Acupuncture for Pain Management in Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for cancer-related pain. Methods. A systematic review of literatures published from database inception to February 2015 was conducted in eight databases. RCTs involving acupuncture for treatment of cancer-related pain were identified. Two researchers independently performed article selection, data extraction, and quality assessment of data. Results. 1,639 participants in twenty RCTs were analyzed. All selected RCTs were associated with high risk of bias. Meta-analysis indicated that acupuncture alone did not have superior pain-relieving effects as compared with conventional drug therapy. However, as compared with the drug therapy alone, acupuncture plus drug therapy resulted in increased pain remission rate, shorter onset time of pain relief, longer pain-free duration, and better quality of life without serious adverse effects. However, GRADE analysis revealed that the quality of all outcomes about acupuncture plus drug therapy was very low. Conclusions. Acupuncture plus drug therapy is more effective than conventional drug therapy alone for cancer-related pain. However, multicenter high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are needed to provide stronger evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in cancerrelated pain due to the low data quality of the studies included in the current meta-analysis

Segmentation of multi-temporal polarimetric SAR data based on mean-shift and spectral graph partitioning

Abstract Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) image segmentation is a key step in its interpretation. For the targets with time series changes, the single-temporal PolSAR image segmentation algorithm is difficult to provide correct segmentation results for its target recognition, time series analysis and other applications. For this, a new algorithm for multi-temporal PolSAR image segmentation is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the over-segmentation of single-temporal PolSAR images is carried out by the mean-shift algorithm, and the over-segmentation results of single-temporal PolSAR are combined to get the over-segmentation results of multi-temporal PolSAR images. Secondly, the edge detectors are constructed to extract the edge information of single-temporal PolSAR images and fuse them to get the edge fusion results of multi-temporal PolSAR images. Then, the similarity measurement matrix is constructed based on the over-segmentation results and edge fusion results of multi-temporal PolSAR images. Finally, the normalized cut criterion is used to complete the segmentation of multi-temporal PolSAR images. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified based on three temporal PolSAR images of Radarsat-2, and compared with the segmentation algorithm of single-temporal PolSAR image. Experimental results revealed the following findings: (1) The proposed algorithm effectively realizes the segmentation of multi-temporal PolSAR images, and achieves ideal segmentation results. Moreover, the segmentation details are excellent, and the region consistency is good. The objects which can’t be distinguished by the single-temporal PolSAR image segmentation algorithm can be segmented. (2) The segmentation accuracy of the proposed multi-temporal algorithm is up to 86.5%, which is significantly higher than that of the single-temporal PolSAR image segmentation algorithm. In general, the segmentation result of proposed algorithm is closer to the optimal segmentation. The optimal segmentation of farmland parcel objects to meet the needs of agricultural production is realized. This lays a good foundation for the further interpretation of multi-temporal PolSAR image

Acupuncture for Pain Management in Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for cancer-related pain. Methods. A systematic review of literatures published from database inception to February 2015 was conducted in eight databases. RCTs involving acupuncture for treatment of cancer-related pain were identified. Two researchers independently performed article selection, data extraction, and quality assessment of data. Results. 1,639 participants in twenty RCTs were analyzed. All selected RCTs were associated with high risk of bias. Meta-analysis indicated that acupuncture alone did not have superior pain-relieving effects as compared with conventional drug therapy. However, as compared with the drug therapy alone, acupuncture plus drug therapy resulted in increased pain remission rate, shorter onset time of pain relief, longer pain-free duration, and better quality of life without serious adverse effects. However, GRADE analysis revealed that the quality of all outcomes about acupuncture plus drug therapy was very low. Conclusions. Acupuncture plus drug therapy is more effective than conventional drug therapy alone for cancer-related pain. However, multicenter high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are needed to provide stronger evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in cancer-related pain due to the low data quality of the studies included in the current meta-analysis

Improved Recrystallization Resistance of Al–Cu–Li–Zr Alloy through Ce Addition

The effects of the addition of 0.29 wt % Ce on the recrystallization behavior of an Al⁻Cu⁻Li⁻0.13Zr (wt %) alloy during isothermal annealing were investigated. Ce addition greatly improved inhibition of recrystallization in this alloy compared with that in the Ce-free alloy. The texture of the Ce-containing alloy contained a large amount of β-fibers and fibrous unrecrystallized grain microstructures distributed along the rolling direction in the overall annealing process. The improved recrystallization resistance endowed by Ce addition can be attributed to the large number of small Al8Cu4Ce species formed on the grain boundary. These fine particles with high-temperature stability can exert a Zener pressure on the Al3Zr dispersoid-free grain boundary. The yield strength of the Ce-containing alloy increased significantly, to 38 MPa, and the fracture toughness improved by 56.28% compared with those of the Ce-free alloy. This work provides a convenient and economical method for enhancing the overall performance of an Al⁻Cu⁻Li⁻Zr alloy via recrystallization inhibition by Ce addition

Enhancing the Corrosion Resistance and Mechanical Properties of a High-Alloying Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr Alloy by Ce Addition and Aging Treatment

The corrosion resistance (exfoliation corrosion and inter-granular corrosion) and mechanical properties (strength and hardness) of a high-alloying Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr alloy were improved by the synergistic effect of Ce addition and aging treatment. Ce addition promotes the morphology change of grain boundary precipitates from continuous form to discontinuous form at T6 temper. But the Cu content in grain boundary precipitates became much lower than that in Ce-free alloy, owing to a large amount of Cu being trapped in AlCuCe phase. Hence retrogression and re-aging (RRA) treatment were then adopted. The Cu content in grain boundary precipitates was improved, which can be attributed to the removal of Cu from solid solution during high temperature aging and its subsequent incorporation into grain boundary precipitates. In addition, the size and the distribution discontinuity of the grain boundary precipitates can be further increased and the main intra-grain phases of RRA alloy are still fine η′ phase similar to T6 temper. Therefore, the alloy at RRA temper obtains the optimal corrosion resistance without loss of high strength

Size Effects of Closed Encounter Ag Nanoshell Pairs for SERS Application

Closed encounter Ag nanoshell pairs with remarkable improved plasmonic light enhancement in their gaps have been attracting much attention in the production of sensitivity SERS substrates. This work demonstrates the size effects of Ag nanoshell pairs on obtaining higher light intensity in their gaps. It is found that very complex light intensity changes occur in the gaps of Ag nanoshell pairs with their diameter enlargements (diameters>100 nm). By the calculation of scattering efficiency and electric field vectors, the size-related light intensity changes in the gaps have been revealed and been concluded systematically. This work fills in the gaps of application of nanoshell pairs with larger sizes in SERS detectors and could guide the design of some other Ag nanoshell pair-based optical devices

Tunable plasmon resonances of Ag nanoparticles obtained by photoelectric modification under room temperature

Stretched Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been obtained by photoelectric modification with room temperature. Significant elongation occurs on partial AgNPs with diameters ranging from 50 to 120 nm. For AgNPs with diameters larger than 120 nm, protuberances with sizes about 10 nm have been observed after photoelectric modification. Simulations based on finite difference time domain method have been used to reveal the process of the photoelectric modification. Such morphology changes of AgNPs can be attributed to the plasmonic phase transition and electric induced migration of Ag atoms at AgNPs surfaces. Due to the stretching of AgNPs, tunable plasmon resonances in visible spectrum have been obtained. This work could provide a new technology for the metallic nanostructure modification under low temperature