Search

With the intensification of the epidemic, schools around the world have begun to implement online distance learning. This paper investigates the connection between performance and students' anxiety in a foreign language online classroom. The authors collected 102 sophomore English majors’ Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scales (FLCAS) and collected their professional grades in a certain subject and conducted relevant interviews with six students. According to studies, there is a link between student performance and anxiety in foreign language classes. At the end of this paper, the authors put forward some methods to reduce anxiety in foreign language classrooms. For example, teachers adjust teaching methods, encourage students to dare to speak, create a relaxed classroom environment, and let students dare to make mistakes. For students, they should find out the factors that cause anxiety and find a learning method that suits them. There are some deficiencies in this paper, such as the small number of researchers, etc. The authors hope to conduct further research and propose future research directions.

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) recently proposed a new grading system for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). We aimed to validate the prognostic performance of the grading system and explore its role in guiding the strategy of lymph node (LN) dissection. We retrospectively reviewed 1029 patients with clinical stage I LUAD who underwent surgery between 2011 and 2013. The association between mediastinal nodal metastasis and grading system was evaluated. To investigate the value of the grading system in guiding LN dissection strategies, 3 pathologists evaluated the feasibility of identifying the grading system using frozen section (FS). The differences in prognosis between all neighboring grades were highly significant based on the grading system ( P0.001). Notably, almost no grade 1 LUAD (1.4%) had pN2 disease, whereas higher rates were found in grade 2 LUAD (9.6%) and grade 3 LUAD (18.3%) ( P0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that higher tumor grade was an independent predictor of mediastinal nodal metastasis ( P =0.002). Moreover, limited mediastinal LN dissection had equivalent prognosis in grade 1 LUAD, but significantly worse prognosis in grade 2 and grade 3 LUAD than systematic mediastinal LN dissection. The overall accuracy of using intraoperative FS to identify the IASLC grading system was 85.4% (κ=0.765) with substantial agreement. The IASLC grading system could accurately stratify prognosis and predict mediastinal nodal metastasis in patients with clinical stage I LUAD. FS was feasible for identifying the IASLC grading system.

Objectives To compare the perioperative and oncologic outcomes following pneumonectomy performed by uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (U-VATS) and thoracotomy in patients with centrally located non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and methods Patients with NSCLC who underwent pneumonectomy at the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SPH) and Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYUCC) with the U-VATS approach or open approach between 2011 and 2016 were selected. Propensity score matching (1:3) was performed to balance the baseline covariates. Overall survival (OS) rates and recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were estimated and compared using the Kaplan–Meier method, respectively. Results The enrollees in the study were 579 patients in the SPH cohort, with 501 (86.5%) in the open group and 48 (13.5%) in the U-VATS group, and 271 patients in the SYUCC cohort, with 245 (90.4%) in the open group and 26 (9.6%) in the U-VATS group. After propensity score matching, morbidity rates and 30-day mortality rates were found to be similar between the U-VATS group and open group in both the SPH and SYUCC cohorts. The long-term OS rate of patients who underwent U-VATS pneumonectomy did not significantly differ compared with the patients who underwent open pneumonectomy in both cohorts (SPH, p = .900; SYUCC, p = .240). Cox regression analysis revealed that the surgical option was not a risk factor for the OS rate (SPH: hazard ratio [HR], 0.925; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.555 to 1.542; SYUCC: HR, 1.524; 95% CI, 0.752 to 3.087). Conclusion U-VATS can be used to safely perform pneumonectomy in patients with centrally located NSCLC without compromising the perioperative and oncologic outcomes compared with an open approach.

To respond to the needs of the future accelerators and the upgrade of existing machines, superconducting magnet technology is continuously evolving in the direction of high fields and high current densities. As a result, a fast and efficient quench detection becomes an essential part of the magnet design in order to safely release the stored magnetic energy during a quench. A current-based detection method was initially introduced (Dudarev et al. 2014), is presented in this paper for Nb-3 Sn Canted-Cosine-Theta (CCT) type accelerator magnets, in conjunction with the current derivative sensor that is inspired by (De Matteis et al. 2018). The principle relies on a co-wound superconducting wire, placed beneath a superconducting cable. In case of a quench in the main cable, a transverse heat propagation will quench the sensing wire after a certain delay in the millisecond range. When the sensing wire is powered by a constant voltage source, the rise of quench resistance of the sensing wire leads to a drop in current, which can be detected by a current derivative sensor. In this paper, we describe this detection system and the test results in a subscale experiment where a quench is triggered by firing an adjacent heater strip. The advantages and limitations of this method, as well as the applicability to other magnets are also discussed.

Background The eighth edition of nodal classification for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is defined only by the anatomical location of metastatic lymph nodes. Research Question We sought to evaluate the prognostic significance and discriminatory capability of the number of involved nodal stations (nS) in a large Chinese cohort. Study Design and Methods A total of 4,011 patients with NSCLC undergoing surgical resection between 2009 and 2013 were identified. The optimal cutoff values for nS classification were determined with X-tile software. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox analysis were used to examine the prognostic performance of nS classification in comparison with location-based N classification. A decision curve analysis was performed to evaluate the standardized net benefit of nS classification in predicting prognosis. Results All the patients were classified into four prognostically different subgroups according to the number of involved nodal stations: (1) nS0 (none positive), (2) nS1 (one involved station), (3) nS2 (two involved stations), and (4) nS ≥ 3 (three or more involved stations). The prognoses among all the neighboring categories of nS classification were statistically significantly different in terms of disease-free survival and overall survival. The multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that nS was an independent prognostic factor of disease-free survival and overall survival. Patients with N1 or N2 stage disease could be divided into three prognostically different subgroups according to nS classification. However, the prognosis was similar between the N1 and N2 subgroups when patients were staged in the same nS category. The decision curve analysis showed that nS classification tended to have a higher predictive capability than location-based N classification. Interpretation The nS classification could be used to provide a more accurate prognosis for patients with resected NSCLC. The nS is worth taking into consideration when defining nodal category in the forthcoming ninth edition of the staging system.

Aberrant activation of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is tightly associated with multiple types of disease, including cancer, infection, and autoimmune diseases. However, the development of STING modulators for the therapy of STING-related diseases is still an unmet clinical need. We employed a high-throughput screening approach based on the interaction of small-molecule chemical compounds with recombinant STING protein to identify functional STING modulators. Intriguingly, the cyclin-dependent protein kinase (CDK) inhibitor Palbociclib was found to directly bind STING and inhibit its activation in both mouse and human cells. Mechanistically, Palbociclib targets Y167 of STING to block its dimerization, its binding with cyclic dinucleotides, and its trafficking. Importantly, Palbociclib alleviates autoimmune disease features induced by dextran sulphate sodium or genetic ablation of three prime repair exonuclease 1 (Trex1) in mice in a STING-dependent manner. Our work identifies Palbociclib as a novel pharmacological inhibitor of STING that abrogates its homodimerization and provides a basis for the fast repurposing of this Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for the therapy of autoinflammatory diseases.

By using triarylsulfonium hexafluorophosphate salt as an organocatalyst for both photo-controlled atom transfer radical polymerization (photo-ATRP) and ring-opening polymerization (ROP) at ambient temperature, a well-defined poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(trimethylene carbonate) block copolymer was successfully synthesized in one-step. Notably, the conversions of the two polymerizations in one-pot were both higher than those when polymerized separately (77%, 51% vs. 41%, 20%) which indicated that two polymerizations could promote each other. These two completely different controllable/living polymerizations could take place on one polymer chain at the same time via a “one-pot, one-step” method. Moreover, other methacrylates and cyclic esters were introduced into the system and block copolymers with precise molecular weights and a narrow polydispersity index were successfully synthesized. In the “one organocatalyst, two polymerizations” system, the triarylsulfonium hexafluorophosphate salt could spontaneously catalyze photo-ATRP and ROP. This method is efficient and attractive for preparing complex block copolymers.

Graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4), as one of the green and efficient heterogeneous photocatalysts, is applied for photo atom transfer radical polymerization (photo-ATRP) without any additives. The polymerization was instantly switched on and off by blue LED. The polymer molecular weights and its distributions were controlled for methacrylate monomers up to fairly high conversions in many cases. The block copolymers were also obtained to demonstrate good end-group fidelity. Moreover, this g-C3N4 catalyzed photo-ATRP could be carried out in the presence of oxygen which implied good oxygen-tolerant. The catalytic efficiency of g-C3N4 almost did not reduce after seven times photo-ATRP recycling. Facile operation, oxygen tolerance and sustainability are advantages of this g-C3N4 catalyzed photo-ATRP.

BackgroundMicroplastic pollution has become a serious global environmental threat. The abundance of microplastics in the air is an order of magnitude higher than that in other media, which means that all living animals breathing with lungs (including humans) cannot escape the fate of inhaling microplastics. However, there is no direct evidence to demonstrate what type and abundance of microplastics exist in lung tissue. In addition, whether the retention of microplastics and the long-term friction between microplastics and lung tissue are related to some respiratory diseases is largely unknown. Ground glass nodules (GGNs) are areas of lesions of homogeneous density and with hazy increase in density in the lung field that do not obscure the bronchovascular structure, which have been increasingly identified in past decades. Although their etiology is broad, the correlation of microplastics with GGNs remains elusive.ResultsIn this study, we identified the presence of 65 microfibers, including 24 microplastics (> 20 μm) in 100 human lung tissues with μ-FTIR. The detection rate of microfibers in tumor was 58%, higher than that in normal tissue (46%), and 2/3 of microplastics were found in tumor. Microfibers seemed to be embedded in lung tissues, which was suggested by the in situ observation via LDIR. Additionally, sub-micron-sized plastic particles were also detected in some lung tissues with Raman. The abundance of microfibers in lung tissue gradually accumulated with the increase of age. Moreover, the detection rate in tumor of patients with higher microfiber exposure risk history was significantly higher than those with a relatively lower one, implying microfiber inhalation could be related to the formation of GGN. Further, serious weared surface of microfibers isolated from lung tissue emphasized a possible link of surface roughness to the disease progression.ConclusionsCollectively, the existence of microplastics in human lung tissues was validated, and their correlation with GGN formation was preliminarily explored, which laid a foundation for future research on microplastic exposure in the etiology of lung cancer and other related respiratory diseases.Graphical Abstract

Objectives We evaluated the prognostic impact of the presence of ground glass opacity (GGO) component and compared a modified clinical T categorization (cTm) with the current 8th classification (cT8) for survival prediction in Chinese patients with clinical stage I non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods According to cTm and cT8 classifications, we retrospectively evaluated 1461 patients with part-solid or pure-solid lesions. The recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard model. The concordance index (C- index), reclassification improvement (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and decision curve analysis (DCA) were performed to estimate reclassification net benefits of cTm for survival prediction. Results The cT8 classification clearly stratifies the survival outcomes in solid tumors but not in part-solid tumors. The presence of GGO components was an independent prognostic factor for both RFS and OS (p Conclusions The current cT8 classification may not be appropriate for part-solid lesions because the presence of GGO components is associated with excellent prognosis despite clinical stage. Also, the cTm classification for part-solid lesions showed an improvement in survival prediction.

An innovative high-field superconducting magnet of Canted-Cosine-Theta (CCT) type has been proposed for Future Circular Collider 16 T dipole magnet design. The unique mechanical structure intercepts the accumulated forces lowering the stress on the windings, constituting intrinsic stress management in high-field Nb 3 Sn accelerator magnets. However, this structure also constitutes a barrier for heat to quickly propagate in case of a quench. To succeed in the CCT-type magnet design and construction, quench protection is a challenging task that requires a detailed investigation of the electrothermal behavior of the magnet. In this paper, the protectability of a two-layer short model CD1 (Canted Dipole) built at PSI is studied using multiphysics simulations. Two protection methods are considered: energy extraction and coupling-loss induced quench. The 2D User-Defined Elements (UDEs) developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in ANSYS Parametric Design Language, which support the multi-dependence material properties and include the effect of inter-filament coupling currents, are adapted and used in the coupled electrothermal, electrodynamic and electrical circuits calculations. A first-of-a-kind CCT-type magnet protection study using UDEs is presented. The generic model method will be validated through CD1 cold tests. Furthermore, these studies will prepare the ground for four-layer CCT protection concepts for FCC.

BACKGROUND: For stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, systemic therapy is the main strategy, and local consolidative therapy tends to be performed for patients with oligometastases. The porpose of this article is to evaluate the prognostic effects of local consolidative therapy for patients with stage IV NSCLC and divide these patients into different subcategories to stratify the prognoses. METHODS: A total of 30,583 patients with stage IV NSCLC were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. To identify factors related to high cancer-specific mortality (CSM) rates and compare the prognostic effects of different treatment strategies, a competing risk model was developed. Furthermore, independent prognostic factors identified through multivariable analysis were employed to supplement the current M1 subcategory. Cumulative incidence curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to compare prognostic differences. RESULTS: The CSM rates of M1a, M1b, and M1c patients were significantly different [M1b versus M1a: subdistribution hazard ratio (SHR), 1.38; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.31–1.45; P

To evaluate the prognosis between patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) invading difference depth of chest wall and estimate the impact of rib invasion on the pathological T classifications (pT).We retrospectively evaluated 521 patients with resected pT3-4 NSCLC. Propensity-score matching (PSM) balanced the known confounders of the prognosis, resulting in two sets (rib invasion vs the pT3 and pT4 group). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and Overall survival (OS) was assessed by Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier methods. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the additional benefit for survival prediction after reclassifying rib invasion cases.Chest wall invasion occurred in 171 patients (62 rib invasion, 51 parietal pleural invasion [PL3] and 58 soft tissue invasion). Rib invasion was found to be an independent prognostic factor for both RFS (p = 0.006) and OS (p 0.001) of pT3-4 NSCLC. The survival of rib invasion group was the worst (RFS: 13.1%; OS: 19.8%), followed by PL3 (RFS: 34.2%, P = 0.001; OS: 48.8%; p 0.001) and the soft tissue invasion group (RFS: 40.6%, p = 0.001; OS: 57.7%, p 0.001). Besides, the prognosis of rib invasion group was also found to be worse than those of pT3 (RFS: p 0.001; OS: p 0.001) and pT4 group (RFS: p = 0.002; OS: p 0.001). After PSM, the 5-year RFS rate of rib invasion group were still lower than that of pT3 and pT4 group (p 0.001); the 5-year OS rate of rib invasion was similar with that of pT4 group (p = 0.066) but lower than that of pT3 group (p = 0.014). The time-dependent ROC curves demonstrated that reclassifying rib invasion as pT4 disease provided an additional benefit for survival prediction (p 0.001).The rib invasion group had a worse prognosis than the PL3 and pT3 groups. The prognostic impact of rib invasion should be further validated as a pT4 disease in the TNM classification.

We investigate the intra-annual growth patterns of Chinese pine in Helan Mountains, confirming that regional water status plays a dominated role in stem radial increment. The associations between environmental conditions and stem radial increment (SRI) are useful for assessing a species’ growth response to climate change. Intra-annual SRI dynamics of Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) were monitored half-hourly by automatic point dendrometer during the growing season (May–September) in 2016 and 2017 at two altitudes in the Helan Mountains, northern central China. Here, we compared the seasonal growth patterns between two altitudes and 2 years. Trees at low altitude are characterized by earlier cessation, shorter growing season, and lower growth rate, resulting in less annual growth, which may reflect the greater drought intensified by rising temperature at low altitude. June precipitation significantly affected tree growth rate. The xylem growth was active when daily mean air temperature was 9.9 °C at our study region for P. tabulaeformis in an arid environment. During the growing season, daily stem radial increment showed a significantly positive correlation with precipitation and a negative correlation with daily air temperature at all altitudes. Climatic variables associated with tree water status, namely precipitation, vapor pressure deficit, and relative humidity, played important roles in daily stem radial increment as the same result as a linear mixed model. These factors drive the complex physiological processes of stem radial increment by influencing the moisture available to the tree.

The eighth edition of nodal classification for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is defined only by the anatomical location of metastatic lymph nodes.We sought to evaluate the prognostic significance and discriminatory capability of the number of involved nodal stations (nS) in a large Chinese cohort.A total of 4,011 patients with NSCLC undergoing surgical resection between 2009 and 2013 were identified. The optimal cutoff values for nS classification were determined with X-tile software. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox analysis were used to examine the prognostic performance of nS classification in comparison with location-based N classification. A decision curve analysis was performed to evaluate the standardized net benefit of nS classification in predicting prognosis.All the patients were classified into four prognostically different subgroups according to the number of involved nodal stations: (1) nS0 (none positive), (2) nS1 (one involved station), (3) nS2 (two involved stations), and (4) nS ≥ 3 (three or more involved stations). The prognoses among all the neighboring categories of nS classification were statistically significantly different in terms of disease-free survival and overall survival. The multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that nS was an independent prognostic factor of disease-free survival and overall survival. Patients with N1 or N2 stage disease could be divided into three prognostically different subgroups according to nS classification. However, the prognosis was similar between the N1 and N2 subgroups when patients were staged in the same nS category. The decision curve analysis showed that nS classification tended to have a higher predictive capability than location-based N classification.The nS classification could be used to provide a more accurate prognosis for patients with resected NSCLC. The nS is worth taking into consideration when defining nodal category in the forthcoming ninth edition of the staging system.

This paper presents a general document image correction method based on the text line. The proposed method roughly screens the text area and implements rotation correction based on the TextSnake text detection model. Then by the relative positions of characters, the principle of text direction consistency and the two-way matching strategy, the precise positioning is realized. At last, the information of text ridges is obtained to acquire the nonlinear mapping relationship of the whole graph, Therefore achieving correction reconstruction of the general document image. The experiment results show that the correction method can overall solve image quality problems such as tilt distortion and improve the recognition rate of tilt distortion image.

© 2017 EU. Canted-cosine-theta (CCT) technology has been studied for its suitability for a future-circular-collider (FCC) main dipole in terms of magnetic and mechanical performance, elec-trothermal protectability, as well as efficiency. In this paper, we present lessons learnt from our search for efficient CCT solutions by means of two-dimensional (2-D) magnetic and mechanical simulations, discuss the 3-D periodic mechanical model, as well as 3-D electromagnetic analysis of the end regions. Temperature and voltage distributions during a quench under simplifying assumptions are discussed, and the magnet’s efficiency is compared to that of other contenders in the FCC design study. The results qualify the CCT design as a contender for the FCC main dipole.

Drought is the primary limiting factor for tree growth in arid and semi-arid regions, where it can greatly influence xylem anatomical traits and induce multiple responses to wood development. However, the mechanisms driving xylogenesis and intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs), as well as the seasonal dynamics of wood development in water-limited environments, are still unclear. In this study, we assessed the kinetics of xylem development weekly in Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis) and Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia), at two altitudes in the Helan Mountains, semi-arid China. Results indicate that summer drought in June inhibited cambial division and reduced xylogenesis, resulting in only 40% of the xylem developing before August. The onset of abundant precipitation in mid-July reactivated radial growth. This second growth extended the growing season by one month and partly compensated for the negative effect of the drought on growth. E-type IADF were characterized by narrow cells with thick walls, formed during July and early August. The duration of cell enlargement explained 57% of variance in tracheid diameter, showing that it played an important role in determining cell size. In contrast, changes in the cell wall thickness were mainly driven by the rate of secondary wall thickening, which explained 65% of the variance. This study reveals the potential mechanisms for xylem development and E-IADF formation under summer drought in semi-arid China, provides evidence for the plasticity and resistance of Chinese pine and Qinghai spruce under varying environmental conditions, and contributes to our understanding of likely future trends in forest productivity under climate changes.

In this paper, a multispectral salient object detection algorithm based on frequency domain is proposed, which has the advantages of high efficiency and simplicity. In this paper, the principle of the saliency detection in frequency domain is first studied, and the advantages of it in the detection of abnormal target are demonstrated. Then, using quaternion transform to extract spectral features in two spectral intervals. We extract salient information in frequency domain by quaternion fourier transform, the saliency map of two spectral interval method using PCA fusion. The adaptive threshold is used to segment image for highlighting salient objects. Finally, we collect multispectral images from the spectral system built by AOTF and near-infrared camera, and test the original and noisy images. The results show that the algorithm is efficient and robust.