A qualitative study exploring the perceptions and understandings of advance care planning by people with treatable but not curable cancer.

Background: Advance care planning for those with treatable but not curable cancer is considered good practice because innovations in treatment options make prognostication much more uncertain. Little is known about how such patients approach future planning.

Aim: To elicit the perceptions and understandings of advance care planning by patients with treatable but not curable cancer.

Interventions to improve cognitive performance in chronic kidney disease: A scoping review.

Rationale & Objective: Cognitive impairment is commonly associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD. A number of intervention approaches have the potential to improve cognitive performance in CKD. Our objective was to characterize interventions studied to improve cognitive performance for adults with CKD across all categories of severity, including kidney failure.

Two-Stage Bipolaron Formation in Molecularly Doped Conjugated Polymers.

The formation and dynamics of bipolarons are crucial in determining the electrical properties of molecularly doped conjugated polymers. Traditionally, bipolarons are known to form at very high doping levels through the combination of two adjacent polarons, a process that is generally accompanied by structural disorder and impaired carrier transport. Here, it is demonstrated that bipolaron formation can occur at both the early stage with low doping levels and the late stage with high doping levels in 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (FTCNQ) dip-doped conjugated polymer films with glycol sidechains.

Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials for Trace Detection of Formaldehyde at Room Temperature.

Detection and monitoring of trace gas analytes have become essential with the rapid advancements in manufacturing technology. Despite progress in developing gas sensing materials, many still struggle to meet fundamental requirements such as adequate sensitivity and stability, particularly due to high operational temperatures. To address this limitation, this study evaluates polymer-metal oxide hybrid materials designed for trace gas detection at room temperature.

Charge Extraction Multilayers Enable Positive-Intrinsic-Negative Perovskite Solar Cells with Carbon Electrodes.

Perovskite solar cells achieve high power conversion efficiencies but usually rely on vacuum-deposited metallic contacts, leading to high material costs for noble metals and stability issues for more reactive metals. Carbon-based materials offer a cost-effective and potentially more stable alternative. The vast majority of carbon-electrode PSCs use the negative-intrinsic-positive (n-i-p) or "hole-transport-layer-free" architectures.

Enhanced solar water oxidation and unassisted water splitting using graphite-protected bulk heterojunction organic photoactive layers.

Polymer donors and non-fullerene acceptors have played an important role as photoactive materials in the development of high-efficiency organic solar cells and have immense potential in devices for direct solar hydrogen generation. However, their use in direct solar water-splitting devices has been limited by their instability in aqueous environment and recombination losses at the interface with catalysts. Here we report anodes containing PM6:D18:L8-BO photoactive layers reaching high solar water oxidation photocurrent density over 25 mA cm at +1.

Prepare: Improving End-of-Life Care Practice in Stroke Care: Insights from a National Survey and Semi-Structured Interviews.

Stroke has high mortality. Challenges in providing end-of-life care include uncertainty among healthcare professionals about when to start care. While generic tools and guidelines exist, which outline components of quality end-of life care, they may not fully address stroke's unpredictable trajectories, complicating care planning.

Preferences for First-Line Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treatments: Results From a Multinational Study on the Perspectives of Patients and Physicians.

Background: Few studies have explored physician and patient preferences for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) related to treatment efficacy, adverse events (AEs), and treatment duration. Thus, this observational, mixed-methods study investigated patients' and physicians' preferences for CLL first-line treatments.

Materials And Methods: An online discrete choice experiment in five countries among 192 patients and 259 physicians in the US, the UK, Germany, France, and Australia examined the importance of outcomes and treatment attributes.

The Effect of Organic Semiconductor Electron Affinity on Preventing Parasitic Oxidation Reactions Limiting Performance of n-Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors.

A key challenge in the development of organic mixed ionic-electronic conducting materials (OMIEC) for high performance electrochemical transistors is their stable performance in ambient. When operating in aqueous electrolyte, potential reactions of the electrochemically injected electrons with air and water could hinder their persistence, leading to a reduction in charge transport. Here, the impact of deepening the LUMO energy level of a series of electron-transporting semiconducting polymers is evaluated, and subsequently rendering the most common oxidation processes of electron polarons thermodynamically unfavorable, on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) performance.

Stem cells tightly regulate dead cell clearance to maintain tissue fitness.

Billions of cells are eliminated daily from our bodies. Although macrophages and dendritic cells are dedicated to migrating and engulfing dying cells and debris, many epithelial and mesenchymal tissue cells can digest nearby apoptotic corpses. How these non-motile, non-professional phagocytes sense and eliminate dying cells while maintaining their normal tissue functions is unclear.

Slow vibrational relaxation drives ultrafast formation of photoexcited polaron pair states in glycolated conjugated polymers.

Glycol sidechains are often used to enhance the performance of organic photoconversion and electrochemical devices. Herein, we study their effects on electronic states and electronic properties. We find that polymer glycolation not only induces more disordered packing, but also results in a higher reorganisation energy due to more localised π-electron density.

Vitamin A resolves lineage plasticity to orchestrate stem cell lineage choices.

Lineage plasticity-a state of dual fate expression-is required to release stem cells from their niche constraints and redirect them to tissue compartments where they are most needed. In this work, we found that without resolving lineage plasticity, skin stem cells cannot effectively generate each lineage in vitro nor regrow hair and repair wounded epidermis in vivo. A small-molecule screen unearthed retinoic acid as a critical regulator.

Effect of Ionic Strength and pH on the Sorption of Heavy Metals onto Polyaniline Copolymers in Aqueous Solutions.

Polyaniline (PANI) and two copolymers, poly(aniline---toluidine) (PoTOL-50) and poly(aniline---anisidine) (PoANI-50) were synthesized with equal input ratios (1:1) to enhance PANI as sensing material for the sensing of various heavy metal analytes in aqueous solutions. The polymers were evaluated for both their sensitivity and selectivity toward four heavy metals (Ba, Cd, Cu, and Ni) and two common matrix interferents (Ca and Mg) at 10 and 40 ppm. The effect of pH and ionic strength of the aqueous solutions on the sensitivity and selectivity was also evaluated.

Understanding Effects of Alkyl Side-Chain Density on Polaron Formation Via Electrochemical Doping in Thiophene Polymers.

Polarons exist when charges are injected into organic semiconductors due to their strong coupling with the lattice phonons, significantly affecting electronic charge-transport properties. Understanding the formation and (de)localization of polarons is therefore critical for further developing organic semiconductors as a future electronics platform. However, there are very few studies reported in this area.

Stem cells tightly regulate dead cell clearance to maintain tissue fitness.

Macrophages and dendritic cells have long been appreciated for their ability to migrate to and engulf dying cells and debris, including some of the billions of cells that are naturally eliminated from our body daily. However, a substantial number of these dying cells are cleared by 'non-professional phagocytes', local epithelial cells that are critical to organismal fitness. How non-professional phagocytes sense and digest nearby apoptotic corpses while still performing their normal tissue functions is unclear.

Rocks, lichens, and woody litter influenced the soil invertebrate density in upland tundra heath.

Soil invertebrates are an integral part of Arctic ecosystems through their roles in the breakdown of litter, soil formation, and nutrient cycling. However, studies examining soil invertebrates in the Arctic are limited and our understanding of the abiotic and biotic drivers of these invertebrate communities remains understudied. We examined differences in soil invertebrate taxa (mites, collembolans, enchytraeids) among several undisturbed upland tundra heath sites in Nunavut Canada and identified the drivers (vegetation and substrate cover, soil nutrients and pH) of the soil invertebrate community across these sites.

Agroecosystem edge effects on vegetation, soil properties, and the soil microbial community in the Canadian prairie.

Edge effects resulting from adjacent land uses are poorly understood in agroecosystems yet understanding above and belowground edge effects is crucial for maintaining ecosystem function. The aim of our study was to examine impacts of land management on aboveground and belowground edge effects, measured by changes in plant community, soil properties, and soil microbial communities across agroecosystem edges. We measured plant composition and biomass, soil properties (total carbon, total nitrogen, pH, nitrate, and ammonium), and soil fungal and bacterial community composition across perennial grassland-annual cropland edges.

Statewide Variation in Cannabinoid Regulations.

As a growing number of states legalize the use of cannabinoids for medical and non-medical purposes, there continues to be large gaps in the understanding of appropriate dosing, impact on health, and the state's role in regulation of products. Here, we present a summary of 2022 cannabis regulations by state to evaluate for the presence of THC:CBD ratios, maximum THC concentration or content within products, specific caps for cannabis possession, and requirements for testing for cannabinoid content and/or contaminants such as pesticides and heavy metals. These results are presented in Map 1 and Table 1 and demonstrate substantial variation among product THC content, purchasing limits, and quality measurements across the country.

Revealing the Meaning of Cannabis Use as an Occupation: A Scoping Review.

Background: Occupational science and occupational therapy typically perceive occupations as promoting health and well-being. However, this perspective overlooks the many occupations that are viewed as illegal, unhealthy, or risky, such as drug use. Due to its negative association with health, drug use is perceived as not holding significance or meaning in people's lives.

Ras drives malignancy through stem cell crosstalk with the microenvironment.

Squamous cell carcinomas are triggered by marked elevation of RAS-MAPK signalling and progression from benign papilloma to invasive malignancy. At tumour-stromal interfaces, a subset of tumour-initiating progenitors, the cancer stem cells, obtain increased resistance to chemotherapy and immunotherapy along this pathway. The distribution and changes in cancer stem cells during progression from a benign state to invasive squamous cell carcinoma remain unclear.

More than just a substrate for mites: Moss-dominated biological soil crust protected population of the oribatid mite, Oppia nitens against cadmium toxicity in soil.

Metal-impacted sites often need aggressive ecorestoration strategies to restore a functional plant-soil system. The use of biological soil crusts for soil stabilization, moisture retention and C and N input in disturbed and contaminated soils is becoming a more common ecorestoration practice. Biological soil crusts comprise cyanobacteria, fungi, lichens, and bryophytes (mostly moss).

Multi-species meta-analysis identifies transcriptional signatures associated with cardiac endothelial responses in the ischaemic heart.

Aim: Myocardial infarction remains the leading cause of heart failure. The adult human heart lacks the capacity to undergo endogenous regeneration. New blood vessel growth is integral to regenerative medicine necessitating a comprehensive understanding of the pathways that regulate vascular regeneration.

Environmental Impact of Triclopyr on Habitat Quality in Boreal Rights-of-Way.

The indirect effects of herbicides on habitat quality in boreal ecoregions remain poorly understood. Herbicides are commonly applied on boreal rights-of-way to control vegetation below power lines, where they can indirectly enter the soil ecosystem after leaf abscission. Key soil processes such as litter decomposition and soil nutrient cycling can be influenced by altering litter chemistry and/or impacting decomposer species.

Lymphatic Mapping and Sentinel Node Biopsy in High-Grade Uterine Cancers.

Purpose Of Review: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping has been adopted as an acceptable method of lymph node evaluation in the surgical staging for low-grade endometrial cancer. In this review, we analyze the literature on the utility of SLN mapping in high-grade endometrial cancer.

Recent Findings: SLN mapping in high-grade endometrial cancer demonstrates similar high detection rates and diagnostic accuracy as seen in low-grade endometrial cancers.