Sup_Fig-1 – Supplemental material for Prognostic significance of pretreatment plasma fibrinogen level in patients with digestive system tumors: a meta-analysis

<p>Supplemental material, Sup_Fig-1 for Prognostic significance of pretreatment plasma fibrinogen level in patients with digestive system tumors: a meta-analysis by Rui Ji, Qian Ren, Suyang Bai, Yuping Wang and Yongning Zhou in The International Journal of Biological Markers</p

Sup_Fig-5 – Supplemental material for Prognostic significance of pretreatment plasma fibrinogen level in patients with digestive system tumors: a meta-analysis

<p>Supplemental material, Sup_Fig-5 for Prognostic significance of pretreatment plasma fibrinogen level in patients with digestive system tumors: a meta-analysis by Rui Ji, Qian Ren, Suyang Bai, Yuping Wang and Yongning Zhou in The International Journal of Biological Markers</p

Sup_Fig-4 – Supplemental material for Prognostic significance of pretreatment plasma fibrinogen level in patients with digestive system tumors: a meta-analysis

<p>Supplemental material, Sup_Fig-4 for Prognostic significance of pretreatment plasma fibrinogen level in patients with digestive system tumors: a meta-analysis by Rui Ji, Qian Ren, Suyang Bai, Yuping Wang and Yongning Zhou in The International Journal of Biological Markers</p

DataSheet_1_Development and validation of nomogram models to predict radiotherapy or chemotherapy benefit in stage III/IV gastric adenocarcinoma with surgery.docx

ObjectivesThe advanced gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) patients (stage III/IV) with surgery may have inconsistent prognoses due to different demographic and clinicopathological factors. In this retrospective study, we developed clinical prediction models for estimating the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in advanced GAC patients with surgeryMethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The total population from 2004 to 2015 was divided into four levels according to age, of which 179 were younger than 45 years old, 695 were 45-59 years old, 1064 were 60-74 years old, and 708 were older than 75 years old. There were 1,712 men and 934 women. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors for OS and CSS. Nomograms were constructed to predict the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS and CSS. The models’ calibration and discrimination efficiency were validated. Discrimination and accuracy were evaluated using the consistency index, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and calibration plots; and clinical usefulness was assessed using decision curve analysis. Cross-validation was also conducted to evaluate the accuracy and stability of the models. Prognostic factors identified by Cox regression were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.ResultsA total of 2,646 patients were included in our OS study. Age, primary site, differentiation grade, AJCC 6th_TNM stage, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and number of regional nodes examined were identified as prognostic factors for OS in advanced GAC patients with surgery (P th_TNM stage, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and number of regional nodes examined were identified as risk factors for CSS in these patients (P th_TNM stage in predicting OS and CSS of advanced GAC patients with surgery. Cross-validation also revealed good accuracy and stability of the models.ConclusionThe developed predictive models provided available prognostic estimates for advanced GAC patients with surgery. Our findings suggested that both OS and CSS can benefit from chemotherapy or radiotherapy in these patients.</p

Oxygen-Release-Related Thermal Stability and Decomposition Pathways of Li_<i>x</i>Ni_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ Cathode Materials

The thermal stability of charged cathode materials is one of the critical properties affecting the safety characteristics of lithium-ion batteries. New findings on the thermal-stability and thermal-decomposition pathways related to the oxygen release are discovered for the high-voltage spinel Li_<i>x</i>Ni_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ (LNMO) with ordered (<i>o</i>-) and disordered (<i>d</i>-) structures at the fully delithiated (charged) state using a combination of in situ time-resolved X-ray diffraction (TR-XRD) coupled with mass spectroscopy (MS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) during heating. Both <i>o</i>- and <i>d</i>- Li_<i>x</i>Ni_0.5Mn_1.5O₄, at their fully charged states, start oxygen-releasing structural changes at temperatures below 300 °C, which is in sharp contrast to the good thermal stability of the 4V-spinel Li_<i>x</i>Mn₂O₄ with no oxygen being released up to 375 °C. This is mainly caused by the presence of Ni⁴⁺ in LNMO, which undergoes dramatic reduction during the thermal decomposition. In addition, charged <i>o</i>-LNMO shows better thermal stability than the <i>d</i>-LNMO counterpart, due to the Ni/Mn ordering and smaller amount of the rock-salt impurity phase in <i>o</i>-LNMO. Two newly identified thermal-decomposition pathways from the initial Li_<i>x</i>Ni_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ spinel to the final NiMn₂O₄-type spinel structure with and without the intermediate phases (NiMnO₃ and α-Mn₂O₃) are found to play key roles in thermal stability and oxygen release of LNMO during thermal decomposition

Structural Changes and Thermal Stability of Charged LiNi_<i>x</i>Mn_<i>y</i>Co_<i>z</i>O₂ Cathode Materials Studied by Combined <i>In Situ</i> Time-Resolved XRD and Mass Spectroscopy

Thermal stability of charged LiNi_<i>x</i>Mn_<i>y</i>Co_<i>z</i>O₂ (NMC, with <i>x</i> + <i>y</i> + <i>z</i> = 1, <i>x</i>:<i>y</i>:<i>z</i> = 4:3:3 (NMC433), 5:3:2 (NMC532), 6:2:2 (NMC622), and 8:1:1 (NMC811)) cathode materials is systematically studied using combined <i>in situ</i> time-resolved X-ray diffraction and mass spectroscopy (TR-XRD/MS) techniques upon heating up to 600 °C. The TR-XRD/MS results indicate that the content of Ni, Co, and Mn significantly affects both the structural changes and the oxygen release features during heating: the more Ni and less Co and Mn, the lower the onset temperature of the phase transition (i.e., thermal decomposition) and the larger amount of oxygen release. Interestingly, the NMC532 seems to be the optimized composition to maintain a reasonably good thermal stability, comparable to the low-nickel-content materials (e.g., NMC333 and NMC433), while having a high capacity close to the high-nickel-content materials (e.g., NMC811 and NMC622). The origin of the thermal decomposition of NMC cathode materials was elucidated by the changes in the oxidation states of each transition metal (TM) cations (i.e., Ni, Co, and Mn) and their site preferences during thermal decomposition. It is revealed that Mn ions mainly occupy the 3<i>a</i> octahedral sites of a layered structure (<i>R</i>3̅<i>m</i>) but Co ions prefer to migrate to the 8<i>a</i> tetrahedral sites of a spinel structure (<i>Fd</i>3̅<i>m</i>) during the thermal decomposition. Such element-dependent cation migration plays a very important role in the thermal stability of NMC cathode materials. The reasonably good thermal stability and high capacity characteristics of the NMC532 composition is originated from the well-balanced ratio of nickel content to manganese and cobalt contents. This systematic study provides insight into the rational design of NMC-based cathode materials with a desired balance between thermal stability and high energy density

Sodiation <i>via</i> Heterogeneous Disproportionation in FeF₂ Electrodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries utilize various electrode materials derived from lithium batteries. However, the different characteristics inherent in sodium may cause unexpected cell reactions and battery performance. Thus, identifying the reactive discrepancy between sodiation and lithiation is essential for fundamental understanding and practical engineering of battery materials. Here we reveal a heterogeneous sodiation mechanism of iron fluoride (FeF₂) nanoparticle electrodes by combining <i>in situ/ex situ</i> microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. In contrast to direct one-step conversion reaction with lithium, the sodiation of FeF₂ proceeds <i>via</i> a regular conversion on the surface and a disproportionation reaction in the core, generating a composite structure of 1–4 nm ultrafine Fe nanocrystallites (further fused into conductive frameworks) mixed with an unexpected Na₃FeF₆ phase and a NaF phase in the shell. These findings demonstrate a core–shell reaction mode of the sodiation process and shed light on the mechanistic understanding extended to generic electrode materials for both Li- and Na-ion batteries

Ionic Conduction in Cubic Na₃TiP₃O₉N, a Secondary Na-Ion Battery Cathode with Extremely Low Volume Change

It is demonstrated that Na ions are mobile at room temperature in the nitridophosphate compound Na₃TiP₃O₉N, with a diffusion pathway that is calculated to be fully three-dimensional and isotropic. When used as a cathode in Na-ion batteries, Na₃TiP₃O₉N has an average voltage of 2.7 V vs Na⁺/Na and cycles with good reversibility through a mechanism that appears to be a single solid solution process without any intermediate plateaus. X-ray and neutron diffraction studies as well as first-principles calculations indicate that the volume change that occurs on Na-ion removal is only about 0.5%, a remarkably small volume change given the large ionic radius of Na⁺. Rietveld refinements indicate that the Na1 site is selectively depopulated during sodium removal. Furthermore, the refined displacement parameters support theoretical predictions that the lowest energy diffusion pathway incorporates the Na1 and Na3 sites while the Na2 site is relatively inaccessible. The measured room temperature ionic conductivity of Na₃TiP₃O₉N is substantial (4 × 10^–7 S/cm), though both the strong temperature dependence of Na-ion thermal parameters and the observed activation energy of 0.54 eV suggest that much higher ionic conductivities can be achieved with minimal heating. Excellent thermal stability is observed for both pristine Na₃TiP₃O₉N and desodiated Na₂TiP₃O₉N, suggesting that this phase can serve as a safe Na-ion battery electrode. Moreover, it is expected that further optimization of the general cubic framework of Na₃TiP₃O₉N by chemical substitution will result in thermostable solid state electrolytes with isotropic conductivities that can function at temperatures near or just above room temperature