Non-lactational mastitis with multiple sinus wounds treated by integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

OBJECTIVE: Non-lactational mastitis (NLM) is a benign inflammatory disease of the mammary gland, with pain, swelling and redness as the main clinical manifestations. There is no unified and effective standard treatment plan for this disease at present. In addition to breast cancer, non-lactational mastitis is also becoming a presenting complaint in an increasing number of outpatients at the authors' clinic. This case report summarises the treatment and management of a 35-year-old female patient with NLM complicated with multiple sinus wounds after surgery. METHOD: The patient was treated as follows, with: timely debridement according to the local condition of the wound, with manual compression to drain exudate from the sinus wound; selected wound dressings according to their performance and characteristics to fill the sinus tract for drainage and infection control; psychological care of the patient and their family to ensure that patients actively participate in the treatment; family support to the patient to deal with negative emotions; integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine to prevent/manage infection; dietary care and control; posture management and health education to facilitate the patient's wound healing process. RESULTS: After local management with systemic treatment and management using integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, the wound healed after 46 days, with no recurrence during a follow-up period of one year. CONCLUSION: As shown in this case report, the wound should be cut and drained as soon as possible in order to prevent obstruction of the sinus drainage. Modern wound dressings are selected for the 'external' treatment of local wounds. Integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine may help in systemic therapy of the whole patient.

Enhanced stiffness in peri-cancerous tissue: a marker of poor prognosis in papillary thyroid carcinoma with lymph node metastasis.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic significance of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) remains controversial. Notably, there is evidence suggesting an association between tissue stiffness and the aggressiveness of the disease. We therefore aimed to explore the effect of tissue stiffness on LNM-related invasiveness in PTC patients. METHOD: A total of 2492 PTC patients from 3 hospitals were divided into an LNM group and a non-LNM group based on their pathological results. The effects of interior lesion stiffness (E) and peri-cancerous tissue stiffness (Eshell) on the LNM-related recurrence rate and mortality in each patient with PTC subgroup were analyzed. The activation of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and extracellular matrix component type 1 collagen (COL-I) in the lesion were compared and analyzed across different subgroups. The underlying biological basis of differences in each subgroup was identified using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data. RESULTS: The Eshell value and Eshell/E in the LNM group were significantly higher than those in the non-LNM group of patients with PTC (Eshell: 72.72 ±â€…5.63 vs 66.05 ±â€…4.46; Eshell/E: 1.20 ±â€…1.72 vs 1.09 ±â€…1.10, P < .001). When Eshell/E > 1.412 and LNM were both present, the recurrence rate and mortality were significantly increased compared to those of group of patients with LNM (91.67% and 7.29%, respectively). The CAF activation and COL-I content in the Eshell/E+ group were significantly higher than those in the Eshell/E- group (all P < .001), and the RNA-seq results revealed significant extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling in the LNM-Eshell/E+ group. CONCLUSIONS: Stiff peri-cancerous tissue induced CAF activation, COL-I deposition, and ECM remodeling, resulting in a poor prognosis for PTC patients with LNM.

Monolithic back-end-of-line integration of phase change materials into foundry-manufactured silicon photonics.

Monolithic integration of novel materials without modifying the existing photonic component library is crucial to advancing heterogeneous silicon photonic integrated circuits. Here we show the introduction of a silicon nitride etch stop layer at select areas, coupled with low-loss oxide trench, enabling incorporation of functional materials without compromising foundry-verified device reliability. As an illustration, two distinct chalcogenide phase change materials (PCMs) with remarkable nonvolatile modulation capabilities, namely Sb2Se3 and Ge2Sb2Se4Te1, were monolithic back-end-of-line integrated, offering compact phase and intensity tuning units with zero-static power consumption. By employing these building blocks, the phase error of a push-pull Mach-Zehnder interferometer optical switch could be reduced with a 48% peak power consumption reduction. Mirco-ring filters with >5-bit wavelength selective intensity modulation and waveguide-based >7-bit intensity-modulation broadband attenuators could also be achieved. This foundry-compatible platform could open up the possibility of integrating other excellent optoelectronic materials into future silicon photonic process design kits.

Ultra-compact scalable spectrometer with low power consumption.

An ultra-compact on-chip spectrometer was demonstrated based on an array of add-drop micro-donut resonators (MDRs). The filter array was thermally tuned by a single TiN microheater, enabling simultaneous spectral scanning across all physical channels. The MDR was designed to achieve large free spectral ranges with multimode waveguide bends and asymmetric coupling waveguides, covering a spectral range of 40 nm at the telecom waveband with five physical channels (which could be further expanded). Benefiting from the ultra-small device footprint of 150 µm2, the spectrometer achieved a low power consumption of 16 mW. Additionally, it is CMOS-compatible and enables mass fabrication, which may have potential applications in personal terminals and the consumer industry.

On-chip silicon electro-optical modulator with ultra-high extinction ratio for fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing.

Ultra-high extinction ratio (ER) optical modulation is crucial for achieving high-performance fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) for various applications. Bulky acousto-optical modulators (AOM) as one of the key devices in DAS have been used for many years, but their relatively large volume and high power consumption are becoming the bottlenecks to hinder the development of ultra-compact and energy-efficient DAS systems that are highly demanded in practice. Here, an on-chip silicon electro-optical modulator (EOM) based on multiple coupled microrings is demonstrated with ultra-high ER of up to 68 dB while the device size and power consumption are only 260 × 185 µm2 and 3.6 mW, respectively, which are at least two orders of magnitude lower than those of a typical AOM. Such an on-chip EOM is successfully applied to DAS with an ultra-high sensitivity of -71.2 dB rad2/Hz (4 pε/√Hz) and a low spatial crosstalk noise of -68.1 dB rad2/Hz, which are very similar to those using an AOM. This work may pave the way for realization of next-generation ultra-compact DAS systems by integration of on-chip opto-electronic devices and modules with the capability of mass-production.

Graphene/silicon heterojunction for reconfigurable phase-relevant activation function in coherent optical neural networks.

Optical neural networks (ONNs) herald a new era in information and communication technologies and have implemented various intelligent applications. In an ONN, the activation function (AF) is a crucial component determining the network performances and on-chip AF devices are still in development. Here, we first demonstrate on-chip reconfigurable AF devices with phase activation fulfilled by dual-functional graphene/silicon (Gra/Si) heterojunctions. With optical modulation and detection in one device, time delays are shorter, energy consumption is lower, reconfigurability is higher and the device footprint is smaller than other on-chip AF strategies. The experimental modulation voltage (power) of our Gra/Si heterojunction achieves as low as 1 V (0.5 mW), superior to many pure silicon counterparts. In the photodetection aspect, a high responsivity of over 200 mA/W is realized. Special nonlinear functions generated are fed into a complex-valued ONN to challenge handwritten letters and image recognition tasks, showing improved accuracy and potential of high-efficient, all-component-integration on-chip ONN. Our results offer new insights for on-chip ONN devices and pave the way to high-performance integrated optoelectronic computing circuits.

Integrated Flexible Microscale Mechanical Sensors Based on Cascaded Free Spectral Range-Free Cavities.

Photonic mechanical sensors offer several advantages over their electronic counterparts, including immunity to electromagnetic interference, increased sensitivity, and measurement accuracy. Exploring flexible mechanical sensors on deformable substrates provides new opportunities for strain-optical coupling operations. Nevertheless, existing flexible photonics strategies often require cumbersome signal collection and analysis with bulky setups, limiting their portability and affordability. To address these challenges, we propose a waveguide-integrated flexible mechanical sensor based on cascaded photonic crystal microcavities with inherent deformation and biaxial tensile state analysis. Leveraging the advanced multiplexing capability of the sensor, for the first time, we successfully demonstrate 2D shape reconstruction and quasi-distributed strain sensing with 110 µm spatial resolution. Our microscale mechanical sensor also exhibits exceptional sensitivity with a detected force level as low as 13.6 µN in real-time measurements. This sensing platform has potential applications in various fields, including biomedical sensing, surgical catheters, aircraft and spacecraft engineering, and robotic photonic skin development.

Polycrystalline silicon 2 × 2 Mach-Zehnder interferometer optical switch.

In this paper, we demonstrate a broadband Mach-Zehnder interferometer optical switch based on polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si), which enables the development of multilayer photonics integrated circuits. The poly-Si is deposited under a low temperature of 620 °C to avoid unexpected thermal stress and influence on optoelectronic performance. By introducing a π/2 phase shifter and a push-pull configuration, the switch achieved low power consumption and loss caused by carrier plasma absorption (CPA). The switch operates effectively in both "Bar" and "Cross" states at voltages of -3.35 V and 3.85 V. The power consumptions are 7.98 mW and 9.39 mW, respectively. The on-chip loss is 5.9 ± 0.4 dB at 1550 nm, and the crosstalk is below -20 dB within the C-band. The switch exhibits a 10%-90% rise time of 7.7 µs and a 90%-10% fall time of 3.4 µs at 1550 nm. As far as we know, it is the first demonstration of a poly-Si switch on an 8-inch wafer pilot-line. The low-temperature deposited poly-Si switch is promising for multilayer active photonic devices and photonic-electronic applications.

Integrated Bragg grating filters based on silicon-Sb2Se3 with non-volatile bandgap engineering capability.

Integrated optical filters show outstanding capability in integrated reconfigurable photonic applications, including wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), programmable photonic processors, and on-chip quantum photonic networks. Present schemes for reconfigurable filters either have a large footprint or suffer from high static power consumption, hindering the development of reconfigurable photonic integrated systems. Here, a reconfigurable hybrid Bragg grating filter is elaborately designed through a precise, modified coupling mode theory. It is also experimentally presented by integrating non-volatile phase change material (PCM) Sb2Se3 on silicon to realize compact, low-loss, and broadband engineering operations. The fabricated filter holds a compact footprint of 0.5 µm × 43.5 µm and maintains a low insertion loss of < 0.5 dB after multiple levels of engineering to achieve crystallization. The filter is able to switch from a low-loss transmission state to the Bragg reflection state, making it a favorable solution for large-scale reconfigurable photonic circuits. With a switching extinction ratio over 30 dB at 1504.85 nm, this hybrid filter breaks the tradeoff between insertion loss and tuning range. These results reveal its potential as a new candidate for a basic element in large-scale non-volatile reconfigurable systems.

Submandibular suction lipectomy and single-hole inflator-free endoscopic thyroidectomy with a submental approach: a new surgical technique.

We have successfully carried out single-hole inflator-free endoscopic thyroidectomy through a submental approach, which has the advantages of less trauma, fewer complications, and hidden incisions. However, for patients with submandibular fat accumulation, submental incisions are not easy to hide, which directly affects the cosmetic effect. We developed a new surgical strategy "submandibular suction lipectomy and single-hole inflator-free endoscopic thyroidectomy with a submental approach" for these patients. We initially used submandibular suction lipectomy to reduce the accumulation of submandibular fat and obvious fat protrusion and, thus, restore the normal depression, placing the submental incision back where it is hidden in the submental shadow. Subsequentially, we began to use single-hole inflator-free endoscopic thyroidectomy with a submental approach. We aimed to explore the feasibility and cosmetic effect of this method for the treatment of thyroid disease patients with submandibular fat accumulation. The average operation time was 4.2 hours; and the average hospitalization time was 4.75 days. There were no postoperative complications, such as hoarseness, low calcium, hand and foot numbness, etc., and no special complications and no recurrence or metastasis seen in the 6-month follow-up examination. The aesthetic satisfaction survey results of patients half a year after surgery were satisfactory and above. For thyroid cancer patients with submandibular fat accumulation, this method not only hides the surgical incision in the neck but also meets the patient's requirement for "submental aesthetics"; thus it has good application prospects. It should be pointed out that the current findings are preliminary results, based on data from only four patients.

METTL16 promotes glycolytic metabolism reprogramming and colorectal cancer progression.

BACKGROUND: Glycolysis is the key hallmark of cancer and maintains malignant tumor initiation and progression. The role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification in glycolysis is largely unknown. This study explored the biological function of m6A methyltransferase METTL16 in glycolytic metabolism and revealed a new mechanism for the progression of Colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: The expression and prognostic value of METTL16 was evaluated using bioinformatics and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays. The biological functions of METTL16 in CRC progression was analyzed in vivo and in vitro. Glycolytic metabolism assays were used to verify the biological function of METTL16 and Suppressor of glucose by autophagy (SOGA1). The protein/RNA stability, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and RNA pull-down assays were used to explore the potential molecular mechanisms. RESULTS: SOGA1 is a direct downstream target of METTL16 and involved in METTL16 mediated glycolysis and CRC progression. METTL16 significantly enhances SOGA1 expression and mRNA stability via binding the "reader" protein insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1). Subsequently, SOGA1 promotes AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) complex ubiquitination, inhibits its expression and phosphorylation, thus upregulates pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4), a crucial protein controlling glucose metabolism. Moreover, Yin Yang 1 (YY1) can transcriptionally inhibit the expression of METTL16 in CRC cells by directly binding to its promoter. Clinical data showed that METTL16 expression is positively correlated to SOGA1 and PDK4, and is associated with poor prognosis of CRC patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that METTL16/SOGA1/PDK4 axis might be promising therapeutic targets for CRC.

METTL14 suppresses cancer stem cell phenotype of colorectal cancer via regulating of ß-catenin/NANOG.

Cancer stem cell (CSC) characteristic contributes to tumor malignancy and progression. The role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification in CSC characteristic is largely unknown. In this study, we found that m6A methyltransferase METTL14 was downregulated in colorectal cancer (CRC) and negatively correlated with the poor prognosis of CRC patients. Overexpression of METTL14 inhibited CSC characteristic, while knockdown of METTL14 promoted this characteristic. Through screening, NANOG was identified as the downstream of METTL14. Mechanically, we demonstrated that METTL14 inhibited cancer stem cell characteristic by regulating ß-catenin. Collectively, our findings suggested that METTL16/ß-catenin /NANOG axis might be promising therapeutic targets for CRC.

Flexible waveguide integrated thermo-optic switch based on TiO2 platform.

Mechanically flexible photonic devices are critical components of novel bio-integrated optoelectronic and high-end wearable systems, in which thermo-optic switches (TOSs) as optical signal control devices are crucial. In this paper, flexible titanium oxide (TiO2) TOSs based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure were demonstrated around 1310 nm for, it is believed, the first time. The insertion loss of flexible passive TiO2 2 × 2 multi-mode interferometers (MMIs) is -3.1 dB per MMI. The demonstrated flexible TOS achieves power consumption (Pπ) of 0.83 mW, compared with its rigid counterpart, for which Pπ is decreased by a factor of 18. The proposed device could withstand 100 consecutive bending operations without noticeable degradation in TOS performance, indicating excellent mechanical stability. These results provide a new perspective for designing and fabricating flexible TOSs for flexible optoelectronic systems in future emerging applications.

An ultra-broadband and wide-angle absorber based on a TiN metamaterial for solar harvesting.

The efficient absorption of solar spectrum radiation is the most critical step in solar thermal utilization. In this work, a near-perfect metamaterial solar absorber with broadband, wide angle, polarization insensitivity, and high-temperature resistance is proposed and investigated. The absorber takes advantage of the high melting point material, which consists of a TiN reflector, a SiO2 insulating layer, and a TiN ring array. In the spectral range of 300-2500 nm, an average absorption of 97.6% is achieved. The percentage of absorbed energy in the AM1.5 spectral radiation can reach 95.8%. The electric and magnetic field distributions show that the high absorption is attributed to the coupling effect of surface plasmon resonance, guided mode resonance and cavity resonance. Furthermore, the absorber is found to maintain high absorption performance at large angles of solar radiation and to be insensitive to polarization. The designed absorber maintains its broadband absorption performance well within certain geometric tolerances. This reduces the complexity and cost of manufacturing and facilitates practical applications. The research indicates that this work will benefit the design and application of solar thermal conversion and thermophotovoltaic systems.

Optical Temperature Sensor Based on Polysilicon Waveguides.

Traditional temperature detection has limitations in terms of sensing accuracy and response time, while chip-level photoelectric sensors based on the thermo-optic effect can improve measurement sensitivity and reduce costs. This paper presents on-chip temperature sensors based on polysilicon (p-Si) waveguides. Dual-microring resonator (MRR) and asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer (AMZI) sensors are demonstrated. The experimental results show that the sensitivities of the sensors based on AMZI and MRR are 86.6 pm/K and 85.7 pm/K, respectively. The temperature sensors proposed in this paper are compatible with the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technique. Benefitting from high sensitivity and a compact footprint, these sensors show great potential in the field of photonic-electronic applications.

The optical properties of dumbbell-type nanorods for solar photothermal conversion.

Due to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), plasmonic nanoparticles have exciting potential for improving solar photothermal conversion performance and have been extensively studied. However, in addition to enhanced solar absorption, scattering is also enhanced with the occurrence of LSPR, which is detrimental to the direct absorption of solar energy. The nanoparticles that can excite magnetic resonance can alleviate the above problem but have rarely been studied. In this work, we propose a dumbbell-type nanorod that can excite both electrical resonance and magnetic resonance. The analysis of its optical properties reveals that the dumbbell-type nanorod can excite multiple absorption peaks to enhance absorption while reducing scattering. The mechanism is the coupling between electrical resonance and magnetic resonance. Furthermore, the analysis with the slotted position of the dumbbell-type nanorod shows that the slotting should not occur at the two ends of the nanorod. It is also shown that the optical properties of the dumbbell-type nanorod can be effectively tuned by adjusting the geometric parameters of the slot. The dumbbell-type nanorods are promising for solar photothermal conversion and can be a candidate material for direct absorption solar collectors (DASCs).

Flexible passive integrated photonic devices with superior optical and mechanical performance.

Flexible integrated photonics is a rapidly emerging technology with a wide range of possible applications in the fields of flexible optical interconnects, conformal multiplexing sensing, health monitoring, and biotechnology. One major challenge in developing mechanically flexible integrated photonics is the functional component within an integrated photonic circuit with superior performance. In this work, several essential flexible passive devices for such a circuit were designed and fabricated based on a multi-neutral-axis mechanical design and a monolithic integration technique. The propagation loss of the waveguide is calculated to be 4.2 dB/cm. In addition, we demonstrate a microring resonator, waveguide crossing, multimode interferometer (MMI), and Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) for use at 1.55 µm, each exhibiting superior optical and mechanical performance. These results represent a significant step towards further exploring a complete flexible photonic integrated circuit.

Waveguide-Integrated PdSe2 Photodetector over a Broad Infrared Wavelength Range.

Hybrid integration of van der Waals materials on a photonic platform enables diverse exploration of novel active functions and significant improvement in device performance for next-generation integrated photonic circuits, but developing waveguide-integrated photodetectors based on conventionally investigated transition metal dichalcogenide materials at the full optical telecommunication bands and mid-infrared range is still a challenge. Here, we integrate PdSe2 with silicon waveguide for on-chip photodetection with a high responsivity from 1260 to 1565 nm, a low noise-equivalent power of 4.0 pW·Hz-0.5, a 3-dB bandwidth of 1.5 GHz, and a measured data rate of 2.5 Gbit·s-1. The achieved PdSe2 photodetectors provide new insights to explore the integration of novel van der Waals materials with integrated photonic platforms and exhibit great potential for diverse applications over a broad infrared range of wavelengths, such as on-chip sensing and spectroscopy.

Molecular Identification and Analysis on Differential Pathogenicity of Cylindrocarpon Species Associated With Ginseng Root Rust Rot in Northeastern China.

Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer is one of the most important medicinal herbs in China. It is known for its high medicinal value and economic value. The ginseng root rust rot (RRR) has always been one of the important diseases troubling the ginseng industry. The yield reduction rate of RRR is ~30%. To understand why the Cylindrocarpon species bring about the ginseng RRR in Northeastern China, this study isolates 45 strains from samples collected in Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang provinces. The rDNA-internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence was analyzed to identify the pathogenic species. The morphological characteristics of colonies and conidia of each strain on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium were observed, and the pathogenicity difference between different pathogenic species was analyzed by pricking method and determining the cell wall degrading enzyme activity. The BLAST alignment analysis shows that the homology of rDNA-ITS between 45 strains and Cylindrocarpon is more than 99%, among which 28 are identified as Cylindrocarpon destructans, three are identified as C. destructans var. destructans, and 14 are identified as Ilyonectria robusta. The colony diameters of all 45 isolated range from 4.21 ± 0.16a to 7.78 ± 0.25c cm after several days of incubation. Among all the species, I. robusta has the fastest growth rate, and C. destructans var. destructans has the slowest growth rate. Pathogenicity test results show that the pathogenicity of C. destructans var. destructans is the strongest, followed by C. destructans. I. robusta has relatively weak pathogenicity.