Highly efficient CO_(2) capture using 2-methylimidazole aqueous solution on laboratory and pilot-scale

To date,the primary industrial carbon capture approach is still absorption using aqueous solutions of alkanolamines.Here,to pursue a substitute for the amine-based approach to improve the CO_(2) capture efficiency and decrease the energy cost further,we report a new carbon capture approach using a 2-methylimidazole(mIm)aqueous solution.The properties and sorption behaviors of this approach have been experimentally investigated.The results show that the mIm solution has higher CO_(2) absorption capacity under relatively higher equilibrium pressure(>130 kPa)and lower desorption heat than the methyldiethanolamine solution.91.6%sorption capacity of mIm solution can be recovered at 353.15 K and 80 kPa.The selectivity for CO_(2)/N_(2) and CO_(2)/CH_(4) can reach an exceptional 7609 and 4324,respectively.Furthermore,the pilot-scale tests were also performed,and the results demonstrate that more than 98%of CO_(2) in the feed gas could be removed and cyclic absorption capacity can reach 1 mol·L^(-1).This work indicates that mIm is an excellent alternative to alkanolamines for carbon capture in the industry.

Development of a target capture sequencing SNP genotyping platform for genetic analysis and genomic breeding in rapeseed

Rapeseed(Brassica napus)is an oil crop grown worldwide,making it a key plant species in molecular breeding research.However,the complexity of its polyploid genome increases sequencing costs and reduces sequencing accuracy.Target capture coupled with high-throughput sequencing is an efficient approach for detecting genetic variation at genomic regions or loci of interest.In this study,588 resequenced accessions of rapeseed were used to develop a target capture sequencing SNP genotyping platform named BnaPan50T.The platform comprised 54,765,with 54,058 resequenced markers from the pan-genome,and 855 variant trait-associated markers for 12 agronomic traits.The capture quality of BnaPan50T was demonstrated well in 12 typical accessions.Compared with a conventional genotyping array,BnaPan50T has a high SNP density and a high proportion of SNPs in unique physical positions and in annotated functional genes,promising wide application.Target capture sequencing and wholegenome resequencing in 90 doubled-haploid lines yielded 60%specificity,78%uniformity within tenfold coverage range,and 93%genotyping accuracy for the platform.BnaPan50T was used to construct a genetic map for quantitative trait loci(QTL)mapping,identify 21 unique QTL,and predict several candidate genes for yield-related traits in multiple environments.A set of 132 core SNP loci was selected from BnaPan50T to construct DNA fingerprints and germplasm identification resources.This study provides genomics resources to support target capture sequencing,genetic analysis and genomic breeding of rapeseed.

Schiff-base polymer derived FeCo-N-doped porous carbon flowers as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst for long-life rechargeable zinc-air batteries

Rational design and exploration of low-cost and robust bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts are vitally important for developing high-performance zinc-air batteries(ZABs).Herein,we reported a facile yet cost-efficient approach to construct a bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)/oxygen evolution reaction(OER)electrocatalyst composed of N-doped porous carbon nanosheet flowers decorated with Fe Co nanoparticles(Fe Co/N-CF).Rational design of this catalyst is achieved by designing Schiff-base polymer with unique molecular structure via hydrogen bonding of cyanuramide and terephthalaldehyde polycondensate in the presence of metal cations.It exhibits excellent activity and stability for electrocatalysis of ORR/OER,enabling ZAB with a high peak power density of 172 m W cm^(-2)and a large specific capacity of 811 m A h g^(-1)Znat large current.The rechargeable ZAB demonstrates excellent durability for 1000 h with slight voltage decay,far outperforming a couple of precious Pt/Ir-based catalysts.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations reveal that high activity of bimetallic Fe Co stems from enhanced O_(2)and OH-adsorption and accelerated O_(2)dissociation by OAO bond activation.

A purely green approach to low-cost mass production of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks

Although zeolitic imidazolate frameworks(ZIFs)have bright prospects in wide fields like gas storage/separation,catalysis and medicine,etc.,their large-scale applications are bottlenecked by the absence of their low-cost commercial production technique.Here,we report an uncon ventional method suitable for environmentally friendly and low-cost mass-production of ZIFs.In this method,taking the synthesis of ZIF-8 as an example,ZnO was used instead of Zn(NO_(3))_(2) in traditional solvent synthesis methods and CO_(2) was introduced to dissolve ZnO in aqueous solution of 2-methylimidazole(HMeim)and form water soluble salt([ZnMeim]^(+)[MeimCOO]^(-))at room temperature.Then,by removing CO_(2) through heating or vacuuming,Meim-ions are produced and instantaneously assemble with[ZnMeim]^(+)s to generate ZIF-8 without any by product.Due to the absence of strong acid anions(such as NO^(-)_(3) and Cl^(-) et al.)in solution,the washing of filter cake required in the conventional approaches could be omitted and the filtrate containing only water and HMeim could be reused completely.This method is really green as no waste gas or liquid generates because CO_(2) and water could be recycled perfectly.It overcomes almost all bottlenecks occurred in commercial production of ZIF-8 when using traditional methods.A pilot plant was established for mass-production of ZIF-8 and hundreds kilograms of ZIF-8 was produced,which indicates that the new method is not only environmentally friendly but also low cost and commercial accessibility.It is expected that the new method would open an avenue for commercial applications of ZIFs.

Investigation of the interaction between NS-DBD plasma-induced vortexes and separated flow over a swept wing

The effect of nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge(NS-DBD) plasma flow separation control is closely related to the actuation frequency,because it involves the interaction between plasma-induced vortexes and separated flow.In order to study the mechanism of NS-DBD plasma flow separation control over a swept wing,especially the influence of the actuation frequency,at first,experimental studies of the actuation frequencies at 100 Hz are conducted to validate the numerical simulation method.Then,numerical studies of different actuation frequencies which are 50 Hz,100 Hz,160 Hz,200 Hz,500 Hz,and 1000 Hz,respectively are conducted.The interaction between the plasma-induced vortexes and the separated flow is analyzed.Results show that there is a range of the actuation frequency which includes the frequency(160 Hz) calculated by the average aerodynamic chord length to make the control effect good,but when the actuation frequencies are too low(50 Hz) or too high(1000 Hz),the control effect will get worse.The former is because plasmainduced vortexes disappear in a period within an actuation cycle;the latter is because plasma-induced vortexes cannot develop completely,resulting in a weak vortex intensity.

高原地区翼状胬肉患者术后复发的危险因素分析及预测指数模型构建

目的探讨高原地区翼状胬肉患者术后复发的相关危险因素,并构建复发预测指数模型。方法回顾性分析我院行翼状胬肉切除联合自体角膜缘干细胞移植术204例(216眼)患者的临床资料,并随访患者术后复发情况,采用Kaplan-Meier法计算其术后复发率,利用多因素Cox比例风险回归模型筛选翼状胬肉患者术后复发的独立危险因素,并构建术后复发的指数预测模型。结果本组患者1年随访期内,复发27眼,复发率12.5%。术后1月、1~3月、3~6月和6~12月分别复发3眼、6眼、12眼和6眼,术后1、3、6、12个月累积复发率分别为1.4%、4.2%、9.7%和12.5%。伴发干眼症、内直肌止端距角膜缘距离越近、日间户外活动时间越长是翼状胬肉患者术后复发的独立危险因素(P<0.05)。结论伴发干眼症、内直肌止端距角膜缘距离越近、日间户外活动时间越长是翼状胬肉患者术后复发的独立危险因素。

Lightweight,Flexible Cellulose-Derived Carbon Aerogel@Reduced Graphene Oxide/PDMS Composites with Outstanding EMI Shielding Performances and Excellent Thermal Conductivities

In order to ensure the operational reliability and infor-mation security of sophisticated electronic components and to protect human health,efficient electromagnetic interference(EMI)shielding materials are required to attenuate electromagnetic wave energy.In this work,the cellulose solution is obtained by dissolving cotton through hydrogen bond driving self-assembly using sodium hydroxide(NaOH)/urea solution,and cellulose aerogels(CA)are prepared by gelation and freeze-drying.Then,the cellulose carbon aerogel@reduced graphene oxide aerogels(CCA@rGO)are prepared by vacuum impregnation,freeze-drying followed by thermal annealing,and finally,the CCA@rGO/polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)EMI shielding composites are prepared by backfilling with PDMS.Owing to skin-core structure of CCA@rGO,the complete three-dimensional(3D)double-layer con-ductive network can be successfully constructed.When the loading of CCA@rGO is 3.05 wt%,CCA@rGO/PDMS EMI shielding composites have an excellent EMI shielding effectiveness(EMI SE)of 51 dB,which is 3.9 times higher than that of the co-blended CCA/rGO/PDMS EMI shielding composites(13 dB)with the same loading of fillers.At this time,the CCA@rGO/PDMS EMI shielding composites have excellent thermal stability(T_(HRI) of 178.3℃)and good thermal conductivity coefficient(λ of 0.65 W m^(-1) K^(-1)).Excellent comprehensive performance makes CCA@rGO/PDMS EMI shielding composites great prospect for applications in lightweight,flexible EMI shielding composites.

MicroRNA expression in the hippocampal CA1 region under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest

Using deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, thoracic aorta diseases and complex heart diseases can be subjected to corrective procedures. However, mechanisms underlying brain protection during deep hypothermic circulatory arrest are unclear. After piglet models underwent 60 minutes of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest at 14°C, expression of microRNAs(miRNAs) was analyzed in the hippocampus by microarray. Subsequently, TargetScan 6.2, RNA22 v2.0, miRWalk 2.0, and miRanda were used to predict potential targets, and gene ontology enrichment analysis was carried out to identify functional pathways involved. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was conducted to verify miRNA changes. Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest altered the expression of 35 miRNAs. Twenty-two miRNAs were significantly downregulated and thirteen miRNAs were significantly upregulated in the hippocampus after deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. Six out of eight targets among the differentially expressed miRNAs were enriched for neuronal projection(cyclin dependent kinase, CDK16 and SLC1 A2), central nervous system development(FOXO3, TYRO3, and SLC1 A2), ion transmembrane transporter activity(ATP2 B2 and SLC1 A2), and interleukin-6 receptor binding(IL6 R)– these are the key functional pathways involved in cerebral protection during deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction confirmed the results of microarray analysis. Our experimental results illustrate a new role for transcriptional regulation in deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, and provide significant insight for the development of miRNAs to treat brain injuries. All procedures were approved by the Animal Care Committee of Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, China on March 1, 2017(approval No. XW-INI-AD2017-0112).

A continuous and high-efficiency process to separate coal bed methane with porous ZIF-8 slurry:Experimental study and mathematical modelling

Coal bed methane has been considered as an important energy resource.One major difficulty of purifying coal bed methane comes from the similar physical properties of CH_4 and N_2.The ZIF-8/water-glycol slurry was used as a medium to separate coal bed methane by fluidifying the solid adsorbent material.The sorption equilibrium experiment of binary mixture(CH_4/N_2)and slurry was conducted.The selectivity of CH_4 to N_2 is within the range of 2-6,which proved the feasibility of the slurry separation method.The modified Langmuir equation was used to describe the gas-slurry phase equilibrium behavior,and the calculated results were in good agreement with the experimental data.A continuous absorption-adsorption and desorption process on the separation of CH_4/N_2 in slurry is proposed and its mathematical model is also developed.Sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the operation conditions and the energy performance of the proposed process was also evaluated.Feed gas contains 30 mol%of methane and the methane concentration in product gas is 95.46 mol%with the methane recovery ratio of 90.74%.The total energy consumption for per unit volume of product gas is determined as 1.846 kWh Nm^(-3).Experimental results and process simulation provide basic data for the design and operation of pilot and industrial plant.

Strain-controlled graphdiyne membrane for CO2/CH4 separation:First-principle and molecular dynamic simulation

Tensile strain of porous membrane materials can broaden their capacity in gas separation.In this work,using van der Waals corrected density functional theory(DFT)and molecular dynamics(MD)simulations,the performance and mechanism of CO2/CH4 separation through strain-oriented graphdiyne(GDY)monolayer were studied by applying lateral strain.It is demonstrated that the CO2 permeance peaks at 1.29×10^6 gas permeation units(GPU)accompanied with CO2/CH4 selectivity of 5.27×10^3 under ultimate strain,both of which are far beyond the Robeson’s limit.Furthermore,the GDY membrane exhibited a decreasing gas diffusion energy barrier and increasing permeance with the increase of applied tensile strain.CO2 molecule tends to reoriented itself vertically to permeate the membrane.Finally,the CO2 permeability decreases with the increase of the temperature from300 K to 500 K due to conserving of rotational freedom,suggesting an abnormal permeance of CO2 in relation to temperature.Our theoretical results suggest that the stretchable GDY monolayer holds great promise to be an excellent candidate for CO2/CH4 separation,owing to its extremely high selectivity and permeability of CO2.

Identification of denatured and normal biological tissues based on compressed sensing and refined composite multi-scale fuzzy entropy during high intensity focused ultrasound treatment

In high intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU)treatment,it is crucial to accurately identify denatured and normal biological tissues.In this paper,a novel method based on compressed sensing(CS)and refined composite multi-scale fuzzy entropy(RCMFE)is proposed.First,CS is used to denoise the HIFU echo signals.Then the multi-scale fuzzy entropy(MFE)and RCMFE of the denoised HIFU echo signals are calculated.This study analyzed 90 cases of HIFU echo signals,including 45 cases in normal status and 45 cases in denatured status,and the results show that although both MFE and RCMFE can be used to identify denatured tissues,the intra-class distance of RCMFE on each scale factor is smaller than MFE,and the inter-class distance is larger than MFE.Compared with MFE,RCMFE can calculate the complexity of the signal more accurately and improve the stability,compactness,and separability.When RCMFE is selected as the characteristic parameter,the RCMFE difference between denatured and normal biological tissues is more evident than that of MFE,which helps doctors evaluate the treatment effect more accurately.When the scale factor is selected as 16,the best distinguishing effect can be obtained.

The transcorneal electrical stimulation as a novel therapeutic strategy against retinal and optic neuropathy: a review of experimental and clinical trials

Transcorneal electrical stimulation （TES） is a novel therapeutic approach to activate the retina and related downstream structures. TES has multiple advantages over traditional treatments, such as being minimally invasive and readily applicable in a routine manner. Series of animal experiments have shown that TES protects the retinal neuron from traumatic or genetic induced degeneration. These laboratory evidences support its utilization in ophthalmological therapies against various retinal and optical diseases including retinitis pigmentosa （RP）, traumatic optic neuropathy, anterior ischemic optic neuropathy （AION）, and retinal artery occlusions （RAOs）. Several pioneering explorations sought to clarify the functional mechanism underlying the neuroprotective effects of TES. It seems that the neuroprotective effects should not be attributed to a solitary pathway, on the contrary, multiple mechanisms might contribute collectively to maintain cellular homeostasis and promote cell survival in the retina. More precise evaluations y/a functional and morphological techniques would determine the exact mechanism underlying the remarkable neuroprotective effect of TES. Further studies to determine the optimal parameters and the long-term stability of TES are crucial to justify the clinical significance and to establish TES as a popularized therapeutic modality against retinal and optic neuropathy.

Expressions of TGF-β2, bFGF and ICAM-1 in lens epithelial cells of complicated cataract with silicone oil tamponade

AIM： To investigate the expression differences of transforming growth factor-β2（TGF-β2）, basic fibroblast growth factor（b FGF） and intercellular cell-adhesion molecule-1（ICAM-1） in lens epithelial cells（LECs） of complicated cataract with silicone oil tamponade and agerelated cataract. METHODS： Totally 150 eyes of 150 patients（aged 35 to 77y） were investigated, including 75 patients with complicated cataract after silicone oil tamponade and 75 patients with age-related cataract. The central piece of anterior capsules was collected during cataract surgery. TGF-β2, b FGF and ICAM-1 were detected in the 60 specimens of the two groups by immunohistochemistry. The expression levels of the three kinds of messenger ribonucleic acid（m RNA） were determined by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction in the 90 specimens of the two groups.RESULTS： TGF-β2 was detected in the cytomembrane and cytoplasm of the LECs and b FGF was detected in the nucleus. ICAM-1 was positive in the cytomembrane of the LECs and the distribution of positive cells was uneven. The m RNA genes expression of the TGF-β2, b FGF and ICAM-1 was significant differences between the two groups and markedly increased in complicated cataract group（P〈0.05）.CONCLUSION： The up-regulated TGF-β2, b FGF and ICAM-1 maybe associate with the occurrence and development of complicated cataract with silicone oil tamponade.

Unconventional Petroleum Sedimentology:A Key to Understanding Unconventional Hydrocarbon Accumulation

The commercial exploitation of unconventional petroleum resources(e.g.,shale oil/gas and tight oil/gas)has drastically changed the global energy structure within the past two decades.Sweet-spot intervals(areas),the most prolific unconventional hydrocarbon resources,generally consist of extraordinarily high organic matter(EHOM)deposits or closely associated sandstones/carbonate rocks.The formation of sweet-spot intervals(areas)is fundamentally controlled by their depositional and subsequent diagenetic settings,which result from the coupled sedimentation of global or regional geological events,such as tectonic activity,sea level(lake level)fluctuations,climate change,bottom water anoxia,volcanic activity,biotic mass extinction or radiation,and gravity flows during a certain geological period.Black shales with EHOM content and their associated high-quality reservoir rocks deposited by the coupling of major geological events provide not only a prerequisite for massive hydrocarbon generation but also abundant hydrocarbon storage space.The Ordovician-Silurian Wufeng-Longmaxi shale of the Sichuan Basin,Devonian Marcellus shale of the Appalachian Basin,Devonian-Carboniferous Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin,and Triassic Yanchang Formation of the Ordos Basin are four typical unconventional hydrocarbon systems selected as case studies herein.In each case,the formation of sweet-spot intervals for unconventional hydrocarbon resources was controlled by the coupled sedimentation of different global or regional geological events,collectively resulting in a favorable environment for the production,preservation,and accumulation of organic matter,as well as for the generation,migration,accumulation,and exploitation of hydrocarbons.Unconventional petroleum sedimentology,which focuses on coupled sedimentation during dramatic environmental changes driven by major geological events,is key to improve the understanding of the formation and distribution of sweet-spot intervals(areas)in unconventional petroleum systems.

A large-scale experimental study on CO_(2) capture utilizing slurry-based ab-adsorption approach

The increasing concentration of CO_(2) in atmosphere is deemed the main reason of global warming.Therefore,efficiently capturing CO_(2) from various sources with energy conservation is of great significance.Herein,a series of experiments were carried out to successfully test the slurry-based ab-adsorption method for continuously capturing CO_(2) in the large-scale cycled separation unit with cost-effect taking into account the scale-up criteria.A bubble column(with height 4900 mm and inner diameter 376 mm)and a desorption tank(with volume 310 L)are the essential components of the separation unit.The novel slurry used in this study was formed with zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 and 2-methylimidazole-water solution.The influence of operation conditions was investigated systematically.The results show that increasing sorption pressure and slurry height level,decreasing gas volume flow and sorption temperature are beneficial for separation processes.The volume fraction of CO_(2) in the feed gas was also studied.Although the scale-up effect had been observed and it was found that it exerted a negative effect on CO_(2) capture,depending on experimental conditions,CO_(2) removal efficiency could still reach 85%-95%and the maximum CO_(2) loading in the recycled slurry could be up to0.007 mol·L-1·kPa-1.Furthermore,the slurry-based method could be operated well even under very moderate regeneration conditions(333 K and 0.05 MPa),which means that the novel approach shows greater energy conservation than traditional amine absorption methods.

Identification of Denatured Biological Tissues Based on Improved Variational Mode Decomposition and Autoregressive Model during HIFU Treatment

During high-intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU)treatment,the accurate identification of denatured biological tissue is an important practical problem.In this paper,a novel method based on the improved variational mode decomposition(IVMD)and autoregressive(AR)model was proposed,which identified denatured biological tissue according to the characteristics of ultrasonic scattered echo signals during HIFU treatment.Firstly,the IVMD method was proposed to solve the problem that the VMD reconstruction signal still has noise due to the limited number of intrinsic mode functions(IMF).The ultrasonic scattered echo signals were reconstructed by the IVMD to achieve denoising.Then,the AR model was introduced to improve the recognition rate of denatured biological tissues.The AR model order parameter was determined by the Akaike information criterion(AIC)and the characteristics of the AR coefficients were extracted.Finally,the optimal characteristics of the AR coefficients were selected according to the results of receiver operating characteristic(ROC).The experiments showed that the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)and root mean square error(RMSE)of the reconstructed signal obtained by IVMD was better than those obtained by variational mode decomposition(VMD).The IVMD-AR method was applied to the actual ultrasonic scattered echo signals during HIFU treatment,and the support vectormachine(SVM)was used to identify the denatured biological tissue.The results show that compared with sample entropy,information entropy,and energy methods,the proposed IVMD-AR method can more effectively identify denatured biological tissue.The recognition rate of denatured biological tissue was higher,up to 93.0%.

Clinical Study on the Impact of Long-term Survival Quality in 204 Postoperative Patients with Breast Cancer by Cox Proportional Hazard Models

The aim of study was to evaluate clinical characteristics, social support and the association with the prognosis of breast cancer patients. A total of 204 participants were followed from 2003 until the end of 2008. Information about patients with breast cancer was submitted by investigators. Data were analyzed by Cox’s proportional hazard model. The clinical staging of breast cancer we used was the TNM classification. A 'T' score is based upon the size and/or extent of invasion. The 'N' score indicates the extent of lymph node involvement. Age at diagnose was associated with protective factors (HR=0.972;95%CI (0.834-1.130)), T staging (HR=2.075;95%CI (1.424-3.022)), N staging (HR=1.513;95%CI (1.066-2.148)), were associated with risk factor. Two survival graphs of nodes with negative effects by histology and nodes with positive effects by histology was analyzed by log-rank test, there was statistically significant relationship between two survival graphs (χ2 =136.8467, p <.0001). Age at diagnoses, Clinical stage tumor and node could contribute to the development of breast cancer and disease free survival in Chinese women.

Synthesis and evaluation of poly(N-vinyl caprolactam)-co-tert-butyl acrylate as kinetic hydrate inhibitor

Low dosage kinetic hydrate inhibitors(KHIs)are a kind of alternative chemical additives to high dosage thermodynamic inhibitors for preventing gas hydrate formation in oil&gas production wells and transportation pipelines.In this paper,a new KHI,poly(N-vinyl caprolactam)-co-tert-butyl acrylate(PVCapco-TBA),was successfully synthesized with N-vinyl caprolactam(NVCap)and tert-butyl acrylate.The kinetic inhibition performances of PVCap-co-TBA on the formations of both structureⅠmethane hydrate and structureⅡnatural gas hydrate were investigated by measuring the onset times of hydrate formation under different conditions and compared with commercial KHIs such as PVP,PVCap and inhibex 501.The results indicated that PVCap-co-TBA outperformed these widely applied inhibitors for both structureⅠand structureⅡhydrates.At the same dosage of KHI,the maximum tolerable degree of subcooling under which the onset time of hydrate formation exceeded 24 hours for structureⅠhydrate was much lower than that for structureⅡhydrate.The inhibition strength increased with the increasing dosage of PVCap-co-TBA;The maximum tolerable degree of subcooling for the natural gas hydrate is more than10 K when the dosage was higher than 0.5%(mass)while it achieved 12 K when that dosage rose to0.75%(mass).Additionally,we found polypropylene glycol could be used as synergist at the dosage of 1.0%(mass)or so,under which the kinetic inhibition performance of PVCap-co-TBA could be improved significantly.All evaluation results demonstrated that PVCap-co-TBA was a very promising KHI and a competitive alternative to the existing commercial KHIs.

Del(5q) and inv(3) in myelodysplastic syndrome: A rare case report

BACKGROUND Del(5q)is the most common molecular event in myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS),accounting for 10%-15%of cases.Inv(3)is an adverse cytogenetic abnormality observed in less than 1%of MDS patients.Few studies have reported the coexistence of del(5q)and inv(3)in MDS.Therefore,the pathological mechanism,treatment strategy and prognosis of this subtype need to be elucidated.CASE SUMMARY A 66-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital due to chest tightness and shortness of breath.Combining clinical assessments with laboratory examinations,the patient was diagnosed with MDS containing both del(5q)and inv(3).Considering the deletion of chromosome 5q,we first treated the patient with lenalidomide.When drug resistance arose,we tried azacitidine,and the patient had a short remission.Finally,the patient refused treatment with haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and died of severe infection four months later.CONCLUSION MDS patients with del(5)and inv(3)have a poor prognosis.Azacitidine may achieve short-term remission for such patients.

Planning Margins to CTV for Image-Guided Whole Pelvis Prostate Cancer Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy

Purpose: We investigated the margin recipes with different alignment techniques in the image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) of whole pelvis prostate cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight computed tomography (CT) scans of eight prostate cancer patients were investigated. Each patient had an initial planning CT scan and 5 consecutive serial CT scans during the course of treatment, all of which were acquired using 3 mm slice separation and 0.94 mm resolution in the axial plane at 120 kVp, on a PQ 5000 CT scanner. Three different whole pelvis planning margin recipes, ranging from 3 to 13 mm, were investigated. A unique IMRT plan was created with each PTV on the initial CT scan, and was then registered to the 5 serial CT scans, by bony alignment or by prostate gland-based alignment. The dose computed on each serial CT scans was accumulated back to the initial CT scan using deformable image registration for final dosimetric evaluation of the interplay of the margin selection and alignment methods. Results: Bony alignment and prostate gland-based alignment gave very similar result to the pelvic lymphatic nodes (PLNs), regardless of its margin around. The prostate gland-based alignment greatly enhanced the coverage to the prostate and SV, especially with small margins. Meanwhile, the soft-tissue alignment also raised the incidental dose to the rectum and reduces the dose to the bladder. With small to intermediate margins, only soft-tissue alignment gave acceptable mean coverage to SV. Margin of 13mm or more was needed for PLNs to maintain good target coverage. Conclusion: We commend prostate-based alignment along with margins less than or equal to 5mm around prostate and SV, and margins greater than or equal to 13 mm around the vascular spaces.