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Purpose: This study aims to investigate the correlation between pretreatment serum lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations, as well as its predictive value for progression-free survival (PFS) in advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients receiving epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) therapy. Patients and Methods: We determined the optimal cutoff value for Lp(a) by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and Youden's index to categorize Lp(a) into high and low groups. Logistic regression was used to analyze the EGFR mutation rate in different groups. Additionally, the relationship between pretreatment Lp(a) levels and prognostic PFS in patients with advanced (TNM stage IIIB-IV) lung adenocarcinoma treated with EGFR-TKIs was retrospectively analyzed by Cox regression, survival and stratified analysis methods. Results: We included 338 advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients, with median age of 64 years, and slightly more female patients (51.8%), most of whom had no smoking history (70.7%), no history of chronic lung disease (87.9%), and stage IV (81.1%) patients. The EGFR gene mutation rate was 55.3% and 123 patients were included in the prognostic evaluation through screening. The optimal cutoff value for Lp(a) was 20.48 mg/L. The mutation rate in the high Lp(a) group was significantly lower than the low Lp(a) group (48.0% vs 65.5%, p = 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that Lp(a) is an independent predictor of EGFR mutations (OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.25– 0.66, p< 0.001). Survival analysis showed that the median PFS was significantly longer in the high Lp(a) level group compared to the low level group (16.1 months, 95% CI: 11.9– 23.8 months vs 9.6 months, 95% CI: 8.9– 13.3 months, p=0.015). Multivariate analysis confirmed that Lp(a) is an independent predictor of PFS in advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients receiving EGFR-TKIs treatment (HR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.26– 0.68, p< 0.001). Conclusion: Pretreatment Lp(a) may be a biomarker for EGFR mutations and the PFS in advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients undergoing EGFR-TKIs treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence and mortality rates of cancer are the highest globally. Developing novel methodologies that precisely, safely, and economically differentiate between benign and malignant lung conditions holds immense clinical importance. This research seeks to construct a predictive model utilizing a combination of diverse biomarkers to effectively discriminate between benign and malignant lung diseases. Methods: This retrospective study included patients admitted to the two general hospitals in Shanghai from 2014 to 2015. This study was developed using five tumor markers: carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199), cytokeratin fragment 21-1 (CA211), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC), and neuron specific enolase (NSE). The entire sample was divided into two groups according to the hospital: 1033 cases were included in the development cohort and 300 cases in the validation cohort. Logistic regression analysis was used for univariate analysis to explore individual correlations between each selected clinical variable and lung cancer diagnostic outcome. Diagnostic prediction models were constructed and validated based on independent prognostic factors identified using multifactorial analysis. A nomogram was created using these tumor markers (age and sex were additionally included) and validated using the concordance index and calibration curves. Clinical prediction models were evaluated using decision curve analysis. Results: Fully adjusted multivariate analysis showed that the risk of lung cancer was 2.38 times higher in men than in women. CEA positivity was associated with an 13.41-fold increased risk in lung cancer. The area under the curve (AUC) values for the development cohort and validation cohort models were 0.907 and 0.954, respectively. In the established nomogram, the AUC for the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.907 (95% CI, 0.889–0.925). The validation model confirmed the strong discriminative power of the nomogram (AUC = 0.954). The described calibration curves demonstrated good fit predictions and observation probabilities. In addition, decision curve analysis concluded that the newly established nomogram has important implications for clinical decision making. Conclusions: Combined prediction models based on CEA, CA199, CA211, SCC, and NSE biomarkers could significantly the differentiation between benign and malignant lung diseases, thus facilitating better clinical decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have witnessed marked progress in the electroluminescence efficiency of perovskite‐based light emitting diodes (PeLEDs). Nevertheless, the majority of highly efficient devices feature only several square millimeters with the perovskite emitting layers deposited by nonscalable methods, which hinders their intriguing application in large‐area lightings and displays. Here, a robust crystallization protocol is devised for the deposition of high‐quality perovskite emitting layers by blade coating. Central to this method is the deployment of a vacuum process to the freshly coated precursor film, thereby achieving controllable crystallization kinetics by decoupling precursor deposition and the subsequent thermal annealing. Accordingly, dense and uniform perovskite thin films with efficient energy funneling among the evenly distributed 2D and 3D phases are obtained. PeLED devices based on the vacuum‐processed quasi‐2D cesium lead tribromide layers achieve high external quantum efficiencies of 8.24% and 6.12% on active areas of 0.12 and 1 cm2, respectively. The scalability of the technology is further demonstrated by fabricating a 3.5 × 3.5 cm2 device with bright and uniform emitting characteristic. This work offers a viable approach for further advancing the performance of large‐area PeLEDs by scalable methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiro‐linked compounds have been used as benchmark hole‐transport materials (HTMs) for the construction of efficient normal architecture (n‐i‐p) perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the heavy reliance on the use of dopants not only complicates the device fabrication but imposes long‐term stability concern of the devices. Herein, it is reported that solution‐processed dopant‐free spiro molecules can serve as superior HTMs to fabricate efficient inverted (p‐i‐n) PSCs. Rational choice of orthogonal solvent allows us to solution deposit uniform and pinhole‐free perovskite films without compromising the hole‐extraction capability of the spiro‐based interface layers. To illustrate the generality of the strategy, three spiro‐linked molecules are investigated side by side as HTMs in one‐step solution‐processed CH3NH3PbI3 PSCs. Due to the favored energy‐level alignment and high hole mobility, solar cells based on the HTM of spiro‐TTB yield a high efficiency of 18.38% with open‐circuit voltages (VOC) up to 1.09 V. These results suggest that small molecular HTMs commonly developed for normal structure devices can be of great potential to fabricate cost‐effective and highly efficient inverted PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI 3 ) exhibits the smallest band gap among lead halide perovskites, which is more desirable for solar cell applications compared to methylammonium-based counterparts. However, it remains a big challenge to prepare phase-pure α-FAPbI 3 in addition to controlling the crystal morphology during film formation. Herein, we developed a temperature-assisted crystal growth to prepare high-quality thin films of α-FAPbI 3 by sequential blade coating. It is found that depositing organic cation FAI at elevated temperatures facilitates the growth of α-FAPbI 3 , which otherwise yields mainly a yellow δ-phase at room temperature. In parallel, the crystal morphology of the perovskite films can be effectively manipulated by taking advantage of the porous structure of PbI 2 . Solar cells prepared with the blade-coated α-FAPbI 3 yield a champion efficiency of 18.41%, which is among the highest values for FAPbI 3 -only solar devices. These results suggest that two-step sequential blade deposition offers a viable approach to fabricate high-quality α-FAPbI 3 films for optoelectronic applications.

Chronic rejection is a major cause of graft dysfunction and retransplantation after liver allotransplantation. Recent studies have implicated humoral response in this chronic rejection reaction. However, the manner in which humoral response is activated has not been fully investigated. In the present study, we address this question using our previously established chronic allograft liver rejection model induced by low-dose immunosuppressive cyclosporine (CsA) following Dark Agouti (DA) to Brown Norway (BN) liver transplantation. High-level donor-specific antibodies (IgG1 isotype), C4d deposition and histological graft damage indicated the involvement of humoral rejection in this chronic rejection reaction. In vitro assay showed that alloantibodies from pre-sensitized BN recipients induced apoptosis of bile ductal cells isolated from donor livers and the production of pro-fibrosis factors (TGF-beta, PDGF and FGF). Statistical analysis showed that the serum level of IL-10 was positively correlated with that of donor-specific antibodies (IgG1 isotype). Blockade of IL-10 in vivo down-regulated the level of donor-specific antibodies and ameliorated the outcome of chronic rejection. This suggests that humoral response in chronic allograft liver rejection is associated with Th2 type cytokine IL-10 and that Th2 response might promote chronic rejection by inducing a humoral response.