Preparing a Mice Model of Severe Acute Pancreatitis via a Combination of Caerulein and Lipopolysaccharide Intraperitoneal Injection.

The treatment of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP), with high mortality rates, poses a significant clinical challenge. Investigating the pathological changes associated with SAP using animal models can aid in identifying potential therapeutic targets and exploring novel treatment approaches. Previous studies primarily induced pancreatic injury through retrograde bile duct injection of sodium taviaurocholate, but the impact of surgical damage on the quality of the animal model remains unclear. In this study, we employed various frequencies of intraperitoneal Caerulein injections combined with different doses of LPS to induce pancreatic injury in C57BL/6J mice and compared the extent of injury across five intraperitoneal injection protocols. Regarding inducing acute pancreatitis in mice, an intraperitoneal injection protocol is proposed that results in a mortality rate as high as 80% within 5 days. Specifically, mice received ten daily intraperitoneal injections of Caerulein (50 µg/kg), followed by an injection of LPS (15 mg/kg) one hour after the last Caerulein administration. By adjusting the frequency and dosage of injected medications, one can manipulate the severity of pancreatic injury effectively. This model exhibits strong controllability and has a short replication cycle, making it feasible for completion by a single researcher without requiring expensive equipment. It conveniently and accurately simulates key disease characteristics observed in human SAP while demonstrating a high degree of reproducibility.

Clinical Value of the Quantitative Flow Ratio to Predict Long-term Target Vessel Failure in Patients with In-stent Restenosis after Drug-coated Balloon Angioplasty.

OBJECTIVE: The study sought to investigate the clinical predictive value of quantitative flow ratio (QFR) for the long-term target vessel failure (TVF) outcome in patients with in-stent restenosis (ISR) by using drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment after a long-term follow-up. METHODS: This was a retrospective study. A total of 186 patients who underwent DCB angioplasty for ISR in two hospitals from March 2014 to September 2019 were enrolled. The QFR of the entire target vessel was measured offline. The primary endpoint was TVF, including target vessel-cardiac death (TV-CD), target vessel-myocardial infarction (TV-MI), and clinically driven-target vessel revascularization (CD-TVR). RESULTS: The follow-up time was 3.09±1.53 years, and 50 patients had TVF. The QFR immediately after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was significantly lower in the TVF group than in the no-TVF group. Multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that the QFR immediately after PCI was an excellent predictor for TVF after the long-term follow-up [hazard ratio (HR): 5.15×10-5 (6.13×10-8-0.043); P<0.01]. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis demonstrated that the optimal cut-off value of the QFR immediately after PCI for predicting the long-term TVF was 0.925 (area under the curve: 0.886, 95% confidence interval: 0.834-0.938; sensitivity: 83.40%, specificity: 88.00; P<0.01). In addition, QFR≤0.925 post-PCI was strongly correlated with the TVF, including TV-MI and CD-TVR (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The QFR immediately after PCI showed a high predictive value of TVF after a long-term follow-up in ISR patients who underwent DCB angioplasty. A lower QFR immediately after PCI was associated with a worse TVF outcome.

Helicobacter pylori Treatment and Gastric Cancer Risk Among Individuals With High Genetic Risk for Gastric Cancer.

Importance: Helicobacter pylori treatment and nutrition supplementation may protect against gastric cancer (GC), but whether the beneficial effects only apply to potential genetic subgroups and whether high genetic risk may be counteracted by these chemoprevention strategies remains unknown. Objective: To examine genetic variants associated with the progression of gastric lesions and GC risk and to assess the benefits of H pylori treatment and nutrition supplementation by levels of genetic risk. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used follow-up data of the Shandong Intervention Trial (SIT, 1989-2022) and China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB, 2004-2018) in China. Based on the SIT, a longitudinal genome-wide association study was conducted to identify genetic variants for gastric lesion progression. Significant variants were examined for incident GC in a randomly sampled set of CKB participants (set 1). Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) combining independent variants were assessed for GC risk in the remaining CKB participants (set 2) and in an independent case-control study in Linqu. Exposures: H pylori treatment and nutrition supplementation. Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcomes were the progression of gastric lesions (in SIT only) and the risk of GC. The associations of H pylori treatment and nutrition supplementation with GC were evaluated among SIT participants with different levels of genetic risk. Results: Our analyses included 2816 participants (mean [SD] age, 46.95 [9.12] years; 1429 [50.75%] women) in SIT and 100 228 participants (mean [SD] age, 53.69 [11.00] years; 57 357 [57.23%] women) in CKB, with 147 GC cases in SIT and 825 GC cases in CKB identified during follow-up. A PRS integrating 12 genomic loci associated with gastric lesion progression and incident GC risk was derived, which was associated with GC risk in CKB (highest vs lowest decile of PRS: hazard ratio [HR], 2.54; 95% CI, 1.80-3.57) and further validated in the analysis of 702 case participants and 692 control participants (mean [SD] age, 54.54 [7.66] years; 527 [37.80%] women; odds ratio, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.11-3.05). H pylori treatment was associated with reduced GC risk only for individuals with high genetic risk (top 25% of PRS: HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.25-0.82) but not for those with low genetic risk (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.50-1.34; P for interaction = .03). Such effect modification was not found for vitamin (P for interaction = .93) or garlic (P for interaction = .41) supplementation. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this cohort study indicate that a high genetic risk of GC may be counteracted by H pylori treatment, suggesting primary prevention could be tailored to genetic risk for more effective prevention.

Slow-Release Effect Assisted Crystallization for Sequential Deposition Realizes Efficient Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells.

The two-step sequential deposition strategy has been widely recognized in promoting the research and application of perovskite solar cells, but the rapid reaction of organic salts with lead iodide inevitably affects the growth of perovskite crystals, accompanied by the generation of more defects. In this study, the regulation of crystal growth was achieved in a two-step deposition method by mixing 1-naphthylmethylammonium bromide (NMABr) with organic salts. The results show that the addition of NMABr effectively delays the aggregation and crystallization behavior of organic salts; thereby, the growth of the optimal crystal (001) orientation of perovskite is promoted. Based on this phenomenon of delaying the crystallization process of perovskite, the "slow-release effect assisted crystallization" is defined. Moreover, the incorporation of the Br element expands the band gap of perovskite and mitigates material defects as nonradiative recombination centers. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the enhanced perovskite solar cells (PSCs) reaches 20.20%. It is noteworthy that the hydrophobic nature of the naphthalene moiety in NMABr can enhance the humidity resistance of PSCs, and the perovskite phase does not decompose for more than 3000 h (30-40% RH), enabling it to retain 90% of its initial efficiency even after exposure to a nitrogen environment for 1200 h.

Anomalous Correlation between Thermal Conductivity and Elastic Modulus in Two-Dimensional Hybrid Metal Halide Perovskites.

Device-level implementation of soft materials for energy conversion and thermal management demands a comprehensive understanding of their thermal conductivity and elastic modulus to mitigate thermo-mechanical challenges and ensure long-term stability. Thermal conductivity and elastic modulus are usually positively correlated in soft materials, such as amorphous macromolecules, which poses a challenge to discover materials that are either soft and thermally conductive or hard and thermally insulative. Here, we show anomalous correlations of thermal conductivity and elastic modulus in two-dimensional (2D) hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIP) by engineering the molecular interactions between organic cations. By replacing conventional alkyl-alkyl and aryl-aryl type organic interactions with mixed alkyl-aryl interactions, we observe an enhancement in elastic modulus with a reduction in thermal conductivity. This anomalous dependence provides a route to engineer thermal conductivity and elastic modulus independently and a guideline to search for better thermal management materials. Further, introducing chirality into the organic cation induces a molecular packing that leads to the same thermal conductivity and elastic modulus regardless of the composition across all half-chiral 2D HOIPs. This finding provides substantial leeway for further investigations in chiral 2D HOIPs to tune optoelectronic properties without compromising thermal and mechanical stability.

Transition of intracranial aneurysmal wall enhancement from high to low wall shear stress mediation with size increase: A hemodynamic study based on 7T magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Wall shear stress (WSS) has been proved to be related to the formation, development and rupture of intracranial aneurysms. Aneurysm wall enhancement (AWE) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be caused by inflammation and have confirmed its relationship with low WSS. High WSS can also result in inflammation but the research of its correlation with AWE is lack because of the focus on large aneurysms limited by 3T MRI in most previous studies.This study aimed to assess the potential association between high or low WSS and AWE in different aneuryms. Especially the relationship between high WSS and AWE in small aneurysm. Methods: Forty-three unruptured intracranial aneurysms in 42 patients were prospectively included for analysis. 7.0 T MRI was used for imaging. Aneurysm size was measured on three-dimensional time-of-flight (TOF) images. Aneurysm-to-pituitary stalk contrast ratio (CRstalk) was calculated on post-contrast black-blood T1-weighted fast spin echo sequence images. Hemodynamics were assessed by four-dimensional flow MRI. Results: The small aneurysms group had more positive WSS-CRstalk correlation coefficient distribution (dome: 78.6 %, p = 0.009; body: 50.0 %, p = 0.025), and large group had more negative coefficient distribution (dome: 44.8 %, p = 0.001; body: 69.0 %, p = 0.002). Aneurysm size was positively correlated with the significant OSI-CRstalk correlation coefficient at the dome (p = 0.012) and body (p = 0.010) but negatively correlated with the significant WSS-CRstalk correlation coefficient at the dome (p < 0.001) and body (p = 0.017). Conclusion: AWE can be mediated by both high and low WSS, and translate from high WSS- to low WSS-mediated pathways as size increase. Additionally, AWE may serve as an indicator of the stage of aneurysm development via different correlations with hemodynamic factors.

Applying the Wake-Up-like Effect to Enhance the Capabilities of Two-Dimensional Ferroelectric Field-Effect Transistors.

For traditional ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs), enhancing the polarization domain of bulk ferroelectric materials is essential to improve device performance. However, there has been limited investigation into the enhancement of polarization field in two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectric material such as CuInP2S6 (CIPS). In this study, similar to bulk ferroelectric materials, CIPS exhibited enhanced polarization field upon application of external cyclic voltage. Moreover, unlike traditional ferroelectric materials, the polarization enhancement of CIPS is not due to redistribution of the defect but rather originates from a mechanism: the long-distance migration of Cu ions. We termed this mechanism the "wake-up-like effect". After incorporating the wake-up-like effect into the graphene/CIPS/WSe2 FeFET device, we successfully increased the hysteresis window and enhanced the current on/off ratio by 4 orders of magnitude. Moreover, the FeFET yielded remarkable achievements, such as multilevel nonvolatile memory with 21 distinct conductance levels, a high on/off ratio exceeding 106, a long retention time exceeding 103 s, and neuromorphic computing with 93% accuracy at recognizing handwritten digits. Introducing the wake-up-like effect to 2D CIPS may pave the way for innovative approaches to achieve advanced multilevel nonvolatile memory and neuromorphic computing capabilities for next-generation micro-nanoelectronic devices.

Reverse Separation of Carbon Dioxide and Acetylene in Two Isostructural Copper Pyridine-Carboxylate Frameworks.

Separating acetylene from carbon dioxide is important but highly challenging due to their similar molecular shapes and physical properties. Adsorptive separation of carbon dioxide from acetylene can directly produce pure acetylene but is hardly realized because of relatively polarizable acetylene binds more strongly. Here, we reverse the CO2 and C2H2 separation by adjusting the pore structures in two isoreticular ultramicroporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Under ambient conditions, copper isonicotinate (Cu(ina)2), with relatively large pore channels shows C2H2-selective adsorption with a C2H2/CO2 selectivity of 3.4, whereas its smaller-pore analogue, copper quinoline-5-carboxylate (Cu(Qc)2) shows an inverse CO2/C2H2 selectivity of 5.6. Cu(Qc)2 shows compact pore space that well matches the optimal orientation of CO2 but is not compatible for C2H2. Neutron powder diffraction experiments confirmed that CO2 molecules adopt preferential orientation along the pore channels during adsorption binding, whereas C2H2 molecules bind in an opposite fashion with distorted configurations due to their opposite quadrupole moments. Dynamic breakthrough experiments have validated the separation performance of Cu(Qc)2 for CO2/C2H2 separation.

Nanogalvanic Cells Release Highly Reactive Electrons in Tumors to Effectively Eliminate Tumors.

External stimuli triggering chemical reactions in cancer cells to generate highly reactive chemical species are very appealing for cancer therapy, in which external irradiation activating sensitizers to transfer energy or electrons to surrounding oxygen or other molecules is critical for generating cytotoxic reactive species. However, poor light penetration into tissue, low activity of sensitizers, and reliance on oxygen supply restrict the generation of cytotoxic chemical species in hypoxic tumors, which lowers the therapeutic efficacy. Here, this work presents galvanic cell nanomaterials that can directly release highly reactive electrons in tumors without external irradiation or photosensitizers. The released reactive electrons directly react with surrounding biomolecules such as proteins and DNA within tumors to destroy them or react with other surrounding (bio)molecules to yield cytotoxic chemical species to eliminate tumors independent of oxygen. Administering these nanogalvanic cells to mice results in almost complete remission of subcutaneous solid tumors and deep metastatic tumors. The results demonstrate that this strategy can further arouse an immune response even in a hypoxic environment. This method offers a promising approach to effectively eliminate tumors, similar to photodynamic therapy, but does not require oxygen or irradiation to activate photosensitizers.

Adaptive and Robust Vitrimers Fabricated by Synergy of Traditional and Supramolecular Polymers.

Vitrimers offer a unique combination of mechanical performance, reprocessability, and recyclability that makes them highly promising for a wide range of applications. However, achieving dynamic behavior in vitrimeric materials at their intended usage temperatures, thus combining reprocessability with adaptivity through associative dynamic covalent bonds, represents an attractive but formidable objective. Herein, we couple boron-nitrogen (B-N) dative bonds and B-O covalent bonds to generate a new class of vitrimers, boron-nitrogen vitrimers (BNVs), to endow them with dynamic features at usage temperatures. Compared with boron-ester vitrimers (BEVs) without B-N dative bonds, the BNVs with B-N dative bonds showcase enhanced mechanical performance. The excellent mechanical properties come from the synergistic effect of the dative B-N supramolecular polymer and covalent boron-ester networks. Moreover, benefiting from the associative exchange of B-O dynamic covalent bonds above their topological freezing temperature (Tv), the resultant BNVs also possess the processability. This study leveraged the structural characteristics of a boron-based vitrimer to achieve material reinforcement and toughness enhancement, simultaneously providing novel design concepts for the construction of new vitrimeric materials.

Bridging Ionic Current Rectification and Resistive-Pulse Sensing for Reliable Wide-Linearity Detection.

As two mainstream ionic detection techniques, ionic current rectification (ICR) suffers from large fluctuations in trace level detection, while resistive-pulse sensing (RPS) encounters easy clogs in high-concentration detection. By rationally matching the nanopore size with the DNA tetrahedron (TDN), this work bridges the two techniques to achieve reliable detection with wide linearity. As a representative analyte, miRNA-10b could specifically combine with and release TDN from the interior wall, which thus induced the simultaneous generation of distinct ICR and RPS signals. The ICR signals could be attributed to the balance between the effective orifice and surface charge density of the inner wall, while the RPS signals were induced by the complex of miRNA-10b and TDN passing through the nanopore. Such an operation contributed to a wide detection range of 1 fM-1 nM with a good linearity. The feasibility of this method is also validated in single-cell and real plasma detection.

Sex differences in anhedonia in bipolar depression: a resting-state fMRI study.

Previous studies about anhedonia symptoms in bipolar depression (BD) ignored the unique role of gender on brain function. This study aims to explore the regional brain neuroimaging features of BD with anhedonia and the sex differences in these patients. The resting-fMRI by applying fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) method was estimated in 263 patients with BD (174 high anhedonia [HA], 89 low anhedonia [LA]) and 213 healthy controls. The effects of two different factors in patients with BD were analyzed using a 3 (group: HA, LA, HC) × 2 (sex: male, female) ANOVA. The fALFF values were higher in the HA group than in the LA group in the right medial cingulate gyrus and supplementary motor area. For the sex-by-group interaction, the fALFF values of the right hippocampus, left medial occipital gyrus, right insula, and bilateral medial cingulate gyrus were significantly higher in HA males than in LA males but not females. These results suggested that the pattern of high activation could be a marker of anhedonia symptoms in BD males, and the sex differences should be considered in future studies of BD with anhedonia symptoms.

Inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect in chiral assemblies of π-conjugated polymers.

Coupling of spin and charge currents to structural chirality in non-magnetic materials, known as chirality-induced spin selectivity, is promising for application in spintronic devices at room temperature. Although the chirality-induced spin selectivity effect has been identified in various chiral materials, its Onsager reciprocal process, the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect, remains unexplored. Here we report the observation of the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect in chiral assemblies of π-conjugated polymers. Using spin-pumping techniques, the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect enables quantification of the magnitude of the longitudinal spin-to-charge conversion driven by chirality-induced spin selectivity in different chiral polymers. By widely tuning conductivities and supramolecular chiral structures via a printing method, we found a very long spin relaxation time of up to several nanoseconds parallel to the chiral axis. Our demonstration of the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect suggests possibilities for elucidating the puzzling interplay between spin and chirality, and opens a route for spintronic applications using printable chiral assemblies.

RAFT step-growth polymerization via the Z-group approach and deconstruction by RAFT interchange.

Recycling vinyl polymers is essential to mitigate the environmental impact of plastic waste. However, typical polymerization strategies to construct vinyl polymers lack the ability to incorporate degradable linkers throughout the main chain. We report a RAFT step-growth polymerization through the Z-group approach that is directly carried out by using a common class of symmetric trithiocarbonate based RAFT agents and commercially available bismaleimide monomers. Such synthesized RAFT step-growth polymers contain embedded RAFT agents in every structural unit, allowing chain expansion of the step-growth backbone via controlled chain growth to yield linear multiblock (co)polymers. These polymers can undergo deconstruction via the RAFT interchange process with exogeneous RAFT agents, generating smaller uniform species with narrow molecular weight distribution. In addition, the telechelic bifunctional RAFT agent nature after deconstruction allows repolymerization, showing a promising method for recycling common vinyl polymers.

Optimized Incorporation of Furan into Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Conjugated Polymers for Organic Field-Effect Transistors.

Flexible electronics have received considerable attention in the past decades due to their promising application in rollable display screens, wearable devices, implantable devices, and other electronic applications. In particular, conjugated polymers are favored for flexible electronics due to their mechanical flexibility and potential for solution-processed fabrication techniques, such as blade-coating, roll-to-roll printing, and high-throughput printing allowing for high-performance transistor devices. Thiophene is the prevailing conjugated unit to construct these conjugated polymers due to its favorable electronic properties. On the other hand, furans are among the few conjugated moieties that are easily derived from bio renewable resources. To promote sustainability, we selectively introduced furan into the conjugated backbone of a high-mobility polymer scaffold and systematically studied the effect on the microstructure and charge transport. We show that partially and selectively replacing thiophene units with furan can yield nearly comparable performance compared to the all-thiophene polymer. This strategy offers an improvement in the sustainability of the polymer by incorporating bio-sourced furan without sacrificing the high-performance characteristics. Meanwhile, polymers with incorrect or complete furan incorporation show reduced mobilities. This work serves to develop coherent structure-morphology-performance relationships; such knowledge will establish guidelines for the future development of sustainable, furan-based conjugated materials.

A meta-analysis of the value of serum TSH concentration in the diagnosis of differentiated thyroid cancer in patients with thyroid nodules.

Background: In recent years, most studies believe that high TSH level is positively correlated with the incidence of thyroid cancer, but it is still controversial. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between preoperative TSH level and thyroid malignant nodules using pathological diagnosis as the gold standard. To evaluate the role of serum TSH in predicting malignancy of thyroid nodules with uncertain cytology.As an important member of the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis in the endocrine system, TSH plays a crucial role in regulating the growth, differentiation, and function of thyroid cells (Zhang et al., 2023) [1]. Therefore, it has always been considered closely related to TC. Currently, most studies have compared the TSH levels of TC patients and individuals with benign thyroid disease or healthy controls. These findings from various studies indicated that TC patients often demonstrate elevated TSH levels, even when their TSH falls within the normal range. However, it is important to highlight that the current evidence primarily relies on cross-sectional studies, which mainly describe a phenomenon without establishing causal relationships. The involvement of TSH in the early onset or late progression of TC remains unknown, the interaction between TSH and other factors and how it affects TC is not well understood (Gubbi et al., 2020) [2].Symptoms of thyroid cancer are usually insidious, and early thyroid cancer often has no obvious clinical symptoms. Therefore, early detection and early treatment are particularly important, and how to improve the preoperative diagnosis rate of thyroid nodules is also a problem that clinicians pay close attention to. Objective: To evaluate the value of serum TSH concentration in the diagnosis of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in patients with thyroid nodules. Methods: Our study searched databases in both Chinese and English.China Academic Journals FULL-text Database (CNKI), China Online Journals, Chinese Scientific Journals database and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) were searched by computer. The English literature was established by PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and other databases until June 2022 to search for relevant literatures on the diagnostic test of serum TSH concentration in patients with thyroid nodule. The literatures that met the criteria were screened, the data were extracted, and the literature quality was evaluated. The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio of the method for the diagnosis of differentiated thyroid carcinoma were calculated and summarized. The receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was drawn and the area under the curve was obtained. Results: A total of 23 diagnostic tests were included (5348 lesions). Meta-analysis showed that the combined sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio of serum TSH concentration in the diagnosis of differentiated thyroid carcinoma were 0.64, 0.72, 2.511, 0.386 and 7.14, respectively. The area under SROC curve (AUC) was 0.79, and the Q index was 0.7283, indicating no statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Based on current evidence, detection of serum TSH concentration in thyroid nodule patients has high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of differentiated thyroid cancer, which has good clinical application value. However, other auxiliary examinations are still needed to improve the diagnosis rate.

Safety of nighttime elective hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma patients: a retrospective study.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate whether nighttime elective surgery influenced the short-term outcomes and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods: The 1,339 HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy were divided into the daytime surgery group (8 a.m.-6 p.m., n = 1,105) and the nighttime surgery group (after 6 p.m., n = 234) based on the start time of surgery. The 1:2 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to control confounding factors. The short-term outcomes of HCC patients in the 2 groups were compared before and after PSM. Factors associated with major complications (Clavien-Dindo grade, ≥III) and textbook oncologic outcomes (TOO) were separately identified by multivariable logistic regression based on variables screened via least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results: TOO was achieved after surgery in 897 HCC patients. HCC patients in the nighttime surgery group had a higher body mass index (P = 0.010). After 1:2 PSM, the baseline characteristics of patients between the 2 groups were similar. Short-term outcomes in HCC patients were comparable both before and after PSM (all Ps > 0.05), as were TOO in the 2 groups before (P = 0.673) and after PSM (P = 0.333). In our LASSO-logistic regression, nighttime surgery was not an independent factor associated with major complications or TOO. Both groups also had similar OS (P = 0.950) and RFS (P = 0.740) after PSM. Conclusion: Our study revealed the safety of nighttime elective hepatectomy for HCC patients.

Quantitative Assessment of Hemodynamics Associated With Embolization Degree in Brain Arteriovenous Malformations.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Grading systems, including the novel brain arteriovenous malformation endovascular grading scale (NBAVMES) and arteriovenous malformation embocure score (AVMES), predict embolization outcomes based on arteriovenous malformation (AVM) morphological features. The influence of hemodynamics on embolization outcomes remains unexplored. In this study, we investigated the relationship between hemodynamics and embolization outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 99 consecutive patients who underwent transarterial embolization at our institution between 2012 and 2018. Hemodynamic features of AVMs were derived from pre-embolization digital subtraction angiography sequences using quantitative digital subtraction angiography. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the significant factors associated with embolization outcomes. RESULTS: Complete embolization (CE) was achieved in 17 (17.2%) patients, and near-complete embolization was achieved in 18 (18.2%) patients. A slower transnidal relative velocity (TRV, odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, P = .002) was significantly associated with CE. Moreover, higher stasis index of the drainage vein (OR = 16.53, P = .023), shorter transnidal time (OR = 0.15, P = .013), and slower TRV (OR = 0.9, P = .049) were significantly associated with complete or near-complete embolization (C/nCE). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting CE was 0.87 for TRV, 0.72 for NBAVMES scores (ρ = 0.287, P = .004), and 0.76 for AVMES scores. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting C/nCE was 0.77 for TRV, 0.61 for NBAVMES scores, and 0.75 for AVMES scores. Significant Spearman correlation was observed between TRV and NBAVMES scores and AVMES scores (ρ = 0.512, P < .001). CONCLUSION: Preoperative hemodynamic factors have the potential to predict the outcomes of AVM embolization. A higher stasis index of the drainage vein, slower TRV, and shorter transnidal time may indicate a moderate blood flow status or favorable AVM characteristics that can potentially facilitate embolization.

Third harmonic generation due to free carrier in InSb using a terahertz free electron laser.

We report on the third harmonic generation (THG) in InSb semiconductor irradiated by a terahertz (THz) free electron laser (FEL). The conversion of 4 THz (wavelength 70 µm) FEL outputs into its third harmonic 12 THz was observed. We found that by tuning the sample temperature to 360 K, high conversion efficiency up to 1% can be obtained and is the highest in the THz and FIR regions below 10 THz. We also discuss the observed intensity dependence of the THG with the nonlinear order lower than 3 when the pumping intensity was high.