Abstract:In recent years, the issues of large energy consumption and degraded living environments have attracted considerable attention in developed and developing countries. Hence, green housing (GH) has become a popular strategy for achieving sustainable urbanization. The demand in the GH market played an important role in promoting GH. In China, whether potential consumers will pay for GH remains unclear. In this circumstance, this study aims to explore the willingness of construction practitioners, who are regarded to have more knowledge concerning GH, to pay for GH in China. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), nine critical factors related to practitioners' willingness to pay (WTP) were examined through face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire survey. A total of 180 construction participants in Jinan were investigated in this study. A binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the collected data. The research finding revealed that only 68 respondents were willing to pay for GH. Four factors showed significant and positive influences in practitioners' WTP, including environmental awareness, GH comfort, government incentive, and neighbors'/friends' assessment. By contrast, GH price displayed a significant and negative influence in practitioners' WTP. The remaining factors, namely, mature GH market, degree of popularity, publicity of GH from developers, and GH affordability, showed insignificant relationships with the practitioners' WTP. The research findings can provide a helpful reference for policy makers to formulate effective incentive policies in the promotion of GH.

In esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), extracapsular extention (ECE) in metastatic lymph nodes portends high rate of recurrence and poor prognosis. To our knowledge, the effectiveness of postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in these patients has never been investigated. In this retrospective study, we compared the outcomes of surgery with or without postoperative chemoradiotherapy in ESCC patients with ECE. Based on log-rank stratified by T stage, postoperative adjuvant CRT significantly improved the overall survival (p=0.017) and progression free survival (p=0.002). In multivariate analysis, adjuvant CRT was identified as an independent prognostic factor (HR=0.494, CI 0.290-0.844, p=0.010). Compared with surgery alone, the CRT group had significantly fewer cases of regional recurrence (P=0.048) and overall recurrence (P=0.024). However, there was no significant difference in distant metastasis between two groups (P=0.755). In conclusion, our data suggest that the postoperative adjuvant CRT might be beneficial in selected subgroups of ESCC patients with ECE. To further verify these results, a prospective trial with a large sample size is needed.

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2020) Design, synthesis and antifungal activity of threoninamide carbamate derivatives via pharmacophore model, Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 35:1, 682-691, ABSTRACTThirty-six novel threoninamide carbamate derivatives were designed and synthesised using active fragment-based pharmacophore model. Antifungal activities of these compounds were tested against Oomycete fungi Phytophthora capsici in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, compound I-1, I-2, I-3, I-6 and I-7 exhibited moderate control effect (>50%) against Pseudoperonospora cubensis in greenhouse at 6.25 lg/ mL, which is better than that of control. Meanwhile most of these compounds exhibited significant inhibitory against P. capsici. The other nine fungi were also tested. More importantly, some compounds exhibited remarkably high activities against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, P. piricola and R. solan in vitro with EC 50 values of 3.74-9.76 lg/mL. It is possible that the model is reliabile and this method can be used to discover lead compounds for the development of fungicides. ARTICLE HISTORY

Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) events. A detailed understanding of which clinical features of COPD increase risk of VTE events is needed. Objectives To investigate the association between features of COPD and risk of venous thromboembolism. Methods A retrospective observational clinical study was conducted on 551 consecutive COPD patients visiting the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Tianjin Chest Hospital between February 2014 and April 2018. Finally, 151 patients were eligible for inclusion. Of these, 29 patients had COPD with VTE and 121 patients had COPD without VTE. Patient informations regarding age, gender, BMI, smoking history, smoking status (package/year), COPD‐related symptoms, lung function, number of acute exacerbations and imaging visual emphysema were gathered. Results Among the 29 VTE patients, 18 patients had PE and five had DVT, while 6 patients had simultaneous PE and DVT. There were statistically significant differences in GOLD grade, Imaging visual emphysema, and frequent acute exacerbations between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment for gender, age, BMI and smoking history, there were statistically significant for visible emphysema (OR = 3.54, 95% CI: 1.13‐11.08; P = 0.03) and GOLD grade (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.04‐3.01; P = 0.035), but not for frequent acute exacerbations (OR = 1.65, 95% CI: 0.62‐4.38; P = 0.31). Conclusions Visual emphysema is an independent risk factor for VTE events and the risk of VTE in COPD patients increases with the degree of airway obstruction. However, there is no evidence of an association between exacerbation frequency and VTE events.

In order to improve the application value of natural microcrystalline graphite with carbon content of 49.5%, high-purity microcrystalline graphite was prepared by emulsifying kerosene flotation firstly, and then purifying hydrofluoric acid and hexafluorosilicic acid. Then the purified microcrystalline graphite was prepared for the lithium-ion battery anode material, its microstruture and electrochemical properties were analyzed, the purification mechanism and lithium storage mechanism were discussed. The research results show that carbon content of microcrystalline graphite after emulsified kerosene flotation and mixed acid purification are 93.5% and 99.0% respectively. After pickling, high-purity microcrystalline graphite shows the largest layer spacing, which is 0.351 5 nm and is 0.001 4 nm higher than that of natural microcrystalline graphite. Size disparity of acid washing sample is larger, layered structure is more obvious, cycle performance and magnification performance are better than those of floation sample. The pickled sample has the highest initial reversible specific capacity of 477.4 mAh/g, and the first Coulomb efficiency is 61.3%. Charge transfer impedance, interface impedance and SEI membrane impedance, and lithium ion diffusion impedance in electrode material are significantly lower than those of microcrystalline graphite after flotation.

BackgroundThe aim of the study was to investigate if first-line chemotherapy improves total survival time in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients complicated with severe to very severe COPD.Materials and methodsThis retrospective observational clinical study included 267 consecutive NSCLC patients with COPD complications at the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Tianjin Chest Hospital between January 2009 and January 2018. Sixty-nine evaluable patients were included. The clinical characteristics, toxicity profile, objective response rate, and prognosis were analyzed and compared between patients receiving and those not receiving chemotherapy.ResultsForty-five and 24 patients received first-line chemotherapy plus supportive care and supportive care alone, respectively. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that patients receiving chemotherapy had a statistically significant 6-month longer median overall survival (OS) than that of patients receiving supportive care alone (14.0, 95% CI: 8.5–19.5 vs 8.0, 95% CI: 6.4–9.6, respectively) (chi2=8.857, P=0.003). In the multivariate Cox proportional hazard model adjusted for the most relevant variables, the adjusted hazard ratio (HRadj) differed significantly for the receipt of chemotherapy (HRadj=0.4464, 95% CI: 0.2495–0.7988; P=0.0066) but not for gender (HRadj=0.8527, 95% CI: 0.4461–1.6298; P=0.6297), age (HRadj=1.0021, 95% CI: 0.9609–1.0451; P=0.9214), histology (HRadj=1.4422, 95% CI: 0.6959–2.9889; P=0.3247), cancer stage (HRadj=1.9098, 95% CI: 0.8607–4.2375; P=0.1116), performance status score (HRadj=1.5155, 95% CI: 0.7523–3.0529; P=0.2446), lung function (HRadj=1.3856, 95% CI: 0.7149–2.6857; P=0.3341), or respiratory symptoms (HRadj=1.0518, 95% CI: 0.6032–1.8342; P=0.8586). Patients with grade 3/4 adverse reactions accounted for 29% (13/45) of the chemotherapy group.ConclusionThe results indicated that chemotherapy may improve the OS of NSCLC patients with severe to very severe COPD.

Carbon soot containing terbium endohedral fullerenes was prepared by vaporizing a graphite rod filled with Tb 4 O 7 and graphite powder in an electric arc-discharge chamber. After reflux extraction with 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene and rotary evaporation of solvent, the residue was ultrasonically dissolved in toluene. The obtained solution was filtered with a 0.2 μm PTFE film, and then subjected to a three-stage high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) isolation process to achieve two individual isomers of Tb@C 82. The successful isolation of Tb@C 82 isomers was confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry and analytical HPLC. According to their UV-Vis-NIR absorption spectra, the carbon cages of the isolated Tb@C 82 isomers are estimated to be of C 2v and C s symmetry, respectively, and Tb atom is encapsulated in carbon cage at a valence state of ＋3. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) of the two Tb@C 82 isomers was recorded in a 0.1 mol/L ortho-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB) solution of tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate (TBAPF 6) by referring the ferrocene/ferrocenium couple (Fc/Fc ＋). The working electrode and the counter electrode were platinum wires, and the reference one was a Ag/AgCl electrode. Tb@C 82 (I) exhibits two pairs of reversible oxidative and five pairs of reversible reductive peaks, and Tb@C 82 (II) shows one reversible oxidative and six reversible reductive ones. It is found that the symmetry of C 82 cage has little effect on the reduction potentials but great effect on the oxidation potentials of Tb@C 82 isomers. Moreover, the first reduction potential of both Tb@C 82 isomers is relatively high, indicating that they are good electron accepting materials. Additionally, the corresponding redox potentials of Tb@C 82 (II) are relatively higher than those of Tb@C 82 (I), therefore it is concluded that Tb@C 82 (II) is of better electron accepting ability than Tb@C 82 (I). In comparison with those reported previously, three pairs of reversible reductive and one pair of reversible oxidative peaks were initially detected for Tb@C 82 (I), offering more information on the electrochemistry of metallofullerene.