Differentiation between Brain Glioblastoma Multiforme and Solitary Metastasis: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis Based on Routine MR Imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The differentiation between cerebral GBM and solitary MET is clinically important and may be radiologically challenging. Our hypothesis is that routine MR imaging with qualitative and quantitative analysis is helpful for this differentiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-five GBM and 21 solitary metastases were retrospectively identi-fied, with their preoperative routine MR imaging analyzed. According to the comparison of the area of peritumoral T2 prolongation with that of the lesion, the tumors were classified into grade I (prolonga-tion area tumor area) and grade II (prolongation area tumor area). The signal intensities of peritumoral T2 prolongation were measured on T2WI and normalized to the values of the contralateral normal regions by calculating the ratios. The ratio (nSI) of both types of tumors was compared in grade I, grade II, and in tumors without grading. The best cutoff values to optimize the sensitivity and specificity were determined for optimal differentiation. RESULTS: The nSI of GBM was significantly higher than that of MET without T2 prolongation grading (P .001), resulting in AUC 0.725. The difference was significant (P .014) in grade I tumors (GBM, 38; MET, 9), with AUC 0.741, and in grade II tumors (GBM, 7; MET, 12), with AUC 0.869 (P .017). Both types of tumors showed a different propensity in T2 prolongation grading (2 12.079, P.001). CONCLUSIONS: Combined with qualitative and quantitative analysis of peritumoral T2 prolongation

Relation of a New Interpretation of Stochastic Differential Equations to Ito Process

Stochastic differential equations (SDE) are widely used in modeling stochastic dynamics in literature. However, SDE alone is not enough to determine a unique process. A specified interpretation for stochastic integration is needed. Different interpretations specify different dynamics. Recently, a new interpretation of SDE is put forward by one of us. This interpretation has a built-in Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution and shows the existence of potential function for general processes, which reveals both local and global dynamics. Despite its powerful property, its relation with classical ones in arbitrary dimension remains obscure. In this paper, we will clarify such connection and derive the concise relation between the new interpretation and Ito process. We point out that the derived relation is experimentally testable.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Lipidomic studies revealing serological markers associated with the occurrence of retinopathy in type 2 diabetes

Purpose The duration of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and blood glucose levels have a significant impact on the development of T2DM complications. However, currently known risk factors are not good predictors of the onset or progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Therefore, we aimed to investigate the differences in the serum lipid composition in patients with T2DM, without and with DR, and search for potential serological indicators associated with the development of DR. Methods A total of 622 patients with T2DM hospitalized in the Department of Endocrinology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an JiaoTong University were selected as the discovery set. One-to-one case–control matching was performed according to the traditional risk factors for DR (i.e., age, duration of diabetes, HbA1c level, and hypertension). All cases with comorbid chronic kidney disease were excluded to eliminate confounding factors. A total of 42 pairs were successfully matched. T2DM patients with DR (DR group) were the case group, and T2DM patients without DR (NDR group) served as control subjects. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was used for untargeted lipidomics analysis on serum, and a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model was established to screen differential lipid molecules based on variable importance in the projection (VIP)>1. An additional 531 T2DM patients were selected as the validation set. Next, 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was performed for the traditional risk factors for DR, and a combined 95 pairings in the NDR and DR groups were successfully matched. The screened differential lipid molecules were validated by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) quantification based on mass spectrometry. Results The discovery set showed no differences in traditional risk factors associated with the development of DR (i.e., age, disease duration, HbA1c, blood pressure, and glomerular filtration rate). In the DR group comparedMetabolic health: pathophysiological trajectories and therap

Body-centered-cubic Ni and its magnetic properties

The body-centered-cubic (bec) phase of Ni, which does not exist in nature, has been achieved as a thin film on GaAs(001) at 170 K via molecular beam epitaxy. The bec Ni is ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature of 456 K and possesses a magnetic moment of 0.52 \uc2\ub1 0.08 \uce\ubcB/atom. The cubic magneto-crystalline anisotropy of bec Ni is determined to be +4.0 \uc3\u97 105 ergs \uc2\ub7 cm-3, as opposed to -5.7 \uc3\u97 10 4 ergs \uc2\ub7 cm-3 for the naturally occurring face-centered-cubic (fcc) Ni. This sharp contrast in the magnetic anisotropy is attributed to the different electronic band structures between bec Ni and fcc Ni, which are determined using angle-resolved photoemission with synchrotron radiation

Outbreak of COVID-19 and SARS in mainland China: a comparative study based on national surveillance data

Objective To compare the epidemiological characteristics and transmission dynamics in relation to interventions against the COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in mainland China. Design Comparative study based on a unique data set of COVID-19 and SARS. Setting Outbreak in mainland China. Participants The final database included 82 858 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5327 cases of SARS. Methods We brought together all existing data sources and integrated them into a comprehensive data set. Individual information on age, sex, occupation, residence location, date of illness onset, date of diagnosis and clinical outcome was extracted. Control measures deployed in mainland China were collected. We compared the epidemiological and spatial characteristics of COVID-19 and SARS. We estimated the effective reproduction number to explore differences in transmission dynamics and intervention effects. Results Compared with SARS, COVID-19 affected more extensive areas (1668 vs 230 counties) within a shorter time (101 vs 193 days) and had higher attack rate (61.8 vs 4.0 per million persons). The COVID-19 outbreak had only one epidemic peak and one epicentre (Hubei Province), while the SARS outbreak resulted in two peaks and two epicentres (Guangdong Province and Beijing). SARSCoV-2 was more likely to infect older people (median age of 52 years), while SARS-CoV tended to infect young adults (median age of 34 years). The case fatality rate (CFR) of either disease increased with age, but the CFR of COVID-19 was significantly lower than that of SARS (5.6% vs 6.4%). The trajectory of effective reproduction number dynamically changed in relation to interventions, which fell below 1 within 2 months for COVID-19 and within 5.5 months for SARS. Conclusions China has taken more prompt and effective responses to combat COVID-19 by learning lessons from SARS, providing us with some epidemiological clues to control the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic worldwid

Recognition of the Phanerozoic “Young Granite Gneiss” in the central Yeongnam Massif

Up to now, all the high-grade gneisses of the Korean peninsula have been regarded as Precambrian basement rocks and presence of the Phanerozoic high-grade metamorphic rocks have remained unknown. However, such granite gneiss is discovered through this study from the central Yeongnam massif near Gimcheon. SHRIMP zircon U-Pb age determinations on the granite gneiss, having well-developed gneissic foliations and migmatitic textures, reveal concordant age of ca. 250 Ma indicating the Early Triassic emplacement of this pluton, which is in contradict to the previous belief that it is a Precambrian product. Even though the granite gneiss reveals well-developed gneissic foliations and some zircons show rather low Th/U ratios, the metamorphic age has not been determined successfully. However, the age of metamorphism can be constrained as middle Triassic considering the absence of any evidences of metamorphism from the nearby granitic plutons having emplacement ages of ca. 225 Ma. Early Triassic emplacement and subsequent Middle Triassic metamorphism of the granite gneiss from the Yeongnam massif bear a remarkable resemblance to the case of South China block. We suggest the possibility that Early to Middle Triassic metamorphism of the Korean peninsula might be products of the intracontinental collisional events not directly related with the Early Triassic continental collision event

Large-scale application of ClinGen-InSiGHT APC-specific ACMG/AMP variant classification criteria leads to substantial reduction in VUS

Pathogenic constitutional APC variants underlie familial adenomatous polyposis, the most common hereditary gastrointestinal polyposis syndrome. To improve variant classification and resolve the interpretative challenges of variants of uncertain significance (VUSs), APC-specific variant classification criteria were developed by the ClinGen-InSiGHT Hereditary Colorectal Cancer/Polyposis Variant Curation Expert Panel (VCEP) based on the criteria of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG/AMP). A streamlined algorithm using the APC-specific criteria was developed and applied to assess all APC variants in ClinVar and the International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumours (InSiGHT) international reference APC Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD) variant database, which included a total of 10,228 unique APC variants. Among the ClinVar and LOVD variants with an initial classification of (likely) benign or (likely) pathogenic, 94% and 96% remained in their original categories, respectively. In contrast, 41% ClinVar and 61% LOVD VUSs were reclassified into clinically meaningful classes, the vast majority as (likely) benign. The total number of VUSs was reduced by 37%. In 24 out of 37 (65%) promising APC variants that remained VUS despite evidence for pathogenicity, a data-mining-driven work-up allowed their reclassification as (likely) pathogenic. These results demonstrated that the application of APC-specific criteria substantially reduced the number of VUSs in ClinVar and LOVD. The study also demonstrated the feasibility of a systematic approach to variant classification in large datasets, which might serve as a generalizable model for other gene- or disease-specific variant interpretation initiatives. It also allowed for the prioritization of VUSs that will benefit from in-depth evidence collection. This subset of APC variants was approved by the VCEP and made publicly available through ClinVar and LOVD for widespread clinical use. Hereditary cancer genetic

Strategies for Controlled Placement of Nanoscale Building Blocks

The capability of placing individual nanoscale building blocks on exact substrate locations in a controlled manner is one of the key requirements to realize future electronic, optical, and magnetic devices and sensors that are composed of such blocks. This article reviews some important advances in the strategies for controlled placement of nanoscale building blocks. In particular, we will overview template assisted placement that utilizes physical, molecular, or electrostatic templates, DNA-programmed assembly, placement using dielectrophoresis, approaches for non-close-packed assembly of spherical particles, and recent development of focused placement schemes including electrostatic funneling, focused placement via molecular gradient patterns, electrodynamic focusing of charged aerosols, and others

Prunella vulgaris: A comprehensive review of chemical constituents, pharmacological effects and clinical applications.

Prunella vulgaris (PV) is a perennial herb belonging to the Labiate family and is widely distributed in northeastern Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, and China. It is reported to display diverse biological activities including anti-microbial, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammation as determined by in vitro or in vivo studies. So far, about 200 compounds have been isolated from PV plant and majority of these have been characterized mainly as triterpenoids, sterols and flavonoids, followed by coumarins, phenylpropanoids, polysaccharides and volatile oils. This review summarizes and analyzes the current knowledge on the chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, mechanisms of action and clinical applications of the PV plant including its potential as a future medicinal plant. Although some of the chemical constituents of the PV plant and their mechanism of action have been investigated the biological activities of many of these remain unknown and further clinical trials are required to further enhance its reputation as a medicinal plant