Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials are promising for the realization of highly efficient light emitters. However, such devices ...have so far suffered from efficiency roll-off at high luminance. Here, we report the design and synthesis of two diboron-based molecules, CzDBA and tBuCzDBA, which show excellent TADF properties and yield efficient OLEDs with very low efficiency roll-off. These donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) type and rod-like compounds concurrently generate TADF with a photoluminescence quantum yield of ~100% and an 84% horizontal dipole ratio in the thin film. A green OLED based on CzDBA exhibits a high external quantum efficiency of 37.8 ± 0.6%, a current efficiency of 139.6 ± 2.8 cd A−1 and a power efficiency of 121.6 ± 3.1 lm W−1 with an efficiency roll-off of only 0.3% at 1,000 cd m−2. The device has a peak emission wavelength of 528 nm and colour coordinates of the Commission International de l´Eclairage (CIE) of (0.31, 0.61), making it attractive for colour-display applications.
•Asymmetric duopoly models of competing supply chains are studied.•Financing risk of carbon emission technology upgradation is examined.•Optimal quantities, prices, and expected profits of chains are ...compared.•Financing risk plays an important role in model of incomplete information.•Policy suggestions on reducing carbon emissions of chains are provided.
The major obstacle to reducing carbon emissions is the high cost of adopting clean energy, which reduces the market competitiveness of companies using clean energy. In this paper, we study the asymmetric duopoly models of two competing supply chains with different carbon emission technology. The financing risk of the supply chain's carbon emission technology investment could be available as complete or incomplete information to its competitor. We find that the financing risk of carbon emission technology upgradation does not affect either chain's choices of equilibrium quantities and prices in the complete information case. If this information is incomplete for the traditional supply chain, financing risk plays an important role in determining optimal quantities and optimal prices. To encourage the use of clean energy technology to reduce carbon emissions, government should use the per-product carbon emission tax to encourage the traditional supply chain to upgrade its carbon emission technology, and should encourage financial institutions to provide preferential loans to the supply chain that has carbon emission technology disadvantage in the market.
Abnormal tumour vasculature has a significant impact on tumour progression and response to therapy. Nitric oxide (NO) regulates angiogenesis and maintains vascular homeostasis and, thus, can be ...delivered to normalize tumour vasculature. However, a NO-delivery system with a prolonged half-life and a sustained release mechanism is currently lacking. Here we report the development of NanoNO, a nanoscale carrier that enables sustained NO release to efficiently deliver NO into hepatocellular carcinoma. Low-dose NanoNO normalizes tumour vessels and improves the delivery and effectiveness of chemotherapeutics and tumour necrosis factor-related, apoptosis-inducing, ligand-based therapy in both primary tumours and metastases. Furthermore, low-dose NanoNO reprogrammes the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment toward an immunostimulatory phenotype, thereby improving the efficacy of cancer vaccine immunotherapy. Our findings demonstrate the ability of nanoscale NO delivery to efficiently reprogramme tumour vasculature and immune microenvironments to overcome resistance to cancer therapy, resulting in a therapeutic benefit.
Since 2017, Chinese cities have set off a wave of talent migration, with major cities joining the talent war and issuing new talent settlement policies that might stimulate the real estate market ...through the inflow and outflow of human capital. However, the effects of new talent settlement policies on housing prices have not been extensively studied. This study used a difference-in-differences model to examine the causal effects of new talent settlement policies on housing prices in China based on data from 70 large and medium-sized cities. The results showed that new talent settlement policies had positive effects on housing prices, and the effects revealed pronounced regional heterogeneity: they were more significant in the eastern region, first-tier, and new first-tier cities, and varied across major migration zones. Further, the varying policy tools in the new talent settlement policies had disparate effects on housing prices. Thus, we recommend that new talent settlement policies must be coordinated with the goals of real estate regulation and reasonable regional standards, and that the policy tools should be tailored according to the actual conditions of cities.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background: In Taiwan, infective native aortic aneurysms (INAAs) are relatively common, so the aim of present study was to demonstrate the comparative outcomes of endovascular repair for thoracic and ...abdominal INAAs.Methods and Results: Patients with naïve thoracic or abdominal INAAs managed with endovascular repair between 2001 and 2018 were included in this multicenter retrospective cohort. The confounding factors were adjusted with propensity score (PS). Of the 39 thoracic and 43 abdominal INAA cases, 41 (50%) presented with aneurysmal rupture, most of which were at the infrarenal abdominal (n=35, 42.7%) or descending thoracic aorta (n=25, 30.5%). Salmonella spp. was the most frequently isolated pathogen. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 18.3%. The risks of in-hospital death and death due to rupture were significantly lower with thoracic INAAs (12.8% vs. 23.3%; PS-adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06–0.96; 0.1% vs. 9.3%; PS-adjusted OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.01–0.90). During a mean follow-up of 2.5 years, the risk of all-cause death was significantly higher with thoracic INAAs (35.3% vs. 15.2%; PS-adjusted HR 6.90, 95% CI 1.69–28.19). Chronic kidney disease (CKD) was associated with death.Conclusions: Compared with thoracic INAAs, endovascular repair of abdominal INAAs was associated with a significantly higher in-hospital mortality rate. However, long-term outcomes were worse for thoracic INAAs, with CKD and infections being the most important predictor and cause of death, respectively.
As climate change is likely to alter regional water availability via shifted precipitation patterns that affect agricultural practices, the analysis of the effectiveness of bioenergy promotion ...policies and efficiency of bioenergy development requires a thorough consideration of the interrelationships among water, agriculture, and renewable energy development in the context of climate change. We propose a stochastic, price-endogenous mathematical programming with recourse model by linking a well-established water resource model to a bioenergy production framework to investigate the aggregate economic and environmental effect of bioenergy production. This study theoretically analyzes the optimal resource allocation and production conditions of the model, and empirically tests the goodness of the proposed model with observed data. The results show that the proposed framework is likely to reflect the actual bioenergy production in the face of climate-induced impacts, and at small to moderate climate impacts the bioenergy production is likely to be more influenced by the energy and emission prices than by climate-induced yield changes. In addition, while the reduction in precipitation would not result in significant effects on bioenergy production, a substantial change in land use and cropping decisions might occur.
•A bioenergy production–water allocation model under climate change is presented.•Optimal resource allocation and production conditions were analyzed and tested.•Uncertain supply of water can substantially influence bioenergy production.•Water supply–agriculture relationship must be aggregated for bioenergy potential.
Low immunogenicity in tumors and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) represent major obstacles to the full success of immunotherapy in cancer patients. A novel intratumoral xenogeneic ...tissue-specific cell immunotherapeutic approach could overcome the obstacles. Murine 4T1 triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and Pan18 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells were used for establishing syngeneic graft tumor models to evaluate antitumor effect of intratumoral injection of xenogeneic tissue-specific cells. Responses to treatment were assessed by measuring tumor growth and tumor weight of the tumor-bearing mice. To investigate the mechanisms of action, tumor histology and immunohistochemistry and cytokine gene expression were measured. Splenic lymphocytes proliferation, cytokine production and cytotoxicity activities were also assessed. The findings showed that intratumoral injection of xenogeneic tissue-specific cells in monotherapy and combination with chemotherapy inhibit tumor growth. The therapeutic efficacy of intratumoral xenogeneic cells was significantly enhanced by the addition of cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents. Mice that received combined treatment showed maximal attenuation in tumor growth rate. The antitumor immunity was explained by altered immune cell infiltration in tumors and immune cell functions. Our findings demonstrate that xenogeneic tissue-specific cells given intratumorally, provide a potent antitumor effect in murine breast and pancreatic tumor models by enhancing recruitment and activation of immune cells in tumors for local and systemic antitumor effects. Moreover, intratumoral xenogeneic cell treatment turns immunologically “cold” tumors to “hot” ones, generates systemic antitumor immunity, and synergizes with chemotherapy. Thus, the intratumoral xenogeneic tissue-specific cell immunotherapy may represent a useful therapeutic option to difficult-to-treat cancers.
•Intratumoral xenogeneic tissue-specific cell treatment inhibits tumor progression.•Xenogeneic cell therapy represses tumor cell proliferation and increases cell death.•Xenogeneic cells as an immunotherapeutic elicit local/systemic antitumor immunity.•Intratumoral xenogeneic cell immunotherapy synergizes with chemotherapy.
Background
Deep learning–based segmentation algorithms usually required large or multi‐institute data sets to improve the performance and ability of generalization. However, protecting patient ...privacy is a key concern in the multi‐institutional studies when conventional centralized learning (CL) is used.
Purpose
To explores the feasibility of a proposed lesion delineation for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) scheme for federated learning (FL), which can solve decentralization and privacy protection concerns.
Study Type
Retrospective.
Subjects
506 and 118 vestibular schwannoma patients aged 15–88 and 22–85 from two institutes, respectively; 1069 and 256 meningioma patients aged 12–91 and 23–85, respectively; 574 and 705 brain metastasis patients aged 26–92 and 28–89, respectively.
Field Strength/Sequence
1.5T, spin‐echo, and gradient‐echo Correction added after first online publication on 21 August 2023. Field Strength has been changed to “1.5T” from “5T” in this sentence..
Assessment
The proposed lesion delineation method was integrated into an FL framework, and CL models were established as the baseline. The effect of image standardization strategies was also explored. The dice coefficient was used to evaluate the segmentation between the predicted delineation and the ground truth, which was manual delineated by neurosurgeons and a neuroradiologist.
Statistical Tests
The paired t‐test was applied to compare the mean for the evaluated dice scores (p < 0.05).
Results
FL performed the comparable mean dice coefficient to CL for the testing set of Taipei Veterans General Hospital regardless of standardization and parameter; for the Taichung Veterans General Hospital data, CL significantly (p < 0.05) outperformed FL while using bi‐parameter, but comparable results while using single‐parameter. For the non‐SRS data, FL achieved the comparable applicability to CL with mean dice 0.78 versus 0.78 (without standardization), and outperformed to the baseline models of two institutes.
Data Conclusion
The proposed lesion delineation successfully implemented into an FL framework. The FL models were applicable on SRS data of each participating institute, and the FL exhibited comparable mean dice coefficient to CL on non‐SRS dataset. Standardization strategies would be recommended when FL is used.
Level of Evidence
4
Technical Efficacy
Stage 1
Hypertension is known to be related to obesity and both are the major factors for cardiovascular diseases. The relationship between body composition and blood pressure (BP) are discussed recently. ...Our study aims to evaluate the association between waist circumference (WC) and appendicular muscle mass (AMM) in relation to BP among the community‐dwelling elderly population.
Total 3739 patients (1600 males and 2139 females) were recruited in a series of community‐based surveys that were conducted among the elderly population in Taiwan from 2017 to 2019. We collected data on anthropometric characteristics, handgrip strength, and BP using standard methods. AMM was calculated with an equation. History of chronic disease and lifestyle profiles were collected using questionnaires.
The group with high AMM to body weight ratio (AMMW) showed lower systolic BP (SBP) (136.8 ± 19.1 to 140.6 ± 17.0 for males; 137.8 ± 18.3 to 142.7 ± 17.5 for females, both P < .001). Among central obese persons those with higher AMMW ratio had lower SBP. In the final model, AMMW in percentage is negatively associated to SBP (β = −0.641 in male, −0.780 in female, both P < .01). In other words, every 10% increase in AMMW is associated with decrease of SBP 6.41 mmHg in male and 7.80 mmHg in female.
Obesity and central obesity were positively associated with BP. The AMMW ratio was negatively associated with HTN and with a protective effect on BP even among the central obese. Health promotion programs to increase physical training may prevent hypertension among the elderly in Taiwan.
Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the leading cause of visual impairment in patients with diabetes mellitus. A retrospective study was conducted to investigate the factors influencing the clinical ...outcomes in 73 patients (94 eyes) with DME treated with intravitreal ranibizumab therapy. Baseline demographic, systemic, and ocular data were assessed for the association with visual and anatomic outcomes after treatment. The mean best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved from 0.92 ± 0.45 to 0.61 ± 0.43 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (LogMAR) (p < 0.001) after treatment. The mean central subfield macular thickness (CST) decreased from 425.2 ± 127.4 to 328.6 ± 99.4 μm (p < 0.001). The treatment response was significantly influenced by Age (p = 0.003) and baseline BCVA (p = 0.001). In addition, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (p = 0.013) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (p = 0.019) were the prognostic factors for the visual outcome in the responders and non-responders, respectively. Moreover, baseline CST was the strongest predictor of anatomic outcome in all subjects (p < 0.001). Intravitreal ranibizumab for DME resulted in significant improvement in clinical outcomes. Younger age and better baseline BCVA were associated with better visual outcome after the treatment. In addition, glycemic control in the treatment of patients with DME is crucial to achieve better visual outcomes, especially in the responders to ranibizumab treatment.
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