A Highly Transparent Photo-Electro-Thermal Film with Broadband Selectivity for All-Day Anti-/De-Icing.

A photo- and electro-thermal film can convert sunlight and electricity into heat to solve icing problems. Combination of them provides an efficient strategy for all-day anti-/de-icing. However, only opaque surfaces have been reported, due to the mutual exclusiveness between photon absorption and transmission. Herein, a highly transparent and scalable solution-processed photo-electro-thermal film is reported, which exhibits an ultra-broadband selective spectrum to separate the visible light from sunlight and a countertrend suppress of emission in longer wavelength. It absorbs ≈ 85% of invisible sunlight (ultraviolet and near-infrared) for light-heat conversion, meanwhile maintains luminous transmittance > 70%. The reflection of mid-infrared leads to low emissivity (0.41), which further preserves heat on the surface for anti-/de-icing purpose. This ultra-broadband selectivity enables temperature elevation > 40 °C under 1-sun illumination and the mutual support between photo-thermal and electro-thermal effects contributes to > 50% saving of electrical consumption under weak solar exposure (0.4-sun) for maintaining unfrozen surfaces at -35 °C environment. The reverberation from photo-electro-thermal and super-hydrophobic effects illustrates a lubricating removal of grown ice in short time (< 120 s). The self-cleaning ability and the durability under mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal stresses render the film stable for long-term usage in all-day anti-/de-icing applications.

A practical risk stratification system based on ultrasonography and clinical characteristics for predicting the malignancy of soft tissue masses.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a practical risk stratification system (RSS) based on ultrasonography (US) and clinical characteristics for predicting soft tissue masses (STMs) malignancy. METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study included patients with STMs who underwent US and pathological examinations between April 2018 and April 2023. Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association of US and clinical characteristics with the malignancy of STMs in the training set. The RSS was constructed based on the scores of risk factors and validated externally. RESULTS: The training and validation sets included 1027 STMs (mean age, 50.90 ± 16.64, 442 benign and 585 malignant) and 120 STMs (mean age, 51.93 ± 17.90, 69 benign and 51 malignant), respectively. The RSS was constructed based on three clinical characteristics (age, duration, and history of malignancy) and six US characteristics (size, shape, margin, echogenicity, bone invasion, and vascularity). STMs were assigned to six categories in the RSS, including no abnormal findings, benign, probably benign (fitted probabilities [FP] for malignancy: 0.001-0.008), low suspicion (FP: 0.008-0.365), moderate suspicion (FP: 0.189-0.911), and high suspicion (FP: 0.798-0.999) for malignancy. The RSS displayed good diagnostic performance in the training and validation sets with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values of 0.883 and 0.849, respectively. CONCLUSION: The practical RSS based on US and clinical characteristics could be useful for predicting STM malignancy, thereby providing the benefit of timely treatment strategy management to STM patients. CRITICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: With the help of the RSS, better communication between radiologists and clinicians can be realized, thus facilitating tumor management. KEY POINTS: There is no recognized grading system for STM management. A stratification system based on US and clinical features was built. The system realized great communication between radiologists and clinicians in tumor management.

Quantitative evaluation of gastrocnemius medialis mass in patients with chronic heart failure by gray-scale ultrasound and shear wave elastography.

Objective: To assess the usefulness of gray-scale ultrasound (US) and shear wave elastography (SWE) in assessing the condition of the skeletal muscles in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods: We prospectively compared 20 patients with clinically diagnosed CHF and a control population of 20 normal volunteers. The gastrocnemius medialis (GM) of each individual in the rest and the contraction position was assessed using gray-scale US and SWE. The quantitative US parameters including the fascicle length (FL), pinnation angle (PA), echo intensity (EI), and Young's modulus of the muscle were measured. Results: In the CHF group compared with the control group, in the rest position, there was a significant difference in EI, PA, and FL of the GM (P < 0.001), but no statistically significant difference in Young's modulus values (P > 0.05); however, in the contraction position, all parameters were statistically different between the two groups (P < 0.001). In the different subgroups of the CHF group grouped according to New York Heart Association staging (NYHA) or left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), there were no significant differences in ultrasound parameters in the rest position. However, during the contraction of GM, the smaller the FL and Young's modulus, the larger the PA and EI with the increase of NYHA grade or the decrease of LVEF (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The gray-scale US and SWE can provide an objective assessment of skeletal muscle status for CHF patients and are expected to be used to guide their early rehabilitation training and improve their prognosis.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound guided core needle biopsy for soft tissue tumors: Accuracy and applicability.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) guided core needle biopsy (CNB) in diagnosing soft tissue tumors (STTs) and to identify the conventional ultrasonography (US) features of STTs that are recommended for CEUS-guided CNB. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on 123 patients with surgically confirmed STTs. Before surgeries, all subjects underwent CNB under the guidance of US or CEUS. The histopathological results of surgical specimens were considered as the gold standards. A successful biopsy diagnosis was defined as the pathological subtypes obtained by biopsy consistent with the gold standard. The diagnostic yields were compared between the US and CEUS groups, and the diagnostic yields based on various conventional US features of STTs were also compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Sixty-seven cases underwent US-guided CNB and fifty-six cases underwent CEUS-guided CNB. The clinical, biopsy, and conventional US characteristics revealed no significant difference between the two groups. The diagnostic yield of the CEUS group was statistically higher than that of the US group (p = 0.011). In the CEUS group, more STTs with the anechoic areas were identified after CEUS examination (p = 0.031). Furthermore, the diagnostic yields based on the conventional US features of STTs, including deep fascia layer (p = 0.010), a maximum diameter ≥5 cm (p = 0.037), rough margin (p = 0.016), heterogeneous echotexture (p = 0.017), and absence of anechoic area (p = 0.013), were significantly different between the two groups, and the CEUS group exhibited higher diagnostic yields. CONCLUSION: CEUS-guided CNB was found to be an efficient method for STTs diagnosis. It is particularly recommended for STTs with the following conventional US features, including location in deep fascia layer, a maximum diameter ≥5 cm, rough margin, heterogeneous echotexture, or absence of anechoic area.

Analysis on diagnostic failure of US-guided core needle biopsy for soft tissue tumors.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic yield of ultrasonography (US)-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) in the diagnosis of soft tissue tumors (STTs) and to analyze the failure factors. Methods: 139 patients with STTs that underwent both US-guided CNB and surgical resection were collected retrospectively. Compared with the histopathological results of surgical resection, the biopsy failure was defined as the following conditions: indefinitive diagnosis, including insufficient samples and unknown subtypes with correct biological potential classification; wrong diagnosis, including wrong biological potential classification and wrong subtypes with correct biological potential classification. Univariate and multivariate analyses from the perspectives of histopathological, demographic and US features together with biopsy procedures were performed to determine risk factors for diagnostic failure. Results: The diagnostic yield of US-guided CNB for STTs in our study was 78.4%, but when only considering the correct biological potential classification of STTs, the diagnostic yield was 80.6%. The multivariate analysis showed that adipocytic tumors (odds ratio (OR) = 10.195, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.062 - 97.861, p = 0.044), vascular tumors (OR = 41.710, 95% CI: 3.126 - 556.581, p = 0.005) and indeterminate US diagnosis (OR = 8.641, 95% CI: 1.852 - 40.303, p = 0.006) were correlated with the diagnostic failure. The grade III vascular density (OR = 0.019, 95% CI: 0.001 - 0.273, p = 0.007) enabled a higher diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion: US-guided CNB can be an effective modality for the diagnosis of STTs. The diagnostic yield can be increased when the tumor vascular density was grade III in Color Doppler US, but can be decreased in adipocytic tumors, vascular tumors and masses with indeterminate US diagnosis.