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Treatment of stage IV esophageal cancer is traditionally palliative, but treatment response is usually poor. The role of surgery in the treatment of advanced esophageal cancer remains controversial. We sought to determine whether surgical treatment followed by neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy might provide survival benefits for these patients. A retrospective review of 163 esophageal cancer patients with M1 disease (distant organ metastasis) treated at a tertiary medical center hospital was performed from April 2002 to June 2021. Patient demographics and cancer staging, treatment, and disease recurrence, and time of follow up were included for analysis. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed for overall survival and progression-free survival analysis. Propensity score matching based on patient age and tumor staging characteristics was also performed for analysis. 124 patients were treated by CCRT alone and 39 treated by CCRT plus surgery. 3-year and 5-year progression free survival was 17.7% and 8.9% for CCRT+surgery group vs 0.8% and 0.0% in CCRT only group. (p = 0.019) 3- and 5-year survival was 24.0% and 12.0% in CCRT plus surgery group compared to 2.8% and 1.4% for CCRT only group (p = 0.009). Propensity matching of 39 CCRT plus surgery patients and 78 CCRT-only patients showed similar results (17.5% & 8.5% PFS vs 1.3% & 0.0% for PFS, 24.0% and 12.0% vs 3.9% and 1.9% OS). Surgical resection following CCRT treatment may improve progression-free survival and overall survival for selected patients of esophageal cancer with M1 disease. Surgical indication should be judicious, and further follow up studies should be performed.

Previous studies on spoken word production have shown that native English speakers used phoneme-sized units (e.g., a word-initial phoneme, C) to produce English words, and native Mandarin Chinese speakers employed syllable-sized units (e.g., a word-initial consonant and vowel, CV) as phonological encoding units in Chinese. With spoken word production, although spoken word recognition is a fundamental language skill of human beings, it is unknown whether a Chinese-English bilingual listener can adjust the phonological unit sizes depending on the language used. Using four mouse-tracking spoken word recognition experiments, participants listened to spoken words (either presented in English or Chinese) while viewing a display of two written words. In Experiment 1, Chinese-English bilinguals experienced a larger phonological competition in the CV condition than the control condition, indicating that they recruited syllables when listening to Chinese monosyllabic words. Experiment 2 extended the results of Experiment 1 with a set of Chinese disyllabic words and further revealed the temporal distribution of syllable overlap of a spoken word constrains phonological competition. In Experiment 3, Chinese-English bilinguals exhibited a greater phonological competition in both CV and C conditions that mirrored those reported with English monolinguals in Experiment 4. Our results across experiments demonstrated that Chinese-English bilinguals employed both phonemes and syllables to recognize English spoken words but exclusively relied on syllables to recognize Chinese words, suggesting that there is flexibility in selecting phonological units when recognizing spoken words in the two languages. Implications for models of monolingual and bilingual spoken recognition are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Multilinguals who live in their native multilingual communities are constantly switching between languages, whereas those who live in monolingual communities need to constrain their code-switching. Malaysia is a multilingual country in which people mix languages on a daily basis, whereas, in Taiwan, Mandarin is predominately used and people are more cautious about code-switching. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated what factors might facilitate Malaysian-Chinese students to reduce the unintentional switching between languages to adapt to the language environment in Taiwan. Malaysian-Chinese who live in Malaysia (MIM) and Taiwan (MIT) were recruited to investigate whether and how non-linguistic code-switching and their awareness of language environment (ALE) influence their intentional and unintentional code-switching experiences. Participants' non-verbal code-switching was measured by a color/shape switching task, whereas ALE and code-switching experiences were measured by questionnaires. The multiple regression analyses of MIT's responses showed that the moderation of non-linguistic switch cost and ALE significantly predicted MIT's unintentional code-switching. Moreover, the simple slope analysis showed that MIT with high executive control have a dynamic unintentional switch in which the higher level of ALE is associated with lower unintentional switch. However, MIT with low executive control have a static unintentional switch, uninfluenced by their level of ALE. These results suggested that multilinguals' executive control along with their awareness of the language environment help them adapt to living in a community with a predominant language. Os multilíngues que vivem em comunidades que também são multilíngues estão constantemente alternando entre os idiomas, enquanto aqueles que vivem em comunidades monolíngues precisam restringir a troca de código linguístico. A Malásia é um país multilíngue onde as pessoas misturam os idiomas diariamente; já em Taiwan, o mandarim é predominantemente usado e as pessoas são mais cautelosas com a alternância entre línguas. Considerando-se essa diferença, no presente estudo, investigamos quais fatores podem auxiliar os estudantes malaios-chineses a reduzir a troca não intencional entre idiomas para se adaptar ao ambiente linguístico de Taiwan. Estudantes malaios-chineses que vivem na Malásia (MNM) e em Taiwan (MET) foram testados para compreender de que forma a troca não linguística e a consciência do ambiente linguístico (CAL) influenciam suas experiências de troca de código linguístico intencionais e não intencionais. A troca de código não verbal dos participantes foi mensurada por uma tarefa de troca de cor/forma, enquanto as experiências de CAL e de troca de código linguística foram medidas por questionários. As análises de regressão múltipla das respostas do grupo MET mostraram que tanto o custo de troca não linguística quanto a CAL foram preditores significativos da troca de código linguística não intencional. Além disso, a análise mostrou que os indivíduos do grupo MET com alto controle executivo tiveram uma troca não intencional dinâmica em que participantes com alto nível de CAL tiveram menores índices de troca não intencional. No entanto, indivíduos do grupo MET com baixo controle executivo tiveram uma troca não intencional mais estática, não influenciada pelo seu nível de CAL. Esses resultados sugeriram que o controle executivo dos multilíngues, juntamente com sua consciência do ambiente linguístico, os ajudam a se adaptar a uma comunidade que tem um idioma predominante em que a troca de código linguístico é reduzida.

The spatial and angular organization of biological macromolecules is a key determinant, as well as informative readout, of their function. Correlative imaging of the dynamic spatio-angular architecture of cells and organelles is valuable, but remains challenging with current methods. Correlative imaging of spatio-angular dynamics requires fast polarization-, depth-, and wavelength-diverse measurement of intrinsic optical properties and fluorescent labels. We report a multimodal instant polarization microscope (miPolScope) that combines a broadband polarization-resolved detector, automation, and reconstruction algorithms to enable label-free imaging of phase, retardance, and orientation, multiplexed with fluorescence imaging of concentration, anisotropy, and orientation of molecules at diffraction-limited resolution and high speed. miPolScope enabled multimodal imaging of myofibril architecture and contractile activity of beating cardiomyocytes, cell and organelle architecture of live HEK293T and U2OS cells, and density and anisotropy of white and grey matter of mouse brain tissue across the visible spectrum. We anticipate these developments in joint quantitative imaging of density and anisotropy to enable new studies in tissue pathology, mechanobiology, and imaging-based screens.

The cell’s shape and motion represent fundamental aspects of the cell identity, and can be highly predictive of the function and pathology. However, automated analysis of the morphodynamic states remains challenging for most cell types, especially primary human cells where genetic labeling may not be feasible. To enable automated and quantitative analysis of morphodynamic states, we developed DynaMorph – a computational framework that combines quantitative live cell imaging with self-supervised learning. To demonstrate the fidelity and robustness of this approach, we used DynaMorph to annotate morphodynamic states observed with label-free measurements of density and anisotropy of live microglia isolated from human brain tissue. These cells show complex behavior and have varied responses to disease-relevant stimuli. DynaMorph generates quantitative morphodynamic representations that can be used to evaluate the effects of disease-relevant perturbations. Using DynaMorph, we identify distinct morphodynamic states of microglia polarization and detect rare transition events between states. The methodologies presented here can facilitate automated discovery of functional states of diverse cellular systems.

Biological function depends on the spatio-angular architecture of macromolecules - for example, functions of lipid membrane and cytoskeletal polymers arise from both the spatial and the angular organization of the constituent molecules. Correlative imaging of cellular and molecular architecture is valuable across cell biology and pathology. However, current live imaging methods primarily focus on spatial component of the architecture. Imaging the dynamic angular architecture of cells and organelles requires fast polarization-, depth-, and wavelength-diverse measurement of intrinsic optical properties and fluorophore concentration, but remains challenging with current designs. We report a multimodal instant polarization microscope (miPolScope) that combines a broadband polarization-resolved detector, automation, and reconstruction algorithms to enable label-free imaging of phase, retardance, and orientation, multiplexed with fluorescence imaging of concentration, anisotropy, and orientation of molecules at diffraction-limited resolution and high speed. miPolScope enabled multimodal imaging of myofibril architecture and contractile activity of beating cardiomyocytes, cell and organelle architecture of live HEK293T and U2OS cells, and density and anisotropy of white and grey matter of mouse brain tissue across the visible spectrum. We anticipate these developments in joint quantitative imaging of density and anisotropy to enable new studies in tissue pathology, mechanobiology, and imaging-based screens.

Low life goal and autobiographical memory specificities are associated with negative psychological symptoms. Short-term mindfulness trainings can increase life goal and autobiographical memory specificities. The present study extends the literature by investigating whether trait mindfulness is associated with life goal and autobiographical memory specificities. Additionally, because mindfulness trainings improve working memory capacity, which is associated with future episodic specificity and autobiographical memory retrieval, a second aim of this study was to examine whether working memory capacity moderates the relationship between trait mindfulness and life goal and autobiographical memory specificities. 96 participants completed the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, Automated Operational Span task, minimal instructions Autobiographical Memory Test, and Measure to Elicit Positive Future Goals and Plans. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the presence aspect of trait mindfulness and the interaction of the acceptance aspect of trait mindfulness and working memory capacity were predictive for goal specificity. A follow-up simple slope analysis revealed that high acceptance aspect of mindfulness was associated with low goal specificity in participants with a high working memory capacity. However, this association was not present in participants with medium and low working memory capacity. Neither trait mindfulness nor working memory capacity were associated with autobiographical memory specificity. Findings suggest that present-moment awareness enables one to focus on accessing event-specific knowledge, and that an accepting attitude alone cannot help people with high working memory capacity to make more concrete and specific future plans. The lack of association between trait mindfulness and autobiographical memory specificity might be attributed to low specific memories found in this study.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory-demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) mediated by aberrant auto-reactive immune responses. The current immune-modulatory therapies are unable to protect and repair immune-mediated neural tissue damage. One of the therapeutic targets in MS is the sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) pathway which signals via sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors 1-5 (S1P