Background
The Child–Pugh (CP) score is used widely to assess liver function and predict postoperative outcomes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, the albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) ...score has been validated as a predictor of overall survival in these patients. This study aimed to compare the ability of the ALBI and CP scores to predict outcomes in patients with HCC after liver resection with curative intent.
Methods
Consecutive patients who underwent liver resection with curative intent for HCC between January 2007 and July 2013 were included in this retrospective study. The performance of the ALBI score in predicting postoperative liver failure (PHLF) and long‐term survival was compared with that of the CP score.
Results
A total of 1242 patients were enrolled. Of these, 166 (13·4 per cent) experienced PHLF. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the ALBI score for predicting PHLF was greater than that of the CP score (0·723 versus 0·607; P < 0·001). Similar to findings for CP grade, the incidence and severity of PHLF increased with increasing ALBI grade. The ALBI grade stratified patients into at least two distinct overall survival cohorts (P < 0·001), whereas the CP grade did not. The ALBI grade also classified patients with CP grade A disease into two distinct overall survival cohorts (P < 0·001), and overall survival rates in the group with poorer survival were similar to those in the majority of patients with CP grade B disease. Both CP and ALBI scores had low power in predicting disease‐free survival.
Conclusion
The ALBI grade predicted PHLF and overall survival in patients with HCC undergoing liver resection with curative intent more accurately than the CP grade.
ALBI score may be better
Objective
To systematically examine the randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence regarding efficacy and tolerability of topiramate cotreatment with antipsychotics in schizophrenia‐spectrum ...disorders.
Methods
Random‐effects meta‐analysis of RCTs of topiramate cotreatment with antipsychotics vs. placebo/ongoing antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia‐spectrum disorders. Standardized or weighted mean difference (SMD/WMD), risk ratio (RR) ±95% confidence intervals (CIs), and number needed to harm (NNH) were calculated.
Results
Across 16 RCTs (n = 934, duration = 11.8 ± 5.6 weeks), topiramate outperformed the comparator regarding change/endpoint of total (SMD: −0.58, 95% CI: −0.82, −0.35, P < 0.00001), positive (SMD: −0.37, 95% CI: −0.61, −0.14, P = 0.002), negative (SMD: −0.58, 95% CI: −0.87, −0.29, P < 0.0001), and general symptoms (SMD: −0.68, 95% CI: −0.95, −0.40, P < 0.00001). Furthermore, topiramate was superior regarding body weight (WMD: –2.75 kg, 95% CI: −4.03, −1.47, P < 0.0001), body mass index (BMI) (WMD: –1.77, 95% CI: −2.38, −1.15, P < 0.00001), triglycerides (P = 0.006), and insulin levels (P < 0.00001). Superiority regarding psychopathology and body weight/BMI was consistent across Chinese/Asian and Western RCTs, double‐blind and open designs, clozapine and non‐clozapine cotreatment, augmentation and co‐initiation RCTs, and higher and lower quality RCTs. In meta‐regression analyses, topiramate's efficacy for total symptoms was moderated by shorter illness duration (P = 0.047), while weight loss was greater in prevention/co‐initiation vs. intervention/augmentation RCTs (−4.11 kg, 95% CI: −6.70, −1.52 vs. −1.41 kg, 95% CI: −2.23, −0.59, P < 0.001). All‐cause discontinuation was similar between topiramate and comparators (RR: 1.28, 95% CI: 0.91, 1.81, P = 0.16). While topiramate led to more concentration/attention difficulties (P = 0.03, NNH = 8, 95% CI=4–25), psychomotor slowing (P = 0.02, NNH = 7, 95% CI = 4–25), and paresthesia (P = 0.05, NNH = 2, 95% CI = 4–33), it led to less ≥7% weight gain (P = 0.0001, NNH = 2, 95% CI = 2–3) and constipation (P = 0.04, NNH = 9, 95% CI = 5–100) than the comparator.
Conclusions
These results indicate that adjunctive topiramate to antipsychotics is an effective and safe treatment choice for symptomatic improvement and weight reduction in patients with schizophrenia‐spectrum disorders.
We present a three-dimensional extinction map in the r band. The map has a spatial angular resolution, depending on latitude, between 3 and 9 arcmin and covers the entire Xuyi Schmidt Telescope ...Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anticentre (XSTPS-GAC) survey area of over 6000 deg2 for Galactic longitude 140 < l < 240 deg and latitude −60 < b < 40 deg. By cross-matching the photometric catalogue of the XSTPS-GAC with those of 2MASS and WISE, we have built a multiband photometric stellar sample of about 30 million stars and applied spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to the sample. By combining photometric data from the optical to the near-infrared, we are able to break the degeneracy between the intrinsic stellar colours and the amounts of extinction by dust grains for stars with high photometric accuracy, and trace the extinction as a function of distance for low Galactic latitude and thus highly extincted regions. This has allowed us to derive the best-fitting extinction and distance information of more than 13 million stars, which are used to construct the three-dimensional extinction map. We have also applied a Rayleigh–Jeans colour excess (RJCE) method to the data using the 2MASS and WISE colour (H − W2). The resulting RJCE extinction map is consistent with the integrated two-dimensional map deduced using the best-fitting SED algorithm. However for individual stars, the amounts of extinction yielded by the RJCE method suffer from larger errors than those given by the best-fitting SED algorithm.
The rotation curve (RC) of the Milky Way out to ~100 kpc has been constructed using ~16,000 primary red clump giants (PRCGs) in the outer disc selected from the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the ...Galactic Anti-centre (LSS-GAC) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III/APOGEE survey, combined with ~5700 halo K giants (HKGs) selected from the SDSS/SEGUE survey. To derive the RC, the PRCG sample of the warm disc population and the HKG sample of halo stellar population are, respectively, analysed using a kinematical model allowing for the asymmetric drift corrections and re-analysed using the spherical Jeans equation along with measurements of the anisotropic parameter beta currently available. The typical uncertainties of RC derived from the PRCG and HKG samples are, respectively, 5-7 km s super( -1) and several tens km s super( -1). We determine a circular velocity at the solar position, ... and an azimuthal peculiar speed of the Sun, ..., both in good agreement with the previous determinations. The newly constructed RC has a generally flat value of 240 km s super( -1) within a Galactocentric distance rof 25 kpc and then decreases steadily to 150 km s super( -1) at r ~ 100 kpc. On top of this overall trend, the RC exhibits two prominent localized dips, one at r ~ 11 kpc and another at r ~ 19 kpc. From the newly constructed RC, combined with other constraints, we have built a parametrized mass model for the Galaxy, yielding a virial mass of the Milky Way's dark matter halo of ... and a local dark matter density, ... (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
We re-estimate the peculiar velocity of the Sun with respect to the local standard of rest (LSR) using a sample of local stars within 600 pc of the Sun, selected from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object ...Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST, also named the Guoshoujing Telescope) Spectroscopic Survey of the Galactic Anti-centre (LSS-GAC). The sample consists of 94 332 FGK main-sequence stars with well-determined radial velocities and atmospheric parameters. To derive the LSR, two independent analyses are applied to the data. First, we determine the solar motion by comparing the observed velocity distribution to that generated with the analytic formulism of Schönrich & Binney that has been demonstrated to show excellent agreement with rigorous torus-based dynamics modelling by Binney & McMillan. Secondly, we propose that cold populations of thin disc stars, selected by applying an orbital eccentricity cut, can be directly used to determine the LSR without the need of asymmetric drift corrections. Both approaches yield consistent results of solar motion in the direction of Galactic rotation, V
⊙, that are much higher than the standard value adopted hitherto, derived from Strömgren's equation. The newly deduced values of V
⊙ are 1–2 km s−1 smaller than the more recent estimates derived from the Geneva–Copenhagen Survey (GCS) sample of stars in the solar neighbourhood (within 100 pc). We attribute the small difference to the presence of several well-known moving groups in the GCS sample that, fortunately, hardly affect the LSS-GAC sample. The newly derived radial (U
⊙) and vertical (W
⊙) components of the solar motion agree well with the previous studies. In addition, for all components of the solar motion, the values yielded by stars of different spectral types in the LSS-GAC sample are consistent with each other, suggesting that the local disc is well relaxed and that the LSR reported in the current work is robust. Our final recommended LSR is, (U⊙, V⊙, W⊙) = (7.01 ± 0.20, 10.13 ± 0.12, 4.95 ± 0.09) km s−1.
We present empirical metallicity-dependent calibrations of effective temperature against colours for dwarfs of luminosity classes IV and V and for giants of luminosity classes II and III, based on a ...collection from the literature of about two hundred nearby stars with direct effective temperature measurements of better than 2.5 per cent. The calibrations are valid for an effective temperature range 3100–10 000 K for dwarfs of spectral types M5 to A0 and 3100–5700 K for giants of spectral types K5 to G5. A total of 21 colours for dwarfs and 18 colours for giants of bands of four photometric systems, i.e. the Johnson (UBVR
J
I
J
JHK), the Cousins (R
C
I
C), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (gr) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (JHK
s), have been calibrated. Restricted by the metallicity range of the current sample, the calibrations are mainly applicable for disc stars (Fe/H ≳ − 1.0). The normalized percentage residuals of the calibrations are typically 2.0 and 1.5 per cent for dwarfs and giants, respectively. Some systematic discrepancies at various levels are found between the current scales and those available in the literature (e.g. those based on the infrared flux method or spectroscopy). Based on the current calibrations, we have re-determined the colours of the Sun. We have also investigated the systematic errors in effective temperatures yielded by the current on-going large-scale low- to intermediate-resolution stellar spectroscopic surveys. We show that the calibration of colour (g − K
s) presented in this work provides an invaluable tool for the estimation of stellar effective temperature for those on-going or upcoming surveys.
As a major component of the LAMOST Galactic surveys, the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the Galactic Anticentre (LSS-GAC) aims to survey a significant volume of the Galactic thin/thick discs and halo ...for a contiguous sky area of over 3400 deg2 centred on the Galactic anticentre (|b| ≤ 30°, 150 ≤ l ≤ 210°), and obtain λλ3700–9000 low-resolution (R ∼ 1800) spectra for a statistically complete sample of ∼3 M stars of all colours down to a limiting magnitude of r ∼ 17.8 mag (to 18.5 mag for limited fields). Together with Gaia, the LSS-GAC will yield a unique data set to advance our understanding of the structure and assemblage history of the Galaxy, in particular its disc(s). In addition to the main survey, the LSS-GAC will also target hundreds of thousands objects in the vicinity fields of M 31 and M 33 and survey a significant fraction (over a million) of randomly selected very bright stars (r ≤ 14 mag) in the Northern hemisphere. During the Pilot and the first year Regular Surveys of LAMOST, a total of 1042 586 750 867 spectra of a signal-to-noise ratio S/N(7450 Å) ≥ 10 S/N(4650 Å) ≥ 10 have been collected. In this paper, we present a detailed description of the target selection algorithm, survey design, observations and the first data release of value-added catalogues (including radial velocities, effective temperatures, surface gravities, metallicities, values of interstellar extinction, distances, proper motions and orbital parameters) of the LSS-GAC.
We report the discovery of two new unbound hypervelocity stars (HVSs) from the LAMOST spectroscopic surveys. They are, respectively, a B2V-type star of ∼7 M with a Galactic rest-frame radial velocity ...of 502 km s−1 at a Galactocentric radius of ∼21 kpc and a B7V-type star of ∼4 M with a Galactic rest-frame radial velocity of 408 km s−1 at a Galactocentric radius of ∼30 kpc. The origins of the two HVSs are not clear given their currently poorly measured proper motions. However, the future data releases of Gaia should provide proper motion measurements accurate enough to solve this problem. The ongoing LAMOST spectroscopic surveys are expected to yield more HVSs to form a statistical sample, providing vital constraints on understanding the nature of HVSs and their ejection mechanisms.
Abstract
We present a three-dimensional (3D) extinction analysis in the region towards the supernova remnant (SNR) S147 (G180.0–1.7) using multiband photometric data from the Xuyi Schmidt Telescope ...Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anticentre (XSTPS-GAC), 2MASS and WISE. We isolate a previously unrecognized dust structure likely to be associated with SNR S147. The structure, which we term as ‘S147 dust cloud’, is estimated to have a distance d = 1.22 ± 0.21 kpc, consistent with the conjecture that S147 is associated with pulsar PSR J0538 + 2817. The cloud includes several dense clumps of relatively high extinction that locate on the radio shell of S147 and coincide spatially with the CO and gamma-ray emission features. We conclude that the usage of CO measurements to trace the SNR associated MCs is unavoidably limited by the detection threshold, dust depletion and the difficulty of distance estimates in the outer Galaxy. 3D dust extinction mapping may provide a better way to identify and study SNR–MC interactions.
By using the 'standard pair' technique of pairing stars of almost nil and high extinction but otherwise with almost identical stellar parameters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and ...combining this information with photometry from the SDSS, Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) photometry ranging from the far ultraviolet (UV) to the mid-infrared (mid-IR), we measure dust reddening in the FUV − NUV, NUV − u, u − g, g − r, r − i, i − z, z − J, J − H, H − Ks, Ks − W1 and W1 − W2 colours for thousands of Galactic stars. The measurements, together with the E(B − V) values given by Schlegel et al., allow us to derive the observed, model-free reddening coefficients for these colours. The results are compared with previous measurements and with the predictions of various Galactic reddening laws. We find that (i) the dust reddening map of Schlegel et al. overestimates E(B − V) by about 14 per cent, consistent with the recent work of Schlafly et al. and Schlafly & Finkbeiner; (ii) after accounting for the differences in reddening normalization, the newly deduced reddening coefficients for colours FUV − NUV, NUV − u, u − g, g − r, r − i, i − z, z − J, J − H and H − Ks differ by respectively −1640, 15.5, 12.6, −0.8, 3.4, −0.7, 3.5, 2.5 and 1.4 per cent from the predictions of the Fitzpatrick reddening law for an assumed total-to-selective extinction ratio R(V) = 3.1, and by respectively −1730, 13.0 , 8.1, 10.0, 8.0, −13.5, −1.7, −6.7 and −17.1 per cent from the predictions of the CCM reddening law; and (iii) all the new reddening coefficients, except those for NUV − u and u − g, favour the R(V) = 3.1 Fitzpatrick reddening law over the R(V) = 3.1 CCM and O'Donnell reddening laws. Using the Ks-band extinction coefficient predicted by the R(V) = 3.1 Fitzpatrick law and the observed reddening coefficients, we deduce new extinction coefficients for the FUV, NUV, u, g, r, i, z, J, H, W1 and W2 passbands. We recommend that the new reddening and extinction coefficients should be used in the future and that the Fitzpatrick reddening law in the UV should probably be updated. We stress, however, that the FUV- and NUV-band coefficients should be used with caution, given their relatively large measurement uncertainties. Finally, potential applications of the 'standard pair' technique with the upcoming LAMOST Galactic surveys are discussed.
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