Survival prognostic analysis of laparoscopic D2 radical resection for locally advanced gastric cancer: A multicenter cohort study.

Background: With the development of minimally invasive surgical techniques, the use of laparoscopic D2 radical surgery for the treatment of locally advanced gastric cancer (GC) has gradually increased. However, the effect of this procedure on survival and prognosis remains controversial. This study evaluated the survival and prognosis of patients receiving laparoscopic D2 radical resection for the treatment of locally advanced GC to provide more reliable clinical evidence, guide clinical decision-making, optimize treatment strategies, and improve the survival rate and quality of life of patients.

Ultrasound and clinical factors predicting central lymph node metastases in patients with unilateral multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Objective: This retrospective study involving a large dataset of unilateral multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma (UM-PTC) sought to identify factors that predict central lymph node metastases (CLNM) in patients.

Methods: We identified a cohort of 158 patients who underwent cervical ultrasonography followed by UM-PTC diagnosis based on postoperative pathology. The relationship between CLNM and UM-PTC clinical ultrasound features was evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses.

Ultrasonic features of automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) and handheld ultrasound (HHUS) combined with molecular biomarkers in predicting axillary lymph node metastasis of clinical T1-T2 breast cancer.

Background: In the post-American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z0011 trial era, clinicians are attempting to preoperatively evaluate axillary lymph node (ALN) status using ultrasound. However, the value of preoperative ultrasound examination remains uncertain. The study aimed to investigate the ultrasonic features of automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) and handheld ultrasound (HHUS), in combination with molecular biomarkers, to predict the risk of ALN metastasis (ALNM) in clinical T1-T2 breast cancer.

Efficient N-Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors and Field-Effect Transistors Based on PNDI-Copolymers Bearing Fluorinated Selenophene-Vinylene-Selenophenes.

n-Type organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) and organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are less developed than their p-type counterparts. Herein, polynaphthalenediimide (PNDI)-based copolymers bearing novel fluorinated selenophene-vinylene-selenophene (FSVS) units as efficient materials for both n-type OECTs and n-type OFETs are reported. The PNDI polymers with oligo(ethylene glycol) (EG7) side chains P(NDIEG7-FSVS), affords a high µC* of > 0.

Comparison of the diagnostic performance and clinical role of different ultrasound-based thyroid malignancy risk stratification systems for medullary thyroid carcinoma.

Background: This study sought to investigate the applicability of different ultrasound (US) thyroid risk stratification systems in diagnosing medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and determining the need for biopsy.

Methods: In total, 34 MTC nodules, 54 papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) nodules, and 62 benign thyroid nodules were examined in this study. All the diagnoses were histopathologically confirmed postoperatively.

Influence of physicians' seniority on efficacy of silver needle therapy for low back fasciitis: A prospective, cohort study.

Background: Physicians' seniority has always been the focus of patients. Silver needle therapy (SNT) has been applied for more than 60 years. It is similar to moxibustion and has a good therapeutic effect on soft tissue pain.

Value of High-Frequency Ultrasonography in the Qualitative and Semi-Quantitative Assessment of Immunoglobulin G4-Related Submandibular Sialadenitis.

Objective: To assess the value of high-frequency ultrasonography in the evaluation of immunoglobulin G4-related submandibular sialadenitis (IgG4-SS).

Methods: Thirty-four submandibular glands in 17 patients with IgG4-SS were retrospectively enrolled, as well as 34 submandibular glands in 17 healthy control subjects. Qualitative ultrasonic features including submandibular gland size, border, echogenicity, and vascularity were reviewed.

Modular Approach to Creating Functionalized Surface Arrays of Molecular Qubits.

The quest for developing quantum technologies is driven by the promise of exponentially faster computations, ultrahigh performance sensing, and achieving thorough understanding of many-particle quantum systems. Molecular spins are excellent qubit candidates because they feature long coherence times, are widely tunable through chemical synthesis, and can be interfaced with other quantum platforms such as superconducting qubits. A present challenge for molecular spin qubits is their integration in quantum devices, which requires arranging them in thin films or monolayers on surfaces.

Microbubble contrast agent SonoVue: An efficient medium for the preoperative lymphatic mapping of thyroid carcinoma.

To assess the value of microbubble contrast agent SonoVue in the thorough preoperative lymphatic mapping of patients with thyroid carcinoma, including the lymphatic drainage region, the detection of sentinel lymph node (SLN), and the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis (LNM). 55 patients with 62 thyroid malignancies proved by surgical pathology (59 papillary thyroid carcinomas and three medullary thyroid carcinomas) who underwent preoperative lymphatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (LCEUS) with microbubble contrast agent SonoVue were enrolled. All LNM were confirmed by pathology.

Assessment of seasonal and spatial water quality variation in a cascading lake system in Chennai, India.

Water quality and scarcity are among the most severe problems humans have been facing in the last decades. India, as a fast-developing country, is not an exception. The surface water quality has deteriorated due to anthropogenic activities.

Effects of sampling strategy in rivers on load estimation for Nitrate-Nitrogen and total Phosphorus in a lowland agricultural area.

The transport of nutrients into water bodies is one of the main causes of water eutrophication. It is therefore important to estimate the loads of nutrients. Discharge and nutrient concentrations are the fundamental elements to estimate the loads of nutrients, the latter can be affected by sampling strategies.

Diagnostic Value of Ultrasound Elastography in the Differentiation of Breast Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and Ductal Carcinoma .

Background: Ultrasound elastography (US-E) has been shown superior to the conventional US in diagnosing benign and malignant breast lesions. In contrast, the role of US-E in the differentiation of breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has been poorly described.

Objective: This study was designed to examine the diagnostic value of US-E in the differentiation of IDC and DCIS.

CNNG: A Convolutional Neural Networks With Gated Recurrent Units for Autism Spectrum Disorder Classification.

As a neurodevelopmental disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) severely affects the living conditions of patients and their families. Early diagnosis of ASD can enable the disease to be effectively intervened in the early stage of development. In this paper, we present an ASD classification network defined as CNNG by combining of convolutional neural network (CNN) and gate recurrent unit (GRU).

The value of ultrasound elastography combined with multi-parameters in the diagnosis of BI-RADS 4 breast lesions.

Background: Female breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer, with an estimated 2.3 million new cases (11.7%) in the global cancer statistics 2020.

Two-Scale Multimodal Medical Image Fusion Based on Structure Preservation.

Medical image fusion has an indispensable value in the medical field. Taking advantage of structure-preserving filter and deep learning, a structure preservation-based two-scale multimodal medical image fusion algorithm is proposed. First, we used a two-scale decomposition method to decompose source images into base layer components and detail layer components.

Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in the Preoperative Evaluation of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Invasiveness.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of preoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the detection of extracapsular extension (ECE) and cervical lymph node metastasis (LNM) of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and the added value of CEUS in the evaluation of PTC invasiveness to conventional ultrasound (US).

Materials And Methods: A total of 62 patients were enrolled retrospectively, including 30 patients with invasive PTCs (Group A, ECE or LNM present) and 32 patients with non-invasive PTCs (Group B). All patients underwent US and CEUS examinations before surgery.

Using integrated models to analyze and predict the variance of diatom community composition in an agricultural area.

With the growing demand of assessing the ecological status, there is the need to fully understand the relationship between the planktic diversity and the environmental factors. Species richness and Shannon index have been widely used to describe the biodiversity of a community. Besides, we introduced the first ordination value from non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) as a new index to represent the community similarity variance.

Risk factors and the potential of nomogram for predicting hospital-acquired pressure injuries.

This 1:5 case-control study aimed to identify the risk factors of hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) and to develop a mathematical model of nomogram for the risk prediction of HAPIs. Data for 370 patients with HAPIs and 1971 patients without HAPIs were extracted from the adverse events and the electronic medical systems. They were randomly divided into two sets: training (n = 1951) and validation (n = 390).

Morphological and functional changes of microglia cultured under different oxygen concentrations and the analysis of related mechanisms.

This study investigated the effects of different concentrations of oxygen exposure on the morphology and function of N9 microglia and analyzed its mechanisms. N9 microglia were cultured under the condition of high (95% O and 5% CO), normal (95% air and 5% CO) and low oxygen (95% CO and 5% O) concentrations. The cell morphologies were observed under inverted phase contrast microscope after 24 h.

Effects of flurbiprofen on serum level of interleukin-6, prostacyclin and corticosteroid A2 in patients with bone metastases of cancer.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of flurbiprofen on serum level of interleukin-6 (IL-6), prostacyclin (PGI2) and corticosteroid A2 (TXA2) in patients with bone metastases of cancer. A total of 210 patients with bone metastasis of cancer were randomly divided into two groups: Flurbiprofen axetil analgesia group (group A) and dezocine analgesia group (group B), 105 cases in each group. The analgesic effect was evaluated using visual analogue scale (VAS) scoring system at 1, 12, 24 and 48 h after treatment.

The CpG Dinucleotide Adjacent to a κB Site Affects NF-κB Function through Its Methylation.

NF-κB is an important transcription factor that plays critical roles in cell survival, proliferation, inflammation, and cancers. Although the majority of experimentally identified functional NF-κB binding sites (κB sites) match the consensus sequence, there are plenty of non-functional NF-κB consensus sequences in the genome. We analyzed the surrounding sequences of the known κB sites that perfectly match the GGGRNNYYCC consensus sequence and identified the nucleotide at the -1 position of κB sites as a key contributor to the binding of the κB sites by NF-κB.

Adopting Quaternion Wavelet Transform to Fuse Multi-Modal Medical Images.

Medical image fusion plays an important role in clinical applications such as image-guided surgery, image-guided radiotherapy, noninvasive diagnosis, and treatment planning. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-modal medical image fusion method based on simplified pulse-coupled neural network and quaternion wavelet transform. The proposed fusion algorithm is capable of combining not only pairs of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) images, but also pairs of CT and proton-density-weighted MR images, and multi-spectral MR images such as T1 and T2.

Importance of sampling frequency when collecting diatoms.

There has been increasing interest in diatom-based bio-assessment but we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how to capture diatoms' temporal dynamics with an appropriate sampling frequency (ASF). To cover this research gap, we collected and analyzed daily riverine diatom samples over a 1-year period (25 April 2013-30 April 2014) at the outlet of a German lowland river. The samples were classified into five clusters (1-5) by a Kohonen Self-Organizing Map (SOM) method based on similarity between species compositions over time.

[The comparison of the indoor environmental factors associated with asthma and related allergies among school-child between urban and suburban areas in Beijing].

Objective: To study the indoor environmental factors associated with the prevalence of asthma and related allergies among school children.

Methods: A cluster sampling method was used and the ISAAC questionnaire was conducted. A total of 4612 elementary students under Grade Five of 7 schools were enrolled in the survey for the impact of indoor environmental factors on the prevalence of asthma and related allergies in several urban and suburban schools of Beijing.

[Short-time effects of inhalable particles and fine particles on children's lung function in a district in Beijing].

Objective: To study short-term effects of PM10 (particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter <10 microm) and PM2.5 (particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter <2.5 microm) on children's lung function in one district in Beijing.