Background and Aim
The diagnostic and therapeutic modalities of esophageal cancer have recently improved in Asia, and its prognosis is expected to change. This study provides a population‐based ...report on the epidemiology of esophageal cancer in Korea.
Methods
Cancer incidence data from 1999 to 2013 were obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry, covering the entire population. Age‐standardized incidence rates and annual percent changes were calculated according to subsites and histological types. Five‐year relative survival rates were estimated for cases diagnosed between 1993 and 2013. Relative excess rates were compared between patients diagnosed from 2009 to 2013 and 2006 to 2008.
Results
The age‐standardized incidence rates decreased from 8.8 per 100 000 populations in 1999 to 5.9 in 2013 with an annual percent change of −2.6% in men and −2.2% in women. The most common histological type was squamous cell carcinoma, accounting for 90.2% of all esophageal cancers in 2013, followed by adenocarcinomas (3.1%), and their incidences decreased. The proportion of localized and regional cancer tended to increase compared with that of distant cancer. Five‐year relative survival of squamous cell carcinoma improved from 12.1% (1993–1995) to 34.6% (2009–2013). Relative excess rate was 0.72 (95% confidence interval 0.65–0.80) in localized stage and 0.88 (95% confidence interval, 0.82–0.95) in regional stage comparing patients diagnosed from 2009 to 2013 and 2006 to 2008.
Conclusions
The incidence of esophageal cancer has decreased in Korea for the past 15 years, and 5‐year survival rates have improved significantly. These increases may be attributable to more effective detection of early‐stage disease.
A novel aluminothermic smelting reduction (ASR) process was investigated for cleaning waste copper slag; this process is not only able to recover valuable iron, but also eliminates hazardous elements ...from the end-of-life slag product. The effect of adding Al on the reduction of iron oxide and subsequent iron recovery from waste copper slag at 1773 K was investigated by considering the thermophysical properties of the slag. The content of FeO and Al2O3 in the molten slag varied dramatically over a 5-min period, followed by nearly constant values. Because the reaction area and volume could not be determined (due to the explosive reaction characteristics of the ASR process), the apparent rate constant was employed for kinetic analysis. Iron recovery exhibited a maximum value at Al/FeO = 0.53. To determine the iron recovery, a novel triangular material balance diagram, which represents the balance among the reduced iron ingot, the reduced iron droplets dispersed in the slag phase, and the residual (unreduced) iron, was proposed. Solid compounds, such as spinel and olivine, were precipitated in the slag during the ASR process; this was confirmed by both XRD analysis and a thermochemical computation method. Furthermore, the reaction mechanism between iron oxide and Al particles was newly proposed; this was based on systematic experimental observations. Finally, the elimination rate of hazardous elements, such as As, Bi, Pb, and Sb, from end-of-life copper slag by the ASR process was determined.
Display omitted
•Novel aluminothermic smelting process was proposed for cleaning waste copper slag.•Rate of iron recovery and heavy metal removal was quantitatively investigated.•Novel triangular material balance diagram was newly proposed.•Slag cleaning mechanism by aluminothermic smelting process was originally proposed.
An NCI-sponsored, randomized clinical trial tested whether patients with relapsed ovarian cancer might benefit from surgical debulking of tumors followed by chemotherapy, as compared with ...chemotherapy alone. No significant outcome differences were noted between the patients who underwent surgery and those treated with chemotherapy alone.
The visual system involves various orientation and visual field anisotropies, one of which is a preference for radial orientations and motion directions. By radial, we mean those directions coursing ...symmetrically outward from the fovea into the periphery. This bias stems from anatomical and physiological substrates in the early visual system. We recently reported that this low-level visual anisotropy can alter perceived object orientation. Here, we report that radial bias can also alter another higher-level system, the perceived direction of apparent motion. We presented a bistable apparent motion quartet in the center of the screen while participants fixated on various locations around the quartet. Participants (N = 22) were strongly biased to see the motion direction that was radial with respect to their fixation, controlling for any biases with center fixation. This was observed using a vertical-horizontal quartet as well as an oblique quartet (45° rotated quartet). The latter allowed us to rule out the contribution of the hemisphere effect where motion across the midline is perceived less often. These results extend our earlier findings on perceived object orientation, showing that low-level structural aspects of the visual system alter yet another higher-level visual process, that of apparent motion perception.
Humans exhibit remarkably complex cognitive abilities and adaptive behavior in daily life. Cognitive operation in the "mental workspace," such as mentally rotating a piece of luggage to fit into ...fixed trunk space, helps us maintain and manipulate information on a moment-to-moment basis. Skill acquisition in the "sensorimotor workspace," such as learning a new mapping between the magnitude of new vehicle movement and wheel turn, allows us to adjust our behavior to changing environmental or internal demands to maintain appropriate motor performance. While this cognitive and sensorimotor synergy is at the root of adaptive behavior in the real world, their interplay has been understudied due to a divide-and-conquer approach. We evaluated whether a separate domain-specific or common domain-general operation drives mental and sensorimotor rotational transformations. We observed that participants improved the efficiency of mental rotation speed after the visuomotor rotation training, and their learning rate for visuomotor adaptation also improved after their mental rotation training. Such bidirectional transfer between two widely different tasks highlights the remarkable reciprocal plasticity and demonstrates a common transformation mechanism between two intertwined workspaces. Our findings urge the necessity of an explicitly integrated approach to enhance our understanding of the dynamic interdependence between cognitive and sensorimotor mechanisms.
Although ternary solar cells (TSCs) offer a cost‐effective prospect to expand the absorption bandwidth of organic solar cells, only few TSCs have succeeded in surpassing the performance of binary ...solar cells (BSCs) primarily due to the complicated morphology of the ternary blends. Here, the key factors that create and limit the morphology and performance of the TSCs are elucidated. The origin of morphology formation is explored and the role of kinetic factors is investigated. The results reveal that the morphology of TSC blends considered in this study are characterized with either a single length‐scale or two length‐scale features depending on the composition of the photoactive polymers in the blend. This asymmetric morphology development reveals that TSC blend morphology critically depends on material compatibility and polymer solubility. Most interestingly, the fill factor (FF) of TSCs is found to linearly correlate with the relative standard deviation of the fullerene distribution at small lengths. This is the first time that such a correlation has been shown for ternary systems. The criteria that uniform sized and highly pure amorphous domains are accomplished through the correct kinetic path to obtain a high FF for TSCs are specifically elucidated. The findings provide a critical insight for the precise design and processing of TSCs.
Linear correlation of fill factor and relative standard deviation of fullerene distribution reveals that a ternary blend morphology with a uniform and pure mixed amorphous domain is required to achieve efficient ternary solar cells. This is achieved by the right kinetic path, controlled by the material and process compatibility.
Magnetic properties and energy-mapping analysis Xiang, Hongjun; Lee, Changhoon; Koo, Hyun-Joo ...
Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry,
01/2013, Letnik:
42, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The magnetic energy levels of a given magnetic solid are closely packed in energy because the interactions between magnetic ions are weak. Thus, in describing its magnetic properties, one needs to ...generate its magnetic energy spectrum by employing an appropriate spin Hamiltonian. In this review article we discuss how to determine and specify a necessary spin Hamiltonian in terms of first principles electronic structure calculations on the basis of energy-mapping analysis and briefly survey important concepts and phenomena that one encounters in reading the current literature on magnetic solids. Our discussion is given on a qualitative level from the perspective of magnetic energy levels and electronic structures. The spin Hamiltonian appropriate for a magnetic system should be based on its spin lattice,
i.e.
, the repeat pattern of its strong magnetic bonds (strong spin exchange paths), which requires one to evaluate its Heisenberg spin exchanges on the basis of energy-mapping analysis. Other weaker energy terms such as Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) spin exchange and magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies, which a spin Hamiltonian must include in certain cases, can also be evaluated by performing energy-mapping analysis. We show that the spin orientation of a transition-metal magnetic ion can be easily explained by considering its split d-block levels as unperturbed states with the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) as perturbation, that the DM exchange between adjacent spin sites can become comparable in strength to the Heisenberg spin exchange when the two spin sites are not chemically equivalent, and that the DM interaction between rare-earth and transition-metal cations is governed largely by the magnetic orbitals of the rare-earth cation.
How to describe the magnetic properties of solid state materials on the basis of energy mapping analyses is reviewed.
Background and Aim
Helicobacter pylori
(
H. pylori
) infection causes extra-gastrointestinal as well as gastric diseases. This analytical cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the ...association between
H. pylori
infection and metabolic syndrome in a Korean population.
Methods
Anthropometric and metabolic data, as well as anti-
H. pylori
IgG antibodies, were measured in 21,106 subjects who participated in a health checkup between January 2016 and June 2017. The classification of metabolic syndrome followed the revised National Cholesterol Education Program criteria.
Results
After excluding subjects with a history of
H. pylori
eradication therapy, or gastric symptoms, the seropositivity of
H. pylori
was 43.2% in 15,195 subjects.
H. pylori
-positive participants had significantly higher body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) than did seronegative participants (
P
< 0.05). After adjusting for confounders, high TC, low HDL-C, and high LDL-C were associated with
H. pylori
seropositivity. Finally, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was higher in
H. pylori
-seropositive subjects than in negative ones (27.2% vs. 21.0%,
P
< 0.05), and
H. pylori
seropositivity increased the likelihood of metabolic syndrome (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.09–1.31,
P
< 0.001) after adjusting for sex, age, BMI, smoking, residence, household income, and education level. However, the association between
H. pylori
seropositivity and metabolic syndrome disappeared in those ≥ 65 years old.
Conclusions
H. pylori
infection plays an independent role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome in Koreans under 65 years old.
Summary Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a parenchymal lung disease characterized by progressive interstitial fibrosis. IPF has a poor prognosis, with a median survival time of 2–3 years from ...diagnosis, but varying from a few months to a decade. The natural history of IPF is highly variable and the course of disease in an individual patient is difficult to predict. Some patients with IPF experience rapid decline, others progress much more slowly, and some patients show periods of relative stability interspersed with acute deteriorations in respiratory function. Many clinical, radiographic, serologic, and histopathologic variables have been shown to predict mortality in IPF. However, the accuracy of these predictors varies due to the retrospective nature of some of the studies and variations in study design. The ability to identify clinical characteristics that predict disease progression and survival would be useful for counseling patients, treatment decision-making, and prompt consideration for lung transplantation. A number of indices for predicting mortality in patients with IPF are available, but they require further validation. As high-resolution computed tomography scans become more widely available and patients with IPF are diagnosed earlier, survival times following diagnosis will improve. Early referral to interstitial lung disease specialty centers is important for accurate diagnosis and may be associated with improved outcomes. The goal of this review is to examine the natural history of IPF, discuss predictors of mortality, and highlight the importance of prompt diagnosis and referral for patients with IPF.
Researchers have proposed that two processes featuring distinct types of inhibition support inhibitory control: a response threshold adjustment process involving the global inhibition of motor output ...and a conflict resolution process involving competitive inhibition among co‐active response alternatives. To target the development of these processes, we measured the reaching behavior of 5‐ to 10‐year‐olds (Experiment 1) and adults (Experiment 2) as they performed an Eriksen flanker task. This method provided two key measures: initiation time (the time elapsed between stimulus onset and movement onset) and reach curvature (the degree to which a movement deviates from a direct path to the selected target). We suggest that initiation time reflects the response threshold adjustment process by indexing the degree of motoric stopping experienced before a movement is started, while reach curvature reflects the conflict resolution process by indexing the degree of co‐activation between response alternatives over the course of a movement. Our results support this claim, revealing different patterns effects in initiation time and curvature, and divergent developmental trajectories between childhood and adulthood. These findings provide behavioral evidence for the dissociation between global and competitive inhibition, and offer new insight into the development of inhibitory control.
Two of the measures afforded by reach tracking, initiation time and curvature, revealed distinct patterns of trial sequence effects in the Eriksen flanker task in children 5 to 10 years of age and adults. We propose that the pattern of effects observed in initiation time reflects a response threshold adjustment process involving the global inhibition of motor output, while the pattern observed in reach curvature reflects a conflict resolution process involving competitive inhibition among co‐active response alternatives.
PDF
