Investigation on the machinability of polycrystalline ZnSe by elliptical vibration diamond cutting.

Polycrystalline zinc selenide is widely used in advanced optical systems due to its superior optical properties. However, the soft and brittle properties bring a challenge for high-quality surface processing. In recent years, elliptical vibration cutting has been proven as a promising method for machining brittle materials. In the present research, a series of grooving and planning experiments were carried out to investigate the machinability of zinc selenide with elliptical vibration cutting. The removal mechanism was analyzed from fracture characteristics, chip morphology, and phase transformation. The results show that elliptical vibration cutting is effective in suppressing cleavage-induced craters. Reducing the nominal cutting speed is beneficial to inhibit the spring back-induced tearing of grains. A 94-time increase in the critical depth of cut was achieved by vibration trajectory optimization compared to ordinary cutting. Moreover, the influence mechanism of feed on the evolution of surface morphology was revealed. Finally, a zinc selenide microlens array was successfully fabricated. The performance was evaluated by geometric parameter measurements and a multiple imaging test. The findings provide a prospective method for ductile regime machining of zinc selenide.

Microwave hyperthermia enhances radiosensitization by decreasing DNA repair efficiency and inducing oxidative stress in PC3 prostatic adenocarcinoma cells.

PURPOSE: Radiotherapy (RT) is the primary treatment for prostate cancer (PCa); however, the emergence of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) often leads to treatment failure and cancer-related deaths. In this study, we aimed to explore the use of microwave hyperthermia (MW-HT) to sensitize PCa to RT and investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS: We developed a dedicated MW-HT heating setup, created an in vitro and in vivo MW-HT + RT treatment model for CRPC. We evaluated PC3 cell proliferation using CCK-8, colony experiments, DAPI staining, comet assay and ROS detection method. We also monitored nude mouse models of PCa during treatment, measured tumor weight, and calculated the tumor inhibition rate. Western blotting was used to detect DNA damage repair protein expression in PC3 cells and transplanted tumors. RESULTS: Compared to control, PC3 cell survival and clone formation rates decreased in RT + MW-HT group, demonstrating significant increase in apoptosis, ROS levels, and DNA damage. Lower tumor volumes and weights were observed in treatment groups. Ki-67 expression level was reduced in all treatment groups, with significant decrease in RT + MW-HT groups. The most significant apoptosis induction was confirmed in RT + MW-HT group by TUNEL staining. Protein expression levels of DNA-PKcs, ATM, ATR, and P53/P21 signaling pathways significantly decreased in RT + MW-HT groups. CONCLUSION: MW-HT + RT treatment significantly inhibited DNA damage repair by downregulating DNA-PKcs, ATM, ATR, and P53/P21 signaling pathways, leading to increased ROS levels, aggravate DNA damage, apoptosis, and necrosis in PC3 cells, a well-established model of CRPC.

Nearly polarization-insensitive angular filters enabled by metal-dielectric photonic crystal in the visible region.

We report on the design and fabrication of nearly polarization-insensitive angular filters, which have been developed through the optimization of one-dimensional A g/M g F 2 photonic crystals (PCs). We evaluate different initial systems for optimization and compare their results in terms of both the wavelength and angular selectivity. Our findings reveal that relaxing the strict periodic condition of initial photonic crystals with a small number of lattices has enabled improvement in the angular selectivity via Fabry-Perot resonances in dielectric layers, achieving a transmission as high as 81% at normal incidence by optimizing the dielectric layer thickness. The simulation results demonstrate that the transmitted beam through the angular filtering sample at 633 nm has allowable angles within 29° and 33° for TE and TM polarization, respectively, with a transmission over 80% at normal incidence. This proposed and demonstrated angular filter represents what we believe is a novel way to utilize 1D metal-dielectric PCs as polarization-insensitive angular filters, overcoming the main drawback of a low transmission. This angular filter will have significant applications in lighting, beam manipulation, optical coupling, and optical detectors.

Influence of Anodal tDCS on the Brain Functional Networks and Muscle Synergy of Hand Movements.

BACKGROUND: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique that has demonstrated potential in modulating cortical neuron excitability. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of tDCS on characteristic parameters of brain functional networks and muscle synergy, as well as to explore its potential for enhancing motor performance. METHODS: By applying different durations of tDCS on the motor cortex of the brain, the 32-lead electroencephalogram (EEG) of the cerebral cortex and 4-lead electromyography (EMG) signals of the right forearm were collected for 4 typical hand movements which are commonly used in rehabilitation training, including right-hand finger flexion, finger extension, wrist flexion, and wrist extension. RESULTS: The study showed that tDCS can enhance the brain's electrical activity in the beta band of the C3 node of the cerebral cortex during hand movements. Furthermore, the structure of muscle synergy remains unaltered; however, the associated muscle activity is amplified (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the study results, it can be inferred that tDCS enhances the control strength between the motor area of the cerebral cortex and the muscles during hand movements.

Skin marker combined with surface-guided auto-positioning for breast DIBH radiotherapy daily initial patient setup: An optimal schedule for both accuracy and efficiency.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: By employing three surface-guided radiotherapy (SGRT)-assisted positioning methods, we conducted a prospective study of patients undergoing SGRT-based deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) radiotherapy using a Sentine/Catalys system. The aim of this study was to optimize the initial positioning workflow of SGRT-DIBH radiotherapy for breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 124 patients were divided into three groups to conduct a prospective comparative study of the setup accuracy and efficiency for the daily initial setup of SGRT-DIBH breast radiotherapy. Group A was subjected to skin marker plus SGRT verification, Group B underwent SGRT optical feedback plus auto-positioning, and Group C was subjected to skin marker plus SGRT auto-positioning. We evaluated setup accuracy and efficiency using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) verification data and the total setup time. RESULTS: In groups A, B, and C, the mean and standard deviation of the translational setup-error vectors were small, with the highest values of the three directions observed in group A (2.4 ± 1.6, 2.9 ± 1.8, and 2.8 ± 2.1 mm). The rotational vectors in group B (1.8 ± 0.7°, 2.1 ± 0.8°, and 1.8 ± 0.7°) were significantly larger than those in groups A and C, and the Group C setup required the shortest amount of time, at 1.5 ± 0.3 min, while that of Group B took the longest time, at 2.6 ± 0.9 min. CONCLUSION: SGRT one-key calibration was found to be more suitable when followed by skin marker/tattoo and in-room laser positioning, establishing it as an optimal daily initial set-up protocol for breast DIBH radiotherapy. This modality also proved to be suitable for free-breathing breast cancer radiotherapy, and its widespread clinical use is recommended.

SGRT-based DIBH radiotherapy practice for right-sided breast cancer combined with RNI: A retrospective study on dosimetry and setup accuracy.

BACKGROUND: We retrospectively studied the dosimetry and setup accuracy of deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) radiotherapy in right-sided breast cancer patients with regional nodal irradiation (RNI) who had completed treatment based on surface-guided radiotherapy (SGRT) technology by Sentinel/Catalyst system, aiming to clarify the clinical application value and related issues. METHODS: Dosimetric indicators of four organs at risk (OARs), namely the heart, right coronary artery (RCA), right lung, and liver, were compared on the premise that the planning target volume met dose-volume prescription requirements. Meanwhile, the patients were divided into the edge of the xiphoid process (EXP), sternum middle (SM), and left breast wall (LBW) groups according to different positions of respiratory gating primary points. The CBCT setup error data of the three groups were contrasted for the treatment accuracy study, and the effects of different gating window heights on the right lung volume increases were compared among the three groups. RESULTS: Compared with free breath (FB), DIBH reduced the maximum dose of heart and RCA by 739.3 ± 571.2 cGy and 509.8 ± 403.8 cGy, respectively (p < 0.05). The liver changed the most in terms of the mean dose (916.9 ± 318.9 cGy to 281.2 ± 150.3 cGy, p < 0.05). The setup error of the EXP group in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction was 3.6 ± 4.5 mm, which is the highest among the three groups. The right lung volume increases in the EXP, SM, and LBW groups were 72.3%, 69.9%, and 67.2%, respectively (p = 0.08), and the corresponding breath-holding heights were 13.5 ± 3.7 mm, 10.3 ± 2.4 mm, and 9.6 ± 2.8 mm, respectively (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: SGRT-based DIBH radiotherapy can better protect the four OARs of right-sided breast cancer patients with RNI. Different respiratory gating primary points have different setup accuracy and breath-hold height.

Metamaterial microbolometers for multi-spectral infrared polarization imaging.

Vanadium oxide (VOx) microbolometers enable the construction of high-performance yet low-cost and uncooled imaging detectors in the mid-infrared spectrum. Typical micro-bolometers are broadband sensors with no polarization selectivity. Thus, imaging detectors based on microbolometers have to use separate spectral and polarization filters to select the target spectral bands and polarization states, and the resulting systems are complicated and bulky. Here we demonstrate that by using metamaterial absorbers (MAs), which are arrays of optical resonators with sub-wavelength dimensions and spacing, we simultaneously tailor the VOx microbolometers' spectral and polarization responses, the need for separate spectral filters and polarizers can be mitigated. The MAs selectively absorb the TM polarization component of the incident light in a spectral band with tunable central wavelength and bandwidth while rejecting the TE polarization component. Two MAs with average TM absorption of 0.8322 in the 5.150 µm - 6.422 µm band and 0.7720 in the 5.867 µm - 7.467 µm band are fabricated, and the polarization extinction ratio (PER) are 42.24 and 42.65, respectively. The MAs are applied to VOx micro-bolometers, and the measured detector responses agree well with the absorption spectra of the MAs. The achieved peak responsivities of two fabricated detectors are 1.0 V/W at 6.0 µm and 1.46 V/W at 6.8 µm, respectively. And the two detectors achieve a D* of 6.94×105 cm·Hz1/2W-1 at 11Hz and 9.95×105 cm·Hz1/2W-1 at 36Hz, respectively. Our work paved the way towards large format room temperature multi-spectral infrared polarization imaging detector.

Polyphyllin I reverses the resistance of osimertinib in non-small cell lung cancer cell through regulation of PI3K/Akt signaling.

Lung cancer is considered the main cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Osimertinib, a third-generation EGFR-TKI, has been approved and administrated for treating patients with either EGFR T790M mutation or EGFR sensitive mutation. However, resistance to osimertinib emerges and has been considered to be the main obstacle in lung cancer treatment. Polyphyllin I is isolated from the natural herb Paris polyphylla and exhibits anti-cancer activities. In the present study, we identify Polyphyllin I to reverse the resistance of osimertinib in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that Polyphyllin I reversed the resistance of osimertinib through promoting apoptosis, modulating the PI3K/Akt signaling, and regulating the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in osimertinib-resistant cell lines. In vivo study confirmed the results, showing that the tumor growth was significantly suppressed in the Polyphyllin I/osimertinib group compared to the osimertinib group. It has been clarified that Polyphyllin I could reverse the resistance of osimertinib in osimertinib-resistant non-small cell of lung cancer in vitro and in vivo. The underlying mechanism might be related to the downregulation of the PI3K/Akt signaling and increase of the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, suggesting that Polyphyllin I was a promising therapeutic agent for reversing the resistance of osimertinib.

Small-sized long wavelength infrared absorber with perfect ultra-broadband absorptivity.

Two types of ultra-broadband long wavelength infrared (LWIR) absorbers with small period and super thin thickness are designed. The absorption with high absorptivity and large bandwidth is achieved through combined propagating and localized surfaced plasmon resonances. We first design a three-layer absorber with a Ti-Ge-Ti configuration, the period of the structure is only 1.4 µm (nearly 1/8 of the center wavelength), the thickness of its dielectric is only 0.5 µm (1/22 of the center wavelength), and the average absorption is 87.9% under normal incident from 8µm to 14µm. Furthermore, the four-layer absorber with a Ti-Ge-Si3N4-Ti configuration is designed to obtain more average absorption increasing to 94.5% from 8 µm to 14µm under normal incident, the period of the structure increases to 1.6 µm and the total thickness of dielectric increases to 0.6µm. The proposed absorber is polarization-independent and possesses a good tolerance of incident angle. We calculate that the average absorption of the four-layer absorber for both TE- and TM-modes still exceeds 90% up to an incident angle of θ = 40° (90.7% for TE-mode, 91.9% for TM-mode), and exceed 80% up to an incident angle of θ = 60° (80.2% for TE-mode, 82.1% for TM-mode).

Photothermal switch of sub-microsecond response: a monolithic-integrated ring resonator and a metasurface absorber in silicon photonic crystals.

Here, we demonstrate an all-silicon photonic switch, working at an infrared communication wavelength and pumped by spatial light, where a ring resonator and a metasurface absorber are both designed in photonic crystals and monolithically integrated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. Through selective doping, the absorber gets a pump absorption completely different from near zero of the resonator. Based on the thermo-optical effect, the device is capable of tuning the wavelength of the guided mode by $\sim{341}\;{\rm pm/mW}$∼341pm/mW and switching in time $ {\lt} {1.0}\;\unicode{x00B5} {\rm s}$<1.0µs to the pump response. The high responsivity and switching speed as well as all-silicon processing techniques make the design potentially for free-space optical communication and detection.

Prophylactic chemotherapeutic hyperthermic intraperitoneal perfusion reduces peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer: a retrospective clinical study.

BACKGROUND: Peritoneal metastasis is the most frequent failure in gastric cancer. This study evaluated the role of prophylactic chemotherapeutic hyperthermic intraperitoneal perfusion (CHIP) in patients after D2 dissection. METHODS: Gastric cancer patients after D2 dissection were enrolled in this study. Patients received either chemotherapy (IV group) or CHIP (CHIP group). Sites of recurrence or metastasis, disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS) and adverse events were evaluated. RESULTS: Twenty-two patients received CHIP treatment, and 21 patients received chemotherapy alone. The median DFS time was 24.5 and 36.5 months in the IV group and CHIP group (P = 0.044), respectively. The median OS time was 33.1 months in the IV group and not reached in the CHIP group (P = 0.037). We also found that CHIP could reduce the total recurrence/metastasis rate, especially that of peritoneal metastasis. In the subgroup analysis, DFS and OS were both superior in deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) patients than in proficient MMR (pMMR) patients. CONCLUSION: This hypothesis-generating study indicates that CHIP might be feasible for gastric cancer patients after D2 resection.

Mid-wave and long-wave infrared dual-band stacked metamaterial absorber for broadband with high refractive index sensitivity.

A dual-band metamaterial absorber based on local surface plasmon resonance is designed, which is composed of a periodic arrangement of stacked nanodisk structures. The structure unit consists of two dielectric layers and three metal layers. Based on the finite difference time domain method, under the condition of vertically incident plane light, two absorption peaks in the mid-wave infrared and long-wave infrared (MWIR/LWIR) are obtained, and the absorption is greater than 98%. The absorber has good incident state tolerance characteristics. We can modulate the MWIR/LWIR absorption peaks by changing the radius of the stacked disk structure, and MWIR and LWIR dual-band broadband absorption can be achieved by integrating different size elements in the plane. The average absorption is 71% for MWIR with 1.1 µm bandwidth from 3.2 to 4.3 µm and 88% for LWIR with 3 µm bandwidth from 8.5 to 11.5 µm. At the same time, the structure also has effective refractive index (RI) sensitivity characteristics. In the RI range of 1.8-2, the maximum RI sensitivity of the LWIR and the MWIR is 1085 nm/refractive index unit (RIU) and 1472 nm/RIU, respectively.

Significantly enhanced infrared absorption of graphene photodetector under surface-plasmonic coupling and polariton interference.

Here, we present a graphene-based long-wavelength infrared photodetector, for enhancing the infrared absorption of which the design consists of magnetic- and electric-plasmon resonators of metasurface to excite the graphene surface-plasmonic polaritons (SPPs). Through tuning the graphene Fermi energy to achieve the distinct resonances in a matching frequency, peak graphene absorbance exceeding 67.2% is confirmed, even when a lossy dielectric is used, and the field angle of view is up to 90°. If the graphene is of a different carrier mobility, then the absorption frequency is lockable, and the device always can keep the system absorbance close to 100 percent. The significantly enhanced graphene absorbance, up to ~29-fold that of a suspended graphene (general 2.3%), is attributed to the surface-plasmonic coupling between the magnetic and the electric resonances, as well as Fabry-Pérot interference of the coherent SPPs. The plasmonic cavity-mode model and equivalent-circuit method developed in this study will also be useful in guiding other optoelectronic device design.

2D Lead Dihalides for High-Performance Ultraviolet Photodetectors and their Detection Mechanism Investigation.

2D halide semiconductors, a new family of 2D materials in addition to transition metal dichalcogenides, present ultralow dark current and high light conversion yield, which hold great potential in photoconductive detectors. Herein, a facile aqueous solution method is developed for the preparation of large-scale 2D lead dihalide nanosheets (PbF2-x Ix ). High-performance UV photodetectors are successfully implemented based on 2D PbF2-x Ix nanosheets. By modulating the components of halogens, the bandgap of PbF2-x Ix nanosheets can be tuned to meet varied detection spectra. The photoresponse dependence on incident power density, wavelength, detection environment, and temperature are systematically studied to investigate their detection mechanism. For PbI2 photodetectors, they are dominantly driven by a photoconduction mechanism and show a fast response speed and a low noise current density. A high normalized detectivity of 1.5 × 1012 Jones and an ION /IOFF ratio up to 103 are reached. On the other hand, PbFI photodetectors demonstrate a photogating mechanism mediated by trap states showing high responsivity. The novel 2D halide materials with wide bandgaps, superior detection performance, and facile synthesis process can enrich the Van der Waals solids family and hold great potential for a wide variety of applications in advanced optoelectronics.

Wide-band achromatic flat focusing lens based on all-dielectric subwavelength metasurface.

A new method for realizing achromatic flat focusing based on all-dielectric silicon subwavelength metasurface is presented. The designed subwavelength silicon-air slits waveguide array with varied widths can provide desired phase shift of beam focusing and has the non-dispersive characteristic when the period of each unit cell is far less than the wavelength of incident electromagnetic wave (about λ/10) in mid-infrared and far-infrared spectral range. Numerical simulation of an achromatic flat focusing lens in wide spectral range from 8µm to 12µm is performed by the finite difference time domain method and the results show agreement with theory analysis results. This work indicates an effective solution for wide-band achromatic flat optical elements and potential application in integrated achromatic infrared optical systems.

UV-visible broadband wide-angle polarization-insensitive absorber based on metal groove structures with multiple depths.

A new periodic Al groove structure coated by SiO2 thin film is designed and numerically investigated for wide-angle and polarization-insensitive broadband absorption. A metal groove array presents optical absorption enhancement due to the cavity mode resonance, with the absorption peak capable of being shifted by controlling the depth of the metal groove. Broadband absorption can be realized by a periodic array of metal grooves with different depths combined in one single period. A two-dimensional Al structure with four different grooves in each period is designed to realize polarization-insensitive broadband absorption from 220 nm to 800 nm with average absorption efficiency over 80% within the incident angle of 40°. These wide-angle and broadband absorption structures can be applied in UV/visible-related biochemical sensors, solar cells, or photocatalysts.

Controllable near-field intensity and spot size of hybrid terahertz metamaterial.

We report controllable near fields around split-ring resonator (SRR) gaps of an active terahertz metamaterial. As extension of parallel-plate capacitors, patterned VO2 is integrated into the metallic SRRs to manipulate the near-field intensity and hot spot size through its metal-insulator transition. This design enhances the device reliability by preventing VO2 dielectric breakdown at a strongly enhanced near field. The near-field intensity and spot size are tunable in broad ranges, and the device is demonstrated to be capable of compensating resonant frequency drift arisen from different interactions due to near-field coupling. It provides an effective method to actively manipulate the light-matter interaction through the strongly enhanced and tunable near fields.

Multi-physics simulation and fabrication of a compact 128 × 128 micro-electro-mechanical system Fabry-Perot cavity tunable filter array for infrared hyperspectral imager.

This paper demonstrates the design and fabrication of a 128×128 micro-electro-mechanical systems Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity filter array, which can be applied for the hyperspectral imager. To obtain better mechanical performance of the filters, F-P cavity supporting structures are analyzed by multi-physics finite element modeling. The simulation results indicate that Z-arm is the key component of the structure. The F-P cavity array with Z-arm structures was also fabricated. The experimental results show excellent parallelism of the bridge deck, which agree with the simulation results. A conclusion is drawn that Z-arm supporting structures are important to hyperspectral imaging system, which can achieve a large tuning range and high fill factor compared to straight arm structures. The filter arrays have the potential to replace the traditional dispersive element.

Advances in nanotechnology-based targeted-contrast agents for computed tomography and magnetic resonance.

X-ray computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are essential tools in modern medical diagnosis and treatment. However, traditional contrast agents are inadequate in the diagnosis of various health conditions. Consequently, the development of targeted nano-contrast agents has become a crucial area of focus in the development of medical image-enhancing contrast agents. To fully understand the current development of nano-contrast agents, this review provides an overview of the preparation methods and research advancements in CT nano-contrast agents, MR nano-contrast agents, and CT/MR multimodal nano-contrast agents described in previous publications. Due to the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials, such as self-assembly and surface modifiability, these specific nano-contrast agents can greatly improve the targeting of lesions through various preparation methods and clearly highlight the distinction between lesions and normal tissues in both CT and MR. As a result, they have the potential to be used in the early stages of disease to improve diagnostic capacity and level in medical imaging.

Intestinal obstruction, obturator hernia, and/or colonic neoplasms: a case study.

Occlusive hernias are rare and difficult to diagnose. We present an extraordinary case of simultaneous occurrence of an obturator hernia with colon cancer. An 86-year-old woman arrived at the hospital after ˃2 weeks of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. The computed tomography axis map showed that part of the right lower abdominal small intestine had intruded into the femoral triangle through the obturator, which was diagnosed as an obturator hernia. When the abdominal cavity was opened for herniorrhaphy, a 4 × 4 cm colon mass was observed. Only herniorrhaphy was performed, without any complications. At present, there has been no report of the coexistence of occlusive hernia and colon cancer; the main symptoms are intestinal obstruction, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. The decision whether the tumor should be removed simultaneously with herniorrhaphy and/or a mesh patch.