A Novel Route to Calculate the Length Scale for the Glass Transition in Polymers

The occurrence of glass transition is believed to be associated to cooperative motion with a growing length scale with decreasing temperature. We provide a novel route to calculate the size of cooperatively rearranging regions CRR of glass-forming polymers combining the Adam-Gibbs theory of the glass transition with the self-concentration concept. To do so we explore the dynamics of glass-forming polymers in different environments. The material specific parameter $\alpha$ connecting the size of the CRR to the configurational entropy is obtained in this way. Thereby, the size of CRR can be precisely quantified in absolute values. This size results to be in the range 1 $\div$ 3 nm at the glass transition temperature depending on the glass-forming polymer

Orobothriurus atiquipa, a new bothriurid species (Scorpiones) from Lomas in southern Perú

Orobothriurus atiquipa new species (Scorpiones, Bothriuridae) from Lomas formations in the coastal desert of southern Perú is described and illustrated. This species belongs to the alticola species-group, and within the group, it is closely related to O. alticola (Pocock), O. paessleri (Kraepelin) and O. curvidigitus (Kraepelin). The spine formula (4 + 3) on tarsi III–IV is probably an autapomorphy for the new species. Some features of the habitat (the Lomas formation are green isolates in the coastal desert), as well as a distribution map are provided.Fil: Ochoa, José Antonio. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Cátedra de Diversidad Animal I; ArgentinaFil: Acosta, Luis Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; Argentin

Polymorphism in Non-Fullerene Acceptors Based on Indacenodithienothiophene

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] Organic solar cells incorporating non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) have reached remarkable power conversion efficiencies of over 18%. Unlike fullerene derivatives, NFAs tend to crystallize from solutions, resulting in bulk heterojunctions that include a crystalline acceptor phase. This must be considered in any morphology-function models. Here, it is confirmed that high-performing solution-processed indacenodithienothiophene-based NFAs, i.e., ITIC and its derivatives ITIC-M, ITIC-2F, and ITIC-Th, exhibit at least two crystalline forms. In addition to highly ordered polymorphs that form at high temperatures, NFAs arrange into a low-temperature metastable phase that is readily promoted via solution processing and leads to the highest device efficiencies. Intriguingly, the low-temperature forms seem to feature a continuous network that favors charge transport despite of a poorly order along the π–π stacking direction. As the optical absorption of the structurally more disordered low-temperature phase can surpass that of the more ordered polymorphs while displaying comparable—or even higher—charge transport properties, it is argued that such a packing structure is an important feature for reaching highest device efficiencies, thus, providing guidelines for future materials design and crystal engineering activities.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion/FEDER (under Ref. PGC2018-094620-A-I00 and PGC2018-095411-B-I00, CEX2019-000917-S, and PGC2018-095411-B-100) and the Basque Country Government (Ref. PIBA19-0051). S.M. is grateful to POLYMAT for the doctoral scholarship. The authors thank A. Arbe, A. Alonso-Mateo, and L. Hueso for their support and access to characterization tools. The authors also thank the technical and human support provided by SGIker of UPV/EHU and European funding (ERDF and ESF). GIWAXS experiments were performed at BL11 NCD-SWEET beamline at ALBA Synchrotron (Spain) with the collaboration of ALBA staff. J.M and E.F.-G. acknowledge support through the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, H2020-FETOPEN 01-2018-2020 (FET-Open Challenging Current Thinking), “LION-HEARTED,” Grant Agreement No. 828984. J.M and N.S. would like to thank the financial support provided by the IONBIKE RISE project, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 823989. N.S., A.K., and A.B. furthermore are grateful to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for support via Project No. 1905901 within NSF's Division of Materials Research. A.S. and M.C. acknowledge financial support by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program “HEROIC,” Grant Agreement No. 638059. This work was partially carried out at Polifab, the micro- and nanotechnology center of the Politecnico di Milano. C.M. thanks the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation for funding through the project “Mastering Morphology for Solution-borne Electronics.” A.I. thanks MICINN for a Personal Técnico de Apoyo contract (PTA2017-14359-I) and gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Basque Government (Research Groups IT-1175-19) and the MICINN (PGC2018-094548-B-I00, MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE. Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG.Gobierno Vasco; PIBA19-0051Gobierno Vasco; IT-1175-19Estados Unidos. National Science Foundation; 190590

Survival Risk Scores for Real-Life Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma Patients Receiving Elotuzumab or Carfilzomib In Combination With Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone as Salvage Therapy: Analysis of 919 Cases Outside Clinical Trials

The present study aimed to develop two survival risk scores (RS) for overall survival (OS, SRSKRd/EloRd) and progression-free survival (PFS, PRSKRd/EloRd) in 919 relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) patients who received carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd)/elotuzumab, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (EloRd). The median OS was 35.4 months, with no significant difference between the KRd arm versus the EloRd arm. In the multivariate analysis, advanced ISS (HR = 1.31; P = 0.025), interval diagnosis–therapy (HR = 1.46; P = 0.001), number of previous lines of therapies (HR = 1.96; P < 0.0001), older age (HR = 1.72; P < 0.0001), and prior lenalidomide exposure (HR = 1.30; P = 0.026) remained independently associated with death. The median PFS was 20.3 months, with no difference between the two strategies. The multivariate model identified a significant progression/death risk increase for ISS III (HR = 1.37; P = 0.002), >3 previous lines of therapies (HR = 1.67; P < 0.0001), older age (HR = 1.64; P < 0.0001), and prior lenalidomide exposure (HR = 1.35; P = 0.003). Three risk SRSKRd/EloRd categories were generated: low-risk (134 cases, 16.5%), intermediate-risk (467 cases, 57.3%), and high-risk categories (213 cases, 26.2%). The 1- and 2-year OS probability rates were 92.3% and 83.8% for the low-risk (HR = 1, reference category), 81.1% and 60.6% (HR = 2.73; P < 0.0001) for the intermediate-risk, and 65.5% and 42.5% (HR = 4.91; P < 0.0001) for the high-risk groups, respectively. Notably, unlike the low-risk group, which did not cross the median timeline, the OS median values were 36.6 and 18.6 months for the intermediate- and high-risk cases, respectively. Similarly, three PRSKRd/EloRd risk categories were engendered. Based on such grouping, 338 (41.5%) cases were allocated in the low-, 248 (30.5%) in the intermediate-, and 228 (28.0%) in the high-risk groups. The 1- and 2-year PFS probability rates were 71.4% and 54.5% for the low-risk (HR = 1, reference category), 68.9% and 43.7% (HR = 1.95; P < 0.0001) for the intermediate-risk, and 48.0% and 27.1% (HR = 3.73; P < 0.0001) for the high-risk groups, respectively. The PFS median values were 29.0, 21.0, and 11.7 months for the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk cases. This analysis showed 2.7- and 4.9-fold increased risk of death for the intermediate- and high-risk cases treated with KRd/EloRd as salvage therapy. The combined progression/death risks of the two categories were increased 1.3- and 2.2-fold compared to the low-risk group. In conclusion, SRSKRd/EloRd and PRSKRd/EloRd may represent accessible and globally applicable models in daily clinical practice and ultimately represent a prognostic tool for RRMM patients who received KRd or EloRd