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The transpedicular procedure has been widely used in spinal surgery. The determination of the best entry point is the key to perform a successful transpedicular procedure. Various techniques have been used to determine this point, but the results are variable. This study was carried out to determine the posterior endpoint of the lumbar pedicle central axis on the standard anterior–posterior (AP) fluoroscopic images. Computer-aided design technology was used to determine the pedicle central axis and the posterior endpoint of the pedicle central axis on the posterior aspect of the vertebra. The standard AP fluoroscopic image of the lumbar vertebral models by three-dimensional printing was achieved. The endpoint projection on the AP fluoroscopic image was determined in reference to the pedicle cortex projection by the measurements of the angle and distance on the established X–Y coordinate system of the radiologic image. The projection of posterior endpoint of the lumbar pedicle central axis were found to be superior to the X-axis of the established X–Y coordinate system and was located on the pedicle cortex projection on the standard AP fluoroscopic image of the vertebra. The projection point was distributed in different sectors in the coordinate system. It was located superior to the X-axis by 18° to 26° at L1, while they were located superior to the X-axis by 12° to 14° at L2 to L5. The projections of posterior endpoints of the lumbar pedicle central axis were located in different positions on the standard AP fluoroscopic image of the vertebra. The determination method of the projection point was helpful for selecting an entry point for a transpedicular procedure with a fluoroscopic technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a key regulatory molecular target to treat cancer, and MTI-31 is a potent mTOR inhibitory agent for the therapeutically target of the renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, the therapeutic efficacy of MTI-31 is limited by multiple factors, including autophagy. MTI-31 can activate cells to generate autophagy, which may in turn indirectly affect cell proliferation and apoptosis. We aimed to observe changes in cell protective autophagy via the ERK pathway and explore the potential mechanism underlying drug resistance of RCC cells to MTI-31. Different concentrations of 786-O and RCC4 cells were co-cultured with MTI-31 for distinct durations. The result of autophagy marker detection by Western blot showed that MTI-31 could induce RCC cells to produce autophagy in a dose and time-dependent manner. After treating the RCC cells with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ), CCK8 and Western blot assays demonstrated that CQ could effectively enhance cell apoptosis induced by MTI-31 and that the autophagy induced by MTI-31 was cytoprotective. In addition, CCK8 and Western blot demonstrated that MTI-31 exerted its effect by activating the ERK pathway rather than the JNK or p38 pathway. The use of the ERK inhibitor AZD6244 to block the ERK pathway could effectively promote cell apoptosis induced by MTI-31. AZD6244 attenuated the autophagy induced by MTI-31 and increased the cytotoxicity of MTI-31. Western blot also demonstrated that MTI-31-induced autophagy was mediated by the downstream regulators of ERK pathways, including Beclin-1 and Bcl-2. It demonstrated that the MTI-31 mediated activation ERK pathway is associated with the induction of autophagy, and autophagy can attenuate the cytotoxicity of MTI-31 on RCC cells. In summary, inhibition of ERK pathway-mediated autophagy can rectify drug resistance to MTI-31 effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At most of the times, patients who are diagnosed with kidney cancer should be provided with systemic treatment as drug resistance is a challenging issue in the treatment of this disease. The progression of the cancer can be inhibited with the help of mTOR inhibitors namely RAD001 (everolimus) and MTI-31. In literature, it has been revealed that these mTOR inhibitors have the potential to stimulate autophagy. This degradation pathway boosts the survival rate of the cancerous cells that are subjected to anti-cancer therapy. In this study, CCK8, colony formation assays, and ethynyl deoxyuridine (EdU) analysis were conducted to detect cell proliferation. Furthermore, Transwell assays were also conducted for cell migration analysis. In addition to these, the researchers also performed the flow cytometry process to identify the cells that are undergoing apoptosis. In vivo, experiments were conducted to measure the growth of tumors and metastasis. In this study, the treatment provided through a combination of MTI-31 and RAD001 significantly inhibited the kidney cancer cells' proliferation and tumor growth. Furthermore, there was a notable reduction in the migration and invasion of kidney cancer cells upon the neighboring cells. The outcomes from the mechanistic studies infer that the combination of MTI-31 and RAD001 increases the LC3 levels, which in turn translates into the activation of autophagy. To conclude, the combination of MTI-31 and RAD001 improves the anti-cancerous impact produced by RAD001 in vivo through the promotion of autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of Karp's 21 NP-complete problems, the subset sum problem, as well as its generalization, has been well studied. Among the rich literature, there is little work on the online version, where items arrive over list and irrevocable decisions on packing them or not must be made immediately. Under the online setting, no deterministic algorithms are competitive, while for randomized algorithms the best competitive ratio is 1/2. It is thus of great interest to improve the performance bounds for both deterministic and randomized algorithms, assuming predicted information is available in the learning-augmented model. Along this line, we revisit online subset sum by showing that, with learnable predictions, there exist learning-augmented algorithms to break through the worst-case bounds on competitive ratio. The theoretical results are also experimentally verified, where we come up with a new idea in designing experiments. Namely, we design neural networks to serve as adversaries, verifying the robustness of online algorithms. Under this framework, several networks are trained to select adversarial instances and the results show that our algorithms are competitive and robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work designed a new CaO−Al2O3−SiO2−SO3 glass for the immobilization of multiple heavy metals found in dechlorinated fly ash having high amounts of calcium and sulfur. Increasing the (CaO + SO3)/SiO2 mass ratio (M(CS/S)) from 0.28 to 0.85 was found to lower the proportions of Mn, Ni and Zn in an unstable state, while an M(CS/S) ratio of 0.51 gave the lowest proportions of unstable Cr and Pb. Decreasing the degree of polymerization of the glassy network increased the proportions of Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn in the carbonate bound state. The leaching out of metals in this state was the primary cause of degradation of Q3 structural units in the glassy network. The amount of Mn in the iron-manganese oxide bound state was increased by increasing the number of Q2 units in the silicate network. Decreasing the CaO/SiO2 mass ratio (M(C/S)) raised the proportions of Mn, Ni and Zn in the unstable state. An M(C/S) value of 0.43 lowered the proportions of unstable Cr and Pb. A principal components analysis determined that the leaching of toxic heavy metals from the glass was primarily related to the proportions of these metals in the unstable state while there were no evident correlations between leaching and the proportions in stable states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic forecasting plays a critical role in intelligent transportation systems aiming to accurately estimate future short-term or long-term traffic conditions. The utilization of neural network-based methods for traffic forecasting has demonstrated significant success. Those models aggregate spatial and temporal information from historical traffic records. The final output module of these models typically utilizes either a fully connected network to directly produce the results or a recurrent neural network to generate results step by step. However, these approaches fail to consider the spatial-temporal dependencies between predicted future traffic conditions, which hinders their forecasting performance. To address this limitation as well as improve forecasting accuracy, we propose a novel traffic prediction framework called the Generative Corrective Network. This framework consists of two procedures: a generative model that captures the spatial temporal relationships inherent in historical traffic condition and generates initial predictions, and a corrective model that amends and updates previous results by considering the relationships among future traffic data to be predicted. To implement this generative corrective network, we design an instantiation utilizing adaptive and dynamic graph convolutional networks with gated recurrent units networks (ADGCN-GRU) based on encoder–decoder structure for the generator, and a local asynchronous attention model conducted on the the representation learning of space and time information and the preliminary results for the corrector. Experiments conducted on two real-world traffic datasets demonstrate that our model can effectively improve forecasting performance compared to existing neural network-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a periodic-review inventory system with multiple capacitated suppliers. These suppliers have different lead times and unit costs, and suppliers with shorter lead times charge higher unit costs. As the optimal ordering policy is unknown and expected to be complicated, we propose a multi-index base-stock (MIBS) policy for the system based on n tailored inventory positions. Orders are placed with each supplier according to a modified base-stock policy. We analyze the policy's system dynamics and establish separability properties of the optimal policy parameters. We also provide a simulation-based optimization procedure for the policy. Because the procedure involves an exhaustive search across n - 1 parameters, we construct a heuristic for computing near-optimal policy parameters. We numerically demonstrate the performance of the MIBS policy and the effectiveness of the heuristic. The results show that the performance of the MIBS policy is very close to that of the dynamic programming policy and that the performance of the heuristic is close to the optimal MIBS policy, with much faster computation. We also explore the performance of the MIBS policy when the number of sources is increased and find that increasing the number of sources means decreasing the average cost, while the marginal returns of adding a supplier diminish. Importantly, given sufficient capacity, by carefully selecting two of the suppliers—often the fastest and the slowest—it is possible to achieve an adequate balance between cost efficiency and responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the safety and efficacy of ureteroscopic cryoablation by a liquid-nitrogen system in a porcine model and for patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) of a solitary kidney. Methods: In the animal experiment, the right-sided ureter was frozen in nine pigs. Eight were randomly assigned to two different groups according to the freezing duration of 60 or 90 s. The other one was designed to receive a 10-min freeze. The treated ureters were harvested at 30 min, 2 days, 4 weeks, and 3 months after cryoablation for histological evaluation. After the animal study, we conducted a pilot clinical trial that enrolled six patients who were diagnosed with UTUC of a solitary kidney and received therapeutic management with ureteroscopic cryoablation at our center. Perioperative adverse events and oncological outcomes were evaluated. Results: In the porcine model, the liquid-nitrogen system was capable of forming a therapeutic ice ball which infiltrated the full-thickness ureter and induced apoptosis and necrosis from mucosa to lamina muscularis through histological examination. In the clinical trial, cryoablation was successfully performed under ureteroscopy in all the patients, without intraoperative ureteral perforation, avulsion, or active hemorrhage. No recurrence in situ was observed during a median follow-up period of 12.5 months. Hydronephrosis and ureteral stricture was observed in one patient and was managed with ureteroscopic balloon dilation. Conclusions: Ureteroscopic cryoablation induced by liquid nitrogen is a promising technique for conservative management of UTUC with benefits of improving local tumor control and preservation of a solitary kidney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Soil organic carbon (SOC) in deeper soils may be more protected by mineral particles than SOC in shallower soils; thus, the vertical SOC distribution is closely related to the overall SOC stability. This study aimed to verify the relationship between the solubility temperature dependence of water extractable SOC fractions and their vertical distribution characteristics. Methods: Soil samples collected from each soil horizon in natural dragon spruce (Picea asperata) and red birch (Betula albosinensis) forests were analyzed. Cold water-extracted organic carbon (CWEOC) and hot water-extracted organic carbon (HWEOC) were extracted at 20 °C and 80 °C, respectively. The sum of CWEOC and HWEOC was considered the water-extracted organic carbon (WEOC) content. The carbohydrate-C (Car-C) and phenolic-C (Phe-C) contents extracted by hot water were also determined. Results: The CWEOC, HWEOC, Car-C, and Phe-C contents varied significantly (P < 0.001) among soil horizons. The WEOC/SOC ratio increased significantly from the decomposed organic (H-) horizon to the surface mineral (A-) horizon (P < 0.05) but was not significantly different among the surface (A-), the subsurface (B-), and the bottom (C-) mineral horizons (Brunisols, according to the Canadian Soil Classification System). In both forests, CWEOC/HWEOC increased from the H- horizon to the B- horizon but was not significantly different between the B- and C- horizons. The Car-C/Phe-C ratios in the mineral soil horizons were significantly higher than those in the H-horizon and litter. Conclusions: The more water-soluble SOC fractions tended to be more distributed in the deeper horizons. Therefore, WEOC in mineral soils may be more stable than is generally believed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of ganoderic acid A (GAA) on OVA-induced asthma in mice. Mouse asthma model was established by ovalbumin (OVA) in vitro. Diff-Quik staining was used to observe the total numbers of cells and the number of classification cells in each group, and HE staining was used to observe lung inflammation in lung tissue sections. ELISA was used to detect the effect of GAA on the levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5, and IL-13 in serum and lung tissue. The expression levels of TLR/NF-κB were detected by Western blot. Immunohistochemistry was used to observe the expression changes of TLR4 and P-P65. Compared with the normal group, the inflammatory cell count, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 expression in the model group increased, and TLR/NF-kB signal protein expression increased. Compared with the model group, in GAA group, the number of inflammatory cells, the expression of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 decreased, and the expression of TLR/NF-kB signaling protein decreased. GAA regulated lung inflammation in asthmatic mice by inhibiting TLR/NF-kB signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish an algebraic approach to prove the properness of moduli spaces of K-polystable Fano varieties and reduce the problem to a conjecture on destabilizations of K-unstable Fano varieties. Specifically, we prove that if the stability threshold of every K-unstable Fano variety is computed by a divisorial valuation, then such K-moduli spaces are proper. The argument relies on studying certain optimal destabilizing test configurations and constructing a Θ -stratification on the moduli stack of Fano varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the intensifying energy crisis, it is urgent to develop green and sustainable energy storage devices. Supercapacitors have attracted great attention for their extremely high power, ultra-long lifetime, low-cost maintenance, and absence of heavy metal elements. Electrode materials are the kernel of such devices, and graphenes are of great interest for use as electrodes for their tremendous potential. The three-dimensional (3D) network structure of graphenes have been recently highlighted as potential electrode materials of supercapacitors. In this review, supercapacitors based on the 3D graphene networks are surveyed in terms of aqueous and non-aqueous systems. The powdery and bulky 3D graphene materials are discussed for fabricating the electrodes. Lastly, challenges and perspectives of the graphene-based supercapacitors are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove that K-polystable log Fano pairs have reductive automorphism groups. In fact, we deduce this statement by establishing more general results concerning the S-completeness and Θ -reductivity of the moduli of K-semistable log Fano pairs. Assuming the conjecture that K-semistability is an open condition, we prove that the Artin stack parametrizing K-semistable Fano varieties admits a separated good moduli space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the accuracy of the porosity results of pellets, the reliability of three methods for measuring the pore structure was compared. The results show that there is a measurement error in the result of the traditional method, the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) cannot detect closed pores, and the result of scanning electron microscope (SEM) method is more comprehensive. Additionally, three types of pore structures have been proposed to describe the pore formation mechanism of pellets, namely original pores, pores left by shrinkage of liquid phase and pores left by induration of mineral particles. Furthermore, the pore structures of pellets were analyzed by MIP and SEM. The results reveal that MIP can measure the pores with diameters less than 1 μm, and the pore diameters measured by SEM range from 1.2 to 89.2 μm. Finally, the curvature of the pores is measured to evaluate the consolidation degree of the pellet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrupt enforcement of harvesting restrictions hampers the management of common-pool resources in many developing countries, contributing in particular to widespread illegal fishing and logging. In this paper, we examine a simple intervention that may mitigate the effects of such corruption if, as is often the case due to congestion, stock, or pecuniary externalities, harvesters' effort levels are strategic substitutes (i.e., greater effort by one harvester reduces the payoff to effort by other harvesters). We show that in this case, rather than sending out inspectors individually to each inspect a small subset of harvesters, sending them out as teams, whereby each team inspects a larger subset of harvesters, may be welfare enhancing. More specifically, we show that inspectors working in teams internalize more of the negative effort externalities between harvesters, and as a result choose to inspect more intensively, which ultimately reduces excessive harvest levels. Numerical simulations calibrated to data on fisheries indicate that the resulting welfare improvement can be significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Angiogenesis in the bone and its role in bone metabolic plays a fundamental role in the pathology of osteoporosis. Type-H vessels have been reported to exhibit distinct morphological, molecular, and functional properties. This review is aimed to illustrate the relationship between type-H vessels in the bone and bone metabolism. Methods: This manuscript reviews the articles on in vitro and in vivo experiments concerning the topic of type-H vessels and osteoporosis, and other researches in the area published by the author within the time frame from 2014 to 2019. Results: Current literatures have demonstrated that age-related loss of type-H vessels plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. Impaired bone mass can be reserved by enhancing the formation of type-H vessels. Activation of the Notch and Hif-1α signaling pathway in bone tissue and exogenous PDGF-BB treatment increase the number of type-H vessels, along with the restoration of bone mass. The effects of osteoblasts and low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) on type-H vessels remain to be further studied. Conclusions: These studies support unique functions for type-H vessels in the bone that may enable new therapeutic approaches to osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Dismal Swamp, a freshwater forested peatland, has accumulated massive amounts of soil carbon since the postglacial period. Logging and draining have severely altered the hydrology and forest composition, leading to drier soils, accelerated oxidation, and vulnerability to disturbance. The once dominant Atlantic white cedar, cypress, and pocosin forest types are now fragmented, resulting in maple-gum forest communities replacing over half the remaining area. In order to determine the effect of environmental variabes on carbon emissions, this study observes 2 years of CO2 and CH4 soil flux, which will also help inform future management decisions. Soil emissions were measured using opaque, non-permanent chambers set into the soil. As soil moisture increased by 1 unit of soil moisture content, CH4 flux increased by 457 μg CH4–C/m2/h. As soil temperature increased by 1 °C, CO2 emissions increased by 5109 μg CO2–C/m2/h. The area of Atlantic white cedar in the study boundary has an average yearly flux of 8.6 metric tons (t) of carbon from CH4 and 3270 t of carbon from CO2; maple-gum has an average yearly flux of 923 t of carbon from CH4 and 59,843 t of carbon from CO2; pocosin has an average yearly flux of 431 t of carbon from CH4 and 15,899 t of carbon from CO2. Total Cha−1year−1 ranged from 1845 kg of Cha−1year−1 in maple-gum to 2024 kg Cha−1year−1 for Atlantic white cedar. These results show that soil carbon gas flux depends on soil moisture, temperature and forest type, which are affected by anthropogenic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-velocity impacts of micro copper particles on the copper substrate in the cold spraying process are simulated and investigated with the material point method (MPM). Both the single-particle and the multiple-particle models are built and simulated. The large deformation and fracture phenomena induced by the impact can be well simulated with the MPM owing to its meshfree feature. The final configurations of the sprayed particle and the substrate agree well with the experimental results reported in the literature and the results of other numerical methods. It is observed that the interlocking between the particles and the substrate may be an important contributor to the bonding mechanism. Influences of the impact velocities and impact angles are investigated numerically in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to automatically recover chips during the drilling process of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), a new chip removal system of drilling processing, the suction-type internal chip removal system, has been put forward. The developed system can effectively recover chips produced in the drilling processing, which helps realize the green production. For this, at first, a method for solving the negative pressure value of the drilling of the suction-type internal chip removal system is given based on the calculation of suspension velocity of particles in gas-solid two-phase fluid mechanics. Secondly, the influence of inner-chip-removal drilling bit chip removal channel structure on the chip removal system performance is analyzed by FLUENT simulation. Finally, the correctness of the above theoretical analysis and simulation is verified through experiments, and the influence of drill speed and feed ratio on the performance of the system is further analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been recently shown to be dysregulated and closely related to several cancers. Here, we aimed to elucidate the function and the possible molecular mechanisms of lncRNA Metastasis-associated lung Adenocarcinoma transcript-1 (MALAT1) in human glioma. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expressions of MALAT1, miR-101 and Rap1B mRNA in U251 and U87 cells. The protein level of Rap1B was examined by western blot assays. Moreover, the proliferation and apoptosis of U251 and U87 cells were determined by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. Additionally, the targets of miR-101 were identified by target prediction and luciferase reporter assays. The results demonstrated that MALAT1 and Rap1B were upregulated, while miR-101 expression was downregulated in glioma cell lines U251 and U87. MALAT1 and Rap1B knockdown could inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of glioma cells. Moreover, MALAT1 promoted the Rap1B expression by sponging miR-101 in U251 and U87 cells. Furthermore, miR-101 downregulation or Rap1B overexpression reversed the proliferation inhibitory and apoptosis induction of glioma cell lines caused by MALAT1 knockdown. Taken together, MALAT1 promotes proliferation and suppresses apoptosis of glioma cells through derepressing Rap1B by sponging miR-101. The present study elucidates a novel MALAT1-miR-101-Rap1B regulatory axis in glioma, contributing to a better understanding of the glioma pathogenesis and providing a promising therapeutic target for glioma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A log Calabi-Yau pair consists of a proper variety X and a divisor D on it such that $$K_X+D$$ is numerically trivial. A folklore conjecture predicts that the dual complex of D is homeomorphic to the quotient of a sphere by a finite group. The main result of the paper shows that the fundamental group of the dual complex of D is a quotient of the fundamental group of the smooth locus of X, hence its pro-finite completion is finite. This leads to a positive answer in dimension $$\le $$ 4. We also study the dual complex of degenerations of Calabi-Yau varieties. The key technical result we prove is that, after a volume preserving birational equivalence, the transform of D supports an ample divisor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (RuBisCO), a key enzyme involved with photosynthetic carbon assimilation, catalyzes the carboxylation and oxidization of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate. Interestingly, the promoter region of this gene from Arthrospira platensis could drive the expression of a downstream gene in Escherichia coli. In this study, using green fluorescent protein as a reporter of gene expression, the structure and function of the promoter region of the RuBisCO gene of A. platensis was analyzed. There are three hypothetical promoter elements predicted in the 200 bp upstream of the open reading frame (ORF) of RuBisCO. Through deletion analysis of the promoter, it was demonstrated that one of these elements was the active promoter, which was located between −94 and the ORF of RuBisCO. The −35 box of the RuBisCO promoter (TTGACT) was very similar to that of the rpoD gene (TTGACA) of E. coli, with only the sixth nucleotide divergent. Site-directed mutational analysis showed that when the sixth nucleotide (T) was changed to A, the activity of the promoter remained unchanged. However, when the first and second Ts were mutated, the activities of the promoters decreased drastically. Determining the structure and function of promoters would help elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the gene expression and regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let f: X→ U be a projective morphism of normal varieties and ( X, Δ) a dlt pair. We prove that if there is an open set U⊂ U, such that ( X, Δ)× U has a good minimal model over U and the images of all the non-klt centers intersect U, then ( X, Δ) has a good minimal model over U. As consequences we show the existence of log canonical compactifications for open log canonical pairs, and the fact that the moduli functor of stable schemes satisfies the valuative criterion for properness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neointimal tissue characteristics inside sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) were evaluated by optical coherence tomography (OCT) according to follow-up duration. One hundred and thirty-three Optical coherence tomography was performed in 96 patients with 143 SES which were retrospectively included and divided into 2 groups according to follow-up duration: Group 1, <24 months (98 stents in 71 patients); Group 2, >24 months (35 stents in 25 patients). The neointimal tissue coverage pattern and characteristics were studied using a new OCT analysis system which can quantitatively analyze tissue property by measuring attenuation, backscatter and signal intensity in the region of interest. Using these parameters, a multivariable logistic regression model was constructed to divide neointima into homogenous or heterogeneous type. We defined homogeneous nointima as neointimal tissue having uniform optical properties and does not showing focal variations in backscattering pattern and heterogeneous neointima as neointimal tissue with focally changing optical properties and showing various backscattering patterns. The average time between stent implantation and follow-up OCT imaging was 1.2 years in Group 1 and 3.2 years in Group 2. The number of neointima covered cross-sections, neointimal thickness, and neointimal area increased significantly with the length of follow-up duration after SES implantation ( P < 0.01). The incidence of heterogeneous neointima was higher in Group 2 than in Group 1 ( P < 0.01). Heterogeneous neointima was associated with higher incidence of microvessels ( P = 0.0023) and lipid rich plaque ( P = 0.0015) compared with homogeneous neointima. The neointimal tissue characteristics may change over time after SES implantation. The incidence of heterogeneous pattern was higher in the SES group with longer follow-up duration. Microvessels and lipid rich plaques were more frequently observed in neointima with heterogeneous pattern. Neointimal heterogeneity could be an important factor for the late stability of SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intravascular Optical Coherence Tomography has been explored as an imaging tool for vessel wall and thrombus characterization. OCT enables a high resolution arterial wall imaging, and light properties allow tissue characterization. It has been proved one of the most valuable imaging modalities for the evaluation of vulnerable plaque and thrombus. OCT has a unique capacity in volumetric quantification of calcium, and unlike ultrasound, light can easily penetrate calcified plaques. Finally, this review paper will address aspects of the validation method of plaque characterization and potential pitfalls and put in perspective new approaches that may help the evolution of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geometric deformable models based on the level set method have become very popular in the last decade. To overcome an inherent limitation in accuracy while maintaining computational efficiency, adaptive grid techniques using local grid refinement have been developed for use with these models. This strategy, however, requires a very complex data structure, yields large numbers of contour points, and is inconsistent with the implementation of topology-preserving geometric deformable models (TGDMs). In this paper, we investigate the use of an alternative adaptive grid technique called the moving grid method with geometric deformable models. In addition to the development of a consistent moving grid geometric deformable model framework, our main contributions include the introduction of a new grid nondegeneracy constraint, the design of a new grid adaptation criterion, and the development of novel numerical methods and an efficient implementation scheme. The overall method is simpler to implement than using grid refinement, requiring no large, complex, hierarchical data structures. It also offers an extra benefit of automatically reducing the number of contour vertices in the final results. After presenting the algorithm, we demonstrate its performance using both simulated and real images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-supercapacitors are promising miniaturized energy storage devices that have attracted considerable research interest. However, their widespread use is limited by inefficient microfabrication technologies and their low energy density. Here, a flexible, designable micro-supercapacitor can be fabricated by a single pulse laser photonic-reduction stamping. A thousand spatially shaped laser pulses can be generated in one second, and over 30,000 micro-supercapacitors are produced within 10 minutes. The micro-supercapacitor and narrow gaps were dozens of microns and 500 nm, respectively. With the unique three-dimensional structure of laser-induced graphene based electrode, a single micro-supercapacitor exhibits an ultra-high energy density (0.23 Wh cm−3), an ultra-small time constant (0.01 ms), outstanding specific capacitance (128 mF cm−2 and 426.7 F cm−3) and a long-term cyclability. The unique technique is desirable for a broad range of applications, which surmounts current limitations of high-throughput fabrication and low energy density of micro-supercapacitors. Microfabrication for cost-effective miniaturized energy storage devices remains a challenge. Here, the authors propose a spatially shaped femtosecond laser method, which is ultrafast, one-step, high resolution and large-scale, for use in patterning flexible high-performance micro-supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to higher-order executive functions, underlying sensory processing ability is also thought to play an important role in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). An event-related potential feature, the mismatch negativity, reflects the ability of automatic sensory change processing and may be correlated with AD/HD symptoms and executive functions. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) in adults with AD/HD. Twenty eight adults with AD/HD and 31 healthy controls were included in this study. These two groups were matched in age, IQ and sex. In addition, both groups completed psychiatric evaluations, a visual ERP task used to elicit vMMN, and psychological measures about AD/HD symptoms and day-to-day executive functions. Compared to trols, the late vMMN (230–330 ms) was significantly reduced in the AD/HD group. Correlation analyses showed that late vMMN was correlated with executive functions but not AD/HD symptoms. However, further mediation analyses showed that different executive functions had mediated the relationships between late vMMN and AD/HD symptoms. Our findings indicate that the late vMMN, reflecting automatic sensory change processing ability, was impaired in adults with AD/HD. This impairment could have negative impact on AD/HD symptoms via affecting day-to-day executive functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]