Digital divide and the health of internal elderly migrants in China: A cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Population aging and internal migration have become the "norm" in China's population development. Influenced by both "mobility" and "old age," internal elderly migrants (IEMs) face the second-level digital divide problems primarily characterized by digital technology usage gap, which can lead to adverse health outcomes. Understanding the impact of the digital divide on the health of IEMs can provide effective solutions to meet the health needs of this particular group and facilitate their better integration into a digital society. Therefore, this study aims at exploring the impact of the digital divide on the health of IEMs, and identifying priorities and recommendations for improving IEMs' health by mitigating the adverse effects of the digital divide. METHODS: In the 2017 China Migrant Dynamic Survey (CMDS), a cross­sectional sample of 169,989 internal migrants in 32 provincial units across China was recruited by stratified probability proportionate to size sampling (PPS). We focus on IEMs and require interviewees to be 60 years and older. Therefore, we excluded samples younger than 60 years of age and retained only 6,478 valid samples. Subsequently, STATA 17.0 software was applied to analyze the data. Based on the research objective and Grossman's model of health demand, we empirically tested using ordered logit regression. RESULTS: The digital divide does affect the health of IEMs in general and its negative effects tend to decrease significantly with age. In terms of groups, its impact showed noticeable group differences in residence arrangement, public health services and medical insurance coverage. Compared with IEMs who live alone or only live with their spouse, have not received public health service, and have not been covered by any medical insurance, the digital divide imposes a smaller adverse impact on the health of IEMs who live with at least one offspring, have received public health service, and have covered in at least one medical insurance. In terms of potential mechanisms, among the effects of digital divide on the health of IEMs, the mediating effect of urban integration is not significant, the social interaction has only a partial mediating effect, and the medical convenience has a significant mediating effect. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm the existence of the third-level digital divide among IEMs concerning health, that is, the digital divide has adverse health outcomes for this group, and underscore the important implications of reducing the negative impact of the digital divide in improving the health status of IEMs.

Comparison of efficacy and safety of combined chemoimmunotherapy with or without radiotherapy for stage IVB esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a multicenter propensity score matching analysis.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of combining first-line chemoimmunotherapy with radiotherapy versus chemoimmunotherapy alone in patients with stage IVB esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHODS: We retrospectively examined 409 patients with stage IVB ESCC who received first-line chemotherapy and anti-PD-1 antibody, with or without radiotherapy of ≥ 40 Gy radiation dose to primary lesion, from four academic cancer centers between October 2018 and December 2022. Propensity score matching (PSM) was conducted to minimize the potential confounding effects. RESULTS: In the overall cohort of 409 patients, the group that received additional radiotherapy had superior overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.39-0.66, P < 0.001) and progression-free survival (PFS) (HR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.40-0.66, P < 0.001) compared to the group that received chemoimmunotherapy alone. After 1:1 PSM, matching age, tumor location, and metastatic sites, a total of 250 patients were selected for further analysis. The results remained consistent and showed that the addition of radiotherapy significantly improved OS and PFS (median OS: 24.9 vs. 14.6 months, P = 0.003; median PFS: 14.2 vs. 10.6 months, P = 0.002). Multivariate Cox analysis including tumor location, T stage, metastatic sites, and treatment modality, revealed that radiotherapy was an independent prognostic factor for both OS (HR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.41-0.81) and PFS (HR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.47-0.86). Subgroup analyses revealed significant OS prolongation in patients with non-regional lymph node metastases only who received radiotherapy (HR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.34-0.70). No OS survival benefit was observed in those with distant organ metastases (HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.46-1.13). Regarding safety, the group receiving additional radiotherapy had higher incidences of grade 3-4 lymphopenia (74.4% vs. 17.7%, P < 0.001) and esophagitis (11.2% vs. 2.4%, P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: The addition of radiotherapy to chemoimmunotherapy improved the survival of stage IVB ESCC patients with non-regional lymph nodes metastasis.

Prognostic significance of PET/CT and its association with immuno-genomic profiling in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with immunotherapy plus chemoradiotherapy: results from a phase II study.

BACKGROUND: A phase II trial (EC-CRT-001) demonstrated the promising efficacy of combining toripalimab (an anti-PD-1 antibody) with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for locally advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Biomarkers are key to identifying patients who may benefit from this therapeutic approach. METHODS: Of the 42 patients with ESCC who received toripalimab combined with definitive CRT, 37 were included in this analysis. Baseline assessments included PET/CT metabolic parameters (SUVmax, SUVmean, SUVpeak, MTV, and TLG), RNA sequencing of tumour biopsies to quantify the tissue mutational burden (TMB), and multiplex immunofluorescence staining to estimate immune cell infiltration in the tumour microenvironment (TME). Frozen neoplastic samples were procured for RNA sequencing to further explore the immune-related TME. RESULTS: Among the 37 patients, high baseline SUVmax (≥12.0; OR = 6.5, 95% CI 1.4-48.2, p = 0.032) and TLG (≥121.8; OR = 6.8, 95% CI 1.6-33.5, p = 0.012) were significantly correlated with lower complete response rates. All five PET/CT parameters were notably associated with overall survival; only SUVmax and TLG were associated with a significantly worse progression-free survival. A trend towards an inverse correlation was observed between SUVmax and TMB (R = -0.33, p = 0.062). PD-1 + CD8 + T cell infiltration was negatively correlated with MTV (R = -0.355, p = 0.034) and TLG (R = -0.385, p = 0.021). Moreover, RNA sequencing revealed that the high TLG subgroup exhibited low immune cell infiltration, indicating an immunosuppressive landscape. CONCLUSIONS: High baseline SUVmax and TLG might predict poorer treatment response and worse survival in patients with ESCC undergoing immunotherapy combined with CRT. In addition, high PET/CT metabolic parameters, particularly TLG, were correlated with an immunosuppressive TME, which warrants further exploration.

Remarkable Second Harmonic Generation Response in (C5H6NO)+(CH3SO3)-: Unraveling the Role of Hydrogen Bond in Thermal Driven Nonlinear Optical Switch.

Heat-activated second harmonic generation (SHG) switching materials are gaining interest for their ability to switch between SHG on and off states, offering potential in optoelectronic applications. The novel nonlinear optical (NLO) switch, (C5H6NO)+(CH3SO3)- (4-hydroxypyridinium methylsulfonate, 4HPMS), is a near-room-temperature thermal driven material with a strong SHG response (3.3 × KDP), making it one of the most potent heat-stimulated NLO switches. It offers excellent contrast of 13 and a high laser-induced damage threshold (2.5 × KDP), with reversibility > 5 cycles. At 73 °C, 4HPMS transitions from the noncentrosymmetric Pna21 room temperature phase (RTP) to the centrosymmetric P21/c phase, caused by the rotation of the (C5H6NO)+ and (CH3SO3)- due to partially thermal breaking of intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The reverse phase change exhibits a large 50 °C thermal hysteresis. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that (C5H6NO)+ primarily dictates both the SHG coefficient (dij) and birefringence (∆n(Zeiss) = 0.216 vs ∆n(cal.) = 0.202 at 546 nm; Δn(Immersion) = 0.210 vs ∆n(cal.) = 0.198 at 589.3 nm), while the band gap (Eg) is influenced synergistically by (C5H6NO)+ and (CH3SO3)-. Additionally, 4HPMS-RTP also exhibits mechanochromism upon grinding as well as an aggregation-enhanced emission in a mixture of acetone and water.

Complete Mitogenome sequencing of the fish louse Argulus japonicus (Crustacea: Branchiura): Comparative analyses and phylogenetic implications.

The fish louse Argulus japonicus, a branchiuran crustacean of the Argulidae family, is attracting increasing attention because of its parasitic tendencies and significant health threats to global fish farming. The mitogenomes can yield a foundation for studying epidemiology, genetic diversity, and molecular ecology and therefore may be used to assist in the surveillance and control of A. japonicus. In this study, we sequenced and assembled the complete mitogenome of A. japonicus to shed light on its genetic and evolutionary blueprint. Our investigation indicated that the 15,045-bp circular genome of A. japonicus encodes 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) with significant AT and GC skews. Comparative genomics provided an evolutionary scenario for the genetic diversity of 13 PCGs: all were under purifying selection, with cox1 and nad6 having the lowest and highest evolutionary rates, respectively. Genome-wide phylogenetic trees established a close relationship between species of the families Argulidae (Arguloida) and Armilliferidae (Porocephalida) within Crustacea, and further, A. japonicus and Argulus americanus were determined to be more closely related to each other than to others within the family Argulidae. Single PCG-based phylogenies supported nad1 and nad6 as the best genetic markers for evolutionary and phylogenetic studies for branchiuran crustaceans due to their similar phylogenetic topologies with those of genome-based phylogenetic analyses. To sum up, these comprehensive mitogenomic data of A. japonicus and related species refine valuable marker resources and should contribute to molecular diagnostic methods, epidemiological investigations, and ecological studies of the fish ectoparasites in Crustacea.

Predictive role of ctDNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma receiving definitive chemoradiotherapy combined with toripalimab.

The combination of toripalimab (an anti-PD-1 antibody) with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) demonstrated encouraging efficacy against locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in the EC-CRT-001 phase II trial (NCT04005170). The primary endpoint of this trial was the clinical complete response rate (cCR), and the secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), duration of response, and quality of life. The exploratory analyses of EC-CRT-001 include exploring the role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and blood-based tumor mutational burden (bTMB) in predicting the response and survival. In total, 118 blood and 35 tissue samples from 42 enrolled patients were included in the analyses. We found that ctDNA-negative patients achieved a higher cCR compared to those with detectable ctDNA during CRT (83%, 19/23 vs. 39%, 7/18; p = 0.008) or post-CRT (78%, 21/27 vs. 30%, 3/10; p = 0.017). Patients with detectable ctDNA during CRT had shorter PFS (p = 0.014). Similarly, patients with post-CRT detectable ctDNA had a significantly shorter PFS (p = 0.012) and worse OS (p = 0.004). Moreover, patients with high bTMB levels during CRT had prolonged OS (p = 0.027). In conclusion, ctDNA and bTMB have the potential to predict treatment efficacy and survival in ESCC treated with CRT and immunotherapy.

Comparison of calcium magnesium ferrite nanoparticles for boosting biohydrogen production.

Dark fermentation (DF) is an eco-friendly process that simultaneously achieves organic matter degradation and obtains hydrogen (H2). Nonetheless, low H2 yield mainly caused by poor activity of key microbes, is still a problem that requires being resolved. In this work, MgFe2O4 and Ca0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthetized and served as additives to boost H2 form from DF. H2 productivity gradually increased with the rise of NPs, and declined when NPs exceeded their optimal dosages. The highest H2 yield was 183.6 ± 3.2 mL/g glucose at 100 mg/L of MgFe2O4 NPs, being 35.2 % higher than that of the control yield (135.8 ± 3.1 mL/g glucose). However, the highest H2 yield of 171.9 ± 2.5 mL/g glucose occurred at 400 mg/L of Ca0.5Mg0.5Fe2O4 NPs, increasing by 26.6 % over the control. Interestingly, the two NPs favored the butyric acid pathway for H2 synthesis. This provides guidance for multi-element oxide NPs used in DF.

M1A and m7G modification-related genes are potential biomarkers for survival prognosis and for deciphering the tumor immune microenvironment in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most common esophageal malignancy, and RNA methylation has been reported to be involved in the tumorigenesis of ESCC. However, no study has explored methylation modifications in m1A and m7G as prognostic markers for survival prediction in ESCC. METHODS: Public gene-expression data and clinical annotation of 254 patients obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Gene Expression Omnibus databases were analyzed to identify potential consensus clusters of m1A and m7G modification-related genes. The RNA-seq of 20 patients in Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center was used as the validation set. Following screening for relevant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and enrichment pathways were elucidated. DEGs were used to construct risk models using the randomForest algorithm, and the prognostic role of the models was assessed by applying Kaplan-Meier analysis. Extent of immune cell infiltration, drug resistance, and response to cancer treatment among different clusters and risk groups were also evaluated. RESULTS: Consensus clustering analysis based on m1A and m7G modification patterns revealed three potential clusters. In total, 212 RNA methylation-related DEGs were identified. The methylation-associated signature consisting of 6 genes was then constructed to calculate methylation-related score (MRScore) and patients were dived into MRScore-high and MRScore-low groups. This signature has satisfied prognostic value for survival of ESCC (AUC = 0.66, 0.67, 0.64 for 2-, 3-, 4- year OS), and has satisfied performance in the validation SYSUCC cohort (AUC = 0.66 for 2- and 3-year OS). Significant correlation between m1A and m7G modification-related genes and immune cell infiltration, and drug resistance was also observed. CONCLUSIONS: Transcriptomic prognostic signatures based on m1A and m7G modification-related genes are closely associated with immune cell infiltration in ESCC patients and have important correlations with the therapeutic sensitivity of multiple chemotherapeutic agents.

Photoelectrocatalytic peroxymonosulfate activation over CoFe2O4-BiVO4 photoanode for environmental purification: Unveiling of multi-active sites, interfacial engineering and degradation pathways.

This work reported on the development of CoFe2O4-BiVO4 photoanode based photoelectrocatalytic system collaborating with peroxymonosulfate activation for organic contaminants removal. CoFe2O4 layer not only provided active sites for direct peroxymonosulfate activation but also accelerated charge separation process for the enhancement of photocurrent density and photoelectrocatalytic performance. Junction of CoFe2O4 layer on BiVO4 photoanode led to the improvement of photocurrent density to 4.43 mA/cm2 at 1.23 VRHE, which was approximately 4.06 times higher than that of pure BiVO4. Subsequently, the corresponding optimal degradation efficiency toward the tetracycline model contaminant achieved to be 89.1% with total organic carbon removal value of about 43.7% within 60 min. Moreover, the degradation rate constant of CoFe2O4-BiVO4 photoanode in photoelectrocatalytic system was 0.037 min-1, which was about 1.23, 2.64 and 3.70 times higher than the values in photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and PMS only based systems, respectively. In addition, radical scavenging experiments and electron spin resonance spectra indicated a synergy of radical and nonradical coupling process where •OH and 1O2 played vital roles during tetracycline degradation. Plausible photoelectrocatalytic mechanism and degradation pathway were proposed. This work provided an effective strategy to construct peroxymonosulfate assisted photoelectrocatalytic system toward green environmental applications.

Waste Lithium Ion Battery Evolves into Heteroatom Doped Carbon as Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst for Aqueous Al-Air Batteries.

Carbon based electrocatalysts prepared by recycling waste power batteries can not only realize the new utilization of waste energy materials, but also obtain cheap and efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalyst for metal-air battery. Based on the cathode carbon of waste LiFePO4 batteries, nitrogen doped carbon based catalyst NC-1000 is prepared by simple pyrolysis, acid dissolution of LiFePO4 and high temperature heteroatom doping. The catalyst is characterized by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and Raman spectrum, and the electrochemical performances of the catalyst and Al-air battery were tested. The results show that carbon based electrocatalyst NC-1000 is rich in structural defects and embedded with trace metal oxides. Compared with commercial 20 wt% Pt/C, it has higher electrocatalytic activity and faster kinetic with a half-wave potential of 0.828 V vs. RHE and the Tafel slope of 70.7 mV dec-1 . In addition, assembled into Al-air battery, the open circuit potential can reach 1.57 V along with the high power density of 141 mW cm-2 at 200 mA cm-2 . The discharge specific capacity at higher current of up to 100 mA cm-2 is even better than the commercial Pt/C. This study can not only improve the economic value of waste power batteries, but also obtain high-performance ORR electrocatalyst, which will greatly promote the commercial development of Al-air batteries.

Recent Advances in Combination of Immunotherapy and Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Esophageal cancer has a high mortality rate and a poor prognosis, with more than one-third of patients receiving a diagnosis of locally advanced cancer. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the dominant histological subtype of esophageal cancer in Asia and Eastern Europe. Although neoadjuvant or definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been the standard treatment for locally advanced ESCC, patient outcomes remain unsatisfactory, with recurrence rates as high as 30-50%. The combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and CRT has emerged as a novel strategy to treat esophageal cancer, and it may have a synergistic action and provide greater efficacy. In the phase III CheckMate-577 trial, one year of adjuvant nivolumab after neoadjuvant CRT improved disease-free survival in patients with residual disease on pathology. Moreover, several phase I and II studies have shown that ICIs combined with concurrent CRT may increase the rate of pathologic complete response for resectable ESCC, but they lack long-term follow-up results. In unresectable cases, the combination of camrelizumab and definitive CRT showed promising results against ESCC in a phase Ib trial. Phase III randomized trials are currently ongoing to investigate the survival benefits of ICIs combined with neoadjuvant or definitive CRT, and they will clarify the role of immunotherapy in locally advanced ESCC. Additionally, valid biomarkers to predict tumor response and survival outcomes need to be further explored.

The significance of an integrated management mode of prenatal diagnosis-postnatal treatment for critical congenital heart disease in newborns.

BACKGROUND: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital defect in human beings. The purpose of this article is to investigate impact of an integrated management mode of 'prenatal diagnosis-postnatal treatment' on birth, surgery, prognosis and complications associated with critical CHD (CCHD) in newborns. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the medical records of newborns diagnosed with CCHD were divided into two groups: prenatal diagnosis and postnatal diagnosis. The demographics, clinical characteristics, surgical status, prognosis and complications of the two groups were compared and the differences identified. RESULTS: Among the 290 newborns with CCHD, 97 (33.4%) were prenatally diagnosed and 193 (66.6%) were postnatally diagnosed. Newborns in the prenatal diagnostic group were hospitalized immediately after birth, whereas the median age of admission was 6.00 (3.00-12.00) days in postnatal diagnostic group, P=0.000. In terms of postnatal symptoms and signs, the incidence of anhelation, cyanosis and cardiac murmur was higher in the postnatal diagnostic group. The rates of preoperative intubation, postoperative open chest exploration and treatment abandonment were higher in the postnatal diagnostic group. The postnatal diagnostic group was more prone to postoperative complications, such as pneumonia and hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. The preoperative mortality [0 (0.0%) vs. 12 (6.2%), P=0.028] in the prenatal diagnostic group was lower than that in the postnatal diagnostic group. And the one-year survival rate of the prenatal diagnostic group was higher (log-rank test P=0.034). CONCLUSIONS: The integrated management mode of prenatal diagnosis-postnatal treatment can improve postnatal symptoms, reduces complications, reduces preoperative mortality and increases one-year survival rates in newborns with CCHD.

Trace carbonyl analysis in water samples by integrating magnetic molecular imprinting and capillary electrophoresis.

In order to obtain high derivatization efficiency, the overuse of derivative agent 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (2,4-DNPH) is necessary for carbonyl detection. But, the 2,4-DNPH residue will cause background interferences and limit the pre-concentration factor of the target analytes. In order to overcome the bottleneck problems, the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer based solid-phase extraction (MMIPs-SPE) method was developed with 2,4-dinitroaniline (2,4-DNAN) as the dummy template. The characteristics and selectivity of the MMIPs were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, the enrichment of carbonyls-DNPH derivatives with simultaneous removal of the surplus 2,4-DNPH was achieved. By coupling with capillary electrophoresis (CE), a satisfactory analytical performance was obtained with the detection limit ranging from 1.2 to 8.7 µg L-1 for 8 carbonyls. The MMIPs-SPE-CE method was applied successfully for the carbonyl assessment in stream water, tap water and bottled water. In addition, the migration of carbonyls in bottled drinking water was investigated under UV irradiation and heating.

Treatment of Bacillus cereus endophthalmitis with endoscopy-assisted vitrectomy.

To evaluate the use of endoscopy-assisted vitrectomy in patients with sight-threatening Bacillus cereus endophthalmitis.A retrospective analysis was conducted in 15 eyes with Bacillus cereus endophthalmitis. Patients were divided into 2 groups: endoscopy-assisted vitrectomy (5 eyes) and conventional vitrectomy (10 eyes). The following clinical data were recorded and analyzed: sex, age, latent period, symptom duration, follow-up time, visual acuity pre- and postsurgery, recurrence of endophthalmitis, incidence of phithisis bulbi, and incidence of enucleation.In the conventional vitrectomy group, postoperative visual acuity ranged from no light perception in 5 patients (50%), light perception in 3 patients (30%), 20/1000 in 1 patient (10%), and 20/50 in 1 patient (10%). In the endoscopy-assisted vitrectomy group, postoperative visual acuity ranged from no light perception in 2 patients (40%), light perception in 1 patient (20%), and hand movements in 2 patients (40%). There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in terms of the final postoperative visual acuity (F = 0.006, P = .937). There is no difference between the 2 groups in terms of the incidence of enucleation. The median symptom duration was 4 hours (range: 2-6 hours) in the conventional group and 9 hours (range: 7-11 hours) in the endoscopy-assisted vitrectomy group. The difference in the symptom duration between the 2 groups was statistically significant (P = .002).There is no statistical significant difference between the 2 groups in terms of visual acuity and incidence of enucleation. Therefore, endoscopy-assisted vitrectomy can be considered as an alternative treatment for treatment of B cereus endophthalmitis particularly for cases when symptom duration was more than 6 hours.

Semiclassical Monte Carlo: a first principles approach to non-adiabatic molecular dynamics.

Modeling the dynamics of photophysical and (photo)chemical reactions in extended molecular systems is a new frontier for quantum chemistry. Many dynamical phenomena, such as intersystem crossing, non-radiative relaxation, and charge and energy transfer, require a non-adiabatic description which incorporate transitions between electronic states. Additionally, these dynamics are often highly sensitive to quantum coherences and interference effects. Several methods exist to simulate non-adiabatic dynamics; however, they are typically either too expensive to be applied to large molecular systems (10's-100's of atoms), or they are based on ad hoc schemes which may include severe approximations due to inconsistencies in classical and quantum mechanics. We present, in detail, an algorithm based on Monte Carlo sampling of the semiclassical time-dependent wavefunction that involves running simple surface hopping dynamics, followed by a post-processing step which adds little cost. The method requires only a few quantities from quantum chemistry calculations, can systematically be improved, and provides excellent agreement with exact quantum mechanical results. Here we show excellent agreement with exact solutions for scattering results of standard test problems. Additionally, we find that convergence of the wavefunction is controlled by complex valued phase factors, the size of the non-adiabatic coupling region, and the choice of sampling function. These results help in determining the range of applicability of the method, and provide a starting point for further improvement.