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Abstract Background Patient safety incidents are unavoidable and nurses, as parties involved, become second victims due to the incident itself and the way it is handled. In China, reconstructing the course of events is a crucial step in the aftermath of the incident; however, its impact on the emotional well-being of the second victim remains unclear. Purpose The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the psychological experiences and current conditions of nurses who act as second victims during the process of reconstructing the sequence of events. Additionally, the study aims to provide justifications for supporting these individuals. Methods An exploratory mixed research method was adopted to understand the emotional experience of the second victim when reconstructing the passage of the incident through qualitative research. Fourteen nurses with experience as second victims were selected for semi-structured interviews using purposive sampling according to the maximum difference sampling strategy. Through quantitative research, we explored the negative psychology and support needs of the second victims when they reverted to the incident, and a self-developed questionnaire (the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.895) was used to survey 3,394 nurses with experiences as second victims in 11 tertiary hospitals in Shanxi Province. Results In the qualitative part of the study, the emotional experience of the second victim’s reconstruction of the course of events after a patient safety incident could be categorized into 3 themes: negative views as initial psychological impact, avoidance as part of psychological impact, and expectations and growth in overcoming negative psychological impact. The quantitative part of the study revealed that the emotions of guilt and self-blame accounted for the highest percentage after a patient safety incident. The second victim presented a high score of 39.58 ± 5.45 for support requirements. Conclusion This study provides a better understanding of the true emotional experiences and the need for support of the second victim in the process of reconstructing the course of events. Following a patient safety incident, nursing administrators and healthcare institutions should consider the adverse psychological effects on the second victim, prioritize their support needs during the incident’s reconstruction, create a positive safety culture, and reduce the risk of secondary victimization for these individuals.

Although there has been significant progress in current comprehensive anticancer treatments centered on surgery, postoperative recurrence and tumor metastasis still significantly affect both prognosis and quality of life of the patient. Hence, the development of precisely targeted tumor therapies and exploration of immunotherapy represent additional strategies for tumor treatment. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a relatively safe treatment modality that not only induces multiple modes of tumor cell death but also mediates the secondary immunological responses against tumor resistance and metastasis. Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent type of programmed cell death characterized by accumulation of reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation products to lethal levels, has emerged as an attractive target trigger for tumor therapies. Recent research has revealed a close association between PDT and ferroptosis, suggesting that combining ferroptosis inducers with PDT could strengthen their synergistic anti-tumor efficiency. Here in this review, we discuss the rationale for combining PDT with ferroptosis inducers and highlight the progress of single-molecule photosensitizers to induce ferroptosis, as well as the applications of photosensitizers combined with other therapeutic drugs for collaborative therapy. Furthermore, given the current research dilemma, we propose potential therapeutic strategies to advance the combined usage of PDT and ferroptosis inducers, providing the basis and guidelines for prospective clinical translation and research directionality with regard to PDT.

Abstract Photodynamic therapy is a highly recommended alternative treatment for solid tumors, such as cutaneous or luminal tumors, in clinical practice. However, conventional photosensitizers (PSs) often induce undesirable phototoxic effects because of their normal tissue distribution and a reduction in antitumor effects resulting from aggregation‐caused quenching effects. The present study developed a novel nano‐formulated aggregation‐induced emission (AIE)‐characteristic PS, nab‐TTVPHE, which is composed of human serum albumin as a carrier and TTVPHE as a therapeutic agent, as a more effective cancer treatment with lower phototoxic effects. Notably, the reactive oxygen species generated by TTVPHE were shielded by the nanoaggregate structure, and the photodynamic activity was after nanostructure dissociation. Nab‐TTVPHE was actively internalized in tumor cells via secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine and released to form nanoaggregates. TTVPHE accumulated in mitochondria, where it triggered mitochondrial damage under light irradiation via its photodynamic activity and induced pyroptosis via the caspase‐3/gasdermin E (GSDME) signaling pathway to kill tumor cells. Therefore, this nano‐formulated AIE‐characteristic PS provides an innovative strategy for cancer treatment with lower phototoxic effect and the ability to boost potential antitumor immunity via GSDME‐mediated pyroptosis.

Lipid droplets (LDs), once regarded as inert fat particles, have been ignored by scientific researchers for a long time. Now, studies have shown that LDs are dynamic organelles used to store neutral lipids in cells and maintain cell stability. The abnormality of intracellular LDs usually causes metabolic disorders in the body, such as obesity, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and cancer, so the LDs have attracted wide attention. The traditional small molecules used for LDs recognition seriously affect the imaging effect due to their poor photo-stability, low signal-to-noise ratios, and aggregation-induced quenching (ACQ). In contrast to ACQ, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials, with structural modifiability, can make up for the aforementioned deficiencies in the field of fluorescence imaging and have attracted much attention. In this review, the importance of LDs in vivo, the design principles for LDs recognition, and the recent research progress of AIE compounds with tetraphenylethene (TPE) structure in LDs targets are reviewed. We expect this review to further provide researchers with feasible methods and protocols for expanding LDs identification, imaging, and other applications.