Stimulated thyroglobulin and pre-ablation antithyroglobulin antibody products can predict the response to radioiodine therapy of TgAb-positive differentiated thyroid cancer patients: a retrospective study

ObjectiveWe aimed to explore the predictive value of stimulated thyroglobulin (sTg) and pre-ablation antithyroglobulin (pa-TgAb) products for the effect of radioiodine therapy (RAIT) on TgAb-positive differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients.MethodsIn this study, we enrolled 265 patients with TgAb-positive DTC who underwent RAIT after total thyroidectomy (TT). Based on the last follow-up result, the patients were divided into two groups: the excellent response (ER) group and the non-excellent response (NER) group. We analyzed the factors related to the effect of RAIT.ResultsThe ER group consisted of 197 patients. The NER group consisted of 68 patients. For the univariate analysis, we found that the maximal tumor diameter, whether with extrathyroidal extension (ETE), bilateral or unilateral primary lesion, multifocality, preoperative TgAb (preop-TgAb), pa-TgAb, sTg × pa-TgAb, initial RAIT dose, N stage, and surgical extent (modified radical neck dissection or not), showed significant differences between the ER group and NER group (all p-values <0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that the cutoff value was 724.25 IU/ml, 424.00 IU/ml, and 59.73 for preop-TgAb, pa-TgAb, and sTg × pa-TgAb, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression analysis results indicated that pa-TgAb, sTg × pa-TgAb, initial RAIT dose, and N stage were independent risk factors for NER (all p-values <0.05). For the Kaplan–Meier analysis of disease-free survival (DFS), the median DFS of the patients with sTg × pa-TgAb < 59.73 and initial RAIT dose ≤ 100 mCi was significantly longer than that of the patients with sTg × pa-TgAb ≥ 59.73 (50.27 months vs. 48.59 months, p = 0.041) and initial RAIT dose >100 mCi (50.50 months vs. 38.00 months, p = 0.030).ConclusionWe found the sTg and pa-TgAb conducts is a good predictor of the efficacy of RAIT in TgAb-positive DTC patients. It can play a very positive and important role in optimizing treatment, improving prognosis, and reducing the burden of patients

Dynamic Scalable Stochastic Petri Net: A Novel Model for Designing and Analysis of Resource Scheduling in Cloud Computing

Performance evaluation of cloud computing systems studies the relationships among system configuration, system load, and performance indicators. However, such evaluation is not feasible by dint of measurement methods or simulation methods, due to the properties of cloud computing, such as large scale, diversity, and dynamics. To overcome those challenges, we present a novel Dynamic Scalable Stochastic Petri Net (DSSPN) to model and analyze the performance of cloud computing systems. DSSPN can not only clearly depict system dynamic behaviors in an intuitive and efficient way but also easily discover performance deficiencies and bottlenecks of systems. In this study, we further elaborate some properties of DSSPN. In addition, we improve fair scheduling taking into consideration job diversity and resource heterogeneity. To validate the improved algorithm and the applicability of DSSPN, we conduct extensive experiments through Stochastic Petri Net Package (SPNP). The performance results show that the improved algorithm is better than fair scheduling in some key performance indicators, such as average throughput, response time, and average completion time

Thermodynamics of dye adsorption on electrochemically exfoliated graphene

Graphene sheets prepared by electrochemical exfoliation have been used for the adsorption of methylene blue (MB), a cationic dye from aqueous solution. The maximum adsorbed amount of MB on exfoliated graphene (EG) reaches 511.7 mg g(-1) when the initial concentration of MB is 500 mg L-1, with EG whose dosage is 10 mg. Further study on the adsorption mechanism of EG includes isothermal adsorption equilibrium, thermodynamics, and kinetics. The study on isothermal adsorption equilibrium shows that the adsorption follows the Langmuir isotherm. Various thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy (Delta G(0)), enthalpy (Delta H-0), and entropy (Delta S-0) change were also evaluated. It indicates that the adsorption is a spontaneous, endothermic, and physical adsorption process. The kinetic data reveals that the adsorption process of MB fits well with the pseudo second-order model. The Weber&#39;s intra-particle diffusion model demonstrates that the adsorption rate is controlled by both external diffusion and intra-particle diffusion. EG as a cationic dye scavenger displays high speed and efficiency.</p

In-Situ Catalytic Preparation of Two-Dimensional BCN/Graphene Composite for Anti-Corrosion Application

In-situ catalytic growth of two-dimensional materials shows great potential for metal surface protection because of the impermeability and strong interaction of the materials with metal surfaces. Two-dimensional hexagonal boron-carbon nitrogen (h-BCN) is composed of alternating boron, carbon, and nitrogen atoms in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, which is similar to graphene. The corrosion caused by defects such as grain boundary of two-dimensional materials can be weakened by dislocation overlap via the transfer method. However, two-dimensional composite films prepared using the transfer method have problems, such as the introduction of impurities and poor adhesion, which limit their corrosion resistance. In this study, a layer of BCN/Gr two-dimensional composite was directly grown on the surface of copper foil using the CVD in-situ catalysis method, and its anti-corrosion performance was characterized by electrochemical and salt spray experiments. The results showed that the directly grown two-dimensional composite had better adhesion to the substrate and the advantage of grain boundary dislocation, thus showing a better anti-corrosion capability

Tailorable Metal-Ceramic (Cu-TiC0.5) Layered Electrode with High Mechanical Property and Conductivity

Two-dimensional materials have been extensively investigated in the fields of electrochemical sensors, field-effect transistors, and other electronic devices due to their large surface areas, high compatibility with device integration, and so on. Conventional electrodes, such as precious metal layers that are deposited on polymer or silicon wafers, have gradually revealed increasing difficulties in adapting to various device structures, especially for twodimensional materials, which prefer high exposure of surface atoms. Here, we demonstrate a tailorable metal-ceramic (CuTiC0.5) layered structure as novel electrodes with high mechanical property and conductivity and fabricate a highly sensitive gas sensor with graphene lying on this proposed electrodes. The Cu-TiC0.5 layered structure exhibits remarkably high tensile yield strength and compressive yield strength, which increase 7 and 8 times than those of the pure copper, respectively. Meanwhile, excellent flexibility and conductivity could also be obtained with the further thinning of the Cu-TiC0.5 layered composite, which shows its potential applications in flexible electronics. Finally, we demonstrated that a graphene-based gas sensor fabricated on tailored metal-ceramic electrodes was ultrasensitive and robust, which benefits from the good thermal conductivity and peculiar gas channels etched on the surface of copper alloy electrodes

Research progress in low-temperature discharge performance of Ni-rich ternary lithium-ion batteries

With the rapid development of the new energy automotive industry, consumers' requirements for the range of electric vehicles have been increasing. The Ni-rich ternary lithium-ion battery has become the most promising power battery in electric vehicles due to its high specific energy, but the battery system still faces the problem of poor performance at low temperature.The research progress on low temperature performance of Ni-rich ternary power battery in recent years was summarized in this review. The influence factors on the low temperature performance of Ni-rich ternary power battery were summarized emphatically. On the one hand, the effects of low temperature performance from thermodynamics were analyzed, including the structural change of the Ni-rich ternary cathode materials and graphite anode materials, electrolytic phase transformation and solvation structure changes, and glass transition of binder. On the other hand, rate controlling step in the low temperature discharge process in the Ni-rich ternary lithium-ion battery was summed up. According to this, main modification measures of low-temperature performance in Ni-rich ternary power battery were summarized. Low temperature electrolyte was designed by optimizing solvents, improving lithium salts and applying new additives. In order to improve the low temperature performance of electrode materials, three methods were mainly employed: substitution, surface modification and smaller material particle size. The remaining shortcomings of the research on low-temperature performance of the battery were summarized, and the research on the low temperature thermodynamic characteristics of batteries is not clear enough. In addition, the research methods for the low temperature kinetic process of batteries are single, and the influence of the reaction sequence in batteries is insufficiently understood

In-Situ Catalytic Preparation of Two-Dimensional BCN/Graphene Composite for Anti-Corrosion Application

In-situ catalytic growth of two-dimensional materials shows great potential for metal surface protection because of the impermeability and strong interaction of the materials with metal surfaces. Two-dimensional hexagonal boron-carbon nitrogen (h-BCN) is composed of alternating boron, carbon, and nitrogen atoms in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, which is similar to graphene. The corrosion caused by defects such as grain boundary of two-dimensional materials can be weakened by dislocation overlap via the transfer method. However, two-dimensional composite films prepared using the transfer method have problems, such as the introduction of impurities and poor adhesion, which limit their corrosion resistance. In this study, a layer of BCN/Gr two-dimensional composite was directly grown on the surface of copper foil using the CVD in-situ catalysis method, and its anti-corrosion performance was characterized by electrochemical and salt spray experiments. The results showed that the directly grown two-dimensional composite had better adhesion to the substrate and the advantage of grain boundary dislocation, thus showing a better anti-corrosion capability