Spatiotemporal Evolution of Carbon Emissions According to Major Function-Oriented Zones: A Case Study of Guangdong Province, China.

Studying the spatiotemporal evolution of carbon emissions from the perspective of major function-oriented zones (MFOZs) is crucial for making a carbon reduction policy. However, most previous research has ignored the spatial characteristics and MFOZ influence. Using statistical and spatial analysis tools, we explored the spatiotemporal characteristics of carbon emissions in Guangdong Province from 2001 to 2021. The following results were obtained: (1) Carbon emissions fluctuated from 2020 to 2021 because of COVID-19. (2) Over the last 20 years, the proportion of carbon emissions from urbanization development zones (UDZs) has gradually decreased, whereas those of the main agricultural production zones (MAPZs) and key ecological function zones (KEFZs) have increased. (3) Carbon emissions efficiency differed significantly among the three MFOZs. (4) Carbon emissions from coastal UDZs were increasingly apparent; however, the directional characteristics of MAPZ and KEFZ emissions were not remarkable. (5) Carbon transfer existed among the three kinds of MFOZs, resulting in the economy and carbon emissions being considerably misaligned across Guangdong Province. These results indicated that the MFOZ is noteworthy in revealing how carbon emissions evolved. Furthermore, spatiotemporal characteristics, especially spatial characteristics, can help formulate carbon reduction policies for realizing carbon peak and neutrality goals in Guangdong Province.

Assessment of Early Response to Lung Cancer Chemotherapy by Semiquantitative Analysis of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI.

Objective: To evaluate the early chemotherapy response in patients with lung cancer using semiquantitative analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: Twenty-two patients with lung cancer treated with chemotherapy were subjected to DCE-MRI at two time points: before starting treatment and after one week of therapy. The image data were collected by DCE-MRI, and the semiquantitative parameters including positive enhancement integral (PEI), signal enhancement ratio (SER), maximum slope of increase (MSI), and time to peak (TTP) were calculated. After chemotherapy, the parameters and relevant variations between the responders and nonresponders were compared with Mann-Whitney U tests. Student's t-test for paired samples was used to evaluate the temporal changes between pre- and posttreatment images. Results: The patients were categorized as 13 responders and 9 nonresponders based on the tumor response evaluation. After chemotherapy, the PEI, SER, and MSI were significantly increased in responders compared with the pretreatment values (P < 0.05), while no obvious decrease in TTP was observed (P > 0.05). However, 9 nonresponders showed no significant changes in PEI, SER, MSI, and TTP values, as compared with those of pretreatment (P > 0.05). Moreover, the increase of PEI was more dramatically in responders than in nonresponders (P < 0.05), but no significantly differences were observed in SER, MSI, and TTP (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Semiquantitative analysis of DCE-MRI could provide a reliable noninvasive method for assessing early chemotherapy response in lung cancer patients.

The Impact of the Numbers of Monitoring Stations on the National and Regional Air Quality Assessment in China During 2013-18.

China national air quality monitoring network has become the core data source for air quality assessment and management in China. However, during network construction, the significant change in numbers of monitoring sites with time is easily ignored, which brings uncertainty to air quality assessments. This study aims to analyze the impact of change in numbers of stations on national and regional air quality assessments in China during 2013-18. The results indicate that the change in numbers of stations has different impacts on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone concentration assessments. The increasing number of sites makes the estimated national and regional PM2.5 concentration slightly lower by 0.6-2.2 µg m-3 and 1.4-6.0 µg m-3 respectively from 2013 to 2018. The main reason is that over time, the monitoring network expands from the urban centers to the suburban areas with low population densities and pollutant emissions. For ozone, the increasing number of stations affects the long-term trends of the estimated concentration, especially the national trends, which changed from a slight upward trend to a downward trend in 2014-15. Besides, the impact of the increasing number of sites on ozone assessment exhibits a seasonal difference at the 0.05 significance level in that the added sites make the estimated concentration higher in winter and lower in summer. These results suggest that the change in numbers of monitoring sites is an important uncertainty factor in national and regional air quality assessments, that needs to be considered in long-term concentration assessment, trend analysis, and trend driving force analysis.

Assessment of kidney function in chronic kidney disease by combining diffusion tensor imaging and total kidney volume.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the value and feasibility of combining fractional anisotropy (FA) values from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and total kidney volume (TKV) for the assessment of kidney function in chronic kidney disease (CKD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-one patients were included in this study. All MRI examinations were performed with a 3.0 T scanner. DTI was used to measure FA values, and TKV was obtained from DTI and T2-weighted imaging (T2WI). Patients were divided into three groups (mild, moderate, severe) according to eGFR, which was calculated with serum creatinine. Differences in the FA values of the cortex and medulla were analysed among the three groups, and the relationships of FA values, TKV, and the product of the FA values and TKV with eGFR were analysed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to compare the diagnostic efficiency of the FA values, TKV, and the product of the FA values and TKV for kidney function in different CKD stages. RESULTS: Medullary FA values (m-FA), TKV, and the product of the m-FA values and TKV (m-FA-TKV) were significantly correlated with eGFR (r = 0.653, 0.685, and 0.797, respectively; all P < 0.001). ROC curve analysis showed that m-FA-TKV exhibited better diagnostic performance than m-FA values (P = 0.022). CONCLUSION: m-FA-TKV obtained by DTI significantly improves the accuracy of kidney function assessment in CKD patients.

Applicability of the adjusted graded prognostic assessment for lung cancer with brain metastases using molecular markers (Lung-molGPA) in a Chinese cohort: A retrospective study of multiple institutions.

BACKGROUND: In this era of precision medicine, prognostic heterogeneity is an important feature of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with brain metastases (BM). This multi-institutional study is aimed to verify the applicability of the adjusted Lung-molGPA model for NSCLC with BM in a Chinese cohort. METHODS: This retrospective study included 1903 patients at three hospitals in Southwest China. The performance of the Lung-molGPA model was compared with that of the adjusted DS-GPA model in terms of estimating the survival of NSCLC with BM. RESULTS: The median OS of this patient cohort was 27.0 months, and the adenocarcinoma survived longer than the non-adenocarcinoma (28.0 months vs 18.7 months, p < 0.001). The adjusted Lung-molGPA model was more accurate in predicting survival of adenocarcinoma patients than the adjusted DS-GPA model (C-index: 0.615 vs 0.571), and it was not suitable for predicting survival of non-adenocarcinoma patients (p = 0.286, 1.5-2.0 vs 2.5-3.0; p = 0.410, 2.5-3.0 vs 3.5-4.0). CONCLUSIONS: The adjusted Lung-molGPA model is better than the DS-GPA model in predicting the prognosis of adenocarcinoma patients. However, it failed to estimate the prognosis for non-adenocarcinoma patients.

Quantitative assessment of optical coherence tomography angiography algorithms for neuroimaging.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography can noninvasively map microvascular networks and quantify blood flow in a cerebral cortex with a resolution of 1 to 10 µm and a penetration depth of 2 to 3 mm incorporating OCT signals and angiography algorithms. Different angiography algorithms have been developed in recent years; however, the performance of the algorithms has not been assessed quantitatively for neuroimaging applications. In this paper, we developed four metrics including vascular connectivity, contrast-to-noise ratio, signal-to-noise ratio and processing time to quantitatively assess the performance of OCT angiography algorithms in image quality and computation speed. After the imaging of a rat cortex using an OCT system, the cerebral microvascular networks were visualized by seven algorithms, and the performance of the algorithms was quantified and compared. Quantitative performance assessment of the algorithms can provide suggestions for the selection of appropriate OCT angiography algorithms in neuroimaging.

Crizotinib versus chemotherapy: a real-world cost-effectiveness study in China.

Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness of crizotinib verses platinum-based doublet chemotherapy as the first-line treatment for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the real-world setting. Methods: Data from 163 advanced ALK positive NSCLC patients were collected from West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Chengdu, China). They were categorized into two groups as treated with crizotinib (n = 83) or chemotherapy (n = 80) as a first-line therapy. The progression-free survival (PFS) as the primary clinical outcome, and the direct medical costs were collected from hospital information systems. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated with costs, quality-adjusted life-years, as well as the costs discounted at 3% annually. Additionally, two different kinds of medical insurance (MI) for pharma-economic assessment were considered. Results: Crizotinib improved PFS versus chemotherapy in ALK positive patients (median PFS 19.67 m vs 5.47 m; p < 0.001). Moreover, crizotinib obtained an ICER of US$36,285.39 before the end of 2016, when crizotinib, pemetrexed and anti-angiogenesis drugs were not MI covered. This is more than the willingness to pay threshold (three-times of gross domestic product per capita in mainland China or Sichuan Province). However, ICER was US$7321.16, which is less than willingness to pay, when crizotinib and all chemotherapy drugs were covered by MI from the end of 2016. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated a 99.7% probability for crizotinib to be more cost-effective than chemotherapy, when crizotinib and all anticancer drugs were MI covered. One-way sensitivity analysis for the reimbursement ratio of crizotinib indicated that cost-effective tendency for crizotinib increased as reimbursement ratio increased. Conclusion: Crizotinib could be an effective, and cost-effective first-line treatment for ALK positive advanced NSCLC with the MI coverage currently available in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.

Acoustic radiation force optical coherence elastography for elasticity assessment of soft tissues.

Biomechanical properties of soft tissues are important indicators of tissue functions which can be used for clinical diagnosis and disease monitoring. Elastography, incorporating the principles of elasticity measurements into imaging modalities, provides quantitative assessment of elastic properties of biological tissues. Benefiting from high-resolution, noninvasive and three-dimensional optical coherence tomography (OCT), optical coherence elastography (OCE) is an emerging optical imaging modality to characterize and map biomechanical properties of soft tissues. Recently, acoustic radiation force (ARF) OCE has been developed for elasticity measurements of ocular tissues, detection of vascular lesions and monitoring of blood coagulation based on remote and noninvasive ARF excitation to both internal and superficial tissues. Here, we describe the advantages of the ARF-OCE technique, the measurement methods in ARF-OCE, the applications in biomedical detection, current challenges and advances. ARF-OCE technology has the potential to become a powerful tool for in vivo elasticity assessment of biological samples in a non-contact, non-invasive and high-resolution nature.

Coaxial excitation longitudinal shear wave measurement for quantitative elasticity assessment using phase-resolved optical coherence elastography.

Optical coherence elastography (OCE) is an emerging imaging modality for the assessment of mechanical properties in soft tissues. Transverse shear wave measurements using OCE can quantify the elastic moduli perpendicular to the force direction, however, missing the elastic information along the force direction. In this study, we developed coaxial excitation longitudinal shear wave measurements for quantification of elastic moduli along the force direction using M-scans. Incorporating Rayleigh wave measurements using non-coaxial lateral scans into longitudinal shear wave measurements, directionally dependent elastic properties can be quantified along the force direction and perpendicular to the force direction. Therefore, the reported system has the capability to image elasticity of anisotropic biological tissues.

Assessment of programmed cell death ligand-1 expression with multiple immunohistochemistry antibody clones in non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) have been identified as novel targets for immunotherapy, with PD-L1 as a potential predictive biomarker. However, a specific antibody for PD-L1 expression is an immediate requirement. Meanwhile, the clinicopathological identification of patients with positive PD-L1 remains unclear. METHODS: The present study adopted three anti-PD-L1 IHC antibodies, SP142, SP263, and UMAB228 to test PD-L1 expression in 84 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) specimens. The concordance among antibodies was examined by analytical comparison, and the association between PD-L1 expression and clinicopathological factors was assessed. RESULTS: The samples from 41 (48.8%), 51 (60.7%), and 50 (59.5%) patients were detected as PD-L1 positive evaluated by antibody SP142, SP263, and UMAB228, respectively. The kappa coefficient was 0.53, 0.58, and 0.46 for SP263 vs. SP142, SP263 vs. UMAB228, and SP142 vs. UMAB228, respectively. On the other hand, the univariate analysis of consensus cases indicated that the PD-L1 expression was significantly correlated with tobacco use (χ2=4.25, P=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: The analytical comparison showed moderate concordance between SP142, SP263 and UMAB228, whereas SP263 exhibited higher overall positive rate. Moreover, PD-L1 positive rate was significantly higher in patients with smoking history, which might help in identifying patients who would benefit from PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors.