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ObjectiveTo investigate the Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging characteristics of granulomatous lobular mastitis (GLM) and the value of differentiating GLM from breast cancer.Materials and methodsThe study included 30 women with GLM (mean age 36.7 ± 5 years [SD]) and 58 women with breast cancer (mean age 48. ± 8 years [SD]) who were scheduled for ultrasound-guided tissue biopsy. All patients were evaluated with conventional US and CEUS prior to the biopsy. In both groups, the parameters of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the CEUS were recorded and compared. The receiver-operating-characteristics curves (ROC) were created. Sensitivity, specificity, cut-off, and area under the curve (AUC) values were calculated.ResultsTTP values in GLM were statistically higher than in breast cancer (mean, 27.63 ± 7.29 vs. 20.10 ± 6.11), but WIS values were lower (mean, 0.16 ± 0.05 vs. 0.28 ± 0.17). Rich vascularity was discovered in 54.45% of breast cancer patients, but only 30.00% of GLM patients had rich vascularity. The AUC for the ROC test was 0.791 and 0.807, respectively. The optimal cut-off value for TTP was 24.5s, and the WIS cut-off value was 0.185dB/s, yielding 73.33% sensitivity, 84.48% specificity, and 86.21% sensitivity, 70% specificity respectively in the diagnosis of GLM. The lesion scores reduced from 4 to 3 with the addition of CEUS for the patients with GLM. However, the scores did not change for the patients with breast cancer.ConclusionCEUS could help distinguish GLM from breast cancer by detecting higher TTP and WIS values, potentially influencing clinical decision-making for additional biopsies.

Chylous leakage is a rare complication of breast and axillary surgery. We present a case of chylous leakage inside the breast following breast-conserving surgery and axillary lymph node dissection. The majority of chylous leakages in the breast are managed with conservative measures aimed at reducing lymphatic fluid production and outflow. Surgical intervention is required in cases of conservative treatment failure and high output chylous leakage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of chyles leaks inside the breast following breast-conserving surgery that was successfully treated surgically.

Background: Abnormal N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification caused by m6A regulators is a common characteristic in various tumors. However, little is known about the role of m6A regulator AlkB homolog 5 (ALKBH5) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). In this study, we analyzed the influence of ALKBH5 on the stemness of TNBC and the molecular mechanism using bioinformatics analysis and in vivo animal experiments. Methods: RNA expression data and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data were downloaded from the TCGA and GEO databases. Following intersection analysis, key genes involved in the TNBC cell stemness were determined, which was followed by functional enrichment analysis, PPI and survival analysis. Exosomes were extracted from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC-Exos) where ALKBH5 inhibition assay was conducted to verify their function in the biological characteristics of TNBC cells. Results: Bioinformatics analysis revealed 45 key genes of ALKBH5 regulating TNBC cell stemness. In addition, UBE2C was predicted as a key downstream gene and p53 was predicted as a downstream signaling of ALKBH5. In vivo data confirmed that ALKBH5 upregulated UBE2C expression by regulating the m6A modification of UBE2C and reduced p53 expression, thus promoting the stemness, growth and metastasis of TNBC cells. BMSC-Exos suppressed the tumor stemness, growth and metastasis of TNBC cells and ALKBH5 shRNA-loaded BMSC-Exos showed a more significant suppressive role. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings indicated that ALKBH5 shRNA-loaded BMSC-Exos reduced TNBC cell stemness, growth and metastasis and define a promising strategy to treat TNBC.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with poor clinical prognosis due to a lack of effective therapeutic options. The expression of B-cell lymphoma/leukemia 11A (BCL11A) has been indicated to correlate with TNBC carcinogenesis, though the precise mechanisms of BCL11A-induced tumorigenesis in TNBC remain unclear. Using data retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, the present study demonstrated that BCL11A expression was upregulated in TNBC, compared with other types of breast cancer. Furthermore, in a tissue microarray of 140 patients with breast cancer, an elevated BCL11A level was correlated with unfavorable overall survival (OS), and exogenous BCL11A-knockdown was subsequently verified to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis in TNBC. Notably, the same tissue microarray revealed that a favorable patient outcome was associated with high expression levels of BCL11A and androgen receptor (AR). Moreover, BCL11A-knockdown significantly inhibited the expression level of AR and further had an influence on proliferation, migration and invasion in TNBC cell lines. Collectively, the results of the current study indicate the function of BCL11A in TNBC progression, and provide new insights into the unique mechanism of BCL11A in AR regulation, emphasizing the significance of more research on BCL11A and AR regulation in TNBC molecular treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VO2 (M) STF through reduction of V2O5 STF was prepared. The results illustrate that V2O5 STF can be successfully obtained by oblique angle thermal evaporation technique. After annealing at 5506C/3 min, the V2O5 STF deposited at 856 can be easily transformed into VO2 STF with slanted columnar structure and superior thermochromic properties. After deposition SiO2 antireflective layer, Tlum of VO2 STF is enhanced 26% and DTsol increases 60% compared with that of normal VO2 thin films. Due to the anisotropic microstructure of VO2 STF, angular selectivity transmission of VO2 STF is observed and the solar modulation ability is further improved from 7.2% to 8.7% when light is along columnar direction. Moreover, the phase transition temperature of VO2 STF can be depressed into 54.56C without doping. Considering the oblique incidence of sunlight on windows, VO2 STF is more beneficial for practical application as smart windows compared with normal homogenous VO2 thin films [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermochromic W-doped VO2 nanopowders were prepared by a novel and simple solution-based method and characterized by a variety of techniques. We mainly investigated the effect of tungsten dopant on the structural properties and phase transition of V1-xWxO2. The as-obtained nanopowders with tungsten content of ⩽2.5 at% can be readily indexed as monoclinic VO2 (M) while that of 3 at% assigned into the rutile VO2 (R). The valence state of tungsten in the nanopowders is +6. TEM and XRD results show that the substitution of W atom for V in VO2 results in a decrease of the d space of the (011) plane. The phase transition temperature is determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It is found, for the first time, that the reduction of transition temperature reaches to 17 K per 1 at% of Wdoping with the tungsten extents of ⩽1 at%, but only 9.5 K per 1 at% with the tungsten extents of >1 at%. The reason of this arises from the difficulty of the formation of V3+-W4+ and V3+-W6+ pairs by the increasing of Wions doping in the V1-xWxO2 system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) nanofibers embedding Ag nanoparticles (5–18 nm) have been prepared successfully by electrospinning at room temperature. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Fourier transform IR spectra (FTIR), and Raman scattering were used to characterize the structure and properties of Ag nanoparticle-embedded PVA and PVP nanofibers before and after heat treatment at different temperature. The antibacterial activity of Ag nanoparticle-embedded PVP nanofibers after heat treatment was also tested, which indicated that the biological activity of yeast cells was effectively inhibited by these Ag nanoparticle-embedded PVP nanofibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eu2+-doped Ca(Sr)Al2Si2O8 nanofibers with an average diameter of 500 nm were in situ synthesized by electrospinning and calcination in reduced ambience. X-ray diffraction results confirmed that the Ca(Sr)AI2Si2O8:Eu2+ nanofibers were of the anorthite phase. An intense blue emission due to the 4f65d¹ → 4f7 transition of Eu2+ ions was observed in the nanofibers. The emission band shifted to the blue region with the substitution of Ca by Sr due to the change in the crystal field surrounding Eu2+ ions. The long afterglow decay curves of Ca(Sr)Al2Si2O8:Eu2+ nanofibers contain rapid (∼13.86 s) and slow (∼157.12 s) components. By the co-doping of Dy3+ ions, the emission and long afterglow duration of nanofibers were improved remarkably. These Ca(Sr)Al2Si2O8:Eu2+, Dy3+ electrospun nanofibers with excellent emission and long afterglow properties were potentially applied in biological marker, display, sensor. etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel GeS2–Ga2S3–AgCl chalcohalide glasses had been prepared by melt-quenching technique, and the glass-forming region was determined by XRD, which indicated that the maximum of dissolvable AgCl was up to 65 mol%. Thermal and optical properties of the glasses were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Visible-IR transmission, which showed that most of GeS2–Ga2S3–AgCl glasses had strong glass-forming ability and broad region of transmission (about 0.45–12.5 μm). With the addition of AgCl, the glass transition temperature, Tg decreases distinctly, and the short-wavelength cut-off edge (λvis) of the glasses also shifts to the long wavelength gradually. However, the glass-forming ability of the glass has a complicated evolutional trend depended on the compositional change. In addition, the values of the Vickers microhardness, H v , which decrease with the addition of AgCl, are high enough for the practical applications. These excellent properties of GeS2–Ga2S3–AgCl glasses make them potentially applied in the optoelectronic field, such as all-optical switch, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract??The nanosized Sb2S3doped silica glasses were prepared by the sol-gel method and the maximum dopant of Sb2S3dissolvable in the silica is 7wt.%. XRD, HRTEM and FTFIR measurements indicated that the nanocrystal was formed in the matrix. The red shift with the increasing of the annealing time and temperature was observed by the transmission spectra measurements of the bulk, which was due to the quantum size effect. Second harmonic generation was also observed in the glasses irradiated by electron beam. The SH intensity of the sample was about four times larger than that of quartz as a reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]