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Yan Yang,1,2 Jing-hao Yao,1,2 Ling-jie Xu,1,3 Zheng-guang Zhou,1,2 Ming-xi Wang,1,2 Zi-shu Wang,1,2 Fu-you Zhao1,2 1Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Oncology, School of Clinical Medicine, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Nursing, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fu-you ZhaoDepartment of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, 233000, Anhui, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 552-3086178Email fuyouzhao@bbmc.edu.cnPurpose: To determine whether the teaching method of seminars combined with case-based learning (CBL) is superior to the traditional lecture-based learning (LBL) for teaching cancer pain in medical oncology internship.Methods: Sixty medical and nursing interns in the medical oncology department of our hospital were selected between January 2019 and December 2020. Thirty students received traditional LBL instruction as the control group, and 30 students received combined seminars and CBL instruction as the observation group. The teaching evaluation and assessment was performed by theoretical and practical examinations and questionnaires.Results: In the after-class examination, case analysis, clinical practice and overall scores of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (all p < 0.001). Theoretical knowledge scores did not differ significantly between the two groups (p = 0.470). In the questionnaire regarding attitudes towards opioid use, the observation group had better perceptions of using opioids than the control group (all p < 0.01). In the meantime, students in the observation group outperformed the control group in four aspects: self-learning (p < 0.001), analytical and problem-solving (p < 0.001), clinical thinking (p = 0.001), and clinical practice (p = 0.002) abilities all improved, while stimulating learning interest (p = 0.184) and enhancing theoretical knowledge mastery (p = 0.221) were not significantly different from those of the control group. Overall, students in the observation group were more satisfied with the teaching, teaching methods and teacher performances than the control group (all p < 0.001).Conclusion: Compared to the LBL, the combination of seminars and CBL is a more effective teaching method for cancer pain management, which is worth further study.Keywords: cancer pain teaching, seminar method, case-based learning, lecture-based learning, comparative study

Vertical graphene (VG) films can be fabricated on the surface of nickel foil from fullerene soot (FS) under microwave plasma irradiation (MPI) in a mixture gas of H2 and Ar at 1200 W for 15 min. The resulting FS-derived VG films mostly consist of few-layer graphene sheets with large domain graphene sizes, high graphitization order, and high purity, as characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopies, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Combined the present and previous results, MPI technique is an effective and versatile approach to synthesize vertically oriented graphene sheets from any carbon-containing sources.

A hydrangea-like Au–TiO2 catalyst for round-the-clock degradation of organic contaminants was developed, which can degrade oxalic acid by either photocatalytic ozonation or catalytic ozonation. Au–TiO2 with 1.5 wt% gold loading showed the highest catalytic activity, achieving a removal rate of 99% under visible light irradiation and 84% in the dark, respectively.

Complete mineralization of phenolic compounds into CO

Spectrophotometry is an economic and rapid method for detecting oxalic acid (OA), while the reported methods have some drawbacks, such as narrow linear range, long response time, delicate operation and required expensive reagents. Herein, we found that the as-synthesized Fe(III)-sulfosalicylate (FeSSA) could be used as an efficient colorimetric chemosensor to detect OA, and the established FeSSA-based fading spectrophotometry showed prominent advantages over the existing ones in detecting OA. The as-established method has wider linear range of 0.80-160 mg/L with regression coefficient ≥ 0.999, while the widest linear range is just 2.7-54 mg/L among the reported ones. Moreover, the method has low limit of detection (0.74 mg/L), extremely fast response (several seconds), satisfactory selectivity, high accuracy and precision. Most importantly, its reliability was further verified by employing it to determine OA concentration during the degradation process of organic pollutants. The measured OA concentration at any time interval was perfectly consistent with those determined by the well-recognized high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). These confirmed that the FeSSA-based fading spectrophotometry is an efficient, simple, fast, accurate and economic method to determine OA in a wide concentration range.

This article presents a non-expected utility decision model which is nonlinear in the winning probabilities. The model not only explicitly expresses bidders’ attitudes to risk, but also addresses t...

To provide some experience and lessons for China’s emission trading scheme (ETS), this article assess the performance of carbon trading pilots from the perspectives of abatement effectivene...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical factors relevant to the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer who received intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). METHODS The data of 60 patients admitted to our hospital from January 2014 to December 2015 with pathologically confirmed esophageal cancer were retrospectively reviewed. All patients received IMRT. Patients were divided into groups according to two-year survival: those who survived > 2 years after treatment, and those who died within 2 years of treatment. The potential clinical factors relevant to prognosis were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS Single factor analysis showed that lesion length (P < 0.05), tumor diameter (P < 0.05), T stage (P < 0.05), N stage (P < 0.05), and combined chemotherapy (P < 0.05) were associated with the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients who received IMRT. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that T stage (odds ratio = 3.62; P < 0.05) and N stage (odds ratio = 2.98; P < 0.05) were independent factors relevant to prognosis. CONCLUSION T stage and N stage influence the long-term curative effects of IMRT for esophageal cancer. The higher the stage, the lower the two-year survival rate.

Maybe it is the most important medical reform for current China to adopt the bid-and-procurement scheme to correct the distortion of pharmaceutical resources allocation. Nevertheless, overpriced drugs often happen. This article aims to identify potential factors leading to the overpriced. Based on the mechanism rules of the scheme, it is found that unethical doctors are crucial to high price markup in the pricing pattern of drugs. Under China's actual conditions, asymmetric ownership is identified to be another cause of the overpriced by developing an asymmetric bidding model. How are the impacts of these two factors to be alleviated? Upon examination, several reform measures cannot effectively avoid the occurrence of the overpriced. Yet, the issue is very urgent for China because it is facing with the problem of population aging. Therefore, alternative options - a regulation-penalty tool and an investment subsidy policy - are proposed to improve China's health care.

There is an increasing interest in the specific physicochemical properties of gradient copolymers at interfaces. In this work, the phase behavior and interfacial properties of amphiphilic gradient copolymers at the water/CO2 interface are explored and compared to that of diblock copolymer counterparts. It is observed that spontaneous amphiphilic block-like gradient copolymers made of N,N-dimethylacrylamide, vinyl pivalate, and vinyl acetate exhibit slightly lower cloud point pressures in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) than the corresponding diblock copolymers. Much more pronounced differences are established at the water/scCO2 interface, with larger critical aggregation concentration (CAC), much faster adsorption kinetics and equilibration, and lower surface tension for gradient copolymers. RAFT/MADIX polymerization allows the control of molar mass, composition, and microstructure of the copolymers of the study. These findings shed light on how microstructural control in amphiphilic copolymers can g...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of vinorelbine plus cisplatin (NP regimen) vs. gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP regimen) for treatment of metastatic TNBC after failure with anthracyclines and taxanes. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 48 patients with metastatic TNBC that failed in anthracyclines and taxanes treatment were enrolled and randomly grouped. Patients in the NP group (n=22) were given 25 mg/m² vinorelbine on days 1 and 8 and 25 mg/m² cisplatin on days 2-4 of each 21-day cycle, while subjects in the GP group (n=26) were administered 1000 mg/m² gemcitabine on days 1 and 8 and 25 mg/m² cisplatin on days 2-4 of each 21-day cycle. The treatment response and adverse events were compared between the 2 groups every 2 cycles. RESULTS The ORR, DCR, and median TTP were 45.5%, 77.3%, and 5 months in the NP group, and 46.2%, 80.8%, and 5.2 months in the GP group, and no significant differences were observed in ORR, DCR, and median TTP between the 2 groups (P>0.05). The major adverse events included grade I-II bone marrow inhibition, gastrointestinal reactions, and phlebitis, and a lower incidence of thrombocytopenia and rash and a higher incidence of phlebitis was found in the NP group than in the GP group (P

In this article, the spatial spillover effects of nonperforming loans in commercial banks are investigated based on Chinese provinces. Panel data from 31 provinces in China covering the period from 2005 to 2014 are used in this study. First, we employ Moran’s I statistic to describe the empirical evidence for the presence of spatial dependencies in provincial nonperforming loans ratio (NPLR) after checking the stationarity of the data by the second-generation panel unit root tests. Then we construct the spatial panel data model through a set of model specification tests, and calculate the direct and indirect effects of the explanatory variables. The empirical results show that the spatial spillover effect plays a significant role in regional nonperforming loans. Furthermore, the growth rate of the gross domestic product and the unemployment rate are two important factors in the transmission of nonperforming loans among the regions.

An uniform surface layered hierarchical octahedral-like structured Zn2SnO4/SnO2 had been achieved through a simple chemical route with post heat-treatment. The structures of Zn2SnO4/SnO2 composites can be readily tailored from sphere, hierarchical octahedral-like structure to perfect octahedron simply by adjusting the reaction solution temperatures. The as-prepared Zn2SnO4/SnO2 composites were used as sensing materials to detect formaldehyde (HCHO) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Among all the sensors of Zn2SnO4/SnO2, the sensor based on hierarchical octahedral-like Zn2SnO4/SnO2–20 °C demonstrated the most excellent response toward HCHO, which presented high sensitivity, wide detection limit, excellent stability/reversibility and distinguished selectivity. Such good sensing performance is mainly ascribed to the unique surface layered hierarchical octahedral-like structure. Zn2SnO4/SnO2–20 °C has uniform particles with smaller size and as much as possible exposed surface, resulting in large specific surface area, much active adsorption/interaction sites, narrow mesopore size distribution and proper pore volume which are beneficial to the gas sensing. This work renders a great way to improve the sensing characteristics by using a surface hierarchical structure material.

In this work, we propose an easy to implement and use methodology to measure cloud point pressures in supercritical carbon dioxide without the need for a specific setup. This method is based on the analysis of images issued from the video recording of solution changes occurring while the pressure is changed. This alternative analytical method demonstrates higher repeatability, higher accuracy than direct visual determination and enables in the case of complex architectures like block copolymers to infer additional information from cloud point measurements.

The structure of lotus-like Au@TiO 2 was directly fabricated via a simple and cost-effective hydrothermal method by carefully adjusting the molar ratio of Au to TiF 4 in the precursor. (*) The crstal structure and morphology of the obtained louts-like Au@TiO 2 were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicated that perfect lotus-like Au@TiO 2 hierarchical structure with Au pistil and TiO 2 petal can be formed when the molar ratio of Au to TiF 4 was 0.1875. Furthermore, the gas sensing test of the Au@TiO 2 nanocomposites towards CO gas was also examined. The responses of the Au@TiO 2 -based sensors were higher than the pure TiO 2 -based sensor. Especially, the lotus-like 18.75 mol%Au@TiO 2 -based sensor presented a most outstanding gas sensing performance, including low optimal operating temperature, high sensitivity and selectivity as well as fast response and recovery time. Such sensing performance enhancement are ascribed to their unique lotus-like structures and the catalytic effect of the encapsulated Au nanoparticles (NPs).

Myroides odoratimimus (M. odoratimimus) has been gradually implicated as an important nosocomial pathogen that poses a serious health threat to immunocompromised patients owing to its multi-drug resistance. However, the resistance mechanism is currently unclear. To clarify the antibiotic resistance and infectivity mechanisms of M. odoratimimus, whole genome sequencing was performed on the multi-drug-resistant M. odoratimimus strain PR63039. The genome sequence was completed with single molecule real-time (SMRT) technologies. Then, annotation was performed using RAST and IMG-ER. A number of databases and software programs were used to analyze the genomic characteristics, including GC-Profile, ISfinder, CG viewer, ARDB, CARD, ResFinder, the VFDB database, PHAST and Progressive Mauve. The M. odoratimimus PR63039 genome consisted of a chromosome and a plasmid. The genome contained a large number of resistance genes and virulence factors. The distribution of the resistance genes was distinctive, and a resistance region named MY63039-RR was found. The subsystem features generated by RAST indicated that the annotated genome had 108 genes that were potentially involved in virulence, disease and defense, all of which had strong associations with resistance and pathogenicity. The prophage analysis showed two incomplete prophages in the genome. The genomic analysis of M. odoratimimus PR63039 partially clarified its antibiotic resistance mechanisms and virulence factors. Obtaining a clear understanding of its genomic characteristics will be conducive to the management of multidrug-resistant M. odoratimimus.

One of major concerns for China and developing countries is the new international trade rule concerning carbon emissions, which one needs to know its suitable mechanism and the possible implication on China's carbon trading market. Precisely, in an emission-and-trade scheme, an important question is whether the auction outcome is efficient, since this is closely related with the economic costs of emissions reduction. Due to the unique features of carbon permits, existing auction mechanisms do not seem to be suitable for their distribution. Inspired by the tâtonnement process, this paper proposes a new auction mechanism for them. For both practical application and theoretical extension, the discrete and continuous situations are examined, respectively. The result shows that the proposed auction converges to Pareto optimal equilibria, and that without ties, the equilibrium is unique. For bidders, the straightforward bidding strategy is the most preferred one, in the sense that the strategy makes them avoid the risk of loss. Intuitively, the auctioneer's utility is increasing in the number of bidders, while bidders’ pay-off is increasing in permits. To a certain extent, the proposed auction mechanism resolves the confliction between efficiency and revenue in the multi-item auction theory, while it increases people's understanding for carbon emission auction mechanism design.