Improved contact angle measurement in multiphase lattice Boltzmann

Contact angle is an essential parameter to characterize substrate wettability.The measurement of contact angle in experiment and simulation is a complex and time-consuming task.In this paper,an improved method of measuring contact angle in multiphase lattice Boltzmann simulations is proposed,which can accurately obtain the real-time contact angle at a low temperature and larger density ratio.The three-phase contact point is determined by an extrapolation,and its position is not affected by the local deformation of flow field in the three-phase contact region.A series of simulations confirms that the present method has high accuracy and gird-independence.The contact angle keeps an excellent linear relationship with the chemical potential of the surface,so that it is very convenient to specify the wettability of a surface.The real-time contact angle measurement enables us to obtain the dynamic contact angle hysteresis on chemically heterogeneous surface,while the mechanical analyses can be effectively implemented at the moving contact line.

Temporal Change in Treatment Patterns of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer and Its Association with Patient Survival:A Retrospective Cohort Study Based on an Intelligent Big-Data Platform

There is a lack of high-quality,large-scale,real-world evidence from patients with metastatic colorectal cancer(mCRC),especially in China.It remains unclear whether efforts to improve the quality of care for mCRC would improve patient survival outcomes in real-world practice.On the basis of an intelligent bigdata platform,we established a large-scale retrospective cohort of mCRC patients.We investigated the temporal changes in the systemic and local treatment(resection,ablation,or radiation to liver,lung,or extrahepatic and/or extrapulmonary metastases)patterns of mCRC,and whether these changes were associated with improved overall survival(OS)over time.Between July 2012 and December 2018,3403 eligible patients were included in this research.The median OS was 42.8 months(95%confidence interval(CI),40.7–46.6)for the entire cohort,25.6 months(95%CI,24.7–26.9)for those treated with systemic therapy only,and not reached(95%CI,78.6 months–not reached)for those receiving local therapy.The utility rate of local therapy increased continuously from 37.9%in 2012–2014 to 46.9%in 2017–2018.A dramatic increase in the utility rate of either cetuximab or bevacizumab was observed since 2017(39.9%,43.2%,and 60.3%in 2012–2014,2015–2016,and 2017–2018,respectively).Compared with 2012–2014,the OS of the entire population significantly improved in 2015–2016(hazard ratio(HR)=0.87(95%CI,0.78–0.99);P=0.034),but not for patients receiving systemic therapy only(HR=0.99(95%CI,0.86–1.14);P=0.889),whereas an improved OS was found in 2015–2018 for both the entire population(HR=0.75(95%CI,0.70–0.81);P<0.001)and for patients receiving systemic therapy only(HR=0.83(95%CI,0.77–0.91);P<0.001).In summary,the quality of care for mCRC,as indicated by the utility rate of targeted and local therapies,has been continuously improving over time in this study cohort,which is associated with continuously improving survival outcomes for these patients.

Residual circulating tumor DNA after adjuvant chemotherapy effectively predicts recurrence of stage II-III gastric cancer

Background Circulating tumor DNA(ctDNA)is a promising biomarker for predicting relapse in multiple solid cancers.However,the predictive value of ctDNA for disease recurrence remains indefinite in locoregional gastric cancer(GC).Here,we aimed to evaluate the predictive value of ctDNA in this context.Methods From 2016 to 2019,100 patients with stage II/III resectable GC were recruited in this prospective cohort study(NCT02887612).Primary tumors were collected during surgical resection,and plasma samples were collected perioperatively and within 3 months after adjuvant chemotherapy(ACT).Somatic variants were captured via a targeted sequencing panel of 425 cancer-related genes.The plasma was defined as ctDNA-positive only if one or more variants detected in the plasma were presented in at least 2%of the primary tumors.Results Compared with ctDNA-negative patients,patients with positive postoperative ctDNA had moderately higher risk of recurrence[hazard ratio(HR)=2.74,95%confidence interval(CI)=1.37–5.48;P=0.003],while patients with positive post-ACT ctDNA showed remarkably higher risk(HR=14.99,95%CI=3.08-72.96;P<0.001).Multivariate analyses indicated that both postoperative and post-ACT ctDNA positivity were independent predictors of recurrence-free survival(RFS).Moreover,post-ACT ctDNA achieved better predictive performance(sensitivity,77.8%;specificity,90.6%)than both postoperative ctDNA and serial cancer antigen.A comprehensive model incorporating ctDNA for recurrence risk prediction showed a higher C-index(0.78;95%CI=0.71–0.84)than the model without ctDNA(0.71;95%CI=0.64–0.79;P=0.009).Conclusions Residual ctDNA after ACT effectively predicts high recurrence risk in stage II/III GC,and the combination of tissue-based and circulating tumor features could achieve better risk prediction.