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A simple, highly efficient, and environmentally friendly one-step method has been developed to synthesize fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) with the assistance of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Here H2O2 acts as a green accelerator to promote the preparation of CDs, while temperature plays a critical role in controlling the entire synthesis process. The prepared CDs demonstrate monodispersion, with an average diameter of ∼6.8 nm, superior stability, and excitation-dependent photoluminescent (PL) behavior. The PL mechanism of the CDs was investigated using time-resolved PL decay, revealing that the PL originates from both the defect state and the intrinsic state of the CDs. Furthermore, the CDs show significant promise as pH sensors and versatile nanothermometry devices, owing to their remarkable sensitivity to both pH and temperature, as demonstrated by the pronounced dependence of their steady-state fluorescence emission spectra. It’s worth noting that temperature and pH sensors present significant reversibility, sensitivity, and linearity. More importantly, the CDs display low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, and the ability to enter human breast cancer Bcap-37 cells, making them highly suitable candidates for cellular imaging and labeling.

Background: Accurately predicting the survival rate of submandibular gland cancer (SGC) is of significant importance for guiding treatment decision-making and improving patient outcomes. This study was aimed to identify the independent prognostic factors of overall survival (OS) in SGC patients, and develop novel prediction models to aid clinicians in predicting the survival probability. Materials and methods: Patients diagnosed with primary SGC after the year 2010 were extracted from SEER database and then randomly allocated into training and test samples in a 7:3 ratio. Uni- and multi-variable COX analyses were employed using the training sample to ascertain independent prognostic factors for OS. Subsequently, graphic and online dynamic nomograms were established basing on the independent prognostic factors. We utilized C-index, calibration curve, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and area under ROC curve (AUC) value to evaluate the discrimination capacity and the consistency between predicted and actual survival. Results: A total of 527 SGC patients were included (369 assigned to training group and 158 assigned to test group). The multivariable COX analysis showed that age, sex, marital status, tumor histology, summary stage, metastases to bone, and tumor size were independently associated with OS. Novel graphical and online dynamic (URL: https://yangxg1209.shinyapps.io/overall_survival_submandibular_gland_tumor/) nomograms were established. The C-indices (training: 0.77, 95%CI 0.71–0.84; test: 0.77, 95%CI 0.68–0.85) indicate favorable discrimination ability of the model, and the calibration curves demonstrated favorable consistency between the predicted and actual survival rates. Conclusions: Our study identified the independent prognostic factors influencing OS in patients with SGC, and successfully established and validated novel nomograms, which provide accurate prediction of survival rates and allows for personalized risk assessment.

Block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly has tremendous potential applications in next-generation nanolithography. It offers significant advantages, including high resolution and cost-effectiveness, effectively overcoming the limitations associated with conventional optical lithography. In this work, we demonstrate a focused solar annealing (FSA) technique that is facile, eco-friendly, and energy-efficient for fast self-assembly of polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) thin films. The FSA principle involves utilizing a common biconvex lens to converge incident solar radiation into a high-temperature spot, which is directly used to drive the microphase separation of PS-b-PMMA thin films. As a result, PS-b-PMMA undergoes self-assembly, forming ordered nanostructures in a vertical orientation at seconds timescales on silicon substrates with a neutral layer. In addition, the FSA technique can be employed for grafting neutral polymer brushes onto the silicon substrate. Furthermore, the FSA's compatibility with graphoepitaxy-directed self-assembly (DSA) of BCP is also demonstrated in the patterning of contact holes. The results of contact hole shrinking show that contact hole prepatterns of ∼60.4 nm could be uniformly shrunk to ∼20.5 nm DSA hole patterns with a hole open yield (HOY) of 100 %. For contact hole multiplication, doublet DSA holes were successfully generated on elliptical templates, revealing an average DSA hole size of ∼21.3 nm. Most importantly, due to the direct use of solar energy, the FSA technique provides many significant advantages such as simplicity, environmental friendliness, solvent-free, low cost, and net-zero carbon emissions, and will open up a new direction for BCP lithography that is sustainable, pollution-free, and carbon-neutral.

Background: The aim of this study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the international prostate symptom score (IPSS) and benign prostatic hyperplasia impact index (BII) into simplified Chinese for mainland Chinese patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: The original English IPSS and BII were translated into simplified Chinese versions based on cross-cultural adaptation guidelines. Internal consistency was evaluated with Cronbach’s α, then test-retest reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) in stable patients. The validity of these two adaptations was tested by the correlation between the IPSS and BII with visual prostate symptom score (VPSS) and 36 items Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). The floor and ceiling effects were calculated by the proportion of participants who obtained the highest and lowest possible score. Results: A total of 105 native Chinese-speaking patients with BPH were enrolled. Cronbach’s α was over 0.75 for the simplified Chinese IPSS (IPSS 0.815; IPSS-symptom 0.782) and 0.709 for the simplified Chinese BII, indicating acceptable internal consistency. The ICCs for the test-retest reliability were over 0.75 (IPSS, r = 0.836; IPSS-symptom, r = 0.801; IPSS-quality of life, r = 0.794; BII, r = 0.758), indicating excellent test-retest reliability. There were very good positive correlations between IPSS and BII (r = 0.605), as well as VPSS (r = 0.634), and very good or good negative correlations between IPSS-Qol and SF-36 physical functioning (r = −0.621), and vitality (r = −0.659), and between BII and SF-36 physical functioning (r = −0.421). No floor or ceiling effect was detected in the simplified Chinese IPSS and BII. Conclusions: This study indicates that the simplified Chinese IPSS and BII are reliable and valid measurements of the symptom and quality of life among Chinese patients with BPH, which is likely to be widely used in this population.

In this paper, the strength and deformation of structural all lightweight concrete (ALWC), structural semi-lightweight concrete (SLWC) and normal weight concrete (NWC) subjected to uniaxial, equibiaxial and truly tri-axial compression was experimentally studied and compared. The stress-strain curves in three principal directions were recorded, and the failure modes of different specimens under various stress states were observed. Test results showed that the failure modes were mainly dependent on the stress ratio, but independent of concrete types. For all types of concrete, the peak strength under biaxial and triaxial compression is substantially higher than uniaxial compressive strength. At the lower compression stress ratio, i.e. σ1/σ3 = 0.1, all the concrete exhibited relatively brittle behavior, the relative tri-axial compressive strength of ALWC and SLWC was in a range of 1.61–2.05 and 1.93–2.63 respectively, compared to 2.25–3.21 for NWC. The peak deformation in three principal directions for ALWC and SLWC was far greater than that of NWC. At the higher compression stress ratio, i.e. σ1/σ3 = 0.25, all concretes showed pseudo-ductile behavior, the relative tri-axial compressive strength and peak deformation in three principal directions of ALWC and SLWC became close to those of NWC. Considering the role of the intermediate principal stress for concrete under true triaxial compression, a 4-parameter failure criterion model with different material constants was developed. The proposed failure surface was verified against experimental data of NWC, ALWC, and SLWC under multiaxial loads in this paper, as well as low strength LWC under truly tri-axial compression in the literature. It provided the experimental and theoretical foundations for strength analysis of LWC structures subject to complex loads. Keywords: Structural lightweight aggregate concrete, True tri-axial, Failure mode, Stress-strain relation, Failure criteria