Adjuvant Chemotherapy Versus Adjuvant Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy After Radical Surgery for Early-Stage Cervical Cancer: A Randomized, Non-Inferiority, Multicenter Trial

We conducted a prospective study to assess the non-inferiority of adjuvant chemotherapy alone versus adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) as an alternative strategy for patients with early-stage (FIGO 2009 stage IB-IIA) cervical cancer having risk factors after surgery. The condition was assessed in terms of prognosis, adverse effects, and quality of life. This randomized trial involved nine centers across China. Eligible patients were randomized to receive adjuvant chemotherapy or CCRT after surgery. The primary end-point was progression-free survival (PFS). From December 2012 to December 2014, 337 patients were subjected to randomization. Final analysis included 329 patients, including 165 in the adjuvant chemotherapy group and 164 in the adjuvant CCRT group. The median follow-up was 72.1 months. The three-year PFS rates were both 91.9%, and the five-year OS was 90.6% versus 90.0% in adjuvant chemotherapy and CCRT groups, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the PFS or OS between groups. The adjusted HR for PFS was 0.854 (95% confidence interval 0.415-1.757; P = 0.667) favoring adjuvant chemotherapy, excluding the predefined non-inferiority boundary of 1.9. The chemotherapy group showed a tendency toward good quality of life. In comparison with post-operative adjuvant CCRT, adjuvant chemotherapy treatment showed non-inferior efficacy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer having pathological risk factors. Adjuvant chemotherapy alone is a favorable alternative post-operative treatment

Indeksi za vrednotenje zmogljivosti prenosa sile in omejitev pri paralelnih mehanizmih

The force transmission and constraint ability significantly influence the performance of parallel mechanisms (PMs), such as force dexterity, overall rigidity and accuracy. The transmission wrench screw (TWS) transmits the force between the actuator and end-effector, and the constraint wrench screw (CWS) resists structural deformations. They significantly influence the manipulability to transmit force and the consistency to resist deformations. In this study, two new indices are proposed to evaluate their manipulability and consistency. The indices are notable for their unit homogeneity, frame independence, and measurement facility without interference. By taking three PMs with different mobility properties as examples, the effectiveness of the two indices for evaluating the manipulability to transmit force and the consistency to resist deformations is verified. Based on the indices, the configuration of a 3-CRU (C a cylindrical joint, R a revolute joint, and U a universal joint) PM with optimal force transmission and constraint ability is constructed

Mechanism of the Glutathione Persulfide Oxidation Process Catalyzed by Ethylmalonic Encephalopathy Protein 1

Ethylmalonic encephalopathy protein 1 (ETHE1) is a β-lactamase fold-containing protein, which is related to the increased cellular levels of hydrogen sulfide. ETHE1 is essential for the survival of a range of organisms and catalyzes the oxidation of glutathione persulfide (GSSH). Currently, the catalytic mechanism of ETHE1 still remains unclear, despite a catalytic cycle that has been suggested from the crystal structure and a proposal for the mechanistically related cysteine dioxygenase (CDO). In this Article, we performed a series of quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) calculations on the substrate GSSH oxidation by human ETHE1. Our calculation results reveal that the ground state of the iron­(II)-superoxo reactant is quintet, which can be described as GSS^+•–Fe­(II)–O₂^•, and the most feasible reaction channel was found to start from the cleavage of dioxygen and a concerted attack of distal oxygen on the sulfur atom of the substrate, forming the metal-bound activated oxygen and a sulfite intermediate. Moreover, the reaction starts from a quintet ground-state reactant, undergoes a triplet intermediate, and finally generates the septet product rather than the reaction of CDO, which starts from a singlet–quintet crossing

The formation of η-Ni3Ti phase microstructure in a cast nickel-based superalloy with high Ti/Al ratio

By over-aging at 900 °C and 1000 °C, a high volume-fraction of η-Ni3Ti phase was prepared in a cast nickel-based superalloy with high Ti/Al ratio. EBSD analysis shows that the η phase obeys a SN-type orientation relationship with γ matrix: η//γ, {0001}η//{111}γ. Four kinds of η phase variants with a 70.5° misorientation to each other are clarified. From the η/γ interface structure as detected by HRTEM, the thin plate-like morphology of η phase is attributed to the preferential growth of the incoherent {11 2‾ 0}η//{1 1‾ 0}γ interface. The formation of η phase at the grain boundary (GB) was by a discontinuous precipitation reaction, during which the original GB migrates from the η-nucleating side into the adjacent grain following the elongation of η phase to form a cellular structure. The detailed GB migration mechanism is investigated by EBSD and rationalized from the aspect of interface energy. For the formation of η phase in grain interior, three relative reactions are clarified: (i) MC+γ→M23C6+OA-γ′, OA-γ′→η, (ii) γ→M23C6+OA-γ′, OA-γ′→η, and (iii) γ′→OA-γ′, OA-γ′→η, where OA-γ′ is the newly precipitated γ′ phase during over-aging which shares a similar elemental distribution with η. The intermediate phase OA-γ′ is formed due to the comparably low nucleation barrier from γ while its subsequent transformation to η is excited by the higher thermodynamic stability of η as revealed by the calculation results by using the VASP software. At last, as conformed by STEM-HAADF, the structure transformation of OA-γ′→η is aided by the introduce of superlattice intrinsic stacking faults

Distribution characteristics of pulverized coal and stress–gas pressure–temperature response laws in coal and gas outburst under deep mining conditions

Abstract Deep mining will increase the likelihood of coal and gas outburst accidents and do harm to the safety of coal mining. In this study, a coal and gas outburst experiment under deep high‐stress conditions was carried out and stress–gas pressure–temperature response laws in coal and rock surrounding the burst hole were evaluated. The experimental results showed that the stress response around the burst hole was intense and stress variation decreased as distance from the position to burst port increased. The gas pressure in the coal decreased sharply and oscillated several times during the burst process. The maximum rebound range was 0.05 MPa during this process. The decreasing rate of gas pressure reduced with the increase of the position‐burst port distance. The temperature response near the burst port was stronger than peripheral area. The gas internal energy was still the main energy source of coal and gas outbursts, accounting for 75% of the total energy, and played a key role in the burst process. The contribution of elastic potential energy was 22% under deep high‐stress conditions in this study. Based on the analysis of burst energy, the gas and stress were key factors of an outburst

Developing Predictive Models for Carrying Ability of Micro-Plastics towards Organic Pollutants

Microplastics, which have been frequently detected worldwide, are strong adsorbents for organic pollutants and may alter their environmental behavior and toxicity in the environment. To completely state the risk of microplastics and their coexisting organics, the adsorption behavior of microplastics is a critical issue that needs to be clarified. Thus, the microplastic/water partition coefficient (log Kd) of organics was investigated by in silico method here. Five log Kd predictive models were developed for the partition of organics in polyethylene/seawater, polyethylene/freshwater, polyethylene/pure water, polypropylene/seawater, and polystyrene/seawater. The statistical results indicate that the established models have good robustness and predictive ability. Analyzing the descriptors selected by different models finds that hydrophobic interaction is the main adsorption mechanism, and π−π interaction also plays a crucial role for the microplastics containing benzene rings. Hydrogen bond basicity and cavity formation energy of compounds can determine their partition tendency. The distinct crystallinity and aromaticity make different microplastics exhibit disparate adsorption carrying ability. Environmental medium with high salinity can enhance the adsorption of organics and microplastics by increasing their induced dipole effect. The models developed in this study can not only be used to estimate the log Kd values, but also provide some necessary mechanism information for the further risk studies of microplastics

Effects of sulfur fertilization and short-term high temperature on wheat grain production and wheat flour proteins

The content of wheat flour proteins affects the quality of wheat flour. Sulfur nutrition in wheat can change the protein content of the flour. The inconsistency and instability of wheat grain quality during grain filling under high temperature stress (HTS) are a major challenge to the production of high-quality wheat. The effects of sulfur fertilization and HTS on wheat flour protein and its components are unknown. In this study, treatments varying two factors: sulfur fertilization and exposure to short-term HTS, at 20 days post-anthesis, were applied to two wheat cultivars with differing gluten types. Plants of a strong-gluten wheat (Gaoyou 2018) and a medium-gluten wheat (Zhongmai 8) were grown in pots in Beijing in 2015–2017. HTS significantly increased the contents of total protein, albumin, gliadin, glutenin, Cys, and Met in wheat kernels, but reduced grain yield, grain weight, protein yield, globulin content, and total starch accumulation. The HTS-induced increase in total protein amount was closely associated with nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS) activities in flag leaves. Sulfur fertilization increased grain and protein yields; grain weight; total protein, albumin, gliadin, glutenin, and globulin contents; protein yield; total starch; Cys, Met; and NR and GS activities. HTS and sulfur fertilization had larger effects on the strong- than on the medium-gluten cultivar. Sulfur fertilization also alleviated the negative effects of HTS on grain yield, protein yield, and starch content. Thus, growing wheat with additional soil sulfur can improve the quality of the flour. Keywords: Triticum aestivum L., Sulfur fertilization, Strong gluten, Climate warmin

Numerical Simulation Study on the Multi-Physical Field Response to Underground Coal and Gas Outburst under High Geo-Stress Conditions

Based on thermal–fluid–solid coupling law in coal and gas outburst, a multi-physical field numerical analysis model is built for the whole outburst process. The response laws of stress, gas pressure, temperature, and seepage in different areas and different time nodes around coal and rock mass in the coal and gas outburst under high stress condition are discussed. Research results show: Firstly, the stress response law of the coal and rock mass around the burst hole is initial vibration–sudden attenuation–late stability. Secondly, the gas pressure response law in different areas is that the gas pressure response rate decreases gradually with the increase of the distance from the outburst. Thirdly, the adsorbed gas contained in the broken coal near the outburst port is desorbed rapidly and expands to do work, and the temperature changes dramatically after outburst occurs. In contrast, with the increase of stress, the proportion of elastic potential in total coal and gas outburst energy increases, and the proportion of elastic potential is positively correlated with stress. The critical gas pressure under the energy condition of coal and gas outburst decreases with the increase of stress. It illustrates that the lower gas pressure can also meet the energy condition of coal and gas outburst under high stress

Numerical Simulation Study on the Multi-Physical Field Response to Underground Coal and Gas Outburst under High Geo-Stress Conditions

Based on thermal–fluid–solid coupling law in coal and gas outburst, a multi-physical field numerical analysis model is built for the whole outburst process. The response laws of stress, gas pressure, temperature, and seepage in different areas and different time nodes around coal and rock mass in the coal and gas outburst under high stress condition are discussed. Research results show: Firstly, the stress response law of the coal and rock mass around the burst hole is initial vibration–sudden attenuation–late stability. Secondly, the gas pressure response law in different areas is that the gas pressure response rate decreases gradually with the increase of the distance from the outburst. Thirdly, the adsorbed gas contained in the broken coal near the outburst port is desorbed rapidly and expands to do work, and the temperature changes dramatically after outburst occurs. In contrast, with the increase of stress, the proportion of elastic potential in total coal and gas outburst energy increases, and the proportion of elastic potential is positively correlated with stress. The critical gas pressure under the energy condition of coal and gas outburst decreases with the increase of stress. It illustrates that the lower gas pressure can also meet the energy condition of coal and gas outburst under high stress