Intratreatment Tumor Volume Change During Definitive Chemoradiotherapy is Predictive for Treatment Outcome of Patients with Esophageal Carcinoma

Background: This study aimed to assess the predictive value of tumor volume changes of esophagus evaluated by serial computed tomography (CT) scans before, during, and after radical chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for treatment outcomes in patients with esophageal cancer (EC). Methods: Fifty-three patients with histologically confirmed EC were included for analysis. Gross tumor volume of esophagus (GTVe) was manually contoured on the CT images before treatment, at a twentieth fraction of radiotherapy, at completion of CRT and three months after treatment. GTVe reduction ratio (RR) was calculated to reveal changes of tumor volume by time. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to estimate survival and for univariate analysis. The Cox regression model was performed for multivariate analysis. Results: Predominant reduction of GTVe was observed during the first 20 fractions of radiotherapy. Age, pretreatment GTVe, GTVe three months after treatment and GTVe RR at twentieth fraction of radiotherapy were all significantly associated with overall survival (OS) in a univariate analysis. Gender was correlated with locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS) in univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that GTVe ≤20 cc, GTVe RR at twentieth fraction of radiotherapy ≥35% were positive predictive factors of OS and pretreatment GTVe ≤20 cc was prognostic for a favorable LRRFS. Conclusion: Pretreatment tumor volume and intratreatment volume reduction ratio are reliable prognostic factors for esophageal cancer treated with definitive CRT

Numerical investigation of seismic behaviour of railway embankments in cold regions

U ovom radu provedene su iscrpne rasprave i analize primjenom numeričkih tehnika, a s ciljem da se posve ispita seizmičko ponašanje željezničkog nasipa Qinghai-Tibet. Točnije, provedena je analiza jednodimenzionalnog ekvivalentnog linearnog odziva tla u područjima permafrosta. Na temelju toga, seizmički odziv tipičnog željezničkog nasipa dalje se ispitao nelinearnim dinamičkim proračunom metodom konačnih elemenata. To je rezultiralo određivanjem nelinearnog ponašanja tla na području permafrosta (stalno smrznuto tlo), a raspravljalo se o dinamičkom ubrzanju, brzini i pomaku nasipa te se predvidjela približna kvantitativna ocjena. Rezultati upućuju na to da dinamički odziv nasipa ima izrazito nelinearna svojstva. Koeficijent vršnog ubrzanja tla na kruni nasipa veći je nego na prirodnoj površini tla, a označava povećanje od 73 % u odnosu na koeficijent na prirodnoj površini tla. Kada seizmički intenzitet postigne određenu vrijednost, područje plastičnosti postupno se pojavljivalo na nasipu, a postoji i kontinuirano proširenje područja plastičnosti koje je povezano s povećanjem vršnog ubrzanja ulaznog seizmičkog vala. Rezultati istraživanja mogu dati uvide i imati značajne implikacije za daljnje istraživanje hladnih područja.To investigate more fully seismic behaviour of the Qinghai-Tibet railway embankment, a comprehensive discussion and a781nalysis is conducted in this paper by applying a numerical technique. Specifically, the one dimensional equivalent linear ground response analysis was conducted in permafrost regions. On this basis, the seismic response of a typical railway embankment was further studied by applying the nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis method. As a result, nonlinear behaviour of permafrost sites was determined, and the dynamic acceleration, velocity and displacement of the embankment was discussed and the quantitative assessment was approximately estimated. The results indicate that the dynamic response of the embankment has distinct nonlinear characteristics. The peak ground acceleration coefficient at the embankment shoulder is larger than the natural ground surface, marking a 73% increase compared to the coefficient on the natural ground surface. When the seismic intensity reaches a certain value, a plastic zone gradually appears in the embankment, and a continuous extension of the plastic zone can be noted with an increase in peak acceleration of the input seismic wave. The findings of this research may provide an additional insight and have significant implications for further research of cold regions

Phononic real Chern insulator with protected corner modes in graphynes

Higher-order topological insulators have attracted great research interest recently. Different from conventional topological insulators, higher-order topological insulators do not necessarily require spin-orbit coupling, which makes it possible to realize them in spinless systems. Here, we study phonons in 2D graphyne family materials. By using first-principle calculations and topology/symmetry analysis, we find that phonons in both graphdiyne and $\gamma$-graphyne exhibit a second-order topology, which belongs to the specific case known as real Chern insulator. We identify the nontrivial phononic band gaps, which are characterized by nontrivial real Chern numbers enabled by the spacetime inversion symmetry. The protected phonon corner modes are verified by the calculation on a finite-size nanodisk. Our study extends the scope of higher-order topology to phonons in real materials. The spatially localized phonon modes could be useful for novel phononic applications.Comment: 6 pages, 5figure

Synthesis and Characterization of a NiCo2O4@NiCo2O4 Hierarchical Mesoporous Nanoflake Electrode for Supercapacitor Applications

In this study, we synthesized binder-free NiCo2O4@NiCo2O4 nanostructured materials on nickel foam (NF) by combined hydrothermal and cyclic voltammetry deposition techniques followed by calcination at 350 °C to attain high-performance supercapacitors. The hierarchical porous NiCo2O4@NiCo2O4 structure, facilitating faster mass transport, exhibited good cycling stability of 83.6% after 5000 cycles and outstanding specific capacitance of 1398.73 F g−1 at the current density of 2 A·g−1, signifying its potential for energy storage applications. A solid-state supercapacitor was fabricated with the NiCo2O4@NiCo2O4 on NF as the positive electrode and the active carbon (AC) was deposited on NF as the negative electrode, delivering a high energy density of 46.46 Wh kg−1 at the power density of 269.77 W kg−1. This outstanding performance was attributed to its layered morphological characteristics. This study explored the potential application of cyclic voltammetry depositions in preparing binder-free NiCo2O4@NiCo2O4 materials with more uniform architecture for energy storage, in contrast to the traditional galvanostatic deposition methods

Electronic correlations and flattened band in magnetic Weyl semimetal candidate Co3Sn2S2

The interplay between electronic correlations and topological protection may offer a rich avenue for discovering emergent quantum phenomena in condensed matter. However, electronic correlations have so far been little investigated in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) by experiments. Here, we report a combined optical spectroscopy and theoretical calculation study on the strength of electronic correlations in a kagome magnet Co3Sn2S2 and the influence of electronic correlations on its WSM state expected within a single-particle picture. The electronic kinetic energy estimated from our optical data is about half of that obtained from single-particle ab initio calculations, which indicates intermediate-strength electronic correlations in this system. Furthermore, comparing the energy ratios between the interband-transition peaks at high energies in the experimental and single-particle-ab-initio-calculation derived optical conductivity spectra with the electronic bandwidth renormalization factors obtained by many-body calculations enables us to estimate the Coulomb-interaction strength (U ~ 4 eV) of electronic correlations in Co3Sn2S2. Our many-body calculations with U ~ 4 eV show that a WSM state, which is characterized by bulk Weyl cones and surface Fermi arcs, survives in this correlated electron system. Besides, a sharp experimental optical conductivity peak at low energy, which is absent in the single-particle-ab-initio-calculation-derived optical conductivity spectrum but is consistent with the optical conductivity peaks obtained by many-body calculations, indicates that an electronic band connecting the two Weyl cones is flattened by electronic correlations and emerges near the Fermi energy in Co3Sn2S2. Our work paves the way for exploring flat-band-generated quantum phenomena in WSMs