Gamma radiation and thermal-induced effects on the spectral performance of BACs in Bi/Er codoped aluminosilicate fibers.

The results of γ-radiation (2-72 kGy) and thermal-induced effects on BACs in Bi/Er codoped aluminosilicate fibers (BEDF) have been presented first in this paper. We observed that the radiation effect on on-off gain and optical absorption associated with BAC-Al and BAC-Si was insignificant, while the effect on luminescence was considerable. However, the effect on luminescence is caused by the radiation-induced darkening, which is likely linked to thermal bleachable Al-OHC point defects generated by γ-radiation. We carried out the thermal experiment and observed thermal bleaching of the γ-irradiated fiber at a low temperature of 300 °C. The observations indicate that, while γ-radiation could introduce significant background loss, BAC-Al and BAC-Si are fairly radiation resistant. This is the first time that BACs show good radiation resistance in irradiated BEDFs.

Down-regulation of lncRNA MIR31HG correlated with aggressive clinicopathological features and unfavorable prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Long non-coding RNA MIR31HG (MIR31HG) has been shown to affect numerous tumorigenesis. However, the function of MIR31HG in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the levels of MIR31HG could be served as a prognostic factor in patients with ESCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: MIR31HG expression was detected in 185 samples of surgically resected ESCC and matched normal tumor-adjacent tissues by qRT-PCR. The association between MIR31HG expression levels in tissue and characteristics was examined. Overall survival (OS) curves were conducted to compare MIR31HG level and clinical characteristics. Cox regression analysis was conducted to determine the prognostic value of MIR31HG. RESULTS: The levels of MIR31HG were decreased in the ESCC tissues from patients with ESCC compared with the control (p < 0.01). In malignant cases, lower expression MIR31HG levels were significantly associated with poor differentiation (p < 0.001), advanced lymph node metastasis (p = 0.006), positive distant metastasis (p = 0.005) and TNM stage (p = 0.004). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients presenting with reduced MIR31HG expression exhibited poorer OS (p = 0.0002). Univariate and multivariate analysis suggested that MIR31HG expression was an independent prognostic marker for survival in patients with ESCC. CONCLUSIONS: We observed that down-regulated MIR31HG in ESCC patients was associated with malignant clinical characteristics. MIR31HG might be considered as a potential prognostic indicator and a potential target for therapeutic targets in ESCC.

[Significance of five symptoms scoring sheet in the clinical diagnosis of BPPV].

Objective:To identify the validity of five symptoms scoring sheet that based on the patients who are suffering from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo(BPPV), and explore its effects and significance in the clinical diagnosis of BPPV.Method:A total of 484 patients with vertigo were included. All the patients were firstly assessed with five symptoms scoring sheet(repeated transient vertigo or aggravating vertigo during looking up, bending, getting out of bed, rolling over in bed and quick head movements) before being confirmed by Dix-Hallpike test and rolling test. Evaluating the predictive ability of this scoring sheet in the diagnosis of BPPV with ROC analysis.Result:According to the ROC analysis , the sensitivity and specificity were 95.4% and 80.3% respectively when the score >7, and an area under receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC) was 0.923.Conclusion:Five symptoms scoring sheet is useful and convenient in diagnosing BPPV, which can be used in BPPV screening and guide the vertigo patients to receive further test and treatment.

Virtual Touch quantification using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) technology for the evaluation of focal solid renal lesions: preliminary findings.

AIM: To evaluate potential value of Virtual Touch quantification (VTQ) of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging for characterising focal solid renal lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two independent operators performed 10 and five measurements of each lesion and adjacent renal cortex, respectively. Mean shear wave velocity (SWV) and shear wave velocity ratio (SWR) of histotypes were compared. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-seven renal lesions were evaluated, including 155 renal cell carcinomas (RCCs; 129 clear-cell RCCs [ccRCCs], 14 papillary RCCs [pRCCs], and 12 chromophobe RCCs [cRCCs]) and 42 angiomyolipomas (AMLs). The interoperator reproducibility of SWV of renal tumours and renal cortex were good (ICC=0.852, and 0.903, respectively). SWV of the renal cortex at a depth of <4 cm was significant higher than that at a depth of >4 cm. Regardless of the subtypes of RCC, SWV and SWR of RCCs differed significantly from those of AMLs (2.28±0.85 versus 1.98±0.85; 1.09±0.56 versus 0.78±0.34; p=0.045 and p<0.001, respectively). At cut-off points of SWV >1.87 m/s or SWR >0.84 to differentiate RCCs from AMLs, the sensitivity and specificity were 47.5%, 33.2% or 47.5%, 30.2%, respectively. When the subtypes of RCCs were taken into account, SWV and SWR of ccRCCs were significantly higher than those of pRCCs, cRCCs, and AMLs, while there was no significant difference among the latter. With SWV >1.98 m/s or SWR >0.80 as the cut-off point to differentiate ccRCCs from other renal tumours, the sensitivity and specificity were 69.8%, 65% or 76.8%, 73.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The ARFI technique offers additional information regarding renal tumour elasticity with good reproducibility. SWV and SWR are potential biomarkers in this setting, helping to differentiate ccRCC from other renal tumour histotypes.