An experiment to search for light sterile neutrinos is conducted at a reactor with a thermal power of 2.8 GW located at the Hanbit nuclear power complex. The search is done with a detector consisting ...of a ton of Gd-loaded liquid scintillator in a tendon gallery approximately 24 m from the reactor core. The measured antineutrino event rate is 1976 per day with a signal to background ratio of about 22. The shape of the antineutrino energy spectrum obtained from the eight-month data-taking period is compared with a hypothesis of oscillations due to active-sterile antineutrino mixing. No strong evidence of 3+1 neutrino oscillation is found. An excess around the 5 MeV prompt energy range is observed as seen in existing longer-baseline experiments. The mixing parameter sin^{2}2θ_{14} is limited up to less than 0.1 for Δm_{41}^{2} ranging from 0.2 to 2.3 eV^{2} with a 90% confidence level.
Leptomeningeal metastases (LM) are more frequent in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. Due to limited access to leptomeningeal lesions, the ...purpose of this study was to explore the potential role of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as a source of liquid biopsy in patients with LM.
Primary tumor, CSF, and plasma in NSCLC with LM were tested by next-generation sequencing. In total, 45 patients with suspected LM underwent lumbar puncture, and those with EGFR mutations diagnosed with LM were enrolled.
A total of 28 patients were enrolled in this cohort; CSF and plasma were available in 26 patients, respectively. Driver genes were detected in 100% (26/26), 84.6% (22/26), and 73.1% (19/26) of samples comprising CSF cell-free DNA (cfDNA), CSF precipitates, and plasma, respectively; 92.3% (24/26) of patients had much higher allele fractions in CSF cfDNA than the other two media. Unique genetic profiles were captured in CSF cfDNA compared with those in plasma and primary tissue. Multiple copy number variations (CNVs) were mainly identified in CSF cfDNA, and MET copy number gain identified in 47.8% (11/23) of patients was the most frequent one, while other CNVs included ERBB2, KRAS, ALK, and MYC. Moreover, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of TP53 was identified in 73.1% (19/26) CSF cfDNA, which was much higher than that in plasma (2/26, 7.7%; P<0.001). There was a trend towards a higher frequency of concomitant resistance mutations in patients with TP53 LOH than those without (70.6% versus 33.3%; P=0.162). EGFR T790M was identified in CSF cfDNA of 30.4% (7/23) of patients who experienced TKI progression.
CSF cfDNA could reveal the unique genetic profiles of LM and should be considered as the most representative liquid biopsy medium for LM in EGFR-mutant NSCLC.
ABSTRACT
High time resolution and accuracy are of critical importance in the studies of timing analysis and time delay localization of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and ...pulsars. The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) consisting of two micro-satellites, GECAM-A and GECAM-B, launched on 2020 December 10, is aimed at monitoring and locating X-ray and GRBs all over the sky. To achieve its scientific goals, GECAM is designed to have the highest time resolution (0.1 $\mu {\rm s}$) among all GRB detectors ever flown. Here, we make a comprehensive time calibration campaign including both on-ground and on-orbit tests to derive not only the relative time accuracy of GECAM satellites and detectors, but also the absolute time accuracy of GECAM-B. Using the on-ground calibration with a $\rm ^{22}Na$ radioactive source, we find that the relative time accuracy between GECAM-A and GECAM-B is about 0.15 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ). To measure the relative time accuracy between all detectors of a single GECAM satellite, cosmic-ray events detected on orbit are utilized since they could produce many secondary particles simultaneously record by multiple detectors. We find that the relative time accuracy among all detectors onboard GECAM-B is about 0.12 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ). Finally, we use the novel Li-CCF method to perform the absolute time calibration with Crab pulsar and SGR J1935+2154, both of which were jointly observed by GECAM-B and Fermi/GBM, and obtain that the time difference between GECAM-B and Fermi/GBM is 3.06 ± 6.04 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ).
Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) is a rare congenital defect manifesting with varying degrees of pituitary hormone deficiency. The signs and symptoms of PSIS during the neonatal period ...and infancy are often overlooked and therefore diagnosis is delayed. The typical manifestations of PSIS can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging. Several genes in the Wnt, Notch and Shh signalling pathways related to hypothalamic‐pituitary development, such as PIT1, PROP1, LHX3/LHX4, PROKR2, OTX2, TGIF and HESX1, have been found to be associated with PSIS. Nevertheless, the aetiology in the majority of cases still remains unknown. In the present review, we provide an overview of clinical features of PSIS and summarise our current understanding of the underlying pathogenic mechanisms for this rare syndrome. Furthermore, we propose future research directions that may help our understanding of the aetiology of PSIS.
Epidemiological studies have reported inconsistent associations between cruciferous vegetable (CV) intake and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. To our knowledge, a comprehensive and quantitative ...assessment of the association between CV intake and CRC has not been reported.
Relevant articles were identified by searching MEDLINE. We pooled the relative risks (RR) from individual studies using a random-effect model and carried out heterogeneity and publication bias analyses.
Twenty-four case–control and 11 prospective studies were included in our analysis. When all studies were pooled, we yielded a significantly inverse association between CV (RR: 0.82; 95% confidence interval 0.75–0.90) intake and CRC risk. Specific analysis for cabbage and broccoli yielded similar result. When separately analyzed, case–control studies of CV intake yield similar results, and the results from the prospective studies showed borderline statistical significance. Moreover, significant inverse associations were also observed in colon cancer and its distal subsite both among prospective and case–control studies.
Findings from this meta-analysis provide evidence that high intake of CV was inversely associated with the risk of CRC and colon cancer in humans. Further analysis on other specific CV, food preparation methods, stratified results by anatomic cancer site, and subsite of colon cancer should be extended in future study.
Abstract
As a quantum material, Weyl semimetal has a series of electronic-band-structure features, including Weyl points with left and right chirality and corresponding Berry curvature, which have ...been observed in experiments. These band-structure features also lead to some unique nonlinear properties, especially high-order harmonic generation (HHG) due to the dynamic process of electrons under strong laser excitation, which has remained unexplored previously. Herein, we obtain effective HHG in type-II Weyl semimetal β-WP
2
crystals, where both odd and even orders are observed, with spectra extending into the vacuum ultraviolet region (190 nm, 10th order), even under fairly low femtosecond laser intensity. In-depth studies have interpreted that odd-order harmonics come from the Bloch electron oscillation, while even orders are attributed to Bloch oscillations under the “spike-like” Berry curvature at Weyl points. With crystallographic orientation-dependent HHG spectra, we further quantitatively retrieved the electronic band structure and Berry curvature of β-WP
2
. These findings may open the door for exploiting metallic/semimetallic states as solid platforms for deep ultraviolet radiation and offer an all-optical and pragmatic solution to characterize the complicated multiband electronic structure and Berry curvature of quantum topological materials.
The AlB2 (111) surfaces and Al (111)/AlB2 (0001) interface were studied by first-principles calculations to clarify the heterogeneous nucleation potential of alpha -Al grains on AlB2 particles in ...purity aluminium and hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. It is demonstrated that the AlB2 (0001) surface models with more than nine atomic layers exhibit bulk-like interior, wherein the interlayer relaxations localized within the top three layers are well converged. The outmost layer of AlB2 free surface having a preference of metal atom termination is evidenced by surface energy calculations. With Al atoms continuing the natural stacking sequence of bulk AlB2, Al-Al metallic bonds are formed across interface during the combination of Al atoms with Al-terminated AlB2 surface. The calculated interfacial energy of the Al/AlB2 interface is much larger than that between the alpha -Al and aluminium melts, elucidating the poor nucleation potency of alpha -Al grains on AlB2 particles from thermodynamic considerations.
This study analyzes the evolution of single-proton states within the odd-A isotopes of 117−133Sb. We identified the monopole force interaction between the πg7/2 and νh11/2 orbitals as the key driver ...of the ground-state inversion observed in 121Sb. Moreover, we provide an additional asset for this monopole force by investigating the negative-parity states in 132Sb and demonstrating its manifestation through a comparative assessment of πg-νh multiplets. Our results provide conclusive evidence, for the first time, explaining the ground-state inversion in 121Sb through observations in 132Sb. The increasing occupation and configurations of the orbit πd5/2 revealed that the single-proton property of state 5/2+ remained robust even in the neutron mid-shell region.
Objective:
The objective of this article is to study the correlation between neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and soluble CD14 subtype (presepsin) on the severity and prognosis ...evaluation of acute paraquat poisoning (APP) patients.
Materials and methods:
We studied 120 APP patients who were divided into three groups: light (28 cases), moderate (52 cases), and heavy poisoning (40 cases) groups. Twenty healthy volunteers were enrolled as controls.
Results:
Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurred in 86 APP patients (71.7%, 86 of 120). In AKI group, urine NGAL was elevated 3 h after treatment, serum NGAL was elevated 24 h after treatment, and serum creatine (SCr) was elevated 2 days after treatment, which were all significantly higher than non-AKI group. Compared with control group, there were significant differences in presepsin and acute physiology and chronic health status (APACHE) II score of different poisoning groups. There were significant differences in detection indices 24 h, 3 days, and 7 days after treatment among different poisoning groups. There was a positive correlation between urine NGAL and serum paraquat concentration, urine NGAL, and AKI morbidity (r
1 = 0.974, r
2 = 0.766, p < 0.001), suggesting higher urine NGAL level indicated higher AKI morbidity. Receiver operating characteristic curves analysis suggested serum presepsin level and urine NGAL level had higher sensitivity and specificity than APACHE II score when predicting 28-day mortality of APP patients.
Conclusion:
Serum and urine NGAL level is elevated earlier than SCr, which is important for the early diagnosis of APP. Serum presepsin and urine NGAL levels can be used as markers to diagnose the severity of AKI and predict the mortality of APP patients.
A novel two-step intercritical annealing process was designed for an ultra-low carbon medium manganese steel plate. Excellent mechanical properties with yield strength of 590MPa, tensile strength of ...840MPa, total elongation of 28.5% and high impact energy of 106J at −80°C were obtained. The microstructure comprised of ultra-fine grained ferrite and retained austenite together with a small amount of martensite after the two-step intercritical annealing. Both lath-like and blocky retained austenite with volume fraction of ~25% and relatively poor stability were obtained. The submicron-sized lath-like retained austenite exhibited Nishiyama-Wassermann (N-W) orientation relationship with the neighboring martensitic ferrite lath. The fine grain size played a crucial role in stabilizing austenite during phase transformation by significantly lowering Ms temperature and increasing the elastic strain energy. The overall stability of retained austenite during deformation was considered to be mainly governed by the chemical composition of the studied steel. The mechanism of toughening was elucidated. The superior low-temperature toughness was associated with TRIP effect of metastable retained austenite, which relieved the local stress concentration, enhanced the ability to plastic deformation and delayed the initiation and propagation of microcracks.