Tissue-based Gene Expression Diagnosis of Mild and Moderate T-cell-mediated Rejection to Guide Therapy in Kidney Transplants.

Background: Mild histologic lesions of tubulo-interstitial inflammation could represent a "response-to-wounding" rather than allorecognition. Tissue gene expression may complement histopathology for T-cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) diagnostics.

Methods: We report on the incorporation of tissue gene expression testing using a Molecular Microscope Diagnostic System into the management of kidney transplant biopsies with suspected TCMR.

Latent pathway-based Bayesian models to identify intervenable factors of racial disparities in breast cancer stage at diagnosis.

Purpose: We built Bayesian Network (BN) models to explain roles of different patient-specific factors affecting racial differences in breast cancer stage at diagnosis, and to identify healthcare related factors that can be intervened to reduce racial health disparities.

Methods: We studied women age 67-74 with initial diagnosis of breast cancer during 2006-2014 in the National Cancer Institute's SEER-Medicare dataset. Our models included four measured variables (tumor grade, hormone receptor status, screening utilization and biopsy delay) expressed through two latent pathways-a tumor biology path, and health-care access/utilization path.

Bayesian regression analysis of skewed tensor responses.

Tensor regression analysis is finding vast emerging applications in a variety of clinical settings, including neuroimaging, genomics, and dental medicine. The motivation for this paper is a study of periodontal disease (PD) with an order-3 tensor response: multiple biomarkers measured at prespecified tooth-sites within each tooth, for each participant. A careful investigation would reveal considerable skewness in the responses, in addition to response missingness.

Activation of nitrogen species mixed with Ar and HS plasma for directly N-doped TMD films synthesis.

Among the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD), tungsten disulfide (WS) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS) are promising sulfides for replacing noble metals in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) owing to their abundance and good catalytic activity. However, the catalytic activity is derived from the edge sites of WS and MoS, while their basal planes are inert. We propose a novel process for N-doped TMD synthesis for advanced HER using N + Ar + HS plasma.

Rural-Urban Differences in Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis.

To analyze the extent to which rural-urban differences in breast cancer stage at diagnosis are explained by factors including age, race, tumor grade, receptor status, and insurance status. Using the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 18 database, analysis was performed using data from women aged 50-74 diagnosed with breast cancer between the years 2013 and 2016. Patient rurality of residence was coded according to SEER's Rural-Urban Continuum Code 2013: Large Urban (RUCC 1), Small Urban (RUCC 2,3), and Rural (RUCC 4,5,6,7,8,9).

Naïve Bayesian network-based contribution analysis of tumor biology and healthcare factors to racial disparity in breast cancer stage-at-diagnosis.

Background: Variation in breast cancer stage at initial diagnosis (including racial disparities) is driven both by tumor biology and healthcare factors.

Methods: We studied women age 67-74 with initial diagnosis of breast cancer from 2006 through 2014 in the SEER-Medicare database. We extracted variables related to tumor biology (histologic grade and hormone receptor status) and healthcare factors (screening mammography [SM] utilization and time delay from mammography to diagnostic biopsy).

Synthesis of vertically aligned wafer-scale tantalum disulfide using high-Ar/HS ratio plasma.

Nanostructural modification of two-dimensional (2D) materials has attracted significant attention for enhancing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity. In this study, the nanostructure of TaSfilms was controlled by controlling the Ar/HS gas ratio used in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). At a high Ar/HS gas ratio, vertically aligned TaS(V-TaS) films were formed over a large-area (4 in) at a temperature of 250 °C, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the lowest temperature reported for PECVD.

Low-Temperature Synthesis of Wafer-Scale MoS-WS Vertical Heterostructures by Single-Step Penetrative Plasma Sulfurization.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted considerable attention owing to their synergetic effects with other 2D materials, such as graphene and hexagonal boron nitride, in TMD-based heterostructures. Therefore, it is important to understand the physical properties of TMD-TMD vertical heterostructures for their applications in next-generation electronic devices. However, the conventional synthesis process of TMD-TMD heterostructures has some critical limitations, such as nonreproducibility and low yield.