Search

The present study explores an extremely rare disease, thymic mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, for its characteristics and prognostic factors by analyzing the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.From 2000 to 2018, cases with a diagnosed thymic MALT lymphoma were extracted. Clinical characteristics, treatments, and survival patterns of these cases were analyzed.Thymic MALT lymphoma (n = 26) accounted for 0.09% of all MALT lymphomas. With a sex ratio of 0.53 (male/female), 68% white population was affected. Most cases were diagnosed with Ann Arbor stage I (50%), yet advanced-stage did not show worse prognosis (p = 0.236). Different treatment protocols did not influence the overall prognosis (p 0.99). The 5- and 10- year overall survival rates were 83.1% and 78.2%, respectively. Older than 70 years may be an independent risk factor for overall survival (HR = 7.166 [95% CI 1.173-43.756], p = 0.033).Thymic MALT lymphoma is a highly rare disease with a favorable prognosis. Ann Arbor staging might not be appropriate to classify severity of this disease or its treatment. Older people may have worse survival. A standardized treatment mode needs to be established, and surgery could remain as the mainstay.

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma of the thymus is a rare disease. The present meta-analysis aims at accumulating current evidence to explore the clinical characteristics, treatments, and prognoses of thymic MALT lymphoma.We searched seven databases for studies published between the start date of database establishment and September 15, 2021. We included studies of patients with histological diagnoses and excluded those without data specifically on thymic MALT lymphoma. The quality was analyzed using an assessment tool. All data were tabulated. Pooled proportion was obtained using random-effects model. Statistical analysis was performed on R statistic software.Overall, 52 case reports and 13 case series were eligible. The quality of case reports was inferior to that of case series in terms of selection (P0.001). Based on the analysis of patients in the case reports, age, gender, concurrent diseases, and tumor size did not differ between limited-stage and advanced-stage cases. Surgery is the mainstay to treat thymic MALT lymphoma. The surgical approach and extent did not influence the occurrence of events. Patients at Ann Arbor stage I were prone to not receiving postoperative therapy (P=0.011), though it may not reduce the occurrence of events (P=0.637). The five-year overall survival (OS) rate and five-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate were 97.2% and 88.4%, respectively. Patients with advanced-stage disease were more likely to suffer events (P=0.009).Thymic MALT lymphoma is an extremely rare disease with a favorable prognosis. Currently available evidence is insufficient to draw solid judgments about treatment and prognosis. However, patients may benefit if thymectomy is chosen as the primary treatment. In some patients, lymph node sampling or dissection should be considered. In addition, if the patient is at an advanced-stage, postoperative therapy should be considered.

To prepare supported catalysts with high loading and high dispersion of active metals is a crucial challenge in heterogeneous catalysis. Here we report the fabrication of very reactive catalyst that contains finely dispersed copper with 20 wt% content supported on high-surface area CeO2 for the water–gas shift (WGS) reaction. This copper-ceria catalyst shows superb activity with a CO consumption rate of 116.7 μmolCO gcat-1 s−1 at 300 ℃, nearly one order of magnitude more active than other copper-based catalysts ever reported. Based on the precise and integrated characterizations, the oxidized not the metallic Cu are proved to be active centers where the adsorbed CO directly reacted with bridged —OH groups to finish the WGS reaction. The oxidized Cu sites are confirmed to be originated from the activation effect from Cu to CeO2, which promotes the oxygen of CeO2 diffuse from the bulk to surface, making Cu oxidized even under reductive atmosphere.

Urea is often present in waste water but can be used in powering fuel cells and as an alternative oxidation substrate to water in an electrolyser. However, an insufficient mechanistic understanding and the lack of efficient catalysts for the urea oxidation reaction have hampered the development of such applications. Here we demonstrate that a nickel ferrocyanide (Ni2Fe(CN)6) catalyst supported on Ni foam can drive the urea oxidation reaction with a higher activity and better stability than those of conventional Ni-based catalysts. Our experimental and computational data suggest a urea oxidation reaction pathway different from most other Ni-based catalysts that comprise NiOOH derivatives as the catalytically active compound. Ni2Fe(CN)6 appears to be able to directly facilitate a two-stage reaction pathway that involves an intermediate ammonia production (on the Ni site) and its decomposition to N2 (on the Fe site). Owing to the different rate-determining steps with more favourable thermal/kinetic energetics, Ni2Fe(CN)6 achieves a 100 mA cm−2 anodic current density at a potential of 1.35 V (equal to an overpotential of 0.98 V). Urea oxidation could be a lower-energy alternative to water oxidation in hydrogen-producing electrolysers, but improved catalysts are required to facilitate the reaction. Geng et al. report nickel ferrocyanide as a promising catalyst and suggest that it operates via a different pathway to that of previous materials.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of 30-day unplanned reoperations after thoracic surgery. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients with unplanned reoperations within 30 days after thoracic surgery in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from May 2016 to May 2021. Results The 30-day unplanned reoperations showed the incidence of 0.75%(79/10 543),the median hospital stay of 19(12,37) days,and the median hospitalization cost of 109 929.11(80 549.46,173 491.87) yuan.Twenty-two(27.85%) patients received blood transfusion and 26(32.91%) underwent intensive care.The period between May 2016 and May 2017 witnessed the most unplanned reoperations.The main causes of unplanned reoperations after thoracic surgery were bleeding(21.52%),chylothorax(17.72%),pulmonary air leakage(16.46%),atelectasis(13.92%),and gastroesophageal fistula(11.39%).Specifically,the main causes of unplanned reoperations in the patients of non-esophagus/cardia group were bleeding,pulmonary air leakage,atelectasis,and chylothorax,and those in the patients of esophagus/cardia group were gastroesophageal fistula,incision infection and poor healing,bleeding,and chylothorax.Among all the patients with unplanned reoperations,4 patients died,17 improved,and 58 recovered. Conclusions The patients who underwent unplanned reoperations after thoracic surgery had a long hospital stay and high hospitalization costs. Bleeding,chylothorax,pulmonary air leakage,atelectasis,and gastroesophageal fistula were the main reasons for the unplanned reoperations.

The metal-support interfaces between metals and oxide supports have long been studied in catalytic applications, thanks to their significance in structural stability and efficient catalytic activity. The metal-rare earth oxide interface is particularly interesting because these early transition cations have high electrophilicity, and therefore good binding strength with Lewis basic molecules, such as H2O. Based on this feature, here we design a highly efficient composite Ni-Y2O3 catalyst, which forms abundant active Ni-NiOx-Y2O3 interfaces under the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction condition, achieving 140.6 μmolCO gcat−1 s−1 rate at 300 °C, which is the highest activity for Ni-based catalysts. A combination of theory and ex/in situ experimental study suggests that Y2O3 helps H2O dissociation at the Ni-NiOx-Y2O3 interfaces, promoting this rate limiting step in the WGS reaction. Construction of such new interfacial structure for molecules activation holds great promise in many catalytic systems.

The metal-support interfaces between metals and oxide supports have long been studied in catalytic applications, thanks to their significance in structural stability and efficient catalytic activity. The metal-rare earth oxide interface is particularly interesting because these early transition cations have high electrophilicity, and therefore good binding strength with Lewis basic molecules, such as H

Objective To investigate the application value of indocyanine green(ICG)in the localization of small pulmonary nodules in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery(VATS). Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 45 patients with small nodules(diameter1 cm)who received preoperative localization with ICG and underwent VATS wedge resection from October 2020 to February 2021.The data for analysis included patients age,nodule diameter,distance from the parietal pleura,nodule density,success rate of localization,time of localization,incidence of complications,and pathological findings. Results The success rate of localization was 100%.The average nodule size was 6.3 mm,and the nodules were(10±11)mm from the parietal pleura.After localization of 59 nodules,13(22.0%)cases were found to have mild pneumothorax,and 4(6.7%)cases were found to have mild hemorrhage.The success rate of operation was 100%,and 43(72.9%)cases were confirmed adenocarcinoma by postoperative pathology. Conclusion ICG has a high success rate and good safety in the localization of small pulmonary nodules in VATS.

The construction of stable active site in nanocatalysts is of great importance but is a challenge in heterogeneous catalysis. Unexpectedly, coordination-unsaturated and atomically dispersed copper species were constructed and stabilized in a sintered copper-ceria catalyst through air-calcination at 800 °C. This sintered copper-ceria catalyst showed a very high activity for CO oxidation with a CO consumption rate of 6100 μmolCO·gCu-1·s-1 at 120 °C, which was at least 20 times that of other reported copper catalysts. Additionally, the excellent long-term stability was unbroken under the harsh cycled reaction conditions. Based on a comprehensive structural characterization and mechanistic study, the copper atoms with unsaturated coordination in the form of Cu1O3 were identified to be the sole active site, at which both CO and O2 molecules were activated, thus inducing remarkable CO oxidation activity with a very low copper loading (1 wt %).

Supported gold catalysts exhibit very high activity for CO oxidation. However, there is lack of systematic study for supports effect on reactants adsorption and products desorption. Herein, we successfully prepared supported gold catalysts on TiO2 matrix exposing either {1 0 1} or {0 0 1} crystal plane (labeled as Au/TiO2-1 0 1 and Au/TiO2-0 0 1 respectively) by deposition-precipitation (DP) method. It is found that the reactivity of Au/TiO2-1 0 1 was much higher than Au/TiO2-0 0 1 in CO oxidation reaction (9.33 × 10−3 molCOgAu−1 s−1 vs. 6.23 × 10−4 molCOgAu−1 s−1 at 30 °C). The gold nanoparticles (∼2 nm) were detected as sole gold species in Au/TiO2-1 0 1, while not only gold nanoparticles (∼4 nm) but also clusters (∼1.3 nm) were present in Au/TiO2-0 0 1. The difference in gold status induced different CO adsorption situations that CO was more effectively adsorbed on gold nanoparticles in Au/TiO2-1 0 1 which existed more Au0 site. Meanwhile, we revealed that the bidentate carbonate, which could either block active sites for the reaction or hinder access of reactants, were adsorbed much more strongly on TiO2-0 0 1. While on TiO2-1 0 1, bicarbonate was the main surface species which was easier decomposed to form CO2. Therefore, the differences between Au/TiO2-1 0 1 and Au/TiO2-0 0 1 in the efficiency of CO adsorption and the ability of CO2 desorption resulted in disparate reactivity. We reasonably gave the deep insight into the support effect that was intrinsically related to the adsorption and desorption behavior of surface species on the catalyst.

Electrochemical two-electron oxygen reduction is an environmental-friendly and promising method to generate H2O2. However, a great challenge remains to develop more economic and effective electrocatalysts for practical application. Here, we have developed a CNT@PANI-NO electrocatalyst that is significantly different from the conventional electrocatalyst previously reported (such as metal, alloy, carbon materials doped with heteroatoms, metal single-atom catalysts). We firstly find that the polyaniline (PANI) treated by dilute nitric acid can be changed into the PANI-NO product with the functional group of -NO. Then we introduce the PANI-NO on the surface of carboxylated carbon nanotubes to obtain the CNT@PANI-NO nanocomposites, which exhibit excellent electrochemical performance to H2O2 production. The H2O2 selectivity of the typical CNT@PANI-NO is between 87% and 94% at the potential of 0.2-0.68 V (vs. RHE), the faradaic efficiency is close to 95% and the current density is up to 2.9 mA/cm2 (at 0.3V) in alkaline condition. The DFT results give the origin of the catalytic activity. This study provides a new idea for the application of polymer in electrocatalysis and a new way to develop the high-performance 2e-ORR electrocatalyst.

Urea oxidation, a key process in energy and environmental science, faces challenges because of the insufficient understanding of its mechanism and the lack of efficient catalysts. Here we demonstrate that nickel ferrocyanide (Ni2Fe(CN)6) molecular catalyst supported on Ni form can drive urea oxidation reaction (UOR) with the record electrochemical activity and stability among all supported catalysts reported so far. A combination of kinetics data, in-situ spectroscopic measurements and energy computations suggests a new UOR pathway that delivers such outstanding performance. Different from most studied Ni-based catalysts with NiOOH derivative as a real catalytically active site for UOR, Ni2Fe(CN)6 appears to be a next-generation catalyst able to directly facilitate a two-step reaction pathway involving a critical reaction of intermediate ammonia’s production (on Ni site) and oxidation (on Fe site). Due to the alternative rate-determining step with a more favorable thermal energetics, Ni2Fe(CN)6 broke the limiting activity of the reported so far UOR catalysts. As a result, the UOR process on Ni2Fe(CN)6 can replace conventional water oxidation process in various energy-saving systems for hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide production.

Sharing models of scientific data determine the effectiveness. The development of big data technologies leads to new influence and challenges to the sharing models. This paper analyzes five common sharing models and investigates the sharing model of scientific data for China. We analyze the system architecture, driving force and guarantee mechanism. Some suggestions are also proposed for promoting the scientific data sharing of China.

A new 1D phosphorescence coordination polymer (CP) [Pb2O(C6H4NO2)2]n (1; C6H4NO2 = nicotinate) was synthesized by a solvothermal reaction and PbO was used as a Pb(II) source instead of traditional Pb(II) salts. This remarkably thermal-stable CP crystallizes in the space group I41/a. In the crystal structure of 1, two different Pb(II) ions show a five-coordinated and hemidirected coordination geometry, two nonequivalent nicotinate ligands link to Pb(II) ions in μ2–η1:η1 and μ4–η2:η2 modes, and the hemidirected coordination polyhedra of Pb(II) form a helical lead-oxide chain via an edge-sharing fashion along the c-axis. Under ambient conditions, 1 emits cyan ligand-based phosphorescence with an absolute quantum yield as high as 59.4% and a lifetime of 9.86 ms under UV-light irradiation. Under the same conditions, nicotinic acid emits simultaneously fluorescence and phosphorescence with a total absolute quantum yield of 4.8%. The great enhancement of phosphorescence quantum yield in 1, regarding nicotinic acid, is assigned to the heavy atom effect of Pb(II) and negligible π⋯π interaction between pyridyl rings. Noticeably, the vibronic fine structure is observed in the emission spectrum of 1 at room temperature. Additionally, 1 shows thermochromic behavior, and such functionality probably has realistic application in the field of temperature detection.

Separation performance of nanofiltration (NF) membranes is constrained by the trade-off between permeability and selectivity. Herein, a facile and environmental friendly water activation before microwave heating was performed to improve the performance of NF membranes and overcome this trade-off. The water activation before microwave heating facilitated the hydrolysis of acyl chloride, resulting in a loose polyamide layer with enhanced hydrophilicity and surface charge. The activated NF membrane showed a permeance of 29.9 L m-2 h-1 bar-1, which is almost 2 times higher than the control. The membrane possesses a Na2SO4 rejection of 96.8% and high selectivity to antibiotics and NaCl. At the meantime, the fouling resistance to model foulants including bovine serum albumin and sodium alginate was significantly enhanced. The water activation before microwave heating is proved to be an adequate strategy for fabricating NF membranes.

This paper presents a transient thermal analysis of cold strip rolling, integrating both the microscale asperity deformation and macroscale strip deformation. A statistical characterisation was carried out to obtain the contact pressure and thermal contact conductance at the roll-strip interface. To address the effects of rolling speed and temperature rise, Johnson-cook constitutive model of yielding strength was employed to incorporate the strain rate and temperature variation in the analysis. It was found that the developed model can successfully predict both the interface contact stress and temperature rise in the rolling bite.

Technology readiness levels are widely used to indicate maturities of technologies. Traditional calculators assign a scalar from 1 to 9 to describe how mature a technology is. The level 1 is the lowest level and 9 is the highest level. However, this method cannot provide further details about each level. This paper presents an assessment system to calculate technology readiness levels from seven dimensions including requirement, design, implementation, verification, configuration, risk and safety. Besides, this system also provides a management scheme for complicated technologies with a divide-and-conquer strategy. A web-based application is developed to demonstrate the usability and effectiveness of our system.

Keyword extraction plays an essential role for text mining and further semantic analysis. It is a big challenge to extract keywords from short text, especially from short Chinese text. This paper presents a keyword extraction method for Chinese scientific abstracts. Firstly, an abstract is divided into meaningful units of Chinese words. Secondly, after excluding stop words, the TextRank method is adopted to extract keywords with a graph-based ranking model, and generate multi-word candidates by concatenating keywords adjacent in the abstract text. Thirdly, a keyword dictionary and a probability calculation algorithm based on a Chinese corpus are presented to check whether a word sequence is a correct multi-word keyword. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, a comparison experiment is conducted to show that our method outperforms the TextRank algorithm and TFIDF algorithm in Chinese multi-word keyword extraction.

This paper investigates the effect of the plastic deformation of surface asperities on the interface friction in metal forming involving multi-scale deformation with random surface topography. The equivalent interfacial layer (EIL) introduced by the authors previously was used to integrate the Reynolds equation with the plastic deformation of the randomly distributed surface asperities. The contributions of solid-lubricant interaction, lubricant viscosity and microscopic deformation were therefore included efficiently in a conventional macroscopic finite element analysis. The merit of the method was demonstrated by an investigation into the metal strip rolling, whose friction, lubrication and pressure distribution are otherwise hard to be characterized accurately.

The quasi-Green function method (QGFM) is applied to solve the free vibration of clamped orthotropic thin plates with parallelogram boundary shape on Winkler foundation. Firstly the model governing differential equation of the problem is reduced to the boundary value problem of the biharmonic operator, and then it is reduced to the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind by Greens formula. A quasi-Green function is established by using the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. This function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. The singularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. The comparison with ANSYS finite element solution shows a good agreement. The proposed method is a novel and effective mathematical one.

For solving the big deflection problem which is cause by the far cantilever segment of dead load zero bending moment method, analyzing the composition process of dead load and prestress bending moment, and this paper presents the improvement of dead load zero bending moment method.The improved method adopts the prestress in principle: far segment more and close segment litter, which not only can insure the prestress bending moment bigger than dead load zero bending moment in all over the cantilever constructing stage, but also can control the deflection well. The improved method is applied to a PC continuous bridge which has a main span of 168 metres, the deflection decreases 37.4% to that of the original design.

The quasi-Greens function method (QGFM) is applied to solve the bending problem of simply supported polygonal shallow spherical shells on Pasternak foundation. A quasi-Greens function is established by using the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. And the function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. Then the differential equation of the problem is reduced to two simultaneous Fredholm integral equations of the second kind by the Greens formula. The singularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. The comparison with the ANSYS finite element solution shows a good agreement, and it demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.

The R-function theory and variational method are employed to solve the torsion problem of the bar with a complicated cross-section. When the variational method is used to solve the elastic torsion problem alone, the stress function can be set to meet the boundary condition, only with the simple cross-section such as the rectangle and ellipse. For the complicated cross-section, it is hard to find a stress function to meet the boundary condition. The R-function theory can solve the problem, and it can be used to describe the complicated cross-section by implicit function form. Introducing the R-function theory can be easy to construct the stress function that satisfied the boundary of the complicated cross-section. A numerical example demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the present method.

The R-function theory and least square method are employed to solve the torsion problem of the bar with H-shaped cross-section. When the least square method is used to solve the elastic torsion problem alone, the stress function can be set to meet the boundary condition, only with the simple cross-section such as the rectangle and ellipse. For the H-shaped cross-section, it is hard to find a stress function to meet the boundary condition. The R-function theory can solve the problem, and it can be used to describe H-shaped cross-section by implicit function form. Introducing the R-function theory can be easy to construct the stress function that satisfied the boundary of H-shaped cross-section. A numerical example demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the present method.

The edge drop of steel strip is an important factor in determining the quality of rolled products. Edge drop control system used on 1420 mm cold tandem mill is introduced, which was developed by BAOSTEEL. Edge drop control system went into operation in December 2011. Now system works normally at all times and gives better control performance for the edge drop.

In this paper, the situation of the midspan deflection of the span continuous rigid frame bridge is described, and the cause of the deflection is explained. It may be caused by the problem of the rigidity. Then the ANSYS is used to conduct analysis. The deflection of the biggest cantilever of the rigid frame bridge is the controlled target, and the optimizing design of the Sutong bridge is conducted. A meaningful result is obtained, and it provides a basis of the choice of the height of beams.

The quasi-Green’s function method (QGFM) is applied to solve the bending problem of simply supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shells on Winkler foundation. A quasi-Green’s function is established by using the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. And the function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. Then the differential equation of the problem is reduced to two simultaneous Fredholm integral equations of the second kind by the Green’s formula. The singularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. The comparison with the ANSYS finite element solution shows a good agreement, and it demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method.

Objective To evaluate the use of titanium mesh reconstruction after sternal tumor resection. Methods From January 2007 to January 2011, 14 patients with sternal tumors were admitted into Peking Union Medical Hospital. The clinical characteristics, surgical resection, and technique of reconstruction were reviewed. Results Of the 14 patients, 3 had a metastatic sternal tumor, the primary sites of which were as follows: hepatic carcinoma in one case (metastasis 19 years after operation), breast carcinoma in another case (metastasis 5 years after operation), and renal carcinoma in the other case (found simultaneously). Two patients showed local involvement of the sternum: 1 had thymic carcinoma, and the other had myofibrosarcoma. The remaining 9 patients had primary tumors: 4 were osteochondroma, 3 chondrosarcoma, 1 eosinophilic granuloma, 1 non-Hodgekin's lymphoma. En bloc resection of the sternal tumor was performed in all the 14 patients. The defect was repaired with the titanium mesh adjusted to the shape of the defect and fixed with the stainless steel wire. Eleven patients were followed up for a period from 2 months to 4 years, during which no translocation or broken of the titanium mesh was observed. Conclusions Radical en bloc excision remains the treatment of choice for sternal tumors. Sternum defect reconstruction using titanium mesh as a rigid replacement proves appropriate and effective.

The Green quasifunction method (GQM) is applied to solve the bending problem of clamped orthotropic thin plates with trapezoidal boundary shape on Winkler foundation. Firstly the governing differential equation of the problem is reduced to the boundary value problem of the biharmonic operator, and then it is reduced to the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind by Green’s formula. A Green quasifunction is established by using the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. This function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. The singularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. The comparison with ANSYS finite element solution shows good agreement. The proposed method is a novel and effective mathematical one.

The Green quasifunction method(GQM) is employed to solve the bending problem of clamped orthotropic thin plates with trapezoidal boundary shape. Firstly the governing differential equation of the problem is reduced to the boundary value problem of the biharmonic operator, and then it is reduced to the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind by Green’s formula. A Green quasifunction is established by using the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. This function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. The irregularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. A numerical example demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method, and it is a novel mathematical method.

In the paper, two key technologies of cap beams of highway bridges are studied, and the reductions of the bending moment on a pillar top and the lateral loading of live one are calculated and done experimental research. For the reduction problem of the bending moment on a pillar top, we build a three-dimensional entity model by ANSYS, and extract the bending moment of cap beams by the method of using track variable operation in post-treatment. Comparing the results of three-dimensional entity model with that of measurement of cap beams of a bridge in Zhuhai, it reveals that the reduction theory of the bending moment on an intermediate supporting of continuous beams can be applicable. For the lateral loading problem of the live load on cap beams, a new delivery method for the live load on cap beams is proposed. The transferring method is more conform to actual structure.

The quasi-Green’s function method is used to solve the free vibration problem of clamped thin plates on the Winkler foundation. Quasi-Green’s function is established by the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. The function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. The mode-shape differential equation of the free vibration problem of clamped thin plates on the Winkler foundation is reduced to the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind by Green’s formula. The irregularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. The numerical results show the high accuracy of the proposed method.

The idea of quasi-Green’s function method is clarified by considering a free vibration problem of the simply-supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell. A quasi-Green’s function is established by using the fundamental solution and boundary equation of the problem. This function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. The mode shape differential equations of the free vibration problem of a simply-supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell are reduced to two simultaneous Fredholm integral equations of the second kind by the Green formula. There are multiple choices for the normalized boundary equation. Based on a chosen normalized boundary equation, a new normalized boundary equation can be established such that the irregularity of the kernel of integral equations is overcome. Finally, natural frequency is obtained by the condition that there exists a nontrivial solution to the numerically discrete algebraic equations derived from the integral equations. Numerical results show high accuracy of the quasi-Green’s function method.

Using 3-D elastic-plastic FEM, the cold strip rolling process in a 4-high mill was simulated. The elastic deformation of rolls, the plastic deformation of the strip, and the pressure between the work roll and the backup roll were taken into account. The distribution of rolling pressure along the strip width was obtained. Based on the simulation results, the peak value of rolling pressure and the location of the peak were analyzed under different rolling conditions. The effects of the roll bending force and the strip width on the distribution of rolling pressure along the width direction were determined.

Objective Placental transmogrification of the lung (PTL) is rare cystic lesion. Thus, we summarized the characteristics of PTL to explore the strategy of diagnosis and treatment. Methods Two patients pathologically confirmed PTL were treated in our hospital. Retrospectively analysis was performed on such 2 cases and 34 cases of PTL reported in abroad. The basic information and clinical characteristics from each patient were gathered and analyzed. Results The imaging findings of 2 patients were the pulmonary solid mass with peripheral multiple pulmonary bullae. After the improvement of preoperative examination and the multidisciplinary discussion of thoracic surgery, respiration, imaging, and anesthesia, the possibility of benign pulmonary lesions was improved in all cases. Thoracoscopic lobectomy was carried out under general anesthesia, and the intraoperative frozen pathology showed bullae of lung. Ultimately, PTL was confirmed by paraffin pathological diagnosis. Both 2 PTL patients had satisfied recovery without obvious complications or imaging abnormalities. In addition, the literature review of 34 PTL cases from PubMed database was summarized between 1995 and 2015. A total of 36 patients were retrospectively analyzed in our study. The age of 34 cases ranged from 24 to 72 years (an average age of 45.6 ± 13.5 years). Among these, 8 cases were no obvious symptoms. In addition, the other 25 cases had respiratory symptoms such as chest tightness, cough, and chest pain. Moreover, the mean size of pulmonary bulla was 6.5 ± 5.5 cm. The size of the solid lesions in 23 cases was 3.3 ± 3.4 cm (ranging from 0.5 to 15). The follow-up period was 2 to 96 months (average 27.3 ± 29.8 months). Conclusion Early diagnosis and surgical operation of PTL should be performed as soon as possible. These lesions are best treated by minimally invasive surgery, so as to preserve more normal lung tissue and avoid the pneumonectomy.

To analyze the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer associated paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis (PLE).The clinical data of 7 cases of patients with lung cancer associated PLE out of 8927 patients of lung cancer from January 2000 to May 2010 was analyzed retrospectively. All the patients were male, aging from 41 to 54 years with a mean of 48 years. The data including history, physical examination, laboratory tests, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up were collected and analyzed.All the 7 patients had smoking history. All 7 patients had varying short-term memory loss, 6 had epilepsy, 4 had different degrees of mental disorders, and 2 had syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone. Malignancies were screened and detected by chest X-ray or CT scan, while the pathological diagnoses were obtained through biopsy or transbronchial needle aspiration through electronic bronchoscope (5/7), biopsy of supraclavicular lymph nodes (1/7) and open pulmonary lobectomy (1/7). The pathological diagnosis included small cell lung cancer in 6 cases, adenocarcinoma of lung in 1 case. During the follow-up, 1 patient was lost, and the mean time of follow-up of the remaining 6 patients was about 11.5 months (ranged from 4 to 21 months). Four patients received early immunosuppressive treatment in terms of corticosteroids, only slight relief of neurological symptoms was seen in 2 patients. However, after chemotherapy (6/6), radiation (3/6), or surgical removal of the tumor (1/6), complete remission (3/6, with negative anti-Hu antibody) or partial remission (3/6, 2 of whom with positive anti-Hu antibody) of neurological symptoms were observed. Till October 2010, 3 patients with poorer tumor stag died ( survival were 4, 10, and 14 months respectively), while the other 3 patients with negative anti-Hu antibody and relative better tumor stag were still in the follow-up (the period were 5, 15, and 21 months).PLE is a rare disease. In comparison with immunosuppressive therapy, chemotherapy, radiation or surgical removal of the tumor could provide better remission of the neurological symptoms. Positive serum anti-Hu antibody, poorer tumor stag, and together with poorer response to treatments seem to indicate a poorer prognosis.