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Background Tumor microenvironment (TME) characteristics including tumor stroma ratio (TSR), tumor budding (TB), and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were examined in resected gastric cancer. These TME features have been shown to indicate metastatic potential in colon cancer, and intestinal-type gastric cancer (IGC) has pathological similarities with that malignancy. Methods TSR, TB, and TILs were quantified in routine histological sections from 493 patients with IGC who underwent radical resection at 2 university hospitals in China from 2010 to 2016. TME variables were dichotomized as follows: TSR (50%), TILs (median), TB per international guidelines (4 buds/0.785mm2), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) per survival ROC. Association of TME features with patient clinicopathological characteristics, time-to-recurrence (TTR), and cancer-specific-survival (CSS) were examined using univariate and multivariate analysis, including a relative contribution analysis by Cox regression. Results Patients whose tumors showed high TSR or high TB or low TILs were each significantly associated with increased T and N stage, higher histological grade, and poorer TTR and CSS at 5 years. Only TSR and N stage were independently associated with TTR and CSS after adjustment for covariates. PLR was only independently associated with TTR after adjustment for covariates. Among the variables examined, only TSR was significantly associated with both TTR (HR 1.72, 95% CI, 1.14-2.60, P  = .01) and CSS (HR 1.62, 95% CI, 1.05-2.51, P  = .03) multivariately. Relative contribution to TTR revealed that the top 3 contributors were N stage (45.1%), TSR (22.5%), and PLR (12.9%), while the top 3 contributors to CSS were N stage (59.9%), TSR (14.7%), and PLR (10.9%). Conclusions Among the examined TME features, TSR was the most robust for prognostication and was significantly associated with both TTR and CSS. Furthermore, the relative contribution of TSR to patient TTR and CSS was second only to nodal status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive investigation on the microstructural evolution of nanocrystalline–amorphous laminated alloys (NALAs) by molecular dynamics simulations and mechanistic analysis have been conducted to apprehend the interplay of complex phenomena governing structural changes in this alloy under neutron irradiation. It was discovered from the evolution profiles of free volumes, atomic unfilled spaces, and irradiation-induced vacancies that the profound structural response of the NALA was orchestrated by the rapid and spontaneous recovery of free volumes that indicate a self-healing ability in the amorphous zone, while the phenomenon of geometric atomic reconstitution in local structures governs the effective self-healing capacity for annihilated nanocrystal regions. Furthermore, a distinctive, self-migration/diffusion capture dynamics for the annihilation of defects by phase boundaries was discovered as an effective self-healing mechanism in NALAs. These findings will potentially facilitate the development of advanced nuclear materials with high irradiation resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]