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Objective: To identify the clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognosis of relapsing polychondritis patients with airway involvement. Methods: Twenty-eight patients with relapsing polychondritis, hospitalised in the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University between April 2011 and April 2021, were retrospectively analysed. Results: Fifty per cent of relapsing polychondritis patients with airway involvement had a lower risk of ear and ocular involvement. Relapsing polychondritis patients with airway involvement had a longer time-to-diagnosis (p < 0.001), a poorer outcome following glucocorticoid combined with immunosuppressant treatment (p = 0.004), and a higher recurrence rate than those without airway involvement (p = 0.004). The rates of positive findings on chest computed tomography and bronchoscopy in relapsing polychondritis patients with airway involvement were 88.9 per cent and 85.7 per cent, respectively. Laryngoscopy analysis showed that 66.7 per cent of relapsing polychondritis patients had varying degrees of mucosal lesions. Conclusion: For relapsing polychondritis patients with airway involvement, drug treatment should be combined with local airway management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large low frequency linear electro-optic responses of K0.95Li0.05Ta0.41Nb0.59O3 single crystal were determined at the laser wavelength of 632.8 nm: γ33 = 223.7 pm/V, γ13 =-35.2 pm/V, and γ51=11060 pm/V by using the autoscanning Mach-Zehnder interferometer technique and modified AC modulating method, respectively. Crystal orientation dependent electro-optic properties have been simulated based on the non-zero matrix of experimental measured electro-optic coefficients. The simulation results demonstrate the maximum electro-optic coefficient occurred at 54.53° away [001] direction is 8548.3 pm/V. In addition to the high ferroelectric phase transition temperature (∼430 K), good piezoelectric properties and high optical crystal quality, the ultrahigh electro-optic performance of K0.95Li0.05Ta0.41Nb0.59O3 single crystal forecasts its outstanding potential in various electro-mechanical-optical coupled applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroelectric BaTiO3 (BTO) thin films were deposited on NiO buffered polycrystalline Ni tapes by pulsed laser deposition. Microstructural studies by x-ray diffractometer and transmission electron microscopy reveal that the as-grown BTO films have the nanopillar structures with an average size of approximately 80 nm in diameter and the good interface structures with no interdiffusion or reaction. The dielectric and ferroelectric property measurements exhibit that the BTO films have a relatively large dielectric constant, a small dielectric loss, and an extremely large piezoelectric response with a symmetric hysteresis loop. These excellent properties indicate that the as-fabricated BTO films are promising for the development of the structural health monitoring systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features, treatment and prognosis of maxillofacial neuroendocrine carcinoma. Methods: A total of 11 patients with maxillofacial neuroendocrine carcinoma diagnosed in the Department of Pathology of The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from December 2010 to July 2022 were retrospectively enrolled, including 8 males and 3 females, aged (65.2±9.5) years (ranged from 49 to 87 years), with a disease course of 0.5 to 6.0 months. The clinicopathological data including head and neck CT, MRI and treatment methods were analyzed. Results: Submandibular gland and maxilla were involved in 3 cases, parapharynx in 2 cases, and face, tongue root and soft palate in 1 case respectively. Clinically, the initial symptom is a rapidly growing painless or tender mass, which may be accompanied by restricted mouth opening, dysphagia, and local numbness after invasion of masticatory muscles and nerves. The tumors were all invasive and low-density, with unclear boundaries from the surrounding tissues. Among the patients, 9 received surgical treatment, and 5 received adjuvant treatment after surgery (2 received chemotherapy, 3 received radiotherapy+chemotherapy). According to the 5th edition of the World Health Organization classification of head and neck tumors in 2022, there were 1 case (1/11) with poorly differentiated large cells and 10 cases (10/11) with poorly differentiated small cells. Histologically, the macrocell type is composed of large cells with rough chromatin, obvious vacuolar nucleolus, protruding nucleolus, and necrosis. The small cell type is dominated by small blue round cells with neuroendocrine characteristics, with active growth and multifocal necrosis. Immunohistochemical staining showed that cytokeratin (CK), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and synaptophysin (Syn) were diffusively expressed, 10 cases expressed CD56, 8 cases expressed p63, 6 cases expressed weakly punctated chromograin-A (CgA), and S-100 was not expressed. The Ki-67 index ranges from 20 to 90 percent. By the end of follow-up (0.5 to 127.0 months), 3 patients were alive, and the mean progression-free survival (21.0 months) of postoperative chemoradiotherapy patients was significantly longer than that of surgery and/or chemotherapy alone (3.3 months). Conclusions: Maxillofacial neuroendocrine carcinoma is characterized by low differentiation of small cells, high degree of malignancy and poor prognosis. Radical surgery combined with chemoradiotherapy has better local control effect.

Objective: To explore the impact of thrombolytic therapy time delay on in-hospital major adverse cardiac event rate in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)., Methods: This survey was performed in 101 level 2 hospitals from 15 provinces or autonomous region in China. Patients admitted to these hospitals with acute STEMI during November 2011 to November 2014 and received thrombolytic therapy were eligible for this study. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to estimate the rate of in-hospital major adverse cardiac events (re-infarction, stroke and all-cause mortality) in patients with different thrombolytic time delay., Results: A total of 3 719 STEMI patients received thrombolytic therapy, 88%(3 270 cases) of them were treated within 12 hours. After controlling for the impact of confounding factors, such as a variety of risk factors, past disease histories, the severity of STEMI, medication, interventions, etc, MACE rates significantly increased along with the thrombolysis time delay, no matter thrombolysis succeeded or not (trend test P<0.05). In group of successful thrombolysis, multivariate adjusted rate of MACE for 0-5.9 hours, 6.0-11.9 hours and ≥12.0 hours were 3.2%, 3.9% and 7.8%; in group of unsuccessful thrombolysis, it was 11.6%, 14.1% and 25.2% respectively (trend test P<0.05). The multivariate adjusted rates of re-infarction in group of successful thrombolysis as well as in group of unsuccessful thrombolysis significantly increased in proportion to thrombolysis time delay ≥ 12.0 h (trend test P<0.05). In group of successful thrombolysis, multivariate adjusted rate of re-infarction for 0-5.9 hours, 6.0-11.9 hours and ≥12.0 hours were 1.9%, 1.5% and 6.8%; in group of unsuccessful thrombolysis, it was 3.9%, 3.1% and 13.6%, respectively. Within the same time delay group, MACE and re-infarction rates were significantly lower in successful thrombolysis group than in unsuccessful thrombolysis group (all P<0.05)., Conclusion: Thrombolytic therapy should be conducted within 6 hours after the attack. Both re-infarction or MACE rates are significantly increased in patients with more than 12 hours thrombolysis time delay.

A new method for determination of imidacloprid and damanlin by using HPLC was established. It was carried out on a mu Bondapak C18 column (3.9 mm i.d. x 300 mm) with ACN-MeOH-H2O (60:10:30, V/V) as eluent and detected at 240 nm using photodiode array detector. The results of imidacloprid and damanlin were 3.71% and 15.65% respectively. The standard deviations for imidacloprid and damanlin were 0.88% and 0.76% respectively.