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Keratin pearls (KP) is an important indicator of the degree of tumor cell differentiation of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC). However, the independent prognostic value of KP in ESCC patients remains unclear. The hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) stained tissue microarrays (TMAs) or whole slides of the patients were prepared to identify the existence of KP. Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival analysis as well as univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate the prognostic value of KP. A nomogram based on KP and other clinicopathologic characteristics was constructed. The C-index, calibration curve, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, and Decision Curve Analysis (DCA) were used to evaluate the nomogram. The results indicated KP is a protective factor against lymph node metastasis and is closely associated with the differentiation degree in ESCC patients. KM survival analysis showed that the overall survival (OS) of patients with KP was significantly better than for patients without KP. In addition, multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that KP was an independent predictor of OS. Furthermore, ROC curve demonstrated that KP combined with differentiation degree could more accurately predict the 5-year survival rate than differentiation degree alone. Importantly, the nomogram showed good discrimination and calibration abilities in both training and validation groups, which could more accurately predict the 3-, 5-, and 10-year survival rates of ESCC patients and adds to the predictive value of TNM stage alone. In conclusion, KP is an independent predictor of prognosis in patients with ESCC and provides incremental prognostic value to degree of differentiation.

A boundary value problems for functional differenatial equations, with nonlinear boundary condition, is studied by the theorem of differential inequality. Using new method to construct the upper solution and lower solution, sufficient conditions for the existence of the problems' solution are established. A uniformly valid asymptotic expansions of the solution is also given.

Amorphous material usually exhibit a complex atomic structure including short-range order, long-range disorder and metastable state in thermodynamic, which is one of the existing states of matters. Amorphous alloy, also named metallic glass, is a new metallic material, and has a high strength, a good electromagnetic property, an excellent corrosionresistant and a high elasticity. The system of amorphous alloy can show some critical states and is a complicated system. In recent years, much atttentions have been paid to the researches of the phase transitions and critical phenomena of amorphous material. On a microscale, amorphous alloy can be regarded as a solid composed of many-particle systems. The investigation of the critical phenomena can significantly enhance the understanding of the interactions among these multi-particle systems. The structure of amorphous alloy is randomly and isotropic in macro performance, and ordered and anisotropic on a localized nanometer scale. The characteristics on different scales of amorphous alloy are not isolated. The structure of amorphous alloy determines the performance. The preparation process determines the nature of the microstructure. The microstructure is the internal cause dominating glass transition and deformation. Moreover, the effective cooling rate in preparation process of amorphous alloy affects the short-range rate of the amorphous phase. The nonperiodic short-range order plays a key role in the stability of amorphous phase. Furthermore, the glass transition and deformation of amorphous alloys are the responses to the external energy. The characteristics of the deformation process change with external condition. The external force can lead to the localized shear deformation and transformation between amorphous and liquid in the shear band. High temperature can cause a wide range of transformation from the amorphous solid to the liquid. So it is worth understanding in depth the basic principles of liquid and glass transition in order to prepare amorphous alloy in undercooled liquids. In this review article, we discuss the critical phenomena of amorphous alloys, which include the preparation process, the microstructure, the mechanical property and the electromagnetism. The correlation and the influence of microstructure on the macroscopic properties are analyzed. It will be helpful for understanding the nature of amorphous alloy, improving service reliability and exploring amorphous alloys with application values.

Key to species of Neotriplax of mainland China 1. Pronotum width/length ratio> 2.0 ...................................................... N. rubens (Hope) - Pronotum width/length ratio 2. Head brown with clypeus black, densely punctured; posterior border of pronotum slightly narrowed backwards, with a broad lobe in middle .................. N. arisana Miwa - Head black with basal area brown, sparsely punctured; posterior border of pronotum strongly narrowed backwards, with a narrow lobe in middle .......... N. minima, sp. nov.

Ren, Jing Li Guo-Dong, Dong, Jian-Zhen (2006): One new species of the genus Neotriplax (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) from China. Zootaxa 1333: 63-67, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.174267

Neotriplax minima new species (Figs 1–20) Type material. Holotype male, CHINA: Yunnan Province, Lushui County, 25 ° 58 ' N 98 ° 49 ' E, 11 May 2004, X.J. Yang & Y.S. Liu leg. (Hebei University). Paratypes: one male and three females, same data as holotype. Diagnosis. This new species is similar to Neotriplax arisana Miwa but differs in having head black with only basal area brown, punctures on head sparse, and posterior border of pronotum strongly narrowed backwards, with a narrow lobe in the middle. Description. Body oval, convex in lateral view; general color brown to reddish brown and shining; head (except the basal area brown) and legs black. Head (Fig. 1) sparsely punctured, with a pair of stridulatory files (Figs 17–18) on the vertex. Clypeus strongly narrowed anteriorly, with anterior border feebly emarginate and finely margined throughout, with a fovea on each side of the base. Compound eye (Fig. 16) prominent laterally; joints of ommatidia covered with sparse hairs. Antennae (Fig. 8) with brown hairs; 3 rd segment slightly curved and flatted, about 2.14 times as long as 4 th; 7 th slightly wider than 6 th; 8 th obtuse triangular; 9 th cupulate; 10 th crescented; 11 th almost oval, slightly constricted in middle, with three kinds of sense organs: sensilla trichodea, sensilla cheatica and sensilla styloconica (Fig. 15); relative length of 2 nd to 11 th segments: 3.0: 7.5: 3.5: 4.0: 3.0: 4.0: 3.0: 8.0: 7.0: 6.0. Terminal segment of maxillary palpus (Fig. 9) nearly triangular (terminal segment of maxillary palpus height/terminal segment of maxillary palpus width ratio = 0.45–0.50; mean = 0.47), with two kinds of sense organs (Figs 19–20). Elevated part of mentum (Fig. 7) pentagonal, pointed apically, with fine and close punctures. Pronotum (Fig. 2) transverse (pronotum length/pronotum width ratio = 0.48–0.54 (mean = 0.50), widest at base; sides gently rounded, gradually narrowing to apex; punctures sparser than those on head; anterior and posterior angles obtuse. Prosternum (Fig. 3) strongly and sparsely punctured; prosternal process wider than long, gradually dilated apically; lateral carinae sinuate. Scutellum cordiform, finely and sparsely punctured. Elytra (elytra length/elytra width ratio = 2.25–2.43; mean = 2.35) widest at middle; sides weakly arcuate from base to middle, then sharply narrowed toward apex; each elytron with 8 rows of seriate punctures; intervals between rows finely punctured. Wings (Fig. 6) well developed; radial cell triangular; medial fleck tadpole-shaped. Mesoventrite (Fig. 4) transverse, strongly and sparely punctured. Metaventrite (Fig. 5) finely and sparsely punctured in the median area, strongly and closely punctured on the lateral areas, with a longitudinal depression medially. Male genitalia (Figs 10–12) slender; median lobe strongly narrowing from basal three fourths to apex and bluntly rounded at apex in lateral view; median strut short, nearly 0.8 times as long as media lobe. Female genitalia as in Figs 13 and 14. Body length: 3.0– 3.5 mm; width: 2.1–2.2 mm. Distribution. China: Yunnan. Etymology. This name is derived from the small body.

Butenolides have good biological activity and serve as the important unit of pharmaceutical intermediates, of which γ-alkylidenebutenolides have gained wide attention over the last past decades particularly. A simple and practical method for the synthesis of butenolide 6 and its 5-substituted analogues 7a-t via vinylogous aldol reaction from 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) with the ratio of Z/E isomers between 1.1/1.0 and 1.0/0 under mild conditions in 6 steps was first reported. Besides, we also reported the methanolysis behaviors of azetidinone fused oxazoline derivatives. All the synthesized γ-alkylidenebutenolides are new and are currently being evaluated for their biological activities. Due to their large abundance and their biological interest and potential medicinal value, butenolides have been extensively studied. Many natural products, including prominent compounds such as freelingyne, rubrolides, tetrenolin (Figure 1), belong to the pharmacologically important group of γ-alkylidenebutenolides (γ-AIBs), which have gained an increasing amount of attention over the last past decades. Most of them exhibit various interesting biological activities, such as antibacterial, anticancer, antibiotic and so on. For example, freelingyne displays antibiotic activity and rubrolides, which are marine tunicate metabolites, exhibit potent antibiotic activities in vitro. Principally, the efficient synthetic strategies towards the γ-AIBs mainly focus on five major respects, which were reviewed comprehensively by Rao, Negishi, Bruckner, and Langer. Many efforts have been dedicated to seek highly potent γ-AIBs on their pharmacological activities. HETEROCYCLES, Vol. 87, No. 1, 2013 163