Search

To investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes on the success of bronchial arterial embolization (BAE) in patients with and without systemic artery-to-pulmonary vessel fistula (SA-PF) and to evaluate the feasibility of CTA in the assessment of SA-PF.We retrospectively enrolled 420 consecutive patients that underwent BAE for hemoptysis control in our hospital from September 2011 to May 2019. The clinical characteristics, preprocedural CTA findings, BAE procedural findings, and follow-up outcomes were collected. Patients were divided into two groups according to DSA findings: patients with SA-PF and those without.A total of 184 (43.7%) patients presented with SA-PF. Pneumonia was less likely to be the concomitant condition in patients with SA-PF (p 0.001). The mean number of culprit arteries per patient was significantly higher in patients with SA-PF compared to that in patients without SA-PF (p = 0.017). The SA-PF patients saw a greater probability of recurrence (HR: 2.782, 95% CI: 1.617-4.784, p 0.001). SA-pulmonary venous fistula (SA-PVF) favored lower hemoptysis recurrence rate (HR: 0.199, 95%CI: 0.052-0.765, p = 0.019). SA-pulmonary artery fistula (SA-PAF) can be detected by optimized CTA protocol with a detection rate of 65.3% (49/75).The presence of SA-PF is an independent risk factor predicting early recurrence of hemoptysis after BAE. SA-PVF seems to be a protective factor for longer hemoptysis control compared to SA-PAF. Optimized preprocedural CTA is a reliable examination to identify SA-PAF.• The appearance of SA-PF is associated with a greater probability of early recurrent hemoptysis after bronchial artery embolization. • The presence of SA-PVF seems to be a protective factor for longer hemoptysis control after BAE compared to SA-PAF. • Optimized CTA protocol seems to be a promising auxiliary examination to detect SA-PAF.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to develop a radiomics model based on preoperative MRI and clinical information for predicting recurrence-free survival (RFS) in patients with advanced high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC). MATERIALS AND METHODS. This retrospective study enrolled 117 patients with HGSOC, including 90 patients with recurrence and 27 without recurrence; 1046 radiomics features were extracted from T2-weighted images and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images using a manual segmentation method. L1 regularization-based least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was performed to select features, and the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) was used to balance our dataset. A support vector machine (SVM) classifier was used to build the classification model. To validate the performance of the proposed models, we applied a leave-one-out cross-validation method to train and test the classifier. Cox proportional hazards regression, Harrell concordance index (C-index), and Kaplan-Meier plots analysis were used to evaluate the associations between radiomics signatures and RFS. RESULTS. The fusion radiomics-based model yielded a significantly higher AUC value of 0.85 in evaluating RFS than the model using contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging features alone or T2-weighted imaging features alone (AUC = 0.79 and 0.74 and p = .02 and .01, respectively). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed significant differences between high and low recurrence risk in patients with HGSOC by different models. The fusion model combining radiomics features and clinical information showed higher performance than the clinical model (C-index = 0.62 and 0.60, respectively). CONCLUSION. The proposed MRI-based radiomics signatures may provide a potential way to develop a prediction model and can help identify patients with advanced HGSOC who have a high risk of recurrence.

A sparse array synthesis method based on improved wind-driven optimization algorithm (IWDO) and fast Fourier transform (FFT) for the purpose of sidelobe suppression was introduced. First, the unifo...

Rationale and Objectives To investigate the feasibility of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram analysis of primary advanced high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) to predict patient response to platinum-based chemotherapy. Materials and Methods A total of 70 patients with 102 advanced stage HGSOCs (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages III-IV) who received standard treatment of primary debulking surgery followed by the first line of platinum-based chemotherapy were retrospectively enrolled. Patients were grouped as platinum-resistant and platinum-sensitive according to whether relapse occurred within 6 months. Clinical characteristics, including age, pretherapy CA125 level, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, residual tumor, and histogram parameters derived from whole tumor and solid component such as ADCmean; 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th, 75th, 80th, 90th percentiles; skewness and kurtosis, were compared between platinum-resistant and platinum-sensitive groups. Results No significantly different clinical characteristics were observed between platinum-sensitive and platinum-resistant patients. There were no significant differences in any whole-tumor histogram-derived parameters between the two groups. Significantly higher ADCmean and percentiles and significantly lower skewness and kurtosis from the solid-component histogram parameters were observed in the platinum-sensitive group when compared with the platinum-resistant group. ADCmean, skewness and kurtosis showed moderate prediction performances, with areas under the curve of 0.667, 0.733 and 0.616, respectively. Skewness was an independent risk factor for platinum resistance. Conclusion Pretreatment ADC histogram analysis of primary tumors has the potential to allow prediction of response to platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced HGSOC.

To investigate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) findings in predicting mesenchymal transition (MT) high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).Patients with HGSOC were enrolled from May 2017 to December 2020, who underwent pelvic MRI including DWI (b = 0,1000 s/mmA total of 81 consecutive patients were recruited for pelvic MRI before surgery, including 37 (45.7%) MT patients and 44 (54.3%) non-MT patients. At univariate analysis, the features significantly related to MT HGSOC were identified as absence of discrete primary ovarian mass, pouch of Douglas implants, ovarian mass size, tumor volume, mean, SD, median, and 95th percentile apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values (all p0.05). At multivariate analysis, the absence of discrete primary ovarian mass {odds ratio (OR): 46.477; p = 0.025}, mean ADC value ≤ 1.105 (OR: 1.023; p = 0.009), and median ADC value ≤ 1.038 (OR: 0.982; p = 0.034) were found to be independent risk factors associated with MT HGSOC. The combination of all independent criteria yielded the largest AUC of 0.82 with a sensitivity of 83.87% and specificity of 66.67%, superior to any of the single predictor alone (p ≤ 0.012). The predictive C-index nomogram performance of the combination was 0.82.The combination of absence of discrete primary ovarian mass, lower mean ADC value, and median ADC value may be helpful for preoperatively predicting MT HGSOC.

In this paper, we propose an ultra-wideband terahertz (THz) metamaterial absorber (MA) based on a fractal structure, and the main structure of the MA includes the upper metal patch, the bottom metal reflector, and a single dielectric substrate between the two. The surface metal patch is the gold designed by fractal and topology theory to constitute the basic resonant unit, and then the surface base resonant unit is reduced and amplified at different scales. By approaching the resonance frequencies of each other, MA with an operating range of 6.39 to 9.47 THz was obtained, and its relative bandwidth (RB) is 38.8%. The absorption bandwidth can be extended by adjusting the ratio between the four groups of resonators, and the dielectric height can be adjusted to improve the efficiency of the absorption spectrum. In addition to the discussion of the above influencing factors, we are also curious about the principle behind absorption. Therefore, the distribution of the electric field strength and magnetic field strength of the designed MA and the influence of the polarization angle and incidence angle on the absorption bandwidth are simulated.

We investigated the safety and feasibility of CT-guided transthoracic pulmonary artery catheterization (TPAC) in a porcine model.Procedures were conducted on ten mature Bama miniature pigs. After anesthesia, chest CT was performed in the left lateral decubitus position to determine the puncture route. Under the guidance of multiple CT scans, the introducer sheath was inserted from the right chest wall of the pig into the right pulmonary artery using the Seldinger technique. Then, a catheter connected with a transducer was inserted into the sheath to measure the pulmonary artery pressure. Finally, an active approximator was used to close the puncture site on the pulmonary artery. The pigs were followed up for 8 weeks to evaluate the operation-related complications and survival.Ten of 11 CT-guided TPAC procedures were successfully performed on ten pigs, rendering a technical success rate of 90.9%. One pig had hemoptysis while the needle was being inserted during the first operation, and a second procedure was successfully conducted 17 days later. Other complications, including pulmonary bleeding along the needle track (3 of 11; 27.3%), unclosed pulmonary artery puncture sites (3 of 10; 30%), pneumothorax (1 of 11; 9.1%), and hemopericardium (1 of 11; 9.1%), spontaneously resolved without complication-specific treatment. The mean pulmonary arterial pressure was 32 ± 17.6 mmHg. All animals survived the procedure and reached the end of the follow-up period.CT-guided TPAC is feasible and safe in a porcine model, serving as a potential alternative pathway for pulmonary artery intervention.• TPAC is feasible and safe in a porcine model, serving as a potential alternative pathway for pulmonary artery intervention. • This novel approach allows for faster access to the pulmonary artery, and it might be easier to operate the tip of the catheter to super-select the intent branch of the pulmonary artery. • TPAC can be an alternative pulmonary artery intervention pathway in patients with mechanical right-heart valves, great-vessel transposition, and other obstacles.

In this paper, an ultra-broadband multilayer tunable absorber (MTA) with the lumped resistors (LRs) is proposed, where a dielectric layer is sandwiched between three split square ring resonators and a continuous metallic plane. It is noted that two truncated triangular ring-shaped and Y-shaped solid-state plasma resonators (SSPRs) are embedded in the substrate. Three solid-state plasma cylinders are also inserted between the truncated triangular ring-shaped resonators and Y-shaped SSPRs. External two split square rings and a truncated triangular ring are loaded with the lumped elements. After calculation, for the TE wave, the absorption rate is larger than 90% in a certain frequency region which covers 7–16.25 GHz. Moreover, the proposed MTA is polarization independent at normal incidence. The absorption mechanism and properties also are investigated. The obtained results illustrate that the absorption performance and operating frequencies can be tailored when the different SSPRs are excited. Keywords: Absorber, Solid-state plasma, Lumped resistors, Tunable properties

To investigate the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging morphological relationship between adnexal tumors and the ipsilateral ovaries to characterize the origin and malignancy of tumors.Clinical and MR imaging data of 496 adnexal tumors confirmed by histology (ovary tumors, n = 400, non-ovarian tumors, n = 96; benign tumors, n = 183, borderline tumors, n = 120, and malignant tumors, n = 193) were retrospectively analyzed. The presence and shape of the ipsilateral ovaries within the context of adnexal tumors of different origins, malignancies and configurations were evaluated. The relationships between the presence of the ipsilateral ovary and patient age, menstrual status and tumor size were also analyzed.The ipsilateral ovary was detected on MRI in 23% (90/400) of ovarian tumors and in 45% (43/96) of non-ovarian tumors (p 0.001). A normal ovoid morphology of the ipsilateral ovary was found in only 7% (26/400) of ovarian tumors and in 26% (25/96) of non-ovarian tumors (p 0.001). The ipsilateral ovary was detectable in 38% (69/183) of benign tumors, 35% (42/120) of borderline tumors, and 11% (22/193) of malignant tumors (p 0.001); in 24% (24/101) of cystic tumors, 27% (49/179) of mixed cystic-solid tumors and 28% (60/216) of solid tumors (p = 0.737); and in 40% (120/303) of adnexal tumors in premenopausal patients and 7% (13/193) of adnexal tumors in postmenopausal patients (p 0.001).Detection of the ipsilateral ovary contributes to the localization and characterization of adnexal tumors. The ipsilateral ovary can be detected more frequently in non-ovarian tumors and in benign or borderline ovarian tumors.

Twenty compounds, including three flavonoids (1–3), two coumarins (4 and 5), three stilbenoids (6–8), two diterpenoids (9 and 10), two phenolic acids (11 and 12), two phenolic glycosides (13 and 14), two lignanoids (15 and 16) and four triterpenoids (17–20), were firstly isolated by chromatographic methods from the stem barks of Acanthopanax leucorrhizus Harms. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and comparison with previously reported spectral data. Among them, compounds 6 and 7 are new, and compound 8 is reported for the first time from the genus Acanthopanax. This paper deals with the isolation, structural elucidation and chemotaxonomic significance of the metabolites from A. leucorrhizus.

In this paper, a polarization-insensitive broadband terahertz absorber (PBTA) is presented and demonstrated, which can realize a polarization-insensitive, and broadband perfect absorption in the terahertz regime. By simulation, the polarization-insensitive broadband absorption is over 90%, which runs from 4.904 THz to 6.632 THz (the relative bandwidth is 29.96%), and the obtained absorption remains a good absorption performance with a wide incident angle for both TE and TM waves. The surface current distributions, power loss densities, electric and magnetic field distributions of such an absorber are investigated to figure out the physical mechanism of such a PBTA. The effects structure parameters on the absorption performance are also studied, which will be a guiding to realize a PBTA. The simulated results show that the proposed multilayer structure can help to design a PBTA. Keywords: Broadband absorber, Terahertz absorber, Fabry-Perot cavity resonance, Multilayer structure

Background Preoperative prediction of the recurrence of epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) can guide the clinical treatment and improve the prognosis. However, there are still no reliable predictive biomarkers. Purpose To evaluate whether whole solid tumor volume histogram parameters measured from quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) can predict the recurrence in patients with EOC. Material and Methods We followed up 56 patients with surgical and histopathologically diagnosed EOC who underwent quantitative DCE-MRI scans. The differences of the histogram parameters between patients with and without recurrence were compared. Mann–Whitney U test, Pearson’s Chi-squared test, or Fisher’s exact test, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used for statistical analysis. Results All histogram parameters of Ktrans, kep, and ve were not significantly different between EOC patients with and without recurrence ( P>0.05). For 30 patients with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), the histogram parameters of Ktrans (mean and 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th percentiles) and kep (mean and 50th percentile) in 12 patients with recurrence were significantly lower than those in 18 patients without recurrence (all Ptrans had the largest area under the curve (AUC) of 0.792 for predicting the recurrence in patients with HGSOC. When the threshold value was ≤0.0263/min, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 100%, 66.7%, and 80%, respectively. Conclusion Instead of predicting the recurrence of EOC, whole solid tumor volume quantitative DCE-MRI histogram parameters could predict the recurrence of HGSOC and may be potential biomarkers for the prediction of HGSOC recurrence.

In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional tunable absorber to realize a controllable unidirectional absorption and unidirectional transmission based on the plasma metamaterial, which includes two metamaterial layers that are vertical to each other. Each side of the proposed absorber integrates two split-ring resonators, which are made in the solid-state plasma (SSP). Unidirectional absorption and unidirectional transmission can be achieved when the incident angle of the electromagnetic wave is 30°. Furthermore, the unidirectional absorption and unidirectional transmission can be manipulated through exciting the different SSP resonators and adjusting the positions of the corresponding gaps between the two SSP resonators. In addition, the tunable absorption and transmission spectra can be obtained when the different SSP resonators are excited.

BACKGROUND Due to the overlapping imaging appearances between borderline and malignant epithelial ovarian tumors (EOTs), borderline EOTs often represent a diagnostic challenge on conventional MRI. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1 H-MRS) might have potential to differentiate borderline from malignant tumors. PURPOSE To investigate the ability of 1 H-MRS to differentiate borderline from malignant EOTs. STUDY TYPE Prospective. POPULATION In all, 278 patients with adnexal masses. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE 1.5 T Siemens Avanto MRI system and 1 H-MRS using a point-resolved spectroscopy sequence (PRESS). ASSESSMENT Resonance peak integrals of the most common metabolites were analyzed and compared between the two groups. STATISTICAL TESTS The ratios of metabolites between borderline and malignant EOTs were compared with the Mann-Whitney U-test. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine their differential diagnosis performances. RESULTS In the solid components of borderline and malignant EOTs, the mean Cho/Cr, NAA/Cr, and NAA/Cho ratios were 4.4 ± 1.1 and 9.9 ± 2.8; 10.4 ± 3.0 and 2.2 ± 1.0; and 2.4 ± 0.7 and 0.3 ± 0.1, respectively (all P

An ultra-thin polarization insensitive plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) is proposed in this article. The height (t) of this PIT meta-materials can be the thinnest so far (reach to 1/90λ), due to the strong magnetic coupling between the top and below layers. This method makes it easy to fabricate the meta-materials with low profile and satisfying performances. We can also obtain variety of group indices and transmissive peaks by adjusting the height of the PIT structure. Furthermore, the PIT transmissive spectrum under the orthogonal polarized incident electromagnetic (EM) wave are identical, which is attributed to the PIT meta-material’s center symmetrical. Finally, we conduct simulations and analysis based on the Lorentz oscillator model. These results obtained by the different techniques were in good agreement. All of above properties make this ultra-thin PIT have potential application in compact slow light devices.

Twenty natural stilbenoids (1-20), including seven new stilbenoids (2, 4-7, 19, 20) and thirteen known stilbenoids (1, 3, 8-18), were isolated from the stem barks of Acanthopanax leucorrhizus, and six modified stilbenoid derivatives (1a, 2a, 4a, 4b, 7a and 17a) were obtained via methylation, demethylation and isopentenylation of the corresponding isolates (1, 2, 4, 7 and 17). These stilbenoids were structurally characterized by comprehensive analysis of their spectroscopic data and comparison with literature information, and evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against three human tumor cell lines (leukemia HL-60, hepatoma SMMC-7721 and breast carcinoma MCF-7) in vitro by MTT assay. The results showed that compounds 1a, 4a and 4b showed potent selective cytotoxicity against SMMC-7721 (IC50=10.16±1.95μM and 9.76±1.32μM) and MCF-7 (IC50=10.72±2.78μM) cell lines. The cytotoxic evaluation of these structurally modified stilbenoid derivatives have led to the establishment of a structure-activity relationship.

In this manuscript, tailoring polarization of analogy of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT-like) based on non-centrosymmetric metasurfaces has been numerically and experimentally demonstrated. The EIT-like metamaterial is composed of a rectangle ring and two cut wires. The rectangle ring and the cut wire are chosen as the bright mode and the quasi-dark mode, respectively. Under the incident electromagnetic wave excitation, a polarization insensitive EIT-like transmission window can be observed at specific polarization angles. Within the transmission window, the phase steeply changes, which leads to the large group index. Tailoring polarization of EIT-like metamaterial with large group index at specific polarization angles may have potential application in slow light devices.

PURPOSE To investigate the use of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in differentiating borderline from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors (MEOTs) and to correlate DKI parameters with Ki-67 expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifty-two consecutive patients with epithelial ovarian tumors (17 borderline epithelial ovarian tumors, BEOTs; 35 MEOTs) were prospectively evaluated using DKI with b values of 0, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 s/mm2 and standard diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with b values of 0 and 1000 s/mm2 using a 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit. The kurtosis (K) and diffusion coefficient (D) from DKI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) from standard DWI were measured, compared, and correlated with Ki-67 expression between the two groups. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U-test, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and Spearman's correlation. RESULTS The K value was significantly lower in BEOTs than in MEOTs (0.55 ± 0.09 vs. 0.9 ± 0.2), while the D and ADC values were significantly higher in BEOTs than in MEOTs (2.27 ± 0.35 vs. 1.39 ± 0.37 and 1.72 ± 0.36 vs. 1.1 ± 0.25, respectively) (P < 0.001). For differentiating between BEOTs and MEOTs, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 88.2%, 94.3%, and 92.3% for K value; 88.2%, 91.4%, and 90.4% for D value; and 88.2%, 88.6%, and 88.5% for ADC value, respectively. However, there were no differences in the diagnostic performances among the three parameters above (K vs. ADC, P = 0.203; D vs. ADC, P = 0.148; K vs. D, P = 0.904). The K value was positively correlated with Ki-67 expression (r = 0.699), while the D and ADC values were negatively correlated with Ki-67 expression (r = -0.680, -0.665, respectively). CONCLUSION Preliminary findings demonstrate that DKI is an alternative tool for differentiating BEOTs from MEOTs, and is correlated with Ki-67 expression. However, no added value is found for DKI compared with standard DWI. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;46:1499-1506.

Purpose To compare the diagnostic performance of normalized apparent diffusion coefficients (nADCs) of different references with that of ADCs at differentb factors in differentiating borderline epithelial ovarian tumors (BEOTs) from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors (MEOTs). Method This retrospective study included 53 BEOTs and 148 MEOTs. Conventional magnetic resonance and diffusion-weighted imaging withb factors of 800 and 1000s/mm2 were performed. ADC was measured three times at solid components of tumors, gluteus maximus muscle (GMM), iliopsoas muscle (IM) and urine and then averaged. ADCtumor, nADCs were then obtained. Differences and the diagnostic performance of ADCtumor and nADCs between BEOTs and MEOTs with different b factors were compared. Results ADCtumor, nADCs regardless of b factors were significantly higher in BEOTs than MEOTs. The diagnostic performance of nADCurine regardless of b factors was significantly larger than that of nADCGMM and nADCIM. There was no significant difference in the diagnostic performance between ADCtumor and nADCurine regardless of b factors. A significantly lower ADCtumor and a larger diagnostic performance for ADCtumor was found with a b factor of 1000s/mm2 than 800 s/mm2. There were no significant differences in nADCurine of BEOTs or MEOTs or in the diagnostic performance of nADCurine with b factors between 800 and 1000s/mm2. Conclusions ADCtumor and nADCs were both capable of differentiating BEOTs from MEOTs. nADCurine was the best of all nADCs and was superior to ADCtumor because of its stable performance in differentiating BEOTs from MEOTs, regardless of b factors.

The adsorption of weak polybase on oppositely charged planar surfaces has been investigated numerically by using the self-consistent field theory (SCFT). Particular attention was paid to the interplay of monomer-surface electrostatic and non-electrostatic interactions in the adsorption behaviors of weak polybase. In this study, the strength of monomer-surface non-electrostatic interactions was set to be no more than the thermal energy kBT. It was found from the numerical study that in the regime of low surface charge density of the substrate and low pH or high bulk degree of ionization, both the screening-enhanced and screening-reduced salt effects emerge. On the contrary, in the opposite regime, only the screening-reduced salt effect was observed. Moreover, the overall charge neutrality inside the adsorption layer was analyzed. The underlying mechanism governing the adsorption behaviors of weak polybase on oppositely charged surfaces was elucidated.

The aim of this work is to analyze the possibility of separating isopropyl acetate and 2-propanol, an azeotropic system, by using glycerol. Thus, liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) data for the ternary system of isopropyl acetate + 2-propanol + glycerin have been determined at various temperatures T = (298.15, 308.15, 318.15) K under atmospheric pressure. The consistency of the experimental data was verified by the mass balance. The extraction capacity was evaluated throughout the distribution coefficient and selectivity parameters. Phase diagrams have been obtained at each temperature. To facilitate the manipulation of the obtained data for industrial applications, the NRTL and the UNIQUAC models have been applied to correlate the experimental data and low deviations were obtained.

The solubilities of the sodium 2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonate (CTSNa) in water, methanol, formic acid, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), binary (methanol + water) mixed solvents, and binary (ethanol + water) mixed solvents were determined experimentally over the temperature range from (280 to 335) K at atmospheric pressure using a dynamic method. The mole fraction of water in the two solvent mixtures ranged from 0.0000 to 1.0000 and 0.2006 to 1.0000, respectively. A synergistic effect on CTSNa solubility was observed with the maximum solubility at solute-free mole fraction of ethanol x20 = 0.2082 and solute-free mole fraction of methanol x30 = 0.3985, respectively. The solubility data were correlated with the thermodynamic electrolyte nonrandom two-liquid (E-NRTL) model and the root-mean-square deviations of solubility temperature varied from (0.24 to 1.10) K.

The nitration process as one step in 2-amino-5-chloro-4-methylbenzenesulfonic acid synthesis was improved by optimizing nitration reaction conditions, improving product separation method to eliminate salty scrap acid and cycle use of the concentrated sulfuric acid. The effect of various parameters such as temperature, quality of fuming sulfuric acid, quality of fuming nitric acid, and reaction time was studied for optimization of the nitration reaction condition. In the optimum conditions, the mass ratio of fuming sulfuric acid to sodium 2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonate and molar ratio of fuming nitric acid to sodium 2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonate were 4 and 1.05, respectively. The reaction temperature was −5 °C, and the time of reaction was 3 h. By applying the optimum reaction conditions, the yield of nitration reaction was increased to 91%, larger than that of the current industrial process whose yield is only 65.7%. The solubilities of sodium 2-chloro-5-nitrotoluene-4-sulfonate in aqueous sulfuric acid soluti...

In this paper, an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) metamaterial with the performances of polarization independence and multi-transmission windows is proposed. First, we design an EIT with a single transmission window, which is composed of an H-shaped structure and two split-ring resonators (SRRs). Then, by sequentially rotating the unit by 90°, a new EIT structure with rotational symmetry is obtained. The results show that the new EIT structure has the characteristics of polarization independence and multiple transmission windows, and each transmission window has a high maximum transmittance and group index. The first transmission window has a maximum group index of 88.9 and 98.9% maximum transmission. The maximum group indices of the second and third transmission windows are 117.9 and 215.3, and the peak transmissions are 89.9% and 97.4%, respectively. The multiple transmission windows with polarization independence widen the application scope of the proposed EIT metamaterial and are suitable for high-performance slow-wave devices with the above two requirements.

Purpose To investigate the role of the quantitative parameters of dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) in the prediction of the response to chemotherapy in pancreatic ductal carcinoma (PDC). Method Forty patients with histologically confirmed PDC who underwent quantitative DCE-MRI were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were divided into groups of responders and nonresponders. DCE-MRI parameters, including the volume transfer constant (Ktrans), the extracellular extravascular volume fraction (ve), the rate constant (kep) and the initial area under the concentration curve in 60 s (iAUC60), were measured and compared. DCE-MRI parameters were obtained from different ROIs. Results The values of Ktrans in responders with peripheral, whole tumor slice, and adjacent non-tumorous region ROIs were significantly higher than those in nonresponders (P = 0.015, 0.043, and 0.025, respectively). Responders showed a significantly higher kep with peripheral area ROI compared with nonresponders (P = 0.013). Ve and iAUC60 with all ROIs were not significantly different between responders and nonresponders (P = 0.140-0.968). Kep with periphery ROI showed the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.806, but there were no statistical differences when compared with values of Ktrans.There were statistically significant differences for DCE-MRI parameters among four ROIs (all P Conclusions Quantitative parameters derived from DCE-MRI might be a potential predictor of response to gemcitabine in patients with PDC. Perfusion parameters were diverse depending on the location of the ROI on different tumoral and peritumoral areas.

A novel water-soluble polysaccharide (named ALP-1) was successfully isolated from the stem barks of Acanthopanax leucorrhizus by hot-water extraction, and further purified by Cellulose DEAE-52 and Sephadex G-100 chromatography. The structure of ALP-1 was characterized by HPLC, HPGPC, partial acid hydrolysis, periodate oxidation, Smith degradation, methylation, together with UV, IR and NMR spectral analysis. The antioxidant activities also were evaluated in vitro. Structural analysis revealed that ALP-1 was a homogeneous galactan with the average molecular weight of 169 kDa, composed of galactose, glucose, mannose and arabinose in a molar ratio of 6.1:2.1:1.1:1.0, owning a backbone structure of 1,6-linked α- d -Galp residues with some branches of α- d -Manp-(1 → 3)-α- l -Araf residues at O-3 and α- d -Galp residues at O-4 of 1,6-linked α- d -Galp. Antioxidant assay showed that ALP-1 exhibited strong DPPH and HO scavenging activities, as well as ferric-reducing antioxidant power. These results provide a scientific basis for the further use of polysaccharides from A. leucorrhizus.

Seeking nuclear materials that possess a high resistance to particle irradiation damage is a long-standing issue. Permanent defects, induced by irradiation, are primary structural changes, the accumulation of which will lead to structural damage and performance degradation in crystalline materials served in nuclear plants. In this work, structural responses of neutron irradiation in metallic glasses (MGs) have been investigated by making a series of experimental measurements, coupled with simulations in ZrCu amorphous alloys. It is found that, compared with crystalline alloys, MGs have some specific structural responses to neutron irradiation. Although neutron irradiation can induce transient vacancy-like defects in MGs, they are fully annihilated after structural relaxation by rearrangement of free volumes. In addition, the rearrangement of free volumes depends strongly on constituent elements. In particular, the change in free volumes occurs around the Zr atoms, rather than the Cu centers. This implies that there is a feasible strategy for identifying glassy materials with high structural stability against neutron irradiation by tailoring the microstructures, the systems, or the compositions in alloys. This work will shed light on the development of materials with high irradiation resistance.

The solubility of 2-chloro-5-nitrotoluene-4-sulfonic acid (CNT acid) and 2-amino-5-chloro-4-methylbenzenesulfonic acid (CLT acid) in aqueous sulfuric acid solutions was measured over the temperatures range from 276.91 to 345.42 K at atmospheric pressure by a dynamic method. The solubility of CNT acid and CLT acid in aqueous sulfuric acid solutions increased with temperature. In the experiment, the highest solubility of CNT acid and CLT acid was both obtained in pure water, and the lowest solubility was exhibited at solute-free mass fraction of aqueous sulfuric acid solutions w 3 0 = 0.50 and w 3 0 = 0.20, respectively. The experimental data were correlated with the modified Apelblat model, and the root-mean-square deviations ranged from 0.76 to 1.28 K. According to the solubility data, the improvement of separation process of CNT acid and CLT acid was recommended.

In this paper, the properties of one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystals (PCs) composed of the semiconductor (GaAs) and dielectric layers are theoretically investigated by the transfer matrix method (TMM). The absorption of semiconductor layers is investigated theoretically. Due to the magneto-optical Voigt effect, the dielectric constant of the semiconductor is modified differently in different modes and frequency ranges. If the frequency range of the incident wave is larger than the plasma frequency, TE and TM modes of the incident wave will be absorbed in a wide incident angle. TM wave will be absorbed but TE wave will be reflected while the frequency range is less than the plasma frequency. The absorption of semiconductor can also be tuned by varying the external magnetic field. The proposed PCs have a reconfigurable application to design a tunable omnidirectional absorber and mode splitter at same time.

Although the doubly-fed generator group has a flexible ability of reactive power regulation, when a fault occurs in the power system, the ability will be closed to saturation and we need to adopt measures to support network voltage. In this paper, the model of doubly-fed wind turbine、SVC and STATCOM will be given. And the paper will provide a control system of the two dynamic reactive power compensation devices respectively. By power system simulation software Matlab and combining a regional power grid of Mengdon, both SVC and STATCOM are applied to the wind farm and the paper will analyze the characteristics of network voltage. The simulative results show that both the SVC and STATCOM can help wind farm voltage rapidly reconstructed after the fault. In addition, the STATCOM can better improve the transient stability of the wind farm and the compensation effect of STATCOM is better than SVC.

Purpose To identify the MRI features of borderline epithelial ovarian tumors (BEOTs) and to differentiate BEOTs from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors (MEOTs). Materials and methods The clinical and MRI data of 89 patients with a BEOT and 109 patients with a MEOT proven by surgery and histopathology were retrospectively reviewed. MRI features, including bilaterality, size, shape, margin, cystic-solid interface, configuration, papillae or nodules, signal intensity, enhancement, presence of an ipsilateral ovary, peritoneal implants and ascites were analyzed and compared. Based on the odds ratio (OR) values, the significant risk features for BEOTs were scored as 3 (OR ≈ ∞), 2 (5 ≤ OR Results There were 89 BEOT patients with 113 tumors [mean size of (13 ± 6.7) cm], with bilateral ovary involvement in 24 cases. There were 109 MEOT patients with 142 tumors [(9.3 ± 4.2) cm] with bilateral ovary involvement in 33 cases. There were eight significant risk factors for BEOTs, including round or oval shape (OR = 2.714), well-defined margins (OR = 3.318), clear cystic-solid interfaces (OR = 5.593), purely cystic (OR = 15.206), predominantly cystic with papillae or nodules (OR = 2.579), exophytic papillae or nodules (OR = 5.351), branching papilla (OR ≈ ∞) and the presence of an ipsilateral ovary (OR ≈ ∞). Based on the scoring of the eight risk factors, a cut-off score of 3.5 yielded a differential sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 82%, 85% and 84%, respectively. Conclusion In contrast to MEOTs, BEOTs frequently had the following features on MRI: round or oval, with well-defined margins and clear cystic-solid interfaces, purely cystic or predominantly cystic with papillae or nodules, branching or exophytic papillae, with the presence of an ipsilateral ovary. MRI can reveal the distinct morphological features of BEOTs and MEOTs and facilitate their discrimination.

To investigate the use of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in differentiating borderline from malignant epithelial ovarian tumors (MEOTs) and to correlate DKI parameters with Ki-67 expression.Fifty-two consecutive patients with epithelial ovarian tumors (17 borderline epithelial ovarian tumors, BEOTs; 35 MEOTs) were prospectively evaluated using DKI with b values of 0, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 s/mmThe K value was significantly lower in BEOTs than in MEOTs (0.55 ± 0.09 vs. 0.9 ± 0.2), while the D and ADC values were significantly higher in BEOTs than in MEOTs (2.27 ± 0.35 vs. 1.39 ± 0.37 and 1.72 ± 0.36 vs. 1.1 ± 0.25, respectively) (P0.001). For differentiating between BEOTs and MEOTs, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 88.2%, 94.3%, and 92.3% for K value; 88.2%, 91.4%, and 90.4% for D value; and 88.2%, 88.6%, and 88.5% for ADC value, respectively. However, there were no differences in the diagnostic performances among the three parameters above (K vs. ADC, P = 0.203; D vs. ADC, P = 0.148; K vs. D, P = 0.904). The K value was positively correlated with Ki-67 expression (r = 0.699), while the D and ADC values were negatively correlated with Ki-67 expression (r = -0.680, -0.665, respectively).Preliminary findings demonstrate that DKI is an alternative tool for differentiating BEOTs from MEOTs, and is correlated with Ki-67 expression. However, no added value is found for DKI compared with standard DWI.1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;46:1499-1506.

According to the function, the technical indexes and the cost control etc, we select the embedded control computer and virtual instrument module based on the PXI, and developed the integrated multipurpose instrument calibrating equipment, it realized the field measurement and calibration of the electrical instrument away from the laboratory. The system is designed based on PXI and LabVIEW, it uses virtual instrument technology, automatic control technology and database technology, by combining these functional modules of NI, we realized the calibration of electrical instruments such as digital multimeter, signal generator, oscilloscope and cymometer etc. The system is used integrated design, and it is very flexible, it can be popularized and applied as working standard to troops, factories or schools etc.

In this paper, the dispersive properties and switching state of three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs) with face-centered-cubic lattices, which are composed of core anisotropic dielectric (tellurium) spheres surrounded by non-magnetized plasma shells inserted in the air, are theoretically investigated in detail based on a modified plane wave expansion method. The equations for calculating the band structures for such 3D PCs are deduced. Our analyses show that the proposed double-shell structures can produce the complete photonic band gaps (PBGs) which can work as the optical switching by manipulating the radius of core dielectric sphere and the plasma frequency. However, the switching state of PCs cannot be tuned by the thickness of the plasma shell and plasma collision frequency as the radius of the core dielectric sphere is certain. Numerical simulations also demonstrate that a flatbands region, and the stop band gaps (SBGs) in the (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) directions which are above the flatbands region can be achieved. The SBGs in the (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) directions can also be tuned by the parameters as mentioned above. There is also a threshold value for the thickness of plasma shell, which makes the band structures of such 3D PCs with double-shell structures to be similar to those obtained from the same PCs containing the pure plasma spheres. In this condition, the dielectric function of inserted core sphere will not affect the band structures. It means that the PBGs can be achieved by replacing the pure plasma spheres with such double-shell structures to make fabrication possible and save the material in the realization. It is also noted that the flatbands region is determined by the existence of surface plasmon modes, and the upper edge of flatbands region does not depend on the topology of lattice. The proposed 3D PCs with double-shell structures offer a novel way to realize the tunable optical switching.

To investigate diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for differentiating borderline from malignant epithelial tumours of the ovary. This retrospective study included 60 borderline epithelial ovarian tumours (BEOTs) in 48 patients and 65 malignant epithelial ovarian tumours (MEOTs) in 54 patients. DW imaging as well as conventional MR imaging was performed. Signal intensity on DW imaging was assessed and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value was measured. The results were correlated with histopathology and cell density. The majority of MEOTs showed high signal intensity on DW imaging, whereas most BEOTs showed low or moderate signal intensity (P = 0.000). The mean ADC value of the solid components in BEOTs (1.562 ± 0.346 × 10−3 mm2/s) was significantly higher than in MEOTs (0.841 ± 0.209 × 10−3 mm2/s). A threshold value of 1.039 × 10−3 mm2/s permitted the distinction with a sensitivity of 97.0 %, a specificity of 92.2 % and an accuracy of 96.4 %. There was an inverse correlation between ADC value and cell density (r = −0.609; P = 0.0000) which was significantly lower in BEOTs than in MEOTs. DW imaging is useful for differentiating borderline from malignant epithelial tumours of the ovary. • DW MR imaging is useful for differentiating BEOTs from MEOTs. • Patients with BEOTs are treated differently from patients with MEOTs. • Conservative fertility-sparing laparoscopic surgery can be performed in patients with BEOTs. • BEOTs often affect young women of childbearing age.

In this paper, the properties of photonic band gaps (PBGs) for three-dimensional plasma photonic crystals (PPCs) composed of anisotropic dielectric (the uniaxial material) spheres in homogeneous unmagnetized plasma background with simple-cubic (sc) lattices are theoretically investigated by the plane wave expansion method. The equations for calculating the anisotropic PBGs in the first irreducible Brillouin zone are theoretically deduced. The influences of the ordinary-refractive index, extraordinary-refractive index, filling factor, and plasma frequency on the characteristics of anisotropic PBGs for the three-dimensional PPCs are studied in detail, respectively, and some corresponding physical explanations are also given. The numerical results show that the anisotropy can open partial band gaps in sc lattices and the complete PBGs can be found compared to the conventional three-dimensional PPCs doped by the isotropic material. It also is shown that the anisotropic PBGs can be manipulated by the ordinary-refractive index, extrordinary-refractive index, filling factor, and plasma frequency, respectively. Introducing the uniaxial material into three-dimensional plasma-dielectric photonic crystals can enlarge the PBGs and also provide a way to obtain the complete PBGs as the three-dimensional PPCs with high symmetry.

In this paper, the dispersive properties and switching state of three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs) with diamond lattices, which are composed of the core isotropic dielectric spheres with surrounded by the epsilon-negative (ENG) materials shells inserted in the isotropic dielectric background (air), are theoretically investigated in detail based on a modifled plane wave expansion method. The wavelength division multiplexer can be realized easily by tuning the switching state of such PCs. The equations for computing band structures for such 3D PCs are presented. Our analysis shows that the proposed double-shell structures can obtain the complete photonic band gaps (PBGs) which can be used to realize optical switching by manipulating the radius of core dielectric sphere, the relative dielectric constant of background, the dielectric constant of ENG materials and the electronic plasma frequency, respectively. However, the thickness of the ENG materials shell cannot change the switching state as the radius of core dielectric sphere is certain. Numerical simulations also show that a ∞atband region, and the stop band gaps (SBGs) in (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) directions which are above the ∞atband region can be achieved. The SBGs in (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) directions can also be tuned by the parameters as mentioned above. There also exists a threshold value for the thickness of ENG material shell, which can make the band structures for the 3D PCs with double-shell structures similar to those obtained from the same structure containing the pure ENG materials spheres. In this case, the inserted core sphere will not afiect the band structures. It means that we can achieve the PBGs by replacing the pure ENG materials spheres by such double-shell structures to make fabricate easily and save the material in the realization. It is also noticed that the ∞atband region is determined by the existence of surface-plasmon modes, and the upper edge of ∞atband region does not depend on the topology of lattice. Such presented 3D PCs with double-shell structures ofier a novel way to realize the wavelength division multiplexers.

PURPOSE The study aimed to investigate magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the differentiation of uterine leiomyosarcoma (ULMS) from degenerated leiomyoma (DLM). METHODS Sixteen patients with ULMSs and 26 patients with DLMs confirmed by surgery and pathology underwent conventional magnetic resonance imaging and DWI. The mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the 2 groups' tumors were measured and compared using an independent-sample t test (b = 0.1000 s/mm [ADC1]; b = 0.800 s/mm [ADC2], respectively). A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of DWI in the differentiation of ULMS from DLM. Intraobserver and interobserver agreements were evaluated using an intraclass correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS The mean ADC value in ULMSs (0.81 ± 0.14 × 10mm/s [ADC1], 0.90 ± 0.11 × 10mm/s [ADC2]) was significantly lower than that in DLMs (1.22 ± 0.22 × 10mm/s [ADC1], 1.50 ± 0.22 × 10mm/s [ADC2]) (P < 0.001

(1) Background: Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the most important natural fiber worldwide, and it is extensively planted and plentifully used in the textile industry. Major cotton planting regions are frequently affected by abiotic stress, especially drought stress. Drought resistance is a complex, quantitative trait. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) constitutes an efficient method for dissecting the genetic architecture of complex traits. In this study, the drought resistance of a population of 316 upland cotton accessions was studied via GWAS. (2) Methods: GWAS methodology was employed to identify relationships between molecular markers or candidate genes and phenotypes of interest. (3) Results: A total of 8, 3, and 6 SNPs were associated with the euphylla wilting score (EWS), cotyledon wilting score (CWS), and leaf temperature (LT), respectively, based on a general linear model and a factored spectrally transformed linear mixed model. For these traits, 7 QTLs were found, of which 2 each were located on chromosomes A05, A11, and D03, and of which 1 was located on chromosome A01. Importantly, in the candidate regions WRKY70, GhCIPK6, SnRK2.6, and NET1A, which are involved in the response to abscisic acid (ABA), the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway and the calcium transduction pathway were identified in upland cotton at the seedling stage under drought stress according to annotation information and linkage disequilibrium (LD) block analysis. Moreover, RNA sequencing analysis showed that WRKY70, GhCIPK6, SnRK2.6, and NET1A were induced by drought stress, and the expression of these genes was significantly different between normal and drought stress conditions. (4) Conclusions: The present study should provide some genomic resources for drought resistance in upland cotton. Moreover, the germplasm of the different phenotypes, the detected SNPs and, the potential candidate genes will be helpful for molecular marker-assisted breeding studies about increased drought resistance in upland cotton.

In this paper, a two transmission window plasmonically-induced transparency (PIT) with hybrid coupling mechanism has been numerically demonstrated. The hybrid coupling mechanism is composed of a bright mode (square ring), bright mode (SRR), and a dark mode (cut wire). Bright-dark coupling is one of the coupling ways; another two of the coupling ways are bright-bright coupling. Only three modes are needed to obtain two transmission window PIT, which can lead to miniaturization of the meta-atom of PIT. In addition, SRR is embedded in a square ring by using an ingenious design, which further leads to miniaturization of the meta-atom of PIT. The miniaturized PIT can enrich PIT research and has potential applications in slow light devices.