A 10-year Follow-up of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Patients in Taiwan

This study aimed to investigate whether triple-negative breast cancer has a worse prognosis; here, we present the 10-year follow-up results of triple-negative breast cancer patients in Taiwan. We identified 2858 breast cancer patients in Taiwan, of whom 416 (14.6) had triple-negative breast cancer. Data used for analysis were derived from those breast cancer patients who were diagnosed between January 1996 and December 2006. In the KaplanMeier analysis, tumor subgroup (triple-negative breast cancer vs. non-triple-negative breast cancer) was a prognostic factor related to 10-year breast cancer death-specific survival and disease-free survival. The results of univariate analysis showed that tumor subgroup was a significant factor related to 10-year disease-free survival and breast cancer death-specific survival, as well as menopausal status, tumor size, lymph node, metastasis, grade, stage, estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status and her2/neu gene expression status. Similarly, the multivariate analysis also revealed that tumor subgroup was a significant factor related to 10-year breast cancer death-specific survival and disease-free survival, in addition to tumor size, lymph node, metastasis and grade. It was suggested that triple-negative breast cancer patients in Taiwan have worse 10-year survival. Notably, in node-positive patients, triple-negative breast cancer played a prognostic role in 10-year breast cancer death-specific survival

Long‐term effects of short planning horizons for inventory routing problems

This paper presents a detailed study concerning the importance of the planning horizon when solving inventory routing problems (IRPs). We evaluate the quality of decisions obtained by solving a finite-horizon IRP. We also discuss the relevance of explicitly considering profit maximization models rather than the traditional cost minimization variant. As a means to this end, we describe four classes of the IRP corresponding to different types of markets. Two of them lead to nonlinear models, which are linearized. Furthermore, we provide a deterministic simulator to evaluate the long-term effects arising from using planning horizons of varying lengths when solving the IRP. A computational study is performed on cases generated from benchmark data instances. The results confirm that the long-term performance of the IRP decisions is, in part, contingent on the length of the selected planning horizon. They also show that considering profit maximization instead of cost minimization leads to different decisions, generating considerably more revenue and profits, albeit not nearly as much as suggested by individual solutions to static IRPs with short planning horizons. Keywords: profit maximization, path flow, linearization, end effect, simulatio

Assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction after myocardial infarction using contrast echocardiography

Aims: Despite its relatively high intra- and inter-observer variability for left ventricular ejection fraction (LV-EF) echocardiography is clinically still the most used modality to assess LV-EF. We studied whether adding a second-generation microbubble contrast agent could decrease this variability. Methods and results: Forty-eight patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography in second-harmonic mode (SHI) with and without contrast within 5 days after an acute myocardial infarction. LV-EF was determined using the Simpson's biplane method. With contrast intra-observer variability decreased from 12.5 ± 11.5% to 7.0 ± 7.0% (P < 0.001) and inter-observer variability decreased from 16.9 ± 9.9% to 7.0 ± 6.2% (P < 0.001). Bland-Altman analysis confirmed these findings by demonstrating smaller 95% limits of agreement for both the intra- and inter-observer variability when contrast was used. This improvement in intra- and inter-observer variability was seen to a comparable extent in patients with moderate-to-poor and good quality SHI echocardiograms. Conclusion: Echo contrast significantly improves intra- and inter-observer variability for LV-EF, both in patients with moderate-to-poor and good quality SHI echocardiograms

Study on NO(2) absorption by ascorbic acid and various chemicals

Study on NO(2) absorption aimed at seeking a better NO(2) absorption chemical at pH 4.5~7.0 for application to existing wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD). The results from the double-stirred reactor indicated that ascorbic acid has very high absorption rate at this pH range. The rate constant of ascorbic acid reaction with NO(2) (0~1000×10(−6) mol/mol) is about 3.54×10(6) mol/(L·s) at pH 5.4~6.5 at 55 °C

Nanoscratch behavior of multi-layered films using molecular dynamics

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the plastic deformation, stress and chip formation of scratched multi-layered films. The results showed that stick–slip and work-hardening behaviors were observed during the scratching process. There was a pile-up of amorphous disordered debris atoms and shear rupture ahead of the probe and a clear side-flow on the lateral sides of the probe when the probe moved forward. Both the plastic energy and the adhesion increased with an increase in the scratching depth. The glide band of the interface was on the {111}?110? slip system with a maximum width of the glide band of about 1 nm. The strain energy stored in the deformed structure caused a higher stress region in the material in front of the tool edge, with a maximum stress of about 10 GPa. In addition, the mechanical response and thermal softness phenomenon are discusse