Abstract
The recent extremely bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) from a binary neutron star merger, GRB 230307A, may offer a good probe for the production of GRB neutrinos. Within the constraint from ...IceCube neutrino nondetection, the limits for key physical parameters of this burst are extracted in different scenarios, including the fireball, Poynting-flux-dominated, and hybrid jet. Different from the former nearby “monsters” and due to its smaller isotropic equivalent radiated energy (
E
γ
,iso
∼ 4 × 10
52
erg), the constraint seems loose if nonthermal neutrinos produced from photomeson interactions are the only consideration. However, a quasi-thermal neutrino emission from hadronuclear processes is constrained in this neutron-rich postmerger environment, and the upper limit of the allowed nucleon loading factor is ∼a few. Based on this, a discussion is presented on the possible prompt emission mechanism and jet composition for GRB 230307A in the context of multimessenger astrophysics. It is worth noting that until now, no GRB neutrinos have been ever detected, even for the two brightest nearby GRBs ever observed (GRB 221009A and GRB 230307A), which have different dissipation mechanisms.
Abstract
Millisecond magnetars produced in the center of dying massive stars are one prominent model to power gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, their detailed nature remains a mystery. To explore the ...effects of the initial mass, rotation rate, wind mass loss, and metallicity on the GRB progenitors and the newborn magnetar properties, we evolve 227 of 10–30
M
⊙
single star models from the pre-main sequence to core collapse by using the stellar evolution code MESA. The presupernova properties, the compactness parameter, and the magnetar characteristics of models with different initial parameters are presented. The compactness parameter remains a nonmonotonic function of the initial mass and initial rotation rate when the effects of varying metallicity and the “Dutch” wind scale factor are taken into account. We find that the initial rotation rate and mass play the dominant roles in whether a star can evolve into a GRB progenitor. The minimum rotation rate necessary to generate a magnetar gradually reduces as the initial mass increases. The greater the initial metallicity and “Dutch” wind scale factor, the larger the minimum rotation rate required to produce a magnetar. In other words, massive stars with low metallicity are more likely to harbor magnetars. Furthermore, we present the estimated period, magnetic field strength, and masses of magnetars in all cases. The typical rotational energy of these millisecond magnetars is sufficient to power long-duration GRBs.
There is increasing evidence that the existence of systemic inflammation response is correlated with poor prognosis in several solid tumors. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the ...association between systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and therapy response and overall survival in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The prognostic values of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) were also evaluated.
In total, 332 patients with new diagnosis of stage III NSCLC were included in this retrospective analysis. SII was defined as platelet counts × neutrophil counts/lymphocyte counts. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the optimal cut-off value for SII, NLR, PLR and PNI. Univariate and multivariate survival analysis were performed to identify the factors correlated with overall survival.
Applying cut-offs of ≥ 660 (SII), ≥ 3.57 (NLR), ≥ 147 (PLR), ≤ 52.95 (PNI), SII ≥ 660 was significantly correlated with worse ECOG PS (< 0.001), higher T stage (< 0.001), advanced clinical stage (p = 0.019), and lower response rate (p = 0.018). In univariate analysis, SII ≥ 660, NLR ≥ 3.57, PLR ≥ 147, and PNI ≤ 52.95 were significantly associated with worse overall survival (p
< 0.001). Patients with SII ≥ 660 had a median overall survival of 10 months, and patients with SII < 660 showed a median overall survival of 30 months. In multivariate analysis only ECOG PS (HR, 1.744; 95% CI 1.158-2.626; p = 0.008), T stage (HR, 1.332; 95% CI 1.032-1.718; p = 0.028), N stage (HR, 1.848; 95% CI 1.113-3.068; p = 0.018), SII (HR, 2.105; 95% CI 1.481-2.741; p < 0.001) and NLR ≥ 3.57 (HR, 1.934; 95% CI 1.448-2.585; p < 0.001) were independently correlated with overall survival.
This study demonstrates that the SII is an independent prognostic indicator of poor outcomes for patients with stage III NSCLC and is superior to other inflammation-based factors in terms of prognostic ability.
To compare the efficacy of heart-shaped intrauterine balloon and intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) in the prevention of adhesion reformation after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis.
Prospective, ...randomized, controlled trial.
University hospital.
A total of 201 women with Asherman syndrome.
Women were randomized to having either a heart-shaped intrauterine balloon or an IUD fitted after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis. The devices were removed after 7 days. A second-look hysteroscopy was carried out 1 to 2 months after the surgery.
Incidence of adhesion reformation and reduction of adhesion score before and after surgery.
Initially 201 cases were recruited; 39 cases dropped out, resulting in 82 cases in the balloon group and 80 cases in IUD group. The age, menstrual characteristics, pregnancy history, and American Fertility Society score before surgery were comparable between the two groups. The median adhesion score reduction (balloon group, 7; IUD group, 7) and the adhesion reformation rate (balloon group, 30%; IUD group, 35%) were not significantly different between the two groups.
The heart-shaped intrauterine balloon and IUD are of similar efficacy in the prevention of adhesion reformation after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis for Asherman syndrome.
ISRCTN 69690272.
The regulation and homeostasis of autophagy are essential for maintaining organ morphology and function. As a lysosomal membrane protein, the effect of Sidt2 on kidney structure and renal autophagy ...is still unknown. In this study, we found that the kidneys of Sidt2
mice showed changes in basement membrane thickening, foot process fusion, and mitochondrial swelling, suggesting that the structure of the kidney was damaged. Increased urine protein at 24 h indicated that the kidney function was also damaged. At the same time, the absence of Sidt2 caused a decrease in the number of acidic lysosomes, a decrease in acid hydrolase activity and expression in the lysosome, and an increase of pH in the lysosome, suggesting that lysosomal function was impaired after Sidt2 deletion. The accumulation of autophagolysosomes, increased LC3-II and P62 protein levels, and decreased P62 mRNA levels indicated that the absence of the Sidt2 gene caused abnormal autophagy pathway flow. Chloroquine experiment, immunofluorescence autophagosome, and lysosome fusion assay, and Ad-mcherry-GFP-LC3B further indicated that, after Sidt2 deletion, the production of autophagosomes did not increase, but the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes and the degradation of autophagolysosomes were impaired. When incubating Sidt2
cells with the autophagy activator rapamycin, we found that it could activate autophagy, which manifested as an increase in autophagosomes, but it could not improve autophagolysosome degradation. Meanwhile, it further illustrated that the Sidt2 gene plays an important role in the smooth progress of autophagolysosome processes. In summary, the absence of the Sidt2 gene caused impaired lysosome function and a decreased number of acidic lysosomes, leading to formation and degradation disorders of the autophagolysosomes, which eventually manifested as abnormal kidney structure and function. Sidt2 is essential in maintaining the normal function of the lysosomes and the physiological stability of the kidneys.
Abstract Neutrino-dominated accretion flows (NDAFs) are one of the important MeV neutrino sources and significantly contribute to the cosmic diffuse neutrino background. In this paper, we investigate ...the spectrum of the diffuse NDAF neutrino background (DNNB) by fully considering the effects of the progenitor properties and initial explosion energies based on core-collapse supernova (CCSN) simulations, and estimate the detectable event rate by the Super-Kamiokande detector. We find that the predicted background neutrino flux is mainly determined by the typical CCSN initial explosion energy and progenitor metallicity. For the optimistic cases, in which the typical initial explosion energy is low, the diffuse flux of the DNNB is comparable to the diffuse supernova neutrino background, which might be detected by upcoming larger neutrino detectors, such as Hyper-Kamiokande, the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory, and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Moreover, the strong outflows from NDAFs could dramatically decrease their contribution to the neutrino background.
In this paper, hydroxyapatite (HA) was deposited on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) molecular chains by an
in situ
synthetic method. Subsequently, combining cyclic freeze/thaw treatment, PVA-HA gel ...composites consisting of flexible PVA and rigid HA were prepared. The phase composition and structure of the PVA-HA hydrogels were investigated by XRD, IR and SEM methods, and their compressive mechanical properties were evaluated using mechanical test equipment. The results showed that PVA provides a flexible porous network skeleton to the hydrogel. The HA particles were distributed inside the pores and on the walls of the pores, strengthening the compressive properties of the PVA-HA hydrogel. Moreover, the increased PVA and HA contents could increase the compressive modulus and compressive strength of the hydrogel. The effect of the PVA content on the compressive mechanical properties of the hydrogel was predominant, especially at high strain rates. The maximum compressive strength of the PVA-HA hydrogel was 0.43 MPa, which remained even at a compression deformation rate up to 70%. The relationship between the compressive modulus and compression ratio tended to be an exponential function, same as the trend of the stress-strain curve. The results indicate that the prepared hydrogel is a viscoelastic material, which has potential for the application of articular cartilage repair.
In this paper, hydroxyapatite (HA) was deposited on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) molecular chains by an
in situ
synthetic method.
Abstract
Some quasi-thermal (QT)-dominated gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) could be well described by a multicolor blackbody (mBB) function or a combined model of a BB plus a nonthermal (NT) component. In ...this analysis, two QT radiation-dominated bursts with known emission properties (GRB 210610B, likely from a hybrid jet, and GRB 210121A, with a spectrum consistent with nondissipative photospheric emission from a pure hot fireball) are used to make a comparison between these two models. To diagnose the magnetization properties of the central engine, the “top-down” approach proposed by Gao and Zhang is adopted. It is found that diagnoses based on these two models provide similar conclusions qualitatively; however, the model with mBB (or mBB+NT) may give more reasonable physical explanations. This implies that impacts from the GRB jet structure and geometrical broadening on the observed spectrum should be considered. However, conservatively, these methods may be not sensitive enough to distinguish between a pure hot fireball and a mildly magnetized hybrid jet. Some other information is necessary to provide more evidence when determining the jet properties for similar GRBs. Based on these considerations, we suggest that the photospheric emission of GRB 221022B is from a hot jet, where dissipation is caused by an internal shock mechanism due to the increasing Lorentz factor with time, which makes its prompt emission display typical evolution from thermal to NT.
Abstract
As the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever detected, GRB 221009A may offer a chance that reveals some interesting features that are hidden in those bursts that are not so bright. There ...seems to be a very weak emission with a flux of 10
−8
∼ 10
−7
erg cm
−2
s
−1
between the first pulse (
T
0
∼
T
0
+ 50 s;
T
0
is the trigger time) and the main burst (which appears from
T
0
+ 180 s). Thus, the gap time between them is not really quiescent, and the first pulse could be taken as an unconventional precursor, which may provide a peculiar case study for GRB precursor phenomena. A two-stage collapsar scenario is proposed as the most likely origin for this burst. In this model, the jet for the precursor is produced during the initial core-collapse phase, and should be weak enough not to disrupt the star when it breaks out of the envelope, so that the fallback accretion process and the forming of the disk could continue. We present an approach in which the duration and flux both provide constraints on the luminosity (
L
j
) and the Lorentz factor at the breakout time (Γ
b
) of this weak jet. The estimated
L
j
≲ 10
49
erg s
−1
and Γ
b
has an order of 10, which are well consistent with the theoretical prediction. Besides, the weak emission in the gap time could be interpreted as an MHD outflow due to a magnetically driven wind during the period from the proto-neutron-star phase to the forming of the accretion disk in this scenario.
A circularly polarized (CP) 4 × 4 array antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology is presented. Circular polarization is achieved by applying the sequential rotation technique ...(SRT) with a well-designed sequential feed network and linear-polarized array elements. The proposed 4 × 4 array has a wide axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 14% from 18.3 to 21.1 GHz with gain >13 dBic. Then, the array is expanded to achieve higher gains. A 16 × 16-element array is designed, fabricated, and tested. Test results show that the 16 × 16 array has an AR bandwidth of 13.8% from 18.5 to 21.25 GHz and a peak gain of 25.9 dBic at 20.5 GHz.