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To validate the use of synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (SyMRI) volumetry by comparing with child-optimized SPM 12 volumetry in 3 T pediatric neuroimaging. In total, 106 children aged 4.7–18.7 years who underwent both synthetic and 3D T1-weighted imaging and had no abnormal imaging/neurologic findings were included for the SyMRI vs. SPM T1-only segmentation (SPM T1). Forty of the 106 children who underwent an additional 3D T2-weighted imaging were included for the SyMRI vs. SPM multispectral segmentation (SPM multi). SPM segmentation using an age-appropriate atlas and inverse-transforming template-space intracranial mask was compared with SyMRI segmentation. Volume differences between SyMRI and SPM T1 were plotted against age to evaluate the influence of age on volume difference. Measurements derived from SyMRI and two SPM methods showed excellent agreements and strong correlations except for the CSF volume (CSFV) (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.87–0.98; r = 0.78–0.96; relative volume difference other than CSFV = 6.8–18.5% [SyMRI vs. SPM T1] and 11.3–22.7% [SyMRI vs. SPM multi]). Dice coefficients of all brain tissues (except CSF) were in the range 0.78–0.91. The Bland–Altman plot and age-related volume difference change suggested that the volume differences between the two methods were influenced by the volume of each brain tissue and subject’s age (p

We compared the radiation dose and image quality between the 2nd generation and the 3rd generation dual-source single-energy (DSSE) and dual-source dual-energy (DSDE) CT of the abdomen.We included patients undergoing follow-up abdominal CT after partial or radical nephrectomy in the first 10 months of 2019 (2nd generation DS CT) and the first 10 months of 2020 (3rd generation DS CT). We divided the 320 patients into 4 groups (A, 2nd generation DSSE CT; B, 2nd generation DSDE CT; C, 3rd generation DSSE CT; and D, 3rd generation DSDE CT) (The mean size-specific dose estimation of 3rd generation DSDE CT group was significantly lower than that of the 2nd generation DSSE CT (42.5%,Our results showed a considerable reduction in the radiation dose while maintaining high image quality with 3rd generation DSDE CT as compared to the 2nd generation DSDE CT and 2nd generation DSSE CT.2세대 및 3세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지와 이중 소스 이중 에너지를 이용한 복부 CT의 방사선량과 영상 품질을 비교하였다.부분 또는 근치적 신절제술 후 2019년 첫 10개월(2세대 이중 소스 CT)과 2020년 첫 10개월(3세대 이중 소스 CT)에 추적관찰 복부 CT를 시행한 환자들을 대상으로 하였다. 총 320명의 환자를 성별과 체질량지수에 따라 각각 80명씩 4개 그룹으로 나누었다(A, 2세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT; B, 2세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT; C, 3세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT 및 D, 3세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT). 각 그룹 간 방사선량과 영상 품질(객관적, 주관적 품질)을 비교하였다.3세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT의 평균 신체 크기 특이적 선량 추정값은 2세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT (42.5%,3세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT는 2세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT 및 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT와 비교하여 높은 영상 품질을 유지하면서 방사선량을 상당히 감소시킨 결과를 보여주었다.

Background Demographic, work environmental, and psychosocial features are associated with mental health of healthcare professionals at pandemic frontline. The current study aimed to find predictors of mental health for public health doctors from working experiences at frontline of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods With first-come and first-served manner, 350 public health doctors with experiences of work at COVID-19 frontline participated online survey on August 2020. Mental health was defined using the total scores of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Stanford Presenteeism Scale-6. Multivariate logistic regression models of mental health with lowest Akaike Information Criterion were determined among all combinations of working environments, perceived threats and satisfaction at frontline, and demographics that were significant (P Results Perceived distress, lowered self-efficacy at work, anxiety, and depressive mood were reported by 45.7, 34.6, 11.4, and 15.1% of respondents, respectively. Predictors of poor mental health found in the multivariate logistic regression analyses were environmental (insufficient personal protective equipment, workplace of screening center, prolonged workhours) and psychosocial (fear of infection and death, social stigma and rejection) aspects of working experiences at frontline. Satisfaction of monetary compensation and proactive coping (acceptance and willingness to volunteer at frontline) were predictive of better mental health. Conclusions Sufficient supply of personal protective equipment and training on infection prevention at frontline, proper workhours and satisfactory monetary compensation, and psychological supports are required for better mental health of public health doctors at frontline of COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND Venous invasion is a poor prognostic factor in colon cancer but is often underreported with significant variability. OBJECTIVES We aimed to determine the impact of an elastin stain on venous invasion detection in colon cancer and evaluate the value of venous invasion in predicting disease recurrence in combination with lymph node status and other prognostic factors. DESIGN This is a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database. SETTING This study was conducted at a tertiary cancer center. PATIENTS A total of 418 patients who underwent curative resection for stage I to III colon cancer and routinely adopted an elastin stain were evaluated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Venous invasion detection rate after adopting elastin stain, prognostic factors influencing disease recurrences by multivariate Cox regression models, and survival were measured. The zones of lymph node metastasis were defined as LNZ1, LNZ2, and LNZ3, corresponding to metastases in the pericolic, intermediate, and apical nodes. RESULTS Venous invasion detection rate increased from 11.3% to 35.4% compared with the previous period in which only hematoxylin and eosin stain was performed. Cox regression analysis showed venous invasion (HR, 3.856; 95% CI, 1.249-11.910; p = 0.019) and lymph node metastases (HR, 3.156; 95% CI, 1.094-9.108; p = 0.034) in all stages and LNZ 2, 3 (HR, 2.649; 95% CI, 1.244-5.640; p = 0.012) in stage III to be significantly associated with poor disease-free survival. When stratifying all patients by these 3 factors, patients with stage III [LNZ1/venous invasion (-)] had disease-free survival comparable with stage I, but significantly better disease-free survival than those with stage II [venous invasion (+)] (p = 0.018). Patients with stage II [venous invasion (+)] had better disease-free survival by using adjuvant chemotherapy (p < 0.001). LIMITATIONS This study was limited by its retrospective design. CONCLUSION Elastin stain contributed to a considerable increase in venous invasion detection. Venous invasion can be a powerful predictor of poor disease-free survival beyond lymph node metastases when limited to the pericolic area and is useful for deciding the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II colon cancer. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/B573. EL VALOR PRONSTICO DE LA INVASIN VENOSA DETECTADA POR LA TINCIN DE ELASTINA PUEDE SUPERAR EL ESTADO DE LOS GANGLIOS LINFTICOS EN EL CNCER DE COLON ANTECEDENTES:Invasion venosa (IV) es un factor de mal pronostico en el cancer de colon, que frecuentemente no se informa con una variabilidad significativa.OBJETIVOS:Nuestro objetivo fue determinar el impacto de tincion de elastina en la deteccion de IV en el cancer de colon y evaluar el valor de IV en la prediccion de la recurrencia de la enfermedad en combinacion con el estado de los ganglios linfaticos y otros factores pronosticos.DISENO:Este es un analisis retrospectivo de una base de datos recopilada prospectivamente.ENTORNO CLINICO:Este estudio se realizo en un centro oncologico de referencia de tercer nivel.PACIENTES:Se valoraron un total de 418 pacientes sometidos a reseccion curativa por cancer de colon en estadio I-III utilizando de manera rutinaria una tincion de elastina.PRINCIPALES MEDIDAS DE VALORACION:Se midieron la tasa de deteccion de IV despues de adoptar la tincion de elastina, los factores de pronostico que influyen en las recurrencias de la enfermedad mediante modelos de regresion de Cox multivariados y la supervivencia. La zona de metastasis ganglionares se definio como, LNZ1, LNZ2 y LNZ3, correspondientes a las metastasis en los ganglios pericolicos, intermedios y apicales, respectivamente.RESULTADOS:La tasa de deteccion de IV aumento de 11,3% a 35,4% en comparacion con el periodo anterior en el que solo se realizo tincion con hematoxilina y eosina. El analisis de regresion de Cox mostro VI (razon de riesgo, 3.856; intervalo de confianza [IC] del 95%, 1.249-11.910, p = 0.019) y metastasis en los ganglios linfaticos (razon de riesgo, 3.156; IC del 95%, 1.094-9.108, p = 0.034) en todos los estadios y LNZ 2, 3 (cociente de riesgo, 2.649; IC del 95%, 1.244-5.640, p = 0.012) en el estadio III se asociaron significativamente con una pobre supervivencia libre de enfermedad. Al estratificar a todos los pacientes segun estos tres factores, los pacientes con estadio III [LNZ1 / VI (-)] tuvieron una sobrevivencia sin enfermedad (SSE) comparable con el estadio I, pero una supervivencia libre de enfermedad significativamente mejor que aquellos con estadio II [VI (+)] (p = 0,018). Pacientes en estadio II [VI (+)] tuvieron una mejor supervivencia sin enfermedad mediante el uso de quimioterapia adyuvante (p

We briefly introduce some results of research and development projects performed by ETRI on the RoF technology and THz wireless delivery systems.

We thank Asma Boujtat for technical help. We are indebted to the members of the Collet laboratory and to Nassos Typas (EMBL, Heidelberg) for helpful suggestions and discussions and to Tom Silhavy (Princeton) for providing bacterial strains. J.S. was a research fellow of the FRIA and J.F.C. is an Investigator of the FRFS-WELBIO. This work was funded by the WELBIO, by grants from the F.R.S.-FNRS, from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (ARC 17/22-087), from the European Commission via the International Training Network Train2Target (721484), and from the EOS Excellence in Research Program of the FWO and FRS-FNRS (G0G0818N).; Gram-negative bacteria express structurally diverse lipoproteins in their envelope. Here we found that approximately half of lipoproteins destined to the Escherichia coli outer membrane display an intrinsically disordered linker at their N-terminus. Intrinsically disordered regions are common in proteins, but establishing their importance in vivo has remained challenging. Here, as we sought to unravel how lipoproteins mature, we discovered that unstructured linkers are required for optimal trafficking by the Lol lipoprotein sorting system: linker deletion re-routes three unrelated lipoproteins to the inner membrane. Focusing on the stress sensor RcsF, we found that replacing the linker with an artificial peptide restored normal outer membrane targeting only when the peptide was of similar length and disordered. Overall, this study reveals the role played by intrinsic disorder in lipoprotein sorting, providing mechanistic insight into the biogenesis of these proteins and suggesting that evolution can select for intrinsic disorder that supports protein function.

This paper presents an image compression method using deep learning based super-resolution. Different from traditional image compression methods, we propose to select the super resolution network to enhance the perceptual quality. In the proposed method, the network selection map is generated by utilizing the semantic segmentation, image classification, and encoding distortion. Compared with traditional scalable image coding methods, more texture area are visually pleased even in the severe low bitrate encoding. For this reason, our method has the potential to result better compression ratio in terms of subjective image quality. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. When compared with high efficiency video coding (HEVC), our method achieve the average of 43.42% bitrate saving at the same perceptual image quality.

We experimentally demonstrate the use of silicon photonics circuit (SPC) in the simple and cost-effective photonics-aided Terahertz (THz) wireless transmission system. We perform theoretical investigation (with experimental confirmation) to understand that the system performance is more sensitive to the free space path loss (FSPL) at the THz wireless link than the SPC’s insertion loss. The SPC, we design and fabricate, combines two incident optical carriers at different wavelengths and modulates one of two optical carriers with data to transfer, consequently reducing the system footprint that is indeed one of the key challenges that must be tackled for better practicability of the THz communication system. We perform experimental verification to show the feasibility of 40 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off-keying (OOK) signal transmission over 1.4 m wireless link for possibly its application in short-reach indoor wireless communication systems utilizing (sub-)THz frequency band such as, e.g., indoor WiFi, distributed antenna/radio systems, rack-to-rack data delivery, etc. The SPC could be further integrated with various photonic elements such as semiconductor optical amplifiers, laser diodes, and photo-mixers, which will enable the path towards all-photonic THz-wave synthesizers.

Air pollution particulate matter 100 genes), which included transcriptional drivers of mucus metaplasia (SPDEF and FOXA3). Exposure to a higher OE dose modified the expression of 1,240 genes and further exacerbated expression responses observed at the moderate dose, including the mucus secretory program. Moreover, the higher OE dose significantly increased the MUC5AC/MUC5B gel-forming mucin expression ratio and strongly downregulated ciliated cell expression programs, including key ciliating cell transcription factors (e.g., FOXJ1 and MCIDAS). Chronic OE stimulation induced mucus metaplasia–like remodeling characterized by increases in MUC5AC(+) secretory cells and MUC5AC mucus secretions. This epithelial remodeling may underlie poor respiratory outcomes associated with high PM(2.5) exposure.

Background: We monitored exposure to fine particulates (PM2.5), ozone, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ambient temperature for pregnant women with and without asthma. Methods: Women (n = 40) from the Breathe&mdash, Well-Being, Environment, Lifestyle, and Lung Function Study (2015&ndash, 2018) were enrolled during pregnancy and monitored for 2&ndash, 4 days. Daily pollutants were measured using personal air monitors, indoor air monitors, and nearest Environmental Protection Agency&rsquo, s stationary monitors based on GPS tracking and home address. Results: Personal-monitor measurements of PM2.5, ozone, and NO2 did not vary by asthma status but exposure profiles significantly differed by assessment methods. EPA stationary monitor-based methods appeared to underestimate PM2.5 and temperature exposure and overestimate ozone and NO2 exposure. Higher indoor-monitored PM2.5 exposures were associated with smoking and the use of gas appliances. The proportion of waking-time during which personal monitors were worn was ~56%. Lower compliance was associated with exercise, smoking, being around a smoker, and the use of a prescription drug. Conclusions: Exposure did not vary by asthma status but was influenced by daily activities and assessment methods. Personal monitors may better capture exposures but non-compliance merits attention. Meanwhile, larger monitoring studies are warranted to further understand exposure profiles and the health effects of air pollution during pregnancy.

The goal of this study was to evaluate various clinicopathologic and imaging characteristics as independent predictors of axillary pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and to determine the added value of a model that integrates imaging characteristics of ultrasound (US) restaging with known clinicopathologic characteristics. A total of 227 clinically node-positive breast cancer patients underwent axillary US after NAC (termed US restaging) before surgery. We constructed a clinicopathologic model with independent predictors of clinicopathologic characteristics in multivariate analyses. A combined model was created by integrating imaging characteristics with clinicopathologic characteristics. The predictive values of the models were compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Of the 227 patients, 106 (46.7%) achieved axillary pCR. Multivariate analysis revealed that higher histologic grades (odds ratio [OR] = 4.21 and 10.11 for moderate and high grade, respectively), negative hormonal receptor status (OR = 2.88), smaller (≤1.5 cm) residual tumor size (OR = 2.83), absence of fatty hilum loss (OR = 14.06) and absence of eccentric cortical thickening of the axillary lymph node (OR = 4.42) were independently associated with the axillary pCR (all p values0.05). Integrating the imaging characteristics of the US restaging significantly increased the predictive capability of the model that applied only the clinicopathologic characteristics (c-index, 0.783 vs. 0.657; p0.001). Imaging characteristics of the US restaging were independently associated with axillary pCR after NAC and they significantly improved the predictive capability of the model that used only the clinicopathologic characteristics.

We demonstrate the improvement of the optical power budget in multi-intermediate frequency over fiber (IFoF) based indoor-distributed antenna system (DAS) with 48 IF carriers of LTE-A signal using laser over-modulation. The laser over-modulation can improve the optical power budget by increasing the input RF power to DFB-LD until a limit of nonlinear distortion such as CTB and clipping, when the received optical power is very low. To compensate the decrease of optical power budget in analog optical link, we employ the laser over-modulation, and derive the optimum optical modulation index (OMI)/ch to enhance link budget. To investigate the effect of laser over-modulation, we analyze the noise characteristics associated with the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) depending on the received optical power, and compare three different optical receivers (Rx) most often used: i) PIN-photodiode (PD), ii) APD, iii) PIN-PD following an EDFA (EDFA-PIN), respectively. Using the laser over-modulation, it is experimentally observed to achieve optical power budget of 25 dB for PIN-PD, 31 dB for APD, and 33 dB for EDFA-PIN in multi-IFoF based indoor-DAS for 48 x 20 MHz LTE-A signals transmission, respectively.

In this paper, a low bit-rate compressed image quality enhancement framework is presented. A recent image/video coding method and a deep learning based quality enhancement method are integrated to improve the perceptual quality of compressed images. The proposed architecture is designed to reduce the coding artifact and restore the blurred texture details. The experimental results presents that the proposed framework yields a 33% improvement in the Perceptual Index score which is consistent with visual evaluation on a sample of results.

In this article, versatile video coding, the next-generation video coding standard, is combined with a deep convolutional neural network to achieve state-of-the-art image compression efficiency. The proposed hierarchical grouped residual dense network exhaustively exploits hierarchical features in each architectural level to maximize the image quality enhancement capability. The basic building block employed for hierarchical grouped residual dense network is residual dense block which exploits hierarchical features from internal convolutional layers. Residual dense blocks are then combined into a grouped residual dense block exploiting hierarchical features from residual dense blocks. Finally, grouped residual dense blocks are connected to comprise a hierarchical grouped residual dense block so that hierarchical features from grouped residual dense blocks can also be exploited for quality enhancement of versatile video coding intra-coded images. Various non-architectural and architectural aspects affecting the training efficiency and performance of hierarchical grouped residual dense network are explored. The proposed hierarchical grouped residual dense network respectively obtained 10.72% and 14.3% of Bjøntegaard-delta-rate gains against versatile video coding in the experiments conducted on two public image datasets with different characteristics to verify the image compression efficiency.

In recent years, deep neural networks have been utilized in a wide variety of applications including image generation. In particular, generative adversarial networks (GANs) are able to produce highly realistic pictures as part of tasks such as image compression. As with standard compression, it is desirable to be able to automatically assess the perceptual quality of generative images to monitor and control the encode process. However, existing image quality algorithms are ineffective on GAN generated content, especially on textured regions and at high compressions. Here we propose a new naturalness-based image quality predictor for generative images. Our new GAN picture quality predictor is built using a multi-stage parallel boosting system based on structural similarity features and measurements of statistical similarity. To enable model development and testing, we also constructed a subjective GAN image quality database containing (distorted) GAN images and collected human opinions of them. Our experimental results indicate that our proposed GAN IQA model delivers superior quality predictions on the generative image datasets, as well as on traditional image quality datasets., Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Image Processing

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common mesenchymal neoplasm of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). In fewer than 5% of cases, GIST originates primarily from outside the GIT. The occurrence of GIST originating from the pancreas is rare. Sometimes, neuroendocrine tumors should be differentiated from GISTs because of their hyperenhancing nature in radiologic images. We report a case of GIST arising in the pancreas that was confirmed by surgical resection.

건식 초음파 유량계는 기존 배관설비를 변경하지 않고 유량이 측정 가능하므로 산업현장에서 많은 주목을 받고 있다. 하지만 기존 건식 초음파 유량계는 압전 방식의 초음파 변환을 이용하므로 배관-유량계 접촉 문제, 낮은 신호대잡음비, 협소한 적용 온도 구간 등의 한계를 지니고 있다. 본 연구에서는 압전 원리 대신 전자기음향변환원리를 이용한 초음파 유량계를 제안하고 전자기 음향 트랜스듀서 적용에 따른 시간차법을 이용한 유량산출 모델을 제시하였다. 이를 바탕으로 1MHz의 중심주파수를 갖는 전자기음향트랜스듀서(EMAT) 기반 초음파유량계를 제작하였다. 제안한 유량계와 유량산출모델의 검증을 위해 실배관 시험을 수행하였다. 기존 전자식 유량계의 성능과 비교를 통해 제안한 EMAT 기반 초음파유량계의 타당성을 확인하였다.

Simultaneous substitution of Ba and/or Ti into Pb(Zn1/2W1/2)O3 was attempted in order to investigate the development of a perovskite structure. Precursor powders of the B-site components were separately prepared and post-reacted with the remaining components to assist the perovskite formation. The low formation yields of perovskite at Pb(Zn1/2W1/2)O3-rich compositions increased continuously with increasing substituent levels. Dielectric constant and loss values of the sintered ceramics were measured, followed by microstructure examination.

In this study, we demonstrate the intermediate-frequency-over-fiber (IFoF) based mobile fronthaul technology implemented in a 28-GHz millimeter-wave (mmWave) based 5G prototype supporting Giga-bit mobile broadband services. In order to confirm the technical feasibility of the proposed IFoF-based mobile fronthaul, the clock signal for frequency synchronization and mobile payload data are simultaneously transmitted in the form of IF carriers. Phase noise and error vector magnitude measurements were performed on separate and simultaneous clock transmission paths, respectively. The results confirm an acceptable impact on performance, and the simultaneous clock transmission method reduces system costs and complexity, and improves the flexibility and efficiency of wavelength operation. We also successfully demonstrate the operation of real-time Giga-bit mobile services such as 4K video streaming over IFoF-based mobile fronthaul for 5G prototypes with a 28-GHz mmWave. The achieved peak data-rate per user is up to 1.5 Gb/s, which complies with the requirements of the 5G vision of IMT-2020.

Herein, amino-functionalized monodisperse polymeric microcapsules were prepared via Schiff-base reaction between polyethyleneimine (PEI) and glutaraldehyde (GA) using a microfluidic approach. The GA encapsulated in the microcapsules leaked through thermal-induced microcracks at the shell of the microcapsules, and then the leaked GA caused crosslinking of the PEI molecules onto the shell without any further treatments. The success of amino-functionalization and the surface morphology of the microcapsules were demonstrated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and optical microscopy. Due to the presence of abundant amine groups in the PEI molecules on the shell, the amino-functionalized microcapsules serve as an effective adsorbent for heavy metal ions (HMI). The as-prepared microcapsules were evaluated as adsorbents to remove Cu2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ ions from the aqueous solution under varying process parameters such as pH, contact time, and metal ion concentration. The adsorption capacity of the microcapsules for Cu2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ was measured and fitted using the Sips isotherm model. After completion of HMI adsorption, the microcapsules were readily separated from the aqueous suspension by an external magnetic field. In addition, the cyclic adsorption–desorption efficiency of the amino-functionalized microcapsules was almost maintained for five times.

Suberin is a natural polyester providing the impermeability and mechanical damping of the plant cell walls. It is fascinating because ester bonds in the suberin can be easily hydrolyzed to provide various functional chemical precursors for further applications. This study investigates an unprecedented way to tailor energy-absorbing capabilities in silica-reinforced styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) composites by introducing depolymerized suberin derivatives (DSDs) extracted from cork and potato periderm. The filler–matrix couplings were experimentally and analytically investigated through dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and the Huber–Vilgis model. The DSDs modified silica–polymer interfaces seem to offer a substantial increase in strength, toughness, and energy-absorption by nearly 47 %, 336 %, and 126 %, respectively, compared to bis(3-triethoxysilylpropyl)-tetrasulfide (TESPT)-coupled elastomers, without sacrificing the modulus. These findings could inspire natural materials enabled composite design for high energy-absorbing materials and provide a breakthrough in utilizing natural resources for next-generation structures such as urban air mobility or autonomous electrical vehicle, which typically require multifunctional performances including lightweight, high strength, and energy-absorbing capability.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic relevance of a modified 3-point MRI-based tumor regression grading system incorporating DWI for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT).Between March 2012 and September 2013, 118 consecutively registered patients with middle or lower locally advanced rectal cancer who underwent CRT followed by surgery were enrolled in this retrospective study. Two radiologists in consensus assessed MRI tumor regression grade (mrTRG) based on T2-weighted images and high b value DW images (0 and 1000 s/mmBoth the accuracy (72.9% vs 38.1%; p0.001) and the interreader agreement (κ = 0.580 vs 0.338; p0.001) of modified 3-point mrTRG were improved over the established 5-point mrTRG. Modified mrTRG (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.505; 95% CI, 1.231-5.100) was independently associated with 3-year DFS rate (p = 0.011). There was also a significant difference in the 3-year DFS rate between responders (73.8%; 95% CI, 64.2-81.3%) and nonresponders (41.7%; 95% CI, 10.9-70.8%) (p = 0.028).In patients with middle or lower locally advanced rectal cancer, the modified 3-point mrTRG incorporating DWI was independently associated with the 3-year DFS rate after CRT followed by surgery. The grading scale may be used as a surrogate for expected prognosis of preoperative CRT. Further prospective trials are warranted.

In the manufacturing process of steel rod, a number of micro-scale defects occur along the axial direction on the surface of the rods. To prevent failures in advance, a method to detect the micro-scale cracks remaining on the surface of rod is required. This work employs an Electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) to evaluate the cracks of the wire rods with the noncontact Ultrasonic reverberation spectroscopy (URS). The resonance at the cross section of the cylindrical rods is generated by horizontally polarized shear waves driven in the circumferential direction. Through a series of URS experiments, changes in the resonant frequency, the amplitude of the resonant peak, and the attenuation of the ultrasonic reverberation were observed at intact and defected parts of specimens. The results showed that the URS technique may be one of the effective tools to detect the axial surface microcrack with its depth of a few tens of micrometers.

// Hye Jin Kim 1 , Gyu-Seog Choi 1 , Jun Seok Park 1 , Soo Yeun Park 1 , Seung Hyun Cho 2 , Soo Jung Lee 3 , Byung Woog Kang 3 and Jong Gwang Kim 3 1 Colorectal Cancer Center, Kyungpook National University Medical Center, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea 2 Department of Radiology, Kyungpook National University Medical Center, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea 3 Department of Oncology/Hematology, Kyungpook National University Medical Center, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea Correspondence to: Gyu-Seog Choi, email: kyuschoi@mail.knu.ac.kr Keywords: lateral pelvic lymph node dissection, locally advanced rectal cancer, preoperative chemoradiation Received: May 24, 2017 Accepted: July 29, 2017 Published: August 10, 2017 ABSTRACT Background: Although lateral pelvic lymph node (LPN) metastasis is a major cause of local recurrence in patients with rectal cancer, controversy still remains on the treatment of suspected LPN metastasis, “suspicious LPN”. We aimed to determine the optimal treatment strategies for suspicious LPN, in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who underwent preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Materials and Methods: Of 377 patients who received preoperative CRT for rectal cancer between 2006 and 2013, 84 (22.3%) had suspicious LPNs on pretreatment MRI. Patients’ characteristics, MRI findings, operative and pathologic findings, and oncologic outcomes were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Of 84 patients with suspicious LPNs, 61 showed good response to CRT on posttreatment MRI (short-axis LPN diameter < 5 mm). Among them, 31 patients underwent TME alone (group A), and 30 underwent TME plus LPND (group B). The remaining 23 patients had persistently suspicious LPNs on post-CRT MRI and underwent TME plus LPND (group C). Pathologic LPN metastasis was confirmed in five patients (16.7%) in group B and 15 (62.5%) in group C. Local recurrence developed in 7 (22.6%), 0 (0%), and 4 (17.4%) patients in groups A, B, and C, respectively. Five patients (16.1%) in group A developed in situ LPN recurrences. The 3-year disease-free survival rates were 53.7%, 74.2%, and 46.9% in groups A, B, and C, respectively. Conclusions: Study findings suggested that LPND cannot be omitted for patients with suspicious LPNs on pretreatment MRI even with good response to CRT. Findings from pretreatment MRI should be considered to determine whether LPND is indicated.

The emerging wire-shaped supercapacitors (WSSs) have motivated tremendous research interests in energy storage devices. However, challenges still exist in the pursuit of high-rate performance WSS. Here, a graphene fiber made from chemical vapor deposition grown laminated graphene sheet is adopted to form a WSS which exhibits an exceptional rate capability with a relaxation time constant of 1.4 ms, smallest among WSSs reported to date. Furthermore, the resulting WSS can be charged-discharged at a high scan rate of 100 V s −1 while maintaining good capacitive behavior. When the scan rate increased by 5000 times, from 20 mV s −1 to 100 V s −1 , the graphene fiber based WSS maintains 38.6% of its original capacitance. After 10,000 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles, the specific capacitance retains over 105%, demonstrating a long cycle stability.

Background: To evaluate the added clinical value of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans to chest CT imaging in predicting the conversion to thoracotomy during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy in patients with lung cancer. Methods: This is a retrospective study of 235 consecutive patients who underwent planned VATS lobectomy for primary lung cancer between 2011 and 2015. CT images were interpreted in terms of the presence and the attenuation of peribronchial lymph nodes (PLN) and peribronchial cuffs of soft (PCS) tissue, pleural calcification, and parenchymal calcified nodule. On FDG PET/CT images, anthracofibrotic lymph node was considered present when high FDG uptake (SUVmax >3.5) was observed on PET/CT images corresponded to PLN or PCS on chest CT. Results: Among the 235 patients undergoing attempted VATS lobectomy, 55 (23.4%) underwent conversion to thoracotomy. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the attenuation of PLN or PCS on chest CT (OR, 2.57; 95% CI, 1.328–4.380, 0.005) was an only independent predictor of conversion. The ROC curve showed that combined FDG PET/CT and chest CT reading [areas under curve (AUC), 0.847 (95% CI, 0.795–0.891)] was significantly better than that of chest CT scans alone [AUC, 0.655 (95% CI, 0.50–0.751)] in predicting conversion (P=0.024). Conclusions: The addition of FDG PET/CT scanning to chest CT imaging provides better performance for predicting conversion to thoracotomy during VATS lobectomy in lung cancer patients. Therefore, in lung cancer patients undergoing surgical resection, FDG PET/CT can provide additional reliable information in selecting the appropriate surgical approach for a lobectomy.

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional outcomes of medialized rotator cuff repair and the continuity of repaired tendon in chronic retracted rotator cuff tears. Methods Thirty-five consecutive patients were selected from 153 cases that underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair for more than medium-sized posterosuperior rotator cuff tears between July 2009 and July 2012 performed with the medialized repair. All cases were available for at least 2 years of postoperative follow-up. The visual analog scale of pain, muscle strength, Constant score, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, and University of California–Los Angeles score were evaluated. Results At the final follow-up, all clinical outcomes were significantly improved. The visual analog scale score for pain improved from 6 ± 1 preoperatively to 2 ± 1 postoperatively. The range of motion increased from preoperatively to postoperatively: active forward elevation, from 134° ± 49° to 150° ± 16°; active external rotation at the side, from 47° ± 15° to 55° ± 10°; and active internal rotation, from L3 to L1. The shoulder score also improved: Constant score, from 53.5 ± 16.7 to 79 ± 10; American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, from 51 ± 15 to 82 ± 8; and University of California–Los Angeles score, from 14 ± 4 to 28 ± 4. The retear cases at the final follow-up were 6 (17%). Conclusions Medialized repair may be useful in cases in which anatomic bone-to-tendon repair would be difficult because of the excessive tension of the repaired tendon and a torn tendon that does not reach the anatomic insertion.

The clinical application of the multi-echo, multi-delay technique of synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) generates multiple sequences in a single acquisition but has mainly been used in adults. To evaluate the image quality of synthetic brain MR in children compared with that of conventional images. Twenty-nine children (median age: 6 years, range: 0–16 years) underwent synthetic and conventional imaging. Synthetic (T2-weighted, T1-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery [FLAIR]) images with settings matching those of the conventional images were generated. The overall image quality, gray/white matter differentiation, lesion conspicuity and image degradations were rated on a 5-point scale. The relative contrasts were assessed quantitatively and acquisition times for the two imaging techniques were compared. Synthetic images were inferior due to more pronounced image degradations; however, there were no significant differences for T1- and T2-weighted images in children

We propose a perceptual video coding (PVC) method that uses the deep neural network (DNN) based just noticeable difference (JND) suppression model. The proposed JND suppression model's goal is to reduce the perceptual redundancy of the input video prior to the encoding process through a DNN, and further improve the compression efficiency while minimally affecting the perceptual quality.

International audience; The cell envelope of Gram-negative bacteria is a multilayered structure essential for bacterial viability; the peptidoglycan cell wall provides shape and osmotic protection to the cell, and the outer membrane serves as a permeability barrier against noxious compounds in the external environment. Assembling the envelope properly and maintaining its integrity is a matter of life and death for bacteria. Our understanding of the mechanisms of envelope assembly and maintenance has increased tremendously over the last two decades. Here, we review the major achievements during this time, giving central stage to the amino acid cysteine, one of the least abundant amino acid residues in proteins, whose unique chemical and physical properties often critically support biological processes. First, we review how cysteines contribute to envelope homeostasis by forming stabilizing disulfides in crucial bacterial assembly factors (LptD, BamA, and FtsN) and stress sensors (RcsF and NlpE). Second, we highlight the emerging role of enzymes that use cysteine residues to catalyze reactions that are necessary for proper envelope assembly, and we also explain how these enzymes are protected from oxidative inactivation. Finally, we suggest future areas of investigation, including a discussion of how cysteine residues could contribute to envelope homeostasis by functioning as redox switches. By highlighting the redox pathways that are active in the envelope of Escherichia coli, we provide a timely overview on the assembly of a cellular compartment that is the hallmark of Gram-negative bacteria.

International audience; The β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) inserts outer membrane β-barrel proteins (OMPs) in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. In Enterobacteriacea, BAM also mediates export of the stress sensor lipoprotein RcsF to the cell surface by assembling RcsF-OMP complexes. Here, we report the crystal structure of the key BAM component BamA in complex with RcsF. BamA adopts an inward-open conformation, with the lateral gate to the membrane closed. RcsF is lodged deep within the lumen of the BamA barrel, binding regions proposed to undergo outward and lateral opening during OMP insertion. On the basis of our structural and biochemical data, we propose a push-and-pull model for RcsF export following conformational cycling of BamA, and provide a mechanistic explanation for how RcsF uses its interaction with BamA to detect envelope stress. Our data also suggest that the flux of incoming OMP substrates is involved in the control of BAM activity.

The β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) inserts outer membrane β-barrel proteins (OMPs) in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. In Enterobacteriacea, BAM also mediates export of the stress sensor lipoprotein RcsF to the cell surface by assembling RcsF-OMP complexes. Although BAM has been the focus of intense research due to its essential activity in generating and maintaining the outer membrane, how it functions remains poorly understood. Here, we report the crystal structure of the key BAM component BamA in complex with RcsF. BamA adopts an inward-open conformation, with the lateral gate to the membrane closed. The globular domain of RcsF is lodged deep inside the lumen of the BamA barrel, binding regions proposed to undergo an outward and lateral opening during OMP insertion. Our structural and biochemical data indicate a push-and-pull mechanism for RcsF export upon conformational cycling of BamA and provide a mechanistic explanation for how RcsF uses its interaction with BamA to detect envelope stress. Our data also suggest that the flux of incoming OMP substrates is involved in the control of BAM activity. Overall, the structural insights gleaned here elucidate a fundamental biological process and suggest a new avenue for antibiotic development.

In this paper, we propose the novel methodology to improve the rate-distortion characteristics by the difference of the quantized DCT coefficients using two different quantized parameters in HEVC. Under the special condition of the quantization property in HEVC, we evaluate the binary difference of the quantized DCT coefficients derived from two different quantized parameters and compressed it with simple CABAC algorithm based on the characteristics of the binary difference.The experimental result shows that the proposed algorithm improves the compression performance of the rate-distortion property in comparison to the conventional HEVC compression method.

Health impacts of surface ozone (O