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Background: Intrahepatic recurrence is one of the main causes of treatment failure in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRLM). Hepatic steatosis was reported to provide fertile soil for metastasis. The effect of irinotecan-inducted hepatic steatosis on the progression of liver metastasis remains to be verified. Therefore, we aim to clarify the effect of hepatic steatosis on postoperative intrahepatic recurrence in CRLM and whether it is relevant to irinotecan-based chemotherapy. Methods: Data for a total of 284 patients undergoing curative surgical treatment for CRLMs were retrospectively reviewed between March 2007 and June 2018. Hepatic steatosis score (HSS) was established by combining Liver to Spleen CT ratio (LSR) and Uric acid to HDL-cholesterol ratio (UHR) to detect the presence of hepatic steatosis. Results: The evaluation model is consistent with pathological results and has high prediction ability and clinical application value. Patients with HSS high risk (HSS-HR) had significantly worse prognosis than those with HSS low risk (HSS-LR) (3-year intrahepatic RFS: 42.7% vs. 29.4%, P = 0.003; 5-year OS: 45.7% vs. 26.5%, P = 0.002). Univariate and multivariate analysis confirmed its essential role in the prediction of intrahepatic RFS. Besides, patients treated with preoperative irinotecan chemotherapy were more likely to end up with HSS-HR than those with non-irinotecan chemotherapy (63.3% vs. 21.8%, P < 0.001). Furthermore, irinotecan chemotherapy is relevant to worse prognosis in baseline HSS-HR patients. Conclusion: In summary, patients with HSS-HR had significantly worse 5-year OS and 3-year intrahepatic RFS. Irinotecan chemotherapy is more likely to lead to HSS-HR and pre-existing hepatic steatosis may be a worse prognostic factor limiting patients underwent IRI-based chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the safety and short-term outcomes of robotic surgery for sigmoid colon and rectal cancer patients are well-documented, there is limited research on the long-term survival outcomes of robotic colorectal surgery. This is a retrospective study that includes 502 patients who underwent either laparoscopic or robotic anterior resection and abdominoperineal resection for rectal or sigmoid colon cancer between August 2016 and September 2021. All patients were diagnosed with rectal or sigmoid colon adenocarcinoma. Propensity score matching (PSM) was implemented to minimize selection bias. Perioperative outcomes, complication rates, and pathological data were evaluated and compared. The 5-year overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate were calculated and compared. Before matching, patients in the robotic group had earlier pathological T and N stages and were more likely to have received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy compared to the laparoscopic group. After matching, most clinicopathological outcomes were similar between the two groups, but the robotic group had longer operative times and a lower conversion rate to open surgery compared with laparoscopic group. After matching for clinical factors, the 5-year DFS rates were 88.19% for the robotic group and 82.46% for the laparoscopic group (P = 0.122), and the OS rates were 90.5% and 79.5% (P = 0.342), showing no significant differences. In the stratified analysis, patients in the robotic surgery group had significantly higher 5-year DFS rates in the following subgroups: age < 65 years, TNM stage I-II, received neoadjuvant therapy, and primary tumor located in the rectum. The safety and efficacy of robotic surgery for sigmoid colon and rectal cancer were validated compared to laparoscopic surgery, with both groups of patients exhibiting comparable long-term prognoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neoadjuvant immunotherapy with programmed death-ligand 1 blockade for colon cancer, especially for mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR)/high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) colon cancer, has gained considerable attention recently. Objective: This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant subcutaneous envafolimab in patients with dMMR/MSI-H locally advanced colon cancer. Methods: Patients with dMMR/MSI-H locally advanced colon cancer treated with envafolimab at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and Yunnan Cancer Hospital from October 2021 to July 2023 were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. The primary endpoint was the pathological complete response (CR) rate, and secondary endpoints were treatment-related adverse events and complete clinical response rate. Results: Overall, 15 patients were analyzed. After neoadjuvant immunotherapy with envafolimab, six patients achieved a CR, with five partial responses, and four stable disease. Three patients achieving a complete clinical response chose to accept a "watch and wait" strategy, and surgery was performed in 12 patients. Postoperative pathology results revealed seven patients achieved pathological CRs, and five patients achieved tumor regression grade 2, with 66.7% of the total CR rate. The most common treatment-related adverse events were pruritus and rash (40%), with no severe cases. No recurrences occurred over a 7.9-month follow-up. Conclusions: Envafolimab yielded promising surgical outcomes and safety in dMMR/MSI-H locally advanced colon cancer, representing a promising treatment modality for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional electrochemical detection strategy for alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is limited by the antigen-antibody (Ag-Ab) reactions and suffers from low sensitivity and poor reproducibility due to the inconsistency of Ab-modified electrodes. Herein, we designed and explored a sandwich-type electrochemical sensor for highly sensitive detection of AFP based on aptamer (Apt)–AFP–Ab interaction mode with silver@gold (Ag@Au) core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) as a signal amplifier. AuNPs were electrodeposited onto MXene (Ti3C2TX)-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to get AuNPs/MXene/GCE and further used as the signal amplification substrate. The tetrahedral DNA-linked AFP aptamers were immobilized onto AuNPs/MXene/GCE surface via Au–S bonds and used as the sensing and recognition platform for AFP capturing. Ag@AuNPs with core-shell structures were synthesized, characterized, and bound with Ab as detection elements by catalyzing H2O2 reduction. In the presence of AFP, a stable Apt–AFP–Ab sandwich structure was formed owing to the high affinities of aptamer and Ab toward the target AFP. The catalytic current produced by H2O2 reduction increased linearly with the logarithm of AFP concentration from 5 × 10−4 ng/mL to 1 × 105 ng/mL, accompanied by a low detection limit (1.6 × 10−4 ng/mL). Moreover, the novel sandwich-type electrochemical sensor shows high sensitivity, outstanding selectivity, and promising performance in the analysis of actual samples, displaying a broad application prospect in bioanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online rumors are widespread and difficult to identify, which bring serious harm to society and individuals. To effectively detect and govern online rumors, it is necessary to conduct in-depth semantic analysis and understand the content features of rumors. This paper proposes a TFI domain ontology construction method, which aims to achieve semantic parsing and reasoning of the rumor text content. This paper starts from the term layer, the frame layer, and the instance layer, and based on the reuse of the top-level ontology, the extraction of core literature content features, and the discovery of new concepts in the real corpus, obtains the core classes (five parent classes and 88 subclasses) of the rumor domain ontology and defines their concept hierarchy. Object properties and data properties are designed to describe relationships between entities or their features, and the instance layer is created according to the real rumor datasets. OWL language is used to encode the ontology, Protégé is used to visualize it, and SWRL rules and pellet reasoner are used to mine and verify implicit knowledge of the ontology, and judge the category of rumor text. This paper constructs a rumor domain ontology with high consistency and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danmakus are user-generated comments that overlay on videos, enabling real-time interactions between viewers and video content. The emotional orientation of danmakus can reflect the attitudes and opinions of viewers on video segments, which can help video platforms optimize video content recommendation and evaluate users' abnormal emotion levels. Aiming at the problems of low transferability of traditional sentiment analysis methods in the danmaku domain, low accuracy of danmaku text segmentation, poor consistency of sentiment annotation, and insufficient semantic feature extraction, this paper proposes a video danmaku sentiment analysis method based on MIBE-RoBERTa-FF-BiLSTM. This paper constructs a "Bilibili Must-Watch List and Top Video Danmaku Sentiment Dataset" by ourselves, covering 10,000 positive and negative sentiment danmaku texts of 18 themes. A new word recognition algorithm based on mutual information (MI) and branch entropy (BE) is used to discover 2610 irregular network popular new words from trigrams to heptagrams in the dataset, forming a domain lexicon. The Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is applied to guide the consistent sentiment annotation. The domain lexicon is integrated into the feature fusion layer of the RoBERTa-FF-BiLSTM model to fully learn the semantic features of word information, character information, and context information of danmaku texts and perform sentiment classification. Comparative experiments on the dataset show that the model proposed in this paper has the best comprehensive performance among the mainstream models for video danmaku text sentiment classification, with an F1 value of 94.06%, and its accuracy and robustness are also better than other models. The limitations of this paper are that the construction of the domain lexicon still requires manual participation and review, the semantic information of danmaku video content and the positive case preference are ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the accuracy of manual compass measurement and trigonometric determination of proptosis (MCMATDP). Methods: This agreement study included 120 eyes without eye diseases or injury of 60 patients who visited the ophthalmic clinic of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital from February 2020 to June 2020. The absolute values of proptosis were measured by MCMATDP and computed tomography (CT). The differences between the two methods were shown by Bland–Altman plot. Results: The cohort comprised 25 males and 35 females (average age 38.3 years). The absolute value of proptosis measured by CT was correlated with the MCMATDP. Further analysis showed that a 95% limit of agreement (LoA) was − 0.53 to 0.60 mm in the right eye and − 0.46 to 0.55 mm in the left eye between CT and MCMATDP. In addition, the 95% LoA was − 0.49 to 0.60 mm in both eyes between the two methods. All points were < 5% in Bland–Altman plots. Conclusions: Compared to CT, MCMATDP is rather consistent in proptosis measurement. The new method is feasible in clinical practice when measuring proptosis. With the development of non-contact intelligent measurement software and the continuous improvement in measurement accuracy, a non-invasive, simple, and inexpensive measurement mode is true based on the theory of MCMATDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) have been categorized as a form of inflammatory cell death mode of neutrophils (NETosis) involved in natural immunity and the regulation of adaptive immunity. More and more studies revealed the ability of NETs to reshape the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) by limiting antitumor effector cells, which may impair the efficacy of immunotherapy. To explore whether NETs-related genes make vital impacts on Colon carcinoma (COAD), we have carried out a systematic analysis and showed several findings in the present work. First, we obtained the patient's data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset, aiming to detect two NETs-associated subtypes by consensus clustering. For the purpose of annotating the roles of NETs-related pathways, gene ontology enrichment analyses were adopted. Next, we constructed a 6 novel NETs-related genes score using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) Cox regression model. We found that the NETs risk score was notably upregulated in COAD patient samples, and its levels were notably correlated with tumor clinicopathological and immune traits. Then, according to NETs-associated molecular subtypes and the risk signature, this study compared immune cell infiltration calculated through the estimate, CIBERSORT, TIMER, ssGSEA algorithms, tumor immune dysfunction, as well as exclusion (TIDE). Furthermore, we confirm that MPO(myeloperoxidase) was significantly upregulated in COAD patient samples, and its levels were significantly linked to tumor malignancy and clinic outcome. Moreover, multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) spatial analysis confirmed that MPO was closely related to Treg and PD-1 + Treg in spatial location which suggested MPO may paly an important role in TIME formation. Altogether, the obtained results indicated that a six NETs-related genes prognostic signature was conducive to estimating the prognosis and response of chemo-/immuno-therapy of COAD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The security of the dynamic heterogeneous redundancy (DHR) architecture relies on the heterogeneity of its executors, which also defines the vulnerability of the mimic system. In order to select executors with reliable and significant dissimilarity as service executors, we propose a DHR executor selection algorithm based on historical credibility and dissimilarity clustering (HCDC), which adds two metrics of executor historical credibility and dissimilarity. First, to maximize the difference between heterogeneous executor pools, clustering is performed based on the dissimilarity of the executor. Second, the executor with the highest historical credibility is selected from the heterogeneous executor pool as the candidate pool. The historical credibility is dynamically updated by the negative feedback control based on the results of the multi-mode adjudicator. Finally, the dynamic scheduling algorithm selects the executors from the candidate pool to form the set of service executors. The simulation results demonstrate that, in comparison to existing methods, the algorithm reduces the attack success rate and average failure rate while increasing system reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the expression levels, prognostic value and immune infiltration association of Holliday junction protein (HJURP) as well as its feasibility as a pan-cancer biomarker for different cancers. The Protter online tool was utilized to obtain the localization of HJURP, then the methylation of HJURP in tumors were further explored. Thereafter, the mRNA data and clinical characteristics of 33 tumor types from TCGA database were obtained to investigate the expression and prognostic relationship of HJURP in different tumor types. Finally, the composition pattern and immune infiltration of HJURP in different tumors were detected in Tumor Immune Estimation Resource. HJURP was abnormally expressed in most of the cancer types and subtypes in TCGA database. Also, it was associated with poor prognosis of different cohorts. At the same time, the results also showed that HJURP was related to tumor immune evasion through different mechanisms, including T cell rejection and methylation in different cancer types. Besides, the methylation of HJURP was inversely proportional to mRNA expression levels, which mediated the dysfunctional phenotypes of T cells and poor prognosis of different cancer types. Alternatively, our results indicated that HJURP expression was associated with immune cell infiltration in a variety of cancers. HJURP may serve as an oncogenic molecule, and its expression and immune infiltration characteristics can be used as a biomarker for cancer detection, prognosis, treatment design and follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the pupil size of the original mydriasis and repeat mydriasis at the pupil shrinkage stage. Methods: Randomized prospective study. In total, 60 eyes of 30 patients aged 50–70 with age-related cataracts were included. Pupil sizes were measured by the Sirius system before mydriasis, after the first batch of mydriasis, and after the second batch of mydriasis which was 5 h later. Statistical analysis was performed using MedCalc statistical software version 20.0.3 Results: The pupil size of the second batch of mydriasis 5 h later was smaller than the first batch of mydriasis (3.94 ± 0.88 mm vs 5.12 ± 0.96 mm, P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Less efficiency repeat mydriasis several hours later compared with original mydriasis in our study suggests that preparation of mydriasis at an appropriate time is necessary for ophthalmological operations. The effect of repeat mydriasis again by tropicamide at the shrinkage stage still needs to be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In electrochemical devices, such as batteries, traditional electric double layer (EDL) theory holds that cations in the cathode/electrolyte interface will be repelled during charging, leaving a large amount of free solvents. This promotes the continuous anodic decomposition of the electrolyte, leading to a limited operation voltage and cycle life of the devices. In this work, we design a new EDL structure with adaptive and passivating properties. It is enabled by adding functional anionic additives in the electrolyte, which can selectively bind with cations and free solvents, forming unique cation-rich and branch-chain like supramolecular polymer structures with high electrochemical stability in the EDL inner layer. Due to this design, the anodic decomposition of ether-based electrolytes is significantly suppressed in the high voltage cathodes and the battery shows outstanding performances such as super-fast charging/discharging and ultra-low temperature applications, which is extremely hard in conventional electrolyte design principle. This unconventional EDL structure breaks the inherent perception of the classical EDL rearrangement mechanism and greatly improve electrochemical performances of the device. Developing an electrolyte that is compatible with both high-voltage cathodes and Li metal anodes has always been challenging. Here, the authors created a new strategy by engineering a passivating electric double layer to achieve a fast-charging and lowtemperature high voltage lithium metal batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiphase particle-reinforced strategy shows promise for efficiently improving the comprehensive properties of aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) such as thermophysical and mechanical properties. In this work, AMC reinforced with β-eucryptite (LAS), and silicon carbide (SiC) particles were successfully prepared via a powder forging process. The microstructure morphology, interface compatibility, and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of these composites were evaluated. Microstructural characterization illustrated that the co-effect of SiC and LAS resulted in a discontinuous phase with a microporous and deformation-free structure. The microporous structure of these composites was conducive for inward expansion and the elimination of internal stress, effectively limiting the outward thermal expansion behavior of the Al alloys. Moreover, SiC and LAS exhibited tight interfacial bonds with the Al grains, enhancing interfacial bonding strength. These composites provided practical and robust tensile stress that limited the thermal expansion of the Al matrix under heating. A fine Al grain size (53.5 nm) and low micro-strain (0.4 × 10–4) were obtained with increasing LAS content. Consequently, the composites achieved a low CTE of 17.27 × 10–6 K−1 at 500 °C. The experimental CTE values were also compared with theoretical values calculated by a rule of mixture model to confirm that the excellent interfacial bonding between the LAS and SiC reinforcements and the Al matrix imposed an effective constraint on matrix expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Losses are ubiquitous and unavoidable in nature inhibiting the performance of most optical processes. Manipulating losses to adjust the dissipation of photons is analogous to braking a running car that is as important as populating photons via a gain medium. Here, we introduce the transient loss boundary into a photon populated cavity that functions as a 'photon brake' and probe photon dynamics by engineering the 'brake timing' and 'brake strength'. Coupled cavity photons can be distinguished by stripping one photonic mode through controlling the loss boundary, which enables the transition from a coupled to an uncoupled state. We interpret the transient boundary as a perturbation by considering both real and imaginary parts of permittivity, and the dynamic process is modeled with a temporal two-dipole oscillator: one with the natural resonant polarization and the other with a frequency-shift polarization. The model unravels the underlying mechanism of concomitant coherent spectral oscillations and generation of tone-tuning cavity photons in the braking process. By synthesizing the temporal loss boundary into a photon populated cavity, a plethora of interesting phenomena and applications are envisioned such as the observation of quantum squeezed states, low-loss nonreciprocal waveguides and ultrafast beam scanning devices. Manipulating photon dynamics is becoming increasingly important especially for quantum optics applications. In this work, the authors provide a mechanism that functions as a 'photon brake' which relies on the concept of temporal loss boundary to manipulate the dynamics of cavity photons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The applications of terahertz (THz) technology can be greatly extended using non-diffractive beams with unique field distributions and non-diffractive transmission characteristics. Here, we design and experimentally demonstrate a set of dual non-diffractive THz beam generators based on an all-dielectric metasurface. Two kinds of non-diffractive beams with dramatically opposite focusing properties, Bessel beam and abruptly autofocusing (AAF) beam, are considered. A Bessel beam with long-distance non-diffractive characteristics and an AAF beam with low energy during transmission and abruptly increased energy near the focus are generated for x- and y-polarized incident waves, respectively. These two kinds of beams are characterized and the results agree well with simulations. In addition, we show numerically that these two kinds of beams can also carry orbital angular momentum by further imposing proper angular phases in the design. We believe that these metasurface-based beam generators have great potential use in THz imaging, communications, non-destructive evaluation, and many other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an ultra-high speed random bit generator without the time-delay signature based on an ytterbium-doped random fiber laser (YRFL) with Rayleigh scattering feedback. The spectrum of the YRFL has a relatively broad bandwidth (0.35 nm) and the lasing temporal intensity shows random fluctuations without cavity induced time-delay signatures (TDS), which are essential for ultra-high speed random bit generation. The chaotic signal and its time-delayed signal sampling at 40 Giga samples per second (GS/s) are converted to digital 8-bit signals. By selecting 5 least significant bits from each 8-bit digital signal and using bitwise exclusive-OR operation, we experimentally achieve 200 Gbps physical random bit generation based on ytterbium-doped random fiber laser with the verified randomness. The combination of broadband emission and free of TDS makes random fiber lasers new promising sources for high performance random bit generation in a simple and compact configuration, which has a great potential in cryptography and secure communication applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Size and weight limitations mean that ordinary railway vehicles with two double-axle bogies cannot deliver some extremely heavy cargo and products. Thus, a newly designed high-speed freight electric multiple unit (EMU) equipped with two bogie groups each with two double-axle bogies connected by a transition frame is an alternative means of transporting heavy products because of its greater load capacity. However, because it is still in the design stage, its dynamic performance is yet to be researched, something that is urgently required because of the more-complicated structure and more-intensive wheel-rail interactions than those of traditional high-speed railway vehicles Therefore, to reveal the dynamic performance, this study establishes a three-dimensional dynamic model of a trailer vehicle in a high-speed freight EMU equipped with four double-axle bogies based on the classical theory of vehicle-track coupled dynamics. In this dynamic model, the vertical, horizontal, rolling, pitching, and yaw motions of the major components excited by random irregularities in the track geometry are considered fully. The results indicate that the derailment coefficient and stability index of this vehicle are both at excellent levels for the simulated conditions. The wheel unloading ratio appears to be larger but still within the safety range when the vehicle runs in a straight line, but it is close to or can even exceed the limit value when the vehicle runs at 400 km/h on a specified curved line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the conventional detection method like radiography, the near infrared light source has been demonstrated to be suitable for dental imaging due to different reflectivity among enamel, dentin, and caries lesion. In this paper, three light sources with different bandwidths based on a transillumination method are compared. The contrast among enamel, dentin, and caries lesion is calculated in different situations. The experimental results show that the random fiber laser has the best comprehensive quality in dental imaging due to its high spectral density, low coherence, and deep penetration. This work provides a guidance for light source selection in dental imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an empirical analysis is proposed by employing a regression-based convergence test, which was first introduced by Phillips and Sul. Unlike most related studies, this approach allows examining for evidence of club convergence and enables to endogenously identify groups of counties that converge to different equilibria. The results obtained in this paper support the existence of convergence clubs, indicating that 108 counties of Henan Province in China form four separate groups within which income per capita dispersion is decreasing over time. Moreover, results from an ordered logit model suggest that differences in initial income, physical capital, government intervention, geographical agglomeration, and topography factor among these counties have played vital roles in determining club membership. The most important conclusion of this paper is that the structural characteristics and infrastructure level do not contribute to determining club membership, and neighbors' effect is also not a decisive factor. Particularly, counties which belong to Central Henan Urban Agglomeration are more likely to fall into a club with a higher mean income per capita. The findings in this paper may have significant policy implications for developing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective study aimed to investigate the preoperative incidence and locations of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in patients undergoing surgeries for ankle fractures and identify the associated risk factors. From January 2016 to June 2019, 1,532 patients undergoing surgery of ankle fractures were included. Their inpatient medical records were inquired for data collection, including demographics, comorbidities, injury-related data and preoperative laboratory biomarkers. DVT of bilateral lower extremities was diagnosed by routine preoperative Doppler examination. Univariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the independent risk factors. Totally, 98 patients had a preoperative DVT, indicating an incidence rate of 6.4%. A total of 164 clots for 6 veins were found, representing an average of 1.7 for each patient. The detailed DVTs involving veins were as follows: 2 in femoral common vein, 7 in superficial femoral vein, 2 in deep femoral vein, 16 in popliteal vein, 49 in posterior tibial vein, and 88 in peroneal vein. In the multivariate model, 5 risk factors were identified to be associated with DVT, including age (10-year increase), gender, lower ALB level, reduced LYM count and elevated D-dimer level. There was a tendency for diabetes mellitus to increase the risk of DVT, although there was no statistical significance (p = 0.063). These epidemiologic data on DVT may help counsel patients about the risk of DVT, individualized risk assessment and accordingly the risk stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective scaling ensemble approach is a novel two-phase heuristic for integer linear programming problems shown to be effective on a wide variety of integer linear programming problems. The technique identifies and aggregates multiple partial solutions to modify the problem formulation and significantly reduce the search space. An empirical analysis on publicly available benchmark problems demonstrate the efficacy of our approach by outperforming standard solution strategies implemented in modern optimization software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates club convergence in income per capita of 329 prefecture-level city regions in China over a period of 1990 to 2014. A nonlinear time-varying factor model is adopted to examine convergence trends as the model allows for transitional heterogeneity and divergence from the actual growth path. The study further explores the driving forces of convergence clubs using an ordered response model. Four convergence clubs are identified, showing no geographic regularity in club member locations. The highest income club and the lowest income club tend to converge strongly, whereas two middle-income clubs converge weakly. The findings indicate that initial conditions, sectorial characteristics, preferential development policy, general government spending, network effect, spatial effect, and the role of globalization are the significant factors responsible for the formation of club convergence in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These authors contributed equally: Junwu Li and Jun Zheng. Correction to: I Scientific Reports i https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25439-0, published online 02 December 2022 In the original version of this Article, Junwu Li and Jun Zheng were omitted as equally contributing authors. [Extracted from the article]

AlO/SiO multilayer high-reflective (HR) mirrors at 355 nm were prepared by electron beam evaporation, and post-irradiated with Ar/O mixture plasma. The surface defect density, reflective spectra, and laser-induced damage characteristics were measured using optical microscopy, spectrophotometry, a damage testing system, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The results indicated that moderate-time of irradiation enhanced the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the mirror, but prolonged irradiation produced surface defects, resulting in LIDT degradation. LIDT of the mirrors initially increased and subsequently decreased with the plasma processing time. SEM damage morphologies of the mirrors revealed that nanoscale absorbing defects in sub-layers was one of the key factors limiting the improvement of LIDT in 355 nm HR mirror. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metasurfaces have been very successful at demonstrating the ability to control the wave propagation over the broad electromagnetic spectrum in recent years. The output wavefronts can be controlled at will, by encoding specially designed abrupt changes of electromagnetic parameters into the metasurfaces, such as phase and amplitude. Constituted by a single- or few-layer of planar structures, metasurfaces are straightforward in design and fabrication, thus promising many credible applications. Moreover, such control concept can be further extended to the surface wave regime. In this review, we present our recent progress on metasurfaces capable of tailoring the propagation of both free-space and surface terahertz waves. Following an introduction of the basic concept and theory, a number of unique terahertz metasurfaces are presented, showing the ability to device ultra-thin and compact functional terahertz components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dielectric properties ( ε and tan δ) of MZT-based ceramics can be tailored at both 1 MHz and the terahertz (THz) frequencies (0.2-2 THz) by CaTiO (CT) doping. CT was formed liquid phase during the sintering process and accelerated the densification of the ceramics. Doped with CT, the increase of the ε at 1 MHz could be explained by Lichtenecker expressions equation, and the tan δ is decreased at 1 MHz due to the high density. By doping with CT, the THz dielectric properties of ceramics can be modified, due to the variation of the lattice parameter and microstructure (porosity). At THz frequencies, ion displacement polarization is difficult to achieve, so that ε at THz is smaller than ε at 1 MHz according to Clausius-Mosotti equation. According to the four-parameter factorized oscillator model, the tan δ is increased with frequency up to THz frequencies. The power absorption of the MZT-based ceramics is lower than 10 cm below 1 THz, and it is a good choice as a transparent material at terahertz domain, which may promote the development of terahertz devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of new and mostly effective molecular targeted therapies, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) cancers are still intractable diseases. Lapatinib, a dual epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has greatly improved breast cancer prognosis in recent years after the initial introduction of trastuzumab (Herceptin). However, clinical evidence indicates the existence of both primary unresponsiveness and secondary lapatinib resistance, which leads to the failure of this agent in HER2+ cancer patients. It remains a major clinical challenge to target the oncogenic pathways with drugs having low resistance. Multiple pathways are involved in the occurrence of lapatinib resistance, including the pathways of receptor tyrosine kinase, non-receptor tyrosine kinase, autophagy, apoptosis, microRNA, cancer stem cell, tumor metabolism, cell cycle, and heat shock protein. Moreover, understanding the relationship among these mechanisms may contribute to future tumor combination therapies. Therefore, it is of urgent necessity to elucidate the precise mechanisms of lapatinib resistance and improve the therapeutic use of this agent in clinic. The present review, in the hope of providing further scientific support for molecular targeted therapies in HER2+ cancers, discusses about the latest findings and new concepts on molecular mechanisms underlying lapatinib resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broadband metamaterial absorber (MA) based on the titanium nitride (TiN) nano-disk array is studied using finite difference time domain simulations. The semiconducting indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film is introduced as the space layer in this sandwiched structure. Utilizing the symmetrical geometry of the MA structure, polarization insensitivity of the broadband absorption was gained. The absorber with TiN nano-disk array shows a peak absorbance of 99 % and larger than 98 % from 560 to 675 nm by numerical simulation. This compact design may have potential applications in the plasmonic sensing and photovoltaic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superconducting terahertz metamaterials have attracted significant interest due to low loss, efficient resonance switching and large-range frequency tunability. The super conductivity in the metamaterials dramatically reduces ohmic loss and absorption to levels suitable for novel devices over a broad range of electromagnetic spectrum. Most metamaterials utilize subwavelength-scale split-ring resonators as unit building blocks, which are proved to support fundamental inductive-capacitive resonance, to achieve unique resonance performance. We presented a review of terahertz superconducting metamaterials and their implementation in multifunctional devices. We began with the recent development of superconducting metamaterials and their potential applications in controlling and manipulating terahertz waves. Then we explored the tuning behaviors of resonance properties in several typical, actively controllable metamaterials through integrating active components. Finally, the ultrafast dynamic nonlinear response to high intensity terahertz field in the superconducting metamaterials was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the potential correlation and prognostic value of Livin, Survivin and Caspase 3 expression in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Methods: We prospectively examined the simultaneous expression of Livin, Survivin and Caspase 3 with immunohistochemistry in the paraffin blocks of 138 patients who underwent transurethral resection, and ten cases of normal bladder specimens were studied as the control group. During a 48-month follow-up, clinical pathologic factors including gender, age, pathology stage, histology grade, adjuvant therapy and recurrence time were recorded. The curves for recurrence-free survival (RFS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the relationship between these proteins' expression and clinical pathologic factors was analyzed with the Cox regression model. Results: Livin and Survivin showed a high expression (H-exp) level of 65.22 and 71.01 % in NMIBC, respectively, whereas Caspase 3 expression level was 50.72 %, and H-exp level of Livin and Survivin were 72.7 and 80.0 % in pT1 stage, respectively, which were proved to be higher than that in pTa/Tis ratio ( P < 0.05). The relation between the H-exp and low-expression (L-exp) groups of Livin and Survivin and RFS were found statistically significant ( P < 0.05). Conversely, there was better RFS in H-exp Caspase 3 group than in L-exp group ( P < 0.05). A risk score was developed on the basis of all three biomarkers to estimate the prognosis of NMIBC patients, and those expressing high Survivin and Livin and low Caspase 3 had a significant shorter RFS time ( P < 0.05). Conclusions: Livin, Survivin and Caspase 3 may be valuable as promising indicators of early recurrence in NMIBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite superhydrophobic coating was tape casted on the surface of aluminum alloy specimens which is composed of maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MAH) and polypropylene (PP). The aluminum alloy specimens were pretreated by silane coupling agent KH550 to increase the adherence between aluminum alloy specimens and PP-g-MAH. The pretreatment surfaces were characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adherence and superhydrophobicity of the composite coating were also tested by QFZ-II adhero meter and OCA-20 optical contact angle meter, respectively. Finally, the morphology of the composite coating was also investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that KH550 is mainly responsible for the increase of adherence between aluminum alloy specimens and PP-g-MAH due to the formation of chemical bond Si-O-Al and polysiloxane coating. As for the superhydrophobicity, the PP coating covers the polar group maleic anhydride which restricts the decrease of superhydrophobicity. At the same time, the concentration of PP-g-MAH and PP solution has an important effect on the hierarchical structure and superhydrophobicity of the composite coating. When the concentration is 5 g L, the coating has a fine structure with an unsatisfying hydrophobicity. When the concentration is more than 17 g L, the composite coating has a prominent hierarchical structure and its superhydrophobicity keeps at relative stable level. However, when the concentration is more than 50 g L, the solution has a weak spreadability and the coating can not easily flow flatly. Sometimes the coating will be cracked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consistent association has been observed between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and atherosclerosis, but the mechanisms underlying these associations are still not well understood. Premature biology aging was evident in atherosclerotic plaques, characterized by reduced cell proliferation, irreversible growth arrest and apoptosis, and telomere attrition. As atherosclerosis is a state of chronic low-grade inflammation and increased oxidative stress, shortened LTL in patients with atherosclerosis might stem from the two sources, one is an accelerated rate in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) replication to replace leukocytes consumed in the inflammatory process, and another is the increase in the loss of telomere repeats per replication. Thus, diminished HSC reserves at birth and age-dependent telomere attrition afterward are mirrored in shortened LTL during the adulthood. In addition, the inter-individual variation of LTL in the general population can be partly explained by genetic factors regulating telomere maintenance and the rate of HSCs replication. Atherosclerosis is an aging-related disease, and practically all humans develop atherosclerosis if they live long enough. Here we overview the potential roles of LTL dynamics in the imbalance between injurious oxidative stress/inflammation and endothelial repair during the pathogenesis of age-related atherosclerosis, and discuss the possibility that preventing accelerated cellular senescence is a potential target in prevention of atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boron carbide powder (BC) was added into phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin to increase the high temperatural bond strength of PF resin. Using the modified PF resin silicon carbide block could be bonded satisfactorily even treated at 700-800°C, and its bond strength was higher than 20 MPa. The thermal modification mechanism was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-Ray, and pyrolysis gas chromatography spectrum coupled with a mass spectrum. The results indicate that BC can increase the heat resistance of PF resin efficiently. BC can not only seize some active groups of the resin matrix including phenolic hydroxyl and methylol, but also can hold the main components of some volatiles such as CO, HO, phenol, and its derivations in the resin matrix by chemical reactions. At the same time, the reaction product boron oxide closes and mends the microcracks for its satisfactory wettability and adhesive capacity. In consequence, the efficient components escaping from the resin matrix can be sharply reduced. A relative intact skeleton of the resin is obtained, and its bond strength and thermal stability are remarkably elevated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under saturation dosage of all kinds of SP, the free water amount was examined by centrifuge. The distribution of solution and flocculation microstructures in fresh cement paste was observed in three-dimensional space by confocal laser scanning microscope(CLSM). Results indicate that SP can increase the free water amount by destroying the flocculated cement particle structure and different free water amount is released by different kinds of SP. The changes of the size of flocculation structures and the dispersion of solution were obviously detected with confocal laser scanning microscope: the size of flocculation structures was smaller and more dispersed in fresh cement paste with polycarboxylate superplasticizer, but the size of flocculation structures was bigger and cannot be dispersed uniformly in fresh cement paste with others SP. The multi-level flocculation structures theoretical model of fresh cement paste was then set up. The theory indicates that different kinds of SP with different dispersion strength will open the flocculation structures at different levels, which in turn present different water reducing rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantum phenomena of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) or plasmonic analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency (PIT) can be mimicked in the classical resonators, leading to a unique way to explore the coherent coupling mechanism in metamaterial systems. Various metamaterial structures have been proposed to excite and manipulate the PIT effect with flexibility and performance with geometry-controllable, polarization-independent, broadband-transparency and active-modulated characteristics. These in turn promise the fascinating functionalities and applications of the PIT effects, such as slow-light components, nonlinear devices and high-sensitivity sensors. Here, we present a review on the progress in developing the PIT effect in terahertz metamaterials over the past few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical and experimental work was carried out on a terahertz metamaterial bandstop filter comprising an array of identical subwavelength resonators, each formed by fusing a pair of printable metallic U-shapes that have their openings pointing in opposite directions. Linear frequency tunability of the stopband electromagnetic response can be achieved by altering the overlap distance between the two fused shapes. Tuning does not significantly affect the strength or quality factor of the resonance. An approach to create mechanically tunable, dynamic terahertz filters is thereby suggested, with several functional advantages. Meanwhile, an effective equivalent circuit model based on self-inductance, mutual inductance, and capacitance has been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the effects of Zhihuang (枳黄) decoction on CD14 expression in the lipopolysaccharide signal transduction pathway of alcohol-induced liver disease in rats. Seventy-five Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups. Ethanol (56%, weight/volumn) was intragastrically administrated to 50 rats (14 mL/kg body weight per day) for 10 days to establish a model of alcohol-induced liver disease, and 25 of these 50 rats were treated with Zhihuang decoction simultaneously. Liver injury was evaluated by biochemical examination. The plasma content of endotoxin was assayed by biochemistry. The expression of CD14 mRNA and protein in rat liver was measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Zhihuang decoction pretreatment significantly protected against acute alcohol-induced liver injury, which was evidenced by the decrease of elevated serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. In addition, the level of plasma endotoxin and up-regulation of CD14 was also suppressed by Zhihuang decoction in alcohol-intoxicated rats. Zhihuang decoction can significantly reduce CD14 expression in the lipopolysaccharide signal transduction pathway, which is one of the most important mechanisms of Zhihuang decoction to treat hepatic injury induced by alcohol in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform a theoretical study on the polarization-resolved compound lasing mode (CLM) of two mutually coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). Different solutions of CLMs are derived though stability analysis of the spin-flip model. The dynamical evolvements of CLMs with the existence of polarization degrees of freedom are also charactered. The most stable CLM with the smallest carrier density tend to be excited, since the gain needed for this mode to emit is the lowest. In the given system, varying values of injection rate or birefringence, etc., will change the generation of the preferred CLMs in the two polarization directions, and thus influence the polarization switching (PS) characteristics. Thus, hoppings between CLMs are also companied by PSs. Through mapping of average power in the parameter space, the influences of coupling rate and anisotropy parameters (linear dichroism and linear birefringence) on PS and hopping between CLMs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article emphasizes that the selective growth of diamond films needs to be developed in order to satisfy the design demand for electronic devices. To achieve the selective growth of diamond films, many methods, such as selected area ion implantation, selected area substrates pretreated in different ways, using different mask materials etc., have been attempted. The article presents a typical Raman spectrum of diamond film on silicon windows. The number of diamond grains deposited on the silicon window was very small, which indicated a low nucleation density of diamond on silicon without applying a negative DC bias voltage.

Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and its restraint in a femtosecond Ti: sapphire chirped-pulse amplifier were investigated. The noises arising from ASE were effectively filtered out in the spatial, temporal and spectral domain. Pulses as short as 38 fs were amplified to peak power of 1.4 MI. The power ratio between the amplified femtosecond pulse and the ASE was higher than 106: 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of supercontinuum produced by high-intensity femtosecond pulses were investigated under different interaction lengths, various pump intensities, different pump wavelengths at the fundamental 800 nm and its second-harmonic 400 nm. High transfer-efficiency supercontinuum with flat-top in liquid media was produced. As the main nonlinear mechanisms, the effects of self-phase modulation (SPM) and four-photon parametric emission were also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]