Conventionally, early treatment response to stereotactic radiotherapy in intracranial tumors is often determined by structural MR imaging. Tissue sodium concentration is altered by cellular integrity ...and energy status in cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the feasibility of sodium MR imaging at 7T for the preliminary evaluation of radiotherapeutic efficacy for intracranial tumors.
Data were collected from 16 patients (12 men and 4 women, 24-75 years of age) with 22 intracranial tumors who were treated with stereotactic radiation therapy using CyberKnife at our institution between December 1, 2016, and August 15, 2019. Sodium MR imaging was performed at 7T before and 48 hours, 1 week, and 1 month after CyberKnife radiation therapy. Tissue sodium concentration (TSC) was calculated and analyzed based on manually labeled regions of tumors.
Ultra-high-field sodium MR imaging clearly showed the intratumoral signal, which is significantly higher than that of normal tissue (
= 5.250,
<.001)., but the edema zone has some influence. The average TSC ratios of tumor to CSF in the 22 tumors, contralateral normal tissues, edema zones, frontal cortex, and frontal white matter were 0.66 (range, 0.23-1.5), 0.30 (range, 0.15-0.43), 0.58 (range, 0.25-1.21), 0.25 (range, 0.17-0.42), and 0.30 (range, 0.19-0.49), respectively. A total of 12 tumors in 8 patients were scanned at 48 hours, 1 week, and 1 month after treatment. The average TSC at 48 hours after treatment was 0.06 higher than that before treatment and began to decrease at 1 week. The TSC ratios of 10 continued to decline and 2 tumors increased at 1 month, respectively. Tumor volume decreased by 2.4%-99% after 3 months.
Changes in the TSC can be quantified by sodium MR imaging at 7T and used to detect radiobiologic alterations in intracranial tumors at early time points after CyberKnife radiation therapy.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common pathological subtype of lung cancer. Both environmental and genetic factors have been reported to impact the lung cancer susceptibility. We ...conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 287 NSCLC patients and 467 healthy controls in a Chinese population using the Illumina Genome-Wide Asian Screening Array Chip on 712,095 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms). Using logistic regression modeling, GWAS identified 17 new noncoding region SNP loci associated with the NSCLC risk, and the top three (rs80040741, rs9568547, rs6010259) were under a stringent p-value (<3.02e-6). Notably, rs80040741 and rs6010259 were annotated from the intron regions of MUC3A and MLC1, respectively. Together with another five SNPs previously reported in Chinese NSCLC patients and another four covariates (e.g., smoking status, age, low dose CT screening, sex), a predictive model by machine learning methods can separate the NSCLC from healthy controls with an accuracy of 86%. This is the first time to apply machine learning method in predicting the NSCLC susceptibility using both genetic and clinical characteristics. Our findings will provide a promising method in NSCLC early diagnosis and improve our understanding of applying machine learning methods in precision medicine.
•We identified 17 SNPs from noncoding regions associated with the NSCLC risk.•Two of the top three SNPs are from the introns of MUC3A and MLC1.•Combination of genomic variations and clinical covariates had an accuracy of 86% in predicting NSCLC.
Laser Raman spectroscopy is used to investigate four lunar soils, focusing on mineralogy of grains of <45
μm size. Apollo samples 14163, 15271, 67511, and 71501 were selected as endmembers to study, ...based on their soil chemistry, maturity, and sample locations. Typical Raman spectral features for major and minor lunar minerals are discussed on the basis of major vibrational modes. We used the Raman peak shift to calculate Mg/(Mg
+
Fe
+
Ca) and Ca/(Mg
+
Fe
+
Ca) for pyroxene and Mg/(Mg
+
Fe) for olivine, and thus obtained the compositional distributions of these two minerals in each of the four lunar soils. Classification of feldspar grains was made based on recognition of their Raman patterns. A Raman point-counting procedure was applied to derive mineral modes of the soils, and these are found to be consistent with published modal analysis of these soils. The compositional distributions of pyroxene and olivine grains in each soil sample, as well as the mineral modes, reflect characteristics of the main source materials for these soils. Raman patterns and peak positions also reflect shock effects on plagioclase and quartz, found in 14163.
Structural rejuvenation of glasses not only provides fundamental insights into their complicated dynamics but also extends their practical applications. However, it is formidably challenging to ...rejuvenate a glass on very short time scales. Here, we present the first experimental evidence that a specially designed shock compression technique can rapidly rejuvenate metallic glasses to extremely high-enthalpy states within a very short time scale of about 365 ± 8 ns. By controlling the shock stress amplitude, the shock-induced rejuvenation is successfully frozen at different degrees. The underlying structural disordering is quantitatively characterized by the anomalous boson heat capacity peak of glasses. A Deborah number, defined as a competition of time scales between the net structural disordering and the applied loading, is introduced to explain the observed ultrafast rejuvenation phenomena of metallic glasses.
Context.
Chang’e-4 (CE-4) provides unprecedented information about lunar materials exposed by the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin. Diverse results have been obtained from previous interpretations of ...CE-4 visible and near-infrared (VNIR) spectra. Some studies suggest that materials at the CE-4 landing site are dominated by olivine and orthopyroxene, but others argue that only a small amount of olivine should be exposed at the CE-4 landing site.
Aims.
Laboratory spectroscopy studies using the Engineering Model of CE-4 Visible and Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS) are critical in constraining the accurate mineral proportions and composition of soils and boulders at the CE-4 landing site.
Methods.
VNIR spectra of nine lunar analogs – prepared by mixing orthopyroxene (OPX), clinopyroxene (CPX), olivine (OL), and plagioclase – were acquired using the CE-4 VNIS Engineering Model. The spectral indices model and modified Gaussian model were developed to estimate CPX/(CPX+OPX) and OL/(OL+CPX+OPX) and are applicable to the in situ spectra acquired by the Yutu-2 VNIS spectrometer.
Results.
The lunar rocks and regolith at the CE-4 landing site excavated by the Finsen impact are CPX-rich with limited OL (CPX:OPX:OL = 56:29:17). The mineral chemistries of the four lunar rocks show Mid-Ca, Fe pyroxene, and Mid-Mg OL (
Fo
60−79
), providing critical constraints for mineral compositions in the SPA compositional anomaly. These rocks exhibit high M1 intensity ratios, indicating that they were crystallized at a high temperature (980–1300 °C) and a rapid-cooling magmatic system produced by impact melt differentiation or volcanic resurfacing events.
Objective
To investigate trends in the prevalence of hypertension and dyslipidaemia in incident type 2 diabetes (T2DM), time to antihypertensive (AHT) and lipid‐lowering therapy (LLT), and the ...association with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and lipid control.
Research Design and Methods
Using The Health Improvement Network UK primary care database, 254 925 people with incident T2DM and existing dyslipidaemia or hypertension were identified. Among those without atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) history and not on AHT or LLT at diagnosis, the adjusted median months to initiating an AHT or an LLT, and the probabilities of high SBP or lipid levels over 2 years in people initiating therapy within or after 1 year were evaluated according to high and low ASCVD risk status.
Results
At diabetes diagnosis, 66% and 66% had dyslipidaemia and hypertension, respectively. During 2005 to 2016, dyslipidaemia prevalence increased by 10% in people aged <60 years, while hypertension prevalence remained stable in all age groups. Among those with high ASCVD risk status in the age groups 18 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59 years, the median number of months to initiation of therapy were 20.4 (95% confidence interval CI 20.3‐20.5), 10.9 (95% CI 10.8‐11.0), and 9.5 (95% CI 9.4‐9.6) in the dyslipidaemia subcohort, and 28.1 (95% CI 28.0‐28.2), 19.2 (95% CI 19.1‐19.3), and 19.9 (95% CI 19.8‐20.0) in the hypertension subcohort. Among people with high and low ASCVD risk status, respectively, compared to early LLT initiators, those who initiated LLT after 1 year had a 65.3% to 85.3% and a 65.0% to 85.3% significantly higher probability of failing lipid control at 2 years of follow‐up, while late AHT initiators had a 46.5% to 57.9% and a 40.0% to 58.7% significantly higher probability of failing SBP control.
Conclusions
Significant delay in initiating cardioprotective therapies was observed, and time to first prescription was similar in the primary prevention setting, irrespective of ASCVD risk status across all T2DM diagnosis age groups, resulting in poor risk factor control at 2 years of follow‐up.
Intensive field measurements were carried out at a mountain site and an urban site at the foot of the mountain from September to November 2010 in Hong Kong. Acetone was monitored using both canister ...air samples and 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine cartridges. The spatiotemporal patterns of acetone showed no difference between the two sites (p > 0.05), and the mean acetone mixing ratios on O3 episode days were higher than those on non-O3 episode days at both sites (p < 0.05). The source contributions to ambient acetone at both sites were estimated using a receptor model i.e. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). The PMF results showed that vehicular emission and secondary formation made the most important contribution to ambient acetone, followed by the solvent use at both sites. However, the contribution of biogenic emission at the mountain site was significantly higher than that at the urban site, whereas biomass burning made more remarkable contribution at the urban site than that at the mountain site. The mechanism of oxidation formation of acetone was investigated using a photochemical box model. The results indicated that i-butene was the main precursor of secondary acetone at the mountain site, while the oxidation of i-butane was the major source of secondary acetone at the urban site.
► Ambient acetone was mainly caused by vehicular emission and secondary formation in Hong Kong. ► i-Butene was the main precursor of secondary acetone at the mountain site. ► Oxidation of i-butane was the major source of secondary acetone at the urban site.
A photochemical box model incorporating the Master Chemical Mechanism (v3.2), constrained with a full suite of measurements, was developed to investigate the photochemical reactivity of volatile ...organic compounds at a semirural site (Mount Tai Mo Shan (TMS)) and an urban site (Tsuen Wan (TW)) in Hong Kong. The levels of ozone (O3) and its precursors, and the magnitudes of the reactivity of O3 precursors, revealed significant differences in the photochemistry at the two sites. Simulated peak hydroperoxyl radical (HO2) mixing ratios were similar at TW and TMS (p = 0.05), while the simulated hydroxyl radical (OH) mixing ratios were much higher at TW (p < 0.05), suggesting different cycling processes between OH and HO2 at the two sites. The higher OH at TW was due to high‐NO mixing ratios, which shifted the HOx (OH + HO2) balance toward OH by the propagation of HO2 and alkyl peroxy radicals (RO2) with NO. HOx production was dominated by O3 photolysis at TMS, but at TW, both HCHO and O3 photolyses were found to be major contributors. By contrast, radical‐radical reactions governed HOx radical losses at TMS, while at TW, the OH + NO2 reaction was found to dominate in the morning and the radical‐radical reactions at noon. Overall, the conversion of NO to NO2 by HO2 dictated the O3 production at the two sites, while O3 destruction was dominated by the OH + NO2 reaction at TW, and at TMS, O3 photolysis and the O3 + HO2 reaction were the major mechanisms. The longer OH chain length at TMS indicated that more O3 was produced for each radical that was generated at this site.
Key Points
Hydroperoxyl radical levels were similar at TMS and at TWHOx production was dominated by O3 photolysis at TMSO3 destruction was ruled by OH + NO2 reaction at TW
Intramuscular fat (IMF) is a significant marker for pork quality. The Anqing Six‐end‐white pig has the characteristics of high meat quality and IMF content. Owing to the influence of European ...commercial pigs and a late start in resource conservation, the IMF content within local populations varies between individuals. This study analyzed the longissimus dorsi transcriptome of purebred Anqing Six‐end‐white pigs with varying IMF content to recognize differentially expressed genes. We identified 1528 differentially expressed genes between the pigs with high (H) and low (L) IMF content. Based on these data, 1775 Gene Ontology terms were significantly enriched, including lipid metabolism, modification and storage, and regulation of lipid biosynthesis. Pathway analysis revealed 79 significantly enriched pathways, including the Peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor and mitogen‐activated protein kinase signaling pathways. Moreover, gene set enrichment analysis indicated that the L group had increased the expression of genes related to ribosome function. Additionally, the protein–protein interaction network analyses revealed that VEGFA, KDR, LEP, IRS1, IGF1R, FLT1 and FLT4 were promising candidate genes associated with the IMF content. Our study identified the candidate genes and pathways involved in IMF deposition and lipid metabolism and provides data for developing local pig germplasm resources.
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