Percent free prostate-specific antigen for prostate cancer diagnosis in Chinese men with a PSA of 4.0-10.0 ng/mL:Results from the Chinese Prostate Cancer Consortium

Objective:To test the diagnostic performance of percent free prostate-specific antigen(%fPSA)in predicting any prostate cancer(PCa)and high-grade prostate cancer(HGPCa)in a retrospective multi-center biopsy cohort with a PSA level of 4.0e10.0 ng/mL in China.Methods:Consecutive patients with a PSA of 4.0-10.0 ng/mL who underwent transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy were enrolled at 16 Chinese medical centers from January 1st,2010 to December 31st,2013.Total and free serum PSA determinations were performed using three types of electro-chemiluminescence immunoassays recalibrated to the World Health Organization(WHO)standard.The diagnostic accuracy of PSA,%fPSA,and %fPSA in combination with PSA(%fPSA t PSA)was determined using the area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve(AUC).Results:A total of 2310 consecutive men with PSA levels between 4.0 and 10.0 ng/mL were included,and the detection rate of PCa was 25.1%.The AUC of%fPSA and %fPSA t PSA in predicting any PCa was superior to PSA alone in men aged≥60 years(0.623 vs.0.534,p<0.0001)but not in men aged 40e59 years(0.517 vs.0.518,p=0.939).Similar result was yield in predicting HGPCa.Conclusion:In a clinical setting of Chinese men with 4.0e10.0 ng/mL PSA undergoing initial prostate biopsy,adding %fPSA to PSA can moderately improve the diagnostic accuracy for any PCa and HGPCa compared with PSA alone in patients≥60 but not in patients aged 40-59 years.

A Low-Cost High-Performance Data Augmentation for Deep Learning-Based Skin Lesion Classification

Objective and Impact Statement.There is a need to develop high-performance and low-cost data augmentation strategies for intelligent skin cancer screening devices that can be deployed in rural or underdeveloped communities.The proposed strategy can not only improve the classification performance of skin lesions but also highlight the potential regions of interest for clinicians’attention.This strategy can also be implemented in a broad range of clinical disciplines for early screening and automatic diagnosis of many other diseases in low resource settings.Methods.We propose a high-performance data augmentation strategy of search space 101,which can be combined with any model through a plug-and-play mode and search for the best argumentation method for a medical database with low resource cost.Results.With EfficientNets as a baseline,the best BACC of HAM10000 is 0.853,outperforming the other published models of“single-model and no-external-database”for ISIC 2018 Lesion Diagnosis Challenge(Task 3).The best average AUC performance on ISIC 2017 achieves 0.909(±0.015),exceeding most of the ensembling models and those using external datasets.Performance on Derm7pt archives the best BACC of 0.735(±0.018)ahead of all other related studies.Moreover,the model-based heatmaps generated by Grad-CAM++verify the accurate selection of lesion features in model judgment,further proving the scientific rationality of model-based diagnosis.Conclusion.The proposed data augmentation strategy greatly reduces the computational cost for clinically intelligent diagnosis of skin lesions.It may also facilitate further research in low-cost,portable,and AI-based mobile devices for skin cancer screening and therapeutic guidance.

Erratum to “A Low-Cost High-Performance Data Augmentation for Deep Learning-Based Skin Lesion Classification”

In the Research Article“A Low-Cost High-Performance Data Augmentation for Deep Learning-Based Skin Lesion Classification,”Zhihong Zhang was erroneously listed as an author.The PDF and HTML(full text)have been corrected.

Structural evolution and high-temperature sensing performance of polymer-derived SiAlBCN ceramics

In situ temperature monitoring has become extremely imperative in high-temperature harsh environments and polymer-derived ceramics(PDCs)as sensing materials have attracted great attention.However,the stability and oxidation/corrosion resistance of PDCs cannot be simultaneously achieved at the moment,limiting their practical application.Herein,polymer-derived SiAlBCN ceramics were synthesized via polymer conversion method under different pyrolysis temperatures.Their microstructure evolution,high temperature sensing properties,and stability were investigated in detail.The results show that the amorphous SiAlBCN phase grows more orderly and the size of the free carbon phase enlarges with the increasing temperature.The defect concentration displays a decreasing tendency.Concurrently,the SiAlBCN ceramics as sensing materials exhibit a good temperature-resistance property from roo temperature to 1100℃.The fabricated SiAlBCN temperature sensor possesses excellent stability,repeatability,and accuracy.Moreover,SiAlBCN ceramics exhibit distinguished oxidation/corrosion resistance after 100 h treatment at 1200℃in a water/oxygen environment,which is attributed to their low corrosive rate constant(0.57 mg/(cm^(2)·h))and oxidative rate constant(3.43 mg^(2)/(cm^(4)·h)).Therefore,polymer-derived SiAlBCN ceramics as sensing materials,which possess outstanding stability and oxidation/corrosion resistance,have great potential for in-situ monitoring of extreme environmental temperatures in the future.

Structural designs of AlGaN/GaN nanowire-based photoelectrochemical photodetectors:carrier transport regulation in GaN segment as current flow hub

The AlGaN/GaN p-n junction has received extensive attention due to its capability of rapid photogenerated carrier separation in photodetection devices.The AlGaN/GaN heterojunction nanowires(NWs)have been especially endowed with new life for distinctive transport characteristics in the photoelectrochemical(PEC)detection field.A self-powered PEC ultraviolet photodetector(PEC UV PD)based on the p-AlGaN/n-GaN heterojunction NW is reported in this work.The n-GaN NW layer plays a crucial role as a current flow hub to regulate carrier transport,which mainly acts as a light absorber under 365 nm and carrier recombination layer under 255 nm illumination,which can effectively modulate photoresponsivity at different wavelengths.Furthermore,by designing the thicknesses of the NW layer,the photocurrent polarity reversal was successfully achieved in the constructed AlGaN/GaN NW PEC UV PD at two different light wavelengths.In addition,by combining with platinum decoration,the photoresponse performance could be further enhanced.Our work provides insight into transport mechanisms in the AlGaN/GaN NW PEC system,and offers a feasible and comprehensive strategy for further exploration of multifunctional optoelectronic devices.

Compound from Magnolia officinalis Ameliorates White Matter Injury by Promoting Oligodendrocyte Maturation in Chronic Cerebral Ischemia Models

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion leads to white matter injury(WMI),which subsequently causes neurodegeneration and even cognitive impairment.However,due to the lack of treatment specifically for WMI,novel recognized and effective therapeutic strategies are urgently needed.In this study,we found that honokiol and magnolol,two compounds derived from Magnolia officinalis,significantly facilitated the differentiation of primary oligodendrocyte precursor cells(OPCs)into mature oligodendrocytes,with a more prominent effect of the former compound.Moreover,our results demonstrated that honokiol treatment improved myelin injury,induced mature oligodendrocyte protein expression,attenuated cognitive decline,promoted oligodendrocyte regeneration,and inhibited astrocytic activation in the bilateral carotid artery stenosis model.Mechanistically,honokiol increased the phosphorylation of serine/threonine kinase(Akt)and mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR)by activating cannabinoid receptor 1 during OPC differentiation.Collectively,our study indicates that honokiol might serve as a potential treatment for WMI in chronic cerebral ischemia.