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BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate the expression status and prognostic role of various immunoregulatory cells and test in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).MethodsThe expression of five markers (CD3/CD4/CD8/CD19/CD163) of tumor immune cells was evaluated retrospectively in tumor sections from 68 consecutive cases of TNBC by immunohistochemistry. Computational image analysis was used to quantify the density and distribution of each immune marker within the tumor region, tumor invasive margin, and expression hotspots. Immunoscores were calculated using an automated approach. Other clinical characteristics were also analyzed.ResultsFor all patients, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that high CD3+ signals in the tumor region (disease-free survival (DFS), P=0.0014; overall survival (OS), P=0.0031) and total region (DFS, P=0.0014; OS, P=0.0031) were significantly associated with better survival. High CD4+ levels in the tumor region and total regions were significantly associated with better survival (P<0.05). For Hotspot analysis, CD3+ was associated with significantly better survival for all Top1, Top2, and Top3 densities (DFS and OS, P<0.05). High CD4+ levels were significantly associated with better prognosis for Top1 and Top3 densities (DFS and OS, P<0.05). For stage IIB and IIIC patients, CD3+ in the tumor region and all Top hotspots was found to be significantly correlated with survival (DFS and OS, P<0.05). CD4+ cells were significantly associated with survival in the tumor region, total region, and Top3 density (DFS, P=0.0213; OS, P=0.0728). CD8+ cells were significantly associated with survival in the invasive margin, Top2 density, and Top3 density. Spatial parameter analysis showed that high colocalization of tumor cells and immune cells (CD3+, CD4+, or CD8+) was significantly associated with patient survival.ConclusionComputational image analysis is a reliable tool for evaluating the density and distribution of immune regulatory cells and for calculating the Immunoscore in TNBC. The Immunoscore retains its prognostic significance in TNBC later than IIB stage breast cancer. Future studies are required to confirm its potential to predict tumor responses to chemotherapy and immune therapy.

Additional file 2: Table S2. List of primers for RT-qPCR.

Additional file 1: Table S1. SDC1 overexpression.

A reflective beam splitter is proposed and verified. The unit cell of the beam splitter is composed of a metal pattern, a dielectric substrate, and a metallic ground. Each subarray structure of the device is composed of four unit cells, which are gradually rotated at 45°. The horizontal and vertical subarrays form a 4×4 gradient metasurface supercell. In the operating frequency band, the incident linearly polarized terahertz wave is reflected and divided into four beams of approximately equal power but different propagation directions. The proposed terahertz beam splitter based on metasurface has the advantages of small size, low cost and easy processing, and can be applied to terahertz stealth and imaging.

Additional file 2: Supplementary table 1. Genes detected in this study. Supplementary table 2. The PAM50 molecular subtype of tumors from patients with local recurrence, distant metastasis, or death.

Additional file 1: Supplementary Figure S1. ROC curve of immune score. Supplementary Figure S2. Prognosis evaluation of intrinsic subtype of Luminal A, Luminal B and Basal-like subtype of PAM50.

The existing disease diagnosis techniques are more or less harmful to the human body, so a simple and non-invasive disease screening technology is urgently needed. This paper introduces a hair scanning technique for the diagnosis of diseases.

Traffic intersections are important scenes that can be seen almost everywhere in the traffic system. Currently, most simulation methods perform well at highways and urban traffic networks. In intersection scenarios, the challenge lies in the lack of clearly defined lanes, where agents with various motion plannings converge in the central area from different directions. Traditional model-based methods are difficult to drive agents to move realistically at intersections without enough predefined lanes, while data-driven methods often require a large amount of high-quality input data. Simultaneously, tedious parameter tuning is inevitable involved to obtain the desired simulation results. In this paper, we present a novel adaptive and planning-aware hybrid-driven method (TraInterSim) to simulate traffic intersection scenarios. Our hybrid-driven method combines an optimization-based data-driven scheme with a velocity continuity model. It guides the agent's movements using real-world data and can generate those behaviors not present in the input data. Our optimization method fully considers velocity continuity, desired speed, direction guidance, and planning-aware collision avoidance. Agents can perceive others' motion planning and relative distance to avoid possible collisions. To preserve the individual flexibility of different agents, the parameters in our method are automatically adjusted during the simulation. TraInterSim can generate realistic behaviors of heterogeneous agents in different traffic intersection scenarios in interactive rates. Through extensive experiments as well as user studies, we validate the effectiveness and rationality of the proposed simulation method., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures

In this paper we analyze the convergence of the following type of series \begin{equation*} T_N f(x)=\sum_{j=N_1}^{N_2} v_j\Big(e^{-a_{j+1}(-\Delta)^\alpha} f(x)-e^{-a_{j}(-\Delta)^\alpha} f(x)\Big),\quad x\in \mathbb R^n, \end{equation*} where $\{e^{-t(-\Delta)^\alpha} \}_{t>0}$ is the heat semigroup of the fractional Laplacian $(-\Delta)^\alpha,$ $N=(N_1, N_2)\in \mathbb Z^2$ with $N_1, Comment: 18 pages

In this paper, a transmissive terahertz (THz) quarter wave plate (QWP) has been proposed to realize the linear-to-circular polarization conversion in terahertz range. This quarter wave plate is composed of two dielectric layers and one metallic layer with asymmetric cross slots. In the range of 0.894–1.378 THz, the axis ratio of proposed device is less than 3 dB, and its polarization conversion efficiency is more than 45%. The distributions of surface currents and electromagnetic field density had been proposed to understand the physical mechanism of proposed device. The linear-to-circular polarization conversion can be attributed to the asymmetric transmission along slots. Finally, the simulation results are validated by experiments in terahertz region. The proposed device has simple geometry and good performance, which can be used as a key component in applications of terahertz communications, terahertz imaging and terahertz sensing.

Using Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ET) on a regional scale generally uses gridded meteorological data by interpolating data from meteorological stations with mathematical interpolation. The heterogeneity of underlying surfaces cannot be effectively considered when interpolating meteorological station measurements to gridded data only by mathematical interpolation. This study aims to highlight the improvement of modeled meteorological data from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale numerical model which fully considers the heterogeneity of underlying surfaces over the data from mathematical interpolation method when providing accurate meteorological input for SEBS model. Meteorological data at 1 km resolution in the Hotan Oasis were simulated and then were put into SEBS model to estimate the daily actual ET. The accuracy of WRF simulation was evaluated through comparison with data collected at the meteorological station. Results found that the WRF-simulated wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity and surface pressure correlate well with the meteorological stations measurements (R2 are 0.628, 0.8242, 0.8089 and 0.8915, respectively). Comparison between ET calculated using the meteorological data simulated from the WRF (ETa-WRF) and meteorological data interpolated from measurements at met stations (ETa-STA) showed that ETa-WRF could better reflect the ET difference between different land cover, and capture the vegetation growing trend, especially in areas with sparse vegetation, where ETa-STA intends to overestimate. In addition, ETa-WRF has less noise in barren areas compared to ETa-STA. Our findings suggest that WRF can provide more reliable meteorological input for SEBS model than mathematical interpolation method.

When a fault occurs in power grid, accurate and timely fault location is of great significance in reducing fault losses. With the rapid development of synchronous phasor measurement technology, the high-precision big data brought by the synchronous phasor measurement brings many possibilities to the on-line fault diagnosis of the distribution network. This paper proposed an augmented state estimation fault location method based on on-line parameter identification. By using the initial and terminal voltage and current phasor measured by PMU, the relationship between voltage and current along the positive sequence network and negative sequence network is deduced. The line parameters and the fault information (the fault distance and the voltage phasor of the fault point) are augmented into the state quantity, and the state estimation is performed together with the original node state quantity to realize on-line parameter identification and accurate fault location. The radial distribution network model is built in PSCAD. The simulation results verify the correctness and high precision of the proposed algorithm.

The application of Micro Phasor Measurement Unit (μPMU) provides a new technological approach for distribution network fault location. In order to improve the accuracy and reliability of fault location, the study of the characteristics for μPMU noise and its impact on fault location algorithms is of necessity. This paper proposed a PMU measurement error model for noise characteristics analysis. And the noise was introduced into the system to examine its effect on the traditional impedance fault location method. To analyze the noise characteristics, a median filter was used to extract the μPMU noise from the raw data. The Monte Carlo method was used to obtain the sample of the fault location error under the influence of μPMU noise. The observed data was fitted with the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) then evaluated by the goodness-of-fit (GOF) indexes in regression analysis theory. This method is used on both μPMU noise characteristics analysis and the fault location error under the influence of μPMU noise. The conclusion was reached: μPMU noise and the location error both obey the Gaussian distribution and the result was validated by actual μPMU measured data. The result of fault location error with μPMU noise is presented. The result shows that the accuracy of the impedance method is greatly influenced by the μPMU noise, and the accuracy of double-ended impedance method is higher than single-ended impedance method.

Simultaneous improvement in adsorption selectivity and capacity for single adsorbents is challenging but counting for much in adsorptive separations. To this end, a formate metal-organic framework and activated carbon fiber composite was synthesized in our work by a simple two-step process, involving homogeneous precipitation of a MOF precursor on an activated carbon fiber and subsequent template replication. The resultant core-shell composite, ACF@[Ni3 (HCOO)6 ], exhibited optimized adsorption performance both in selectivity and capacity for the separation of CH4 /N2 to most of state-of-the-art adsorbents.

The boiler air distribution system has an important influence on the stable operation of the thermal power unit. It directly affects the combustion efficiency, which in turn affects NOx emission of the boiler. However, boiler efficiency and NOX emission are a pair of contradictory goals, which will be one-sided if one is adjusted separately. In addition, thermal power units often face the impact of variable boundary conditions in operation. In this study, DNN-PSO modeling optimization was performed on air distribution system of a 1000MW double-tangential boiler. The deep neural network (DNN)is used to establish the boiler’s air distribution system model, and the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) is used to optimize the opening of the secondary air baffle and the over fire air baffle. According to the on-site adjustment test based on the optimized guidance value, the NOX emission was reduced by 36.31mg/Nm3, and the boiler efficiency was increased by 0.09%, which proved the feasibility of using this model to guide the operation of the boiler air distribution system.

A tri-layered terahertz metamaterial based on the gratings-polarization converter-gratings (GPCG) structure is proposed, which is composed of a double L structure array sandwiched by two orthogonal metallic sub-wavelength gratings (SWGs). Simulation results show that two cascaded Fabry–Perot-like resonance cavities result in broadband polarization conversion with significant asymmetric transmission (AT) phenomenon. The improved polarization conversion rate (PCR) is over 0.99 from 0.20 THz to 1.97 THz with a relative bandwidth of 163.13%, almost 1.74 times that of other work, and the enhanced AT parameter is beyond 0.8 from 0.37 THz to 1.73 THz with a relative bandwidth of 129.52%. Moreover, in a wide range of incident angles, the proposed metamaterial maintains great AT performance, thus showing great potential applications in circulators, direction-dependent polarization converters and polarization-sensitive sensing and imaging.

Ultra-microporous [Mg3(OOCH)6] frameworks with different uniform shapes, were synthesized via a facile coordination modulation method, in which HF was used as a modulator to promote the growth of [Mg3(OOCH)6] crystals. The as-prepared [Mg3(OOCH)6] frameworks were scrutinized and evaluated the CH4 adsorption capacity and selectivity over N2 by pure gas adsorption and breakthrough experiments. The [Mg3(OOCH)6] frameworks exhibit preferential adsorption of CH4 over N2, and much higher CH4 adsorption capacity (up to 0.74 mmol/g) by comparison with conventional zeolites. It has been confirmed that the equilibrium selectivities of [Mg3(OOCH)6] frameworks are shape dependent, and the uniform prism-like framework with size of 100 μm has the highest selectivity up to 5.5 at 298 K. These results suggest that achieving the optimal coupling of polarizability and structure of [Mg3(OOCH)6] framework is key factor to obtain a high selectivity for the separation of CH4/N2 mixture.

Adsorption equilibrium, thermodynamics, and kinetics of CH4, N2, and CO2 were investigated by volumetric-chromatographic and inverse gas chromatographic (IGC) methods on the Al-BDC MOF. The binary adsorption data from the volumetric-chromatographic experiments represents that the Al-BDC MOF has a high CO2/CH4 selectivity ca. 11 and a CH4/N2 selectivity ca. 4.3 at 303 K, and appears to be a good candidate for the CH4 separation. The initial adsorption heats of CH4, N2, and CO2 on the Al-BDC MOF were determined to be 15.3, 11.5, and 32.2 kJmol−1 by IGC method, respectively. Moreover, the micropore diffusivities of N2, CH4 and CO2 in the Al-BDC MOF at 303 K were also estimated to be 1.58 × 10−7 cm2/s, 7.04 × 10−8 cm2/s, and 3.95 × 10−9 cm2/s, respectively. The results indicate that micropores play a crucial role in the adsorptive separation of the CH4/N2 and CH4/CO2 mixtures, and the IGC method is a validity manner to estimate the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of MOF adsorbents.

The mesostructured Al-BDC metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with an average pore size of 2.58 nm were prepared via a simplified washing and drying process and applied to the separation of CO2/CH4 mixtures. The adsorption equilibrium and thermodynamics of CH4 and CO2 were studied in the dynamic processes by the volumetric–chromatographic and inverse gas chromatographic (IGC) methods. The experiments represent that the Al-BDC MOF with large pore size has a much higher CO2/CH4 selectivity of ca. 24 at 303 K in the pressure range 0–1.0 MPa and therefore appears to be a good candidate for the separation of CH4 from CO2. The initial heats of adsorption of CH4 and CO2 on the mesostructured Al-BDC MOFs were determined to be 11.5 and 25.2 kJ mol–1 by the IGC method, respectively, which are significantly reduced by ca. 25% compared with that on the microporous Al-BDC MOFs. The results indicate that the expanded pore size not only greatly increases the selectivity of CO2 adsorption over CH4 but also reduces the adsorp...

Two typical ultra-microporous adsorbents namely [Ni3(HCOO)6] and [Co3(HCOO)6] were successfully prepared in a feasible route to scale up using non-corrosive methyl methanoate instead of formic acid. Pure gas and binary gas mixture adsorption equilibria of CH4 and N2 were conducted on the two compounds to evaluate their CH4 adsorption capacities and selectivities against N2. The two compounds exhibit preferential adsorption of CH4 over N2 at 298 K in the pressure range 0.1–1.0 MPa, and the adsorption selectivities of CH4/N2 mixture are determined to be 6.0–6.5 for [Ni3(HCOO)6] and 5.1–5.8 for [Co3(HCOO)6], respectively. The uniform ultra-micropores and optimal polarizability resulted from multiple coordination modes play the essential roles in their preferential adsorption of CH4 with the highest selectivities up to date, making the two compounds as promising candidates of existing adsorbents for unconventional natural gas upgrading.

Separation of methane and nitrogen is an important issue in upgrading low-quality natural gas, and non-cryogenic, adsorption-based separation of CH4/N2 is particularly challenging. In this report, a metal–organic framework (MOF) adsorbent, namely a [Ni3(HCOO)6] framework, is comprehensively investigated for the separation of CH4–N2 mixture via pure gas adsorption and binary gas breakthrough experiments. All the prepared samples synthesized using different routes were also studied in detail by powder XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TGA/DSC and argon adsorption. The results show that the adsorptive separation performances can be improved significantly by optimizing the synthesis of the framework. The precursors play crucial roles in the crystallization of [Ni3(HCOO)6] frameworks, giving rise to a variability in ultra-micropore volume, surface area and pore size. Good crystallization can result in large ultra-micropore volume and furthermore brings about high separation selectivity. The [Ni3(HCOO)6] framework synthesized from nickel nitrate and methyl formate exhibits the best crystallization and the largest micropore volume, leading to the highest CH4/N2 separation selectivity of up to 7.5 in the pressure range of 2.0–10 bar, which is the highest value reported for MOFs. Moreover, this adsorbent presents uniform nanosized crystals (∼140 nm), permanent porosity and consistent separation performances, making the [Ni3(HCOO)6] framework a promising candidate for natural gas upgrading.

The V600E mutation in the B-type Raf kinase (BRAF) gene is a common genetic change in cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) that appears to play a key role in the development and progression of this disease. We sought to assess the sensitivity and specificity of immunohistochemical detection of this mutation with a V600E mutated BRAF antibody in a Chinese PTC cohort. In this study, we used fully automated immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay with a BRAF V600E (VE1) mouse monoclonal primary antibody to screen for the BRAF V600E mutation in 556 cases of PTC. Moreover, to verify the IHC staining results, real-time PCR was applied to detect this mutation in the same patient cohort. Among the 556 cases in the examined primary PTC cohort, 414 (74.5%) cases and 419 (75.4%) cases were positive for the BRAF V600E mutation by IHC staining and by real-time PCR, respectively. The real-time PCR results indicated that the sensitivity and specificity of IHC staining for the BRAF V600E mutation were 98.8% and 100%, respectively. The BRAF V600E mutation was common among Chinese patients with primary PTC, and was strongly correlated with older patient age and the conventional subtype of PTC but was not associated with parameters of clinicopathological aggressiveness. The fully automated IHC is a reliable technique that can serve as an alternative to molecular biological approaches for the routine detection of the BRAF V600E mutation in PTC patients.

The micro-mechanism of the silicon-based waveguide surface smoothing is investigated systematically to explore the effects of silicon-hydrogen bonds on high-temperature hydrogen annealing waveguides. The effect of silicon-hydrogen bonds on the surface migration movement of silicon atoms and the waveguide surface topography are revealed. The micro-migration from an upper state to a lower state of silicon atoms is driven by silicon-hydrogen bonding, which is the key to ameliorate the rough surface morphology of the silicon-based waveguide. The process of hydrogen annealing is experimentally validated based on the simulated parameters. The surface roughness declines from 1.523 nm to 0.461 nm.

Background One of the major reasons for poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer is its high resistance to currently available chemotherapeutic agents. In recent years, focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a central molecule in extracellular matrix (ECM)/integrin-mediated signaling, has been thought to be a key determinant of chemoresistance in cancer cells. In this study, we aimed to determine the roles of FAK phosphorylation in the intrinsic chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer cell lines. Results Our results showed that, the level of constitutive phosphorylation of FAK at Tyr397 correlated with the extent of intrinsic resistance to Gemcitabine (Gem) in four pancreatic cancer cell lines. Moreover, in Panc-1 cells, which had high expression of pFAK, specific inhibition of constitutive FAK phosphorylation by either RNAi or FRNK overexpression decreased the phosphorylation of Akt, reduced the levels of survivin expression and Bad phosphorylation at Ser136 and increased Gem-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis. However, in AsPC-1 cells with a low level of pFAK, neither FAK RNAi nor FRNK overexpression affected Gem-induced cell apoptosis. We further found that laminin (LN) induced FAK and Akt phosphorylation in a time-dependent manner, increased the levels of survivin and pBad (pS136) and decreased Gem-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis in AsPC-1 cells; Specific inhibition of LN-induced FAK phosphorylation by either FAK RNAi or FRNK overexpression suppressed the effects of LN on AsPC-1 cells. Moreover, inhibition of constitutive FAK phosphorylation in Panc-1 cells and LN-induced FAK phosphorylation in AsPC-1 cells by a novel and more specific FAK phosphorylation inhibitor PF-573,228 showed similar results with those of FAK phosphorylation inhibition by FAK RNAi or FRNK overexpression. Conclusions In conclusion, our research demonstrates for the first time that both constitutive and LN-induced FAK phosphorylation contribute to increased intrinsic chemoresistance to Gem in pancreatic cancer cell lines and these effects are partly due to the regulation of Akt and Bad phosphorylation and survivin expression. Development of selective FAK phosphorylation inhibitors may be a promising way to enhance chemosensitivity in pancreatic cancer.