Validation of clinical significance of examined lymph node count for accurate prognostic evaluation of gastric cancer for the eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer(AJCC) TNM staging system

Objective： To validate the necessity of increasing the examined lymph node （ELN） count for enhancing the accuracy of prognostic evaluation of gastric cancer （GC） patients after curative gastrectomy in multiple medical centers of China.Methods： The clinicopathological data of 7,620 patients who underwent the curative resection for GC between 2001 and 2011 were included to demonstrate whether the ELN count is indispensable for enhancing the accuracy of prognostic evaluation of GC patients after surgery. After a meticulous stratification by using the cut-point survival analysis, all included 7,620 patients were allocated into three groups as： less than 16 （〈16）, between 16 and 30 （16-30）, and more than 30 （〉30） ELNs. Survival differences among various subgroups of GC patients were analyzed to assess the impact of the ELN count on the stage migration in accordance with the overall survival （OS） of GC patients.Results： Survival analyses revealed that the ELN count was positively correlated with the OS （P：0.001） and was an independent prognostic predictor （P〈0.01） of 7,620 GC patients. Stratum analysis showed that the accuracy of prognostic evaluation could be enhanced when the ELN count was no less than 16 （≥16） for node-negative patients and 〉30 for node-positive patients. Stage migrations were mainly detected in the various subgroups of patients with specific pN stages as follows： pN0 with 16-30 ELNs （pN016-30） and pN0 with 〉30 ELNs （pN0〉30）, pN0 with 〈16 ELNs （pN0〈16） and pNl〉30, pNl〈l6 and pN216_30, pNl：6_30 and pN2〉30, pN3a〈l6 and pN3b16-30, and pN3a〈16 and pN3 b〉30. These findings indicate that increasing the ELN count is a prerequisite to guarantee precisely prognostic evaluation of GC patients.Conclusions： The ELN count should be proposed to be 〉30 for acquiring the accurate prognostic evaluadort for GC patients, especially for node-positive patients.

Predictive values of multidetector-row computed tomography combined with serum tumor biomarkers in preoperative lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer

Objective: Multidetector-row computed tomography(MDCT) and serum tumor biomarkers are commonly used to evaluate the preoperative lymph node metastasis and the clinical staging of gastric cancer(GC). This study intends to evaluate the clinical predictive value of MDCT and serum tumor biomarkers in lymph node metastasis of GC.Methods: The clinicopathologic data of 445 GC patients who underwent radical gastrectomy were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic value of MDCT and serum tumor biomarkers in lymph node metastatic staging of GC before surgery.Results: With the multinomial logistic regression analysis, the independent relative factors of lymph node metastasis of GC were identified as tumor size, depth of tumor invasion, vessel invasion, vascular embolus, and soft tissue invasion. The optimal critical value of the short diameter of lymph nodes detected by MDCT scanning for evaluation of preoperative lymph node metastasis was 6.0 mm, with 75.7% as predictive accuracy of lymph node metastasis compared to the postoperative pathological results of GC patients. In addition, the critical value of the short diameter of lymph nodes combined with serum tumor biomarkers [including carbohydrate antigen(CA)-724 and CA-199] could show an enhancement of predictive sensitivity of lymph node metastasis(up to 89.3%) before surgery.Conclusions: MDCT combined with serum tumor biomarkers should be adopted to improve preoperative sensitivity and accuracy of lymph node metastasis for GC patients.

Prognostic impact of D2-plus lymphadenectomy and optimal extent of lymphadenectomy in advanced gastric antral carcinoma: Propensity score matching analysis

Objective: To investigate the prognostic impact of D2-plus lymphadenectomy including the posterior(No. 8 p,No. 12 b/p, No. 13, and No. 14 v), and para-aortic(No. 16 a2, and No. 16 b1) lymph nodes(LNs) in subtotal gastrectomy for advanced gastric antral carcinoma.Methods: A total of 203 patients with advanced gastric cancer(GC) located in the antrum, who underwent R0 gastrectomy with D2 or D2-plus lymphadenectomy between January 2003 and December 2011 were enrolled.Propensity score matching was used to reduce the strength of the confounding factors to accurately evaluate prognoses. The therapeutic value index(TVI) was calculate to evaluate the survival benefit of dissecting each LN station.Results: Of 102 patients with D2-plus lymphadenectomy, 21(20.59%) were pathologically identified as having LN metastases beyond the extent of D2 lymphadenectomy. After matching, the overall survival(OS) was significantly better in the D2-plus than the D2 group(P=0.030). In the multivariate survival analysis, D2-plus lymphadenectomy(hazard ratio, 0.516;P=0.006) was confirmed to significantly improve the survival rate. In the logistic regression analysis, p N stage [odds ratio(OR), 2.533;95% confidence interval(95% CI), 1.368-4.691;P=0.003] and extent of LNs metastasis(OR, 5.965;95% CI, 1.335-26.650;P=0.019) were identified as independent risk factors for LN metastases beyond the extent of D2 lymphadenectomy. The TVI of patient with metastasis to LNs station was 7.1(No. 8p), 5.7(No. 12p), 5.1(No. 13), and 7.1(both No. 16a2 and No. 16b1), respectively.Conclusions: D2-plus lymphadenectomy may improve the prognoses of some patients with advanced GC located in the antrum, especially for No. 8p, No. 12b, No. 13, and No. 16.

Pull-in instability analyses for NEMS actuators with quartic shape approximation

The pull-in instability of a cantilever nano-actuator model incorporating the effects of the surface, the fringing field, and the Casimir attraction force is investigated. A new quartic polynomial is proposed as the shape function of the beam during the deflection, satisfying all of the four boundary values. The Gaussian quadrature rule is used to treat the involved integrations, and the design parameters are preserved in the evaluated formulas. The analytic expressions are derived for the tip deflection and pull-in parameters of the cantilever beam. The micro-electromechanical system （MEMS） cantilever actuators and freestanding nano-actuators are considered as two special cases. It is proved that the proposed method is convenient for the analyses of the effects of the surface, the Casimir force, and the fringing field on the pull-in parameters.

二分类结果组间比较的样本量计算（英文）

概述:样本大小是临床研究的一个重要参数。然而,把握度和样本量分析对许多生物医学和社会心理调查者来说似乎是一个统计学家的魔术。在本文中,我们继续讨论二分类结果的把握度和样本量的计算。我们再次强调了在建立假设和进行把握度分析中调查者和生物统计学家之间密切联系的重要性。

Discussion on Operation Risk and Management of Food Inspection Organizations

The paper introduced the significance of risk control in food inspection organizations,expounded the risk points of food inspection organizations from the aspects of human,machine,material,law,environment and testing of laboratory operation and gave corresponding risk management measures.This will help food inspection organizations' risk prevention and control to achieve effective management of inspection organizations.

伪狂犬病特点及其净化关键点

从2019年开始,全国健康后备母猪供应缺少,静默生产减少了疫苗免疫的频率,导致新组群猪场甚至核心群处于伪狂犬病阳性状态,文章根据伪狂犬病病毒特性谈谈伪狂犬病的特点,为伪狂犬病控制及净化提供理论基础。

Identification of the candidate gene controlling tiller angle in common wheat through genome-wide association study and linkage analysis

Wheat tiller angle(TA)is an important agronomic trait that contributes to grain production by affecting plant architecture.It also plays a crucial role in high-yield wheat breeding.An association panel and a recombinant inbred line(RIL)population were used to map quantitative trait loci(QTL)for TA.Results showed that 470 significant SNPs with 10.4%–28.8%phenotypic variance explained(PVE)were detected in four replicates by a genome-wide association study(GWAS).Haplotype analysis showed that the TA_Hap_4B1 locus on chromosome 4B was a major QTL to regulate wheat TA.Ten QTL were totally detected by linkage mapping with the RIL population,and QTA.hau-4B.1 identified in six environments with the PVE of 7.88%–18.82%was a major and stable QTL.A combined analysis demonstrated that both TA_Hap_4B1 and QTA.hau-4B.1 were co-located on the same region.Moreover,QTA.hau-4B.1 was confirmed by bulked segregant RNA-Seq(BSR-Seq)analysis.Phenotypic analysis showed that QTA.hau-4B.1was also closely related to yield traits.Furthermore,Traes CS4B02G049700 was considered as a candidate gene through analysis of gene sequence and expression.This study can be potentially used in cloning key genes modulating wheat tillering and provides valuable genetic resources for improvement of wheat plant architecture.

Modeling of the influences of multiple modulated electron cyclotron current drive on NTMs in rotating plasma

In this work, physical models of neoclassical tearing modes （NTMs） including bootstrap current and multiple modulated electron cyclotron current drive model are applied. Based on the specific physical problems during the suppression of NTMs by driven current, this work compares the efficiency of continuous and modulated driven currents, and simulates the physical processes of multiple modulated driven currents on suppressing rotating magnetic island. It is found that when island rotates along the poloidal direction, the suppression ability of continuous driven current can be massively reduced due to current deposition outside the island separatrix and reverse deposition direction at the X point, which can be avoided by current drive modulation. Multiple current drive has a better suppressing effect than single current drive. This work gives realistic numerical simulations by optimizing the model and parameters based on the experiments, which could provide references for successful suppression of NTMs in future advanced tokamak such as international thermonuclear experimental reactor.

Sample sizes based on three popular indices of risks

Sample size justification is a very crucial part in the design of clinical trials. In this paper, the authors derive a new formula to calculate the sample size for a binary outcome given one of the three popular indices of risk difference.The sample size based on the absolute difference is the fundamental one, which can be easily used to derive sample size given the risk ratio or OR.

Influence of toroidal rotation on the tearing mode in tokamak plasmas

The stabilizing mechanism of toroidal rotation on the tearing mode is studied using the 3 D toroidal resistive magnetohydrodynamic code M3 D.It is found that the dominating mechanism,either the centrifugal effect or the Coriolis effect, depends on the specific pressure β and rotation frequency Ω.On the premise that Ω is sufficiently large, when β is greater than a critical value,the effect of the centrifugal force is dominant, and the stabilizing effect mainly comes from the modification of equilibrium induced by the centrifugal force;when β is less than a critical value,the stabilizing effect from the Coriolis force overcomes that from the centrifugal force.However,if Ω is small, then the effect of equilibrium modification due to the centrifugal force is not significant even if β is large.Finally, the results showed that toroidal rotation shear enhances the stabilizing effect.

Deciphering the‘gut-brain axis’through microbiome diversity

Incentivised by breakthroughs and data generated by the high-throughput sequencing technology,this paper proposes a distance-based framework to fulfil the emerging needs in elucidating insights from the high-dimensional microbiome data in psychiatric studies.By shifting focus from traditional methods that focus on the observations from each subject to the between-subject attributes that aggregate two or more subjects’entire feature vectors,the described approach revolutionises the conventional prescription for high-dimensional observations via microbiome diversity.To this end,we enrich the classical generalised linear models to articulate the multivariable regression relationship between distance-based variables.We also discuss a robust and computationally feasible semiparametric inference technique.Benefitting from the latest advances in the semiparametric efficiency theory for such attributes,the proposed estimators enjoy robustness and good asymptotic properties that guarantee sensitivity in detecting signals between clinical outcomes and microbiome diversity.It offers a readily implementable and easily interpretable solution for deciphering the gut–brain axis in mental health research.

Partial least squares regression and principal component analysis:similarity and differences between two popular variable reduction approaches

SUMMARY In many statistical applications,composite variables are constructed to reduce the number of variables and improve the performances of statistical analyses of these variables,especially when some of the variables are highly correlated.Principal component analysis(PCA)and factor analysis(FA)are generally used for such purposes.If the variables are used as explanatory or independent variables in linear regression analysis,partial least squares(PLS)regression is a better alternative.Unlike PCA and FA,PLS creates composite variables by also taking into account the response,or dependent variable,so that they have higher correlations with the response than composites from their PCA and FA counterparts.In this report,we provide an introduction to this useful approach and illustrate it with data from a real study.

Effects of V₂O₅Addition on Microwave Dielectric Properties of Li₂ZnTi₃O₈Ceramics for LTCC Applications

The sintering temperature of Li2ZnTi3O8 ceramics is still high for LTCC-based applications. In this work, V2O5 was doped as the sintering aid. The sintered density, phase composition, grain size, as well as microwave dielectric properties of Li2ZnTi3O8 ceramics with the addition of V2O5 were investigated. Based on our research, V2O5 doping effectively promoted the densification of Li2ZnTi3O8 ceramics at about 900°C, without affecting the main crystal phase of the ceramics. Li2ZnTi3O8 ceramics with 0.5 wt% V2O5 doping (sintered at 900°C) exhibited the best microwave dielectric properties (Qf =?22,400 GHz at about 6 GHz, εr = 25.5, and τf = -10.8 ppm/°C). The V2O5-doped Li2ZnTi3O8 ceramics were well cofired with Ag inner paste without cracks and diffusion, indicating its significant potential for LTCC applications.

Heterogeneous hybrid immunity against Omicron variant JN.1 at 11 months following breakthrough infection

Dear Editor,Due to the ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and waning immunity following COVID-19 vaccination,breakthrough infections have become common occurrences.The exposure to viral antigens during different COVID-19 waves and vaccination contribute to the unique"hybrid immunity"-immune protection conferred by the combined vaccination and natural infection in individuals.

应用于激光聚变的X射线分幅成像技术

X射线分幅相机具有高时间分辨能力和二维空间分辨率,是激光惯性约束聚变(inertial confinement fusion,ICF)实验中重要的超快诊断设备,常用于获取内爆压缩动态图像等信息.此外,该相机也可应用于Z箍缩、X射线激光、同步辐射等研究中进行瞬态信息探测.传统X射线分幅相机的时间分辨率由0.1μs提高至100 ps,空间分辨率约20 lp/mm,且实现了工程化及大画幅尺寸.随着ICF研究的深入,要求分幅相机时间分辨率优于30 ps.采用电子束时间放大技术可将分幅相机时间分辨率提高至5 ps.微电子技术的进步进一步推动了分幅相机的发展.基于CMOS芯片的单视线分幅成像系统时间分辨率为30 ps、空间分辨率为35μm.为了提高抗电磁干扰能力,最近几年发展出一种全光固体分幅相机.本文重点阐述了目前实用的微通道板(microchannel plate,MCP)行波选通X射线分幅技术及新型电子束时间放大X射线分幅技术,并对全固体分幅技术及全光固体分幅技术的未来发展进行了展望.

套索缝合技术治疗肘关节“恐怖三联征”中的冠状突骨折

目的探讨套索缝合技术治疗肘关节"恐怖三联征"中Regan-Morrey I/II型冠状突骨折的手术方式和临床疗效。方法采用回顾性随访分析2018年1月至2022年6月,山西医科大学第二医院创伤骨科病区采用套索缝合技术治疗的18例肘关节"恐怖三联征"中冠状突Regan-Morrey I/II型骨折患者的临床资料及随访结果,其中男12例、女6例;年龄18~55岁,平均年龄32岁;其中摔伤12例、交通伤5例、高处坠落伤1例。所有患者都是Regan-Morrey I/II型骨折,外侧副韧带均有损伤,所有患者均采用单纯肘关节外侧入路,术中依次固定冠状突、桡骨小头,缝线锚钉修复损伤的外侧副韧带,内侧副韧带常规不给予处理。术后肘关节功能位石膏外固定2周后开始功能锻炼,术后3周、6周、12周定期门诊随访,术后肘关节评分采用Mayo肘关节功能评分(Mayo elbow performance score,MEPS)系统。结果所有患者均获得了随访,随访时间3~52个月,平均18个月。所有骨折均获得愈合,末次随访时肘关节伸直为0~30°,屈曲为90~125°,平均活动度为103.61°,旋前10~90°,旋后20~90°,平均旋转142.78°。术后按照MEPS功能评分平均为88.89分(65~100分),优12例、良3例、可3例,优良率为83.3%,有3例患者出现骨化性肌炎的症状,有1例患者因为局部感染取出缝线锚钉。结论在肘关节恐怖三联征中冠状突Regan-Morrey I/II型的骨折采用套索缝合技术固定冠状突骨折临床疗效是满意的。

Genome-wide analysis and expression profiling of the phospholipase D gene family in Gossypium arboreum

The plant phospholipase D （PLD） plays versatile functions in multiple aspects of plant growth, development, and stress re- sponses. However, until now, our knowledge concerning the PLD gene family members and their expression patterns in cotton has been limited. In this study, we performed for the first time the genome-wide analysis and expression profiling of PLD gene family in Gossypium arboretum, and finally, a total of 19 non-redundant PLD genes （GaPLDs） were identified. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, they were divided into six well-supported clades （tx, 13/？, 8, ~, ~ and q~）. Most of the GaPLD genes with- in the same clade showed the similar exon-intron organization and highly conserved motif structures. Additionally, the chro- mosomal distribution pattern revealed that GaPLD genes were unevenly distributed across 10 of the 13 cotton chromosomes. Segmental duplication is the major contributor to the expansion of GaPLD gene family and estimated to have occurred from 19.61 to 20.44 million years ago when a recent large-scale genome duplication occurred in cotton. Moreover, the expression profiling provides the functional divergence of GaPLD genes in cotton and provides some new light on the molecular mecha- nisms of GaPLDcd and GaPLD62 in fiber development.

Subwavelength on-chip light focusing with bigradient all-dielectric metamaterials for dense photonic integration

Photonic integrated circuits(PICs)provide a promising platform for miniaturized on-chip optical systems for communication,computation,and sensing applications.The dense integration of photonic components is one of the keys to exploit the advantages of PIC.Although light focusing is a fundamental and indispensable function in PICs,focusing light at the micro/nanometer-scale is challenging.Here,a bigradient on-chip metalens(BOML)is proposed to achieve ultrasmall focal lengths and spot sizes at the subwavelength scale for dense PICs.The design of BOML combines gradient geometry and gradient refractive index into one metalens by simultaneously engineering the length and width of subwavelength silicon slots.With a small device footprint of only 168μm,the BOML achieves efficient on-chip focusing with the recordbreaking figure-of-merits,which are the ratio of wavelength to focal length/spot size(0.268 and 2.83)and numerical aperture(1.78).Leveraging on the Fresnel design,the footprint of BOML is further reduced by 55.1%,and the numerical aperture is enhanced to 1.9.The demonstration of mode conversion and beam steering with efficiency over 80%and a tilting range of 7.2°holds the potential for highly dense on-chip photonic systems for optical communication,optical sensing,nonlinear optics,and neural networks for deep learning.

Modeling of kiwifruit metallothionein kiwi503

Kiwifruit metallothionein, kiwi503, is a typical plant metallothionein protein. It has 63 amino acid residues in two cysteine-rich regions and one spacer region of about 32 residues. In this note, the two cysteine-rich regions and the spacer region have been modeled separately by the distance geometry and the homology method. The three parts are then connected to generate a three-dimensional structural model of kiwifruit metallothionein kiwi503. The result shows that there is no structural or energy barrier preventing either cysteine rich domain from independently forming a metal-sulfur chelating cluster. The method can also be applied to predicting the structures of the same type of other proteins.