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The molecular pathogenesis of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) remains obscured despite the next-generation sequencing (NGS) studies explored on ever larger cohorts in the last decade. We addressed the highly variable mutation frequencies reported among previous studies with comprehensive amplicon coverage and enhanced sequencing depth to achieve higher genomic resolution for novel genetic discovery and comparative mutational profiling of the oncogenesis of NKTCL. Targeted exome sequencing was conducted to interrogate 415 cancer-related genes in a cohort of 36 patients with NKTCL, and a total of 548 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and 600 Copy number variances (CNVs) were identified. Recurrent amplification of the MCL1 (67%) and PIM1 (56%) genes was detected in a dominant majority of patients in our cohort. Functional mapping of genetic aberrations revealed that an enrichment of mutations in the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, including the cytokine receptor LIFR (copy number loss) upstream of JAK3, STAT3 (activating SNVs), and downstream effectors of MYC, PIM1 and MCL1 (copy number gains). RNA in situ hybridization showed the significant consistence of MCL1 RNA level and copy number of MCL1 gene. We further correlated molecular and clinical parameters with overall survival (OS) of these patients. When correlations were analyzed by univariate followed by multivariate modelling, only copy number loss of LIFR gene and stage (III-IV) were independent prognostic factors of reduced OS. Our findings identified that novel loss of LIFR gene significantly correlated with the adverse clinical outcome of NKTCL patients and provided therapeutic opportunities for this disease through manipulating LIFR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with COVID-19 develop an increased risk of thromboembolism. Thromboprophylaxis is recommended for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, but the role of thromboprophylaxis in outpatients with COVID-19 is less well defined. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of thromboprophylaxis among outpatients with COVID-19. We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, and Scopus from inception to August 2023. The outcomes of interest were venous thromboembolic events including deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events, hospitalization, major bleeding events, and non-major bleeding events. We included 6 trials comprising 3352 patients. Patients who received thromboprophylaxis had an approximately 70% reduction in venous thromboembolism (RR, 0.28 [95% CI, 0.08 to 0.93]) compared to patients who did not receive thromboprophylaxis. The risk of mortality (RR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.35 to 1.77]), cardiovascular events (RR, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.30 to 2.73]), and hospitalization (RR, 1.09 [95% CI, 0.81 to 1.47]) were similar between the two groups. Patients who received thromboprophylaxis had a higher risk of non-major bleeding (RR, 3.48 [95% CI, 1.72 to 7.05) compared to patients who did not receive thromboprophylaxis. Thromboprophylaxis reduced the risk of venous thromboembolism but not mortality, cardiovascular events, or hospitalization among outpatients with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fragile nature of quantum circuits is a major bottleneck to scalable quantum applications. Operating at cryogenic temperatures, quantum circuits are highly vulnerable to amplifier backaction and external noise. Non-reciprocal microwave devices such as circulators and isolators are used for this purpose. These devices have a considerable footprint in cryostats, limiting the scalability of quantum circuits. As a proof-of-concept, here we report a compact microwave diode architecture, which exploits the non-linearity of a superconducting flux qubit. At the qubit degeneracy point we experimentally demonstrate a significant difference between the power levels transmitted in opposite directions. The observations align with the proposed theoretical model. At − 99 dBm input power, and near the qubit-resonator avoided crossing region, we report the transmission rectification ratio exceeding 90% for a 50 MHz wide frequency range from 6.81 GHz to 6.86 GHz, and over 60% for the 250 MHz range from 6.67 GHz to 6.91 GHz. The presented architecture is compact, and easily scalable towards multiple readout channels, potentially opening up diverse opportunities in quantum information, microwave read-out and optomechanics. Quantum devices exhibiting non-reciprocal behaviour have been attracting attention for fundamental studies and applications. Here the authors report a microwave quantum diode based on a superconducting flux qubit coupled to two resonators, which has the advantage of compactness and scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target localization in a wireless sensor network (WSN) has received more and more attention in recent years, and has promoted many new applications due to the low cost, low bandwidth, low energy consumption, and collision avoidance mechanism. How to provide accurate location information has always been a hot research topic in 5G/B5G application scenarios. In this paper, the path loss information or received signal strength (RSS) of the received signal is considered in a WSN for the extended Kalman filter (EKF) to realize trajectory tracking of multiple targets, and the tracked targets are then localized through multiple sensors. Moreover, since there may be several objects or clutter interference in the communication environment, in order to reduce the impact of interference, we consider the probabilistic data association filter (PDAF) or probability hypothesis density filter (PHDF) to improve the tracking performance. Each sensor sends the received distance estimation information to the fusion center (FC), which calculates the optimal position for each target. Through simulation results, the proposed weighted least squares (WLS) trilateration method in this paper can effectively improve the average root mean squared error (RMSE) performance as sensors are evenly distributed around the tracking trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors have transformed the treatment landscape of cancer treatment, but only a fraction of patients responds to treatment, leading to an increasing effort to repurpose clinically approved medications to augment ICI therapy. Metformin has been associated with improved survival outcomes in patients undergoing conventional chemotherapy. However, whether metformin provides survival benefits in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is unknown. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study at two tertiary referral centers in Taiwan. All adult diabetes mellitus patients who were treated with ICIs between January 2015 and December 2021 were included. The primary and secondary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), respectively. Results: In total, 878 patients were enrolled in our study, of which 86 patients used metformin and 78 patients used non-metformin diabetes medications. Compared with non-users, metformin users had a longer median OS (15.4 [IQR 5.6–not reached] vs. 6.1 [IQR, 0.8–21.0] months, P = 0.003) and PFS (5.1 [IQR 2.0—14.3] vs. 1.9 [IQR 0.7—8.6] months, P = 0.041). In a univariate Cox proportional hazard analysis, the use of metformin was associated with a reduction in the risk of mortality (HR: 0.53 [95% confidence interval: 0.35—0.81], P = 0.004) and disease progression (HR: 0.69 [95% CI 0.49—0.99], P = 0.042). The use of metformin remained associated with a lower risk of mortality after adjusting for baseline variables such as age, cancer stage, and underlying comorbidities (OS, HR: 0.55 [95% CI 0.34–0.87], P = 0.011). Similarly, the use of metformin was associated with a lower risk of disease progression. Importantly, the use of metformin before ICI initiation was not associated with a reduction in mortality (HR: 0.61 [95% CI 0.27—1.42], P = 0.25) or disease progression (HR: 0.69 [95% CI 0.33—1.43], P = 0.32). Conclusion: The use of metformin is associated with survival benefits in patients undergoing immunotherapy. Prospective clinical trials are warranted to define the role of metformin in augmenting immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Although osimertinib has excellent intracranial activity in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with exon 19 deletion or L858R EGFR alterations, measures of local control of brain metastases are less well-reported. We describe lesion-level outcomes of brain metastases treated with osimertinib alone. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC with untreated brain metastasis measuring ≥ 5 mm at the time of initiating osimertinib. Cumulative incidence of local recurrence in brain (LRiB) was calculated with death as a competing risk, and univariable and multivariable analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with LRiB. Results: We included 284 brain metastases from 37 patients. Median follow-up was 20.1 months. On initial MRI after starting osimertinib, patient-level response was complete response (CR) in 11 (15%), partial response (PR) in 33 (45%), stable disease (SD) in 18 (25%) and progressive disease (PD) in 11 (15%). The 1-year cumulative incidence of LRiB was 14% (95% CI 9.9–17.9) and was significantly different in patients with a CR (0%), PR (4%), and SD (11%; p = 0.02). Uncontrolled primary tumor (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 3.78, 95% CI 1.87–7.66; p < 0.001), increasing number of prior systemic therapies (aHR 2.12, 95% CI 1.49–3.04; p < 0.001), and higher ECOG score (aHR 7.8, 95% CI 1.99–31.81; p = 0.003) were associated with LRiB. Conclusions: Although 1-year cumulative incidence of LRiB is < 4% with a CR or PR, 1-year cumulative incidence of LRiB is over 10% for patients with less than a PR to osimertinib on initial MRI. These patients should be followed closely for need for additional treatment such as stereotactic radiosurgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the financial market, the stock price prediction is a challenging task which is influenced by many factors. These factors include economic change, politics and global events that are usually recorded in text format, such as the daily news. Therefore, we assume that real-world text information can be used to forecast stock market activity. However, only a few works considered both text and numerical information to predict or analyse stock trends. These works used preprocessed text features as the model inputs; therefore, latent information in text may be lost because the relationships between the text and stock price are not considered. In this paper, we propose a fusion network, i.e. a spatial-temporal attention-based convolutional network (STACN) that can leverage the advantages of an attention mechanism, a convolutional neural network and long short-term memory to extract text and numerical information for stock price prediction. Benefiting from the utilisation of an attention mechanism, reliable text features that are highly relevant to stock value can be extracted, which improves the overall model performance. The experimental results on real-world stock data demonstrate that our STACN model and training scheme can handle both text and numerical data and achieve high accuracy on stock regression tasks. The STACN is compared with CNNs and LSTMs with different settings, e.g. a CNN with only stock data, a CNN with only news titles and LSTMs with only stock data. CNNs considering only stock data and news titles have mean squared errors of 28.3935 and 0.1814, respectively. The accuracy of LSTMs is 0.0763. The STACN can achieve an accuracy of 0.0304, outperforming CNNs and LSTMs in stock regression tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the temperature dependence of a common low temperature local thermometer, a tunnel junction between a superconductor and a normal metal (NIS junction). Towards the lowest temperatures its characteristics tend to saturate, which is usually attributed to selfheating effects. In this technical note, we reanalyze this saturation and show that the temperature independent subgap current of the junction alone explains in some cases the low temperature behavior quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that target BCR-ABL are the frontline treatments in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Growing evidence has shown that TKIs also enhance immunity. Since gamma-delta T (γδT) cells possess the potent anticancer capability, here we investigated the potential involvement of γδT cells in TKI treatments for CML. We characterized γδT cells isolated from chronic-phase CML patients before and during TKI treatments. γδT expression increased significantly in CML patients who achieved major molecular response (MMR) and deep molecular response (DMR). Their Vδ2 subset of γδT also expanded, and increased expression of activating molecules, namely IFN-γ, perforin, and CD107a, as well as γδT cytotoxicity. Mechanistically, TKIs augmented the efflux of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) from CML cells, which stimulated IFN-γ production and γδT expansion. Notably, the size of the IFN-γ+ naïve γδT population in TKI-treated CML patients was strongly correlated with their rates to reach DMR and with the duration on DMR. Statistical analysis suggests that a cutoff of 7.5% IFN-γ+ naïve subpopulation of γδT in CML patients could serve as a determinant for MR4.0 sustainability. Our results highlight γδT cells as a positive regulator for TKI responses in CML patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amaranthus tricolor L., a vegetable Amaranthus species, is an economically important crop containing large amounts of betalains. Betalains are natural antioxidants and can be classified into betacyanins and betaxanthins, with red and yellow colors, respectively. A. tricolor cultivars with varying betalain contents, leading to striking red to green coloration, have been commercially produced. However, the molecular differences underlying betalain biosynthesis in various cultivars of A. tricolor remain largely unknown. In this study, A. tricolor cultivars with different colors were chosen for comparative transcriptome analysis. The elevated expression of AmCYP76AD1 in a red-leaf cultivar of A. tricolor was proposed to play a key role in producing red betalain pigments. The functions of AmCYP76AD1, AmDODAα1, AmDODAα2, and AmcDOPA5GT were also characterized through the heterologous engineering of betalain pigments in Nicotiana benthamiana. Moreover, high and low L-DOPA 4,5-dioxygenase activities of AmDODAα1 and AmDODAα2, respectively, were confirmed through in vitro enzymatic assays. Thus, comparative transcriptome analysis combined with functional and enzymatic studies allowed the construction of a core betalain biosynthesis pathway of A. tricolor. These results not only provide novel insights into betalain biosynthesis and evolution in A. tricolor but also provide a basal framework for examining genes related to betalain biosynthesis among different species of Amaranthaceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, zinc oxide nanostructures integrated with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) were fabricated on foldable indium tin oxide substrates. To study the influence of RGO on the material, antibacterial, and piezoelectric properties on the nanostructures, multiple material, antibacterial, and electrical measurements were performed. Results indicate that inserting a RGO layer on the foldable substrate could form nanocylinder ZnO structures, which induced hydrophobicity and better antibacterial properties. Moreover, addition of appropriate RGO into ZnO seed layer may cause the growth of finer ZnO nanorods (NRs) and enhance piezoelectric effects. With stable electrical pulse generative piezoelectric effects and antibacterial properties, ZnO nanostructures with addition of RGO on foldable substrates have potential for future flexible biomedical and electronics applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been a useful treatment of heart failure, patients with CRT are still in risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular arrhythmia. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of cardiac reverse remodeling after CRT on the prevalence of ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation (VT/VF).Methods and Results: Forty-one heart failure patients (26 men, age 66 ± 10 years), who were implanted with CRT for at least 12 months, were enrolled. All patients received myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) under CRT pacing to evaluate left ventricle (LV) function, dyssynchrony, and scar. VT/VF episodes during the follow-up period after MPI were recorded by the CRT devices. Sixteen patients (N = 16/41, 39%) were found to have VT/VF. Multivariate Cox regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that five risk factors were significant predictors of VT/VF, including increased left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) by ≤7% after CRT, low LVEF after CRT (≤30%), change of intrinsic QRS duration (iQRSd) by ≤7 ms, wide iQRSd after CRT (≥121 ms), and high systolic dyssynchrony after CRT (phase standard deviation ≥45.6°). For those patients with all of the 5 risk factors, 85.7% or more developed VT/VF.Conclusions: The characteristics of cardiac reverse remodeling after CRT as assessed by MPI are associated with the prevalence of ventricular arrhythmia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of conjugated, metal-free organic dyes, triphenylamine derivatives 3-(4-(bis(4-(5-(4-(hexyloxy)phenyl)thiophenyl)phenyl)amino)phenyl)-2-cyanoacrylic acid ( OD3) and (E)-3-(5′-(4-(bis(4-(5-(4-hexyloxy)phenyl)thiophen-2-yl)phenyl)amino)phenyl)-2,2′-bithiophen-5-yl)-2-cyanoacrylic acid ( OD3DT), with and without a π-conjugated bridge, respectively, in film at a temperature range from 13 to 400 K. We find that the intensities of absorption and PL of OD3 decrease gradually beyond 200 K, as well as the ratios of integral areas of absorption to PL spectra. However, the other compound, OD3DT, shows a very different behavior. An increase is discovered in the ratio of the absorption to PL integral area when the temperature is higher than 200 K. A π-conjugated bridge gives this compound a higher degree of symmetry, and therefore, a better alignment of the molecules in the film, which causes a stacking aggregation such that the temperature effect on this compound is different than OD3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutations in JAK2, MPL and CALR genes have been identified in the majority of myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) patients, and patients negative for these three mutations are the so-called triple-negative (TN) MPN. In this study, we examined the mutational profiles of 16 triple-negative MPN patients including 7 essential thrombocythemia (ET), 1 primary myelofibrosis and 8 polycythemia vera (PV). Targeted next-generation sequencing was performed using the ACTOnco Comprehensive Cancer Panel (Ion AmpliSeq Comprehensive Cancer Panel, Life Technologies) to target all coding exons of 409 cancer-related genes. Overall, 30 nonsynonymous somatic mutations were detected in 12 (75%) patients with a range of 1-5 mutations per sample. Notably, one ET patient was found to have JAK2V617F and KITP551L mutations at very low allele frequency. One MPLP70L and 1 MPLM602T mutations were identified each in 1 ET and 1 PV, respectively. Other recurrent mutations were also identified including KMT2C, KMT2D, IRS2, SYNE1, PDE4DIP, SETD2, ATM, TNFAIP3 and CCND2. In addition, germline mutations were also found in some cancer-related genes. Copy number changes were rare in this cohort of TN MPNs. In conclusion, both somatic and germline mutations can be detected in TN MPN patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) can provide cardiac reverse remodeling (RR), which may include mechanical reverse remodeling (MRR) and/or electrical reverse remodeling (ERR). However, uncoupling of MRR and ERR is not uncommon, and the underlying mechanisms are not clear. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship of myocardial substrate characteristics as assessed by myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and cardiac RR post-CRT. Materials and Methods: Forty-one patients (26 men, mean age 66 ± 10 years) with heart failure received CRT for at least 12 months were assigned to three groups according to their levels of RR: I, MRR + ERR (ESV reduced ≥15 % and intrinsic QRS duration reduced ≥10 ms); II, MRR only (ESV reduced ≥15 %); and III, non-responder (the others). All the patients also underwent MPI under transient CRT-off to evaluate the intrinsic myocardial substrates, including myocardial scar, LV volumes and function, systolic dyssynchrony, and activation sequences. In addition, ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) detected by the CRT devices during follow-up periods were also recorded. Results: Quantitative analysis of MPI showed that there were significant differences for scar burden [15.9 ± 9.5, 26.8 ± 16.1, and 45.6 ± 15.1 % for group I (n = 15), II (n = 16), and III (n = 10), respectively, p < 0.001], EDV (136.6 ± 64.9, 221.6 ± 123.9, and 351.8 ± 216.3 ml, p = 0.002), ESV (82.6 ± 59.8, 172.3 ± 117.2, and 293.3 ± 209.6 ml, p = 0.001), LVEF (44.9 ± 15.0, 25.6 ± 10.9, and 21.5 ± 11.7 %, p < 0.001), systolic phase SD (23.4° ± 10.3°, 36.0° ± 16.2°, and 57.0° ± 22.2°, p < 0.001), and bandwidth (72.5° ± 31.1°, 113.4° ± 56.4°, and 199.1° ± 90.1°, p < 0.001). Myocardial scar interfered with the normal propagation of mechanical activation, resulting in heterogeneous activation sequences. Compared with group II (MRR only), group I (ERR + MRR) had significantly less initial activation segments (1.9 ± 1.0 vs. 2.6 ± 0.7, p < 0.05) and shorter maximal contraction delay (46.9° ± 12.9° vs. 58.8° ± 18.5°, p < 0.05). During the periods of follow-up, 21 patients developed VT/VF, including only 1 patient (1 VT) in group I (6.7 %), 8 patients (7 VT and 1 VF) in group II (50 %), and 9 patients (7 VT and 5 VF) in group III (90 %). Conclusion: The characteristics of myocardial substrates as assessed by MPI differed significantly between different levels of cardiac RR post-CRT. Myocardial scar played an important role in the development of ERR. Different cardiac RR levels contributed to different incidences of ventricular arrhythmia, and the combination of ERR and MRR provided highest anti-arrhythmic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study prepared $$\hbox {SiO}_\mathrm{x}\hbox {N}_\mathrm{y}$$ film by using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) encapsulation to prevent the invasion of moisture and oxygen for longer light-emitting lifetime of OLED components. It applied high density inductively coupled plasma for the coating of film on polyethersulfone, silicon and glass substrate, and discussed the relevance between process parameters and quality characteristics including coating uniformity, coating thickness and moisture permeation. This study used Taguchi method to plan the experiment and calculated the optimal parameters of each quality, used technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution and grey relational analysis to determine the optimal parameter of all qualities. The back-propagation neural network was combined with Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to construct the simulation and prediction system. Based on the quality optimization design, the single layer film's moisture permeation rate was 0.02 g/m $$^{2}$$ /day, the maximum coating thickness reached 420 nm, and the fastest rate was 21 nm/min, which was higher than the industrial standard specification (10 nm/min) by 110 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study performs various thermal treatments on Indium Tin Oxide (InO + SnO) films, which are the transparent conducting layers for GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs). Structural characterization by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) indicates that the ITO films have the least crystalline grain boundary and greatest grain size after thermal treatment at 580 °C for 10 min, which gives a minimum forward voltage of LEDs of 2.95 V and the maximum light output power of LEDs is 177.51 mW at 125 mA. The high output intensity in the near horizontal direction is also greater than that for treatment at other temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ventricular arrhythmia is the major cause of sudden cardiac death for patients with heart failure, including those receiving implantation of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The purpose of this study was to assess the value of myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) in predicting ventricular arrhythmia for patients with CRT.Methods and Methods: Fifty-one patients (35 males, mean age 64 ± 12 years) who had received CRT for at least 6 months were enrolled for resting gated MPS. Three main quantitative parameters of MPS, including extent of myocardial scar, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and LV dyssynchrony (phase SD), were generated by Emory Cardiac Toolbox. Using the recorded ventricular arrhythmia in the device, including ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF), as the primary end point, the value of quantitative parameters of MPS in predicting the development of VT/VF was assessed.Results: Twenty (39 %) of the 51 patients developed VT/VF during the follow-up (15.3 ± 12.7 months). The patients with VT/VF had significantly lower LVEF (24 ± 12 vs. 36 ± 17 %, p < 0.005), larger scar areas (36 ± 19 vs. 22 ± 12 %, p < 0.05) and larger phase SD (57° ± 20° vs. 43° ± 17°, p < 0.01). When categorizing the patients by the median values of LVEF, scar and phase SD, univariate regression analysis showed that lower LVEF (<29 %), larger scar (>23 %) and larger phase SD (>50°) were related to the development of VT/VF (p = 0.006, 0.011 and 0.064, respectively). However, only LVEF was marginally significant as an independent predictor of VT//VF on multivariate regression analysis (p = 0.0573). Survival analysis with Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the survival probability for VT/VF in those with LVEF >29 %, scar areas <23 % and phase SD < 50° was significantly better than in the others (HR 5.16, 95 % CI 1.20-22.16) by log-rank test (χ (2) = 5.9894, p = 0.014).Conclusion: Lower LVEF, larger scar and/or more dyssynchrony assessed by MPS were related to the development of ventricular arrhythmia for patients with CRT, and further defibrillator implantation may be considered for these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the effects of physiographic factors, such as landslide area, on the occurrence of debris flows in central Taiwan. Four physiographic factors were selected for their significance to the occurrence of debris flows, including landslide ratio (the ratio of landslide area over watershed area), average steepness of the streambed, effective watershed area, and form factor. Two quantifying methods of factors were performed and compared: one using genuine values of factors and another one using values converted by degree of membership from fuzzy theory. Then the logistic regression method was applied for building a model to assess the occurrence probability of debris flows from five variables: four physiographic factors and one hydrologic factor. The model is consistent with the mechanism of debris flow occurrence, with all physiographic and hydrologic factors positively correlated with the occurrence probability. In addition, the accuracy of the model was validated with randomly selected historical events and demonstrated fairly satisfactory validity, ranging from 70 to 80 %. It was found that adopting the degree of membership made the model more stable and more reliable. In addition, the model also shows that reducing the landslide area can significantly reduce the occurrence probability of debris flows. The results show that the model built in this study has the potential to be well applied and fully integrated into current or future warning systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we used size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) to evaluate the sizes of Au and Au/Pd core/shell nanoparticles (NPs) that had been subjected to thermal treatment, with the eluted NPs monitored through diode array detection (DAD) of the surface plasmon (SP) absorption of the NPs. In the absence of an adequate stabilizer, thermal treatment resulted in longer retention times for the Au NPs and shorter retention times for the Au/Pd core/shell NPs in the SEC chromatograms. Thus, thermal treatment influenced the sizes of these Au and Au/Pd core/shell NPs, through digestive ripening and Ostwald-type growth, respectively. In addition, the trends in the SP absorption phenomena of the NPs in the eluted samples, as measured using DAD, were consistent with the trends of their size variations, as measured from their elution profiles. In the presence of 3A-amino-3A-deoxy-(2AS,3AS)-β-cyclodextrin (HN-β-CD) as a stabilizer, the retention times and SP absorptions of the eluted Au and Au/Pd NP samples remained constant. Thus, HN-β-CD is a good stabilizer against size variation duration the thermal treatment of Au and Au/Pd core/shell NPs. A good correlation existed between the sizes obtained using SEC and those provided by transmission electron microscopy. Therefore, this SEC strategy is an effective means of further searching for suitable stabilizers for NPs, especially those exposed to harsh reaction conditions (e.g., in catalytic reactions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, it was aimed to use micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) to concentrate and separate neutral steroids (Δ-androstene-3,17-dione, testosterone, progesterone, and testosterone propionate). It was aimed to study the impact of background solution (BGS) parameters on MEKC concentration and separation. These included sodium dodecylsulfate concentration, buffer concentration, pH, and the presence of organic solvent. Salt contents of the sample matrix and the operation conditions of the capillary electrophoresis system, i.e., voltage and temperature, have also been investigated. The addition of thiol-capped Au nanoparticles (NPs) to the BGS and how this affected the concentration and separation of the steroids was investigated. It was found that the migration time window of the steroids widened upon the increased concentration of these NPs present in the BGS. All of the tested steroids were separated well, showing limits of detection values ranging from 11.8 to 16.4 μg L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe a capillary electrophoresis (CE)-based method for the rapid characterization of Au nanoparticles (NPs) prepared through seed-assisted synthesis. We effected the CE separation of these Au NPs using a mixed buffer of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS; 70 mM) and 3-(cyclohexylamino)-1-propanesulfonic acid (CAPS; 10 mM) at pH 10.0 under an applied potential of 20 kV. A linear relationship ( R 2 = 0.985) existed between the electrophoretic mobilities and the sizes of the Au NPs within a range of diameters from 5.3 to 59.9 nm; the relative standard deviations of these electrophoretic mobilities were below 0.9%. When using these conditions to analyze the products of seed-assisted syntheses, we found that the rate of addition of the reducing agent affected the size distribution of the NPs dramatically. CE analysis also revealed that the presence of NaOH in the synthesis medium minimized the sizes of the Au NPs. When using these conditions to analyze the Au NPs produced through seed-assisted synthesis, a good correlation existed between the sizes obtained using CE and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Based on these findings, CE appears to be an efficient tool for characterizing the sizes of NPs fabricated through seed-assisted synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) is used in the clinical management of oncologic and inflammatory pathologies. It may have utility in detecting radiotherapy (RT)-induced damage of oral tissues. Thus, the aim of the present study was to use FDG-PET/CT to evaluate parotid gland inflammation following RT in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). Methods: This retrospective study included patients with HNC treated with photon, proton, or combined photon/proton RT, in addition to chemotherapy. All patients received FDG-PET/CT imaging pre-treatment and 3 months post-treatment. The average mean standardized uptake value (Avg SUVmean) and the average maximum standardized uptake value (Avg SUVmax) of the left and right parotid glands were determined by global assessment of FDG activity using OsiriX MD software. A two-tailed paired t test was used to compare Avg SUVmean and Avg SUVmax pre- and post-RT. Results: Forty-seven HNC patients were included in the study. Parotid gland Avg SUVmean was significantly higher at 3 months post-treatment than pre-treatment (p < 0.05) in patients treated with photon RT, but no significant differences were found between pre- and post-treatment Avg SUVmean in patients treated with proton RT or combined photon/proton RT. Conclusion: Our results suggest that photon RT may cause radiation-induced inflammation of the parotid gland, and that proton RT, which distributes less off-target radiation, is a safer treatment alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]