Vaginal toxicity management in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer following exclusive chemoradiation—a nationwide survey on knowledge and attitudes by the Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology (AIRO) Gynecology Study Group

Background and Objective: Exclusive radiotherapy, including external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and interventional radiotherapy/brachytherapy (IRT/BT), with concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy, represents the standard of care in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). The emerging topic of vaginal toxicity has become a key endpoint in LACC management, although different approaches and non-standardized procedures were available. Our aim was to analyze a nationwide study of the attitudes of Italian gynecological radiation oncology teams in the management of LACC patients' vaginal toxicities. Methods: A nationwide survey of radiation oncologists specializing in the treatment of gynecological malignancies was performed, using the free SurveyMonkey platform, consisting of 26 items. The questionnaire was proposed by the Italian Association of Radiation Oncologists (AIRO) gynecological working group to all 183 Italian radiation oncology institutions, as per AIRO's website. Results: Fifty-eight questionnaires (31%) were completed and returned. The assessment of acute and late vaginal toxicities was systematic in 32 (55.2%) and 26 (44.8%) centers, respectively. In the case of EBRT, 70.7% of centers, according to the contouring and treatment plan data, did not contour the vagina as an organ at risk (OAR). Vaginal dose constraints were heterogeneous for both EBRT and IRT/BT. Local treatment to prevent vaginal toxicity was prescribed by 60.3% of radiation oncologists, mostly vaginal hyaluronic acid cream, and one center recommended vaginal estrogen preparations. During follow-up visits, vaginal toxicity was considered an issue to be investigated always (n = 31) or in sexually active women only (n = 11). Conclusions: This survey showed that wide variation exists with regard to recording and treating vaginal toxicity after exclusive chemoradiation for cervical cancer, underscoring the need to develop more comprehensive guidelines for contouring e-dose reporting of the vagina, so as to implement clinical approaches for vaginal toxicity

Aerosol Assisted Solvent Treatment: A Universal Method for Performance and Stability Enhancements in Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract: Metal‐halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have had a transformative impact on the renewable energy landscape since they were first demonstrated just over a decade ago. Outstanding improvements in performance have been demonstrated through structural, compositional, and morphological control of devices, with commercialization now being a reality. Here the authors present an aerosol assisted solvent treatment as a universal method to obtain performance and stability enhancements in PSCs, demonstrating their methodology as a convenient, scalable, and reproducible post‐deposition treatment for PSCs. Their results identify improvements in crystallinity and grain size, accompanied by a narrowing in grain size distribution as the underlying physical changes that drive reductions of electronic and ionic defects. These changes lead to prolonged charge‐carrier lifetimes and ultimately increased device efficiencies. The versatility of the process is demonstrated for PSCs with thick (>1 µm) active layers, large‐areas (>1 cm2) and a variety of device architectures and active layer compositions. This simple post‐deposition process is widely transferable across the field of perovskites, thereby improving the future design principles of these materials to develop large‐area, stable, and efficient PSCs

Ferroelectric-photocatalyst nanocomposite thin films for enhanced photocatalytic activity

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has recently gained particular attention as promising method to produce hydrogen through the conversion of solar light into chemical energy. A key challenge for this application is to reduce the high level of electron-hole recombination, which can significantly affect the efficiency of a PEC system. Ferroelectric polarization has emerged as new strategy to facilitate the separation of electron-hole pairs, driving them towards the opposite direction and consequently enhancing the water splitting performance. In this thesis, the influence of ferroelectric polarization on the photoelectrochemical properties of bare nanostructured BaTiO3 as well as nanostructured BaTiO3 combined with Fe2O3 photocatalyst is explored. Nanostructured BaTiO3 thin films are synthesized and employed as photoanodes for photocatalytic studies. Porous barium titanate (pBTO) thin films show a controllable porosity by tuning organic/inorganic ratios. Importantly, the switching of ferroelectric domains in pBTO thin films is still observed in the porous structures. The presence of porosity in pBTO thin films leads to a clear improvement of the PEC response. By electrochemical (EC) poling, the tuning of PEC performance of pBTO thin films via ferroelectric polarization is also demonstrated. In addition, the influence of oxygen vacancies on EC poling of pBTO thin films, prepared in different annealing conditions (O2, air, N2) is investigated, revealing that higher concentrations of oxygen vacancies limit the ability of these films to be controlled via poling. Lastly, Fe2O3/pBTO thin films are developed and studied. The composite film shows higher photocurrent density than pBTO and Fe2O3 and this is ascribed to the improved charge injection and separation in Fe2O3/pBTO. The possibility of achieving PEC performance enhancements in Fe2O3/pBTO by controlling ferroelectric polarisation is also demonstrated. This research reveals the role of ferroelectricity on the photocatalytic activity enhancements in nanostructured BaTiO3 and Fe2O3-BaTiO3 films, which could benefit future work on ferroelectric photocatalysts

Multiple correspondence and cluster analyses for an in-depth literature review on servitization

In this work we investigate literature on the relevant phenomenon of servitization, conceived as the evolution of the offering from a simply material product to a bundle often called “product-service system” (PSS).Literature on servitization is rich but also composite and quite heterogeneous as authors adopt different perspectives, have different research objectives and often use a variety of terms while referring to the same thing.Thus we aim to systematize literature through a content analysis. Results from multiple correspondence and cluster analyses are briefly illustrated