As an indispensable complement to an integer vortex beam, the fractional vortex beam has unique physical properties such as radially notched intensity distribution, complex phase structure consisting ...of alternating charge vortex chains, and more sophisticated orbital angular momentum modulation dimension. In recent years, we have noticed that the fractional vortex beam was widely used for complex micro-particle manipulation in optical tweezers, improving communication capacity, controllable edge enhancement of image and quantum entanglement. Moreover, this has stimulated extensive research interest, including the deep digging of the phenomenon and physics based on different advanced beam sources and has led to a new research boom in micro/nano-optical devices. Here, we review the recent advances leading to theoretical models, propagation, generation, measurement, and applications of fractional vortex beams and consider the possible directions and challenges in the future.
•Longitudinal magnetic field annealing improves soft magnetic properties.•Super high Fe content amorphous alloys can exhibit superb softness.•A minimum Hc of 0.8 A/m and a maximum μe of 11 × 103 were ...obtained.•Optimally annealed ribbon exhibits lowest Hc and stripe magnetic domains.
The effects of longitudinal magnetic field annealing on soft-magnetic properties (SMPs) and magnetic domain structure of Fe(82.6-85.7)Si(2-4.9)B(9.2-11.2)P(1.5-2.7)C0.8 amorphous alloys with a distinctly high Fe content of 93.5–95.5 wt% for high Bs were investigated. It was found that longitudinal magnetic field annealing could improve soft-magnetic properties (SMPs) of amorphous alloys effectively, except the one with poor thermal stability. Superb magnetic properties containing a minimum coercivity of 0.8 A/m, a maximum effective permeability of 11 × 103 at 1 kHz and minimum core loss of 0.052 W/kg (at Bm = 0.9 T and f = 50 Hz) were successfully obtained. Domain structures were characterized with a Magneto-optical Kerr Microscope to unveil the mechanism of SMPs improvement. Stripe domains were observed in the annealed high Fe content amorphous alloy ribbons with optimal soft magnetic properties.
Background:
Chordoma is a rare malignant bone tumor, and the survival prediction for patients with chordoma is difficult. The objective of this study was to construct and validate a nomogram for ...predicting cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with spinal chordoma.
Methods:
A total of 316 patients with spinal chordoma were identified from the SEER database between 1998 and 2015. The independent prognostic factors for patients with spinal chordoma were determined by univariate and multivariate Cox analyses. The prognostic nomogram was established for patients with spinal chordoma based on independent prognostic factors. Furthermore, we performed internal and external validations for this nomogram.
Results:
Primary site, disease stage, histological type, surgery, and age were identified as independent prognostic factors for patients with spinal chordoma. A nomogram for predicting CSS in patients with spinal chordoma was constructed based on the above 5 variables. In the training cohort, the area under the curve for predicting 1-, 3-, and 5-year CSS were 0.821, 0.856, and 0.920, respectively. The corresponding area under the curve in the validation cohort were 0.728, 0.804, and 0.839, respectively. The calibration curves of the nomogram showed a high degree of agreement between the predicted and the actual results, and the decision curve analysis further demonstrated the satisfactory clinical utility of the nomogram.
Conclusions:
The prognostic nomogram provides a considerably more accurate prediction of prognosis for patients with spinal chordoma. Clinicians can use it to categorize patients into different risk groups and make personalized treatment methods.
Background
The impact of surgical resection of primary (PTR) on the survival of breast cancer (BC) patients with bone metastasis (BM) has been preliminarily investigated, but it remains unclear which ...patients are suitable for this procedure. Finally, this study aims to develop a predictive model to screen BC patients with BM who would benefit from local surgery.
Methods
BC patients with BM were identified using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2010 and 2015), and 39 patients were obtained for external validation from an Asian medical center. According to the status of local surgery, patients were divided into Surgery and Non-surgery groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed to reduce selection bias. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival and Cox regression analyses were conducted before and after PSM to study the survival difference between the two groups. The survival outcome and treatment modality were also investigated in patients with different metastatic patterns. The logistic regression analyses were utilized to determine significant surgery-benefit-related predictors, develop a screening nomogram and its online version, and quantify the beneficial probability of local surgery for BC patients with BM. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, the area under the curves (AUC), and calibration curves were plotted to evaluate the predictive performance and calibration of this model, whereas decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to assess its clinical usefulness.
Results
This study included 5,625 eligible patients, of whom 2,133 (37.92%) received surgical resection of primary lesions. K-M survival analysis and Cox regression analysis demonstrated that local surgery was independently associated with better survival. Surgery provided significant survival benefits in most subgroups and metastatic patterns. After PSM, patients who received surgery had a longer survival time (OS: 46 months
vs
. 32 months, p < 0.001; CSS: 50 months
vs
. 34 months, p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis determined six significant surgery-benefit-related variables: T stage, radiotherapy, race, liver metastasis, brain metastasis, and breast subtype. These factors were combined to establish the nomogram and a web probability calculator (
https://sunshine1.shinyapps.io/DynNomapp/
), with an AUC of 0.673 in the training cohort and an AUC of 0.640 in the validation cohort. The calibration curves exhibited excellent agreement. DCA indicated that the nomogram was clinically useful. Based on this model, surgery patients were assigned into two subsets: estimated sur-non-benefit and estimated sur-benefit. Patients in the estimated sur-benefit subset were associated with longer survival (median OS: 64 months
vs
. 33 months, P < 0.001). Besides, there was no difference in survival between the estimated sur-non-benefit subset and the non-surgery group.
Conclusion
Our study further confirmed the significance of local surgery in BC patients with BM and proposed a novel tool to identify optimal surgical candidates.
An AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane was fabricated and implanted into the rat complete transected model of SCI with electrical stimulation. This combined treatment promotes the nerve regeneration and ...functional recovery through improving the endogenous NSCs differentiate into neurons and axon regeneration. reducing glial formation and inflammatory cells in the lesion site.
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•Gold nanoparticles were immobilized on the PLGA membrane via PDA to create a novel three-layer nanomembrane structure.•AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane showed favorable hydrophilicity and conductivity with suitable protein adsorption and antioxidant capacity.•Electrical stimulation further improved the neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation on the AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane, significantly increased the axon regeneration and growth.•The combination of AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane and electrical stimulation showed excellent biological properties and can significantly promote spinal cord injury recovery.
Electroconductive biomaterials combined with bioelectrical stimulation as a treatment for nerve injury has attracted extensive attention in recent years. This study investigated the effect of AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane combined with electrical stimulation (ES) on promoting functional recovery of spinal cord injury (SCI). In this study, an AuNPs@PDA-PLGA was prepared and its characterization and biological properties were determined by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effects of AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembranes combined with ES on NSCs were evaluated in vitro. Finally, BBB score and immunohistochemical staining were used to confirm the therapeutic effect of AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane combined with ES on recovery of SCI. The results showed that AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane had good property for NSCs growth. Nanomembrane combined with ES could effectively promote the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs. Animal experiments results showed that the combination of AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane and ES could promote the regeneration of new neurons and the formation of neuronal synapses, thus decrease cavity area, which all contribute to the functional recovery of spinal cord injury. Our results suggest that AuNPs@PDA-PLGA nanomembrane combined with ES can effectively promote functional recovery of SCI and provide a promising therapeutic option for SCI treatment.
Percutaneous endoscopic cervical decompression (PECD) is an ideal minimally invasive decompression technique for the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR). However, the mainstream is ...the resection of dorsal bone and removal of free nucleus pulposus. The necessity of excision of ventral osteophytes and hyperplastic ligaments in the treatment of CSR caused by cervical foraminal and/or lateral spinal stenosis (CFa/oLSS) to be discussed.
We performed a retrospective study of 46 patients with CSR caused by CFa/oLSS from January 2017 to November 2018. These patients received posterior percutaneous endoscopic cervical decompression-ventral bony decompression (PPECD-VBD)(23 cases, classified as VBD group) or posterior percutaneous endoscopic cervical decompression-simple dorsal decompression (PPECD-SDD)(23 cases, classified as SDD group). Following surgery, we recorded Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Neck Disable Index (NDI), Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) Scores and myodynamia. We further evaluated the changes of cervical curvature and cervical spine motion in the VBD group and recorded the operation time and complications during the follow-up of each patient.
All patients underwent successful operations, with an average follow-up time of 16.53 ± 9.90 months. The excellent and good rates in the VBD and SDD groups were 91.29 and 60.87%, respectively. In the SDD group, neck-VAS, arm-VAS, and NDI scores were significantly higher than those of the VBD group at 1 day, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery (P < 0.05), while the JOA scores and improvement rate of JOA were significantly lower than those of the VBD group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in terms of angular displacement (AD), horizontal displacement (HD), segmental angle (SA) and cervical curvature (CA) before and after the operation in the VBD group (P > 0.05).
PPECD-VBD was significantly better than PPECD-SDD as well as PPECD-VBD had no significant effects on cervical spine stability or cervical curvature.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Nb addition significantly improves thermal stability of FeSiBPCuNb soft-magnetic alloys.•Nb addition gives rise to monotonic deterring in nucleation of bcc-Fe crystallites.•The primary crystal ...growth rate reaches a minimum with 1.0at% Nb in FeSiBPCuNb alloys.•The Fe82Si4B10P2Cu1Nb1 alloy conveys a truly industrial advantage in electromagnetic applications.
The effects of Nb content on the thermal stability, microstructural evolution and soft-magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Fe83−xSi4B10P2Cu1Nbx alloys were systematically investigated. Appropriate Nb addition was found to be effective both in prolonging operative annealing time and annealing temperature range and in improving magnetic softness by tuning the size and distribution of nano-sized α-Fe inclusions. The effective annealing time of 30min over temperature range of 723–793K, in combination with desirable soft-magnetic properties including high saturation magnetic flux density (Bs) of 1.73T, low coercivity (Hc) of 4.5A/m and high effective permeability (μe) of 23,000 at 1kHz, entitles Nb-containing Fe82Si4B10P2Cu1Nb1 nanocrystalline alloy a truly industrial advantage in energy-economic efficiency and great potentials in electromagnetic applications.
Osteosarcoma (OS) is a common malignant bone tumor originating in the interstitial tissues and occurring mostly in adolescents and young adults. Energy metabolism is a prerequisite for cancer cell ...growth, proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. However, the gene signatures associated with energy metabolism and their underlying molecular mechanisms that drive them are unknown.
Energy metabolism-related genes were obtained from the TARGET database. We applied the "NFM" algorithm to classify putative signature gene into subtypes based on energy metabolism. Key genes related to progression were identified by weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Based on least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox proportional regression hazards model analyses, a gene signature for the predication of OS progression and prognosis was established. Robustness and estimation evaluations and comparison against other models were used to evaluate the prognostic performance of our model.
Two subtypes associated with energy metabolism was determined using the "NFM" algorithm, and significant modules related to energy metabolism were identified by WGCNA. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) suggested that the genes in the significant modules were enriched in kinase, immune metabolism processes, and metabolism-related pathways. We constructed a seven-gene signature consisting of SLC18B1, RBMXL1, DOK3, HS3ST2, ATP6V0D1, CCAR1, and C1QTNF1 to be used for OS progression and prognosis. Upregulation of CCAR1, and C1QTNF1 was associated with augmented OS risk, whereas, increases in the expression SCL18B1, RBMXL1, DOK3, HS3ST2, and ATP6VOD1 was correlated with a diminished risk of OS. We confirmed that the seven-gene signature was robust, and was superior to the earlier models evaluated; therefore, it may be used for timely OS diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.
The seven-gene signature related to OS energy metabolism developed here could be used in the early diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of OS.
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