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Rapid-thermal-chemical-vapor-deposition (RT-CVD) SiNx gate dielectric was utilized for the fabrication of enhancement-mode GaN-based metal–insulator–semiconductor high electron mobility transistors (MIS-HEMTs) on ultrathin-barrier AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. A plasma-enhanced-atomic-layer-deposited (PEALD) SiNx interfacial layer was adopted to mitigate the high-temperature RTCVD process-induced degradation of the dielectric/III-nitride interface. Based on the dc- and pulsed transfer measurement results, the device with the PEALD-SiNx interfacial layer exhibits low ${V}_{\text {TH}}$ -hysteresis (0.1 V at ${V}_{\text {GS}} = 1, 10$ V) and low interface trap density. Constant-capacitance deep-level transient spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were also conducted to confirm the improvement of the interface quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinal image registration is crucial for the diagnoses and treatments of various eye diseases. A great number of methods have been developed to solve this problem; however, fast and accurate registration of low-quality retinal images is still a challenging problem since the low content contrast, large intensity variance as well as deterioration of unhealthy retina caused by various pathologies. This paper provides a new retinal image registration method based on salient feature region (SFR). We first propose a well-defined region saliency measure that consists of both local adaptive variance and gradient field entropy to extract the SFRs in each image. Next, an innovative local feature descriptor that combines gradient field distribution with corresponding geometric information is then computed to match the SFRs accurately. After that, normalized cross-correlation-based local rigid registration is performed on those matched SFRs to refine the accuracy of local alignment. Finally, the two images are registered by adopting high-order global transformation model with locally well-aligned region centers as control points. Experimental results show that our method is quite effective for retinal image registration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue repair and reconstruction are a clinical difficulty. Bioelectricity has been identified as a critical factor in supporting tissue and cell viability during the repair process, presenting substantial potential for clinical application. This review delves into various sources of electrical stimulation and identifies appropriate electrode materials for clinical use. It also highlights the biological mechanisms of electrical stimulation at both the subcellular and cellular levels, elucidating how these interactions facilitate the repair and regeneration processes across different organs. Moreover, specific electrode materials and stimulation sources are outlined, detailing their impact on cellular activity. The future development trends are projected from two perspectives: the optimization of equipment performance and the fulfillment of clinical demands, focusing on the feasibility, safety, and cost-effectiveness of technologies., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Background: Molecular glues, which reshape E3 ligase receptors to promote targeted protein degradation, are emerging as a promising therapeutic strategy, particularly in oncology, driven by rapidly advancing insights into their mechanisms and structural properties., Objective: This study aims to offer an insightful depiction and visualization of the knowledge structure, prevalent themes, and emerging trends within the domain since the year 2000, employing bibliometric analysis to achieve this goal., Methods: To conduct this research, a comprehensive collection of literature on molecular glues was sourced from the Web of Science database. Subsequently, the data underwent analysis utilizing CiteSpace and VOSviewer tools, enabling the identification of pivotal countries, institutions, authors, and journals, as well as the delineation of subject hotspots, trends, and the forefront of research in this evolving field., Result: Since 2000, 388 papers on molecular glues have been published, with a notable increase to an annual average of 43 articles post-2018. This research, contributed by 506 authors across 329 institutions, highlights the United States and China as leading nations in output, with 122 and 104 articles respectively. Takuzo Aida, Luc Brunsveld, and Christian Ottmann are identified as key authors. Nature emerges as the foremost publication venue, while the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the top contributing institution, underscoring the global engagement and interdisciplinary nature of molecular glue research. This study identified 19 distinct research clusters within the molecular glues domain., Conclusion: We reveal the current status, hotspots, and trends of molecular glue research since 2000, offering insights and novel scholarly perspectives on the field's prevailing limitations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Cheng, Yuan and Deng.)

Background: Head and neck cancer is the 6th most common malignancy worldwide, and its incidence is still on the rise. The salvage surgery has been considered as an important treatment strategy for persistent or recurrent head and neck cancer. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of salvage surgery for head and neck cancer since the 21st century., Methods: The literature about salvage surgery of head and neck cancer in Web of Science was searched. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to analyze main countries, institutions, authors, journals, subject hotspots, trends, frontiers, etc., Results: A total of 987 papers have been published since the 21st century. These publications were written by 705 authors from 425 institutions in 54 countries. The United States published 311 papers in this field and ranked first. Head & Neck was the most widely published journal. The main keyword clustering included terms such as #0 stereotactic radiotherapy (2012); #1 randomized multicenter (2007); #2 salvage surgery (2004); #3 functional outcomes (2014); #4 transoral robotic surgery (2013); #5 neck high-resolution computed tomography (2010); #6 complications (2008); #7 image guidance (2019). The current research frontiers that have been sustained are "recurrent", "risk factors", and "reirradiation"., Conclusion: The current situation of the salvage surgery for head and neck cancer in clinical treatments and basic scientific research were summarized, providing new perspectives for the development of salvage surgery for head and neck cancer in the future., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2024 Zhou, Cheng and Deng.)

Gallium nitride (GaN) has been considered one of the most promising materials for the next-generation power and radio-frequency electronic devices, as they can operate at higher voltage, higher frequency, and higher temperature, compared with their silicon (Si) counterparts. However, the fresh GaN surface is susceptible to the natural oxidation composed of Ga 2 O 3 , Ga 2 O, and other intermediate oxidation states. Moreover, the oxidized GaN surface no longer features the distinct atomic step-terrace morphology, resulting in a degraded interface when gate or passivation dielectrics are deposited without appropriate pretreatment. It is responsible for the degraded performance of GaN-based devices such as current collapse and threshold voltage instability. In this study, the proposed high-temperature (500 °C) remote plasma pretreatments (RPPs) can play a significant role in addressing the issue of the deteriorated GaN surface exposed to air. Atomic step-terrace morphology was recovered after 500 °C-RPP due to the removal of oxides and suboxides. First-principles calculations verified that Ga 2 O at the GaN surface leads to interface states at ∼2.9 eV ( E C - E ∼ 0.4 eV) in the bandgap, which is consistent with the increase of interface states at the E C - E range of 0.4-0.9 eV measured through constant-capacitance deep-level transient spectroscopy. Meanwhile, deep interface states and surface-related current collapse are well suppressed in GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor devices. These improved properties by 500 °C-RPP are generalizable to a broader range, including pre-gate and pre-passivation treatment, of which a decent surface/interface is desirable for high-performance GaN-based devices.

Ru(bpy) 3 Cl 2 /TPrA is a prominent and widely used ECL system in analytical science. However, the co-reactant TPrA restricts the variety of applications because of its toxicity, volatility, and high cost. Here, we use arginine (Arg) as an alternative co-reactant for Ru(bpy) 3 2+ by taking advantage of its low cost, non-toxicity, and biocompatibility. The mechanism of the Ru(bpy) 3 2+ /Arg system is that the deprotonated Arg can react with Ru(bpy) 3 2+ to release emission. The similarity between the Ru(bpy) 3 2+ /Arg, Ru(bpy) 3 2+ /TPrA, and Ru(bpy) 3 2+ /DBAE systems demonstrates that Arg can be used as an alternative co-reactant for Ru(bpy) 3 2+ ECL. As a proof of concept, we achieve an excellent performance for acetaminophen (Ace) detection based on the specificity of Arg and Ace, with excellent linearity, low detection limits, and good recoveries. This work is promising to expand the scope of the Ru(bpy) 3 2+ /Arg system and move forward their applications in bioassays., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

In this paper, we propose a new method for the extraction of blood vessels in retinal images. This approach starts with a Hessian-based multiscale filtering method to enhance blood vessels in gray retinal images. Subsequently, a new radial symmetry transformation, which is based on line kernels, is proposed to improve the detection of vessel structures and restrain the response of nonvessel structures. Finally, an iterated segmentation algorithm is used to extract retinal vessels. The proposed approach has been tested on the two publicly available databases, DRIVE and STARE. The experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed method.

In this paper, we present an interactive method for liver tumor segmentation from computed tomography (CT) scans. After some pre-processing operations, including liver parenchyma segmentation and liver contrast enhancement, the CT volume is partitioned into a large number of catchment basins under watershed transform. Then a support vector machines (SVM) classifier is trained on the user-selected seed points to extract tumors from liver parenchyma, while the corresponding feature vector for training and prediction is computed based upon each small region produced by watershed transform. Finally, some morphological operations are performed on the whole segmented binary volume to refine the rough segmentation result of SVM classification. The proposed method is tested and evaluated on MICCAI 2008 liver tumor segmentation challenge datasets. The experiment results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method so that indicate availability in clinical routines.

In this paper, we present an algorithm for automatic liver segmentation from CT scans which is based on a statistical shape model. The proposed method is a hybrid method that combines three steps: 1) Localization of the average liver shape model in a test CT volume via 3D generalized Hough transform; 2) Subspace initialization of the statistical shape model; 3) Deformation of the shape model to adapt to liver contour through an optimal surface detection approach based on graph theory. The proposed method is evaluated on MICCAI 2007 liver segmentation challenge datasets. The experiment results demonstrate availability of the proposed method.

Retinal image registration is essential and crucial for ophthalmologists to diagnose various diseases. A great number of methods have been developed to solve this problem, however, fast and accurate retinal image registration is still a challenging problem since the great content complexity and low image quality of the unhealthy retina. This paper provides a new retinal image registration method based on salient feature regions (SFR). We first extract the SFR in each image based on a well defined region saliency metric. Next, SFR are matched by using an innovative local feature descriptor. Then we register those matched SFR using local rigid transformation. Finally, we register the two images adopting global second order polynomial transformation with locally rigid registered region centers as control points. Experimental results prove that our method is very fast and accurate, especially quite effective for the low quality retinal images registration.