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Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are considered as the first-line treatment for advanced EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to analyze the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs treatment in patients with advanced NSCLC of different smoking habits. Methods: We conducted a search for meta-analyses and systematic reviews on the PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to address this knowledge gap. Patients were divided into 2 groups: (1) experimental group: treated with EGFR-TKIs or EGFR-TKIs combined with chemotherapy, immunotherapy, antiangiogenesis, radiotherapy and (2) control group: treated with chemotherapy. Progressive-free survival (PFS) and total survival (OS) were adopted for evaluating the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs between experimental group and control group. Results: Eleven studies including 6760 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that smoking (including previous and current smoking) significantly reduces the PFS and OS in comparison to non-smoking group in the treatment of NSCLC with EGFR-TKIs. In addition, EGFR-TKIs combined with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy can reduce the risk of disease progression in smokers. Conclusions: Our study indicated that smoking significantly reduced the PFS and OS in comparison to non-smoking group in the treatment of NSCLC with EGFR-TKIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utilization of biogas slurry is critical for the sustainable development of animal husbandry. Biomass carbon adsorption is a feasible method for the recycling of nutrients from biogas slurry. However, research on the co-adsorption of ammonia nitrogen and phosphate is scarce. Herein, soybean straw was utilized as the raw material to prepare Ca2+-modified biochar (CaSSB), which was investigated for its ammonia nitrogen and phosphate adsorption mechanisms. Compared with natural biochar (SSB), CaSSB possesses a high H/C ratio, larger surface area, high porosity and various functional groups. Ca2+-modified soybean straw biochar exhibited excellent adsorption performance for NH4+–N (103.18 mg/g) and PO43−−P (9.75 mg/g) at pH = 6, using an adsorbent dosage of 2 g/L. The experimental adsorption data of ammonia nitrogen by CaSSB corresponded to pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm model, suggesting that the adsorption process was homogeneous and that electrostatic attraction might be the primary adsorption mechanism. Meanwhile, the adsorption of phosphate conformed to pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir–Freundlich model, whose mechanism might be attributed to ligand exchange and chemical precipitation. These results reveal the potential of CaSSBs as a cost-effective, efficient adsorbent for the recovery of ammonium and phosphate from biogas slurry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the high-value utilization of agricultural and forestry waste, six common types of agricultural and forestry waste, including corn stalks, rice straw, soybean stalks, pine branches, bamboo branches, and biogas residue, were used as raw materials to prepare biochar by limiting oxygen and temperature controlling carbonization in vacuum tube furnace. The physicochemical properties and structural characteristics of biochar were analyzed by surface area analyzer, scanning electron microscope and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and the adsorption capacity of biomass carbon on ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus in swine wastewater was investigated. The results showed that six kinds of biomass carbons were alkaline, and the alkalinity of biogas residue biochar was stronger than that of plant biochar. The yield order of six kinds of biochar was as following: biogas residue biochar(64.83%) > soybean stalk biochar(57.22%) > rice straw biochar(48.80%) > corn stalk biochar(46.87%) > bamboo biochar(41.42%) > pine branch biochar(40.01%). Among them, the soybean stalk biochar had a larger specific surface area(5.84 m²/g) and developed pores. All six kinds of biochar contained abundant oxygen-containing functional groups on their surfaces, and both chemically stable C--H and benzene rings had strong stability. The six kinds of biochar had certain adsorption effects on ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus in aquaculture wastewater, with corresponding adsorption capacities ranging from 20.00 to 31.00 mg/g and 4.00 to 6.69 mg/g, respectively. Soybean stalk biochar had the best adsorption effect on ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus, with a saturated adsorption capacity of 31.00 mg/g and 6.69 mg/g, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a temperature-insensitive fiber-delay-line-stabilized (FDL-stabilized) laser based on a dual Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) by using polarization maintaining fibers (PMFs). Two orthogonal polarization components of a beam are simultaneously transmitted in the interferometer. Each polarization component exhibits a unique phase shift in response to the changes in temperature, forming a dual MZI. One of the heterodyne signals is used to lock the laser frequency, while the other one is used to compensate the frequency change induced by the temperature fluctuation. The experiment shows that the laser frequency fluctuation has been suppressed at least 25 times. This is an effective method to reduce the laser frequency noise induced by the temperature fluctuation of the FDL. In this way, a compact system with less thermal shields can be realized, and the thermal equilibrium time could be decreased dramatically.