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Background Combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC) is a rare subtype of primary liver cancers. Its prognostic factors remain unclear. The study aimed to evaluate its long-term outcome and prognostic factors by retrospectively reviewing the series of cHCC-CC after curative resection from our institute. Methods A total of 55 pathologically confirmed cHCC-CC patients undergoing curative resections between January 2003 and January 2018 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) were included. The clinicopathological and follow-up data were retrieved. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survivals (RFS) were analysed by Kaplan–Meier curve. The independent prognostic factors were determined by using univariate and multivariate Cox analyses. Results There were 41 males and 14 females, with a median age of 51.0 (interquartile range, 44.0–60.0) years. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS and RFS rates in cHCC-CC were 80.0%, 25.5%, and 16.4%, respectively, and 52.7%, 21.8%, and 10.9%, respectively. The median OS and RFS were 24.9 and 14.5 months, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that elevated alpha-fetal protein (AFP) and/or CA19-9, vascular invasion, local extra-hepatic invasion, and lymph-node metastasis (LNM) were independent unfavorable prognostic factors for OS and RFS (all P  <   0.005). Furthermore, elevated AFP and/or CA19-9 were independent unfavorable prognostic factors in various subgroups of cHCC-CC, including patients aged <60 years, positive hepatitis B surface antigen, cirrhosis, single tumor, tumor size ≥5 cm, no vascular invasion, no LNM, and no local extra-hepatic invasion (all P  <   0.05). Conclusions Elevated AFP and/or CA19-9, vascular invasion, local extra-hepatic invasion, and LNM were independent unfavorable prognostic factors for long-term survival of cHCC-CC undergoing curative resections. Patients with normal levels of AFP and CA19-9 had better prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional regulation is a key issue for the application of two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites in the fields of ferroelectrics, photovoltaics and fluorescence, etc. Here, we report a homologous series of new 2D hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskites [(C4H3S)CH2NH3]2PbX4 ((C4H3S)CH2NH3+ = thienylmethylamine; X = Cl−, Br−, I−). Their properties, including crystal structures of high (HT) and low (LT) temperature phases, phase transition temperature (Tc), and dielectric constants (ε′), exhibit significant discrepancies as the halogen atoms vary from Cl, to Br to I. This effect was unveiled to be divergent hydrogen bond interactions between the organic (C4H3S)CH2NH3+ cation and the inorganic [PbX6]2− octahedron layer resulting from the different radii of the halogen ions. Meanwhile, the direct band gaps of [(C4H3S)CH2NH3]2PbX4 were tuned from 3.78 eV (X = Cl−), to 3.08 eV (X = Br−) to 1.99 eV (X = I−) with a large regulative magnitude of 1.79 eV. The photoluminescence (PL) emission wavelength increases from 505, to 526 to 545 nm for Cl, Br and I, respectively, with the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) significantly decreasing from 123, 69 to 41 nm due to the quantum size effect and structural distortion. However, the average lifetimes of the three compositions reveal the reverse trend of Br > Cl > I, which is attributed to the changes of hydrogen bonds between organic [(C4H3S)CH2NH3]+ cations and inorganic PbX6 octahedral layers and thermal vibration. These results display the high tunability and versatility of the 2D hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and thermally stable aluminum phosphate Li6Na3Sr14Al11P22O90 (1) has been achieved by using a solid-state molten method, which contains an oxo-centered trinuclear cluster and an anti-Lowenstein's rule Al–O–Al linkage and is constructed from two types of (3,6)-connected kgd layers [Al(Al3O)(PO4)7]25− and [Al(PO4)2]3−. The good optical transparency in the whole UV range and excellent thermal stability make the title compound a potential optical window material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The displacement feedback with time delay considered is introduced in order to enhance the vibration isolation performance of a high-static-low-dynamic stiffness (HSLDS) vibration isolator. Such feedback is detailedly analyzed from the viewpoint of equivalent damping. Firstly, the primary resonance of the controlled HSLDS vibration isolator subjected to a harmonic force excitation is obtained based on the multiple scales method and further verified by numerical integration. The stability of the primary resonance is subsequently investigated. Then, the equivalent damping is defined to study the effects of feedback gain and time delay on primary resonance. The condition of jump avoidance is obtained with the purpose of eliminating the adverse effects induced by jumps. Finally, the force transmissibility of the controlled HSLDS vibration isolator is defined to evaluate its isolation performance. It is shown that an appropriate choice of feedback parameters can effectively suppress the force transmissibility in resonant region and reduce the resonance frequency. Furthermore, a wider vibration isolation frequency bandwidth can be achieved compared to the passive HSLDS vibration isolator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen is often released in pulses with different frequencies, and N supply pulses may affect growth, reproduction, and biomass allocation of plants. However, few studies have examined how N supply pulses affect intraspecific competition of clonal plants and whether such an effect depends on the N supply amount. We grew one (no competition) or 12 ramets (with intraspecific competition) of both an invasive clonal plant Alternanthera philoxeroides and its native congener Alternanthera sessilis in five different N treatments: control (no N addition), low/high amount with low/high frequencies (pulses). Nitrogen addition significantly increased the growth of both species, while intraspecific competition decreased it. Nitrogen addition significantly increased intraspecific competitive intensity of A. philoxeroides as measured by the log response ratio of growth traits, but did not affect that of A. sessilis. Despite the N supply amount, N pulses had little effect on the growth and thus intraspecific competition of the two species. Therefore, increasing N deposition may change population structure and dynamics and the invasion succession of A. philoxeroides, but changes in N pulses may not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid solution is a potential way to optimize thermoelectric performance for its low thermal conductivity compared to those of the constituent compounds because of the phonon scattering from disordered atoms. Tin(ii) sulfide (SnS) shows analogous band structure and electrical properties with tin selenide (SnSe), which was the motivation for investigating the thermoelectric performance of SnS and SnS–SnSe solid solution system. SnS compound and SnS1−xSex (0 ＜ x ＜ 1) solid solution were fabricated using the melting method and they exhibited anisotropic thermoelectric performance along the parallel and perpendicular to the pressing directions. For the SnS compound, the maximum zT value is 0.19 at 823 K along the parallel to pressing direction, which is higher than that along the perpendicular to the pressing direction (zT⊥ = 0.16). The zT values of SnS0.5Se0.5 and SnS0.2Se0.8 were higher than those of the SnS compound and a maximum zT value of 0.82 was obtained for SnS0.2Se0.8 at 823 K, which is more than four times higher than that of SnS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a greenhouse experiment to test how clonal integration affected the growth responses of Spartina anglica to light intensity heterogeneity in light availability and whether such effects depended on contrast light intensity. The experiment had three homogeneous treatments and two heterogeneous treatments. In the homogeneous treatments, both ramets of a connected ramet pair were unshaded (high light intensity), moderately shaded (medium light intensity, 70% of the high light intensity) and deeply shaded (low light intensity, 30% of the high light intensity). In the heterogeneous treatments, one ramet of a pair was unshaded, but its connected ramet was either moderately shaded (low light intensity contrast) or deeply shaded (high light intensity contrast). In the homogeneous treatments, biomass of S. anglica was significantly higher in the high light intensity treatment than in the medium and low light intensity treatments. Number of leaves, root length, and total biomass were significantly higher in the shaded ramet in the heterogeneous treatment with low light intensity contrast than in the ramet in the homogeneous treatment with medium light intensity. Final size and mass were not significantly different between the unshaded ramet in the heterogeneous treatment with low light intensity contrast and the ramets in the homogeneous high light intensity treatment. These results suggested that clonal integration benefitted a shaded ramet with little cost to an unshaded ramet when contrast in light intensity was low. However, effects of clonal integration were not significant when contrast was high. It therefore appeared that effects of clonal integration on the growth of S. anglica did not increase with increasing light intensity contrast. In natural habitats, clonal integration might improve growth of S. anglica when its ramets are moderately shaded by other plants but not when they are deeply shaded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenene has been predicted as a new member of an atomically thin 2D crystalline material family as of last year. With first principle calculations, two different stable phases of selenene, one with the 1T‐MoS2‐like structure (α‐Se) and the other with alternating arrangement structure of deformed four‐membered and six‐membered rings (b‐Se) are identified. Further research indicates that monolayer α‐Se exhibits excellent bipolar conductivity, possessing rather high hole mobility close to that of graphene, and monolayer b‐Se shows a robust in‐plane spontaneous electric polarization of 13.46 mC cm−2 and a polarization reversing barrier of 422 meV per unit cell. The findings offer a promising material for high speed electronic devices and broaden the family of 2D ferroelectric materials, especially the family of elemental ferroelectric materials. This study demonstrates that selenene (Se) exits in two stable structures with multivalency nature. Monolayer α‐Se possesses a rather high carrier mobility, while monolayer β‐Se has a considerable in‐plane spontaneous polarization. The findings provide a promising material for high speed electronic devices and offer an understanding of elemental ferroelectricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]