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The development and evaluation of the transport capacity of oil and gas determine the location of the associated fractures based on the analysis of its ability to transport oil and gas and finding favorable locations in different periods of the faults. This paper also explored the distribution of oil and gas in different positions near the lower generation and upper reservoir faults in the petroliferous basin, while locations of the faults’ convex ridges with stronger oil and gas transporting ability are also determined and evaluated. A set of prediction methods in determining favorable locations for oil and gas transport capacity configured in different periods of fault are established and applied in different periods of the F3 fault in the Daliuquan area, Langgu Sag, Jizhong Depression, Bohai Bay Basin. The results of these two evaluations indicate that the development position of associated fractures of the F3 fault with strong oil and gas transport capacity was distributed primarily in the eastern part of the area. Sections of the convex ridge with stronger oil and gas transport capacity, on the other hand, are mainly distributed in the western, middle, and eastern faults. The favorable location of transporting oil and gas ability configuration of the F3 fault in different periods is distributed mainly in the east of the F3 fault, where oil and gas generated by the source rock of the Sha 4 Member (Es4) migrate and accumulate to the middle and lower sections of the Sha 3 Member (Es31−2) through the developmental position of associated fractures and convex ridges.

Background A substantial number of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) do not achieve complete remission after definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (dCRT). We performed this retrospective study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of apatinib combined with S-1/capecitabine as the oral maintenance therapy for these patients. Methods Thirty-nine ESCC patients with residual disease after dCRT were included. Patients were treated with apatinib combined with S-1 /capecitabine after dCRT. Efficacy, toxicity, and survival were analyzed. Results Of the 39 patients, 5 (12.8%) achieved a partial response and 29 (74.4%) achieved stable disease, yielding a disease control rate of 87.2%. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 27.5 (95%CI: 14.9 - 40.1) and 38.1 (95%CI: 31.3 - 44.8) months. Most frequent adverse events were of grade 1 to 2. Multivariate analysis revealed the occurrence of any adverse events (HR = 0.274, 95%[CI] = 0.119 - 0.630) correlated to better PFS and occurrence of proteinuria (HR = 0.108, 95%[CI] = 0.025 - 0.456) predicted better OS. Conclusion The oral combination therapy consisting of apatinib and S-1/capecitabine showed a tolerable toxicity profile and achieved satisfactory disease control in ESCC patients with residual disease after dCRT.

Purpose This study aimed to develop a nomogram for predicting pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) by integrating hematological biomarkers and clinicopathological characteristics.Materials and Methods Between 2003 and 2017, 306 ESCC patients who underwent neoadjuvant CRT followed by esophagectomy were analyzed. Besides clinicopathological factors, hematological parameters before, during, and after CRT were collected. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictive factors for pCR. A nomogram model was built and internally validated.ResultsAbsolute lymphocyte count (ALC), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio, albumin, hemoglobin, white blood cell, neutrophil, and platelet count generally declined, whereas neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) increased significantly following neoadjuvant CRT. After surgery, 124 patients (40.5%) achieved a pCR. The pCR group demonstrated significantly more favorable survival than the non-pCR group. On multivariate analysis, significant factors associated with pCR included sex, chemotherapy regimen, post-CRT endoscopic finding, pre-CRT NLR, ALC nadir during CRT, and post-CRT PLR, which were incorporated into the prediction model. The nomogram indicated good accuracy in predicting pCR, with a C-index of 0.75 (95% confidence interval, 0.71 to 0.78).Conclusion Female, chemotherapy regimen of cisplatin/vinorelbine, negative post-CRT endoscopic finding, pre-CRT NLR (≤ 2.1), ALC nadir during CRT (> 0.35 ×109/L), and post-CRT PLR (≤ 83.0) were significantly associated with pCR in ESCC patients treated with neoadjuvant CRT. A nomogram incorporating hematological biomarkers to predict pCR was developed and internally validated, showing good predictive performance.

Scientific understanding of regional wind speed variation characteristics and driving mechanisms is of great practical significance to the management and rational utilization of wind energy resources, ecological protection and governance, and sustainable development of agriculture. Taking the Shiyang River Basin in inland river basin of monsoon marginal zone as the study area, this paper analyzed wind speed changes and influencing factors at different time and space scales. The results showed that, first of all, the annual average wind speed showed a downward trend as a whole in Shiyang River Basin, and the change of spring wind speed and the decreasing frequency of daily max-wind speed above Grade 5 were the main contributors. The turning point of annual average wind speed was consistent with that in spring and autumn (1981) and earlier than that in winter and summer (1982). Secondly, as far as the wind speed change tendency rate is concerned, before the turning point, Yongchang area had the largest decline rate with obvious “2000 m effect”, while after the turning point, Wuwei Basin had the largest rise rate with obvious “basin effect”. Focusing on the downstream desert oasis region, the sand-driving wind speed showed a decreasing trend as a whole, and showed a “cliff-like” decline after 1988. The rising trend of sand-driving wind speed after 2014 will pose greater challenges to ecological governance. Finally, under the background of unbalanced global warming, the wind speed changes in different periods were driven by the circulation system changes. In 1970–1981, the decline of the wind speed was the result of the combined action of Arctic Oscillation and Asia Polar Vortex. However, after 1981, it was affected by North Atlantic Oscillation, Asian Meridional Circulation, Tibet Plateau Circulation, India-Burma Trough, Western Pacific Subtropical High and Northern Hemisphere Subtropical High.

Scene text detection is an important research branch of artificial intelligence technology whose goal is to locate text in scene images. In the Tibetan areas of China, scene images containing both Tibetan and Chinese texts are ubiquitous. Thus, detecting bilingual Tibetan-Chinese scene texts is important in promoting intelligent applications for minority languages. In this study, a scene text detection database for bilingual Tibetan-Chinese is constructed using a manually labeled method and an automatic synthesis method, and a text detection method is proposed. First, we predict a text rectangular region and the text center region for each text instance and simultaneously learned the expansion distance of the text center region. Second, based on the classification score of the text center region and the text rectangular region, we obtain the final confidence of each text instance and then filter out the text center region with lower confidence. Third, through the learned expansion distance, the full-text instance from the remaining text center region is recovered. The results show that our method obtains good detection performance; it achieves an accuracy of up to 75.47% during the text detection phase, laying the foundation for scene text recognition in the subsequent step.

Background This study aimed to examine the specific relationships between screen time and various mental health problems among community-dwelling adults in China. Methods Self-reports of weekday and weekend screen time (TV, computer use and cell phone/tablet use), symptoms of PTSD, depression, and ADHD, and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) were completed by 7121 Chinese adults. Logistic regression was used to examine specific relationships between screen time and mental health problems with demographics, physical activity, drinking, smoking, and sleep duration as covariates. Results On weekdays, the participants spending at least 3 h on watching TV, computer use and cell phone/tablet use respectively accounted for 6.8%, 15.9% and 45.9%. On weekends, the proportions were 15.5%, 12.1% and 50.0%. Computer use on weekends was associated with higher risk of PTSD (OR = 1.81); cell phone/tablet use on weekdays and weekends was related to increased depression (OR = 1.38, OR = 1.28, respectively), while only computer use on weekends was related to depression (OR = 1.33); cell phone/tablet use both on weekdays and weekends was also connected to ADHD (OR = 1.56, OR = 1.48, respectively); on weekdays and weekends, more time TV viewing (OR = 1.76–1.79, OR = 1.46–1.71, respectively) and less cell phone/tablet use (OR = 0.66, OR = 0.65, respectively) were associated with higher numbers of PLEs. Conclusions The relationships between different types of screen time and mental health problems are variant. Future longitudinal studies should subdivide screen time on the basis of content and explore the specific causal relationship between screen time and mental health problems.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a burgeoning health problem but no drug has been approved for its treatment. Animal experiments and clinical trials have demonstrated the beneficial of saffron on NAFLD. However, the bioactive ingredients and therapeutic targets of saffron on NAFLD are unclear.Purpose: This study aimed to identify the bioactive ingredients of saffron responsible for its effects on NAFLD and explore its therapy targets through network pharmacology combined with experimental tests.Methods: Various network databases were searched to identify bioactive ingredients of saffron and identify NAFLD-related targets. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment were conducted to enrich functions and molecular pathways of common targets and the STRING database was used to establish a protein-protein interaction network (PPI). The effect of crocetin (CCT) on NAFLD was evaluated in a mouse model of NAFLD by measuring the biomarkers of lipid, liver and renal function, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Liver histopathology was performed to evaluate liver injury. Nuclear factor erythroid-related factor (Nrf2) and hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) were examined to elucidate underlying mechanism for the protective effect of saffron against NAFLD.Results: A total of nine bioactive ingredients of saffron, including CCT, with 206 common targets showed therapeutic effects on NAFLD. Oxidative stress and diabetes related signaling pathways were identified as the critical signaling pathways mediating the therapeutic effects of the active bioactive ingredients on NAFLD. Treatment with CCT significantly reduced the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), malondialdehyde (MDA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CR), and uric acid (UA). CCT significantly increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT). Histological analysis showed that CCT suppressed high-fat diet (HFD) induced fat accumulation, steatohepatitis, and renal dysfunctions. Results of ELISA assay showed that CCT decreased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and increased the expression of HO-1 and Nrf2.Conclusion: This study shows that CCT is a potential bioactive ingredient of saffron that treats NAFLD. Its mechanism of action involves suppressing of oxidative stress, mitigating inflammation, and upregulating Nrf2 and HO-1 expression.

To investigate the relationship between treatment-related lymphopenia and pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Between 2002 and 2016, 220 ESCC patients treated with neoadjuvant CRT followed by surgery were retrospectively analyzed. Absolute lymphocyte count was determined before, during, and 1 month after neoadjuvant CRT. Treatment-related lymphopenia was graded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0. Relationship between lymphopenia with pathologic complete response (pCR) and recurrence were evaluated. Ninety-five patients (43.2%) achieved a pCR after neoadjuvant CRT and 71 patients (32.3%) developed recurrences. The incidence of grade 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 lymphopenia during CRT were 1.8%, 6.8%, 31.4%, 38.2% and 21.8%, respectively. Patients with grade 4 lymphopenia had a significantly lower pCR rate than those with grade 0-3 lymphopenia (22.9% vs. 48.8%, P = 0.001). Moreover, grade 4 lymphopenia was significantly associated with a higher risk of recurrences (45.8% vs. 28.5%, P = 0.023). Multivariable analysis identified that primary tumor length, tumor location, and radiation dose were independent predictors for grade 4 lymphopenia. ESCC patients with grade 4 lymphopenia during neoadjuvant CRT were associated with a significantly lower pCR rate and a higher recurrence risk.

This paper proposes a novel structure extraction approach that is able to achieve high classification accuracy and low computing burden to hyperspectral image (HSI) classification based on total variation (SETV). Specifically, a two-scale decomposition-based relative total variation (TSD-RTV) method is presented for the first time to process the information of different scales, such that the structure can be well extracted. Moreover, a new weighted-average fusion method is introduced, which can reduce the dimensionality and also remove the noise due to hyperspectral sensors. The support vector machine (SVM) is applied to HSI classification as a classifier. The experiments are conducted on three real hyperspectral datasets: Indian Pines, Salinas, and Kennedy Space Center. The experimental results show the outstanding performance of the proposed SETV model in terms of classification accuracy and computational efficiency.

Background and purpose Despite definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) being a recommended therapeutic method for patients with T4b esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), treatment response and complications remain unclear. Esophageal fistula is a severe CRT-related complication when treating locally advanced ESCC, but data on risk factors that lead to esophageal fistula formation are limited. The aim of this analysis is to characterize the outcomes of T4b ESCC treated by CRT and investigate the risk factors of esophageal fistula. Materials and methods We retrospectively analyzed 136 patients with clinically unresectable T4b ESCC who were treated with CRT. Response, survival, and complication rates, particularly the rate of esophageal fistula and its associated risk factors were analyzed. Results The median progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) of all patients were 7.9 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.1–9.7) and 12.2 months (95% [CI]: 8.9–15.4), respectively. The Kaplan–Meier curves showed that the 3- and 5-year OS rates were 29.9% and 20.2%, respectively. The incidence rate of esophageal fistulas was 30.1%. The median OS for patients with esophageal fistula was only 6.9 (95%[CI] = 6.0–7.8) months. The risk for developing esophageal fistulas was significantly high for ulcerative-type tumors (odds ratio [OR] = 3.202; 95%[CI] = 1.036–7.850, P = 0.011) and for those invading the bronchus/trachea (OR = 3.378; 95%[CI] = 1.223–9.332, P = 0.048). Conclusion We demonstrated that CRT for T4b ESCC patients has a curative potential, despite a high incidence of esophageal fistula, which was the main cause of treatment failure. The higher risk for fistula formation were tumors with ulceration or bronchus/trachea invasion.

The mechanisms by which Y chromosome microdeletions cause infertility have been well described; however, the therapeutic targets remain a challenge. Here, we used whole-genome sequencing to explore the mechanism of Y chromosome deletion and potential therapeutic targets in a patient with infertility. There were no abnormalities in the patient’s medical history. Routine semen analysis showed immotile sperm and only two motile spermatozoa were occasionally see after centrifugation, indicating that the direct cause of infertility was an abnormal sperm count and motility. A Y chromosome microdeletion test revealed partial deletion of the AZFc region, including AZFc1, AZFc2, AZFc3, and AZFc4. Whole-genome sequencing showed that the patient had seven harmful mutations, with only one significant epigenetic mutation, SH3KBP1. Gene Ontology analysis of these meaningful mutations indicated involvement of cAMP signaling pathways. The patient’s wife became pregnant following in vitro fertilization, and no significant abnormalities were found during prenatal examination. This case suggests that Y chromosome microdeletion and gene mutation may affect the cAMP signaling pathway, leading to reduced sperm quality and male infertility.

This randomized phase II trial aims to compare the efficacy and safety of induction chemotherapy followed by definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) versus CRT alone in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) unsuitable for surgery (N = 110). The primary outcome was overall response rate (ORR), whereas the secondary outcome was overall survival. This trial did not meet pre-specified endpoints. The ORR was 74.5% in the induction chemotherapy group versus 61.8% in the CRT alone group (P = 0.152). The 3-year overall survival rate was 41.8% in the induction chemotherapy group and 38.1% in the CRT alone group (P = 0.584; hazard ratio, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.54–1.41). Grade 3–5 adverse events were similar. Patients who responded to induction chemotherapy had improved survival in the post-hoc analysis. These results demonstrate no improvement in response rate or survival with the addition of induction chemotherapy to CRT in unselected patients with ESCC. Trial number: NCT02403531., The benefit of induction chemotherapy before definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for patients with esophageal cancer is still uncertain. The results of this phase II randomized trial show that the addition of induction chemotherapy to CRT does not improve the response rate or survival of patients with unresectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background The prevalence of myopia and associated risk factors among children in Chongqing has not yet been determined. This study investigated the prevalence of myopia and possible relationships between myopia and several related factors among school children in Chongqing. Methods This cross-sectional study assessed a sample of 997 children (7–13 years of age) attending primary school in Chongqing. Data were obtained from visual acuity and refractive error measurements and a structured questionnaire. Myopia was defined as visual acuity Results The overall prevalence of myopia was 33.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 31.0–36.8]; myopia prevalence significantly increased with age. Girls were at a higher risk of myopia than boys [odds ratio (OR) = 1.449, 95% CI = 1.060–1.979]. Children with paternal myopia (OR = 2.130, 95% CI = 1.376–3.297) or maternal myopia (OR = 1.861, 95% CI =1.153–3.002) had a higher risk of myopia than those without myopic parents. Children who spent more than 1 h daily outdoors were less likely to have myopia; meanwhile, children who did homework more than 3 h daily (OR = 2.237, 95% CI = 1.041–4.804), watched television more than 3 h daily (OR = 2.106, 95% CI = 1.200–3.697), or played electronics more than 1 h daily (OR = 2.983, 95% CI = 2.088–4.262) had a higher risk of myopia. Conclusions Myopia in school children is a serious public health problem in Chongqing. Myopia was significantly positively associated with higher age, female sex, parental myopia, and spending a long time indoors; notably, playing with electronics had the greatest influence on the risk of myopia.

Background The aim of this study was to compare recurrence patterns and prognostic factors for developing recurrences in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by surgery or surgery alone from a multicenter phase III trial NEOCRTEC5010. Patients and methods Patients with locally advanced ESCC were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive neoadjuvant CRT plus surgery (CRT + S group) or surgery alone (S group). CRT consisted of two cycles of vinorelbine and cisplatin with concurrent radiotherapy of 40.0 Gy in 20 fractions. Recurrence patterns, sites, frequency, and timing and potential prognostic factors were compared. Results Of the 451 patients enrolled from 2007 to 2014, 411 patients who underwent resection were analysed. After a median follow-up of 51.9 months, 62 patients (33.7%) in the CRT + S group versus 104 patients (45.8%) in the S group experienced recurrences (P = 0.013). The CRT + S group demonstrated a significantly better locoregional failure-free survival (P = 0.012) and a more favourable distant metastasis-free survival (P = 0.028) than the S group. Recurrences occurred earlier in the S group (P = 0.053), and late relapses were much more frequent in the CRT + S group (P = 0.029). On multivariate analysis, R1 resection and surgery alone were adverse factors for developing locoregional recurrences, whereas R1 resection was the only independent factor associated with distant metastases. Conclusions The neoadjuvant CRT regimen was associated with significantly reduced locoregional and distant recurrences compared with surgery alone. Recurrence patterns, sites and frequency were different between groups. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01216527.

Two-dimensional (2D) intrinsic ferromagnetic semiconductors are expected to stand out in the spintronic field. Recently, the monolayer VI$_{3}$ has been experimentally synthesized but the weak ferromagnetism and low Curie temperature ($T_C$) limit its potential application. Here we report that the Janus structure can elevate the $T_C$ to 240 K. And it is discussed that the reason for high $T_C$ in Janus structure originates from the lower virtual exchange gap between $t_{2g}$ and $e_{g}$ states of nearest-neighbor V atoms. Besides, $T_C$ can be further substantially enhanced by tensile strain due to the increasing ferromagnetism driven by rapidly quenched direct exchange interaction. Our work supports a feasible approach to enhance Curie temperature of monolayer VI$_{3}$ and unveils novel stable intrinsic FM semiconductors for realistic applications in spintronics., 19 pages, 5 figures

Lessons Learned Weekly treatment with 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin, concurrent with radiotherapy, achieved promising response rates in patients with postoperative recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Superior toxicity results were also found. Background Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is one of the treatment strategies for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) with postoperative locoregional recurrence. However, the once every 3 weeks chemotherapy regimen causes a high incidence of toxicity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of weekly 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and cisplatin concurrent with radiotherapy in postoperative locoregional recurrent ESCC. Materials and Methods Patients received four weekly chemotherapy cycles of cisplatin (25 mg/m2, day 1) plus 5-FU (1,176 mg/m2, day 1–3), and concurrent with radiotherapy (50.4–60 Gy). The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR). Secondary objectives were toxicity, disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Results Between January 2013 and December 2015, 48 patients were enrolled. The ORR was 68.8% (12 patients with complete response, 21 patients with partial response), with DCR 68.8%. No treatment-related grade 4 adverse events occurred. Grade 3 hematologic toxicities were observed in eight (17%) patients. Grade 3 vomiting or esophagitis occurred in four (8%) patients each. The median PFS and OS were 13.94 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75–51.05) and 27.43 months (95% CI, 5.278–49.58; Fig. 1). Conclusion Weekly 5-FU and cisplatin concurrent with radiotherapy achieved a promising response rate and improved toxicity in patients with postoperative locoregional recurrent ESCC.

Although collaborative filtering achieves satisfying performance in recommender systems, many studies suggest that it is vulnerable by shilling attack aimed to manipulate the recommending frequency of a target item by injecting malicious user profiles. The existing attack methods usually generate malicious profiles by rating the item selected randomly. However, as these rating patterns are different from the real users, who have their own preferences on items, these attack methods can be easily detected by shilling attack detection, which significantly reduces the attack ability. Although some attack methods consider disguise ability, these methods require too much information from real users. This study proposes a shilling attack which generates malicious samples with strong attack ability and similarity to real users. To imitate the rating behavior of genuine users, our attack model considers both rated item correlation and item popularity when choosing items to rate. The profiles generated by our attack model is expected to be more similar to real user profiles, which increases the disguise ability. We also investigate whether and how rated item correlation of real user profiles is different from the ones generated by our method and the existing shilling attack. The experimental results confirm that our method achieves the highest attack ability after removing the suspected profiles identified by PCA-based and SVM-based shilling attack detection. The study confirms the correlation of rated item is a critical factor of the robustness of recommender systems.

BackgroundSmall cell carcinoma of the esophagus (SCCE) is characterized by its progressive feature and poor prognosis. There is no consensus on a standard therapeutic modality for SCCE. In this study, we aimed to characterize the outcomes of primary SCCE patients treated by radiation therapy as part of treatment and investigate prognostic factors.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the data of 42 SCCE patients who were treated by RT as part of treatment at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from 2001 to 2014. The Kaplan-Meier and log-rank method were used to analyze survival. Cox’s hazard regression model was applied to determine prognostic factors.ResultsOf the 42 enrolled patients, 25 had limited disease (LD) and 17 with extensive disease (ED). The overall response rate (CR + PR) was 60.0% (21/35). The median overall survival time (OS) for whole and LD group were 12.9 and 36.8 months. The 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates of the whole cohort were 64.9, 31.3, and 13.9%, respectively. OS was significantly longer in patients with ECOG performance score (ECOG PS) p = 0.001), lesion length ≤ 5 cm (p = 0.001), and LD (p = 0.049). In the patients with LD, multivariate analysis indicated that combined with chemotherapy (P = 0.046) and higher radiation dose (P = 0.027) predicted better prognosis in OS. The overall rate of grade 3–4 toxicities in the whole cohort was 37.5%. In total, 65% (17/26) patients with recurrent disease died with the metastasis with or without the primary recurrence.ConclusionRT was one of the effective and safe treatments for locoregional control of SCCE. Lower ECOG PS score, shorter lesion length, treated with chemotherapy, and a higher dose of RT were identified as favorable independent prognostic factors.

Objective: This study was aimed to explore the expression level of long noncoding RNA H19 in the plasma of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its clinical significance. Methods: A total of 66 NSCLC patients (case group) and 31 patients with benign lung disease (control group) admitted from February 2015 to February 2017 were included in this study. Real-time polymerase chain reaction assay was applied to examine the relative expression level of long noncoding RNA H19 in the plasma of the two groups. The relationship between H19 expression and clinical, pathological features was explored. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to evaluate the clinical value of plasma H19 as a tumor marker in the auxiliary diagnosis of NSCLC. Results: The relative expression levels of plasma H19 inpatients from NSCLC group and benign lung disease group were 5.62 ± 2.02 (ΔCt) and 7.74 ± 2.75 (ΔCt), respectively. The NSCLC group presented with significantly higher levels than that of the benign disease group (P < 0.05). According to the median of relative expression level of 5.54, the plasma H19 of NSCLC patients was classified into low expression group ≥5.54 (n = 34) and high expression group 0.05). With the serum H19 as a diagnosis reference, the diagnostic sensitivity of NSCLC was 67.74%, and the specificity was 63.08%. The area under the ROC curve was 0.73, and the diagnostic cutoff value was 6.62. Conclusion: Plasma level of H19 in NSCLC patients was significantly increased, which could be applied as a serological marker for the auxiliary diagnosis of NSCLC.

Brain metastasis is very rare in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We retrospectively analyzed 4494 patients diagnosed with ESCC between 2010 and 2015 at a single institute; 15 of these patients developed brain metastases. All 15 patients had neurologic symptoms and were diagnosed by imaging or biology. Of the 15 patients, 67% had a solitary brain lesion and 73% had lesions larger than 3 cm. After treatment of the brain lesions, including surgery (53%) or stereotactic radiotherapy with or without whole brain radiation (20%), the median progression free survival time and the 2-year overall survival rate calculated from diagnosis of brain metastasis were 14.4 months and 36%, respectively. A graded prognostic assessment (GPA) score > 2.0 was associated with significantly better overall survival. Patients with brain metastases from ESCC achieve good overall survival after appropriate treatment of the brain lesion(s); GPA score may represent a prognostic factor for treatment decision-making.

The text lines of ancient Tibetan books are skewed and distorted, strokes are broken, and complex adjacent text lines touch each other, which makes text line segmentation extremely challenging. In this paper, a text line segmentation method based on local baselines and connected component allocation is proposed. First, the pseudotext line is detected by analyzing the horizontal projection, straight line detection and the average character height information, and then the local baseline position is determined in the pseudotext line area by the projection method. Second, the adhesion area detection is performed, which mainly includes the adhesion between characters and the adhesion between characters and strokes. The position relationship between the connected components is used to complete the adhesion between characters. A convolutional neural network is used to complete the adhesion between characters and strokes. Then, the watershed algorithm is used to segment touching connected components. Finally, the broken strokes are assigned to the text lines in which they belong according to the characteristics of Tibetan character structures. Subsequently, the assigned strokes are postprocessed to complete stroke correction, and finally the line segmentation is completed. Experiments show that this method can effectively reduce the influence of text line distortion and skew on text line segmentation, has a high degree of robustness, and has good segmentation accuracy for image text lines in Tibetan documents with touching and broken strokes.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with docetaxel plus cisplatin (DP regimen) versus 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin (PF regimen) in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Patients and Methods: In this phase II randomized controlled trial, eighty-six patients with clinical stage II - IVa ESCC were randomized to receive radiotherapy concurrently with two cycles of the PF or DP regimen at 3-week intervals. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). The secondary end points included the overall response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS) and treatment-related toxicities. Results: The ORRs were 84.4% in the DP group and 87.3% in the PF group (P = 0.653). After a median follow-up time of 25.1 months, the 1- and 2-year OS rates were 93.7% and 86.2% for the PF group and 87.3% and 69.1% for the DP group, respectively (P = 0.364). The 1- and 2-year PFS rates were 77.4% and 55.0% for the PF group and 78.8% and 69.4% for the DP group, respectively (P = 0.845). Grade 3/4 leukocytopenia/neutropenia (68.9% vs. 19.5%, P < 0.001) was significantly more common in the DP group. Conclusion: The treatment response, OS and PFS associated with using CCRT with the DP regimen were not superior to those associated with using CCRT with the PF regimen as a first-line treatment in patients with ESCC. Additionally, the DP regimen was associated with more severe haematological toxicities. This trial has been registered with the US National Institute of Health (clinicaltrials.gov, Identifier NCT 02969473).

Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia. Atrial fibrosis is a significant feature of atrial fibrillation though its mechanism is not well understood. We searched the Gene Expression Omnibus database to compare mRNA expression patterns between atrial fibrillation and sinus rhythm samples; one hundred and forty eight differentially expressed genes were identified. Most of these genes were significantly enriched in the extracellular matrix organization process and collagen-activated tyrosine kinase receptor signaling pathway. To screen hub genes involved in atrial fibrosis, we constructed a protein-protein interaction network and found that three hub genes (SERPINE1/plasminogen activator inhibitor-1/PAI-1, TIMP Metallopeptidase Inhibitor 3/TIMP3 and decorin/DCN) play vital roles in atrial fibrosis, especially plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. Elevated plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 expression was positively correlated with the p53 signaling pathway. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and p53 protein expression levels were verified in patients with sinus rhythm and atrial fibrillation by Western blot analysis. Compared with the sinus rhythm controls, p53 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 protein expressions were upregulated in the atrial tissues of patients with atrial fibrillation. p53 was also found to regulate plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 based on the results of cellular and molecular experiments. Thus, the p53/plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 signaling axis may participate in the pathophysiological processes of atrial fibrillation, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 may serve as a new therapeutic biomarker in atrial fibrillation.

e16043 Background: Definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is the standard treatment option for unresectable locally advanced esophageal cancer. However, the loco-regional and distant recurrences after definitive CRT were as high as 50%. Immunotherapy targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis has demonstrated antitumor activity in advanced esophageal cancer. With the potential benefit of combining PD-1 blockade to CRT, we performed a phase II trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination of toripalimab (an anti-PD-1 antibody) and definitive CRT in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: Patients with previously untreated, unresectable, stage II–IVA ESCC were enrolled. Patients received concurrent radiotherapy (50.4 Gy in 28 fractions), chemotherapy (weekly paclitaxel 50 mg/m2 and cisplatin 25 mg/m2 for 5 cycles), and toripalimab (240 mg, every 3 weeks until 12 months or disease progression). The primary endpoint was clinical complete response (cCR) rate at 3 months after CRT according to PET-CT scan and esophagogastroduodenoscopy with biopsies. Second endpoints were overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), adverse events (AEs). Exploratory endpoints included PD-L1 expression, tumor mutational burden, and genetic biomarkers as potential efficacy predictors. Results: Between November 2019 and December 2020, 42 eligible patients (2 stage II, 19 stage III, and 21 stage IVA) were included. Of them, 39 completed CRT and 3 remained under treatment. Twenty-eight patients were included for efficacy analysis (median follow-up: 7.2 months) and 42 for safety analysis (median follow-up: 5.8 months). The cCR rate was 60.7% (17/28) and the median OS and PFS were not reached. Thirty-nine patients (92.9%) had AEs, 20 patients (47.6%) experienced grade ≥3 AEs, and 1 patient (2.4%) suffered grade 5 esophageal fistula. The most common grade ≥3 AEs were lymphopenia (45.2%), neutropenia (33.3%), and anemia (28.6%), respectively. Conclusions: The addition of toripalimab to definitive CRT for locally advanced ESCC demonstrated encouraging efficacy and acceptable toxicity. The exploratory endpoints including PD-L1 expression and genetic biomarkers analyses are ongoing. Clinical trial information: NCT04005170.

With the rapid development of global tourism, identifying the vulnerability of tourism-based social-ecological systems (SESs) has become an important topic in sustainable development research. This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate the vulnerability, spatiotemporal evolution characteristics, and influencing factors of tourism-based SESs in the counties of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA). A comprehensive evaluation system containing 46 indicators was constructed using a model that combines a social–economic–ecological model and a pressure–state–response model (SEE-PSR). The entropy and composite index methods were used to calculate the vulnerability values of the indicators, and Geodetector was used to explore the factors influencing system vulnerability in the whole study area. The results showed the following: (1) The mean value of the composite vulnerability index of the TGRA from 2010 to 2018 was 0.4849, indicating a moderate vulnerability state. The system vulnerability of the study area gradually decreased from moderately high to moderately low. (2) There were obvious differences in the spatiotemporal evolution of vulnerability in different counties, high and moderately high vulnerability continued to decrease, moderately low and low vulnerability increased, and moderate vulnerability showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing. Meanwhile, the relative differences in vulnerability among counties were small but gradually increasing. (3) System vulnerability was mainly caused by the social subsystem. Six factors, including the growth rate of the number of tourists and the amount of fiscal expenditure, were more likely to contribute to system vulnerability than other factors. The interaction types were mainly nonlinear enhancement types, supplemented by two-factor enhancement. This study presents an approach for evaluating the vulnerability of tourist destinations and constructing an evaluation index system. In this way, it has reference value for reducing regional vulnerability and promoting sustainable development.

We use personnel data from a Chinese firm to explore the incentive effect of employee options on performance. To obtain the causal effect, the difference-in-differences method is used based upon a data set of employees nominated for option ownership. Comparing employees who were granted options with those who had only been nominated, we find that the impact of option ownership on employees’ performance is insignificant and results are robust across the board. Moreover, a heterogeneity analysis indicates that the incentive effect exists for employees at high job levels but remains insignificant for workers at low job levels; there is no difference in effect across genders or between high and low education; in addition, whether employees had plans to exercise their options has no impact on the incentive effect.

This study proposes a novel medical image fusion approach based on the segment graph filter (SGF) and sparse representation (SR). Specifically, using the SGF, source images are decomposed into base and detail images, based on which the edge information is integrated into the fused image as much as possible. The base images are then fused applying a fusion rule based on the normalized Shannon entropy, whereas the detail images are fused using an SR-based fusion method. Finally, the resultant fused image is computed by combining the fused base and detail images. For quantitative performance evaluations, five metrics are adopted: the feature-based metric, structure-based metric, normalized mutual information, nonlinear correlation information entropy, and phase congruency metric. Experimental results indicate that the fusion performance of the proposed method is comparable to those of state-of-the-art methods with respect to both subjective visual performance and objective quantification.

The semiconductor manufacturing roadmap which generally follows Moore’s law requires smaller and smaller EPE (Edge Placement Error), and this places stricter requirements on OPC model accuracy, which is mainly limited by metrology errors, pattern coverage and model form. Current metrology errors are mainly related to SEM image noise and measurement difficulty in complex 2D patterns. And traditional model form improvement by adding empirical terms for PEB (Post Exposure Bake), NTD (Negative Tone Development) and PRS (Physical Resist Shrinkage) effects still cannot meet the accuracy spec because other physical and chemical effects are uncaptured. Fitting these effects also requires comprehensive pattern coverage during model calibration. Solely improving model form may overfit the metrology error, which is risky, while solely improving metrology ignores existing model errors: both factors are troublesome for OPC. In this paper, a new metrology (MXP, naming for Metrology of Extreme Performance) and deep learning (Newron, naming for a Deep Convolutional Neural Network model form) integrated solution is proposed, where MXP decreases the metrology errors and provides good pattern coverage with high-volume reliable CD and EP (Edge Placement) gauges, and Newron captures remaining complex physical and chemical effects embedded in high-volume gauges beyond the traditional model. This solution shows overall ~30% prediction accuracy improvement compared to baseline metrology and FEM+ (Focus Exposure Matrix) model flow in N14 NTD process, predicts SEM shape of critical weak points more accurately.

In China, photovoltaic industry has developed rapidly in recent years, and distributed photovoltaic power generation projects account for an increasing proportion of the overall photovoltaic projects. Distributed photovoltaic power generation projects are facing many problems after the “531 New Deal”. For example, small and medium-sized photovoltaic companies are facing difficulties in financing, market-oriented transaction mechanisms need to be improved, related technologies need to be further improved, and the development and approval process is relatively cumbersome. Innovative financing methods are required, Multi-channel financing, through policy support, promoting system reform, increasing technological innovation, and integrating with other industries to seek further development.

Since Fuzhou started garbage sorting, it has achieved certain results. However, there are still many problems in the specific implementation process. Starting from the analysis of the status quo of domestic waste classification in Fuzhou City, the article analyzes the main problems existing in the current domestic waste classification work in Fuzhou, such as residents' awareness of waste classification needs to be improved, waste classification hardware facilities are not perfect, etc., and on this basis, corresponding The countermeasures will play a positive role in further promoting the garbage classification in Fuzhou.

Inspired by gamma-band oscillations and other neurobiological discoveries, neural networks research shifts the emphasis toward temporal coding, which uses explicit times at which spikes occur as an essential dimension in neural representations. We present a feature-linking model (FLM) that uses the timing of spikes to encode information. The first spiking time of FLM is applied to image enhancement, and the processing mechanisms are consistent with the human visual system. The enhancement algorithm achieves boosting the details while preserving the information of the input image. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method is effective.

Objective As the calreticulin (CALR) mutation frequency is significantly associated with essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF), this mutation may be an important biomarker in patients with ET and PMF. Methods We performed a literature search until April 2015 and obtained 21 relevant studies. The outcome was pooled as the effect size by using the Stata software program. Results The CALR mutation frequencies in patients with ET and PMF were 19% and 22%, respectively. The CALR mutation ratio in Asian patients with ET was 23% and higher than that in European-American patients (16%). Moreover, the mutation ratio in Asian patients with PMF was lower (21%) than that in European-American patients (23%). A slight trend toward fibrotic transformation was found in ET with CALR mutations, whereas leukemic transformation was not significant in patients with ET or PMF with CALR mutations. Conclusion CALR mutations significantly influence the incident of ET as demonstrated by the meta-analysis.

Objective To analyze the failure pattern and clinical efficacy of elective nodal irradiation in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 173 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy including elective nodal irradiation from 2002 to 2015. Failure pattern, survival and recurrence sites were analyzed. For patients with regional recurrences, the recurrence sites were analyzed in relation to an imaginary field of involved field irradiation. Results After a median follow-up of 55.5 months, 58 patients (33.5%) developed recurrences. Among 22 patients with regional recurrences, infield failure occurred in 19 patients (86.4%) and outfield failure occurred in 3 patients (13.6%), of whom only 1 patient had an outfield failure without synchronous distant metastasis. Compared with the involved field irradiation field, 6 patients' failure sites (27.3%) were located in the involved field irradiation field and 13 patients' failure sites (59.1%) were out of the involved field irradiation field but within the elective nodal irradiation field. Conclusions Since only a minority of patients had outfield regional recurrences, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy with elective nodal irradiation yields satisfactory infield control. More than half of the regional recurrences occurred within the elective nodal irradiation field but out of the involved field irradiation field. Prospective evaluation of whether elective nodal irradiation could lead to an improved survival outcome is necessary.

© 2016, CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain. Pulse-coupled neural networks (PCNN) have an inherent ability to process the signals associated with the digital visual images because it is inspired from the neuronal activity in the primary visual area, V1, of the neocortex. This paper provides insight into the internal operations and behaviors of PCNN, and reveals the way how PCNN achieves good performance in digital image processing. The various properties of PCNN are categorized into a novel three-dimensional taxonomy for image processing mechanisms. The first dimension specifies the time matrix of PCNN, the second dimension captures the firing rate of PCNN, and the third dimension is the synchronization of PCNN. Many examples of processing mechanisms are provided to make it clear and concise.

A general image enhancement framework is proposed.A neural network LSCN is designed.A network iterative stopping condition is proposed.We find that the final linking synaptic state is related with the stimulus image.The comparisons indicate the efficiency of the proposed algorithms. Linking synaptic computation network is proposed. The linking synapse is introduced into the neural network inspired by the gamma band oscillations in visual cortical neurons, and the neural network is applied to image representation. The linking synaptic mechanism of the network allows integrating temporal and spatial information. An image is input to the network and the enhanced result is obtained by the final linking synaptic state. The visual performance of the results boosts the details while preserving the information in the input image. The effectiveness of the method has been borne out by five quantitative metrics as well as qualitative comparisons with other methods.

Normally, with fixed recipe body, the profile, and thickness of photoresist film, is mainly dependent on the main spin speed to get target thickness with good uniformity. However, in some cases, we have to get some special thickness target with main speeds close either to the lower limit (1000rpm) or to the higher limit (2000rpm). And in such extreme conditions, only adjusting main speed cannot simultaneously achieve both resist thickness target and uniformity. To obtain extreme PR thickness in productions, we usually have to find another viscosity to replace the current one, which adds one more pipeline and costs more. Here, we use a design of experiment (DOE) by JMP to extend the lifetime of photoresist at the extreme thickness conditions, without the introduction of new materials. In this experiment, resist homogenizing speed, as another key parameter, is added into the baseline coating recipe to maximally achieve both thickness target and uniformity. Based on JMP's designs and data analysis, we have achieved our predictions with silicon wafer data. The above results will be presented in this paper.

In advanced semiconductor industries, the overlay (OVL) error budget is getting tighter due to shrinkage in technology. To achieve the tighter overlay requirements, gaining every nanometer of improved overlay is very important, and it is becoming critical to eliminate the smallest imperfections in the metrology targets used for overlay metrology. Conventionally, the performance of overlay metrology is evaluated mainly based on random error contributions such as precision, TIS variability, and total measurement uncertainty (TMU). For image-based overlay (IBO) metrology targets, mark asymmetry (or imperfection) is a common issue which can cause measurement inaccuracy, and it is not captured by traditional methodology. Such measurement error may lead to physical overlay issue, and finally impact the yield run-up. In this paper, we will present a study of IBO OVL mark measurement accuracy with Qmerit function. Different process integrations are evaluated including normal single layer process with I-line exposure, self-aligned double patterning (SADP) and litho-etch-litho-etch (LELE) double patterning. With the Qmerit function study on SADP process, the OVL mark of previous layer formed with SADP process plays an important role on the OVL accuracy, its effect on current layer OVL mark and itself measurement error due to mark asymmetry during etch process will be discussed in this paper. It is observed that SADP OVL mark design optimization is one important way to improve the OVL residue and reduce the measurement error. It also shows that the measurement light can also be auto-optimized to gain better contrast and less measurement error with Qmerit optimize function.

Background and purpose We report our outcomes for patients with NSCLC treated with SABR to 70Gy in 10 fractions and propose indications for this regimen as well as new dose–volume constraints. Materials and methods Volumetric image-guided SABR was used to treat 82 patients with clinical challenging NSCLC, not suitable for 50Gy in 4 fractions, to a final dose of 70Gy in 10 fractions. Endpoints included overall survival (OS), toxicity, and disease control. Results At a median follow-up time of 21.1months, 2-year OS and local control rates were 66.9% and 96.2%, respectively. The most common side effects were radiation pneumonitis (14.6% grade 2, 2.4% grade 3), followed by chest wall pain (4.9% grade 2, 1.2% grade 3). Multivariate analysis revealed chest wall V50>60cm 3 to be associated with chest wall pain. No patient developed brachial plexopathy. One patient with bronchial tree tumor invasion died of hemoptysis. Conclusions SABR with 70Gy in 10 fractions appears to achieve excellent local control and acceptable toxicity for clinically challenging cases with improved tolerance of the chest wall and brachial plexus as compared with 50Gy in 4 fractions. This regimen may not be suitable in patients with tumor invading critical central structures. More studies are needed to validate our conclusions.

A spatial domain multifocus image fusion method is proposed using a structure-preserving filter. In particular, the latest recursive filter (RF) is introduced as the structure-preserving filter in the proposed spatial domain method. Moreover, a focused region detection method is presented to determine initial weight maps based on an average low-pass filter. Then a fused image can be generated by the final weight maps, which are obtained using the RF to refine the initial weight maps and can well preserve the structures of source images. Experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to the state-of-the-art multifocus fusion methods in terms of subjective and objective evaluation. (C) 2019 SPIE and IS&T

Fingerprint detection has been applied in many security applications due to its satisfying performance. Its popularity also attract the attack from an adversary who uses artificial fingerprint made of Play-Doh or silicon to mislead the decision of the system. Recently, the liveness fingerprint detection using the textural measures based on the descriptor named Binarized Statistical Image Features (BSIF). BSIF is calculated for every pixel in a fingerprint image. However, we believe that the pixels in the middle of the fingerprint contain more information than the ones in the edge. As a result, we propose a revised liveness fingerprint detection based on BSIF with sampling from Gaussian distribution. According to the Gaussian distribution, more pixels in the middle will be sampled in comparison with the ones at the edge. The experimental results show that the proposed method is more accurate than the traditional one. It may suggests that the pixels in the middle are more informative than the ones at the edge for liveness detection.

The ideal edges of bilayer graphene (BLG) are that the edges of the top and bottom graphene layers (GLs) of BLG are well-aligned. Actually, the alignment distance between the edges of the top and bottom GLs of a real BLG can be as large as the submicrometer scale or as small as zero, which cannot be distinguished using an optical microscope. Here, we present a detailed Raman study on BLG at its edges. If the alignment distance of the top and bottom GLs of BLG is larger than the laser spot, the measured D mode at the edge of the top GL of BLG shows a similar spectral profile to that of disordered BLG. If the alignment distance is smaller than the laser spot, the D mode at a real BLG edge shows three typical spectral profiles similar to that at the edge of SLG, that of the well-aligned edge of BLG, or a combination of both. We show the sensitivity and ability of Raman spectroscopy to acquire the alignment distance between two edges of top and bottom GLs of BLG as small as several nanometers, which is far beyond the diffraction limit of a laser spot. This work opens the possibility to probe the edge alignment of multi-layer graphene.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a high incidence and mortality. Radiotherapy and sorafenib have proven effective for HCC. Here, we investigated whether sorafenib modulated the response of HCC cells to irradiation in vitro, effect of timing of sorafenib, and the underlying mechanisms. Methods Cell viability of the HCC cell lines, SMMC-7721 and Bel-7402, was examined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2(4-sulfophenyl)-2 H-terazolium (MTT) assays. Clonogenic growth assays of SMMC-7721 and Bel-7402 were determined by colony formation assays. DNA damage was assessed by monitoring γ-HAX foci in irradiated cells with immunofluorescence microscopy, and cell cycle distribution changes were examined by flow cytometry. Effects of sorafenib (15 μM) added 30 min prior to radiation (pre-irradiation sorafenib) of SMMC-7721 and BEL-7402 or 24 h post-irradiation (post-irradiation sorafenib) on irradiated SMMC-7721 and BEL-7402 cells were compared to those of radiation alone or no treatment. Results The effect of sorafenib was dependent on its time of addition in relationship to irradiation of cells. Pre-irradiation sorafenib did not significantly affect the viability of SMMC-7221 and BEL-7402 cells compared with irradiation treatment alone. In contrast, post-irradiation sorafenib increased the sensitivity of irradiated SMMC-7221 and BEL-7402 cells significantly in a time-dependent manner. Pre-irradiation sorafenib significantly increased the surviving fraction of SMMC-7221 and BEL-7402 cells in clonogenic assays whereas post-irradiation sorafenib significantly reduced the surviving fractions of SMMC-7221 and BEL-7402 cells. SMMC-7721 cells treated with sorafenib 30 min before irradiation had significantly fewer cells with γ-H2AX foci (23.8 ± 2.9%) than SMMC-7721 cells receiving radiation alone (59.9 ± 2.4; P Conclusions Sorafenib combined with irradiation exerted a schedule-dependent effect in HCC cells in vitro, which has significant implications for the combined use of sorafenib and radiotherapy for HCC patients.

We address the problem of fusing multifocus images based on the phase congruency (PC). PC provides a sharpness feature of a natural image. The focus measure (FM) is identified as strong PC near a distinctive image feature evaluated by the complex Gabor wavelet. The PC is more robust against noise than other FMs. The fusion image is obtained by a new fusion rule (FR), and the focused region is selected by the FR from one of the input images. Experimental results show that the proposed fusion scheme achieves the fusion performance of the state-of-the-art methods in terms of visual quality and quantitative evaluations.