutation is a significant factor influencing the occurrence of tumor-related epilepsy (P