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One-dimensional polyaniline (PANI) nanostructures were synthesized in situ in the presence of two-dimensional (2D) Montmorillonite (MMT) clay nanosheets. Strong interactions between the polymer and MMT platelets in the nanocomposites were confirmed through spectroscopic studies. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopic studies revealed the clay's profound effect on the polymer's crystallinity and morphology. The clay nanosheets induced higher crystallinity and well-defined nanorod morphology in the polymer structure. Consequently, the nanocomposite showed an electrical conductivity of 8.72 S/cm, closer to that of the pristine polymer (8.97 S/cm), despite the presence of highly insulting clay material. Surprisingly, a notable decrease in the optical bandgap of the polymer from 3.73 to 2.88 eV of the nanocomposite was also observed. This novel integration of a narrow band gap and high conductivity in PANI/MMT nanocomposites can expand their utility for visible light interactions in areas encompassing photocatalysis, photovoltaics, electro/photochromism, and related technologies.

A Sorghum flour (SF) is a leading and prominent food source for humans in African countries. Recently extensive studies have been conducted on Sorghum bread (SB) or sorghum composite bread (SCB), covering various aspects. However, there are many technical challenges in the formation of SF and sorghum composite flour (SCF) that impact the quality of the bread and fail to meet the consumer’s desires and expectations. This review primarily focuses on the characteristics of SF, SCF, SB, and SCB, with discussions encompassing the rheological and morphological properties of the dough, improvement strategies, and bread quality. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis has been conducted to investigate the behavior of SF and SCF along with a discussion of the challenges affecting bread quality and the strategies applied for improvement. The significant demand for nutrients-rich and gluten-free bread indicates that sorghum will become one of the most vital crops worldwide. However, further comprehensive research is highly demanded and necessary for an in-depth understanding of the key features of SF and the resulting bread quality. Such understanding is vital to optimize the utilization of sorghum grain in large-scale bread production.

تهدف البحث إلى بيان تأثير الخصائص النوعية للمعلومات المحاسبية في تقليل عدم تماثل المعلومات المحاسبية، وتم اتباع المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، ولأجل تحقيق هدف البحث تم تصميم وتحليل الاستبانة بعدها أداة اساسية للدراسة وتم توزيعها على عينة من الأساتذة المختصين في المحاسبة العاملين في جامعات ومعاهد إقليم كوردستان العراق. وتم توزيع (50) نسخة من الاستبانة استرد منها (45) وكانت (43) منها صالحة، تم تحليلها عن طريق البرنامج الإحصائي الجاهز SPSS، وتوصل البحث إلى مجموعة من الاستنتاجات تشير إلى وجود علاقة معنوية بين المتغير المستقل الخصائص النوعية للمعلومات المحاسبية وتقليل عدم تماثل المعلومات كمتغير تابع، كما أوصت البحث بتوصيات عدة من أهمها ضرورة توسيع قاعدة الإفصاح وزيادة المعلومات المحاسبية في سياق تخفيض مستوى عدم تماثل المعلومات بغية المساواة في الحصول على المعلومة المناسبة حول الاستثمارات والأسواق المالية التي تؤدي إلى الاستخدام الأمثل للموارد المتاحة.

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In every text, there are two levels of ambiguity of translation and ratio, which are the basis of the rhetorical explanation of the text from different perspectives of textual analysis, whether formalistic or discursive. In most of the classical texts, the aforementioned levels of ambiguity more or less exist, but in some texts, one aspect outweighs the other. Sa'adi's Golestān is one of the texts whose rhetorical basis is based on the ambiguity of ratio and types of displacement and articulation. In this article, the rhetoric of Golestān or the confrontation of the author-narrator with the listener/reader is classified and interpreted based on the ambiguities of the relationship between the creator of the text in the form of displacement and the significance of linguistic-narrative articulations. The basis of the analysis is the concepts and terms of several communicative fields such as semantics, rhetoric, narratology and discourse analysis. The result shows that, according to the dominant aspect of ratio ambiguity in Golestān, the author-narrator of the text uses four levels of extension / floating, pre-information, connection / eclecticism and repetition/accumulation in order to convey meaning or communicate the "Message-Force." Some of these cases, while creating diversity, contain the type of openness and polyphony, which help to draw the attention of listeners/readers. In some cases, the direction-inhibition aspect of the text restrains the listener/reader under the support-control umbrella of the author-narrator. Of course, all cases considered, while directing the listeners/readers, in most cases the text leads them to an open state of reality, which does not limit inferences in the reader's encounter with the textual and conceptual representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Carcinomas found in urinary diversion specimens are uncommon, particularly new primary tumours. New primary tumours primarily occur when the large intestine is utilised, whereas the occurrence is infrequent with the use of the ileum. These tumours include both the recurrence of primary malignancy or the development of a new primary malignancy originating from the small intestine. Design: A search was performed within the pathology laboratory system to identify cases of malignancies involving ileal conduit/reconstruction from 2002 to 2022. Data on demographics, clinical details, pathology and management was recorded. Results: A total of 13 male patients, with a mean age of 67 years (range = 49–81 years) were included in the study. The initial procedure performed included cystoprostatectomy (n = 10, including one case with right nephroureterectomy) and cystectomy (n = 3, including one case for bladder exstrophy) for initial diagnoses including urothelial carcinoma (n = 11; conventional, 6; sarcomatoid, 1; glandular 1; plasmacytoid, 1; micropapillary, 2) and adenocarcinoma (n = 1). The initial management included radical surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy/immunotherapy (n = 1), adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 3), intravesical adjuvant BCG (n = 2) and intravesical adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 1). Malignancies in ileal conduit or orthotopic ileal neobladder included recurrent urothelial carcinoma (n = 10) and new secondary adenocarcinomas (n = 3), which developed as early as 3 months (usually recurrence) and up to 13, 33 and 45 years (new primary malignancy) following primary resection. Conclusions: Utilising the ileum as conduit/neobladder presents a viable alternative for urinary diversion with a reduced malignancy risk compared to using a segment of the large intestine. However, there remains a potential for malignancy, either tumour recurrence or a new primary malignancy. In our study, tumour recurrence occurred up to 4 years following the initial diagnosis and the development of a new primary malignancy occurred up to 45 years after the initial diagnosis. Consequently, it is crucial to prioritise long‐term follow‐up for these patients undergoing this procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactic acid bacteria have been considered to be a very important species during sourdough fermentation. In order to explore the effects of bifidobacteria fermentation on thermal, physico-chemical and structural properties of wheat starch during dough fermentation, starch granules were separated from the fermented dough at different fermentation times, including 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, 9 h and 12 h. The results showed that the morphology of starch granules was destroyed gradually as the fermentation time increased, which appeared as erosion and rupture. With the increase in fermentation time, the solubility showed a significant increase, which changed from 8.51% (0 h) to 9.80% (12 h), and the swelling power was also increased from 9.31% (0 h) to 10.54% (12 h). As for the gelatinization property, the enthalpy was increased from 6.77 J/g (0 h) to 7.56 J/g (12 h), indicating a more stable thermal property of fermented starch, especially for the longer fermentation. The setback value was decreased with short fermentation time, indicating that the starch with a longer fermentation time was difficult to retrograde. The hardness of the gel texture was decreased significantly from 50.11 g to 38.66 g after fermentation for 12 h. The results show that bifidobacteria fermentation is an effective biological modification method of wheat starch for further applications.

The aim of this work was to optimize the growth conditions and continuous production of the enzyme using free and immobilized cells of inulinase by Penicillium funiculosum. The highest yield of enzyme (163.5U/mL) was obtained when the culture was incubated at 27oC and 200 rpm for 96h in a fermentation medium containing both inulin and peptone as sole carbon and nitrogen source, respectively. When the cells of the P. funiculosum were immobilized on different carriers, especially linen fibers, their production ability was successfully maintained for seven successive batches. When the fermentation was carried out using inulin juice prepared from Jerusalem artichoke tubers (in place of pure inulin), inulinase production could be sustained till the second cultivation batch of the P. funiculosum immobilized on linen fibers, yielding 122 U/mL enzyme. Results proved the feasibility of using crude inulin juice as a simple and economic carbon source for the production of inulinase.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a highly regarded technique used in the 4G mobile communication systems to provide reliable communication and high data rates due to the orthogonality between its sub carriers. However, it cannot be used in the next generation cellular system i.e. 5G. Thus, a new technique Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM) has been proposed to meet the demands of the next generation systems, which are higher data rates than 4G, minimum response time, lower power consumption etc. GFDM is a non-orthogonal, multicarrier scheme, which seems to fulfil the requirements of the new wireless communication system. The aim of this paper is to use the pilot symbols and their optimum placements within the data for the channel estimation of the GFDM system. It is shown that the optimum arrangement of the pilot symbols is to place them uniformly on equal intervals within the data and to cluster them in the middle of the data.

Background: Neuroendocrine carcinomas of the gallbladder (NECs-GB) are rare tumors, accounting for <0.2% of all neuroendocrine carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract. They originate from the neuroendocrine cells of the gallbladder epithelium with associated intestinal or gastric metaplasia. The current study is the largest study from the SEER database on NECs-GB that aims to elucidate the demographic, clinical, and pathologic factors influencing the prognosis and comparative survival analysis of different treatment modalities. Methods: The data from 176 patients with NECs-GB was abstracted from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Result (SEER) database (2000–2018). Multivariate analysis, non-parametric survival analysis, and a chi-square test were used to analyze the data. Results: NECs-GB had a higher incidence amongst females (72.7%) and Caucasians (72.7%). Most patients had surgery only (N = 52, 29.5%), (N = 40) 22.7% had chemotherapy only, and (N = 23) 13.1% had chemotherapy with surgery. Only (N = 17) 9.7% had trimodaltiy (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy), and for (N = 41) 23.3% the status of chemotherapy was unknown, and these cases had neither radiation nor surgery. Conclusion: NECs-GB more frequently affects Caucasian females after the 6th decade of life. The combination of surgery, radiation, and adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with better long-term (5 years) outcomes, while surgery alone was associated with better short-term (<2 years) outcome survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The different type of blood entities like red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cell (WBCs) and platelets counts is a critical point in routine medical tests. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) counting and analysing in the blood is indicative of the stage and origin of cancer in particular time. Here we are describing a proposed microfluidic device, used a magnetic means for CTCs separation from a blood or buffer sample. The device characterizations were simulated using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS software as well as practically validated. Using a known spiked number of CTCs in the sample, the purity and recovery rate were calculated to be 93% and respectively.

Background: Primary lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States (US). Approximately 90% of lung cancers are associated with smoking and the use of other tobacco products. Based on histology, lung cancers are divided into small-cell lung carcinomas (SCLCs) and non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs). Most SCLCs are of the pure subtype, while the rare combined SCLCs contain elements of both small-cell and non-small-cell morphologies. This study sought to evaluate the demographics, clinical factors, molecular abnormalities, treatment approaches, and survival outcomes with combined SCLC and NSCLCs. Materials and Methods: Data on 2126 combined SCLC patients was extracted from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Result (SEER) database from 2000 to 2018. Data extracted for analyses included age, sex, race, tumor size, tumor location, metastasis status, stage at diagnosis, treatment received, and treatment outcomes. Multivariate analysis was performed using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software. Results: The patients had a median age of 68 years; 43.9% of the patients were female and 56.1% were male; 84.5% were White and 11.7% were African Americans. The majority of patients had a poorly differentiated disease at 29.6%; 17% were undifferentiated, 3.2% were moderately differentiated, and 0.8% were well differentiated. Chemotherapy was the most common treatment modality (45.3%); 17% underwent surgery only, 10.3% underwent surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, and 10% underwent radiation after surgery. Five-year cancer-specific survival was 15.2% with surgery alone, and combined surgery and chemotherapy provided the highest percentages (38.3% and 34.7%, respectively). Females had significantly higher 1- and 5-year cancer-specific survival rates compared to males (59.3% and 29.9% vs. 48.0% and 23.7, respectively; p < 0.001). Well-differentiated tumors had significantly higher survival compared to other gradings (p < 0.001). Survival decreased as tumor staging moved distally from localized to regional to distant (p < 0.001). Metastasis to bone, liver, brain, and lung significantly decreased survival in comparison to patients who did not have any metastasis (p < 0.001). Females had significantly shorter survival compared to their counterparts when metastasis was to the bone, brain, or liver (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis identified male sex (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.2), undifferentiated grade (HR = 1.9), regional extent of disease (HR = 1.7), distant extent of disease (HR = 3.7), and metastasis to liver (HR = 3.5) as variables associated with worse survival. Conclusion: Combined SCLC is overall very rare. However, the frequency of presentation with combined SCLC is on the rise, in part due to improvements in diagnostic techniques. Despite advances in therapies, treating combined SCLC is challenging, and novel therapies are not utilized, owing to low rates of targetable mutations. Combined SCLC has higher survival rates if well differentiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the electron energy distribution function (EEDF), the electron swarm parameters, the effective ionization coefficients, and the critical field strength (dielectric strength) in binary He-H2 gas mixture which is used as cryogenic for high-temperature superconducting power applications, are evaluated using twoterm solution of the Boltzmann equation over the range of E/N ( the electric field to gas density) from 1 to 100 Td ( 1 Td=10-17 Vcm² ) at temperature 77 K and pressure 2MPa, taking into account elastic ( momentum transfer) and inelastic cross-sections. Using the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) electron swarm parameters (electron drift velocity, mean electron energy, diffusion coefficient, electron mobility, ionization and attachment coefficient) are calculated. At low reduced electric field strength E/N, the EEDF is close to Maxwellian distribution, at high E/N, due to vibrational excitation of H2, the calculated distribution function is nonMaxwellian. Besides, the Boltzmann equation analysis showed as the small mole fraction of H2 in the He-H2 mixture is increased, the electron energy distribution function EEDF shifts to lower energy region, the density-reduced ionization coefficient α/N and density-reduced effective ionization coefficient (α-η)/N decreases, whereas density-reduced attachment coefficient η/N, density-reduced critical electric field strength increases, (E/N)crt and critical electric field Ecrt increases. It is found that dielectric field strength depends on pressure and temperature. To confirm the validity of the two term solution of Boltzmann equation analysis, a set of elastic and inelastic cross-sections for each gas He and H2 are used to calculate the electron swarm parameters and dielectric field strength. Compared with previous experimental and theoretical literatures, the values obtained are generally in good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactic acid bacteria have been considered to be a very important species during sourdough fermentation. In order to explore the effects of bifidobacteria fermentation on thermal, physico-chemical and structural properties of wheat starch during dough fermentation, starch granules were separated from the fermented dough at different fermentation times, including 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, 9 h and 12 h. The results showed that the morphology of starch granules was destroyed gradually as the fermentation time increased, which appeared as erosion and rupture. With the increase in fermentation time, the solubility showed a significant increase, which changed from 8.51% (0 h) to 9.80% (12 h), and the swelling power was also increased from 9.31% (0 h) to 10.54% (12 h). As for the gelatinization property, the enthalpy was increased from 6.77 J/g (0 h) to 7.56 J/g (12 h), indicating a more stable thermal property of fermented starch, especially for the longer fermentation. The setback value was decreased with short fermentation time, indicating that the starch with a longer fermentation time was difficult to retrograde. The hardness of the gel texture was decreased significantly from 50.11 g to 38.66 g after fermentation for 12 h. The results show that bifidobacteria fermentation is an effective biological modification method of wheat starch for further applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed metastatic liver tumors received in the department of pathology in a tertiary care center over a 3-year period. There were 509 metastatic liver tumors; counterintuitively, there were as many resections (235 cases) as biopsies (274 cases). This unexpected finding reflects contemporaneous organ-specific paradigms for diagnosis and management of metastatic liver disease in oncologic practice, and the association of our practice with a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center with expertise and specialization in liver surgery. We receive a large number of resections for metastatic liver tumors because metastasectomy from a variety of primary tumors is associated with improved overall, and in many instances, disease-free, long-term survival. Metastatic colorectal carcinomas, metastatic neuroendocrine tumors, and metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors constituted 78% of resections because the largest body of literature and cumulative experience exists for these lesions. In contrast, breast carcinomas and pancreatic carcinomas, which are the next common metastatic liver tumors were biopsied but rarely resected, because metastasectomy is not the standard of care for these tumors. Immunohistochemistry was performed in less than a quarter of the total number of cases (23%), because the primary tumor site was known in the vast majority of cases. Of the 42 cases with unknown primary tumor, it was elucidated in 50% of the cases by immunohistochemical and clinical work-up. Of the cases with known primary tumor, immunohistochemistry was performed mostly in metastatic breast, colon, and lung carcinomas. In these cases, biomarker analyses provided additional information relevant to clinical management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Recent data on hepatic histopathology in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) are lacking.Methods: A total of 39 liver biopsies from SCD patients from 4 medical institutes were systematically evaluated.Results: The average age of patients was 27 years; 23 were female. The majority of the patients had hemoglobin SS (33), 3 had hemoglobin SC, and 3 sickle cell trait. Elevated liver functional tests and evaluation for cirrhosis were the main indications for biopsy. At the time of biopsy, most had elevated liver transaminases or hepatomegaly. The most common histopathologic abnormalities were Kupffer cell erythrophagocytosis (76.9%), hemosiderosis (74.4%), sinusoidal dilatation (71.8%), and intrasinusoidal sickled red cells (69.3%). Portal inflammation, lobular inflammation, and bile duct injury were mild to minimal and present in a minority of cases. Advanced fibrosis was present in 28.2% of the cases.Conclusions: The typical histopathologic features seen in patients with SCD include Kupffer cell erythrophagocytosis, hemosiderosis, sinusoidal dilatation, and intrasinusoidal sickled red cells in a pauci-inflammatory or uninflamed background. Necrosis is less common than reported in older literature. Pathologists should be aware that significant portal and lobular inflammation, interface activity, and bile duct injury are unusual and may be suggestive of other etiologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Primary renal mesenchymal neoplasms are rare but diverse. Several neoplasms of mesenchymal derivation can arise as a primary renal mass; however, incidental tumors are identified in nephrectomies performed for end-stage renal disease or other malignant epithelial renal neoplasms. In this article, we document their frequencies with demographic information in nephrectomy specimens. Design. We retrospectively searched our database for nephrectomy specimens from the year 2000 to 2016. Results. A total of 224 cases were identified with an incidence rate of 4.4% (224/5128). One hundred ninety (85%) neoplasms were benign, 27 (12%) were malignant, and 7 (3%) were of intermediate biologic behavior. The majority of cases occurred in adults (93%, 208/224), and 39% of cases represented an incidental finding. The most common neoplasms were angiomyolipoma (58%) and renomedullary interstitial cell tumor (17%). Malignant mesenchymal kidney tumors are rare (0.39% of nephrectomy specimens). The most common adults' malignant tumors in our survey were synovial sarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma. Conclusion. Primary renal mesenchymal tumors are rare and are mostly benign in nature with many incidentally identified lesions. They arise in different age groups with malignant lesions usually presenting at a younger mean age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Aims: Testicular seminomas require accurate staging for effective management. Twenty per cent are metastatic at presentation, while 80% are clinical stage I, requiring only orchiectomy and surveillance. Tumour size, rete testis invasion, hilar soft tissue invasion and lymphovascular invasion have been shown to incur a higher risk of metastasis and recurrence in clinical stage I seminomas, with little congruence between studies. Methods and results: We reviewed 211 cases of testicular seminomas and recorded patient age, tumour size, lymphovascular invasion and rete testis, hilar soft tissue, epididymis, spermatic cord, tunica albuginea and tunica vaginalis involvement. A univariate and multivariate analysis was performed comparing clinical stage I to advanced clinical stage patients (stages II and III) in reference to these factors. We found that tumour size (P = 0.02), vascular invasion (P = 0.02) and invasion of rete testis stroma (P = 0.01), epididymis (P = 0.02), spermatic cord (P = 0.047) and hilar soft tissue (P = 0.04) were predictors of higher clinical stage at the univariate level. However, multivariate analysis showed that only tumour size and vascular invasion remained significant (P = 0.008 and 0.032, respectively). A tumour size of 4 cm was the cut‐off size found to be significant. Conclusions: Tumour size and vascular invasion are the strongest predictors of higher clinical stage in testicular seminomas. Our univariate data suggest that rete testis and hilar soft tissue invasion relate to higher clinical stage. However, neither of these factors were found to be independent risk factors at multivariate analysis. Therefore, this study supports tumour upstaging based only upon size and vascular invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfluidic chip has been applied in various biological fields owing to its low-consumption of reagents, high throughput, fluidic controllability and integrity. The well-designed microscale intermediary is also ideal for the study of cell biology. Particularly, microfluidic chip is helpful for better understanding cell-cell interactions. A general survey of recent publications would help to generalize the designs of the co-culture chips with different features. With ingenious and combinational utilization, the chips facilitate the implementation of some special coculture models that are highly concerned in a different spatial and temporal way. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 35-year-old woman was referred for a symptomatic liver mass. Diagnostic workup detected a septated cyst located centrally in the liver measuring 10 × 7 cm. The cyst had gradually increased in size from previous studies with new intrahepatic biliary dilation. Due to concern for malignancy and symptomatic presentation of the patient, a partial central hepatectomy was performed. Pathology revealed a smooth-walled, multiloculated cyst lined with mucinous epithelium and ovarian-type stroma. The diagnosis of low-grade mucinous cystic neoplasm of the liver (MCN-L) was made. Characteristics of MCN-L have not been elucidated due to its rarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]