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Radiation and nuclear technologies have side effects in addition to their important applications, so appropriate shields must be used to protect users and the public from high doses as a result of exposure to this radiation. In this work, the attenuation coefficients for polyester composites doped with waste iron filings (IFs) were studied. Six samples of different IF concentrations were manufactured, namely, Poly, Poly-IF20, Poly-IF30, Poly-IF40, Poly-IF50, and Poly-IF60 (where Poly-IF60 represents 40% polyester and 60% IF). We measured the attenuation factors using high purity germanium (HPGe)-detector along with three radioactive sources 241Am (emitting energy of 0.06 MeV), 137Cs (emitting energy of 0.662 MeV), and Co-60 (emitting energy of 1.173 and 1.333 MeV). We compared the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) obtained by theoretical (i.e., XCOM software) and experimental (i.e., HPGe-detector) approaches for the prepared polyester composites at various photon energies (0.060, 0.662, 1.173, and 1.333 MeV). The greatest difference between the LAC values of the samples occurs at 0.060 MeV, where the Poly-IF60 sample has a much greater LAC than the other shields, followed by the Poly-IF50 sample, Poly-IF40 sample, and so on until the pure polyester shield. Specifically, their values are equal to 0.245, 0.622, 0.873, 1.187, 1.591, and 2.129 cm−1 for Poly, Poly-IF20, Poly-IF30, Poly-IF40, Poly-IF50, and Poly-IF60, respectively. We calculated the transmission factor (TF) and the radiation shielding efficiency (RSE), and found that the TF for Poly-IF30 is equal to 28.82%, 77.94%, 82.75%, and 83.75% at 0.060, 0.662, 1.173, and 1.333, respectively, while its RSE is equal to 82.57%, 24.00%, 18.80%, and 17.72%, respectively. The fast neutron removal cross-section (FNRC) of the polyester samples was calculated and the values increase when more Ifs are added to the samples. More specifically, the FNRC values are equal to 0.095, 0.100, 0.103, 0.107, 0.110, and 0.113 cm−1 for Poly, Poly-IF20, Poly-IF30, Poly-IF40, Poly-IF50, and Poly-IF60, respectively.

IntroductionMany well-known risk factors for breast cancer are associated with dysbiosis (an aberrant microbiome). However, how bacterial products modulate cancer are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of an exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by the commensal bacterium Bacillus subtilis on breast cancer phenotypes. Although B. subtilis is commonly included in probiotic preparations and its EPS protects against inflammatory diseases, it was virtually unknown whether B. subtilis-derived EPS affects cancer.MethodsThis work investigated effects of EPS on phenotypes of breast cancer cells as a cancer model. The phenotypes included proliferation, mammosphere formation, cell migration, and tumor growth in two immune compromised mouse models. RNA sequencing was performed on RNA from four breast cancer cells treated with PBS or EPS. IKKβ or STAT1 signaling was assessed using pharmacologic or RNAi-mediated knock down approaches. ResultsShort-term treatment with EPS inhibited proliferation of certain breast cancer cells (T47D, MDA-MB-468, HCC1428, MDA-MB-453) while having little effect on others (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, BT549, ZR-75-30). EPS induced G1/G0 cell cycle arrest of T47D cells while increasing apoptosis of MDA-MB-468 cells. EPS also enhanced aggressive phenotypes in T47D cells including cell migration and cancer stem cell survival. Long-term treatment with EPS (months) led to resistance in vitro and promoted tumor growth in immunocompromised mice. RNA-sequence analysis showed that EPS increased expression of pro-inflammatory pathways including STAT1 and NF-κB. IKKβ and/or STAT1 signaling was necessary for EPS to modulate phenotypes of EPS sensitive breast cancer cells. DiscussionThese results demonstrate a multifaceted role for an EPS molecule secreted by the probiotic bacterium B. subtilis on breast cancer cell phenotypes. These results warrant future studies in immune competent mice and different cancer models to fully understand potential benefits and/or side effects of long-term use of probiotics.

Retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging is a valuable tool for assessing the condition of the back part of the eye. The condition has a great effect on the specificity of diagnosis, the monitoring of many physiological and pathological procedures, and the response and evaluation of therapeutic effectiveness in various fields of clinical practices, including primary eye diseases and systemic diseases such as diabetes. Therefore, precise diagnosis, classification, and automated image analysis models are crucial. In this paper, we propose an enhanced optical coherence tomography (EOCT) model to classify retinal OCT based on modified ResNet (50) and random forest algorithms, which are used in the proposed study’s training strategy to enhance performance. The Adam optimizer is applied during the training process to increase the efficiency of the ResNet (50) model compared with the common pre-trained models, such as spatial separable convolutions and visual geometry group (VGG) (16). The experimentation results show that the sensitivity, specificity, precision, negative predictive value, false discovery rate, false negative rate accuracy, and Matthew’s correlation coefficient are 0.9836, 0.9615, 0.9740, 0.9756, 0.0385, 0.0260, 0.0164, 0.9747, 0.9788, and 0.9474, respectively.

Rong-yun Mai,1– 3,* Jie Zeng,2,3,* Yi-shuai Mo,1,3,* Rong Liang,3,4 Yan Lin,3,4 Su-su Wu,2,3 Xue-min Piao,2– 4 Xing Gao,2– 4 Guo-bin Wu,1,3 Le-qun Li,1,3 Jia-zhou Ye1,3 1Department of Hepatobilliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Experimental Research, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of China; 3Guangxi Liver Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Engineering and Technology Research Center, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of First Chemotherapy, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jia-zhou Ye; Le-qun LiDepartment of Hepatobilliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, 71 He Di Road, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-0771-5310045Fax +86-0771-5312000. Email yejiazhou2019@163.com; lequn_li001@163.comBackground: Testing for the presence of liver cirrhosis (LC) is one of the most critical diagnostic and prognostic assessments for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). More non-invasive tools are needed to diagnose LC but the predictive abilities of current models are still inconclusive. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel and non-invasive artificial neural network (ANN) model for diagnosing LC in patients with HBV-related HCC using routine laboratory serological indicators.Methods: A total of 1152 HBV-related HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy were included and randomly divided into the training set (n = 864, 75%) and validation set (n = 288, 25%). The ANN model was constructed from the training set using multivariate Logistic regression analysis and then verified in the validation set.Results: The morbidity of LC in the training and validation sets was 41.2% and 46.8%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age, platelet count, prothrombin time and total bilirubin were independent risk factors for LC (P < 0.05). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) analyses revealed that the ANN model had higher predictive accuracy than the Logistic model (ANN: 0.757 vs Logistic: 0.721; P < 0.001), and other scoring systems (ANN: 0.757 vs CP: 0.532, MELD: 0.594, ALBI: 0.575, APRI: 0.621, FIB-4: 0.644, AAR: 0.491, and GPR: 0.604; P < 0.05 for all) in diagnosing LC. Similar results were obtained in the validation set.Conclusion: The ANN model has better diagnostic capabilities than other commonly used models and scoring systems in assessing LC risk in patients with HBV-related HCC.Keywords: chronic hepatitis B, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cirrhosis, serological indicators, non-invasive assessment, artificial neural network

Rong-yun Mai,1,* Yan-yan Wang,2,* Tao Bai,1 Jie Chen,1 Bang-de Xiang,1 Guo-bin Wu,1 Fei-xiang Wu,1 Le-qun Li,1 Jia-zhou Ye1 1Department of Hepatobilliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of China; 2Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery Department I, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research, Ministry of Education, Peking University School of Oncology, Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing 100142, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Le-qun Li; Jia-zhou YeDepartment of Hepatobilliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, 71 He Di Road, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 771 5310045Fax +86 771 5312000Email lequn_li001@163.com; nnsz20013@163.comPurpose: Post-hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) is a severe complication in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients who have undergone hepatectomy. This research aimed to investigate the combination of albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) score and aspartate aminotransferase-platelet ratio index (APRI) as a novel approach in predicting PHLF risk in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC patients.Patients and methods: HBV-related HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy from January 2006 to October 2013 were enrolled in this study. A novel model was constructed using a combination of ALBI and APRI scores to predict PHLF risk, and the prognostic value of the model was evaluated and compared with Child-Pugh (C-P) grade, ALBI score and APRI score.Results: A total of 1,055 HCC patients were retrospectively studied, which included 151 experienced PHLF. Univariable and multivariate analyses showed that the ALBI and APRI scores were independent predictors of PHLF. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the ALBI score, APRI score, and C-P grade was 0.717, 0.720, and 0.602, respectively, with AUC (ALBI) > AUC (C-P) (P AUC (C-P) (P AUC (ALBI) (P AUC (APRI) (P =0.047). Our results indicated that ALBI and APRI scores had higher discriminatory abilities than C-P grade in predicting the risk of PHLF, and the ALBI-APRI model could enhance the capability of predicting PHLF compared to ALBI or APRI alone.Conclusion: ALBI-APRI score is a novel and effective predictive model of PHLF for HBV-related HCC patients, and its accuracy in predicting the risk of PHLF is better than that of C-P, ALBI and APRI scores.Keywords: HCC, PHLF, ALBI, APRI, combination of ALBI and APRI

In the wake of COVID-19, there has been a surge of wrongful death cases filed by plaintiff families in state courts. These families allege that their loved one contracted and died from COVID-19 because the nursing home or senior living facility at which their loved one resided failed to take proper COVID-19 prevention measures. In response, defendant facilities have removed these actions to federal court, arguing that the PREP Act preempts plaintiffs' state-law claims and grants,facilities immunity from liability for loss related to qualified actions taken during a public health emergency. This Comment rejects facilities' push for preemption which has been used as a tactic to stretch out litigation and to encourage plain tiff families to settle their cases for less. This Comment also encourages amendment of the PREP Act immunity laws to clarify that the Act does not preempt state-law claims but does restrict senior living facilities and nursing homes from the privilege of immunity for loss resulting from a failure to act. Restraining immunity in this way will hotel. facilities accountable for their deadly failure to take COVID19 safely precautions and will incentivize facilities to take more stringent precautions when caring for their elderly residents in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) is still the most common surgical procedure performed in management of hydrocephalus in pediatric-age group to drain cerebrospinal fluid from the ventricles toward the peritoneal cavity aiming to decrease the intracranial pressure. The reported incidence of inguinoscrotal complications may be as high as 10–20% in patients with VPS. Some concerns still present about the use of laparoscopy in children with noncomplicated VPS to avoid shunt-related complications. Aim To evaluate the efficiency of laparoscopy in management of pediatric inguinal hernia in patients with noncomplicated VPS. Our primary outcomes were shunt preservation, recurrence, and incidence of postoperative complications, including shunt blockage, infection, and/or signs of increased intracranial tension. Patients and methods This prospective study included 12 children with pediatric inguinal hernias who were operated for VPS for management of hydrocephalus, admitted, and managed in Pediatric Surgery Unit, Tanta University Hospital, from July 2019 to July 2021. All included infants were followed up for 6 months. Results Our study included 12 patients with pediatric inguinal hernia who were operated with VPS for the treatment of hydrocephalus with a mean age of 30.5 months. Seven (58.3%) cases were recurrent. Operative time ranged between 18 and 48min with mean of 28.75min. All patients were discharged after 24h of surgery. No meningitis or signs of increased intracranial tension were detected early postoperatively, also, there was no recurrence or port-site hernias were detected 6 months postoperatively. Conclusion Laparoscopic muscular arch repair with peritoneal closure of pediatric inguinal hernia in patients with noncomplicated VPS is feasible, safe, and provides minimally invasive approach with excellent results, especially in recurrent cases with better cosmesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2003;74: 1493-1501 Objective: To analyse a population of children with focal cortical dysplasia operated on for drug resistant partial epilepsy, with emphasis on clinical features, seizure [...]