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Aim of the study To evaluate the efficacy and preliminary outcomes of using a postauricular-groove approach without endoscopic assistance for the excision of parotid tumors. Case series Patients who underwent parotidectomy using a postauricular-groove incision were selected for this study. For patients in which parotidectomy was difficult, namely, for tumors located in the deep lobe area, the parotid gland sternocleidomastoid space was fully utilized, and the tumor was resected from the posterior plane. A total of fifty-eight patients with parotid tumor were enrolled and divided into superior lobe group (n=46) and deep lobe group (n=12). The difference in operation time (94 vs 119 min) and postoperative drainage (20.18 vs 45.33 mL) was statistically significant between the tumors in the superficial and deep lobes. However, postoperative cosmetic VAS score was 10 (extremely satisfied) for all patients. The incidence of transient facial nerve paralysis was comparable (8.7% vs 16.7%), and all of them resolved spontaneously within 3 months. No recurrence of tumors was found in either group in the median follow-up interval of 26.45 months (range 22.2-35.3 months), which was comparable to the result using the conventional “S” approach. Conclusion After making full use of the parotid gland sternocleidomastoid space, the postauricular-groove approach demonstrated satisfactory facial nerve protection, as well as easy maneuverability without the risk of surgical complications for tumors located in the deep lobe area. Importantly, the postauricular-groove approach showed excellent cosmetic outcomes for all patients and should be considered an alternative approach for parotidectomy of selected cases.

Zhiwei Zheng,1,&ast; Cui Yang,2,&ast; Chun Cai,1 Huide Zhu1 1Department of Pharmacy, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, 515041, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Shantou Central Hospital, Shantou, 515000, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Huide ZhuDepartment of Pharmacy, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, 515041, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 075488555844-1140Fax +86 0754 88555844Email zhuhuide_2009@163.comBackground: Recent studies have revealed that the presence of systemic inflammation is associated with poor survival for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. We aimed to investigate prognostic values of preoperative neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Methods: A cohort of 167 resectable ESCC patients was retrospectively reviewed between January 2017 and September 2020. The best cut-off value of NLR and PLR was selected by plotting the receiver operating characteristic curve. All reviewed patients were divided into high NLR/PLR or low NLR/PLR group to evaluate prognostic factors.Results: Among the 167 patients, 34 (20.36%) were women and 133 (79.64%) were men. The mean age was 62.64 ± 7.91 years, with an age range from 44 to 85 years. All patients were divided into low NLR (< 2.20) or high NLR (≥ 2.20) group (AUC=62.5% with the sensitivity of 61.8% and specificity 60.9%, P=0.025), low PLR (< 110) or high PLR (≥ 110) group (AUC=59.6% with the sensitivity of 82.4% and specificity 35.3%, P=0.083). High NLR and PLR were associated with a larger tumor diameter (P< 0.05), while high NLR was also associated with poor tumor classification (P=0.022). There was a positive correlation between NLR and PLR (r = 0.614, P < 0.001). High NLR and PLR were significantly associated with poor disease-free survival. Multivariate analyses identified NLR as a prognostic factor in resectable ESCC.Conclusion: The NLR and PLR predict disease-free survival in resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Keywords: neutrophil lymphocyte ratio, platelet lymphocyte ratio, disease-free survival, resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background Noise-induced hearing loss represents a commonly diagnosed type of hearing disability, severely impacting the quality of life of individuals. The current work is aimed at assessing the effects of DNA methylation on noise-induced hearing loss. Methods Blocking DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) activity with a selective inhibitor RG108 or silencing DNMT1 with siRNA was used in this study. Auditory brainstem responses were measured at baseline and 2 days after trauma in mice to assess auditory functions. Whole-mount immunofluorescent staining and confocal microcopy of mouse inner ear specimens were performed to analyze noise-induced damage in cochleae and the auditory nerve at 2 days after noise exposure. Results The results showed that noise exposure caused threshold elevation of auditory brainstem responses and cochlear hair cell loss. Whole-mount cochlea staining revealed a reduction in the density of auditory ribbon synapses between inner hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons. Inhibition of DNA methyltransferase activity via a non-nucleoside specific pharmacological inhibitor, RG108, or silencing of DNA methyltransferase-1 with siRNA significantly attenuated ABR threshold elevation, hair cell damage, and the loss of auditory synapses. Conclusions This study suggests that inhibition of DNMT1 ameliorates noise-induced hearing loss and indicates that DNMT1 may be a promising therapeutic target. Graphical abstract

To make a dual-direction silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) that is highly robust in a high-voltage environment, a gate-controlled dual-direction SCR (GC-DDSCR) device is proposed. After analyzing the working principle of the device through the equivalent circuit and 2-D device simulation, the electro-static discharge (ESD) characteristics of the device are verified through the transmission line pulse (TLP) test. The failure current of the GC-DDSCR structure is greatly improved to 14.19 A compared with only 3.53 A of the same size traditional dual-direction SCR (TDDSCR) structure. The trigger voltage and the holding voltage of the GC-DDSCR are 24.23 and 20.15 V, respectively. In addition, this article explains the principle of GC-DDSCR devices with high protection capability. That is, because the device has a polysilicon gate electrode shorted to the anode (cathode), the electric field effect generated by the gate promotes carrier movement in the SCR path. Thus, the electric field force promotes the opening of the SCR path of the device and the direction of the electric field force is always consistent with the current direction. The overall failure capability of the device is effectively improved.

Runt-related transcription factors regulate many developmental processes such as proliferation and differentiation. In this study, the function of the runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) was investigated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Our results show that RUNX1 expression was elevated in HNSCC patients, which was greatly correlated with the N stage, tumor size, and American Joint Committee on Cancer stage. Cox proportional hazard models showed that RUNX1 could be used as a prognostic indicator for the overall survival of HNSCC patients (hazard ratio, 5.572; 95% confidence interval, 1.860–9.963; P < 0.001). Moreover, suppression of RUNX1 inhibited HNSCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Using the HNSCC xenograft nude mouse model, we found that the shRUNX1-transfected tumor (sh-RUNX1) was significantly smaller both in size and weight than the control vector-transfected tumor (sh-Control). In conclusion, our results show that the elevated RUNX1 expression was correlated with tumor growth and metastasis in HNSCC, indicating that RUNX1 could be used as a biomarker for tumor recurrence and prognosis.

In this paper, the Goos–Hanchen (GH) shift resulting from the graphene surface plasmon in a modified Otto configuration is investigated theoretically. Through analysis the electrical field at the graphene interface, we found that the GH shift can be significantly enlarged negatively due to the exciting of surface plasmon resonance of graphene in terahertz efficiently. The GH shifts can be switched from negative to positive by harnessing the optical properties of graphene, and the negative GH shift can be actively tuned through the Fermi energy and the relaxation time of the graphene, or by controlling the distance between the coupling prism and the graphene layer. These tunable GH shifts are promising for fabricating graphene-based optical shift devices and other applications in the terahertz regime.

Objectives In the last two decades, the number of intervention studies using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has grown enormously. Though some studies have shown positive influences on episodic memory among older adults, disagreement exists in the literature. Therefore, the current meta-analysis aimed to provide a quantitative assessment of the efficacy of tDCS in modulating episodic memory functions in older adults. Method Eligible studies were sham-controlled trials examining the effects of anodal tDCS on episodic memory in older adults. Twenty-four articles comprising 566 participants aged over 60 qualified for inclusion. Results Compared to the sham tDCS group, the active tDCS group showed significant memory improvements at both immediate poststimulation (Hedges’ g = 0.625, p = .001) and long-term follow-up (Hedges’ g = 0.404, p = .002). There were no differences in effect sizes between cognitively healthy and impaired older adults. Moderator analyses suggested that tDCS having a duration of 20 min or less, bilateral stimulation, or a larger stimulation area would produce greater benefits for episodic memory performance in older adults. Discussion These findings suggest that tDCS holds great promise to ameliorate memory decline in older individuals. In the future, well-designed randomized controlled trials are expected to verify the optimal stimulation protocols and determine the factors impacting the long-term effects of tDCS in enhancing episodic memory.

Background: This study aimed to analyze the cost effectiveness of camrelizumab in the second-line treatment of advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in China.Methods: On the basis of the ESCORT clinical trial, a partitioned survival model was constructed to simulate the patient’s lifetime quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), lifetime costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). One-way sensitivity and probability sensitivity analyses were performed to test the stability of the model.Results: Treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with camrelizumab added 0.36 QALYs and resulted in an incremental cost of $1,439.64 compared with chemotherapy, which had an ICER of $3,999 per QALY gained. The ICER was far lower than the threshold of willingness to pay for one time the GDP per capita in China. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the ICERs were most sensitive to the cost of drugs, but the parameters did not have a major effect on the results of the model.Conclusion: Camrelizumab is likely to be a cost-effective option compared with chemotherapy for patients with advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. This informs patient selection and clinical path development.

In this paper, the reflected and transmitted group delay from a one-dimensional photonic crystal heterostructure with graphene at communication band are investigated theoretically. It is shown that the negative reflected group delay of the beam in this structure can be significantly enhanced and can be switched to positive. The large reflected group delay originates from the sharp phase change caused by the excitation of topological edge state at the interface between the two one-dimensional photonic crystals. Besides, the introduction of graphene provides an effective approach for the dynamic control of the group delay. It is clear that the positive and negative group delay can be actively manipulated through the Fermi energy and the relaxation time of the graphene. In addition, we also investigate the transmitted group delay of the structure, which is much less than the reflected one. The enhanced and tunable delay scheme is promising for fabricating optical delay devices like optical buffer, all-optical delays and other applications at optical communication band.

Objectives: There are relatively few studies on mechanisms of cognitive deficits in late-life schizophrenia (LLS). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), as an important neuroplastic molecule, has been reported to be involved in neurocognitive impairment in schizophrenia. This study aimed to examine whether peripheral BDNF levels were associated with cognitive deficits in LLS, which has not been explored yet.Methods: Forty-eight LLS patients and 45 age-matched elderly controls were recruited. We measured all participants on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) for cognition and serum BDNF levels. Psychopathological symptoms in patients were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).Results: The levels of BDNF in LLS patients were significantly lower than those in healthy controls (8.80 ± 2.30 vs. 12.63 ± 5.08 ng/ml, p < 0.001). The cognitive performance of LLS patients was worse than that of the controls on RBANS total score and scores of immediate memory, attention, language, and delayed memory (all p ≤ 0.005). BDNF was positively associated with attention in LLS patients (r = 0.338, p = 0.019).Conclusion: Our findings suggest that older patients with schizophrenia exhibit lower BDNF levels and more cognitive deficits than older controls, supporting the accelerated aging hypothesis of schizophrenia. Moreover, decreased BDNF is related to attention deficits, indicating that BDNF might be a candidate biomarker of cognitive impairments in LLS patients.

In this paper, a bimetallic sensor based on graphene-hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) heterostructure is theoretically studied. The sensitivity of the sensor can be improved by enhancing the Goos–Hänchen (GH) shift in the infrared band. The theoretical results show that adjusting the Fermi level, the number of graphene layers and the thickness of hBN, a GH shift of 182.09 λ can be obtained. Moreover, sensitivity of 2.02 × 105&nbsp, λ/RIU can be achieved with monolayer graphene, the thickness of gold layer is 20 nm, silver layer is 15 nm, and the hBN thickness of 492 nm. This heterogeneous infrared sensor has the advantages of high sensitivity and strong stability. The research results will provide a theoretical basis for the design of a new high-sensitivity infrared band sensor.

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is an evidence-based biomedical HIV prevention but under-utilized by male sexually transmitted diseases patients (MSTDP) in China. A parallel-group, non-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted. Participants were uncircumcised heterosexual MSTDP attending four sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinics in three Chinese cities. A total of 244 MSTDP were randomized 1:1 into the intervention group (n = 108) and the control group (n = 136). In addition to the education booklet received by the control group, the intervention group watched a 10-min video clip and received a brief counseling delivered by clinicians in the STD clinics. The interventions were developed based on the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. At Month 6, participants in the intervention group reported significantly higher uptake of VMMC (14.8% versus 2.9%; RR 5.03, 95% CI 1.73, 14.62, p = 0.001). The brief STD clinic-based intervention was effective in increasing VMMC uptake among MSTDP in China. Trial registry: This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT03414710. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03414710 .

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this article was to propose a V-shaped minimal facelift incision (FLI) and analyze its efficacy for improving the esthetic outcomes of parotid gland tumors. METHODS A prospective, nonrandomized study was performed. Forty-six patients with category I benign parotid tumors as to Quer classification (3 cm or less and located superficially and/or peripherally in the gland) were enrolled. The 46 patients who underwent dissection of parotid gland tumors were divided into 2 groups: minimal FLI (group 1) and modified Blair incision (MBI, group 2). The modified minimal FLI was performed via V-shaped preauricular and retroauricular incision with no extension to the hair bearing skin. The operation variables and the cosmetic satisfaction of the patients in each group were compared. RESULTS Twenty-three patients underwent the minimal FLI approach and 23 underwent the conventional modified Blair incision approach. No recurrence developed in any of the patients at the follow-up for an average of 18.9 ± 2.7 months. Among the operation factors, the authors observed no other significant differences in the size of tumor, operative time, or completeness of resection (P > 0.05). Moreover, facial palsy and Frey syndrome also did not differ between the 2 groups (P > 0.05). However, cosmetic satisfaction evaluated with a graded scale showed much better results in the V-shaped minimal FLI approach group (P

BACKGROUND To describe the indications, technique, and preliminary experience in the application of the superior thyroid artery perforator flap (STAPF) for the reconstruction of various medium-sized intraoral defects. METHODS From September 2018 to September 2019, 12 consecutive cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma underwent reconstruction with a STAPF. Clinical details were collected, and postoperative function was analyzed. RESULTS The venous drainage of the STAPF is variable with drainage into the internal jugular vein in six cases, into both the internal and external jugular veins in four cases, and into the external jugular vein in two cases. Ten cases were harvested as pedicled flaps, while two cases required a venous anastomosis due to inadequate length of the venous pedicle. Ten flaps survived completely, whereas two flaps had partial necrosis that ultimately resolved with secondary healing. CONCLUSIONS STAPF is a reliable method for the reconstruction of medium-sized intraoral defects.

Early oral feeding has been shown to be safe and effective for most surgeries, while surgeons and nurses are still hesitant to implement it in gastric cancer patients who undergo gastrectomy.This review aimed to investigate the safety and feasibility of early versus delayed oral feeding in gastric cancer patients after gastrectomy.A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.The literature search was performed in 7 databases from inception to March 7, 2021.Randomized controlled trials that compared the effects of early oral feeding and delayed oral feeding in gastric cancer patients who undergo gastrectomy were included. The primary outcome was hospital days, and secondary outcomes included hospital costs, postoperative complication rates, feeding intolerance rates, annal exhaust time, albumin levels and prealbumin levels. According to the presence of heterogeneity, fixed or random effect meta-analysis was applied.Nine trials involving 1087 gastric cancer patients who undergo gastrectomy were pooled in this systemic review and meta-analysis. The results showed that early oral feeding significantly decreased hospital days (mean difference = -1.50, 95% confidence interval = -1.91 to -1.10, P 0.001) and hospital costs (mean difference = -4.21, 95% confidence interval = -5.00 to -3.42, P 0.001) compared to delayed oral feeding, while the incidences of postoperative complications (risk ratio = 0.96, 95% confidence interval = 0.72 to 1.26, P = 0.76) and feeding intolerance (risk ratio = 0.95, 95% confidence interval = 0.79 to 1.15, P = 0.62) were comparable between the two groups. In comparison to delayed oral feeding, early oral feeding was associated with shorter annal exhaust time (mean difference = -0.61, 95% confidence interval = -0.81 to -0.40, P 0.001) and higher levels of albumin (mean difference = 3.77, 95% confidence interval = 2.42 to 5.12, P 0.001) and prealbumin (mean difference = 18.11, 95% confidence interval = 15.33 to 20.88, P 0.001). Furthermore, the results of distal gastrectomy subgroup analysis indicated that hospital days were shorter in the early oral feeding group than in the delayed oral feeding group.For gastric cancer patients who undergo gastrectomy, early oral feeding was associated with shorter hospital days and lower hospital costs, but early oral feeding did not increase the incidences of postoperative complications or feeding intolerance. Moreover, early oral feeding also decreased the annal exhaust time but increased the levels of albumin and prealbumin.

Vestibular hair cells are mechanosensory receptors that are capable of detecting changes in head position and thereby allow animals to maintain their posture and coordinate their movement. Vestibular hair cells are susceptible to ototoxic drugs, aging, and genetic factors that can lead to permanent vestibular dysfunction. Vestibular dysfunction mainly results from the injury of hair cells, which are located in the vestibular sensory epithelium. This review summarizes the mechanisms of different factors causing vestibular hair cell damage and therapeutic strategies to protect vestibular hair cells.

Computation outsourcing using virtual environment is getting more and more prevalent in cloud computing, which several parties want to run a joint application and preserves the privacy of input data in secure computation protocols. However, it is still a challenging task to improve the efficiency and speed of secure floating point calculations in computation outsourcing, which has efficient secure integer calculations. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a framework built-up with a privacy-preserving computation toolkit with floating-point numbers (FPN), called PCTF. To achieve the above goal, we provide efficient toolkit to ensure their own data that FPN operations can be securely handled by homomorphic encryption algorithm. Moreover, we provide simulation results to experimentally evaluate the performance of the accuracy and the efficiency of PCTF, which will slowdown with 10x time consumption per in the secure floating-point addition and secure floating-point multiplication. Existing FPN division is constantly approaching result of division, or obtaining the quotient and remainder of division, in terms of precision, it is impossible to guarantee the precise range stably. However, our PCTF has higher precision in secure floating-point division, and the precision can be guaranteed at least \({10^{-17}}\).

With the development of deep learning, scene text detection has made significant progress. A large number of neural network models have been applied to this task, one of which is a fully convolutional network (FCN) model named An Efficient and Accurate Scene Text Detector (EAST). However, it usually falls short when detecting long text regions like text lines lying across the images. Therefore, we propose a new network with Attention Module and Image Pyramid Module, based on EAST but largely ameliorated, to overcome the obstacles. Experiments conducted on several public benchmarks demonstrate that our method outperforms the original EAST model.

As a commonly used chemical agent, surfactant is used to improve the efficiency of oil-and-gas exploitation. Since the conventional surfactant technology fails to meet the requirements of oil-and-gas resources exploitation currently, this paper deeply researches on the studies of cutting-edge technology of oil-and-gas exploitation, and learns the advanced experience from foreign countries. It aims to point out that the needs of China’s demand for oil-and-gas exploitation can be met with through technology innovation, preparation methods improvement and key technology mastery of surfactant in oil field.

Objective: The genetic biomarkers on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been widely studied in different groups. Since the lack of efficacy therapeutic methods for AD, early recognition in preclinical stage becomes increasingly important. Evidence of AD and cognitive-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in high risk population is insufficiency. Our aim was to assess whether these SNPs within cognitive- and sleep- associated genes are correlated with cognitive impairment independently or through gene-gene interactions in community-dwelling elderly in Beijing. Methods: Eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 2133 Northen Han Chinese elderly from ten communites in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The short version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Beijing (MoCA-s), Ascertain Dementia 8 (AD8), Digit Span Backwards (DSB), Digital Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and Paired Associative Learning Test (PALT) were used to detect different cognitive domains.Results: Logistic regression analyses showed a significant correlation between APOE (rs429358), ABCC9 (rs11046205) and cognitive impairment, and an interaction between ABCC9 (rs11046205)/APOE promoter (rs405509) and APOE ε4 status. Additionally, we found a significant negative association between the additive model of APOE (rs429358) and MMSE score. Moreover, our analysis revealed that the gene-gene interaction between ABCC9 (rs11046205) and APOE (429358) may contribute to the etiology of congnitive impairment.Conclusions: This study confirmed the independent contribution of AD, memory and sleep-related genes in the cognitive impairment of the community-dwelling elderly in China, as well as through gene-gene interactions.

Background Thyroid cancer is a major endocrine tumor and represents an emerging health problem worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been addressed to be associated with the pathogenesis and progression of thyroid cancer. However, it remains largely unknown what functions miR-30d may exert on thyroid cancer. This study herein aimed to identify the functional significance and mechanism of miR-30d in the progression of thyroid cancer. Methods The expression of miR-30d and ubiquitin-specific protease 22 (USP22) in cancerous tissues of patients with thyroid cancer was measured using RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis. In response to the gain- or loss-of-function of miR-30d and USP22, cell apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry and TUNEL staining in combination with the measurement of apoptosis-related proteins. The interactions among miR-30d, USP22, SIRT1, FOXO3a and PUMA were explored using a series of assays, including dual-luciferase reporter gene assay, Co-IP and ChIP assay. The effects of miR-30d and USP22 on thyroid tumorigenesis were finally validated in vivo. Results MiR-30b presented aberrant low expression in thyroid cancer tissues and this low expression correlated with poor prognosis of thyroid cancer patients. miR-30d promoted apoptosis of thyroid cancer cells through targeting USP22, an up-regulated gene in thyroid cancer. USP22 could enhance the stability of SIRT1 by inducing deubiquitination which consequently contributed to FOXO3a deacetylation-induced PUMA repression. It was verified that this regulatory mechanism was responsible for the pro-apoptotic effect of miR-30d by the in vivo tumorigenicity assay. Conclusion To conclude, the progression of thyroid cancer can be suppressed by miR-30d-mediated inhibition of USP22, provides a promising therapeutic target for thyroid cancer treatment.

Background Mounting evidences have displayed that the dysregulation of miRNAs plays important roles in the pathogenesis of gastric cancer (GC). The purpose of this study was to explore the biological functions and potential mechanism of miR-489 in GC progression. Methods Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot were performed to examine the mRNA expression and protein levels of miR-489 and HDAC7. The relationship between miR-489 and HDAC7 was analyzed by Spearman rank correlation. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and transwell assays were conducted for determining the effect of miR-489 and HDAC7 on GC cell viability, migration, and invasion. TargetScan and luciferase reporter assay were used to confirm the target gene of miR-489 in GC cells. Results The findings showed that miR-489 was dramatically decreased in GC tissues and GC cell lines (SGC-7901 and MKN45). Moreover, it was closely correlated with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of GC patients. Downregulation of miR-489 significantly promoted GC cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Additionally, HDAC7 was confirmed as the direct target of miR-489. Knockdown of HDAC7 exerted inhibited effect on GC progression and it markedly overturned miR-489 inhibitor-medicated effect on GC cells. More interestingly, via targeting HDAC7, miR-489 blocked the activation of PI3K/AKT pathway in GC cells. Conclusions Correctively, miR-489 played as a tumor suppressor in GC cell growth by targeting HDAC7, and miR-489 might function as a novel biomarker for diagnosis or therapeutic targets of human GC.

Memory decline has become an issue of major importance in the aging society. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) is a viable tool to counteract age-associated episodic memory deterioration. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are unclear. In this single-blind, sham-controlled study, we combined atDCS and functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the behavioral and neural consequences of multiple-session atDCS in older adults. Forty-nine healthy older adults received either 10 sessions of anodal or sham stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Before and after stimulation, participants performed a source memory task in the MRI scanner. Compared to sham stimulation, atDCS significantly improved item memory performance. Additionally, atDCS significantly increased regional brain activity around the stimulation area in the prefrontal cortex and extended to the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex. Neural changes in the prefrontal cortex correlated with memory gains. Our findings therefore indicate that multiple-session offline atDCS may improve memory in older adults by inducing neural alterations.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze clinical characteristics and outcomes of critically ill patients with multiple myeloma (MM) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and identify predictors of poor short-term prognosis. Methods: Data for patients with MM admitted to the ICU were extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III database. The risk factors leading to the ICU and hospital mortality were evaluated using logistic regression analysis. Results: Of 126 patients identified, 17 (13.5%) and 37 (29.4%) died in the ICU and hospital, respectively. Patients with ICU mortality showed higher median blood urea nitrogen (57.0 vs. 29.0) and poorer Acute Physiology Scores (APS, 70.0 vs. 46.0) than did surviving patients on the day of ICU admission. In-ICU deceased patients had higher proportion of mechanical ventilation (64.7% vs. 26.6%) and vasopressor use (64.7% vs. 17.4%) at admission and positive pathogenic culture during ICU stay (58.8% vs. 19.3%). The APS and positive pathogenic culture were independent prognostic factors for ICU mortality, while risk factors for hospital mortality included higher APS and relapsed/refractory disease. Conclusion: The short-term prognoses for patients with MM admitted to the ICU were mainly determined by the severity of organ failure, infection, and disease status.

In this paper, the graphene-assisted Goos–Hänchen (GH) shift of the optical beam reflected from a planar multilayer configuration is investigated. The increased positive Goos–Hänchen shifts can be modulated by adjusting the Fermi energy due to graphene with unique optical properties in the visible light range. Moreover, the GH shift can be tuned by varying the layers of graphene, the thickness of the medium, incident wavelength, and so on. These results will be useful for designing the novel graphene-based optical sensing and switching.

We investigate theoretically the optical tristability of transmission at a pair of parallel graphene layers system. We discuss the influence of the graphene sheets on the hysteretic response of the TE-polarized transmitted light. It is demonstrated that the optical tristability in this configuration can be realized due to the giant third-order nonlinear conductivity of graphene and appropriate structure parameters. The tristable behavior of the transmitted light can be controlled via suitably varying the Fermi energy of the graphene. Besides, the optical tristable behavior is strongly dependent on the relaxation time of the graphene and the dispersion characteristics of the surrounding dielectrics. Moreover, the threshold of the optical tristability can be reduced by appropriately increasing the number of graphene layers, making this simple structure a good candidate for dynamic tunable and low threshold optical tristable device in the terahertz (THz) frequencies.

Intelligent detection of electric transmissions and distribution equipment is impeded by factors such as the potential diversity of displays, the vulnerability of meter digits reading, and the slow speed of training and predicting. To deal with the problem, this paper aims to use the technology of pattern recognition to automatically recognize various kinds of digital displays by analyzing images collected by a CCD camera. To be more specific, firstly, we design a multi-layer convolutional module to classify different types of dashboards. Secondly, to deal with different types of dashboards, we presents an improved Adaboost algorithm in the training process that can quickly identify and cut out the display area of the meters. Lastly, we implement several digital image processing algorithms to recognize the dashboard readings accurately. The experimental results show that our method performs well in improving recognition precision.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and long-term outcome of a modification of the anterior-posterior tongue rotation flap used for reconstruction of tongue following cancer ablation. From April 2016 to September 2017, 21 consecutive patients with tumor classification (T2), lymph node classification (N0) tongue cancer on the anterior and middle one-third portion were selected for this study. A modification of the anterior-posterior tongue rotation flap was selected for tongue reconstruction after the cancer resection. Patient's scorings of swallowing, chewing, speech and taste were recorded. Patient after tongue flap reconstruction acquired satisfied tongue movement that allows normal functional outcomes for swallowing, chewing, speech and taste. Local tumor recurrence was not observed during the follow-up examination (range, 12-24 months). The modification of the anterior-posterior tongue rotation flap was a safe and reliable treatment for medium-size tongue cancer (T2N0), especially suitable to patients who cannot endure prolonged surgery.

We propose a novel 60 GHz optical single sideband (OSSB) millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signal generation scheme using 120° hybrid coupler based on external integrated Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM). The proposed scheme shows that the bit error ratio (BER) performance is improved by suppressing the +2nd-order sideband. Meanwhile, the transmission distance is extended as only the optical +1st-order sideband is modulated by using 5 Gbit/s baseband signal while the carrier is blank, owing to the elimination of walk-off effect suffered from fiber dispersion. The simulation results demonstrated that the eye diagrams of the generated 60 GHz OSSB signal keep open and clear after 100 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF). In addition, the proposed scheme can achieve 2 dB receiver sensitivity improvements than the conventional 90° hybrid coupler when transmitted over 100 km SSMF at a BER of 10−9.

To further improve receiver sensitivity of spectrally-efficient guard-band direct-detection optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) with twin single-side-band (SSB) modulation technique, an optical IQ modulator (IQM) is employed to optimize optical carrier-to-signal power ratio (CSPR). The CSPRs for the guard-band twin-SSB-OFDM signal generated by using dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulator (DD-MZM) and optical IQM are theoretically analyzed and supported by simulations. The optimal CSPR for the two types of guard-band twin-SSB-OFDM are identified. The simulations exhibit that the error vector magnitude (EVM) performance of the IQM-enabled guard-band twin-SSB-OFDM is improved by more than 4-dB compared to that of the twin-SSB-OFDM enabled by DD-MZM after 80-km single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission. In addition, more than 3-dB and 10 dB receiver sensitivity improvements in terms of received optical power (ROP) and optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) are also achieved, respectively.

In this study, the comparative effects of the two disturbances (aquaculture and water level fluctuations) on macroinvertebrate communities were explored in two waterbodies connected with the reservoir system of Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in China. One water body called Gaoyang Bay which suffered organic pollution from intensive aquaculture. Another named Hanfeng Lake, where the effects of water-level fluctuations are obvious. The results showed that aquaculture could significantly affect the chemical forms of nutrients, decrease the α-diversity and increase the β-diversity of macroinvertebrates although the communities in the treatment area in Gaoyang Bay were not fundamentally changed comparing to the control area in the same bay. The densities of macroinvertebrates in the treatment area were significantly lower than that of the control area. The composition of functional feeding groups in the treatment area was close to that in Hanfeng Lake, but obviously different from that in the control ar...

Metasurface-mediated bound states in the continuum (BIC) provides a versatile platform for light manipulation at the subwavelength dimension with diverging radiative quality factor and extreme optical localization. In this work, we theoretically propose the magnetic dipole quasi-BIC resonance in asymmetric silicon nanobar metasurfaces to realize giant Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift enhancement by more than three orders of wavelength. In sharp contrast to GH shift based on the Brewster dip or transmission-type resonance, the maximum GH shift here is located at the reflection peak with unity reflectance, which can be conveniently detected in the experiment. By adjusting the asymmetric parameter of metasurfaces, the Q-factor and GH shift can be modulated accordingly. More interestingly, it is found that GH shift exhibits an inverse quadratic dependence on the asymmetric parameter. Furthermore, we theoretically design an ultrasensitive environmental refractive index sensor based on the quasi-BIC enhanced GH shift, with a maximum sensitivity of 1.5×107 μ m/RIU. Our work not only reveals the essential role of BIC in engineering the basic optical phenomena but also suggests the way for pushing the performance limits of optical communication devices, information storage, wavelength division de/multiplexers, and ultrasensitive sensors.

A guard-band-based and single-side-band (SSB) modulation scheme is usually employed to improve receiver sensitivity and avoid power fading for the direct-detection optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (DDO-OFDM). In this paper, we take advantages of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) undersampling to achieve a low-complexity receiver for guard-band SSB-DDO-OFDM. By using an electrical bandpass filter, the signal-to-signal beating interference is removed from the guard-band, and the desired OFDM signal is sampled at a rate twice its signal bandwidth rather than its highest frequency component. The guard-band will be filled with the aliased components which can be used to fully recover the transmitted data, and the discrete Fourier transform size at the receiver side is reduced by more than half. As a result, the implementation complexity of the receiver can be greatly reduced with the lower ADC sampling rate and reduced digital signal processing complexity. The feasibility of the proposed low-complexity receiver is investigated by numerical simulations. When the quantization noise is not dominant, the simulations show that the proposed low-complexity guard-band SSB-DDO-OFDM has similar error vector magnitude performances with the conventional one over different bias voltages and single-mode fiber links.

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and long-term outcome of radical intracapsular microenucleation technique for the treatment of exclusively intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma (IFNS). Materials and methods From 1996 to 2015, IFNSs closely adherent to the facial nerve without intratemporal involvement were selected for this study. IFNSs were subdivided into an intracapsular microenucleation group and a resection with reconstruction group. Facial nerve function was assessed using the House-Brackmann Grading system. The study sample consisted of 28 patients who were followed up for 5.75 years (range, 1–15 years). Results Of the 28 patients, 18 IFNSs were from the main trunk. Radical intracapsular microenucleation was performed in 9 patients, resection with reconstruction in 7 patients, and only biopsy in 2 patients. Nine patients who received intracapsular microenucleation recovered to House-Brackmann Grade I (55.6%) or Grade II (44.4%), in comparison to the 7 patients from resection group (Grade III, 28.6%; Grade IV, 42.9%; Grade V, 28.6%). The other 10 IFNSs from the distal branches maintained favorable nerve function with either of the treatments. Tumor recurrence was not observed except for the two patients with only biopsy. Conclusion Radical intracapsular microenucleation with nerve preservation was a safe and reliable treatment for IFNS, especially for the IFNS from the main trunk.

Associative recognition requires discriminating between old items and conjunction lures constructed by recombining elements from two different study items. This task can be solved not only by recollection but also by familiarity if the to-be-remembered stimuli are perceived as a unitized representation. In two event-related potential (ERP) studies, we provide evidence for the integration of internal and external facial features by showing that the early frontal old-new effect (considered a correlate of familiarity) is modulated by the specific combination of facial features. Participants studied faces consisting of internal features (eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth) paired with external features (hair, head shape, and ears). During the testing phase, intact, recombined, and new faces were presented. Recombined faces consisted of internal and external features taken from two different studied faces. The results showed that at the frontal sites, during the time window from 300 to 500 ms, ERPs to intact faces were more positive than those to new and recombined faces; the latter two did not differ from one another. The late parietal effect was observed only after a more extended study phase in Experiment 2. We take the modulation of the early frontal old-new effect as evidence for the contribution of familiarity to associative recognition for combinations of internal and external facial features.

The dynamic state test bench is presented for the shaft tip earthing device of the high-speed railway vehicle. The structure and the principle of the dynamic test bench are explored to achieve the reliability test. In order to obtain the performances of the shaft tip earthing device at the high speed and the high-frequency vibration, the characteristics of simulation method include the light-weight modeling, the Hypermesh meshing, and the ANSYS-based simulation for the static and dynamic working conditions. The static and dynamic analyses are both performed on the established simulation model. The maximal stress is smaller than the yield stress. The 1st-6nd natural frequencies of the test bench are 186.827 Hz, 253.313 Hz, 300.934 Hz, 401.665 Hz, 415.467 Hz, and 762.488 Hz, respectively. The dynamic test bench improves the reliability test technology of the shaft tip earthing device.

Group delay of the optical pulse reflected from the structure composed of graphene and one dimensional photonic crystal (1D PC) is studied. It is shown that the large negative group delay in this configuration can be realized due to the excitation of the optical Tamm state (OTS) at a graphene-dielectric interface. The reflected group delay can be enlarged negatively and can be switched from positive to negative or vice versa. We show that the conductivity of graphene has a significant influence on reflected group delay, making the graphene-PC structure be a good candidate for dynamic tunable optical delay device in the THz frequencies. Furthermore, the influences of the relaxation time of graphene, the incident angel, and the dispersion characteristics of top layer on group delay are clarified.

In this paper, we propose a high-sensitivity optical sensor at terahertz frequencies based on a composite structure containing a one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D PC) coated with a layer of monolayer graphene. Between the 1D PC and the graphene there is a sensing medium. This high-sensitivity phenomenon originates from the excitation of optical resonance between the graphene and the 1D PC. The proposed sensor is highly sensitive to the Fermi energy of graphene, the thickness and refractive index of the sensing medium, and the number of graphene layers. By selecting appropriate parameters, the maximum sensitivity ( 407.36 ∘ / RIU ) is obtained. We believe the proposed configuration is promising for fabricating graphene-based biosensor- or gas-sensor devices and other related applications in the terahertz band.

Background: Executive function tends to decline as people age. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is assumed to have beneficial effects on various cognitive functions. Some prior investigations have shown that repeated sessions of tDCS enhance the executive function performance of healthy elderly people by mediating cognitive training gains. However, studies of the effect of long-term stimulation on executive function without cognitive training are absent. Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore whether the executive function of healthy older adults could be enhanced with long-term tDCS alone applied on the prefrontal cortex. Methods: Sixty-five cognitively normal older adults were enrolled and randomly assigned to two groups: an anodal tDCS group and a sham tDCS group. The participants in the two groups received anodal stimulation or sham stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal lobe, for 30 min per day for 10 consecutive days. Executive function was tested before stimulation, immediately after stimulation and 3 months after stimulation. Three core components of executive function were tested using a two-back task for updating, a flanker task for inhibition, and a switching task for shifting. Results: Across the three tasks, we failed to discover any differences between the anodal and sham stimulation. Moreover, we found no statistically significant stimulation effect in the follow-up session. Conclusion: Our study does not support the assumption that multiple sessions of tDCS that are independent of cognitive training have a beneficial effect on executive function in healthy older adults, presumably because the effect of the stimulation lies in its amplification of training gains. It indicates that combining traditional cognitive training methods with brain stimulation may be a better approach to improve older adults’ executive function.

In this paper, we have shown that tunable nonlinear group delay of reflected light beam at terahertz frequencies can be achieved by a modified Otto configuration with the insertion of monolayer graphene and nonlinear substrate. This large nonlinear reflected group delay originates from the excitation of surface plasmon resonance at the interface of two dielectrics with graphene. Graphene sheet with unique optical properties can enhance the surface plasmon resonance and modulate bistable behavior of the reflected group delay by suitably adjusting the Fermi energy of the graphene and the relaxation time. Moreover, the large negative and positive of reflected group delay is sensitive to the thicknesses of the air layer. We believe these intriguing phenomena are promising for some potential applications in graphene-based optical delay devices. Keywords: Group delay, Graphene, Nonlinear surface plasmon, Otto configuration

Interferon stimulated gene 20-kDa (ISG20) has been implicated in the pathology of osteoarthritis (OA) and it has been separately found to be responsive to estrogen stimulation. OA disproportionately affects women, and especially older women, suggesting some role of reproductive hormones in its pathology. The current study characterized the expression of ISG20 following stimulation with estradiol (E2) and proinflammatory cytokines in OA synovial fibroblasts (OASFs). E2 and the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) were used to stimulate OASFs in vitro. The expression of ISG20 before and after stimulation was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting. E2 and proinflammatory cytokine (IL-6, LPS and TNF-α) stimulation significantly induced the expression of ISG20 both at the messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein level. Moreover, the induction was time- and dose-dependent. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was transfected into OASFs, and expression of the inflammatory factors interleukin-1α (IL-1α), IL-6, and interleukin-10 (IL-10) was detected using RT-qPCR. Silencing ISG20 with siRNA inhibited the expression of IL-1α, IL-6, and IL-10. Thus, expression of ISG20 was regulated by estradiol and proinflammatory factors, while ISG20 in turn regulated the expression of other inflammatory factors. These data support the contention that ISG20 plays a role in the inflammatory process of OA.

We have proposed a scheme of radio over fiber (ROF) system with octuple optical millimeter-wave (mm-wave) generation transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal based on odd order sidebands suppression technique and filtering. The transmission performance of the optical mm-wave OFDM signal is theoretically investigated and implemented by numerical simulation. The results show that the time shift induced by chromatic dispersion only causes a slight phase rotation for constellation diagram, and a 40 GHz ROF system with a 2.5 Gbit/s signal remain has a good performance after the signal is transmitted over 50 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF). Then the effects of the Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) DC-bias and modulation depth (MD) on the system performance are discussed by simulation, and the optimal performance of the system is obtained.

The traditional approaches employing random telegraph noise (RTN) to find trap location and energy level are not accurate for the NOR Flash memory due to the asymmetric device structure. In this paper, a new method is proposed to calculate the trap depth, lateral location and trap energy level of 65 nm NOR flash memory. It is found that the trap locates 1.3nm away from Si/SiO2 interface near source side for a fresh memory cell. The new method shows better accuracy with respect to the traditional approaches.

Familiarity and recollection are two independent cognitive processes involved in recognition memory. It is traditionally believed that both familiarity and recollection can support item recognition, whereas only recollection can support associative recognition. Here, using a standard associative recognition task, we examined whether associative retrieval of unitized associations involved differential patterns of familiarity and recollection processes relative to non-unitized associations. The extent of engagement of familiarity and recollection processes during associative retrieval was estimated by using event-related potentials (ERPs). Twenty participants studied compound words and unrelated word pairs during encoding. Subsequently, they were asked to decide whether a presented word pair was intact rearranged, or a new pair while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. ERP results showed that compound words evoked a significant early frontal old/new effect (associated with familiarity) between ERPs to intact and rearranged word pairs, whereas this effect disappeared for the unrelated word pairs. In addition, the left parietal old/new effect (associated with recollection) between ERPs to intact and rearranged word pairs was greater for compounds than for unrelated word pairs. These findings suggest that unitization enhances the contribution of both familiarity and recollection processes to associative recognition. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A low power and high gain 3.1–10.6 GHz UWB low noise amplifier (LNA) is presented in this paper. The first stage of the UWB LNA employs a resistive shunt feedback topology in conjunction with a parallel LC load to achieve wideband input matching and low noise figure simultaneously. By incorporating the modified current reused cascade configuration and forward body bias technique in the second stage, the proposed UWB LNA can operate at reduced supply voltage and power consumption while maintaining high gain and high reverse isolation. Post-layout simulation results show that the UWB LNA has an average power gain S21 of 14.4 dB with gain ripple of ±1.4 dB, a high reverse isolation S12 of −83 to −51 dB, an input return loss S11 and output return loss S22 of respectively −10.6 to −19.2 dB and −12.1 to −16.4 dB. An excellent noise figure of 2.2–3.2 dB is obtained in the required band with a power dissipation of 9.0 mW under a supply voltage of 1.5 V. The input 1 dB compression point and input third-order intercept point are −15.5 dBm and −6.0 dBm, respectively, at 6 GHz. The chip area including testing pads is only 0.65 mm × 0.82 mm.

The optical bistability in one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) with a nonlinear defect is investigated. It is demonstrated that, by introducing graphene layers into the nonlinear defect, the optical bistability in 1DPC can be changed significantly. The hysteresis threshold increases with the number of graphene monolayers and can be lowered or enhanced by tuning the Fermi energy of graphene. On the other hand, the hysteresis width and the nonlinear lateral shift can also be controlled by varying the Femi energy and the number of graphene monolayers. These results may be useful for controlling the optical bistability and nonlinear lateral shift in 1DPCs.