Safety and efficacy analysis of microwave ablation in small hepatocellular carcinomas sized below 3 cm

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of microwave ablation (MWA) in small hepatocellular carcinomas sized ≤ 3 cm, determine long-term survival, and identify prognostic factors for survival rates. Material and methods: In this study, the radiological and laboratory findings obtained from 31 consecutive patients who underwent MWA were retrospectively evaluated. The survival periods and complication rates were analysed. Results: Microwave ablation was applied to 42 hepatocellular carcinoma nodules in 31 patients. The mean age of the patients was 61 ± 7.3 (median 62, range 46-78) years. The mean overall survival (OS) was 47.4 ± 3.3 months. The rates of cumulative OS in the first, second, and third years were 95.2%, 91.8%, and 79.2%, respectively. The mean disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 24.1 ± 2.5 months. The cumulative DFS rates in the first, second, and third years were 75.6%, 52.5%, and 28.2%, respectively. The number of tumours and tumour distribution were determined as prognostic factors. No major complication was detected, but six patients (13.9%) developed minor complications after MWA. Conclusions: Microwave ablation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma is a safety treatment modality with very low rates of complications. It offers an effective treatment with a high rate of complete response and local disease control according to the short-term results. In the long term, it prolongs the survival time of the treated patients. The number of tumours and tumour distribution were determined as prognostic factors affecting survival rates

ECSA Special Issue

Over 500 delegates took part in the third international ECSA conference in September 2020. Across 30 sessions, as well as keynote talks, e-poster presentations and more informal settings, they discussed and debated a diverse range of subjects related to citizen science. This special edition of ‘JCOM’ brings together some of the central themes that were under the spotlight at ECSA 2020. Since ECSA 2020 has been one of the first examples of a conference that moved completely online, and it has been considered a big success, we also include the Conference Report, as supplementary material with this editorial

Increasing Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection Sensitivity for Carfentanyl Detection: An Examination of Procaine at Different Concentrations and Split Ratios

An opioid abuse crisis in recent years has contributed to many overdoses and overdose-related deaths in the United States. In 2017, fentanyl and fentanyl analogs contributed to more than half of NYC’s overdose deaths in 2017. Carfentanyl – an extremely dangerous fentanyl analogue 100 times more potent than fentanyl – is very difficult to detect in drug samples because it is typically present in concentrations lower than analytical instruments can detect at standard settings. In this work, I hypothesize that gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID), when optimized for the detection of carfentanyl by adjusting the split ratio, is more sensitive than standard GC-FID settings. Procaine in methanol solutions of 10 different concentrations ranging from 0.01mg/mL to 0.10mg/mL were prepared by carrying out serial dilutions and run using GC-FID. The 0.05mg/mL solution was then run at various split ratios ranging from 10:1 to 200:1. I found that the size of the procaine peak increases as the procaine concentration increases. Both an increase in concentration and a decrease in split ratio individually result in an increase in the size of the procaine peak, supporting my hypothesis. Based on the properties of procaine in this analysis, GC-FID can be optimized for the detection of small quantities of carfentanyl in non-biological samples by increasing the split ratio to increase the sensitivity of the instrument. Being able to detect carfentanyl that may be present in drug samples would assist in the tracking and regulation of carfentanyl and prevent related overdose deaths, as well as those related to fentanyl and other fentanyl analogues

A Hybrid Achromatic Metalens

Metamaterials and metasurfaces are widely used to manipulate electromagnetic waves over a broad range of wavelengths. Several recent efforts have focused on metalenses, ultra-thin optical elements that focus light using subwavelength structures. Compared to their refractive counterparts, metalenses offer reduced size and weight, improved manufacturability, and new functionality such as polarization control. However, metalenses that correct chromatic aberration also suffer from markedly reduced focusing efficiency. Here we introduce a Hybrid Achromatic Metalens (HAML), that overcomes this trade-off and offers improved focusing efficiency over a broad wavelength range from 1000 - 1800 nm. Fabricated HAMLs demonstrated diffraction limited performance for numerical apertures (NA) of 0.27, 0.11, and 0.06 with average focusing efficiencies $> 60\%$ and maximum efficiencies ~ $80\%$. HAMLs can be designed by combining recursive ray-tracing and simulated phase libraries rather than computational intensive global search algorithms. Moreover, HAMLs can be fabricated in low-refractive index materials using multi-photon lithography for customization or using molding for mass production.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

Semileptonic Form Factors

I report the current status of the heavy-light decay constants, the bag parameters and the semileptonic form factors. I compare the heavy-light decay constants with Wilson-Wilson and clover-clover fermions. Systematic errors such as scale setting and renormalization factors are also discussed. 1/M dependences for the heavy-light semileptonic form factors near $q^2 = q^2_max$ with clover-clover and NRQCD-Wilson fermions are found to be small.Comment: 12 pgs. 15 figures. Talk presented at LATTICE9

Characterization of a novel zebrafish (Danio rerio) gene, wdr81, associated with cerebellar ataxia, mental retardation and dysequilibrium syndrome (CAMRQ)

Background: WDR81 (WD repeat-containing protein 81) is associated with cerebellar ataxia, mental retardation and disequilibrium syndrome (CAMRQ2, [MIM 610185]). Human and mouse studies suggest that it might be a gene of importance during neurodevelopment. This study aimed at fully characterizing the structure of the wdr81 transcript, detecting the possible transcript variants and revealing its expression profile in zebrafish, a powerful model organism for studying development and disease. Results: As expected in human and mouse orthologous proteins, zebrafish wdr81 is predicted to possess a BEACH (Beige and Chediak-Higashi) domain, a major facilitator superfamily domain and WD40-repeats, which indicates a conserved function in these species. We observed that zebrafish wdr81 encodes one open reading frame while the transcript has one 5' untranslated region (UTR) and the prediction of the 3' UTR was mainly confirmed along with a detected insertion site in the embryo and adult brain. This insertion site was also found in testis, heart, liver, eye, tail and muscle, however, there was no amplicon in kidney, intestine and gills, which might be the result of possible alternative polyadenylation processes among tissues. The 5 and 18 hpf were critical timepoints of development regarding wdr81 expression. Furthermore, the signal of the RNA probe was stronger in the eye and brain at 18 and 48 hpf, then decreased at 72 hpf. Finally, expression of wdr81 was detected in the adult brain and eye tissues, including but not restricted to photoreceptors of the retina, presumptive Purkinje cells and some neurogenic brains regions. Conclusions: Taken together these data emphasize the importance of this gene during neurodevelopment and a possible role for neuronal proliferation. Our data provide a basis for further studies to fully understand the function of wdr81. © 2015 Doldur-Balli et al

The Value of Handheld Computers in Construction”,

ABSTRACT: Construction is an information intensive industry in which the accuracy and timeliness of information is paramount. Construction projects can experience extensive delays or rework due to information that is unavailable, inaccurate or simply outdated. Handheld computers (HHC) have the potential to solve some of these problems by providing field workers with accurate, reliable and timely information at the location where it is needed. Thus, HHC's can increase the amount of direct work on a project indirectly by directly decreasing the time spent on support work (such as accessing drawings and sending RFI's) and by reducing idle time. Applying a HHC evaluation method to 6 hypothetical construction field activities (punchlisting, materials tracking, MSDS access, drawing access, RFI's, and quantity surveying) showed that HHC's could potentially save time and improve accuracy at the task and activity levels of a construction project. However, barriers related to the HHC's technological limitations and to the nature of the construction industry must be overcome in order to reap the full benefits of HHC's

Observation of large refrigerant capacity in the HoVO3 vanadate single crystal

The HoVO3 orthovanadate undergoes a large negative and conventional magnetocaloric effects around 4K and 15 K, respectively. The partly overlapping of the magnetic transition at 15K and the structural transition occurring at 40 K, as well as the large magnetization, give rise to a giant refrigerant capacity without hysteresis loss. For a magnetic field variation of 7 T, the refrigerant capacity is evaluated to be 620 J/kg, which is larger than that for any known RMnO3 manganite. These results should inspire and open new ways for the improvement of magnetocaloric properties of ABO(3) type-oxides. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC

Magnetocaloric properties of Fe_{2-x}T_xP (T = Ru and Rh) from electronic structure calculations and magnetisation measurements

An analysis of the magnetocaloric properties of the pure and substituted Fe2P compounds is made based on KKR-CPA electronic structure calculations and magnetisation M(H,T) measurements. The computed electronic densities of states and magnetic moments are used to calculate both the values of the electronic and magnetic entropies, which fairly agree with the experimental findings. To enlighten the magnetic properties above Curie temperature, the paramagnetic state behaviours are simulated using the disordered local moments (DLM) concept. The KKR-CPA computations show, that in Fe2P, the Fe magnetic moment of the (3f) site disappears in the DLM state, while the moment of the (3g) site is only little lowered, comparison made with the low temperature ferromagnetic state.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to J. Phys.