Diagnostic value of gamma-glutamyltransferase/aspartate aminotransferase ratio, protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist II, and alpha-fetoprotein in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND Researchers have investigated the diagnostic value of protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist II (PIVKA-II) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and obtained abundant clinical diagnostic data. However, PIVKA-II and AFP have unsatisfactory specificity and sensitivity in the diagnosis of early-stage HBV-related HCC. Gamma-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) are common biomarkers for evaluating liver function, and we hypothesized that the γ-GT/AST ratio in combination with PIVKA-II and AFP would improve the diagnosis of early-stage HBV-related HCC. AIM To evaluate the diagnostic value of γ-GT/AST ratio alone or in combination with PIVKA-II and AFP in HBV-related HCC. METHODS Serum levels of γ-GT, AST, PIVKA-II, and AFP were detected and analysed in 176 patients with HBV-related HCC and in 359 patients with chronic hepatitis B. According to tumour size and serum level of HBV DNA, HBV-related HCC patients were divided into the following categories: Early-stage HCC patients, HCC patients, HBV DNA positive (HBV DNA+) HCC patients, and HBV DNA negative (HBV DNA-) HCC patients. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to analyse and compare the diagnostic value of the single and combined detection of various biomarkers in different types of HBV-related HCC. RESULTS Tumour size was positively correlated with serum levels of PIVKA-II and AFP in HCC patients (r = 0.529, aP < 0.001 and r = 0.270, bP < 0.001, respectively), but there was no correlation between tumour size and the γ-GT/AST ratio (r = 0.073, P = 0.336). The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) of the γ-GT/AST ratio in early-stage HCC patients, HBV DNA+ HCC patients and HBV DNA- HCC patients were not significantly different from that in the total HCC patients (0.754, 0.802, and 0.705 vs 0.779, respectively;P > 0.05). When PIVKA-II was combined with the γ-GT/AST ratio in the diagnosis of earlystage HCC, HCC, and HBV DNA+ HCC, the AUROCs of PIVKA-II increased, with values of 0.857 vs 0.835, 0.925 vs 0.913, and 0.958 vs 0.954, respectively. When AFP was combined with the γ-GT/AST ratio in the diagnosis of early-stage HCC, HCC, HBV DNA+ HCC, and HBV DNA- HCC, the AUROCs of AFP increased, with values of 0.757 vs 0.621, 0.837 vs 0.744, 0.868 vs 0.757, and 0.840 vs 0.828, respectively. CONCLUSION The γ-GT/AST ratio may be better than PIVKA-II and AFP in the diagnosis of early-stage HBV-related HCC, and its combination with PIVKA-II and AFP can improve the diagnostic value for HBV-related HCC.

Characteristics of tectonic deformation of the melange zone in the Lachlan Orogen along eastern coast of Australia

The Narooma-Batemans Bay(NBB)area along the southeast coast of Australia is a part of the eastern zone of the Early Paleozoic Lachlan Orogen.In the NBB,a set of rock association consisting of turbidites,siliceous rock,basic lava,and argillaceous melange zone is mainly developed.According to systematic field geological survey,the deformation of 3 stages(D1,D2,and D3)was identified in the NBB.At stage D1,with the original bedding S0 in a nearly east-west trending as the deformation plane,tight folds,isoclinal folds,and other structures formed in the NBB accompanied by structural transposition.As a result,crenulation cleavage developed along the axial plane of the folds and schistosity S1 formed.At stage D2,with north-south-trending schistosity S1 as the deformation plane,a large number of asymmetrical folds and rotated porphyroclasts formed owing to thrusting and shear.At stage D3,leftlateral strike-slip occurred along the main north-south-trending schistosity.Based on the analysis of the characteristics of tectonic deformation in the NBB and summary of previous research results,it is determined that the early-stage(D1)deformation is related to Ordovician Macquarie arc-continent collision and the deformation at stages D2 and D3 is the result of the westward subduction of Paleo-Pacific Plate.That is,it is not the continuous westward subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate that constitutes the evolution model of the NBB as previously considered.

All-fiberized very-large-mode-area Yb-doped fiber based high-peak-power narrow-linewidth nanosecond amplifier with tunable pulse width and repetition rate

We demonstrate an all-fiberized narrow-linewidth nanosecond amplifier with high peak power,tunable pulse width,and repetition rate.A fiber-coupled narrow-linewidth laser diode operating at 1064.1 nm is employed as the seed source,which is gain-switched to generate nanosecond pulses with tunable pulse widths of 1-200 ns and tunable repetition rates of10 Hz-100 kHz.By utilizing a very-large-mode-area Yb-doped fiber with a core diameter of 50 μm in the power amplifier,thresholds of the stimulated Brillouin scattering at different pulse widths and repetition rates are increased.The maximum average power reaches 30.8 W at the pulse width of 4 ns and a repetition rate of 100 kHz,corresponding to an optical-tooptical conversion efficiency of ~55.2%.Pulse energy and peak power are calculated to be 0.2 mJ and 50 kW,respectively,which are limited by stimulated Brillouin scattering.The 3-dB spectral linewidth remains around 0.05 nm during the power scaling process.The stimulated Brillouin scattering limited output powers at different pulse widths and repetition rates are investigated.Peak power of 47.5 kW(0.19 mJ) is obtained for the 4 ns pulses at a repetition rate of 50 kHz,which is nearly the same as that of 4 ns pulses at 100 kHz.When the pulse width of the seed source is increased to 8 ns,peak powers/pulse energies are decreased to 19.6 kW/0.11 mJ and 13.3 kW/0.08 mJ at repetition rates of 50 kHz and 100 kHz,respectively.

Al-doped ZnO/WO_(3) heterostructure films prepared by magnetron sputtering for isopropanol sensors

Metal oxide semiconductors(MOSs) are ideal sensing materials for detecting volatile organic compounds due to their low cost, diversity, high stability, and ease of production. However, it remains a grand challenge to develop the MOSs-based gas sensors for sensing isopropanol with desired performance via a simple, effective,and controllable method. Herein, we reported the preparation of the Al-doped Zn O(AZO)/WO_(3) heterostructure films by directly depositing the AZO coating onto the WO_(3) coating using a strategy of magnetron sputtering. The AZO/WO_(3) heterostructure films were constructed by numbers of irregular nanoparticles that were interconnected with each other. The AZO/WO_(3) heterostructure films-based gas sensors exhibited excellent isopropanolsensing performance with high response, promising selectivity, low detection limit, fast response rate, wide detection range, and ideal reproducibility. The promising isopropanol-sensing performance of the AZO/WO_(3) heterostructure films arises mainly from their high uniformity, unique microstructures with high surface roughness,and the construction of the heterostructure between the AZO and WO_(3) coatings. This work provides a versatile approach to prepare the MOSs-based heterostructure films for assembling the gas sensors.

World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies(WFAS)Clinical Practice Guideline on Acupuncture and Moxibustion:Migraine recommendation summaries

Clinical Practice Guideline on Acupuncture and Moxibustion:Migraine(WFAS 007.9-2023)is a clinical practice guideline officially released by the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies(WFAS)on October 9,2023,and is the first international guideline on the treatment of migraine with acupuncture.This international standard was developed under the guidance of rigorous evidence-based methodology,and it contains guideline purpose,scope,applicable population,applicable settings,overview of acupuncture for migraine,guideline development process and recommendations.For promoting the understanding and application of this guideline,this article summarizes a total of 18 recommendations in order to assist clinical decisions for migraine with acupuncture.

Semen microbiota in normal and leukocytospermic males

Large numbers of microbes can be present in seminal fluid,and there are differences in the semen microbiota between normal and abnormal semen samples.To evaluate the semen microbiota in patients with leukocytospermia,87 seminal fluid samples,including 33 samples with a normal seminal leukocyte count and 54 samples with leukocytospermia,were obtained for a cross-sectional analysis.Twenty samples with a normal seminal leukocyte count had normal sperm parameters(Control group),and 13 samples with a normal seminal leukocyte count were from asthenozoospermia patients(Ast group).However,32 samples with leukocytospermia were from asthenozoospermia patients(LA group),and only 22 samples with leukocytospermia had normal sperm parameters(Leu group).The 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA)gene sequencing method was used to sequence the microbiota in the seminal fluid,and multiple bioinformatics methods were utilized to analyze the data.Finally,the results showed that the worse sperm parameters were observed in the leukocytospermia-related groups.Semen microbiota analysis found that there was increased alpha diversity in the leukocytospermia-related groups.Firmicutes,Proteobacteria,Actinobacteria,and Bacteroidetes were the primary phyla in the seminal fluid.Two microbiota profiles,namely,Lactobacillus-enriched and Streptococcus-enriched groups,were identified in this study.The majority of the samples in the groups with a normal seminal leukocyte count could be categorized as Lactobacillus-enriched,whereas the majority of the leukocytospermia samples could be categorized as Streptococcus-enriched.Our study indicated that males with leukocytospermia have worse sperm parameters and a different semen microbiota composition compared to males with a normal seminal leukocyte count.

The Case of Using Multiple Streams in Streaming

Off-chip replacement （capacity and conflict） and coherent read misses in a distributed shared memory system cause execution to stall for hundreds of cycles. These off-chip replacement and coherent read misses are recurring and forming sequences of two or more misses called streams. Prior streaming techniques ignored reordering of misses and not-recently-accessed streams while streaming data. In this paper, we present stream prefetcher design that can deal with both problems. Our stream prefetcher design utilizes stream waiting rooms to store not-recently-accessed streams. Stream waiting rooms help remove more off-chip misses. Using trace based simulation% our stream prefetcher design can remove 8% to 66% （on average 40%） and 17% to 63% （on average 39%） replacement and coherent read misses, respectively. Using cycle-accurate full-system simulation, our design gives speedups from 1.00 to 1.17 of princeton application repository for shared-memory computers （PARSEC） workloads running on a distributed shared memory system with the exception of dedup and swaptions workloads.

A Dataflow-Oriented Programming Interface for Named Data Networking

Inheriting from a data-driven communication pattern other than a location-driven pattern, named data net- working （NDN） offers better support to network-layer dataflow. However, the application developers have to handle complex tasks, such as data segmentation, packet verification, and flow control, due to the lack of proper transport-layer protocols over the network layer. In this study, we design a dataflow-oriented programming interface to provide transport strategies for NDN, which greatly improves the efficiency in developing applications. This interface presents two application data unit; （ADU） retrieval strategies according to different data publishing patterns, in which it adopts an adaptive ADU pipelining algorithm to control the dataflow based on the current network status and data generation rate. The interface also offers network measurement strategies to monitor an abundance of critical metrics infuencing the application performance. We verify the functionality and performance of our interface by implementing a video streaming application spanning 11 time zones over the worldwide NDN testbed. Our experiments show that the interface can efficiently support developing high-performance and dataflow-driven NDN applications.

Top-down Approach for Fabrication of Polymer Microspheres by Interfacial Engineering

Polymer microspheres with uniform size,composition,and surface property have gained extensive researches in past decades.Conventional bottom-up approaches are using monomers or oligomers to build up desired polymer microspheres.However,directly shaping high-molecular-weight polymers into well-ordered polymer microspheres remains a great challenge.Herein,we reported a facile and efficient top-down approach tofabricate microspheres with high-molecular-weight polymer microfibers.By harnessing interfacial engineering-control during the polymer microspheres formation,uniformly sized microspheres could be produced with widely ranged diameters(from 10μm to the capillary length of each polymer melt).The size limitation of this approach could be further extended by a controllable Plateau-Rayleigh instability phenomenon.Principally,the top-down approach allows fabrication of microspheres by various polymer melts with surface energy higher than 25 mN/m.Our work paves a way for green,cost-effective,and customizable production of a variety of functional polymer microspheres without any chemical reaction assistant.

A prototype of quantum von Neumann architecture

A modern computer system,based on the von Neumann architecture,is a complicated system with several interactive modular parts.It requires a thorough understanding of the physics of information storage,processing,protection,readout,etc.Quantum computing,as the most generic usage of quantum information,follows a hybrid architecture so far,namely,quantum algorithms are stored and controlled classically,and mainly the executions of them are quantum,leading to the so-called quantum processing units.Such a quantum-classical hybrid is constrained by its classical ingredients,and cannot reveal the computational power of a fully quantum computer system as conceived from the beginning of the field.Recently,the nature of quantum information has been further recognized,such as the no-programming and no-control theorems,and the unifying understandings of quantum algorithms and computing models.As a result,in this work,we propose a model of a universal quantum computer system,the quantum version of the von Neumann architecture.It uses ebits(i.e.Bell states)as elements of the quantum memory unit,and qubits as elements of the quantum control unit and processing unit.As a digital quantum system,its global configurations can be viewed as tensor-network states.Its universality is proved by the capability to execute quantum algorithms based on a program composition scheme via a universal quantum gate teleportation.It is also protected by the uncertainty principle,the fundamental law of quantum information,making it quantum-secure and distinct from the classical case.In particular,we introduce a few variants of quantum circuits,including the tailed,nested,and topological ones,to characterize the roles of quantum memory and control,which could also be of independent interest in other contexts.In all,our primary study demonstrates the manifold power of quantum information and paves the way for the creation of quantum computer systems in the near future.

Universal resources for quantum computing

Unravelling the source of quantum computing power has been a major goal in the field of quantum information science.In recent years,the quantum resource theory(QRT)has been established to characterize various quantum resources,yet their roles in quantum computing tasks still require investigation.The so-called universal quantum computing model(UQCM),e.g.the circuit model,has been the main framework to guide the design of quantum algorithms,creation of real quantum computers etc.In this work,we combine the study of UQCM together with QRT.We find,on one hand,using QRT can provide a resource-theoretic characterization of a UQCM,the relation among models and inspire new ones,and on the other hand,using UQCM offers a framework to apply resources,study relation among these resources and classify them.We develop the theory of universal resources in the setting of UQCM,and find a rich spectrum of UQCMs and the corresponding universal resources.Depending on a hierarchical structure of resource theories,we find models can be classified into families.In this work,we study three natural families of UQCMs in detail:the amplitude family,the quasi-probability family,and the Hamiltonian family.They include some well known models,like the measurement-based model and adiabatic model,and also inspire new models such as the contextual model that we introduce.Each family contains at least a triplet of models,and such a succinct structure of families of UQCMs offers a unifying picture to investigate resources and design models.It also provides a rigorous framework to resolve puzzles,such as the role of entanglement versus interference,and unravel resource-theoretic features of quantum algorithms.

Strong Analog Classical Simulation of Coherent Quantum Dynamics

A strong analog classical simulation of general quantum evolution is proposed, which serves as a novel scheme in quantum computation and simulation. The scheme employs the approach of geometric quantum mechanics and quantum informational technique of quantum tomography, which applies broadly to cases of mixed states, nonunitary evolution, and infinite dimensional systems. The simulation provides an intriguing classical picture to probe quantum phenomena, namely, a coherent quantum dynamics can be viewed as a globally constrained classical Hamiltonian dynamics of a collection of coupled particles or strings. Efficiency analysis reveals a fundamental difference between the locality in real space and locality in Hilbert space, the latter enables efficient strong analog classical simulations. Examples are also studied to highlight the differences and gaps among various simulation methods.