We carried out this meta-analysis to demonstrate efficacies of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients based on randomized, ...controlled trials (RCTs).
We comprehensively searched electronic databases and manuscripts for RCTs and extracted data from eligible studies for meta-analysis. Overall survival (OS) with hazard ratios (HRs), locoregional recurrence rate (LRR) and distant metastasis rate (DMR) with relative risks (RRs) were concerned using random and/or fixed-effects models. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also carried out.
Six trials in NACT group (n = 1418) and five in AC group (n = 1187) were eligible. HR of death for NACT was 0.82 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69–0.98, P = 0.03, corresponding to an absolute survival gain of 5.13% after 3 years. Significant reduction of DMR (P = 0.0002; RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.56–0.84) was also found from NACT. But no decrease in LRR (P = 0.49; RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.66–1.22) was observed. Patients receiving additional AC had lower LRR (P = 0.03; RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.53–0.96). But no benefit of OS and DMR were seen in AC.
NACT can effectively enhance OS and reduce DMR, not LRR in NPC. And AC only helps to better control locoregional recurrence of NPC.
High-performance and long-pulse operation is a crucial goal of current magnetic fusion research. Here, we demonstrate a high-connement plasma regime known as an H-mode with a record pulse length of ...over 30 s in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak sustained by lower hybrid wave current drive (LHCD) with advanced lithium wall conditioning. We nd that LHCD provides a exible boundary control for a ubiquitous edge instability in H-mode plasmas known as an edge-localized mode, which leads to a marked reduction in the heat load on the vessel wall compared with standard edge-localized modes. LHCD also induces edge plasma ergodization that broadens the heat deposition footprint. The heat transport caused by this ergodization can be actively controlled by regulating the edge plasma conditions. This potentially offers a new means for heat-ux control, which is a key issue for next-step fusion development. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Objectives
To discern the diagnostic accuracy between the updated diagnostic consensus of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) in 2019 (AWGS 2019) and the previous AWGS 2014 guidelines.
...Design
A prospective population-based cohort study.
Setting and Participants
The study included 731 older community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 65 years who participated in face-to-face interviews and were followed up for 11-year mortality until 31 Mar 2022.
Measurements
We utilized a handgrip strength dynamometer to measure participants’ muscle strength, while their walking speed was determined by a timed 6-meter walk test at their usual pace. Additionally, muscle mass was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scanning. Sarcopenia was defined as the presence of low muscle mass in combination with weakness and/or slowness both by AWGS 2014 and 2019 criteria.
Results
The present study followed 731 participants (mean age 73.4 ± 5.4 years, men predominant 52.8%) over a period of 11 years, yielding 5927 person-years and 159 deaths. Prevalence of sarcopenia defined by AWGS 2019 and 2014 criteria were 8.5% and 6.8%, respectively. Sarcopenia defined by AWGS 2019 (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.04–2.54, p=0.034) but not AWGS 2014 was significantly associated with mortality in community-living older adults after adjusting for potential confounders such as age, sex, education, drinking, disease burden and serum level of testosterone. The study also found that the AWGS 2019 criteria had a better model fitness than AWGS 2014 criteria in predicting mortality.
Conclusion
AWGS 2019 criteria outperformed AWGS 2014 in identifying sarcopenia risk and predicting mortality. Screening for sarcopenia in older adults may improve health outcomes by identifying those at increased mortality risk.
We report a measurement of electron antineutrino oscillation from the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment with nearly 4 million reactor νover ¯_{e} inverse β decay candidates observed over 1958 days ...of data collection. The installation of a flash analog-to-digital converter readout system and a special calibration campaign using different source enclosures reduce uncertainties in the absolute energy calibration to less than 0.5% for visible energies larger than 2 MeV. The uncertainty in the cosmogenic ^{9}Li and ^{8}He background is reduced from 45% to 30% in the near detectors. A detailed investigation of the spent nuclear fuel history improves its uncertainty from 100% to 30%. Analysis of the relative νover ¯_{e} rates and energy spectra among detectors yields sin^{2}2θ_{13}=0.0856±0.0029 and Δm_{32}^{2}=(2.471_{-0.070}^{+0.068})×10^{-3} eV^{2} assuming the normal hierarchy, and Δm_{32}^{2}=-(2.575_{-0.070}^{+0.068})×10^{-3} eV^{2} assuming the inverted hierarchy.
A search for exotic dark matter (DM) in the sub-GeV mass range has been conducted using 205 kg day data taken from a p-type point contact germanium detector of the CDEX-10 experiment at China's ...Jinping underground laboratory. New low-mass dark matter searching channels, neutral current fermionic DM absorption (χ+A→ν+A) and DM-nucleus 3→2 scattering (χ+χ+A→ϕ+A), have been analyzed with an energy threshold of 160 eVee. No significant signal was found; thus new limits on the DM-nucleon interaction cross section are set for both models at the sub-GeV DM mass region. A cross section limit for the fermionic DM absorption is set to be 2.5×10^{-46} cm^{2} (90% C.L.) at DM mass of 10 MeV/c^{2}. For the DM-nucleus 3→2 scattering scenario, limits are extended to DM mass of 5 and 14 MeV/c^{2} for the massless dark photon and bound DM final state, respectively.
Abstract
We report on analysis of observations of the bright transient X-ray pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124 obtained during its 2017-2018 giant outburst with Insight-HXMT, NuSTAR, and Swift observatories. ...We focus on the discovery of a sharp state transition of the timing and spectral properties of the source at super-Eddington accretion rates, which we associate with the transition of the accretion disk to a radiation pressure dominated (RPD) state, the first ever directly observed for magnetized neutron star. This transition occurs at slightly higher luminosity compared to already reported transition of the source from sub- to super-critical accretion regime associate with onset of an accretion column. We argue that this scenario can only be realized for comparatively weakly magnetized neutron star, not dissimilar to other ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars (ULPs), which accrete at similar rates. Further evidence for this conclusion is provided by the non-detection of the transition to the propeller state in quiescence which strongly implies compact magnetosphere and thus rules out magnetar-like fields.
Recently a dark matter-electron (DM-electron) paradigm has drawn much attention. Models beyond the standard halo model describing DM accelerated by high energy celestial bodies are under intense ...examination as well. In this Letter, a velocity components analysis (VCA) method dedicated to swift analysis of accelerated DM-electron interactions via semiconductor detectors is proposed and the first HPGe detector-based accelerated DM-electron analysis is realized. Utilizing the method, the first germanium based constraint on sub-GeV solar reflected DM-electron interaction is presented with the 205.4 kg·day dataset from the CDEX-10 experiment. In the heavy mediator scenario, our result excels in the mass range of 5-15 keV/c^{2}, achieving a 3 orders of magnitude improvement comparing with previous semiconductor experiments. In the light mediator scenario, the strongest laboratory constraint for DM lighter than 0.1 MeV/c^{2} is presented. The result proves the feasibility and demonstrates the vast potential of the VCA technique in future accelerated DM-electron analyses with semiconductor detectors.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a common and malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. Glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) have been reported to be involved in tumorigenesis, tumor maintenance and therapeutic ...resistance. Thus, to discover novel candidate therapeutic drugs for anti-GBM and anti-GSCs is an urgent need. We hypothesized that if treatment with a drug could reverse, at least in part, the gene expression signature of GBM and GSCs, this drug may have the potential to inhibit pathways essential in the formation of GBM and thereby treat GBM. Here, we collected 356 GBM gene signatures from public databases and queried the Connectivity Map. We systematically evaluated the in vitro antitumor effects of 79 drugs in GBM cell lines. Of the drugs screened, thioridazine was selected for further characterization because it has potent anti-GBM and anti-GSCs properties. When investigating the mechanisms underlying the cytocidal effects of thioridazine, we found that thioridazine induces autophagy in GBM cell lines, and upregulates AMPK activity. Moreover, LC3-II was upregulated in U87MG sphere cells treated with thioridazine. In addition, thioridazine suppressed GBM tumorigenesis and induced autophagy in vivo. We not only repurposed the antipsychotic drug thioridazine as a potent anti-GBM and anti-GSCs agent, but also provided a new strategy to search for drugs with anticancer and anticancer stem cell properties.
A critical challenge facing the basic long-pulse high-confinement operation scenario (H mode) for ITER is to control a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability, known as the edge localized mode (ELM), ...which leads to cyclical high peak heat and particle fluxes at the plasma facing components. A breakthrough is made in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak in achieving a new steady-state H mode without the presence of ELMs for a duration exceeding hundreds of energy confinement times, by using a novel technique of continuous real-time injection of a lithium (Li) aerosol into the edge plasma. The steady-state ELM-free H mode is accompanied by a strong edge coherent MHD mode (ECM) at a frequency of 35-40 kHz with a poloidal wavelength of 10.2 cm in the ion diamagnetic drift direction, providing continuous heat and particle exhaust, thus preventing the transient heat deposition on plasma facing components and impurity accumulation in the confined plasma. It is truly remarkable that Li injection appears to promote the growth of the ECM, owing to the increase in Li concentration and hence collisionality at the edge, as predicted by GYRO simulations. This new steady-state ELM-free H-mode regime, enabled by real-time Li injection, may open a new avenue for next-step fusion development.
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