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Objective To evaluate the application and value of nanocarbon tracer in the surgical treatment of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC). Methods Retrospective analysis of clinical and pathological data of 165 PTMC patients who underwent thyroid cancer surgery at Nanjing Jiangbei Hospital from January 2017 to December 2022 was conducted. Patients were divided into the nanocarbon group (n=87) and the conventional group (n=78) based on whether carbon nanoparticles suspension was used during the surgery. Surgical data (such as operation time, blood loss, drainage volume), pathological data (number of lymph nodes and the number of positive nodes), and serological indicators (parathyroid hormone and blood calcium) were compared between the two groups. Results There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of drainage volume, length of hospital stay, blood loss, and operation time (P＞0.05). The nanocarbon group had a higher number of cleared lymph nodes (7.9±2.1 vs 5.4±1.3，t=9.069，P＜0.01) and positive lymph nodes (2.1±1.1 vs 1.4±1.0，t=4.259，P＜0.01) than the conventional group, and the levels of parathyroid hormone and blood calcium at 1 day and 1 month after surgery were higher in the nanocarbon group compared to the conventional group (P＜0.05). During the outpatient follow-up at 1 month after surgery, both groups had lower serum thyroglobulin values, but the difference was not statistically significant (P＞0.05). Conclusion Nanocarbon tracer can improve the clinical benefits of PTMC surgery and is safe and effective.

This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab (BEV) in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases (BM) by performing meta-analyses of response and survival indices. Seventeen studies were included. BEV treatment was associated with a lower new BM incidence (hazard ratio: 0.30 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.14, 0.46]) during follow-up. Disease control rate (DCR) of BEV-treated patients with BM was 91% [95% CI: 85, 95]. However, intracranial DCR was relatively higher (94% [95% CI: 87, 98]) than extracranial DCR (86% [95% CI: 74, 96]). DCR of NSCLC patients with BM was significantly better with BEV than with control therapies (odds ratio: 2.71 [95% CI: 1.26, 5.86], P = 0.01). Progression-free survival (PFS) of BEV-treated patients with and without BM was 7.1 months [95% CI: 6.2, 8.0] and 7.4 months [95% CI: 6.3, 8.4], respectively. Intracranial PFS of BEV-treated patients with BM was 8.0 months [95% CI: 6.0, 10.0]. Overall survival of BEV-treated NSCLC patients with and without BM was 13.5 months [95% CI: 11.4, 15.6] and 12.5 months [95% CI: 10.2, 14.8], respectively. The incidence of bleeding/hemorrhage in the central nervous system was 1% with BEV treatment.

Lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12, LTO) is an important material to be used as an anode for LIBs (Li+ ion battery). LTO is a zero-strain material (i.e., no structural change occurs during Li insertion/extraction). Although LTO is a very safe material that can be used as an anode material in high and low temperature environment, its rate capability is compromised by its low electronic conductivity and poor Li+ diffusion coefficient. In the recent years, considerable research around the world has focused on improving LTO rate performance. Efforts to achieve better electrical conduction between LTO particles have included LTO particle size control, conductive-material surface coatings, and alien ion doping. However, in this study electrochemical properties were improved by changing the morphology of LTO. Based on traditional electrospinning technology, LTO fibers with a hollow structure were produced using a nested coaxial nozzle modified from the conventional spinning nozzle and coaxial cospinning with two different solutions. A comparison of this results with those of solid LTO prepared by traditional electrospinning technology demonstrates that hollow LTO is characterized by uniform particle size and no agglomeration, along with an obvious hollow structure, clear crystal lattice stripes, and good crystallization property. The specific surface of this hollow LTO is 1.3 times than its solid counterpart. This morphological change greatly improves the electrochemical performance of the material. Although the discharge specific capacities of both the solid and hollow LTO are close to the theoretical value for small ratios, the hollow LTO is superior to its solid counterpart at 20C. The discharge specific capacity of the hollow LTO can reach 130 mA·h·g-1 at 20C, and after 200 cycles, its capacity retention ratio remains at 98%, which suggests good stability. Cyclic voltammetry and AC impedance curves also show that the hollow structure reduces the degree of polarization and the electrochemical reaction impedance of LTO, which makes LTO more conducive to electrochemical reaction.

The rheological properties of cement grouts are significantly affected by the changes of the time and the water-cement ratio, which determine the diffusion state of grouts in rocks and soils and influence the outcome of projects. In this study, Portland cement grouts with water-cement ratios of 0.50, 0.55, 0.60, 0.65, 0.70, and 0.75 at six moments, including 0 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and 60 minutes, were evaluated to figure out the comprehensive effect of the time and the water-cement ratio on the rheological properties of power-law cement grouts. The results showed that the water-cement ratio had a great influence on both the consistency coefficient and the rheological index of the power-law cement grouts. The former appeared to have a downward trend with the increase of the water-cement ratio, and the latter appeared to have an upward trend. There was a rising tendency between the time and the consistency coefficient, while the rheological index was less affected by time. The difference between its maximum and minimum values was within 5%. Combined with the perspectives of statistical theory, practical applicability, and accuracy, the exponential model was the optimal model for showing the relationship between the comprehensive effects of the time, water-cement ratio, and consistency coefficient of the power-law cement grouts. The linear model was the optimal model of the rheological index based on the comprehensive effect of time and the water-cement ratio. Based on this, a power-law rheological equation with consideration of the comprehensive effect of time and water-cement ratio was established. The research results could not only improve the rheological theory of power-law cement grouts but also provide technical support for engineering practice.

Herein, we successfully fabricated an Al-doped α-Ga2O3 nanorod array on FTO using the hydrothermal and post-annealing processes. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that an Al-doped α-Ga2O3 nanorod array on FTO has been realized via a much simpler and cheaper way than that based on metal–organic chemical vapor deposition, magnetron sputtering, molecular beam epitaxy, and pulsed laser deposition. And, a self-powered Al-doped α-Ga2O3 nanorod array/FTO photodetector was also realized as a photoanode at 0 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell, showing a peak responsivity of 1.46 mA/W at 260 nm. The response speed of the Al-doped device was 0.421 s for rise time, and 0.139 s for decay time under solar-blind UV (260 nm) illumination. Compared with the undoped device, the responsivity of the Al-doped device was ~5.84 times larger, and the response speed was relatively faster. When increasing the biases from 0 V to 1 V, the responsivity, quantum efficiency, and detectivity of the Al-doped device were enhanced from 1.46 mA/W to 2.02 mA/W, from ~0.7% to ~0.96%, and from ~6 × 109 Jones to ~1 × 1010 Jones, respectively, due to the enlarged depletion region. Therefore, Al doping may provide a route to enhance the self-powered photodetection performance of α-Ga2O3 nanorod arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WST-1 assay is an efficient test for cell viability measurement and the standard incubation time is 2h. In order to test if one-time addition of WST-1 reagent can reflect the relative cell viability trend of the testing agents at different time points, the effects of 2h standard incubation time and long term incubation time (2h+24h, 2h+48h) of WST-1 were compared in the rat airway smooth muscle cells (ASM cells) after adding of the testing protein MRP-14. Our study demonstrated that the effect of different dosages of the protein after 2h WST-1 incubation on ASM cells showed a tendency of inhibition and achieved the maximal inhibition effect at 72h. The relative cell viability trend of the 2h+24h group was the same to that of the 2h WST-1 incubation, which means that 24h prolonged incubation time of WST-1 reagent could still reflect the relative cell viability trend. In conclusion, the study suggested that the WST-1 is a proper candidate reagent for continuous monitation of cell viability.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) random access preambles are generated from cyclically shifted Zadoff-Chu(ZC) sequences of prime length by using so-called Discrete Fourier Transformation-Spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) modulation. In this paper we propose a novel preamble generation to reduce the storage and complexity of cyclically shifted ZC sequences’ Discrete Fourier Transformation (DFT). The proposed preamble generation allows the DFT of cyclically shifted ZC sequences to rely only on several constant factors and the elements of non-cyclically shifted ZC sequences which have already been generated. This preamble generation merely requires the storage of several constant factors, while avoids large storage and complex computation of complex exponential function.