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Background: An accurate perception of death risk is a prerequisite for advanced cancer patients to make informed end-of-life care decisions. However, there is to date no suitable scale to measure death risk perception. This study was to develop and psychometrically test the death risk perception scale (DRPS) for advanced cancer patients. Methods: Process of instrument development and psychometric evaluation were used. First, qualitative research, a literature review, brainstorming, a Delphi study, and cognitive interviews were conducted to construct a pretest scale of death risk perception. Second, a scale-based survey was administered to 479 advanced cancer patients. Item, exploratory factor, and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to optimize the scale. The Cronbach's alpha was calculated as a reliability analysis. The validity analysis included construct, convergent, discriminant, and content validity values. Results: A three-dimension, 12-item scale was developed, including deliberative, affective, and experiential risk perception. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor model with satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity levels. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for internal consistency was 0.807 and scale-level content validity index was 0.98. Conclusions: The 12-item DRPS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the level of death risk perception in advanced cancer patients. More studies are needed to examine its structure and robustness prior to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An accurate perception of death risk is a prerequisite for advanced cancer patients to make informed end-of-life care decisions. However, there is to date no suitable scale to measure death risk perception. This study was to develop and psychometrically test the death risk perception scale (DRPS) for advanced cancer patients. Methods: Process of instrument development and psychometric evaluation were used. First, qualitative research, a literature review, brainstorming, a Delphi study, and cognitive interviews were conducted to construct a pretest scale of death risk perception. Second, a scale-based survey was administered to 479 advanced cancer patients. Item, exploratory factor, and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to optimize the scale. The Cronbach's alpha was calculated as a reliability analysis. The validity analysis included construct, convergent, discriminant, and content validity values. Results: A three-dimension, 12-item scale was developed, including deliberative, affective, and experiential risk perception. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor model with satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity levels. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for internal consistency was 0.807 and scale-level content validity index was 0.98. Conclusions: The 12-item DRPS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the level of death risk perception in advanced cancer patients. More studies are needed to examine its structure and robustness prior to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "BMC Palliat Care 23, 136 (2024)" in the BMC Palliative Care issue discusses the addition of equal contribution acknowledgment for the first and second authors, Guojuan Chen and Xiaoling Zhang.

Purpose: Unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) has a poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of apatinib for patients with unresectable ICC. Patients and Methods: A total of 10 patients with unresectable ICC were enrolled for this single-center observational study between March 2, 2016, and August 27, 2019. Subjects received 500 mg apatinib on a daily basis. Tumor response was assessed by 1.1 response evaluation criteria in solid tumors. The progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method. The drug-related adverse effects were also monitored. Results: Based on the follow-up computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging after treatment, 4 (40.0%), 4 (40.0%), and 2 (20.0%) patients achieved a partial response, stable disease, and progression of the disease, respectively. The response rate and disease control rate were 40.0% and 80.0%, respectively. The median PFS was 4.5 months (95% confidence interval: 3.157∼ 5.843 months); the median OS was 6.5 months (95% confidence interval: 4.744∼ 8.256 months). Furthermore, 3-, 6-, and 9-month OS rates were 77.5%, 61.7%, and 15.0%, respectively. The most common hematologic grade 3 adverse event was neutropenia (10%); the most common nonhematologic grade 3 adverse events were hypertension (20.0%) and hand-foot syndromes (20.0%). No treatment-related grade 4 or 5 adverse events were recorded. Conclusion: Apatinib revealed to have antitumour activity in unresectable ICC patients, with manageable toxicities, and thus might be used as a new treatment option for patients with unresectable ICC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are highly promising for flexible electronics, and graphene is the only well-studied transparent conductor. Herein, density functional theory has been used to explore a new transparent conducting material via adsorption of H on a 2D β-GaS sheet. This adsorption results in geometrical changes to the local structures around the H. The calculated electronic structures reveal metallic characteristics of the 2D β-GaS material upon H adsorption and a large optical band gap of 2.72 eV with a significant Burstein-Moss shift of 0.67 eV. The simulated electrical resistivity is as low as 10 O·cm, comparable to the benchmark for ITO thin films. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel linear non-fluorinated sulfonimide functionalized polyamide (SPA) polymer electrolyte was successfully synthesized via an aromatic sulfonimide monomer with superior thermal stability and superacidity. The aromatic sulfonimide remains stable below 220 °C. To fabricate membranes with strong mechanical strength and dimensional stability, the polymer was blended with various quantities of PVdF. The PVdF/SPA blend membranes exhibit an excellent capacity of water uptake and high dimensional stability. However, their proton conductivity was found to be substantially lower than that of Nafion 211. Analysis on the SEM images of the PVdF/SPA blend membranes reveals that the low proton conductivity is primarily caused by the large pore structures (>1 μm), which lead to breakdown of the continuous proton transport channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]