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The Au@CdS nanocomposites have been synthesized using a combination of wet chemical and hydrothermal approaches at lower reaction temperatures. The concentrations of CdS precursors and reaction temperature can be essential in influencing photocatalytic water splitting under blue-LED light excitation. The optimized Au@CdS nanocomposites (5 mM CdS precursors and 100 °C) exhibited the highest hydrogen evolution rate of 1.041 mmolh−1 g−1, which is 175.3 times higher than CdS nanoparticles for de-ionized water under blue-LED light excitation. This result is ascribed to separate photogenerated charge carriers and increased light absorption by the Au core. The Au@CdS nanocomposites (1.204 mmolh−1 g−1) revealed significant applications in photocatalytic tap water splitting under blue-LED light excitation, which is 512.3 times higher than CdS nanoparticles. In addition, reusability experiments demonstrate that Au@CdS nanocomposites exhibit excellent stability for the long-term photocatalytic tap water splitting process. Furthermore, this research shows that Au nanoparticles decorated with CdS shells effectively achieve high-efficiency conversion from light to hydrogen energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the most commonly used gastric acid suppressants in cancer patients. However, long-term use of PPIs can cause dysbiosis effects disrupting gut microbiota with subsequent impairment of the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Our study demonstrates that, in advanced non-small cell lung cancer and urothelial carcinoma, patients receiving ICIs with concomitant PPIs are associated with poorer survival outcomes, when compared not only with those without PPIs but also with patients treated with chemotherapy, implying that PPIs could compromise the effectiveness of ICIs, causing them to be less effective than chemotherapy. As a result, we suggest that clinicians should avoid unnecessary PPI prescription in these patients. Conversely, there is little survival association with PPI in patients with melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma of the neck and head. Nevertheless, future high quality prospective studies including more cancer types are warranted. (1) Although emerging evidence suggests that proton pump inhibitor (PPI)-induced dysbiosis negatively alters treatment response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in cancer patients, no study systematically investigates the association between PPIs, ICIs, and chemotherapy; (2) Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, and PubMed were searched from inception to 20 May 2022, to identify relevant studies involving patients receiving ICIs or chemotherapy and reporting survival outcome between PPI users and non-users. Survival outcomes included overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Network meta-analyses were performed using random-effects models. p-scores, with a value between 0 and 1, were calculated to quantify the treatment ranking, with a higher score suggesting a higher probability of greater effectiveness. We also conducted pairwise meta-analyses of observational studies to complement our network meta-analysis; (3) We identified 62 studies involving 26,484 patients (PPI = 8834; non-PPI = 17,650), including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), urothelial carcinoma (UC), melanoma, renal cell carcinoma (RCC), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the neck and head. Eight post-hoc analyses from 18 randomized–controlled trials were included in our network, which demonstrated that, in advanced NSCLC and UC, patients under ICI treatment with concomitant PPI (p-score: 0.2016) are associated with both poorer OS (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.37 to 1.67) and poorer PFS (HR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.25 to 1.61) than those without PPIs (p-score: 1.000). Patients under ICI treatment with concomitant PPI also had poorer OS (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.31) and poorer PFS (HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.48) in comparison with those receiving chemotherapy (p-score: 0.6664), implying that PPIs may compromise ICI's effectiveness, making it less effective than chemotherapy. Our pairwise meta-analyses also supported this association. Conversely, PPI has little effect on patients with advanced melanoma, RCC, HCC, and SCC of the neck and head who were treated with ICIs; (4) "PPI-induced dysbiosis" serves as a significant modifier of treatment response in both advanced NSCLC and UC that are treated with ICIs, compromising the effectiveness of ICIs to be less than that of chemotherapy. Thus, clinicians should avoid unnecessary PPI prescription in these patients. "PPI-induced dysbiosis", on the other hand, does not alter the treatment response to ICIs in advanced melanoma, RCC, HCC, and SCC of the head and neck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertically aligned ZnO: Ga nanotowers can be directly synthesized on a glass substrate with a ZnO seed film via the chemical bath method. A novel heterostructure of ZnO: Ga@ITO@Ag nanotowers was subsequently deposited in the ITO layer and Ag nanoparticles via the facile two-step ion-sputtering processes on the ZnO: Ga nanotowers. The appropriate ion-sputtering times of the ITO layer and Ag nanoparticles can benefit the fabrication of ZnO: Ga@ITO@Ag nanotowers with higher surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement in detecting rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules. Compared with ZnO: Ga@Ag nanotowers, ZnO: Ga@ITO@Ag nanotowers exhibited a high SERS enhancement factor of 2.25 × 108 and a lower detection limit (10−14 M) for detecting R6G molecules. In addition, the ITO layer used as an intermediate layer between ZnO: Ga nanotowers and Ag nanoparticles can improve SERS enhancement, sensitivity, uniformity, reusability, detection limit, and stability for detecting amoxicillin molecules. This phenomenon shall be ascribed to the ITO layer exhibiting a synergistic Raman enhancement effect through interfacial charge transfer for enhancing SERS activity. As a result, ZnO: Ga@ITO@Ag nanotowers can construct a three-dimensional SERS substrate for potential applications in environmentally friendly and cost-effective chemical or drug detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, we described the synthesis and characterization of the ternary Cu2O/CuS/ZnS nanocomposite using a facile two-step wet chemical method for blue LED-light-induced photocatalytic hydrogen production. The concentrations of the ZnS precursor and reaction time were essential in controlling the photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiency of the Cu2O/CuS/ZnS nanocomposite under blue LED light irradiation. The optimized Cu2O/CuS/ZnS nanocomposite exhibited a maximum photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 1109 µmolh−1g−1, which was remarkably higher than Cu2O nanostructures. Through the cycle stability it can be observed that the hydrogen production rate of the Cu2O/CuS/ZnS nanocomposite decreased after 4 cycles (1 cycle = 3 h), but it remained at 82.2% of the initial performance under blue LED light irradiation. These reasons are mainly attributed to the introduction of CuS and ZnS to construct a rationally coupled reaction system, which enables the synergistic utilization of photogenerated carriers and the increased absorption of visible light for boosting blue LED-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]