Effects of D-CAG chemotherapy regimen on cognitive function in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment, also known as 'chemobrain', is a common neurotoxic complication induced by chemotherapy, which has been reported in many cancer survivors who have undergone chemotherapy. In this study, we aimed to explore the effects of D-neneneba dicitabine, C-nenenebb cytarabine, A-aclamycin, G-granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (D-CAG) chemotherapy on cognitive function in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and its possible central mechanisms. Twenty patients with AML and 25 matched healthy controls (HC) were enrolled in this study. The cognitive function of patients before and after D-CAG chemotherapy was evaluated by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive Function (FACT-Cog). The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from all patients before and after chemotherapy intervention, as well as HC. Then, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were preprocessed using DPABI software package and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values of brain regions were calculated. Finally, ReHo values between groups were compared by Resting-State fMRI Data Analysis software package with t-tests and Alphasim method was performed for multiple comparison correction. Moreover, associations between ReHo values of altered brain regions and the scores of FACT-Cog were analysed by Pearson correlation. The total FACT-Cog scores and four factor scores of AML patients increased significantly after treatment. ReHo values showed no significant changes in patients before treatment when compared with HC. Compared with HC, ReHo values of the right middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus (opercular part), middle occipital gyrus, and left praecuneus decreased significantly, while ReHo values of the left inferior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, and hippocampus increased significantly in patients after treatment. Compared with patients before treatment, ReHo values decreased significantly in the right middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus (opercular part), and middle and inferior occipital gyri of patients after treatment. In addition, ReHo values of the right inferior frontal gyrus (opercular part) were negatively correlated with the total scores of FACT-Cog and factor scores of perceived cognitive impairment in patients after treatment. There were also negative correlations between ReHo values of the right middle frontal gyrus and perceived cognitive impairment scores. The present study confirmed that D-CAG chemotherapy might cause impaired subjective self-reported cognitive functioning in AML patients, which might be related to the decreased function of certain regions in the right prefrontal lobe. These findings provided further understanding of the mechanisms involved in post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment and would help develop new therapeutic strategies for 'chemobrain' in AML patients.

Temperature-insensitive refractive index sensor based on a spindle-shaped few-mode fiber modal interferometer.

A designed temperature-insensitive modal interferometer for refractive index measurement based on spindle-shaped few-mode fiber (FMF) is proposed and demonstrated. The interferometer consisting of a specific length of FMF fused between two specific lengths of single-mode fibers is bent into a balloon shape and then burned by a flame into a spindle shape to sensitize. Due to the bending of the fiber, part of the light leaks from the core to the cladding and excites the higher-order modes, and the four modes in the core of FMF interfere with the higher-order modes in the cladding. Therefore, the sensor is more sensitive to the surrounding refractive index. The experimental results show that the highest sensitivity is 237.3 nm/RIU from 1.333 to 1.365. The sensor is insensitive to temperature, which solves the problem of temperature cross talk. In addition, with its advantages of a small mechanism, simple fabrication, low loss, and good mechanical strength, the proposed sensor has broad application prospects in chemical production, fuel storage, environmental monitoring, and other fields.

Research on multi-parameter characteristics of a PCF sensor modified by GO composite films.

We propose a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensor based on graphene oxide (GO) composite film modification to simultaneously measure the multi-parameter sensing characteristics of humidity, temperature, and glucose concentration. The GO-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite film is used to measure the humidity-sensing characteristics of the sensor, and the glucose oxidase composite film is used to measure the sensing characteristics of the glucose concentration, respectively. Experiment results show that the sensitivities of the temperature of the GO-PVA coating structure are 0.037 nm/°C, 0.047 nm/°C, and 0.031 nm/°C; the sensitivities of humidity are 0.059 nm/%RH, 0.121 nm/%RH, and 0.047 nm/%RH; and the sensitivities of the glucose concentration of the GO-GOD coating structure are 0.028 nm/(g/L), 0.049 nm/(g/L), and 0.010 nm/(g/L) for three interference dips, respectively. The structure is simple to manufacture and can be used as a sensor for detecting multiple parameters. It can be widely used in biomedicine, environmental monitoring, and other fields.

Humidity and temperature sensor based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a pokal taper and peanut taper.

An optical fiber sensor for simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature is proposed and investigated. The sensor is composed of a pokal taper and a peanut taper spliced at both ends of a single-mode fiber, respectively. In the experiment, the variations of the dip wavelength are used to measure the parameter sensing characteristics. The sensing area is coated with a concentration of 1 mg/ml graphene dispersion by using the optical driven deposition method. Experimental results show that the sensor has a good linear relationship with temperature and humidity. When the humidity measurement range is 30%RH∼70%RH, the sensitivities are 0.059 nm/%RH and 0.133 nm/%RH, respectively. When the temperature measurement range is 0∘C∼40∘C, the sensitivities are 0.254 nm/°C and 0.269 nm/°C, respectively. This sensor has the advantages of small size, low cost, and high response.

Research on simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index based on thin-core fiber and pokal taper.

An in-line optical fiber sensor is proposed and demonstrated for simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index (RI). This sensor can be obtained by splicing two pokal-taper structures and a segment of thin-core fiber (TCF). The middle segment of the TCF works as the sensing region, and the two pokal-taper structures work as an exciter and a coupler. The transmission spectra formed by different lengths of TCF are analyzed theoretically, and then the appropriate length is selected during the experiment. The purpose of simultaneous measurement of temperature and RI can be achieved due to the different parameter responses of the two dips used in the experiment. The sensitivities of the two dips are 0.082 and 0.086 nm/°C in the temperature range of 20°C to -20°C. The sensitivities of the two dips are -43 and -30.83 nm/RIU in the RI range of 1.335-1.37. The proposed sensor has many advantages and wide application prospects.

Multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on graphene oxide.

A multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser based on graphene oxide (GO) has been proposed, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time, to generate an output of stable wavelengths. The structure mainly comprises a few layers of GO between two single-mode fibers incorporated into a capillary device and a Lyot comb filter. GO can show a good nonlinear optical effect, which is beneficial to suppress the mode competition caused by the EDF and stabilize the multiwavelength output. With assistance from the GO device, 11 stable simultaneous lasing signals with a power nonuniformity of about 1.5 dB are obtained. Wavelength spacing is about 0.42 nm and the linewidth of each wavelength is less than 0.07 nm.