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Abstract Background and aims Preoperative prediction of microvascular invasion (MVI) using a noninvasive method remain unresolved, especially in HBV-related in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). This study aimed to build and validate a preoperative prediction model for MVI in HBV-related ICC. Methods Patients with HBV-associated ICC undergoing curative surgical resection were identified. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the independent risk factors of MVI in the training cohort. Then, a prediction model was built by enrolling the independent risk factors. The predictive performance was validated by receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) and calibration in the validation cohort. Results Consecutive 626 patients were identified and randomly divided into the training (418, 67%) and validation (208, 33%) cohorts. Multivariate analysis showed that TBIL, CA19-9, tumor size, tumor number, and preoperative image lymph node metastasis were independently associated with MVI. Then, a model was built by enrolling former fiver risk factors. In the validation cohort, the performance of this model showed good calibration. The area under the curve was 0.874 (95% CI: 0.765–0.894) and 0.729 (95%CI: 0.706–0.751) in the training and validation cohort, respectively. Decision curve analysis showed an obvious net benefit from the model. Conclusion Based on clinical data, an easy model was built for the preoperative prediction of MVI, which can assist clinicians in surgical decision-making and adjuvant therapy.

We report a photonic approach to achieve simultaneous radio frequency (RF) self-interference cancellation (SIC) and frequency downconversion with immunity to power fading based on an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) for an in-band full-duplex (IBFD) radio-over-fiber (ROF) system. A dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulator (DDMZM) in a polarization-division multiplexing Mach–Zehnder modulator (PDM-MZM) is used to cancel the RF self-interference (SI) signal and generate optical carrier-suppressed double sidebands (CS-DSBs) of the signal of interest (SOI). Meanwhile, another DDMZM in the PDM-MZM is used to construct an OEO loop to generate optical CS-DSBs of the local oscillation (LO) signal. After detection at a photodetector (PD), a frequency downconverted signal is recovered with the RF self-interference cancellation (SIC). The proposed scheme can directly cancel the RF SI signal in the optical domain, meaning that it can overcome the limitation of SIC in the electrical domain. With the phase compensation introduced by a polarization controller, the desired signal is unaffected by the power fading over fiber transmission, which is significant for IBFD ROF systems. In addition, instead of an external microwave source, an OEO loop is used to generate an LO signal with a high spectral purity, which is very promising for integrated microwave photonics systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Approximately 30% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) respond poorly to combination therapy of multiple drugs. The molecular mechanisms of different responses to methotrexate + leflunomide + infliximab therapy in patients with RA were explored in this study. Methods: Infliximab was administered to patients with RA whose disease activity score was higher than 5.1 after 1 month of combination therapy with methotrexate and leflunomide. After 14 weeks of undergoing triple therapy, patients with RA were classified as responders and non-responders. Protein profiles at baseline and 14th week were investigated via isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ), and proteins with significant differences ≥ 1.2 folds change or ≤ 0.8 folds change were defined as differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). Overlapping DEPs between responders and non-responders were confirmed by parallel reaction monitoring (PRM). Bioinformatic analyses were performed for DEPs. Results: The results revealed 5 non-responders (NRs) and 15 responders (Rs). iTRAQ analysis indicated 13 overlapping DEPs and included 6 opposite change DEPs such as testicular tissue protein Li 70, cofilin 1, fibrinogen beta chain, galectin-10, serotransferrin (TF) and albumin. The difference in serotransferrin between responders and non-responders confirmed by PRM was significant. Verification by PRM indicated that TF was elevated in the Rs group and was reduced in the NRs group. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that serotransferrin was involved in the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 pathway and ferroptosis. Conclusion: Serotransferrin-related molecular mechanism may be a new direction to study refractory RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by progressive joint erosion. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists are the most widely used biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug in RA. However, there continue to be one third of RA patients who have poor or no response to TNF antagonists. Following consideration of the uncertainty of therapeutic effects and the high price of TNF antagonists, it is worthy to predict the treatment responses before anti-TNF therapy. According to the comparisons between the responders and non-responders to TNF antagonists by omic technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, rheumatologists are eager to find significant biomarkers to predict the effect of TNF antagonists in order to optimize the personalized treatment in RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) electrodes based on pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and acid-treated single-walled carbon nanotubes (A-SWCNTs) were prepared by spray coating technique. Flexible A-SWCNTs electrodes showed enhanced electrochemical properties compared to the pristine SWCNTs electrodes. The electrochemical properties of the flexible A-SWCNTs electrodes were optimized with various types of aqueous electrolytes including sulfuric acid (H2SO4), sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), potassium chloride (KCl), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and potassium hydroxide (KOH). The electrochemical performance of the A-SWCNTs electrodes as a function of bending to 30° were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) measurements in 1 M H2SO4. The specific capacitance value of the unbent A-SWCNTs electrode was 67 F g−1, which decreased to 63 F g−1(94% retention) after 1000 GCD cycles. Interestingly, the specific capacitance of the unbent A-SWCNTs electrode with application of the 1000 GCD cycles was retained even after 500 bending to 30° with 6000 GCD cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the growth of preterm infants fed standard protein-fortified human milk with that containing human milk fortifier (HMF) with a higher-than-standard protein content., Methods: Published articles reporting randomized controlled trials and prospective observational intervention studies listed on the PubMed®, Embase®, CINAHL and Cochrane Library databases were searched using the keywords 'fortifier', 'human milk', 'breastfeeding', 'breast milk' and 'human milk fortifier'. The mean difference with 95% confidence intervals was used to compare the effect of HMF with a higher-than-standard protein content on infant growth characteristics., Results: Five studies with 352 infants with birth weight ≤ 1750 g and a gestational age ≤ 34 weeks who were fed human milk were included in this meta-analysis. Infants in the experimental groups given human milk with higher-than-standard protein fortifier achieved significantly greater weight and length at the end of the study, and greater weight gain, length gain, and head circumference gain, compared with control groups fed human milk with the standard HMF., Conclusions: HMF with a higher-than-standard protein content can improve preterm infant growth compared with standard HMF., (© The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.)