To investigate the trend of the posthepatectomy survival outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients by analysis of a prospective cohort of 1198 patients over a 20-year period.
The hospital ...mortality rate of hepatectomy for HCC has improved but the long-term survival rate remains unsatisfactory. We reported an improvement of survival results 10 years ago. It was not known whether there has been further improvement of results in recent years.
The patients were categorized into two 10-year periods: period 1, before 1999 (group 1, n = 390) and period 2, after 1999 (group 2, n = 808). Patients in group 2 were managed according to a modified protocol and technique established in previous years.
The patients in group 2 were older and had a higher incidence of comorbid illness and cirrhosis. They had a lower hospital mortality rate (3.1% vs 6.2%, P = 0.012) and longer 5-year overall survival (54.8% vs 42.1%, P < 0.001) and disease-free survival rates (34.8% vs 24%, P = 0.0024). An improvement in the overall survival rate was observed in patients with cirrhosis, those undergoing major hepatectomy, and those with tumors of tumor-node-metastasis stages II, IIIA, and IVA. A significant increase in the survival rates was also seen in patients whose tumors were considered transplantable by the Milan criteria (72.5% vs 62.7%, P = 0.0237). Multivariate analysis showed a significantly more favorable patient survival for hepatectomy in period 2.
A continuous improvement of survival outcomes after hepatectomy for HCC was achieved in the past 20 years even in patients with advanced diseases. Hepatectomy remains the treatment of choice for resectable HCC in a predominantly hepatitis B virus-based Asian population.
This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) program in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students' thinking skills and ...English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students' critical and creative thinking and enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking, and English language proficiency in ESL students.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Due to the low‐lying Pd(4d)‐orbitals, luminescent palladium(II) complexes usually show 3IL phosphorescence (IL = intraligand) with excited state lifetimes in the range of hundreds of microseconds, ...which limits their application in blue organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). Here, a molecular design strategy for the development of strongly luminescent Pd(II)‐based thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters with fast radiative decay rate constants and reverse intersystem crossing rate (kRISC) constants is presented. The synthesized tetradentate Pd(N*C*C^N) TADF emitters show sky‐blue to yellow (λmax = 484–565 nm) emission with excited state lifetimes in the range of 0.9−8.7 µs and high photoluminescence quantum yield of up to 77% in CH2Cl2 solution. In 5 wt.% 2,8‐bis(diphenylphosphoryl)dibenzob,dfuran (PPF) thin films, these Pd(N*C*C^N) TADF complexes display blue to sky‐blue (476−496 nm) emission with quantum yields close to unity. Variable‐temperature emission lifetime measurements, femtosecond time‐resolved spectroscopy, and density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent DFT (TDDFT) calculations together reveal ultrafast kRISC rate constants of these Pd(N*C*C^N) TADF emitters. Using these Pd(II)‐TADF emitters as dopants, sky‐blue TADF and blue TADF‐sensitized OLEDs with small efficiency roll‐offs achieved high maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of 24.8% and 23.1%, respectively.
Strongly luminescent tetradentate Pd(N*C*C^N) TADF emitters are developed for achieving high‐performance vapour‐deposited sky‐blue TADF and blue TADF‐sensitized OLEDs. The blue Pd‐TADF‐sensitized OLED displays a narrow electroluminescence spectrum with FWHM down to 24 nm, high EQE and CE of up to 23.1% and 51.7 cd A−1, respectively, alongside a low EQE roll‐off down to 6% at a practical luminance of 1000 cd m−2.
Herein a class of structurally simple and operationally stable Au(I)‐TADF (TADF = thermally activated delayed fluorescence) materials, based on a carbene–metal–amide (CMA) molecular scaffold ...comprised of sterically bulky N‐heterocyclic carbene ligands with N‐heterocyclic π‐annulation, are reported. These CMA(Au) emitters are thermally stable, adopt coplanar or orthogonal geometry between the carbene and amide ligands, and show strong blue to deep red TADF emissions (466–666 nm) from thermally equilibrated singlet ligand‐to‐ligand‐charge‐transfer excited states with emission quantum yields of 0.63–0.99 and radiative decay rate constants of 0.68–3.2 × 106 s−1 in thin film samples at room temperature. The effects of increasing π‐extension and orthogonal molecular geometry are similarly manifested in the reduction of both singlet–triplet energy gap and S1 transition dipole moment. The vacuum‐deposited Au(I) organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) display superior electroluminescence characterized by ultrahigh brightness up to 300 000 cd m−2 and external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) up to 26.2% with roll‐offs down to 2.6% at 1000 cd m−2 alongside record‐setting device lifetimes (LT95) up to 2082 h. Ultrapure‐green TADF‐sensitized fluorescent OLEDs employing the CMA(Au) emitter as sensitizer and a multiresonance terminal emitter achieve EQEs of up to 25.3%.
Au(I)‐based thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters with sterically encumbered π‐extended carbene ligands are delivering highly efficient and stable vacuum‐deposited organic light‐emitting diodes from blue to near‐infrared spectral region that realize external quantum efficiency up to 26.2% and operational lifetime (LT95) up to 2082 h at a practical luminance of 1000 cd m−2.
Single-molecule sequencing technologies have emerged in recent years and revolutionized structural variant calling, complex genome assembly and epigenetic mark detection. However, the lack of a ...highly accurate small variant caller has limited these technologies from being more widely used. Here, we present Clair, the successor to Clairvoyante, a program for fast and accurate germline small variant calling, using single-molecule sequencing data. For Oxford Nanopore Technology data, Clair achieves better precision, recall and speed than several competing programs, including Clairvoyante, Longshot and Medaka. Through studying the missed variants and benchmarking intentionally overfitted models, we found that Clair may be approaching the limit of possible accuracy for germline small variant calling using pileup data and deep neural networks. Clair requires only a conventional central processing unit (CPU) for variant calling and is an open-source project available at https://github.com/HKU-BAL/Clair.A lack of accurate and efficient variant calling methods has held back single-molecule sequencing technologies from clinical applications. The authors present a deep-learning method for fast and accurate germline small variant calling, using single-molecule sequencing data.
The emission properties of two series of tetradentate Pt(II) emitters in aggregation forms are studied by density functional theory (DFT), time‐dependent DFT calculations, and photoluminescence (PL) ...measurements. PL quantum yields (PLQYs) of the complexes bearing type‐I O^N^C^N ligands (Pt‐X‐1 and Pt‐X‐2) increase with the dopant concentration in thin film until 100% pristine Pt(II) complexes. For complexes bearing type‐II O^N^C^N ligands (Pt‐X‐3 to Pt‐X‐5), their PLQYs in thin film increase as the dopant concentration increases up to a certain threshold and then quickly decrease with further increase in dopant concentration. Organic light‐emitting devices (OLEDs) with neat and doped Pt(II) emitters are fabricated and characterized. High‐efficiency near‐infrared OLEDs with λmax exceeding 700 nm and external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of up to 15.84% are realized by using a neat Pt‐X‐1 thin film as the emitting layer (EML). For this device, a high EQE of 11.19% is retained at high current density of 100 mA cm−2; by doping Pt‐X‐5 (26 wt%) into a co‐host structure EML, a red emission with λmax of 661 nm, Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.63, 0.37), and EQE of 21.75% at 1000 cd m−2 are achieved.
High‐performance organic light‐emitting devices are realized by using the aggregation form of Pt(O^N^C^N) complexes. External quantum efficiencies of 11.19% at 100 mA cm−2 and 21.75% at 1000 cd m−2 are achieved in the near‐infrared and red devices, respectively.
This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing students' thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In ...the study, training and support were provided for three Integrated Humanities (IH) teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 3 English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing in a competent way about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the IH curriculum. PIS was also found to play a major role in promoting the students' critical and creative thinking and to enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the IH curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking and English language proficiency in ESL students.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Community-based screening for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed a collaborative referral model between a primary clinic (Liouguei District Public Health ...Center, LDPHC) and a tertiary referral center to increase HCV screening and treatment uptake in a mountainous region of Taiwan. Once-in-a-lifetime hepatitis B and C screening services established by the Taiwan National Health Insurance were performed at LDPHC. Antibody-to-HCV (anti-HCV)-seropositive patients received scheduled referrals and took a shuttle bus to E-Da hospital for HCV RNA testing on their first visit. Direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) were prescribed for HCV-viremic patients on their second visit. From October 2020 to September 2022, of 3835 residents eligible for HCV screening in Liouguei District, 1879 (49%) received anti-HCV testing at LDPHC. The overall HCV screening coverage rate increased from 40% before referral to 69.4% after referral. Of the 79 anti-HCV-seropositive patients, 70 (88.6%) were successfully referred. Of the 38 HCV-viremic patients, 35 (92.1%) received DAA therapy, and 32 (91.4%) achieved sustained virological response. The collaborative referral model demonstrates a good model for HCV screening and access to care and treatment in a Taiwan mountainous region, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustained referral is possible using this routine referral model.
Ruthenium(II) complexes bearing a tridentate bis(N‐heterocyclic carbene) ligand reacted with iminoiodanes (PhI=NR) resulting in the formation of isolable ruthenium(III)–amido intermediates, which ...underwent cleavage of a C−N bond of the tridentate ligand and formation of an N‐substituted imine group. The RuIII–amido intermediates have been characterized by 1H NMR, UV/Vis, ESI‐MS, and X‐ray crystallography. DFT calculations were performed to provide insight into the reaction mechanism.
N ligands: C−N bond cleavage of a coordinated N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC), following an intramolecular nitrene C(sp3)−H insertion, has been observed by reaction of PhI=NR with RuII–NHC complexes 1 bearing a tridentate bis(NHC) ligand, resulting in formation of RuII‐imine complexes 2 (see scheme).
A series of phosphorescent Pt(
ii
) complexes containing a bis-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-pincer-type ligand and a monodentate ancillary ligand, Pt(C
NHC
^C
Ar
^C
NHC
)L (where L = chloride, ...3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrazolate (Pz), cyanide or isocyanoborates (CNBPh
3
and CNB(C
6
F
5
)
3
), were prepared and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. These complexes show intense blue phosphorescence from 441 to 457 nm with emission quantum yields of up to 0.87 in degassed CH
2
Cl
2
solutions and to unity in PMMA films. The ancillary ligand L plays a pivotal role in regulating the nonradiative decay rate and propensity of the Pt(
ii
) complex for intermolecular interactions, thereby modulating the emission profile and emission quantum yield in different media. Analysis of the temperature-dependent emission lifetimes revealed that the metal-centred (
3
MC) excited states of the chloride (
1
) and pyrazolate (
8
) complexes lie 2330-2730 cm
−1
above the emissive excited states. An efficient pure blue OLED with isocyanoborate complex
11
attained a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) and current efficiency (CE) of 22.0% and 25.2 cd A
−1
, respectively. The pure blue electroluminescence of this device was characterized with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15, 0.11), revealing an outstanding blue index of 229.1. A high-performance phosphor-sensitized fluorescent blue OLED with a maximum EQE of 15.9% and blue index of 121.7 was realized with
11
and 2,5,8,11-tetra-
tert
-butylperylene (TPBe) as co-dopants.
Pincer Pt(C
NHC
^C
Ar
^C
NHC
)L complexes are excellent emissive dopants and sensitizers for high-efficiency pure blue phosphorescent OLEDs and sky blue phosphor-sensitized fluorescent OLEDs delivering outstanding blue indexes of 229 and 122, respectively.
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