Search

Objectives Brain metastases (BMs) are commonly categorized into cystic and solid. However, the difference in the prognosis of patients with either cystic or solid BMs following radiotherapy remains poorly understood. We used a retrospective design to elucidate the disparities in survival between these two patient groups undergoing radiotherapy and to identify factors influencing the overall survival (OS) of patients with BMs. Methods This retrospective study encompasses 212 patients diagnosed with BMs. We meticulously analyzed the clinical characteristics, radiation therapy modalities, and risk factors influencing the OS among these patients, categorized by BMs type, post-brain radiation therapy. Results A statistically significant difference in mOS was observed between the two cohorts (Solid vs Cystic: 23.1 vs 14.6 months). Subgroup analysis unveiled distinctions in mOS, particularly in patients with EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma (Solid vs Cystic: 23.1 vs 6.43 months). The volume of BMs and the biological effective dose (BED) emerged as significantly prognostic factors for patients with cystic BMs. For patients with solid BMs, fraction dose, BED, and the number of BMs were identified as independent prognostic factors for survival. Conclusion Brain radiotherapy shows superior survival benefits for lung cancer patients with solid BMs compared to those with cystic BMs, particularly in EGFR-mutant lung cancer. In particular, patients receiving BED ≥60 Gy have a more favorable prognosis than those receiving BED

Abstract Sound velocities and densities of Al‐bearing superhydrous phase B (Al‐bearing SuB) were investigated up to 24 GPa and 1300 K by synchrotron X‐rays combined with ultrasonic interferometry techniques in a multi‐anvil apparatus. We found that Al + H incorporation decreases the adiabatic bulk modulus and shear modulus of SuB. Our results however suggest that this effect is less important than that of temperature. The presence of hydrous pyrolite with ∼10 wt.% Al‐bearing SuB in cold subducting slabs could explain up to ∼2% high velocity anomalies at the bottom of the mantle transition zone (500–660 km) while it turns into ∼7.7% low velocity anomalies below 660 km. Al‐bearing SuB is reportedly stable at mantle temperatures, where it could account for ∼12.2% low velocity anomalies beneath subduction zones in the uppermost lower mantle.

BackgroundSensory symptoms linked to tic disorder (TD) are challenging to quantify via self- or parent-reported measures. The current study aimed to develop a novel observer-rated semi-structured interview, namely, the Sensory Phenomenon Assessment Scale (SPAS), to aid clinical evaluation on symptoms of TD among children.MethodsTo test its psychometric properties, tic, premonitory urge (PU), and obsessive–compulsive symptoms (OCS) were also assessed in 223 children via the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), the Premonitory Urge for Tic Scale (PUTS), and the Children’s Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS). Factor analysis and internal consistency test were carried out using data from TD-diagnosed individuals.ResultsGood internal consistency and test–retest reliability were observed. Criterion validity was established by significant correlations between the PUTS, the YGTSS, the CY-BOCS, and scores of the SPAS. Factor analyses supported a single-factor model of the SPAS, in which the five items each showed a factor loading above 0.6.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that the SPAS is reliable and valid and, thus, can serve as a good and concise measure of clinical symptoms among children and adolescents with TD.

PurposeAddressing the challenges of unclear tumor boundaries and the confusion between cysts and tumors in liver tumor segmentation, this study aims to develop an auto-segmentation method utilizing Gaussian filter with the nnUNet architecture to effectively distinguish between tumors and cysts, enhancing the accuracy of liver tumor auto-segmentation.MethodsFirstly, 130 cases of liver tumorsegmentation challenge 2017 (LiTS2017) were used for training and validating nnU-Net-based auto-segmentation model. Then, 14 cases of 3D-IRCADb dataset and 25 liver cancer cases retrospectively collected in our hospital were used for testing. The dice similarity coefficient (DSC) was used to evaluate the accuracy of auto-segmentation model by comparing with manual contours. ResultsThe nnU-Net achieved an average DSC value of 0.86 for validation set (20 LiTS cases) and 0.82 for public testing set (14 3D-IRCADb cases). For clinical testing set, the standalone nnU-Net model achieved an average DSC value of 0.75, which increased to 0.81 after post-processing with the Gaussian filter (P

Abstract Background Secreted Frizzled‐Related Protein 5 (SFRP5) modulates Wnt signalling pathways, affecting diverse biological processes. We assessed the diagnostic and prognostic value of circulating SFRP5 (cSFRP5) in colorectal cancer (CRC) Methods Plasma cSFRP5 concentrations were measured using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in healthy donors (n = 133), individuals diagnosed with CRC (n = 449), colorectal polyps (n = 85), and medical conditions in other organs including cancer, inflammation, and benign states (n = 64). Results Patients with CRC, polyps, and other conditions showed higher cSFRP5 levels than healthy individuals (p

Objective: In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of health education based on the transtheoretical model in reducing symptoms of kinesiophobia and enhancing rehabilitation outcomes among elderly patients post-total knee arthroplasty. Methods: Elderly patients post-knee replacement surgery were randomly divided into a control group, which received standard health education, and an experimental group, which received transtheoretical model-based health education. The intervention commenced on the day after surgery and continued for a duration of six months. Assessments of kinesiophobia scores, rehabilitation self-efficacy, and knee function were conducted before the intervention, and then at one, three, and six months postoperatively. Results: Between January 2022 and December 2022, 130 elderly patients who met the eligibility criteria were enrolled and subsequently randomly assigned into two groups of equal size. Comparable baseline characteristics were observed between the two groups The experimental group demonstrated lower kinesiophobia scores and higher scores in rehabilitation self-efficacy and knee function at one, three, and six months following surgery, compared to the control group. Conclusion: Health education based on a transtheoretical model reduces the symptoms of kinesiophobia and enhances rehabilitation self-efficacy and knee functions in elderly patients after knee replacement surgery.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) with advantages including abundance in earth, non-toxicity, high chemical stability, surface hydrophobicity in dark, and extremely high permittivity could be highly promising for advanced electronics. However, the thermal stability and low bandgap (Eg) of TiO2 pose a big challenge for TiO2 to be used as dielectric, which could be resolved by doping with other metal cations. In this work, we studied the impact of gallium incorporation on electrical and material characteristics of TiO2 thin films. These TiO2 and TiXGaO films with thickness of 15 nm were derived by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and then annealed in O2 ambient at 500°C, where the levels of Ga incorporation were tuned by the cycle ratio (X) of TiO2 to that of Ga2O3 during ALD growth. Both thin film transistors (TFTs) using TiXGaO (TiO2) thin films as the channel and metal-oxide semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs) using TiXGaO (TiO2) thin films as the dielectric were fabricated to unravel the impact of Ga incorporation on electrical properties of TiO2 thin films. It is found that the Ga incorporation reduces the conductivity of TiO2 thin films significantly. Pure TiO2 thin films could be the ideal channel material for TFTs with excellent switching behaviors whereas Ga-incorporated TiO2 thin films could be the dielectric material for MOSCAPs with good insulating properties. The leakage current and dielectric constant (k) value are also found to be decreased with the increased Ga content in TiXGaO/Si MOSCAPs. Additionally, the density of interface trap (Dit) between TiXGaO and Si were extracted by multi-frequency conductance method, where a “U-shape” trap profile with similar level of Dit values can be observed for TiXGaO MOSCAPs with varying Ga contents. Material characterizations show that the Ga incorporation destabilizes the crystallization and enlarges the bandgap (Eg) of TiO2 while maintaining a smooth surface. Interestingly, Ga incorporation is found to decrease the overall oxygen content and introduce more oxygen-related defects in the film. As a result, the reduction of leakage current upon Ga incorporation in MOSCAPs could be explained by amorphization of the film and enlarged band offset to Si rather than oxygen defect passivation. These Ga-incorporated TiO2 films may found promising usage in future electronic device applications such as trench capacitors in dynamic random-access memory, where the emerging high-k dielectrics with low leakage currents and high thermal stability are demanded.

ObjectiveTo investigate self-stigma’s influence on schizophrenia patients’ quality of life and its mediated impact by various factors.MethodsThis study adopted a cross-sectional design and randomly selected 170 hospitalized patients with schizophrenia for evaluation. The assessment tools included the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale (ISMI), Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale (SQLS), and Coping Questionnaire for Schizophrenia Patients (CQSP), among others. Correlation analysis, regression analysis, and mediation analysis were used to test the correlation and mediation effects.ResultsSelf-stigma had a significant impact on quality of life (T = 8.13, p = 0.00). When self-stigma is used as a mediator, the problem-solving factor in coping strategies has an indirect effect on quality of life, which is significant (AB = -0.16, P = 0.02), while the avoidance factor in coping strategies has a direct effect on quality of life, which is significant (C’ = 0.54, p < 0.001), and an indirect effect, which is also significant (AB = 0.25, p < 0.001).ConclusionThe study highlights the significant impact of self-stigma on the quality of life of schizophrenia patients, emphasizing the crucial roles of self-esteem and coping strategies. These findings suggest clinical interventions to improve quality of life should focus on reducing self-stigma, especially enhancing self-esteem and promoting adaptive coping strategies. By addressing these factors, we can better support the mental health and well-being of those with schizophrenia, offering an effective approach to rehabilitation.

PurposeTo explore the value of 3D amide proton transfer weighted imaging (APTWI) in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant bone tumors, and to compare the diagnostic performance of APTWI with traditional diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).Materials and methodsPatients with bone tumors located in the pelvis or lower limbs confirmed by puncture or surgical pathology were collected from January 2021 to July 2023 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. All patients underwent APTWI and DWI examinations. The magnetization transfer ratio with asymmetric analysis at the frequency offset of 3.5 ppm [MTRasym(3.5 ppm)] derived by APTWI and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) derived by DWI for the tumors were measured. The Kolmogorou-Smirnou and Levene normality test was used to confirm the normal distribution of imaging parameters; and the independent sample t test was used to compare the differences in MTRasym(3.5 ppm) and ADC between benign and malignant bone tumors. In addition, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of different imaging parameters in differentiation between benign and malignant bone tumors. P