Tumor-feeding artery diameter reduction is associated with improved short-term effect of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy plus lenvatinib treatment

BACKGROUND Recently,hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy(HAIC)plus lenvatinib has been frequently used to treat unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma(uHCC)in China.In the clinic,the hepatic arteries of some patients shrink significantly during this treatment,leading to improved short-term efficacy.AIM To investigate the relationship between the shrinkage of hepatic arteries and the short-term effect of HAIC plus lenvatinib treatment.METHODS Sixty-seven participants with uHCC were enrolled in this retrospective study.The patients received HAIC every 3 wk,followed by oral lenvatinib after the first HAIC course.Hepatic artery diameters were measured on CT before treatment and after 1 and 2 mo of treatment.Meanwhile,the changes in tumor capillaries were also examined on pathological specimens before and after 1 mo of treatment.The antitumor response after 1,3,and 6 mo of treatment was assessed using the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors(mRECIST).The relationship between the changes in vessel diameters and the short-term effect of the combination treatment was evaluated by receiver-operating characteristic and logistic regression analyses.RESULTS The hepatic artery diameters were all significantly decreased after 1 and 2 mo of treatment(P<0.001),but there was no difference in the vessel diameters between 1 and 2 mo(P>0.05).The microvessel density in the tumor lesions decreased significantly after 1 mo of combination treatment(P<0.001).According to mRECIST,46,41,and 24 patients had complete or partial responses after 1,3,and 6 mo of treatment,respectively,whereas 21,21,and 32 patients had a stable or progressive disease at these times,respectively.Shrinkage of the tumor-feeding artery was significantly associated with the tumor response after 1,3,and 6 mo of treatment(P<0.001,P=0.004,and P=0.023,respectively);however,changes in other hepatic arteries were not significantly associated with the tumor response.Furthermore,shrinkage of the tumor-feeding artery was an independent factor for treatment efficacy(P=0.001,P=0.001,and P=0.002 and 1,3,and 6 mo,respectively).CONCLUSION The hepatic arteries shrank rapidly after treatment with HAIC plus lenvatinib,and shrinkage of the tumor-feeding artery diameter was closely related to improved short-term efficacy.

Short-term Effects of Air Pollution on Mortality in a Heavily Polluted Chinese City

Since the London fog in 1952, numerous epidemioLogical studies have revealed that both short-term and long-term exposure to air pollutants is associated with the development of diseases[1]. Up to date, the assessment of air quality on health and air quality standard establishment in developing countries were mainly relied on extrapolation based on the results from long-term cohort studies conducted in Europe and North America.

Clinical Observation on the Improved Short-Term Effects of Anti-Tumor Purified Chinese Medicine Injection Ai-Jing for 138 Cases with Malignant Tumors

The subjects of this study were to observe the improved short-term effects of anti-tumor purified Chinese medicine injection Ai-Jing for 138 cases with malignant tumors. This was a multi-center clinical study, and a total of 138 patients included 96 males and 42 females, with the age from 60 to 76 years. Ai-Jing has obtained the Chinese invention patent since 2008 (ZL991-03528.3). A novel technique acupoint injection method was adopted. Except for lung cancer, patients with other malignant tumors were injected once every other day, 2 ml each time. A course of treatment needs 6 Ai-Jing injections, lung cancer patients need 10 - 20 Ai-Jing injections. At the same time, patients were treated with traditional medicine decoction. Due to the limited number of cases, cure rate, recovery rate and remission rate were calculated as a whole, respectively 18.12%, 44.20% and 32.15%. All the invalid patients were lung cancer, accounting for 16.67% of the patients treated with lung cancer, and the total treatment inefficiency was 6.52%. Conclusion: Chinese Medicine Injection Ai-Jing extracts the effective components of anti-cancer and tumorigenesis, and has the effects of anti-cancer and tumorigenesis, anti-inflam-matory and analgesic, and repairing body damage, with small toxic and side effects and low cost.

A comparison of the short-term effects of fixed platform versus rotating high-fiexion prosthesis for the patients with osteoarthrities of knee

Objective To compare the preliminary clinical outcome between fixed platform and rotating high-flexion prosthesis following total knee replacement(TKR).Methods Form January 2007 to December 2009,68 patients with osteoarthritis of

Short-term effect of rehabilitation training on children with neuropathic acontractile sphincter incontinence

Objective To evaluate the short-term effect of pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation training under the guidance of doctors on children with neuropathic acontractile sphincter incontinence ( NASI) . Methods Sixty-eighty children ( aged 4 - 12 mean,7) years with NASI

Predictive value of serum levels of transforming growth factor beta 1 for the short-term effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer

Objective To investigate variation in levels of transforming growth factor beta 1(TGF-β1)before and after radiotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer in order to evaluate the predictive value of TGF-β1 for the effects of radiotherapy Methods A total of 140 patients with esophageal squamous carcinoma undergoing radical radiation therapy in the Department of Oncology from March 2015 to December 2017 were enrolled.The patients were divided into the effective(115 cases)and ineffective(25 cases)groups according to World Health Organization(WHO)criteria for the evaluation of solid tumors(2009 RECIST standard).TGF-β1 levels were measured in all patients by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Multiple-factor analysis of the predictive value of the treatment efficacy was performed by Cox regression analysis.Results After radiotherapy,36,79,and 25 cases experienced complete response(CR),partial response(PR),and no response(NR),respectively,with a total effective rate of 82.14%.The TGF-β1 level was significantly lower in the effective group than that in the ineffective group(P<0.05)and covariance analysis revealed significantly reduced TGF-β1 level in esophageal cancer patients following radiotherapy.The multi-factor Cox regression model revealed that the predictive value of TGF-β1 for the effect of radiotherapy was largest,with a hazard ratio[HR]of 1.955(P=0.002),followed by exposure dose,with(HR=1.367;P=0.035).Conclusion Serum TGF-β1 level can serve as a predictor for the short-term effects of radiotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer.

Evaluation of short-term effects of drug-loaded microspheres and traditional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in the treatment of advanced liver cancer

BACKGROUND Liver cancer is a malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality.Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE)is the main method for surgically unresectable liver cancer.In recent years,drug-loaded microspheres have been gradually applied in TACE technology.There are some controversies about the therapeutic effects of drug-loaded microspheres TACE(D-TACE)and traditional TACE.AIM To explore the short-term efficacy of D-TACE and traditional TACE in the treatment of advanced liver cancer.METHODS The clinical data of 73 patients with advanced liver cancer admitted to the First and Sixth Medical Centers of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2017 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.Among them,15 patients were treated with D-TACE,and 58 patients were treated with traditional TACE.Clinical baseline characteristics,perioperative laboratory indices,postoperative adverse reactions and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups.RESULTS There was no statistical difference between the two groups for the postoperative response:The highest postoperative body temperature of the drug-loaded microsphere group was 38.0±0.9℃and the postoperative highest body temperature of the traditional TACE group was 38.3±0.7℃(t=-1.414,P=0.162).For the 24 h postoperative nausea and vomiting after surgery in terms of scoring and postoperative pain scores,the traditional TACE group was higher than the drugloaded microsphere group(χ2=14.33,P=0.014;χ2=32.967,P=0.000)and the two groups had significant statistical differences.The disease control rate at 3 mo after treatment in the drugloaded microsphere group was 60%and the disease control rate at 3 mo after treatment in the traditional TACE group was 75.9%(χ2=4.091,P=0.252).There was no statistical difference between the two groups of data.During the follow-up period,the number of interventional treatments received was once in the drug-loaded microsphere group and the traditional TACE group received an average of 1.48 treatments(χ2=10.444 P=0.005).There was a statistical difference between the two groups.CONCLUSION Compared with traditional TACE,D-TACE may have some advantages in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with a large tumor load in the short term,but the long-term clinical efficacy needs additional follow-up studies.In addition,compared with the traditional group,the patients in the drug-loaded microsphere group had better subjective tolerance and could reduce the number of interventional treatments.Therefore,D-TACE is worthy of clinical promotion.

Short-term efficacy of microwave ablation in the treatment of liver cancer and its effect on immune function

BACKGROUND Hepatectomy is the first choice for treating liver cancer.However,inflammatory factors,released in response to pain stimulation,may suppress perioperative immune function and affect the prognosis of patients undergoing hepatectomies.AIM To determine the short-term efficacy of microwave ablation in the treatment of liver cancer and its effect on immune function.METHODS Clinical data from patients with liver cancer admitted to Suzhou Ninth People’s Hospital from January 2020 to December 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.Thirty-five patients underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy for liver cancer(liver cancer resection group)and 35 patients underwent medical image-guided microwave ablation(liver cancer ablation group).The short-term efficacy,complications,liver function,and immune function indices before and after treatment were compared between the two groups.RESULTS One month after treatment,19 patients experienced complete remission(CR),8 patients experienced partial remission(PR),6 patients experienced stable disease(SD),and 2 patients experienced disease progression(PD)in the liver cancer resection group.In the liver cancer ablation group,21 patients experienced CR,9 patients experienced PR,3 patients experienced SD,and 2 patients experienced PD.No significant differences in efficacy and complications were detected between the liver cancer ablation and liver cancer resection groups(P>0.05).After treatment,total bilirubin(41.24±7.35 vs 49.18±8.64μmol/L,P<0.001),alanine aminotransferase(30.85±6.23 vs 42.32±7.56 U/L,P<0.001),CD4+(43.95±5.72 vs 35.27±5.56,P<0.001),CD8+(20.38±3.91 vs 22.75±4.62,P<0.001),and CD4+/CD8+(2.16±0.39 vs 1.55±0.32,P<0.001)were significantly different between the liver cancer ablation and liver cancer resection groups.CONCLUSION The short-term efficacy and safety of microwave ablation and laparoscopic surgery for the treatment of liver cancer are similar,but liver function recovers quickly after microwave ablation,and microwave ablation may enhance immune function.

240 nm AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet micro-LEDs:size effect versus edge effect

240 nm AlGaN-based micro-LEDs with different sizes are designed and fabricated.Then,the external quantum efficiency(EQE)and light extraction efficiency(LEE)are systematically investigated by comparing size and edge effects.Here,it is revealed that the peak optical output power increases by 81.83%with the size shrinking from 50.0 to 25.0μm.Thereinto,the LEE increases by 26.21%and the LEE enhancement mainly comes from the sidewall light extraction.Most notably,transversemagnetic(TM)mode light intensifies faster as the size shrinks due to the tilted mesa side-wall and Al reflector design.However,when it turns to 12.5μm sized micro-LEDs,the output power is lower than 25.0μm sized ones.The underlying mechanism is that even though protected by SiO2 passivation,the edge effect which leads to current leakage and Shockley-Read-Hall(SRH)recombination deteriorates rapidly with the size further shrinking.Moreover,the ratio of the p-contact area to mesa area is much lower,which deteriorates the p-type current spreading at the mesa edge.These findings show a role of thumb for the design of high efficiency micro-LEDs with wavelength below 250 nm,which will pave the way for wide applications of deep ultraviolet(DUV)micro-LEDs.

Evaluation of the intracellular lipid-lowering effect of polyphenols extract from highland barley in HepG2 cells

Active ingredients from highland barley have received considerable attention as natural products for developing treatments and dietary supplements against obesity.In practical application,the research of food combinations is more significant than a specific food component.This study investigated the lipid-lowering effect of highland barley polyphenols via lipase assay in vitro and HepG2 cells induced by oleic acid(OA).Five indexes,triglyceride(TG),total cholesterol(T-CHO),low density lipoprotein-cholesterol(LDL-C),aspartate aminotransferase(AST),and alanine aminotransferase(ALT),were used to evaluate the lipidlowering effect of highland barley extract.We also preliminary studied the lipid-lowering mechanism by Realtime fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction(q PCR).The results indicated that highland barley extract contains many components with lipid-lowering effects,such as hyperoside and scoparone.In vitro,the lipase assay showed an 18.4%lipase inhibition rate when the additive contents of highland barley extract were 100μg/m L.The intracellular lipid-lowering effect of highland barley extract was examined using 0.25 mmol/L OA-induced HepG2 cells.The results showed that intracellular TG,LDL-C,and T-CHO content decreased by 34.4%,51.2%,and 18.4%,respectively.ALT and AST decreased by 51.6%and 20.7%compared with the untreated hyperlipidemic HepG2 cells.q PCR results showed that highland barley polyphenols could up-regulation the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes such as PPARγand Fabp4.

Engineering Strategies for Suppressing the Shuttle Effect in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Lithium–sulfur(Li–S)batteries are supposed to be one of the most potential next-generation batteries owing to their high theoretical capacity and low cost.Nevertheless,the shuttle effect of firm multi-step two-electron reaction between sulfur and lithium in liquid electrolyte makes the capacity much smaller than the theoretical value.Many methods were proposed for inhibiting the shuttle effect of polysulfide,improving corresponding redox kinetics and enhancing the integral performance of Li–S batteries.Here,we will comprehensively and systematically summarize the strategies for inhibiting the shuttle effect from all components of Li–S batteries.First,the electrochemical principles/mechanism and origin of the shuttle effect are described in detail.Moreover,the efficient strategies,including boosting the sulfur conversion rate of sulfur,confining sulfur or lithium polysulfides(LPS)within cathode host,confining LPS in the shield layer,and preventing LPS from contacting the anode,will be discussed to suppress the shuttle effect.Then,recent advances in inhibition of shuttle effect in cathode,electrolyte,separator,and anode with the aforementioned strategies have been summarized to direct the further design of efficient materials for Li–S batteries.Finally,we present prospects for inhibition of the LPS shuttle and potential development directions in Li–S batteries.

A modified stochastic model for LS+AR hybrid method and its application in polar motion short-term prediction

Short-term(up to 30 days)predictions of Earth Rotation Parameters(ERPs)such as Polar Motion(PM:PMX and PMY)play an essential role in real-time applications related to high-precision reference frame conversion.Currently,least squares(LS)+auto-regressive(AR)hybrid method is one of the main techniques of PM prediction.Besides,the weighted LS+AR hybrid method performs well for PM short-term prediction.However,the corresponding covariance information of LS fitting residuals deserves further exploration in the AR model.In this study,we have derived a modified stochastic model for the LS+AR hybrid method,namely the weighted LS+weighted AR hybrid method.By using the PM data products of IERS EOP 14 C04,the numerical results indicate that for PM short-term forecasting,the proposed weighted LS+weighted AR hybrid method shows an advantage over both the LS+AR hybrid method and the weighted LS+AR hybrid method.Compared to the mean absolute errors(MAEs)of PMX/PMY sho rt-term prediction of the LS+AR hybrid method and the weighted LS+AR hybrid method,the weighted LS+weighted AR hybrid method shows average improvements of 6.61%/12.08%and 0.24%/11.65%,respectively.Besides,for the slopes of the linear regression lines fitted to the errors of each method,the growth of the prediction error of the proposed method is slower than that of the other two methods.

Experimental study on the effect of water absorption level on rockburst occurrence of sandstone

To investigate the mechanism of rockburst prevention by spraying water onto the surrounding rocks,15 experiments are performed considering different water absorption levels on a single face.High-speed photography and acoustic emission(AE)system are used to monitor the rockburst process.The effect of water on sandstone rockburst and the prevention mechanism of water on sandstone rockburst are analyzed from the perspective of energy and failure mode.The results show that the higher the ab-sorption degree,the lower the intensity of the rockburst after absorbing water on single side of sand-stone.This is reflected in the fact that with the increase in the water absorption level,the ejection velocity of rockburst fragments is smaller,the depth of the rockburst pit is shallower,and the AE energy is smaller.Under the water absorption level of 100%,the magnitude of rockburst intensity changes from medium to slight.The prevention mechanism of water on sandstone rockburst is that water reduces the capacity of sandstone to store strain energy and accelerates the expansion of shear cracks,which is not conducive to the occurrence of plate cracking before rockburst,and destroys the conditions for rockburst incubation.

High responsivity photodetectors based on graphene/WSe_(2) heterostructure by photogating effect

Graphene, with its zero-bandgap electronic structure, is a highly promising ultra-broadband light absorbing material.However, the performance of graphene-based photodetectors is limited by weak absorption efficiency and rapid recombination of photoexcited carriers, leading to poor photodetection performance. Here, inspired by the photogating effect, we demonstrated a highly sensitive photodetector based on graphene/WSe_(2) vertical heterostructure where the WSe_(2) layer acts as both the light absorption layer and the localized grating layer. The graphene conductive channel is induced to produce more carriers by capacitive coupling. Due to the strong light absorption and high external quantum efficiency of multilayer WSe_(2), as well as the high carrier mobility of graphene, a high photocurrent is generated in the vertical heterostructure. As a result, the photodetector exhibits ultra-high responsivity of 3.85×10~4A/W and external quantum efficiency of 1.3 × 10~7%.This finding demonstrates that photogating structures can effectively enhance the sensitivity of graphene-based photodetectors and may have great potential applications in future optoelectronic devices.

“Buckets effect”in the kinetics of electrocatalytic reactions

In this study,we systematically investigated the effect of proton concentration on the kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)on Pt(111)in acidic solutions.Experimental results demonstrate a rectangular hyperbolic relationship,i.e.,the ORR current excluding the effect of other variables increases with proton concentration and then tends to a constant value.We consider that this is caused by the limitation of ORR kinetics by the trace oxygen concentration in the solution,which determines the upper limit of ORR kinetics.A model of effective concentration is further proposed for rectangular hyperbolic relationships:when the reactant concentration is high enough to reach a critical saturation concentration,the effective reactant concentration will become a constant value.This could be due to the limited concentration of a certain reactant for reactions involving more than one reactant or the limited number of active sites available on the catalyst.Our study provides new insights into the kinetics of electrocatalytic reactions,and it is important for the proper evaluation of catalyst activity and the study of structureperformance relationships.

Cumulative effects of excess high-normal alanine aminotransferase levels in relation to new-onset metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease in China

BACKGROUND Within the normal range,elevated alanine aminotransferase(ALT)levels are associated with an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease(MAFLD).AIM To investigate the associations between repeated high-normal ALT measurements and the risk of new-onset MAFLD prospectively.METHODS A cohort of 3553 participants followed for four consecutive health examinations over 4 years was selected.The incidence rate,cumulative times,and equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of excess high-normal ALT levels(ehALT)were measured.Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyse the association between the cumulative effects of ehALT and the risk of new-onset MAFLD.RESULTS A total of 83.13%of participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels.The incidence rate of MAFLD showed a linear increasing trend in the cumulative ehALT group.Compared with those in the low-normal ALT group,the multivariate adjusted hazard ratios of the equally and unequally weighted cumulative effects of ehALT were 1.651[95%confidence interval(CI):1.199-2.273]and 1.535(95%CI:1.119-2.106)in the third quartile and 1.616(95%CI:1.162-2.246)and 1.580(95%CI:1.155-2.162)in the fourth quartile,respectively.CONCLUSION Most participants with MAFLD had normal ALT levels.Long-term high-normal ALT levels were associated with a cumulative increased risk of new-onset MAFLD.

Impact of effective stress on permeability for carbonate fractured-vuggy rocks

To gain insight into the flow mechanisms and stress sensitivity for fractured-vuggy reservoirs,several core models with different structural characteristics were designed and fabricated to investigate the impact of effective stress on permeability for carbonate fractured-vuggy rocks(CFVR).It shows that the permeability performance curves under different pore and confining pressures(i.e.altered stress conditions)for the fractured core models and the vuggy core models have similar change patterns.The ranges of permeability variation are significantly wider at high pore pressures,indicating that permeability reduction is the most significant during the early stage of development for fractured-vuggy reservoirs.Since each obtained effective stress coefficient for permeability(ESCP)varies with the changes in confining pressure and pore pressure,the effective stresses for permeability of four representative CFVR show obvious nonlinear characteristics,and the variation ranges of ESCP are all between 0 and 1.Meanwhile,a comprehensive ESCP mathematical model considering triple media,including matrix pores,fractures,and dissolved vugs,was proposed.It is proved theoretically that the ESCP of CFVR generally varies between 0 and 1.Additionally,the regression results showed that the power model ranked highest among the four empirical models mainly applied in stress sensitivity characterization,followed by the logarithmic model,exponential model,and binomial model.The concept of“permeability decline rate”was introduced to better evaluate the stress sensitivity performance for CFVR,in which the one-fracture rock is the strongest,followed by the fracture-vug rock and two-horizontalfracture rock;the through-hole rock is the weakest.In general,this study provides a theoretical basis to guide the design of development and adjustment programs for carbonate fractured-vuggy reservoirs.

Carbon Emission Effects Driven by Evolution of Chinese Dietary Structure from 1987 to 2020

Exploring carbon emission effects based on the evolution of residents’ dietary structure to achieve the carbon neutrality goal and mitigate climate change is an important task.This study took China as the research object(data excluding Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan) and used the carbon emission coefficient method to quantitatively measure the food carbon emissions from 1987–2020,then analyzed the carbon emission effects under the evolution of dietary structure.The results showed that during the study period,the Chinese dietary structure gradually changed to a high-carbon consumption pattern.The dietary structure of urban residents developed to a balanced one,while that of rural residents developed to a high-quality one.During the study period,the per capita food carbon emissions and total food consumption of Chinese showed an increasing trend.The per capita food carbon emissions of residents in urban and rural showed an overall upward trend.The total food carbon emissions in urban increased significantly,while that in rural increased first and then decreased.The influence of beef and mutton on carbon emissions is the highest in dietary structure.Compared with the balanced dietary pattern,the food carbon emissions of Chinese residents had not yet reached the peak,but were evolving to a high-carbon consumption pattern.

Rockburst criterion and evaluation method for potential rockburst pit depth considering excavation damage effect

Excavation-induced disturbances in deep tunnels will lead to deterioration of rock properties and formation of excavation damaged zone(EDZ).This excavation damage effect may affect the potential rockburst pit depth.Taking two diversion tunnels of Jinping II hydropower station for example,the relationship between rockburst pit depth and excavation damage effect is first surveyed.The results indicate that the rockburst pit depth in tunnels with severe damage to rock masses is relatively large.Subsequently,the excavation-induced damage effect is characterized by disturbance factor D based on the Hoek-Brown criterion and wave velocity method.It is found that the EDZ could be further divided into a high-damage zone(HDZ)with D=1 and weak-damage zone(WDZ),and D decays from one to zero linearly.For this,a quantitative evaluation method for potential rockburst pit depth is established by presenting a three-element rockburst criterion considering rock strength,geostress and disturbance factor.The evaluation results obtained by this method match well with actual observations.In addition,the weakening of rock mass strength promotes the formation and expansion of potential rockburst pits.The potential rockburst pit depth is positively correlated with HDZ and WDZ depths,and the HDZ depth has a significant contribution to the potential rockburst pit depth.

Review on synergistic damage effect of irradiation and corrosion on reactor structural alloys

The synergistic damage effect of irradiation and corrosion of reactor structural materials has been a prominent research focus.This paper provides a comprehensive review of the synergistic effects on the third-and fourth-generation fission nuclear energy structural materials used in pressurized water reactors and molten salt reactors.The competitive mechanisms of multiple influencing factors,such as the irradiation dose,corrosion type,and environmental temperature,are summarized in this paper.Conceptual approaches are proposed to alleviate the synergistic damage caused by irradiation and corrosion,thereby promoting in-depth research in the future and solving this key challenge for the structural materials used in reactors.