Amide Proton Transfer Weighted and Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Imaging in Evaluation of Prognostic Factors for Rectal Adenocarcinoma

ObjectivesTo analyze the value of amide proton transfer (APT) weighted and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging in evaluation of prognostic factors for rectal adenocarcinoma, compared with diffusion weighted imaging (DWI).Materials and MethodsPreoperative pelvic MRI data of 110 patients with surgical pathologically confirmed diagnosis of rectal adenocarcinoma were retrospectively evaluated. All patients underwent high-resolution T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), APT, IVIM, and DWI. Parameters including APT signal intensity (APT SI), pure diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo-diffusion coefficient (D*), perfusion fraction (f), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were measured in different histopathologic types, grades, stages, and structure invasion statuses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy, and the corresponding area under the curves (AUCs) were calculated.ResultsAPT SI, D and ADC values of rectal mucinous adenocarcinoma (MC) were significantly higher than those of rectal common adenocarcinoma (AC) ([3.192 ± 0.661%] vs. [2.333 ± 0.471%], [1.153 ± 0.238×10-3 mm2/s] vs. [0.792 ± 0.173×10-3 mm2/s], and [1.535 ± 0.203×10-3 mm2/s] vs. [0.986 ± 0.124×10-3 mm2/s], respectively; all P<0.001). In AC group, the APT SI and D values showed significant differences between low- and high-grade tumors ([2.226 ± 0.347%] vs. [2.668 ± 0.638%], and [0.842 ± 0.148×10-3 mm2/s] vs. [0.777 ± 0.178×10-3 mm2/s], respectively, both P<0.05). The D value had significant difference between positive and negative extramural vascular invasion (EMVI) tumors ([0.771 ± 0.175×10-3 mm2/s] vs. [0.858 ± 0.151×10-3 mm2/s], P<0.05). No significant difference of APT SI, D, D*, f or ADC was observed in different T stages, N stages, perineural and lymphovascular invasions (all P>0.05). The ROC curves showed that the AUCs of APT SI, D and ADC values for distinguishing MC from AC were 0.921, 0.893 and 0.995, respectively. The AUCs of APT SI and D values in distinguishing low- from high-grade AC were 0.737 and 0.663, respectively. The AUC of the D value for evaluating EMVI involvement was 0.646.ConclusionAPT and IVIM were helpful to assess the prognostic factors related to rectal adenocarcinoma, including histopathological type, tumor grade and the EMVI status.

On the Use of Carbon Cables from Plastic Solvent Combinations of Polystyrene and Toluene in Carbon Nanotube Synthesis

For every three people on the planet, there are approximately two Tonnes (Te) of plastic waste. We show that carbon recovery from polystyrene (PS) plastic is enhanced by the coaddition of solvents to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by liquid injection chemical vapour deposition. Polystyrene was loaded up to 4 wt% in toluene and heated to 780 °C in the presence of a ferrocene catalyst and a hydrogen/argon carrier gas at a 1:19 ratio. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Raman spectroscopy were used to identify multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The PS addition in the range from 0 to 4 wt% showed improved quality and CNT homogeneity; Raman “Graphitic/Defective” (G/D) values increased from 1.9 to 2.3; mean CNT diameters increased from 43.0 to 49.2 nm; and maximum CNT yield increased from 11.37% to 14.31%. Since both the CNT diameters and the percentage yield increased following the addition of polystyrene, we conclude that carbon from PS contributes to the carbon within the MWCNTs. The electrical contact resistance of acid-washed Bucky papers produced from each loading ranged from 2.2 to 4.4 Ohm, with no direct correlation to PS loading. Due to this narrow range, materials with different loadings were mixed to create the six wires of an Ethernet cable and tested using iPerf3; the cable achieved up- and down- link speeds of ~99.5 Mbps, i.e., comparable to Cu wire with the same dimensions (~99.5 Mbps). The lifecycle assessment (LCA) of CNT wire production was compared to copper wire production for a use case in a Boeing 747-400 over the lifespan of the aircraft. Due to their lightweight nature, the CNT wires decreased the CO2 footprint by 21 kTonnes (kTe) over the aircraft’s lifespan.

Investigation on the Prediction of Cardiovascular Events Based on Multi-Scale Time Irreversibility Analysis

Investigation of the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) plays an important part in the prevention and treatment of CVD. This study investigated whether alteration in the multi-scale time irreversibility of sleeping heart rate variability (HRV) was a risk factor for cardiovascular events. The D-value, based on analysis of multi-scale increments in HRV series, was used as the measurement of time irreversibility. Eighty-four subjects from an open-access database (i.e., the Sleep Heart Health Study) were included in this study. None of them had any CVD history at baseline; 42 subjects had cardiovascular events within 1 year after baseline polysomnography and were classed as the CVD group, and the other 42 subjects in the non-CVD group were age matched with those in the CVD group and had no cardiovascular events during the 15-year follow-up period. We compared D-values of sleeping HRV between the CVD and non-CVD groups and found that the D-values of the CVD group were significantly lower than those of the non-CVD group on all 10 scales, even after adjusting for gender and body mass index. Moreover, we investigated the performance of a machine learning model to classify CVD and non-CVD subjects. The model, which was fed with a feature space based on the D-values on 10 scales and trained by a random forest algorithm, achieved an accuracy of 80.8% and a positive prediction rate of 86.7%. These results suggest that the decreased time irreversibility of sleeping HRV is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events that could be used to assist the intelligent prediction of cardiovascular events.

Influence of Halide Substitution and External Stimuli on Ion Transport in Inverted MAPb(I1-xBrx)3 Perovskite Solar Cells

The coupled electronic-ionic response in various MAPb(I1-xBrx)3-based inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is studied in-operando by impedance spectroscopy (IS) under varied AM1.5G light intensities and electrical biases. We show that the concentration of Br- in the composition significantly alters the capacitance and resistive response of the PSC under external stimuli. For example, we observed that the low frequency capacitance does not increase proportionally with light intensity, instead it is highly dependent on the amount of Br- in the composition. We found that the recombination resistance (Rrec) has a linear inverse relationship with light intensity in MAPbI3 and MAPbBr3 whereas, the mixed compositions show deviation. Interestingly, the deviation of Rrec from linearity also scales with the increase in Br- concentration. Upon applying an electrical bias, a large deviation of Rrec from linearity was observed all mixed halide compositions exhibited a non-linear inverse trend. We further report the diffusion coefficient (D) for each MAPb(I1-xBrx)3 composition under different light intensity. Notably, the D values decreased on changing the composition from MAPbI3 (10-7 cm2 s-1) to MAPb(I0.8Br0.2)3 and MAPbBr3 (10-8 cm2 s-1). On the other hand, mixed compositions containing more than 20% Br- concentration show faster diffusion kinetics. Overall, our results emphasize on the complex and intertwined nature of electronic and ionic response in PSC that is tunable by changing the halide composition.

Structural, Optical, and Optoelectrical Studies of Spray Pyrolyzed CuGaSnS4 Thin Films

We deposited CuGaSnS4 thin films on soda-lima glass substrates via a spray pyrolysis process. The X-ray diffraction of CuGaSnS4 films established the formation of an orthorhombic single phase. In addition, the structural parameters of the CuGaSnS4 films were estimated by Debye-Scherer’s formulas, which showed that an enhancement in crystallite size (D) values occurred by increasing the thickness of the investigated films. The EDAX pattern of CuGaSnS4 films confirms a stoichiometric composition. The optical results revealed that the CuGaSnS4 films possessed a direct optical energy gap (Eg). The Eg values were reduced from 1.50 to 1.38 eV with the increase in thickness. Also, there was an observed increase in the linear refractive index and the linear absorption coefficient values occurred due to the increased thickness. Finally, the optoelectrical constants of the sprayed CuGaSnS4 films such as the optical conductivity (σopt) and the optical free carrier concentration to effective mass (N_opt/m^* ) were enlarged with increasing film thickness. The nonlinear optical study showed that the increase in film thickness enhanced the nonlinear optical constants of CuGaSnS4 films. The hot-probe procedure shows that the sprayed CuGaSnS4 films expose p-type conductivity.

Toothbrush-Dentifrice Abrasion of Dental Sealants: An In Vitro Study

Objective This study sought to investigate the toothbrush-dentifrice abrasion of dental sealants. Materials and Methods Weight loss (∆W) and depth loss (∆D) were used as abrasion indicators. Sealant samples from nine products were soaked in dentifrice slurry and abraded by using a toothbrushing machine with a brushing force of 300 g. The mean percentages of ∆W and mean values of ∆D after 24,000 and 48,000 strokes of brushing were compared by using paired t-test. A comparison of these mean values among sealant products was performed by using one-way ANOVA and multiple comparison analysis (Scheffe's test). Results Abrasive wear was observed in all sealants. Teethmate F-1 (Kuraray Noritake, Tokyo, Japan)—a fluoride-releasing unfilled sealant—exhibited the maximum abrasive wear, with ∆W and ∆D values of 1.14% ± 0.37% and 12.84 ± 4.28 µm, respectively. Delton (Dentsply Sirona, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States), a light-cured unfilled sealant, showed the minimum abrasive wear, with ∆W and ∆D values of 0.41% ± 0.09% and 2.93 ± 1.23 µm, respectively. No statistical differences were observed among unfilled sealants except when compared with Teethmate F-1. Similarly, no differences were observed when comparing among filled sealants and flowable composite. Conclusion Abrasive wear occurred in all sealants after brushing with dentifrice. Almost all unfilled sealants showed less wear compared with both filled sealants and flowable composite. However, the low abrasive values of all sealants after brushing with dentifrice implied that there is no clinical significance to this finding.

Inactivation of Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes in Tahini by Microwave Heating

Tahini (sesame paste) is a traditional food. Numerous foodborne outbreaks have been associated with it. This study aimed to (i) explore the efficiency of 2450 MHz microwave heating at 220, 330, 440, 550, and 660 W on the inactivation of Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes in tahini; (ii) determine the impact of desiccation and starvation stresses on pathogen survival; (iii) assess the impact of microwave heating on the physicochemical characteristics of tahini. The inoculated microorganisms in tahini were reduced with higher microwave power levels (p < 0.05) and longer exposure times. The D-values of unstressed Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, and L. monocytogenes ranged from 6.18 to 0.50 min, 6.08 to 0.50 min, and 4.69 to 0.48 min, respectively, at power levels of 220 to 660 W, with z-values of 410, 440, and 460 W, respectively. Generally, desiccation and starvation stress levels prior to heating increased microbial resistance to heat treatment. Microwave heating did not affect acid, peroxide, p-anisidine, or color values of tahini up to 90 °C. These findings reveal microwave heating as a potential method for lowering the risk of Salmonella spp., E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes in tahini with no compromise on quality.

Influence of Heating and Sodium Acidic Polyphosphate on Inhibition of Salmonella Enteritidis and Lactobacillus Rhamnosus in Pomelo Juice

The research focused on the heat resistance of Salmonella Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) and Lactobacillus rhamnosus (L. rhamnosus) in pomelo juice. Sodium acidic polyphosphate was used to enhance the inhibition of these bacteria in heat treatment of pomelo juice. Temperature increased from 52 to 58°C, D-values of S. Enteritidis decreased from 1.94 to 0.15 min. With L. rhamnosus, D value reduced from 0.15 to 0.72 min when the temperature increased from 60 to 75°C. Z values of L. rhamnosus and S. Enteritidis were 16.31 and 5.37°C, respectively. It means that heat resistance of L. rhamnosus is more than that of S. Enteritidis. Adding 0.1% of sodium acidic polyphosphate significantly enhanced the inhibition of S. Enteritidis and L. rhamnosus in the heating treatment of pomelo juice. The result can be applied for pasteurization of pomelo juice.