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BACKGROUND/AIMS: At present, there are relatively few reports on the treatment consisting of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with lenvatinib, and there is no unified conclusion on the curative effect. The objective of this research was to assess the efficacy and safety of combining TACE with lenvatinib for the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a retrospective analysis of the patient's medical records. In this study, 249 patients (uHCC) in our hospital from 2020 to 2021 were divided into 2 groups, including the TACE-alone group (198 patients received TACE alone) and the TACE-LEN group (51 patients were treated with TACE combined with lenvatinib). According to the propensity score matching method, there were TACE-LEN group (51 patients) and TACE-alone group (51 patients). With the help of surgical experts, the overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and tumor response (according to mRECIST) of the 2 groups were sorted and recorded, and then analyzed. Survival curves were established, the prognostic factors of OS and PFS were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses, and the independent prognostic factors were recorded. The adverse reactions of patients after treatment were recorded. RESULTS: The 1-year and 2-year OS rates were 50.98% and 19.48% for the TACE-LEN group, 27.45% and 8.55% for the TACE-alone group (P = .042), respectively. The PFS of patients in the TACE-LEN group was also longer (1-year PFS rate: 25.49% vs. 11.76%, 2-year PFS rate: 19.17% vs. 5.88%; P = .0069). The disease control rate (68.63% vs. 49.10%, P = .044) of the TACE-LEN group was significantly higher. In the subgroup analysis, the OS of the TACE-LEN group was better than TACE-alone group in patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C (1-year OS rate: 44.44% vs. 17.14%, 2-year OS rate: 8.67% vs. 0%; P = .009). Factor analysis concluded that serum alkaline phosphatase and treatment protocol (TACE-LEN vs. TACE) were independent influencing factors of OS. The most common treatment-related AEs included decreased albumin (n = 28, 54.9%), hypertension (n = 23, 45.1%), elevated aspartate transaminase (n = 21, 41.2%) and elevated total bilirubin (n = 18, 35.2%) in TACE-LEN group. CONCLUSION: Compared with TACE monotherapy, TACE combined with lenvatinib effectively prolonged the OS time with a controllable safety profile for patients with uHCC.
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Antineoplásicos , Carcinoma Hepatocelular , Quimioembolización Terapéutica , Neoplasias Hepáticas , Compuestos de Fenilurea , Quinolinas , Humanos , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/terapia , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/tratamiento farmacológico , Neoplasias Hepáticas/terapia , Neoplasias Hepáticas/tratamiento farmacológico , Quimioembolización Terapéutica/métodos , Estudios Retrospectivos , Femenino , Masculino , Compuestos de Fenilurea/administración & dosificación , Compuestos de Fenilurea/uso terapéutico , Persona de Mediana Edad , Quinolinas/administración & dosificación , Quinolinas/uso terapéutico , Anciano , Antineoplásicos/administración & dosificación , Resultado del Tratamiento , Terapia Combinada , Puntaje de PropensiónRESUMEN
Nitrate (NO3-) has been identified as a key component of particulate matter (PM2.5) in China. However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding its sources and how it forms, especially in the context of high-frequency and long-term data. In this study, NO3- levels were observed on an hourly basis over an almost three-year period at an urban site in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, China, from January 2019 to December 2021. The results reveal an average daily NO3- concentration ranging from 0.08 µg m-3 to 61.69 µg m-3, constituting 11.9 ± 12.5 % of PM2.5. This percentage rose to as high as 57 % during pollution episodes, highlighting NO3-'s significant role in pollution formation. The ammonia-rich environment was found to be the most important factor in promoting NO3- formation. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis indicates that the primary sources of NO3- in the PRD region were vehicle emissions (43.8 ± 21.2 %) and coal combustion (39.1 ± 21.5 %), with shipping emissions, sea salt, soil dust and industrial emissions + biomass burning following in importance. Regarding source areas, the primary contributor of vehicle emissions was predominantly from the PRD region, whereas the coal combustion, aside from local contributions, also originates from the northern region. From a long-term perspective, NO3- pollution has remained relatively stable since the summer of 2020. Concurrently, coal combustion source has shown a localization trend. These insights derived from the extensive, high-frequency observation presented in this study serve as a valuable reference for devising strategies to control NO3- and PM2.5 in the PRD region and China.
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Raman spectroscopy for rapid identification of foodborne pathogens based on phenotype has attracted increasing attention, and the reliability of the Raman fingerprint database through genotypic determination is crucial. In the research, the classification model of four foodborne pathogens was established based on t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) and support vector machine (SVM); the recognition accuracy was 97.04%. The target bacteria named by the model were ejected through Raman-activated cell ejection (RACE), and then single-cell genomic DNA was amplified for species analysis. The accuracy of correct matches between the predicted phenotype and the actual genotype of the target cells was at least 83.3%. Furthermore, all anticipant sequencing results brought into correspondence with the species were predicted through the model. In sum, the Raman fingerprint database based on Raman spectroscopy combined with machine learning was reliable and promising in the field of rapid detection of foodborne pathogens.
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BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) has a poor prognosis because it is highly aggressive, yet there are currently few effective therapies available. Although protein ubiquitination has been shown to play a complex role in the development of gastric cancer, to date, no efficient ubiquitinating enzymes have been identified as treatment targets for GC. METHODS: The TCGA database was used for bioinformatic investigation of ubiquitin-specific protease 31 (USP31) expression in GC, and experimental techniques, including Western blotting, qRT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry, were used to confirm the findings. We also analyzed the relationship between USP31 expression and clinical prognosis in patients with GC. We further investigated the effects of USP31 on the proliferation, invasion, migration, and glycolysis of GC cells in vitro and in vivo by using colony formation, CCK-8 assays, Transwell chamber assays, cell scratch assays, and cell-derived xenograft. Furthermore, we examined the molecular processes by which USP31 influences the biological development of GC. RESULTS: Patients with high USP31 expression have a poor prognosis because USP31 is abundantly expressed in GC. Therefore, USP31 reduces the level of ubiquitination of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway by binding to ß-catenin, thereby activating glycolysis, which ultimately promotes GC proliferation and aggressive metastasis. CONCLUSION: USP31 inhibits ubiquitination of ß-catenin by binding to it, stimulates the Wnt/ß-- catenin pathway, activates glycolysis, and accelerates the biology of GCs, which are all demonstrated in this work.
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Perovskite solar cells, emerging as a cutting-edge solar energy technology, have demonstrated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of >26%, which is below the theoretical limit of 33%. This study, employing a combination of neural network models and high-throughput simulation calculations, taking the single-junction FAPbI3 cell as an illustrative example, indicates that a pyramid structure, in comparison of a planar one, can increase the highest Jsc to 27.4 mA/cm2 and the PCE to 28.4%. Both Jsc and PCE surpass the currently reported experimental results. The optimized periodicity and tilt angle of the pyramid structure align with the textured structure of crystalline silicon solar cells. These results underscore the substantial development potential of neural network inverse design based on high-throughput calculations in the field of optoelectronic devices and provide theoretical guidance for the design of monolithic perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells.
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Excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy is a widely-used method for characterizing the chemical components of brown carbon (BrC). However, the molecular basics and formation mechanisms of chromophores, which are decomposed by parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis, are not yet fully understood. In this study, we characterized the water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) in aerosols collected from Karachi, Pakistan, using EEM spectroscopy and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). We identified three PARAFAC components, including two humic-like components (C1 and C2) and one phenolic-like species (C3). We determined the molecular families associated with each component by performing Spearman correlation analysis between FT-ICR MS peaks and PARAFAC component intensities. We found that the C1 and C2 components were associated with nitrogen-enriched compounds, where C2 with the longest emission wavelength exhibited a higher level of aromaticity, N content, and oxygenation than C1. The C3 associated formulas have fewer nitrogen-containing species, a lower unsaturation degree, and a lower oxidation state. An oxidation pathway was identified as an important process in the formation of C1 and C2 components at the molecular level, particularly for the assigned CHON compounds associated with the gas-phase oxidation process, despite their diverse precursor types. Numerous C2 formulas were found in the "potential BrC" region and overlapped with the BrC-associated formulas. It can be inferred that the compounds that fluoresce C2 contributed considerably to the light absorption of BrC. These findings are essential for future studies utilizing the EEM-PARAFAC method to explore the sources, processes, and compositions of atmospheric BrC.
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Nitrous acid (HONO) is a reactive gas that plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry. However, accurately quantifying its direct emissions and secondary formation in the atmosphere as well as attributing it to specific nitrogen sources remains a significant challenge. In this study, we developed a novel method using stable nitrogen and oxygen isotopes (δ15N; δ18O) for apportioning ambient HONO in an urban area in North China. The results show that secondary formation was the dominant HONO formation processes during both day and night, with the NO2 heterogeneous reaction contributing 59.0 ± 14.6% in daytime and 64.4 ± 10.8% at nighttime. A Bayesian simulation demonstrated that the average contributions of coal combustion, biomass burning, vehicle exhaust, and soil emissions to HONO were 22.2 ± 13.1, 26.0 ± 5.7, 28.6 ± 6.7, and 23.2 ± 8.1%, respectively. We propose that the isotopic method presents a promising approach for identifying nitrogen sources and the secondary formation of HONO, which could contribute to mitigating HONO and its adverse effects on air quality.
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Nitrógeno , Ácido Nitroso , Teorema de Bayes , Ácido Nitroso/análisis , Emisiones de Vehículos/análisis , Dióxido de Nitrógeno/análisis , Isótopos , ChinaRESUMEN
To explore the change features of PM2.5-bound metals in a background site of North China in the past ten years, 71 and 160 samples were collected from December 2011 to January 2013 (period â ) and from September 2019 to November 2021 (period â ¡) in Tuoji Island National Atmospheric Monitoring Station, respectively.The concentration of metals sampled was determined using ICP-MS, and the concentrations, sources, and health risks of heavy metals were compared. The results revealed that the average concentration of PM2.5 was (54.06±39.71) µg·m-3during period â ¡, which was 3.53 ng·m-3 lower than that during period â . The concentrations of Zn, Mn, As, Pb, and V in stage â ¡ decreased by 54.53, 172.63, 0.8, 79.06, and 3.81 ng·m-3, respectively, whereas the concentrations of Cr, Cu, Cd, and Ni increased by 2.01, 5.42, 3.03, and 3.55 ng·m-3, respectively. The PMF model results indicated that the biggest contributor to PM2.5-bound metal was industrial emissions (32.32%), followed by coal combustion (27.47%), vehicle emissions (23.70%), ship emissions (9.69%), and dust sources (6.83%) during period â ¡. The contribution ratio of dust sources and ship emissions decreased by 20.73% and 8.83%, respectively, whereas for coal combustion and industrial emissions it increased by 2.50% and 13.52%, respectively, when compared with that during period â . The total carcinogenic risk induced by PM2.5-bound heavy metals of period â ¡ increased, with the highest contributions by Cr and Cd. The total non-carcinogenic risk decreased, with Mn contributing the most. Therefore, in the process of air pollution control, the control of pollution sources of heavy metals such as Cr and Mn should be reinforced.
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Metales Pesados , Material Particulado , Material Particulado/análisis , Cadmio , Monitoreo del Ambiente/métodos , Medición de Riesgo , Polvo/análisis , Metales Pesados/análisis , China , Carcinógenos , Carbón MineralRESUMEN
Ammonia (NH3) is the primary atmospheric alkaline gas, playing a crucial role in the atmospheric chemistry. Recently, non-agricultural emissions have been identified as the dominant sources of NH3 in urban areas. However, few studies have quantified the contributions of different sources to regional NH3. This study conducted two summertime field observations in 2013 and 2021 at a background site of North China to comprehensively explore the regional variations in concentration, nitrogen isotope composition (δ15N), and sources of ammonium (NH4+). The results indicate that NHx (NHx = NH3 + NH4+) concentration has increased in 2021, but the fNH4+ (NH4+/ NHx) has decreased significantly. The δ15N-NH4+ values show a significant increase, ranging from -4.7 ± 8.1 to +12.0 ± 2.4 . The increase can be attributed to two primary factors: changes in fNH4+ resulting from the reduction of atmospheric acid gases and alterations in the sources of NH3. Bayesian simulation analysis reveals substantial variations in NH3 sources between 2013 and 2021 observations. Non-agricultural sources have significantly increased their contribution to NHx concentration, with vehicle exhaust and NH3 slip experiencing growth rates of 187 % and 104 %, respectively. Our results confirm the dominate contribution of non-agricultural sources to regional NH3 at the present stage and propose relevant mitigation strategies, which would provide essential insights for reducing NH3 emissions in North China.
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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of allogeneic and autologous blood transfusion on immune function and postoperative inflammation in patients after total hip replacement. METHODS: In this retrospective study, the clinical data of 60 patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty through a posterolateral approach were analyzed. The patients were grouped into an autologous blood transfusion group (allo group) (n = 30) and an autologous blood transfusion group (auto-group) (n = 30) according to the treatment they received. All patients did not receive preoperative and intraoperative blood transfusion. The blood collected in the operation area was transfused to the patients in the auto-group with the autotransfusion device and the allogeneic blood was transfused to the patients in the allo-group after the operation. The average amount of blood transfusion was 400 ml. The immune function after blood transfusion was mainly evaluated by natural killer cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) using ELISA kits, meanwhile the changes of cellular immune factor levels (differentiation cluster of differentiation, CD) (CD3+, CD4+) and humoral immune factor levels (Immunoglobulin E, IgE) after blood transfusion were determined by flow cytometry. The secondary outcome was postoperative inflammatory response measured by white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil percentage (NP) and C-reactive protein (CRP). RESULTS: The parameters of both groups of patients were comparable. The auto-group significantly outperformed the Allo-group in the following laboratory parameters: NKCC (%, E:T = 10:1) at day 2 [26.1 (Auto) vs 19.3 (Allo); P = 0.0025], NKCC (%, E:T = 5:1) at day 2 [20.0 (Auto) vs 17.3 (Allo); P = 0.0094], CD3+ (%) at day 2 [50.5 (Auto) vs 40.8 (Allo); P = 0.0233], CD4+ (%) at day 2 [41.2 (Auto) vs 26.3 (Allo); P = 0.0122], IgE (U/mL) at day 2 [157.8 (Auto) vs 319.8 (Allo); P = 0.0064]. CONCLUSION: Autotransfusion can safely replace allogeneic blood transfusion and reduce the damage of postoperative immune function after total hip arthroplasty.
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Organic carbon aerosol (OC) is a pivotal component of PM2.5 in the atmospheric environment, yet its emission sources and atmospheric behaviors remain poorly constrained in many regions. In this study, a comprehensive method based on the combination of dualcarbon isotopes (13C and 14C) and macro tracers was employed in the PRDAIO campaign performed in the megacity of Guangzhou, China. The 14C analysis showed that 60 ± 9 % of OC during the sampling campaign was associated with non-fossil sources such as biomass burning activities and biogenic emissions. It should be noted that this non-fossil contribution in OC would significantly decrease when the air masses came from the eastern cities. Overall, we found that non-fossil secondary OC (SOCNF) was the largest contributor (39 ± 10 %) to OC, followed by fossil secondary OC (SOCFF: 26 ± 5 %), fossil primary OC (POCFF: 14 ± 6 %), biomass burning OC (OCbb: 13 ± 6 %) and cooking OC (OCck: 8 ± 5 %). Also, we established the dynamic variation of 13C as a function of aged OC and the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) oxidized OC to explore the impact of aging processes on OC. Our pilot results showed that atmospheric aging was highly sensitive to the emission sources of seed OC particles, with a higher aging degree (86 ± 4 %) when more non-fossil OC particles were transferred from the northern PRD.
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Biotransformation mediated by microbes can affect the biogeochemical cycle of arsenic. However, arsenic biotransformation mediated by earthworm-related microorganisms has not been well explored, especially the role played by earthworm skin microbiota. Herein, we reveal the profiles of arsenic biotransformation genes (ABGs) and elucidate the microbial communities of the earthworm gut, skin, and surrounding soil from five different soil environments in China. The relative abundance of ABGs in the earthworm skin microbiota, which were dominated by genes associated with arsenate reduction and transport, was approximately three times higher than that in the surrounding soil and earthworm gut microbiota. The composition and diversity of earthworm skin microbiota differed significantly from those of the soil and earthworm gut, comprising a core bacterial community with a relative abundance of 96% Firmicutes and a fungal community with relative abundances of 50% Ascomycota and 13% Mucoromycota. In addition, stochastic processes mainly contributed to the microbial community assembly across all samples. Moreover, fungal genera such as Vishniacozyma and Oomyces were important mediators of ABGs involved in the biogeochemical cycle of arsenic. This is the first study to investigate earthworm skin as a reservoir of microbial diversity in arsenic biotransformation. Our findings broaden the current scientific knowledge of the involvement of earthworms in the arsenic biogeochemical cycle.
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Arsénico , Microbiota , Oligoquetos , Animales , Arsénico/metabolismo , Oligoquetos/metabolismo , Biotransformación , Suelo/química , Microbiología del SueloRESUMEN
Mental budgeting is a cognitive process that helps individuals control consumption expenditures. Previous literature has shown that mental budgeting is influenced by people's cognitive capabilities and emotions, which indicates a potential influence of thinking modes on mental budgeting. Under the view of lay rationalism, the present three studies investigated the relationship between thinking modes (i.e., calculation-based thinking and feeling-based thinking) and mental budgeting, as well as the moderating effect of product types that participants consume. It was found that, first, the scores of lay rationalism, which indicate calculation-based thinking, were positively correlated with the mental budgeting levels of college students (Study 1a) and newcomers in the workplace (Study 1b); second, the activation of calculation-based thinking (vs. feeling-based thinking) decreased participants' consumption willingness (Study 2); and third, the calculation-based thinking exhibited a stronger binding effect in participants who consumed only hedonic products than in participants who consumed only utilitarian products (Study 2). The results demonstrated the effects of lay rationalism thinking mode and product types on mental budgeting, which highlighted different implications for consumers and merchants. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03689-5.
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BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the most common method in treating coronary artery disease (CAD), has a variety of side effects. Yiqi Huoxue therapy (YQHX) can effectively alleviate the symptoms of patients and reduce the side effects. However, a reliable and systematic assessment of the methodologies is not available. METHODS: Seven electronic databases were searched to identify randomized controlled trials of YQHX method for CAD after PCI. The quality assessment of the trials included was performed by employing the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. RESULTS: One thousand eight hundred sixty-eight patients from 23 randomized controlled trials were included in this review. The aggregated results showed that the experimental group got better effect in increasing ORR, TCMSRR, ECG, HDL-C, and in lowering the level of CRP, TC, and MACE in comparison with the control group. CONCLUSION: YQHX method is a valid complementary and alternative therapy in the management of CAD after PCI, and is an effective and safe therapy for CAD.
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Enfermedad de la Arteria Coronaria , Intervención Coronaria Percutánea , Humanos , Enfermedad de la Arteria Coronaria/diagnóstico , Enfermedad de la Arteria Coronaria/tratamiento farmacológico , Intervención Coronaria Percutánea/métodos , Proyectos de Investigación , Ensayos Clínicos Controlados Aleatorios como AsuntoRESUMEN
Ammonia (NH3) is the most prevalent alkaline gas in the atmosphere and plays a critical role in air pollution and public health. However, scientific debate remains over whether agricultural emissions (e.g., livestock and fertilizer application) dominate NH3 in urban atmosphere in China, which is one of the largest NH3 emitters in the world. In this study, we first simultaneously collected the fine atmospheric particles (PM2.5) at two heights (ground and 488â¯m) using the atmospheric observatories in Canton Tower, Guangzhou city, China for the measurements of stable nitrogen isotope composition in ammonium (δ15N-NH4+). Our results showed that the average δ15N-NH4+ value at the ground and the 488â¯m observatory were 16.9⯠and 3.8â¯, respectively, implying that NH4+ aerosols between the two heights probably have different sources. Moreover, we found that the δ15N-NH4+ value would sharply decrease to -16.7⯠when the air masses came from western Guangzhou, where the urbanization is limited compared to other surrounding areas. The Bayesian mixing model indicated that NH4+ aerosol at the ground observatory was mainly derived from non-agricultural activities (76â¯%, e.g., vehicular exhaust), with the rest from agricultural sources (24â¯%). As for the 488â¯m observatory, the contribution of non-agricultural sources was 53â¯%, which is lower than the ground observatory. This is expected as the lower air receives more impacts from the local urban emission. However, the current "bottom-up" emission inventory illustrates that only ~20â¯% NH3 in Guangzhou is associated with non-agricultural emissions, which is significantly lower than our δ15N-based results. Overall, our findings strongly imply that non-agricultural sources dominate the urban NH3 in Guangzhou or maybe in adjacent cities of the Pearl River Delta region as well, suggesting that the emission inventory of NH3 in this region probably is urgently needed to be revisited in future studies.
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Contaminantes Atmosféricos , Compuestos de Amonio , Aerosoles/análisis , Contaminantes Atmosféricos/análisis , Amoníaco/análisis , Compuestos de Amonio/análisis , Teorema de Bayes , China , Ciudades , Monitoreo del Ambiente , Fertilizantes , Isótopos de Nitrógeno/análisis , Material Particulado/análisisRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The extent of lymphadenectomy during esophagectomy remains controversial for patients with T1-2 ESCC. The aim of this study was to identify the minimum number of examined lymph node (ELN) for accurate nodal staging and overall survival (OS) of patients with T1-2 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with T1-2 ESCC from three institutes between January 2011 and December 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The associations of ELN count with nodal migration and OS were evaluated using multivariable models, and visualized by using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (LOWESS). Chow test was used to determine the structural breakpoints of ELN count. External validation in the SEER database was performed. RESULTS: In total, 1537 patients were included. Increased ELNs was associated with an increased likelihood of having positive nodal disease and incremental OS. The minimum numbers of ELNs for accurate nodal staging and optimal survival were 14 and 18 with validation in the SEER database (n = 519), respectively. The prognostic prediction ability of N stage was improved in the group with ≥14 ELNs compared with those with fewer ELNs (iAUC, 0.70 (95%CI 0.66-0.74) versus 0.61(95%CI 0.57-0.65)). The higher prognostic value was found for patients with ≥18 ELNs than those with <18 ELNs (iAUC, 0.78 (95%CI 0.74-0.82) versus 0.73 (95%CI 0.7-0.77)). CONCLUSION: The minimum numbers of ELNs for accurate nodal staging and optimal survival of stage T1-2 ESCC patients were 14 and 18, respectively.
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Neoplasias Esofágicas , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas de Esófago , Humanos , Escisión del Ganglio Linfático , Ganglios Linfáticos , Metástasis Linfática , Estadificación de Neoplasias , Pronóstico , Estudios RetrospectivosRESUMEN
Background: Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) lymph node metastasis (LNM) is not rare in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We aimed to develop and externally validate a preoperative nomogram using clinical characteristics to predict RLN LNM in patients with ESCC and evaluate its prognostic value. Methods: A total of 430 patients with ESCC who underwent esophagectomy with lymphadenectomy of RLN LNs at two centers between May 2015 and June 2019 were reviewed and divided into training (center 1, n = 283) and external validation cohorts (center 2, n = 147). Independent risk factors for RLN LNM were determined by multivariate logistic regression, and a nomogram was developed. The performance of the nomogram was assessed in terms of discrimination, calibration, clinical usefulness, and prognostic value. The nomogram was internally validated by the bootstrap method and externally validated by the external validation cohort. Results: Multivariate analysis indicated that clinical T stage (P <0.001), endoscopic tumor length (P = 0.003), bioptic tumor differentiation (P = 0.004), and preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level (P = 0.001) were significantly associated with RLN LNM. The nomogram had good discrimination with the area under the curve of 0.770 and 0.832 after internal and external validations. The calibration curves and decision curve analysis confirmed the good calibration and clinical usefulness of this model. High-risk of RLN LNM predicted by the nomogram was associated with worse overall survival in the external validation cohort (P <0.001). Conclusion: A nomogram developed by preoperative clinical characteristics demonstrated a good performance to predict RLN LNM and prognosis for patients with ESCC.
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Stable nitrogen isotope (δ15N) technology has often been used as a powerful tool to separate nitrogen oxides (NOx) produced by residential combustion (i.e., biomass burning and coal combustion) from other sources. However, the insufficient measurement of δ15N-NOx fingerprints of these emissions limits its application, especially in North China where residential emissions are significant. This study conducted combustion experiments to determine the δ15N-NOx of typical residential fuels in North China, including ten biomass fuels and five types of coal. The results showed that the δ15N of biomass varied between -6.9 and 2.3, which was lower than the δ15N of residential coal (-0.2-4.6). After combustion, the δ15N of biomass residues increased greatly, while that of coal residues showed no significant upward trend (p > 0.05). The δ15N-NOx produced by biomass burning ranged from -5.6 to 3.2 (-0.4 ± 2.4), showing a significant linear relation with δ15N-biomass. Comparatively, the δ15N-NOx derived from residential coal combustion was much higher (16.1 ± 3.3), ranging from 11.7 to 19.7. It was not well correlated with δ15N-coal, and only slightly lower than the estimated δ15N-NOx of industrial coal combustion (17.9, p > 0.05). These observations indicate that the δ15N-NOx of residential coal combustion is a result of the mixture of thermal- and fuel-released NOx. Based on the isotopic characteristics observed in this study, we analyzed the reported δ15N-NOx, and provided more statistically robust δ15N-NOx distributions for biomass burning (1.3 ± 4.3; n = 101) and coal combustion (17.9 ± 3.1; n = 26), which could provide guidance for scientific studies aiming to quantify the origin of NOx in North China and in other regions.
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Contaminantes Atmosféricos , Carbón Mineral , Contaminantes Atmosféricos/análisis , Biomasa , China , Carbón Mineral/análisis , Monitoreo del Ambiente/métodos , Nitrógeno , Isótopos de Nitrógeno/análisisRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: In this work, to deal with the difficulties in choosing regularization weighting parameters and low spatial resolution problems in difference electrical impedance tomography (EIT), we propose two adaptively regularized bases-expansion subspace optimization methods (AR-BE-SOMs). METHODS: Firstly, an adaptive L1-norm based total variation (TV) regularization is introduced under the framework of BE-SOM. Secondly, besides the additive regularization method, an adaptive weighted L2-norm multiplicative regularization is further proposed. The regularized objective functions are optimized by conjugate gradient method, where the unknowns in both methods are updated alternatively between induced contrast current (ICC) and conductivity domain. CONCLUSION: Both numerical and experimental tests are conducted to validate the proposed methods, where AR-BE-SOMs show better edge-preserving, anti-noise performance, lower relative errors, and higher structure similarity indexes than BE-SOM. SIGNIFICANCE: Unlike the common regularization techniques in EIT, the proposed regularization factors can be obtained adaptively during the optimization process. More importantly, AR-BE-SOMs perform well in reconstructions of some challenging geometry with sharp corners such as the "heart and lung" phantoms, deformation phantoms, triangles and even rectangles. It is expected that the proposed AR-BE-SOMs will find their applications for high-quality lung health monitoring and other clinical applications.
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Procesamiento de Imagen Asistido por Computador , Tomografía , Algoritmos , Impedancia Eléctrica , Procesamiento de Imagen Asistido por Computador/métodos , Fantasmas de Imagen , Tomografía/métodosRESUMEN
Black carbon (BC) aerosol negatively affects air quality and contributes to climate warming globally. However, little is known about the relative contributions of different source control measures to BC reduction owing to the lack of powerful source-diagnostic tools. We combine the fingerprints of dual-carbon isotope using an optimized Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) scheme and for the first time to study the key sources of BC in megacity Guangzhou of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, China in 2018 autumn season. The MCMC model-derived source apportionment of BC shows that the dominant contributor is petroleum combustion (39%), followed by coal combustion (34%) and biomass burning (27%). It should be noted that the BC source pattern is highly sensitive to the variations of air masses transported with an enhanced contribution of fossil source from the eastern area, suggesting the important impact of regional atmospheric transportation on the BC source profile in the PRD region. Also, we further found that fossil fuel combustion BC contributed 84% to the total BC reduction during 2013-2018. The response of PM2.5 concentration to the 14C-derived BC source apportionment is successfully fitted (r = 0.90) and the results predicted that it would take â¼6 years to reach the WHO PM2.5 guideline value (10 µg m-3) for the PRD region if the emission control measures keep same as they are at present. Taken together, our findings suggest that dual-carbon isotope is a powerful tool in constraining the source apportionment of BC for the evaluations of air pollution control and carbon emission measures.