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Abstract Background Breast parenchymal texture features, including grayscale variation (V), capture the patterns of texture variation on a mammogram and are associated with breast cancer risk, independent of mammographic density (MD). However, our knowledge on the genetic basis of these texture features is limited. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study of V in 7040 European-ancestry women. V assessments were generated from digitized film mammograms. We used linear regression to test the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-phenotype associations adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), MD phenotypes, and the top four genetic principal components. We further calculated genetic correlations and performed SNP-set tests of V with MD, breast cancer risk, and other breast cancer risk factors. Results We identified three genome-wide significant loci associated with V: rs138141444 (6q24.1) in ECT2L, rs79670367 (8q24.22) in LINC01591, and rs113174754 (12q22) near PGAM1P5. 6q24.1 and 8q24.22 have not previously been associated with MD phenotypes or breast cancer risk, while 12q22 is a known locus for both MD and breast cancer risk. Among known MD and breast cancer risk SNPs, we identified four variants that were associated with V at the Bonferroni-corrected thresholds accounting for the number of SNPs tested: rs335189 (5q23.2) in PRDM6, rs13256025 (8p21.2) in EBF2, rs11836164 (12p12.1) near SSPN, and rs17817449 (16q12.2) in FTO. We observed significant genetic correlations between V and mammographic dense area (r g = 0.79, P = 5.91 × 10−5), percent density (r g = 0.73, P = 1.00 × 10−4), and adult BMI (r g = − 0.36, P = 3.88 × 10−7). Additional significant relationships were observed for non-dense area (z = − 4.14, P = 3.42 × 10−5), estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (z = 3.41, P = 6.41 × 10−4), and childhood body fatness (z = − 4.91, P = 9.05 × 10−7) from the SNP-set tests. Conclusions These findings provide new insights into the genetic basis of mammographic texture variation and their associations with MD, breast cancer risk, and other breast cancer risk factors.

Background: Breast parenchymal texture features, including grayscale variation (V), capture the patterns of texture variation on a mammogram and are associated with breast cancer risk, independent of mammographic density (MD). However, our knowledge on the genetic basis of these texture features is limited.Methods: We conducted a genome-wide association study of V in 7040 European-ancestry women. V assessments were generated from digitized film mammograms. We used linear regression to test the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-phenotype associations adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), MD phenotypes, and the top four genetic principal components. We further calculated genetic correlations and performed SNP-set tests of V with MD, breast cancer risk, and other breast cancer risk factors.Results: We identified three genome-wide significant loci associated with V: rs138141444 (6q24.1) in ECT2L, rs79670367 (8q24.22) in LINC01591, and rs113174754 (12q22) near PGAM1P5. 6q24.1 and 8q24.22 have not previously been associated with MD phenotypes or breast cancer risk, while 12q22 is a known locus for both MD and breast cancer risk. Among known MD and breast cancer risk SNPs, we identified four variants that were associated with V at the Bonferroni-corrected thresholds accounting for the number of SNPs tested: rs335189 (5q23.2) in PRDM6, rs13256025 (8p21.2) in EBF2, rs11836164 (12p12.1) near SSPN, and rs17817449 (16q12.2) in FTO. We observed significant genetic correlations between V and mammographic dense area (rg = 0.79, P = 5.91 × 10-5), percent density (rg = 0.73, P = 1.00 × 10-4), and adult BMI (rg =  - 0.36, P = 3.88 × 10-7). Additional significant relationships were observed for non-dense area (z =  - 4.14, P = 3.42 × 10-5), estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (z = 3.41, P = 6.41 × 10-4), and childhood body fatness (z =  - 4.91, P = 9.05 × 10-7) from the SNP-set tests.Conclusions: These findings provide new insights into the genetic basis of mammographic texture variation and their associations with MD, breast cancer risk, and other breast cancer risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite LaFeO3/ZSM-5 is synthesized via citrate route for H2S removal at high temperatures. It shows good thermal stability after heat treatment at 500–700∘C with respect to slight changes in crystallographic phase and textural property. It presents the optimal desulfurization performance at 600∘C with sulfur capacity of 1017 μ mol S/g and products of S, LaS2, and Fe7S8. Sulfidation at 500∘C yields the same products as sulfidation at 600∘C but displays the lowest sulfur capacity of 408 μ mol S/g. Sulfidation at 700∘C produces La2O2S, Fe3S4, and unreacted LaFeO3. The activation energy of the sulfidation reaction over LaFeO3/ZSM-5 is 109.6 kJ/mol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • In this paper, we propose a novel reduced-reference quality assessment metric for image super-resolution (RRIQA-SR) by two components: the energy change in low-frequency regions, which can be used to capture the global distortion in SR images, and texture variation in high-frequency regions, which can be used to capture the local distortion in SR images. • The overall quality of SR images is estimated by perceptual similarity calculated by energy change and texture variation between local image patches of LR and HR images. Abstract In this paper, we propose a novel reduced-reference quality assessment metric for image super-resolution (RRIQA-SR) based on the low-resolution (LR) image information. With the pixel correspondence, we predict the perceptual similarity between image patches of LR and SR images by two components: the energy change in low-frequency regions, which can be used to capture the global distortion in SR images, and texture variation in high-frequency regions, which can be used to capture the local distortion in SR images. The overall quality of SR images is estimated by perceptual similarity calculated by energy change and texture variation between local image patches of LR and HR images. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can obtain better performance of quality prediction for SR images than other existing ones, even including some full-reference (FR) metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We are developing practical material observation methods using neutron imaging at J-PARC Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). Neutron Bragg-edge transmission (BET) imaging, one of the energy-resolved neutron imaging methods, makes it possible to quantitatively visualize the two-dimensional distribution of physical properties within a sample. Here, we report two application examples. First, feasibility of measuring the temperature distribution of a copper rod through the thermal expansion of the lattice constant using BET spectral analysis was studied. Second, visualization of the texture variation and the strain distribution of a bent steel plate through the 2D-BET imaging method were performed. The obtained results for both experiments were compared with those obtained by the neutron diffraction (ND) method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, mechanical properties, microstructure evolution mechanism, texture variation process and deformation mechanism of a near-α CT20 titanium alloy with different hot and cold rolling reductions are investigated and uncovered comprehensively. The tensile strength of the alloy gradually increases, and the ductility decreases as the rolling reduction grows along both rolling direction (RD) and transverse direction (TD) due to the increase in grain boundary and dislocation density, while the mechanical properties along RD are better than those along TD. The high strain carried in α phases reduces the proportion of high-angle grain boundaries and increases the content of low-angle grain boundaries, with growing dislocation density in α phase. During cold rolling process, basal slip shifts {0001} pole toward ND, and prismatic slip inclines {11 2 ‾ 0 } pole and {10 1 ‾ 0} pole toward TD. The intragranular orientation is enhanced with increasing rolling reduction, and the texture intensity of α and β phase is weakened as rolling reduction gradually grows. It is also noteworthy that prismatic slip dominates the slip mode along RD, while basal slip and pyramidal slip are activated along TD during cold rolling. The work-hardening rates of cold-rolled alloys are higher than that of the hot-rolled alloy as a large number of dislocations and grain boundaries were introduced by severe plastic deformation. The different work-hardening rates and mechanical properties of the rolled alloy along RD and TD are verified to be associated with the preferred orientation of α phase and the slip distances of dislocation during deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Specimens with different exposure degrees differ from each other in surface roughness. • Three-dimensional texture parameters vary monotonously in EACCP exposure process. • The Easy-to-test mean texture depth (MTD) can be used to monitor the exposure degree. • 0.72–0.80 mm of MTD suits for high skid resistance exposed aggregate cement concrete. Exposed aggregate cement concrete (EACCP) is a novel cement concrete, which has completely different roughness with the traditional cement concrete pavement since its roughness is formed by the exposure of the aggregate on the surface. A well-constructed EACCP can bring benefits to the road safety by improving its skid resistance. However, it is challengeable for user to control the exposing degree during the practical exposure process. This study aims to investigate the effect of exposure process on EACCP's roughness and skid resistance. To this end, two groups of EACCP specimens with the most commonly used 4.75–9.5 mm single-sized and 4.75–16 mm continuously graded gradation are prepared, respectively. Specifically, the specimens are purpose-scrubbed to creat seven levels of scrubbing degree. In addition, the three-dimensional data on the specimen surface was obtained by a laser scanner, and the surface roughness of EACCP was jointly characterized via (1) height parameters: the arithmetical mean height Sa and root-mean-squared (RMS) height Sq ; (2) feature parameters: the peak density Spd , the arithmetic mean peak curvature Spc , (3) the Power spectrum density (PSD), (4) a purpose-designed parameter aggregate exposed height, and (5) the mean texture depth (MTD) measured by the sand patch method. Furthermore, the skid resistance is investigated by the joint use of the British Portable Pendulum and Dynamic Friction tester. For obtaining a reliable evaluation result, the measurements are carried out with different testing speeds and water film depths. The data analysis indicates that the roughness parameters changed with exposing process significantly, in which a close relationship between a MTD and other parameters is evidently found. It is recommended to adopt MTD as the representative parameter for controlling and monitoring the scrubbing degree of EACCP to obtain a desirable roughness and better skid resistance. The results indicate that a EACCP could have a desirable skid resistance when its MTD is 0.72–0.80 mm. Results of this study contribute to the current knowledge by revealing the relationship between roughness parameters and skid resistance of EACCP, and providing a practical reference for exposing process, which may be of interest to road constructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]