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AIMS The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (TBSRTC) has been widely adopted since its introduction. In this study, we aimed to report our experience using this reporting system at a College of American Pathologists (CAP)-accredited hospital laboratory in a large series of Chinese patients. METHODS All patients who underwent preoperative ultrasound-guided thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) from January 2011 to August 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Thyroid FNAs were classified according to the Bethesda System. For patients who underwent subsequent surgery at our institution, the diagnostic performance of the preoperative FNA was further analyzed according to four different calculation criteria. All of the follicular variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma specimens were reviewed to exclude NIFTP (noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features). RESULTS A total of 13 351 thyroid FNAs were included in this analysis. Of the 12 530 sampled patients, 3594 (28.7%) underwent thyroidectomy, and the malignancy rates for each cytological category were as follows: 66.7% unsatisfactory, 14.2% benign, 53.5% undetermined significance, 30.2% follicular neoplasm, 82.0% suspicious, and 99.1% malignant. Only 12 (0.36% of all PTC) patients were reclassified as having NIFTP. The sensitivities of the preoperative FNAs were all above 95.0% and were as high as 99.0%. The specificities ranged from 50.3% to 63.9%, depending on which criteria were used. The positive predictive value was 95.4% for criteria 1 and 2 and was 94.2% for criteria 3 and 4. The negative predictive values ranged from 64.5% to 85.8%. The diagnostic accuracies all exceeded 90.0%, with the highest being 94.8%. CONCLUSION This study revealed the great efficacy and accuracy of TBSRTC in a large Chinese population for the first time.

Electrification of the powertrain system will play an important role in reducing fuel consumption and engine-out emissions in the next few decades. Compared to the pure electric and full hybrid concept, 48 V mild hybridisation and the accompanying 48 V e-boosting concept, due to their superior cost–benefit performance, may become mainstream for the next generation of fuel reduction measures. The mild hybrid system can realise advanced stop–start, active and passive engine-off coasting, braking recuperation, boost assistance, e-creeping and torque vectoring functions, and is thus deemed to give approximately 10–15% fuel consumption benefits in the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC); and the e-boosting concept, due to its capability for further downsizing and down-speeding, allows the engine operating points to be shifted into a more efficient area. A strong synergy between 48 V mild hybridisation and the 48 V e-boosting concept has been found after reviewing both technologies, and the trends for developing such a combined electrical system are also discussed. Together with more engine and vehicle component electrification, fuel efficiency could be further improved, although the interactions between these technologies are highly complex and need to be optimised at a system level.

Aims: Molecular profiling is important for cancer diagnosis and treatment. For many advanced stage lung cancer patients, cytology specimens may be the only materials available for molecular testing. The aim of this study is to evaluate the utility of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) of cytology specimens for the molecular profiling of lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: NGS was performed on cell blocks of pleural effusions and fine-needle aspiration (FNA) samples of lung adenocarcinoma to determine the mutation status of EGFR, KRAS, PIK3CA, BRAF, ALK, PDGFRA, and DDR2. Then, quantitative Real-Time PCR (qPCR) was performed and the results were compared to those of NGS. Next, NGS was performed on available histological specimens from the same patients. Last, DNA Quality Index analysis was performed to further explore the applicability of using cytology samples as the source for NGS. Results: NGS detected mutations in EGFR, PIK3CA, and KRAS. NGS and qPCR results showed high concordance. NGS exhibited advantages over qPCR in detecting non-hotspot mutations and providing accurate information for allele sequence and mutation frequency. NGS of cytological and histological samples from the same patients showed high concordance. DNA Quality Index analysis showed that DNA extracted from cell blocks of pleural fluid was of similar quality compared to FFPE tissue blocks. Conclusions: NGS can be successfully performed on both FNA and pleural fluid samples from lung adenocarcinomas. The high quality DNA of FFPE cell block of pleural effusion makes it the first choice for molecular profiling, especially when cytology specimens are the only available samples for molecular profiling.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation testing is pivotal for the precise treatment of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Generally, detection of EGFR mutations in surgical specimens is the most accurate and the most reliable. However, some NSCLC patients in advanced stages are inoperable. Therefore, other specimens such as cytological samples are alternative options for EGFR mutation detection. In this study, cytological samples from 291 NSCLC patients were tested for EGFR mutations using the amplification-refractory mutation system (ARMS). The results showed that the EGFR mutation rate was 45.3%, and the most common mutation type was deletion in exon 19 (19del), followed by L858R mutation in exon 21. The results were consistent with that of the large cohort histological samples. This study demonstrates that using cell block for EGFR mutation detection has a high success rate and can yield reliable results. It also solidifies that the use of cytological samples possesses relatively high clinical practicability, so that cytological samples may substitute histological samples. In addition, an assessment of the tumor cell quantity prior to detection could improve the positive rate. Considering tumor heterogeneity, both histological and cytological samples are suggested to be collected for testing, if possible.

Distributed geological prospecting projection management system based Web service has been designed to speed up the digitization development of Gold Geological Branch of Chinese Armed Police Force (GGBCAPF). In this paper, the development of distributed application system has been briefed and the overall design and key technology research of geological prospecting projection management system have been introduced briefly. It is proved that the system which has accelerated the informatization, digitization and routinization of geological prospecting, has changed the way of geological data gather, storage, process and has improved the effectiveness of geological prospecting work played a significant role in geological prospecting of CCGCAPF.