Abstract
OBJECTIVES
The application of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for relatively large mediastinal tumours (≥5.0 cm) has been a subject of debate, and few studies have investigated ...the subxiphoid approach VATS in different tumour size categories. The study aims to compare the efficacy of the subxiphoid approach VATS for achieving curative outcomes based on tumour size categories (<3.0, 3.0–4.9 and 5.0–10.0 cm).
METHODS
A total of 165 patients with anterior mediastinal tumours who underwent surgery at our hospital between January 2018 and July 2022 were consecutively enrolled, categorized according to tumour size—group A (<3.0 cm): 58, group B (3.0–4.9 cm): 70 and group C (5.0–10.0 cm): 37. Clinical baseline data, intraoperative and postoperative outcomes, and postoperative complications were analysed.
RESULTS
The study revealed significant differences in operation time among the 3 groups (group A: 103.4 ± 36.1, group B: 106.4 ± 35.2, group C: 127.4 ± 44.8; P < 0.05) as well as in the volume of drainage (group A: 273.3 ± 162.0, group B: 411.9 ± 342.6, group C: 509.7 ± 543.7; P < 0.05). However, no differences were seen in blood loss, drainage duration, postoperative hospital stay and duration of postoperative oral analgesics. Additionally, the incidence of postoperative complications did not exhibit significant differences across these groups.
CONCLUSIONS
Subxiphoid approach VATS is considered a feasible and safe surgical method for large-sized anterior mediastinal tumours (5.0–10.0 cm) with no invasion to the surrounding tissues and organs.
The management of mediastinal tumours necessitates a comprehensive approach, combining surgical intervention, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, tailored to the tumour type and stage 1, 2.
The attenuation of acidic Se(IV)-rich wastewater, including those associated with acid mine drainage (AMD) and nonferrous metallurgical wastewater (NMW), presents a serious environmental challenge. ...This study investigates the effects of diverse factors from pH values to Se(IV)/Fe(III) molar ratios, initial Se(IV) concentrations, and alkali neutralization agents on the direct co-precipitation of ferric selenites in AMD and NMW systems involving different orders of Fe(III) and alkali addition. Our results show that amorphous sulfate-substituted ferric (hydrogen) selenite and Se(IV)-bearing ferrihydrite-schwertmannite are the major Se(IV)-attenuation solids except that gypsum is an additional phase in the NMW system with Ca(OH)2 neutralization. Produced ferric selenites achieve 98–99.8% of Se(IV) immobilization under optimal conditions of pH 4.5, Se(IV)/Fe(III) molar ratios of 0.0625–0.5, and initial Se(IV) concentrations of 0.15–1.3 mmol·L-1. Moreover, completing FeSO4+ and FeHSeO32+/FeSeO3+ complexes as well as different ferric selenite co-precipitates are shown to collectively control aqueous Se(IV) remaining. Specifically, three distinct trends of aqueous Se(IV) concentrations separately correspond to changes in the four factors. The co-precipitation in the NMW system via pH adjustment followed by Fe(III) addition is more efficient for Se(IV) fixation than that in the AMD system because of minimal complexation, concurrent Fe(III) hydrolysis, and enhanced ferric selenite co-precipitation in the former.
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•Fe(III)-Se(IV) precipitate depends on pH, Se/Fe molar ratios and initial Se contents.•Se(IV) concentrations in solutions decrease and then increase with increasing pH.•Se(IV) immobilization efficiency is enhanced in nonferrous metallurgical wastewater.•FeSO4 + and FeHSeO32 + /FeSeO3 + complexes and co-precipitates affect Se fixation.•Sulfate-intercalated Ferric (hydrogen) selenite is one of the important precipitates.
Multidimensionally (amplitude, polarization, and phase) manipulated metasurfaces have drawn more significant advantages in modern photonic applications. In this paper, the active multidimensionally ...manipulated metasurface merging Pancharatnam–Berry phase and dynamic phase is proposed. The phase and polarization of the coding elements here can be adjusted dynamically by utilizing positive‐intrinsic‐negative (PIN) diodes. More remarkably, the independent feeding of the coding elements in two layers is creatively proposed so that each coding element of the active coding metasurface (ACM) has four basic response states. And the four states can be dynamically switched by regulating the bias voltages imposed on the PIN diodes through field programmable gate array (FPGA). Therefore, the versatile functionalities of the ACM are achieved and all the functionalities can be implemented in real‐time. As a proof of concept, three specific functionalities are validated both from the simulation and measurement on a fabricated prototype with good coincidence with each other. The ACM can achieve copolarization, crosspolarization anomalous reflection, and circular‐linear polarization conversion for the incident circularly polarized wave. The proposed ACM opens new vistas in active metadevices and has broad application prospects in multifunctional devices and communication systems.
In this paper, the active multidimensionally manipulated metasurface merging Pancharatnam–Berry phase and dynamic phase is proposed. The independent feeding of the coding elements in two layers can achieve more dimensional manipulation of the metasurface in real‐time. The proposed metasurface can achieve copolarization, crosspolarization anomalous reflection, and circular‐linear polarization conversion for the incident circularly polarized wave.
Noninvasive tests for the assessment of liver fibrosis are highly needed for the management of patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). We aimed to investigate the accuracy of red cell distribution ...width to platelet ratio (RPR) in predicting liver fibrosis in AIH patients. One hundred nineteen AIH patients who underwent liver biopsy were enrolled. Liver fibrosis stage was diagnosed using the Scheuer scoring system. The diagnostic accuracy was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). RPR values in AIH patients with S2-S4 (0.10, interquartile range IQR 0.08-0.15), S3-S4 (0.10, IQR 0.09-0.14), and S4 (0.14, IQR 0.09-0.19) were significantly higher than patients with S0-S1 (0.07, IQR 0.06-0.08, P < .001), S0-S2 (0.08, IQR 0.06-0.12, P = .025) and S0-S3 (0.09, IQR 0.07-0.13, P = .014), respectively. The RPR was positively correlated with fibrosis stages (r = 0.412, P < .001), while aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis-4 score (FIB-4) were not significantly associated with fibrosis stages in AIH patients. The AUROCs of RPR in identifying significant fibrosis (S2-S4), advanced fibrosis (S3-S4), and cirrhosis (S4) were 0.780 (95% confidence interval CI 0.696-0.865), 0.639 (95% CI 0.530-0.748), and 0.724 (95% CI 0.570-0.878), respectively. The AUROCs of RPR were significantly higher than APRI and FIB-4 in diagnosing significant fibrosis, advanced fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Our study demonstrates that the RPR is a simple predictor of liver fibrosis and is superior to APRI and FIB-4 in identifying liver fibrosis in AIH patients.
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•We hope that this paper may serve as theoretical guidance for the further development and application of EPP.•EPP can efficient removal the surface scale with an appropriate process ...parameters.•EPP can dramatically increases the surface roughness by forming a layer of uniform micro multi-holes.•The micro-structure surfaces of high Nb-TiAl alloy were investigated using SEM, EDS, XRD, and 3D topography.
Metal surface modification by electrolytic plasma processing (EPP) is an innovative treatment widely commonly applied to material processing and pretreatment process of coating and galvanization. EPP involves complex processes and a great deal of parameters, such as preset voltage, current, solution temperature and processing time. Several characterization methods are presented in this paper for evaluating the micro-structure surfaces of Ti45Al8Nb alloys: SEM, EDS, XRD and 3D topography. The results showed that the oxide scale and other contaminants on the surface of Ti45Al8Nb alloys can be effectively removed via EPP. The typical micro-crater structure of the surface of Ti45Al8Nb alloys were observed by 3D topography after EPP to find that the mean diameter of the surface structure and roughness value can be effectively controlled by altering the processing parameters. The mechanical properties of the surface according to nanomechanical probe testing exhibited slight decrease in microhardness and elastic modulus after EPP, but a dramatic increase in surface roughness, which is beneficial for further processing or coating.
Abstract
Glucose is a promising feedstock for hydrogen production but the existing microbial electrolysis process suffers from low efficiency. Here we show a process for hydrogen production using an ...integrated device consisting of a liquid-catalyst fuel cell (LCFC) stack and a polymer exchange membrane electrolytic cell (PEMEC). Glucose that cannot be directly used in traditional fuel cell was used as both the fuel to power the LCFC and the hydrogen sources. Different from simple combination of two independent units, the LCFC and PEMEC in our device are dependant one on another by using a SHAREDCELL, and all electrolytes in both fuel cell and electrolyzer are self-regenerated without using external electricity. As a result, feed stock of glucose was converted to pure hydrogen in cathode, and carbon dioxide in anode. The net reaction of the process is that glucose decomposes to hydrogen and carbon dioxide under thermal heating at ~85
o
C.
The wettability of graphene is critical for numerous applications but is very sensitive to its surface cleanness. Herein, by clarifying the impact of intrinsic contamination, i.e., amorphous carbon, ...which is formed on the graphene surface during the high-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, the hydrophilic nature of clean graphene grown on single-crystal Cu(111) substrate was confirmed by both experimental and theoretical studies, with an average water contact angle of ∼23°. Furthermore, the wettability of as-transferred graphene was proven to be highly dependent on its intrinsic cleanness, because of which the hydrophilic, clean graphene exhibited improved performance when utilized for cell culture and cryoelectron microscopy imaging. This work not only validates the intrinsic hydrophilic nature of graphene but also provides a new insight in developing advanced bioapplications using CVD-grown clean graphene films.
Previous studies have demonstrated that nutrition plays a crucial part in improving the reproductive potential of farm animals; however, there is currently no research on the transcription and ...expression profiling of genes in yaks under different feeding conditions. Therefore, this research was planned to compare the transcription and expression profiles of TEX11, ESRα, and BOLL in yaks under natural grazing with concentrate supplementation (NG + CS) and NG without concentrate supplementation. The transcription and expressional levels of TEX11, ESRα, and BOLL mRNA were explored from the testes of yaks using qPCR, Western blotting, immunofluorescence, and immunochemistry. The results of the qPCR illustrated that the transcription levels of TEX11, ESRα, and BOLL were upregulated in the NG + CS group compared to those in the NG group. Moreover, the results of the immunochemistry and immunofluorescence showed that the expression of TEX11, ESRα, and BOLL proteins increased after concentrate supplementation. Meanwhile, ESRα protein levels were lower in the testes and epididymides of yaks in the NG group than in those in the NG + CS group. Similarly, BOLL protein expression was higher in the testes and epididymides of the NG + CS group, but its expression was lower in the epididymides of the NG group. Furthermore, Western blotting showed that the molecular weights of ESRα and BOLL proteins were 64 kDa and 31 kDa, respectively. Finally, in the conclusion we summarize how a proper level of dietary energy supplementation can improve the reproductive potential of yaks by upregulating genes related to reproduction.
Here we present a novel concept that uses a low volume fraction of nanoparticles to nano-treat Fe-Ti-B melts for a new high performance high modulus steel (HMS). Microstructures of the nano-treated ...Fe-Ti-B HMS were investigated. The nano-treated HMS consists of fine TiB2 particles and a strengthening phase of unexpected ultrafine Fe2B lamellas. While Fe2B phase is traditionally considered to be detrimental in steel making due to its inherent embrittlement effect, this study shows a successful conversion of the detrimental Fe2B phase into an advantageous one. The nano-treated HMS has significantly higher tensile strength compared to its conventionally made counterpart, 950 MPa vs. 510 MPa, while retaining the high Young's modulus, low density, and ductility. This new concept effectively demonstrates the successful structural refinement in Fe-Ti-B system using nanoparticles, without changing the solidification rate, which eliminates the dilemma between achieving enhanced mechanical properties versus manufacturing for mainstream applications and enables the use of stiff HMS for lightweighting of practical applications. A new mechanism of nanoparticle-induced solute enrichment at nanoscale in alloy melts was also proposed and has implications for new manufacturing routes of metals.
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