Enhanced Positioning Strategies to Reduce Pneumothorax in CT-Guided Lung Biopsies.

Background/objectives: This study aimed to investigate pneumothorax risk, focusing on the gravitational effect of pleural pressure caused by specific patient positioning.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 144 percutaneous CT-guided lung biopsies performed between January 2019 and December 2023. Patients were grouped into those with or without pneumothorax.

Pulmonary Sequestration: A Monocentric Case Series Report.

Pulmonary sequestration is a rare pulmonary malformation that often necessitates surgical intervention due to potential complications such as recurrent infections or hemoptysis. This case series presents the clinical trajectory of four patients diagnosed with pulmonary sequestration, from initial diagnosis through postoperative care, with a specific focus on the limited arterial supply in two of the cases. We conducted a retrospective descriptive analysis of four patients diagnosed with pulmonary sequestration who underwent surgical treatment at our institution between January 2013 and November 2022.

Sensor Clustering Using a -Means Algorithm in Combination with Optimized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Trajectory in Wireless Sensor Networks.

We examine a general wireless sensor network (WSN) model which incorporates a large number of sensors distributed over a large and complex geographical area. The study proposes solutions for a flexible deployment, low cost and high reliability in a wireless sensor network. To achieve these aims, we propose the application of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as a flying relay to receive and forward signals that employ nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) for a high spectral sharing efficiency.

Surgical smoke: modern mobile smoke evacuation systems improve occupational safety in the operating theatre.

Objectives: Evaluation of smoke capture efficiency of different mobile smoke evacuation devices with respect to volatile organic compounds and their noise emission.

Methods: Electrosurgical incisions were performed on fresh porcine liver in an operating room with vertical laminar flow. The generated surgical smoke was analysed with proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry with and without the use of a mobile smoke evacuation system consisting of a smoke evacuator machine, a suction hose and a handpiece.

Transoral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy by Vestibular Approach for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Intraoperatively Invading Strap Muscle.

Background: Transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOETVA) has become increasingly popular in the surgical treatment of thyroid cancer. However, its application in T3b disease has not been well-defined.

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental study on patients with an intraoperative diagnosis of T3bN0M0 differentiated thyroid carcinoma from January 2019 to January 2021 in our institution.

Minimally invasive repair of pectus carinatum using the Abramson technique.

In the past, the treatment of pectus carinatum has been managed by open, invasive surgical procedures, which involved the resection of cartilage growth plates (Ravitch procedure). By preventing normal bony growth and maturity, this technique often led to postoperative complications, such as acquired thoracic dystrophy, chronic pain and scarring, and stiffness of the whole anterior chest. Dyspnea and exercise intolerance due to restricted thoracic space and cardiac compression were not uncommon as well.

Lipid signalling enforces functional specialization of T cells in tumours.

Regulatory T cells (T cells) are essential for immune tolerance, but also drive immunosuppression in the tumour microenvironment. Therapeutic targeting of T cells in cancer will therefore require the identification of context-specific mechanisms that affect their function. Here we show that inhibiting lipid synthesis and metabolic signalling that are dependent on sterol-regulatory-element-binding proteins (SREBPs) in T cells unleashes effective antitumour immune responses without autoimmune toxicity.

Cooperative Breakdown of the Oscillator Blockade in the Dicke Model.

The Dicke model, which describes the coupling of an ensemble of spins to a harmonic oscillator, is known for its superradiant phase transition, which can both be observed in the ground state in a purely Hamiltonian setting, as well as in the steady state of an open-system Dicke model with dissipation. We demonstrate that, in addition, the dissipative Dicke model can undergo a second phase transition to a nonstationary phase, characterized by unlimited heating of the harmonic oscillator. Identifying the mechanism of the phase transition and deriving the scaling of the critical coupling with the system size we conclude that the novel phase transition can be understood as a cooperative breakdown of the oscillator blockade which otherwise prevents higher excitation of the system.

Integrated optical multi-ion quantum logic.

Practical and useful quantum information processing requires substantial improvements with respect to current systems, both in the error rates of basic operations and in scale. The fundamental qualities of individual trapped-ion qubits are promising for long-term systems, but the optics involved in their precise control are a barrier to scaling. Planar-fabricated optics integrated within ion-trap devices can make such systems simultaneously more robust and parallelizable, as suggested by previous work with single ions.

Homeostasis and transitional activation of regulatory T cells require c-Myc.

Regulatory T cell (T) activation and expansion occur during neonatal life and inflammation to establish immunosuppression, yet the mechanisms governing these events are incompletely understood. We report that the transcriptional regulator c-Myc (Myc) controls immune homeostasis through regulation of T accumulation and functional activation. Myc activity is enriched in T generated during neonatal life and responding to inflammation.

Evaluations of Biomarker Status Changes between Primary and Recurrent Tumor Tissue Samples in Breast Cancer Patients.

Background: Obtaining tumor specimens and re-evaluating targeted markers is recommended, if possible, in breast cancer patients who relapsed after curative treatment. The biomarker status changes in rebiopsied tumors have been demonstrated to have considerable clinical implications.

Objectives: To identify the changes of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status between the primary and recurrent lesions.

Role of Baseline Albumin-Bilirubin Grade on Predict Overall Survival Among Sorafenib-Treated Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Vietnam.

Introduction: Albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade has been recently used in evaluation of liver function and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, in Vietnam, the utility of ALBI grade in clinical setting has not been adequately investigated.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of 110 patients with HCC treated with sorafenib from January 2010 to November 2018 at 2 tertiary hospitals in Vietnam.

Epidemiological Characteristics of Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Northern Region of Vietnam.

Epidemiological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Southern Vietnam has been well reported as in Globocan 2018 while data from the North has still not been fully presented. Therefore, we conducted this retrospective descriptive study on 198 advanced HCC patients treated at 3 major hospitals in Northern Vietnam to describe demographic features, HCC risk factors, and correlation among them in patients with advanced HCC. This information will lead to prevention efforts and provide information for allocating funds for treatment.

Outage Performance Analysis and SWIPT Optimization in Energy-Harvesting Wireless Sensor Network Deploying NOMA.

Thanks to the benefits of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in wireless communications, we evaluate a wireless sensor network deploying NOMA (WSN-NOMA), where the destination can receive two data symbols in a whole transmission process with two time slots. In this work, two relaying protocols, so-called time-switching-based relaying WSN-NOMA (TSR WSN-NOMA) and power-splitting-based relaying WSN-NOMA (PSR WSN-NOMA) are deployed to study energy-harvesting (EH). Regarding the system performance analysis, we obtain the closed-form expressions for the exact and approximate outage probability (OP) in both protocols, and the delay-limited throughput is also evaluated.

Metabolic heterogeneity underlies reciprocal fates of T17 cell stemness and plasticity.

A defining feature of adaptive immunity is the development of long-lived memory T cells to curtail infection. Recent studies have identified a unique stem-like T-cell subset amongst exhausted CD8-positive T cells in chronic infection, but it remains unclear whether CD4-positive T-cell subsets with similar features exist in chronic inflammatory conditions. Amongst helper T cells, T17 cells have prominent roles in autoimmunity and tissue inflammation and are characterized by inherent plasticity, although how such plasticity is regulated is poorly understood.

Hybrid TSR⁻PSR Alternate Energy Harvesting Relay Network over Rician Fading Channels: Outage Probability and SER Analysis.

In this research, we investigate a hybrid time-switching relay (TSR)⁻power-splitting relay (PSR) alternate energy harvesting (EH) relaying network over the Rician fading channels. For this purpose, the amplify-and-forward (AF) mode is considered for the alternative hybrid time TSR⁻PSR. The system model consists of one source, one destination and two alternative relays for signal transmission from the source to the destination.

Hippo Kinases Mst1 and Mst2 Sense and Amplify IL-2R-STAT5 Signaling in Regulatory T Cells to Establish Stable Regulatory Activity.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and downstream transcription factor STAT5 are important for maintaining regulatory T (Treg) cell homeostasis and function. Treg cells can respond to low IL-2 levels, but the mechanisms of STAT5 activation during partial IL-2 deficiency remain uncertain. We identified the serine-threonine kinase Mst1 as a signal-dependent amplifier of IL-2-STAT5 activity in Treg cells.

Interleukin-17A Promotes Parietal Cell Atrophy by Inducing Apoptosis.

Background & Aims: Atrophic gastritis caused by chronic inflammation in the gastric mucosa leads to the loss of gastric glandular cells, including acid-secreting parietal cells. Parietal cell atrophy in a setting of chronic inflammation induces spasmolytic polypeptide expressing metaplasia, a critical step in gastric carcinogenesis. However, the mechanisms by which inflammation causes parietal cell atrophy and spasmolytic polypeptide expressing metaplasia are not well defined.

Hippo/Mst signalling couples metabolic state and immune function of CD8α dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells orchestrate the crosstalk between innate and adaptive immunity. CD8α dendritic cells present antigens to CD8 T cells and elicit cytotoxic T cell responses to viruses, bacteria and tumours . Although lineage-specific transcriptional regulators of CD8α dendritic cell development have been identified , the molecular pathways that selectively orchestrate CD8α dendritic cell function remain elusive.

mTOR coordinates transcriptional programs and mitochondrial metabolism of activated T subsets to protect tissue homeostasis.

Regulatory T (T) cells derived from the thymus (tT) and periphery (pT) have central and distinct functions in immunosuppression, but mechanisms for the generation and activation of T subsets in vivo are unclear. Here, we show that mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) unexpectedly supports the homeostasis and functional activation of tT and pT cells. mTOR signaling is crucial for programming activated T-cell function to protect immune tolerance and tissue homeostasis.