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Background: Bladder cancer (BCa) shows its potential immunogenity in current immune-checkpoint inhibitor related immunotherapies. However, its therapeutic effects are improvable and could be affected by tumor immune microenvironment. Hence it is interesting to find some more prognostic indicators for BCa patients concerning immunotherapies.Methods: In the present study, we retrospect 129 muscle-invasive BCa (MIBC) patients with radical cystectomy in Shanghai General Hospital during 2007 to 2018. Based on the results of proteomics sequencing from 9 pairs of MIBC tissue from Shanghai General Hospital, we focused on 13 immune-related differential expression proteins and their related genes. An immune-related prognostic signature (IRPS) was constructed according to Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. The IRPS was verified in ArrayExpress (E-MTAB-4321) cohort and Shanghai General Hospital (General) cohort, separately. A total of 1010 BCa patients were involved in the study, including 405 BCa patients in TCGA cohort, 476 BCa patients in E-MTAB-4321 cohort and 129 MIBC patients in General cohort.Result: It can be indicated that high IRPS score was related to poor 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival. The IRPS score was also evaluated its immune infiltration. We found that the IRPS score was adversely associated with GZMB, IFN-γ, PD-1, PD-L1. Additionally, higher IRPS score was significantly associated with more M2 macrophage and resting mast cell infiltration.Conclusion: The study revealed a novel BCa prognostic signature based on IRPS score, which may be useful for BCa immunotherapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New particle formation (NPF) occurs frequently in various atmospheric environments and it is a major source of ultrafine particles. This study proposes an indicator, I, for the occurrence of NPF in the atmosphere based on the mechanism of H2SO4–amine nucleation. It characterizes the synergistic effects of the governing factors for H2SO4–amine nucleation, including H2SO4 concentration, amine concentrations, the stability of H2SO4–amine clusters, and aerosol surface area concentration. Long-term measurements in urban Beijing were used to validate this indicator. Good consistency was found between this indicator and the occurrence of NPF. NPF was usually observed with I > 1 for typical conditions in urban Beijing. The derivation and expressions of I also indicate a good positive association between the H2SO4 dimer concentration and NPF, as also verified by measurements. I was shown to be also applicable in urban Shanghai. Copyright © 2021 American Association for Aerosol Research [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the diagnosis of small, solid, TR3–5 benign and malignant thyroid nodules (≤1 cm). From January 2016 to March 2018, 185 thyroid nodules from 154 patients who underwent contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and fine-needle aspiration or thyroidectomy in Shanghai General Hospital were included. The χ2 test was used to compare the CEUS characteristics of benign and malignant thyroid nodules, and the CEUS features of malignant nodules assigned scores. The total score of the CEUS features and the scores of the above nodules were evaluated according to the latest 2017 version of the Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS). The diagnostic performance of the two were compared based on the receiver operating characteristic curves generated for benign and malignant thyroid nodules. The degree, enhancement patterns, boundary, shape, and homogeneity of enhancement in thyroid small solid nodules were significantly different (p＜0.05). No significant differences were seen between benign and malignant thyroid nodules regarding completeness of enhancement and size of enhanced lesions (p＞0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the TI-RADS classification TR5 in diagnosis of malignant nodules were 90.10%, 55.95%, 74.59%, 72.22%, and 82.46%, respectively (area under the curve [AUC]=0.738; 95% confidence interval[CI], 0.663–0.813). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the total score of CEUS qualitative analysis indicators were 86.13%, 89.29%, 87.57%, 90.63%, and 84.27% respectively (AUC = 0.916; 95% CI, 0.871–0.961). CEUS qualitative analysis is superior to TI-RADS in evaluating the diagnostic performance of small, solid thyroid nodules. Qualitative analysis of CEUS has a significantly higher specificity for diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules than TI-RADS. The 2017 version of TI-RADS has recently suggested the malignant stratification of thyroid nodules by ultrasound. In this paper we applied this system and CEUS to evaluate 185 nodules and compare the results with pathological findings to access the diagnostic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A non-contact measuring method for the joint size and geometry irregularity of Halbach permanent magnetic guideway in high-temperature superconducting maglev system is proposed. • The measurement device was built, the joints of the HTS maglev engineering test line were measured, and the distribution rules of joint, dislocation and height difference between PMG sections were statistically obtained. • The magnetic field irregularity and the geometric irregularity transform between each other is achieved. As an essential part of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnetic levitation, the irregularity of the permanent magnetic guideway (PMG) affects the safe and stable operation of the vehicle. However, measuring the geometric irregularity and the joint size is difficult because of the existing PMG surface covering protection and iron filings. To solve this problem, first of all, based on the equivalent surface current method, the magnetic field above the PMG is calculated when considering the geometric irregularities in Shanghai high-speed Maglev Demonstration Line. Next, a non-contact method for measuring the joint width, lateral dislocations, and height difference of PMG is proposed based on the sinusoidal magnetic field above PMG. Furthermore, the conversion method of magnetic irregularity to geometric irregularity is proposed, and we can get the magnetic field irregularity at any point in space. The measuring method can be applied to the rapid non-contact detection of PMGs in large quantities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Investigate the effect of the under-consolidated state on deformation induced by shield tunneling. • Develop a sophisticated 3D numerical model of shield tunneling in under-consolidated ground. • The magnitude and distribution of long-term surface settlement are obtained by numerical simulation. • The empirical method is proposed for estimating the long-term surface settlement in under-consolidated ground. The scenario of shield tunneling in under-consolidated soft ground becomes more and more frequent in newly reclaimed areas of coastal cities. For shield tunnel in under-consolidated soft ground, the effect of stress relief induced by tunneling and the effect of self-weight consolidation coexist, leading to a more complex long-term deformation behavior. Profound understanding of the long-term deformation behavior is fundamental for formulating more rational and economical ground improvement scheme. This study focuses on the long-term surface settlement, an important index of the long-term deformation, induced by shield tunneling in under-consolidated soft ground. A sophisticated 3D numerical model is first proposed and validated on the basis of the field monitoring data of Shanghai Metro Line 2. Then, a series of numerical analyses are conducted to investigate the effect of the under-consolidated state on long-term surface settlement induced by shield tunneling. The modeling results show that the short-term surface settlement troughs exhibit an identical pattern in both normally- and under- consolidated cases, while significantly larger long-term surface settlement occurs in under-consolidated soft ground, which follows a hump-shaped distribution. Under-consolidated soft ground with lower initial average consolidation degree, thicker surface fill and deeper tunnel axial depth tends to produce larger long-term surface settlement. Moreover, this study proposes an empirical method for estimating the long-term surface settlement induced by shield tunneling in under-consolidated soft ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) is an important global phenomenon that is nevertheless sensitive to ambient conditions. According to both observation and theoretical arguments, NPF usually requires a relatively high sulfuric acid (H2SO4) concentration to promote the formation of new particles and a low preexisting aerosol loading to minimize the sink of new particles. We investigated NPF in Shanghai and were able to observe both precursor vapors (H2SO4) and initial clusters at a molecular level in a megacity. High NPF rates were observed to coincide with several familiar markers suggestive of H2SO4–dimethylamine (DMA)– water (H2O) nucleation, including sulfuric acid dimers and H2SO4-DMA clusters. In a cluster kinetics simulation, the observed concentration of sulfuric acid was high enough to explain the particle growth to ~3 nanometers under the very high condensation sink, whereas the subsequent higher growth rate beyond this size is believed to result from the added contribution of condensing organic species. These findings will help in understanding urban NPF and its air quality and climate effects, as well as in formulating policies to mitigate secondary particle formation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]