Dispersal modes affect Rhamnaceae diversification rates in a differentiated manner.

The evolution of dispersal modes has been proposed to promote the diversification of angiosperms. However, little is known about the relative impact of different dispersal modes on plant diversification. We test the association between dispersal modes and diversification rates using Rhamnaceae, the cosmopolitan buckthorn family, as a model. We found that species with diplochory have the highest diversification rates followed by those with myrmecochory and ballistic dispersal, while lineages dispersed by vertebrates and wind have relatively low diversification rates. The difference in diversification rates may be closely linked to the difference in dispersal distance and ecological interactions implied by each dispersal mode. Species which disperse over larger geographical distances may have much higher speciation rates due to the increased chance of establishing isolated populations due to geological barriers or habitat fragmentation. However, long-distance dispersal may also increase the chance of extinction. By contrast, species with short-distance dispersal modes may have low speciation rates. Complex interactions with the surrounding environment may, however, impact diversification rates positively by increasing plant survival and reproductive success.

Identification of the New Psychoactive Substance Eutylone.

OBJECTIVES: To establish a method to identify unknown sample based on the combined use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-QTOF-MS), ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry (UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS) and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) technique. METHODS: The unknown sample was directly analyzed by FTIR. The unknown sample was dissolved in methanol solution containing internal standard SKF525A and the supernatant was detected by GC-QTOF-MS and UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS. The unknown sample was dissolved in methanol-d4 solution for structural analysis of 1H-NMR. RESULTS: The characteristic absorption peaks of FTIR spectra obtained from unknown sample were 1 682 (C=O bond), 1 503, 1 488, 1 436, 1 363, 1 256, 1 092, 1 035, 935, 840 and 800 cm-1, the characteristic fragment ions (m/z) of GC-QTOF-MS were 86.096 4 (base peak), 58.065 1, 149.023 5, 121.028 6 and 65.038 6, the accurate mass [M+H]+ detected by UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS was 236.127 7. The sample was identified as synthetic cathinone new psychoactive substance Eutylone by 1H-NMR. CONCLUSIONS: The method established in this study can be used for structural confirmation of Eutylone.

Congruence between ocean-dispersal modelling and phylogeography explains recent evolutionary history of Cycas species with buoyant seeds.

Ocean currents play a significant role in driving the long-distance dispersal (LDD), spatial distribution and phylogeographic patterns of many organisms. Integrating phylogeographic analyses and mechanistic ocean current modelling can provide novel insights into the evolutionary history of terrestrial littoral species but has been rarely applied in this context. We focused on a group of Cycas that have buoyant seeds and occupy coastal habitats. By integrating evidence from mechanistic simulations and whole plastomic data, we examined the role of ocean circulation in shaping the phylogeography of these Cycas species. Plastomes of the studied Cycas species showed extreme conservatism, following a post-Pleistocene divergence. Phylogenies revealed three subclades, corresponding to the Pacific Ocean, Sunda Shelf and Indian Ocean. The ocean modelling results indicate that hotspots of seed stranding coincide well with the contemporary distribution of the Cycas species and that drifting trajectories from the three subclades are largely confined to separate regions. These findings suggest that ocean current systems, by driving long-distance dispersal, have shaped the distribution and phylogeography for Cycas with buoyant seeds. This study highlights how the combination of genomic data and ocean drift modelling can help explain phylogeographic patterns and diversity in terrestrial littoral ecosystems.

The chemokine CXCL1 and its receptor CXCR2 contribute to chronic stress-induced depression in mice.

Depression is increasingly recognized as an inflammatory disease, with inflammatory crosstalk in the brain contributing its pathogenesis. Life stresses may up-regulate inflammatory processes and promote depression. Although cytokines are central to stress-related immune responses, their contribution to stress-induced depression remains unclear. Here, we used unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) to induce depression-like behaviors in mice, as assessed through a suite of behavioral tests. C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1 (CXCL1)-related molecular networks responsible for depression-like behaviors were assessed through intrahippocampal microinjection of lenti-CXCL1, the antidepressant fluoxetine, the C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2) inhibitor SB265610, and the glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK3ß) inhibitor AR-A014418. Modulation of apoptosis-related pathways and neuronal plasticity were assessed via quantification of cleaved caspase-3, B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X protein, cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein expression. CXCL1/CXCL2 expression was correlated with depression-like behaviors in response to chronic stress or antidepressant treatment in the UCMS depression model. Intrahippocampal microinjection of lenti-CXCL1 increased depression-like behaviors, activated GSK3ß, increased apoptosis pathways, suppressed CREB activation, and decreased BDNF. Administration of the selective GSK3ß inhibitor AR-A014418 abolished the effects of lenti-CXCL1, and the CXCR2 inhibitor SB265610 prevented chronic stress-induced depression-like behaviors, inhibited GSK3ß activity, blocked apoptosis pathways, and restored BDNF expression. The CXCL1/CXCR2 axis appears to play a critical role in stress-induced depression, and CXCR2 is a potential novel therapeutic target for patients with depression.-Chai, H.-H., Fu, X.-C., Ma, L., Sun, H.-T., Chen, G.-Z., Song, M.-Y., Chen, W.-X., Chen, Y.-S., Tan, M.-X., Guo, Y.-W., Li, S.-P. The chemokine CXCL1 and its receptor CXCR2 contribute to chronic stress-induced depression in mice.

Hydroxyl regioisomerization of anthracycline catalyzed by a four-enzyme cascade.

Ranking among the most effective anticancer drugs, anthracyclines represent an important family of aromatic polyketides generated by type II polyketide synthases (PKSs). After formation of polyketide cores, the post-PKS tailoring modifications endow the scaffold with various structural diversities and biological activities. Here we demonstrate an unprecedented four-enzyme-participated hydroxyl regioisomerization process involved in the biosynthesis of kosinostatin. First, KstA15 and KstA16 function together to catalyze a cryptic hydroxylation of the 4-hydroxyl-anthraquinone core, yielding a 1,4-dihydroxyl product, which undergoes a chemically challenging asymmetric reduction-dearomatization subsequently acted by KstA11; then, KstA10 catalyzes a region-specific reduction concomitant with dehydration to afford the 1-hydroxyl anthraquinone. Remarkably, the shunt product identifications of both hydroxylation and reduction-dehydration reactions, the crystal structure of KstA11 with bound substrate and cofactor, and isotope incorporation experiments reveal mechanistic insights into the redox dearomatization and rearomatization steps. These findings provide a distinguished tailoring paradigm for type II PKS engineering.

Manifold decoding for neural representations of face viewpoint and gaze direction using magnetoencephalographic data.

The main challenge in decoding neural representations lies in linking neural activity to representational content or abstract concepts. The transformation from a neural-based to a low-dimensional representation may hold the key to encoding perceptual processes in the human brain. In this study, we developed a novel model by which to represent two changeable features of faces: face viewpoint and gaze direction. These features are embedded in spatiotemporal brain activity derived from magnetoencephalographic data. Our decoding results demonstrate that face viewpoint and gaze direction can be represented by manifold structures constructed from brain responses in the bilateral occipital face area and right superior temporal sulcus, respectively. Our results also show that the superposition of brain activity in the manifold space reveals the viewpoints of faces as well as directions of gazes as perceived by the subject. The proposed manifold representation model provides a novel opportunity to gain further insight into the processing of information in the human brain.

Clinical trial on the effects of thalidomide on hemoglobin synthesis in patients with moderate thalassemia intermedia.

To investigate the efficacy and safety of thalidomide in patients with thalassemia intermedia (TI). Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of TI who met the trial criteria and signed consent forms were prescribed oral thalidomide 50 mg qn for 3 months from February 2017. Complete blood counts, Hb analysis, and liver and kidney functions were monitored monthly during treatment and any differences were compared before and after treatment. Patients with Hb increments > 2.0 g/dL were termed main responders (MaR), and those with Hb increments between 1.0 and 2.0 g/dL as minor responders (MiR), otherwise they were termed non-responders. Relevance analysis was performed to explore parameters predicting Hb increments after treatment. Adverse effects during treatment were carefully recorded. The overall response rate (ORR = MaR + MiR) and MaR rates were 78.6 and 50% after 1 month of treatment, respectively, and 85.7 and 71.4% after 3 months treatment. At the end of the treatment period, Hb and HbF increased by 2.5 ± 1.8 g/dL and 2.5 ± 1.6 g/dL, while bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase, and the nucleated red blood cell count (NRBC) were significantly decreased, while the reticulocyte count significantly increased. Correlation analysis showed that the Hb increments correlated significantly with the ratio of HbF before treatment (r = 0.683, P = 0.007) rather than age, Hb, reticulocyte count, and NRBC before treatment. Adverse events during treatment were mild, and drug reduction or withdrawal from the trial was not required. Thalidomide had rapid and significant effects in patients with TI, and also, it is safe and convenient. But larger scale clinical trials will be required to confirm our conclusions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02995707, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03184844?term=thalidomide+thalassemia&rank=1 .

Decoding the perception of endogenous pain from resting-state MEG.

Decoding the neural representations of pain is essential to obtaining an objective assessment as well as an understanding of its underlying mechanisms. The complexities involved in the subjective experience of pain make it difficult to obtain a quantitative assessment from the induced spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity of high dimensionality. Most previous studies have investigated the perception of pain by analyzing the amplitude or spatial patterns in the response of the brain to external stimulation. This study investigated the decoding of endogenous pain perceptions according to resting-state magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings. In our experiments, we applied a beamforming method to calculate the brain activity for every brain region and examined temporal and spectral features of brain activity for predicting the intensity of perceived pain in patients with primary dysmenorrhea undergoing menstrual pain. Our results show that the asymmetric index of sample entropy in the precuneus and the sample entropy in the left posterior cingulate gyrus were the most informative characteristics associated with the perception of menstrual pain. The correlation coefficient (ρ=0.64, p<0.001) between the predicted and self-reported pain scores demonstrated the high prediction accuracy. In addition to the estimated brain activity, we were able to predict accurate pain scores directly from MEG channel signals (ρ=0.65, p<0.001). These findings suggest the possibility of using the proposed model based on resting-state MEG to predict the perceived intensity of endogenous pain.

Improving Night Time Driving Safety Using Vision-Based Classification Techniques.

The risks involved in nighttime driving include drowsy drivers and dangerous vehicles. Prominent among the more dangerous vehicles around at night are the larger vehicles which are usually moving faster at night on a highway. In addition, the risk level of driving around larger vehicles rises significantly when the driver's attention becomes distracted, even for a short period of time. For the purpose of alerting the driver and elevating his or her safety, in this paper we propose two components for any modern vision-based Advanced Drivers Assistance System (ADAS). These two components work separately for the single purpose of alerting the driver in dangerous situations. The purpose of the first component is to ascertain that the driver would be in a sufficiently wakeful state to receive and process warnings; this is the driver drowsiness detection component. The driver drowsiness detection component uses infrared images of the driver to analyze his eyes' movements using a MSR plus a simple heuristic. This component issues alerts to the driver when the driver's eyes show distraction and are closed for a longer than usual duration. Experimental results show that this component can detect closed eyes with an accuracy of 94.26% on average, which is comparable to previous results using more sophisticated methods. The purpose of the second component is to alert the driver when the driver's vehicle is moving around larger vehicles at dusk or night time. The large vehicle detection component accepts images from a regular video driving recorder as input. A bi-level system of classifiers, which included a novel MSR-enhanced KAZE-base Bag-of-Features classifier, is proposed to avoid false negatives. In both components, we propose an improved version of the Multi-Scale Retinex (MSR) algorithm to augment the contrast of the input. Several experiments were performed to test the effects of the MSR and each classifier, and the results are presented in experimental results section of this paper.

Single stage management of Gustilo type III A/B tibia fractures: Fixed with nail & covered with fasciocutaneous flap.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of immediate and definitive management of Gustilo type III A/B tibia fractures with intramedullary nailing and fasciocutaneous flap. METHODS: From August 2010 to July 2012, 22 patients with Gustilo Grade III A/B tibia fractures were managed with a single stage treatment of ipsilateral fasciocutaneous flap & reamed intramedullary nailing and were included in the study. The severity of the injury was calculated with Ganga Hospital injury severity score. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 41 years and the follow-up time ranged from six months to one year. Among the 22 patients, 73% were type III B fractures with upper leg involved in 55% of them. The time interval from injury to completion of surgery was 8-14 h. The incidence of bone infection requiring secondary procedure was 9%; the major and minor soft tissue complication rate was 9% and 14% respectively. The limb salvage rate was 100%. CONCLUSION: Multidisciplinary management of severe lower limb trauma is important and provides good outcomes. Intramedullary nailing and immediate flap fixation can achieve early bone union and good soft tissue coverage, leading to good outcomes in patient with Grade III A & B tibia fractures.

Beamformer-based spatiotemporal imaging of linearly-related source components using electromagnetic neural signals.

Functional connectivity calculated using multiple channels of electromagnetic brain signals is often over- or underestimated due to volume conduction or field spread. Considering connectivity measures, coherence is suitable for the detection of rhythmic synchronization, whereas temporal correlation is appropriate for transient synchronization. This paper presents a beamformer-based imaging method, called spatiotemporal imaging of linearly-related source component (SILSC), which is capable of estimating connectivity at the cortical level by extracting the source component with the maximum temporal correlation between the activity of each targeted region and a reference signal. The spatiotemporal correlation dynamics can be obtained by applying SILSC at every brain region and with various time latencies. The results of six simulation studies demonstrated that SILSC is sensitive to detect the source activity correlated to the specified reference signal and is accurate and robust to noise in terms of source localization. In a facial expression imitation experiment, the correlation dynamics estimated by SILSC revealed the regions with mirror properties and the regions involved in motor control network when performing the imitation and execution tasks, respectively, with the left inferior frontal gyrus specified as the reference region.

Long-term survival trends of gastric cancer patients between 1972 and 2011 in Qidong.

BACKGROUND: There have been few reports on long-term survival of gastric cancer patients. This study analyzed the survival data of gastric cancer patients obtained from the population-based Qidong Cancer Registry between 1972 and 2011, providing a basis for evaluation of gastric cancer treatment and prognosis. METHODS: The cumulative observed survival rate and relative survival rate of gastric cancer patients were calculated using Hakulinen's method via the SURV3.01 software, which was developed by the Finnish Cancer Registry. The date of the last follow-up for the survival status of the 15,401 registered cases was April 30, 2012. RESULTS: The 1-, 5-, 10-, 20-, and 30-year observed survival rates were 33.82%, 14.18%, 10.35%, 6.63%, and 4.19%, respectively, and the 1-, 5-, 10-, 20-, and 30-year relative survival rates were 35.43%, 18.13%, 17.50%, 21.96%, and 32.84%, respectively. For males, the corresponding observed survival rates were 34.50%, 14.40%, 10.42%, 6.46%, and 4.05%, and the corresponding relative survival rates were 36.23%, 18.67%, 18.28%, 23.73%, and 38.61%. For females, the corresponding observed survival rates were 32.62%, 13.80%, 10.22%, 6.95%, and 4.46%, and the corresponding relative survival rates were 34.03%, 17.21%, 16.28%, 19.70%, and 26.78%. Significant differences in relative survival rates were observed between sexes (P = 0.003). For the 15-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, and 75+ age groups, the 5-year relative survival rates were 16.13%, 21.77%, 18.63%, 12.61%, 7.99%, and 2.94%, respectively, and the 10-year relative survival rates were 16.49%, 22.83%, 20.50%, 15.97%, 15.88%, and 15.73%, respectively. Remarkable improvement could be observed for the 5-, 10-, and 15-year relative survival rates in Qidong beginning in the 1980s. CONCLUSION: The survival outcome of registered gastric cancer cases in Qidong showed gradual progress over the past two decades.

Decoding and encoding of visual patterns using magnetoencephalographic data represented in manifolds.

Visual decoding and encoding are crucial aspects in investigating the representation of visual information in the human brain. This paper proposes a bidirectional model for decoding and encoding of visual stimulus based on manifold representation of the temporal and spatial information extracted from magnetoencephalographic data. In the proposed decoding process, principal component analysis is applied to extract temporal principal components (TPCs) from the visual cortical activity estimated by a beamforming method. The spatial distribution of each TPC is in a high-dimensional space and can be mapped to the corresponding spatiotemporal component (STC) on a low-dimensional manifold. Once the linear mapping between the STC and the wavelet coefficients of the stimulus image is determined, the decoding process can synthesize an image resembling the stimulus image. The encoding process is performed by reversing the mapping or transformation in the decoding model and can predict the spatiotemporal brain activity from a stimulus image. In our experiments using visual stimuli containing eleven combinations of checkerboard patches, the information of spatial layout in the stimulus image was revealed in the embedded manifold. The correlation between the reconstructed and original images was 0.71 and the correlation map between the predicted and original brain activity was highly correlated to the map between the original brain activity for different stimuli (r=0.89). These results suggest that the temporal component is important in visual processing and manifolds can well represent the information related to visual perception.

Female breast cancer survival in Qidong, China, 1972-2011: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Based on data from the population-based Qidong Cancer Registry, we report a survival analysis for female breast cancer patients diagnosed during 1972-2011 in order to assess the long-term trends for the prognosis of this cancer. METHODS: The last follow-up for survival status of the 3,398 registered female breast cancer cases was April, 2012. Cumulative observed survival (OS) and relative survival (RS) rates were calculated using Hakulinen's method performed by the SURV3.01 Software developed at the Finnish Cancer Registry. RESULTS: The one-, three-, five-, ten-, fifteen-, twenty-, thirty-, and forty- year OS rates were 83.61%, 67.53%, 58.75%, 48.56%, 42.57%, 38.30%, 29.19%, 19.35%; and the RS rates were 84.76%, 70.45%, 63.12%, 56.81%, 55.26%, 56.36%, 62.59%, 84.00%, respectively. Five-year RS rates of age groups 15-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, and 75+ were 60.17%, 68.27%, 67.79%, 56.03%, 55.50%, and 57.28%; 10-year RS rates were 54.16%, 59.59%, 61.34%, 47.78%, 51.30%, and 59.28%, respectively. There were statistical differences among the age groups (RS: χ2 = 152.15, P = 0.000). Remarkable improvement could be seen for the 5-year RS rates from 52.08% in 1972 to 69.26% in 2003-2007, and the 10-year RS rates from 43.16% in 1972 to 60.85% in 1998-2002, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Survival outcomes from Qidong registered cases with breast cancer have shown gradual progress during the past 40 years. The disparities between survival rates of this area and developed countries are getting narrower, but there is still great need for improving survival in Qidong.

Transumbilical single-incision laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy and total intracorporeal reconstruction of the digestive tract in the treatment of benign peptic ulcers.

BACKGROUND: Single-incision laparoscopic surgery is being applied increasingly in many surgical specialties. However, few reports are available regarding its use in the treatment of benign peptic ulcer disease. METHODS: We report here on nine patients with gastric or duodenal ulcers who underwent transumbilical single-incision laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy (SILSG) between November 2010 and June 2013. All procedures were performed with conventional laparoscopic instruments placed through a single operating portal of entry created within the umbilicus. Total intracorporeal gastrojejunostomy or gastroduodenostomy was then performed for reconstruction of the digestive tract. RESULTS: Only one case required conversion from single-incision to multiple-incision surgery. Among the eight patients who successfully underwent SILSG, total intracorporeal gastroduodenostomy was performed in two and gastrojejunostomy in six. The mean operation time was 290 ± 50 min (range 230-360 min), and blood loss was 200 ± 66 mL (range 100-300 mL). The patients recovered fully, and the single umbilical scars healed well. CONCLUSIONS: We believe this is the first report of SILSG with total intracorporeal gastrojejunostomy or gastroduodenostomy in the treatment of benign peptic ulcers. On the basis of this initial experience, SILSG for this indication in the hands of experienced surgeons appears to be feasible and safe.

Chemical of Vitex trifolia.

A new steroidal ester, beta-rosaterol palmitate (1) along with ten known compounds, uvaol(2), 3-epi-ursolic acid (3), 2alpha, 3beta, 24-trihydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid (4), 2alpha, 3alpha, 24-trihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid (5), 2alpha, 3alpha, 24-trihydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid (6), 2alpha, 3alpha, 24-trihydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid-28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl ester (7), (Z)-9-hexadecenoic acid (8), octacosyl alcohol (9), beta-sitosterol (10) and beta-daucosterol (11), has been isolated from the stems and leaves of Vitex trifolia. Their structures were elucidated using a combination of 1D and 2D NMR techniques (COSY, HMQC, and HMBC)and HR-ESI-MS analyses. Compounds 2-7 were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Transient thermal effect, nonlinear refraction and nonlinear absorption properties of graphene oxide sheets in dispersion.

The nonlinear refraction (NLR) properties of graphene oxide (GO) in N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) was studied in nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond time regimes by Z-scan technique. Results show that the dispersion of GO in DMF exhibits negative NLR properties in nanosecond time regime, which is mainly attributed to transient thermal effect in the dispersion. The dispersion also exhibits negative NLR in picosecond and femtosecond time regimes, which are arising from sp(2)- hybridized carbon domains and sp(3)- hybridized matrix in GO sheets. To illustrate the relations between NLR and nonlinear absorption (NLA), NLA properties of the dispersion were also studied in nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond time regimes.

Rapid screening of antioxidant from natural products by AAPH-Incubating HPLC-DAD-HR MS/MS method: A case study of Gardenia jasminoides fruit.

A new AAPH-Incubating HPLC-DAD-HR MS/MS method was developed for the rapid and high-throughput screening of antioxidants directly in natural products and applied to Gardenia jasminoides fruit. This method was assumed that the peak areas of compounds with potential antioxidant activity in HPLC chromatograms would be significantly reduced or disappeared after incubating with the AAPH which can release ROO at physiological conditions (37 °C, pH 7.4). Additionally, the activity of antioxidants can be evaluated by comparing the peak reduction rates and the screened components can be further identified by HRMS/MS. Then, 17 potential natural antioxidants from the crude extract of GJF was screened. Among them, three major components including crocin I, crocin II and crocetin showed excellent ROO scavenging activity, which were further validated by the ORAC assay. In conclusion, our study provided a simple and effective strategy to rapidly screen antioxidants in natural products.

DGA3-Net: A parameter-efficient deep learning model for ASPECTS assessment for acute ischemic stroke using non-contrast computed tomography.

Detecting the early signs of stroke using non-contrast computerized tomography (NCCT) is essential for the diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). However, the hypoattenuation in NCCT is difficult to precisely identify, and accurate assessments of the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) are usually time-consuming and require experienced neuroradiologists. To this end, this study proposes DGA3-Net, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based model for ASPECTS assessment via detecting early ischemic changes in ASPECTS regions. DGA3-Net is based on a novel parameter-efficient dihedral group CNN encoder to exploit the rotation and reflection symmetry of convolution kernels. The bounding volume of each ASPECTS region is extracted from the encoded feature, and an attention-guided slice aggregation module is used to aggregate features from all slices. An asymmetry-aware classifier is then used to predict stroke presence via comparison between ASPECTS regions from the left and right hemispheres. Pre-treatment NCCTs of suspected AIS patients were collected retrospectively, which consists of a primary dataset (n = 170) and an external validation dataset (n = 90), with expert consensus ASPECTS readings as ground truth. DGA3-Net outperformed two expert neuroradiologists in regional stroke identification (F1 = 0.69) and ASPECTS evaluation (Cohen's weighted Kappa = 0.70). Our ablation study also validated the efficacy of the proposed model design. In addition, class-relevant areas highlighted by visualization techniques corresponded highly with various well-established qualitative imaging signs, further validating the learned representation. This study demonstrates the potential of deep learning techniques for timely and accurate AIS diagnosis from NCCT, which could substantially improve the quality of treatment for AIS patients.

Survival of 48866 cancer patients: results from Nantong area, China.

Objective: This study aimed to provide a realistic observation of survival by major site for 48,866 cancer patients treated at a tertiary cancer hospital in a rural area of China. Methods: Patients with cancer registered between 2007 and 2017 in the Nantong rural area were followed up. The starting date for survival calculation was the date of the first diagnosis of cancer at the Nantong Tumor Hospital, and the closing date was December 31, 2020. Observed survival (OS) was analyzed according to ICD-10 site, sex, age, region, and hospitalization period using the life table method and compared using the Wilcoxon (Gehan) statistic. Results: The overall 5-year OS rate was 40.48% for all 48,866 patients, 30.19% for males, and 51.90% for females. The top five cancer sites, accounting for 60.51% of the total cases, were the esophagus, lung, stomach, liver, and cervix, with 5-year OS rates of 33.72%, 18.64%, 32.10%, 19.04%, and 71.51%, respectively. The highest 5-year OS was observed in the thyroid (87.52%) and the lowest was in the pancreas (6.37%). Survival was significantly higher in younger patients than in older patients, with 5-year OSs of 69.26% and 19.84% in those aged 20-29 and 90-99 years, respectively. Five-year OSs improved significantly from 39.35% in 2007-2011 to 41.26% in 2012-2017. Conclusion: Overall survival improved over the years, although the improvement at some sites was not significant. The observed survival varies from region to region, reflecting differences in the patterns of major sites, disparities in proportions of hospitalization, and demographic characteristics.