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An investigation was conducted through directional solidification experiments to explore the impact of micro-alloying element Sn and a magnetic field on the solidification behavior of immiscible Al–Bi alloys, as well as the combined effect of Sn and the magnetic field. Experimental results show that the size distribution of the dispersed particles in the low-speed solidified Al–3.4 wt.%Bi alloy presents two peaks, while it only shows one peak when solidified at a relatively high speed. The addition of Sn not only can enhance the nucleation rate and the number density of the Bi-rich droplets in the sample, but also decrease the Marangoni migration velocity and the axial resultant velocity of minority phase droplets in front of the solidification interface. Thereby it promotes the formation of Al–Bi alloys with a well-dispersed microstructure. A static magnetic field with the strength of 0.2 T increases the number density of the dispersed particles and decreases the average size and the size distribution width of the dispersed particles. Under the effect of Sn addition and static magnetic field, the average radius of the dispersed particles R and the solidification velocity V 0 satisfy R ∝ V 0 − 1 / 3 when the alloy was solidified at a relatively low velocity, R and V 0 satisfy R ∝ V 0 − 1 / 2 when the alloy is solidified at a high velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Glioma is a malignant primary brain tumor accounting for 75% of the total cases. Notably, several immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic agents in glioma have been demonstrated to induce immunogenic cell death (ICD). However, the studies on glioma have targeted individual ICD-related genes, and comprehensive analyses of all the ICD-related genes are still lacking. The aim of this study was to identify a novel molecular signature based on ICD-related genes in glioma, which might be beneficial for the diagnosis and treatment of glioma. We eventually identified a 14 ICD-related gene signature, which could effectively predict prognosis and immunotherapy response in glioma. These findings might be significantly helpful in selecting the best therapeutic strategy for glioma. Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a type of regulated cell death (RCD) and is correlated with the progression, prognosis, and therapy of tumors, including glioma. Numerous studies have shown that the immunotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic agents of glioma might induce ICD. However, studies on the comprehensive analysis of the role of ICD-related genes and their correlations with overall survival (OS) in glioma are lacking. The genetic, transcriptional, and clinical data of 1896 glioma samples were acquired from five distinct databases and analyzed in terms of genes and transcription levels. The method of consensus unsupervised clustering divided the patients into two disparate molecular clusters: A and B. All of the patients were randomly divided into training and testing groups. Employing the training group data, 14 ICD-related genes were filtered out to develop a risk-score model. The correlations between our risk groups and prognosis, cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and immune cells infiltration, chemosensitivity and cancer stem cell (CSC) index were assessed. A highly precise nomogram model was constructed to enhance and optimize the clinical application of the risk score. The results demonstrated that the risk score could independently predict the OS rate and the immunotherapeutic response of glioma patients. This study analyzed the ICD-related genes in glioma and evaluated their role in the OS, clinicopathological characteristics, TME and immune cell infiltration of glioma. Our results may help in assessing the OS of glioma and developing better immunotherapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synergistic effect of TiB 2 (in form of Al-5Ti-1B) and La on grain refining results in Al-2Cu alloy was investigated. α-Al grains are significantly refined by Al-5Ti-1B. When trace La is added to the melt, further refinement is exhibited. Average grain size and nucleation undercooling of α-Al reduce first and then almost remain unchanged with La addition. Satisfactory grain refining result achieves when La addition level reaches 600 ppm. When more than 600 ppm La is added to the melt, La-rich particles form and the effect of solute La left in matrix on the microstructure almost no longer changes. Theoretical calculation results demonstrate that solute La segregates to Al melt/TiB 2 particles interface along with Ti and Cu prior to α-Al nucleation and the synergistic effect of La and TiB 2 particles on grain refinement mainly attributes to the enhancement in the potency of TiB 2 particles to heterogeneously nucleate α-Al by trace La addition.