Multi-cycle terahertz generation in lithium niobate wafer stacks via mid-infrared pumping.

Near-infrared laser-pumped optical rectification (OR) using quasi-phase matching (QPM) in lithium niobate (LN) is widely employed to generate multi-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses, which, however, suffer from low efficiency. Here, we demonstrate that mid-infrared pumping is an effective approach to increase the efficiency of multi-cycle THz generation. By using a 2.

A compact flexible sub-nanosecond framing photographic system.

A novel high-speed multi-frame photographic system is presented in this paper. The system demonstrates exceptional compactness and flexibility, requiring only the introduction of a cavity comprising multiple beam-splitters in the optical path to enable multi-frame imaging of sub-nanosecond events. The number and temporal delay of frames can be easily adjusted by adjusting the distance and angle between beam-splitters.

Digital holographic measurement of electron temperature and density of laser-produced plasmas with an ultrashort laser pulse.

Holography, which can provide the information of phase as well as amplitude of a laser probe, could be a powerful method to diagnose the electron density and temperature of a plasma simultaneously. In this paper, digital holography with an ultrashort laser pulse is applied to diagnose laser-produced aluminum plasmas. Detailed analyses show that the reconstruction of the wave amplitude could be profoundly affected by the difference between the phase and group velocity of the ultrashort laser pulse in the plasma, which makes it a challenge to accurately reconstruct the amplitude in the case when ultrashort laser pulses are utilized for high-temporal resolution of holography.

Development of a butyrate metabolism-related gene-based molecular subtypes and scoring system for predicting prognosis and immunotherapy response in bladder cancer.

Purpose: In recent times, multiple molecular subtypes with varying prognoses have been identified in bladder cancer (BLCA). However, the attributes of butyrate metabolism-related (BMR) molecular subtypes and their correlation with immunotherapy response remain inadequately explored in BLCA.

Methods: We utilized 594 samples of BLCA to investigate the molecular subtypes mediated by BMR genes and their correlation with the immunotherapy response.

A prospective, open-label, multicenter phase IV clinical trial on the safety and efficacy of lobaplatin-based chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer.

Background: Since lobaplatin (LBP) has been approved to treat metastatic breast cancer in China, this study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of LBP-based chemotherapy in clinical practice.

Methods: This trial was a prospective, open-label, multicenter phase IV clinical trial that enrolled patients with unresectable locally advanced or recurrent/metastatic breast cancer from 34 sites between July 2013 and March 2017. Patients were treated with LBP monotherapy or in combination for four to six cycles.

Disease-free survival landmark analysis: a potential critical endpoint in triple-negative breast cancer.

Taxanes plus carboplatin (TP) regimen may be an acceptable alternative adjuvant chemotherapy strategy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC); however, the difference with the anthracycline-based regimen is yet to be clarified. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the difference between platinum-based and anthracycline-based regimens in prolonging the survival time in TNBC. Using exploratory landmark analysis, we found that the platinum-based TP regimen offers a longer disease-free survival (DFS) than the anthracycline-based regimen in TNBC patients with a DFS of > 4 years.

Demonstration of 85% pump depletion and 10 noise content in quasi-parametric chirped-pulse amplification.

Full pump depletion corresponds to the upper limit of the generated signal photons relative to the pump pulse; this allows the highest peak power to be produced in a unit area of ultraintense laser amplifiers. In practical systems based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification, however, the typical pump depletion is only ~35%. Here, we report quasi-parametric chirped-pulse amplification (QPCPA) with a specially designed 8-cm-thick Sm:YCOB crystal that highly dissipates the idler and hence improves pump depletion.

Novel Immune-Related Gene Signature for Risk Stratification and Prognosis of Survival in ER (+) and/or PR (+) and HER2 (-) Breast Cancer.

Although intrinsic molecular subtype has been widely used, there remains great clinical heterogeneity of prognosis in the estrogen receptor (ER)- and/or progesterone receptor (PR)-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer (BC). The transcriptome expression data of messenger RNA (mRNA) were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC), and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Immune-related genes were acquired from the ImmPort database and additional literature search.

Combined analysis of receptor expression reflects inter-and intra-tumor heterogeneity in HR+/HER2+ breast cancer.

Background: Hormone receptor-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HR+/HER2+ breast cancer comprise approximately 5-10% of all invasive breast cancers. However, the lack of knowledge regarding the complexity of tumor heterogeneity in HR+/HER2+ disease remains a barrier to more accurate therapies. This study aimed to describe the tumor heterogeneity of HR+/HER2+ breast cancer and to establish a novel indicator to identify the HER2-enriched subtype in patients with HR+/HER2+ breast cancer.

Reflow Soldering Capability Improvement by Utilizing TaN Interfacial Layer in 1Mbit RRAM Chip.

We investigated the thermal stability of a 1Mbit OxRRAM array embedded in 28 nm COMS technology. A back-end-of-line (BEOL) solution with a TaN-Ta interfacial layer was proposed to eliminate the failure rate after reflow soldering assembly at 260 °C. By utilizing a TaN-Ta interfacial layer (IL), the oxygen defects in conductive filament were redistributed, and electromigration lifetimes of Cu-based damascene interconnects were improved, which contributed to optimization.

Durable Disease-free Survival in a Patient with Metastatic Triple-negative Breast Cancer Treated with Olaparib Monotherapy.

Background: Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) has a poor prognosis and few effective targeted therapy options. Olaparib, a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, has been granted accelerated approval by FDA for patients with deleterious BRCA-mutated human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative advanced/metastatic breast cancer. However, there is little data demonstrating that patients with particular forms of germline and/or somatic BRCA1/2, such as large fragment variation, can benefit from PARP inhibitors.

Updated efficacy of adjuvant epirubicin plus cyclophosphamide followed by taxanes versus carboplatin plus taxanes in early triple-negative breast cancer in phase 2 trial: 8.1-year median follow-up.

Background: Paclitaxel/docetaxel after doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide (ECT) is considered as an adjuvant chemotherapy and improves the survival of early triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. We aim to assess whether carboplatin plus taxanes (TP) is non-inferior to ECT in prolonging the survival time.

Methods: TNBC patients were randomized (1:1) to receive ECT (90 mg/m epirubicin + 600 mg/m cyclophosphamide followed by 75 mg/m docetaxel or 175 mg/m paclitaxel every 3 weeks, n = 154) or TP (75 mg/m docetaxel or 175 mg/m paclitaxel + carboplatin AUC 5 every 3 weeks, n = 154).

Measurement of density profile and fluctuations using a multi-channel terahertz solid-state interferometer system on Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX).

A five-chord interferometer based on terahertz solid state sources has been successfully installed on the Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX), a reversed field pinch machine. The optical design has been carefully optimized for the uniform distribution of beam light to fully use the limited power source (∼2 mW). By setting the telescopic mirror unit, the beam waist is located in the center of the vacuum vessel and its diameter is in the range of the Rayleigh length.

The emerging role of RNA N6-methyladenosine methylation in breast cancer.

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is the most prevalent internal mRNA modification and is involved in many biological processes in eukaryotes. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that m6A may play either a promoting or suppressing role in breast cancer, including in tumorigenesis, metastasis and angiogenesis. In this review, we summarize the latest research progress on the biological function and prognostic value of m6A modification in breast cancer, as well as potential related therapeutic strategies.

Expression and clinical prognostic value of m6A RNA methylation modification in breast cancer.

Background: N6-methyladenosine(m6A) methylation modification affects the tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis of breast cancer (BC). However, the expression characteristics and prognostic value of m6A modification in BC are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between m6A modification and clinicopathological characteristics, and to explore the underlying mechanisms.

Enhanced Surface Ligands Reactivity of Metal Clusters by Bulky Ligands for Controlling Optical and Chiral Properties.

Surface ligands play critical roles in determining the surface properties of metal clusters. However, modulating the properties and controlling the surface structure of clusters through surface-capping-agent displacement is challenging. Herein, [Ag (SPh(CF ) ) (PPh ) (DMF) ] (Ag -DMF; DMF=N,N-dimethylformamide), with weakly coordinated DMF ligands on surface silver sites, was synthesized by a mixed-ligands strategy.

Chinese expert consensus on the clinical diagnosis and treatment of advanced breast cancer (2018).

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor among women in the world. In 2005, there were approximately 272,000 new cases diagnosed and more than 70,000 deaths from breast cancer in China. Of the patients who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer each year, approximately 3% to 10% have distant metastases at the time of diagnosis.

Solvent-mediated assembly of atom-precise gold-silver nanoclusters to semiconducting one-dimensional materials.

Bottom-up design of functional device components based on nanometer-sized building blocks relies on accurate control of their self-assembly behavior. Atom-precise metal nanoclusters are well-characterizable building blocks for designing tunable nanomaterials, but it has been challenging to achieve directed assembly to macroscopic functional cluster-based materials with highly anisotropic properties. Here, we discover a solvent-mediated assembly of 34-atom intermetallic gold-silver clusters protected by 20 1-ethynyladamantanes into 1D polymers with Ag-Au-Ag bonds between neighboring clusters as shown directly by the atomic structure from single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis.

Solubility-Driven Isolation of a Metastable Nonagold Cluster with Body-Centered Cubic Structure.

The conventional synthetic methodology for atomically precise gold nanoclusters by using reduction in solution offers only the thermodynamically most stable nanoclusters. Herein, a solubility-driven isolation strategy is reported to access a metastable gold cluster. The cluster, with the composition of [Au (PPh ) ] (1), displays an unusual, nearly perfect body-centered cubic (bcc) structure.

Shell-Isolated Nanoparticle-Enhanced Luminescence of Metallic Nanoclusters.

Metallic nanoclusters (NCs) have molecular-like structures and unique physical and chemical properties, making them an interesting new class of luminescent nanomaterials with various applications in chemical sensing, bioimaging, optoelectronics, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), etc. However, weak photoluminescence (PL) limits the practical applications of NCs. Herein, an effective and facile strategy of enhancing the PL of NCs was developed using Ag shell-isolated nanoparticle (Ag SHIN)-enhanced luminescence platforms with tuned SHINs shell thicknesses.

Tripartite motif protein 25 is associated with epirubicin resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma cells via regulating PTEN/AKT pathway.

Tripartite motif protein 25 (TRIM25) expression was altered in various human cancers. Herein, we found that the expression of TRIM25 was elevated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of TRIM25 increased the sensitivity of HCC HepG2 cells to epirubicin (EPI), as indicated by reduced cell viability, enhanced cell apoptosis, and downregulated P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and multiple drug-resistance protein 1 (MRP1).

A highly CMOS compatible hafnia-based ferroelectric diode.

Memory devices with high speed and high density are highly desired to address the 'memory wall' issue. Here we demonstrated a highly scalable, three-dimensional stackable ferroelectric diode, with its rectifying polarity modulated by the polarization reversal of HfZrO films. By visualizing the hafnium/zirconium lattice order and oxygen lattice order with atomic-resolution spherical aberration-corrected STEM, we revealed the correlation between the spontaneous polarization of HfZrO film and the displacement of oxygen atom, thus unambiguously identified the non-centrosymmetric Pca2 orthorhombic phase in HfZrO film.

An automatic beam alignment system based on relative reference points for Thomson scattering diagnosis system.

An automatic beam alignment system based on relative reference points is developed for the Thomson scattering system on Keda Torus eXperiment. Two critical apertures around the vacuum vessel are designed to shield stray light, and a probe beam is required to go through the centers of these two apertures, which are the reference points for alignment. Since these two apertures are coated with light absorbing materials, three fibers with glowing tips are employed to indicate the centers of two apertures.