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Cavities in the hippocampus are morphological variants of uncertain significance. Aberrant neurodevelopment along with vascular and inflammatory etiologies have been proposed. We sought to characterize these cavities and their potential risk factors in a marginally housed population, with high rates of viral infection, addiction, and mental illness. (1) The volume of hippocampal cavities (HCavs) is greater in this highly multimorbid population compared to the general population. (2) Conventional vascular risk factors such as greater age and systolic blood pressure are associated with higher HCav volume. (3) Nonprescribed substance-related risk factors such as stimulant use or dependence, and smoking are associated with increased HCav volume independent of vascular risk factors. This is a retrospective analysis of an ongoing prospective study. We analyzed baseline data, including medical history, physical exam, psychiatric diagnosis, and MRI from a total of 375 participants. Hippocampal cavities were defined as spaces isointense to CSF on T1 MRI sequences, bounded on all sides by hippocampal tissue, with a volume of at least 1 mm

Purpose: This pre-pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessed a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI, “REMIND1.0”) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Twenty mental health service users were allocated to either 8 weekly mixed-mode MBI ( n = 10) or treatment-as-usual (TAU) ( n = 10). Results: There were significant interactions between group and time (baseline T0, post-intervention T1, and 1-month follow-up T2) across all quantitative outcomes (personal recovery, trait mindfulness, self-compassion, resilience, moods, quality of life, and general health). The main themes that emerged from qualitative interviews at T1 are previous experience with MBIs, features of current MBI, and benefits of personal recovery and at T2 are recollection of MBI content, maintaining regular practice after MBI, and retained benefits of personal recovery. Conclusions: The current MBI is acceptable, feasible, and potentially effective in facilitating personal recovery.

Scattered sunlight from the interplanetary dust (IPD) cloud in our solar system presents a serious foreground challenge for spectrophotometric measurements of the extragalactic background light (EBL). In this work, we report on inferred measurements of the absolute intensity of the zodiacal light (ZL) using the novel technique of Fraunhofer line spectroscopy on the deepest 8542 Å line of the near-infrared Ca ii absorption triplet. The measurements are performed with the narrow band spectrometer (NBS) on board the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment sounding rocket instrument. We use the NBS data to test the accuracy of two ZL models widely cited in the literature, the Kelsall and Wright models, which have been used in foreground removal analyses that produce high and low EBL results respectively. We find a mean reduced χ 2 = 3.5 for the Kelsall model and χ 2 = 2.0 for the Wright model. The best description of our data is provided by a simple modification to the Kelsall model, which includes a free ZL offset parameter. This adjusted model describes the data with a reduced χ 2 = 1.5 and yields an inferred offset amplitude of 46 ± 19 nW m−2 sr−1 extrapolated to 12500 Å. These measurements elude to the potential existence of a dust cloud component in the inner solar system whose intensity does not strongly modulate with the Earth’s motion around the Sun.

To observe the effect of long non-coding ribonucleic acid metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (lncRNA MALAT1) on the myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats and to explore its potential mechanism, to provide certain references for clinical prevention and treatment of myocardial I/R injury.A total of 60 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into the Control group (n=20), I/R group (n=20) and I/R + MALAT1 small-interfering RNA (siRNA) group (n=20) using a random number table. The I/R model was established through recanalization after ligation of left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), and the MALAT1 knockdown model was established via tail intravenous injection of MALAT1 siRNA in the I/R + MALAT1 siRNA group. The ejection fraction (EF%) and fractional shortening (FS%) of rats in each group were detected via echocardiography and the infarction area in each group was detected using 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) assay. Moreover, the morphological changes in myocardial cells in each group were detected via hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and the myocardial apoptosis level was detected via terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. At the same time, the expression levels of the anti-apoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and pro-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) in myocardial tissues in each group were determined via Western blotting. Finally, the effect of MALAT1 knockdown on the phosphatidylinositol 3-hydroxy kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) protein expression was detected via Western blotting.The expression level of lncRNA MALAT1 in myocardial tissues was significantly higher in the I/R group than that in the Control group (p0.05). The MALAT1 knockdown could significantly improve the cardiac insufficiency caused by I/R injury, and increase both EF% and FS% in rats (p0.05). In addition, the MALAT1 knockdown could markedly inhibit myocardial infarction caused by I/R injury and reduce the infarction area from (62.12 ± 1.29) to (27.66 ± 3.58; p0.05). The results of the HE staining showed that the myofilaments were arranged more orderly, the degrees of degradation and necrosis were lower and the cellular edema was significantly alleviated in the I/R + MALAT1 siRNA group compared with those in the I/R group. According to the results of TUNEL staining, the rats in I/R + MALAT1 siRNA group had a markedly lower level of myocardial apoptosis than the I/R group (p0.05), and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio also remarkably declined in the I/R + MALAT1 siRNA group (p0.05). Furthermore, the results of Western blotting revealed that MALAT1 siRNA could significantly reverse the I/R injury-induced inhibition on the AKT phosphorylation (p0.05).The MALAT1 knockdown can markedly improve the I/R-induced myocardial injury and promote the cardiac function of rats, whose mechanism may be related to the activation of the AKT signaling pathway by MALAT1 siRNA. Therefore, lncRNA MALAT1 is expected to be a new therapeutic target for myocardial I/R injury.

Objectives: This study aimed to find the optimal radiotherapy VMAT plans, that achieved high conformity and homogeneity to the planned target volume (PTV), and minimize the dose to nearby organs at risk including the non-PTV lung, heart and oesophagus for patients with centrally located non-small Cell Lung Cancer. Methods: A total of 18 patients who were treated for stage III centrally located non-small Cell Lung Cancer were selected retrospectively for this study. Identical CT datasets, 4D CT and structure dataset were used for radiotherapy planning based on single-planar VMAT (SP-VMAT), dual-planar VMAT (DP-VMAT) and Hybrid VMAT (H-VMAT). For SP-VMAT, one full arc and two half arcs were created on single-plane with couch at 0°. For DP-VMAT, one full arc was created with couch at 0°, and two half arcs with couch rotation of 330° or 30°. For H-VMAT, anterior-posterior opposing fixed beam and two half arcs were planned at couch at 0°. Dose constraints were adhered to the RTOG0617. Dose volumetric parameters were collected for statistical analysis. Results: There were no significant differences for the PTV, HI, CI between the SP-VMAT, DP-VMAT and H-VMAT. For the non-PTV lungs, Dmean, V20, V10, V5, D1500 and D1000 were significantly lower (2.05 Gy, 6.47%, 15.89%, 11.66% 4.17 Gy and 5.47 Gy respectively) in H-VMAT than that of SP-VMAT (all p < 0.001). For the oesophagus, Dmax, Dmean, V30 and V18.8 of H-VMAT were 0.08 Gy, 1.73 Gy, 5.54% and 7.17% lower than that of the SP-VMAT plan. For the heart, Dmean, V34, V28, V20 and V10 of DP-VMAT were lower than that of SP-VMAT by 1.45 Gy, 0.65%, 1.74%, 4.8% and 7.11% respectively. Conclusion: The proposed H-VMAT showed more favourable plan quality than the SP-VMAT for centrally located stage III NSCLC, in particular for non-PTV lungs and the oesophagus. It will benefit patients, especially those who planned for immunotherapy (Durvalumab) after standard chemo-irradiation. The proposed DP-VMAT plan showed significant dose reduction to the heart when compared to the H-VMAT plan.

By in situ depositing Y2O3 on a pristine p-In0.53Ga0.47As surface under ultra-high vacuum, we have attained a low interfacial trap density (Dit) of (2–5) × 1011 eV−1cm−2 from the mid-gap to the valence band edge. The Dit values were extracted from the conductance contours measured from 300 K to 77 K. The small frequency dispersions of 1.2%/dec (300 K) and 0.28%/dec (77 K) in the accumulation region of the capacitance–voltage (CV) characteristics and very small frequency-dependent flatband voltage shifts of 0.021 V/dec (300 K) and 0.011 V/dec (77 K) indicate low border trap densities and low Dit's; these experimental results have not been achieved in previous reports of oxide/p-In0.53Ga0.47As. The Y2O3/p-In0.53Ga0.47As heterostructure also exhibited a high thermal stability of 800 °C, as observed by the low Dit values, small CV frequency dispersions, and an abrupt interface without inter-diffusion in cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy images. Our work has demonstrated a long-sought remedy for the effective passivation of p-type In0.53Ga0.47As, paving the way to high-performance electronic and optoelectronic In0.53Ga0.47As devices.

Nickel micro-electroforming was integrated with 355-nm wavelength ultraviolet laser process to fabricate the through silicon via (TSV) for 4G communication device packaging. This technology was applied to package the high-frequency solidly mounted resonator (SMR). Different parameters including laser power, focus length, frequency, and termination diameter were explored to characterize the quality of TSV for laser drilling. The thickness of silicon sample of 550 μm was drilled. The diameter of the silicon by laser drilling was 100–110 μm, where the taper was about 1.6° and the aspect ratio was about 5. The relationship between micro-electroforming deposition thickness and time were obtained. The deposition thickness was carried out by various current densities under 0.5 Amps per square decimeter (ASD), 1 ASD, 2 ASD, and 4 ASD, respectively, to analyze the electroplating quality. In addition, nanoindenter, energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to analyze the material characteristics of micro-electroforming samples. Laser drilling and micro-electroforming were integrated to package the high-frequency SMR. The result shows that the S 11 parameter was − 3.5 dB under the frequency of 2.5 GHz. This TSV with micro-electroforming process shows potential use for 4G packaging application.

The Taiwan Photon Source (TPS) is a third-generation, 3-GeV storage ring with a design current of 500 mA. To monitor the photon beam stability, blade-type X-ray beam position monitors (XBPMs) are installed to record and monitor the photon beam position. The beam position coordinates involve both the X- and Y-axes, and we must consider coupling effects in the XBPM, which have to be reduced for reliability and optimum precision. This study focuses on the front-end (FE) XBPM calibration via four-blade normalization and suppression matrix compensation. The calibration results show that in the optimal measurement range of ± 200 μ m , the coupling effect between the X and Y position is suppressed to less than a 1- μ m drift, which satisfies the high-accuracy beam position requirements for user operation. The reliability and precision of the XBPM system improved after applying the serial calibration process developed in this study, and the detailed derivation of each calibration step will be discussed in this paper.

The in-situ deposited high κ gate dielectrics, Ga 2 O 3 (Gd 2 O 3 )[GGO], Y 2 O 3 , HfO 2 , and Al 2 O 3 , on freshly molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As (InGaAs) have perfected the interfacial electronic (chemical) characteristics, thus achieving low interfacial trap densities (D it ) and high-temperature thermal stability. These enable fabrication of self-aligned inversion- channel InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect- transistors (MOSFETs) using a CMOS compatible process, giving very high drain currents (I d ) of 1.05-1.8 mA/μm and transconductances (G m ) of 0.714-0.98 mS/μm in 1μm gate length (L g ) devices; Synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy (SRPES) reveals no AsO x residue at the in-situ atomic layer deposited (ALD)-Al 2 O 3 /InGaAs interface, while some AsO x remains using the ex-situ method. The in-situ 1μm L g GGO/Ge pMOSFETs have given I d of 0.496 mA/μm, G m of 0.178 mS/ μm, and effective hole mobility of 389 cm2/V s. On the formation of Schottky barrier height (SBH) of Ag/GaAs, SRPES core-level data show that Ag adatoms effectively passivate the surface As-As dimers in the initial Ag deposition. A SBH of 0.38 eV is secured at Ag 0.25 A thick prior to the formation of an Ag metal. The final SBH is similar to the measured value at the initial Ag deposition.

Aims. This work aims to explore the possibilities of determining the long-period part of the precession-nutation of the Earth with techniques other than very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). Lunar laser ranging (LLR) is chosen for its relatively high accuracy and long period. Results of previous studies could be updated using the latest data with generally higher quality, which would also add ten years to the total time span. Historical optical data are also analyzed for their rather long time-coverage to determine whether it is possible to improve the current Earth precession-nutation model. Methods. Celestial pole offsets (CPO) series were obtained from LLR and optical observations and were analyzed separately by weighted least-square fits of three empirical models, including a quadratic model, a linear term plus an 18.6-year nutation term, and a linear term plus two nutation terms with 18.6-year and 9.3-year periods. Joint analyses of VLBI and LLR data is also presented for further discussion. Results. We improved th determination of the nutation terms with both VLBI and LLR data. The VLBI data present a most reliable feature of the CPO series with the highest accuracy, and they are most important for determining the precession-nutation of the Earth. The standard errors of CPO obtained from the LLR technique have reached a level of several tens of microarcseconds after 2007, but they are probably underestimated because the models used in the calculation procedure are not perfect. Nevertheless, the poor time resolution of LLR CPO series is also a disadvantage. However, this indicates that LLR has the potential to determine celestial pole offsets with a comparably high accuracy with VLBI in the future and to serve as an independent check for the VLBI results. The current situation of LLR observations is also analyzed to provide suggestions of future improvement. The typical standard error of CPO series from historic optical observations is about two hundred times larger than that of the VLBI series and can therefore hardly contribute to the contemporary precession-nutation theory.

To investigate the influence of leptin receptor (LEPR) gene K109R polymorphism on the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its interaction with PNPLA3 I148M polymorphism in the Han Chinese population in Qingdao, China.Blood samples were collected from 296 NAFLD patients and 321 healthy controls, and the genotypes of these patients were determined by PCR and genotyping. Related statistical analyses were performed to compare genotypes, alleles, and clinical data between the two groups. Generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) was used to investigate the interaction between LEPR K109R and PNPLA3 I148M genes.The distribution of LEPR K109R genotypes and alleles showed no significant differences between the NAFLD group and the control group (P0.05). PNPLA3 I148M gene polymorphisms were closely associated with the risk of NAFLD, and the risk of NAFLD in G mutant gene carriers was 2.07 times that in patients who did not carry this gene (OR = 2.07, 95% CI 1.423-3.013, P0.001). The joint action of LEPR K109R and PNPLA3 I148M significantly increased the risk of NAFL (OR = 3.393, 95% CI 1.856-6.201, P0.001).In the Han Chinese population in Qingdao, LEPR K109R gene polymorphism is not associated with the risk of NAFLD, but its interaction with PNPLA3 I148M polymorphism can significantly increase the risk of NAFLD.

This study utilizes 355 nm ultraviolet (UV) laser' micro electroforming process with supercritical fluid to package 4G solidly mounted resonator (SMR) wafer. The diameter of drilling hole was 100–150 μm with the wafer thickness of 550 μm' and the component was packaged by the embedded circuit and through silicon via (TSV) technology. Experiment results show the aspect ratio was around 5 and the sidewall slope was about 2 degrees. Micro-Ni electroforming was used to form the conductive channel' reduced the process time within four hours. This process and analysis technology obtained the minimum package area' increased the intensity' gained the electrical and thermal properties' and was able to pre-judge the impact of the package components before packaging.