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Purpose: The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging schema is widely used for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment. In the updated recommendations, HCC BCLC stage B can become candidates for transplantation. In contrast, hepatectomy is currently not recommended. Methods: This systematic review includes a multi-institutional meta-analysis of patient-level data. Survival, postoperative mortality, morbidity and patient selection criteria for liver resection and transplantation in BCLC stage B are explored. All clinical studies reporting HCC patients with BCLC stage B undergoing liver resection or transplantation were included. Results: A total of 31 studies with 3163 patients were included. Patient level data was available for 580 patients from 9 studies (423 after resection and 157 after transplantation). The overall survival following resection was 50 months and recurrence-free survival was 15 months. Overall survival after transplantation was not reached and recurrence-free survival was 45 months. The major complication rate after resection was 0.11 (95%-CI, 0.0-0.17) with the 90-day mortality rate of 0.03 (95%-CI, 0.03–0.08). Child-Pugh A (93%), minor resection (60%), alpha protein level less than 400 (64%) were common in resected patients. Resected patients were mostly outside the Milan criteria (99%) with mean tumour number of 2.9. Studies reporting liver transplantation in BCLC stage B were scarce. Conclusion: Liver resection can be performed safely in selected patients with HCC BCLC stage B, particularly if patients present with preserved liver function. No conclusion can done on liver transplantation due to scarcity of reported studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) is a government-funded initiative developing federated infrastructures for a responsible and efficient secondary use of health data for research purposes in compliance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). We built a common standard infrastructure with a fit-for-purpose strategy to bring together health-related data and ease the work of both data providers to supply data in a standard manner and researchers by enhancing the quality of the collected data. As a result, the SPHN Resource Description Framework (RDF) schema was implemented together with a data ecosystem that encompasses data integration, validation tools, analysis helpers, training and documentation for representing health metadata and data in a consistent manner and reaching nationwide data interoperability goals. Data providers can now efficiently deliver several types of health data in a standardised and interoperable way while a high degree of flexibility is granted for the various demands of individual research projects. Researchers in Switzerland have access to FAIR health data for further use in RDF triplestores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emergency resection is common for malignant right-sided obstructive colon cancer. As there is evidence showing a potential benefit of self-expandable metal stents as a bridge to surgery, a new debate has been initiated. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare self-expandable metal stents with emergency resection in right-sided obstructive colon cancer. Data source: A systematic search was conducted accessing Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Study selection: Studies reporting either emergency surgery or stent placement in right-sided obstructive colon cancer were included. Intervention: Stent or emergency resection in right-sided obstructive colon cancer. Main outcome measures: Morbidity rate, mortality rate, stoma rate, laparoscopic resection rate, anastomotic insufficiency rate, success rate of stent. Results: A total of 6343 patients from 16 publications were analyzed. The stent success rate was 0.92 (95% CI, 0.87 to 0.95) with perforation of 0.03 (95% CI, 0.01 to 0.06). Emergency resection was performed laparoscopically at a rate of 0.15 (95% CI, 0.09 to 0.24). Primary anastomosis rate in emergency resection was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.91 to 0.97) with an anastomotic insufficiency rate of 0.07 (95% CI, 0.04 to 0.11). The mortality rate after emergency resection was 0.05 (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.09). Primary anastomosis and anastomotic insufficiency rate were similar between the two groups (RR: 1.02; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.1; p = 0.56 and RR: 0.53; 95% CI, 0.14 to 1.93; p = 0.33). The mortality rate in emergency resection was higher compared to stent (RR: 0.51, 95% CI 0.30 to 10.89, p = 0.016). Limitation: No randomized controlled trials are available. Conclusion: Stent is a safe and successful alternative to emergency resection and may increase the rate of minimally invasive surgery. Emergency resection, however, remains safe and did not result in higher rate of anastomotic insufficiency. Further high-quality comparative studies are warranted to assess long-term outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We performed tomographic investigation of the most heavily perturbed (thus highly radioactive) rod and its pristine/unirradiated replicate from the target No. 12 of the Swiss neutron spallation source (SINQ). The tomographic dataset reveals the 3D re-distribution of the lead filling inside the irradiated Zircaloy tube. The change in the linear attenuation coefficient of both the lead filling and the Zircaloy tube of the irradiated rod (due to the presence of the entrapped spallation products) in comparison with the pristine/unirradiated material is quantified. The dataset provides valuable input for the enhancement of safety and efficiency of future spallation targets at SINQ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The stock dynamics of harvested wood products (HWPs) are a relevant component of anthropogenic carbon cycles. Generally, HWP stock increases are treated as carbon removals from the atmosphere, while stock decreases are considered emissions. Among the different approaches suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for accounting HWPs in national greenhouse gas inventories, the production approach has been established as the common approach under the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. However, the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change decided that alternative approaches can also be used. The IPCC has published guidelines for estimating HWP carbon stocks and default parameters for the various approaches in the 2006 Guidelines, 2013 Guidance, and 2019 Refinement. Although there are significant differences among the default methods in the three IPCC guidelines, no studies have systematically quantified or compared the results from the different guidelines on a global scale. This study quantifies the HWP stock dynamics and corresponding carbon removals/emissions under each approach based on the default methods presented in each guideline for 235 individual countries/regions. Results: We identified relatively good consistency in carbon stocks/removals between the stock-change and the atmospheric flow approaches at a global level. Under both approaches, the methodological and parameter updates in the 2019 Refinement (e.g., considered HWPs, starting year for carbon stocks, and conversion factors) resulted in one-third reduction in carbon removals compared to the 2006 Guidelines. The production approach leads to a systematic underestimation of global carbon stocks and removals because it confines accounting to products derived from domestic harvests and uses the share of domestic feedstock for accounting. The 2013 Guidance and the 2019 Refinement reduce the estimated global carbon removals under the production approach by 15% and 45% (2018), respectively, compared to the 2006 Guidelines. Conclusions: Gradual refinements in the IPCC default methods have a considerably higher impact on global estimates of HWP carbon stocks and removals than the differences in accounting approaches. The methodological improvements in the 2019 Refinement halve the global HWP carbon removals estimated in the former version, the 2006 Guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze evidence production in merger control as a delegation problem in an inquisitorial competition policy system. The antitrust agency's incentives to produce evidence on the efficiency of a merger proposal depend critically on its action set. Allowing for a compromising remedy solution reduces information acquisition incentives, and could therefore reduce consumer welfare. The effort-frustrating effect of the remedy solution can be eliminated if a remedy solution can be implemented only after evidence on the efficiency of a merger proposal has been produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We investigate the influence of the diameter and the filling factor of randomly arranged ZnO nanoneedles on the multiple scattering and localization of light in disordered dielectrics. Coherent, ultra-broadband second-harmonic (SH) microscopy is used to probe the spatial localization of light in representative nm-sized ZnO arrays of needles. We observe strong fluctuations of the SH intensity inside different ZnO needle geometries. Comparison of the SH intensity distributions with predictions based on a one-parameter scaling model indicate that SH fluctuations can be taken as a quantitative measure for the degree of localization. Interestingly, the strongest localization signatures are found for densely packed arrays of thin needles with diameters in the range of only 30 nm range, despite the small scattering cross section of these needles. FDTD simulations indicate that in this case coupling of electric near-fields between neighbouring needles governs the localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the procompetitive effects of dual pricing, that is, input market price discrimination. An upstream firm has an incentive to maintain competition downstream which is realized by selling at an advantageous price to an inefficient downstream firm when discrimination is possible while it would exit under uniform pricing. We augment the exit issue into existing frameworks of Katz (Am Econ Rev 77:154-167, ), DeGraba (Am Econ Rev 80:1246-1253, ), and Yoshida (Am Econ Rev 90:240-246, ) which allows us to show that price discrimination in intermediary goods markets tends to have positive effects on allocative, dynamic and productive efficiency, respectively. In contrast, a discrimination ban tends to facilitate exit of relatively inefficient firms, thereby strengthening downstream market concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study experimentally investigated the near-field flow mixing characteristics of two turbulent jets issuing from equilateral triangular and circular orifice plates into effectively unbounded surroundings, respectively. Planar particle image velocimetry (PIV) was applied to measure the velocity field at the same Reynolds number of Re=50,000, where Re = U D/ ν with U being the exit bulk velocity and ν the kinematic viscosity of fluid, D the equivalent diameters. The instantaneous velocity, mean velocity, Reynolds stresses were obtained. From the mean velocity field, the centreline velocity decay rate and half-velocity width were derived. Comparing the mixing characteristics of the two jets, it is found that the triangular jet has a faster mixing rate than the circular counterpart. The triangular jet entrainments with the ambient fluid at a higher rate in the near field. This is evidenced by a shorter unmixed core, faster Reynolds stress and centreline turbulence intensity growth. The primary coherent structures in the near field are found to break down more rapidly in the triangular jet as compared to the circular jet. Over the entire measurement region, the triangular jet maintained a higher rate of decay and spread. Moreover, all components of Reynolds stress of the triangular jet appear to reach their peaks earlier, and then decay more rapidly than those of the circular jet. In addition, the axis-switching phenomenon is observed in the triangular jet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle clusters are preferential accumulations of a solid, secondary phase that can be caused by turbulence. It is well known that particle clusters can influence the performance of systems employing suspension flows, such as pulverised fuel combustion systems. However, statistical analysis of clusters is limited by available methods to quantify them. In the current study, a method to identify planar slices of large-scale particle clusters from planar images of instantaneous particle distributions is presented. The method employs smoothing of instantaneous particle scatter images by a length scale, L, to produce pseudo-scalar fields of particle distributions. The scalar fields are compared with mean (not smoothed) images to produce cluster masks that are then multiplied by the original instantaneous image to produce a map of the locations of cluster slices. The sensitivity to the smoothing length scale is assessed parametrically for its influence on the statistical measures of the following parameters characterising slices of large-scale clusters in four representative flows: the physical locations of the cluster slice centroids; the area of the cluster slice; and the number of cluster slices per image. While the results are influenced by the selected value of smoothing length scale, L, the sensitivity is low in a physically reasonable range and the method performs well in this range for the four different flow cases. The method could be extended to provide volumetric measurements with suitable volumetric imaging systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The intravasation of breast cancer into the lymphendothelium is an early step of metastasis. Little is known about the mechanisms of bulky cancer invasion into lymph ducts.Methods: To particularly address this issue, we developed a 3-dimensional co-culture model involving MCF-7 breast cancer cell spheroids and telomerase-immortalised human lymphendothelial cell (LEC) monolayers, which resembles intravasation in vivo and correlated the malignant phenotype with specific protein expression of LECs.Results: We show that tumour spheroids generate 'circular chemorepellent-induced defects' (CCID) in LEC monolayers through retraction of LECs, which was induced by 12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE) secreted by MCF-7 spheroids. This 12(S)-HETE-regulated retraction of LECs during intravasation particularly allowed us to investigate the key regulators involved in the motility and plasticity of LECs. In all, 12(S)-HETE induced pro-metastatic protein expression patterns and showed NF-κB-dependent up-regulation of the mesenchymal marker protein S100A4 and of transcriptional repressor ZEB1 concomittant with down-regulation of the endothelial adherence junction component VE-cadherin. This was in accordance with ∼50% attenuation of CCID formation by treatment of cells with 10 μM Bay11-7082. Notably, 12(S)-HETE-induced VE-cadherin repression was regulated by either NF-κB or by ZEB1 since ZEB1 siRNA knockdown abrogated not only 12(S)-HETE-mediated VE-cadherin repression but inhibited VE-cadherin expression in general.Interpretation: These data suggest an endothelial to mesenchymal transition-like process of LECs, which induces single cell motility during endothelial transmigration of breast carcinoma cells. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the 12(S)-HETE-induced intravasation of MCF-7 spheroids through LECs require an NF-κB-dependent process of LECs triggering the disintegration of cell-cell contacts, migration, and the generation of CCID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the near-field flow characteristics of two air/air turbulent jets issuing respectively from notched-rectangular and circular orifice plates with identical opening areas or equivalent diameters ( D e). Planar particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the velocity field at the same Reynolds number, based on D e, of Re = 72,000. Consistent with previous work on other noncircular jets, the present study finds that the notched jet has a higher rate of mixing than does the circular counterpart. In particular, this jet in the very near field transfers its momentum to the surroundings at a greater rate, evidenced by a notably shorter unmixed core and faster turbulence intensity growth. The higher rates of overall decay and spread of the notched jet are maintained over the entire measurement region and likely beyond. In addition, the phenomenon of axis switching is also found to occur in this jet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High optical quality, well end leg faceted ZnO microtetrapods with leg length between 1 and 12 μm have been grown by carbothermal chemical vapor deposition. Lasing with mode quality factors of 2500–3000 is demonstrated. The origin of laser resonator cavity is discussed as a function of the tetrapod size. It is shown that in big tetrapods with legs of 12 μm in length the laser emission lines are well explained by longitudinal Fabry–Pérot modes generated in cavities formed by individual tetrapod legs. The dispersion of the ZnO refractive index is experimentally determined from the position of lasing modes in the temperature interval from 10 to 300 K. It is shown that the lasing mode structure is seriously affected by the decrease of the tetrapod size. For a small tetrapod with a leg length of 1 μm, the lasing modes cannot be explained anymore by the formation of longitudinal Fabry–Pérot modes in separate tetrapod legs, and the generation of guided modes by multiple total internal reflections in single tetrapod legs or in pairs of legs should be taken into account. The correlations between the lasing threshold and the tetrapod size are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  The triangular oscillating jet nozzle generates a triangular jet partially confined within an axi-symmetric chamber to produce a large scale flow oscillation that has application in thermal processes. Particle image velocimetry and oscillation frequency measurements were conducted to investigate the influence of the jet fluid to ambient fluid density ratio on the resulting oscillating flow. The investigation was conducted with a jet momentum flux of 0.06 kg m s−2 (Re = 7.3−47.2 × 103) and density ratios ranging from 0.2 to 5.0. The initial spread and decay of the emerging jet was found to depend upon the density ratio but in a more complex way than does an unconfined jet. Both the spread and decay are strongly influenced by the instantaneous angle of jet deflection, with greater deflection leading to increased spreading and decay of the jet. Decreasing the density ratio below unity results in a rapid decrease in the deflection angle, while increasing the density ratio above unity results in an increase in the deflection angle, albeit with less sensitivity. The frequency of oscillation was also shown to depend on the density ratio with an increase in the density ratio causing a decrease in the dominant oscillation frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]