Intracranial dissemination in a primary small cell carcinoma of the brain: a case report and literature review

Primary intracranial small cell carcinoma (SCC) is extremely rare with only 8 previously reported cases. We describe a case of primary intracranial SCC with intracranial metastasis. A 46-year-old man presented with decreased vision and a red and swollen left eye. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a heterogeneously enhanced tumor on the left frontal lobe. Preoperative systemic computed tomography (CT), MRI, and positron emission tomography (PET)-CT revealed no extracranial tumors. The tumor on the left frontal lobe was excised. Immunohistochemical staining on the excision showed positivity for CD56, synaptophysin (Syn), cytokeratin (CK), and Ki-67 (30%), and negativity for thyroid transcriptional factor-1 (TTF-1), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), B-cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl-6), multiple myeloma oncogene 1 (MUM-1), C-Myc, Vimentin, P40, P53, CK7, CD3, CD5, CD20, CD79a, CD10, and CD23. The pathological examination strongly suggested that the tumor was a primary intracranial SCC. One year after the surgery, the patient was readmitted with slurred speech and slow movements. Three well-defined tumors were found in the left upper frontal lobe by brain MRI. Tumor resection was then performed. Further immunohistochemical examination of the excised tissue displayed the same pattern as previously, indicating the recurrence of intracranial SCC in the left frontal lobe. The patient received adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy after the tumor resection. At the 2-year follow-up, he remained asymptomatic

MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF CONSTANT-STRESS AND STEP-STRESS ACCELERATED LIFE TESTS

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Experimental Research on a Capsule Robot with Spring-Connected Legs

Based on a previous study of a novel capsule robot (CR) with spring-connected legs that could collect intestinal juice for biopsy, in this research, an experiment system is designed, and two experiments are carried out. One of the experiments measures the torque and cutting force of this CR, and the other experiment tests and evaluates the biopsy function of this CR. In the measuring experiment, we analyze how the magnetic torque exerted on this CR changes. In the experiment with a biopsy, we decompose the biopsy actions and select the most effective biopsy action. The result of the experiments shows that this CR can collect and store biopsy samples ideally, and the most effective biopsy action is the rotation with legs extended

Study on Sintering Behavior of Reaction-Cured Glass Coating

High-emissivity coatings constitute an essential component of reusable thermal protection systems, determining the success or failure of hypersonic spacecraft. Reaction-cured glass coating is the basis for all current high-emissivity coatings, and the study of its sintering behavior is of great scientific significance for the development and performance enhancement of the coating. Microstructures and phase compositions of the samples before and after the sintering process were determined using SEM, XRD, and EDS. The sintering temperature, inserting temperature, and heating rate were systematically investigated. The results show that the effects of the sintering temperature, inserting temperature, and heating rate on the coating occur in decreasing order. The optimum condition for coating sintering in this study is an insertion temperature of 1100 °C, a heating rate of 10 °C/min, and a sintering temperature of 1200 °C, and a crack-free and containing SiB4 borosilicate glass coating was successfully prepared

Correlation analysis between the static and the changed neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and in-hospital mortality in critical patients with acute heart failure

Association between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on admission and poor prognosis in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) has been well established. However, the relationship between dynamic changes in NLR and in-hospital mortality in AHF patients has not been studied. Our purpose was to determine if an early change in NLR within the first week after AHF patients was admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) was associated with in-hospital mortality. Data from the medical information mart for intensive care IV (the MIMIC-IV) database was analyzed. The effect of baseline NLR on in-hospital mortality in critical patients with AHF was evaluated utilizing smooth curve fitting and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Moreover, comparison of the dynamic change in NLR among survivors and non-survivors was performed using the generalized additive mixed model (GAMM). There were 1169 participants who took part in the present study, 986 of whom were in-hospital survivors and 183 of whom were in-hospital non-survivors. The smooth curve fitting revealed a positive relationship between baseline NLR and in-hospital mortality, and multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that baseline NLR was an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02,1.07, P-value = 0.001). After adjusting for confounders, GAMM showed that the difference in NLR between survivors and non-survivors grew gradually during the first week after ICU admission, and the difference grew by an average of 0.51 per day (β = 0.51, 95% CI 0.45–0.56, P-value Baseline NLR was associated with poor prognosis in critical patients with AHF. Early rises in NLR were linked to higher in-hospital mortality, which suggests that keeping track of how NLR early changes might help identify short-term prognosis of critical patients with AHF.</p