DataSheet_1_Inequality in Accessibility of Proton Therapy for Cancers and Its Economic Determinants: A Cross-Sectional Study.xlsx

BackgroundCancer is a leading cause of death in the world, and the estimated new cancer cases were 19 million and the estimated cancer deaths were around 10 million worldwide in 2020. Proton therapy (PT) is a promising treatment for cancers; however, only few patients with cancer received PT due to limited number of PT centers worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries.Methods and ResultsCross-sectional country level data were collected from publicly available information. Lorenz curves and Gini coefficient were used to assess the inequality in accessing to PT, and zero-inflated Poisson models were used to investigate the determinants of number of PT facilities in each country. The Gini coefficients were 0.96 for PT centers and 0.96 for PT chambers, which indicated high level of inequality. Total GDP had a significant impact on whether a country had a practical PT center, whereas total GDP and GDP per capita had significant impacts on the number of PT centers.ConclusionExtremely high inequality exists in accessibility of PT centers among all countries in the world. Economic development was the most important factor determining the adoption of PT; thus, with the growth in global economics, more PT centers can be expected in near future.</p

DataSheet_2_Inequality in Accessibility of Proton Therapy for Cancers and Its Economic Determinants: A Cross-Sectional Study.docx

BackgroundCancer is a leading cause of death in the world, and the estimated new cancer cases were 19 million and the estimated cancer deaths were around 10 million worldwide in 2020. Proton therapy (PT) is a promising treatment for cancers; however, only few patients with cancer received PT due to limited number of PT centers worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries.Methods and ResultsCross-sectional country level data were collected from publicly available information. Lorenz curves and Gini coefficient were used to assess the inequality in accessing to PT, and zero-inflated Poisson models were used to investigate the determinants of number of PT facilities in each country. The Gini coefficients were 0.96 for PT centers and 0.96 for PT chambers, which indicated high level of inequality. Total GDP had a significant impact on whether a country had a practical PT center, whereas total GDP and GDP per capita had significant impacts on the number of PT centers.ConclusionExtremely high inequality exists in accessibility of PT centers among all countries in the world. Economic development was the most important factor determining the adoption of PT; thus, with the growth in global economics, more PT centers can be expected in near future.</p

Supplementary information from Novel biomass-derived smoke-like carbon as a supercapacitor electrode material

In this present work, smoke-like carbon was successfully fabricated from a bio-waste fungal substrate crude polysaccharide for the first time. The as-prepared products possess smoke-like structures, ultra-high specific surface area (SBET: 2160 m2 g−1) and a high content of micropores (microporous surface area of 60%, with a nanopore size of 0.70 nm), which can increase the specific capacitance, representing a wonderful structure for electrochemical energy storage devices. The as-prepared sample displayed an excellent specific capacitance of 152 F g−1 at 5 A g−1 in the three-electrode configuration and exhibited maximal densities of 6.8–10.2 W h kg−1 under power outputs of 253.4–24.3 kW kg−1. We believe that this work demonstrates a simple, green and low-cost route by using agricultural residue to prepare applicable carbon materials for use in energy storage devices

Supplementary material from Preparation of pod-shaped TiO₂ and Ag@TiO₂ nano burst tubes and their photocatalytic activity

SEM image and degradation efficiency diagram of TiO2, which prepared at different calcination temperatures; EDX spectra of Ag@TiO2; SEM image of the recovered sample

Synthesis, Characterization, and Swelling Behaviors of Salt-Sensitive Maize Bran–Poly(acrylic acid) Superabsorbent Hydrogel

A novel composite hydrogel was prepared via UV irradiation copolymerization of acrylic acid and maize bran (MB) in the presence of composite initiator (2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone and ammonium persulfate) and cross-linker (N,N′-methylenebis­(acrylamide)). Under the optimized conditions, maize bran–poly­(acrylic acid) was obtained (2507 g g–1 in distilled water and 658 g g–1 in 0.9 wt % NaCl solution). Effects of granularity, salt concentration, and various cations and anions on water absorbency were investigated. It was found that swelling was extremely sensitive to the ionic strength and cation and anion type. Swelling kinetics and water diffusion mechanism in distilled water were also discussed. Moreover, the product showed excellent water retention capability under the condition of high temperature or high pressure. The salt sensitivity, good water absorbency, and excellent water retention capability of the hydrogels give this intelligentized polymer wide potential applications

Direct Laser Writing-Based Programmable Transfer Printing via Bioinspired Shape Memory Reversible Adhesive

Flexible and stretchable electronics offer a wide range of unprecedented opportunities beyond conventional rigid electronics. Despite their vast promise, a significant bottleneck lies in the availability of a transfer printing technique to manufacture such devices in a highly controllable and scalable manner. Current technologies usually rely on manual stick-and-place and do not offer feasible mechanisms for precise and quantitative process control, especially when scalability is taken into account. Here, we demonstrate a spatioselective and programmable transfer strategy to print electronic microelements onto a soft substrate. The method takes advantage of automated direct laser writing to trigger localized heating of a micropatterned shape memory polymer adhesive stamp, allowing highly controlled and spatioselective switching of the interfacial adhesion. This, coupled to the proper tuning of the stamp properties, enables printing with perfect yield. The wide range adhesion switchability further allows printing of hybrid electronic elements, which is otherwise challenging given the complex interfacial manipulation involved. Our temperature-controlled transfer printing technique shows its critical importance and obvious advantages in the potential scale-up of device manufacturing. Our strategy opens a route to manufacturing flexible electronics with exceptional versatility and potential scalability

Efficient Purely Organic Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from Selenium-Containing Conjugated Polymers for Signal-Amplified Oxygen Detection

Purely organic room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) polymers with good processability and flexibility over small molecular crystals are highly attractive. Although many non-conjugated polymers (non-CPs) with efficient RTP emission have been reported, the development of metal-free RTP CPs remains a formidable challenge. Herein, CPs with clear RTP emission in both doped and neat films are readily prepared by introducing a selenium-containing phenoselenazine unit into conjugated backbones. The resulting RTP CPs can achieve phosphorescence lifetimes ranging from microseconds to milliseconds and phosphorescence quantum yields of up to 17.2% in film states, representing the highest value for metal-free CPs. Moreover, these RTP polymer films can be used for ratiometric oxygen detection due to their sensitive RTP emission to oxygen. Remarkably, for the first time, these metal-free CPs demonstrate significant phosphorescent signal amplification with a Stern–Volmer quenching constant (KSV) value of up to 5.54 × 10–3 ppm–1, which is 250 times higher than that of their molecule counterpart

Data_Sheet_1_Effects of supplementation of sodium acetate on rumen fermentation and microbiota in postpartum dairy cows.PDF

The primary product of rumen fermentation is acetic acid, and its sodium salt is an excellent energy source for post-partum cows to manage negative energy balance (NEB). However, it is unknown how adding sodium acetate (NAc) may affect the rumen bacterial population of post-partum cows. Using the identical nutritional total mixed ration (TMR), this research sought to characterize the impact of NAc supplementation on rumen fermentation and the composition of bacterial communities in post-partum cows. After calving, 24 cows were randomly assigned to two groups of 12 cows each: a control group (CON) and a NAc group (ACE). All cows were fed the same basal TMR with 468 g/d NaCl added to the TMR for the CON group and 656 g/d NAc added to the TMR for the ACE group for 21 days after calving. Ruminal fluid was collected before morning feeding on the last day of the feeding period and analyzed for rumen bacterial community composition by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Under the identical TMR diet conditions, NAc supplementation did not change rumen pH but increased ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) levels and microbial crude protein (MCP) concentrations. The administration of NAc to the feed upregulated rumen concentrations of total volatile fatty acids (TVFA), acetic, propionic, isovaleric and isobutyric acids without affecting the molar ratio of VFAs. In the two experimental groups, the Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, Patescibacteria and Proteobacteria were the dominant rumen phylum, and Prevotella was the dominant rumen genus. The administration of NAc had no significant influence on the α-diversity of the rumen bacterial community but upregulated the relative abundance of Prevotella and downregulated the relative abundance of RF39 and Clostridia_UCG_014. In conclusion, the NAc supplementation in the post-peripartum period altered rumen flora structure and thus improved rumen fermentation in dairy cows. Our findings provide a reference for the addition of sodium acetate to alleviate NEB in cows during the late perinatal period.</p

Plain Silver Surface Plasmon Resonance for Microarray Application

The application scope of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and SPR imaging (SPRi) is rapidly growing, and tools such as high-performance and low-cost slides could enable more rapid growth of the field. We describe herein a novel silver slide, addressing the inherent instability of plain silver structure by improving adhesion between the glass substrate and the silver layer with a thin buffer layer of gold. Covered by a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) only, SPR characteristics of the slide remain steady for more than 3 months under regular storage. In a bioassay, the slide substantiates the predicted nearly 100% sensitivity improvement over gold slides and exhibits exceptional performance stability as determined by sensitivity and resolution measurements during the extended 40 000 s multicycle experiment. We demonstrate the suitability of this new slide for large-area SPRi, describing analysis results from a 1 296-ligand protein microarray. We predict this slide structure will provide a stable, high-sensitivity solution for high-throughput SPRi applications and other surface analysis platforms

Effects of Extraction Methods on the Structural Characteristics and Functional Properties of Insoluble Dietary Fiber Extracted from <i>Aronia melanocarpa</i>

The physicochemical properties, structural compositions, and functional properties of insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) extracted from Aronia melanocarpa by acid extraction method, alkali extraction method, and enzymatic extraction method (EE) were studied. The results showed that the monosaccharide compositions of the three IDF samples were similar. The average molecular weight of E-IDF was higher than that of AC-IDF and AL-IDF. The surface morphology, crystal structure, and functional groups of IDF samples were changed by different extraction methods, but the effect on thermal stability was not significant. In addition, E-IDF possessed higher water-holding capacity, oil-holding capacity, and water swelling capacity. The nitrite ion adsorption capacity of E-IDF was higher at pH 2.0. At the same time, E-IDF exhibited higher glucose adsorption capacity (GAC) and better adsorption capacity for Cu2+ and Pb2+. The results indicate that the IDF sample extracted by the EE had excellent physicochemical and functional properties and showed great potential as a functional food ingredient