Rational and design of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) and brain MRI surveillance versus brain MRI surveillance alone in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer achieving complete remission (CR) of tumor after chemoradiotherapy: a multicenter prospective randomized study.

BACKGROUND: Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) is part of standard care in limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) at present. As evidence from retrospective studies increases, the benefits of PCI for limited-stage SCLC are being challenged. METHODS: A multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled study was designed. The key inclusion criteria were: histologically or cytologically confirmed small cell carcinoma, age ≥ 18 years, KPS ≥ 80, limited-stage is defined as tumor confined to one side of the chest including ipsilateral hilar, bilateral mediastinum and supraclavicular lymph nodes, patients have received definitive thoracic radiotherapy (regardless of the dose-fractionation of radiotherapy used) and chemotherapy, evaluated as complete remission (CR) of tumor 4-6 weeks after the completion of chemo-radiotherapy. Eligible patients will be randomly assigned to two arms: (1) PCI and brain MRI surveillance arm, receiving PCI (2.5 Gy qd to a total dose of 25 Gy in two weeks) followed by brain MRI surveillance once every three months for two years; (2) brain MRI surveillance alone arm, undergoing brain MRI surveillance once every three months for two years. The primary objective is to compare the 2-year brain metastasis-free survival (BMFS) rates between the two arms. Secondary objectives include 2-year overall survival (OS) rates, intra-cranial failure patterns, 2-year progression-free survival rates and neurotoxicity. In case of brain metastasis (BM) detect during follow-up, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) will be recommended if patients meet the eligibility criteria. DISCUSSION: Based on our post-hoc analysis of a prospective study, we hypothesize that in limited-stage SCLC patients with CR after definitive chemoradiotherapy, and ruling out of BM by MRI, it would be feasible to use brain MRI surveillance and omit PCI in these patients. If BM is detected during follow-up, treatment with SRS or whole brain radiotherapy does not appear to have a detrimental effect on OS. Additionally, this approach may reduce potential neurotoxicity associated with PCI.

LDH/MXene Synergistic Carrier Separation Effects to Improve the Photoelectric Catalytic Activities of Bi2WO6 Nanosheet Arrays.

Photoelectric catalysis is a green and efficient way to degrade pollutants, which has been paid more and more attention by researchers. Among them, Bi2WO3 has been proved to have excellent photocatalytic oxidation activity on its {001} facets. In this study, {001}-oriented facets with high exposure were successfully integrated into Bi2WO6 nanoplate arrays (Bi2WO6 NAs) to create a photoelectrode. This structure was grown in situ on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate. To promote photogenerated carrier separation efficiency and reduce agglomeration of Bi2WO6 photocatalysts, the electrochemical deposition of NiFe-layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) and Ti3C2 (MXene) were introduced in this research to synergistically catalyze pollutant degradation. Morphology, spectral characterization, and electrochemical analysis jointly confirmed that the outstanding performance of hole capture behavior with LDH and electron conduction properties with MXene were the main reasons for the improvement in catalytic activity of the photoelectrode. Taking bisphenol A (BPA) as the model pollutant, the rate constant k of the NiFe-LDH/Ti3C2/Bi2WO6 NAs photoelectrode reaches 0.00196 min-1 under photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) conditions, which is 4.5 times that of the pure Bi2WO6 NAs photoelectrode. This work provides a new way to improve the reaction kinetics of the PEC degradation of pollutants.

Accurate determination of plasma temperature and electron density using a reference target: one-point calibration LIBS elemental analysis of alloy samples.

Elemental analysis of aluminum alloy samples with calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF-LIBS) encounters two difficulties: the inconvenience of determining accurate temperature and electron density of the plasma and the influence of self-absorption of the observed aluminum lines. To solve this problem, target-enhanced orthogonal double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy in the reheating regime combined with the one-point calibration method was proposed in this work. A mixture of copper powders and K H C O 3 grains was pressed to a pellet and used as the target. Accurate determination of plasma temperature and electron density can be obtained using a reference target. The plasma temperature could be determined with Saha-Boltzmann plot of copper, and the electron density of the plasma could be determined according to the Stark broadening of the H α line of hydrogen. Aluminum alloy samples were analyzed with a relative error of better than 0.02% for a major element. This approach provides a convenient way to determine the temperature and electron density of the plasma more accurately and is able to reduce the influence of self-absorption, which is helpful for realizing quantitative elemental analysis of different samples while using a calibration-free algorithm.

Facile synthesis of supported CuNi nano-clusters as an electrochemical CO2 reduction catalyst with broad potential range.

A nitrogen-doped carbon-supported CuNi bimetallic nanocluster catalyst (CuNi-NC) was first synthesized via a facile ZIF-derived method. With a synergistic effect between Cu and Ni, the catalyst exhibited a maximum FECO of 96.3%. FECO is higher than 90% in a broad potential range of 600 mV, which was ascribed to the controllable pore size distribution. Density functional theory further demonstrated the preferred formation of *COOH in the catalytic process.

Diagnostic value of upper airway morphological data based on CT volume scanning combined with clinical indexes in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Background and purpose: Early diagnosis is important for treatment and prognosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)in children. Polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for the diagnosis of OSA. However, due to various reasons, such as inconvenient implementation, less equipped in primary medical institutions, etc., it is less used in children, especially in young children. This study aims to establish a new diagnostic method with imaging data of upper airway and clinical signs and symptoms. Methods: In this retrospective study, clinical and imaging data were collected from children ≤10 years old who underwent nasopharynx CT scan(low-dose protocol)from February 2019 to June 2020,including 25 children with OSA and 105 non-OSA. The information of the upper airway (A-line; N-line; nasal gap; upper airway volume; upper and lower diameter, left and right diameter and cross-sectional area of the narrowest part of the upper airway) were measured in transaxial, coronal, and sagittal images. The diagnosis of OSA and adenoid size were given according to the guidelines and consensus of imaging experts. The information of clinical signs, symptoms, and others were obtained from medical records. According to the weight of each index on OSA, the indexes with statistical significance were screened out, then were scored and summed up. ROC analysis was performed with the sum as the test variable and OSA as the status variable to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy on OSA. Results: The AUC of the summed scores (ANMAH score) of upper airway morphology and clinical index for the diagnosis of OSA was 0.984 (95% CI 0.964-1.000). When sum = 7 was used as the threshold (participants with sum>7 were considered to have OSA), the Youden's index reached its maximum at which point the sensitivity was 88.0%, the specificity was 98.1%, and the accuracy was 96.2%. Conclusion: The morphological data of the upper airway based on CT volume scan images combined with clinical indices have high diagnostic value for OSA in children; CT volume scanning plays a great guiding role in the selection of treatment scheme of OSA. It is a convenient, accurate and informative diagnostic method with a great help to improving prognosis. Highlights: - Early diagnosis of OSA in children is very important for the treatment.- However, the traditional diagnostic gold-standard PSG is difficult to implement.- This study aims to explore convenient and reliable diagnostic methods for children.- A new diagnostic model was established combining CT with signs and symptoms.- The diagnostic method in this study is highly effective, informative, and convenient.

The long-term survival of esophageal cancer in elderly patients: A multi-center, retrospective study from China.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal cancer (EC) often occurs in the elderly, and approximately 40% of patients are 70 years or older. To investigate the long-term survival of EC in elderly patients, to provide a theoretical direction for better management and predicting survival of EC based on the hospital-based multi-center study in China. METHODS: The study was conducted in 18 hospitals including 6 provincial hospitals, 8 municipal hospitals, and 4 county hospitals. We extracted information from medical record homepage, records of admission and discharge, and pathological diagnosis reports from the medical record department of the elderly patients at 70-84 years old to obtain the 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS), and main associated factors, and to analyze the current therapeutic effect of different treatment options for elderly patients. RESULTS: The 3-year and 5-year OS rate of the 1013 elderly patients was 44.8% and 32.8%, respectively. Their median survival was 28.00 months. The median survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma was longer than that of other pathological type (squamous vs. other types: 31.00 vs. 20.00 months, p = 0.018). The median survival of patients with surgery only or combined therapy was longer than that of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and no therapy (surgery only vs. combined therapy vs. radiotherapy vs. chemotherapy vs. no therapy: 56.00 vs. 33.00 vs. 26.00 vs.18.00 vs. 16.00 months, p < 0.001). The 5-year OS rate of patients with highly differentiated cancer was higher than that of medium differentiated and poor differentiation/undifferentiated. In multivariate analysis, the older ages, pathological stage, were independent prognostic risk factors for poor EC survival. Treatment method was independent protective factors predictive of a good EC OS. CONCLUSIONS: The survival rate of the elderly EC patients was still low in China. Age, therapy method, and pathological stage were mainly associated with the survival rate of EC in elderly patients.

Using period analysis to timely assess and predict 5-year relative survival for colorectal cancer patients in Taizhou, eastern China.

INTRODUCTION: While timely assessment of long-term survival for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) is essential for evaluation on early detection and screening programs of colorectal cancer, those data are extremely scarce in China. We aimed to timely and accurately assess long-term survival for CRC patients in eastern China. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with CRC during 2004-2018 and followed up until December 31, 2018 from four cancer registries with high-quality data from Taizhou, eastern China were included. Period analysis was used to calculate 5-year relative survival (RS) for overall and the stratification by sex, age at diagnosis and region. The projected 5-year RS of CRC patients during 2019-2023 was also assessed using a model-based period analysis. RESULTS: Overall 5-year RS for patients with CRC during 2014-2018 reached 78.8%, being 74.9% for men and 86.1% for women. 5-year RS declined along with aging, decreasing from 84.1% for age < 45 years to 48.9% for age > 74 years, while 5-year RS for urban area was higher compared to rural area (83.9% vs. 75.8%). Projected overall 5-year RS of CRC patients could reach 85.9% during the upcoming period 2019-2023. CONCLUSIONS: We provided, for first time in China using period analysis, most up-to-date 5-year RS for patients with CRC from Taizhou, eastern China and also found 5-year RS for CRC patients have improved greatly during 2004-2018.

High-performance Bloch surface wave biosensor based on a prism-coupled porous silicon composite structure for the detection of hemoglobin.

Biosensors have various potential applications in biomedical research and clinical diagnostic, especially in detection of biomolecules in highly diluted solutions. In this study, a high-performance Bloch surface wave biosensor was constructed for the detection of hemoglobin. The procedure consisted of designing a porous silicon-based Kretschmann configuration to ensure excitation of the Bloch surface wave. The performance of the resulting sensor was then optimized by adjusting the buffer layer parameters based on the impedance matching method. The results showed an increase in the quality factor and figure of merit of the biosensor as a function of the decrease in thickness and refractive index of the buffer layer. The combination of the two optimization methods resulted in the quality factor and figure of merit of the optimized biosensor reaching as high as Q = 6967.4 and FOM = 11050RIU-1, respectively. In sum, the designed biosensor with high performance looks promising for future detection of hemoglobin.

Use of period analysis to timely assess 5-year relative survival for breast cancer patients from Taizhou, Eastern China.

Objectives: While timely assessment of long-term survival for patients with breast cancer is essential for evaluation on early detection and screening programs, those data are extremely scant in China. We aimed to derive most up-to-date survival estimates and to predict future survival using the cancer registry data from Taizhou city, Eastern China. Methods: Patients diagnosed with breast cancer during 2004-2018 from four cancer registries with high-quality data from Taizhou, Eastern China were included. Period analysis was used to calculate 5-year relative survival (RS) for the overall population and according to the stratification factors sex, age at diagnosis and geographic region. We further predict the upcoming 5-year RS during 2019-2023, using continuous data from three 5-year periods (2004-2008, 2009-2013 and 2014-2018) and a model-based period approach. Results: Overall 6159 patients diagnosed with breast cancer during 2004-2018 were enrolled. The 5-year RS for breast cancer in 2014-2018 reached 88.8%, while women were higher compared to men (90.5% versus 83.7%) and urban areas were higher compared to rural areas (91.9% versus 86.7%). Additionally, we found a clear gradient by age at diagnosis, ranging from 94.8% for age<45 years to 83.3% for age>74 years. Projected overall 5-year RS for the upcoming 2019-2023 could reach 91.5% (84.8% for men and 93.5% for women). Conclusions: We provided, for first time in China, using period analysis, most up-to-date 5-year RS (88.8%) for patients with breast cancer from Taizhou, Eastern China. We also demonstrate the 5-year RS has improved greatly over last 15 years, which has important implications for timely evaluation of early detection and screening programs.

Anomalous spontaneous emission dynamics at chiral exceptional points.

An open quantum system operated at the spectral singularities where dimensionality reduces, known as exceptional points (EPs), demonstrates distinguishing behavior from the Hermitian counterpart. Here, we present an analytical description of local density of states (LDOS) for microcavity featuring chiral EPs, and unveil the anomalous spontaneous emission dynamics from a quantum emitter (QE) due to the non-Lorentzian response of EPs. Specifically, we reveal that a squared Lorentzian term of LDOS contributed by chiral EPs can destructively interfere with the linear Lorentzian profile, resulting in the null Purcell enhancement to a QE with special transition frequency, which we call EP induced transparency. While for the case of constructive interference, the squared Lorentzian term can narrow the linewidth of Rabi splitting even below that of bare components, and thus significantly suppresses the decay of Rabi oscillation. Interestingly, we further find that an open microcavity with chiral EPs supports atom-photon bound states for population trapping and decay suppression in long-time dynamics. As applications, we demonstrate the advantages of microcavity operated at chiral EPs in achieving high-fidelity entanglement generation and high-efficiency single-photon generation. Our work unveils the exotic cavity quantum electrodynamics unique to chiral EPs, which opens the door for controlling light-matter interaction at the quantum level through non-Hermiticity, and holds great potential in building high-performance quantum-optics devices.

Using Period Analysis to Timely Assess and Predict 5-Year Relative Survival for Liver Cancer Patients From Taizhou, Eastern China.

Introduction: While timely assessment of long-term survival for patients with liver cancer is essential for the evaluation of early detection and screening programs of liver cancer, those data are extremely scarce in China. We aimed to timely and accurately assess long-term survival for liver cancer patients in eastern China. Methods: Patients diagnosed with liver cancer during 2004-2018 from four cancer registries with high-quality data from Taizhou, eastern China, were included. The period analysis was used to calculate the 5-year relative survival (RS) for overall and the stratification by sex, age at diagnosis, and region. The projected 5-year RS of liver cancer patients during 2019-2023 was also assessed using a model-based period analysis. Results: The overall 5-year RS for patients with liver cancer during 2014-2018 reached 32.4%, being 29.3% for men and 36.1% for women. The 5-year RS declined along with aging, decreasing from 38.2% for age <45 years to 18.8% for age >74 years, while the 5-year RS for urban area was higher compared to rural area (36.8% vs. 29.3%). The projected overall 5-year RS of liver cancer patients could reach 41.4% during the upcoming period 2019-2023. Conclusions: We provided, for first time in China using the period analysis, the most up-to-date 5-year RS for patients with liver cancer from Taizhou, eastern China, and also found that the 5-year RS for liver cancer patients have improved greatly during 2004-2018, which has important implications for the timely evaluation of early detection and screening programs for patients with liver cancer in eastern China.

Fano effect induced giant and robust enhancement of photon correlations in cavity QED systems.

The Fano effect arising from the interference between two dissipation channels of the radiation continuum enables tuning of the photon statistics. Understanding the role of the Fano effect and exploiting it to achieve strong photon correlations are of both fundamental and applied significance. We present an analytical description of Fano-enhanced photon correlations based on cavity quantum electrodynamics to show that the Fano effect in atom-cavity systems can improve the degree of antibunching by over four orders of magnitude. The enhancement factors and the optimal conditions are explicitly given, and found to relate to the Fano parameter q. Remarkably, the Fano enhancement manifests robustness against the decoherence processes and can survive in the weak coupling regime. We expect our work to provide insight to tuning the photon statistics through the Fano effect, which offers a new, to the best of our knowledge, route to enhance the photon correlations, as well as the possibility of generating nonclassical light in a wider diversity of systems without the need of a strong light-matter interaction.

Terahertz spectroscopy detection of lithium citrate tetrahydrate and its dehydration kinetics.

Lithium citrate (LC) as a common food additive and also a psychiatric drug, usually in the form of tetrahydrate can gradually lose its crystalline water and convert into LC anhydrate at temperatures higher than the room temperature. In order to quickly distinguish the tetrahydrate from the anhydrate and to study the dehydration kinetics of the LC hydrates under the influence of the temperature, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is utilized in this work. Experimental results show that the LC tetrahydrate at room temperature has an obvious absorption peak around 1.66 THz, while the LC anhydrate has no absorption peak at 0.5-3.0 THz. The absorption peak intensity of the LC tetrahydrate decreases continuously upon heating from 25 to 100 °C. Based on the normalized absorption peak area of the LC tetrahydrate around 1.66 THz, variation of its dehydration rate with the heating temperature is investigated and their relationship is fitted by the Arrhenius equation. The reaction activation energy of the LC tetrahydrate is derived to be 495.1 ±â€¯17.8 J/g with a deviation of about 3.7% from the traditional difference scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurement. These results indicate that THz-TDS can provide an efficient method to detect crystalline hydrates and can be applied to study the dehydration kinetics of crystalline hydrates with advantages of being fast, label-free and accurate.

Study of Grain Growth in a Ni-Based Superalloy by Experiments and Cellular Automaton Model.

The grain growth behavior in a typical Ni-based superalloy was investigated using isothermal heat treatment experiments over a holding temperature range of 1353-1473 K. The experimental results showed that the grain structure continuously coarsened as the holding time and holding temperature increased during heat treatment. A classical parabolic grain growth model was used to explore the mechanism of grain growth under experimental conditions. The grain growth exponent was found to be slightly above 2. This indicates that the current grain growth in the studied superalloy is mainly governed by grain boundary migration with a minor pinning effect from the precipitates. Then, the grain growth in the studied superalloy during isothermal heat treatment was modelled by a cellular automaton (CA) with deterministic state switch rules. The microscale kinetics of grain growth is described by the correlation between the moving velocity and curvature of the grain boundary. The local grain boundary curvature is well evaluated by a template disk method. The grain boundary mobility was found to increase with increasing temperature. The relationship between the grain boundary mobility and temperature has been established. The developed CA model is capable of capturing the dependence of the grain size on the holding time under different holding temperatures.

Using Population-Based Cancer Registration Data and Period Analysis to Accurately Assess and Predict 5-Year Relative Survival for Lung Cancer Patients in Eastern China.

BACKGROUND: The assessment of long-term survival of lung cancer patients based on data from population-based caner registries, using period analysis, was scarce in China. We aimed to accurately assess the long-term survival of lung cancer patients, and to predict the long-term survival in the future, using cancer registry data from Taizhou City, eastern China. METHODS: Four cancer registries with high-quality data were selected. Patients diagnosed with lung cancer during 2004-2018 were included. The long-term survival was evaluated using period analysis, with further stratification by sex, age at diagnosis and region. Additionally, projected 5-year relative survival (RS) of lung cancer patients for 2019-2023 was evaluated, using model-based period analysis. RESULTS: The 5-year RS of lung cancer patients diagnosed during 2014-2018 was 40.2% (31.5% for men and 56.2% for women). A moderate age gradient was observed for the period estimate, with the estimate decreasing from 50.5 to 26.5% in the age group of 15-44 years and ≥75 years, respectively. The 5-year RS of urban area was higher than that of rural area (52.3% vs. 38.9%). The overall projected 5-year RS of lung cancer patients was 52.7% for 2019-2023, with estimate of 43.0 and 73.2% for men and women, respectively. A moderate age gradient was also observed for the projected estimate. Moreover, estimate reached nearly 50% for rural and urban areas. CONCLUSION: Period analysis tended to provide the up-to-date and precise survival estimates for lung cancer patients, which is worth further application, and provides important evidence for prevention and intervention of lung cancer.

Effects of dietary supplementation of natural astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis on antioxidant capacity, lipid metabolism, and accumulation in the egg yolk of laying hens.

The present study evaluated the effects of natural astaxanthin (ASTA) from Haematococcus pluvialis on the antioxidant capacity, lipid metabolism, and ASTA accumulation in the egg yolk of laying hens. Hy-Line Brown layers (n = 288, 50 wk old) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatment groups. Each group had 6 replicates of 12 hens each. All birds were given a corn-soybean meal-based diet containing 0, 25, 50, or 100 mg/kg ASTA for 6 wk. The results showed that the total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase level, and glutathione peroxidase level in the plasma, livers, and egg yolks were significantly increased in the ASTA groups compared with those of the control group (P < 0.05), whereas the content of malondialdehyde linearly decreased (P < 0.05). The plasma levels of high-density and very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the ASTA groups were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). In addition, ASTA supplementation decreased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride plasma levels (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the other lipid metabolism parameters among the ASTA-supplemented groups relative to the control group except for an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the liver. Compared with the control, dietary ASTA supplementation significantly increased the enrichment of ASTA in egg yolks at the end of week 2, 4, and 6 (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of scavenger receptor class B type 1 (SCARB1) and very-low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) in the ASTA groups was markedly higher (P < 0.05) than that in the control group in the liver and ovaries, respectively. In conclusion, these results suggest that dietary ASTA enhances the antioxidant capacity and regulates lipid metabolism in laying hens. ASTA enrichment in egg yolks may be closely related to the upregulation of SCARB1 and VLDLR gene expression.

Epidemiology of Thyroid Cancer: Incidence and Mortality in China, 2015.

Objective: Using data from cancer registries to estimate thyroid cancer incidence and mortality in China, 2015. Methods: Data submitted from local cancer registries were checked and evaluated according to the criteria of data quality control, a total of 368 cancer registries' data were qualified for the final analysis. Data were stratified by area (urban/rural, eastern/central/western), sex and age, combined with national population data to estimate thyroid cancer incidence and mortality in China, 2015. Results: Approximately 200,700 new cases were diagnosed in 2015, accounting for 5.11% of all cancer cases. The crude incidence rate was 14.60/100,000. Age-standardized incidence rates by Chinese standard population (ASIRC) and world standard population (ASIRW) were 12.05/100,000 and 10.44/100,000, with the cumulative incidence rate (0-74 years old) of 1.00%. About 7,900 deaths of thyroid cancer were reported in 2015, accounting for 0.34% of all cancer deaths. The crude mortality rate was 0.58/100,000, age-standardized mortality rates by Chinese standard population (ASMRC) and world standard population (ASMRW) were 0.37/100,000 and 0.36/100,000. The age-standardized incidence and mortality in females were significantly higher than those in males (P < 0.001). The rates in urban areas were higher than those in rural areas (P < 0.001). The ASIRC in eastern areas was higher than that in central and western areas (P < 0.001), while the ASMRC in central areas was higher than that in eastern and western areas (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The burden of thyroid cancer was heavy in China, cancer control faces the problem of the disparity between geographic areas, and the incidence and mortality rates were varied by sex and age. Targeted cancer preventive measures should be put into practice.

A rapidly increasing trend of thyroid cancer incidence in selected East Asian countries: Joinpoint regression and age-period-cohort analyses.

BACKGROUND: This study described the incidence and mortality trends and analyzed age-period-cohort effects on incidences in China, Japan, and Korea. METHODS: Data were extracted from the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents series and the World Health Organization Cancer Mortality Database, and the age-standardized incidence and mortality rates by Segi's world population were calculated. Joinpoint regression analysis was used to evaluate the time trend of age-standardized incidence and mortality rates and the age-period-cohort model with intrinsic estimator was applied for estimating the effects of age, period, and cohort on thyroid cancer (TC) incidence in individuals between 20 and 84 years of age. RESULTS: An increasing trend in TC incidence rates was observed among males from China (10.3%), Japan (4.7%), and Korea (20.8%) and among females from China (9.4%), Japan (3.5%), and Korea (20.5%). TC incidence rates in females were much higher than those in males. A downward trend of TC mortality rates was observed, especially in both sexes of Japan and Chinese females. The slope of the age effect curve peaked at an earlier age in females than males in Japan and Korea. A strong period effect and remarkedly increasing rate ratios were observed in all regions and for both sexes. The cohort effect had a declining tendency on TC incidence in males and females in these areas. CONCLUSIONS: The rapidly upward incidence trend and strong period effect suggest that overdiagnosis caused by higher diagnostic intensity might be an explanation for the upward trend, and some environmental risk factor exposures are also not excluded. In addition, the discrepant trends of TC incidence and mortality reveal the need to identify the few high-risk patients who needed further treatment from those patients who may not need treatment.

Application of calibration-free high repetition rate laser-ablation spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy for the quantitative elemental analysis of a silver alloy.

In this work, we report the application of a calibration-free (CF) method combined with high repetition rate laser-ablation spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy (HRR LA-SIBS) to the analysis of a silver alloy. The sample was ablated by a fiber laser operated at a 30 kHz pulse repetition rate, and a spark discharge was applied to enhance plasma emission. Electron number density and plasma temperature were estimated using Stark broadening of spectral lines and the Saha-Boltzmann plot method, respectively. The fulfillment of the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) approximation of the measurement was verified. Averaged electron density and plasma temperature were calculated as 1.11×1017cm-3 and 7355 K, respectively. The elemental composition of a silver alloy sample was determined, and the result was compared with that analyzed with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The analytical error was within a 15% range. It was demonstrated that the CF HRR LA-SIBS technique could potentially provide elemental analysis for silver alloys without requiring a standard sample.

The mitochondrial genome of Anthalia sp. (Diptera: Empididae).

The dance fly Anthalia sp. belongs to the subfamily Ocydromiinae of Empididae. The mitogenome (GenBank accession number: MT483943) of Anthalia sp. was sequenced, the new representative of the mitogenome of the subfamily. The nearly complete mitogenome is 15,142 bp totally, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, and 22 transfer RNAs. All genes have the similar locations and strands with that of other published species of Empididae. The nucleotide composition biases toward A and T, which together made up 78.6% of the entirety. Bayesian inference analysis strongly supported the monophyly of Empidoidea, Empididae, and Dolichopodidae. It is clear that the phylogenetic relationship within Empidoidea: (Dolichopodinae + Neurigoninae) + ((Empidinae + (Trichopezinae + Oreogetoninae)) + Ocydromiinae) in this study.