Predictive factors for the local recurrence and distant metastasis of phyllodes tumors of the breast: a retrospective analysis of 192 cases at a single center

The local recurrence rate of phyllodes tumors of the breast varies widely among different subtypes, and distant metastasis is associated with poor survival. This study aimed to identify factors that are predictive of local recurrence-free survival(LRFS), distant metastasis-free survival(DMFS), and overall survival(OS) in patients with phyllodes tumors of the breast. Clinical data of all patients with a phyllodes tumor of the breast(n = 192) treated at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between March 1997 and December 2012 were reviewed. The Pearson χ2 test was used to investigate the relationship between clinical features of patients and histotypes of tumors. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify factors that are predictive of LRFS, DMFS, and OS. In total, 31(16.1%) patients developed local recurrence, and 12(6.3%) developed distant metastasis. For the patients who developed local recurrence, the median age at the diagnosis of primary tumor was 33 years(range, 17-56 years), and the median size of primary tumor was 6.0 cm(range, 0.8-18 cm). For patients who developed distant metastasis, the median age at the diagnosis of primary tumor was 46 years(range, 24-68 years), and the median size of primary tumor was 5.0 cm(range, 0.8-18 cm). In univariate analysis, age, size, hemorrhage, and margin status were found to be predictive factors for LRFS(P = 0.009, 0.024, 0.004, and 0.001, respectively), whereas histotype, epithelial hyperplasia, margin status, and local recurrence were predictors of DMFS(P = 0.001, 0.007, 0.007, and < 0.001, respectively). In multivariate analysis, independent prognostic factors for LRFS included age [hazard ratio(HR) = 3.045, P = 0.005], tumor size(HR = 2.668, P = 0.013), histotype(HR = 1.715, P = 0.017), and margin status(HR = 4.530, P< 0.001). Histotype(DMFS: HR = 4.409, P = 0.002; OS: HR = 4.194, P = 0.003) and margin status(DMFS: HR = 2.581, P = 0.013; OS: HR = 2.507, P = 0.020) were independent predictors of both DMFS and OS. In this cohort, younger age, a larger tumor size, a higher tumor grade, and positive margins were associated with lower rates of LRFS. Histotype and margin status were found to be independent predictors of DMFS and OS.

Efficient treatment of azo dye containing wastewater in a hybrid acidogenic bioreactor stimulated by biocatalyzed electrolysis

In this study, a novel scaled-up hybrid acidogenic bioreactor（HAB） was designed and adopted to evaluate the performance of azo dye（acid red G, ARG） containing wastewater treatment. Principally, HAB is an acidogenic bioreactor coupled with a biocatalyzed electrolysis module. The effects of hydraulic retention time（HRT） and ARG loading rate on the performance of HAB were investigated. In addition, the influent was switched from synthetic wastewater to domestic wastewater to examine the key parameters for the application of HAB. The results showed that the introduction of the biocatalyzed electrolysis module could enhance anoxic decolorization and COD（chemical oxygen demand） removal. The combined process of HAB-CASS presented superior performance compared to a control system without biocatalyzed electrolysis（AB-CASS）. When the influent was switched to domestic wastewater, with an environment having more balanced nutrients and diverse organic matters, the ARG, COD and nitrogen removal efficiencies of HAB-CASS were further improved, reaching 73.3% ± 2.5%, 86.2% ± 3.8% and 93.5% ± 1.6% at HRT of 6 hr, respectively, which were much higher than those of AB-CASS（61.1% ± 4.7%,75.4% ± 5.0% and 82.1% ± 2.1%, respectively）. Moreover, larger TCV/TV（total cathode volume/total volume） for HAB led to higher current and ARG removal. The ARG removal efficiency and current at TCV/TV of 0.15 were 39.2% ± 3.7% and 28.30 ± 1.48 mA,respectively. They were significantly increased to 62.1% ± 2.0% and 34.55 ± 0.83 mA at TCV/TV of 0.25. These results show that HAB system could be used to effectively treat real wastewater.

Electrochemistry-stimulated environmental bioremediation:Development of applicable modular electrode and system scale-up

Bioelectrochemical systems(BESs)have been studied extensively during the past decades owing primarily to their versatility and potential in addressing the water-energy-resource nexus.In stark contrast to the significant advancements that have been made in developing innovative processes for pollution control and bioresource/bioenergy recovery,minimal progress has been achieved in demonstrating the feasibility of BESs in scaled-up applications.This lack of scaled-up demonstration could be ascribed to the absence of suitable electrode modules(EMs)engineered for large-scale application.In this study,we report a scalable composite-engineered EM(total volume of 1 m^(3)),fabricated using graphite-coated stainless steel and carbon felt,that allows integrating BESs into mainstream wastewater treatment technologies.The cost-effectiveness and easy scalability of this EM provides a viable and clear path to facilitate the transition between the success of the lab studies and applications of BESs to solve multiple pressing environmental issues at full-scale.

Calculation of phase equilibria in Al-Fe-Mn ternary system involving three new ternary intermetallic compounds

In this study, the Al-Fe-Mn ternary system is reassessed by the CALPHAD method. Three new ternary intermetallic compounds are initially described and a rea- sonable and self-consistent set of thermodynamic parameters are established to describe this system. The 973 K, 1 073K, 1 173K, 1 273K, 1 373K, and 1 473K isothermal sections and the 1 073 K, 1 013 K, 968 K and 913 K isothermal sections at the AI corner as well as the liquidus projection at the Al corner are calculated. It is shown that the calculated results are in good agreement with almost all of the experimental results previously reported.