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Introduction Patients with aspiration pneumonia (AP) exhibit higher mortality than those with non-AP. However, data regarding predictors of short-term prognosis in patients with community-acquired AP are limited. Methods Patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) were retrospectively classified into aspiration pneumonia (AP) and non-AP groups. The AP patients were further divided into nonsurvivors and survivors by 30-day mortality, and various clinical variables were compared between the groups. Results Of 1249 CAP patients, 254 (20.3%) were classified into the AP group, of whom 76 patients (29.9%) died within 30 days. CURB-65, pneumonia severity index (PSI), and Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society criteria for severe CAP (SCAP) showed only modest prognostic performance for the prediction of 30-day mortality (c-statistics, 0.635, 0.647, and 0.681, respectively). Along with the PSI and SCAP, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG-PS) and blood biomarkers, including, N-terminal of prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and albumin, were independent predictors of 30-day mortality. In models based on clinical prediction rules, including CURB-65, PSI, and SCAP, the addition of ECOG-PS further improved their c-statistics compared to the clinical prediction rules alone. In the four combinations based on SCAP, ECOG-PS, and two blood biomarkers (NT-proBNP and albumin), the c-statistics further increased to reach approximately 0.8. Conclusions CURB-65, PSI, and SCAP exhibited only modest discriminatory power in predicting the 30-day mortality of patients with community-acquired AP. The addition of performance status and blood biomarkers, including NT-proBNP and albumin, further increased prognostic performance, showing good predictive accuracy in the SCAP-based model.

This study was conducted to explore whether polymorphisms of glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) gene affect the prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after surgical resection. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in GLUT3 were investigated in a total of 782 patients with NSCLC who underwent curative surgery. The association of the SNPs with overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) was analyzed. Among the four SNPs investigated, GLUT3 rs7309332C>T was significantly associated with OS and DFS in multivariate analyses. The SNP was associated with significantly worse OS (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 1.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04–2.53, P = 0.03, under recessive model), and worse DFS (aHR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.18–2.29, P = 0.003, under recessive model). When stratified by tumor histology, the association between the GLUT3 rs7309332C>T and OS/DFS was not limited to either squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) or adenocarcinoma (AC), although the significant association remained only in AC for OS (P = 0.40 for SCC and P = 0.04 for OS) and only in SCC for DFS (P = 0.03 for SCC and P = 0.08 for OS). When AC patients were stratified according to EGFR mutation status, the SNP was significantly associated with DFS in patients with EGFR mutant tumors (aHR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.15–5.30, P = 0.02, under recessive model), but not in those with EGFR wild-type tumors. This study suggests that genetic variation in GLUT3 may be useful in predicting survival of patients with early stage NSCLC.

Background We conducted this study to identify regulatory variants in cancer-related pathway genes which can predict clinical outcomes of chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC, using a comprehensive list of regulatory SNPs prioritized by RegulomeDB. Methods A total of 509 potentially functional SNPs in cancer-related pathway genes were evaluated. The SNPs were analyzed in a discovery set (n = 198), and an independent validation set (n = 181). The associations of the SNPs with chemotherapy response and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. Results In the discovery set, 95 SNPs were significantly associated with clinical outcomes. Among the 95 SNPs, only rs10414193A > G in the intronic region of ARID3A, an eQTL for LKB1, was consistently associated with chemotherapy response and OS in the validation set. In combined analysis, the rs10414193A > G was significantly associated with worse response to chemotherapy (adjusted odds ratio = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.47–0.85, P = 0.002), and with worse OS (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.08–1.45, P = 0.004). Luciferase assay showed a significantly higher LKB1 promoter activity associated with rs10414193G allele compared with rs10414193A allele (P = 0.0009). Conclusions Our results suggest that rs10414193A > G may be useful for the prediction of clinical outcomes of chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC.

Background Data on the relationship between the clinical and microbiological features of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and its computed tomography (CT) findings are limited. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinic-microbiological features of patients with CAP presenting with ground-glass opacity (GGO) and centrilobular nodules or tree-in-bud pattern on CT images. Methods Patients with CAP who underwent a CT scan at presentation were retrospectively classified using CT findings into consolidation, GGO and bronchiolitis groups. These 3 groups were compared in terms of clinical parameters and microbiological data. Results A total of 40 patients (2.4%) were allocated to the bronchiolitis group and 46 (2.8%) to the GGO group. The most common pathogen in the bronchiolitis group was Mycoplasma pneumoniae, which was significantly more frequently isolated in this group. The bronchiolitis group was characterized by a higher percentage of cough, a lower percentage of chest pain and lower blood levels of inflammatory markers. Common pathogens in the GGO group were not significantly different from those in the other 2 groups. Unlike that observed in the consolidation group, complicated parapneumonic effusion or empyema was not observed in the bronchiolitis or GGO group. Outcome variables were similar in the 3 groups. Conclusions The bronchiolitis group was characterized by a higher frequency of M. pneumoniae and a less severe form of CAP. The GGO and consolidation groups was similar with respect to causative microorganisms and the clinical features of CAP. No patient in the bronchiolitis or GGO group exhibited complicated parapneumonic effusion or empyema.

Ni-rich LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2 (Ni-rich NCM; x ≥ 0.8, 0 4.3 V). Herein, 2,4-difluorobiphenyl (FBP) is proposed as a fluorine-based cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI)-forming additive for Ni-rich LiNi0.83Co0.11Mn0.06O2 (NCM83). The structural characteristics of FBP originate from the overcharge protection of biphenyl, whereas the fluorine atoms are preferable for high-voltage conditions. The addition of 1 wt% FBP to the electrolyte enhances the cycling stability at the 4.5 V cut-off voltage. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and rate capability results indicate a fast kinetics at the NCM83 surface with FBP additive upon the formation of a stable CEI. Images from scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy after 150 cycles of NCM83 show the thin deposit layer of CEI upon introduction of FBP. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results demonstrate the suppression of electrolyte and salt decomposition. This work suggests an opportunity to develop a completely new functional additive by introducing a fluorine component to existing additives.

International audience; In this paper, we present a sketch-based modeler that reconstructs a 3D shape by combining a single descriptive sketch and minimal user intervention. The user provides a single 2D drawing in the form of a descriptive sketch, where solid curves describe the visible silhouette, and dashed curves the hidden outline. The curves are partitioned into a set of closed curves in a semi-automatic manner, each of which is consolidated into a closed surface element by solving a constrained optimization problem. The final 3D shape is generated by assembling these surface elements. The algorithmic reconstruction is complemented by allowing users to optionally guide the shape computation or correct any inaccuracy. This is done by successively specifying different kinds of local constraints on sparsely selected points in rotated views, such as adjustment of volume thickness along the projection line, or curvature discontinuity. Consequently, the range and complexity of shapes that can be created from a singleview sketch are significantly extended. We evaluate our solution by reconstructing a wide range of 3D models from sketches of various sources, and visually comparing the reference models and the shapes reconstructed by users.

Pleural fluid (PF) immune response in anergic tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) patients is poorly understood. This study aimed to compare PF biochemical parameters and chemokine levels between anergic and non-anergic TPE patients. Chemokine arrays, cytokine measurements, and flow cytometry were performed in 58 patients (TPE [non-anergic (n = 32) and anergic (n = 10)] and malignant pleural effusion (MPE) [n = 16]). PF adenosine deaminase 2 (ADA2) levels were significantly lower in anergic TPE patients than in non-anergic TPE patients (p = 0.048). Among the 40 chemokines tested, PF CCL27 levels were significantly higher in anergic TPE patients than in non-anergic TPE and MPE patients (p 0.001). The percentage of CD4

Skin tension lines, defined as the lines of maximal tension, often provide guidelines for surgical incisions and pattern design of tight-fit, functional clothing. In this work, we are interested in developing methods for finding personalized, dynamic skin tension lines (DSTL) in a non-invasive manner. We base our study on the kinematic analysis of point markers that are colored on the skin. By tracking the motion-induced displacement of point markers, we locally analyze the skin deformation and numerically compute the maximum tension directions. Then, finding DSTL is transformed to the problem of finding continuous, interpolating locally computed lines of the maximum tension directions. Compared to existing methods, our method involves less invasive measurement on the skin, and is equipped with computational methods for identifying dynamic skin tension automatically. Consequently, our method is convenient to carry out, less prone to erroneous measurement, and repeatable. Our experiments have been successfully carried out on, though not limited to, lower body skins of male subjects.

We describe a system for taking a 2D sketch of a mirror-symmetric 3D shape and lifting the curves to 3D, inferring the symmetry relationship from the original hand-drawn curves. The system takes as input a hand-drawn sketch and generates a set of 3D curves such that their orthogonal projection matches the input sketch. The main contribution is a method which is able to identify the symmetry relationship among the hand-drawn curves even in the presence of ambiguity in the sketch.

We discuss a set of techniques based on examples for generating realistic, controllable human whole-body models. Users are assisted in automatically generating a new model or modifying an existing one by controlling the parameters provided. Our approach is based on examples and consists of three major parts. First, each example from the 3D range scanner is preprocessed so that the topology of all examples is identical. Second, the system that we call the modeling synthesizer learns from these examples the correlation between the parameters and the body geometry. After this learning process the synthesizer is devoted to the generation of appropriate shape and proportion of the body geometry through interpolation. Finally, we demonstrate our modifier synthesizer for more subtle manipulations of example models, using high-level parameters such as fat percentage. On any synthesized model, the underlying bone and skin structure is properly adjusted, so that the model remains completely animatable using the joint animation. By allowing automatic modification from a set of parameters, our approach may eventually lead to the automatic generation of a variety of population models.