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A 54-year-old female patient diagnosed with Stage IIIb squamous cell carcinoma (cT2aN3M0) initially received chemoradiotherapy. Two years after initial treatment, cancer relapse led to the administration of nivolumab, which was halted due to the development of drug-induced pneumonitis. Subsequent management with prednisolone and eight different cytotoxic agents failed to prevent metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes. The tumor’s programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression rate was recorded at 10%. Four years after her diagnosis, the patient received a ninth-line therapy combining cisplatin, gemcitabine, and necitumumab, followed by palliative neck radiation due to increasing lymph node size. Remarkable tumor regression occurred three months after introducing atezolizumab as the tenth-line treatment, suggesting that previous treatments, particularly radiotherapy and cisplatin, might have enhanced PD-L1 expression, aligning with the existing literature. This case highlights the urgent need for further research to elucidate the intricate interplay between treatment history and PD-L1 expression in squamous cell carcinoma, emphasizing the importance of accumulating case studies to inform therapeutic strategies.

Abstract Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors have recently become the standard of care in the first‐line treatment of extensive‐stage small cell lung cancer. Although immune‐related adverse events have been reported to influence prognosis in non‐small cell lung cancer patients, few studies have investigated the prognostic value of immune‐related adverse events in small cell lung cancer patients. In this study, we evaluated the prognosis of patients who developed immune‐related adverse events after first‐line treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitor‐based chemotherapy for extensive‐stage small cell lung cancer. Methods We enrolled 90 patients with extensive‐stage small cell lung cancer who received immune checkpoint inhibitor‐based chemotherapy as first‐line treatment from September 2019 to December 2022 in six hospitals in Japan. The patients were categorized into groups with and without immune‐related adverse events. Results There were 23 patients with and 67 without immune‐related adverse events. Seventeen patients had grade 1–2 immune‐related adverse events, and nine (including overlapping cases) had grade ≥3. The most frequent immune‐related adverse event was a skin rash. The median survival time was 22 months in patients with immune‐related adverse events and 9.3 months in patients without immune‐related adverse events. The hazard ratio was 0.40 (95% confidence interval: 0.19–0.83, p = 0.013). Conclusions The results of this study show that immune‐related adverse events are associated with improved survival outcomes in patients with extensive‐stage small cell lung cancer.

Abstract Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐mutated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is less common than adenocarcinoma. The third‐generation EGFR‐tyrosine kinase inhibitor, osimertinib, is effective in EGFR‐mutated lung adenocarcinoma, but its efficacy in EGFR‐mutated lung SCC is unclear. The patient was an 83‐year‐old male. He was diagnosed with SCC of the lung, and molecular analysis revealed that the tumor was positive for EGFR exon19 deletion. He was treated with osimertinib 80 mg/day. No adverse events were observed, but after 18 days of therapy, he complained of dyspnea, and a computed tomography scan showed enlarged lung cancer. The case was categorized as a progressive disease. The patient died 3 weeks later. The autopsy findings confirmed the diagnosis of lung SCC, with morphology and immunohistochemical staining identical to the tumor obtained by bronchoscopy. Next‐generation sequencing showed the presence of TP53 R158L, CDK6, and KRAS amplifications. The current case report shows that next‐generation sequencing can explain why osimertinib is ineffective in EGFR‐mutated SCC.

Abstract Spin-chain–spin-ladder cuprates, such as La5Ca9Cu24O41, have notable electronic and thermal properties because of their unique electron spin arrangement. Among them, magnon thermal conductivity, which originates from the excitation of paired electron spins, is promising for the advanced thermal management applications that enable dynamic control of heat flow. This is because of its high, anisotropic thermal conductivity at room temperature and its dynamic controllability. In this study, we report nanosheet fabrications from polycrystalline La5Ca9Cu24O41 to enhance the control width. We obtained that the nanosheets with a thickness of about 3 nm are obtained via immersion of the polycrystals in a NaOH aqueous solution. We propose the exfoliation model based on the chemical reaction between the (La/Ca)2Cu2O3 subsystem and NaOH solution. The nanosheet fabrications can also lead to new research development on spin-ladder system and other strongly correlated cuprates.

Abstract Photoluminescence provides information about the surrounding environment. In this study, aiming to develop a non-invasive deep body-temperature sensing method, we investigated photoluminescence properties of afterglow zirconia (ZrO2) by pulsed near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation based on the biological temperature. Pulsed light irradiation produced optically stimulated luminescence, followed by afterglow, with the property of repeating 100 times or more. Furthermore, the basic principle of temperature measurement was demonstrated through afterglow decay curve measurements. The use of harmless ZrO2 as a sensing probe and NIR light, which is relatively permeable to living tissues, is expected to realize temperature measurements in the brain and may also facilitate optogenetic treatment.

Satellite-based gross primary production (GPP) estimation has uncertainties due to shadow fraction caused by the geometric relationship between the complex forest structure and the Sun. The virtual forests allow shadow fraction estimation without 3D measurements, but require optimal structural parameters. In this study, we developed the reflectance simulator (Canopy-level Shadow and Reflectance Simulator, CSRS) that considers tree shadows and the method to determine the optimal canopy shape for shadow fraction estimation. The target forest is any tropical evergreen forest which accounts for 58% of tropical forests. Firstly, we analyzed the effects of canopy shape on the reflectance simulation based on virtual forests created with different canopy shapes. This result was checked by Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test. Secondly, the optimal canopy shape was determined by comparing the reflectance from Sentinel-2 Band 4 (red) bottom of atmosphere reflectance with those simulated from virtual forests. Finally, the shadow fraction estimated from the virtual forest was evaluated. Since the focus of this study was to derive the optimal canopy shape, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) structure from motion (SfM) was used to obtain the parameters other than canopy shape and to validate the estimated shadow fraction. The results showed that when the Sun zenith angle (SZA) was more than 20°, significant differences were observed among canopy shapes. The least root mean square error (RMSE) for reflectance simulation was 0.385 from the canopy shape of a half ellipsoid. Moreover, the half ellipsoid also showed the smallest RMSE in estimating shadow fraction (0.032), which indicated the reliability and applicability of CSRS. This study is the first attempt to determine the optimal canopy shape for estimating shadow fraction and is expected to improve the accuracy of GPP estimation in the future.

Phase change material (PCM), which enables heat storage based on phase transition, plays an important role for efficient energy utilization. This paper briefly describes our recent study about all-solid PCM by combination of vanadium dioxide (VO2) with latent heat storage capacity and multicomponent glass, i.e., VO2-dispersed glass. A B2O3-P2O5-V2O5 glass system is used as a matrix for the VO2-dispersed glass. An attempt to describe its latent heat storage function is given. Endothermic behavior due to structural phase transition of the VO2 crystals was observed in the VO2-dispersed sample, and the transition enthalpy corresponding to latent heat storage capacity was estimated to be ΔH~9.5 J/g. The value of the studied sample was larger than the value of dispersed glass in the BaO-TeO2-V2O5 system that was previously reported. Potential for PCM was considered in the studied sample.

The shadow fraction of the canopy is an important factor in Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and in estimating physical quantities, such as tree height and biomass. Shadows are used as a shielding ratio for direct solar irradiance, but, at shorter wavelengths, the amount of diffuse solar irradiance is greater, so the shielding ratio cannot be ignored. The shielding ratio of direct and diffuse solar irradiance is called Cast Shadow (CS) and Self Cast Shadow (SCS), respectively; however, it has been pointed out that the effect of these shadows is greater at higher resolutions, such as Sentinel-2. In addition, the Bottom Of Atmosphere (BOA) reflectance is greatly affected by shadows, because it is corrected for atmospheric effects. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the spatial variability of CS and SCS and simulate the Sentinel-2BOA reflectance with these shadows. The target forest was a greenness season of a deciduous broadleaf forest in Thailand. First, we obtained a point cloud of the forest by Structure from Motion while using the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Next, we created a voxel model with CS and SCS as attributes. CS was calculated as the percentage of area where the plane that is assumed per voxel is shielded from direct solar irradiance by other voxels. SCS was calculated as the percentage of area where the hemispheric radiant environment is shielded by other voxels. Subsequently, using solar irradiance and leaf spectral reflectance data, the reflectance of each band of Sentinel-2 was simulated. Nine leaves were used to investigate the effect of leaf species on the simulation. The reflectance acquired by Sentinel-2 is not at the leaf level; however, we used this spectral reflectance data because the reflectance was simulated at the same spatial resolution as the voxel size. Voxel sizes of 20 cm, 50 cm, 100 cm, and 200 cm were used. Our result showed that (1) the spatial variability of SCS was smaller than that of CS when the sun position is fixed and the view zenith angle is changed. SCS was mostly 0.12 at different zenith angles, while the CS had a maximum value of 0.45 and a minimum value of 0.15. (2) The accuracy of the simulations was evaluated using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The best RMSE is 0.020 ± 0.015 and the worst one is 0.084 ± 0.044. It was found that the error is larger in short wavelength infrared bands. (3) In this forest, the relative reflectance changed only about 1.2 times as much, as the voxel size was increased from 20 cm to 200 cm. In this study, we have simulated a single Sentinel-2 image. In the future, we will simulate multi-temporal images in order to investigate the effects of phenology and shadow changes on the reflectance that was observed by optical sensors.

Oxide glasses generally have low thermal conductivity due to their disordered structures. Here, a fabrication method to provide them with high thermal conductivity while retaining their optical transparency is proposed. It consists of dispersing ∼20 μm MgO crystals in a glass matrix and matching their refractive indexes to prevent the decrease of the oxide glass optical transparency due to light scattering. The dispersion of the MgO crystals increased the thermal conductivity of the original glass by ∼50% and the new glass still exhibited optical transparency. Such MgO-dispersed glass could be successfully used in thermal management applications requiring both transparency and formability.

The authors aim to report the largest enhancement of photocatalytic activity by chemical etching in anatase-type TiO2 crystallized glass. Optimization of several conditions for crystallization behavior and chemical etching to realize the nano-structured ceramics (NSC) has been performed in the crystallized glass. NSC-fabrication by chemical etching in the crystallized glass is one of the most effective solutions to provide bulk materials with high specific surface area. We have found that the best condition for the NSC fabrication as a novel bulk photocatalyst in our glass system, and have obtained 16 times higher catalytic activity than that of non-etched one.

The second order optical nonlinearities d (sub 33) values of fresnoite-type crystals, Ba (sub 2) TiSi (sub 2) O (sub 8), Sr (sub 2) TiSi (sub 2) O (sub 8) and Ba (sub 20 TiGe (sub 2) O (sub 8) in transparent surface-crystallized glasses were evaluated by the Maker fringe technique. It has been emphasised that Ba (sub 2) TiGe (sub 2) O (sub 8) had large d (sub 33) value when compared to LiNbO (sub 3) single crystal and the d (sub 33) value of the fresnoite-type crystals increased with increasing c/a ratio in the lattice constants of fresnoite-type crystals.

We report a novel coating method for TiO2 anatase thin-film fabrication via a topdown solgel deposition method using NH4TiOF3 single crystals. A cationic nitrogen-rich porphyrin compound was used to fabricate N-doped TiO2 nanofilms that showed highly efficient photocatalytic activity under visiblelight irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The control of heat flow has become increasingly important in energy saving and harvesting. Among various thermal management materials, spinon thermal conductivity materials are promising for heat flow control at microscales because they exhibit high, anisotropic thermal conductivity resulting from spin chains. However, there has been only little development of the materials for controlling heat flow. Here, we present the line patterning of the spin chain structure on a SrCuO2 nanocrystalline film by laser scanning. When the polarization direction of laser light was orthogonal to the scanning direction, we found that the spin-chain structure anisotropically grew on the patterned line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the crystallization and crystal growth of ZnO in the viscoelastic supercooled liquid (SCL) phase based on microscopic and spectroscopic observations. The resulting glass-ceramics exhibits complex ZnO dendrites that precede the formation of Zn-rich regions because of phase separation. Compressive stresses are concentrated at the interface of ZnO crystals and SCL phase, suggesting that the domains are subject to a resistance during ZnO crystal growth. Defects were detected in the crystallized ZnO and attributed to the suppression of smooth ordering of the Zn-rich regions in the SCL phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of low-temperature (~5 to 20 K) specific-heat measurements performed in numerous oxide glass systems. These results allow us to elucidate the impact of the system or component on the excess specific heat, which when plotted on Cp/T³ vs T appears as a broad band known as the boson peak (BP). By integrating our experimental results with the data of Richet [Physica B 404, 3799 (2009); J. Chem. Phys. 136, 034703 (2012)], we demonstrate a strong negative correlation between the BP amplitude and its maximum temperature. We also describe the BP characteristics of multicomponent systems based on different binary systems in silicate glasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of thermal annealing on low-temperature excess heat capacity was investigated in fresnoite (Ba2TiSi2O8) glass. The amplitudes of the excess heat capacity decreased, and their positions shifted to a higher temperature by relaxation or crystallization. In particular, we revealed that the change in the excess heat capacity during transition from the glassy state to the crystalline state is relatively small compared with that of other oxides. Therefore, it is suggested that distribution of the excess vibrational density of states of the glass is similar to that of the corresponding crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors aim to report the largest enhancement of photocatalytic activity by chemical etching in anatase-type TiO2 crystallized glass. Optimization of several conditions for crystallization behavior and chemical etching to realize the nano-structured ceramics (NSC) has been performed in the crystallized glass. NSC-fabrication by chemical etching in the crystallized glass is one of the most effective solutions to provide bulk materials with high specific surface area. We have found that the best condition for the NSC fabrication as a novel bulk photocatalyst in our glass system, and have obtained 16 times higher catalytic activity than that of non-etched one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The propagation losses for fresnoite-phase crystallized glasses fabricated from 35BaO–15TiO2–50GeO2, 28BaO–18TiO2–54SiO2, and 35SrO–20TiO2–45SiO2 (STS45) glasses using a cut-back technique are reported. The values are comparable with those for LiNbO3 waveguide single crystals and transparent Y3Al5O12 ceramics. In addition, the propagation loss data indicate that the losses depend on the relationship between the polarization direction and crystal growth direction. The lowest propagation loss value (0.6 dB/cm) was measured for the STS45 crystallized glass; this value is the lowest value ever reported for an oriented crystallized glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High thermal conductivity materials are in great demand for heat-flow control and heat dissipation in electronic devices. In this study, we have produced a glass-ceramics that contains spin-chain compound SrCuO2 and have found that the glass-ceramics yields high thermal conductivity of ~5 W K-1 m-1 even at room temperature. The glass-ceramics is fabricated through crystallization of inhomogeneous melt-quenched oxides made from SrCO3, CuO, Li2CO3, Ga2O3, and Al2O3. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray and electron diffraction reveal that SrCuO2 crystallites with a size of 100-200 nm are precipitated in the glass-ceramics. The highness of the thermal conductivity is attributable to two sources: one is elongation of phonon mean free path due to the crystallization of the inhomogeneous structure or structural ordering. The other is emergence of the heat carriers, spinons, in the SrCuO2. This highly thermal conductive glass-ceramics is expected to be utilized as base materials for heat-flow control devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A production of polycrystalline phase with glassy precursor, i.e., glass-ceramics processing, has a great potential to fabricate the sophisticated materials. In this study, we have prepared the Bi2O3-Fe2O3-BaO-B2O3 system precursor, in which BiFeO3 phase is crystallizable, and examined the phase formation and physical properties in resulting glass-ceramics. We found both ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism in the glass-ceramics consisting of BiFeO3 phase, i.e., multiferroic glass-ceramics. This study has demonstrated an alternative method for synthesis of polycrystalline BiFeO3 material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the preparation of [(100 - y)/4](SrO-BaO-2Nb2O5)-yP2O5 (SBNPy) glasses and glass-ceramics with the Sr0.5Ba0.5Nb2O6 (SBN50) phase, using a conventional process, and the analysis of the chemical stability of the materials in water. The SBNPy glasses and glass-ceramics consist of orthophosphate (Q0) and pyrophosphate (Q¹) units with strongly delocalized P=O bonds. Because of the presence of these phosphate units, the glasses and glass-ceramics obtained in this study show no weight changes, even after exposure to water at 70 °C for 100 h. We hypothesize that the lack of phosphate chains within the glass network is responsible for the superior water stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the emission and optical properties of RO-substituted (R = Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba) 2.5SnO-57.5ZnO-40P2O5 glasses. Although the optical basicity of the host glass is changed by substitution of RO for ZnO, the optical band edge and the peak positions of the photoluminescence (PL) and PL excitation (PLE) spectra show no significant changes. Considering the characteristics of ns²-type emission centers, the properties of which are strongly affected by the coordination field, it can be concluded that the localized Sn2+ state affects both the optical absorption edge and the emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We fabricated glass-ceramics composed of emissive nanocrystals that show variation in photoluminescence coloration. The change in emission color is based on the amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation in a Mn-containing zincogermanate glass. The transformation occurred at a 50 °C temperature range (538–588 °C), resulting in a change in photoluminescence color from orange to white to green. The color change is attributed to the co-crystallization of emissive nanophases and a change in the coordination state of Mn2+. Using laser-induced crystallization, we also achieved the space-selective arrangement of the different photoluminescence colors, indicating that photoluminescence coloration can be tuned in this Mn-doped glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the boson peaks (BPs) observed in low-frequency Raman scattering with the BPs observed in low-temperature specific heat in many oxide glasses. We find a linear correlation of the maximum positions between the Raman BP and specific-heat BP regardless of the constituents. In addition, we show that several chalcogenide and molecular glasses also exhibit the same correlation. The linearity enables us to convert the BPs between different observation techniques, which is expected to provide significant insight into the features of the BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed the photoluminescence performance characteristics of Mn4+-doped tetragermanate and silicogermanate phases with a benitoite-type structure. We observed a visible red emission based on the 2E → 4A2 transition in the doped benitoite-type tetragermanate. The partial substitution of Si for Ge, resulting in SrGe3.495Mn0.005Si0.5O9, improved the internal quantum efficiency and thermal stability of the red emission. A possible explanation of the substitution effect was reasonably presented on the basis of the connectivity of luminescent polyhedral units and the decrease in the Franck–Condon off-set value in the benitoite structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clarifying the molecular mechanisms by which bacteria acquire virulence traits is important for understanding the bacterial virulence system. In the present study, we utilized a bacterial evolution method in a silkworm infection model and revealed that deletion of the opgGH operon, encoding synthases for osmoregulated periplasmic glucan (OPG), increased the virulence of a nonpathogenic laboratory strain of Escherichia coli against silkworms. The opgGH knockout mutant exhibited resistance to host antimicrobial peptides and antibiotics. Compared with the parent strain, the opgGH knockout mutant produced greater amounts of colanic acid, which is involved in E. coli resistance to antibiotics. RNA sequence analysis revealed that the opgGH knockout altered the expression of various genes, including the evgS/evgA two-component system that functions in antibiotic resistance. In both a colanic acid-negative background and an evgS-null background, the opgGH knockout increased E. coli resistance to antibiotics and increased the silkworm-killing activity of E. coli. In the null background of the envZ/ompR two-component system, which genetically interacts with opgGH, the opgGH knockout increased antibiotic resistance and virulence in silkworms. These findings suggest that the absence of OPG confers antimicrobial resistance and virulence in E. coli in a colanic acid-, evgS/evgA-, and envZ/ompR-independent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]