Intercalation of Metal into Transition Metal Dichalcogenides in Molten Salts.

Van der Waals (vdW)-layered materials have drawn tremendous interests due to their unique properties. Atom intercalation in the vdW gap of layered materials can tune their electronic structure and generate unexpected properties. Here a chemical-scissor-mediated method that enables metal intercalation into transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) in molten salts is reported. By using this approach, various guest metal atoms (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Ag) are intercalated into various TMDC hosts (such as TiS2 , NbS2 , TaS2 , TiSe2 , NbSe2 , TaSe2 , and Ti0.5 V0.5 S2 ). The structure of the intercalated compound and intercalation mechanism are investigated. The results indicate that the vdW gap and valence state of TMDCs can be modified through metal intercalation, and the intercalation behavior is dictated by the electron work function. The adjustable charge transfer and intercalation endow a channel for rapid mass transfer to enhance the electrochemical performances. Such a chemical-scissor-mediated intercalation provides an approach to tune the physical and chemical properties of TMDCs, which may open an avenue in functional application ranging from energy conversion to electronics.

A comparative study on ctDNA and tumor DNA mutations in lung cancer and benign cases with a high number of CTCs and CTECs.

BACKGROUND: Liquid biopsy provides a non-invasive approach that enables detecting circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) using blood specimens and theoretically benefits early finding primary tumor or monitoring treatment response as well as tumor recurrence. Despite many studies on these novel biomarkers, their clinical relevance remains controversial. This study aims to investigate the correlation between ctDNA, CTCs, and circulating tumor-derived endothelial cells (CTECs)  while also evaluating whether mutation profiling in ctDNA is consistent with that in tumor tissue from lung cancer patients. These findings will help the evaluation and utilization of these approaches in clinical practice. METHODS: 104 participants (49 with lung cancer and 31 with benign lesions) underwent CTCs and CTECs detection using integrating subtraction enrichment and immunostaining-fluorescence in situ hybridization (SE-iFISH) strategy. The circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) concentration was measured and the mutational profiles of ctDNA were examined by Roche AVENIO ctDNA Expanded Kit (targeted total of 77 genes) by next generation sequencing (NGS) in 28 patients (20 with lung cancer and 8 with benign lesions) with highest numbers of CTCs and CTECs. Mutation validation in matched tumor tissue DNA was then performed in 9 patients with ctDNA mutations using a customized xGen pan-solid tumor kit (targeted total of 474 genes) by NGS. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of total number of CTCs and CTECs for the diagnosis of NSCLC were 67.3% and 77.6% [AUC (95%CI): 0.815 (0.722-0.907)], 83.9% and 77.4% [AUC (95%CI): 0.739 (0.618-0.860)]. The concentration of cfDNA in plasma was statistically correlated with the size of the primary tumor (r = 0.430, P = 0.022) and CYFRA 21-1 (r = 0.411, P = 0.041), but not with the numbers of CTCs and CTECs. In this study, mutations were found to be poorly consistent between ctDNA and tumor DNA (tDNA) in patients, even when numerous CTCs and CTECs were present. CONCLUSION: Detection of CTCs and CTECs could be the potential adjunct tool for the early finding of lung cancer. The cfDNA levels are associated with the tumor burden, rather than the CTCs or CTECs counts. Moreover, the poorly consistent mutations between ctDNA and tDNA require further exploration.

Wideband Omnidirectional Antenna Featuring Small Azimuthal Gain Variation.

Wideband omnidirectional antennas are essential components in radio monitoring and communication systems, enabling the reception of signals from all directions over a wide bandwidth. This paper presents a novel wideband omnidirectional antenna design that achieves a 1-dB gain variation across its azimuthal plane within a bandwidth of 1.8 GHz to 7.77 GHz. The antenna's exceptional performance is attributed to two flower-bud-shaped monopoles that, through pattern superposition, generate a wideband omnidirectional radiation pattern. Analysis shows that the use of a circular ground plane also reduces the azimuthal gain variation. Additionally, an embedded matching structure integrated into the antenna's base enhances the impedance bandwidth without compromising its compact size. Analytical investigations demonstrate that the matching structure effectively behaves as a five-order LC circuit, explaining its wideband matching capabilities. Furthermore, structural modifications effectively reduce side lobe levels, ensuring minimal interference. Experimental measurements corroborate the antenna's omnidirectional radiation pattern and confirm that the azimuthal gain variation remains within 1-dB throughout its bandwidth, while maintaining an S11 below -10 dB from 1.8 GHz to 7.7 GHz. The antenna's bandwidth overlaps with the spectrum intensively used in mobile communication technologies, such as LTE, Bluetooth, and IEEE 802.11be, as well as radiolocation applications, making it a promising choice for unmanned aerial vehicles conducting communication and radio monitoring missions.

Synergistic Effects of 1-Octyl-3-Methylimidazolium Hexafluorophosphate and Cellulose Nanocrystals on Improving Polyacrylate Waterborne Anti-Corrosion Coatings.

In this study, three copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(butyl acrylate) (PMMA-co-PBA) latex containing 1-octyl-3 methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (C8mimPF6), cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), and C8mimPF6-CNCs were successfully synthesized through mini emulsion polymerization. These novel composites were each coated on mild steel panels and tested for their anti-corrosion performance by immersion of the coated samples in 3.5 wt% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution over a certain period. The synergistic anti-corrosion effects of the C8mimPF6-CNCs sample led to the highest coating resistance, charge transfer resistance, and corrosion inhibition efficiency and the lowest diffusion coefficient and corrosion rate. The proposed synergistic mechanism revealed that CNCs enhanced the barrier effect of the coating while C8mimPF6 inhibited corrosion when released.

Cancer Cells Enter an Adaptive Persistence to Survive Radiotherapy and Repopulate Tumor.

Repopulation of residual tumor cells impedes curative radiotherapy, yet the mechanism is not fully understood. It is recently appreciated that cancer cells adopt a transient persistence to survive the stress of chemo- or targeted therapy and facilitate eventual relapse. Here, it is shown that cancer cells likewise enter a "radiation-tolerant persister" (RTP) state to evade radiation pressure in vitro and in vivo. RTP cells are characterized by enlarged cell size with complex karyotype, activated type I interferon pathway and two gene patterns represented by CST3 and SNCG. RTP cells have the potential to regenerate progenies via viral budding-like division, and type I interferon-mediated antiviral signaling impaired progeny production. Depleting CST3 or SNCG does not attenuate the formation of RTP cells, but can suppress RTP cells budding with impaired tumor repopulation. Interestingly, progeny cells produced by RTP cells actively lose their aberrant chromosomal fragments and gradually recover back to a chromosomal constitution similar to their unirradiated parental cells. Collectively, this study reveals a novel mechanism of tumor repopulation, i.e., cancer cell populations employ a reversible radiation-persistence by poly- and de-polyploidization to survive radiotherapy and repopulate the tumor, providing a new therapeutic concept to improve outcome of patients receiving radiotherapy.

Comprehensive Atlas of Circulating Rare Cells Detected by SE-iFISH and Image Scanning Platform in Patients With Various Diseases.

Objective: Circulating rare cells (CRCs) are known as a crucial nucleated cellular response to pathological conditions, yet the landscape of cell types across a wide variety of diseases lacks comprehensive understanding. This study aimed at detecting and presenting a full spectrum of highly heterogeneous CRCs in clinical practice and further explored the characterization of CRC subtypes in distinct biomarker combinations and aneuploid chromosomes among various disease groups. Methods: Peripheral blood was obtained from 2,360 patients with different cancers and non-neoplastic diseases. CRC capture and identification were accomplished using a novel platform integrating subtraction enrichment and immunostaining-fluorescence in situ hybridization (SE-iFISH) strategy with a high-throughput automated image scanning system, on which hemocyte, tumor, epithelial, endothelial, mesenchymal, and stemness biomarkers were immunostained and displayed simultaneously. Double chromosome enumeration probe (CEP8 and CEP12) co-detection was performed on isolated CRCs from an extended trial for two chromosome ploidy patterns. Results: A comprehensive atlas categorizing the diverse CRCs into 71 subtypes outlining was mapped out. The presence of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) or endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT), the cells with progenitor property, hematologic CRCs expressing multiple biomarkers, CRCs at "naked nuclei" status, and the rarely reported aneuploid mesenchymal epithelial-endothelial fusion cluster were described. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were detected in 2,157 (91.4%) patients; the total numbers of CTCs and circulating tumor-derived endothelial cells (CTECs) were relatively higher in several digestive system cancer types and non-neoplastic infectious diseases (p < 0.05). Co-detection combining CEP8 and CEP12 showed a higher diagnostic specificity on account of 57.27% false negativity of CRC detection through a single probe of CEP8. Conclusions: The alternative biomarkers and chromosomes to be targeted by SE-iFISH and the image scanning platform, along with the comprehensive atlas, offer insight into the heterogeneity of CRCs and reveal potential contributions to specific disease diagnosis and therapeutic target cell discovery.

Emcoating Architecture Construction via CO2 /H2 Coupling Treatment Doubles Reversible Capacity of NbO2 /C Anode.

As a promising alternative as lithium-ion anode, niobium dioxide appeals to researchers due to high theoretical capacity and good electron conductivity. However, rarely work about NbO2 based high performance anode is reported. Here, NbO2 nanoparticles emcoated in continuous carbon matrix is constructed through CO2 /H2 coupling treatment. CO2 activation introduces unique carbon emcoating structure, which builds interconnected electron conductive network with low carbon content. Furthermore, crystallographic phase of NbO2 is enhanced during H2 treatment, which increases the lithium storage ability. Electrochemical performance of NbO2 anodes is significantly improved based on the carbon emcoating structure. A high reversible capacity of 391 mAh g-1 is retained after 350 cycles at 0.2 C. Additionally, at a current density of 1 A g-1 , the reversible capacity reaches 139 mAh g-1 . Compared with conventional NbO2 /C nanohybrids, the lithium diffusion coefficient of carbon-emcoated sample shows improvement of three orders of magnitude. Moreover, the in situ XRD investigation shows a reversible lithium insertion behaviour with a limited volume change.

Detection of circulating rare cells benefitted the diagnosis of malignant solitary pulmonary nodules.

INTRODUCTION: Solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) are challenging in differentiating between benignancy and malignancy. Therefore, more effective non-invasive biomarkers are urgently needed. The purpose of this investigation was to examine whether circulating rare cells (CRCs) could facilitate the differentiation between benign and malignant SPNs as well as its sensitivity and specificity. METHODS: 164 patients diagnosed with SPNs, 24 healthy volunteers, and 25 patients diagnosed with advanced-stage lung cancer were included. CT/PET-CT images, serum tumor markers, and biopsy results were collected. The CRCs were examined using subtraction enrichment and immunostaining-fluorescence in situ hybridization (SE-iFISH) and their relationship with malignant or benign SPNs was analyzed. RESULTS: The total CRC numbers from patients with malignant SPNs diagnosed by biopsy were significantly greater compared to those with benign SPNs (P < 0.0001), but not significantly different from patients with advanced lung cancer (P > 0.05). The total CRCs, with a cut-off value of 21.5 units, showed 67.6% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity [area under curve (AUC) 95% CI, 0.778 (0.666-0.889)] in discriminating benign and malignant SPNs and the triploid CRCs exhibited a high positive likelihood ratio of 8.4, which suggested that CRCs appeared to have a distinct advantage in discriminating benign and malignant SPNs compared to CT/PET-CT images and serum tumor markers and could be a potential screening indicator for lung cancer in the high-risk population. CONCLUSIONS: SE-iFISH could effectively detect CRCs including circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor-derived endothelial cells (CTECs) and the detection of CRCs could benefit the differentiation of patients with benign and malignant SPNs.

Development of Thermally Responsive PolyNIPAm Microcarrier for Application of Cell Culturing-Part I: A Feasibility Study.

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (polyNIPAm) microspheres were synthesized via the suspension polymerization technique. Thermal and redox initiators were compared for the polymerization, in order to study the effect of initiator type on the surface charge and particle size of polyNIPAm microspheres. The successful polymerization of NIPAm was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Microspheres of diameter >50 µm were synthesized when a pair of ammonium persulfate (APS) and N,N,N',N'-tetramethylene-diamine (TEMED) redox initiators was used, whilst relatively small microspheres of ~1 µm diameter were produced using an Azobis-isobutyronitrile (AIBN) thermal initiator. Hence, suspension polymerization using a redox initiator pair was found to be more appropriate for the synthesis of polyNIPAm microspheres of a size suitable for human embryonic kidney (HEK) cell culturing. However, the zeta potential of polyNIPAm microspheres prepared using an APS/TEMED redox initiator was significantly more negative than AIBN thermal initiator prepared microspheres and acted to inhibit cell attachment. Conversely, strong cell attachment was observed in the case of polyNIPAm microspheres of diameter ~90 µm, prepared using an APS/TEMED redox initiator in the presence of a cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) cationic surfactant; demonstrating that surface charge modified polyNIPAm microspheres have great potential for use in cell culturing.

Caspase-3 knockout attenuates radiation-induced tumor repopulation via impairing the ATM/p53/Cox-2/PGE2 pathway in non-small cell lung cancer.

Radiotherapy is an effective treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, irradiated, dying tumor cells generate potent growth stimulatory signals during radiotherapy that promote the repopulation of adjacent surviving tumor cells to cause tumor recurrence. We investigated the function of caspase-3 in NSCLC repopulation after radiotherapy. We found that radiotherapy induced a DNA damage response (DDR), activated caspase-3, and promoted tumor repopulation in NSCLC cells. Unexpectedly, caspase-3 knockout attenuated the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM)/p53-initiated DDR by decreasing nuclear migration of endonuclease G (EndoG), thereby reducing the growth-promoting effect of irradiated, dying tumor cells. We also identified p53 as a regulator of the Cox-2/PGE2 axis and its involvement in caspase-3-induced tumor repopulation after radiotherapy. In addition, injection of caspase-3 knockout NSCLC cells impaired tumor growth in a nude mouse model. Our findings reveal that caspase-3 promotes tumor repopulation in NSCLC cells by activating DDR and the downstream Cox-2/PGE2 axis. Thus, caspase-3-induced ATM/p53/Cox-2/PGE2 signaling pathway could provide potential therapeutic targets to reduce NSCLC recurrence after radiotherapy.

Necroptosis regulates tumor repopulation after radiotherapy via RIP1/RIP3/MLKL/JNK/IL8 pathway.

BACKGROUND: Tumor cell repopulation after radiotherapy is a major cause for the tumor radioresistance and recurrence. This study aims to investigate the underlying mechanism of tumor repopulation after radiotherapy, with focus on whether and how necroptosis takes part in this process. METHODS: Necroptosis after irradiation were examined in vitro and in vivo. And the growth-promoting effect of necroptotic cells was investigated by chemical inhibitors or shRNA against necroptosis associated proteins and genes in in vitro and in vivo tumor repopulation models. Downstream relevance factors of necroptosis were identified by western blot and chemiluminescent immunoassays. Finally, the immunohistochemistry staining of identified necroptosis association growth stimulation factor was conducted in human colorectal tumor specimens to verify the relationship with clinical outcome. RESULTS: Radiation-induced necroptosis depended on activation of RIP1/RIP3/MLKL pathway, and the evidence in vitro and in vivo demonstrated that the inhibition of necroptosis attenuated growth-stimulating effects of irradiated tumor cells on living tumor reporter cells. The JNK/IL-8 were identified as downstream molecules of pMLKL during necroptosis, and inhibition of JNK, IL-8 or IL-8 receptor significantly reduced tumor repopulation after radiotherapy. Moreover, the high expression of IL-8 was associated with poor clinical prognosis in colorectal cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS: Necroptosis associated tumor repopulation after radiotherapy depended on activation of RIP1/RIP3/MLKL/JNK/IL-8 pathway. This novel pathway provided new insight into understanding the mechanism of tumor radioresistance and repopulation, and MLKL/JNK/IL-8 could be developed as promising targets for blocking tumor repopulation to enhance the efficacy of colorectal cancer radiotherapy.

DOA Estimation of Unknown Emitter Signal Based on Time Reversal and Coprime Array.

In this paper, a novel direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation for unknown (anonymous) emitter signal (ES) based on time reversal (TR) and coprime array (CA) is proposed. The resolution and accuracy of DOA estimation are enhanced from two aspects: one is from the view of array arrangement: the new distribution of CA is designed to reduce the holes, increase the degree of freedom (DOF) and apertures by rotating and translating only one subarray, which simplifies the operation. The other one is from the view of the algorithm: a neoteric DOA estimation algorithm with noise suppression based on TR, Capon and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is proposed for solving the wide sidelobe, multipath effect, low resolution and accuracy produced by conventional algorithms, in particular, those cannot work effectively under the existed hole condition. Furthermore, the resubmitting distorted noise and channel noise are suppressed effectively, which is not taken into considered in the conventional Capon algorithm. Simulation results including the resolution, accuracy, root mean square error (RMSE), Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) and the compared analyses on uniform linear array (ULA), nested array (NA) and minimum redundancy array(MRA) demonstrate the performance advantages of the proposed DOA estimation algorithm even at very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) condition.

A High Accuracy Time-Reversal Based WiFi Indoor Localization Approach with a Single Antenna.

In this paper, we study the influence of multipath magnitude, bandwidth, and communication link number on the performance of the existing time-reversal (TR) based fingerprinting localization approach and find that the localization accuracy deteriorates with a limited bandwidth. To improve the localization performance, by exploiting two unique location-specified signatures extracted from Channel State Information (CSI), we propose a high accuracy TR fingerprint localization approach, HATRFLA. Furthermore, we employ a density-based spatial clustering algorithm to minimize the storage space of the fingerprint database by adaptively selecting the optimal number of fingerprints for each location. Experimental results confirm that the proposed approach can efficiently mitigate accuracy deterioration caused by a limited bandwidth and consequently, achieve higher accuracy compared with the existing TR localization approach.

High expression of TGR5 predicts a poor prognosis in patients with pancreatic cancer.

Previous studies have showed that bile acids (BAs) play essential roles in the progression of various human cancers, and the G-protein coupled bile acid receptor-1 (Gpbar-1, or TGR5), a receptor of BAs, has been reported to connect BAs with cancers. However, little is known about the prognostic role of TGR5 in pancreatic cancer. In this study, we found that the expression of TGR5 was significantly higher in the cancerous tissues than the adjacent normal tissues by immunohistochemical staining (81.6% vs. 36.8%). Meanwhile, TGR5 was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.021) and advanced stage (P=0.011). Finally, univariate analysis showed that patients with high TGR5 expression (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P=0.002) and advanced tumor stage (P=0.008) had decreased overall survival, and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis confirmed that TGR5 expression was an independent predictor of the overall survival of patients with pancreatic cancer (P=0.019). Our findings suggested that TGR5 might serve as an important predictor of poor survival in pancreatic cancer.

Direct detection of Helicobacter pylori in biopsy specimens using a high-throughput multiple genetic detection system.

AIM: We evaluated the direct high-throughput multiple genetic detection system (dHMGS) for Helicobacter pylori in gastric biopsies. MATERIALS & METHODS: One hundred and thirty-three specimens were concurrently analyzed by dHMGS, rapid urease test, culture and sequencing. RESULTS: dHMGS was highly sensitive and specific for H. pylori identification compared with culture and rapid urease test. The correlation coefficient of the quantitative standard curve was R2 = 0.983. A significant difference in the relative H. pylori DNA abundance was found in different gastroduodenal diseases. Concordance rates between dHMGS and sequencing for resistance mutations were 97.1, 100.0, 85.3 and 97.1%, respectively. Finally, dHMGS could efficiently distinguish mixed infection in biopsy specimens. CONCLUSION: The dHMGS could efficiently diagnose and quantify H. pylori burden in biopsies, simultaneously screening for virulence, antibiotic resistance and presence of the multistrain infections.

Validation of a High-Throughput Multiplex Genetic Detection System for Helicobacter pylori Identification, Quantification, Virulence, and Resistance Analysis.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is closely related to various gastroduodenal diseases. Virulence factors and bacterial load of H. pylori are associated with clinical outcomes, and drug-resistance severely impacts the clinical efficacy of eradication treatment. Existing detection methods are low-throughput, time-consuming and labor intensive. Therefore, a rapid and high-throughput method is needed for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring for H. pylori. High-throughput Multiplex Genetic Detection System (HMGS) assay was established to simultaneously detect and analyze a set of genes for H. pylori identification, quantification, virulence, and drug resistance by optimizing the singlet-PCR and multiple primers assay. Twenty-one pairs of chimeric primers consisted of conserved and specific gene sequences of H. pylori tagged with universal sequence at the 5' end were designed. Singlet-PCR assay and multiple primers assay were developed to optimize the HMGS. The specificity of HMGS assay was evaluated using standard H. pylori strains and bacterial controls. Six clinical isolates with known genetic background of target genes were detected to assess the accuracy of HMGS assay. Artificial mixed pathogen DNA templates were used to evaluate the ability to distinguish mixed infections using HMGS assay. Furthermore, gastric biopsy specimens with corresponding isolated strains were used to assess the capability of HMGS assay in detecting biopsy specimens directly. HMGS assay was specific for H. pylori identification. HMGS assay for H. pylori target genes detection were completely consistent with the corresponding genetic background. Mixed infection with different drug-resistant isolates of H. pylori could be distinguished by HMGS assay. HMGS assay could efficiently diagnose H. pylori infection in gastric biopsy specimens directly. HMGS assay is a rapid and high throughput method for the simultaneous identification and quantification of H. pylori, analysis of virulence and drug resistance in both isolated strains and biopsy specimens. It could also be used to distinguish the mixed infection with different resistant genotype strains. Furthermore, HMGS could detect H. pylori infection in gastric biopsy specimens directly.

Effect of C8mimPF6 on miniemulsion polymerization for application in new latex coating products.

C8mimPF6, as a type of room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) with non-volatility and a low melting point, may replace conventional coalescing agents in latex coatings, thus preventing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions caused by coalescing agents. In this study, systematic investigations on the effect of various factors including initiator type, initiator concentration, temperature and C8mimPF6 concentration on the conversion of latex and droplet/particle size of a miniemulsion during polymerization have been conducted. The presence of C8mimPF6 has shown to have a marked effect on the reaction rate. Such an effect strongly depends on the type of initiator being used. For polymerization initiated by 2,2-azobis (isobutyronitrile) (AIBN), C8mimPF6 had a promoting effect on the reaction rate at low concentrations, but this effect might be reversed upon certain C8mimPF6 concentrations, e.g. 10 wt%. While initiated by H2O2/Vc, this promoting effect faded even at low C8mimPF6 concentrations. The different limiting factors, which determine the reaction rate with different types of initiator, may contribute to the results. For reactions initiated by hydrophobic AIBN, the reaction was dominated by kinetics. The presence of C8mimPF6 may cause an enhanced chain propagation rate and reduced chain termination rate, which may further contribute to the increase in reaction rate at lower concentrations of C8mimPF6. With hydrophilic H2O2/Vc, the resistance for the transfer of radicals into a droplet/particle might be increased significantly with increasing C8mimPF6 concentration due to a tighter interfacial structure at lower concentrations of C8mimPF6. Thus, such transfer of radicals may become a limiting step whilst the presence of C8mimPF6 increases the transfer resistance on radicals resulting in a decrease in reaction rate. The reaction temperature, which is related to the decomposition temperature of the initiator being used, was another factor affecting the conversion of latex and the size of latex particles. A higher temperature e.g. 50 °C promotes the coalescence of droplets/particles, and hence produces larger latex particles. In the presence of C8mimPF6, the reaction temperature could be significantly reduced to as low as 40 °C, which prevents phase separation. The final particle size depends on the nucleation mechanism as well as the coalescence of droplets/particles during polymerization.