A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy in terms of patient survival rate and quality of life in breast cancer.

The study aimed to assess the effects of breast-conserving surgery (BCS) versus mastectomy on survival and quality of life in Stages I, II, and III breast cancer, providing solid evidence for clinical decisions. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials on breast cancer treatments, searching databases such as PubMed and the Cochrane Library to compare BCS, and mastectomy's effects on survival and quality of life. A combined total of 16 734 patients in the control group and 17 435 patients in the experimental group were included in this analysis. This meta-analysis used RevMan 5.3 (Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark) software for analysis. Our meta-analysis of 34 169 patients from 11 studies showed that BCS significantly reduced the overall recurrence rate at a median follow-up of 29 months, with a mean difference of 1.27 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.19-1.36, strongly supporting its effectiveness (P < .00001). Furthermore, our analysis found no significant increase in 5-year local recurrence rates for BCS versus mastectomy, indicating its long-term effectiveness with a mean difference of 1.13 (95% confidence interval: [1.03, 1.24], P = .01). Additionally, there was a notable decrease in tissue ischaemic necrosis among patients who had received BCS, with a mean difference of 0.37 (95% confidence interval: [0.33, 0.42], P < .00001), underscoring its benefits and long-term viability. BCS resulted in fewer cases of tissue ischaemic necrosis and higher body image scores compared with mastectomy, suggesting that it is a preferable option for better cosmetic outcomes and potentially favourable effects on prognosis and quality of life.

Effects of high power pulsed microwave on the enhanced color and flavor of aged blueberry wine.

A new method of high-power pulsed microwave (HPPM) was applied to accelerate the aging of blueberry wine. The color changes of blueberry wines during aging were investigated through Chemical Wine Age and CIE-LAB measurement. Results showed that the blueberry wines treated by HPPM at low frequencies (50 and 100 Hz) exhibited improved color characteristics with L* value reaching 47.04 at 100 Hz, an increased maturity of wine body, and a shortened chemical wine age from 90 days to 75 days. Moreover, the aroma changes determined by GC-MS showed that HPPM accelerated the formation of esters in blueberry wine, which were increased by 18.44% and 56.97% respectively under the conditions of 50 and 150 Hz. The formation of acid substances was reduced compared with the original wine, with contents of acetic acid, caproic acid, and octanoic acid of 29.46 µg/mL, 15.60 µg/mL, 17.74 µg/mL, respectively, displaying an enhanced wine flavor.

The timing of the initial collision between the South and North China blocks constraining from the sediments in the eastern Sichuan Basin.

In this study, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology, trace element and Hf isotopic compositional data from the Early-Middle Triassic clastic rocks in the eastern Sichuan Basin were obtained to distinguish the sediment provenance and constrain the timing of the initial collision between the South China and North China blocks. Detrital zircons from the Early Triassic Feixianguan Formation clastic rocks yield one major age peak at 2476 Ma and three minor age peaks at 1886, 802 and 304 Ma. These detrital zircons may be derived from the South China Block. Detrital zircons from the Early Triassic Jialingjiang Formation clastic rocks yield multiple age peaks at 979, 856, 392 and 269 Ma, indicating a mixed sediment provenance from the South China Block and Qinling Orogenic Belt. This is the first appearance of the detritus with the Qinling Orogenic Belt affinity in the eastern Sichuan Basin. Detrital zircons from the Middle Triassic Leikoupo Formation clastic rocks yield two centralized age peaks at 447 and ca. 245 Ma. These zircons may mainly be derived from the Qinling Orogenic Belt. The results indicate an abrupt change in the detrital zircon U-Pb provenance from the South China Block to the Qinling Orogenic Belt during the Early-Middle Triassic. Integrating the provenance change and other geological characteristics, we suggest that the initial collision in the eastern Qinling Orogenic Belt occurred in the Early Triassic.

Superhydrophobic Flexible Strain Sensors Constructed Using Nanomaterials: Their Fabrications and Sustainable Applications.

Superhydrophobic flexible strain sensors, which combine superhydrophobic coatings with highly sensitive flexible sensors, significantly enhance sensor performance and expand applications in human motion monitoring. Superhydrophobic coatings provide water repellency, surface self-cleaning, anti-corrosion, and anti-fouling properties for the sensors. Additionally, they enhance equipment durability. At present, many studies on superhydrophobic flexible sensors are still in the early research stage; the wear resistance and stability of sensors are far from reaching the level of industrial application. This paper discusses fundamental theories such as the wetting mechanism, tunneling effect, and percolation theory of superhydrophobic flexible sensors. Additionally, it reviews commonly used construction materials and principles of these sensors. This paper discusses the common preparation methods for superhydrophobic flexible sensors and summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each method to identify the most suitable approach. Additionally, this paper summarizes the wide-ranging applications of the superhydrophobic flexible sensor in medical health, human motion monitoring, anti-electromagnetic interference, and de-icing/anti-icing, offering insights into these fields.

Vapor-etching honeycomb-like zinc plating layer for constructing anti-corrosion lubricant-infused surfaces.

Introduction: Biomimetic lubricant-infused porous surfaces are developed and applied for omniphobicity and corrosion protection, which exhibit great advantages compared to superhydrophobic surfaces. Methods: Herein, superhydrophobic Fe@E-Zn@PFOA was prepared via the electrodeposition of laminated Zinc coating, further vapor etching, and post-modification with perfluoro caprylic acid. The facile, inexpensive, and environment-friendly water vapor etching process can form a porous honeycomb-like structure. Moreover, the perfluoropolyether lubricant was wicked into the porous and superhydrophobic surfaces, obtaining lubricant-infused surfaces of Fe@E-Zn@PFOA@PFPE. Results and discussion: The influences of the textured roughness and chemical composition on the surface wettability were systematically investigated. The Fe@E-Zn@PFOA@PFPE performs omniphobicity with small sliding angles and superior corrosion resistance compared with the superhydrophobic surface, owing to their multiple barriers, including infused lubricant, hydrophobic monolayers, and compact Zn electroplating coating. Thus, the proposed lubricant-infused surface may provide insights into constructing protective coatings for the potential applications of engineering metal materials.

Cartilage-inspired terpolymer hydrogel with excellent mechanical properties and superior lubricating ability.

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common degenerative joint disorder, seriously affects patients' daily activities. Recently, hydrogels, due to their similar structure to articular cartilage, have shown great potential as cartilage-repairing materials. In the present work, we developed a simple process for fabricating terpolymer [P(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid-co-2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid)/Fe3+] hydrogel [P(AAm-co-AAc-co-AMPS)/Fe3+]. The content of AMPS was found to show a crucial effect on the mechanical and tribological performance of the terpolymer hydrogel. When the content of AMPS was 0.45 mol L-1, the compressive strength, modulus, and friction coefficient of the terpolymer hydrogel were 66.60 ± 1.79 MPa, 2.10 ± 0.16 MPa, and 0.032, respectively. In addition, the hydrogel showed high wear durability and the friction coefficient was as low as 0.038 after 3.6 × 105 sliding cycles.

Relationship between denitrification and anammox rates and N2 production with substrate consumption and pH in a riparian zone.

Denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) are the key processes to quantitatively remove nitrate (NO3-) and balance the nitrogen (N) budget of the ecosystem. In this paper, a slurry-based 15N tracer approach was used to study the correlation and quantitative relation of substrate consumption and pH with rates of denitrification and anammox in a riparian zone. The results showed that the fastest rates of 0.93 µg N h-1 and 0.32 µg N h-1 for denitrification (Denitrif-N2) and anammox (Denitrif-N2), respectively. N2 produced by denitrification occupied 74.04% and produced by anammox occupied 25.96% of the total N2, proving denitrification is the dominant process to remove NO3-. The substrate content (NO3-, NH4+ and TOC) and pH varied during incubation and were significantly correlated with Dentrif-N2 and Anammox-N2. Nitrate and TOC as the substrates of denitrification demonstrated a significant correlation with Anammox-N2, which was associated with the products of denitrification involved in the anammox process. This proved a coupling of denitrification and anammox. A quantitative relationship was observed between Dentrif-N2 and Anammox-N2 in the range of 2.75-2.90 when TOC, NH4+ and NO3- consumption per unit mass or pH changed per unit. Nitrogen mass balance analysis showed that 1 mg N substrate (NO3-+NH4+) consumption in the denitrification and anammox can produce 1.05 mg N2 with a good linear relationship (r2 = 0.9334). This could be related to other processes that produced extra N2 in denitrification and anammox system.

Interactions between zein and anthocyanins at different pH: Structural characterization, binding mechanism and stability.

Zein-anthocyanin nanoparticles (ZACNPs) at different pH values were successfully developed to stabilize anthocyanins based on the self-assembly properties of zein. The structural characterization by the Fourier infrared spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and molecular docking analysis showed that the interactions between anthocyanins and zein were driven by the hydrogen bonds formed between the hydroxyl and carbonyl oxygen groups on anthocyanin glycoside groups and the amino acid residues (glutamine and serine), as well as the hydrophobic interactions from the A or B ring of anthocyanins and the amino acid residues of zein. The binding energy of zein to two anthocyanin monomers cyanidin 3-O-glucoside and delphinidin 3-O-glucoside was 8.2 and 7.4 kcal/mol. Further property examinations of ZACNPs showed that the thermal stability of anthocyanins at a ratio of zein:ACN = 1:0.3 was improved by 56.64 % (90 °C, 2 h), and the storage stability increased by up to 31.11 % at pH 2. In addition, the antioxidant activity of ZACNPs (zein:ACN = 1:0.3) was significantly enhanced, and the DPPH, ABTS radical scavenging activities, FRAP and ORAC value reached 87.73 %, 87.89 %, 435.5 µg/mL, 90.58 µmol/mL at pH 4, respectively. These results suggested that combining zein to anthocyanins is a feasible method to stabilize anthocyanins.

Validation of Layer-By-Layer Coating as a Procedure to Enhance Lactobacillus plantarum Survival during In Vitro Digestion, Storage, and Fermentation.

Probiotics are sensitive to phenolic antibacterial components and the extremely acidic environment of blueberry juices. Layer-by-layer (LbL) coating using whey protein isolate fibrils (WPIFs) and sodium alginate (ALG), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), or xanthan gum (XG) was developed to improve the survival rate of Lactobacillus plantarum 90 (LP90) in simulated digestion, storage, and fermented blueberry juices. The LbL-coated LP90 remained at 6.65 log CFU/mL after 48 h of fermentation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) indicated that dense and rough wall networks were formed on the surface of LP90, maintaining the integrity of LP90 cells after the coating. Stability evaluation showed that the LbL-coated LP90 had a much higher survival rate in the processes of simulated gastrointestinal digestion and storage. The formation mechanism of the LbL coating process was further explored, which indicated that electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding were involved. The LbL coating approach has great potential to protect and deliver probiotics in food systems.

Development of Zein/tannic acid nanoparticles as antioxidants for oxidation inhibition of blackberry seed oil emulsions.

The zein-tannic acid nanoparticles (ZTNPs) were developed as antioxidants for oxidation inhibition of blackberry seed oils. These particles were spherical with an average diameter below 200 nm. The results of structural characterization indicated that tannic acid was bound to zein by electrostatic, hydrophobic, and hydrogen bonding interactions, resulting in the conformational changes of zein. The antioxidant capacity of zein was significantly improved by binding of tannic acid, which suggested ZTNPs had a 2-Phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-Oxide (PTIO) radical scavenging rate as high as 77.5 % at pH 4. Moreover, ZTNPs at pH 7 exhibited a higher thermal stability and better resistance to emulsion lipid oxidation. They inhibited the formation of ROOH and TBARS of blackberry seed oil emulsions during storage by covering at the oil-water interface with an adsorption rate of approximately 100 %, forming a dense particle film to reduce the oxygen content and prevent the continuation of the oxidation process.

Study on the file management method of data storage system for airborne radar.

In order to solve the problem that the air-to-ground data transfer rate is much lower than the radar data rate, the onboard system is commonly used for storing the airborne radar data. However, there are two main problems in the data storage using the traditional file management method. The first is that the frequent data updating of the file allocation table (FAT) and the file directory table (FDT) cause a high frequency of address jumps among the discontinuous areas, which leads to a long response time. The second is that the updating frequencies of the FAT, the FDT and the data region are seriously inconsistent, which results in uneven wear of the three areas. To solve these two problems, a file management method, which optimizes the data writing in the three areas of the FAT, the FDT and the data region, is proposed in this study. An actual measurement is carried out on a data storage system of the airborne radar using the proposed file management method. The result shows that the proposed method significantly reduces the updating frequency of FAT and FDT, and achieves the wear levelling of file area and data region.

Nano Serpentine Powders as Lubricant Additive: Tribological Behaviors and Self-Repairing Performance on Worn Surface.

Natural serpentine powders are applicable as additives for various lubricating oils. However, no uniform theories explain their tribological performance, lubrication, and wear mechanism, especially their self-repairing mechanism. Herein, the influence of different nano serpentine powders (NSPs) contents in liquid paraffin on the friction and wear characteristics of steel balls and the self-repairing process of NSPs on the worn surface were studied. Results show that the optimal amount of NSPs was 0.5 wt %. Relative to those of the base oil, the friction coefficients and wear spot diameters were reduced by 22.8% and 34.2%, respectively. Moreover, the long-term tribological test shows that the wear scar diameter decreased slightly after 3 h, reaching the state of dynamic balance between wear and repair. The outstanding tribological performance should be attributed to the formed bilayer tribofilm, the first layer of which contains nanoparticles surrounded by lubricants and the second layer of which contains nanoparticles compacted onto the surface of the steel ball.

Effect of substrate preheating treatment on the microstructure and ultrasonic cavitation erosion behavior of plasma-sprayed YSZ coatings.

Inconel 718 was used as the substrate and preheated at different temperatures to deposit yttrium stabilized zirconia (denoted as YSZ) coatings by atmospheric plasma spraying. The microstructure of the as-deposited YSZ coatings and those after cavitation-erosion tests were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and their hardness and toughness as well as cavitation-erosion resistance were evaluated in relation to the effect of substrate preheating temperature. Results indicate that the as-deposited YSZ coatings exhibit typical layered structure and consist of columnar crystals. With the increase of the substrate preheating temperature, the compactness and cohesion strength of coatings are obviously enhanced, which result in the increases in the hardness, elastic modulus and toughness as well as cavitation-erosion resistance of the ceramic coatings therewith. Particularly, the YSZ coating deposited at a substrate preheating temperature of 800 °C exhibits the highest hardness and toughness as well as the strongest lamellar interfacial bonding and cavitation-erosion resistance (its cavitation-erosion life is as much as 8 times than that of deposited at room temperature).

A new methodology to prepare ceramic-organic composite coatings with good cavitation erosion resistance.

A simple, scalable and economical method was proposed to obtain ceramic-organic composite coating with excellent comprehensive properties include hardness, toughness, elastic recovery, lamellar interfacial bonding and anti-cavitation erosion: introducing epoxy resin into the pores and micro-cracks of plasma sprayed ceramic coating. The results indicate that the epoxy resin was successfully penetrated into the whole ceramic coating and filled almost all defects by vacuum impregnation, which greatly enhanced its compactness and mechanical properties. The bonding strength between top coating and metal interlayer significantly increased from 17.3 MPa to 53.0 MPa, and the hardness (H) of top coating greatly increased from 11.07 GPa to 23.57 GPa. Besides, the value of H3/E2 also increased from 0.06 GPa to 0.15 GPa, meaning the toughness of ceramic coating had been obviously improved. The pure ceramic coating had been punctured only after 4 h of cavitation test. However, the resin with high elasticity and toughness can effectively absorb impact energy, prevent cracks propagation and delay splats spallation during the cavitation erosion process. The novel composite coating displayed far better cavitation erosion resistance than pure ceramic coating, and it was still intact after 10 h of test.

Bioinspired Smart Coating with Superior Tribological Performance.

Inspired by the structure of cancellous bone and the nutrition metabolism of articular cartilage, we present a novel concept for a synthetic articular-cartilage-like material. The bioinspired material possesses a low coefficient of friction even under ultrahigh loads and has an extremely long lifetime. Furthermore, the composite shows zero-wear behavior and causes negligible wear damage to the friction pair. The superior tribological performance is attributed to the spontaneously generated articular-cartilage-like layer, which is constantly replenished by frictional heat and pressure. Our findings open a new area for industrial scale engineering applications to improve the friction and wear properties of moving components.