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A single‐layered wideband circularly polarized (CP) reflectarray adopting a linearly polarized (LP) feed is designed, fabricated, and tested. The unit‐cell is composed of a pair of orthogonally placed slotted patches and it can offer a linear phase by varying the embedded slot length. The orthogonal patches' exterior dimensions are all identical thus rapid structural changes observed in traditional reflectarrays are circumvented. By manipulating the dimensions of slot length in orthogonal directions, and illuminated by a linearly polarized feed orientated diagonally to the aperture, a circularly polarized radiating wave can be generated. The array is designed at 10 GHz, comprising 529 unit‐cells with 0.3λ spacing. Measured results indicate a circularly polarized wave with a peak aperture efficiency of 46.4% is achieved while the 1‐dB gain bandwidth and 3‐dB axial ratio bandwidth are 28.8% and 35%, respectively, demonstrating a good overall performance of the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigenetics is a process that alters gene activity or phenotype without any changes in the underlying DNA sequence or genotype. These biological changes may have deleterious effects and can lead to various human diseases. Ongoing research is continuing to illuminate the role of epigenetics in a variety of pathophysiologic processes. Several categories of epigenetic mechanisms have been studied including chromatin remodeling, DNA methylation, histone modification, and non‐coding RNA mechanisms. These epigenetic changes can have a long‐term effect on gene expression without any underlying changes in the DNA sequences. The underlying pathophysiology of disorders of brain‐gut interaction and stress‐induced visceral pain are not fully understood and the role of epigenetic mechanisms in these disorders are starting to be better understood. Current work is underway to determine how epigenetics plays a role in the neurobiology of patients with chronic visceral pain and heightened visceral nociception. More recently, both animal models and human studies have shown how epigenetic regulation modulates stress‐induced visceral pain. While much more work is needed to fully delineate the mechanistic role of epigenetics in the neurobiology of chronic visceral nociception, the current study by Louwies et al., in Neurogastroenterology and Motility provides additional evidence supporting the involvement of epigenetic alterations in the central nucleus of the amygdala in stress‐induced visceral hypersensitivity in rodents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify the prognostic factors in patients with Waldeyer's ring diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (WR‐DLBCL), comparing the efficacy of radiotherapy (RT) for the WR‐DLBCL patients in the pre‐rituximab and rituximab eras. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 134 patients diagnosed with WR‐DLBCL. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the prognostic factors for WR‐DLBCL. Then, we divided these patients into the rituximab plus chemotherapy group (R‐chemotherapy) (n = 88) and chemotherapy group (n = 46), and the Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression model analyses were applied to investigate the treatment value of RT in both the groups. Multivariate analysis revealed international prognostic index (IPI) ≥ 3 and chemotherapy without rituximab as significant risk factors for the progression‐free survival (PFS, IPI ≥ 3: p = 0.001; chemotherapy without rituximab: p = 0.002) and overall survival (OS, IPI ≥ 3, p < 0.001; chemotherapy without rituximab, p = 0.024). Rituximab combined with chemotherapy significantly improved PFS (p = 0.002) and OS (p = 0.006) in these patients. RT did not significantly contribute to the survival in the overall cohort analysis, whereas in the subgroup analysis, RT significantly improved the PFS (p = 0.025) and OS (p = 0.029) for the patients in the chemotherapy group, but not in the R‐chemotherapy group. In conclusion, the WR‐DLBCL patients could benefit from RT in the pre‐rituximab era, whereas the addition of rituximab to chemotherapy significantly improved the survival of WR‐DLBCL patients, and the clinical benefit of RT was reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the development of MLED glass display products, the issues of ENIG products are studied in this paper. A series of problems such as copper corrosion and NiAu wire were encountered in the process of ENIG. Through appropriate methods, the above problems were significantly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present the methodological background to and underlying research design of an ongoing research project on the scientific evaluation of serious games and/or computer-based simulation games (SGs) for advanced learning. The main research questions are: (1) what are the requirements and design principles for a comprehensive social scientific methodology for the evaluation of SGs?; (2) to what extent do SGs contribute to advanced learning?; (3) what factors contribute to or determine this learning?; and (4) to what extent and under what conditions can SG-based learning be transferred to the real world? In the Netherlands between 2005 and 2012, several hundred SG sessions with 12 SGs were evaluated systematically, uniformly and quantitatively to create a dataset, which comprises data on 2488 respondents in higher education or work organizations. The authors present the research model, the quasi-experimental design and the evaluation instruments. This focus in this paper is on the methodology and dataset, which form a sound foundation for forthcoming publications on the empirical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many patients suffer from chronic gastrointestinal diseases characterized by chronic inflammation, increased intestinal permeability and visceral pain in which there is no definitive treatment. Adult stem cells have recently been used in various disease states to contribute wound-healing processes. In the current study we investigated the ability of intra-colonic adult stem cells application to heal colonic inflammation in IL-10−/− mice with active colitis. The aims of this study were to determine whether intra-colonic infusion of adult colonic stem cells (CSCs) (local stem cell transplantation): ( i) restores intestinal permeability; ( ii) attenuates visceral hypersensitivity; ( iii) heals murine colitis. IL-10−/− mice with active colitis were transplanted with adult stem cells. Mice received either a single intracolonic infusion of CSCs or colonic epithelial cells. Two weeks after transplantation, we measured visceral hypersensitivity and intestinal permeability and correlated these with histological improvement of colitis. IL-10−/− mice that received stem cell transplantation showed histopathologic evidence of recovery from colitis. Improvement in colitis as graded by pathology scores correlated with restoration of intestinal permeability and decreased visceral hypersensitivity. Intra-colonic administration of CSCs is a potential therapeutic method for treating refractory symptoms in patients with chronic gastrointestinal diseases associated with chronic inflammation and visceral hypersensitivity. This method may be safer and should have far fewer side effects than systemic stem cell administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]