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Background Intramedullary lipomas can be misdiagnosed as syringomyelia. We reported a case of intramedullary lipoma similar to syringomyelia and review the literature. Case presentation A 35-year-old woman was admitted due to hypoesthesia in the right limb, especially the lower extremity. Spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed L2-3 and C5-T7 lesions, with hyperintensity in T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, and hypointensity in T1 fat suppression-weighted images. The cervicothoracic lesion was considered to be a lipoma and was observed without surgery, while the lumbosacral lesion was removed, and the pathological results indicated cholesteatoma. The neurological function of the patient's lower limbs improved one month after surgery. Conclusion The pre-operative differentiation between intramedullary lipoma and syringomyelia requires special caution.

BackgroundBrain metastasis (BM) is the most common intracranial malignancy causing significant mortality, and lung cancer is the most common origin of BM. However, the cellular origins and drivers of BM from lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) have yet to be defined.MethodsThe cellular constitutions were characterized by single-cell transcriptomic profiles of 11 LUAD primary tumor (PT) and 10 BM samples (GSE131907). Copy number variation (CNV) and clonality analysis were applied to illustrate the cellular origins of BM tumors. Brain metastasis-associated epithelial cells (BMAECs) were identified by pseudotime trajectory analysis. By using machine-learning algorithms, we developed the BM-index representing the relative abundance of BMAECs in the bulk RNA-seq data indicating a high risk of BM. Therapeutic drugs targeting BMAECs were predicted based on the drug sensitivity data of cancer cell lines.ResultsDifferences in macrophages and T cells between PTs and BMs were investigated by single-cell RNA (scRNA) and immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence data. CNV analysis demonstrated BM was derived from subclones of PT with a gain of chromosome 7. We then identified BMAECs and their biomarker, S100A9. Immunofluorescence indicated strong correlations of BMAECs with metastasis and prognosis evaluated by the paired PT and BM samples from Peking Union Medical College Hospital. We further evaluated the clinical significance of the BM-index and identified 7 drugs that potentially target BMAECs.ConclusionsThis study clarified possible cellular origins and drivers of metastatic LUAD at the single-cell level and laid a foundation for early detection of LUAD patients with a high risk of BM.

A sugar-based surfactant AGA8 was designed and demonstrated to promote the synthesis of disulfides and thioamides in water.

Recurrence is a major concern for adult patients with glioblastomas (GBMs), and the prognosis remains poor. Although several therapies have been assessed, most of them have not achieved satisfactory results. Therefore, there is currently no standard treatment for adult recurrent GBM (rGBM). Here, we review the results of clinical trials for the systematic therapy of rGBM. Regorafenib, rindopepimut and neoadjuvant programmed death 1 (PD-1) inhibitors are promising agents for rGBM, while regorafenib is effective in both O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylated and unmethylated patients. Temozolomide rechallenge and alkylating agents combined with bevacizumab can be useful for patients with MGMT methylation, and patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations or second recurrence can benefit from vocimagene amiretrorepvec (Toca 511). Some phase I trials on targeted therapy and immunotherapy have shown positive results, and results from further studies are expected. In addition to the analysis of existing clinical trial results, forthcoming trials should be well designed, and patients are encouraged to participate in appropriate clinical trials.

Brain metastases (BMs) are the most common cause of intracranial neoplasms in adults with poor prognosis. Most BMs originate from lung cancer, breast cancer, or melanoma. Radiotherapy (RT), including whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) and stereotactic radiation surgery (SRS), has been widely explored and is considered a mainstay anticancer treatment for BMs. Over the past decade, the advent of novel systemic therapies has revolutionized the treatment of BMs. In this context, there is a strong rationale for using a combination of treatments based on RT, with the aim of achieving both local disease control and extracranial disease control. This review focuses on describing the latest progress in RT as well as the synergistic effects of the optimal combinations of RT and systemic treatment modalities for BMs, to provide perspectives on current treatments.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is regarded as an incurable disease due to its poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Virotherapies were once utilized on cancers for their oncolytic effects. And they are being revived on GBM treatment, as accumulating evidence presents the immunogenic effects of virotherapies in remodeling immunosuppressive GBM microenvironment. In this review, we focus on the immune responses induced by oncolytic virotherapies and viral vectors in GBM. The current developments of GBM virotherapies are briefly summarized, followed by a detailed depiction of their immune response. Limitations and lessons inferred from earlier experiments and trials are discussed. Moreover, we highlight the importance of engaging the immune responses induced by virotherapies into the multidisciplinary management of GBM.

Background Reports of anaesthetic management of paraganglioma resection in patients with isolated L-transposition of the great arteries (L-TGA) are rare. We focus on the preoperative evaluation, intraoperative management, and postoperative care of a frail patient with “physiologically corrected” L-TGA for paraganglioma resection. Case presentation We performed general anaesthesia for a 46-year-old patient with “physiologically corrected” L-TGA undergoing open large retroperitoneal paraganglioma resection. Although the preoperative medical therapy had attained its goals, the patient went through three periods of severe episodic hypertension and tachycardia as tumour manipulation released catecholamines. Goal-directed fluid therapy based on pulse pressure variation (PPV) and point-of-care transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) imaging enabled anaesthesiologists to make rapid judgments and to regulate blood pressure in a timely manner, thereby reducing the risk of heart failure caused by massive rapid fluid bolus therapy. The patient was transferred to the intensive care unit because of intraoperative hemodynamic changes and significant blood loss. Despite transient myocardial injury (elevated troponin I), no lethal arrhythmia or complications occurred perioperatively, and the patient recovered well and was discharged 1 week later. Conclusions Goal-directed fluid therapy combined with the adoption of TEE could effectively guide fluid administration, which is helpful for anaesthesia management during operation. We recommend the routine use of TEE in such cases.

Background Most patients with glioma experience recurrence and have a poor prognosis. Scientometric analysis is effective and widely used to summarize the most influential studies within a certain field. We present the first scientometric analysis of recurrent glioma. Methods We conducted a generalized search for articles on recurrent glioma in the Web of Science database and evaluated the top 100 most cited articles among 4651 articles. Results The number of citations from the top 100 cited articles on recurrent glioma ranged from 149 to 1471; most of these articles were published in oncology-specific journals (66) and were submitted by institutions in the United States (n = 67). The top-cited articles consisted of 98 articles and 2 literature reviews. Articles were classified into 4 major categories based on subject matter: 82 pertained to treatment, 6 pertained to genetic mechanisms, 7 pertained to diagnosis, and 5 pertained to prognosis. Treatment-related articles were subdivided into the following 7 categories: targeted therapy (n = 21), chemotherapy (n = 20), immunotherapy (n = 12), combination therapy (n = 12), radiotherapy (n = 9), surgical resection (n = 6), a new therapy (physiotherapy) (n = 1), and treatment summary (n = 1). Conclusions The results of the analysis indicated that the core problem is the treatment of recurrent glioma. Although the number of citations on targeted therapy and combination therapy has increased in recent years, the proportion of randomized controlled trials, basic medical research, literature reviews, and meta-analyses is relatively low; thus, there is an urgent need to conduct these types of studies on recurrent glioma.

In this work, the thermal cracking of n-decane was carried out under supercritical pressure. To comprehensively investigate the thermal cracking, a developed online-sampling experimental method was constructed through the directly cooling of cracked fuel at high temperature. The results show, that the novel method can effectively terminate the subsequent cracking which occurred in the heat exchanger. Therefore, compared with the traditional offline-sampling method, lower gas product yields and conversions were obtained with this novel method. Besides, products composition and distribution were detected and analyzed in detail. In gas products, more alkanes and hydrogen were obtained while olefins were relatively less according to our novel method. For liquid products, similar composition and distribution can be obtained in both methods except that aromatic products decrease significantly by adopting the novel method. In general, this novel method can provide precise product yield and composition with little influence on the thermal cracking process.

To investigate whether medical students acquire enough knowledge about thyroid cancer (TC). It was a cross-sectional study in a Chinese medical college based on a questionnaire about the knowledge of TC and thyroid self-examination. Medical students enrolled were grouped into preclinical medical students (PMS) and clinical medical students (CMS) according to their grades. A total of 337 questionnaires were distributed and 274 effective responses were collected with 129 from PMS and 145 from CMS. The percentage of thyroid self-examination in CMS was higher than that of PMS (55.8% vs 11.6%, p

Tumor treating fields (TTFields) are a breakthrough in treating glioblastoma (GBM), whereas the intensity cannot be further enhanced, due to the limitation of scalp lesions. Skull remodeling (SR) surgery can elevate the treatment dose of TTFields in the intracranial foci. This study was aimed at exploring the characteristics of the skull modulated strategies toward TTFields augmentation. The simplified multiple-tissue-layer model (MTL) and realistic head (RH) model were reconstructed through finite element methods (FEM), to simulate the remodeling of the skull, which included skull drilling, thinning, and cranioplasty with PEEK, titanium, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), connective tissue and autologous bone. Skull thinning could enhance the intensity of TTFields in the brain tumor, with a 10% of increase in average peritumoral intensity (API) by every 1 cm decrease in skull thickness. Cranioplasty with titanium accompanied the most enhancement of TTFields in the MTL model, but CSF was superior in TTFields enhancement when simulated in the RH model. Besides, API increased nonlinearly with the expansion of drilled burr holes. In comparison with the single drill replaced by titanium, nine burr holes could reach 96.98% of enhancement in API, but it could only reach 63.08% of enhancement under craniectomy of nine times skull defect area. Skull thinning and drilling could enhance API, which was correlated with the number and area of skull drilling. Cranioplasty with highly conductive material could also augment API, but might not provide clinical benefits as expected.

Background: The skull is an uncommon site for bone metastasis of lung cancer. The most common type of skull metastasis is calvarial circumscribed intraosseous lesions. However, the use of targeted therapy or surgery remains controversial and the prognosis is poor.Case presentation: Skull metastasis was detected in a woman 4 years after resection of non-small cell lung cancer. Despite targeted drug therapy, the tumor continued to grow. However, the patient refused surgical treatment until she developed neurological deficit. An epidural effusion occurred after the operation. The patient was followed up for 16 months and her condition remained stable.Conclusion: Skull metastases of lung cancer can grow invasively. The current and previously reported cases highlight the importance of prompt removal of tumors located in the calvaria.

Currently, glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant tumor of the central nervous system in adults. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a member of the dipeptidyl peptidase family, which has catalytic activity and is engaged in protein recruitment and scaffolds. Recent studies have found that FAP expression in different types of cells within the GBM microenvironment is typically upregulated compared with that in lower grade glioma and is most pronounced in the mesenchymal subtype of GBM. As a marker of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) with tumorigenic activity, FAP has been proven to promote tumor growth and invasion via hydrolysis of molecules such as brevican in the extracellular matrix and targeting of downstream pathways and substrates, such as fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). In addition, based on its ability to suppress antitumor immunity in GBM and induce temozolomide resistance, FAP may be a potential target for immunotherapy and reversing temozolomide resistance; however, current studies on therapies targeting FAP are still limited. In this review, we summarized recent progress in FAP expression profiling and the understanding of the biological function of FAP in GBM and raised the possibility of FAP as an imaging biomarker and therapeutic target.

The reliable isobaric heat capacity data of methylcyclohexane are observed on basis of the convective mixing technique in the temperature range from 298.1 K to 775.4 K and pressure range from 3.5 MPa to 5 MPa. In the low temperature region, the isobaric heat capacity of methylcyclohexane increases gently as temperature rises. At the pseudo-critical region, the isobaric heat capacity increases sharply to a peak value and then decreases dramatically in a nearly symmetrical way. A five-parameter model and a 3-dimensional drawing of heat capacity are presented. Most data points are within the ±3% error band and the maximum absolute deviation is 4.34%. Based on real-fluid heat capacity data, a linked-list is embedded into the CFD code to simulate the flow characteristics of methylcyclohexane at different pressures. The reliability of measured method is validated by comparing the experimental results with simulation values. Furthermore, an experimental and numerical investigation on flow process of methylcyclohexane is carried out. For the fluids under different pressures, as the temperature reaches the pseudo-critical region successively, the difference of temperature along the tube changes from large to small.

The optimal treatment of recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) remains controversial. Therefore, our study aimed to compare and rank active therapies in recurrent GBM. We performed a systematic review and a Bayesian network meta-analysis. We obtained a treatment hierarchy using the surface under the cumulative ranking curve and mean ranks. A cluster analysis was conducted to aggregate the separated results of three outcomes. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019146794). A total of 1,667 citations were identified, and 15 eligible articles with 17 treatments remained in the final network meta-analysis. Pairwise comparison showed no significant difference on the 6-month progression-free survival (6-m PFS) rate, objective response rate (ORR), and overall survival (OS). Among the reports, cediranib plus lomustine (CCNU) corresponded to the highest rates of grade 3-4 adverse events. Ranking and cluster analysis indicated that bevacizumab (BEV) plus CCNU and regorafenib had a higher efficacy on the ORR, 6-m PFS rate and OS, and that BEV monotherapy or BEV combined with active drug therapies was advantageous for the ORR and 6-m PFS rate. Additionally, tumor treatment fields (TTF) plus BEV showed a relatively higher SUCRA value in OS. According to ranking and cluster analysis, BEV plus CCNU and regorafenib are the primary recommendations for treatment. BEV monotherapy alone or combined with active drug therapies are recommended in patients with severe neurological symptoms. Advanced therapy, such as TTF and immunotherapy, remain to be investigated in future studies.

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation, telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutation and O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation status are diagnostic, prognostic, predictive and therapeutic biomarkers for primary diffuse gliomas, and this study aimed to explore the relationship between choline (CHO) positron emission tomography (PET) parameters and these molecular alterations. Twenty-eight patients who were histopathologically diagnosed with primary diffuse glioma and underwent presurgical CHO PET/CT were retrospectively analyzed, and IDH, TERT and MGMT alterations were examined. The volume of interest (VOI) was semiautomatically defined based on standardized uptake value (SUV) thresholds, and 5 traditional CHO parameters, namely, SUVmax, SUVmean, metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total lesion CHO uptake (TLC) and tumor-to-normal contralateral cortex activity ratio (T/N ratio), were calculated. Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were applied to evaluate the differences and performances of the CHO parameters, and their capability to stratify patient prognosis was also evaluated. All 5 parameters were significantly higher in IDH-wildtype gliomas than in IDH-mutant gliomas (p = 0.0001–0.037), and SUVmax, SUVmean, TLC and the T/N ratio exhibited good performances in distinguishing the IDH status (areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) 0.856–0.918, accuracies 0.857–0.893) as well as stratifying patient prognosis. Although the differences and performances of the traditional parameters in distinguishing diverse TERT and MGMT statuses were moderate in the whole population, the T/N ratio and TLC displayed certain predictive value in discriminating the TERT status in the IDH-mutant and IDH-wildtype subgroups (p = 0.028–0.048, AUCs 0.857–0.860, accuracies 0.800–0.917, respectively). Traditional CHO PET parameters are capable of distinguishing IDH but not TERT or MGMT alterations in the whole population. In accordance with the clinical understanding of TERT promoter mutations, the T/N ratio and TLC can also discriminate the TERT status in IDH subgroups.

Objective: Chromosomal 1p/19q co-deletion is recognized as a diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarker in lower grade glioma (LGG). This study aims to construct a radiomics signature to non-invasively predict the 1p/19q co-deletion status in LGG. Methods: Ninety-six patients with pathology-confirmed LGG were retrospectively included and randomly assigned into training (n = 78) and validation (n = 18) dataset. Three-dimensional contrast-enhanced T1 (3D-CE-T1)-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images and T2-weighted MR images were acquired, and simulated-conventional contrast-enhanced T1 (SC-CE-T1)-weighted images were generated. One hundred and seven shape, first-order, and texture radiomics features were extracted from each imaging modality and selected using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator on the training dataset. A 3D-radiomics signature based on 3D-CE-T1 and T2-weighted features and a simulated-conventional (SC) radiomics signature based on SC-CE-T1 and T2-weighted features were established using random forest. The radiomics signatures were validated independently and evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Tumors with IDH mutations were also separately assessed. Results: Four radiomics features were selected to construct the 3D-radiomics signature and displayed accuracies of 0.897 and 0.833, areas under the ROC curves (AUCs) of 0.940 and 0.889 in the training and validation datasets, respectively. The SC-radiomics signature was constructed with 4 features, but the AUC values were lower than that of the 3D signature. In the IDH-mutated subgroup, the 3D-radiomics signature presented AUCs of 0.950–1.000. Conclusions: The MRI-based radiomics signature can differentiate 1p/19q co-deletion status in LGG with or without predetermined IDH status. 3D-CE-T1-weighted radiomics features are more favorable than SC-CE-T1-weighted features in the establishment of radiomics signatures.

Background. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary malignant intracranial tumor and is closely related to metabolic alterations. However, few accepted prognostic models are currently available, especially models based on metabolic genes. Methods . Transcriptome data were obtained for all patients diagnosed with GBM from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) (training cohort, n=369) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) (validation cohort, n=152) with the following variables: age at diagnosis, sex, follow-up and overall survival (OS). Metabolic genes according to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were filtered, and a Lasso regression model was constructed. Survival was assessed by univariate or multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis, and we also conducted an independent external validation to examine the model. Results. There were 341 metabolic genes that showed significant differences between normal brain tissues and GBM tissues in both the training and validation cohorts, among which 56 genes were significantly correlated with the OS of patients. Lasso regression revealed that the metabolic prognostic model was composed of 18 genes, including COX10 , COMT , and GPX2 , with protective effects, as well as OCRL and RRM2 , with unfavorable effects. Patients classified as high-risk by the risk score from this model had markedly shorter OS than low-risk patients ( P

Background: The optimal treatment of recurrent glioblastoma remains controversial. Therefore, our study aimed to compare and rank active therapies in recurrent glioblastoma. Methods: We performed a systematic review and a Bayesian network meta-analysis. We obtained a treatment hierarchy using the surface under the cumulative ranking curve and mean ranks. A cluster analysis was conducted to aggregate the separated results of 3 outcomes. The protocol of this network meta-analysis was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019146794). Findings: A total of 1667 citations were identified, and 12 eligible articles remained in the final network meta-analysis. None of the treatment regimens showed a significant increase or decrease in ORR, 6-m PFS rate or OS. Among the reports, cediranib plus lomustine corresponded to the highest rates of grade 3-4 adverse events. Cluster analysis indicated that BEV plus low-dose CCNU (90 mg/m2) had a higher efficacy on the 6-m PFS rate and OS and a moderate effect on ORR and that BEV monotherapy or combined with active drug therapies were advantageous for ORR and 6-m PFS rate. Cediranib plus CCNU and low-dose BEV plus low-dose CCNU showed moderate efficacy on all 3 outcomes. Interpretation: No significant difference was found in ORR, 6-m PFS rate and OS among any of the therapies included in our study. BEV plus low-dose CCNU (90 mg/m 2 ) is recommended firstly. BEV monotherapy alone or combined with active drug therapies are recommended in patients with severe neurological symptoms, and low-dose BEV plus low-dose CCNU can be used as an alternative therapy. Funding Statement: 1. Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, China. 2. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. 3. Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutation status is an important biomarker for the precision diagnosis and prognosis prediction of lower grade glioma (LGG). This study aimed to construct a radiomic signature to noninvasively predict the TERT promoter status in LGGs. Eighty-three local patients with pathology-confirmed LGG were retrospectively included as a training cohort, and 33 patients from The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) were used as for independent validation. Three types of regions of interest (ROIs), which covered the tumor, peri-tumoral area, and tumor plus peri-tumoral area, were delineated on three-dimensional contrast-enhanced T1 (3D-CE-T1)-weighted and T2-weighted images. One hundred seven shape, first-order, and texture radiomic features from each modality under each ROI were extracted and selected through least absolute shrinkage and selection operator. Radiomic signatures were constructed with multiple classifiers and evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The tumors were also stratified according to IDH status. Three radiomic signatures, namely, tumoral radiomic signature, tumoral plus peri-tumoral radiomic signature, and fusion radiomic signature, were built, all of which exhibited good accuracy and balanced sensitivity and specificity. The tumoral signature displayed the best performance, with area under the ROC curves (AUC) of 0.948 (0.903–0.993) in the training cohort and 0.827 (0.667–0.988) in the validation cohort. In the IDH subgroups, the AUCs of the tumoral signature ranged from 0.750 to 0.940. The MRI-based radiomic signature is reliable for noninvasive evaluation of TERT promoter mutations in LGG regardless of the IDH status. The inclusion of peri-tumoral area did not significantly improve the performance.

It is still challenging to realize an on-chip optical sensor that can detect humidity and temperature at the same time. In this paper, we demonstrate a silicon-based dual-polarization micro-ring resonator (MRR) with a polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) upper-cladding, which enables the simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature. Due to the significant polarization-dependence of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanophotonic waveguide, the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarization modes have quite different sensitivities towards the changes of ambient relative humidity (RH) and temperature. Sensitivity, resolution, stability and cross-sensitivity are analyzed for the present dual-parameter sensor. The RH and temperature response sensitivity are measured to be 97.9 pm/%RH, 325.1 pm/%RH, 69.0 pm/°C and 30.6 pm/°C for TE and TM polarizations, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first on-chip optical sensor enabling the simultaneous measurement of RH and temperature.

In this research, a global reaction model for the thermal cracking of China No.3 aviation kerosene was modeled based on experimental investigations under supercritical pressure. The result indicates that, when the conversion is lower than 50%, small molecules of products were generated nearly in a constant ratio and the selectivities of them were approximately identical. Therefore, a molecular kinetic model was developed using plug flow reactor model and an isothermal hypothesis. In order to estimate the kinetic parameters, a novel method of online density measuring was used to obtain the precise resident time. The reliability of this molecular kinetic model was validated through the comparison of experimental results with simulated values.

An on-chip triplexer based on cascaded tilted multimode interference (MMI) couplers has been demonstrated to separate the 1310 nm wavelength band into one port and 1490 nm and 1550 nm wavelength bands into the other two ports respectively. By utilizing the dispersive self-imaging and pseudo self-imaging, the device length is not critically determined by the common multiple of beat lengths for different wavelengths. The total device size can be reduced to ∼ 450 μ m, which is half of the butterfly structure reported. The whole device, fabricated with only one fully-etching step, is characterized with ∼ 1 dB insertion loss (IL).

By right of the prominent properties, Ge film grown on Si substrate plays an important role in the field of optoelectronic devices. However, the dislocation density of Ge film grown on Si substrate is still high due to the relatively large lattice mismatch between Ge and Si of ~4.18% that hinders the further development of devices. In this work, high-quality Ge film grown on Si substrate has been obtained based on study of the thermodynamic mechanism. On the one hand, the thermodynamic mechanism of Ge film on Si substrate by First-principle calculation based on density functional theory; and then high-quality Ge films were achieved on Si substrate by the low temperature and high temperature two-step growth technique by molecular beam epitaxy accordingly. The as-grown 2.0 μm-thick Ge film show high quality with a full-width at half-maximums for Ge(004) of 110 arcsec and very smooth surface with a root-mean-square roughness of 0.2 nm. The Ge film achieved in this work is a promising candidate for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices.

In this work, the behavior of mild thermal cracking n -decane was investigated experimentally and numerically. A developed experimental method of electrical heating tube was used to analyze the thermal cracking of n -decane under various temperatures and pressures. The results showed that, at low cracking conversion of 12%, the selectivities of all cracked products are approximately equal to constant values. A one-step global reaction model consisting of 11 species was established for mild-cracking n -decane and a novel on-line density measurement method was developed to improve the precision of residence time calculation, thus the kinetics parameters. The reliability of the reaction model was confirmed through comparing the experimental results with simulated values by using Chemkin program with the deviation less than 10%. The chemical heat sink of thermal cracking n -decane was evaluated and the result showed that the heat absorption provided by chemical endothermic reactions is unnegligible even at low conversion.

The pyrolysis characteristics of blended cyclohexane and benzene mixture are investigated under supercritical pressure. The experimental results show that cyclohexane pyrolysis is greatly easier than thermal cracking of benzene, and the addition of cyclohexane can significantly promote the benzene pyrolysis, while the thermal cracking of cyclohexane itself is weakened by the addition of benzene. A simulation of the blended fuel is carried out by using Chemkin program, indicating that the chemical heat sink of cyclohexane pyrolysis can account for nearly 50% of its total heat absorption capacity, while benzene is inactive in thermal cracking process.

Previous study indicated that Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is a central regulator of adaptive thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Here we investigate the role of SIRT3 in the modulation of cellular phenotype in BAT under high salt intake (HS). HS downregulated SIRT3 level in BAT, accompanied by decreased oxygen consumption rate, and caused a severe loss of BAT characteristics. Mechanically, SIRT3 interacted with pyruvate dehydrogenase E1α (PDHA1) and deacetylated Lys-83 both in vitro and in vivo under HS. In parallel, HS suppressed salt-induced kinase (Sik) 2 phosphorylation. Silencing Sik2 further diminished SIRT3 activity and enhanced acetylation of PDHA1 K83 level. Reconstruction of SIRT3 restored PDH activity and thermogenic markers expression in differentiated brown adipocytes from SIRT3 knockout (KO) mice. In addition, loss of SIRT3 induced selective remodelling of phospholipids and glycerolipids in BAT exposure to HS. These data indicate that SIRT3 is an essential enzymatic switch that controls brown adipose cell phenotype.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Background: Autologous fat is considered as an ideal material for soft-tissue augmentation in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The primary drawback of autologous fat grafting is the high absorption rate, thus fat retention is considered as an essential indicator. There are several researches about the factors that can influence fat retention, including centrifugation and cannula size. However, rheological models of cannula during liposuction are limited. This research focuses on the effects of cannulas with diameters of 2 mm and 2.5 mm on fat retention, which is based on a rheological simulation of inlet pressure and maximum velocity. Experiments on mice were also conducted to confirm the result from the simulation. Methods: A simulation was conducted with the physical parameters of the adipose tissue. Human lipoaspirate samples were obtained from patients by liposuction through cannulas of different diameters and were transferred into subcutaneous tissue of nude mice, a part of which were used in viscosity and density measurement. Graft retention was measured and fat quality was assessed through histologic analysis after 6 months. Results: Viscosity and density of the fat tissue had significant effects on fat retention. The 2.5 mm diameter cannula had significantly lower inlet pressure and maximum velocity and thus led to higher graft retention, but oil cystic nodules appeared meanwhile. Conclusions: Cannulas with larger diameters have lower inlet pressure and maximum velocity during the liposuction process, which further influences the viability of adipocytes and adipose stem cells and thus has larger fat graft retention. This research built a mathematical model with less bias than in vivo experiments and provides a general way for analyzing the outcome of a liposuction precisely, which adds to the data for cannula optimization.

Background: There are no reliable predictive models for recurrence after transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) for Cushing’s disease (CD). Objectives: This study aimed to develop machine learning (ML)-based predictive models for CD recurrence after initial TSS and to evaluate their performance. Method: A total of 354 CD patients were included in this retrospective, supervised learning, data mining study. Predictive models for recurrence were developed according to 17 variables using 7 algorithms. Models were evaluated based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: All patients were followed up for over 12 months (mean ± SD 43.80 ± 35.61). The recurrence rate was 13.0%. Age (p < 0.001), postoperative morning serum cortisol nadir (p = 0.002), and postoperative (p < 0.001) and preoperative (p = 0.04) morning adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) level were significantly related to recurrence. AUCs of the 7 models ranged from 0.608 to 0.781. The best performance (AUC = 0.781, 95% CI 0.706, 0.856) appeared when 8 variables were introduced to the random forest (RF) algorithm, which was much better than that of logistic regression (AUC = 0.684, p = 0.008) and that of using only postoperative morning serum cortisol (AUC = 0.635, p < 0.001). According to the feature selection algorithms, the top 3 predictors were age, postoperative serum cortisol, and postoperative ACTH. Conclusions: Using ML-based models for prediction of the recurrence after initial TSS for CD is feasible, and RF performs best. The performance of most of ML-based models was significantly better than that of some conventional models.

The pyrolysis characteristics of n-decane were investigated in a series of reaction tubes. The results show that at fixed bulk temperature, the wall temperature, and residence time are two crucial contributions to influence the pyrolysis process, and the former has a more important effect on the cracking degree. A two-dimensional numerical model is employed to demonstrate that there exists a thermal boundary layer of the flowing fuel, which enhances the pyrolysis process. Based on the chemical analysis, the wall temperature may accelerate the rate of β-Scission reaction, thus leading to higher alkene content.

A novel online hybrid method is developed to construct the reaction mechanism of hydrocarbon fuel by avoiding the overestimation of conversion and removing the measurement error of product composition. The validation of online hybrid technology is conducted by experimental measurement and numerical modeling. With enhancing heat transfer efficiency and rapidly annihilating radicals to terminate chemical reaction, the measurement results of the online cooling technology are more accurate and reliable than those of the tradition indirect contact cooling apparatus. The flow process, heat transfer, reaction characteristics and thermophysical properties of hydrocarbon fuel are investigated under various pressures and temperatures. The chemical reaction pathways and product distributions at the heating section are different from those at the connecting section, due to a high-temperature boundary layer in the heating section. Further, a 3D T-shape mathematical model embedded a molecular chemical reaction and fluid thermophysical properties is established to validate and analyze the extensive availability of the online hybrid method. A detailed performance analysis of the injecting coolant that acts to eliminate and elucidate the effect of subsequent reaction process is carried out to optimize operation conditions experimentally and numerically. As the increase of the coolant, the subsequent reaction process is gradually weakened until terminated. The gradients of temperature and concentration are formed by the injection of coolant and then the gradients are gradually diminishing to disappear along the connecting part due to the energy and mass transport.

Defective autophagy of monocytes or macrophages might result in NLRP3 inflammasome activation and cause vascular metabolic inflammation. However, the mechanism underlying the initiation of the autophagy response to hyperlipidaemia remains unclear. Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3), an NAD-dependent deacetylase, is sensitive to the metabolic status and mediates adaptation responses. In this study, we investigated the role of SIRT3-mediated autophagy in regulating NLRP3 inflammasome activation. We determined that the inhibition of autophagy and the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome were concomitant with reduced SIRT3 levels both in peripheral blood monocytes from obese humans and in palmitate-treated THP-1 cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that SIRT3 could form a molecular complex with ATG5, while SIRT3 overexpression altered the acetylation of endogenous ATG5. ATG5 acetylation inhibited autophagosome maturation and induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In parallel, SIRT3 overexpression in THP-1 cells decreased the palmitate-induced generation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, restored autophagy, and attenuated NLRP3 inflammasome activation. The incubation of human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) with macrophage-conditioned medium (MCM) induced HAEC expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, α-smooth muscle actin, and collagen-1. The effect of MCM could be reversed by the addition of neutralizing anti-IL-1β antibody or the overexpression of SIRT3. Consistent with this, en face analyses displayed a marked increase in α-SMC-positive endothelial cells in SIRT3-/- mice with acute hyperlipidaemia. Taken together, these findings revealed that SIRT3-deficient macrophages displayed impaired autophagy and accelerated NLRP3 inflammasome activation and endothelial dysfunction.