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To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of high-resolution readout-segmented echo planar imaging (rs-EPI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is used simultaneously with multi-slice (SMS) imaging (SMS rs-EPI) for the differentiation of breast malignant and benign lesions in comparison to conventional rs-EPI on a 3T MR scanner. A total of 102 patients with 113 breast lesions underwent bilateral breast MRI using a prototype SMS rs-EPI sequence and a conventional rs-EPI sequence. Subjective image quality was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = poor, 5 = excellent). Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), lesion contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) value of the lesion were measured for comparison. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnosis performance of ADC, and the corresponding area under curve (AUC) was calculated. The image quality scores in anatomic distortion, lesion conspicuity, sharpness of anatomical details and overall image quality of SMS rs-EPI were significantly higher than those of conventional rs-EPI. CNR was enhanced in the high-resolution SMS rs-EPI acquisition (6.48 ± 1.71 vs. 4.23 ± 1.49; p < 0.001). The mean ADC value was comparable in SMS rs-EPI and conventional rs-EPI (benign 1.45 × 10−3 vs. 1.43 × 10−3 mm2/s, p = 0.702; malignant 0.91 × 10−3 vs. 0.89 × 10−3 mm2/s, p = 0.076). The AUC was 0.957 in SMS rs-EPI and 0.983 in conventional rs-EPI. SMS rs-EPI technique allows for higher spatial resolution and slight reduction of scan time in comparison to conventional rs-EPI, which has potential for better differentiation between malignant and benign lesions of the breast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore whether the pretreatment dynamic contrast enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and radiomics signatures were associated with pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in breast cancer. Method: A retrospective review of 70 patients with breast invasive carcinomas proved by biopsy between June 2017 and October 2020 (26 patients were pathological complete response, and 44 patients were non-pathological complete response). Within the pre-contrast and five post-contrast dynamic series, a total of 1037 quantitative imaging features were extracted from in each phase. Additionally, the Δfeatures (the difference between the features before and after the comparison) were used for subsequent analysis. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression method was used to select features related to pCR, and then use these features to train multiple machine learning classifiers to predict the probability of pCR for a given patient. The area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated to assess the predictive performances of the radiomics model for each of the five phases of time points. Result: Among the five phases, each individual phase performed with AUCs ranging from 0.845 to 0.919 in predicting pCR. The best single phases performance was given by the 3rd phase (AUC = 0.919, sensitivity 0.885, specificity 0.864). 5 of the features have significant differences between pCR and non-pCR groups in each phase, most features reach their maximum or minimum in the 2nd or 3rd phase. Conclusion: The radiomic features extracted from each phase of pre-treatment DCE-MRI possess discriminatory power to predict tumor response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In lung transplantation (LTx) surgery, veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) can provide mechanical circulatory support to patients with cardiopulmonary failure. However, the use of heparin in the administration of ECMO can increase blood loss during LTx. This study aimed to evaluate the safety of heparin-free V-A ECMO strategies. Methods: From September 2019 to April 2022, patients who underwent lung transplantation at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 229 patients were included, including 117 patients in the ECMO group and 112 in the non-ECMO group. Result: There was no significant difference in the incidence of thrombus events and bleeding requiring reoperation between the two groups. The in-hospital survival rate after single lung transplantation (SLTx) was 81.08%in the ECMO group and 85.14% in the Non-ECMO group, (P = 0.585). The in-hospital survival rate after double lung transplantation (DLTx) was 80.00% in the ECMO group and 92.11% in the Non-ECMO groups (P = 0.095). Conclusions: In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that the heparin-free V-A ECMO strategy in lung transplantation is a safe approach that does not increase the incidence of perioperative thrombotic events or bleeding requiring reoperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A morph-genetic biomimetic concept for fabricating zwitterionic hydrogels was proposed. • Macro-porous structures inside CTDPH matrix avoid the formation of salt crystallization. • The seawater evaporating rate of CTDPH increases to 3.11 kg m-2h−1 under 1-sun irradiation. • The CTDPH maintains 91.6% of its original solar evaporation rate even after 10 cycles. Huge seawater resources are of utmost importance in addressing the increasing and severe water shortage worldwide. However, high-efficiently and sustainably extracting fresh water from seawater through solar evaporation remains a challenging task. Herein, we propose a novel approach based on the morph-genetic biomimetic concept, utilizing a cuttlebone-templated directional porous hydrogel (CTDPH). By etching away the cuttlebone (CaCO 3) in the hydrogel network, we have developed a zwitterionic material that exhibits high-efficiency photo-thermal conversion, resistance to salt deposition, and super hydrophilicity, enabling high-efficiency solar evaporation. The resultant CTDPH demonstrates a high level of photo-thermal conversion efficiency, thanks to the incorporation of MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x) 2D nanosheets. By introducing polyzwitterions into the hydrogel matrix, the CTDPH achieves superhydrophilicity, greatly enhancing the transport of seawater. More importantly, the CTDPH possesses a penetrating oriented macro-porous structure, enabling rapid seawater transportation while effectively preventing salt crystallization. This prevents salt deposition on the surface of the hydrogel even during continuous 12-hour 1.0 sun irradiation. As a result, compared with the MXene-free gels and cuttlebone-reserved gels, this CTDPH can largely increase the seawater evaporating rate from 0.73 or 1.75 to 3.11 kg m-2h−1 under 1.0 sun irradiation. Furthermore, even after undergoing 10 cycles of seawater evaporation, the CTDPH still maintains 91.6% of its original solar evaporation rate (2.85 kg m-2h−1). The CTDPH emerges as a promising contender, offering both high efficiency and sustainability for solar evaporation from seawater, while simultaneously paving the way for innovative approaches to explore other materials and systems in the realm of solar evaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pold4 knockout mice are viable and there are no obvious negative effects on prenatal development. • Pold4 is dispensable for DNA replication. • Pold4 is dispensable for DNA repair. • Pold4 knockout mice decreased liver tumor incidence and exhibited an extended lifespan. The DNA polymerase delta (Pol δ), a heterotetramer of four subunits (Pol δ4), plays a pivotal role in DNA replication, as well as in DNA damage repair. Pold4, as the smallest subunit of Pol δ, is degraded in response to DNA damage or when entering into S-phase. This leads to the conversion of Pol δ4 to the trimeric complex Pol δ3. However, the contribution of Pold4 has not been fully elucidated in mammals. Cdm1, the Pold4 ortholog in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, is dispensable for cell growth and DNA damage repair, and there are no Pold4 orthologs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We previously generated a knockout mouse model of Pold3 and revealed its essential role in genome stability. Unexpectedly, we here found that Pold4 knockout mice are viable and fertile. In addition, Pold4 knockout mice do not exhibit any pathologic changes in the lung and spleen, tissues with the most abundant expression of Pold4. Moreover, Pold4 knockout mouse tail tip fibroblasts (TTF) exhibited normal cell growth, cell cycle, DNA replication, DNA damage and DNA repair capacity. These results suggested that Pol δ3 but not Pol δ4 may be responsible for these processes in normal cells. Interestingly, 19-month-old wild-type (WT) mice had tumors in the liver, while Pold4 knockout mice did not, and Pold4 knockout mice showed increased longevity. In further, this provided evidence suggested that Pold4 could be a potential novel target for lung carcinoma because its depletion does not affect normal cells but does affect cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• PPy-coated P(NIPAM-ABP) electrospun nanofiber can provide high strength. • PPy-coating by in situ polymerization can provide high light-responsive. • The actuator owns ultrafast deformation and rapid recovery. • The actuator can realize various 3D programmable complex deformations. • We have explored new biomimetic devices based on the advantages of the actuator. Intelligent hydrogels are promising for biomimetic actuators, but acquiring actuations with both high speed and powerful force is still extremely difficult. Herein, a new robust polypyrrole (PPy)-coated copoly(isopropylacrylamide-4-benzoylphenyl acrylate) [P(NIPAM-ABP)] electrospun light-responsive hydrogel is explored. The (PPy)-coated P(NIPAM-ABP) hydrogel can be obtained via in-situ polymerization of pyrroles on the nanofiber-oriented electrospun P(NIPAM-ABP) hydrogel. Compared with original P(NIPAM-ABP) hydrogel, this PPy-coated P(NIPAM-ABP) hydrogel can integrate highly-enhanced mechanical strength (from 1.21 to 5.12 MPa of tensile strength) and ultrahigh-efficiency of photothermal conversion together. In addition, the orientation of P(NIPAM-ABP) nanofibers can still maintain well for programmable complex deformations. Consequently, the as-prepared robust bi-hydrogel actuator with ultrafast and complex deformations has been achieved, through bonding the PPy-P(NIPAM-ABP) hydrogel membrane with a polyethylene glycol diacrylate-cellulose nanofiber (PEGDA-CNF) composite hydrogel membrane via interfacial ultraviolet (UV) polymerization of PEGDA monomers. Several light-responsive biomimetic actuating devices have been achieved, which owning powerful force (can grab up 100 times of self-weight), rapid speed (1285.71°/s of folding) or precisely programmable complex deformations. Furthermore, two biomimetic devices with synergistic functions of the three advantages above have been explored, which can mimic the child's sit-up and the starfish's continuous crawling movement respectively. This work provides a robust remotely-controlled light-responsive hydrogel actuator with powerful force, ultrafast speed and programmable complex actuations, which will inspire the design and fabrication of novel soft biomimetic actuating materials and systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare the application value of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in breast galactography. Materials and Methods: A total of 128 patients with pathological nipple discharge (PND) were selected to undergo galactography. DBT and FFDM were performed for each patient after injecting the contrast agent; the radiation dose of DBT and FFDM was calculated, and the image quality was evaluated in consensus by two senior breast radiologists. Histopathologic data were found in 49 of the 128 patients. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for both FFDM- and DBT-galactography were calculated using histopathologic results as a reference standard. Data were presented as percentages along with their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: The average age of the 128 patients was 46.53 years. The average glandular dose (AGD) of DBT-galactography was slightly higher than that of FFDM-galactography (p < 0.001). DBT-galactography was 30.7% higher than FFDM-galactography in CC view, while DBT-galactography increased by 21.7% compared with FFDM-galactography in ML view. Regarding catheter anatomic distortion, structure detail, and overall image quality groups, DBT scores were higher than FFDM scores, and the differences were significant for all measures (p < 0.05). In 49 patients with pathological nipple discharge, we found that the DBT-galactography had higher sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV (93.3%, 75%, 97.7%, and 50%, respectively) than FFDM-galactography (91.1%, 50%, 95.3%, and 33.3%, respectively). Conclusions: Compared to FFDM-galactography, within the acceptable radiation dose range, DBT-galactography increases the sensitivity and specificity of lesion detection by improving the image quality, providing more confidence for the diagnosis of clinical ductal lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new double-network hydrogel is explored for uranium recovery from seawater. • U-adsorption capacity of the hydrogel is greatly enhanced by added nanoclay. • Mechanical property of the hydrogel is largely improved by th double-network. • Used materials are lowcost and the hydrogel owns good U-adsorption reusability. Massive uranium recovery from seawater is a key project to provide the long-time consumption of global nuclear power, while it is still greatly difficult to achieve high-efficient adsorbents with high mechanical property. In this work, a new nanoclay-poly(amidoxime) (NC-PAO) high-strength double-network (DN) composite hydrogel adsorbent with high-efficient and fast uranium extraction capacity has been explored. The uranium adsorbing performance can be significantly enhanced by the small content of added super-hydrophilic NC (Laponite RDS sheets), because of the largely improved hydrophilicity of the hydrogel. Compared with the blank PAO DN hydrogel without nanoclay, the uranium adsorbing capacity of this NC-PAO DN hydrogel can largely increase 73.4% from 4.97 mg/g to 8.62 mg/g, after in seawater only 25 days. The uranium adsorption rate of this hydrogel from natural seawater, can reached 0.345 mg/(g∙day), which is excellent among existing uranium adsorbents. Furthermore, this hydrogel has high mechanical performance with 2.42 MPa of tensile strength and 16.13 MPa of compressive strength, which can be used in seawater for relatively longer time than traditional low-strength single-network hydrogel, owing to its double network (DN) structure (the weakly crosslinked gelatin soft network and the strongly crosslinked cellulose nanofiber (CNF) hard network). This NC-PAO DN hydrogel adsorbent will be an excellent candidate for fast uranium recovery from seawater in largescale. Most importantly, this work will inspire the development of new hydrogel-based adsorbents and even other type of adsorbents for high-efficient uranium extraction, through compositing various low-cost and super-hydrophilic nanomaterials to significantly improve the hydrophilicity of the adsorbent and designing double-network structure to largely enhance the mechanical property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]