As highlighted by the recent ChemComm web themed issue on ionic liquids, this field continues to develop beyond the concept of interesting new solvents for application in the greening of the chemical ...industry. Here some current research trends in the field will be discussed which show that ionic liquids research is still aimed squarely at solving major societal issues by taking advantage of new fundamental understanding of the nature of these salts in their low temperature liquid state. This article discusses current research trends in applications of ionic liquids to energy, materials, and medicines to provide some insight into the directions, motivations, challenges, and successes being achieved with ionic liquids today.
Photochemical smog, characterized by high concentrations of ozone (O3) and fine particles (PM2.5) in the atmosphere, has become one of the top environmental concerns in China. Volatile organic ...compounds (VOCs), one of the key precursors of O3 and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) (an important component of PM2.5), have a critical influence on atmospheric chemistry and subsequently affect regional and global climate. Thus, VOCs have been extensively studied in many cities and regions in China, especially in the North China Plain, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions where photochemical smog pollution has become increasingly worse over recent decades. This paper reviews the main studies conducted in China on the characteristics and sources of VOCs, their relationship with O3 and SOA, and their removal technology. This paper also provides an integrated literature review on the formulation and implementation of effective control strategies of VOCs and photochemical smog, as well as suggestions for future directions of VOCs study in China.
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•Characteristics and sources of VOCs in China are reviewed.•Relationship of VOCs with O3 and SOA in China are reviewed.•Integrated literature review on the control strategies of VOCs and photochemical smog is provided.•Future directions of VOC study in China are suggested.
Elastic neutrino scattering on electrons is a precisely known purely leptonic process that provides a standard candle for measuring neutrino flux in conventional neutrino beams. Using a total sample ...of 810 neutrino-electron scatters after background subtraction, the measurement reduces the normalization uncertainty on the ν μ NuMI beam flux between 2 and 20 GeV from 7.6 to 3.9%. This is the most precise measurement of neutrino-electron scattering to date, will reduce uncertainties on MINER ν A's absolute cross section measurements, and demonstrates a technique that can be used in future neutrino beams such as long baseline neutrino facility.
In 2009, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) proposed a set of recommendations for the definition of distinct cell death morphologies and for the appropriate use of cell death-related ...terminology, including 'apoptosis', 'necrosis' and 'mitotic catastrophe'. In view of the substantial progress in the biochemical and genetic exploration of cell death, time has come to switch from morphological to molecular definitions of cell death modalities. Here we propose a functional classification of cell death subroutines that applies to both in vitro and in vivo settings and includes extrinsic apoptosis, caspase-dependent or -independent intrinsic apoptosis, regulated necrosis, autophagic cell death and mitotic catastrophe. Moreover, we discuss the utility of expressions indicating additional cell death modalities. On the basis of the new, revised NCCD classification, cell death subroutines are defined by a series of precise, measurable biochemical features.
Purpose
In the initial PALOMA-2 (NCT01740427) analysis with median follow-up of 23 months, palbociclib plus letrozole significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in women with estrogen ...receptor-positive (ER+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC) hazard ratio (HR) 0.58;
P
< 0.001. Herein, we report results overall and by subgroups with extended follow-up.
Methods
In this double-blind, phase 3 study, post-menopausal women with ER+/HER2− ABC who had not received prior systemic therapy for their advanced disease were randomized 2:1 to palbociclib-letrozole or placebo-letrozole. Endpoints include investigator-assessed PFS (primary), safety, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs).
Results
After a median follow-up of approximately 38 months, median PFS was 27.6 months for palbociclib–letrozole (
n
= 444) and 14.5 months for placebo-letrozole (
n
= 222) (HR 0.563; 1-sided
P
< 0.0001). All subgroups benefited from palbociclib treatment. The improvement of PFS with palbociclib-letrozole was maintained in the next 2 subsequent lines of therapy and delayed the use of chemotherapy (40.4 vs. 29.9 months for palbociclib–letrozole vs. placebo-letrozole). Safety data were consistent with the known profile. Patients’ quality of life was maintained.
Conclusions
With approximately 15 months of additional follow-up, palbociclib plus letrozole continued to demonstrate improved PFS compared with placebo plus letrozole in the overall population and across all patient subgroups, while the safety profile remained favorable and quality of life was maintained. These data confirm that palbociclib-letrozole should be considered the standard of care for first-line therapy in patients with ER+/HER2− ABC, including those with low disease burden or long disease-free interval. Sponsored by Pfizer; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01740427.
Faced with unresolved tensions between neutrino interaction measurements at few-GeV neutrino energies, current experiments are forced to accept large systematic uncertainties to cover discrepancies ...between their data and model predictions. The widely used pion production model in GENIE is compared to four MINERνA charged current pion production measurements using nuisance. Tunings, i.e., adjustments of model parameters, to help match GENIE to MINERνA and older bubble chamber data are presented. We find that scattering off nuclear targets as measured in MINERνA is not in good agreement with expectations based upon scattering off nucleon (hydrogen or deuterium) targets in existing bubble chamber data. An additional ad hoc correction for the low−Q2 region, where collective nuclear effects are expected to be large, is presented. While these tunings and corrections improve the agreement of GENIE with the data, the modeling is imperfect. The development of these tunings within the nuisance framework allows for straightforward extensions to other neutrino event generators and models, and allows omitting and including new datasets as they become available.
Patient-reported outcomes are integral in benefit–risk assessments of new treatment regimens. The PALOMA-2 study provides the largest body of evidence for patient-reported health-related quality of ...life (QOL) for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) receiving first-line endocrine-based therapy (palbociclib plus letrozole and letrozole alone).
Treatment-naïve postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2−) MBC were randomized 2 : 1 to palbociclib plus letrozole (n=444) or placebo plus letrozole (n=222). Patient-reported outcomes were assessed at baseline, day 1 of cycles 2 and 3, and day 1 of every other cycle from cycle 5 using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT)-Breast and EuroQOL 5 dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaires.
As of 26 February 2016, the median duration of follow-up was 23months. Baseline scores were comparable between the two treatment arms. No significant between-arm differences were observed in change from baseline in FACT-Breast Total, FACT-General Total, or EQ-5D scores. Significantly greater improvement in pain scores was observed in the palbociclib plus letrozole arm (−0.256 versus −0.098; P=0.0183). In both arms, deterioration of FACT-Breast Total score was significantly delayed in patients without progression versus those with progression and patients with partial or complete response versus those without. No significant difference was observed in FACT-Breast and EQ-5D index scores in patients with and without neutropenia.
Overall, women with MBC receiving first-line endocrine therapy have a good QOL. The addition of palbociclib to letrozole maintains health-related QOL and improves pain scores in treatment-naïve postmenopausal patients with ER+/HER2− MBC compared with letrozole alone. Significantly greater delay in deterioration of health-related QOL was observed in patients without progression versus those who progressed and in patients with an objective response versus non-responders.
ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01740427 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01740427)
This paper reviews the recent research and development of clay-based polymer nanocomposites. Clay minerals, due to their unique layered structure, rich intercalation chemistry and availability at low ...cost, are promising nanoparticle reinforcements for polymers to manufacture low-cost, lightweight and high performance nanocomposites. We introduce briefly the structure, properties and surface modification of clay minerals, followed by the processing and characterization techniques of polymer nanocomposites. The enhanced and novel properties of such nanocomposites are then discussed, including mechanical, thermal, barrier, electrical conductivity, biodegradability among others. In addition, their available commercial and potential applications in automotive, packaging, coating and pigment, electrical materials, and in particular biomedical fields are highlighted. Finally, the challenges for the future are discussed in terms of processing, characterization and the mechanisms governing the behaviour of these advanced materials.
We present the first laser guide star adaptive optics (LGSAO) observations of the Galactic center. LGSAO has dramatically improved the quality and robustness with which high angular resolution ...infrared images of the Galactic center can be obtained with the Keck II 10 m telescope. Specifically, Strehl ratios of 0.7 and 0.3 at L' (3.8 km) and K' (2.1 km), respectively, are achieved in these LGSAO images; these are at least a factor of 2 higher and a factor of 4-5 more stable against atmospheric fluctuations than the Strehl ratios delivered thus far with the Keck natural guide star AO system on the Galactic center. Furthermore, these observations are the first that cover a large area (76 x 76) surrounding the central black hole at diffraction-limited resolution for an 8-10 m class telescope. During our observations, the infrared counterpart to the central supermassive black hole, Sgr A*-IR, showed significant infrared intensity variations, with observed L' magnitudes ranging from 12.6 to 14.5 mag and a decrease in flux density of a factor of 2 over an 8 minute interval. The faintest end of our L' detections, 1.3 mJy (dereddened), is the lowest level of emission yet observed for this source by a factor of 3. No significant variation in the location of Sgr A*-IR is detected as a function of either wavelength or intensity. Previous claims of such positional variations are easily attributable to a nearby (0.09 or 720 AU, projected), extended, very red source, which we suggest arises from a locally heated dust feature. Near a peak in its intensity, we obtained the first measurement of Sgr A*-IR's K'- L' color; its K' - L' of 3.0 c 0.2 mag (observed) or 1.4 c 0.2 (dereddened) corresponds to an intrinsic spectral index of a = -0.5 c 0.3 for F sub( )8 super(a). This is significantly bluer than other recent infrared measurements from the literature, which suggest a = -4 c 1. Because our measurement was taken at a time when Sgr A* was 66 times brighter in the infrared than the other measurements, we posit that the spectral index of the emission arising from the vicinity of our Galaxy's central black hole may depend on the strength of the flare, with stronger flares giving rise to a higher fraction of high-energy electrons in the emitting region.
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